Chapter 257
Chapter 257
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 257
Chapter Title: I Survived the Longest
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Namgung-ryong's gaze turned toward Namgung-hyeok, who stood atop the cliff.
His entire body was smeared in blood, his hair disheveled and matted, his clothes torn to shreds in places.
Yet despite all that, the light in his eyes burned clear and bright.
The moment he saw Namgung-hyeok's confident smile, Namgung-ryong's own lips parted.
He's alive. He survived.
That's right, he didn't die.
Something hot bubbled up in his chest.
It felt like the torn flesh knitting back together.
Relief washed over him like a tidal wave.
Relief that Namgung-hyeok was alive, and a strange relief that, with him alive, they could escape this damned situation.
"Huh... heh heh."
A low chuckle escaped Namgung-ryong's lips.
Whether Ma-yeong's brows twitched or not, he laughed.
Joy lit up the faces of the Thunder Dragon Squad.
Tak Hyeok-dong burst into loud laughter.
"Ha ha ha ha! You're alive, aren't you! Our Second Young Master is the kind who could be deep-fried in hellfire and still survive! How tough is he! Even poison doesn't faze him!"
"Second Young Master!"
"Ha, haha. Yeah, that's right! Second Young Master wouldn't go down like that!"
"We believed in you!"
The Thunder Dragon Squad clenched their fists tight.
Relief dawned on the faces of Paeng Jung-hyeok, Paeng Yeon-hwa, and So Hye-yeon as well.
"He... he's alive."
Paeng Jung-hyeok let out a hollow laugh, his tension melting away.
A fatigue like the fight was over swept over him.
Ma-yeong glared at Namgung-hyeok, his face twisted.
A question arose in his mind.
How is he still alive?
The demon sword infused with Black Flame Demonic Art had pierced straight through the bastard's body.
He must have gotten lucky and climbed back up holding onto the Thousand-Year Crimson Crane, but his body was already a wreck.
He should have died a hundred times over, yet here he stood, and Ma-yeong couldn't comprehend it.
"Doesn't matter."
Ma-yeong shot Namgung-hyeok a cold glare, then tossed Namgung-ryong aside like a sack of trash, still gripped by the throat.
With the Black Flame Demonic Art already planted in him, he'd writhe in agony from the hellfire until he died.
Ma-yeong slowly turned his body.
"Did you come back to die? You should have just stayed dead."
Namgung-hyeok brushed off his hands with a nonchalant expression.
"I came back to kill you."
"Bluffing."
"You'll see if it's a bluff or not."
Thwack!
Namgung-hyeok reached to his back. The demon sword, bound with heavenly silken thread, came into view.
"You're throwing other people's stuff around like an asshole. I almost lost this!"
Ma-yeong's eyes flashed at the sight of the demon sword.
Seeing the sword he'd thrown to kill him now back in Namgung-hyeok's hand stirred complicated feelings.
'What makes you think anything's changed?'
What was there to overthink?
The bastard he'd thought dead after plummeting off the cliff had simply crawled back up.
Nothing had changed.
What could change in that short time?
And yet...
Something felt off.
His reason told him the punk was nothing special, but his body tensed instinctively.
"We'll find out."
Ma-yeong summoned the Black Flame Demonic Art.
Hellfire writhed along his forearm.
He charged at Namgung-hyeok, hook-like hand raised.
Whatever had changed, he'd just kill him for sure this time.
Shwaaaaa!
Hellfire rose like a barrier, and energy surged along the demonic claw.
The demonic claw, capable of burning and melting even sword ki, lunged at Namgung-hyeok.
Namgung-hyeok raised the demon sword.
"Pathetic!"
Sneering at Ma-yeong as if it were laughable, Namgung-hyeok swung the demon sword.
Tyrant's Fury: Thousand Slaughter!
Shwaaaaak!
Ma-yeong's eyes widened at the ferocious killing intent pouring from the demon sword.
Swooooosh!
The sword grazed his shoulder by a hair's breadth.
Paat!
Blood burst from his shoulder from the sword pressure alone, and he was shoved back.
Namgung-hyeok raised his sword once more.
Tyrant's Fury: Thousand Slaughter bared its fangs.
As killing intent and hostility surged, the demon sword responded, spewing demonic energy in a savage aura.
Like it wouldn't be satisfied until its target was shredded, Namgung-hyeok's demon sword whipped fiercely.
Kwaaaaa!
Killing intent rippled like waves, following the demon sword and Namgung-hyeok's steps.
Ma-yeong blocked and deflected the attack with his Black Flame Demonic Claw.
His pupils shook violently.
The power was unmistakably different from before.
No, the depth had changed.
'The sword has changed.'
It was hard to believe this was the same demon sword he'd fought earlier.
What was this chilling killing intent that made his flesh crawl, and why was the sword ki on that demon sword so razor-sharp!
How could the depth change so much in that brief moment?
He couldn't understand it at all.
Shwak!
Ma-yeong barely dodged the demon sword aiming for his side and thrust out his Black Flame Demonic Claw.
The Black Flame Demonic Claw unleashed Black Flame Rain, cascading down.
Hellfire rained like black drops. Ma-yeong's claw cast a dark shadow, pressing Namgung-hyeok.
But.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa! Roarrrrr!
The hellfire clashed with the demon sword, splitting and shattering.
Like water poured on it, the hellfire vanished in an instant.
He couldn't believe the Black Flame Demonic Claw could be blocked so easily.
Ma-yeong's eyelids trembled.
"What the hell did you do!"
Namgung-hyeok gave no answer.
He simply moved the demon sword as if lost in a trance.
That only wounded Ma-yeong's pride further.
Namgung-hyeok didn't look like he was in a life-or-death battle; he resembled a Daoist seeking enlightenment.
Gritting his teeth, Ma-yeong moved his claw.
To tear the demon sword apart and snap the bastard's neck, he thrashed even more fiercely.
Kwa kwa kwa boom!
The shockwaves from their clashes cracked the ground, and energy swept the area like a gale.
* * *
Paeng Jung-hyeok and the others watched the fight with dazed stares.
It didn't seem like the Namgung-hyeok they knew.
No, the Namgung-hyeok on the battlefield was a completely different person.
Every aspect felt new and unfamiliar.
The Namgung-hyeok unleashing ferocious killing intent in such an intense battle felt utterly alien.
But that sight also warmed their hearts.
The Thunder Dragon Squad's eyes blazed.
He's strong.
Truly strong.
And something had changed.
A change they couldn't grasp with their own level of cultivation, but after spending so much time with him, they could feel it.
The fight grew ever more intense.
People held their breaths at the shockwaves from Namgung-hyeok and Ma-yeong's clashes.
"Ugh!"
"Urgh!"
"Huff!"
It was a battle so oppressive they could barely breathe.
Paeng Jung-hyeok bit his lip, etching every one of Namgung-hyeok's movements into his eyes.
"...How strong is he exactly? No, has he gotten stronger again?"
Just moments ago—barely the time for one meal—the opponent who'd crushed him so utterly was now fighting on equal footing.
And with his body covered in blood like that.
He couldn't keep up with the martial arts, but he had an eye for it, so he knew.
The power gathered on Namgung-hyeok's sword was different from before.
So Hye-yeon felt it too, burning with awe and fighting spirit beside him.
"...He's gotten stronger."
Short words, but laden with meaning.
She shared Paeng Jung-hyeok's thoughts.
"How does he achieve such growth..."
He truly couldn't understand how Namgung-hyeok kept growing endlessly, always pressing forward.
He was a monster, plain and simple.
Against a demon they'd all struggled futilely against, Namgung-hyeok didn't yield an inch.
Now, even competitive spirit toward Namgung-hyeok's abyss-deep talent and potential had vanished.
Paeng Jung-hyeok clenched his fist, continuously infusing inner energy into Namgung-ryong's body.
A sense of helplessness washed over him—this was all he could do.
Even purging Ma-yeong's demonic energy from Namgung-ryong's body was beyond him; biting his lip until it bled, Paeng Jung-hyeok despaired at his own level.
"Urgh!"
Namgung-ryong, whose breathing had been ragged, finally regained consciousness.
Sizzle.
But the hellfire scorching his throat hadn't lost any of its ferocity.
'To think such a vicious art exists.'
Namgung-hyeok's realm, enduring and fighting the Black Flame Demonic Claw's hellfire, felt nothing short of miraculous.
Everyone's gazes fixed on the two atop the cliff, locked in a precarious battle.
* * *
The Celestial Heaven Bright King Art spun ferociously. Like the majestic flow of a great river, it coursed endlessly through his body.
Namgung-hyeok moved the demon sword.
Pain flared from his battered flesh.
Agony like his organs tearing apart struck intermittently.
No matter.
If he's alive, he moves and fights.
He kills the enemy and stands over them.
In this razor-edge between life and death, Namgung-hyeok felt joy instead.
It was like returning to his Poison Overlord days.
Swinging his sword without hesitation, dancing on the edge of life and death—it was exhilarating.
His life had always been a chain of struggles.
At first, it was repulsive, filthy, heartbreaking, but it was all he had.
Fighting to the end, over and over.
Even as he grew numb to that hellish bloodshed, Namgung-hyeok realized once more that battlefields like this were where he belonged.
Defeating someone stronger than himself.
He wanted to feel that thrill again.
Kwaaaaang!
The demon sword clashed with the Black Flame Demonic Claw, unleashing another shockwave.
The ground cratered, shoving his body back.
Namgung-hyeok regulated his breathing.
The demon sword arced toward the sky.
And then it fell.
The path that began as one split into a thousand, and the thousand paths converged back to one.
Azure sword ki extended from the demon sword.
Power that could split mountains and shatter crashing waves emanated forth.
The Celestial Heaven Bright King Art reached its peak.
Blue lightning crackled and surged from the sword's tip.
Tyrant's Fury: First Blade.
Achieved only after discarding all forms.
Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, the overlying killing intent cleared, revealing Namgung-hyeok's霸刀.
Sword ki surged from Namgung-hyeok, whipping up a whirlpool.
Ma-yeong's eyes bulged.
Kwaaaaaaaa-!
The Black Flame Demonic Claw stretching to split his heart scattered into powder.
It felt like a colossal mountain, a gigantic blade, crashing down on him.
His skin tore, his body cleaved in two.
Space itself twisted.
What is this?
What sword art is this?
Slowly.
Yet faster than anything, the sword fell from heaven to earth, and he could only stare in blank despair.
Tseaaaaaaaak!
Pffft!
Frozen, Ma-yeong looked up at Namgung-hyeok.
"You... fucking..."
Crack!
The Black Flame Demonic Claw filling the air vanished, and Ma-yeong's body split from crown to groin.
The Tyrant's Fury: First Blade carved a furrow over three zhang long into the ground.
"......"
Silence blanketed the area.
Everyone held their breath, staring at Namgung-hyeok.
Seeing the killing demon that had ravaged the battlefield collapse left them all stunned.
Namgung-hyeok steadied his breathing.
He calmed his churning blood and qi, swallowing the blood rising in his throat.
Intense light gathered in Namgung-hyeok's bloodshot eyes.
Twisting his lips at Ma-yeong twitching on the ground, he said,
"I told you."
Shwak!
Namgung-hyeok shook the blood from the demon sword and muttered lowly.
"I survived the longest."
Gulp!
Everyone watching swallowed dryly.
Namgung-hyeok's eyes, gleaming with sharp light, swept the surroundings.
The Poison Heart Sect disciples paled.
Even Cheopcheong Wonjo had been rendered helpless by Tang Uicheon's hidden weapons.
The ghostly elites had all fallen, and judging no chance of victory, they slunk away.
"Run!"
"Flee!"
"Damn it!"
No one bothered chasing the fleeing foes.
Only when they vanished from sight completely.
Thud!
Namgung-hyeok dropped to one knee.
Geon Cheon-hwi and the others rushed over.
"Second Young Master!"
"Huff! Are you alright!"
"Physician, call a physician...!"
Namgung-hyeok waved them off, murmuring with a pale face.
"Fuck, that was close. Thought I was done for."
"......"
"Ha, living twice over now."
Namgung-hyeok grinned.
At his clear voice, people sighed in relief.
"Ha, fuck. It's over."
"...He, he survived."
"Huuuuh!"
Thud. Legs gave out, and people collapsed where they stood.
They gazed blankly at the sky.
It was still dyed pitch black.
The longest day of their lives.