Chapter 134. Trying to Row a Boat On Land (5)
At one point, poisonous snakes even began to crawl around on the ground and bite their ankles.
Ma-Ra, Woo-Moon, the Divine Monk, and the experts of the Nine Sects and One Gang who had reached elder and above, caused enormous damage to the Black Bull Gang. However, the Justice Coalition was also suffering a massive amount of casualties, a level of casualties that hadn’t been seen since the beginning of the war.
As a result, the Divine Monk was unable to go and aid the Fist Emperor directly. That was why he wanted to send the Wind Sword Battalion rather than going there himself and leaving the coalition army to fend for themselves.
“Understood, Commander. Let’s go!”
Woo-Moon cleaved open the door of the central pavilion using Northern Wind, splitting it in half and storming inside. Although he was nervous, as he thought that there might be a trap, his fears turned out to be unfounded.
In the wrecked room, countless corpses of gang members and the remains of pulverized organs were piled everywhere, clearly showing the Fist Emperor’s path.
Sensing the sounds of fighting coming from deeper in the room, more precisely underneath him, Woo-Moon hurried forward.
As he and the others went down one floor at a time, the number of enemy corpses and debris increased.
Although Woo-Moon couldn’t count them all, even by a rough estimate, there were as many as 1,500 Black Bull Gang corpses as they passed through the sixth floor. While Woo-Moon was once again in awe of the Fist Emperor’s incredible power, he was also astonished by the fact that the Black Bull Gang, which seemed to be just one representative of the Black Hand, was so large.
‘Both the Justice Coalition and the Black Bull Gang divided their forces into three armies, and they had more people than us anyway. How could they also have so many people in this fucking basement?’
This world really seemed to have more evil people than good ones.
Finally, they reached the last floor—the thirteenth floor.
On one side of this floor, which was as wide as a plain, the Lust Emperor and the Fist Emperor were fighting fiercely.
Surrounding the lone Fist Emperor were the Lust Emperor as well as countless gang members, all attacking him. And standing in front of the stairs that Woo-Moon descended were a hundred warriors of the Black Bull Gang wearing blood-red robes, guarding the floor from intruders.
It was the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron.
They were the guardians of the Gang Boss, the most elite of the Black Bull Gang!
The captain of the Blood Cloud Black Ace Squadron, the Sword Ghost Spear Devil, standing at the forefront of the squadron, stepped forward and spoke grimly, “Did you come looking for a grave?”[1]
Although the Wind Sword Battalion’s skills weren’t low, they were still lacking in both numbers and cultivation when compared to the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron. Still, although they should have been intimidated by the disparity, they trusted their youthful spirit and stood directly facing the squadron, eyes blazing.
Woo-Moon was so proud of seeing them stand tall that he smiled silently before stepping forward.
“Well, who knows? Shouldn't we wait and see who actually dies here?”
“I’ve seen an image of you. So you’re that brat they call ‘young hero,’ Song Woo-Moon. You must have gotten full of yourself after hearing everyone praise your skills and whatever deeds. But you’re just a new-born pup unafraid of the tiger before you. Did the Palm Martial Emperor teach you to be so insolent?”
Woo-Moon grinned.
Woosh! Swish!!
Simultaneously, both the Divine Phantasm Steps and Raging Wind!
“Tsk!”
The Sword Ghost Spear Devil took a step back as a thin line of blood appeared on his cheek.
Woo-Moon didn’t attack any further. He just stood there and snickered. “I’m a good student. Isn’t this the perfect amount of insolence?”
The captain of the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron was furious at being humiliated in front of his subordinates. To think he’d be injured by a child! He was notorious even within the ranks of the Hegemon Clan and the Justice Coalition due to his strength, most famously due to his actions during the rebellion of the Greenwood King.
Years ago, a man who called himself the Greenwood King appeared within the Greenwood Alliance, one of the vassal forces of the Black Bull Gang, and led a rebellion against his masters. In order to punish him, the Lust Emperor led the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron to destroy the Greenwood Alliance.
The Lust Emperor had used that rebellion as a stage to announce his rise to the Absolute stage and defeated the self-titled Greenwood King in ten seconds before ordering the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron to slaughter all 1,500 of the Greenwood Alliance’s elites.
Of course, he didn’t aid the squadron in any way. However, even without him, the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron had only lost two people in that battle under the direction of the Sword Ghost Spear Devil.
Considering his status and fame as the captain of such a mighty unit, the Sword Ghost Spear Devil was infuriated by being attacked by Woo-Moon, someone whom he looked down upon for being a mere child.
“Kill him!”
Following their Captain’s orders, the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron rushed toward Woo-Moon and the members of the Wind Sword Battalion like a terrifying red wave.
With how outstanding each individual member was, the fighting spirit and aura that they radiated collectively compounded and were truly titanic. Even so, the exhausted members of the Wind Sword Battalion grit their teeth and stepped forward, trying to stand and fight alongside Woo-Moon.
However, Woo-Moon just shook his head and pushed them back.
“Battalion Leader!”
The others wouldn’t be able to be of much help in fighting the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron. In that case, Woo-Moon thought that it would be better to fight them alone in order to reduce the casualties.
“Stay behind.”
In the brief moment it took him to order his subordinates to stand down, the sharp battle qi of the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron arrived right in front of Woo-Moon.
Rumble!
When Woo-Moon stepped forward with his right foot, the ground split apart, and a wave of qi spread out, disrupting the advance of the squadron slightly—very slightly.
In that split-second opening, before the squadron could stabilize their aura, Woo-Moon stabbed out with his sword.
Northern Blizzard!
Shing!!!!
A cold, dry sound rang out from Lightflash.
Thud, thud.
It was as if the world had been cut open. As many as forty members of the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron lost their lives, cleaved in half without even being able to scream.
“...”
The Sword Ghost Spear Devil had only been able to survive because he had dodged ahead of time after sensing Woo-Moon’s aura.
However, he couldn’t afford to be happy about his survival. He was speechless as he looked at the decimated ranks of his men, almost half of whom had lost their lives in an instant.
Woo-Moon was far, far stronger than what had been reported.
‘I’m sure... no, they definitely said that he wasn’t at this level yet. Then, could it be that he grew this much stronger in that short period? That’s impossible! A Transcendent can’t have this level of power unless they break through the Absolute wall and become a true master. But... is he an Absolute Master, then?! No, even with this strength, he seems somewhat lacking. Then...’
The astonished Sword Ghost Spear Devil's shock was short-lived. After all, he was a man who had spent decades on the battlefield and was able to put away any useless thoughts quickly.
“Kill him no matter what it takes!”
Although he didn’t understand how, Woo-Moon was clearly stronger than the Transcendent stage should have allowed him to be. However, their master, the Lust Emperor, still stood behind them! There was no way back for them!
‘I still have this one last move!’
Seeing the Sword Ghost Spear Devil’s eyes light up. Woo-Moon spoke softly.
“Good, come at me!”
Although their ranks were now reduced, the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron rushed toward Woo-Moon once more, with an even more ferocious force than before.
‘Let’s finish this quickly!’
With that thought in mind, Woo-Moon pointed the tip of his sword toward the sky.
The members of the Wind Sword Battalion were shocked by Woo-Moon’s power. Looking up, they realized that he was about to unleash Raging Storm next.
As they expected, Raging Storm broke out from the tip of his blade.
Like a downpour, countless thick drops of sword aura poured down on the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron.
Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop!
Countless sounds rang out, more like molten metal dripping on metal rather than the sound of rain.
A thick mist of blood billowed before Woo-Moon; blood flowered like a river below and soared upward into the sky.
With one of his arms blown off and a large hole forming in his side, the Sword Ghost Spear Devil looked at his vice-captain standing next to him.
“Haa....Haa....ugh...”
The vice-captain, who had both of his arms torn off at the shoulders and a gaping hole in his stomach, foamed at the mouth and groaned, clearly on the verge of death.
Thud.
A single pill dropped to the ground out of the vice-captain’s pocket. The Sword Ghost Spear Devil picked it up and swallowed it right away without any hesitation.
It was the Blood Explosion Pill, the Black Bull Gang’s last resort and a kind of medicine far more effective than the Blood Frenzy Pill that the Black Bull Gang had given to the Red Fog Valley’s Three Peak Monsters.
“Ughh...You’re stronger than I imagined, but thi—”
Just as he was about to say “this is the end for you too,” the Sword Ghost Spear Devil suddenly saw his own body from the side, his headless neck gushing out blood.
The power of the Blood Explosion Pill had just been about to awaken and spread throughout his body. When that happened, even though he wouldn’t have been able to reach the level of an Absolute Master, the Sword Ghost Spear Devil would have been able to show power far above that of the Transcendent stage.
Unfortunately for him, Woo-Moon was not the kind to wait for his enemies to power up mid-battle. A quick swing of Lightflash had put an end to that before it even began.
‘You coward! You Righteous Faction Bastard!’
Woo-Moon watched as the Sword Ghost Spear Devil cast him an outraged look, dying without even being able to display the power of the Blood Explosion Pill.
“Brother, are you crazy? Why the hell would I let you do that? If there’s an easy way, I’ll obviously choose it.”
Hearing Woo-Moon’s mocking voice, the Sword Ghost Spear Devil’s eyes widened as life left his body.
Silence arose among the Black Bull Gang members, who had trusted in and looked up to the Blood Cloud Apex Squadron and the Sword Ghost Spear Devil. After a while, they all gritted their teeth.
“We’ll kill you all.”
As the remaining gang members approached the Wind Sword Battalion with vicious curses, Woo-Moon calmly walked over, kicking away the Sword Ghost Spear Devil’s head in the process, and swung Lightflash, shaking off the blood.
"Ok, fine. “Let’s see this to the end.”
Right then, he finally felt something.
A horrifying, eerie feeling!
“Be careful...!” Woo-Moon shouted as he dodged as quickly as he could.
The whip narrowly grazed his temple and continued forward.
In that fleeting moment, Woo-Moon felt an ominous feeling as he tried to cut the whip before it could go any further.
However, it was already too late.
Even by his extremely high standards, the whip moved blindingly fast... so fast that it pierced Mu Bi’s and Ha Gun-Choong’s foreheads one after another in an instant.
As if the world had stopped, their last moments froze within Woo-Moon’s mind.
The past interactions with Mu Bi, who was reluctant to go into battle because he didn’t like killing, flashed through his mind, followed by the easy-going and naive appearance of Ha Gun-Choong, completely unbefitting a young master of a large Merchant Guild.
The long whip that had pierced through Mu Bi’s head first before easily puncturing Ha Gun-Choong’s, in spite of the latter’s incredible physical cultivation, drew back and returned to its wielder’s hand.
The wielder was, of course, the Lust Emperor.
Naturally, his target had been Woo-Moon. However, when he failed, the Lust Emperor shifted targets, not wanting to give up the chance.
Crack.
Woo-Moon gritted his teeth until something cracked and blood pooled from his gums.
“LUST EMPEROR!!!!”
Letting out a loud roar, Woo-Moon poured all the qi he could into his legs, using the Northern Wind Steps at full speed. The qi of the Forbidden Divine Art was boiling like lava. In line with Woo-Moon’s anger, it was even stronger than when he met the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor.
“You bastard! You won’t be able to approach Father!”
One of the Lust Emperor’s numerous sons stepped forward and swung his whip. However, Woo-Moon instead stretched out his arm and coated it in aura, allowing the whip to wrap around his arm and pull the attacker toward him.
“Ugh!”
In one swift move, he brought the man closer, split him in half, and let the body fall to the side like two bags of trash. He did not sway even a hair’s width from his path as he did this.
“Protect Father!”
“Don’t let him get any closer!”
Many among the Lust Emperor’s sons had reached the Transcendent stage, but none of them could withstand the sword of the enraged Woo-Moon, much less stop him from moving forward.
As he went further into the vast expanse, he could see the Lust Emperor and the others surrounding and attacking the Fist Emperor.
The Fist Emperor was covered in blood.
No, that wasn’t the important part. Both of his legs had been severed at the ankle, and one eye had ruptured.
Nevertheless, he still radiated enormous and powerful fist force in all directions, revealing the untarnishable aura of an Absolute Master.
The Fist Emperor saw the Lust Emperor take a step back into the crowd of gang members and catch his breath. He shouted, “Lust Emperor, you cowardly bastard!! To think that you’d use such dirty tricks and even hide behind your men. Do you dare come out and fight right now?!”
The Fist Emperor was still unaware of Woo-Moon’s presence, while the Lust Emperor looked at the Fist Emperor with a cold gaze.
“This is the end of my tiresome relationship with you. I can’t deal with you anymore~ A young dragon, surprisingly strong for his age, is running after me, kekeke.”
1. Yes, his title really is Sword Ghost Spear Devil. The author has a penchant for interesting names. ☜