Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: The Heartless Sword Ni Turns Away
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Mun Chi-yong pointed at Cheol Mu-ok, Ju Tae, and the warriors of the Sword King lineage.
“The Great Prince and the women can be killed anytime. So, take out those bastards first.”
“Yes!”
“Go.”
Pa-pa-pat!
Figures in all sorts of colorful attire burst out of the forest in unison.
Mun Chi-yong remained in the woods, keeping an eye on Yi Hwan and the others. Spotting Yi Hwan letting his sword hang low, he scoffed.
“Changed into someone else, my ass. His stance looks convincing enough, though.”
Clink.
Mun Chi-yong pulled something from his bosom.
It resembled prayer beads but wasn’t quite that, nor could it be called a necklace—an utterly bizarre object. Clutching the item that shimmered with a dark sheen, he slowly emerged from the forest.
Kaga-gang!
Kwa-ji-jik!
No sooner had the fight begun than agonized death cries rang out one after another.
“Kraaak!”
“Uwaaak!”
Cheol Mu-ok’s greatsword spat fire. Ju Tae’s blade chilled the very air around it.
Those who entered striking range sprayed blood as they collapsed, some with severed heads frozen white. The Sword King lineage warriors danced a frenzied blade storm. It was a terrifying display they’d never shown before, proof they were going all out.
“Kraaak!”
“Kwaaak!”
Song Cheon-mu, Go Mi, and the female warrior had pulled back on Yi Hwan’s orders.
‘I need to help.’
That was her instinct, but there was no opening to jump in. One wrong move, and she’d risk friendly fire.
Go Mi stared at Yi Hwan.
He simply stood there quietly amid the whirlwind of blood.
‘What are you planning?’
That was when Song Cheon-mu stepped forward.
“I must assist.”
Snap!
Go Mi grabbed his wrist and shook her head.
“If we jump in, we’ll just get in the way. Obey the Great Prince’s command.”
“……!”
In that brief moment, Go Mi had no choice but to acknowledge her own limits.
She turned her gaze back to Yi Hwan.
‘Why aren’t you moving?’
It happened then.
Go Mi spotted Mun Chi-yong emerging from the forest and leaped forward, shouting.
“Great Prince! Left side!”
* * *
‘Is it the Heartless Sword Ni?’
Yi Hwan didn’t join the fray. He couldn’t.
A presence utterly different from the foes before him was stimulating his senses.
That was why, in this situation, if he threw himself in, it could put Go Mi and Song Cheon-mu—who he’d ordered to fall back—at risk. Though he was the real target, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that they’d clear out the others first to make killing him easier. For that reason, Yi Hwan fixed all his senses on the aura he suspected belonged to the Heartless Sword Ni, not twitching a muscle.
‘Come on, make your move, old timer.’
It happened then.
“Great Prince! Left side!”
Go Mi’s sharp cry rang out from behind. Yi Hwan’s eyes reflexively turned left.
There was Mun Chi-yong slinking out of the forest like a stray cat. But with the human skin mask on, Yi Hwan couldn’t identify him as such.
Chwaruruk!
The bizarre object left Mun Chi-yong’s hand.
Parurung!
It spun fiercely toward Yi Hwan with a grotesque whoosh.
Yi Hwan’s sword cleaved the air.
Kaga-gak!
The clash of metal rang out, followed by a powerful explosion.
Kwa-ang!
“Ah!”
A sharp cry erupted.
Go Mi, charging toward Yi Hwan, staggered from the blast’s shockwave.
‘……Poison!’
Yi Hwan’s eyes widened.
The explosion released a foul, acrid stench assaulting his nose, and smoke dyed the air red.
Poison smoke.
Flames erupted from Yi Hwan’s body. They enveloped the poison smoke in an instant.
Tadadadak!
Amid countless sparks, the poison smoke rapidly dissipated.
“Eek!”
Someone cried out in shock.
It was Mun Chi-yong.
Yi Hwan was charging at him. And his speed was like a flash of light.
In that split second, their gazes locked across the air. Mun Chi-yong froze solid.
‘N-No way!’
He’d only met Yi Hwan’s eyes head-on. Yet his body turned to stone, fingers unable to so much as twitch.
‘Th-This is sorcery!’
Puk!
“……!”
Mun Chi-yong’s back bent like a shrimp. Yi Hwan’s sword had pierced his solar plexus.
“Wait there first. I’ll send your spineless master in the Imperial Palace to join you soon enough.”
Yi Hwan swung his sword downward.
Chwaaak!
“Kwaaaak!”
* * *
“Moon Lord!”
The female warrior rushed to Go Mi’s side.
“I’m fine! Stay there!”
Go Mi steadied herself and gritted her teeth. She’d nearly been riddled with shrapnel, and something inside her had exploded.
“You fucking bastards.”
Flames ignited in her eyes.
It happened then.
“Kwaaaa!”
The man who’d nearly killed her was splitting in two, shrieking in agony.
Go Mi approached Yi Hwan’s side, ignoring the gruesome spray of blood and entrails.
She declared resolutely.
“I’ll fight with you!”
Yi Hwan turned to Go Mi. His eyes had grown colder than ice.
“Fall back. The real scary one hasn’t even shown yet.”
“That’s why we fight together!”
“That’s an order, Moon Lord.”
“……!”
“You know you’d just get in my way. Fall back.”
It crushed her pride utterly.
But Go Mi couldn’t even entertain the thought. She’d never seen such terrifying eyes from Yi Hwan. No, in all her life, she’d never seen eyes like that.
In the end, Go Mi retreated. Not by will, but instinct.
* * *
Ziiing!
Excruciating pain surged from his dantian.
‘The poison smoke forced me too far.’
Leaving it would endanger Go Mi and the others. To dispel it, he’d used a technique requiring over ten circuits of qi—something beyond his current recovery.
But Yi Hwan hadn’t healed that far yet.
As a result, his dantian strained, sending waves of agony. Pain so intense he could barely breathe.
Kwa-ji-jik!
“Kraaak!”
“Uwaak!”
Mun Chi-yong’s men unleashed desperate assaults. But they couldn’t handle Cheol Mu-ok and Ju Tae. As descendants of the Blade King and Sword King going all out, even more foes wouldn’t change the outcome.
There was also the difference in resolve.
Protecting their lord burned fiercer than the killers’ intent to slay.
Yi Hwan trusted them.
That was why he still hadn’t joined the fight, focusing on the aura beyond the forest. But the pain eroded his concentration. Now his dantian boiled like scalding water.
It happened then.
‘Is it coming?’
The aura shifted.
It came from the left—the same side Mun Chi-yong had appeared from. Yi Hwan took a deep breath and channeled all his qi into his sword. If it truly was the Heartless Sword Ni, he had to end it in one exchange. Dragging it out risked collapsing from his dantian first.
Ting!
Now not just his dantian but his whole body prickled. From the aura flowing in from beyond the forest. Yi Hwan called out softly toward it.
“Hey, you there. How long you gonna skulk around like a stray cat? If you’re after me, just come out already.”
Chiruruk!
His sword gleamed with azure light.
* * *
The Heartless Sword Ni waited, biding for the perfect chance.
She could’ve leaped out and severed Yi Hwan’s neck at any moment, but she refused even the tiniest variable.
It revealed her perfectionist nature.
The clash had begun.
Watching, the Heartless Sword Ni couldn’t hide her shock at Cheol Mu-ok and Ju Tae’s fearsome might.
She’d known they weren’t pushovers, but not this strong.
‘A disowned Great Prince with guards this powerful?’
It happened then.
“Great Prince! Left side!”
At the woman’s sharp cry, the Heartless Sword Ni’s eyes reflexively turned toward the indicated spot.
Someone hurled something at Yi Hwan. An explosion followed, smoke filling the air.
‘Poison smoke!’
Realizing it, flames burst from Yi Hwan’s body, engulfing the smoke. It vanished instantly, and his sword pierced the foe’s solar plexus.
The Heartless Sword Ni’s eyes widened fully.
‘What in the world…….’
She couldn’t believe her eyes. The move Yi Hwan had just pulled off was extreme power only a supreme master at the Absolute Realm could manage.
She’d viewed Yi Hwan as killable anytime like Mun Chi-yong, so the shock hit harder.
In that instant, her confidence wavered.
‘Can I even kill him?’
Yi Hwan alone might be one thing, but Cheol Mu-ok and the others remained. Fail in one strike, and they’d be in grave danger.
‘For His Highness, I must kill him. No matter what.’
Regaining her resolve, the Heartless Sword Ni began closing in on Yi Hwan. But the seed of doubt toward herself sprouted again.
It happened then.
“Hey, you there. How long you gonna skulk around like a stray cat? If you’re after me, just come out already.”
The Heartless Sword Ni’s eyes widened again.
‘He sensed my presence from this distance…….’
She’d suppressed her aura near perfectly, like the Ghost Food Great Law. Yet Yi Hwan stared right at her, smirking coldly.
‘Impossible…….’
It happened then.
Mun Chi-yong’s men began fleeing. Only five remained. Fifteen dead in that short time.
Cheol Mu-ok, Ju Tae, and three warriors flew to Yi Hwan’s side.
‘Too late!’
Clench!
Blood dripped from the Heartless Sword Ni’s bitten lip.
Fulfilling Jo Gwang’s order mattered, but she couldn’t die first and leave him. Without her, he’d be a lone sheep among wolves.
‘To think this day would come in my life.’
In the end, the Heartless Sword Ni chose retreat.
Fleeing before the enemy.
She stood at the heart of the very situation she despised most.
* * *
The presumed Heartless Sword Ni aura rapidly receded.
‘She gave up. Thanks to them fleeing right on time?’
Yi Hwan plunged his sword into the ground.
Puk!
He dropped to one knee.
“My lord!”
“Eek!”
Cheol Mu-ok and Ju Tae rushed to support him.
Drip.
Blood trickled from Yi Hwan’s mouth. The internal injuries he’d forcibly suppressed while wary of the Heartless Sword Ni finally erupted.
“Great Prince!”
Go Mi, Song Cheon-mu, and the others hurried over.
Go Mi looked down at Yi Hwan’s deathly pale face and hurriedly pulled something from her bosom.
A spirit pill she always carried for such emergencies.
“Take this first!”
“Isn’t it valuable?”
“Now’s not the time for that! Take it!”
“It won’t go to waste?”
“Great Prince! This isn’t the time for jokes!”
Go Mi shouted shrilly.
Yi Hwan smiled and swallowed the pill.
“Sit and circulate your qi right away! We’ll stand guard!”
“No need. Circulating while walking is enough.”
Yi Hwan wiped the blood from his mouth and headed down the ridge. But after a few steps, he braced against a tree.
All strength drained from his body; he couldn’t take another.
‘Pushed too hard after all.’
Drip.
More blood poured, staining the ground red.