Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

A bloody battle was raging in the forest. The Demonic Cult’s ambush had been exposed, and a brutal clash had broken out between them and the Sichuan Tang Clan.

“Urgh!”

A member of the Secret Serpent Unit, a sword buried in his stomach, let out a groan. Then he spat blood at the martial artist standing over him with a vicious smile.

“PTOO!”

The man hurriedly recoiled from the fountain of blood at such close range, but a few drops still splashed across his face.

SIZZLE!

The moment the blood touched him, the flesh on his face began to bubble and foam.

“Aaaargh!”

The man screamed and collapsed.

As soon as he went down, the Secret Serpent Unit member groaned, kicked off the ground, and lunged at a black-clad fighter.

At the sight, the black-clad man swung his saber.

SLASH!

With a sharp sound, the Secret Serpent Unit member’s body split open.

SPLASH!

And in the next instant, blood exploded out of him in every direction.

At the very moment his body was cut apart, the Secret Serpent Unit member had blasted his inner energy outward, turning his blood into a bomb.

The black-clad fighters caught in that spray screamed and crumpled to the ground. In contrast, the Tang Clan warriors drenched in that same blood wore grim, resolute expressions.

Before he died, the Secret Serpent Unit member had taken poison. His poisoned blood had become an extreme toxin that brought death to the enemy, but it had no effect at all on the Tang Clan warriors, who had already taken the antidote.

Instead… all they felt was grief and fury that their fellow clansman had thrown away his life to kill the enemy.

“Gasp! Gasp!”

In the middle of those warriors, Dang Myeong and Dang Hong were moving swiftly across the battlefield.

While fighting the Demonic Cultists, Dang Myeong used his silver threads to recover the daggers and hidden weapons scattered on the ground.

The Tang Clan’s masters, experts in hidden weapons, always carried at least dozens of them, and sometimes hundreds.

And because this was a desperate bloodbath, the Tang Clan masters were burning through them at a terrifying rate.

So even as he fought the enemy, Dang Myeong kept gathering weapons. Protecting him while clashing with the enemy, Dang Hong bit his lip.

[Young Lord, we need to fall back.]

At Dang Hong’s words, Dang Myeong surveyed the battlefield with cold eyes. Right now, the Tang Clan fighters were locked in combat with the Demonic Cult masters while maintaining a circular formation.

At the center, Dang Miryeong was intercepting the enemy with hidden weapons, while out front Dang Jang, already bleeding, was fighting the two men who appeared to be their leaders.

Dang Jang seemed to be losing ground, barely holding on with the help of the hidden weapons Dang Miryeong kept sending out.

Where are the elders?

Before setting out, Dang Myeong had ordered the ten masters from the Elder Hall to follow about an hour behind them.

And once the fighting began, he had told them to judge the situation and move accordingly.

The Elder Hall masters were seasoned veterans. Rather than giving them rigid instructions, he had trusted them to adapt to the situation.

But they still had not moved.

“Young Lord!”

At Dang Hong’s shout, Dang Myeong quickly stepped back.

SLASH!

A sword cut through the place where he had just been standing.

Dang Myeong kicked off the ground hard.

SPLASH!

Dirt flew up and showered over the black-clad man.

“Hmph! That kind of cheap tri—ghk!”

The insult he had been about to throw turned into a scream.

The dirt Dang Myeong had kicked up was not ordinary soil. It was dirt soaked in the blood of Tang Clan masters, saturated with deadly poison.

“You… cowardly…”

“The Tang Clan uses poison.”

That was Dang Myeong’s only answer. Then he whipped the hidden weapons hanging from his silver threads behind him.

CLATTER! CLATTER!

The hidden weapons slipped from the silver threads and dropped into the Tang Clan’s circular formation.

But they shot back out even faster than they had fallen.

Dang Miryeong snatched the weapons out of the air one after another and immediately fired them in all directions.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

“Aaaargh!”

“Argh!”

Screams rang out one after another.

But…

Their power is dropping.

The force behind the hidden weapons had weakened sharply. The formation was holding only because of Dang Miryeong’s support…

And the moment she fell, the formation would collapse.

We cannot be wiped out.

With that thought, Dang Myeong bit his lip and pulled a jade bottle from his robe.

“Young Lord, that is—!”

Looking at the startled Dang Hong, Dang Myeong shouted,

“Flying Heaven Unit! Brothers! We have chosen the place where we die!”

With that cry, Dang Myeong threw back the liquid inside the jade bottle in a single gulp.

“Young Lord!”

At the sight, Dang Miryeong cried out in shock.

FWOOSH!

As her shout rang out, a red aura began to pour from Dang Myeong’s body.

It was blood, vaporizing as it rose from him.

Flameblood Poison.

It was an extreme toxin that made all the blood in the body boil.

And while the blood boiled, it also acted like a miracle elixir, causing internal energy and innate vitality to surge upward.

As Dang Myeong drank the Flameblood Poison, Dang Hong bit his lip, pulled out an identical jade bottle, and drained it in one gulp.

The five remaining members of the Flying Heaven Unit around him shouted as they drank theirs as well.

“There could be no finer end than going with my brothers!”

“To be born a man, and to choose with my own hands the place where I die—what greater honor could there be!”

Watching the five remaining members of the Flying Heaven Unit drink the Flameblood Poison, Dang Myeong charged straight toward Dang Jang.

“I command the Secret Serpent Unit! Hold the enemy with me!”

“At your command!”

At Dang Myeong’s cry, the members of the Secret Serpent Unit who had been maintaining the circular formation rushed in behind him.

And in their hands, without exception, were bottles of Flameblood Poison.

FWOOSH!

As bloody energy surged from the bodies of the Secret Serpent Unit members, Dang Myeong shouted again.

“The Flat Bat Unit will withdraw from this place with its commander and retreat to the main house!”

“Y-”

The faces of the Flat Bat Unit members twisted.

They had been about to shout, “At your command!” and reach into their robes.

This meant the Secret Serpent Unit and the Flying Heaven Unit were staying behind to save them and hold the rear.

An order had been given to leave behind their fellow disciples, brothers, and nephews.

“The order has been given!”

At Dang Hong’s shout, Dang Miryeong stared blankly at him, then bit her lip.

“Dang Miryeong, commander of the Flat Bat Unit, receives the Young Lord’s order! Flat Bat Unit… retreat!”

With Dang Miryeong’s tear-choked shout, she released every hidden weapon she was carrying in a single instant.

FWOOOOOSH!

In a flash, a cloud of flying needles, so dense it looked like mist, shot behind them and swallowed up the surrounding space.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

“Aaaargh!”

“Argh!”

Dang Miryeong and the Flat Bat Unit wiped out the twenty black-clad fighters blocking the escape route in one sweep and immediately began pulling back.

At the same time the Flat Bat Unit withdrew, Dang Myeong shot toward the blood-robed man fighting Dang Jang.

“Arrogant little brat!”

With that shout, red energy burst from the blood-robed man’s palm.

“Myeong, watch out!”

Dang Jang hurried to block the bloody aura and threw a punch.

THUD!

“Ghk!”

Dang Jang flinched backward, and in that instant Dang Myeong vaulted past him and shouted,

“Dang Jang, return to the main house!”

“What?”

“That is an order!”

Dang Myeong shouted with a hard expression and looked straight at Dang Jang.

And the moment Dang Jang saw his eyes, his face twisted.

Those bloodshot eyes…

The veins bulging all over his face…

That was…

“You…”

WHOOSH!

Before Dang Jang could say anything more, silver threads shot from Dang Myeong’s hand toward the blood-robed man and the black-clad man.

SHHHK!

With a sharp sound, both figures instantly retreated.

FWOOSH!

A bright shimmer of aura flickered along Dang Myeong’s silver threads. The razor-thin threads, wrapped in aura, were dangerous even to them.

It was a technique that should have been impossible for Dang Myeong’s current level.

“You little fool… what in the world…”

At Dang Jang’s voice, Dang Myeong looked at him.

[It is easy to die here. But please think of the children back at the main house. Right now, the Tang Clan needs your strength more than it needs mine as its future Clan Lord. Please… live, and go back home.]

“That is an order!”

At Dang Myeong’s shout, Dang Jang, who had been about to step forward again, bit his lip.

And then the Secret Serpent Unit and the Flying Heaven Unit rushed past him.

“Please survive!”

“Big Brother! The main house is in your hands.”

“Hahaha! Commander, I am leaving you with a heavy burden!”

“Big Brother, tell my wife… I am sorry!”

As the men shouted, Dang Jang saw the bloody aura pouring from their bodies.

“Flameblood Poison…”

They had prepared it for exactly this kind of moment.

And he had it in his robe as well…

Flameblood Poison.

Every one of his brothers in the Secret Serpent Unit except him had taken it.

As Dang Myeong lashed his silver threads toward the blood-robed man’s ankles, he cried out desperately,

“Uncle!”

“Myeong… I obey!”

WHOOSH!

Dang Jang kicked off the ground and followed after the Flat Bat Unit. As he did, Dang Myeong sent him one last voice transmission.

[Do not trust Qingcheng and Emei.]

At Dang Myeong’s words, Dang Jang glanced back at him, then nodded and kept moving after the Flat Bat Unit.

Once Dang Jang and the Flat Bat Unit were gone, Dang Myeong looked at the blood-robed man.

“I am Dang Myeong, the young lord of the Sichuan Tang Clan, the Heavenly Flying Dragon.”

At Dang Myeong’s words, the blood-robed man hesitated for a moment and glanced toward the retreating Dang Jang.

Then he saw the masters of the Flying Heaven Unit and the Secret Serpent Unit blocking that path. With bloody energy pouring from their bodies, their martial presence looked dangerous even now.

“Tch!”

The blood-robed man clicked his tongue softly and looked back at Dang Myeong.

“I am Oh Jin, commander of the Blood Death Unit of the Myeong Cult, the Heaven-Sundering Blood Demon.”

At Oh Jin’s words, Dang Myeong bit his lip.

As I thought.

When Dang Myeong looked at the black-clad man, the man said, one hand wrapped around the throat of a Flying Heaven Unit member,

“I am Ho Jinui, commander of the Black Wind Unit of the Myeong Cult, the Black Wind Fiend.”

CRACK!

Ho Jinui snapped the Flying Heaven Unit member’s neck, then looked toward the place where Dang Jang had vanished and spoke with clear disappointment.

“We were told to make sure that bastard Dang Jang did not get away…”

He slowly swept his gaze over Dang Myeong and the Tang Clan warriors blazing with bloody energy.

The Tang Clan warriors were now fighting the Demonic Cult masters with completely different strength than before.

“But with the lot of you burning away your lives like this… I suppose we cannot catch him.”

At Ho Jinui’s words, Dang Myeong looked from him to Oh Jin and said,

“Before I die, I want to ask one thing. Is everyone here all you have?”

At that question, Ho Jinui gave a short laugh.

“Judging by the state of your body, you are about to die, and you are still full of questions.”

“I will be dead within a quarter of an hour.”

At Dang Myeong’s words, Ho Jinui looked around. The Flying Heaven Unit and the Secret Serpent Unit were attacking the black-clad fighters around them like mad.

But the black-clad fighters were pulling back, focusing only on evading their attacks.

They knew it too. They knew both units had taken an extreme drug that unleashed all their hidden potential.

So the black-clad fighters and the blood-robed fighters were trying to break through the two units and pursue the Tang Clan members who had escaped.

But the Tang Clan warriors were stopping them with everything they had.

After watching the Tang Clan fighters for a moment, Ho Jinui said,

“The Black Wind Unit, the Blood Death Unit, and even the Sama Unit. Three units in all.”

At Ho Jinui’s answer, Dang Myeong finally understood why the elders had not appeared.

So they are fighting the Sama Unit.

Muttering inwardly, Dang Myeong steadied his breathing and drew up his inner power. Then Ho Jinui suddenly looked at him.

“I have a question too.”

Dang Myeong looked at him, and Ho Jinui glanced toward the Flying Heaven Unit and the Secret Serpent Unit, who were still locked in combat.

“The Secret Serpent Unit still here seems stronger than the Flat Bat Unit that fled. So why leave them behind instead?”

At the question, Dang Myeong smiled.

“The Flat Bat Unit heading back to the main house are masters of hidden weapons. The Secret Serpent Unit are masters of poison arts.”

“What difference does that make?”

“The main house is overflowing with poison and hidden weapons.”

At Dang Myeong’s answer, Ho Jinui looked at him, then let out a short laugh.

“Heh. I see.”

In that short span of time, Dang Myeong had already sorted out who needed to stay and who needed to go back to the main house.

The Secret Serpent Unit was stronger and had higher martial skill, but the Flat Bat Unit was better with hidden weapons.

If the goal was to defend the Tang Clan, already protected by poison, then it was better for the Flat Bat Unit, not the Secret Serpent Unit, to return.

And since the stronger Secret Serpent Unit was holding the rear, the Flat Bat Unit had a better chance of breaking through the encirclement.

Drip.

Blood ran from Dang Myeong’s nose, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

“I am Dang Myeong, young lord of the great Sichuan Tang Clan! I will die here!”

At Dang Myeong’s shout, Ho Jinui narrowed his eyes and started forward, but Oh Jin raised a hand.

“I will do it.”

“As you like.”

Oh Jin looked at Dang Myeong.

“Judging by your condition, you are about to die anyway. It would be ridiculous for someone like you to die from poison… so die by an enemy’s hand.”

WHOOSH!

Oh Jin’s hand shot toward Dang Myeong like lightning.

SSHHK!

A crimson blood aura tore through the air as if it were splitting space itself.

At the same time, Dang Myeong’s silver threads burst up from beneath Oh Jin’s feet. During their conversation, he had secretly laid them under him.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The silver threads lashed like snakes as they shot toward Oh Jin’s chest.

It worked—?

Dang Myeong’s face, just beginning to smile at the thought that he could at least take one more enemy down with him before he died, went rigid.

Oh Jin’s foot lightly traced a circle.

And the silver threads that could slice through steel twisted together like a tangled ball of string and were pinned beneath his foot.

Then Oh Jin’s hand brushed across Dang Myeong’s neck.

SLASH!

With a sharp slicing sound, Dang Myeong’s head snapped to the side.

“Go in peace.”

“Young Lord!”

“Dang Myeong!”

“Young Lord!”

Dang Myeong did not know why everyone was crying out his name so desperately.

He only knew that the ground was getting closer and closer in his vision.

Please… let them make it back safely…

Thud.

And then Dang Myeong’s consciousness vanished.