Chapter 649: So Don’t You Give Up Either

Wreathed in pure white lightning, Namgung Su pushed back the darkness of the mindscape as he walked toward Baek Suryong. “Baek Suryong. Are you listening to me?”

Baek Suryong’s body was exhausted from the life-or-death struggle with the Night Emperor, yet he was regenerating. His weakened, heaven-defying energy was also gaining momentum.

Golden eyes that held lightning and crimson eyes that rippled like blood stared each other down as though trying to bore holes through one another.

Baek Suryong’s lips slowly parted. “Namgung Su, I...”

KABOOM!

A fist split the darkness and slammed into his face. Baek Suryong flew thirty meters and crashed into the rubble of a collapsed building.

“I was not calling out to the sinister thing.”

Half-buried in the wall, Baek Suryong sneered. Looking up at the approaching Namgung Su, he smeared the blood at the corner of his mouth with a finger, turning his red, bewitching lips an even deeper shade of crimson. “I’ve thought so for a while, but your instincts are sharp.”

“Get out of that body this instant.”

“Even if I wished to, I can no longer do so. Your friend has a terribly tight grip on my soul... We are merging and becoming one.”

Namgung Su stopped in his tracks, an eyebrow twitching. “Nonsense.”

“Do you think the man you know as Baek Suryong would not have been prepared to go this far to destroy a heaven-defying being like me?”

“......”

The Blood Demon chuckled and staggered to his feet. He lifted his head and looked up at the sky.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

Gazing past the tumultuous night sky at the myriad beams of starlight pouring down from the universe, his face lit up with rapture.

“Since time immemorial, I have yearned for this moment when I would open the heavens and travel to another dimension. Now, nothing can stop me.”

His body slowly rose into the air. The sight was strange and mystical, as though some unknown force were pulling him upward.

“Who said I would let you go?”

CRACKLE!

Pure white lightning flashed before the Blood Demon’s eyes, casting sharp shadows. Namgung Su appeared out of nowhere, seized his wrist and collar, and hurled him to the ground.

KABOOOOM!

The Blood Demon’s body convulsed as he hit the ground, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Still, he smiled as though he felt no pain.

“HAHAHAHAHA...!”

The Blood Demon’s laughter echoed far across the night sky, resonating so powerfully that it rattled the mindscape, threatening to obliterate it.

Namgung Su ignored the surreal scenery and continued swinging his lightning-wreathed fists while talking to Baek Suryong. “Baek Suryong, can you hear me?”

BAM! BAM! KABOOM!

His eyes stayed fixed on those red pupils even as he unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks that gave his opponent no time to breathe. He called Baek Suryong’s name over and over, provoking him in an attempt to bring back the man whose body the Blood Demon had seized.

“I know you’re not asleep. Everyone at the Azure Dragon Academy knows you suffer from chronic insomnia.”

Since Baek Suryong’s body was battered from the fight against the Night Emperor, not even the Blood Demon could properly block Namgung Su’s attacks. He was flung back and forth, taking blow after blow without resistance.

CRACKLE, CRACKLE!

The Royal Lightning Sword Style’s lightning seeped into Baek Suryong’s entire body.

At the same time, memories sealed away by sorcery began to resurface little by little.

From the beginning, Namgung Su’s punches had never been merely a way to vent his frustrations. He had blended the principles of the Namgung Clan’s secret massage technique with his purifying lightning to drive the sinister spirit out of Baek Suryong’s body.

“It is all futile. Even if you pour every last bit of your lightning into this, all you will do is buy time...” The Blood Demon laughed with delight despite coughing up blood. He reached toward the sky, trying to float up into the air again.

Namgung Su grabbed him and slammed him back into the ground each time, over and over.

KABOOOOOM!

Slammed back-first into the ground once more, the Blood Demon’s chest heaved as he retched up mouthful after mouthful of blood. His vision blurred for a moment.

Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed the hem of Namgung Su’s pants.

“Namgung Su, I, don’t want, to die...”

Namgung Su froze. That desperate voice and gaze were not the Blood Demon’s. They belonged to Baek Suryong.

However, he did not stop punching the Blood Demon. “You sinister thing. No matter how hard you try to bait me with your silver tongue, it won’t work. Do you know why?”

“Because your will is unshakable?”

“No, not even close.”

Namgung Su glared straight into the Blood Demon’s sneering red eyes. Lightning, completely different from before, condensed in his raised hand as if he were gathering a thunderbolt.

CRACKLE, CRACKLE!

“It’s because Baek Suryong is far better at pissing me off than you are.”

An intense light exploded, swallowing everything within a hundred meters. Namgung Su had fired dozens of lightning strikes in a row, each bright enough to blind.

RUMBLE... KABOOOOOOM!

Nothing remained where the thunder and lightning swept through. The ground had turned to ash, and the scorching air shimmered like a desert mirage. And at its center...the Blood Demon caught Namgung Su’s outstretched fist.

“Did I not tell you? You are merely wasting time. That’s all.”

The two blood-soaked men stood face-to-face, glaring at each other as if they wanted to devour one another.

HISSSSSS...

“You just missed your last chance to kill me.”

FWOOOOOSH!

Hair the color of blood shot up into the air. The sky was responded to the Blood Demon’s heaven-defying power.

DRIP...

The Blood Demon shed tears of blood from both eyes and smiled gently.

Namgung Su’s eyebrow twitched at the sight.

“I will finally transcend the heavens. Please do not interfere. I do not wish to harm my only friend who has seen my hell.”

Namgung Su wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “For as long as it takes.”

Baek Suryong’s body floated up and swiftly shot toward the swirling sky. At any moment, he seemed ready to break through the heavens.

“...Nonsense.” Namgung Su immediately flew up and charged at the Blood Demon. Although the lightning around his fists was weaker than before, he still had enough strength to stop his foe.