Thousand-Zhang Sheer Cliff.

There was a dizzying cliff in Namman that was rarely seen.

The cliff was split down the middle, forming an inward passage, and in that fissure lay the Evil Cult’s main headquarters.

A river flowed on the ground, and if you followed it inward, there was a place like an ancient shrine-temple.

That place was the Evil Cult’s main headquarters.

And in the gap of the cliff, buildings had also been constructed spanning between the sides.

Red light was pouring out from there right now, so the sorcery striking the ground was likely being cast from inside.

In the middle of the cliff.

How could they infiltrate that building, which looked as if it floated in midair?

They would likely need a grueling process, climbing the cliff or carving out a path to reach it.

In that sense, splitting into three groups and sending one above the cliff had been the right choice.

The only way to infiltrate there quickly was to descend from above.

That was why Dam Hyun’s Group Three leapt in at once.

It was a height where a bad landing could break their legs, but why fear something like that?

Dam Hyun, unlike usual, was holding a spear.

It was not some great divine weapon. It was an item that was no different from an iron rod.

But with Nezha clinging to his back, the weapon’s crude nature was not a problem.

Flames wrapped around the iron rod.

It was Nezha’s treasure, the Fire-Tipped Spear.

And as if that were not all, a metal ring spun in circles around Dam Hyun’s falling body.

The Qiankun Ring.

On top of that, the Nine-Dragon Holy Fire Cover and the Red Armillary Sash wrapped around Dam Hyun.

He looked exactly like the owner of the treasures.

It was the same state Yi-gang had been in when he forced the Great Sage Equal to Heaven to his knees.

Dam Hyun’s eyes turned blood-red.

Capillaries popped, staining his eyes red, but Dam Hyun did not close them.

「Focus. As long as the Qiankun Ring is there, your spear will hit without fail.」

Dam Hyun had never properly learned spear techniques. But now, wrapped in the Qiankun Ring and the Nine-Dragon Holy Fire Cover, there was nothing his spear could fail to strike.

‘Inside there.’

That was the structure, in simple terms.

Dam Hyun’s eyes widened.

It was not for nothing that he had been focusing without blinking even once.

His eyes flashed.

He had refined a spell like the Insight Eye to an extreme.

Dam Hyun’s eyes pierced the building’s outer wall and examined the inside.

Beyond the wall, he saw red light shimmering. It was energy held within a person’s body.

It was probably the Cardinal using that dreadful grand sorcery.

「Swing!」

The long, yet short fall was coming to an end.

One might think there was no way a single spear could pierce an outer stone wall.

But the Fire-Tipped Spear was not an ordinary spear.

He merely slashed the spear in a cross, and the building’s outer wall shattered and collapsed in an instant.

Dam Hyun shoved his body into the gap of that collapse.

The speed of his descent didn’t slow at all.

Stone fragments flew everywhere, and dust blocked his vision.

But Dam Hyun’s eyes pierced through it without fail.

A living, throbbing target was beyond it.

「Now-!」

“Die!”

Dam Hyun thrust the Fire-Tipped Spear.

There is a saying: First strike, certain victory.

The one who attacks first has a higher chance of winning.

It was not a saying limited to street fights.

Even in fights between masters, even between heavenly gods, striking first was advantageous.

All the more so when it was an ambush falling from the sky.

Puuuuuk-

The tip of the Fire-Tipped Spear pierced flesh.

Not only that. The flaming treasure even burned the target.

“Kraaaagh!”

A chilling scream rang out.

But Dam Hyun couldn’t laugh.

What he had stabbed was right in front of him.

Then why was the scream coming from far away?

As the dust settled, Dam Hyun realized what he had stabbed.

“…A snake?”

It was a snake.

A snake as thick as a person, scaled and legless, so it could only be called a snake.

Why was a snake here?

Dam Hyun’s gaze followed the direction the burning snake continued.

There, was the one who had screamed.

A woman whose legs were countless snake tails.

Besides her two eyes, she had a third eye opened on her forehead.

A dumbfounded smile rose to Dam Hyun’s lips.

When he had imagined the Cardinal, he had naturally thought it would be in human form.

“This is a complete monster.”

“You insect-like bastard!”

Her anger burst forth dramatically.

There were dozens of snake-shaped legs, nearly filling the building’s interior.

One intact tail lashed at Dam Hyun.

It was so fast it made a sound like a whip cracking.

Dam Hyun was struck before he even understood what happened.

He rolled across the floor once, twice, three times.

When he endured the impact and stood, his left ankle was twisted backward.

Embarrassed, he tried to scratch his chin, only to find even his fingers bent every which way.

“Huh.”

The Red Armillary Sash instantly healed Dam Hyun’s body back to normal.

That astonishing recovery from a treasure was enough to make even Gwi-ryeong hesitate.

“…Nezha?”

“Are you the Cardinal, Gwi-ryeong?”

Gwi-ryeong frowned.

Her features could be called pretty, but that eyeball set vertically in her forehead was terrifying.

“That’s right. Who are you?”

“So it’s true. That must be revenge.”

Dam Hyun’s answer was too strange to be an introduction.

But he was not introducing himself.

The most famous thief in the world.

Shadowless Divine Thief, Seon Woo-hwi, who had once lost his sect because of Gwi-ryeong, and his junior, Neung Ji-pyeong, were quietly closing in on her.

With the Radiant Shadowless Art, that martial art remaining in the Quanzhen Sect’s lineage, they cut at Gwi-ryeong.

There were two sword strikes from both sides, but only one sound.

Shadowless Divine Thief’s sword bit in, nearly severing her collarbone, and Neung Ji-pyeong’s sword sank into Gwi-ryeong’s white throat.

“You vile thing.”

Shadowless Divine Thief’s words, spat out as if vomiting them, were thick with bitter rage.

For a human, it would have been a fatal wound.

But even then, Gwi-ryeong sneered.

“You’re like gnats.”

No one saw how she dealt with Seon Woo-hwi and Neung Ji-pyeong.

With a short impact sound, the two were flung away at the same time.

A massive hole opened in Seon Woo-hwi’s abdomen, and Neung Ji-pyeong flew back with his limbs broken.

The body of the snake tried to lash down at them as they rolled on the ground.

But in that gap, the rest of the group all entered.

“Block her-!”

There were Honor Flower Disciples who could use Power Borrowing among them.

In the not-so-wide interior, dazzling five-colored light scattered.

Ho Cheong, Taoist Cheok-gol’s disciple and Dam Hyun’s senior brother, was included as well.

He rushed in barehanded and grabbed the snake tail that was about to smash Neung Ji-pyeong to death.

“Get out of the way-!”

Ho Cheong’s whole body was stained red, and his eyes showed a flashing white.

It was obvious he was using Power Borrowing.

Then whose power was he borrowing?

When Ho Cheong refused to let go of the tail, another tail beside it tried to smash into him.

Ho Cheong even pulled free one arm and grabbed that tail as well.

He ended up with one of Gwi-ryeong’s snake tails tucked under each arm.

A single snake tail was easily as thick as a human torso, and its strength was beyond comparison to a human’s.

It was only natural that Ho Cheong was dragged along.

But instead, he slammed both feet into the stone floor.

Then he put strength into both arms.

Ho Cheong’s muscles bulged, and something astonishing happened.

Ududududuk!

The two snake tails, strong beyond measure, were torn clean off.

Because the one he was borrowing power from was none other than the Overlord King Xiang Yu.

It was brute strength worthy of the phrase “Strength that uproots mountains, spirit that covers the world”.

The severed tails writhed, spraying blood everywhere.

Unlike a snake’s blood, Gwi-ryeong’s blood was extremely hot and thick.

Filled with the Overlord King’s fierce spirit, Ho Cheong shouted.

“Finish her! Don’t let her use sorcery!”

Ho Cheong shouted that and charged at Gwi-ryeong.

The other Azure Forest disciples used Power Borrowing as well.

Dam Hyun lit the Fire-Tipped Spear again and ran.

And then another opponent appeared, one Gwi-ryeong could not dare look down on.

What broke through the shattered ceiling was a dragon.

The brilliance of its scales.

Compared to them, the snake scales Gwi-ryeong wore were like gravel next to jewels.

A true dragon.

Bodhidharma descending from above with jaws open contrasted with Gwi-ryeong and her snake tails.

Bodhidharma was like heavenly punishment descending.

Gwi-ryeong could not help but respond.

Dozens of snake tails that still filled the interior surged up all at once.

Only to block Bodhidharma’s advance.

Because of that, those charging at Gwi-ryeong were freed up.

Without any interference, they each raised their weapons toward Gwi-ryeong.

「Smash her head and kill her! That’s the only way!」

Dam Hyun was among them, too.

Nezha attempted possession on Dam Hyun.

As of now, Dam Hyun’s ability was not enough to handle all of those treasures.

Control over Dam Hyun’s body slowly passed to Nezha.

Then his hair rose up, and light burst from his eyes.

Kiiiing!

The Qiankun Ring spun like mad, and the Fire-Tipped Spear’s flames grew far larger.

But then.

Dam Hyun, retreating into the back of his consciousness, saw it clearly.

Gwi-ryeong’s face, visible between the surging snake tails.

Her expression did not look urgent at all.

With the last of his remaining control, Dam Hyun moved the Red Armillary Sash.

The Red Armillary Sash spread wide and blocked Nezha’s view.

“What are you doing right—!”

The moment Nezha shouted in frustration.

Gwi-ryeong revealed the card she had been hiding.

It was a scream.

But it was not a scream a human could produce, and it was more powerful than any lofty sound art, including a lion’s roar.

Gikyaaahhhhhh-

It felt like eardrums would tear.

It carried physical force, and at the same time, force that shook the spirit.

Buuuk!

The Red Armillary Sash, the treasure Nezha was said to have worn since birth, tore.

That was possible because the scream was not a mere sound technique.

Gwi-ryeong’s true identity was, like Mang-hon, one of the Four Perils, Qiongqi.

That monster had made this place its domain.

An ancient monster that killed countless people as offerings, and escaped the restraints of causality through the cultists’ faith.

Qiongqi’s power was beyond what anyone could bear.

Everyone who had charged in collapsed.

Ho Cheong, who had shown off the might that could uproot mountains, and the other Honor Flower Disciples were no exception.

Even Bodhidharma lost strength for a moment and fell.

Using her snake tails, Gwi-ryeong shoved Bodhidharma’s stiffened body outward and dropped him.

There was only one still standing on two feet.

It was Dam Hyun, who had offered up the Red Armillary Sash as a sacrifice.

“You bastard…”

Dam Hyun’s condition was not good either.

Nezha’s possession was undone.

This entire interior was now Gwi-ryeong’s domain.

Within it, borrowing another heavenly god’s power was not permitted…

Qiongqi, now far more at ease, seemed to decide on a more refined method.

She raised a finger and pointed at Dam Hyun.

“Fall into darkness.”

A heretical art that normally required extremely complex preparation.

But within her own domain, she could ruin a person with absurd ease.

A Dark Qi, like black smoke, flew at Dam Hyun.

Dam Hyun’s head snapped back.

The Dark Qi, which not only drove people mad but destroyed their brains, entered Dam Hyun’s head.

Dam Hyun’s body swayed.

He slammed his head into the floor, kicking up dust.

Then he convulsed, trembling all over as if in agony.

Gwi-ryeong could have killed Dam Hyun in an instant, but she didn’t.

“Impudent bastard.”

It was punishment, the kind dealt to a human who had been insolent.

The Dark Qi was turbid energy. It would feel like it was gnawing and burrowing through his head.

She was about to take her eyes off Dam Hyun, whose eyes had rolled back as he trembled.

But then something happened that Gwi-ryeong did not expect.

Thud.

Even while shaking, Dam Hyun braced a hand on the ground and pushed himself upright.

That again, she clearly didn’t know Dam Hyun.

“I-It’s… f-filthy… f-filthy painful.”

That he had once lived for more than ten years with Dark Qi in his head, and had mastered all kinds of demonic and heretical arts.

“A-Are y-you d-done?”

She would not have known he was a man utterly unfit to be called a man of the Dao.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep