Chapter 127
A multitude of lights gathered and stabbed straight toward Wonrip.
Crack!
Wonrip’s arms instantly turned into blood-red specters.
The blood-red specters seized my Colorless Glass Sword and blocked it.
Thud!
“It’s over.”
Boom-boom-boom!
Wonrip’s power collapsed beneath mine, and he tumbled straight down.
He crashed onto the floor of Bongmyeong Castle.
Behind him, spiderweb-like cracks spread across the ground.
“Die!”
I drove the Colorless Glass Sword and the Formless Sword down with every ounce of strength I possessed.
Boom!
That was when his death was right before my eyes.
Kuguk, kuguguk…
‘This… is…’
My strength began to return.
The energy that had been blocked at the Foundation Establishment level surged back to Core Formation.
Countless Core Formation cultivators trapped around us began to feel their own power awakening as well.
And that meant…
‘The formation of Bongmyeong Castle…!’
Kuguguguk!
Wonrip again spewed out Nascent Soul remnant power and pushed my sword aside with the hand still gripping the Colorless Glass Sword.
‘Why…!? It shouldn’t be possible yet…!?’
I gritted my teeth and pressed down with all my might, but I still didn’t understand.
Why?
Boom!
And at last, the Colorless Glass Sword flew away.
Wonrip stood up from the floor.
Huff…
He breathed heavily.
“I admit it. After hundreds of years, I finally got to fight someone who could trade blows with me. That last exchange really was a close call.”
He turned his head to one side.
There, the head of the Baek Clan, Baekcheon, was also gasping for breath.
“I… I used the secret technique I found in the Jirun Sect ruins to barely break the formation faster than expected.”
“Indeed. Your contribution is great. But… your family’s children also committed a great sin.”
“P-please… mercy…”
Thud!
The moment Wonrip snapped his fingers, Baekcheon and the other traitors collapsed to the ground and began to scream.
“Kyaaaaaaaak!”
“Aaaaah!”
“Uaaaak!”
‘Only the useless ones who just stared blankly when their master was in danger… They’re all worthless. Even the Baek Clan bastards who cleaned up their own filth like that are useful for nothing.’
I furrowed my brow at the familiar aura coming from the traitors’ formation flags.
The Ohaeng Hyeoljubeon.
‘It was sealed since two hundred years ago, so no one could resist it.’
Thud!
Wonrip snapped his fingers again, and the screams slowly faded.
“Good. Anyway, as I said earlier, I’ll handle the distribution of rewards later. Right now, there’s something far more important than that.”
He looked at me.
“The ones who drove me this far… Let’s finish these guys off first.”
I faced him and smiled.
“How amusing. Why don’t you check your own condition first?”
Wonrip had recovered Nascent Soul power, but the pressure he gave off was nothing like before.
He had clearly overexerted himself fighting me.
Compared to the moment he showed his full Core Formation peak power, the situation was completely different.
His defensive treasure was shattered by thunder.
The ghost-devils and blood-ghost kings of the same realm were all over Bongmyeong Castle.
What remained were his seventeen hidden treasures, the Blood Thunder Blade, the Blood Spear, and the Red Crystal Skull Staff.
His combat strength was steadily declining.
Kuguguguk!
Also, since the cultivators of Jirun Sect had dropped to Foundation Establishment, the other Core Formation masters trapped inside his laws were pulling power to break free from the black iron chains.
There were many traitors, but in terms of numbers alone, we had far more.
Moreover, I could see that they hadn’t yet overcome the backlash of curses or thunder.
“Do you really think you can defeat us?”
At my sharp question, Wonrip laughed.
“Hehe, excellent spirit. No matter how hard you try to break me, I won’t break… and when I reached Core Formation, I endured a thousand years, and even inside the Bongmyeong Castle formation I display Core Formation peak power.”
He reached out to me.
“Won’t you become my blood slave? It’s just a blood slave, but I’ll treat you like a disciple.”
I remained silent and assumed a ready stance.
“Tsk, foolish.”
He spread both arms wide.
I gripped my sword and gathered my qi.
Whoosh!
No words were needed.
I charged straight at him and slammed the Formless Sword into him.
But suddenly, the Blood Thunder Blade was in his hand.
“Howl, Blood Wind Blade.”
Boom-boom-boom!
The blood wind roared and pushed me away.
The moment it touched my skin, I felt my blood boiling.
Boom!
I couldn’t hold on and flew backward.
Either way…
He had recovered Nascent Soul power.
But I wasn’t particularly disappointed.
‘I can still win!’
His power was clearly weaker than it had been at first glance.
If it was only that weak, I could still repel it!
“Everyone! This monster is clearly much weaker than before! If we combine our powers, we can definitely win!!”
Crash, clang-clang!
Cheongmun Jung-jin and the other Core Formation cultivators who had recovered their full strength rose from the ground.
“O-older brother…”
“Jirun Yeoncheon!!! You dare!!!”
“N-no!”
The tide of battle began to turn.
Baekcheon had broken Bongmyeong Castle’s formation to save Wonrip, but it was because of that that our coalition regained their strength.
I took out the Transmission Talisman and contacted Song Jin and Seo Ran who were waiting.
“We’re almost done. Just come over.”
Wee-eeng!
Before the battle even started, years ago when Song Jin visited Bongmyeong Castle, he gave me a ghost he had sealed.
It woke up inside my arms and peeked its head out.
That little ghost surveyed the situation and was transmitting the battlefield to the two of them.
‘I’ve already contacted them. All that’s left is…’
I just had to keep pushing him until they arrived!
At that moment…
“Gather your power, Blood Wind Blade.”
Wee-eeng!
Wonrip floated his Blood Thunder Blade into the air.
His main treasure began to gather qi.
And…
“No! Older brother, let me go for a second! Please!”
Jirun Yeoncheon and several traitors struggled.
Wonrip looked down at them and said,
“As I originally proposed, since you didn’t perfectly suppress them, I won’t keep my promise to spare them either, right…?”
Jirun Yeoncheon and several traitors screamed.
“Blood Wood Daoist! Please have mercy! Don’t kill the Cheongmun Clan!”
“Blood Wood Daoist! We did our best! Please, spare us!”
“The original agreement wasn’t like that. If you had properly suppressed them beforehand, there would be no need for this. But it’s too late.”
And…
Whoosh!
From the black castle, something red flew in.
Chills ran down my spine.
My reason told me to rush over and cut off Wonrip’s head right now.
But my instincts as a warrior stopped me.
If I kill him now, he’ll die a meaningless death.
Boom!
The red object landed right beside Wonrip.
It was…
A woman or man, whose gender was unclear, wearing the same clothes as Wonrip.
I couldn’t tell. He had jet-black hair as black as obsidian and skin as pale and smooth as a corpse.
And when I saw that figure, I trembled.
‘That’s…’
At the very end of my previous life…
Back then, Wonrip didn’t have white hair or wrinkled skin or a small body like he did now.
Clearly, the Wonrip of that time…
“had this body!”
“Anyway, you fought well. You even made me pull out the hidden Blood Body.”
Kuguguguguk!
The young Wonrip he mentioned, the Blood Body, raised his momentum.
Zzzzt, zzzzt…
‘Insane…’
That guy also possessed the peak power of early Nascent Soul.
And…
Uuuung!
Wonrip’s true body.
From the center of the true body’s forehead, a small baby emerged.
The grotesque baby with countless hands, eyes, and mouths all over its body that I had seen before.
The main body of the Primordial Spirit!
The baby let out an eerie laugh and crawled into the forehead of the Blood Body standing right beside Wonrip.
And…
Swaaaaa—
Darkness as black as the true body of Wonrip covered the Blood Body.
A translucent mask and dark clouds covered his face.
And only then did Wonrip return to the same form I had seen in my previous life.
“Huu, good.”
Crunch!
The new body grabbed the head of his old, withered body.
And…
Slurp, slurp, slurp!
He drank his old body as is.
The old body turned into a handful of blood fog and was sucked into his hand.
Kuguguguguk!
His training, which had been at the peak of early Nascent Soul, surged back to the peak of middle Nascent Soul.
“Surprised? This Blood Body of mine. After my senior Heavenly Persons couldn’t defeat me, I created a new body to rule this world for another thousand years. In two hundred years, I increased my lifespan with pure Zhongyuan Zhenqi, and not only did I perfect Blood Demon Blood Light and Blood Destruction Blood Forest, but I also mastered every one of my main techniques to their extremes. Furthermore…”
He grinned with his mouth stretched wide and reached toward the treasure floating in the air.
“I also refined the technique I stole from the Sea Dragon King for two hundred years. Watch closely what kind of power the newly refined treasure and the Sea Dragon King’s technique will pull out…!!”
Kuguguguguk!
Blood wind began to swirl around Wonrip.
He grabbed the Blood Thunder Blade he had been gathering and swung it.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Wonrip’s voice shook the entire Bongmyeong Castle.
“I will show you the power of the Blood Wind True Blood Change!”
Kuguguguk!
A blood dragon rose and engulfed the first floor of Bongmyeong Castle.
I clenched my teeth and held on, slicing through the wind with the Formless Sword.
But the other cultivators couldn’t hold on, and countless Core Formation masters were swept away by the wind.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The entire first floor of Bongmyeong Castle was flooded with blood wind.
Wonrip’s single blow swept everything in all directions.
I gritted my teeth and endured the strike.
After how long…
Who-oooo—
The wind finally died down.
What remained in the hall were only a few exceptionally strong ones among the clan heads or Core Formation elders.
I looked around.
The Baek Clan’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
Kuguguguk—
Where Wonrip’s blood wind had struck, blood clouds began to rise.
The blood clouds flowed toward Wonrip.
“As expected, the strongest. The compatibility between Blood Wind True Blood Change and Blood Demon Blood Light…”
Uduk, ududuk!
On Wonrip’s forehead, a small blood antler-like protrusion grew.
Prududuk…
From somewhere, the sound of grinding teeth echoed.
Cheongmun Jung-jin was holding the corpse of Jirun Yeoncheon, who had been split in half.
“Why… did you kill even your own allies so cruelly…?”
“I simply distinguished between those who truly kept loyalty to me and those who served me with ulterior motives.”
He said,
“I only killed those who brazenly begged to spare the defeated. Killing or sparing the defeated is my choice as your lord. They seemed arrogant.”
He laughed at us.
“Indeed. You must feel good hiding behind women and receiving protection. Save your useless words.
In this world, there is no such thing as allies.”
Kii-eeng!
From his arms, the familiar formation flags appeared.
The red formation flags flew across the entire Bongmyeong Castle and unfolded.
Flash!
And…
The first floor of Bongmyeong Castle collapsed, and the second and first floors merged.
He continued,
“Isn’t it true that only the cruel and unfeeling can survive in the world of cultivators? When the Sea Dragon King told me to kill my own kin, and I was about to receive his mercy, I laughed inside. What a fool. What kind of weak-heartedness is it to show mercy even to enemies!”
Kuguguguk!
His formations continued to stretch into the air like before and were crumbling Bongmyeong Castle’s layers.
I gritted my teeth and tried to approach him, but the powerful blood wind surrounding him was impossible to break through.
Around Wonrip, an even stronger blood wind roared.
“I not only stole his three wishes and left him with a faint wound, but I also succeeded in stealing the Sea Dragon King’s technique, the Blood Wind True Blood Change. I used his mercy, the sympathy of strong beings, the awe and fear of the weak, and the blood and lives of fools to climb here!
Kuguguguk!
Wonrip’s consciousness was compressed and took on the form of a Sea Dragon race.
At the same time, an even stronger Sea Dragon-like aura poured from him.
Kwa-kwa-kwa!
By now, the layers of Bongmyeong Castle had almost all collapsed, and only the seventh floor remained.
“I refined this Blood Body with what I stole and climbed here! Isn’t it the truth of this world that the one who steals the most and makes others submit wins? In this world, there are no allies! The only ones who exist are those who steal a lot and submit, and those who steal less and are submitted to!”
He laughed wildly and raised his Blood Thunder Blade again.
Clang-clang-clang!
His formation flags were planted into the ceiling of the last floor of Bongmyeong Castle, the seventh floor.
If those fell, the Master of Liberation would appear.
“Die, you fools!”
And…
Kii-eeng!
Outside Bongmyeong Castle, in empty space, ghost mist began to gather.
Through the Transmission Talisman, a familiar voice came.
“Sorry. It took a little time to prepare the transmission function of the Seopmyeong Ship. And after talking with Ran, I decided to send him instead of going myself.”
Kuguguguguk!
From inside the ghost mist, a pale hand reached out.
A gloomy ghost energy flowed from the air.
“The guy saw the situation and said he could handle it himself. Take care of Ran well.”
With those words, Song Jin closed the Transmission Talisman.
Whoosh!
Immediately after…
From the ghost mist, a familiar human figure emerged.
Half-human, half-dragon.
Now wearing the black devil energy unique to Black Ghost Valley, not the blue robe of the Sea Dragon race.
And Seo Ran, who had reached middle Core Formation in two hundred years, bowed to us.
“Hello, seniors. It’s been a while, senior Seo. And the name Hongbeom has reached your ears, senior Wonrip.”
Wonrip, who had been about to swing his Blood Thunder Blade, stared at Seo Ran and blood light shot from his eyes.
“Ho… you are…!”
“I am Seo Ran, the mixed-blood of the Sea Dragon race and the disciple of the great Qing Qing Ghost Valley.”
“Ha, haha! Hahaha!”
Wonrip burst into laughter.
“The blood of the Sea Dragon King refined by Blood Wind True Blood Change is speaking. You weren’t the son of the king?”
“I am ashamed, but I am indeed the king’s descendant.”
“Indeed, good. You. Won’t you become my disciple?”
Wonrip looked at Seo Ran with a twisted expression.
Seo Ran briefly met his gaze, then spoke.
“First, there are three major misconceptions about senior Won. I would like to clarify them.”
“Ho, speak then.”
“First, I already have a master, so I cannot become your disciple.”
Seo Ran explained, raising one finger at a time.
“Second, I have come to hate those who sacrifice others without a second thought, like you. I came here today to help senior Seo Eun-hyun kill you.”
Wonrip held the Blood Thunder Blade toward Seo Ran as if he were going to die from laughter.
“Third.”
And Seo Ran smirked and raised the third finger.
“The real name of the technique you think you stole from the king is not Blood Wind True Blood Change.”
Snap!
Seo Ran snapped his finger and bent all three fingers at once.
Kuguguguguk!
And Wonrip, who was about to swing the Blood Thunder Blade, fell to his knees toward Seo Ran.
[…? What…?]
“The real name is Blood Wind Blood Clan Change. You seem to think you stole it from the king and used his mercy…”
Seo Ran raised his ghost energy.
Wonrip looked at his own knees as if he couldn’t understand.
“Well… I think it’s more plausible that the king deliberately pretended to pass it to you. It’s pitiful that even I didn’t realize I was the king’s puppet, senior Wonrip.”
[W-what… is this…?]
That was right.
Wonrip had mistaken himself for using Seo Hyul’s goodwill, but he had unconsciously been playing in Seo Hyul’s hands.
“You Sea Dragon bastard! What do you think you’re doing to the Blood Wood Daoist!”
The head of the Makri Clan, Makri Hwangcheon, and members of the Makri Clan rushed toward Wonrip.
They were the ones who had escaped Wonrip’s sudden execution, like Jirun Yeoncheon.
But…
Seo Ran looked at them with cold eyes.
“Shut up, you livestock. Do you think you can talk to me? If the Sea Dragon race hadn’t been defeated, you would have been eaten alive underground just to avoid the eyes of the Sea Dragon race…”
“U-ugh…!”
At Seo Ran’s command, Makri Hwangcheon and the Makri Clan members suddenly couldn’t speak and blocked the other traitors.
Seo Ran’s gaze now reached the Eastern Warlords and their subordinates who were fleeing far away.
“I thought all the livestock who fled the Makri Clan had gathered here. There were others too. Where are you going? Come back here and obey the words of the king’s son, Seo Ran!”
“Kuuuueh!”
The Warlord who had stolen the Seopmyeong Ship’s cannon from Manriminrap and brought it to Wonrip fell to the ground and crawled at Seo Ran’s words.
[U… ooooooo!!!]
Uduk, ududuk… uduk!
And…
Under Seo Ran’s suppression, Wonrip, who had been holding back Nascent Soul power, began to rise.
[Pr… imor… dial… spirit… power… you… mock…!!]
He twisted and rose, resisting Seo Ran’s command.
His power was still strong, but more than half of it seemed to be used to resist Seo Ran.
“If he hadn’t switched to the body that had learned Blood Wind Blood Clan Change with the blood of the Sea Dragon race, there would have been no way even for me. But like this, it’s actually easier.”
Seo Ran smiled at me.
“Because there is a difference in fundamental training, we can’t completely capture him, but we can meaningfully interfere. Senior, do it.”
I nodded with Seo Ran’s smile.
Why now did I finally understand why Seo Hyul had wanted to kill Seo Ran so viciously.
I understood now.
Wonrip would have eventually mastered the Blood Wind True Blood Change technique that used Seo Hyul’s blood.
And in that case, the remaining king’s son Seo Ran would have become a weakness for Wonrip’s very existence.