Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Fire
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In the warehouse where the hostages were being held, the disciples guarding it questioned the masked man who was rushing over.
“What is it?”
“The Lord has ordered us to release the hostages before that murderer to buy time! Open up!”
“Ah, understood.”
“Huh?”
Just then.
The world spun for the black-masked man who had come to deliver the Lord’s message. No, his head spun as it fell to the ground.
“Gah!”
Gu Yang-baek, who had erased his presence and followed close behind, instantly struck down the ten black-masked men present and freed the bound hostages.
“They’re all gathered in one place, easy to protect. That’s a relief. It saves me the trouble of finding them one by one.”
Gu Yang-baek tossed a sphere into the air.
*Boom!*
The sphere shot into the sky and exploded, scattering sparks. Seol Ha-ryeong, seeing the fireworks, smiled and fully unleashed the chilling cold arts she had been gradually releasing.
At that, the ice crystal sword began to slaughter the masked men at an incredible speed.
“Hiek! Stay away!”
She froze the fleeing red-masked men one by one, the cold energy stopping their hearts.
One blue-masked man and ten red-masked men were escaping. However, Seol Ha-ryeong did not pursue the Lord of the Black Obsidian Gate, instead heading toward the signal Gu Yang-baek had sent.
“My Lord! That murderous demon isn't pursuing us!”
“It’s a stroke of luck! We must not be their target. We leave Gocha-hyeon completely. This place is a lost cause!”
The moment they leaped over the wall, they were met with sharply honed ice spikes.
*Stab!*
“Gah!”
As the red-masked men panicked, their Lord swiftly commanded.
“What are you doing! Break the ice!”
“This isn’t ordinary ice! It’s too hard to break easily, and it pierces deeper when touched!”
“This….”
The blue-masked man channeled his internal energy and swung his whip, shattering the ice.
“Hurry! Escape!”
At that moment.
A long thread wrapped around the masked men’s necks.
A stream of red liquid trickled down the thread, and a thick scent of blood spread through the air.
The thread was as tough and sturdy as if made of steel. The energy flowing through it was so finely refined that it was undetectable.
“The Killing Palace does not permit escape.”
“What…! K-Killing Palace…”
“The Demonic Cult!?”
“It’s too late to realize that now.”
The black-masked men who had chosen to flee first were impaled and killed by the ice spikes Seol Ha-ryeong had set up. The Lord of the Black Obsidian Gate and his executives, who had chosen to flee last, were decapitated by Gu Yang-baek’s steel thread.
Afterward, the two of them hunted down and eliminated all the remaining remnants hiding inside, then dispelled the ice that had enveloped the Black Obsidian Gate.
Just then, Gu Yang-baek asked Seol Ha-ryeong.
“Have your skills improved?”
“Hoho~ I had a small epiphany after sparring with the Dragon Demon.”
“Hoh.”
Seol Ha-ryeong had gained an insight during her sparring match with Mu-heun.
The flame-like energy of the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon exhibited more explosive power the more it was focused on a single point and clashed. However, her cold arts did not become explosively stronger just by being concentrated.
‘Even if concentrated, cold arts only have the effect of gathered energy. That must be the difference in properties between flame and ice…’
So, Seol Ha-ryeong began to study the properties of cold energy. She came to master one technique: ‘temperature transition.’
Mastering cold arts is an extremely tricky endeavor.
A slight misstep could cause the practitioner’s body temperature to drop drastically, inflicting fatal damage. For that reason, one must always circulate internal energy to protect their own body when using cold arts. The height of inefficiency.
Cold arts were a powerful martial art, but they were just as difficult to learn and control. However, Seol Ha-ryeong had seen with her own two eyes how the Heavenly Demon’s energy had swallowed her Full Moon Arts during the tournament.
That was when she devised the power to absorb the residual warmth from nature. To wield cold energy was the same as stealing warmth.
She protected her body from her own cold arts by absorbing the surrounding energy, and in the lowered temperature, the cold became even more potent.
In other words, it was about using the principles of absorption and emission—a way to utilize her cold arts twice as effectively.
“I have absorbed all the cold energy that enveloped the Black Obsidian Gate. Now, let’s call the innkeeper of Songlim Inn and the other residents of Gocha-hyeon.”
“Yes.”
Seol Ha-ryeong stored the absorbed cold energy back in her dantian to circulate. She was already on the threshold of surpassing the demonic realm.
“Now is the time. Everyone, please come in.”
“Yes!”
Hwa Cheol-ryeon and the residents of Gocha-hyeon ran with pounding hearts, fearing their families might already be dead.
“What do I do…! My poor sister…”
Some clung to cold corpses and wept.
“Thank goodness, truly thank goodness. Thank you for being alive…. Thank you so much…”
Others held their warm-blooded kin, weeping with sighs of relief.
Wails echoed from all around, and it was the same for the Iron Blossom League.
“Did the Songlim innkeeper find her sister?”
“She found her over there and is checking her sister’s condition. She seems to be a remarkably sharp young lady.”
“That’s a relief. Though there are others who were not so fortunate…”
“It’s better than everyone dying, I suppose.”
***
Pa-sun and Un-pyo, upon seeing the firework Gu Yang-baek had launched, fought their way from the north of Gocha-hyeon to the south.
The Black Mountain Clan, the Twin Head Faction, and the Great Moon Faction, having spotted this, smiled with satisfaction.
“Faction Lord! They are moving from the north of Gocha-hyeon to the south.”
“Is that so? Then they will soon clash with the Black Obsidian Gate and the Iron Blossom League.”
“Based on their current direction, yes.”
“Excellent! Now we will corner them all and annihilate them in one fell swoop! Tell the Twin Head Faction and the Black Mountain Clan to prepare!”
“As you command!”
The Great Moon Faction, the Black Mountain Clan, and the Twin Head Faction predicted that Pa-sun and Un-pyo would clash with the Black Obsidian Gate and the Iron Blossom League, and so they gathered their forces at their respective strongholds.
Mu-heun, Seol Ha-ryeong, and Gu Yang-baek had orchestrated all of this, and Mu-heun was receiving updates on the entire situation through Cheon-hyang.
[Master! They’ve gathered their forces at their strongholds!]
“I know. They act just as expected.”
Thus, Mu-heun, Seol Ha-ryeong, Gu Yang-baek, and the Heavenly Demonic Corpse Hyeok headed for the Black Mountain Clan, located in the west of Gocha-hyeon.
“Just in case, Cheon-hyang, continue to report the situation. Tell Pa-sun and Un-pyo to eliminate those following them now and to protect Gocha-hyeon.”
[Yes!]
***
The slaves at the Black Mountain Clan were men who had been captured, leaving behind their wives or families.
They had been beaten into submission for days on end and were now working like slaves. Every day was hell, and they endured the pain under the threat that their families would be burned alive if they tried to escape.
“A war will break out today.”
“Waaaaah!”
At the single word from the leader of the Black Mountain Clan, the warriors clad in black martial uniforms roared in excitement.
“We will join hands with the Twin Head Faction and the Great Moon Faction to teach the Black Obsidian Gate and the Iron Blossom League, who don’t know their place, the taste of their own blood.”
“Waaaaah!”
“But! It doesn’t end there. When the strength of the Twin Head Faction and the Great Moon Faction is weakened by today’s war, we will strike them from behind. Do not reveal our full strength until the day the Black Mountain Clan swallows all of Gocha-hyeon.”
“As you command!”
The Black Mountain Clan, the strongest power in Gocha-hyeon.
From the beginning, they had no intention of sharing Gocha-hyeon with the Twin Head Faction or the Great Moon Faction. After eliminating the Iron Blossom League and the Black Obsidian Gate, they planned to watch for an opportunity to eliminate the remaining two factions and take complete control of Gocha-hyeon.
However, their plan to preserve their strength was about to face a major crisis.
***
Mu-heun, Seol Ha-ryeong, and Gu Yang-baek used their lightness arts to head toward the Black Mountain Clan. As they moved at high speed, Mu-heun asked.
“How much wealth was in the Black Obsidian Gate?”
“The Black Obsidian Gate had converted most of its assets into silver. I couldn’t count it, but… it was substantial. How was the Iron Blossom League?”
“……The Iron Blossom League was similar.”
“How much wealth do you think the Black Mountain Clan has?”
“I’ve heard they are the richest, being the strongest of the five organizations.”
Gu Yang-baek said with a smile.
“Heh heh, I see.”
As they neared the Black Mountain Clan’s stronghold, Mu-heun once again relayed the plan.
“From now on, Lord Yang-baek and I will enter the Black Mountain Clan’s base, eliminate the enemies, and rescue the hostages. Lady Ha-ryeong and Hyeok will block the escape routes with ice and poison arts. Not a single one must escape.”
“Yes!”
Hyeok, the Heavenly Demonic Corpse. Everyone was surprised at first, but now he was naturally accepted as a member of their journey to Sichuan.
The Black Mountain Clan’s base was twice as large as those of the Black Obsidian Gate and the Iron Blossom League, so Hyeok and Seol Ha-ryeong split the area between them.
A purple poisonous mist spread on one side, while a cold, icy fog spread on the other, completely blocking all of the Black Mountain Clan's escape routes.
Mu-heun immediately smashed through the main gate and came face to face with the Black Mountain Clan’s forces, who were gathered in preparation for war.
‘They’ve gathered their forces to eliminate the Black Obsidian Gate and the Iron Blossom League. This makes things easier.’
A menacing black dragon surged from Mu-heun’s dantian. Five black dragons flowed along his stomach, chest, and arms, imbuing themselves into the Sun and Moon Sword.
“Heavenly Demon Sword Arts, Dragon Annihilation.”
A powerful sonic boom erupted from the tip of the Sun and Moon Sword, and five black dragons shot out toward the Black Mountain Clan’s forces.
The buildings within the Black Mountain Clan’s base were shattered, the training grounds were obliterated, and the warriors were torn apart like paper scraps.
After Mu-heun’s shocking first strike, the surviving warriors of the Black Mountain Clan found it hard to distinguish dream from reality as they witnessed the brutal scene that had unfolded in an instant.
The blow they had just witnessed was something they had never experienced in their entire lives roaming the martial world, and this psychological shock prevented even a hint of a will to resist.
‘We can’t handle the one who just attacked. In a single strike, the Daoists’ flesh was crushed and their bones broken, and their weapons were even destroyed… Resisting is suicide.’
About two hundred men had been gathered at the main gate. Of them, only about ten survived, and even they were swiftly decapitated. Gu Yang-baek had dealt with them quickly.
‘He didn’t give them a chance to surrender.’
“Lord Yang-baek, please proceed and attack their leadership. I will handle the hostages.”
“Yes.”
Yang-baek replied concisely and charged toward where the Black Mountain Clan’s leaders were gathered. Mu-heun took the opportunity to use his Thousand Li Subtle Fragrance to extend his senses and pinpoint the hostages’ location.
But there was a strange smell. The stench of rotting corpses. And a warehouse where it was all gathered. The smell of rats.
‘Don’t tell me…’
He quickly moved toward the warehouse.
In front of the warehouse stood two warriors, their entire bodies wrapped in cloth, covering their noses and mouths. They were guarding the warehouse…
‘Suspicious.’
The warriors guarding the warehouse asked.
“Who, who are you?”
“Who’s there?”
When Mu-heun appeared before the two warriors, they asked in alarm. But Mu-heun did not answer, instead cleaving them in two with his sword.
“Gah!”
He then approached the other warriors, enveloping his entire body—nose, mouth, eyes, and ears—in protective energy. Then he tore the remaining warriors to shreds.
Before entering the warehouse, Mu-heun used his fragrance technique to inspect the interior first. Then, he shook his head.
‘Thankfully, it hasn’t leaked outside.’
Mu-heun angled his Sun and Moon Sword and ignited a violet flame.
He then drew a circle of fire on the ground around the warehouse. The circle of fire rose high, enveloping the warehouse like a fence. Mu-heun strengthened the protective energy around his body and cautiously opened the door.
*Creeeak*
‘Just as I thought…’
Inside were over twenty corpses, being eaten by rats. The tissues of the corpses’ fingers and toes had turned black. Their skin, flesh, and bones had necrotized.
*Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!*
Seeing the open door, the rats scurried out as if in a race. But a wall of violet flame was already blazing outside, leaving them no escape.
“This… This is a disease that must never be let out. Not a single corpse, not a single rat, can be allowed to leave.”
Mu-heun drew upon the blazing energy in his dantian.
A massive black dragon rose into the sky, and a great flame soared above it. The black dragon wrapped around the flame, clenching it repeatedly with its claws, until the explosively growing flame took the shape of a sphere.
As the black dragon condensed the flame, making it smaller, the fireball began to look less like fire and more like light.
‘It seems the Black Mountain Clan, after consuming all of Gocha-hyeon, planned to deliver a parting shot to the Demonic Cult as they left.’
The gift the Black Mountain Clan had prepared for the Demonic Cult after devouring all of Gocha-hyeon was a plague.
‘I’ve seen many vile people… but these are the worst.’
Mu-heun looked at the floating fireball and swung the Sun and Moon Sword straight down.
“Violet Sun Arts.”
In an instant, a vast, bright light spread, followed by a tremendous explosion. Within that explosion, a violet flame consumed everything. The corpses with their blackened skin, and the rats that had been gnawing on them, vanished without a trace.