Chapter 274
Chapter 274
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Breaking Through the Passes (3)
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Crackle. Crackle.
Lost in the sound of the campfire crackling in his ears for a moment.
[Nam Hyo.]
Nam Hyo froze at the telepathic message striking his ear.
Flicker.
The sleepy look in his eyes from moments ago vanished, replaced by the feral gleam of a savage beast.
"Hmm?"
He glanced around cautiously, picked up on a faint presence, and buried his face against the spear shaft.
[Is that the Sima Clan Leader?]
[It is.]
[Why are you here, Clan Leader?]
[There are circumstances. I have something to say now. Do you have a moment?]
It was the moment a brief telepathic exchange passed between them.
The new leader of the Silent Shadow Squad came running. Though he had obtained the leader position through the cult leader's favoritism, he too was a practitioner of considerable demonic arts.
He had clearly sensed something was off.
"You there! What's going on?"
"Nothing, sir."
"Nothing? Something feels off."
Soon, he approached with a few squad members in tow and stopped in front of Nam Hyo.
It was the moment Sima Yul tried to melt into the darkness and slip away.
[Is the Desert Assassins Valley Lord with you by any chance?]
[...Yes.]
Nam Hyo, with his sleepy eyes, straightened up half-heartedly.
"Nothing happened. I was just briefly..."
As Nam Hyo replied, his chin turned.
Slap!
The leader slapped him across the face without warning.
A kick followed to his staggering abdomen.
"Nam Hyo, you lazy bastard. Can't you answer properly?"
"Guh. Guh."
"If you give me that half-assed response one more time in front of me, forget demotion—you'll end up as a walking corpse..."
Stab!
A spear tip protruded from the back of the chattering leader.
"Gasp! Leader!"
"Nam Hyo! Have you lost your mind?!"
As blood burst out, the followers drew their swords.
But there were those faster than them.
Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!
Those drawing swords to protect the leader all coughed up bloody foam from sword and spear blades piercing their chests.
"Wh-what? Why you..."
Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!
Rough hands from the darkness covered their mouths, and sharp sword flashes stabbed their backs multiple times.
In an instant, over thirty elites of the Silent Shadow Squad fell, leaving only raggedly dressed guards and a handful of squad members behind.
They were the original members of the Silent Shadow Squad.
Only after swiftly clearing the area and dragging the bodies inward did Nam Hyo speak again.
"You can come out now."
This was an unexpected development even for Sima Yul, and his leap from the darkness was filled with bewilderment.
"Nam Hyo. Why do this?"
"It was a life barely clinging on anyway. No, closer to a life lived just to die peacefully?"
The eyes of the Silent Shadow Squad members quietly shone, affirming his words were true.
"Why start this now, of all times?"
"Doesn't the presence of the Sima Clan Leader and the Desert Assassins Valley Lord mean his will?"
"His..."
"The King of Hundred Ghosts. Our former master."
"......"
"Just as I thought."
As Chu Un-hwi emerged from the darkness, Nam Hyo's eyes trembled with passion.
"Blood Demon Reborn! Heaven's Wrath of Ten Thousand Demons!"
He slammed one knee into the ground fiercely and shouted.
"Demon Soldier Nam Hyo greets the heavens of the Demonic Path."
Thud.
The squad members knelt in unison.
***
"Do you know me?"
"I once followed at the tail end of the Night Parade of Hundred Demons."
His eyes rippling with passion might have been directed at a past moment.
"Also, my master mentioned you many times."
"Who is your master?"
"Phantom Demon Lord Nam Hak. He is my teacher."
An image rose of the guardian elder in his wide-sleeved robes, boasting old but vigorous prowess.
"Where is Phantom Demon Lord?"
"He's... in the Brain Prison. I'm sorry. I failed to protect him."
"It's fine."
What needed worrying now were not those locked in the Brain Prison, but those who had committed the grave sin of rebellion.
"If word of this gets out, you won't keep your lives."
"We know. But these are the ones who threw countless comrades and friends into corpse caves. We've wanted revenge for ages, so this is liberating."
"This isn't just your doing."
"All the squad members feel the same."
Killing intent laced Nam Hyo's voice.
"We've lived this long for revenge. We abandoned clinging to life first, so no need for Your Supremacy to worry."
Instead, he worried for them.
"If traces are a problem, we'll all commit suicide here. We weren't on good terms with them anyway, so we can stage it as mutual destruction. No one will suspect."
His figure begging to use even death without lifting his head resembled a wounded beast howling.
"No need for that."
"We can die and become Hundred Ghosts to follow. Please allow it."
Thud thud. Behind him slamming his head, expressionless squad members arranged the bodies, pointing the dead men's swords at their own hearts.
The moment the order came, they would all commit suicide to cover this up.
"I'll remember your resolve."
"Thank you!"
Thud thud. He bashed his head, then placed a sword in the hand of the leader he had just killed and aimed it at his own chest.
"Please. Straighten the disordered heavens of the Demonic Path!"
At the same time.
All squad members thrust the swords in their hands through their hearts.
No, they tried to.
Hummm.
If Chu Un-hwi hadn't raised his hand to stop it, it surely would have happened.
"Your Supremacy! Why?!"
Chu Un-hwi said to the shocked group.
"When you awaken, you must protect the changed cult, right? Dying means we may never meet again—too soon for farewell."
The swords in their hands slowly dug into their chests.
"When you awaken, a new heaven will be open. Let's meet again."
"Your command!"
With a wave of his hand, the entire Silent Shadow Squad lay down resolutely after their shout.
Complete silence fell.
***
They encountered three more passes on the way forward.
As Nam Hyo had hinted, those once called core talents of the cult had been pushed out by the cult leader's suspicions, making breaking through the passes much easier.
"I never thought I'd see you again."
"Sima Clan Leader. Please set the cult leader straight."
Not all were swayed merely by the King of Hundred Ghosts' name.
Some tried to ignore their past betrayal for various reasons, but knelt one by one at Sima Yul's appearance.
'Sima Yul truly has great prestige.'
His skill and character played a part, but surely the shadow of Sima Baek was there too.
Seat One of the Dark Phantom Black Wind Division.
Moreover, to those living the demonic path, he was a great teacher.
'Home soon, Uncle Sima.'
They broke through the passes swiftly like a gale, reaching the entrance to the Blood Cult's main headquarters.
A long march that would take five days even on horseback, but the Dark Phantom's Black Wind stopped for no one.
Of course, there were some who tried to block them along the way.
Though the cult had lost hearts, loyalists remained, and those loyal to the current cult outnumbered those from the past purges.
That was when the Dark Phantom Black Wind moved.
"Heh. Heh. Finally... some blood."
The pre-dawn darkness was Dan Ya's greatest weapon.
Clatter. Clatter.
Whenever the shell-backed iron claws shook once, an enemy's heart was pierced, and a silent festival of death began.
The lord of the Desert Assassins Valley.
True to his name, Dan Ya rampaging in the darkness looked like will-o'-the-wisps stirring a bloody gale with only his red eyes floating.
"What are you! Who sent you?!"
The strongest among them was the burly guard at the final fifth pass.
Fitting for guarding the entrance to the Asura Blood Cult from the canyon, his brief roar unleashed sword energy surging three jang high.
"What are you doing! Charge!"
He bellowed to signal the emergency, but soon staggered.
"Sound barrier? No, not just deflecting my voice—shaking my inner energy too?"
He seemed immensely proud of his skill, ranting in disbelief, but soon had no time even to scream.
Slash!
A blood-soaked fan danced brilliantly, slitting his subordinates' throats, turning his face pale instantly.
"Blood Flower Iron Thread! Are you the Blood Snake?!"
While his gaze was stolen by the fan fluttering like a butterfly, a sinister sword flash pierced his heart.
"Kuh!"
His pride in his skill wasn't false; he even deflected Wi Ji-geuk's strike.
"Even Asura Sword Demon!"
But Wi Ji-geuk wasn't called Sword Ghost for nothing.
Clang!
In continuous sword flashes, he was pushed back over twenty paces, his footwork in ruins, as Sima Yul cleared the area and shook blood from his sword in midair.
"Hell Poison Dark Dragon..."
Before his limbs could even scramble, after Wi Ji-geuk brushed past, the guard took a few steps forward and his head fell.
It was the moment the Hell Five Passes from the Ten Thousand Great Mountains to the Asura Blood Cult were breached.
***
Finally arriving at the Blood Cult's main headquarters.
Seeing the fortress solidly planted in the heart of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, Jin Se-hyeon pointed with her fan.
"That's the main road to the headquarters. If we break through here, we can slip inside, but..."
However, no matter how they looked, the main gate was sealed tight with no sign of opening.
The few gaps they had eyed were long plugged. After observing for a while, Jin Se-hyeon clicked her tongue.
"We underestimated the cult leader's paranoia. To seal the entire gate like this."
"Indeed."
The original target was the North Gate.
But it was completely sealed by a considerable force.
'It's deviating from the plan.'
The original plan was to infiltrate via the passage for transporting corpses, the weakest point.
'But if the passage is gone.'
They needed another way.
"No other options?"
"Every one is guarded by demonic noble clan elites. Nine out of ten, it'll alert them."
Even checking the map again, Gu Il-so's clever setup wasn't something to breach simply.
As Chu Un-hwi pondered deeply after setting the map aside.
"Eh, whatever. If it gets out, we'll just kill them all."
At Dan Ya's grumbling, Chu Un-hwi's lips hardened.
"Hyeon. You said recently the cult leader's been aggressively gathering children?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
Chu Un-hwi, eyeing a small side door, replied.
"A guy hooked on the taste won't suddenly stop."
The worst assumption surfaced.
Sima Yul murmured beside him.
"Perhaps... they made another North Gate somewhere?"
"No way. Why seal a perfectly good gate and bother tearing down the wall to make a path?"
"Unlikely."
If it existed, then probably.
***
The North Gate on the map was a tiny, shabby door, blurry and hard to discern.
But seeing the newly made North Gate, Chu Un-hwi understood why Gu Il-so had sealed the old one.
No, they all understood instantly.
"The cult leader really..."
"What was he thinking, doing this."
Wi Ji-geuk and Jin Se-hyeon couldn't close their mouths because of the size of the newly erected gate.
Sima Yul chewed his lips.
"The existing small side door wasn't enough for him."
"Wah. So many wagons."
Dozens of wagons endlessly emerged from inside the new city gate.
It wasn't hard to guess what was loaded on them.
Skeletal arms and legs protruding from under the straw coverings revealed their nature.
What did the demon coiled inside plan to become, feeding on the blood of so many?
"Truly disappointing."
Chu Un-hwi bit his lip at the fall of the hero who once fought more valiantly than anyone against the Heaven-Defying Society.