Book 27 Chapter 13

Escapees

-And the blocker

"What do you think? Am I right? Am I right?"

"Praise me, praise me!" said the old man in a tone of voice that said, "Praise me, praise me!

"Alas, it certainly does."

Certainly the roads that Luo Hak had known were far less heavily guarded than others. He had no intention of denying that fact.

"Right, right?"

"Oh, yeah."

More and more, Namgungsang's answer became dry.

"Right? Right?"

"Well done, Nohak. You've got your work cut out for you."

The old man gave a thumbs-up with his right hand and smiled broadly.

"That's basic, basic!"

It may seem like he's making too much of a fuss over something he considers basic, but he knows he'll get in trouble if he points it out. The group made their way to the harbor with relative ease. A few warriors from the Heavenly Palace stood in their way, but they were scouts that had broken away from the main body and were easily subdued in a matter of minutes.

And if there was danger, the men would move on their own, as if they knew in advance what he was going to do. And there was never a moment's hesitation.

It's been three years since they've been together, and despite the murderous onslaught of the Daishi, the group has grown without a single defect or blemish. They were now more than just classmates or coworkers to them, they were a community of destiny. In a sense, their bonds went beyond family.

I hate to admit it, but they were definitely getting stronger.

"I can do this!

A surge of confidence rose from the depths of his heart. Furthermore, he was certain that at this rate, the Zhu Jia Clan would definitely become the top elite of the Heavenly Martial Academy.

'Sixteen of us will be the best! All of us, not a single one of us!

The only thing they didn't want to admit was that their big brother's hell training had worked. Certainly, the undeniable reality that the hell they had seen was making them stronger, and it was somehow upsetting to admit that reality.

It felt like they were proving themselves wrong and their elder brother was right. But surely the hell they'd seen and been through was helping them get through this "harsh reality" now.

It was a shallow way of saying that I needed to go through hell to break through to reality.

The harbor was getting closer and closer.

Before they knew it, the path to the dock stretched out in front of them in a straight line.

At the end of the road was a boat waiting to take them off the island. Once he had that boat and was ready to leave the island, waiting for his big brother to arrive, his job was done.

Suddenly, in the middle of the road, there was a red foreign object.

It was only one man, a man with red robes all over his body.

He stood alone in the middle of the boulevard.

And then he looked at them. As if he alone could stop them.

With more than two dozen people running toward him, he didn't think to duck.

"Only one enemy.

The confidence that had soared in Nangong Shang's heart still filled his entire body.

"There's only one enemy, go for it!"

His voice was brimming with enthusiasm.

"Oh!"

Dangsam, who was running alongside, called out, his voice brimming with confidence not unlike that of Namgung Sang. Besides, they had their allies.

Only one enemy.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

It shouldn't have been there.

Isn't strength in numbers?

But for a moment, Dangsam forgot where he was.

This is a world called the River Lake, or Murin.

A world that borders on the world we live in, but is governed by a completely different set of laws.

The law of this world is the survival of the strongest, and the rule of the other world is the destruction of the weakest.

A world where numbers are not absolute.

A world where a single master can defeat an army of a hundred, or even a thousand.

A place where 一騎當千, 萬夫不當 really works.

That is the Murim, the world of those who have pushed themselves to the limit.

Some went beyond the limits, reaching the heights of gods and demons.

"Something's not right.

The closer he got to the man in red, the more alarm bells went off in his instincts.

"Why? Why? Why? Why?

An unpleasant feeling of anxiety crawled at the bottom of his stomach, like a thousand crawling centipedes, a centipede named Anxiety, eating away at his heart. The man in red was its master. Outnumbered and outworked, the man in red was their master. Instead of diminishing, the centipede grew in number, devouring his heart in one fell swoop and stretching out to the White Sea.

By the time they realized what was happening, it was too late. Their confidence, which had developed into hubris, had overridden their instincts.

Namgungsang exclaimed, barely swallowing the scream that threatened to burst from the depths of his throat.

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Something in his instincts was screaming. It was screaming in terror. It was screaming that he shouldn't take another step closer. His heart was as cold as ice. It felt like his frozen heart was falling to the ground and shattering.

"No, no, no, no, no, stop, stop, stop!"

Namgungsang hastily stopped in his tracks, stopping Tang San as he ran forward. But the voice did not reach his ears. There was only one thought in this confident young man's mind.

"Here, I'm going to show the skills I've been honing, and this time, I'm going to make Sister Hui Mae recognize me as her big brother!

One enemy, at most.

One, one, one, one.

If you don't get rid of it now,……!

Dangsam's body was already refusing to listen to his mental restraints, but in another sense, he was under pressure.

If I don't do something about the interest…… If I don't do something about the interest…….

I didn't recognize it, but it was fear. Fear that grabs you by the heart and squeezes.

Fear like he'd never felt before gripped his mind and body.

Tang San was also losing himself in front of the man in red.

"Stop, you idiot!"

"Curb!"

It was Dang Moon-hye who grabbed Dang Sam by the hindquarters and forced him to stop, his eyes bloodshot.

"What the hell are you doing, kolokolok."

Dangsam protested with a cough.

"I told you to stop jumping in without thinking!"

Hearing the shouts from the Southern Palace, Tang Wenhui was puzzled and caught Tang Shan, who was running like a mad boar.

But the other emissaries of the Celestial Academy had no one to hold their backs.

He was nonchalant.

The man in red remained nonchalant in the face of more than two dozen budding masters running at him in unison. As if the word fear was irrelevant to him. He was not the one who felt fear, but the one who sowed it.

I swore a long time ago. That I would no longer live in fear of others.

I will be the scatterer of fears.

To become an object of fear, so that no one would look down on him anymore.

I didn't care if I had to be the devil to do it.

Ouch.

A slow smile played at the corners of the man's mouth. It ended with a slight tug at one corner of his mouth.

The smile of a predator on its prey?

No, it was a cruel devil's grin, the kind that could only be worn in the depths of the Netherworld.

Shout out!

He flicked his right sleeve once, revealing a terrifying iron armor made of a black abyss of iron. It looked like a collection of razor-sharp black scales, and was extremely ferocious.

The demon's mouth opened slowly, a cracked voice like the echoes of hell.

"Go bite it!"

Poof!

In front of Namgungsang's eyes, a spray of blood rose like the petals of a falling flower.

"……."

Namgungsang couldn't believe what he was seeing.

A red heart, made of black steel, was clutched in the grasp of a terrifying beast. The owner of that heart, which was still beating, was none other than Chen Yazhen. The blood-soaked steel grip on the red heart looked like a demonic hand.

Chen Yazhen, who was regarded as unrivaled in martial arts prowess, had his heart ripped out without a single act of rebellion. The distance between him and the author is more than an elder, so how could his hand reach this far?

Boom!

A grip of black steel clutched at his heart, and a fountain of crimson blood erupted, soaking the ground.

Neither Namgungsang nor Qinling nor Cheonghyeon nor Baekmu-young felt like they were watching a nightmare unfold before their eyes.

But the blood that splashed on their cheeks was hot as lava. The skin that touched the drops of blood felt like it would burn and fall off.

"Ouch!"

Several of the warriors from the Gung Woong Eight let out a roar and charged the man in red.

"No, no, no, come back, come back!"

Another scream erupted from the Namgung Sang's mouth, but his voice failed to reach the crowd, blinded by anger and fear.

Puhhhhhhh!

They were still young, but they were capable of wielding swords. They were proud representatives of the Heavenly Martial Academy.

But the man in red swung his steel right arm like a whip, and they all fell to the ground, cut in two at the waist. Blood and guts poured out of their bodies.

A hand of steel that lengthens like a whip and then snaps back into shape.

A demonic hand that calls for blood.

Suddenly, they knew who he was.

"西天…破坏……."

Namgungsang's lips quivered as he spoke the name.

The eyes of Qin Ling, Qing Hui, and Bai Muyoung widened. At the same time, fear and dread filled their eyes, which had never felt much fear before.

The four servants of the Heavenly Fear Blood God Wei Tianmu.

Nirvana.

His magic phrase, "West Wind Frenzy," is one of those magic phrases that unleashes a frenzied bloodstorm with every swing, and is one of the most feared legends of the past hundred years.

A horror from a hundred years ago. A horror they had only heard about, a horror they had dismissed as a tale of the past, never to be revived, had taken shape and stood before them.

If the hearts of their companions had not been ripped out and their backs slashed before their eyes, they still would not have believed it.

The six of them-Namgungsang, Luo Hak, Tang Shan, Tang Wenhui, Qin Ling, and Liu Eun Kyung-had never felt such terrible fear before.

Now, they had to fight one of the legends themselves.

It was a fight they'd never had to fight before, as they'd been on a solid path as a promising late-stage index.

"It would be dangerous to go head-to-head."

Namgungsang said.

"I agree with Captain Namgung."

Dangsam nodded.

"You are angry now, but think only of escape."

The man in red was merely taking out his anger on them, or so they thought, given his merciless attacks.

"I guess clearing a path to the ship is the first priority."

The old man frowned. There was only one enemy, but he had no confidence that he could defeat it.

They were now facing one of the worst fear-inducing legends of all time.

"The six of us should be able to tie him up somehow. In the meantime, let's move the envoys."

I knew I couldn't do it alone, but with the help of my colleagues in the main crew, I could at least buy some time.

"Sounds like a good idea, I'm all for it."

Jinling said.

"I agree with the Southern Palace Lord."

Ryu said.

"Then it's settled."

Tang Wentian muttered with a slightly worried expression. The smell of danger was constantly emanating from this man. She wanted nothing more than to escape this place right now, but the only way to do so was to sneak past him to the ship.

"Let's keep our guard up. We're going to have to bring everything we've got to the table."

"If we get out of here alive, we'll be part of the legend."

Tang San's face filled with determination. He was denying the fear he had felt earlier.

"I'm not a coward!

He was about to prove it.

First, Luo Hak charged with his batting stick. He practiced the poisonous tattoo of the opener, Chupal Sunbo. While the opener had long and short techniques, he decided that the batting stick was the best way to deal with this man's west wind frenzy.

He took up the position first, because Geng's methods were suited to disrupting rather than confronting opponents. The Geng were originally a group of beggars, and their martial arts were centered around avoiding rather than winning fights. They believed that fighting for nothing would only leave them hungry.

He had spent a long time studying how to escape his brother's honey balm and triple punch. To do so, he would need to hone his techniques to the point of polarity, so he had been practicing his techniques diligently in case he was beaten by his brother.

You never know when you'll get to play with your big brother again.

His desire to stop being beaten like a dog ignited his passion for learning.

Now the fruits of his labor were showing in his body.

The Drunken Sun King paces around to confuse his enemies. It's named for the fact that it looks like a drunk walking around.

One minute I'm leaning left, the next I'm leaning right, and the next I'm leaning right.

The movement of a sharp pruner. It looks like it's about to fall, but it doesn't, instead falling to the other side. Repeating the sudden movements, the old man circled around Xu Tian.

I didn't feel any movement from Seo Chen.

I saw gerontology as an opportunity.

Without wasting any time, he took out his batting pole and stabbed it toward Xu Chen.

Tagu-bong method (打狗棒法)

Last Eclipse (最後一式)

天下無狗 (天下無狗)

From the beginning, he had been the strongest practitioner of the Open Season Striking Technique. There was no way he was going to be weak against Xu Chen, and his attack would signal for his friends to take turns unleashing a barrage of attacks on Xu Chen.

The celestial circle of Tagu Feng's celestial circle covered the heavens and earth. It was indeed worthy of its name, wiping out the dogs of heaven and earth.

"It's plastic."

West Wind Frenzy Vision (秘傳) Misunderstanding (奧義)

Yurinjoa (蹂躪爪牙)

Nails of steel sliced through the air.

Then the clouds that covered the heavens and the earth were torn apart in an instant. He tore apart the Festival of Opening with his might.

The batting cage made of blue porridge in Noh's hand exploded with a "bang," but that wasn't the end of the story.

The demonic beast of Xu Tian, who had annihilated all the fengyings, had now taken hold of Luo Hak's right hand.

"Flimsy thing. I'm going to tear you apart, piece by piece!"

With a light flick of his hand, Old Hak's right arm was torn off, along with the blue jade stick he was holding and the hitting technique he was unfurling with it.

"Kaaaahhhhhhhhh!"

A pitiful scream erupted from the old man's mouth.

Red blood fountained from the shoulder blade where his arm had been ripped off.

"Nohak!"

Namgung Sang, his face pale, called out Lao Tzu's name in an urgent voice. The others who were about to approach the man halted in their tracks. The herbivores of Heaven and Earth had disintegrated so quickly that they had lost their chance to attack.

"How dare you!"

Tang Wenhui's eyes rolled back in her head as she saw her mastermind colleague defeated, and she hurled her memorization at Xu Tian. In the meantime, Qin Lie had risked his life and raced like lightning to catch the old man. It was only possible because the distance between Xu Tian and the old man had increased by the length of the demon soldiers.

"Hoot! That's about it for toys."

However, with a single sweep of his arm, a gust of wind blew out, scattering all the memorizations that were flying towards him. Among them were the Tang Wen Eight Great Memorizations, but they were helpless in front of him. What's more, the gust of wind didn't kill its momentum and blew directly into Tang Wentian, who was about to scatter another memorization.

"Gah!"

Tang Wentian's body was blown backward by a gust of wind.

"Here, get this!"

Seeing that Tang Wenhui had been defeated, Tang Shan rushed toward Xu Chen, displaying his vaunted Tang Wen's threefold power. There was nothing to spare for such a man.

Three of the Eight Great Martial Arts of the Tang Clan exploded from Tang San's body in quick succession.

I couldn't afford to save memorization for the sake of it.

The three staggered memorizations poured down on Xu Chen's body like rain.

"This is ridiculous! What do you think you're going to do with a child's prank?"

Xu Chen snorted and held out his steel right hand, and a gust of wind centered around it again, deflecting all the flying memorizations of his terrifying career like a shield.

"You idiot, you're too close!"

Correcting her posture, she screamed and leaped toward Tang San.

If the bow was a long-range weapon, the mnemonic was a medium-range weapon. It was a projectile weapon, which meant that maintaining the proper distance was paramount. It was suicidal to close the distance between you and your opponent. At this point, Tang San was completely within the realm of Xu Tian.

"Die!"

Chorus!

West Wind Frenzy, the superior demonic weapon of West Heaven, let out a fierce sound that tore through the air and stretched out towards Tang San's heart. It was a terrifying 'wave heart' that could crush the heart of an opponent.

It was an attack he could not dodge, and his eyes filled with despair as he watched the flying steel teeth.

Whirrrrrrrr!

Just then, something came flying at him, catching him by the waist.

It was the leather whip that Tang Wen-hye had hurriedly extended. Believing that she could not arrive in time through the Divine Law alone, she had swung the whip urgently to make up the time and distance. When she thought she had accurately wrapped it around Tang San's waist, she quickly yanked it back.

The western winds that flew to pierce Tang Xiu's heart only scratched his sides without achieving their goal.

"Kwak, you saved my life, Moon-hye!"

Tang San, who had been resurrected from the dead, looked back at Tang Wen Hye with delight, and he froze on the spot.

"Moonhye……."

Thump!

There was a sense of unreality there, like the world was falling apart.

The nails of steel that missed him, instead made others the sacrifice of their teeth.

"fool……."

The corners of Tang Wenhui's mouth twitched, and red blood trickled down her cheeks.

The terrifying demonic nail extending from Xu Tian's hand was immediately embedded in Tang Wenhui's right breast.

Puhhhhhhhh!

Red blood gushed up like a fountain, then poured down like rain.

Hoo-doo-doo!

A rain of reddish blood fell on Dangsam's two shaken palms.

"Ouch!"

A pitiful scream erupted from Dangsam's mouth.