Chapter 161
Chapter 161
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: Perfectly Ripe
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Byeok Taesan was still watching the fight.
Behind him, Yeong Seocheong, sprawled on the ground, observed Byeok Taesan intently. At the same time, he checked the state of the battle.
Frankly, it was hard to believe.
The Nine Dragons Gate had ultimately been defeated.
They had been fighting in four separate locations, but once the battle in one area concluded, the tide turned completely one-sided.
The men from the Nine Dragons Gate were finished anyway.
Yeong Seocheong debated. Should he wait patiently for them to gather here before setting it off, or should he act right now?
After long deliberation, he reached a conclusion. It was better to do it now.
In Yeong Seocheong's judgment, it wouldn't be effective unless he struck while Byeok Taesan was off guard like this.
At first, he thought him a novice. Then, upon witnessing his power, he was horrified. Now, with more time passed, he was in despair.
Therefore, wouldn't it be better to try while there was still a sliver of hope, to avoid any regrets?
'Still, if it's now...'
If he could just exploit a momentary opening, wouldn't there be a chance of success?
His deliberation was long, but his execution was without hesitation.
Yeong Seocheong sent a signal with his eyes to the two companions sprawled beside him.
He didn't even use telepathy. He had a feeling he would be discovered the moment he did.
He was extremely cautious even when sending the glance. But his two companions understood it immediately and secretly began their preparations.
The two first caused their internal energy to run rampant.
Now, they just needed to let their spiritual power and then their true essence run rampant, and the preparations would be complete.
When the rampant energies swirled, they would detonate the poison pills they had already embedded in their bodies.
Yeong Seocheong had the ability to add his spiritual power to their energies when they all went rampant.
The more spiritual power that was infused, the greater the power of the self-destruction.
If Yeong Seocheong were to pour in his spiritual power with no regard for his own body, he could probably blow away this entire area.
'If I can control it properly, it will be a success.'
If he could just focus this explosive force and fire it at the back of the unsuspecting Byeok Taesan, he would surely suffer a major blow.
'If I'm lucky, I might even be able to kill him.'
Yeong Seocheong carefully sent his spiritual power to the two men.
Two strands connected to each of his companions.
Yeong Seocheong sent all his spiritual power, dividing it between the two.
It would have been better if he could send his internal energy as well, but he wasn't confident he could do so without being detected.
The two men let their internal energy run rampant. The berserk spiritual and internal energies mingled, becoming far more violent and powerful.
And finally, they let their true essence run rampant.
Yeong Seocheong thought it was time. But at that moment, Byeok Taesan slowly turned around.
"Are you done?"
Yeong Seocheong's eyes widened as if they would tear.
But he soon shook his head with a bitter smile.
On second thought, there was no way Byeok Taesan would have let his guard down for so long. It was clear he had orchestrated this entire situation.
'But why? Was there any reason to create such a situation?'
It didn't seem like he was doing this just to mock him.
No matter how much he thought, he couldn't figure out the reason. But what did it matter now? Having come this far, there was no choice but to see it through.
Yeong Seocheong gritted his teeth and signaled his two companions.
At that, the two companions detonated the poison pills embedded in their bodies.
Their bodies were about to explode. And yet, they remained in that state.
Yeong Seocheong looked back and forth between his two companions and Byeok Taesan, his eyes a mixture of bewilderment and shock.
"He's suppressing the explosion?"
Yeong Seocheong was dumbfounded. Byeok Taesan was standing there, suppressing the explosions of his two companions with immense power.
After watching the situation for a while, a venomous look appeared in Yeong Seocheong's eyes.
'I will succeed, no matter what.'
Yeong Seocheong began sending his spiritual power to his companions again.
His spiritual power was already depleted, but there was still a way.
To stimulate his own soul and extract spiritual power directly.
Just like drawing out true essence after one's internal energy has been exhausted.
Yeong Seocheong's face grew pale. And his hair began to turn white.
An enormous amount of spiritual power, squeezed from his very soul, poured into his two companions.
The rampage intensified, and it seemed they would explode at any moment.
But despite squeezing his soul so desperately, the explosion just wouldn't happen.
"Gah!"
In the end, Yeong Seocheong collapsed.
No matter how hard he squeezed, not another drop of spiritual power would come out.
Yeong Seocheong stared at Byeok Taesan as if looking at a monster.
Even after all this, his two companions had not exploded.
"It's over."
With those words, Byeok Taesan approached Yeong Seocheong.
Yeong Seocheong had neither the strength nor the will to resist. He could only stare blankly at Byeok Taesan.
Without giving Yeong Seocheong so much as a glance, Byeok Taesan grabbed the two men on either side of him.
And he tossed them high into the sky.
It looked like a light toss, but they soared to an incredible height.
Just as they reached their apex and paused for a moment before falling back down.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The two men exploded spectacularly.
Flesh and blood, imbued with internal energy, spiritual power, and true essence, spread out in all directions with the explosion.
Watching this, Byeok Taesan casually raised a hand.
WHOOOOSH!
The spiritual power, amplified by his golden bracers, swept across the sky.
The flesh and blood, which had spread wide from the explosion and were about to rain down, completely evaporated.
Yeong Seocheong's jaw dropped as he watched the scene.
He keenly realized just how reckless his attempt had been.
But he still couldn't understand.
Why would someone with such incredible power do all this?
Tossing the Nine Dragons Gate members to his companions was, it seemed, a part of their training.
That much, he could understand.
But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't find a reason for what had been done to him.
He could have just swept him and his companions away with that immeasurable power, and it would have been over.
"Did he want to see how powerful the explosion would be?"
That was the only reason Yeong Seocheong could come up with.
Byeok Taesan didn't respond to Yeong Seocheong's words and strode closer.
"Perfectly ripe."
With a smirk, Byeok Taesan placed a hand on the crown of Yeong Seocheong's head. Then, he pulled out his soul.
Perhaps because all the impurities had been drained, the soul was very clean.
Byeok Taesan gently rotated the soul, roasting it.
"Gyaaaaaaaah!"
Countless thoughts poured out along with the scream.
The corners of Byeok Taesan's mouth lifted slightly.
His prediction was correct. By squeezing his own soul of his own volition, the bloodstains that had been obscuring the memories were drained away as well.
Scenes from memories that had previously been submerged in blood and indistinguishable were now quite clear.
However, he should have exchanged a few more words to agitate the soul further. Failing to do so had reduced the efficiency somewhat.
Perhaps because the last thing Yeong Seocheong thought about was the explosion, there were quite a few memories related to it.
Byeok Taesan gently rotated and burned the soul, extracting the maximum amount of memories he could.
The memories that poured out with the screams began to fade.
Byeok Taesan began to burn the soul in earnest.
A vast amount of memories flooded in. Among them were many that were exceptionally vivid.
There wasn't a single scene that seemed submerged in blood.
It seemed Yeong Seocheong's skill in handling spiritual power was quite good. His ability to squeeze his own soul was also impressive.
Otherwise, the traces of blood would not have disappeared so cleanly.
While Byeok Taesan was burning Yeong Seocheong's soul, the battle with the Nine Dragons Gate also came to an end.
The tide of battle turned decisively when Yeon Harin cut down the strongest of the Nine Dragons Gate members, the Fourth Dragon's disciple who had been fighting Jang Gagu and Yuk Taegu.
The remaining men were already struggling to handle Jang Gagu and Yuk Taegu on their own.
With Yeon Harin, and then Cheon Gyeongwan and Yu Seoyeon joining in, there was no way the fight could continue properly.
The battle was over in the blink of an eye.
Out of forty-two members of the Nine Dragons Gate, only five survived.
Even then, four of them were so severely injured that it wouldn't be surprising if they died on the spot, and the last one was hurt so badly that he would surely die within a few days if left untreated.
However, this side had the Divine Doctor of the Ages and the One-Needle Eccentric. No matter how grave the injuries, as long as a person was barely clinging to life, they could be saved.
The group headed toward Byeok Taesan, carrying the enemies they had captured.
The cleanup of the battlefield was handled by the members of the Underworld Sect, who had briefly retreated before returning with more of their comrades.
They skillfully erased the traces of the battle and burned the corpses.
The carriages, which had been moved for a short while, were brought back to their original positions.
As the group gathered, Byeok Taesan swept his gaze over them.
His eyes passed over them, checking each of their wounds one by one.
Whenever Byeok Taesan's gaze fell upon their injuries, the wounded flinched.
After observing the group for a moment, Byeok Taesan spoke.
"First, let's move to a suitable location and begin treatment."
Leaving those words behind, Byeok Taesan boarded his carriage.
The rest of the group quickly boarded their respective carriages as well.
The five captured members of the Nine Dragons Gate were taken care of by the Underworld Sect.
A moment later, the carriages set off.
The smell of blood faded the farther they moved from the battlefield. By the time they were halfway through the reed field, the scent of battle was gone.
The carriages continued until they had passed through the entire reed field and reached a fairly large clearing.
* * *
They arranged the carriages in a circle around the clearing and began to prepare for the night.
He instructed them to get plenty of rest, as they had fought a rather intense battle today.
Although their travel distance was much shorter than usual, they decided to rest leisurely since there was no particular hurry.
Campfires blazed here and there.
Byeok Taesan's handmaidens tried to prepare a meal, but he stopped them.
For their meal, they made do with simple grilled jerky.
Then, the Divine Doctor of the Ages and the One-Needle Eccentric stepped forward and began the treatment.
They treated them in order of urgency, and the most urgent cases were the captured prisoners.
Next were Cheon Gyeongwan, Yu Seoyeon, Yuk Taegu, and Jang Gagu, who were all similarly injured.
Some of the handmaidens were also injured, but their wounds were so minor that they didn't really require any special treatment.
Of course, with Byeok Taesan watching them with his sharp eyes, there was no way the Divine Doctor or the One-Needle Eccentric would neglect them.
After their injuries were treated, everyone fell asleep.
It seemed that after such a fierce battle, the tension had dissipated, and they were far more fatigued than they had realized.
The only person who wasn't tired from today's fight was Byeok Taesan.
Byeok Taesan stood in the middle of the clearing and slowly looked around.
Some were sleeping in the carriages, others outside.
And the members of the Underworld Sect were standing guard, forming a perimeter at a distance from the clearing.
He once again felt that he had done well to take them in.
It was one of the best things he had done since his rebirth.
As he looked around, a sudden whim struck him.
The surrounding energy began to move according to Byeok Taesan's mood.
Watching the energy spin around him, Byeok Taesan activated the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts.
The whim naturally led to training.
This was something that had often happened back when he was the Heavenly Demon.
As he practiced the Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts, Byeok Taesan smiled faintly at the dense spiritual power gathering from all directions.
It wasn't that this area was rich in spiritual power. This was spiritual power flowing in from elsewhere.
The suction power of his Soul-Devouring Demonic Arts was so strong that it was pulling concentrated spiritual power from other regions to this location.
This vast spiritual power was coming from the place where they had just fought.
It could be because they fought with spiritual power, or it could be from the explosion of spiritual power that Yeong Seocheong had squeezed from his soul.
In any case, Byeok Taesan took in the considerable amount of spiritual power and slowly absorbed it.
When his training ended and he came to his senses, dawn was already breaking in the distance.
The darkness was receding before the light of dawn.
He had been so focused on his training that he hadn't noticed the passing of time.
Byeok Taesan concluded his training and, after a brief look around, glanced in one direction.
Someone was awake at the crack of dawn.
"Oh? Young Master, you didn't sleep at all?"
The one who had woken up earlier than anyone else was the Divine Doctor of the Ages.
Seeing him, Byeok Taesan let out a small chuckle.
"You were slacking off during the fight yesterday, so I guess you're not too tired."
"My goodness, Young Master. Slacking off? Do you know how many times I bestowed the gifts of a master physician yesterday?"
The Divine Doctor of the Ages grinned and moved a little closer to Byeok Taesan.
"Still, aren't you pleased that everyone is pulling their own weight now? You must feel that all your efforts have paid off, right?"
Byeok Taesan nodded.
"They've just about taken their first steps."
"Honestly, Young Master. You're never straightforward. You could just say you're proud of them, that they did well, that you feel it was all worthwhile. Do you really have to say things like 'first steps'?"
"I said it's their first steps because it is."
"Yes, yes. Whatever you say."
Byeok Taesan turned his head and stared silently at the Divine Doctor.
The Divine Doctor finally realized the atmosphere was not quite right and began to slowly back away.
"My, I woke up early for a change and I'm still groggy. Young Master, I'll just go and catch a little more sleep. Hehe."
Byeok Taesan shook his head.
"No need to sleep. You're going to die here anyway."
"Goodness, what a morbid joke. It's not like you're my brother."
Byeok Taesan didn't listen to another word and waved his hand.
The Divine Doctor of the Ages collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Byeok Taesan glanced at the fallen Divine Doctor for a moment before turning back to enjoy the dawn scenery.
A short while later, people began to wake up one by one, and a busy, lively morning began.
And it was only after breakfast was finished and the carriages were about to depart that the Divine Doctor of the Ages barely managed to open his eyes.
"Aaaaaah!"
With a scream.