Chapter 142
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: An Evil Lotus Blooms in a Swamp of Blood (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The main gate of the Red Snake House faced west.
There were also north and south gates for the House's demonic practitioners to come and go freely. To the east was a large, wild mountain, so no gate had been built there.
This eastern mountain was where Hong Yeorin had fled.
With no gate, she had desperately scaled the massive wall to reach it.
It was both the most heavily protected area of the Red Snake House and its only escape route. Seo Ryang had also noted it from the back garden of the Lord's chambers.
Jong Risan, having sent Hong Yeorin and a few Sea King Guards to the east, had taken up a position near the north gate, which was closest to the western main gate.
*Rumble!*
Jong Risan's eyes wavered at the sight of smoke rising in the distance and the violent roar.
‘He's strong.’
He didn't need to see it to know. The martial arts of the two supreme masters clashing at the main gate were stronger than his own.
“Incredible.”
When he first saw the Third Young Master, he had been inwardly astonished.
The Third Young Master's skill was in no way inferior to his own.
While there was an extremely slight difference in skill, it was so minor it could be considered negligible.
But what about now?
After fighting the Lord of the Fighting King Demonic House, it seemed he'd grasped something, and now, having made his rounds through the other Seven Houses, he had already surpassed him.
‘How can he grow so quickly?’
If the world of masters was a place where one could fail to grow even through blood-coughing training, it was also a place where one could grow while eating or sleeping.
Of course, the latter was only possible with heavenly luck. If one could gain enlightenment in every moment of daily life, the martial world would have become a realm of Martial Gods, teeming with absolute masters.
‘Is this what true talent is?’
Jong Risan felt a sense of unease.
This unease didn't stem from a sense of deprivation felt toward someone who possessed a talent he lacked.
‘Even among disciples, their levels are different.’
His own son.
Thinking of his son, who was currently a disciple of the Heavenly Demon, he couldn't believe his son possessed such a talent.
Jong Risan sighed.
‘Is it true that some people are chosen by the heavens?’
It didn't matter if he couldn't become the Cult Leader.
Even if his son were untalented, he would have loved him. He didn't measure his affection for his own blood by the yardstick of talent.
However, he was worried about the growing pains his still hot-blooded son would face. Given his personality, the boy would try to win at all costs, and the despair he would feel upon realizing it was impossible would be immense.
‘The world is vast. He must realize that the strength of one's heart is as important as the strength of one's martial arts.’
Just then, the cry of a beast echoed from the distance.
*Kaaaaang!*
It was a terrifying roar.
The roar was so fierce that just hearing it was enough to make one's legs tremble.
The look in Jong Risan's eyes changed.
The signal had finally come.
*Thud!*
He slammed his Sea Dragon Spear into the ground and released his Demonic Sea True Energy.
*Fwoooosh!*
A powerful demonic energy spread in all directions.
Starting with Jong Risan, the three hundred demonic practitioners surrounding the Red Snake House all unleashed their auras. The demonic energy radiating from the Giant Whale House's elites swirled, making the Red Snake House seem like a remote island sunk deep in the sea.
A moment later.
*Booooom!*
The ground shook with the sound of air bursting.
Jong Risan's gaze deepened.
‘He broke through.’
Incredible. He sensed that his opponent was half a step above the current Third Young Master, yet he had managed to break through the outer courtyard.
*Whoooosh!*
In the distance, near the outer courtyard, a gray mist billowed up into the sky.
Jong Risan's face hardened.
“Immortal's Ruin.”
*Sssss.*
The mist that had risen into the sky slowly thinned and then disappeared.
It was then.
*Flash!*
Jong Risan's head snapped around.
‘The south.’
A golden demonic energy soared, and soon after, a gray mist rose from the southern outer courtyard as well.
That wasn't all.
Another flash of light was accompanied by a wave of energy that swept over him.
‘Here, the north.’
Someone had crossed the outer courtyard in an instant and reached the north, where Jong Risan was waiting.
*Sssss.*
The mist of Immortal's Ruin rose once more.
Flashing in the east, flashing in the west. Moving with divine speed, he cleared the mist of Immortal's Ruin that had settled over the outer courtyard, and soon, half of the Red Snake House's outer courtyard was purified.
And then.
*Vwooom! Crackle!*
A massive golden sword seemed to fall from high in the sky, and at the same time, crimson lightning shot upward as if ascending to the heavens.
*Rumble!*
Simultaneously, from the eastern mountain, a spirit beast radiating a terrifying bestial energy broke through the outer wall and entered. Geumho, carrying Hong Yeorin, had finally made its move.
‘He's even dispersed the Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder.’
Now, the real battle begins. Jong Risan shouted.
“Advance!”
*Craaash! Craaaash!*
With deafening roars, the north and south gates were shattered, and the elite demonic practitioners of the Giant Whale House began to infiltrate the Red Snake House.
* * *
“Keuk!”
Seo Ryang's face turned dark.
But it was only for a moment. The accelerated Purification True Art of his Unhindered Arts detoxified the Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder that had penetrated his body and converted the remaining impurities into internal energy.
‘Damn it, this is killing me.’
Upon reaching the fourth stage of the Unhindered Arts, the Purification True Art, one could wash away all impurities in the air.
But even that had its limits.
Even with strong innate Primal Essence Energy, purifying a radius of several dozen feet was impossible.
Seo Ryang had made the impossible possible using the power of the Nine Hells Demonic Art.
Thanks to that, his insides had been churning for a while.
‘Immortal's Ruin was surprisingly easy, but…’
The principle by which Immortal's Ruin disrupts internal energy is simple. The energy-scattering poison infiltrates through the minor meridians, its tributaries, and travels upstream to the lower dantian, its source, undoing the cohesion of one's energy.
That's why simply holding one's breath isn't enough to escape its effects. Even if one closes their pores, energy constantly circulates with the body, so the poison can penetrate through mere skin contact.
Fortunately, the Purification True Art operates from the middle dantian, centered on the upper dantian rather than the lower, so there was no reason for his true energy to scatter.
The Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder, on the other hand, was different.
*Drip.*
He had overcome the poison, but he couldn't heal the destructive traces left behind by its infiltration.
The vomiting of blood had stopped, but his nose continued to bleed.
‘Even a small wound could be fatal.’
The Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder was a type of blood-coagulating poison that entered through wounds, not respiration, and clotted the blood.
Internal energy directly affects the body's nerves to increase reaction speed, so one could withstand most neurotoxins. Blood-coagulating poisons, however, were far trickier, as one had to completely extract the toxin that clotted the blood.
That's why, for a martial artist, blood-coagulating poisons were more dangerous than neurotoxins. Especially during a battle.
This was why he had the Giant Whale House's forces on standby.
“Dongpil, how are you holding up?!”
“I'm fine!”
He had been moving with Seo Ryang, the center of the Unhindered Arts.
No poison had been able to touch Ma Dongpil.
Seo Ryang shouted.
“Smash them to pieces!”
*Fwish!*
Ma Dongpil spun his Dark King Sword with a flourish, gathering the Adamantine Yaksha Demonic Energy at its tip.
*Shhhhiiiing!*
A terrifyingly sharp aura rose from beyond the gate leading to the inner courtyard.
It was the energy emanated by the swordsmen of the Sword Palace, who had gathered in the inner courtyard.
The elites of the Sword Palace were ahead, Mok Gang-in was approaching from behind, and in the surrounding buildings, the demonic practitioners of the Red Snake House, who had lost their internal energy, were bound.
In this dire situation, surrounded on all sides, Ma Dongpil's martial arts shone.
“Sword General of Yama.”
*Sizzzle!*
A yellowish smoke billowed out from the Dark King Sword.
The flowing smoke was a sword mist like an impregnable fortress; the emanating demonic energy was a crazed killing intent. Ma Dongpil, who had grown stronger and stronger, now unleashed the ultimate technique from the first half of the Dharma King Sword Art, one he had never used in actual combat before.
*Rumble, rumble, rumble!*
Ma Dongpil's pupils shone with a brilliant golden light.
A golden Vidyaraja, the embodiment of fury, became Yama's general and delivered an irreversible judgment.
“Final Verdict: Decapitation.”
*Flash!*
A translucent greatsword, shot down from high in the sky, fell like a blade meant to strike a sinner's neck.
*Craaaash!*
The entrance to the inner courtyard was obliterated with a thunderous explosion.
Its power far surpassed the capabilities of a mere sword technique.
This was not the original Final Verdict: Decapitation, which maximized cutting power with sword energy pushed to its limit.
*Surge!*
The poison of the Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder that had been drifting about was drawn toward the shattered entrance of the inner courtyard.
Seo Ryang grinned.
“Well done!”
Bending forward, he drew upon the Nine Hells Demonic Art.
*Crackle!*
The energy of hell began to fill the space previously occupied by the Unhindered Arts.
‘Gasp!’
Seo Ryang's face turned pale blue.
The residual poison of the Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder began to attack his blood.
But this wasn't enough to be a problem.
*Fwoosh!*
He completely burned away the rampaging poison with his supreme demonic energy. He couldn't normalize his damaged blood vessels, but he was in good enough condition to fight.
*Craaaash!*
The outer wall in front of the wild mountain was shattered.
*Boom! Rumble!*
The south and north gates also collapsed entirely. Starting with Geumho, the forces of the Giant Whale House stormed in all at once.
Seo Ryang's lips curled up once more.
“Good.”
The stage was finally set.
His side was still at a disadvantage, but if a fight broke out, the enemy's forces would also suffer devastating damage. With the Immortal's Ruin cleared, both sides were now exposed to the poisonous mist of the Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder lurking everywhere.
In other words, it was mutually assured destruction, an all-or-nothing gamble. Unless they wanted to die together, the enemy would never dare to start a fight recklessly.
*Sssss!*
Mok Gang-in, who was a step late from avoiding the poisonous mist, finally realized his opponent's gambit.
“Astounding.”
Mok Gang-in's previously expressionless face twisted slightly.
“To pull such a reckless stunt, are you truly an inspector of the Demonic Cult?”
“Even if it's reckless, if it's effective, it's the best strategy.”
When he needs to be cautious, he's so timid it's almost cowardly. When he needs to strike, he pours in so much force that people call him extreme.
There was literally no middle ground. But the reason this extremist personality worked against his enemies was because Seo Ryang's wits were sharp and his martial arts were formidable.
“How did you detoxify the Immortal's Ruin?”
“It was nothing special. The Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder is more of a headache for me than the Immortal's Ruin.”
“…”
Mok Gang-in, who had been staring blankly at Seo Ryang, finally let out a sigh.
*Waaaaah!*
The demonic practitioners of the Giant Whale House appeared from the north and south. In a short time, they had run in a straight line, smashing through all obstacles instead of going around.
*Thud!*
Seo Ryang slammed his Dragon Scale Saber into the ground.
“A fight is only exciting when it's full of variables and unfairness.”
“…”
“Makes your heart pound, doesn't it?”
Hearing such words, one would be even more hesitant to act rashly.
It could be mistaken as part of the opponent's psychological warfare.
Mok Gang-in looked around.
What was he thinking? He shook his head and spoke.
“You don't want to die either.”
“Who in this world wants to die?”
“Let's end it here.”
“What are you talking about?”
*Clack!*
Mok Gang-in sheathed his sword.
“I'm saying we should withdraw. Rather than mutual annihilation…”
“You're full of shit.”
Everyone stared at Seo Ryang in astonishment.
Seo Ryang's eyes blazed like lava.
“Just when things were getting interesting, where do you think you're going?”
“You…”
“I told you, didn't I? Not a single one of you should even think about running.”
*Ting! Thunk!*
The Twin Meteor Sabers he wore on his back flew high into the air and then embedded themselves in the ground before him.
*Shing.*
Seo Ryang drew the Seven Nights Saber once more and took the Dragon Scale Saber from his back.
Since entering the Heavenly Demon's Armory, this was the first time he had drawn all four of his blades for actual combat.
“I came here to crush you all, not to make some half-assed compromise.”
“Do you want to die that badly?”
“No.”
*Flash!*
Seo Ryang moved with the Divine Step of Earth Shrinking and swung the Dragon Scale and Seven Nights.
“I want to kill.”
The two men swung their blades at each other.
*Roooar!*