Chapter 80 : White Yaksha (1)

Chapter 80: White Yaksha (1)

At that moment, while crossing the forest, Sewoon suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

Thump.

Thump.

His heart suddenly began to beat like mad.

It was because the Reverse Heaven Qi suddenly started to act up.

But it didn’t seem as though it was trying to devour him.

Rather, it felt as if it was overjoyed…

Excited that it would soon be able to rampage…

It was a phenomenon born from the very nature of a demon.

Thud. Thud.

The pounding was so violent it felt as if even his Upper Dantian might shatter, followed by a splitting headache.

‘…Something is there!’

Because of it, his unconsciously opened inspiration whispered to him that something lay beyond— something related to the Blood Cult.

From olden times, the Upper Dantian was said to be a spiritual place where mystery and the unknown resided, a place where, at times, even gods descended.

The Reverse Heaven Qi was borrowing the voice of such a god to provoke Sewoon.

Go. Quickly.

Release me.

The one you must tear apart and kill is there.

Sewoon clenched his fists tightly. Enduring the throbbing pain in his head, he once again slammed his feet into the ground.

Kwaaang!

Was it because of the Reverse Heaven Qi?

His speed was much faster than before.

A long trail of demonic qi lingered behind him like a tail, before vanishing quietly with the shadows.

Since his regression, he had worked so hard not to open it.

He had tried to bind it tightly with chains, to lock it firmly with padlocks.

Yet the Gate of the Demon inside his Upper Dantian now rattled madly, as if it would burst open at any moment.

Clatter, clatter!

At Serin’s considerate words, Nam Mujin withdrew for the moment.

He needed time to tend to the internal and external injuries he had accumulated while fighting against an opponent at a higher realm.

“Haaht!”

That empty spot was immediately filled by Peng So-hye.

Paz!

Her iron fists, brimming with the energy of thunder, poured down on the enemy like a storm.

Peng So-hye’s realm was at the very peak of Peak Master Level.

Normally, it would be difficult for her to land effective blows on such an opponent.

Thanks to Serin’s help in predicting the ship’s swaying and setting the path of attacks, So-hye was able to fulfill her role properly.

What was even more surprising, however, was that while Serin was issuing rapid commands like a general—

Kwaaar!

Bang!

She was also unleashing her own perfect offensive at the same time.

Every time Serin’s Iron Fan clashed with the Vice Captain’s sword, it sounded as if thunderbolts were striking down.

Serin was holding her ground, fighting on equal terms with her foe.

Both Serin and Nam Mujin were at the threshold of Supreme Peak Master Level, yet the results were completely different.

The reason was simple.

Though poison arts were difficult to master, once successful, their destructive power rivaled that of an entire higher realm.

In other words, she possessed the destructive power of a fully-matured Supreme Peak Master.

‘I still can’t believe it.’

She was once again amazed as she confirmed that she was not inferior to an opponent who had reached full maturity at Supreme Peak.

As was well-known, she had been stuck at the maturity of Peak Master Level for a long time.

But at the abandoned mine in Wol Mountain, when she had gone with Sewoon for the first time, she broke through that wall.

Afterward, with her brother’s help, she had leapt across the extreme threshold and entered Supreme Peak.

The process had been so smooth and natural that she herself had been bewildered.

-It couldn’t be helped.

-What?

-The martial principles and insights you had already built up were at the level of Supreme Peak. You only lacked the absolute accumulation of inner strength.

So her brother had said, as he endlessly poured the mineral poison accumulated in the mine into her.

It had been a painful ordeal, but at the same time…

Swaeek!

Thud!

Serin’s Iron Fan struck the enemy’s shoulder blade precisely through an opening.

“Khuek-!”

…a truly sweet experience.

Chwararak!

Confirming that her enemy faltered in pain from the shattered bone, Serin spread her fan

wide.

Swaaa!

Wooong!

A resonant, clear sound rang from the Iron Fan.

The Poison Cloud Formula qi blooming from her body condensed in an instant into the Iron Fan.

Whiiing!

Before long, several currents of storm winds surged violently from the Iron Fan.

The Vice Captain’s eyes glinted venomously as he watched the sight.

Enduring the pain, he gripped his sword tighter.

‘Poison Arts!’

He had already seen his subordinates, who had cut down those winds earlier, collapse and die from poisoning.

But this was an opportunity.

What the enemy didn’t know was that he had Poison-Repelling Wine hidden in his robes.

He planned to feign weakness against the poison, lure her in, then crush her with a counterattack.

As the Vice Captain was plotting his strike—

Pabat!

Peng So-hye immediately leapt back.

She had been withdrawn from the radius of the storm winds.

Paaat!

At the same time, Serin swung her Iron Fan with all her might.

Whiiooong!

Whiioong!

The five rotating currents of storm winds on the Iron Fan shot out like arrows toward the Vice Captain.

Swaeek!

Without hesitation, he swung his sword.

He intended to cut down all the incoming winds and make it look like he was exposed to the hidden poison.

Krgghk!

Krggh!

But his sword froze in midair.

Even his subordinates at Peak Master Level had been able to cut down those winds earlier.

Yet the winds that should have disappeared without a trace now blocked his sword like a massive boulder.

“Krghhh!?”

Swish!

Clang!

Unable to withstand his opponent’s overwhelming power, the Vice Captain’s sword was sent flying from his grasp.

‘It worked!’

Serin’s eyes shone sharply like an eagle’s as she confirmed that her plan had succeeded exactly.

The gust she had launched this time was entirely different from the one that had previously concealed the poison.

She had fastened the fan’s winds with the sword-threads — the symbol of Supreme Peak — and sent them flying together.

The reason the enemy had lost his weapon was that he had failed to guess the force mixed into that wind.

-They could call this a “wind-thread.”

Her younger brother had named it so: a martial principle she had newly created, the first of its kind in the jianghu.

The disarmed enemy was flustered.

He wanted to run immediately to retrieve the blown-away sword, but

“Argh!”

Splash!

Peng So-hye hurried out and kicked the enemy’s sword into the sea.

Swaaa!

At that instant, Serin performed an alluring dance reminiscent of a fully blossomed flower.

“Tennyo Scattering Flowers.”

With the illusion as if a celestial maiden’s hem were fluttering in the enemy’s sight.

Chwaaah!

Whiiing!

Wind-threads fired in rapid succession.

‘Ha.’

Watching the dozens of winds raining down on her like a torrential shower, the Vice Captain wore a hollow expression.

This could not be stopped.

A sense of futility rose in the enemy’s eyes as he realized that fact.

Shraa!

Shreek!

Numerous wind-threads pierced the enemy’s flesh simultaneously.

In that moment, the fighting spark vanished from the Vice Captain’s gaze.

Zzeok!

Zzeok!

Like the densely woven threads of qi mixed into the wind, the enemy’s body split into dozens of pieces and collapsed.

Shreek!

With a chilling slicing sound, the final enemy met a gruesome death.

Thanks to Serin’s action in taking down the Vice Captain, the three Supreme Peak masters had been able to subdue the rest with ease when they combined their strength.

On everyone’s faces, after exterminating the enemy at the prow, a different hope had sprung up.

‘If this continues, we might be able to solve the situation without the Alliance’s help…!’

If everyone moved to the prow to aid their comrades now, they could completely turn the tables.

It would not be merely survival; they could even attempt vengeance for their fellows.

“In that case, the beast who killed Il-ryun must be at the prow.”

“Yes. For now, the probability is high that he is a disciple of the Blood Sea Dragon King, so watch out for his technique, the Flood Dragon Finger.”

“Yes — let’s move immediately!”

Just as everyone hurried to step toward the prow—

“Ugh, ggh.”

An indescribably chilling sound suddenly echoed.

A new enemy?

They snapped their heads toward the source of the sound, and surprise lit their faces.

“Y-Young Master Nam!”

Peng So-hye shouted.

The one who had appeared was none other than Namgung Jun.

Was the battle at the prow already over?

As she moved to approach, crack.

Suddenly, Peng Daeho grabbed her like that.

“Brother?”

“……It’s too late.”

“What do you—?”

Gurgle!

Before Peng So-hye could react, Namgung Jun spat a handful of black blood from his mouth.

Seeing Namgung Jun’s condition, Peng So-hye’s eyes bulged as if they were about to pop.

‘W-what is—?’

A woman’s arm had pierced through Namgung Jun’s belly like a spear.

The arm, as if roughly ripped by a beast, belonged to none other than Namgung Hoyeon.

At the shocking sight, everyone froze as if turned to stone.

Shreek!

With a sharp slicing sound, Namgung Jun’s body crumbled away.

“Heh heh, you finally died.”

A cold voice rang out.

A man walked slowly out from the prow.

He looked about the same age as those in their thirties and bore stark white hair.

With sharp eyes and a twitchy disposition, the man chuckled.

“So the righteous sect threw his sister as bait and ran off alone. What an amusing fellow.”

Despite committing such a horrific act, the man showed no sign of conscience.

At the sight of him, everyone in the group intuitively realized that all four people at the prow had perished.

Then the man’s gaze turned toward them.

“Huh? What’s this?”

When Serin and the others received that look, they involuntarily recoiled.

But the man merely lifted a corner of his mouth, as if this were an amusing development.

“Hey, you don’t just slaughter someone’s precious subordinates like this.”

“Heh heh, don’t be surprised. It’s fine. They weren’t my direct men anyway. I brought them along as ‘evidence’.”

The word “evidence,” sounding suspicious to anyone who heard it, slipped out, but nobody dared answer.

Swaaaa!

That much was because the aura pouring off the man was overwhelming.

He was not even exerting himself properly, yet the qi he casually scattered felt like it would scorch their skin.

‘N-no way.’

‘Is that the Transformation Realm…?’

‘Transformation Realm — and at least at its entry level.’

‘The Blood Sea Dragon King himself…? No, he must be well past fifty years old.’

At those reactions from the younger successors, the man sneered openly and spoke.

“I can even hear your skulls rolling from here.”

“……To commit such a horrific blood massacre — are you not afraid of the aftermath?”

“The Murim Alliance will never stand idly by.”

“Krhahaha.”

At Peng Daeho’s words, the man clutched his belly and burst into laughter.

“Ah, sorry. It’s just so absurd.”

“Kuhuhu, for the Murim Alliance to talk about aftermath and standing by.”

His arrogance verged on lunacy.

At that moment, Peng Daeho instinctively realized:

the hand behind this man was not at the level of the Demonic Alliance.

Something far larger and vaster lurked — a darkness so great that he could not even dare to guess it.

“……Who on earth are you?”

“Who knows? I don’t see the point of telling someone who’s about to die.”

“Now then, everyone, it seems you’ll have to die. My way back is quite a long one.”

Having said that, the man stepped toward them and spread both hands wide.

Swaaa!

In an instant, all ten of his fingers were dyed in pitch-black light.

The Blood Sea Dragon King’s technique, the Flood Dragon Finger, had been unleashed.

Kwa-ga-ga-ga!

Ku-guh!

The wave of qi poured forth from the enemy, shaking the deck.

The clear gap in power was enough to snuff out the will to fight, but—

While stalling for time, based on Serin’s transmitted message to everyone,

they resolved to resist the enemy to the end.

And at last—

“You need not be resentful. Your deaths will be recorded as the first step of a new order!”

Pabat!

One of the Blood Cult’s Ten Elders.

Elder Gu — White Yaksha Heo So-chang — scattered killing intent and dashed toward them like a lightning strike.