Chapter 169: Hae-il (4)

Noon arrived.

Cale spoke to Raon.

"Let's get started."

– I got it, human!

He looked forward. He could only see a vast plain and the sturdy castle walls of Yunnan Castle.

He naturally could not see the people stationed on top of the castle walls.

It was not because they were far away. That was because of the formation as well.

– Human, I'm getting rid of the invisibility!

The invisibility spell surrounding Cale disappeared.

He started walking.

100m. That was the distance between the external formation and Cale.

His appearance slowly started appearing in the air.

Behind him were Choi Han, team leader Sui Khan, Choi Jung Soo, the Heavenly Demon, the Sword Saint, and the Pinnacle Demon.

Of the Triumvirate members who were currently at Yunnan… These were the strongest of each group.

Their steps were calm and held no hesitation whatsoever.

In fact, it was the people who were watching them who could feel their hearts beating wildly.

Gulp gulp.

"Young miss, please control yourself."

"Shut up."

Sima Dan, the daughter of the Divergent Coalition's leader, Sima Pyeong, was curled up on the mountain unable to take her eyes off of young master Kim Hae-il.

Boom boom.

Her heart was beating too wildly.

'Is something like that really possible?'

Her eyes quickly looked around.

The Triumvirate were divided into their factions while hidden on the mountain as well as other higher terrain around Yunnan.

They would all head toward Yunnan Castle as soon as they received the signal.

"Ha...this is crazy."

Sima Dan ignored her subordinate, who was trying to stop her, and drank some more.

It was not because she was scared.

She felt like she was going to go crazy because her heart was beating so wildly because she was so full of anticipation.

She was certain that what she was about to see was something so phenomenal that it would go down in the history of the Martial Arts world.

"Heh."

She chuckled.

"I'm sure everybody is feeling the same way."

She looked toward the directions of the Demon Cult and the Orthodox faction.

Her thoughts were pretty much correct.

The Demon Cult.

The Demon Laws Battalion and their Battalion Commander, who had come with the Heavenly Demon and Sage Demon, were fewer in number compared to the Orthodox faction and the Unorthodox faction, however, their level of martial arts was the highest.

That made them the group with the strongest destructive force.

Furthermore, there would be another battalion coming from the Demon Cult, making them potentially have more people than the other two factions.

They were all looking at the Heavenly Demon and young master Kim.

Nobody was talking, but the heated energy was hotter than ever before.

The Heavenly Demon was the sky of the Demon Cult.

The Blood Cult had basically turned their god into a puppet to control the Demon Cult.

People who followed the way of the Demon could not accept this.

They were looking forward to the battle that was to start.

The Blood Cult would have to face their wrath.

If Sima Dan's heart was beating wildly thinking about the upcoming battle, the Demon Cult's tension and sense of anticipation was coming from the fact that they could finally massacre the Blood Cult.

That might explain why that tension was stronger and hotter than the Unorthodox faction's side.

"Huuuuuu."

The Orthodox faction was a bit different.

"What is wrong?"

The Tang Clan's matriarch, Tang Yu, shook her head at Elder Ho's quiet whisper.

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. Tell me what is wrong."

Tang Yu had no choice but to explain after the Cleave Saint, one of the seniors of the Orthodox faction, urged her.

"I'm just wondering if this really makes any sense."

There were over 10,000 jiangshis.

Members of the Blood Cult were also inside the castle. Furthermore, if young Blood Demon candidates were in there, they themselves would be strong but the people guarding them would be strong as well.

'Is it really possible with the small number of people we have?

Are we really enough to take them on?

I know that more martial artists will soon arrive here, but…'

The Martial Arts Alliance, Divergent Coalition, and Demon Cult…

All three of those factions had sent troops here.

They were all core members of the factions.

The Alliance leader of the Martial Arts Alliance was coming.

The Divergent Coalition Leader, Sima Pyeong was coming.

The Demon Cult already had the Heavenly Demon here as well as their strongest expert after the Heavenly Demon.

Each organization was coming with their strongest troops.

All of them working together to fight against the Blood Cult would create a new page in history and be a great spectacle.

However-

'Isn't this not enough people right now?

We are extremely outnumbered.'

Tang Yu's mind was a complicated mess.

"Hmph."

She heard the Cleave Saint snort at that moment.

"Tang matriarch."

He then called out to her.

"Yes, Senior Cleave Saint?"

"Don't worry about useless things."

"Excuse me?"

"It'll work since young master Kim said it will work."

"…Excuse me?"

"That Sword Saint, that stubborn old man, is following young master Kim without any complaints. Don't you know what that symbolizes? The Chief Advisor also told us to follow whatever decision young master Kim makes. You know the meaning behind those words, don't you?"

"…I do."

'That is why it is weird.

What kind of person is young master Kim, what kind of strength does he possess that…

We are told to just follow whatever he says?'

Tang Yu was feeling frustrated.

However, she could not share those thoughts out loud. Elder Ho quietly commented, as if he understood how she was feeling.

"You just need to sit back and watch."

He heard a noise at that moment.

Booooom-

Something that sounded like drums spread out in all directions.

Everybody turned toward the direction of the noise.

Cale stopped walking.

– Human, the Sage Demon started first!

Cale looked toward the west.

The Sage Demon had suddenly appeared and his ki was all around him.

There was a long cloth over his shoulder.

It was supposedly a treasure that had been passed down in the Demon Cult for generations.

It was an item that would maximize the effect of a formation.

– Sima Gong is next!

Sima Pyeong's youngest son, Sima Gong, appeared in the east.

Next to him were Beacrox, Ron, and Toonka, who had arrived later just in case.

Sima Gong had a stone monk statue in his hand. This was the statue of Central Plains.

An odd aura was coming out of his body as well.

The Sage Demon and Sima Gong.

The moment the two of their auras reached their peak…

– Here I go!

Cale lifted his head up.

He did not see anything.

However, Raon was up there.

Booooom-

Booooom-

Raon was at the center of this rumbling.

– A formation is just twisting the aura of nature! There is something you can do if you want to create a gap in a formation!

Cale could see black mana starting to appear.

It started as a small dot before it quickly expanded in size.

It resembled a spider web.

– You just had to return the aura of nature to normal!

Raon shouted in an excited voice.

– I know a lot about nature!

As he said that…

Boom–!

A loud rumbling started spreading.

The Sage Demon, with the staff in his hand…

Sima Gong with Central Plains' statue…

"Open!"

They shouted the same thing and stabbed the items into the ground.

It was at that moment.

Kugugu-

The ground started shaking.

Black mana started to disappear.

The corners of Cale's lips curled up.

The black mana did not disappear by itself. It disappeared while swallowing up the illusions around them.

"Ho."

The Pinnacle Demon gasped.

Noon.

The weather was great where the sun in the clear sky did not feel too hot.

However, the Pinnacle Demon could now see the jiangshis beyond the illusion that disappeared with the black mana.

These jiangshis that had blue aura around their skin were looking at them.

It was only for a moment, but the Pinnacle Demon found it difficult to breathe as she looked at this endless number of jiangshis.

'No.'

This was not a mistake.

It really was difficult to breathe.

The formation that was forced open…

The breeze blowing from behind it was sticky and stiff.

It made it hard to breathe.

Young master Kim quietly mumbled at that moment.

"I guess it really is difficult to break a formation."

– Human, I'm still a bit rough with formations! You need to understand that!

'Of course I understand.'

Cale nodded his head.

"How scary."

He ignored the Heavenly Demon's relaxed voice behind him.

Instead, he looked forward.

About a third of the formation had been broken.

But even that looked as if it would be restored soon.

"Ugh!"

"Mm."

Sima Gong and the Sage Demon… The two of them seemed to be struggling to hold down the east and west.

Either way, he needed to hurry.

All of the jiangshis were already looking at Cale.

It gave him the chills.

These corpses were looking at him without ever blinking.

However, Cale's gaze headed elsewhere.

The inside of Yunnan Castle…

The ash-colored cloud above it still remained.

Even the inside of the external formation was not as bright as where Cale was standing.

The way that even the air was weird made it seem as if the environment was controlled within the formation for the jiangshis.

However, Cale was not looking at things like that.

He had already figured all of that out.

"There are people there."

He was looking at something else.

Thanks to the width of the destroyed portion of the formation, he could finally take a good look at the top of the castle walls.

Although it looked as if nobody was on the castle walls…

There were people standing there.

Two of them had blue hair.

Their hair color was so peculiar that he could see it despite the distance.

'Young master-nim, the young Blood Demons had b, blue hair-'

That was information he received from Dokgo Chang who was still unconscious.

Thanks to that, Cale was able to know that they were the young Blood Demon candidates.

'And their level of martial arts s, seemed quite high.'

He could not check properly because he was running away, but he suspected that they would be as strong as the head of most organizations.

Cale looked at them.

He could tell that they were looking at him as well.

"Hey Yoon. Is that guy young master Kim?"

"Yes, orabuni. That is correct. He looks as we've been told."

"That person came as you expected."

The young Blood Demon candidates, Yoon and Hoya, were calmly chatting.

"The rumors say that he is in the Nature Realm and is a member of the Imperial family."

"I'm sure we will find out once we go up against him."

The two of them looked at each other.

"Pfft."

The woman chuckled before adding on.

"If we can turn that person into our subordinate, Go Hyuk… Wouldn't we be able to defeat that punk?"

"…Go Hyuk. That bastard cannot become the young Blood Demon."

It felt as if fires were visible in their eyes.

They realized that the two of them agreed about this.

"A lot of rats seemed to have come as well, so let's capture them all."

"That sounds great, orabuni. We will capture the useful ones and turn them into True Jiangshis."

"Okay."

Huuuuuuuuuuu.

Hoya took a deep breath.

"The one who broke the formation does not seem to be human."

"The rumors must have been right about a divine beast being by young master Kim's side."

Hoya licked his lips.

"It sounds fun to turn a divine beast into a jiangshi."

His hand headed toward the air.

"I guess there's no need for us to personally get involved."

The Heavenly Demon, Sword Saint, etc… He felt this way despite knowing the identities of all these people. Yoon agreed with him.

There was nobody who could go against them right now.

Why? Because they had jiangshis.

He snapped his fingers.

Snap!

The moment that noise echoed through the area…

Boom!

All of the jiangshis took a step forward at the same time.

The ground started to shake.

The sound was extremely loud.

It was not simply because there were ten thousand of them. There was strength in each of their steps.

"Shit!"

The Sage Demon's face stiffened up.

Young Blood Demon candidate Hoya had a big smile on his face as he stood above the castle wall.

"Move."

His calm voice echoed out.

Something odd that was neither magic nor really anything…

Made it so that even the martial artists hiding in the mountain could hear his voice.

They all got chills.

Boom!

The jiangshis took another step in unison.

Not all of them were heading in the same direction.

The majority of them were heading toward Cale's side.

The strongest individuals were all gathered there.

Some of the martial artists turned pale as they watched.

Experiencing this first hand felt different than anything they could have imagined.

"Mm."

Yoon debated for a moment before opening her hands.

Ooooooooong-

The numerous accessories on her body started shaking.

Clang. Clang.

The moment the clanging of the accessories reached its peak…

"The illusion is already shattered so I will let that go, but it will be good to change the environment."

The formation outside the castle walls started changing.

Now the illusion covering the truth was gone.

All of the jiangshis were revealed.

The stuffy air spread out in all directions.

The ash-colored clouds covering the inside of Yunnan Castle started spreading out as well.

It felt as if the world was turning into a different one.

Boom!

The jiangshis took another step at that moment.

The noise was louder than before.

The stuffy air blew all the way to the mountain.

The martial artists watching felt suffocated.

"I, is that really martial arts? Is that kind of power really something a human being can use?"

The Tang matriarch grabbed Elder Ho and asked.

She felt as if things were about to go bad.

She had heard quite a bit about how young master Kim's powers did not seem human. She believed those words to a degree.

She had felt the aura that he released.

However, the thing that those two people standing on the castle wall did with simple hand gestures also made them seem not human.

Tang Yu felt scared.

'They are only the young Blood Demon candidates.

The Blood Cult probably has a lot of people who are even stronger than them!

Would we be able to fight against and defeat them?

Can we do that while fighting against all of these jiangshis?'

Boom! Boom!

The jiangshis started walking faster.

They looked as if they would run to their respective directions soon.

"Is it really okay to just stay here like this?"

She urgently shouted before flinching.

"…What the hell?"

Because of the sound of the jiangshis' footsteps that were shaking the ground…

Because of the suffocation from the stuffy air blowing from the castle…

Things that she did not manage to feel were faintly approaching her.

She finally realized that Elder Ho and everybody else around them were all holding their breaths while focusing on that faint thing.

A young martial artist from the Tang Clan she made eye contact with asked her a question.

"Clan leader-nim, is this the sound of rain?"

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—-

The faint sound they could hear…

The Cleave Saint, who had been quietly standing there, answered.

"No. This is not the sound of rain."

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

"This is the sound of waves."

They were hearing something from the ocean despite an ocean not being around here at all.

The martial artists all looked toward the same direction.

They were looking at Cale, who was looking at the approaching jiangshis.

The young Blood Demon candidates heard this noise as well.

"…Yoon, what is this noise?"

"Orabuni."

Yoon was called the greatest talent when it came to formations.

Her face stiffened.

She, someone who was sensitive to the changes in nature, answered.

"Water-"

"Huh?"

"Water is coming."

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

The noise was slowly getting louder.

Of course, they couldn't see it at all.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

The sound became even louder.

It was so loud that the people captured inside Yunnan Castle or were hiding in their houses could all hear it.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

Cale looked at the people from the Blue Bloods household and thought to himself.

'This is a first.'

This was the first time being face to face with members of the Blue Bloods household.

Cale thought that it took a really long time to get here. Despite hurrying over, it still took a while.

– 195%.

He heard the Sky Eating Water's voice.

After seeing the number of jiangshis, he had renegotiated with the Sky Eating Water.

– 210%.

Shaaaaaaaaaaa-

The noise surrounding them became louder.

It felt as if they were in the center of a storm.

And finally…

– 225%.

The moment it reached their newly agreed upon level…

– Here I go?

Cale nodded his head.

At that moment…

In front of Cale's eyes…

In between the ten thousand plus jiangshis…

Baaaaaaaaaang——

A large wall shot up.

It was completely made of water.

'Wow. This is amazing?'

This looked as if it should reach all the way to the castle walls.

Cale was amazed.

He then flinched.

'Huh? Uhh, uhh?'

The water wall shot up endlessly.

They were continuing to get larger.

The water wall was already taller than Yunnan's castle walls.

They were spread out as well.

– No burden to your body, right?

Cale nodded his head at the question the Sky Eating Water asked in a calm voice that was unlike her usual voice.

There was not much burden on his body yet.

'I'm doing scarily well?'

– I'm going to get started?

Cale looked toward the water wall and debated if what they were doing was okay.

At least for now…

"Wipe them out."

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

The noise stopped.

After that instant of silence…

The tsunami moved.

It moved following the will of its master to wipe out the enemies in front of it.

—

Translator's Comments

Time to watch the show, Wipeout.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]