Chapter 403
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 403
Chapter Title: Insufficient
"It's called a Blood Iron Corpse."
Ha Mu-baek said it as if it were no big deal.
His voice, infused with internal energy, rang clearly in the ears of every cadet.
"Blood Iron Corpse..."
Someone murmured the identity Ha Mu-baek had revealed.
"Among the creatures you might encounter in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, it's one of the strongest. You've felt it yourselves when you clashed with it directly."
The cadets nodded unconsciously at Ha Mu-baek's continued explanation.
That impact slamming into the shields had been truly powerful.
Its body was tough, too.
No matter how much they slashed at it, it wouldn't be cut.
How on earth was their instructor planning to prepare them to face monsters like that?
"And the reason Blood Iron Corpses are such a headache among the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest's jiangshi is this: if it bites you, you become a jiangshi."
The cadets showed little reaction to those words.
They had already dealt with Iron Corpses, after all.
"It's not that you turn into a jiangshi after being bitten and dying. You transform right there on the spot."
However.
No cadet remained calm after hearing Ha Mu-baek's follow-up explanation.
They were simply too shocked to react.
Wasn't that the case?
Getting bitten turns you into a jiangshi instantly.
And he'd thrown those things at them without any warning, ambushing them during training.
They had nearly become jiangshi mid-training.
"D-Damn it..."
"How could..."
Some spat curses laced with betrayal.
Others let out sighs of despair.
Of course, Ha Mu-baek paid no mind to such reactions.
"If you're heading into the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, you'll face far worse than this, and plenty of it. This was training mimicking real combat to prepare for that—and you handled it better than expected."
Praise flowed from Ha Mu-baek's lips once more.
"So, I think we can raise the goal a bit higher."
Was this his way of saying he'd drill them even harder from now on?
Just as that doubt arose...
"Next up is internal energy. Everyone, assume the cross-legged position and begin circulating your energy."
At Ha Mu-baek's command, the cadets reflexively sat in the lotus position and activated the Three Talents Heart Method.
Ha Mu-baek moved among them, pressing his palms to their vital energy points and guiding the flow of their internal energy.
It was the unremarkable Three Talents Heart Method.
But once Ha Mu-baek laid his hands on them, it felt entirely different from before.
Some two hundred cadets in all.
Ha Mu-baek corrected the energy flow for every single one, one by one.
By the time he finished, night had fallen.
Yet the cadets' meditation continued.
Ha Mu-baek stood on the platform, silently watching them.
They were improving steadily.
These cadets were growing faster than even he had predicted.
A faint smile tugged at Ha Mu-baek's lips, but with every cadet deep in meditation, eyes closed...
No one saw it.
The seven squads of cadets were all meditating with eyes shut.
The Namgung siblings had already left.
No one was watching Ha Mu-baek.
Han Seol-bing was simply gazing at his back.
Demon-Sealing Corps Black Squad Two.
And the Fierce Dragon Corps.
They had finished resting and gathered again.
A new mission had come down.
"This time, it's the south."
Squad Leader Pung Geon spoke with a somewhat resigned expression.
"Fuck."
A curse burst out immediately.
Wasn't this another suicide mission, just to see if they'd make it back alive?
"Details?"
Yu Gwi-gwang asked with his usual unchanging face.
"Same as last time."
They had expected as much, but hearing it from Pung Geon's mouth still made them grimace.
"Can we make it back alive?"
Hwa Ryang asked cautiously, her voice thick with fear.
It couldn't be helped.
Last mission, they should have died.
They had survived only thanks to encountering the noble Ha Mu-baek.
There wouldn't be such fortune this time.
At her question,
all eyes in the Demon-Sealing Corps turned to one person.
Gwan Ha-kyeong startled at the gazes of his comrades.
"As long as we don't run into Dark Blood Iron Corpses. As long as we avoid groups of Blood Iron Corpses. We'll make it back."
Pung Geon's words carried conviction.
And every member of the Demon-Sealing Corps nodded in agreement.
Of course.
Gwan Ha-kyeong had reached the peak realm and could wield sword energy.
The Fierce Dragon Corps' shield techniques had advanced.
They could block attacks from Iron Corpses and even cut them down.
It was different from last time.
Of course, the corps leader and vice leader knew none of this.
They hadn't reported it.
As far as anyone knew, it had been dumb luck—a chance encounter that let them complete the mission and return alive.
"However."
Pung Geon spoke again.
"The south will be even rougher than the west."
The corps leader and vice leader hadn't assigned the same level of mission.
They had given something more perilous.
They had heard that another Demon-Sealing Corps squad sent on the same mission to the south had suffered massive losses.
"Hmmm."
Grunts of unease rose here and there.
"Departure?"
Yu Gwi-gwang asked again.
"Five days from now."
At least they had some breathing room this time.
The corps leader and vice leader were mindful of the eyes on them.
They had no choice.
Anyone could see they had issued two straight suicide missions.
"Tch. We'll have to struggle somehow."
Everyone nodded at Yu Gwi-gwang's words.
What could change in just five days?
Even so, they had to train with all they had during those five days.
The days spent with Ha Mu-baek had taught them that.
Depending on how you trained, you could make massive strides even in a short time.
Yu Gwi-gwang's hand touched his chest pocket.
The one holding his daughter's portrait.
"Ha Mu-baek..."
Il No murmured as he read the report from his subordinates.
The Escaped Soul Poison Corpses had all failed.
As expected, the monster was a freak.
How long had it been since he survived the Soul-Entrapping Poison? Yet he had detoxified every single one infected by it.
On top of that, he had wielded some martial art that handled tremendous fire energy.
He had turned five Escaped Soul Poison Corpses to ash in one go.
And it seemed he had taken the last one with him.
Still, if there was one achievement,
it was that Ha Mu-baek, that monstrous bastard, hadn't tracked them down into their underground hideout.
The surveillance agent had returned safely, mistaken for a mere herb gatherer, and submitted this report.
The fact that the guy who hunted them like a ghost had failed to find them was encouraging.
It proved his ghostly senses weren't infallible.
Even against Escaped Soul Poison Corpses,
new jiangshi that spewed Soul-Entrapping Poison, for the first time.
The bastard hadn't turned the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest upside down.
If he had sensed even a hint of their presence, he surely would have.
"Well, even back then..."
Il No suddenly recalled the monster's ferocious, devilish appearance and muttered in a slightly chilled voice.
Above the underground lair where they had hidden.
On the surface.
The Blood Cult's main headquarters.
It had been reduced to rubble.
By a single man.
That man was Ha Mu-baek.
Of course, it was after the previous cult leader Gae Hong-cheon had fallen in battle.
After Il No's grueling efforts had finally secured a secret negotiation with Yeon Ja-kyeong.
And they had agreed to preserve the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
Enraged by that decision, Ha Mu-baek had stormed the Blood Cult headquarters and demolished it.
Of course, few remained there at the time.
They had all fled underground.
But it wasn't empty.
The headquarters was the Blood Cult's holy site.
Jiangshi had been stationed to guard it.
Ten Dark Blood Iron Corpses and
one Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpse.
The Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpses were the guardian jiangshi meant to protect the cult.
Previous protectors of the Blood Cult who, even in death, learned the Annihilation Arts to defend it, becoming Dark Blood Iron Corpses.
They had mastered an additional special martial art to maximize their power as Dark Blood Iron Corpses through Annihilation Arts.
A Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpse could handle ten Dark Blood Iron Corpses with ease.
The reason they could do so was that they retained will and intelligence as jiangshi.
The special martial art learned alongside blood arts enabled it.
Ten Dark Blood Iron Corpses and one Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpse.
This force
was enough that even previous cult leader Gae Hong-cheon would have had to fight for his life to wipe them out.
That monstrous bastard
had done it that day.
And in perfect condition, no less.
He had grown even stronger than when the cult leader fell.
"That monster I want to tear apart."
However.
Even then, he hadn't found them hiding underground.
He had vented his rage by smashing the headquarters buildings to ruins.
Now they were deeper underground.
And again, he hadn't found them.
Even so.
It was humiliating.
To hide underground, fleeing from a single man just to survive.
Il No's worries deepened.
'We lack Dark Blood Iron Corpses.'
It couldn't be helped.
Dark Blood Iron Corpses were warriors who had reached the pinnacle of Annihilation Arts and transformed into jiangshi.
After the great martial war,
nearly all the Annihilation Arts manuals scattered across the world had vanished.
No new Dark Blood Iron Corpses were being made.
The Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest's supply was dwindling.
They had gained a valuable asset when a Dark Blood Iron Corpse evolved into a Guillotine Iron Corpse,
but Ha Mu-baek had eliminated it.
'Should I force it?'
The Annihilation Arts manual still remained in the Blood Cult.
The results of research to escape that curse had returned to the cult.
Shib-ro had worked hard on it.
However.
Dark Blood Iron Corpses grew stronger the more powerful the martial arts their host had mastered before transformation.
Having just anyone learn Annihilation Arts was pointless.
If the learner was a fool, they wouldn't even reach the pinnacle.
'Field training, was it?'
The proposal Yeon Ja-kyeong had relayed.
Il No recalled it.
Not just Iron Corpses or Blood Iron Corpses,
but a chance to increase the number of Dark Blood Iron Corpses.
All they needed was to capture them alive without killing.
'It'd be great if they sent a lot of promising ones.'
Il No set down the report and organized his thoughts.
"Where might a remaining Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpse be..."
The previous generation's protectors.
His ancestors, as well.
Even for the Blood Cult's guardians, deciding to become jiangshi after death wasn't easy.
Some wished for eternal rest in death.
Thus, Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpses were rare.
The cult had only a few.
Even during the fierce war with the Righteous Heaven Alliance, Gae Hong-cheon hadn't deployed them.
They were the cult's ultimate guardians.
Saved for the final moments to protect the cult.
One had fallen trying to defend the holy site against Ha Mu-baek.
The storage place for the original Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpses.
He headed deep underground.
For the field training Yeon Ja-kyeong had informed him of,
he needed to send one Heaven-Exterminating Iron Corpse into the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest in advance, timed perfectly.
"Ha Mu-baek, that bastard won't be coming back for a while."
Hadn't they mentioned Hidden Dragon Corps and Wa Dragon Corps?
"Best to start expanding influence from the south, gradually covering the entire Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest."
Muttering to himself, Il No set off.
Yeon Ja-kyeong had given Il No much information, but there was one thing she hadn't.
It concerned Ha Mu-baek's younger sister.
The fact that she would soon complete her Dragon Training Pavilion training and be assigned to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
A pitch-black cavern filled with thick darkness.
Gae Se-aak remained wrapped in shadows here.
His two eyes gleamed pitch-black and glossy.
"Darkness."
Gae Se-aak murmured the two words calmly.
How long had it been since he entered this cavern? His voice was rough and cracked.
As if his vocal cords hadn't been used in ages.
Yet dissatisfaction filled his face.
His thirst for power remained unquenched.
"Insufficient."
He greedily devoured the darkness, eating and eating more.
Denser shadows came.
Yet it was still not enough.
To bring death to the entire world in one fell swoop, this was insufficient.
He needed more darkness.
More power.
At that moment.
From the deep, deep, thick, thick darkness.
An alien energy stirred.
Drawn by the darkness to this place.
Yet a power different from the darkness.
Gae Se-aak's senses turned toward it.