Chapter 402

“This is bad!”

The injured old masters lying on the ground also realized something was wrong. But they didn’t survive long either.

Suddenly their bodies were pulled toward the walls.

“Groaahhh!”

The old masters tried to resist by greatly raising their internal energy, but their clothes and flesh began to tear as if bound.

Swish.

Bloodsucking leeches crawled out from the walls like a tide and scattered in all directions before escaping.

“Ughhhh!”

Several lines were drawn across the old masters’ faces and bodies.

Thud thud.

Their bodies were instantly sliced into pieces and collapsed.

And…

Plop. Roll roll.

A head rolled in front of Jin Ja-gang.

It wasn’t one of the old masters’ heads. It was the head of the servant who had guided Jin Ja-gang here earlier.

Jin Ja-gang brushed off the hidden weapons embedded in his body and said indifferently.

“I deliberately spared him to be a witness, but you had to kill him?”

Another voice came from above.

“Ah, was that it? I just thought you were soft-hearted. I misunderstood.”

Soul Seizing Hall Master Tang Sang-yul was walking through the air. No, to be precise, he was stepping on threads spread in the air.

Swish. The bloodstained threads that had been spread like spider webs in the air were sucked toward Tang Sang-yul. Then Tang Sang-yul extended his hands left and right in the air without a word.

“Die.”

For a moment, Jin Ja-gang’s spine went cold.

The original owner of Soul Seizing Thread.

The way Tang Sang-yul used Soul Seizing Thread was quite different from Jin Ja-gang’s method. Jin Ja-gang stepped back and lowered his body by placing his hand on the ground.

Whiii!

Two threads cut through space above Jin Ja-gang’s head, creating four cross-sections as they passed. His hair fluttered in the wind created by the two threads.

Tang Sang-yul’s Soul Seizing Thread was terribly stealthy and powerful.

Rumble… The walls on both sides belatedly collapsed after being cut.

Jin Ja-gang asked Tang Sang-yul while keeping his body low.

“Did you gather these people?”

“Yes.”

Tang Sang-yul’s fingers danced. It looked like he was plucking a zither.

“But they won’t resent me. They probably understood why they had to die at the moment of death.”

Simultaneously, Soul Seizing Thread slashed from above Jin Ja-gang’s head downward, and diagonally from below upward.

Whoosh! Jin Ja-gang kicked off the ground and rolled his body. He stepped on the collapsed wall and leaped up to avoid Soul Sezing Thread.

Jin Ja-gang looked at Tang Sang-yul at the same eye level and said.

“The dead people would feel wronged if they heard that.”

Tang Sang-yul moved his body while wrapping Soul Seizing Thread around his forearms and shoulders like throwing a meteor hammer.

Jin Ja-gang was about to descend to the ground but felt chilled and leaped into the air.

Swooosh!

Below Jin Ja-gang’s feet, Soul Seizing Threads from four directions tightened and overlapped each other, making the resonant sound of string instruments.

“That’s what family loyalty is. Some rabble without belonging could never understand. The joy of subordination, security, permanence. These people rushed here abandoning everything because they believe they cannot exist if the family disappears.”

Tang Sang-yul pulled his arms.

Swish swish snap!

As the overlapped Soul Seizing Threads released, countless cross-sections appeared in the air. Jin Ja-gang spun in the air to avoid the cross-sections and landed on the ground.

Swish.

A line of blood remained on Jin Ja-gang’s cheek. He had been cut by Soul Seizing Thread. It throbbed from poison, but now others’ poison was meaningless to Jin Ja-gang.

Tang Sang-yul moved both arms in complex motions to retrieve the Soul Seizing Thread tangled in the air.

“Don’t say you don’t know. You already used that to make King of Hell collapse on his own.”

“How could I not know?”

Tang Sang-yul smiled slightly.

“Right. Though you have no sense of belonging, you too reached here for your sect’s revenge.”

“My revenge is mine. You don’t need to speak of my revenge.”

This time Jin Ja-gang pointed at Tang Sang-yul with his finger.

“Come down.”

Tang Sang-yul watched what Jin Ja-gang was trying to do, then suddenly leaped up.

Swooosh!

All the walls on Tang Sang-yul’s left and right were cut and collapsing. Tang Sang-yul’s Soul Seizing Thread hung on the walls had been released, making it impossible for Tang Sang-yul to continue standing on threads in the air.

Tang Sang-yul rotated lightly and landed on the ground. Simultaneously, Jin Ja-gang quickly pulled both arms.

White Thread that had been spread on the ground, released at some unknown time, was pulled like a snare targeting Tang Sang-yul’s ankle. Tang Sang-yul immediately leaped again upon landing and somersaulted backward to avoid it.

Jin Ja-gang retrieved and stored White Thread.

“Did you come to die? You have less killing intent than when we met in the underground prison before.”

Tang Sang-yul laughed.

“I can see why King of Hell considered you his successor. You see through situations frighteningly well. But saying I came to die doesn’t suit me.”

Tang Sang-yul also retrieved all his Soul Seizing Thread and wound it around the ring. Then he separated the ring again.

Click.

Tang Sang-yul’s hair slowly rose up.

“If I kill you, it’s revenge for King of Hell, and if you kill me, there will no longer be anyone in the family with complaints against you.”

Tang Sang-yul threw rings to both sides.

Flash!

But the direction wasn’t toward where Jin Ja-gang was. The rings instantly burrowed into the walls on both sides and disappeared. No matter how fast Jin Ja-gang’s eyes were, he couldn’t watch both sides simultaneously.

Tang Sang-yul pulled his arms.

Whiiiiish!

Two threads poured down from above Jin Ja-gang’s head like falling rain. Jin Ja-gang leaped and twisted his body. The cross-section created by Tang Sang-yul’s Soul Seizing Thread narrowly sliced past Jin Ja-gang’s body. The rings crossed far behind Jin Ja-gang and burrowed into the wall before disappearing.

Jin Ja-gang lowered his body to the ground, then spun rapidly like a top while leaping up.

The rings that had passed returned while two long horizontal lines cut across from the lower part of both walls. The left and right walls collapsed after being cut from the bottom.

Now Jin Ja-gang clearly understood the Soul Seizing Thread technique Tang Sang-yul used.

The rings acted as weights, and the walls served as direction-changing pillars. Like swinging a long whip to strike a tree makes the whip spin around and wrap the tree, rings passing through walls get caught on walls and change direction, making the rings and Soul Seizing Thread return.

Through delicate internal energy control, passing through walls not once or twice but multiple times, dozens of times… Soul Seizing Thread would spread like spider webs on all sides of the walls.

Tang Sang-yul asked Jin Ja-gang.

“Did you see well?”

“I saw well. The original Soul Seizing Thread.”

“No, what you saw was only a fraction.”

Tang Sang-yul gathered and wound Soul Seizing Thread, then shook both arms.

Swish.

Not just one, but dozens of rings were released.

Tang Sang-yul hung rings on each finger.

“This is the real Soul Seizing Thread.”

Tang Sang-yul’s eyes flashed. Tang Sang-yul spread both arms left and right.

The complete Tang family hidden weapon technique, Flash Severance.

The rings spread radially and flew in all directions.

Whiiiiish! Countless rings traveled left and right, piercing walls like needles threading cloth, entangling with each other and changing trajectories while flying about chaotically.

In an instant, Soul Seizing Thread spider webs were spread in all directions around Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang didn’t move and looked at Tang Sang-yul.

Tang Sang-yul raised one hand to show it. Rings and Soul Seizing Thread were complexly entangled on his fingers.

“If I pull… you die. Any last words?”

Jin Ja-gang spoke as if telling an old story.

“There was a person named Wi Jong, the valley master of Yunnan’s Poison Valley.”

“White Pool Fragrance Wi Jong.”

“That’s right. He told me something. Never engage in long conversations with those who use their heads. Even when talking, do it only after breaking all their limbs and laying them flat on the ground.”

Tang Sang-yul’s eyes narrowed.

Jin Ja-gang put his finger in his mouth.

Whiiiiiiiiii!

Sharp whistle sound!

With internal energy now at its peak, Jin Ja-gang’s sound attack had different destructive power than before.

Pop!

Tang Sang-yul’s eardrum in one ear immediately burst.

“Ugh!”

Tang Sang-yul briefly lost his sense of balance and staggered. His eyes also had problems. Blood gradually seeped into his eyes.

Tang Sang-yul bit his molars tightly and clenched his fist with all his might. The Soul Seizing Thread rings entangled on his fingers were pulled taut.

The spider web covering Jin Ja-gang contracted in an instant.

Slash!

The walls, dead old masters’ corpses, and floor… all space was split as Soul Seizing Thread tightened to its limit.

Soul Seizing Thread even sliced through Jin Ja-gang’s body.

Jin Ja-gang inside didn’t seem like he could possibly avoid it.

But Jin Ja-gang flew toward Tang Sang-yul as if penetrating through even as Soul Seizing Thread was contracting. Soul Seizing Thread seemed to just pass by.

“What?”

Then Jin Ja-gang was already standing behind Tang Sang-yul. Afterimages of Jin Ja-gang that had appeared in the air disappeared one by one.

Reverse Afterimage Soul Technique!

Tang Sang-yul doubted his own eyes.

“How…”

He had blocked all of Jin Ja-gang’s directions. No matter what excellent movement technique he used, there was absolutely no way to escape.

Zing! Tang Sang-yul’s Soul Seizing Thread suddenly made a metallic sound.

Only then did Tang Sang-yul realize. It wasn’t normal for intact Soul Seizing Thread to make metallic sounds.

Not everything was pulled, part of it was caught somewhere!

Jin Ja-gang said quietly.

“You said you didn’t come to die, but it doesn’t seem like you came voluntarily. Is there a reason you must die?”

Tang Sang-yul answered.

“Will.”

“Will…?”

“The Tang clan’s will to accept you.”

“How does your death have such meaning?”

“Someone must take responsibility for King of Hell’s revenge. We cannot accept someone who harmed Tang clan blood relatives without any price.”

“Someone must die… and that’s you?”

“Either kill, or the one trying to kill disappears.”

“…”

“But we cannot take no action at all. That is our family’s pride.”

Even Jin Ja-gang couldn’t particularly argue against that.

“If one is a Tang family member, everyone’s heart that cherishes the family is the same. King of Hell, the dead blood relatives of the external thirty-six chambers, me… and the family head too… Only the methods differ.”

Jin Ja-gang sensed some melancholy in his voice.

“Do you feel wronged?”

“No. We are always prepared to die for the family. Only when you too understand that will you truly become one of us. I just… regret not being able to see our family that gained Poison Dragon commanding the future martial world.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to see it anyway.”

Jin Ja-gang said.

“You say you die for the family, but I was thinking of killing you for a different reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just wanted you to know that our purposes are different before you die.”

Jin Ja-gang put strength into his arms.

Ziiiing! The metallic sound came again and Tang Sang-yul’s body swayed.

“Beon Woo. Do you remember?”

Tang Sang-yul answered immediately.

“How could I not remember? Master Craftsman Beon had the highest skills as an artisan. He made many divine weapons and each one was excellent. He also made the Soul Seizing Thread I used before.”

“He asked me to take revenge for cutting off his leg.”

Tang Sang-yul hesitated briefly, then surprisingly nodded obediently.

“I expected it from the moment I saw that Soul Seizing Thread. Did Master Craftsman Beon make it?”

“Yes.”

“He must have put his heart and soul into making the one he gave you. Even my current Soul Seizing Thread was made by our family’s finest artisan.”

Tang Sang-yul exhaled quietly and said.

“He knew too many of our family’s secrets to let him go as is. If you meet him later, please tell him I was sorry since there were no personal feelings involved.”

“I understand.”

Jin Ja-gang crossed both arms and brought them forward, then pulled with all his might.

Ting! Tiing! Ting!

Jin Ja-gang’s Soul Seizing Thread snapped Tang Sang-yul’s Soul Seizing Thread as it was pulled. Tang Sang-yul’s severed Soul Seizing Thread was released limply.

Ting! Tiing!

Dark Thread that had severed Tang Sang-yul’s Soul Seizing Thread finally passed through Tang Sang-yul’s body and emerged.

“Fa… mily… head…”

Tang Sang-yul spoke his last words and became fragmented pieces that scattered with thuds.