novelraw Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61 Wudang is Taiji (8)
‘Two masters who have just reached the Peak Realm.’
The old men possessed higher martial arts than expected, but they were ultimately Demonic Cultists who used Demonic Energy.
They were acting relaxed because they hadn't grasped the situation yet, but Jaun had no intention of watching that any longer.
‘I need to keep them alive for now and dig out more information.’
A colossal energy began to uncoil from within the enraged Jaun’s body.
─ Kwaang!
Immediately after, Jaun stomped on the ground and shot forward powerfully.
The old men, who had been distracted for a moment, flinched upon seeing Jaun shooting towards them.
Sal-yeong muttered while looking at Jaun, who had closed the distance in an instant.
“Keuk keuk. Not bad? You must have had something to rely on.”
As Sal-yeong gave a signal with his eyes, the old man called Cheong-eum-sa stretched out his hand toward Jaun from the side.
Thick Demonic Energy began to spread from Cheong-eum-sa’s hand.
The spreading Demonic Energy tightly bound Jaun’s body in an instant.
The old men giggled as they watched Jaun, whose approach speed had visibly slowed due to being swept up in the Demonic Energy.
“Keul keul. Your courage is commendable, so I will specially hang your head separately on the altar.”
Having drawn up their Demonic Energy even further, the old men began to walk toward Jaun with heavy steps.
Jaun, having caught his breath for a moment, inhaled deeply.
─ Swaaaak.
The Demonic Energy filling the surroundings was sucked into Jaun, and Jaun’s figure, having absorbed the old men’s Demonic Energy, shot forward like an arrow again.
“Uh?!”
The old men, staring blankly at the Demonic Energy they had scattered dissipating in an instant, hurriedly drew their swords with flustered faces.
In that interval, Jaun’s figure, which had hidden in the shadows, appeared next to the old man called Sal-yeong.
─ Kaaaaang!
─ Seogeok.
Jaun’s strongly swung dagger shattered the old man’s sword in half and sliced deeply across his chest.
“Ugh!”
Sal-yeong retreated with a pale face, flailing his hands in all directions.
While Sal-yeong was unable to regain his senses, Jaun changed direction and disappeared in an instant, soon revealing himself in front of Cheong-eum-sa, who was standing to the side with a shocked face.
Cheong-eum-sa hurriedly raised his sword.
“You... You bastard!”
─ Paak.
─ Chwaak.
Jaun’s dagger dug into Cheong-eum-sa’s opening, slashing his thigh deeply, and then continued to slice across his right arm.
“...Keueuk.”
The two men, who had suffered serious injuries in an instant, looked back and forth between their own bodies and Jaun’s face as if they couldn't believe it.
“This is ridiculous...”
The two old men quickly looked around and raised their energy once more, but the Demonic Energy raised in that manner was only sucked into Jaun again.
There was nothing the two men, who had lost control over the Demonic Energy, could do.
Realizing the situation, the faces of the two old men turned pale.
“What kind of Sorcery is this!”
“Sorcery, you say.”
Jaun slowly raised his head.
“Seeing how you cannot even properly recognize the source of Demonic Arts because you are lost in the martial arts of the Blood Cult or whatever... It seems the lineage of true Demonic Arts no longer remains in the Divine Cult.”
At Jaun’s muttering, the old men frowned and looked at each other.
“Is it the effect of a formation? Let's avoid this place for now.”
Cheong-eum-sa, rolling his eyes this way and that, threw himself first and started running toward the forest in the back. Following him, Sal-yeong also threw himself.
Watching this, Jaun shot out toward the old men running into the forest.
─ Peok!
─ Peok! Peok!
Jaun’s dagger, having closed the distance in an instant, successively embedded itself in Cheong-eum-sa’s both arms and abdomen.
“Keoheok.”
Jaun stepped on Cheong-eum-sa, who collapsed on the spot scattering blood from his whole body, turned around, and lunged at Sal-yeong next to him.
─ Biiiik!
Sal-yeong hurriedly took out a small flute from his bosom and blew it, then barely twisted his body to dodge Jaun’s dagger.
─ Chwaak.
A long wound remained on Sal-yeong's flank, as he couldn't handle Jaun's speed. Sal-yeong, blocking the blood gushing from his flank with his hand, looked back at Jaun as if despondent.
“Demonic Energy is fading...! Just what kind of bizarre art is this!”
Jaun’s foot flew toward the side of the face of Sal-yeong, who was clenching his teeth and clutching his flank.
─ Peoak.
Sal-yeong, struck once again by Jaun’s blow, bounced backward and rolled on the ground.
Sal-yeong hurriedly raised his body, grabbed Cheong-eum-sa’s wrist, and raised his energy to the limit.
Then Sal-yeong’s legs kicked the ground hard, and both Cheong-eum-sa and Sal-yeong’s bodies shot backward rapidly at the same time.
And behind the backs of the two trying to leave the area, Jaun’s figure quietly appeared.
─ Chwaaak.
The sword Jaun swung horizontally cut across both their backs simultaneously.
“Keo-eok...!”
The two men, their backs deeply split, fell over and rolled on the ground.
Jaun slowly approached the two old men rolling on the ground in excruciating pain and looked down at them.
“I do have things I'm curious about, but there are plenty of people to ask besides you. If you don't answer sincerely, I'll send you straight to the afterlife, so answer my questions properly.”
The two old men, panting while curled up, looked up at Jaun once and laughed despondently.
“Keu keu keuk. Cough! They say you should be careful of women and children in the Jianghu.”
“Indeed. To think we'd be beaten like this without being able to do anything. I can't understand what kind of trickery this is.”
Even while trembling slightly from pain, a smile spread across their faces.
“It should activate soon, right?”
“If they heard the flute sound, they must have activated it by now.”
“What a relief. If we hadn't followed the Blood Demon, we would have just died a dog's death here.”
“Tsk. Indeed. We were too complacent, relying only on Blood Energy all this time. When we return, we'll have to re-examine our martial arts from the beginning.”
Jaun felt a sense of incongruity in the conversation of the two men who were gasping for breath.
Despite being in a situation where they could do nothing, their conversation was tinged with ease.
The moment Jaun took a step toward the old men again, a tremendous energy began to rush from the altar toward the two old men like a tidal wave.
‘Blood Energy!’
Jaun reached out his hand to try and control the rapidly approaching energy, but the Blood Energy did not move according to Jaun’s intent.
Clenching his teeth, Jaun turned his head toward the old men.
The Blood Energy that rushed in instantly wrapped around the two old men’s bodies, and the red energy began to swirl rapidly around them.
Jaun quickly stabbed with his dagger, but with a Kka-ang sound, the dagger bounced right off.
The two old men, who stood up while deflecting Jaun’s dagger, grinned.
“Kkeul kkeul. Now your Sorcery won't work.”
The two old men swung their swords simultaneously at lightning-like speed.
Sensing the tremendous energy imbued in the swords, Jaun hurriedly raised his dagger in front of him.
─ Kwaaaaang.
Jaun’s body was flung backward by the explosive shockwave.
When Jaun, regaining his stance, raised his head, he saw the two old men spreading their arms as if refreshed, accepting the energy pouring from the altar.
─ Chiiik.
The wounds of the two men who had accepted the Blood Energy began to slowly disappear.
A thick scent of blood rose from the healing wounds along with red smoke and began to spread.
Before long, the two old men, looking perfectly fine as if they had never been wounded, raised their heads to look at Jaun.
Red light was shimmering in the old men’s eyes.
“W-What is that?”
At Baek-myo’s question, who was watching from behind, Jaun answered through clenched teeth.
“Blood Energy is being transferred to those two. It seems someone has forcibly activated the altar. What's contained in the altar is the life energy of at least a hundred people. It’s not fully complete, but even so, it's a power that cannot be ignored.”
─ Kwaaaaang!
Jaun raised his dagger and deflected the red energy flying toward the group once again.
Jaun’s arm, having parried the old men’s energy, was trembling slightly.
‘If I were alone...’
Jaun glanced back and checked on the Wudang disciples sprawled on the ground.
“Baek-myo! Fall back for now and protect the Wudang disciples. They are defenseless right now.”
At Hyeon-dam's words, Baek-myo quickly retreated and approached Hyeon-dam’s side.
Standing guard in front of the Wudang disciples who were groaning on the ground, the two people began to raise their energy to the max.
Watching Baek-myo and Hyeon-dam, the two old men burst into a smirk.
“You're protecting them when running away immediately wouldn't be enough? Tsk tsk. You Righteous Faction bastards steeped in hypocrisy. Pretending to be good until the end.”
“What can we do when they are trying so hard to die?”
Sal-yeong and Cheong-eum-sa walked over, their red eyes shining.
Jaun took a step forward and blocked their approach.
“Since the altar has been activated, these guys' blood won't be of any use now.”
“Keul keul. Indeed. It's a waste, but it can't be helped. We have no choice but to kill them here.”
Simultaneously with their words, colossal red energy began to spew from the two old men’s bodies.
Then, cracking their necks as if loosening up, they spread out to the left and right, leaving Jaun in the center, and rushed toward the Wudang disciples.
Sal-yeong, appearing in front of Hyeon-dam in the blink of an eye, swung his sword rapidly.
─ Huung.
It was a lightning-like attack, but Hyeon-dam barely managed to dodge it by retreating.
─ Kaang!
Sal-yeong’s attack continued once more, but his sword was blocked by Jaun’s dagger, which had approached his side before anyone noticed.
Sal-yeong wore a smile on his lips and turned his head toward Jaun.
“Keuk keuk. Right. I should deal with you first. Why don't you try acting cute like you did earlier?”
As Sal-yeong applied force and pushed the sword, Jaun’s body was pushed back. Jaun, pushed back, raised his Demonic Energy to the limit and shot toward Sal-yeong.
─ Kwaang.
─ Kwaaang!
Sal-yeong’s movements, having gained the power of Blood Energy, had become even faster.
Sal-yeong, who accurately blocked Jaun’s barrage of attacks, aimed for an opening and began to counterattack Jaun.
─ Kkaaang.
─ Chaaeng.
Sal-yeong’s sword, imbued with Blood Energy, was not at a level to be ignored.
Facing powerful attacks shooting into the right places, Jaun clenched his teeth and focused on parrying. Jaun’s dagger, blocking Sal-yeong’s continuous attacks, began to shake slightly.
‘The difference between having Blood Energy and not having it is greater than I thought. At this rate... it won't be easy to deal with martial artists of the Demonic Cult who are backed by an altar.’
As the name Sal-yeong (Killing Shadow) suggested, the old man was one who had mastered assassination arts.
However, the old man, having accepted the overflowing Blood Energy, abandoned technique and was pushing Jaun solely with brute force.
If it were a contest of forms, there might have been a way, but blocking the old man’s sword, which pressed on with sheer force, while suppressing his presence so as not to harm the Wudang disciples, was quite a daunting task even for Jaun.
He was stabbing with his dagger whenever he found an opening in Sal-yeong’s defense, but Sal-yeong continued his powerful attacks toward Jaun as if he didn't care about the minor wounds that healed quickly.
‘As expected, do I have to neutralize the altar first?’
Dodging Sal-yeong’s rapidly continuing attacks, Jaun glanced around. Hyeon-dam and Baek-myo were struggling to block Cheong-eum-sa, who was trying to lunge at the Wudang disciples.
‘If I drag this out, everyone will be in danger. Even if I have to endure some damage, I must finish this quickly.’
Jaun hardened his resolve and began to concentrate his energy.
─ Thump thump.
His heart began to beat loudly, and the eerie sound of muscles tearing could be heard from various parts of his body.
Jaun, having drawn out colossal Demonic Energy in an instant, dug right into Sal-yeong’s bosom.
─ Kwaaang!
Jaun’s Soul Severing Spirit Crushing Fist struck the abdomen of the off-guard Sal-yeong.