Jiangshi
Godon considered himself lucky.
He had brought the main forces of the Blood Sect with him, yet today he was on the verge of achieving a tremendous result.
Perhaps he could even eliminate his rivals and become the leader of the Blood Sect!
If only he handled today’s matter well.
But then.
Creak—
Crash!
One of the seven jiangshi leading the charge at the enemy suddenly toppled over, blocking the path of the others.
“What is this!”
Godon, who had been driving the jiangshi forward to inflict heavy damage on the foes, froze.
One of his subordinates shouted.
“Elder! One of the jiangshi… its leg…!”
Sure enough, one leg of the fallen jiangshi had vanished from the ankle down.
“What in the world happened?”
“I don’t know either! It was perfectly fine just moments ago…!”
The Blood Sect members were utterly bewildered.
On the other hand, Yuseong’s group felt their spirits rise.
The Blood Sect expert who had brought jiangshi to plunder the hidden vault of the Shadowless Divine Stealth—Namgung Yurin’s surprise attack under Yuseong’s command had failed, leaving them in despair.
But now that the jiangshi were malfunctioning, hope of victory sparked within them.
“Just as Lord Uigak said, ignore the jiangshi and focus on that bastard!”
Feeling power and speed boiling throughout his body, Godongjin charged at Godon with fierce momentum.
It was a distraction.
Namgung Yurin was not the main attacker either.
She manifested Sword Gang to plant wariness in Godon’s heart.
Though it fell short of a true Transcendent Realm expert, the moment Namgung Yurin unleashed Sword Gang, Godon could no longer move freely.
“You fools! Get up right now!”
A Blood Sect subordinate blew a flute, urging the jiangshi onward.
Ignoring the one whose ankle had disappeared, the remaining jiangshi began to rise—
From the very rear, Yuseong’s hand glowed with light.
[Recovery!]
The head of one jiangshi turned to ash and scattered. The headless jiangshi collapsed sideways once more.
‘As I thought, jiangshi are treated as undead.’
A short while earlier.
While hiding inside the formation after the appearance of unidentified people, Yuseong had realized that the one retrieving the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron was a jiangshi.
It turned out there were only two living humans; the other seven were jiangshi.
Naturally, it was also revealed that they belonged to the Blood Sect.
The appearance of jiangshi had caused a huge stir in the Martial Alliance not long ago.
Once their identities were confirmed, Godongjin whispered to the group.
Upon learning that Yuseong’s formation concealed their appearance, sound, and presence, they felt slightly relieved.
—It’s unfortunate, but they seem far stronger than us. It would be best to let them pass quietly. Still, thanks to Lord Uigak, hiding inside here should at least keep us alive.
The others nodded in agreement.
Though it was a shame to lose the treasure, they had already recovered the needles and Cheonunseok they had originally sought, so they considered themselves fortunate.
However, Yuseong secretly conducted an experiment to resolve a question he had been harboring.
He witnessed a jiangshi’s ankle turn to ash and vanish under his Recovery skill.
The jiangshi, unaware that its ankle had disappeared, continued picking up the treasures.
‘Do jiangshi not feel pain?’
At any rate, when the Blood Sect leader carelessly turned his back near the formation, Yuseong immediately cast a continuous healing skill on Namgung Yurin and asked her.
—Yurin, if we combine our strength, can we take that guy down?
—I’ll try.
—What? He doesn’t look ordinary. Shouldn’t we just let him go?
—That’s right. There are too many jiangshi.
Everyone tried to dissuade him, but Yuseong spoke with confidence.
—Don’t worry about the jiangshi. I will take care of them.
—How exactly?
Godongjin looked at him with disbelief. Yet Namgung Yurin immediately nodded.
—Yes. I trust you.
And so the current situation had unfolded.
“What is going on? Why are the jiangshi suddenly—!”
Godon’s sharp gaze turned toward his subordinate.
The subordinate had no idea either.
A jiangshi painstakingly created from a Transcendental Master’s corpse had turned to ash for no apparent reason!
Obtaining an intact Transcendental Master’s corpse was difficult enough, and the amount of money invested in creating even one of these was enormous!
Turning a Peak Master into a jiangshi was a massive loss. Only a Transcendental Master could be considered profitable after accounting for the cost.
A Grandmaster would be a jackpot, not merely profit.
‘I suffered a huge loss after failing to raid the King of Fist while aiming for a fortune…’
The subordinate snapped back to his senses.
There was no time to calmly analyze the cause right now.
“Elder, we must defeat the enemies first!”
“Damn it!”
Watching another jiangshi turn to ash, Godon gritted his teeth and charged forward.
Although the young woman was manifesting Sword Gang, he could see openings in her defense.
His calculation was that if they attacked together before more jiangshi were destroyed, they could win.
Soon, battle erupted between the two groups.
Clang—! Boom!
Their swords clashed repeatedly.
Namgung Yurin, bolstered by various buffs, appeared to be pushed back, but the two escort warriors filled her gaps, preventing Godon from easily overpowering the group.
While crossing swords with Godon, Namgung Yurin thought of her grandfather.
‘Even when Grandfather held back against me, he was far more terrifying than this man. This much I can endure!’
Gaining confidence, she focused on defense.
The fear she had felt earlier toward the seven jiangshi no longer mattered.
Thud—
Thud—
The jiangshi fell helplessly one after another.
‘Yuseong-nim really is an amazing person…’
He was demonstrating the ability to subdue even jiangshi.
Five left, four, three, two… and finally only one remained.
“My jiangshi—!”
Godon screamed.
He had belatedly noticed that every time Yuseong’s hand glowed from the rear, a jiangshi fell, but striking him directly was impossible.
Godon struggled, unable to break through the defense of Namgung Yurin and the two Transcendental Masters.
‘Will time favor me?’
It was hard to judge the situation. The opponent kept displaying bizarre abilities, so he couldn’t predict what variables might arise.
To make matters worse.
Excruciating pain began rising from the arm he had wounded earlier.
He had no leisure to examine it, but the symptoms suggested poisoning.
‘The woman in green robes with green eyes… Could she be the Poison Human of the Sichuan Tang Clan?’
Having undergone body reconstruction, he possessed considerable resistance to poison.
The fact that someone could inflict poison damage on him in such a short time pointed strongly to a Poison Human.
The recent news of a young female Poison Human’s birth had been widely known.
While exchanging blows in a frenzy, Godon glanced around the moment the last jiangshi also turned to ash and vanished.
His useless subordinate stood there holding a flute, at a complete loss.
Bringing the jiangshi stationed outside would be pointless now.
‘This won’t do. I need to seize an opportunity and escape.’
Doing so alone would be difficult.
Godon steeled his heart and sent a transmission to his subordinate.
—We attack together. If you create an opening, we can win!
—Yes, Elder!
The Peak Master subordinate threw away the now-useless flute. He drew his sword and charged at Yuseong’s group.
His intention was to somehow create an opening for Godon.
But the instant the subordinate rushed ahead—
Godon parried Namgung Yurin’s sword and leaped away.
In the exact opposite direction of what his subordinate had hoped—toward the rear.
“Ugh?!”
As if he had never expected it, the subordinate’s eyes filled with resentment as his neck was severed.
Godon had already flung himself out of the cave.
‘I must survive and report this to the sect! As long as that freak with the bizarre technique exists, jiangshi pose no threat at all!’
The pain that had begun in his arm now stung his entire body.
His internal energy flow grew erratic.
If he didn’t reach a safe place soon and stabilize himself, things would turn dire.
While dashing through the cave passage where he had already secured safety—
Without warning, arrows shot from the ceiling.
‘Huk, a trap! There was nothing like this earlier!’
He barely dodged by leaping aside. But the traps did not end with arrows.
Long spears thrust out from the walls, the floor gave way, and dozens more arrows rained down.
Traps he would normally have evaded effortlessly became lethal now that he was poisoned and in poor condition.
Nevertheless, Godon escaped the cave with minimal injury.
However—
Swish—!
He could not avoid the single arrow that shot out stealthily from an unexpected spot, piercing cleanly through his thigh.
“Kuuugh!”
Godon collapsed at the cave entrance.
There had clearly been one jiangshi left at the entrance, yet it was nowhere to be seen.
‘What happened?’
As he staggered to his feet, he spotted a woman in the distance staring in his direction.
When the arrow pierced his thigh, he must have accidentally triggered something—his other leg no longer obeyed him.
With no choice, Godon gestured toward the woman watching him.
“If you take me to a safe place, I’ll give you a thousand gold!”
The woman pointed a slender, long finger at Godon and shouted.
“You damn Blood Sect bastards! Don’t think you’ll get away with raiding my house! I will definitely destroy your main base!”
With those final words, the woman fled into the distance without hesitation.
After she disappeared—
“Damn it!”
As Godon tried to hop away on one leg, blood dripping everywhere, he heard the sound of Yuseong’s group running up from behind.
Perhaps because he had triggered every trap in the cave, their footsteps sounded light and unhindered.
It seemed they hadn’t suffered a single injury.
“There he is! Capture him alive!”
The opponents were a Grandmaster, two Transcendental Masters, and a Poison Human.
Godon instinctively realized he could not escape.
If he were in perfect condition, maybe, but now he had suffered a fatal wound to his leg.
If captured, his fate was obvious.
The Martial Alliance was thirsting for the Blood Sect’s blood.
‘What now?’
The Blood Sect had only just begun to stretch its limbs.
He had wanted to achieve merit and proudly become the leader, yet here he was, tripped up in a place like this.
‘It’s already over.’
After much deliberation, he chose a comfortable death.
Thud—roll.
Godon’s severed head, cut off by his own hand, tumbled across the ground.