The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan

Peng Gu-in slung So Woon over his shoulder and climbed the rock face.

A slumped person was heavier than one might think. He had to climb the rock face, which had few handholds, using just the strength of his fingertips.

Peng Gu-in gripped the sharp rock outcroppings as he ascended.

Boom!

A chunk of rock flew and struck the rock face.

There was a loud noise, and the rock face vibrated. Peng Gu-in gritted his teeth and held on to avoid falling.

He didn’t look back. The fact that the rock hadn’t hit him meant that Yi-gang and Cho Myung-hwi were doing their job well.

“I will definitely… come back.”

Something hot welled up from deep within his throat.

He had run away, using the excuse of not having his weapon, the blade.

It was shameful, but it was the truth.

But what about the other two, who were younger and had lower status in Jianghu?

Cho Myung-hwi revealed his hidden identity and stayed, and Yi-gang, who he disliked for being weak, also stayed.

They were the true heroes, men with burning passion.

“I’ll come back and save you both!”

Peng Gu-in, having climbed the rock face, grabbed So Woon tightly and ran.

Towards the brightening northern sky.

His roaring voice as he ran echoed down to the base of the rock face.

Yi-gang was secretly shocked.

It was one thing that Cho Myung-hwi had hidden his identity, but to think that Peng Mu-ah’s brother was right there beside them.

He felt like he understood why Peng Mu-ah used to badmouth her brothers.

「These guys are disgusting. Worse than that goblin.」

He had no desire whatsoever to become sworn brothers with them.

The goblin stopped throwing rocks as Yi-gang and Cho Myung-hwi approached, as if it had been waiting for them.

Cho Myung-hwi shouted in an urgent voice.

“Those dogs… they look like wild dogs!”

“They’re not ordinary wild dogs, that’s for sure.”

But then, black dogs began to emerge from the surrounding bushes.

They were creatures with deep-set eyes.

As the goblin waved its iron club to and fro, the wild dogs started to howl, stretching their necks.

“Wooo.”

“Awoo.”

The sound of about a dozen black dogs howling in unison was bizarre.

It was certain that the goblin was controlling the dogs.

Cho Myung-hwi spoke firmly, “One of us should handle the dogs, and the other should deal with that big guy. I’ll take on…”

“I’ll handle the goblin.”

“…”

Yi-gang quickly volunteered.

Cho Myung-hwi was seriously considering it, but he had no choice after Yi-gang drew his sword and stepped forward.

At that moment, the wild dogs charged.

Cho Myung-hwi sliced one of the charging dogs in half with his sword.

“Please take care of it!”

“Kyaaang!”

But as expected, the creature was no ordinary dog.

The sword, instead of cutting the wild dog in half, got stuck in its body. Instead of blood, a sticky liquid flowed out.

Cho Myung-hwi realized that dealing with the pack of wild dogs would not be easy.

Meanwhile, Yi-gang turned his back on Cho Myung-hwi and moved forward.

The goblin, twice the size of Yi-gang, looked down at him with its three eyes.

Yi-gang walked leisurely, dragging the meteorite sword, as if amazed by his own actions.

It seemed as if the goblin was curious, wondering why he wasn’t afraid.

「That guy’s eyes are really annoying.」

There was no reason for Yi-gang to be afraid.

Although the creature was large and fast, it was no different from a beast.

The goblin lifted its iron club with both hands.

“It’s dangerous!”

Cho Myung-hwi, who was fighting the wild dogs, was alarmed seeing Yi-gang seemingly defenseless.

The goblin, like before, accelerated rapidly.

The iron club, raised high, came down on Yi-gang in a flash.

Boom!

From the loud noise and the rising dust cloud, it seemed like Yi-gang would have been flattened.

But that didn’t happen.

The iron club was stopped midway.

Precisely, Yi-gang had lifted the meteorite sword and blocked the iron club. The sharp edge of the meteorite sword was half-embedded in the iron club.

Creeeak—

Even the wild dogs were startled and momentarily became quiet.

The smile disappeared from the goblin’s face, due to the fact that Yi-gang, who seemed the weakest among the humans, had blocked the goblin’s massive iron club from below.

“It’s nothing,” Yi-gang said as he pulled the meteorite sword out of the iron club.

Seeing this, Cho Myung-hwi yelled in awe, “Uwooh!”

「It must feel like your arm is going numb.」

‘Yeah, it kind of does.’

It wasn’t nothing, after all.

Part of the reason Yi-gang had taken the attack head-on was to instill courage in Cho Myung-hwi, who was shaken in spirit.

Although the flow of inner energy was unstable, he was familiar with this level.

“Kyaaah!”

It seemed that he had sufficiently provoked the goblin.

Angered that things weren’t going its way, the goblin swung its iron club again.

This time, it was a relentless and fierce onslaught.

But Yi-gang wasn’t just blocking. His feet moved as if sliding on ice.

True to the name Cloud Treading, a technique akin to stepping on clouds, his footwork was fluid. Although he couldn’t use internal energy, he had perfected the form of Cloud Treading.

Kang- Kkang- Quaang—

Sparks flew and a loud clang resounded as the meteorite sword collided with the iron club.

In an instant, Yi-gang climbed atop the iron club that the goblin had swung down.

He swung the meteorite sword horizontally.

Srrrk—

Like chopping off the head of a turtle, three thick fingers flew through the air. The goblin, bleeding black blood from its hand, let out a ghastly scream.

“Kwooeeek!”

“Ugh.”

The scream carried a disgusting fishy smell.

The creature seemed incredibly furious.

It desperately tried to crush Yi-gang.

But it wasn’t easy. Yi-gang was no longer the young child he was five years ago.

He might not have had a powerful physique, but he possessed internal energy, and the legacy of the Immortal Divine Sword lingered in his arms and legs.

No matter how heavy the wildly swinging iron club was, it didn’t matter.

He narrowly dodged a horizontal attack that could have blown away his upper body by leaning his waist back.

The movement of bending his body and then springing forward was like the drawing of a bow, known as Bow Body Shooting Shadow.

The move that flashed light and sliced the goblin’s Achilles tendon was the fifth form of the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique, known as Absolute Thrust, said to penetrate all things.

The goblin dropped to its knees.

Yi-gang felt a burning sensation flowing through his entire body.

「Looks like you’re having fun.」

Was he smiling without realizing it?

Yi-gang took full advantage of the martial arts he had learned.

This was the first time since he departed for Kaifeng, no, since he joined the Azure Forest, that he had used all his abilities.

The giant goblin quickly became drenched in blood.

「Not all. Wait… be careful!」

The moment Blue-Eyed Mad Demon said that, Yi-gang sliced off the right wrist of the goblin holding the iron club.

The moment the iron club fell to the ground with a thud, the goblin screamed and thrust its stomach forward.

And from that stomach, a hand suddenly emerged.

That hand and the goblin’s unharmed left hand clapped together, aiming to crush Yi-gang.

Yi-gang blocked the left with his meteorite sword, and drew his short sword to block the right.

Quack!

Both palms of the goblin were pierced, but it endured the pain and lifted Yi-gang up.

There was a feeling of hatred, a desire to kill Yi-gang at all costs.

「Now that it’s come to this, use what I’ve taught you. How long are you going to save it?」

As she said, Yi-gang hadn’t brought out all his trump cards yet.

What the Immortal Divine Sword had left him was significant, but she, too, had given him something amazing.

A power that even the greatest master couldn’t grant, unique to the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon.

「The Heavenly Thunder Bell.」

‘Should I use it?’

The moment the goblin tried to swallow Yi-gang whole—a blue flash sparked.

Phu-whack!

The hands that were gripping Yi-gang turned to rags and spurted blood.

Yi-gang, dropped to the ground, was emitting a blue light.

‘I should consume the internal elixir to balance the energy.’

「It’s good enough that you moved energetically.」

What made Blue-Eyed Mad Demon famous in her lifetime was that formidable movement technique.

After a flash of blue light, someone’s chest was usually sliced open, it was said.

「Two-star of Heavenly Thunder Bell is sufficient.」

Yi-gang only learned this after hearing it from her directly.

It was not a movement technique, but a cultivation technique, named the Heavenly Thunder Bell.

The cultivation technique, which only she could use, born with the blood of the great yokai, the Heavenly Thunder White-Tailed Fox, was now manifesting in Yi-gang’s body.

Yi-gang’s eyes shone with a blue light.

Kagagagak—

His figure flashed, and he severed all three of the goblin’s forearms. The creature lost all its arms in an instant.

The Heavenly Thunder Bell was a principle that transformed the Innate True Qi into overwhelming power.

It’s not something ordinary martial artists or sorcery sages could use. Only with the help of the Blue-Eyed Mad Demon could Yi-gang accomplish this.

It consumed a massive amount of Innate True Qi and couldn’t be used for long, but the payoff was tremendous.

“Kuoooeuk!”

The overwhelming acceleration gained from the power of Thunder Qi—Yi-gang’s sword left a blue trail as it sliced through.

Srrrk—

Even after the sword passed, the goblin appeared unharmed.

It stood frozen, then its upper body slid off diagonally and fell.

Thud-thud—

It was truly a lightning-fast strike.

The blue light twinkling in Yi-gang’s eyes slowly faded.

He flicked off the sticky blood that clung to his sword.

「Not bad.」

‘A bit regrettable.’

He felt a sensation akin to intense hunger.

It was the feeling of having used up his Innate True Qi to the brink of danger.

Such power couldn’t be used lightly, but that didn’t matter now.

Yi-gang rummaged through the shattered remains of the creature.

There was a bright red jewel scattering a strange blood light.

It was the internal elixir of the yokai that lived in this All-knowing High Formation. Yi-gang pocketed it.

This would more than replenish the Innate True Qi he had used for the Heavenly Thunder Bell.

The goblin turned out to be an easier opponent than expected.

Yi-gang appeared calm and breathed.

“Huff… Huff.”

In contrast, Cho Myung-hwi, who had dealt with the pack of wild dogs, was in a terrible state. Those creatures were also yokai.

Cho Myung-hwi, his spirit shaken by the goblin, couldn’t perform at his best, and blood streamed from his arms and legs, torn by sharp teeth.

But he had no time to worry about that. To him, Yi-gang, who had single-handedly defeated the goblin, seemed like a monster.

“Henan’s Sage… was it?”

He was given the nickname Sage of Henan Province for his outstanding intelligence.

The nickname implied that Yi-gang’s martial arts skills were not impressive, a somewhat condescending perception.

But having witnessed everything firsthand, Cho Myung-hwi had to revise his opinion.

“What an insufficient nickname.”

He finally collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

Twenty warriors, including the chief of the Righteous Heaven Guard Squad.

And the Left Guardian of the Alliance, Iron Mountain Old Man, rushed in. The All-knowing Master led them, breaking through the outer axis of the formation and entering.

“Do not touch anything that I haven’t instructed you to!”

The All-knowing Master gave detailed orders.

Breaking into the formation by dismantling its outer axis was more difficult than disrupting the formation itself, especially considering that this All-knowing High Formation was not an ordinary formation but a special one made with a Treasure.

However, this slow progress was frustrating for the martial artists of the Murim Alliance.

Boom!

Iron Mountain Old Man stamped his foot and said, “All-knowing Master! At this rate, all the successors inside will die!”

“If you disrupt the formation, they will die just the same!”

The All-knowing Master stood his ground against the fury of a Supreme Peak master.

In this situation, no one could defy him.

The moment when the Left Guardian was about to burst out in anger again.

He frowned and turned his head.

“Could it be…!”

The highest expert among them sensed something first.

Someone was coming.

“Huff! Huff!”

They were at the outer axis of the formation, but someone was running towards them from the direction of the formation’s core.

The runner, accompanied by heavy breathing, was covered in blood.

It was natural, considering they had come through the traps set by the All-knowing Master himself, designed to be lethal.

Despite having iron arrows and feathered darts embedded all over his body, the person he was carrying was unharmed.

“Le-Left Guardian!”

“Ah! What are you doing! Go and help him!”

Only two out of four had made it out. But they had been prepared for the possibility that all of them might have perished.

Even the All-knowing Master was surprised.

“They made it through the third level of the All-knowing High Formation…!”

“I’m fine. Please treat this person first!”

Peng Gu-in laid down So Woon.

His complexion had turned pale from the loss of blood. The members of the Righteous Heaven Guard Squad quickly placed So Woon on a stretcher.

The Left Guardian recognized Peng Gu-in.

“You, you’re Gu-in, aren’t you! Why are you here!”

“I’ll accept the punishment later.”

Peng Gu-in didn’t feel ashamed of his exposed identity. The situation inside was more important than that.

After hastily bandaging only the most severely wounded areas, he sprang up.

“My brothers are inside, fighting against a monster.”

“What… Is Gu-hwi in there too?”

“Please follow me!”

With these bold words, he turned around and ran back.

He was heading back to where Yi-gang and Cho Myung-hwi were.

The Left Guardian, momentarily stunned, soon set his face in determination.

“We follow! We go to save the successors!”

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