Chapter 80
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Ant Tunnel (1)
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The formation was changing from moment to moment.
Cheon Muryang had already encountered a similar formation in the back alleys of Hangzhou.
“This is proof the Demonic Cult was involved.”
Others might not know, but Cheon Muryang could see the essence of this formation.
It was by no means a formation of the Tang Clan.
The sinister energy unique to the Demonic Cult permeated the area.
“Tsk. If only I could prove this, I could put the Tang Clan in a difficult position.”
Cheon Muryang clicked his tongue in disappointment and walked through the formation.
There was no evidence to prove it.
“Still, it seems they were short on time.”
The boiling lava and the raging blizzard both seemed somewhat shoddy.
It meant the formation itself was incomplete, even without cutting its seams.
Of course, the fact that they had set up a formation of this level in such a short time was impressive in itself.
“At this rate, I probably don't even need to cut it, but…”
He decided to cut it, if only for the sake of the Wandering King, who was likely trapped in the same formation.
Namgung Seo-hui might also be caught within this formation.
*Fwoosh, fwoooosh!*
He raised the Heavenly Light Sword.
Having cut a formation before, he could clearly see its seams.
“There it is.”
*Step, step.*
Cheon Muryang walked toward the place where the seams connected, the core of the formation known as the Gate of Death.
Each time, the formation trembled and tried to block his path, but it was useless against Cheon Muryang, who had already closed his eyes.
“Here it is.”
He reached the end.
And so, Cheon Muryang cut right through the seam of the formation.
*Kugugugung!*
With a tremendous roar, the formation was dismantled.
It was in that moment.
*Swiiish!*
The sharp sound of something slicing through the air reached Cheon Muryang's ears.
*Fwoosh!*
He instinctively swung the Heavenly Light Sword.
*Thud-thud-thud!*
Countless hidden weapons fell to the ground.
It was an ambush by assassins who had struck the moment the formation was broken.
Cheon Muryang's eyes glinted.
“Oh? So you lot are the real deal?”
He couldn't sense their presence.
Hidden in the darkness, their existence was like the air itself.
*Smirk.*
In response, Cheon Muryang smiled and walked toward them.
“...!”
A sense of bewilderment could be felt from the assassins, who rarely showed emotion.
“What's wrong?”
Cheon Muryang pressed them instead.
“Are you just going to stand there?”
“...!”
“You have a duty to fulfill.”
*Swiiish!*
The Heavenly Light Sword surged forward.
It was a slash so powerful that the distance felt meaningless.
*Slice.*
He cut down one of the sinister shadows.
“...!”
Everyone was astonished.
There was no time to react.
Moreover, it was a flawless sword strike, without a hint of error.
“Stand still, and you die.”
Assassins.
They were a breed that lived on the border between life and death.
Kill or be killed.
Being the closest to death, they were people who could smile and gladly accept it.
*Shudder!*
The moment they met Cheon Muryang's smile.
The fear of death they had long forgotten.
The fear of death, a feeling they couldn't even remember when they last felt it, slowly began to rise.
“You'd be wise to move.”
*Shashashak!*
It was just as Cheon Muryang had warned.
If they didn't move, they would die.
As they scattered in unison, an uncharacteristic haste and urgency filled their movements.
“Tsk.”
At this, Cheon Muryang clicked his tongue.
“But to move so openly... And you call yourselves assassins.”
They had made one mistake.
They had been dominated by fear.
An assassin is one who instills fear.
Thus, the moment they were dominated by fear.
‘From the moment they feared death.’
The darkness would no longer embrace them.
In other words, they had been stripped of their right to stand on the border between life and death.
“You lot are finished.”
The figures of those who could no longer maintain the true nature of an assassin were clearly visible.
Just because they were invisible to the naked eye didn't mean they couldn't be seen.
*Fwoooosh!*
A merciless strike from the Heavenly Light Sword rained down upon them.
*Splat!*
Blood spurted like a fountain.
No one could block the surge of the Heavenly Light Sword.
‘What in the world...’
The sky itself was collapsing.
Where could they possibly flee?
The nameless assassin had to face the shattering sky.
“W-What in the...”
The assassins who had sown countless deaths.
Cheon Muryang saw the myriad deaths clinging to them.
Among them were the deaths of villains who deserved to die, but there were also many deaths caused for a few coins.
“A human cannot act in Heaven's place, but…”
Cheon Muryang cut down their deaths.
Those who killed with their own firm principles were granted a moving death.
“As for those who reek of evil…”
Those who didn't know the value of life, who were merely intoxicated by death and cut down even the innocent, were met with a terrifying demise.
“You will never find salvation.”
“Aah...”
Those closest to death.
They finally met their end.
*Drip.*
*Drip, drip.*
Blood dripped down the blade of the Heavenly Light Sword.
Cheon Muryang simply shook off the blood with cold eyes.
“Hoo...”
Letting out a sigh, Cheon Muryang scanned his surroundings.
After confirming no one was left, Cheon Muryang walked elsewhere.
“Now, where should I go?”
This space beneath the mountain, likely artificially created, was as complex as an ant tunnel even without the formation.
Of course, Cheon Muryang knew where he had to go.
“The stench of blood is thick.”
The thick stench of blood.
That was exactly where Cheon Muryang needed to go.
“Don't block my way.”
Was it because the formation had been dismantled?
People trying to block Cheon Muryang's path popped up like mushrooms after a rain.
“Tsk.”
Among them were martial artists from the Tang Clan who used poison.
‘Demonic Cultists.’
There were also those crazed with demonic arts.
All of them charged at Cheon Muryang to stop him.
*Fwoooosh!*
Beneath the cry of the Heavenly Light Sword, more blood had to be scattered.
Thus, he advanced toward whatever it was they had hidden down here.
With each step, Cheon Muryang realized this place had been built quite a long time ago.
“Was this not a trap for Namgung Seo-hui from the beginning?”
The answer to the question came quickly.
Soon, Cheon Muryang would reach the truth hidden beneath the formation.
*Drip.*
*Drip, drip.*
By the time the blade of the Heavenly Light Sword was completely stained red, he had reached the end of the cave.
There, beings who had lost their sanity were moving like machines.
“This place is?”
They were mechanically manufacturing something.
The product of their manufacturing was a pill.
It was obvious what it was.
The Soeung Gang Leader, Cheon Ah-haeng, and the Third Elder.
It was the same pill that had turned them into demonic beings.
‘They were making it here? Then, what are the ingredients for that pill?’
There must be ingredients.
Cheon Muryang consciously scanned the area for what those ingredients might be.
“Is it that?”
He saw unidentified barrels placed along the mechanical path of the sanity-deprived beings.
The neatly stacked barrels were so numerous he couldn't even count them.
“What in the...?”
Cheon Muryang walked over to them.
Whether they were brainwashed or not, they showed no reaction even after spotting Cheon Muryang.
“...”
And so, arriving in front of the barrels, Cheon Muryang was at a loss for words.
‘The stench of blood…’
This was the very source of the thick scent of blood that had led him here.
*Shiver.*
He opened a barrel with a trembling hand.
The content inside was blood.
Blood tinged with deep resentment.
Despite it being just blood, he could feel a dense demonic nature from it.
“Ah...”
Suppressing the rage welling up inside him, Cheon Muryang rushed toward the beings still endlessly manufacturing the pills.
“Speak! What were you doing here?!”
But they did not answer.
Having lost their sanity, they wouldn't react even if he cut their throats right now.
*Fwoooosh!*
At this, Cheon Muryang intended to strike off their heads.
Perhaps his rage was conveyed to them.
*Stop.*
The beings who had stopped their work all approached Cheon Muryang at once, trying to say something.
Unable to form complete sentences, they each spoke one syllable.
“Ex...”
“...periment.”
“What did you say?”
Their responses were unclear, as if their tongues had been cut out.
But Cheon Muryang had to understand.
“This...”
“...place.”
“...is.”
“An ex...”
“...peri...”
“...ment site.”
“What? What kind of experiment?!”
It was in that moment.
Everyone spoke at the same time.
“Blood.”
“Blood?”
“If... de-demonic... nature... can... can... dwell... in blood.”
A relatively clear pronunciation was heard.
*Whip!*
Turning his head, Cheon Muryang met the gaze of the beings shedding tears of blood.
Looking at these expressionless beings crying tears of blood, Cheon Muryang felt their rage.
“...”
*Ssk.*
A hand slowly rose.
In it was a pill.
Cheon Muryang took it.
“Kill... kill us, please.”
“...Who are you?”
“Shadows.”
The last word was heard clearly.
With a small nod, Cheon Muryang cut them down with a single stroke.
“Th-thank you.”
Freed from their bonds, they gained freedom.
A freedom called death.
“...”
After putting the pill in his robe, Cheon Muryang began to destroy everything in the place.
*Drip.*
*Drip, drip.*
The blood splattered onto Cheon Muryang as well.
‘I can feel it…’
Their despair, their rage, their resentment—it was all transmitted to him.
In a way, their experiment had been a success.
“For such a trivial reason…”
How many lives had to meet their end for that experiment?
This blood, holding such a dreadful amount of resentment, was used as an ingredient for the pills after undergoing some kind of process.
Elixirs were sometimes absorbed in their natural state, but the efficiency was poor, so all but a very few were refined.
Pills like the Great Clarity Pill or the Great Cyclic Pill were nothing more than refinements, created by mixing various elixirs and extracting only the parts effective for enhancing internal energy.
The specific elixirs and the ratios used in the refinement were precisely why the Great Cyclic Pill and the Great Clarity Pill were so precious.
So, how could the experimental pills made here compare to a Great Cyclic Pill?
‘But for those who practice demonic arts, it would be an elixir comparable to the Great Cyclic Pill.’
The ingredient for all of it was the price of innocent blood.
The weight was different.
*Grit.*
And so, Cheon Muryang was enraged.
He gripped his sword so tightly that his hand began to bleed.
Cheon Muryang's blood mixed with theirs, trickling down his clothes.
‘This is different from the Third Elder's case.’
To practice demonic arts, they had formed the Black Market and created them by kidnapping children they called 'elixirs'.
‘It seems this vile group has gone even beyond that…’
*Glance.*
Cheon Muryang looked at the pill they had left him even as they died.
The experiments conducted here must have also included the meaning of refinement.
“For such pathetic power…”
His eyes sank deep.
Namgung Sang-hyeok was no longer even a concern for Cheon Muryang.
The one who carried out this experiment.
“The Tang Clan or the Demonic Cult.”
It didn't matter who it was.
He had to find them all and make them pay for their sins.
*Swiiish!*
As if sensing something was wrong, another group of assassins burst in.
“Yes. Come, anyone.”
Cheon Muryang wanted to unleash this rage to his heart's content.
One can't always remain calm, after all.
*Graaate.*
The sound of the Heavenly Light Sword, hanging low, scraping against the ground.
*Grrrr!*
For some reason, the sound felt eerie.
“I'll devour every last one of you.”
A demonic aura, enough to call him a demonic being, dwelled in Cheon Muryang's blood-splattered eyes.
“R-Run...!”
Annihilation.
It took but a moment to reach that outcome.
*Drip.*
*Drip, drip.*
Falling blood.
Cheon Muryang, the Heavenly Light Sword hanging long at his side, began to move again.
“...”
All who stood in Cheon Muryang's way became cold corpses.