Chapter 460
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 460
Chapter Title: What... What is That...?
Deung Ang-cheon.
Among the Protector Gods of the Blood Cult, he was the one who became a Protector God next after Dugoh Yapa.
His strength was also the highest among the six gathered here now.
And excluding Dugoh Yapa, he was the last to awaken.
After arriving here.
He was startled by the scene unfolding before him.
One Protector God lay shattered and collapsed, while another had left no trace at all.
Judging by the fact that no energy could be felt, it seemed he had been defeated.
To leave not even a trace behind.
As if he had been utterly annihilated?
Such thoughts crossed his mind.
That was why.
The moment he arrived.
Without even taking a moment to survey.
He unleashed his full-powered attacks upon the humans on the wall.
Combining the power of all six.
The counterattack from the wall.
Was fierce.
That just two humans could hold out, even briefly, against the might of six Protector Gods.
It made sense that the first two Protector Gods to arrive had fallen.
More than that.
'Where are the jiangshi?'
Hadn't Il-no said as much?
That all the remaining jiangshi of the Blood Cult had been sent here.
Yet there wasn't a single jiangshi in this place.
There were countless remnants of their fallen forms, but.
It couldn't have been just this many.
Had they been defeated without even leaving corpses behind?
Such doubts flickered briefly.
But the task at hand was to slaughter all the humans before him and take their corpses back.
He needed to replenish as many as the vanished jiangshi.
The strong ones had to be kept barely alive.
To turn them into Dark Blood Jiangshi.
As such idle thoughts passed through his mind.
Their attacks were steadily advancing toward the cluster of humans.
They had held out decently, but it was the expected outcome.
Just as a cruel smile began to twist at the corners of his mouth.
Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!
A colossal roar erupted, and they were swept away by a sudden, savage gale, flung backward.
An utterly pathetic sight.
Deung Ang-cheon lay on the ground, staring up at the sky.
What in the world had just happened?
He couldn't comprehend it.
So he rose to check.
A man had appeared out of nowhere.
'When?'
He hadn't sensed anyone's approach.
This human had dropped from the sky like a bolt.
More than that.
He had instantly ended the clash of their immense energies.
And directed the backlash entirely toward their side.
The gathering of humans remained unscathed, proof of it.
As the dust slowly settled.
That arrogant expression came into view.
"These fucking things... there are six of them, huh..."
The muttered words rang clear.
[Attack!]
Deung Ang-cheon issued a telepathic command to the remaining Protector Gods as he rose.
Taat!
The six Protector Gods charged from all directions simultaneously.
Gray energy blazed murderously around their bodies.
Their entire forms shrouded in something akin to sword aura, an unidentified energy.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved.
Clang! Clang-clang! Clang!
One swing struck all six.
A cacophony of clashes resounded.
Ha Mu-baek's sword did not rest.
Nor did the Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi.
An unceasing exchange of blows.
The sword aura coating Ha Mu-baek's blade grew ever more profound.
The energy of the Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi strengthened as well.
Deung Ang-cheon furrowed his brow.
Six Protector Gods, no less.
Even as they attacked in unison.
This human stood firm, matching them blow for blow.
Could such a human even exist?
'He's still human.'
Being human meant there was a limit to his power.
Unlike them, who had become gods for the cult after embracing death.
[Myeong Cho Formation. Unleash all your power!]
At Deung Ang-cheon's command.
One of the Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi began to transform.
The eyes of the one unleashing the fiercest assault glowed blood-red.
Its muscles swelled, its size doubling.
And with it, the energy it emitted doubled as well.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes gleamed.
The Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi he had fought at the end of the previous war hadn't shown such a form.
Whoosh.
A massive fist hurtled toward Ha Mu-baek's face.
A fist as large as his head.
He raised his sword to block.
Clang!
With the sound, Ha Mu-baek stepped back a pace.
"Not bad."
At Ha Mu-baek's calm response.
Deung Ang-cheon grimaced, but he had his own role.
Taking advantage of Myeong Cho's ferocious assault on Ha Mu-baek.
Deung Ang-cheon leaped back.
Ha Mu-baek glanced at him.
But did not pursue.
Because he was heading away from where the people were.
Had he moved toward the group, Ha Mu-baek would have ignored everything to seize and tear him apart first.
Myeong Cho drew two massive cleavers from his back.
Before the transformation, they had been as tall as himself.
Now, they were perfectly sized.
The gray energy pouring from his body coiled around the blades.
Resembling cleaver aura ignited.
The two cleavers swung wildly toward Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek's sword parried them effortlessly.
Meanwhile, the other four Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi drew their own weapons and charged at him.
One against five.
Yet Ha Mu-baek did not retreat.
He blocked every assault coming from all sides.
As if he knew exactly where their weapons would strike.
"Those bastards are using the Blood Cult's martial arts."
Dam Mu-heun muttered at the sight.
"Even seeing it again, it's the kind of arts that make my skin crawl."
So Hwi-woong nodded.
The jiangshi were employing the very martial arts used by the Blood Cult experts they had faced countless times in the last Martial World War.
Among them.
The cleaver arts of the one whose size had suddenly doubled.
Nine Layers Nine Blood Blade.
A troublesome blade art whose power multiplied with each successive form.
And with that bulk, wielding twin cleavers no less.
So Hwi-woong shook his head slightly.
It was an instinctive reaction, wondering how many forms he could withstand in Ha Mu-baek's position.
The white sword aura on Ha Mu-baek's blade had deepened to near transparency.
Boom!
Clang!
Kaboom!
Deafening roars echoed in succession.
A storm raged.
The people on the wall could only watch.
The sheer power made it impossible to even approach.
'Well done, Mu-baek.'
Wi Ji-gun gazed at him with pride.
His disciple, who had surpassed his own realm by leaps and bounds, filled him with immense pride.
Having confirmed Ha Mu-baek's prowess, Wi Ji-gun immediately entered meditation to circulate his energy.
Even with Ha Mu-baek here.
Even showing such divine might.
One could never predict when something might happen.
It was to ensure he was in peak condition.
Glancing at Wi Ji-gun's actions, So Hwi-woong also entered meditation.
In the battle between Ha Mu-baek and the five Protector Gods, Deung Ang-cheon's eyes gleamed from a distance.
"To think such a monster exists in the jianghu. This won't be easy."
The Protector Gods were gradually revealing more of their abilities.
Their attacks grew fiercer, their energies raging wildly.
Yet the one who dropped from the sky was still holding out.
Against power like that.
'I thought only Elder Dugoh could manage it.'
Deung Ang-cheon recalled the first Protector God, Dugoh Yapa.
He soon.
Decided on his next move.
His eyes, black as sword qi, darkened further.
When darkness deeper than pitch black filled them completely.
Black energy surged from his body, spreading like coiling smoke.
Black mist.
Exactly that.
It couldn't invade the area where Ha Mu-baek and the five Protector Gods clashed, but it enveloped the surroundings.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze shifted to Deung Ang-cheon.
He had fought the Blood Cult countless times, but this was a first.
Part of Ha Mu-baek's attention diverted to the black mist.
Yet he still parried the Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi's attacks adeptly.
No—his apt counters were even accumulating damage on them.
Once the black mist covered a certain radius.
A bizarre incantation began to flow from Deung Ang-cheon's mouth.
The mist trembled finely, scattering an inky sheen.
Blood Heaven Necromantic Soul Revival Grand Blood Art.
Deung Ang-cheon was unleashing a forbidden ritual no one in Blood Cult history had ever performed.
The conditions to perform this ritual.
The first.
One must be a Blood Cult Il-no versed in jiangshi arts.
The second.
One must be a Protector God.
Those two.
Indeed.
Deung Ang-cheon was an Il-no from the ancient days of the Blood Cult.
And the only Protector God who was an Il-no.
In other words, he alone in Blood Cult history could wield this art.
The moment black energy exploded from his body.
Twitch. Twitch.
Squirm. Squirm.
Changes occurred.
The severed, shattered jiangshi strewn everywhere.
They began to move.
Their mangled bodies clumsily rejoined.
And they rose.
Some couldn't reattach their heads and clutched them to their sides.
"Uuuuurrrghhh."
"Uruuughhh."
Emitting grotesque wails, they moved slowly.
Toward the wall.
Some had been Dark Blood Jiangshi.
But they hadn't regained their prior intelligence.
They moved like evil jiangshi.
Yet the energy they exuded was far from ordinary.
"F-F-Fucking insane..."
Dam Mu-heun, watching from the wall, muttered unwittingly.
"What... what the hell is that...?"
"Is this even possible?"
Chaos.
Pure pandemonium engulfed the people.
Jiangshi, monsters made from the dead.
They had felled those monsters.
Only for them to revive in such hideous, grotesque forms.
At the sudden turmoil, So Hwi-woong and Wi Ji-gun opened their eyes.
They too had sensed the anomaly.
And at the sight before them, they could only frown.
Slowly.
Exuding a sinister aura, they approached the wall.
Ha Mu-baek tried to intercept them.
But the five Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi blocked his path.
That wasn't all.
Deung Ang-cheon's ritual continued.
A hand from a buried jiangshi burst from the ground, grabbing Ha Mu-baek's ankle.
"Pathetic."
With swift motion, the hand shattered instantly.
But it had succeeded in harassing him.
Gongson Mu-oe stared at the scene in bewilderment, asking Ma Jin-gi beside him.
"I-Is this even possible? A jiangshi performing rituals...?"
His voice was dazed.
Something he had never imagined was unfolding before his eyes.
Ma Jin-gi shook his head.
"A first for me. No records of it either. Maybe in ancient texts..."
He seemed equally dumbfounded.
"Can you block it, perhaps?"
Gongson Mu-oe asked cautiously.
Ma Jin-gi shook his head.
"Too far for my arts to reach."
Meanwhile, more freshly revived horrors—jiangshi or monsters, who could say?—drew nearer by the second.
"Go!"
"Begone!"
Then.
Wi Ji-gun and So Hwi-woong roared in unison, hurling their sword and cleaver.
Sword Flight and Cleaver Flight manifested simultaneously, slicing down the approaching foes.
Relief began to dawn on the people's faces at the sight.
Only for the fallen ones.
To rise again in clumsily rejoined forms.
"Wh-What...?"
Someone muttered in horror.
Yeon Ha-min's face was rigid.
She was still using foresight.
The future her eyes showed.
Was only the monsters charging and falling.
Just one breath into the future.
She couldn't see beyond that.
Ha Mu-baek grimaced.
'Jiangshi creating jiangshi?'
Reviving the silenced jiangshi so easily just by scattering energy?
Undying monsters that rose again even after being felled?
Dangerous.
Ha Mu-baek judged Deung Ang-cheon as such.
However.
The energy left in his body was scant.
He had expended much rushing here at full speed.
And upon arrival, blocking that immense energy clash had consumed a great deal more.
Now, he was recovering amid the fight.
Thus.
He had limited himself to countering the five Heavenly Extinction Jiangshi.
Fortunately, his master and the Alliance Leader seemed to have recovered some internal energy in the interim.
He could only hope they held out a bit longer.
Ha Mu-baek clashed swords once more with those charging at him.
Even amid it, energy steadily accumulated in his dantian.