The Undefeatable Swordsman

Chapter 191. Eight Years of Hardship and Suffering (12)

Sssssss!

An extremely fine black sand drifted through the air like smoke, covering the first twenty or so Heaven Slaying Alliance members in the front.

Crackle!

"Agh!!"

Each of them was at least Peak Class. However, none of them could avoid the Great Darkness Palace Master's attack, and they were utterly unable to overcome the poison mixed into the sand. They were engulfed in black flames and instantly turned into a handful of ash.

Even so, the black flames didn't disappear.

After the ash landed on the ground, the flames continued to burn, spreading over and incinerating those behind them as well.

Tears flowed from Su Ran's eyes as she watched people burn alive.

They were all her close friends. Her family.

As those of the Heaven Slaying Alliance fought against an indomitable enemy, Martial Heaven, the bonds between the alliance members grew stronger than anywhere else.

However, feelings were feelings and now was a time where action took priority. Su Ran was the alliance’s advisor, and she had to calmly assess the situation and provide a strategy, no matter what was going on.

She called Hye-Rim and Princess Namar.

“Take the children and run away. We have to carry on the will of the Heaven Slaying Alliance. If you and the children die, there is no future.”

Hye-Rim was also sobbing. She shook her head.

"No, I won't! I want to fight with you!"

However, Su Ran firmly shook her head as well.

"No. We will buy you time, so run away quickly."

At that moment, Princess Namar, who had spent her childhood on the grasslands and had better eyesight than anyone else, saw something flying in the distance.

‘A bird? Is that a bird?’

However, she quickly realized she was wrong. As the flying object gradually grew closer, she could clearly see that what she had noticed was in fact not one but two, and not birds but people.

'Is that...'

"Song Woo-Moon?"

As Princess Namar shouted in surprise, Hye-Rim and Su Ran both responded in alarm and looked up at the sky. Woo-Moon flew over at unimaginable speed. He held Yeo-Seol in his arms, imbuing her with qi as they raced through the air.

"Hiya!"

With a cute cheer, Yeo-Seol combined Woo-Moon’s raging qi with her own to unleash a Divine Frozen Soul Palm.

Wooosh!

The seemingly unending fire that was consuming the Heaven Slaying Alliance members was instantly extinguished, and the surrounding area was frozen white.

Woo-Moon landed lightly.

"Whether it's breaking jade or breaking stones or whatever, nothing pretty comes out of it. It's not something you should do."

The Heaven Slaying Alliance had moved bases so covertly that Woo-Moon had been entirely unable to find them.

It was only thanks to Ma-Ra's incredible tracking skills that he was even able to get somewhat close, and it was only because he had heard them shout their intentions to die for the alliance that he was able to finally pinpoint the location.

By this time, whoever hadn't noticed that Woo-Moon was a heaven-defying expert was a complete moron.

The Great Darkness Palace Master, Hu Mu-Hae, glared at Woo-Moon.

“Who are you? Why are you interfering?”

Woo-Moon smirked.

"Well, there are actually two reasons. First, whatever you guys do, I thoroughly enjoy undoing it. Second, I owe these guys a debt. And there’s also one other thing..."

Woo-Moon’s expression, which had been perfectly warm and bright, suddenly turned cold.

He glared at The Great Darkness Palace Master with eyes that were burning with anger and intent to kill.

“I can never forgive you for killing my grandfather and junior sister!”

With a shout, Woo-Moon rushed forward like lightning and unleashed Northern Blizzard.

He moved so fast that the Great Darkness Palace Master didn’t even think about spreading poison and quickly tried to block the sword with his dagger. However, he found himself unable to keep up with Northern Blizzard's mysterious and cunning transformations and ended up getting his left arm severed.

He was a true poison master, no question about that, but unfortunately for him, he was no Paragon. He would’ve suffered even in a head-on clash with Woo-Moon, let alone facing a surprise attack like this.

To his merit, he was a fast thinker. He understood that the arm was gone, so he instantly moved back, away from his opponent; simultaneously, he drew three of the Paragon poisons from his sleeve and threw them.

Pop, pop, pop!

All three bottles struck Woo-Moon square and exploded to bits.

Right as the Great Darkness Palace Master was about to laugh, assuming that Woo-Moon would be made helpless by his hidden poison technique, Woo-Moon grinned.

"It seems I was right on the money. All your poisons are the same. Tough luck."

Seeing the man’s poison, Woo-Moon had immediately assumed that the man was the one who had created the Qi Dispersion Poison he’d been struck by a while back; thus, he deliberately allowed the three bottles of poison to hit him in order to analyze the poison inside. As it turned out, the poisons were not only from the same source, but almost identical in structure.

The Great Darkness Palace Master's actual cultivation was only at the Absolute realm, so unless his poison worked, there was no way for him to defeat a Paragon.

"How is th—"

That was all he was able to say before Lightflash pierced his throat.

How could he have ever dreamed that the consequences of creating the Qi Dispersion Poison for the previous Great Darkness Palace Master would come back to haunt him like this.

Then Woo-Moon drew a bright gold sword from its scabbard.

At the same time, a giant white tiger carrying a girl on its back came running over, charging at the Great Darkness Palace warriors.

“Kuaaaaak!”

One of them was directly bitten in half. His scream echoed eerily through the mountains, and Yu Yu, who was still young and tender-hearted, frowned slightly at the gruesome sight.

Woo-Moon turned into a golden flash as he moved freely between the enemies, causing blood to spurt wherever he went.

Of course, it went without saying that Ma-Ra also appeared here and there like a ghost, and every time she showed up, lives were lost.

With this, Martial Heaven had not only lost the Great Darkness Palace Master once again but also nearly half of the Great Darkness Palace's main force.

Ok Ji-Gyeong had been watching from the side, and when the situation turned awry, his first thought was to flee. Sadly, he was too slow.

A vast shadow loomed in front of him.

Grrrr....

Befitting his status, Ok Ji-Gyeong was a Transcendent expert. However, facing Eun-Ah’s aura, he couldn’t even muster the thought of fleeing, much less fighting back. His legs trembled like crazy, and he was on the verge of pissing himself.

As he slowly backed away from the giant tiger, he suddenly froze because he could feel something stabbing him in the back.

Turning around, he saw Su Ran pointing a sword at him.

Princess Namar and Hye-Rim stood by her side, glaring at him with enough venom that it was enough to kill him.

"Ha... haha..."

Thud.

Ok Ji-Gyeong knelt down on the ground and suddenly looked up at the sky.

“I guess I really did read the weather correctly.”

Those looking at him with gazes that could kill suddenly frowned, their expressions belying their confusion.

Ok Ji-Gyeong spoke slowly.

"As you all know, my Western Nihility Gate is a hidden sect. There actually is a secret technique in our foundational text that allows one to predict fate once a year. I tried cultivating it a while ago, and knowing that Great Hero Song was coming today, I intentionally lured Martial Heaven's forces here to attack us so that we could destroy them all in one sitting. It was all to deal a small blow to Martial Heaven's forces."

Ok Ji-Gyeong immediately turned to look at the Heaven Slaying Alliance members the moment he finished, tears streaming down his face.

A desperate voice flowed out of his mouth.

"While I read the ways of the heavens, I wasn't able to determine the exact time Great Hero Song would arrive. It was my fault that the Alliance Leader and the others died. Moreover, I had to deceive you all, my allies, in order to deceive the enemy and even brought unbearable humiliation on the three ladies. It's all my fault. Please let me repay this insult with my life."

At first, no one believed his words. However, seeing him shed tears with a genuine expression, it seemed a little more believable. While they all started to doubt him again when he said he would kill himself, most of them were won over when he actually raised his sword and swung at his neck without hesitation.

“Don’t do anything foolish!”

A warrior from the Heaven Slaying Alliance ran over and kicked Ok Ji-Gyeong’s arm.

Riiiip!

As the sword had already begun biting into his neck, it left a long cut as it bounced off to the side.

While it wasn't a fatal wound and was honestly relatively shallow, it seemed to prove that Ok Ji-Gyeong really intended to cut his own throat, which lent his pretext some believability.

"I... I'm sorry, Young Master Ok... I misunderstood you," Hye-Rim said.

While almost everyone now believed him, Princess Namar and Su Ran, who had first-hand experience with his obscene behavior, just couldn't bring themselves to take his words at face value.

Woo-Moon didn’t believe him either. It wasn’t as if he could read minds, but he could even hear the idiot’s heartbeat and notice his body temperature going up. It was clear as daylight that the man was lying.

'Do idiots like this really exist?'

Worst of all, throughout this desperate situation, that bastard never stopped glancing at Yeo-Seol while he talked!

"I'll believe you if you can show us that technique that allows you to peer into the secrets of the heavens," Su Ran coldly said.

"I'd love to! Since I had to fool you all as perfectly as possible in order to set the trap, I can understand why you can't easily trust me, Lady Su Ran. Of course, I can prove it to you. However, the secret technique that allows me to read fate can only be performed once a year, and unfortunately, I've already done it once. Once I can use it again next year, I'll prove it to you then."

He’d thought it through—if he said it took longer, they might not be willing to wait, but if he said it took less, then he might not have time to escape until then.

Now, Su Ran found herself cornered in a situation where she would have to wait a full year before she could do anything. She understood that her chance was slipping by, so she continued with the interrogation.

“Then why did you try to escape just now?”

Su Ran hoped that Ok Ji-Gyeong would panic and make a mistake. However, now that he’d grasped a straw, he wasn’t about to let it go so easily.

"Anyone in the same situation would have done the same. While I set a trap to strike Martial Heaven, I acted without ever considering my own safety. I expected you to misunderstand, so I wanted to get myself away from danger first."

The Heaven Slaying Alliance warriors nodded, feeling that this was a reasonable assumption.

Su Ran wanted to ask why he had sneaked into her room at night to try to rape her but quickly realized that the wicked Ok Ji-Gyeong would find a way to talk his way out of that, too.

Something along the lines of doing it on purpose to strengthen the veil of deception or another.

Unlike the calculative Su Ran, the impatient Princess Namar just couldn’t take this anymore. She suddenly drew her bow.

"There's no need for all this back-and-forth. That bastard is a liar. I’ll take care of him before he spouts more bullshit."

Princess Namar was a valiant warrior from the northern plains. She admired the strong and hated liars and wicked people, and at this moment, Ok Ji-Gyeong seemed uglier than a bug to her.

However, Su Ran stopped her, knowing that there might be problems later if Princess Namar were to execute Ok Ji-Gyeong just like that.

“Let’s just bear with it for now, Princess. At the end of the day, Young Master Ok is the last successor of the Western Nihility Gate. He deserves to have a fair trial before he dies. Moreover, we don't even know if he'll still be alive in a year..."

Woo-Moon, who had been watching quietly, suddenly froze.

His eyes flashed when the words “Western Nihility Gate” came out of Su Ran’s mouth, and he abruptly intervened.

“Wait, did you just say the Western Nihility Gate?”

Su Ran was surprised by Woo-Moon’s sudden intervention, but then nodded.

“Yes. I said the Western Nihility Gate. Why do you ask?”

Woo-Moon's expression turned strange. There was absolutely no way there were two Western Nihility Gates, so the one his father had told him about and the one Su Ran was talking about had to be the same. So these people were the Heaven Slaying Alliance! But then... there was also something that didn’t match.

'Is this guy really the successor of the Western Nihility Gate? How come?'

According to his father, the Song Family was the original main branch of the Western Nihility Gate.