Chapter 250
Chapter 250
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 250
Chapter Title: The Thousand-Year Crimson Crane
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Tang Yicheon doubted his own ears at the sound he'd heard just moments ago.
"Didn't you just say Thousand-Year Crimson Crane? Right? Thousand-Year Crimson Crane?"
Nangong Hyuk scowled fiercely before relaxing his face, grinding his molars tight. Then, with a grinding sneer curling his lips, he spat out his words.
"No way."
"Thousand... Thousand-Year Crimson Crane..."
"I said no."
"It was, it was! That makes sense if it's the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane."
Ah, he's not even listening anymore?
Nangong Hyuk clicked his tongue in exasperation.
'The Family Head overheard it.'
Of all people, the head of those poison fanatics had caught the name of the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane.
Look at him.
His eyes were already rolling back.
Drooling and muttering "Thousand-Year Crimson Crane" over and over—he was already lost to it.
'Damn poison freaks, they just shut down the moment venomous creatures come up?'
It was no different from telling a martial artist a divine technique had appeared or a thief that he'd found a pile of gold and jewels.
Among venomous creatures, wasn't the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane the pinnacle?
To the Sichuan Tang Clan, the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane was a spirit beast worth more than the Great Reversion Pill.
Same ingredient, different vibe.
To Nangong Hyuk, it was material for Golden Immortal Pills, but to those guys(?), it was material for ultimate poisons.
As Nangong Hyuk subtly pressed his temple, Tang Yicheon nodded as if he'd come to a realization.
"Now I finally understand why the Five Poisons Sect bastards pushed all the way to the border regions and lingered there."
It felt like all his questions had been answered at once.
They hadn't strayed from the area because the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane had made its home here.
Everything was because of the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane...
Suddenly, a mad thought crossed his mind, and Tang Yicheon's eyes began to tremble.
"No time to waste here. We need to find the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane right away. No, at least get close to it."
"We were already on our way to find it. These guys will tell us plenty."
Nangong Hyuk shook his head side to side and picked up the demon beasts he'd dropped.
The ones who would reveal the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane's location were flapping in his hands.
"No time for that now! We have to move starting this instant!"
"Man, you're in a real hurry."
"I am in a hurry!"
"Did you slather your spit on the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane or something?"
It wasn't a bad thing if the Sichuan Tang Clan went wild like this, since he'd be the one eating it anyway.
If they moved aggressively, it was no loss, right?
After all, he'd be the one snapping the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane's neck.
At Nangong Hyuk's jest, Tang Yicheon bellowed.
"Once the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane expels its poison aura, it's all over! We'd get nothing out of it!"
"Nothing? Why nothing? Just selling its poison and meat would net tens of thousands of taels of gold."
"You can only harvest the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane's poison at that one moment! Miss it, and there's no poison, nothing! Once every thousand years, just once! Miss that, and the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane is useless!"
What nonsense is that?
Miss the poison expulsion, and the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane becomes worthless?
Nangong Hyuk blinked in confusion, chewing over Tang Yicheon's words.
By his common sense, it was utterly incomprehensible.
It wasn't like they were extracting its gall—expel the poison aura, and the spirit beast stops being one?
Nangong Hyuk's eyes went wide.
"What the hell? It's disposable?!"
"The fact they're setting up formations means the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane is about to expel its poison! That still means we have a chance..."
"There's a time limit? A time limit?"
He'd never heard such a thing.
If he'd known beforehand that the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane expelled its poison only once in its lifetime—that one moment being the first and last chance—he never would've been so leisurely.
Stunned by the thunderbolt of news, Nangong Hyuk came to his senses and ground his teeth.
His eyes rolled wildly.
Flames seemed ready to burst from his bloodshot orbs.
Tang Yicheon kept talking.
"Now that we know their intent, we can trace back from where the Five Poisons Sect was deployed and find the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane's location!"
"......"
"Crush the Five Poisons Sect in one go and head straight for the crane... Hey?"
Not listening at all?
No, wait a second.
Where's he looking like that?
The moment Tang Yicheon turned his head, sensing Nangong Hyuk's gaze boring into one spot.
Nangong Hyuk muttered.
"You think I've been waiting for that?"
"What?"
"Ha, you dare provoke me? Come if you dare!"
From the opposite cliff, the Five Poisons Sect disciples were sneering. Or at least, that's how it looked in Nangong Hyuk's eyes.
In reality, they were just staring blankly this way, but to him, even that was an insult.
Seeing Nangong Hyuk growling beside him, Tang Yicheon was bewildered.
Anyone could see it was suspicious.
Why were they staring straight at them from across?
They were even turning leisurely, as if saying "follow if you dare."
"Calm down! Anyone can see it's a trap! Don't fall for such an obvious provocation!"
"Calm? Trap or not, those bastards are dead!"
"We need to fall back first..."
"Before that, my crane will be the one dying!"
"Even so, charging into an obvious trap..."
"Fuck! There's a Thousand-Year Crimson Crane on the line—what's a trap? The ones who die are gonna die anywayyyyy!"
"Y-You're insane?!"
Tang Yicheon's jaw dropped.
Before he could stop him, Nangong Hyuk roared and launched himself toward the distant opposite side.
Tang Yicheon stared in a daze at that ferocious lightness skill.
"You're deaaaad!"
Everyone was speechless at the sight of Nangong Hyuk charging like a madman, white foam at his mouth, covering a dozen zhang in a blur.
The Five Poisons Sect disciples on the other side paled at his bold charge and astonishing lightness skill, shouting in panic.
"R-Run!"
"Flee!"
"He took the bait!"
Oh no, look!
It really is a trap!
So blatant...
"Follow him!"
"After the young master!"
"Hand over the materials, you thieving bastards!"
"Golden Immortal Piiiill!"
Tang Yicheon blinked at the sight of the Thunder Dragon Squad foaming at the mouth as they chased after Nangong Hyuk.
He wondered if something like this could be decided so easily.
But soon, Tang Yicheon hardened his gaze too.
Truth be told, there was no need for long deliberation.
A Thousand-Year Crimson Crane was at stake, after all.
Once its name was mentioned, they at least had to verify if it was real.
No, just hearing the name was reason enough to charge.
Now, old grudges with the Five Poisons Sect didn't matter.
A trap?
Right, as Nangong Hyuk said—what did a trap matter?
For a Thousand-Year Crimson Crane, it was worth diving into ten such traps.
At the very least, they couldn't let the Five Poisons Sect bastards have it.
He bellowed.
"The Tang Clan pursues the Five Poisons Sect too!"
"Family Head!"
"Didn't you hear? We can't let the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane be stolen by those Five Poisons Sect scum with our eyes wide open!"
With a shout, Tang Yicheon moved.
Tang Cheonu, the Poison King Squad, Tang Myeongjin, Tang Myeongok, and the Sichuan Tang Clan warriors followed.
His Extreme Soul-Chasing Divine Steps, pushed to the limit, caught up to the distant Nangong Clan warriors.
Swoooosh!
Covering five zhang per step, rapidly closing the gap. The scenery on either side blurred backward in terrifying speed.
Tang Yicheon overtook the Nangong Clan warriors and chased Nangong Hyuk's back.
His eyes shook greatly.
'No way!'
The distance to Nangong Hyuk, flying like the wind ahead, seemed to narrow but didn't.
No, it was widening instead.
Nangong Hyuk, leaving a long streak of his bluish shadow, was the Azure Wind itself.
His lightness skill, advancing like a single gust far ahead, was simply astonishing.
He crested a hill, entered where the Jinsha River's course continued, and reached a place where wave-like peaks formed a barrier on three sides.
Nangong Hyuk, who seemed like he'd fly endlessly, came to an abrupt halt.
Bewilderment crossed Tang Yicheon's face.
As Tang Yicheon landed beside him, he shouted.
"The bastards are... Hm?"
The Five Poisons Sect disciples Nangong Hyuk had been chasing were facing them, staring this way.
Confident faces looking over with smirks.
Reading their expressions, Tang Yicheon realized intuitively.
'This is the trap.'
Tang Yicheon slipped his hand into his sleeve.
Instantly, a list of the most efficient hidden weapons for the canyon flashed through his mind.
Murderous intent flashed in his eyes glaring at the Five Poisons Sect disciples.
The Thunder Dragon Squad arrived a beat late.
Tak Hyukdong raised his great cleaver and growled.
"These bastards' necks are still stiff! You all wanna die?"
"Ha, I wondered where these fuckers scurried off to—turns out it was just this far?"
"Thieving bastards got some damn quick feet!"
"What, you hiding allies here or something?"
The Thunder Dragon Squad spat thick curses one after another, ramping up their killing intent.
It was then, as Tang Yicheon was calculating in his head how to subdue them in one go and escape the canyon.
From the peaks encircling three sides like city walls, figures in yellow, red, black, and blue uniforms began poking their heads out one by one.
Tak Hyukdong burst into laughter.
"Kuhahaha! I thought how many you'd hidden to lure us this far, but..."
The yellow, red, black, and blue uniforms multiplied, starting to descend the three-sided peaks.
Like waves crashing over mountains—what would that feel like?
One, two, three...
No end in sight.
Thud thud thud thud thud—
Hoofbeats echoed massively through the canyon as those in red, blue, yellow, and black uniforms poured down endlessly like waves.
Tak Hyukdong, who had been laughing heartily at the endless procession, suddenly shut his mouth and twitched his great cleaver upward.
The Five Poisons Sect disciples surrounded them on three sides, encircling in an instant.
The Thunder Dragon Squad stared blankly at the Five Poisons Sect disciples ringing the canyon.
"Crazy..."
"Th-This is the trap?"
"F-Fuck..."
"......"
Hah.
Someone let out a hollow laugh.
"...So this is their base."
Among the Five Poisons Sect disciples surrounding on all sides, their banners emblazoned with "Five" fluttered brilliantly.
Even the warriors of the world-renowned Sichuan Tang Clan flinched at that overwhelming number.
Tang Yicheon drew in a breath.
"...No way."
At a glance, there were hundreds.
The pressure from that number was immense.
Five hundred elites baring killing intent, charging with poison mist at their backs—even he felt frozen.
The Sichuan Tang Clan showed no mercy in battle.
They didn't flee from enemies, repaying grudges tenfold.
But now, facing this number, such thoughts evaporated.
It was a situation where they could be annihilated, so a decision was needed.
"We must retreat."
"This can't be, this..."
"No way, how could trash like this..."
"Father!"
The Sichuan Tang Clan warriors hesitated backward, and even the Nangong Clan warriors were intimidated by the aura from over five hundred foes.
As everyone's faces hardened coldly.
Tang Yicheon's gaze involuntarily shifted right.
Step! Step!
Nangong Hyuk walked toward the oncoming five hundred.
At that sudden action, Tang Yicheon cried out in alarm.
"Hey! You...!"
"Young master!"
"Retreat..."
Ignoring all the voices from behind, Nangong Hyuk kept walking forward.
Leaving the shocked cries behind, he advanced silently toward the surging wave.
Step step.
With each step he took, killing intent rained down from all sides.
Killing intent pouring like arrows, gazes of ridicule, sneers...
It was the same as back then.
Far more shabby, incomparably meager than before, yet Nangong Hyuk felt the nostalgia of the past.
The enemies' hostility fully transmitted to him.
Chills prickling his skin, thrill rising.
When was it?
How many were there then?
Deeply buried in distant memory yet vividly recalled, hazy yet instinctively engraved sensation.
Shing.
Nangong Hyuk drew the demonic sword at his waist.
All his nerves focused on the enemies ahead.
They were right upon him.
Mad foes, laden with killing intent, charged at him with blades aimed.
His heart pounded.
Saaa...
In an instant, Nangong Hyuk's eyes darkened.
The atmosphere shifted in a flash.
The air grew thick and heavy.
Forgotten sensations revived.
Nangong Hyuk smiled.
Something rang in his head.
"Good to see you."
It felt like stepping into a battlefield he'd forgotten after so long, yet subtly longed for.
In that place filled with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, Nangong Hyuk had always acted the same.
Block, and die.
Murderous light flowed from Nangong Hyuk's eyes.
His demonic sword scattered sword light toward the charging Five Poisons Sect disciple.
Furious sword qi bit into the foe's neck like a beast.
Slash!
With that eerie sound, shock lit up everyone's eyes.
"......!"
Spurt!
Blood sprayed as Nangong Hyuk plunged into the battlefield.