Chapter 284 : The Great Counterattack (3)
Chapter 284: The Great Counterattack (3)
A deep darkness lay over the land stained with blood.
Across Sammun Gorge, where the allied forces had taken their positions, stood the encampment of the Blood Cult.
There, as if ferocious beasts were holding their breath, an ominous and viscous silence flowed.
At its very center, standing atop a massive rock, the Vice Cult Leader of the Blood Cult, the Sword Demon Jo Yangpung, was gazing coldly toward the opposite side, a chilling light shining in his eyes.
Beside him stood the Right Protector, Blood Wheel Asura, his massive frame looming like a mountain.
“Hoho, do you think a pack of rats gathering together and calling themselves a ‘great army’ makes them look frightening?”
Jo Yangpung spoke with an arrogant smile.
In his eyes, the forces gathered at Sammun Gorge—the Murim Alliance, the White Path Union, the Demonic Alliance, and the Imperial Army—looked no different from insignificant insects.
They were making a great commotion, convinced that they would somehow annihilate them from across the river, but Jo Yangpung knew the truth.
At this very moment, they were surely trembling in fear and dread.
‘No matter how many times I witness it, the greatness of the Master makes my heart tremble.’
As the Sword Demon looked upon the thick Blood Mist blanketing this place, his chest swelled with emotion.
Resting his cherished sword upon his shoulder, he cast a sinister gaze toward the Yellow River.
What reflected in his eyes was a horrifying river dyed crimson, completely shrouded in dense Blood Mist.
“If they dare attempt to cross the cursed river, I will turn every last one of them into bloodwater. Their resistance is nothing more than a desperate thrashing.”
Jo Yangpung let out a peal of laughter as he spoke.
To him, the forces gathered at Sammun Gorge were nothing more than prey waiting to be devoured.
Before coming to this battlefield, he had been caught off guard by reports of defeats from all directions and the unexpected, successive deaths of elders, but his mindset now was entirely different.
Rather than concern, he saw this situation as an opportunity to display his own might.
‘Hoho. If I completely suppress this place and return with the heads of the Crown Prince and the Shaolin Abbot, the Master will surely reward my achievements generously.’
What if defeats were piling up and elders were dwindling?
Was this not instead the perfect chance for his own presence to shine?
With competitors drastically reduced, his victory would stand out all the more decisively.
“Time is truly on our side. Would you not agree, Vice Cult Leader?”
At that moment, Blood Wheel Asura spoke to the Sword Demon.
Jo Yangpung narrowed his brows. The only remaining rival to him was this man.
If it were up to him, he would have liked to send him back to the main headquarters alone, but that was impossible.
Hiding his true thoughts, Jo Yangpung replied calmly.
“That is correct, Right Protector. Once another day passes, the sorcery will grow even stronger. When that happens, even their fleets will be smashed to the bottom of the river. They will be left over there, blaming one another as they do nothing but await death.”
“Heh heh, just imagining the looks of despair on those bastards’ faces is already delightful.”
Blood Wheel Asura laughed loudly as he brushed the blood off his clothes.
His voice was steeped in madness.
The curse spread across this place was growing stronger by the very moment.
In particular, once another day passed, the waters of the Yellow River would rise into massive waves and swallow everything gathered at Sammun Gorge whole.
‘Hmph. I know exactly what you are thinking, but the one who will perform the greatest feat here will be me!’
Jo Yangpung silently watched Blood Wheel Asura while harboring entirely different thoughts.
The notion of defeat had never once crossed his mind.
The only thing he truly cared about in this battle was the Right Protector standing beside him.
That was how confident they were of their victory.
The sorcery unleashed upon the Yellow River by the Blood Demon was an insurmountable wall—one that no human power could ever overcome.
And then, it happened.
콰르르르르!!
콰가가가가!!
“!?!”
“What in the—!!”
A colossal thunderclap tore through the sky, and a deafening explosion shook the earth.
The entire Blood Cult encampment trembled violently, as though struck by an earthquake.
Jo Yangpung and Blood Wheel Asura turned their heads simultaneously toward the Yellow River.
‘T-this is impossible!!’
What entered their eyes was a sight beyond belief.
The river, once dyed blood-red, was pulsating as though it were a living organism.
Then, as if a god of the heavens had torn the river apart with both hands, the waters of the Yellow River split cleanly into two.
Having entered the Life and Death Realm, the two of them recognized it instantly.
This was no mere miracle.
The divided river remained standing as a solid wall of water, maintaining its form.
The river had not simply been parted.
‘…The very space where the river existed has been split apart. Is such a thing even possible?!’
The smile vanished from Blood Wheel Asura’s face, replaced by sheer shock.
Jo Yangpung was no different. His lips were tightly sealed.
A faint yet undeniable fear of the unknown crept over him.
‘Who in the world could have done this…!!’
Suaaah!
In an instant, pitch-black demonic qi surged into Jo Yangpung’s eyes.
At the same time, the figure responsible for this feat began to come into view from across the riverbank.
What he saw was a single man standing beyond the blood-red waters, sword in hand.
From that sword poured forth a pure white radiance, shining brilliantly as if it sought to cleanse all things.
At that moment, Jo Yangpung doubted his own eyes.
‘Impossible…! Th-that kind of…!’
Jo Yangpung was struck with terror at the opponent’s martial prowess.
The aura emanating from the enemy’s sword was beyond anything he could have imagined.
What stood before him was no mere human.
It radiated an overwhelming presence, like that of an immense mountain range rising into existence.
“Tang Sewoon…!”
A chill ran through Jo Yangpung’s entire body.
At the same time, a thread of unease wrapped itself around his once-unshakable confidence.
Cold sweat trickled down his spine.
No matter the cost to his own life, he had to lead this battlefield to victory and prove his worth to the Blood Demon.
“H-he’s coming…!!”
At that moment, a demonic practitioner from the Blood Cult screamed in terror.
Where his finger pointed, a sight like a massive tidal wave came rushing in—the allied forces advancing as one.
Uwaaaaaah!!
Tudadadad!
The White Path Union, Murim Alliance, Demonic Alliance, Imperial Army, and the Overlord Faction surged across the Yellow River together.
Their momentum was savage and ferocious, as though they would devour everything in their path.
“What are you all doing?! Prepare for battle!!”
Jo Yangpung shouted as if screaming his lungs out.
His voice carried not only rage, but also a sense of urgent desperation.
The Blood Cult’s martial artists fell into chaos.
But there was no other choice.
They were certain of their victory, but the reality unfolding before their eyes was denying every one of their expectations.
‘Tang Sewoon…!!!’
Jo Yangpung ground his teeth.
He instinctively realized that all of this had been the result of one man’s meticulous scheme.
The fact that he had not shown himself for so long must have been preparation for this very moment.
Upon the blood-soaked land, the curtain rose on a colossal war.
“Wipe them all out! Do not leave a single living thing behind!!”
“The Master will be greatly pleased!!”
The martial artists of the Blood Cult let out frenzied roars.
In their eyes, there was only a twisted delight in slaughter.
As if they had never been startled to begin with, they charged toward the Allied Forces, utterly consumed by madness.
Kwaaaang!
The moment the two colossal forces collided, a thunderous explosive boom erupted.
Chaeng!
Seoreok!
Swords clashed against swords, and demonic qi tangled violently with righteous qi.
The energies released by the masters of the orthodox and unorthodox paths mixed chaotically with the demonic qi poured out by the Blood Cult’s demonic practitioners.
“Kuahahaha! You orthodox insects—do you truly think you can stop us?!”
“Kill all the heretics and turn them into jiangshi!”
As the demonic practitioners spat out their vicious cries, the commanders leading the Allied Forces stepped forward to the vanguard.
“Disciples of Mount Emei, eradicate all evil!”
Geum Hwa Satae slaughtered the Blood Cult’s martial artists with the Burning Blood Sword Technique pushed to its ultimate limit.
“Shaolin shall stand at the very front!!”
The voice of Great Master Gakgong thundered like rolling lightning.
Following behind him, Shaolin’s martial artists surged forward at his command, crashing into the enemy.
Great Master Gakgong’s martial arts had evolved to an even higher and more powerful level than before.
“Pathetic vermin who do not even know the true meaning of demons.”
The Heaven-Gazing Spear Demon, Bukri Seung, also muttered softly as he led the Demonic Alliance, taking charge of the right flank and beginning to sweep through the Blood Cult’s forces.
His spear techniques were savage and ferocious, like a living beast.
As his spearhead tore through the air, a storm of devastating force erupted, severing the enemies’ heads from their bodies.
Yet the Blood Cult’s martial artists did not retreat.
They continued to rise again and again, relentlessly pressing the Allied Forces.
Their eyes were already those of the dead, leaving behind nothing but an instinct for slaughter.
Monstrous Jiangshi and Extinction Jiangshi violently broke through the Allied Forces’ defensive lines.
Their bodies possessed exteriors as hard as steel, impervious to blades and swords, and they did not even suffer scratches from ordinary attacks.
At the same time, the black blades wielded by the demonic practitioners writhed like living evil spirits.
Numerically, the Blood Cult’s forces outnumbered the Allied Forces by nearly two to one.
On top of that were the demonic practitioners wielding bizarre and grotesque martial arts, countless jiangshi, and the sorceries unleashed by the sorcerers, all bearing down upon the battlefield.
The Blood Cult’s highest combat power and elites had all gathered here.
Step.
At that moment, a man walked forward from afar.
“That’s him! That man is Tang Sewoon!!”
“If we kill him, everything ends!! Kill him at once!!”
It was the Azure Heaven Martial Emperor, Tang Sewoon.
Sewoon’s appearance drew the gaze of every single demonic practitioner of the Blood Cult.
Like ants that had discovered the most tempting prey to offer their queen, the enemies swarmed toward Sewoon.
Yet Sewoon showed no sign of evading them.
Step.
Instead, he took another step forward toward them.
“So this is all that you call hell.”
A deep fury rose within Sewoon.
He shuddered with rage at the Blood Cult, who had completed such a horrific sorcery by trampling upon the sacrifices of countless innocent lives.
Sewoon tightly gripped the sword in his hand.
“I will show you what true hell really is.”
Paat!
The moment he finished speaking, Sewoon plunged into the center of the enemy lines at lightning speed.
His form streaked across the Yellow River like a single beam of light.
Suaaah!
With every movement, he left trails of pure white radiance behind him.
The brilliance erupting from his sword swept through the Blood Cult’s demonic practitioners, as though it sought to purify everything.
Kwaaaang!
Jjeojeok!
Where his sword passed, only the corpses of demonic practitioners lay scattered. He cut down everything that blocked his path.
“D-Don’t be afraid!!”
“B-Block him!!”
“If we kill him, it’s over!!”
The enemies tried to stand in his way, but Sewoon’s sword smoothly deflected everything or met it head-on as he advanced.
And with every step he took—
Kwagagagagaga!
Paseseuseu!
Everything that stood before Sewoon was reduced to nothingness.
Jiangshi, demonic practitioners, sorcerers—it made no difference.
Sewoon’s sword purified all things and annihilated all things.
‘W-What is this…?!’
As Jo Yangpung’s eyes filled with shock upon witnessing that divine might,
the martial artists of the Allied Forces charged forward relentlessly along the path Sewoon had carved open, pressing their advance without hesitation.