Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: Ordinary Wrath
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Wi Seong-cheon had never considered himself particularly righteous. Chivalry, conscience, things like that. They were the sort of virtues the righteous martial world demanded as a matter of course, and he'd received steady instruction on them in classes at the Heavenly Origin Academy.
Like any other student, Wi Seong-cheon had always found those lessons boring. It was nothing out of the ordinary.
Just as he didn't see himself as especially righteous, Wi Seong-cheon didn't think of himself as a villain either. If anything, his sense of justice and conscience were perfectly average.
His emotions right now were average, too.
Setting aside the chivalry a righteous sect martial artist ought to possess, he was simply angry as a human being at the horrific scene before his eyes.
He had no thought of showing mercy. Any hesitation he'd felt before arriving here had vanished without a trace.
Strangers with no connection to him whatsoever. He felt no guilt over them, but watching these bastards commit such atrocities and then cackle with laughter...
A perfectly natural fury, nothing like chivalry, welled up inside him.
He didn't charge in recklessly. Rage urged him on, but his reason remained ice-cold.
Before the nearest bastard could even assume a stance, Wi Seong-cheon's hands seized the man's right temple and left shoulder. Then he shoved his arms inward with force. That alone shattered the neck bone with ease.
The Asura White Sword gang's shock erupted not in screams but in roars. With a bellow from the Asura White Sword, the acolytes lunged at Wi Seong-cheon.
As expected of Five-Star Acolytes, their movements were worlds apart from the Four-Star Acolytes who'd been taken down without a proper response.
His body, drained to the limit of strength, stood stock-still like a mirage, swaying faintly. No need to track them with his eyes—Wi Seong-cheon sensed the killing intent surrounding him from all sides and read their attacks.
That was why the acolytes' strikes missed. Weapons longer than their arms sliced past his body first.
Not a single thread of his clothing was grazed. His steps didn't halt as he pressed forward.
A thrusting hand clamped onto the acolyte's uniform collar. Pulling him in, he smashed his opposite palm into the man's jaw. The neck bent back like a drawn bowstring, blood spurting from eyes, mouth, and nose.
Wi Seong-cheon passed right by the corpse whose brain had turned to mush from the impact.
"Keep your distance!"
The Asura White Sword bellowed. Two men down in an instant. This wasn't some punk they could bully by sheer numbers. Without prompting, the acolytes unleashed their qi.
Wi Seong-cheon's body was wrapped in qi as well. Unlike the acolytes' qi flickering like flames, his clung close like a thin membrane. He'd condensed his internal energy without waste.
A sword dropped from above. Wi Seong-cheon twisted his body sideways, advancing in choppy steps.
His rigidly extended thumb pierced the shoulder joint, then curled to grip it firmly. His other hand seized the head and smashed it sideways.
He heard the neck bone shatter, but Wi Seong-cheon didn't release the corpse. Instead, he spun tightly against it.
Slash!
Multiple slashing blows rent the corpse. Wi Seong-cheon backpedaled to avoid the spray of blood from his meat shield. A spear thrust at him as he retreated, shooting forth like an arrow.
It must have been a pretty fast stab, but it looked slow in Wi Seong-cheon's eyes. Just as the spear reached the end of its range, he effortlessly seized the shaft. Though wrapped in qi, Wi Seong-cheon paid it no mind.
He was certain his qi wouldn't be blocked by the bastard's. And indeed, it wasn't. His hand bored through the qi like tofu and grasped the spear.
The qi shattered the enemy's qi and pressed in, but its fragments didn't scatter. Wi Seong-cheon simultaneously unleashed a whirlpool, stealing the man's qi.
The returned punch lightly tapped the man's chest.
Thud!
The sound came a beat late. The man's back exploded as he crumpled, and Wi Seong-cheon advanced once more.
The Asura White Sword's feet froze at the scene unfolding before him. It felt like a nightmare despite his eyes being wide open. The fact that it hadn't even taken long made the situation feel all the more dreamlike.
Just moments ago, his underlings had stood beside him, trading crude jokes. Now they were all dead. Not one had parried Wi Seong-cheon's attacks or mounted any real resistance.
Their desperate martial arts were brushed aside like illusions, their weapon-wielding arms shattering first.
Among the sprawled corpses, not a single one had intact limbs. Arms and necks twisted in impossible directions, or torsos completely rotated—that was the norm.
Since he hadn't sliced or pierced them, Wi Seong-cheon was spotless, without a drop of blood on him. Even the dead hadn't spilled much.
That made it all the more eerie and terrifying. The Asura White Sword stumbled backward. The sword that had earned him his moniker trembled more fiercely than when he'd first learned martial arts.
"I told you, didn't I?"
Wi Seong-cheon muttered in a voice chilled cold. He'd killed them to vent his anger, but it brought no relief. If anything, the more he killed, the worse he felt.
"If you don't want to die, you'll have to kill me."
"W-Wait a moment."
Sensing regret in Wi Seong-cheon's mutter, the Asura White Sword hastily swallowed his words. He immediately lowered his raised sword and dropped into a submissive stance.
"I-I was wrong."
"What were you wrong about?"
"Insulting you..."
"Only me?"
"The B-Baek Ri-hyang lady too. Everything. If it's merits you want, I'll give them right now. So please..."
Wi Seong-cheon shook his head. The Asura White Sword grew desperate. He poured out everything that came to mind. He'd never forget the mercy if granted, never seek revenge for today. He'd serve as a slave if desired...
Pointless drivel.
Wi Seong-cheon dusted off his hands and glanced downward.
He hadn't needed multiple strikes for the other acolytes, but for the Asura White Sword, he'd personally applied several. The martial world had a famous torture method called Bone-Tendon Severing.
Using acupoint strikes to pulverize bones and muscles—it sounded simple and was renowned, but executing proper Bone-Tendon Severing wasn't easy. It demanded exquisite mastery of internal energy.
What Wi Seong-cheon unleashed wasn't precise acupoint-based Bone-Tendon Severing. Just violence faithful to its meaning. Well-versed in the body's pain points, he knew exactly where to twist and snap for maximum agony.
The Asura White Sword screamed until his throat tore, then went silent. No gradual escalation—just unrelenting pain. Enough to shatter the mind. He'd die inevitably.
"You were awfully loud. Didn't want to stop me?"
Wi Seong-cheon glanced back.
Baek Ri-hyang stood there with a bitter expression. She didn't know what she should do now, or what to say to Wi Seong-cheon. Thank him? Apologize? Good work?
"...Do you regret joining hands with me?"
What slipped from her lips was something else entirely.
"It's only been a few days."
"Answer the question."
"No regrets. There might've been easier paths than partnering with you."
Wi Seong-cheon clenched and unclenched his fist. No blood on his hands, but sweat, human grime, and metal oil clung to them.
"Even if it wasn't today, something like this would've happened eventually. So better to get it over with today."
Something like this.
It wasn't rare in the martial world. Even with demonic cults and beasts, all sorts of conflicts arose. Monks or Taoists who vowed never to kill were one thing. Live as a martial artist, and eventually you'd kill someone. Face a situation where you kill or be killed, confront an outrage that shakes heaven and earth.
That's why today was better. Having been through it, he wouldn't waver next time. He'd learned rage-fueled killing didn't clear the mind. Listening to screams for catharsis brought no joy.
"Need more?"
Wi Seong-cheon stared at Baek Ri-hyang. She slowly shook her head.
"Enough."
Seven Four-Star Acolytes, plus the Asura White Sword and his gang dead. Plenty for promotion from Five-Star to Six-Star Acolyte.
Even if not enough, she couldn't bring herself to say so to the current Wi Seong-cheon.
"Good to hear it's enough."
Wi Seong-cheon muttered, sweeping his gaze around. Beyond the corpse-strewn village. Past the pitch-black forest called the Black Forest.
"Get closer, and you die."
Wi Seong-cheon warned clearly, glaring into the darkness. Baek Ri-hyang's shoulders twitched. She whipped her head toward the forest.
The village reeked of blood, intoxicating her nose. But focusing, she caught a 'new' scent.
Fresh blood, still steaming with heat.
"...Who's there?"
"No idea."
No reply from the forest. Pretty ridiculous—they'd said get closer and die, yet here they were approaching.
He hadn't seen it himself.
But Wi Seong-cheon knew what had happened in that black forest. While he killed the Asura White Sword, the raucous screams drew more acolytes.
They'd come together from the start, same gang. Probably Blood Warrants like the Asura White Sword's No-Weight Black Escort.
They hadn't stormed the village but waited. Then... someone ambushed the No-Weight Black Escort gang. Silently.
'Probably—no, definitely.'
The ones who'd massacred the No-Weight Black Escort gang were the Crimson Light Division. Wi Seong-cheon glanced up. He peered into the heights.
Countless stars and a great moon twinkled. Backlit by that night sky stood shadowy figures.
He stared at them briefly.
There was more than one or two. They stood as if overseeing everything happening in the forest.
"Netherworld Emissaries."
Wi Seong-cheon murmured softly.
All masked, but their presence felt familiar. The Black Demon King's personal guard from the Heavenly Origin Festival visit.
"Yeah."
Baek Ri-hyang nodded faintly.
"While Father's in the Black Forest, the Netherworld Emissaries watch from the trees. More of them this time, since it's a large-scale Blood Warrant event."
"Grading us?"
"Maybe."
It felt similar to practical combat classes on Heavenly Origin Mountain.
'But totally different.'
Wi Seong-cheon smiled wryly and turned.
* * *
"Worth coming to see?"
The Green Forest Demon Emperor tilted his head crookedly. The tree branch underfoot looked too thin to support his massive frame, yet it didn't waver.
"You don't seem pleased."
"Of course not."
The Green Forest Demon Emperor scowled at the Black Demon King's mutter.
"You're killing them anyway—why need some grand reason? And you've already killed them, so why hem and haw?"
"Not everyone can think as simply as you."
"I just don't want to get tangled in complications."
"Well, he's still young."
"Past twenty, and you call that young?"
"Heavenly Origin Academy teaches martial arts, not killing. They don't provide environments for it either. Especially that kid from the dorms—he's lived mostly in Heavenly Flower Sect quarters, so he's bound to be unaccustomed to murder."
"It's not just him. How many so-called righteous prodigies stay calm with killing? They'll all need some justification."
"But if they have no choice, they'll kill. Not just righteous sects—unorthodox ones too. What's the difference from a demon if you kill without even a trivial reason?"
The Black Demon King chuckled. The Green Forest Demon Emperor snorted and turned to him.
"So. You think it was worth the watch?"
"Plenty. His movements are sharper than at the last Heavenly Origin Festival."
"...His attitude was iffy, but his martial arts were flawless. Doesn't seem like he's opened his upper dantian yet, but he's already utilizing a transcendent body. And he's handling something like the Energy Absorption Great Law with ease."
The Green Forest Demon Emperor paused, tilting his head. On the opposite branch, a woman watched Wi Seong-cheon's departing back with coldly chilled eyes.
"What do you think? That kid's Energy Absorption Great Law."
The White Flame Witch gave no answer.