Chapter 232
Chapter 232
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 232
Chapter Title: Slaughter of the Black Shadow Corps
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“Ha ha hat!”
So Yeon-gang burst into roaring laughter.
The Black Shadow Corps was the most infamous for its cruelty among the Evil-Black Alliance's martial forces, and he was their captain.
Moreover, how many experts had perished by his hand?
Not even sect leaders had been safe.
The Seven Serpent Sword and Spring Breeze Blade Monster who had tried to flee from the Evil-Black Alliance, the Sword White Master who dominated the Yangtze River, the Leader of the Songil Sect, and more...
There were too many to count on his fingers.
Thanks to that, he had reigned as a name of terror in the martial world for a long, long time.
Yet the young man before him was looking down on someone like him. How could he not laugh?
'When was the last time I was treated like this?'
Before he became the Black Shadow Corps captain?
Or back when he was a green rookie just joining the Black Shadow Corps?
It was so long ago that his memory was hazy.
Perhaps because of that.
After laughing for a while, So Yeon-gang felt a different emotion rising within him.
A ferocious grin spread across his lips.
“Interesting.”
With those words, So Yeon-gang shed his crimson cloak. His eyes locked onto Cheonhwi as he gripped the sword hidden beneath the thick fabric.
Srrrng—
A pitch-black blade sprang forth.
It was a special sword forged from black iron and cold iron, his companion of several decades.
Holding the Black Fiend, he spoke.
“Attack.”
At his command, the four Black Shadow Corps members standing at his sides gripped their cloaks.
They threw them off and hurled them at Cheonhwi.
The unfurled crimson cloaks completely blocked Cheonhwi's view.
Seeing the cloaks blot out the sunlight and cast darkness, Cheonhwi sneered.
“Wow, very unorthodox of you.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth.
Puk!
Sharp blades pierced through the cloaks, aiming for Cheonhwi's body.
“But too slow.”
Cheonhwi lightly kicked off the ground.
In an instant, he escaped their range and closed in on them just as they belatedly realized the situation and tried to withdraw their swords.
“How do you expect to hit me like that?”
“......!”
Cheonhwi thrust his sword into the side of a wide-eyed Black Shadow Corps member.
Puk!
A heavy sensation transmitted through his hand.
It had probably pierced straight through the waist and deep into the organs.
But the man didn't thrash about or even groan.
'Well, well.'
Moreover, the eyes meeting his showed no fear of imminent death or regret for life.
Just cold. Utterly frigid.
Cheonhwi twisted one corner of his mouth.
“You hold up well.”
Blood was flowing from the man's mouth.
It was undoubtedly a fatal wound.
Yet he was emanating a chilling killing intent that prickled the skin.
As his eyes, gleaming with murderous fury fixed on Cheonhwi, began to darken with malice,
Shweeeek!
The nearby Black Shadow Corps members charged.
Cheonhwi glanced at them and said,
“If you keep this up, this guy will die too. You okay with that?”
Despite his glance at the impaled member, they showed no agitation.
And the victim himself was the same.
Seeing they had no intention of pulling back, Cheonhwi yanked out the sword embedded in the Black Shadow Corps member's waist.
Juuuruk—
As the deeply lodged blade came free, blood and entrails spilled out.
“......Kuhk!”
As the man bulged his eyes in excruciating pain, Cheonhwi seized his head.
And then.
Whish!
He ruthlessly hurled him at the oncoming attackers.
“Such...!”
The Black Shadow Corps members, who hadn't expected him to throw a man bodily, faltered.
Cheonhwi's sword slashed diagonally.
Srraack!
The struck member's body split from the shoulder, collapsing rapidly.
Blood and flesh chunks poured onto the charging Black Shadow Corps members.
But they didn't blink an eye, as if their earlier panic had never happened, even covered in their comrade's remains.
A razor-edge situation.
Instinctively sensing that closing their eyes for even a moment would lead to the same fate as the one before them, they focused their minds.
As their extreme concentration made blood droplets and flesh seem to fall in slow motion,
Srraack!
Their necks were severed in one stroke.
Thud!
The two headless corpses toppled forward in an instant.
The severed heads, eyes still wide as if unaware of their death, rolled across the ground before stopping.
“......”
So Yeon-gang's face subtly hardened.
Three dead in the blink of an eye.
Three of the Black Shadow Corps' finest, no less!
'A true master.'
He had thought him decent while handling those bandits, but attributed his overwhelming dominance to weak foes.
But displaying such prowess against the Black Shadow Corps...
'The intel on the Plum Blossom Divine Knight wasn't exaggerated after all.'
He hadn't believed the reports about the Plum Blossom Divine Knight until now.
How could he? A mere youth barely past thirty surpassing the Flying Swallow Sword Commander?
The Flying Swallow Sword Commander had toppled White Ghost Castle alongside the Mount Hua Divine Sword.
Who would believe it?
But the martial arts he had just witnessed forced him to acknowledge it.
No, beyond acknowledgment, he felt an immense threat.
'For the future, this brat must die here and now.'
So Yeon-gang rolled his eyes sideways.
The moment his gaze turned toward the empty thicket,
he murmured lowly.
“Kill Order.”
The bushes rustled subtly for an instant, unleashing a thick wave of killing intent.
A 'Kill Order' meant to resolve everything in mutual destruction, ensuring the enemy's death at all costs.
He hadn't even issued it when exterminating the Songil Sect.
Yet here it was, for just one man.
Undoubtedly excessive.
But the ambushing Black Shadow Corps members didn't think so.
They all agreed.
That movement that killed three moments ago.
It had been so swift that it hadn't registered in their eyes at all.
Then So Yeon-gang commanded softly.
“Kill him.”
Pa-ba-bat!
Black shadows surged from all directions.
Cheonhwi looked up at the horde of Black Shadow Corps members blotting out the sky and chuckled.
“Weren't you planning to keep ambushing?”
Dozens of eerie black shadows bore down on him, yet Cheonhwi was utterly nonchalant.
His relaxed smile made it seem like he had given up on life.
“Well, suits me if you come out like this.”
With that, he raised his sword upward.
The blood-drenched tip pointed at them, and soon a red plum blossom bloomed at its end.
A plum blossom redder and more vivid than the blood on the blade.
So vivid it seemed truly alive, almost unnaturally so.
One might be entranced by the bizarre sight, but the Black Shadow Corps members pressed on undeterred.
Like arrows loosed from bows, solely toward Cheonhwi!
Swords focused purely on killing, ignoring all defense, closed the distance with ferocious speed.
Simple thrusts empowered by inner energy.
But dozens of them made for an imposing momentum.
Cheonhwi swept his gaze over the densely packed assailants who blocked even the sunlight.
'Plum Blossoms in Full Bloom should work.'
Recalling the most flashy and complex stance of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art, he moved the sword that had been still, pointing at them.
In that instant, his sword split into dozens, and dozens of plum blossoms bloomed in the air.
The Black Shadow Corps members frowned at the sight of the dozens of plum blossoms appearing unbidden, adorning the sky.
They felt dangerous just looking at them.
But their bodies were already committed forward; too late to retreat.
“......Grit!”
They clenched their teeth and squeezed out their remaining inner energy, thrusting their swords ahead.
The moment sword met blossom.
Paaang—
The plum blossoms burst as if unable to withstand the assault, scattering petals everywhere.
The Black Shadow Corps members' faces lit up.
The ominous plum blossoms were shattering and dispersing.
But their relief was short-lived.
“......!”
The plum petals fluttered in the air.
Innumerable petals spread everywhere, and the moment they touched the men.
Pushuk!
Fountains of blood erupted from all sides.
Horrific wounds appeared where petals met flesh.
Skin split open, blood flowing; some wounds where blossoms had burrowed deep exposed white bone as petals pierced through.
“Kek!”
“Keurk!”
Scattered like autumn leaves, they collapsed, groaning.
Cheonhwi didn't hesitate, moving to the next without pause, piercing the heart of one still clinging to life.
Tap.
“Keuk!”
As he watched the corpse fall amid bubbling blood foam, Cheonhwi tilted his head.
Whish—
A sharp blade flashed past his cheek like lightning.
“Too obvious an ambush.”
Cheonhwi turned toward the one who swung, saying,
So Yeon-gang stood there, wielding the Black Fiend and radiating intense hostility.
Cheonhwi placed his foot on the back of the impaled corpse and shoved smoothly.
Juuuruk—
He whipped the freed sword to the side, shaking off the blood, and met the eyes of the murderous So Yeon-gang.
“Got some spirit.”
“......You're far stronger than I thought.”
So Yeon-gang smirked with his mouth and stepped forward.
Just one step.
But in that moment, his form seemed to elongate, and he shot forward, reaching Cheonhwi in an instant.
Kwaaaang!
A deafening boom rang out.
“Kuk!”
So Yeon-gang reeled back from the impact, staggering.
“What the...”
Cheonhwi flicked his sword toward him and the remaining Black Shadow Corps members, their faces incredulous as they stared at their trembling hands.
“No joking around. Come on?”
In that instant, heat haze rose from So Yeon-gang's body.
Vicious killing intent dominated the space, glee flickering in his eyes.
“Pour everything into it.”
No sooner had he spoken than the surrounding Black Shadow Corps members' auras ignited.
Eyes brimming with killing intent, they charged Cheonhwi simultaneously.
Chwaaak!
The charging members were sliced by Cheonhwi's sword, blood and flesh spraying.
“This isn't the end!”
A Black Shadow Corps member with a split chest hurled a hidden weapon from his left hand.
Peeing!
That was just the start.
From all sides, Black Shadow Corps members leaped out, unleashing lethal techniques.
“Well, looks like you guys aren't afraid of death.”
Cheonhwi's eyes darkened as he faced the death-defying rush.
At that moment, So Yeon-gang executed the Supreme Black Shadow Step and closed in.
“You're off guard!”
The Black Fiend unleashed a sinister sword qi.
Enveloped in about an inch of sword qi, the Black Fiend thrust toward Cheonhwi's heart. As the arrow-swift blade reached his chest,
“Not at all.”
Cheonhwi grinned and swung his sword.
In that instant, a red plum blossom bloomed before his eyes, swiftly overtaking his vision.
'What is this!'
As he urgently widened his eyes,
Srraack!
His vision went black amid the sight of the world splitting in two.