Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Midnight Blood Battle
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The sight of over a hundred Demonic Cult warriors charging toward them was enough to send chills down one's spine.
The elites of the Hyuncheon Asura Squad, positioned at the forefront, smirked as they glanced at the scholar directing them.
The phoenix head position was originally the toughest spot, where the squad leader had to absorb the initial clash.
It was a role only someone with true skill could handle.
But the members of the Hyuncheon Asura Squad knew this scholar was no ordinary one.
From the way he'd toyed with the first-rate expert Wang Sim on the sparring platform, he was at least a first-rate master himself.
And considering how he handled Mok Jimong—the untouchable brat even the elders couldn't touch—like a mere disciple, his mental fortitude had to be extraordinary too.
'A scholar personally invited by the Sovereign himself. Rumors say he's got some connection to the Sovereign.'
Evidence backing up those rumors was piling up.
One piece was Mok Jinyul.
Mok Jinyul was the pinnacle of scoundrels, the kind even that hopeless wastrel Mok Jimong avoided.
A scholar who could beat and scold Mok Jinyul—the Sovereign's precious golden boy, untouchable no matter his crimes—couldn't possibly be ordinary.
As a result, the Hyuncheon Asura Squad found the scholar's long robe fluttering in the night breeze to feel like a sturdy shield.
"Fear not! We'll sweep these Demonic Cult bastards away!"
Strangely, those words inspired no doubt.
"Spread out!"
At Cheon Taesan's command, ten members of the Hyuncheon Asura Squad immediately fanned out, raising their hidden weapon launchers.
"Wait! The wind hasn't shifted yet!"
The night breeze was blowing toward them, making it impossible to fire the launchers.
The Gale Whisker Storm Launcher fired thin needles like cat whiskers, highly susceptible to wind.
Seeing the wind hadn't turned in their favor, Cheon Taesan checked the flow of qi in the air.
The cool sensation in the night breeze suggested fog was starting to rise.
'Could I fuse my internal energy and spirit qi to alter this air current flow?'
As the Demonic Cult warriors closed within fifty jang, Cheon Taesan made his decision.
He pulled out the fan he always carried at his waist.
The Iron Bear Swordsman Gong Chun, with his bear-like bulk, moved nimbly across the ground.
"It seems they've anticipated our ambush."
When a Demonic Cult warrior who'd been sieging Hopyeon Fortress spoke up beside him, Gong Chun brushed it off casually.
"So what? The ones waiting for us number barely thirty. What is there to fear? We're the Sacred Heaven Iron Blood Squad—a hundred strong!"
The Iron Bear Swordsman reached for the massive blade on his back but then let his hand drop.
The figure at their forefront was clearly a scholar.
His slender frame was so androgynous under the moonlight that it was hard to tell if he was man or woman.
"Wasting my treasured blade on trash like that? Even if we're short on opponents, pushing a bookworm forward?"
The Iron Bear Swordsman was dumbfounded.
So when the distance shrank to about twenty jang, he scooped up a wagon-wheel-sized boulder from the roadside.
"Hrng!"
Even while hugging the rock, his speed didn't falter.
"Truly the finest powerhouse in our cult."
The warriors under the Twelve Zodiac Seats let out exclamations of admiration.
"When it comes to raw strength in the cult, they always mention the Iron Bear Swordsman and Blood Killer, but for pure power, it's the Iron Bear Swordsman hands down."
Another warrior chimed in agreement.
The Demonic Cult had two famed for their strength: the Iron Bear Swordsman and Blood Killer, always brought up together.
"Raaah!"
As the Iron Bear Swordsman closed in on the scholar, he hurled the boulder with both hands.
Whoosh!
Having mastered special external arts, the Iron Bear Swordsman flung the wagon-wheel boulder effortlessly.
"Once that scholar gets crushed under it, the enemy will scatter in panic!"
The Iron Bear Swordsman grinned widely and finally drew his massive blade.
Seeing the bearish brute hurling a boulder from afar, a Hyuncheon Asura Squad warrior shouted.
"Scholar! A rock's incoming! Dodge it!"
The boulder traced a perfect arc straight toward the scholar, who stared at it blankly. Warriors behind him yelled.
It was close enough to dodge if he tried.
"How can we call ourselves the Hyuncheon Asura Squad if we dodge something like this?!"
With bravado dripping from his voice, Cheon Taesan raised one hand toward the sky.
As the boulder plummeted toward his head, the Hyuncheon Asura Squad warriors prepared to slash it away with sword qi.
No expert needed to take a direct hit like that, no matter their skill.
Even a powerhouse with strong internal energy would suffer from a blow of that weight.
"...!"
But the boulder poised to smash the scholar's head halted mid-air.
The Hyuncheon Asura Squad warriors flinched in shock.
The rock trembled, then slowly rose.
"No way!"
An exclamation burst from one warrior's lips.
The scholar was lifting the boulder with one hand.
"Insane!"
The ten Hyuncheon Asura Squad warriors cried out in unison.
"He's lifting that? With one hand?"
Cheon Taesan rotated his three strands of spirit qi to maximize his strength.
He'd lifted rocks this size several times back at the Nangong Family.
Fused with his internal energy, the spirit qi let him handle it with one hand easily.
Cheon Taesan muttered while holding the boulder aloft.
"Yeah, using a rock—good idea. Watch closely. This is how you throw a rock properly."
Cheon Taesan slammed the boulder downward like pressing with one hand.
As the massive rock shot straight ahead, a squad member whistled in awe.
"Whoa! That rock's flying like a pebble now."
Cheon Taesan thought hurling boulders was actually a pretty solid tactic.
He started grabbing roadside rocks and flinging them wildly.
Whoosh!
An even larger boulder than before hurtled straight at the Demonic Cult warriors.
He chucked three or four more like that.
The Hyuncheon Asura Squad members stared at him like he was a monster.
Yanking up wheel-sized rocks like weeds and tossing them—small wonder they were stunned.
The Iron Bear Swordsman scowled as the scholar casually caught his boulder and hurled it back straight at him.
The incoming speed was no joke.
Biting his lip, he bellowed.
"Dodge!"
His subordinates scattered at the order.
But before the words fully landed, a crushing sound rang out.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
The scattered subordinates got pulverized by the sudden boulder.
"Gaaah!"
A legless subordinate screamed, and nearby warriors swiftly beheaded their comrade.
Splat! Splat!
Another boulder streaked past, mowing down more subordinates.
They hadn't expected it to fly straight and got caught flat-footed.
'A rock I can barely lift and toss high with two hands—thrown straight? A scholar who's trained external arts, huh.'
Realizing he'd been fooled by the scholar's appearance, the Iron Bear Swordsman roared.
"You bastard! Stay right there!"
A warrior behind Cheon Taesan spoke up.
"Scholar, the wind direction hasn't changed."
"I'll shift the wind myself."
The warrior found the outlandish claim oddly believable.
After seeing him toss rocks so easily, it seemed plausible.
Cheon Taesan unfolded his fan and spun his three spirit qis.
He drew on energy fusing internal and spirit qi, sensing the air currents as he unleashed the Kunlun Clear Breeze Technique.
Spirit qi inherently carried wave-like vibrations, usable like Striking Air Palm.
He infused the principles of Striking Air Palm into the Clear Breeze Technique.
Cheon Taesan danced about wildly, fanning this way and that—it looked comical at first glance.
Hopyeon Wall at the rear muttered.
"Think fanning will change the wind? Taesan's doing something ridiculous."
He figured Taesan was just venting frustration over the unusable hidden weapon launchers.
As he sighed, a voice rang out.
"The wind's shifted against them!"
Hopyeon Wall blinked in confusion.
"Fanning changed the wind direction?"
He wet his finger and held it up—sure enough, the breeze now flowed oppositely.
"It actually worked? What, is he Zhuge Liang reborn?"
Even a momentary shift was enough.
As long as they had time to fire the Gale Whisker Storm Launchers.
"Fire!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Firecracker pops echoed everywhere, accompanied by the sound of falling rain.
The Iron Bear Swordsman yelled at the noise.
"Hidden weapons! Get down!"
But it was too late.
"Aaagh!"
"Guhhh!"
"Kieee!"
Demonic Cult warriors twisted unnaturally, collapsing with grotesque cries—not quite screams.
Unable to overcome their momentum, they face-planted into the dirt.
Cheon Taesan pulled paper from his bosom.
Seeing the scholar now produce white paper, everyone thought it eerie.
Was he some talisman sorcerer drawing charms?
Hopyeon Wall voiced it aloud.
"What? No way it's talismans, right?"
He watched Cheon Taesan tear the paper and fling it forward, wondering if his friend had lost his mind.
What good were scraps of paper in battle?
"Urk!"
"Gack!"
Yet the white papers embedded into Demonic Cult warriors' foreheads.
"What? Leaflet Blades?"
Hopyeon Wall couldn't believe his eyes.
"Aren't Leaflet Blades only for peak masters? First-rate can do it?"
Wondering if he'd misunderstood, he asked a first-rate expert from his clan nearby.
"I'm near super first-rate, but I wouldn't even dream of it."
The warrior added,
"This fight—we've got a real shot at winning. With a master like that leading us."
They'd marched out expecting annihilation.
But with an immeasurable powerhouse up front, victory now seemed vivid in their minds.
When over a hundred charging comrades dropped dead in the front lines one after another, the Demonic Cult warriors faltered momentarily.
"Don't stop—charge right through! Sweep them away!"
The scholar was tossing something, and subordinates were dropping like flies.
"Paper?"
Spotting a subordinate dead with white paper stuck to his forehead, the Iron Bear Swordsman grasped the gravity.
He unleashed his killing intent toward the scholar shredding and flinging paper.
The scholar met his gaze and grinned cheekily.
Gong Chun felt his muscles tense throughout his body for the first time in ages.
Gong Chun never imagined he'd have to deploy his trump card so soon.
"Poison Warriors, advance!"
Warriors who'd lingered at the rear surged forward.
All wore black leather gloves.
They were the Demonic Cult's force prepared for battles against poison users like the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Known as the Poison Warriors.
As they advanced, they scattered poison.
Some Hyuncheon Asura Squad, Ilji Sect, and Hopyeon Fortress warriors inhaled it and screamed.
"Uwaaagh!"
"Poison!"
As over a dozen collapsed dead in seconds, those pressing the attack fell back.
Cheon Taesan knew the Demonic Cult excelled at poison.
And that each unit had dedicated Poison Warriors.
The Shin River region teemed with venomous insects and beasts, so poison mastery was expected.
'That's why I prepared my own poison humans.'
At the Poison Warriors' appearance, Cheon Taesan issued a command.
"Hurl the coffins!"
Warriors lobbed their carried coffins toward the Poison Warriors.
Two coffins arced through the air, shattering on impact.
Crack!
"What the—?!"
As the coffins splintered, poison humans inside writhed and rose.
"Jiangshi?"
One Poison Warrior cried out in shock at the figures rising in the poison haze.
A poison human extended its hand, blasting palm force—the Poison Warrior dropped dead instantly.
Thinking it died to palm force, another Poison Warrior shouted.
"Not jiangshi! Spread the poison! It's human—inhale and it dies!"
Nearly twenty Poison Warriors unleashed poison simultaneously, muttering confidently.
"This much poison would kill even the Great Poison Immortal."
But the poison humans strode out unscathed through the toxin cloud, finally revealing their nature.
"No way! P-Poison humans!"
Nothing but poison humans could ignore such venom.
"Why are poison humans here?!"
As the Poison Warriors hesitated, Gong Chun bellowed.
"Why would treasures like poison humans be here?! Don't be fooled—fight! No retreating—kill them!"
But that was the fatal mistake.
Poison Warriors couldn't handle poison humans.
Retreating them might have preserved strength.
The Poison Warriors trying to kill the poison humans fell to the poison humans' toxin in moments, annihilated.