At the colliding boom, Yahyeoljeok's body was pushed back.
"Fuck…!"
Yahyeoljeok struggled to keep his balance and swung his blade.
Whoosh!
Blade aura brimming with internal energy flew wildly in all directions, but the one who should be receiving the strike lightly stepped out of the way.
A brief step back, and a leap.
Yahyeoljeok's blade ceaselessly sliced through the air.
Thanks to his innate strength and the physique of a peak-tier martial artist, his sword strikes were by no means slow.
But still, it merely sliced through the air.
A fist dug into his embrace and pierced into Yahyeoljeok's abdomen once more.
"You…!"
Making a mockery of his solid muscles, flames erupted directly from the fist that had dug in deep.
Fwoooosh!
"Keuuuuugh!"
From the excruciating pain beyond imagination, Yahyeoljeok hastily swung his arm to push him away.
But the distance had already been widened.
"Hah... hah…!"
Yahyeoljeok breathed roughly.
"…This little bastard…."
Clutching his abdomen, it seemed he was feeling the pain properly.
"I heard you were from the Gu family, so why are you interfering?"
I gave no answer to his question.
Kwoaaaak-!
I circulated the Gu Yeonhwarungong and spewed flames in all directions.
The bastard swung his great blade to block, but couldn't block everything.
As if intending to leave not even a handful of ashes, the flames drove in madly.
Without missing the gap created by that, I drove in.
Reaching my hand through the gap in the surrounding flames, I grabbed Yahyeoljeok's neck.
I wrapped flames around my hand just like that.
I intended to burn his head off.
At that moment, Yahyeoljeok erupted his internal energy and widened the distance.
From the heat rising along his neck, Yahyeoljeok covered his neck with his hand.
"Hah… hah…."
Perhaps because he had been in the flames for a while, smoke was rising from his body.
'…Missed.'
[Calm down…!]
Shin Noya's urgently shouting words echoed repeatedly.
'I am calming down.'
[I can feel what's boiling inside you so well, what do you mean you're calming down!]
Strange words.
I'm clearly staying calm.
I was just regretful.
The sensation of grabbing his neck remained in my hand.
I should have burned him right then.
The bastard seemed to have more up his sleeve than I thought.
Yahyeoljeok.
The name of the man holding the great blade and looking this way.
I knew him.
The Deputy Commander of the Cheonra Heukrangdae, the Cheonma's direct unit.
A demonic cultivator who covered his mouth with a mask and one eye with an eyepatch.
Rather than that growling appearance, he was a man who seemed like a living corpse, only following the Commander's words.
He seemed very different from right now.
'Was he from the Heukyagung?'
Demonic cultivators have far too many pasts, so I never bothered to take an interest.
I was too busy saving my own skin to care about others.
I brushed my hands off.
'As for Namgung Bi-a….'
Checking the spot where she was lying earlier, fortunately, she was nowhere to be seen, having moved.
When I first arrived, Namgung Bi-a was lying on the floor.
Seeing that, I recalled the end of the Mageomhu.
The time when she rested in my arms and quietly drew her last breath.
If I had been just a little later, I might have had to see the same scene as that time.
Fwoosh.
Perhaps my emotions were swaying, the flames wreathing my body fluctuated greatly.
[…You brat!]
I took a step toward the bastard.
Then, the Gu Yeonhwarungong immediately started rotating at a rapid pace.
I put strength in my toes and leaped.
Sparks flew in the surroundings.
Yahyeoljeok swung his great blade to counter, and his strikes were fast.
Thanks to his innate strength and peak-tier physique, even swinging such a heavy weapon carried speed.
Increasing his speed with the internal energy infused in his body.
I blocked the bastard's vision with flames.
Yahyeoljeok's great blade swept through the surroundings as if mere flames couldn't block it,
But his sword paths were chaotic, so there were many openings.
If there were none, I just had to force my way in.
It felt like my skin was shallowly sliced.
I could afford that much.
Grind-!
"Keugh!"
Since it would be difficult to pull out his arm or break somewhere with his solid physique, I aimed for only one spot.
[…Get… ahold of…!]
The collar of my clothes was grazed by the blade he swung.
His flank was exposed, so I wrapped it in flames and struck him.
"Keok!"
Yahyeoljeok's posture swayed greatly.
Just like that, I stomped on his leg joint and brought him down.
Boom! One of his knees buckled.
The bastard swung his arm to push me away, but my fist was faster.
Thwack!
The bastard's thick head turned forcefully.
Without stopping, I struck him once more.
Thwack!
Perhaps from being hit twice in a row, Yahyeoljeok's eyes turned bloodshot red.
Soon after, internal energy gathered in Yahyeoljeok's body as if trying to create distance.
"You… little bastard…!"
Kwoaaaa!
My body was pushed back by the internal energy discharged from his body.
Perhaps because it was solely to widen the distance, there was no impact.
I just dusted my body off a few times and faced Yahyeoljeok again.
'…How much is left.'
[…]
It was about my internal energy.
Noya didn't speak.
Internal energy didn't seem to remain much, perhaps because I had been circulating the mental method half-haphazardly.
Yahyeoljeok raised his body and spat something out of his mouth.
Rolling on the ground along with the blood was Yahyeoljeok's molar.
Seeing that, Yahyeoljeok's face changed like a Yaksha.
To be beaten to a pulp by a mere brat because he was daunted by the atmosphere.
Daejeolgui Yahyeoljeok, at that.
'…What fucking bullshit…!'
Grind.
He must have clenched his teeth so hard that the grinding sound was clearly heard.
He gripped the hilt of his blade tightly.
It was a point where there wasn't much time left.
Even so, he wanted to kill that bastard no matter what.
Whether it was the Divine Doctor or the Namgung family's woman, it wasn't important anymore.
Yahyeoljeok wrapped internal energy around his feet and leaped to charge in.
Seeing that, I wrapped flames around myself again to cover my body.
For a moment, an excruciating pain was felt from my dantian, but I ignored it.
My head felt hazy, as if it were shrouded in fog.
Right now, I just had to focus on destroying something.
I deflected the sword path aiming for my head with flames.
Taking advantage of his broken posture, I struck his solar plexus.
It went in deep enough that I could feel bones breaking.
Yahyeoljeok then vomited blood.
He tried to grab me with his huge claw-like hand, so I struck him once more and pushed him away.
The rotation of the wheel circling around me gradually sped up.
At the same time, the excruciating pain felt from my dantian grew more severe.
The pain rising all over my body starting from the dantian was that same feeling I felt on my way to Hwasan in the past.
At that time, I couldn't even breathe properly and fainted, but now I could move just fine.
What was the difference?
I couldn't know, but for some reason, I felt it was fortunate.
Since it meant there was no hindrance to moving my body.
[…Uh….]
My eyes opened slightly at the voice that suddenly rang in my head.
'Noya?'
I thought it was Shin Noya's voice that I hadn't heard.
Since the only one who could speak to me in this situation was Shin Noya.
[…Eat….]
But it wasn't Noya's voice.
It sounded like a child's, but in another way, it also sounded like the voice of an old man who had lived through many years.
The excruciating pain rising from my dantian to the top of my head disappeared along with the voice.
[…Hungry.]
A powerless voice.
'You….'
I was about to ask who it was, but couldn't.
In an instant, my consciousness snapped.
Namgung Bi-a was leaning against a wooden pillar, breathing heavily.
It was partly because her sealed acupoints had been released, but also because of her broken arm and the internal energy she had unleashed on the floor, leaving her body completely without strength.
'…I need to go help….'
The Guyangcheon she had seen was strong.
She had seen him easily defeat her younger brother, and also watched him win against the sword beast named Yeongpung or Yongpung.
He would probably be stronger than her.
Namgung Bi-a was convinced, not just assuming.
'…But no.'
Even so, this was a different story.
From the foul stench she felt from the giant man she faced, or the fluctuating energy, he wasn't someone who could be easily dealt with.
They had to launch a joint attack until people from Hwasan arrived.
-Boom! Kwaaang!
As if a fierce battle was taking place, the ear-piercing sounds didn't stop.
It hadn't been a very long time, but to Namgung Bi-a, it felt like an eon.
When she barely raised her body and arrived at the source of the sound.
"…Ugh!"
Namgung Bi-a staggered at the vicious stench.
Was all of this the stench coming from that giant man?
It didn't seem to be to this extent.
'…It's too severe.'
It was her first time experiencing such a severe stench.
It was to the point where the world looked dizzying just from the smell.
Thwack!
Namgung Bi-a stumbled and barely reached the place where the sound was coming from.
"…!"
And the sight that entered her eyes was an unbelievable scene.
She didn't know what had happened, but in the center of the surroundings that had become a mess as if a massive demonic beast had run amok.
Guyangcheon was continuously striking down on Yahyeoljeok's body with clenched fists.
Thwack!
Blood splattered the moment the fist made contact.
His face had already lost its shape long ago.
'The... stench.'
The stench that had been coming from the giant man had already disappeared.
Because the dead don't emit a stench.
Then the stench filling these surroundings was….
"…N… No!"
At Namgung Bi-a's voice, Guyangcheon, who was swinging his fists, stopped his movement.
And slowly turned his head to look at Namgung Bi-a.
"…!"
Namgung Bi-a met Guyangcheon's eyes and let out a silent scream.
Because Guyangcheon's pupils were dyed purple (紫色).
It was certainly a beautiful color, but facing those two eyes, Namgung Bi-a felt goosebumps rise all over her body.
They were terribly ominous eyes.
Guyangcheon looked at Namgung Bi-a for a moment and swung his fists again.
Continuing to hold onto someone whose breath had already stopped.
Namgung Bi-a grabbed her shivering shoulders and tried to calm herself down.
She didn't know why she was feeling such fear.
Only eerie and violent sounds rang in her ears. Even amidst the stench that made her want to vomit.
Namgung Bi-a ignored her trembling body, ran over, and hugged Guyangcheon's back from behind.
She felt she had to.
She even grabbed his arm, but Guyangcheon, as if broken, kept trying to strike the giant man's face.
"Please…! He's… already dead…!"
Did he hear Namgung Bi-a's words?
Guyangcheon's body, which had been moving without a word, stopped.
And then, he collapsed as if crumbling.
Namgung Bi-a caught the collapsing Guyangcheon in her arms with trembling hands.
"Haa… haa…."
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Was this the turning point? The increasingly thickening stench faded away in an instant.
She had to suppress the nausea rising from seeing the ruined corpse of the giant man beside her.
She couldn't believe that was made by human hands.
Namgung Bi-a grabbed Guyangcheon's hand with her trembling one.
It was a hand covered in blood, but it was okay.
She felt she wouldn't be able to calm down if she didn't at least do this.
As that fleeting moment passed, the disciples of the Hwasan Sect appeared.
Inside the cave of the Heukyagung's Seomseo Branch.
Bae Chong was calming his trembling heart while waiting for Yahyeoljeok, who hadn't arrived.
It wasn't for a BS reason like missing him or worrying about him.
'In a little while... it will be time to take the medicine.'
The medicine to suppress the Gu wriggling inside his body was only held by the Branch Manager.
It was a point where his three-day supply had just run out, so from Bae Chong's perspective, it was even more desperate.
The sun would set in a little while.
If Yahyeoljeok didn't come within that time, his internal organs would melt and he would die.
While waiting anxiously like that, suddenly a presence was felt from the entrance.
Bae Chong was startled and ran over.
Thud-.
For some reason, the footsteps were quieter than usual, but Bae Chong didn't have the luxury to care about that.
Soon, the door opened and someone entered.
"Branch Manager…!"
Bae Chong immediately drew his sword.
It wasn't the Branch Manager.
'An old man...?'
It was a skinny old man with a small stature.
The old man slowly looked around the room once.
"You…. What is it?"
"…So this is the right place."
"I'm asking who—"
He couldn't finish his sentence.
Bae Chong's body collapsed straight to the floor.
With the same face that was shouting, his neck was severed and rolled to the back.
The old man wasn't holding a sword.
Yet this was the work of a sword swung by the old man.
The old man's name was Wi Hyo-gun.
The Geomjon, who had received the request from Maehwasun, was there.