FreeBooksOnline Chapter 259 : Invaders (2)
Chapter 259 : Invaders (2)
Chapter 259: Invaders (2)
While staying within the cultivators’ territories, Jang Woo-hyun had realized something.
‘Senior Maeng was right.’
Just as Maeng Ye-ju had said, there was no need to exchange words with those cultivator bastards. The moment they appeared, he should simply smash their heads in.
Because he already held that mindset, he carefully observed Yang Yeon and his companions.
As expected.
While speaking with Yang Yeon, the cultivators standing behind him subtly released killing intent and greedy gazes.
‘Just as I thought.’
His prediction had been correct.
Since Jang Woo-hyun’s group was currently unable to fully display their strength, Yang Yeon and his companions had judged them to be excellent prey.
Rather than attacking immediately, they first approached closely and evaluated Jang Woo-hyun’s group. The moment they became convinced their targets were weaker than them, they revealed their filthy intentions without hesitation.
But that judgment had been a mistake.
Before they could do anything, Jang Woo-hyun severed their heads.
‘This actually works out nicely.’
He had wanted information about the Black Shadow Sect, and now cultivators had conveniently delivered themselves to him.
“H-how— Gghk!”
“How what? Haven’t you bastards done this countless times already?”
Even without being told or signaled, Seo Ryeom moved on his own. His experience made it obvious that the cultivators would behave like this.
Standing behind Yang Yeon, Seo Ryeom severed both his arms and legs. Then he grabbed his neck from behind.
“Ha-un, chop the rest of them into pieces too.”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
Momentarily startled, Jin Ha-un quickly regained himself and drew his sword. He approached the headless corpses.
The cultivators pretending to be dead immediately tried to rise and flee.
But before they could escape, Jin Ha-un’s sword moved.
The headless bodies shattered into fragments and collapsed.
“Brother Jin! No, Senior! Please, wait a moment!”
One of the severed heads rolled across the ground as it spoke. Despite losing their heads and having their bodies chopped apart, not a single one of them had actually died.
“We were mistaken for a moment.”
“Please spare us! We were wrong!”
The five heads begged for mercy. Even as they did so, they continued trying to move farther away from Jin Ha-un.
Watching the undying cultivators, Cho-su pulled something from his Inner Robe Artifact.
It was a skeletal lizard roughly the size of a forearm, and he tossed it toward the fleeing heads.
The skeletal lizard landed on the ground, blue light flaring within its eye sockets. It darted around rapidly before swallowing the cultivators’ heads whole.
“No! No!”
“Spare me! Please spare—”
Chomp.
One at a time.
The skeletal lizard devoured cultivators’ heads far larger than its own mouth. Then it consumed every piece of the bodies Jin Ha-un had cut apart.
Strangely enough, despite being nothing but bones, everything it ate completely vanished.
The skeletal lizard was something Lee Ahn had given Cho-su, claiming it could completely kill beings from the Corpse-Blood Realm.
Which meant the ones consumed could never revive again.
Yang Yeon’s companions had truly died.
“Please spare me! I didn’t realize you were Seniors and committed such disrespect. Please forgive me…….”
The only survivor, Yang Yeon, knew exactly what happened to those devoured by the skeletal lizard. He bowed his head frantically while begging for mercy. If he still had limbs, he likely would have prostrated himself on the ground immediately.
“You were heading to the Black Shadow Sect, right?”
“If you spare me, I’ll repay your kindness somehow. My younger brothers—”
Smack!
Seo Ryeom struck the back of Yang Yeon’s head.
“The Captain asked you something, bastard. Just answer the questions.”
“Huh? Y-yes, yes. Please ask anything. If I know it, I’ll tell you everything.”
“You were heading to the Black Shadow Sect?”
“Yes, that’s correct. The Black Beast Bubble Phantom King has opened a gate to the Central Heavens Realm and is gathering people. We, the Seven Demons of Goryeok— Ah, I’m the eldest of the Seven Demons of Goryeok Mountain. We’re fairly well known around our territory. Of course, we’re nothing compared to Seniors. We intended to leave Goryeok Mountain and lend our strength to the Black Shadow Sect’s cause.”
Yang Yeon spoke rapidly, desperate to survive.
“The Seven Demons of Goryeok? There were only six of you.”
“Our youngest already went ahead to the Black Shadow Sect.”
“Why is only the youngest there?”
“We sent him ahead to assess the situation.”
“You think this operation is dangerous? Because it involves a gate to the Central Heavens Martial Realm?”
“That’s not it. Since the Corpse King is joining us, nobody should be worried about that.”
Unlike what Lee Ahn had said, Yang Yeon did not doubt for a second that the Corpse King was involved.
“Are you certain the Corpse King is joining?”
Yang Yeon, who had been answering obediently until now, suddenly paused.
His expression clearly asked why such a question was even being asked.
“……They wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
“Are you really sure?”
“The Corpse King. One of the strongest among the Eight Kings. Even the Black Beast Bubble Phantom King couldn’t casually invoke that name. It would be impossible unless some agreement had already been made beforehand.”
That differed from what Lee Ahn had told them.
‘Did he lie?’
The thought briefly crossed Jang Woo-hyun’s mind, but he discarded it.
There was no reason for Lee Ahn to lie. He gained nothing from it.
Besides, if Lee Ahn had truly harbored ill intent, Jang Woo-hyun would not even be alive right now.
Which left only one answer.
‘The Phantom King must be the one lying.’
Just as Lee Ahn had guessed, the Phantom King was probably using lies to gather people.
And he was scheming something significant enough to recklessly use a name that should never be invoked lightly.
“How many people have gathered at the Black Shadow Sect?”
“I don’t know the exact number. Quite a lot must have gathered already, but…….”
Yang Yeon hesitated while watching Jang Woo-hyun carefully.
“You’re not going to answer? Then you’re useless—”
“They’re all waiting outside the territory! Nobody enters the cities controlled by the Black Shadow Sect! Everyone just wanders around nearby, like us!”
“……So that’s how it is.”
Now he understood why Yang Yeon had hesitated.
Even in this situation, the cultivators were still targeting one another to steal strength. Just as Yang Yeon and his companions had done.
“Right. This is exactly how cultivators should behave. Brother Cho-su, Senior Seo.”
As Seo Ryeom tossed Yang Yeon’s body away, Jang Woo-hyun sliced it into dozens of pieces.
Then Cho-su threw the skeletal lizard.
The lizard devoured every fragment of Yang Yeon’s body.
“We should wander around the outskirts too.”
If cultivators were roaming nearby, there was no reason to stop after capturing only one group.
---
“Brother Jang, are you also heading to the Black Shadow Sect?”
“Haha, nice to meet you.”
At first, they were all similar. Whether they approached warmly or cautiously.
“Die, you stupid bastard!”
“You filthy worm!”
Once they judged someone weaker than themselves, they all revealed their true nature the same way.
Naturally, the filthy behavior that followed was identical as well.
“Senior! Please spare me! It’s a misunderstanding!”
“I committed disrespect!”
It always started with “Brother,” then became “you bastard” or “worm.”
And afterward came “Senior” or “Great One.”
The behavior displayed by the cultivators was absurdly identical.
After dealing with Yang Yeon, they encountered five more groups of cultivators, yet every encounter ended the same way.
Even though beings from the Corpse-Blood Realm could not absorb the power of those too far below their level, the cultivators still rushed in greedily the moment they saw an opportunity.
At first, Jang Woo-hyun assumed it was simply because they were cultivators. But later, after asking them, he discovered another reason.
“The armor you’re wearing and the magical artifact you’re using are extraordinary items…….”
“If you saw something like that, shouldn’t you assume the owner is powerful? Are your brains really that lacking?”
“…….”
“You’re not answering?”
“We just thought you were foolish peopl— no, I mean, people possessing treasures beyond your station. And if we won, those treasures would become ours, so…… I’m sorry!”
The cultivators recognized the value of the items Lee Ahn had provided and rushed in blinded by greed, unable to think clearly.
‘Come to think of it, that bastard with Yang Yeon said something similar.’
Though Jang Woo-hyun had cut him down before hearing the full sentence, there had definitely been something about “your magical artifacts.”
The captured cultivator kept rambling, but Jang Woo-hyun stopped listening and finished him off.
Cho-su once again threw the skeletal lizard from beside him.
But this time, the skeletal lizard did not consume the cultivator.
“Brother Cho-su, what’s wrong with it? It stopped moving.”
“That’s strange. Why all of a sudden?”
Cho-su picked up the skeletal lizard and inspected it.
“Maybe it ate too much and can’t function anymore?”
“That can happen?”
“How would I know? I didn’t make this thing. Even the way it operates is different from what I’m familiar with.”
“If it won’t move anymore, then let’s just head to the city.”
There was no more information left to gather, so they decided to stop fighting and continue toward their original objective.
During the five battles, they had obtained all the information they needed. There was no longer any reason to keep hunting cultivators.
Jang Woo-hyun reviewed the information they had gathered.
* Not that many people have gathered yet. Since there’s still plenty of time, everyone’s cautiously observing the situation.
* Fighting is forbidden within the Black Shadow Sect’s cities. The punishments are severe.
* Cultivators of the Black Shadow Sect are patrolling near the cities.
* Nobody is heading to the Central Heavens Realm immediately. They’re organizing the gathered forces first, then crossing over in one month.
* The Corpse King will probably move as well. His name is not one that can be used lightly.
The cultivators, once beaten or dismembered, all spilled information readily enough.
As Jang Woo-hyun reviewed everything they had learned, Jin Ha-un quietly approached him with a stiff expression.
“Hyung-nim, are cultivators always like this?”
Though he had fought cultivators before, Jin Ha-un had never seen behavior this filthy. Every single one of them was sly and disgusting.
Aside from a rare few like Pung So-bong, whom Jang Woo-hyun knew personally, most cultivators cared only about themselves.
“If they knew we were martial artists, they’d behave even worse.”
Borrowing the words of Asura Ghost Yang Jeon-gun, martial artists were not fellow humans in the eyes of cultivators, but closer to beasts or livestock.
No matter how strong martial artists became, cultivators only viewed them as animals that had turned savage or monstrous. They never regarded them as people.
“If you ever get involved with those bastards later, never trust them.”
If Jang Woo-hyun had not met Pung So-bong immediately after Ascending, before developing prejudice against cultivators, he probably would never have trusted him either.
He might even have cut his head off immediately.
“The moment you see them, smash their heads in. Their way of thinking is fundamentally different from ours.”
After repeatedly warning Jin Ha-un, Jang Woo-hyun’s group headed toward the city of the Black Shadow Sect.
---
A gigantic tower built from black stones stacked chaotically atop one another.
And surrounding it all was a massive gray earthen wall.
Their destination city finally came into view in the distance.
The magical artifact carrying the group flew low toward the city.
“……!”
Then suddenly, Jang Woo-hyun’s body trembled.
The surrounding energy had abruptly changed.
Jang Woo-hyun immediately tried to inspect his surroundings. Seo Ryeom also seemed to sense something and twitched slightly.
“Senior Seo, stop.”
Before Seo Ryeom could act, Jang Woo-hyun stopped him.
He himself also halted the instinctive attempt to spread his Qi Perception.
It was pure instinct.
He felt that revealing power here would be dangerous.
‘There’s something here.’
The city was still far away, but this place was completely different from everything they had encountered so far.
Jang Woo-hyun released only the faintest trace of energy.
Then he carefully observed the surroundings.
The moment something brushed against his senses, he turned his head.
Black bubbles were rising from the ground.
Looking around, he saw the same thing everywhere.
‘This isn’t ordinary land.’
Black Beast Bubble Phantom King.
The characters for Bubble Phantom meant bubbles and shadows.
Jang Woo-hyun instantly realized this land belonged to Baek Jeong-ak.
* The barrier was created to deal with opponents on the level of the Eight Kings. You entering won’t matter.
Lee Ahn’s words had been correct.
Unless someone possessed strength on the level of the Eight Kings, they could never withstand the power spread throughout this land.
It was impossible to even measure the extent of the power Baek Jeong-ak had spread here.
Seeing the overwhelming force saturating the surroundings, Jang Woo-hyun realized something.
This was the territory of the Phantom King Baek Jeong-ak.
And this entire land was the domain he had unfolded.
Jang Woo-hyun would have to enter the Phantom King’s stomach and destroy his tower from within.