Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Ferocious Beasts 1
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Between the South Gate of the North Heaven Alliance and the Black Path Coalition lay some forty or fifty scattered corpses, the vast majority belonging to Nine Heavens Alliance members. These were bodies brutally torn apart by the sword energy unleashed by Goo Yang-hoo.
Strangely enough, not a single North Heaven Alliance member was in sight.
Atop the battlements of that South Gate stood the North Heaven Alliance Leader Goo Yang-hoo, gripping a single blood-drenched sword, all alone.
Why was he standing there by himself?
And why had the Iron Blood Gang and Nine Heavens Alliance—who had pushed all the way here—halted their assault?
Goo Yang-hoo had returned after single-handedly wreaking havoc like a madman.
With nothing but his sheer confidence and ferocity, he had plunged the two Black Path forces into stunned silence.
He had kept his troops on standby within the inner citadel while rampaging solo through the enemy ranks. In the end, the Heavenly Dragon Society Leader and Heavenly Phoenix Society Leader had both emerged to confront him. After clashing several times, Goo Yang-hoo had voluntarily withdrawn, returning to the battlements.
In other words, while Baek Moo-jin was massacring the Heavenly Dragon Society, Goo Yang-hoo had boldly torn through the Nine Heavens Alliance all by himself.
The North Heaven Alliance Leader had lost the war on a strategic level, but in the raw clash of martial might, he was displaying utterly unreal ferocity worthy of a great general, single-handedly lifting the spirits of the entire North Heaven Alliance.
This was done with some consideration for his alliance members' morale.
The North Heaven Alliance troops were already seething with murderous intent inside the citadel, awaiting orders. Thanks to Goo Yang-hoo sweeping through the enemy lines alone, they had even forgotten the notion that they were the ones surrounded.
There was another reason Goo Yang-hoo was now casually pacing the battlements.
He was intuitively gauging the momentum of the Black Path Coalition against that of his own men, timing the perfect moment to issue the sortie command. It was proof that Goo Yang-hoo wasn't merely a martial arts master—he possessed the instincts of a battlefield general.
2.
At that exquisitely perfect moment, Baek Moo-jin—who had just massacred the Heavenly Dragon Society—silently appeared from behind the Black Path Coalition.
No one noticed him right away.
Whether Black Path or North Heaven Alliance, everyone's eyes were fixed solely on Goo Yang-hoo.
It was as if Goo Yang-hoo himself was the decisive factor in determining the war's outcome today—something anyone could plainly see.
The North Heaven Alliance members were steeling themselves to fight even more valiantly than their leader.
The two Black Path forces knew full well that slaying Goo Yang-hoo first was the key to victory, so every last one of them stared up at him.
In that instant, one of the Nine Heavens Alliance's dangju shattered the silence.
"The man I told you about has arrived."
The speaker was the dangju who had slipped away without daring to charge Baek Moo-jin amid the Heavenly Dragon Society's slaughter. At his words, not just the Heavenly Dragon Society Leader but the Heavenly Phoenix Society Leader as well turned to eye Baek Moo-jin. The Heavenly Phoenix Society Leader cocked his head.
"That guy's the White Ghost? He's far too young."
"He's not someone you can afford to underestimate."
Goo Yang-hoo atop the battlements spotted Baek Moo-jin and burst into laughter.
"You've arrived?"
At his words, the entire Black Path turned to stare at Baek Moo-jin.
The young man, clad head to toe in pristine white robes, impassively scanned them before responding to Goo Yang-hoo.
"Alliance Leader, I was delayed attending to some personal business."
Ignoring the Black Path forces entirely, the two infused their voices with internal energy and conversed casually. Goo Yang-hoo roared with laughter.
"Hahaha! I'll ask about it later. It's reassuring to have you here. Shall I open the gates for you?"
Baek Moo-jin smiled faintly in reply to the Alliance Leader's jest.
"I'll head up there myself."
His words doused the crowd like a bucket of ice water. Roughly half those facing the North Heaven Alliance shifted their gazes to Baek Moo-jin.
But reports had already come in that the Heavenly Dragon Society—rushing to join from the rear—had been utterly crushed by this man, so no one present dismissed Baek Moo-jin as green.
As Baek Moo-jin spoke calmly with his characteristically sullen expression, Goo Yang-hoo—recalled to their first meeting—let out a booming laugh that echoed from the battlements.
Then, as if that laughter were the signal to reignite the war, Nine Heavens Alliance members charged Baek Moo-jin en masse. The Heavenly Dragon Society survivors—who had arrived first—were especially savage.
One dangju bellowed.
"He's a monster of an expert! No complacency—strike as one, relentlessly!"
Yet some Nine Heavens Alliance members, never having witnessed Baek Moo-jin's prowess, were in a frenzy. Shoving aside comrades, they lunged at him.
In that moment.
Baek Moo-jin shot skyward.
All eyes followed him into the heavens.
No matter how transcendent Baek Moo-jin's lightness skill, he couldn't vault over the black mass of Nine Heavens Alliance troops—and the Iron Blood Gang beyond—in a single bound.
But the height he gained from one leap was mysteriously immense.
Moreover, enemies clutching weapons already packed the spot where he must inevitably land.
Arcing downward in a parabola, Baek Moo-jin unleashed the frigid energy of White Flower Palm from his left palm toward six or seven Nine Heavens members.
Shwaaaaa!
One or two dodged in the nick of time; three or four were helplessly drenched, their upper bodies flash-freezing solid.
Baek Moo-jin then stomped down on the shoulders of the frozen Nine Heavens members—threatening to pulverize them—before spinning midair and closing the distance to the North Heaven Alliance battlements in one fluid motion.
Someone cried out in a scream-like gasp.
"Gasp!"
Yet even Baek Moo-jin's lightness skill apparently couldn't propel him straight to Goo Yang-hoo's position in one go.
Instead, he unveiled something even more shocking.
His toes drummed the wall in a staccato of thuds—thud-thud-thud-thud!—as he scaled it vertically in bizarre, fluid steps. It was as if his feet were glued to the stone.
In no time, his final leap carried him airborne, and he landed lightly beside Goo Yang-hoo.
The onlookers gaped, mouths agape.
Even North Heaven Alliance Leader Goo Yang-hoo grinned in admiration.
"Your lightness skill outshines mine."
Baek Moo-jin glanced at the dazed Iron Blood and Nine Heavens forces before posing a question.
"Alliance Leader, what were you doing out here alone?"
"Alone?"
Goo Yang-hoo shook his head and turned his gaze inward.
Baek Moo-jin followed suit, peering inside the South Gate. Only the path visible to the enemy lay clear; flanking it on both sides stood fully armed North Heaven Alliance members in perfect ranks, primed for action. To Baek Moo-jin's eye, their morale and momentum had honed to razor sharpness.
He could tell Goo Yang-hoo was behind it.
Goo Yang-hoo chuckled dryly.
"Feast your eyes. The men are chomping at the bit to charge. You've put the finishing touch on it. Now, they'll wage a proper war even without my orders."
Gazing down at the inner citadel, Goo Yang-hoo issued a terse command.
"To all North Heaven Alliance members."
No one responded—as if by prior compact. Goo Yang-hoo nodded faintly and pressed on.
"All units, advance. No retreat orders today. Annihilate every last Black Path rat infesting the North Heaven."
Still no reply.
But as Goo Yang-hoo raised his sword with quiet resolve, North Heaven Alliance members drew blades in unison. A bizarre roar followed—like crashing waves—shwaaaaaaaa, dragging on endlessly.
The sound chilled the Black Path hordes outside to the bone.
Goo Yang-hoo leveled his sword tip at the foe.
"Open the gates."
With a grinding rumble, the South Gate parted left and right. Elite North Heaven Alliance experts—arrayed in assault waves—poured forth.
Baek Moo-jin watched their momentum alongside Goo Yang-hoo as they streamed from the South Gate.
It was ferocious beyond measure.
How had he sharpened them to such lethal perfection?
Goo Yang-hoo was called the Tyrant Blade.
Now, the entire alliance gleamed like extensions of his edge.
Goo Yang-hoo had deliberately reined them in. Like forging iron in the blaze, he had stoked their fury red-hot—then unleashed the beasts upon the enemy.
Even Baek Moo-jin felt a shiver race down his spine at their aura.
In his judgment, Goo Yang-hoo had already lost strategically. But wars among martial artists were ultimately settled by steel.
The ferocity Goo Yang-hoo had bared alone now coursed through every North Heaven member. Those emerging from the South Gate hammered Iron Blood and Nine Heavens without mercy.
A smile tugged Goo Yang-hoo's lips as he lifted his sword, pointing to a spot amid the Iron Blood ranks.
"Moo-jin, you see it?"
Iron Blood executives clustered there. At the center sat a man resembling a black tiger in a lone chair, Iron Blood's banner snapping behind him. Sturdy and broad, he looked three or four years Goo Yang-hoo's senior—and even seated, exuded colossal presence.
Acknowledging him as a beast his equal, Goo Yang-hoo spat curtly.
"That's the Iron Blood Gang Leader."
Baek Moo-jin nodded, taking in the black tiger.
"So it is."
Goo Yang-hoo jabbed toward the Nine Heavens side.
"The gaunt one in dragon robes is the Heavenly Dragon Society Leader. Fatso beside him is the Heavenly Phoenix Society Leader. Only two leaders to take me on—you grasp how much of a joke they've made of me? Where catches your eye?"
Goo Yang-hoo was proposing they split the enemy heads. He knew full well Baek Moo-jin wielded prowess beyond any first-grade warrior or rookie label.
Glancing about, Baek Moo-jin locked eyes with the Iron Blood Gang Leader staring up from below the battlements.
Meeting Gwan Min-gang's gaze, Baek Moo-jin declared.
"I'll take the Iron Blood Gang Leader."
Their foes were set. Goo Yang-hoo replied breezily, like heading out for a stroll.
"Fine. Catch you later."
True to his hot-blooded nature, Goo Yang-hoo vaulted from the battlements mid-sentence. Airborne, he unleashed sword energy at distant Nine Heavens clusters.
Whiiiiiing!
His blade qi shredded them like tissue, and he landed amid the carnage—spinning his sword idly in one hand as he strode toward the two society leaders.
Several first-grade warriors, carving through foes nearby, converged to guard his back.
Yet Goo Yang-hoo issued no intricate orders. He simply prowled the battlefield with a predator's edge, seizing control of the chaos.
To Baek Moo-jin, he seemed less a leader than a battle junkie.
It was then, as Baek Moo-jin turned back to the Iron Blood Gang Leader.
The man abruptly rose and extended his right hand silently. A subordinate hurried forward, proffering a massive greataxe in both hands.
Gripping it, Iron Blood Gang Leader Gwan Min-gang stared up at Baek Moo-jin on the battlements. His voice—thick with infused qi—rumbled out.
"Young Patriarch Baek, come down."
Baek Moo-jin smiled at the Iron Blood Gang Leader's words.
Another beast lurked here after all.
Moreover, the Iron Blood Gang Leader addressed him not as a North Heaven man—but as Snow Mountain Baek Family Patriarch.