Chapter 146
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: A Vicious Lotus Blooms in a Swamp of Blood (6)
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“Haa. Haa.”
How fast had they run for so many miles?
Even for a transcendent master like Go Gu, breathing was becoming difficult. It was the result of focusing solely on speed, casting aside all efficiency of stamina and internal energy.
And he wasn't the only one.
“Gasp! Gasp!”
“Pant! Pant!”
The breaths of the Black Sun Guard following him were as loud as thunder. White foam flecked the chins visible beneath the masks of several Black Sun Guard members.
Go Gu shouted.
“Just hold on a little longer!”
He was normally so taciturn he could be compared to Lee Cheonsang, even surpassing Mu Dam, the Lord of the Hall of Protectors. For him to be encouraging his subordinates showed just how exhausted they all were.
*Fwoosh!*
Despite their ragged breathing, their speed remained constant.
It couldn't be explained by stamina alone. Their faith, usually well-hidden, was now burning hotter than ever for the sake of rescuing their god's disciple.
How much further did they run?
Go Gu's eyes flashed.
The Red Snake House was visible in the distance.
“We're here!”
Though still quite a ways off, it was finally within sight. That alone was enough for everyone to endure the pain.
Go Gu bit his lip.
‘What a mess.’
Even at a glance, the main gate and parts of the outer wall were shattered. Seeing the hazy smoke rising, it seemed a fire had broken out as well.
“Pick up the pace!”
*Fwoooosh!*
Suppressing the pain with willpower. Go Gu and the Black Sun Guard pushed their speed even higher than before.
As they approached at high speed, they began to sense things with their energy.
‘So many. Hundreds are entangled. A massive melee… Hmm?’
Go Gu's eyes wavered.
Two individuals exuding an overwhelmingly powerful presence.
The life force of one of them was rapidly weakening. The flame of life was flickering out, the embers fading at an incredible speed.
‘Third Young Master?!’
*Chaaang!*
Drawing the flexible sword coiled at his waist, he unleashed his Demonic Arts.
*Vwoom!*
The pliable sword stiffened.
Go Gu swung the sword toward the sky.
*Flash!*
A terrifying sword energy shot into the heavens.
It was a blade of light infused with powerful demonic energy.
It was a strike meant to tell their allies to hold on, that reinforcements were here, and to threaten the enemy not to make any rash moves.
*Drip. Pitter-patter!*
Just then, raindrops unexpectedly began to fall, one by one.
Braving the downpour, Go Gu powerfully thrust his fist.
*Craaash!*
There was no time to go around to the main gate or the broken outer wall in the distance. Go Gu and the Black Sun Guard smashed straight through the wall and rapidly closed in on the battle.
It was then.
‘…!’
Go Gu's eyes wavered.
‘What is this?’
*Swoooosh.*
A wind blew.
It didn't seem like a wind from this world. It was a wind, but the nature of the energy it carried was different.
The breath of a demon, nestled within the cool, gentle breeze.
*Fwoosh!*
Go Gu and the Black Sun Guard halted their movement techniques.
Their faces, which had been trying to steady their ragged breaths, instantly turned pale.
Go Gu shouted.
“Everyone, take cover!”
At the same time, a brilliant light exploded.
*BOOOOOM!!*
***
*KRAAAAA!*
Geumho roared.
The Geumho that, whenever Seo Ryang called, always exuded a presence and killing intent that overwhelmed its surroundings.
But the Geumho now was different.
*Crunch! Craaash!*
It was rampaging, destroying everything around it.
With its body, large for a fox but smaller than a tiger, it smashed the surrounding buildings.
Hong Yeorin, who had been with Geumho, her face was deathly pale.
“Th-the House… the Lord's chambers…”
Her father was lying in the Lord's chambers. And yet, the building housing those chambers had been destroyed in an instant.
He hadn't even regained consciousness yet.
“S-stop!”
Just then, Geumho turned its eyes to Hong Yeorin.
‘Gasp!’
Hong Yeorin's jaw dropped.
*Shudder.*
Her body trembled against her will. In extreme terror, her eyes rolled back.
Before losing consciousness, she thought.
‘That's no spirit beast.’
When its mystical and beautiful face contorted, when its gem-like, brilliant blue eyes were stained with five colors.
Right at that moment, as it raised its golden fur and let out a roar, she realized the true nature of the spirit beast called Geumho.
‘An uncontrollable calamity itself…’
Geumho raised its head.
“KYAAAAH!!”
*Rumble!*
Golden demonic energy exploded outwards.
Watching the scene from a distance, Ma Dongpil gritted his teeth.
“Why is Geumho suddenly…”
*Crash! Crumble!*
The wall of the inner courtyard collapsed.
And from there, countless swordsmen rushed out.
“Uwaaaah!”
“Kraaah!”
The swordsmen screamed. Among them was Jang Guk, the leader of the Willow River Sword Troupe, whom Mok Gang-in had secretly chosen as his successor.
That wasn't all. The swordsmen of the Treasured Sword Troupe, who had spread the Tang family's poison throughout the Red Snake House, and Mok Gang-in's closest aide, Geum Mun, were also there.
All of them were screaming at the top of their lungs, swinging their swords haphazardly.
Their eyes filled with a five-colored luminescence.
Ma Dongpil shouted.
“Lord Jong Risan!”
The situation had become too urgent. This was no time to create an escape route and withdraw their forces.
Jong Risan shouted.
“Sea King Guard and the warriors of the three troupes, slay the enemy!”
*Fwoosh!*
The warriors of the Giant Whale House, each holding a spear, charged at the swordsmen.
*Thwack! Splurt!*
“Kraaaack!”
“Gurgle!”
The swordsmen fell in droves.
The martial arts of the Giant Whale House warriors, especially the Sea King Guard, stood out. They displayed a martial prowess that lived up to their reputation as the strongest organization in the Giant Whale House.
But even so, it was too one-sided.
Jong Risan's eyes wavered.
‘Just why?’
There wasn't a single exception. The eyes of every swordsman from the Sword Palace shone with five colors. It was as if none of them were in their right minds.
And they swung their swords indiscriminately, as if trying to kill anyone in front of them.
Forward, backward, left, right—they even swung their swords at their own allies. It wasn't even proper swordsmanship.
The swordsmen displayed a frenzied state, as if they had gone mad as a group.
Jong Risan's expression darkened.
‘At this rate…’
Those men were the ones who had been directly hit by the poisonous mist of the Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder. This was because when Ma Dongpil destroyed the inner courtyard, most of the poisonous mist had flowed that way.
Swordsmen with patches of blackened, dead skin collapsed. The Seven Steps Soul-Severing Powder, having infiltrated through their wounds, was rapidly coagulating their blood.
‘It would be better to pull back the troops.’
He didn't know the reason, but he felt there was no need to clash with them. If they were to clash with those madmen, the poison might spread. If that happened, their losses would be great even if they won the battle.
Just as Jong Risan was about to shout the order to retreat.
“Keok!”
“Uwaaah!”
About thirty members of the Sea King Guard at the forefront began to tremble violently.
At the same time, they all let out bizarre cries that might have been screams. Their once clear black-and-white eyes gradually became stained with five colors.
Jong Risan's and Ma Dongpil's faces turned pale.
“Everyone, everyone, fall back!”
“Retreat!”
*Fwoosh!*
The Giant Whale House's forces quickly pulled back.
Perhaps because they were so well-trained, thankfully, there were no casualties apart from those thirty men.
“What in the world is going on!”
Ma Dongpil and Jong Risan were horrified.
Meanwhile, the maddened swordsmen and Sea King Guard members swung their weapons wildly.
*Splaaat!*
Hundreds of warriors died, coughing up blood. Cut by swords, pierced by spears, and succumbing to poison, they died.
*Drip, drip, drip.*
Crimson blood soaked the ground.
Corpses piled upon fallen corpses, and more corpses piled on top of them. The compressed bodies squeezed out more blood, staining the earth red.
It was truly a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. A scene truly like hell was unfolding.
*Thud!*
The bloody thread spun by silkworms made of corpses.
Behind it, a beast exuding golden demonic energy revealed itself.
*Thump! Thump!*
It had grown larger.
Geumho's frame, once smaller than a typical tiger, had grown to rival that of a great tiger. Its long, thin snout had become thicker, and its four legs had grown as thick as a tiger's.
The slender Geumho was no more. Like a fierce tiger that makes mountains and rivers tremble, Geumho, with the thick, long body of a beast, was complete in itself.
Geumho's eyes, emitting a chilling, five-colored light.
Mok Gang-in's jaw dropped.
“…What?”
A swordsman's unshakeable heart was useless.
That beast was not a creature of reality. It was an incarnation of disaster, something mentioned only in the realms of legend or myth.
“What in the hell are you!!”
It was then.
A calm voice drifted into Mok Gang-in's ears.
“It is called Geumho.”
“…?”
“The spirit beast that guards the Solitary Bamboo Forest.”
Mok Gang-in looked down at his feet.
Seo Ryang, who had collapsed—his eyes had at some point turned dark.
*Slither.*
A hand moved slowly. That hand reached for Mok Gang-in's ankle.
“Hah!”
Startled, Mok Gang-in instinctively stepped back.
It was instinct. Normally, he would have shaken off Seo Ryang's arm and cut off his head, but his instincts refused.
Don't touch him. Don't get near him.
…Don't fight him.
*Crack!*
Seo Ryang's hand dug into the ground.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread from where his five fingers dug into the earth. With his head bowed, he slowly rose to his feet.
*Vwoooooom!*
A dark red energy shimmered behind Seo Ryang's back.
Lifting his head, Seo Ryang unconsciously opened his mouth.
“Haaa…”
A moan laced with supreme pleasure.
As if he had drunk the ambrosia of the heavens. A deep ecstasy settled on Seo Ryang's blood-soaked face.
Then, Mok Gang-in witnessed an unbelievable sight.
Seo Ryang's tattered upper garment. The countless stab wounds and bruises beneath it.
*Ssssss.*
Those wounds began to heal.
The recovery of the wounds was visibly fast. It was an incomprehensibly rapid rate of healing.
Seo Ryang looked up at the sky.
His eyes were stained completely black.
*Drip. Drip-drop.*
From the overcast sky, a drop, then two, of rain began to fall.
On this dark evening, he didn't even know when the storm clouds had gathered. The drizzle quickly turned into a downpour, soaking the earth.
*Pooooour!*
The pouring raindrops spread the blood even wider. The dark red earth, soaked and muddy with rainwater and blood, looked just like an ominous swamp.
Finally, Seo Ryang's Demonic Arts erupted.
*Flash! Rumble!*
A blood-red demonic energy swirled and shot up into the sky.
*Vwoom.*
The lightning of the Dark Thunder no longer sparked. Only an even darker, and simultaneously more brilliant, ultra-pure demonic energy filled Seo Ryang's body.
That's right. It was a demonic energy that had surpassed any level, reaching the absolute peak. It was a harmonious demonic energy.
It was the Absolute Demonic Energy of a new dimension, one encountered when a being steeped in the demonic tears through its limits.
*Whoooosh.*
Before he knew it, four blades appeared, floating in front of Seo Ryang.
The blades rotated mystically, their tips pointing downward. At the appearance of their true master, the four demonic blades trembled with joy.
Seo Ryang's hand gripped the hilt of the Dragon Scale Saber.
*Grip!*
A powerful force settled in his hand.
The confidence that he could destroy anything ignited Seo Ryang's pleasure.
“You were disappointed, weren't you? By the martial arts I used.”
“…?!”
“I'll show you the real thing.”
*Swoosh.*
A terrifying gale arose from the blade of the Dragon Scale Saber as he raised it high.
“This is the true Hell Wind.”
He brought the saber down.
*CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!!*
The devil's lotus, bloomed from a swamp full of blood.
Upon the vast continent, another demon king was born.