Chapter 93
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: The Price of Arrogance
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Every hair on my body stood on end.
Among the Demonic Cult warriors I faced at Hopyeon Field, not a single one had been able to dodge the paper I scattered with the Nine Ghosts Paper Flying Technique.
Yet the Demonic Cult warriors before me now were batting my paper aside with their swords.
Of course, some from behind had their heads pierced by the thrown paper and died, but it didn't work from the front.
'This is their level?'
I tensed up completely.
'No wonder the Pang Family warriors, said to be so strong, are dropping like flies, the Zhuge Family was nearly wiped out, and half the Wudang Sect Taoists were slaughtered. This is truly terrifying.'
I hadn't fully believed it at first when they claimed their innate true qi was doubled in strength.
But now that I'd clashed with them directly, my thinking had changed.
'If we can't counter this, the Murim Alliance will fall to the Demonic Cult.'
As a Demonic Cult warrior charged at me, I kicked up a sword rolling on the ground.
Chaechaeng!
Toward the Demonic Cult warrior lunging at me as I retreated, I thrust my sword straight into his chest with Vault Flash Sea-Splitting.
"Kuhk!"
When he grabbed my sword with both hands, I immediately sliced through his torso with Vault Flash Sea-Splitting and beheaded the Demonic Cult warrior approaching from the right.
In an instant, I'd taken down two, causing the Demonic Cult warriors to hesitate.
"Hyungnim!"
That's when Pang Soun, who recognized me from the front, shouted while bleeding.
"Hyungnim! It's me, Pang Soun!"
"I know! Stop yelling and focus on the battlefield!"
Pang Soun shut his mouth at my shout.
A hurt look flickered in his eyes, but with Demonic Cult warriors pressing the attack, he refocused on the fight.
'At this rate, everyone's going to die.'
Pang Soun only had three Pang Family guards left around him—far too few to hold off the Demonic Cult warriors.
Zhuge Dowon had two guards attached to him, but they were so badly wounded it was anyone's guess when they'd collapse.
The Wudang Sect had five out of ten still alive and holding on, but they kept creating precarious situations.
In contrast, the Demonic Cultists still numbered around seventy, overwhelming them with sheer numbers.
If we delayed even a little longer, the Pang Family, Zhuge Family, and Wudang Sect warriors under attack would all be slaughtered.
'No choice.'
I had to reveal my full power now. I pulled an inner pellet from my leather pouch and tossed it into the air.
I flicked my fingers wildly through the empty space.
Oh Juhyang shuddered at the sight of the scholar who'd given her a taste of defeat in Hefei.
Out of sheer delight.
To encounter here the bastard she wanted to tear apart—this was proof the heavens were on her side.
She'd finished her mission in Honam Province and was heading into Sichuan to deal with the Kunlun Sect remnants.
But spotting the young sprouts from the Pang Family, Zhuge Family, and Wudang Sect by chance, she'd thought to take them hostage.
Passing up such tasty prey would be dereliction of duty for any hunter.
And then running into Hefei's hated enemy on top of that? It felt like striking gold.
As she pondered how to adorn his demise, he pulled something out and scattered it into the air.
Pupupupuk!
With every wave of his hand, muffled explosions erupted here and there.
"What?!"
Whenever the beads passed by her subordinates, blood mist bloomed, and they dropped one by one.
Oh Juhyang cried out in shock.
"Block them!"
The Demonic Cult warriors tried to stop the inner pellets, but they were far too fast.
'They can't block them. He's rotating three strands of spirit energy at maximum output.'
Thanks to the spirit energy filling his body, Cheon Taesan's rotation of three strands unleashed tremendous spirit power.
Not even doubled innate true qi could block the destructive force of those pellets fueled by that spirit power.
Only then did the Demonic Cult warriors halt their assaults on the Pang Family, Zhuge Family, and Wudang Sect, turning their attacks toward him.
'Perfect!'
"Kill them! Kill the Demonic Cult bastards!"
At that moment, Tang Clan warriors who had belatedly joined from the rear struck the Demonic Cult warriors from behind.
It was a brief moment of breathing room.
But Dang Jinok had made one miscalculation.
Seeing the scholar sweeping through the Demonic Cult warriors alone, he'd underestimated their level.
"No! Don't come closer!"
The Tang Clan's hidden weapons were formidable.
But Dang Jinok taunting Oh Juhyang by looking her way crossed the line.
"Are you the Demonic Cult leader? Come here! I'll cut your head off!"
As Oh Juhyang's eyes shifted from Cheon Taesan to Dang Jinok, Cheon Taesan shouted.
"Young Master Dang, fall back! She's not an opponent you can handle!"
He hadn't realized those words would bruise Dang Jinok's pride.
Still, to save his life, Cheon Taesan shouted again.
One couldn't risk life over a moment's pride.
"She's one of the Demonic Cult's Fourteen Corner Lords!"
Dang Jinok paused at that, grinding his teeth.
He advanced toward Oh Juhyang.
If that scholar could sweep the Demonic Cult warriors into a frenzy alone, surely he could too.
He was a direct descendant of the Tang Clan, after all.
'I'll show them the might of a Tang Clan direct lineage! Who Dang Jinok truly is!'
Dang Jinok, who had always lived believing himself the best, refused to retreat.
Dang Garyeong grabbed her brother's sleeve.
"Oppa, she's a Demonic Cult Corner Lord! Like Scholar Cheon said, this isn't the time for bravado."
Those words only fueled Dang Jinok's rashness.
A resolute light gleamed in his eyes.
"Capture her, and this battle ends. By my hand, Dang Jinok."
A desire burned in him to personally end this disadvantageous fight.
And he believed he possessed the skill for it.
Just recently, he'd reached the level of launching hidden weapons in ten directions.
Ten Directions Flower Shower!
Crude compared to Myriad Heaven Flower Shower, but even in the Tang Clan, only the family head and a few elders could achieve it. He figured no one could block Ten Directions Flower Shower.
When he'd mastered it, even the clan elders hadn't stinted on praise.
A genius had emerged in the Tang Clan.
"Hiyat!"
Dang Jinok leaped into the air with gusto, rapidly flicking both hands.
Every hidden weapon from his bosom, waist, sleeves, shoulders, thighs, and ankles launched toward Oh Juhyang.
The multicolored weapons painted a scene like flower petals scattering in the wind.
"Heh heh heh! Beautiful, isn't it? The Tang Clan truly understands the aesthetics of death."
Oh Juhyang extended her nails with Blood Jade Claw and advanced on Dang Jinok.
Dadadadatang!
She deflected those aimed at vital meridians but ignored the rest that weren't lethal.
It was a barrage even she couldn't fully block, but it wasn't enough to bring her down.
"Oppa! Dodge!"
Dang Garyeong threw her own hidden weapons to cover her brother and block her path.
Blood Jade Claw created dozens of blood rays, pressuring Dang Jinok.
Even with Dang Garyeong's pincer attack, Blood Jade Claw slipped into his blind spot.
Seogeuk!
Dang Jinok felt a chilling graze from the long nail and hurriedly retreated.
Tuk!
But as he reached for a dagger at his waist, his right arm fell limply to the ground.
Disbelieving reality at first, he soon realized it was his own arm, his face twisting in horror.
Shame outstripped the pain.
"Uwaaaah!"
Dang Garyeong rushed over and sealed his shoulder acupoint to staunch the bleeding.
"Heh heh heh, where does a pup like you get off trying to stick a knife in me?"
Though she'd severed Dang Jinok's arm, Oh Juhyang was riddled with hidden weapons herself, her front soaked red with blood.
She staggered!
Oh Juhyang's form shook for a moment.
That was the opening.
Zhuge Dowon, behind her, shot forward like lightning toward her back.
Zhuge Dowon had lost all but two of his fifteen guards, and he himself was gravely wounded.
If he retreated now, he'd be branded forever as the fool defeated by Demonic Cultists. So he'd kept targeting Oh Juhyang.
Kill a Demonic Cult Corner Lord, and he'd wash away the disgrace, hailed as a hero.
Judging she'd taken heavy damage, he'd lunged.
"No! It's a trap!"
Cheon Taesan shouted.
Oh Juhyang always loved luring foes in like this before gutting them.
Zhuge Dowon, ignorant of her fighting style, had fallen right into her insidious ploy.
Oh Juhyang grinned.
A fly had entered her web. She whipped her long, twin-braided hair.
Cheon Taesan immediately fired an inner pellet from his hand.
One pellet deflected a single braid.
Another struck the other braid.
Ddiing!
Fortunately, the hair meant for Zhuge Dowon's neck veered off course.
But it wrapped around his left forearm and sliced.
Buak!
Bone snapped, and his left forearm tore free.
"Kuaaaak!"
As Oh Juhyang swung her hair at Zhuge Dowon again, Cheon Taesan recalled all the inner pellets from battling Demonic Cult warriors and unleashed them at her.
Draining his thirteen spirit meridians to the point of soreness, over twenty inner pellets glowed.
Pipipiping!
Realizing Cheon Taesan's projectiles were no joke, Oh Juhyang blocked with all her might.
Pupupuk!
She yanked two nearby Demonic Cult warriors as shields, sacrificing them.
Cheon Taesan kicked up a sword from the ground, caught it, and unleashed Vault of Heaven Unfettered Sword Technique: Flying Dragon Overturns the Sea.
Hwoong!
Vast spirit energy poured from the sword, forming a shape.
A blue heavenly dragon glowed as it engulfed Oh Juhyang.
He then launched more inner pellets into the air, assaulting the surrounding Demonic Cult warriors.
Papapang!
Torsos burst, heads exploded, bodies crumpling—clearing a void like a plaza before him.
Kuwoong!
Oh Juhyang blocked the heavenly dragon, her clothes shredding.
"Euk!"
She spat a glob of blood.
Several Demonic Cult warriors lay mangled before her.
She'd used them as shields again.
As Cheon Taesan advanced on Oh Juhyang, Demonic Cult warriors swarmed to protect her and charged him.
"Escort the Corner Lord to safety!"
Cheon Taesan mercilessly scattered inner pellets at the oncoming Demonic Cult warriors.
"Fourteenth Corner Lord Oh Juhyang! I told you next time I saw you, I'd send you to the afterlife! Time to keep that promise!"
Cheon Taesan launched his body into the air.
He spat a secret pellet from his hand's dantian and flicked it with Nine Ghosts Paper Flying Technique.
Hwing!
The secret pellet flew toward Oh Juhyang like a bolt of lightning.
Demonic Cult warriors swung their swords in unison to deflect it.
Chachachachang!
But infused with maximized spirit energy from three rotating strands, power, and over thirty years of inner force, they couldn't knock it away.
Jjeojeojeojeong!
Shattering all their swords, it flew straight for Oh Juhyang's forehead.
Oh Juhyang poured all her inner force into her protective aura.
A transparent qi barrier formed around her.
Kung!
But the secret pellet pierced even that, striking her forehead.
Bbeoeok!
Her forehead caved in.
Having exhausted its force breaching the aura, it failed to penetrate and fell away.
Blood fountained from her forehead.
As the Demonic Cult warriors turned to Cheon Taesan with killing intent, he maneuvered the secret pellet into her mouth.
To track her if she fled.
Lately, he could sense it even from afar.
The Demonic Cult warriors adopted attack stances toward him en masse.
He spread his arms wide and bellowed boldly.
"Come at me, you evils! Back to nature with you all!"
Some lunged at Cheon Taesan, but a high-ranking Demonic Cultist barked.
"The Corner Lord's safety comes first! We retreat now!"
At that, the Demonic Cult warriors bit their lips, hoisted Oh Juhyang, and fled the battlefield.
Dang Jinok shouted to the surviving Tang Clan warriors.
"Chase them down and kill them!"
The battered Tang Clan warriors rallied to obey Dang Jinok's command.
"Stop!"
Dang Garyeong called to her brother.
"Oppa, snap out of it! If we chase them like this, we'll all die!"
Those words jolted Dang Jinok to his senses.
These were all blood kin—not outsiders.
"Damn it all!"
Dang Jinok seethed at letting Oh Juhyang, who'd severed his right arm, escape.
"Oppa, we're not the only ones. Plenty have it worse than us."
At his sister's words, Dang Jinok looked at the Pang Family, Zhuge Family, and Wudang Sect Taoists.
It was.
The Pang Family and Zhuge Family of the Five Great Families, and the Wudang Sect holding a seat among the Nine Great Sects, had been nearly annihilated.
Cheon Taesan inwardly clicked his tongue at Dang Jinok finding solace in their sight.
'Feeling joy in others' misfortune is human instinct, but overcoming it is what makes a great man.'
Surveying the blood-soaked scene, Cheon Taesan's heart grew heavy.