novelraw Chapter 214 : Reversing the Flow (3)
Chapter 214 : Reversing the Flow (3)
Chapter 214: Reversing the Flow (3)
“How, how are you here……??”
At Sewoon’s appearance, Lee Jamyeong’s voice cracked and trembled in shock.
Barely managing to straighten his limping body, Lee Jamyeong gasped for breath while desperately racking his brain.
But no matter how much he thought about it, he could not come up with any reason why the enemy was here.
It was a situation that simply made no sense.
There was only one reason the Gate of Assassins Leader could have pursued him.
It was because they possessed the same movement sorcery tool attuned to an identical destination point.
Moreover, after using the sorcery tool, Lee Jamyeong had clearly gone through additional procedures to erase all traces and presence. So the idea that Sewoon had chased him down with movement techniques was equally absurd.
No matter how powerful the movement technique wielded by a martial artist of the Manifestation Realm, the overwhelming distance difference was something that could not be overcome.
‘That bastard isn’t a Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden or the Heaven-Piercing Sect Leader, so just how in the world……!’
Unless one was a sorcerer hailed as the greatest by both the orthodox and unorthodox paths, such a feat was impossible.
At that moment, as Sewoon fixed Lee Jamyeong with an icy gaze like the frozen snows of the North Sea—
“Cough.”
“!!”
A wet, sickening sound of blood spilling suddenly sliced through the air.
It was not Lee Jamyeong’s.
Both the Gate of Assassins Leader and Lee Jamyeong slowly turned their heads toward the direction the sound had come from.
“Uh… ughhh.”
Beyond the forest where Sewoon had appeared, a single figure staggered forward into view.
“!!”
“……Wh, what…?”
Both men were taken aback by the questioner’s horrifying appearance.
A body emaciated like a skeleton, dried and clinging flesh, white hair bleached pale, and lifeless eyes clouded with ashen gray.
By all appearances, he already looked like a dead man, yet strangely, with life still clinging to him, he continued walking toward Sewoon.
‘W, wait…!’
At that moment, Lee Jamyeong’s eyes widened.
As he looked closer, he finally recognized who it was.
Why was that man here?
“……Gu, Guho Illusionist……?”
That was right. The Vice Sect Leader of the Heaven-Piercing Sect, Guho Illusionist Gongsun Beon.
The identity of the mysterious figure was none other than him.
Judging by the circumstances, it seemed Gongsun Beon, who had been hiding, had assisted Sewoon with sorcery so that he could pursue Lee Jamyeong.
Yet it made no sense.
‘Why is he helping Tang Sewoon……?! Don’t tell me…?’
That the Heaven-Piercing Sect itself had been seized and he had come all the way here……!
As Lee Jamyeong stood there in utter confusion.
Sewoon looked at Guho Illusionist with eyes devoid of any emotion.
Just as Lee Jamyeong had guessed, the reason Gongsun Beon had been reduced to such a state was indeed because of Sewoon.
Rewinding time briefly, to the ruins of the Heaven-Piercing Sect.
—We are going to the Southern Sea Sun Palace.
—Then…… the main sect…….
—Do not worry. The moment the Southern Sea Sun Palace Master is dealt with, we will head straight to the Tang Clan’s battlefield.
—……Pardon? That enormous distance, how?
—There is someone who can make it possible.
—!!
After saying that before his subordinates, Sewoon immediately scattered the Heavenly Net.
Like a living serpent, the Heavenly Net writhed and dragged out Gongsun Beon, who had been buried within the ruins.
After eliminating the Heaven-Piercing Sect Leader, the Poison Demon discarded Gongsun Beon, having exhausted his usefulness.
However, for Gongsun Beon, that became the worst possible outcome.
—Kuaaaargh!!
Sewoon forcibly injected part of the demonic power of the newly acquired ferocious beast, Qiongqi, into his body.
There was only one reason.
Just as the Poison Demon had used him to move into the Heaven-Piercing Sect’s interior.
‘This one is an ideal sacrifice for manifesting movement sorcery.’
By offering him as a sacrifice to Qiongqi and forcibly draining Gongsun Beon’s vitality, Sewoon made him repeatedly activate an ultra–long-distance movement sorcery that, under normal circumstances, could only be used once in a lifetime.
Death was inevitable, but Sewoon did not feel even a shred of guilt.
‘I never intended to let a bastard who committed countless atrocities and massacres live in the first place.’
From the moment he implanted Gu Poison into his body, Sewoon had planned to kill him once his usefulness ran out.
Considering the horrific evils Gongsun Beon had committed as the Vice Sect Leader of the Heaven-Piercing Sect, this was a relatively peaceful death.
Thud.
At that moment, Gongsun Beon collapsed to his knees.
“……Now, please…… just kill me…….”
What escaped his lips was not a scream, but a sigh of despair.
From his eyes, blurred tears flowed like drops of blood.
Sewoon silently nodded.
“Alright. I will keep my promise.”
“A, ahh.”
Then he flicked the Heavenly Net at the tip of his index finger.
Screeech!
Puhk!.
Along with an Air-Rending Sound as the air itself was torn apart, a grotesque piercing noise echoed.
A distinct hole had appeared in Gongsun Beon’s forehead.
Despite meeting such a horrific end, a faint smile lingered on his lips.
That was how great the pain had been from the consecutive forced sorceries.
He was instead relieved at the thought of escaping that shackle through death.
‘C, crazy.’
Witnessing that bizarre and chilling sight, Lee Jamyeong’s eyes looked ready to burst from their sockets.
Swoosh.
Turning his head, Sewoon looked at Lee Jamyeong and spoke.
“What are you so shocked about.”
“……!”
Heh.
With a smile so eerie it defied description, Sewoon continued.
“That’s the future that awaits you soon enough.”
“……You son of a bitch!!”
Lee Jamyeong screamed as if tearing his throat apart.
In truth, goosebumps were erupting all over his body, and he was trembling uncontrollably like someone who had seen a ghost.
But he could not allow that to show, so he shouted even louder, pretending to be strong.
Lee Jamyeong turned his head and yelled toward the Gate of Assassins Leader.
“Gate of Assassins Leader! What are you doing! Kill that bastard immediately!! Didn’t you say you’d be paid several times the original fee!!!”
“Oh?”
At the words “Gate of Assassins Leader,” Sewoon turned his gaze, as if he had just heard something interesting.
“I thought you weren’t an ordinary assassin after all. To think the master of the Gate of Assassins himself would grace us with his presence.”
“…….”
“So? Are you planning to rush me from that side first?”
Sewoon spoke to the Gate of Assassins Leader as if he had just realized something he did not know, but in truth, Sewoon already knew the man’s identity.
‘Assassination Sovereign Hyeong Eyang.’
Within the Martial Forest, there existed a being known only by the title Assassination Sovereign, with no records or information attached to the name Hyeong Eyang itself.
The world’s greatest assassin of the era, the sworn enemy of Nameless, and his father—this man was that very figure.
‘If it’s a stealth technique that even escaped the eyes of Great Master Gakgong, then only the Gate of Assassins Leader would be capable of it.’
It had been a meeting that was bound to happen someday.
The Hyeong Eyang standing before him had deep ties with the Blood Cult.
However, Sewoon had no intention of revealing that he already knew this.
‘Rather, this knowledge could be used as a powerful countermeasure.’
As Sewoon carefully concealed his true intentions for future schemes, the Gate of Assassins Leader, Hyeong Eyang, stared straight at him without blinking and spoke quietly.
“Those are the eyes of one of my own kind.”
A born assassin.
That was Hyeong Eyang’s assessment of Sewoon.
He then turned his head slightly and answered Lee Jamyeong in an indifferent tone.
“I’m withdrawing.”
“What…?”
“The client no longer has the means to pay. My reason to move has disappeared.”
“A wise decision.”
“Y-you…!”
Hyeong Eyang’s action of stepping back, as if the situation had nothing to do with him, caused Lee Jamyeong’s face to flush crimson, as if it were about to burst.
His final hope had completely collapsed.
Though unfortunate for Lee Jamyeong, this was not a sudden judgment.
Hyeong Eyang had never chased him to help him in the first place.
He had instinctively foreseen that Sewoon would pursue him like this.
He had merely waited to confirm Sewoon’s true nature.
A strange glint filled Hyeong Eyang’s eyes as he looked at Sewoon.
‘…The Blood Cult claimed that the greatest obstacle to their grand design was the Blood-Thread Tyrant. That assessment was not exaggerated in the slightest.’
At that moment, Lee Jamyeong’s eyes became bloodshot.
Realizing that he would not leave this place alive, he unleashed a ferocious killing intent and screamed desperately.
“Fine! Do whatever you want! I’ll drag all of you down with me as companions in death!!”
There was no trace of reason left in his eyes.
Bang!
Lee Jamyeong squeezed out his remaining strength and charged at Sewoon, drawing out every last shred of his energy.
“Die, Tang Sewoon!!”
Rumble!
Explosive power erupted from his body.
It was a level of Martial Attainment that would have shocked any martial artist of the Martial Forest.
Though he was not the head of a martial clan but the master of a trading company, it was power accumulated from consuming countless priceless elixirs and acquiring martial arts through wealth measured in ten thousand gold.
‘…That bastard is at the Extreme of the Manifestation Realm? Ridiculous!! He must have deceived everyone with some fabricated divine weapon or sorcery tool!’
Lee Jamyeong thought so inwardly, intending to severely wound Sewoon with this ambush.
“Just as ignorant as your son.”
“……!!”
To Sewoon, it was nothing more than a struggle even more meaningless than a dying insect’s thrashing.
Screeeech!
Lee Jamyeong’s sword descended like lightning, aiming to cleave Sewoon in two.
Slash!
At that moment, a single streak of light rippled through the air.
“!!”
With a horrific slicing sound, crimson blood sprayed and soaked the ground.
Crash!
Lee Jamyeong’s body, which had flown toward Sewoon, rolled across the ground in a pitiful state.
“Aaaaargh!!”
A scream filled with agony burst from Lee Jamyeong’s mouth.
One of his ankles had been severed and lay discarded on the ground.
Blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the earth.
“H-hiiik!! Hiiigk!!”
The madness with which he had charged vanished, replaced by the extreme pain he had never experienced before, as Lee Jamyeong’s eyes rolled back.
Sewoon slowly approached the fallen man.
“Ghk! Grrk! Kh—khk!!”
“Why are you whining already.”
Crunch!
Sewoon seized his throat in a Throat-Grip Restraint and lifted him high.
Unable to breathe properly, Lee Jamyeong thrashed helplessly in the air.
“H-higk!”
In Lee Jamyeong’s half-open eyes overlapped disbelief, terror, and bone-deep despair.
Having already lost an ankle and unable even to breathe, his body was utterly broken.
Yet Sewoon’s fingertips radiated an even colder killing intent, as if he was far from satisfied.
“Why do you look so wronged?”
Sewoon spoke softly.
“I will now make you repay, all together, the full price of every evil you committed in your lifetime.”
From his fingertips, Sewoon drew out a single strand of the Heavenly Net.
It gleamed a dark crimson, like a blood-soaked chain.
“Do you know why Go Hohwansa was able to use sorcery more powerful than the Heaven-Piercing Sect Leader?”
Slide.
The Heavenly Net crawled slowly toward Lee Jamyeong’s temple, its tip like bared fangs.
“Now, I’ll tell you.”
“……!!”
Thud!!
Crunch!
Lee Jamyeong’s entire body convulsed violently.
A strand of the Heavenly Net pierced straight through his temple.
‘Aaaaargh! Ghhiiik!!!’
This was not a mere reaction to pain.
A fragment of malignant consciousness infused with the demonic power of the Ferocious Beast Qiongqi was flowing along the Heavenly Net and invading the abyss of Lee Jamyeong’s mind.
Rumble…!
A bizarre resonance spread through his inner world.
Reality and illusion overlapped, and his consciousness was dragged downward.
Then—
‘Aaaaargh!! M-my mind?! I-it hurts!!!’
Both body and soul were being torn apart as they were sucked into an endless hellish abyss.
The demonic power of the Ferocious Beast Qiongqi did not merely destroy the flesh.
It shredded Lee Jamyeong’s mind and endlessly repeated horrific torture within infinite illusionary nightmares.
Watching Lee Jamyeong convulse in his grasp, Sewoon curled his lips into a cruel smile.
“For me, it’s only a moment. But inside there, you’ll experience years—no, hundreds of years.”
Lee Jamyeong’s eyes rolled aimlessly toward the void.
Yet no words came from his open mouth—only blood continued to drip down.