Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Jang Cheon-Hyeok, who began the development of State of Korea’s Neo Taekwondo in Europe, died with his arms broken and chest pierced through in his duel with Qin Fen, who had defeated many successors of Neo Taekwondo, on Tianbei’s seashore.
The death of a martial dao master was still a pretty big thing in the world of martial arts. Especially when Neo Taekwondo’s founder, Bae Seong-Joon had posted and announced the official duel with Qin Fen everywhere, causing various influences to be paying extra attention to Neo Taekwondo’s movement.
The news that Jang Cheon-Hyeok, who had killed two martial dao masters in Europe, had died in Tianbei quickly spread through the various domains of martial artists.
Qin Fen had killed a lot of his opponents but he had never really killed a martial dao master. This time, his reputation spread like radiation after he had killed Jang Cheon-Hyeok.
“Jang Cheon-Hyeok was really killed?”
Headquarters of Valliant Dojo, State of Japan, the creator of Neo Kyokushin Karate, Kyokushin Kouten slowly opened his eyes and looked at the two martial artists just opposite of him while maintaining the seiza position. There was a bit of surprise in his tone.
Jang Cheon-Hyeok had been a martial dao master for many years. Kyokushin Kouten had seen him once. He wasn’t a half-assed person who had just stepped into the ranks of martial dao master, he was a real martial dao master; it could even be said that he had already grasped the essence of Neo Taekwondo.
Much to Kyukushin Kouten’s surprise, such a martial dao master had lost to the hands of a teenaged martial artist. Kyokushin Kouten found this news somewhat unbelievable.
Of the two people sitting opposite to Kyokushin Kouten, one was a two meters tall fat man with a weight of five hundred and sixty pounds. Sitting on the tatami casually, he felt like a moving mountain of meat.
This man was the savior of the State of Japan’s traditional martial art, the creator of Neo Sumo, Hashimoto Nagashiro.
“Yes, although there is an old saying in Zhongzhou that heroes come from among the youth, Qin Fen is too young. A martial dao master who is less than twenty years old…”
Hashimoto Nagashiro shook his huge head; his chest muscles and fat shook slightly with every turn of his neck. His body may seem fatty and slow but none of the martial dao masters dared to underestimate its terrifying lethality.
“Although it’s unexpected, Jang Cheon-Hyeok is indeed dead.”
The man sitting next to Hashimoto Nagashiro was a bit thin and small. A thin man with a height of one meter and sixty-five centimeters. Sitting next to Hashimoto Nagashiro in seiza, he gave the impression of a monkey.
This man who looked a bit like a monkey enjoyed the same prestige as the other two in the world of martial arts in the State of Japan. The creator of Neo Aikido, Hatakeyama Kazuo.
“I don’t know what kind souvenirs were left for Qin Fen after Jang Cheon-Hyeok died.” Hatakeyama Kazuo furrowed his two centimeters short eyebrows. “As expected of the man who has made great achievements. Bae Seong-Joon first agreed to duel with Qin Fen and then sent his disciple to fight first. A victory would have been the best, but losing… hmph… hmph…”
Kyokushin Kouten calmly placed his arms on the knees as he nodded slightly in agreement. “Bae Seong-Joon created Neo Taekwondo by integrating several schools of martial arts. Among which is Zhongzhou’s art of war. So, there is nothing wrong with resorting to such means.”
Hashimoto Nagashiro’s eyes flickered with a bit of disdain. “Nothing wrong!? He first sent his disciple to consume the strength of his opponent and planned to defeat his opponent personally next to promote his Neo Taekwondo. This kind of person isn’t worthy of practicing martial arts! He doesn’t deserve to be a master to others!”
Just as Hashimoto Nagashiro’s words fell, a heavy palm the size of giant’s slammed on the ground, shaking the tatami mat.
Kyokushin Kouten and Hashimtot Nagashiro glanced at each other, a helpless wry smile on their faces. The trio might be martial artists from the State of Japan, but Hashimoto Nagashiro’s way of thinking is somewhat different from the two.
In a rain forest in the State of Thailand, a bald man with a height of two meters and a bare upper body was calmly looking at the slowly flowing stream before him.
Two Neo Muay Thai martial artist stood behind the robust man not too far away from him with their breaths held, looking carefully at the bald and robust man. This Neo Muay Thai practitioner was Saketh, the person who had killed the creator of Neo Muay Thai, the King of Neo Muay Thai half a year ago and became the current King of Neo Muay Thai.
After a while, Saketh slowly opened his mouth and spoke to himself, “As a master, my biggest wish should be to kill the best disciple I have taught rather than watching him get killed by others. Jang Cheon-Hyeok is dead, the most saddened should be Bae Seong-Joon.”
As a master, my biggest wish should be to kill the best disciple I have taught. The two people standing not far behind Saketh felt a chill run down their spine upon hearing Saketh speak the words once spoken by his master who he himself had killed, the King of Neo Muay Thai.
The current King of Neo Muay Thai seemed to have something wrong with this brain but none of the practitioners of Neo Muay Thai could not repudiate that Saketh didn’t deserve to the King of Neo Muay Thai after seeing his fierceness.
Aggrieved!? Aggrieved!
In the lobby of the headquarters of Neo Taekwondo in the State of Korea, Bae Seong-Joon stood quietly before a glass coffin. He had been standing before this coffin for an entire day. During this time, he did not eat, drink, or speak; he just kept on looking at the man lying in the coffin calmly and quietly.
The badly mutilated corpse lying in the coffin before him was of Jang Cheon-Hyeok, the disciple he was most proud of and had all his hopes pinned on after the news of Cai Renying and Kim Ji-Seok’s death came from the Sacred Martial Hall.
Since the founding of Neo Taekwondo, Bae Seong-Joon had fostered ten disciples, of which Jang Cheon-Hyeok was the only one who completed the Great Inborn Nirvana Marrow Transformation and successfully became a fifteen-star martial artist, stepping into the ranks of a martial dao master.
Bae Seong-Joon didn’t have a son. Jang Cheon-Hyeok, the disciple he had taken the earliest was like a son to him. Even closer than if he did have his own son! His love was Cai Renying but all his hopes were pinned on Jang Cheon-Hyeok.
Originally, Bae Seong-Joon also had hoped Cai Renying and Kim Ji-Seok would step into the ranks of martial dao master in the future after having joined the Sacred Martial Hall.
But how could he have ever thought that two Scared Martial Hall disciples would be killed in a short span of one year? And even Jang Cheon-Hyeok, the only disciple to enter the realm of martial dao master, and the possible successor of Neo Taekwondo, would be killed as well.
Dead, all of them are dead.
Bae Seong-Joon stood still before the coffin. Neo Taekwondo, which had been thriving after my hard work of so many years, has collapsed in just a year or so.
And all of this is by the grace of a rapidly rising young martial artist, Qin Fen!
In just one night, many of Bae Seong-Joon’s black hair had grown white; he had suddenly grown ten years older.
There were no tears flowing out of his eyes; when a person’s sadness hits the extreme, his or her eyes would not even be able to squeeze out a single tear.
Bae Seong-Joon’s posture that he had been maintaining for a night finally changed. He slowly raised his arm and placed his hand over his heart, which seemed to have been hollowed out with the deaths of his disciples.
He slowly raised his head, his eyes flickered with endless sorrows. His arid lips moved up and down a bit, his heartbreaking wails resounding through the sky so loud that it gave the impression that his vocal cord was about to be broken.
“Ahhh! Ahhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhh…”
“Qin Fen!”
“You have killed my disciples, my wife, my son! I, Bae Seong-Joon and you can’t exist under the same sky!”
The true energy of the fifteen-star level burst out from his body, cracking the large marble slabs underneath his feet. Even the glass coffin beside had cracks appeared on it from the vibrations of the sound.
In the blink of an eye, the cracks spread all over the coffin and finally, it broke into pieces with a bang.
Bae Seong-Joon’s true energy didn’t show the slightest sign of halting its rise, reaching the extreme limit of fifteen-star. Under the influence of his true energy, his Neo Taekwondo uniform flapped hard like he was standing in the wind.
Sixteen-star! Bae Seong-Joon’s entire Neo Taekwondo uniform, like a balloon filled with air, swelled in the blink of an eye to the extent that it seemed it was about to burst
Pushed by the anger and hatred of having his apprentice, wife, and son killed, Bae Seong-Joon had broken through the star-class he had been stuck in for so many years and reached the sixteen-star level in one fell swoop!
Anger, hatred, murderous intention! Bae Seong-Joon’s eyes were red and tearless. Meanwhile, his true energy was still rising unceasingly. In the blink of an eye, his strength was not at the early-level of the sixteen-star level.
“It is indeed possible for people to achieve a breakthrough when their emotions have reached the extreme. But not even one in ten thousand would be lucky enough to achieve it.”
The words spoken by Asura in her lecture to Qin Fen and the others back in the day were unintentionally fulfilled in Bae Seong-Joon. This wasn’t some burning of cosmo but the martial dao foundation he had accumulated over these years under the influence of his mixed emotions was triggered by a kind of extraordinary instinct.
Bang bang bang…
The marble slabs were like a conductor; under the extreme rise and breakthrough in Bae Seong-Joon’s strength, the broke into pieces after cracking one after another.
The outbreak of his strength lasted for the entire ten minutes. At this time, Bae Seong-Joon had returned his previous calmness once again. But the headquarters lobby was in ruins, like a small localized war had just taken place here.
Bae Seong-Joon walked calmly out of the hall. His entire body was shrouded in even denser and more piercing killing intent than he had ever shown in the past. Even those Neo Taekwondo apprentices at a distance could feel their heart being taken away in the blink of an eye by just glancing at Bae Seong-Joon’s back.
Bae Seong-Joon walked into the hut where he usually meditated and sat down still on the futon with his legs crossed. He needed to digest and collect everything so that his body and spirit were at their best when fighting with Qin Fen.
Today’s breakthrough hadn’t made Bae Seong-Joon reach his best state at all. He needed to adapt to the changes from reaching the sixteen-star level. He needed to adjust his mentality. Qin Fen had killed Jang Cheon-Hyeok; he might not have hurt Bae Seong-Joon but he had given the biggest blow to Bae Seong-Joon’s spirit.
To some extent, this mental blow was far fiercer and more brutal than any physical blow. If not for Bae Seong-Joon’s persistence to revitalize the State of Korea’s traditional martial arts, he might have suffered metal blows one after another; his spirit might have already cracked. Even if he possessed the strength of the sixteen-star level, his kicks and punches could not display its full might.
Bae Seong-Joon needed to mend the cracks in his spirit, and also, he needed to adapt and understand the difference between fifteen-star and sixteen-star level.
Jang Cheon-Hyeok’s death drew the attention of many people in the world of martial arts in a short time. Some people, who were not interested in watching Bae Seong-Joon and Qin Fen’s duel initially became interested after Jang Cheon-Hyeok’s death.
Many people were interested in Qin Fen, who could kill a long-time martial dao master even though he was only in his teens.
“Qin Fen killed Jang Cheon-Hyeok!?”
A lush mountain of Zhongzhou had several simple huts built on it. Owing to the white mist lingering around the mountainside, it gave off the impression of being paradise in the world of humans.
Outside the hut, a reclining chair was placed under the towering tree. The right hand of Song Zhenting holding the information quivered a bit as his eyes bloomed with an unstoppable brilliance in the blink of an eye.
More than half a year ago, Song Zhenting took Song Jia to watch the life and death battle between Qin Fen and Young Hades. At that time, Qin Fen had just completed True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth and was only a ten-star martial artist.
“It’s already very hard to complete True Inborn Blood Transfusion Rebirth at his age and yet, it has not been even a year and he had actually completed Great Inborn Nirvana Marrow Transformation.”
Song Zhenting shook his head, again and again. Apart from Azure Dragon from the rumors, he had never seen any martial artist improving his martial strength again and again like this in succession.
“Dad.”
Song Jia, wearing a purple martial attire, walked out of the hut. Her long hair was tied high behind her head but it still reached her waist.
After over a year, Song Jia’s temperament had also changed a bit. Her strength had also continuously climbed to the twelve-star level after training hard.
Song Jia, as the only granddaughter of Qilin, possessed all the necessities to be an extraordinary martial artist. The martial arts she was practicing was specially developed by Earth Martial God just for her. It was not a surprise for her to grow so rapidly after entering the strength outbreak period.
The reason her growth was so slow at the beginning was mainly due to her age. Although she was born in the same year as Qin Fen, their birthdays were still ten months apart.
When Qin Fen had entered the strength outbreak period, Song Jia had still not entered the true strength outbreak period. After Song Jia entered the strength outbreak period, Song Wendong asked her to take a long vacation from the school and start practicing martial arts deep in the mountains here.
Having been trained under Qilin since childhood, Song Jia had laid a deep foundation beyond that of ordinary people. She had perused all sorts of books, seen duels between all kinds of martial art experts as well as enjoyed the affectionate teaching of Qilin.
Song Zhenting, noticing his daughter appear, showed the smile of a doting father. She was the pride of the Song Family. According to the patriarch and his father, Song Jia may be a girl but she had a real chance of becoming a divine beast, giving Song Family the opportunity to have two divine beasts!
This was not only the wish of other planets’ divine beasts but also the wish of Qilin, Song Wendong.
When it came to Qilin, Song Zhenting was filled with remorse. For a very long time, he had been training really hard to fulfill the wish of the Earth Martial God, but even now he was still unqualified to become a divine beast.
Maybe… Song Zhenting shook his head lightly. Perhaps he might not have a chance to become a divine beast in this life. It was precisely because of this that Song Jia’s future husband had become particularly important in Song Wendong’s eyes.
Looking at Song Jia, Song Zhenting felt his heart sting a little. He raised his hand as he caressed her black hair. To others, it might appear a fortunate thing to be born in the family of a divine beast and come in contact with high-level martial arts, but who could imagine the sadness of being born in the family of a divine beast?
As a descendant of a divine beast, they needed to work harder and be better than the others; all of this was reasonable! As a descendant of a divine beast, he or she must become a real divine besat!
Only the descendants of divine beast martial artists could understand clearly how much pressure they actually bore.
“My dear child, it’s been hard on you.” Song Zhenting caressed the sitting beside Song Jia’s head like a kitten. “Do you want to meet him?”
Song Jia closed her eyes with a smile as if she was a kitten enjoying the petting. “It’s alright.”
Song Zhenting looked at his daughter, taken aback. As her father, he naturally knew that Song Jia had been training hard day and night all to get rid of the shackles of her family or the granddaughter of Qilin; how eager she was to meet Qin Fen face-to-face.
However, Song Zhenting was puzzled by Song Jia’s answer today when he had even given her a chance to meet Qin Fen, open and aboveboard.
“Haha…” Song Jia opened her eyes overflowing with smiles and happiness. “Because I can meet him real soon.”
“Soon!?” Song Zhenting looked at his eccentric daughter. “You are not planning on running away, are you? Be careful of your grandfather’s spanking.”
Spanking!? The smile in Song Jia’s eyes turned a bit awkward. After she had sneaked out to watch the recruit tournament, she had really been spanked by her grandfather. A girl getting spanked at her age was really a very embarrassing thing.
Now when she heard of spanking, Song Jia felt her cheeks turn a bit hot.
“I am not running away.” Song Jia raised her head, her blushing cheeks filled with pride. “He said he will be coming to ask for my hand.”
“Come to ask for your hand!?” The teacup that Song Zhenting’s right hand he had just picked up shook a few times with this shocking news.
What kind of news could make the hand of someone of Song Zhenting’s cultivation shake?
“He is coming to ask for your hand…”
Song Zhenting digested these simple words as a smile spread on his broad cheeks. “This kid really is heaven-daring.”
A happy smile continued to hang on Song Jia’s lips. Qin Fen was coming to ask for her hand in marriage. This was far more daring than anything; he needed to face Qilin, Song Wendong for this.
In this world, many talented and prodigious heroes would either get down in admiration or back down in fear immediately after hearing of Song Wendong’s name.
There were only three kinds of people who would take the initiative to come and ask Song Jia’s hand in marriage. One was a fool who had completely lost his mind, who had no idea of what to be afraid of from the start.
The second was someone who had the backing of a huge power but wasn’t that bright in his head. How could he get even a bit of face in front of Qilin by relying on the backing of his family?
The third was a man who was really brave, who showed a similar daring spirit even in front of Earth Martial God, Song Wendong. This kind of person was somewhat similar to the first but fundamentally different.
In Song Jia’s opinion, Qin Fen may be young but he was mature, he might even be a blockhead sometimes but he definitely wasn’t a fool lacking in the brain’s department.
“It’s a little interesting.” Song Zhenting gently caressed his chin as he sunk into his thoughts. “Should I call the doctor in advance? Or should I just contact a funeral home?”
“Daaad…” Song Jia grabbed Song Zhenting’s arm with her both hands and swung it back and forth.
“What did you say…”
“Qin Fen is going to fight with Bae Seong-Joon. I haven’t seen either of them, so I dare not make any assertion.” Song Zhenting leaned his back on the recliner. “But I am sure that even if Qin Fen really defeated Bae Seong-Joon, he would suffer a lot of injuries. Even if he wasn’t injured, so what? Kiddo, do you think our Qilin Sect is the same as Neo Taekwondo? Not to mention those constellation warriors, father’s disciples…”
“Kiddo…” Song Zhenting patted Song Jia’s head. “You should already be aware of how big the gap between Qilin Sect and Neo Taekwondo is, right? And certainly, Bae Seong-Joon had not stopped practicing martial arts these years after leaving the Sacred Martial Hall. Perhaps this great sorrow might help him make another breakthrough.”
The news of Jang Cheon-Hyeok’s death had spread everywhere. Owing to this, Qin Fen and Bae Seong-Joon’s duel had unknowingly garnered even more attention.
While the duel was getting closer and closer, Qin Fen, as before, carried a fishing rod to the beach to fish every day, took a walk under the sun, occasionally called a few friends, or listen to the concert disc from Flying Hearts.
The performing arts road of two girls was getting wider and wider. The soul of heavy metal music lingering around their petite bodies shocked Qin Fen again and again.
Music, like martial dao, had a soul. As the two girls went further and further down the road of music, Qin Fen could feel the resonance from listening to the two.
What surprised Qin Fen the most was the biochemical beast sent by Lin Liqiang. He had always thought that this biochemical beast called God-Demon Body would always sleep in the shape of a huge egg but to his surprise, this God-Demon Body was showing faint movement these days, as if something was going to come out of it.
From the get-go, biochemical beasts had a complete and clear set of tutorials. Almost all the biochemical beasts in the Federation were fused in this way.
However, Lin Liqiang liked to be a maverick. The biochemical beast he had given to Qin Fen was a growing-type biochemical beast. Furthermore, he had broken the iron laws of biochemical beasts.
Since then, Qin Fen really didn’t know how to face and use his own biochemical beast; because even Lin Liqiang, the creator of God-Demon Body, didn’t know how to develop and use this biochemical beast.
In Lin Liqiang’s own words, “When you were going to join the army, we were really short on time. How would I have the time to do more in-depth research? The only thing I know about this thing is that it will be very, very strong! In my opinion, it will become the number one biochemical beast in the Federation! As for how you will achieve it, you should study it slowly.”
“Study it slowly?” Remembering his old friend’s irresponsible words, Qin Fen could only smile wryly. As someone who wasn’t related to the field of the biochemical beast, how could he study this thing just because someone said it? He didn’t even know the direction of his study.
Right then, a familiar ring tone interrupted Qin Fen’s thoughts as Lin Liqiang’s voice came through the phone.
“Old Qin, I have a piece of good news and bad news for you, which one do you want to hear first?”
Listening to the voice over the phone, Qin Fen shook his head and chuckled. Speak of the Devil, I was just thinking of him and he called. I wonder if I think of Brother, would Brother Azure Dragon call me to encourage me?
“Good news.”
“The good news is that I found some strange findings after I studied the specimen you had sent me.”
Qin Fen’s eyebrows twitched as he marveled at his friend. Like martial arts, it wasn’t easy to make a breakthrough in any field, even if one was a genius in his field. It had been over half a year since Lin Liqiang asked for an insect warrior specimen. And he had been working on it till today. Obviously, he had encountered some obstacles. Perhaps this insect warrior may help him uncover these obstacles. As a friend, how could he possibly not be happy for him?
“And with my discovery comes the bad news.” Lin Liqiang’s voice suddenly turned weak. “Do you still remember Young Hades you told me about?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ll tell you an unfortunate piece of news.” Lin Liqiang sighed, again and again. “Although I still have not studied this insect warrior in-depth, I have found a piece of very bad news. That is, this thing has a superpotential to trigger the hidden potentials in humans. Although biochemical beasts also have this ability, it is different from the insect warrior…”
“Sigh! It might be a bit harder to explain it to you!” Lin Liqiang smacked his head. “As a pro, I am a bit confused. In simple terms, you have to be careful of Young Hades. This kind of insect warrior is like a virus. It could invade people’s brains, turn them crazy and make them lose their reasons, turning them into a war machine that only knows how to obey orders. At the same time, it can also stimulate the human body crazily. Just as you had described, I, too, think it also has this effect.”
“If there is anything missing, it’s that its stimulus is absolutely explosive in nature.” Lin Liqiang stared at the rapidly changing data on the screen with a serious look. “The data is very unstable now. Its user may actually explode during the explosive trigger. And if he survives, it will be a big problem. Damn it! The person who designed this thing is a lunatic! An absolute lunatic! It’s absolutely impossible to design this thing perfectly. The designer of this thing had a strong desire to gamble.”
Lin Liqiang’s fingers tapped the virtual keyboard quickly. “Okay, let’s not talk about it anymore. I will study it again. I called you to tell you that if you meet Hades next time, and find him still among the living, you better be careful…”
“Crazy!? Unstable!?” In Qin Fen’s mind appeared Young Hades’ image at the end of the fight, when he had lost his sense in rage.
Ba-dump… ba-dump…
Qin Fen felt as if there was a power in his body that was suddenly beating like a human heart. It was the biochemical beast, God-Demon Body, that egg that had suddenly started beating.
This kind of beating was slightly different from the previous beating. It was not just the beating of the heart. To Qin Fen’s surprise, the egg of God-Demon Body was beating with a faint sense of emotions.
Challenge, unconvinced! Qin Fen found it a little weird. He had never heard of the biochemical beast having any emotions whatsoever. In the development of human society, the role of the biochemical beast had always been that of a tool, pure combat or support tool.
Even though the biochemical beast was a living organism created through human technology, it was just a tool. It possessed a certain degree of life but it wasn’t really a lifeform. It didn’t have a soul or thinking process, it was only a combat tool.
The God-Demon Body’s egg beating was very sudden. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into tens of thousands of fine threads of energy that were a hundred times thinner than human hair and began to spread to every nook and corner of Qin Fen’s body at high speed, as if the CPU was sending messages at high speed, and began to lay weird networks.
