Star Instructor, Master Baek

TL: FoodieMonster007

Baek Suryong charged forward like lightning, his sword slicing through the air. Unlike before, his blade was now enveloped in a crimson enhanced sword qi as vivid as fresh blood.

The Bloody Ripper dared not underestimate the power behind this attack. Gathering enhanced qi in both hands, he crossed his arms in front of his chest to block the incoming slash.

CLAAAANG!!

As enhanced qi collided with enhanced qi, a massive shockwave erupted around the two martial artists.

“Ugh!” The Bloody Ripper slid backwards, almost hitting the wall before he could stop himself, but he couldn’t feel the pain in his arms. The shock of seeing the enhanced qi on Baek Suryong’s sword was simply too overwhelming. “H-How can you use enhanced qi…!”

“What’s so special about enhanced qi?” Baek Suryong replied as if it were nothing.

Damn it, damn it all! How did he reach the realm of enhanced sword qi when he hasn’t even turned thirty yet?! The Bloody Ripper’s face contorted into a grotesque grimace. The thought that a young upstart had achieved in mere years what had taken him decades ignited a fiery inferiority complex within him.

“You arrogant brat! You’ve got some nerve!” he screamed, summoning all his inner qi, even tapping into his core reserves. There was no reason to hold back anymore. Whoever killed the other here would claim all the Blood Cult’s treasures hidden within this secret cave, and perhaps even…

Tears of blood streamed from the Bloody Ripper’s eyes, now completely consumed by madness. “I know! I’ll kill you and become the new Blood Demon! Kahahaha!” he laughed.

Baek Suryong shook his head. “You’re totally out of your mind.”

CLAAAANG!

Once again, enhanced qi clashed against enhanced qi, sending waves of scattered energy in all directions. With each collision between these two masters, forces of nature in their own right, the cavern shook and began to crumble.

Amidst the swirling dust clouds, the Bloody Ripper laughed maniacally, “Kahahaha! Just maintaining enhanced qi seems tough for you! Just give up already!”

In contrast, rivers of sweat poured down Baek Suryong’s face, which had turned as pale as a corpse.

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As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right, using enhanced qi is still too much for me.

Right now, Baek Suryong was forcefully wringing out his qi center and acupoints to produce enhanced qi, which placed a great strain on his body. Unfortunately, in order to freely use enhanced qi, he needed to fully open the Conception and Governing Meridians, as well as reach the seventh star of the Heaven Defying Divine Art.

Sensing Baek Suryong’s struggle, the Bloody Ripper sneered, firmly believing that victory was within his grasp. “Heheheh, even if you force out some half-baked enhanced qi, the outcome won’t change. First, I’ll cut off your legs so you can’t run anymore. Then, I’ll…”

“Whew. I’m finally getting the hang of this,” Baek Suryong interrupted, grinning despite his pale complexion.

“…What?”

How can he smile in this situation? Why does he look so calm when he should be pleading for his life? The Bloody Ripper couldn’t fathom what Baek Suryong was thinking.

“Hmph, do you think putting on a brave face will…” the Bloody Ripper began, though his voice faded as he noticed Baek Suryong’s expression growing more relaxed.

Looking down, he noticed the enhanced sword qi surrounding Baek Suryong’s sword writhe and wobble briefly, before settling into an even more condensed form along the edges of the blade.

Baek Suryong smiled sheepishly. “My apologies, it’s my first time using this in actual combat, so controlling it was a bit tricky.”

“W-What are you doing…?” The Bloody Ripper couldn’t fathom what was unfolding before his eyes, but one thing was clear—the technique Baek Suryong had just used was so advanced that he couldn’t possibly replicate it.

Am I seeing things? He actually compressed enhanced qi! That’s something only an absolute master on the level of the Ten Supremes can do!

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“Shall we go again?” Baek Suryong taunted, dashing toward the Bloody Ripper. Perhaps because the enhanced sword qi was compressed, his swings now looked much faster and lighter, though the power behind them was anything but.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The struggling Baek Suryong from earlier was nowhere to be seen. With the agility of a leopard and the ferocity of a tiger, he seemed to be attacking from all directions at once.

Now, the one cornered was the Bloody Ripper.

“Ugh… Don’t get cocky!!” he barked, gathering all his inner qi and unleashing explosions in every direction.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions devastated everything within a ten meter radius, but Baek Suryong emerged from the ensuing dust cloud unharmed, having used his compressed sword qi to create a shield.

Step by step, he approached his opponent and said in a low voice, “Bloody Ripper, except for your enhanced qi, you have nothing on me.”

“Shut up!”

Baek Suryong steeled himself to finish the fight. As long as his enhanced sword qi was solid enough not to shatter upon impact, it was sufficient. He could compensate for his lack of inner qi with superior technique.

Of course, if I were facing a true transcendent master, this approach wouldn’t work, but… despite this old man’s notorious reputation as one of the Ten Great Villains, he’s just a half-baked master who can’t fully control enhanced qi.

“I’m more than enough to defeat you. You, who can’t even handle enhanced qi properly, are far from being a master,” he said.

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The Bloody Ripper lunged forward, spewing streams of enhanced qi from his clawed hands. “I told you to shut up!”

Baek Suryong blocked the onslaught, gauging how long he could maintain his enhanced qi.

…I think seven minutes is my limit for now.

By compressing the enhanced qi, he increased efficiency, minimized waste, and also reduced the burden on his qi center and acupoints by more than half. Still, he judged that seven minutes was as long as he could sustain it.

“Well, I’ll take what I can get. This is enough for now.”

“I’ll tear you apaaaart!” Completely losing his mind, the Bloody Ripper rushed in, releasing enhanced qi from his entire body in a suicide attack.

However, Baek Suryong wouldn’t allow him even that much of a reprise. In his eyes, this old villain was riddled with openings. He smirked coldly, saying, “I’m tired of seeing your face. Let’s finish this.”

Moon Shadow traced a crimson arc through the air.

SWOOSH!

“Argh!” the Bloody Ripper screamed as his enhanced qi shattered. All ten of his claws were severed, and deep cuts covered his body. His unstable energy was no match for Baek Suryong’s compressed enhanced qi. Reeling from the force of the attack, he coughed up blood and staggered backward.

“N-No… This can’t be…”

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Looking down, he saw a fountain of blood gushing from a hole in his abdomen. He desperately pressed whatever was left of his hands against it to stem the bleeding, but it was futile. His qi center had been destroyed.

Aging rapidly due to the loss of the inner qi that kept his body in its prime, he muttered, “Gone… All my qi that I accumulated over decades, all gone! I… I can’t die like this… I CAN’T DIE LIKE THIS!”

Vomiting blood, he fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. Though he knew it was too late, he still tried to crawl away, desperately clinging to life.

“I have to find the Blood Cult’s treasure… Consume the supreme martial arts and elixirs inside… perform Rejuvenation and regain my youth…”

“Are those your last words? You’re seriously clinging to those delusions until the very end?”

A shadow loomed over the Bloody Ripper. He lifted his head, only to see Baek Suryong looking down at him with pity.

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“You! If it wasn’t for you, I would have…!” he spat spitefully.

“Let me set you straight so that you can let go of your worthless regrets before you head to the afterlife. Never mind the Blood Cult’s treasure vault, even if you obtained the finest martial arts and elixirs in the world, you wouldn’t achieve Rejuvenation.”

“W-What? Why?!”

Baek Suryong saw no need to give such a villain any hope. With the cold gaze of the Demon Instructor, he pronounced his judgment on the Bloody Ripper, “First, you lack the aptitude for martial arts. Second, your narrow-minded personality makes you unfit to master advanced techniques. Third, you don’t possess keen insight. Fourth, if you had any talent or determination, you would have fully mastered the Blood Elixir Claws by now, proving that you lack both.”

Offended by Baek Suryong’s harsh assessment, the Bloody Ripper screeched angrily, “What do you know about me?! If only I’d started learning advanced martial arts a little earlier, I’d definitely…!”

“I know an old man who started learning martial arts at the age of sixty-five. Despite his poor health and aging body, he trained for months without a single day’s rest and finally passed the Azure Dragon Academy entrance exam. Can you say that you’ve worked harder than him, hmm?”

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“I…!” the Bloody Ripper began to object, but under Baek Suryong’s icy stare, he fell silent.

“For decades, you neglected your training, holding onto the illusion that acquiring mythical techniques and elixirs would grant you Rejuvenation.”

“That’s not true! I also worked hard…”

“Don’t bother arguing with me, your physical condition and martial arts speak for themselves. You have no one to blame but yourself. Save your excuses for the judges of hell.”

Baek Suryong raised his sword and placed it over the Bloody Ripper’s heart. Like an afterthought, he added, “Oh, and when you meet your junior brother in the afterlife, remember to give him my regards, okay?”

“N-No…!”

SPURT!

The Bloody Ripper’s body shuddered briefly before crumpling to the ground. A pitiful end for a master who had once spread terror across the world as one of the Ten Great Villains. The notorious founder and ruler of the Valley of Evil, responsible for countless atrocities, died alone and unseen.

“Hoo…” Baek Suryong leaned against a wall, panting. Though he’d won a resounding victory over the Bloody Ripper, his inner qi and stamina were nearly exhausted. Had it not been for the Blood Cult’s traps, he would have been the one lying on the ground instead.

“Well, a win is a win,” he wheezed, glancing at the corpse. He was worried about his students, but in his current state he wouldn’t be of any help to them without some rest and recuperation.

“An elixir would be nice right about now…”

Feeling along the wall, Baek Suryong felt out a hidden switch and pressed it.

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RUMMMMBLE…

A hidden door opened at what he previously believed was a dead end, revealing a passage illuminated by numerous priceless phosphorescent pearls.

“Let’s see how much those Blood Cult bastards stashed away before their downfall,” he said with a grin, entering the passage cautiously, wary of traps.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no more traps as far as he could tell. Soon, he entered a chamber containing mountains of gold and jewels.

“Whew! They sure piled up a lot,” he whistled.

Nevertheless, Baek Suryong took only a cursory look at the fortune before going deeper into the cave. What he sought could not be bought with money.

If this place was really created before the fall of the Blood Cult… then it must be here.

Shortly after, Baek Suryong noticed a small wooden box resting atop an ornate iron chest deep within the vault. Upon opening the box, he found a glowing red sphere, roughly the size of a lime.

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A bright smile appeared on his lips. “I knew it. The Blood Elixir…”

The Blood Elixir was a supreme tonic crafted specially for the Blood Demon, and was a perfect blend of impure qi and medicinal essence. Consuming it would elevate his mastery of the Heaven Defying Divine Art to the next level.

Baek Suryong then shifted his attention to the chest. Lifting the lid, he pulled out a piece of black fabric made of an unknown material that was neither leather nor cloth.

“No way. Isn’t this the Black Dragon Armor?” he gasped.

The Black Dragon Armor, a legendary armor of the Blood Cult, was revered for its ability to protect the wearer from extreme temperatures, block sword qi, and, when infused with inner qi, even endure enhanced qi.

Delighted, Baek Suryong took off his shirt and donned the Black Dragon Armor. As if it had a will of its own, the armor adjusted itself to fit him perfectly.

“Haha, the Blood Elixir and the Black Dragon Armor. Lucky me!”

Still, as the saying goes, human greed knows no bounds. Before leaving, Baek Suryong quickly scanned the treasure vault for anything else of interest.

Something old and worn, tucked away in a corner, caught his eye.

“That’s…!”

It was the item he’d most hoped to find.

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