Chapter 314: Back and Forth (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 314: Back and Forth (1)
Rumbleeeee!
It wasn't enough to shake the entire floor like the Heavenly Demon had done, but it was more than enough to shake this whole area.
The qi compressed within the forward-thrust Fang and the Twin Dragon Swords reached an absolute extreme.
"T-this is..."
Shimmasaryong instinctively felt a sense of crisis.
If he took the Heavenly Demon's signature ultimate technique in such a highly condensed state...
It would be the end.
The jiangshi army he had poured his heart and soul into preparing would be vaporized in an instant.
"Evade! Now!" Shimmasaryong screamed at the top of his lungs.
And at that exact moment—
Crackle!
The mana that had been compressed to its absolute limit was released in sequence.
A massive light swallowed everything around Jinhyuk.
First of all, cracks began to spiderweb across the body of the Heavenly Cold Jiangshi closest to Jinhyuk.
"Kiehh?"
Its flesh burned away with a pungent stench.
Though its body, forged in extreme yin qi, possessed immense resistance to heat, even that rigid corpse could not serve as a shield this time.
Boom! Rumble!
An explosion of qi beyond imagination erupted.
Everything was dyed in pure white.
And when vision finally returned...
The visible terrain had completely changed.
"Huff!... Huff, huff..."
Shimmasaryong stumbled backward.
He had barely managed to survive because his jiangshi had acted as a shield.
It was thanks to using his necromantic authority to instantly convert the jiangshi's offensive power into defensive power.
But that was all.
The jiangshi in his possession had already turned to ash and scattered.
'With what face... can I possibly face him now?'
To not only fail the mission but to return as the sole survivor?
Such a pathetic excuse would never work.
He had to achieve at least some small merit...
It was just as he was thinking this.
'...Hm?'
Jinhyuk caught Shimmasaryong's eye.
Was it because he had used a martial art of such unimaginable power?
Jinhyuk's breathing was visibly ragged, and his legs seemed to lose their strength.
This was his chance.
"Yes! Even you have your limits!"
If he could just eliminate that bastard, he could make up for all his failures.
Shimmasaryong kicked off the ground and leaped forward.
Although he himself was covered in wounds and utterly exhausted, his opponent looked ready to collapse at a mere touch.
Seeing Jinhyuk stagger with his head hung low, it seemed he wouldn't even be able to dodge, let alone swing a sword.
If there was a time to kill him, it was now.
Whoosh!
The Half-Moon Swords swept forward, drawing horizontal and vertical arcs simultaneously.
However—
Clang!
The sword aimed from his blind spot was deflected.
Upon 'Tombgrave's Right Arm'...
...'High-Speed Sword' was overlaid.
While the Heavenly Demon Divine Art prioritized destructive power, the sword strike unleashed through these two abilities pursued the absolute limit of speed.
It wasn't just fast.
Now, it was completely... invisible.
Slash! Slash!
The gruesome sound of tearing flesh signaled the end of the battle.
Crimson blood sprayed like a waterfall.
"Your strength... should have been spent... How could you swing a sword... at such speed..."
Spent from just this much?
Hardly.
"I was just pretending to be exhausted."
He had mastered the method of optimizing his mana a long time ago.
And acting was something he had mastered even longer ago.
"You... monster..."
Thud!
Shimmasaryong's body collapsed.
At the same time:
Ring!
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have acquired 'Advanced Jiangshi Creation Method'.]
[You have acquired a pair of 'Half-Moon Swords'!]
Countless status windows announced his victory.
Three levels.
On top of that, the two best items Shimmasaryong possessed had dropped.
* * *
"Is it... over?"
So Yu-myeong slumped to the ground.
He was panting heavily, his throat burning from fighting a massive number of enemies while protecting the hostages.
The junior brothers and sisters who had fought alongside him had long since collapsed from exhaustion.
"It seems so. Though we only helped Jinhyuk," Teresa replied. Her white armor and shield were stained black with the blood of the jiangshi.
"It was definitely a struggle. If there had been even a few more of them, it would have been dangerous," Alice added.
It was a good thing she had burned them down to the molecular level.
If she had used Blood Spear, she wouldn't have been able to kill them even if she stabbed them a hundred times.
The regenerative power of those advanced jiangshi was truly that astonishing.
Just then—
Clang! Clang!
The sound of someone fighting frantically echoed through the forest.
To survive.
It was the sound of Cheon Yu-seong still fighting like a madman at this very moment.
Alice, lost in thought for a moment, tugged on Jinhyuk's sleeve.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah?"
"Since we're all here, did we really need to use that Sword Saint guy as bait? I mean, from what I saw, you could have handled this easily on your own, Contractor."
"Hmm..."
Alice was unusually sharp today.
Her brain was spinning fast, and her curiosity was high—the perfect recipe for an early grave.
"Alice."
"Yeah?"
"In times like this, even if you know, you pretend you don't."
"Ah..."
Alice's eyes widened.
She recalled how Cheon Yu-seong had been subtly trying to climb over Jinhyuk lately.
This was probably... karma.
A mountain of karma built up from his past actions.
If so, cheering him on from afar was the only thing she could do for him.
"...Hang in there!"
She didn't forget to wave toward Cheon Yu-seong, who was still desperately running and fighting in the distance.
* * *
Exactly one day after the battle ended, Jinhyuk returned to Luoyang with his companions.
Having achieved the monumental feat of defeating Shimmasaryong, he was certain they had secured the upper hand in the war.
However...
It was only after arriving at the Murim Alliance that he realized the current situation was far more serious than he had anticipated.
"Three elite branches of the Jeomchang and Kongtong Sects have been annihilated."
"I heard the inner elixirs and... sacred relics stored at the base were also plundered."
"We destroyed many jiangshi, but that white jiangshi was on a completely different level. I barely managed to escape with my life."
The atmosphere in the conference hall was heavily depressed.
The Murim Alliance had only won in two locations.
Everywhere else, they had suffered heavy losses at the hands of the enemy.
If there was any silver lining, it was that they had eliminated about two thousand Blood Jiangshi.
Jinhyuk, who had joined the meeting late, frowned.
'They've gathered nothing but idiots here.'
Even though he had taken care of Shimmasaryong, the most troublesome opponent, they still ended up like this.
As expected, there was no need to show these guys any consideration.
He just had to thoroughly exploit them and throw them away.
Just then, Monk Hye-myeong from the Shaolin Temple brought up an unexpected piece of news.
"We have also lost the Immortal Herb we kept in storage. Strangely, they left the other spiritual elixirs untouched and took only that one."
"Isn't the Immortal Herb a medicinal herb that can increase one's internal energy by about half a cycle?"
"It is rare, but it's generally considered to yield very little internal energy compared to the effort required to refine it into an elixir."
Danmok Il of the Kunlun Sect and Ha Ryeo-hwa of the Mount Hua Sect chimed in.
"Indeed. It was a beautiful plant that this humble monk grew with great affection, so it is a pity that it was plundered."
The Immortal Herb... Could it be?
Jinhyuk's pupils dilated in shock.
An effect that breathes life back into a body that has been stiffened for a long time.
It was a legendary spiritual herb known to be capable of even waking someone who had fallen into a centuries-long slumber.
Of course, that was only if it underwent the proper refining process.
In the Murim, they only knew the Immortal Herb as a mere ingredient for making elixirs to boost internal energy.
'Samaja... targeted that?'
He had thought it was strange that they had abandoned two thousand Blood Jiangshi.
Now he finally understood what Samaja was after.
He certainly wasn't planning to make inner elixirs...
'He's trying to awaken the Four Guardian Deities.'
To win this war, he was planning to use the divine beasts locked in deep slumber.
Considering Samaja's unique abilities and the effects of the Immortal Herb, it was a highly plausible scenario.
Among the currently sleeping Four Guardian Deities, the only one likely to form a contract with him was...
Just one.
The Blue Dragon.
The Eastern dragon that controlled the weather would soon appear on the battlefield.
At a time the Murim Alliance would never expect.
'I thought these Murim bastards were completely useless just a moment ago... but they actually came in handy.'
This information was worth its weight in gold.
It was as if he had caught a glimpse of one of the enemy's hidden cards in advance.
And if he knew what they were going to use...
He could prepare accordingly.
'But first, I need to collect what I'm owed.'
To deal with Samaja and the Blue Dragon, there was one specific thing he absolutely had to obtain from the Murim Alliance.
Having organized his thoughts, Jinhyuk spoke up for the first time.
"Ahem! Cough! I know you're all very busy chatting, but I have something urgent to say. Could everyone please focus for a moment?"
"You are..."
"Is that the man who defeated Shimmasaryong?"
"Kang Jinhyuk... Yes, that's him. My child was defeated by that bastard."
Those who hadn't attended the previous Murim Alliance meeting began to whisper.
They were representatives from the Kongtong, Emei, and Jeomchang Sects, as well as the Moyong, Jegal, and Hwangbo Clans.
"What is this urgent matter you speak of?" Ha Ryeo-hwa asked Jinhyuk.
"I believe it's time to collect my reward for providing the movements of the Heavenly Demon Cult. I'd like you to hand over the treasures of each sect as promised."
"Nonsense!"
Bam!
Danmok Il slammed his hand on the table.
The others also glared at Jinhyuk with expressions of utter disbelief.
"Do you have any idea how much we lost this time? And yet you dare to ask for more?"
"Getting beaten even after being given the enemy's exact locations is your own fault. It's none of my business."
If they got beaten because they lacked skill, they should at least feel embarrassed.
It was truly amazing that they even dared to open their mouths here.
"T-that..."
"Besides, I took care of Shimmasaryong for you, and you're just going to play dumb? Wow. I guess the righteousness and chivalry you always brag about were sold off to some local tavern. Well, I can overlook your thick skin, but what are you going to do in the future if you stab me in the back like this? Do you honestly think the Murim Alliance can stop the Heavenly Demon Cult's next move without my information? Truly?"
Faced with this rapid-fire barrage of words, Danmok Il was struck mute.
It was true that they had made a promise. It was also true that Jinhyuk had achieved a clear merit.
Most of all, to overcome this bleak situation, they desperately needed the other information Jinhyuk possessed.
However, giving up their sects' treasures was simply too painful.
They had to find some loophole to extract the information for free.
That was the shared thought of Danmok Il and the other sect representatives.
"Setting aside the reward, does everyone really believe that this fellow defeated Shimmasaryong? I find it utterly impossible to believe that the monster who controlled hundreds of jiangshi is dead. I suspect he might be making a false report just to inflate his achievements. I believe we must first verify the truth of this matter!"
"I agree."
"As do I."
"To believe that he accomplished what even the masters of the Orthodox factions could not..."
"Indeed, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that he used some underhanded trick or is even in league with the Heavenly Demon Cult."
"What are you all saying? It is a fact that we were able to catch our breath thanks to him. Are you just going to blindly suspect him?"
"Isn't the Beggar's Sect being too favorable toward him? It's suspicious how you've been strangely partial to him from the start."
Arguments flew back and forth.
As things reached this point, So Yu-hyeon called out to So Yu-myeong.
Believing that his disciple, who had fought alongside Jinhyuk on the scene, would provide a clear answer.
"Yu-myeong."
"Yes, Master."
"Did he truly defeat Shimmasaryong?"
"That is..."
So Yu-myeong stole a glance at Jinhyuk.