Novel Martial Artist Lee Gwak - chapter 470
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Episode 470
Blood and Tears Flow (2)
Lee Gwak stared at the burning village with a devastated expression.
Finding Jeon Ma-ok and the Red Flame Squad wasn’t too difficult. Though they thought they had completely erased their traces, they couldn’t fool Ki Jin-hwi’s eyes.
Using his sorcery, Ki Jin-hwi tracked the movements of Jeon Ma-ok and the Red Flame Squad.
Lee Gwak and Seo Jong-myeong rushed to prevent another massacre. Even so, they failed.
Though it wasn’t confirmed, it was clear there were no survivors in the burning village.
The Red Flames Squad was a brutal group.
To them, killing was a form of amusement or entertainment.
Such people never left survivors.
“Whew!”
Lee Gwak tried to suppress his rage.
Just then, Jeon Ma-ok’s voice rang out.
“You there! Who are you?”
The moment he heard that voice, Lee Gwak felt his blood boil with fury.
“Soo-ah!”
“Daddy?”
Lee Soo-ah looked up at Lee Gwak with a worried expression.
She instinctively sensed something was wrong.
“From now on, erase everything you see from your memory.”
“Okay…”
He couldn’t bear to show his daughter the beastly side of himself.
Had he known such a tragedy would unfold again here, he would never have brought her along.
Again, Jeon Ma-ok shouted.
“I asked who you are!”
“Lee Gwak!”
“What?”
“My name is Lee Gwak.”
“After Seo Jong-myeong, now it’s Lee Gwak? This is laughable.”
Jeon Ma-ok’s voice involuntarily lowered.
It was shocking enough that Seo Jong-myeong, the lord of Seize Fortress whom he thought was dead, was still alive. But the fact that Lee Gwak—a martial artist renowned throughout the world—was here was enough to unsettle him.
Lee Gwak’s reputation was so great that even within the ranks of Celestial Demon Troupe, no one was unaware of his name.
Apart from the Jade Heaven Alliance Leader Ja Hong-cheon, Lee Gwak was the strongest martial artist in the current world.
His achievements and renown were more than enough to prove his true strength.
Jeon Ma-ok glanced at his subordinates.
A hundred members of Red Flames Squad fixed their murderous gazes on Lee Gwak.
Consumed by killing intent and madness, they felt no fear, even in front of someone like Lee Gwak.
Jeon Ma-ok smirked.
“This isn’t too bad.”
He had never believed they could keep their secrets hidden forever. Whether discovered by the Celestial Demon Troupe or the Jade Heaven Alliance, death awaited them either way.
Rather than becoming a public enemy or being executed, igniting one final blaze against a supreme master like Lee Gwak didn’t seem so bad.
Shhhng!
Jeon Ma-ok drew his curved blade, and the Hongyeomdae followed, drawing their weapons in unison.
A terrifying killing intent surged from their bodies.
It was the kind of aura that naturally developed from slaughtering countless people. It was intense enough to make any average warrior wet themselves.
Seo Jong-myeong was the first to react.
He had lived his whole life burning with hatred for the Celestial Demon Troupe. To him, the Red Flame Squad’s acts were absolutely unforgivable.
Even though his body wasn’t fully recovered, it didn’t matter.
Even if he couldn’t unleash his full strength, he’d just push his body harder.
Shhhng!
“I’ll kill you all.”
He drew his sword, Bisa, and charged toward the Red Flames Squad.
“Die!”
“Kill him!”
The Red Flames Squad also attacked with full force.
BOOM!
A deafening roar filled the air, and dust swirled out across the field.
Seo Jong-myeong turned into a raging beast and tore through the ranks of Red Flames Squad. They lunged at him with equal madness, trying to bring him down.
Madness and killing intent collided as deadly winds raged in all directions.
Meanwhile, Lee Gwak walked toward Jeon Ma-ok.
Without even drawing his weapon.
Jeon Ma-ok’s eyebrows twitched at the sight.
“Tch! So you’re confident, huh?”
The murderous gleam in Jeon Ma-ok’s eyes deepened.
He nodded slightly to his subordinates. They were all elite martial artists within the Red Flame Squad, men who had carried out countless slaughters under Jeon Ma-ok’s command.
At his signal, they attacked Lee Gwak.
“Swish! Swish! Swish!”
Blades and swords flashed as if they would slice Lee Gwak to pieces in an instant.
At that moment, Lee Gwak unleashed the Flying Swallow Steps.
Like a swallow skimming low over water, Lee Gwak’s upper body bent so close to the ground that it almost touched, closing the distance between him and Jeon Ma-ok in an instant.
The blades of the Red Flames Squad grazed past Lee Gwak’s body.
His clothes were sliced apart, but not a single scratch appeared on his flesh. He had dodged their attacks by a hair’s breadth.
“Huh?!”
“What the—?!”
By the time the martial artists gasped in shock, Lee Gwak had already passed through the Red Flames Squad and reached Jeon Ma-ok.
“Sssht!”
Lee Gwak’s blade shot toward Jeon Ma-ok’s throat.
“Clang!”
Jeon Ma-ok barely managed to deflect it.
A chill ran down his spine.
The sheer force behind the strike—devoid of any sword qi or overpowering strength, far exceeded his expectations
.
“Bastard!”
“How dare you?!”
The martial artists who had let Lee Gwak pass now rushed to save Jeon Ma-ok.
They swung their weapons at Lee Gwak’s back with all their might.
“Swoosh!”
At that moment, Lee Gwak’s body spun in a full circle, pivoting on his left foot. A silver arc traced the path behind him.
“……”
The Red Flame Squad members who had been attacking Lee Gwak froze mid-action, as if time itself had stopped.
“What the—?”
Jeon Ma-ok, who had been about to shout at his subordinates, blinked in shock.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
In that instant, crimson lines appeared on the chests of the Red Flame Squad warriors, and then their upper and lower bodies split open and collapsed to the ground.
It was a sight too unbelievable to accept. Jeon Ma-ok nearly lost his breath in shock.
He knew Lee Gwak was powerful, but he had never imagined he could slaughter five of his elite subordinates with a single strike.
Lee Gwak didn’t even spare a glance at the fallen warriors.
His only target had been Jeon Ma-ok.
Shing!
His blade flew once more at Jeon Ma-ok with no pause for breath.
Many elite fighters had failed to properly withstand even one of Lee Gwak’s blade strikes. But Jeon Ma-ok was different.
Kaang!
He barely managed to deflect it.
Cold sweat trickled down his back.
He had completed countless missions before, but he had never felt such a clear and intense sense of danger. The worst part? This wasn’t over yet.
Shing!
Lee Gwak’s blade changed trajectory and flew in again.
‘Why is it so fast?’
That was the thought that flashed in Jeon Ma-ok’s mind.
His hands and feet moved furiously.
With his feet, he used footwork to evade Lee Gwak. With his hands, he swung his sword to deflect the attacks.
Jeon Ma-ok proved that he hadn’t become leader of the Red Flames Stuck by luck—he displayed impressive skill. But he was still no match for Lee Gwak.
Slash!
A deep gash split his side open, spraying blood everywhere.
Jeon Ma-ok’s face twisted in pain, but the fighting spirit in his eyes hadn’t faded yet.
He was used to pain.
As a martial artist—no, as one of the Celestial Demon Troupe’s elite—he had killed countless people and bore countless scars in return.
He neither feared wounds nor cowered from pain.
“I’ll kill you.”
Instead, he intensified his killing intent and counterattacked.
“Clang!”
But Lee Gwak effortlessly deflected his sword and carved another wound into his chest.
Blood gushed from the horizontal slash. A little deeper, and it would have split his heart or lungs.
“Bastard!”
Jeon Ma-ok roared in fury and swung again.
“Swoosh!”
A sharp sword aura formed around his blade. But once again, his attack was deflected without leaving a scratch on Lee Gwak.
“Crack!”
Lee Gwak’s blade struck Jeon Ma-ok’s collarbone.
It shattered like a brittle twig, causing one of Jeon Ma-ok’s shoulders to slump down.
“Urgh!”
Jeon Ma-ok coughed up blood, which covered his chin and chest.
His eyes were bloodshot with bulging veins, and his breathing was as ragged as a sprinting dog’s.
His jaw muscles twitched.
His reddened eyes looked ready to burst with blood at any moment.
Now, he understood.
The gap between him and Lee Gwak.
The gap between them wasn’t something he could bridge just by reaching out.
Lee Gwak stood on a level Jeon Ma-ok could never hope to reach. And he realized one more thing—
Lee Gwak had no intention of killing him quickly.
He wanted Jeon Ma-ok to experience even a fraction of the pain he had inflicted on the villagers.
He wanted him to feel the despair of those who had suffered excruciating agony before death.
“Arrogant bastard!”
Jeon Ma-ok gritted his teeth.
There was no humiliation greater than this.
For a man who had lived his life fueled by venom and pride, Lee Gwak’s actions were a direct insult to his dignity.
“You self-righteous bastard! Do you think I’ll regret anything?! Don’t make me laugh!”
Jeon Ma-ok bellowed and charged recklessly at Lee Gwak.
His wild, unrestrained assault resembled a raging bear. But in Lee Gwak’s eyes, he was nothing more than a wounded beast making its last stand.
A beast incapable of remorse or regret.
There was no reason to show mercy to such a creature.
Just as Lee Gwak tightened his grip on his blade—
“Stop!”
A thunderous voice boomed across the battlefield like a storm.
“Guhk!”
“Hurk!”
The Red Flames Squad warriors, locked in battle with Seo Jong-myeong, staggered and covered their ears.
Even Jin Hwi, who had been protecting Lee Soo-ah with a barrier, swayed from the sheer force of the internal energy carried by that voice.
Anyone who heard it would instinctively freeze. But it wasn’t enough to stop Lee Gwak.
“Thunk!”
Lee Gwak’s blade pierced Jeon Ma-ok’s throat.
His mouth fell open as he stared at Lee Gwak.
Their eyes locked in mid-air.
With the blade still lodged in his throat, Jeon Ma-ok forced out words.
“Heh… heh… You… pathetic fool… You think… I’d ever… regret—”
“Sssk!”
Lee Gwak twisted the blade and sliced sideways.
Jeon Ma-ok’s head toppled before he could finish his sentence. His head rolled across the ground, his eyes still fixed on Lee Gwak.
But Lee Gwak paid it no attention.
His gaze was fixed on the sky—where the voice had come from.
“Whooosh!”
Something was cutting through the air.
A person.
An elderly man.
Everything about him was blue.
Blue hair, blue eyebrows, blue beard.
Even the martial robes he wore were blue.
With a deafening crash, he landed between Lee Gwak and Jeon Ma-ok’s corpse.
BOOM!
The impact shook the earth like a meteor strike.
“Ah!”
“No way…?”
The Red Flame Squad’s eyes widened.
They recognized the old man. But he ignored them, fixing his gaze on Jeon Ma-ok’s body.
“Tsk. Too late.”
The air itself trembled with his words.
Jin Hwi’s face turned deathly pale.
He, too, recognized the old man.
“Is that… the one they call Yang…?”
“Single Moon Demon Sword, Yang Gwang-baek!”
Seo Jong-myeong completed the sentence.
How could he not recognize him?
He was the very man who had defeated him when he tried to defend Seize Fortress to the end and had thrown him into Endless Prison.
The Single Moon Demon Sword, Yang Gwang-baek.
A supreme master said to be unrivaled in the Celestial Demon Troupe and second only to its leader, Go Geom-wol.
His presence alone seemed to freeze the very air.
The members of the Red Flames Squad couldn’t even breathe properly.
Yang Gwang-baek turned and glared at Lee Gwak.
“Why did you kill him? Did you not hear me order you to stop?”
The chilling aura in his voice made everyone shiver.
Lee Gwak met his gaze and replied calmly.
“Why should I listen to you?”