Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 475 – Great Calamity (1)

Blood from the corpses of those killed.

Those droplets of blood stirred and then slowly began to rise.

-Slither!

Lee Ji-yeom, the Corpse Blood Valley Master, who had been unaware of the floating blood droplets due to facing Jeong Hyeon-mun, the leader of the Righteous Alliance and one of the Seven Heavens at the pinnacle of the current martial world, only noticed as the world gradually turned red.

‘What is this?’

The mountain peak’s floor was so soaked in blood it was soggy, and the floating blood droplets made the world seem dyed in blood.

Just then, Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader, scanned the surroundings and spoke.

“Show yourself if you’ve come, So-wol.”

‘So-wol?’

A strange light flickered in Lee Ji-yeom’s eyes.

Has she returned?

At that moment,

-Poof!

Though he hadn’t taken his eyes off him, Jeong Hyeon-mun’s form suddenly blurred and appeared right in front of him.

Without time to think, he leaned back and tried to create distance by flying away, but,

-Swish!

Suddenly, his sword was trying to cut his neck.

Even if he wanted to avoid it, it happened in such a split second that his body couldn’t react to the speed.

‘Can’t even block a single strike?’

Aside from injuries, was the gap between the Eight Stars and the Seven Heavens truly unbridgeable?

As he stared intently at the unavoidable sword, at that very moment.

-Clang!

Just before the blade touched his neck,

Despite it being a situation where interference seemed impossible, something that surged from the blood on the ground blocked the blade of the famous sword Il-hwi that was about to cut his neck.

Simultaneously,

-Whoosh!

“Huh!”

Lee Ji-yeom’s form was thrown backward by an eerie and sinister energy.

Knowing it wasn’t meant to injure but to throw him back, Lee Ji-yeom didn’t use his inner energy to resist the force.

As he was pushed back, his eyes caught a glimpse of a being wearing a crown.

She was Ryu So-wol Cheong-ryeong, the last head of the Moon Vein clan whom they had served for generations.

“Even as a vengeful spirit, you’re still weak. Swayed by sentiment, you throw away the perfect opportunity to cut this neck and save a descendant of that house.”

In response to Jeong Hyeon-mun’s sneering words, Cheong-ryeong glared at him fiercely and spoke.

-What would you know, who only understands taking?

“So, isn’t that why you’ve come to take back again? My……”

-Clang!

Before he could finish speaking, Jeong Hyeon-mun’s famous sword Il-hwi was deflected upward by Cheong-ryeong’s long pipe.

-Shut up!

Jeong Hyeon-mun’s lips curled up at her explosive spiritual energy.

‘Has she transcended the limits of a vengeful spirit?’

This was spiritual energy beyond purple spirit, no, even surpassing that.

Even with the art of solitude, it was impossible to create such a powerful vengeful spirit even with time and effort.

It showed just how extreme her resentment had become.

However,

-Swish!

The moment his sword was deflected, Jeong Hyeon-mun’s sword energy struck at Cheong-ryeong’s forehead like lightning.

Cheong-ryeong quickly sank into the blood on the ground, but in an instant, the crown she was wearing shattered and flew off.

-Slide!

Having thus avoided Jeong Hyeon-mun’s strike, her form rose from the blood about ten steps away.

Looking at her, Jeong Hyeon-mun smiled and said,

“Shall we duel with swords like in the old days?”

-Do you think I’ll be swept along by your wishes?

She had no intention of doing what her enemy wanted.

Now that she had drawn him into her world, she intended to slash him to pieces and kill him for certain.

-Swish!

As she swung her long pipe, the countless blood droplets floating in the air began to tremble.

At first glance, it looked like the droplets were vibrating, but,

‘They’re rotating.’

Lee Ji-yeom, watching from a distance, could see that this was a phenomenon caused by the blood droplets spinning at high speed.

-Whirl!

Though hard to see due to their small size, the blood droplets were spreading thinly and rotating rapidly, increasing their sharpness and power.

Was she controlling all these countless blood droplets?

It was jaw-dropping.

‘Indeed.’

The smile disappeared from Jeong Hyeon-mun’s face as he became quite serious.

That’s how ominous Cheong-ryeong’s current actions were.

At this,

-Crack!

His forehead split open and a third eye opened.

Lee Ji-yeom’s eyes widened at the sight.

‘Could that be?’

It was similar to what he had seen from Na Yul-ryang, the Eldest Young Master, in the inner palace of the Heaven and Earth Society.

Then does this mean that Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader, is also connected to that Secret Society?

Just how formidable is this Secret Society that even Jeong Hyeon-mun, one of the Seven Heavens at the pinnacle of the current martial world, is involved?

Lee Ji-yeom was inwardly concerned.

How many others might be hidden, he wondered.

Just then,

-Die.

-Swish!

As Cheong-ryeong extended her long pipe, the rapidly rotating blood droplets all rushed towards Jeong Hyeon-mun at once.

-Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Each rotating blood droplet had enough power to blow away an entire body part if it penetrated.

She thought that even Mok Gan couldn’t avoid this technique she had carefully developed over a long time.

But she saw Jeong Hyeon-mun’s lips curl up, when she expected him to be flustered.

-Flinch!

What on earth does that mean?

As she wondered, Jeong Hyeon-mun stabbed his famous sword Il-hwi into the ground and spread his arms wide.

Is he really going to take this head-on?

At that moment,

-Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!

The fiercely rotating blood droplets flying towards him slid away to other directions before even touching his body.

Cheong-ryeong’s expression hardened at this sight.

‘The Ritual of Repulsion.’

That technique of deflecting incoming strong forces as if sliding them away was one of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques, the Ritual of Repulsion.

He had reached the highest level in the forms of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques that had attained enlightenment.

-Pop, pop, pop, pop!

The deflected blood droplets flew towards the surviving Corpse Blood Valley warriors.

“Dodge!”

Lee Ji-yeom shouted hurriedly, but it was already too late.

Exhausted from fending off enemies, they had no strength left to avoid this.

-Bang!

Just as casualties were about to occur, Cheong-ryeong slammed her palm down towards the ground.

Then,

-Whoosh!

The pooled blood surged upwards, creating a wall surrounding the area.

Thanks to this, the blood droplets deflected by the Ritual of Repulsion were absorbed into the blood wall, preventing the damage they might have inflicted in reverse.

-Huff…… huff……

Though she tried not to show it, Cheong-ryeong’s complexion was not good.

In fact, she had not yet fully recovered her spiritual energy.

Amidst this, driven by the sole determination to thwart Mok Gan’s scheme, she had raced here tirelessly day and night.

Hence, she had aimed to settle the match with Jeong Hyeon-mun, who could be considered Mok Gan’s avatar, in a short time, but that was no longer feasible.

If she used another large technique that consumed spiritual energy, she might put herself in more danger.

So,

-Swish!

With a wave of her hand, the Demonic Intent Domain Blood Realm that had dyed the peak’s floor and surroundings blood-red was withdrawn as if it had never existed.

As everyone looked bewildered, Jeong Hyeon-mun spoke as if he had expected this.

“That’s about all you can do with an incomplete body, right? Any further resistance is meaningless.”

-Resistance? You’re mistaken about something. This is revenge.

“Revenge…… Huh huh huh. That also requires strength. What you’re trying to do is merely struggling. So-wol.”

Cheong-ryeong snorted at those words.

-Fine. Then I’ll struggle to my heart’s content. Until my kicks crush your skull.

-Swish!

With those words, Cheong-ryeong took the initial stance of the Moon Vein sword technique.

At this, Lee Ji-yeom shouted.

“My Lord! Take this!”

With those words, Lee Ji-yeom threw the scabbard he had been carrying on his back to her.

-Catch!

Without even looking at the flying scabbard, she reached back and caught it, then immediately drew the sword from the scabbard.

-Ching!

With a clear sword cry, a pure white sword revealed itself.

It was the famous sword Sun-yeon, a unique weapon made exclusively for her by Gu Moon-hyuk, a descendant of the great craftsman Gu Ya-ja.

The moment she grasped the sword, Sun-yeon trembled with sword light and a strong resonance flowed out.

-Woong!

Sun-yeon, held in its master’s hand after a hundred years, was crying.

‘You’ve waited a long time too, Sun-yeon.’

Truly a famous sword.

It recognized its master even though she was grasping it in spirit form, not with a physical body.

At that moment, an unknown energy flowed in from Sun-yeon.

-Whoosh!

‘This is?’

It was the emotion that had accumulated in the famous sword Sun-yeon over a hundred years.

The hundred years of emotion had become a highly pure energy, and as it entered her, her severely depleted spiritual energy began to gradually recover.

Cheong-ryeong’s eyes flickered with a strange light.

Though it was a famous sword, it wasn’t a demonic sword, so how did it have such an ability?

‘Was this your provision, Gu Moon-hyuk? Or did a hundred years of time make you like this?’

The master craftsman Gu Moon-hyuk, who made and brought her the sword.

He seemed to have made the best sword for her.

Tightly gripping the famous sword Sun-yeon, Cheong-ryeong returned to a swordsman’s mindset after a long time and took the initial stance.

-Whoosh!

The moment she took the initial stance, a sharp sword energy flowed out in all directions.

Seeing her changed aura, Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader, pulled out his famous sword Il-hwi that had been stuck in the ground.

Meanwhile, she sent her thoughts to Lee Ji-yeom, the Corpse Blood Valley Master, so that only he could hear.

-Leave this one to me and go tell the leaders right now that they must stop the fight with the Righteous Alliance and the Evil Alliance.

‘Why?’

As Lee Ji-yeom showed a puzzled look,

-This is his scheme. He’s not just aiming for my soul, Wi So-yeon, or the Heaven and Earth Society. What he’s really targeting is to gather the majority of martial artists in one place……

Before she could finish speaking,

Jeong Hyeon-mun, who had suddenly closed the distance, unleashed the Heaven sword technique towards her.

In response, she hurriedly countered with the Moon sword technique using Sun-yeon.

-Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

As the famous swords Il-hwi and Sun-yeon clashed, blue sparks flew and the sound of space being torn echoed in all directions.

Unlike before, Jeong Hyeon-mun’s gaze became strange the moment their swords crossed.

It was the first time in a hundred years that they had crossed swords.

However, this was only for a moment, and soon he began to push her back with dazzlingly intricate sword techniques.

-Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

‘To think I’d sense his color in the Moon sword technique.’

The sword Cheong-ryeong was wielding was not the Moon sword technique he had known before.

Rather, it had become similar to his sword technique.

This was enough to twist his mind.

-Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

As the sword clash intensified, perhaps finding it difficult to send thoughts separately while focusing on the fight, Cheong-ryeong shouted at Lee Ji-yeom.

-Hurry and stop them!

Lee Ji-yeom hesitated for a moment at her cry.

This was because he had to momentarily abandon his duty to protect Wi So-yeon, who could be considered Cheong-ryeong’s reincarnation.

However, unable to disobey her order, he soon flew off.

-Poof!

As Lee Ji-yeom descended from the peak, Jeong Hyeon-mun, who had been exchanging sword techniques, sneered.

“It’s already too late.”

-No. I won’t let things go as you wish.

“How pitiful. So-wol, you can’t stop anything. Now, let’s forget everything and be together again.”

-Shut up! Even if this is the last and I perish, I will never be with you!

-Clang!

Cheong-ryeong deflected the sword upward and wrapped blood-colored spiritual energy around her sword.

Then she tried to pierce Jeong Hyeon-mun’s face by rotating the blood-colored spiritual energy.

Jeong Hyeon-mun gave a meaningful smile, then,

-Sneer!

-Clang!

‘He’s blocking this?’

But that wasn’t the end.

-Crack!

Not only did he block her blood-colored spiritual energy-infused sword strike, but he also deflected it upward using the Pear Blossom Grafting technique, infusing it with his own inner energy.

-Whoosh!

The force was so strong that Cheong-ryeong’s spirit body was sent soaring upwards.

She was suddenly propelled nearly thirty jang upwards and could only stop herself by wrapping spiritual energy around herself.

As she stopped like that, Jeong Hyeon-mun had already caught up to her.

Cheong-ryeong tried to attack him as she regained her balance, but,

-Flinch!

She had to stop as she saw the scene before her eyes.

This was because she could see something rushing towards this place, blackening the ground beyond the horizon that wasn’t visible even from the peak of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

Though hard to see clearly due to the distance, it was undoubtedly.

‘Evil spirits and monsters.’

They were grotesque beings that could be called evil spirits and monsters.

An incalculable number of these grotesque beings were swarming towards the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

Judging by their speed, they would arrive here before long.

With his back to them, Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader, opened his mouth.

“I told you. It’s already too late. Huh huh huh.”