Chapter 180
Chapter 180
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 180
Chapter Title: This Isn't a Joke (2)
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“What did you say?”
The middle-aged man, who had been busily sorting through documents, jerked his head up in shock.
“Th-the Divine Demon Division Leader and his group are moving alongside the Sword Empress.”
Realizing the gravity of the situation, the reporting man's voice trembled.
“D-did you just say Divine Demon Division Leader?”
“Yes.”
“The one who vanished a year ago?”
“That's correct.”
“Why is that name coming up here? What the hell have you been doing without even tracking him down?”
The middle-aged man erupted in fury.
“We're sorry. Even the moles we planted in the Zhuge family only found out belatedly.”
“Ha! You idiots!”
The middle-aged man slammed his fist on the table.
After fuming for a while, he forcibly calmed himself down.
“Up until they reached the Tang family, it was definitely just the Sword Empress and her escorts. If they're moving together now, that means they must have linked up at the Tang family or sometime after. What the hell are our guys in Sichuan doing to miss something this important?”
The man glanced at him nervously before speaking.
“When the Zhuge family exposed us before, so many of our plants lost their lives. The heaviest losses were in Sichuan, where the Tang family led the purge. There was bound to be a gap in our intelligence.”
“Damn it! Send up a report right now. As fast as possible.”
“Understood.”
As the man hurriedly withdrew, the middle-aged man scowled deeply, clutching his head.
“Not that it'll make much difference at this point.”
Sima Geon's group had raced ahead and overtaken the Sword Empress's party in one go. The first thing they saw was a man flailing wildly, his arm clamped in the jaws of the Black Wolf as it attacked him.
The Black Wolf shook its head a few times, and the man's arm tore clean off.
What was astonishing was that not even a groan escaped the man's lips, and there wasn't a trace of pain on his face.
Blood dripping in thick globs from the stump, the man still tried to launch a counterattack. But the Black Wolf leaped high and mercilessly tore into his throat.
“Filthy beast.”
A cold voice rang out as a strand of energy shot toward the Black Wolf.
“Watch out!”
Sima Geon shouted first, sensing the danger.
The Black Wolf instinctively twisted its body like lightning. But the incoming energy was several times faster than its movement, slamming into its massive frame.
The Black Wolf's huge body went flying limply, like a fish skewered on a spear.
“Black Wolf!”
Thunderbolt dashed toward where the Black Wolf had crashed nearly five zhang away.
Before Thunderbolt arrived, the Black Wolf had already struggled back to its feet.
Its movements were unsteady, blood gushing from the deep gash across its chest.
Thunderbolt tore open its clothes and pressed down on the wound in alarm.
“How is it?”
Cheol Woo asked as he caught up.
“The wound's deep, but it missed the vitals. Should be fine.”
“Got it.”
With a curt reply, Cheol Woo turned toward the enemies.
About thirty men were clustered in front of a modest thatched hut. They showed no concern whatsoever for their comrade who had just met a gruesome end and collapsed.
Cheol Woo's gaze fixed on one of the men.
“You attacked the Black Wolf, didn't you?”
He hadn't seen it clearly, but his eyes burned with certainty.
All the men had blank, emotionless faces—as if their facial muscles were paralyzed—except for the youngest-looking youth, who was the only one smirking.
“Not bad observation skills.”
The youth chuckled softly, twirling the tree branch in his hand as he eyed the Black Wolf.
“An attack no mere beast should have survived.”
The youth's face twisted not with anger, but greed, at the sight of the Black Wolf—still clinging to life despite its grave injury when it should have been bisected.
“Did you bastards do that to him?”
Cheol Woo pointed toward an old man kneeling with his head bowed in front of the hut.
Two swords were buried deep in the old man's shoulders.
His shoulders heaved faintly—he seemed to still be breathing—but saving him looked unlikely.
Around the old man lay five corpses, presumably felled by him, scattered haphazardly.
“I didn't plan on going that far. But the old fool wouldn't talk sense.”
“You think you'd fare any better? Bringing a horde of weirdos like that.”
“Weirdos, huh.”
The youth let out a light laugh, looking at Cheol Woo.
His eerie, unsettling smile made Cheol Woo's body move on instinct.
“Stop!”
Sima Geon's urgent voice rang out, but it was too late to pull back.
Cheol Woo had already thrust his fist toward the youth.
Woooong!
A fierce gust of wind swirled around the punch as it exploded forward with a deafening whoosh.
The White Sword Unit watching from behind looked stunned.
They knew of Sima Geon and Cheol Woo's reputations that had shaken the martial world lately. They'd even fought alongside them at the Tang family recently and gotten a sense of their skills.
But they'd been too busy elsewhere to gauge just how formidable they were. They'd only been able to guess vaguely from the enemies they'd cut down.
Now, though, they saw exactly why Cheol Woo had earned such fame.
His explosive movement closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and the sheer ferocity of his fist force defied words.
No one doubted his victory.
As everyone envisioned the youth being smashed to pieces, only Sima Geon and the Sword Empress wore grave expressions.
As if to prove their fears, the youth's tree branch twitched slightly. That alone diverted the fist force hurtling toward him.
Thwuck!
Someone's head vanished without a trace, struck by the deflected fist force.
As Cheol Woo reared back for another punch, the youth—now right in his face—grabbed his wrist.
“Is your body really that tough?”
With a cold smile, the youth's fist sank deep into Cheol Woo's lower abdomen.
“Guh!”
With a strangled cry, Cheol Woo's massive frame floated upward for a moment before crashing where the Black Wolf lay sprawled.
“Deputy leader!”
“Brother!”
His comrades, who never imagined he'd go down so fast, rushed to check on him in a panic.
“Get back!”
Cheol Woo spat blood-flecked saliva as he roughly shoved himself to his feet.
“Not a bad punch.”
He blustered as if it were nothing, but the impact was worse than expected.
That fist had pierced his ultimate body-weight technique—his body as unbreakable as diamond—and neutralized even his supreme protective aura, the Ink Gang Asura Qi, before rattling his five viscera and six bowels.
He was desperately suppressing it, but his qi and blood were already churning on the verge of rampage. The surging pain whitened his mind.
'I thought too lightly of him.'
It wasn't carelessness.
He'd seen the old man presumed to be the Twin Swords Reaching Heaven in that state, and even the Black Wolf—with a body as sturdy as his own—crumple in one blow. There was no room for complacency. And yet, he'd attacked and reacted sloppily.
He felt pathetic and ashamed of himself. But he couldn't show weakness.
“Alright, let's get serious.”
Cheol Woo spread his arms wide toward the youth. Sima Geon, who had quietly approached, gently lowered them.
“Don't stop me, boss.”
As Cheol Woo shot him a dissatisfied look, Sima Geon spoke in a heavy tone.
“Shut up and fall back now.”
“That's a bit too serious for a joke. I'm fine.”
“You know damn well this isn't a joke.”
Sima Geon turned away with a resolute face that brooked no argument.
'Damn it!'
Cheol Woo's expression twisted.
Unbeknownst to himself, his gaze had drifted to the Sword Empress's group—to Jin Lim, her face pale and at a loss.
“So you're Sima Geon.”
The youth smiled at Sima Geon, who had stepped forward to hold Cheol Woo back.
“That's right. And who are you?”
“We'll get to that later.”
The youth, wearing a relaxed smile, turned his head.
“Goo Yang Kyung, why are they here? I heard the Sword Empress was coming, but no one mentioned they'd be with her.”
At the youth's question, the middle-aged man called Goo Yang Kyung stepped forward.
“No reports to me mentioned them. Looks like they slipped through during verification.”
“Tsk tsk.”
The youth clicked his tongue in displeasure. But since it wasn't Goo Yang Kyung's fault for staying by his side, he dropped it.
“If I'd known you'd be together, I'd have prepared more thoroughly. Just tracking the Sword Empress's movements...”
Glancing around as he trailed off, the youth's eyes met the Sword Empress's.
“So you're the Sword Empress.”
His calm gaze began scanning Neung So Hwa from head to toe.
Neung So Hwa's body shivered faintly.
The moment her eyes met his transparent pupils, goosebumps erupted across her skin. It felt like not just her skills were being seen through, but every vein in her body dissected thoroughly.
“Hoh! Impressive. The Sword Empress has a proper successor.”
After scrutinizing her at length, admiration leaked from the youth's lips.
“Worth coming all this way on purpose.”
The youth walked toward the kneeling old man.
“Didn't plan on making it this bad from the start. Not so petty as to hassle someone retired from the martial world.”
The youth placed his hand on one of the swords embedded in the old man's shoulder.
“Should've dropped that pointless stubbornness. Over something as trivial as a duel voucher.”
At the words “duel voucher,” Neung So Hwa's eyes chilled.
“Did you just say duel voucher?”
“That's right. Duel voucher.”
“Why are you bringing that up?”
The youth let out a hollow laugh at Neung So Hwa's question.
“Isn't it obvious? You're the Sword Empress. She only sends those to true masters she acknowledges. But this guy—who doesn't even qualify—got one. So I told him to yield it, but he dug in his heels.”
“Qualify? And who decides that?”
An arrogant smile curled the youth's lips at her angry question.
“Me.”
Before the word fully left his mouth, he yanked the sword from the old man's shoulder.
Blood spurted from the wound.
The youth's sword moved fluidly, gathering the scattering droplets along its blade.
A sword flowing like water.
The blood beads clinging to the blade fanned out in an arc following its motion.
Neung So Hwa darted forward, swinging her sword at the blood droplets bearing down on the White Sword Unit.
Clang clang clang!
The harsh metallic rings echoed loudly. Dismay crossed Neung So Hwa's face as she deflected them—her sword hand went numb from the unnatural power packed into each droplet.
“Aaaagh!”
At the sudden scream, Neung So Hwa whipped her head around.
Several White Sword Unit members struck by droplets she hadn't blocked crumpled powerlessly.
Dal Ri Hwa quickly checked her subordinates and nodded.
Relieved they were unharmed, Neung So Hwa exhaled shakily.
In that moment, the youth—who had rifled through the Twin Swords Reaching Heaven's robes—pulled out a bloodstained duel voucher and grinned.