novelraw Chapter 187 : The Master of Those Without Blood
Chapter 187 : The Master of Those Without Blood
Chapter 187: The Master of Those Without Blood
A small slash-and-burn village on the northern foothills of Donglan County.
With no sign of human presence, only dozens of thatched huts slowly collapsing in on themselves remained scattered about. It looked like nothing more than a common, abandoned ruin.
Sss—
Yet a hidden evil qi, something only a martial artist at the peak realm could faintly sense, spread like a round membrane and covered the entire village.
Kraaak.
At that moment, a single crow cut through the sky and circled low.
The insignificant creature, without a thought in its mind, sliced through the wind and fearlessly entered the village interior.
Crunch!
Puff—bang!
The instant it crossed into the membrane, the crow’s entire body suddenly swelled several times over, as if air had been forcibly pumped into it, and then exploded.
Chest, abdomen, wings, even the eyes.
Shattered chunks of flesh scattered through the air like blossoms.
And there were two people, hiding their presence, watching that horrific scene.
[As expected, just as the Clan Head said, a spell formation has been deployed.]
[Yes, he clearly said it was the Curse Blood Formation (呪血陣).]
They were Gong Taemun, the Leader of the Martial Exalt Union, and Yongbi.
The two had moved separately to Donglan County in order to carry out the plan to dismantle the spell formation simultaneously from three directions.
Once again, the image of the Curse Blood Formation, which had blown apart a mere creature, came into their view.
They had heard that the first outer formation of Heaven-Piercing Gang, the Curse Blood Formation, was activated using blood as a medium, and that insignificant creatures unable to endure the evil qi within their bodies would meet such a miserable death.
‘No… even if one has qi, it’s uncertain whether that evil qi could truly be endured.’
Yongbi swallowed hard as he thought so.
The power of the sorcery was far stronger than they had anticipated.
[The Clan Head said that only by removing all the sorcery formations would the power of the Nanning lands disappear. If so, we do not have time to linger like this.]
[That may be so, but for that to happen, the one in charge would have to move…….]
As Yongbi spoke the word “one in charge,” he subtly turned his head.
His gaze was not directed at Gong Taemun beside him.
On a rock some distance away, Umun Tak sat with his eyes closed, like a corpse.
That was right. The one responsible for the battle of Donglan County was not Gong Taemun, the Leader of the Martial Exalt Union, but Umun Tak.
Yongbi asked with concern.
[Union Leader, but this… can we really trust that man?]
[…Hmm. Wouldn’t the Clan Head have made him responsible only after careful consideration?]
Gong Taemun’s voice was calm but firm.
Even so, he could not completely conceal the subtle doubt in his eyes.
‘Tch, but no matter how you look at it, his condition is really….’
Yongbi did not sit well with Umun Tak.
As soon as they arrived, he had briefly checked the sorcery formation and then fallen into deep contemplation like that.
It was astonishing concentration, so profound that not even a breath could be sensed, but it was impossible to tell whether it came from the depth of martial mastery he had accumulated or from having no particular ability at all.
Of course, he had earned the alias ‘Beast Nether King’ during the Guizhou war.
‘And we left in such a hurry that we couldn’t even bring a single coffin containing a jiangshi.’
As Yongbi thought, there was not a single coffin or jiangshi corpse anywhere around them.
Gong Taemun also stared deeply at Umun Tak and sank into thought.
‘Before we departed, the Clan Head said this.’
When Gong Taemun expressed doubt about appointing Umun Tak as the one in charge, Sewoon had smiled meaningfully and said to him,
‘The way this man fights aligns most closely with the way our future enemies fight. So watch carefully and learn.’
Sss—
“…!”
At that moment, Umun Tak, who had been immersed in meditation, finally opened his eyes.
He slowly rose and stepped down from the rock.
There was no presence, no aura, yet strangely, the ground trembled faintly.
Umun Tak answered without the slightest hesitation.
“You’ve waited long enough. Now then, shall we go in?”
“R-right now?”
“Yes. Right now.”
Yongbi reflexively asked,
“Th-then, will the three of us be enough?”
Umun Tak tilted his head slightly.
“Three? There should be dozens.”
“…Excuse me?”
Pa-bat!
Leaving the bewildered Yongbi behind, Umun Tak openly charged forward, as if he did not care what anyone thought.
Then he turned back and said a single sentence.
“When I open a path, enter immediately.”
“An enemy!!”
“Intercept the enemy at once!”
The moment Umun Tak revealed himself, the shouts of Heaven-Piercing Gang’s spellcasters erupted through the slash-and-burn village that had been steeped in silence.
A barrage of curses was about to pour down, but Umun Tak did not slow his pace at all. Instead, he immediately thrust both hands into his robe.
Swaeek!
Paaat!
The items Umun Tak pulled from within his clothes were thrown straight into the membrane of evil qi.
With the sound of air tearing apart, countless talismans pierced into the interior.
‘…Sorcery?’
‘He plans to deal with Heaven-Piercing Gang’s spellcasters using sorcery??’
Was Heaven-Piercing Gang not infamous for possessing the most vicious sorcery in the Central Plains?
Unless he was a madman who had thrown his life away, it was an utterly absurd approach.
But then—
Woooong!
Wooong!
From the dozens of talismans that landed precisely where they were thrown, dazzling radiance burst forth all at once.
At the same time, beams of light painted a spell formation onto the ground as if ink were being brushed across it.
And within the completed formation.
Shaaah!
Chur-chuk!
Pitch-black coffins poured out in a torrent.
A sinister blue light flowed from Umun Tak’s eyes.
At some point, the Wildfire had already been activated.
‘Originally, living beings cannot be stored inside a Storage Talisman. Which means that beings without life are possible.’
That was right. Every talisman Umun Tak had thrown was a Storage Talisman meant to hold objects within.
And what lay inside the coffins he had brought out was obvious.
“It’s the Beast Nether King!!”
“The coffins! Destroy all the coffins!!”
The Heaven-Piercing Gang sorcerers who had been hiding their bodies inside the thatched huts raised their voices.
They abandoned Umun Tak for the moment and tried to destroy all the coffins.
Sswaeaeak!
Paaat!
All kinds of sinister sorceries that had been activated poured down upon the coffins like a torrential rain.
Kwaaaang!
Along with an ear-ringing explosion, the ground itself shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Countless bizarre and grotesque sorceries struck dozens of coffins with perfect accuracy, and pillars of flame surged upward.
At the same time, thick clouds of dust blanketed the surroundings.
But…….
“M, what?!”
“?!”
The spellcasters of Heaven-Piercing Gang could not hide their bewilderment.
When the dust clouds finally cleared, the coffins taken out by the Beast Nether King had not even suffered so much as a small scratch.
Watching the enemies’ flustered expressions, Umun Tak curled his lips into a sneer.
‘There’s no way it would work.’
Those Ghost Gate Black Coffins were not ordinary coffins.
Every single one of them was a Divine Artifact personally crafted by Sewoon.
If the coffins given to Mount Emei had merely focused on preventing decay through cold energy, these Ghost Gate Black Coffins possessed powers on an entirely different level.
The first of those powers was a solid curse-resisting force (降呪力) that effortlessly blocked all sorcery of ‘Earth (地)-rank’ or lower, much like a shield.
Hwiik! Hwik!
At that moment, Umun Tak moved his hands like brushes, as if painting an ink-and-wash scroll in the air.
“Your master commands.”
As soon as those words ended, all of the Ghost Gate Black Coffins opened at once.
Kkigeok.
Jjeojeok.
And within them, in the deep darkness, crimson eye-light like red jade emitted a chilling glow.
Gigik!
Giiik!
Scattering a horrific stench of corpses, the coffins burst open as the jiangshi revealed themselves.
Chwaaaah!
Kwarrreureu!
A ferocious aura was erupting from the jiangshi.
“……What is that?”
‘Jiang……shi?’
Gong Taemun and Yongbi muttered in shock.
Both men had lived by the blade in the jianghu and had seen jiangshi before.
But they could tell at a glance.
Those were not the ordinary jiangshi they had known.
Just by looking at the legion of the dead, it felt as though the qi within their bodies was melting away.
But that was no illusion.
The second power of the Ghost Gate Black Coffins was being manifested within the jiangshi.
While stored inside the coffins, they continuously recovered and strengthened the jiangshi’s power, just as a martial artist would circulate qi and regulate breathing.
And the trait of the ‘Soul-Hardened Corpse (魂剛屍)’ created by the Blood Cult was originally to gnaw away at the internal energy of martial artists whose bodies they came into contact with.
Yet that trait had been amplified to the extreme by the power of the Ghost Gate Black Coffins, allowing its effects to reach even beings far away.
Graaah!
Kwaaaah!!
It was then.
Suddenly, demonic qi surged and violently flared across the entire village.
Patterns overlapped layer upon layer in the sky, and the blood veins of the earth throbbed in unison.
At that, the Heaven-Piercing Gang spellcasters lit up with joy.
“It worked!”
“The Curse Blood Formation has activated!!”
At last, the Curse Blood Formation had reacted to the jiangshi.
However, Umun Tak did not waver in the slightest.
“Exterminate all enemies that live and breathe.”
Rather, he simply issued an attack order to the jiangshi.
Pababat!
Tadat!
At the same time, the Soul-Hardened Corpses charged like lightning toward the thatched huts where the spellcasters were hiding.
It was nothing like the sluggish movements normally associated with jiangshi.
As the Soul-Hardened Corpses charged at them with grotesquely twisted limbs, the spellcasters could not hide their panic.
‘N, no. Why??’
‘The Curse Blood Formation definitely activated??’
But soon, they realized the reason.
Only hollow sighs filled the area.
‘There’s no blood at all inside these things…… Th, that’s why the formation isn’t reacting!’
‘That’s heretical sorcery! That’s evil arts!’
That was right. Jiangshi were beings that did not bleed from the start. They did not meet the activation conditions of the Curse Blood Formation.
‘……So that’s why!’
‘So this was why we were told to learn such a way of fighting!’
Gong Taemun and Yongbi exclaimed inwardly at Sewoon’s foresight.
Sewoon had known this in advance, which was why he had appointed Umun Tak as the one in charge of the three and sent him here.
“K, kill them!”
“Stop them!!”
The spellcasters hiding in the rear screamed in desperation.
Sswaeaeak!
Kwaang!
As the Soul-Hardened Corpses swung their ghostly qi-filled twin arms, the thatched huts with spell formations laid out upon them were crushed like sheets of paper.
“D, don’t come!”
“Aaagh!!”
They swung their cursed implements in terror, but—
Pabat!
Chwaaak!
The jiangshi that had forced their way inside mercilessly smashed the cursed tools and pounced on the spellcasters.
Like predators that had spotted delectable prey, the Soul-Hardened Corpses tore into the spellcasters with savage ferocity.
“Guhk!!”
“S, save me……!?”
“Ggur, grrgh!”
The Soul-Hardened Corpses slaughtered the enemies indiscriminately.
There was no other combat method.
With nothing but the physical strength enhanced within the Ghost Gate Black Coffins, they thoroughly destroyed their foes.
They tore apart, ripped free, smashed, and chewed them to pieces.
As the jiangshi crushed everything, even the spell formations were finally being shaken.
That was because the spellcasters responsible for maintaining the Curse Blood Formation were being torn limb from limb by the jiangshi, one after another.
And eventually—
Chiiiiik!
The barrier of demonic qi that had seemed so solid slowly dissipated.
Yongbi, who belatedly grasped the situation, spoke slowly.
“……Ryonju-nim. Sh, shall we enter as well?”
“……Yes.”
Gong Taemun and Yongbi entered the battlefield late.
But at that moment, both of them shared the same thought.
……Was there really anything left for them to do?
And less than an hour later.
Of the three spell formations suppressing the Heaven-Piercing Gang sorcery spread across Namnyeong, the first formation was destroyed with astonishing ease and success.