Chapter 179: We Should Toss Them Over
The beautifully colorful hillside forest suddenly sank deep into silence.
Everyone’s eyes showed bewilderment.
Transparent ripples rising in each of their pupils clearly expressed the emotions in their chests.
Except for just one person.
Cho Baek.
Being a member of the Sword Seal Ten Unit Commanders, the elite masters who were the leadership of Sword Seal Sect, he displayed an attitude that didn’t reveal any emotional agitation.
Yet unlike the surface, his inside was boiling furiously like hot flames.
He had seen through it.
In an instant.
Who that young man in his twenties was, standing expressionlessly while trampling fresh blood and brain matter of the swordsman whose head had been crushed.
‘Cheol Ryu-heun…!’
It had to be.
Because he had appeared conspicuously wearing the unique martial attire symbolizing the position of White Peak Sword Sect Leader.
A pure white pattern embroidered on fabric as black as jet.
That embroidery depicting a great mountain with concise lines was White Peak Sword Sect’s long-standing symbol.
It was the opposite for executives other than the Sect Leader.
Their martial attire was white base with black thread.
Cho Baek knew that well too.
No, most people in the martial world knew the characteristics of such attire.
Because though it had now fallen into decline, in the past it was an orthodox prestigious sect that enjoyed great fame and glory.
“Unit Commander! That guy, could he be…”
The moment the startled Ga Gun uttered quiet words, Cho Baek’s voice cut in.
“It’s Cheol Ryu-heun. Most likely.”
“…!”
“Things are flowing interestingly.”
With those words, Cho Baek grinned and gripped his sword hilt tightly.
The stance for drawing his blade.
SHING.
The sword drawn out following his hand movement gleamed coldly, revealing its naked form.
Following that, the remaining personnel including Ga Gun also drew their swords in unison and emanated fighting spirit.
“Wait. I’ll do it.”
Cho Baek stepped forward a few paces.
The strong typically recognize the similarly strong.
Through that powerful True Stomp, he had intuitively sensed it.
That in truth, this was a level of master that no one but himself could handle.
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun turned his head and gestured with his chin.
“Turn around.”
A gaze directed at Yeong Ho-woong.
‘Right!’
Reading the meaning hidden in the words, Yeong Ho-woong quickly moved backward and turned his father and younger sister around.
“B-brother…!”
“It’s alright, don’t worry. He is our Sect’s Sect Leader.”
“Ah! That person is…”
Only then did Yeong Ho-ok brighten up.
Having already heard stories related to Cheol Ryu-heun’s remarkable exploits, she seemed relieved.
Yeong Ho-bang beside her was the same.
Yeong Ho-woong, having gently embraced his family’s shoulders, reassured them again in a calm voice.
“Ok-ah, you’ll be scared so cover your ears and wait for a bit. Father, please do the same.”
“But there are so many of them – are you sure it’s really okay?”
A total of fifteen people – naturally it was worrying.
“Yes, don’t worry. There is no one in that place right now… Who can match our Sect Leader.”
The expression of Yeong Ho-woong as he spoke quietly showed no wavering whatsoever.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having already turned his head forward again, heard that whisper and smirked inwardly.
At that moment, Cho Baek’s voice reached him across the gap.
“Cheol Ryu-heun, is it?”
But Cheol Ryu-heun merely watched the opponent expressionlessly.
Cho Baek smirked and raised his internal energy to the fullest.
FLUTTER-
His clothes billowed violently.
Immediately after, whitish heat haze rose around his form, playing a faint sound.
A heavy voice seeped out between his lips again.
“Right, since we’ve confirmed each other’s martial attire, there’s no need for introductions… After I subdue you, let’s have a question-and-answer session.”
At that, Cheol Ryu-heun replied briefly.
“It’s all here. The essence of the Ghost Shadow Sword Technique.”
A finger lightly tapping his head.
A leisurely action as if revealing the truth of the rumors.
Simultaneously, Cho Baek’s gaze wavered for the first time.
‘It was true!’
It didn’t seem like a lie.
He was bewildered.
Also.
It was incomprehensible.
That wasn’t all.
Even when he heightened his energy sense, the opponent’s presence that he couldn’t discern was also an incomprehensible part.
It was almost like an ordinary person.
As if he didn’t know internal energy cultivation at all.
‘Hmm… Something’s strange about this guy.’
But he soon maintained his composure and tilted his blade.
“I ask. How did you obtain that?”
Cho Baek’s cold question, and Cheol Ryu-heun’s indifferent question in response.
“That attitude right now means you’re refusing the chance I gave you?”
“Chance? Ha.”
Cho Baek, one eyebrow twitching upward, sneered and spoke again.
“You think you can make me kneel?”
“Sure, why not.”
When Cheol Ryu-heun’s brief voice was heard, his figure had already vanished.
PUHHHENG!
An explosive sound struck the eardrums.
“KEK!”
Cho Baek’s form, wrapped in a large heat haze, was blasted far backward and thudded into the dirt ground.
While the Sword Seal Sect group was flabbergasted at the sudden situation.
SWISH.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s gaze, as he took the spot where Cho Baek had stood, turned toward Ga Gun’s face on the left.
A moment of silence.
Then.
PUHAAAAK-!
A chilling sound burst out.
Ga Gun, a mid-level swordsman holding the position of Unit Commander within the Sword Patience’s Tenth Squad, died with a large hole pierced through the center of his chest without even getting to make a single move.
THUD-
A swordsman who had been standing nearby and got splattered with flesh and blood suddenly lost strength in his legs and collapsed.
But that was his life’s final movement.
Because Cheol Ryu-heun’s swinging hand had cleanly severed his neck.
Before his movements as fast as light, five more swordsmen belonging to Fifth Squad met the same fate and expired.
Severed heads rolling on the ground scattering blood.
CHUHAK, CHUHAAK, CHUHAK-!
The number of personnel, which had been fifteen, was reduced to six within just a few breaths.
These were moves that even Cho Baek, the owner of the alias Unbearable Sword, couldn’t counter – there was no way his subordinate mob could handle them.
Another three heads were cleanly cut off.
SPLATTERSPLATTER, SPATTERSPLATTER…
Bright red blood droplets sprayed like rain and thoroughly soaked the ground.
“UWAAAK!”
“S-SHIT…!”
In the end, the remaining three swordsmen chose to flee.
Abandoning even Cho Baek, who lay groaning on the ground.
TATATATDAT, TADADADAT, TATADAT-
Thus the three ran frantically, moving their feet busily without looking back.
But still.
PAPAPAPA-
A figure holding a treasured sword in their right hand suddenly appeared as if waiting and rushed head-on.
‘HUH!’
The moment the three startled swordsmen each stopped running, a metallic sound struck their ears loudly.
KAAAAAAANG-!
One swordsman, as if he had hit a rock flying at him fiercely, was blasted backward and collided with an old tree.
CRACK…
Following the sound of the tree splitting came the sound of the swordsman vomiting blood.
“UEHK!”
It was the aftereffect of internal injury.
The figure who had appeared was Namgung Sang-rin.
The rare treasured sword Heaven Reliance Sword, wrapped in blue energy reminiscent of the sky’s color, traversed the air.
JJENG- PEOPHENG!
Another one was blasted sideways.
He, having had his back slammed into a small rock, soon vomited blood profusely.
‘GURGURGLE… What kind of power…!’
It was truly weighty internal energy that shook the heart meridian’s acupoints in one blow.
What Namgung Sang-rin was currently executing was precisely the essence swordsmanship of his family – Azure Heaven Great Evolution Sword Technique.
The wondrous function displayed through the blade was completely different from before.
That’s right.
It was thanks to awakening the latent power of Nine Grade Martial Bones.
Having achieved internal energy increase and muscle and bone strengthening through enlightenment accompanied by tremendous pain, Namgung Sang-rin’s martial might was now on a different level from ordinary rising masters.
KAANG- JJEOJEOJEOK!
The one strike that the remaining swordsman had launched as a surprise attack was blocked and shattered by the Heaven Reliance Sword wrapped in blue sword energy.
PUUUK!
Namgung Sang-rin’s Heaven Reliance Sword pierced that opponent’s heart.
Instant death.
Following that, the two swordsmen who had suffered internal injuries also left this world in vain.
Cheol Ryu-heun, watching that sight from afar, walked over while muttering briefly.
“He’s become useful.”
Meanwhile, Cho Baek, having barely caught his breath, used the sword in his right hand as a cane to stand up and then operated the maximum amount of internal energy.
His chest stung.
It was because of damage to his heart meridian from that earlier strike.
‘That bastard!’
He glared at Cheol Ryu-heun approaching him and emitted killing intent.
Executing an ultimate technique with full power.
He judged that was the only way to survive right now.
KWAKWANG-!
Cho Baek, having shattered the ground as he charged, compressed the gap while simultaneously unleashing a massive amount of energy through his sword.
But then.
KUEENG-!
A transparent spherical barrier that emitted a sound and blocked the sword energy.
The huge energy that had been deliberately exploded lost its power and was vainly dispersed, and the sword that touched that barrier crumpled and twisted, playing a metallic sound.
KKIRING, KKIRING, KKIRING-
‘URGH!’
The light of shock and despair filled Cho Baek’s eyes.
Immediately after.
HWAK-!
The defensive barrier Cheol Ryu-heun had deployed scattered like a transparent wave and completely bound the opponent’s body.
‘GRRRR…!’
Cho Baek couldn’t even let out a small breath under the terrifying pressure squeezing his entire body.
“You should have knelt when I told you to kneel.”
The moment Cheol Ryu-heun spoke curtly and slightly moved his head, an unpleasant bone-crushing sound burst out.
UDEUK, UDEUDEUK-!
It was the sound of both kneecaps breaking.
By Cheol Ryu-heun’s powerful formless energy.
“GAAAHK, GAAAAAHK!”
The instant Cho Baek screamed, Cheol Ryu-heun’s fist struck his face.
KWANG!
Cho Baek, whose head had been bent all the way back, thus met a gruesome death.
Namgung Sang-rin, who had come to his side at some point, inwardly clicked his tongue.
‘Ha… Truly amazing. Without even drawing his sword once…’
Suddenly such a thought crossed his mind.
That the existence called Cheol Ryu-heun was a disaster from an enemy’s perspective.
On the other hand, he thought it was fortunate.
That he was a martial artist belonging to the orthodox faction.
If he had been a powerhouse of the wicked unorthodox or demonic faction, the martial world would have fallen into great chaos.
Cheol Ryu-heun lightly brushed his sleeve and spoke.
“Gather them in one place. The corpses.”
“Yes.”
The moment Namgung Sang-rin’s answer ended, Cheol Ryu-heun moved like the wind to the other side in the back.
Precisely where Yeong Ho-woong and his family were.
“Ah! Sect Leader! Have you already finished?”
When Yeong Ho-woong asked while brightening up, Cheol Ryu-heun answered with a nod instead of words.
“Father, it’s alright now! Ok-ah, it’s over!”
At that, Yeong Ho-bang and Yeong Ho-ok finally lowered the hands that had been covering their ears.
Just as the two were about to slightly look back.
“There’s nothing good to see.”
When Yeong Ho-bang and Yeong Ho-ok heard Cheol Ryu-heun’s words, they paused, then soon bowed at the waist to express thanks.
“Sect Leader Cheol! Thank you!”
“If you hadn’t helped my brother, something really terrible would have happened! I won’t forget this kindness!”
At that, Cheol Ryu-heun reassured the two with a few words, then looked at Yeong Ho-woong and spoke as if giving an order.
“Don’t worry about the Sword Seal Sect anymore. They won’t be able to approach easily now. Enjoy your vacation with peace of mind.”
“Ah… Yes… Sect Leader. Understood. But I’m wondering what caused this to happen…”
“You’ll know later.”
At Cheol Ryu-heun’s nonchalant response, Yeong Ho-woong suppressed his curiosity and conveyed words of final greeting, then disappeared with his family.
At that moment, Namgung Sang-rin approached and spoke.
“Sect Leader Cheol, I’ve collected all the corpses. But what are you planning to do with them?”
“Well, we shouldn’t carelessly throw away trash, so we should find a suitable place and toss them over.”
“Pardon? Where…?”
“Sword Seal Sect.”
“…!”
At the unexpected words, Namgung Sang-rin’s eyes went wide.
But Cheol Ryu-heun spoke without caring.
“They’ll be moved by my kindness. Those guys.”