Chapter 402: Chapter 402

A faint red tinge colored the breath flowing from the mouths of the martial artists who had transformed into the Soulless, proving beyond a doubt that they were under the control of evil sorcery.

Their empty eyes, devoid of reason, stared blankly at Baek Suryong as they stood motionless, weapons hanging limply at their sides, awaiting their teacher's command. Standing at the forefront of this ghastly assembly were the Five Young Azure Dragons.

Baek Suryong issued a warning to his students, hoping they might still hear him. "If, by any chance, you can hear me right now..."

However, before he could finish, Hyonwon Kang's Black Dao tore through the air as he charged forward with a deafening roar, his dao qi surging like a frenzied beast.

Baek Suryong deflected the Black Dao and immediately thrust the middle and index fingers of his left hand forward. His aim was to subdue Hyonwon Kang by striking his acupoints. Just then, though, Wiji Cheon emerged from behind like a phantom. He had concealed his presence completely before striking with his sword.

Baek Suryong nearly lost a few fingers. He jerked his left hand back and spun to face Wiji Cheon, his heart skipping a beat at what he saw. The boy's eyes held the same innocent smile as when they had first met in the forest.

Once again, Wiji Cheon had become a sword demon with an innocent facade, swinging his blade with reckless abandon. His sword dance would have been breathtakingly beautiful on any stage, but now it pulsed with killing intent directed squarely at his teacher.

"If you're listening, I'll make this clear," Baek Suryong said, parrying Wiji Cheon's sword and blocking Hyonwon Kang's attack more cautiously than ever. His crazed students' attacks grazed his clothes several times, but that was their limit. They couldn't even manage to scratch his skin.

"This is not your fault."

He said these words for the sake of his students, hoping to spare them from the crushing guilt they might feel upon regaining their senses and realizing they had genuinely tried to kill him.

Regardless of the consequences for himself, he had sworn that today, he would not allow a single person at the Azure Dragon Academy to be harmed.

"Besides, no matter how hard you try, you can't lay a single finger on me. So don't worry and just go to sleep."

Smirking faintly, Baek Suryong gathered his inner qi and deflected the Black Dao and Soul Sword in quick succession.

Both students dropped their weapons, but continued charging forward recklessly. The only difference was that their attacks were now distinctly clumsy and sluggish.

Baek Suryong advanced, intending to knock his students unconscious. The frigid energy of the White Ice Divine Art swirled and gathered in his left palm, like a contained winter blizzard.

Geo Sangwoong intercepted the attack meant for his fellow students. Taking the palm strike squarely to his chest, he roared and swung his massive fist in retaliation.

"These rascals..." Baek Suryong muttered with genuine bewilderment as he leaped back to avoid the pot lid-sized fist. "Why is their teamwork so good even though they're not in their right minds?"

"I don't think this is an appropriate time to boast about the success of your education."

Baek Suryong glanced back just in time to see Namgung Su blocking Ya Suhyeok's charge in his stead. The man pressed the flat of his sword against Ya Suhyeok's shoulder, holding him back despite their size difference making them look like an adult and a child. Surprisingly, he showed no signs of being pushed back by the giant's brute strength.

"Student Ya Suhyeok." Namgung Su's eyebrows twitched as the smell of liquor and blood wafted from Ya Suhyeok's body. "From now on, make it a habit to take a bath as soon as you return home."

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Ya Suhyeok pushed forward, his muscles twitching with effort, but Namgung Su refused to yield. Lightning qi flowed through the flat of the sword where it touched Ya Suhyeok's shoulder.

Ya Suhyeok trembled violently as lightning qi coursed through his body. Seizing the moment, Namgung Su grabbed Ya Suhyeok by the collar and threw him to the ground.

Dust billowed up from the quaking earth beneath them.

Namgung Su immediately moved to seal Ya Suhyeok's acupoints, but Yeo Min's throwing knife got in the way.

Namgung Su caught the blade flying toward his face between two fingers, but Ya Suhyeok had already rolled away and escaped during the brief distraction, appearing almost unaffected by the electrocution.

"He's certainly quite something."

No matter how outstanding the Five Young Azure Dragons' joint attack formation was, and even though they felt no pain in their current state, they lacked the skill to take on him and Baek Suryong simultaneously. The real problem was that they were not their only opponents.

The martial artists from the Murim Alliance, the Beggars' Gang, and the Constabulary, who had been encircling them, roared in unison and charged forward as a single, massive wave.

Baek Suryong spotted familiar faces among their ranks that made his heart sink, especially Cheong Cheon and Cheoldu.

"There was no need to confirm the results of your training in this way."

As if responding to his words, Cheong Cheon unleashed his sword qi, while Cheoldu swung his axe with devastating force. The speed and power behind their attacks rivaled that of the Five Young Azure Dragons.

Baek Suryong blocked, dodged, and counterattacked the assault coming from all sides even as he remained constantly vigilant against the concealed Skykiller lurking nearby.

[Can you not break this sorcery?] he screamed at the Divine Azure Dragon Sword.

The sword retorted indignantly, [I am analyzing the structure of the sorcery and searching for a method to break it, but I need a little more time!]

Normal sorcery was a mysterious art that warped the laws of nature by harnessing their energy. That said, it never crossed a certain fundamental threshold.

The Blood Demon's sorcery, however, operated under an entirely different logic. It was heaven-defying sorcery that demanded human sacrifices to perform miracles. As such, its terrible energy drove even renowned sorcerers mad from mere contact.

Still, the Divine Azure Dragon Sword sustained a continuous connection to it to understand its underlying structure. This evil sorcery represented something she, as a sorcerer, could never tolerate.

[If I were in my original body, I could have crushed it in an instant!] she groaned in chagrin.

[Please hurry up. I'll find Skykiller.]

Baek Suryong expanded his senses, searching for any trace of the assassin. If he were fighting alone, he would barely be able to survey his surroundings. Thankfully, he had an ally worth a hundred men standing beside him.

Each time a lightning bolt flashed, the Soulless charging at them collapsed to the floor, convulsing.

The intense lightning qi rendered even skilled martial artists unconscious. Even so, the Soulless would only fall momentarily, rising again like undying puppets.

"It's impossible to knock them out."

"I tried sealing their acupoints, but it didn't work. I feel like I'm stabbing a block of wood."

The two stood back to back, conversing with deeply troubled expressions. Namgung Su, who had unleashed lightning qi multiple times, was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted.

Suddenly, a familiar face came charging out, swinging a large dao like a mad windmill.

"Uwoooooh!" Kwak Duyong barreled forward, his eyes rolled back, and swung his large dao wildly.

Baek Suryong groaned. While seeing the fatty alive provided some relief, it was accompanied by a different feeling entirely. "I'm glad you're safe, but... why are you only showing up now?"

He delivered an uppercut to Kwak Duyong's chin to vent his frustration, rattling his brain and sending him staggering.

"No hard feelings, Mr. Kwak Duyong," Namgung Su added, following up with a palm strike to the fat instructor's abdomen.

Kwak Duyong's body flew backward, half-burying itself in a wall. He twitched once, and then went completely limp.

"He may have been clueless, but he was a good friend..."

The two exchanged pointless jokes as they fought, but their expressions remained serious as they took in their surroundings.

Attacks continued pouring in from all directions, led by the relentless Five Young Azure Dragons.

Each opponent was individually weaker than the two swordmasters, but they felt no pain, and their acupoints were not a weakness to exploit. On the other hand, Baek Suryong and Namgung Su had to subdue their attackers without killing them. This resulted in such inefficient fighting that even these two exceptional martial artists grew tired as time dragged on.

Additionally, the martial artists' faces were becoming noticeably pale, a result of using more inner qi and stamina than their bodies could handle.

If time continued passing , they would suffer irreversible damage, even if they regained consciousness.

Finally, Baek Suryong could no longer simply watch. "How about we lure them outside the Azure Dragon Academy? We can drag them out and tie them up one by one," he suggested.

"If the two of you take even one step out of the Azure Dragon Academy, I will kill all the people here," Skykiller interjected, his voice echoing throughout the academy from his hidden position.

Baek Suryong tried to track the sorcery-amplified voice to locate Skykiller, but it came from several places simultaneously, making detection impossible.

"It's useless to try to find me. I have no intention of stepping forward until this fight ends. Hey, my temporary Soulless friends, why don't you try a little harder?"

Despite being knocked down multiple times, the martial artists rose once more and attacked Baek Suryong and Namgung Su with renewed desperation.

Although their bodies were rapidly weakening, they could not stop due to the persistent sorcery. They forced their unresponsive bodies to move, drawing out every last drop of their inner qi.

The horror didn't end there. Soon, it became obvious that they would tap into their innate qi, the very source of their life force, when their inner arts ran completely dry.

If this continues... Baek Suryong gritted his teeth as he looked at his students' increasingly pale faces.

"Mr. Baek Suryong, the students won't stop until they kill you or you kill them," Skykiller remarked in amusement.

Baek Suryong narrowed his eyes. The fiend was surely lurking nearby, relishing the sight of his strained expression.

"Choose. You can either end their suffering by killing them yourself or be killed by your students. I will respect your choice." Skykiller paused for a moment, then added with mock generosity, "If you choose the latter, I will spare your students."

Baek Suryong's pupils wavered momentarily. During that brief lapse, his defense was breached for the first time, and Wiji Cheon's blade grazed his chest.

Had Namgung Su not yanked Baek Suryong's shoulder at that crucial moment, the outcome would not have ended with merely torn clothing.

"Suryong!" Baek Muheun, who was fighting to protect the exhausted instructors from the approaching Soulless, also screamed.

"Sorry, my bad. I was just thinking about something else for a moment," Baek Suryong apologized to the two men.

Sparing my students in exchange for my life? As if I could trust a villain's words.

The real reason he was distracted wasn't because Skykiller's words had swayed him, but because he was lost in thought over the conversation he just had with the Divine Azure Dragon Sword.

"Okay. Let's do it that way..."

He lightly patted the sword, which glowed faintly in his hand. Then, he lifted his head and shouted, "There's a third option. We can catch and kill the cowardly assassin hiding like a rat."

"Hahaha! If you're choosing the third option, then you must have run out of ideas, right?"

Baek Suryong offered no response. He simply glanced at the Soulless, who had taken a step back to surround him, and then focused on Baek Muheun. "Dad," he said gravely.

Baek Muheun frowned deeply. "In my experience, this is the face you always make right before you stir up trouble."

"I'm going to ask you for a strange favor in a bit. You'll oblige, right?"

Baek Muheun seemed to consider the request for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "Very well."

Baek Suryong shifted his gaze to Namgung Su. "Namgung Su."

"Can you grant me a favor too, no questions asked?"

Baek Suryong expected Namgung Su to frown or sigh at such a request, but surprisingly, the man looked at him with genuine amazement.

"You've grown a little, haven't you?"

Baek Suryong tilted his head in confusion. "Me? Grown? How?"

"You're at least asking first now. That's a huge improvement." Namgung Su turned to face the Soulless. "How many times do you think I've granted you favors without you asking until now? One more time won't make a difference."

Baek Suryong's eyes widened. As expected, Namgung Su was a man who expressed 'okay' in the most complex way possible.