The sensation of something bluntly piercing through sent shivers down Baek Cheon's entire body.
*crack*
The refined cold iron sword pierced through his steel-like, resilient body as though it were butter.
Baek Cheon, who had been staring blankly at the sword that had split the giant's body, suddenly raised his gaze.
He wanted to see Black Dragon King's annoying face up close in his final moments.
But what Baek Cheon saw in that moment wasn't the eyes of a resigned beast facing death.
Instead, it was the fiery gaze of a predator, wounded yet still striving to rampage.
Kwaaaah!
Baek Cheon was thrown backward.
"Ugh... ahh!"
Thud!
Black Dragon King's iron grip on the cold iron sword embedded in Baek Cheon's abdomen. He intended to break it, but the sword wouldn't break as easily as he'd hoped. Instead, it only stirred up more turmoil within his abdomen.
Eventually, the infuriated Black Dragon King ripped the sword from his flesh.
Pahat!
Blood gushed from the gaping hole, and as Black Dragon King tossed the extracted sword aside, he glared at those surrounding him with hatred and malice.
"How dare... how dare these brats..."
Those who live by the sword must always be prepared for the day when the sword will be plunged into their own necks.
Black Dragon King was not so foolish as to believe he would never die. But he had never imagined being surrounded by these brats, pushed to the crossroads of life and death.
"Ugh..."
*crack*
Black Dragon King grabbed the wound on his flank and crushed it. It was a crude method of hemostasis, without any gentleness. There was no time for calm bloodletting and wound dressing now.
Black Dragon King's eye sockets and whites turned a sickly shade of red.
"Am I... am I to die here, this scum!"
Raging, he swung his guandao with all his might. The dense ink qi spat out from it flew straight towards Baek Cheon, who lay defenseless.
Before the ink qi could strike Baek Cheon, Yu Yiseol, flying like a swallow, grabbed Baek Cheon's shoulder and rolled his body.
Kwaaaaah!
"This bastard!"
"Stay calm, Jo Gol!"
As Jo Gol rushed towards Black Dragon King, Baek Cheon, who had fallen to the ground, quickly shouted, "It's the wounded... *cough* *cough* It's urgent! Don't let him escape! Don't give him a chance by rushing in recklessly!"
Baek Cheon's words prompted the sword masters of Mount Hua and Hye Yeon to react first.
Suppressing their excitement, they tightened the encirclement around Black Dragon King even further, as if to ensure that he would never escape from this place, as Baek Cheon had suggested.
"Ugh!"
Once again, Black Dragon King's guandao unleashed a powerful burst of ink qi.
"Amitabha!"
Hye Yeon's gigantic authority clashed with the ink qi, diverting its direction. Despite Black Dragon King's full-force attack.
Kwaaaaah!
The force he released crashed into the ground, shattering it into pieces. In that moment, Black Dragon King's eyes trembled.
It wasn't because his attack had been blocked. Nor was it because the power of his released force had significantly weakened.
It was because those who had blocked his attacks continued to calmly surround and pressurize him.
Though he had tried to create openings in his usual excited manner, they refused to yield. They had begun to respond like experienced hunters.
"This..."
Black Dragon King, who had been biting his lips, shouted.
"You arrogant righteous sect bastards! Aren't you ashamed?"
It was a predictable provocation. There was no need to respond to such a petty aggressive plan.
Upon hearing his words, Jo Gol chuckled.
"Heheh. It's quite an amusing situation, isn't it?"
"What, what did you say? You!"
Though he laughed, his eyes remained calm.
"I might have been excited by those words in the past. But after being taught a lesson by the river bandit group, I've learned how immature such thoughts are."
Jo Gol's words, spoken in agreement, went unchallenged.
"Isn't that right, senior brother?"
"...I still get startled by nets. I haven't gone near the river since then."
Yun Jong's nonchalant remark made Jo Gol laugh. Despite his laughter, his eyes remained fixed on Black Dragon King.
It wasn't just a joke.
They had learned that discussing cowardice on the battlefield was meaningless. They had learned how dangerous it was to overestimate their martial arts prowess.
And above all, they had learned how terrifying it was to be surrounded.
Without such experiences, they could never have grown as much as they had. So...
"This is the method I learned from you, Black Dragon King."
...
As Black Dragon King's face, burning with rage, gradually but unmistakably began to change into a different emotion.
Even Li Songbaek and Jin Geumryong, struggling to rise to their feet, were joining the fray.
The fiery rage on Black Dragon King's face gradually, but clearly, transformed into another emotion.
He was beginning to instinctively realize something.
No matter how many subordinates were present here, and even if the remaining strength of the River Bandit Group was still formidable enough to kill all the foes in sight, saving the life of the Black Dragon King seemed impossible.
The riffraff surrounding them were of no help in such a situation.
The nagging doubt that had been creeping up since earlier now thickened naturally.
"Why...? Why haven't they arrived yet? Why!"
By now, they should have arrived. The bandit lords of the Eighteen Bandits of the Yangtze River, leading their subordinates. Not the lackeys present here, but the real brass of the river bandit group.
But why had it come to this point without even a glimpse of them? Surely they must have heard the news of his ambush?
"Ugh...."
The hand holding the guandao of the Black Dragon King trembled slightly.
His breath grew rough involuntarily. Terrible pain surged from the wounds covering his body. Among them, the most fatal was undoubtedly the wound inflicted by that vile fellow's sword piercing his chest.
His internal strength didn't gather properly as if leaking from a rusty vessel. It was undoubtedly the blade piercing his chest that had also scratched his dantian.
Could he escape from here?
The Black Dragon King clenched his prized weapon tightly. He tried to appear bold, but his gaze trembled slightly.
At that moment, Yun Jong subtly advanced, pressuring the Black Dragon King.
Unconsciously, the Black Dragon King recoiled, biting his lips tightly.
"My way... is..."
A sinister momentum overflowed from his eyes.
"Do you know what my way is, you vermin-like scoundrels!"
With a roar, the Black Dragon King charged straight towards Baek Cheon.
"I am the Black Dragon King! Even if I die, I won't die alone! You curs of Mount Hua!"
Baek Cheon, missing his sword, couldn't demonstrate his true abilities. It was too obvious a choice for the Black Dragon King to pick a victim.
However, the problem was that others had already anticipated the Black Dragon King's choice.
"What a predictable move!"
As if waiting, Jo Gol blocked Baek Cheon's path. His sword extended like a flash towards the Black Dragon King.
But the Black Dragon King, instead of retreating at the sight of the sword aimed at him, charged even faster like a raging bull. He rammed into Jo Gol as if determined to die.
Jo Gol was momentarily taken aback.
"What?"
Jo Gol's sword pierced through the Black Dragon King's chest.
Simultaneously, the startled Jo Gol was struck fiercely by the Black Dragon King. Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, Jo Gol spat blood as he was thrown away.
"Cough!"
The Black Dragon King coughed roughly, spitting out blood. Though blood poured like a basin, his momentum didn't diminish at all. He looked at Baek Cheon again with eyes full of killing intent.
"Stop!"
Yu Yiseol and Yun Jong, moving urgently, slashed at the Black Dragon King diagonally. Two streaks of blood were drawn in the air. It was a fierce strike that cut bone and flesh.
But the Black Dragon King didn't stop; he kept moving.
"Deputy sect leader!"
When Li Songbaek and Jin Geumryong blocked Baek Cheon and Nangong Dowi, the Black Dragon King's guandao swung with all its might.
The Black Dragon King's arm swelled as if it would burst at any moment. The gathered strength burst from the tip of the guandao.
The guandao struck down Li Songbaek and Jin Geumryong, planting their feet into the ground like tree roots. Then, with all his strength, he swung his sword towards the flying bodies.
With hastily gathered internal strength, they couldn't resist the opponent's strength. The two couldn't withstand the rushing guandao and were pushed back again and again.
"Ah!"
Despite their desperate resistance, they were swept away by the rushing blow.
Baek Cheon and Nangong Dowi, entangled, tumbled helplessly.
Because of that, the rope Baek Cheon had tied around Nangong Dowi's body broke. Nangong Dowi's body, now slack, rolled around like a leaf in a storm.
The Black Dragon King continued his frenzied attacks, unleashing his madness and ferocious momentum without restraint.
"Die!"
"Deputy sect leader!"
Yun Jong's cry erupted like a scream.
He didn't stop them. He didn't even think about avoiding them.
Because he hadn't thought of avoiding them in the first place.
Even in a situation where his life was half gone, the Black Dragon King had been searching for a way to survive until the end.
With a thud!
As expected, the Black Dragon King, who had been thrown more than ten feet, pushed the ground with his remaining hand as if to thrust it away.
Despite blood oozing reluctantly from his wounds, he half stumbled, half rolled forward.
"...I'll survive!"
Even if his limbs were severed, even if he lost his martial arts and became a cripple, it didn't matter.
In this brutal Martial Arts World, he had learned only one thing: opportunities always came to those who survived.
The dead received nothing. No matter how glorious their death, they were given nothing.
Any opportunity, ultimately, could only be seized by the living.
"To live..."
His legs wobbled on the ground. Exhausted and heavily injured, he was almost like a walking corpse. But he mustered his last strength and stood up.
As he awkwardly straightened his massive body, the world opened up wide before him. He saw his subordinates rushing towards him with all their might.
His breath eased. Instead of the stench of blood, the scent of life wafted in.
Now, if he just ran out like this, he could survive. He could endure any sword strike aimed at his back.
"Ugh... Aaaah!"
In a moment of unleashed emotion, just as the Black Dragon King was about to exert his full strength into the ground—
A twitch!
His body convulsed as if struck by lightning and then froze instantly.
"Wha...?"
No one could understand.
Not even Mount Hua's companions, including Baek Cheon, could see. All they could see was the Black Dragon King's back.
But the river bandits charging towards the Black Dragon King could clearly see.
They saw the moment when the joy of survival, brimming on the face of the Black Dragon King, turned into despair, frustration, and then panic.
"You... you..."
The Black Dragon King stared blankly at the ground before him.
No, in truth, he wasn't seeing the ground or the river bandits filling it, but something beyond them.
He couldn't help but sense it.
Beyond was not life.
It was the death he had struggled so hard to avoid.
"Ugh... Uh..."
Then he could understand. Why the bandit lords hadn't come. Why he had been driven to this point.
Who stood at the bright horizon.
But knowing didn't change anything.
"Aaaargh!"
The Black Dragon King recoiled like lightning. His eyes, filled with terror, scanned the fallen figures all around, not knowing where to look.
Kaang!
He struck the ground. The only way to survive was right there.
"Here...!"
His remaining hand reached out, swinging the guandao. Toward the fallen Baek Cheon, his entire existence depended on it.
"Come here! Here!"
Abandoning all the dignity and prestige of the Black Dragon King that he had so desperately guarded, he was nothing but a pitiful human seeking survival.
But precisely because of that, his figure was desperate and vivid.
"Aaaah!"
With an uncontrolled desire, he screamed as he launched his body.
His fingers stretched to the very end as they finally touched Baek Cheon's neck.
"Done...!"
Puuuuwooooosh!
At that moment, a thunderous roar echoed in his mind.
"..."
His hand stopped. Just inches away from Baek Cheon's neck in the air.
The Black Dragon King stared blankly at Baek Cheon, his own hand, and Heo Kong.
Or perhaps he wasn't looking at anything.
His gaze slowly lowered. A drop of blood-stained cold sword caught his eye.
There, he saw an unmistakably familiar sword.
Drip.
The flowing blood stained the scabbard, and soon his hand, holding the sword, was dyed a vivid red.
The last place the Black Dragon King's gaze fell was on the face of the person holding the sword. Specifically, it was the chilling gaze emanating from the face now covered in bruises.
"You..."
The twisted face contorted strangely.
The Black Dragon King could understand. That distortion was undoubtedly a 'smile.'
"I... said... you would die by my... hand."
The twisted corner of his mouth opened, revealing a bloodied tooth.
It was eerie, yet at the same time, it was a refreshing and bright smile.
"Nangong..."
"The blood feud... is settled. Enemy... general..."
The Black Dragon King, who had been silently watching Nangong Dowi, slowly raised his head. A vast expanse of blue sky was visible.
No matter how much the Yangtze River made it his world, Changchun (蒼天) was undoubtedly beyond.
"You..."
The Black Dragon King's massive body collapsed like a rotten tree.
"Kiral..."
Kuwung!
It was truly a humble testament, unworthy of the giant who once ruled the world.