Chapter 87: Dark Clouds

Before his return, when Sewoon was cultivating Reverse Heaven Qi, if he fell into inner demons or Qi Deviation, he was carried not to Uigak, but to the Blood Demon.

This was because a strict order had been given from the Cult Leader to immediately bring him in case anything happened to the Demonic Craftsman.

Also, the only one who could straighten the power of Reverse Heaven Qi was none other than the master of Ten Thousand Demons, the Blood Demon.

Sewoon, writhing in the agony of his blood vessels and meridians being torn and burned apart, asked the Blood Demon.

-…You damn, bastard, just what kind of… martial art is this?

After learning Reverse Heaven Qi, the Blood Demon looked even more like a terrifying monster.

When he gazed with eyes imbued with Reverse Heaven Qi—

Inside him, there lay a dreadful chaos far beyond comparison to his own.

Without a doubt, the opponent, while breathing and moving, must have been feeling several times, no, hundreds of times the torment he was suffering now.

Yet the opponent showed no trace of it, no change of expression.

-Servant, this is martial arts, yet not martial arts.

The Blood Demon answered his question.

-It is a curse that has repeated since the beginning of the world, a brand that can never be erased.

Even then and even now, he could not guess the meaning of those words.

At the moment he recalled the Blood Demon’s gaze, which had been as strange as his words—

Suddenly, Sewoon’s sight twisted and blurred.

“Keuaaaah!”

His consciousness returned to reality.

Baek Yacha Heo So-chang was unleashing ceaseless lethal strikes at him.

Unlike before, the man drooled like a rabid dog.

All the veins in his skin bulged grotesquely.

It was the aftermath of swallowing a Blood Pill and igniting every last reserve of strength.

Normally, such a state would have been as excruciating as that of the Poison Demon.

‘Enemy.’

But Sewoon felt no fear at all.

His mind was calmer than ever before.

No worry, no fear, no anger.

‘The enemy… must die.’

Every thought converged into that single point.

Sssaaah.

The Reverse Heaven Qi, which always ran wild trying even to slay its own master, now moved perfectly under Sewoon’s will.

Pupuk!

Seogeok!

He mercilessly toyed and mocked his foe.

Each time his will imbued the Reverse Heaven Qi, blood splattered, and torn flesh scattered across the ground.

Only killing intent filled his mind.

Duduk!

At last, he broke his enemy’s neck.

The foe’s final breath dissipated faintly in his grasp.

But—

It was not enough.

He needed more death, more death energy.

[Kill. Kill them all.]

[Enemy. The whole world is your enemy.]

[Wash the world clean with blood.]

Voices resounded in his head, craving more slaughter. They were as sweet as the Mara’s temptation under the Bodhi Tree.

Sewoon’s consciousness thinned.

And then—

Step.

Footsteps approached.

Someone was coming toward him.

[An enemy. Kill.]

Paaah!

The Heavenly Thread imbued with Reverse Heaven Qi pierced through the enemy.

It was as if he could feel the blood flow vividly, as though his body were linked to the threads.

They would die in excruciating agony.

Step.

‘……!!’

But the opponent did not stop walking.

Though struck, he sensed no hostility from them.

At last, Sewoon’s fading consciousness began to return to normal.

‘…Who?’

Like fog clearing, his blurred vision slowly sharpened.

The first thing he saw was a pair of unwavering, shining eyes.

‘Do Ha-yeong.’

Just by those eyes, Sewoon immediately recognized her.

Whump.

Ha-yeong embraced him.

Warmth like the sunlight of spring spread through Sewoon’s body in an instant.

It was a warmth he did not want to lose.

And with it came back the memories he had buried in the depths of his heart before his return.

-…If only I had known you properly, just a little earlier…

Ha-yeong, carrying wounds that could never heal, was dying in Sewoon’s arms.

He tried every method and poured all his strength into saving her, but nothing worked.

In despair, Sewoon wept.

Then warmth touched his cheek.

-I… would have… protected you…

With frail, bony fingers,

Ha-yeong stroked his tear-streaked face.

And then—

That vivid final warmth.

Overlapped perfectly with the present.

“Ah.”

The darkness clouding Sewoon’s eyes vanished as if it had been a lie.

Sssaaah!

All the Heavenly Threads that had pierced Ha-yeong’s body withdrew.

[No!!]

[Kill her!! Kill, I said!!]

The mysterious voice continued to torment him, but Sewoon resisted with all his might.

‘Get lost.’

Paaah!

At last, the rampage of Reverse Heaven Qi subsided completely.

In the heavy silence that followed—

Swiik.

Sewoon slowly reached out a hand toward Ha-yeong.

‘Your… tears…’

This time, he wanted to wipe them away.

Tap.

But he could not.

Sudden drowsiness overwhelmed him.

Even the faintest strength to hold his body upright was gone.

Thud.

Sewoon’s body collapsed into Ha-yeong’s embrace.

At the same time.

Kaifeng.

The great chaos was finally calming.

The blood-colored rain still fell from the sky, but much lighter than before.

What had once been a downpour was now only a drizzle.

In that situation, Jaegal Hoon was sternly commanding the scene.

He shouted loudly to his subordinates.

“Spread the word again! Blue-colored cursed objects are fakes meant to cause confusion! If you find suspicious places with cursed objects shining purple, immediately fire a signal flare!!”

“Yes!!”

Pabat!

At his words, the subordinates dispersed swiftly into the streets.

The commoners, who had been suffering under the falling raindrops, were swiftly moved inside the halls to minimize the damage.

Afterward, all efforts were poured into eliminating the cursed objects, and at this point, three out of the four had been destroyed.

In the hands of the leading subordinates were small fragments that all shone with the same light.

Jaegal Hoon, who was searching the marketplace while taking the rain head-on, held the same.

They were the hundred treasure weapons Sewoon had created through Divine Weapon Creation for reconnaissance.

Though they looked no different than broken scraps of iron, the power they contained was extraordinary.

With their sharp edges, they pointed like geomagnetic iron toward the cursed objects.

Not only did they guide the way to where the real cursed objects—the cores of the spells—were hidden among the fake ones scattered like traps, but they even distinguished them by color.

‘If not for these treasure weapons…’

The thought alone was horrifying.

Even if the entire Murim Alliance and the government had cooperated, without them, they would have accomplished nothing.

During the wasted time, countless commoners would have suffered immense losses.

Thus, while engraving his gratitude to Sewoon deep in his bones, Jaegal Hoon was absorbed in the search.

Perpung!

“!!”

A signal flare burst into the sky—it meant the last, the fourth cursed object had been found.

Jaegal Hoon immediately rushed toward the source.

“General Strategist, here!”

Even without being guided, it was easy to find.

Sssaaah!

A fragment of iron floated in the air in front of a shop, shining brightly in purple.

Jaegal Hoon quickly entered inside.

Though outwardly disguised as a fabric shop—

Wooong!

Kwa-ga-ga!

Inside, there were bizarre sorcery tools and arrays drawn in blood.

From the talisman placed in the very center, ominous and sinister energy surged forth like crashing waves.

‘So this is the core. The power from this one cursed object alone is stronger than the other three combined…!!’

As he examined the cursed object, Jaegal Hoon’s expression suddenly stiffened.

Sssaaah!

He realized the power from the talisman was rapidly growing stronger in real time.

‘This is dangerous!’

The cursed object’s rampage was imminent.

The previous eliminations had suppressed the expansion of the spell’s domain, but—

If this final cursed object completed its rampage, the spell was expected to cover the entire sky of Kaifeng.

‘I must stop it, even if it costs me my life!’

There was no time to hesitate.

With quick resolve, Jaegal Hoon ordered the subordinate beside him.

“Move all the commoners living nearby to a distant location! And have the martial artists of the Alliance retreat with them!”

“General Strategist, surely you don’t mean to face this alone…!”

“There’s no time! Do you intend to disobey my command?!”

“…I will obey.”

The subordinate, recognizing his intent, tried urgently to dissuade him, but Jaegal Hoon’s will was firm.

With difficulty, the subordinate answered and hurried out, while Jaegal Hoon waited for but a moment.

Judging that the evacuation was complete, he strode forward to the cursed object radiating its energy.

Sreung!

Jaegal Hoon unsheathed his sword.

He leveled its tip toward the talisman floating in the air.

There were two methods of dismantling cursed objects.

The first was to perfectly interpret the spell and then unravel it step by step in reverse.

Safe and reliable, but it consumed too much time.

Thus, the second method remained—

Overwhelming the spell with greater martial force to shatter it.

The fastest method, but the backlash at the moment of destruction could claim one’s life.

Indeed, even in the earlier operations, casualties had occurred because of this very danger.

Now, however, the situation was several times more perilous.

At that moment, Jaegal Hoon closed his eyes, focusing his spirit.

Sssaaah!

A powerful qi overflowed from his body.

Manbakja Jaegal Hoon was not only the General Strategist overseeing the Murim Alliance’s Military Division—

Uwoong!

—he was also a swordsman who had reached the Transformation Realm.

With a fierce resonance, the sword flux around his blade materialized in full.

Paaat!

Stamping the ground, Jaegal Hoon closed the distance, unleashing the secret ultimate strike he had perfected over the years.

Great Celestial Star Sword Art

Ultimate Technique

Martial Star

It was the pinnacle of the Jaegal Clan’s martial arts, transmitted solely to the Clan Head.

Kwaaarrr!

Kwa-ga!

The completed sword flux tore through the air toward the talisman.

The explosive impact brought down everything around.

But—

Kuroo!

Kwa-ga!

Incredibly, the cursed object was unscathed.

As if mocking Jaegal Hoon, it absorbed all the energy.

‘Kugh-!!’

The backlash threatened his very life.

He resisted with all his might, blood seeping from his lips.

It was power beyond imagination.

‘Who in the world could have crafted such a spell…!!’

The hidden malice of the sorcerer within the spell sought to engulf him.

Pain so terrible it felt as if his meridians and blood vessels would burst wracked his body.

His limit was near.

And then—

Sssaaah!!

A pure white divine light descended upon where he stood.

That dazzling brilliance enveloped Jaegal Hoon and surged forward.

Chwaaaah!

A single vertical stroke, drawn as though by a brush, cleaved the air.

No sound of slicing or tearing followed—

But—

Jjeo-jeojeok!

The cursed object radiating deathly energy split in half, vomiting darkness.

Even that spewing death energy—

Paaah!

Hwaaah!

—was completely annihilated by the one who had descended here.

The Sword Emperor, Yoo Jinhak.

“Alliance Leader.”

“…You have done well, General Strategist.”

Supporting Jaegal Hoon, Yoo Jinhak stepped outside.

The crimson rain that had been pouring stopped as if it had all been a lie.

The spell had truly been broken.

But…

“……”

“……”

No one cheered. No one cried out in relief.

All around, the sounds of groans and sobbing continued endlessly.

For though they had minimized the damage, they had not completely prevented it.

There were still those whose families had suffered unbearable torment from the blood rain—some even losing their lives.

Yoo Jinhak tightly closed his eyes.

‘…What in the world is happening to the Jianghu?’

The rain had ceased, yet the dark clouds in the sky had not lifted at all.

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