Chapter 250
Chapter 250
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 250
Chapter Title: Friend... (4)
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Mount Hua was crumbling.
The halls that had endured for a thousand years were ablaze, and the warriors who had guarded its vital spirit were collapsing, spilling red blood.
A acrid stench pierced the nostrils, and flames shot into the sky. The righteous energy that once filled Mount Hua now overflowed with demonic qi.
At the horrific sight, True Person Hyuncheon trembled uncontrollably. Buried in his abdomen was Hwang Ryeol’s massive fist.
“Keuugh!”
“Heh heh! No need to feel so wronged, Flatnose.”
Hwang Ryeol grinned.
His own body bore considerable wounds. A chunk of flesh was torn from his shoulder, and a deep gash marred his thigh. Yet Hwang Ryeol laughed.
To capture the sect leader of the world-renowned Mount Hua Sect with mere scratches like these was a profitable deal.
“You bastard!”
True Person Hyuncheon reached out to grab Hwang Ryeol. But with no strength in his hand, it flailed uselessly in the air.
Hwang Ryeol withdrew his fist from True Person Hyuncheon’s abdomen. A torrent of blood gushed out, and True Person Hyuncheon staggered.
“Flatnose! You can’t die yet.”
Hwang Ryeol seized True Person Hyuncheon by the throat and dragged him along. True Person Hyuncheon was pulled like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Kuhugh!”
A groan of agony escaped True Person Hyuncheon’s lips.
Hwang Ryeol dragged him to a large tree with a clear view of Mount Hua’s devastation.
“Watch closely from here, Flatnose. See Mount Hua—the place you devoted your life to protect—crumble to ruins.”
“Kaaak!”
True Person Hyuncheon’s scream pierced the heavens.
Hwang Ryeol stabbed a longsword he had picked up into True Person Hyuncheon’s shoulder. The blade sliced through the muscle of his left shoulder and embedded into the tree. Hwang Ryeol then thrust another into his right shoulder.
With swords pinning both shoulders, True Person Hyuncheon couldn’t even collapse; he was fixed upright against the tree.
He wept. Bloody tears streamed from his torn eyes.
Mount Hua Sect was falling.
His heart was shattering.
Everything he had built over a lifetime was turning to ash and vanishing.
“No... no!”
His desperate cry echoed across Mount Hua.
Rage boiling over, True Person Hyuncheon spewed a gush of blood and dropped his head. That was the end of True Person Hyuncheon, who had lived his entire life for Mount Hua’s revival.
True Person Hyuncheon’s death crushed the last remnants of morale among Mount Hua Sect’s disciples. The warriors, having lost their leader before their eyes, fell without much resistance.
Even the martial artists who had taken refuge in Mount Hua fared no better.
The Demonic Cult forces led by Sang Hwancheon were truly terrifying, mercilessly crushing all who resisted.
Sang Hwancheon’s brow furrowed.
Cheo Yeonun still stood.
Despite two swords piercing his chest and abdomen, despite his body being drenched in blood, he stood tall.
Yet his left leg was missing. It had been cleanly severed just below the knee. Even so, he propped himself up with the Hundred Battles Victory Flag, refusing to fall.
“Sahyung!”
“Keuhk!”
The Baekjeonmun warriors watching Cheo Yeonun shed bloody tears from their eyes.
Cheo Yeonun endured with fatal wounds that should have killed him instantly.
Focus had vanished from Cheo Yeonun’s eyes.
“Huh! I am Cheo Yeonun. As long as the Hundred Battles Victory Flag stands, I will never fall.”
Right now, Cheo Yeonun held on through superhuman will alone. His figure, defying a body at its limit, stirred waves not just in his allies but even in the hearts of the Demonic Cult warriors.
Sang Hwancheon’s eyes twitched.
No one knew better than he how much impact a single warrior could have.
“Hah! Hah! Come at me.”
Cheo Yeonun mumbled with his head bowed. He probably didn’t even know what he was saying.
Cheo Yeonun was on the brink of death. Yet no one dared attack him further. Even the Demonic Cult warriors were overwhelmed by his indomitable spirit.
The Illusion Demon Corps, who had attacked Cheo Yeonun emotionlessly, now only exchanged glances.
Raised as the Demonic Cult’s murder machines, they were still warriors. They could kill their humanity out of necessity, but they weren’t devoid of emotion.
“......”
A suffocating silence dominated the area.
Dan Hoseung, who had fought Cheo Yeonun on equal footing moments ago, turned his back. Shame had gripped him.
Sang Hwancheon disliked the mood.
It was a perfect victory for the Demonic Cult. He had no desire to let Cheo Yeonun ruin it.
He ordered the Illusion Demon Corps warrior aiming his sword at Cheo Yeonun.
“I have no interest in hearing more of that drivel. End him.”
At Sang Hwancheon’s command, the momentarily hesitant Illusion Demon Corps moved.
“Sahyung!”
“No!”
The Baekjeonmun warriors tried to reach Cheo Yeonun somehow. But they were blocked by the Demonic Cult warriors and couldn’t budge.
Even as the Illusion Demon Corps closed in, Cheo Yeonun remained oblivious, mumbling.
“Come at me......”
The Illusion Demon Corps swung his sword at Cheo Yeonun’s neck.
Slash!
In that instant, Cheo Yeonun’s body collapsed, and the sword grazed past his head, slicing the Hundred Battles Victory Flag in two.
The severed flag fluttered down onto Cheo Yeonun’s body. As the Illusion Demon Corps warrior raised his sword to strike again—
Boom!
A fierce surge of energy swept across Mount Hua.
The Illusion Demon Corps warrior’s downward swing froze mid-motion.
Thud!
At first, everyone thought it was an illusion. But the powerful vibration rising from the ground through their soles, stirring their hearts ominously, proved it real.
The Illusion Demon Corps warrior turned, still holding his sword poised.
Srrrrk!
A strange scraping sound echoed.
It was so faint that one had to strain to hear it. Yet everyone did.
The surviving Mount Hua Sect warriors exchanged glances, asking if the others had heard it too—was it a hallucination?
The Demonic Cult warriors were the same.
Thud!
Another massive vibration followed.
Srrrrk!
The faint sound trailed it.
Only then did people realize it wasn’t their imagination or a hallucination.
Thud! Srrrrk!
The discordant rhythm, utterly out of sync, continued relentlessly, growing louder.
With each amplification, hearts pounded wildly. Until then, no one knew why their hearts raced so uncontrollably.
Thud! Srrrrk! Thud! Srrrrk!
The sounds grew even louder, drawing all eyes toward their source.
The fierce battle halted, silence descending. The only thing breaking the stillness was the ominous, offbeat clamor.
Eyes widened. The foreboding noise forced their attention.
Even those with low skill in martial arts, and self-proclaimed masters alike, couldn’t tear their gaze from the sound’s origin. Its source compelled everyone to focus on it.
‘What in the world?’
Sang Hwancheon was no exception.
He clenched his fists tightly. Nails dug into his palms, drawing blood, but he was too fixated on the eerie sounds to notice.
As he ground his teeth—
Thud!
With an especially powerful vibration, he finally appeared.
He was red.
His hair was red, his body red, his arms and legs red.
He took a step.
Thud! Srrrrk!
He stomped hard with his right foot and dragged his left across the ground as he advanced. With each step, the red covering his body dripped away.
Drip! Drip!
Red blood droplets splattered on the ground.
Only then did people realize the red enveloping him was fresh blood.
A nauseating metallic stench assaulted their noses with his approach.
“Urk!”
“Guh!”
Veteran warriors, hardened against such things, dry-heaved. It wasn’t just the blood smell. Their bodies reacted instinctively to his presence.
He walked on, drawing all eyes inexorably to him. His uneven shoulders betrayed his limp.
Countless warriors existed in the world, but only one bore such a distinct mark.
“Fist Demon.”
“It’s Sahyung.”
The surviving powerhouses and Mount Hua Sect warriors began to murmur.
A single ripple on a calm surface needed just one droplet. Likewise, moving hearts required few words.
The word “Fist Demon” sufficed.
Fist Demon Damho was walking.
His gaze fixed on one place.
Where the Hundred Battles Victory Flag lay severed. Where Cheo Yeonun had fallen.
Hot steam rose from his body. The sweat and blood soaking him evaporated from his body heat.
From Hell Valley to here, he had run without a single moment’s rest. The red blood drenching him belonged to the Blood Demon Squad.
The Blood Demon Squad had clung tenaciously to Damho’s ankles. They threw their bodies at him, harassing him to the last man.
Piercing all resistance and interference, he had arrived. Damho prayed only that he wasn’t too late.
“Stop, Fist Demon!”
Someone blocked Damho’s path.
He was Moyong Sangmun, a Demonic Cult elite. He aimed his signature weapon, the heaven-piercing halberd, at Damho.
“That’s far enough. How dare you, against our cult’s......”
Boom!
In that instant, Moyong Sangmun exploded into a bloody pulp and flew away.
Thud!
The mangled remains, unrecognizable as human, hit the ground.
Everyone’s eyes bulged.
Despite the crowd watching, no one clearly saw how Moyong Sangmun died. One moment their vision blurred, and with a roar, his breath was snuffed out.
Damho kept walking. His serene demeanor made it hard to believe he was the one who had just killed Moyong Sangmun.
The Demonic Cult elites raged.
“How dare you!”
“Stop!”
Two elites leaped forward. Among those who had scaled Mount Hua today, they ranked top in prowess.
Kwang!
But with a thunderous boom, they were hurled back without a word.
Their chests and faces caved in, beyond recognition. Crushed like they’d been rammed by a siege chariot.
“Kuh!”
They twitched violently before breathing their last.
The area fell deathly silent.
Despite the multitude watching, no one could speak. Damho’s overwhelming presence enforced it.
All swallowed dryly, unable to move easily.
Move, and die.
Damho demonstrated it with his body.
“Yeonun.”
At last, Damho reached Cheo Yeonun.
Cheo Yeonun’s upper body was hidden beneath the bisected Hundred Battles Victory Flag. Damho knelt on one knee and gently lifted it, revealing Cheo Yeonun’s blood-soaked face.
Unfocused eyes, slightly parted lips, ashen complexion. Two swords through chest and abdomen, and his left leg severed pitifully below the knee.
“Yeon... un.”
Damho called Cheo Yeonun again. But there was no response.
A stifling silence stretched. Everyone held their breath, watching.
Damho looked down at Cheo Yeonun.
Even in that state, Cheo Yeonun gripped the Hundred Battles Victory Flag.
What he had fought so desperately to protect.
The will he had fought so desperately to uphold.
Damho grasped the torn Hundred Battles Victory Flag. It slipped from Cheo Yeonun’s hand.
In that moment, Cheo Yeonun’s eyes fluttered incredibly.
Focus slowly returned to them. Damho watched silently.
“Dam... ho?”
Recognizing Damho, Cheo Yeonun struggled to rise. But the sword in his gut and his severed left leg below the knee prevented it. Only then did he realize his leg was gone.
Cheo Yeonun looked up at Damho.
Tears streamed down his face.
“The Hundred... Battles Victory Flag is broken. I couldn’t protect it.”
He cared nothing for the pain of losing his leg. The value embodied in the Hundred Battles Victory Flag outweighed his own flesh.
That was the man Cheo Yeonun was.
Damho shook his head.
“You didn’t break.”
Riiip!
Damho tore the bloodstained Hundred Battles Victory Flag longwise. He wrapped it around his arms and fists.
“I’ll carry your will with me. My friend.”