Read Novel Full Chapter 1271: A Tiger Trapped In Poison, I Suppose. (1)
Chapter 1271: A Tiger Trapped In Poison, I Suppose. (1)
Shattered fragments of swords swept the surroundings with tremendous momentum.
Any mortal made of blood and flesh seemed unable to survive.
But at that moment, Chung Myung pulled the sword toward himself and began to spin fiercely. At the same time, a red, petal-like sword aura sprayed from the tip like a waterfall, enveloping Chung Myung’s body.
24 Movement Plum Blossom Sword Technique. Plum Blossom Impenetrable Wall!
The 24 Movement Plum Blossom Sword Technique, filled almost exclusively with extreme offensive forms and thus likened more to the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Evil Sect than the Justice faction. Of the 24 movements, the only distinctly defensive one—Plum Blossom Impenetrable Wall—covered Chung Myung all around, creating a brilliant wall of Plum Blossoms.
Kagagagagagakang!
The exploding shards flew and were repelled by the plum blossom sword qi that encircled Chung Myung like an iron wall.
“Hahap!”
Chung Myung let out a rare groan. The plum-blossom sword aura circling him burst outward in all directions as if exploding.
Pook!
The plum blossom sword qi pierced the bodies of the Ten Thousand People Clan’s men, who were already ragged from the exploded fragments.
Yet despite holes punched all through them, the Ten Thousand People Clan attackers made no groan. The sight alone told Chung Myung that these were not like the foes they’d faced before.
And what they did next made even Chung Myung’s expression harden.
Pahat!
Instead of retreating, the Ten Thousand People Clan’s men charged forward.
Kwadeuk! Kwadeuk! Kwadeuk!
A reckless, senseless charge.
The sharp plum blossom sword qi punished the rash charge without mercy, yet the attackers did not flinch. They only covered their heads and necks with both hands and accelerated forward.
As if being pierced dozens of times by those blades posed no instant-death threat so long as their heads were protected.
“Hraaaa!”
For the first time they roared. In an instant they reached Chung Myung and, arms spread, grappled to embrace him.
A maddening charge that would fluster anyone.
But unfortunately Chung Myung was not one of ‘anyone.’
Leaning back slightly, Chung Myung drew his sword horizontally in an instant. If they charged without regard for defense, he would exploit that. His strike, forsaking finesse, was incomparably fast and powerful.
Paaaat!
The chests of those who charged at him split in two.
But one strike could not handle all who swarmed from every direction. The rest pressed on without losing momentum. In their hands were small dark knives, pulled out at some point.
A desperate, life-or-death situation.
Yet in that moment Chung Myung’s eyes grew even colder.
Paaaat!
Chung Myung’s blade emitted half-moon shaped sword qi in all directions. The red crescent auras shredded the bodies of the attackers into pieces in an instant.
But the survivors did not flinch. One who reached Chung Myung wildly swung a poisoned dagger.
Even as his comrades fell and his own life dangled, the Ten Thousand People Clan man’s eyes bore no trace of emotion as he swung the poisoned dagger.
Something closer to inorganic than cold.
Clenching his teeth, Chung Myung swung his sword. The hand gripping the poisoned blade was severed at the wrist and flew into the air.
At that moment, Chung Myung’s eyes flickered.
‘Poison?’
The blood spurting from the severed wrist had a strange dark tint. It was a classic sign of someone poisoned.
If that blood splashed onto him, Chung Myung would likely be poisoned too. He could burn off poison with Samadhi Fire if he had leisure, but in this raging battle there was no such luxury.
‘Well, as long as I don’t get poisoned.’
Paaaat!
Chung Myung’s blade sliced the air like a ray and surged toward the chest of the charging Ten Thousand People Clan members.
Puuuuk!
Chung Myung’s cherished Dark Fragrant Plum Blossom Sword pierced the trained warrior’s flesh like paper and sank several inches into his heart.
“Kku...”
But in that instant, the Ten Thousand People Clan member raised his hand and gripped the sword lodged in his heart—an act more instinct than intent. Chung Myung watched with an expression devoid of pity, preparing to yank the blade and slice off the fingers that held it.
Bulleuk! Bulleuk!
The abdomen of the man—who should have faced only death—swelled suddenly. Chung Myung, sensing something, prepared to spring, but the man’s belly ruptured first, and a tremendous explosion washed over Chung Myung.
Kwaaaaaaang!
The sudden blast sent up a massive cloud of dust along the shore.
“...What is that?”
Even the formidable Ho Ga-Myung seemed unsettled by this. He turned his head to look at Blood Sword Unit Captain Gwi Yang. Those attacking Chung Myung were none other than Blood Sword Unit members. Only Gwi Yang would know what they were up to.
“An interesting spectacle.”
Gwi Yang sneered. He seemed pleased by the long gash across Ho Ga-Myung’s face.
“What did you do? Did the Tang Family get hold of some Golden Dragon Poison Qi?”
“Golden Dragon Poison Qi?”
At those words, Gwi Yang let out a faint sneer.
“I don’t see the need for that. As long as the result is the same.”
“...”
“It’s not complicated. We just slit the belly and placed thunder-bombs acquired from the White Lightning Cannon inside. Then we stuck around some appropriately poisoned needles.”
“...You put thunder-bombs inside a person’s belly? And stuck poisoned needles in there?”
“Yes.”
Ho Ga-Myung stared at Gwi Yang as if at a loss for words.
Ho Ga-Myung, being of the Evil Sect, would accept any means to produce results, but this act cleanly crossed even his limits.
“And they’d still live after that?”
“Don’t be stupid, Commander. Even if the bomb didn’t go off they’d die. If the poison were so weak that it would survive inside a belly, we wouldn’t even use it in the first place.”
“...”
“They’re things you can’t even scratch through normal means. If that life can wound such a heavyweight, then it’s an honorable death. Isn’t it?”
Ho Ga-Myung turned his head without answering.
‘Brutal.’
The act was nauseatingly cruel, but there was no doubt it was devastatingly efficient.
And even if not, Ho Ga-Myung had no right to complain.
Each unit of the Ten Thousand People Clan is an independent entity. You can issue orders to a unit, but how a unit leader trains and uses his Blood Sword members is solely the unit leader’s prerogative.
“...Did he catch him?”
“No way.”
Gwi Yang answered indifferently.
“I told you. A monster. Your petty skill makes most people look the same, but that guy is on a different level.”
“...”
“At best a hole or two. Maybe only scratches.”
Gwi Yang stared indifferently at the settling dust cloud.
“But that’s enough. Those scratches accumulate and accumulate until they become wounds that immobilize. Just slowly tighten until then.”
Ho Ga-Myung’s gaze also turned to the dust cloud. As the dust cleared, a figure emerged.
Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, Chung Myung.
He seemed largely uninjured, but Ho Ga-Myung noticed clearly the small holes in his clothing—and the darker stains around them.
Chung Myung glanced down at himself.
Blood seeped from the riddled holes. Fortunately, the needles hadn’t fully penetrated the skin, avoiding the catastrophe of his back bursting open, but whether that was truly fortunate was doubtful.
Conversely, it meant poisoned needles were lodged inside his body.
“Spit!”
He spat the blood pooled in his mouth. The blood rising in his throat had a dark tint—poison had already spread in his body.
“...They’re something, aren’t they?”
He hadn’t imagined this.
Chung Myung had seen countless battlefields. The foes he fought most often were members of the Demonic Cult—fanatics of the worst kind.
But even the Demonic Cult never attacked in this way.
If the cultists were beasts drunk on fanaticism, these felt like hunters devoid of emotion.
“Only then...”
Chung Myung twisted his lips. His teeth, stained dark red, glinted chillingly.
“This is what the Ten Thousand People Clan is.”
They were led by Jang Ilso. Of course, he wouldn’t raise his subordinates to be ordinary.
Chung Myung turned. Sentiment stops here; lingering any longer would be truly dangerous.
Paaaat!
He darted toward the shore in a black streak. A group that had circled around to occupy the shore now stepped forward to block him as if waiting.
They wore red clothing and held swords.
They were different from the Ten Thousand People Clan members he’d faced so far. Sensing this, Chung Myung lowered his stance further, and the charging men swung their swords in a flash.
Their strikes were blisteringly fast, as if wagering everything on speed. Chung Myung met the blades calmly rather than dismissing them.
Cheng!
At the clash, the Blood Sword member’s blade that met Chung Myung’s Hidden-Scent Plum Blossom Sword flexed and coiled around his blade.
‘Soft sword?’
No—no!
No matter how much internal qi they pushed in, a soft sword couldn’t contend with Chung Myung’s Dark Fragrant Plum Blossom Sword.
At that moment, the blade coiling Chung Myung’s sword twisted like a fanged snake and lunged at his face, segmented and elongated like a boned serpent with its flesh removed.
Chung Myung’s eyes widened.
‘Snake Belly Sword!’
A weapon made by connecting blade segments with wire so it could be stretched!
A grotesque weapon rarely seen even across the martial world now aimed at Chung Myung’s face.
Chung Myung pulled his sword back. But the Serpentine Belly Sword clung desperately, refusing to release, both pulling and thrusting simultaneously.
A bizarre handling only possible because it was a malformed weapon.
Fhaaa!
At that instant, Chung Myung’s left hand scattered into the air.
A strange way to put it, but literal: his hand blurred and cast countless shadow-hands between the blade and his face, like plum blossoms scattering petals.
The pinnacle Plum Blossom Scattering Hands!
Kagagagagang!
The shadow-hands blossoming in the air deflected the incoming blades. The grotesque Snake Belly Sword, odd and thus hard to give force, could not break the Plum Blossom Scattering Hands’ defense.
But the problem was that the blade was not alone.
Chwaaak!
Successive Snake Belly Swords flew in, coiling tightly around Chung Myung’s Dark Fragrant Plum Blossom Sword.
The taut Serpentine blades cinched his sword firmly in place, as if vowing never to let go!
Then other Blood Sword members sprang off the ground and thrust. Their blades stretched and twisted grotesquely, and like dozens of venomous snakes charging a great stag, they surged at Chung Myung from all sides.