Chapter 168: Chapter 168
“What is this…!”
Heavenly Ear Beggar burst out in bewilderment.
Not only was everywhere as bright red as blood, but the stench of blood was also terrible.
To the point of making his head dizzy.
‘Don’t tell me this is?’
A bright red landscape reeking of the stench of blood.
In an instant, a cult that had plunged the world into chaos in the past, and the evil array they had used to gather and kill the experts of the Central Plains back then, came to his mind.
‘Ah, it can’t be. The Blood Cult was annihilated a long time ago, and their legacy has long since been cut off! There’s no way they could have restored it…’
Heavenly Ear Beggar hurriedly tried to rouse his internal energy, but.
“This damn it!”
The internal energy he wanted to come out did not, and instead, only curses poured out of his mouth.
In an instant, his expression turned gloomy.
The fact that his internal energy would not move meant that the array he was thinking of was correct.
‘…To think that the Blood Cult’s Blood Eternal Delusion Array has appeared in the world again!’
Anger soared to the top of his head.
“I was completely played!”
Looking at his entirely bright red surroundings, Heavenly Ear Beggar ground his teeth and stomped his foot.
He had thought he had barely caught their tail.
So, to prevent information from leaking, he had deliberately not informed the Taiji Gentleman or the Zhongnan Sword Saint, and had acted alone.
Along with that, he had asked the Sect Leader of the Mount Hua Sect and deliberately drawn Cheon-hwi in.
Not to catch their tail, but to make it look like they were targeting the Blood Dragon Sect that was threatening Shaanxi.
He had thought that with Cheon-hwi’s skills, which the Sword Saint had acknowledged, he would be able to cope with any unforeseen events…
The opponent already knew everything.
‘There is a spy among us!’
Was it just a spy? Their demonic reach had been cast in places he had never thought of.
That must be the case, since Divine Brush Scholar belonged to their organization.
Thinking about it again, his anger surged.
He too was someone who had highly valued the Divine Brush Scholar’s chivalry, recognized him as a great hero, and frequently shared opinions with him.
About the future of the righteous factions, and about what to do to protect the current Jianghu.
But it was all a lie.
That alone was enough to make him burn with rage, but to lay out the Blood Eternal Delusion Array and trap him in order to kill him, how could he not be angry!
“Son of a bitch! You bastard who deserves to be fried in dung water! May you smash your nose on a plate and die!”
Heavenly Ear Beggar continuously poured out every curse he knew toward the Divine Brush Scholar.
Even so, his anger did not subside.
The burning rage in his chest boiled even more, and his head was so hot it felt like it would explode.
At that moment, Cheon-hwi, who was scanning the surroundings, asked.
“Who are they?”
“…What?”
Seeing Cheon-hwi acting calm even in this situation, Heavenly Ear Beggar narrowed his glabella.
“Are you asking such a question in this situation?”
Thinking that he had not grasped the current situation, Heavenly Ear Beggar beat his chest.
“This terrible stench of blood and the energy pressing in from all sides are the Blood Cult’s Blood Eternal… that took the lives of the Shaolin Abbot and the Sect Leader of the Wudang Sect of the past generation.”
“It’s the Blood Eternal Delusion Array.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar’s mouth slowly opened.
“…Did you know?”
“I’m asking because I know.”
Cheon-hwi’s eyes sank calmly.
The Blood Cult was a place more closed off than anywhere else in the world.
If it were the martial arts of the Blood Cult, he could somehow understand it, but wasn’t the Blood Eternal Delusion Array the secret among secrets of the Blood Cult?
There was no way they would blatantly lay it out in the Central Plains.
No, before that…
“I’m curious, aren’t you? Who the guys who laid out this absolute array are, despite not even being Blood Cultists.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar’s expression turned serious.
“…Why do you think so? They might be Blood Cultists for all we know.”
“The unique blood qi of the Blood Cult cannot be hidden even if they try. They would be caught immediately.”
“Are you calm even knowing that much?”
“Well, then should we run wild together? It wouldn’t change anything anyway.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar let out a hollow laugh.
At the same time, seeing Cheon-hwi speak calmly made him feel foolish for getting excited.
“Right. Your words are correct. What would change if we needlessly worried about dying and ran wild?”
Heavenly Ear Beggar slumped onto the floor.
What good would it do to make a fuss for no reason?
It might have been better to just set his mind at ease like him instead.
“As you said, it is not the Blood Cult.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar muttered lowly, like a person who had already given up on surviving.
“If the Blood Cult had revealed themselves, the Great Thunderclap Temple would have stepped forward. I have never heard word that they have moved.”
Cheon-hwi looked at him with slightly surprised eyes.
‘Oh, so he still lives up to the Beggars’ Sect.’
Although he was called the Grand Supreme Elder, he had not rated him highly.
Not to mention his skills, he hadn’t shown anything at all, had he?
But now he looked somewhat like the Grand Supreme Elder of the Beggars’ Sect. The fact that the Great Thunderclap Temple would move if the Blood Cult moved was information known only to the Outer Realms factions, yet he spoke of it calmly as if he had known from the start.
‘I wouldn’t need to doubt his information network.’
Cheon-hwi also sat down and said.
“Then who is it?”
Heavenly Ear Beggar shook his head from side to side.
“I don’t know either. Whether it’s a sect, an individual, or a society that has joined forces. I only know that they exist.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar smiled bitterly and said.
“If there is one thing I know about them, it is only their purpose.”
“What is that?”
“Conquering Jianghu.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar’s eyes flashed.
“They intend to collapse the Nine Provinces Three Supreme Powers and then put Jianghu under their feet.”
‘That’s quite an ambitious goal.’
Cheon-hwi thoroughly liked those words.
Wasn’t it better to harbor such ambitions rather than doing things half-heartedly?
“Hmm, so that was why the False Heart Art was like that.”
“…What does the False Heart Art have to do with it?”
“Isn’t it a mind art that eats away at one’s innate true qi and transforms it into internal energy? And it seems to be controlled by sonic arts. If you want to manipulate someone from behind, there’s nothing better than that.”
“Did you figure that out in such a short time?”
Heavenly Ear Beggar let out a chuckle.
How many years had he struggled to find out about the False Heart Art?
‘Even the Taiji Gentleman and the Zhongnan Sword Saint took quite a bit of time to perfectly grasp this False Heart Art…’
A bitter smile naturally formed on his face.
‘I missed something big because of the greed right in front of my eyes. This guy is not material meant to die here.’
He understood the reason why the Divine Brush Scholar had laughed.
Hadn’t it become a situation where he had helped sever the bud that might have become a formidable enemy to those bastards with his own hands?
It was a very painful blunder.
When he tightly closed his eyes.
Drip.
Blood dripped down between the two.
‘It’s already time.’
Cheon-hwi raised his head.
The bright red ceiling suddenly stretched downwards, and soon blood formed in beads.
Heavenly Ear Beggar looked at Cheon-hwi, who was sitting still as if he had transcended death.
“Are you not scared?”
“Of what?”
“That blood will soon swallow us and kill us… Are you not even afraid of death?”
Along with those words, Heavenly Ear Beggar raised his head.
The pool of blood, which had grown massive at some point, was trying to swallow Cheon-hwi and Heavenly Ear Beggar.
“Hup.”
Cheon-hwi raised his body.
“If you are that scared, let’s go out.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar’s eyes widened perfectly round.
“G-Go out? How…”
“What do you mean how.”
Cheon-hwi let out a smirk.
“Obviously, we break it and go out.”
“…”
Heavenly Ear Beggar lost his words.
Break the Blood Eternal Delusion Array?
Did that even make sense?
However, for some reason, he felt trust.
‘If it’s that guy, it might be possible…’
Heavenly Ear Beggar, harboring hope, abruptly stood up from his seat.
“It really is possible, right?”
“Why would I lie?”
Cheon-hwi, who spoke while smirking, looked around for a moment and flashed his eyes.
“Ah! It’s over there.”
The corners of Cheon-hwi’s mouth went up.
He saw a very small crack.
‘Something of this level is easy.’
The reason he was relaxed even when trapped in the Blood Eternal Delusion Array was simple.
It was because he knew it very well, more than anyone else in the world.
He had already experienced it by the Blood Cult, and he had thoroughly dug into it, saying he would lay out the Eternal Life Immortal Reigning Great Art.
‘On top of that, it’s incomplete.’
The Blood Eternal Delusion Array was an absolute array that had to be completed with blood qi, not physical blood!
That small difference brought about a huge result.
To the point where a crack was immediately visible like this.
Swish…
Cheon-hwi lifted his sword upwards.
Even amidst that, the descending pool of blood made a squelching sound and eventually touched the crowns of Cheon-hwi and Heavenly Ear Beggar’s heads.
“Ugh! I knew it would be like this!”
At the chilly sensation touching his crown, Heavenly Ear Beggar was startled and looked at Cheon-hwi.
He had been fooled by the confident attitude and harbored a thread of hope.
However, as that hope crumbled so quickly, an even greater sense of despair swept over him.
“You shouldn’t have made me expect anything!”
When he spat out a sharp voice.
Flash!
A sharp sword light flashed.
At the same time, the red world split apart, and a new landscape appeared through the gap.
* * *
Cheon-hwi, who had broken out of the Blood Eternal Delusion Array, lightly moved his shoulders and opened his mouth.
“Isn’t it too flimsy?”
The crack that was within the flow of the Blood Eternal Delusion Array.
Cheon-hwi had accurately thrust and cleaved toward that exact spot to destroy the array.
At a glance, it sounded easy in words, but it was a fairly tricky and complicated task.
He had to know the Blood Eternal Delusion Array well and read its flow, and he needed the skill to swing his sword without a single inch of hesitation.
“…”
Meanwhile, Heavenly Ear Beggar, who was next to him, stood blankly with his mouth open.
‘What was that, that sword strike just now… Just when I thought it was drawn, the world split apart.’
It was because he had witnessed a sight that he could not possibly believe with his common sense.
At that moment.
“Keu-heok!”
“Keu-heok!”
The sound of vomiting blood was heard.
When he raised his head, the people who had been laying out the Blood Eternal Delusion Array on the wall were convulsing and falling down one by one.
It was because they had directly taken the massive blow generated when the array was broken.
“Hah!”
Only then did Heavenly Ear Beggar come to his senses.
“Y-You really… the Blood Eternal Delusion Array…”
Around the time he looked at Cheon-hwi with complex eyes, the Divine Brush Scholar revealed his figure.
“Unbelievable.”
His face became distorted for the first time.
“To think you could destroy the Blood Eternal Delusion Array. Did the Beggars’ Sect know the method to destroy it?”
He didn’t even cast a glance at Cheon-hwi and was keeping his guard up while looking at Heavenly Ear Beggar.
Those who knew of the Blood Eternal Delusion Array were very rare in the Central Plains as well as in the Outer Realms.
Unless it was a place with the information gathering power of the Beggars’ Sect, it would be impossible to even know of it.
So he suspected Heavenly Ear Beggar.
“Your eyes must have gone completely blind.”
Heavenly Ear Beggar jeered.
Until just a moment ago, he had been toyed with by the Divine Brush Scholar, but not anymore.
The Blood Eternal Delusion Array was destroyed, and next to him was the one who had shattered that array…!
Wasn’t there Cheon-hwi, whom even the Zhongnan Sword Saint said he could not guarantee victory against?
His nose naturally turned up.
“The one who destroyed the array was not me, but this kid…”
The moment he spoke confidently.
The Divine Brush Scholar’s sleeve fluttered widely, and something sharp was shot out.
Swaaek!
“Dodge!”
Heavenly Ear Beggar shouted as he looked at Cheon-hwi.
Whoosh…
Cheon-hwi slightly turned his head to dodge it, and then snatched it with two fingers.
It was a small throwing dagger.
“You impolitely aim for the back of the head.”
Cheon-hwi lightly shook the throwing dagger caught between his fingers as if brushing it off.
At that moment.
Swaaek!
The throwing dagger was shot at the Divine Brush Scholar at a speed incomparable to just before.
“Heup!”
The Divine Brush Scholar hurriedly bent his body backwards.
However, the throwing dagger brushed past his cheek, engraving a single line of blood trace.
“S-Such sharp throwing dagger arts…”
Around the time he swallowed his shock.
“Let’s see. The guys to deal with…”
Cheon-hwi rested his sword on his shoulder.
Following that, he scanned the surroundings, but perhaps due to the aftermath of the Blood Eternal Delusion Array being destroyed, all that was visible were corpses that had poured out blood.
“It’s just you left?”
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