Black and White Martial Emperor

“Father!”

“Has word come?”

“Yes!”

A smile spread across Je Gal Munho’s face as he took the letter from Je Gal Ahyeon.

“As expected.”

He had known they would handle it properly. This letter was a report of victory, saying Yeon Hojeong, Tang Gwan, and Mookbi’s side had won.

Je Gal Munho had believed in them. But no operation could be trusted with absolute certainty. Anything done by human hands was bound to come with variables.

Fortunately, those three had proven their abilities beyond doubt. They must have had help from the Evil-Smiting Corps, but enduring and holding the enemy down until allied forces arrived had been entirely their achievement.

“By now, they must already be moving up toward the enemy headquarters.”

It was then.

“Strategist! An urgent report has arrived from the intelligence advisor!”

“An urgent report?”

Je Gal Munho’s eyes widened as he read the letter handed to him by the informant.

“Explosives...?!”

Je Gal Ahyeon asked in surprise.

“Explosives? Surely you mean the explosives I know?”

“Yes. It says they even mobilized explosives by asking Provincial Defense Commissioner Yeo in order to sweep away the enemy headquarters.”

Not fire bombs. Explosives.

In a sense, explosives were harder to handle than fire bombs. Depending on how they were made, fire bombs could be fitted with safety mechanisms or protected with thicker outer casings, but explosives detonated the instant flame touched them.

They were also vulnerable to humidity. The more powerful the explosives, the truer that became.

Not fire bombs, but explosives... Considering the cost and difficulty of managing them, that means Lord Yeo’s side has also staked everything on this.

No matter how high his position as Provincial Defense Commissioner, leaking that quantity of explosives outside official channels could not help but place a heavy burden on him. Especially now that the empire’s power had weakened, if anyone seized on it as a pretext, he could even be stripped of office.

Or perhaps not. Explosives may actually be safer.

When a fire bomb exploded, residue was bound to remain. Explosives, on the other hand, ended with the explosion itself.

If he had handed over explosives in order to avoid any possible pretext, then Yeo Sangdo truly was no ordinary man.

Whatever the case, now that explosives have been mobilized, victory should be secured without great losses.

The Demon-Sweeping and Evil-Smiting Corps were units with considerable expertise in handling fire bombs as well. He had heard that they trained not merely in using them, but even in blast radius and infiltration routes.

What remained was?

The small fry can be handled by the combined Demon-Sweeping and Evil-Smiting forces. But the masters?

Je Gal Munho’s eyes deepened.

We do not know what sort of formidable master may be hiding there. Of course, I believe the Eighteen Warrior-Generals are all they have, but...

If, by one chance in ten thousand, someone above that level had come.

If a powerhouse beyond Transcendent Peak was holding position there?

That should not be possible. Even if it is, our side’s strength is by no means lacking.

Je Gal Munho did not know how powerful a master on the level of the Thirteen Seats of the Supreme Heavens truly was.

Naturally, strength in that realm would surpass common sense. Perhaps such a master could even handle three or four heads of the Six Families with ease.

Still, if the goal was only to withdraw, their forces should be sufficient. Of that much, he was confident.

I do not know about the others, but Commander Yeon and the Mo Yong Clan Lord will not cling to a battle they cannot win.

Only after thinking that did he finally feel at ease.

If anyone on their side died, it would pain him. But those four in particular absolutely could not die in this battle. Of course, the same would have to remain true going forward.

Je Gal Munho looked out the window.

It was sunset. By now, all fighting must already be over.

How had the final battle in Henan ended?

“...Please, let everyone be safe.”

*****

KUGUGUGUNG!

The Demon-Sweeping Corps’ advance was completely different from the Evil-Smiting Corps’ advance.

KWAAAAANG! THUD!

“Gaaah!”

“Aaaagh!”

It did not end with simply cutting and stabbing.

The soldiers were not the only ones clad in heavy armor. If the warhorses of the Evil-Smiting Corps had excellent stamina and agility, the warhorses of the Demon-Sweeping Corps were massive and overflowing with power.

When they pressed forward clad in heavy armor on top of that, their destructive force was not something even a Peak master could easily withstand. Once a body had been torn apart by all manner of spears and swords, the hooves of the warhorses trampled over it.

KWAKWAKWANG! KWAAAAANG!

Even after all the explosives had been detonated, explosions still rang out from every direction. It showed just how monstrous the charging power of the Demon-Sweeping Corps was, and how overwhelming the weight of their warhorses could be.

Mo Yong-woo shouted.

“Kill every one of them for certain! These bastards have stubborn lives!”

He did not say to cut off their heads or crush their skulls.

But even without such explanations, the soldiers carried out Mo Yong-woo’s order faithfully. Even as they unleashed charges overflowing with power, their gazes were coldly subdued.

Without realizing it, Yeoguk whistled.

“That’s some incredible destructive force.”

THUD!

After blowing off the neck of a Divine Flame soldier, Peng Manho spoke calmly.

“Aside from the matter with the Corridor Band, this is their first time deploying the entire corps, and yet their formation is perfect.”

“They’ve drilled training that resembles real combat into their very bodies. Otherwise, it would be impossible to show both that kind of movement and that kind of composure at the same time.”

“Whatever the reason, they finally look like a proper field-force unit.”

“You can say that again.”

BOOOOOM!

After piercing through the neck of one Divine Flame soldier with merciless spearwork, Song Yeonggyeong shouted.

“This is no time to be evaluating our allies’ skill! Run!”

“Ah, of course.”

PABABABAK!

The Evil-Smiting Corps’ attacks were fast and sharp. The Demon-Sweeping Corps’ attacks were heavy and overflowing with destructive power.

The pincer attack of the Demon-Sweeping Corps charging head-on and the Evil-Smiting Corps pouring in madly from left and right worked together with perfect coordination. Without invading each other’s territory, they were annihilating the enemy with frightening efficiency.

Of course, there was a reason for that.

“Urgh!”

Sixth Warrior-General Go Hyeok staggered backward.

The left half of his body was covered in horrific wounds. Parts of his torso, caked over with blood, were exposed all the way to the bone.

It was because he had been caught in the explosive blast with no preparation whatsoever. Considering how powerful the explosives were, it was fortunate that his body had not simply burst apart. But because of the terrible pain and his crushed blood channels, he could not bring out even thirty percent of his true ability.

That was not all. Ninth Warrior-General Ju Chang was in even worse shape. His lower body had been completely destroyed, making it impossible for him to manifest martial arts at all.

Go Hyeok shouted.

“Deploy a square formation! Do not panic! Throw the oil jars from inside headquarters and form a fire formation!”

After directing the Divine Flame soldiers in a ringing voice, Go Hyeok approached Ju Chang.

“Are you all right?!”

“Grrgh!”

Ju Chang gritted his teeth.

It was pain impossible to describe in words. But what was even harder to endure than the pain was the fact that even if he returned alive from this place, he would live the rest of his life as a cripple.

“Hold on! The Divine Maiden will somehow heal you!”

It was then.

“You have a Saintess and a Divine Maiden? I did not know that.”

The one who appeared through the thick smoke was Mo Yonggun.

Go Hyeok’s face twisted.

“Who the hell are—!”

BOOOOOM!

Ju Chang’s head shattered to pieces.

It was a death too gruesome for words. Mo Yonggun, who had killed Ju Chang with a single strike of Thunder Flash at the same instant he drew his sword, spoke in a voice thick with Killing Intent.

“Lowborn filth from beyond the frontier dare covet the Central Plains?”

“Y-you son of a bitch!”

Go Hyeok let out a monstrous scream.

“I’ll kill you!”

FLASH!

Even if he could not display his full ability, Go Hyeok was still a master who did not fall far short of Mo Yonggun. The firepower of the Heat-Fire Divine Palm drawn from his right palm swallowed Mo Yonggun in an instant.

KURURUNG!

Go Hyeok’s power was astonishing.

He wielded palm force far hotter than the Heat-Fire Divine Palm shown by the other Warrior-Generals so far.

Among the masters below the Tenth General, there was almost no difference in ability. They merely had different specialties.

Go Hyeok’s specialty was firepower itself. Apart from the First and Second Warrior-Generals, he was called the greatest Warrior-General in the handling of Fire energy.

That was also why he had been able to survive the explosion of the explosives. The fire essence within his body had offset nearly half the explosive force surging in from outside.

Is he dead?

Tension appeared on Go Hyeok’s face as he stared ahead, where the front was covered in a storm of flame and smoke.

If he took the Heat-Fire Divine Palm head-on, he cannot be unharmed.

He had poured in so much internal force that his head had spun for an instant. At the very least, the enemy must have suffered severe internal injuries.

Go Hyeok looked down at Ju Chang’s corpse, whose head had burst apart, then gritted his teeth and turned.

Forgive me, Ju Chang. I will avenge your resentment someday—!

Then a strange sound reached him.

ZIIIIING!

A bizarre sound, one that could not be heard in nature.

At the indescribable chill it gave him, Go Hyeok quickly turned and assumed a defensive posture.

THUD!

Go Hyeok’s face went blank.

A sword qi that had flown in like lightning before he knew it had blown off his entire right arm.

“To flee without even confirming your opponent’s condition... Truly, it leaves me speechless. Did you intend to take the Central Plains with such a half-baked state of mind?”

Psssss.

The smoke cleared, revealing Mo Yonggun.

Aside from dust on his clothes and his hair being disheveled, Mo Yonggun was unharmed. The Thunderclap energy released from his entire body had perfectly blocked the Fire energy of the Heat-Fire Divine Palm.

In order to train in the Divine Flame Cult’s heat-yang arts, one had to raise the body’s heat resistance to the extreme.

And the same was true for Mo Yonggun. The Thunderclap Art was an ancient supreme art, a martial art of the highest ascent that could not even be entered with ordinary talent.

Because it handled lightning qi, it was not inferior to the Divine Flame Cult’s masters when it came to heat resistance. No, perhaps in heat resistance alone, he might even surpass Warrior-General-class masters.

“Lowborn vermin from the borderlands, consider it an honor to die to this martial art.”

Blue lightning qi exploded from Mo Yonggun’s sword.

FLASH! CHWAAAAAAAK!

A sound like lightning cleaving through a torrent burst out.

At the same time, Go Hyeok’s body was sliced into five or six pieces. It was a terrifying sword art that could neither be blocked nor dodged.

It was Falling Thunder Cross-Strike of the Merciless Heavenly Thunder Form, the invincible sword art Mo Yonggun had mastered. That sword strike, which embodied the movement of lightning, was so fast and powerful that human reflexes could barely even respond to it.

Mo Yonggun looked down coldly at Go Hyeok’s corpse, now nothing more than chunks of meat.

It was then.

KWAAAAANG!

Far away, from the center of headquarters, an outrageous explosion thundered out.

Startled, Mo Yonggun looked toward the source of the blast.

What is that?

It was not an ordinary explosion. The density of the shockwave he felt from that blast was truly tremendous.

PAAAAAK!

Mo Yonggun hurled himself toward the source of the explosion. There, he saw Yeon Hojeong staggering—and a young man filled with rage.

Mo Yonggun’s eyes trembled.

What is that bastard?

HWARURURUK!

The flames rising from the young man’s body were dyed gold.

They were flames of a completely different color from the Divine Flame soldiers and Warrior-Generals he had fought until now. And it was not merely the color that differed. The ferocity of their nature itself was on an entirely different level.

“What adorable little bastards.”

The young man’s voice was extremely clear, ringing vividly through every corner of the noisy battlefield.

“Right. I knew the air felt strange these past few days. So you insect sons of bitches were aiming for this place. But how did you know? Ah! Did Yeo Sangdo, that old bastard who wouldn’t be enough even if I chewed him to pieces, tell you?”

He was a frightening young man. A sharp madness could be felt in his voice.

Mo Yonggun asked coldly.

“What are you?”

“That’s not something an attacker gets to say.”

The young man growled low.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know. You’re all going to die here anyway.”