Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 254
>Chapter Title: Archenemy (1)
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Il-mok fell deep into thought.
‘Should I kill that bastard right now?’
It was the justification he needed to escape the clutches of his master and senior brother, but an archenemy was still an archenemy.
No matter how he sliced it, that guy was the reason Tae-hyeon had lost his life.
The problem was the timing.
He desperately wanted to kill him, but the situation wasn’t favorable.
‘It’s a trap laid by the Blood Cult bastards. If I get into a scuffle with him for no reason, the others might end up in danger.’
His top priority was getting the group out from under the formation’s influence, so he decided to put off his revenge for now.
There might be a chance after the fight with the Blood Cult was over—or even if not, the opportunity would come eventually.
While Il-mok pondered his revenge alone,
The Flying Dragon Branch Leader looked at him with a cold expression and spoke.
“How peculiar. The Maitreya Divine Cult, said to be in Gansu—how did you know the Blood Cult was here and come looking?”
Unlike the Beggars’ Sect, which had friendly ties with the Maitreya Divine Cult, the Flying Dragon Branch Leader eyed Il-mok with suspicion.
Il-mok, seizing the moment with quick wits, mixed truth and lies in his response.
“Recently, the Sichuan Tang Clan was scheming something in Pingliang County.”
“…The Sichuan Tang Clan?”
The sudden mention of the Tang Clan left the Flying Dragon Branch Leader and Chui-gae with strange looks on their faces.
Ignoring that, Il-mok continued.
“The Beggars’ Sect might have heard through Hubang, but Pingliang County had become a living hell for the common folk because of some guy called Ghost Valley Child. And that Ghost Valley Child was highly likely connected to the Blood Cult.”
“We know that. The Maitreya Divine Cult tipped us off about him, which is how we started tracking the Blood Cult’s traces.”
Chui-gae’s interjection lent credibility to Il-mok’s words.
“So we in the Maitreya Divine Cult were working to save Pingliang’s innocent people, but then the Tang Clan suddenly started meddling. Doesn’t that seem suspicious?”
“…So you’re saying the Tang Clan is tied to the Blood Cult?”
Il-mok shook his head at the Flying Dragon Branch Leader’s question.
“I don’t know. We just came to Sichuan because they seemed fishy, and we happened to hear rumors about the Heavenly Demon Secret Grotto. The circumstances and timing were too coincidental, so we followed up—and this formation blanketing all of White Crane Mountain confirmed it. The Blood Cult is here.”
Il-mok omitted any mention of the Black Island Clan or the Soaring Heaven Sword.
Talking about the Black Island Clan seemed too trivial and would drag on, while the Soaring Heaven Sword was for precautions against the unknown.
There was an old saying in the jianghu: hide thirty percent of your strength. In that vein, there was no good reason to reveal a treasure like the Soaring Heaven Sword.
On top of that.
‘Even though I resolved the vengeful spirits earlier, it’s still an item connected to the Blood Cult. No need to invite needless misunderstandings or accusations.’
Getting wrongly implicated with the Blood Cult could lead to headaches.
He couldn’t very well dispel suspicions by saying, ‘Actually, we’re from the Demonic Cult,’ now could he?
Chui-gae nodded in convinced agreement at Il-mok’s reasonable explanation, but suspicion lingered in the Flying Dragon Branch Leader’s eyes.
“Hmm. Seems more like you’re after the Heavenly Demon Secret Grotto than the Blood Cult.”
Il-mok let out a sigh laced with irritation at the persistent doubt.
“Whether it’s the Blood Cult or the Heavenly Demon Secret Grotto, does that even matter right now? If you plan to waste time like this, I’ll head on ahead.”
As the Flying Dragon Branch Leader opened his mouth to argue again at Il-mok’s words, Chui-gae stepped in.
“Flying Dragon Branch Leader, even now, people might be dying all over White Crane Mountain because of this formation. The same goes for our Beggars’ Sect disciples and your pavilion members.”
Chui-gae’s intervention wasn’t just out of trust in the Maitreya Divine Cult. His distrust of the Flying Dragon Branch Leader played a bigger role.
On the way here, the Branch Leader had dawdled multiple times, as if dragging out time.
Sensing Chui-gae’s intentions, the Flying Dragon Branch Leader swallowed a silent sigh and cupped his fists toward Il-mok.
“You and Elder Chui-gae are right. Sorry for taking your time in this urgent moment.”
It was mere formality; no actual remorse came through.
‘Tch.’
Il-mok clicked his tongue inwardly and returned the fist-cupping gesture.
Saving the group came first right now.
* * *
Il-mok moved through White Crane Mountain alongside Chui-gae and the Flying Dragon Branch Leader.
Perhaps because both had experience tracking people, they read the flow of qi and traces with impressive skill.
Watching from a step behind, Il-mok sorted through what he’d grasped so far.
‘Looks like those two didn’t come alone.’
Chui-gae had said the Beggars’ Sect disciples and pavilion members were in danger too.
Meaning they were trapped in nightmares by the formation as well, and only Chui-gae and the Branch Leader had escaped its influence.
But compared to the Demonic Cultists, they were probably in less peril.
Unlike Il-mok, who’d broken free with the Soaring Heaven Sword’s help, those two had done it on their own power.
‘Is this the difference between pure martial arts and demonic arts…? Well, difference in realm plays a part too.’
He’d sensed it from their first encounter, but neither Chui-gae nor the Flying Dragon Branch Leader was to be underestimated.
They were equals at minimum—perhaps even a step or two above him. Masters he couldn’t guarantee victory against easily.
Whiiiing.
On the way to the formation’s core, the Soaring Heaven Sword in Il-mok’s hand let out a cry again.
“It’s been humming intermittently since earlier. What kind of sword is that, anyway?”
Chui-gae, who’d held back out of etiquette—prying into another’s weapon or martial art was a grave breach in the jianghu—finally gave in to curiosity.
Il-mok replied with a straight face, lying smoothly.
“It’s a sword infused with the energy of dispelling evil. Seems the Blood Cult’s formation is irritating it, so it’s been crying out since before.”
In truth, it only reacted to Blood Cult matters.
“Ha ha ha. Devoted to slaying evil, eh? A sword truly fitting for the Maitreya Divine Cult.”
Il-mok shrugged at Chui-gae’s words and said,
“Judging by the sword’s vibrations, it’s this way.”
With the Soaring Heaven Sword’s guidance, they followed the traces for a while longer alongside Chui-gae and the Branch Leader.
Whiiiiiing.
Before a thicket, the Soaring Heaven Sword wailed as if seized by hysteria.
“The traces lead here… but I sense no presence at all.”
“The traces vanish completely right in front of the thicket.”
Chui-gae and the Flying Dragon Branch Leader muttered as much, then nodded in unison.
“It’s a formation.”
“A formation.”
Realizing one lay ahead, they pondered briefly before clicking their tongues.
“No time to leisurely find the formation’s vital point.”
“We’ll have to smash through with force.”
They spaced themselves out, took positions, and turned to Il-mok.
“Join us.”
Il-mok smartly positioned himself between them and drew qi from his dantian.
Matching him, Chui-gae and the Branch Leader assumed stances and prepared their ultimate techniques.
Chui-gae moved first.
“Haaah!”
With a mighty roar, dragon-shaped qi surged from his outstretched palms.
Jade Dragon Eight Palms. A step below the Mighty Dragon Eighteen Palms and Beggar Staff Method passed only to the Beggars’ Sect Leader and Hubang, but still worthy of being called an ultimate art.
As Chui-gae’s dragon qi clashed with the formation amid a deafening boom, the Flying Dragon Branch Leader silently swung his sword.
Slaaaaaaash!
His blade, shrouded in a pale qi unusual for sword energy, rent the formation with a chilling screech, as if slicing space itself.
Catching the disrupted qi flow, Il-mok swung the Soaring Heaven Sword without hesitation.
Applying the insight gained from shattering Ghost Valley Child’s blood qi membrane long ago, his single stroke pulverized the twisted flow.
And more than that.
‘Crazy.’
The formation’s qi touching the Soaring Heaven Sword was absorbed into it, accelerating the formation’s collapse.
Likely because it was a Blood Cult formation laced with blood qi, producing this effect.
‘Spit it out!’
Il-mok converted the absorbed blood qi into sword qi with each draw, slashing through the formation.
Spotting the formation’s qi dissipating in an instant, Chui-gae cried out in admiration.
“Indeed! So it really does dispel evil!”
Chui-gae, seeing only the fading qi, misunderstood it as the sword neutralizing blood qi.
The Flying Dragon Branch Leader glanced at Il-mok with a subtle expression but soon turned to face forward.
The formation, its balance utterly shattered, crumbled away. The thicket blocking their view vanished like a mirage, revealing a bizarre scene.
A vast clearing pockmarked with depressions of various shapes around a massive altar.
Over a dozen people milling about it, and at the altar’s center, a scrawny elder radiating immense energy.
“No way.”
“To think they hid this much power.”
It was no moment to look elsewhere.
They instinctively knew.
That scrawny elder in the center was preparing something outrageous.
At that moment, a portly elder beside him bellowed a laugh that rang in their ears.
“Uahaha! Looks like a few usable ones were left after all!”
Grinning with delight, he turned to the scrawny elder.
“I’ll handle those pests, so focus on the grand ritual, Third Elder.”
The one called Third Elder, deep in the ritual, kept his eyes closed and said nothing.
Even with intruders, Third Elder silently tuned the massive energy, and taking that as his answer, the portly elder strode forward.
“Uahaha! I was worried it’d get lonely with no one showing up, but you’ve come to entertain me. Thanks!”
The closer the boisterously laughing elder came, the denser the qi emanating from him grew.
Just his leaking presence was so ferocious it made their hair stand on end, giving Il-mok a strange sense of déjà vu.
‘…Reminds me of when big senior brother went berserk.’
The day Great Young Master Wi Jin-hak had rampaged right before entering Transcending Demon realm. The energy he’d scattered like a madman matched this level.
‘A master on the verge of Human Realm.’
Undoubtedly several cuts above him, but gauging his realm was easy. He was flaring his qi like a lunatic.
While Il-mok assessed the elder inwardly, the now-approaching man flashed a murderous grin and shouted.
“Come on, entertain me!”
With that, the ground exploded, and the elder’s body stretched impossibly long, crossing the space toward them.
He targeted Chui-gae first.
Blood-red qi churned along his massive saber swing, and Chui-gae barely blocked it with twin palms infused with Jade Dragon Eight Palms qi.
Boom!!
“Urk….”
As Chui-gae staggered back, pushed by raw power,
Flash!
The Flying Dragon Branch Leader soundlessly closed in during the saber swing, thrusting his sword.
“Uahaha!”
Like a cat toying with mice, the elder laughed heartily and narrowly dodged.
The Flying Dragon Branch Leader retreated lightly to evade the counter,
Slaaaaaaash!
The elder’s saber grazed past his nose.
‘Now.’
The Branch Leader had hoped the incarnation of Maitreya would strike the elder in this moment.
“!?”
But what he saw was the Maitreya incarnation using lightness skill to widen the distance.
“Hold that guy off! Breaking the formation comes first, so I’ll go after that one!”
At the Maitreya incarnation’s shout, veins bulged on the Flying Dragon Branch Leader’s forehead for the first time.