Chapter 173

Swoosh!
After being slashed to the point of insensibility, the color of the black cloth had turned blacker than black, and he finally caught his breath.
“……wallpower.”
I see a stack of bolts. The bodies of those who tried to throw them are lying on the ground, torn apart and dead.
One, two, three, five, ten, one hundred…….
Dressed in red robes and hoods, their eyes show no fear when they see me.
In my last life, I had a terrible fate.
Today, I am greeted here as well.
In my last life, they tormented my servants and men.
Now, they rained down on my brother-in-law and other members of my family.
So I slaughtered them all.
I trampled them down like worms, cut them apart like livestock, like wanderers surviving in the wild.
My fingertips were numb.
I feel like I’ve regressed to my days as a sword demon and a killer demon.
Ah, not yet.
At least not yet.”
“Because you showed me fear.”
A color on the retinas of the Reds,
the walls of the South Palace in my previous life were fierce.
And I am as mad now as I was then,
nay, I was as ready to be a madman now as I was then.
* * *
But as always, the world did not go my way.
“……I, the Red Ark.”
My heart pounded like a madman when I saw the Ark of Opening rush over, breathing heavily. The Red Ark appeared in front of me, to be coordinated by Jie Gal Zhu Hu’s side.
I could have sent the other beggars of the Open Sea,
But to have him appear in front of my eyes and look so desperate.
“The …… monk is dead, the volcanic devotee is dead, the eighteen hundred and ninety-four have been wiped out, and the twenty-four plum blossom swordsmen are all dead.”
Something was going wrong.
“Four thousand deaths? Did they create them?”
“……It would have been fine if they were the only ones.”
I was unconvinced. The power of the Martial Sect and the power of the Reverse Heavenly Sect had been appropriately divided between them, through the intelligence of the Open and the brilliance of the Jie Galsega.
Not only that,
they moved conservatively, just in case.
“What if it was just them? There can’t be anyone else left.”
At my words, the Red Ark of the Open Sea looked pained. He shook his head in disbelief.
“……betrayed.”
* * *
“……What the hell.”
The moment Liu Xin’s head turned, his left shoulder blade flew out.
“Why……!”
“You didn’t tell me, this war, or at least the battlefield here, must be a victory for the Four Heavenly Kingdoms for me to live.”
It was Zhongnan’s longest servant, Zhongli Gon. He thought he’d fled, but his newest creation was actually aiming for Yushin’s back.
“You stupid……!”
A voice of rage erupted from Yushin’s mouth, but Hyukryugon was unperturbed, boldly raising his sword toward Yushin’s dagger and piercing it through.
“I apologize. There shouldn’t be one like me in this world.”
Yu Xin’s eyes narrowed. In his bloodshot eyes, you can see the sacrifices of countless True Believers. It’s ridiculous that it’s the Orthodox who are targeting their own backs.
“Ah, don’t worry, that doesn’t mean we’re going to let Sapa’s hand be forced.”
Zhong Ligon’s gaze fell on the thirty-six Yuyun swordsmen of Zhongnan. Surrounded between them was none other than the Reaper Blood Maiden Ban Yihua.
“……We will do our part.”
“Foolish, you thought you could do something about it.”
“Hoo-hoo. Eighteen, nineteen, twenty-four plum blossom swordsmen, all dying. I’m afraid we can’t deal with the one Demon Blood Maiden and the Deathly Heavenly Lord who have run out of strength.”
Seeing the final strength of the Zongnan Sect gathered here, with thirty-six cloud swordsmen and six elder-ranked martial artists, Liu Xin laughed heartily.
“The heavens are ashamed of you.”
“This is an opportunity given to me by the heavens.”
“You gathered to stop those who would upset the heavens, but in the end, you defy them yourself.”
Revolutionary Gon shakes his head.
“I’m pioneering. Now we need a new nest, too.”
Push, push, push!
The thirty-six swords of the Liuyun Swordsmen sliced deeply into Ban Yihua’s helplessness, cutting down one by one.
She had already faced Yu Xinxin’s debate and Hui Yan’s golden power time and time again, and she was no longer strong enough.
Unable to relieve the pressure of the Cloud Sword Qin, Ban Yihua bit her lower lip until it bled, but this only accelerated her dying process.
Puff! Fufufufufufuf!
“……damn it! Fuck!”
Ban Yihua’s entire body was covered in blood.
She shed a tear as she looked at the bloodied Hye-yeon, who had a knife in her back.
Hye-yeon didn’t deserve to die in vain like that.
He snapped.
“It’s so hard, but what can I do?”
The cypherun blade sliced right through Hye-yeon’s heart, crushing it several times with a chilling sound.
The faces of everyone who had been hopeful at the sight darkened and fell into despair. The blade that pierced into the heart of Xinxiang Huiyan was enough to shock everyone.
“The axe of faith will stab you in the back. I knew that the factions were feuding among themselves, but to stab you in the back at such a crucial moment?”
It wasn’t just one or two blades that pierced Hui Yan’s heart. At the same time, Zhongnan’s swordsmen rushed in to cut off the remaining exhausted party members.
“You mean to eliminate all witnesses.”
“……namu amitabha.”
Galpai clicked his tongue a few times as he realized that every single one of the Sect’s martial artists had no hesitation in drawing their swords.
It was quite impressive.
“This is the real thing, Wen.”
Hye-yeon looks at the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth and laughs bloodily.
“So that’s what you wanted to protect, a bunch of political factions. You’re really nothing.”
Hye-yeon’s eyes narrow at Galpyeong’s words.
“That’s right, why did you waste your strength on others? You’re a foolish fellow, using up all your energy to break the Great Heavenly Jewel of Shaolin.”
The hall was quickly clearing up. Even if the martial artists of the Four Heavenly Martial Sects were not moving, the martial artists of the Sect of the South were still slowly hunting down and slaughtering the martial artists of the Zheng Sect.
They were doing so while avoiding friction with the martial artists of the Sect of the Four Heavenly Clans as much as possible.
Revolutionary Ligon knew.
Regardless of what he had told Yushin, there would be no conflict with the forces of Zongnan, no matter how powerful they were, as long as Galpyeong was fully present here.
Galpyeong laughs at their unspoken gesture, and his gaze turns to Hye-yeon, whose life flame is dying.
“Tell me. Do you want to tear them apart, or do you want me to take your circle and kill them all?”
At those words, the head of the Revolutionary Ligon, who had slit Yushin’s throat, looks up.
“Lord of Death, it’s me, the Revolutionary Ligon of Zhongnan, can’t you see what’s going on?”
Hearing his panicked voice, Galpyeong shakes his head.
“Shut up. Whatever you say is out of my earshot. Just accept the choice of this brat.”
The Four Heavenly Lords snapped their fingers and made a noise. At that moment, countless Four Heavenly Martial Artists raised their heads from the bushes.
“What can we do, Black River Moon and Gui Wang Clan, they’re so simple-minded, they’d rather go after the people of the sect that killed their leader than listen to me.”
Looking up, he saw the remaining Sect of the South Sect forces surrounding him, and he was visibly flustered.
He had obviously grasped the overall situation and jumped in, but how could this be in English?
“Whatever.”
Galpyeong’s face turned to Hye-yeon after taking his eyes off Hyuk-ri-gon.
“Tell me. What do you want me to do, kill them all?”
Galpyeong’s eyes urged Hye-yeon to tell him what she wanted to hear so badly, and she couldn’t resist.
It’s human nature to want to retaliate for what has been done to you.
“……namamitabul.”
Hye-yeon’s mouth slowly opened. His body gradually begins to glow with a golden radiance, and his eyes reveal a revolutionary glint.
“What is so urgent?”
There is no reprimand, no resentment in Hui Yan’s eyes, just,
“Profit! Poetry, monk! How can I stand idly by while a man who has spent his entire life working for a living ends up on the streets?”
“I will no longer be Gu Feifang, but Eight Feifang. At the very least, I will not show any mercy to anyone who fights to preserve the stability of the people’s lives in the Martial Kingdom.”
“Who can survive in the Faction Clan after pretending to be Shaolin?”
“No revenge, no return. Once spoken, words cannot be taken back, so let Zhongnan go his way. I can assure you that Shaolin will never see him again, at least not before I die.”
He remembered Hyeon-yeon’s calm and firm words, telling him that he was never wrong in his choice.
But.
“But why are you looking at me like that?”
Hye-yeon’s expression in Hyuk-ri-gon’s eyes was so relaxed. At the same time, it’s wistful. She wondered why he was looking at her with neither resentment nor anger.
“Why are you looking at me with those eyes……!”
“Namu Amitabha. You must be scared.”
Cringe.
Hye-yeon’s words made Hyuk-ri-gon shudder.
“In the next life, be born as my friend.”
Ouch.
Hyuk-ri-gon dropped his sword. For what had he come all this way, betraying his own people and turning his back on them?
To have the same reaction as me.
Zongnan’s countless disciples were also puzzled.
And then.
“Galpyeong, the spirit of the Zheng Sect is not dead.”
A burst of golden brilliance enveloped every single one of the Sect’s uninhabited people. As he and his Great Heavenly Beasts oxidized into a handful of light, they disappeared, their eggs embedded in the bodies of the Four Thousand Immortals.
“Namu Amitabha. I will be with you for the rest of your lives. Be with me.”
Puhhhhhhh!
It wasn’t until the golden glow enveloped this place, this battlefield, that they realized.
Hye Yeon had died and ascended to the heavens.