Chapter 181
Chapter 181
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Imperfect Starlight
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-Roaaar-!
Roaring cheers accompanied the bandits' charge.
They, too, who had shared joys and sorrows with Chun Sam over long years, were enraged by his wretched state.
The exhausted Ho-in Force and Je-gal Ho, who had been fending off Chun Sam, had no choice but to be pushed back helplessly by the axe swings fueled by that fury.
-Boom!
“Urk...!”
Je-gal Ho groaned as he blocked the massive axe, staggering backward.
Chun Il doggedly pursued him, swinging his axe relentlessly.
“How about swinging that flimsy sword at me too! I'll smash you to pieces!”
Je-gal Ho, barely deflecting the heavy axe blows, took in the sight of the Ho-in Force collapsing like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.
And as expected of bandits, they kicked and trampled their fallen foes like street thugs, a base display that nearly made him lose his cool in rage for a moment.
Even so, being pressed by Chun Il, there was nothing he could do.
“Hup! Hraaah!”
-Bang! Boom!
In the end, one of Je-gal Ho's knees hit the ground.
Refusing to let up, Chun Il's axe strikes grew fiercer, and Je-gal Ho finally lost his grip on his sword.
Now completely defenseless, Je-gal Ho.
Chun Il gripped the axe haft with both hands and brought it down toward Je-gal Ho's crown without hesitation, truly intent on killing him.
“Brother!”
Je-gal Myeong, witnessing the scene, urgently jumped between them to block the axe.
The Ho-in Force, leaving only a few to handle the remaining Hyeok Ri-eum, joined the fight against the bandits alongside their leader.
“Gah!?”
“You bastards...!”
With dozens more reinforcements, the balance tipped back to even.
The clash between the two sides turned into a chaotic melee, and the bandits, who had started strong, began falling one by one.
“You damned bastards!”
Chun Il's face twisted in fury at the sight, and he swung his axe wide to strike Je-gal Myeong.
-Boom!
“Urk... hngh!”
Je-gal Myeong was pushed back with a stifled groan.
The numbness tingling through his sword-gripping palm made him click his tongue.
‘Such overwhelming power.’
Especially the way he freely wielded that massive axe, which must have weighed dozens of catties—it was awe-inspiring even amid the battle.
It made sense why these three brothers were renowned throughout Henan Province.
‘But I'm a warrior of the Je-gal Clan. I can't just get helplessly trounced by bandits...!’
His usually listless eyes, devoid of any drive, now shone sharply in the tension of combat.
His keen gaze tracked Chun Il's attacks.
‘Now.’
No matter how skilled he was, swinging a weapon that size would naturally create large motions, and large motions bred openings.
The moment Je-gal Myeong spotted one and swung his sword to exploit it,
-Grroooaaar...!
A massive cry echoed.
Unlike the previous roars, this was a weak, halting death knell.
With it, the blood-red aura blanketing the clan's skies began to slowly dissipate.
“.......”
“.......”
Silence gradually fell as they sensed the anomaly.
Bandits and martial forces alike felt the change in the clan with their entire bodies.
Something inside the clan had ended.
And soon after, a group appeared before them.
“Dad!”
It was Hyeok Ri-gwang and his entourage of retainers.
Hyeok Ri-eum cried out at the sight of her father before her.
But her face, upon seeing him, held no joy or relief—only anxiety and bewilderment.
She rushed to him and urgently demanded,
“W-where's brother?”
“.......”
Even at his daughter's question, Hyeok Ri-gwang's somber expression kept him silent as he turned his gaze to the sky.
Moments ago, it had swirled with ominous blood-red energy, but now only clear blue skies filled his view.
That sight proved the outcome.
“I'm sorry.”
“...!?”
At her father's voice—powerless, something she'd never heard before—Hyeok Ri-eum paled and bolted straight into the clan grounds.
Unable to bring himself to watch his departing daughter, Hyeok Ri-gwang approached Je-gal Ho with a sigh.
“...Let's go in. It seems everything's over now.”
*
-Screeech!
Je-gal Cheon-sang, having slain the Je-gal Clan head and Je-gal Seung in one go, snarled as he advanced on the clan's elders.
I swung my sword wide, unleashing a crescent of blue sword energy at him.
“Grk!?”
Je-gal Cheon-sang startled at the transcendent blow flying toward him and retreated.
He roared irritably at me, then turned back to the elders.
Wait, this bastard?
Dumbfounded by Je-gal Cheon-sang's blatant disregard for me from earlier, I stomped forward.
-Bam!
I propelled myself forcefully off the ground, blocking Je-gal Cheon-sang's path and unleashing Heavenly Wind Tempest Blade.
The relentless barrage struck his entire body, but as expected, he recovered almost instantly.
I hadn't expected much anyway.
Just buying time.
As I swung my sword, I shouted to the people behind me.
“What are you doing? Run, now!”
“B-but...!”
“How can we flee and abandon the sinner who killed the Clan Head!”
Who just said that?
After seeing Je-gal Cheon-sang smash Je-gal Seung's head, how could they spout such nonsense?
“Stop talking crap and run! You'll just die pointless deaths if you fight!”
I yelled in frustration, following Heavenly Wind Tempest Blade with Heavenly Thunderclap Strike on Je-gal Cheon-sang.
-Slash!
My sword sliced through the red aura, piercing the flesh beneath.
The blade entered his right shoulder and exited his left side.
Normally, his upper body would have been severed, but his ridiculous regenerative power slapped it back together before that could happen.
“Hah, haah...!”
The elders, horrified at the sight, finally began scattering in all directions.
“Grraaah!”
Je-gal Cheon-sang bellowed at the fleeing elders.
As he lifted one leg to pursue, I thrust Sword Shadow Piercing Heaven into his chest, where the blood jade still hummed.
I focused the eight-point continuous thrust, meant for the upper body, entirely on the blood jade.
-Kagagang!
The barrage hammered the blood jade repeatedly at a single point.
It left a slightly deeper scratch, but still no significant damage.
“Kraaaak!”
Even so, he couldn't ignore an attack on the source of his power; Je-gal Cheon-sang's red gaze turned to me as he abandoned the chase.
-Whoosh
The blood-red fist reflecting in my retina grew massive in an instant.
Just like with Je-gal Seung earlier, he aimed to crush my skull.
I narrowly dodged the markedly faster strike by twisting my head, then stepped into Heavenly Foresight to circle behind and stomped again.
-Thud!
“Krhaang!”
The qi binding coiled around him once more, but had he already grown accustomed after one taste?
He broke free instantly and swung his fist.
“Tch...!”
I clicked my tongue briefly and retreated.
Je-gal Cheon-sang tenaciously pursued.
Two swords appeared at his flanks.
“Hup!”
“Hah!”
It was my master and Je-gal Geun-yeong.
Their blades, lacking sword energy, couldn't pierce the blood-red aura, but they were managing to hinder his movements.
“Yaaah!”
Seol-i's sword strike joined from behind.
With attacks from three directions binding Je-gal Cheon-sang's movements, wildly swaying hair obscured my vision.
A slender hand gripped a blue sword hilt identical to mine.
“Hwa-ryeon.”
Hwa-ryeon, standing protectively before me, glanced back at my call.
“Something needs preparing, right? We'll buy you time.”
“...Are you a mind reader?”
Her words read my intentions perfectly without me saying, drawing a hollow laugh from me. Then, hardening my face at the three clashing with Je-gal Cheon-sang,
“I'm counting on you. Hold him just a bit longer.”
“Leave it to me.”
With a curt reply, Hwa-ryeon charged at Je-gal Cheon-sang.
Watching her back, I took a deep breath and focused all my nerves on the sword for real this time.
The sword blade gleamed brilliantly once more.
The blue light at its tip grew steadily, then began splitting into multiple strands.
Two strands, four, eight,
“Urk...!”
Groaning at the skull-splitting pain like needles pricking my brain, I kept concentrating.
The sword energy strands multiplied exponentially in tandem.
Finally, reaching hundreds of strands, the sword energy swirled around the blade.
All that remained was to coil it around the blade proper.
But then, trouble arose.
“Kyaaak!?”
“Seol-i!”
Seol-i, unable to withstand Je-gal Cheon-sang's power, was flung far away.
-Bang!
“Urk...!”
Distracted for a moment by that, my master was late to react and got pushed back hard.
Now only Je-gal Geun-yeong and Hwa-ryeon remained.
And Je-gal Cheon-sang targeted Hwa-ryeon first.
“Kuaaaak!”
Roaring massively, he unleashed a flurry of punches at Hwa-ryeon.
“Ngh...!”
Hwa-ryeon perilously dodged his fists wrapped in blood jade aura.
But a sudden ground-smashing punch disrupted her stance momentarily.
“Kraaa-!
Seizing the perfect opening, Je-gal Cheon-sang swung for Hwa-ryeon's head.
“Hwa-ryeon-!”
Sword beams be damned—I was about to rush in when,
“Haaah!”
A fierce shout halted Je-gal Cheon-sang's movements as if by magic.
A strand of golden auspicious qi had slipped through the gaps in the blood jade aura enveloping his body.
At its end stood an old man sweating profusely—Elder Gok.
“Elder...!”
“H-hurry! His energy is too strong; the Binding Art won't hold long!”
Gritting my teeth at the urgent cry, I refocused my mind.
I coiled the split sword energy strands around the blade.
But strands slipped free, failing to cover it properly.
I'd repeatedly failed here before, unable to form sword energy.
My internal energy control was still insufficient.
But in this situation, I couldn't whine about inadequacies.
Even if I couldn't, I had to force it.
“Hup...!”
I poured nearly all my body's true qi into the sword.
The sword energy strands, increased by the amount of true qi, tangled and wove over the blade.
Thus, the completed sword energy.
No, could I call this complete?
Honestly, it was hardly proper sword energy.
The light on the blade was far too dim to be called starlight, and having expended most of my qi, it could manage only one swing at most.
But it would suffice to shatter that damned blood jade.
“Kraaa-!”
“This is...!”
The golden auspicious qi tore apart after its strained hold.
Regaining freedom, Je-gal Cheon-sang roared and charged me.
Instinctively sensing the crisis?
Sorry, but too late.
I charged at the lunging Je-gal Cheon-sang.
And swung the sword bearing faint starlight.
“Grk!?”
Je-gal Cheon-sang flinched at the light of my swinging sword.
But my blade never touched him.
I'd stepped into Heavenly Foresight beforehand, shifting to the opposite side.
-Screeech!
“Kraht!?”
Je-gal Cheon-sang whipped his head around at the whoosh from behind, but I was already in another direction, swinging again.
“Grrrng! Grraaang!”
I stepped through the nine surrounding directions with feints, encircling him.
Vast Sky Free Sword, Sixth Form: Misty Haze
A technique using countless feints to disorient the foe's senses, then piercing the gap in their confusion.
This form, incomplete during my spar with Hyeok Ri-gwang, was finally perfected with Heavenly Foresight's power.
After forming the imperfect sword energy, I poured my remaining scant true qi from my dantian into Heavenly Foresight, finding the opening.
I immediately stepped into the center, the Void direction, diving into Je-gal Cheon-sang's bosom.
“Grraaaang-!”
Realizing my position too late, Je-gal Cheon-sang let out a scream-like roar, but it was already over.
“Haaah-!”
Target: the blood jade.
All it needed was one thrust.
Three Talents Sword Art, Third Form: Immortal Pointing the Way
One of the most basic techniques—and the one I'd practiced longest—surged toward the blood jade,
-Crackle-!
Piercing straight through the blood-red orb.