Chapter 18
Wi Ilcheong and Baekri Sohyeon, the two left at the inn, were in the middle of a fierce fight.
“Die!”
As he cut down the charging Murong Clan martial artists, Wi Ilcheong kept a close eye on Noh Sun-pyeong.
‘The other martial artists are nothing special. But I’ll have to watch out for two of them.’
One was Noh Sun-pyeong, and the other was Murong Jun.
Baekri Sohyeon was handling Murong Jun, but unfortunately, things didn’t look good for her.
“You lowborn bitch!”
“…Hngh!”
Murong Jun had been overwhelming Baekri Sohyeon from the start.
Seeing Baekri Sohyeon driven all the way to the wall, Murong Jun charged at her with a powerful swing of his sword.
“Die!!”
“Miss Baekri!!”
Shraaak!
For an instant, it looked as though the sword had split Baekri Sohyeon in two, but fortunately, she quickly ducked and rolled away from the wall.
“You’re shameless, just like a harlot!”
“…Shut up….”
“I’ll tear that mouth of yours apart!!”
As Murong Jun charged at Baekri Sohyeon again, Wi Ilcheong was about to join the fight when a sharp sword aura came flying from the side.
“Not so fast!”
“Ghk…!”
“Were you so carefree that you could take your eyes off me with this old man standing right in front of you?”
Noh Sun-pyeong swung his sword and charged at Wi Ilcheong.
“Murong Clan martial artists, help the Second Young Master! I’ll deal with this one!”
“”Yes, sir!!””
Seeing them go to help Baekri Sohyeon, who looked weaker, Wi Ilcheong gritted his teeth.
“…Is it not dishonorable for a martial artist to fight one against many? And against someone weaker, no less!”
“Dishonorable?!”
Clang!
Noh Sun-pyeong swung his sword and put some distance between them.
“It’s not dishonorable. It’s strategy. Isn’t it basic to take down the weaker side first?”
“…”
“All I have to do is keep you occupied. You’re alone, with no faction behind you, while I have the entire Murong Clan at my back. Isn’t it obvious who’ll win?”
“…So that’s why you lost to Senior Mad Demon.”
“Watch… your words, young man.”
“At least Senior Mad Demon was far more of a martial artist. He charged into the Murong Clan alone.”
“I suppose you’re trying to provoke me, but it won’t work. A mere Mad Demon can be dealt with any time…”
“You know something?”
Wi Ilcheong cut him off and pointed at his own manhood.
“I’m exceptionally virile, so I pee a lot. I could easily soak the Murong Clan’s little plaque.”
“…”
Noh Sun-pyeong trembled all over.
Wi Ilcheong had taunted him by alluding to the story of the Mad Demon smashing the Murong Clan and pissing on its plaque. Noh Sun-pyeong finally lost his temper and charged at Wi Ilcheong with bloodshot eyes.
“I’ll tear you to pieces!!!”
Even as Noh Sun-pyeong charged again, Wi Ilcheong’s eyes were fixed beyond him.
He parried Noh Sun-pyeong’s sword with the flexible sword in his right hand, while drawing another flexible sword with his other hand.
Seeing that, Noh Sun-pyeong was taken aback.
‘He had another hidden sword?!’
Wi Ilcheong drove the flexible sword into the floor and said,
“Dragon and Snake Soaring (龍蛇飛騰).”
A sword technique modeled on a snake leaping in a single bound to seize its prey.
True to its name, the flexible sword embedded in the floor shot forward, passed Noh Sun-pyeong, then burst up from the floor and stabbed toward Murong Jun’s shoulder.
“Aaargh!”
“Second Young Master!!”
Seeing the Second Young Master struck from behind by an unexpected attack, Noh Sun-pyeong gritted his teeth and said,
“You coward…!”
“Didn’t you say so yourself?”
Watching him, Wi Ilcheong sneered at Noh Sun-pyeong.
“Taking down the weaker side first is strategy.”
“You son of a bitch…!”
“I learned a lot from you, Senior.”
Just as Noh Sun-pyeong lost his reason and charged at Wi Ilcheong to kill him,
he reached into his sleeve.
‘What is it? A hidden weapon? Poison? A dagger?’
A myriad of thoughts flashed through Noh Sun-pyeong’s mind.
What he pulled out was a little ball.
Wi Ilcheong dropped the ball to the floor and once again raised a hand to swing his sword at Noh Sun-pyeong.
“Butterfly Soaring (胡蝶飛上).”
The moment he heard the name of the technique, Noh Sun-pyeong quickly stopped.
‘That huge slash he showed at first! I have to dodge it, not block it!’
“Falling Blossoms (落花).”
But this time, it was a different technique.
It began the same way, with his sword raised high, but unlike Ten Thousand Flashes, which had swept through the air in one great slash, he curled the flexible sword into a circle and slammed it into the floor.
Noh Sun-pyeong leaped up to avoid the slash, but the inn’s floor was not so fortunate.
“Aaargh!”
“The floor…!”
“What is this…!”
Watching the floor collapse and the Murong Clan martial artists drop to the lower floor, Noh Sun-pyeong realized what was happening.
‘Was this to reduce our numbers…!’
Just then, the ball Wi Ilcheong had rolled across the floor burst, releasing smoke.
“Miss Baekri!”
“Yeah!”
Wi Ilcheong extended his flexible sword, and it coiled around Baekri Sohyeon’s wrist.
Then he threw himself out the window, pulling Baekri Sohyeon into his arms as though reeling her in by a rope.
Watching Wi Ilcheong flee, Noh Sun-pyeong drew on his inner energy and shouted,
“The Lust Demon is getting away!! Pursue him!!”
“”Yes, sir!!””
Noh Sun-pyeong wanted nothing more than to chase Wi Ilcheong, but the Second Young Master, Murong Jun, mattered more.
“Second Young Master! Are you all right?!”
“Ghk… A cowardly trick….”
“Stop the bleeding first. Some of you stay behind and escort the Second Young Master!”
“Uncle.”
Murong Jun grabbed Noh Sun-pyeong’s arm and spoke through bloodshot eyes.
“Go after the Lust Demon.”
“But your injuries…”
“What do injuries matter to a martial artist?! More importantly, are you going to let our family’s enemy escape right in front of you again?!”
“…”
Hearing the Second Young Master’s words, Noh Sun-pyeong placed a hand on his head.
“You’ve become a proper martial artist, Second Young Master.”
“…”
“Next time we meet, I’ll bring you the heads of the Lust Demon and those bewitching women as a gift.”
“…I’ll look forward to it.”
He looked for a moment at Murong Jun, who was clutching his shoulder and sprawled on the floor, then immediately leapt in the direction the Lust Demon had fled.
*
“Hey, Heo-horse.”
“…Am I not even a coachman anymore?”
“You punk, you asked me to call you that.”
“I asked you to call me Coachman, miss.”
“Enough chatter. How much farther?”
“…About one shichen (2 hours) from here.”
“Not much farther, then.”
Though she answered calmly on the surface, Dokgo Ryeong was quite surprised inside.
Heo Gwan-yeong had, as he’d said, excellent lightness skills.
“…Hey, Heo-horse.”
“Haa… Yes, miss.”
“What the hell are you?”
“Pardon?”
“No matter how I look at it, your lightness skills are too good for you to be just a Hao Sect member…”
“…What kind of organization is the Hao Sect? An intelligence network, right? We’re all this good at lightness and stealth.”
“Hmm… I don’t think so.”
Thinking he was suspicious in more ways than one, Dokgo Ryeong stared at the back of Heo Gwan-yeong’s head.
But thinking about it wasn’t getting her anywhere, so she eventually gave up.
“Hey, Heo-horse, will there be anything to eat when we get there? I’m hungry.”
“…Aren’t you worried?”
“Worried? I’m fucking worried.”
“…Then why are you so relaxed?”
“And you call yourself a member of an intelligence network, yet you know so little.”
As Dokgo Ryeong looked at the back of Heo Gwan-yeong’s head, she recalled something the Hao Sect Leader had told her long ago.
“You know the ranks: God, Immortal, Venerable, Emperor, King, Lord, Saint, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Do you know how strong Noh Sun-pyeong is?”
“He’s the Sword King, isn’t he…?”
“The Lust Demon, as far as I can tell, is at least Sword Emperor level.”
“…What?”
“That bastard’s inner energy is absurd. If you’re judging by inner energy alone, he could even aim for Immortal. Lust Immortal. Damn… an immortal who beds every woman in sight.”
“How do you know that, miss?”
“How do I know? My… I mean, my father fought the Lust Demon, so I know.”
“Senior Mad Demon?”
“Yeah, you punk.”
Heo Gwan-yeong tilted his head.
“…That’s not something the Hao Sect knows.”
“I told you I saw it. Just because you don’t know doesn’t mean nobody knows.”
“…That’s true. Who won, by the way?”
“Obviously the Mad Demon, you punk.”
“…But the Jade-Faced Young Master is still alive, isn’t he?”
“You punk, does the Mad Demon go around killing everyone he meets, huh?!”
Dokgo Ryeong smacked the back of Heo Gwan-yeong’s head several times.
Then Heo Gwan-yeong suddenly stopped.
“Uh…? Are you sulking?”
“Miss, lower your voice.”
“…Huh?”
“Something’s off.”
“…”
When Heo Gwan-yeong suddenly lowered his voice and crouched down, Dokgo Ryeong climbed off his back.
She closed her eyes and focused her senses. The only thing she picked up nearby was a bird.
“…There’s nothing here.”
“…That’s not it.”
Heo Gwan-yeong raised a hand and pointed.
“Can you see over there?”
“…It’s just a village?”
“But all the lights are out.”
“So what? Everyone’s asleep at night, aren’t they?”
“…Even the inn’s first floor wouldn’t be dark.”
“Ah…”
Inns always kept their first-floor lamps lit so they could receive guests who arrived in the middle of the night.
But it was strange that even the first floor of the inn was dark.
“I hope the inn just happens to be closed, but I doubt that’s it.”
“…Yes. At a time like this, it can’t be a coincidence.”
Heo Gwan-yeong crouched down again, and Dokgo Ryeong climbed onto his back.
“Miss, the encirclement is wider than I expected. We’ll have to take a slight detour.”
“…All right. The meeting place is safe, right?”
“Probably. It’s one of the safehouses the Hao Sect uses on missions, so it should be secure.”
“…I hope so.”
Trouble always seemed to arise at times like this in the life of Mad Demon Dokgo Jin.
“I’ll set off again, miss.”
“Yeah. I’ll keep a close watch on our surroundings too, so stop if you notice anything.”
“…Yes.”
And so Heo Gwan-yeong and Dokgo Ryeong headed once more toward the place where they were supposed to meet Wi Ilcheong.
Much slower and more cautiously than before.
“…Fuck. I knew it.”
What greeted Dokgo Ryeong when she reached the Pajeo River was an enormous number of martial artists.
Judging by their martial uniforms, they were from the Murong Clan.
‘…This is insane. What do I do?’
A pursuer party behind them, and an enormous number of martial artists ahead.
They were truly in a desperate situation, trapped on all sides.
Unlike Dokgo Ryeong, who was busy wondering how they could get out of this, Heo Gwan-yeong spoke calmly.
“Miss, this is an opportunity.”
“…Huh?”
“Look at them. Their uniforms are clean, and so are their weapons.”
“…Why does that matter?”
“They’re a different group from the ones we met at the inn.”
“Obviously. Aren’t they reinforcements sent by the Murong Clan?”
“I think otherwise.”
Heo Gwan-yeong said,
“Even if they sent a carrier pigeon, it would take two days to reach the Murong Clan’s main estate in Liaoning. There’s no way more martial artists could have arrived in such a short time.”
“…Then?”
“Aren’t they likely here to greet the Murong Clan martial artists returning from Black Dragon Castle?”
“Hmm…”
It made sense.
The Murong Clan regularly sent martial artists to Black Dragon Castle and Jilin to deal with the surrounding barbarians and expand its influence.
Noh Sun-pyeong and the Second Young Master had probably gone on that expedition this time.
If so, it made sense that Murong Clan martial artists had come out in advance to greet them.
“…But how does that change anything?”
“It changes things.”
Heo Gwan-yeong took a piece of cloth from his backpack and suddenly reached toward her.
“Fuck, what are you doing?”
“…I can’t exactly cut off your hair, can I, miss?”
“What?”
“The Murim Alliance has issued a kill order, so they’ve probably circulated a description of you too. But what’s the most distinctive thing about you? Your hair.”
“…True. It’s an awful shade of red.”
“By contrast, if we just cover your hair, you’ll look like an ordinary young lady.”
“…Do you really think this will work?”
“If it doesn’t, I’ll carry you across the river on my back. I know how to run across water.”
“…”
At the mention that he could run across water, Dokgo Ryeong looked at Heo Gwan-yeong with suspicion.
“…The more I think about it, the more I feel like I ought to know who you are.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re clearly someone of some standing in the Hao Sect…”
“Would someone like that serve as your horse? Anyway, hurry over here. I need to hide your hair.”
“…All right.”
Heo Gwan-yeong tied Dokgo Ryeong’s hair up in the cloth, disguising her as an ordinary woman from a slash-and-burn farming village.
“…We should smear some dirt on your face too. You’re far too beautiful.”
“This is ridiculous. I’ll do it myself, you punk.”
“Hey! Not like that.”
Seeing that Heo Gwan-yeong had finished disguising Dokgo Ryeong, he nodded.
“This should make you look like an ordinary commoner to anyone.”
“Hey, if they find us out, I’m jumping right onto your back.”
“Yes. Just leave it to me.”
Heo Gwan-yeong grinned and stepped out of the woods.
A Murong Clan martial artist who had been scanning the riverbank came face-to-face with Heo Gwan-yeong.
“Oh, sir…”
“You bastard!”
Contrary to Heo Gwan-yeong’s expectations, the martial artist immediately drew his sword.
Seeing that, Dokgo Ryeong squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Heo Gwan-yeong, you bastard….’