freenovelworld Chapter 267 : Appearing and Vanishing Like a God or Ghost (1)
Chapter 267 : Appearing and Vanishing Like a God or Ghost (1)
Chapter 267: Appearing and Vanishing Like a God or Ghost (1)
“Waaah!!”
“We won! We defeated all those Blood Cult bastards!!”
The roar that filled the skies of Henan thundered magnificently, as if it would swallow even the stars of the night sky.
It was a Blood-Soaked Battlefield, yet instead of despair, it overflowed with the joy of victory.
The martial artists of the White Path Union stood shoulder to shoulder with those of the Dominance-Heaven Assembly, celebrating their triumph together.
This was their first great victory against the Blood Cult, and so they continued to let out cathartic roars.
Those same White Path Union martial artists who had once cursed the Beast Palace as barbarians were now united as one, rejoicing in victory together.
Having endured a brutal clash with the calamity known as the Blood Cult, the members of the White Path Union had come to realize many things.
To destroy the colossal evil called the Blood Demon, there could be no distinction between the Righteous Path and the Unorthodox.
It was a disaster that could never be overcome unless everyone joined forces.
In the end, all those belonging to the two factions had become comrades and fellow warriors, charging toward a single goal.
Their faces and bodies were filled with exhaustion and wounds, yet their eyes shone brightly with hope.
While everyone was savoring this fleeting moment of joy—
“We sincerely thank the Beast King and all members of the Beast Palace.”
“Hm. I merely followed the Chairman’s orders.”
“I know. Please also convey our gratitude to the Dark Heaven Venerable.”
“I will.”
Great Master Gakgong treated Umun Geol with the utmost courtesy.
Watching this scene from the side, Paeng Seungsan, Paeng Daeho, and Paeng So-hye all looked on with smiles on their faces.
Having attained enlightenment and stepped into the threshold of the Life and Death Realm, Great Master Gakgong had not achieved only martial advancement.
He had also attained inner maturity and growth.
His infinitely gentle demeanor was, surprisingly, strikingly similar to that of his master, Divine Monk Gongsung Daesa.
Great Master Gakgong then turned and paid his respects to Paeng Seungsan as well.
“We have also received a great debt from the Hebei Peng Clan. Without your help, Shaolin—no, all martial artists of the White Path Union would have faced a horrific massacre.”
“Ho ho. Abbot, we share a bond between us. Why speak in such terms?”
“Thank you for saying that.”
Great Master Gakgong bowed deeply in sincere gratitude.
Paeng Seungsan responded with a faint smile.
At that moment, Paeng Daeho casually posed a question to Great Master Gakgong.
“By the way, Abbot, what are your plans from here on?”
“Hm. For now, we will maintain the defensive line in Henan and quickly make a trip to the main headquarters of the White Path Union.”
Paeng Daeho nodded.
“You intend to check on the condition of the Union Leader.”
“That’s right. Ever since the Mount Hua Incident, he has locked himself inside the Union Leader’s Chamber and refused to come out.”
“Ah.”
The White Path Union Leader was, of course, Namgung Myeong.
Even as terror engulfed the Murim world, Namgung Myeong had failed to show himself, drawing both concern and anger from everyone across Jianghu.
Some claimed that he was undergoing secluded training to confront the Blood Demon, but the truth was exactly as Great Master Gakgong had said.
After facing the Blood Demon, Namgung Myeong had merely shut himself inside his office and refused to emerge.
“Then what will you do?”
This time, Great Master Gakgong asked Paeng Daeho.
“My father and the main force will remain here, while we join up with our Lord.”
“I see.”
At the mention of Sewoon’s name, a small smile formed on Great Master Gakgong’s face.
“Has the Chairman of the Dominance-Heaven Assembly gone to Shaanxi?”
“No.”
Paeng Daeho shook his head.
“Then Gansu?”
“Not there either.”
“Neither Shaanxi nor Gansu?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Not only Great Master Gakgong, but even Paeng Seungsan showed a look of confusion.
It was only natural.
If not at any of the three locations where the Dominance-Heaven Assembly was currently fighting, then where in the world could Tang Sewoon be?
At that moment, Paeng Daeho spoke with a meaningful expression.
“Our Lord has gone to seek new power.”
“Hoo.”
White breath billowed from Sewoon’s lips as he exhaled.
Deep within a cavern where not a trace of another person’s presence could be felt, Sewoon sat alone in a cross-legged position, regulating his Qi.
As all the forces of the Dominance-Heaven Assembly departed for their respective battlefields, Sewoon had headed here.
A cave hidden within the mountains near the main headquarters of the Dominance-Heaven Assembly.
But he had not come because the place possessed some special property, nor because a Miraculous Encounter lay here.
He had come simply because, hidden along a sheer cliff, this cave ensured that no one else would be harmed by what he was about to do.
‘Everyone must be doing well.’
Those who were locked in fierce combat with the Blood Cult briefly crossed his mind.
Several days had already passed since he began preparing the ‘ritual’ here alone.
But those thoughts did not linger long.
‘Since I’m late, I just need to complete it faster and rejoin them.’
Ssss—
At that moment, Golden Heaven Divine Harmony Qi slowly began to rise from Sewoon’s body.
A radiant beam of light spread through the cave that had been drowned in darkness.
‘Now then….’
From here on out, this was the most important part.
Kwar!
Sss!
Next, Sewoon forcefully drew out another power he had hidden deep within.
It was an alien force, entirely different from Golden Heaven Divine Harmony Qi.
A ferocious energy that had been suppressed beneath the weight of Golden Heaven Divine Harmony Qi was now being guided by Sewoon, slowly beginning to stir.
‘Come, I’ll give you food. Grow larger, Qiongqi.’
After annihilating the Heaven-Piercing Gang, Sewoon had shattered the claw found in their treasure vault and absorbed the power of Qiongqi, one of the Four Fiends that had been sealed within.
At the time, it had been nothing more than residual will.
But now, things were different.
Grrrk!
Grrrgrk!
As Qiongqi’s energy endlessly devoured Golden Heaven Divine Harmony Qi like nourishment, it was rapidly strengthening.
An ordinary person would have long since had their Qi and blood burst apart and died, but Sewoon remained completely unfazed.
That was because the power of Reverse Heaven Qi, embedded within Golden Heaven Divine Harmony Qi and governing all demonic beings, was still intact.
‘Just a little more, and I’ll be able to open the Gate.’
There was only one reason Sewoon was carrying out such an undertaking despite every moment being precious amid the war against the Blood Cult.
Naturally, it was to stop the Blood Cult.
The Demonic Cult that had gone to seize control of the Demonic Alliance was not a concern.
With the combined strength of the Poison Demon and the Demonic Cult, the Demonic Alliance—nothing more than an empty shell without Moonlit Night—would not even be worth facing.
Henan was the same.
With Umun Geol, who was bound to him through the soul, and the Ten Elders stationed there, along with the Peng Clan siblings who had handed over Divine Artifacts so they could respond in the most perfect manner, they would surely inflict massive damage upon the Blood Cult’s forces.
As for Jin Mubek, who had gone to Gansu, his Yang Fire Qi Art possessed extreme compatibility against the martial arts of the Gale Sands bastards, and with the Southern Sea Sword Sect led by Wi Tae-do guarding his back, there was little to worry about.
‘But the problem is Shaanxi.’
The battlefield of Shaanxi, which held horrific memories, was even now a living hell descended upon the mortal world.
After annihilating the Mount Hua Sect, the Blood Cult declared that it would make Shaanxi an example of total annihilation within Jianghu, pouring its most horrifying forces into the region.
It was the place that had caused the greatest loss of martial artists even before the Regression.
‘All the Jiangshi created by the Demon of Prayers are running rampant in Shaanxi.’
Both before and after the Regression, the Demon of Prayers—who had overseen the creation of every Jiangshi within the Blood Cult—had undoubtedly met his end at Sewoon’s hands in the Southern Barbarian Murim.
However, the forces he had created before his death did not simply vanish.
After the Sword Emperor died, the main force of the Murim Alliance—now led by the Subduing Tiger Divine Physician, who had become the new Murim Alliance Leader—was locked in a fierce battle in Shaanxi.
And the Blood Cult had deployed Jiangshi as part of a plan to wipe them out completely.
To support them, forces including the Nine Heavens Immortal Maiden, the Gongsun Clan, the Martial Exalt Union, and martial artists from Guizhou had all been dispatched—but there was no doubt that they were currently fighting an extremely desperate battle.
‘The difference in forces is absurd.’
Just as the Blood Cult had long operated in the shadows, gathering and slaughtering Jianghu experts across the Central Plains, the number of Jiangshi soldiers they had stockpiled was countless.
And there was yet another variable.
‘The spell of the Reverse Life-and-Death Wheel must be in effect.’
Wherever the Blood Demon descended, a curse took root.
That was the phrase everyone had uttered in despair while fighting the Blood Cult before the Regression.
Not only in martial arts, but also in sorcery, the Blood Demon had reached an inhuman realm—and his most horrifying spell was precisely the sorcery of the Reverse Life-and-Death Wheel.
As its name implied—overturning life and setting death’s wheel in motion—
On land cursed by the Blood Demon, anyone who met death would immediately rise again as a new Jiangshi.
When there were already countless Jiangshi to face, watching comrades who had been fighting at one’s side moments ago rise again as Jiangshi made it inevitable that fighting spirit and morale would be crushed into the ground.
‘At least it’s fortunate that I eliminated the main Jiangshi in the Southern Barbarian Murim. If the Wildfire had been taken, another catastrophe would have occurred.’
Even so, that alone was not enough.
What was needed was a power capable of overturning the current disparity in forces.
And everything that could make that possible lay within Sewoon’s grasp.
Uuuung!
Uung!
A deafening resonance roared violently through the space.
‘It’s done.’
From Sewoon’s body, the Demonic Qi of Qiongqi—reinforced to the extreme by Golden Heaven Divine Harmony Qi—raged like a storm.
Though Sewoon’s realm had reached full maturity within the Life and Death Realm, containing the power of a monster—something fundamentally not human—within his body was never an easy task.
Yet Sewoon endured calmly and slowly opened his eyes.
Then he retrieved an object from his robes.
A grotesque grimoire bound in human skin revealed itself.
Compendium of Sorcerous Bodies.
That was clearly written upon its cover.
‘An eye for an eye. A Jiangshi for a Jiangshi.’
From the Heaven-Piercing Sect’s treasure vault, what Sewoon had obtained was not only the fang containing Qiongqi’s residual will.
It also contained a forbidden sorcery describing how to inject a monster’s soul into a human body.
It was impossible to mass-produce Jiangshi in mere days the way the Blood Cult had prepared for decades.
However—
‘I can create a single Jiangshi stronger than all of them combined.’
To complete the unknown Jiangshi he intended to create through the Compendium of Sorcerous Bodies, two things were required.
A monster’s soul.
A human body.
Sssaaaah!
At that moment, Sewoon—his entire body exuding Ghostly Qi rather than that of the living—parted his lips.
“All spirits and monsters that dwell within the myriad phenomena—open before me the gate that leads to your world.”
Kwarrrrr!
Kwa-ga-ga!
As if it had been waiting for those words, the void tore apart like a sheet of paper.
“Appearing and Vanishing Like a God or Ghost.”
Jjjiiik!
Chwaaaah!
As Sewoon activated the sorcery, a massive vortex of energy formed.
The grotesque rift, whose depths could not be seen, resembled an abyss wedged between worlds.
This was an inhuman sorcery that severed the boundary between the Human Realm and the Monster Realm.
The sorcery of Appearing and Vanishing Like a God or Ghost.
Peering into the rift—just large enough for a single person to enter—Sewoon confirmed the existence on the opposite side that was beckoning him.
‘Qiongqi.’
That was right. The monster soul Sewoon intended to implant through the Compendium of Sorcerous Bodies was not some mere residual will lodged within his body—
It was the true form of the great monster Qiongqi itself.
Step.
The next moment, without the slightest hesitation, Sewoon stepped inside.