novelraw Chapter 232 : Chapter 232
Chapter 232 : Chapter 232
Chapter 232. Final Battle (2)
For a moment they watched the approaching figures as clouds of sand swirled into the air.
The plains stretched wide and open in every direction, so there was no need to enhance one’s vision with internal energy. The enemy’s forms were already becoming visible.
At the center of the formation, beneath the banner bearing the words True Light Cult, many individuals resembled people of the Central Plains.
However, those approaching on horseback along both flanks appeared to be mostly nomadic warriors.
‘So the Demonic Cult has truly drawn the nomads into their ranks.’
Realizing this, Jin Yuseong clasped his fists toward the Mount Heng Sect Leader.
“Sect Leader, could you translate my words into the language of the nomads?”
“A translation is hardly difficult.”
A short time later, when the two forces had drawn somewhat closer—
Jin Yuseong shouted with internal energy infused into his voice.
“You have been deceived!”
He turned his head toward the Mount Heng Sect Leader.
The Sect Leader shouted immediately, as though he had expected this, translating Jin Yuseong’s words.
“The so-called True Light Cult over there practices wicked demonic arts that devour human beings! If you join hands with them, you too will eventually be devoured!”
As soon as the translation ended, the warriors of the nomadic tribes burst into laughter.
“Hahahahaha!!”
Even at that distance, the meaning was unmistakable. It was open ridicule.
“Where do you come from with such baseless slander!”
“You people of the Central Plains dare set foot upon the grasslands?”
They clearly did not believe Jin Yuseong’s words.
In fact, some reactions were even worse.
“What does that matter anyway! Hahaha! You people of the Central Plains live comfortably on fertile land while always driving us away!”
“We will join forces with those honored masters and expel you, then gather strength and march into the Central Plains!”
“All we must do is deliver your well-fed pigs of the Central Plains to them! Why would they ever devour us? Hahaha!”
The Mount Heng Sect Leader translated their words with a grim expression.
There had been too many shouts, so he translated only a portion of them.
After finishing, the Sect Leader glared at the enemy with murderous intent.
“What did I tell you? Among the nomadic tribes, there are plenty born as raiders. Those men are precisely that sort.”
His tone clearly indicated that there was no value in persuading them.
Jin Yuseong, however, was unbothered.
In fact, he thought it was better this way.
“So in the end, they were not deceived into joining forces?”
They were simply the same kind of trash.
And Jin Yuseong had no intention of keeping that realization to himself.
“Listen well!! Those men are accomplices of the Demonic Cult, evil scoundrels who intend to cross into the Central Plains and plunder our brothers and families!”
As Jin Yuseong’s shout rang out, the nearby chivalrous heroes roared in unison.
“Strike down the villains!”
“Raise the banner of destroying demons and eradicating evil!”
Now that friend and foe were clearly defined, their morale rose even higher.
Yet despite their loud shouting, the chivalrous heroes did not rush forward recklessly.
This was because of an agreement they had made before setting out north.
Some who could not restrain their hot blood attempted to move, but seasoned veterans scattered throughout the ranks stopped them.
“Hold!”
“No orders have been given yet. Wait!”
Their gazes soon turned toward the center of the formation.
They were waiting for the command of the man who had naturally assumed the role of strategist—Sama Hyeon.
Meanwhile.
Within the camp beneath the banner of the True Light Cult.
The Grand Elder of the True Light Cult lightly moistened his lips with his tongue, hiding his regret.
‘Tsk. We could have wiped them out far more easily.’
This land was firmly their territory.
Moreover, it was an open plain, barren and empty.
If they took advantage of their strength as a mounted tribe, they could easily wear the enemy down.
They could lure them deeper inside, extend their supply lines, and continue disrupting those supplies.
However, the Cult Leader had objected.
“If we wear them down like that, will the number of prey we can devour not decrease, Grand Elder?”
Elixirs were most effective when consumed fresh.
“And should not the disciples also have the chance to feast upon elixirs to their hearts’ content this time?”
The Cult Leader desired a decisive slaughter followed by a grand festival of blood.
This was also why he had agreed to bring in the nomadic tribes.
They were meant for a full-scale battle, not a guerrilla war.
The Cult Leader had also said this.
“Think of what has happened so far. Those people are not fools. They will certainly account for supplies. Their forces will scatter. The wiser strategy is to target their main body instead.”
In truth, Sama Hyeon had divided his forces exactly as the Cult Leader had predicted.
In the end, the Grand Elder had no choice but to follow the Cult Leader’s will.
While the Grand Elder reflected on the past, the distance between the two sides had closed even further.
If they came any closer, arrows would easily reach their targets.
At that moment, a figure stepped forward beside the Grand Elder.
It was the Cult Leader of the True Light Cult.
With every step he took, overwhelming dominance radiated in all directions.
In truth, this was the real reason the Grand Elder had not pressed his argument further.
‘There is no chance the Supreme One will lose.’
From the beginning, the Grand Elder had never considered the possibility of defeat.
All his strategies had merely been meant to reduce the disciples’ casualties.
And he was not the only one who thought this.
Step. Step.
As the Cult Leader advanced, the disciples parted to either side, opening a path.
Those who moved aside knelt to the ground and bowed.
Even though the enemy stood just before them.
Their gazes no longer faced the enemy.
“O master of heaven and earth!”
“Open the path to the heavens!”
They believed that nothing was impossible with the Supreme One.
Amid the fanatical praises, the Cult Leader soon reached the very front line.
He looked at the enemies from the Central Plains and spoke.
“Hahaha. Do you truly believe such a paltry number can capture me?”
His body itched with impatience.
Ever since devouring the Sword Venerable several years ago, the feeling had only grown stronger.
He wanted to devour more people immediately.
If he consumed just a little more, it felt as though he might truly reach the Heavenly Realm.
Yet the last remnants of reason restrained him.
Only after fully absorbing and controlling the Sword Venerable’s power would he march into the Central Plains.
And as Cult Leader, he still possessed a final sense of responsibility.
‘The disciples must be given time to grow stronger.’
Ascending to the heavens alone would be meaningless.
At least, that had once been his belief.
He intended to distribute many human elixirs to the disciples before claiming his own turn.
But now—
His vision was filled with countless elixirs.
It was a feast worthy of the gods.
No—this was a paradise.
As though heavenly peaches lay scattered everywhere.
“I will devour all of you for the price of your arrogance!”
With that final shout, his patience snapped.
BOOM!!
With a thunderous explosion, the Cult Leader’s figure shot forward like an arrow.
Black energy surged violently around his body.
In an instant, as though using the Shrinking Earth Technique, he crossed dozens of zhang and swung his sword.
The massive demonic energy swirling around him—
Part of it burst forth along the blade.
A black wave surged across the desert.
Jin Yuseong, who had been prepared ever since the Cult Leader stepped forward, immediately leapt into motion.
The Master’s Blade in his hand already surged with a vortex of Enhanced Qi.
He swung his sword and struck the wave of demonic energy.
BOOM!!
The vortex of Enhanced Qi split the wave apart.
But it was not enough.
The wave’s range was far too wide.
At that moment several figures stepped forward behind Jin Yuseong.
“Damn it!!”
The Beggars’ Sect Leader cursed as he swung the Dog Beating Staff.
“Amitabha! What dreadful energy is this!”
Even the Shaolin Abbot, abandoning his usual calm, unleashed the Tathagata Divine Palm in anger.
With those three at the forefront, along with Baek Hyang and several masters, they barely managed to block the wave of Enhanced Qi.
However—
BOOM!!
During that brief moment, the Cult Leader had already closed the distance.
“So you are the Ghost Sword!!”
The Cult Leader’s first target was Jin Yuseong.
It was a terrifying sight.
Jin Yuseong could see it clearly.
An unimaginably dense, viscous demonic energy filled the Cult Leader’s entire body.
If the Left and Right Guardian Envoys had concealed serpent spirits within their dantian, then the Cult Leader himself was the serpent spirit.
The dense aura visible through Jin Yuseong’s second sight was so overwhelming that it nearly obscured the Cult Leader’s true form.
The Cult Leader’s casual strike collided with the Master’s Blade.
Just before the swords met, Jin Yuseong unleashed the Principle of Yielding with all his strength.
The difference in internal energy was simply too great.
If he met it head-on, even the Master’s Blade might not endure.
BOOM!!!
Despite forming the Moonlight Coiling Sword with a barrier of Enhanced Qi, a massive explosion erupted.
He had failed to redirect the entire force.
Jin Yuseong’s body was flung backward.
The Cult Leader immediately chased after him.
Just as the Cult Leader’s sword descended again—
“Where do you think you are rampaging, you dog!”
“Amitabha!”
The Beggars’ Sect Leader and the Shaolin Abbot attacked from both sides, thrusting the Dog Beating Staff and their fists simultaneously.
“Hehehe. You two also look quite delicious.”
While the Cult Leader easily deflected their attacks, Jin Yuseong recovered his stance and joined them again.
Only the three of them fought the Cult Leader.
Strangely, the other martial artists had moved farther away.
This had been agreed upon from the beginning.
Each time their weapons clashed, shockwaves exploded outward and fragments of Enhanced Qi scattered through the air.
Anyone weaker would only die a meaningless death by approaching.
Instead of interfering in this fight, they would first eliminate the remaining disciples.
That was the first strategy of this battle.
They already knew that the Cult Leader had surpassed the Three Venerables of the past.
Jin Yuseong, the Abbot, and the Beggars’ Sect Leader were effectively buying time until the surrounding enemies were dealt with.
Watching the battle, the Grand Elder of the True Light Cult also realized this.
“What are you all doing!!!”
The moment his shout rang out, the disciples of the True Light Cult charged forward.
The nomadic warriors on the left and right wings followed immediately.
“Attack!”
“Charge!”
The decisive battle had begun.
Blood began to spray endlessly across the barren earth.
In the wide open plains, explosions, screams, and curses echoed continuously.
At the center of the Central Plains formation—
Dang Sopyeong, who had been standing beside Sama Hyeon, clenched his teeth.
Before being a martial artist, he was a physician.
Seeing so many people bleeding was not something he welcomed.
Suppressing his anger, he surveyed the battlefield.
Soon his eyes caught something.
An area where the enemy forces were unusually concentrated.
Upon noticing this, Dang Sopyeong stepped forward without hesitation.
He had remained in the rear not simply because he was a physician.
He was waiting for a single opportunity.
‘It will not work against a monster like the Cult Leader, but it is enough to change the flow of the battlefield.’
He slowly drew a small wooden box from within his robe.
Raising the power of his Poison Art, he infused the box with its energy.
Once his preparations were complete, he hurled the box with all his strength.
Toward the cluster of enemies.
The moment the box reached the air above their heads—
Dang Sopyeong twisted his fingers.
The threads connected to his hand began to tremble.
Thin threads nearly invisible to the eye. They had been attached from the moment he threw the box.
His internal energy flowed through those threads into the box.
The box exploded with a POP.
At that exact moment, Dang Sopyeong twisted his fingers again.
Under his delicate control, hundreds of hidden weapon fragments concealed inside the box spread evenly in every direction.
Like Baek Hyang’s Ten Thousand Plum Blossoms, a rain of petals scattered above the enemies’ heads.
A poisonous flower known as hidden weapons.