Chapter 426: Chapter 426
Whoooosh!
Hot wind rushed in like a tidal wave. The wind that had approached right up to Eun So-cheong suddenly changed direction and shot up toward the sky. The swirling rising wind pulled in the surrounding flames and instantly grew in size.
‘Fire Dragon.’
To Eun So-cheong’s eyes, that whirlwind looked like an ascending dragon. A giant fire dragon with its entire body wrapped in the flames of hell.
Roaaaar!
The fire dragon ascending with frightening momentum struck Yi Seon-chang’s subordinates who were attacking the suicide squad.
“What, what is this?”
“Aaahhh!”
Boom!
The fire dragon struck Yi Seon-chang’s subordinates directly, and in an instant dozens of martial artists turned to ash.
It happened so suddenly that there was no time to respond or react.
In the face of the tremendous disaster, the fighting stopped momentarily and people’s attention focused on the fire dragon.
The fire dragon that had annihilated so many slowly lost its form. The swirling wind scattered, and the flames that had spread heat on the wind also died down. Then a man appeared.
The moment Eun So-cheong confirmed the face of the man who revealed himself with a fresh smile on his lips, tears welled up in her eyes.
“Brother.”
“Little one.”
There was only one person who could call Eun So-cheong “little one.”
Drunken Cloud Dragon Cho Yeon-woon.
The dragon that wandered drunk through the clouds had appeared wrapped in flames.
“How?”
Yi Seon-chang looked at Cho Yeon-woon with a bewildered expression.
Behind Cho Yeon-woon, surging flames could be seen. The flames were devouring Sacred Heart Hall with frightening momentum.
The source of the fire was a large well in front of Sacred Heart Hall. It was a well that had been there since the Martial Alliance established itself. The well was completely shattered and spewing tremendous flames. But that was brief – the flames soon subsided and a huge cavity appeared.
It was a phenomenon and power that could not be created through martial arts.
Yi Seon-chang’s expression contorted. There was only one thing that could unleash such power.
“Thunder Bomb?”
“Right! Thanks to that, I spent a fortune.”
Cho Yeon-woon shrugged and stood in front of Eun So-cheong.
“Brother, how?”
“Go outside through the well. Then you’ll naturally understand.”
“What about you, brother?”
“I have to save at least one more person. That’s why I came back.”
Cho Yeon-woon grinned. It was his usual playful yet innocent smile. But Eun So-cheong glimpsed the determination contained within. And she also realized his words were true.
“Hurry and go.”
Cho Yeon-woon waved his hand as he spoke. He no longer looked at Eun So-cheong. His gaze was fixed on Yi Seon-chang.
Because she read the fighting spirit and conviction in his eyes, Eun So-cheong silently nodded. Whatever she might say here, Cho Yeon-woon clearly wouldn’t listen.
As Eun So-cheong passed by Cho Yeon-woon, she said:
“Be careful.”
“When you get out, people will be waiting. Follow them.”
“Yes!”
Eun So-cheong nodded and moved toward the broken well.
Cho Yeon-woon’s gaze turned toward the suicide squad martial artists.
“You all should go quickly too.”
“But…”
The suicide squad hesitated.
They had followed Hae So-wol to escape, but now that the opportunity arose, they were hesitating. Other suicide squad martial artists were actually penetrating deeper into the main base to complete their mission. In such circumstances, abandoning their comrades and fleeing alone weighed on their hearts.
Cho Yeon-woon spoke to those who were hesitating:
“Go out first and secure an escape route.”
“Escape route?”
“That’s right!”
Only then did the suicide squad martial artists’ expressions brighten somewhat. Cho Yeon-woon’s words had essentially given them legitimate justification to leave.
“Thank you! We’ll go out first and secure an escape route.”
“Please be careful.”
They escorted Eun So-cheong into the well.
Yi Seon-chang watched this scene and muttered:
“Huh! Who knew there was such a secret in Sacred Heart Hall’s well?”
It was the Demon Cult’s main base built on the old Martial Alliance’s foundation. He had been confident they understood most of the old facilities, but he had no idea there was such a space beneath the well.
Cho Yeon-woon stood beside Hae So-wol and said:
“Foxes always make two or more escape holes.”
“Are you saying it’s a passage made by a fox?”
“I mean it’s a passage made by someone as clever as a fox.”
“It must be Namgung Chang. Since he was the Martial Alliance’s strategist, naturally he would have prepared several escape routes.”
Yi Seon-chang shook his head.
He was a hindrance when alive, and even in death he was troubling the Divine Cult – he thought it was quite an ill-fated relationship.
Yi Seon-chang gave orders to his subordinates:
“Pursue and eliminate them.”
Though they had lost dozens of subordinates due to Cho Yeon-woon’s unexpected appearance, several times that number still remained intact. Yi Seon-chang didn’t think Eun So-cheong and the others could shake off their pursuit.
But there was someone blocking their path.
“Tch! If I was going to let them pass quietly, why would I have appeared here?”
It was Cho Yeon-woon.
He glanced at Hae So-wol. Then Hae So-wol smiled faintly and nodded.
Though they didn’t exchange words, they could understand each other’s intentions with just their eyes.
‘Block them here and save as many comrades as possible.’
Cho Yeon-woon clenched his fists tightly.
Then thunderbolt-like momentum spread throughout the area.
His Eight Desolations Divine Fist had reached a new realm where he could use Thunder Bomb explosions to attack enemies.
Though he had come into the world to help Dam Ho, this was his first real opportunity to properly display the Eight Desolations Divine Fist.
‘Master!’
Jang Il-san’s only legacy. The supreme martial art of Hundred Battles Gate was about to reveal itself to the world through his body.
That overwhelming presence was overpowering Yi Seon-chang’s subordinates. Like insects caught in a spider web, countless people were bound by Cho Yeon-woon’s presence and couldn’t move.
Seeing this scene, terrifying killing intent rose from Yi Seon-chang’s entire body.
“Arrogant brats!”
Whoooosh!
Rough air currents swirled around his two fists. The currents became a fierce wind that soon enveloped his entire body.
Yi Seon-chang charged toward Hae So-wol and Cho Yeon-woon. His subordinates followed behind him.
Thud!
Hae So-wol and Cho Yeon-woon leaped toward them.
***
Boom boom boom!
Gu Ui-jin’s epithet was Heavenly Wolf Guest. It was given because he was like the largest wolf under heaven.
He had first shown his true worth during the first Righteous-Demon War decades ago. Until then, Gu Ui-jin, who had been thoroughly unknown, rose as a battlefield hero by slaughtering countless Demon Cult martial artists.
His signature technique, Blood Cloud Wolf Fang Flow, reached the extreme of cruelty. Those struck by Blood Cloud Wolf Fang Flow were left with wounds and traces as if torn apart by a giant wolf, and met death in extreme agony.
“Get out of the way! Demon Cult minions!”
Boom boom boom!
When Gu Ui-jin swung his hands, energy sharp as wolf fangs tore apart the approaching Demon Cult masters.
“Aaahhh!”
“Aaahhh!”
Limbs were severed and blood sprayed. Crushed and severed organs and bone fragments flew in all directions.
It was such a cruel scene that it seemed almost unreal.
Shadowless Divine Dragon Eom Tae-cheon’s face was also spattered with enemy blood. He had no time to wipe the blood drops flowing down his eyes.
Because keeping up with the madly rushing Gu Ui-jin was overwhelming enough. Behind Eom Tae-cheon, numerous suicide squad comrades were also following.
The reason they followed Gu Ui-jin was singular:
‘Kill the Demon Cult’s leader.’
Gu Ui-jin’s words set fire to their hearts.
The man standing at the pinnacle of the massive organization called the Demon Cult.
A fearsome martial artist who was both the spiritual pillar of tens of thousands of believers and counted among the best in martial prowess under heaven.
If they killed him, they could end this cursed war. And whoever killed the Cult Leader would instantly gain tremendous fame and honor that encompassed the world.
Life could only be lived once anyway.
They had prepared for death when volunteering for the suicide squad.
For such people, the greatest honor was fighting the Demon Cult Leader.
Gu Ui-jin led such people.
His Blood Cloud Wolf Fang Flow mercilessly slaughtered the blocking Demon Cult masters. Thanks to this, they could rush through the Demon Cult’s main base without stopping even once.
Gu Ui-jin rushed along the shortest route as if he knew the internal geography of the main base perfectly.
“Stop them!”
“You bastards! Halt!”
The Demon Cult masters desperately tried to stop them. But before Gu Ui-jin’s terrifying martial power, they fell like autumn leaves in the wind.
Boom boom boom!
A storm of energy raged.
Nothing and no one seemed able to stop Gu Ui-jin. And indeed that was the case. His rushing speed was much faster than the Demon Cult masters could follow.
Bang!
It was an iron gate that seemed impossible to break with human strength. But at Gu Ui-jin’s full-powered energy strike, a gap just wide enough for people to enter opened.
“The Demon Cult Leader is in here. Everyone go in and kill him.”
At Gu Ui-jin’s shout, the suicide squad masters including Eom Tae-cheon rushed inside as if possessed.
Unending infinite rushing sometimes paralyzes reason and makes one unable to think. That was the current state of the suicide squad.
Because they had blindly followed behind Gu Ui-jin, their forward vision was greatly narrowed. When they heard the shout of Gu Ui-jin, whom they had trusted and followed until now, they rushed into the Forbidden Zone’s iron gate without hesitation. But Gu Ui-jin himself didn’t enter the iron gate and stood stopped beside it. On his face was a strange expression.
An expression where numerous emotions were mixed together. Heterogeneous expressions that seemed like crying and laughing were jumbled together.
His signature technique Blood Cloud Wolf Fang Flow had a secret the world didn’t know. Namely, when practicing the mental cultivation method of Blood Cloud Wolf Fang Flow, it affected surrounding people too.
It paralyzed reason and heightened fighting spirit to draw out martial power, bringing one under the dominance of madness.
Without knowing and preparing in advance, no one could escape the madness of Blood Cloud Wolf Fang Flow. Like the talents who had just rushed into the iron gate.
“I’m sorry. Resent me all you want for driving you into a death trap. But all of this is for this world, so future martial world historians will evaluate you highly.”
Gu Ui-jin bit his lips hard and turned around.
He too was human.
Because emotions remained, he naturally had to feel some degree of guilt. But he comforted his actions with the all-powerful word ‘greater cause.’
Everything he did was for the martial world – no, for this world. Though countless people would die immediately because of it, their sacrifice would make this world more vibrant.
Just as Gu Ui-jin was thinking this and moving his steps:
“How dare you!”
Along with a resounding old voice, white lightning struck down at him. Facing the pure white lightning striking down like a flash, Gu Ui-jin deployed the protective energy technique of Blood Cloud Wolf Fang Flow.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
Gu Ui-jin retreated more than ten steps back with a stifled groan. His footprints were clearly left on the granite floor.
The man who struck down like lightning wore snow-white robes and had a fox fur scarf around his neck.
His hair was white, his eyebrows were white. Even his pupils were white, giving the feeling he wasn’t of this world – this man was precisely White Wing Destruction King No Gun-sang.
Cult Leader Cheok Gwan-hyeol’s closest aide and one of the Black and White Four Lions, he had appeared before Gu Ui-jin. White lightning seemed to pour from his eyes.
Gu Ui-jin saw the snow-white wings spread behind No Gun-sang. The wing-shaped energy soon disappeared, but its afterimage lingered long, flickering in Gu Ui-jin’s eyes.
Gu Ui-jin’s expression hardened stiffly.
“White Wing Destruction King?”
“You know me?”
Instantly white light flashed in No Gun-sang’s eyes.
Gu Ui-jin showed an ‘oh no’ expression. He had been so surprised that he made a mistake he should never have made.
Among the Demon Cult’s Black and White Four Lions, White Wing Destruction King No Gun-sang had never once engaged in external activities. Only three people within the Demon Cult knew his face. Only the Cult Leader, the Military Advisor, and Jin Do-hwi, another member of the Black and White Four Lions – no one else knew his true appearance.
No Gun-sang’s snow-white robes swelled toward the sky.
“You… who are you?”
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