Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Altar of Flames (3)
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Clang clang clang clang!
In the renewed battle, Crimson Flame Division Leader Yang Kang found himself swept up in an inexplicable unease.
'What is this guy?'
The students' intervention had clearly been a painful miscalculation.
'Or... was it really a mistake?'
He had sensed everything happening in this place through his spiritual perception.
Yet until the moment the students appeared, he hadn't anticipated any irregularity.
'How could these greenhorns fool my spiritual sense?'
Thanks to the grace of the Eight Thousand Apostles, he was confident he wouldn't lose to any powerhouse in the world.
But he had never imagined someone could slip past his vigilance here.
'I felt no presence at all.'
They had appeared as if sprouting from the ground.
And even more inexplicable...
'He's right in front of me, but I still can't sense his presence.'
It was utterly impossible.
As the right-hand man of the Eight Thousand Apostles, having received the Solar Divine Art without reservation, he trusted his abilities.
'Even the Ten Great Masters of the world couldn't evade my eyes.'
His gaze was locked on the bizarre entity standing plainly before him.
"That's the leader!"
He felt the old fogeys of the righteous faction, having identified the ringleader, daring to stab at his back.
"Foolish insects."
Screeeeech!
Glancing at the blue and clear qi stabbing at his back, he gathered his hands at his heart.
"You're courting death."
Rooooar. Boom!
The massive extreme yang true energy rising from his dantian ignited a colossal blaze of flames.
An astonishing 240 years of cultivation.
A human could barely handle 20 years at best.
But he, who had received the grace of the Demon Heaven Society and glimpsed the transcendent realm, had amassed more than double that.
Guuuuuum!
The terrifying power beyond human limits created a shockwave that instantly cratered the ground within a dozen zhang.
Kaboom boom boom boom!
It swept the surroundings in massive flames and heat.
"Kuhk!"
"Cough!"
"Urk!"
Nangong Il-joon, Moyong Ju, and Baek Ri-seon-ho—who had been attacking—vomited blood and staggered back dozens of steps in disarray.
"Foolish insects."
Step. Step.
Having crushed their momentum in an instant, Crimson Flame Division Leader Yang Kang unleashed a bone-chilling killing intent.
"No need to trouble the Apostle. I'll kill you myself."
As he coldly pronounced their death sentences after overwhelming three super-elite masters in a heartbeat...
A chill ran down his spine.
He swiftly twisted his body.
'I definitely felt killing intent piercing my throat.'
Touching his neck, he felt his dampened palm.
'Who the hell...'
Raising his gaze, he saw it.
Glassy eyes shimmering through disheveled hair.
'This guy's dangerous!'
Sensing danger instinctively, he flinched.
"Whoa-. Scary."
Was this monster joking?
"I'm so scared my legs won't move."
The words from this utterly alien existence were incomprehensible.
"But it looks like the momentum's on our side anyway."
What?
While his nerves were distracted by the baffling words...
'Again!'
The unknown force binding his spiritual sense dispersed, revealing a trembling presence beyond.
Roooooooar.
It was the massive resonance of a sword howling.
Thud thud thud thud!
Each step carried the thunderous footfalls of a giant shaking mountains and rivers.
Rumble! Thud thud!
The colossal presence closed the distance in an instant, smashing one side of the cliff as it revealed itself.
- How dare you claim the demonic path before me!
With stern dignity, it generated a shockwave that made the air hum.
Whoooosh!
Clothes whipped to one side in the fierce gusts, everything existing crushed sideways by the pressure.
And everyone saw it.
The overwhelming presence plummeting into the arena like a comet from the towering cliff.
In the gale stood a man with piercing blue light in his single eye.
"One-Eyed Divine Sword Dokgo Ryul!"
One of the Ten Great Swordsmen of the world, hailed as the strongest new generation master.
"Damn it! If he's here, that means!"
Roooooooar!
Seeing the shadow of a fire dragon rearing its head beyond the collapsing hill, Yang Kang ground his teeth.
"Flame Light Blade Demon Ma Gil-sang!"
As if responding to his desperate cry...
- Graaaaaah!
"Flame Dragon Charge!"
"The Blade Demon has arrived too!"
A massive fire dragon of flames overwhelming even the sun's heat roared into the sky.
The Ten Great Swordsmen and Ten Great Blade Masters of the martial world.
The appearance of these two figures drove the world's enthusiasts mad with excitement—but it was despair for their foes.
No matter how elite the Crimson Flame Division, they were helplessly swept away by two transcendent monsters rampaging.
Screeeeech!
Where the eerie sword light passed, Crimson Flame members sprayed blood helplessly.
Graaaaaang!
Where the flame dragon swept, members engulfed in fire screamed in agony.
Truly overwhelming divine might.
"Damn. Is that the Flame Light Blade Demon's Flame Dragon Emergence?"
Witnessing the flames that forced even him back, Yang Kang realized.
'Bad matchup.'
The Solar Divine Art was an absolute art; perfected, it could contend with the flame dragon.
But though he could summon flames through the Demon Heaven Society's grace, handling one born with an innate extreme yang body was difficult.
Moreover, the Flame Light Blade Demon Ma Gil-sang appeared middle-aged but had earned his title thirty years before Yang Kang was born—an absolute being.
Even Yang Kang couldn't claim certain victory.
And beside the Blade Demon stood the one-eyed sword god.
"We retreat from here!"
His bloodshot retreat order wasn't solely because of them.
Yang Kang realized something was wrong.
Slash!
"Argh! L-Leader! Save me!"
A trailing Crimson Flame member was impaled by a black shadow and dragged into the darkness beyond the brush.
Swish swish.
Crunch! Crunch!
"Aaaaaaaaah!"
The black mist snatched the Crimson Flame members like prey, pulling them into the shadows.
"Kyaeeeeek!"
The Crimson Flame members, who obeyed only the Eight Thousand Apostles and had utterly lost their sense of fear, wailed like children.
"S-Spare me!"
"No! No!"
"S-Spa... Gurk. Crunch!"
Only after black tendrils from the darkness ensnared three more did Yang Kang see it.
'Black bandages.'
And the stealthiness that evaded detection.
Only then did Yang Kang guess the identity of the assassin he'd been pursuing.
'Desert Assassins' Valley Leader Black Night.'
The hegemon of the northern desert, ruling six months of darkness and six of white night.
Realizing his identity made Yang Kang's heart sink.
'Did Black Night move the moment those two appeared by coincidence?'
No way.
The desert lord, who fed on blood in the shadows, wouldn't move without reason.
'Are the Desert Assassins' Valley opposing the Eight Thousand Apostles?'
By then, Yang Kang noticed all his trailing members had vanished.
He halted.
Left alone in the stopped forest.
Grind! "Black Night!"
"Heh- heh- heh- heh-."
Bandages wriggled mockingly from the darkness.
"Did they all- run- away-?"
Swish swish swish.
The bandages slithered like living things, coalescing into a lone freak.
Pale face, white hair. Yang Kang gnashed his teeth at the ominous red eyes gleaming.
"Northern Lord! You must have the Six Thousand Apostles' permission, yet you betray us?"
"Six Thousand Apostles? Northern Lord?"
Aha.
The bandages giggled, dancing in the air.
"Is this- the story- my lord- spoke of?"
"Your lord? Wind Guest. That old bastard borrowed the desert's power to strike the Eight Thousand Apostles?"
"What's- that-."
The writhing bandages threatened, instantly binding his limbs.
"Urk!"
Yang Kang surged his qi to tear free the black bandages and stomped a heavy kick.
Fwoosh!
Swift footwork igniting flames with each step.
But the black bandages blanketing everywhere refused to yield path.
"Damn it!"
As he unleashed Yang Kang Divine Art again, spewing flames explosively, the eerie voice echoed from the shadows.
"I'll leave your head-. My lord needs it."
Pfsh! Paat!
Bandages snaring wrists and ankles sealed his limbs; Yang Kang roared.
"Wind Guest! You traiiiitor!"
Drag drag drag.
His anguished scream as he was dragged into the darkness lingered only as a hollow echo long after.
"M-Monster."
Someone muttered in terror.
But Dokgo Ryul's sword danced ceaselessly.
Slice!
Slash!
Advancing relentlessly, the sword tip moved like it was possessed, weaving cruel beauty amid spurting blood.
"U-Uwaa! Stay back!"
Fwoooosh!
Some terrified Crimson Flame members frantically spewed flames, but Dokgo Ryul flicked his blade tip to sever them.
Bang! Bang!
The halved fireballs exploded behind his shoulder into twin dirt mounds.
"This alien qi is tricky."
But that only held against those unable to infuse will into their swords.
"If you project sword intent into the blade, you can sever the flames' will first."
Muttering his profound martial insight, Dokgo Ryul passed, creating three headless corpses.
"Some call this the realm of Mind Sword."
The supreme technique of imbuing mind into the sword to cleave objects and essences.
"Not sure if you demonic fools blinded by the path would know."
By now, corpses littered around the halted Dokgo Ryul.
A kind of massacre wrought by dashing like the wind, emotionlessly.
It terrified not just enemies but allies, who broke cold sweats.
"Of course. Severing that would be a bit harder."
Rooooar!
Watching the massive flame dragon char an enemy mound to cinders, he shrugged.
The man who severed life and death without emotion suddenly stopped.
Drip drip.
And shed tears.
'My lord.'
The being of his dreams was waving from there.
The one-eyed giant suddenly halting and weeping left instructors and students flustered.
"The One-Eyed Divine Sword is..."
"Crying?"
Even allies bowed heads, still fearful of the recent cold slaughter.
"...Maybe self-reproach for being too late?"
"That sounds like Great Hero Dokgo. A incarnation of justice."
"I thought that righteous, warm man scary for a moment."
"Me too. So ashamed I can't look up."
As all fell solemn...
Only Chu Un-hwi accurately grasped Dokgo Ryul's reaction.
'He's sulking.'
Fixed single eye unmoving—definitely.
As expected.
No, man.
I said no!
The moisture in that single eye already gave Chu Un-hwi a headache.