Chapter 66
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Eighteen Battle Ghosts
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The Eighteen Battle Ghosts of the Radiant King Sect.
These were the warriors who had earned resounding merits in elevating the Radiant King Sect to its current position, each one a master who had reached the pinnacle of their realm.
Though only eighteen in number, they had shone on countless battlefields, wielding the might of an entire unit, and were thus also known as the Battle Ghost Squad.
It was no wonder, then, that the Radiant King Sect Leader placed such immense trust in them.
However, while it was the Sect Leader who had dispatched them, the one who had devised this ambush was someone else entirely.
It was Yi Jeong-myeong, the Radiant King Sect's strategist, known as the Iron-Faced Fox.
He had already come to Sichuan Province in person, biding his time for the perfect moment.
Though the goal was to punish the North Sea Ice Palace for its involvement in the destruction of the Four Sichuan Sects, there was a risk of provoking other factions in Sichuan, so a meticulous plan was essential.
While scouting around the Tang Family stronghold, Yi Jeong-myeong learned that the Fist Demon had visited the Tang Family earlier that day and immediately set the ambush in motion.
He had the Fist Demon's temperament pegged perfectly.
"The Fist Demon will no doubt seek a one-on-one clash with the North Heavenly Dragon. He doesn't bother hiding his movements, so track him well."
Upon learning that the Fist Demon had left the Tang stronghold and stopped at Mi Mountain, Yi Jeong-myeong intuited that it would be the site of their meeting.
That was why he had sent the Eighteen Battle Ghosts to lie in wait at Mi Mountain Forest, the perfect chokepoint.
Attacking on the way up might alert the Fist Demon unnecessarily, so they had timed it for his descent after the meeting—and it had paid off.
Pa-pa-pa-pat!
Seol Hwa-un's eyes flashed as he saw the Battle Ghosts charging from all directions.
'Not a single one is to be taken lightly.'
Four of them wielded curved crescent blades, each blade shimmering with vivid saber energy.
No strike could be dismissed lightly.
Pat!
Sensing a chill, Seol Hwa-un looked up to see the Battle Ghost Leader, Go Woo-gyeon, plummeting down toward him from above.
"......!"
Front, back, left, right, and now above—attacks poured in from every direction Seol Hwa-un could move.
With his options so constrained, even the Heaven-Earth Shadowless Dance had its limits for evasion.
Hwaaak!
Golden flames erupted once more from Seol Hwa-un's fist.
'Fist Wind Inferno!'
The first form of the Thunderbolt Three Fists, the very technique that had swept away the Black Wind Gang's executives, was unleashed again.
Hwaaaa!!
The flames that burst from his fist spread outward, clashing with the Battle Ghosts' blade energies.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
The Battle Ghosts, unable to fully absorb the impact, were hurled back in all directions. But the Battle Ghost Leader was still descending from midair.
"You bastard!"
Seol Hwa-un's form spun immediately, a pillar of pure white light surging upward. It was the Ice Pillar Ascent Strike from the Full Snow Flow Fist, the same one he had shown the Fist Demon.
"......!"
Kwaang!
The Battle Ghost Leader's form was flung away as well. He couldn't hide his shock at the yin energy infiltrating his body.
'The power is secondary... This is unmistakably a yin寒 technique. He just used pure yang energy moments ago—how does he switch his internal energy so seamlessly?'
He had read the reports on Seol Hwa-un but hadn't believed them. He knew full well how difficult the feats described in the battle against the Blood Shadow Four Evils truly were.
'I thought he just got lucky against the Blood Shadow Four Evils, but clearly not.'
Still, he harbored no doubts about their victory.
'With our combined strength, we could take two Blood Shadow Four Evils.'
As if to prove it, four more Battle Ghosts lunged at Seol Hwa-un, spears in hand.
Pa-pa-pat!
Seol Hwa-un moved first, before they could fully encircle him.
He shot forward like lightning, charging straight at the one coming head-on.
"......!"
'Take him down in one blow!'
He was confident he could fell one of them with a single strike.
'Fist Cannon One—'
He was about to unleash the Ice River Nine Splits Divine Fist when a chilling killing intent prickled his brow.
"......?!"
Without time to think, he ducked his head.
Pang!
Something black whizzed past his scalp by a hair's breadth.
'An arrow?'
Incredibly, the Battle Ghost Leader now held a small shortbow trained on Seol Hwa-un.
"Fat chance."
While Seol Hwa-un hesitated, the encirclement reformed.
'Trouble.'
Shu-shu-shu-shuk!
Sharp spear tips thrust in from all sides. With his razor-sharp senses, Seol Hwa-un instantly traced their paths, spinning his body in an acrobatic blur to dodge them all.
The Battle Ghosts' eyes widened.
'He dodged all of them?!'
Before they could recover and prepare the next assault, Seol Hwa-un whipped both hands out.
Cha-cha-cha-chang!!
His fists smashed the shafts of all four spears in an instant.
"Kuh!"
The tremendous vibration traveled up the spears, drawing groans from the spear wielders as they staggered back.
He would have preferred striking them directly, but they kept their distance, leaving him no choice.
As the Battle Ghosts faltered, Seol Hwa-un broke free of the encirclement. He wanted to target one immediately, but the Leader's bow gave him pause.
The man's archery was formidable enough to demand Seol Hwa-un's full vigilance.
'I need a wider space.'
Narrow confines could favor facing multiple foes, but not for him.
Since encirclement was inevitable anyway, better to expand his room to maneuver.
Four more Battle Ghosts pressed in—swordsmen this time.
"......"
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
The Eighteen Battle Ghosts were divided into four squads: swords, blades, spears, and axes. As soon as one squad was repelled, the next charged in seamlessly.
The arrows flying in intermittently from the Battle Ghost Leader sent chills down Seol Hwa-un's spine.
The Eighteen Battle Ghosts failed to injure Seol Hwa-un, but the reverse was equally true.
In the relentless wheel battle, Seol Hwa-un's internal energy and stamina steadily drained.
From the Battle Ghosts' perspective, there was no rush. No matter how vast his reserves, they couldn't surpass the combined total of all eighteen—and the same went for stamina.
With four squads rotating, they even had ample recovery time.
Time favored the Eighteen Battle Ghosts. Seol Hwa-un knew it well.
'At this rate, I'll lose eventually.'
His eyes darkened with resolve.
It happened while facing the spear squad.
Cha-cha-cha-chang!
After batting away the spears, Seol Hwa-un surged toward one of them.
"Where do you think you're going!"
An arrow came whistling from the Battle Ghost Leader, as usual.
Hwweeeeak!
But this time, Seol Hwa-un didn't alter course. He ignored the arrow and kept charging the spearman.
The Leader tilted his head.
'Not dodging? What's he planning?'
Just as the arrow was about to strike, Seol Hwa-un's form blurred. Heaven-Earth Shadowless Dance.
"Eh!"
The arrow grazed harmlessly past. He had held it back deliberately for this critical moment.
'Now's the time!'
The first takedown was key.
Break this intricate rotation even once, and defeating all eighteen might not be impossible.
Shuaak!
His fist, brimming with internal energy, closed in on the Battle Ghost.
But Seol Hwa-un sensed something off. The Battle Ghost's initial look of alarm had steadied into calm.
"......!"
Realizing something was wrong, his senses sharpened to the extreme.
'What is it?'
In that instant, a faint chill brushed his nape—so subtle he never would have noticed without his heightened awareness.
Seol Hwa-un twisted away.
Paaak!
Something grazed his nape, blood spraying. A fraction slower, and it would have punched a hole through his throat.
'Kuh!'
He swallowed a groan with effort. He had avoided a fatal wound, but it was far from minor.
Still, his assault hadn't been in vain.
Peok!
"Ugh!"
His fist smashed into the Battle Ghost's shoulder, sending the man stumbling back with heavy damage.
"......"
Seol Hwa-un quickly pressed his acupoint to staunch the bleeding. Turning, he saw another Battle Ghost: gaunt with a goatee, the last of the eighteen who had remained hidden until now—the Battle Ghost Vice Leader.
"Truly impressive. Dodging the Soul-Chasing Butterfly."
The Soul-Chasing Butterfly was a hidden weapon—a small silver bead with wings—one of the Martial World's Eight Great Prohibited Dark Weapons.
Among countless hidden arms, it was said to be the stealthiest in the world; once launched, it was impossible to evade without knowing its path.
The Battle Ghost Leader was equally stunned.
'Dodging the Soul-Chasing Butterfly in that chaos. Did he sense the Vice Leader hiding?'
Seol Hwa-un hadn't noticed, but in truth, the Eighteen Battle Ghosts had been subtly herding him toward the Vice Leader's hiding spot.
And at the decisive moment, the Vice Leader had emerged to loose the Soul-Chasing Butterfly.
The Leader shook his head.
'No way he spotted the stealth amid that frenzy. If so, we'd call him the Nine Heavens Martial Emperor, not North Heavenly Dragon.'
Unlikely, of course. A true Nine Heavens Martial Emperor wouldn't be cornered by a joint assault like this.
'Just sharp instincts?'
He had wounded one Battle Ghost, but Seol Hwa-un was injured too—and now the hidden weapon master, the Vice Leader, had joined, tilting the fight further against him.
'Tough bastards.'
Seol Hwa-un's eyes gleamed coldly.
'It'll drain my energy badly, but...'
Woo-woong!
Pure white light enveloped his body. He had pushed the Ice White Divine Art to its maximum.
It was just as the sword squad charged at him.
"......!?"
The Battle Ghost Leader, watching intently, felt a foreboding chill.
"Stop—"
Before he could finish, Seol Hwa-un moved.
'Ice White Divine Palm!'
Paaaa!
The sword squad faced a massive palm hurtling toward them almost simultaneously.
"......!"
They swung their swords in panic.
Kwa-kwa-kwaaaang!
Jjeojeojeok!
But the overwhelming yin寒 energy froze the four Battle Ghosts solid.
Their sword energy had shielded their upper bodies somewhat, but they failed to protect fully. Their lower halves were locked in ice.
Their feet were pinned.
"Kuh!"
"Damn it!"
They tried expelling the yin energy with their own internal force, but it wasn't something they could manage quickly.
The Battle Ghost Leader's eyes nearly bulged out.
"N-No way!"
Shocked as they were, the Battle Ghosts didn't forget their roles. Four more blocked Seol Hwa-un's path.
The Leader hesitated.
'Should I intervene? No, can't just let him—'
In the meantime, Ice White Divine Palm struck again.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
Jjeojeojeok!
Three more Battle Ghosts' lower bodies froze. Only the rearmost one barely escaped the yin寒 radius unscathed.
The Leader yelled in resignation.
"Damn it! Don't get close— just keep him from escaping!"
No more froze after that, but the encirclement grew sloppy inevitably.
Seol Hwa-un exploited the Heaven-Earth Shadowless Dance to shatter it in a flash.
"Don't let him go!"
The remaining eleven Battle Ghosts pursued hot on his heels. But Seol Hwa-un evaded them easily and finally reached the edge of Mi Mountain Forest.
'Good! If I break out of the forest...'
He could head straight to the Tang stronghold—or even if re-encircled, it'd be far better than before.
Just as he was about to exit Mi Mountain Forest.
'Something's off.'
In that instant, a black shadow erupted from the ground beneath his feet.
Paak!
"......!"