Chapter 145
Chapter 145: Living Jiangshi
His voice could not be any colder either. Like eternal ice and snow.
"..."
There was no answer from the bamboo-hatted person. The color of his hands gripping the sword, a deep dark color like a bottomless pit, only grew darker.
"Who are you bastards?"
He already had an idea, but he asked again. Because that might be the last thing he had to do.
However, the bamboo-hatted person simply rushed toward Eul Ji-tae without a word.
Swish—
Beyond the removed bamboo hat, eyes even blacker than his hands were revealed.
Those were...
Not human eyes.
They were those of the dead.
The dead, the formerly dead, those who couldn't leave when they should have.
In the Martial World, these were called Jiangshi.
"...It was Jiangshi..."
At first, Eul Ji-tae had simply thought they were demon soldiers that appeared with the Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity. However, at this surprising fact that exceeded that, his cold face hardened further.
Nevertheless, he quickly recovered his composure and drew his blade.
"Come. Whatever you are, you must pass my Main Blade. If you cannot, you will suffer a thousand cuts and ten thousand slaughters at this Breaking Heaven Hegemon Blade."
Huuuuum—
Eul Ji-tae's gray robe hem swelled rapidly, and terribly cold gray Rigid Energy rose nearly a foot along his blade tip.
Clang-clang-clang!
Eul Ji-tae and the bamboo-hatted person—the blade and sword of Eight Desolations Heavenly Slaughter Formation Number Seven—clashed against each other. The ink-iron sword and gray Rigid Energy formed a cross and met before their eyes.
Number Seven's coldly flickering black eyes entered Eul Ji-tae's vision completely.
"A combination of Death Energy and Heavenly Calamity Energy..."
Now he could be completely certain. This thing was a creation of the Extreme Yin Star of Heavenly Calamity. They had clearly aimed for today at the Murim Alliance, when the most people would be densely gathered.
Pop-pop, pop-pop-pop.
Thick blood vessels bulged prominently on Eul Ji-tae's forehead.
Despite drawing out Rigid Energy to the extreme, Eul Ji-tae's blade gradually pushed backward. It was proof that Number Seven's internal power was superior to Eul Ji-tae's.
"Though I've lived my whole life with the blade, to be pushed back by a mere corpse's sword. Haaap!"
He let out a great battle cry and pushed Number Seven back with all his might.
Swish—
Number Seven used the force of being flung backward to fly about fifteen meters away and land. His movements were as majestic and beautiful as a dragon playing among the clouds.
"...Cloud Dragon Nine Great Forms!?"
At first he thought he had seen wrong.
But it didn't take long to realize that wasn't the case.
Tap.
Number Seven again closed the distance with Eul Ji-tae.
His appearance was elegant and swift like a dragon writhing and traversing the sky. At this, Eul Ji-tae couldn't help but be surprised again.
"Dragon Form Step!"
Following Cloud Dragon Nine Great Forms, even Dragon Form Step.
These two were representative Movement Technique and Footwork of Kunlun. How could a Jiangshi use such martial arts?
There was no time to think deeply. Number Seven had already extended his sword toward him.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
Dozens of bundles of Rigid Energy like rain streaks extended simultaneously from Number Seven's sword.
"...!"
He wasn't surprised because Rigid Energy was flying in bundles. This time too, the sword path itself of the swordsmanship Number Seven wielded entered Eul Ji-tae's eyes.
The sight of a dragon playing in the rain. And the scene of that dragon shooting its scales like arrows through the downpour all at once.
That was...
Precisely Wandering Dragon Sword.
Huuuuum—
A moment of life and death.
Eul Ji-tae's blade descended heavily downward. At a glance it appeared to be a slow movement unsuited for this moment, but in reality it was a stroke containing Eul Ji-tae's life's realization.
Breaking Heaven Rigid Rain.
Rain of Rigid Energy that shatters the heavens.
Shrrrip-shrip-shrip.
Rigid Energy drawn from his blade gave birth to other Rigid Energy, and that Rigid Energy gave birth to yet more Rigid Energy. In a flash, dozens of Rigid Energy formed a wall, then were immediately emitted toward Number Seven like rain.
Clang-clang-clang! Thud-thud-thud!
The rain of Rigid Energy dispersed Number Seven's Rigid Energy bundles in midair.
However, Breaking Heaven Rigid Rain required massive internal energy commensurate with its power.
'As expected, it's still too much.'
A thin trickle of blood slyly leaked from one corner of Eul Ji-tae's mouth and flowed toward his chin. He had suffered internal injuries from excessive internal energy operation.
However, the mental blow was even greater than the internal injury.
Number Seven's identity... That was the problem.
"To think Kunlun Hegemon Dragon Ha Il-ak would appear as a Jiangshi..."
Ha Il-ak was the number one master of Kunlun a hundred years ago and an absolute peak master counted among the top ten under heaven at the time.
The reason Eul Ji-tae was certain Number Seven was Ha Il-ak was because of Wandering Dragon Sword.
Wandering Dragon Sword was a swordsmanship that symbolized the Kunlun Sect Leader up to Ha Il-ak's generation. However, it was a martial art lost when Ha Il-ak disappeared.
Thus Ha Il-ak became the only former Kunlun Sect Leader who couldn't be buried at Kunlun Mountain.
But...
For him to appear here transformed into a Jiangshi.
"Guh—"
Ha Il-ak emitted a sound as if scraping his lungs. Then he immediately raised his sword upward again.
"As expected, a Jiangshi..."
Even after using the Rigid Energy Bundle, which was difficult to use even once, Ha Il-ak seemed completely unaffected. Soon that rain-streak-shaped Rigid Energy bundle would fly at him again.
"Hu-hu-hu... I wonder how many more such monsters have come?"
Certainly not just one.
In his sense of futility, the corners of his mouth rose slightly on their own. It was a trace of smile that had formed on his cold face for the first time in so very long.
"I'm counting on you. It seems now there's only you left. Even if you're Heavenly Demon... I'll endure just for today. Because what's needed here now seems to be a devil."
Crackle—!
Ha Il-ak's sword spewed dragon scales once more.
Crack-crack-crack-clang!
In an instant, tremendous energy surged from Eul Ji-tae's body, allowing him to pour out rain of Rigid Energy once more. With difficulty, he blocked Ha Il-ak's attack.
"Cough! Hurk!"
He vomited up fist-sized blood clots several times. Because the situation was so urgent, he had drawn up even his True Origin Energy to emit the Rigid Energy Bundle. It was because he could no longer unfold Breaking Heaven Rigid Rain through normal methods.
After vomiting out the blocked stagnant blood, his stifled insides felt somewhat better.
"Huff—. That's a bit better. However..."
He probably wouldn't last long. True Origin Energy was the source of life. If one could pour out such things infinitely, that would no longer be human. Like that thing over there.
Eul Ji-tae bit his lip till it bled and gathered his last strength.
"Euryaap—!"
Eul Ji-tae shouted loudly and flew toward Ha Il-ak like a fierce tiger.
Thus began the last battle of Breaking Heaven Hegemon Blade Eul Ji-tae's life.
And.
At that moment, once again from the Central Great Road direction, pure white light spread out and covered the entire Murim Alliance. It appeared to push away the pitch-black energy covering the sky all at once.
It might be an illusion, but Eul Ji-tae's mood improved.
The other corner of his mouth finally rose, creating a perfect smile.
"Kunlun Hegemon Dragon should be enough as a companion on the road to the afterlife."
Suddenly this thought occurred. He should have gotten married earlier.
If he'd had a wife and children, he would have had at least an excuse to flee.
"Grrrr—"
As if displeased that the white light had pushed back the black light even for a moment, Ha Il-ak charged fiercely toward Eul Ji-tae.
***
Ooooooh—
The living dead howled. Black vitality swirled in all their eyes simultaneously. The time of the dead had come.
Bow down. To the Empress of the Yellow Springs.
As Yeon Yeong-ha collided with Dong Bong-soo and scattered pitch-black darkness in all directions, the dead responded and awakened. It wasn't just the nine of Eight Desolations Heavenly Slaughter Formation. The Martial Jiangshi under their control also naturally began dancing madly according to her will.
They had been mixed among the spectators as if they were living people.
The dead hunted the living standing beside them.
Soon death pervaded the Murim Alliance.
The living fled toward Muhwa Gate. But blood-starved dead poured in there too. Death reigned again.
Among some martial artists, there were those who ran toward the Murim Alliance's outer walls reaching sixty meters. Though high enough that ordinary people would find it difficult to dare climb over, those who had learned Gecko Arts could climb like geckos climbing walls. Those capable of this headed not toward Muhwa Gate but to the ends of the east and west outer walls, trying to climb the walls and escape the Murim Alliance.
However...
That way was already blocked too.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Swipe—!
Things identical to those pouring in through Muhwa Gate—namely Martial Jiangshi—were climbing over the Murim Alliance's outer walls and pressing inward.
The Murim Alliance's warriors were crushed like autumn leaves in the wind. There was no use even if they struggled and climbed atop the outer walls.
Even if they barely managed to drive swords into their heads, it was useless.
The opponents were...
"Wh-what!? It didn't die even though its head was cut off? D-don't tell me... Ji-Jiang...?"
Thud.
Jiangshi.
Living corpses that didn't die even if their heads were cut off because they were already dead. Now all survivors within the Murim Alliance learned the fact that their opponents were Jiangshi.
Thud-thud.
"Gyaaah—!"
"Save me!"
"You damn bastards..."
In no time at all, Jiangshi poured blackly into the Murim Alliance.
There was no time to think about why the Murim Alliance hadn't known until things got this bad. Everyone simply ran here and there just to survive.
So eventually they returned to Central Great Road. Because the Central Great Road was where masters who could protect them were concentrated.
But even so, there was no way to prevent being swept up in the fight between the monsters called Dong Bong-soo and Yeon Yeong-ha.
Bang, thud-thud-bang!
Gyaaaah—!
"When on earth are you going to get stronger? I still can't tell at all?"
Yeon Yeong-ha was floating in the air.