Clash of the Titans

The Corpse Blood Demon's eyes turned chillingly cold.

"Impudent brat…"

The instant he kicked off the frozen ground, a crimson afterimage tore forward like an explosion. His arm bent unnaturally, swaying like a boneless invertebrate as it snaked directly into Dokgo Jin's blind spot.

The reach…!

Dokgo Jin's brow furrowed. Absurdly enough, the unarmed demon's striking range exceeded that of his own drawn sword. It was a bizarre art that extended reach by dislocating the arm joints at will.

Boom!

A concussive detonation pulverized the spot where Dokgo Jin had stood a fraction of a second before, blasting earth and packed snow in all directions. Dokgo Jin, however, was already gone. He had drifted backward on the steps of the Nine Nether Trackless.

He's tricky, no question.

An ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ordinary master, caught entirely off guard by such an irregular blood claw technique, would have been shredded to pieces before ever realizing what happened. But that strike had merely been the prelude. Despite missing, the Corpse Blood Demon never broke his stride. He lunged like a shadow, both hands thrusting in relentless succession.

Boom! Crash!

Dokgo Jin weaved through the barrage with the Nine Nether Trackless, leaving the frozen earth hollowed out behind him in craters of ruptured soil. The razor-sharp crimson claws grazed by him, missing by mere millimeters.

"Scurrying like a rat, aren't you!"

Irritation and murderous fervor flared violently in the demon's bloodshot eyes.

Let's see you dodge this.

Wuuung—!

The crimson qi surging from the Corpse Blood Demon's body swelled to an explosive peak.

Swish-swish-swish-swish!

Dense crimson gangqi erupted from his ten fingertips and fractured midair, morphing into over a dozen scarlet whips that locked down every escape route around Dokgo Jin. It was a merciless, overwhelming offensive that left nowhere to dodge.

Dokgo Jin's eyes remained cold and still.

Dodge what can be dodged, and deflect the rest.

Unleashing his full cultivation would make unraveling this assault simple enough, but the moment had not yet come to show his hand. Widening the distance as much as possible, he swept Extinction in a broad, fluid arc.

Cl-cl-clang!

Sparks showered across the snow alongside the shrill scream of colliding energies. Dokgo Jin was pushed back across the frozen earth, but once again, he absorbed the momentum without suffering a single wound.

Seeing this, the Corpse Blood Demon's expression subtly hardened.

Look at this little bastard.

Wielding an extraordinary divine blade was one thing, but standing tall against the Blood Demon Hand was something else entirely. The demon's gaze gleamed with newfound wariness.

"You truly are no common grunt. Impressive."

Dokgo Jin offered no reply.

"Things will be different from here on."

The air around the Corpse Blood Demon shifted drastically. Without the slightest breath of warning, his crimson claws tore forward.

Swoosh!

His speed belonged to an entirely different realm than before.

He's fighting in earnest!

Clang!

Dokgo Jin hastily raised Extinction to parry, but the defense was rushed. His boots skidded across the frosted dirt, his posture thoroughly broken for the first time.

Conventional defenses won't hold him.

Watching the Corpse Blood Demon close the distance in a blur, Dokgo Jin's gaze turned dark and profound.

To neutralize this…

Instead of condensing the Ink Flame Qi from his dantian along the edge of Extinction, Dokgo Jin fractured it through minute vibrations, dispersing the pitch-black energy into the air surrounding the blade.

Give it no fixed form.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Hummmm—!

A translucent, heat-haze distortion rippled across the length of Extinction.

Boom! Crash! Clang!

Scarlet gangqi and pitch-black steel clashed more than ten times in a breath. To an onlooker, Dokgo Jin appeared to be desperately swinging his sword just to stave off death. Yet with every blow that landed, the Corpse Blood Demon's face twisted into an increasingly bizarre grimace.

…What is this?

His Blood Yin Gang had undeniably struck the sword, yet the impact felt all wrong. Instead of rebounding off solid steel, it felt as though he were driving his fists into thick, murky mud—a repulsive, dragging resistance that sapped the bite and edge from his gangqi the instant they touched.

Ssssss.

At the point of collision, crimson energy hissed and vaporized into faint wisps of smoke.

It's like… cutting into mist.

The Corpse Blood Demon's brow furrowed in disgust.

He still had petty tricks up his sleeve?

His patience utterly spent, the demon condensed the full reserve of his Blood Yin Gang into both hands.

Die already!

Kaa-boooom!

A torrent of concentrated crimson gangqi erupted from his fingertips like a violent waterfall. Its destructive force dwarfed everything he had displayed so far.

A chilling light flashed in Dokgo Jin's eyes.

Hiss!

In an instant, he recalled the Ink Flame Qi dispersed throughout the air, channeling every scrap of it directly into Extinction. The blackened blade deepened into a hue darker than the void of midnight.

Wuuuung—!

Vibrating furiously, the tip of Extinction tore upward from low to high.

Shriek!

It was a single swing, yet its trajectory multiplied. Dozens of layered black veils manifested in the wake of the blade, erecting an impregnable fortress of qi that met the cascading storm of crimson gangqi head-on.

Rumble!

The atmosphere itself screamed under the pressure. The earth beneath Dokgo Jin's boots sank several inches from the shockwave, yet he remained planted firmly on his feet.

Watching this, the Corpse Blood Demon's eyes narrowed into serpentine slits.

He blocked it again?

It was not merely the fact that the strike had been stopped. In that split second of collision, the Corpse Blood Demon had glimpsed an eerie abyss lurking beyond those black barriers—a profound, primordial darkness that felt as though it could devour even demonic qi whole.

He's hiding something…

This was no soft internal art like the Wudang Sect's Taiji. A suffocating murderous intent, far exceeding mere curiosity, flooded the demon's blood-red eyes.

Against me? A whelp like you dares hold back?

"Arrogant little bastard."

The blood-hued gangqi gathering at his claws flared brighter and swelled in size.

"I'll snap that pitiful sword in two and rip your beating heart from your chest!"

Dokgo Jin kept his expression impassive, but inwardly, he clicked his tongue.

This is getting troublesome.

Originally, the Corpse Blood Demon's Blood Yin Gang had naturally enveloped his entire frame. Now, he had poured every ounce of it solely into his two hands, multiplying the lethality of his claws several times over.

He's left his body exposed. Punishing that opening would make striking him down relatively easy. However…

Yoo Seol-ah and the rest of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠squad were consumed by their struggle against the Blood Mist Unit, but Han Seo-ryeong was staring toward him with deep anxiety. Her watchful eyes were an issue.

I can't let her see.

Exposing that he could single-handedly fell a commander of the Kunlun Demon Palace—even if written off as sheer luck—would draw far too much scrutiny. Meanwhile, the Corpse Blood Demon was already closing in.

Tch.

Just as Dokgo Jin weighed whether he should take a minor wound to keep up appearances—

A voice transmission struck his mind like a thunderclap. Recognizing the speaker instantly, Dokgo Jin kicked off the ground and hurled himself backward without a breath of hesitation.

KABOOM!

A deafening explosion rocked the earth where Dokgo Jin had stood, as if a colossal bolt of lightning had crashed straight from the heavens. A terrifying shockwave swept out in all directions, blasting even the Corpse Blood Demon backward through the air.

The demon caught himself in a low crouch, glaring with daggers through the billowing curtain of dust.

Tearing straight through the dense haze, a towering figure stepped into view. Clutching a heavy iron spear in one hand, the massive warrior radiated an overwhelming aura of bloodthirsty battle intent.

"Now, you deal with me."

Flashing a glare of ferocious cyan light, it was none other than the leader of the Iron Soul Unit—Yeom Baek, the Mountain Smashing Spear.

While Dokgo Jin had held off the Corpse Blood Demon alone, Yoo Seol-ah and the fourteen Iron Soul Unit warriors had been locked in a grueling, bloody struggle for their lives.

Clang! Cl-clang!

"Hold the line or we're finished! Back-to-back! Maintain your intervals!"

Yoo Seol-ah's twin swords whirled like a dance of silver light, deflecting the throwing daggers and thrusts of the Blood Mist Unit. Spurred by her shouts, the warriors gritted their teeth and dug their heels into the blood-slick snow. Their stamina had long since run dry, and wounds covered them from head to toe, yet not a single man faltered.

That kid… Dokgo Jin is putting his life on the line holding off that monster.

The tremendous tremors and explosions shaking the earth behind them told the entire story. If a fresh rookie was buying them time against a branch master of the Kunlun Demon Palace, how could seasoned veterans ever show their faces if their line collapsed here?

"We die before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this line breaks! Defend the formation!"

"Sir!"

Roaring with venomous defiance, the Iron Soul warriors thrust their blades forward, bridging the gap between sheer numbers and physical exhaustion through raw willpower. Yet the Blood Mist Unit was equally relentless. Ruthless blades slipped past their guard, carving flesh from shoulders and thighs and sending arcs of blood splashing into the snow.

The circular formation was buckling, bending inward toward its breaking point. Blood stained Yoo Seol-ah's pale face as her jaw tightened.

Is this our limit?

Right at that desperate moment—

KABOOM!

An earth-shattering roar erupted from Dokgo Jin's side of the battlefield, unleashing a tremendous shockwave that swept across the snowy clearing.

Yoo Seol-ah and her men reflexively whipped their heads toward the sound. Through the churning plumes of dust, the Corpse Blood Demon was flung back, and a towering figure radiating immense presence stepped forward to shield Dokgo Jin.

"Ah…!"

Yoo Seol-ah's eyes widened.

It was an all too familiar back. In all the Five Banners, there was only one man who commanded such overwhelming, battlefield-dominating spirit.

"U-Unit Leader…!" someone choked out.

Yeom Baek, the leader of the Iron Soul Unit, had finally arrived.

"We're saved…"

It was an instinctual surge of relief. Having been driven to the very brink of annihilation, the arrival of their commander felt like the dawn breaking over a pitch-black night. However, that taut thread of survival instinct snapped loose for a fraction of a second.

The Blood Mist Unit did not miss that opening.

Seizing the instant their enemies' attention drifted toward the explosion, the assassins pressed their assault with feral ferocity. In the blink of an eye, relief curdled into screams of agony. A warrior anchoring the defensive perimeter failed to react in time as an enemy blade tore deep into his shoulder.

"Guh!"

Blood sprayed across the snow as he collapsed, and the circular formation shattered. Scarlet killing intent poured straight into the breach.

"It's not over yet! Don't let your guard down!"

Yoo Seol-ah screamed at the top of her lungs, rushing to close the gap, but three assassins were already diving toward the fallen warrior's exposed neck with daggers raised. From where she stood, she could never cross the distance in time.

No…!

Just as despair threatened to swallow her whole—

Slash!

A severed head spun through the air in a fountain of crimson. An abyss-black blade had flashed out of nowhere, decapitating the lead assassin in a single breath.

The remaining assassins recoiled in shock, and the man holding the dark sword smoothly stepped forward, filling the breach in the perimeter.

It was Dokgo Jin.

"Falling apart just because I stepped away for a moment? Aren't you veterans a little embarrassed in front of the new recruit?"

"Ha…"

A hollow laugh escaped Yoo Seol-ah's lips.

Is this really his first mission? How can someone be so ice-cold?

The moment Yeom Baek stepped in to intercept the Corpse Blood Demon, Dokgo Jin had immediately disengaged and sprinted back to reinforce the squad's line. It was an impeccably timed, flawlessly calculated decision.

"The Unit Leader is here, which means the rest of our forces will link up shortly. Hold on just a little longer!"

"Yeah!"

At Dokgo Jin's ringing cry, the morale of the battered Iron Soul Unit flared back to life. Four of their comrades were already down, but Dokgo Jin held the widened gap on his own, deflecting every incoming thrust.

Yet Dokgo Jin knew the situation remained perilous.

The arrival of the Unit Leader doesn't mean the battle is won.

Even if the scattered squads managed to regroup, the Blood Mist Unit still held the numerical advantage, and whether Yeom Baek could bring down the Corpse Blood Demon was far from certain.

Even for Yeom Baek, Sihyeolma is no easy prey.

The crisis was far from over.

Unit Leader, you had better live up to your reputation as the strongest squad leader in the Northern Heaven Alliance.

At that exact moment, Yeom Baek and the Corpse Blood Demon collided.