Chapter 274: Descent of the Malevolent God (5)
‘……Sothing feels uneasy.’
Blood Brain Gui Yeongja gazed at the battlefield, now dyed in crimson, and unconsciously let out a low murmur.
Why was that?
No matter how deeply he pondered it, he himself could not discern the reason.
Clearly, the course of the battle was favorable to them.
The Left Protector, Gu Eum Majon, was sweeping away the experts of the Murim Alliance.
Then was the source of this unease the death of Gwangrang Blood Blade?
Once the battle ended, he too would surely be punished following Gwangrang Blood Blade.
……But that was not it either.
Gu Eum Majon was certainly a frightening existence, yet what Gui Yeongja feared and worried about so deeply was not a pathetic desire to prolong his own life.
And only then did Gui Yeongja finally realize the true source of his anxiety.
‘Just what…… is that bastard doing?’
One existence kept filling his mind—an existence that kept introducing variables into what he believed to be the absolute plan of the Blood Cult, throwing the grand design into chaos.
‘Dark Heaven Death Venerable, Tang Sewoon.’
The mont that na surfaced in his thoughts, Gui Yeongja’s heart began to pound violently.
The absurd rise in martial prowess of the warriors belonging to the Paetcheon Association.
The crushing defeat that occurred in Henan had not been a matter of luck.
Gui Yeongja instinctively sensed that all of this was the result of one man’s ticulous sches and arrangents.
Sssss—!
At that mont, a chilling sound of wind suddenly echoed.
‘……!!’
It was a calm, faint current that could not even be called a breaking of the air.
A single strand of wind so subtle that no one would notice it unless they were paying close attention.
However……
Thump!
Thump!
Gui Yeongja’s heart pulsed as if it were about to burst.
He doubted his own eyes. He could not help it. Empty space itself twisted like a mirage, sothing breaching the boundary of perception as it revealed its form.
What he had been wary of all along was appearing, as if guided by fate.
Yet that fate would certainly not bring a good ending for Gui Yeongja or the Blood Cult.
‘……!!’
Before he could urgently call out to Gu Eum Majon to warn him of the danger, it was already too late.
Rumble!
It felt as though his heart dropped straight down.
“Finish them, Qiongqi.”
At last, Sewoon had descended upon the battlefield.
Shock filled Gu Eum Majon’s eyes.
The enormous shadow that appeared before him.
What fell like a teor bore the na of one of the Four Fiends.
Having lived for countless years, Gu Eum Majon knew the weight carried by the na Qiongqi.
The four great demonic beasts who stood above all other monsters.
“You—!”
Before the question of its identity could even be completed—
Pababat!!
The enemy was already charging straight at him.
‘I have to block it!’
The combat instincts honed through endless battlefields were screaming warnings at him.
If he did not block it now, he would die.
Kwaaang!
Kwagagaga!
In a fleeting instant, Qiongqi and Gu Eum Majon clashed, exchanging blows.
A trendous explosion and air-shattering roar resounded.
The surroundings twisted violently, as if struck by an earthquake.
‘The offensive is heavy.’
Gu Eum Majon’s eyes flickered with shock after receiving the opponent’s punch.
The force felt stronger than that of the three opponents he had faced earlier combined.
‘Just what in the world is that thing—.’
On the surface, it looked no more than an ordinary Central Plains person of about the Second Establishnt age.
If there was anything unusual, it was rely its astonishingly beautiful appearance.
Yet the overwhelming Demonic Qi it was emitting clearly declared that it was a monster.
And yet, it could not be called a monster either.
From its body, the unmistakable vitality of a human could be felt.
Then, as Gu Eum Majon observed its interior, shock flashed in his eyes.
‘N-no. Looking closely, there’s also Death Qi clinging to it? What is this?!’
His astonishnt was only natural.
Such Death Qi existed only within Jiangshi, not the living.
The power of a monster, the body of a human, the aura of a Jiangshi.
All three combined into one?
Before him stood a bizarre yet suprely powerful existence that not even his master, the Blood Demon, had ever created.
Screech!
With a piercing air-splitting sound, Qiongqi’s sweeping strike grazed past Gu Eum Majon’s head.
Had he been even a mont slower, his skull would have been blown away.
For the first ti in his life, Gu Eum Majon was fighting not with senses refined through martial arts, but purely on instinct.
Qiongqi’s attacks were impossible to predict.
There were no techniques, no rules, in its offensive.
Every ti it swung its limbs in movents that seed utterly reckless, the destructive power and unpredictable trajectories caused Gu Eum Majon’s protective Qi to collapse helplessly.
He attempted to neutralize Qiongqi’s attacks with his own Demonic Qi, but Qiongqi’s Demonic Qi seed to devour everything.
Crack!
Craack!
“Urgh!”
For the first ti, a groan escaped Gu Eum Majon’s lips.
Every bone in his body scread in protest.
‘I have to find a way—!’
Chwararak!
Gu Eum Majon’s twin hands moved like a pair of living serpents.
Pak!
In an instant, after seizing Qiongqi’s pulse, Gu Eum Majon forcibly injected his own energy into the opponent’s body.
It was an attempt to uncover the source of Qiongqi’s enigmatic power.
‘What?!’
But the attempt failed before it could bear any fruit.
Sss—
The Demonic Qi he had sent in vanished emptily the mont it entered Qiongqi’s interior.
It was as though sothing resembling a bottomless abyss had opened its maw inside the opponent’s body.
“Grr!”
Expressing displeasure at having energy forced into its body, Qiongqi swung its arm.
Slash!
“!!”
Gu Eum Majon imdiately leapt backward, but his montary panic made him too slow.
Clear claw marks were etched across Gu Eum Majon’s cheek.
Paat!
The two separated, halting at a distance.
Unlike their first clash, Gu Eum Majon’s expression had grown stiff and hardened.
Drip.
A line of dark red blood trickled down his cheek.
‘Damn it.’
Gu Eum Majon narrowed his brows.
How long had it been since he last bled?
After reaching the Life and Death Realm, he had believed no one could possibly injure him.
Yet his opponent showed no sign of damage at all.
Step.
At that mont, the sound of footsteps rang out.
A man was approaching Qiongqi’s side.
That single step carried an oppressive pressure, as though it were crushing everything beneath it.
Killing intent flickered in Gu Eum Majon’s eyes as he looked at the newly arrived opponent.
“Nice to et you, you dog of the Blood Cult.”
With a faint smile, Sewoon spoke as he addressed Gu Eum Majon.
Gu Eum Majon ground his teeth.
“So you are the Dark Heaven Death Venerable.”
“Indeed. Then you must be Gu Eum Miscellaneous Venerable.”
“?!”
Because Tang Sewoon had addressed him not as a Demon Venerable, but as a miscellaneous venerable, Gu Eum Majon’s face flushed red and blue.
His eyes blazed with rage and killing intent.
“How dare a trivial unbeliever like you.”
“Tsk tsk. Fanatics are always disgusting to behold.”
“How dare—!”
Sssssss—!
Kwarrr!
In an instant, an aura like molten lava erupting from an awakening volcano burst forth from Gu Eum Majon’s entire body.
He had released his Qi—having reached the Life and Death Realm—with the intent to suppress Sewoon.
Groans escaped from various points within the Murim Alliance’s ranks, yet Sewoon’s expression remained utterly indifferent.
“Hm. Since you are the Left Protector, I had expected at least a little more. It seems you have been neglecting your cultivation.”
“What…?”
As Gu Eum Majon faltered in confusion, Sewoon curled the corner of his lips.
“To think you can only pour out such a paltry aura.”
“……!!”
Kwagagagaga!
The mont those words ended, Sewoon likewise released his own Qi.
And the situation reversed completely.
Gu Eum Majon was struck with shock.
‘H-how?!’
Gu Eum Majon’s Qi began to vanish entirely, as though it were being swallowed whole.
It was an act of predation even more extre than when the Qi he had injected into Qiongqi had been devoured.
‘I-it can’t be. Full maturity of the Life and Death Realm……? No—he’s right on the verge of entering the ultimate state……?!’
Sssss—
Soon after, the Golden Heaven Harmonization Qi, having devoured all of Gu Eum Majon’s Qi, stabilized.
“Y-you……?!”
As Gu Eum Majon stood half-dazed, unable even to speak properly—
“How unsightly.”
Sewoon shook his head lightly as he spoke.
He was openly displaying his genuine contempt for Gu Eum Majon.
Seeing the look in his eyes, Gu Eum Majon felt profound humiliation.
Instinctively, he understood.
He himself had ascended to the Life and Death Realm through grace bestowed by the Blood Demon—but his opponent had reached it through his own enlightennt.
“I don’t even need to step in.”
“……!”
After saying that, Sewoon added a single sentence.
“Bring his head, Qiongqi.”
Kwarrrrr!
At Sewoon’s command, a chilling radiance burst forth from the eyes of the Ominous God Corpse.
The first and last Jiangshi ever to be called by the na of a god.
Kwagagaga!
Vast Demonic Qi roared like a storm, wrapping around Qiongqi’s body.
Kwa-rung!
A living calamity—ford from the soul of the Four Fiends and the flesh of the Heavenly Demon—charged at the enemy.
The mont Qiongqi stamped down and cleaved forward, it was already upon him.
An overwhelming montum incomparable to the earlier skirmish.
Yet that very crisis instead allowed Gu Eum Majon to regain his composure.
‘Even if I must throw away my life, I will not allow this one to reach my master……!’
He was startled by the opponent’s power—but that was all.
Earlier, when fighting Qiongqi, he had used only about seventy percent of his true strength.
Moreover, if he fought with death as his resolve, mutual destruction was possible.
His arrogance soon returned.
Kwarrrrr!
At the sa ti, Gu Eum Majon surged forward toward Qiongqi.
The power of divine grace, Demonic Qi, and even Innate True Qi.
He drew out every last ounce of his full strength.
‘Yes, this power is enough! O Master of Blood! This lowly servant shall gladly et death!!’
Gu Eum Majon trusted in the grace he had been granted.
To him, the Blood Demon was an absolute existence—that is, a god.
With this power, he was convinced he could subdue both Qiongqi and Sewoon.
“Die—!!”
Gu Eum Majon thrust out a palm strike imbued with all his might.
Unable to withstand the imnse force he unleashed, space itself tore apart as his left hand—five fingers gathered like a blade—rushed ferociously toward the Ominous God Corpse.
But……
Ting!
“……??”
Tragically.
Not even the smallest scratch appeared on Qiongqi’s body.
The raging Qi of Gu Eum Majon vanished the instant it touched the flesh of the Ominous God Corpse.
Qiongqi stood firm, like a colossal mountain range.
As if mocking the attack, it received it as though nothing had happened.
‘I-it’s impossible!!’
Gu Eum Majon was horrified.
He had poured out all his power, yet he could not inflict even a minor wound?
Confusion flooded his mind, followed by a despair as though everything he had believed in was collapsing.
In contrast, Qiongqi now went berserk, pressing the opponent relentlessly.
Just as Gu Eum Majon was being driven back in utter desperation—
‘You think that’s enough?’
Sewoon sneered.
He already knew that Gu Eum Majon had used only seventy to eighty percent of his full strength.
But there was sothing the opponent did not know.
Qiongqi, too, had been concealing its power from the very first exchange.
‘Qiongqi hasn’t even used half its strength.’
The gap between them was already a towering wall that could never be bridged.
Had Gu Eum Majon heard this, he would have fallen into absolute despair.
Then, at that mont, Qiongqi’s arm lashed out like a whip.
Slash!
Along with a chilling slicing sound—
“Kraaaaaagh!!”
Gu Eum Majon’s left arm fell to the ground.
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