Chapter 328
Chapter 328
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 328
Chapter Title: Black Ghosts Emerge
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"Telling me to find out for myself means..."
Poongri's voice sank deeply.
It was because he had grasped the intent behind Cheonhwi's words, laced with faint mockery.
"You have no intention of telling me."
His gravelly voice pierced into Cheonhwi's ears like a sharp thorn, swirling around endlessly.
It felt like it was tickling his ears.
Poongri's emotions leaked out subtly, infusing his voice with that energy.
Perplexity, doubt, rage.
His feelings churned violently.
Like a storm.
'Nine Heavens Thunderclap is a qi art mastered only by the Alliance Leader, the White Four Gods, and that bastard. How the hell does this guy...?'
His mind raced.
For a moment, his senses reeled.
His crown acupoint felt like it was burning away.
Yet he couldn't stop thinking.
This unforeseen situation pressed him urgently.
'Did the Alliance Leader take on a new disciple...?'
It was the first hypothesis that came to mind.
And the worst one.
In an instant, his fist clenched tightly.
If the man before him was a disciple sent by the Alliance Leader whom he'd raised, it meant his identity had been exposed.
But soon, he shook off the thought.
'No, if the Alliance Leader had taken a disciple, word would have already reached me. Even if he had raised one, he wouldn't resort to something like this.'
Poongri recalled the Evil-Black Alliance Leader.
The aloof, overwhelming peerless master.
Even if he had discovered his identity, he would have simply killed him on the spot rather than bother with such convoluted schemes.
'And if it were someone from within the Evil-Black Alliance who had uncovered my identity and sent him, they would have first tried to sway the Black Ghost Unit above all else.'
His boiling emotions gradually subsided.
His reason, rattled by the unleashing of Nine Heavens Thunderclap, regained its calm.
'Which means this guy has no connection to the Evil-Black Alliance...'
His eyebrow twitched once.
While he felt relief in confirming that the Evil-Black Alliance hadn't uncovered him, the man before him remained an enigma.
'Then how did he learn Nine Heavens Thunderclap? Did the White Four Gods take on another disciple before dying?'
As Poongri faced the mysterious foe and, instead of linking him to the Evil-Black Alliance Leader, tried to connect him to the White Four Gods to uncover his identity...
"I can hear the gears turning in your head from here."
A voice laced with scorn rang out.
Cheonhwi, who had let Hwamwol droop limply, twisted one corner of his mouth into a sneer.
Cheonhwi had no intention of killing him easily. He planned to repay him several times over, not just in kind.
To that end, he aimed to sow confusion.
Even continuing to hide his identity, which no longer mattered if revealed.
Unleashing Nine Heavens Thunderclap, the White Four Gods' exclusive martial art and qi technique, was part of that.
Solely to toy with him.
And it had succeeded as expected.
Meeting Poongri's eyes, tangled with doubt and confusion, Cheonhwi raised Hwamwol.
While converting his Plum Blossom Divine Art energy into sword force.
In that instant, a gentle breeze blew, causing his black robe—without even a sash—to flutter from the hem upward.
Ssshh―
The released energy pushed away the dust settled at his feet in all directions.
Even in his plain black attire with his flowing hair casually tied back, he exuded a mystical aura.
Facing such a Cheonhwi, Poongri snapped out of his thoughts and went on guard.
His skin stung from the incoming breeze.
The colorless energy in the breeze carried profoundly deep inner force at its core.
The opponent was a master.
Not one to face while lost in scattered thoughts.
After glaring at Cheonhwi for a moment, Poongri brushed back his fallen hair.
Sharpening his gaze.
Emitting a fierce glare like a great tiger, he straightened his posture and spoke.
"No point in talking more."
The moment he finished speaking.
Kwajik!
The floor shattered as three warriors in gray martial robes shot upward.
They exuded an extraordinary presence.
Faint heat hazes rose around their bodies, each emanating a fearsome energy.
Poongri's lip curled slightly upward.
Though they had hidden and now emerged, these three were no ordinary foes.
Residual Blood Demon Blade Hong So-yak, Wolf Killing Sword Sakil, Shadow Killing Ghost Go Ak-yeong.
They were unorthodox faction leaders who had made their names in the martial world before becoming Black Ghost Unit members.
The short-haired woman who burst through the floor first and closed in on Cheonhwi drew her massive sword from her back without hesitation.
In that instant, her hair stood on end.
The intensely manifested inner force coiled around the great sword and struck down like lightning.
That was the beginning.
Following, the Wolf Killing Sword thrust into Cheonhwi's side like an arrow, while from the opposite side, the Shadow Killing Ghost hurled flying daggers.
A perfectly coordinated formation.
Front, right, left.
Cheonhwi gazed indifferently at the three-sided assault and spoke.
"Wondered when you'd crawl out."
Cheonhwi had already detected them.
Even as they hid their presence and breath in the layer below, biding their time.
Casually scanning them, Cheonhwi tapped his toe.
A very small movement.
And in that very moment.
Shweeeek!
The Residual Blood Demon Blade's great sword cleaved Cheonhwi from crown to toe in one stroke, while the hawk-nosed sword and daggers pierced his body.
"...!"
At the same time, their eyes widened.
Their attacks had clearly struck true, yet there was no feedback in their hands.
As if they'd passed right through.
Kwaaang!
The floor where Cheonhwi stood shattered into pieces, wooden splinters scattering into the air.
Seeing this, the three furrowed their brows.
The form of Cheonhwi they'd thought they'd cut down was blurring away.
'Body replacement technique...!'
As the three simultaneously realized and urgently exchanged glances.
Shweeeek!
The sound of cutting wind rang in their ears.
Right behind them.
Turning in shock toward the sound, they saw Cheonhwi holding Hwamwol up to his chest.
The three hastily tried to move.
But before they could.
Flash!
Suddenly, a crimson energy wave surged, instantly sweeping past the three.
In the blink of an eye.
A single line of red blood traces was etched.
Cheonhwi withdrew Hwamwol, having swept from left to right, and locked eyes one by one with the three staring at him in shock.
A moment later.
Chwaaak―
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Their wide-eyed gazes gradually lost light.
Eventually, their heads and torsos fell, plummeting through the pierced floor.
A belated 'thud' echoed.
Dust rose from below.
But Cheonhwi paid it no mind. Before that, fierce energies assailed him from all directions.
The Black Ghost Unit members, now revealed, targeted the instant he sheathed his sword and attacked from every angle.
Saaak!
Blade energies poured in from all sides.
Each one was a master at least at the peak realm.
The air trembled greatly from their unleashed strikes, roaring as if being torn apart.
As their sharp blades and metal weapons sought to skewer Cheonhwi like iron spits.
Parak―
Cheonhwi's pitch-black robe fluttered.
Hwamwol's blade, now held sideways, blazed with sword force.
At the same time, the energy flowing from Cheonhwi's entire body overwhelmed the blade energies pressing in from all directions.
Witnessing this, Poongri flinched.
"Fall back!"
He shouted upon reading the ominous aura emanating from Hwamwol, but.
Flash!
Hwamwol had already swung.
The arc drawn in an instant split into countless afterimages, seeming to break apart moment by moment.
Residual images.
Heavenly Flow Divine Flower Sword.
The ultimate swift sword, preserved in the secret vault for hundreds of years in its unfinished state, was unleashed.
Creeeeng!
The weapons assaulting from all sides shattered helplessly against the Heavenly Flow Divine Flower Sword.
That wasn't all.
"Kuhuk!"
"Guk!"
The Black Ghost Unit members gripping the shattered weapons spat blood and tumbled backward.
The residual force of the Heavenly Flow Divine Flower Sword had traveled through the weapons to rupture their acupoints.
Over a dozen fell in an instant.
Cheonhwi raised Hwamwol again.
Soon, crimson light traced a beautiful, elongated trajectory following Hwamwol's movement.
'Not yet.'
Cheonhwi unleashed his energy.
Suddenly, his field of vision cleared wide.
The energy stimulating his crown acupoint instantly expanded his senses vastly.
A ten-zhang radius lay beneath him.
Those surrounding him now were far more than this handful.
What he saw was but a portion.
At least seventy were encircling him.
Having grasped them, Cheonhwi infused inner force into Hwamwol once more and took a advancing step.
Kwajik!
Cracks radiated from his foot, shockwaves spreading outward.
And in that moment.
Whoosh!
Cheonhwi's form flickered and shot forward.
In an instant.
Reaching Poongri, Cheonhwi swung Hwamwol from below upward.
An overwhelming speed swift sword.
The Heavenly Flow Divine Flower Sword unfolded again.
'If you plan to keep hiding...'
Cheonhwi's eyes gleamed with killing intent.
He had no intention of waiting for them.
Rather, he would draw them out.
And the method was simple.
Attacking the enemy before him, Poongri.
Shweeeek!
The crimson sword path left afterimages.
Hwamwol's sword force, laden with Plum Blossom Divine Art energy, left deep traces.
"...!"
Poongri's eyes bulged.
'Think I'll go down easy?!'
Energy flowed from Poongri's body, causing his pure white armor to radiate spiritual light.
Spirit Guard Heart Formula, wielding innate true qi.
Its power was purer and stronger than other inner arts, consuming life force in exchange.
The potent energy surged toward his left hand.
A chilling aura spread from his fully opened palm up to his shoulder.
At the same time, his heel lifted.
The toe of his weighted leather boot roughly stomped the cracked floor.
Creeeak!
The shattered floor split and erupted.
From within, Poongri rapidly rotated the energy starting from his shoulder's heaven spirit acupoint, pushing it to his palm.
A palm strike loaded with all his weight and power.
Evil Extreme Blood Attracting Palm.
His wide-open palm clashed with the incoming sword aiming to cleave his right shoulder.
Kwaaaaang!
A deafening roar like the splitting of heaven and earth erupted, heavy vibrations spreading everywhere.
Hwacheon Pavilion shook violently.
The floor they stood on sank in a large circle, wooden planks shooting upward as if defying nature.
The sword's trajectory, which seemed to cleave all, scattered without a trace.
Instead, the air filled with the scent of blood.
"A bit shallow."
Cheonhwi muttered indifferently.
Gazing at Poongri directly ahead, where the thick blood scent emanated.
His left hand was ruined.
Hwamwol's blade had precisely sliced into the open palm, severing his middle, ring, and pinky fingers completely.
Drip―
Poongri glanced at his left hand, left with only thumb and index, then suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"What, losing your mind over that?"
As Cheonhwi sneered.
"Seems you've forgotten something."
Poongri twisted his lip further.
Then, with savage eyes, he raised his head and moved his lips.
"Black Ghost Unit Leader."
No sooner had the words ended than a man dropped straight down from above.
A lanky six-footer, skinny as a rail.
But Cheonhwi's eyes went not to his appearance, but to what he held.
For the man's hand gripped the nape of Hogwanggae, whom he'd completely forgotten about.