Chapter 1042

Gooooom.

The instant Jin Taekyung felt the enormous energy surging around the Grand Mage, two words shot through his mind like bullets, wiping it blank.

The first was wide-area Magic.

And the second…

One Annihilation.

He knew it by instinct.

To stop the insane thing the man before him was about to do, he would have to make an insane choice of his own.

Only a desperate strike he’d thought he could never use again—a strike he had even less chance of surviving this time—could stop the wide-area Magic from activating.

He realized he’d already made his decision and laughed bitterly to himself.

Damn it.

He didn’t want to die yet.

He wanted to live somehow, even if he had to struggle pathetically for it.

But there was no way.

No—there was only one way.

To break through the powerful barrier surrounding the Grand Mage and take his life with a single strike, he would have to burn up his own life.

Was he certain it would work?

No.

There was only a chance.

Would he survive, or die?

Death was far more likely.

But even so, that was enough.

It was the only way to protect the tens of thousands of allies still fighting on the battlefield—and the people precious to him among them.

All right.

That was enough.

A noble sacrifice or a pointless death.

He didn’t know which it would be. But in this moment, these chaotic times demanded that Jin Taekyung become a hero, and he was ready.

Perhaps he had been for a very long time.

Fwoosh.

The wind stopped. The air trembled.

Time seemed to stand still. Hundreds of acupoints awakened, and he felt every muscle in his body, down to the last strand.

And then…

Qi flowed into the white spearhead.

Dark as the deep sea, flashing like lightning, burning like flame.

At last, those forces merged and swelled larger than ever before. Powerful enough to devour its wielder’s life, the energy surged along the spearhead he held drawn back like a bowstring.

In that moment, it blazed with such dazzling light that it seemed to color the Grand Mage’s eyes, hidden behind his finely woven veil.

This is…

The barrier couldn’t fully conceal that destructive radiance. Fear seized the Grand Mage, along with awe for the young man before him and the unbelievable choice he had made.

At this rate, I’ll die. Without a doubt.

He was certain. Once that terrifying strike was complete and launched, he and his barrier would vanish without a trace.

Jin Taekyung’s life would scatter like ash as well.

But neither the Grand Mage nor the master he served wanted that.

We’re both lucky, you and I.

A money pouch forced to bear more weight than it could hold would tear. Tie it shut before the full weight settled, though, and it would remain intact.

The difference was that narrow.

The Grand Mage’s Magic was already a step ahead. Jin Taekyung’s strike was a step behind.

That sliver of time—no more than an instant—changed both their fates.

Pour forth, flames of hell.

Fwoosh!

An immense energy exploded around the Grand Mage.

It began spreading far faster than Jin Taekyung had expected. He had only one choice left.

Shwoosh!

The spearhead tore through space.

At the same time, a One Annihilation larger than ever before, and therefore not even half-formed, finally met the barrier between them.

Gooooom.

A deafening roar made his ears ring, and white light washed over the hill.

Amid the faint pain coming from all over his body, the old Daoist steadied his ragged breathing.

Hoo.

His sweetish-smelling breath slowly dispersed.

Blood running from the wound on his forehead had stained his vision red. Through it, he saw two men standing tall as iron towers.

No—the instant he thought he saw them, they vanished.

Whish.

A whistle so faint it made his skin crawl reached his ears.

An alarm sounded in his mind. His thoughts raced ahead, ordering his body to dodge.

Move. Get out of their way, now.

But already badly wounded, his body could no longer move as it normally would.

Shhk!

Excruciating pain shot through him.

Two blades he hadn’t quite avoided slashed his side and shoulder, and the tremendous energy within the steel tore deep into his body.

Hng…!

His vision blurred.

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord steadied himself and swept his treasured sword out. Brilliant Sword Force flared along the blade, now only half its former length.

Bang! Bang! Baaang!

Three clashes, swift as lightning. Then a figure shot through the cloud of dust like a cannonball.

“Sect Leader!”

The Zhongnan Sect Disciples fighting amid the Dark Heaven cultists cried out.

At that moment, two figures appeared from nowhere and caught the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord as he flew backward.

Grind.

Only after sliding back about ten feet did they finally stop.

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord coughed up dark blood. He moved his lips, looking toward the two men whose faces he could barely make out.

“Senior Brothers…”

“Damn it, don’t say a word.”

His eldest Senior Brother, the Roaring Fury Swordsman, snapped at him. Then his second Senior Brother, the Taeeul Merciless Sword, spoke with a grave expression.

“This is enough. Junior Brother, Sect Leader.”

This is enough.

It was a short sentence, but the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord understood at once what it meant.

That was precisely why he couldn’t believe it.

“Enough? What in the world are you…”

“We’re out of time. The longer this goes on, the greater our sect’s losses will be.”

“Senior Brother!”

His cry rang with shock.

The Taeeul Merciless Sword pressed his lips together. Beside him, the Roaring Fury Swordsman gritted his teeth as he watched the two Black Ghosts slowly approach.

“He’s right. We’ve already secured a way out. Give the order! Now!”

It sounded less like an appeal than a command.

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord stared blankly at his two Senior Brothers.

“Are you… serious?”

Neither answered.

Unable to meet their Junior Brother’s wide eyes, they kept their fearful gazes fixed on the Black Ghosts.

They knew how far what they were proposing strayed from the righteous path.

Seeing them like that, the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord finally understood that this was real.

“…You were serious. Both of you.”

What was he supposed to call this feeling?

It was strange.

They had spent their lives together, studying under the same Master. Yet they seemed unfamiliar now, as though he were seeing them for the first time.

Retreat. Retreat.

The word echoed through his hollow heart, and memories came to him, beginning with the day he first joined the Zhongnan Sect.

Even in that distant past, now buried in dust, the three of them had always been together.

He had been glad of it.

They were closer to martial artists than Daoists and sometimes caused trouble with their harsh words and actions, but they were his Senior Brothers.

When he was appointed Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect, they had been angry that they weren’t chosen. In the end, they had accepted it and followed him.

When trouble arose with the Nanman Beast Palace during the Great Faction War.

When, only a year ago, their own mistakes had led to their humiliation at the hands of Jeok Cheongang and then Jin Taekyung.

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord had stood up for them, stopping their critics and speaking in their defense.

And when both Senior Brothers recovered from their Internal Injuries at a speed that astonished everyone, no one had been happier than he was.

But…

“How did you come to this?”

He let out a quiet sigh.

He shrugged off the support of his two Senior Brothers, who stared at him with wide eyes, and gripped the hilt—all that remained of his beloved sword—so tightly it seemed ready to break.

“Do you remember? When Master gave me this sword, he said, ‘You need not strive to become a Daoist. Just live rightly. If you uphold your duty as a human being, that makes you a Daoist.’”

“…!”

“…!”

“If you want so badly to live, then go, Senior Brothers. I’ll stay. That is the only way not to disgrace the name of the Great Zhongnan Sect we inherited from our Master.”

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord knew. So did the Roaring Fury Swordsman and the Taeeul Merciless Sword.

Everyone on the battlefield knew.

If the Zhongnan Sect, one of the forces holding the battlefront together at this point, withdrew, this battle would be a certain defeat.

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord could not retreat.

Not him.

Grnk.

He bit his tongue. The sharp pain cleared his vision.

He stepped toward the two Black Ghosts approaching through billowing clouds of black smoke.

Squish.

His feet were heavy. So was his heart.

Perhaps he wanted to flee this place too.

But he didn’t stop.

He couldn’t run away.

That was the duty his Master had taught him to uphold as a human being.

Looking back, I wasn’t much of a Daoist either.

He had always envied Huashan for forging ahead and pursued only the Zhongnan Sect’s interests.

He’d grown the sect’s influence through wealth exchanged in collusion with those in power, and accepted Disciples for their talent rather than their character.

He had believed it was the right way to serve the Zhongnan Sect.

Yet through it all, he had never forgotten affection and loyalty.

Countless allies were still fighting for their lives here.

And in the most dangerous place of all, a young man faced a greater threat than anyone else.

Shame.

That was why he couldn’t retreat.

“Come. No—this time, I’ll come to you.”

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord’s voice was thick with blood.

With eyes clearer than ever, he watched the two monsters approach and poured every last bit of his energy into the remains of his beloved sword.

Tsssss!

Brilliant Sword Force blazed.

It was the last flame he could kindle as Sect Leader of the Zhongnan Sect and as a martial artist.

“For the Great Zhongnan Sect.”

The words barely left his lips before he hurled himself forward with all his strength.

“No!”

“Junior Brother, Sect Leader!”

He left his Senior Brothers’ cries behind and flew toward the Black Ghosts like a moth to a flame. Two streaks of light waited for him.

Whish! Sshhh!

A massive battle-ax shattered the wind. A white sword blade sliced through space.

As he charged into that wave of destructive power, the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord knew with sudden calm:

This is the end.

Even with every ounce of strength he had, this strike would not kill them.

But then something happened that neither he, having accepted his death, nor anyone else on the battlefield could have foreseen.

Whoom—KWA-BOOOOM!

A blinding flash erupted in the distance, and an enormous shock wave slammed across the battlefield.

An explosion. A calamity.

He didn’t know what to call it, but one thing was clear.

Grind!

The unexpected shock wave threw the two Black Ghosts off balance where they stood, while the Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord’s strike, already hurtling through the air, slipped between their two streaks of light.

Shhk!

The Heavenly River Thirty-Six Swords, wrought from dazzling light, cleaved through space.

Fwoosh.

The Wind-and-Cloud Sword Lord swept past the two Black Ghosts like the wind. Then he—and everyone else on the battlefield—looked up on instinct.

At last, they saw it.

Flicker.

A sphere of flame so enormous it seemed not to belong to this world.

Hellfire dragged up from the depths of hell—Hell Fire.