Speak Up! Do You Want to Live? (107/2199)
Swish-!
A single golden flying dagger pierced through his throat.
The neck of the Divine Fusion Realm expert sprayed blood as it fell limply to the ground.
Mu Yun Qi caught the dagger and yelled toward Yeop Hyeon.
"Yeop! Hands off my kills!"
Yeop Hyeon didn't respond. He simply swung his hand.
Swish-!
The head of a Divine Fusion Realm expert dozens of paces away flew off in an instant!
Instant kill!
The eyes of the Changmok Academy students who witnessed it filled with terror.
But none of them moved to surrender.
Surrendering to the enemy felt like a humiliation worse than death.
Both sides had reached the point of no return.
Once all the Divine Fusion Realm experts were eliminated, the one-sided slaughter began. Amid the screams of the Changmok Academy students, their heads endlessly soared into the sky.
Some of the onlookers watching this mad scene turned pale, while others couldn't bear to look and fled down the mountain.
The acrid stench of blood swirled chaotically in the air.
Today was the end of Changmok Academy.
Of the hundred or so students, only a dozen still stood on their own two feet.
It wasn't because they were skilled that they survived. Yeop Hyeon had deliberately spared them.
The remaining students huddled shoulder to shoulder, stumbling backward. Their bodies were drenched in blood, as if they had bathed in it.
Yeop Hyeon, standing before them, asked,
"Speak up. Do you want to live?"
"Hah! Even if I have to die standing..."
Swish-!
A head sliced off right beside them. The students recoiled in fright.
Yeop Hyeon pointed at one of them.
"Do you want to live?"
The pointed student cleared his throat, about to answer—
Swish-!
His body split in two and slowly toppled over.
It could be seen as cruel. But this battle could only end this way. If Canglan Academy had lost, they would have met an even more brutal fate.
Once war had begun, they had to be utterly ruthless.
Yeop Hyeon pointed at the student next to him. The boy cried out in terror,
"Y-Yes, I want to live! I really want to live!"
The student's legs shook so badly he could barely stand.
At that moment, the Spirit Water Sword hovering beside Yeop Hyeon twitched slightly. The other students jumped in alarm and shouted in unison,
"Y-Yes, we want to live! Spare our lives, and we'll do anything you say!"
Not everyone in the world had the courage to throw away their own life. Especially not when a chance to live presented itself.
Yeop Hyeon glanced down the mountain and said,
"There are thirty-six corpses along this mountain path. From now on, take them home. But as I said before—on your knees."
Everyone's faces darkened.
Carry those corpses back walking? It was a humiliation no ordinary person could bear.
"Compared to what you did to them, this is nothing. If you refuse, no choice. We'll leave your heads here to appease their restless spirits."
At that moment, the Spirit Water Sword began slowly circling above the students' heads.
Yeop Hyeon held up three fingers.
"I'll count to three. One..."
The Changmok Academy students clenched their fists, faces twisted. Sweat poured from their brows.
"Two!"
Right then, the Spirit Water Sword plunged toward one of their heads.
Splatter-!
One student was struck down by the Spirit Water Sword.
Witnessing that, the mental resistance of the remaining Changmok Academy students crumbled.
The six survivors bolted down the mountain path toward the corpses on their knees.
Soon, the corpses of Canglan Academy students—who had lingered atop Chang Mountain for so long—were carried back to Canglan Academy. Of course, the Changmok Academy students transporting them crawled on their knees.
Atop Chang Mountain, Yeop Hyeon and his group stood gazing toward Changmok Academy. The piles of corpses at their feet and the congealing blood created a grotesque atmosphere.
With this, Changmok Academy of Jiang Kingdom was utterly destroyed.
Yeop Hyeon looked up at the sky.
"Thanks to the help of you two seniors, we triumphed over Changmok Academy. On behalf of Canglan Academy, I thank you. How about we divide the spoils from Changmok Academy equally into three shares?"
At that moment, Gu Lu-ju and Gang Wol-cheon appeared before them.
Gu Lu-ju grinned broadly.
"Let Canglan Academy take four shares. Truth be told, if your master hadn't killed I Hyeon-chang, we couldn't have destroyed Changmok Academy with our power alone. This is already a huge gain for us!"
"Then I won't hold back!"
"Hahaha! No need for formalities between allies!"
Entering Changmok Academy's treasury, Mu Yun Qi and the others felt their hearts stop. The treasures accumulated over countless years were staggering.
Forty-nine top-grade spirit weapons, six Mingjie spirit weapons—one a mid-grade Mingjie. Plus countless spirit stones, weapons, and sundries.
It was immense. They had all become instant millionaires.
Gang Wol-cheon nearly split his cheeks from grinning. This wealth could fill Jiang Kingdom's depleted coffers and sustain the nation without financial worry for the next decade!
Gu Lu-ju couldn't hide his excitement either. Once this wealth flowed into Chwiseonru, it would all become his achievement. That opened a path to entering Jungto Sinju's Chwiseonru—a dream once impossible!
Of course, Yeop Hyeon and his group were the happiest. They had been rebuilding Canglan Academy, fretting over shortages of money, spirit stones, weapons, techniques, and spirit weapons.
Raising students required no small resources, after all.
With today's harvest, they could at least complete the minimum preparations to accept students.
Yeop Hyeon wanted to build a proper academy.
They soon divided the treasures into three shares.
Yeop Hyeon's share: two Mingjie spirit weapons, sixteen top-grade spirit weapons, three Earth-grade weapons, three Earth-grade techniques, three million top-grade spirit stones, three thousand jade-grade spirit stones, and various sundries.
As they sorted the treasures, Mu Yun Qi and Bai Ze's eyes never closed.
Rare treasures piled like mountains—it was only natural.
Yeop Hyeon shoved all the treasures into the first floor of Gyeok Ok Tower. Even then, space remained.
"Then we'll take our leave."
As Yeop Hyeon bid farewell, Gu Lu-ju nodded.
"Oh, the items you entrusted last time—settlement's done. I'll send someone soon to pay."
"Thank you!"
Yeop Hyeon and his group clasped hands in respect toward the two, then descended Chang Mountain.
Gu Lu-ju watched them go with a faint smile, then turned to the treasures.
"Not a bad haul!"
Gang Wol-cheon nodded. Selling these would elevate Jiang Kingdom's national power.
Thus, all three parties claimed their gains.
Gang Wol-cheon and Gu Lu-ju met each other's eyes.
Soon, their hearty laughter echoed across Chang Mountain.
* * *
By the time Yeop Hyeon and his group reached Giun Mountain, where Canglan Academy stood, the Changmok Academy students had already transported all the corpses.
The thirty-six bodies before them were horrific. Just looking told how Changmok Academy had treated them.
On one side, the Changmok Academy students quietly awaited Yeop Hyeon's judgment.
"Go."
At his word, they scattered like pardoned prisoners.
Ji An Zhi approached the corpses and slowly circled them. Thick tears welled in her eyes again.
These past few days had been the most tearful of her life.
The four bowed deeply to the bodies.
"Rest in peace now..."
Yeop Hyeon said to Bai Ze,
"Bury them all in sunny spots and carve their names on the markers. So our future students can honor those who died for Canglan Academy. And contact their families—compensate them as best we can."
"I'll handle the families."
Yeop Hyeon nodded slightly at Mu Yun Qi's words.
"One more thing. Though Changmok Academy is gone today, it's just one of many. Our crisis isn't over. I need you all to grow stronger—me included. I won't force it. Slack off if you want. If you die by their hands, I'll give you a funeral as grand as any!"
With that, Yeop Hyeon left the three.
Mu Yun Qi and the others just stared at each other's faces in silence.
Yeop Hyeon arrived deep in the mountains. Sitting cross-legged, he brought his hands to his eyes.
Sword Eyes!
The most important thing for him now was obtaining Sword Eyes!
Yeop Hyeon prioritized cultivating Sword Eyes. Without sight, his combat power inevitably dropped.
He began analyzing the technique from the Heavenly Maiden. The more he analyzed, the more amazed he became. It defied common sense and was incredibly complex.
Sword Eyes meant using the sword as one's eyes.
To that end, the first step was forging the heart into a sword.
The heart!
The essence of Sword Eyes was the heart!
Make the heart a sword, condense sword intent, and see the world through it. In simple terms, use the sword as a medium to view the world with the heart.
Sword Eyes—strictly speaking, Heart Eyes.
Having grasped the technique, Yeop Hyeon sat cross-legged. Beside him, the Spirit Water Sword slowly rose.
In an instant, sword intent gathered around his body.
Yeop Hyeon didn't know what kind of sword intent his was. The Heavenly Maiden had vanished without teaching him.
But it didn't matter. As long as it maximized his combat power.
Yeop Hyeon slowly followed the Heavenly Maiden's technique. His entire body began emanating brilliant sword light.
The technique's essence boiled down to three steps.
Listen, feel, imagine!
Yeop Hyeon focused on his hearing.
The sound of wind. A faint breeze whispered by his ear.
Soft as spring wind, it fluttered like a butterfly, drifting gently before entering a bamboo grove. The wind rustled against the leaves, exchanging joyful voices...
At that moment, the sword intent enveloping his body shot outward.
It reached the bamboo grove overhead where the wind had just been. In an instant, Yeop Hyeon sensed the bamboos' movements—clearly, down to the finest details.
As if seeing with his own eyes!
An utterly bizarre sensation! Yeop Hyeon couldn't contain his excitement.
This was a monumental discovery.