Chapter 295
Chapter 295
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 298
Chapter Title: Fever Pitch at the South Gate
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The battle at the south gate was reaching a fever pitch.
As the Nangong Clan elders clashed with the evil faction leaders, a momentary empty space opened up in the center of the south gate.
Rumble!
Boom!
Thunderous crashes echoed one after another as the Nangong elders held their own against the evil faction heads.
Yeom Chung scowled.
‘This old man?’
His swordsmanship was overwhelmingly aggressive and swift, belying his slender frame.
Every time thunder roared, his blade pierced forward with killing intent and lethal strikes packed into the sword energy.
To Yeom Chung, who had dismissed the elders as nobodies, this was a humiliating spark of rage.
“Argh! Die!”
Yeom Chung’s flying dagger exploded with energy mid-air.
Boom!
Great Elder Nangong Wi-gyeong faced Yeom Chung with utmost focus.
Yeom Chung was one of the strongest foes he’d ever encountered in his life.
Even with decades of internal energy, experience, and newly mastered sword techniques, Nangong Wi-gyeong couldn’t gain the upper hand.
‘If only I’d mastered the Azure Heavens Invincible Sword a year sooner!’
A sigh of regret escaped him.
Why had the Azure Heavens Invincible Sword only been discovered now?
He believed the outcome would have been different if found earlier.
‘...No, this is already heavenly fortune. At least I had time to learn it!’
Nangong Wi-gyeong blocked Yeom Chung’s flying dagger and gritted his teeth.
His sword traced the Azure Heavens Invincible Sword’s path in a circle, deflecting the dagger before shooting forward like lightning.
Blue sword energy surged alongside a storm of thunderclap strikes.
“Chaap!”
“Haaap!”
Boom! Boom!
Deafening roars and shockwaves ravaged everything within thirty paces.
As the clash between the two intensified, the battles between the other elders and evil faction leaders grew fiercer as well.
Roar! Boom!
The Black Flame Lord unleashed his Black Flame Inferno Skill toward Fifth Elder Nangong Sik and Third Elder.
The two thrust their swords forward in unison—Nangong Sik drawing a circle, Third Elder slicing vertically through the flames.
“Hahaha! The Nangong Clan elders are nothing special! Resorting to a joint attack!”
“When facing evil scum...!”
“What does it matter!”
United in purpose, Nangong Sik and Third Elder counterattacked with the Azure Heavens Invincible Sword.
Thirty-six sword shadows fell like lightning bolts, whipped up by a single gale.
The Black Flame Lord pushed his Black Flame Inferno Skill to its limit to block their combined assault.
Clang! Slash!
His initially relaxed expression twisted as his hands faltered.
Skreech!
Sparks flew from Nangong Sik’s eyes. He pressed the Black Flame Lord relentlessly.
In this moment, his mind wasn’t ruled by battlefield experience but by his spars with Nangong Hyeok.
The results of brutal training sessions that mimicked—no, surpassed—real combat were etched into his bones.
‘Footwork! Use your footwork! Footwork!’
‘Ugh! Twist the sword! Doesn’t this work? Just hit them! You wanna get hit?’
‘Heavier, faster, stronger! Start small. Why such big movements? Concise, more concise!’
‘Where does the Nangong Clan sword point? What do you think the meaning is behind the sword left by our Sword Sovereign ancestor... no, our forebear?’
‘A sword infused with will is sharper and stronger. Form is just the shell. Master the form, seize the intent, and you’ll reach unity.’
All martial arts begin with footwork.
Nangong Sik stepped into the Infinite Stride, creating a flow as he moved his sword.
Regulating his breathing, he unleashed the Azure Heavens Invincible Sword.
His movements, once like a gentle breeze, erupted into a storm.
The Black Flame Inferno Skill’s flames couldn’t withstand the Azure Heavens Invincible Sword’s thunderbolts.
In an instant, a brilliant beam of light flashed as Nangong Sik felt a profound sense of release.
Azure Heavens Unity.
Shiiiing!
Splurt!
“Arrrgh!”
When Nangong Sik snapped out of his trance, the Black Flame Lord’s right shoulder had been cleanly severed, spraying a fountain of blood.
The Black Flame Lord writhed in agony, fleeing hastily only to have Third Elder’s sword pierce his back, followed by Nangong Sik’s blade decapitating him.
Slash!
With a chilling cut, the Black Flame Lord’s body crumpled to the ground.
“Black Flame Lord!”
Blood Asura’s eyes widened in shock.
To think the Black Flame Lord couldn’t last fifty exchanges and met such an end!
But he had no time to worry about others.
His own situation was as precarious as walking a tightrope over a cliff.
‘How are these guys total unknowns!’
The elders from the declining Nangong Clan shouldn’t have changed this much!
It was unbelievable that a clan teeming with experts like these had been on the brink of ruin.
Slaaash!
“Urk!”
Blood Asura yielded his left shoulder and hurled his twin wheels.
Whiiir!
The furiously spinning wheels traced bizarre curves, blocking the charging elders.
Claaang!
Sparks flew everywhere as the wheels bounced into the air.
Blood Asura swallowed a groan, turning tail with the Grim Reaper’s technique.
‘Damn it!’
For the hegemon of Fujian’s evil factions, fleeing was utter humiliation, but he had no choice.
Regroup and fight again.
Fight again!
Whiiir!
Thud!
“Cough!”
In that moment, Third Elder recovered one wheel and flung it into his back.
Blood Asura, arms spread like he was flying with the Grim Reaper stance, plummeted to the ground.
He crashed into the chaotic melee below and was trampled mercilessly.
The deaths of these masters continued pointlessly.
Rumble!
Blue sword energy surged from Nangong Jangcheon’s blade, unleashing thunderclap strikes.
Stepping into Emperor’s Dominion Supremacy, he advanced toward Soul-Severing Sword Mu Kyung in the distance.
Soul-Severing Sword Mu Kyung charged alongside the Ghost Valley Manor’s Ghost Valley Swordsmen.
Slash slash slash!
A gale of blades swept through.
Following Soul-Severing Sword Mu Kyung, the Ghost Valley Swordsmen swept aside Nangong Clan warriors.
Nangong Jangcheon’s Emperor Sword Squadron and Azure Heavens Sword Squadron flanked him as they rushed to meet them.
Reports echoed endlessly from all directions.
The battlefield cries boosted morale.
“The detachment eliminated the enemies infiltrating the east gate!”
“Our forces have rescued allies and are heading to Heavenly Pavilion!”
“White Cloud Sword Wave is pursuing the detachment!”
“The enemies from the west have halted their advance!”
Nangong Jangcheon’s eyes gleamed.
‘It worked!’
Reports of the detachment’s brilliant exploits poured in like a tidal wave.
They’d scattered enemy forces, rescued allies, and sown chaos.
A tremendous achievement.
It had eased the pressure on the south gate defenses.
“But the detachment might get isolated!”
He knew.
‘Still, Hyeok can break through.’
Nangong Hyeok, who’d overcome countless trials.
In this war, Nangong Jangcheon trusted him more than anyone.
He was certain.
The winds Nangong Hyeok had stirred would change the tide of battle.
‘I can’t rely on him alone!’
Believing in Nangong Hyeok meant giving his all here.
Having glimpsed a ray of hope, he had to chase it.
Nangong Jangcheon cut down the endless waves of evil faction warriors.
The Emperor Sword Squadron and Azure Heavens Sword Squadron pressed forward with him, repelling the onslaught.
Their pace slowed compared to before, but they advanced steadily.
“Hold strong!”
Nangong Jangcheon rallied them.
The Nangong Clan and Hefei Alliance warriors gritted their teeth against the enemy waves crashing like tides.
Corpses piled up one by one.
Yet the Nangong warriors’ momentum didn’t falter.
They charged even more ferociously, determined to punish those daring to eye Hefei.
Their training shone through.
Amid the chaos, they formed sword formations, repelling foes with Thunder Sword Seven Forms and holding even ground.
‘We need to turn the tide!’
The elders had slain Black Flame Lord and Blood Asura, but enemies still had plenty of masters and numbers.
Nangong Jangcheon regulated his breathing.
Thud!
With a heavy step, blue sword energy extended ten feet.
Drawing on a burst of qi, the Emperor Sword Form cleaved heaven and earth.
Boom!
“Arrrgh!”
“Cough!”
“U-Uwaaah! My, my leg!”
The enemies recoiled in terror from the Emperor Sword Form’s mighty sword energy.
They gasped at Nangong Jangcheon’s fearsome prowess.
In that instant, Soul-Severing Sword Mu Kyung’s eyes met his.
“Come!”
“Even rotten, you’re still a bluefin tuna. The Five Great Clans live up to their name.”
“Will you stand by and watch your subordinates sacrifice themselves?”
“Subordinates?”
Mu Kyung sneered. He didn’t bother responding.
But Nangong Jangcheon quickly realized Mu Kyung was discarding his vanguard as pawns.
A true cold-blooded fiend.
Mu Kyung sliced through Nangong warriors’ necks with Soul-Severing Sword and said flatly,
“Guess we’ll see if Anhui’s Top Sword or Fujian’s Top Sword is superior.”
His sword left a faint afterimage as it flew toward Nangong Jangcheon.
The sword energy was nearly transparent.
Soul-Severing Sword.
A technique of twelve lethal strikes designed to kill without fail.
Its stealthy, insidious energy claimed lives unnoticed—hence the name.
Clang! Clang clang clang!
The twelve sword energies were blocked by Nangong Jangcheon’s Emperor Sword Form.
Nangong Jangcheon’s momentum sank like the deep sea.
The Emperor Sword Form’s blade shifted in an instant.
One step.
The emperor reigns supreme over all.
One sword.
A thousand winds cannot shake Mount Tai.
The azure heavens encompass all.
It is the beginning and end of everything.
The Emperor Sword Form’s aura erupted from Nangong Jangcheon’s blade tip.
Mu Kyung’s expression wavered.
The blade soared toward the heavens, wrapped in blue lightning, then descended.
Nangong Jangcheon vanished, leaving only the illusion of a sword hanging in the air before crashing down.
Mu Kyung’s Soul-Severing Sword revealed its hidden thirteenth energy.
Crack!
No roar accompanied it.
The thirteenth energy was swept away by the Emperor Sword Form’s sword momentum and vanished futilely, its shockwave slamming fully into Mu Kyung.
Rumble!
Slash!
Mu Kyung’s body skidded three zhang before collapsing, then flew another seven.
“Hap!”
Nangong Jangcheon unleashed a blue flash, pursuing, but Ghost Valley Swordsmen blocked his path.
Clang clang clang! Boom!
Nangong Jangcheon ground his teeth, brushing aside the encircling evil faction masters.
In that gap, Mu Kyung wiped blood from his mouth and stood.
“You’re nothing like the rumors. I’d believe you’d been hiding your true power all this time.”
Nangong Jangcheon’s face hardened instantly.
“What’s your game? Are those guys behind you?”
“You knew that much?”
“...You bastards!”
“Ah, they’re here.”
Mu Kyung steadied his breathing, regaining his composure.
Nangong Jangcheon’s eyes blazed.
‘They’re...?!’
He paled in shock.
From the dawning horizon, a group swooped in like night raptors.
Slash!
Slash slash slash!
“Arrrgh!”
“Gah!”
It happened in a flash.
Nangong Clan warriors, who’d been holding firm, were swept away by the newcomers.
“M-More of them?”
“Huff! M-Masters!”
“Who the hell are they!”
“Form up! Don’t break ranks!”
“Uwaaah!”
The hard-fought balance tipped in an instant.
The new black-clad masters were powerful enough to shatter it effortlessly.
‘Demonic tools!’
Nangong Jangcheon ground his teeth.
Mu Kyung straightened, picking up a sword from the battlefield.
He chuckled lowly.
“What now?”
Nangong Jangcheon bit his lip until it bled.
The elders were now tied down by surrounding evil faction mobs.
Nangong Jangcheon shouted,
“Fall back! Azure Heavens Sword Squadron!”
“Yes!”
“Cover the retreating allies!”
“Yes!”
“Emperor Sword Squadron, follow me to hold the rear!”
At his command, the warriors swiftly reformed ranks and began retreating.
“Fall back to the main house!”
Nangong Jangcheon’s voice rang across the battlefield.
Nangong Clan and Hefei Alliance warriors retreated rapidly toward headquarters.
“Kill them all!”
Mu Kyung’s low voice spread.
The black-clad figures and evil faction warriors surged with killing intent, savagely pursuing the fleeing Nangong forces.