Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Lingering Moon, Morning Star
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The Blood Demons cried out as the hidden weapons they had unleashed returned with pinpoint accuracy.
‘What kind of sword art is that?!’
Yang Myeong's eyes widened in disbelief.
In his twenty years of roaming the Murim, he had never seen a technique that could return hidden weapons with a sword.
“Dodge!”
At his shout, the Blood Demons concealed in the forest quickly moved to evade.
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
The redirected hidden weapons embedded themselves in the massive trees where they had been hiding.
The fact that the weapons they had thrown returned to them was like a marker, pointing out the Blood Demons’ hiding spots.
“So that’s where you were.”
Bu Eun-seol, using his Extreme Speed Shadowless Movement, moved like a phantom and began to cut down the hidden Blood Demons one by one.
“Kuaaargh!”
“Urgh!”
Every time the glint of his sword flashed through the forest, the screams of the Blood Demons inevitably followed.
After five Blood Demons fell in quick succession, Yang Myeong shouted.
“Deploy the formation!”
*Shhhhhh.*
At that moment, a strong wind blew through the forest, and the rustling of leaves echoed from all directions. The Blood Demon Hall’s prized offensive formation was beginning to take shape.
“Young Master, be careful!”
Heuk-pyo, who was hiding in a tree near Bu Eun-seol, shouted urgently.
“It’s the Black Killing Descent Lock Formation! It completely blinds you!”
Hearing this, Bu Eun-seol let a small smile slip.
An offensive formation was like different individuals painting a single, pre-agreed picture.
But each of them had a different physique, stride, and even personality and martial prowess.
Bu Eun-seol, who had mastered the extreme Way of the Beast, could unerringly detect the minute gaps where harmony within the formation faltered.
*Shaaaaa.*
As the formation unfolded, Bu Eun-seol’s vision turned completely black.
The function of the Black Killing Descent Lock Formation was to block the senses and vision of anyone who entered it, neutralizing their ability to counterattack.
“Senses and vision blocked… you say.”
Standing in the darkness, Bu Eun-seol scoffed and began to unleash both his movement technique and sword art simultaneously.
*Swish-swish-swish-swish!*
He appeared to be swinging his sword randomly, disregarding all form and fixed patterns.
“Uwaaargh!”
Once again, screams erupted from all sides.
Yang Myeong was aghast that Bu Eun-seol was cutting down the Blood Demons despite wielding his sword so erratically.
Could it be that his swordsmanship was so exceptional that even his random, erratic swings possessed such devastating power?
“It seems you’ve never used this against a true master.”
Bu Eun-seol let out a dry laugh.
He was alone within the formation anyway. Surrounded by enemies, he could swing his sword wildly without hesitation.
The masters of the Blood Demon Hall, however, couldn’t freely launch their hidden weapons or sword techniques for fear of killing each other, forcing them to attack in a set pattern.
“Dis-dispel the formation!”
Finally realizing the formation’s flaw, Yang Myeong shouted loudly.
‘Those who enter the Black Killing Descent Lock Formation are usually so panicked they don’t know what to do… but this bastard figured out its weakness instantly!’
In truth, while Yang Myeong was a skilled martial artist, he had never commanded the entire Blood Demon Hall.
Since the Hell Blood Fortress had established its roots in the Murim, had there ever been an occasion to unleash a large number of Blood Demons against a single enemy?
Riding on the prestige of being one of the Ten Demonic Sects, they had roamed the Murim for over twenty years without ever needing to use such tactics.
“Kuaaargh!”
Amid his thoughts, the screams continued.
“You….”
When the formation was finally dispelled, a gruesome scene was revealed.
Blood flowed from the places where the Blood Demons had been hiding, and fallen bodies were scattered among them.
There were more than fourteen corpses.
In less than half a quarter-hour, a third of the Blood Demons had fallen.
“You bastaaard….”
Yang Myeong gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Kill him!”
The remaining Blood Demons’ eyes glinted as they surrounded Bu Eun-seol.
They had all been personally trained by Yang Myeong, and every one of them had mastered the Poisonous Steel Demonic Art to the third stage or higher, making their bodies as hard as steel.
But this was Yang Myeong’s mistake.
He should have ambushed Bu Eun-seol before he obtained the Ink Sword.
*Wooooong.*
As he infused his Reversal True Qi into the Ink Sword, a low hum resonated and an inky radiance shot into the air.
When Bu Eun-seol began his sword dance, the Blood Demons were pushed back by an formless current of qi before the blade even touched them.
*Chik-chik.*
As the tip of the blackened sword danced in the air, tens, hundreds of strands of sword qi rained down on the Blood Demons who had charged first.
“Kuaargh!”
As their comrades at the front fell like scarecrows, the Blood Demons at the rear and flanks surrounded Bu Eun-seol and unleashed their poison techniques.
As palm strikes laden with deadly poison poured out, a foul stench filled the air, and a black mist seemed to spread in all directions.
“I’ve got you, you bastard!”
Seeing this, a triumphant smile formed on Yang Myeong’s lips.
No matter how great a master he was, once enveloped in a poison mist, being poisoned was inevitable.
*Chik-chik. Fwoosh!*
But the sword forms Bu Eun-seol unleashed only grew sharper, and his movements remained as agile as before.
“Why isn’t he… showing any signs of being poisoned?”
Hearing Yang Myeong’s words, Bu Eun-seol inwardly scoffed.
Even before he had learned a proper internal energy cultivation method, he could play dead and hold his breath for more than a quarter-hour.
Now, he had reached the third stage of the Reversal Core Art. If he wished, Bu Eun-seol could hold his breath for the time it took to eat a meal with just a single gulp of air, all while brandishing his sword.
“He was holding his breath.”
Yang Myeong, having figured out Bu Eun-seol’s state, chuckled lowly.
“Don’t bother with such tricks. My poison art can be absorbed through the skin.”
At those words, Bu Eun-seol doubled the true qi he had infused into the Ink Sword.
“Hah!”
Releasing his breath, he cut down all the surrounding Blood Demons who rushed at him with a powerful strike.
Then, he suddenly stopped infusing his internal energy into the sword and instead spread it through the blood and qi of his entire body.
*Paaang!*
As his internal energy turned inward, a strong wind erupted around him, and his hair flew wildly.
Seeing a glint form in Bu Eun-seol’s eyes, Yang Myeong sensed something was amiss and shouted loudly.
“Retreat!”
Until now, the sword techniques Bu Eun-seol had unleashed were like powerful lightning strikes.
He expected that releasing such powerful internal energy would precede an attack of immense power.
*Drip. Drip. Drip.*
Just then, black water was dripping from Bu Eun-seol’s left hand.
Hearing Yang Myeong’s words, he realized that poison had been absorbed through his skin. He had immediately used his qi to gather and expel it.
“Hall Master Yang. It would be wise for you to speak less.”
As Bu Eun-seol spoke with a faint smile, a venomous glare shot from Yang Myeong’s eyes.
“Use the poison mist again!”
At Yang Myeong’s shout, the Blood Demons once again unleashed their poison techniques.
*Swaaak!*
But Bu Eun-seol’s sword was faster.
As they extended their arms, it was as if they were placing their hands on the Ink Sword themselves.
“Kuaaargh!”
After cutting off the arms of the Blood Demons who were unleashing their poison, Bu Eun-seol broke through their front line and swung his sword toward a massive tree twice the size of a grown man’s torso.
*Slice.*
With a sound of cutting air, the massive tree split horizontally, and the bodies of the Blood Demons hiding there were cleaved in two.
Without sound, without a whisper.
The more Bu Eun-seol swung his sword with all his might, the more the sound of it cutting through the air, which should have been present, vanished.
‘Indeed, it is worthy of being called a divine sword.’
Bu Eun-seol, executing his sword art in the silence, was inwardly amazed.
*Flash!*
The Ink Sword was forged from Earthly Extreme Black Iron.
Because of this, it could not only cut through steel like tofu, but also extend its sword qi as if infused with full power, even with just a light injection of true qi.
*Chik-chik.*
With an exquisite sword art layered upon a sharp divine sword, the Blood Demons were helpless.
The Blood Demons, who had long looked down upon the Murim, fell like autumn leaves with every swing of Bu Eun-seol’s sword.
“Gahk.”
Occasionally, Blood Demons who managed to block the sword would vomit blood and collapse. Their internal organs had been ruptured by the powerful reverse force contained in Bu Eun-seol’s blade.
*Thud. Thud.*
Before the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed, all the hidden Blood Demons in the forest had become ghosts of no return.
Only then did Yang Myeong realize he had made a grave mistake.
He had completely misjudged Bu Eun-seol’s true strength.
‘This is different from when he was sparring in the martial tournament.’
When his life was on the line, Bu Eun-seol unleashed cruel and deadly techniques without hesitation.
Moreover, as he became more accustomed to fighting poison users and their techniques, his skills had once again grown exponentially.
Of course, such a sudden surge in martial prowess was something that neither he, nor anyone else, could have predicted…
“How dare you!”
As Bu Eun-seol cut down the last of the Blood Demons, Yang Myeong’s eyes turned bloodshot.
Everything he had achieved over the past decades—his fame, his position, and even his subordinates—had been utterly destroyed.
“I will chew you to pieces!”
Bu Eun-seol watched the charging Yang Myeong and silently raised his Ink Sword diagonally.
He intended to unleash a sword technique befitting the final moments of a master from the Ten Demonic Sects.
Seeing that dignified and domineering stance, the martial artist’s spirit hidden deep within Yang Myeong’s heart began to boil.
“Tricks are no longer needed!”
*Paaang!*
As Yang Myeong unleashed the Poisonous Steel Demonic Art with all his might, a black aura surged from his body toward the sky.
“Face me head-on!”
With a roar, Yang Myeong leaped into the air, unleashing a powerful finger wind.
Simultaneously, his body, which had become the very embodiment of the Poisonous Steel Demonic Art, crashed toward Bu Eun-seol.
This was the final, ultimate technique he could muster.
Watching the descending finger wind, Bu Eun-seol forcefully drew a cross shape in the air with his Ink Sword.
Formless Heavenly Flow, Third Form.
Lingering Moon, Morning Star.
*Flash!*
In that instant, Yang Myeong saw a multitude of light clusters pouring toward his eyes.
It was less a sword technique and more a sad, brilliant… spectacle, like the light of stars that slowly fades at the break of dawn.
“Such an ever-changing sword art.”
Blood trickled from the corner of Yang Myeong’s mouth.
“Was this my destiny?”
At this point, Yang Myeong actually broke into laughter.
Though he possessed a cruel nature, he was still a master of the Ten Demonic Sects who had once dominated an era.
As he sensed his final moments approaching, his cruelty vanished, replaced by a dignified demeanor.
“It wasn't that this Hall Master misjudged your skill. I simply didn't realize it was a talent bestowed by the heavens.”
And then, he walked steadily toward Bu Eun-seol.
*Drip.*
Dark red blood poured from Yang Myeong’s mouth.
There were no external wounds, but the immense pressure contained within the sword had ruptured all of his internal organs.
Yang Myeong showed a hollow smile.
“Even if I had cast aside my ambition… and dedicated myself solely to martial arts, I would not have been able to block that technique.”
Yang Myeong’s expression seemed somewhat relieved.
“I ran rampant in the Murim for decades, and in the end, I was granted a glimpse of the ultimate sword art… I have no regrets.”
*Thud.*
With those final words, he collapsed.
Yang Myeong, who had long held a fearsome reputation as the Hall Master of the Hell Blood Fortress’s Blood Demon Hall.
But he too carried a long-standing regret in his life. He had a good start, but he could never reach the pinnacle.
That was why he had struggled so desperately to climb higher.
He had volunteered for the mission to retrieve the Spirit Serpent Divine Sword, but in the end, he had been killed by Bu Eun-seol.
“Young Master.”
*Whoosh.*
Just then, Heuk-pyo, who had been hiding in the massive tree, descended to the ground.
“I will take care of the aftermath.”
“Don’t.”
“If we leave them like this, you and the Hell Blood Fortress will become enemies, Young Master.”
At those words, Bu Eun-seol’s eyes narrowed.
“The Hell Blood Fortress is not some third-rate faction. They were the ones who acted on greed and attacked first. They may hold a grudge, but there will be no official protest.”
“Are you sure?”
Bu Eun-seol nodded.
“Besides, you can’t carelessly bury the bodies of poison users.”
“I have a Fire Essence Stone.”
“They were dispatched on a mission, so the Hell Blood Fortress will be monitoring their whereabouts. They will find the bodies soon enough, before they are badly damaged.”
*Click.*
Sheathing his sword, Bu Eun-seol spoke in a low voice.
“If we were to burn the bodies ourselves, we might instead be blamed by them.”
Heuk-pyo seemed to agree but couldn’t hide the worried expression on his face.
The Lord of the Hell Blood Fortress was known as the most ruthless grand demon in the Murim. He was afraid that an unresolvable feud had been created with the Hell Blood Fortress.
“I understand.”
Heuk-pyo nodded, but Bu Eun-seol remained standing still, unmoving.
Just as a curious thought entered Heuk-pyo’s mind,
“Come out.”
Bu Eun-seol said in a low voice, his gaze fixed on the distant night sky.
“If you continue to hide, I will consider you an enemy.”