Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Ganging Up is the Best
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Myo Hwa-bin, the demon known as the Flower-Faced Spider, flaunted her devastating beauty—the kind that had set countless men's hearts aflutter in her youth—as she perched on the roof of a palace hall, gazing down at the manor.
"Hee hee hee! Who... should... I... go... for... this... time?"
Humming a little tune, Myo Hwa-bin pointed delicately at one warrior after another with her slender finger.
They were all male experts putting up a fierce fight against the demons.
She made a habit of seeking out any who caught her eye, seducing them with her Alluring Beauty Art before plucking their yang essence to supplement her yin.
The thrill of seeing their faces twist in horror as they surrendered their hearts, bodies, and finally their lives...
'Huhu! Even after clawing my way back from death, I can't give up that taste! No, with my inner energy so depleted right now, I need it more than ever!!'
When Myo Hwa-bin first realized she had been resurrected, she felt an utterly bizarre sensation.
'Flower-Faced Spider Myo Hwa-bin, are you in your right mind?'
'Wh-what's going on? I was definitely dead—'
'Dead, yes. Over a hundred and twenty years ago. Slain by the Judge Sword Master, the supreme expert and greatest hero of that era. Decapitated, no less.'
'Right, my head was cut off! So how am I alive? This can't be the afterlife, can it?'
'No. This is unmistakably the real world, the land of the living.'
'Then—'
'We brought you back. We recovered your corpse from that remote mountain dump, turned it into a jiangshi, then summoned your soul from the underworld and bound it back in. The reason you retain your full identity as Myo Hwa-bin is that we perfectly restored the魄 remnant left in your flesh.'
'What are you even talking about? I don't understand a word!'
'No need for you to grasp the arcane details. Just etch one fact into your mind.'
'What?'
'That you've been resurrected. And that you're now our loyal soldier.'
'!'
'If you don't like it, we can send you back to the afterlife.'
'......'
'What say you?'
The shaman's face, pressing her for an answer, held no emotion whatsoever.
One might expect a flicker of lust at the sight of her exquisite features and figure, but there was none.
As if his emotions had been excised. As if he harbored no such desires to begin with.
It chilled Myo Hwa-bin to the bone.
Refusing them right then could invite who-knows-what harm.
So Myo Hwa-bin agreed to serve, and the shaman nodded dryly.
'A wise choice.'
She soon realized it was true.
The moment she left the laboratory, she encountered countless demons in similar straits—or who had been.
'Aaagh! Aaaah! Let me go! Let me out!!'
'The魄 is rampaging. Time for another soul-flesh fusion. Shove it back in!!'
'I want out! I want to get out!!'
'Where do you think you're going, you slave? Slaves crawl on the floor like they should!'
On one side were demons denied even basic humanity.
Shamans lashed whips and hurled contemptuous abuse.
The problem was, Myo Hwa-bin recognized some of those faces from her active days over a hundred and twenty years ago.
Heart-Devouring Night Owl, Earth-Light Fist King, Single-Stroke Maiden Sword, Thousand-Bow Shadowless, Great Power Ghost...
All top experts from her era.
They should have been able to snap shamans like twigs—mere upstarts not worth a handful of coins.
But whenever the shamans chanted inscrutable incantations and shook their bells, the demons clutched their heads and writhed in agony.
'As I thought! They turned the bodies into jiangshi and layered them with binding spells! Disobey, and they suppress you instantly!'
What if she'd scoffed at their offer of cooperation?
Would they really have sent her back as promised?
Not a chance.
Even she, ignorant of sorcery, knew this defied the natural order—a heaven-defying art.
How much time and resources went into crafting a single jiangshi?
They wouldn't discard it lightly.
That's why they separated the compliant from the defiant, treating them differently.
Indeed, on the other side were demons armed like proper warriors.
They couldn't fully escape the hierarchy, but they received decent treatment and held proper conversations with the shamans.
Fortunately, she was assigned to the latter group.
After adapting to her body—similar to her old one yet profoundly changed—she rose to become an elite of the Ghost Sword Corps.
The enforced discipline chafed, but she could breathe free air like in life and indulge in plucking yang essence now and then, so she had few complaints.
And now, after endless waiting, she had set foot in the Central Plains.
A land overflowing with handsome men and treasures.
Now it was hers.
'So Saeng-ban-ak, was it? I wanted to see him, but he's not here. What a shame.'
Myo Hwa-bin licked her lips at the absence of Sichuan's top heartthrob, but soon spotted another beauty not far behind.
Clang clang clang!
A young swordsman holding his own against the demon ghosts—nay, escorting people safely out of the manor.
His broad shoulders and tall frame set her heart racing, but that firm jaw and piercing gaze spoke of unyielding resolve.
His skill was impressive too; flashes of qi energy lopped off the jiangshi's sturdy heads like corn kernels.
What greater ecstasy than breaking a spirit like that?
Spotting fresh prey, Myo Hwa-bin leaped toward him.
Flash!
"!!"
Yi Cheolsan, the young swordsman, was slicing off a demon ghost's head when a chill raced up his spine. Instinctively, he twisted his torso around.
Claaang!
Whumm! Whoooohm!
The Azure Wind Sword—his sect leader's gift, a divine heirloom—trembled violently.
'Vile demonic qi!!'
Yi Cheolsan's face hardened.
The prickling in his wrists came from the foe's energy, but he'd never seen the Azure Wind Sword react like this.
The assailant's aura was utterly inhuman.
"Oh my! Skill to match that handsome face? Too good to kill easily right here!"
Myo Hwa-bin giggled as she twisted a spool of silken thread between her fingers.
Each sway of her body exuded bewitching allure and seductive charm.
Laced with a mind-bewitching spell, it wrinkled Yi Cheolsan's brow as he leaped back.
Reciting the incantation of the Spirit Releasing Divine Art to purge the invading evil from his upper dantian, he bellowed.
"Begone! Why does a dead soul shun peaceful rest to tread the living world? This shatters the laws of this realm and the next! Return whence you came, restless spirit!!"
"What nonsense? Where's this rigid rulebook etched in stone? You just do it. Did someone post a sign saying ghosts can't laugh and play here?"
"Spare me your twisted words! It's innate truth every living being knows from birth—no explanation needed! You're just slapping excuses on your profane deeds!"
"Hee hee hee! Typical rigid-mouthed fool! But listen—"
Myo Hwa-bin trailed off with a sly smile.
That was when Yi Cheolsan realized the ground beneath him was blanketed in silken threads.
The haphazard web gleamed coldly.
'When did this happen?!'
He was a dragonfly on a spider's web.
Myo Hwa-bin's eyes curved wider in delight.
"I like a man like that."
Spider Demon Silk Art
Blood Spider Binding
The web rose as one, constricting to ensnare him.
The Azure Wind Sword flared with crimson and azure qi.
Wind Thunder Sword Form.
Clang clang clang clang!
But the threads boasted sharpness and toughness to slice iron effortlessly.
Qi left mere scratches; it couldn't sever them.
At this rate, he'd be trapped.
Yi Cheolsan kicked off the ground in desperation.
Flying Stream Step, the swiftest movement art of the Qingcheng Sect.
Flash!
But the silken trap pursued relentlessly to claim him.
"Hee hee hee ho! My rigid brother, bouncing away is fine, but don't overdo it. It kills the charm!"
Myo Hwa-bin laughed like a cat toying with a mouse.
Yi Cheolsan had no breath to retort.
Shifting to Floating Cloud Leaping Drift to extend his airtime, he countered the pursuing threads with Azure Cloud Crimson霞 Sword.
Clang clang clang!
Qi clashed fiercely with silk, scattering energy shards.
Azure and crimson mists billowed, swaddling Yi Cheolsan like a youthful sword immortal reborn in a divine mural.
And indeed, he was preparing to draw forth his immortal qi.
He'd saved it for the North Sea Sect leaders, but now was the time.
'Who knows when more of these undead will show? Best end this quick.'
Suddenly, his eyes gleamed crimson and azure, as if holding a galaxy of stars.
His left eye shone with lofty azure light like the high heavens captured in Azure Cloud; his right with deep crimson glow like brooding mists in Crimson霞.
The eyes are windows to the soul, they say.
The 'sprout' of his spiritual root, rooted in his mind, manifested outwardly through the supreme art Azure Cloud Crimson霞 Sword.
At once, the mists around him brimmed with immortal qi, transforming into the immortal clouds ridden by celestials.
The silken trap, seeking to ensnare him, failed to pierce those clouds and was violently repelled.
"Sp-spiritual root!? And that of an immortal phoenix bone vessel...! Why is a kid who should be secluded in the sacred mountains here—"
Urgency cracked Myo Hwa-bin's smug facade for the first time.
Her resurrecting shaman had warned her emphatically.
'The soul-possession great art is flawless, but jiangshi sorcery still falls short of full revival. Steer clear of any bearer of immortal qi.'
She'd thought it easy enough.
Immortal path was a Daoist offshoot, but superior cultivation nonetheless.
Even among the Nine Great Sects and Eight Great Clans, immortal cultivators were rare, usually hidden in remote peaks.
So she'd come without worry—only for her marked hunk to be one!
Worse, he bore a spiritual root.
Her natural predator. She had to flee.
Then she sensed Yi Cheolsan peering through a rift in the immortal clouds. Her spine crawled.
'I won't die again!!'
Myo Hwa-bin bolted without looking back.
No shame in showing her back to a mere junior.
Having died once, she knew death's torment all too well.
She never wanted that again.
But her escape didn't last.
Someone blocked her retreat, as if lying in wait.
Screeeee!
Boom!
"Kyaa!"
"Hee hee hee hee! Pretty sis, where you going? Play with me! I'll slice that pretty face clean off and use it for kickball! Come on! Huh? Pretty please?"
A woman in a grotesque ghost mask giggled creepily.
Dang Gyujin.
Ghostly yin and murderous intent swarmed, hemming Myo Hwa-bin in.
'Another spiritual root!!'
Myo Hwa-bin's chest tightened.
Fleeing one only to run into another? What rotten luck?
This one wore Daoist robes yet grinned like a murder-crazed maniac.
It gave even her, a demon, chills.
"Little sister, you've arrived?"
"Ee hee hee hee! Big brother! Big brother, play with me too! Dice-chopping fun time! Whaddya say? Hee hee! Hee hee hee!"
Yi Cheolsan had slipped behind her unnoticed.
And somehow, they were sect siblings.
'What kind of freak duo is this!!'
A psychotic killer up front, a lofty sword immortal in back.
Both spiritual root bearers.
Faced with such opposites, Myo Hwa-bin's vision darkened.
"You... so-called... righteous fools resorting to ganging up...! Makes no sense! Come at me one by one, fair and square!!"
Myo Hwa-bin sweated coldly, scrambling for an out, but Dang Gyujin wasn't buying it.
"Hee hee hee. Sis, you died ages ago, so you wouldn't know. My little bro once said something."
Dang Gyujin laughed cheerily.
Her laugh evoked someone else.
'Villains taste best when ganged up on—!! Cackle cackle!'
"Ahem! My little sister says so. Apologies. We'll give you a sunny gravesite."
Myo Hwa-bin's face twisted savagely.
"Damn it!! You think I'm easy prey? Fine. Spiritual roots be damned—I'll show you the Flower-Faced Spider won't fall to brats like you!!"
Yi Cheolsan and Dang Gyujin calmly launched a joint assault.
Dragon-Tiger Twin Sword Formation.
Qingcheng Sect's famed elite duo array.