Chapter 462
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 462
Chapter Title: Me Too
Dokgo Ya-pae was a jiangshi.
Though it moved according to its own will,
its essence was that of a jiangshi.
In other words, a corpse.
There was no saliva to speak of.
No matter how much it chewed with its teeth, the elixir pellet merely mushed up like rice cake.
It swallowed it down whole.
There was a stomach, of course.
But being that of a corpse,
it served no function whatsoever.
The mangled pellet simply dropped into what was little more than a pouch called a stomach.
Dokgo Ya-pae was keenly aware of the state inside its own body.
"Hmmm."
From where its dantian had once been,
some energy that might have once been internal force stirred to life
and surged into the stomach.
The energy enveloped the mangled pellet
and voraciously absorbed it.
"Oh?"
It wasn't a huge amount,
but it had managed to absorb a meaningful quantity of energy.
As the energy that had filled the stomach vanished,
residue was left behind.
Impure scraps.
They slowly rose up, retracing the path of what had once been the esophagus.
"Ptooey!"
It spat out what had bubbled up into its mouth.
An elixir blended from all sorts of medicinal herbs meant to nourish the body—but to Dokgo Ya-pae's body, nothing more than useless impurities.
This time, Dokgo Ya-pae shoved two more elixir pellets from the jade box into its mouth.
Having experienced it once, it swallowed without chewing.
Once again, black energy filled the stomach
and absorbed the pellets' power,
though slightly slower than before.
'Because there were two? Or because I didn't chew them?'
One thing was clear: it was slower, even accounting for chewing time.
So this time, it chewed the two and swallowed.
The absorption proceeded at the previous speed.
'Seems it's because of the impurities mixed in.'
With that thought, Dokgo Ya-pae spat out the residue and repeated the process of absorbing the pellets' energy.
How much time passed?
The jade box lay empty.
Do Sim-geuk stared at the sight in a daze.
Frozen in terror,
overwhelmed by the terrifying aura radiating from Dokgo Ya-pae.
He couldn't even twitch.
Just standing there like an idiot, staring blankly.
'W-what... what the hell is that thing...'
Even with his life hanging by a thread, he couldn't bear to waste the elixirs.
It took time to fully assimilate their energy into his own, and that jade box had held all the ones he hadn't gotten around to yet, plus those meant for his master.
Now it was empty.
The thought of all the time and effort he'd poured into filling it made something surge up from the depths of his chest.
At that moment,
Dokgo Ya-pae's bony hand
reached toward Do Sim-geuk's chest.
'Ugh... ahhh!!!'
That surging fury vanished in an instant, replaced by sheer terror.
'Ugh... ughhh...'
Do Sim-geuk trembled violently.
He squeezed his eyes shut without realizing it.
That bony, sharp, grotesque hand
seemed about to plunge into his chest and seize his heart.
But,
slipping gently.
Dokgo Ya-pae's hand rummaged softly through Do Sim-geuk's robes
and pulled out another jade box.
The one containing the jiangshi inner cores.
Click.
The lid opened,
revealing the cores packed inside.
It picked one up and popped it into its mouth.
It slid straight to the stomach and was absorbed in an instant.
Not even residue remained.
The pure inner core of a jiangshi was the crystallization of pure energy.
"Good."
Heh.
It actually smiled like that.
The inner core was absorbed in a flash.
No need to chew; the moment it hit the stomach, black energy rose and devoured it completely.
"Tch."
A shame.
Something it had never even considered in life,
or after awakening.
Just for fun, watching this fool frantically stuff things into its mouth?
No.
It had merely followed instinct to try one elixir,
and this was the result.
As the saying goes, "many a little makes a mickle"?
Impossible to make a mountain from dust,
but at least absorbing everything it had possessed had increased its energy by at least ten percent.
Astonishing.
Even after absorbing dozens of blood jiangshi or poison jiangshi cores, to achieve this.
Put them all together, and they still couldn't properly handle a single dark blood jiangshi.
"Got more?"
So it asked the boy before it.
Do Sim-geuk shook his head vigorously.
Dokgo Ya-pae stared at him intently.
And smiled again.
"You do."
At those words,
"N-no... I don't..."
He frantically denied it, waving his hands.
Splat.
"Gah."
But he couldn't.
Dokgo Ya-pae's hand had pierced his dantian.
Thus, after ripping open Do Sim-geuk's abdomen, Dokgo Ya-pae seized his dantian and yanked it out.
"It's right here. Isn't it?"
Do Sim-geuk had cultivated his internal force using spirit elixirs made from jiangshi inner cores.
Thus,
even fully assimilated into his own energy,
Dokgo Ya-pae could still see it.
The jiangshi inner core energy mixed into Do Sim-geuk's internal force.
Dokgo Ya-pae swallowed the dantian whole.
Black energy roiled up, absorbing what it needed
and spitting out the rest as impurities.
"Oh?"
Impressive.
He must have eaten quite a few jiangshi cores.
"Kekeke. The so-called righteous faction does shit like this. Fucking dogs."
"Grahk... grrrk."
Dokgo Ya-pae eyed Do Sim-geuk coldly,
but he merely curled up in agony from his dantian being ripped out, groaning.
Slice.
A light sweep of the hand,
and Do Sim-geuk's head fell.
Dokgo Ya-pae glanced at it briefly, then turned away.
After dealing with this one, upon scanning around,
among those fleeing in all directions,
it spotted others who had consumed jiangshi cores.
"Plenty left."
Licking its lips, Dokgo Ya-pae vanished.
"Gulp."
Someone swallowed dryly.
A small flame flickered in the distance.
The epitome of fire energy, distinct from the Threefold True Fire.
Ha Mu-baek had ignited it, and it couldn't possibly be ordinary.
"Disappear."
Ha Mu-baek murmured calmly and flicked his hand.
Roarrrrr!
The small flame instantly erupted into a massive blaze.
Transforming into a fire dragon,
it soared into the sky like an ascending dragon,
then crashed back to earth.
The earthen walls filled in an instant with wild, ferocious flames.
"Ugh."
That immense fiery aura
reached even the ramparts of the Mountain-Crossing Great Wall.
A few groaned outright.
Inside the earthen walls, it had become a veritable hell of fire.
A space blazing like the lair of a fire dragon.
"Krrk."
Deung Ang-cheon, Myeong Cho-jin, and the other Extermination Jiangshi poured all their energy into resisting the flames.
The blaze raged for nearly half a quarter-hour before fading.
Silence fell.
With the roar of the flames gone,
in this vast space packed with so many people,
only stillness remained.
No one
made a sound.
What Ha Mu-baek had just shown
was that overwhelming, that awe-inspiring.
The jiangshi endlessly revived by Deung Ang-cheon's Blood Heaven Four Spirits Revival Great Blood Method
vanished.
Not even ash remained; they were utterly annihilated.
Only the weapons that had pierced them still jutted from the ground, gleaming.
Weapons that had preserved their form unscathed amid that fiery inferno.
That sight was astonishing too.
Given flames so intense they seemed ready to melt even those weapons.
"Th-the... Blood Heaven Four Spirits Revival Great Blood Method..."
At the scene before them,
Deung Ang-cheon muttered in a daze.
He'd never imagined it could be broken like this.
His own body was far from intact,
burned and scorched in places by the vicious flames.
"Hmmm. So there was a technique like that."
Ha Mu-baek nodded at Deung Ang-cheon's mutter.
Then he flicked his hand,
and the weapons embedded in the ground flew back into the air,
returning to their original owners.
The Fierce Dragon Corps, Demon-Sealing Corps, and Dragon Training Pavilion trainees froze as the weapons suddenly hurtled toward them.
But their fears were unfounded.
The weapons neatly slotted back into their sheaths and scabbards on their own.
It was a feat of sword arts.
Some marveled even more.
Not flung randomly, but precisely to their rightful wielders.
Ha Mu-baek turned to Deung Ang-cheon.
"Shall we continue?"
He smiled faintly and drew the sword from the ground.
"Ugh... ughh... monster..."
Words spilling from instinct.
"Being called a monster by a real monster? Kinda pisses me off."
Saying that, Ha Mu-baek took a step forward.
And,
whoosh.
The sword flew silently.
Clang!
Myeong Cho-jin's blade blocked it in an instant before Deung Ang-cheon.
And he alone
appeared unscathed amid those ferocious flames.
Ha Mu-baek's sword danced again.
Ching! Ching! Clang!
Clang! Clang!
Myeong Cho-jin met Ha Mu-baek head-on, while attacks from the remaining Extermination Jiangshi converged on him from all sides.
With all the lesser jiangshi incinerated,
no more hands burst from the ground to interfere.
With nothing left to distract him,
Ha Mu-baek unleashed his full power,
and the Extermination Jiangshi couldn't withstand his sword.
In a flash,
Ha Mu-baek began overwhelming the six Extermination Jiangshi.
His sword
multiplied into six in that instant.
One real blade, and five fiery sword auras perfectly mimicking Ha Mu-baek's movements.
Infinite Yi's Eight Severing Sword Wave.
Seven Severances Yi's.
True to its name, the swords moved as Ha Mu-baek willed,
and in a single breath,
they cleaved the six Extermination Jiangshi in half.
"Wh-what... what..."
Deung Ang-cheon didn't even realize what had happened to his body in that moment,
"We're done..."
while Myeong Cho-jin—who hadn't spoken a word until now—left those words behind
and collapsed, split like a bell.
The other four Extermination Jiangshi followed suit,
and as Deung Ang-cheon's body began to split,
black energy surged, knitting it back together.
The fallen Extermination Jiangshi likewise began slowly reforming under the pull of black energy.
Deung Ang-cheon's Blood Heaven Four Spirits Revival Great Blood Method was still active,
and being jiangshi,
they revived under its power.
"Ugh... uuuu."
"Krr... krrgh..."
Gradually losing their wits.
"Kuhk."
Only Deung Ang-cheon, retreating hastily, seemed to retain his senses.
"Atta-attack!"
Still bearing the vertical cut,
Deung Ang-cheon shouted desperately,
and the Extermination Jiangshi charged Ha Mu-baek again.
Flash.
Yi’s unfolded once more,
this time slicing them horizontally.
Upper and lower bodies separated, they crumpled limply.
Shoooo.
Then,
extreme frigid energy enveloped them.
The icy aura unleashed by Ha Mu-baek.
They froze solid mid-twitch toward reformation.
As if time itself had stopped.
Their movements halted completely.
"Wh-what..."
Deung Ang-cheon gaped incredulously at Ha Mu-baek,
"Guess I'll have to annihilate you to end this."
who appeared before him in an instant via Infinite Yi's Step Method and seized his throat.
A torrent of frigid energy from Ha Mu-baek's hand froze Deung Ang-cheon solid in a flash.
Deung Ang-cheon fell silent.
On this vast plain,
standing alone
was
Ha Mu-baek.
Just him.
The six Extermination Jiangshi, now frozen lumps, toppled over.
"Hoo."
Ha Mu-baek exhaled deeply.
Rumble.
The earthen walls he'd raised crumbled away.
"B-big brother!!"
Ha Seol-ran was first.
She leaped from the ramparts and ran to Ha Mu-baek,
throwing herself into his arms at full speed.
"B-big brother... sob... hic... sob."
Tears burst forth the moment she was in his embrace.
Ha Mu-baek stroked her head.
"Sorry I'm late."
His voice was warm,
but lacking strength.
Ha Seol-ran sensed it immediately.
Pulling back to look at him, she gasped in shock.
She hadn't noticed amid the immense battle,
but her senses picked up her big brother's aura—tiny and faint.
"A-are you okay?"
"Just tired. I'll be fine after some rest."
Ha Mu-baek still smiled gently.
"You did well."
Wi Ji-gun's words as he approached slowly.
Ha Mu-baek bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Master."
With Wi Ji-gun there, he hadn't needed to worry about Seol-ran's safety.
Even so,
he hadn't anticipated events in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest escalating this far.
"Just doing my duty."
Wi Ji-gun merely smiled at his disciple's gratitude.
"More importantly, are you leaving those alone?"
Pointing at the frozen Extermination Jiangshi.
"They'll stay like that for at least three days."
"Why not finish them now?"
Han Seol-bing, now nearby, asked with genuine curiosity.
"You got here quicker than I expected. Still got any internal force left?"
Han Seol-bing shook her head at Ha Mu-baek's question.
"Me too."
Ha Mu-baek gave a wry smile,
"Ah..."
and Han Seol-bing let out a low exclamation.
Thinking about it, it made perfect sense.
After unleashing something that immense,
of course his internal force would be depleted...