Novel Full Chapter 607: Hop-Hop (4)
Silence settled over the hall.
Ghost Demon pinned me with his gaze, then let out a weary breath.
“Looks like I’ve gotten old. If I’m repeating the same mistake.”
“…….”
“I was admiring you as exceptional talent just moments ago—and then I tried to judge that talent by standard expectations.”
“Thank you for the compliment. What will you do now?”
Another sigh escaped him.
“Now that the plan has gone off the rails, the sensible move is to switch to the contingency.”
“And what is it?”
“Am I obligated to tell you? When the time comes, you’ll learn soon enough…….”
With that, Ghost Demon disappeared—just as abruptly as he had appeared.
I didn’t know what his “contingency” was, but {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} he clearly meant to act immediately.
So we couldn’t afford to waste a second either.
“We move now.”
I turned to leave with the others—only for Dang Eunbi to step in close, her face uncharacteristically serious.
“Let me come with you.”
I didn’t tell her, You’re too young.
If that were the standard, we should all be sent away.
So I asked the only question that mattered.
“If I take you, what can you do?”
“Poison—”
“You know it won’t work.”
“Hidden weapons—”
“Fire qi is the one thing that’s at least better than useless, and you spent it all a moment ago.”
“…….”
“If you follow us, you’ll just be putting yourself in danger for nothing. Go hide.”
I made my voice deliberately hard. Deliberately cold.
Still, Dang Eunbi didn’t flinch. She looked me straight in the eye.
“Medicine. I can use that.”
“…….”
“Treatment is better the sooner it happens, isn’t it?”
She meant she’d stick with us and keep the wounded alive.
Some of them would be hovering on the edge of death. If Dang Eunbi came with us, we might save one more person—maybe more.
I nodded, but added a condition.
“If things go bad, I can’t protect you. You’ll have to protect yourself.”
“……I’m prepared.”
“Good. Then let’s go.”
With Dang Eunbi added to the group, we kept moving.
*****
Around the same time.
Not far from the Clan Head Hall, the ugliest fight of the entire night was unfolding.
Both the Dang family and the Blood Cult had thrown in elite experts in force—and several Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi were visible among them.
And at the center of it all, the strongest on both sides were colliding.
A blood-red blade aura carved a line across the ground.
The one who’d sent it flying was a woman in blood-red martial robes, casually swinging a great saber taller than she was.
A Blood Cult elder.
Saber Demon.
She spun the great saber once as if warming up—then kicked off the ground and charged.
At the end of her rush stood Dang Gunak, head of the Dang family.
Expression flat, he shifted into footwork so smooth it looked lazy.
Not only did he slip past the saber’s path with ease—he sprang away in the same motion, widening the gap in a single bound.
A chill crawled up Saber Demon’s spine.
So the Dang family’s Pursue-Thunder Movement Art really is unmatched… no exaggeration.
Worse, that movement art was only the support.
Dang Gunak’s sleeve flicked—and flying needles stitched the air.
In Saber Demon’s eyes, those thin needles might as well have been pillars.
But retreat wasn’t an option.
She adjusted her grip and batted them aside with her saber.
Kgh…!
Pain shot through her hand—sharp enough to feel like it would tear her grip apart.
Both were A-rank.
Yet Dang Gunak stood a full step—maybe two—above her.
That was why every exchange so far had bled her dry.
Needles kept coming, relentless.
Saber Demon swung like a madwoman, curses boiling in her head—
Not at Dang Gunak.
At the Blood Sword Squad Leader, now nothing more than a restless ghost.
If that turtle bastard hadn’t gone down…!
The original plan had been simple: the two of them would pinch Dang Gunak together.
With her support added to the Blood Sword Squad Leader’s strength, the tide would turn fast.
But he fell.
So she was alone.
Plans went wrong. Blood Cult demonic warriors lived with death. She’d expected casualties.
The problem was how.
He went to play games—and got taken out?
And he even got the Asura Blood Sword Squad wiped off the map?
The more she thought about it, the more her stomach twisted.
He’d been mocked into a turtle, then a beetle, then had his parents “cut down to one,” then “vanished” entirely—yet none of it changed the outcome.
He was gone.
She was still fighting.
And the needles still wouldn’t stop.
Saber Demon was being driven into a corner.
There were limits to blocking, and limits to dodging.
A hard, ugly certainty rose in her gut: a decisive strike was coming.
And then—
Dang Gunak flicked his hand at an entirely different direction.
The needles that flew out sank into a Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi that had been mid-swing.
As the creature’s frame staggered, a Dang family martial artist—who’d just barely escaped death—snapped back into stance.
“Clan Head…!”
Only then did Saber Demon realize what had happened, and she let out a hollow laugh.
“With me right in front of you, you still have the composure for that? You just threw away your best opening.”
“It doesn’t compare to my family’s lives.”
The reply was as indifferent as his face, and Saber Demon’s sneer only deepened.
“No. You’re simply weak. A leader should be able to throw away one or two lives for victory. You can’t make the call that matters.”
The Elder Council Head, fighting off Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi nearby, cut into the exchange.
“Enemy though you are, I agree. Clan Head—please decide.”
Other Dang family experts stared at Dang Gunak with fierce eyes.
They were ready.
If they resolved themselves to die—or to be crippled—and detonated their potential, they could bring down the Blood Cult experts and the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi…
Or at minimum, take them with them.
The faster the enemy fell, the faster they could contain the damage.
And if Dang Gunak stopped diverting his focus to protect his people, he could concentrate fully—seal their fate.
A decision for the bigger picture.
Dang Gunak shook his head.
“I won’t allow it.”
“Clan Head!”
“Do you still not see it? That’s exactly what they want.”
“……!”
The Blood Cult’s aim was plain as day:
Bleed the Dang family as deeply as possible—especially by cutting down their experts.
Detonating potential might turn the tide, but it wouldn’t change the price: they’d lose too many.
Either way, the Blood Cult would get what it came for.
Dang Gunak’s voice stayed even.
“We cannot lose our people. Even if it means we fight more defensively.”
The Elder Council Head fell silent, jaw tight. Then he issued orders.
“……We obey the Clan Head.”
It wasn’t agreement. It was discipline.
Tradition and rules had to stand.
Wasn’t it those same principles that had made him reject a child young enough to be his granddaughter so mercilessly?
The Clan Head’s command had to be absolute.
To defy it would be to deny themselves.
Saber Demon listened, then laughed again—soft and scornful.
“Hah……. Seems the old man didn’t say everything, so I’ll say it for him. How long will you cling to ideals? You can barely hold your ground.”
For the Dang family, their primary weapons—poison and hidden weapons—were barely working.
It was like fighting with limbs bound, one by one.
And the battlefield was sliding against them.
“Better to decide now than to cling to stubbornness and lose even more.”
“I’m hearing concern from a blood fiend.”
“It’s not concern. It’s because it’s pathetic—this is all the Dang family’s viciousness amounts to?”
Dang Gunak didn’t bother answering. He only flicked his hand again.
Saber Demon knocked aside the incoming needles—still not easily.
Her mouth didn’t stop.
“So you’re banking on something while you turtle up? Waiting for the Twin Heroes of the Dang Family?”
“…….”
“But who’s to say they arrive in time? More likely—”
Two Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi dropped down at her sides.
Reinforcements from another battlefield.
“……These will arrive first.”
The Blood Cult’s operation was simple:
If the top experts clashed head-on from the beginning, the odds were poor and the damage limited.
So they struck everywhere at once—spread confusion, force the Dang family experts to scatter.
And to maximize the effect, Ghost Demon moved between battlefields, inserting Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi wherever it mattered.
The Dang family experts couldn’t regroup.
Meanwhile, the Blood Cult gathered jiangshi first—then planned to decide the outcome with sheer weight of numbers and power.
And those two weren’t the end.
Even now, more jiangshi would be converging.
Saber Demon tilted her gaze toward one edge of the battlefield.
“And that’s not all. You should worry about that too.”
A Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi stood there—unmoving, vacant.
From time to time, poison-absorbing jiangshi approached and pressed stiff arms against it—
Then injected the poison they’d absorbed from Dang family martial artists.
After that cycle repeated again and again, its body had swollen grotesquely.
Someday it would reach a critical point.
And if it moved—if it detonated—no one could predict the result.
Saber Demon smiled, utterly at ease.
“To think I have to spell it out this kindly. Now you understand—time isn’t on your side.”
“You’ve worked hard. I won’t reverse my decision.”
“……Stubborn to the end!”
Her face twisted.
She leveled her saber and kicked off the ground with the Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi on both sides.
Needles shot toward them as they moved—
But with three of them swatting together, the pressure dropped sharply.
Dang Gunak closed distance with Pursue-Thunder Movement Art.
Saber Demon drove her own footwork to the limit, chasing hard.
“Don’t think this will work forever!”
Together with the jiangshi, she struck from three directions at once.
Dang Gunak evaded by a hair—then hesitated for the briefest instant, and flicked his hand aside again.
The needles saved several Dang family martial artists.
But he paid for it.
A shallow cut opened on his forearm.
Saber Demon laughed under her breath.
“When you can barely guard your own body, you keep guarding others. Disappointing.”
“…….”
“With that weakness, you’ll die here—and everyone who follows you will be buried with you.”
An eerie chime spread across the battlefield.
Ghost Demon appeared—along with a crowd of Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi.
Saber Demon tossed him a glance.
“Right on schedule. Though it’s a bit rushed.”
“We had to move. We still do.”
“……What happened?”
“Long story. Just handle the Clan Head first.”
“Fine.”
Soon, the two Blood Cult elders and several Yin-Yang Blood Jiangshi encircled Dang Gunak.
The Dang family experts were locked in desperate fights of their own—unable to break away even if they wanted to help.
Saber Demon rested the great saber on her shoulder.
“Now even your last chance is gone. It’s the result of your choice—so don’t regret it.”
“…….”
Dang Gunak’s expression didn’t change as he slowly swept his eyes around.
The chance is gone….
That wasn’t wrong.
And regret burned deep.
But it wasn’t regret for this.
A conversation from not long ago surfaced in his mind—words exchanged with Dang Munhyeong, and with Kim Ho.
—How long will you keep postponing it.
—Later, you might not have the chance.
—Could you find the courage, just once.
In the end… I couldn’t say it.
He’d kept postponing something that only required one step closer—again and again—until it became this.
If only he were given one more chance—
As Dang Gunak clung to a meaningless hypothetical, Ghost Demon’s signal finally dropped.
And jiangshi surged in from every direction.