Chapter 33. Clash (激突)
One of the Demonic Cult’s secrets was that Jagang, the previous Cult Leader, had not originally been a martial artist.
He had started as a strategist of the Demonic Cult.
Later, Jagang learned the Demonic Cult’s forbidden martial art, the Cheonil Honwon Art, as a desperate way to overcome his weak martial foundation.
Growing stronger through the Cheonil Honwon Art was the best choice Jagang had available.
Only then could he control the ambitious Seven Heavenly Demons.
Because Jagang had originally been a strategist, he personally created several extremely powerful formations.
And right now, Jaha was setting up one of them.
The fact that Jagang had personally taught his son formations was only possible because he had been a Cult Leader who originally came from a strategist’s background.
That’s why even Hwancheonma can’t recognize this formation.
As Jaha drew the formation patterns, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Perhaps his father had taught him formations precisely for a moment like this.
Once Jaha finished drawing all the formation patterns, Hwancheonma asked in a cold voice,
“Are you finished? I would gladly wait longer, but I’m so bored that I feel like I’m going to die.”
“It’s finished. I was merely taking a walk, so don’t concern yourself with it.”
Hwancheonma smiled at those words.
“Good. Then don’t blame this lord when I start attacking from now on.”
“Understood. We’ll enter the formation first. You may attack after that.”
Jaha leisurely walked into the formation together with Goeui.
Songrim was greatly surprised.
More than anything, he was impressed by Jaha’s courage.
Even while facing Hwancheonma, Jaha showed no fear and casually talked back to him.
In truth, ever since Hwancheonma appeared, even Songrim himself had been so nervous that his knees were trembling.
Yet Jaha showed none of that.
Perhaps he simply did not understand how terrifying Hwancheonma was.
But judging from their conversation, that did not seem to be the case either.
If it were Songrim, he would have been shaking so badly that he probably would not even be able to speak properly.
That was why he was currently sticking close to Deung Hwahong under the excuse of protecting her.
Deung Hwahong seemed to trust Jaha quite a lot.
Is he fearless simply because he has no fear? Or does he have some hidden trump card capable of avoiding even Hwancheonma’s deadly techniques?
Songrim had already become nothing more than a spectator in this situation.
As the head of the Inspection Unit, his pride was slightly hurt by that fact, but it was still bearable.
After all, his pride was nothing compared to that of the young masters from the prestigious clans.
Magae also could not understand the situation at all.
He felt chills at Jaha’s cleverness in manipulating Hwancheonma like this.
In truth, once Hwancheonma made his move, Goeui was probably the only person here who could survive.
Yet Jaha had somehow prevented Hwancheonma from attacking.
Even though he had only bought them roughly two quarters of an hour, the fact that he had managed to gain that much time was extremely impressive.
Guiding an old monster like Hwancheonma into a favorable situation was not something an ordinary disciple from a countryside martial school should have been capable of.
I should tell the Beggar Sect Leader and bring that young man into our Beggar Sect. With talent like that, even the Sect Leader would be interested in him.
Of course, we have to survive this place first.
Magae had already begun thinking about making Jaha a disciple of the Beggar Sect.
“You seem to be ready to die now, so I’ll begin.”
Hwancheonma grinned as he approached the formation where Jaha’s group was hiding.
Then he struck out with one palm.
The supposedly powerful Soul Spirit Formation shook violently as though it was about to shatter.
Rather than dismantling the formation, Hwancheonma had chosen to destroy it by force.
The reason was simple.
He wanted to show off his overwhelming martial power.
Otherwise, all the time he had spent waiting would have been meaningless.
He continuously fired palm force from both hands and struck the formation.
At this rate, the formation did not seem like it would survive even half the expected time.
“What should we do?”
Only then did Jegal Yuyeon ask Jaha in a slightly worried voice.
However, Jaha answered as calmly as ever.
“We just have to wait for the experts from Seohyeopbang to arrive quickly.”
Namgung Cheol snorted.
“I knew it from the moment you acted as if you had some amazing plan.”
Jaha replied,
“Forget about me. Considering how confidently you three young masters were talking earlier, I assume you can easily stop someone like Hwancheonma, can’t you?”
Dang Jong immediately snapped at him.
“Don’t worry! Once the formation breaks, we’ll step forward and stop him first!”
Jegal Yuyeon shook her head as she watched Dang Jong stubbornly fall for Jaha’s way of speaking again.
She had watched them long enough to understand.
These three were no match for Jaha.
Their martial arts might be stronger than Jaha’s, but when it came to schemes or words, they were nowhere near his level.
Boom!
Boom!
Hwancheonma attacked leisurely.
He wanted to see the terrified expressions on Jaha’s group as they watched the formation slowly collapse.
It was one of Hwancheonma’s twisted hobbies.
Even when killing people, he did not simply kill them.
He enjoyed watching his victims tremble in fear of death and took pleasure in killing them through cruel methods.
Goeui watched the trembling formation and said,
“It seems everyone should prepare for battle.”
At Goeui’s words, Songrim and the Inspection Unit warriors drew their swords in advance.
Namgung Cheol and the others also became extremely tense.
They had spoken confidently earlier, but they knew very well who Hwancheonma was.
The three young masters exchanged glances.
Apparently, they had already discussed something among themselves through sound transmission.
Boom!
Under another strike from Hwancheonma, the Soul Spirit Formation finally failed to endure and shattered.
The Soul Spirit Formation had been designed mainly for concealment rather than blocking outside force, so it was weak against direct impact.
At that moment, Goeui saw an evil smile appear on Jaha’s face.
“What is that smile?”
Goeui felt chills whenever Jaha’s innocent-looking face suddenly showed such a sinister smile.
Yet strangely enough, whenever he saw that smile, he also felt reassured.
It was truly strange.
But it was not because Goeui had an unusual personality.
It was because he knew that smile meant Jaha had something planned.
“They’re coming.”
“Really?”
After replying, Goeui muttered inwardly,
This brat really is strange. How does he know about something even this old man cannot sense? Did he learn this from the Yama Divine Physician as well?
Goeui could not continue thinking.
Just as the formation was about to completely collapse, a group of people descended into the front yard of the residence.
“So you were here!”
The newcomers were Magi, the leader of Seohyeopbang, along with its senior retainers and protectors.
There was a rumor throughout the martial world that Magi, the leader of Seohyeopbang, was descended from Ma Chao of the Three Kingdoms.
It was difficult not to believe the rumor.
He looked remarkably similar to Ma Chao.
He stood nearly nine cheok tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist.
Even his thick thighs reminded people of a horse.
However, his face resembled that of a warm and generous merchant, creating a strange contrast with his intimidating physique.
Standing behind Magi were Godeung, who had once been one half of the Azure-Red Twin Swords but was now the Azure-Red Single Sword, and Seo Donggoe, known as Saenggoryang.
Aside from them, Magi had brought nearly ten senior retainers and protectors.
With so many experts beside him, he showed no sign of fear even while standing in front of Hwancheonma.
In some ways, Seohyeopbang’s overall fighting force could even be considered stronger than Hwancheonma’s group.
Other than Hwancheonma’s guards, there was no one on his side capable of fighting Seohyeopbang’s experts.
No matter how extraordinary Hwancheonma was, he could not deal with every expert from Seohyeopbang alone.
Hwancheonma knew that as well.
That was why he did not recklessly provoke Magi.
Magi’s nickname was Heuksim Okmacho.
Okmacho was a nickname used for Ma Chao in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, while “Heuksim” had been added by the martial world because Magi’s heart was known to be particularly vicious.
His cruel mind was terrifying enough, but the Iwon Dansim Sword Art he used with a single sword was also ranked among the Ten Great Sword Arts of the martial world.
Hwancheonma glared at Magi.
He had intended to hold himself back because Magi had brought a troublesome force with him.
But now that they were actually face-to-face, his anger surged and he could no longer remain calm.
“A thief who secretly stole my property has come here on his own to die. You barely escaped death at Inui Manor because of the Martial Alliance’s tricks. You should have been grateful for surviving. Instead, you came back here to dig your own grave.”
Magi answered with a sly smile.
“A fence who deals in stolen goods shouldn’t criticize a thief. Let’s be honest. Aren’t we both thieves?”
“Khehehehe. I suppose a man about to die can say whatever he likes.”
Hwancheonma decided that this time, he would definitely kill Magi.
An enormous aura slowly rose from his body like shimmering heat.
“We cannot afford to be discourteous while entertaining Hwancheonma.”
At Magi’s words, seven middle-aged men standing behind him stepped forward and formed a sword formation.
“Since you are one of the Seven Heavenly Demons, we will face you with the strongest sword formation of our Seohyeopbang.”
Magi did not foolishly intend to personally exchange blows with Hwancheonma.
Instead, before coming here, he had prepared a method specifically for dealing with him.
It was the Dokmang Great Sword Formation.
The formation had been designed to counter Hwancheonma’s specialty—illusion techniques and his almost unbelievable movement art.
It was also an extremely expensive sword formation to prepare.
Hwancheonma looked at them coldly.
“You think a pathetic sword formation like that can stop this lord?”
Magi replied confidently,
“Don’t worry. It will be more than enough to stop you.”
Hwancheonma intended to kill every single person who tried to block his path.
Jaha watched and thought to himself,
Magi is underestimating Hwancheonma too much.
I don’t know exactly what kind of sword formation he prepared, but Hwancheonma’s movement technique is beyond imagination.
Even Jaha had only heard rumors about the true supreme techniques of the Seven Heavenly Demons.
Even as the leader of the Demonic Cult, he had never properly understood their martial arts.
That was because the martial arts of the Seven Heavenly Demons had been secretly passed down for generations specifically to keep the Cult Leader in check.
Therefore, Jaha only knew the names of their martial arts and roughly how powerful they were.
He did not know their true nature.
Even during the battle on the cliff, he had been defeated without forcing them to reveal their true supreme techniques.
His strength had simply not been great enough to make them use those techniques.
“Your subordinate will test them first.”
Three of Hwancheonma’s personal guards stepped forward.
Hwancheonma nodded and gave his permission.
Even Hwancheonma was slightly bothered by Magi’s nickname, Heuksim Okmacho.
The instant the three guards received permission, they charged fiercely toward the seven men.
However, four of the seven Seohyeopbang experts had already prepared themselves.
They stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a straight line.
The remaining three then stepped onto their shoulders and climbed above them.
It was a type of sword formation none of them had ever seen before.
Even Jaha watched with considerable interest.
Hwancheonma’s three personal guards snorted when they saw the strange sword formation.
Then they swung their swords toward the seven Seohyeopbang experts, who were standing like a human ladder.
Sword energy surrounded their blades.
Since the Seohyeopbang experts were grouped tightly together, they actually seemed to be at a disadvantage.
At that moment, the four experts below raised their swords to defend themselves.
Meanwhile, the three above pulled something from inside their clothes.
They aimed it at Hwancheonma’s three charging guards.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
What they fired at the guards was, astonishingly, the Cheonmyeong Salchim Tube.
Just as its name suggested, it was a hidden-weapon tube filled with poisoned needles said to be capable of killing a thousand lives.
The moment the hidden weapons erupted from all three tubes, a sound like violent wind and rain filled the air.
Swaaaaaaaaaa!
At the same time, screams exploded.
“Kraaaaaaaaaagh!”
Hwancheonma’s three guards became like human porcupines, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
They had been struck by the hidden weapons before they could even reach the seven men.
No matter how powerful a martial artist was, martial arts became useless when faced with hidden weapons that covered every direction.
That was what made weapon tubes so terrifying.
Among hundreds of hidden weapons, being struck by even a single one could prove fatal.
That was why so many martial artists feared hidden-weapon tubes.
The three guards opened and closed their mouths helplessly.
Dark blood poured from their lips.
Then all three collapsed.
Thud!
Hwancheonma frowned.
However, rather than becoming enraged, his gaze grew even colder.
