novelraw Chapter 198 : The Affairs of the World Always Flow Toward the Unpredictable (2)
Chapter 198 : The Affairs of the World Always Flow Toward the Unpredictable (2)
Chapter 198: The Affairs of the World Always Flow Toward the Unpredictable (2)
‘What kind of insane situation was this?’
Baek Choryang was dumbfounded.
Even when he had been hiding and merely watching the fierce battle, as time passed, a hint of color had appeared on his face.
That was because it had been plainly visible that Sewoon’s condition was steadily being drained.
He had thought it would all be over once it was finished off with the spell constructs.
That was why he had issued the order to attack.
But now, no matter how he looked at it, the situation had become twisted.
Out of nowhere, the spell constructs and Poison Demon Yelü Sheng were locked in a fierce battle.
“These verminous lesser ghosts (雜鬼)!”
“I’ll tear every last one of you apart!”
Kkajeojeok!
Poison Demon Yelü Sheng arrived first, twisting the neck of one of the spell constructs and ripping it off whole.
The resistance of the spell construct, which contained the power of the great yokai Cow Demon, was crushed far too easily.
Baek Choryang and the members of the Ghostfire Unit could only stare in shock.
‘…No, wasn’t that bastard on our side?’
As everyone wavered with the same thought, Baek Choryang realized that if this continued, their morale would plummet. He raised his voice.
“Don’t panic!”
“!!”
“That bastard is nothing more than a cripple who isn’t even in his right state! Just kill them both and be done with it! Immediately include the Poison Demon among the spell constructs’ targets!!”
“Y-Yes, yes!!”
At Baek Choryang’s command, the Ghostfire Unit members each raised their sorcery tools and began chanting their incantations in unison.
With their eyes closed in concentration, beads of sweat streamed down their foreheads.
Controlling spell constructs imbued with such immense power consumed a tremendous amount of sorcery power.
Fortunately, since not much time had passed since activating them, control was still relatively smooth for now.
‘…But the longer time passes, the harder it will definitely become to control the spell constructs. We have to kill those two while the spell constructs are still properly controllable, then seal them again. Otherwise….’
They would all be killed by the rampaging spell constructs.
Baek Choryang swallowed that truth silently, unable to say it aloud to his subordinates.
“Hi, h-hiiik!”
“…!”
At that moment, an unpleasant groan suddenly echoed by his ear.
Baek Choryang deeply furrowed his brow and turned his head toward the source of the sound.
There, he saw a criminal’s face drained completely pale of blood.
‘…Vice Sect Leader?’
The one who had fallen into panic was none other than Gongsun Beon.
Why was the man known in the jianghu as the Nine-Fox Illusionist so utterly terrified?
As Baek Choryang failed to hide his confusion, Gongsun Beon, as if even seeing hallucinations, muttered incoherent words to himself.
“N-No, I’m sorry. Hiiik.”
“Ha.”
Watching that sight, Baek Choryang shook his head in disbelief.
He had said that before meeting him, he had been dragged around by the Poison Demon and suffered all kinds of humiliation.
Now it seemed that merely seeing the Poison Demon’s face filled him with instinctive terror.
Contempt rose in Baek Choryang’s gaze.
‘Looking at that worm-like state… once this affair is over, the Vice Sect Leader position will be mine.’
Pulling his eyes away from that piece of trash, he once more looked toward the fierce battlefield.
Sewoon and Yelü Sheng.
Killing intent poured from Baek Choryang’s eyes as he glared at the two of them.
Swaeak!
Along with the shockwave sound of air being torn apart, a sharp blade pierced toward Sewoon’s eyes.
‘That’s not a blade.’
What the spell construct had swung was its own fingernails, grotesquely grown into a bizarre shape.
Its aim was to rip off his facial skin.
Sewoon immediately lowered his waist swiftly to evade the attack, and at the same time—
Chwarara!
He, too, fiercely swung his left hand toward the enemy.
Like surging waves, the Heavenly Net wrapped around Sewoon’s hand undulated as it flew forth.
Kagagagang!
When the Heavenly Net collided with the spell construct’s nails, orange sparks burst into the air.
Astonishingly, the enemy’s nails were not severed and remained intact.
‘So the Dark Heaven Qi Thread isn’t enough.’
Sewoon had temporarily withdrawn the Reverse Heaven Qi Thread he had been wrapped in during his fight with the Poison Demon.
Because he had used it nearly to its limit in that battle, using it any further risked being devoured by the Reverse Heaven Qi itself.
That was why he had brought out the Dark Heaven Qi Thread, yet as seen now, it was only matching the enemy’s attacks evenly.
Ordinarily, the Dark Heaven Qi Thread alone would have been enough to wipe them all out, but this was proof of how much Sewoon’s energy had fallen, and at the same time—
It meant that the martial might of the spell constructs, which contained the power of a great yokai within them, was considerable.
‘Even if not full circulation and adjustment of qi, if I could at least properly catch my breath once….’
Unfortunately, there was not even a moment to relax his tension.
Pabat!
“…!”
Even then, another spell construct charged at him from a blind spot, aiming for an opening.
Sewoon hurriedly used his movement arts to retreat backward, but—
Chwaaaak!
Seogeok!
Along with a chilling slicing sound, Sewoon’s shoulder was cut open.
Red blood seeped through the inside of his severed green robe.
Saaaah!
The Heavenly Net in his right hand was pulled taut.
Sewoon immediately tried to launch a counterattack, but—
Pabat!
As if satisfied with having achieved its objective, the spell construct had already cleverly withdrawn.
Krrr!
Then, the spell construct that Sewoon had originally been facing rushed in as if to protect its comrade.
An extremely organic flow of combat.
That was right. These bizarre entities unleashed by the Heaven-Piercing Sect were engaging Sewoon in a one-versus-many Wheel Battle Formation, pressing their enemy relentlessly.
Hwaruk!
Watching the blue ghostfire blazing over their entire bodies, Sewoon fell into thought.
‘They’re different from jiangshi. These things think for themselves and fight in coordination.’
These monstrosities, born through a forbidden sorcery that forcibly stuffed the souls of great yokai into living bodies, were displaying abilities a level above even Umun Tak’s jiangshi.
Normally, jiangshi would become useless once their controlling sorcerer was killed—but these things were different.
‘Even if he accepted some damage and approached the sorcerers to sweep them away, these things would not stop.’
Although the spell constructs and the sorcerers were connected, it was nothing more than a leash meant to prevent them from baring their fangs at the sorcerers themselves.
With the heightened perception granted by Ink Blood, Sewoon was able to discern that difference.
In other words, to summarize the current situation—
‘The longer time passes, the more disadvantageous it becomes for me.’
Paaat!
At that moment, four spell constructs charged toward Sewoon simultaneously.
Hwaruk!
The power of the great yokai each of them carried burned like flames across their entire bodies.
They moved methodically, occupying every direction Sewoon could evade toward and closing in on him.
‘I have to block them.’
Kwareureung!
In response, Sewoon wrapped the Heavenly Net, which had bloomed into dozens of strands, around his entire body like an outer shell and made its flow spin violently like a vortex.
It was the moment he clad himself in armor where offense and defense were one.
Swaeaeak!
“……!!”
Out of nowhere, an ear-splittingly loud noise stabbed into Sewoon’s ears.
Something flew toward his eyes at an incredible speed—
Peopeopeopung!
Peopeong!
-Kii, ik!?
An explosion erupted from the forehead of a spell construct that had closed in right before him.
The spell construct, which had charged forward arrogantly while wrapped in terrifyingly condensed poisonous qi, toppled backward.
When Sewoon confirmed what it was, he frowned deeply.
They were Poison Demon Yelü Sheng’s poisonous insects, wrapped in the Spirit-Medium Qi Thread.
“Keukleuk. My, what a troublesome disciple you are!”
“Like a child left by the water’s edge, honestly.”
Yelü Sheng, who had been fighting the enemy in a frenzy, helped Sewoon and snickered.
“Get lost. I don’t need help from the likes of you.”
“Kikik, knowing full well you’ll have no choice but to accept the offered cup, you sure have a sharp tongue.”
“Well, if my only disciple wants to keep his pride, this master should generously indulge him.”
With those words, Yelü Sheng suddenly turned his back to Sewoon.
Sewoon was greatly taken aback.
‘……What?’
To expose one’s back to the enemy like this was no different from suicide.
At that very moment, Sewoon could have reached out and taken the defenseless Yelü Sheng’s heart.
As he hesitated in confusion, Yelü Sheng spoke without even looking back.
“Stabilize your qi. In the meantime, this master will personally hold these things back for you.”
“……!”
Sewoon was even more shocked.
Yelü Sheng was truly volunteering to act as his guardian, blocking the spell constructs’ attacks alone.
Seen another way, this was a golden opportunity to kill the Poison Demon.
As if he had immediately sensed Sewoon’s thoughts, Yelü Sheng snickered and said,
“Keukleuk, you damn disciple. Even in this situation, are you still itching to take my head?”
“I don’t really care, but if you do that, your subordinates will truly die off, you know?”
“……What?”
“Khng. For Mount Hua and Namgung’s lot, their loyalty was impressive. They seemed useful enough to keep by your side, so I left them breathing.”
“!!”
Only then did Sewoon realize that the Poison Demon had deceived him.
Do Yecheon and Namgung Baek were alive.
It felt as though his blood was surging in reverse, but Yelü Sheng curled the corners of his mouth high, looking as though he found Sewoon’s reaction endlessly amusing.
“Keuheu, wasn’t this master’s acting truly superb?”
“You damned bastard—!”
“Ah, now is hardly the time to be getting worked up over that.”
“?!”
Sewoon ground his teeth hard enough to make a sound as anger surged, but he soon slowly calmed his mind.
Poison Demon Yelü Sheng was impulsive and chaotic by nature.
If that impulse was buying him time to recover his strength, then he would accept it for now.
‘Fine. I’ll finish this fight first, then hear where he hid them, and kill him afterward.’
After annihilating all of the Heaven-Piercing Sect’s enemies, snapping that bastard’s neck would be enough.
Having organized his thoughts—
Saaaaa!
Sewoon retrieved the Dark Heaven Qi Thread that had been contained within the Heavenly Net.
He withdrew the Form-Shaped Qi and focused on operating the qi flowing along his meridians.
Chwaaa!
Since he could not sit down and circulate qi in meditation in this situation, he slowly drew up the Golden Bridle Qi instead.
He intended to regulate the tangled internal qi through the movement technique of the Golden Bridle Movement Technique.
The Golden Bridle Qi that had been dormant in his entire body’s fine meridians surged forth rapidly and began to soothe the flesh that had been burdened by the Reverse Heaven Qi Thread.
As his attainment in Golden Bridle Qi surpassed eight-tenths mastery, the speed of qi accumulation—which had previously been agonizingly slow—had now accelerated dramatically.
Chwaaaaa!
The depleted Innate True Qi began to fill at a tremendous rate.
Watching the flow of qi unfolding behind Sewoon’s back, Yelü Sheng could not suppress his amazement.
‘Keukleuk, this time he even has an ability to recover Innate True Qi?’
He was a talent that had never existed in murim history.
The power of the Blood Demon, his own power, and that unknown power on top of it—
There was no telling how many forces he held within his body.
-Kreur!
-Geuuu!
At that moment, the spell constructs, having sensed Sewoon’s change, let out beast-like roars.
Feeling the vicious killing intent carried in those voices, Yelü Sheng spat out his fury.
“Hmph, how dare you—mere yokai scraps trapped in human shells—!”
“To bare your fangs at this Yelü Sheng’s disciple!”
Chwaaa!
From within Yelü Sheng’s robes, poisonous insects imbued with the Spirit-Medium Qi Thread poured out like a raging storm.
“I’ll butcher every last one of you!!”
Thoroughly guarding Sewoon, the Poison Demon ferociously swung his twin hands.