Chapter 43: Chapter 43
“Ugh!”
Jeok-geom, who had been blocking the White Ghost Troop’s attacks while accumulating fatigue, eventually couldn’t hold on and dropped his sword from his hand.
Blergh…
Perhaps due to the shock, he vomited dark blood.
The dark, dead blood and pieces of internal organs stained the uniform beneath his neck.
At that time, the White Ghost Troop rushed in again.
Clang! Clang!
He blocked their attacks, but Jeok-geom staggered greatly.
The White Ghost Troop’s attacks, carrying their true qi, were too fatal to him, who had already suffered internal injuries.
‘I can’t put strength into my hand.’
It wasn’t just his hand.
His whole body was heavy.
He quickly scanned his surroundings.
The situation was heading towards the worst.
The standing junior martial brothers and junior martial sister were all swaying, unable to control their bodies.
Jeok-geom’s face darkened as he saw the state where they looked like they would collapse if tapped.
‘So this is the end.’
As time passed, Jeok-geom and the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, feeling death approaching, tightly closed their eyes in resignation.
But at that moment.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Something pitch-black bounced on the ground a few times and collapsed with a splat in front of them.
The Plum Blossom Swordsmen, who opened their eyes at the sudden situation, were startled out of their wits upon realizing its identity.
“……!”
“W-what is this!”
It was a gruesomely mangled corpse.
There was nothing where the head should have been, and the upper body was completely crushed as if pressed down by a massive boulder.
Step… Step…
At that time, footsteps were heard.
The footsteps, heard consistently in the bizarre situation and quiet stillness, were enough to suck the souls out of the White Ghost Troop.
They turned their heads as if possessed.
There was a young man walking slowly with the blazing flames behind him.
The young man, wearing a rare black-red uniform, was quite tall.
Furthermore, his broad shoulders and the muscles visible here and there indicated that he was someone who had undergone considerable training.
However, as he got closer, the White Ghost Troop was captivated by the young man’s gaze rather than his physique.
Cold, chilling pitch-black eyes that even swallowed the blazing flames behind his back.
The moment they faced that gaze, the terror and fear hidden deep in the abyss began to show their faces.
Eventually, one of the White Ghost Troop members stepped forward to shake off the emotion.
“There was still a bastard alive…….”
Crunch!
Brains and blood scattered in all directions and poured down like rain.
The White Ghost Troop members, who inadvertently ended up covered in their comrade’s blood and brains, were colored with bewilderment.
They couldn’t understand what had happened.
His head suddenly burst, and he died.
It was an unexpected death.
However, the White Ghost Troop felt that it was the young man in front who had created this accident.
That was because a sword box was held in the right hand of the young man, whose hands had been empty until just a moment ago.
“More survived than I thought.”
As soon as those words ended.
Crunch!
Another person’s head flew off.
This time, the White Ghost Troop could also see it.
The pitch-black sword box seemed to move greatly, and it smashed the White Ghost Troop member’s head.
Seeing the eerily cruel hand, the White Ghost Troop members stiffened with pale faces.
“Martial Uncle…….”
“You…… came.”
At that time, a voice was heard from below.
Cheon-hwi, who had plopped down on the ground at some point, looked down with cold eyes at the exhausted Plum Blossom Swordsmen.
They were completely worn out.
At least Jeok-geom and Seol Ran seemed to have the energy to move, as they were not lying down.
“I guess it’s still lacking?”
At Cheon-hwi’s indifferent voice with narrowed eyes, Jeok-geom and Seol Ran, who had been relieved, turned pale and spoke urgently.
“That is…….”
“N-no…….”
“Forget it.”
Turning his head, Cheon-hwi hung the scabbard over his shoulder, glared at the White Ghost Troop, and said.
“I’ll handle this first, so I’ll see you later.”
* * *
“Amazing skill.”
Su-cham-dok-geom spontaneously let out an exclamation of admiration.
Even against the Blood Night Qi of the Blood Night Solitary Scripture, Hyeon-do was not being pushed back.
No, rather, he was overwhelming him.
“Noisy.”
However, Hyeon-do’s reaction was cold.
Right now, his inside was filled with a heat hotter than flames.
Since the opponent was one of the Four Lords of the White Ghost Castle, their mortal enemy, it was a matter of course.
Su-cham-dok-geom’s gaze sank deeply.
‘I thought he would be at most on par with me…….’
It was a realm completely different from the floating rumors and the information secured by the White Ghost Castle.
At least an equal or…….
“The information about the Mount Hua Sect was wrong.”
His whispering voice was stiff.
Even while calling him Mount Hua’s First Sword, they had been secretly underestimating him because he was from the Mount Hua Sect.
Gritting his teeth, Su-cham-dok-geom roughly gripped his sword and twisted his waist greatly.
That appearance was bizarre.
The left sleeve was fluttering in the wind, and the right hand went all the way behind his back.
As if hiding the sword.
It was the starting posture of the Blood Night Sword contained in the Blood Night Solitary Scripture, a martial art created by a nameless one-armed swordsman from a long time ago.
Crack…
Muscles twisted, and an unusual sound rang out. However, Su-cham-dok-geom’s expression was exceedingly peaceful.
At that time, his whole body rotated.
Swoosh!
The air was torn apart.
The sword held in his hand was swung sharply like a whip. Against this, Hyeon-do calmly loaded internal energy into his sword.
A pure white and transparent aura began to wrap around the sword like a thin thread, and soon covered the blade solidly like a cocoon.
It was Sword Qi that could only be displayed by entering the Supreme Limit Realm.
Clang!
Sword and sword clashed.
However, unexpectedly, the result was empty.
“Keugh!”
Su-cham-dok-geom, who received the shock of the clash, staggered and stepped backwards.
‘……How could this be!’
Su-cham-dok-geom’s eyes widened.
He attempted a preemptive strike by surprise, but he was the one who received the shock.
Hyeon-do was also surprised.
Of course, the reason for his surprise was different from his.
‘Only this much?’
Su-cham-dok-geom was an expert who ranked at least in the top three in the White Ghost Castle. But right now, his attack was too weak.
Reading the expression Hyeon-do momentarily showed, Su-cham-dok-geom’s gaze changed abruptly.
He wanted and pursued strength.
To the point of cutting off his own left arm to properly learn the Blood Night Solitary Scripture he had accidentally discovered when he was young.
After learning the Blood Night Poison Sword, he, who became an expert, strutted around in the murim without belonging to either the orthodox or Unorthodox Factions.
But one day, he was defeated.
From that day, his goal changed.
To defeat the White Snake God who had defeated him.
It was the reason he, who was neither unorthodox nor orthodox, threw himself into the unorthodox White Ghost Castle.
But the person he didn’t consider an opponent at all was underestimating him.
His eyes rolled back.
It wasn’t just his gaze.
A gloomy and muddy aura began to flow out from his entire body.
Feeling the drastically changed momentum and atmosphere, Hyeon-do also slowly spread his internal energy.
It was then.
Swish…
Su-cham-dok-geom, who had been beyond three zhangs away, vanished and appeared right in front.
Clang!
The swords of the two clashed.
The massive explosion was to the extent that those nearby covered their ears and slumped down.
The two, crossing swords, looked at each other. Then, they simultaneously poured out internal energy.
Rumble…
As if terrified by the mighty internal energy of the two, the air began to tremble greatly.
But the expressions of the two were different.
While Su-cham-dok-geom had no composure as if cornered, Hyeon-do was peaceful.
At that time, Su-cham-dok-geom’s eyes became bloodshot, and his face turned red and blue.
“Heup!”
Then, he gritted his teeth, somehow swallowing down the dark blood rising from inside, and opened his two eyes widely.
His face was a complete mess.
His two pupils were bloodshot as if he would burst into tears of blood right now, and a streak of blood flowed from his mouth.
Swish…
At that time, Hyeon-do bent his wrist.
Perhaps because he removed his sword during the internal energy battle.
Swoosh!
Su-cham-dok-geom’s sword, which had been full of strength, was drawn without even a gap to control.
“……!”
Su-cham-dok-geom hurriedly tried to withdraw his sword, but he had already lost his balance and staggered.
Hyeon-do was not one to miss a gap.
Riding the flow of the disrupted internal energy, he immediately unfolded the Plum Fragrance Drunken Butterfly.
Whoosh…
At the scent of plum blossoms tickling the tip of his nose and the sharp keenness, Su-cham-dok-geom urgently stomped his left foot greatly and rotated in the air.
Swish…
The empty sleeve fluttered, wrapping around him.
Hyeon-do was about to swing his sword at him floating in the air, but flinched and retreated.
Swoosh!
A sword thrust into the spot where he had been.
Su-cham-dok-geom, who had not lost focus even while rotating, had thrust his sword.
Hyeon-do’s eyes, looking on, narrowed.
‘To unfold such a sword even after suffering deep internal injuries, he is a terrible person!’
The mental strength of Su-cham-dok-geom, swinging his sword while enduring the pain that an ordinary martial artist would slump down from, was astonishing.
At that time, Hyeon-do exploded his internal energy.
“Keugh!”
Su-cham-dok-geom, who was hit head-on by the storm of internal energy emitted by Hyeon-do, vomited blood.
The shock inflicted this time was tremendous.
Eventually, tears of blood flowed from his eyes that had been dyed red, and a bowlful of blood flowed down his throat from his mouth.
A face that had somehow become covered in blood.
Despite that, he didn’t stop swinging his sword towards Hyeon-do.
“Keugh! I-I cannot lose!”
The Blood Night Sword, swung along with a desperate cry spitting blood in all directions, harbored an overwhelming destructive power compared to before.
The forearm bent like a whip and the sword moved to tear Hyeon-do apart.
Hyeon-do also swung his sword greatly horizontally to face him.
A sword form that was neither fast nor slow.
However, the momentum contained within it was intensely strong and solid beyond imagination.
It was the Taiyi Illusory Sword, which possessed the highest power among the sword arts of the Mount Hua Sect.
Swoosh!
The sharp blade hidden in the massive storm of internal energy aimed at Su-cham-dok-geom.
Before long, the swords of the two split each other.
Slash!
Blood scattered, and silence flowed.
Su-cham-dok-geom, whose entire body was covered in blood, struggled to open his mouth.
“In the end…….”
His voice, with the lingering effect of the internal injury still deeply remaining, was completely overturned.
Following that, his hand slowly loosened.
Clang, clang, clang…….
The sword bounced a few times and quieted down.
He, who had dropped the sword he had spent most of his life with, turned his head towards Hyeon-do.
Envy dwelt in the bloodshot eyes covered in blood.
For a long time, he did all sorts of things to cross the massive wall seen in front of him every time he closed his eyes, but it was impossible.
Yet the person in front of him had reached the Heavenly Martial Realm, so how could he not be envious.
“……Could I not…… cross it.”
His voice spread out calmly in all directions like water droplets splashing on a lake.
Thud!
Su-cham-dok-geom, who lost his energy, collapsed.
Hyeon-do looked at him collapsed.
The energy of the Taiyi Illusory Art still remaining on the sword scars carved on the corpse was swaying like that blazing flame.
“If it’s this much…….”
Hyeon-do, who had been whispering, looked at the palm holding the sword, and clenched his two fists tightly.
He had reached the Heavenly Martial Realm, but in the meantime, he couldn’t be certain about his own realm.
But now, certainty arose.
That his current skill was enough to be counted on one’s fingers in the murim, perhaps.
‘Even if the White Snake God is the opponent…….’
Flames blazed in his two pupils.
His goal was the annihilation of the White Ghost Castle and widely spreading the prestige of the Mount Hua Sect.
It was getting one step closer.
The time when Hyeon-do was recalling the future.
“East Lord?!”
A surprised voice was heard from nearby.
When the flustered Hyeon-do turned his head, So-baek-gwi and Ha Woo-jin, who was struggling against him, entered his sight.
“……How could this be.”
So-baek-gwi looked at the coldly dead Su-cham-dok-geom with a face unable to believe it, then turned his head, thinking it couldn’t be.
“……!”
His pupils shook in all directions as if an earthquake had occurred.
He didn’t know because he was dealing with Ha Woo-jin, but he couldn’t feel the presence of the White Ghost Troop.
“Damn it!”
The moment So-baek-gwi’s face, having grasped the situation, distorted gruesomely like an evil spirit.
“Now only you are left.”
A cold voice was heard from the side.
Swish…
He urgently unfolded the Ghost Yin Palm.
However, there was no feeling of anything colliding with the palm that unfolded the Yin wind, nor the scream that should have been heard.
Flustered, he very carefully turned his neck.
There was a pitch-black black wall in front of him.
At that time, a voice was heard from above.
“Where are you going to go?”
The moment Cheon-hwi whispered while looking down at So-baek-gwi, whose height only reached his nose.
Tap!
So-baek-gwi threw his body without delay.
‘As if this me would die here! I am the one to inherit the White Ghost Castle!’
He fled, pouring out all his remaining internal energy, regardless of footwork or whatever.
His figure, shot like an arrow, was fast enough to cause an illusion that it was stretched long to the place he fled far away.
“I cannot miss…… Keugh!”
Ha Woo-jin, who was about to kick off the ground, staggered and spat out a groan. It was the aftereffect of suffering an internal injury while dealing with So-baek-gwi.
At that time.
“Man, you’re being annoying.”
Cheon-hwi lightly stomped his foot.
Swish…
In an instant, his figure vanished.
“Keok!”
So-baek-gwi, who was fleeing, rattled.
As he hurriedly fled, his clothing caught on something, and the garment choked his neck.
“Kek, kek.”
A shadow was cast in front of him, who was coughing out at the pain felt in his neck.
Cheon-hwi, who snatched the collar in an instant, opened his mouth while looking down at him.
“Did you think you could survive and flee after committing such acts?”
“Ke, kek. S-spare me…….”
So-baek-gwi, coughing, prostrated himself on the ground and begged subserviently, regardless of pride or whatever.
“What? Spare you?”
At those words, So-baek-gwi flashed his upper body up and continuously nodded his head.
At that moment, Cheon-hwi’s mouth tore into a smile.
“Why should I?”
Around the time So-baek-gwi’s complexion turned pale at facing the cold smile.
Crunch!
Cheon-hwi trampled his head.
Brains and blood splashing in all directions.
Cheon-hwi lightly brushed off the brains and blood splashed on his clothing, looked down at the corpse with a cold expression, and turned his body.
“Now I should pull them out by the roots.”
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