Have You Ever Seen Hell? (2)

A moment of life-or-death.

Just as breath seemed to stop and the heart tightened, Hae Yeon’s fist sliced through the air behind Tang Pae’s back.

Paaaaat!

A dozen or so qi-blasts of fist energy erupted explosively.

Unlike the heavy, solemn power of his usual fists, a lightning-fast boxing style struck and sent the Ten Thousand People Clan’s fighters flying one after another.

Kwaduk!

The jaw of the Ten Thousand People Clan swordsman hit by the blow crumpled in an instant.

He spat blood and broken teeth as he was flung backward.

Hae Yeon gritted his teeth.

In his haste to unleash his fist technique, there was no leeway to spare the enemies’ lives.

Of course, they would soon die from poisoning regardless.

He knew that.

But even so, the fact that Hae Yeon had cut their lives short did not change.

Without even a moment to whisper a curse for their souls, the enemies lunged again like mad dogs.

“Ugh!”

During the brief window Hae Yeon had opened, Tang Pae, somehow regaining his senses, swung his hand in lightning speed and launched poison bullets.

Pah-uhng! Pah-uhng!

Black poisonous smoke burst out thickly in succession, but poison bullets alone, without mixing toxic rods, couldn’t dominate the entire gorge.

Through the gaps in the poisonous smoke, packs of famished jackals lunged fiercely.

That wasn’t all.

Kagagagak!

From above came the continuous sound of metal scraping against rock.

Those who had launched up the cliff were planting their blades into the cliff face to lift themselves and surged down to overwhelm Tang Pae and Hae Yeon at once.

“Up!”

“Yes!”

Hae Yeon immediately sent a series of fist techniques at those charging from the front.

At the same time, extremely thin cow-hair needles spewed from Tang Pae’s sleeve and showered down like rain onto the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters descending from above.

Kwaang! Kwa-aang!

Those charging from the front were struck by Hae Yeon’s fists and flung away covered in blood, but those descending from above kept attacking despite being pierced all over by the cow-hair needles.

“Kruhaaaap!”

The horrible pain of countless tiny needles burrowing into their bodies.

But weren’t the Ten Thousand People Clan’s blade-wielders the kind of bastards who would swing their blades even with a sword lodged in their hearts?

Tang Family’s martial skill lacked the stopping power to hold back such people.

Flustered, Tang Pae again thrust his hand back into his sleeve.

But the speed at which a Ten Thousand People Clan blade descended upon his head was faster than the hand being drawn out again.

The very moment Tang Pae widened his eyes.

Parararararak!

A crescent-shaped aura began to descend with a leisure that didn’t match the urgency of the battlefield.

It was like a butterfly alighting gently on a brightly bloomed flower.

That aura soon touched the wrists of the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters targeting Tang Pae.

The wrist of a hardened warrior split in an instant.

This was only the beginning.

Successive crescent-shaped gusts of qi poured onto the bodies of the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters who had been sweeping toward Tang Pae.

Suhuk! Suhuk! Suhuk!

Light movements like a butterfly’s wings.

But the results were by no means light.

Blackened poisoned blood gushed out from the ripped bodies.

Thud!

A dead Ten Thousand People Clan warrior collapsed to the side.

Tang Pae turned his head at the sight, when a thunderous shout pierced his ears.

“Get your head straight!”

“G-Green Forest King!”

“Don’t scream trying to stop what’s already unstoppable! Focus on what you can do! The rest will be filled by others!”

At those words, Tang Pae quickly nodded.

In any case, his poison couldn’t completely stop their charge.

So he had to at least lighten the burden on others.

Cheng! Cheng!

Breaking the poison vials one after another, he unleashed a gust of qi at once.

The poisonous sand imbued with the Tang Family’s deadly poison spread wide to the rear of the valley.

He gave up on using poison to form a wall to block the enemy’s approach.

Instead, he intended to poison everyone charging from the rear as well.

The thin, wide-spreading poison covered the enemies.

The Ten Thousand People Clan fighters gritted their teeth as they saw the advancing poisonous mist.

It wasn’t as thick as earlier, to the point of obscuring the front entirely.

But it was still Tang Family poison.

If they charged in like this, the outcome was obvious.

Knowing that, the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters didn’t stop; they redoubled their momentum.

The result would be the same anyway.

Once the order to charge was given, Ho Ga-Myung’s command did not change.

If they hesitated and stopped because of the poison coming from the front, they would not be cut down by the poison but by blades coming from behind.

So the only way to survive was forward!

Madness flashed in the eyes of the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters.

They all shouted and plunged into the poisonous fog.

“Those mad bastards!”

Im So-Byeong spat out a rough sound.

He could make his subordinates strong too.

Given enough time, if he could manipulate that huge organization called the Green Forest as he wished, he could train them into an elite not inferior to the Ten Thousand People Clan within ten years at least.

But that didn’t mean the Green Forest could stand on equal footing with the Ten Thousand People Clan.

The Ten Thousand People Clan was the Ten Thousand People Clan. They were unmatched even within the Evil Sect.

The reason the relatively young Ten Thousand People Clan became one of the Divine Lords and ultimately took the center of the Four Sects Alliance wasn’t simply because they were strong.

They were, in fact, the craziest bastards across the entire Evil Sect.

The fact that member loyalty was weak and control was difficult was like an incurable chronic disease of the Evil Sect.

Isn’t that why, despite always overwhelming the Justice faction in numbers, they repeatedly lost to the Justice faction?

But the Ten Thousand People Clan was different.

Their unity and loyalty easily surpassed the Justice faction.

No matter how hard Im So-Byeong tried, he couldn’t elicit such blind loyalty.

That insane cohesion was already the realm of the Evil Sect…

No, hadn’t it surpassed even the realm of martial men?

“Fall back…”

At that moment, a group suddenly flew in from behind Im So-Byeong and surged past him.

“Southern Island?”

Im So-Byeong’s eyes widened.

The elders of Southern Island who charged from the rear not only passed Im So-Byeong but also Hae Yeon and Tang Pae, crashing into the Ten Thousand People Clan’s front line.

“Come! You wicked bastards!”

“This is Southern Island Sect’s fight! You can’t take a step back unless you pass me!”

“Die, filthy Ten Thousand People Clan bastards!”

Swaaaaaa!

With a sound like a massive wave crashing, the tidal-like sword qi emitted by the Southern Island Sect elders swept the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters away at once.

“…Huh.”

A hollow breath escaped from Im So-Byeong’s mouth.

These were people who hadn’t been much of a combat force up to this point.

Weren’t they only busy protecting their own disciples and holding back the rest?

But the shackle of being ‘disciples’ had now been broken.

They were proving why Southern Island was one of the Nine Great Sects and what those Southern Island Sect elders were.

A desperate escape they never imagined they’d experience in their lifetime.

Their swords, suppressed by that pressure, were now vomiting forth all their pent-up rage.

Chwaaaaak!

Blue sword qi resembling the sea shot out in layers.

It carried the dense internal force that a Justice faction master had steadily built up over decades.

The Ten Thousand People Clan fighters might be elite within the Evil Sect, but ordinary brigands couldn’t withstand the internal qi carried in a Nine Great Sects elder’s sword qi.

Kagagakang!

“Aaaaaaah!”

“Kuaaah!”

No matter how strong a person, they couldn’t stop the incoming tidal wave; likewise, the fate of the Ten Thousand People Clan who dared stand before Southern Island Sect’s sword qi was obvious.

If they clashed blades, their swords would break; if they braced their strength to block, they’d be swept away by the internal force.

“Cut off every last breath!”

Geum Yang-Baek shouted in a booming voice and swung his sword.

The blue sword qi that had been on his blade struck the air and fell to the rear.

The Ten Thousand People Clan fighters who were watching for an opening to charge from the rear were unexpectedly swept and cut down by the flying sword qi.

“Aaaah!”

“My arm! My arm!”

Whether soldier or warrior, there’s one reason they can fight with their lives on the line.

Those who reached the front line were already half out of their minds.

But conversely, it meant those who hadn’t reached the front were not yet fully soaked in madness.

Fear flickered in the eyes of the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters who witnessed the disaster unfolding right before them.

“Don’t let a single one through!”

Geum Yang-Baek shouted.

“Yes!”

In response, Southern Island Sect’s elders answered with veins bulging in their necks and raised their battle cries.

Breaking through Guangdong was like hell.

It wasn’t only the Southern Island Sect’s disciples who were forged by that march.

Even the Southern Island Sect’s elders’ swords—those who had quietly trained on the peaceful island—now bore unprecedented killing intent and venom.

Kwaduk!

Each time the Southern Island’s elders swung their swords, Ten Thousand People Clan fighters were mercilessly cut down.

Black poisoned blood gurgled and poured from the mouths of those whose necks had been pierced.

Paaat!

The elders who drew their swords without delay didn’t merely hold their positions; they stepped forward.

Even though their duty was to hold the line, hatred for the enemy drove their feet forward.

“Come! You fucking dog-like Ten Thousand People Clan bastards!”

Killing intent poured forth from their eyes.

“Huaaaarp!”

The gap in skill was clear.

For the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters charging at the forefront, this formation of the Southern Island Sect elders was an impenetrable iron wall.

But the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters charged into that iron wall without a moment’s hesitation.

Like a bird smashing its head into a bell to make it ring, they willingly threw their lives at the elders.

Suhuk! Suhuk!

Wave-like sword qi didn’t just cut bodies—it sliced them clean through as it passed.

Even as their hearts were cut, the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters swung their blades; even with their waists severed and falling to the ground, they swung to aim for the elders’ legs.

There were no devils like them.

A malice to harm the enemy even as their own life ended!

But the Southern Island Sect’s elders facing them were equally ruthless.

Pook!

A sword plunged into the nape of one who, his waist cut in two, was trying to swing his blade one last time.

A sword that had cleaved a heart instantly slit the throat of one who still had some strength left.

Kwaduk!

Horrible sounds burst out repeatedly.

It was the sound of a sword that had pierced a Ten Thousand People Clan member’s chest catching on ribs and clanking.

The agony of a sword raking through the chest is beyond words.

They should have screamed until their throats split, yet the Ten Thousand People Clan fighters, consumed by battlefield madness, seemed unable to feel pain as they grabbed the sword driven into their chests with both hands.

“Ugh?”

Not missing that split-second when the elder’s sword was held, blades surged in from the left and right.

There was one choice to make: drop the sword and retreat.

But the reason that obvious choice was not taken was the teaching that a swordsman must not let go of his sword until his life was over.

Those words heard all their lives kept them clinging to their swords.

Suhuk! Suhuk!

The incoming blades sliced across the Southern Island Sect’s elder’s body horizontally and vertically.

Soon, blood spurted from the split surface.

“You, you sons of bitches!”

The life of someone who had been together with them for decades was fading.

In the eyes of the other elders facing that death, intense malice and killing intent boiled over.

They cut, they stabbed, they killed, they cursed.

A scene that has continued endlessly since the martial world came into being.

In the single path where right and wrong, Justice and Evil, meet, the same sight always unfolds.

They had forgotten what they once pursued, what they sought to obtain, and even why they were fighting.

They all became beasts, slaughtering whoever stood before them without restraint.