Chapter 96: Chapter 96

A pitch-black flash cleaved across the battlefield.

Swish!

It was an event that had unfolded purely abruptly.

Its speed was also exceedingly fast, so the Tang Clan martial artists only drew their daggers after that flash had already grazed past them.

The Tang Clan martial artists hurriedly flared their energy and turned their heads. Between roughly a hundred martial artists, a single man stood solitary.

It was incongruous.

The Sichuan Tang Clan was a force contending for the number one seat among the Five Great Clans alongside the Namgung Clan. Because the martial artists of the Tang Clan were impatient and rough in temperament, they exuded their unique presence even when among any other martial artists.

But that was not the case right now.

Cheon Woo-jin stood quietly between roughly a hundred Tang Clan martial artists with his dark iron staff hanging downward.

His presence was pressing down upon all surrounding energy.

“K-kill him.”

Tang Bi-cheon retreated a step instinctively as he spoke like that. But soon he realized it was a mistake. Because at the command to kill him, Cheon Woo-jin instead curled the corners of his lips upward.

“N-no! Don’t kill…”

It was too late.

Even Tang Bi-cheon, who was quite far away, was forced to retreat a step in an instant, and the martial artists right in his immediate vicinity were already thoroughly terrified.

Usually, martial artists flee when terrified. But the martial artists of the Tang Clan did not. Rather, they lunged forward. Glaring at their opponent with those deep green pupils, they scattered poison and hidden weapons frantically.

That was the disposition of the Tang Clan.

Seven martial artists surrounding Cheon Woo-jin scattered green poison mist. That was not the end. Tearing through the poison mist, dozens of daggers surged forward.

Swooooosh!

When dozens of sharp daggers cleaved through the air simultaneously, a truly grotesque screech resounded. It even sounded like a wail of mourning heralding death.

It was one of the reasons the Sichuan Tang Clan commanded fear in warfare.

Poison and hidden weapons were inherently terrifying. It was even more so when dozens or hundreds of seasoned martial artists unleashed them simultaneously.

Cl-cl-clatter!

From within the poison mist, the sounds of hidden weapons frantically striking against something echoed. Once the barrage of hidden weapons concluded.

“…”

A brief silence fell. Because the poison mist was so thick, it obstructed their vision. However, a shadow could be faintly seen.

Every martial artist on the battlefield narrowed their eyes slightly, looking closely at that place.

How much time had passed like that?

“Is he dead?”

Someone spoke like that.

Then roughly fifteen Tang Clan martial artists who were near the poison mist began approaching cautiously. They were ones who had already consumed the antidote prior to stepping onto the battlefield.

Encompassing the poison mist in a circle, they stepped forward one pace at a time with sharp daggers leveled ahead.

The encirclement gradually narrowed, and they exchanged glances with one another. Inside the poison mist was utterly silent. They did not think any master could survive such a baptism of poison and hidden weapons.

Soon, the moment someone took a step into the realm of the poison mist to verify Cheon Woo-jin’s life or death.

“Dodge!”

An urgent shout erupted from within the Sichuan Tang Clan. It was likely someone of rather high martial prowess. He had caught a glimpse within that serene and dense poison mist. That something trailing death was surging forth.

Centered upon the green poison mist, a dark black full moon was drawn.

In the path where the trajectory of the Crescent Moon Staff passed, the sounds of skulls bursting echoed consecutively.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Roughly fifteen martial artists who had encircled the poison mist lost their heads in an instant. Considering that all of them were the main combat force of the Tang Clan, it was an astonishing matter.

However, the truly astonishing matter erupted immediately afterward.

After the poison mist scattered along with the black full moon.

Cheon Woo-jin’s figure was revealed. Having been drenched in the Tang Clan’s deadly poison, they thought that even if he maintained his life, his clothes and skin would have melted away entirely.

“H-how…!”

Tang Bi-cheon shouted in great alarm. Because Cheon Woo-jin’s revealed appearance was far too immaculate.

Cheon Woo-jin cast his characteristically dry gaze toward Tang Bi-cheon. In an instant, Tang Bi-cheon retreated a step and hastily looked around his surroundings. Because the fear of death had gripped him, he was searching for someone to help him.

“M-Master! Please kill that bastard!”

Master Won-dang looked steadily at Cheon Woo-jin. His expression was truly strange. It looked like he was gazing at a nostalgic past, yet also like he was glaring at his greatest enemy under heaven.

Soon, Master Won-dang spoke in a low voice.

“Isn’t it the Tang Clan’s affair? I am not surnamed Dang.”

“…Wh-what!”

Tang Bi-cheon’s eyes widened as if about to pop out.

While the two were looking at each other.

“Vice Squad Leader.”

Cheon Woo-jin called Zhuge Rin. Grave over the unusually developing situation, she looked toward Cheon Woo-jin.

Cheon Woo-jin asked in a low voice.

“Shall I apprehend the Young Clan Leader?”

Though it was a low voice, it was heard distinctly in the ears of every Black Tortoise Squad member. It was because internal energy was imbued within it.

There was a reason Cheon Woo-jin had bothered to ask. The momentum of the Tang Clan martial artists who had lost fifteen or so comrades before their very eyes was turning increasingly savage, on the verge of erupting.

Soon a clash would occur. The Black Tortoise Squad would not be able to avoid it either. Therefore, he had deliberately asked to tell them to get a grip and prepare.

The sharp Zhuge Rin realized that intention in an instant.

The organization of the situation was complete in an instant. Their mission was to find proof that the Sichuan Tang Clan had plotted treason.

A situation where Tang So-yeon had been severely harmed by Tang Bi-cheon’s hands. This was a good pretext. In any case, Tang So-yeon was an Alliance member. Using this as a pretext, they would investigate the Tang Clan.

Of course, a clash would be unavoidable, but…

If it had already happened, it was wise to make thorough use of it.

“All members of the Black Tortoise Squad!”

“Yes!”

The Alliance members, including Song Yi-yeon and Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader, drew their swords and blades, flaring their momentum in earnest.

Zhuge Rin’s order followed.

“Protect Alliance Member Tang So-yeon of the Heavenly Tiger Squad from that shameless Young Clan Leader who tries to kill his own kin!”

On this side, they had Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader. The pretext to clash with the Tang Clan was flawless.

What mattered was whether they could clash with them and survive. But there was no time to hesitate.

“Black Tortoise Squad! How dare you bastards…!”

Enraged by their comrades’ deaths, the Tang Clan martial artists surged forward like wild dogs. The brilliant killing intent carried in their eyes gleamed more vividly than ever before.

The one who killed their comrades was Cheon Woo-jin, but the direction they lunged toward was the members of the Black Tortoise Squad.

Even in their agitation, the terror Cheon Woo-jin had engraved in their heads with a single move could not be forgotten.

In that manner, roughly two hundred martial artists tangled together and began to fight.

Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader and the Black Tortoise Squad members formed a circular wheel centered on the unconscious Tang So-yeon. Those with relatively superior martial prowess stepped forward to trade blows directly with the Tang Clan martial artists.

Meanwhile, whenever the Tang Clan erupted poisonous qi, Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader and Zhuge Rin swung sword qi without fail to blow it away.

In an instant, corpses of Tang Clan martial artists piled up around the wheel. They had underestimated the Black Tortoise Squad too much. It was only natural. Because the Black Tortoise Squad was an organization classified as the lowest rank among the Martial Alliance’s combat squads.

However, the Black Tortoise Squad had clearly welcomed a transformation. After welcoming two youngest recruits called geniuses, everyone had felt a sense of crisis. Throughout their entire lives, they had never trained with their dying strength as they had recently.

‘At least we shouldn’t hold our youngest back.’

It was the common thought of the Black Tortoise Squad members.

The fruits of that training were visible. They were blocking the attacks of the Tang Clan martial artists, even if narrowly. With the openings seen moment by moment, the swords of Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader and Zhuge Rin lunged without fail.

Squelch, squelch!

Surprisingly, the one who cut down the most Tang Clan martial artists was Song Yi-yeon. It was because he was underestimated the most for being the youngest. Furthermore, in a wheel formation, a martial artist who executed ultra-fast saber arts like Song Yi-yeon truly shone.

Whenever Song Yi-yeon’s pure white saber blade cleaved through empty air, someone’s blood flowed.

However, the speed at which corpses piled up gradually slowed.

The Tang Clan martial artists had also realized. That they were not the Black Tortoise Squad they once knew.

‘Stay calm. Do not overexert. In both numbers and martial prowess, we are overwhelmingly superior. Grind them down.’

The one among the Tang Clan martial artists whose mind worked quickly sent a sound transmission. Because they were all seasoned martial artists, they slightly dialed back their momentum.

Casualties stopped occurring on both sides. The more it went on, the more advantageous it was for the Tang Clan. Because on this side were roughly a hundred martial artists, while that side was a mere thirty or so.

“…?”

However, the members of the Black Tortoise Squad, who should have grown impatient, remained composed.

Rather, their expressions appeared to regard this situation as a gain.

Around the time they were puzzled without knowing the reason.

“A-argh!”

A scream in a familiar voice erupted.

The Tang Clan martial artists flinched and trembled. It was because the owner of that voice was none other than the Sichuan Tang Clan’s Third Elder, Tang Myeong-jo.

Screams continued to erupt. They were people who had lived together under one roof for decades. Just hearing the voice was enough to know who it was. That was why it was even more agonizing.

Starting from the Third Elder, the Fifth Elder, the Seventh Elder, Poison Sun Squad Leader, Dark Cloud Squad Leader… truly, the supreme masters of the Tang Clan were letting out screams one after another.

There was no need to look back to know whose doing it was.

‘…Cheon Woo-jin and Dok-ra-su.’

Could those monsters really be holding the upper hand against the supreme masters of the Tang Clan? The moment their thoughts reached that far, it was the Tang Clan martial artists who grew impatient instead.

Zhuge Rin did not miss this.

– Excluding myself, Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader, Do Seong-hwi, and Song Yi-yeon, everyone switch the sword formation to a defensive posture.

She issued an order via sound transmission. Zhuge Rin and Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader were masters capable of comfortably dealing with the Tang Clan martial artists, while Do Seong-hwi and Song Yi-yeon were masters of fast swords and fast sabers who shone in a wheel formation.

The judgment was accurate. The hurried Tang Clan martial artists raised their momentum, but the reinforced wheel did not allow an attack.

It was then.

Someone scattered poison mist toward the wheel.

Zhuge Rin projected sword wind to blow it away, but it was merely the beginning. Poison mist was scattered from here and there.

Zhuge Rin and Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader became twice as busy. Because they were focused on blocking the poison mist, it was difficult to properly handle the Tang Clan martial artists. Furthermore, because they constantly unleashed sword wind and sword qi, their internal energy was depleting rapidly.

At this rate, a crack would soon form in the wheel. In such a perilous sword formation, the moment even a hairline fracture was permitted, that fissure would widen across like a spiderweb in an instant.

Crack!

Cheon Woo-jin, who had shattered the skull of a nameless Tang Clan elite, briefly caught his breath and turned his head.

He saw the perilous wheel formation and Dok-ra-su standing a short distance away.

Up until now, the one who had been dealing with the supreme masters of the Tang Clan was not Cheon Woo-jin and Dok-ra-su, but Cheon Woo-jin alone.

– What are you doing?

Cheon Woo-jin sent a sound transmission to Dok-ra-su. In any case, Dok-ra-su was part of the reason this fight had erupted, yet he was standing far away watching without actually fighting.

Cheon Woo-jin contemplated for a moment whether to fly over there and shatter Dok-ra-su’s skull, then shook his head.

– Help the Black Tortoise Squad.

– I can help you. Because you are my friend’s disciple. But as a public enemy of the martial world, how could I help the Martial Alliance?

Cheon Woo-jin nodded.

It was truly a reasonable point.

Thus, he sent a sound transmission once again.

– Shall I also teach you how an Alliance member handles a public enemy of the martial world?

– I should help! Of course, most definitely.

– Please resolve at least their poison.

Dok-ra-su willingly moved his feet. In truth, he had briefly contemplated whether to flee like this. However, he felt that Black Elder’s disciple would not die in a place like this.

If that bastard survived and returned to the Martial Alliance, what would he do next?

‘He’d come looking for me.’

Approaching the wheel in an instant, Dok-ra-su wore a dignified expression on the outside while swallowing tears on the inside. He had not expected the day would come when he would help the Martial Alliance with his own hands.

In any case, separate from such feelings, Dok-ra-su’s intervention provided breathing room for the Black Tortoise Squad members.

He was a master of poison arts.

Although he had been disregarded by Black Elder and Cheon Woo-jin, that was because he had met the wrong opponents.

Dok-ra-su had not put his name on the list of public enemies of the martial world for no reason. The masters who had died to his poison were as numerous as stars in the sky.

“Senior Dok-ra-su! Why are you attacking us, your kin?!”

When the poison mist was cleanly dispelled merely by Dok-ra-su waving his hand, someone shouted as if feeling aggrieved.

Dok-ra-su merely snorted.

“Kin only at times like this? Didn’t you say you’d kill me earlier?!”

“No, that was…”

Having no particular excuse to make, he shut his mouth.

That sight further provoked Dok-ra-su’s anger.

“All of you, get lost!”

Dok-ra-su roughly chased away Heavenly Tiger Squad Leader and the Black Tortoise Squad members.

Soon, standing solitary where the wheel had been, Dok-ra-su glared fiercely at the Tang Clan martial artists.

Those who possessed deep green ocular radiance in the contemporary era could be counted on one hand even within the Tang Clan. One of them was none other than Dok-ra-su.

Receiving the sunlight, his distinctive pupils felt even more chilling.

The Tang Clan martial artists stepped backward without realizing it. Dok-ra-su was a supreme master of the same generation as the Poison King, the clan leader. They could never contend with him.

“Let me ask one thing.”

“…Yes, Senior.”

“Am I your kin?”

“Is that not obvious? Look at Senior’s pupils.”

“How can I look at my own pupils? This bastard is stupider than he looks.”

The man closed his mouth.

“Right, if you truly think of me as kin, this is a punishment handed down by an elder of the clan, so accept it sweetfully.”

As if they had not expected such an answer to return, the Tang Clan martial artists urgently shouted.

“…N-nonsense!”

“Kill him!”

In that manner, the moment the martial artists were about to lunge simultaneously.

Soon, Dok-ra-su abruptly extended his palms toward them.

Whoosh!

Air exploded from the tips of his palms. The Tang Clan martial artists cringed for a moment. But nothing happened.

Around the time everyone looked at Dok-ra-su with puzzled faces.

“Urgh, aah…”

A martial artist collapsed while bleeding from his eyes and nose.

It was the Poison of Two Absences, Dok-ra-su’s exclusive poison art.

Formless Poison was fundamentally a legendary deadly poison that concealed three attributes perfectly: color, odor, and energy.

Dok-ra-su had pursued and researched Formless Poison his entire life, but ultimately stopped at eliminating color and odor.

Thanks to that, it did not work against masters with sensitive qi senses like Black Elder or Cheon Woo-jin, but…

To substandard martial artists who could not sense the minute energy contained within the poison in the first place, it was truly no different from Formless Poison.

Starting with one martial artist collapsing in a pool of blood, the martial artists in the surroundings crumbled one by one.

Bleeding profusely from his nose, someone shouted in a voice packed with terror and fled.

“I-it’s Formless Poison!”

Soon, the martial artist who had shouted thus vomited dark blackish blood in the middle of the battlefield and collapsed.

Witnessing that sight, everyone turned their eyes toward Dok-ra-su simultaneously.

Dok-ra-su, who had assumed quite a proud and gallant posture and expression, was actually crying inside. Because after the battle ended, the Martial Alliance members would survive under Bukli Cheon’s protection, but he had no one to protect him.

Unless the Tang Clan was annihilated on this very spot, he was as good as dead now.

‘Black Elder, you bastard. I am repaying the debt I owe you like this.’

If he had heard this cry of Dok-ra-su, Black Elder would have likely answered like this.

– Cut the crap. Do you think my disciple couldn’t even annihilate a mere Tang Clan?

Feeling as if he heard such a voice for some reason, Dok-ra-su looked at Cheon Woo-jin. In an instant, his eyes met that fellow’s.

That was it; my only way to live was that fellow.

Perhaps to prove his usefulness after thinking that way, Dok-ra-su shouted at the top of his lungs for no reason.

“Yes, it is Formless Poison! This very person is the contemporary World’s Number One Poison Demon!”

Then Cheon Woo-jin spoke with his eyes.

‘Stop talking nonsense.’