Chapter 469
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 469
Chapter Title: To Uproot
Thud!
The Grand Elder Il-no slammed his fist down on the desk with brutal force.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably.
It was all because of the urgent report that had just arrived.
"Ha Mu-baek... Why the hell did this bastard pop up here of all places..."
He muttered through gritted teeth.
Il-no glared at the report with bloodshot eyes.
Stiff corpses completely annihilated.
Six Protector Gods defeated by Ha Mu-baek.
Dokgo Ya-pae retrieved the six Protector Gods and vanished.
Ha Mu-baek disappeared, then reappeared.
The report was densely packed with such shocking news.
He had sent every last stiff corpse from the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, and they were wiped out.
The six Protector Gods had fallen to Ha Mu-baek.
It was utterly impossible.
And on top of that...
Even the supreme Protector God, Dokgo Ya-pae, had gone silent.
The herb gatherers scattered throughout the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest had spotted him.
But after he rescued the six fallen Protector Gods from Ha Mu-baek, his whereabouts became a mystery.
Ha Mu-baek had finished circulating his energy and vanished somewhere, only to return looking utterly drained and covered in wounds.
The report ended with speculation that he might have clashed with Dokgo Ya-pae.
Il-no found himself gnawing at his nails without realizing it.
It wasn't a habit he had before.
But now, faced with an unimaginable crisis, he couldn't help it.
"The, the Cult Leader..."
Il-no hurriedly tried to seek out the Cult Leader.
At that moment.
"Gr-Grand Elder! Th-this is bad. The, the, the Cult Leader..."
A subordinate rushed in, his face drained of color.
Il-no demanded anxiously,
"What happened to the Cult Leader?"
"You... you have to see it for yourself."
Guided by his subordinate, Il-no arrived at the entrance to the cave where the Cult Leader had holed up.
He had only heard reports about it before.
This was his first time coming all the way to this depth.
But...
"The entrance collapsed?"
Il-no muttered in disbelief at the sight.
"When the hell did this happen?!"
In response to the enraged Il-no's shout,
The warriors guarding the area prostrated themselves flat on the ground and replied,
"J-just moments ago, there was a massive rumble, and it came crashing down."
It had collapsed completely.
Not a trace remained.
Anyone seeing it for the first time wouldn't even guess a cave had ever been there—it was perfectly obliterated.
Il-no ground his teeth.
The Cult Leader was gone.
No, dead.
Buried deep in that cave, there was no way he could have survived.
'The... Blood Cult...'
Il-no staggered away from the site.
His vision darkened.
Even the Cult Leader had met such a fate.
All that remained was...
The former Cult Leader.
Gae Hong-cheon.
Il-no rushed to the secret chamber where Gae Hong-cheon was.
The Asura Blood Heaven Stiff Corpse was on the verge of completion.
Il-no threw himself into the final stages of the work.
Just one more step. Only one more step left.
Il-no's eyes blazed fiercely, but anxiety gnawed at him relentlessly.
Everything in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest had been lost.
There was So Hwi-woong, and some mysterious master of unknown origins.
But above all, Ha Mu-baek.
He had single-handedly crushed six Heaven-Exterminating Stiff Corpses.
According to the report,
Even the Deng-ang Heaven Protector God had unleashed the legendary Great Blood Technique.
Terror crept in.
Before he knew it, fear had overtaken Il-no.
That was why the flames of rage burning in his eyes flickered unsteadily with unease.
Morning broke.
The crisp forest air seeped refreshingly into his lungs.
Han Seol-bing stepped out of her tent and gazed toward the heart of the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest in wonder.
"A place like this feeling so fresh and clean..."
It had never been like this before.
The name "Demonic Forest" wasn't given lightly.
Perhaps because all the stiff corpses were gone.
It was truly miraculous.
"Hm?"
Her senses picked up a large group approaching.
Yang Bi-chang, who had left to regroup the Demon-Sealing Corps.
He was returning.
The Demon-Sealing Corps members trailed behind him, looking utterly defeated and wretched.
Yang Bi-chang led them with a grim expression that couldn't have been darker.
He headed straight for the Alliance Leader's tent.
"What's going on?"
Han Seol-bing tilted her head curiously but soon lost interest.
She was the vice corps leader of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
The Demon-Sealing Corps' affairs were none of her concern.
So Hwi-woong received the grave-faced Yang Bi-chang.
And together with Dam Mu-hyeon, they heard his report.
A single stiff corpse had appeared by toppling the great wall,
And devoured the dantians of Demon-Sealing Corps members.
How horrifying a tale was that?
What was strange was that it seemed to target specific people relentlessly, hunting them down one by one.
So Hwi-woong furrowed his brow.
Dam Mu-hyeon recalled when Dokgo Ya-pae had first appeared here.
The first place that bastard had gone...
Dam Mu-hyeon's gaze turned to Yang Bi-chang.
Yang Bi-chang.
It was him.
Perhaps sensing the shift in Dam Mu-hyeon's demeanor,
So Hwi-woong asked,
"Do you have some idea?"
"Somehow, it feels like Vice Corps Leader Yang knows the reason."
Dam Mu-hyeon spoke with firm conviction.
So Hwi-woong and Dam Mu-hyeon.
Under their piercing gazes,
"Hoo."
Yang Bi-chang let out a deep sigh.
He did have his suspicions, after all.
Once he heard all the names of those who lost their dantians,
He couldn't pretend ignorance.
They were the ones who had secretly taken the spirit pills they created and sided with them.
A few had even been here.
Thanks to that, they had avoided having their dantians devoured.
Yang Bi-chang squeezed his eyes shut
And slowly confessed what he knew.
"What the hell was that stiff corpse?"
Wi Ji-gun asked Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek's tent.
A crowd had gathered.
Ha Seol-ran was a given, along with Wi Ji-gun, Gong Son Mu-oe, Ma Jin-gi, Han Seol-bing,
And the seven squads of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
With everyone packed in, the sizable tent was filled to the brim.
"A Heaven-Exterminating Stiff Corpse. The first time I saw the thing was toward the end of the last war."
Han Seol-bing nodded.
She had been there at the time.
"It called itself the guardian of the Blood Cult, with a mission to annihilate the heavens."
And Ha Mu-baek's story continued.
What he had witnessed chasing after Dokgo Ya-pae.
What that monster had done.
"It... ate the stiff corpses...?"
Dang Jin-san muttered in horror.
"More precisely, their inner cores."
Yeon Ha-min corrected him in her usual impassive tone.
"Stiff corpses have inner cores?"
Dang Jin-san muttered in disbelief.
They hadn't reached the Demon-Sealing Corps yet,
So they hadn't received training on the Blood Stiff Corpses' inner cores.
Neither Ha Mu-baek nor Han Seol-bing had explained it yet.
Since those cores contained all sorts of foul Blood Cult energies, Ha Mu-baek and Han Seol-bing had deliberately held back.
"Demons... The word fits those heaven-defying monsters perfectly."
Wi Ji-gun closed his eyes and spoke calmly.
The battle with it that followed was so astonishing
That the horrific details from before faded from their minds.
"Corps Leader, just how strong are you?"
It was what everyone wanted to ask but couldn't.
Dang Jin-san blurted it out straight to his face, true to form.
"Exactly as you heard."
Yesterday, after entering the tent to circulate his energy,
He had wondered, but he didn't re-enter the world of the mind again.
At Ha Mu-baek's current level, that place had been a wall.
"I just can't wrap my head around it. It's beyond the limits of my imagination."
Dang Jin-san joked.
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
"Curious? Then follow me."
Ha Mu-baek rose from his chair.
It was still early morning.
Cooking smoke rose from campsites all around.
"To uproot them."
As he pushed aside the tent flap and stepped out, Ha Mu-baek answered.
"Pardon?"
"I'm off to uproot the Blood Cult."
Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned toward the Blood Cult's main base.
"Uh?"
Dang Jin-san hesitated.
The aura Ha Mu-baek exuded suggested he was about to leave right then.
"Oppa. Be careful."
Ha Seol-ran had heard it the day before,
So she could only say that much.
It wasn't something she could follow him into.
Ha Mu-baek glanced at Dang Jin-san.
"Ah, yeah. Now I can kind of imagine it. I'll stretch my imagination to the max to picture just how strong you are, Instructor—no, Corps Leader."
Ha Mu-baek chuckled at his frantic waving and kicked off the ground.
Whoosh!
He shot toward the Blood Cult's main base, slicing through the air.
Yang Bi-chang knelt on the ground.
His entire body was already bound, his inner energy sealed.
He had no choice.
He had sins to atone for.
It was the immediate measure taken after his confession ended.
"Bind the rest as well."
The names of those who had ingested the stiff corpses' inner cores.
At So Hwi-woong's command, Hocheon Corps members dragged Yang Bi-chang away.
"Hm?"
So Hwi-woong, watching them, turned his gaze.
He sensed Ha Mu-baek departing.
"Off somewhere in such a hurry again..."
"He said he's going to uproot them."
Dam Mu-hyeon had spoken with Han Seol-bing the night before.
"Uproot them..."
So Hwi-woong murmured softly.
"Mu-baek. If it's that guy, he can do it. Back then, we couldn't manage something so simple, and instead created those abominations..."
Gazing at the Mountain-Crossing Great Wall, his voice carried deep regret.
"No one could have done it back then. It's just that the corps leader—no, our leader—has become a monster."
His face looked slightly pale.
So Hwi-woong gave a wry smile at those words.
"A monster... Yeah. He is a monster. That friend."
It was laden with many emotions.
I thought I'd caught up to him somewhat.
So Hwi-woong placed a hand on his Silent Gold Divine Needle.
Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
Blood Cult.
One of the Righteous Heaven Alliance's headaches was about to be resolved.
Not by his hand, but by Ha Mu-baek's.
When I return to the alliance, I should enter secluded training.
The annihilation of the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
The aftermath wouldn't be minor.
Interests were entangled.
The Orthodox Coalition wouldn't stay quiet.
Still, it was a relief.
Yang Bi-chang.
Because that bastard was alive,
Hand him over to Heavenly Eye Pavilion Lord Gong Son Dan-gyeong, and the Orthodox Coalition matter would sort itself out.
He'd dump the headache on Gong Son Dan-gyeong
And focus solely on training.
Come to think of it.
When Ha Mu-baek said that stiff corpse was Dokgo Ya-pae, and it first appeared here,
The first one it targeted was Yang Bi-chang.
Ha Mu-baek's master, Wi Ji-gun, had blocked the attack, saving his life.
"I've owed both master and disciple now."
So Hwi-woong's low murmur.
Dam Mu-hyeon guessed the meaning but said nothing.
One herb gatherer watched Ha Mu-baek's group's campsite from afar.
His appearance was filthy and ragged.
He had gone all the way to the site where Ha Mu-baek had clashed with Dokgo Ya-pae.
Two horses had collapsed from exhaustion and died because of it.
Yet it had been worth it.
He could gauge just how monstrous Ha Mu-baek had become.
Even the Blood Demon unleashing the Blood Heaven Spirit Assembly Soul-Converging Great Blood Technique couldn't withstand him...
His face was grave.
Then, in the distance, he spotted Ha Mu-baek's back as he left the campsite.
The destination was obvious.
With the stiff corpses gone from the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, Ha Mu-baek had only one place to go.
"Tch. Looks like they've even discovered the underground lair at the main base."
Ha Mu-baek was flying straight toward the cult's headquarters.
"Senior Brother. You did well. But your method is wrong. I'll bide my time a little longer."
The herb gatherer murmured and glanced back at the campsite one more time.
There were people watching Ha Mu-baek depart.
His eyes fixed on one among them.
Nak Woo-jin.
After watching for a moment,
He turned and left the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
This place was no longer a demonic forest.
He had to find another demonic land.
Toward the end of the great martial war.
On the day the cult crumbled.
Having chosen differently from his senior brother Il-no,
He quickened his steps, confirming once more that his choice had been right.