Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Results of the Ambush
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“They’re not even using the information we provided.”
Yu Yeongrip’s wrinkled lips twitched at his subordinate’s words.
“Smarter than I expected. But they don’t realize that scrap of cleverness is digging their own graves.”
He had tried using the Emotional Realm Stratagem precisely because Blood Cult warriors handled things so emotionally, but he hadn’t anticipated being ignored like this.
“What should we do?”
Yu Yeongrip watched as the Blood Cult warriors swarmed toward the spring where the scholar was resting.
He murmured as he observed five hidden Nangong Family escorts striking the Blood Cult warriors from behind.
“This leaves us no reason to step in now. The Nangong Family escorts are strong ones. Mok Jin doesn’t know that, so this ambush will fail. Not sure if he’ll survive.”
Yu Yeongrip grinned.
“This fight will cost both sides dearly. We’ll have to exploit the gap after it’s over. Our goal isn’t revenge—it’s the Ice Sacred Body.”
Still, he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of regret.
If Mok Jin had played into their hands, seizing the Ice Sacred Body this time would have been easy.
“Even so, the battle’s outcome is uncertain. Tell everyone to prepare for combat. Be ready to move on my command.”
“Yes, Elder.”
Yu Yeongrip’s eyes remained fixed on the spring, where the fight had just erupted.
Cheon Taesan had been watching Songran closely when birds suddenly burst from the forest. He hurriedly circulated his spiritual energies.
Birds taking flight from all directions wasn’t normal, so he spun three strands of spiritual energy.
The flow of all water nearby became detectable.
And flows resembling humans could be felt closing in from every side.
“Ambush!”
Before Cheon Taesan’s words even finished, three escorts had already drawn their swords and moved to his side.
As he headed toward Cheongyo and Yeoseol, he said to Nangong Cheolwoong,
“You three, protect the women from now on.”
Nangong Cheolwoong sensed sharp killing intent from all around and replied,
“There’s a lot of them.”
“Don’t worry. We have five more escorts shadowing us secretly. They’ll come.”
Nangong Cheolwoong paused briefly, then nodded in understanding.
“Ah! Got it.”
The warriors emerging from the forest attacked the women’s position without warning.
Ten more charged straight at Cheon Taesan, thrusting their blades in unison.
“Die!”
Cheon Taesan slashed at the onrushing foes with the Vault of Heaven Unfettered Sword Technique’s Return to Fullness Flash.
Shwick!
But the man twisted away, dodging the Return to Fullness Flash.
These guys are experts!
Dodging Return to Fullness Flash so easily wasn’t simple.
Thud!
Still, he hadn’t fully evaded, dropping one arm to the ground.
They felt even stronger than the Blood Cult warriors he’d faced alongside the Red Dragon Spear Demon.
Soon, the five Emperor Escort Unit members who’d been shadowing them joined the fray at the spring.
The moment Cheon Taesan spotted them, he shouted,
“You five, protect the women!”
They flinched at the scholar calling out to them immediately.
It meant he already knew of their presence.
The family head had surely said the scholar wasn’t aware they’d been dispatched.
They were even more shocked that he knew their exact number.
“Understood.”
The five headed to the carriage with Cheongyo and Yeoseol, striking the Blood Cult warriors from behind.
Mok Jin muttered approvingly, contrary to his expectations, as the scholar poured all his efforts into protecting the women.
“Think you can handle us alone? Charge!”
Mok Jin believed overwhelming him all at once would capture the scholar.
But he soon realized it was a mistake.
The scholar moved like a ghost, shifting positions fluidly, and each attack felled one of his men.
No wonder Wanbok lost.
Even simultaneous assaults from all sides were deftly evaded.
Then one subordinate attacking from behind had his head explode.
The scholar had merely pointed a finger, yet the head burst open. Mok Jin sensed something off.
Finger Bullet Gong?
Using inner energy projected from the finger would leave traces.
But there were no signs of energy emission from the fingers.
What the hell is this guy?
Mok Jin slipped behind a subordinate to attack together—a favorite tactic of his.
When the subordinate fell, he surged forward like the wind.
Hiding behind a subordinate to strike was useless against Cheon Taesan.
With blood flows visible, he could see through any cover.
Sensing two blood flows meant one was hiding behind the other.
Cheon Taesan even lured the leader in.
Then he thrust his finger, drawing a diagonal line.
Splat!
The dantian shot along his finger’s path, piercing the front subordinate’s heart and heading for the leader’s behind it.
Thud!
“Hmph.”
Cheon Taesan let out a nasal hum.
The dantian halted near the leader’s heart, sliding off to pierce his shoulder instead.
Protective True Energy, huh.
Cheon Taesan realized it upon seeing a translucent haze shimmering around the man.
The ultimate shield achievable by peak masters.
If my dantian held more accumulated power, even that level of protective energy wouldn’t have stopped it.
Training his dantian as a hidden weapon had taught him: more inner energy stored meant greater power unleashed.
“You bastard!”
The leader gnashed his teeth and charged, his blood flow accelerating explosively. Cheon Taesan didn’t counter but retreated.
Boom!
Sword energy erupted from the leader’s blade, devastating the surroundings like a passing typhoon.
Cheon Taesan thought his current level couldn’t withstand that unscathed.
Good call dodging.
He realized his combat instincts had sharpened through these fights.
“Die!”
He drew his finger toward foes lunging at his sides.
The hovering dantian pierced one head, then the other warrior’s forehead on the opposite side.
Even amid the chaos, a stray thought crossed Cheon Taesan’s mind.
My dantian just churned through that guy’s brains—can I really swallow it back?
Mok Jin, incredulous that ten subordinates couldn’t kill one scholar, unleashed all his energy in a suicidal bid.
My misjudgment. I’d need a full unit to take him down.
Regret always came too late.
Mok Jin was resolved to pay for his error.
Red blood flow began coursing through his body.
“Blood Cult’s Crimson Light Blood Rampage Sword.”
A sword art Cheon Taesan had only read about in Murim Alliance texts—one of the most brutal and merciless.
A masochistic style that manifested sword energy by expelling one’s blood and inner energy.
Clashing directly would let that blood seep in like poison, disrupting inner energy.
Cheon Taesan devised a way to win without colliding.
To buy time and probe their goal, he asked,
“Revenge for the Red Dragon Spear Demon?”
He’d said it because the leader targeted him, not Yeoseol.
“Heh heh heh, yes. Wanbok was like a blood brother. I’ll kill you to avenge him.”
Cheon Taesan inwardly sighed in relief.
Good, they haven’t figured out Yeoseol’s Ice Sacred Body.
Relaxed, a smile crept onto his face.
“The Blood Cult has some loyalty after all. Trying to join your brother in the afterlife.”
He soon found his counter to Crimson Light Blood Rampage Sword.
Cheon Taesan’s gaze lingered on the floating dantian.
Yes, with that.
Using spiritual energy for Vault of Heaven Unfettered Sword Technique didn’t yield full power.
Spiritual energy wasn’t inner energy.
But Ghostly Phantom Commander Sword Art can slow it without shocking the dantian.
Cheon Taesan racked his brain for the optimal approach.
Blood Bow Piercing Heaven.
Among Ghostly Phantom Commander Sword Art forms, it expelled spiritual energy to pierce the skies.
Mok Jin drew on his innate true energy, convinced he couldn’t survive but the scholar would die for sure.
Crimson Light Blood Rampage Sword was invented for mutual destruction against stronger foes in desperate straits.
Die with me.
As the scholar raised his sword in a posture devoid of inner energy, Mok Jin thought his power was spent.
It made sense after slaying ten subordinates.
Of course, that glittering orb hovering before the scholar was irksome.
Numerous subordinates had died to it, and it had even pierced his protective energy-clad shoulder.
But Crimson Light Blood Rampage Sword formed a shield stronger than mere protective energy, so he wasn’t worried.
Huh?!
The instant he closed in, the scholar thrust his powerless sword.
It swept down as if slicing the hovering orb.
What’s he doing?
In that moment, the orb flashed blindingly.
Eyes stinging, his vision turned red.
Strangely, he couldn’t close the distance. His sight grew redder, blurrier.
Mok Jin felt his head shaking and touched his forehead.
His finger sank into it, followed by agony like a red-hot poker stirring his brains.
But Mok Jin couldn’t even scream.
His mouth gaped, but no sound emerged.
Cheon Taesan grimaced watching Mok Jin gape and shove his finger into his own forehead.
Seeing the finger sink in fully turned his stomach.
Finally, the leader stiffened and collapsed. Cheon Taesan sighed.
It had been no easy foe.
If I couldn’t see blood flows or lacked the dantian, I never would’ve survived this ambush.
Cheon Taesan looked up.
And without those five escorts, it would’ve been far tougher. I owe the Nangong family head.
Mindful of watching eyes, he grabbed the dantian and pocketed it first.
Nangong Cheolwoong, Nangong Hwajun, and Nangong Pyo wore exhilarated expressions.
The telltale sign of warriors gaining insight mid-battle.
Looks like they grasped a lot about the Vault of Heaven Unfettered Sword Technique.
Seeing that, one couldn’t deny they were true martial artists.
Even amid over twenty corpses, their personal growth thrilled them.
For a scholar, Cheon Taesan was unusually nonchalant about such fights and killing.
The Heavenly Martial Sacred Body suited a warrior more than a scholar.
“Thank you. Without you five, it would’ve been disastrous.”
Cheongyo and Yeoseol had taken shelter inside the carriage, unseen.
Nangong Cheolwoong had herded them into one and guarded it.
As Yeoseol peeked out the window, Cheon Taesan said,
“Don’t come out. Stay put in the carriage.”
“Brother, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Anyone hurt?”
“No.”
Yeoseol’s reply was surprisingly calm.
The women, terrified by the ambush, huddled together inside.
Eunbi clutched Yeoseol while Cheongyo held Songran, drawing comfort from each other.
Having never witnessed dozens dying amid screams and groans, they trembled.
As weapons clashed deafeningly and air whistled with bone-slicing sounds, Yeoseol watched the fight through the carriage window.
Her gaze was captivated by Nangong Cheolwoong and the two others felling the attackers on their carriage.
It was the first time she truly grasped that the sword techniques her brother taught involved life and death.
Rather than shock, a thrill coursed through her.
Limbs severed by a single stroke felt refreshingly decisive, not frightening.
So that technique cuts throats like that.
When Nangong Hwajun’s Vault of Heaven Unfettered Sword Technique beheaded a Blood Cult warrior, it even felt satisfying.
“Miss, don’t look.”
Eunbi, lifting her head and seeing Yeoseol at the window, urged her.
“I’m not. Just thinking.”
Eunbi pressed Yeoseol’s head firmly into her embrace, but Yeoseol pulled away to peer out again.
She now understood why her brother forbade swinging sticks like that in front of others.
I could kill people easily.
Yeoseol could see it: the flaws in Nangong Cheolwoong and the two others’ Vault of Heaven Unfettered Sword Technique.
Oh dear, there you need Return to Fullness Flash over Myriad Changes Unity to take the neck cleanly.
At least the five Emperor Escort Unit warriors’ swordplay pleased her.
Yes, dive in like that for Heavenly Dragon Coiling Ascent. Exactly.
She grinned at an Emperor Escort Unit warrior slicing a chest.
His technique matched the one she envisioned for the situation.
Then she tilted her head, searching for her brother.
Seeing Cheon Taesan fight, Yeoseol’s eyes widened in awe.