Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 69. Regret
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Jeongu Taoist was repeatedly astonished as he watched Yuseong.
He knew something about the mysterious technique called Divine Arts.
But he had never seen anyone use Divine Arts quite like Yuseong.
When Yuseong healed not only people but even a horse with a broken leg, Jeongu Taoist was filled with hope that he could truly detoxify the Yucheon Immortal's poison.
Even though he had rushed from afar upon hearing rumors that he had detoxified the Dao King's poison, he hadn't fully believed it.
That was because even the poison experts of the Sichuan Tang Clan, renowned for their poisons, had failed to detoxify the Yucheon Immortal.
Only those deeply versed in poisons, like the Demonic Cult's brain trust or the Five Poisons Sect of the Southern Barbarians, could rival the Sichuan Tang Clan.
He was next astonished when Yuseong's hand glowed and the warriors' bodies grew swifter.
A technique that enhanced another's martial prowess—if possible, he wanted to receive this Divine Art himself and swing his sword around.
He regretted having to stay quietly in the rear.
While he watched the battle between the Demonic Cultists and the Murim Alliance warriors in a daze of admiration,
Jeongu Taoist paled in shock at the sudden presence behind his back, which he had thought safe.
A stealthy sword, infused with sword qi, shot toward his heart!
‘Damn, I noticed too late!’
Jeongu Taoist desperately unleashed his own sword qi to block the opponent's sword, but he knew it was futile.
The stealth technique was so covert that it had fooled even his eyes, a Peak Realm expert, and the sword struck from an unavoidable position.
Time seemed to slow.
He clearly perceived the sword aiming for his heart,
yet the speed of his swinging sword in defense felt endlessly sluggish.
He sensed his death.
‘I’m going to die so pointlessly.’
In that instant, something unexpected happened.
Amid the sluggish flow of time, his body felt feather-light, and his sword moved faster than the opponent's.
He heard Yuseong's voice and realized the situation.
‘This must be the Medical Pavilion Leader's Divine Art!’
Jeongu Taoist barely succeeded in knocking away the opponent's sword.
But he couldn't prevent his grip from tearing, causing him to drop his sword and lose his stance.
The eyes of the masked assailant, bloodshot with fury, filled with panic, but he swung his sword once more.
In this moment of crisis, Jeongu Taoist rolled across the ground with a burning will to live.
Naryeotagon!
Some in the martial world mocked it as a lazy donkey rolling on the ground, but that applied only to formal duels.
A single thought flashed through Jeongu Taoist's mind.
‘I survived!’
As he tumbled across the dirt, he shouted loudly.
“Assassin!”
Cheongun Elder, who had been gleefully slaughtering Demonic Cultists up front, reacted to the shout, but the distance was too great.
Jeongu Taoist had dropped his sword and lost his stance, unable to respond immediately,
and the assassin, presumed to be a Peak Realm expert, was already swinging his sword toward Nangong Yurin.
***
The assassin, the Black Shadow Division Leader, had waited for this exact moment.
His deputy had led the subordinates in a desperate stand, successfully drawing in Cheongun Elder and creating this opening.
‘I’ll report to the higher-ups—you’ve taken good care of their families.’
A former low-level killer who had risen to Peak Realm,
he drew on past experience to deliver a fatal strike to Jeongu Taoist, the trickiest among those guarding Yuseong.
With the Taoist’s attention fixed forward, he had created the perfect opportunity.
He was certain it had been perfect.
‘What?’
Jeongu Taoist had suddenly parried his sword with astonishing speed.
Of course, caught off-guard, the Taoist hadn't countered perfectly—he dropped his sword and stumbled.
Though inwardly panicked, the Black Shadow Division Leader drew on his vast assassination experience for a second strike.
With his weapon dropped and stance broken, the target couldn't resist this time.
‘No, again?’
This time, the opponent rolled away like a red-maned steed, swift as could be.
The sheer speed made him seem not a Peak Realm expert, but some Transformation Realm master.
“Assassin!”
His presence was now exposed.
The Black Shadow Division Leader grew urgent.
His subordinates were nearly all dead.
The experts from the front were rushing back, so he needed to quickly subdue the Divine Physician and seize his lifeline.
If he could just secure the Divine Physician, he could threaten them with the man's life and escape, even after losing most of his men.
‘At least I’ve sidelined Jeongu Taoist from the fight. Now for the rest...’
***
The moment Jeongu Taoist was attacked, Nangong Yurin instinctively stepped in front of Yuseong and shouted.
“Get away, Medical Pavilion Leader!”
Even with her cry, she sensed no movement from Yuseong behind her.
‘Of course, the Medical Pavilion Leader can’t flee anyway.’
Thanks to Yuseong's Divine Art, her body felt light as if it could fly.
If she unleashed her lightness skill and fled, she might shake off the attacker.
But that would leave Yuseong to die.
‘The Medical Pavilion Leader can’t escape as quickly as I can. His body is faster, but it seems to have limits against ordinary people.’
Just look at Jeongu Taoist.
With Yuseong's help, his movements quickened enough to save his life, but not to easily evade a Peak Realm expert's sword at point-blank range.
In this crisis, Nangong Yurin calmly assessed the situation.
The other experts had trusted Jeongu Taoist and focused on the front.
They had noticed the assassin and were hastily flying back, but Yuseong would be dead before they arrived.
The bloodshot eyes of the masked man peered past her shoulder, clearly fixed on Yuseong as the next target.
Nangong Yurin gripped her sword hilt tightly.
She abandoned any thought of fleeing alone.
Yuseong had promised to heal her brother and Juyeon’s sister, and she had vowed to protect him.
‘If the Medical Pavilion Leader dies, it’s all over. My brother’s eyes and Juyeon’s sister’s face will go untreated.’
And she would gain a new affliction of the heart: abandoning someone she harbored feelings for.
If she evaded even this moment, she might wither away without another chance.
‘I don’t want to live so miserably anymore. I’ve suffered enough. Maybe this is punishment for not honing the talent heaven gave me.’
She regretted madly her past, born with talent yet neglecting training.
But regret was too late now.
She resolved to do her utmost here and now.
Behind such a Nangong Yurin,
Yuseong quietly met the masked man’s eyes and gripped the Heavenly Fortune Stone.
It wasn’t a long blade and was too small for efficiency, but he had accumulated Divine Power.
‘If I compress my Divine Power into a single instant, maybe I can unleash a Divine Aura.’
By infusing Divine Power into the Heavenly Fortune Stone—or Orichalcum—he could create a Divine Aura akin to sword qi, like the holy knights.
When he first obtained it, his Divine Power was insufficient and he failed, but now it had built up considerably.
It was worth trying.
He had no means of escape anyway.
Yuseong stuck close behind Nangong Yurin, waiting for a chance to create a variable.
***
The Black Shadow Division Leader charged at Nangong Yurin with his sword qi-infused blade.
A first-rate warrior unable to wield sword qi was an easy mark.
‘The Nangong Family’s daughter? Admirable courage to block my path.’
The gap between first-rate and Peak Realm lay not just in physical prowess, but above all in sword qi.
Sword qi, wieldable from Peak Realm onward, could slice ordinary blades like tofu.
Without sword qi, Nangong Yurin had no chance of blocking the masked man’s sword.
Remove her, and securing Yuseong would be simple.
‘Secure the Divine Physician, and the mission succeeds even if I’ve lost most subordinates.’
Even as his sword targeted her throat, Nangong Yurin did not flee.
‘Ordinary methods won’t kill him anyway.’
She launched herself forward instead.
Yuseong, clutching the Heavenly Fortune Stone and trying to create an opening for her, panicked.
Without fighting together, she couldn’t beat the masked man.
And the Black Shadow Division Leader was even more shocked.
He hadn’t expected her to charge, willing to risk her neck being severed.
Mutual destruction was one of the few techniques a lesser could use to slay a careless superior.
His subordinates often employed it, but he never imagined a scion of a great house would use it against him.
‘A mere first-rate, yet this fast—an astonishing swift sword.’
Unaware of the Swiftness skill, it was speed enough to fluster him slightly,
but the advanced swordsmanship at the blade’s tip, full of feints, was predictable to a Peak Realm expert like him.
Strike first without mercy, take her throat—simple.
‘Hm?’
A glint entered the Black Shadow Division Leader’s eyes as he adjusted his sword path.
Nangong Yurin’s charging body halted abruptly.
The trauma that had tormented her for years instinctively rejected attacking the foe.
Her arm wouldn’t extend properly.
‘Not now! Move, please!’
Though she pleaded inwardly, the fear etched into her body for nearly a decade wouldn’t fade.
Her body rebelled against control.
It screamed to dodge sideways immediately.
But.
‘If I dodge, the Medical Pavilion Leader dies. It has to be me!’
With that thought, her stalled body miraculously moved.
A blue energy surged from her body, weighing down the surrounding air heavily.