Chapter 477
Chapter 477
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 477
Chapter Title: Seongcheon Yun Clan (3)
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The colossal force known as the Seongcheon Yun Clan wielded immense influence across the entire world of Sabacheon.
As a family that had adopted maintaining balance for world peace as their core identity and public motto, it went without saying just how immense the pride of its members was.
But like anywhere people lived, even those who harbored such lofty ideals weren't entirely pure and spotless.
For the sake of world peace, unbeatable martial might was essential—no one could be taken lightly—and maintaining that power intact across generations was never an easy task.
"Huh? Captain, what brings you here at this hour?"
"What do you mean? I'm here to check if you're doing your jobs right. If you get caught slacking off by the vice-captain like last time, I'll get it too."
"Ah, no... that was... Sorry."
In the dead of night, when most retainers were deep in slumber.
A subtle distortion unlike anything usual began rippling through various parts of the Yun Clan grounds.
Tiny anomalies, too minor to really complain about.
But they were merely the harbingers of a massive event soon to unfold.
"Alright, I'll go check the other spots, so stay sharp."
"Yes, sir! Don't worry about a thing!"
"You always talk a good game."
The captain of the outer castle guard scolded his subordinates before sauntering off.
Reaching a spot devoid of people, he turned a gloomy gaze toward the inner castle.
"......"
The Seongcheon Yun Clan gathered talented children from across the continent, regardless of bloodline or status, to raise them as the pillars of the family.
It was undoubtedly an act worthy of praise.
...If those children truly had nowhere else to go.
Paying poor parents for custody rights wasn't much of an issue.
But if it extended to dealing with slave hunters for child supplies, threatening and stealing from parents, or outright kidnapping and shattering intact families...
No matter how powerful the clan, they couldn't escape condemnation.
Of course, the face-conscious Yun Clan didn't commit such crimes directly.
They merely paid those who brought the children a price befitting their talents.
Even fully aware of the circumstances, turning a blind eye to it all.
No—subtly encouraging it from the shadows.
"Fucking bastards..."
The captain gazing at the inner castle ground his teeth in a low mutter.
Unlike the vast outer castle, boasting nurseries, convenience facilities, and guest lodgings, the inner castle was a space only those approved by the Yun Clan could enter.
The ultimate goal for children forcibly gathered together, striving day and night to earn the "Yun" surname.
And for the captain, a forbidden realm he could never reach.
He rolled up his sleeve.
Etched there was a lightning-shaped scar starting from his shoulder.
Proof of his desperate efforts to rise, and a symbol of despair from overexertion that severed his potential.
To climb in the Yun Clan, one had to prove their worth somehow.
The moment they showed exceptional talent in any field, treatment changed—and the children knew it well.
Swept up in that atmosphere, many overreached their limits and got weeded out.
'To endure that torturous training, only for this...'
Outer castle guard captain.
This was his limit now.
And even this position would soon be overtaken by upstarts from below.
Those like Lusette, who reached the inner layers in her twenties, or Yun Sohwe, on the cusp of mid-layers in her early teens, with overwhelming talent from the start—they wouldn't understand.
Special management from the moment they entered, they rarely tangled with mediocre kids struggling at the bottom.
'If only I hadn't been dragged here...'
In that situation, the "Yun Clan secrets" and "real family" info from the approacher was a devilish whisper shaking his heart.
"No, now's not the time."
The captain shook his head and took a deep breath before moving on.
The seeds of doubt rooted in his mind devoured the temptation, blooming into ugly fruition—but obsessed as he was, he didn't notice.
And now, in the Yun Clan, he wasn't the only one showing those symptoms.
That was precisely...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The sudden assault.
"Ha! Fools... How dare they pull this at the Yun Clan's home base?"
"Move, move! We have to seal the west gate quick! Anyone who lags gets twenty sets of special training later!"
But the Yun Clan's response was lightning-fast.
Right after explosions rocked the outer castle, alarms blared everywhere as cultivators rushed out.
Love it or hate it, this was their home turf.
The main house hadn't faced a direct raid in ages, but their thorough prior training meant no one panicked or floundered despite the surprise.
"Kehihihit—! The time has finally come!"
"The Yun Clan... A fine start. They'll make excellent sacrifices."
"Yeehaw! The festival of madness begins at last!"
One problem, though.
The ferocious foes they faced were no pushovers either.
"These ominous chakra signatures...!"
"Demonic path cultivators! Steel your minds and bodies!"
"If you can't hold, fall back on your own! You'll just get in the way—don't get cocky, prioritize evacuating the civilians!"
Heterodox who delved into negative concepts and fell to corruption—demonic path cultivators.
Their terror wasn't just in bizarre abilities or twisted mindsets.
"...Give up. Giving up is easy. Let me show you how peaceful surrender can be."
"Dance with me, friends! Life is short, so shake till your bones shatter and muscles tear~!"
"Ahh—such delightful chaos. What a beautiful night."
The negative chakra emanating from them spread everywhere, lying in wait to corrupt approaching cultivators.
The purer one was, the easier the demonic taint spread.
And once stained, reversal was no simple matter.
Like how white clothes stain easily, and traces linger even after washing.
For chakra cultivators who prized mental discipline, the negative auras from demonic cultivators were a dire threat in themselves.
Mental barriers couldn't block every intrusion forever.
A momentary lapse in fierce combat, and there was no turning back.
Thus, common sense dictated higher-level cultivators handle demonic foes for sure suppression... but.
"Tch, when did so many demonic path cultivators of this caliber...?"
"It's not just here! The whole outer castle's in chaos!"
"Did every bastard from across the continent swarm here?"
Beings radiating unnatural menace asserted their presence from all sides.
Not just their numbers moving in unison—unbelievable—but that no one noticed until they breached the outer castle was more shocking.
It meant massive holes in the Yun Clan's supposedly ironclad intelligence network.
"Hold! Hold out, and reinforcements from the inner castle will come!"
In the end, their task was set in stone.
Caught off-guard momentarily, they were still a top continental mega-force.
Nearly ten inner-layer cultivators, dozens in upper layers.
Not all at the main house, but the remaining forces here should suffice to wipe them out.
Boom!
Explosions of battle echoed across the outer castle.
Invaders rampaging mercilessly as if they'd waited for this moment, versus cultivators blocking them while shielding civilians as much as possible.
And those blasts didn't spare the guest lodgings in one corner of the outer castle.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Hun reacted the instant the first explosion hit.
Having shrouded Ramyu in a holy barrier for emergencies, he stepped out to pinpoint the source.
The blast was too close to ignore.
'What the—?'
In the air beside the guest lodgings, space cracked like shattered glass with a gaping hole.
Rumble—!
The deafening roar leaked from there.
Not a mere bomb—space itself collapsing.
'Not just here. This assault spans a wide area.'
Incomprehensible.
He'd confirmed it multiple times upon arrival and during chakra training.
The powerful barrier enveloping the entire grounds.
'Something's wrong with the barrier?'
Only one explanation fit the situation.
'Spies infiltrated inside sabotaged it.'
Probably tied to that ominous feeling before checking in.
But no time for past regrets now.
Step, step—
A shadowy figure emerged walking from the spatial rift.
"H-Hic! Wh-what's that?!"
Mac Morris, out defending amid the commotion, barely stammered through his trembling voice.
The Yun Clan cultivators arriving to secure the area showed similar reactions.
Their shock was understandable.
A mummy wrapped head to toe in black bandages approached step by deliberate step.
The wrappings so thick and meticulous, even gender was indeterminable.
Arms crossed at the chest, nailed firmly near the shoulders; thick wooden stakes pierced where eyes and ears should be.
'Not all. Tiny needles stud the whole body too...?'
A horrific, agonizing sight just to behold.
One might wonder how it even lived.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [Have you... ever faced true terror...?] With those words.
A viscous wave swept everywhere.
"Gh! Ack! In-insane...!"
Exposed, Mac paled and staggered back.
Merely a lower-layer cultivator, but with his unique skill, he matched upper-layer fighters.
For such a man to lose all will from mere presence...
"An inner-layer demonic path cultivator."
Hun murmured lowly, eyes narrowed on the foe.
Obvious at a glance.
This monster outclassed the deputy general he'd slain recently.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [What is fear...? Where does it originate? Hideous monsters? Physical agony? Despair gnawing the soul...?] The foe was lost in its own world.
Naturally—for such a powerhouse, it had already grasped that no one here could touch it even if they all charged.
Against strength even Lusette couldn't guarantee victory over, such leisure was neither arrogance nor bluff.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [It took so much time to learn. ...But I found my own answer at the end.] The black mummy's body writhed.
Like vinyl refusing to tear, human limbs, even facial shapes bulged from below.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [The 'unknown' is the fear I discovered.] Then.
Its body expanded.
Larger than the lavish lodging building.
Immense enough to crush the city.
Vast enough to blanket the world.
...Or maybe not. Perhaps mere illusion.
Hundreds of hands burst from its form.
No—thousands of tentacles? Or tens of thousands of sharp spines?
Eyes or mouths—or navels, tongues—sprouted densely across the flesh.
'Can't comprehend it.'
No illusion.
The laws constituting its existence twisted chaotically.
Instinct screamed it.
Without proper cognition, no attack would land.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [Drown in terror.] A decree from the heavens.
Everyone in the lodgings was already combat-ineffective.
Blank stares fixed vacantly upward.
As if to finish them, tentacles extended, crushing space.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Hun-Ryu Ninjutsu Secret Technique Art of the Clone
But those tendrils.
Merely rent empty air.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [......] The entity silently turned to Hun.
At the cluster of identical faces clutching the defenseless crowd, bodies shifted back.
It tilted its head quizzically.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [...How?] Two meanings there.
How he stayed sane, and how he dodged an uncognizable strike.
Hun had no intention of politely answering.
"Whew, what is this, some Cthulhu knockoff?"
Grumbling a sigh, he furrowed his brow.
Still couldn't fully perceive the foe.
But its fear-based chakra held no sway over him either.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [You...] Noticing, the faux Cthulhu halted in disbelief.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [No fear in you.] More than that.
Its inner-layer fear could induce seizures even in the emotionally numb insane.
Anger disorders or psychopaths would wet themselves and foam at the mouth normally.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [How is that possible...?] "Beats me."
Hun shrugged nonchalantly.
A light attitude clashing with the scene.
'This is tricky.'
Never a foe he could beat head-on.
Inner-layer fear, plus the derived "unknown" concept.
His trump card here: the ultimate secret technique 'Thought Rampage'.
'Is it really okay? This guy's aptitude for that realm seems perfect.'
Worried it'd just feed EXP.
No time to dally, though.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [Perhaps you're the key to the celestial pattern... I was right to heed him. Thanks to that, I have a fine test subject...] The enemy's dark intent loomed right before him.
'Screw it! Worst case, call the friends!'
With a way to clean up, no hesitation in acting.
Hun bellowed at the indistinct form.
⚡ ULTIMATE SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Hun-Ryu Ninjutsu Ultimate Secret Technique! Thought Rampage
His attacks wouldn't land.
Strictly, Thought Rampage was telepathy, not an attack.
Their recent exchange was communication too.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [Hm...?] 「Mental Resonance」 linked via that causality—no surprise.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [What trick is this... This is...?] Thoughts backflowed.
But the reaction differed from usual.
⚙ TELEPATHIC MESSAGE ⚙ [Oh... Ooooh...!] Like beholding longed-for truth, the faux Cthulhu exulted.
To its taste, it greedily slurped the flooding thoughts.