hhnovel Chapter 247 : Dog-Slaying Sword Technique
Chapter 247 : Dog-Slaying Sword Technique
Chapter 247: Dog-Slaying Sword Technique
“Keuk-keuk, what a strange weapon. A blade springing out from a staff.”
The short, foul-tempered old man sneered as he looked at the blade that had shot out.
Yeah, this wasn’t a club meant to beat people down—it was a sharp edge meant to sever the organs and the neck.
It was clearly a weapon imbued with the intent to kill.
And just like how carrying such a blade in my previous world would lead to harsher punishment, my conscience felt the same.
So if, by any chance, I were to kill someone by my own will, how much of itself would that red thing recover this time?
That concern briefly crossed my mind.
‘Idiot……. Think about surviving first…….’
But that wasn’t what mattered right now—Salseongi told me to focus on how to live first.
If my neck got sliced off like this, both I and that bastard would be finished anyway.
‘Well, I always figured a day like this would come.’
Wasn’t the life of a martial artist one where you placed your life on the edge of a blade? I had long since steeled myself to kill.
But at the same time, even if I opened the Slaughter Ritual now, the chances of survival were low. So I quietly listened to Salseongi’s advice.
“Heh, for a hypocrite, you’ve got some nerve.”
As I released killing intent and stood against him, a cruel delight spread across the old man’s mottled face.
“Go on, open that Slaughter Ritual. I’ll muster some strength and slowly peel off your skin, gouge out your eyes, and tear apart your organs.”
Fucking insane bastard. The fact that he spoke those words so naturally meant he’d done plenty of torture and killing before.
I quickly raised my left hand toward him.
“Let’s talk for a moment, Guardian Marundo.”
I, who had looked ready to throw my life away, suddenly spoke as if proposing negotiation. Marundo looked at me with confusion.
“Nine serpent heads, one flame.”
“……Hm?”
His eyebrows twitched at the sudden cryptic phrase.
It seemed he recognized its meaning—his expression mixed with suspicion, vigilance, and slight confusion as he stared at me.
“What trick is this?”
Even though he clearly heard me, he remained deeply suspicious.
What I had just said was no more than reciting something like a military creed. Any member of the Demon Cult’s armed forces would know it.
I continued reading the red text frantically scribbling itself before my eyes.
“When a hundred flowers bloom, the dark night shall recede; the hidden roots await the revealed branches.”
But what I had just recited, following Salseongi’s advice, was a hidden code known only to a very small number within the Demon Cult.
A code that proved one was a spy hidden within the Murim of the Central Plains.
“There’s no trick here, Guardian Marundo.”
“……Hmph!”
The nameless Guardian, who had never even imagined I might be a Demon Cult spy, stared at me in shock.
Just moments ago, I had been an arrogant righteous hypocrite daring to face him alone. Now that I revealed myself as a Demon Cult member, he didn’t know how to react.
“You bastard, where did you learn that code?”
Where did I learn it?
“Guardian, what Demon Cult member would open their mouth under torture from those righteous hypocrites?”
Especially someone high-ranking enough to know that code—there was no way they would.
Perhaps trusting in the fanatical loyalty of the Demon Cult, Marundo furrowed his brow deeply and fell into thought.
“Then why did you infiltrate the righteous sects and return to the Demon Cult?”
As if unable to understand my intent, he questioned me.
“To deliver this, which I discovered in the Central Plains, to the Demon Cult.”
I pulled out something wrapped in cloth from my chest as if it were extremely precious.
It was a “gift” that a woman had shoved into my arms while being dragged away by Jeok Unyeop.
“What is that?”
“Open it and see for yourself.”
Marundo grabbed the item from my palm.
Then he glared at me with a meaningful gaze.
“Before that, I have something to say.”
The old man, his face full of age spots, looked straight into my eyes and spoke.
As I tilted my head as if to ask what it was, he suddenly grabbed my palm—along with the item—tightly and glared.
“The code you just recited was used a hundred years ago. No one uses it anymore.”
“…….”
‘…….’
A deep, chilling silence settled inside the cave.
Looks like this bastard Salseongi hadn’t updated his information.
Well, nothing to do about that. I gripped Tang Yeo-hye’s gift with all my strength.
“Then eat this instead!”
Boom!
The poison pellet exploded, and dark green poisonous mist instantly engulfed us.
“Ugh!”
Marundo inhaled a bit of the poison powder in that “let’s die together” ambush, and his face quickly turned dark blue.
He immediately cut off his breathing and retreated, but it was already too late. Tang Yeo-hye’s special lethal poison twisted the organs with even the slightest inhalation.
“Keugh, you son of a bitch…!”
“What are you saying, you bastard!”
If curses flew out, it was instinct to fire them right back—street survival habits.
I brushed off the poison powder clinging to my body and examined his condition.
“You crazy bastard…! Are you trying to die together with me?!”
The hunched old man glared at me like I was insane, his face pale.
But I was fine. As proven with the Human-faced Spider’s lethal poison, ordinary toxins couldn’t kill me.
Though the skin on my hands and upper body had momentarily melted from the explosion, muscles and flesh quickly wriggled and regenerated.
“What… is that…? Such monstrous….”
Marundo was horrified by the absurd regeneration.
Even someone like him, who had seen countless bizarre martial arts and secret techniques in the Demon Cult, found this body grotesque.
“You bastard, what the hell are you?!”
If you ask who I am, it’s only right to answer.
“Your reaper!”
With that, I unleashed sword flux like lightning and charged forward. Now that he was poisoned and slowed, this was my chance.
Slash!
I felt something being cut at my fingertips. But what my blade split was only the hem of his black martial robe.
Even poisoned, he was still a master in the Blazing Flame Realm—his reaction speed was terrifying.
“You righteous hypocrite!”
Twisting his body to evade my strike, Marundo counterattacked instantly. His right hand curved like a bird of prey’s claw, infused with Qi Projection.
A vicious trajectory aimed to tear out my throat.
“Hup!”
I jerked my head back. His claws brushed past my nose by a hair’s breadth.
Clang!
Qi collided midair. I barely managed to block his claw technique with my hastily raised blade.
Even poisoned, he was still a Blazing Flame Realm master. Qi projections lashed out from all directions, carving red arcs through the air.
Each time, I responded with unorthodox movements, barely maintaining the exchange. Marundo looked baffled.
“What kind of sword technique is that?!”
“A sword technique for tearing bastards like you apart!”
Gritting my teeth, I deflected and redirected his attacks.
A sword that cut down beasts who had abandoned their humanity—Dog-Slaying Sword Technique.
This brutally practical sword art, true to its name, began to reveal its true nature in my hands.
“First Form—Head Severance (切斷)!”
I twisted my waist as I shouted the straightforward technique name. As Marundo raised his arm to block an overhead strike, I abruptly changed the trajectory.
The white blade curved in a strange path and stabbed toward his lower abdomen.
Slash!
This time, I felt it clearly. Though he twisted to avoid a fatal hit, blood burst from his side.
“Second Form—Heart Piercing (心臟貫通)!”
Shouting “heart strike,” I moved my feet rapidly to create a feint, then suddenly brought the blade down from above.
Clang!
His Qi Projection blocked it—just barely preventing his skull from being split.
“Bastard! What a rootless, insane sword technique…!”
He shouted, clearly shaken.
As he said, Dog-Slaying Sword Technique had none of the structured forms or stances of orthodox martial arts.
Unpredictable, fluid, purely practical—built solely to kill.
“Die, you hunched old bastard!”
Without any flashy technique names, my body moved like flowing water, reading his killing intent.
I deflected his Qi-laced strike and cut into his shoulder.
“Keugh!”
He hurriedly activated his defensive Qi, but he was too slow. Blood splattered.
“You vile righteous bastard…!”
Even a Blazing Flame Realm master was enraged, now poisoned and continuously wounded.
“Die!”
I pressed the attack relentlessly.
‘Good, at this rate I’ll finish him—!’
Believing I had seized victory, I stepped into his range.
That was the moment.
A red arc flashed at the edge of my vision. Instinctively, I ducked.
At the same time, something flashed from Marundo’s waist.
Slash!
My hair was sliced off, scattering like drops of blood. Just a fraction slower, and both my eyes would have been severed.
“Bastard, you dodge like a rat!”
Marundo sneered.
The weapon that cut my hair revealed itself—
A flexible sword.
It bent like a whip, yet infused with Qi Projection, it could cut through steel and even sword qi.
Swish! Swish!
The blade flicked like a serpent’s tongue.
It twisted at bizarre angles, striking unpredictably.
Dog-Slaying Sword Technique and the flexible sword clashed midair.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks burst as metal collided repeatedly, filling the cave.
But something felt off.
The more we exchanged blows, the more my grip tingled.
His strength was returning.
He wasn’t regenerating like me, nor had he taken an antidote—so why was the poison wearing off so quickly?
Tang Yeo-hye’s poison shouldn’t fade this fast.
“Heavenly Thread Myriad Blades!”
Whirl—!
Marundo leapt like a swallow, scattering countless flexible sword trajectories.
Dozens of serpents lunged at me from all directions.
Slash!
“Keugh, fuck!”
I twisted to dodge, but it wasn’t enough. The whip-like blade cut my shoulder, side, and thigh.
I was driven back until my back hit the cave wall.
“Die, dog of the righteous sect!”
Even with poison and killing techniques, I was being pushed back.
Was it foolish to face a fully matured Blazing Flame Realm master alone?
But more strangely—
Every time I was struck, it felt like my internal energy was being drained.
Just like when I fought the Soul-Stealing Demon Lord.
‘That Guardian… he’s using demonic arts…’
A trembling red finger spoke as if in disbelief.
“Demonic arts…?”
Hearing my mutter, he smirked.
“Yes. After all your persecution, we have finally obtained demonic arts.”
So that was it—the strange energy I sensed wasn’t internal energy.
He intended to drain my latent energy to compensate for his shortened lifespan.
“Behold this power—the new path we reached after your oppression and scorn…!”
After a long war, the Ming Cult had truly become a Demon Cult.
‘…….’
Salseongi seemed to look upon this changed cult with complicated feelings.
I had planned to survive and return to my sisters… but now, there was no choice.
Thud!
I kicked off the ground and threw myself at him.
Slash! Slash!
Blades rained down on me.
One pierced deep into my chest. It missed vital organs, but I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
Still, I drove my blade into his chest as well.
“Keugh, what—!”
Seeing me fight as if to die together, Marundo flinched.
I endured the incoming strikes with my body and fought him like a demon.
Clang! Clang!
“Keugh, what the hell?! Are you insane?!”
Blood and flesh exploded everywhere, turning the cave into a gruesome battlefield.
Even so, I didn’t stop advancing.
Trusting my regeneration for shallow wounds—and my body’s durability for deep ones—I became a Heaven-Slaying Star and charged.
Before he could fully recover, I pressed forward in a blood-soaked assault.
“What kind of absurd regeneration… Wait, that code from a hundred years ago, and this overwhelming killing intent… You… could it be?!”
The long-surviving Demon Cult elder seemed to realize something and shouted in shock.