Chapter 239: Mad Sword Demon

“They went in this deep?”

At the subordinate’s report, Seo Gyeong-mu furrowed his brow as he stared at the dharma tool in front of him.

The wide, cylindrical tool was displaying the ongoing war. The territory and forces of the Radiant Light Sect were marked in red, while the Five Elements Cult appeared in blue.

A single blue dot inside the red zone.

That dot, representing the Extermination Squad, was deep within the territory of the Radiant Light Sect.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes, the information came directly from a spellcaster of the Extermination Squad.”

That spellcaster was Seon Tae-gyeong, once a commander of the Radiant Light Sect. He wasn’t someone to speak carelessly. If he said the Extermination Squad had advanced that deep into enemy territory, then it must be true.

“Hm.”

Seo Gyeong-mu had expected the Extermination Squad to move in their own way.

But this was too far beyond expectations. It was still the early phase of the war—a time for probing skirmishes—yet their advance was far too quick.

Even if they were powerful, this behavior was anything but normal.

‘What is this?’

Seo Gyeong-mu searched for some hidden factor he might not be aware of, but nothing came to mind.

“This doesn’t make sense. What did the Extermination Squad say?”

“Well… they say Lord Jang is pushing himself.”

“That kid?”

“Woo-hyun?”

Im Gwan-hwa, who had been listening quietly, joined the conversation.

She had also expected the Extermination Squad to act wildly. But she hadn’t worried too much—because Jang Woo-hyun was there.

As their leader, he should’ve been able to rein them in. But contrary to expectations, it seemed he was the one losing control.

“What reason did he give?”

“He didn’t explain clearly. He said they encountered cultivators during battle and that he intends to deal with their faction directly.”

“If he’s referring to cultivators, then it must be those from the so-called Cult of Ascension.”

“Even if they’re involved, this doesn’t seem like Lord Jang’s usual behavior. Perhaps I should head there as support?”

At Woo Il-do’s suggestion, both Seo Gyeong-mu and Im Gwan-hwa shook their heads simultaneously.

“You’re a crucial asset to our cult, Lord Woo, but I doubt you’ll be of much use to the Extermination Squad.”

Just as Seo Gyeong-mu said, sending a single Five Elements Warrior wouldn’t be much help. Even excluding Seon Tae-gyeong, the Extermination Squad had at least four members who were equal to or greater than most Five Elements Warriors.

Their strength was abnormally high—offering support would not be easy.

“We’ll just have to watch for now.”

There was nothing even the massive organization of the Five-Wheel Five Elements Cult could do for them.

“Keep contact with them constant. Monitor the Extermination Squad’s movements closely. If there’s anything we can do for them later, we must.”

“Yes, sir.”

Even after the reporting subordinate left, the meeting continued.

Troop movements, the distribution of masters, and the location of the Five-Wheel Guardians—all of these were being discussed without rest.

About an hour passed.

Then another subordinate rushed into the meeting hall.

“Cult Leader! Urgent news!”

The man burst in and immediately spoke.

“The Floating Island is approaching.”

“The Floating Island? What are you saying?”

“The Radiant Light Sect is moving the Floating Island. More than half of the scouts we sent were taken out by their attack. The forces currently advancing are believed to include at least one of their Ten Commanders. Field reports even suggest Hyeonwol might be among them.”

At the mention of Hyeonwol, the eyes of the leadership in the room widened.

The war had just begun, and already the sect master of the enemy was being mentioned. If he had truly moved, it meant something serious was at play.

The room became frantic, unable to discern the enemy’s true intention.

“Notify everyone nearby.”

“Call back those deployed and gather our forces.”

“Tell the scouts to withdraw. The main force will move out personally.”

Orders flew in every direction, and the warriors of the Five Elements Cult moved swiftly.

“This might be resolved faster than we thought,” said Im Gwan-hwa.

Seo Gyeong-mu nodded. The war was heading in an entirely unforeseen direction.

Jang Woo-hyun slashed his opponent’s limbs, then struck his torso with the flat of his blade.

Puuuhng!

His enemy’s body burst open, flesh and bone fragments scattering. Jang Woo-hyun reached out and clenched the air.

Crunch!

The flying shards of bone crumbled into powder, and the torn flesh turned into blood, splattering to the ground.

The earth beneath his feet had turned into something like a marsh from the sheer volume of blood.

“Ma… Mad Sword Demon…”

The shaman, collapsed on the ground and crawling backward, barely managed to speak.

The hero who once wielded a thousand blade scales and saved beastkin was gone.

What now stood before the cultivators of the Radiant Light Sect was a deranged sword demon, devoid of emotion, part of his head missing, slaughtering everything in his path.

Jang Woo-hyun, now known by a new alias—Mad Sword Demon, tore through his enemies, slicing them to pieces, crushing them, killing them… turning them into blood.

The terrified shamans and cultivators had been utterly overwhelmed.

In the end, they gave up fighting.

“S-surrender! We surrender!”

“Please spare us!”

“Have mercy!”

Just moments ago, they had been launching spells and attacks. Now, they were kneeling, heads pressed to the ground before Jang Woo-hyun.

Not a single one dared to raise their head. Just looking into his remaining eye felt like certain death.

“Lord Jang! No, Senior! I—I didn’t want to come here. I haven’t been in the Cult of Ascension for long. I didn’t fight because I wanted to. I had no choice. I swear, I didn’t want to fight you!”

Step.

Jang Woo-hyun walked toward the cultivator, the one pleading that he was not to blame.

“They probably said the same.”

They wouldn’t have wanted to be thrown into that horrifying machine. They wouldn’t have wanted to die.

But they were kidnapped and suffered horrible deaths. Crushed to death in grotesque mechanical devices.

Jang Woo-hyun placed his foot on the back of the kneeling cultivator’s head.

“P-please, spare me!”

“The machine that crushes people… where is it?”

“Wh-what? Ah, I-I think you mean the dharma treasure that produces new oil, but I don’t—”

Crack!

The cultivator’s head exploded before he could finish speaking.

“New oil? They dare call that thing a new kind of oil?”

Swallowing the curses rising in his throat, Jang Woo-hyun stepped forward, planting his foot on the man’s back once again.

Crack!

His back shattered, and blood splattered.

Next, his waist was stomped on.

The prone cultivator’s upper body was crushed out of existence, leaving only his limbs behind.

“Eeeeek!”

At the grotesque sight, some of the prone enemies sprang in all directions, thinking they might be spared if they surrendered.

Naturally, Jang Woo-hyun had no intention of letting them go unharmed.

The moment his gaze landed on the fleeing enemies—

“Aaaagh!”

“Urgh!”

Whether they rode flying apparatuses or used spell techniques—whether they were shamans from the Radiant Light Sect or cultivators from the Cult of Ascension—all of them had their limbs severed and plummeted to the ground.

By his will alone, he struck down everyone fleeing in all directions in an instant.

Step.

“Uuugh…”

Even in pain, the cultivators tried to restore their bodies and escape the area somehow.

Step.

“Gyaaah!”

At the sound of approaching footsteps, they forgot their injuries and flailed about. The physical pain wasn’t the issue. It was the sound—the sound approaching from behind—that plunged them into terror.

“Please spare me! I beg you, Lord Jang! Senior Jang! Khugh!”

He stabbed a cultivator who was crawling with only their torso intact.

Skewering the body on the tip of his sword, he turned it into a blunt weapon and used it to smash a shaman lying nearby.

Bang!

Jang Woo-hyun’s qi collided with both bodies, crushing them into a pulp.

That wasn’t enough. He used Will-Form Qi Projection to squeeze every piece of torn flesh around him.

The cultivators died without leaving even a corpse behind. Not a single exception.

Step.

He stepped forward again. The still-living cultivators and shamans screamed in terror and tried to flee however they could.

Jang Woo-hyun, expressionless, crushed the writhing cultivators and shamans one by one. Like a machine, he repeated the process over and over.

He had crushed about half of the fallen enemies when—

Wind-Passing Great Sage blocked his path.

“That’s enough.”

Jang Woo-hyun, who hadn’t bothered to heal himself, looked grotesque. A third of his face was missing, and his one remaining eye burned with madness and fury.

“Move.”

“Enough already.”

“I said move.”

“I get that you’re angry. That’s why I didn’t say anything while we came all this way. But is this right? Are you enjoying this?”

Jang Woo-hyun had always been the most level-headed, the one who kept the group under control. That’s why he’d been left alone, trusted to have a reason.

The first enemies they encountered, he’d cut them to pieces. Perhaps it was to prevent resurrection—cultivators and shamans could sometimes revive even when dismembered.

But as time passed, it escalated. He began acting like a man gone mad.

And now, he wasn’t just cutting them to pieces—he was pulverizing them.

“I’m not doing this for fun. Move.”

“What if I say no?”

Wind-Passing Great Sage, arms crossed, looked down at Jang Woo-hyun.

His blue eyes were just as cold as Jang Woo-hyun’s.

“If you want to talk, then clean this mess up first.”

To Jang Woo-hyun, the cultivators weren’t even people anymore.

“That’s why I said move. Are you not going to move?”

When Jang Woo-hyun raised Black Wilds Sword, Wind-Passing Great Sage uncrossed his arms and chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess it’s about time. We were never really on the same side anyway. Let’s settle this here and now.”

At those words, Jang Woo-hyun’s brow furrowed.

“You monster.”

“Who doesn’t know I’m a monster? But look at yourself. What are you? Are you still human? Who’s more of a monster right now?”

He’d thought Jang Woo-hyun had some kind of plan. But no—he was just slaughtering shamans and cultivators like a madman. And not by ordinary means, but by making them explode and crush under his hands.

Looking at how he dealt with enemies, Jang Woo-hyun now seemed more monstrous.

“I told you. Move.”

Taking those words as a signal, Wind-Passing Great Sage moved first.

Neither of them released killing intent or revealed their aura. It looked more like a casual walk as they closed the distance.

‘He’s coming.’

The moment Wind-Passing Great Sage sensed the movement of the black sword—

Without a connecting motion, Black Wilds Sword came for his face. As if stabbing from an invisible blind spot.

But Wind-Passing Great Sage easily dodged the sword and extended his leg.

Jang Woo-hyun stepped back to evade—but Wind-Passing Great Sage’s foot, nearly the size of his hand, caught his shin.

A technique only possible because he was a monkey beastkin.

“You can fight like this too.”

A move he never would’ve used before.

He’d learned martial arts and developed a whole new way to fight.

As Jang Woo-hyun’s movement was limited from being grabbed, Wind-Passing Great Sage seized the opportunity and slammed him into the ground.

Kwaaaaaang!

He merely slammed a man into the earth, but the ground shook, and a shockwave exploded outward.

As Wind-Passing Great Sage followed up with a punch, Jang Woo-hyun revealed his true power.

The intent to cut down his enemy radiated in every direction. The sharp force made Wind-Passing Great Sage retreat slightly.

They hadn’t been using their full strength—but Jang Woo-hyun, pushed back in the first exchange, now revealed his power first.

Inside the deep crater, Jang Woo-hyun rose to his feet.

“You really want to do this?”

His Will-Form Qi filled the space, carrying the intent to cut down everything. His one remaining eye locked onto Wind-Passing Great Sage.

“When have I ever not been serious?”

At that, Jang Woo-hyun drew Dragon King’s Scale.

Human and beast.

An unlikely pairing, but they’d been like friends.

They had met as enemies, fought together—and now stood opposed once again.

“Fine. Let’s really go at it this time.”

“Hehehe, works for me.”

Rumble!

Wind-Passing Great Sage also unleashed his power.

The air trembled. A fierce wind gathered around him, lifting his body.

The blue-eyed beastkin stared into the eye of the lone human.

Jang Woo-hyun and Wind-Passing Great Sage had never settled things between them. It could’ve happened at any time—it just happened to be today.

Jang Woo-hyun lifted his foot first. But before he could move, something pierced through his field of Will-Form Qi and flew toward him.

Clink-clink!

A thin chain wrapped around his sword arm.

At the end of it stood Mak Ya-wol, his face stern.

Then, from the opposite direction, someone shattered the sword-like Will-Form Qi and approached.

Tap.

Landing beside Jang Woo-hyun was Seo Ryeom, the black-furred rat beastkin.

“Captain, this isn’t right.”

Even Seo Ryeom and Mak Ya-wol stood to block Jang Woo-hyun.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep