Chapter 278: The Sorrowful Truth (1)

I didn’t think Lee Yung would know more than the intelligence Ming Gu had.

And as could be seen through Eum Sajeok, the disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect didn’t hold much authority.

They were nothing more than lackeys of the Grand Elders of the Heavenly Demon Sect, and so didn’t know any vital information.

Lee Yung spoke with a face that looked somewhat resigned.

“Do you really have to kill me?”

“Isn’t it laughable for you to say that now, after everything between us?”

“Yeah, laughable. After all the effort I put into killing you.”

“Many people died because of you. The Sky Ocean Merchant Union suffered great losses because of you. If I let you live, it’ll only lead to even greater damage than what we suffered this time. You’ll gain even more power, and you’ll try to use that power to eliminate me. So why should I keep you alive?”

“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense at all.”

I quietly spoke, keeping Bukri Sehee behind me where she couldn’t see.

“To think I’d be having such a long conversation with someone I intend to kill… feels wrong.”

I drew my sword and said,

“Come at me. I’ll concede the final move.”

I never imagined I’d say those words I’d always heard from top martial artists… to Lee Yung.

Upon hearing that, Lee Yung gave the order to Myeolhwa.

“Do whatever it takes to stop him!”

Myeolhwa nodded.

Lee Yung intended to flee while Myeolhwa and Gwi Ryeongma-in held me back, even if just for a moment.

Gwi Ryeongma-in leapt directly at me to block my sight.

At that moment, Lee Yung hurled himself in the opposite direction.

I cloaked myself in Protective Energy and rushed after him in the direction he escaped.

Thud!

Charging headlong, Gwi Ryeongma-in collided with my body and was flung backward.

When Myeolhwa charged again on command, I slashed my sword downward.

Gwi Ryeongma-in split cleanly into two and collapsed.

Myeolhwa’s eyes widened as Gwi Ryeongma-in died, and she lunged at me.

She tried to use the Mutual Destruction Technique for her master’s sake.

But I forced her back with the Fighting Dragon Fist and dashed forward.

From thirty jang away, I saw Lee Yung fleeing and gathered my energy, releasing it as Enhanced Qi.

A flash of blue surged from my sword, and even as he ran, Lee Yung turned at the overwhelming presence.

And then he smirked faintly.

Nascent Qi couldn’t stretch past ten jang.

That was because of its nature to disperse rather than condense.

But seeing the blue energy flying toward him in a straight line, without dissipating, he pushed more strength into his steps.

He had thought it was Nascent Qi—but it wasn’t.

To travel over thirty jang, it had to be Twisted Qi.

“This is insane!”

Lee Yung couldn’t even dodge—he had to watch the blue energy pierce through his chest.

At a glance, it looked as if a blue light merely brushed past.

But Lee Yung felt a sharp jolt in his back, and a chilling sensation ran from his crown to his groin.

He immediately realized what that sensation was.

“I can’t die like this…”

With those words, a tearing sound echoed as Lee Yung’s body split in two and rolled haphazardly on the ground.

Bukri Sehee couldn’t bear to look directly at Lee Yung’s gruesome death and turned her head away.

The fury burning within me was evident in the energy radiating from my back.

Lee Yung had wronged far more than a few people.

Myeolhwa, who arrived shortly after, trembled at the sight of Lee Yung’s brutal death.

Then, she began to collect his corpse.

If she had attacked, I had no intention of letting her live.

But since she merely collected his remains and didn’t strike, I refrained from using any lethal moves.

Rather than dying in battle, Myeolhwa chose to retrieve her master’s body and give him a proper burial.

“Let’s go now, Hui Mae.”

Holding Bukri Sehee in my arms, I turned back toward the Bukri Clan.

Upon returning, I realized something strange about how the battle was unfolding.

“What is this…?”

When I had chased after Lee Yung, Bukri Chang hadn’t been losing to the Three Grand Elders.

But now, he was being overwhelmed unilaterally.

As a result, it was the warriors of the Bukri Clan who were dying in droves.

“Stop him! Stop that lunatic!”

Realizing he was on the backfoot, Bukri Chang used his warriors as human shields.

“Graaaaah!”

Even as he sustained injuries, the Three Grand Elders, in a frenzy, cut down the warriors without hesitation.

It was a grotesque display of what happened when a supreme master fell into Qi Deviation.

There had been past cases where absolute masters like the Three Grand Elders went into Qi Deviation and bathed the martial world in a storm of blood.

Such madmen took the lives of hundreds of martial artists before collapsing.

The Three Grand Elders were accumulating more and more injuries, and as his energy waned, his body showed signs of instinctively trying to flee.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what might happen if the Three Grand Elders escaped and ran loose into the world.

There was no doubt that countless innocent lives would be lost.

The Three Grand Elders leapt into the air, trying to escape the Bukri Clan.

Ten Bukri Clan warriors stepped in to block his path, but they were all struck down with just three swings of the Three Grand Elders’ sword.

The Bukri Clan warriors knew all too well what would happen if the Three Grand Elders made it outside, so they risked their lives to stop him.

But it wasn’t enough to stop someone like the Three Grand Elders.

Seeing the warriors fall like bundles of straw, Bukri Sehee turned to me with a plea.

“Orabeoni, I’ll stay here alone. Please, go.”

She understood my hesitation to leave her alone and not go after the Three Grand Elders.

But since I didn’t budge, she pressed on.

“You know what kind of catastrophe will happen if the Three Grand Elders gets outside. You’re the only one who can stop him, Orabeoni. I don’t want to see you regret not stopping him later. You’re going to fight anyway, aren’t you? Then please go quickly and stop him.”

I looked at Bukri Sehee and smiled.

“Hui Mae, think of yourself before others. And what if I get hurt trying to stop him?”

Grumbling at her pushing me into a fight, I continued.

“No matter how strong that madman is, I don’t believe he can harm you, Orabeoni.”

At her words, I let out a sigh.

“Wait here for a moment.”

“Don’t worry.”

I drew a Large Needle and fired Dragon Scale Finger at the Three Grand Elders, who was floating in midair.

The Dragon Scale Finger contained undeniable power. Even the maddened Three Grand Elders tensed his expression to block it.

To defend against the continuous Dragon Scale Finger strikes, he couldn’t remain floating in the air.

Each time he blocked a Large Needle, his body was pushed three jang backward.

Because of that, the Three Grand Elders naturally descended to the ground.

As I blocked his path, Bukri Clan warriors swarmed in.

They didn’t know who I was, but they assumed I was here to help and joined the effort.

Then Bukri So shouted from behind.

“All warriors of the main house, fall back!”

But the warriors of the clan didn’t retreat. They also knew what would happen if someone like the Three Grand Elders escaped, so they disobeyed the order.

Bukri So was infuriated that the clan warriors didn’t heed his command.

He had ordered them back to prevent further loss and irreparable damage to the clan, but their defiance made his anger boil.

“I said fall back!”

But one warrior shouted back.

“Chief Administrator, if we let this one escape, Henan will be drenched in blood. If that happens, how can the main house show its face in the murim again?”

Though they knew they were supposed to obey the Chief Administrator, the warriors of the Bukri Clan didn’t break the encirclement out of a martial artist’s conscience.

I saw this and murmured to myself.

“The Bukri Clan still lives. It hasn’t rotted to the core.”

I felt a bit lighter in spirit.

Though the Bukri Clan had colluded with the Heavenly Demon Sect and their clan head had acted unethically, that was due to a rotten leadership.

The warriors beneath didn’t know of such matters. They couldn’t be blamed.

Bukri So was left with no choice but to say something he didn’t want to.

“Even if it’s not you all, the Heavenly Sword Hero will stop that madman!”

Then, the gathered warriors realized that I was the one who had stopped the escaping Three Grand Elders.

I spoke as their eyes turned to me.

“Everyone, please fall back. I’ll stop him.”

At my words, not one of them objected. They all retreated beyond ten jang.

Seeing that, Bukri So fumed with rage.

They hadn’t listened to his orders, yet moved in unison at a single word from me—this only fueled his fury.

As I blocked the Three Grand Elders, Bukri So took the chance to approach Bukri Chang.

The clan head’s injuries were severe.

“Krgh!”

Thick saliva dripped from the Three Grand Elders’ mouth, who had been growling like a wolf.

His brain had already been destroyed. He had become a beast.

‘After the fierce battle with Bukri Chang, his Vital Essence must be severely depleted. It’s more advantageous to finish this in an instant.’

I drew my sword, opened my Vital Essence through the Inner-Outer Realm, and activated Dragon Concealment Heavenly Art to reach Unity of Sword and Mind.

My Vital Essence formed Protective Energy, and my body received the blade’s aura through Dragon Concealment Heavenly Art—my body became a massive sword.

Even from ten jang away, the warriors could clearly feel it.

No one was left unshaken seeing me attain a state where my entire body radiated sword energy.

Gasps and cries of shock erupted everywhere.

Seeing the two of us facing off, Bukri Chang ground his teeth.

His rage made it feel like his molars might shatter.

‘I sacrificed so much to reach that realm, and yet that brat attained it so easily!’

Overwhelmed with despair, Bukri Chang glared at the sky.

No matter how much he struggled, it felt like he couldn’t even defeat a child, let alone the Three Grand Elders.

‘Even committing acts worse than a beast to attain that state… was it all in vain!?’

As he wallowed in his lament, he spotted Bukri Sehee poking her head out and watching me from atop the roof of the main pavilion.

Had he not looked up, he would have missed her.

A gleam of light appeared in Bukri Chang’s eyes.

“Chief Administrator.”

“Yes.”

“Bring So-gun here.”

Even though Bukri Sehee was fully grown, Bukri Chang deliberately called her Bukri So-gun.

That was his way of showing that he saw her not as a daughter, but as a human elixir.

“I searched, but she’s nowhere to be found.”

Bukri So replied, then pointed to the roof.

“She’s up there. Bring her.”

Bukri So immediately spotted Bukri Sehee hiding on the roof and leapt up.

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