Chapter 426: To the Enemy's Main Base
Read more at Nineheavens.org
Xianyu Ershan was inwardly impressed.
‘Indeed, the Divine General is……’
He had said he would kill and eliminate anyone who blocked his path.
It was truly an arrogant boast.
If another heard it, they would rebuke it as excessive speech and laugh at it.
It couldn’t be helped.
There were many notable warriors in this mountain after all.
Heuk Ma-yung, the king of the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan, Gun Mu-ak, the ruler of the demonic path, Cheol Ryu-heun, the rising star of Jianghu… all warriors who could be called the supreme tier of this era had gathered in the Shiwan Mountains.
Therefore, those words were not something to be uttered carelessly.
However.
Wang-ryu was an exception.
He was someone permitted to make even more arrogant statements than that.
That was what Xianyu Ershan thought.
Thus, he took those arrogant words just uttered for granted.
For him, it was only natural.
Wang-ryu was literally a Divine General possessing tremendous power.
A general commanding the divine soldiers of heaven, that is.
That’s right.
Wang-ryu’s martial power had ascended to a singular level.
He himself knew better than anyone else.
The might of the being called Wang-ryu.
The tyrannical, overwhelming, and beyond that, marvelous and transcendent martial prowess.
He had experienced that remarkable power countless times during the dozen or so years of his service.
Therefore, he was certain.
Excluding the current era’s Heaven Emperor Society Lord, the Four Divine Generals including Black Tortoise Divine General were the greatest under heaven.
No.
That was beyond certainty; it was akin to a kind of great religious faith.
The Heaven Emperor Society Lord himself had once publicly acknowledged it.
-The Four Divine Generals are masterpieces I devoted my heart and soul to create.
Xianyu Ershan once again recited those words in his mind.
‘Serving the Divine General is the greatest honor of my life.’
He murmured internally while quietly caressing his sword hilt.
As if anew firming his fighting spirit born of loyalty.
At that time, Wang-ryu’s eyes contained a strange light.
CHEUT, CHEUCHUT……
While quietly looking down at that distant land.
It was the place where the ritual for the otherworldly Demon God’s descent was being conducted.
A moment of silence.
Soon Wang-ryu opened his mouth and let out a quiet voice.
“There are more gathered there than I thought. Moreover, they’ve also scraped together the poison creatures within the Shiwan Mountains.”
Xianyu Ershan also shifted his gaze toward that land, but there was nothing visible in particular.
The only things that caught the eye were dense darkness along with will-o’-the-wisp-like ghost fires flickering here and there.
‘Right, he used the Four Divine Dark Penetrating Vision.’
That was a superb visual technique specialized for night battles with excellent applications.
Soon Wang-ryu, having gathered in his strange eye light, spoke again.
“Let us move to a closer location.”
“Yes.”
The moment Xianyu Ershan replied.
Wang-ryu, having sent a Sound Transmission, climbed up onto a large tree and concealed himself.
Xianyu Ershan quickly followed him and leaped.
Immediately after.
SASASASASA, SASASASASA……
Along with faint sounds, figures appeared.
It was not far from where the two had disappeared.
The identity of those figures was the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan and Heretic Cult group.
Among them, a man who appeared to be the leader, a nine-cheok giant, flashed his grayish-white eyes and asked.
“Did you check?”
It was Blood-Craving Fighting Demon Tae-pa, one of the Three Spirits with a combative disposition.
A Heretic Cult sorcerer positioned beside him answered with an embarrassed expression.
“Ah…… Yes. It’s that…… It seems a small gap briefly appeared in the formation’s boundary.”
He was one of the Eight Great Sorcery Guests, the cadre of the Heretic Cult positioned just below the Five Palace Masters.
Those eight held the title of Pak-sa (??), and were each divided into Geon (?), Gam (?), Gan (?), Jin (?), Son (?), Yi (?), Gon (?), and Tae (?).
The sorcerer who had just answered was the Geon Pak-sa among them.
Tae-pa raised one eyebrow and rolled his eyeballs around.
“Does that mean someone infiltrated inside the barrier?”
“Ah, it’s not that. Seeing as it restored itself on its own, it seems to have been a temporary phenomenon caused by some kind of wave generated by the otherworldly dimensional gate earlier.”
“TSK, we wasted our steps.”
“I’m sorry for making you needlessly concerned. But since it’s such an important time, I couldn’t just pass over even small things and urgently made the report.”
“No, you did well. It is as you say, after all, given the timing. Rather, I’m disappointed. If someone had actually infiltrated, it would have been nice…… KEUHEUHEUT.”
It was an attitude that hinted at the violent beast-like disposition befitting a vanguard fighter of the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan, itching to kill prey.
He withdrew his laugh and asked the sorcerer again.
“By the way, is the whereabouts of the Zhejiang Son Family still unknown?”
“Yes, it seems they vanished after kidnapping him. Could they be scheming something in the background?”
“What…… KEUHEUHEUT. What could the Zhejiang Son Family’s personnel alone possibly do? Even if they’re the elite combat force led by the great Young Sword King, they’re hopelessly outmatched against us.”
“That’s true.”
“Probably they realized their limits and tucked tail. KEUKEUK. In any case, that group is now unnecessary, so whatever they do, it’s fine to leave them be. Our work is already drawing to a close after all……”
“Yes, I am looking forward to it.”
“Anyway, if there’s no problem with the formation’s boundary, that’s enough. Let’s go back now. The moment to greet a new world is not far off.”
“Yes.”
They had no idea.
That the gap that occurred in the formation’s boundary was evidence that Wang-ryu and Xianyu Ershan had infiltrated inside the territory.
Also.
They didn’t know that Wang-ryu and Xianyu Ershan were hidden above a tree not far away, observing and listening to everything.
It couldn’t be helped.
The two had not just hidden themselves.
They had used a superb technique to completely erase their presence as cleanly as a dead corpse.
The so-called Tortoise Breath Great Method.
A supreme practice that controls and stops the revealed breath; depending on the practitioner’s enlightenment, it is even possible to conceal the heartbeat.
Also, the duration varies according to internal power level.
Wang-ryu and Xianyu Ershan had perfectly erased their presence at close range through that Tortoise Breath Great Method.
The Darkness-Craving Blood Clan and their warriors boasted a keen energy sense far superior to ordinary groups.
It was sharp to the point of being reminiscent of beasts.
Especially the energy sense wielded by the Three Spirits, like Tae-pa, was of a distinctly different caliber.
And in dense darkness like now, the excellent applications of that energy sense were further maximized.
Hence, Wang-ryu and Xianyu Ershan had, the moment they climbed the tree, without further thought killed all their breath with Tortoise Breath Great Method and even temporarily lowered their body temperatures to completely deceive the opponent’s energy sense.
Thus, Tae-pa’s party, knowing nothing, quickly disappeared into the dark space beyond.
A while later.
TATAK.
Wang-ryu and Xianyu Ershan, having gathered in the Tortoise Breath Great Method, descended to the ground with graceful movements.
Following that.
SEUK.
Wang-ryu’s head turned and his gaze directed somewhere.
The distant air.
At that moment.
JJEOK…… JJEOJEOK……
The sound of cracking from the night sky over there again echoed and shook the space.
Along with it, red light spread outward toward the ground like mist.
SYUSYUSYUSYU…… SYUSYUSYUSYUSYU……
The red eye light seeping out of the crack formed in the pitch-black sky was chilling just to look at.
Wang-ryu gazed at a small dot floating in the air not far from that dimensional gate.
A person.
It was Zhuge Bi.
Wang-ryu, who had seen it using his dark penetrating vision, drew a faint arc with his lips.
‘I see, he must have been one of the Son Family people. He seems to possess a power the Darkness-Craving Blood Clan and Heretic Cult need…… It’s surely because of him that the timing of full opening is being hastened.’
At that time, Xianyu Ershan spoke carefully.
“Could it be that Cheol Ryu-heun……?”
He meant, could the Zhejiang Son Family side have also already been recruited by Cheol Ryu-heun.
“Hut. Well, let’s see how it goes.”
Wang-ryu, saying that, turned around while operating internal power.
“Now, we will move closer by taking the opposite path.”
“Yes.”
Immediately after, the two moved in the opposite direction from where Tae-pa’s party had disappeared, deploying covert lightness technique.
In that midst, Wang-ryu recalled the advice of the Heaven Emperor Society Lord.
-The Four Divine Generals including you are masterpieces I personally made. So that there is nothing to fear under this sky. Therefore, using your body, I can readily bring it here. However……
-You mean I should set aside my competitive spirit as a martial artist and focus on the mission. Is that what you’re trying to say?
-Correct. I mean to act proactively only when the cases I just mentioned arise.
‘It seems those cases are about to arise. But the result of the work will be the same. There is nothing you gathered here can do. And…… that one will soon ascend to the Heavenly Throne. Huhut.’
* * *
CHWAAAAAAAAT… CHWAAAAAAAAT…
The eerie sound that had been continuing suddenly stopped.
“AH! You’ve arrived!”
Shin So-sul beamed as he looked ahead.
It was because he saw Cheol Ryu-heun and the party standing on the circular, fully compressed light of the ground.
Son Ja-ryong paid his respects with a courteous posture.
“Welcome, everyone. I am Son Ja-ryong, the family head of the Son Family.”
Then some of the later generation of Orthodox and Unorthodox who were meeting him for the first time let out exclamations.
The dignified presence and bearing of Son Ja-ryong, called Young Sword King in this era, was truly like a crane among chickens.
Yet.
Son Ja-ryong was also in the process of inwardly marveling at the appearance of several people among them.
‘The guest retainers of White Peak Sword Sect…… And Dark Hall Master Dark Fragrance Sword…… Indeed, their reputations ring true. Now that I see them up close, I understand. That the tales of their exploits in the past were by no means exaggeration……’
Then upon encountering Gun Mu-ak’s singular bearing, he was engulfed in a thrill.
It was a formidable presence he had almost never experienced before.
He even felt as if an avatar of marvelous darkness and terror had arrived in this forest.
At that time, Cheol Ryu-heun shifted his gaze to one side.
There, each poison creature of Southern Forest was drinking murky-colored spring water positioned here and there.
That too was among Cheol Ryu-heun’s arrangements.
This place was one of the hidden locations in the Shiwan Mountains where poison springs beneficial to poison creatures flowed.
The most essential thing was precisely stamina enhancement.
Poison creatures were beasts, not people, so it was difficult for them to use their strength by technique or calculation.
And now they would have to engage in fierce, entangled fighting with the poison creatures the other side had scraped together.
That was why he had made this location with the poison spring the launch point, to enhance their stamina.
By good fortune, it was also close to the enemy base, which was icing on the cake.
Having soon withdrawn his gaze, Cheol Ryu-heun addressed Shin So-sul ahead.
“Are preparations complete to move in earnest?”
“Of course.”
The moment Shin So-sul nodded and answered, Cheol Ryu-heun’s whistle sound briefly rang out.
Immediately after, Divine Wind and the four Heavenly Observation Divine Birds gathered to his side.
HWIK… TUK!
Cheol Ryu-heun, having mounted the saddle, soon looked at the night sky.
Precisely, it was a gaze toward those four lights floating high up, that is, toward ManCheon Great Evil Skill.
“You just need to harmonize with that light and pierce through the night. So that the personnel here can secure their field of vision when they go to the battlefield. Now, go.”
At Cheol Ryu-heun’s words, the four Heavenly Observation Divine Birds simultaneously flew rapidly toward ManCheon Great Evil Skill.
“Mount up.”
At the disinterested voice that followed, Shin So-sul quickly leaped and seated himself behind the saddle.
“Frontal assault.”
No sooner had Cheol Ryu-heun’s command-like voice ended than the light that had been compressed on the ground rose up above the party’s heads.
Following that.
FLASH!
It rapidly extended toward the sorcery curtain forming the formation boundary ten-odd jang ahead and fiercely radiated light.
SYUUUUUUUK… KKWAUUUUUUNG!
Thus, when it struck the surface of the illusory space creating high cliffs.
CHULLEONGCHULLEONG.
The entire space rippled transparently.
That wasn’t the end.
The light soon completely covered the surface of the formation that had spread out a vast illusion and clearly revealed the space hidden behind it.
At last, it was visible.
The appearance of the enemy camp conducting its foul ritual on the wide land beyond the mercilessly shattered formation.
KKWANG!
Divine Wind, having kicked off the ground, started its rapid charge while expelling white wing-like currents on both sides of its body.
And the party behind also advanced with fearsome momentum, drawing out ascending power without exception.