Leaves and brush whipped past at speed, making a loud racket.

As if that were not all, branches snapped with crackling sounds, and startled mountain beasts fled with cries.

But no one cared about that.

Yi-gang’s group was running faster than that commotion could reach the Evil Cult’s sentries.

Yi-gang, in particular, held the lead.

Shooting Star Fang was not in his hand.

It flew ahead along the route, knocking aside brush that blocked their path and cutting branches away.

As for Yi-gang himself, he pushed through the jungle without even caring when branches slapped his face.

They could not have been carrying torches, so everything ahead was pitch-black.

And yet, orange flames flickered up ahead.

And noise, too.

Evil Cultists were running about busily in all directions.

And Yi-gang left the endless stretch of brush and trees behind.

Leaves and bits of grass were stuck all over Yi-gang’s face and body.

There was even a beetle clinging to the back of his neck.

Yi-gang grabbed it roughly and tossed it away.

Three Evil Cultists stood before him.

Holding torches, they seemed to be debating whether to keep their post or go check the uproar inside the main headquarters.

Their eyes met Yi-gang’s.

For a moment, unable to grasp what was happening, they froze.

One of them moved first, faster than the others.

He sucked in a deep breath, trying to shout as loudly as he could.

“Intru—!”

But being the quickest to react became the reason he died first.

A hole opened in the man’s throat as he tried to cry out.

The cultist toppled backward, spurting blood.

Yi-gang drew the sword that had pierced his throat straight across the one beside him.

His chest split open wide, spraying blood.

The remaining one didn’t stand still.

That he used Power Borrowing immediately could be called the right judgment.

Yi-gang didn’t know which yokai’s power he had borrowed, but coarse fur burst out over his body, even across his face.

“Ke-heong!”

Even that was Power Borrowing.

Of course, its might was greater than it looked.

With those hands changed like a beast’s, he could probably tear metal plates apart.

Surprisingly, Yi-gang’s sword couldn’t fully cut through his arm.

It caught on the bone in his forearm and couldn’t go any farther.

Yi-gang didn’t think it was a crisis, but the other man seemed to.

Roaring, he swung his intact left arm at Yi-gang.

A sword flew in from somewhere and pierced his temple.

To the Evil Cultist who still didn’t die completely.

Do Seon, who led the Taoist Flower Disciples, recited a spell.

With a Hwareuk! sound, flames clung to the man’s body.

They thought it was dealt with safely.

But luck didn’t keep lasting.

Piiiiiiik-!

A sharp whistle rang out.

There had been a nearby watch post.

Evil Cultists began rushing out from everywhere.

Taoist Cheok-gol stepped forward and bellowed.

“We break through-!”

He carried a massive staff instead of a sword.

It was far too large for a person to wield, but in truth, it had been made to match his Power Borrowing.

Because he, unusually, received Power Borrowing from a yokai.

A monkey yokai called the Sacred Golden-Furred Ape (金毛聖猿) lent him its strength.

Taoist Cheok-gol’s body suddenly grew.

His height became twice that of an ordinary person, and his arms grew even longer than that.

Only then did the staff become an appropriate size, and Taoist Cheok-gol swung it without mercy.

The heads of the Evil Cultists struck by the staff crushed far too easily.

But at this main headquarters, there were countless enemies who could use Power Borrowing.

“Ueoeoeo-!”

An Evil Cultist with red eyes charged in with his bare body.

With astonishing brute strength, he slammed into Taoist Cheok-gol.

The two grabbed each other’s hands and struggled in a contest of strength.

Taoist Cheok-gol’s frame was far larger, but their strength was evenly matched.

The red-eyed cultist drew in a deep breath.

Hwareureureuk!

He spewed fire from his mouth.

Taoist Cheok-gol’s entire face was scorched by flame.

“Euaaaah!”

But because of that, it seemed the other man’s strength faltered.

Taoist Cheok-gol ignored his burning face, bent the man’s body, and locked him in a hold.

Udududuk!

If the spine breaks, then whether it is Power Borrowing or anything else, death is only natural.

Taoist Cheok-gol’s face was burned, but his fighting spirit didn’t break.

“Come at me-!”

Shouting that, he plunged back into the fray.

Yi-gang also took the front, following Taoist Cheok-gol.

Keong, keokeong!

Somewhere, the cries of wild dogs rang out.

Up ahead, dozens of dogs suddenly came rushing out.

No, they were not ordinary wild dogs, but yokai.

They were ones he had seen before. They were yokai called Snake-Blind Hounds that the Evil Cult had used outside Crouching Dragon Basin.

They were here as well.

True to yokai, they didn’t fear people, and they didn’t care about the flames spreading everywhere.

The one who faced the dozens of Snake-Blind Hounds pouring out was none other than Tang Eun-seol.

She raised the hand wearing ornaments, making them jingle.

“…Fall.”

As if issuing an order, the ones charging at the very front began to topple first.

They foamed at the mouth, rolled on the ground, and convulsed.

Those behind them tried to leap over their kin’s corpses without caring, but it was hopeless. They were poisoned the same way and collapsed dead.

It happened so fast it looked like waves crashing onto a shore and breaking apart.

In an instant, dozens of yokai died of poison.

Tang Eun-seol turned to Yi-gang and asked.

“Wind.”

A spell like that was not beyond Yi-gang.

When Yi-gang recited the incantation, a strong wind rose from all around.

The poisonous miasma spread where the Snake-Blind Hounds were also rode the wind inward.

The faces of several charging Evil Cultists turned bluish.

But that didn’t mean they toppled like dogs.

They were enduring the poisonous miasma.

Strengthening their bodies with Power Borrowing, or unleashing their martial arts without holding back.

Just as the Azure Forest disciples didn’t fear death, neither did they.

For what reason they were so faithful to a plan that would erase all humans from this world, including themselves.

Yi-gang could not understand it at all.

No. It felt like he could understand it, too.

Is it not easier than you think to see those betrayed by the world trying to take revenge on the world?

Either way, Yi-gang couldn’t let them be.

Before his sword even fully swung, something mystical began to happen.

From the weapons of those charging in, violet sparks hissed and scattered.

It was the sign of Yi-gang’s Supreme Ultimate Technique.

Then lightning spread from the tip of Yi-gang’s sword.

No matter how fast a person was, they were slower than lightning.

Blue lightning webbed outward, then tore the air and detonated thunder.

Jjeojeojeong-!

About seven Evil Cultists collapsed at once.

Pale steam rose from their charred bodies.

Yi-gang steadied his breathing.

Nezha had told him to throw away things like Supreme Ultimate Techniques and sword-controlling arts.

What Yi-gang ultimately had to face were divine powerhouses, including the Cardinals.

Yi-gang’s Supreme Ultimate Technique, Thunder Lord’s Descent didn’t work on heavenly gods.

He had to learn how to break their domains, and he had to learn a single strike that could deal a fatal wound.

Yi-gang strove in that direction.

He could not achieve everything, but he could say he gained some of it.

He had put it to use when he faced the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

It had been the body of a heavenly god that even sword aura could not cut, yet Yi-gang succeeded in cutting the Great Sage Equal to Heaven with an ordinary sword strike.

‘…If I had just had a little more time.’

No. There was no need to regret, and no room to feel sorrow.

Yi-gang kept moving forward.

Even if a Supreme Ultimate Technique would not work on the Cardinals, it was still useful enough to bring down their underlings.

Their main headquarters, where the Sealing Box was, lay in a gap between the cliffs.

A river flowed out from inside, and they had to enter through a small, narrow path.

As Yi-gang and the others broke through with unstoppable momentum.

It was the moment a Wudang Nine Palaces swordsman stepped on a rock and leapt in.

Dozens of iron bars shot out from both sides of the cliff.

They interlocked, blocking the path.

The unlucky Nine Palaces swordsman passing through died like a fish skewered by a harpoon.

His fellow Nine Palaces swordsman couldn’t accept that futile death at all.

“Hyeon-woon! Euaaaah!”

As if trying to rescue a comrade who could not possibly still be alive, he swung his sword at the bars.

Sword aura blazed. Even iron bars should have been cut in one stroke.

But it was not so.

Sparks flew loudly, but only a small nick appeared on a single bar.

“E, eternal cold iron.”

These bars were all made of cold iron, a metal with hardness second only to meteorite iron.

The Nine Palaces swordsman, staring blankly at his dead comrade, suddenly looked up.

“What is this…”

The area around him turned red.

It was as if red light was pouring down from somewhere, illuminating him.

He didn’t know what it meant, but it was clearly ominous.

“Snap out of it!”

Someone grabbed that Nine Palaces swordsman by the collar and yanked him back.

The Nine Palaces swordsman rolled on the ground as he was dragged backward.

And the place where he had been just a moment ago.

The ground caved in as if a transparent, gigantic hammer had smashed down on it.

“Heok, heok…”

If Yi-gang had not dragged him away, master or not, his body would have burst and died.

The Nine Palaces swordsman’s judgment had been correct.

And the red light was not only around him.

Looking around, red light was shining down in many places.

All of them were Azure Forest disciples.

From the Evil Cult’s perspective, they were where the intruders were.

Kwaang- Kwaaang- Kwaang!

Impact booms rang out in succession.

Those with bad luck couldn’t escape that radius.

No human shape remained there at all, only lumps of flesh.

Yi-gang clenched his teeth.

Of course, this was not martial arts.

Nor was it a mechanism.

Then was it sorcery? If it was sorcery, it was not something a human could perform.

Yi-gang lifted his head, and his gaze stopped up above.

A structure built between the cliffs.

From one point within it, red light was pouring out.

Someone was inside.

Probably one of the Cardinals who was casting this grand sorcery.

It was a place they could not reach from the ground.

Unless they infiltrated from above the cliff.

“…Senior Brother.”

And Group Three, including Dam Hyun and Nezha, was up there right now.

They had to do something.

Red light enveloped Yi-gang.

He grabbed the Nine Palaces swordsman and dodged again.

Even from atop the cliff, the roar from below could be heard clearly.

Not only that, it was plainly visible.

Red light shining down on the ground, and the earth caving in wherever it struck.

Evil Cultists pouring out, and the group fighting them.

「It’s grand sorcery. Someone down there is using it.」

“Right. Then we have to go in, don’t we?”

「If not us, then who?」

Nezha said that, and Dam Hyun nodded.

Around him were those with the quickest feet and the most covert movement.

Neung Ji-pyeong and Seon Woo-hwi were included as well.

Dam Hyun unfurled the Red Armillary Sash and slung it over his shoulders like a cloak.

“Tell me when you’re ready.”

The one who said that was Bodhidharma, standing with calm composure.

By ready, he meant ready to throw themselves at the Cardinal who was casting sorcery down below.

“We’ve been ready.”

They were prepared to offer their lives.

Bodhidharma nodded.

With Dam Hyun at the head, they leapt down the cliff.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep