Chapter 416

There are those who die far from their hometowns.

Soldiers, displaced people, or those who, for other reasons, left their homes far behind only to lose their lives unjustly.

When the resentment of the dead reaches its peak, it inevitably has a negative impact on the area.

Especially in areas where many such people have died, the Ghostly Aura would thicken, and unfortunate things would happen to people.

To prevent such situations, Taoist priests would cast a Curse Art on the bodies of the recently deceased, making them move on their own.

That was the beginning of the jiangshi.

The Taoist priests would take the jiangshi, under the effect of the Curse Art, back to their hometowns to let them rest in peace.

The Taoist priests of the Maoshan Sect, now extinct, were particularly skilled in this Curse Art.

Nowadays, when one thinks of a Taoist priest, they imagine a Swordsman from a martial sect like the Mount Hua Sect or the Wudang Sect, but in the past, it was not uncommon to see Taoist priests who used Curse Arts or Mystic arts. However, such Sorcery, having fallen behind the flow of the times, disappeared into the shadows and became a rare sight.

The reason Gwak No-saeng became interested in jiangshi, which had nothing to do with medicine, was because of the Ghost King.

The Ghost King, the greatest enigma in Jianghu.

Most people vaguely knew that the Ghost King possessed the power of Immortality, but Gwak No-saeng, through long research and obsession, knew that he actually transferred his body.

A monster born from the power of Mystic art.

That was the Ghost King.

From then on, Gwak No-saeng became obsessed with creating a being that would surpass the Ghost King.

The result was the living jiangshi.

Gwak No-saeng believed the Ghost King was also a type of living jiangshi.

A living jiangshi born from the power of Mystic art.

Gwak No-saeng decided to create a living jiangshi with the power of medicine and had been striving for decades.

The living jiangshi in the underground space now were the result of those decades of effort.

Every living human possessed a Soul.

A human without a Soul is nothing but an empty shell.

It is impossible for a human who has lost their Soul to move. From the moment the Soul is lost, one enters the realm of the dead.

However, the muscles of the dead stiffen and their joints lock, preventing smooth movement. So, Gwak No-saeng used a method of sealing the Soul in a part of the body instead of completely annihilating it.

He created a state that was on the boundary: alive, but not living, and not dead either.

Thanks to this, the living jiangshi he created could display the fluid movements of a living person.

However, because their Souls were sealed, they could not make rational judgments.

They were reborn as monsters that only followed orders.

They became beings without reason, not beings close to humans who could think and judge for themselves like the Ghost King.

In a way, it could be seen as a failure. But Gwak No-saeng was rather satisfied.

What he needed were monsters that would faithfully follow his commands, not rational humans.

The living jiangshi were attacking all living creatures except for Gwak No-saeng.

The drawback was that they couldn’t distinguish between friend and foe due to their inability to make rational judgments, but Gwak No-saeng didn’t think much of it.

That level of a flaw could be corrected later.

Even though they were not yet complete, they moved like humans and displayed ferocious aggression.

“Kuaaak!”

“Save me!”

Jang Sachun’s Subordinates, attacked by the living jiangshi, were screaming and collapsing.

Jang Sachun’s Subordinates were also Martial Artists who prided themselves on being Experts in their own right. But they were helpless against the attacks of the living jiangshi.

Their attacks had no effect on the living jiangshi.

Even if a limb was cut off, the living jiangshi’s movements were not hindered at all. They felt no pain, and the emotion of fear did not exist in them.

They were truly perfect monsters born for slaughter. There was still room for improvement, but time would solve that.

“Heh heh!”

Gwak No-saeng let out a dark chuckle as he looked at his masterpiece.

A hellish scene of pandemonium was unfolding in the underground space.

Severed human limbs were scattered everywhere, and blood soaked the floor.

“You madman! Stop them at once.”

“Demonic Physician! Please save us.”

The still-living Subordinates pleaded with Gwak No-saeng. But their pleas did not reach his ears.

He was only focused on the movements of the living jiangshi.

Fluid yet powerful movements, no different from a living person. And with it, a destructive obsession for their target.

Everything was satisfactory.

Gwak No-saeng’s gaze turned to Pyo Wol.

For some reason, Pyo Wol hadn’t moved since a while ago.

After striking down Jang Sachun, he hadn’t lifted a single finger.

His appearance felt somehow ominous.

Gwak No-saeng pointed a finger at Pyo Wol and shouted.

“Capture that man. You must not take his life. He will make for very good material.”

He wasn’t confident that the living jiangshi would properly follow the order not to kill. Still, he had to give the command.

Grrroooowl!

The living jiangshi leaped over Jang Sachun’s Subordinates and rushed toward Pyo Wol.

Some ran on two feet, but more ran like beasts, using their arms as well.

They bared their ferocity and charged at Pyo Wol.

“It’s dangerous!”

Yong Seol Lan shouted.

Even without her shouting, Pyo Wol knew better than anyone that it was dangerous.

The problem wasn’t the martial strength of the living jiangshi.

Gwak No-saeng, who had created such monsters, was more dangerous.

If Gwak No-saeng were given time and support, he could create as many of these monsters as he wanted.

Gwak No-saeng was more dangerous than any Martial Artist Pyo Wol had ever met and faced.

Pyo Wol kicked a living jiangshi that was charging at the front.

Baaang!

With a sound like a leather drum bursting, the living jiangshi was sent flying.

No matter how much of an Expert one was, receiving such an impact would have caused internal injuries and made it difficult to move easily.

But the living jiangshi was different.

Without a scream, it got up again and rushed at Pyo Wol.

“Haat!”

Yong Seol Lan, instead of a tree branch, picked up a sword dropped by an enemy and unleashed the Infinite Lotus Sword.

The arm of a living jiangshi, slashed by her sword, fell off. Yet, it let out a ferocious roar and charged at her.

“Crazy!”

Yong Seol Lan was horrified by the sight of the living jiangshi charging like a Hungry Ghost, even as it sprayed blood.

She continuously unleashed the Ultimate Technique of the Infinite Lotus Sword, cutting down the living jiangshi. But killing them was not easy.

To neutralize a living jiangshi, one had to sever its neck in a single blow. But cutting the neck of a violently moving living jiangshi in one go was by no means an easy task.

Moreover, Yong Seol Lan had stepped away from Martial Arts for quite a long time.

She wouldn’t forget what she had learned, but her sharpness was bound to have dulled.

Furthermore, she was still hesitant to use her poison techniques.

That mindset brought a crisis upon her.

“Keuk!”

Six living jiangshi lunged at her.

She managed to block up to five, but the sixth and final one broke through her Sword Curtain and came right before her nose.

The living jiangshi opened its large mouth and tried to bite Yong Seol Lan’s white nape.

It was the moment Yong Seol Lan squeezed her eyes shut.

Shhhgack!

Suddenly, with a sharp cutting sound, the living jiangshi’s head flew into the air.

Pyo Wol had severed the living jiangshi’s neck with the Soul Restraining Thread.

“Get a grip!”

“I’m… sorry.”

“If you were going to be like this, you shouldn’t have followed me in the first place.”

Yong Seol Lan bit her lip at Pyo Wol’s scathing criticism.

She had insisted on coming. And yet, she was constantly being a burden.

It was all because of her soft heart.

“Hoo!”

Yong Seol Lan let out a shallow breath and closed her eyes.

Grrroooowl!

The roar of the living jiangshi was heard.

Trampling over the fallen ones, other living jiangshi were rushing in. Their appearance was terrifying enough to make one’s flesh crawl. But in Yong Seol Lan’s eyes, there was no longer any trace of hesitation.

“Hah!”

Yong Seol Lan unleashed the Lotus Flying Scatter Explosion, the Ultimate Technique of the Infinite Lotus Sword.

In an instant, Sword Qi radiated from her sword like exploding fireworks.

The Sword Qi, resembling lotus petals, slaughtered the living jiangshi.

It wasn’t necessary to cut off their heads.

It was enough to neutralize them by cutting off their arms and legs.

A living jiangshi with all its limbs severed could no longer move.

Even though they were living jiangshi, they still had one foot in the realm of humans. If they lost too much blood, even a living jiangshi would have to die.

The living jiangshi were no match for Yong Seol Lan, who had lost her hesitation.

As Yong Seol Lan swung her sword, she glanced at Pyo Wol.

At Pyo Wol’s feet, a pile of living jiangshi corpses had already accumulated.

‘As expected!’

A look of admiration appeared in Yong Seol Lan’s eyes.

Unlike her, there was no hesitation whatsoever in Pyo Wol’s hands.

His Soul Restraining Thread precisely severed the necks of the living jiangshi.

The living jiangshi whose necks were cut stopped breathing and could no longer move.

As the majority of the painstakingly created living jiangshi were killed by Pyo Wol and Yong Seol Lan, Gwak No-saeng’s face contorted.

His anger poured out at the two people who were ruining his hard-made creations.

“Let’s see if you can handle this!”

He touched a section of the wall. The wall then slid back, revealing a hidden space.

Filling the secret space were over a hundred living jiangshi.

These were the ones he had been secretly manufacturing without informing Jang Sachun and the others.

Gwak No-saeng awakened all the living jiangshi.

“Kill them.”

He outright ordered the living jiangshi to kill Pyo Wol and Yong Seol Lan.

The two were too dangerous to be captured alive and turned into living jiangshi.

It seemed better to kill them to avoid future trouble.

With the addition of over a hundred living jiangshi, the place became even more of an Asura Field.

None of Jang Sachun’s Subordinates were left alive.

Only three people were still living.

Among them, Gwak No-saeng was the master, so he was excluded as a target.

Guwoooar!

The living jiangshi rushed toward Pyo Wol and Yong Seol Lan like a pack of wild dogs.

A triumphant smile spread across Gwak No-saeng’s lips.

No matter how great Pyo Wol’s and Yong Seol Lan’s Martial Arts were, it was impossible for them to handle so many living jiangshi charging at once.

He thought the two would be torn to shreds and killed.

It was then.

Sssiiit!

A sharp sound of something slicing through the air echoed in the darkness.

In that moment, Gwak No-saeng felt a strange sensation that he couldn’t describe in words. Feeling all the fine hairs on his body stand on end, he widened his eyes.

“What, what is it?”

The movements of the living jiangshi, which had been rushing so madly toward Pyo Wol and Yong Seol Lan, had stopped as if by a lie.

They had frozen as if glued in place.

“What’s happening?”

It was then.

Tudududuk!

Suddenly, starting from the front, the living jiangshi began to collapse in a chain reaction.

The heads of the falling living jiangshi were all severed from their necks.

Gwak No-saeng shouted.

“What in the world did you do? Why are my children…?”

At that moment, a Silver Thread cutting through the air entered Gwak No-saeng’s eyes.

The Silver Thread, so fine it was hard to distinguish with the naked eye, was the Soul Restraining Thread.

It wasn’t just a single strand of Soul Restraining Thread crossing the underground space. Countless strands of the Soul Restraining Thread were stretched out like a spider’s web.

A technique of spreading the Soul Restraining Thread horizontally and vertically, like a spider setting a web and waiting for its prey to be caught.

It was called the Spider Silver Net.

Another advanced form of the Soul Restraining Thread.

Tududuk!

The living jiangshi, who had charged in without knowing the Spider Silver Net had been spread, collapsed one after another.

The sight was like a sandcastle being swept away by a wave.

“How can this be…”

Gwak No-saeng wore an expression of disbelief.

He truly had not known that the army of living jiangshi he had poured his heart and soul into creating would collapse so futilely.

It was so unrealistic that it felt more like a nightmare.

Gwak No-saeng shouted.

“Who are you? What gives you the right to kill my children like this?”

It was then.

Puk!

Suddenly, he felt an extreme pain in his shoulder.

Instead of answering, Pyo Wol had thrown the Soul Restraining Thread.

When Pyo Wol pulled the Soul Restraining Thread, Gwak No-saeng was dragged along.

Gwak No-saeng tried to resist by raising his Internal Energy, but it was useless.

In that instant, a vicious light appeared on Gwak No-saeng’s face.

He formed a hand-blade and struck his shoulder that had been pierced by the Soul Restraining Thread. The shoulder area was severed, and his arm fell from his body with a thud.

He had cut off his own arm.

It was an action that even Pyo Wol had not anticipated.

“Just you wait, you bastard! I will never forget this grudge.”

Gwak No-saeng roared and threw himself into a secret passage.

Seeing this, Yong Seol Lan shouted.

“We must not let him get away.”

Pyo Wol had the same thought.

If they let Gwak No-saeng escape now, the future consequences would be endless.

Pyo Wol immediately set off in pursuit of Gwak No-saeng.

Yong Seol Lan followed behind him.