Life was running out for Kim Nam-won, and he didn't want to care about the details of what Lu Ding called the national calamity.
He could do whatever the hell he wanted.
He only cared about one thing—why did he have to kill him!!
If you meant the national calamity, then just take it!!
You're already here with such formidable combat power—couldn't you just wait until I left to do whatever you wanted?
Why did you have to pick a fight with me, why did you have to kill someone like me who's only at the eighth level of Heavenly Perception!
Lu Ding applied force with his hand, pressing down on the back of the blade.
Watching the sharp edge gradually slice through Kim Nam-won's bones and flesh.
"Because... if you don't die, the Tianxing Group won't fall into chaos. If you don't die, Kim Yeon-ju and Kim Gyeong-joo's situations will be dangerous."
"Of course, there's one more thing."Kim Nam-won trembled as he gripped the blade, looking at Lu Ding with incomprehensible eyes, waiting for him to continue.
"I've been wanting to kick your ass for a long time...."
Riiiiip!!!!
A sudden downward press.
Kim Nam-won's hand gripping the blade was instantly severed.
The sharp longsword sliced through his remaining flesh and bones.
Pulling the approximately fifty percent completion directly to one hundred.
Kim Nam-won was diagonally cut in two, split into separate halves.
Achievement unlocked: 【Two and a Half Nam-won (100%)】
As blood splattered like ink, Kim Nam-won's remaining consciousness watched Lu Ding's downward sword swing cut through the earth, leaving a terrifying scar stretching over a kilometer.
An utterly speechless smile appeared on his face.
"For two Divine Palace realm cultivators, no... risking your reputation as the Corpse-Shattering Taishui to ambush and kill someone like me at the eighth level of Heavenly Perception... *cough cough cough cough*..."
The half of Kim Nam-won's body with his head slammed heavily to the ground.
The pain was certain.
But his eyes remained fixed on Lu Ding.
"Ridiculous... how ridiculous, Lu Ding... are you... really a smart man?"
In his view, this was completely irrational behavior.
But Lu Ding wasn't a robot, and rationality didn't mean letting people who cooperated with him, or helped him, face potential dangers.
Lu Ding floated down, looking down at Kim Nam-won whose life was like a candle in the wind.
The vitality within him had been completely destroyed.
Now, he was no different from dead.
Although whether he delivered the final blow or not, the result would be the same.
But... delivering the final blow was a virtue.
And Lu Ding had been an outstanding student since childhood, excelling both academically and morally.
He raised his sword.
"That's not how you calculate it. I never choose friends based on their appearance, family background, status, talent, or cultivation level."
"You could say they're tools for a certain phase of my life, but I prefer to call them, or anyone else, companions who accompany me through specific periods of my life."
Blind people who regain their sight will first discard their canes, considering them unlucky.
But they forget that when their vision was nothingness, the cane within reach was their greatest support.
Lu Ding wasn't that kind of person.
If you used someone to get things done, you had to do it properly and not leave them with any lingering concerns.
These words made a previously unseen emotion flash in Kim Nam-won's eyes.
It didn't fade away.
But slowly solidified.
Staring blankly at the sky.
In this moment, Kim Nam-won seemed to return to that year when he was competing for the heir position.
Human nature being inherently evil and human nature being inherently good weren't absolute things.
So Kim Nam-won wasn't always the person he was now.
The him from before wouldn't have spread his seed everywhere either.
Once upon a time, he seemed... to have been a pure love advocate too.
When exactly did he change... Kim Nam-won had forgotten.
Flashbacks kept showing images, numerous and chaotic, he couldn't find the turning point from that year.
Until Lu Ding silently swung his longsword and cut off his head.
Trapped by swords and blades in death, I dream again of that spring year.
At the moment his life ended, he remembered.
That spring, in the village, just turned eighteen, he was found by the Tianxing Group and said to the girl from the same village:
'Seon-mi ah, wait for me to become successful and I'll come back for you'
She was so ordinary, not tall, not fair, not beautiful, so mediocre that every woman Kim Nam-won met afterwards was millions of times better and prettier than her.
So much so that Kim Nam-won quickly forgot about her.
Even now, he still couldn't remember the girl's blurry face, only vaguely remembering that her hands had a roughness that didn't match her age, and the gentleness of the big sister next door.
"Seon...mi......"
His head was caught by Lu Ding with one hand.
"Sounds like it should be a woman's name."
What an ironic reality.
Someone like Kim Nam-won, before death, actually didn't think about his status, his wealth and power, nor did he review his life's efforts.
Instead, he thought of the woman he was least likely to think about.
A person like a sowing machine, still playing the devoted lover at death?
What the hell are you pretending for.
"What were you doing all this time earlier?"
Lu Ding met his wide-open dead eyes and said: "Disgusting."
He tossed the head up and swung his sword to shatter it.
Lu Ding turned around with his sword.
Looking at the Demon Dragon's remaining head, he frowned—this thing's vitality was quite strong.
The Demon Dragon saw that it was its turn now and quickly begged for mercy.
"Please......."
A sword light appeared.
Lu Ding's voice followed immediately: "Just die already, why so chatty."
After all this effort, even if it begged, he wouldn't spare this Demon Dragon.
So, words of begging for mercy were meaningless, and Lu Ding didn't like listening to meaningless words.
Sheathe the sword, harvest the crops!!!!
【Contained Monster: Hairy Dragon】
【Containment Reward: Black Devours Sun (Spell)】
【Black Devours Sun: Twelve Zodiac Dragon Method, Black Devours Sun, Heaven Collapses and Earth Splits】
Lu Ding understood in his heart—this was another thing that, when used at full power, would be indiscriminate between friend and foe, except for himself.
And its power was great, ridiculously great.
Black Devours Sun—these four words originated from the Chen hour, which is the time period from 7 to 9 AM. Besides Chen hour, this time period has another name: Meal Time!
It can be understood as the time when ancient people ate breakfast.
It can also be understood as the time when the sun breaks dawn and light devours darkness.
But Black Devours Sun reverses this, making the retreating darkness swallow the light instead.
Once used, within a certain range, it's enough to change heaven and earth.
He never expected it.
This Demon Dragon that suppressed the national calamity for Wei Gao was actually a Hairy Dragon.
【Records of Forgotten Matters】 mentions:
【In the country of Nanxun, there are cave yin sources that connect to the earth veins below, within which are Hairy Dragons........that country offered Hairy Dragons, one male and one female, hence establishing the office of Dragon Keeper.....until the Xia Dynasty, dragon raising continued uninterrupted, thus naming the clan....】
The appearance of the Hairy Dragon represents a clan that only exists in legends—the Dragon Keeper Clan!!!
This was one of the essential identities for early novel male protagonists.
The term 'Dragon King' in novels actually evolved from this Dragon Keeper identity.
Anyway, Lu Ding remembered that in the earliest urban cultivation novels he read, Dragon King didn't refer to a person, but to the dragon raised by the male protagonist.
At first this dragon was very weak, both loser-ish and sleazy, sharing the same wretched character as the male protagonist, the two hitting it off with their shared stench and forming a bond.
Then brought down the mountain by the male protagonist, through a series of adventures, it became the 'Dragon King'
Then the male protagonist incidentally gained the nickname Dragon King too.
Looking at the Hairy Dragon dead by his sword.
Flashbacks kept showing images, many and chaotic, he couldn't find the turning point from that year.
He killed the Hairy Dragon—if there really was a 'Dragon King', that person would probably naturally hold a grudge against him.
If according to the early novels where the 'Dragon King' was both submissive and cowardly, with inexplicable morals.
If Lu Ding ran into this kind of person, it would be hard to resist slapping him twice, triggering his crooked mouth passive.