Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 476 – Great Calamity (2)

Countless evil spirits and monsters filling the horizon beyond.

Although she had guessed that he was trying to cause another great calamity like before, Cheong-ryeong was left speechless at the sight of so many evil spirits and monsters.

Even if a large army of humans were to push down like that, it would be enough to fall into despair, but this was enough to take the breath away even from her, a spirit.

Looking at her like this, Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader, with his back to the evil spirits and monsters, spoke with a face full of madness while tapping his forehead:

“In a game of chess, one must not look just one move ahead. Look at those below.”

The entrance to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

That place was literally a battlefield of hell.

They were killing each other over the ideological conflict between righteousness and evil.

Looking at them, Jeong Hyeon-mun sneered.

“The more experience, the better. I learned through many errors. There’s no need to suppress the human race with greater force.”

-You…….

“Mere beasts harm other beings to survive day by day. But humans are different. They harm each other just because their thoughts differ.”

-……..

“Yes, Ryu So-wol. You can’t refute it either. That’s human nature. They try to destroy each other over trivial ideological conflicts.”

-…….Shut up. Isn’t this your scheme?

“Scheme? Huh huh huh. Isn’t it more ridiculous that this happens with just one scheme? It’s human nature to try to harm each other. They’re so eager to devour each other that they don’t even notice the flames rising to their chins when just a small spark is thrown.”

Cheong-ryeong alternately looked at the evil spirits and monsters rushing in from beyond the horizon and the three major factions waging war.

If they continue fighting like this, it will truly lead to mutual destruction.

Although it was still the early stages and both sides maintained over 70% of their forces, by the time those arrive, their numbers will have significantly decreased and they’ll already be exhausted.

If that happens, they’ll be swept up in the great calamity without a chance to react.

‘I must stop this.’

She couldn’t let things go as he wished.

Only by stopping the war now and joining forces could they respond to those evil spirits and monsters.

‘I need to spread the Demonic Intent Domain to divert their attention.’

As someone whose vengeful spirit had already surpassed the purple spirit level, she could spread the Demonic Intent Domain over a vast area.

Although the sun was still up, it would be possible for a very brief moment.

The one in front of her wasn’t important right now.

After all, he wasn’t even the real body.

Cheong-ryeong moved her fingers slightly.

Then,

-Whoosh!

Blood poured down from the air like a waterfall, engulfing Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader.

Knowing that this alone wasn’t enough, she made a gesture of clenching her hand towards the pouring blood waterfall.

-Grip!

Along with this, the blood gathered and condensed.

As the blood compressed more and more into a spherical shape, she extended her index finger towards it.

Then,

-Boom!

At that moment, the surrounding space seemed to compress, converging into a single point, and the blood sphere was sucked into the center.

It was the Void Suppression, one of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques.

This should be enough to bind him for a moment…

-Flinch!

At that instant, Cheong-ryeong hurriedly twisted her body.

As she turned, the famous sword Il-hwi, imbued with blue sword energy, barely grazed her.

At this, she spun her body and unleashed the Full Moon technique with the famous sword Sun-yeon.

The sword energy spreading out in a wide circle was split by someone’s sword energy unleashed through fingertips.

-Swish!

The one who split it was Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader.

Jeong Hyeon-mun spoke to Cheong-ryeong with eyes that had turned coldly:

“I didn’t expect this. To think you’d choose to save those vermin over revenge.”

-I said I wouldn’t let things go as you wish.

“Even if it’s the obsession of revenge, your mind should be full of me alone, not enough room for anything else.”

-Ha!

At Jeong Hyeon-mun’s words, Cheong-ryeong’s gaze turned icy cold.

She hadn’t understood until now.

She had only thought that his madness exploded because he couldn’t have her.

But these words now were utterly shocking.

She couldn’t understand why he, who claimed to want her, was trying to take away everything from her, and it gave her goosebumps.

Even if it was desire, did he want her to think only of him?

-You’re…… truly the worst.

Can obsession, when it turns to madness, become this ugly?

Despite her disappointment, Jeong Hyeon-mun didn’t care.

He rather smiled at Cheong-ryeong.

“Yes. Your mind should be filled only with me.”

-…….Get lost.

-Poof!

With those words, Cheong-ryeong flew backwards, avoiding the sword energy flying towards her.

-Swish!

‘She dodged?’

A strange light flickered in Jeong Hyeon-mun’s eyes.

He had thought she wouldn’t be able to dodge this due to her mind being scattered by anger.

However, contrary to his judgment, her concentration was now at its peak.

After dodging the sword energy, Cheong-ryeong waved her hand, creating hundreds of arrows made of blood and shot them towards Jeong Hyeon-mun.

-Bang!

Along with this, she flew towards the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

There was no more time to waste with him.

However,

-Woong!

At that moment, numerous pillars appeared around her.

‘This is?’

It resembled the pillars of the Four Peaks Linking Technique that Mok Gyeong-un used, but the number was different.

There were thirty-six pillars.

As these pillars surrounded her, layers of surfaces made of spell power were instantly created, and she was trapped inside.

At this, Cheong-ryeong swung Sun-yeon wrapped in spiritual energy to break through, but,

-Clang!

Far from breaking, the wall of spell power didn’t even get a scratch.

It was a sealing technique even more intricate than the Four Peaks Linking Technique.

Cheong-ryeong turned her head to glare at Jeong Hyeon-mun.

Jeong Hyeon-mun, forming a hand seal with his left hand, raised the corner of his mouth and shrugged.

“Even without martial arts, with just magic arts and techniques, I have reached the pinnacle of this world. There is no way for you to escape from here, So-wol.”

-Bang! Bang!

Ignoring his words, Cheong-ryeong tried to destroy the sealing technique made of spell power.

She didn’t want to listen to anything he said anymore.

Jeong Hyeon-mun sneered at her behavior.

“Wait here. I’ll soon bring the vessel containing your soul.”

-Swish!

As soon as those words ended, Jeong Hyeon-mun’s body blurred and disappeared.

Seeing this, Cheong-ryeong gritted her teeth and swung her sword infused with blood-colored spiritual energy towards the wall of the sealing technique.

-Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

As she swung her sword like this, she soon changed her mind.

This wasn’t something that could be broken in this way.

In her mind, she recalled the single sword strike that Mok Gyeong-un used to concentrate all his power into one point.

She had watched this countless times from closer than anyone else.

‘Power…… If a mortal could do it, there’s no reason I can’t.’

She then began to concentrate all her spiritual energy on the tip of the famous sword Sun-yeon.

***

Lee Ji-yeom, the Corpse Blood Valley Master, looked around with bewildered eyes.

He wanted to announce that this was a scheme of the Secret Society and that the war should be stopped, as ordered by his lord Cheong-ryeong, but it was already too late for that.

The warriors of the former Heaven and Earth Society, the Righteous Alliance, and the Evil Alliance were all mixed up, killing each other, and in this situation, could they really stop?

Moreover, the highest-ranking officials were fighting against the leaders of the enemies, so there was nothing that could be done.

Even if they stopped on this side, it was questionable whether the Righteous Alliance or the Evil Alliance would stop.

‘What on earth should I do?’

As Ji-yeom was pondering, someone suddenly caught his eye.

“Stop! I am from the righteous faction! I am not an enemy!”

It was none other than Mok Yu-cheon.

He had been taken as a hostage of the righteous faction along with Mok Gyeong-un, but had become a disciple of Bright Blade King Son Yun.

Having become a disciple of Son Yun and with his brother Mok Gyeong-un becoming the leader of this huge organization, Ji-yeom thought he would no longer cling to the righteous faction, but what was he doing now?

“Damn it!”

Mok Yu-cheon was pleading to the righteous faction warriors that he was one of them.

However, there was no way this would reach the ears of these low-ranking warriors in the midst of war.

They ignored this and attacked Mok Yu-cheon.

“Nonsense!”

“Die!”

-Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

“Kuk!”

Mok Yu-cheon was frustrated but tried his best not to kill them, yet he was being driven into a corner as even the high-level experts of the Righteous Alliance began to appear.

At this,

-Poof!

“Stop!”

-Whoosh!

Lee Ji-yeom swung a fiery energy to help Mok Yu-cheon who was driven into a corner.

Although dozens of peak and first-class experts were jointly attacking Mok Yu-cheon, the situation changed when Lee Ji-yeom, a master of the Transformation Realm, intervened.

“Damn it!”

“Retreat! Retreat!”

Those who judged they couldn’t handle Lee Ji-yeom hurriedly turned away.

‘Why!’

Although he had struggled to survive somehow, Mok Yu-cheon had never abandoned his roots as a righteous path practitioner until the end.

But the Righteous Alliance warriors, whom he considered allies, didn’t believe him despite his cries that were almost screams, and it was actually an executive of the Heaven and Earth Society who saved him.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

Mok Yu-cheon repeatedly struck the ground with complicated feelings.

Now he didn’t know what was right and wrong anymore.

Everything was incomprehensible, from joining hands with the Evil Alliance, their mortal enemy, to attack just one Heaven and Earth Society.

‘Isn’t this no different from the evil faction?’

In the end, how is this different from moving based on practical benefits rather than judging right and wrong?

Mok Yu-cheon was utterly disappointed in everything.

“Why…… why like this……”

“Why are you so despondent? Disciple of Bright Blade King. Do you still think you’re the same as them?”

“Shut up! I…… I……”

Mok Yu-cheon couldn’t finish his words.

The concept of righteousness and evil had long been shattered in his once firm mind.

To him, Lee Ji-yeom, the Corpse Blood Valley Master, said:

“You can judge for yourself what is right and wrong. There is no right or wrong in righteousness and evil to begin with. It’s just that everyone aims for different things.”

“……..”

“But before that, you need to help me a bit.”

“What?”

“This war is a scheme created behind the scenes by those called the Secret Society. The Righteous Alliance and the Evil Alliance are now moving after falling for their machinations.”

“If it’s the Secret Society, could it be that……”

“Yes. It’s because they moved that the Righteous Alliance and the Evil Alliance joined hands to attack us. There’s no time to explain further. You should immediately find your master, Bright Blade King, and deliver this……”

Before he could finish speaking,

Mok Yu-cheon shook his head and put his hand in his bosom, saying:

“No. If that’s true, I should find the head of the Hwangbo Clan, not Bright Blade King.”

“The head of the Hwangbo Clan? Do you mean Hwangbo Seong?”

“Yes. The head of the Hwangbo Clan is the leader of the Silent Strides.”

“Silent Strides? So he was the one in charge of moving the spies? But what does that matter now? None of the Righteous Alliance members will believe you now……”

“No. The head of the Hwangbo Clan will believe me.”

-Swish!

With those words, Mok Yu-cheon pulled out a token from his bosom.

It was the token that Ma-sang, an agent of the Silent Strides, the Righteous Alliance’s spy group, had passed to Mok Yu-cheon before being captured for spy detection in the Corpse Blood Valley.

Although ordinary Righteous Alliance warriors might not recognize this token, it was different for Hwangbo Seong, the head of the Hwangbo Clan and the leader of Silent Strides.

****

“Block him! We must block him!”

The Corpse Blood Valley warriors desperately launched joint attacks to try to stop Jeong Hyeon-mun, the Righteous Alliance leader.

However, the title of being at the pinnacle of the current martial world wasn’t for nothing.

“Foolish ones. Huh huh huh.”

-Swish!

Every time he gestured with his sword energy-imbued fingers,

-Swish! Swish, swish, swish, swish!

“Kuh!”

“Argh!”

Sharp sword energy tore them apart, and they only lost their lives.

All sword formations and defense lines were broken, and only eight remained.

Looking at those who were desperately trying to block him while backing against the rock with the secret passage, Jeong Hyeon-mun sneered.

“That’s right. Squirm to your best like the insects you are.”

Jeong Hyeon-mun was about to move his hand to kill the remaining ones.

But as he was about to do so, suddenly, as if something was blocking the sunlight, he saw a shadow being cast.

“Wh-what is this?”

“What’s going on?”

At that moment, the Corpse Blood Valley warriors guarding the rock looked up, unable to hide their bewilderment.

-Flinch!

‘What is this?’

These complex energies?

This was clearly ghost energy.

Jeong Hyeon-mun raised one eyebrow.

It was impossible for Ryu So-wol to have escaped from the Thirty-Six Stopping and Sealing Techniques that he had specially made just for her, and there was too much ghost energy for that.

-Whoosh!

As the puzzled Jeong Hyeon-mun lifted his head, he saw a large ship covered with numerous vengeful spirits falling at an incredible speed over the peak above his head.

‘!!!!!!!’