Chu Yeong-ho and Jeok-woong—they had even hidden the sound of their breathing.

The Seven Great Immortals each possessed their own unique talents.

Yo Myeong-sa had a sensitivity to spiritual sense like no one else, and in the case of Yi-ryong, as a successor of Shaolin, he possessed exceptional martial prowess and a strong will.

Jeok-woong was endowed with extraordinary physical strength.

Like an ancient warrior or perhaps a true red bear, he had a mighty body.

In the case of Chu Yeong-ho, he had a talent for stealth techniques.

It was a talent that bloomed after his once-handsome appearance had transformed into that of an ugly monster.

Perhaps it originated from his desire to hide his appearance due to shame.

No, surely it was that.

In any case, his talent was comparable to the stealth skills of the Guardian.

It wasn’t simply the martial artist’s way of concealing one’s presence; even if someone stared directly at his position with their bare eyes, they wouldn’t notice his stealth.

Thus, Chu Yeong-ho and one or two others he accompanied could move completely hidden.

Of course, they wouldn’t be detected by even a guard of the Eastern Depot.

“You there. Who are you?”

However, it seemed Dam Hyun had noticed Chu Yeong-ho’s stealth and spoke up.

Stealth masters knew that in moments like these, they should never hastily reveal themselves.

This was because, even when the enemy detected a faint trace of their presence, they might just be bluffing.

Chu Yeong-ho stayed silent for now.

“…”

“I asked you. Who are you?”

But then, Dam Hyun locked eyes directly with Chu Yeong-ho.

He could no longer feign ignorance.

Chu Yeong-ho and Jeok-woong didn’t realize it yet, but their opponent was far from a mere guard of the Eastern Depot.

-Jeok-woong.

-Yes.

At Chu Yeong-ho’s brief command, Jeok-woong immediately sprang into action.

Though his massive build made him appear slow, Jeok-woong was neither sluggish nor dumb.

As he reached into his sleeve and quickly withdrew his hand, a throwing knife shot out.

There wasn’t even a sound as it cut through the air.

However, Dam Hyun extended his hand and caught it.

Though Jeok-woong hadn’t put his full power into the throw, Dam Hyun’s skill was impressive.

Yet, attached to the handle of the throwing knife Dam Hyun caught, there was a black talisman.

At the moment when the talisman was about to burst into blue flames.

“Hah.”

Dam Hyun sneered and wrapped his hand around the talisman.

Chiiiik—

Thick smoke billowed from his palm.

However, Dam Hyun didn’t even flinch.

The ones surprised were Jeok-woong and Chu Yeong-ho.

-He’s dangerous.

-…A Taoist priest. Or perhaps… a sorcerer, a dark mage.

The talisman Jeok-woong used contained a spell.

Neutralizing it in such a way was impossible unless one was an exceptional Taoist or a sorcerer.

The problem was that they had no clue about their opponent’s identity.

As an advanced sorcerer, it was not easy to determine what kind of person Dam Hyun was.

However, alarm bells were ringing in their minds, signaling danger.

“So, you must be the ones they call the Seven Great Immortals. I was curious what kind of people you were…”

Moreover, Dam Hyun had figured out their identity.

“…Not much to be impressed by.”

Meanwhile, Chu Yeong-ho and Jeok-woong also made their decision.

They realized this was not someone they could deal with easily, so the priority was escape.

To do so, they planned to launch a powerful preemptive strike with their most potent techniques and then flee.

“Hmph!”

Chu Yeong-ho chanted a mantra, and Jeok-woong scattered three throwing knives at once, just like before.

Then, without even glancing back, they activated their light footwork technique.

A human-sized flame flew towards Dam Hyun, and within that flame, three throwing knives were mixed.

It was a crisis on the verge of exploding.

In that moment, Dam Hyun wasn’t flustered.

He simply chanted a short mantra and sank into the ground.

The fireball and the three throwing knives only exploded where Dam Hyun had stood moments before.

Boom!

And then, Dam Hyun used the earth-walking spell in reverse, leaping swiftly upward, right into the path of Jeok-woong and Chu Yeong-ho’s escape path.

They were shocked as they saw Dam Hyun rise up from the ground.

Dam Hyun was smiling.

“If I snap your necks, I might finally earn some respect as a senior brother.”

He looked as if he was pleased with his unexpected stroke of luck.

He drew a jet-black sword and swung it.

Where the blade passed, blue flames lingered.

Chu Yeong-ho was horrified.

“The Azure Forest!”

“Oh, you recognize it.”

“You… you’re an honor flower disciple!”

Chu Yeong-ho gritted his teeth.

As a sorcerer of the Demon Cult, there was no way he wouldn’t know the nature of the technique Dam Hyun was using.

“Jeok-woong, he’s using Ghost Fire Blade!”

The honor flower disciples of the Azure Forest could summon blue ghost fire onto their blades.

Even though Dam Hyun couldn’t use sword energy, the Ghost Fire Blade was just as formidable.

In fact, it was even more terrifying.

That ghost fire splattered blue sparks every time it clashed with the opponent’s weapon.

“Grrr—!”

Jeok-woong tried to shake off the ghost fire clinging to his arm, gritting his teeth as he swung his fist.

His massive fist, twice the size of a normal person’s, barely missed Dam Hyun’s ear as it whizzed by.

Whoosh—

As Dam Hyun dodged Jeok-woong’s punch, Chu Yeong-ho seized the moment.

From his empty palm, a blade about a hand’s length shot out.

“Die—!”

Not even the street strongmen from the marketplace would fight in such a bizarre manner.

But this was how a sorcerer fought.

Pook!

A distinct sensation was felt at the tip of his hand.

The hand-length blade had embedded itself directly into Dam Hyun’s abdomen.

Chu Yeong-ho felt a rush of both exhilaration and relief.

“Keurgh!”

Dam Hyun spewed a fountain of bright red blood from his mouth.

It was undoubtedly a fatal wound.

“Heh, heh heh.”

Yet, with his teeth stained bright red from the blood, Dam Hyun smiled.

That smile was eerily ghost-like.

Just seeing the horrified faces of Chu Yeong-ho and Jeok-woong made it clear.

Faced with the brink of certain death, Dam Hyun’s mind experienced an acceleration.

It was done.

Martial artists referred to this moment as the Spirit Echoes.

At the crossroads of life and death, or in moments of extreme elevation, a sudden acceleration of thought occurs. It felt as though time stretched out endlessly.

Perhaps it was similar to the supreme ultimate technique of the Sword Emperor.

However, unlike the body, which couldn’t surpass the limits of time…

It was easy.

Dam Hyun had finally become accustomed to achieving this heightened mental acceleration.

It wasn’t something that had been possible from the start.

It began when he shared the torment of the Hundred Refined Great Technique with Yi-gang, draining his innate Qi in the process.

If something was emptied, perhaps something else was filled.

Though Dam Hyun had lost his martial prowess, his shattered and ravaged body underwent a new transformation.

While his body couldn’t move as though time had frozen, at least his mind could think freely.

And with such a mind, as a talented sorcerer, there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish.

Within his accelerated thoughts, Dam Hyun activated several spells and techniques at once.

First, he controlled his physical senses to numb the pain.

Next, he constricted the blood vessels in his abdomen where the blade had pierced him. The bleeding stopped.

Then, he carefully channeled Qi into the damaged meridians.

Qi was both tangible and intangible.

He filled his entire body’s meridians with Qi in a way that would have been impossible if time were flowing normally.

By doing this, even for a brief moment, it was possible to surpass the physical abilities of a Supreme Peak master.

Just like that bastard Yi-gang…

In the state just before death, he suddenly gained the strength of a superhuman.

When time resumed its normal flow, the first thing Dam Hyun did wasn’t to crush Jeok-woong or Chu Yeong-ho’s skulls.

He swallowed the blue ghost fire that had clung to the blade.

“Y-you madman…!”

To the sorcerer, Chu Yeong-ho, and Jeok-woong, it looked as though he had just swallowed molten lava.

It was a mad act, tantamount to seeking death.

Soon, instead of blood, the blue flames began to pour out of Dam Hyun’s abdomen, where the blade was still lodged.

“I’ve acquired yokai energy too!”

“Kraaaaah!”

Chu Yeong-ho’s right hand was consumed by jet-black flames.

The blue flames that Dam Hyun released were denser and hotter than the original ghost fire.

At that moment, the overwhelming sensation that Chu Yeong-ho and Jeok-woong felt was one of sheer ‘danger.’

“Brother!” Jeok-woong cried out, his face contorting in fear.

Earlier, Jeok-woong had said he would sacrifice himself if danger arose and now he urged Chu Yeong-ho to go first:

“Go ahead first—!”

He didn’t expect to act on those words before they even met the Honorable County Princess.

Jeok-woong grabbed Chu Yeong-ho’s arm and, without hesitation, flung him.

Chu Yeong-ho, who was no mere pebble, was hurled through the air with a whizz.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Dam Hyun, with blue flames spilling from his mouth, swung his hand.

Jeok-woong didn’t just stand by and watch.

“I’ll take care of you!”

Jeok-woong’s body swelled, and his upper garments tore apart.

The fur that covered his body grew thicker and turned bright red.

Jeok-woong now truly looked like a red bear.

Dam Hyun didn’t dare underestimate him.

“So that’s the Explosive Blood Art, is it!”

Rather, he shouted with a joyous smile.

Jeok-woong had unleashed the Explosive Blood Art, a technique that caused one’s power to run wild by breaking their energy reserves, without hesitation.

Jeok-woong sacrificed his life to buy time, and Chu Yeong-ho survived by using his younger brother’s life.

“Grrr!”

Once again, Chu Yeong-ho used his stealth technique and dashed off to find the Honorable County Princess.

King Gye-yeong had just let out a roar that sounded like a beast in agony.

It was when he first heard the news of his child being kidnapped.

The eunuchs had reported that the Honorable County Princess had been kidnapped, but upon further investigation, the truth was the opposite.

The one kidnapped was the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince had been pretending to be the Honorable County Princess and was captured.

“I knew it!”

The Crown Prince had swapped places with the Honorable County Princess and imitated his sister.

“Those children often did that. On stormy days, or when I scolded them, they’d imitate each other.”

“His Highness must have had a premonition that something bad would happen.”

Yi-gang had experienced this peculiar habit of the siblings as well.

The Crown Prince had made a strange request earlier that morning, but who would have thought he would go as far as to swap places?

“Does that mean the Seven Great Immortals were targeting Her Highness?”

“Perhaps…”

“But why all of a sudden…”

If the Crown Prince being kidnapped was a misunderstanding by the Seven Great Immortals, why did they specifically target the Honorable County Princess now?

Yi-gang clenched his teeth.

“First, we need to secure Her Highness’s safety.”

“Yes, we must…!”

It crossed their minds that those who kidnapped the Crown Prince might try again to abduct the Honorable County Princess.

King Gye-yeong quickly mounted his horse and followed Yi-gang in search of the Honorable County Princess.

The search was not easy.

In the vast Forbidden City, it was impossible to know where the Honorable County Princess might be.

Given the circumstances, she could be hiding somewhere. In the worst case, she might already have been kidnapped.

Yi-gang and King Gye-yeong rode through the Forbidden City, but they couldn’t find the Honorable County Princess.

Along the way, they encountered and fought many Geumuiwi members who were allied with the Third Prince’s faction.

Had it not been for Yi-gang, even King Gye-yeong would have been in danger.

Their swords were already sticky with blood and oil.

King Gye-yeong’s face grew paler as time passed.

“We can’t… we can’t go on like this…”

How could they find a daughter hiding in a place like this?

Even the father was gradually losing hope.

However, Yi-gang did not give up hope.

“Do not lose hope, Your Majesty.”

“Teacher.”

“I made a promise to Her Highness.”

Yi-gang had made a promise to the siblings.

If they ever found themselves in danger…

“…me!” came a shout of the Azure Dragon’s Demon-Breaking Roar.

That faint voice unmistakably belonged to the Honorable County Princess.

“It’s over there!”

“L-let’s go!”

Yi-gang and King Gye-yeong turned their horses and raced like mad.

While King Gye-yeong’s expression brightened, Yi-gang’s remained grim.

The Honorable County Princess was not foolish.

She wouldn’t have used the Azure Dragon’s Demon-Breaking Roar just to reveal her location.

That could also have drawn the enemy toward her.

At the very moment when Yi-gang and King Gye-yeong rounded the wall of the inner palace…

The group encountered a series of people.

“You all!”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

It was the eunuchs and bodyguards assigned to protect the Honorable County Princess.

However, the Honorable County Princess herself was nowhere to be seen.

King Gye-yeong cried out in desperation.

“Where is she? Where is the County Princess?!”

“A strange person has kidnapped Her Highness. We chased after them, but they vanished as if they had turned invisible…”

“You fools!”

“A woman wearing the attire of the Eastern Depot followed after them.”

Before King Gye-yeong’s anger could explode further, Yi-gang intervened, “Was she a martial artist who uses a whip sword?”

“Y-yes!”

Yi-gang had asked just in case, and it turned out that Jin Ri-yeon had joined up with the Honorable County Princess.

Perhaps she had come after hearing the Azure Dragon’s Demon-Breaking Roar.

With hope in his voice, Yi-gang asked, “Which direction?!”

“T-that way…”

There was no need to listen any further.

“Help me!”

Once again, the Honorable County Princess’s Azure Dragon’s Demon-Breaking Roar echoed.

Yi-gang leaped from his horse onto the wall.

Jumping over the walls of the Forbidden City was technically forbidden by law.

However, King Gye-yeong raised his fist in support and shouted, “I will follow! Please, save her!”

Yi-gang didn’t respond. Instead, he kicked off the roof tiles and ran.

Thump, thump—with each step, the distance he leaped increased.

In no time, Yi-gang had leaped over half the inner palace wall.

“Senior Sister!”

There, Jin Ri-yeon stood.

Even knowing Yi-gang had arrived, she didn’t spare him a glance.

She was fully focused, ensuring she didn’t miss even the slightest trace.

“Yi-gang, there’s a sorcerer hiding ahead. They’ve kidnapped the Honorable County Princess.”

Her determination to pierce through the enemy the moment she pinpointed their location was evident.

Her determination was reflected in her long sword.

“Just ahead, right nearby.”

Jin Ri-yeon was staring at what appeared to be an empty wall.

If someone was truly hiding there, then it would be the pinnacle of stealth techniques.

Yi-gang remained silent for a moment.

More precisely, he didn’t speak aloud. Instead, he recited the Scripture of Inexhaustible Mind and Emotion in his mind.

With his enhanced vision, Yi-gang pointed to a spot.

“Directly in front of you, three steps ahead, that’s where he is. He’s holding the Honorable County Princess by the neck, so don’t stab.”

“…”

Jin Ri-yeon remained expressionless.

She swung her long sword toward the ground.

Whack!

The soil burst as sand scattered forward.

As the sand sprayed ahead, it revealed the hidden form of Chu Yeong-ho, who had been using stealth.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep