Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Joint Attack (1)
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Execution Squad Leader Black Ox.
The man who leads the Heavenly Demon God Cult's Inner Hall Execution Squad, and his other title is Blood Blade Claw Demon.
He was one of the rare absolute experts in the Divine Cult who had surpassed the wall.
But no matter how much of a transcendent expert he was, he didn't have the audacity to unleash a massacre right in the heart of Sacheon Province.
He had sneaked all the way here with the sole intent of swiftly killing Cheongun, who had dared to slay a demonic elite of the Cult without fear and steal the demonic sword.
Having heightened his senses and roamed the manor, he had finally located Cheongun.
It hadn't been difficult at all.
No matter how well one concealed their qi, it was practically impossible to evade the senses of the Execution Squad Leader.
Yet something felt off.
'Rampage?'
Black Ox's gaze turned toward a solitary chamber.
The door was shut, but inside, a vortex of indescribable energy was swirling.
It felt particularly like energies of differing natures clashing and colliding violently.
An overwhelming aura, as if two ferocious beasts were battling to the death in a cramped cage.
Black Ox immediately flung open the door.
A young boy sat cross-legged, shirtless and drenched in sweat.
He appeared to have consumed a spiritual elixir and entered meditative qi circulation.
'Perfect.'
This was the most vulnerable moment for any martial artist.
If one's mind wavered even slightly during the process of absorbing vast energy, they would plunge straight into Qi Deviation.
Step, step.
He slowly approached and stood before Cheongun, then drew his sword.
At the same time, he infused it with sword qi, intent on cleaving the boy in half.
It was right then.
— Crackle!
Something emitting a brilliant azure glow burst through the air without warning, right before his eyes.
With it, a streak of blue light spread across the entire scabbard, eventually coiling around his wrist that gripped it.
— Zzzzt!
"Urk...!"
The vine-like azure light flashed intensely, sending a stinging sensation burrowing into his skin.
It was unmistakably the power of lightning.
Black Ox twitched his brow at the lightning that had suddenly ensnared his hand.
A bolt had shot out from what was clearly empty air, halting his descending sword as if it possessed a will of its own.
Moreover, its inner force was so profound that it completely overwhelmed his own sword qi.
'Tingly.'
Black Ox enveloped his right hand in qi to repel the current.
But far from being repelled, it clung to the qi barrier like a magnet, refusing to let go.
No, it wasn't merely clinging.
It was unmistakably gnawing away at his protective qi, burrowing in bit by bit.
'...Lightning overpowering qi?'
His eyes narrowed.
The energy evoking thunderbolts was steadily pushing back his pitch-black qi.
Even granting lightning's piercing nature, for it to repel qi?
And that wasn't all.
The thunder energy that had infiltrated before he could form his qi was now swirling through his meridians, disrupting his inner power.
An energy that dismantled inner power?
For a martial artist who wielded inner power, it was a fatally dangerous force.
"Hup!"
Black Ox let out a shout and surged his power.
With overwhelming inner force, he expelled the lingering lightning from his meridians.
But in the process of expulsion, it inflicted fine burns throughout his channels, causing his blood flow to reverse for an instant and a trickle of blood to seep from his mouth.
Of course, it wasn't enough to make him falter, so Black Ox spat out the blood pooled at his lips.
"......"
At that moment, Cheongun, who had been sitting cross-legged with eyes closed, opened them.
Suu, hoo.
As the boy breathed, lightning bolts extended from his entire body, sending blue sparks flying in all directions.
A glint of interest appeared in Black Ox's eyes.
'Magnetic Demonic Art?'
As far as he knew, the Magnetic Demonic Art was the only technique that wielded such potent lightning power.
But if that was the case, the energy was far too pure.
...Was there a Daoist technique among those that handled lightning?
The Namgung Clan's Thunderbolt Sword Method and the Peng Clan's Primordial Thunderclap Method did incorporate lightning to some degree, but this was on an entirely different level.
"Hoo."
Regaining his composure, Cheongun swept back his sweat-soaked hair.
His sharp yet gentle features and neatly furrowed brow left a striking impression.
He looked to be just barely past his early twenties.
"Tsk."
Cheongun clicked his tongue once, then pushed off the floor to rise.
And just as he was about to circulate his inner power.
Flash—!
Black Ox's figure vanished, leaving only an afterimage.
Sensing the killing intent from his right, Cheongun stamped his heel into the ground, pivoting his body to dodge.
At the same time, a long, pitch-black claw grazed past his earlobe at a handspan's distance.
But that wasn't the end of it.
The black hand that had grazed past suddenly hooked like a talon, now surging toward Cheongun's nape.
'What kind of movement is that?'
Cheongun faltered at the claw technique approaching from an angle impossible for a human wrist.
Moreover, the hand itself looked far from human.
The back was gaunt and shriveled, with only bones protruding starkly; the fingers were elongated, and the nails curved like sickles.
— Swipe!
At the claw technique coming from his blind spot, Cheongun unleashed Shadow Flight Phantom Step, moving at ultra-high speed.
He instantly put distance between them and asked,
"Who the hell are you?"
"This seat is Blood Blade Claw Demon Black Ox."
"...Black Ox?"
Cheongun blinked in astonishment.
"Your name's Black Ox?"
"Indeed."
"No, how does a person get named Black Ox?"
"What?"
"If your name's Black Ox, is your alias Marshmallow Cow or something? Your naming sense is completely deranged..."
"Shut your mouth!"
Before his words could finish.
Black Ox kicked off the ground and launched himself forward.
He was so enraged that his speed was too fast to track with the naked eye.
His two hands, rotted pitch-black and festering, left blood-red trails as they swung down from above.
The moment he raised his claws, blood-red claw qi took the form of a massive talon and smashed down domineeringly.
Kwarung—!
The claw qi, stretching over a full ten-odd zhang—some thirty meters—gouged the ground, sending debris flying everywhere.
Dust clouded the air in an instant, but Black Ox swung his black hand once, and a gust of wind pressure cleared it away.
Black Ox's eyes narrowed.
Around Cheongun, azure thunder qi flickered in the shape of a round barrier, blocking the claw qi.
Blocking claw qi meant it was qi itself.
In other words, protective qi.
"...Impressive."
As far as he knew, the Guangcheon Martial Sword was profound but hadn't surpassed the peak realm's wall.
To wield qi meant he had crossed into the super peak realm.
Black Ox's sharp gaze shifted to Cheongun's right hand.
'...Where did the sword go?'
The demonic sword that had clearly been in his right hand was gone, replaced by some fishing rod.
It was then.
"...!"
Without even turning, Black Ox whipped his pitch-black right hand backward.
Chaeng—!
He blocked the demonic sword flying at him from behind with his raised claws.
The moment the incoming demonic sword clashed with his black claws.
"Keuk!"
Creeeang—!
A massive repulsive force erupted from the sword blade, shoving Black Ox's figure backward.
His feet skidded wildly across the ground for several zhang.
His repelled right hand trembled uncontrollably.
And moments later.
Crack—! With a grating sound, fine cracks spiderwebbed across his entire claw.
"......"
He marveled inwardly.
He had mastered the Black Corpse Demon Claw—the Divine Cult's premier claw technique—up to the 6th stage.
His claws were already harder than ordinary steel.
Yet they had cracked from a single clash.
Setting realms aside, the inner force loaded onto that sword was awe-inspiring.
Moreover, the sword had flown in on its own from empty air.
The implication was clear.
'Qi Object Attraction...'
The realm of manipulating objects solely through emitted qi.
Though not a flying sword technique, it indicated qi control at least at the late super peak stage.
Conversely, Cheongun was just as shocked.
'He blocked that?'
Fuck, does that bastard have eyes on the back of his head?
As Cheongun clicked his tongue inwardly.
The man's figure vanished in an afterimage, reappearing at Cheongun's right flank in an instant.
— Slash!
His raised black claw shimmered with violet light before spewing forth crimson claw qi like an explosion.
The claw qi, ripping through the air, came crashing down on Cheongun.
In that split second, Cheongun took a slight step back.
He wildly swung the fishing rod in his right hand.
The fishing line tangled complexly in the air, crossing like a net.
Soon, it took on a blue glow.
Kwarung!
Dozens of sword qis flew along the trajectories of the crossing fishing line.
"!!!"
Sword qi from a fishing line?
Stunned by Cheongun's feat, Black Ox stomped the ground and soared upward.
Bouncing off, he flipped in mid-air.
— Pababat!
He dodged the incoming sword qis with kicks.
In that instant.
— Whoosh!
Five prayer beads flew in a fan shape from somewhere, slicing through the air toward Black Ox.
It was Bang Jongdae, arriving late from afar, launching the beads with Divine Finger Projection.
Flick!
Black Ox casually tilted his head to dodge the beads.
They barely grazed the tip of his nose.
However, that wasn't the end.
The beads he thought had passed stopped dead in mid-air.
With it, azure thunder qi dwelled within the prayer beads.
And then.
Kikikik!
The beads spun madly like a top caught in a whirlwind, abruptly changing direction and shooting toward Black Ox's teeth.
And.
— Pak!
"Kraaak!"
Black Ox let out a groan and clutched his mouth.
When he cautiously pulled his hand away, a prayer bead and a broken tooth dropped from his mouth.
"Who the hell are you!"
The enraged Black Ox bellowed thunderously.
Bang Jongdae momentarily froze.
He had intervened on impulse, after all.
Butting into an intense duel between martial artists went against propriety and could even earn rebuke from Young Hero Cheong.
Yet at that moment, Cheongun bellowed at Bang Jongdae.
"Fuck, smash this bastard!"
"......"