1 Prologue (part 1)

It was a beautiful noon,

The sun was shining brightly in the sky as it casts its warmth, bringing life to whatever it embraced. Whether it be the forests, mountains, or cities, everything under heaven and earth started to brim with life as the day unfolded. Squirrels ran along the trees playing around with their kin, while birds sang a melodious tune in the sky as they flew toward the north. The white snow covering the lands had melted away as flowers started to bloom along the lush green grass.

The harsh everlasting winter has come to an end, and the long-waited spring has finally arrived. However, Hubei was not greeted by the warmth of a new year...

"GAHHH!!"

"DAMN THIEF, GET BACK OVER HERE!"

"QUICK, STOP HIM!"

"QUIETLY HAND BACK OUR TREASURE AND WE SHALL GIVE YOU A QUICK DEATH!!"

"GIVE UP, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU RESISTED, YOU CANNOT WITHSTAND THE WRATH OF OUR MURIM ALLIANCE FOREVER!!"

Dozens of men rush forward sending out a flurry of attacks while emitting terrifying auras. Among them, some appeared youthful and muscular, while others appeared old and frail. Some looked soft and elegant wielding a long blade, while some were filled with numerous scars all over their muscular bodies as they swung their fist around with an unstoppable force. Yet despite their stark differences, every single movement they made sent huge gales of wind everywhere throughout the battlefield.

These were all elders hailing from all sorts of high-ranking clans, individuals who had gone through countless battles throughout their lifetimes and had attained a formidable strength that left many in awe. 

Yet, here they struggle to defeat a single man in a black robe...

"Haha... Is that all you have?" muttered the man with a smile.

He stood in the middle of the barren battlefield, standing at an average height with a lean build. Yet, the terrifying aura he was giving out was enough to suffocate everyone currently present.

His long black hair blew with the wind like a war flag and his simple black robe was still clean even after hours of constant fighting. His rugged face was bright and arrogant, displaying his absolute pride and confidence in facing all kinds of hurdles imaginable. Despite being surrounded by dozens of powerful martial artists, his expression was extremely calm if not playful, as if he were simply facing a bunch of ants.

He is Jo Do-Yoon, the Divine Thief who has struck fear into the heart of the entire Murim world with his formidable martial skills and his audacious theft of countless martial arts techniques from every sect imaginable.

"HMPH!"

In front of dozens of attacks at once, he calmly steps forward. His left hand reached out to his left side to grab his blade. The moment he grabbed his blade handle, a terrifying amount of Qi immediately burst out of the sheath like a raging flame.

Jo Do-Yoon immediately slashed forward as a massive blade wave made of dense Qi was shot, parrying all dozens of the powerful attacks combined!

BOOM!!

"AARGH!!"

"UGH!!"

"ACK!!"

All the elders were immediately flung backward while spitting out a mouthful of blood. Most of their arms got twisted after blocking Jo Do-Yoon's powerful blade wave, but all of them received severe internal injuries. Even after giving it their all, they simply cannot land a scratch on this black-robed man!

"Damn it, h-he's too strong! How did this man manage to obtain this level of strength in just ten years!?"

"Ugh... He must have taken some kind of miraculous elixir! Damn it... I hate to admit it, but he is definitely more powerful than all of us combined."

"W-We can't just keep getting pushed back like this! There's no way he could've reached the Unrestrained Realm!"

"Quit denying it, this is definitely the power of an Unrestrained Realm martial artist! A realm that has only been obtained by the ten kings of Murim... It was a mistake to ambush him in the first place...!"

Then, a clear voice interrupted their short conversation...

Tut tut tut!

"Are you all done yapping around!?" Jo Do-Yoon exclaimed impatiently.

Suddenly his figure disappeared in the distance and reappeared right behind them!

"Not good, dodge, brothers!!" shouted one of them with an alarmed voice. He dashed as fast as he could, reaching his hand out to his comrades in an attempt to save them, but it was too late.

"NO!!"

SHIIIING!!

All of a sudden, eight of them were immediately split in half by a horizontal slash. The slash cleanly cut through their bodies as if their hardened bones and muscles were nothing but thin paper. And with a finisher, he caught their heads with his hands and crushed them brutally.

Blood spurts along the battlefield, dying the already red plains with even more blood, turning what once was supposed to be a beautiful field into a ruin.

Seeing their comrades brutally killed in front of them, they immediately switched plans and instinctively backed away as an expression of horror was present on their faces.

"N-Noo..."

Jo Do-Yoon however, didn't give them any time to react, he continued to approach the rest...

WHOOOSHH!

He immediately marched like an unstoppable war horse as the elders felt the wind current around the whole battlefield shift. Thick red Qi flowed endlessly from his dantian to his arms like a raging river before going into his blade, coating it with an ominous light. As soon as he arrived near the elders, he stopped briefly,

Absolute Blade Technique, 3rd Move, Twenty Gales of War!!

Jo Do-Yoon executed dozens of moves, swinging his blade around as blade waves were shot in a circular motion around him. The moves were executed so fast that not a single person could catch a single glimpse of it. All the elders could do was simply stare with wide eyes as their lives flashed before their eyes!

SHIIIIIIIINNGGG!!

A large tornado of blade waves were formed, cutting everything in its path. Each blade wave continued to slice through everything for dozens of meters ahead while the tornado continued to expand until it reached four stories tall. The ground beneath cracked as the nearby rocks and trees were cut like butter. Every single person near Jo Do-Yoon was turned into hundreds of meat slices!

After the tornado dissipated, Jo Do-Yoon's figure was seen falling from the sky before landing on the ground with a smile on his face. The dust from the destruction around him dissipated while his whole body was now bathed in blood and meat fragments. It was as if a death god had descended into the land.

'Hm hm! It really is enjoyable to let out your true power once in a while! But it seems like I put in a bit too much power. Tch! Now there's a bunch of blood staining my body...' he complained in his mind, wiping some dust and meat fragments from his clothes. 

He then stood back up and let out a relieved sigh. Looking around, he could still sense many other martial artists on their way towards him, so much so that it felt like a whole army. The thick scent of blood around is driving him mad for more killing, but he restrains himself. Although he could clearly overpower his enemies, he still preferred to be cautious. Jo Do-Yoon doubts this is the best that the Murim Alliance could do...

The truth was, they were all sent here by the order of the Murim Alliance, an organization consisting of all the strongest Martial Artists of the justice faction to take him down and execute him. This is all because two weeks ago, he had stolen the most precious treasure of the Murim Alliance, the Divine Pearl!

Jo Do-Yoon then glanced toward his sleeves, where he was currently hiding the precious seed-sized pearl. Despite its small size and how deep it was hidden inside his sleeve, its radiance still shone through the fabric like a small star. The divine aura around it leaked through its surroundings, bringing life to everything around it.

But even if this object looked quite mystical and was deemed a priceless treasure, Jo Do-Yoon instead held a strong grudge and contempt toward it.

Just looking at this goddamned object made him wince, as he started to recall how much trouble this thing made him go through!

'Urgh... ever since I stole this Divine Pearl, the Murim Alliance has been tracking me down and sending a bunch of idiots to ambush me for weeks nonstop... I didn't even get to eat and drink! I didn't even get to sleep for even a minute! All I have been doing is just fight and fight and then FIGHT!!'

His brows subconsciously twitched as annoyance filled his mind. His heart was filled with regret. What in the world was he thinking back then?? He shouldn't have attempted to steal this Divine Pearl in the first place!

At this time, traces of sadness could be seen in his eyes as he began reflecting on himself.

'Or maybe I shouldn't have started stealing at all...'

As regret completely filled his heart, he started to question why he did all of this in the first place. He looked at his rough hands that were drenched in blood. These hands had committed countless killings and have taken so many lives. This road that he has gone down was a complete misery through and through.

Memories of his life immediately flashed before his eyes. It all began years ago when Jo Do-Yoon first arrived in this world...