novelraw Chapter 177 : Taking the First Strike (3)
Chapter 177 : Taking the First Strike (3)
Chapter 177: Taking the First Strike (3)
Ho Daewon, caught in Sewoon’s ferocious strength, was plunging through the floor and crashing down to the level below.
Through Ho Daewon’s vision, the scenery of the rooms he pierced through kept whipping past at a speed beyond cognition.
Kwa-deuk!
Kwa-jijik!
He truly felt as though he were about to lose consciousness.
That was because the shock of his entire body’s bones being crushed and his internal organs being mangled spread throughout his whole frame.
‘My strength, it won’t go in……!?’
Yet what was even more dreadful was that no matter how much he drew up his energy, he could not escape Sewoon’s grip.
The overwhelming power of the hand gripping the back of his neck far surpassed imagination.
And so, in the end.
Kwaaang—!
Ho Daewon was slammed straight down from the top floor of the pleasure pavilion all the way to the first floor’s ground.
Held upside down like a handstand and smashed face-first into the floor, Ho Daewon convulsed with his eyes rolled back in agony.
“Kuhk! Keuk!!”
A lump of black blood gushed violently from Ho Daewon’s mouth, yet Sewoon did not withdraw his attack.
Swae-aek!
Next, Sewoon casually flicked his wrist and sent him flying toward the wall.
Pueong!
As the pavilion wall shattered, Ho Daewon’s body was hurled outside the pleasure pavilion.
“Kyaa!”
“W-what is that?!”
The people passing along the street screamed as Ho Daewon suddenly flew toward them.
It was only natural for them to be horrified.
Ho Daewon’s appearance was that of rags for clothing, with his face and entire body drenched in blood.
‘N-now’s the time.’
But Ho Daewon had no leisure to worry about the gazes around him.
‘I-I must not miss this chance.’
Trembling and staggering, he barely forced himself upright and hurriedly pulled something out from his bosom.
Then he stretched his hand high toward the sky.
Hwi-iik! Pang!
A red firework burst in the sky.
He had fired a signal flare to summon his subordinates who were lying in ambush.
Good. Soon, his subordinates would swarm in black masses.
Just as he was rejoicing at that thought.
“The actions taken by fools who thrash about while facing their end are always the same.”
Sewoon, who slowly walked out of the pleasure pavilion, mocked him while watching even that scene with an indifferent expression.
Enraged by that sight, Ho Daewon scattered killing intent through his eyes and shouted.
“Shut up! I’ll tear you apart and kill you right now!”
“No matter how long you wait for someone who won’t come, what use is it?”
“What……?”
At Sewoon’s meaningful words, Ho Daewon flinched.
Soon after, his face drained of color as he hurriedly scanned his surroundings.
But nowhere were there any signs of subordinates rushing over.
Not even the sound of a single footstep could be heard.
“……Y-you, don’t tell me!!”
“When you go to hell, you’ll be able to meet them all again. So don’t worry.”
“!!”
Ho Daewon’s face turned pale as a sheet of paper.
That was right. Before coming to face the two of them, Sewoon had already slaughtered every last warrior of the Guiyeom Society who had been lying in ambush nearby.
There had not been the slightest hesitation in Sewoon’s actions.
That was only natural, for among Guizhou’s Six Pillars, the Guiyeom Society were the demons most thoroughly cloaked in human skin.
‘Even before the regression, they committed all kinds of atrocities that defied human decency.’
The Guiyeom Society made black money through salt smuggling and carried out every manner of evil deed.
As everyone knew, salt was an essential commodity for human survival.
Thus, when the Blood Cult invaded the murim and an age of chaos unfolded, there were even those who died because they could not obtain salt to eat.
Yet Ho Daewon and the warriors of the Guiyeom Society, even in that horrific situation, took salt as a hostage and extorted and tormented those driven into desperation.
Remembering that sight, Sewoon intended to erase everything about the Guiyeom Society while subjugating Guizhou.
‘I clearly declared that I would seize control of the unorthodox sects, but I have no intention of taking in human garbage.’
Swaaaa—
In an instant, a chilling and overwhelming aura filled the surroundings.
That was the terrifying inner power erupting explosively from Sewoon’s entire body.
Sensing his impending end, Ho Daewon urgently shouted at Gong Taemun, veins bulging.
“Gong Taemun!! You bastard, are you not going to help me?! Once I die, you’re next!”
Desperation was packed into his cry, but Gong Taemun, who heard it, showed no change in expression.
Standing there with his arms crossed, Gong Taemun spoke in a voice devoid of any emotion.
“I’ll take care of myself. For now, you die.”
“Y-you idiotic bastard—!!”
As Ho Daewon flailed in desperation, Sewoon slowly walked toward him.
Chwarararara!
Dozens of strands of Heavenly Net connected to Sewoon’s hands floated leisurely in the air like arrows.
“Now, it’s over.”
“Don’t come!! Don’t comeee!!”
As if the grim reaper were approaching him, Ho Daewon was terrified out of his wits and did nothing but retreat backward.
“W-wait……! Let’s negotiate! Negotiate! I have information! Everything about the Lee Trading Company and the Kongtong Sect who are planning to attack the Tang Clan……!”
Ho Daewon shouted desperately.
But Sewoon responded coldly.
“No, I don’t need it.”
“……!!”
Swae-aeek!
With a tearing roar of air that made the ears ring, the spiraling Heavenly Net poured down like a rain of arrows.
Amid that spectacle of Heavenly Net that blanketed the air—
‘I must kill him!! Only then can I live!’
Tadat!
Gritting his teeth, Ho Daewon stamped the ground and charged toward Sewoon.
He had realized there was no answer in trying to dodge.
Buu-ung! Bung!
Rushing in, he spun his spear.
It was to fend off the unknown hidden weapons flying toward him.
Though he had only just stepped into it, he was a master who had reached the Transformation Realm—he could bat away such trivial hidden weapon techniques.
…Or so he thought.
“Keup—!”
퍼eok! Puk!
Very few of the attacks were actually blocked by his rotating spear blade.
Pitch-black arrows of thread pierced through his flesh in countless places.
Holes opened all over his body as horrific pain spread—
Cheo-cheok!
In the end, he still reached Sewoon’s front.
Then, without hesitation, he unleashed the ultimate technique that had elevated him to the position of leader of the Guiyeom Society.
“Die—!!”
Ghost-Killing Blood Thunder.
Like a blood-red lightning bolt crashing down upon the earth, the spear blade descended with the momentum to cleave Sewoon clean in two.
But regrettably……
Seogeok!
‘W-what?!’
That attack never even came close to landing.
As Sewoon’s two hands moved with a light rhythm, as though playing a musical instrument—
Jjeolgeureong!
Tuduk!
Ho Daewon’s two hands, still gripping the spear, were cleanly severed and fell to the ground.
“I’ll return your words to you exactly.”
“……!!”
Swaaaa—
The moment Sewoon finished speaking, the horizontal and vertical lines that had already spread through the air like a spider’s web surged straight forward.
Seogeogeok!
A chilling slicing sound rang out.
“—!!”
Ho Daewon’s eyes widened as if unable to believe what he was seeing, then instantly lost all vitality.
He could not even let out a death scream, nor speak a final word.
Jjeojeojeok!
Tududuk!
With a horrific sound, Ho Daewon’s body was cut into dozens of cross-sectioned pieces.
Red blood slowly spread outward, casting the shadow of death.
For the final end of a powerful figure who had once dominated Guizhou, it was an unbearably wretched demise.
“Sorry about that. Did I keep you waiting long?”
Sewoon brushed off his clean hands, not a single drop of blood on them, and turned toward Gong Taemun.
The eyes of Gong Taemun, who was staring at Sewoon, were already gleaming sharper than blades.
“……Judging by your hand, it seems the Sichuan Tang Clan truly has crossed into the boundary between orthodox and unorthodox.”
Gong Taemun’s voice rumbled low and deep.
Sewoon shrugged lightly and spoke.
“I have no intention of ever holding back against something that isn’t human.”
“I see.”
Sreung!
With his reply, Gong Taemun once again gripped the Six-Soul Blade.
Yet the aura surging from him was closer to fighting spirit than hostility.
Even so, Sewoon feigned ignorance and spoke.
“Should I take it that the Martial Exalt Union’s banner of not waging war against the Tang Clan has changed?”
Sewoon spoke in a casual tone.
But within that lightness lay a chill that could not be ignored.
Gong Taemun slowly tightened his grip on the sheath of the Six-Soul Blade and said,
“No. As long as the Sichuan Tang Clan does not touch us, we will not touch them either.”
“Then what meaning does this blade daringly aimed at me carry?”
Gong Taemun curled the corner of his mouth upward.
“It’s my own pure fighting spirit. Seeing you, I can’t suppress my boiling blood.”
“And even knowing that you’ll surely lose your life like this one?”
“Of course.”
Gong Taemun answered without the slightest hesitation.
Seeing that, Sewoon let out an involuntary chuckle.
Shaking his head lightly, Sewoon replied,
“So the Martial Exalt Union really is a gathering of those mad for life-and-death duels. That wasn’t wrong.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“Then should I assume everyone in the Martial Exalt Union is like you?”
“Of course. If anything, they’re worse than me. There isn’t a single one who’s less.”
“Hoh.”
At those words, Sewoon slowly lifted the corner of his lips.
In his eyes flowed the relaxed composure of a hunter about to capture a ferocious beast.
Then he murmured softly,
“Good. It’s decided. I’ll make you the first subordinates to follow my Dominion over the Unorthodox.”
“……!”
In that instant, Gong Taemun’s aura exploded outward.
The surrounding air seemed to freeze solid in a single moment.
“You dare mock us—.”
He had proposed a life-and-death duel, only to be told they would be taken as subordinates.
What greater insult could there be?
Yet Sewoon did not wipe away his smile, meeting Gong Taemun’s rising momentum head-on.
“What you seek is martial learning brought to its ultimate end. And overwhelming power.”
The Martial Exalt Union.
Among Guizhou’s Six Pillars, the only faction Sewoon had decided to leave intact after devouring Guizhou was precisely the Martial Exalt Union.
‘There is only one way to subjugate them.’
By now, a vivid gleam had surfaced in Sewoon’s eyes.
“I’ll show you its completion.”
“—!!”
Hwareureuk!
Kwagagaga!
With those words, Sewoon’s inner power began to boil violently, like a volcano entering eruption.
Sewoon stood in a relaxed posture, yet the overwhelming presence he radiated was no different from already having seized control of the battlefield.
Kurururung!
Sewoon’s momentum, manifesting the Reverse Heaven Qi, distorted space itself and sent tremors through it.
If one were ordinary, they would have soiled themselves or fled on the spot.
‘It’s been a while since my heart raced like this.’
Even amid the bone-freezing tension, Gong Taemun could not hide his excitement.
The tip of the Six-Soul Blade pointed squarely at Sewoon.
“Whether it is reckless arrogance, or the proclamation of a hegemon—I’ll see for myself.”
Sewoon, still smiling calmly, slowly took a step forward.
“As you wish.”
After a brief moment of silence.
Swae-aeek!
Kwaaang!
The movements of the two men poured toward each other like a raging storm.
The day Crown Prince Juyudo arrived in Guizhou without any prior notice.
A bloodshed no one could have foreseen erupted.
The Clan Head of the Sichuan Tang Clan, the Blood-Thread Tyrant Tang Sewoon, led a small force and launched surprise attacks across every main base of the Six Pillars.
Even for the Sichuan Tang Clan, which had recently shaken the jianghu, it seemed no different from a suicidal act—or so everyone expected.
……Contrary to all expectations, in just a single day, Guizhou fell into the hands of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
No—into the hands of Tang Sewoon.
Amid the unprecedented great chaos erupting across the Central Plains as if by prior agreement, the Seven-Day Calamity Turmoil—
It was the very first day of that calamity.