Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: An Overly Generous but Well-Deserved Reward (1)
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A short sword flew like a butterfly and plunged into his chest.
“Kaaaaack!!”
Toxins erupted from where the short sword had embedded itself, instantly overtaking his body.
Muscles shattered and bones twisted in excruciating agony.
In the end, he couldn't hold back his scream.
“Now!!”
The experts wouldn't miss that opening.
Hye-seong's sword pierced his body, followed by the elders' blades.
Seol Ryu-a and Hwan-gyu's swords severed both his arms.
And Gu Hwan-gae's palm strike shattered his dantian.
“Hoo... This bastard. He really made things annoyingly tiring...”
“Is now the time for joking around?”
Dang Yu-wol responded indifferently to Gu Hwan-gae, who spat out a curse.
He was right.
The battle wasn't over yet.
“...Young Master Dang.”
“Greetings, Sect Leader.”
“I've heard that the Chief Elder is a Blood Cultist.”
It was information they already knew.
This was part of the plan, after all.
Gu Hwan-gae must have sought him out and reported it.
“But... what in the world is going on here?”
He hadn't realized there were so many Blood Cult infiltrators in the Wudang Sect, beyond just the Chief Elder.
Hye-seong looked deeply shocked.
“Well...”
“Th-this is bad!!”
A single Taoist priest came rushing over in a panic.
What could have happened?
Dang Yu-wol whipped his head around.
Red smoke was rising from outside the Wudang Grounds.
Even Hye-seong could tell it wasn't ordinary smoke.
“This is bad! This is really bad!!”
Was this as serious as the Blood Cultists hidden within the Wudang Sect?
Hye-seong's head throbbed.
“What happened?!”
“M-monsters have appeared outside the Wudang Grounds!!”
Hye-seong's expression grew even more rigid.
Many disciples had been injured while subduing the Blood Cultists inside.
And now monsters, in this situation?
“All Wudang disciples who can still move, listen up!!”
Even so, they couldn't just stand by.
There were many martial artists in the Wudang Grounds.
But even more who knew no martial arts.
'If those monsters attack now, how many will get hurt?!'
“Enemies of the Prime Celestial Venerable approach this place now!!”
As the Wudang Sect Leader, protecting the common folk was his duty.
No matter how battered the Wudang Sect was at the moment.
“Then what will you all do!!”
“We save the people and uphold the Dao!!!!”
“Then what is your duty!!”
“We must go forth and fight right now!!”
-Whoa. Never thought I'd hear this here. The Sword Spirit of Wudang, right?
'Yeah. In the worst case, it's an order to sacrifice even the disciples' lives.'
An order only the Sect Leader could give.
Even to the injured and exhausted disciples, he sought to draw out their strength.
“We'll go too.”
“Understood.”
“By the way, little brother. Monsters appearing... Could they be from the Blood Cult too?”
“Probably.”
The monsters created by the Blood Cult were designed to target martial artists.
As such, at least peak-level experts would be needed to take down even one.
-Is there anything I can help with?
'Prepare some paralyzing poison.'
-Got it.
Some monsters were highly resistant to poison.
So even creating a slight opening would suffice.
Dang Yu-wol retrieved the Black Viper Sword from the ground.
“Let's go.”
A considerable number of soldiers and martial artists had already gathered atop the walls of the Wudang Grounds.
Having fought a round already, there were no small number of injured and dead.
“What the hell are those monsters?!”
As they climbed the walls, the monsters came into view.
They were pitch-black jiangshi, bizarrely adorned.
“...Phantom Corpses.”
“Hm? Little brother, you know what those monsters are?”
“Yes. Blood Cult monsters. I've seen them mentioned a few times in books.”
The culprits that had plunged the Sanggwan siblings into despair.
-Not perfect yet, though.
'Well, it's not time for perfected Phantom Corpses anyway.'
He recalled memories from before his regression.
It would be at least three more years before perfect Phantom Corpses were completed.
-But deploying them now...
'Probably because the Wudang operation failed?'
The Blood Cult infiltrators in Wudang surely hadn't gone down quietly.
They must have signaled the failure.
'They predicted we'd take heavy internal damage, so they gambled on this move.'
Hwan-gyu glared gravely at the Phantom Corpses.
“...Do those monsters have any weaknesses?”
“The most notable one is the eye on their forehead.”
“Eye?”
“Phantom Corpses have three eyes.”
“I only see two...”
“They open the third once combat begins.”
“I see.”
“The corpse energy and demonic qi forming their bodies are controlled through that third eye.”
“No wonder...!!”
“But their skin is tougher than steel.”
“It's still just monster hide, isn't it?”
“Even sword aura can't fell it easily.”
“Gasp... What... This isn't even some ultimate demonic jiangshi.”
Hwan-gyu was dumbfounded.
'If those things multiply... Can the martial world even stop them?'
“But... they're not perfect.”
“Really?!”
It was welcome news amid the tension.
“Sword qi should be enough to cut them down.”
Sword qi.
Treated so casually, when it was proof of first-rate mastery.
Hwan-gyu shook his head with a wry smile.
“What kind of monster is that casual about sword qi? Anyway, where'd you hear this?”
“As I said, from a book. It's in the Tang Clan records.”
“Tang Clan?”
“Yes. Our ancestors discovered it long ago.”
-Lies the moment he opens his mouth.
'Doesn't matter. If they don't catch on, it's fine.'
No matter who they were—even the Beggars' Sect—they couldn't touch Tang Clan records.
-True. Especially not nowadays.
'The Tang Clan isn't to be trifled with now.'
Plus the trust built up over time.
As Dang Yu-wol thought, Gu Hwan-gae nodded.
“I see. The third eye, huh. Knowing the weakness makes it easier.”
“Don't take it so lightly.”
“Why not?”
“It knows its own weakness, so it'll desperately protect it.”
“Ugh. That sounds like a headache.”
“It's a jiangshi, but craftier than any human.”
Dang Yu-wol warned everyone.
He recalled the first time Phantom Corpses appeared in the martial world before his regression.
'The Blood Cult scored a massive victory then.'
The righteous sects had underestimated them as mere ordinary jiangshi.
Leading to a great catastrophe.
“So be careful when facing them.”
That was all the advice he could give.
Having heard the explanation on the Phantom Corpses, Gu Hwan-gae approached Hye-seong.
As he relayed it, he pointed to Dang Yu-wol.
“We can never thank Young Master Dang enough.”
Without him, they'd have underestimated and charged in, suffering heavy losses.
He didn't hesitate to bow his head to Dang Yu-wol.
“You uncovered the Chief Elder's identity too, right?”
-Not a bad guy. For a Wudang Sect Leader, even casual speech would be fine.
'Yeah. He leads one of the righteous pillars, after all.'
Someone of his caliber had made the Wudang Sect a major threat to the Blood Cult despite the damage.
Dang Yu-wol smiled faintly.
-Sanggwan Ryu still not here?
'He wouldn't know about the Phantom Corpses here, so no reason to come.'
-He'd regret it if he knew.
'It's not like they're his direct enemies.'
Regret was something to live with.
Dang Yu-wol checked his current poisons.
'Anything that'll work on them?'
-There is, but the effect and duration won't be great.
'I see.'
-As you know, Phantom Corpses are monsters beyond the natural order.
Poisons followed the natural way.
But Phantom Corpses defied it.
Thus, poisons aligned with nature had limited impact.
'Guess we'll just have to smash them.'
Beyond the natural order?
There were plenty of ways to deal with that.
“D-do you know anything about those monsters?”
“Vicious bastards. Arrows don't even faze them...”
Soldiers who had been holding the monsters at bay from the walls approached.
Their eyes held terror of the unknown.
Not just fear of the monsters below the walls.
“They're coming!!”
The mystery was quickly resolved.
One Phantom Corpse, leering grotesquely as it sauntered, suddenly leaped high.
“Heavens.”
It scaled the tall walls in a single bound.
Seol Ryu-a felt a chill run down her spine.
'If their numbers grow on the battlefield...?'
“Block it!!”
“Take down that monster!!”
“Don't let it inside the walls!!”
What if that thing broke through?
The magistrate shook off the horrifying thought and shouted desperately.
“Block it!! Block it however you can!!”
Spearmen stepped forward.
The Phantom Corpse mocked them as it dashed along the walls.
“Uwaaaack!!”
“You monster!!”
“Let go of that man!!”
A few martial artists thrust their weapons.
But the Phantom Corpse's hide simply deflected them.
“N-no way!!”
“Krrrkrrr...!!!”
Mocking laughter.
The monster that devoured malice and scorned humans reveled in their fear.
And then.
“Krrk?!”
Its movements halted.
As if paralyzed, it merely twitched.
Hye-seong's sword seized the opening and pierced the third eye.
“Sect Leader! Danger!!”
The moment Hye-seong, having felled one Phantom Corpse, moved to strike another.
Yet another had leaped up unnoticed, targeting his back.
“Hup!!”
What blocked it was a hidden weapon.
A projectile from Dang Yu-wol's hand pierced the third eye precisely.
'Even with allies dying, their momentum isn't waning.'
-It's growing stronger, even.
“They're coming.”
The Phantom Corpse atop the walls collapsed.
Yet the others below merely sneered, unphased by their kin's defeat.
-Karakararak!!
With eerie cries, the jiangshi below stirred.
That was when it happened.
“Throw them!!!”
“Hm?”
Dang Yu-wol turned at the shout from behind.
A familiar voice.
“How are you...?”
A man with eyes burning with vengeance and hatred.
Sanggwan Ryu was directing ronin in front of a massive elderly warrior.
“Him?!”
“It's the Ronin King!!”
Ronin King.
The transcendent expert called the king of ronin active in the Central Plains.
“Why is he here?!”
“More importantly!! Those nets!!”
The Phantom Corpses caught in the ronin's nets thrashed violently.
But the nets held firm.
Tightening even more.
“What are you fools doing!!”
“Ah.”
The people snapped to at the Ronin King's thunderous roar.
Now wasn't the time to gawk at him.
“Capture the monsters!!”
“Waaaaah!!”
The crowd moved to fight the netted Phantom Corpses.
Meanwhile, Dang Yu-wol approached Sanggwan Ryu.
Sanggwan Ryu's eyes met his as he issued orders to the ronin.
“How'd you get here?”
“Long story.”
He glanced at the Ronin King.
“What happened that... Anyway, who is he...?”
“My master.”
-Sanggwan Ryu's master is the Ronin King?
'First time hearing this.'
“We crossed paths while helping the Sacheon Escort Agency. Became connected by chance.”