Chapter 203
Chapter 203
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Phantom Sect Lord
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was nothing short of a bolt from the blue for the Teaching Scholar's faction.
They still hadn't secured the sect leader's safety, and they bore the burden of being the culprits who had stirred up trouble in an otherwise peaceful sect just to follow him, all because of the shared interests he had promised.
And now he had fallen in battle?
The real problem was that they couldn't even identify the assassin properly.
It had happened in the blink of an eye.
The faces of the disciples right beside him paled in shock.
They had already been worried that with the Half-Demon Horde's appearance, the South Palace warriors were being swept away, and they might suffer the same fate.
The Tang Clan's demon horde had now closed in right under their chins.
But then.
"Roar!!"
With my roar infused with full internal energy, Gong Sonbum swiftly reached into his robes.
He looked utterly baffled as to why I was issuing such an order instead of finishing off an enemy we had all but claimed victory over.
Fortunately, he faithfully carried out my command.
What he pulled out was a signal flare.
The signal for retreat.
He fired it into the air, and soon thick blue smoke billowed across the sky.
"Retreat!!"
"All Half-Demon Horde, fall back!"
Just as when they first appeared, the Half-Demon Horde withdrew from the battlefield like the receding tide.
The final order I had given the commanders before the battle began was a single one.
'When you see the retreat signal, run in the opposite direction no matter what. Squeeze out every last drop of strength from your nursing days.'
When Ha Hu Jeongmun asked why, I could only give a bitter smile.
'You'll understand when the time comes. That's when the real disaster will show up.'
And now.
That very disaster was about to appear.
"…To think all that hardship until now was just to witness such an unsightly spectacle."
Clearly, the Teaching Scholar's head—twisted back until his neck bones should have snapped—was muttering from its mouth.
"L-Lord Elder!?"
"W-What's going—"
"Blood is still leaking from between his brows…!"
The Unity Sect disciples' faces turned ashen.
The sight of him moving with blood streaming from the hole in his brow and his pallid complexion was utterly eerie.
It was like beholding the jiangshi from the Black Bone Ghost Valley, said to have been wiped out during the Nine Dragons Great Battle.
But the Teaching Scholar paid no heed to the reactions around him, clicking his tongue lightly as he moved again.
"I thought I just needed to put the final punctuation mark. To falter at the last step, distracted for a mere moment, and see the grand scheme unravel like this… They say nothing in the myriad worlds goes entirely as one wishes, but isn't this a bit much?"
The Teaching Scholar's head snapped back to its original position with a flick.
His muttering voice, with its pallid face, grew clearer and more distinct with each word.
"And that Reborn Half-Fiend at the center of it all… I'm genuinely curious about your true identity."
The voice was the Teaching Scholar's, yet not his.
Unlike his usual curt tone, it was polite.
It sounded less like a Daoist or warrior and more like a deeply learned scholar.
But the temperament within was chilling and sinister beyond measure.
It felt like witnessing a rebellion among gods and spirits.
Just standing nearby sent chills down the spine and blanked the mind white.
No thoughts arose.
The Daoist teachings commanded one to immediately exorcise such malevolent presences.
The Unity Sect's core spirit was also the subjugation of demons.
Yet they couldn't even conceive of how to drive out the rebellion possessing the Teaching Scholar.
No, it was more accurate to say they couldn't muster the courage.
The terror emanating from the possession was that overwhelming.
An existence that stirred humanity's primal emotions.
Like an abyss, simply standing beside it slowly devoured the soul, eventually drowning it.
—Beyond human.
No description fit better.
Though masked in human skin, it had transcended human limits into something else entirely.
"So I'll watch for a bit. Since you've troubled me, surely you've prepared yourself for some trouble in return?"
At that moment, the sinister aura spreading around the Teaching Scholar twisted and coiled, transforming into five swords.
Tzzzzz—
The Teaching Scholar fixed his gaze on me.
His face, drained of too much blood, was like a white mask.
The hollow glint in his sunken eyes was all too familiar to me.
「Phantom Sect Lord! As expected, the one possessing the Teaching Scholar is that bastard from the Tang Clan!!」
「To think he'd consider this place safe!!」
Ghost-Slaying Phantom Sect Lord, Gu Cheolsalma Deung Sahyeon.
He was the world's greatest assassin and a sorcerer wielding unique shamanistic arts from the distant northeastern frontier of Baekdu.
One of his favorite killing methods involved tearing off part of his origin spirit and implanting it into a person, puppeteering them like marionettes.
It was called the Puppet Yin Consciousness Technique.
"Phantom Sect Lord!! When did you—into the Teaching Scholar's body—"
Three Battles Immortal Lord, who had barely survived his battle with the Lion Tao King, cried out in horror.
He too seemed gripped by fear upon realizing that the battlefield, which he thought he had manipulated at will, had all been the Phantom Sect Lord's scheme.
But the Phantom Sect Lord ignored him entirely.
He merely flicked the Teaching Scholar's finger like a puppet master.
Paat! Paat! Paat! Paat! Paaaat!
The five yin swords traced five trajectories across the world.
"Guh!"
"D-Demonic qi…!"
"The Teaching Scholar, with the Demonic Cult bastards… Aaaargh!"
The Unity Sect disciples belatedly realized the Teaching Scholar was no longer the one they knew, but it was far too late to defend.
The disciples guarding him vanished along the trajectories without a trace.
Those who rushed in to save their comrades were of no help.
Their shields and swords shattered before they could even block, their very existence erased.
"How did this—"
Everything vanished in an instant, unconsciously.
Before they could even sense the attack, they were gone—no way to block it.
But those five trajectories targeted me and the Half-Demon Horde.
Whether Unity Sect disciples or South Palace black or white agents stood in the way, he didn't care.
If they got swept up and died unjustly, that was their problem—this irresponsible attitude.
'Still pretending to be a scholar with that mouth, but acting solely on his whims as always.'
That's why, the moment I sensed the Phantom Sect Lord might appear, I told the commanders to bolt without looking back.
Of course, I couldn't join them.
If I did, everyone here would be annihilated.
The Phantom Sect Lord I knew was the craziest among the Nine Great Sect Lords.
Beast Sect Lord?
That one only feigned madness outwardly; inwardly, he was a cunning schemer.
But the Phantom Sect Lord was different.
Always masked, never showing his true face, and beneath his ghost silk robes hid a ruthlessness that wouldn't blink at slaughtering the world.
Squeeeee—
I unleashed Gale Wind Divine Thunder at maximum and blocked the trajectory.
The remaining four fell to Gong Sonbum and the Four Assassins Trio.
Kurrrrung!
Gong Sonbum deployed his Six Line Chasing Thunder Skill's Wall Mountain Fortress, Tang Gyujin his Divine Demon Sword Qi Method, Yu Summin his Roaring Tiger Great Power Divine Palm, and Sama Seon his Sword Fragrance Thousand Miles stance at full scale.
The power at the tip of those yin swords was immense enough to tense us all.
I'd felt it against the North Sea Sect Lord, but the Phantom Sect Lord had clearly stepped into the saintly realm.
No—perhaps even deeper than the half-step North Sea Sect Lord.
Three Sword Arts Fusion Form
Sparse but Impermeable
I swiftly drew up the Fury Wind Orb.
The Three Sword Arts' full power mixed with the Yellow Dragon's breath.
No worry he'd recognize the Heavenly Demon Slaughter Sword.
The fusion form held such varied changes it was hard to pinpoint a specific sword art.
But its might was certain.
The Fury Wind Orb overheated more fiercely than ever, while my mind cooled to glacial ice.
To evade him, I had to foresee several moves ahead thoroughly.
Kwaaaaaang!
A massive shockwave rocked my entire body.
Even squeezing my three dantians to raise the Crimson Dragon Demon Body, blocking was grueling.
My molars might have cracked from clenching so hard.
But I didn't yield a single step.
If I did, I'd lose everyone fighting alongside me again—that thought alone consumed me.
Gong Sonbum and the Four Assassins Trio yielded ground or deflected sideways with flexibility, but I had to advance for the next move.
I poured internal energy into my soles' Yongcheon acupoints and stamped down. True Step.
Battle trance from my calves steadied my lower body, powering my arms.
The ragged Yellow Dragon breath paused, then drew a deep inhale. The Yellow Dragon's scales bristled erect.
Kwaaaa—
Rumble!
Kukukuku…!!
Veins bulged along my forearms. Capillaries burst, reddening my vision. Blood filled my mouth.
Even with this effort, blocking his yin sword was tough—that was the Phantom Sect Lord's power.
Immortal-Slaying Yin Sword.
The yin sword embodying the pinnacle of the Ghost-Slaying Phantom Lord's Five Zen Ultimates pressed the Fury Wind Orb back, inching toward my throat.
「Young Lord!!」
「This is dangerous as is!」
「Better deflect the assault sideways—」
The spirits screamed, but I squeezed out my last reserves. My three dantians wailed.
Yet the Yellow Dragon's breath understood my heart perfectly.
The Fury Wind Orb surged upward.
Puuuung!
The Fury Wind Orb shattered.
Fragments of the divine weapon that Dark Venerable and Tang Chukyung had forged together scattered into the air.
Beside them dispersed the particles of the dismantled Immortal-Slaying Yin Sword.
Ah, I'm gonna get an earful when I return to the Tang family later.
With that thought, I hurled myself into the chaotic backlash winds.
Exhaling the Yellow Dragon's breath again to shield my upper body with Revolving Wind in the Void, scattering Western Thousand Steps as I unleashed Gale Wind Divine Thunder with all my might.
Kwarung—!!
And in one breath, I closed in on the Phantom Sect Lord wearing the Teaching Scholar's husk.
Now drained of all blood, the Teaching Scholar's expressionless face resembled a true mask.
Everything about this bastard was fake.
Only his eyes were real.
Those eyes gleamed with an odd light.
As if beholding something intriguing.
Like saying, *So you're the infamous Reborn Half-Fiend I've heard so much about.*
Of course, to me it was just an ugly glint, so I scoffed lightly and hurled the North Dark Tablet gripped in my hand with full force.
Tzat!
The Teaching Scholar's eyes widened slightly. Then he smirked faintly.
Having seen the North Sea Sect's sacred relic, greed stirred.
*What a windfall,* he'd think.
Instead of moving his body to retrieve the North Dark Tablet, he simply extended a hand.
And that was his fatal mistake.
"With this king present, for a mere demon to get distracted elsewhere—truly displeasing."
The Lion Tao King appeared from the flank, his Fierce Lion Saber slashing at the Phantom Sect Lord's side.
Tsk!
The Teaching Scholar reluctantly stepped back, dodging the Fierce Lion Saber while twisting his torso to smack the North Dark Tablet upward with his hand blade.
Hwaaaak!
Right then, I too unleashed Twin Palms Cataclysm Surge at full power.
One against one.
No—my clash with the Lion Tao King against the Phantom Sect Lord began.