## Chapter 1540 – 1540. Gwangmyeong Ascension
“Master Myeongwol was killed by the Blood Fiend. I killed the Blood Fiend, but it suddenly disappeared.”
Even after saying those words, I felt a little nervous.
Baek Mu-han, being the protagonist, had a pretty good sense. If I made even a small mistake, he could sense something was off.
“The Blood Fiend’s corpse disappeared?”
“That’s right. It vanished while I was momentarily distracted. I judged it to be the work of a monster. Since a Jiangshi is also a monster.”
“My thoughts are different. I think it was the work of a human, not a monster.”
“A human?”
“The Blood Fiend that the master was chasing was being pursued by the Four Kings Alliance, the largest force of the Demonic Sect. And I’ve heard that among the Demonic Sect’s sinister arts, there is the Jiangshi technique.”
“You think a Jiangshi practitioner from the Four Kings Alliance is the culprit?”
“There’s no proof. But unless the Jiangshi are crazy, they wouldn’t attack a village in broad daylight. I felt human malice while fighting the Jiangshi.”
“Perhaps that monster is a Jiangshi practitioner.”
“That monster could be affiliated with the Four Kings Alliance. There’s no rule that says monsters and humans can’t join hands.”
“That makes sense when I hear it. What do you want?”
Thud!
Baek Mu-han knelt before me. He even lowered his head and said to me.
“Great Hero! Please help me! The Jiangshi practitioner killed my only family and burned down my hometown! I can’t possibly forgive him! But with my current strength, it’s difficult to take revenge on him! Please help me, Great Hero! I, Baek Mu-han, will never forget this favor!”
The corners of my mouth twitched. It was fortunate that Baek Mu-han had his head bowed.
‘I was already planning to have Baek Mu-han owe me a favor, but this happened… Good.’
In times like this, you shouldn’t accept it right away. If you seem too easy, the value of the favor will decrease. And if you’re going to make a show of it, you have to do it properly.
“Do you know what kind of force the Four Kings Alliance is when you ask me this? The Four Kings Alliance is a coalition of the Demonic Sect. If the Murim Alliance is the representative force of the Righteous Sect, then the Four Kings Alliance is the representative force of the Demonic Sect. Right now, you’re telling me to turn the Four Kings Alliance into my enemy.”
“I know it’s an unreasonable request. But… I need the Great Hero’s help to kill the Jiangshi practitioner. I will definitely repay this favor!”
I let out a deep sigh and said.
“Normally, I wouldn’t do something stupid like antagonizing the Four Kings Alliance… but I think I’ve grown fond of this village too. Don’t you ever forget that you said you’d definitely repay the favor.”
“I will never forget it!”
“Alright. Baek Mu-han. Do you have a plan?”
“First, we need to gather the surviving villagers in one place. The Jiangshi practitioner is definitely planning to erase this village. So, if we gather the villagers in one place and save them, he will surely reveal himself.”
It was a bit strange, but I roughly nodded.
“Alright. Let’s move first.”
“Please wait a moment.”
Baek Mu-han headed towards the three Jiangshi corpses lying on the ground.
I thought he was going to take out his anger on the Jiangshi corpses. If I thought about it for a moment, I would know that wasn’t it. No, Baek Mu-han wouldn’t do such a thing. The character reformation system wouldn’t allow it.
Baek Mu-han grabbed the neck of a Jiangshi corpse, swarming with red maggots. Demonic energy began to crawl out of his body.
The Jiangshi’s energy began to be sucked into Baek Mu-han.
“The Star-Sucking Great Art. Can you absorb the energy of a Jiangshi too?”
“The Star-Sucking Great Art I’ve learned is a bit unique. I can absorb the energy of corpses that haven’t been dead for long, or the energy of Jiangshi.”
Baek Mu-han absorbed all the energy from the three Jiangshi corpses and then moved.
He headed towards the center of the village.
Screams and sounds of battle continued. Although it was a small village, it wasn’t completely without soldiers. The soldiers were fighting the Jiangshi. But they wouldn’t be able to hold out for long. Baek Mu-han moved silently. He was running, but there was no sound at all.
‘Is that Baek Mu-han’s Heavenly Demon Ghost Step? I want it.’
Baek Mu-han ambushed a Jiangshi that was fighting a soldier. He slashed the Jiangshi’s body with a sword imbued with black sword energy. And he grabbed the neck of the falling Jiangshi and used the Star-Sucking Great Art. The veins on his forehead bulged out and quickly subsided.
‘The Star-Sucking Great Art isn’t a cheat martial art that can absorb an infinite amount of an enemy’s energy. There are definitely limits to the Star-Sucking Great Art.’
It was clear that Baek Mu-han was nearing that limit.
“Aaaaaaack!”
Hearing the scream, I moved too. I couldn’t just stand by and watch Baek Mu-han’s performance. The more actively I moved, the greater the favor I would be doing for Baek Mu-han.
Every time I moved, Jiangshi died.
“Thank you! Thank you, Great Hero!”
“Go back. Stay with the villagers.”
For me, who could use qi, Jiangshi were easy opponents. Except for the fact that their bodies were tough, Jiangshi had intelligence below that of beasts, so they weren’t very difficult enemies.
It was when I went to the center of the village. I was able to find Seong Ji-gon. He was fighting the Blood Fiend. Surprisingly, Seong Ji-gon was being pushed back.
“The Blood Fiend?! It should have been dead?!”
As I was panicking, Baek Mu-han said in a cold voice.
“Look closely, Great Hero. The Blood Fiend’s body is strange. Doesn’t it look like a human body that has been cut up and forcibly put back together? That’s a Jiangshi. And not just any Jiangshi. And the human in white clothes standing behind that Jiangshi… That’s definitely the Jiangshi practitioner.”
The Blood Fiend had become a Jiangshi, and behind the Blood Fiend was a human holding a bell. It was a human wearing white clothes and a white veil. He was shaking the bell and controlling the Jiangshi.
“Right. The energy I feel from the Jiangshi is not ordinary. I never thought that a Jiangshi would be overwhelming Ji-gon. I have to go help.”
“I’ll take care of that Jiangshi practitioner.”
I ran towards Seong Ji-gon. The wounded Seong Ji-gon wasn’t alone. Four old women were lying behind him. Seong Ji-gon was fighting while protecting the old women.
“Yujin! I’m glad you came. I was starting to get overwhelmed.”
Seong Ji-gon, seeing me, smiled as if relieved.
“You’re getting overwhelmed by just a Jiangshi?”
“That guy wasn’t an ordinary Jiangshi. There were other Jiangshi too… I took care of them. Fighting while protecting the villagers… I’m a bit tired.”
Seong Ji-gon knelt on one knee. His eyes, looking at the ground, were shaking violently.
He was even showing signs of exhaustion. It seemed he had been running like crazy until I arrived.
I couldn’t scold him for fighting so hard for a village like this. There were Seong Ji-gon’s women in this village. Although they were old women with not much time left, they were Seong Ji-gon’s women. Seong Ji-gon did his best to protect his women.
“You rest for a bit. I’ll take care of that Jiangshi bastard.”
“Yujin, you look a bit tired too?”
“I’m not tired enough to not kill that bastard.”
I rushed towards the Blood Fiend. Baek Mu-han would kill the Jiangshi practitioner.
“Be careful! That Jiangshi uses martial arts!”
“It’s natural for a Jiangshi to use martial arts.”
Originally, Jiangshi also used martial arts. It was in the martial arts novels. I didn’t let my guard down and swung my sword.
Thunder Heaven Style (雷天流) Thunder Flash (雷閃).
A sword energy wrapped in lightning flew towards the Jiangshi. The Jiangshi jumped to the side. It easily dodged my attack, which was absurd, and then moved its hands. Its hands slowly rotated, drawing circles.
“Dodge!”
Seong Ji-gon shouted. I quickly thrust my sword forward and blocked the incoming palm wind.
“Yujin! Stop breathing! It’s poison!”
“Poison? Compared to Dang So-so’s poison, this level of poison is nothing.”
Crackle.
Lightning qi moved and burned all the poison that was invading my body. Most poisons couldn’t overcome the lightning qi of the Thunder Heaven Style.
Just as I was about to approach the Blood Fiend, Baek Mu-han cut off the Jiangshi practitioner’s head. The Jiangshi practitioner’s head spun in the air before falling.
‘Now that the Jiangshi practitioner is dead, the Jiangshi Blood Fiend will fall.’
It didn’t fall.
It twitched its body and suddenly started laughing.
“Ha, hahahahaha! I have been reborn! You damned Four Kings Alliance! I will definitely kill you… Keok?!”
I rushed at the Blood Fiend and stabbed my sword into its chest. The surprised Blood Fiend moved its hands in a dazzling manner.
“You…! How dare you ambush me?!”
I could feel condensed poison energy from its hands. It was the Blood Fiend’s unique martial art, the Strange Hole Poison Hand (怪穴毒手).
Before the Strange Hole Poison Hand could touch my body, I used an Instant.
[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 6]
‘I don’t know how this guy suddenly came back to life, but I can’t let him be! If he keeps blabbering, my whole plan could be ruined!’
I dodged the Strange Hole Poison Hand and swung my sword.
[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 5]
[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 4]
[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 3]
I used Instant continuously and continued to slash. The Blood Fiend’s body was cut into pieces, and its head floated into the air. I finished the attack by stabbing my sword into the Blood Fiend’s forehead.
“Kkeueue… Damn it! I barely came back to life, and some bastards are interfering…!”
The Blood Fiend didn’t die. With a sword piercing its head, it began to open its mouth.
Just as I was about to finish it off, Baek Mu-han rushed over.
“Wait a moment! Please wait a moment, Great Hero! I have something to ask him!”
My brain cells actively moved and presented two options. One was to ignore Baek Mu-han’s words and kill the Blood Fiend. If I chose this option, there was a possibility that Baek Mu-han would suspect me.
The other was to listen to Baek Mu-han and not finish off the Blood Fiend for now. The Blood Fiend was dead back then, so there was a possibility that it didn’t know I killed Myeongwol.
I chose the second option.
“Blood Fiend! Tell me everything you know about what happened in our village! And… is there only one Jiangshi practitioner?!”
“You’re a sharp kid. Yes. There isn’t just one Jiangshi practitioner. Listen closely. You’ll hear it. The annoying… sound of a bell leading the dead.”
Ting.
The sound of bells could be heard from all directions. It wasn’t just one. At least 10 or more bells were ringing at the same time, creating one sound.
The Blood Fiend’s face twisted. The Blood Fiend desperately said to me.
“Damn it! You! Kill me quickly! My body was cut to pieces because of you! I’d rather die like this than be used as a Jiangshi again by those bastards! Kill me quickly! Split my head open!”
I couldn’t resist my curiosity and asked him.
“Blood Fiend! How did you come back to life?!”
“It’s a secret technique of my family. It worked because the underworld is shaking. It’s close to a coincidence. A coincidence that will never happen again… Now, kill me quickly!”
I split open the Blood Fiend’s head.
Baek Mu-han looked around and said.
“Great Hero! Please help me avenge my grandmother! We have to kill all the Jiangshi practitioners!”
“Don’t worry. I won’t run away after coming this far. Get ready. I can feel numerous presences. Over a hundred Jiangshi are rushing this way.”
“Wait.”
It was Seong Ji-gon.
He walked over, limping. His gaze was directed at Baek Mu-han.
“Your grandmother… Ms. Wolryeong died? Is that… true?”
“…My grandmother was killed by the Jiangshi bastards. I couldn’t protect my grandmother.”
“N-no way… Ms. Wolryeong died…! A, aaaaaaack!”
Seong Ji-gon was enraged. Energy overflowed from his body.
‘This can’t be! Seong Ji-gon has awakened with the power of rage! Could it be that he has awakened his hidden potential with the power of rage?!’
Baek Mu-han and I were startled and moved away from Seong Ji-gon. My body tingled from Seong Ji-gon’s murderous energy.
“Ms. Wolryeong…! I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you! Please watch from the sky! I will avenge Ms. Wolryeong!!!”
The awakened Seong Ji-gon raised his sword as if swearing an oath. Golden energy, containing the twilight, soared along his sword.
Seong Ji-gon, who had lost his beloved old woman, shed hot tears and said to us.
“Let’s go avenge her!”
