Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: When You Gain Power, You Want to Use It
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Men began to move slowly through the reed field.
They were all dressed in black robes embroidered with dragons, each holding a spear.
Byeok Taesan scanned them.
There were forty-two in total. Most were of similar skill, but two stood out as far superior.
It seemed each leader commanded twenty subordinates.
Indeed, they were split into two groups, moving separately.
They spread out wide, forming a pincer formation to surround Byeok Taesan's party from the left and right.
They showed no intention of rushing, merely exuding a powerful aura.
As they took their positions on the flanks, three men slowly approached from the now-open front in the distance.
Byeok Taesan's eyes gleamed as he watched them. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
"The ones who reek of blood have arrived."
The traces of spiritual energy, built through blood, were distinctly palpable from the three men who appeared at the front.
Though not quite on par with Hyeokryeon Gyun, whom he had recently crushed, they had amassed an impressive amount of spiritual energy.
Their spiritual energy was less than Hyeokryeon Gyun's, but they were undoubtedly stronger than him.
Their aura and presence said as much.
Byeok Taesan glanced at his companions arrayed around him.
They were all burning with fierce fighting spirit.
Having built up so much strength through their training, it was about time they grew eager to use it.
When you gain power, you naturally want to use it.
It is only reason that suppresses this desire, knowing it shouldn't be used recklessly.
But when an opportunity to unleash that power presents itself, who would forcibly hold back that desire?
As he was assessing the situation, one of the three men blocking their path stepped forward.
"Which one of you is Byeok Taesan?"
Byeok Taesan didn't bother to answer. Instead, the Divine Doctor of the Ages, who was beside him, stepped forward.
"And who might you be? A young pup who doesn't even greet his elder. Seems you've completely forgotten your manners."
At the Divine Doctor's provocation, the man's eyebrow twitched several times.
An explosive aura erupted from his body as if he were about to charge, but he ultimately restrained himself.
"Hooo. I am Yeong Seocheong. And who are you?"
The Divine Doctor tilted his head.
"Yeong Seocheong? Not a common name, yet I've never heard of it. Must be a nobody. Young Master, he's not worth your time. Let's just send him on his way."
At the Divine Doctor's words, Yeong Seocheong let out a dumbfounded laugh. Then, he glared at the Divine Doctor with terrifying eyes.
But the Divine Doctor paid him no mind, still looking only at Byeok Taesan.
Byeok Taesan glanced at the Divine Doctor and chuckled.
"Send him where, exactly?"
"Where else but the afterlife? From the looks of it, those three up front are all cut from the same cloth. Why not just send them off cleanly and get this started?"
At those words, Yeong Seocheong roared.
"The likes of you think you can send me to the afterlife?"
The Divine Doctor looked at Yeong Seocheong as if he were the strangest man he'd ever seen.
"I never said I would send you. The one who will send you to the afterlife is our Young Master. I don't know if your ears are faulty and you misheard me, or if your head is addled and you couldn't understand, but your pitiful life ends today, so you can let go of all your worries and concerns."
Yeong Seocheong looked up at the sky and let out a long breath.
His face was flushed crimson. To be honest, he had never in his life encountered someone who spoke to him so disrespectfully.
He wanted to rush forward and smash the man's head in, but for now, he held back.
"I will not grant you a clean death. I'll make you beg and plead for me to kill you."
Yeong Seocheong laced his words with terrifying killing intent.
He actually imbued his words with spiritual energy and shot them at the Divine Doctor. A direct hit wouldn't kill him, but it would likely engulf him in great pain.
Yeong Seocheong's eyes gleamed as he glared at the Divine Doctor.
When the Divine Doctor suddenly felt something strange envelop his body, he yelped and flailed his arms wildly.
"Gah! Gah! Gah!"
The sight of the Divine Doctor flailing his arms so crudely was quite comical.
But Yeong Seocheong, watching this ridiculous scene, could not laugh.
Because with every swing of the Divine Doctor's arms, the spiritual energy enveloping him dispersed.
It didn't just scatter and disappear; it would try to gather again, but each time it was dispersed, the amount of spiritual energy rapidly decreased.
Soon, all the spiritual energy vanished, and Yeong Seocheong's face hardened beyond measure.
"You... you're no ordinary man. You had something to back you up."
"What nonsense are you spouting?"
Slightly out of breath, the Divine Doctor regulated his breathing and spoke to Yeong Seocheong in a sullen voice.
Yeong Seocheong, realizing he shouldn't get caught up in the Divine Doctor's pace any further, suppressed the anger welling up inside him.
"Were you the one behind Byeok Taesan?"
The Divine Doctor looked at Yeong Seocheong with a dumbfounded expression.
Who could possibly be behind Byeok Taesan? And even if there were someone, it certainly wouldn't be him.
The Divine Doctor looked at Byeok Taesan with a serious expression.
"Young Master, I think he's insane. If we deal with him any longer, we'll surely be infected. You know what they say—craziness is contagious."
Yeong Seocheong's face twisted like a demon's.
And just then, the One-Needle Eccentric, who had been watching the scene from beside the Divine Doctor, began to cackle.
Then it suddenly occurred to him that Yeong Seocheong's state didn't seem so unfamiliar.
His mood soured instantly. The One-Needle Eccentric glared at the Divine Doctor.
"Ah, hell. You damn bastard."
The Divine Doctor looked at the One-Needle Eccentric, dumbfounded.
"Brother, why are you saying that to me? You should be saying it to that madman over there."
The One-Needle Eccentric was about to say something more, but Byeok Taesan raised a hand to stop him.
In situations like this, it was always Byeok Taesan's role to cut off their conversation.
Once the Divine Doctor and the One-Needle Eccentric fell silent, Byeok Taesan stared quietly at Yeong Seocheong.
"You seem to be from Nameless..."
After saying that, Byeok Taesan looked around, specifically at the warriors in black surrounding them on both sides.
"And where are they from?"
Yeong Seocheong frowned. Why would he tell him that?
But contrary to his own thoughts, the answer came out quite naturally.
"The Nine Dragons Gate."
Hearing Yeong Seocheong's answer, Hwaok, who was near Byeok Taesan, quickly added an explanation.
"It's one of the three martial sects owned by the Golden Moon Trading Company."
Byeok Taesan chuckled.
"It seems they still haven't learned their lesson after all that."
In any case, his curiosity was satisfied. Byeok Taesan glanced back at his party.
Their eyes were all burning with fighting spirit as they looked at him. Their gazes shimmered with anticipation.
"Well then, go ahead and crush them. Leave the three in front to me."
The moment Byeok Taesan finished speaking, they all split to the sides and charged forward.
In an instant, they were engaged with the warriors of the Nine Dragons Gate.
Byeok Taesan strode toward the three men in front.
Seeing this, Yeong Seocheong wore a puzzled expression.
No matter how he looked at him, Byeok Taesan didn't seem to possess the skill to justify such confidence.
Yet here he was, approaching as if he intended to take on all three of them by himself. It was incomprehensible.
Before he knew it, Byeok Taesan was right in front of Yeong Seocheong.
Byeok Taesan muttered nonchalantly.
"You're similar to those old men from a while back."
Something clicked in Yeong Seocheong's mind at those words.
"Old men? Are you perhaps talking about Wol Cheondeuk and Wol Cheonrak?"
Byeok Taesan didn't answer the question. He didn't know their names. Even if he had, he would have likely forgotten them.
"But at least those old men didn't reek of blood. You lot, on the other hand, absolutely stink of it."
Yeong Seocheong glared at Byeok Taesan with a grave expression.
He had understood exactly what Byeok Taesan had just said.
Being similar to Wol Cheonrak and Wol Cheondeuk meant their martial arts and internal energy were similar.
After all, they had learned the same school of martial arts. They had even used the exact same elixirs in their training.
But there was an insurmountable difference between those two old men and them.
That difference was spiritual energy.
Yeong Seocheong had absorbed a vast amount of spiritual energy extracted from blood.
He could take on both Wol Cheonrak and Wol Cheondeuk at the same time.
And the two men with him possessed a similar level of power.
In any case, Byeok Taesan had accurately pinpointed the source of that spiritual energy with his words about the reek of blood.
Just from his words and his aura, he seemed like an unparalleled master.
But no matter how Yeong Seocheong tried to sense him, he couldn't detect any spiritual energy, and even the flow of qi centered in his dantian felt ordinary.
"You, what are you relying on to act like this?"
As Yeong Seocheong spoke, he reached for Byeok Taesan's throat.
It looked like a light jab, but it was imbued with a mix of internal and spiritual energy, making it so fast it was invisible to the naked eye.
Crack!
"Kuhk!"
Yeong Seocheong's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Byeok Taesan.
He gripped the wrist of the hand clutching his throat with both of his own.
He was certain he had struck first, and right up until the moment he should have grasped Byeok Taesan's throat, Byeok Taesan hadn't seemed to notice. Naturally, he hadn't moved.
But the outcome was the complete opposite.
Instead, it was his own throat that was caught in Byeok Taesan's grip.
Yeong Seocheong struggled. No, he tried to. But he couldn't even move a finger.
The pain originating from his neck spread throughout his entire body.
Seeing this, Yeong Seocheong's two companions rushed forward.
"Let him go, now!"
The two men closed in on Byeok Taesan's flanks, aiming for his side and thigh with their hands and feet.
Clang!
Byeok Taesan playfully swung his free hand, deflecting both of their attacks.
Thud! Crash!
The two of them were sent flying by that light blow.
After tumbling disgracefully across the ground, they tried to get up quickly, but their bodies wouldn't respond.
Only then did they realize their arms, legs, and backs were broken.
"Kugh."
A terrible pain washed over them.
Byeok Taesan tossed Yeong Seocheong, whom he was still holding.
Thud! Crash!
Yeong Seocheong tumbled and rolled until he reached his companions.
Byeok Taesan casually moved, kicking the one who had fallen separately to gather all three of them in one spot.
He walked over to them and looked down, his eyes suddenly gleaming.
Yeong Seocheong and the other two looked up at Byeok Taesan, their eyes filled with terror.
They couldn't quite understand why they were so afraid.
They had just experienced firsthand that Byeok Taesan was a master far beyond their comparison, but that alone wasn't a reason to feel such fear.
Their own lord was also a master of incomparable strength, but they didn't feel this kind of fear before him. Only reverence.
Even if they were to imagine fighting their lord, they didn't think they would feel this way.
So, this current situation was exceedingly strange.
But Yeong Seocheong couldn't continue that line of thought.
"I remember seeing someone similar to you lot. Now I know why you felt familiar."
At Byeok Taesan's words, Yeong Seocheong and the other two looked puzzled.
"I saw two others similar to you."
Because of what Byeok Taesan had said earlier, Yeong Seocheong assumed he was referring to Wol Cheonrak and Wol Cheondeuk.
But his next words immediately made it clear that wasn't the case.
"Those bastards had the audacity to self-destruct."
Only then did Yeong Seocheong realize who Byeok Taesan was talking about.
'Hyeokryeon So!'
Come to think of it, he had heard that the Hyeokryeon So he had sent to Wuhan had all disappeared.
Hyeokryeon Hwi hadn't relayed the information properly, so he had just let it slide at the time. Now he regretted not looking into it more thoroughly.
"Can you do it too, by any chance?"
Yeong Seocheong answered quickly.
"I can't."
He couldn't. But it was a different story for the other two. And he himself could enhance the power of the explosion when they self-destructed.
Since things had come to this, Yeong Seocheong resolved to at least leave a proper wound on his opponent.
But having been so easily defeated, he now realized that even the most powerful self-destruction imaginable would be useless against Byeok Taesan.
'But the others are a different story.'
Yeong Seocheong's gaze shifted to those fighting fiercely behind Byeok Taesan.
'Just what is their identity?'
Yeong Seocheong couldn't hide his appalled expression as he watched Byeok Taesan's party fight the Nine Dragons Gate.
Who were the Nine Dragons Gate?
Even he couldn't guarantee victory against that many of them.
They were that powerful.
And yet, the Nine Dragons Gate was currently locked in a tight battle against a group like this.
He had confirmed the composition of Byeok Taesan's party before coming here.
The beautiful women fighting over there must be Byeok Taesan's handmaidens.
But why were these handmaidens fighting so well? And what was that power pouring out with every move of their hands and feet?
And who was that woman fighting separately from the others?
What in the world had happened for her to be fighting eleven members of the Nine Dragons Gate all by herself?
'And isn't one of them the Fourth Dragon?'
It was clearly the Fourth Dragon, one of the nine dragons leading the Nine Dragons Gate.
Yeong Seocheong watched their fight blankly before slowly turning his gaze back to Byeok Taesan.
Byeok Taesan was also watching the fight.
Yeong Seocheong stared at Byeok Taesan's back and swallowed nervously.
Then, he stealthily tried to move his body.
Nothing was broken or torn. Unlike before, his arms, legs, and back moved freely. His internal energy and spiritual energy also flowed without any issues.
Byeok Taesan's back was still visible.
Yeong Seocheong hesitated for a moment, then clenched his jaw.
His eyes shone with resolve.
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