Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: The Latent Great Power Technique Blooms Only in the Scent of Death
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Ak Muyoo called out to the two women without taking his eyes off what lay ahead.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"You know you're not supposed to interfere when someone's training their martial arts, right?"
"Of course."
Ara answered.
"I'm going to start training my martial arts now."
"You know there are hundreds of enemies, right?"
Ara said.
"I know."
"And you're still going?"
"The Latent Great Power Technique is a martial art that blooms only in the scent of death."
"......"
Ara looked at Ak Muyoo in silence.
"If you get bored, shoot some arrows every now and then."
"I've never shot a bow before."
Ara said.
"My robes are Sun Protection Cloth that repels even sword strikes, so as long as you don't hit me in the head, it'll be fine."
"So it's okay if you hit me anywhere else?"
"I mean just shoot roughly. I'm heading out!"
Paat!
Ak Muyoo shot forward like a cannonball.
"Hey!"
Ara called after Ak Muyoo. But he didn't even pretend to hear as he charged straight toward the enemy. Trailing behind him as he ran, Gopma floated lightly like a butterfly.
"Kraaaaa!"
A beastly roar exploded from Ak Muyoo's mouth.
As he ran, he pushed Black Demon Diamond Body and Beast Blood Demon Art to their limits. The fine hairs all over his body stood on end, sensing everything around him. The wind slicing through the air toward him, the enemies' breathing mixed into the air being pushed back behind—all of it churned through his mind and skin.
He thrust his left arm forward while stretching his right arm back.
"Chaha!"
As they entered striking range, the Wind Sand Clan warriors leaped into the air with a shout.
"Kraa!"
Ak Muyoo's right hand sliced through the empty air.
Shukaang!
Suaak!
Gopma horizontally cleaved through the air, the weapons and torsos of two Wind Sand Clan warriors.
"Keuk!"
"Kraaak!"
Pivoting on his right foot, he swung his left arm. Gopma on his left arm tore through the air at tremendous speed, slicing an enemy's torso along with it. Crouching low, he swung Gopma. Rising slightly, he swung his left hand with Gopma while standing fully to swing his right arm. Ak Muyoo's front was diagonally slashed, vertically or horizontally cleaved. Those standing in that space met the same fate. They fragmented along with the severed space. Blood sprayed in all directions, and the path Ak Muyoo walked became soaked in it.
Puk! Pukpuk! Pukpukpuk!
It was now so fast that Gopma itself was invisible.
Only countless trails lingered in the air. It was the "Wall" that Cheol-mok had spoken of. The Wall advanced forward, slicing through enemies' weapons and torsos.
Enemies exposed to the Wall were shredded as if pulverized.
"Kraaak!"
"Aaaak!"
"Euaak!"
"Keurk!"
Slaughterer.
That was the word that best suited Ak Muyoo right now.
His movements were so swift and Gopma so powerful that it was hard to believe he had no internal energy.
No one could even lay a weapon on Ak Muyoo's body. The moment they touched the Wall, their weapons were severed, followed by their torsos.
As countless enemies were sliced apart, a red halo like a blood-red moon rim formed around Ak Muyoo. The crimson halo grew darker as time passed.
Peuk!
Shyuk!
Peuk! Puk! Peuk! Puk!
Luha and Ara followed behind Ak Muyoo, continuously releasing their bowstrings. Their targets were those trying to flank and attack Ak Muyoo from blind spots.
"Focus! Kill him!"
Someone screamed hysterically.
But it was useless. In truth, counterattacking only works if the opponent allows it. If they don't receive your attacks, there's no way to turn the tide before they're killed. That was the battle between Ak Muyoo and the Wind Sand Clan warriors. As always, Ak Muyoo ignored weapons stabbing toward his torso.
Before, he had dodged slightly to avoid fatal wounds, but now, clad in Sun Protection Cloth, he didn't even do that. He left the enemies' weapons alone and pressed forward, swinging Gopma recklessly.
It was as if he were saying, "You do your thing, and I'll do mine." Utterly reckless. In fact, this kind of mindless onslaught was the only way to draw out the full power of Mad Blood Calamity Demon Flow. That was why "Madness" was in the name of Gopcheon's martial art. But Macheon hadn't written that down.
He couldn't bring himself to write that its greatest power came only at the cost of staking one's life.
Yet Ak Muyoo, trusting in his Sun Protection Cloth, was unleashing Mad Blood Calamity Demon Flow to draw out its true might.
Severed limbs floated up, and half-cleaved heads and upper bodies thudded to the ground.
"He's a demon! We can't kill him!"
Bu-cha yelled at Geo Bu-chi.
"What nonsense is that? He's human too. Humans get tired. Push him until he does!"
Geo Bu-chi bellowed furiously.
"Found you."
A cold smile formed on Luha's lips.
She had been scanning the enemy lines for their leader. And just now, she had spotted Geo Bu-chi screaming.
"You're dead now that you've crossed me."
She quickly nocked a Dark Current Arrow and released.
Teoreung!
Shuk!
The Dark Current Arrow sliced through the darkness.
Peuk!
"Keuk!"
Geo Bu-chi's movements abruptly halted.
Peuk!
This time it was Bu-cha. The two men first looked at each other, then bowed their heads. Blood fountained from their hearts.
"Gr-Great Bow Dragon!"
"You bitch Luha!"
Preoccupied with Ak Muyoo, they had forgotten about Luha. If they had left Ak Muyoo to their subordinates and focused on Luha, it might have ended in mere injuries.
"Damn it......!"
Thud! Plop!
The two collapsed simultaneously.
"Th-the leader is dead!"
"The deputy leader too!"
News of their deaths spread through the Wind Sand Clan ranks in an instant. Already being pushed back, the loss of Geo Bu-chi and Bu-cha threw them into panic. Those who lost the will to fight turned to flee.
But there was no escape behind them either. The reapers of the underworld awaited—not one, but eight of them.
A Geukta, Mok Bu-seong, and Seo Haran carved through the Wind Sand Clan warriors with overwhelming force. Though the Wind Sand Clan outnumbered them vastly, the canyon was narrow, and the three's martial arts were too strong. They were mice before a cat.
They crumbled from the front like rotten straw bundles.
Pushed so hard by the three, some turned to flee the opposite way. They soon collided with comrades fleeing toward them.
"Kraaak!"
"Aaaak!"
"Euaak!"
Heart-wrenching screams erupted nonstop from front and rear. The Wind Sand Clan warriors tried to counterattack, but it was futile. Those who did were the first to die.
The screams died down after about fifteen minutes.
Silence fell. The five hundred fifty Wind Sand Clan warriors were annihilated without a single survivor.
But Ak Muyoo's battle wasn't over yet. He wove through the corpses, finishing off the last ones. Then he returned to the group.
"These are the Wind Sand Clan warriors, right?"
Ak Muyoo asked, wiping the blood from his face with his palm. Blood poured from his Sun Protection Cloth like rain.
It was natural—fighting up close without internal energy to form a barrier meant his whole body was drenched in blood.
"Yes. That's them."
Luha nodded.
"Chacha Kingdom was their first stop, so how did they find this place?"
"Someone must have guided them."
"Here he is."
The most vicious-looking among Mok Woo's group dragged a man forward. It was Cha Ji-woong.
Cha Ji-woong's face was blank.
His mission had been to guide the Wind Sand Clan warriors to the ranch, and that was it. He hadn't returned after because he wanted to confirm the results.
He had secretly followed them here.
He had seen Luha's group break through the Wind Sand Clan warriors and watched them attack. He never dreamed it would end like this.
Yet five hundred fifty Wind Sand Clan warriors lay annihilated.
"If the lady dies, you thought you'd become the family head, huh?"
Ak Muyoo said, stepping toward Cha Ji-woong.
"I......"
"You thought those guys would let you sit in the family head's seat?"
"......"
"Answer me."
Flick!
Clack!
With a light shake of his right hand, Gopma shot out, then its handle was sucked back into his palm. It was like he had used a void-grasping technique. Cha Ji-woong couldn't answer.
The family heads had agreed, but there was no guarantee they'd honor it. No, the Cheonjung Goseongcha family didn't even need their permission to become family head. Once seated, that was it.
"You're the client, aren't you?"
"My brother's death has nothing to do with me."
"Who placed the contract?"
"New Wind Thousand Li Revolution Clan, Cloud Middle Lonely Echo Clan, Yellow Dragon Great Heaven Mujak Clan, and Mysterious Rain Storm Full Clan. Those four."
"Where was the contract placed?"
"With the Desert Hornet."
"How much was the contract?"
"One million nyang."
"Two hundred thousand nyang per family?"
"Yes."
"Taking one million nyang away wouldn't be easy, right?"
"We loaded it on ten camels."
"Ten camels?"
"We brought twenty in total."
"I see. But I thought the Desert Hornet was in Dunhuang, right?"
"Yes. In Dunhuang, there's a place called Hwangcheon. That's the Desert Hornet."
"I see. But four families at two hundred thousand nyang each is only eight hundred thousand. Who paid the remaining two hundred thousand? You?"
"......"
Cha Ji-woong couldn't answer.
"You lusted after the family head seat, so you put out a contract to kill the family head and your own brother, right?"
"I was wrong. Please forgive me......!"
Cha Ji-woong dropped to his knees and begged.
He could no longer deny it.
"If you were in my shoes, could you forgive that?"
"I'll leave Chacha Kingdom. I swear I won't come back. Please spare me."
"You should have left long ago. But I'll give you a chance."
"What chance do you mean?"
"There's a blade next to your knee. Pick it up."
"Why the blade......"
Cha Ji-woong picked up the blade with a puzzled look.
"End your own life with it."
"F-Family head!"
Cha Ji-woong's face drained of color.
He looked back and forth between the blade and Ak Muyoo.
"In your next life, never covet what belongs to others. Die here and you can go to the afterlife, but die there and you'll have nowhere left to go. Got it?"
Ak Muyoo turned away.
He glanced left and right. Most were behind him, and no one was in front of where he walked. Murderous intent filled his eyes.
Just one strike.
It was the single-strike blade art "Extreme Kill" that he had secretly mastered. Though a blade art, Extreme Kill was a thrusting technique that poured everything into one moment. Pouring all into it meant no second chance. After Extreme Kill, one had to flee unconditionally.
Flick!
Cha Ji-woong sprang to his feet.