Chapter 312: Chapter 312

When Jang Sam-tae returned to the government office once again, not a single person remained in that place.

As if even the corpses had been cleared away, only a deathly silence enveloped the Yueyang government office.

“Damn it!”

Jang Sam-tae spat out a curse and frowned.

It was not that he had expected those bastards to still be remaining here, but since they had vanished so cleanly, he even felt a sense of emptiness.

He slumped down on the spot and let out a long sigh.

“Oh, my fate. What on earth is this?”

He fanned himself with his hand to cool down his rising heat.

Although a raging fire was still boiling inside him, there was no one to vent it on, so his frustration did not easily fade.

Lying flat on his back in the middle of the government office, Jang Sam-tae looked up at the sky. Only the dark sky, where not a single starlight could be seen due to the dark clouds, stimulated his vision.

However, as the faces of Hong Won-chang and Mae-hyang flickered within it, he frowned unconsciously and stood up from his spot.

“Nothing is going right.”

He began to search for traces while looking around.

Just because Dan Woo-hyun washed his hands of it did not mean Jang Sam-tae could also sit back and do nothing.

‘Because that man will definitely not step forward.’

Jang Sam-tae prided himself on knowing Dan Woo-hyun best in the Hunan Dan Family.

Once he decided not to move, even if someone died, he would not bat an eye and would not even care.

Knowing that was exactly how Dan Woo-hyun was, Jang Sam-tae knew that he had to run around on his own two feet to resolve this matter.

For that, traces came first.

‘They must have left something behind… to lure me.’

There was no way they had vanished without anyone knowing.

Yu Deok-cheon’s target was definitely Jang Sam-tae, and since he had fled, he would have left some clue to lure him.

The moment he looked around, he discovered a footprint of one person.

Seeing how deeply it was pressed, it belonged to someone with substantial internal energy.

It seemed to belong to Yu Deok-cheon or someone who could be called his right hand.

Jang Sam-tae turned his head and began to follow the direction of the footprints.

The footprints, stamped toward the northwest as if to lure Jang Sam-tae, were gradually moving toward a deserted and uninhabited place.

Eventually, the traces cut off at a certain spot, which was none other than the waterway of Lake Dongting.

Looking around, there were traces of them moving by boat.

Bandits suddenly moving by boat?

An inexplicable anxiety crept in.

“What are these guys, anyway?”

If they wanted to lure Jang Sam-tae, they would not need to use this kind of method. It would be enough to just hole up in the nearby hills and wait for him to come.

But taking a boat while leading so many hostages?

It was something that did not make sense.

“Those bastards always do weird things to give people a headache.”

Jang Sam-tae shook his head from side to side.

If they went by water, traces could not be found. Checking the path a boat took in the water was impossible even for Dan Woo-hyun.

Just then, a rustling sound suddenly came from one side of the bushes.

Startled, Jang Sam-tae swiftly threw his body. The moment he rose into the air, several hidden weapons embedded themselves in the spot where he had been standing.

“Don’t let him get away!”

The people who suddenly appeared were members of the Green Forest.

With their swords drawn, they rushed toward Jang Sam-tae.

Whether they thought that waiting after setting a trap was the correct decision, they intended to capture Jang Sam-tae and bring him before the stronghold leader.

If only they succeeded in that, their future life would be a smooth highway.

“You bastards…!”

Jang Sam-tae ground his teeth as he read their thoughts.

Surely, within the Hunan Dan Family, Jang Sam-tae would be the weakest. Because his martial arts were pathetic and his internal energy was also quite low.

However, the experiences he had gone through so far were by no means something to be ignored.

Furthermore, since Jang Sam-tae already possessed the ability to capture Gyun Woong, there was no way he would be defeated by these mere small-fry.

They had just poked a hornet’s nest.

With his face flushed red, Jang Sam-tae clenched his fists.

“You’re dead!”

They were the perfect targets to vent his anger on.

* * *

Lake Dongting’s waterways encompassed the entirety of Hunan, and the stream extending to Hubei was very wide and large.

Therefore, quite large boats often moved, and there were also those who launched boats targeting them.

River Water Stronghold.

It was a water bandit group encompassing the Lake Dongting area.

This River Water Stronghold was built because Mun Dok-sang, the right hand of Ga Dok-gun who was the current leader of the Yangtze River Water Stronghold, had left the water stronghold to establish it.

Moreover, there was one more reason why the government office could not easily touch this River Water Stronghold, which was because Mun Dok-sang, the current leader of the River Water Stronghold, was very close to Yu Deok-cheon, who was called the Green Forest King, and the Green Forest also backed the River Water Stronghold.

Crash!

“Kyaah!”

Into the dungeon inside that River Water Stronghold, Hong Won-chang, along with Mae-hyang and the constables, were dragged in crowds.

Those who were heavily injured and those who were lightly injured were also mixed together.

Groans and painful screams blended together from here and there.

“It is one day. If that guy does not come within one day, all of you will die.”

Yang Ja-gang, standing blankly outside the dungeon, shone his eyes chillingly.

If not for Yu Deok-cheon’s command, he would have killed everyone without leaving a single person alive.

Although they said it was bait to lure the guy named Jang Sam-tae of the Lightning Foot Hall who had fled, Yang Ja-gang was not very pleased.

They were bandits and existences with nothing to fear.

He wished to skewer every single one of those associated with the guy Jang Sam-tae, who had ignored the Green Forest and destroyed the Green Water Stronghold.

Thud!

Yang Ja-gang kicked the bars roughly and turned his back.

Startled by that sound, everyone flinched. The thickly spreading killing intent of Yang Ja-gang pierced in so sharply as if to slice their skin.

“Whew… Are you all right?”

Once Yang Ja-gang finally left the place, Hong Won-chang let out a sigh and asked. Although most of them would not be fine, the reality was that Mae-hyang, being a woman, could not help but be the most worrying.

She barely raised her body and nodded.

“Do not worry. It is not like I have only experienced this kind of thing once or twice…”

“Haha, you are a spirited young lady.”

“More importantly, are you all right, Lord Magistrate? You were cut.”

“A wound of this level is… a common occurrence.”

Mae-hyang sighed as she looked at Hong Won-chang, who was smiling with a bitter expression.

“That aside, things have become quite serious. Of all places, it had to be the River Water Stronghold…”

“Is it dangerous?”

“He is a man more dangerous than Yu Deok-cheon. The leader of the River Water Stronghold…”

Hong Won-chang swallowed a groan.

The leader of the River Water Stronghold was more famous for his cruel nature, let alone his level of martial arts.

Unlike the Yangtze River Water Stronghold, which attacked large ships to take only goods, he did not hesitate to kill all the humans inside or throw them into the water.

The reason why he, who was originally the vice leader of the Yangtze River Water Stronghold, had split off was also because his nature was so cruel that Ga Dok-gun had kicked him out.

Because of that, a larger bounty was placed on his head than on Yu Deok-cheon’s.

Hong Won-chang, who was thinking up to that point, flashed his eyes.

Perhaps Mae-hyang had the same thought, as she laughed in vain.

“Even so…”

“He would still be no match for those people…”

The two of them let out a small groan.

* * *

“River Water Stronghold?”

“Yes, there is no mistake.”

At Zhuge Un’s words, Dan Woo-hyun looked at him with a puzzled expression. Since he had never heard of such people existing in Lake Dongting, his expression was somewhat out of the blue.

“It is just that Lord Hong did not inform you… in fact, they are quite famous people.”

“Such people have a connection with the Green Forest?”

“Yes, they say they are even staying in the River Water Stronghold with Hong Won-chang and Mae-hyang.”

Zhuge Un replied with an awkward smile.

This was also information obtained from the Hao Sect.

It was a third-rate sect that he had not even expected to be this accurate, but now the place called the Hao Sect itself seemed somewhat new to him.

‘To gather information to this extent in such a short time…’

Seeing them accomplish something even the Beggars Sect could not do, he realized that Dan Woo-hyun’s eyes were not wrong, and he seemed to understand why the Hao Sect had survived so tenaciously for so long.

“I have also heard of him. Isn’t the leader of the River Water Stronghold a complete lunatic?”

Sa Do-hak giggled as he guzzled from the liquor bottle.

He was a man famous for his cruel nature to the point of being well-known even in the Demonic Cult. Considering what Yu Deok-cheon had done so far, the two of them seemed to get along very well.

“Birds of a feather flock together, indeed…”

Jeok Mu-seong clicked his tongue as he picked up and ate some side dishes.

Cruel bastards got along well, so they hung out together. The reason they entered the River Water Stronghold with Hong Won-chang and Mae-hyang was also like showing their determination not to let Jang Sam-tae die easily.

“Tell me what kind of guys they are.”

At Dan Woo-hyun’s casually thrown words, Zhuge Un flinched and trembled. Even though it was merely a question, it carried something that unconsciously suppressed a person’s soul.

Zhuge Un, breaking into a cold sweat, opened his mouth.

“First, as you know, Yu Deok-cheon is famous for killing both martial artists and commoners without mercy. Some say he was born under a Killing Star.”

“Is that so…?”

“Besides that, he is counted as one of the leading figures who disturb the Central Plains martial arts world by dabbling in numerous illegal activities… but because the organization called the Green Forest is so vast and its leadership is widely scattered, it was difficult to subjugate them.”

Zhuge Un glanced at Dan Woo-hyun as he spoke.

Saying that it was the current state was no different from showing confidence that they could deal with them now.

In the end, this was also the will of the Hunan Dan Family to move.

Fortunately, Dan Woo-hyun nodded without saying anything.

“Next?”

“The River Water Stronghold goes further than Yu Deok-cheon. The leader, Mun Dok-sang, does not discriminate between men, women, young, or old. He even has a record of sinking ships and drowning people for fun.”

“Ha… He is a complete lunatic.”

Sa Do-hak muttered with an incredulous expression.

He had seen many crazy bastards and even raised some, but they were not to the extent of Yu Deok-cheon and Mun Dok-sang. It seemed they had already given up on being human.

“Furthermore, they smash and kill everything in their way, and there are reportedly many cases where innocent small and medium sects were swept away and destroyed.”

“Such bastards were in Lake Dongting…?”

“That is correct.”

Dan Woo-hyun narrowed his eyes and frowned.

Lake Dongting was a place of special meaning to him.

It was the place where he had been trapped for a thousand years, and also the place where he had gained a new life.

Thus, it did not feel very pleasant that dirty things lived in that place.

Just then, a faint breeze wrapped around his body.

The breeze carried the thick scent of blood flowing from somewhere. The moment he realized that, Dan Woo-hyun smiled unconsciously and stood up from his seat.

“I cannot win against him. Really…”

With those words, he began to walk toward somewhere with his back to the moonlight.

No one could speak to or stop Dan Woo-hyun, because along with a gentle breeze, he had disappeared before they knew it.

Everyone opened their eyes wide as if they had seen a ghost.

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