Book 10: Chapter 10: Life-Snatching Ghost Sword

A middle-aged man with short-cut hair and a fierce impression.

Although he wore a worn-out black martial uniform as if trying to hide his identity rather, his characteristic wild killing intent blended together, making his presence felt even greater, no, acutely.

[Get close! Close in even tighter, I say!] the telepathy of the vice squad leader, who was giving instructions instead of the squad leader who had been cut in half and thrown into the sewage, was urgent.

[Never give him an opening to utilize the sword-controlling art!] the hunting dogs of Greedy Wolf rushed as if they would bite the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword to pieces.

[Understood!] during the short time they charged toward the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword with all their might, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's swords flashed.

Slash!

In the space where one might wonder if the arm holding the sword flew away legs were cut, and necks flew off.

And the hunting dog charging at the same time did not even have time to confirm his colleague's body splitting beside him.

His own fingers, which another sword of the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword had sliced through and passed, flew into the air all at once.

“……!”

Even before a groan could fully leak from his throat before blood could surge from the spot where the severed fingers were, the sword that had snatched his fingers climbed up his arm like a snake.

Like a paring knife peeling fruit the image of the sword gently rotating and slicing his arm in a spiral as it came up was engraved on the hunting dog's retina.

And into that eyeball, the sword gently drove right in.

Even before the blade touched, that brutal sharp qi first incised the cornea, split the pupil, cut the vitreous body in half, and pierced the retina.

Thwack!

With a sound like a watermelon bursting, the sword popped out after piercing the head.

Even as the corpse with a hole blown open in the back of the head collapsed and fell into the sewage, they rushed.

[Bite him!] the hunting dogs did not stop.

It was like a charge toward death, but not a single one among them had even an inch of hesitation.

Loyal to the master and absolutely obeying the instructions of the leader heading the pack.

That is why they are Greedy Wolf.

They are hunting dogs.

[Do not spare your bodies! Rush in! I say, bite the opponent even at the last moment your breath stops!] piercing through the wall made of sword light generated by the four swords, the surviving hunting dogs succeeded in clinging onto the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword.

But what welcomed them was, the last single sword that the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword held in his hand personally.

“Welcome. Therefore…”

“Now die.”

Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's Private Sword Art.

Asura Five Yin Extremes.

Single Soul Usurping Life.

Gripping the sword with both hands, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword moved violently, hacking all directions in an instant.

A movement tearing the surroundings to shreds.

In that movement, there was neither the elegance nor the restraint shown through the sword-controlling art.

It was a ferocious sword technique that was not lacking even a bit compared to the name Asura.

“Kh-hug-?!”

“Kak-!”

Those who approached lost arms, had torsos split, and had legs torn as they bounced off in all directions.

Even in the midst of that, the hunting dogs' blades left large and small wounds on the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's body.

[Keep pushing him!] even before the first wave ended, the next hunting dogs rushed, piercing through their comrades' blood splattering in the air.

While the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword vertically split the back of the hunting dog that had rushed in earlier they tore his back like rags.

Through the torn black martial uniform, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's blood splattered in all directions.

However, they instinctively felt it.

'There is not a single fatal wound…!'

And their instinct, at the moment they saw the smile on the lips of the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword showing his back a smile hanging as if he could not contain his joy, became a certainty.

“Hehehe….”

'Crazy—!'

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword.

He was the man exactly like that notoriety, those rumors.

He was enjoying this moment of killing the opponent, even while sustaining wounds.

“Die.”

Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's Private Sword Art.

Asura Five Yin Extremes.

Explosive Kill.

The swords returning from behind the hunting dogs and the sword he held directly created a storm, forging a single scene of disaster.

Fragments of bodies torn to shreds again popped up in heaps in the air.

“Hehe.”

Although more wounds were added to the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword in the process, without even thinking of regulating his breath, the laughter flowing from his mouth made everyone's hair stand on end.

“Hehehe.”

Madness.

With what other word could one express that appearance?

“Huhahahahaha!”

* * *

'Th-That person is—!'

The face of the hero, who still could not even think of standing up, was pale.

No matter how much the era when that notorious name widely resounded was in the past stories close to ghost tales rose vividly as if they were rumors heard just now.

Blood God Evil Ghost.

Five Swords Madman.

In the past, the Southern Expedition of the Luoyang Sword Family conducted by the Grand Patriarch of the Sword Family.

The one who always stood at the very front in every large battle during that Southern Expedition period the Sword Family's most representative chief warrior slaughtering the absolute elites of the Namgung Clan who did not give way to Jiangnan filling the Yangtze River with the corpses of unorthodox martial artists and dyeing the southern coast with the blood of pirate mercenaries, the Sword Family's most ferocious sword.

Someone who had eaten sword meals in the Jianghu for a while could not fail to recall his four-character moniker upon seeing what unfolded before his eyes now.

'Life-Snatching Ghost Sword…!'

The nightmare of Jiangnan in the past was being reenacted again here right now.

* * *

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's sword held in his right hand, Form, flashed as if striking down a hunting dog.

Boom!

In an instant, the opponent struck by the heavy sword that smashed the wall of air exploded right away.

The sword that had returned to his left hand before anyone knew, Sensation, flashed, and split the torso of the opponent who stabbed his flank into five pieces.

Splat!

Heavy Sword Art, Right Rakshasa.

Fast Sword Art, Left Asura.

Blocking the hunting dogs rushing from front, back, left, right, occupying all directions, were the remaining three swords.

Perception, Formations, Consciousness.

Those three swords, like living creatures, embroidered the air with blood and flesh just like swords held by different martial artists, realized sword techniques containing completely different principles and essences.

The rushing hunting dog as he rushed, the retreating hunting dog as he retreated, the bypassing hunting dog as he bypassed, regardless of the distance of far or near, had their limbs dismantled just like that and fell into the sewage.

This was precisely Asura Five Yin Extremes, the unique sword art and signature technique of the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword, unfolded with five swords of completely different forms: Form, Sensation, Perception, Formations, and Consciousness asura Five Yin Extremes ultimate Secrets, creation of the Five Aggregates.

The lives of the hunting dogs decreased at a terrifying speed with every breath drawn and every blink of an eye.

[I am also joining!] the telepathy of the vice squad leader gripping his weapon tore like a scream.

[Attack all at once! Somehow find his opening—!] his instruction did not reach its end.

“……!”

It was because the grip of the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword, who had approached before he knew it, was grasping the vice squad leader's face.

“You, I mean.”

Meeting eyes with him through the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's steel-like grip, the vice squad leader's entire body froze.

“You've been yapping noisily since earlier.”

“Ugh…!”

The vice squad leader's hands moved reflexively, stabbing between the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's ribs on both sides, but before the blade could properly dig in, his body was shattered to pieces and scattered by the four incoming swords.

“The attempt was good.”

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword clenched his hand, crushing the vice squad leader's skull that remained in his hand.

And when he turned around and met the gaze of the hero who was looking at him with a pale face while lying flat,

“……!”

Crack.

The final five remaining hunting dogs were each pierced by swords and pinned to the ceiling of the waterway.

From the corpses of the hunting dogs dangling in midair, streams of blood trickled down.

And passing through the awning created by those falling streams of blood, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword approached the hero.

“What? Why are you still lying flat like that?”

As he passed the dangling corpses the swords that were pinning the corpses were drawn.

Chachachachang—!

Flashing blades without a single drop of blood remaining, the five swords returned as if plunging into their scabbards.

“Here.”

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword reached out a hand to the hero who was still lying flat.

However, the hero could not summon the courage to hold that hand in return.

“I-I'm fine!”

He sprang up from his place.

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword let out a chuckle.

Qquivering eyes with terror, a posture pulled back as if to run away at any moment, and a body with even the last fine hair standing stiffly.

The reaction that was so familiar in the past was quite new, making him realize the years he had sent away anew.

Suddenly, he recalled what the Eldest Young Master Yeon So-hyeon had said to him when he was carrying a practice sword in the past.

“When your sword becomes worn out and you cannot draw it for anything, that time will come.”

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword said.

“At this level, it's not a worn-out sword enough to be called rusted yet, right?”

The hero could not understand what that meant.

“Of course!”

However, he had no choice other than nodding.

What other answer could he give to the person who had just sliced a squad of the notorious Greedy Wolf to pieces in an instant?

“Hey…!”

“Are you still alive…?”

At the end of the long waterway, the voices of his fellow heroes were faintly heard.

At their familiar voices and recognized faces, tension drained completely from the hero's shoulders.

“Here! Over here!”

As he waved his hand and shouted, a noisy clamor was heard.

“As expected, he was alive!”

“I tell you, his lifeline is a tough one!”

A smile hung on the hero's face at the sight of them running over.

The curtain of the great escape drama was descending.

* * *

The sewage pouring from the end of the wide-gaping waterway blended into the Yellow River.

Although it was sewage that smelled and turned one's stomach so much once swept away by the rough and majestic waters of the Yellow River, it was vanishing without a trace.

So did all that blood dropped into the sewage and the flesh, internal organs, and pieces of limbs.

The Yellow River devoured everything as if it were nothing and just flowed.

The sight of that massive river flowing violently made it feel as if all the joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure occurring in the secular world lost their meaning.

The rotten-to-the-core ruling class the distorted power structure the struggling resistance day by day, all felt only distant.

“…….”

A fellow hero strongly slapped the back of the hero holding the hand axe, who was staring blankly at that sight.

“Ouch!”

With a slapping sound, a stinging pain rose from his back to the top of his head.

And before that pain could even fully end, fellow heroes flocked and hugged him.

“Everyone survived! All of us survived and escaped Luoyang!”

“Well done, you rascal!”

Hands roughly stroked and patted his skull.

“It's all thanks to you taking charge of the rear!”

The hero holding the hand axe laughed out loud without realizing it.

“hahahaha!”

Indeed.

A human cannot become the Yellow River.

As long as this pain existed he realized that he was a living being.

A living being bound to rejoice, grieve, feel anger, and have no choice but to fully enjoy pleasure.

'Could it be that the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword fought while deliberately sustaining wounds for that very reason too?'

Those who had been making a fuss for a while and celebrating the escape separated from him one by one.

They were those who had already drawn out even the physical strength they did not have in the process of escaping.

“Come to think of it…”

“Hmm?”

A fellow hero asked the hero of the hand axe.

“Where did Great Hero Life-Snatching Ghost Sword go?”

At that voice, others also added words one by one.

“You were the last, so why did you not come out together?”

“We should express our gratitude to him…”

“To think the Eldest Young Master, no, the Eldest Brother would command such a person under him.”

“Where is he now?”

The hero of the hand axe replied with a troubled expression.

“Great Hero Life-Snatching Ghost Sword entered the underground waterway again.”

“……?”

Puzzled expressions hung on everyone's faces.

“Eh? For what reason…?”

“Did we not all escape already?”

The hero of the hand axe said with a sour expression.

“He said…”

* * *

A little while ago.

“G-Great Hero! Where are you going right now?!”

“Hmm?”

At the shout of the hero holding the hand axe, the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword stopped his steps and looked back.

“Can't you tell by looking?”

“Are you going to enter that hellish waterway again?!”

A smile hung on the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword's face.

“Of course.”

“Why on earth…?!”

The Life-Snatching Ghost Sword turned his body and walked into the inside of the underground waterway.

“Because returning through the waterway is faster.”

The hero hurriedly pulled out the map the Eldest Young Master had given.

“At the very least, take this…!”

“No need.”

Amidst the sound of sewage flowing, for some reason only his low voice clearly rang in the ears.

“If I meet a ghost, I slay the ghost, and if I meet a Buddha, I slay the Buddha.”

Kill Buddha, kill patriarch, kill father, kill mother.

For that was the path of the Life-Snatching Ghost Sword.