Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Altar of Flames (2)
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As dawn deepened, the group finishing their meditation rose to their feet.
All of them had pushed their stamina and inner energy to the limit in preparation for the battles ahead.
One by one, they checked their weapons, and Chu Un-hwi stood first.
"I'll head out first."
"May fortune favor you."
"Don't worry."
With the casual air of someone stepping out for a quick stroll from home, Chu Un-hwi vanished.
Soon after, Wang Woo-do moved out with the Soaring Heavens Hundred Swords Brigade.
"May you all return safely."
Once they had departed, Nangong Il-jun climbed the rocky hill with Baek Ri-seon-ho and Moyong Ju.
They crouched low, glaring at the campsite shrouded in pitch blackness.
[Do you see anything?]
Moyong Ju, responding to the silent question, pointed with his eyes toward one side.
Overlooking the campgrounds, a faintly pale figure was moving stealthily.
It crept along slowly, then in an instant exploded into motion, scaling the cliffs like lightning.
The way it climbed near-vertical cliffs was ghostly agile, beyond human capability.
[Incredible. It climbs better than a monkey.]
[Can't even guess how long it'd take to satisfy its bloodlust.]
Less than a quarter of an hour passed before it headed straight for the cliffs, then slithered toward the cave behind the outpost.
Astonishingly, its acrobatic movements went unnoticed by any of the numerous enemies.
Whoosh!
The nimble figure slipped into the depths of the cave.
Boom!
Before long, a signal flare shot up beyond the dawn twilight.
Bang! Boom!
As the flares burst brightly one after another, a sharp killing intent began to swirl through the sleeping outpost.
The Heavenfall Cultists inside the cave muttered upon seeing the signal flare.
"...A signal flare? Looks like some of those playing hide-and-seek are still around."
"Seems the Apostle is blessed by the heavens."
"A fine chance to make up for the shortage of sacrifices."
The outside grew noisy, and a group of cultists rushed out, radiating murderous auras.
Chu Un-hwi, clinging to the cave ceiling and watching the camp, expanded his qi sense and counted the dispersing presences in the distance.
'It worked perfectly. More than half have left.'
As always, past or present, the Heavenfall Society couldn't resist sacrifices.
'Pure young souls trained in martial arts. They couldn't pass up such a tantalizing treat.'
Knowing their mindset inside out made this all the more enjoyable.
But things weren't going entirely smoothly.
A considerable number of experts still guarded the interior.
However, with no need to worry about prying eyes now, it wasn't a big issue.
"Now I can move freely."
Being a lowly instructor came with too many annoyances.
Swish! Thud!
Descending swiftly from the ceiling, Chu Un-hwi drew his sword.
Shing.
As he advanced quickly, the cultists finally noticed him and startled.
"Good senses. You caught my presence."
Slash!
But that was it. With a single swift stroke as he passed, the cultist sprayed blood and toppled.
"E-enemy..."
Slash! Slash!
Brandishing his blade repeatedly, Chu Un-hwi sliced through the Flame Heretics Squad in an instant and looked back along his path.
He'd taken barely twenty steps, yet eight bodies lay with faces plunged into hot pools of blood.
"That about it?"
Cracking his neck, he tapped his scabbard and pressed deeper inside.
Stab!
From behind, a single thrust pierced the heart, and twisting the blade upward sent sensations of snapping bones through the sword.
Thud.
Moyong Ju covered the mouth and caught the falling body, scanning the surroundings.
The tense instructors nearby were dispatching enemies one by one.
"The outer perimeter is mostly cleared."
"Now the real fight begins."
He was just starting to relax when—
Soyang-gun, leaping to the watchtower to deal with an enemy, moved clumsily and took a counterattack.
Boom!
"Gah!"
'That idiot.'
Nangong Il-jun, startled, kicked off a watchtower pillar and skewered the enemy, but the commotion had already started.
Ding-ding-ding-ding!
"Enemies!"
The bell tolls pierced the night, and the cultists around the altar shouted in chaos.
"Damn it, things were going too smoothly."
"We can only hope Instructor Chu succeeds in time."
As the furious footsteps echoed wildly, the hidden instructors drew their swords in unison.
Stab! Stab!
Emerging from the shadows, a short thrust sank into the foe's chest like tofu.
Thud. Thud.
Pausing amid the spreading pools of blood, Chu Un-hwi halted.
"Getting noisy now?"
Through his qi sense, he felt the tingling shocks of clashing inner energies.
"Keep them busy."
With a smirk, he flicked his sword toward the darkness.
Swish.
A cultist preparing an ambush from ahead split from head to groin along with spurting bloodlines.
"Whoa."
Dodging the splattering blood with light steps, he advanced, and no one else dared step forward.
Thanks to that, less than half an hour after reaching the entrance, he stood before a massive iron cage.
Fashioned from a natural cave, it was rough rock reinforced with iron, yawning into deep darkness within.
Inspecting the front, a particularly black-sheened iron caught his eye.
"Millennial Cold Iron? They're loaded."
Millennial Cold Iron.
A rare metal from the North Sea's depths, dozens of times more valuable than gold of equal weight and even harder to obtain.
Using it to forge the cage showed how much the Heavenfall Society invested in their sacrifices.
"Waste of money, though."
Crack.
Twisting it barehanded created an opening wide enough for a person.
Tap-tap.
Squeezing inside, he found thirty-five men and women sprawled in a heap.
"So this guy's here."
He flipped the unconscious Nangong Yong-ho with his toe and checked the other students.
"All unfamiliar faces."
The strangers were probably students under that clumsy senior instructor.
"Their presence here confirms my hunch."
Spotting familiar instructors, he quickly tapped their acupoints.
Tap. Tap-tap-tap!
Hitting seventy-five acupoints in a flash, one instructor's shoulders twitched.
'He'll wake soon.'
Steadily working through them one by one, he suddenly spotted a familiar face leaning against the wall and clenched his jaw, creasing his mustache.
'Why is she here...'
Noticing the red butterfly hairpin, as he approached—
Flash!
The girl suddenly flipped into a somersault, crossing her hands like lightning.
Swoosh!
A sharp whoosh came from her sleeves, but he'd anticipated her regaining consciousness.
Swish.
Easily sidestepping behind her, Chu Un-hwi pursed his lips.
"Hoo—!"
Blowing hot breath on her nape.
"Eek!"
What an amusing squeak.
The girl, chirping like a startled sparrow, blinked teary eyes.
"Dang Ae-hui."
"Instructor... Chu Un-hwi?"
"Yeah. It's me."
Plop.
Her legs gave out, and as he helped her up, he casually seized her wrist.
"...Tang Family after all? Your poison resistance is impressive."
"...For a Tang to fall to poison is shameful."
"They clearly gave you special treatment as a Tang."
Unlike the others, her body harbored several times more potent toxin.
"...It's a poison I don't recognize. Hard to neutralize..."
"Stuff like this clears up with some saliva."
Gripping her pulse and infusing qi, she parted her lips slightly and blinked wide eyes.
"There. Much better now."
"...How did you...?"
"Heh. Don't try to pry trade secrets from a lowly instructor like me."
Got to have an ace up your sleeve to make a living.
"...Saliva?"
"Anyway, now that you're awake, help me out."
There were plenty more unconscious bodies.
'I could wake them myself, but...'
No need to show off and draw extra attention when a convenient tool was at hand.
"Got it."
"Quick on the uptake. Nice."
"But... this iron cage..."
Pretending to be unconscious, she'd apparently tried breaking it herself, and seeing it bent like taffy, Dang Ae-hui couldn't hide her shock.
"Oops."
Too careless.
'Can't kill a witness.'
Pondering, Chu Un-hwi gently pressed his index finger to her lips.
"...Our little secret. Got it?"
Didn't want the hassle of unwanted attention.
Fortunately, Dang Ae-hui blushed but nodded.
"...Yes."
She didn't refuse the small request.
'This life's Dang Ae-hui has a sweet personality.'
Good thing he didn't have to kill her.
Boom!
Moyong Ju deflected an incoming fire pillar and shook off his jade-green sword aura.
Whoosh!
The fan-shaped sword qi sliced through the flames and bisected the cultist.
Splatter!
Pressing with footwork, he bore down on the foe, but soon spat up blood in fury.
Sizzle!
"Ngh!"
Just blocking the Blazing Sun Earth Gong had heated his beloved sword's blade red-hot.
Not only that—the heat climbed the hilt, scorching his palm like holding hot coals.
'Not easy.'
He'd expected as much, but this opponent was even trickier.
"Father!"
Moyong Seon-ya, who'd been with Jang Cheol-sim, dashed in agilely and unleashed a flurry of sword strikes.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Amid clashing swords and roaring flames, her hair singed at the tips, but after thirty exchanges, she slew the foe.
But most weren't faring so well.
"Senior Instructor! We're at our limit!"
The young instructors faltered first.
They'd held their own initially, but sustained combat was draining their qi.
"Outnumbered! We won't last like this!"
Even the Surveillance Division's veteran experts were running dry.
The only reason they held was thanks to Baek Ri-seon-ho sweating it out.
"Who do you vile scum dare target?!"
Unleashing a streak of form, his White Dragon Swordsmanship cleaved two or three charging cultists at the waist.
"As expected of White Dragon Swordsmanship."
"No, credit the White Crane Swordsmanship."
"What do you mean?"
"No time to explain. It's getting tough."
Slashing wildly yet seeing intact enemies still, Baek Ri-seon-ho began retreating.
Boom!
Nangong Il-jun, pale-faced after beheading another with sword force, shouted.
"I'm at my limit too."
For an elder of a Ten Great Families at the absolute peak to cry exhaustion meant a brutal fight.
Outnumbered, the Blazing Sun Earth Gong sapped stamina and disrupted qi with every clash.
As the weary began faltering back one by one—
"Your courage is admirable, but your recklessness excessive."
A man in chillingly red blood robes emerged amid the cultists.
"Ngh!"
"Urk!"
His mere presence pressed down like a mountain, making weaker Yeo Mae-hong and Instructor Jo Hyun stagger.
"Disrupting the great cause merits devouring whole."
Yet our magnanimous lord grants you a choice.
"Offer your lives and pure blood to the altar."
That is the only path to atonement.
"You shall become the foundation stones of the new heaven!"
Swish!
As the man raised his hand to pronounce death—
"New heaven my ass."
Splurt! Splurt!
Before his hand fell, blood fountains erupted countless from the encirclement's rear.
"!"
The blood-robed man, Flame Heretics Squad Leader, twisted in panic when—
"Become the sacrifice yourself!"
Splurt!
Amid the spreading blood geysers.
"We've succeeded!"
Jang Cheol-sim declared with a face on the verge of tears.
"Everyone, rally!"
Planning to show these students a pathetic sight?
"Not on my watch."
The exhausted instructors and veterans gripped their swords anew and rose.