Chapter 352

Blood-Axe Mad Demon’s roar thundered through the valley.

Ho Cheoljung had not even reached the main force yet.

—Wipe them all out... Wipe them all out... Wipe them all out...

Then another shout erupted from behind Wudang’s carriage column.

“I, the Flame-Saber Divine Demon, have also been waiting here with my Soul-Severing Mad Demon Unit for you mule-headed Taoists of Wudang!”

—WAAAAAH!

With a tremendous battle cry, demonic-path fighters who had been lying in ambush along the slopes beside the official road poured out in a black tide and cut off Wudang’s retreat.

At the head of the carriage column, Taoist Hyeonam was leading the expedition force.

The fears he had harbored the previous night had become reality, and the realization left him stricken.

How can this be?

His suspicion of Taoist Hyeongong turned into certainty.

The fact that these demonic-path fighters had been lying in wait here for some time finally explained Hyeongong’s recent behavior and actions.

Senior Brother Hyeongong... to sell out your own sect and beg for your life. I truly cannot understand you.

If they died here, there would be no one left to punish Taoist Hyeongong for betraying the sect.

And the troubles his betrayal could bring down upon Wudang afterward were impossible to measure.

This is not the time for anger. More than ever, I need a clear head.

“The advance detachment is not to engage them! Fall back immediately!”

The disciples of Namam Palace, still reeling from the death of their eldest disciple, Taoist Cheongil, turned as one at their commander’s order.

“Martial Nephew Jangsan! Take the vanguard and help the advance detachment return!”

“Order received!”

Seokjangsan immediately sprinted forward.

WHOOOSH!

He retraced their route and caught up to Ho Cheoljung, who was already racing back toward the advance detachment, in the blink of an eye.

“Cheoljung! I’m coming with you!”

After dispatching Seokjangsan, Taoist Hyeonam continued issuing rapid orders to the rest of the main force.

“Drivers! Just as we practiced. Pull the carriages together into a semicircle, release the horses, then take shelter inside the wagon barricade!”

Hyeonam had already explained the wagon barricade to the drivers and drilled them in it several times, so they moved without hesitation.

“Yeongung! Run far, far away!”

SMACK!

NEIGH!

“Suwol! If heaven favors us, we’ll meet again!”

SMACK!

NEIGH!

Startled by the drivers’ fierce lashes, the horses snorted and bolted.

CLATTER! CLATTER! CLATTER!

The Soul-Severing Mad Demon Unit, which had blocked Wudang’s retreat and was now advancing along the official road, had no choice but to scatter as a herd of riderless horses thundered toward them.

Meanwhile, the drivers positioned the carriages in two curved rows, forming a semicircle.

The two rows were staggered and interlocked. Anyone trying to pass between the carriages would have to twist through narrow gaps in a zigzag.

With even a handful of defenders stationed there, forcing a way through would be nearly impossible.

In a matter of moments, a narrow but remarkably sturdy wooden barricade had taken shape across the official road.

Once the drivers had finished and taken shelter inside the semicircular barrier, Taoist Hyeonam called out to the Wudang disciples.

“Wudang disciples! Form the Nine Palaces Five Elements Formation in front of the wagon barricade!”

Wudang’s Nine Palaces Five Elements Formation was specialized for defense.

More than anything, it excelled at allowing a small force to withstand a much larger enemy.

Over Wudang’s centuries of history, the Nine Palaces Five Elements Formation had played no small part in ensuring that Mount Wudang had never once fallen despite countless invasions by heterodox and evil forces.

Normally, Wudang’s Eight Palaces relied on the mountain’s sheer peaks at their backs.

Here, the disciples instead used the semicircular wagon barricade as their rear support and deployed a simplified version of the Nine Palaces Five Elements Formation.

The Wudang disciples responded with perfect discipline and swiftly completed their defensive preparations.

Only then did Taoist Hyeonam turn toward the advance detachment.

The fact that Wudang had suffered almost no casualties in the initial surprise attack was entirely due to Taoist Cheongil, who had led the advance detachment from the front and sacrificed himself.

The remaining disciples of Namam Palace must make it back safely...

By then, however, the Gathering Demons Division fighters had almost caught up to them.

Just as Seokjangsan and Ho Cheoljung reached the advance detachment, the Soul-Snatching Demon Unit closed the remaining distance and surged forward.

SWISH!

CLANG! BOOM!

Seokjangsan’s Songmun Sword, wrapped in vivid blue sword qi, smashed aside the blade of the foremost attacker and sent it flying.

SHHK! THUD!

Ho Cheoljung stepped forward and mercilessly cut the throat of an unarmed enemy.

“This is for Senior Brother Cheongil!”

Blood streamed down from Ho Cheoljung’s lips as he shouted.

Unable to contain his rage and grief, he had bitten through his own lip.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Seokjangsan repeatedly knocked aside the attackers’ blades and shouted.

“Ho Cheoljung! Don’t forget the promise you made Martial Uncle Kwak at the guesthouse tavern!”

Ho Cheoljung, who had been charging toward the demonic-path fighters like an enraged bull, flinched and stopped.

“...I haven’t forgotten.”

At the guesthouse tavern in Aju County City, Kwak Yeon had agreed to teach his old classmates from the Hall of Heroic Martiality the sword form Falling Star Myriad Transformations on one condition.

“Next time we meet, every one of us will gather together again, just like today.”

No matter what happened, they were to survive and meet again.

That, Kwak Yeon had said, was why he was passing on the strongest defensive sword form he knew.

Just as he had said, Falling Star Myriad Transformations was both the strongest defensive sword form and an ultimate life-saving technique.

Ho Cheoljung had already survived danger several times because of it.

A still heart admits no evil! I was so blinded by anger that I forgot the very essence of Falling Star Myriad Transformations.

In his frenzy, he had almost charged straight into his own grave.

Seokjangsan’s shout finally calmed the rage that had consumed him after Senior Brother Cheongil’s death.

CLANG! CLANG! CLAANG!

Seokjangsan swept his sword through all eight directions in a storm, blue threads of sword aura streaming from the blade.

“Cheoljung! Then fall back now!”

A dense wall of interwoven sword aura sprang up before him, forcing the charging demonic-path fighters to hesitate.

Ho Cheoljung knew that Seokjangsan was throwing everything he had into holding them back.

“Got it!”

Only once they had rejoined the main force would Seokjangsan be free of his duty as vanguard and able to fight without restraint.

Using Falling Star Myriad Transformations to fend off the enemies pressing in from the sides of the road, Ho Cheoljung steadily withdrew.

Before long, he had fallen into step with his senior and junior brothers from Geomam Palace and retreated with them.

Thanks to Seokjangsan’s dazzling performance at the front, the advance detachment managed to rejoin the main force safely.

Taoist Hyeonam shouted to the disciples of Namam Palace, all of whom had returned with wounds large and small.

“Namam Palace disciples! Move to the rear rank of the Nine Palaces Five Elements Formation and catch your breath!”

He wanted to give those who had fought their way back a chance to treat their injuries and circulate their qi.

But with disaster hanging over their heads, there was no time even for that.

The Soul-Snatching Demon Unit had followed right on the advance detachment’s heels, and now it slammed head-on into Wudang’s main force.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLAANG!

The valley filled with the ringing clash of weapons.

The Wudang disciples, elite experts of the orthodox martial world, met the demonic-path fighters with calm discipline.

But as the fighting intensified, the opposing lines collided along their entire fronts. Stronger fighters pushed forward, weaker ones gave ground, friend and foe became mixed together, and the battlefield gradually began to dissolve into a chaotic melee.

“Do not advance! Hold the formation!”

Taoist Hyeonam shouted himself hoarse as he directed the Wudang disciples.

“If your opponent is too much for you, request relief from the rear! Anyone who has recovered their breath, rotate into the front rank immediately!”

If the battle degenerated into a melee, the Nine Palaces Five Elements Formation would lose the very advantage that allowed a smaller force to resist a larger one.

Thanks to Hyeonam moving constantly along the line and urging them on, the ranks that had begun to unravel barely managed to stabilize again.

Fortunately—if it could be called that—the demonic-path fighters in this ambush were not transforming into blood fiends when they fell.

Then we still have a chance. Their numbers will put us at a disadvantage at first, but as time passes, the depth of orthodox martial arts will begin to show.

Demonic arts could be learned quickly and generally produced rapid early progress.

The weakness was that their foundations in inner power and true qi tended to be shallow.

That was precisely why Hyeonam had narrowed the battlefield with the semicircular wagon barricade and arranged the Nine Palaces Five Elements Formation so that the Wudang disciples could rotate in and out of combat.

But his hopes slowly began to fade when the demonic-path fighters who had been blocking the retreat joined the battle as well.

“Blood-Axe Mad Demon! You seem to be having quite a difficult time. Now that our Soul-Severing Mad Demon Unit is here, perhaps you can finally put some strength into it.”

The battle, which had remained evenly matched, swung sharply against Wudang as soon as the Flame-Saber Divine Demon and his Soul-Severing Mad Demon Unit joined in.

Wounded disciples began dropping one after another.

Then came the dead.

As the mounting injuries left them increasingly overwhelmed by sheer numbers, even Taoist Hyeonam, whose entire body was wrapped in bandages, had no choice but to take his place at the front.

SWISH!

CLANG!

Every time he swung his sword, blood surged from his wounds.

He had slathered them with wound medicine to stop the bleeding, but his violent exertions had rendered it useless.

SHWOOOSH!

“Guh!”

“Urgh!”

Seokjangsan, who was fighting fiercely while also guarding his commander, cut down two demonic-path fighters with a single stroke and called to Hyeonam.

“Martial Uncle Hyeonam, fall back and rest for a moment.”

Hyeonam shook his head.

“I can rest after I’m dead.”

A grotesque peal of laughter suddenly rang across the battlefield.

“Kekeke! Truer words were never spoken.”

Blood-Axe Mad Demon charged toward Taoist Hyeonam, swinging his blood-red great axe.

“I couldn’t tell which of you mule-headed Taoists was Hyeonam, but there you are. This Blood-Axe Mad Demon will let you get that rest as soon as possible.”

Seokjangsan flashed forward like lightning and planted himself in front of Hyeonam.

“Blood-Axe Mad Demon, watch your filthy mouth before your betters! Someone like you is more than enough for me.”

“You little whelp. Get out of my way.”

Blood-Axe Mad Demon brought his axe crashing down, intending to split Seokjangsan apart in a single blow.

But when a streak of blue sword aura shot upward, he hurriedly threw himself backward.

SHWAAAANG!

He used Lazy Donkey Rolls and escaped Seokjangsan’s sword aura by the narrowest margin.

His eyes bulged.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Seokjangsan, second-generation disciple of Ujin Palace.”

“I’m impressed. I never knew one of Wudang’s second-generation disciples had reached the Flower Realm.”

“Blood-Axe Mad Demon, save your amazement for hell.”

BANG! BANG! BAAANG!

Seokjangsan pressed Blood-Axe Mad Demon relentlessly with his sword wreathed in sword aura, and the other Wudang disciples began to rally as well.

Only then was Taoist Hyeonam finally able to catch his breath.

And once he did, he saw the battlefield in all its horror.

Among the corpses of the demonic-path fighters lay the bodies of Wudang disciples as well.

A martial artist lived at swordpoint and was supposed to regard life and death lightly.

But knowing that did nothing to ease the pain in his chest.

I was only pretending it didn’t hurt. Pretending I could endure it.

He wanted to cast aside that pretense and cry out.

But Taoist Hyeonam could not.

The Wudang disciples were still fighting furiously with their backs to the entrance of the wagon barricade.

Among them, his eyes found the disciples who had trained at the Hall of Heroic Martiality.

Jongsu of Hyeonmu Palace.

Ho Cheoljung of Namam Palace.

Jeong Unho of Okheo Palace.

Pyo Yeongsang of Oryong Palace...

And Seokjangsan of Ujin Palace.

Their foundations really are solid. Every one of them is still standing.

They were children who had climbed all the way from the very bottom to Mount Wudang, enduring hardship after hardship without ever breaking.

They say an orchid blooming in the snow gives off the deepest fragrance...

Hyeonam noticed that whenever any of them was driven into danger, they all used the same sword form.

He also knew that Kwak Yeon had taught it to them.

He had seen those children practicing through the night at the guesthouse tavern in Aju County.

The sight of classmates helping one another should have warmed him.

Instead, it made his heart ache even more.

To think talents like these must die on the side of some road.

No matter how profound a sword art might be, it could not overcome an endless disparity in numbers and inner power.

The Wudang disciples were gradually being driven back inside the wagon barricade.

When they held the advantage, the semicircular wall of carriages was a fortress.

Now that they were losing, it was becoming a prison.

The Gathering Demons Division fighters knew it as well and concentrated all their attacks on the single entrance to the barricade.

Even Seokjangsan, who had shone brilliantly at the vanguard, was being forced into fresh danger.

“Little brat! Try taking a strike from this Flame-Saber Divine Demon’s Flame Demon Saber as well!”

Seokjangsan simply did not possess enough inner power to fight two great fiends at once.

Watching him slowly give ground, Taoist Hyeonam felt despair close in.

There was no hope of reinforcements from the Zhongnan Sect.

Their only remaining path was to hold out inside the wagon barricade until the end came.

When Seokjangsan retreated all the way to the entrance, Blood-Axe Mad Demon recovered his axe from a great sweeping strike and shouted.

“You mule-headed Taoists! Crawling into that jar like a pack of rats, are you? Looks like you’ve finally run out of places to flee.”

The Flame-Saber Divine Demon shook the blood from his Flame Demon Saber and cackled.

“Kekekeke! Of course the Taoists still have somewhere to run. There’s always Yama’s hell!”

As the two unit leaders traded mockery at Wudang’s expense, the Soul-Snatching Demon Unit and Soul-Severing Mad Demon Unit completely surrounded the entrance to the wagon barricade.

SSSSSSSS!

Dozens of demonic-path fighters raised their demonic qi and waited only for their commanders to give the order for a simultaneous assault.

But instead of an order to attack, a single piercing whistle rang through the valley.

WHEEEEEEE!

It was so sharp that it seemed to scrape the marrow from the bones of everyone who heard it.

And yet it had come from very far away.

For it to carry with such force across that distance, the one producing that long whistle had to possess an astonishing depth of inner power.

WHEEEEEET!

In an instant, the whistle swept closer.

A figure came racing down from the mountain toward the valley with the speed of a fired arrow.

Every eye turned toward it.

TAP!

The figure kicked off the cliff face.

A pale blur flashed—

and someone landed in the middle of the official road.

For the first time that day, relief appeared in Seokjangsan’s eyes.

“Ah! Martial Uncle Kwak!”