Chapter 270
Chapter 270
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Demonic Fury (5)
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“Why are you here?”
Wei Ji-geuk's voice held no anger, no emotion.
It was utterly flat.
As if watching a stranger pass by on the street.
“Wei Ji-geuk.”
“I've discarded that name.”
“What should I call you now?”
“Drop it. Even if you learn my new name, you'll never have occasion to use it.”
As he reached for the axe again, Chu Un-hwi spoke up.
“For someone who's forgotten, that's quite a bit of resentment packed into that axe.”
“You can see that?”
“Venting your anger on wooden logs is a pity. The trees will grieve.”
“...As I said, I have nothing to say to you.”
Chu Un-hwi pushed aside the fuming Dokgo Yul and called out to his retreating back as he tossed the axe aside and turned.
“Uncle Sama is dead.”
“......?”
“Uncle Sama came with us.”
“......!”
Only then did Wei Ji-geuk react for the first time, noticing the urn in Dokgo Yul's hands.
“I can't mistreat Master Sama. Come in.”
As he opened the brushwood door and entered, he added as if he'd almost forgotten.
“By the way. I'm doing this for Uncle Sama's sake. I have no intention of forgiving you for abandoning me—for abandoning us.”
He was still as curt as ever.
***
As the four entered, the small thatched hut filled up quickly.
“Eat.”
He brought out dried, twisted meat chunks as a meal, and Dan-ya swiftly extended her bandages.
Wriggle.
Wei Ji-geuk looked displeased but said nothing.
As if he had no intention of meddling in the manners of people he no longer associated with.
Soon, his gaze fixed on Sama Baek's urn. Sitting awkwardly, he stared blankly at it for a long while.
It was only after a prolonged silence that his lips twitched.
“Sama Yul. How did Master Sama die?”
“He fought honorably and met a heroic end.”
“That's not what I want to know. Honor and such.”
“......”
“...Was he in pain at the end?”
Sama Baek had been Sama Yul's father, but also the master and father figure to all of Dark Soul Black Wind Squad.
He didn't glance at Chu Un-hwi even once, deliberately ignoring him, and stared only at Dokgo Yul.
For the first time, Dokgo Yul's voice trembled.
“...It was painful.”
What followed was the fierce battle with the Eight Thousand Demon Path and Sama Baek's final moments.
As the story progressed, Wei Ji-geuk's lips grew pale.
Drip.
Red blood trickled from his bitten lips.
“...So. It was painful, but in the end, he passed peacefully.”
“......”
“He departed truly glad to have fulfilled his lord's wish, to have resolved his final worry.”
“I don't care about that damned wish!”
Wei Ji-geuk's eyes blazed as he glared furiously.
“Why should I—why should all of Asura Sword Demon Squad—abandon everything for that irresponsible bastard!”
“Watch your words, Wei Ji-geuk.”
“Did I say something wrong?”
“One more word, and we'll settle it with swords before talking.”
“......Tch!”
Clicking his tongue, he slumped back down. It wasn't fear of fighting, but fear of not hearing the rest of the story.
Dokgo Yul's hollow one-eyed gaze turned toward him.
“At the end, Father discarded the name Dark Soul Black Wind Squad.”
“...Why go that far...”
“'The name Dark Soul Black Wind Squad is immortal, it never falls in defeat.' Father didn't want to be the first to tarnish it.”
“......”
Wei Ji-geuk's tightly shut lips cracked open.
And what followed was...
“Uhehehehehehong. Heueueueong.”
A beastly wail, a deep, profound cry of sorrow.
***
Regaining his senses, Wei Ji-geuk stared blankly at the sky.
Night had deepened, crickets chirping amid the hollow silence.
Suddenly, he spoke.
“Why did you come looking for me?”
“You?”
“Hng...”
Dokgo Yul and Dan-ya's fingertips trembled at that moment.
“Enough.”
Chu Un-hwi raised a hand to stop them.
His voice grew even more laced with hostility.
“Do you need my power? Or is it the Asura Sword Demon Squad you're after?”
“......”
“Has the cult leader position you brazenly abandoned suddenly become tempting again?”
“......”
“You threw it all away and left, and now what? Some change of heart?”
“......”
“If you have any conscience, answer me!”
Staring steadily into Wei Ji-geuk's bloodshot, furious eyes, Chu Un-hwi replied curtly.
“Wrong.”
“What's wrong?”
“I didn't come for you or the Asura Sword Demon Squad.”
“You expect me to believe that? That you came all this way just to tell me of Master Sama's death?”
“That's part of it.”
Chu Un-hwi answered briefly.
“A fight's coming soon. If you want to live, stay far away. That's the warning I wanted to give.”
“A fight? You three against the cult? Ridiculous.”
Wei Ji-geuk had witnessed Shin Wi in the past and fought alongside him, but this time he scoffed.
“You have no idea how powerful the Blood Cult is now. Gu Il-so seized control faster than expected. He's even gathered the scattered demonic experts.”
“That figures. I laid the foundation, and put him in the leader's seat myself.”
“Thanks to you, he's advancing triumphantly, rapidly restoring power. Not only that! He's rebuilt the fallen demonic clans, opened the Blood Demon Secret Vault, fully releasing their martial arts. We've quickly recovered losses because of it.”
“Wise move.”
“It's not someone else's problem. What he unleashed weren't just martial manuals. Somehow he obtained vast spirit elixirs from outsiders—legendary ones—and raised his loyalists with them.”
The Blood Cult now is not the one you knew!
Wei Ji-geuk was saying.
“Seems you're misunderstanding something.”
Chu Un-hwi, who had been listening, cut in.
“What I mean isn't how much the cult has changed or grown stronger.”
“...Then.”
“I'm set on killing Gu Il-so, and that won't change.”
“......”
“What worries me are the people who don't need to die in the crossfire.”
“...You mean that?”
“You don't know the cult, and apparently you don't know me either.”
Chu Un-hwi sighed sharply.
“I'll return to the cult soon. And kill every last one colluding with Gu Il-so and Mangcheon Society.”
“You're serious...”
“I don't know how many will die along the way. I'd avoid it if possible, but if necessary, I'll have to kill.”
There's one reason I need you.
“If I can save even one life, one blade of grass on my path, I will. That's all I ask of you. You're overvaluing yourself.”
“......”
Overwhelmed by the grandiose claim, Wei Ji-geuk couldn't close his mouth easily.
But only briefly.
Grit. Biting his lip, he reached out, and with a thud!, a wall crumbled, a long object falling into his hand.
“I need to check if you can back up those words.”
“Go ahead.”
Shrugging, his eyes flashed with killing intent toward the yard.
“Come out.”
***
Standing in the yard, he affixed a sword to a long pole.
The pole was about one cheok and a half long (forty-five centimeters). With it attached, it looked less like a sword and more like a short spear.
“Discarded the sword?”
“Sadly, I offered my sword to someone.”
Indeed, when joining Dark Soul Black Wind Squad, Wei Ji-geuk had said:
- My lord. I offer my sword for you!
He still remembered that?
Still so stubborn.
Thud.
Stamping the pole on the ground, Wei Ji-geuk raised the spear tip sharply.
It was more like a short pole with a sword fitted on top.
“Familiar stance.”
“The origin is still Asura Piercing Heaven Sword.”
How could he not know? He'd taught it himself.
“Your momentum has improved.”
“Let's see how long you stay relaxed.”
Muttering, Wei Ji-geuk's form vanished.
Whoosh!
The moment his afterimage blurred, Chu Un-hwi raised Dark Soul in a diagonal guard.
Clang!
Wei Ji-geuk, already closing in, thrust from midair.
Vmmm!
The shockwave from spear tip and blade rippled outward in circles, casually shattering the brushwood door.
“Quite different.”
“Fine sword. You used to ignore swords entirely.”
“Good is good.”
This time, Chu Un-hwi vanished.
The moment his lips twitched, Wei Ji-geuk's form disappeared too.
Cling! Chaeng! Chaeeng!
Followed by deafening clashes as ghostly pale forms attached and detached repeatedly.
No people visible, just black and red auras clashing, sparks flying—like two invisible ghosts wrestling.
“Definitely stronger.”
“Yeah.”
In the fierce gale, Dokgo Yul and Dan-ya muttered calmly.
“He's changed completely. Perfectly fused swordsmanship into spear arts.”
“Impressive.”
Dan-ya's red eyes fixed on the leisurely forms.
Even her eyes couldn't capture everything perfectly, but amid the flashes, she glimpsed the curving lips.
“However. The gap is insurmountable.”
By sword fragments alone, faster and sharper than any Asura Blood Cult powerhouse.
Most would perish the instant the sword flashed—through back or brow.
But his opponent was the lord of hundred ghosts.
The supreme master of exquisite sword arts, pinnacle of martial learning.
Before words finished, thud! The hut's side crumbled, Wei Ji-geuk's body slamming into the wall.
“Kuh...”
Half-embedded in the wall, falling to the ground, shock filled Wei Ji-geuk's eyes.
“How... I thought I'd caught up.”
He hadn't gone all out either.
Had he, the hut—no, the whole village—wouldn't escape the vortex of destruction.
But his eyes showed he fully grasped the overwhelming gap.
“Believe me now?”
Returning to his spot unchanged, Chu Un-hwi sheathed his sword.
“...Why hasn't the gap narrowed at all?”
“You got stronger, but I got stronger faster.”
“You still had room to grow?”
“Why think otherwise?”
Sheathing his sword, Chu Un-hwi stood with hands behind back, sternly declaring.
“Wei Ji-geuk. I won't force you to follow. Since I abandoned you, I can't blame you for not following.”
“......”
“But know my sincerity. Believe it. Act on it. Save even one or two if you can.”
Driving it home to his wide eyes.
“If you refuse, stop me. With Asura Sword Demon Squad. Then we'll meet as enemies, as you said.”
His martial arts shattered in an instant, Wei Ji-geuk struggled to escape confusion.
Has time dulled his mind too?
Where was the old cool, decisive demeanor? Now like a lost lamb, clumsy reaction.
“Wei Ji-geuk!”
Frustrated, Chu Un-hwi called his name.
Thud!
Dropping to one knee, he reflexively shouted.
“Yes, my lord!”
Eh? My lord?
Mistaking his own reaction, Wei Ji-geuk's eyes grew more confused.