Chapter 82
Jaseong did not hesitate any longer.
With eyes blazing with the flames of vengeance, he activated the Celestial Gate Opening Art.
'First Gate. Opening Gate – open.'
Sssaaa—
As the first gate opened, the air around Jaseong quivered ever so slightly.
It was as if transparent ripples were spreading gently outward from his body.
'Second Gate. Resting Gate – open.'
Kuwaa—
When the second gate opened, a strange phenomenon occurred.
The fallen leaves at his feet began to drift weightlessly upward, and the small motes of dust in the forest swirled around him as if performing a dance.
'Third Gate. Life Gate – open.'
Kwaaa—
With the opening of the third gate, the very air of the forest was pushed away by his energy, spiraling into a great vortex.
In the stillness of the woods, Jaseong's black clothes flapped violently, and his hair whipped around as if caught in a storm.
Already by this point, his inner strength far surpassed that of an ordinary expert.
'... And Eighth Gate. Closing Gate – open.'
Kwaaaaaaaaa!
At last, when even the eighth gate of the Celestial Gate Opening Art—Closing Gate—was opened, Jaseong's energy swept through the forest like a typhoon.
The trees and grass all around shook violently, trembling in the tempest.
"......!"
His power was several times greater than before.
Thanks to having recently taken the Celestial Cloud Pill, an elixir made from a secret art of the celestial realm, the might of the Celestial Gate Opening Art had been amplified beyond any comparison to the past.
Faced with this overwhelming energy, Murong Hwang's face stiffened entirely.
Murong Hwang's guards, startled by Jaseong's overwhelming presence, shouted out in alarm.
"Young lord!"
But the guards could not help Murong Hwang even if they wished to.
Lee Rin, Gu Janghu, and the four guardians of the North Sea stood firmly in their way.
Meanwhile, Jaseong's sword flashed forward like a streak of light.
'Heaven Evading Flash Sword, First Form—Heaven Evading Flash Radiance.'
As Jaseong unleashed the first form of the Heaven Evading Flash Sword, golden ki stretched out in a long arc from his sword hilt.
"Heaven-Earth Double Phoenix Flash Sword, First Form—Dancing Phoenix Flash!"
Murong Hwang did not back down and launched his own ultimate move.
With both hands wielding twin swords, he moved in a dazzling dance, unleashing sword energy as resplendent as two phoenixes taking flight.
Ka-ka-ka-ka-kang!!!!!!!
The golden sword energy of Jaseong clashed repeatedly with Murong Hwang's violet sword aura, generating incredible thunderous sounds.
But each time they collided—
"Kghk?! Khk?! Kah! Ghhk!"
Murong Hwang's body was forced back, groans erupting from his lips.
That was the overwhelming might of Jaseong's power after activating the Celestial Gate Opening Art.
'What kind of power is this...?!'
Murong Hwang was aghast, feeling blood rising in his throat.
Though he was the young master of the Murong Clan, when compared to Namgung Ak of the Namgung clan, his martial skill was severely lacking.
Thus, he was far too easy a target for Jaseong.
After all, Jaseong was the one who had even defeated Murong Dangcheon, the clan's former elder.
Moreover, Jaseong's advantage wasn't just in power.
His speed was overwhelming as well.
'Heaven Evading Phantom Step.'
Opening all eight gates, Jaseong performed the Heaven Evading Phantom Step, creating dozens of afterimages in that instant.
Murong Hwang's eyes only grew wider in shock.
'Ultimate Heaven Evading Shadowless Slash.'
Flash!
A blinding flash brushed past Murong Hwang's face, and from his shoulder, chuaak!—crimson blood spurted forth.
It didn't end there.
'Hundred Descending Calamities.'
Flash! Flash! Flash!
With a storm of sword strikes pouring down like lightning, Murong Hwang lost all sense of himself.
Cut after cut slashed across his body, with blood spraying messily in every direction.
"Guaagh! Aaagh! Gyaaaagh!"
Murong Hwang's desperate wails echoed as he swung his swords in pain, but he was no longer a match for Jaseong.
In his eyes, beyond crushing defeat, there was an incomprehensible terror.
Seeing this, Jaseong felt a thrill in his chest that could not be put into words.
'It's working... my sword is reaching my enemy...!'
In the past, when Jaseong was only a boy in the Red Light District, Murong Hwang was an expert he dared not even approach.
No matter how much Jaseong hurled dirt, or charged until he vomited even blood, he'd never so much as grazed a fingertip on this hated foe.
Yet now, he was cutting down that very enemy himself.
How could such elation not rise within him...!
"Heaven-Earth Double Phoenix Flash Sword, Third Form—Phoenix Tempest Dance!"
Murong Hwang, with everything he had, mounted a desperate resistance.
His twin swords slashed wildly, splitting the air like a final blaze.
But even his blades could not so much as graze the hem of Jaseong's black clothes.
"Young lord!"
The guards shouted as they watched their young lord fall to Jaseong's overwhelming power.
And in that moment—
Chuaaaak!!
"Guhk!"
Jaseong's blade finally pierced Murong Hwang's heart with deadly precision.
The tip emerged from his back, blood trickling in a long line.
Murong Hwang's knees buckled and he collapsed.
"Hoo...."
Jaseong released a long, deep breath.
Relief welled up from the depths of his chest.
A sense of liberation more intense than ever before.
It felt as if his oldest brother and sister-in-law, who had visited him in a dream last night, were finally smiling brightly at him.
'Big brother. Sister-in-law. I've dealt with another... Big brother, sister-in-law, and our nephew's killer... I'll avenge you many more times still.'
But just as Jaseong murmured that inwardly,
the fallen Murong Hwang coughed blood and croaked out,
"I... I... understand... you... you're...."
"?"
"Cough...! That boy from the Red Light District back then... How did a lowborn like you... become so... powerful...."
At the brink of death, Murong Hwang finally recognized Jaseong's face.
The look in his eyes was that of a man who realized that the 'insect' he once crushed had returned as a 'monster'.
Looking down at Murong Hwang, Jaseong let a cold smile spread across his lips.
"Don't be too regretful."
"......?"
"To the hell you're going to, I'll be sending the rest of your blood kin one by one in due course."
"Cough...?!"
Jaseong pulled his sword from Murong Hwang's chest.
Blood gushed like a fountain, and Murong Hwang's body collapsed.
Chuaak!
That was the end of it.
Murong Hwang, young lord of the Murong Clan.
One of the men responsible for the Red Light District massacre vanished like dust.
And with this, the fracture in the martial world had begun.
* * *
Jaseong slowly sheathed his bloodstained sword and shifted his gaze to those around him.
Just as he had dispatched Murong Hwang, his comrades too had subdued almost all of the Murong Clan's guards.
In particular, Lee Rin, Gu Janghu, and the guardian Han Seol-hwa had shown overwhelming martial strength.
After consuming the Celestial Cloud Pill with Jaseong, Lee Rin's inner force increased one and a half-fold, allowing her to unleash an ice energy so fierce it seemed as if blades of ice poured from her sword.
The swordsmen of the Murong Clan had their energy channels frozen solid by her tremendous chill.
Having eaten the Meridian-Clearing Powder elixir, Gu Janghu could circulate his energy faster than ever, weaving Yin Shadow Arts and dark weapon techniques together, passing among enemies like a shadow.
His every strike found a vital point without a single mistake, felling Murong Clan swordsmen one by one.
As for Han Seol-hwa, there was no need to speak—having reached the later stages of the peak realm, she simply overwhelmed the swordsmen of the Murong Clan.
She effortlessly faced multiple opponents at once, shredding their defenses as if they were paper.
Thanks to the remarkable martial prowess of these three, the Murong Clan swordsmen were in tatters, already practically destroyed.
And now, with even their young master dead, they'd lost all hope.
'Young lord has fallen...'
'There's no more reason for us to fight....'
The Murong swordsmen, their morale entirely broken, started dropping their weapons.
Then, the next moment—a chilling sound echoed through the woods.
Pshuk! Chuak!
Suddenly, the guards of Murong Hwang stabbed their own throats with daggers.
They had committed suicide.
"Heck... What is this...."
Lee Rin muttered, completely at a loss.
She would never have imagined that the guards of a prestigious clan like the Murong, not a demonic or unorthodox sect, would choose to take their own lives.
But beside her, Han Seol-hwa wore an emotionless face, as if it were only natural.
She was, after all, a guardian of the North Sea Ice Palace.
If warriors failed to protect their lord, they were duty-bound to do exactly this.
'Besides, considering the nature of the Murong Clan's lord, there's no way those who return alive would be spared anyway.'
Thus, the forest was soon dyed crimson with blood.
Watching all of this, Jaseong felt not an ounce of pity.
Rather,
Sssmirk—
A twisted smile formed at the corner of his lips.
After all, these same guards had participated in the massacre of innocents in the Red Light District under Ansun.
Jaseong found the sight entirely satisfying.
'... I must continue to fulfill Heaven's Mandate and fully unlock the Heaven Evading Way... I'll grow even stronger, become a master capable of shaking the world, then destroy those enemies. Not a single one will remain... they'll all be annihilated...!'
A deep, toxic gloom flickered in Jaseong's eyes.
And watching him, Lee Rin's gaze grew troubled.
'... Once this man's revenge is over... what then? Is there such a thing as life after vengeance for him...?'
She worried that Jaseong's obsession would ultimately consume him.
* * *
Meanwhile, at that same hour.
Not far away, in the temporary base of Zhongnan.
Senior brother Yun-hyeon and leading disciple Yun-hak were taking turns maintaining their breathing and energy circulation.
After the life-or-death struggle beneath the cliff the previous day, they had exhausted their inner force to the limit.
"Big brother. This last fight leaves a strange feeling."
After they'd both recovered some strength, Yun-hak finally spoke.
At his words, Yun-hyeon nodded silently.
"I feel the same, brother. There are too many forces tangled together—it's all confusion."
"That aside, it almost feels like we're playing into the hands of that man in black. He lured us all to the cliff, just to make us fight each other...."
"... But there was nothing we could do. As long as the Seven-Star Cloud Blade is in his possession, we have no choice."
"That's true. Honestly, that dazzling blue light was enough to mesmerize anyone. They say whoever acquires the Seven-Star Cloud Blade can transcend their limits in an instant...."
Yun-hak trailed off, deep in thought.
Rustle—
A sound came from the bushes just ahead.
Yun-hyeon and Yun-hak looked up to see a ragged beggar slowly approaching.
He held a battered cudgel in one hand, with several tattered pouches hanging from his waist.
[Big brother, that man is...?]
[... Has even the Beggar's Union joined the fight for the Seven-Star Cloud Blade?]
They watched the beggar with guarded expressions.
But the beggar broke into a shameless grin and greeted them first.
"Greetings, senior Brother Yun-hyeon of Zhongnan."
"... You know who I am?"
"The rising dragon of the orthodox sects who won at the last Dragon-Phoenix Gathering—who wouldn't know you, heh heh."
"It's just an empty title. And you, sir, who are you?"
"I am Zhang Cheonhu, branch leader of the Luoyang Beggar's Union."
"......!"
The moment the Beggar's Union, the twin information network of the central plains alongside the Hao Sect, made their appearance.
And this was none other than the branch leader of Luoyang, famed for unparalleled intelligence.
"It's an honor to meet the Luoyang branch leader I've only heard of in rumors."
Yun-hyeon cupped his fist in respectful greeting to his senior in the martial world.
Then, he carefully inquired,
"What brings the branch leader all the way here? Is even the Beggar's Union after the Seven-Star Cloud Blade?"
"That is not the case."
"Then...?"
"I came to tell you two things."
"?"
"First, news of the Seven-Star Cloud Blade's appearance has spread from our Luoyang branch. However, we were not the source of that information."
"What are you saying? If Luoyang wasn't the source, who's behind all this chaos?"
"I'm not certain, but it appears someone deliberately disseminated false information to throw the martial world into turmoil."
"......!"
"......?!"
"We can't even be sure the Seven-Star Cloud Blade has truly surfaced. For all we know, what you're chasing could be... a fake."
Luoyang's branch leader spoke with grave seriousness.
Unable to hold back, Yun-hak interjected,
"But Branch Leader, we definitely saw the Seven-Star Cloud Blade."
"......."
"The shimmering blue blade looked exactly as our sect leader described the real thing."
Yun-hak spoke with conviction.
Yun-hyeon fixed the branch leader with an equally resolute gaze.
This left the branch leader deep in thought.
'Hmm... If the rising dragons of Zhongnan react this way, then at least the Seven-Star Cloud Blade itself must be genuine?'
For now, the branch leader moved on to his other business.
"Anyway, the news about the Seven-Star Cloud Blade did not originate from us. More importantly... I came here on another matter."
"Another matter?"
"There are certain people who have joined the current struggle for the Seven-Star Cloud Blade."
"... Certain people?"
"The Demonic Cult."
"......!"
Yun-hyeon and Yun-hak's faces hardened at once.
The name of that group, which hadn't surfaced since being defeated decades ago in the Great Heavenly Demon War, struck a chord.
"... So it was true—the Demonic Cult is crawling back into the martial world."
"Moreover, reliable sources say that the unit participating in this struggle is led by a 'disciple of the Heavenly Demon'."
... A disciple of the Heavenly Demon?!
The color drained from Yun-hyeon and Yun-hak's faces.
The Heavenly Demon had been such a monster that even the ten great righteous experts, working together, barely managed to defeat him.
He'd had seven disciples—four of whom had died, while three were missing.
Now, it seemed one had appeared....
Anyone in their place would be on edge.
'With so many orthodox and unorthodox sects already fighting, and now even the Demonic Cult entering...'
'... Could it be that a massive storm, one that could engulf the entire martial world, is brewing right here...?'