Chapter 226. Nine in the Fifth Place (22)

‘Kya!!’

Just as Hyeon Yu-Yeon was about to scream, Woo-Gang quickly ran over and covered her mouth.

“Calm down, junior sister! Ha... seriously.”

Si-Hyeon, who had been glaring at Hyeon Yu-Yeon, soon sighed and shook her head. She had already heard what had happened from Woo-Gang.

Her head was already spinning, wondering what they were supposed to do with this wild and unruly young lady.

‘Even if nothing happened between him and Hyeon Yu-Yeon, no one would believe it. Only strange rumors would spread. Combined with the fact that he married the Heavenly Demon Cult’s very own leader, the rumors would become even more vicious... and any chance of her getting married to anyone else is over, too.’

She hated having to think about this when she was already on edge because of Woo-Moon and her father-in-law.

Si-Hyeon sighed.

“Ha...”

Yeo-Seol sighed as well.

“Hmph.”

Ma Ra shook her head as if she didn’t like it either.

Hyeon Yu-Yeon started tearfully.

“I’m sorry...”

She was still young, and she wasn’t by any means evil—just unruly and a little dumb.

Woo-Gang told her what was going on and she was able to understand how she was being perceived at the moment and what a massive mistake she had made, especially when combined with the dangerous situation at the moment. She ended up shedding tears in fear and shame.

Si-Hyeon sighed inwardly when she saw that. Eventually, she just went over and hugged Hyeon Yu-Yeon.

“Why did you do it if you knew you were going to regret it later? Ha... I’ll talk to him about it. Everything will work out somehow.”

“

Hiiiiiiing!

”

Hyeon Yu-Yeon burst into tears in Si-Hyeon’s arms.

As he watched the two, Woo-Gang realized that Si-Hyeon had become much more open-minded and mature than before.

A faint smile appeared on his lips, even with his heavy heart.

‘What a relief. Thank the heavens that my eldest sister-in-law is such a good person.’

***

“You must be anxious, junior sister,” said Gyeong Mu-Gi.

However, Yu Yu, who was sitting, hugging her knees, didn’t even look at him.

Still, Gyeong Mu-Gi didn’t get angry and just continued practicing his spear techniques next to her.

It was as if he was saying that he would protect his junior sister no matter what happened.

Yu Yu was simply unable to acknowledge her senior brother—her regret over her brother’s death was just too strong, so how could she just accept a complete stranger taking over the role of a brother protecting her? Yet without her even noticing, she was starting to feel more and more secure in Gyeong Mu-Gi’s presence.

***

ROAR!!!

Eun-Ah, who had climbed to the peak of the highest mountain near the Heavenly Demon Cult, continued to roar as she looked in the direction she could sense Woo-Moon’s presence. Her roar was filled with anger and sadness.

While she wanted to follow him, she couldn’t.

Woo-Moon had conveyed to her that he had to go alone.

Although she didn’t understand the details, she understood that Dae-Woong and Jin-Jin might die if she followed, and thus, her paws were tied.

She couldn’t even throw a tantrum.

Eun-Ah could only roar in frustration and anger. She hoped that her roar would reach Woo-Moon, far away though he was, and cheer him on.

***

‘I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all. I’ll kill everyone in Martial Heaven!’

Although Woo-Moon felt like crying, he couldn’t do so, and his eyes were bloodshot.

His head was filled with the sight of his father’s severed ear.

Just thinking about what his parents must be going through made his heart feel like it would burst. All of the blood in his body felt like it was boiling, on the verge of explosion.

He finally understood why he hadn’t been able to find his parents or Gun-Ha, no matter how hard he’d searched. They had been kidnapped by Martial Heaven.

***

As he ran at breakneck speed, following the aura trail, a man suddenly stood before him, and behind this man were a thousand others with various weapons in hand.

‘What the hell are you thinking, you bastards?’

Woo-Moon kicked the ground and jumped up, trying to fly over them.

However, the words of the person leading the group of warriors made him stop.

“Destroy everything blocking your path before you come find me. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to talk to your bear-like father again.

Just like with the Myriad Lives Monk, it was a feminine voice again, coming from the throat of a burly man.

Crack

.

Woo-Moon ground his teeth.

Irritation and anger welled up within him. There was no reason for the enemy to do such cruel things; Woo-Moon was coming anyway. And yet, they were forcing his hand even further.

Seeing him floating in the air, the thousand armed men, who looked like mountain bandits or the likes, started to murmur among themselves.

The man who was leading the largest group among these thousand bandits finally grit his teeth and spoke up.

“I-I’m sorry, Great Hero Song. Our lives are also at stake here, so there’s nothing we can do. Please understand.”

Woo-Moon heaved a deep sigh and came down to the ground. With equally gritted teeth, he replied, “You crazy bastard. What do you want me to understand? Just hurry up and attack. I’m in a really bad mood right now, but you know what? Never mind. This’ll be a good opportunity to take care of you Black Hand bastards.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Woo-Moon unleashed Heavy Rain.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

“Ugh!”

“Agk!”

Three hundred people lost their lives from a single Heavy Rain.

“A-attack! We’re going to die either way, anyway!”

“None of you bastards have the right to live anyway,” Woo-Moon retorted. “You’re going to die either way, that’s for sure.”

All of them smelled like blood, and some of them downright

stank

. That meant that they had killed many people. This was only natural—they were bandits after all, and which bandit hadn’t slaughtered a couple of people? That was what they did best.

No, even if there were some who hadn’t harmed innocent people, it didn’t matter.

Since they were members of a mountain bandit den or a pirate crew meant that they had also harassed innocent people and partook in whatever riches resulted from robbing and pillaging.

“I’ll take this opportunity to reduce the evil in the world, even a little!” shouted Woo-Moon.

The enemies also went berserk and rushed at him.

Swish, swish, swish!

A total of thirty qi bolts shot out of Woo-Moon’s ten fingers and flew indiscriminately in all directions.

Squelch, squelch, squelch, squelch!!

“Ahhk!”

“Ugh!!”

Since each of the bolts took at least ten lives, at least three hundred people lost their lives.

The gang boss who had asked for Woo-Moon’s understanding earlier started to yell, “You demonic bastard! To think you would kill this many people without batting an—

ugh!

”

Woo-Moon’s sword pierced his chest.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

The boss stumbled frantically, trying to get away, while Woo-Moon glared at him.

“When it comes to eradicating evil, there can be no half measure. I will be

very

thorough this time.”

As the boss’s torso burst apart, Woo-Moon’s sword aura extended endlessly, piercing the enemies behind him like a skewer.

Woo-Moon then swung his extended sword aura around him like a fan, chopping in half every enemy that still stood around him, spraying blood everywhere.

It had taken him less than half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to kill a thousand people.

After slaughtering all of his enemies, Woo-Moon continued on, transforming into a ray of light, flying toward the Forbidden City and leaving blood flowing like a river in his wake.

His flight was cut short, though. Not a few li ahead, another massive group of enemies were waiting.

‘This time, it’s about two thousand of them. If they keep doubling like this two or three more times, I might be able to kill every last one of the Black Hand bastards in the empire

.’

A moment later, Woo-Moon landed in front of the enemies and plunged his sword into the ground. Aura flowed out of the Golden Dragon Sword he had received from the Emperor, turning the ground in front of him upside down.

BOOM!

With that single sword, the entire vanguard, about seven hundred strong, was crushed to death.

“Kill him! Kill that bastard! That’s the only way we can survive!” the enemies shouted.

Woo-Moon snorted and threw Lightflash forward.

Swish!

The path that Lightflash flew along, leaving behind a white trail, was followed by countless bloodshot eyes.

“S-Sword Control!”

Though they had been in contact with cultivators, they were nothing but low-level grunts. This was the first time they had seen such a high-level sword technique as Sword Control.

Woo-Moon condensed a strand of Transcendent Aura and focused on making it as sharp as possible—sharp enough to sever anything and everything in its path. And with that strand of aura as a sword, he unleashed North Wind.

The Transcendent Aura, engulfed in ice, flew forward, drawing a huge crescent moon in its wake.

Clang, clang, clang!

Whether it was a thick iron baton, a sword, a dagger, or a warrior who had mastered physical cultivation, North Wind passed through them as if they did not even exist.

None of them could stand up to the Transcendent Aura that could even penetrate an Absolute Master’s aura.

Hiss!

Everywhere North Wind passed, extreme yin qi bloomed, turning everything in all directions into ice. Those who had been lucky enough to avoid the aura blade were all turned into ice pillars.

A horrifying fifteen hundred people had died in this one attack.

As the number of enemies increased, the number of people who died from Woo-Moon’s techniques also increased. The more of them there were in one place, the more of them he could mow down in one go.

“A-agh!!!”

Some of Woo-Moon’s foes who witnessed this sight peed themselves as they fled.

BOOM!

All who tried to flee, however, exploded like the Myriad Lives Monk; the qi that the Martial Heaven Emperor had placed inside them went wild the moment they turned to flee.

Whether they fought or fled, the only possible ending was death.

The enemies’ eyes filled with a vicious light and a will to survive.

“Fine, all of you, come at me! I’ll kill you all!”

Woo-Moon was more enraged than ever before. He would’ve had no mercy either way, and now that he also had to think of his father’s life, he did not even bother with useless feelings.

Once again, he and his enemies clashed.

“Agk!!!”

Hundreds of limbs and heads flew into the air from a single blow of Woo-Moon’s sword.

“Ugh!”

Countless others fell, spurting blood, as they were pierced by Lightflash, which was still flying freely under Sword Control.

“W-what is this?! Agk!!”

Golden Wall Severing Void minced all of the remaining enemies into paste.

Now soaked in the blood of his enemies, Woo-Moon let out a huge roar and used his movement technique again.

A moment later, the Great River appeared in front of him. He could see all of its majesty, spanning a monstrous forty li across.

On its waters floated countless ships with thousands of enemies, all sending hostile gazes toward him.

Woo-Moon ran out of the forest toward the river. He stretched out both arms behind him and swung them forward.

Crack!!

Dozens of giant trees on his left and right were uprooted by an invisible energy and flew toward the river.

“W-what the hell is that?! Get out of the way!”

However, the trees were flying under the control of Woo-Moon’s Space Manipulation, which was much faster than the ships could possibly maneuver.

BOOM!

Crack after crack continued to resonate as the ships that collided with the giant trees were shattered into pieces, sending pieces of wood and flesh flying everywhere.

The shattered remnants of the ships floated on the river, and the water turned red.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

Woo-Moon stepped on the water and ran across the river.

Unlike a while back, when he destroyed a certain pervert admiral’s fleet, he now needed no tricks and artifices. He could simply run across the surface of the water or fly above it at will.

Raging Storm was unleashed from the Inkblade that had appeared in his hand somewhere along the line and flew in the direction of thirteen ships floating in a group.

Bang!

The ships that Raging Storm pierced burst apart, and the surrounding vessels were also sunk and shattered by the wind and waves created in the technique’s wake.

In the meantime, Woo-Moon continued to cross the river. He was by now halfway through, and every time he moved his hands, countless ships were shattered into fragments.

When he finally reached the other shore, there wasn’t a single ship left floating behind him.

The Great River could now be renamed as the Great Blood River.

Many thousands of people had died already. Yet as he continued to run, there were once more people blocking his way.

This time, there weren’t many, just twenty warriors.

They were the surviving members of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dippers.[1]

Seven of them were Absolute Masters, while thirteen were Transcendents.

“Alright, let’s get this over with. Hand over your heads.”

At Woo-Moon’s murderous words, the leader of the Heavenly Dippers snickered.

“Even if you are one of those so-called almighty Paragons, you still can’t defeat the combined forces of seven Absolute Masters. Your bragging skills are quite impressive, Song Woo-Moon, but this here will be your end.”

“Enough talking!” Woo-Moon shouted, charging at them.

1. They are the superior half of the Seventy-Two Heavenly Dippers. This is a reference to the Korean

murim

novel

The Hundred and Eight Heroes

, which itself drew inspiration from

Water Margin

, one of the earliest known Chinese novels written in vernacular Mandarin. In both these novels, they are a famous group of bandits. ☜