Chapter 461
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 461
Chapter Title: Rise
"Hah... Hah... Hah."
Han Seol-bing gasped for breath.
After Hocheon Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek had raced off ahead.
She had run with everything she had.
Pouring all her inner energy into it without a thought for what came after.
She barely made it to the Mountain-Crossing Great Wall.
Staring at the wide-open breach in the wall, she wore a look of utter disbelief.
As far as she knew, sorcery barriers protected it—no way jiangshi could have smashed through like that.
For it to be collapsed like this...
Something massive must have gone down.
So that's why the corps leader—no, the Fierce Dragon Corps Leader—bolted like a madman.
With that thought in mind.
Han Seol-bing headed toward the wall.
The crowd gathered there was so fixated on the front that they didn't even notice her approach.
What the...?
Turning her eyes forward in the eerie atmosphere.
"Wh-what the hell is... this...?"
She could only mutter in a daze.
Decapitating Blood Ghosts, along with all sorts of grotesque jiangshi, were surging toward the wall in droves.
"Instructor Han!"
Ha Seol-ran greeted her.
Of course, this wasn't the time for casual reunions.
Only then, at Ha Seol-ran's shout, did people start noticing Han Seol-bing one by one.
"Long time no see."
Dam Mu-hyeon flashed a smile.
It was a smile burdened with heavy weight, as if carrying a full load.
Dam Mu-hyeon turned his head.
Following his gaze.
There was Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong, gritting his teeth as he unleashed the Yi-Gi Sword Domain.
"Alliance Leader? Elder?"
And beside him, Wi Ji-gun deploying the Yi-Gi Sword.
"Where's the corps leader?"
Han Seol-bing searched for Ha Mu-baek.
No one questioned the new title of "corps leader."
This wasn't the moment for that.
Far off.
Ha Mu-baek was locked in battle with five mighty jiangshi.
But his style was uncharacteristically passive.
No—holding his own like that was already incredible.
Strength beyond imagination.
Han Seol-bing knew it the instant she laid eyes on those five.
That day.
They were the same as that monster jiangshi called Mieol-cheon she'd faced in the Blood Cult's main base.
To stand against five of them at once without yielding an inch.
It was a realm transcending monster.
How much stronger does he have to get...?
And in that moment, she grasped the source of the heavy atmosphere blanketing the area.
Ha Mu-baek was tied down by the five Mieol-cheon jiangshi.
Beneath the wall, things—whether jiangshi or monsters—were swarming relentlessly.
Dark Blood Jiangshi, Ironclad Jiangshi, Blood Jiangshi, Corpse Jiangshi, even Decapitating Blood Ghosts.
A horde of every monstrous type closing in.
Only the elder and the alliance leader could hold them back now.
And that was inevitable.
Mixed in were Dark Blood Jiangshi transformed into monsters.
If the Fierce Dragon Corps or Demon-Sealing Corps went down to block them, the outcome was obvious.
Even those two were reaching their limits.
Han Seol-bing bit her lip.
She'd arrived with her own inner energy fully depleted.
No way to help.
Soon enough.
Her face matched the stunned expressions of everyone else there.
Has Seol-bing made it?
Ha Mu-baek had his qi sense limited to the immediate area.
The reason: deploying it alongside the Infinite Bright Wheel Eye.
A method to precisely track his master's and the alliance leader's inner energy states.
The five Mieol-cheon jiangshi pressed Ha Mu-baek with ferocious momentum.
He blocked their assaults with minimal counters.
To anyone watching, he was clearly on the defensive.
"Kekeke."
From afar, Deok Ang-cheon let out a sinister chuckle as he observed.
Not only the five guardian divine protectors—he'd also revived Dark Blood Jiangshi that sporadically struck at Ha Mu-baek.
He relished the growing advantage.
Even committing this much force just to gain the upper hand.
It spoke volumes about how monstrous this nameless bastard was.
Yet he couldn't purely revel in it.
The reason Ha Mu-baek was on the back foot was simple.
To conserve energy against these foes.
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Gathering enough to unleash in one devastating sweep.
Retreating one step to advance ten.
Master must be nearing his limit too.
So Hwi-woong as well.
Their inner energy now clung precariously to rock bottom.
The Yi-Gi Sword and Yi-Gi Sword Domain blocking the demonic jiangshi—good for maybe one more deployment.
Ha Mu-baek had scraped every last drop; thin blood trickled from So Hwi-woong's mouth.
Seeing it, despair shadowed everyone's faces.
Blood signaling internal injuries.
A gut sense that the Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader could no longer sustain the Yi-Gi Sword Domain.
Wi Ji-gun's face drained white too.
Come on, move already. Your master’s about to die.
A silent cry in his heart.
Wi Ji-gun trusted Ha Mu-baek.
Pale as he was.
His expression held composure.
The ease born of knowing his disciple's true power.
"Time to end this."
In that instant, an immense energy erupted from Ha Mu-baek's body like an explosion.
Kuoooooo!
The shockwave forced the encircling Mieol-cheon jiangshi to stagger back.
Three to five steps.
"What the—?"
Deok Ang-cheon jolted at the sudden shift in Ha Mu-baek's aura.
But Ha Mu-baek ignored him utterly.
Gripping his sword in reverse, he slammed it into the ground.
"Rise."
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-kwang!
Ku-ku-ku-kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
A world-shattering roar as the earth exploded outward in all directions.
The blast engulfed and shredded jiangshi.
Yet.
They reformed, wriggling back to their feet.
"Rise."
At Ha Mu-baek's quiet murmur.
His inner energy surged everywhere.
Ku-uuu-uuuung!
A deep resonance echoed.
The ground heaved upward, forming a massive earthen wall.
A height those undead monsters could never scale.
Circling around Ha Mu-baek in a perfect ring.
In that instant.
A colossal battlefield formed, pitting Ha Mu-baek alone against them all.
"Wh-what is this...?"
Deok Ang-cheon stared, soul-stunned at the impossible spectacle no human could wrought.
Ha Mu-baek didn't pause.
Releasing the grounded sword, he reached skyward.
Seizing the momentary gap.
Myeong Cho-jin's twin blades flew at Ha Mu-baek.
The ninth blade strike.
His heaviest technique plummeting down.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes snapped wide.
In midair.
A white sword aura erupted.
Manifest Sword Aura.
Sword aura existing purely without a blade.
Blocking Myeong Cho-jin's twin blades.
"Rise."
Murmuring the same words again.
"Huh? Wh-what?"
"What the hell?"
Swords, blades, and weapons at the waists of Fierce Dragon Corps and Demon-Sealing Corps members slid free and soared into the air.
People recoiled in shock at the sudden event.
Ha Mu-baek restricted his qi sense to within the earthen wall.
Qi sense fused with Infinite Bright Wheel Eye captured every presence inside precisely.
One by one, sword ki coated the hovering arsenal.
The five Mieol-cheon jiangshi, plus.
Deok Ang-cheon—all attacked Ha Mu-baek with full force.
But the Manifest Sword Aura moved with a will of its own, deflecting every blow.
It was Yi-Gi Sword at point-blank range.
"Die."
The moment sword aura cloaked every airborne weapon.
Ha Mu-baek muttered with murderous intent.
The blades, swords, and weapons plunged earthward like shooting stars.
Shuuuk! Shuu-shuuk!
A whisper of cutting air.
In the blink of an eye, they struck.
Puk! Pu-puk! Pu-pu-puk!
Impaling every monster advancing on the earthen wall.
One per beast.
As if nailing them to the ground, the weapons rained from the heavens.
Deok Ang-cheon's sorcery tried reviving them.
But pinned by sword ki-laden weapons.
All they could do was twitch in place.
Ha Mu-baek watched with cold eyes.
"H-how... Th-this can't... be..."
Deok Ang-cheon gaped in total disbelief.
The other five Mieol-cheon jiangshi too.
Frozen, hands slack.
A human had done the impossible, right before their eyes.
The wall's defenders felt the same.
Their own weapons vanished.
But the sequence that followed.
Were they truly witnessing reality with their own eyes?
Namgung Ji-hu and Namgung Ji-yu had seen something similar once at the Namgung Clan.
But incomparable to Ha Mu-baek's absurd divinity now.
Yanking countless others' weapons skyward effortlessly, coating them all in sword ki.
Then dropping them precisely on the scattered foes?
Not a single miss.
How could a human do this?
Amid it, only Namgung Ji-hu's sword remained safe at his waist.
Ha Mu-baek had selectively taken standard-issue gear.
Realizing that.
"Is he even human...?"
Namgung Ji-hu muttered unwittingly.
"Let's see if these survive too."
Ha Mu-baek raised his right hand.
Fwoosh.
A small flame flickered above his palm.
"Hah... Hah... Hah."
Doh Sim-gyeok ran frantically.
He had to reach the farthest point first.
On the way, he stopped at one place.
Lives mattered most, but he couldn't abandon this.
He swiftly pocketed two jade cases.
Then ran on.
Inside them.
Jiangshi inner cores, and spirit pills refined from them.
While running, he opened a case and popped a spirit pill into his mouth.
Chewed it thoroughly and swallowed.
They were meant for his master.
But with death looming.
Doh Sim-gyeok acted on instinct.
Survival above all.
He knew intellectually that swallowing the pill now wouldn't make him stronger instantly.
But instinct screamed to do something.
So he took it.
Finish one, grab the next, chew.
The chewing dragged annoyingly long.
He cursed why these legendary spirit pills didn't melt instantly like the tales.
Too big for two at once.
While sprinting.
He chewed diligently.
Until a terrifying voice sounded right beside him.
"You. Got something interesting there, huh?"
"...!"
A spine-chilling voice.
One promising instant death.
Doh Sim-gyeok froze completely.
Legs mid-stride halted.
Jaw mid-chew stopped.
He stood there, blank-faced.
Before him, an old man.
No.
A corpse?
Emaciated frame, eyes pitch-black voids—a horrifying presence.
Lips unmoving, yet speaking.
"Righteous faction bastards pulling inner cores from jiangshi. And refining them into pills to eat?"
Dokgo Ya-pae's eyes fixed on Doh Sim-gyeok's mouth.
Curious what the fastest runner was up to, he'd pursued this one.
Doh Sim-gyeok unwittingly became bait, buying escape time for the others.
"Hey, kid. What the hell is this?"
Dokgo Ya-pae asked Doh Sim-gyeok.
He wanted to snap that he already knew, but terror paralyzed him.
"Even among the righteous, there are mad ones. Doing what our cult never dreamed of. Kekeke."
Jiangshi inner cores.
Pills made from them.
A human consuming them.
Amusing.
"Let's see."
Dokgo Ya-pae snatched the jade case from Doh Sim-gyeok's hand.
The one with spirit pills.
He took one and popped it into his own mouth.
A body already dead, turned jiangshi.
What happens if such a body eats a pill from a jiangshi inner core?
Sudden curiosity gripped him; Dokgo Ya-pae chewed it thoroughly.