Chapter 396: Chaotic Battle (2)
Two days ago.
“Cough!”
Xiao Fang, who entered a small mountain cave, vomited a handful of blood.
“This…”
The blood that flowed down was extremely turbid. Not only had she been cornered in an instant and suffered severe internal injuries from a few attacks, but unreasonable internal energy operation while escaping had filled her whole body with turbid qi.
Although the world divided martial arts into orthodox arts and evil demonic arts, broadly speaking, that was only dividing them based on the characteristics of the martial arts. Even if it was an evil demonic art, it was equally dangerous if turbid qi surged throughout the whole body.
Xiao Fang hurriedly dared to circulate her qi. Fortunately, the Blood Drinking Demonic Qi’s martial art characteristic itself centered on standing cultivation and moving cultivation. There was no martial art like this for keeping watch on the surroundings while circulating qi.
Chiiiiik!
Gray smoke soared from various parts of Xiao Fang’s body.
She had only circulated her qi a little, but enough turbid qi to be seen with the naked eye was escaping.
Part of it was that Xiao Fang’s skills were great, but it also meant that turbid qi was piled up in all her blood points. The situation was quite serious.
‘Damn it.’
Xiao Fang, gritting her teeth, took out a small elixir from her embrace.
‘Do I have to use this at a time like this?’
Although she was not acknowledged as the child of the Cult Leader, no matter how much of a half-blood she was, she was one who inherited the blood of a god. Her treatment was bound to be fundamentally different from other cultists.
The elixir in Xiao Fang’s hand was the proof of that.
‘If I use this this time, I will only have one pill left.’
The Lust Crystal Elixir was one of the rare spirit pills boasted by the Evil Lust Cult.
Like any other spirit medicine, its effect of internal energy enhancement and recovery was outstanding, and especially since its effect doubled the thicker the concentration of evil qi was, it was a spirit pill favored by high-ranking executives.
The problem was that making this spirit pill consumed astronomical costs. Therefore, even in the Cult, they did not distribute it unless one established a considerably large merit, and even then, it was never distributed to ordinary cultists who were not at the executive level.
‘It’s easy to say it’s just one pill, but that is my lifeline. It’s absolutely necessary for the final decisive battle. If that’s the case…’
Xiao Fang’s eyelids trembled.
‘This is the last one.’
She hesitated.
She never imagined that she would suffer such a fatal injury from the joint attack of bastards even weaker than herself, especially in a situation where it hadn’t even been long since she came out to the Central Plains.
In an instant, Xiao Fang’s eyes became vicious.
‘That damn bastard.’
She recalled Yeon Ho-jeong’s words.
‘The bastard’s words were right. He said that if I panicked, my thoughts would increase and it would be easier to respond.’
‘You cannot escape from here.’
The bastard’s words were right?
When she heard those words, Xiao Fang completely lost focus on the battle that was already difficult to immerse herself in.
Bastard? Who was the bastard?
‘No way.’
Xiao Fang looked far to the east.
“…Yelu Jeok, you bastard?”
Although she muttered in anger, Xiao Fang soon shook her head.
‘No. There is no way that bastard would betray the Cult.’
Although their relationship was not good, she knew that Yelu Jeok’s loyalty was no less than hers. The reason she provoked Yelu Jeok whenever they met, aside from their personalities not matching, was because she thought he was not a bastard who would betray.
If she thought he was really a bastard who would betray, she would not provoke him in that way. She would quietly dig into his background and blow off his neck in one strike.
‘…No.’
Xiao Fang’s eyes deepened.
‘The bastard was chased out to this continent. It was nominally a dispatch, but a bastard with that much skill entered as a mere assassin’s disciple. There’s no way he wouldn’t harbor dissatisfaction.’
Yelu Jeok was a bastard whose pride was as strong as his loyalty. Only he himself did not know that.
‘But even so, would he have betrayed the Cult? Really?’
At that moment, Xiao Fang could recall.
The terrifying martial arts used by Yeon Ho-jeong, the Commander of the Evil-Annahilating Army of the Murim Alliance.
His ability itself was outstanding, but what was truly surprising was his technique that perfectly broke down the forms of the Blood DrinkingPalm.
‘How did he know? The bastard clearly knew the Blood Drinking Palm!’
Xiao Fang could not have imagined that such a breaking method would work on the Blood Drinking Palm. From the beginning, she had lived without ever thinking that the Blood Drinking Palm was a martial art that could be broken down.
But to be broken down piece by piece like that? If she had not experienced it firsthand, she would never have believed it.
‘That was absolutely not a coincidence. The bastard was completely proficient in the Blood Drinking Palm. Down to the very roots of the forms!’
Even if one knew the breaking method, one could not easily respond unless they were of a similar level. However, Yeon Ho-jeong had broken down the martial arts of an opponent distinctly stronger than himself far too familiarly.
They say there are many geniuses and many monsters in the world, but without mastering the Blood Drinking Palm, that was absolutely impossible. Even if one mastered it, it would be difficult to push that hard in actual combat.
‘How on earth did he know? Could it be that the Blood Drinking Palm had been leaked to the outside?’
That made even less sense. No, it could just be said to be an impossible matter.
If so?
“…Someone leaked the Blood Drinking Palm and the Blood Drinking Demonic Qi from the inside.”
That was the conclusion. It had to be so.
But who leaked the martial arts of Blood Drinking? And why did the leaked martial arts of Blood Yin fall into the hands of the Murim Alliance?
“Yelu Jeok.”
Brrrrr.
Xiao Fang’s body began to tremble like crazy.
“You bastard, really?!”
Trickle.
Blood flowed from her nose.
Her internal injuries were severe as it was, but because she even got excited, her qi circulation did not work properly. Xiaoo-bang hurriedly calmed her mind and did her best to extract the turbid qi in her body.
She quickly calmed her excitement, but her mind was spinning actively without rest.
‘Thinking about it, that bastard with such strong pride didn’t even stop me from saying I would go.’
She recalled her conversation with Yelu Jeok.
‘Well, your words are also right. Even if you fail, you will be able to find out the enemy’s strength.’
‘Good. I will leave one bastard to you.’
Xiao Fang’s cheeks trembled.
The bastard who had been engaging in a war of nerves for a while suppressed his soaring anger and immediately agreed with her opinion. Just as she hated that bastard, that bastard also hated her, yet he changed his mind far too easily.
It was a nonsensical matter. Even when the bastard was in the Evil Lust Cult, there had been no such thing.
‘Moreover.’
Xiao Fang had confidence. Confidence to win even if she engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Yelu Jeok.
That was why she could openly kill the bastard’s subordinate. Because she believed that even if the situation reached an extreme and a fight broke out, she would be able to subdue him perfectly.
And apart from that, normally, Yelu Jeok should have made a move the moment his subordinate died by her hands. They were originally in that kind of relationship, and that bastard’s temper was not ordinary either.
And yet the bastard just let her go. He sincerely revealed killing intent, but ended it at the line of just giving a warning.
Why did he do that? Because he didn’t have confidence to win? He should be a bastard who wouldn’t distinguish between water and fire when angry, right?
‘It’s really you?’
Pssssss.
A gray cloud arose around her body and then disappeared.
Crunch!
The stone wall that was particularly exposed to the cloud of turbid qi crumbled as if it was hollow. That was how poisonous the turbid qi was.
‘Did you plan a scheme of killing someone with a borrowed knife? Did you really try to kill me? Did you have that much confidence?’
Chiiiiik!
Red qi undulated from her body.
Having roughly extracted the turbid qi that roamed her entire body, the Blood Drinking Demonic Qi finally began to circulate properly. Now she could really take a breath.
Xiao Fang, who was agonizing while biting her lips, soon let out a sigh.
“Damn it, it seems something really happened to me.”
She suspected Yelu Jeok, but she tried to fold away those suspicions.
‘Right, thinking about it, it really makes no sense.’
Even for Yelu Jeok, obtaining the secret manual of the Blood Drinking Palm was difficult. It could not be seen as entirely impossible, but there was no need to specifically take such a risk.
Furthermore, Yelu Jeok was in a situation where he didn’t even know she would be dispatched. For Yeon Ho-jeong, who was proficient in the breaking method of the Blood Drinking Palm, to appear as if he had been waiting, and to say he sent her to that bastard was an excessively convenient interpretation.
‘It must be a coincidence.’
It was clear that the Blood Drinking Palm had crossed over to the Murim Alliance. However, it would not be through Yelu Jeok. For now, she had to believe so.
Xiao Fang, who was quietly looking at the Lust Crystal Elixir, soon put it back into her embrace.
“I will have to meet him and talk.”
Two hours later.
When her body reached a state where she could implement martial arts to some extent, she carefully unfolded her movement technique and headed east.
It was then.
‘……?’
Xiao Fang’s eyes as she looked at the sky became sharp.
‘That is?’
A dozen birds were flying to the northwest. However, the appearance of those birds was somehow familiar.
‘Yelu Jeok, is it the messenger hawks that bastard handles?’
It was about the size of a pigeon, but that was clearly a hawk. It was a precious creature that was three times faster than an ordinary messenger pigeon and could slaughter an average flying beast in an instant.
It was exactly the messenger hawk used by the Dark Bird Group, the intelligence organization under Yelu Jeok. She had seen such birds flying in and out of Yelu Jeok’s window countless times.
‘It seems he is sending information somewhere.’
Usually, when flying messenger pigeons, it was normal to load documents with the same content on several birds and fly them. Because there were occasional cases where sending only one or two birds failed to reach the destination.
Xiao Fang, who had been walking while ignoring them, stopped her steps at a sudden thought.
“…….”
Her eyes narrowed.
“…Checking it should be fine. Just in case.”
Paaaaang!
After chasing after the messenger hawk with all her might, she could see one of the messenger hawks lagging behind around the time two ke had passed.
A short distance, she captured the exact moment. Xiao Fang snatched a pebble and filled it with Blood Drinking Demonic Qi.
Piyuuuuuung! Thwack!
Although her body was not normal, hitting a bird at a distance of twenty zhang was nothing.
The messenger hawk whose head had flown off trembled and fell to the ground.
Xiao Fang, who ran to the place where the messenger hawk’s corpse had fallen, untied and unfolded the message tube tied to the ankle that was still twitching.
After a while.
Xiao Fang’s eyes became heavily bloodshot.
“This is fun.”
The corners of her mouth went up. Her expression, full of disbelief, anger, and killing intent, was truly like that of a ghost.
“It’s really fun, Yelu Jeok.”
It was written like this in the message tube.
I inform the Alliance’s side. I will give you help in catching the prime target you desire. Let us hold hands for a moment and deal with the public enemy first. Since there are circumstances on this side as well, I hope for a quick reply.
And at the end of the message tube, it was written: Grand Disciple under the Yin God, Leader of the Dark Bird Group.
The Dark Bird Group was the best intelligence organization of the Yin God managed by Yelu Jeok, and its leader was taken charge of by his grand disciple.
Yelu Jeok, and his grand disciple Sima Hyeon.
So to speak, they were in the same boat. Moreover, it was said that Yelu Jeok had cast a soul-subjugation technique on Sima Hyeon. Xiao Fang also knew that.
In other words, even if this letter was sent by Sima Hyeon, it could be seen as representing Yelu Jeok’s will.
“Yelu Jeok.”
At the surging anger, her head became dazed for a moment.
Even in the midst of that, Xiao Fang did not withdraw a single trace of doubt. It was not a doubt towards Yelu Jeok, but a doubt about the possibility that Sima Hyeon had betrayed Yelu Jeok.
But no matter how much she thought about it, that too made no sense.
Sima Hyeon was under Yelu Jeok’s soul-subjugation technique. The soul-subjugation technique of the Evil Lust Cult was completely different from that of the Central Plains’ evil and unorthodox arts, so if one didn’t know the method, it was almost impossible to break.
In other words, it was reasonable to see this as Yelu Jeok’s will. The interpretation that he sent it in the name of his grand disciple to prepare for an unexpected situation would never be an excessive interpretation at this moment.
“Did you really betray our Cult?!”
Srrrng.
Taking out the Lust Crystal Elixir from her embrace, she swallowed it without delay.
Two hours later.
Rumble!
The mountain near Yelu Jeok’s residence burst into groans from the collision of enormous experts.