Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The Prophesied Adversary
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The Tang siblings and Blood Lord Gu-ak joined up with Adu and Chui-dal, who had cleared the passageway.
"There weren't any other decent escape routes. Looks like the only paths are the main tunnel and that hole we found first."
"That's not good news."
Now that the Blood Cult had appeared, the more escape routes there were, the better—for saving as many people as possible.
Numerically speaking, scattering would raise their survival odds.
"So what do we do now? Even Brother's not here."
Gu-ak crossed his arms, lost in the same dilemma.
The Tang siblings answered Chui-dal's question.
"We came here out of greed, but innocent people are dying and getting hurt."
"I think we should do what we can to save them."
Gu-ak and Chui-dal were members of the Baek Clan, which pursued righteousness.
They weren't the type with pure hearts of chivalry, but they couldn't ignore dying people right in front of them just to save their own skins.
"I hear hurt people. If people are hurt, we gotta help."
Adu's words sealed it.
"Even the monk says so."
"Let's step up, but as carefully as we can."
Martial artists lay collapsed everywhere.
Never mind the corpses—the ones hovering on the brink of death were everywhere.
"At least it's lucky the first and second gates both involved poison."
"Yeah. Thanks to that, we can save more."
The group hurriedly began emergency treatment.
Most were dying from poison, but with the two Tang experts getting serious, they quickly stabilized the martial artists.
"Th-thank you... Huh?"
A man writhing in agony, unable to even open his eyes, regained his senses and expressed gratitude—then froze in surprise.
He was a Namgung Clan martial artist.
"T-Tang Young Clan Leader..."
"I've done what I can for now. Rest up. I'm heading out."
Dang Gun didn't bother hearing the rest.
It wouldn't change anything.
But one thing nagged at him.
"Where did your Young Clan Leader go?"
If the guy was dead, fine—but he'd only been poisoned and immobilized.
Why would the Young Clan Leader abandon his retainer like that?
'No way... he ditched him? Nah, couldn't be.'
No matter the bad blood, he was still from the Namgung Clan.
Dang Gun's question was answered when they reached the third gate, after passing through the poison gate of the second.
"Tang Young Clan Leader. It's the Namgung and Wudang folks. Tons of Black Dao too."
Most of those who'd fled ahead had gathered here.
Spotting Dang Gun and his group, Namgung Cheon-hu narrowed his eyes, while the Wudang Sweeper Elder waved cheerfully from beside him.
"Oh, Tang Young Clan Leader! We wondered where you'd gone! Get over here quick! So many poisoned—we need treatment!"
Dang Gun glanced at the Sweeper Elder, who beckoned as if it were obvious, then slowly scanned the gathered White Dao martial artists.
"Wudang and Namgung numbers are down by half."
It was expected. They'd passed countless fallen on the way.
...Not just corpses—living ones too.
"One question. There are tons of injured back there. Won't you come help save them?"
The Elder's bright face hardened instantly.
"You saw them right? Not corpses—injured?"
Dang Gun felt a flicker of bewilderment.
Hard to believe that came from a Wudang elder.
"Plenty still alive. I gave first aid on the way, but they need more help."
"......"
He tossed a word at Namgung Cheon-hu, who stood silent.
"Found more than four Heavenly Sword Squad members hanging on. We need to go save them."
"......"
He caught the stirring among the Heavenly Sword Squad members.
And Namgung Cheon-hu's face growing stiffer by the second.
"Impossible."
Dang Gun was stunned. He'd half-expected it, but still.
"Impossible? Our fellow disciples are dying, and you say impossible?"
"A leader can't cling to sentiment and miss the moment."
"Think big, not small, Tang Young Clan Leader. We've got plenty injured here too."
Namgung Cheon-hu and the Sweeper Elder seemed set on their path.
They justified abandoning the stragglers by gritting their teeth for the greater good.
"Tang Young Clan Leader, hurry over. The poisoned are getting worse!"
"......"
"Tang Young Clan Leader!"
He looked to his sister Dang Yeon. She nodded, ready to follow his lead.
"I can't do that."
"What?!"
"Tang Young Clan Leader! Get over here now—that's an order from the Tang Clan!"
"You'll run into those demon bastards on the way back! You trying to get yourself killed?!"
His jaw clenched. He turned and walked away, ignoring them.
Dang Yeon, Gu-ak, Chui-dal, and Adu followed.
"Good call, Young Clan Leader."
"Heh heh, let's save the hurt people!"
Chui-dal suddenly grumbled beside him.
"If those guys were Green Forest Ten Heroes, I'd get it. Speaking of, where'd all the bandits go?"
"Dead, probably. The demons hit the Black Dao first—bandits especially—when they showed up."
"Ah, got it."
"......And they're not entirely wrong."
Dang Gun's face stayed stiff as he continued.
"Head back, and we'll run into those demons soon enough."
They weren't chasing hard now, busy killing and eating the stragglers.
But they'd swarm for a massacre eventually.
"Gu Swordmaster. Take Chui-dal and Monk Adu up the hole."
"Hm? What're you on about, Young Clan Leader?"
"You're not Baek Clan. You took the risk, but you don't have to stick with us."
Gu-ak snorted.
"And get chewed out by Little Brother later? Don't be ridiculous. If it gets dicey, we bail through the hole then."
They divided tasks.
The Tang siblings handled first aid; Chui-dal, Gu-ak, and Adu moved the stabilized to the third gate.
"Monk Adu's pulling big weight."
"Yeah. With his size and strength, he hauls five or six at a time."
"Heh heh heh."
Chui-dal wiped sweat after moving nearly twenty, eyeing the Namgung and Wudang groups.
The more injured they brought, the more guilt crept onto the faces at the third gate.
Cheon-hu and the Elder kept straight faces, but their underlings didn't.
"Why aren't those guys running? Just waiting?"
"Probably mechanisms."
"Mechanisms?"
"Saw a body in the hall, riddled with holes. They're figuring out how to disarm and pass safely."
"Stalling like that—if those blood-crazed freaks show, everyone's dead, right?"
Gu-ak shrugged to reply—
Chill—!
Goosebumps prickled; a monstrous aura surged from behind.
"Chui-dal! Behind me!"
"T-Tang Young Clan Leader...!"
"Just do it!"
Gu-ak shielded Chui-dal and pressed to the wall.
A bloodwind whooshed past.
Savage, sinister, explosive aura.
Had to be the demons' leader.
'Damn...!'
Gu-ak steadied his trembling hands for attack.
But Blood-Eye Ra blew past like living things meant nothing.
Vanishing down the hall.
'Didn't kill... just passed?'
Meant something more urgent than slaughter ahead.
Gu-ak felt puzzled—and uneasy.
"Little Brother...!"
Instinct screamed: that demon was heading for Yang-hui.
That instant—
"Gotta go!"
No time to stop her—Adu launched forward.
Speed even Gu-ak couldn't match.
"Amitabha! I shall guide you...!"
Foul bloodwind trailed by devout golden light.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Gu-ak and Chui-dal regrouped with the Tang siblings treating injured between the first and second gates.
"Gu Swordmaster!"
"Tang Young Clan Leader! Did you see?"
"Yes. That demon didn't even glance at us—just passed."
"Definitely heading to the pagoda's end, where Little Brother is."
"Where's Monk Adu?"
"Chased the demon. No catching up, so we came to you first."
Dang Gun gritted his teeth at the injured still everywhere.
"To Brother Hui!"
Righteousness mattered.
But protecting loved ones mattered more.
"Thanks for the call, Tang Young Clan Leader."
"Only right."
The group kicked off with lightness skill.
Guilt gnawed, but Dang Gun's steps held no hesitation.
They reached the third gate in moments.
"Careful. Mechanisms set... Ah. That demon smashed them all."
The wide hall's walls were torn open, guts of traps exposed hideously.
They passed easily to the fourth gate.
More martial artists ahead.
"Demons passed them too, looks like."
"Broke the mechanisms, so they pushed here."
Stopping here meant a fourth gate.
Strange energy twists and flows.
"Formation array. Sword King Pagoda? Ancient supreme formation."
"Demon already entered... Gasp!"
Red bloodwind bounced back, tumbling before the formation.
"Gaaargh! You dare! Dare! A fool's relic!"
Chilling aura flooded everywhere.
The group—and all waiting in the hall—tensed, weapons drawn.
But Blood-Eye Ra focused solely on the formation.
"I'll smash you! All of it!"
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
As blood-claw qi shredded around, someone spoke.
"What about Monk Adu...?"
"Passed the formation? Before that thing?"
Mid-doubt, Blood-Eye Ra hurled into the formation again.
Red silhouette slipped away. Soon, blood qi erupted from spots inside.
"Forcing through by brute force, twisting the qi flow."
Other ways with time—but this choice meant mad obsession beyond.
"Breaking it like that drains massive qi and mind."
Gu-ak finished—rippling formation settled.
Blood qi gone; eerie calm returned.
The demon had broken through.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!
Yang-hui tapped the vast iron door everywhere, even sliding his sword into cracks.
After every try, he knew.
This door won't open. Needs a key or special condition.
Meaning this far was for nothing.
Thump!
His sword core still pulled toward whatever lay beyond.
So what? Couldn't open it.
Truly no answer.
"Missed something. What?"
Flopped on the floor, chin in hand, deep in thought.
Replayed Jin Ga's sword manual, Yeo Hyeok's original, all Sword King lore.
"Sigh. Nothing forgotten. What'd I miss?"
Told them to clear paths—soon survivors and cultists would swarm.
The righteousness-testing formation would stall, but not forever.
Assume eternity, and one oversight dooms all.
Need to open this door fast. But how?
No—if the sword core led here, shouldn't infusing pure qi open it neat?
Like in folktales or romances—easy street.
"Damn. Life's never easy... Hm?"
Muttering, golden light burst from behind.
Adu's aura?
"Yang-hui!"
"It's really you?"
"I came!"
"Yeah, you did. Where's everyone else? You solo?"
"Came to guide?"
"Where's the demon to guide?"
"Huh?"
Adu looked baffled.
"Ran ahead for sure. Where'd it go?"
Leader trapped in formation; Adu passed first.
Makes sense—low brains, but heart pure as a monk.
"Perfect timing. See this iron door? Gotta smash it—lend some muscle."
"Got it!"
Adu summoned Prajna Might.
Golden flames cloaked him, converging on his fist, blazing brighter.
"Hundred-Pace Divine Fist!"
Kuuuung!
The door boomed massively.
Just a dent mark—no crumple or shatter.
"Ugh. Hundred-Pace Divine Fist!"
Kuuuung!
"Hundred-Pace Divine Fist!"
Kuuuung!
"Hundred-Pace..."
"Stop. Won't work."
"Hng... Fist hurts..."
No wonder. Pounded wrought iron repeatedly.
That thought hit—
"......!"
Yang-hui and Adu whipped around, faces grim.
Crackling blood qi surged.
Blood-Eye Ra appeared.
"Haa... Finally."
Unlike first sight, face corpse-gray, body exhausted.
Shaaaak!
Blood-Eye Ghost's strike was too fast, sharp to react.
'Damn!'
Yang-hui maxed Harmonious Heaven Principle Origin Art into his sword, thrusting out.
'Hold, please!'
Kwaaaang!
Sword held—no snap—but body flung back, slamming the door.
"Cough!"
Organs shaken; bloody cough.
"Mara! I shall guide you!"
Adu charged in golden blaze—sent flying to door in one blow.
"Guhk, hurts...!"
Ignoring them, Blood-Eye Ra eyed Yang-hui intrigued.
"Ho. The monk, fine... but how'd you block?"
"Kuh... Idiot, don't you get it? You're weak—that's why."
Forced a smirk, but truth: Yang-hui didn't know either.
Claw qi—no joke.
A qi-stuffed sword shouldn't block.
"Hah. I see. So that's it."
Suddenly, Blood-Eye Ra looked enlightened.
"Uhaha! Uhahahaha! Great One! You grant this lowly servant such fun! Uhahahaha!"
Laughing madly skyward, eyes locked on Yang-hui.
"It's you—the prophesied foe!"
......What nonsense is this?