Chapter 447
Chapter 447
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 115
>Chapter Title: Evil Heart Granny (5)
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Just half a gak earlier.
By the time Lady Yuk Cheon-ho So Ye-rin arrived near the bamboo grove, the battle was already in full swing.
It was a standoff between those blocking entry into the grove and those trying to force their way through.
One side numbered in the hundreds, while the other was a mere handful.
Yet that small group consisted entirely of transcendent masters beyond the supreme realm, maintaining a precarious balance.
*Am I too late?*
Watching their clash, she couldn’t fathom what was happening.
She had hurried as fast as possible, but had the secret meeting started even earlier?
Then, her eyes caught sight of someone.
It was Mara-hyeon, the masked warrior who had served as her aide in the Imperial Guard.
[Mara-hyeon!]
[Lady Yuk Cheon-ho!]
He spotted her too and shouted back.
She charged toward the enemies swarming him, sweeping them away in an instant with Four Shadows Fists and Legs, one of the ultimate techniques from the Wind Shadow Eight Styles.
-Papapapapapak!
[Gurk!]
[Kugh!]
Having dispatched over a dozen peak experts with a single ultimate move, she quickly asked Mara-hyeon.
[Has Lord Dam Baek-ha arrived already?]
She had asked Blood Saint Dam Baek-ha of the Blood Religion to relay the information she’d uncovered to Mok Kyung-un.
Unlike her, who had rushed straight to the bamboo grove, Dam Baek-ha would need time to receive and pass on the message, so she had expected him to be late.
Yet seeing Mara-hyeon here, along with familiar faces like Seop Chun and Mong Mu-yak, meant Mok Kyung-un must have arrived too.
But,
[Lord Dam Baek-ha? What do you mean?]
[Didn’t you receive my message from him?]
Mara-hyeon responded with genuine confusion.
[No, that’s not it. We followed our lord here to stop the secret meeting from seizing that dangerous forbidden alchemy.]
[Ah...]
Relieved by his answer, So Ye-rin nodded, inwardly amazed.
Mok Kyung-un had already uncovered the information she’d obtained and had even acted first.
Had they not arrived ahead of her, that vital forbidden alchemy might have fallen into enemy hands.
In any case, who arrived first was no longer the issue.
*That cannot fall into their hands.*
She scanned the surroundings and asked.
[Where is Young Master Mok?]
[Enemies slipped in ahead of us, so we entered the bamboo grove to block him.]
[Someone got in first?]
[Yes. The grove has gone much quieter than before, so our lord might have subdued them already... Oh no!]
Just then, Mara-hyeon spotted masked secret meeting members breaking through their line and racing toward the bamboo grove.
He moved to intercept, but Lady Yuk Cheon-ho So Ye-rin held out a hand to stop him and shot forward.
-Pat!
[I’ll handle them. Hold this position!]
[Understood.]
Though Mok Kyung-un’s forces held the edge in skill, the sheer number of enemies meant some inevitably slipped through.
Mara-hyeon considered it fortunate, though.
She had arrived at the perfect moment—their greatest ally.
So Ye-rin, using Wind Shadow Steps to create afterimages, swiftly overtook those employing lightness skills toward the grove and subdued them.
-Chak! Chak! Chachachachachak!
Subduing five masked foes took her only the count of three.
After dispatching them in one breath, she turned to aid Mara-hyeon and the others but paused at a sound from within the bamboo grove.
-Chang! Chang!
The clash of combat echoed from inside.
-Kikikikekeok!
-Kaak! Kaak!
*What’s that?*
She plunged into the grove and found a swordsman battling grotesque evil phantoms.
It was the Ghost Sword.
Having followed Mok Kyung-un toward the rift in twisted space, the Ghost Sword was now holding off the evil phantoms emerging from the hole Pae Ja had created.
So Ye-rin, seeing the Ghost Sword for the first time, couldn’t hide her inner astonishment.
Despite apparent injuries, he was effortlessly handling formidable-looking evil phantoms with extraordinary swordsmanship.
*The Four-Two Blossom has reached its pinnacle.*
Countering stronger foes with minimal force—that was the essence of Four-Two Blossom.
The Ghost Sword deflected even the phantoms’ bizarre attacks with his blade, flowing into strikes against others, demonstrating profound mastery.
But the evil phantoms were no pushovers, and with more continually crawling from the hole, he seemed overwhelmed alone.
She shot forward to assist, attacking the phantoms.
[I’ll help too!]
-Pat!
But then,
[Hoo... Hoo... I don’t know who you are, but if you serve him, go aid the one who entered that rift.]
The Ghost Sword refused, pointing with his left hand toward the spatial tear.
Lady Yuk Cheon-ho So Ye-rin blinked at his words.
*One who serves him?*
What did that mean?
Had he mistaken her for one of Mok Kyung-un’s subordinates?
In truth, she had assumed he was an acquaintance or ally of Mok Kyung-un.
Puzzled, she heard the Ghost Sword shout.
[The secret meeting’s top executive is inside. If that forbidden alchemy falls to him, it’s all over.]
[The secret meeting?]
So they hadn’t fully stopped them after all?
At the Ghost Sword’s cry, So Ye-rin veered toward the twisted spatial rift.
* * *
Entering, the first thing Lady Yuk Cheon-ho So Ye-rin noticed was the scorched grassland and a man in white scale armor lying unconscious.
Her gaze didn’t linger on him.
It was drawn to the two peerless masters locked in confrontation with an ominous aura.
*...No way?*
She was stunned inwardly.
The pressure emanating from them surpassed even Yuk Cheon—no, the Seven Heavens—including North Blade King Gu Seong-baek of the Imperial Guard, the pinnacle of the current martial world.
She couldn’t help but be genuinely shocked.
*Is that really Young Master Mok?*
She knew better than anyone of his monstrous talent, having clashed with him herself.
But this was beyond belief.
It had been scarcely two months since they parted at the imperial palace.
She too had advanced through insights from her duel with the North Blade King, but this was astonishing.
What Mok Kyung-un held was undoubtedly a formless sword, achievable only at Sword Pinnacle.
Which meant,
*He’s surpassed the wall of walls?*
A true monster beyond human limits.
How could such a being exist?
Regaining her composure after a moment of speechlessness, she turned to his opponent.
Mok Kyung-un’s explosive growth was one thing, but this woman was no slouch either.
She appeared barely into her early twenties—how had she reached such heights?
Their presence demanded a reevaluation of the martial world’s pinnacle titles.
Then, as Lady Yuk Cheon-ho So Ye-rin eyed the woman facing Mok Kyung-un, her eyes widened.
*No, it can’t be?*
She recalled a tale her father, Jin Yeong-in, had once told her.
He had shared ancestral legends like old folktales, describing figures in vivid detail.
Thus, she remembered clearly.
*Impossible. Is she still alive?*
Too shocked, she clapped a hand over her mouth.
It strained belief, but she quickly composed herself.
Elderly figures like the elder and Blood Saint Dam Baek-ha had lived this long—why not her?
Moreover, she had been the longest-lived even back then.
She knew she couldn’t stand by.
*I must stop their fight.*
-Pat!
Darting between the standoff, So Ye-rin shouted.
“Stop!!!”
Despite her tearing cry, neither Mok Kyung-un nor the Evil Heart Granny shifted their gaze from each other.
Seeing it wouldn’t work, she wedged herself between them with a burst of movement.
The Evil Heart Granny snapped at her.
“Don’t interfere, wench.”
“I can’t let you. Evil Heart Granny Cheol Su-ryeon.”
“You... who are you?”
At her question, Lady Yuk Cheon-ho So Ye-rin circulated the Blood Heaven Great Net Skill.
-Goooong!
Her black hair turned blood-red.
The Evil Heart Granny’s eyes widened at the sight.
Facing her, with hair now fully crimson, Lady Yuk Cheon-ho So Ye-rin clasped her hands in salute and said.
“The last lesser castle lord of the Peerless Holy Castle, daughter of Jin Yeong-in, Jin Ye-rin, greets Lady Cheol Su-ryeon, loyal retainer of that lord.”
!?
The Evil Heart Granny, her battle intent at its peak, softened completely.
This woman before her was his blood heir?
The blood-red hair alone proved undeniable kinship.
Then who was the man facing her?
She had assumed him a blood heir too, given his Starlight Sword Method—one of his signature techniques—and Wind Shadow Eight Styles lightness skill.
As if reading her thoughts, So Ye-rin—no, Jin Ye-rin—turned to Mok Kyung-un and said.
“Young Master Mok. She’s not the enemy. Please stop. And Lady Cheol Su-ryeon. Young Master Mok here has no ties to our Jin Clan. He is the Death...”
-Ossok!
Before she could finish.
*!!!!*
Jin Ye-rin had assumed announcing allies would end the fight.
But something utterly unexpected happened.
Mok Kyung-un lunged with overwhelming killing intent.
“Young Master Mok...”
-Pak!
“Ah!”
As he swung his hand, savage energy hurled Jin Ye-rin’s body aside.
His form blurred into a black line slicing through the air.
*This is bad!*
The Evil Heart Granny, whose fervor had waned at Jin Ye-rin’s arrival, hastily gathered her power into a single thrust, wrapping both hands in formless aura to catch it.
Unlike the early exchanges, she knew she couldn’t block his now keener sword outright.
She needed her full might.
-Pachachachachachang!
The clash of formless aura hands and formless sword erupted in a flash, blue flames scattering as the ground cracked and sank from the shockwave.
-Kwarrrrrr!
-Parrrrr!
The Evil Heart Granny’s hands and arms trembled violently.
Her face twisted.
Though her intent had dipped, this strike far exceeded prior power.
From the sword poured a singular obsession to kill her... and...
-Seumulseumul!
*What’s this?*
The formless sword was staining with ferocious black energy.
-Tak! Tak!
“Hup!”
Her form began inching backward.
Moreover,
-Patteut!
Cracks spiderwebbed near the palms of her formless aura hands gripping the sword.
She realized then.
It wasn’t about intent.
In this moment, this man was overwhelming her.
If she released and retreated, she’d be bisected.
-Grit!
Life hanging by a thread, she poured every ounce of her true qi into her hands, beyond her limits.
Her formless aura glowed even whiter.
Then, someone pierced the massive shockwave, shouting desperately.
-Paaaang!
“Young... Master... Mok... Stop...!”
Protected by blood-red energy, she still struggled to breathe amid the aftermath.
Concerned, the Evil Heart Granny forced out words.
“Why... are you... doing this? If you’re tied... to the Jin bloodline... there’s no reason... to fight... to the death...”
“The price for erasing her.”
“Her? What...”
!?
The Evil Heart Granny’s face contorted.
Wondering who “she” was, the word “erase” sparked a suspicion.
Hesitant, she asked.
“Wait... You don’t mean... that... lingering soul...?”
“Your life is the price.”
“Ha?”
The Evil Heart Granny was utterly dumbfounded.
Truly killing her over one lingering soul?
What was this soul to provoke such rage and bloodlust?
It made no sense, but she revealed the truth.
“I didn’t... erase... her.”
“...What?”
“That... lingering soul... wench is... trapped... in that thatched hut... over there.”
No sooner had she spoken.
-Paat!
“Huh?”
Mok Kyung-un, pressing with lethal sword intent, abruptly withdrew his power—not deflecting, but yielding.
Unable to counter the sudden release, the Evil Heart Granny tumbled forward.
-Kwaaaang!
Unable to halt her momentum, the ground shattered where her formless aura touched, caving in.
Regardless, Mok Kyung-un shot toward the thatched hut.
!?
Watching his back, even Jin Ye-rin stared in bewilderment, uncomprehending.
*His expression?*
It had changed.
The cold, indifferent face filled with venomous killing intent had suddenly brightened.