Chapter 111

Chapter 111

By the time the fragrant scent of blossoms was noticed, red plum flowers had already surrounded Youngho and the Demonic Practitioners.

The Demonic Practitioner clicked his tongue once, frowning.

“Plum Blossom Sword Queen…!”

The woman known throughout the Jianghu as the Plum Blossom Sword Queen, Myeonghye, spoke with a mischievous smile.

“You little brats look absolutely dreadful.”

Myeonghye gave Youngho a subtle glance.

“Especially the Mad Black Sword Ghost causing a ruckus here of all places…… Just what exactly is going on?”

Naturally, she was not speaking to the Demonic Practitioner who had abandoned his humanity.

Youngho, wearing a displeased expression beneath Myeonghye’s gaze that was fixed solely on him, replied,

“We were ambushed by those bastards from the Demonic Cult. It’s a common occurrence.”

“Yes, but no matter what, this is clearly the territory of the Mount Hua Sect.”

“A Taoist should not covet land. That too is worldly desire.”

“You could die right now, and that’s what you say?”

Whether it was Youngho tossing out idle jokes or Myeonghye reacting in disbelief, to the Demonic Practitioners both of them were equally troublesome.

‘The escape route has completely vanished.’

Now even the slightest possibility had disappeared. If he survived here, it could not even be described with the word “heavenly luck.”

Still watching the plum petals fluttering through the air, Youngho said,

“Please clear this away. The fight isn’t over yet.”

“Even though this is clearly Mount Hua’s domain?”

“Then should I spare the Demonic Cult bastards who attacked me?”

“I understand your position. Even so…….”

“I didn’t realize the Orthodox Sect would let the Demonic Cult go free. Especially the Nine Sects and One Gang, the pillar of the Orthodox Sect.”

“What did you just—!”

He could have simply mentioned Mount Hua, yet he deliberately said Nine Sects and One Gang, attempting to drag the other nine sects into it.

Youngho briefly glanced at Myeonghye, whose voice had risen, then turned his gaze back to the Demonic Practitioners.

“If that’s not the case, then please remove the plum blossoms.”

She did not know what to do. After seeing him withstand the Heavenly Demon’s attack at the Dragon–Phoenix Gathering, she had suspected he was no ordinary figure.

Even taking that into account, the existence before her was more of an anomaly than she had imagined.

“Child, do you not need my help?”

“I hold a rather high position now. Regrettably, I have no desire to owe the Plum Blossom Sword Queen a debt.”

“You’re clever. But I have already placed you in my debt.”

“Then shall I put it this way? You killed one Demonic Practitioner and ruined my plan.”

Myeonghye’s face crumpled instantly. Youngho smirked as if the sight amused him.

“You destroyed my plan, and you call that a debt? Absurd.”

“You truly do have a sharp tongue.”

“I hear that quite often.”

Soon, the plum blossoms that had enclosed the Demonic Practitioners and Youngho scattered into the air.

With a gloomy expression, Youngho walked toward the Demonic Practitioners.

There were no footsteps to be heard. Yet to them, each step he took felt as though the Reaper itself stood guard behind him.

“Do not kill one of them. There are mountains of things to ask.”

“Do you think you can spare them?”

“I’ve heard people ask whether I can kill them, but asking whether I can spare them is novel.”

Youngho lightly pressed the tip of his sword against the Demonic Practitioner’s neck.

The blade was so sharp that its tip effortlessly carved a shallow wound into the man’s skin.

With an emotionless expression, Youngho spoke,

“Speak. There will be more than ten of your kind in the days ahead.”

At that, Myeonghye’s eyes widened. Wearing an expression of utter disbelief, she immediately turned to Youngho.

“What on earth does that—!”

“Keugh!”

Before she could finish, dark red blood burst from the Demonic Practitioner’s mouth.

Though blood splattered across his face, Youngho showed no reaction as he flicked the blood from his sword.

He had taken no action at all. He had merely held the sword’s tip to the man’s throat.

“Is it a side effect of the medicine he took earlier?”

That was likely.

After confirming that even the Demonic Practitioners who had collapsed from poison were dead, Youngho dragged his weary body back toward where his companions were.

Despite being injured, Myeonghye could not hide her astonishment at Youngho’s speed.

She had to run at full speed just to barely keep up with him.

Soon, she matched his Lightness Skill at his side and asked,

“What happened?”

“There was no damage done to the Mount Hua Sect.”

“You are such a cold child.”

“And what business does the Plum Blossom Sword Queen have with this cold brat?”

“To put it simply, the Sect Leader has come here with the disciples of the Mount Hua Sect.”

“As expected.”

At Youngho’s tone, as if he had already known, Myeonghye asked in puzzlement,

“How did you know?”

“I knew something would come. The shock was great enough to reach not only Mount Hua but even the Zhongnan Sect.”

“That’s true. So what exactly happened?”

“It was nothing much. I thought my comrades would get caught in it if we kept fighting, so I released a shockwave.”

“Surely you do not mean that shockwave was a wave of Qi that reached Mount Hua?”

“Yes. I tried imitating the Heavenly Demon’s technique, in my own way.”

The more she uncovered, the more extraordinary he was. Myeonghye had seen Youngho at the Dragon–Phoenix Gathering.

Back then he had been the Flame Dragon, but now he bore the excessive reputation of the Mad Black Sword Ghost—far too much for a mere Junior Disciple.

Yet what astonished her even more was that he had imitated the Heavenly Demon’s technique.

Myeonghye, too, had once seen the Heavenly Demon. And like all others who had witnessed him, she had known despair.

A wall could be shattered—but only if one could reach it. No matter how much one punched the air, a wall would not break, would it?

The Heavenly Demon was such a wall. A wall no fist could ever reach, no matter how one struck.

And yet she had believed she had trained relentlessly ever since…….

‘Incredible!’

The world was vast. To think she would encounter a wall comparable—if not to the Heavenly Demon, then close to him.

And he was young enough to be her grandson.

How could she not be astonished? And perhaps because of that, she was all the more puzzled.

There was not the slightest trace of sinister energy in Youngho’s aura.

Rather, a purer energy than her own flowed around him in a steady current.

‘So the Alliance Leader’s words were true?’

Since Youngho was the disciple of the Alliance Lord, he must have learned Cheonung’s martial arts.

Han Yonghu had clearly said that Cheonung’s martial arts should be regarded more as orthodox arts than unorthodox.

At first, she had not believed it. A man walking the path of tyranny, ruling the Unorthodox Faction solely by strength, practicing orthodox arts?

Had it not been Han Yonghu who said it, Myeonghye would never have spoken another word to the one who did.

It was such an absurd statement that she would have dismissed him as completely insane.

Was that why? Myeonghye was currently feeling extreme unease.

Youngho was strong. In fact, far superior to herself, who was called the Plum Blossom Sword Queen.

It was already problematic that such a person had been fighting before Mount Hua, but Youngho was undeniably a member of the Unorthodox Faction.

‘I don’t know when or how the disciples might get caught up in this!’

For now, he was injured, so she might be able to contend with him to some degree—but even that would not last long.

At least one fortunate thing was that the assassin who had been by Youngho’s side had disappeared.

The presence or absence of an assassin could drastically alter the course of a battle.

While Myeonghye’s mind raced with calculations, Youngho himself was not thinking much at all.

‘Black Shadow is being handled by Shadow, so that’s fine… But will Mount Hua help the Asura Squad?’

Most likely not. Even if the Orthodox Sect was being attacked by the Demonic Cult, if the victim was from the Unorthodox Faction, they were the sort to simply stand by.

Namgung Cheon, who had helped him before his Regression, had been the unusual one. The Orthodox Sect were, more often than not, hypocrites.

If the Asura Squad had been men who deserved death, he would not have worried much.

But while there were a few ambiguous ones among them, none were truly bad. They were hardly fitting to be called members of the Unorthodox Faction.

‘I need to hurry.’

Ughk!

Dark red blood burst from Youngho’s thigh.

Bang—!

He kicked off the ground with force, and with a thunderous roar, his body transformed into a streak of light.

“Has he gone mad—he’s even faster—!”

Myeonghye seemed to shout something beside him, but Youngho ignored her and headed toward where the Asura Squad was.

Arriving at his companions’ location in an instant, Youngho surveyed the battlefield.

Seonpung, who had reverted from a white cat back into the White Tiger, had drenched his white fur in blood as he tore at an enemy’s throat.

The bandits, in particular, seemed deeply fearful of the mountain lord; each time the White Tiger’s gaze fell upon them, they flinched.

Meanwhile, injured members of the Asura Squad had stepped back and were receiving treatment from Hyeon-gang.

Kwaaang—!

It was a deafening explosion that could hardly be believed to have resulted from mere weapons clashing.

Youngho saw Horyeung and his two disciples barely holding their ground against the Green Forest King.

In an instant, Youngho’s body became a streak of light as he shot toward Horyeung’s group battling the Green Forest King.

In truth, he had hesitated somewhat. Revealing his presence would surely throw the bandits into confusion.

And for his allies, merely seeing that Youngho had returned alive would greatly raise morale.

Even so, he did not do that and instead charged directly at the Green Forest King.

However, when the Green Forest King’s palm force surged forward with ferocious momentum, threatening to burst Kang Chowon’s chest apart, Youngho immediately redirected himself toward them.

‘Too late!’

The wound that had pierced his thigh was the obstacle.

‘Faster!’

Just as Youngho was about to kick off the air again, prepared to suffer internal injury—

Thud—!

Kang Hosan sacrificed his right arm, taking the palm force aimed at Kang Chowon in her stead.

The aftermath was immense. Kang Hosan’s right arm looked as though it had been struck directly by a Lightning Bomb, reduced to a tattered mess.

The bones within the arm were likely shattered to pieces.

The visible external injury was severe. The palm force had torn through skin and muscle, and blood streamed continuously from his arm.

If left like this, he would die from excessive blood loss. Even if his acupoints were sealed, the bleeding would not stop.

Still, thanks to that, Kang Chowon lived. Had she taken that palm force, her chest would have been destroyed, killing her instantly.

And because Kang Hosan had sacrificed an arm, Youngho was able to take the Green Forest King’s rear.

Sensing a vicious killing intent behind him, the Green Forest King turned and threw a punch.

Paang—!

Unfortunately, his resistance was meaningless. With a serpentine, uncanny movement, Youngho once again took his rear.

Slash!

Of course, cutting down the fist that had been aimed at him was only natural.

An ambush.

It had been utterly crude and lacking in structure, but Youngho’s martial might transformed it into a flawless strike.

The Green Forest King’s fist split open. The blade had cut deep enough to reveal white bone; that fist looked as though it would never be used again.

Kang!

With his remaining hand, the Green Forest King knocked aside the sword Youngho swung at him.

Despite the sudden shift in circumstances, the Green Forest King thought calmly.

‘I don’t know how he survived those fiends, but this ends now!’

For a Swordsman to lose his sword meant death.

Yet strangely, when he had deflected the blade, it had felt extremely light.

As though Youngho had not been holding it at all.

Puhshuk!

By the time he sensed something was wrong, Youngho’s hand had already pierced through the Green Forest King’s heart.

It was a death so futile that silence fell. The movement had been so fast that no one could follow it, yet its swiftness made it seem all the more hollow.

Youngho looked around and spoke in an emotionless voice.

“Do you wish to continue?”