Chapter 407: It's Started

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An extremely quiet forest.

All that was visible in all directions were thick bushes.

It was a place where not even a small path for people to walk was present.

It was natural.

Because this was a forest that had long rejected human footsteps.

To be precise, it was a hidden valley within the Shiwan Mountains.

Since ancient times, there was a name by which this place was called separately.

Phantom Spirit Hundred Valley.

It was a place filled with all sorts of bizarre illusory formations reminiscent of a den of ghosts.

Those who know, know; those who don’t, don’t.

It was a fact most didn’t know.

Because this Shiwan Mountains itself was virtually untrodden, hidden land.

Yet.

Currently, the southeast of Phantom Spirit Hundred Valley had transformed into an infernal carnage.

Here and there, people’s bright red blood was gushing or splattering in thin streams.

Also.

The sharp metallic sounds and screams didn’t cease.

“Aaak!”

“Keok!”

“Kkeukeuk…!”

Thus, people collapsed to the ground one by one.

The personnel’s identities were the forces of Purple Forest Enchanted Gate.

Already more than half had fallen.

Though alive, they could no longer move.

Each had taken internal injuries from the surprise offensive of the Forbidden Soul Ghost Thing and was unconscious.

However.

Personnel from the allied Sichuan Tang Family and Thousand White Sword Castle were nowhere to be seen.

That’s right.

There was no one here.

There was only one reason.

Earlier, while drawing blades against each other in a big fight, the enemy had appeared and struck, causing them to scatter.

Perhaps they, too, were somewhere within Phantom Spirit Hundred Valley.

The cause of the sudden crack in the temporary alliance agreed upon by the three forces was one thing.

The Divine Martial Sword.

The symbol of the Jianghu hegemon that each had desired, the foremost of the Ten Great Heavenly Weapons.

They had finally by chance discovered that peerless divine artifact in the forest within Phantom Spirit Hundred Valley.

It was about half a shichen ago.

Thousand White Sword Castle, Purple Forest Enchanted Gate, and the Sichuan Tang Family arrived at a valley backed by strangely-shaped cliffs and witnessed a mystical phenomenon.

That was precisely a sword wrapped in light, floating gently in the air like a feather blown by wind.

It was in the air at the center of the valley.

At that moment, Lake-Emerging Martial Patriarch Yan Po-Wook, Cold Cruel Peony Sol Byeok-ra, and Eight-Arm New Edge Tang Yi-yeok and others had intuited.

That it was almost certainly the Divine Martial Sword.

The sparkling light enveloping the blade was too auspicious.

At that time, numerous blood-robed figures appeared from all sides.

And one of them shouted.

-You’ve finally found it! But this place will become your grave!

It was someone presumed to be the leader.

Due to that shout, Yan Po-Wook and others were convinced it was the Divine Martial Sword.

The three forces overwhelmed in numbers and drove back the enemies.

In the midst of that, Yan Po-Wook killed the one presumed to be the leader.

And.

Claimed the Divine Martial Sword.

Yan Po-Wook, having obtained it, bared his teeth along with Sol Byeok-ra.

Against the Sichuan Tang Family, which had lost Butterfly Dance Great Lord Tang Chun-chu.

A melee began.

But that fight didn’t last long.

Because the scenery of the entire valley changed and a certain formation was activated.

It was a realistic illusion, like pouring storms.

In the midst of that, new enemies appeared.

Eastern Heaven Division’s elite led by Great General-level personnel, and the Forbidden Soul Ghost Thing unit specially trained by the Heretic Cult.

It was a deliberately launched large-scale surprise offensive.

The three forces, pushed by that strength, fled but ended up with their paths splitting due to the marvelous application of illusory formations.

As chaotic fighting continued, Sol Byeok-ra shrilly shouted while swinging her sword.

“Everyone gather! Don’t scatter! Somehow gather and fight!”

But the order didn’t go through.

Everyone was moving confusingly, busy protecting their own bodies.

TEOLSEOK… TEOLSEOK… TEOLSEOK…!

Before they knew it, the Purple Forest Enchanted Gate personnel had been reduced to around twenty.

It was a hopelessly outnumbered situation.

However.

Setting aside the gap in numbers, the enemy elite’s martial prowess was the biggest problem.

The Fourth Generation Forces of the Forbidden Soul Ghost Thing unit, Elegant Feather Martial Gate Master Hwang Ji-hwan and Loyal Sect Sword Corps Leader Passionate Blood Sword Master Don Dae-deok, had truly formidable martial power.

Those two originally had high name value as masters at the Four Famous Hands of Sichuan and Three Upper Seats of Guizhou level.

On top of that, when they became Forbidden Soul Ghost Thing, their personal martial power became even stronger.

Without Yan Po-Wook, Sol Byeok-ra alone could not contend.

‘Chiik…!’

Sol Byeok-ra, having gnashed her teeth, immediately kicked the ground.

Not going forward but withdrawing backward.

Led by survival instinct, she chose to flee, abandoning her remaining subordinates.

But Hwang Ji-hwan and Don Dae-deok took no action.

There was a reason for that.

SEUREUREUK…

Suddenly, without a sound, a shadowy figure blocked that path.

A black-robed old man standing nine cheok tall, precisely Blood-Robbing Deep Ghost Gin-gyun, foremost of the Three Spirits of the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan.

“You’re a worthless woman. To abandon your own side.”

Gin-gyun, quietly throwing mockery-laced words.

Sol Byeok-ra, having flinched at his stride, got goosebumps.

The moment she saw him, she intuited he was a warrior of the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan.

In that state, the shame she had been ignoring surged up.

A stiffened body along with eyes rolling about.

She seemed to be thinking about what would be good to escape the crisis.

‘My body is already tired! I lack internal power to mobilize! If I fight that man in this state…’

The end would only be a pointless death.

Sol Byeok-ra, having become extremely agitated, soon revealed a servile attitude.

“Let’s… let’s negotiate with me! Then I’ll drop my sword and surrender!”

Then Gin-gyun coldly replied.

“Negotiate?”

“Y-yes! I’ll cooperate in capturing Yan Po-Wook! So that you can retrieve the Divine Martial Sword…! So don’t try to harm me here…”

“KEUL, KEUL. Girl, close your mouth now.”

Sol Byeok-ra’s complexion hardened at Gin-gyun’s cold voice.

“…!”

“Do you think you, a mere prey, have the qualifications to negotiate with this old man?”

Gin-gyun raised both hands diagonally along with those words.

Then Sol Byeok-ra flinched.

‘Ut…!’

Just looking at the opponent’s hand gesture made her feel suffocated.

Gin-gyun opened his mouth again and released a cold voice.

“It’s fine. I won’t kill you yet. As I said earlier, you’re prey that must be taken along.”

Sol Byeok-ra, realizing there was nowhere else to retreat, struggled desperately.

“This bastard!”

Having shouted thus, she charged with her sword.

PAPAPAPAPA… !

A sword force squeezing out all remaining cultivation to break through the escape route.

JJEOGEOEOEOONG… KWAHAAANG!

Amid the metallic sound and explosive sound echoing, Sol Byeok-ra’s expression changed dramatically.

‘Eok!’

Upon discovering the pair of hands that had blocked the blade loaded with massive cultivation.

“Do you understand the difference in power now?”

No sooner had Gin-gyun’s words ended than the sword was WAJAJAAK! shattered.

The loud sound that followed immediately after.

KKWANG!

Sol Byeok-ra, having been kicked by Gin-gyun, let out a short scream.

“Ak!”

A body flying rapidly backward from being kicked in the stomach.

TEOLPEODEOK!

Sol Byeok-ra, having fallen face-down on the ground, trembled her limbs.

It was a reaction of pain and proof of fear.

Before she knew it, Gin-gyun had approached right in front of her, bent his waist, and extended his hand.

DEOKSEOK.

Her head, grabbed by his large hand, was lifted up as if hanging.

Following that.

KWAK!

With a quiet laugh while lowering his head, Gin-gyun directly plunged his fangs into Sol Byeok-ra’s white neck.

KKULLEOKKKULLEOK, BEOLKEOKBEOLKEOK.

It was the sound of him taking her fresh blood.

Soon Gin-gyun raised his head and then flung Sol Byeok-ra’s form to the ground.

TEOLSEOK.

He who wiped the blood from his mouth corner with his sleeve muttered as if talking to himself.

“Hut, now wait quietly. The soul energy gathered through your deaths will become the key to opening the otherworldly gate.”

Meanwhile, the remaining twenty or so Purple Forest Enchanted Gate members were also lying on the ground, unconscious.

Gin-gyun quietly turned his head and ordered.

“Take them all. The Sichuan Tang Family side has already been handled… I will now go to capture the last one.”

Then his subordinate personnel moved in unison to carry the unconscious ones.

At that moment, Gin-gyun vanished like a ghost.

* * *

In the Hunan region, the city of Fengqing adjacent to Baizhou.

In the mountains on the southwest outskirts of that place, there was a small villa.

Inside it, in a rectangular inner chamber, a man in his fifties was seated.

He was Li Ji-yan, a civil official of the Fengqing government office.

His rank was that of Deputy Magistrate, positioned right below the County Magistrate.

That Deputy Magistrate Li Ji-yan caressed his teacup with an anxious expression.

‘Huu… I really don’t know if this is right. What if this later becomes a source of trouble…’

Thus he gazed at the stack of documents placed on the table.

Right at that moment.

DALKAOK…

One person opened an old lattice door and entered.

Li Ji-yan quickly showed proper courtesy and welcomed him.

“Welcome. I am Li Ji-yan, Deputy Magistrate of Fengqing.”

The person who had entered was a man in his early forties in ordinary attire.

An eight-character mustache with a stern impression.

It was difficult to guess his identity just from his outward appearance.

In any case, his age was clearly below Li Ji-yan’s.

Yet.

Li Ji-yan was currently bowing and scraping toward him as if dealing with a superior.

“I apologize for making you come out to the mountains. There were too many watching eyes, so there was no helping it. Please sit here. Let me bring out some warm tea first.”

“Forget it.”

The man who suddenly threw casual speech indicated something with a chin gesture.

It was precisely the stack of documents on the table.

The man soon continued his voice.

“Is that it?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Li Ji-yan, having nodded his head, respectfully handed over the stack of documents.

“There are no missing contents, are there?”

“Of, of course. It contains all the personal information of the people in Baizhou. Even the personal information of those who recently moved there…”

“The information about the families of White Peak Sword Sect’s disciples is most important. That’s all I need.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I’ve double-checked it myself. Anyway, I had a hard time extracting it.”

“Right… you’ve made sure no one notices, haven’t you?”

“Yes. I have connections on the Baizhou side, so I’ve kept it quiet with appropriate words. But if an unannounced inspection comes from the central government office above… everything will be revealed, and my position will fly away that very day.”

“Don’t you know that what’s above that is us?”

The man who replied coldly revealed a metal piece hanging at his waist by lifting his clothes.

“Ah… I know! I was just worried like a thief whose own foot is numb… Naturally I think you’ll block it.”

“Even if we fail to block it… it won’t concern you anyway.”

“Pardon?”

“Because you’ll die here.”

Simultaneously, a rope made into a noose shape rapidly descended from above and tightly bound Li Ji-yan’s neck.

Apparently, someone had been hiding in the ceiling.

When he had infiltrated there was unknown.

“Kkeoeok…!”

His body, its neck bound by rope, was hoisted upward.

Li Ji-yan, who had been flailing his limbs with a pained face, soon had his breath cut off and went limp.

Struck down by an assassination disguised as suicide.

Immediately after, a shadowy figure dropped gracefully from the ceiling.

The assassin was a blood-robed person wearing a bamboo hat.

Then the man in question handed over the document stack and stated.

“Deliver it to Southern Heaven Division.”

“Yes.”

The assassin, having nodded his head, vanished mysteriously the moment he stored away the document stack.

Following that, the man in his thirties, walking toward the lattice door, smirked.

“Hut, Cheol Ryu-heun won’t know. That our diversionary operation has started.”

* * *

“Diversionary operation.”

Cheol Ryu-heun, having returned inside the Ten Directions Ghost Road Lost Soul Formation, gathered his guest retainers and several others and spoke thus.

At those words, Namgung Sang-rin tilted his head and asked.

“Pardon? What do you mean by that?”

“I’m saying it’s started. A diversionary operation of which the enemy is completely unaware.”