Righteous Chivalry Guild (3)

The Red-Rain Divine Sword, Hwa Yeong-bin, and the Emei Sect masters, who had formed a bent single-file formation, advanced slowly toward Sa Won-yang.

Then Sa Won-yang, his faint smile fading, again gathered energy into both hands and fired twin Qi Orbs like lightning.

Swhak!

“Watch out!”

“It’s a Qi Orb!”

They still possessed tremendous power and speed.

However, this time the attack could not achieve its previous devastating effect.

The remaining fighters were all at least masters of seventy years’ internal cultivation, and this time they had braced themselves beforehand, fully alert.

They quickly moved their bodies, narrowly evading the Qi Orbs.

When his attacks cut through empty air, Sa Won-yang’s face became utterly expressionless.

Seeing this, Sect Head Gyeolhan shouted mockingly.

“Demon Lord! Looks like you’ve run out of tricks! This is your end!”

At her cry, the Emei warriors felt a flicker of renewed confidence.

For a moment, victory seemed possible.

But not to Hwa Yeong-bin.

He swallowed nervously instead.

He knew well what happened when the Masked Demon Lord stopped smiling—he had heard enough about it to dread it.

With that blank expression, Sa Won-yang spoke coldly.

“You insect-like wench… I meant to finish this quickly, but you people insist on being a nuisance. Especially you. I will not let you die easily.”

Then he took a single step forward.

At that moment, Hwa Yeong-bin shouted.

“He’s coming!”

And in the same instant, Sa Won-yang’s body shot toward the Emei warriors like a cannon.

His speed was monstrous.

Hwaak!

Yet the remaining masters were not ordinary.

The warriors in his path fell back immediately and formed a defensive line, while Gyeolhan and Hwa Yeong-bin closed in from both sides.

Gyeolhan’s Formless Sword Techniques, which seemed to strike from impossible angles, and Hwa Yeong-bin’s Crimson Rain Sword Art, which spread a majestic glow like sunset clouds, both pressed in.

It looked as though Sa Won-yang were surrounded—but he only snorted.

“Hmph!”

He spun in place like a top, whipping his claws through the air.

Wiiing!

Crash!

Blades of condensed qi burst from his claws, deflecting both their swords with explosive force.

The next instant, he lunged forward again.

Puhak!

“Aaagh!”

“Sect Leader!”

It took only a blink before the Emei disciples directly before him were torn apart.

And this time, he didn’t stop at killing them.

Even after their deaths, Sa Won-yang laughed like a lunatic as he shredded their corpses to pieces.

“Kehahahaha!”

Chwaaak! Chwak! Puhak!

Blood and flesh sprayed in every direction.

“Urgh!”

“Th-that…!”

Horrified, the survivors could only huddle together, paralyzed, unable to attack.

Then Sa Won-yang, drenched in blood, turned and smiled.

“Do you still think I’m finished?”

Hwa Yeong-bin and the Emei disciples could not answer.

His power was overwhelming.

There was no chance of victory.

---

Seonu Jin and Bi Sayoung darted through the main hall at full speed.

There were guards inside, but only weak ones—nothing Seonu Jin couldn’t dispatch with ease.

The real problem was that they still couldn’t find the kidnapped women.

They had searched every floor—from the first to the fourth.

Seonu Jin cursed.

“Damn it! They must be in a basement, but there’s no entrance leading down!”

He had clearly miscalculated.

Time was slipping away, and he feared that something terrible might happen to Hwa Yeong-bin.

And if that happened, it would mean Seonu Jin’s entire plan had failed.

His anxiety only grew.

After a moment’s thought, Seonu Jin muttered.

“We should go back… We can still escape with Hero Hwa—”

Bi Sayoung grabbed his shoulder firmly.

“Calm down, Jin. You’re not wrong. This is the right place.”

Hearing that trust, Seonu Jin’s chest eased for a moment.

But he sighed nonetheless.

“I appreciate it, but I think I’m wrong this time. There’s no basement here.”

Bi Sayoung looked around.

“Maybe we just haven’t found it yet. What if it’s hidden—a secret passage?”

“…A secret passage?”

“Yes. The kind only Sa Won-yang would know.”

That thought lit something in Seonu Jin’s mind.

“If only he knows it… that’s possible. It’s not as if ordinary guards never come in here. If there is a basement, they wouldn’t leave the entrance out in the open.”

Then, like a map unfurling in his mind, the structure of the building came into focus.

His photographic memory—a talent that had once earned him the title of “prodigy”—came to life.

“If there’s a secret entrance, it must be near Sa Won-yang’s room.”

He reconstructed each floor in his mind—fourth, third, second, and first—building the layout in three dimensions.

In just three breaths, the entire structure stood clear in his mind, every corridor and chamber aligned.

And then, at last, he saw it.

“Follow me!” he said sharply.

Bi Sayoung grinned.

“You found it! I knew it!”

They ran to the center of the hall, where a large square pillar stood.

Seonu Jin knocked on it.

“This pillar was right beside Sa Won-yang’s room on the fourth floor. And…”

Thonk. Thonk. Thonk.

He grinned.

“It’s hollow.”

He slashed the pillar in four strokes, horizontal and vertical.

The cut wall collapsed inward, revealing a dark shaft beyond.

A ladder led downward into the depths.

“Found it!”

---

Meanwhile, Hwa Yeong-bin’s battle with Sa Won-yang was turning dire.

Only four remained alive.

Two had died moments ago, and two more had just fallen.

Sa Won-yang laughed as he tossed a severed head into the air and caught it again.

“Only four left? It’s almost disappointing that this delightful game is ending. But…”

He crushed the head in his grip.

Squelch!

“…Such is life.”

With blood and brain matter smeared across his face, Sa Won-yang smiled like a devil from hell.

The surviving Emei disciples trembled visibly, paralyzed by fear.

Gyeolhan too was shaken—her eyes darted wildly, her will broken.

Hwa Yeong-bin glanced at them and recalled Seonu Jin’s words:

“If the tide turns hopeless, you must run.”

This was that moment.

He knew Seonu Jin was right.

Gyeolhan was a blight upon the Emei Sect; her death might even benefit it.

The others were merely her followers.

He had no reason to feel guilt abandoning them.

But Hwa Yeong-bin only gave a hollow smile.

“I can’t.”

It wasn’t because of them.

It was because of himself.

He hadn’t considered himself alive in over a decade.

Ever since he’d lost his other half—his soul—he’d had no reason to live.

For years, he had been breathing, but slowly dying inside.

Only vengeance for her had kept him standing.

And now, before him stood the very Demon Lord who had caused her death.

Could he run?

Because he feared dying?

That wasn’t him.

Fighting the Blood Demon Lord was the only thing he could do for her.

If he couldn’t even do that, there was no reason to go on living.

And he wasn’t afraid of death anyway.

He hadn’t felt alive in ten years—why fear the end now?

He raised his sword once more, drawing on every last ember of resolve.

His eyes burned red.

“I’ll die here today… and go to her!”

Then—

“Ei!”

Papak!

No one saw it coming.

Gyeolhan suddenly flung herself backward.

The Emei disciples cried out in disbelief.

“Sect Leader?!”

“Elder Sister?!”

Their leader was… fleeing.

Even Hwa Yeong-bin froze in shock.

Only one person seemed unsurprised.

Sa Won-yang.

“Kehahahaha! Just as I thought!”

Gyeolhan could no longer think straight.

The terror Sa Won-yang inspired shattered her reason.

Even if she’d be imprisoned later, she didn’t care—she had to escape.

This was her last chance.

Hwa Yeong-bin would surely buy her time.

Her heart pounded as she soared away, her lightness skill pushing to its limits.

The relief of escaping that monster made her laugh.

She would survive.

“Uhehehehe!”

Then something made her look back.

Her blood froze.

Sa Won-yang’s blazing Qi Orb was already screaming toward her.

“!”

She twisted in midair, narrowly dodging it.

Whoosh!

The attack passed just beneath her.

Gyeolhan smiled in triumph.

“I dodged it! Now—”

The Qi Orb exploded.

KWA-BOOM!

“Aaagh!”

She had no time to react—the blast swallowed her whole.

When she came to, her body was rolling helplessly along the ground, senses ringing.

A master near the Super Pinnacle Realm, she didn’t faint, but her mind reeled.

As she struggled to get up, she remembered one thing.

“I—I have to run…!”

But when she lifted her eyes, she saw a smiling Sa Won-yang standing before her.

She screamed.

“Aaagh!”

Puhak!

Her scream and the tearing of her shoulders happened together.

“Kkyaaaagh!”

Then he ripped off her legs.

Jwaaaak!

“Aaagh! Aaaagh!”

Gyeolhan shrieked like a madwoman, her eyes rolling back.

Sa Won-yang gazed at her in bliss.

“Good. Very good. There’s nothing sweeter than the screams of a righteous woman stripped bare. Be grateful—I’ll keep you alive a while, just to hear them longer.”

A limbless woman screaming, and a blood-drenched old man smiling down at her.

It was a scene from hell.

The two remaining Emei disciples broke and fled.

“Aaagh!”

“Please spare us!”

But if even Gyeolhan, a near-Superlative master, couldn’t escape, how could they?

Sa Won-yang clicked his tongue and fired again.

“Tsk. Where do you think you’re going?”

Swhak!

The Qi Orbs shot like bolts of light.

The fleeing women never saw them coming.

Sa Won-yang didn’t doubt they’d strike true.

But someone was already there.

“Haaap!”

Hwa Yeong-bin leapt into the air, swinging his sword to meet both Qi Orbs.

A crimson arc split the sky like a burning sunset.

Boom!

“Kh…!”

He was hurled backward, spinning several times before landing heavily.

The rebound was immense.

But when he lifted his head and saw Sa Won-yang’s fading smile, he smirked.

He had deflected them.

The fleeing disciples were already far away.

With eyes blazing, Hwa Yeong-bin said:

“I won’t let anything go your way.”

Sa Won-yang’s smile returned.

“You’ve worn that dull expression long enough. I’ll enjoy reshaping your face—like hers.”

He sealed Gyeolhan’s pressure points with a flick, truly meaning to keep her alive.

Then he lunged again.

“Let’s see how long you last!”

The small-framed Demon Lord shot forth like a venomous beast.

At that blinding speed, Hwa Yeong-bin clenched his teeth and deployed his defense—the Rosy Cloud Veil, the shield form of the Crimson Rain Sword Art.

A curtain of crimson light spread before him like sunset mist.

But Sa Won-yang burst into laughter.

“A sword barrier! You’re better than that Sect Head! Kihahahaha!”

His palm, swollen with blood-red qi, crashed down.

Boom!

“Khuk!”

Hwa Yeong-bin was flung backward again.

The sheer force was inhuman.

“Kehahahaha!”

Sa Won-yang chased him without pause, battering him with strike after strike.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Gghh!”

Each seemingly wild swing struck like a hurricane.

Hwa Yeong-bin managed to parry, but only barely—his arms shook, his sword quivered like a living thing struggling to escape his grasp.

Then he saw Sa Won-yang draw his arm back, energy gathering until his hand swelled crimson.

Sa Won-yang roared and swung.

“Uwahahahaha!”

Crash!

Snap!

“Graaah!”

Hwa Yeong-bin’s sword shattered, and he was blasted away like a bullet.

He barely survived only because the blade had taken the brunt of the blow.

Sa Won-yang laughed as Hwa Yeong-bin crashed to the ground.

“Kehahahaha! Say it again, just like before! Kehahaha!”

Staggering, Hwa Yeong-bin stood and smiled faintly.

“Nothing… will go your way.”

His sword was gone, his body trembled, but his eyes still burned bright.

Seeing them, Sa Won-yang’s grin faded.

“Let’s see if you keep that look after I tear off your limbs and cut out your tongue.”

He crouched to spring again—

When suddenly someone flew in, shouting:

“Lord Demon! There’s trouble!”