Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Black Claw Mad Dog
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**Part 8: Corpse Mountain Blood Se-ah**
Black Claw Mad Dog.
His bare upper body was densely covered in black skull tattoos, and as the Black Bone Faction's specialist fixer, his infamy was legendary.
He was worlds apart from the dime-a-dozen black道 martial artists who strutted around after killing a few ordinary folk or soldiers like they were some big deal.
He had made a career out of hunting down martial artists who stood in the Black Bone Faction's way.
He was a natural-born thrill-seeker who lived for life-and-death battles, a true victory maniac.
What he cherished most was his beloved weapon, Black Claw.
Crafted from an alloy mixed with black iron—renowned for its unbreakable toughness—his claw had shattered countless enemy weapons before, and he had no doubt it would continue to do so.
And yet, he was watching that black iron alloy claw shatter to pieces in a single strike.
“Uh...?”
All the experience from his countless life-and-death duels, all the sharp instincts he'd honed over the years—none of it mattered.
The opponent's grip that pulverized his beloved weapon then smashed through his ribs, tore his heart to shreds, severed his spine, and burst out from his back.
That was all in a single strike.
The one called Mantis Ghost Demon didn't even get to swing his chain sickle before he was sliced into three pieces mid-air.
The one dubbed Iron Pillar melted away into the horrific demonic energy after the initial blow, his breath snuffed out.
The master of Dark Cloud Technique, the Twin蛟 Hands who wielded his paired swords as if they were alive, One Kill One Question.
None of them landed a single attack. They were all ripped apart in mid-air, dissolving into a mist of blood.
Each one was a name that rang through Luoyang's black道 underworld.
Yet none of them could even mount a proper resistance.
It was a one-sided slaughter.
“Cr-crazy...?!”
Hunter Tiger, Kang Ja-mu, grasped the situation in an instant.
The moment he saw those who'd climbed the tower first get diced up, he spun on his heel.
Unleashing his prized lightness skill, he raced down the tower's outer wall.
His lightning-quick situational awareness—bordering on excessive—and his exceptional lightness skill had always been the key to keeping him alive.
Of course, this time he'd picked the wrong opponent.
He was disassembled mid-air without even knowing what hit him.
His blood and flesh rained down on those still climbing up after him.
And those drenched in it soon met the same fate.
Those scaling the tower's outer wall tumbled down one after another, dead.
Everywhere the figure shrouded in black demonic energy passed, blossoms of blood bloomed, reeking of iron.
The scene looked like an ink-black serpent slithering down the tower.
“You idiots! Don't climb the tower!”
Once they saw the first wave charge in and get butchered so pointlessly, those following realized scaling the cramped tower was sheer stupidity.
“Surround him wide!”
Nearly half their number had been wiped out in a flash, but they didn't give up easily.
No matter how monstrous the opponent seemed, even wall-surpassing masters had limits to their inner energy.
“Buy time! Drag it out somehow!”
“Don't charge head-on! Use footwork! Flank him!”
They figured that if he burned through his energy like that from the start, an opening was bound to appear.
That's why those who'd reached the wall—or sensed its presence—hung back, biding their time.
They all thought the same.
*If we just wait for his energy to run dry...!*
* * *
The pretty young girl who'd fought alongside Gyo against Geumju was receiving emergency treatment from a Crescent Moon Pavilion agent and had climbed onto the rooftop.
She couldn't miss the Dark Heaven Venerable's battle.
“Wow, this is insane. For real.”
Her small mouth gaped wide.
At first, she'd abandoned the tower too, judging it best to surround him widely from the ground like the others.
Against a master, the key was to wear him down with rotations until his inner energy gave out.
But the Dark Heaven Venerable mocked such common sense, methodically clearing the field with the same power and speed from the start.
As if he possessed infinite energy.
“Incredible...”
She clasped her hands together, thrilling with excitement.
It was the awe of beholding an absolute being—reverence.
“Insane...”
The massive bandaged man, wrapped head to toe, shook his head at her reaction.
In response, the pretty girl puffed out her cheeks.
“What's insane about it?”
The man shuddered under the flesh-slicing killing intent that reached even from afar before replying.
“...I knew your head was busted a while back, but you think that's cool? I can't wrap my mind around it.”
The Dark Heaven Venerable twisted off a black道 martial artist's head right before his eyes.
The moment his skull was gripped, the black道 man gave it his all.
But white hands rising from the ground held him fast, preventing any real resistance.
In that gap, two more black道 martial artists struck at the Dark Heaven Venerable's back with their weapons.
But he'd already vanished, leaving only the headless corpse behind.
As they hesitated, targetless, the Dark Heaven Venerable rose smoothly behind them.
His hands flashed.
The two black道 men split at the waist, spraying blood and entrails as they died.
Beyond their cleaved bodies, the Dark Heaven Venerable held the head he'd wrenched free in his jaws.
The unnaturally gaping maw crunched the skull to pieces in one bite.
It burst into mad laughter.
The black道 men faltered under the impact of that laugh.
Shattered brain matter spilled from its maw.
A grotesquely bizarre sight.
The bandaged man felt disgust and terror in equal measure.
“...That can't be human.”
Dark Heaven Venerable.
When he'd first heard the rumors, he'd scoffed a little.
Delivering heavenly punishment in heaven's stead? How childish.
He'd figured it was just some justice-driven weirdo vigilante.
Part of him had even envied it.
Turning the mighty Black Bone Faction into a joke in just two days—that was the stuff of dreams for him.
But the real Dark Heaven Venerable bore no resemblance to his vague imaginings.
It merely wore a human-like shape.
The chilling, inexplicable aura enveloping everything,
The way it drove people to death with eerie sounds,
The white hands rising from the ground to devour corpses,
The maw packed with needle-like teeth crunching people alive.
It was like a nightmare made flesh, fresh from the worst depths of sleep.
He knew why he could keep his sanity.
It was because he was this far away from it.
And above all, because it wasn't after him.
“Demon...”
What else could you call that thing?
* * *
“Stay back! Don't come any closer!”
He'd waited until the very end.
Praying the monster's strength would flag.
But he'd miscalculated.
The wall loomed right before him.
Hired by Geumju for a king's ransom, he unleashed every ultimate technique he knew in an instant.
“Raaagh!”
No thought to inner energy management or the fight's flow.
He poured out everything—absolutely everything.
The techniques that had felled countless martial artists turned the area ahead into a wasteland.
A few structurally shaky buildings collapsed outright from the sheer force.
He wondered if he'd ever unleashed his ultimates this fully before, as he emptied himself completely.
The attacks were flawless, even letting him glimpse beyond his limits for a moment.
“Huff... huff...”
He leaned on his long sword just to stay upright.
His inner energy drained rapidly; his vision spun, his meridians felt like they might burst.
“Urk!”
It was an insane, reckless energy circulation he'd never have attempted normally.
He vomited a handful of dark red blood.
His dantian had taken irreparable damage, no doubt.
Yet he still sensed it.
Through the thick curtain of dust, the monster's gaze upon him.
That bone-chilling killing intent undiminished.
“Fuck...!”
In his final moment, his vision filled with teeth crammed into a gaping maw.
* * *
'No way...'
Geumju couldn't believe it.
Nothing made sense.
The horrific aura emanating from the monster was growing stronger.
The sulfur stench rising from it was rotting her nostrils.
'This can't be happening...'
Even those who'd held out to the end gained nothing and all died.
'How is this possible...?'
No matter how strong the monster was, she'd thought she could win with the secret arts taught by her mad master.
So she'd hidden and waited.
Waited and waited.
Now she was alone, facing a monster far stronger than when they'd started.
'No, no...'
She kept trying to shake off the thoughts rising in her mind.
That visible strength kept reminding her of the one person she feared most.
It was like her master.
The aura, presence, appearance—all different, but unmistakably similar.
Common sense meant nothing.
Nothing added up from one to ten.
And she couldn't even fathom its depths.
'No, no! No! I've crossed the wall now! I'm a master now!'
Temporary though it was, she had surpassed the wall.
The realm every cultivator dreamed of from the moment they gained inner energy.
A privilege granted to the precious few.
The stage where humanity shed its limits and became true superhumans.
She'd reached it now.
'I'm strong now, I'm strong...!'
For this secret art, she'd sacrificed decades of her lifespan.
So she couldn't accept the fate before her.
'I'll kill it! Kill that bastard, rip those bitches apart too! Slaughter every last one that mocked me!'
She didn't realize what she looked like now.
'Kill them all!'
Even having stepped onto the path of a true powerhouse, however briefly, she was cowering in the water, screaming empty threats in her mind.
Unable to muster her energy, unable to unleash her killing intent.
“.......”
So she refused to acknowledge the whistling tune that had been approaching her ear for a while now.
She denied the mournfully heartrending melody coming from right behind her.
She ignored the dropping temperature around her, the thickening sulfur stench.
“.......”
But when its breath finally grazed her nape, she could deny it no longer.
“So this is where you were hiding, Geumju.”
It corrected itself.
“Or should I call you Seyu-hwa?”