Chapter 249. Within Ten Paces, You’ll Find A Fragrant Flower (20)

Chapter 249. Within Ten Paces, You’ll Find A Fragrant Flower (20)

As the Martial Heaven God smirked, the Heavenly Demon Cult’s emergency strike team, the Mad Demon Squadron, appeared and rushed toward him, having heard the loud noise and realizing the presence of an intruder.

“It’s an intruder, kill him!”

Meanwhile, Woo-Moon dug his way out of the cliff; he was a complete mess, with his clothes torn and his hair disheveled. When he saw them, he shouted, “No, retreat!”

But the Martial Heaven God’s hand had already moved.

When he snapped his fingers, a small bead popped out, flying toward the Mad Demon Squadron.

It really was small, only the size of a cherry, and it flew at a speed that didn’t look particularly high. But Woo-Moon knew that was only perception. Inside the bead of aura was a terrifying rotational power, which was gathering an incredible amount of energy.

Although he wanted to rush over and save the Mad Demon Squadron, Woo-Moon’s condition was terrible.

He had suffered considerable internal injuries due to the blow from Burning the Cosmos earlier. Since it was an attack of the Martial Heaven God, who was also a Zenith, it was difficult for him to recover quickly. The Martial Heaven God’s qi had a property that hindered the opponent’s recovery, just like Woo-Moon’s.

The Mad Demon Squadron didn’t realize how much power the aura bead had. Thus, they ignored it and tried to rush the Martial Heaven God instead.

And then... the bead got in the middle of the Mad Demon Squadron.

BOOM!

The moment it reached its destination, it exploded, conjuring a massive tornado of aura around it. Red streams of blood rose up with the winds of the tornado, and when the aura bead disappeared... so did the Mad Demon Squadron.

Not even a speck of dust remained.

“Now that we’ve dealt with the pesky intruders, shall we begin our game again?”

As the Martial Heaven God spoke, he approached Woo-Moon and stretched out his hand to shoot another aura bead.

Woo-Moon’s eyes suddenly widened as he looked at the Martial Heaven God.

“No!”

Ma-Ra had appeared behind the Martial Heaven God and was swinging her sword at him. In response, the Martial Heaven God laughed.

Cough, cough!

Woo-Moon flashed forward, even while vomiting blood, and hugged Ma-Ra, taking the Martial Heaven God’s attack square to his back.

“Ugh...”

The shock was so massive he couldn’t even scream.

At the same time, Si-Hyeon also ran forward and struck at the Martial Heaven God. But no attack could break through the barrier of aura that surrounded him; her attack simply vanished into thin air.

BANG!

Hit in return by the Martial Heaven God, Si-Hyeon flew backward, spitting out blood like a fountain. The Otherworldly Fairy Ah Hee leaped into the air and tried to mitigate the shock by catching her from behind, but the sheer force of the blast was so great that they were both propelled backward as if shot from a sling.

BOOM!

Woo-Moon, Ma-Ra, Si-Hyeon, and Ah Hee rolled across the ground simultaneously and vomited blood at the same time.

Even though Woo-Moon had taken on the brunt of the Martial Heaven God’s attack instead of Ma-Ra, the aftershock was enough to cause Ma-Ra severe internal injuries. At the same time, Ah Hee suffered internal injuries so severe that it would take at least three months to heal just by catching Si-Hyeon.

“Great Hero Undefeatable Sword Immortal Song Woo-Moon, you killed my only son. You see, I’m a person far detached from mere human emotions, but even so... it’s not a good feeling. I’m sure you’d understand.”

Thud, thud.

The Martial Heaven God slowly walked toward Woo-Moon.

By this point, Sang-Woon, Dae-Woong, Jin-Jin, Yeo-Seol, the Song Family guards, Woo-Moon’s disciples, and countless warriors of the Heavenly Demon Cult had arrived.

“Woo-Moon!”

“Lord!”

“Gege!”

All of them called out to Woo-Moon, each in their own way. But as they ran toward the Martial Heaven God like moths to a flame, Woo-Moon stopped them, even while spitting out blood.

“S-Stop! Cough, cough, stop right there! Don’t move, or you’ll die!”

Woo-Moon stood up on shaky legs.

“Hah, hah, hah....”

Although he took several deep breaths, his breathing didn’t stabilize. The powerful qi of the Martial Heaven God was still raging inside of him.

He used all of his strength to stand up straight. Then, he stretched out both hands and summoned Inkblade and Golden Dragon, which were in his room.

He realized that living in seclusion was no longer the answer. That was why he had come to the Heavenly Demon Cult to talk to Woo-Moon. He wanted to tell Woo-Moon that he would help him fight Martial Heaven.

He had arrived just a few days before, and was now able to witness Woo-Moon being tortured by the Martial Heaven God. Thus, he joined the impromptu four-man squad led by Sang-Woon, performing an exquisite combined assault. Five attacks were about to strike the Martial Heaven God at the same time.

Sadly, Woo-Moon could have destroyed all of them with one hand behind his back. So how could they stand a chance against Eun Jang-Cheon?

The Martial Heaven God grabbed Woo-Moon by the head with his right hand, continuing the Soul Burning Ritual, while stretching his left hand upward.

Woo-Moon’s mouth opened wide when he saw that.

“No... no!”

With that shout, both his body and his qi began to move. The qi of the Forbidden Divine Art filled Woo-Moon’s meridians with a flow that could never be halted, rushing throughout his body like a great river.

The five attacks were blocked by the barrier around the Martial Heaven God, and five blasts of Zenith Aura, far surpassing the Transcendent Aura of a Paragon, shot out of the Martial Heaven God’s fingers.

But at the same time, Woo-Moon broke the Martial Heaven God’s grip and took the blasts of Zenith Aura in place of the others.

Thud!

As soon as he was hit by the first blast of Zenith Aura, his body rose into the air and blood gushed out of his body.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Four more dull sounds rang out, and Woo-Moon dropped to the ground, listless. Meanwhile, the five people who had attacked the Martial Heaven God were simply bounced away, with severe internal injuries due to the rebound.

But right now, their severe internal injuries were quite low on the list of priorities.

“My son!”

“Woo-Moon!”

“Senior Brother!”

“Gege!”

Pitiful screams burst out of the mouths of Woo-Moon’s family.

Meanwhile, the Martial Heaven God also stood there unmoving. He simply looked at Woo-Moon with a questioning gaze.

“I don’t understand. How did you overcome the Soul Burning Ritual? How did you escape?”

***

Cho-Ah was sitting in her room writing a letter. While her handwriting was rather sloppy, as she was only now learning how to write properly, she was so focused on her work that she was sweating.

Soon, the letter was complete.

She put down her brush with a satisfied smile and quietly reviewed the contents of the letter.

Plop.

A tear fell on the letter. She wiped it away and walked over to the window, letter in hand.

Then, she burned the letter using the flame of a candle and sent the ashes flying into the sky.

She put her hands together, thinking of the person she wanted to send the letter to—naturally, Blood Cloud Devil Emperor Seob Un-Ha.

But at that moment, a loud noise shook the room, making her scream and cover her ears.

“Ahh!!”

What could have happened?

Cho-Ah, terrified, climbed onto the bed, covered herself with a blanket, and shivered.

“N-no, I don’t like this. I’m scared... Big brother, save me. I don’t like this, I’m scared. No... Please, I don’t like this.”

The loud noise continued to resonate.

After a few moments, she heard familiar voices calling for someone... screaming... Woo-Moon’s name?

‘Woo-Moon, Song Woo-Moon. My new... big brother. Big Brother?’

Cho-Ah ran out of her quarters as if she was wind itself, running and running until she was out of breath.

Then, she saw it—the Martial Heaven God holding onto Woo-Moon’s head and torturing him.

“AH!”

‘Big Brother is suffering!’

The image of the Blood Cloud Devil Emperor overlapped with Woo-Moon’s. Hot tears flowed from her eyes.