Chapter 291: Chapter 291
Evil Blood Emperor.
It had already been over two hundred years in the past since that name appeared and was active in Jianghu.
However, despite that long period having passed, even the martial artists of Jianghu today would talk about the Evil Blood Emperor.
It could not be helped. Was it only one or two sects that collapsed under his hands?
The Kongtong Sect, which boasted hundreds of years of history, was exterminated, and it was to the extent that some of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang and the clans of that time sealed their sects for a long time to avoid his gaze.
His prestige truly pierced the sky.
The number one person in the world of his era.
The one who reigned over Jianghu with terror.
However, a hundred years ago, as the Evil Emperor Palace collapsed, his martial arts ended up disappearing.
The martial arts of the Evil Blood Emperor, which was thought to be lost like that.
And on top of that, his unique martial art that was attached with all sorts of rhetorical flourishes, the Shattered Soul Bloody Claw, manifested from Nong-jil’s hands.
Hwaaaaak!
The Shattered Soul Bloody Claw that cleaved the void tore through the atmosphere and covered Cheon-hwi and the vicinity.
But unlike its astonishing momentum, a quiet silence flowed.
It was a stillness just like the eve of a storm.
However, that was also brief.
Changes immediately began to rise.
Geugeugeuk…
It was from when the ground where the Shattered Soul Bloody Claw was struck shook greatly as if an earthquake had occurred.
It was some sort of disquieting omen.
Before long, the greatly shaking surface of the earth split open with a crack, and soon.
Kwaaaang!
The ground exploded entirely.
An internal force heavy hand technique that destroyed the inside rather than the outside.
It was the extreme of the Penetrating Force.
A shockwave with heaven-shaking and earth-shattering might exploded in a circle and swept the surroundings of the mountain gate.
Because of that, the things that were around were mercilessly blown away.
And among them was also Abbess So-un.
She ended up flying away for almost twenty zhang due to the fierce shockwave.
Peoeok!
Only after bumping her back against the hermitage did her body, which stopped flying, fall down.
“Keoheok!”
She, who was flying away while fainted, faintly regained her consciousness from the impact.
‘…Wh-what happened…’
Amidst the haziness where her consciousness had not yet properly awakened, she struggled to lift her eyelids to grasp the situation.
The gradually opened field of vision was red.
Soon, she had her breath caught at the sight in front seen through her blurry field of vision smeared with blood.
“Hahahat!”
Nong-jil was spitting out a great laughter towards the sky while looking at the completely smashed ground and the dust that rose thickly over it.
She absolutely did not look normal.
The qi waves swaying around her were extremely unstable, and her two pupils were murky with madness and killing intent.
She looked like a demon who fell into qi deviation.
However, unlike those who rushed in while exploding their internal energy in all directions in such a situation, she seemed to move and judge rationally.
Because of that, it was even more chilling.
That appearance while maintaining rationality was an incomprehensible realm for Abbess So-un.
‘…She is a Blood Ghost.’
When despair dwelled in the blurry eyes of Abbess So-un who was keeping her eyes on Nong-jil.
“Keuk!”
Suddenly letting out a groan, Nong-jil flinched. At the same time, her expression fiercely distorted, and her whole body trembled.
She looked like she had received some sort of shock.
She urgently bent her waist and picked up the smoking pipe that fell on the ground.
She, taking on an anxious gaze, put her hand in her embrace and took something out.
It was a powder she created independently by mixing all sorts of poisonous weeds and medicinal herbs.
Directly putting the powder into the smoking pipe and flicking her finger, she, who sparked the Samadhi True Fire, immediately bit it in her mouth.
“Huu.”
With the exhalation of pure white smoke, the minor tremors and pain gradually stopped.
The boiling qi waves also gradually stabilized.
“I almost lost my mind.”
The ends of her eyebrows shot up.
“For a young one, he was quite strong. Perhaps if I had let him live just like that, he would have been quite dangerous in the future.”
Was he not a guy who took down the Green Forest Great Emperor with luck? His skills were truly heaven-sent.
Furthermore, since he was even young in age, if she left him alone, it was impossible to guess what kind of growth he would achieve in the future.
‘Maybe to the Eight Martial Gods…’
She, who was thinking, shook her head.
‘He is a dead guy anyway.’
Her murky eyes slowly regained their light and changed calmly.
“Since I’ve also taken the head of the Plum Blossom Divine Hero…”
She, who was speaking, abruptly turned her head.
The end of her gaze directed towards Abbess So-un.
To end the war with the Emei Sect, the head of that Abbess So-un was needed.
“Is it time to see the end now?”
Along with her words, she swept her messily tangled ash-gray hair backward once and twisted the corners of her mouth.
It was a demonic smile.
Abbess So-un, who watched this entire scene, bit her lips hard.
The killing intent emitted by Nong-jil stabbed her own body like a sharply honed knife.
She wanted to get up right away and fight back.
However.
“…”
She could not twitch a single finger.
Because her qi meridians were twisted by Nong-jil’s attack, and her internal injuries were also in a deep state.
Her vision became blurry.
She didn’t even have the strength to hold on anymore.
‘…I leave the aftermath to you.’
She, who recalled her martial junior who slipped away to the back path leading the young disciples, tried to accept the death that would soon arrive.
“Huu.”
Nong-jil, who scanned Abbess So-un looking like she had resigned, took the smoking pipe off her mouth.
She instantly felt herself becoming excited.
It was because the joy of the Evil Heaven Absolute Art’s internal energy infiltrating her body had not yet disappeared.
The moment she was about to take a step while stabilizing her mind again.
“Tsk. I had expectations, but it’s a shame. To think it’s the Shattered Soul Bloody Claw of all things.”
A low voice was heard from behind.
The surprised Nong-jil turned around.
The sound of footsteps was heard from within the dust.
A moment later, Cheon-hwi revealed his appearance, piercing through the thickly accumulated dust.
Nong-jil’s expression, seeing him, stiffened.
It was because other than the very end of his trouser hem being torn just a little bit, his appearance had not a single scratch elsewhere.
“…How can you have no wounds at all?”
She asked, opening her mouth without realizing it herself.
It was that unbelievable of an event.
Cheon-hwi faced Nong-jil, who was staring at him as if she couldn’t understand at all, and let out a chuckle.
“That’s because I also know it well.”
Suddenly, Cheon-hwi raised his left hand.
Spread fingers, like a hawk’s talons.
It was an appearance that perfectly matched the hand shape she had made while attacking just before.
Nong-jil looked at Cheon-hwi’s hand as if she was dumbfounded.
It was because the action of seemingly imitating the Shattered Soul Bloody Claw was absurd.
Martial arts were meant to be properly executed only when equipped with the appropriate internal energy circulation and disposition.
Would it be possible to execute martial arts by just imitating the form?
However, her face was, not long after, soon dyed with astonishment.
The surging internal energy was unusual.
“What kind of act…!”
She hastily drew up her internal energy.
The moment when the dark internal energy piled up layer by layer, solidly wrapping around her entire body.
Hwiiik!
Cheon-hwi’s left hand was swung largely.
At that moment, light flashed.
As five streams of clear light tore the world to shreds just like a dragon’s claws.
Hwiiik!
It brushed past Nong-jil in an instant.
Soon, five blade marks were carved onto the ground that was behind her.
Kwaaaang!
It caused a violent explosion.
Dust surged from behind Nong-jil’s back.
Her tidied hair became tangled once again due to the shockwave of the explosion.
‘How did this happen?’
Nong-jil was extremely confused.
The Shattered Soul Bloody Claw was something that the sect that took her in the past had sealed away as a forbidden manual.
‘They said there was only one.’
Her pupils caused raging waves.
Her master in the past said that it was the only one existing in the world.
However, what was going on right now.
The Shattered Soul Bloody Claw openly unfolded right before her eyes.
And that too, from the hands of a Mount Hua Sect Taoist.
“How did you use the Shattered Soul Bloody Claw…?”
At the question, Cheon-hwi twisted the corners of his mouth.
It was a faint sneer.
In that state, Cheon-hwi parted his lips while looking at her.
“Do you think I’d let you know that?”
Veins popped out on Nong-jil’s forehead.
It was completely ignoring speech.
Soon, strength entered her hand.
Bbajik!
The smoking pipe shattered just like that.
Subsequently, not even giving a glance to the smoking pipe that fell on the floor with a ‘thud’, she parted her lips while only looking at Cheon-hwi.
“I will make you confess it.”
Cool killing intent and madness emerged in her two pupils staring at Cheon-hwi.
The pupils that were gradually becoming murky.
At the same time, unstable qi waves rose from her entire body, and soon transformed into an opaque ash-gray energy.
Death Evil Heavenly Qi.
That special energy possessed by the Evil Heaven Absolute Art, which integrated evil arts and evil techniques, had bloomed from her entire body.
“So this is why you lost your mind.”
Cheon-hwi said as if muttering while looking at her.
A glint flashed in his two eyes.
The eyes loaded with the internal energy of the Plum Blossom Divine Art read the flow exuding from her.
It was murky and distorted.
Perhaps it was a natural thing.
With the body of a living human, she contained the death energy that only the dead emitted.
Was it only that?
From evil energy to bewitching energy.
The ash-gray astral qi she was shedding out had all sorts of energies clumping together that went against the natural order.
“It’s a miracle that your mind is even intact.”
Cheon-hwi, who grasped her condition, shrugged his shoulders and muttered.
She was unstable.
Her state was even more unstable than the qi waves she was currently shedding.
It was no different from a castle built on sand.
It was then, as he observed her like that.
Her appearance within his field of vision rapidly enlarged.
She had deployed the Evil Illusion Footwork.
Transforming into a streak of gray light, she stuck closely to a blind spot out of Cheon-hwi’s line of sight, and struck up with her left hand.
The energy fluctuated from her palm.
The unstably rampaging qi waves extended out in streaks into space as it rushed forward.
A perfectly executed surprise attack from a blind spot.
It was then.
Seueuk…
Suddenly, a red trajectory appeared and was clearly engraved in Nong-jil’s vision.
It was none other than Hwawol.
Jjeojeojeojeong!
A crack arose in the void.
“It’s too obvious.”
Cheon-hwi only dropped his eyes down to look at Nong-jil, and directly reached out his left hand.
A light hand gesture as if brushing off dust.
However.
Peoeok!
A sound like a drum bursting rang out.
Nong-jil’s body, who blocked that hand gesture by crossing both hands, flew backward with a ‘hwik’.
She, who flew about five zhang, kicked off the ground again immediately as soon as she landed.
Kung!
The ground she stepped on was gouged out.
And with that as the start.
Kwaaang! Jjeoeoeong!
Roars and explosions erupted in succession.
To the two whose thoughts were already spinning exceptionally fast, the momentary instant felt long.
Hwik! Hwik!
Nong-jil, who executed the Evil Illusion Footwork, repeatedly disappeared and appeared, and carried out attacks without a moment’s rest.
All sorts of absolute arts poured out.
The atmosphere cried and sparks flew at the feast of martial arts cloaked in the ash-gray Death Evil Heavenly Qi.
Dozens of exchanges passed in an instant.
At this point, the internal energy she possessed should have wavered, but Nong-jil’s momentum became even fiercer.
It was as if she was saying it was only the beginning.
It was then.
Kaaang!
Nong-jil, who bounced and flew backward by Cheon-hwi’s Hwawol, stopped her movements as if taking a brief breath.
“I’ll let you keep your life. I still have a lot to ask…”
Then, she who leaked a voice full of killing intent roughly trampled the ground again.
Kuung!
A refreshing stomp.
The Death Evil Heavenly Qi that exuded from her entire body, which left a clear footprint on the dirt floor, soared toward the sky.
“Instead, I will break your limbs!”
Her two hands, which were flashed up along with a shout imbued with a demonic nature, struck down like lightning.
Following the trajectory of her both hands that came down as if suppressing downwards, space became distorted.
And gradually, the surroundings darkened.
An ash-gray tornado that seemed to cut the skin swallowed the sky and fell.
Evil Heaven Absolute Art, Return to Heaven Manifest World.
In the past, the deathly absolute technique that made Jianghu tremble fell towards the crown of Cheon-hwi’s head.
“That’s impossible.”
However, Cheon-hwi, still with a relaxed appearance, lightly took a step.
As his leather shoes touched, the hard dirt floor rapidly crushed like mud.
A faint shockwave rose like a ripple and was transmitted to the ground floor that his soles touched.
And.
Kuung!
Soon, a tremendous shockwave exploded, and Cheon-hwi disappeared.
Cheon-hwi, who turned into light, looked at the Return to Heaven Manifest World and drew Hwawol upwards in a single breath.
As the internal energy of the Plum Blossom Divine Art contained within Hwawol caused a faint red fluctuation.
Seogeok!
It halved the Return to Heaven Manifest World.
And just when it seemed like a beautiful red radiance shone through it.
Hwaaak…
A single red plum blossom bloomed.
Seven Absolutes Plum Blossom Sword Fourth Form.
Supreme Void Blood Flower Flash.
The darkened sky and the surging tornado of evil energy disappeared in an instant.
Instead, only one thing remained.
The faint plum blossom fragrance.
Only that scattered quietly at the mountain gate of the Subduing Tiger Temple that had instantly become calm.
Hwik…
When Cheon-hwi shook off the blood stained on Hwawol.
“Huhuhu.”
A faint laughter was heard.
Cheon-hwi turned his head.
He saw the person who collapsed on top of the ruined ground.
It was Nong-jil.
Her appearance was miserable.
Blood gushed and dropped spot by spot through the sword mark that tore long from her shoulder blade to her thigh.
Red blood gradually spread over the ground where she was laid, expanding its area.
Even so, she was smiling.
Even though she suffered a fatal wound facing imminent death, her smile did not waver at all.
“You are strong. To the point where it’s completely unbelievable that this is a realm achieved at that age.”
She burst out in admiration.
It was a tone filled with sincerity.
“But it’s a shame. To have been born in the wrong era of all things.”
Cheon-hwi finished his temporarily paused sheathing and approached the collapsed Nong-jil closely.
“Because of the Eight Martial Gods?”
He looked down at her along with his words.
At that, Nong-jil’s pupils, which were blankly staring at the sky, moved towards Cheon-hwi.
“Huhuhu, right.”
“They certainly were strong.”
Cheon-hwi’s mouth corners, who recalled the Supreme Lord he met before, slowly rose.
At that, Nong-jil’s eyes slightly widened.
“Have you met one?”
“Briefly.”
“Then you must know better. That no matter how much you struggle, you cannot defeat them. They are Half-Immortals. They aren’t called Martial Gods for nothing.”
“In other words, you’re saying I will lose?”
Cheon-hwi murmured and twisted the corners of his mouth.
“Wow, that sounds fun.”
Nong-jil’s eyes widened limitlessly.
Because an indescribable presence was felt from Cheon-hwi who was smiling.
It wasn’t something ordinary.
That was a momentum that only one placed in the position of an absolute being like ‘him’ could emit.
Just like ‘him’ who brutally crushed her lower jaw, and thus led her to the path of the Unorthodox Faction…!
At that moment.
“You have nothing more to say, right?”
Along with his words, Cheon-hwi lifted Hwawol.
And brought it down without delay.
Puk!
Hwawol pierced through her heart.
“Keoheok!”
Blood was vomited from her mouth.
It was dark, murky blood.
Soon, the ash-gray energy slipped down from around her, and was swallowed by the floor.
The Death Evil Heavenly Qi had returned to heaven.
Was it because of that, her pure white skin instantly turned dark and murky, and her whole body became extremely skinny and dry.
Like that, Nong-jil changed into a corpse left neglected for a long time in a single breath.
It was the backlash of the Death Evil Heavenly Qi leaving.
“It’s over.”
The moment Cheon-hwi was about to pull out Hwawol embedded in her heart, Nong-jil moved her parched lips and spat out a dry voice.
“Four… Black Alliances… Lord…”
She, who lastly murmured him who completely changed her entire life, soon lost her vitality and met her end.