Chapter 418: Dyed Black
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“Aaak!”
Disbelief filled Yu Ma-jong’s pupils as he let out a sharp scream.
His wrist had been cut off.
By some brat who hadn’t even lived half his life yet.
The one fortunate point was that the severed part was his left hand.
If it had been his right hand, the match would have ended right then and there.
He, while agonizing, stepped footwork while operating ascending internal power.
Rapid retreat.
His body moved lightly and quickly, sliding backward.
The application of moving fleet and floatingly while maintaining his center was first-rate.
It was certainly a response different from the ordinary rabble.
Admirable decisiveness.
Befitting one who in the past had competed with Danmok Cheon for the Unorthodox supreme position as a brilliant warrior.
Underlying it was a superhuman mental strength.
After all, wasn’t Yu Ma-jong a warrior who had even achieved Nature Assimilation Realm?
So his cultivation in the mental aspect was bound to be extraordinary….
However, the Namgung Sang-rin facing him was also extraordinary in the same way.
Yu Ma-jong felt that too.
During the forty-odd exchanges of blows, he keenly sensed that remarkable achievement.
Though he was still a young man in his twenties, his operation of the sword resembled an old master rich in experience.
That was no different from demonstrating that his cultivation in the mental aspect was at a supremely high level.
Namgung Sang-rin, having seized the upper hand, once again closed in from the front.
PAK!
Feet pushing off the ground hard and rapidly narrowing the distance.
SYUKAAAAK!
Simultaneously, the Heaven Reliance Sword in his right hand extended at extreme speed.
At that moment, Yu Ma-jong saw the blue sky.
The blue sky rapidly expanded and attacked his vision.
The feeling that had befallen him in a flash was precisely that.
Was it the majesty of Namgung Family’s famous sword learning Azure Heaven Great Evolution Sword Technique?
No.
The form seemed similar but the texture was quite different.
Brighter, bluer, broader, greater.
It was the blue sky itself.
It was power as if embracing the sun, the moon, and the clouds all within.
That sky became one sword form and terrifyingly pressed in.
A majestic sword energy.
Heaven was the sword, and that sword was the person.
Body-Sword Unity.
No.
It was power that surpassed even that by one level.
Namgung Sang-rin’s every movement was a single sword path.
Could he deflect that?
Yu Ma-jong was conflicted in the flash of an instant.
But instinct outpaced thought and drew out reflexive motion.
The sense of crisis that even made him forget his pain moved his hand.
His saber spat fierce light toward the engulfing sky.
Thus, it drew a sharp line forward.
From top to bottom.
As if to simply bisect both blue sky and everything.
It was the execution of Evil Song Heaven and Earth Slash, the supremely powerful ultimate technique of the Great Evil Two Hearts Divine Art Saber Technique that had earned him the sobriquet Unorthodox Saber Master in the past.
Thus the vertical saber technique and the advancing sword technique collided at the center of the gap.
KKAAAAAANG… KWAAAAAANG!
A tremendous metallic sound and explosive sound erupted simultaneously.
Immediately after.
“Keup!”
Yu Ma-jong, having groaned, retreated a distance of some ten steps.
Soon, having steadied himself, he coughed up blood with an agonized expression.
“Waeek…!”
Blood dripping HUDUUDUK! out of his mouth.
An acrid smell stung his nostrils and an unpleasant metallic taste spread through his mouth.
PAREUREU.
The hand gripping his saber trembled slightly.
As if showing the heightened sense of crisis.
Setting aside the external injuries, his internal injuries were worsening.
At this rate, it would be quite difficult to fully absorb natural energy and replenish his internal power.
He could do it, but it meant the internal injuries would worsen further due to the pain accompanying the energy accumulation process.
Namgung Sang-rin allowed no small leisure.
TEOTEONG!
Both feet rolled the ground as if pushing it backward hard.
At that time.
PAPAPAPAPAS…
Multiple enemies rapidly approached from both flanks and behind.
One from each direction.
They were precisely the three Middle Generals of the Detached Three Army Corps.
It was a combined attack to buy their superior Yu Ma-jong time to catch his breath.
Namgung Sang-rin, having paused momentarily, operated massive internal power and worked the Heaven Reliance Sword in his right hand at extreme speed.
CHAECHENG… CHENG… CHAECHENG… PEOPONG… PONG… PEOPONG!
Each time the color of sky flashed and great sounds rang out, the three Battalion Commanders’ bodies wobbled like tree branches shaking in the wind.
Namgung Sang-rin’s power was formidable.
Internal power combined with the muscular strength of Nine-Grade Martial Bone, released as a massive and ferocious monstrous power.
The swordsmanship of offense-and-defense-as-one, facing the enemies in three directions almost simultaneously, was truly at a wondrous level.
Before it, numerical superiority seemed meaningless.
The combined attack merely briefly held him in place.
But thanks to that, Yu Ma-jong caught his breath.
He soon swept his gaze around while using the achievement of Nature Assimilation Realm to replenish his internal power.
A battlefield thick with the color of defeat.
Here and there, the numbers of Detached Three Army Corps and Eastern Heaven Division were decreasing.
That’s right.
The battle momentum had already tilted to the other side.
It was an undeniable fact.
Hadn’t Division Commander-level warriors already fallen one after another?
On top of that, it was a critical situation where Yu Ma-jong himself might be added.
To somehow overcome this, there needed to be support.
Yet nowhere could he see the gang of Darkness-Craving Blood Clan or Heretic Cult.
-Don’t worry. When the signal is sent, we plan to bring darkness and come to assist.
Having recalled Heuk Ma-yung’s words, thick angry light formed in Yu Ma-jong’s two eyes.
‘Damnable, the call signal was sent long ago!’
He finally realized.
That everyone had been abandoned here.
In that interval, subordinate forces joined in to help the three Middle Generals struggling against Namgung Sang-rin.
‘I too must quickly…!’
Yu Ma-jong, feeling pressed, recklessly circulated his lower dantian.
As a result, the pain from his worsening internal injuries became greater.
‘Euuk!’
Having stopped his energy accumulation, he bent over and coughed up blood again.
‘Dammit… I’m done for!’
At that time, the conversation with Heuk Ma-yung last night flashed through his mind.
-If a situation arises where you’re severely injured and can’t fight properly… take human blood. Then your external and internal injuries will be healed.
-Your words go too far! No matter what, how could we drink human blood!
-Hut, don’t get excited. I was telling you that there exists such an extraordinary means in case of emergency. There’s no law saying none of the Division Commanders will be severely injured, is there? When you become a Forbidden Soul Ghost Thing, human blood acts as water of life. Moreover, you were specially made through harmony with the gu poison’s effects. So if you take human blood, not only temporary martial power increase but you’ll be able to even reattach severed arms or legs. However, know that from the moment you drink blood, you’ll live as an existence subordinate to this seat’s power.
-That’s… a monster’s life. Like your clan’s….
-Unpleasant to hear?
-Honestly… yes. I have no intention of disparaging the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan with whom we’ve now allied, but since we live completely different lives, such words are naturally bound to make us feel aversion. What’s more… coming to serve you? Absolutely not. The only one this army will serve is His Excellency the Society Lord. So such a thing will never happen. We only wish to die as humans, and as loyal worshippers of His Excellency….
-Very well, it’s merely advice given just in case, so don’t take it too much to heart. Huhut.
‘KEUK! If I were to take human blood here and heal my internal injuries…’
Then at least there would still seem to be an opportunity to kill Namgung Sang-rin.
Yu Ma-jong’s pupils suddenly created ripples of transparency and shook.
‘Th-that is…!’
It was because he saw pitch-black light gradually approaching from the distant sky.
Endless darkness.
That’s right.
Before anyone knew it, night blocking the sun was silently arriving here.
For Yu Ma-jong, it was somewhat unclear.
Whether Heuk Ma-yung was keeping his earlier promise or not….
Night was finally descending, but support forces had not appeared, so it was half-kept at best.
‘Yes… that approaching darkness will strengthen this special Forbidden Soul Ghost Thing’s power even further! As if breaking through to a new realm of martial arts!’
In the end, Yu Ma-jong gave up being an ordinary human and chose the extraordinary means.
He immediately went to the corpse of a subordinate martial artist nearby and began gulping down the revolting fresh blood.
Even small pieces of flesh went down his throat during the blood-drinking process, but he didn’t care.
He, having been drinking blood without even breathing, soon tilted his head back.
“Puhaaat…!”
Simultaneously, changes arose in his body.
TEUTEUK, TEUK, TEUTEUK…
The muscles throughout his body made sounds as they visibly swelled up as if inflated with air.
Also.
Vast energy rapidly spread along the major energy pathways inside his body.
An ecstatic feeling as if his whole body was being reconstructed and flying through the sky like a bird.
Soon, Yu Ma-jong’s appearance changed hideously.
His two eyes were crimson red, his fangs had lengthened down to below his chin, and his skin had changed like a turtle’s shell while taking on a dark blue color.
It was truly an appearance resembling a fearsome monster.
“Keureu… rureuk.”
Was it the cry of a fierce beast?
Yu Ma-jong, whose appearance had become that of a monster, had lost his reason.
Only the instinct for slaughter filled his mind and chest.
It was a frenzied killing intent that didn’t distinguish friend from foe.
Just then, the left hand that had earlier been severed came flying and landed at the spot where Yu Ma-jong stood.
HWIIIIIK… TUTUK.
As Namgung Sang-rin, in the midst of fighting multiple opponents, repeatedly exploded massive internal power, the left hand that had been rolling on the ground was swept up by that energy wind and flew here.
“Keureu…”
Yu Ma-jong put the saber handle in his mouth, then bent his body and picked it up with his right hand, bringing it to the severed part.
Then.
CHYUCHYUCHYUCHYUCHYU… SEUSEUSEUSEUSEU…
Blood and flesh stretched out long like threads, then soon connected as one, and the wrist was cleanly reattached.
At that time, one subordinate martial artist approached.
“D-Division Commander…?”
But Yu Ma-jong, possessed by frenzied killing intent, didn’t recognize him and thrust out his restored left hand to smash his head apart.
PEOGEOEOK…
Brain matter and fresh blood scattered mixed in all directions.
TEOLSSOK.
The corpse with its head gone fell and lay on the ground just like that.
“KEUREU… KEURUREUK… Now I can… kill him.”
Yu Ma-jong, flashing his crimson two eyes, gripped his saber in a flash.
“As if.”
Right behind him came an indifferent voice.
The startled Yu Ma-jong spun his body and swung his saber.
SYUKAAAAK!
But.
JJEOGEOEOEONG!
Along with a metallic sound, the blade burst JJAJAJAK! with a shattering crack and broke into pieces.
Immediately after.
KYUYUYUNG… PUHAAAAK!
Yu Ma-jong’s left hand was once again mercilessly severed.
No.
This time even his shoulder was cleanly cut off.
By the Gan Jiang of Cheol Ryu-heun, who had approached using Flying Immortal Windless Light, Martial Immortal Dongbang Ya’s lightness technique secret technique.
More precisely, by the energy concentrated on the blade like clustered starlight.
It was Sword Steel, the ultimate swordsmanship ultimate technique that throughout martial history only Sword Emperor Buk Ga-Shin had uniquely wielded.
“Kueo, kueoeok!”
The moment Yu Ma-jong screamed from the searing pain.
“Shut up, will you.”
Cheol Ryu-heun, having spoken curtly, slashed downward vertically with the Gan Jiang.
KYUYUYUYUYUYUNG… !
The Sword Steel containing fearsome internal power cleaved Yu Ma-jong’s strengthened flesh in half in a single stroke.
CHYUAAAAAAAAAS… PUSYUSYUSYUSYUSYUSYUT!
Crimson blood splatter burst out with an eerie sound.
Cheol Ryu-heun, having killed Yu Ma-jong in one stroke, gazed at the distant sky and murmured indifferently.
“The time is approaching to raise a sun that will brightly illuminate the night.”