Chapter 173 :

The Black Flame Dragon Who Swallows the Sea of Blood (3)

"Hey! Can you hear me?!"

Cheol Sunjik checked the pulse of the Cheonggwan Sect disciple he had found.

"He's alive."

Fortunately, the man was still alive.

But with his eyes rolled back and foam continually spilling from his mouth, he didn't look well.

"There's someone here!"

"Here too!"

"Over here!"

Most of the people found a short distance from the scene had lost their reason.

Their minds had been corrupted by the sorcery they had only ever studied in theory.

If they delayed any longer, these people might have to spend the rest of their lives without their wits.

Cheol Sunjik placed a hand over the man's dantian and infused internal energy into it.

But his hasty first aid only worsened the man's condition.

"Grrrk... Grrrk... Grrrk..."

The Cheonggwan Sect disciple trembled violently, coughing up bloody foam.

"This isn't ordinary sorcery."

If he had fallen this deeply under its influence, there was nothing they could do.

Only sorcerers trained in warding off evil and spirit exorcism could save him.

"Move aside for a moment."

Seong Moran suddenly pushed Cheol Sunjik aside and examined the Cheonggwan Sect disciple.

"This is beyond our abilities—"

Ignoring Cheol Sunjik, Seong Moran pulled a talisman from inside her robe and placed it on the disciple's chest.

Then she pressed her hand over the talisman and began infusing it with internal energy.

"Wait! If you carelessly tamper with his middle dantian—"

"Just be quiet for a moment!"

"..."

The middle dantian was more dangerous than the lower dantian.

If an outsider mishandled it, the consequences could be far worse than simply losing one's reason.

Yet Seong Moran was pouring internal energy into it as if she weren't concerned at all.

Cheol Sunjik watched with distrust in his eyes.

But then—

"Hm?"

Strangely, the Cheonggwan Sect disciple's expression gradually relaxed.

Color returned to his face, and his breathing grew calm.

A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes.

"S-save me..."

"Don't worry. We're here to rescue you."

Having regained consciousness, the Cheonggwan Sect disciple promptly fainted again.

Seong Moran checked his pulse, confirmed that his condition had stabilized, and stood.

Cheol Sunjik awkwardly stepped back to make room.

"H-how did you do that? Have you learned to ward off evil and exorcise spirits...?"

"No. It was this."

Seong Moran showed him the talisman.

Cheol Sunjik recognized it at a glance.

"Is that a Demon-Subduing Talisman from the Hengshan Sect?"

"You recognized it right away?"

"Hardly anyone buys them, but everyone knows what they are."

"That's true."

"Does the Iron Sword Sect always carry these?"

"No."

Seong Moran shook her head.

"Young Master Jin Sowoon gave it to me."

"Representative... Jin did?"

Again.

Jin Sowoon again.

"That's right. For some reason, he told me to take these. I didn't expect to use them like this, though."

"..."

Cheol Sunjik couldn't understand it.

Had Jin Sowoon foreseen everything, from the enemy even the Beggar Gang had failed to properly identify to the events unfolding now?

It wasn't as if he had come from the future.

Yet this was how things had turned out.

All those seemingly unpredictable actions were ultimately playing out according to his intentions, and all of this would eventually—

"Young Master Cheol!"

Cheol Sunjik snapped out of his thoughts.

"Y-yes?"

"Can't you see how busy we are?"

Seong Moran and the members of the Twelve Peaks Fortress were distributing Demon-Subduing Talismans and using them to bring the victims back to their senses.

"If you're not going to help, at least keep a proper lookout! We don't know when the enemy might ambush us."

"U-understood."

Cheol Sunjik nodded and climbed a tree.

Seong Moran watched him, shook her head, and sighed.

"I wonder if the others are all right."

"Brother Geumpyo, what do we do now?"

Eunho and Dongryong looked at Geumpyo as they ran, but Geumpyo didn't know what to tell them.

"..."

At the academy, they had been taught three rules to follow when reporting to a superior.

First, keep the report as brief and clear as possible.

Second, organize the key points—when, where, who, what, why, the response, the time involved, and the outcome—and convey them specifically.

Third, put aside emotions and speak logically.

According to their instructor, if they followed these three rules, their superior would be sure to listen carefully and act accordingly.

"It doesn't work at all!"

The Kunlun Sect elders and disciples hadn't listened to a word the three brothers had said.

They had expected as much.

People who had joined the gathering to curb their Eldest Senior Brother's power weren't going to give a damn about his warnings.

But even knowing that, how could they ignore the words of their revered Eldest Senior Brother?

Of course, the three brothers didn't know exactly what was happening in Sichuan either.

But they knew at least this much: when their Eldest Senior Brother said something was "dangerous," it really was dangerous.

"He's someone whose idea of common sense is completely different from ours!"

This was the same lunatic who had dismissed the exam as nothing and offered to charge in alone.

If even he was this tense, the enemy had to be as terrifying as those monstrous people they had encountered on the Fuyang Plains.

"Damn it..."

Yet those fools were ignoring the warning, unaware that they were ants marching straight into an antlion's pit.

"Eunho. Dongryong."

After thinking it over, Geumpyo looked at the two of them.

"What were Eldest Senior Brother's orders?"

"If we find traces of the enemy, retreat first and report. If the academy students haven't encountered the enemy yet, do everything we can to stop them."

"Right. But we haven't seen the enemy yet, and the academy students haven't run into them either."

"..."

"And if we leave them alone, they'll encounter the enemy Eldest Senior Brother called 'dangerous.'"

As Geumpyo nodded, apparently having made up his mind, Eunho asked anxiously,

"Brother, what are you planning?"

"What we learned at the academy isn't working anyway."

"...Don't tell me."

Geumpyo looked at his younger brothers with a resolute expression.

"Then we'll have to use what Senior Brother taught us."

"...And what's that?"

Geumpyo didn't answer Eunho's question.

But Eunho soon realized what he meant.

His face twisted into a deep frown.

"...This is insane."

Geumpyo looked at Eunho and Dongryong and asked,

"If you don't want to do it, you can sit this out."

Eunho and Dongryong frowned and glared at him at the same time.

"Brother, that sounds nothing like Eldest Senior Brother. Stop imitating him."

"Big Brother, that's weird. Don't do that."

Geumpyo's face turned bright red.

"I wasn't imitating him!"

Shing! Shing!

Ignoring Geumpyo's shout, Eunho and Dongryong drew their swords together.

"You're coming with me?"

"...If you die, I'll have to take over the mill. I've decided to become a warrior who roams the murim world, so it'd be a problem if you died."

"Mother and Father would be sad if you died, Big Brother."

"Why don't you just curse me outright?"

Geumpyo picked up speed.

Eunho and Dongryong matched his pace, and soon they caught sight of the Kunlun Sect elder, the disciples following him, and the academy students from its affiliated sects.

Whoosh! Tap.

The three cut through the forest and landed in front of the Kunlun Sect party.

"Ahem."

Elder Sangwon of the Kunlun Sect frowned at the sight and snapped,

"Didn't you understand when I told you nicely?"

"We apologize. But we can't stand by and watch you walk to your deaths."

Geumpyo respectfully cupped his fist and bowed, but Elder Sangwon's anger showed no sign of abating.

"You seem to think the Taeul Sect has become something remarkable just because one of you became the academy representative... What are you waiting for? Will Kunlun's disciples let the mere Taeul Sect stop them?"

At his booming command, nearly twenty Kunlun disciples surrounded the three brothers.

"Haah... I thought we wouldn't have to fight people on our own side after the exam."

At Geumpyo's grumbling, Eunho raised his sword and whispered,

"At this point, maybe everyone's right and we really are heretical practitioners?"

No sooner had Eunho finished speaking than the disciples swung their swords.

Clang-clang-clang!

The White Tiger Deathblow Sword Formation unfolded.

Dongryong, who could now execute it as naturally as moving his own limbs, blocked seven of the Kunlun disciples' swords.

The Kunlun disciples knew Jin Sowoon's abilities well, but they knew little about the three brothers' skills. Their eyebrows rose.

"Huh?"

Although each sword carried internal energy, Dongryong had blocked all seven by himself. He bared his teeth and growled,

"We're... not heretical practitioners!"

"What the—!"

Clang-clang-clang!

The seven swords scattered outward like the petals of a blooming flower.

Through the opening, the Myriad Transformations Invincible Fist exploded forward.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Struck by the unexpected attack, a Kunlun disciple gasped in pain and swallowed the words he had been about to shout.

Who called you heretical practitioners?!

Nam Hwaseong swallowed hard.

The blood-robed men standing before him felt different from those he had seen inside the illusion formation.

The ones inside the formation had moved simultaneously, their movements uncannily identical.

These men were just as disciplined, but they unmistakably felt human.

"These ones are real..."

Jin Sowoon, who had fought his enemies with only an iron staff until now, drew his sword.

Shing.

The clear ring of the blade made Nam Hwaseong even more nervous.

"Nam Hwaseong."

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Stay out of the fight. Conserve as much internal energy as you can."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Shut up and do as you're told!"

"U-understood—"

Before Nam Hwaseong could finish, Jin Sowoon launched himself at the blood-robed men.

Clang-clang-clang!

The blood-robed men drew the heavy swords from their backs and leapt forward, pressing Jin Sowoon from every direction.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

With his Blood Dragon Sword alone, Jin Sowoon blocked the dozens of blades thrusting at him from all sides.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

Every time Jin Sowoon swung the Blood Dragon Sword, a dozen illusion swords appeared and vanished.

"Urgh!"

"Ugh!"

"Aaagh!"

The blood-robed men who had leapt after Jin Sowoon fell like autumn leaves.

Thud.

As Jin Sowoon landed, blood-robed men swarmed him from all directions like a pack of dogs.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, wielding his sword in one hand and striking with his fist in the other.

Clang-clang-clang!

Whenever his illusion swords and true sword swept across his right, blood sprayed and severed limbs and flesh flew everywhere.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

When his fist forms swept across his left, it was as though a storm had passed through.

The blood-robed men's arms and legs bent in directions they never should, and their bodies flew away even faster than they had charged.

He was an unstoppable force, like Xiang Yu cutting across a battlefield alone.

"What kind of martial arts are those...?"

If they dismissed a sword as an illusion, it turned out to be real.

If they tried to block a sword they thought was real, it turned out to be an illusion.

Among the dozens of swords and fists threatening their lives, the blood-robed men couldn't distinguish reality from illusion.

His techniques had grown even sharper than when Nam Hwaseong had last seen them. Even Nam Hwaseong himself could no longer tell the illusion swords from the true sword.

Could this even be called an illusion sword art anymore?

How foolish had he been to look down on Jin Sowoon for using illusion swords?

He had never imagined an illusion sword art could reach such a realm.

And what about that fist art?

At a glance, it seemed focused entirely on illusions, yet every blood-robed man it struck lost the ability to control his body.

Its destructive power already exceeded a martial artist's ability to withstand it.

It wasn't even an art focused on punching power, yet every strike rivaled the Deer-Horn Radiant Fist.

With illusions layered on top, the enemies couldn't block it even when they recognized it. And even if they did block it, they couldn't escape unharmed.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

With the sound of breaking bones, three blood-robed men crumpled to the ground.

Yet they immediately struggled to stand again on their broken legs.

"Good heavens..."

Their ruthlessness made him recoil and frown.

Surely the pain of broken bones was more than a person could endure.

Their unnatural determination was so chilling that it nearly made him retch.

"Those are the enemies we're supposed to fight..."

He already felt his courage draining away.

"Huh?"

But Jin Sowoon paid it no mind and swiftly charged toward them.

Without hesitation, he swung the Blood Dragon Sword and cut off all three of their heads.

"Cockroach bastards..."

With that, he leapt back among the blood-robed men.

Nam Hwaseong could only stare, his mouth hanging open.

Blood-robed men trying to rise on broken legs to kill their enemy.

And Jin Sowoon, who cut off their heads without a moment's hesitation.

He couldn't tell which side was more ruthless.

"But one thing's certain..."

The one he would least want to face as an enemy wasn't the blood-robed men.

"It's Jin Sowoon."

As he thought that, more blood-robed men rushed forward and began surrounding Jin Sowoon.

There were so many charging at him that Nam Hwaseong couldn't even guess how many he was fighting.

Like ants swarming a spider, countless blood-robed men surrounded the black-clad Jin Sowoon.

Even for Jin Sowoon, the situation looked perilous.

"J-Jin Sowoon! Want some help?"

Nam Hwaseong forced himself to shout, but Jin Sowoon's reply was cold.

"Shut up and conserve your internal energy, you bastard!"

"Th-that bastard! Does he have to talk like that...?"

The goodwill Nam Hwaseong had briefly felt crumbled like a sandcastle.

Jin Sowoon even used that strange golden grass to pull in and fight the blood-robed men who had reached Nam Hwaseong.

Nam Hwaseong couldn't begin to guess what he was plotting.

As he pondered that, Jin Sowoon shouted,

"Nam Hwaseong! Are you ready?"

Nam Hwaseong was still bewildered by the sudden question when Jin Sowoon shouted again.

"I asked if you're ready to run, you bastard!"

Ready to run?

At that moment, Nam Hwaseong felt the air tremble slightly.

The vibrating air suddenly began rushing toward a single point.

It was different from wind. It felt as though an enormous giant were swallowing the air.

And the place drawing it all in was Jin Sowoon's hand.

Boooooooom!

With a tremendous roar that seemed to bring down the sky and collapse the earth, an enormous surge of palm force poured from Jin Sowoon's hand.

The blood-robed men who had swarmed him like ants were swept away like fallen leaves.

Even the hard surface of the ground was torn up and hurled along with them.

"What kind of palm force is that...?!"

For a moment, Nam Hwaseong was stunned by destructive power like a storm compressed into a smaller form.

Then Jin Sowoon's voice hammered against his eardrums.

"Run, Nam Hwaseong!"

"Damn it!"

Gathering every last ounce of strength, Nam Hwaseong unleashed the Deer-Horn Wind-Cloud Steps.

The path he followed behind Jin Sowoon was littered with the corpses of blood-robed men.

In a way, they were charging straight into the heart of the enemy's ranks, yet Jin Sowoon didn't hesitate.

Beyond the reach of his palm force, blood-robed men who had been thrown by the shock wave began rising one after another.

Then they moved to surround Jin Sowoon and Nam Hwaseong, forming an encirclement.

"J-Jin Sowoon, are we going to be all right?"

Ahead, behind, left, right—everywhere he looked, there were blood-robed men.

Even if they broke through, they would never shake off their pursuers.

Yet Jin Sowoon remained composed.

Thinking about it, he was always this composed.

"We'll be fine. Reinforcements are coming."

"Reinforcements?"

Shenghu Hall was still a long way from reaching them. When had he called for other reinforcements?

Just then, a commotion began rising in the distance.

"There they are! Get them!"

"You dare look down on our Red Blossom Stronghold? We'll tear you limb from limb!"

"Our Hwaeom Stronghold gets them first! Move!"

Hundreds of Green Forest bandits came charging from behind, wielding great sabers and axes.

"...Don't tell me those are the reinforcements..."

Blood stained Jin Sowoon's face from his fierce battle with the blood-robed men.

He gave a wicked grin.

"Why else do you think I brought those Green Forest strongholds along?"

Only then did Nam Hwaseong recall their earlier flight from the three Green Forest strongholds.

"...You planned this from the beginning?"

Jin Sowoon grinned.

"It's called using one enemy against another."

"Fucking hell..."

The curse escaped Nam Hwaseong before he realized it.

How deep did his schemes run for him to have planned this far ahead?

No—putting his scheming aside, Nam Hwaseong couldn't even imagine the nerve it took to carry out such a plan himself.

Jin Sowoon no longer seemed merely impressive.

He was beginning to seem terrifying.

Gulp.

Nam Hwaseong swallowed hard.

How many times had he unknowingly skirted death in front of Jin Sowoon since the exam?

"I've been dancing in front of the Grim Reaper."

Right now, dancing in front of the Grim Reaper seemed less dangerous than the things he'd done before.

"Nam Hwaseong! We're picking up speed now. Keep up with me like your life depends on it! If you become a nuisance, I'm leaving you behind."

"Y-yes, sir!"

Without even realizing he had switched to respectful speech, Nam Hwaseong desperately pumped his legs.