Chapter 64: Thank You

In truth, that roar wasn’t just to fire myself up or show off.

My bellow was a kind of camouflage, meant to hide the weakness of the trump card I was about to play.

After I jumped out the window and gauged the auras of the people surrounding me, I instantly realized that fighting here would be suicide.

I hadn’t yet figured out they were all members of the Seven Evils, but my instincts knew it was a force I absolutely could not handle.

So escape was unavoidable.

The problem was that they had no intention of letting me run.

That was why I had laid out a precise sequence.

First, pretend to run.

If I did, they would try to cut off my escape and attack together.

Second, endure that first wave with the Ojeol Divine Art and look for the weak link.

By “weak link,” I meant the one whose power lagged behind the others, or whose determination to block me was relatively weaker.

Third, once I found that weak link, I’d unleash my strongest technique, Thunderclap upon Thunderclap, to blow open a path.

Given how massive their auras were, I would need to escape before any follow-up attacks rained down.

For something I came up with in my first flash of inspiration, it wasn’t bad.

But in the second step, two things went wrong.

First, their attacks churned my internal energy badly and left a not-so-light injury in my side.

Second, I couldn’t find a weak link.

Both were bad. Very bad.

The first interfered with my trump card, the second meant I had no idea where to break through.

Even so, I forced the third step.

Partly because no better idea came to mind, but more importantly because I had no time to sit there thinking.

I chose Thunderclap Saber Lord as my target in front of me.

Lord of Life-and-Death was a bit closer, but by match-up, I judged Thunderclap Saber Lord slightly less troublesome and decided on the spot.

I hadn’t suffered internal injuries, but Lord of Life-and-Death’s palm strength had shaken my qi and blood so badly that the inner strength I’d raised coming out of the bedroom was now scattered.

I barely managed to gather it again and poured it into Iron Rod, then unleashed Thunderclap upon Thunderclap.

Woooong.

Space itself trembled.

But the roar of the lion I let out at the same moment devoured that sound.

“Uwoooo!”

I desperately prayed this trump card would work.

If it failed, that was the end.

To jump to the conclusion: it was half a success.

Even though Thunderclap Saber Lord could never have expected this move, the instant my roar erupted, he thickened his defenses.

He raised a shield of saber qi.

If that had been all, he never would have been able to defend against the invisible lightning that crossed space to strike—but he also strengthened his protective internal energy, preparing for formless surprise attacks as well.

It was a brilliant response.

Proof that beyond raw strength, his real-combat experience was immense.

But he still failed to completely block Thunderclap upon Thunderclap.

Though its power was halved forcing its way through his saber curtain, my lightning still smashed into his left shoulder.

Thanks to his protective qi, he barely avoided having his shoulder and heart pulped, but Thunderclap Saber Lord plummeted to the ground.

And even while falling, the bastard swung his saber at me—at me, who was trying to use the gap he’d opened as my escape route.

Ah, damn it.

His interference grabbed me by the ankle.

If I charged straight through, I’d be shredded by his blade wind, so I had no choice but to veer toward where Lord of Life-and-Death was waiting.

Sure enough, a palm strike more ferocious than Gwaeseon’s Flame Palm came crashing down on me.

Instead of responding in kind, I followed Thunderclap Saber Lord and dropped straight toward the ground.

But before my feet touched earth, I shifted into horizontal flight.

That extreme use of Shift wasn’t to show off the beauty of my techniques.

It was because Purple Lightning Sword Lord and Soul-Stealing Spear Lord’s storm of ranged attacks forced me to change direction.

Even there, it was far from safe.

I had to take Pasan Fist Ghost’s brutal fist wind head-on.

From above, Lord of Life-and-Death was pouring down palm storms like a waterfall.

Hopeless.

There was nowhere to go.

It was checkmate, in the purest sense.

Don’t misunderstand me.

I’m saying the situation was hopeless, not that I had given up.

I’m the kind of man who believes there’s always a hole to escape through, even when the sky itself collapses.

Even if I couldn’t get out of this mess, I was damn well going to die with a few trophies. At least two of them were going to pay the King of Hell a visit with me.

That was the only way the math worked out.

Every one of them was some seventy or eighty-year-old fossil, while I was in my prime.

When you looked at it that way, two wasn’t even enough. Even if I took all five of these old relics along as companions to the underworld, I’d still be losing out.

Damn it.

So I had to live.

Live, and renegotiate the terms. In a way that benefited me.

But how?

I didn’t have an answer to that question.

And I’m not the type to sit there slack-jawed just because I don’t have an answer.

I looked for the best possible move in that moment.

No, “looked for” isn’t quite right.

There was no time to think. My instincts simply acted.

I chose Thunderclap Saber Lord again.

Not because he was easiest, or because he was already wounded, but because I expected him to be the most wary of me.

I believed Thunderclap upon Thunderclap had shaken him with more than just raw damage.

That was more wish than deduction, but either way, I expected that because of that technique, his responses would be defensive, conservative.

I used Retreat, backflipping away with Flash.

My body snapped backward at the speed of lightning.

To anyone watching, it must have looked bizarre.

It was probably the fastest backwards movement ever performed in history.

Even reacting that fast, I did not escape unharmed.

Once again, the culprit was Soul-Stealing Spear Lord.

I managed to slip through Lord of Life-and-Death’s rain of palm force and Pasan Fist Ghost’s fist wind, and barely deflected Purple Lightning Sword Lord’s terrifying sword blasts, but I couldn’t fully avoid the awl-like streams of spear qi Soul-Stealing Spear Lord launched.

Just before they hit, I suddenly had the urge to try a new variation of the Ojeol Divine Art.

But I didn’t act on that impulse.

I had the feeling that if I committed to that new move now, I’d end up taking the other attacks full-on as well.

Unfortunately, the spark of insight that had come unbidden in past life-or-death moments did not appear this time.

I took three hits.

Right arm, abdomen, and left calf.

All three were serious.

My arm almost got cut off, but thanks to the protective shield of inner strength, the bone was barely hanging on.

Using Jade Ox was now impossible.

My lower abdomen was nearly punctured.

Only because I twisted at the last instant and let it glance off did I avoid being skewered.

The leg injury was relatively lighter, but it was the most critical.

If I escaped this net, a chase would begin, and that wound would slow my movement.

But I didn’t even have the luxury of worrying about the aftermath.

First, I had to survive the present.

I lunged at Thunderclap Saber Lord.

Coming at him from behind, I couldn’t see his face, but I was sure he was utterly shocked.

When the distance between us shrank to four or five zhang, I used Turn and poured nearly my full strength into Iron Rod.

Woooong.

Space trembled, and Thunderclap Saber Lord’s face changed.

Just as I’d hoped, he began flailing his saber wildly.

An attack in form, but defensive in nature.

I slipped through the chaotic curtain of saber qi.

As I tore open his saber wall and unleashed Thunderclap Slash and Slash, the startled Thunderclap Saber Lord chose not to clash head-on and pulled back his body.

Focusing completely on defense, he opened a path for me—so I sent him a thank-you.

In my heart, of course.

Thank you.

Even then, storms of force and blasts of ranged attacks were pouring toward me from behind, from both sides, and from above.

Purple Lightning Sword Lord’s violet sword light grazed my throat.

If it had passed even two inches closer, I would have died on the spot.

Maybe it was too early to call it a miraculous escape, but at any rate, I was out of the kill zone, and I rejoiced.

As long as they didn’t get right on my tail, I wouldn’t have to worry about those combined assaults.

That alone was a huge achievement.

Finally able to think again, I assessed the situation.

I’d put out the immediate fire, but the embers were still there.

My pursuers had both the will and the skill to chase me down.

And I had the handicap of a wounded calf.

The bleeding from my abdomen worried me, too. If I lost too much blood, I could pass out at any moment.

Still, this wasn’t as hopeless as before.

I also had several advantages.

Despite my injuries to arm, abdomen, side, and leg, I could still move at full speed.

I’d conserved most of my inner strength, worried about numbness, so I still had the power to launch a crushing counterattack when needed.

Even now, in a one-on-one, I was confident I wouldn’t lose to any of them.

Another favorable point was that their movement speed wasn’t uniform.

Without turning around, I could tell the leaders of the Seven Demonic Sects weren’t running shoulder to shoulder in a tight wedge, but chasing in a line.

No doubt Thunderclap Saber Lord was at the back.

He’d soon “quietly” fall out of the chase.

After vaulting over Samjeolmun’s outer wall in a gentle curve, I checked the order of my pursuers.

Surprisingly, the one in the lead—the one closest to me—was Pasan Fist Ghost.

Purple Lightning Sword Lord, Lord of Life-and-Death, and Soul-Stealing Spear Lord followed two to three zhang behind him.

As expected, Thunderclap Saber Lord was already far behind.

I grinned.

A very favorable lineup.

If Purple Lightning Sword Lord or Soul-Stealing Spear Lord had been at the very front, this would have been more dangerous.

They were long-range specialists.

At a distance of seven or eight zhang, they’d have trouble killing me with a single strike, but simply slowing me down would have been a huge threat.

If I hesitated even for a heartbeat, I’d be exposed to massed attacks.

So having Pasan Fist Ghost at the head of the line was the best possible scenario for me.

That reading turned out to be utterly one-sided—before we’d even left Bongpyeong.

Boom!

A strange tearing sound hammered my ears, and I reflexively used Shift.

Pasan Fist Ghost’s fist wind skimmed through my hair.

My skin crawled.

If I’d been even a bit slower, and if I’d gone up instead of dropping down, my head—or my back—would’ve been smashed to bits.

I’d made the mistake of underestimating Pasan Fist Ghost and ended up in serious danger.

I’d let him close the distance by three or four zhang.

That meant Purple Lightning Sword Lord now had a chance to fire his purple sword light.

If he did, I’d be forced to slow for an instant to dodge.

And if I did that, I’d be surrounded in a heartbeat—or die under a focused barrage before that.

I had to act before that scenario played out.

The first preventive measure that came to mind was throwing my steel pellets at Pasan Fist Ghost.

But I dismissed that idea immediately.

As with Iron Horse, they would probably work on him; but even if I made him hesitate for a moment, it wouldn’t stop the others from advancing.

More likely, it would only allow Purple Lightning Sword Lord to close the gap.

I needed a more reliable plan, one whose outcome would continue to benefit me.

It was a double-edged sword.

If it worked, my odds of survival would rise sharply, but if it didn’t go exactly as intended, I’d be headed straight for the afterlife.

My hesitation was brief.

In fact, it didn’t exist.

The situation was too urgent, and I had no other options.

So I skipped weighing pros and cons and immediately put into action the all-or-nothing tactic that had flashed through my mind.

[End of Chapter]