Chapter 286
Chapter 286
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 289
Chapter Title: The Blood Ghost Sect Leader's Fall
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The Blood Ghost Sect Leader glared at the approaching Nangong Ryong.
‘When did this bastard get here?’
He hadn’t even noticed Nangong Ryong closing in amid the Thunder Dragon Squad rampaging in every direction.
His heroic bearing and the azure glow emanating from his eyes were anything but ordinary.
He looked boyish, just barely past his early twenties, yet his presence and overwhelming pressure rivaled that of Nangong Hyeok standing far off in the distance.
No, appearing like a thunder god enveloped in thunder saint barrier force made him even more imposing.
‘To think the Nangong Family has a monster like this…… Could he be the Radiant Dragon Nangong Hyeok?!’
One of the two dragons of the Nangong Family.
The one who crushed the Death God Fortress, hailed as the world’s best, toppled even the second-generation disciples of the Qingcheng Sect a class above, and claimed victory at the Orthodox Heaven Alliance Conference.
Who else in the Nangong Family could radiate such presence at such a young age if not him?
‘The rumors were true!’
The Blood Ghost Sect Leader narrowed his brows at Nangong Ryong’s aura, then turned his head.
‘Then who’s that guy?’
If this one was the Radiant Dragon, was the other the Sword Dragon?
As the Blood Ghost Sect Leader tilted his head in confusion and bewilderment, his guard warriors reacted.
“You must have a death wish!”
“You bastard!”
The guards instinctively stepped forward to shield their sect leader.
And they aimed their sabers at the approaching Nangong Ryong.
An azure glow flickered in Nangong Ryong’s eyes.
‘Enemies!’
Without a word, Nangong Ryong swung his sword.
Thunder rumbled from his blade.
The sword, surging skyward with the Emperor’s Dominion Step, unleashed a bolt of lightning as it descended.
The guards swinging their sabers at Nangong Ryong bulged their eyes.
The majesty of the Emperor’s Sword Form, crashing down with thunderous roar and lightning, devoured their saber qi in an instant.
They twisted their bodies in haste to evade, but Nangong Ryong’s sword showed no mercy.
Craaaang!
“Guh!”
“Urk!”
The Emperor’s Sword Form, reaching the pinnacle of heavy swordsmanship, crushed their sabers.
Boom!
The guards spat groans as their grips exploded.
‘W-what is this?!’
‘How can this be!’
Before they could even be properly shocked and scramble away in panic, a heavy energy pressed in from behind.
Thud!
“Urgh!”
The Blood Ghost Sect Leader struck the guards’ backs, sending them flying toward Nangong Ryong in an instant.
As Nangong Ryong’s sword swung toward them, the Blood Ghost Sect Leader’s blade slipped in through the opening, slicing toward his waist.
A swift, surprise attack.
A despicable tactic using his own men as bait to exploit the gap.
Surely this young Radiant Dragon would never expect a sect leader to resort to such filth……?
Slash!
Nangong Ryong slipped past the incoming guards with the Emperor’s Dominion Step and unleashed the Emperor’s Sword Form at the Blood Ghost Sect Leader.
“Huh?!”
The seamless flow caught the Blood Ghost Sect Leader off guard, forcing him to twist away.
‘What the hell?!’
It was as if he had seen through the ploy!
How could this young punk possibly know such a trick?!
Nangong Ryong’s eyes remained calm.
‘Sparring with Hyeok.’
In spars with Nangong Hyeok, Nangong Ryong had already witnessed every dirty trick in the book.
Did Nangong Hyeok only hurl others at him?
Later, he even swung the entire Thunder Dragon Squad like a club.
Flinging allies was no more significant than kicking a pebble.
That was why Nangong Ryong instantly saw through the Blood Ghost Sect Leader’s petty scheme.
The Emperor’s Sword Form pursued relentlessly.
The azure sword qi pierced his disrupted upper body like a drill.
“You bastard!”
The Blood Ghost Sect Leader roared and countered Nangong Ryong’s sword aiming for his heart with his saber arts.
Crimson saber qi clashed against the lightning.
Clang! Craaaang!
Sounds like iron pots shattering on the ground rang out repeatedly.
“Ugh!”
Nangong Ryong’s Emperor’s Sword Form was impervious to the Blood Ghost Sect Leader’s saber arts.
Unshakable as Mount Tai, it pinned down his opponent’s technique.
Feeling wrist-tearing shock and his body numbed by lightning, the Blood Ghost Sect Leader groaned through gritted teeth and widened his eyes.
Nangong Ryong’s sword had suddenly accelerated beyond what the eye could follow.
And in that moment.
‘……W-what?!’
Slash!
“Gah!”
After exchanging over a dozen blows in a flash, the Blood Ghost Sect Leader staggered, a burning pain flaring in his side.
He looked at Nangong Ryong in horror.
He hadn’t even tracked the sword’s movement.
‘Is this…… the power of the Radiant Dragon?!’
For the Blood Ghost Sect Leader, who had reigned like a king in southern Fujian Province, it was shocking.
And he sensed it instinctively.
‘I can’t win.’
Not just against the Radiant Dragon, but the Thunder Dragon Squad had overwhelmed his Blood Ghost Sect warriors on the battlefield.
He had to surrender or flee.
But the Blood Ghost Sect Leader couldn’t bring himself to do it.
‘……Flee or surrender, I’m dead anyway.’
Better to die fighting the enemy before him.
He could already picture the gruesome fate if the Orthodox Alliance warriors, Death Commanders, and Shadows caught him.
The Blood Ghost Sect Leader clenched his jaw.
“Fight! Don’t run! No retreat! Fight if you don’t want to die!”
His voice rang out desperately.
The Blood Ghost Sect warriors, who had been pushed back helplessly by the Thunder Dragon Squad, flew into a frenzy, bloodshot eyes blazing.
“Kill them!”
“Cut off an arm at least!”
“Fight, keep fighting!”
The enemies’ momentum flipped in an instant. It bordered on madness.
Spurt!
“Kaaaaah! You fucking dogs!”
“Kill them, kill!”
“Raaagh!”
As if poisoned, they charged with arms shredded and legs severed below the knee.
The Thunder Dragon Squad faltered at the sudden reversal.
For a split second, it felt like facing the frenzied, venomous elites of the Orthodox Alliance they had clashed with before.
Enraged Blood Ghost Sect disciples hurled themselves in suicidal rushes.
Slash!
“Grh!”
“Ugh!”
“Fall back!”
Paeng Jung-hyeok and the others were more startled than the flustered Thunder Dragon Squad.
Dang Myeong-jin, in particular, was gripped by fear beyond mere confusion.
A later-generation scion of the venomous Sichuan Tang Family, he had never experienced such desperate death struggles.
The raw brutality of war, distinct from poisoning foes, made his hand hesitate unwittingly.
That brief pause cost the poison expert his distance, and he was instantly surrounded.
As Dang Myeong-jin floundered,
Swoooosh-!
The necks of five Blood Ghost Sect elites encircling him flew into the air simultaneously.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed like rain, drenching Dang Myeong-jin.
Nangong Hyeok eyed him with cold eyes.
“I told you to get lost if you’re in the way!”
“……!”
“Every time you hesitate, one of ours dies.”
Nangong Hyeok’s voice was colder than ever.
Dang Myeong-jin snapped to his senses.
He ground his teeth.
Regardless of Nangong Family lives, he didn’t want to be a hindrance. As the Tang Family heir, he had to pull his weight without shame.
As he gnashed his teeth, Nangong Hyeok whirled and swept through the stalled battlefield.
Zzzzap!
Kabloooom!
The Triple Thunder Sword Technique ravaged all around.
Blood Ghost Sect warriors were swept away by the sword qi pouring from Nangong Hyeok.
“Raaagh!”
“Urk!”
“Cough, cough!”
Nangong Hyeok butchered them indiscriminately, like a rampaging beast.
The madness gleaming in the Blood Ghost warriors’ eyes wavered violently.
Nangong Hyeok’s sword rendered their frenzy useless.
Instead, they felt devoured by his unleashed aura.
Spluuurt!
Blood fountains erupted in Nangong Hyeok’s wake.
Nangong Hyeok glared at Geon Cheon-hwi.
“What are you doing? Move! We’re just getting started!”
Geon Cheon-hwi gripped his saber tightly.
While they hesitated in shock at the enemies’ madness, Nangong Family warriors would suffer more losses for every delayed second.
Hardening his resolve, Geon Cheon-hwi swung his saber.
Screams and sword flashes erupted everywhere as the battle reached a fever pitch.
The Blood Ghost Sect Leader looked ahead in panic at Nangong Hyeok sweeping the field.
Even he, ten paces away, quailed at Nangong Hyeok’s ferocity and divinity.
It felt like a raging storm or tsunami crashing in.
Hundreds of Blood Ghost Sect warriors scattered like fallen leaves.
‘W-who the hell is that guy?!’
How many later-generation prodigies did the Nangong Family even have?!
Distracted and startled by the pursuing Nangong Hyeok’s aura, the Blood Ghost Sect Leader left an opening, and Nangong Ryong’s sword plunged mercilessly toward him.
Stab!
“Guh! Cough!”
He tried to unleash the Torrent Blade forms, but lightning exploding from Nangong Ryong’s sword reduced him to charred ash.
Splash!
Nangong Ryong withdrew his sword.
The situation resolved in a flash.
With their sect leader dead, the Blood Ghost Sect warriors’ final frenzy crumbled into despair.
Leaderless unorthodox sects fell into chaos.
They valued personal gain over the greater cause.
Some fled, others despaired blankly, and a few squeezed out their last strength to charge, but the Thunder Dragon Squad dispatched them swiftly.
Nangong Ryong turned to look at Nangong Hyeok, but he was already dashing off elsewhere.
“What are you doing? Come on!”
Nangong Ryong felt awkward.
He had taken down their leader, after all……
“Run!”
Nangong Hyeok barked sharply and bolted forward.
No time to dawdle.
Fires flared sporadically in the darkness amid booming explosions.
His keen ears caught screams and curses.
Piiiip!
Urgent horns blared from all sides.
The Little Beggar Gang and First Line Society were racing through Hefei’s alleys, calling for reinforcements.
Nangong Hyeok charged into Hefei’s east gate.
Terrifying lightning surged from his demon sword.
With a blinding flash came a beastly roar exploding outward.
Roooar!
The thunder sword tore through the air, severing the waists of enemies climbing Hefei’s walls.
Boom!
“Raaagh!”
“Urk!”
“Behind us! Ambush!”
Nangong Hyeok cleaved through the panicking foes, passing the east gate into the city.
Dozens of corpses littered Hefei’s main street.
Torches illuminated the horrors hidden in the dark.
Nangong Hyeok dashed down the avenue with the Blood Wind Divine Art.
His eyes rapidly scanned Hefei’s ant-nest alleys left and right.
‘Already breached?’
Even with their numbers, such easy penetration was unexpected.
It meant they had been pushed back in the short time he dealt with the Blood Ghost Sect.
Nangong Family warriors and enemy corpses lay mingled.
It signified foes tough enough to trouble the specially trained Nangong warriors had passed through.
One breach collapses all defenses.
As if waiting, horn blasts echoed even louder across Hefei.
‘These bastards?’
The original plan was to harass the rear and support the main force.
But the situation had changed.
‘Time to adapt.’
Nangong Hyeok’s gaze turned to Nangong Ryong, Geon Cheon-hwi, and the others.
They might have been unreliable before, but now, no one was more trustworthy.
Nangong Hyeok shouted at them.
“Situation’s changed. Split up.”
“What then?”
“Paeng Jung-hyeok, So Hye-yeon—take Squad One of the Thunder Dragon Squad and head south and west. Squad Three and the Tang siblings go north together!”
“Yes, Young Master!”
No sooner said than Paeng Jung-hyeok and So Hye-yeon split in two directions, with the Tang siblings falling back.
Nangong Hyeok yelled.
“The rest, follow me!”
“Yes!”
“Cut down anything in our path! Rendezvous at the Heavenly Pavilion!”
With Nangong Hyeok’s shout, the Thunder Dragon Squad scattered in all directions as ordered.
‘Divide and conquer.’
Nangong Hyeok unleashed the Blood Wind Divine Art to the limit, becoming a streak of wind.
Kabloooom!
An enemy loitering before the White Shadow Sect split in two under Nangong Hyeok’s blade.
Raising a bloody gale, he targeted the startled unorthodox mob.
His eyes burned red with killing intent.