Chapter 156
At that very moment, the Flame-Tempered Lust Demon, Hwa Sa-yu, was radiating an uncontrollable, ferocious aura.
Suddenly, Sun Woo-jin turned to Gu Yoo-sang and asked, “Why don’t you come here yourself? It seems like you’re the one with the real business to attend to.”
Hwa Sa-yu paused mid-action, glancing over at Gu Yoo-sang, surprised by Sun Woo-jin’s unexpected question.
But instead of feeling threatened, Gu Yoo-sang frowned and shot back, “What did you say?”
Sun Woo-jin just smiled slyly and continued, “It seems that the other party is only interested in the pretty Jeogal lady, not holding any grudge. The one who looks like they bear a grudge is you. So why don’t you come here yourself? If you’re a warrior, shouldn’t you handle your own affairs? Or are you not even a warrior?”
Gu Yoo-sang’s eyes sharpened as he glared at Sun Woo-jin. How dare this man mock the heir to the Blood Demon sect like him? His murderous intent flared up instantly.
But Sun Woo-jin, seemingly unfazed by the hostility, kept smiling and spoke again.
“Hmm, judging by your gaze, you’ve definitely trained in martial arts. But to ask a friend for revenge like a child who’s just been beaten… Are you perhaps a coward? Does your body tremble and tears well up when you face your opponent directly? Tsk tsk, it’s a shame, you look perfectly fine.”
Gu Yoo-sang knew full well that Sun Woo-jin was trying to provoke him. He could have just ignored it, but he couldn’t.
For the first time, someone had toyed with him—the man who always looked down on others and manipulated them with schemes.
And now, this man was mocking him with a smirk.
“Such arrogance… You’re begging to be torn to shreds!”
But Sun Woo-jin’s reaction was completely unexpected.
He suddenly beamed brightly and said, “Oh! That was impressive! Almost looked like a real man. Though a real man would act before talking, of course. Nice try, but be careful. A proper man knows that a barking dog rarely bites. Otherwise, you might end up getting beaten like a dog.”
Gu Yoo-sang’s anger surged so fiercely that his head spun. He knew exactly who the “barking dog” referred to.
Even Hwa Sa-yu, who was watching, let out a small chuckle at that.
“You, you damn dog…!”
Gu Yoo-sang shouted, his face flushed red as if steam was about to burst from his head.
Though his fists clenched tightly, he couldn’t bring himself to strike.
Sun Woo-jin’s martial prowess was still a mystery—after all, he was the one who had killed Chuk Ho-tak of the Underworld Blood Sect.
Gu Yoo-sang wasn’t the type to risk a fight without a clear advantage.
In the end, he had no choice but to shout at Hwa Sa-yu.
“Hwa Sook! Bring that bastard right in front of me—!”
At that moment, Sun Woo-jin’s expression suddenly shifted, a cold smile curling on his lips.
“To think you can’t even lay a hand after all this talk… You’re quite the coward. Are you even a man, let alone a warrior? Even a seven-year-old kid would be braver than you.”
Gu Yoo-sang’s face turned even redder as he snapped back, “Hmph! I’m avoiding you not because I’m scared, but because I don’t want to dirty my hands with a lowlife like you! Hwa Sook, what are you waiting for? Make that bastard a cripple right before me!”
Hwa Sa-yu let out a dry laugh, as if resigned, and reached out toward Sun Woo-jin.
But Sun Woo-jin didn’t even look at him. Instead, he kept his gaze fixed on Gu Yoo-sang, sneering.
“You’ll regret those words. In the end, you’ll have to face me directly.”
At that moment, Hwa Sa-yu lightly waved his hand toward Sun Woo-jin and muttered, “Shall I start by cutting off your arm?”
Suddenly, an invisible force surged toward Sun Woo-jin in an instant.
It was a force ring created from Hwa Sa-yu’s colorless energy.
Swoosh!
With the Moonlight Phantom Sword Dance and Flying Moon technique activated, I focused my senses.
Though invisible, I could sense something hurtling toward me at a terrifying speed.
I couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.
“Truly a beam of light.”
The speed was incredible, but I felt I could dodge it somehow.
Still, I knew it was meaningless to think that way.
If he could casually launch such a force ring, he could easily send several at once.
With my current skill, even two or three invisible force rings coming at me would be overwhelming.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“I’m still this powerless.”
The distance between me and the Thirty-Six Stars of the World was vast.
And so was the gap between me and my goal of toppling the Blood Sect.
Suddenly, the colorless force ring slammed into me.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted, and before I knew it, someone appeared in front of me, blocking the force ring with their back.
I smiled and said, “Thank you, senior.”
She turned around and smiled warmly.
“No need to thank me. You trusted me enough to stay relaxed, so I couldn’t betray that trust.”
The woman was young, barely twenty, dressed in a crimson robe.
Hwa Sa-yu’s expression brightened instantly upon seeing her, his eyes instinctively drawn to her beauty.
But when she smiled at Hwa Sa-yu and spoke, his expression stiffened.
With a provocative grin, she said, “You’re a Lust Demon, right? I’m a Lust Demon too. How about we have some fun together?”
“A Lust Demon?” Hwa Sa-yu’s mind raced.
A master capable of effortlessly blocking his colorless force ring, looking young and beautiful, and calling herself a Lust Demon?
Such people were rare in the martial world.
Finally, the name came to Hwa Sa-yu’s lips, his face hardening.
“Could it be… Yeoryeong Lust Demon, Son Eun-sang?”
Son Eun-sang, the Yeoryeong Lust Demon.
One of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World, she was the supreme ruler of the Blood Sect alongside Hwa Sa-yu’s lord, the Blood Demon.
No matter how formidable Hwa Sa-yu was, he was no match for her.
In fact, they were on completely different levels.
Realizing her identity, Hwa Sa-yu’s face turned pale.
Gu Yoo-sang, who was with him, was equally ashen.
“W-What?! Why is Son Eun-sang here?!” Gu Yoo-sang blurted out in disbelief.
I clicked my tongue and replied, “Tsk tsk, how dare you speak so casually of Senior Son’s name? Not only are you cowardly, but you lack manners too. Senior, I’ll take care of educating him.”
She smiled gently and nodded.
“Good. Jin, I leave him in your hands.”
I had decided to call on Son Eun-sang when I heard about the situation in Guizhou from the Sichuan Hao Sect branch.
I suspected the Blood Sect’s leader in Guizhou was up to something serious, so I had to use my strongest card.
I sent two letters back then.
One to the head of the Sichuan sect, explaining the situation and warning that I might not return.
The other was a plea for help to Son Eun-sang, who was with Ma Jong-hwan of the Life-and-Death Sect.
Of course, I wasn’t certain she would come.
“If Senior Son doesn’t come, I was prepared to ask the Sword Saint at the front lines for help…”
Fortunately, Son Eun-sang responded swiftly and came to the Sunwoo family.
So even when the Underworld Blood Sect’s Chuk Ho-tak attacked while I was away, the situation wasn’t too dangerous.
“What I really feared was if the Blood Demon himself or two or more of the Blood Sect’s Five Demons showed up—not some Chuk Ho-tak.”
In the end, both Gu Yoo-sang and I had kept our strongest cards tightly hidden until the very end.
And through No Sam-ryong of the Hao Sect, I deliberately leaked information to lure him out.
Now, finally, we faced each other, revealing our last cards.
“Long time no see.”
And now that our cards were on the table, I could tell just by looking at his face whose was stronger.
Gu Yoo-sang’s flawless, jade-like face had turned deathly pale.
His stunned expression filled me with satisfaction.
I slowly rose to my feet and said to him,
“I told you, didn’t I? Sooner or later, you’d have to join forces with me.”
In the dazed look of the guy before me, a sharp fear was now clearly visible.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Nearby, Son Eun-sang and Hwa Sa-yu had already started their fight.
Son Eun-sang lunged at Hwa Sa-yu with a barrage of attacks, laughing gleefully, while Hwa Sa-yu scrambled to defend herself, sending out invisible energy rings using her Mu-seok technique.
But Son Eun-sang’s response was simple and efficient.
He emitted his defensive energy, effortlessly blocking her attacks.
Even the most elite masters rarely used this defensive energy because it drained immense internal power, but for her—the absolute ruler of the martial world—it seemed effortless.
“Ha ha ha! I really can’t see anything! Your energy is so unique! Come on, show me more! More!”
“Ugh!”
Emitting her defensive energy, she turned her body into a living projectile and charged at Hwa Sa-yu.
Hwa Sa-yu dared not meet her head-on and was barely managing to dodge while firing off energy rings.
Watching them with a calm expression, I now smiled fiercely and slowly drew my sword, Muk-rang.
“Alright, Gu Yu-sang, let’s see what you’ve got.”
I’d heard from the Demon Witch So Nan-so that this guy was the reincarnation of the Blood Demon and was considered the next Blood Demon successor.
If I could take him out here and now, it would be like erasing the future of the Blood Sect itself.
PAH!
My new form, using the explosive advance technique, shot toward him like a cannonball.
Sail Sword Technique, Seventh Step.
Black Sky Sword Rain.
Through a misty veil of sword energy, countless sword shadows rained down like a torrential downpour.
SHU-SHAK!
But someone called the heir to the Blood Demon wasn’t going to be easy.
Gu Yu-sang gritted his teeth, drew his sword, and swung it fiercely.
“Arrogant!”
Suddenly, his sword crackled with red lightning, shooting up like a bolt of thunder.
CHU-HAK!
“What the—?!”
It was an astonishing sword strike.
In an instant, the dense mist of sword energy and dozens of sword shadows were cleaved apart by the red lightning sword, which then charged straight at me.
I hastily transformed my sword into a defensive form to block his strike.
Sail Sword Technique, Fifth Step.
Whirlwind Slash.
My sword spun fiercely, forming a circular shield as his lightning-like sword strike collided with it.
KWA-AAANG!
After that single clash, we both stepped back, momentarily pausing our swords.
I glanced at my hand gripping Muk-rang.
The moment our swords met, an electric shock had surged through my hand, still tingling now.
Curious about the strange sensation, I asked him, “Is that the Blood Thunder Sword Technique?”
The Blood Thunder Sword Technique was a legendary sword style, a variation of the supreme King’s Sword Technique that only the heads of the Namgung family could master, stolen and adapted by the Blood Sect.
It was one of the Blood Sect’s strongest sword techniques, but also infamous as the greatest disgrace in Namgung family history.
Now regaining his confidence, Gu Yu-sang shouted angrily, “How dare you mock me with such pathetic skill! You bastard! I’ll tear you apart!”
I smirked and replied, “Oh? So you were just scared earlier? Tsk tsk, you’ve learned such a fine sword style and yet you’re still trembling. Don’t you feel sorry for the technique you’ve mastered?”
His face flushed red, and he immediately charged.
“You bastard!”
His sword once again crackled with red lightning as he swung it toward me.
A threatening strike, combining speed and power.
RUMBLE!
Despite my calm expression, I was inwardly tense.
He was a coward, yes, but his martial skill was excellent, and his sword technique was genuinely dangerous.
Heaven Wind Divine Technique, Secret Art.
Heaven Wind Flower Petal.
PASA-SASAK!
As his sword strikes rained down like red lightning, my new form scattered like petals in the wind, dispersing the attacks.
Knowing that contact meant electric shock, I decided it was better to avoid clashing swords directly.
He sneered and scattered his sword strikes in all directions.
“Hmph! Think you can run away?!”
CRACKLE!
His sword slashes spread red lightning bolts everywhere.
This was the perfect counter to my Heaven Wind Flower Petal.
Each lightning bolt wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful alone, but enough to shatter my afterimages.
In an instant, he burned through all my afterimages and found my true position.
“There you are!”
But I wasn’t about to just take it.
The moment he located me, I unleashed my sword technique.
Seonwoo Thirteen Sword, Eighth Step.
Sword Wing Barrier.
SWOOSH!
My sword shadows formed several small wings, blocking his line of sight.
This wasn’t an attack but a move to confuse his vision.
“Foolish!”
SWOOSH!
His red lightning easily tore through the wings and charged forward.
But for a brief moment, he lost sight of my exact location.
Seizing that moment, I moved to the side and thrust my sword at him at lightning speed.
Sail Sword Technique, First Step.
One Time, Four Times.
SHU-HAK!
“Ugh?!”
His eyes widened in surprise.
He hurriedly swung his sword to deflect my strike, but it was too late.
SWOOSH!
“Gah!”
Fortunately for him—and frustratingly for me—his hurried swing just barely deflected my blade.
My sword grazed his face as I passed by, and he let out a pained shout while hastily deploying a sword barrier.
“KYA-AAH!”
CRACKLE-CRACKLE!
Red lightning overlapped, forming a massive red wall in the air.
I couldn’t risk touching the electric barrier, so I had to retreat without pressing the attack.
THUD!
As I stepped back, I saw his face and grinned.
“Hey, you’re looking a lot tougher now, parasite brother.”
The left side of his once flawless face was split by a long diagonal gash, blood streaming down.
He trembled, touching his face with a shaking hand, then twisted into a demonic snarl and roared.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
He charged again, even more ferociously, his sword wrapped in crackling red lightning swinging wildly at me.
SHU-HAAAK!
“Impressive.”
I couldn’t help but admire him inwardly.
His martial skill was truly remarkable.
With ninety years of internal power cultivation, he was on par with the top masters in their twenties, like Seol Pung, the head of the Seonwoo family.
But so was I.
I had been training relentlessly, focusing not on sword shadows but on sword strikes, just as the Sword Saint had taught me.
I had imagined his figure countless times, thrusting and slashing my sword thousands upon thousands of times.
And recently, when I pierced through No Jo-song’s defensive energy with a thrust, and then became the wind itself, entering a state of pure flow to reach the Seonwoo family, I finally realized it.
I had broken through another barrier.
Of course, when I fought Chuk Ho-tak, I had crossed that barrier but lacked the internal power to fully utilize it, so I had to fight with similar abilities as before.
But not now.
Right after the fight, I had taken my elixirs and replenished my internal power.
So now, I was completely equal to Gu Yu-sang.
A man with ninety years of internal power.
“And I haven’t even given it my all yet.”
I smiled at the madman charging at me and immediately unleashed my ultimate technique.
Moonlight Wandering Sword Dance, First Form.
Flying Moon.
WHOOSH!
The world around me was once again shrouded in a dreamlike veil.
A sense of omnipotence filled my chest.
In this state, I felt I could even take on Yeomra Blood Saint Chuk Ho-tak in a one-on-one duel.