Chapter 287
Chapter 287
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 290
Chapter Title: Stand at the East Gate
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The Azure Dragon Squad, the Namgung Clan's outer courtyard martial force, formed up facing Hefei's east gate.
The Azure Dragon Squad Leader gauged the number of flickering torches in the darkness and bit his lip hard.
Boom! Rumble!
The ground seemed to shake from the enemies' footsteps.
Drawing his sword, the squad leader steadied his breathing.
His muscles tensed at the news that the outer guards defending the east gate had already crumbled.
In the eerie silence, only the enemies' footsteps echoed, shattering the quiet.
The breaths of the squad's hundred warriors grew ragged.
The squad leader raised his sword high.
"Form the Celestial Spear Sword Array!"
At his command, the Azure Dragon Squad warriors adjusted their ranks, deploying the Namgung Clan's Celestial Spear Sword Array.
"Hold your positions! We must hold them at all costs! Show no mercy to the enemy!"
The squad leader's voice rose sharply.
The situation was dire.
Screams and explosions rang out from between Hefei's tightly packed buildings.
If even the Azure Dragon Squad buckled while the enemies rampaged through the city, the Namgung Clan would be in even greater peril.
The foes had already infiltrated alleys throughout Hefei, shaking the clan's defenses.
They had to hold here no matter what.
"Until the elites can join us!"
If they couldn't stop them, that was the best they could do.
All the Azure Dragon Squad could manage was to narrow the gap as much as possible.
"Form a wall!"
"Hurry! Move!"
"Do it like we trained!"
The Azure Dragon Squad established the Celestial Spear Sword Array, while the accompanying ordinary warriors hoisted massive iron plates like shields and charged forward.
The thick iron plates forged by Hefei's smiths stood firm like a city wall.
Enemies began slithering into the narrowed passageway.
The Dark Soul Hall from northern Jiangsu Province and experts from over a dozen minor and mid-tier sects sneered at the Namgung Clan's formation.
The Dark Soul Hall Lord stepped forward with a mocking grin.
A strange thrill surged through him at the sight of the Namgung Clan's warriors—the hegemons of Anhui Province—cowering in fear.
"Sweep them away!"
At the hall lord's shout, the Dark Soul Hall warriors who had been advancing slowly exploded forward.
"Break through!"
"Kill them!"
"Waaaaah!"
With war cries shattering the silence, the Dark Soul Hall warriors charged at the Azure Dragon Squad.
The squad leader bellowed over their earth-shaking momentum.
"Hold firm! Don't give ground!"
The two forces clashed in an instant.
Boom!
With a deafening roar, hundreds of warriors tangled in melee.
The Azure Dragon Squad met the Dark Soul Hall with their Celestial Spear Sword Array—a formation with a storied history alongside the Namgung Clan.
"Open ranks!"
At the squad leader's cry, the outer wall parted in a flash, drawing the enemies inside.
"Huh?!"
"Gah!"
The Dark Soul Hall warriors, charging full force to smash through, panicked.
Thud!
A crushing pressure suddenly bore down on their shoulders, horrifying them.
"Urk!"
"Ngh!"
They whipped around to see the ordinary warriors slamming shut the entrance with their iron-plate shields.
The Azure Dragon Squad's furious assault poured down on the isolated Dark Soul Hall warriors.
"Unleash the Thunder Sword Seven Forms!"
The newly developed Thunder Sword Seven Forms from the Namgung Clan mercilessly ravaged the Dark Soul Hall warriors.
Splatter! Thud! Thud!
"Gaaack!"
"Kraaagh!"
"Huff!"
The Dark Soul Hall warriors couldn't withstand the immense gravity pinning their bodies and the thunderbolt-like strikes raining down from above.
Splurt!
In moments, the interior of the Celestial Spear Sword Array became a sea of blood.
Clang! Crash! Boom!
The iron wall shuddered as if it might collapse any second.
The ordinary warriors gritted their teeth and shoved the plates with their bodies. Their utmost duty was to hold the wall until the Azure Dragon Squad finished off the enemies inside.
"Hold!"
"You bastards! Open up!"
"Block them! We can't fall yet!"
Boom! Boom! Kra-boom!
Even as the plates buckled, the ordinary warriors endured.
But there was a limit.
A Dark Soul Hall elder swung his sword.
A reddish sword qi sliced through the iron plate in one stroke.
Slash!
"Gaaack!"
"Cough!"
The ordinary warriors pushing the plates were bisected by the sword qi.
A hole opened in the wall, and Dark Soul Hall experts frothed at the mouth as they leaped through.
Slash! Slash!
"Kaaaagh!"
"Gaaack!"
The squad leader dashed in desperately. His Thunder Sword Seven Forms cleaved the incoming experts.
Flash! Boom!
There was no time to marvel at the technique's real-battle prowess.
The waves of enemies were sweeping away the Azure Dragon Squad and ordinary warriors.
"Abandon the wall! Reform the array and engage!"
"Yes!"
"Celestial Spear Sword Array!"
The formation shifted once more as the Namgung Clan warriors fought desperately.
The Dark Soul Hall experts pressed their ferocious assault.
As the squad leader ravaged foes with his Thunder Sword Seven Forms, the hall lord unleashed a single strike.
Boom!
"Urk!"
The squad leader at the forefront of the Celestial Spear Sword Array staggered back ten steps.
He stared at the hall lord in alarm.
The hall lord furrowed his brow.
"You blocked it?"
"...Ngh!"
"You're better than I thought!"
If he could block that attack, he must be someone renowned even in Anhui Province!
"Who are you? I'll remember your name!"
"Hah!"
Ignoring him, the squad leader pressed his assault.
He had no leisure for chit-chat.
Swoosh!
"Hoh?"
The hall lord admired the light yet ferocious Thunder Sword Seven Forms but soon sneered.
"Not bad, but no match for me!"
Kra-boom!
Rumble!
"Cough!"
Struck by the hall lord's thrusting sword amid thunderous clamor, the squad leader vomited blood.
The hall lord's swordsmanship and internal energy were beyond him.
With the vanguard fallen, the Celestial Spear Sword Array collapsed in moments.
The hall lord's sword shattered the Azure Dragon Squad's Thunder Sword Seven Forms. It devoured heavy swords with flashy elegance. His blade whipped through the air with deafening speed.
Red sword qi tore the array apart in one go.
Kabu-boom!
"Gaaack!"
"Urk!"
"Impossible!"
The Celestial Spear Sword Array, forged by the squad's top experts, couldn't withstand ten exchanges and shredded apart.
The Azure Dragon Squad forming it turned into cold corpses in an instant.
The hall lord burst into mad laughter.
"So this is the might of the Namgung Clan's swords!"
The pleasure of trampling one of the Five Great Clans with its storied history filled him with delight.
The Azure Dragon Squad's deputy leader spat bloody foam as he shouted.
"L-Lord! H-He's no match for us! Slaughter Sword is one of Jiangsu's top ten masters!"
The squad leader's eyes wavered.
He knew even the entire squad couldn't handle a single Slaughter Sword.
Against him, mere endurance was all they could hope for.
The squad leader's face paled to ashen.
"Is this... the end?"
The Azure Dragon Squad crumbled, ordinary warriors spewing blood.
They had wielded the Thunder Sword Seven Forms and Celestial Spear Sword Array masterfully, but overcoming four times their numbers was near impossible.
Watching his warriors fall one by one, bleeding out, the squad leader shakily rose.
The hall lord laughed heartily.
"Struggle all you want! The Namgung Clan will be erased from the world today anyway!"
The squad leader swallowed the metallic tang in his mouth and bellowed.
"The main clan's swords will never break! You filthy unorthodox scum!"
The hall lord's eyebrow twitched.
"I'll skin you alive and drag you back to the Namgung Clan like a dog to die!"
Madness gleamed in his eyes.
The hall lord meant it.
He had the vicious heart to do so.
Intense sword qi gathered at his blade tip. The murderously charged edge radiated killing intent.
The squad leader glared back defiantly.
His eyes burned with unyielding resolve.
"First, I'll gouge out those annoying eyes of yours!"
Just as the killing-intent-laden sword descended toward the squad leader's face!
Flash!
A blue bolt of lightning split the darkness.
Kra-rumble!
Ear-shattering thunder roared as the blue lightning streaked across the pitch-black sky, flickering.
Namgung Hyeok, who had intruded with the bolt, straightened from his crouch.
A blue afterimage from the Bloodwind God technique flickered and vanished.
The hall lord's sword tip began to tremble.
The tremor spread through his entire body.
His eyes, filled with shock and horror, fixed on Namgung Hyeok.
"You... you, you...."
Ignoring the hall lord, Namgung Hyeok turned to the squad leader.
The squad leader's jaw dropped.
"Young Master Yi!"
Turning his back on the enemy—what madness!
As the squad leader staggered forward, teeth gritted, to guard Namgung Hyeok's rear—
Crack!
Fissures spiderwebbed across the rigidly frozen hall lord's body.
The crack at his brow spread downward, his entire form engulfed in scorching heat.
As steam rose, the frozen body split in two.
Craaaack!
Thud! Boom!
Sizzle!
The squad leader's eyes bulged in disbelief.
"Th-This... Wh-What...!"
Even the full Azure Dragon Squad couldn't touch him, yet the hall lord became ashes in an instant. He couldn't find words.
The fact that Namgung Hyeok had wrought this unbelievable feat made it feel like an illusion.
"Sl-Slaughter Sword...!"
The entire squad stared at Namgung Hyeok, dumbfounded.
No—the whole battlefield froze in a standoff.
"...."
"L-Lord...."
"Wh-What's this...."
"Gasp!"
Namgung Hyeok's subdued aura intertwined with the demonic sword's killing intent in his hand, silencing warriors from both sides.
It was a shocking entrance radiating immense presence.
'Y-Young Master Yi?'
'...I-Is that Young Master Yi?'
"Ngh!"
He bore no resemblance to the Namgung Hyeok they knew.
Just looking at him choked their breath with overwhelming pressure.
Gulp.
Someone swallowed dryly.
Amid the stares, Namgung Hyeok's fierce blue gaze pierced out, beneath which lay Slaughter Sword's charred remains.
Their gazes tangled complexly, flicking between Namgung Hyeok and the ashes.
Realization dawned, bringing cheers and despair.
The Namgung Clan warriors thrilled with excitement.
One of northern Jiangsu's top powerhouses had met a gruesome end at Namgung Hyeok's hands.
No one present could have foreseen it.
Thrill gripped the Namgung warriors; despair the Dark Soul Hall ones. Silence lingered.
But it didn't last.
"Kill that bastard!"
With a thunderous roar, Dark Soul Hall warriors lost reason and charged.
The squad leader snapped his head up.
"Protect Young Master Yi!"
As scattered warriors shook off their daze to block the foes, Namgung Ryong vaulted over a building and leaped out.
Boom!
Crackle!
"Kraaaagh!"
"Gaaack!"
Wrapped in a bolt of lightning, Namgung Ryong dropped with Thousand-Jin Hammer, blowing off an enemy's head charging at Namgung Hyeok's side.
Dark Soul Hall warriors recoiled in terror.
Then the Thunder Dragon Squad trio descended.
Thud! Kaboom!
The trio crashed down, panting heavily.
But their eyes blazed not just with vigor, but ferocity.
Drenched in blood, their presence loomed even larger.
Just five in total.
Yet their arrival flipped the battlefield in an instant.
The Dark Soul Hall forces, more than double their number, froze solid.
"Y-Young Master Yi!"
The squad leader called out to Namgung Hyeok in confusion.
Gripping his demonic sword tighter, Namgung Hyeok shouted.
"Sweep them away!"
Screeech!
As Namgung Hyeok moved, Namgung Ryong swung his sword, and the Thunder Dragon Squad trio, catching their breath, plunged in maintaining the Ghostly Chain Formation.
Slash!
"C-Crazy!"
"G-Gaack!"
It was a veritable storm.
Namgung Hyeok and Namgung Ryong tore through from both flanks, bisecting Dark Soul Hall warriors, while the trio dove into the gaps for chaotic melee.
The Dark Soul Hall warriors couldn't block the five and were mercilessly swept away.
Thunder and lightning raged everywhere.
It felt like facing heavenly legions and demonic hordes.
Shivers of exhilaration ran down the squad leader's spine as he roared.
"Azure Dragon Squad! Attack!"
Drawing his sword, he charged at the Dark Soul Hall.