Chapter 204 – A Large Black Bird

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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Ju-seong kicked off the ground and leaped, plunging into the midst of the things that were either ghosts or jiangshi.

These beings, wearing the faces of villagers, each possessed the physical strength of a second-rate martial artist.

-CRACK!

Ju-seong’s fierce upward palm strike snapped the neck of the one in front, but…

“…Hmm, they don’t die.”

Ju-seong murmured in bewilderment.

Even with its neck grotesquely twisted, the creature burst into a bizarre laugh and swung the sickle it held.

“It seems I’ll have to burn the entire village…”

However, keeping all these ghosts at bay while doing so wouldn’t be easy.

They didn’t die, they felt no pain, and they were quite fast… yet the village was too large.

Ju-seong made a quick decision, thrusting his forearms forward and lowering his stance.

Behind his forearms, raised like a wall, Ju-seong growled.

“Let’s see you try to block this.”

-BOOM!

When Ju-seong kicked off the ground, spiderweb cracks spread where he stood.

-THUD-THUD-THUD!

The villagers were ruthlessly smashed aside by Ju-seong’s bodily charge, thrown this way and that.

Someone tried to strike with a sickle or pole during a gap in his movement, but naturally, the weapon shattered or bounced off the Sword Aura surrounding him.

Having quickly broken through the encirclement, Ju-seong knew that running aimlessly through this unknown village might lead him into another trap.

‘Tiger-Blood Manor? Don’t make me laugh. People who create a ghost village like this wouldn’t just run a simple manor.’

Ju-seong muttered to himself as he ran for all he was worth toward the direction he’d first entered the village.

“…”

The villagers followed him in eerie silence, their footsteps perfectly synchronized in a chilling manner.

-STEP, STEP, STEP…

Ju-seong felt his spine crawl… it didn’t feel like a hundred people chasing him, but rather as if a single giant like Pangu were in pursuit.

‘The stone cairn!’

Ju-seong recalled the stone cairn standing at the village entrance.

‘Could that be the boundary of this ghost village?’

It was a night with only a sliver of a crescent moon, but for Ju-seong, who possessed the Celestial Eye, such darkness was nothing.

He saw the stone cairn twenty zhang away.

-TAAT!

Ju-seong flew like a swallow skimming the ground.

As he landed beyond the stone cairn…

-STEP, STEP, STEP…

The villagers who followed stopped abruptly right at the boundary as if by magic, staring fixedly at Ju-seong.

“Ah… dammit.”

Ju-seong rubbed the back of his neck at the eerie sensation.

* * *

“He has broken the ghost formation and escaped.”

“Hmm. He has a surprisingly firm resolve for a madman…”

An alluring woman murmured, tracing her lips.

She leaned slightly, looking out the window where she sat.

“I shall go personally. Prepare the palanquin.”

“Yes, Palace Master.”

* * *

Ju-seong stood with his hand on the stone cairn, conflicted.

‘Should I just go back? No. If I topple this cairn, maybe they’ll be neutralized.’

He continued his reasoning.

‘First… those ghosts must be wandering souls being used against their will by someone.’

Recalling the female ghost he had first released, the ghosts of this village might just be pitiable spirits.

‘This cairn likely isn’t a seal for evil spirits, but a binding curse used to forcibly control those poor souls.’

It was worth a try either way, so Ju-seong pushed the cairn over with all his might.

-RUMBLE…

As the cairn fell, several villagers blankly left the ranks and began to wander aimlessly.

“Hmm…”

The hundred-odd ghostly eyes staring at him remained, but at least half a dozen had begun to drift across the fields like mindless ghosts, as if they had returned to their natural state.

Ju-seong tilted his head, then quickly grabbed the wrist of one standing behind the fallen cairn and pulled him out.

“KYEEEE…!”

The creature instinctively swung its hoe, but there was no way it could hit Ju-seong.

The one forcibly pulled beyond the boundary began to rot and crumble instantly.

“…”

Ju-seong looked down at the corpse, whose hair had fallen out and eyes had shriveled.

Some power within that area was clearly binding the ghosts to these corpses.

A mischievous smile formed on Ju-seong’s lips.

“…Heh.”

Ju-seong suddenly began running sideways.

The mindless ghosts followed him, running as well.

However, since there was an invisible boundary between Ju-seong and them, they couldn’t charge at him.

“You’ll snap your necks like that, you rascals. Look forward when you run.”

They were running with their heads twisted sideways to stare directly at Ju-seong.

Because of that, several tripped over rocks, were trampled by their comrades behind them, and turned into mush.

-CRUNCH! SNAP.

Ju-seong shook his head at the sickening sound of tearing flesh but smiled when he saw a new stone cairn appear ahead.

“Hey! Who’s the son of a donkey treating the dead like livestock! Come out already!”

With a coarse shout, another cairn was smashed.

As soon as one more was destroyed, several more villagers left the ranks and began walking aimlessly along the rice field dikes.

As he ran and destroyed a few more cairns…

“Hmm?”

The villagers chasing him suddenly came to a dead stop.

Then, they shouted together in one voice.

“The Palace Master of Pleasure has arrived! Bow down!”

Ju-seong pushed over another cairn and murmured.

“This is truly the most bizarre experience of my life.”

As he looked around, a clear, ringing laughter echoed through the night sky.

“Hahahaha!”

“Hohoho!”

Beyond, on the ridge of a low hill, the silhouette of a palanquin carried by several people appeared.

And on either side of the palanquin, figures of women were lined up like wings.

“Poison Demon, why do you disturb the rest of the spirits and destroy their home!”

A soft voice, like jade beads rolling on a silver tray, reached Ju-seong’s ears.

It was a voice that made one feel dizzy and weak in the knees just by listening.

Ju-seong frowned slightly and tapped his forehead with his palm.

‘Is this a type of sound-based technique?’

The method of infusing the voice with seductive qi was truly unusual.

He felt the hairs on his neck stand on end from the sense of crisis.

Ju-seong stared at the women as they slowly approached.

They wore clothing so light it was embarrassing to look at… the gauze dresses were so thin they were practically transparent, and their hair was pinned up, leaving their necks fully exposed.

Wisps of hair fluttered beneath, and beneath the eyes of every single woman, a reddish qi was gathered.

‘They’ve trained in seduction arts!’

Ju-seong groaned inwardly.

He’d heard such people existed, but since he’d never properly operated in the Jiangnan jianghu, this was his first encounter.

They surrounded Ju-seong with strange, fluttering, dance-like steps.

‘Then the leader must be in that palanquin. The Palace Master of Pleasure, was it?’

The Palace of Pleasure, one of the Twelve Evil Sects.

Of course, the “Twelve Evil Sects” was an ambiguous classification.

Just as no one kept an official list of the hundred greatest masters, the same was true for the Twelve Evil Sects.

The Palace of Pleasure hung precariously at the bottom of that list, with some acknowledging them and others ignoring them.

‘But this is unusual.’

It was clear they couldn’t be ignored.

Four men, each missing something, supported the corners of the palanquin.

The two in front were each missing one arm… either the right or the left.

The arms not needed to support the palanquin had been cut off.

The two in back were in even worse shape… each missing an arm and both eyes plucked out.

Since the men in front could see, those in back only needed to lend their legs.

Ju-seong frowned at the horrific sight, and not just because of their appearance.

‘…They’re smiling.’

They were smiling ear-to-ear, lost in ecstasy.

They shouted toward Ju-seong at the top of their lungs.

“The Empress of Pleasure has arrived! The most beautiful person under heaven shall harvest your soul!”

“Hohoho, Number One, your voice is particularly booming today.”

A seductive voice came from inside the palanquin, and a hand with long nails emerged, slowly scratching the chest of one of the bearers.

Five long gashes were carved, and bright red blood streamed down.

Despite the severe wound, the bearer trembled in ecstasy.

To make matters worse, the other three bearers looked as if they were drowning in a swamp of endless jealousy, their expressions rotting as they gritted their teeth and trembled.

Ju-seong murmured in disbelief.

“You’re all truly insane. A filthy town filled with filthy people.”

“Poison Demon, you too will soon be like this. Wrapped in our skirts, struggling in pleasure…”

The witch’s voice echoed. She suddenly lowered her tone and exaggeratedly mimicked a man’s voice.

“More, do more! Pull off my limbs and take my eyes! Hahaha… You’ll end up pleading like that.”

“…Quite a big dream.”

Ju-seong murmured as he watched the dance of the dancers closing in around him.

‘I said that, but this formation is no joke.’

Even now, his mind was being eroded second by second by pink delusions.

And if he tried to break out by leaping in one direction…

‘That would be exactly what they’re aiming for.’

Their formation was clearly ever-changing. Like the mysterious formations of Zhuge Liang of old, no matter which direction he looked, he couldn’t find an opening.

Every direction was a Gate of Death.

It seemed a mix of peak and first-rate masters, but he couldn’t look for long to discern their patterns without falling into the seduction art.

The seductive scent they released from their sleeves…

And the dizzying sweat-scent unique to women were neutralized and erased by the function of Flame Crow Six Stage Art.

But from this mysterious formation and the seduction art of the dance itself, Ju-seong felt his upper dantian being invaded.

If he tried to break through by mobilizing ten-tenths of his power recklessly, that palanquin was a concern.

‘That person is definitely a martial artist on my level.’

Ju-seong murmured inwardly.

A soft laugh came from the palanquin once more.

“Hoho, how is it? The wicked demonic power of the Palace of Pleasure’s Heavenly Splendor Twenty-Eight Enshrined Demon Soul-Scattering Formation.”

Even in a dangerous situation, Ju-seong asked back in disbelief.

“Heavenly Splendor what-the-hell-now? How many characters is that?”

Though his jianghu experience wasn’t long, he’d never heard of a martial art or formation with such a long name.

“Lately, it’s the trend to name new martial arts long enough to contain all their characteristics. A man shouldn’t be so unfashionable… it’s not charming.”

“What a shitty trend.”

Ju-seong snorted, then bit his tongue hard.

The Heavenly Splendor Twenty-Eight Enshrined Demon Soul-Scattering Formation was as dangerous as its name was long.

‘There’s no other way. Let’s see… if a crow can fly with Zhen feathers.’

Just before his consciousness drifted, he released ‘that’ which was coiled in his dantian.

A pitch-black energy surged through Ju-seong’s veins. With his face covered in black veins, Ju-seong murmured in a cracked voice.

“…Empress Lü, the wife of Han Gaozu, reportedly favored this Zhen poison.”

It was a poison used by the wife of the man who held the world.

“Let’s see how toxic an Empress’s poisoned heart can be.”

* * *

The woman sitting inside the palanquin, Heavenly Splendor Fairy, lay relaxed, watching the madman become pathetically neutralized by his own delusions.

He seemed to have a firm resolve, holding out for a long time, but this wasn’t a formation that could be broken by willpower alone.

She had improved the seduction formation passed down in the Palace of Pleasure… she, the current Palace Master and a rare genius.

The original seduction formation was a low-level method using scents or suggestive movements to steal the soul.

But what she had improved was a method that, like the sword formations of prestigious orthodox sects, used the flow of qi itself to attack the opponent’s upper dantian.

Setting aside its wickedness, in terms of its sophistication, Heavenly Splendor Fairy thought it was not inferior to the grand formations of the orthodox sects.

“Hoho, he looks quite dashing and his aura is strong, so I’ll play with him for about four months before turning him into a palanquin bearer.”

As the Palace Master of Pleasure touched her lips with a suggestive smile…

“…?”

The atmosphere outside shifted abruptly.

Poking her head out of the palanquin, she was forced to pull it back in an instant due to a horrific feeling of repulsion, as if her entire face were rotting.

“KYAAAK…! What is happening outside! You useless things, report!”

But the bearers were merely empty shells who had forgotten everything except their infinite adoration and longing for the Palace Master of Pleasure.

There was no way they could give a proper answer.

One bearer only replied in a vacant voice.

“…Palace Master, there is a large black bird.”