Chapter 465
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 465
Chapter Title: That... Cursed...
After hearing Ha Seol-ran's story, a troubled expression crossed Yeon Ha-min's face.
The Heaven-Annihilating Corpses that had turned into ice blocks had been rescued and taken away by another one of their kind.
But now, the presence of those ice blocks was fading away.
And then.
That final Heaven-Annihilating Corpse, who had appeared like a storm and vanished just as suddenly, had grown even stronger?
If these two events were happening simultaneously...
There was a possible theory.
But it made absolutely no sense.
Yeon Ha-min's knowledge wasn't vast or profound, but even she couldn't make this add up.
In the end.
She had no choice but to seek advice from someone with greater insight.
Yeon Ha-min looked around.
Wee Ji-gun, the one she could turn to for counsel, was deep in meditation.
With no telling when that monster might return, he was doing everything he could to recover his internal energy.
The instructor was in the same boat.
The person who caught her eye was Namgung Ji-yu.
Her.
The daughter of the Namgung Clan and the strategist for Squad One of the Hidden Dragon Corps.
She decided to seek her advice.
Compared to herself, who hadn't been treated properly in the Yeon Clan, Namgung Ji-yu—raised as the eldest daughter of the Namgung Clan—surely had far broader knowledge.
"What is it?"
Namgung Ji-yu asked as the two women approached her.
Namgung Ji-yu, Yeon Ha-min, Ha Seol-ran.
With the three women gathered.
Even in these circumstances.
Sneaking glances came from all directions.
The Dragon Training Pavilion cadets and Fierce Dragon Corps members were somewhat used to the sight.
But the Demon-Sealing Corps members couldn't tear their eyes away.
It wasn't just sneaking glances.
They were staring openly.
Even in this dire situation where their lives hung by a thread.
Such was the allure of the three women's beauty—it made them forget the peril.
Yeon Ha-min carefully explained what Ha Seol-ran had sensed.
Namgung Ji-yu nodded after hearing everything.
She understood why they had come to her.
"Ha-min. You're thinking that corpse absorbed the energy of the other corpses, right? Like the legendary Star Absorption Great Law?"
Yeon Ha-min nodded slightly in agreement to Namgung Ji-yu's question.
"The Star Absorption Great Law is basically a legend itself... I have no idea if a corpse could even use something like that... I was hoping the Namgung Clan might have records on it for some advice."
Namgung Ji-yu's face grew serious as well.
"None."
A short reply.
"But I think you're onto something."
She added.
"Considering that corpse's actions, I can't think of any other possibility."
The two women's eyes met in the air.
Soon, Namgung Ji-yu turned toward the wall.
"We'll have to ask the person here with the most expertise in that area."
As she spoke and prepared to kick off toward the wall.
"Ah..."
Ha Seol-ran let out another gasp of surprise.
"What? No way?"
Yeon Ha-min asked urgently.
Ha Seol-ran nodded.
"Another one's gone... and it's grown stronger again."
Meaning only four ice blocks remained.
At this point.
It wasn't a guess.
It was certainty.
"The time it took..."
Yeon Ha-min gauged the interval between then and now.
"Half an incense stick."
She calculated it quickly.
An incredibly short time.
It meant the corpse had absorbed one in just half an incense stick and powered up.
With four ice blocks left.
In about one incense stick, that monster would absorb the rest and return even stronger.
And if it showed up here again?
"This is bad. You two, tell the Hocheon Corps about this."
Namgung Ji-yu, who had overheard the conversation, said that before kicking off.
With danger looming so urgently.
Namgung Ji-yu flew toward Ma Jin-gi for counsel, while Ha Seol-ran and Yeon Ha-min headed straight for Dam Mu-hyeon.
Dam Mu-hyeon's face was already stiff.
"Ha Seol-ran. Everything you said is true, right?"
Dam Mu-hyeon had already heard their entire conversation.
They had only whispered without any sound-blocking techniques.
His senses, attuned to the surroundings, couldn't miss it.
A heavy air settled over his face.
He glanced at Ha Mu-baek.
"Hah. That guy's useless at a time like this. Really."
A grumbled mutter.
Not sincere.
Without Ha Mu-baek, no one here would have survived those six Heaven-Annihilating Corpses.
He just wished the man he relied on.
Wasn't lost in meditative trance, motionless.
***
He swung the sword down once more.
The half-cleft world rejoined.
His dantian, depleted of vast internal energy, filled back up in moments.
Possible only in this mental realm.
Confirming the sensation, Ha Mu-baek gradually increased the internal energy he channeled into the sword.
He had approached cautiously, fearing his dantian might be empty upon waking.
Now confirmed: the energy used here had no link to his physical body's.
In that process, Ha Mu-baek grasped one clue.
"Pour it all out. That's what it means?"
The cleft grew larger bit by bit.
Then, at some point, it stalled.
Pumping in more yielded the same result.
Then.
Ha Mu-baek pondered how he entered this mental realm.
And his state then.
Dantian emptied after pouring out all energy.
While meditating in that state, he achieved enlightenment and fell into this realm.
Finally.
Nine Severings. Abyss.
He realized it sought a strike with every ounce of his energy poured out.
Ha Mu-baek raised his sword.
He truly scraped every bit of energy into it.
And swung down.
Riiip.
The world split.
Tore apart.
Once fully cleft, he'd exit this place.
So he thought.
But it didn't fully split.
Nine-tenths cleaved, one-tenth remained.
Ha Mu-baek's eyes widened.
"What?"
In that instant, energy surged back.
"Not this?"
He furrowed his brow.
Then shook his head.
No.
He needed faith in his conclusion.
So Ha Mu-baek raised his sword again, shoving all energy in.
And.
Swing down again.
Again, the world cleft only nine-tenths.
Ha Mu-baek, still holding the sword.
Focused inward.
To his body after expending all power.
'Still there?'
And was shocked.
He thought he'd poured everything out.
Yet tiny remnants lingered in his meridians.
The moment he sensed them, energy refilled instantly.
"Is this why?"
Ha Mu-baek muttered softly.
He hadn't been wrong.
He just hadn't poured it all out at once.
Path found. Press on.
Ha Mu-baek loaded every bit of power into the sword once more.
***
"Kekeke."
Laughter spilled endlessly from Dokgo Yapa's mouth. Now, just one left.
Power brimmed through his body even now.
With his current strength.
He could probably wipe out the entire Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest alone.
"With this power."
Dokgo Yapa gazed toward one side of the forest.
Where humans gathered.
Now, those humans seemed pathetic.
He could slaughter them all in an instant.
The three might pose a slight nuisance.
But absorbing this last one would end that.
The final corpse.
Deung Ang-cheon.
Still bore the shocked expression from when Ha Mu-baek's energy engulfed him.
Ha Mu-baek's freezing qi kept the ice block from melting even slightly.
His shocked face now.
Almost looked like trembling rage at Dokgo Yapa's betrayal.
Though in total silence, unaware of current events.
"Come."
Dokgo Yapa waved his hand lightly.
Craaaack.
A different result from before.
Not just splitting the ice in two.
The ice encasing Deung Ang-cheon shattered into fragments, scattering.
Ice shards glimmered in sunlight as they flew through the air.
Glittering fragments swirled around the hideous pair of corpses.
A bizarre sight.
"Ugh..."
Deung Ang-cheon groaned.
And regained consciousness.
He had retained his mind upon revival right after Ha Mu-baek bisected him.
Upon waking, he startled and looked around.
"Wh-what..."
Spotting Dokgo Yapa before him.
"D-Did Your Divinity slaughter all those mongrels?"
His voice trembled.
Overjoyed.
But soon sensed something off.
The surroundings had changed.
"Tell me everything in detail."
At those words laced with immense pressure.
Deung Ang-cheon spilled it all, entranced.
Dokgo Yapa nodded silently as he listened.
"Hmm."
Soon lost in thought.
About his next moves.
"First Divinity, what in the world..."
Overwhelmed by Dokgo Yapa's presence, Deung Ang-cheon spilled everything, then fully regained his senses and looked around before clamping his mouth shut.
Now he saw it.
The five other Divinities.
Split in two, bodies bisected and utterly lifeless.
They weren't reviving.
Their energy cores were gone.
"Wh-what..."
An absurd thought crossed his mind.
Deung Ang-cheon desperately denied it.
Splat.
Dokgo Yapa's hand pierced his abdomen.
Then he realized.
The absurd thought.
Was reality.
The First Divinity before him.
Had devoured the Origin Pills—the source of the other Divinities' energy.
"Why... why eat it...?"
Deung Ang-cheon groaned the question.
He'd vanish now, but curiosity burned.
Why.
Would a Divinity.
Devour another Divinity.
"You must be the fool who unleashed the Great Blood Ritual. I'm amazed by you fools. A method like this, and you didn't use it? Kekeke."
"You... cursed..."
The taboo word didn't fully escape.
He knew the fact upon becoming a Divinity.
And why it was taboo.
"Kekeke. After seeing you and me like this, you still say that? Existing as undead corpses? We're already cursed. Heh heh heh."
Laughter laced with madness.
"I accidentally absorbed a corpse's inner pill and realized. This path leads to the ultimate!"
"Ul... ultimate?"
"Yes. The Cult's ultimate. Blood God! I can reach Blood God!"
"Mad... ness..."
Deung Ang-cheon tried to say more.
Squelch.
Dokgo Yapa yanked out his inner pill and brought it to his mouth.
As the pill absorbed into Dokgo Yapa.
Light faded from Deung Ang-cheon's eyes.
Evil light, now gone.
Truly a corpse.
Deung Ang-cheon crumpled.
A massive storm of energy swirled around Dokgo Yapa, who had absorbed it all.
"UHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Mad laughter erupted from Deung Ang-cheon—no, Dokgo Yapa.
Changes wracked his body.
Once a gaunt corpse.
Now.
Youthful, taut skin.
A sturdy, muscular frame.
Indistinguishable from a human.
Save for.
His skin, blood-red throughout.
His eyes, filled with crimson glow.
"Indeed. Heh heh heh. Blood God. This body is the Blood God. KHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
After all changes completed.
Confirming his form, Dokgo Yapa gazed toward Ha Mu-baek's group.
He already knew all battle details from Deung Ang-cheon.
"Daring to interfere in the Blood Cult's affairs. I'll make you feel true despair."
A mutter laced with fury.
He turned his gaze.
Not the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
Far away.
Luoyang.
Where the Righteous Heaven Alliance, their base, lay.
Years ago.
They claimed to have crushed the Cult and razed the headquarters.
He'd start by toppling their base.
Step.
Dokgo Yapa moved forward.
***
Not just his dantian, but every strand of energy in his meridians throughout his body—he gathered it all.
Not just meridians.
Even the thread-thin secondary channels, all pulled in.
To the point he lacked strength to even hold the sword.
Now.
The energy left in Ha Mu-baek's body.
Was just the handful sustaining his life.
Gather even that.
And Ha Mu-baek would swing and meet death simultaneously.
Thus, loading every bit into the sword.
He swung lightly downward.
As with Wuji.
Shwick.
A small sound rang out.
Craaaack.
The world fully cleft.
In that instant.
Sensations enveloped his body.
The feel of that abyss strike, all energy in one swing.
Ha Mu-baek trembled all over.
'This was it?'
As sudden ecstasy washed over him.
Slowly.
Sensations returned.
The surroundings fully felt.
And with it.
His dantian, brimming with internal energy.