The Regressor of Mount Hua-Chapter 425. The Return of the Dark Heavens Association (2)

Chapter 425. The Return of the Dark Heavens Association (2)

The hole in his neck closed up, flesh filling in seamlessly. His right hand and side followed shortly after.

Regression.

It would have been ideal to recover from these injuries with the Divine Pill of the Au Co, but even with enhanced natural recovery, returning to normal in an instant, not over days, but in the blink of an eye, was impossible unless it was done through a Manifestation of One’s Path.

“...”

Zhou Xuchuan had been pushing past the side effects, and part of him feared that something might eventually go wrong.

He slowly clenched his fist to be sure. There seemed to be no issues.

The doors to his mind, heart, and under his navel opened. Vital Qi overflowed from his true dantian, formed of the upper, middle, and lower dantians.

This wasn't a qi reserve built up from the Great Nature or an elixir. This was the energy that people, or living beings, inherently possessed.

The Dark Heavens Association Lord noticed Zhou Xuchuan’s changed aura.

About a year ago, he had encountered a similar one through another Martial Alliance master.

“Innate True Qi.”

Zhou Xuchuan neither confirmed nor denied it.

“Did you learn this from Jing Bai?”

The source of life, Innate True Qi, wasn’t something one could simply wield at will, not even Absolute Masters in the Coruscant Realm.

However, the Juvenile Fist Emperor Jing Bai had harnessed it through sheer will, as if he was mocking its sacredness. The Dark Heavens Association Lord had also asked him how at the time, but he never got an answer and just ended up killing him.

“How could that be?"

Zhou Xuchuan frowned, genuinely offended.

“There’s nothing worth learning from that crazy old man.”

Even after hearing about his death, Zhou Xuchuan couldn't let go of his resentment toward Jing Bai.

Even though the man later sacrificed himself, in the end, the tragedy that unfolded could have been avoided. It had all happened because of his blind obsession with ideals.

“I learned a few things from my trip to the North Sea.”

Leng Yuefei had allowed Zhou Xuchuan to enter the Treasury of the Ice Palace in exchange for his help. And among them, she promised to give three, no, four, secret martial arts.

The first was the Power Strike Fist, the second was the Heavy Plain Step, the third was the Resonant Palm, and the last was the martial art called the True Yuan Flame (眞元燔).[1]

A martial art that burns the True Yuan, the Innate True Qi of the human body.

The people of the North Sea had suffered from the cold throughout their history.

They had tried all sorts of means to survive the cold, one of them being burning one's own Innate True Qi to preserve one's body temperature and stamina.

However, considering its intended purpose, True Yuan Flame was a failure.

No one could predict the outcome of consuming not just any qi, but one's Innate True Qi, the True Yuan.

The color of Zhou Xuchuan's hair turned pure white as if it were proof of that unknown outcome.

“Zhou Xuchuan. Amazing. Truly, amazing.”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord was speechless. In his entire life, he had never been so surprised.

"Someone who isn't even thirty, no, twenty five, has established and manifested his Path. Where could you find a greater version of Opposing Heaven than this?"

It was more than amazement or surprise. There was truly no one who had Opposed Heaven the way Zhou Xuchuan had.

It wasn’t a lie, but pure sincerity.

He had completely disregarded the common sense of martial arts shaped by mankind, as well as the laws that governed the world.

“Zhou Xuchuan, what kind of life have you lived?”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord scanned Zhou Xuchuan’s neck, side, and arms.

“What else have you lost?”

“...”

“What do you regret so much that you want to turn back time?”

The bits of flesh that should have been scattered around his feet were gone.

It wasn’t healing. It was more than that. It was as if time itself had turned backward, restoring what had once been severed.

“Zhou Xuchuan, I know you've been through many things in the past, but you haven't truly lost anyone precious to you, have you?”

A puzzled expression crept across the Association Lord’s face.

“Starting with Liu Zhengmu, whom you regarded as your father, you haven't lost a single person you would have considered precious. Or, is it that you miss your parents, whose faces you don't even remember?"

Dark Heavens Association Lord thought deeply about what Zhou Xuchuan was trying to turn back time for, but he couldn't understand it at all.

It wasn't that his parents who had given birth to him weren't important, but that he really could only remember seeing them for four or five years at most. That wouldn't have been enough to serve as a foundation for his Path.

Even You Riwen, the previous Sect Master, or the Martial Alliance Leader Nangong Weiwu weren't enough. Even if they had passed, his relationship with them wasn't significant enough to serve as his foundation.

“What exactly did you lose?”

“Everything," Zhou Xuchuan answered.

“This old man lost his parents whose faces he couldn't even remember, his other parents who were not related by blood, his master, and everyone else as well, Association Lord.”[2]

Maybe it was because of his mood, but Zhou Xuchuan felt like an old man again.

"Maybe it wasn't something that I lost. After all, they were all things that were never mine in the first place, so what did I have to lose? I didn't have the passion to fight for my beliefs, nor the courage to stand with them. That was why I had regretted everything, that was why I wanted to turn it all back."

“You...”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord's eyes widened.

“Who are you?”

It was different from the question just earlier.

It was as if he was asking if the man before him really was Zhou Xuchuan.

"I'm not someone important enough to give you my name, Number One Under the Heavens."

Zhou Xuchuan slowly tightened his grip on his sword.

“This old man is not a Sword God, and he’s definitely not a hero.”

His white hair fluttered in the wind.

“Just a regular person you can see anywhere, who...”

He raised his sword and aimed it at the Dark Heavens Association Lord.

“Regrets what happened in the past.”

He bent his knees slightly...

“And follows someone’s back”

He shouted at the top of his lungs.

“I’m just a hard worker!”

Crack!

The ground beneath him caved in. He must have exerted an incredible amount of force, the crater beneath him was deep.

“I'm coming, Dark Heavens Association Lord!”

Boom!

Zhou Xuchuan shot forward.

“Come with everything you've got!" the Dark Heavens Association Lord shouted back.

Zhou Xuchuan's body felt weightless, like it could fly. His eyelids, once heavy as stone, were wide open now, with no sign of closing.

At this moment, Zhou Xuchuan’s physical ability entered a realm he had never experienced before with the help of his Innate True Qi.

"AHHHH!!"

When he came to his senses, the Dark Heavens Association Lord was already in front of him.

He couldn’t even perceive how fast he had moved or how much power he had used, but he didn’t care. He shut off his senses.

He let his Innate True Qi and body lead him.

He let out a cry as he exhaled the breath he had taken in. From the purple flash that filled his vision, a sword shot out.

“Violet Haze!"

The Dark Heavens Association Lord didn't move even after seeing Zhou Xuchuan.

It wasn't because he was scared. Rather, he was trying to counterattack.

How ridiculous.

A cold smile spread across his lips.

Even if he had followed me to the Extremity Realm, it's impossible for him to have adapted so quickly. Most importantly, who would fall for such an obvious attack?

The Violet Haze Dawnbreaker wasn't bad as a first strike.

In fact, considering Zhou Xuchuan was still unfamiliar with his new power, choosing a simple stab was the right call.

Evade the sword strike with minimal movement. After that, use Opposing Heaven and enter the Extremity Realm to attack from behind...

At that moment, the Dark Heavens Association Lord’s thoughts stopped.

Pat.

The sword that had shown tremendous momentum as if it could split anything fell down like a puppet whose strings had snapped.

The strength Zhou Xuchuan had just exerted was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t even thrown. Zhou Xuchuan had just let go of the sword handle.

Instead, he could feel Zhou Xuchuan digging into his arms.

Thud.

The swordsman stepped forward with force, twisting his waist halfway. A pleasant tension pulled at his core.

Purple veins swelled along his arms. Tendons coiled like ropes beneath his skin.

All his senses were focused, and he couldn’t tell what was going on around him. He focused his senses on just one thing.

His muscles didn’t loosen. Instead, they drew inward, compressing his strength, as if he were physically shrinking.

His fingers curled. His fist, with the thumb wrapped tightly over his knuckles, surged forward with fierce momentum.

"Oh, fu—"

BANG!

The extremity of striking, the Power Strike Fist, struck the Dark Heavens Association Lord.

The moment his fist collided with the Association Lord's stomach, a loud sound rang out, as if the heavens and the earth had collapsed.

A wave of shock struck from the point of the initial collision.

From the navel, the shock spread to the heart, then surged through the entire body along the blood vessels, striking with force again and again.

“Cough!”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord spat blood. The pieces of internal organs that had ruptured from the inside came out mixed with the blood.

It should have ended there, however, Zhou Xuchuan wasn't relieved at all.

He had no time to catch his breath. He had no time to think. He went straight for the next strike.

His left fist was still touching the Dark Heavens Association Lord’s chest. His legs were planted like iron pillars in the ground.

Creak.

His neck twisted like a towel being wrung dry.

Then his waist snapped back into place just as his right palm, drawn back with force, slammed into the Association Lord’s chest.

Resonant Palm!

BANG!!!!

The Gui Thunder's palm technique was unleashed once again in the Central Plains.

A different kind of Grafting and Reflection from the Taiji Sword had wreaked havoc on the insides of the Dark Heavens Association Lord’s body.

The resonance that started from the surface of Zhou Xuchuan's palm spread to every corner of the Association Lord's body and ruined his qi circulation.

“How dare you!”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord’s eyes and voice trembled with rage.

He never could have expected such an absurd attack would land on him.

The Dark Heavens Association Lord wasn't careless.

Zhou Xuchuan’s title was the Sword God. Moreover, he had only been using swords up until now.

Who could have expected that he would have given up his foundational martial art in a showdown between Absolute Masters, where even the slightest margin was important?

"ZHOU! XU! CHUAN!" the Dark Heavens Association Lord roared.

BOOM!

He stomped his feet with his rage and the ground buckled violently beneath him.

Thwip!

Stone shards flew through the air. One sharp fragment grazed his cheek like a blade.

Zhou Xuchuan couldn't overcome the shockwave from the Dark Heavens Association Lord and had to step back regretfully.

It was good that he had landed a direct hit using the Power Strike Fist and the Resonant Palm, but due to the nature of the Ten Thousand Convergence Art, he couldn't fully unleash its power.

He was left with regret that he couldn't finish the battle, but he let it go. It didn't matter now.

"Fine!"

Pfft!

Blood vessels behind the Association Lord’s black pupils burst.

"No matter what happens, I'm going to kill you, you brat!!"

So far, the Association Lord had been using Opposing Heaven in short bursts, breaking time into fragments because the side effects were as severe as the power was strong.

If it hadn't been for that, he would have activated it not only when moving, evading, or making a fatal blow, but at all times.

"RAH!!!"

It was impossible to tell if it was someone’s shout. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

It was impossible to tell if it was someone’s voice.

The two absolute masters simultaneously flew toward each other.

Zhou Xuchuan casually dragged the sword he had dropped carelessly back into his hand using Spatial Manipulation and ran at a speed that wasn't inferior to the Dark Heavens Association Lord.

The sound of footsteps pounding the earth or slicing through the wind no longer existed in a space where human perception could reach.

When one closed their eyes and opened them, they disappeared and reappeared. It seemed like the two weren't just moving quickly, but rather crossing space.

From left to right, from right to left. From back to front.

They reached the midpoint between the between of the between.

At the moment of their long-awaited contact, the Dark Heavens Association Lord vanished like fog and suddenly appeared behind Zhou Xuchuan.

“Where are you looking?”

The Dark Heavens Association Lord laughed cruelly.

As if unaware that his back was wide open, the hero of the Righteous Faction stared forward like an idiot, his back clearly exposed.

"Even if you gain power that violates the laws of heaven and earth, if you don’t reach me in the end, it’s meaningless!”

Shing!!

It was too late to turn around. No, maybe Zhou Xuchuan hadn’t even realized that his back had been exposed.

The smile on the Association Lord's lips grew even deeper. He was filled with joy as he imagined the sight that lay ahead.

However, it didn’t take long for that joy to turn into shock and disbelief.

Clang!!

Iron clashed with iron. Sword clashed with sword.

His sword trembled from the impact. A strange sensation, both hot and cold at the same time, surged through his hand. The instant he felt the chill down his spine and the jolt to his mind, he understood what had happened.

"Just what the hell happened..."

It was something that happened so suddenly.

He was clearly looking at Zhou Xuchuan's back. But then, as if the scene had suddenly changed, Zhou Xuchuan appeared in front of him.

Zhou Xuchuan hadn't turned around to counterattack.

No, the Dark Heavens Association Lord had appeared to face Zhou Xuchuan.

"If you can't reach it, then just make it reachable."

Zhou Xuchuan smiled coldly and lowered his gaze.

The Dark Heavens Association Lord unconsciously followed the swordsman's gaze and froze.

For a moment, he thought time had reversed.

However, something was strange.

The place he was standing on was the very ground he had just broken with his feet while shouting in anger.

"Since you went against the rules, I tried doing that, too," Zhou Xuchuan whispered in a low voice.

His Manifestation of One's Path had expanded through his Innate True Qi.

To something that affected not only himself, but also others.

The Dark Heavens Association Lord had returned back to where he had been before he had leaped.

“Welcome to this regression, Dark Heavens Association Lord.”

1. To be specific, it means to Burn the True Yuan. However, that's not a name, so we modified it a bit. Also, a fun fact, the word Burn here (Specifically to Roast, to burn up) is 번, or Beon, so literally burn lmao. ☜

2. Remember, we go back to calling him old man when he starts talking like one. ☜