Chapter 74: Assessing the Situation
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A fierce gust accompanied by powerful wind pressure swept through the venue.
CRACK-CRACK, CRA-CRA-CRACK- CREAK-CREAK-CREAK, CREAK-CREAK-CREAK-CREAK, CREAK-CREAK-CREAK…
Centered on where the hooves had struck, the entire garden floor split apart like a giant spider web, crying out loudly.
Amid everyone’s robes flapping wildly.
‘The horse made a tremoring stomp…?’
A light of shock filled everyone’s pupils.
That wasn’t the only surprising thing.
The identity of the party that had appeared with the horse displaying terrifying power, and the identity of the prisoners sprawled out tied with rope, were also shocking.
White Peak Sword Sect and the Thousand Snake Gang.
The force that was the organizer of today’s secret meeting, and the force that was its target, had both appeared in one place.
They knew at a glance.
The three on the horse wore the distinctive martial attire of White Peak Sword Sect’s executives, and the dozen-plus lying right behind them wore the Thousand Snake Gang’s martial attire.
In that instant, all kinds of questions assailed the minds of the unorthodox masters.
‘What on earth is this…!’
It was something they couldn’t readily understand.
How did White Peak Sword Sect know about this place and come?
Could Mun Bin, who had betrayed Jeo Gyeom, have been scheming behind the scenes…?
No, that couldn’t be.
Mun Bin’s startled face and eyes were proof.
Judging by the state of the unconscious Geum Ja-jeom and the rest of the Thousand Snake Gang thugs, it was clear they had suffered an unexpected ambush while on their way to the manor.
At that moment, an emotionless voice burrowed into everyone’s ears.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know if you plotted here?”
Simultaneously, the gazes of Jeo Gyeom, Wenren Yindao, Mok Geun-geum and the other unorthodox masters focused on the face of the person holding the reins.
‘Cheol Ryu-heun!’
The martial attire with a white mountain peak pattern embroidered on ink-black fabric spoke for his identity.
Everyone became alert.
Setting aside the unexpected sudden situation, it was because they had already heard that the young Cheol Ryu-heun’s martial prowess surpassed White Snake Head Sword Gul Ma-hun.
No.
According to the information from the Thousand Snake Gang, it wasn’t just slightly exceeding but overwhelmingly incomparable.
However… Now that they were facing him, it was difficult to gauge his personal aura.
Of course, they knew about that aspect too from what they had heard, but seeing it in person made it even stranger.
Rather, the aura of the two figures positioned behind Cheol Ryu-heun felt even more impressive.
Shaking Martial Hall Master Drunken Sword Pa Woo-saeng, now fully sobered, muttered quietly.
“Could that old man be…”
Lone Moon Sword Sect Master Twin Moon Scar Swords Gyu Geon, who had been standing nearby, nodded slightly and said.
“It’s White Peak Sword Sect Elder White Mountain Sword Excellence. I once exchanged blows with him when I was in my twenties, so I still remember that face. Though his hair has turned completely white.”
Following that, he flashed his eyes and quietly bit down on his molars.
It was because he had recalled the time when he’d been defeated after about forty exchanges back then.
Red Leopard Hall Master Roaring Leopard Saberman Geo Ja-woong tilted his head and said.
“It looks like he’s completely recovered?”
“It seems so, but…”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Gyu Geon’s mouth as he trailed off.
The implication was, what did it matter since he couldn’t do anything anyway?
There were several masters stronger than him gathered here right now, so he believed there would be no need to swing swords.
No matter how strong Cheol Ryu-heun was, no matter how much Hyeop Mu-geuk and Yeop Hwon added their strength, how could they possibly handle the first-rate masters present here?
Honestly, even if just half the people here stepped forward, they would face mortal crisis.
‘Is he trying to negotiate?’
Everyone thought so.
They didn’t know from when he had noticed the Thousand Snake Gang’s secret plan, but Cheol Ryu-heun and his party must have appeared to ask them not to intervene further since this was a matter between the two forces.
If he had come intending to fight, he surely wouldn’t have brought only three people.
Soon, when Cheol Ryu-heun, Yeop Hwon, and Hyeop Mu-geuk stepped onto the ground.
“Sect Master Cheol… Is that right?”
A quiet question from Mun Bin, who had been standing alone not far to the side.
Swish.
Cheol Ryu-heun turned his gaze and threw out a gruff voice.
“Brat’s got an impertinent way of speaking.”
“…”
Mun Bin was taken quite aback.
What? Brat? Impertinent?
To think he’d say such things right off the bat when they were meeting for the first time today.
What did he mean?
Was he supposed to act respectfully as if serving an elder?
But Cheol Ryu-heun completely ignored him and opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.
“I know what the situation is. So choose.”
At that, Mun Bin looked at him with puzzled eyes.
‘Choose?’
The unexpected words that followed were somewhat shocking.
“If you say you want to live, I’ll help you.”
“…!”
“You don’t want to be stabbed to death by your so-called master, right?”
When Cheol Ryu-heun gestured with his chin toward Jeo Gyeom in front, not only Mun Bin but the expressions of the surrounding unorthodox masters hardened like stone.
He had fearlessly called him “that fellow.”
While gesturing with his chin toward Jeo Gyeom, the head of Dark Hall – one of the most powerful unorthodox forces you could count on ten fingers in the entire Hunan region – and known as the Yaksha holding the Sword of the Netherworld…
Mun Bin was so shocked that his head spun.
‘Good heavens, is he serious?’
The words Cheol Ryu-heun had just said meant that if he asked for help, he would save his life.
Wenren Yindao, Pa Woo-saeng, Geo Ja-woong and the other unorthodox masters on Jeo Gyeom’s side each had reactions of utter absurdity.
‘Has he gone mad?’
The one who came to negotiate about the Thousand Snake Gang matter was suddenly trying to help Mun Bin – the situation made no sense.
Right, unless he was crazy, there was no way he would blurt out such words.
Meanwhile.
With his eyes fixed forward, Jeo Gyeom received Cheol Ryu-heun’s emotionless gaze across the distance and wore a barely visible smile.
‘Interesting.’
As those words implied.
It was a first in his life.
Someone who made such boasts with him, who bore the alias Netherworld Sword Fork, standing before them…
If it had been Thunder Cloud Sword Duke, one of the Five Supreme Martial Experts of Hunan who had once handed him defeat several years ago, speaking like that, he probably would have acknowledged it to some extent.
That’s why it was even more interesting.
Because he was a sword genius of unknown caliber rather than someone at Thunder Cloud Sword Duke’s level.
‘I want to find out his strength.’
That thought of Jeo Gyeom’s was by no means competitive spirit.
The curiosity of a predator.
Cheol Ryu-heun was merely prey.
He was simply curious and interested in just how far that talent’s limit went.
Suddenly.
“Hey.”
A heavy voice flowed from behind where Cheol Ryu-heun’s party and Mun Bin were positioned.
It was Ferocious Blade Jang Yeol, one of the Brandished Sword Three who had stood with his back to the main gate to block the escape route.
When Cheol Ryu-heun turned his head backward, he flashed his eyes and spoke in a heavy voice again.
“Are we invisible to you? You don’t seem to have grasped the situation yet.”
Fierce Blade Mok Geun-geum and Savage Blade Seong Pan, standing in a row at regular intervals, also shot fierce gazes, creating a threatening atmosphere.
But Cheol Ryu-heun said nothing.
Immediately after.
Flick.
The figures of Cheol Ryu-heun and Jang Yeol disappeared from everyone’s sight.
In the blink of an eye.
KA-BANG!
A thunderous sound struck from the side.
“Guhk…!”
Everyone’s faces turned white as paper as they reflexively shifted their gazes.
It was because the scene of Jang Yeol, who had somehow slammed his back into the wall, vomiting blood with an agonized expression, was reflected in each of their pupils.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s right fist embedded in his abdomen.
It was clear he had thrust his fist forward like a sword-charge and instantly pushed Jang Yeol to the wall.
Following that.
SMACK!
Cheol Ryu-heun grabbed his head firmly with his left hand and slammed it into the ground.
THUD!
His skull rattled, and Jang Yeol couldn’t even let out a groan.
‘Kuh…!’
His forehead cracked and crimson blood spurted up.
That wasn’t the end.
THWACK!
Along with a dull sound, Jang Yeol’s body flew upward.
Cheol Ryu-heun had kicked him up.
A sword rapidly thrust into the dead center of the chest of Jang Yeol, who had risen to about head height.
SCHRIICK- CRACK-!
The gruesome sound of piercing flesh and crushing bone.
Thus, the sword rising through Cheol Ryu-heun’s hand pierced through Jang Yeol’s body front to back.
The pungent smell of spilling blood.
Moreover, that sword wasn’t Cheol Ryu-heun’s but the one Jang Yeol had been holding.
No one knew when he had snatched it.
PA-FWAP-
When Cheol Ryu-heun swirled the hand holding the sword, Jang Yeol, skewered like a kebab, was yanked out and slammed into the ground to one side.
THUD- Flop.
He wasn’t dead.
A thread of breath was hanging on by a hair.
But.
SHWIIIIING-!
A sword flying with a sharp cutting sound embedded itself right into the center of Jang Yeol’s skull.
THUNK!
It was the sword Cheol Ryu-heun had thrown.
SPLATTER, SPLAT-SPLAT, SPLAT…
Skull fragments scattering pitilessly in all directions, and crimson fresh blood and yellow brain matter.
It was a terrible death.
The renowned unorthodox swordsman known as Ferocious Blade alongside Fierce Blade and Savage Blade for his excessively savage sword skills had ultimately departed this world futilely, unable to even put up a proper resistance.
CRASH-!
Following the thunderous sound came a scream.
“Aaargh!”
It was the wail of Savage Blade Seong Pan, who had been stabbed through the stomach by Cheol Ryu-heun’s Ganjiang Sword and slammed into a wall.
Without even time to gather his wits.
Whoosh.
Seong Pan felt his whole body float at the same time as.
CRASH-!
He spat out another pained sound from the enormous impact spreading through his back.
“Gack!”
With the sword still thrust in him, he had been slammed hard into the wall on the opposite side in the blink of an eye.
It was movement like a streak of lightning.
CRACK-!
The moment a portion of the cracked wall came crumbling down, the figures of Cheol Ryu-heun and Seong Pan disappeared again.
CRASH-!
Having slammed into that wall again, Seong Pan’s vision flickered.
‘Guh…’
CRASH- CRASH- CRASH-!
Continuous uproarious thunderous sounds, two figures going back and forth from end to end like lightning within a few breaths.
The unorthodox masters got goosebumps all over.
‘…!’
Too fast.
Hard to follow with the eyes.
It was an offensive boasting terrifying speed, as if loading massive internal energy into every movement to explosively burst it forth.
CRASH-!
The final thunderous sound rang out.
Splat.
Soaked in blood, Seong Pan had fallen to the floor and wasn’t moving.
His breath had been cut off.
The walls on both sides had become a complete mess from the impact gifted by Cheol Ryu-heun’s sword power.
Pa Woo-saeng, Geo Ja-woong, Gyu Geon and others faltered with their drawn swords, trying to move but immediately stopping.
It was because Yeop Hwon and Hyeop Mu-geuk, gripping their swords, were already operating internal energy and emanating stern gazes and auras.
In an instant.
“Chaat!”
Mok Geun-geum from the main gate direction put powerful spirit into a great kiai and swiftly thrust out the sword in his right hand.
SHWAAAAAA-!
A vivid long-spear-shaped sword energy fiercely bursting from the pointed sword tip.
It was the ultimate technique of the Roaring Blade Sword Technique, the highest sword art within Brandished Sword Pavilion, the skill that symbolized his personal alias Fierce Blade.
The target of the long, large sword energy advancing fiercely like a spear was naturally Cheol Ryu-heun.
But.
GRAB!
Cheol Ryu-heun caught that sword energy with his left hand and threw it back powerfully at his opponent.
SHWAAAAAA-!
‘Gasp!’
The aghast Mok Geun-geum hastily raised his sword, and the sword energy immediately struck his front and exploded.
KAHBOOOM!
Mok Geun-geum’s figure, having fully received the power loaded into the ultimate technique sword energy of the Roaring Blade Sword Technique, flew far back wrapped in haze and THUDDED onto the ground.
“Kuh… Uugh…”
Lying on the ground letting out quiet groans, he saw one person captured in his eyes.
The air above.
It was Cheol Ryu-heun.
Holding his sword in reverse grip, he was falling rapidly.
‘Shit!’
The moment Mok Geun-geum cursed internally, the Ganjiang Sword pierced deep into his heart meridian and played an unpleasant sound.
THRUST-!
That was the sound announcing the total annihilation of the Brandished Sword Three and heralding the downfall of the Brandished Sword Pavilion.
SCHWICK-
Having pulled out the Ganjiang Sword, Cheol Ryu-heun immediately went and stood in his original position, speaking expressionlessly.
“Anyone who still hasn’t grasped the situation, raise your hand.”