novelraw Chapter 201 : Severe Punishment (1)
Chapter 201 : Severe Punishment (1)
Chapter 201: Severe Punishment (1)
Kwaaaarrr!
The turmoil of the battlefield, which had surged like a blazing mountain range, subsided, and only two blood-soaked figures stood at the center of the ruins.
Silence.
In that moment when not even the sound of breathing could be heard, Yelü Seung slowly opened his mouth.
“Keuk keuk, you say you’ll deal with Yeon.”
“That’s quite an amusing story you’re telling, disciple.”
Even while facing the danger of being reduced to nothing more than scattered flesh and blood like the spell entities strewn all around him, he wore a smile as though he had just heard a joke.
On the opposite side, Sewoon stood with killing intent radiating from his eyes.
Suaaah!
As a wordless reply, Sewoon further extended the threads of the Heavenly Thread.
Dozens of blade-like, razor-sharp currents spread out beyond his shoulders, blanketing the empty air.
“How ferocious, how ferocious. To think each and every strand contains form-shaped qi that has reached the extreme of the Manifestation Realm and been perfected.”
“Under such an outstanding master, the disciple’s achievements are advancing by leaps and bounds. I’m quite satisfied.”
“I’ll start by cutting off that chattering tongue of yours.”
“Hoh?”
Chwarak!
At Sewoon’s words, the Heavenly Thread revealed its feral nature all at once.
It was a sight like a rain of arrows dyeing the sky pitch-black on a battlefield.
Faced with the crisis of not only his tongue but his entire body being minced apart, Yelü Seung stretched his lips into a long grin.
“Good. Then cut.”
“…!”
Yelü Seung spoke with eyes filled only with madness.
It was as though he was truly offering his own neck to Sewoon.
“Keuk keuk, what is it that surprises you so?”
“I have always dreamed of this day. The day a disciple cuts down his master!”
“Kihih, what a truly brilliant day it would be!”
“!!”
That attitude of treating even his own life as a joke sent a chill through Sewoon.
Even so, Sewoon did not show it and silently tightened the threads further.
‘Is he trying to lure me into lowering my guard and then reveal a hidden move?’
If the opponent were an ordinary existence, that would surely be the case.
But he could not conclude so hastily.
That man was not an ordinary martial artist, but the worst madman in the jianghu—the Poison Demon.
However, that was not the only reason Sewoon could not easily strike his enemy.
“Why? You keep talking with words alone—why can’t you cut me down?”
“Is it because your love for your master runs that deep? Or else…”
“……”
Yelü Seung’s smile deepened further.
“Kihih, despite your bold words, there must be a reason you cannot bring yourself to kill your master.”
“Your martial attainment has advanced a step, but your skill at deceiving others is still sorely lacking, you wretched disciple.”
With those words, whose meaning was hard to grasp, Yelü Seung carefully took something out from his bosom.
Wiiing!
A bizarre sound that made one furrow one’s brow.
A familiar poisonous insect floated into the air, circling above Yelü Seung’s head.
“Your foolish underlings who’ve let their guts spill out.”
“Those vermin, barely clinging to life where they lay scattered, are known to this adorable little fellow.”
“You bastard!”
Sewoon finally could not hold back and let out a furious roar.
That was right. Earlier, Yelü Seung had clearly told him that Namgung Baek and Do Yecheon were still alive.
Sewoon wanted to tear the Poison Demon’s limbs apart right then and there, but because of that sliver of possibility, he could not easily make a move.
Yelü Seung leisurely rubbed the poisonous insect’s wings.
At once, it buzzed and began flapping its wings steadily in a certain direction.
“The moment you kill me, this little fellow’s wingbeats will also come to an end. Now then, make your choice, disciple.”
“Will you cut me down here and miss the final breaths of the underlings who came forth for your sake? Or will you politely greet your master and get lost?”
Kwaaaarrr!
Inside Sewoon, upon hearing that lunacy, all his energy surged violently.
It was not simple anger.
That emotion was hatred so overflowing it threatened to erase reason itself.
Sreung!
The end of the Heavenly Thread in his grasp lifted slightly toward the sky.
‘I should kill him right now.’
‘But if I do, then…’
Yet the conflict in his mind did not easily reach a conclusion.
Cheocheok!
In the end, all the Heavenly Thread that had filled the air was withdrawn into Sewoon’s hands.
He did not swing the Heavenly Thread.
Sewoon ultimately could not kill the Poison Demon.
Because he knew that the moment he did, the lives of those two would vanish.
Grinding his teeth, Sewoon spoke.
“…The next time we meet, I will definitely tear out your throat.”
“Keuahaha, I’ll be looking forward to it.”
As Yelü Seung burst into loud laughter and flicked his finger—
Wiiing!
The poisonous insect, as if aware of a preprogrammed command, began flying swiftly in a fixed direction.
Sewoon followed its movement with his eyes, then immediately stamped down and launched his body.
Swaeak!
As the shockwave sound of air being torn apart rang out, Sewoon vanished in an instant.
Watching Sewoon’s back as it disappeared like an afterimage, the Poison Demon gazed quietly.
“Kihih, until next time, you wretched disciple.”
With those words, the Poison Demon slowly turned his head.
A pile of stones stacked like a tower from the aftermath of the battle came into view.
The Poison Demon stretched out his hand.
Kwaaaang!
“Uaaagh!!”
With a deafening explosion, the pile of rocks was blasted wholesale into the sky.
And from within it, a single shadow that had been hiding revealed itself.
It was Gongsun Beon, Vice Leader of the Tongcheonbang.
Sseuk!
“Kiek!”
Yelü Seung’s hand, approaching like a shadow, clamped firmly around Gongsun Beon’s nape.
“W-why are you doing this, Elder?!”
“Keuk keuk, where do you think you’re going?”
“I-it’s a misunderstanding! Elder. W-where would I possibly go?”
Gongsun Beon, his face drained of color, raised his voice toward Yelü Seung.
“Is that so? You worked hard waiting quietly for your master.”
“Y-yes, that’s right. I hid because I feared I might interfere with Elder’s battle.”
Gulp—Gongsun Beon swallowed hard, then shamelessly poured out lies without even wetting his lips.
Yelü Seung turned a blind eye to that behavior to an appropriate degree and continued speaking.
“Now then, let’s go.”
“Y-yes? G-go where… where to?”
Thinking he would be freed from the Gu now that he had done everything he was told, Gongsun Beon blinked his eyes.
Yelü Seung looked into the terrified eyes of the man and smiled leisurely.
“Where else would we go? Do you really think I’d just let go of the bastard who ruined my warm and friendly conversation with my disciple?”
“?!”
From Yelü Seung’s entire body, overwhelming killing intent—something he had not shown Sewoon—was already surging.
‘N-no way…?’
Realizing whom that fury was directed at, Gongsun Beon’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck.
“I’m tired of talking. Let’s go.”
“W-wait! J-just a moment! E-Elde—?!”
At the same time those words left him, Yelü Seung’s figure vanished as if it had evaporated into the air.
He had leapt straight up into the sky at an unbelievable speed.
“Uaaaaaaaagh!!”
At the spot where he disappeared, Gongsun Beon’s scream lingered briefly like an echo.
Kwaaaang!
At the center of a spell leyline intricately interwoven with countless sorceries.
From the very heart of Tongcheonbang’s main headquarters, a massive explosion suddenly erupted.
At the center of the Grand Altar, densely engraved with red talismans and formation inscriptions, a man trembled with rage so intense it seemed he would spit blood.
“…The spell formation was dismantled?”
Tongcheonbang’s Leader, An Cheongmyeong, instinctively sensed that the spell energy blanketing the headquarters had been completely destroyed.
Kwaang!
An Cheongmyeong slammed his fist down with force.
The stone altar shattered completely.
The spell formations that had been created and maintained at three locations were the core of Tongcheonbang’s defensive network, built up over decades.
Yet that purification of the spells—
“Tang Sewoon…! That bastard, who charged in alone without even troops—how in the world…!!”
He could not even finish his sentence.
The fact that someone had broken through the core of Mount Jusan alone, without troops, and smashed every last spell entity sent there with overwhelming destructive power was simply unbelievable.
‘Tang Sewoon. Has that bastard’s realm truly reached such a terrifying height?’
“No!! That’s impossible!!”
An Cheongmyeong roared.
Kururung!
So immense was the sorcery power contained within that shout that, along with a shock as if the air itself were tearing, the area behind the altar collapsed entirely.
Madness could be seen flickering in An Cheongmyeong’s eyes.
“I know better than anyone what kind of thing that spell entity is! I’m the one who made it! There’s no way it could be so helplessly crushed by a single person—especially by some greenhorn whose blood hasn’t even dried yet!!”
It felt as though his insides were twisting with boundless rage.
Barely suppressing the Inner Demon that threatened to take hold, An Cheongmyeong calmed his mind and began to devise countermeasures.
‘If I ask the Sun Palace for help…!’
At present, the only place he could reach out to for salvation was the Sun Palace, which was waging war against the Southern Sea Sword Sect.
But An Cheongmyeong bit his lip.
Borrowing foreign power was an easy method, but it carried enormous risks in equal measure.
‘After Tang Sewoon is dealt with, there’s no knowing how those Sun Palace bastards might change their stance.’
Yet regrettably, there were no other viable options.
He could not afford to remain silent and suffer an even greater defeat.
Tremble.
An Cheongmyeong’s body shook with rage at the utterly dreadful situation.
How in the world had he ended up like this?
Then suddenly, a certain existence crossed his mind.
“…Yelü Seung!”
A collaborator dispatched by the Blood Cult.
Yet up to now, that being had not produced a single tangible result.
Rather, he had only worsened the chaos.
Just then, a single hypothesis flashed through An Cheongmyeong’s mind.
“Could it be that the Blood Cult—those damned bastards—planned to seize Tongcheonbang by borrowing that man’s hand…?!”
Kwaang!!
At that moment, with a tremendous explosion, one entire wall of the chamber collapsed.
‘What the—?!’
An Cheongmyeong could not hide his bewilderment at the sudden turn of events.
As he hurriedly drew up his sorcery power—
Chwaaaaah.
Cold yin energy wrapped around the air, and suddenly, someone’s shadow twisted space as it appeared.
A one-armed man clad in a blood-soaked martial uniform, bearing the unmistakable traces of a fierce and desperate battle.
“Heh heh, so the rat was hiding here.”
That casually uttered voice reverberated in all directions.
As he looked at the intruder, An Cheongmyeong’s eyes shone sharply.
“Yelü Seung.”
That was right. The one who had appeared by twisting space was none other than the Poison Demon, Yelü Seung.
He wondered how the Poison Demon had used such a high-level sorcery to move through space, but—
“U-ugh… I—I can’t go on any longer…”
At Yelü Seung’s feet, Gongsun Beon lay sprawled on the ground.
Having consumed so much sorcery power, far beyond his limits, his hair had turned white as snow, like that of an old man.
“To think you’d dare show your face before me right now—you’ve really got your guts hanging out.”
“Kyahaha, all I’m thinking about is tearing your guts out of your belly. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
Yelü Seung burst into maniacal laughter and slowly wiped the blood from his hand.
Seeing the Poison Demon’s appearance, An Cheongmyeong completely misunderstood the situation.
“Right. From the very beginning, it was a vile scheme laid by the Blood Cult.”
“Heh heh, what kind of bullshit are you spouting?”
“Fine, mock me to the very end. While you do, I’ll tear out your heart!”
Kwa-jik!
From An Cheongmyeong’s entire body, a storm of blood-red sorcery power surged violently.
In response, Yelü Seung merely shrugged and raised his hand.
“Heh heh, just a lowly spell-user bastard.”
“Now then, shall I start cleaning up after my disciple?”
In an instant, Yelü Seung’s aura surged like a tidal wave, and the earth began to tremble.