The Time-Limited Elixir of the Ruined Clan - Chapter 199
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Collapse of a Great Family: Terminal Fate — Chapter 199
Their Sword Techniques shifted dozens of times in a single breath, deflecting the raindrops entirely before launching sharp strikes at Gok Ju’s heart and throat.
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
In the same instant, Gok Ju deflected all those dozens of variations with ease, then leaped back a single step and swept his saber down.
“Hnngh!”
While Heuk Dam held the saber back with both hands gripping his sword, Baek Dam thrust from behind Gok Ju — but Gok Ju tilted his body and evaded. The front edge of his draped robe tore slightly, though the blade never touched flesh.
Raindrops bounced off the three fighters’ weapons as if shot from arrows, piercing and scarring the wood.
Hwa Ryun swatted away the raindrops flying toward her, watching Gok Ju, Heuk Dam, and Baek Dam’s battle with an impassive expression.
Splash-splash-splash!
Heuk Dam sprang up from the raindrops and struck his sword downward while Baek Dam thrust upward — Gok Ju spread both hands wide and blocked with an Internal Energy Barrier.
Boom!
Crash-crash-crack!
Weapons charged with barrier and internal power collided violently, and heaven and earth trembled.
The heat made the rain evaporate and fall again in succession, spewing steam.
While the steam cleared, the three fighters entered a brief lull. Lightning flickered in the distance.
“Amusing work you’re doing here.”
As Gok Ju spoke, figures in black robes began appearing one by one. Standing in neat lines, they ringed the area densely.
At a distance, archers with bows could be seen encircling them completely.
All of them were aiming at a single target: Gok Ju of Blood Coral Valley.
“Did you really think the patriarch himself would come? We prepared in secret, or so we thought.”
It seemed they truly had prepared in secret. If Heuk Dam and Baek Dam hadn’t followed behind the Dan Mok Clan, they wouldn’t have known.
“Is this meager escort sufficient for an Elder of Ma Cheon Gyo? Such a humble appearance — and yet I encounter you!”
Gok Ju of Blood Coral Valley burst into raucous laughter, then abruptly stopped and fixed his gaze on Heuk Dam and Baek Dam.
“How much longer will you live as your sect leader’s reservoir of internal energy?”
“You’ve nothing left to say, so you resort to cunning tricks?”
Gok Ju brushed back his wet hair as he spoke.
“A sect leader who can’t distribute power to his followers yet grows stronger by absorbing the strength of subordinates — isn’t that beyond all words of condemnation?”
“You speak recklessly of sect matters you don’t understand! And what of you — spreading the tale to every scoundrel that they could claim this man’s internal energy in a single breath, then simply standing idle as they go mad and die? ”
“One must make some effort to claim it as one’s own.”
“Rather than enlighten the ignorant masses, you shove them into the abyss of evil and tell them to climb out on their own — you are perversion itself, and demon,
and wickedness!”
Heuk Dam shouted, his voice cracking.
Most of Blood Coral Valley’s Blood Ghouls were scoundrels who coveted power without effort. They were the collection of desires to oppress, devastate, and destroy others.
Yet among them were those who might have turned toward a better path had someone shown them the right way even once.
But none of them could return to who they were before entering Blood Coral Valley.
The power they gained drove them mad and thrust them into agony where they craved blood itself.
There could be no power in this world gained without a price…….
“You heap all the grand things of this world upon the patriarch. But is it only you? If you cannot prove your loyalty to all, you cannot protest even if you die by the sect leader’s hand — and if your talent falls short of expectations, there is no way to reclaim what you abandoned, no matter how far you came from. How can such cruelty exist!”
Gok Ju’s voice grew louder and louder.
“Is Baek Do Meng noble? Those born from the branches never touch the center of the clan in their whole lives — and if they are not chosen by the Sect Founder when their eyes haven’t even opened, they must live their whole lives as common disciples. Is that justice?”
“So you mean to create a just Martial Arts World?”
“That’s right!”
His cry echoed through the mountains like thunder, piercing even through the sound of rain.
And then lightning flickered again, striking somewhere. The lightning was drawing closer.
“Why not simply admit you want to hold the world beneath your feet!”
“You fool! Do not shift your own dullness onto the patriarch’s profound design!”
Several warriors coughed blood at Gok Ju’s roar, but Baek Dam didn’t blink an eye.
“There was not only you among those demon-heads who would cleanse the Martial Arts World in blood and build new purpose upon it. They all fell to that very blood!”
“How smoothly you speak as though you bear no guilt!”
“How ridiculous, Blood Ghoul. We’ve had them too, so we know them well! The Central Plains dogs have called our sect the Demonic Sect
more than once. Are you pretending not to know that?”
“Have you no shame whatsoever?”
Gok Ju asked, his face twisted in exasperation, while Heuk Dam muttered beneath his breath.
“Truth be told, it’s the Baek Do Meng who don’t know shame. They’ve tried more than once to unify the Martial Arts World of the Central Plains, yet they single us out as the Demonic Sect…….”
“Exactly! What kind of Baek Do Meng is that? White cranes would weep in sorrow. It’s the Madag Alliance
—the Madag Alliance.”
“And those pitch-black Hek Cheon Ryeon dogs too. Trying to sneak by unnoticed……. They’re the Magcheon Union
—the Magcheon Union.”
Heuk Dam and Baek Dam grumbled on, then their faces shifted in an instant to something glacial and utterly devoid of warmth.
“So you didn’t come here intending to rebuild the order of these Central Plains this very day. What, then, brings you to this place?”
“Hand over the children behind you. Do that, and we’ll let you live today!”
In that moment, a killing intent so violent it seemed ready to detonate rose quietly from Heuk Dam and Baek Dam.
“What would you do with a child?”
“This is no concern of yours. Hand them over and leave, and you might yet keep your lives!”
“Blood-sucker. Wouldn’t it be better if you died here and became some small service to the common folk?”
“And you—all of you should die and become the foundation stone of the new order!”
And as if on cue, the exchange of blows erupted once more.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
A deep, rolling boom!
Through the curtain of rain, lightning bolts flashed and struck downward, and thunder that came a breath too late roared like a wounded beast.
Blade met blade, and rain-soaked sleeves danced with violent fury.
Three figures leaped upward, dancing across the raindrops, and clashed. The downpour continued without end, and blood mixed with the water, turning the rain crimson.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
Sword scraped against sword with a sickening, bone-chilling sound.
Sword Qi streamed from the blades’ edges in continuous ribbons, vomiting sparks and steam in succession.
Vicious Killing Techniques intertwined and unleashed waves of energy; earth and wind, raindrops and leaves became blades that scraped at everything around them.
Boom-crash-thunder-crack!
Thunder roared as if to shatter the mountains themselves, and the sky blazed white with lightning.
While blinding white light filled everyone’s vision, Gok Ju readily accepted the assault from Heuk Dam and Baek Dam with his own body, and in the same breath hurled his blade in another direction.
Whistle-hiss-shriek!
The blade shot through wind and rain, its trajectory true—aimed directly at Hwa Ryun.
“No!”
“Stop it!”
Heuk Dam and Baek Dam cried out in alarm, unable to believe Gok Ju would target that spot without regard for his own body.
But in that instant, when no one could reach in time, lightning struck directly at close range.
Boom-crash-boom-thunder!
And then thunder roared across the world as if to shatter it. For a moment, everyone’s eyes and ears were deaf to the world.
What had happened became clear slowly. The blade Gok Ju had thrown had been struck by lightning, shattering into countless shards.
Sharp fragments swept the surrounding area, yet none touched Hwa Ryun, nor the space behind him. Hwa Ryun had swung his hand and flicked them all away.
“Ha…… hahahaha! Ahahahahaha!”
Gok Ju began to laugh.
Bleeding from every part of his body as he endured the assault from Heuk Dam and Baek Dam, his eye socket torn and split where fragments of the shattered blade had grazed him.
What began as a hearty laugh grew louder, and soon it rang through the mountains with piercing clarity.
Several of the black-clad men bled from their ears, yet none of them wavered.
“So it was you—I should have known! It was you all along! How deep the karmic thread runs! Hahahaha! Men of Ma Cheon Gyo, I mocked you for seeking a successor using a dog’s food bowl—but now I see that method is not without merit.”
“This bastard insults the sacred teachings of the sect!”
Heuk Dam and Baek Dam roared with fury and wielded their blades.
Gok Ju had lost his weapon, but his movements had clearly grown sluggish. He swatted away blades with his hands and feet, counterattacking, but his offensives had weakened and his movements slowed.
At that moment, lightning struck once more, separating the three of them.
Standing on a tree branch some distance away, Gok Ju’s smile deepened.
“I now understand what the Divine Needle Pointing
indicates. But the time is not yet ripe. What a shame, what a pity. Such a bitter pity…….”
As he spoke, Gok Ju’s gaze shifted from Hwa Ryun to the sky, then swept further into the distance. He was not looking at the people of Ma Cheon Gyo, but at something far beyond.
The moment Gok Ju took one step toward the tree where Hwa Ryun stood, Baek Dam cried out urgently.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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