Chapter 208
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: Death Spirits (3)
A split-second deception was necessary.
The fastest and most precise eyes in the world had to be fooled. And from a mere inch away, no less.
Was it possible? It seemed like it might be.
Tsssk!
A sound rang out.
The stimulus transmitted through his ears would deceive those eyes.
The fastest and most precise eyes in the world were used to search for places where one could survive by evading the target.
In that instant, two things happened simultaneously.
One was snatching a person with the whip and flinging them out of the blast zone. The other was triggering the explosion without a moment's delay.
The split second would determine success or failure.
If the explosion failed to conceal the whip, rescuing even one person would be impossible.
And even then, injury was possible in the chaos.
They might not dodge the powerful blast and take a full-body hit.
There was no helping it.
In truth, this plan had less than a one-in-ten chance of success. The explosion had to happen as quickly as possible to blind the eyes, and in that narrow window, use the whip to pull someone out... The blast came first, and only then the rescue.
Impossible. Utterly impossible.
But even if it was a recklessly mad plan, if it was the only one available, wasn't it worth trying?
"We're too late. Sorry."
Jaja said with a shadowed face.
The person she'd saved was charred pitch-black from the explosion.
Her hair was burned, her eyebrows gone, her face blackened.
Four Thousand Four checked her pulse.
There was none, of course. In fact, Fox had taken a fatal blow to the abdomen before the explosion even went off. Even without it, it was a wound she could hardly survive.
Four Thousand Four silently stared at the corpse, the smell of soot wafting thickly from it.
"Too late to do anything."
Zhuge Soso arrived carrying two more bodies.
Hanbi, with a sword stabbed through his chest, and Vanguard, his clothes soaked in his own blood.
Four Thousand Four didn't even bother checking their pulses.
Anyone could see they were dead.
Mian Sosal wouldn't have botched her swordsmanship.
"If she'd left right away, I might've checked if they were still breathing..."
Mian Sosal had sat there for two shichen—nearly half a day—after they fell. Staring blankly at the sky without moving a muscle.
Even without fatal wounds, that much time meant severe blood loss they couldn't endure.
Swish!
Four Thousand Four pulled the sword from Hanbi's chest.
"Didn't know what to do, so I left the sword in. Figured messing with it might make it worse."
Zhuge Soso said.
Even after drawing the blade, no blood welled from Hanbi's chest.
He was definitely dead.
Four Thousand Four just gazed at the corpse as he had with Fox's. Calmly, as if looking at any dead man. No sign of intent to revive them.
"Can you save them?"
"Don't know."
"Even if you can, only one at most... You feel the Baeksang Demonic Art?"
"Not at all. I wish I did."
Zhuge Soso and Jaja spoke with resignation.
Those three were dead beyond doubt. Even the King of Hell couldn't send them back—they were perfectly gone. So how could anyone revive them?
Even supposing the Baeksang Demonic Art could do it.
Four Thousand Four could save one. They were three.
To save them all, it'd take at least three days, and they'd have to hold out in that state for two or three—without rotting.
"Enough depressing talk... Got any liquor? Hand it over if you do. I need to drown myself in it today."
Jaja's face filled with anger.
When she saw Vanguard, when she saw Hanbi... She'd been calmer than usual. Cold, even.
She was hurting.
"Like this world lacks booze. Hold on."
Zhuge Soso rose to her feet.
Three corpses lay side by side.
Fox, who should've vanished without a trace, lay there intact.
Hanbi with a sword through his heart, Vanguard who'd had his throat slit—both lay with whole bodies.
Their common thread: no one knew how they'd died.
Fox had her gut pierced by Mian Sosal's blade. Then the explosion.
All attacks that could've led her to death.
Hanbi had taken hit after hit. None non-lethal.
Vanguard had his throat cut.
Before dying, Vanguard felt burning pain in his neck. Proof the sword had gone right through.
That's how they died. But the pain they felt and their final death throes were all misjudged.
They hadn't died like that.
Mian Sosal would've detected severed heart meridians. She wouldn't stop until the heart failed completely.
The heart meridian had to be severed. And when it was, life ended.
Was there a way to live even after the heart meridian was cut?
That was exactly what Four Thousand Four needed. And it seemed he'd found it.
Swish!
Four Thousand Four stripped off his clothes.
Indecent and bizarre... but no better way.
Off came the outer layers, then the undergarments. Naked as the day he was born.
Next, he stripped Vanguard.
From head to toe, everything.
Hanbi too... Fox too... His hands trembled, but he couldn't stop.
Fox was a woman.
Not beautiful. Face and body charred black, no unmarred spot.
He laid Vanguard and Hanbi to left and right, embracing them with his arms, and placed Fox atop his stomach.
Skin to skin.
Tzzzz! Tzzzzz!
Now it began. From here, he erased all thoughts of them. Their life and death were theirs to handle; he could interfere no more.
Circulate qi. Raise true energy.
Tzzzz! Pah! Tztztz! Paah!
Raise killing intent.
Such fierce killing intent that any warrior sensitive to qi would notice immediately.
Draw out true energy to its peak.
'Rise!'
Did the Baeksang and Blood Demon Arts rise? He didn't know. They'd already dissolved into his true energy.
The Baeksang needed to aid the Baeksang.
The Blood Demon needed to stimulate the Baeksang.
Tzzzzz! Tzzz!
One circuit, two, three... This wasn't normal qi circulation. Fox lay on his body. True energy leaked through his left and right arms.
'Kuh!'
Breath stifled; true energy nearly scattered.
Hanbi and Vanguard were fine, but Fox pressed on his lungs. Light as she was, she hindered circulation.
Pah!
He thrust her off his chest vigorously.
He'd felt the swell of her breasts. Later, if Fox learned, she'd rage. But no choice now.
Yet when thrusting true energy, Fox faded from awareness.
Fox wasn't a woman. Just a life pulled from death.
Tzzz! Pak! Tzzz! Thung!
Send true energy left and right. Keep thrusting it toward Fox. Infuse intense killing intent into the energy to awaken their Baeksang Demonic Arts. He hoped the Blood Demon's power loaded fully.
The corpses grew from three to four.
Four Thousand Four, like the other three, couldn't move a muscle.
Exhausted to the point where not even a finger stirred, after pouring out true energy.
Four corpses lay in a heap.
No one moved. Vanguard, Hanbi, Fox—still no breath.
Only the aura of death flowed.
"Ah!"
"This..."
A day passed with no change, so the two women entered the windless cave where Four Thousand Four treated the three corpses.
But upon entering, they froze in shock.
No place to rest their eyes.
Four naked corpses tangled together—grotesque to anyone. Men and women mixed at that.
No lewd thoughts arose.
The four exuded corpse qi. Chill, cruelty, terror... No room for pleasure before such deathly energy. No space for indecent fancies.
Before, three had died. Now it seemed four.
"Truly mad... How do you infuse true energy into three people? Not ordinary madness."
Zhuge Soso hurriedly lifted and dressed Fox, grabbing charred rags that barely qualified as clothes.
Jaja approached the three naked men.
"You're truly insane."
She muttered to herself. Then picked up nearby clothes and began dressing the men.
She knew whose was whose even blindfolded.
Hanbi first—blue robes. Tall, lean, many sword scars.
"To die like this..."
Jaja reached for Hanbi's body but paused. Her eyes widened.
Hu... hu... hu...
Hanbi was breathing.
Hand under his nose detected nothing. So faint the breath.
"He's alive! Alive!"
She bellowed like lightning.
Zhuge Soso, dressing Fox thinking it mere corpse-handling, pressed her ear to the chest.
Time passed.
Zhuge Soso listened long, finding no breath.
"Four Thousand Four's alive too!"
Jaja shouted again.
A breath so faint only a warrior could sense. Thin enough to mistake for death without doubt. But definitely breathing.
"Alive!"
Zhuge Soso rose with a smile.
The Fox she watched was already dead. All movement ceased. No heartbeat even after straining her ear.
Yet alive.
Thump!
Zhuge Soso heard one beat.
Maybe illusion. Jaja bustling nearby, straw rustling—could be mistaken. But alive.
"Hohoho! Hohohoho! Vanguard, you lucky bastard. Surviving even this. Hohoho!"
Jaja cackled.
The four lay still as carved wooden statues.
"You know how to help them?"
"Can only hope they revive on their own."
"Baeksang Demonic Art's a real treasure. Saved their lives at least once."
"Treasure or monster."
"Need water at least."
"Leave 'em. We'll rest, Jaja."
Jaja lay back, arm pillowing her head.
Stars glittered like jewels in the sky. As if dusted with diamond powder.
A shooting star streaked through.
"Nice."
Jaja smiled faintly.