PHUWK—.

A sharp blade tore through flesh.

Ju Heung-a was certain it was him.

It wasn’t.

“Commander, p-please, go, k-huk…!”

The bastard who had been screaming that they had to go threw himself in her place.

And even then, as if his breath still hadn’t cut off, he grabbed Soyak.

With the method of the Red Ghost Hand, he seized her by the collar and wouldn’t let go.

“…Ah.”

Soyak swung her sword with calm precision.

Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge, its Sword Qi surging, split the subordinate’s upper body from his lower body right in front of Ju Heung-a’s eyes.

Even so, the bastard—reduced to only an upper body—was still forcing strength into his grip.

“The Blood Gate will… k-heuk… rule… Shandong….”

Fanatical loyalty.

Soyak rotated Falling Blossom Tranquil Edge using only her fingers inside her small grip.

—SHKRRK.

The wrist that was clutching her collar was severed clean off.

With nothing left to do, he rolled across the ground.

Blood erupted from the cut surface as if it were spouting… and then poured down.

Blood soaked the ground.

The stench of blood spread through the night air.

“…Haa.”

The reek sank deep into her lungs.

It was sweet.

Soyak knew exactly how dangerous that sweetness was.

When she drew up every last trace of internal energy from her dantian, the black qilin gradually began to chew it up.

Regardless of realm, her internal energy increased little by little.

Like a small snowball rolled across a winter field of snow.

“…Is that all?”

Was what clung to her gaze ghostly energy, or auspicious energy?

She couldn’t even tell anymore.

Her hair rippled like a dragon’s mane.

In the small hand holding the sword, Sword Qi surged.

More than before.

Each time the tip of the blade trembled, black-crimson plum blossoms bloomed in scattered dots.

Right as Ju Heung-a—who had lost all his internal energy—was about to be carved apart,

dozens of other Blood Sword Unit members blocked Soyak’s path.

“Commander! Get the Commander and retreat!”

At the same time, the Ak Family’s experts and Soyak’s two senior brothers rushed in and took positions at her side.

And among them…

was an expert even Ju Heung-a—fully prepared—could not withstand.

Ak Taegyu, the Family Head, who had reached mid–Transcendent Apex.

Light-Halberd That Drives Out Evil.

A spear of light that strikes down the sinister.

His sobriquet was not decoration.

“…Retreat!!!”

Ju Heung-a ground his teeth as he gave the order.

It was a decision made far too late.

Two Blood Sword Unit members hauled Ju Heung-a up and threw themselves over the wall.

No—more precisely, that was what they tried to do.

“You thought I’d let you go that easily?!”

Ak Taegyu’s thunderous roar came down.

BOOM!!!!

A stomping impact that shook the earth itself.

Then the Demon-Warding Halberd tore through the air and flew.

SHWAAAAA—!!!

PAKAK!!!

The sound of bone shattering and flesh being pulverized.

In that instant, Ju Heung-a realized he could not breathe.

The Demon-Warding Halberd had smashed straight through his chest and was embedded there.

And that wasn’t all.

The two Blood Sword Unit members who had been supporting him were already sprawled out, wrecked beyond recognition…

and he was pinned to the wall.

It was the power of a single thrown spear loaded with massive internal energy.

The very same move he had used to kill his eldest daughter.

“K-heuk….”

He couldn’t breathe properly.

Even a scream, even a groan, wouldn’t come out right.

Bloody foam bubbled up from his throat.

The terror of death ran cold up his spine.

“D-die… like this… kkeu-reuk….”

He flailed his arms, but his Great Curved Blade was already rolling far away.

It seemed he had lost it from the shock when the spear struck and sent him flying.

It looked like all the other Blood Sword Unit members had fled.

With their leader taken down, that was only natural.

They would return under the Gate Lord.

Soyak walked slowly up to the slack-hanging Ju Heung-a.

The way his body kept twitching made it seem like he wasn’t dead yet.

With eyes gone half-clouded, he barely looked up at Soyak.

His fallen hair was already a mess.

“H-how… kkeu-reuk….”

He seemed unable to understand his defeat.

Soyak’s sudden growth, her strengthened internal energy—everything.

Soyak gave him the answer in a low voice.

He was going to die anyway.

“I am the Heavenly Killing Star.”

“…D-damn it….”

The Heavenly Killing Star commits slaughter.

And grows stronger through slaughter.

A being that drinks blood, calls blood, and then drinks blood again.

Early Transcendent Apex.

A Heavenly Killing Star martial artist who had reached the same realm as him.

When people with talent fight a life-or-death struggle against a martial artist of a similar level, they grow.

And on top of that, she was the Heavenly Killing Star.

Born with a nature that was already perfected for killing people.

He should have run.

This fight had only raised that bitch up.

Ju Heung-a filled his mouth with a curse to the very end.

“In the end… y-you… kkeu-reuk… will die… by your comrades’ hands….”

That was as far as he got.

Soyak’s silent single strike cut deep across his throat.

So he could not speak again.

His throat split open, he poured out blood… and then—

with his head hanging forward, he died.

“…Hoo.”

Soyak let out a hot breath.

From the throat she had severed, a thick stench of blood seeped out.

Even that, too—everything, all of it…

though she didn’t want it, she was drawing it in.

Killing intent, resentment, and malice flowed down into her lungs and spread through every blood vessel.

To the point it all felt sweet.

Something vicious and cruel kept raising its head.

‘…No.’

Soyak clenched her teeth and raised the internal energy of the Harmonization Scripture.

The black qilin—swollen to a massive size—rampaged through all Eight Meridians and all the channels, chewing up every sinister trace.

The stench of blood soaked into her entire body.

Calmly.

Calmly, she coaxed the bloated black qilin.

So it would head back to her dantian again, obediently.

The pressure that had wrapped around her whole body sank… and then—

Soyak turned around.

The Ak Family’s Family Head and experts, and her two senior brothers, were staring at her.

She slowly looked down at her hands.

They were drenched in blood.

Mount Hua’s pure white uniform was the same.

Only the black outer coat her master Eunsong had given her was still black.

Even though it was soaked through with blood.

‘Right now… I probably look like…’

Like a slaughtering ghost.

Like an evil spirit drenched in blood.

But in that moment, Cheonjeong and Cheongak ran straight to Soyak.

Whether they got blood on themselves or not, they pulled her into their arms and checked her all over.

“Soyak! Are you hurt anywhere? Your Head Senior almost lost his liver!”

“If you’ve got even a scratch, we’re dead when Master sees us!”

Only then did all the tension finally drain out of her.

Ju Heung-a’s last words were right.

The most terrifying thing was the eyes of comrades who had let you close—changing.

As long as it wasn’t that, it was fine.

“…Head Senior, Senior Brother Cheongak.”

“Oh, sure. Tell me! This senior brother will do anything—”

“Stop making a fuss, Cheongak. Soyak, are you alright. Your body—your dantian?”

“I… just a moment….”

I need to rest.

She had to say that one sentence.

She still had internal energy left, and her body was fine, but…

Was it because she had spent everything keeping her mind taut, her spirit on edge?

Or because she had fought that horrific viciousness lurking inside her?

Soyak blacked out on the spot.

*****

The next morning.

A guest room the Ak Family had provided for Soyak, Cheongak, and Cheonjeong.

Cheongak and Cheonjeong had come to Soyak’s room and were changing the damp cloth on her forehead.

All through the night.

“They said it was simple exhaustion, Head Senior.”

“…How could I not worry. Do you think a heart does what you tell it to?”

Cheongak nodded bitterly.

Soyak was clean—without even a single scratch on her skin.

An Ak Family maid had even washed her and changed her clothes, and she looked more composed than either of them had ever seen.

Except for the fact she still hadn’t regained consciousness.

And Cheonjeong was so worried he checked Soyak’s pulse again and again all night.

Even though nothing really changed.

Even when her pulse became just a little stronger, his complexion would brighten, and when it became just a little weaker, his face would darken again—over and over.

“At this rate, Head Senior will collapse before Soyak wakes up.”

“You’re getting informal with me.”

“…I will collapse.”

Cheongak puffed out his lips.

Normally, Cheonjeong would smack him on the crown of the head for that.

But now, Cheonjeong only corrected him with words.

His eyes couldn’t leave Soyak.

“Didn’t we even call a physician at dawn? They said she’d wake up soon.”

“And you aren’t worried about your junior sister?”

“If I wasn’t worried, would I be here with Head Senior, staying up all night?”

That was true.

It was just…

Cheongak was simply clumsy at showing worry.

He wasn’t built with that kind of delicate temperament.

Cheonjeong looked back at himself—knowing that—and realized he had been the one in the wrong.

This was something he should feel sorry for.

“…I blamed you for no reason.”

“I’m not that hurt, so don’t worry. More importantly, they said it’d be about time for her to wake up, but….”

Cheongak poked Soyak’s cheek with a finger.

Then his eyes went round.

“W-what is it?”

At that unexpected reaction, Cheonjeong asked with a tense expression.

But the answer he got was even more unexpected.

“I-I didn’t know it would be this soft.”

“…Have you truly lost your mind?”

Cheonjeong let out a long sigh.

And around then—

Soyak’s small hand twitched.

Chapter 80

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