Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: I've Come to Reclaim Blade Leaf Valley
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“Pathetic fool.”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw said, looking at Gu Cheong.
“P-Poison Claw…!”
“Must I involve myself in matters such as this?”
“I-I apologize.”
“In any case, that bastard is the cause of all this commotion.”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw looked at Mu-heun.
Mu-heun looked back at the Golden Fang Poison Claw.
The Golden Fang Poison Claw didn't realize it, but this was undoubtedly a reunion.
The Golden Fang Poison Claw of the Sichuan Tang Clan and the Divine Doctor of Sichuan had met again.
However, for a moment the Divine Doctor of Sichuan had been eagerly awaiting, the current situation didn't seem very hopeful.
Killing intent filled the air from all sides.
Hostility permeated every direction.
It was truly a desperate and frightening situation.
However,
what the resurrected Divine Doctor of Sichuan felt was not despair and fear, but exhilaration and rage.
Mu-heun was instantly surrounded.
Even for Mu-heun, who trained in the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon, his training period was too short, and he had already consumed a great deal of his energy rescuing the Blade Leaf Demon and causing a disturbance here.
Furthermore, the Golden Fang Poison Claw was a man who had filled and refined his peak internal energy to enter the transcendent realm.
The aura emanating from him was not something Mu-heun could handle one-on-one.
But…
rather than being afraid, Mu-heun simply felt a thrill and ground his teeth.
The one who had brought him death in his past life.
The one who had pierced his fingertips and toes with poison claws, making him feel pain slowly, before finally stabbing his heart.
The enemy he thought of every night, swallowing the rage that twisted his insides and grinding his teeth.
The Golden Fang Poison Claw was right before his eyes.
‘I've finally found you, Golden Fang Poison Claw. You son of a bitch.’
However, Mu-heun suppressed his boiling rage with ice-cold composure and spoke.
“The cause... Are you introducing yourself? You beast, worse than an animal, wagging your venomous tongue everywhere. No, you're just a dullard who will die sucking up to the Family Head. You won't die a peaceful death.”
“Hah, bastard? Venomous tongue? Die sucking up? Heh heh, right, you're the one who's about to die.”
“Shut your mouth, you pest. If I had my way, I'd rip out your tongue right now and feed it to the beasts.”
“Hah, so you were a madman.”
“Madman? You're the mad one. A member of the Orthodox Sects joining hands with the Demonic Cult, a fine job you're doing. The thought of scum like you going around spouting nonsense about righteousness and chivalry makes me want to vomit.”
“Heheheh, I can't listen to this lunatic's ramblings any longer.”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw's veins bulged with the urge to tear Mu-heun to shreds, but he showed no sign of it on the surface.
“Finally, I've gathered all you insects in one place.”
“Gathered us?”
Mu-heun took a deep breath and spoke, infusing his voice with internal energy.
“Now!”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw, Gu Cheong, and the reinforcement warriors were bewildered.
Now?
What did this cornered man, who should be accepting his death, suddenly mean by 'now'?
Just then.
From the heart of the central pavilion, opposite the main gate, came the majestic sound of an advancing army.
The ground-shaking vibrations were mixed with the powerful auras of martial artists. The sound came from the opposite direction of Mu-heun, who was surrounded near the main gate.
With the sound of massive blades clashing, a large number of warriors walked from the central pavilion toward the main gate.
Parting the dark night, they were like a pack of giant leopards. Their greatswords, reflecting the moonlight, exuded a subtle, sharp aura, and the faces of these leopards, baring their sharp fangs, were filled with rage.
At the center of these ferocious beasts was a man wielding a greatsword twice the size of Un-pyo's.
The true master of Blade Leaf Valley.
The Blade Leaf Demon revealed his massive frame.
“......!”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw was stunned to see the Blade Leaf Demon emerging with his greatsword.
“B-Blade Leaf Demon? How is he…?”
The Blade Leaf Demon, who appeared in his massive frame clad in animal hides, spoke with a voice imbued with profound internal energy.
“Have you been well, Golden Fang Poison Claw? And you, the enemies who brought Blade Leaf Valley to this state!”
The Blade Leaf Demon's imposing entrance. He seemed to have regained the martial prowess he possessed before being imprisoned in the underground dungeon.
The Golden Fang Poison Claw and the warriors swallowed nervously at the Blade Leaf Demon's appearance.
“I, the Blade Leaf Demon, have come today to reclaim Blade Leaf Valley.”
Then, the Blade Leaf Demon looked at the masked man in black robes and said with a hearty laugh.
“Isn't that right, Mu-heun?”
“Mu-heun?”
Gu Cheong didn't know who Mu-heun was. He had merely been speculating that he might be one of the Blade Leaf Demon's subordinates.
‘Mu-heun? Who in the world is Mu-heun?’
Hearing the Blade Leaf Demon's words, Mu-heun immediately threw off his black robes and mask.
“Is there any doubt, Blade Leaf Demon?”
“…!”
Gu Cheong's eyes widened in shock. The face behind the mask was that of the farmer, Jang Pal.
“H-how can this be...? Jang Pal, you bastard, how…?!”
“I'll kill you soon enough, so just wait.”
Gu Cheong's heart pounded like mad.
Seeing the situation turning sour, the Golden Fang Poison Claw gestured with his eyes, ordering his subordinates to go to Chowol's room and bring her.
The Golden Fang Poison Claw's subordinate looked at Chowol's room and was relieved to see her silhouette cast by the lantern. He cautiously opened the door and entered.
“…!?”
But inside the room, instead of Chowol, there was only a dying lantern and bedding where she should have been.
“W-we've been had, Poison Claw! Chowol is gone!”
“What did you say? What in the world happened?”
With Chowol's whereabouts now a mystery, the Golden Fang Poison Claw grew anxious and released his energy to search for the Curse Bug.
Soon, the Curse Bug reacted to the Golden Fang Poison Claw's energy. But the response came from an unimaginable place.
“Kieeeeeeeh-”
A voice was heard over the Curse Bug's shriek.
“Are you looking for this?”
Mu-heun held the Curse Bug in his hand and smiled at the Golden Fang Poison Claw.
“H-how do you have that…?”
“Kkieeeeeeeek-”
The Curse Bug cried out from within Mu-heun's hand.
“With such a pathetic trick.”
Mu-heun crushed the Curse Bug to death in his hand.
The Curse Bug burst gruesomely.
“All your petty tricks are over, old man. After you, the Sichuan Tang Clan is next.”
“Just... how?”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw couldn't hide his astonishment. The Curse Bug, cultivated by the Sichuan Tang Clan, was not something that could be so easily eliminated.
No one knew how to get rid of it except for the Divine Doctor of Sichuan, who was already dead...
‘But how does that bastard know?’
Just then, a sharp female voice rang out from the direction of the pavilion.
“Hey, Golden Fang Poison Claw! You son of a bitch!”
A shrill voice. Filled with rage, the voice echoed as Chowol burst out, with Pa-sun following behind her.
Despite Pa-sun's attempts to stop her, Chowol spewed her fury.
“Hey! You sons of bitches, worse than animals! You vermin! My grandfather will kill you all himself! Just you wait! Mmph! Mmph!”
With those words, Un-pyo covered Chowol's mouth and dragged her back inside the pavilion.
The Blade Leaf Demon nodded at Un-pyo's action and picked up his greatsword. He then raised his internal energy, cloaking the blade in sword qi.
The flow of the sharp aura reflecting in the moonlight looked truly beautiful.
Seeing this, the Golden Fang Poison Claw and his subordinates swallowed dryly.
‘Something is coming.’
Soon, the Blade Leaf Demon raised his sword and swiftly struck down from the sky. His target was the Golden Fang Poison Claw at the main gate.
A massive, swirling energy drew a sharp crescent, cleaving through every obstacle between the central pavilion and the main gate.
“Dodge it!”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw shouted loudly and barely deflected the sword energy that flew toward him like a storm, shattering the ground.
But it was too late, as screams erupted from all around.
The sword energy, which had shattered a path over a hundred meters long, was razor-sharp, and the Golden Fang Poison Claw and all the surrounding warriors couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
“The pleasantries are over.”
The Blade Leaf Demon said, holding his sword.
“Leave no one alive.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Blade Leaf Demon's subordinates shouted in unison and launched themselves toward the warriors.
The Golden Fang Poison Claw also shouted.
“It's a bluff! They've been poisoned and can't use their former strength! What are you all doing? Do you want to just die? Fight and kill them!”
At his words, the five peak-level warriors of command rank came to their senses and spoke.
“A-attack them all!”
“Don't be afraid! Don't let your guard down! There are only about forty of them. Focus! There may be a difference in their strength, but we outnumber them two to one!”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw instructed his subordinates and observed the Blade Leaf Demon.
‘Normally, the Blade Leaf Demon's subordinates are mostly peak masters. But now, poisoned, their martial skill is at best first-rate. If we push them with numbers, it's not an impossible fight...’
The same went for the Blade Leaf Demon's strike just now.
Though it consumed internal energy to deflect it, there was no way he, who was at the entry level of the transcendent realm, could have normally blocked a strike from the Blade Leaf Demon, who had reached the pinnacle.
The wall surrounding the pavilion on both sides of the main gate.
On top of it, Gu Cheong's reinforcements, who had been surrounding Mu-heun, numbered around one hundred and thirty.
Among them were five commander-level peak warriors like Gu Cheong, and the rest were between first-rate and second-rate.
The Blade Leaf Demon's subordinates charged from the central pavilion toward the main gate and clashed weapons with the warriors rushing down from the wall.
The weapons were varied: axes, hammers, sabers, swords, spears, staffs, and so on.
Most of the Blade Leaf Demon's subordinates wielded greatswords. Normally, even if outnumbered, the Blade Leaf Demon's men, with their vastly superior martial skill, would have won.
There was no reason for them to be pushed back.
If they were in their normal condition, that is.
But now, due to the poison, they were not in their normal state, so the fight was evenly matched. Even this level of strength was only possible thanks to Mu-heun's treatment.
Otherwise, they would have been annihilated already.
A midnight war, tense for both sides.
In the eye of that storm were Mu-heun and Gu Cheong.
“We should finish this, too.”
Mu-heun said to the fallen Gu Cheong, who was already looking up at him with a pale face.
A night where the wind blew, the clouds drifted, and the drifting clouds occasionally caught the moonlight. A night where darkness and light intertwined.
Most of Blade Leaf Valley was engulfed in a suffocating silence.
No, it wasn't so much silence as it was the end result of the sounds of air being torn, shouts, and the clang of weapons from the central pavilion's main gate spreading out in concentric circles.
It was a sound that suppressed all others, allowing no other noise to escape the vicious clamor of war.
Everyone in Blade Leaf Valley was busy holding their breath.
Gu Cheong was on the ground, propped up halfway, looking up at Mu-heun. He was at a distance where Mu-heun could kill him with a single stroke if he so wished.
But Mu-heun couldn't move rashly either.
The Golden Fang Poison Claw, standing on the debris at the main gate of the central pavilion, caught his eye.
While confronting the Blade Leaf Demon, the Golden Fang Poison Claw was also keeping an eye on Mu-heun, who held a deadly sword over Gu Cheong.
The Blade Leaf Demon, too, was paying attention to Mu-heun and Gu Cheong.
Gu Cheong could only desperately hope that the Golden Fang Poison Claw would save him.
“P-Poison Claw...! Please save me....”
Despite Gu Cheong's desperate pleas, the Golden Fang Poison Claw didn't even glance his way. He was preoccupied with keeping the Blade Leaf Demon in check.
‘No matter how much of a transcendent master the Blade Leaf Demon is, his internal injuries must be severe right now. He'll probably bet everything on the first exchange. If I can get past that one blow, victory will be mine.’
And the Golden Fang Poison Claw's prediction was correct.
“My lord, from consuming the Golden Fang Poison Claw's poison pills, everyone's insides are a mess. Externally, the various tortures have also inflicted considerable damage on their meridians. We must end this as quickly as possible.”
“I know.”
Even before the battle, Un-gak and the Blade Leaf Demon knew that a swift victory was the only answer. Although Mu-heun had treated them with medicine and healing formations, it wasn't a level of injury that could be resolved in a few hours.
The Blade Leaf Demon made a decision and raised his massive greatsword.
The energy, raised to its peak, concentrated in the greatsword, and a sharp aura swirled around it. He then firmly gripped the greatsword with both hands, twisting his legs, waist, and shoulders to pull it far back.
“Blade Leaf Great Wind Slash. High!”
The Golden Fang Poison Claw shouted upon seeing the energy emanating from the Blade Leaf Demon.
“Dodge it!”
It was not an energy that could be blocked. It was likely a one-hit kill. He had to get through this with minimal damage.
‘But an attack that large will hit his own men too, won't it? Ah, so that's why he gave a heads-up by shouting 'High'!’
“It's high! Don't jump, duck!”
The warriors who heard the Golden Fang Poison Claw all lowered their bodies and ducked. But what was this?
While the Golden Fang Poison Claw's subordinates ducked, the Blade Leaf Demon's men, upon hearing 'High!', all kicked off the ground and jumped, simultaneously raining attacks on their enemies from the air to disorient them.
The Blade Leaf Demon's twisted legs, waist, and shoulders snapped back in the opposite direction, and his massive greatsword cut through the air, drawing an arc from behind his right center to behind his left center.
But…
the Blade Leaf Demon's Blade Leaf Great Wind Slash came in low.
A mass of sharp energy was launched.
The wall was torn apart. The energy, pouring out in a semicircle, shattered the debris of the main gate and decimated the front of the pavilion.
Everything in its path, whether person or object, was sliced cleanly apart.
Mu-heun, having been tipped off by Un-pyo beforehand, launched himself into the air to dodge.
A thick cloud of dust rose over the entire area.
In that one blow, like a natural disaster, the enemy forces, which numbered over one hundred and thirty, were instantly reduced to about fifty.
What remained were dozens of corpses strewn across the ground.
Even after dodging the Blade Leaf Demon's attack, his subordinates followed up with more strikes, causing even more damage.