Chapter 157
Cheok!
The Hao Sect Leader descended among the experts of the Sichuan Tang Clan without drawing the great blade strapped to his back.
The experts of the Sichuan Tang Clan watched him with tense eyes. Then, in the next moment—
Ssak!
The Hao Sect Leader's movements blurred, and in a flash, began weaving through the enemies.
Puh-ok! Kwajik!
"Kraak!"
His movements were so fast that only afterimages remained.
Everywhere he passed, the Tang Clan's shadow hands had their bones crushed and their blood vessels blocked, collapsing to the ground.
Even the poisonous mist could not reach his body and dissipated.
"You lot are not enough."
The Hao Sect Leader spat coldly.
To subdue dozens of Sichuan Tang Clan experts in an instant— Even witnessing it, it was an overwhelming might that defied belief.
But then—
Gooooo—
A colossal murderous intent swept over from beyond the main pavilion.
When the Hao Sect Leader turned his head, a middle-aged man wreathed entirely in blue poisonous energy flew over the wall with a whoosh!
"So, you're the enigmatic Hao Sect Leader shrouded in rumors."
It was the Sichuan Tang Clan Head, the Myriad Poisons King, Tang Tian-yue.
The eyes of the man, who had absorbed the power of the Millennium Poison Pearl, glowed a deep blue.
"Just as the rumors said—impressive. I have no idea where an expert like you crawled out from... But there is no shortage of hidden hermits in the martial world, so I'll set aside my questions for now. Just die here."
Myriad Poisons Dance Touching the Heavens (萬毒舞天)!
When Tang Tian-yue spread his arms, a massive poisonous fog swept forward like a storm.
The entire Hao Sect headquarters was submerged in a sea of deadly poison.
Empowered by the Millennium Poison Pearl, the poisonous fog polluted even the air itself, causing all living things to rot and decay.
The Hao Sect Leader gathered his inner force and unfolded his defensive enhanced energy.
Chiiiik—!
Blue poisonous energy clashed with his colorless reinforced energy, sending up sparks.
The poison was potent enough to melt steel, but it could not pierce the Hao Sect Leader's defense.
'My poison arts have no effect... As expected, the Hao Sect Leader is truly a supreme peak expert as the rumors say.'
Tang Tian-yue muttered to himself while brandishing his sleeve.
Sky-Filling Flower Rain (滿天花雨)!
Hidden weapons poured down like rain.
Hundreds of poisoned needles, poison darts, and throwing blades shot toward the Hao Sect Leader from every direction.
There was nowhere to escape—the rain of death.
Only then did the Hao Sect Leader draw the massive great blade from his back.
It was the weapon he had kept hidden until now.
Whoosh!
The blade's arc sliced the air in a vast circle. The energy it contained was as heavy as Mount Tai.
Chaechaechaechaechaechaechaechaechaengchaengchaengchaeng!
The deluge of hidden weapons struck the blade and bounced off. It was a flawless defense, with not a single gap.
Every one of the hundreds of hidden weapons fell harmlessly to the ground.
Tang Tian-yue's eyes grew cold.
'To so easily block my ultimate move with the enhanced power from the Millennium Poison Pearl... He's an expert worthy of being known throughout the world. But to think he's remained in the shadows of the Hao Sect all this time... As Namgung Cheon-rui said, the Hao Sect must not be allowed to come into the open.'
Tang Tian-yue drew up all his true ki.
Then, surging at the Hao Sect Leader, he unleashed every martial art at his disposal.
The Hao Sect Leader, too, now fought with all his might, wielding the great blade with full power.
The Tang Clan Head was not an opponent to hold back against.
Kwaaang!!! Kwakwang!!! Kwakwakwakwang!!!
With the clash of two supreme peak experts, the secret pavilions of the Hao Sect were utterly destroyed.
Nearly half of the Hao Sect headquarters was reduced to ruins.
But when the two masters had crossed over five thousand bouts—
"Tang Clan Head. I am late."
From the darkness, an old man garbed in white stepped out. His entrance was silent, but the presence he exuded was on par with Tang Tian-yue—or even greater than Tang Tian-yue who had ingested the Millennium Poison Pearl.
It was Namgung Cheon-rui, the leader of the Murim Alliance, known as the greatest swordsman under heaven.
"So you are the new Sect Leader of the Hao Sect."
Namgung Cheon-rui looked at the Hao Sect Leader as he spoke. His eyes were cold and sly, like a snake.
"I already know well that you are the culprit behind the division of our Murim Alliance. You had your fun hiding like a rat."
Srrrng—
Namgung Cheon-rui drew his treasured sword from his waist—the Azure Dragon Sword.
The sword's hilt, imbued with blue sword ki, gleamed under the moonlight.
"I'm curious about your true identity, but I'll let idle curiosity go. I'll cut you down with all my might—Just as I did the day I dispatched the Evil Path Association Leader."
Namgung Cheon-rui's sword flashed. It was a hard sword, brimming with reinforced energy.
"Imperial Sword Form, First Form: Sovereign's Flash!"
A gigantic sword light cut through the sky, launched at the Hao Sect Leader.
It was a chilling strike, as if space itself was being cleaved apart.
The Hao Sect Leader swung his great blade horizontally to block the sword light.
Kwaang!
With a deafening roar, a shockwave spread in all directions. Trees nearby were uprooted.
Tang Tian-yue seized the moment to attack.
"Celestial Silkworm Hand!"
Invisible poisoned snakes rode the air, aiming for the Hao Sect Leader's blood points.
Simultaneously, dozens of swift poison needles shot in from the blind spots.
The Hao Sect Leader set his great blade upright and constructed an impenetrable defense.
Circular energy unfurled from the blade's center, deflecting both the poison snakes and the needles.
But seeing that gap, Namgung Cheon-rui's second move of the Imperial Sword Form drove in.
Changlang!
The Hao Sect Leader stepped half a pace back.
The combined assault of these two absolute masters was far more menacing than expected.
Even dealing with one such foe would be taxing, but with both attacking in concert, there was no room for an opening.
Namgung Cheon-rui raised his sword form higher.
"Imperial Sword Form, Third Form: Sword of the Young Master!"
Sword ki surged like a waterfall, as if piercing the heavens.
Tang Tian-yue also maximized the power of his Myriad Poisons Dance Touching the Heavens.
The blue poison mist swirled, encircling the Hao Sect Leader.
The Hao Sect Leader swung the great blade crosswise and lengthwise.
His blade techniques split the sword ki and the poisonous mist.
But their joint attack seemed endless.
Namgung Cheon-rui's sword was swift and precise, while Tang Tian-yue's poison arts were relentless and deadly.
Chang! Kwagwang! Kwang!
Each time blade and sword clashed, sparks ignited. Wherever the poisonous energy touched, the earth decayed.
Buildings in the Hao Sect headquarters crumbled under the aftershocks.
Under the combined assault of two absolute masters, the Hao Sect Leader began to falter.
"Sect Leader...! Kugh!"
Meanwhile, Elite members of the Hao Sect started collapsing one by one, succumbing to the poison mist.
The other hall lords were too occupied fighting the Tang Clan's shadow hands to assist the Hao Sect Leader.
Realizing he could not hold out any longer, the Hao Sect Leader let out a lion's roar.
"Everyone, evacuate! I will buy you time."
"But, Sect Leader...!"
"That's an order. Go."
The Hao Sect Leader's voice, like scraping iron, was filled with a solemn resolve he'd never shown before.
"And appoint a new Hao Sect Leader—make the Hao Sect stronger than ever. I must disappear for a while..."
It was as good as a final testament.
At last, the Hao Sect Leader detonated all the internal energy from his dantian.
Kuuoooh!
A gigantic wave of energy radiated out, pushing back the poisonous mist.
Taking advantage of this moment, Hao Sect's elites began their escape.
"You think I'll let you go?!"
The attacks from Tang Tian-yue and Namgung Cheon-rui intensified.
"Imperial Sword Form, Fourth Form: Rule the World!"
"Myriad Poisons Heaven Snare Palm!"
Namgung Cheon-rui's sword aura and Tang Tian-yue's poison palm rained down together—a force mighty enough to turn heaven and earth upside down.
The Hao Sect Leader spun his great blade to defend. But the poison from the Millennium Poison Pearl was too powerful.
His defensive enhanced energy was gradually worn away, and red blood trickled down from beneath his black face mask.
Withstanding the dual onslaught of two supreme grandmasters, the Hao Sect Leader was gradually pushed toward the cliff behind the headquarters.
A thousand-foot precipice. Below, only pitch-darkness awaited.
Puh-uh-uh-uhk!!!!!
Tang Tian-yue's poison palm struck the Hao Sect Leader's chest.
Bones shattered and the Hao Sect Leader spat blood. His body was knocked back, teetering on the cliff's edge.
Tang Tian-yue sneered.
"This is the end!"
The final attack came flying. At that instant, the Hao Sect Leader threw himself backward.
Falling into the abyss below was the only choice left to him.
Huiiiiing—
The Hao Sect Leader's body fell into the darkness below the cliff. A black shadow disappearing into the deep ravine.
Endless night swallowed him whole.
"Hoo... We finished him at last."
Tang Tian-yue muttered. He looked down the cliff, but saw only pitch-black darkness.
From this height, even an supreme peak expert would have little hope of surviving.
Namgung Cheon-rui sheathed his sword and nodded.
"Even if he survived, having taken your poison palm, he won't last long. I saw for myself his chest bones were utterly crushed."
Thus, the two supreme masters paid no more attention and turned away.
The Hao Sect headquarters lay in ruins, and its leader had vanished. Their objective accomplished.
* * *
At that time—
Jaseong returned to Ansun, the Scarlet Lotus Hall's base, inside Guizhou City.
It had been a long journey, moving under the aftermath of revealing the hypocrisy of the orthodox faction at the Murim Alliance's meeting.
But as he crossed into the entrance of Ansun, Jaseong instinctively furrowed his brow.
'... The air feels different.'
Where the streets should have been bustling, the atmosphere lay heavy.
Like the silence after a storm, or the hush of beasts sensing coming disaster, an odd tension pervaded.
Jaseong hurried to Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
As he entered, Hyang-I rushed out to greet him. The ever composed and calm woman's face was as white as a sheet.
"Hall Lord...!"
Hyang-I's voice quivered slightly.
"What is it?"
"It's terrible news. Hao Sect headquarters... headquarters has been attacked."
"What?"
Jaseong's eyes widened.
The Hao Sect headquarters.
A fortress hidden deep in the mountains, veiled by vines and moss—the heart where all the martial world's information gathered.
That place had been attacked?
Swallowing dryly, Hyang-I continued her report.
"External masters stormed in and devastated the headquarters. Many members lost their lives, the pavilions burned, and even the fate of the Sect Leader is unknown."
Jaseong could hardly believe his ears.
The Hao Sect Leader was the benefactor who'd given him the post of Scarlet Lotus Hall Lord and opened the Shadow Pavilion to him—one of the few he considered a true expert.
For such a man to be missing—
"... Who on earth launched the assault on the Hao Sect?"
"According to the survivors, the attackers manipulated poisons and hidden weapons at will. They enveloped the whole forest in poisonous mist, and rained down so many hidden weapons it blocked out the sky..."
"Poisons and hidden weapons..."
"In the martial world, there's only one force capable of deploying poison and hidden weapons on such a scale."
"The Sichuan Tang Clan."
"It's certain that Clan Head Tang Tian-yue led the assault himself. If not him, no one could have penetrated the Hao Sect headquarters' barriers and unleashed such a poisonous fog."
Sichuan Tang Clan. One of the Five Great Clans of the orthodox faction—famous for poison.
They had clearly acted in vengeance for the death of Tang Jin-ryong.
But for them to so brazenly attack the heart of the Hao Sect...
The headquarters' location was top secret—how could they have possibly known the way?
"The only ones who know the exact location of the Hao Sect headquarters are the Sect Leader, the Twelve Hall Lords, and the Right Protector. So how did the Sichuan Tang Clan find it and attack?"
"That's right. For an outsider to learn the headquarters' location is near impossible. So, there's only one conclusion."
"You mean there's a spy inside?"
"Yes. And since only hall lord-level members know the exact location of the headquarters... Among the twelve remaining hall lords, aside from the Scarlet Lotus Hall Lord, there must be a traitor."
The Twelve Hall Lords who guided the Hao Sect.
Among them, someone had colluded with the orthodox factions, stabbing their comrades in the back, and luring the Sect Leader into a deathtrap.
'Who is it? The Five Dragon Hall Lord? The Moonstar Hall Lord? Or...'
Jaseong turned over images of each hall lord in his mind. But now was not the time to root out the culprit. The damage was already done.
"And also—Hall Lord."
Hyang-I pulled a small bamboo tube from her sleeve. It was a carrier pigeon.
"Just before the Sect Leader disappeared, he sent a final message to all branches."
"What was it?"
Jaseong opened the carrier pigeon and spread it out. It read:
[Appoint a new Hao Sect Leader. Bring the Hao Sect out of the shadows and into the light.]