Chapter 173 - The Black Flame Dragon That Swallows the Sea of Blood (3)

"Hey! Are you awake?!"

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

'He's alive.'

Fortunately, he was indeed alive.

However, seeing his eyes rolled back and foam continuously bubbling from his mouth, his condition did not look very good at all.

"There's someone here!"

"Here too!"

"Over here as well!"

Most of the people found not far from where the incident occurred had lost their reason.

Their righteous minds had been corrupted by evil arts they had only learned about in theory.

If more time passed like this, they might have to live the rest of their lives having lost their reason entirely.

He placed his hand on the Dantian and infused internal energy.

However, the hasty first aid only made the victim's condition even more critical.

GURGLE, GURGLE, GURGLE.

The Cheonggwan Sect disciple trembled violently, even spewing bloody foam.

'This is no ordinary evil art.'

If he had fallen this deeply into a heart demon, it was no longer something they could handle themselves.

Only array masters who had trained in destroying evil and subduing spirits would be able to save him.

"Step aside for a moment."

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

"This is beyond our capabilities..."

Whether Cheol Sunjik continued speaking or not, Seong Moran suddenly pulled a talisman from her chest and slapped it onto the Cheonggwan Sect disciple's chest.

Then, she placed her hand over the talisman and began infusing internal energy.

"No, if you recklessly touch the middle Dantian—"

"Just stay still!"

"..."

The middle Dantian was a far more dangerous area compared to the lower Dantian.

If an outsider incorrectly touched it, the consequences wouldn't end at merely losing the ability to speak.

Yet Seong Moran was injecting internal energy as if she didn't care about such things at all.

Cheol Sunjik stared straight ahead with eyes full of disbelief. But then.

"Huh?"

Miraculously, the Cheonggwan Sect disciple's face slowly began to turn peaceful.

His complexion returned, and his breathing quieted.

A moment later, he even slowly began to open his eyes.

"P-Please save..."

"Don't worry. We came to save you."

Having regained his senses, the Cheonggwan Sect disciple collapsed and fainted once again.

Seong Moran checked the Cheonggwan Sect disciple's pulse, confirming that he had entered a stable condition before standing up.

Cheol Sunjik awkwardly stepped back and made room.

"H-How did you do that? Regarding destroying evil and subduing spirits..."

"It wasn't me. It was this."

Seong Moran showed the talisman.

Cheol Sunjik realized the identity of that talisman at a glance.

"Is that the Mount Heng Sect's Demon-Subduing Talisman?"

"You recognized it immediately?"

"Even if no one buys this item, there is no one who doesn't know what it is."

"That is true."

"Does the Iron Sword Sect always carry these around?"

"That's not it."

Seong Moran shook her head.

"Young Master Jin Sowoon packed this for me."

"Representative... Jin?"

Again.

It was Jin Sowoon again.

"That's right. For some reason, he told me to take this. Though I didn't know it would be used like this."

"..."

Cheol Sunjik could not understand it at all.

Did Jin Sowoon foresee every situation, from the enemies that even the Beggars' Sect couldn't properly grasp to the events happening right now?

It wasn't as if he came from the future, right?

It had come to this in the end.

All of those unpredictable actions were ultimately moving according to his intentions, and all of these events would eventually...

"Young Master Cheol!"

Cheol Sunjik, who had been lost in thought, snapped back to reality.

"Y-Yes?"

"Can't you see we're busy right now?"

The members of the Twelve Peaks and Castles, including Seong Moran, had each taken a Demon-Subduing Talisman and were restoring people's minds.

"If you're not going to work, then at least stand guard properly! We don't know when the enemy might ambush us."

"U-Understood."

Cheol Sunjik nodded and climbed up a tree.

Seong Moran shook her head while watching him, then let out a sigh.

"I wonder if the others are alright."

* * *

"Brother Geumpyo, what should we do now?"

Eunho and Dongryong looked at Geumpyo while running, but Geumpyo didn't know what kind of answer to give.

"..."

At the academy, they had been taught the three procedures to keep in mind when reporting to a superior.

First, report as briefly and clearly as possible.

Second, summarize and concretely convey the key points regarding when, where, who, what, why, the response, the time, and the result.

Third, speak logically while excluding emotions.

An instructor had said:

If one reports according to these three rules, the superior will absolutely listen to their subordinate's story and act accordingly.

'It didn't work at all!!'

The Kunlun Sect elders and disciples hadn't even pretended to listen to the three brothers' story.

It was what they had expected from the start.

There was no way people who had mobilized to check Eldest Senior Brother's power would actually listen to his warning.

But no matter how they thought about it, they couldn't just ignore Eldest Senior Brother's words, which were like the heavens, could they?

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

But they at least knew well enough that if Eldest Senior Brother said it was 'dangerous,' it was truly 'dangerous.'

'In the first place, this was said by someone whose standards of common sense don't even align with ours!!!'

If that crazy person who treated the standard exam as a joke and wanted to charge in alone was this tense, it clearly meant the opponents possessed a terrifying level of power on par with those bizarre individuals they had met on the Puyang Plains.

"Damn it..."

Yet those idiots were currently ignoring the warning, completely unaware that they were like ants willingly walking straight into an antlion's trap.

"Eunho, Dongryong."

After much thought, Geumpyo looked at the two of them.

"What was Eldest Senior Brother's order?"

"If we saw traces of the enemy, we were to run away first and report, and if the academy students hadn't encountered the enemy yet, we were to stop them as much as possible."

"Right. But we haven't seen the enemies yet, and the academy students haven't encountered them, right?"

"..."

"And if we leave them be, they will run into the enemies that Eldest Senior Brother called 'dangerous.'"

At Geumpyo's nod, as if he had made a decision, Eunho asked anxiously.

"Brother, what are you thinking of doing?"

"What we learned at the academy is useless anyway, isn't it?"

"... Don't tell me."

Geumpyo looked at his younger brothers with a resolute expression.

"Then we have to use what we learned from Senior Brother."

"... What is that?"

Geumpyo didn't answer Eunho's question.

However, Eunho quickly realized what it was.

Eunho scowled heavily.

"... This is insane."

Geumpyo looked at Eunho and Dongryong and asked.

"You can step out if you don't want to do it."

"..."

"..."

Eunho and Dongryong glared at Geumpyo simultaneously and frowned.

"Brother, that doesn't sound like Eldest Senior Brother at all. Stop copying him."

"Eldest Brother, it's weird. Don't do that."

Geumpyo's face flushed red.

"I wasn't copying him!"

SHING! SHING!

Whether Geumpyo yelled or not, Eunho and Dongryong drew their swords at the same time.

"Are you going to do it together?"

"... If you die, I'll have to inherit the mill. I've decided to become a warrior who gallops across Jianghu. So if you die, it'll be a bit annoying."

"If our eldest brother dies, Mom and Dad will be sad."

"Just curse me, why don't you."

Geumpyo began to increase his speed.

Eunho and Dongryong matched his pace and sped up, and soon, the disciples led by the Kunlun Sect elder and the academy students from the lay sects came into the three's view.

SWISH. THUD.

Cutting through the forest, the three landed in front of the Kunlun Sect group.

"Ahem."

Seeing this, Elder Sangwon of the Kunlun Sect furrowed his brow and shouted.

"Did you not understand even when I spoke nicely?"

"We apologize. But we cannot just stand by and watch you willingly walk into a death trap."

Geumpyo politely brought his hands together in a martial salute and bowed his head, but Elder Sangwon's anger showed no signs of fading.

"It seems you are under the delusion that the Taiyi Sect has become some great existence just because one of yours took the academy representative position... What are you all doing? Do Kunlun disciples plan to halt their steps just because of the Taiyi Sect!"

"Yes, sir!"

With a resounding response, nearly twenty Kunlun disciples surrounded the three brothers at the same time.

"Haa... I thought there wouldn't be any reason to fight our allies after the standard exam."

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

"At this point, just like people say, maybe we actually were from the Underworld?"

As soon as Eunho finished speaking, the Kongtong disciples began swinging their swords.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

Deploying the White Tiger Lethal Sword Array, which they could now execute as freely as their own hands and feet, Dongryong blocked seven swords from the Kunlun Sect disciples.

The Kunlun Sect disciple, who was well aware of Jin Sowoon's skill but did not know much about the three brothers' abilities, raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

Despite the fact that their swords were clearly imbued with internal energy, Dongryong blocked all seven blades alone and bared his teeth, growling.

"We aren't... from the Underworld!"

"What is this!!"

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG!

The seven swords scattered in all directions as if a flower bud were blooming, and through the gap, the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist exploded forth.

THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD!

Struck by the unexpected blow, the Kunlun Sect disciple had no choice but to swallow the words bursting from his mouth along with a breathtaking pain.

Who said they were from the Underworld!

* * *

Nam Hwaseong gulped down his saliva.

The blood-robed figures standing before him felt different from the ones he had seen in the illusion array.

The ones he saw in the illusion array had moved with bizarrely identical movements at the exact same time.

In contrast, while these figures were similarly disciplined, they definitely gave off the feeling of being human.

'These guys are real...'

Jin Sowoon, who had only faced enemies with his iron rod until now, drew his sword.

SHING.

The clear ringing of the blade made Nam Hwaseong even more tense.

"Nam Hwaseong."

"Y-Yes!"

"Do not join the fight. Conserve your internal energy as much as possible."

"H-Huh? What do you mean?"

"Shut up and do as I tell you!"

"U-Understood..."

Before Nam Hwaseong could even finish his sentence, Jin Sowoon threw himself toward the blood-robed figures.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.

At the same time, the blood-robed figures, who had drawn heavy swords from their backs, also lunged and pressured Jin Sowoon from all sides.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.

Jin Sowoon blocked the dozens of swords thrusting at him from all directions with just the Black Dragon Sword alone.

CLASH-CLASH-CLASH. CLASH-CLASH-CLASH.

Every time Jin Sowoon swung his Black Dragon Sword, a dozen phantom swords repeatedly appeared and disappeared.

"Urgh!"

"Gah!"

"Aaargh!"

The blood-robed figures who had leapt up after Jin Sowoon fell like falling leaves.

THUD.

As Jin Sowoon landed on the ground, the blood-robed figures rushed at him from all eight directions like a pack of dogs.

Far from retreating, Jin Sowoon instead stepped forward, swinging a sword with one hand and a fist with the other.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Whenever the phantom swords and the true sword swept the right flank, blood splattered profusely, and body parts and flesh flew in all directions.

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

When his fist forms swept the left flank, the blood-robed figures' arms and legs bent at unnatural angles as if a storm had passed through, and they were sent flying away even faster than they had rushed in.

It was truly an unstoppable momentum, exactly like Xiang Yu roaming the battlefield alone.

'What kind of martial art...'

If they ignored it thinking it was a phantom sword, a true sword was there.

If they blocked it thinking it was a true sword, it was a phantom sword.

The blood-robed figures could not distinguish which was real and which was an illusion among the dozens of swords and fists aiming for their lives.

It had become even sharper than what he had witnessed before, so much so that even Nam Hwaseong himself could not distinguish between the phantom swords and the true sword.

No, in the first place, could this even be called a phantom sword?

How foolish he had been to look down on it just because it used phantom swords.

He had never imagined that there could be such a realm in phantom swords.

Furthermore, what about that fist technique?

At first glance, it seemed like he was only pouring effort into the illusions, but every single blood-robed figure struck by it could not keep their bodies upright.

It meant that the destructive power itself had already surpassed the defensive power of a martial artist.

Even though it was not a martial art focused purely on fist power, every single strike boasted destructive power comparable to the Deer Horn Radiant Fist.

With illusions layered on top of that, the enemies could not block it even if they knew it was coming, and they would not remain intact even if they did block it.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

Along with the sounds of breaking bones, three blood-robed figures slumped to the ground.

However, they soon struggled to stand up again on their broken legs.

"My word..."

Nam Hwaseong frowned, appalled by their vicious tenacity.

The pain of a broken bone was clearly something a human could not endure.

That irrational will was so creepy it almost made him dry heave.

'Those are the enemies we have to face...'

He felt dispirited already.

"Huh?"

Yet, at that moment, Jin Sowoon paid no heed and quickly dashed toward them.

Then, without hesitation, he swung the Black Dragon Sword and severed the heads of the three people.

"Cockroach-like bastards..."

After saying that, he leaped back into the midst of the blood-robed figures.

Nam Hwaseong could only stare at the sight with his mouth hanging open.

The blood-robed figures who tried to get up to kill the enemy even with broken legs.

And Jin Sowoon, who cut off the necks of such people without hesitation.

He could not fathom who possessed a more vicious mind.

'But one thing is certain...'

Rather than the blood-robed figures, the one he never wanted to face as an enemy was...

'Jin Sowoon.'

While he was having such thoughts, more blood-robed figures rushed in and began to surround Jin Sowoon.

So many people charged at Jin Sowoon that it was impossible to even guess how many were surrounding him.

Like ants swarming to catch a single spider, countless blood-robed figures surrounded Jin Sowoon, who was clad in black.

It was a highly perilous situation, even for the great Jin Sowoon.

"J-Jin Sowoon! Shall I help you?!"

Nam Hwaseong managed to muster his courage and shouted, but Jin Sowoon's reply was cold.

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

"That, that bastard always has to talk like..."

The brief moment of goodwill that had sprouted crumbled away like a collapsing sandcastle.

Watching Jin Sowoon pull even the blood-robed figure who had reached him using a strange golden string to deal with them, he couldn't guess what kind of scheme he had in mind at all.

The moment he was lost in such thoughts, a roar erupted from Jin Sowoon.

"Nam Hwaseong! Are you ready?"

While Nam Hwaseong was dumbfounded by Jin Sowoon's sudden shout.

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

Ready to run?

At that moment, he felt the air tremble faintly.

The vibrating air began to violently sweep to one side.

It was different from wind, feeling as though a massive giant was swallowing the air.

And the place where the air was being sucked into was none other than Jin Sowoon's hands.

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-BOOM!

Along with a massive rumbling sound as if the sky were collapsing and the ground caving in, a colossal palm force poured out from Jin Sowoon's hands.

The blood-robed figures, who had swarmed like a horde of ants, were swept away by the wind like falling leaves, and even the hard surface of the earth was blown away along with them.

'What kind of palm force is...!'

The moment he briefly lost his wits at the destructive power that seemed like a condensed storm, Jin Sowoon's voice struck his eardrums forcefully.

"Run! Nam Hwaseong!"

"Eek!"

He mustered every ounce of his strength to execute the Deer Horn Wind Cloud Steps.

The path he ran along while following Jin Sowoon was filled with the corpses of blood-robed figures.

Even though it was practically the same as charging into the middle of the enemy camp, Jin Sowoon was unhesitating.

The blood-robed figures who had been blown away by the shockwave outside Jin Sowoon's palm force began to pick themselves up one by one.

Then, they attempted to surround Jin Sowoon and Nam Hwaseong as if forming a siege net.

"J-Jin Sowoon, are we okay?"

No matter where he looked—front, back, left, or right—it was filled with only blood-robed figures.

Even if they broke through the blood-robed figures like this, it was obvious they would not be able to escape their pursuit.

Jin Sowoon remained resolute.

Come to think of it, he had always been resolute like this.

"We're fine. Reinforcements will be coming."

"Reinforcements?"

Seungho Hall still had a long way to go before arriving here. When did he call for separate reinforcements?

At that moment, clamorous noises began to be heard from afar.

"There they are! Catch those bastards!"

"To look down on our Jeokhwa Stronghold... we'll tear you limb from limb!"

"Our Hwa-eom Stronghold goes first, step aside!"

From behind, hundreds of Green Woods bandits came rushing wildly with large blades and axes in hand.

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

Jin Sowoon, whose face was smeared with blood here and there from fighting a fierce bloody battle with the blood-robed figures just moments ago, smiled despicably.

"Why else would I have brought the Green Woods strongholds along with us?"

Only then did Nam Hwaseong recall the time they spent being chased by the three Green Woods strongholds.

"... Did you plan this far ahead from the very beginning?"

Jin Sowoon flashed a smirk.

"It's called using an enemy to defeat an enemy."

"Fuck..."

Nam Hwaseong cursed under his breath without realizing it.

Just how deep was his scheming mind to be able to plan this far?

No, regardless of the depth of his schemes, he couldn't even fathom how immense one's audacity had to be to execute such an operation personally.

Nam Hwaseong found himself going beyond merely finding Jin Sowoon incredible; he was starting to feel terrified of him.

GULP.

He swallowed a thick lump of saliva.

Just how many times had he crossed the line of death in front of Jin Sowoon since the standard exam?

'I was dancing in front of the Grim Reaper.'

Right now, dancing in front of the Grim Reaper seemed less dangerous than his past actions.

"Nam Hwaseong! We're speeding up from here on out. So follow me like your life depends on it! If you become a nuisance, I'll leave you behind."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Nam Hwaseong unwittingly used honorifics and frantically moved his legs.