Chapter 473
Chapter 473
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 121
>Chapter Title: The Great War (5)
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Strategically speaking, the Crimson Blood Valley was in charge of the rear guard.
However, behind that, they had been assigned the mission of protecting Wi So-yeon.
-Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!
Amid the thunderous roars echoing from the peaks up ahead, he looked forward to see mountain summits crumbling down amid plumes of black smoke.
Crimson Blood Valley Lord Yi Ji-yeom furrowed his brow as he watched.
He had assumed that, with the natural fortress of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains providing high ground and the advantage of poison, it wouldn't be breached in a short time.
But what was that explosion on the peak?
‘Could there still be remnants of the Secret Society's spies inside?’
It was hard to accept otherwise.
Yi Ji-yeom shouted toward the Crimson Blood Valley warriors stationed on the peak.
“An anomaly has occurred up front. A full assault seems imminent—stay vigilant!”
“Yes, sir!!!”
-Rumble rumble rumble!
At his command, the Crimson Blood Valley warriors grouped in twelves, forming formations and entering a defensive stance.
Yi Ji-yeom climbed atop a large boulder to survey and guard the surroundings.
There was more than one rock on the peak.
Dozens of them made it hard to spot any hidden secret passages.
-Thud thud thud thud thud!
The sound of a massive crowd surging between the peaks reverberated.
With their front lines collapsing, it seemed a full assault was indeed coming.
As Crimson Blood Valley Lord Yi Ji-yeom scanned the front, his eyes suddenly sharpened.
-Flinch!
‘What’s that?’
So focused on the front, he hadn’t noticed the unidentified presences already approaching the peak from above.
Yi Ji-yeom shouted to the Crimson Blood Valley warriors.
“The enemy is climbing up! Don’t slacken your guard!”
“Yes!”
At his order, the warriors guarding the edge of the peak looked downward.
At that moment, shouts rang out simultaneously from the southeast, south, and southwest areas.
“Enemies!”
“Masked figures are coming up!”
“Block them from climbing!”
Those with bows or ranged weapons immediately loosed arrows, throwing daggers and hidden projectiles.
The masked figures stealthily ascending dodged the incoming ranged attacks with agile movements, employing lightness skills to reach the peak.
“Block them!”
“The enemy is up here!”
“Trap them in the formation!”
-Rumble rumble rumble!
As masked figures appeared all over the peak, the warriors who had already formed up surrounded them.
The number of masked figures wasn’t as large as expected.
Yet each one’s aura marked them as no ordinary masters.
Seeing this, Crimson Blood Valley Lord Yi Ji-yeom drew his sword from its sheath as well.
-Shing!
‘So it was true after all.’
Yi Ji-yeom clicked his tongue.
They had sent a small elite force of masters to sow chaos up front and trigger a full assault, then slipped in kidnappers for Wi So-yeon during the gap.
Of course, that assessment was spot on.
Neung Jin-sun, the second disciple of the Secret Society and leader of the masked figures, curled his lips smugly as he eyed Yi Ji-yeom in the center of the peak.
‘You think you can fool him?’
Memories from earlier flashed quickly through Neung Jin-sun’s mind.
[Exploiting the shadows under the lamp, eh?]
[What do you mean?]
[She’s here. Her soul and body.]
[So you brought her to the battlefield instead of the Heaven-Earth Society headquarters to catch us off guard?]
[Not a bad call. If it were any ordinary situation, that is.]
[Heh heh heh. What fools. They don’t even realize they can’t escape Mok Gan’s eyes no matter what. Then, when they fully clash, I’ll infiltrate the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains and retrieve the body.]
[No. Move now.]
[Pardon? But going now—with their guards up, and finding the body—it’ll take considerable time...]
He had judged it better to wait for a gap during the all-out battle.
That judgment wasn’t wrong, of course.
However,
[No need to wait for their rhythm. Deploy all the prepared explosives to hasten the chaos and full battle.]
[The explosives already?]
[Yes. And don’t search every peak—head straight for the Crimson Blood Valley’s position.]
“What about the Crimson Blood Valley?”
[They know the body is targeted, so they’ll have entrusted it to their most trusted retainers.]
Mok Gan’s insight had been precise.
Even in the rear, they weren’t positioned against the approach direction but centered in the middle of the peak.
That meant his prediction had hit the mark.
-Shing!
Neung Jin-sun, second disciple of the Secret Society, drew the saber strapped to his back.
-Swoooosh!
As the saber emerged, its translucent blade, nearly transparent like ice, gleamed with a chilling frost aura coiling around it.
Sensing this, Crimson Blood Valley Lord Yi Ji-yeom eyed it warily, igniting his sword with blazing heat.
-Fwoosh!
“Heh heh heh. That’s right—your opponent is me.”
It was fire sword versus ice saber—perfect opposites.
Though he couldn’t wield demonic power and thus hadn’t reached the first disciple rank, he had successfully absorbed some spiritual power from the Great Peng’s blood, earning the right to serve him closely. In reward, he received the Snow Origin Saber, forged from millennium ice by a master craftsman of the North Sea.
Those slashed by this saber imbued with extreme yin chill would have their wounds freeze and shatter.
“Shall we begin?”
-Flash!
Neung Jin-sun shot forward like lightning, unleashing a frost-charged saber strike at Crimson Blood Valley Lord Yi Ji-yeom.
Yi Ji-yeom countered with flame-wreathed sword strikes from the Blazing Flame Sword Technique.
As the two clashed, the Crimson Blood Valley warriors formed sword formations, attacking the masked figures trying to break through.
-Clang clang clang clang clang!
In an instant, the peak turned into a battlefield.
“What?”
“When did enemies reach the rear?”
Sounds of weapons clashing from nearby central peaks alerted them to the infiltration, but with the Righteous Alliance and Wicked Alliance coalition launching their full assault, they had no spare forces to help.
If they couldn’t hold back the overwhelming numbers, their new faction could face annihilation before even properly declaring independence.
“Hold them!”
“We have to delay them even a little!”
-Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Surviving archers from the explosion fired poison-mist arrows, desperately trying to stem the enemy’s full assault.
But there was no way to delay the monster leading the charge.
It was,
“Kyahahahahaha!”
A figure with sun-bronzed skin and a ferocious beast-like appearance burst through the purple poison mist with a mad laugh.
He was Hang Sim, one of the Seven Heavens and a Wicked Alliance leader, the Wild Evil Overlord.
“Fire!”
-Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!
“Hmph!”
-Slash! Swoooosh!
With a snort, he swung his saber lightly, and the arrow barrage vanished in an instant.
-Flash!
Piercing even the arrows, his form soared into the sky toward the clustered ambush of archers.
The archers, terrified by his meteor-like momentum, fled in panic, abandoning their bows.
It was right then.
-Craaaang!
Someone blocked Hang Sim as he flew in with enough force to cleave the peak.
Sword and saber clashed, sending massive shockwaves of wind pressure.
Wild Evil Overlord Hang Sim grinned, baring yellowed teeth at the one who halted his saber.
“Gu Cheon-mu!”
“Overlord Hang Sim. Long time no see.”
The one who blocked Hang Sim’s saber was none other than Gu Cheon-mu, lord of Spirit Sword Manor and another of the Seven Heavens.
As the only one who could match the Wild Evil Overlord, he had stepped forward without hesitation.
Wild Evil Overlord Hang Sim laughed delightedly.
“Kyahahaha! Worth coming to this battlefield after all. I’ve been itching to settle that grudge from before.”
At his words, Gu Cheon-mu briefly recalled the past.
The man had barged into his secluded Spirit Sword Manor alone, demanding he craft a famed saber for his unique weapon.
Though annoyed by Gu Cheon-mu’s refusal to make anything but swords, he had left quietly.
Coincidentally, Righteous Alliance Leader Jeong Hyeon-mun had arrived that day to claim the famed sword One Radiance he had just completed.
Even he couldn’t handle two grandmasters at the Profound Realm alone in enemy territory.
So he had retreated obediently, but
“What good is a weapon smith so biased? Time to teach you old manor lord the superiority of the saber over the sword. Like this! Hrah!”
-Craaaang!
The rebound from Hang Sim’s saber sent Gu Cheon-mu flying back.
But having anticipated it, Gu Cheon-mu channeled his energy and halted six paces away—not far.
‘His momentum is too high.’
-Pah!
Gu Cheon-mu clicked his tongue at the man’s ferocity, when
-Flash!
“Now it begins! Grip that sword properly!”
-Clang clang clang clang clang clang clang!
Hang Sim closed in instantly, unleashing a barrage of ferocious saber strikes that pushed Gu Cheon-mu back relentlessly.
Meanwhile, the Righteous and Wicked Alliances’ forces broke through the poison mist, ascending the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains’ peaks, and the all-out war truly began.
* * *
Meanwhile,
Inside the Supreme Sky Demon Form.
-I am the king. The Demon King who rules all the myriad demon clans.
‘The Demon King?’
-Yes, that is what I am. Though now, I can only say I *was* the Demon King.
‘......You speak as if it’s all in the past.’
-Heh heh heh. Exactly. If not, we separated consciousnesses like this would never have met.
The king of all existing demons.
For the Demon Mother’s hordes, he would be the pinnacle existence.
As he puzzled over it, the one who called himself the Demon King lightly shook his head.
-I do not belong here.
‘What......do you mean?’
-It would be more accurate to say a completely different world. A world of endless conflict and collapse. Of course, explaining it like this, a human consciousness like yours would find it hard to comprehend.
-Swish!
With that, the Demon King drew even closer.
Mok Kyung-un, immobilized by the ancient magic of the Supreme Sky Demon Form, couldn’t help but grow wary of the sudden move.
‘What are you planning?’
-I was going to wait until you attained the proper realm.
‘Wait?’
-I never imagined even her spirit lingered so pitifully.
‘......Her spirit? Wait, what are you talking about? Don’t tell me you...’
-Swish!
The Demon King pressed his index finger to the forehead of the immobile Mok Kyung-un.
With a bittersweet, wistful smile, he said,
-It is merely an impurity, a lingering attachment of mine.
‘Stop! Not yet...’
-No need to hear it. Once you accept me, you’ll know everything naturally.
No sooner had the words left his mouth.
-Fwoooosh!
The Demon King’s body erupted in black flames once more, the fire swiftly transferring through his finger to Mok Kyung-un.