novelraw Chapter 30 : Chapter 30
Chapter 30 : Chapter 30
Chapter 30 - The Tang Family’s Last Dagger (1)
“Aaaakh!”
Listening to the screams echoing ceaselessly from all directions, Jaun and his group evacuated the people of Tang Family Village frantically.
As the screams got closer and closer, Jaun’s heart began to beat rapidly.
‘Demonic Energy.’
The Demonic Energy creeping closer kept touching Jaun’s energy.
Suppressing the surging emotions intermittently, Jaun gritted his teeth.
‘Finally met you. Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.’
Revenge was definitely something to look at in the long term.
Even if he clashed with the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult alone in the current situation, there was nothing he could do.
Although he knew it clearly in his head, the turbulent emotions were not easily controlled.
‘Not yet, not just yet.’
Jaun calmed his heart with difficulty once again and focused on saving the people in front of his eyes.
“Keu-heuk!”
He felt another life disappearing from afar.
Jaun’s senses, widely expanded as his Middle Dantian opened, were conveying the surrounding situation vividly without him having to look.
Lives fading away vainly.
The laughter of the demonic practitioners cackling in front of them.
His body trembled every time a life faded away one by one.
‘I’d rather…….’
Unable to endure it, Jaun even thought about closing his Middle Dantian for a moment.
Baek-myo’s hand touched Jaun’s trembling shoulder.
“New recruit. I understand it’s too overwhelming. If you really can’t handle it, go inside the manor and rest a bit. We can’t save everyone with our abilities anyway.”
Jaun turned his head to look at Baek-myo.
“Your life is as precious as other people’s lives. Saving people is good, but protect your own body first. Got it? I’m going.”
Baek-myo, having finished speaking, threw herself toward the remaining people.
‘……What I can do.’
At Baek-myo’s words, Jaun looked down at his body.
‘If I use my full strength, how far can I go? And if I use my full strength…… what happens after that?’
Confusion filled Jaun’s mind.
Even in the meantime, the screams were getting closer.
***
Hyeon-dam, who had been devoted to saving people for a long time, looked back.
Thick Demonic Energy, enough to make his fine hairs stand on end, was felt not far away.
‘Now…… there is no time.’
Hyeon-dam gritted his teeth and shouted loudly to the surroundings.
“Stop! Everyone evacuate inside the manor!”
The Tang Clan retainers, who were saving the villagers together, stopped in their tracks with bewildered eyes.
“The Demonic Cult bastards have come right up to us. If the Tang Clan’s gate is breached, even the people evacuated inside the manor will all die a dog’s death. It’s unfortunate, but this is it. Let’s go back now and defend the manor.”
Tears flowed down from Hyeon-dam’s wide-open eyes as he finished speaking.
“Ami…… tabha.”
Right before entering the manor, a hollow Buddhist chant flowed from the mouth of Hyeon-dam, who looked back at the burning village.
The fiercely blowing wind tousled Hyeon-dam’s hair this way and that.
***
— Cheol-keong (Clang)
“The mechanism…… has activated.”
Tang Hun bowed his head deeply.
Baek-myo, who watched the firmly closed Tang Clan gate for a moment, asked while gasping for breath that had filled up to her chin.
“Where is the Squad Leader?”
Tang Hun took a step forward and opened his mouth.
“The door to the closed-door cultivation cave where Uncle Tang Il-bi entered closed-door cultivation won’t open, perhaps due to a malfunction. Everyone is gathered right now trying to open the door, but since that door is made with mechanisms, it doesn’t break easily either……. Still, he should be able to come soon.”
“……The closed-door cultivation cave door is malfunctioning.”
Hearing Tang Hun’s words, Hyeon-dam let out a hollow laugh.
“Complacent. The entire Central Plains was.”
Hyeon-dam, smiling bitterly, looked at Tang Hun.
“There is no problem operating the mechanism formations without Great Hero Tang Il-bi, right?”
“Of course. I am in charge of managing the mechanisms and formations around the Tang Clan manor. Although we are a bit short on hands…….”
“Then it’s fine. Young Hero Tang Hun, please devote yourself to maintaining the Tang Clan’s mechanisms. No matter how many Demonic Cultists there are, it won’t be easy to break through the Tang Clan’s absolute formations and mechanisms and enter.”
At Hyeon-dam’s words, Tang Hun nodded.
“……And since we requested support from the Murim Alliance, support will come. Until then, everyone please do your best to hold out.”
At Hyeon-dam’s last words, the faces of the Tang Clan people brightened noticeably.
Gaining strength from the word reinforcements, the Tang Clan people scattered here and there following Tang Hun’s instructions.
Hyeon-dam, who watched their retreating figures for a long time, slowly turned his head toward the outside of the burning wall.
“Baek-myo.”
At Hyeon-dam’s calm voice, Baek-myo answered while catching her breath lying on the ground.
“Haa. Haa. Why?”
“When the Squad Leader comes, tell him thank you for everything.”
“What? I can’t hear you well.”
Baek-myo raised her body with difficulty.
“Tell the Squad Leader thank you for everything when he returns. And tell him not to hate Shaolin too much, that I hope he knows not everyone is like that.”
“Huh? What are you saying out of the blue?”
As soon as Baek-myo raised her head with a puzzled face, Hyeon-dam began to run rapidly toward the manor’s stone wall.
“Hey! Hyeon-dam!”
Baek-myo called Hyeon-dam with surprised eyes.
— Pa-ang!
The running body of Hyeon-dam soared into the air and disappeared over the Tang Clan’s stone wall just like that.
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
Baek-myo shouted loudly with surprised eyes.
“What? Did he just go outside the formation? What is he trying to do, seriously!”
Baek-myo messed up her hair wildly and sprang up from her seat.
Then, just as she was about to run to the stone wall following Hyeon-dam, Jaun grabbed Baek-myo’s arm and quickly pressed her acupoint.
“You…….”
Strength drained from Baek-myo’s body and her eyes closed in an instant.
Jaun caught Baek-myo’s falling body and slowly laid her on the floor.
“Rest for a moment.”
Jaun looked at the stone wall Hyeon-dam had crossed.
‘It’s true he is a good person, but he is too reckless. Well, I don’t dislike that kind of appearance though.’
Jaun smirked and ran toward the Tang Clan’s stone wall just like that.
***
“Run toward the mountain in the back! The target is the Tang Clan, so you all escape this place for now!”
Standing on top of the Tang Clan’s stone wall, Jaun could see Hyeon-dam controlling the people.
‘The remaining time is barely enough to drink a cup of tea.’
Jaun, who confirmed the Demonic Energy flocking from all directions by spreading his senses wide, sighed slightly and jumped down to the ground.
— Ta-ak
Jaun, landing on the ground, looked back feeling strange.
The large stone wall where Jaun had been standing until just a moment ago was gone without a trace, and a scene of small houses gathered as if part of the Tang Family Village unfolded behind his back.
‘It’s quite a precise formation.’
It was hard to feel any incongruity even standing right in front of it.
Jaun’s hand extended to where the wall had been stirred the empty air.
‘It seems my hand is moving minutely.
This formation seems to twist the sense of direction too. With this level, we can buy a little time.’
With a formation of this level, even if the Demonic Cultists approached close to the manor, there was a high probability they would lose their sense of direction and circle around.
Thanks to that, Jaun, breathing a sigh of relief, approached Hyeon-dam who was frantically evacuating people.
“……New recruit? Why are you here?”
Hyeon-dam, who discovered Jaun and stopped in his tracks with a flustered face, slowly hardened his expression.
“You rascal! Even a mere insect values its own life, so how can you try to throw away your life vainly like this!”
A loud thunderous shout burst from Hyeon-dam’s mouth.
Hyeon-dam, who had let go of everything, had returned to being a Shaolin monk before anyone knew it.
“I thought Senior wouldn’t use his life vainly if I were here too.”
A long sigh burst from the mouth of Hyeon-dam looking at Jaun.
“Amitabha……. Just how many layers of karma are piled up on me?”
Hyeon-dam, looking up at the sky once with a mixed expression, grabbed Jaun’s shoulder tightly.
“The Demonic Cultists have already come close. I will try to stall for time somehow, but I won’t be able to create that long of a time. You take the people right now and from here…….”
Hyeon-dam, stopping his words, felt something and flinched. Jaun turned his body with a hardened expression.
— Kwa-aa-ang!
A giant with a huge physique fell from the sky with a roar.
The giant, opening his closed eyes, slowly raised his body.
The Asura pattern engraved on his chest glistened stickily and red like blood.
“Sniff sniff. The smell of fresh blood is gathered over here.”
The giant straightened his waist, checked Hyeon-dam and Jaun standing in front, and grinned.
“It’s here. The place where the Tang Clan rats and the Murim Alliance bastards are hiding.”
Hyeon-dam, confirming the Asura pattern engraved on the giant’s chest, quietly uttered a Buddhist chant.
“……Amitabha.”
“Hmm? Is it a Shaolin bald monk? But why is your hair like that?”
The giant tilted his head and took out blood-caked gauntlets from his chest and put them on both hands.
“Red Blood Squad Leader. Hell Blood Emperor Man Chu-pyeong.”
Hyeon-dam, examining the giant here and there, let out a despondent laugh.
“Oho. Seeing that you know this elder’s name, you don’t seem to be an ordinary guy.”
Man Chu-pyeong, pausing for a moment and examining Hyeon-dam, yawned loudly.
“If you know my name, it means you aren’t an ordinary guy, right? Will I be able to warm up a bit this time?”
Man Chu-pyeong, rotating his shoulder once, looked straight at Hyeon-dam.
“Try using your strength properly. Hunting fleeing animals has just become a bit boring.”
Toward Man Chu-pyeong showing a bright smile, Hyeon-dam smiled back.
“Still, Vairocana Buddha has not abandoned me. To think the last Demonic Cultist I face is the Blood Demon’s direct combat squad leader.”
Hyeon-dam cracked his neck.
“If I can just properly land one hit on your trap (mouth), the path back to Buddha might be a little refreshing at least.”
Man Chu-pyeong, looking down at Hyeon-dam, burst into loud laughter.
“Kuhahaha. Do what to my trap? You are a bald monk who has gone properly crazy. Kuku. I was bored, so this is good. Right. If you can land one, try landing it.”
Man Chu-pyeong, clashing the gauntlets on both hands with a bang, laughed and began to raise his energy.
Watching Man Chu-pyeong raising his energy, Hyeon-dam also raised his energy.
Clear energy spread out around Hyeon-dam’s body.
Hyeon-dam’s energy calmly filled the surrounding space without being pushed back by Man Chu-pyeong’s spirit.
Man Chu-pyeong, feeling Hyeon-dam’s energy, laughed loudly once again.
“Kuhaha! This energy. It really is Shaolin. Good, good. With this level, I can warm up. It’s been a really long time since I felt Shaolin’s energy, you see. It’s hard to see even the faces of bald monks as if they are hiding in some back room.”
Man Chu-pyeong, sticking out his tongue and licking his lips, smiled satisfactorily and took a deep breath.
“Huuuaaaaah!”
— Peo-eong!
Man Chu-pyeong exploded his body’s energy in an instant.
The amplified energy made a sound of bursting air.
Demonic Energy like dark fog flowing out of Man Chu-pyeong’s body began to spread in all directions.
The speed at which the black fog spread was surprisingly fast.
The Demonic Energy that spread in all directions in an instant began to cover even the villagers running far away before anyone knew it.
— Thump
Jaun’s body trembled slightly at the Demonic Energy spreading thickly in all directions.
— Kwa-da-dang
The villagers, encroached by the Red Blood Squad Leader’s thick Demonic Energy, sat down on the spot with trembling legs.
Hyeon-dam’s mouth, watching that scene, moved rapidly.
“The mantra of Vairocana Buddha and the Dharani of all Bodhisattvas arrive, and with boundless mercy and wisdom, may light dwell in this place.”
Hyeon-dam’s pure energy began to condense thickly.
“May the light engraved like a diamond burn away all defilements and delusions, and protect this place from violent and rebellious hearts.”
Hyeon-dam’s body filled up with golden light.
— Heu-eo-eo-eong!
Suddenly, a massive Lion’s Roar burst from Hyeon-dam’s mouth as if swallowing the space, filling all directions.