The Arrow of the Vermilion Bird
Even with Yeom Baek’s abrupt appearance, the Corpse Blood Demon did not show the slightest hint of panic.
Tsk. Annoying.
He smacked his lips as his cold gaze tracked Dokgo Jin retreating into the unit’s formation.
I’ll come play with you again once I rip this brute to shreds.
Yeom Baek’s brow furrowed deeply at being so blatantly dismissed.
“Where do you think you’re looking with me standing right in front of you, Corpse Blood Demon?”
“Ah, my mistake. I almost forgot my opponent had changed.” The Corpse Blood Demon slowly turned his head, a sickening, venomous smile spreading across his pale face. “Very well. I’ll slaughter you first.”
“Full of confidence, aren’t you?”
“Naturally. Did you expect me to break a sweat over trash like you?”
Yeom Baek’s expression hardened into iron at the provocation. Further words were useless.
“I’ll make you choke on those words!”
Wuuuung!
Fierce, azure battle qi erupted from Yeom Baek’s frame like an exploding furnace. With thunderous momentum, he leveled the heavy iron spear in his hands and thrust it forward like a lightning bolt.
Kwah-ang!
Tearing through the atmosphere with a deafening screech, the spearhead bore down on the demon’s chest. It was no ordinary thrust; it carried the devastating, bone-grinding weight to pulverize solid rock into dust.
Yet—
Kikikikik!
A grotesque, metallic screech tore through the clearing, and Yeom Baek’s spear ground to a dead halt in midair.
Though the explosive shockwave shoved the Corpse Blood Demon skidding backward across the churned mud, that was all. Hovering inches before his chest was a shimmering veil of crimson gangqi. Yeom Baek’s crushing blow had failed to pierce that solid, blood-red wall.
Yeom Baek’s jaw clenched.
Even that couldn't leave a scratch?
“Surely that wasn't your full power?” the Corpse Blood Demon mocked. “If this is all the renowned Mountain Smashing Spear amounts to, I must say I’m terribly disappointed.”
“Hmph!”
Snorting in contempt, Yeom Baek set his heavy iron spear dancing through the air.
“Hup!”
With a bellowing war cry, he unleashed a furious barrage. Battle qi detonated from the spearhead, swirling outward like a howling tempest.
Shwaaaa!
Carrying an overwhelming gravity that threatened to cave in the surrounding space, the iron spear crashed down toward the crown of the demon’s skull. Nor was it a single blow; countless afterimages cascaded from the heavens in a torrential deluge.
“Now that’s a bit more like it,” the Corpse Blood Demon purred.
Crimson light flaring in his eyes, he windmill-swung his bare hands through the air.
Cl-cl-cl-clang!
Deafening metallic shrieks rang out as sparks sprayed in every direction. Astonishingly, the demon was swatting aside the gangqi-wreathed iron spear using nothing more than the bare nails of his fingertips—human flesh and bone repelling tempered steel in a grotesque, unnatural spectacle.
Yeom Baek’s gaze sank into chilling gravity.
With the Iron Soul Unit teetering on the edge of destruction, he had no luxury to test his opponent's depth or pace himself.
Everything I have. Now.
Hwoooo!
As a colossal surge of inner qi welled up from his dantian and poured into the shaft, the azure spear gangqi darkened, shifting into a noble, crushing violet hue.
Second Stance: Purple Lightning Piercing the Sun
To-hwaaaak!
The iron spear tore forward like a lightning bolt bent on impaling the sun itself. Violet gangqi swirled violently around the spearhead, ready to pulverize anything unfortunate enough to graze its path.
Kwa-aaaaang!
The very air screamed under the assault as the overwhelming thrust bore down upon the Corpse Blood Demon. Yet the demon merely curled his lips.
So this is the Purple Heavens Limitless Spear. Its destructive force isn't half bad.
He read the spear’s trajectory down to the hair. Rather than meeting it head-on, the Corpse Blood Demon slithered inward like a phantom, riding the violent crests of that purple gale.
Kwagagagak!
Gangqi ground against gangqi with a grating, splintering roar. The viscous, crimson Blood Yin Gang oozing from the demon’s fingertips wound around the shaft like a living serpent, sliding up its length in the blink of an eye to snap directly at Yeom Baek’s throat.
A hair-raising chill seized Yeom Baek’s neck. He violently retracted the spear, bringing the butt of the shaft whipping around to bat away the incoming claws.
Jjeeeong!
Ugh!
Though he deflected the strike, the shockwave nearly tore the skin of his palms apart. Cold sweat slicked his grip against the cold iron.
He’s monstrously powerful. As expected of the Corpse Blood Demon.
He had no choice but to face reality: the Corpse Blood Demon was not merely half a step ahead, but a full realm superior. Every thrust of his spear was subtly deflected, and every parry sent a bone-shivering shock reverberating through his ribs.
In that brutal, split-second exchange, a sudden thought struck Yeom Baek’s mind.
His eyes flicked for the barest fraction of an instant toward the rear, where Dokgo Jin stood defending the survivors.
How on earth did he hold out?
Even Yeom Baek had to stake everything he had just to keep from being overwhelmed. Yet Dokgo Jin had held this monster at bay entirely on his own. Judging from the blood-soaked condition of the surrounding warriors, it had been no brief clash.
Dokgo Jin... just who are you?
Shwaaak!
There was no room for stray thoughts. The demon’s blackened claws grazed Yeom Baek’s cheek.
A spray of blood scattered through the air.
“Keep your eyes on me, Yeom Baek!”
Smelling blood, the Corpse Blood Demon launched a relentless offensive. Dozens of crimson claw marks slashed through the air, weaving together into a bloody web that tightened around Yeom Baek from all directions.
Finesse, speed, unpredictability—in every facet of combat, the demon reigned supreme. An ordinary martial artist would have cowered and fallen back, only to have their throat torn open in the next heartbeat.
Yeom Baek, however, was no ordinary warrior.
Wuuuung!
Waves of violet qi ignited across his frame like a raging furnace. If his martial arts fell short, he would bridge the chasm with sheer guts and unstoppable momentum. That was the martial dao of Yeom Baek, Leader of the Iron Soul Squad.
“I am the Leader of the Iron Soul Unit!”
Instead of yielding ground, Yeom Baek stepped boldly into the tempest of blood claws and spun his weapon like a roaring wheel.
Third Stance: Limitless Whirling Wheel
Cl-cl-cl-clang!
The furiously revolving spear transformed into a massive purple barrier, deflecting every claw in the demon’s onslaught.
Caught off guard by such unyielding resistance, the Corpse Blood Demon’s momentum hitched for a fraction of a second. Yeom Baek did not let that opening slip away.
Fourth Stance: Purple Heavens Pressing the Crown
The iron spear drew a massive arc and crashed straight down toward the crown of the demon’s skull. It descended with suffocating gravity, as if a chunk of the night sky had been torn loose to crush the earth below. It was a reckless, do-or-die strike—a gamble of mutual destruction executed despite laying his own vitals bare.
Mad brute...!
Intimidated by that suicidal fervor, the Corpse Blood Demon was forced to halt his attack and throw both arms up in defense.
KWA-AAAAANG!
A cataclysmic roar shook the entire clearing like the detonation of a colossal war drum. Crimson and violet gangqi collided head-on, sending a massive geyser of earth erupting into the canopy.
“Kugh!”
The concussive backlash gouged deep trenches into the earth beneath the Corpse Blood Demon’s boots as he was violently shoved back.
Now!
Swallowing down the agony of roiling blood and churning qi, Yeom Baek charged like an enraged wild boar at the staggering demon.
“Hyaaaap!”
Sh-sh-sh-shk!
Kwah-kwa-kwang!
Furious, rapid-fire thrusts threatened to bend the spear shaft as he drove the demon into a corner. Though the Corpse Blood Demon barely deflected the strikes with his Blood Yin Gang, he was forced back step after step. Shockwaves from the clashes splintered boulders into rubble and pulverized the soil into fine dust. Under Yeom Baek’s explosive onslaught, the demon appeared utterly overwhelmed.
Just a little more!
Veins bulged across Yeom Baek’s bloodshot eyes. His breathing grew ragged and the flow of his inner qi began to fray under the relentless strain, but he could not afford to stop.
Fall, Corpse Blood Demon!
The instant Yeom Baek reared his spear high to deliver the decisive coup de grâce—
The flustered, desperate expression on the demon’s face split into a grotesque, mocking sneer.
“Hook, line, and sinker.”
In that hair’s-breadth instant, the Corpse Blood Demon’s body contorted like a boneless serpent, slipping straight beneath the spear's guard.
Yeom Baek’s pupils dilated.
Shwaaak!
Carrying the full weight of his momentum, Yeom Baek’s spear struck only empty air, leaving his exposed abdomen completely defenseless.
Damn it!
All Yeom Baek could do was twist his torso desperately to minimize the lethal damage.
Ssshk!
A fresh spray of crimson erupted as his flank was torn open.
“Ngh!”
A muffled groan escaped Yeom Baek’s throat at the searing agony. Even amidst the blinding pain, he hurled himself backward, stabbing his own acupoints to staunch the bleeding.
The Corpse Blood Demon licked the blood dripping from his claws with an exaggerated frown.
“I intended to carve a gaping hole through your ribs, yet all I managed was a graze. What a pity.”
Yeom Baek remained grimly silent.
“Well, it isn't fatal, but I suppose this will do for now.”
Just as the demon said, the wound was not instantly fatal, but neither was it trivial. Under normal circumstances, Yeom Baek could have ignored the laceration and fought on, but the true terror lay in the Corpse Poison that had entered his flesh through those claws.
The moment the claws broke skin, Yeom Baek had detected the venom and suppressed it with his inner qi, yet the flesh around the wound had already turned a mottled, rotting black. Such was the horrific power of the Black Rot Corpse Poison Art, cultivated alongside the demon's Blood Yin Corpse Stiffening Art.
Rrrriip!
Yeom Baek tore off a long strip of cloth from his sleeve and bound the wound tightly.
The Corpse Blood Demon watched the spectacle with amused condescension.
“You’re merely delaying the poison by a few breaths.”
“...”
“Well? Surely you see the scales have tipped entirely in my favor now.”
Yeom Baek replied with unflinching calm.
“If you think a petty scratch like this is enough to threaten me, you are sorely mistaken.”
Indeed, his imposing presence and fiery spirit did not dim in the slightest.
“Khehehe. You truly are an admirable man, Yeom Baek.”
“...”
Yeom Baek glanced toward the remaining warriors of the Iron Soul Unit, who were locked in a desperate, bloody struggle against the Blood Mist Squad to protect Yong Chae-rin.
Having stood on the brink of total collapse, they were barely holding on thanks to Dokgo Jin’s fierce defense and the late arrival of the other unit members. Even so, barely twenty warriors remained standing, and those who had just arrived were already running on fumes. It was only a matter of time before the Blood Mist Squad butchered them all.
Yeom Baek ground his molars together.
I have to take down the Corpse Blood Demon as fast as humanly possible.
If push came to shove, he was fully prepared to trade his own life to drag the demon down to hell with him.
Meanwhile, Dokgo Jin—afforded a sliver of breathing room now that the reinforcements had solidified the ring—kept his sharp gaze fixed on the clash between Yeom Baek and the Corpse Blood Demon.
...This won't be easy.
Yeom Baek’s fighting spirit was magnificent, but raw courage alone could not bridge the chasm in their martial cultivation.
The leader won’t go down easily, but if he falls, our situation becomes hopeless.
Cold as it sounded, Yeom Baek had to at least force a mutual destruction if they were to avert absolute ruin.
If I were to join forces with the leader instead...
Yet that, too, was impossible.
Though the newcomers had bolstered the perimeter, they were utterly exhausted. In the brief time since the clash began, eight more warriors had suffered crippling wounds and had to be dragged into the center of the ring. Thanks to Han Seo-ryeong, who had recovered enough to administer emergency aid, none had died yet, but the formation was unraveling by the second. If Dokgo Jin suddenly abandoned his post, the entire defensive line would collapse in an instant.
A dilemma on every front.
Yeom Baek was holding for now, but if things took a turn for the worse, Dokgo Jin would have to step in, even at the cost of sacrificing a few lives in the defensive ring.
Leader Yeom... show me the true power of an Iron Soul Unit Leader.
Just as Yeom Baek, dragging his poisoned body, prepared to clash with the Corpse Blood Demon once more—
Dokgo Jin’s brow knit sharply as he sensed a sudden anomaly.
On pure instinct, he snapped his head around toward the depths of the forest.
A vicious, terrifying aura was tearing through the atmosphere at blinding speed.
SHWAAAAAA-EK!
A bloodcurdling screech, like the agonizing roar of a great dragon, engulfed the entire battlefield. In that very heartbeat, a freezing shudder raced down the Corpse Blood Demon’s spine.
It was no mere killing intent. It was an absolute harbinger of death, promising to obliterate his skull in a single breath.
Aborting his charge by sheer force of will, the Corpse Blood Demon hurled himself frantically across the mud.
KWA-BOOOOOM!
With an ear-splitting detonation that sounded as though heaven and earth were splitting apart, the ground where the demon had stood an instant prior erupted.
As the thick plume of dust slowly settled, it revealed a massive crater—and embedded deep at its epicenter was an object.
Astonishingly, it was a single arrow.
Yet this was no ordinary arrow; attached to its nock were brilliant crimson fletchings, flickering like living tongues of flame.
Yeom Baek’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
“That... is the Vermilion Bird Arrow?!”
Hearing the stunned cry, the Corpse Blood Demon’s face drained of all color.
The Vermilion Bird Arrow?
In the entire realm beneath heaven, only one master wielded that arrow.
One of the Five Pillars of the Northern Heaven Alliance—the crimson disaster that set battlefields ablaze.
Don't tell me... the Vermilion Bird Banner Leader has arrived here in person?!
Dark Sky Martial Emperor
Author | Jeong Cheon
Publisher | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Managing Editor | Editorial Department
Published by | Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. - Dream Books
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