Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Revenge (2)
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Time volatilizes emotions, and memories weather away, scattering to the wind.
Yet no matter how much time passes, some memories refuse to fade.
Emotions incinerated without a flame linger deep in the heart, igniting into a blaze at any moment.
Right at this instant, as I gazed at the sword held by the Shadow Sword Hall leader standing before me, the image flashed in my mind—that blade piercing straight through Wolhyang's heart.
"Oh, don't come any closer! Do you even realize what it means to lay a hand on me?!"
With that grotesque posture, that vile face, that rotting tongue, and those narrow, petty eyes too small to hold the world—how many lives had he dragged into despair?
Of course, he was just a mere limb carrying out orders. But if those filthy, repulsive hands and feet weren't severed, countless more would suffer.
"Right, Lianju, your wife! You think your wife will come out unscathed if you touch me? My subordinates have already infiltrated the Four Black Lotus. If I so much as die, your wife won't escape unharmed either..."
Slash.
"Don't spew that foul stench from your dirty mouth."
Before his words could finish, my blade severed the leader's left wrist.
"Gaaahhhh!"
The bastard writhed in agony. Rage surged within me at the sight.
Just a single wrist, and there he was, face twisted and smeared with tears and snot. Gripping my sword tighter, I glared at him.
This trash who ruined countless lives, treated human lives as mere tools, and viewed even his own subordinates as disposable—how dare he value his own body so precious? Unbearable fury boiled up.
"I-I'm the leader of the Murim Alliance's Shadow Sword Hall! You think you'll get away with this right in front of the Alliance headquarters? The Alliance Leader himself will come and slaughter you all!"
"You still haven't grasped the situation, have you?"
I glanced at Lianju. Over there, things were nearly wrapped up. The guard the leader had been fighting was bleeding from head to toe, groaning nonstop.
"Urk!"
Lianju could have ended it with one stroke, but he was holding back for my sake.
"Who do you think sent us to deal with you?"
I sneered at the leader, as if to say I already knew everything he was thinking.
"No way..."
The bastard looked bewildered.
He probably thought the Alliance Leader had seen through his betrayal and sent assassins.
"No, that can't be."
Step.
I took a slow step toward him.
"It can't be. I've prepared so thoroughly. All the effort I've poured into this plan!"
Step.
"Maybe I shouldn't have listened to those Demonic Cult whispers from the start? No, no. I could climb even higher. I can't end here in a place like this..."
"Hey."
Consumed by fear, he hadn't even noticed me approaching until he finally looked up. Then he dropped to all fours, scrambling away in panic.
It was a pathetic, miserable, ugly sight.
"No, please... Spare me, spare..."
Crunch!
I stomped on his knee and twisted.
Crack!
A gruesome sound echoed as his knee spun backward, bone protruding, blood spraying everywhere.
"Ah, aaak. Gah. Grk. Kek."
On the verge of blacking out, he couldn't even scream properly. With terrified eyes and trembling hands, he feebly tried to block me.
It suited him perfectly.
"Now die."
I raised my blade high.
"Hik!"
He shielded his face with both hands, knowing full well the blade would grind through his arms, shred his flesh, and claim his life.
And finally, the sword tip moved.
Clang!
But my sword didn't reach his neck.
His entire body had twisted and deformed into a pale purple hue, and my blade bounced off his arm.
"I... didn't want to use this method."
Crunch. Grind. Squirm.
His writhing skin expanded, surpassing seven feet in height, the purple deepening to cover his entire body.
Veins bulged grotesquely through his skin, blood nearly spurting from them.
He truly looked like a demon from hell.
"With my life, you bastards will fall into hell too."
His hair turned stark white, his bloodshot eyes glowing red—no trace of his former self remained.
Lianju's guess had been spot on.
This was the Soul-Chasing Forbidden Demon Pill.
A forbidden technique of the Demonic Cult.
Demonic arts—a broad term for the martial techniques used by the Demonic Cult. Just look at how insane their followers are; most have some fatal flaw.
Distorting body and mind is standard. Some require constantly draining women's yin energy, or siphoning life force from living humans—grotesque methods pursued for power.
Because of this, the moment one learns them, their meridians differ from a normal human's, exuding a sinister energy called demonic qi.
The origin and cause of demonic qi remain unknown. But one thing is certain: those who emit it are rarely sane.
Just like the one before me now.
"Graaaahhh!"
The Shadow Sword Hall leader let out a horrific roar, his body contorted. It was a scream as if wracked by all the world's pain.
Even within the Demonic Cult, producing this pill was forbidden. Forcing himself into demonhood with it—small wonder the torment.
Soul-Chasing Forbidden Demon Pill. The cause of the leader's monstrous transformation, known as the taboo wonder pill. It's said to grant an indestructible diamond body upon consumption.
It also boosts internal energy by over sixty years in an instant, pushing both external and internal arts to their limits—a divine elixir, they say.
As if such a sweet deal exists in this world.
"I'll kill you, kill you, I swear I'll kill you all!"
Why is this pill banned even in the Demonic Cult, where twisted methods abound?
Just look at the leader rampaging like a madman. The side effects are far too deadly compared to the gains.
Not only loss of reason, but the body can't withstand the rapid demonization—most die within half an incense stick's time.
Boom! Crash! Boom!
Unable to control his overwhelming power, the enraged bastard smashed everything in reach. Trees and massive boulders turned to powder under his steel-hard fists.
His raw strength had become absurdly monstrous.
"Hey, you worm. Open your eyes wide. Weren't you going to kill me?"
Yet I strode boldly toward him. This was exactly the scenario we'd planned.
That demonic qi-corrupted, grotesquely twisted form was proof he was a Demonic Cult spy. Sever his head, and we'd have irrefutable evidence.
The only issue was whether I could defeat him in this state...
"Die, die!"
His head now a weapon of murder, he charged the moment he saw me. As a fist the size of my torso flew in, I calmly gripped my Moon Hare Sword.
Blood Heaven Asura Art: Asura Flash.
Flash!
The precise strike toward his wrist sliced his flesh and drew blood, but failed to pierce the bone.
Demonic qi influence? Incredibly tough.
"Raaahhh!"
Blood Heaven Asura Art: Heaven-Destroying Chaotic Slash.
Dozens, hundreds of times he swung at me, and I countered with my sword. Sword qi whipped through the air, blood sprayed everywhere, his hideous form growing more distorted—yet no fatal wounds.
And already, the gash from my first strike was nearly healed.
As expected—if you don't finish it cleanly, ordinary attacks won't stick.
"I'll join you."
"No, let me finish this."
As our exchange continued, I stopped Lianju, who had dealt with the guard and returned.
If he jumped in now, the Murim Alliance would detect third-party involvement from the sword marks on the leader's body.
We could spin some excuse, but me delivering the final blow was safer.
"Hoo."
I drew frigid yin energy from my dantian.
The yin fused with sword qi, forming a crimson-iced gale. Frost clumped into ice, shaping into form.
And then it exploded outward, blanketing everything in blood and ice.
Blood Heaven Asura Art: Blood Scatter Ice Explosion.
Kaboom!
The overwhelming chill bursting from my blade tip engulfed the leader's body, freezing him and the ten-zhang radius behind solid in crimson ice.
"Uh, uuh, uh..."
Struck dead-on by that mighty frost, he was fully encased, unable even to speak.
"If I ever met you again."
I walked toward the freak frozen in ice.
"I've pondered thousands of times how to kill you in the most agonizing way."
Gathering my remaining qi, I formed sword qi.
"Chop off those cursed fingers one by one, rip out that loathsome tongue, gouge out your eyes, sear your flesh, sever your limbs to feed the dogs, then kill your half-dead husk dozens—no, hundreds more times. Even then, I thought it wouldn't vent this massive rage inside me."
The swirling sword qi took shape, becoming a blood-red blade aura.
"But I've changed. Watching you writhe in pain here, your demon-flesh slowly melting away might be quite enjoyable. Yet it wouldn't compensate for my past."
"Uh, uaa..."
He was nearly unconscious, yet his eyes showed he understood—flickers of desperate hope amid the terror.
Slash.
"This will be my first and last mercy to you."
Thud.
The leader's head hit the ground.
Even after decapitation, the Soul-Chasing Forbidden Demon Pill made his body twitch before stilling.
Once corrupted by demonic qi, the body never reverts, even in death. No dignified end for him.
But at least his suffering ended swiftly.
Compared to the horrors he'd wrought, it was overly merciful.
I grabbed his pale, lifeless hair.
I didn't close his eyes. Even in death, I wouldn't let him turn away from the sins he'd sown.
He had to stare at them wide-eyed.
That would be his sole atonement and responsibility.
For the blood of countless souls staining those hands.
For filling every footprint of his life with sin.