Chapter 240
Chapter 240
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Subjugation of Gukang Stronghold (4)
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Fung-gae had left.
The dark aura he'd worn when they first met was gone now.
He must have seen some potential in the fight against the Seven Heavenly Apostles.
"It's over now."
The subjugation of Gukang Stronghold would proceed without much difficulty.
Without its apostle, Gukang Stronghold was little more than a den of bandits.
Having lost half its forces in the rout, there was no way they could survive.
"Have we wrapped up everything?"
The future Murim Alliance Leader was safe, and all missions were complete.
They'd accomplished pretty much every goal possible at Dongjeong Lake.
"Ah, right. One thing left."
Chu Un-hwi gazed into the distance, getting his bearings.
His light footsteps belied the chilling aura emanating from his body.
His destination was a small island not far from Gukang.
A tiny village where two rivers converged toward the stronghold.
Passing the sandbar, a small village soon came into view.
"The stench of blood is overwhelming."
A fishy metallic tang hung in the air from the village outskirts.
Deeper in, civilians slaughtered and piled into a haphazard mound lay on one side of the village.
Their wounds weren't from blades but looked like savage tears from wild beasts.
"Old habits die hard."
Splash. Splash.
Pressing on, the blood pools soaking his feet felt like trudging through a dark crimson mire.
----.
Following the night breeze, a voice emerged from the darkness ahead.
"Halt. What faction are you with?"
Shing.
The ones drawing serrated blades were familiar faces.
The Iron Blood Beast Squad's Hundred-Man Commander.
"What? You must be the Berserk Captain."
Shing.
Sheathing his sword, the Hundred-Man Commander glanced behind him.
"I'm alone. No one's with me."
"Did they all fall? Makes sense—no one could survive against that monster."
Not knowing the battle's outcome meant they'd fled here when the tide turned, as expected.
"Where's the Brutal Executioner?"
"The Executioner is inside."
He pointed over his shoulder to the only building with lights blazing brightly.
"Can I go in?"
"The Executioner is busy. Come back later."
"Yeah? I'm kind of in a hurry."
Ignoring him and advancing, the Hundred-Man Commander and his Beast Squad glared fiercely.
"...The Executioner said he's busy."
"Turn back now."
Killing intent swirled amid the tension, greed flickering in the Hundred-Man Commander's eyes.
"You little shit. Truth be told, I never liked you from the start."
"What a coincidence. Same here."
"I resented you for being taken in by the Executioner, but this is a golden opportunity."
Shing.
The moment the Hundred-Man Commander's beast saber cleared its sheath, the blocking squad members grinned wickedly.
"Out here, we can kill you quietly without issue."
"Music to my ears."
Chu Un-hwi half-drew the sword at his hip and smiled brightly.
Entering the manor, a hazy pinkish-purple smoke wafted thickly through the air.
Pressing on, unconscious women appeared one by one.
All stripped half-naked and collapsed, they let out feverish moans even in their stupor.
"Aphrodisiac incense."
Ignoring it and going deeper, the scene grew worse.
Amid two dozen fainted women and girls lay the burly Brutal Executioner, cursing up a storm.
"Damn it! What a pathetic defeat!"
Too absorbed in his furious roar to notice the intrusion.
'There you are.'
Among the unconscious women, he spotted Jin Yang.
Her robes half-undone, her flushed face betrayed the aphrodisiac's effects.
At least she hadn't been violated yet.
'No sign of the kid.'
No need to drag along a child untrained in martial arts.
'Good. She didn't have to see this.'
Stepping carefully around the writhing, exposed women on the floor, he knelt before Jin Yang.
"Accept it without resistance."
Circulating his energy and pressing his palm to her chest.
"Hngh! Cough!"
Jin Yang spat out red smoke, clarity returning to her eyes.
"...You."
"Feeling better?"
Only then did the Brutal Executioner notice and turn.
"What? It's the Captain."
"......"
"Lucky bastard. Surviving that monster."
Nod. A slight tilt of the head, and a sleazy grin crept across the Executioner's lips.
"Heh heh. Did you fall under my Heaven-Earth Absorption Technique too?"
"......"
"Perfect timing. I need help. Heal my wounds, restore my strength for revenge."
Grabbing fallen women's napes and tossing them toward the bed, he continued.
"Pick one and enjoy. I'll teach you the full Heaven-Earth Absorption Technique."
Chu Un-hwi addressed the leering old monster.
"Pathetic display from an old coot."
"What?"
Raising his open palm, the Executioner's eyes changed.
"Untouched by the Hundred-Day Union Incense?"
"Enough. Time to crumble to dust."
Boom!
At the surge of energy, the Brutal Executioner let out a strangled yelp and crashed through the wall.
Crack!
Leaping after him through the wall, the Executioner was already flipping to his feet.
"Such Striking Air Palm power? You've been hiding your strength."
"You should start by hiding that flailing worm of yours."
Whoosh!
Charging like an arrow, he unleashed a palm strike.
"Not so fast!"
Despite his fluster, fierce palm strikes flew from both hands.
Bam-bam-bam-bam!
His palm technique conjured over a hundred palm shadows in mere breaths—blindingly fast and powerful.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Hands clashing unleashed deafening shockwaves, shaking the silent village.
"I'll slice you into ten pieces!"
True to his reputation as an old ginger of the jianghu.
'Wondered why he charged here after the Air Palm—after the twin swords.'
In each hand, the red-bladed swords that had bloodied him gleamed.
"Your defeat is sealed the moment I gripped these twin blades."
His aura shifted dramatically with the swords.
Shwick-shwick!
Hands blurring, dozens of sword lights targeted vital points across his body.
"Hah!"
The onslaught was so swift it was hard to shake off.
'Incredible martial prowess.'
Among experts faced in this life, he ranked in the top handful.
'Can't take him lightly.'
Twist!
Twisting his form and kicking off the ground, the errant sword qi demolished an intact pavilion and crumbled the stone wall behind.
"Hmph! Quick-footed too!"
Gripping the twin swords in reverse, his charge grew even more ferocious.
Like twin blood dragons coveting a jewel, terrifying sword lights swirled.
'Transcendent Realm experts are on another level.'
Not just the sharp sword qi pouring in an instant—the power behind each stroke rivaled top masters.
Boom! Rumble-rumble!
Simple slashes toppled two or three thatched huts with thunderous crashes.
Yet even the crimson sword aura sweeping everything within ten paces couldn't graze Chu Un-hwi's robes.
"What astonishing footwork!"
One kick left afterimages popping up unpredictably; he couldn't keep up.
Flutter!
After a fierce exchange, the Executioner, crossing his twin swords to regroup, paused at something at his feet.
"Hm?"
Corpses of the Iron Blood Beast Squad.
Several squad members cooling silently in the dark.
"How did you kill the Beast Squad without a sound?"
"Shoved blades down their throats. Quiet deaths."
"I'll grant you the same."
Swoosh!
Dodging the throat stab by twisting, a side slash followed.
His twin sword mastery was divine.
Pop!
Even leaving afterimages with footwork, the Executioner's movements were no joke.
Slash!
He slipped behind and grazed the spine along the back, forcing Chu Un-hwi to rebound three paces.
Flutter.
Gazing at the severed sleeve, the Executioner chuckled darkly.
"Soon your head will join it on the ground."
Muttering at the falling cloth scrap.
"A Transcendent Realm master isn't simple, as expected."
"I've been Iron Chain Alliance's Executioner since before you were born. Too early to be surprised."
"Surprised? No. Just about time to get serious."
Raising his sword tip, Chu Un-hwi licked his lips.
"It's been ages. Haven't met anyone worth using martial arts on till now."
"You bastard! What nonsense?!"
"They say Heavenly Demon Divine Art for Heavenly Demon Cult, Blood Demon Divine Art for Blood Cult."
"Blood Cult? Blood Demon Divine Art? You don't mean—!"
Ssssh.
Dark crimson energy flowed, transforming Chu Un-hwi's aura completely.
"But they know of Blood Demon Divine Art, not the Shadowy Martial Extreme Sword."
The Executioner's face twisted in horror at the ominous energy rising from the blade.
"Shadowy... Near and far death, the demon's dominion. A sword to sever even death itself."
Swoosh!
A casual swing made the twin swords tremble wildly.
Clang-clang-clang!
Pushed back thirty paces in succession, the Executioner bellowed.
"Repelled by sword intent alone? Impossible swordsmanship!"
"Amazed by mere basics? You'd pity me."
Infusing more will, the blade gleamed slick with dark crimson.
Losing its luster for a demonic sheen, the Executioner widened his eyes and lunged.
'A true Transcendent Realm expert reacts instinctively to lethal intent.'
'This body's growth is lacking, admittedly clumsy.'
Swoooosh!
Dodging the storm of twin swords in a blink, Chu Un-hwi raised his blade.
"Got you!"
Immense pressure exploded from the Executioner.
Rooooar.
Mere aura manifestation shook the air, unleashing a massive shockwave.
"You gave me space—my victory!"
His energy peaked.
Chu Un-hwi knew this ultimate technique.
A spatial miracle only those stepping into Mythic Realm from human limits could unleash.
The Transcendent Realm elite's supreme art: translocation by will alone within perception.
"My lifetime's legacy! My pinnacle! Can you endure?!"
Light flashed in the Executioner's eyes, and killing intent permeated everything, slicing like blades.
Beyond physical force, suffocating pressure conjured bloody hallucinations.
Beyond the whirlwind of terror loomed a massive tower of hundreds of corpses.
"Perish in the myth I forged!"
His ultimate was awe-inspiring.
Refining killing intent sharper than sword aura, conjuring visions of accumulated slaughter to urge death.
Everything perceived led inexorably to demise.
Swoooosh!
As the twin swords trapped in the mythic miracle sought his throat.
"A mere corpse tower to frighten me?"
Clang!
With that short mutter, the Executioner incredulously felt his miniature world shatter.
"What—"
Eyes bulging in shock.
"A Mythic miracle can't be dispelled without another myth!"
"Illusions from foul killing intent? Child's play."
"Impossible..."
He witnessed his will-born illusion overlaid by another world.
Blood-soaked hills and plains.
Mountain of countless corpses, ocean of blood.
From the overwhelming visions came a low voice.
"Shadowy Martial Extreme Sword, First Stance."
Whoooosh.
The Executioner dropped his clattering twin swords before the irresistible sword strike.
Splat.
The sword tip, slicing air, turned earthward.
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-----.
-----.
The Brutal Executioner felt his world cleaved in two.
Thud. Kneeling, the last sight was his body sprawled in a sea of blood.