Chapter 125
Chapter 125
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 125
Chapter Title: The Price That Must Be Paid
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Geun-yeong gripped his sword so tightly that the veins bulged prominently on the back of his hand as he raced toward the prison.
Unlike Cheon-sang, his body hadn't been blessed with any exceptional martial aptitude, leaving his own skills lackluster, but he couldn't leave the battle against the Jade-Masked Yin Devil entirely to Ja-seong.
‘The Jade-Masked Yin Devil is the karma of our family, the Zhuge clan. If I shove it all off on someone else, how could I ever hold my head high again?’
When it came to the Jade-Masked Yin Devil, he owed Ja-seong from start to finish.
Ja-seong had kept the truth about Zhuge Seon under wraps, and he'd even captured the Jade-Masked Yin Devil himself.
On top of that, handing off the task of stopping the revived fiend entirely to Ja-seong felt far too shameless.
‘At the very least, I have to throw myself into the fray to help Young Master Goon…!’
Geun-yeong finally arrived near the prison.
His eyes caught sight of Ja-seong standing at the rear of the prison.
But strangely, there was no sign of the Jade-Masked Yin Devil.
And what was this? Ja-seong was just standing there with his eyes closed.
‘W-where’s the Jade-Masked Yin Devil…?’
As he approached Ja-seong while scanning the surroundings, Ja-seong abruptly spun around and swung his sword toward the rear.
-Shrieeek!
The sword sliced through the air with the sound of wind being rent apart.
Immediately after, astonishingly, the Jade-Masked Yin Devil appeared, bisected in midair.
-Poof!
The severed Yin Devil vanished with a pop, leaving behind a limp piece of torn talisman that drifted to the ground.
‘What in the world…?’
Unaware of the full context, Geun-yeong stared at the scene in bewilderment.
Whether Geun-yeong was confused or not, Ja-seong's sword began to dance through the empty air in earnest.
With every swing of the blade, a Yin Devil would appear and vanish.
Ja-seong, eyes closed, swinging his sword without pause, almost seemed to be performing a sword dance.
"Ah…!"
At some point, Geun-yeong found himself staring blankly at the spectacle.
‘It’s like a Sword Immortal has descended to earth.’
Ja-seong's swordsmanship warranted such a thought—it was utterly divine.
The blade flew like a streak of light, striking in the blink of an eye.
It stabbed repeatedly with such speed that it felt like the sword was splitting into multiples.
From heavy downward chops that crushed like a mountain's weight to storm-like barrages.
It was hard to believe this was the martial art he knew.
As Geun-yeong gazed endlessly at Ja-seong's sword, his eyes suddenly caught the tip of the blade.
The edge gleamed as thin as a single line.
Geun-yeong's eyes slowly widened at the sight.
"That's…."
A memory from the past flashed through his mind.
A phrase from an ancient forbidden tome hidden deep in the clan’s library resurfaced.
-Concentrating energy at the tip of the sword—that is called sword qi.
No way?
Whether he knew Geun-yeong was watching him with trembling pupils or not, Ja-seong relentlessly cleaved through the invisible clones.
Before long, fragments of torn talismans littered the ground around them.
The Jade-Masked Yin Devil, who had been hiding just like his clones, grimaced at the sight.
‘This is ridiculous…!’
He already knew Ja-seong was strong.
He'd personally witnessed him toy one-sidedly with Zhuge Cheon-sang, the strongest of those damn Zhuge bastards.
That was why he'd sent over fifty clones charging at once, fully accounting for it.
He was certain even two or three Zhuge Cheon-sangs would fall to this.
But look at the result.
Over fifty clones had dwindled to barely ten in moments.
Even with his eyes closed, he somehow sensed every time a clone tried to cast a spell and sliced it down in an instant, over and over.
In the end, even the last clone fell to Ja-seong's sword, reduced to talisman scraps.
‘Kuh…!’
The Jade-Masked Yin Devil ground his teeth.
He'd emptied his entire stock of talismans to kill him for sure, yet not a single scratch.
Hiding his dismay, he kept his eyes fixed on Ja-seong.
Ja-seong had unilaterally swept away the clones flashing east and west, but he hadn't laid a finger on the Yin Devil's main body, which had retreated to the rear.
‘No, it wasn't that he didn't—he couldn't.’
The Jade-Masked Yin Devil recalled the earlier ambush.
Ja-seong hadn't sensed him circling far behind and had attacked the approaching clone head-on.
‘His detection range is about five jang, probably.’
In other words, stay beyond five jang, and this monster couldn't sense him.
As the Jade-Masked Yin Devil formed that conviction, Ja-seong opened his closed eyes.
He stared straight in the direction of the still-invisible Yin Devil and curled up the corner of his mouth.
-A chill ran down his spine.
‘He can’t sense beyond five jang, right…?’
As if mocking that very thought, Ja-seong charged straight at him and swung his sword.
*
Here you are, you bastard.
I sensed the Jade-Masked Yin Devil at the edge of my greatly expanded qi sense net and smirked faintly.
They say martial arts are perfected through countless real battles.
Facing innumerable invisible foes had unintentionally advanced my qi sense net tremendously.
No longer a crude net full of holes, it had become larger and much denser.
-Boom!
I stomped down with a forceful step and charged at the lewd demon.
I felt him panic and flee from beyond the qi sense net's range, but too late.
It was already too late.
-Swoosh!
The light of Crescent Moon Flash sliced the Jade-Masked Yin Devil's waist once more.
"Kraaak! You damn…!"
His illusion shattered, and the Yin Devil's scream rang out as his waist was severed again.
But his waist soon reattached.
Realizing this, the lewd demon grew smug once more.
"Kuhaha—! No matter how you struggle, you can't kill me…!"
"Shut up."
I shoved my sword into his gaping, laughing mouth.
Yanked it out and decapitated him, then severed his limbs.
"Eeek!"
Barely reattaching his head, the Jade-Masked Yin Devil let out a guttural roar.
Ignoring his howls, I continued hacking his body apart relentlessly.
Regenerating, you say?
Let's see if he can do it after I've chopped him into dozens, hundreds of pieces.
-Slash!
Mysterious Heaven Gale Wind.
A storm of slashes tore through the lewd demon's entire body.
Blood sprayed everywhere, staining the surroundings red.
But only for a moment.
The demon's blood wriggled like a living creature, slithering back into his body.
He didn't even seem human anymore.
Clicking my tongue at the bizarre sight I'd never witnessed before, I kept attacking—until my sword sliced through the center of his body.
From the gash leaked a sinister black light that caught my eye.
Wondering what it was, I examined it closely and soon realized its nature.
"…A stone?"
Embedded in the center of the lewd demon's body was a black-glowing stone.
Instinct told me this was the source of the Jade-Masked Yin Devil's transformation, so I raised my sword to shatter it.
At that exact moment, the black light intensified and exploded outward.
The shockwave hurled me helplessly backward.
I twisted midair, regained my balance, and landed, just as the Jade-Masked Yin Devil's shrill shriek pierced the air.
"Kraaaak! You damn bastard, I’ll never forgive you! I’ll kill you for sure—!"
Looking up, I saw the lewd demon making strange hand gestures and muttering incantations.
White smoke soon enveloped his body and billowed out massively in all directions.
And from within that smoke,
-Kroooar!
A massive tiger roared as it lunged forth.
The tiger, taller at the shoulder than me, bared its fangs in a charge—even I felt a slight chill.
"Transfiguration this time?!"
Its front paw, claws extended, came crashing down toward my head.
Snarling defiantly, I dove straight into the tiger's embrace.
The paw that could crush me in one blow grazed perilously past my head.
Slipping out its side, I angled my blade and carved a long gash along the tiger's belly.
-Slash!
Blood poured out as expected.
Yet even in tiger form, that unnatural regenerative power held firm—the wound closed almost instantly.
"Ha…."
I let out a hollow laugh as I locked eyes with the growling tiger.
Playing dirty, huh?
It seemed the lewd demon had pulled out his trump card, so I couldn't just stand by.
-Thud!
I stomped down hard.
The tiger, poised to charge again, froze solid.
-Grarl!?
Confused by its unresponsive body, it panicked.
Grinning, I raised my two-handed sword overhead.
The stance of Emperor Sword Form.
Sword qi swirled upward around the blade like a tempest.
Terrified by the wind howling to pulverize everything, the tiger strained desperately to move.
What a shame—it must be tough.
Using the creation of my new qi sense net as a foundation, I'd added a new subtlety to Emperor Sword Form: condensation.
No longer just controlling qi to press down from above, I could now condense it from all directions, binding the enemy even more tightly.
Thanks to that, the lewd demon, transformed into a house-sized tiger, was utterly immobilized.
Realizing he had no escape, the Jade-Masked Yin Devil released the transformation and reverted to his original form.
"W-Wait a second…!"
Prostrated, he desperately lifted his head to plead.
Begging for his life, perhaps?
Too bad—I had no intention of listening.
This situation was my fault.
I'd foolishly spared the lewd demon and brought him here, landing Elder Yeon in critical condition.
So I'd take responsibility and kill the Jade-Masked Yin Devil myself.
That shameless wretch who'd inflicted pain, despair, and death on countless people out of his own greed, then blamed it all on Elder Yeon.
No matter his tragic past, at this point, there was no room for pity or hesitation.
"W-Wait! P-Please…!"
Ignoring his desperate cries, I brought my sword down.
-Kwaaang!
The Jade-Masked Yin Devil was helplessly engulfed in the sword qi's storm.