Chapter 202: Just For A Moment (2)
Chapter 201 – Just For A Moment (2)
Yue Hu flinched and turned his gaze. Not only him, but the watching martial artists and clan leaders all turned their gazes in unison.
There, a server who had just been carrying food stood in an awkward posture.
“M-Me, sir?”
The server asked, pointing to himself with a finger.
Namgung Cheon nodded.
“Yes, you.”
“W-Why do you ask…”
“Come over here. Let me see you.”
At the sudden situation, the clan leaders put on puzzled expressions. Moreover, Yue Hu, who had been rushing in with his momentum raised to the maximum, also frowned deeply and watched Namgung Cheon.
‘No, what is he doing in the middle of a duel? Is this also a provocation technique?’
At any rate, while the pointed-out server approached hesitantly, Namgung Cheon pointed at two other servers.
“And you, you there as well.”
What was going on?
As the situation flowed strangely, Namgung Geom also frowned slightly and watched Namgung Cheon’s actions.
The servers approached with their shoulders hunched as if terrified.
They took turns looking at each other and checked the reactions.
The server who arrived first checked the surroundings and asked cautiously.
“Why did you call us, sir?”
“To you here? Did you turn over a new leaf?”
“Pardon?”
The server asked back with a dumbfounded expression.
Regardless, Namgung Cheon placed his hand on the server’s shoulder and spoke.
“Brat, it has been a while. How have you been doing lately?”
“Uh, Young Master. It seems you have mistaken me for someone else. This is my first time meeting you…”
“It is fine, it is fine. Since I know. It is just that it has been a while and I was curious.”
“Uh, what do you mean by that…”
“Just tell me. How you are doing lately. Have you given up swordplay now?”
The server flinched for a split second.
A cold current briefly passed through his eyes, but because it was such a brief moment, no one noticed it.
Except for one person.
“Oh? It seems not? You are still sharp.”
As the server was about to say something again, Namgung Cheon looked at the two servers who approached afterward and spoke.
“Yes, seeing you all gathered here makes me glad all over again.”
The servers also looked at each other in bewilderment as expected. One of them replied calmly.
“Young Master, you have mistaken us for someone else. We have never met you before.”
“Who said we met? I am just glad to see you on my own.”
By this point, Yue Hu, who was only watching, felt his insides boiling. Ultimately, unable to endure, he shouted out loud.
“Young Hyup Namgung!”
“Huh? Why?”
“Why? What do you mean why! What are you doing right now in the middle of a duel?”
“Ah, because I am glad to see these fellows after a long time.”
“What nonsense! What business would a descendant of a martial family have with such trivial humans!”
“Trivial, you say. My word, you are speaking too harshly. We are all humans alike.”
“If you wish to evade the duel because you are afraid, speak honestly! Did I not say I would not force the duel!”
“I told you it is not that. It is really because I saw guys I know…”
“Are they not saying they have never seen Young Hyup before!”
“But I know them, I tell you.”
“Ha!”
Yue Hu let out a hollow laugh, looking at the air. Because it was so absurd, only laughter came out.
Regardless, Namgung Cheon looked around the servers and wore a cold smile.
“Did the three of you get jobs here all at once? Tell me what happened. I am curious.”
At this, the three servers checked each other’s reactions. Their complexions distorted strangely.
By this point, Namgung Geom and Mok Cheon-ak were the first to notice the strange current.
And just then, one of the other servers looked back toward this side and tilted his head.
“Huh…?”
Seeing him, Namgung Geom asked in a low voice.
“What is the matter?”
“Those people are newcomers…”
“Newcomers?”
“Yes. Because there were exceptionally many group reservations today, the tavern distributed hiring flyers the day before yesterday.”
“So they are the ones who applied then?”
“Yes. There are a few more besides them, though.”
“Who are they?”
The server turned his head and scanned the other servers carrying food.
At that moment!
“Tsk!”
Did one of the servers not click his tongue and throw his plate?
Using that as a signal, some of the servers simultaneously drew daggers from their bosoms and brandished them toward the clan leaders.
Namgung Geom kicked and sent the server flying toward him, remaining in his seated posture.
Bbeok!
Another server threw a flying dagger toward the Alliance Leader.
Swishhh!
Ting!
Mok Cheon-ak, who waved his hand lightly, glared at the server with a terrifying gaze.
“Tch! It is ruined anyway! Overturn it!”
As one of the servers shouted loudly, the top floor of the Yellow Crane Tower instantly turned into a scene of chaos.
Even amidst that, the three men who were held by Namgung Cheon ground their teeth and drew short swords from their bosoms.
“You dog-like bastard! Because of a worthless greenhorn!”
Swish-swishhh!
The three men simultaneously brandished their short swords toward Namgung Cheon.
Namgung Cheon retreated, lightly kicking the floor with the tip of his foot.
“What? So you did not turn over a new leaf?”
“Shut up! Where did this bastard I have never seen before come from!”
Swish-swishhh!
Three streams of internal energy poured toward Namgung Cheon. One targeted the dantian, one the neck, and one the heart.
Namgung Cheon kicked away the short sword that reached out first with the tip of his foot.
Puck!
“Ugh!”
Hwiririk!
Rotating just like a whirlwind, Namgung Cheon drew the Emerald Silk Sword and slashed diagonally.
Seogeok!
“Arghhh!”
The server, whose hand holding the short sword was cut clean off, let out a scream that tore his mouth open.
Finally, he snatched the short sword targeting his heart with his left hand and snapped it using the technique of grappling arts.
Udeudeuk!
“Kuhhh!”
As the three men rolled on the floor in an instant, Yue Hu, seeing that scene, widened his eyes.
‘Three people at close range all at once? Just how incredible is that guy’s martial prowess? No, more than that, what on earth is this situation right now?’
Because the situation occurred too suddenly, Yue Hu could not pull himself together.
Meanwhile, although the clan leaders reacted late, Jo Geom-myeong suffered a stab wound in his flank, and a flying dagger was lodged in Baekli Yeong-san’s thigh.
And…
“U-gi!”
As Tang Go-ryun ran forward shouting like a scream, he simultaneously threw several flying daggers from his sleeve.
Swish-swishhh!
Puck-puck!
The two servers who had assaulted Tang Wu-gi were struck by the daggers and flew back like cannonballs.
Kwadangtang!
One crashed into a pillar, and the other barely hung onto the railing, narrowly escaping a fall.
Tang Go-ryun quickly hugged and raised his son.
“Are you alright?”
Because he happened to be ambushed at the closest position, Tang Wu-gi’s neck area was torn, and blood was streaming down.
“A-Father…!”
“Do not say anything!”
Although Tang Wu-gi quickly tapped his acupoints, the blood did not easily stop.
“Damn it!”
Although he was always calm, he could not help but feel chaotic in his heart when the Young Patriarch and his only son suffered a severe injury.
At this rate, it was a situation where even his life could be endangered due to excessive blood loss.
Just as he felt a presence approaching and turned around fiercely, about to unleash a dagger,
“Whoa, you startled me.”
“Namgung Cheon…?”
“Step aside.”
“…!”
Tang Go-ryun slid slightly to the side in spite of himself.
It was strange for him to step aside just because he was told to, but the moment he saw Namgung Cheon’s gaze, he had no choice but to step back instinctively.
Because, at least at this very moment, Namgung Cheon looked more serious than ever.
Was it because he had made him feel such unpredictability since their first meeting? Perhaps he harbored a vague hope that Namgung Cheon might pull out an unexpected solution again.
Namgung Cheon, who walked in front of the fallen Tang Wu-gi, carefully observed the flow of internal energy.
‘He was hit while trying to force his internal energy to rise.’
The flow of internal energy was blocked in several acupoints. As a result, even if he tapped acupoints, the bleeding did not stop properly.
Only by properly clearing the flow of internal energy would the acupoint tapping also be effective.
Namgung Cheon quickly tapped the Qihai, Zhongfu, and Quchi acupoints with his fingers.
The moment the flow of qi became smooth, Tang Wu-gi coughed violently and spat a handful of blood.
“Cough! Cough!”
“U-gi! What is this…”
Tang Go-ryun, who had been shouting in rage, soon regained his reason.
‘The bleeding has stopped!’
In addition, Tang Wu-gi’s complexion was much more comfortable than before.
Even without further explanation, it was clear that Namgung Cheon had expelled the turbid blood and helped stop the bleeding.
To finish grasping the situation and perform emergency treatment in this short span of time.
Of course, he might have done it himself if he had been a bit calmer. For the Sichuan Tang Clan was a place that did not fall behind in medicine among all martial families.
However, as always, a hypothesis was just a hypothesis.
While he was in a panic as his only son’s life hung in the balance, Namgung Cheon resolved it.
Tang Go-ryun cupped his fists toward Namgung Cheon.
“Thank you for saving my son! I shall never forget this favor! The Sichuan Tang Clan strictly accounts for gratitude and grudges.”
“Yes, first we should probably sort out this situation.”
Namgung Cheon spoke, looking around the surroundings.
The situation was being wrapped up quickly.
If Namgung Cheon had not noticed, a truly dangerous event almost broke out. Because no matter how outstanding a master was, it would not be easy to resist intent to kill that approached right under their nose in a state of complete vulnerability.
However, now the Azure Eagle Squad members stood up drawing their swords in unison, and the clan leaders and the rising generation were also fighting back.
Except for a few getting injured by the first ambush, their attack was as good as a failure.
‘By the way, I thought these guys turned over a new leaf and were living a new life…’
Namgung Cheon clearly remembered three of them.
The lackeys of the Black Night God Ryu Nan whom he had met in his past life.
The Black Night God Ryu Nan was an unorthodox master who possessed significant martial prowess in his body, but he did not perform much activity to the point of being close to a hidden eccentric.
Therefore, he was someone whose name did not even rise on the public enemies of the Martial World.
Instead, he lived like drifting clouds and flowing wind, but there were exceptionally many who followed him.
Particularly, the unorthodox people at the bottom of life followed him so exceptionally that even the Hao Gate avoided them, and those three were also of that sort.
Yet, to see them here like this.
In addition, to launch a sudden ambush out of nowhere?
Had they been incorporated into a different organization now?
Meanwhile, as the situation flowed urgently, the Alliance Leader’s bodyguards, who had been hiding like ghosts, also appeared and guarded the surroundings.
They did not actively participate in the fight and only prepared for emergencies by the Alliance Leader’s side.
Instead, the clan leaders, the rising generation, and the Azure Eagle Squad members dealt with the servers.
What was clear was that those martial artists disguised as servers did not seem to have anticipated the Azure Eagle Squad.
Among them, curses and rough words poured out.
“Damn it! The information leaked!”
“Was it a trap?”
“Curse it! The Martial Alliance will pay a blood price!”
As they were gradually driven to the risk of being captured alive, the resisting servers began to collapse one by one on their own at some point.
Tang Go-ryun shouted like fire.
“It is a poison pill! Stop them!”
However, all the servers who were already fighting with swords bit their poison pills and collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
On the other hand, Namgung Cheon scanned the surroundings with a settled gaze.
‘Did they… target us from the start?’
If so, this was not something that would end like this.
Whatever the identity of those servers was, they were those who directly targeted the Alliance Leader and the Seven Great Clans.
Then there must be a backup plan for strategic failure!
Namgung Cheon deployed the First Sight Skill-Breaking Eyes to scan the surroundings rapidly.
Multi-colored internal energy tangled like firecrackers and erupted here and there.
And one person.
‘It is that guy!’
The one whose fearsome internal energy surged from the dantian to the heart.
If it was energy that dense, he must have the Explosive Annihilation Gu inside his body!
The moment the Explosive Annihilation Gu detonates, the poison will spread in an instant, and not a single person surviving here will remain.
Taat!
Namgung Cheon flew forward without delay.