Chapter 192
Chapter 192
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 192
>Chapter Title: Nancheon Society (4)
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Thud.
After the deputy leader collapsed, displaying his groveling attitude right up to the end, Danbin gazed down at his corpse for just a brief moment.
Soon, her expression turned to one of lost interest as she turned her head away.
‘Ha-yeon’s group—that girl will lead them just fine on her own.’
Turning her head away from the direction Jin Ha-yeon, Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a, and Baek Cheon had gone, she looked toward where Il-mok had headed.
“It seems the Eighth Young Master has met the Society Leader.”
It was due to that certain aura she had sensed just moments ago.
Even though they were quite a distance apart, the aura had been intense enough to reach her.
‘As the rumors say, the Society Leader appears to be a transcendent realm martial artist.’
Having made her decision, she turned her body toward the direction Il-mok had gone.
‘No matter that the Young Master has begun to transcend the Extreme Demon realm, it might not be an opponent he can handle alone.’
The superior demonic arts believed to allow one to enter the profound realm alongside a complete transformation of bones and marrow upon successful transcendence.
Those who had cultivated such superior demonic arts up to the Extreme Demon stage were at a level similar to the peak of the pinnacle by the standards of Central Plains martial artists. Like that deputy leader Danbin had just faced.
And the vast majority of the Demonic Cult’s members wandered without ever escaping the Extreme Demon stage, ultimately going mad.
Separate from talent in martial arts, enduring the peak side effects while devoting oneself to training was something impossible without exceptional mental fortitude.
Like Third Young Master Seo Wan-pyeong, who, thanks to his outstanding talent, had reached the Extreme Demon realm in his early twenties but had seen no growth for nearly a decade.
The greatest reason that Third Young Master had been able to escape the Extreme Demon realm was thanks to the existence of Il-mok.
And Il-mok, who had guided Seo Wan-pyeong’s development, had also grasped the basics of true energy at just eighteen and begun transcending the Extreme Demon realm.
To put it another way, if the Nancheon Society Leader was a master who had fully entered the transcendent realm, then he would be a formidable foe for Il-mok to face alone.
While moving to assist Il-mok just in case,
‘…They’re a bit scatterbrained kids, but they won’t run into the Society Leader or deputy leader, so they should be safe.’
Danbin gazed somewhere with a slightly worried expression.
* * *
In one corner of the Nancheon Society’s vast manor.
“Get out of the way!”
“Haap!”
“…….”
A swordsman, spearman, and archer were noisily sweeping away the Nancheon Society’s underworld thugs.
No—two noisy ones and a silent archer were sweeping them away.
Immediately after spears, swords, and arrows rampaged, butchering nearly twenty ruffians in an instant.
“Where to now? Senior Guyang.”
In a curt tone laced with clear hostility, the spearwoman asked the swordsman.
It was unlike the Ju Seo-yeon who always shone with clear eyes, shouting “Jin Ha-yeon.”
One might expect camaraderie in their shared praise of Jin Ha-yeon, but Ju Seo-yeon harbored hostility toward Guyang Mun.
Because, as a fanatic devotee of Jin Ha-yeon, she had instantly recognized it.
That Guyang Mun might seem similar to her at a glance, but he was not her kind.
‘That filthy man dares!’
Unlike her pure admiration for Jin Ha-yeon, Guyang Mun harbored dirty lust.
Of course, whether it was dirty or lustful was purely from Ju Seo-yeon’s perspective.
Even as Ju Seo-yeon radiated open hostility, Guyang Mun—lost in one thought—replied in his usual bright tone.
“We should obviously head toward where Ha-yeon went.”
“I don’t like your intentions, but I’ll accept the suggestion.”
Wanting to reunite with Jin Ha-yeon as soon as possible was the same for her, so Ju Seo-yeon willingly accepted the pervert’s idea.
And just as the two were about to unleash their lightness skills,
“Sh-Shouldn’t we… g-go help the Young Master…?”
The archer, who hadn’t uttered a single word until now, stammered it out.
“Junior Jeong. What are you saying?”
Guyang Mun and Ju Seo-yeon halted their steps and looked at Jeong Hyeon with puzzled expressions.
But Jeong Hyeon, having squeezed out every ounce of her courage, had no strength left to speak.
Gazing at the trembling Jeong Hyeon for a moment, Guyang Mun realized something and let out an exclamation.
“Ah! Now I get it! Ha-yeon will surely move to help the Young Master anyway. So it’d be much better to help the Young Master instead.”
Through the aura felt from the manor’s center, Guyang Mun had also noticed that Il-mok had clashed with the Society Leader.
And if he had noticed, then Jin Ha-yeon certainly had as well.
So.
‘This time, I’ll throw myself in the Young Master’s place and take the injury! Then Ha-yeon will hold me!!’
As expected, Guyang Mun’s mind was filled only with thoughts of Jin Ha-yeon.
‘I must throw myself first no matter what! I can’t let that pervert end up in Senior Ha-yeon’s arms!’
And unluckily, there was another mad one here.
“Let’s hurry!”
“We must save the Young Master!”
Seeing the two suddenly charge ahead with exhilarated faces, Jeong Hyeon finally exhaled her pent-up breath.
“Haa.”
A thought crossed her mind.
‘N-Next time… I have to ask the Young Master to pair me with someone else…’
Of course, there remained the question of whether she could actually make such a request to Il-mok outright.
* * *
The woman Guyang Mun and Ju Seo-yeon desperately sought.
Jin Ha-yeon was in the midst of battle with her group.
The rogues blocking them, wielding swords, blades, and spears, were all Nancheon Society executives who had reached the pinnacle realm.
Among them, in Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a’s case, matched against the spearman.
Clang!
She swung her red-glowing jade hand, barely deflecting the spear radiating spear energy, then launched her body forward.
To close into the spearman’s range.
But despite Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a’s agile movements, entering inside the spearman’s guard proved difficult.
Being able to wield hand energy alone was talent enough to call her a genius, but her age was merely fifteen.
It was no easy task facing a midlife master who had weathered countless real battles as an unorthodox martial artist.
She was simply an outlier, like Il-mok who had transcended the Extreme Demon at eighteen.
In fact, the middle-aged spearman couldn’t even imagine his opponent was fifteen.
Because Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a wore a mask, and it was a realm impossible at fifteen.
Clang!
Once again, after repelling Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a who had tried to slip in during an opening.
The middle-aged spearman, Jang Chu, swallowed a sigh inwardly.
It wasn’t because of the red woman charging at him with murderous intent.
‘Damn it. Where did these masters come from?’
Fortunately or not, among the three assailants he faced, this red woman was the weakest.
“Ahahaha! You think you can catch this body with that level of footwork?”
The madman who had been chattering nonstop flung hidden weapons while darting about as quickly as his words.
And his comrade, the swordsman facing the madman, was already covered in wounds.
As expected of a seasoned unorthodox master, he hadn’t taken a fatal injury yet.
“You bastard!!”
But his eyes were already bloodshot from the opponent’s taunts and vile fighting style.
However, the comrade toyed with by hidden weapons was still better off.
“Huff…. Huff….”
The blade user facing the woman using what seemed like ice arts exhaled white mist-like smoke with every breath.
Meaning the chill of the ice arts had already invaded his body.
His movements had grown sluggish, and from experience, Jang Chu sensed it.
That the blade user would soon lose his life.
‘Damn it all.’
Jang Chu’s face twisted as he had the leisure to assess the situation while facing the relatively weaker foe.
At this rate, they’d all die.
Sensing the crisis to his life, Jang Chu’s mind dredged up past memories for a way to survive, and soon one surfaced.
The woman using ice arts. And even the red-haired one wielding blood-red hand energy.
“They’re Demonic Cult bastards!”
Stories he’d heard once about certain Demonic Cult demonic arts.
Among them, the Bare Hand Demon Art was notoriously famous, and the Blood Fox Crimson Claw Art was equally renowned as the art of the Hyeok-ryeon family, one of the Five Great Clans.
Especially since this Gansu Province bordered Shinkang, where the Demonic Cult was based, rumors about the Cult were inevitable.
At Jang Chu’s shout, the swordsman also roughly grasped the art of the one who’d been noisily tossing hidden weapons.
“A direct descendant of one of the Five Great Demonic Families, as vile as can be!”
The place most famous for hidden weapons in the Demonic Cult was the Baek family, one of the Five Great Clans.
But knowing their identities changed little.
No. Jang Chu had made a grave mistake.
If he’d realized it only in his mind, it might have been fine, but he had dared to voice it aloud.
“Uhahaha. What nonsense! We are incarnations of Maitreya!”
As Baek Cheon spouted an absurd excuse with exaggerated acting.
“Haa.”
Jin Ha-yeon let out a light sigh and thrust out both palms, unleashing massive cold energy from her hands.
“Gaaahhh!”
The blade user, already at his limit, swung his sword with a final roar like a last struggle.
Clang!!
But his sword, clashing with the Bare Hand Demon Art multiple times, ultimately shattered under the cold.
Jin Ha-yeon’s palms, shattering the blade user’s sword, struck his chest.
Thud.
With a dull sound of ribs and muscles shattering, the blade user vomited blood and collapsed.
Witnessing his comrade fall, Jang Chu gritted his teeth.
‘At this rate, I’ll die too.’
Filled with rage, Jang Chu gripped his spear tightly and unleashed a hidden life-saving ultimate technique. To repel the red woman buzzing into his bosom like a mosquito.
Jang Chu planned to shove the damn wench away and flee. An unorthodox man had no loyalty to sacrifice his life protecting comrades.
But why was this?
Despite the ferocious energy bursting from Jang Chu’s spear, the red woman didn’t retreat.
No, she charged straight toward the massive spear energy Jang Chu created.
Even against the spear energy’s sharp killing intent, keen enough to pierce flesh and sever bone and muscle on a graze, her eyes held no fear.
The emotion in those eyes was singular.
‘Brother’s enemy is my enemy.’
Only blind faith.
With a reckless movement disregarding her life, performing an acrobatic maneuver, Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a finally burrowed into Jang Chu’s bosom.
‘Exterminate.’
In an instant, her red nails plunged into Jang Chu’s heart.
Crunch.
Even as the gruesome sound of the heart bursting echoed, and she succeeded in felling a superior master.
Hyeok-ryeon Seon-a turned her head with an emotionless face. To find the next enemy.
“Tsk.”
Next, a disappointed click of her tongue escaped her lips.
The remaining swordsman had already fallen to Jin Ha-yeon’s ice arts, freezing to death.
“Baek Young Master. Take care of those fleeing ones over there.”
At Jin Ha-yeon’s command, who had dealt with the swordsman instead, Baek Cheon hurled a barrage of hidden weapons.
To leave not a single one who had glimpsed their identities alive.
The moment she realized there were no more vermin to kill for her brother, her eyes filled with regret.
Boom!!
A massive explosion roared from the center of the Nancheon Society manor.
From the direction Il-mok had gone.