novelraw Chapter 191 : Battle of Pingguo County (1)
Chapter 191 : Battle of Pingguo County (1)
Chapter 191: Battle of Pingguo County (1)
Crash—!!
The inkstone that had flown through the air shattered into pieces on the floor along with a sharp cracking sound.
The face of An Cheongmyeong, the Heaven-Piercing Gang Sect Leader, was flushed red as if it were about to burst.
“Do you even think that counts as something a person should say!!”
“I-I’m sorry!”
Ghostly qi blazed vividly in the Sect Leader’s eyes.
The subordinates kneeling before him with their heads pressed low trembled violently in fear.
It was because an urgent report had just arrived, stating that the spell formations in Donglan County and Du’an County had been destroyed by unidentified entities.
The Heaven-Piercing Gang executives, drenched in cold sweat down their backs, could not even begin to guess how such a situation had unfolded.
‘The Tang Clan bastards’ advance is far too fast—faster than expected by far. This is absolutely impossible with just superior movement arts. It’s not as if they’re moving as a group while riding spiritual beasts…….’
‘No, how do they know every single location where the spell formations were installed? And the fact that dismantlement has already been completed means they must have stormed in with countermeasures against the Curse Blood Formation and the Defeated Slaughter Divergence already prepared.’
‘……Could it be that the Blood-Thread Tyrant didn’t lose control and impulsively draw a blade against us?’
‘Tang Sewoon! That bastard prepared all of this meticulously in advance and then charged in!!’
As An Cheongmyeong looked down at them—those who had collectively gone mute as if honey had sealed their mouths—an even greater rage surged up within him.
An Cheongmyeong rose from his seat.
His bare hand, suffused with killing intent and empowered by sorcery, looked ready to smash his subordinates’ skulls at any moment.
“Very well. If you’re insects that can’t even speak properly, there’s no need to keep you alive.”
“S-Sect Leader!”
“Hiiik!!”
“P-Please restrain yourself!!”
Realizing that An Cheongmyeong’s fury had reached its limit, the subordinates cried out as if begging for their lives.
Then, unlike before, they began desperately pouring out every possible countermeasure they could think of.
“While it is true that the spell formations in Donglan County and Du’an County were destroyed, those locations were merely additional installations meant to maximize and reinforce the effectiveness of the sorcery in the first place!”
“T-That’s right! As long as we perfectly protect the spell formation in Pingguo County—the very source that activates the sorcery of Namnyeong—everything so far will amount to nothing more than a trivial disturbance!”
“Yes, yes! From the very first design, Pingguo County was established with manpower and sorceries on a scale incomparable to the other locations, so there’s no need to worry, Sect Leader!”
“Moreover, if we take advantage of the enemy’s complacency while their morale is rising without them knowing this fact, we can deal them several times the damage we’ve suffered!”
As An Cheongmyeong listened to his subordinates, his expression gradually began to calm.
Once he suppressed his agitation and assessed the situation, their words indeed held logic.
Although the loss of the two counties was an unexpected blow, it was not fatal.
If they bled a little now to seize the bone later, he thought, they could still reverse the momentum.
“……So then, how is it proceeding at present?”
“We-I’ve already dispatched the core unit’s most elite sorcerers to Pingguo County! After gathering the Guangxi wanderers, we supplied them with our faction’s sorcery tools and immediately sent them as reinforcements!”
Leaving only the minimum force necessary to defend the main headquarters, they concentrated all primary forces in Pingguo County.
And to the wanderers hired at great expense, they supplied sorcery tools containing all manner of bizarre and sinister spells crafted by Heaven-Piercing Gang.
Wanderers equipped with Heaven-Piercing Gang’s sorcery tools—focused solely on harming and killing the enemy—would not be an easy match even for the Murim Alliance’s elites.
Just then, An Cheongmyeong spoke in a cold, detached voice.
“Then where is the Poison Demon?”
“T-That is…….”
The subordinate hesitated, trailing off as he gauged the Sect Leader’s mood.
In response, An Cheongmyeong’s gaze grew even sharper and more chilling.
“Is he off indulging in some meaningless excursion like the Vice Sect Leader again?”
“……Y-Yes.”
The subordinate answered with a deflated sound.
Crunch.
An Cheongmyeong ground his teeth audibly without realizing it.
From the very first day he arrived, the Poison Demon, struck by some whim, had treated Gongsun Beon like his own limbs, dragging him along everywhere while leisurely roaming outside.
Even when informed that Donglan County and Du’an County had been attacked and asked to reclaim them, he had spewed nonsense about how that wasn’t his role and refused the order outright.
‘……The Poison Demon alone won’t suffice.’
The Poison Demon was undoubtedly the sharpest blade in his possession, yet he absolutely refused to move according to An Cheongmyeong’s will.
Once again, An Cheongmyeong sank into thought.
‘It’s certain that information is leaking from within. In that case…….’
There was only one method left.
Madness flooded An Cheongmyeong’s eyes.
‘Then we, too, must face the enemy with things for which no proper countermeasures yet exist.’
Having reached that conclusion, An Cheongmyeong spoke to his subordinates.
“Deploy the ‘Cursed Bodies’.”
“……!!”
At the term “Cursed Bodies,” the subordinates who had been bowing their heads all lifted them at once.
Shock was written clearly across their faces.
The Cursed Bodies were a method that Heaven-Piercing Gang had been secretly developing in absolute secrecy, even hiding their existence from the Demonic Alliance.
They contained terrifying power, but control methods were still inadequate—things that would require at least another year before completion.
“B-But, Sect Leader.”
“T-Those are still not complete……”
“P-Please reconsider.”
“If we forcibly activate the incomplete cursed bodies, there’s a risk of a major accident—, ghk!?”
The subordinate who had uttered those last words of concern was suddenly lifted into the air.
As if seized by an invisible hand, the subordinate writhed in agony midair.
At some point, An Cheongmyeong was extending his hand from afar.
As the pressure constricting his throat grew stronger and stronger, the subordinate’s face turned deathly blue.
“Isn’t an accident far greater than that already unfolding right before your eyes, caused by your blunders?”
“G-ghk?!”
Crack.
Along with the horrific sound of a neck bone snapping, the subordinate’s body went limp.
An Cheongmyeong, as if it were nothing worth seeing, flung the corpse against the wall.
“If you want to live—.”
Not even the sound of breathing could be heard amid the fear and shock.
“Bring Tang Sewoon before my eyes, reduced to that state.”
An Cheongmyeong’s pupils had changed into those of a ghost.
Pingguo County
Mount Jusan.
Mount Jusan had originally been a low back mountain that even the residents of Pingguo County would casually climb for fun.
But now, it had become a strictly forbidden place—so much so that adults warned children never to go near it.
This was because, ever since the Heaven-Piercing Gang spell formation had been installed at its summit, airtight security had been maintained for decades.
“Thoroughly inspect everyone coming and going!”
“Use the Aech'a supplied by Heaven-Piercing Gang to confirm the enemies’ appearances!!”
“They said it can detect any human-skin mask, so if even the slightest thing looks off about someone’s face, cut them down first!”
“Yes!!”
Heaven-Piercing Gang had always been ruthless enough to behead even clueless children without hesitation if they approached.
But lately, it had gone far beyond even that.
It was as if the old scenario had been perfectly reenacted—when, long ago, Ma Su of Shu built his encampment atop a mountain peak and deployed ironclad defensive formations.
From the foot of the mountain, to the mid-slope, to the summit.
Three distinct circular spell formations were spread out, guarding the area with absolute rigor.
And with different troops stationed in each zone, the foot of the mountain was guarded day and night by wanderers mobilized by Heaven-Piercing Gang, rotating personnel constantly to remain vigilant against enemy attacks.
“Damn it, I nearly died just trying to take a piss.”
At that moment, a man who had been standing outer guard shook off his trousers and spoke irritably to his companion.
“Heh heh, looks like you almost stepped too far outside the spell formation.”
“Exactly. See this? The hem of my pants is melted. If I’d kept chatting with this guy, we both would’ve died.”
“Khhk, almost went straight to the Yellow Springs just from taking a leak, huh.”
Though smaller in scale, it was still a mountain.
They were patrolling the vast area by dividing into four-man teams, repeatedly circling their routes.
And just now, two of them had gone off to relieve themselves and returned.
However, because their patrol zone was very close to the mountain’s mid-slope, they had encountered danger.
The three different circular spell formations did not distinguish between friend and foe.
The two had nearly died after brushing against the second formation—the Haewa (解蝸) Formation, which possessed the power to melt anything it touched.
“Tch, those damn sorcerers really pack filthy little tricks.”
“Tell me about it. What are they so afraid of from the Tang Clan’s rabble that they’d lay out three layers of such horrific evil arts?”
“You think those lunatics would actually come here? They’re probably just putting on a show, telling people not to come into Guizhou.”
“So what? If we just finish this job properly, they say they’ll give us these obviously expensive sorcery tools for free.”
“Heh heh, even if we grabbed just these and ran, we’d still make a killing.”
“An Aech'a that lets you see through the enemy’s true nature… It’s ridiculous, but impressive.”
As they snickered and chatted among themselves, it happened.
The two men who had returned from relieving themselves casually exchanged glances without the other two noticing.
For an instant, the expressions on their grinning faces turned chilling—but unfortunately, the remaining two noticed nothing at all.
Then one man spoke casually.
“Really? But I like a different sorcery tool more than this little Aech'a.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Something else? D-Don’t tell me you got another item separately?”
“What? Really??”
At the unheard-of claim that he alone had received a different item, the two pricked up their ears.
Their eyes sparkled with greed.
“Heh heh, well. What do you say—want to see it?”
“Of course!”
“Show us! What is it??”
“Well, it’s not like it’ll wear out. Fine then, I’ll show you.”
The man slowly stepped closer to the two and exposed his neck.
A necklace inlaid with green jade came into view.
At a glance, the green jade emitted a mysterious and extraordinary light.
“Look closely. This necklace holds truly astonishing power.”
“Oooh! You can tell just by looking that energy is overflowing from it.”
“T-Then what exactly is its effect??”
Swoosh.
But the two, entranced by the green jade necklace, failed to notice even a hint.
That another man was silently moving in behind them.
“Well, you see. This changes the voice of the one who wears it.”
“……The voice?”
“Huh?”
The completely unexpected effect made the two tilt their heads.
But the man continued speaking regardless.
“Yes, but that’s not all.”
“……Not all?”
“This thing—if you store the voice of someone you’ve killed in it, then to those who remember that voice, you’ll temporarily appear with that person’s face.”
“……The voice of someone killed? What are you—?!”
Slash!
At that moment, a chilling cutting sound rang out.
Red lines were drawn across the two men’s necks as they collapsed to the ground.
In the eyes of the two, severed from their bodies as they fell—
“Well then. Who do I look like now?”
What appeared before them were not the faces of those they remembered.
But the faces of entirely different people.
Namgung Baek.
And Do Yecheon.