Chapter 109: Abyss Valley (8)
Awl and awl crossed.
A sharp tip endlessly entangled, aiming at each other’s glabella, temple, eye, neck, heart, lung, liver, and groin.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!
A single withered tree that stood between Chui and Beigong Seol turned into a beehive in an instant.
Between the wood fragments fluttering in shattered pieces, the gazes of the two assassins crossed.
Chui, holding his awl with a reverse grip, retreated half a step.
Beigong Seol, holding her awl with a standard grip, advanced half a step forward.
…Clack!
With a distance of one step between them, blade and blade entangled countless times once more.
Slash—
Beigong Seol’s awl changed to a reverse grip.
It hid behind her elbow, concealing its trajectory.
Sshk!
Chui held his awl with a standard grip.
This was to thrust in a longer distance.
Clang!
Once again, the offense and defense of Chui and Beigong Seol reversed.
“…….”
Chui thought as he pushed Beigong Seol back.
‘It is more bearable than expected.’
Corpse Ghost Beigong Seol. She was a master whose years of experience could not even dare be compared to Chui’s.
Furthermore, she was an assassin who had made a livelihood of killing people her entire life.
She was also a figure who was in a different league from ordinary Wulin masters.
‘But there are also times when being an assassin becomes a weakness instead.’
In fact, the terrifying thing about an assassin is not the level of martial arts the assassin possesses.
Not knowing when or where they will launch a surprise attack, and not knowing who is targeting them.
These two things are the truly terrifying aspects of an assassin.
…However. Beigong Seol before Chui’s eyes now had surrendered all of the two advantages an assassin possessed.
Since she had already revealed her appearance before his eyes, there was no advantage of a surprise attack, and since he knew her identity, there was also no anxiety.
Furthermore, the reason Beigong Seol in the past life was able to suddenly make a grand name for herself was because of the hundreds of Blood Jiangshi she possessed.
But currently, those Blood Jiangshi had vanished, buried underground even before being finished.
The individuals barely crawling out onto the snowfield now were unfinished products lacking sufficient strength and having low durability.
They were failures that would collapse on their own even if left quietly alone.
Therefore, for current Beigong Seol, he only needed to be careful of the martial arts she possessed itself.
Of course.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
Her martial arts, which stood right on the verge of the transcendental peak realm, were indeed not at a level to be taken lightly.
How confident must she have been to come rushing out alone.
‘The Bare Hand Demonic Art grafted onto killing arts. It is a troublesome martial art.’
Chui thought, looking at the awl scraping past the tip of his nose.
From the tip of the awl held in Beigong Seol’s hand, pale and bluish cold energy was streaming out.
If touched by that, body heat would recede like an ebbing tide, and soon freeze white.
Originally, it was a martial art executed using palms, but since it was applied to using bladed weapons, it felt all the more chilling.
…Thud!
The awl thrown by Beigong Seol fiercely dug into Chui’s shoulder.
Regrettably, in terms of awl-using skills alone, that side was one hand—no, several hands above.
Chui, judging that there was no chance of victory, quickly pulled up and held his spear that was stuck in the ground.
By that time, Beigong Seol had also drawn two long flying daggers.
Soon, she spoke in a bubbling voice.
“Since the lifeblood of the mountain has been cut off, the time to connect it again, the time to dig up again the Jiangshi buried in shallow places… I cannot even grasp how many years in total will be needed anymore. Even if I abandon the Jiangshi buried deep to mature, it will take more than a dozen years.”
Before Chui could say anything in reply, Beigong Seol’s words continued.
“Hong Gong. I understand why he tried to kill you. He read the stars, and had perceived you as his natural enemy.”
Killing intent was dripping from Beigong Seol’s voice.
She seemed to intend to kill Chui by any means necessary.
Soon, the Jiangshi rising from the snowfield began to rush toward Chui.
Beigong Seol stepped back, and the dark red corpses filled that place.
…Clack!
Chui put the awls into his bosom and held his spear.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!
Every time the Plum Blossom Ghost Spear drew a blood-colored arc, fragments of minced meat splashed up.
Chui broke through the wall of flesh of the corpses without hesitation and headed toward Beigong Seol.
From far away, Namgung Yul’s shouting voice was heard.
“These Jiangshi, perhaps because they are half-finished, don’t have much strength!”
She appeared to find facing the Blue Yaksha in front of her more difficult.
Gyeon Sul was also paying more attention to the old Red Yaksha than the surrounding Jiangshi.
At that moment.
…Swish!
Chui twisted his head to the side to avoid a flying dagger scraping past his earlobe.
Beyond the wave created by the red corpses, Beigong Seol was throwing flying daggers.
Chui extended his spear, severing the necks of the Jiangshi in front of him one after another.
…Slash! …Slash! …Slash! …Slash!
Perhaps because they were unfinished individuals, the Jiangshi easily collapsed just by having their heads or necks severed.
After striking away a few more Jiangshi, Beigong Seol’s face finally came into view.
She was hiding behind the Jiangshi, loading flying daggers in both hands once more.
At that moment.
Ptui—
Chui spat.
The blood-mixed spit flew between the Jiangshi and landed precisely on Beigong Seol’s left eye.
“Ugh!?”
She hurriedly covered her face, but several drops of Chui’s spit had already entered her eyeball through the hole inside the mask.
Chui’s blood mixed in the spit spread through Beigong Seol’s body via her eye.
Fssss—
A pungent energy as if her eyeball were burning away dried up her internal energy, albeit only for an instant.
Rumble!
The moment Beigong Seol was shaken, the surrounding Jiangshi crumbled down like wooden puppets whose strings were cut.
Taking advantage of the gap where the walls of flesh loosened, Chui thrust his spear.
However, Beigong Seol was also a veteran of the Jianghu who had gone through all kinds of trials.
She quickly composed her posture and immediately threw the flying dagger tied to the silk thread.
The spear tip and the flying dagger tip clashed precisely in the air.
Clang!
Along with sparks, the two bladed weapons deflected along different trajectories.
The fragments of internal energy sprayed in all directions oxidized white and red.
Right at that moment.
…Splat!
Chui sprayed a fountain of blood toward Beigong Seol’s face.
Blood produced by biting the tip of his tongue splashed in a large amount.
“……!”
Beigong Seol quickly turned her head to the side as if she would not be caught by the same trick twice.
But Chui’s hammer was already waiting there.
Thump!
The hammer thrown by Chui struck Beigong Seol’s head.
Crack! Crunch!
Along with a fountain of blood, the mask shattered.
Once the Black Yaksha mask split, Beigong Seol’s face was clearly revealed.
Gouged eyelids, nose, lips, and other than those, it was entirely filled with burn scars.
The left eye struck by Chui’s spit just now was bloodshot red, and the other eye was entirely gray as if already blind.
“You bastard!”
Beigong Seol raised her head high.
She rushed in terrifyingly even while spraying blood from one hollowed side of her head.
…Sshk!
The Twin Fork.
A deformed flying dagger with an additional curved blade attached over a sharp awl.
It was held in Beigong Seol’s hands.
She loaded all of her internal power and struck it down from top to bottom.
Flash!
Like lightning striking from the sky, Beigong Seol’s Twin Fork fell toward Chui’s neck.
Chui gripped the spear shaft shortly and blocked it, but.
Clang! Crash!
Beigong Beigong Seol’s strength was so tremendous that it pressed Chui straight onto the ice floor.
…Crunnnch!
Beigong Seol began to press and weigh Chui down with force.
Although Chui was hooking and blocking the spear shaft against the Twin Fork’s second blade, despite that, the first tip of the awl was gradually drawing closer to Chui’s neck.
“I will nail you to the ice floor like this.”
Beigong Seol raised her internal energy even further.
Her slender wrists began to add weight as if they were the Golden Cudgel of the Victorious Fighting Buddha.
…Creek! …Creek! …Crack!
Chui’s body was being driven deeper and deeper into the ice floor.
Beigong Seol’s single eye began to burn like a fireball.
“And I will process your corpse to make a Jiangshi. If I use this highly strong physical form as material, I can target not just a mere Iron Jiangshi, but a Blood Jiangshi—no, even a Mara Jiangshi.”
She had not given up yet.
The ambition to rule the Wulin by controlling the frozen corpses.
“No matter how much time it takes, I will surely accomplish it. As long as I am alive, that day will come eventually. You cannot prevent it, nor can you change it. Not a single thing!”
Soon, the tip of Beigong Seol’s awl reached and touched Chui’s neck.
A stream of red fresh blood began to trickle drop by drop from the tip of Chui’s Adam’s apple.
Right at that moment.
“……What do you think it is?”
Chui’s mouth opened.
“The reason I came here, that is.”
“?”
Beigong Seol’s single eye narrowed.
Chui continued speaking calmly with an unperturbed expression.
“To kill you for the public good and prevent the blood catastrophe of the Wulin? Or merely to throw a wrench into Hong Gong’s plans?”
It was not.
Chui’s movements were far from such justice.
Pressssss…
Beigong Seol’s awl pierced Chui’s neck skin, embedding about a finger joint deep.
Chui’s voice leaked out from within the bubbling blood bubbles.
“No. I came to steal yours.”
Hearing those words, Beigong Seol laughed.
“Huhuhu—steal? What of mine?”
Even more strength entered her hands.
A colossal strength like the weight of Mount Tai was loaded at the tip of the awl, threatening to pierce through Chui’s neck.
At that moment.
…Flash!
A dark red energy spewed from Chui’s eyes.
At the same time, the dark red corpses scattered around began to move with clattering noises.
“……!”
Beigong Seol’s single eye widened.
It was visible to her eyes.
It seemed as if a dark red energy flickered from the bodies of all the Jiangshi scattered on the snowfield, and then.
Swoosh—
The sight of it being drawn out at tremendous speed and absorbed into Chui soon after.
Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!
Even the Jiangshi buried below the ground were spitting out the dark red energy.
It was a sight just like an insect that had become a pupa underground being eaten by cordyceps, sprouting buds above the ground.
Tssssssssss…
The dark red energy spread over the entire white snowfield.
The white snow slowly melted, and a sticky and red wave began to rise.
The mountain’s righteous energy was changing into an unidentified blood energy.
The ominously flickering blood energies formed dozens, hundreds of strands, stretching toward Chui.
It was a sight just like a giant wave made of blood was rolling in.
Ruuuumble!
Soon, Chui’s internal energy began to rise rapidly.
The things that had been clinging to the dead and collapsed Blood Jiangshi were none other than spear ghost.
The spear ghost made from the assassins of the Abyss Valley gathered at one place, receiving Chui’s call.
…Crunnnch!
The spear ghost drawn from the numerous Jiangshi lodged directly into Chui’s spear.
It was gradually pushing Beigong Seol’s Twin Fork back.
Before the tip of the awl from which blood was dripping.
“……What will I steal?”
Chui replied shortly to Beigong Seol’s question.
“Everything.”
Unrivaled Spear Ghost