Chapter 599
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 599
Chapter Title: Don't Wanna?
BOOM!
Gwang Kwon-gae's fist slammed into Bang Sa-uk's blade.
The gauntlet cloaked in brilliant blue energy was ferocious.
Yet the blood-red aura of the blade shrugged off the assault without a hitch.
Bang Sa-uk's energy churned wildly amid the erupting waves of internal force and qi.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
A barrage of thunderous explosions rang out in succession.
Gwang Kwon-gae was giving it everything he had.
With death on the line, he didn't hesitate to draw on his innate essence.
Innate essence—the vital energy one was born with, essential for sustaining life.
It wasn't something you could just tap into at will.
Only a cultivation method capable of harnessing it would do, and that's precisely what Gwang Kwon-gae had mastered.
His momentum was terrifying as a result.
Even Bang Sa-uk paused for a beat, focusing on defense.
As he relentlessly pressed Bang Sa-uk, Gwang Kwon-gae kept glancing at his fallen comrades behind him.
'Get up. Hurry and get up. I can't hold out much longer.'
Gritting his teeth, he unleashed the Eight Immortals Fist fused with the Eight Immortals Step—a technique deployed freely, unbound by any formation.
"Heh, in a way, this is even trickier. Heh heh."
The Eight Immortals Fist, combined with the Eight Immortals Step and unleashed in wild abandon, was a fearsome art.
Its unpredictable, ever-shifting movements proved quite troublesome even for Bang Sa-uk.
As a later-generation disciple, Bang Sa-uk knew of the Eight Immortals Fist.
But he hadn't trained in it himself, so his understanding had limits. His responses were growing just a touch slower than before.
Defending against the known was one thing; the unknown was another.
If Bang Sa-uk had been overwhelmingly superior, it might've been different. But right now, Gwang Kwon-gae was temporarily matching him, pouring out energy on par with his foe.
The fist auras of the Eight Immortals Fist wove blue trails through the air, assaulting Bang Sa-uk from every angle.
Bang Sa-uk's blade somehow parried them all.
Neither his blade aura nor the blood-red energy emanating from his body diminished in the slightest.
His movements had merely entered a lull amid the storm-like onslaught.
He wasn't standing still because he was being pushed back by Gwang Kwon-gae.
Bang Sa-uk had already sized up the situation. He was simply biding his time until Gwang Kwon-gae exhausted himself.
No need to waste energy weathering the downpour.
"Ugh... urk."
Just then.
One of the squad members groaned, regaining consciousness.
His face was dazed from exhaustion, but he snapped to and scanned his surroundings.
Gwang Kwon-gae and Bang Sa-uk were still locked in combat.
"Urgh... that monster..."
A mutter laced with resentment.
He grasped Gwang Kwon-gae's predicament at a glance.
Their transferred internal energy, plus his innate essence—it was all in play.
[Go. Hurry up! I can't hold much longer!]
Gwang Kwon-gae's telepathic message rang in his ears.
He looked at his comrades, still out cold.
[At least one of us has to make it back. Go!]
Urged on by Gwang Kwon-gae's follow-up.
He rose and headed north.
Using his scant recovered internal energy, he began lightfoot skill.
"Hm? Heh. So that's your game?"
Bang Sa-uk sneered, grasping Gwang Kwon-gae's intent from the sight.
"Gonna have to hold out longer now, huh? Otherwise, you'll die by my hand soon enough. Heh heh heh."
The mockery continued.
But Gwang Kwon-gae fought on desperately with his martial arts.
A brief moment passed.
By the time the exhausted ones had all come to and fled north.
Gwang Kwon-gae's internal energy began to wane.
As the storm of attacks grew sporadic.
"Looks like that's it for you."
Slash.
Bang Sa-uk's blade shot forward in an instant, severing his left arm.
"Guhk."
Swallowing a scream with a groan, he swiftly pressed the acupoint above his left elbow with his right hand to staunch the bleeding.
With one arm left, Gwang Kwon-gae pressed on with the Eight Immortals Fist.
It was a desperate, heartrending sight.
The sneer on Bang Sa-uk's lips deepened all the more.
"Heh heh. I'd love to toy with you longer and savor that desperation. But now I gotta catch those rats. Wait here."
At that, a tempest of blade energy whipped up.
Bang Sa-uk had no intention of killing Gwang Kwon-gae.
He'd just lop off his limbs and leave him alive.
Then drag back those five fleeing rats and slaughter them before his eyes.
He was quite looking forward to that despair.
"Urgh. Shut your mouth!"
Gwang Kwon-gae roared, channeling every last drop of energy into his right fist and thrusting it out.
KABOOM!
Bang Sa-uk's blade blocked the strike.
Gwang Kwon-gae stood there, arm dangling limply.
He'd poured out everything.
He'd burned himself white-hot.
Deep wrinkles etched his face.
His hair had turned fully white.
He'd exhausted every bit of usable innate essence.
What remained was barely enough to sustain life.
Burning that would end it all.
But it was pointless.
Too little to muster even a proper aura.
"Kill me."
Gwang Kwon-gae spoke calmly, as if his duty was done.
In truth, this had been a gambit to buy just a little more time.
"Don't wanna?"
The response defied his expectations.
"Told you to wait. Heh heh heh. In this state, no need to bother with the limbs. Heh heh."
"You... you bastard..."
At the repeated "wait," Gwang Kwon-gae's eyes widened in fury as he guessed the man's plan.
"Heh heh heh."
Bang Sa-uk let out a murderous chuckle and was about to launch himself north.
Whoosh.
KABOOM!
A sword came flying from somewhere, striking Bang Sa-uk squarely.
He hastily thrust his blade to block it and was pushed back.
"Another rat?"
His gaze turned northwest.
The direction the sword had come from.
He'd been too caught up in the thrill.
Blind to the others approaching.
Gwang Kwon-gae stared blankly at the sudden flying sword.
Where had it come from?
More importantly, its trajectory screamed superior sword control.
At minimum, a transcendent realm master had hurled it.
"Phew. Not too late."
Dam Mu-hyeon arrived at the fore, followed by Hocheon Corps members filing in.
Dam Mu-hyeon extended his hand, and the sword—still homing in on Bang Sa-uk—returned to him.
Bang Sa-uk's eyes shifted to Dam Mu-hyeon.
"Dam Mu-hyeon?"
"Hah. The real Bang Sa-uk."
Dam Mu-hyeon's gaze quickly swept the area, confirming the fourteen corpses strewn about.
"Not too late, but we didn't time it perfectly..."
A bitter mutter.
"You've reached the transcendent realm?"
Bang Sa-uk asked, surprised.
"Well, some recent events pushed me over the wall."
The final battle in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
That experience had shattered Dam Mu-hyeon's barriers.
"More importantly, how'd a righteous hero who hurled himself off Nakryong Cliff end up this demonic?"
Bang Sa-uk smirked at the question.
"Demonic? Beats me. Woke up like this."
"A man who chose to leap to his death... Tsk."
Bang Sa-uk's eyes flashed at Dam Mu-hyeon's words.
"Sure, I jumped. But did I really choose it? Heh."
Killing intent oozed from his body.
"Gotta catch those rats. Come at me so I can kill you quick."
As Bang Sa-uk's energy erupted anew, Dam Mu-hyeon gripped his sword and charged.
At his signal, one squad member carried Gwang Kwon-gae to safety, while nine others rushed Bang Sa-uk alongside Dam Mu-hyeon.
All peak experts.
Ten against one.
"Cowardly bastards."
The grumble slipped out.
"Against a Blood Cult demon? Cowardice doesn't enter into it."
Dam Mu-hyeon swung his sword as he spoke.
Thunderbolt Inferno Sword.
The lost ultimate art of the vanished Thunder Citadel blazed from Dam Mu-hyeon's hand.
Rumble.
Amid thunderclaps shaking the air, Dam Mu-hyeon's yellow sword auras scorched from all sides.
It was as if lightning itself struck before their eyes.
"Tch."
Bang Sa-uk raised his blood-red aura to meet Dam Mu-hyeon's sword, but he couldn't avoid being slowly pushed back.
The Hocheon Corps members attacking from every direction were the reason.
Spotting his disadvantage, their assaults grew fiercer.
Comrades who'd synced countless times in past wars.
No words needed; they attacked on instinct.
Aiming to finish him in one go.
Dam Mu-hyeon's sword raged fiercer; the squad's blades sharpened.
Bang Sa-uk quickly fell into a defensive scramble.
Clang! Clang!
He'd already taken who-knew-how-many hits.
Were his skin not as tough as a Dark Blood Corpse Guard's, he'd be riddled with wounds by now.
'Damn it. Damn it all.'
Bang Sa-uk seethed with injustice.
He hadn't even reached Gaepyeong yet, and now snagged here?
If not for the energy spent on those Black Oath bastards—no, on that Gwang Kwon-gae at the end.
He hadn't anticipated Hocheon Corps showing up.
The Righteous Heaven Alliance moving this fast, dispatching Hocheon Corps no less.
"Raaargh!"
He bellowed in rage and swung his blade.
But it never touched his foes.
Still, he spewed blood-red energy like a storm, scattering crimson blade auras in a desperate melee.
[Do you desire power?]
Then, a small voice echoed in his mind.
"Of course!!!"
No time to ponder who or why.
A scream erupted from Bang Sa-uk's lips, and colossal energy swirled from his body.
His eyes turned pitch black; his frame swelled fifty percent larger.
His skin flushed blood-red.
The energy he emitted surged by half again as much.
Hocheon Corps didn't flinch at the sudden change.
They'd faced countless monstrosities in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
But Bang Sa-uk focused that power into a single point.
And through the gap it created, he fled into the distance.
His speed was like a bolt of lightning.
The Hocheon Corps, drained from rushing here, couldn't hope to pursue.
Clop. Clop.
The sound of hooves striking the ground echoed.
Ha Mu-baek sat idly holding the reins.
The two children in the cart behind sat cross-legged, deep in meditative breathing.
Traveling the pass carved through dense mountains, a sliver of sky peeked through the trees.
White clouds drifted lazily across the blue.
A peaceful journey.
"Nice."
Ha Mu-baek murmured softly.
It truly was.
This peace. This leisure.
He hoped the trip to Seobok would stay just like this.
A day more, and they'd reach Nakyeong Fortress.
Plans were to rest there a day.
With the cart, camping had gotten much easier, so they pressed along the pass.
Speed was up by ten to twenty percent from before.
Meanwhile, the sun climbed toward midday.
"Lunchtime soon."
Ha Mu-baek gauged by the sun's position.
On this well-trafficked pass.
When a good spot appeared, they'd stop for a meal, he thought, tightening his grip on the reins.