novelraw Chapter 158 : Time of Punishment (1)
Chapter 158 : Time of Punishment (1)
Chapter 158: Time of Punishment (1)
The Qingcheng Sect’s current total forces consisted of the Jeok Seongja, the six Elders, and nearly three hundred disciples.
And finally, the thirty elite swordsmen charging in the vanguard.
‘Erase Qingcheng?’
‘That arrogant bastard!’
The line of Qingcheng swordsmen breaking through at the very front erupted with seething fury.
They surged forward to eliminate the Sichuan Tang Clan’s martial artists who had seized the high ground.
Sssaaa!
The energy emanating from their entire bodies was extraordinary.
Their level was on a completely different plane compared to the disciples who had stood near Magollyun or the Great Elder.
But that was only natural.
These were the elite Qingcheng swordsmen prepared specifically for a full-scale war against the Sichuan Tang Clan of Chengdu.
They were called the Songpung Swordmasters (Songpung Geomho), famed as an elite sword unit rivaling Mount Hua Sect’s top and finest sword unit, the Plum Blossom Swordmasters.
“We will open the path!!”
“Brothers of Qingcheng! Cut down the vile enemies!”
Each and every one of them, top-tier swordsmen who had reached the peak of Supreme Peak Master Level, unleashed rough roars as they kicked up the slope.
The Sichuan Tang Clan’s martial artists who witnessed this did not simply stand by.
“Don’t let a single one climb up!!”
“We’ll turn them into honeycombs!!”
Chwarara!
The Sichuan Tang Clan martial artists scattered their hidden weapons and poison into the air.
The hidden weapons chaotically dispersed through the air and fell like a summer downpour of torrential rain.
Cha-chaeng!
Chae-chae-chaeng!
The Songpung Swordmasters swung their swords, striking down the rain of hidden weapons aimed at their vital points.
Goblin-fire-like sparks burst again and again.
“You think these petty hidden weapons can block us!”
“Hmph! All of it is worthless circus tricks!”
The Songpung Swordmasters displayed Qingcheng’s ultimate arts, the Great Luo Sword Art and the Sky-Piercing Wind Sword Art.
Ting!
Titing!
With sharp force cutting through the air, the Tang Clan’s hidden weapons bounced away helplessly and scattered across the ground.
Like chestnut burrs knocked down by a typhoon, the discarded hidden weapons spread worthlessly across the area, putting sneers on the faces of Qingcheng’s martial artists.
So their reputation rose recently? As expected, it was all empty acclaim.
The early momentum looked heavily in Qingcheng’s favor.
Just when it seemed that way—
Whiik!
Whiririk!
‘Huh?’
‘……What?’
Suddenly, an unusual sound rang by their ears.
The hidden weapons lying on the ground began spinning wildly.
And the hidden weapons they thought had failed to hit and were discarded suddenly bounced out again in all directions.
Pupuk!
Pupupuk!
“Keuak!”
“Ggaaaah!!”
Groans of agony and horrible screams burst out everywhere.
The completely unexpected second wave struck the disciples who had been following the path opened by the Songpung Swordmasters.
This was the first of the many bizarre hidden weapons Sewoon had prepared and armed the Sichuan Tang Clan’s martial artists with—
The hidden weapon that inflicted a delayed second explosion to strike a careless enemy: the “Chain-Explosion Needle (Yeonpokchim).”
“M-my leg! My leeeeg!”
“Keuruk, guwek!”
The price of carelessness was brutal.
Hidden weapons flying in from completely unforeseen angles inflicted grievous damage upon the ordinary Qingcheng disciples, who were far inferior to the Songpung Swordmasters in martial ability.
Disciples with thumb-sized holes pierced through their bodies, blood pouring out.
Disciples vomiting black blood after being poisoned by the deadly toxin smeared on the Chain-Explosion Needles.
In an instant, the battlefield turned into a living hell.
With only a few managing to follow behind them, the puzzled Songpung Swordmasters belatedly realized what had happened.
Their eyes trembled as if struck by an earthquake.
‘What the—?!’
‘Damn it! Then we absolutely have to finish this!’
So this was the Blood Thread Divine Forging.
They had heard of him being the Divine Craftsman of this era, but to think he could mass-produce such horrifying hidden weapons…
Cheocheok!
But it was still fine. From here, the battle’s flow would be decided by their blades.
Pabat!
“I’ll kill you!”
“Slaughter the enemies!!”
Bursting through the storm of hidden weapons, the Songpung Swordmasters climbed onto the slope and charged at the foes with swords drawn.
Like archers on the battlefield, the Tang Clan martial artists indeed held advantages at long range, but in close quarters? They should never be able to match them.
Taat!
In just a few steps, they closed the distance right up to the Tang Clan martial artists’ noses.
One clean sweep of their blades would end everything.
……Huh?
But something was wrong.
The Tang Clan martial artists didn’t seem to have any intention of resisting.
They no longer launched hidden weapons or scattered poison.
They only looked at the approaching Songpung Swordmasters with eyes full of pity.
Sseuuu—
‘……Huh?’
At that moment, an unknown energy suddenly seeped into their bodies.
A soft, warm energy that felt as though it comforted their exhausted bodies and minds.
Thunk.
And then, darkness suddenly fell over their vision.
“Injured, fall back!”
“Disciples, follow behind the Elders!!”
The six Elders succeeded in calming the ordinary disciples who had fallen into chaos.
Among them, Elder Gu swallowed curses inwardly at this frustrating situation.
‘Damn it! To collapse this easily to hidden weapons!’
Originally, the Elders were meant to support the Sect Leader and eliminate Sewoon, but the sudden shift in the situation forced them to aid the disciples instead.
Fortunately, their quick intervention proved to be a good strategy, and thanks to their martial foundations—each of them at the Transformation Realm—the number of injured did not increase after the initial strike.
“Now we shall strike the enemy aga—!”
“……Huh?”
Just as Elder Gu was about to quickly press the attack again to make up for lost time, his expression twisted in shock.
Sseuseuk.
Cheocheok.
……Why are those brats?
Because the Songpung Swordmasters who had charged up the slope earlier suddenly reappeared from beyond the ridge.
Had they already eliminated all enemies?
Impossible—he was thinking just that when—
Sreung!
A Songpung Swordmaster raised his sword again.
Elder Gu’s eyes bulged so wide they nearly burst.
“……!!”
The sword tip pointed in the complete opposite direction.
Puuuk!
Seogeok!
Right toward the ordinary disciples who were climbing the slope to support them.
“S-senior brother?”
“Keuruk, kkeugeup!”
Ordinary disciples collapsed helplessly under the unexpected attack.
The blades of the Songpung Swordmasters were cutting their own senior and junior brothers to pieces.
파밧!
Having grasped the situation, Elder Gu and the five Elders dashed forward like lightning and blocked the Songpung Swordmasters.
“Y-you insane bastards!”
“What on earth do you think you are doing!!”
“Uuugh!”
“Grrr!!”
Even as Elder Gu thundered a lion’s roar, the Songpung Swordmasters did not change in the slightest.
Cha-cheng!
Chwaaah!
They swung lethal blades without the slightest hesitation, not only at their fellow disciples but even at their own masters, the Elders.
While dealing with the Songpung Swordmasters, Elder Gu noticed that their eyes were horribly murky and vacant.
‘……Soul-Seizing Art?’
Yes. It was clear that they had been bewitched by some wicked sorcery.
But when?
No matter how he thought on it, Elder Gu could not understand.
He had not sensed even the slightest ripple of qi from a sorcery being activated.
Even while watching it with his own eyes, Elder Gu had failed to notice.
Sseu-sseu!
Seureu!
A single strand of Heavenly Thread, stained in vermilion, was secretly coiling around the necks of every Songpung Swordmaster whose mind had fallen into stupor.
And in that very instant—
“How is it? Quite an entertaining sight, isn’t it?”
“You son of a—!!”
Sewoon, the very culprit who had created this hellscape, twisted his lips as he looked at the Jeok Seongja he was fighting.
Rewinding time for a moment—to the instant the battle between both sides began.
“I’ll cut off that filthy tongue first!!”
The Jeok Seongja exploded with qi from his entire body and charged straight at Sewoon.
Paaat!
From the blade of the Jeok Seongja surged a storm-like qi projection.
‘A mastery at the Manifestation Realm, is it.’
At some point, Sewoon had already activated the Eye of Spectral Perception in both eyes, perfectly grasping his opponent’s strength.
Chwara!
Heavenly Thread, imbued with Divine Poison Qi, wound around Sewoon’s hands and transformed into an even sturdier gauntlet.
And in that fleeting opening, the Jeok Seongja, having closed the distance, manifested his sword art.
Red Mist Severing Light Sword (赤霞絶光劍)
First Move
Red Mist Rising (赤霞分起)
The same first move of the Red Mist Severing Light Sword that Magollyun had displayed while fighting Moomyeong was reproduced once more.
But it did not feel like the same technique at all.
The enlightenment, refinement, and mastery of the martial artist performing the technique—everything was worlds apart.
Graaah!
Chwararara!
The Jeok Seongja’s sword tip split into dozens of blossoms, as though flowers were blooming into full petals.
Then the storm-imbued sword strikes fell in all directions like scattered petals.
Even a famed master of the jianghu would meet a gruesome end if struck by even one of the sword-qi projectiles raining down like a meteor shower.
‘Such crude qi projections, not even Intent-Form Qi.’
It was a tale that did not apply to Sewoon.
Sseuuu!
As Sewoon watched the incoming qi that aimed precisely for vital acupoints meant to kill instantly, his eyes suddenly changed into an entirely different light.
Pasusss!
At that same moment, the qi that had filled the air vanished without a trace like a mirage.
‘What?!’
The Jeok Seongja was appalled.
With the surrounding qi abruptly gone, he was left swinging nothing more than an ordinary iron sword.
Sewoon had nullified the unstable qi projection using the power of the Color-Stripping Eye.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he slammed his fist into the face of the utterly bewildered opponent.
Swae-ek!
Kwaaang!
“……Kuh!!”
With a deafening blast like an exploding fire bomb, the Jeok Seongja’s body was hurled far backward.
……How?!
Confusion flickered in the Jeok Seongja’s eyes.
Although he had instantly cloaked himself in defensive qi the moment the qi projection vanished—allowing him to minimize the damage—he had drained far more internal energy than intended, having to draw it out in urgent panic.
Suuuaa!
‘I must block it!’
Expecting another follow-up attack, the Jeok Seongja quickly lifted his sword.
But contrary to expectation, Sewoon did not charge at him.
Chwararara!
Chwaaa!
Sewoon’s gauntlets unravelled back into countless threads as he widened the distance.
The moment he struck his opponent’s face, they had apparently returned to that form.
But then, something different—something far more ominous—appeared.
‘That is……!!’
In the eyes of the Jeok Seongja, who had reached mastery in the Manifestation Realm, he saw vermilion threads emitting an eerie gleam.
Threads filled with unknown Evil Qi—connected to none other than the Songpung Swordmasters who had leapt over the mound and were charging forward.
No way!
A shiver raced down the Jeok Seongja’s spine.
“You— you madmen!”
“What are you doing!!”
“Uuugh!”
“Grrr!!”
The Songpung Swordmasters, whose minds were seized, began swinging their swords toward their own allies.
Aaaagh!
Guaaah!
The groans of Qingcheng Sect disciples instantly filled the surroundings.
Seeing that hellish scene, the previously confident face of the Jeok Seongja stiffened in horror.
Turning all who were connected by thread into puppets—
It was the new ability Sewoon had gained from the Heavenly Thread: the power of the Puppet Thread (傀儡絲).
And to think he had not even used his full strength while fighting him.
At that moment, when the Jeok Seongja’s crushed pride made him tremble with fury—
“How is it? Quite an entertaining sight, isn’t it?”
“You damned bastard……!!”
Sewoon spat out a mocking sneer.