Chapter 347
Chapter 347
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 347
Chapter Title: Human-shaped Snow Ginseng
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Yu Cheong-rim gritted his teeth at Baek Un-saeng's shout.
*'You think you can catch me?'*
Just as he was about to use Dae-jeon-geuk-seom-yeong without a backward glance,
"Deploy the Heaven and Earth Net!"
Baek Un-saeng had already commanded his men to block all escape routes, surrounding the area.
Yu Cheong-rim, who had been about to leap into the air and flee, halted his movement technique.
He looked at the tightly formed encirclement and fell into thought.
*'There's no shaking them off like this. With a hundred men watching my every move, I can't use the Art of a Thousand Transformations or the Earth Evasion Technique.'*
Both techniques were only possible when his pursuers' attention was diverted.
Disguising himself or using the Earth Evasion Technique right in front of them would make it impossible to escape.
*'Should I just drop the disguise and reveal my identity?'*
Yu Cheong-rim, clutching his head, quickly shook it.
*'Won't they just arrest me even if I tell them who I am?'*
Even if he explained the situation, they would still drag him away for interrogation.
And if they discovered he was the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief?
He would end up in the Murim Alliance's prison for the crime of stealing the Ba-chwi-hwan-hui-bul.
「Just use your movement technique and come to the special suite on the third floor of the Po-cheon-ru. Now.」
Just then, So Ok-rim's Thousand-Li Voice Transmission reached him from a distance.
Yu Cheong-rim stared at the distant, faintly visible pavilion of the blue tower, his mouth agape.
*'She sent a message all the way from there?'*
His surprise was fleeting. A thought occurred to him, and his eyes glinted.
*'Indeed. She knows full well why I'm called the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief.'*
What if, instead of breaking through the encirclement with his movement technique, he took a wide detour and leaped straight into the large blue tower?
The Murim Alliance would think they had him and surround the tower, thoroughly investigating everyone inside, from the courtesans to the guests.
But So Ok-rim had said she was in the special suite on the third floor, which meant she would have already made a reservation for three people.
So, even if the Murim Alliance warriors investigated, they wouldn't find anything suspicious.
*'She's meticulous. But... this is actually an opportunity.'*
Confirming that So Ok-rim was a good distance away, Yu Cheong-rim nodded as if he had made up his mind.
He pulled a small cylinder from his robes.
"Hehehe. Hahahahaha!"
He let out a deliberately eerie laugh.
*Fweee!*
At the same time, a red light shot out from the cylinder, soaring into the distant sky.
*BOOM! Crackle.*
The light, having reached a great height, burst into a brilliant flash, instantly creating a spectacular firework.
"Hmph, a signal flare."
Just as Baek Un-saeng snorted and lowered his gaze,
"…!"
He couldn't believe his eyes.
The Black and White Witch, who had been right in front of him, had vanished.
"Where did she go!"
"We also, for a moment..."
His subordinates shook their heads, their faces filled with embarrassment.
Seeing the brilliant firework explode in the sky, all one hundred warriors had instinctively looked up.
Yu Cheong-rim had seized that fleeting moment of distraction to use Dae-jeon-geuk-seom-yeong and disappear in an instant.
"After her!"
Enraged, Baek Un-saeng shouted as he watched the trail left by Yu Cheong-rim, who had vanished like a gale.
"Hurry!"
Yu Cheong-rim had dashed out of the village in a single breath and was now running toward a secluded forest.
*'I'll use this chance to leave Shandong for good.'*
If he got any more involved in this business of catching the Black and White Witch, a hundred lives wouldn't be enough.
Besides, the Murim Alliance's branch office was now on his tail... Under these circumstances, he decided it was better to just leave Shandong and hide.
*Swoooosh!*
Leaving a white trail across the night sky with Dae-jeon-geuk-seom-yeong, Yu Cheong-rim was already leaving the borders of Pingdao.
Had he been running for about an hour?
He had run so hard that his internal energy felt unsettled, and his dantian felt like it was about to tear apart.
The cotton and rubber stuffed under his clothes were soaked with sweat, and his movements were gradually becoming sluggish.
"This should be far enough."
Venturing deep into the forest, Yu Cheong-rim quickly used the Earth Evasion Technique and then activated the Turtle Breathing Grand Art.
The Murim Alliance's pursuit was frightening, but So Ok-rim was even more so.
But if he stayed underground using the Turtle Breathing Grand Art for three or four days?
No matter how incredible her martial arts were, she wouldn't be able to find him and would eventually give up.
*Thud, thud.*
But a short while later, the sound of footsteps echoed through the deep forest.
*'Have they caught up already?'*
Yu Cheong-rim shook his head.
That was impossible.
After setting off the firework, he had run with all his might to the southeast.
Even if So Ok-rim had sensed something was wrong and given chase, there would have been a significant gap between them.
How on earth could she have followed him so quickly?
*'No, it's not her.'*
Judging by the vibrations in the ground, the person's weight was roughly sixty geun.
It wasn't the sound of So Ok-rim's footsteps, who looked to be at least one hundred and eighty geun.
*Rustle. Rustle.*
But something was strange.
The footsteps were circling the very spot where Yu Cheong-rim was hiding.
*'What in the world?'*
Yu Cheong-rim grew anxious.
Why was this person pacing around the ground where he was concealed?
*'I've been found.'*
He instinctively sensed that his hiding spot had been discovered.
Now that they knew he was underground, using the Turtle Breathing Grand Art was pointless.
*'I have to run.'*
Yu Cheong-rim stopped the Turtle Breathing Grand Art and slowly began to gather his internal energy.
He planned to use the Earth Evasion Technique again to escape when he saw an opening.
*Whoosh.*
But suddenly, the ground where he was hiding opened up like a living creature's mouth, revealing the moonlit sky.
*'How is this...'*
As the shocked Yu Cheong-rim looked up,
"..."
a pair of blood-red eyes, as if stained with blood, stared out from between strands of white hair.
The Black and White Witch.
The eyes of the witch, whose face was always indistinct, were fixed on him from just inches away.
"Ah, ah..."
Once again, terror flooded Yu Cheong-rim's mind.
At the same time, red drops of blood began to trickle from his eyes.
Agony, terror.
All the agonizing and terrifying sensations a human could feel were seeping in through his eyes.
And his eyes, unable to bear it, were shedding tears of blood.
"Ughhh."
Yu Cheong-rim couldn't understand.
Why did she kill others so easily, yet pursue him relentlessly, trying to suck his blood?
Unable to endure the overwhelming terror and pain, Yu Cheong-rim raised a hand to strike his own celestial crown.
*Pshuk!*
But a strange sound echoed in his ears.
Lowering his blurry gaze, he saw sharp fangs digging into him.
The Black and White Witch was piercing his carotid artery, about to drink his blood.
*'This wretched world. It doesn't matter how I die.'*
Just as Yu Cheong-rim, having given up on everything, was about to close his eyes,
"There!"
From the distant sky, a hundred figures began to land in the surrounding area.
It was Baek Un-saeng and the masters of the Murim Alliance.
"Two Black and White Witches?"
After staring for a moment, Baek Un-saeng recognized Yu Cheong-rim's face beneath the wig and his mouth fell open.
"You...!"
Only now did he realize that the person he had been chasing was not the Black and White Witch, but the Thousand-Faced Divine Thief who had been robbing the Murim Alliance branches of their treasures.
"Thousand-Faced Divine Thief! You've been impersonating the Black and White Witch!"
"Help..."
Yu Cheong-rim tried desperately to open his mouth and answer.
But the energy emanating from the Black and White Witch had left his mind reeling, and even the muscles in his face were twisted.
However, completely oblivious to the situation, Baek Un-saeng wore a faint smile.
"Looks like I'll be catching two birds with one stone."
The Thousand-Faced Divine Thief, Yu Cheong-rim, who had been stealing treasures from the Murim Alliance branches.
And the Black and White Witch, who plunged the martial world into terror with every appearance. To think he would catch them both at once.
"That witch's martial arts are formidable! Deploy the Byeok-sa-myeol-geom-jin!"
At Baek Un-saeng's cry, the hundred warriors moved in a flurry.
These were not only the elite forces of the Murim Alliance's Shandong branch but were also trained in the Byeok-sa-myeol-geom-jin, a formation devised by the Murim Alliance to deal with demonic practitioners.
This sword formation could not only perfectly trap an enemy with its profound techniques but also combine the internal energy of the warriors and unleash it upon the target.
In other words, it was a formation specifically for fighting demonic practitioners, combining only the superior functions of Shaolin's Go-sim-jong and Wudang's Seven Stars Ancient Sword Formation.
*Thud, thud.*
But the Black and White Witch, contrary to expectations, was walking right into the center of the Byeok-sa-myeol-geom-jin that the hundred men were forming.
Baek Un-saeng's expression turned peculiar for a moment.
The Byeok-sa-myeol-geom-jin contained the very essence of the Murim Alliance's formation arts; even a child could feel the immense power gathered within it.
To willingly walk into a formation known to be inescapable once trapped?
What on earth was she planning?
"Strike!"
His thoughts were long, but his decision was swift.
At Baek Un-saeng's shout, the hundred warriors immediately activated the formation.
*KRA-BOOM!*
At that moment, a tremendous force raged toward the center where the Black and White Witch stood.
The aftermath felled trees and shattered boulders. It was as if the wrathful sky had unleashed a tempest, threatening to blow away the entire world.
"It's over."
Baek Un-saeng smiled, looking at the cloud of dust and dirt.
This level of destructive power was something that no one, not even the Black and White Witch, could withstand.
*Whoosh.*
A breeze swept by, and the smile on Baek Un-saeng's face vanished.
An utterly unbelievable sight unfolded before him.
The Black and White Witch was standing tall,
*Thud. Thump.*
and with dull thuds, the hundred warriors were collapsing one by one, blood streaming from their heads.
"How can this be."
Only then did Baek Un-saeng come to his senses and look around.
The surroundings, which should have been devastated, hadn't lost a single leaf, nor were any rocks broken.
Then what was that scene of a raging tempest soaring to the sky and destroying everything, all caused by the Byeok-sa-myeol-geom-jin?
*'Am I possessed by a ghost?'*
Baek Un-saeng rubbed his eyes.
The soaring sword energy and the tempest were all an illusion?
Even now, the scene was vivid in his mind, and his cheek, where the wind had brushed past, still stung.
"An illusion this realistic exists?"
Baek Un-saeng lowered his gaze to the fallen warriors.
Their celestial crowns were all shattered, and their right hands were covered in blood.
A hundred highly trained warriors had, astonishingly, struck their own celestial crowns.
"Could it be..."
A thought flashed through Baek Un-saeng's mind.
A grandmaster of the Unorthodox Faction who could show vivid hallucinations and control minds just by meeting their gaze.
The name of that legendary master came to mind.
"You are..."
As Baek Un-saeng muttered lowly, the Black and White Witch was suddenly standing before him.
He wanted to run, but his body was frozen solid, unable to move.
"Your chattering is noisy."
In a low voice, she slowly extended a finger and placed it on Baek Un-saeng's neck.
*Thud.*
In an instant, Baek Un-saeng's head fell to the ground.
He was the leader of the Murim Alliance's Shandong branch, a master who had reached the Transcendent Realm.
Yet she had severed his head with a single finger?
Yu Cheong-rim, watching from a distance, was steeped in horror and astonishment.
How on earth had the Black and White Witch shattered the celestial crowns of a hundred men all at once?
With such power, she could be invincible, even become the leader of a faction commanding tens of thousands of troops if she wished...
Why did she resort to sucking blood and becoming a public enemy of the martial world?
*Swish.*
Just then, the Black and White Witch turned her head.
And slowly approached the trembling Yu Cheong-rim.
*'I have to move.'*
But the moment their eyes met, his limbs turned to stone, and his mind went blank.
It wasn't fear.
The Black and White Witch's eyes held a mystical power that could instantly dominate both body and mind with a single glance.
"Why... do you so persistently desire my blood."
The Black and White Witch answered curtly.
"Human-shaped Snow Ginseng."
In that instant, Yu Cheong-rim understood everything.
Three years ago, he had stolen and eaten the Human-shaped Snow Ginseng that Hwa Mun-seong, a wealthy man from Jinan, had purchased for ten million gold.
—What's this, it's nothing special.
He had eaten it because it was a legendary elixir, but he hadn't felt any effects.
But it seemed its spiritual energy had remained in his blood... The Black and White Witch had sensed it and had been relentlessly trying to drink his blood ever since.
*'This is my punishment for stealing.'*
Just as Yu Cheong-rim, his soul now captured by the witch, naturally tilted his neck,
*Chiiing!*
He felt a sharp sword energy pour out with a clear ringing sound.
The Black and White Witch, who had been about to drink his blood, instantly retreated.
*Shwwaaak!*
A massive, claw-like burst of sword energy scraped across the earth, and a white figure descended from the air to land in front of Yu Cheong-rim.
"Are you alright?"
With a clear but low voice, a warm energy spread from behind Yu Cheong-rim.
A woman in white had approached him and was infusing him with true energy.
"Keuk."
The black mist that had clouded his vision dissipated, and Yu Cheong-rim's sight gradually cleared.
At the same time, he saw a woman whose features seemed veiled in moonlight, carrying a precious sword with a pure white scabbard.
"Who are you..."
"I am from the Sword Pavilion."
The woman in white was none other than A-yeon, the successor of the Sword Pavilion.
Upon hearing rumors that the Black and White Witch had appeared again in Pingdao, she had immediately set out into the martial world.
While tracking the witch, she heard that the warriors of the Murim Alliance's Shandong branch were in pursuit.
A-yeon changed her target, tracked down the Shandong branch warriors, and finally found the Black and White Witch about to drink Yu Cheong-rim's blood.
*'The Sword Pavilion... why is someone from the Sword Pavilion here?'*
Despite receiving A-yeon's true energy, Yu Cheong-rim's mind hadn't fully recovered.
His vision was blurry and he felt dizzy, as if drunk.
"That's strange. You don't have any internal injuries."
A-yeon removed her hand from his Dazhui acupoint and offered Yu Cheong-rim a small pill from her robes.
"This is our Pavilion's Gam-ro-su-cheong-dan. It should help you clear your head."
Then she turned and said quietly,
"Leave this place as soon as you feel better."
*Shing.*
Drawing her precious sword, A-yeon walked toward the Black and White Witch and spoke in a cold voice.
"Black and White Witch. For decades, you have brought harm to the martial world and hurt the innocent."
"..."
"I can no longer stand by and watch your evil deeds. I will punish you in the name of the heavens."
"Huhu."
A smile played on the Black and White Witch's lips.
At the same time, she flicked her fingers as if playing a zither, and immense force struck at A-yeon from both sides.
*Kwaang!*
A-yeon quickly leaped into the air, and the forces coming from her left and right collided with a deafening explosion.
"You use a strange martial art."
Landing back on the ground, she immediately began to execute the Sword Pavilion's sword style.
*Shiiii... Shwaaaak!*
As the white sword embroidered the air, a light breeze suddenly turned into a deafening roar that threatened to tear her eardrums.
Dan-a-yeo-mong-geom.
The Sword Pavilion's style aims for the pinnacle of stillness, turning defense into offense.
A-yeon had long been immersed in the way of the sword, but she had yet to break through the wall of the Transcendent Realm.
Then, when she went to the Demonic Cult to get information on the Five Poisons School, a bet with Bu Eun-seol led her to fight against the masters of the Four Shadows Hall.
Although she didn't break through to the Transcendent Realm, she gained great enlightenment by facing the Hall Lords of the Four Shadows Hall, who were rich in combat experience and had established their own unique styles...
and had finally perfected the Dan-a-yeo-mong-geom.
*Chiiik! Shwaaaak!*
But despite continuously unleashing the Dan-a-yeo-mong-geom, she couldn't land a single hit on the Black and White Witch.
*'Her martial arts are incredible.'*
A-yeon guessed that the Black and White Witch's skill had reached the Supreme Celestial Realm and pushed her internal energy to its absolute limit.
*'But with the Dan-a-yeo-mong-geom, I should be able to face her.'*
And she unleashed the ultimate sword form of the Dan-a-yeo-mong-geom that she had mastered.
*Shwaaaak!*
With a sound of tearing air, six strands of sword energy shot toward the Black and White Witch.
*Chak, chak, chak.*
But something strange happened.
The six strands of sword energy didn't pierce the witch's body; instead, they began to circle around her.
*Shwiik! Shwiik!*
It was the ultimate sword form of Dan-a-yeo-mong-geom, Yeo-eum-yo-ryang.
Just as its name suggested—like a beautiful song lingering in the ears.
It was a technique that positioned sharp sword energy around the enemy's body to block counterattacks and subdue them in an instant.
"Huhu."
But something strange happened.
The Black and White Witch was passing through the sword energy A-yeon had unleashed as if she were a ghost.
*Shwiik!*
Unfazed, A-yeon once again used Yeo-eum-yo-ryang, unleashing sword energy around the witch's body.
But it was useless.
The Black and White Witch continued to ignore her sword energy, slowly approaching as if on a leisurely stroll.
*'How can this be.'*
A-yeon was deeply shocked.
She had come out into the martial world alone to deal with the Black and White Witch in order to test her greatly improved swordsmanship.
But to think that even with the sword style she had mastered through bone-grinding effort, she couldn't even halt the witch's steps?
"Snap... out of it!"
Yu Cheong-rim, sitting and panting for breath, shouted.
In truth, even after taking the Gam-ro-su-cheong-dan A-yeon had given him, his mind hadn't cleared up much.
But watching A-yeon's fight from the outside, he was finally able to grasp the secret of the Black and White Witch's martial arts.
"That way... no!"
Yu Cheong-rim shouted loudly.
The Black and White Witch was approaching from A-yeon's side, not from the front.
But A-yeon, as if she heard nothing, continued to diligently execute her sword style.
Weren't her eyes, even as she performed her sword style, losing focus?
*Chik!*
Blood spurted from the body of A-yeon, who was performing her sword style with a vacant gaze.
The Black and White Witch had used a sharp finger wind to wound her near the neck.
*Drip.*
Clear blood glistened in the moonlight as it trickled down the line of her neck.
But as the Black and White Witch stared at the blood, a sinister light flickered in her eyes.
"Ooh."
As if smelling a fragrant scent, the Black and White Witch deeply inhaled the smell of blood and muttered in a low voice.
"A woman who possesses True Yang."
But something was strange.
After smelling A-yeon's blood, the Black and White Witch, who just moments ago had been laughing like a woman, was suddenly speaking in a bizarre male voice.