Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Nine Divisions - Mission, Intelligence (11)
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The pain of his arm splitting vertically.
It enveloped O Gang-ak very slowly.
But O Gang-ak had no time to worry about such pain.
Because his thoughts were expanding endlessly, beginning to paint a certain scene.
Regression dawned on him in that instant, flashing past his life up to now.
*
The Six Demonic Sects.
This was the term for the six sects holding the strongest power in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains beyond Xinjiang, and O Gang-ak had been born as the young sect leader of the Sword Fire Sect among them.
However, he could not simply be called the young leader of one among the six sects.
The reason was that the founder of his Sword Fire Sect was a figure deemed significant even in the history of the Demonic Cult.
Demonic Sword O Chun.
The third Heavenly Slaughter Star to appear in the martial world of Jianghu, a freak born in a prestigious orthodox sect who ended his life as a demon—this man was the founding sect leader of the Sword Fire Sect. That explained its prestige.
Thus, the Sword Fire Sect was formidable.
Moreover, O Gang-ak, the young sect leader of this generation, was strong.
The Crimson Flame Demonic Art, crafted from the five stars of the Heavenly Slaughter Star, was a technique worthy of being called a divine art among demonic arts, bolstering him.
It was only natural that he, at the age of ten, was chosen by the Heavenly Demon to become the Little Cult Leader.
In his youth, O Gang-ak thought:
The world was his.
It felt as if everything he laid eyes on lay beneath his feet.
It was not entirely wrong.
Had there been just one person missing, his delusion would have become reality.
At eighteen.
Had it not been for that man who appeared one day before the transmission of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
That was how O Gang-ak remembered that day.
Some ragged beggar showed up and had a private audience with the Heavenly Demon.
Afterward, he dueled that beggar ragamuffin for the position of Little Cult Leader.
In that duel, with a 'crunch,' the skin of his face was torn away.
"Spare your life, colt. That's the utmost mercy I can show."
He suffered such humiliation.
What followed was horrific even in recollection.
Everything he thought was his slipped from his grasp and crumbled away.
The position above all others was no longer his.
No, more humiliating than that was how those who once bowed their heads now glanced at him with sneers.
How had that midday beggar ragamuffin surpassed him?
He learned the answer about a year into those times.
"Heavenly Slaughter Star?"
"Yes... it's said to be this generation's Heavenly Slaughter Star."
"Huh..."
How ironic.
That was the only thought that crossed O Gang-ak's mind in that moment.
Wasn't it?
Looking back, his fate had been swept this way and that by a single star called the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Born as a descendant of the Heavenly Slaughter Star, he reaped its fruits, only to fall with the arrival of another. His life felt like mere shadow, existing only to make that star shine brighter.
That was the day it began.
The aspiration harbored in his chest began sinking into a thick quagmire.
An anger that nothing could soothe began devouring everything in sight.
Every day was hell.
Everything appeared colorless, and nothing he devoured had any taste.
Amid such days, the one thing that brought him joy was Dan Cheon-hwa's betrayal.
They called him the Blood Demon in the Central Plains.
That traitor's scheme caused the beggar ragamuffin to lose his Heavenly Slaughter Star.
It was an idiotic event, and even more idiotic was the fool's reaction.
"...He says he'll reclaim the star."
How does one reattach what's been torn away?
Did he even know the method?
The sole priest who knew it, Dan Cheon-hwa, had keeled over dead—how did he plan to find it?
He remembered laughing for a good while.
And in that glee, he recalled devouring an entire woman whole that day.
The star was gone.
Now, only the truly skilled would sit in the Little Cult Leader's seat.
With such thoughts, he challenged the fool immediately upon hearing the news, but nothing changed.
"Don't crawl up here, you worm."
The fool remained Little Cult Leader, and even after losing the star, O Gang-ak could not reclaim what he had lost.
Why.
Why.
Such questions lingered without end.
And then.
'...I regressed.'
That was when it started.
Crackle.
O Gang-ak's time accelerated.
Only then did he look at his arm.
Split perfectly vertically, it dangled in a state unfit to be called an arm any longer.
'Is this how it ends?'
This time too, a Heavenly Slaughter Star.
'Another' Heavenly Slaughter Star.
What elevated him, what cast him into the abyss, what now sought his life—it was the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
In the end, he could not resist.
He was merely swept along by that star.
O Gang-ak blankly stared ahead.
The Heavenly Slaughter Star had already widened the distance, with the Emperor Star at his side.
'A mere star.'
Wasn't it just one innate talent among many?
Why should it dictate his fate?
O Gang-ak loathed it.
He resented how his life was swept away by that single star.
"It's just... just a star..."
Clench!
O Gang-ak lifted his shoulder—its joint ruined—with his other arm, the one freshly sliced vertically.
He grabbed the shoulder above it and squeezed.
Crunch.
The shoulder compressed.
Crun-crunch.
Flesh and muscle were utterly pulverized.
"Graaaah!!!"
Splurt!
The shoulder tore free.
O Gang-ak flung the useless arm to the ground.
He pressed his palm to the gushing stump and unleashed demonic qi.
Sizzle! The smell of burning flesh began to rise.
He was cauterizing the wound to staunch the bleeding.
With bloodshot eyes, O Gang-ak glared at Mok Ri-won and Namgung Jincheon.
"What do you whelps know, strutting around like that?"
Now he had lost one arm.
Even the remaining arm's shoulder joint was completely wrecked.
But it was fine.
"I'll kill you. You, and that damned star."
His heart still beat.
And demonic qi remained.
O Gang-ak raised his hand, clawing it into shape.
He thrust it puuk into his left chest.
Piercing his heart, he detonated the life force within.
Kiiiiing!
The great law that burned innate essence to convert life into demonic qi.
The great law born of resolve to gladly forsake life to slay the foe.
The final technique of the Crimson Flame Demonic Art, Ferocious God Evil Kill.
*
He sensed the change the moment O Gang-ak tore off his own arm.
"Mukryong!"
Namgung Jincheon shouted, feeling an indescribable ominous aura.
Sword already drawn, he stepped forward to charge.
He had to kill him now.
That was his judgment—and a misjudgment.
"Stop!"
Mok Ri-won grabbed his nape and yanked him back.
Boom!
Flames erupting from O Gang-ak grazed right past Namgung Jincheon's nose.
A chill raced up Namgung Jincheon's spine.
'Had I gone...'
He would be dead.
Glancing at Mok Ri-won with that thought, he saw the man's gaze fixed on the flames.
Namgung Jincheon followed his gaze to the flames.
The moment they subsided, he gasped.
'...His body.'
O Gang-ak's body was burning.
Not merely cloaked in flames—his skin was cooking atop them.
The severed arm had been replaced by one formed of pure fire.
"Gi... ve..."
O Gang-ak took a step forward.
"Sword Dragon! We must fight!"
Namgung Jincheon bit his lip at those words.
A 'shaaa' hiss leaked as azure qi permeated his sword and the space.
No hesitation.
Namgung Jincheon swung, firing qi, and O Gang-ak took it with his body.
Sizzle!
Only that sound.
Not a single wound marred O Gang-ak's form.
'What...!'
Shock arose, but there was no time to falter.
Mok Ri-won shot forward.
Namgung Jincheon swallowed his shock and stepped in.
Once more, the Emperor Sword Form's energy stance.
This time, as if to cleave the body in two, Namgung Jincheon moved his sword.
Simultaneously, Mok Ri-won began squeezing out his remaining inner power.
Inky black and azure.
Two qi waves charged O Gang-ak from opposing directions.
O Gang-ak spread both arms, blocking with his hands.
Boom!
The clash halted the sword strikes.
But the two men did not stop.
Namgung Jincheon felt foreboding.
Mok Ri-won felt killing intent.
They knew at once.
That the power fueled by burning his own life.
And if they fled now, that power would turn on others.
"Sword Dragon!"
"I know!"
In that brief instant, Mok Ri-won and Namgung Jincheon's eyes met.
No further words needed.
They would stop it here.
But they could not simply block the full-force assault of a Peak Realm master unleashing all his innate essence.
One way remained.
A joint strike.
Hummm!
Sword cries rang out.
The two men, one before and one behind O Gang-ak, charged simultaneously.
And like clockwork, they thrust their swords at the exact same moment.
Mok Ri-won's sword at the shoulder, Namgung Jincheon's at the throat.
As O Gang-ak reached to block Namgung Jincheon's sword first, Mok Ri-won twisted his blade's path, deflecting Namgung Jincheon's sword and using the rebound to slash O Gang-ak's back.
Sizzle!
No fatal wound.
The flames devouring O Gang-ak's body immediately cauterized the gushing injury.
O Gang-ak spun, aiming a back kick at Mok Ri-won's solar plexus.
Namgung Jincheon slashed the knee of O Gang-ak's supporting leg, disrupting his balance.
Thud!
Simultaneously, the two pulled away from O Gang-ak.
And charged again from different angles.
Again, unleashed in perfect unison.
Relentlessly, it battered O Gang-ak.
Boom!
Amid explosive roars, the offense intensified.
Incredibly, momentum tilted toward Mok Ri-won and Namgung Jincheon.
The reason was their impossible feat.
Successfully executing an unpracticed joint technique in real combat.
How was this possible?
The answer was surprisingly simple.
They knew each other's swords all too well.
Namgung Jincheon had first staked everything against someone in his life: Mok Ri-won.
Mok Ri-won had thrashed desperately, using even his true nature, against only one: Namgung Jincheon.
So familiar with each other's swords.
So attuned to their movements that Namgung Jincheon could anticipate Mok Ri-won's feints and adjust his blade's path.
Mok Ri-won could twist his blade more fiercely using Namgung Jincheon's power.
Boom!
Even slicing human flesh produced thunderous blasts.
Flesh heated by erupting flames.
Yet in that moment, the two thought not of the danger, but something else.
'The path...'
They saw it.
New sword paths opened where blades had yet to extend.
New techniques, impossible alone, unfolded infinitely.
A novel experience neither had known.
An opponent's move linking to another, weaving ceaseless new forms into a single strike—profoundly mystical.
Skin touched fire, yet minds burned hotter.
Where to thrust next for the foe's sword to align and strike, how to withdraw to cover gaps—dozens of options flickered in instants.
The trance state.
Lost in it, they observed new possibilities for the sword.
Clang!
Their swords clashed, repelling each other.
The rebound distanced them from O Gang-ak's explosion.
In that instant, they realized simultaneously.
Right after the blast, O Gang-ak's body froze, however briefly.
Rolling gazes met.
A nod confirmed the other saw it too.
They cloaked their bodies in qi waves.
As the explosion faded, they hurled themselves into the flames.
Two swords stabbing from directly opposite sides.
And in their midst, the demon's body twitching.
After that revealed scene, the grisly sound of blades piercing flesh rang out.
Puuk!
At the precise same instant, two swords impaled O Gang-ak.
One through the solar plexus, the other the dantian.
Tzzzz-.
Flames on O Gang-ak's body subsided.
"Cough!"
He spewed blood and toppled.