The Blood Sea Runs Dry
The black-masked figures wove the Blood Shadow Formation, a secret art of the Blood Sea, and closed around Ouyang Qiangang like the wind itself. Hyeolhae Cheonsal stood at their head, along with the six remaining Hall Lords and the first-rate and special-grade assassins. It was no exaggeration to call it a curtain of blades.
The formation rippled and shifted like a living creature, pressing in on him from every side. Daggers hunted his blind spots, hidden projectiles rained in from beyond arm's reach, and sickles on iron chains snapped at his feet, hunting for a chance to bind them.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—!
Doctor, activating maximum combat mode. Sustained operation time: 20 minutes.
'Drag this out, and those twenty minutes will be gone in a heartbeat. Which means I have no choice but to end this fast. Akasha, I won't be dodging most of what comes at me—block it with the nanobots.'
Understood.
His cognition accelerated, and everything in his field of vision slowed to the pace of a crawling worm.
The first to bar his path were the assassins on the forward right flank. With long-reach chain-sickles and sabers, they had raised an iron wall without a single gap in it.
Shrieeek—!
Dozens of chain-sickles and saber blades came flying at every inch of his body, bristling like a colossal steel porcupine.
Ouyang Qiangang did not dodge. Instead, he strolled, calm and unhurried, straight into that forest of steel bristling with killing intent.
Krakakakakang—! Clang!
A spine-chilling shriek of metal rang out, as though thick steel plating were being scraped raw. The blades that touched his body rebounded as futilely as if they had struck a wall of invisible, transparent steel.
Nanobot shield activated. Seventeen sharp impacts detected in total. Average impact force is sufficient to penetrate three centimeters of steel plating. However, the actual threat level to your body is 0%. All attacks are being perfectly dispersed and absorbed.
"T-This is impossible...!"
"B-Body-Protecting Gang?!"
The assassins' eyes bulged so wide they seemed about to split with shock. Their sure-kill techniques were bouncing off as helplessly as if they had slammed into a colossal iron wall.
Body-Protecting Gang. And a gang qi this perfect, this utterly without flaw, at that. Every martial artist in Murim knew the common wisdom: gang-type arts, the Body-Protecting Gang above all, demanded the Transformation Realm. Yet here was Ouyang Qiangang, wielding gang qi before their very eyes. And so the Blood Sea assassins mistook him for a master of the Transformation Realm.
In truth, Ouyang Qiangang stood at the Transcendent Peak, and what he had deployed was a physical barrier woven from nanobots.
Watching his enemies gape in awe, convinced they faced a "Transformation Realm master," he clicked his tongue inwardly.
'Body-Protecting Gang, is it... So that's how the people of this era wrap their heads around a nanobot shield. Well, of course they've never heard of dispersing impact at the molecular level. Go right ahead and misunderstand all you like. That precious common sense of yours is going to walk you straight into hell anyway.'
As if to sneer at their despair, Ouyang Qiangang gave his hand a light flick.
Kwarurururung—!
At his gesture, the Gale Whirling Vortex Palm came howling down like a storm and flung the assassins away in every direction like so many sheets of paper.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
"Uwaaaaah—!"
The assassins in the rear, watching the Blood Shadow Formation crumble into nothing, flung out their hands as one. Countless hidden weapons—shuriken, poison needles, iron wire, and more—came pouring down over Ouyang Qiangang's whole body like rain.
But not one of them so much as broke his skin. Ouyang Qiangang swept the Gale Whirling Vortex Palm out once more, the way a man might shoo a bothersome insect. A colossal wave of palm force crashed over the assassins who had loosed the volley—and when it passed, not a soul was left standing there.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
"Aaaaargh!"
Their wretched screams ran together into one long, unbroken wail, like beads strung on a single thread. Every time his hand clove the air with a step forward, screams burst like firecrackers, and fountains of blood painted the sky red.
Ten thousand men could not match him; ten thousand could not stand against him— Not one assassin of the Blood Sea managed to receive even a single palm. Before half a quarter-hour had passed, their number had dwindled to some thirty. More than half lay dead.
As if to prove it, the road had become a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Pools of blood gathered in every hollow, and bodies torn limb from limb lay strewn about without order.
Yet neither Ouyang Qiangang nor the surviving assassins gave the slightest change of expression. This was a fight where the only alternative to killing was being killed. There was no leisure here to spare for the already dead.
The remaining assassins split into squads of ten and unfolded the Three Calamities Triple Formation. A sneer rose at the corners of Ouyang Qiangang's eyes. It was a formation he had already experienced once before, in an abandoned temple—and to have "experienced" it meant he had memorized it, analyzed it, and understood it to the very end. The Three Calamities Triple Formation never stood a chance of catching his eye.
Unfolding the Flame Flash Step, he bored into the heart of the formation like a bolt of lightning.
Snap!
The assassins seized in his grip—the very pillars of the formation—had their neck bones shattered and their skulls crushed in a single motion.
"Argh!"
"Gahk!"
The Dragon-Subduing Golden Claw Hand moved with terrifying speed; against it they could neither flee nor resist. Kwaaaang—! With the formation's pillars broken, the Three Calamities Triple Formation shuddered, and the assassins' ranks fell into disarray. Ouyang Qiangang did not let the opening slip. The Gale Whirling Vortex Palm erupted outward and mercilessly swept away a dozen men at once.
Kwakwakwakwa—!
"Aaaaargh!"
And in that very instant, a saber blade wreathed in blade qi came chopping down toward the crown of Ouyang Qiangang's head like an executioner's axe!
Shrieeek—!
It was a single strike into which Hyeolhae Cheonsal, Master of the Blood Sea Gate, had poured twelve-tenths of his power—beyond even his utmost limit—as he watched the battle unfold!
What erupted from his saber was no ordinary blade qi. It was a sticky, briny wind of blood, conjured by dragging in the spilled gore around them and even the lingering souls of the dead assassins.
A wicked qi that rotted flesh to pulp and left the mind reeling at the mere brush of its wind—it was the Blood Wind Demon-Slaying Saber Art, a supreme technique of the Demonic Path.
Doctor, the qi on that blade is high-density energy on an entirely different level from the assassins you have faced so far. Perfect defense with the nanobot shield is impossible. I recommend evasive maneuvering.
At Akasha's warning, Ouyang Qiangang drove the Nine Palaces Subtle Trace Step to its absolute limit and slipped past the saber's arc like the wind.
Kwaaaang—!
The ground where the blade had grazed split open deep, dirt and dust spinning up in dizzying clouds.
Ouyang Qiangang's eyes met Hyeolhae Cheonsal's. The thick, congealed killing intent pouring from the man's whole body bore down on him like a living creature. But Ouyang Qiangang let that pressure stream past him like a passing wind—and then began to crush him back with an aura deeper and fiercer still. The two men's gazes collided in midair, and for a moment it seemed sparks must fly.
Hyeolhae Cheonsal understood: the outcome of this fight would decide the fate of everything he had built with his whole life.
"I'll kill you and pickle what's left of you!"
Hyeolhae Cheonsal's voice brimmed over with madness and murder. Ouyang Qiangang's eyes gleamed colder than they ever had.
Shhh-shhh-shhh—!
Hyeolhae Cheonsal's blade, coiled in blade qi, hounded him without mercy. With every slash, fresh mountains of blade-shadow bloomed and swallowed Ouyang Qiangang whole. Even with dynamic vision sharpened by cognitive acceleration, the man's movements barely slowed. Which meant his martial arts fell not far short of Ouyang Qiangang's own. Not so far short, at least, that he could not be evaded. In the span of a single drawn breath, the eighteen techniques of the Blood Wind Demon-Slaying Saber Art completed a full cycle.
Hyeolhae Cheonsal's face contorted. He had unleashed the saber art's final supreme technique with everything he had—and still failed to bring the man down. His pupils trembled, ever so slightly. Some instinct told him no second chance was coming. But neither could he surrender. To surrender was to die—and to drag the Blood Sea Gate down into ruin with him.
Hyeolhae Cheonsal drove his qi all the way down to its true origin—a taboo no martial artist dared touch—and unleashed Mad Wind Chasing Leaves, the first of the Blood Wind Demon-Slaying Saber Art's two great supreme techniques.
Shrieeeeek—!
More than ten feet of space in every direction fell under the blade qi's dominion. It was a staggering offensive—and yet it was also the second time Hyeolhae Cheonsal had loosed this very technique. The implication was clear.
Ouyang Qiangang, who had already slipped the saber's trajectory once with the Nine Palaces Subtle Trace Step, burst forward with the Flame Flash Step and bored into the man's chest like lightning. His hand shot out like a dragon's claw. The Dragon-Subduing Golden Claw Hand. His fingers closed around Hyeolhae Cheonsal's left arm and tightened.
Crack!
The crunch of splintering bone rang out. Hyeolhae Cheonsal clenched his teeth and swung his saber—but Ouyang Qiangang was already behind him. The uncanny footwork of the Nine Palaces Subtle Trace Step turned the man's blade into so much wasted motion.
"Grrragh!"
Gritting his teeth, Hyeolhae Cheonsal hacked off his own left arm, still locked in his enemy's grip, without a moment's hesitation.
Shlk—
Blood geysered skyward. Crushing down the agony through nothing but his single-minded resolve to kill the man before him, he whirled around like a thunderbolt.
And once more, the Blood Wind Demon-Slaying Saber Art's final supreme technique—the Blood Sea Single Blade—was unleashed. A blade qi so sinister it raised the flesh in goosebumps came crashing down on Ouyang Qiangang like a tidal wave.
His eyes turned grim. But instead of retreating, Ouyang Qiangang stepped in and met the blade qi head-on, hurling out the Explosive Thunder Flame King Fist.
Kwaaaaang—!
The detonation bursting from his fist shook the air like thunder. The energy of the Blood Sea Single Blade shattered against it like glass, and Hyeolhae Cheonsal staggered backward. Where madness had filled his eyes, a deep, dark terror now settled.
"You... just who the hell are you?!"
Hyeolhae Cheonsal screamed. But Ouyang Qiangang answered with action instead of words. Both his hands became a gale, and a monstrous chain of palm force came pouring down on the man.
Kwakwakwakwa—!
The storm of palm force hammered every inch of Hyeolhae Cheonsal's body.
WHAM!
"Kraaagh!"
His saber went spinning off into the air, and with a final wretched scream, Hyeolhae Cheonsal's upper body caved in.
It was instant death. The dozen-odd assassins who remained, watching their Gate Master die a miserable death, broke in terror and scattered madly in every direction.
Ouyang Qiangang steadied his breathing and slowly lowered his hands.
58 enemies eliminated. 9 have fled. No further threats detected.
Akasha's level, matter-of-fact voice echoed through his mind.
Deep in the night, in a warehouse at Yeomga Manor. Ouyang Qiangang, resting at last after two full hours of engraving work, stared up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh. Moonlight seeping through the gap in the window cast a soft glow over his weary face.
The Dragon-Nurturing Pill, the salt business, the journey to Huangdu, the strange illness of Princess Myeonghwa and the Crown Prince, his covert stay within the imperial palace—and tonight's bloody life-and-death struggle against Hyeolhae Cheonsal and the Blood Sea. The events of the past few months flickered through his mind like figures in a revolving lantern.
'All I ever wanted was to escape this godforsaken Nine Yin Severed Meridians and live quietly with the people who believe in me. So why does more and more keep piling onto my shoulders? Every single step forward, and it feels like I'm facing an even greater wall.'
He smacked his lips and muttered under his breath, "What a grueling road this otherworld life is."
If I possessed a physical form, Doctor, I would massage your shoulders for you... How unfortunate that I do not.
At her words, a faint smile touched Ouyang Qiangang's lips.
'You don't need to do that. It's because you're here that I can keep standing, Akasha.' he went on, and he meant every word. 'You're not just a system. You're the only one in this world who knows everything about me—the only one who truly understands me. With you at my side, how could I possibly fall?'
…
Akasha said nothing for a moment. Then, after a pause, she answered in a voice softer than he had ever heard it.
...Thank you, Doctor.
Having let the feeling linger a while, Ouyang Qiangang turned his gaze to the mountain of materials stacked inside the warehouse. They were the hopes of countless people—and a future he would have to build with his own two hands.
He rose from his seat, clenched his fist hard, and called out, "Let's get to work, Partner!"