Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: The Sword Bearing the Emperor's Majesty
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As Goon Ja-seong unleashed the Emperor Sword Form, two slender figures were loitering near the Nangong Manor.
“Mm, this is tricky. They’ve hidden the core too well. Might take some time.”
“Hurry up. If we dawdle, something might happen to the young master.”
“I know, so quit nagging.”
The identities of the two figures were none other than Cheong and Hong.
Why had these two, who were always by So-ha’s side, appeared in the Nangong Clan territory?
The reason became clear from their conversation.
“But if we knew the target ahead of time, couldn’t we have disrupted the formation before it was set up? That would’ve been easier than dismantling it now.”
“They prepared thoroughly while setting it up. There wasn’t even a chance to get close.”
The two were wandering near the Nangong Manor precisely to dismantle the Mara Phantasmic Reversal Formation that Chilji had deployed.
Hong’s golden eyes scanned the area around the manor diligently, and soon enough, she spotted her target.
“Found it—the formation’s core.”
“You sure?”
“No doubt. No matter how well they hide it, it can’t escape my eyes.”
Hong spoke with an excited face, forgetting her earlier uncertainty.
Calming her overly enthusiastic partner was always Cheong’s job.
“No time for that now. Dismantle it quick.”
“Tch, fine.”
In a narrow alley near the Nangong Manor.
Hong cautiously reached toward the core hidden in a tiny crevice that was barely visible.
One might ask if she could just grab it carelessly, but formations were quite—no, extremely delicate things.
Especially the core of a formation—who knew what changes might occur if handled roughly? Caution was essential.
“Careful… careful…!”
Hong swallowed hard from the tension and slowly extended her hand toward the black-glowing stone that was the formation’s core.
And just as her small hand was about to touch the stone,
-Crack-!
“…Huh?”
Suddenly, the stone split in two on its own.
Hong blinked in shock, then sensed the artificial haze in the air dissipating.
‘The formation’s destroyed?’
Not dismantled, but destroyed?
A high-level formation like the Mara Phantasmic Reversal Array, destroyed just like that?
Hong roughly picked up the now-dull stone that had lost its black glow as it split, stood up, and turned to Cheong.
“You… you felt that too?”
“…Yeah. The formation’s destroyed? How?”
Cheong was just as stunned.
To destroy a formation of the Mara Phantasmic Reversal Array’s caliber would require something truly massive—enough to completely upheave the inside…!
“N-No way did the sect leader use some top-tier spell in a hurry? They’d notice that, though.”
“…Nah, doesn’t seem like it.”
“How do you know?”
“I can tell from that.”
Cheong pointed at something with her finger.
Hong followed her fingertip with her gaze, and an unexpected sight came into view.
“…A storm?”
What filled Hong’s vision was, astonishingly, a storm.
A storm out of nowhere on a clear night with not a cloud in sight, the moonlight softly illuminating the ground?
Their surprise didn’t end there.
The storm, which had shot up into the sky, suddenly veered sideways and slammed into the ground.
-Kaboom-!
Even from a distance, the thunderous roar rang out clearly.
Followed by an explosion.
Seeing one wall of the manor completely crumble, Hong and Cheong suddenly felt they understood why the formation had been destroyed.
“Hm?”
At that moment, Cheong’s golden eyes gleamed.
She had spotted a shadow swiftly fleeing through the breached wall.
Confirming the shadow was Chilji, the mastermind behind this mess, Cheong noted her escape route with an odd expression.
“…Of all places, she flees that way.”
“So what? Means we don’t have to chase her down the hard way. Good for us, right?”
Hong’s eyes, visible above her red veil, curved into deep arcs.
*
“Heok…! Heok…!”
Chilji clutched her staggering body and ran.
‘I have to escape!’
She couldn’t stop.
She had to flee as fast as possible before that monster of a man came after her.
Fear stood out starkly on her pale white face.
It showed just how desperate she was right now.
How far had she run?
Having put some solid distance between herself and the Nangong Manor, Chilji finally managed to stop.
“Hoo…! Hoo…!”
Leaning against a building wall, gasping for breath, the scene she’d just witnessed replayed in her mind unbidden.
A human wielding a storm—an impossible sight.
“What the hell are you? What…!”
She’d thought from the start he was an exceptional martial artist with astonishing techniques.
She’d had a gut feeling he’d threaten their grand scheme.
Even so, she’d lusted after that power, even using Soul-Muddling Brew to try turning him into her puppet.
But facing the reality, he was far beyond that.
Leaving aside the unidentified blade of light she’d seen in the mental world, that single strike had swept away the Heavenly Light Squad in an instant.
A sword literally wrapped in storm winds.
That was no power a human should wield. It shouldn’t be.
Yet that man had done it.
In Chilji’s mind, her perception of Ja-seong upgraded from “exceptional martial artist” to something incomprehensible.
Because of that incomprehensible being, everything they’d plotted in Hefei had gone up in smoke.
She’d probably face severe reprimands upon return.
Maybe not execution, but punishment on par with it was a given.
But right now, that didn’t matter.
‘That man is the cult’s greatest enemy.’
He was an existence that had to be eliminated at any cost.
“I need to inform the cult. We can’t just leave him be.”
Chilji muttered in a resolute voice.
“Oh dear, what a problem. That won’t do.”
“…Who’s there!?”
Startled by the unexpected reply, Chilji jerked her head up.
-Clack clack.
Amid the silence of the late-night alley, footsteps broke the quiet as a woman approached Chilji.
A beautiful woman draped in ornate robes and jewelry.
The moonlight made her accessories sparkle faintly, but what shone brightest were her eyes.
Eyes like pure gold had been embedded in them.
Meeting those eyes, Chilji felt an inexplicable surge of crisis and an inexplicable disgust.
‘Disgust? Why?’
She couldn’t fathom the reason for the disgust, but one thing was clear.
Everything about her rejected this woman’s presence.
“…What are you?”
“You already sense it, don’t you? I’m your enemy.”
-Sring.
Answering Chilji’s question simply, the woman—Haomen Leader Ye So-ha—drew her sword from its sheath.
Seeing this, Chilji let out a hollow laugh.
“My enemy? You?”
The presence emanating from her opponent was nothing special.
Probably some mediocre martial arts or shallow cultivation.
It was laughable that such a person would step forward claiming to be her foe.
“You think I’m easy prey just because I’m in this state? That you can beat me now that I’m weakened?”
So-ha gave no answer to her question.
She merely wore an expression of pity and contempt.
This scraped at Chilji’s nerves.
“How dare you!”
Roaring in fury, Chilji thrust her sleeve toward So-ha.
From within the sleeve, a thin twig shot toward So-ha like an arrow.
Seeing the twig flying straight to impale her, So-ha’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Die.”
Imagining the twig piercing that impudent woman’s heart, Chilji curled her lip.
But her face soon twisted in pain.
-Slash.
“Aaack!?”
So-ha had sliced the twig clean off while still wearing that shocked expression.
No, it wasn’t just sliced.
She didn’t know what technique was used, but unbearable agony emanated from the cut end of the twig.
“T-This…!”
It wasn’t mere pain from the severing.
Realizing this, Chilji’s eyes caught sight of a white flame burning the cut end.
-Whoosh!
The white flame raced fiercely along the twig like it had been doused in oil.
“Keuk…!”
She couldn’t let that flame touch her.
Heeding her instincts’ warning, Chilji urgently tore the twig from herself.
“Kuhk!”
The twig, yanked free at the last moment, turned to ash in the white flame in an instant.
“I thought it only held a ‘seed,’ but it’s already sprouted and growing, huh?”
So-ha muttered innocently upon seeing this.
“…What are you? What’s with this white flame?”
No longer able to underestimate her, Chilji asked in a trembling voice.
In response came So-ha’s bitter smile.
“Even if I told you, I doubt you’d understand. You’re all too drunk on the power they gave you to realize you’re just being played.”
“We’re… being played?”
So-ha shrugged at Chilji’s retort.
“‘Divine Tree Cult,’ was it?”
“…!”
Chilji’s face filled with shock at So-ha naming the cult precisely.
“H-How?”
“I’ve been digging into you lot for quite some time. I know you’re remnants of the Ming Cult, and that you worship a rotten tree that deserves to be burned as a god.”
Enraged by So-ha’s insulting words, Chilji exploded.
“You bitch…! How dare you blaspheme Him!?”
“I’m just stating facts.”
“He is a god! The great god who granted us the power to avenge this damned empire!”