Chapter 37
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 37
Sprinting with all his might, Ise stole a glance behind him.
He caught sight of a sphere of energy, swelling in size just as fast as the first lightning strike.
Thanks to Hall Master Hong Mi-hui's arrangements, they had managed to endure it once. But if that same attack came flying at them again, their chances of survival were practically zero.
Yet, even on the threshold of death, his will to live did not waver.
Ise's mind raced.
‘Even though his attack was blocked once, he hasn't come down from the cliff.’
When the first lightning bolt was blocked by the defensive Dharma artifact, the enemy could have immediately closed the distance and pursued them.
The fact that he hadn't suggested two possibilities.
Either he lacked a means of flight—or its efficiency was so low he couldn't afford to abandon the high ground—or he blindly believed his second attack would be completely impossible to block.
‘If it's the former, he's bound to grow impatient. As the distance widens, his chances of losing us increase.’
‘If it's the latter, he won't be as relaxed as before. Even if the power is weaker than the first strike, he'll unleash it quickly.’
‘If we can block just this one attack, he'll have no choice but to come down from the cliff and chase us on foot.’
‘Once we drag him down from the cliff and restrict his field of vision, we'll have a real chance to escape.’
‘That lightning bolt was bright enough to illuminate heaven and earth. Surely... someone must have seen it.’
Even now, the sky flashed wildly as the enemy gathered more lightning.
Given the explosive surge of demonic energy—a scale detectable even from beyond the mountain—there was no way a Foundation Establishment cultivator performing a mission in this region would miss it.
‘We can survive this.’
Glancing back once more, he saw the demonic cultivator's lightning rapidly taking shape, on the verge of being unleashed.
The preparation time was clearly shorter, and the sphere itself was smaller than the first spell.
His mind worked at blinding speeds, calculating the sheer destructive power he had just witnessed against the reduced size of this new attack and the total amount of energy his group could mobilize.
His decision was made.
"Stop."
At Ise's command, the three halted abruptly, looking at him in confusion.
"Pi Ga-ram. Can you set up the Disturbance Formation from the Dark Snake manual?"
Pi Ga-ram gave him a look that clearly asked how he knew about that, but he swallowed his questions.
"What's the range?"
"Just enough space for the four of us to stand."
"I'll have it set up in half a gak."
"Hong Won-seo, help Pi Ga-ram. He'll need an extra pair of hands."
"Got it."
The moment the words left Ise's mouth, Pi Ga-ram pulled a small metal cylinder from his sleeve.
From it, he produced a brush as long as a forearm.
Waving it through the air as if writing calligraphy, a glowing formation began to etch itself onto the ground.
"Seol Ryeong, find us a Path of Life."
"Whaaat?"
"Look carefully. There has to be one."
"Even if you say that..."
Seol Ryeong broke into a nervous cold sweat, clearly flustered, but Ise's expression couldn't have been more serious.
"Look, it's not an ability I can just use whenever it's convenient..."
"Please. You're the only one I can trust. Our lives depend on you."
"I really shouldn't have come along, seriously..."
Even while tearfully complaining, Seol Ryeong placed a talisman in her mouth. On the surface, it appeared to be a talisman that sharply heightened the five senses, though Ise couldn't be entirely sure.
Seol Ryeong tilted her head back, her eyes turning skyward.
Her pupils slowly unfocused and shrank, leaving her eyes mostly white.
Though Ise was grateful for their faith—following his commands in unison without a single argument—the weight of their trust was undeniably burdensome.
What mattered most right now was blocking the impending disaster.
If he failed, all these preparations would be utterly useless.
Ise turned around, putting a slight distance between himself and his companions.
Then, pouring all his demonic energy into the Twin Sickle Spirit Domain Uprising, he drove it into the earth to seal the spatial demonic energy.
His next action was to step outside the barrier.
Standing firmly in front of the initiate disciples, he raised his Black Iron Shield and channeled his spiritual energy into it.
Soon, both types of power harbored within his body were completely drained.
Creating a barrier in front of him to serve as a buffer, he prepared to shelter behind it and block the strike with everything he had.
Even if it meant exhausting every last drop of his strength, he had to succeed.
He stared down the flashing lightning.
Jagged, saw-like rays of light burned into his retinas as the lightning violently pierced through the domain Ise had deployed.
The barrier didn't provide nearly as much defense as he had hoped.
It seemed impossible to fully neutralize demonic energy that had already been converted into Dharma power.
Yet, it unmistakably disrupted a portion of the attack.
That minuscule difference was the boundary between life and death.
His vision went pitch black.
The pain arrived a step late, accompanied by a deafening clap of thunder.
It felt as if his brain were burning to ash. His entire body convulsed, his teeth clattering together violently.
"Ise!"
Someone shouted. Realizing he could still hear, Ise understood that he was still alive.
In the next instant, he realized the Black Iron Shield in his hand had vanished without a trace.
And that wasn't the only thing missing.
His left arm was gone below the elbow. All that remained was a charred, smoking stump.
‘This is the second time I've been roasted whole.’
Though he had lost an arm, at least the rest of his body had only been crisped on the outside.
Ise's gaze shifted toward the top of the cliff. The demonic cultivator seemed flustered. He made no move to prepare a third attack, merely staring down at where they stood.
If the bastard was going to be that dazed and slow, Ise couldn't be more grateful.
Ise immediately asked the first thing he needed to confirm.
"The formation?"
"Finished."
The moment Pi Ga-ram's reply reached him, Ise pulled out the Twin Sickle Spirit Domain Uprising with his remaining right hand, turned around, and pressed himself close to the others.
"Your arm... Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Start it. Hong Won-seo will attach it back."
"I'm nowhere near that level of realm, though," Hong Won-seo muttered.
Core Formation Great Cultivators possessed monstrous abilities capable of regenerating the missing limbs of others.
Even if they couldn't reach the Hall Masters, the Medicine Hall of the Great Martial Dao possessed spiritual elixirs comparable to such power.
Surely the Great Martial Dao wouldn't just abandon an initiate disciple who lost an arm during a mission... right?
Worst case, he could always go to Master.
There were plenty of ways to restore it. As long as he stayed alive, that was enough.
As the Disturbance Formation expanded, the surrounding air flickered. To the demonic cultivator's eyes, it would likely seem as though they had vanished into thin air.
Sure enough, the flustered demonic cultivator mounted his Death Wind Black Tiger and leaped down from the cliff.
His intention was undoubtedly to come down and check for himself.
Now, finally, they could engage in a pursuit on level ground.
Fortune had truly smiled upon them.
A cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage would usually have secured a flight art or a flying Dharma artifact. Against an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, escaping would have been unthinkable.
But because their opponent was a demonic cultivator—who would easily be shot down if he deployed a flying Dharma artifact within Great Martial Dao territory—and a Demonic Beast Tamer whose reliance on mounts reduced his need for flight arts, a sliver of hope had opened up.
"Seol Ryeong, where's the path out?"
"..."
"Seol Ryeong?"
At Ise's call, Seol Ryeong's pupils regained their focus. Looking uncertain, she pointed to the southwest.
It was the opposite direction from where they had come—toward the Great Martial Dao outpost in Aegul County.
"Run. Seol Ryeong, lead the way."
Ise didn't ask why. Now was the time to trust her instincts.
Pi Ga-ram supported Ise while Hong Won-seo ran beside them, applying emergency treatment to the charred stump.
"Bite down on this. It'll dull the pain."
"Don't you have any medicinal pills?"
"I barely have enough to save my own skin."
"Cold-hearted, aren't you?"
Still, it was far better than nothing. The Analgesic Herb Hong Won-seo had stuffed into his mouth was remarkably effective.
They sprinted through the mountain forest with all their strength, heading southwest as Seol Ryeong had indicated.
Cutting through dense trees, crossing streams, and plowing through the heavy underbrush.
‘He's fast.’
The malevolent aura of demonic energy rapidly approaching from behind sent a tingling pressure down the back of his neck.
Though they fled for their lives, the distance was closing rapidly.
"We have to go faster."
Even without Ise urging them on, the others could feel the shadow of death looming closer by the second.
It was a chilling, vivid killing intent that the enemy hadn't even bothered to hide.
Just as the demonic cultivator came within sight, it happened.
Something flashed past the four of them, followed by the deafening sound of the air tearing open.
A massive great sword flew through the air, spinning rapidly, and smashed directly into the demonic cultivator's body.
The ground caved in, and a plume of dust billowed upward like a thundercloud.
"You held out well, juniors."
It was Kwak Chan.
Leaping down from a nearby tree, he casually retrieved the great sword he had thrown.
He then planted himself between the demonic cultivator and the initiate disciples, standing like an immovable wall.
Without looking back, Kwak Chan spoke.
"Head back to the outpost. You'll only be dead weight here."
"Yes, Senior. Please take care."
Ise didn't stop. Leaving behind only a brief farewell, he veered off and kept running.
Kwak Chan glanced at their four receding backs and chuckled.
"They really didn't even look back once."
He soon stopped laughing and stared ahead. Seeing the demonic cultivator grimacing through the settling cloud of dust, Kwak Chan matched his face against the wanted poster in his memory and muttered under his breath.
"Yep, it's him. Here, a present for you."
Kwak Chan pulled three severed heads of Death Wind Black Tigers from his storage pouch and tossed them onto the ground in front of the demonic cultivator.
"Can't give you the bodies, though. I tore them to shreds and returned them to nature."
Chuckling, Kwak Chan looked at the expressionless demonic cultivator and hoisted his great sword over his shoulder as if bored.
* * *
The four of them ran until the sounds of combat faded into the distance.
Occasional explosions from spiritual energy colliding with demonic energy echoed behind them. Vibrations that felt as if the entire mountain were shaking traveled up through the soles of their feet.
A vast gap in cultivation realms.
The battle raging behind them proved just how unimaginably far Ise still had to go.
"Is it really okay for us to leave like this?"
Seol Ryeong asked in an anxious voice, though her legs didn't stop moving.
Instead of Ise, who was lost in thought, Hong Won-seo snapped back.
"What would change if we stayed? Like Senior said, if we get taken hostage, we'll just be dead weight. Not that Senior would bat an eye even if nobodies like us were taken hostage, but insects jumping into a clash between a dragon and a tiger changes nothing."
"Still..."
Leaving so cold-heartedly while a senior cultivator from their own sect was fighting a life-or-death battle felt wrong somehow.
Of course, considering the living hell she had just experienced moments ago, she didn't have the slightest desire to actually turn back.
Although Ise kept running, the demonic cultivator's face was permanently burned into his mind.
That face looking down from the cliff. That expressionless mug blasting lightning at them.
A Demonic Beast Tamer who controlled demonic beasts.
He had released demon ghosts in this area to disturb the domain of Ghost-Guarding Temple, and hunted his fellow disciples to feed them to his beasts.
It might be a leap of logic, but the sudden thought crossed his mind that this man might be connected to his family's enemies.
He would remember this face. And if the bastard survived today, Ise would make him spit out the truth.
But not now.
He had learned how to endure. He had learned how to retreat.
Master had taught him that throwing himself into an unwinnable fight was not revenge—it was suicide.
Another explosion thundered behind him. Ise did not look back.
Cultivating even more ruthlessly. Elevating his realm even faster.
Becoming stronger was the only thing he could do right now.