Chapter 222: Strange Feelings (3)
Chapter 221 – Strange Feelings (3)
Swish!
An arrow flying and tearing through the darkness!
Everyone watched that arrow with shocked expressions.
Thud!
“Argh!”
The Yue Clan martial artist whose heart was pierced widened his eyes.
The moment he came to a dead stop in his tracks and slowly raised his hand,
Boom!
Along with a terrifying explosion, did the Yue Clan martial artist’s entire body not burst into fragments of human flesh?
“Gasp!”
“My goodness!”
The martial artists of the Eon Clan Estate opened their mouths wide and widened their eyes.
To think a person’s body would explode like that just from being hit by an arrow. Moreover, did a toxic mist not spread like fog from the spot where the flesh fragments scattered?
“How could this…”
As Eon Yang-geol muttered like a groan, Namgung Cheon returned the bow to the archer and spoke.
“They fed him the Explosive Extermination Gu.”
“How could they do such a…!”
Eon Yang-geol shuddered all over.
He had heard that unorthodox martial artists were vicious, but he did not know they would be this terrible.
Eon Yang-geol clenched his fists tightly and turned around.
“That was almost a disaster. You saved the Eon Clan once again.”
By this point, Namgung Cheon was no different from the savior of the Jinzhou Eon Clan.
What if Namgung Cheon were not here?
And what if they had let that Yue Clan martial artist inside?
The Eon Clan Estate would have been devastated on that very day.
Extermination would no longer be someone else’s story.
His spine felt chilled.
Eon Yang-geol calmed his mind and asked.
“But how did you know that?”
“Because they already used the same method at the Yellow Crane Tower. So I thought they could easily do so this time as well. Otherwise, there would be no need to spare the Yue Clan martial artists. There would be no reason to use them as messengers either.”
“Indeed.”
Eon Yang-geol nodded faintly.
Namgung Cheon stared intently at the torches in the darkness.
‘Ryu Nan…’
Even so, they were once of a relationship to enjoy drinks together. Since they got along quite well, there were many times they spent laughing and chatting.
To think they would meet like this.
It was then.
“Ah! They, they are coming again!”
Someone shouted.
Namgung Cheon and Eon Yang-geol narrowed their brows at the same time and turned their heads.
In the darkness, several shadows were running toward this side at rapid speed.
“Aaargh! Do, do not shoot!”
“Sa-Save me! Please!”
“Clan Leader Eon! Please save us!”
They were all Yue Clan martial artists.
They were all running with desperate expressions.
At that sight, the archers who had drawn their strings to the limit opened their mouths and distorted their expressions.
Eon Yang-geol also winced and only clenched his fists.
Beside him, Namgung Cheon narrowed his eyes and spoke.
“We must shoot.”
……!
“They are all those who consumed the Explosive Extermination Gu.”
Namgung Cheon spoke in the most dry tone.
Eon Yang-geol shuddered all over.
He knew.
Had he not already seen it earlier?
The sight of the Yue Clan martial artist whose heart was pierced dying while spreading toxic mist.
However… they were people crying out to save them as they ran toward him.
They were not even enemies, but allies.
Furthermore, were they not the ones who set out on the path to help him?
Yet to think he had to kill such people with his own hands now!
‘They are indeed terribly vicious bastards!’
While Eon Yang-geol was gritting his teeth, the Yue Clan martial artists continued to cry out as they ran.
“Clan Leader Eon! We came to help your family! Please save us!”
“Please do not shoot! Save me!”
The archers who drew their strings tightly felt goosebumps running down their spines.
The desperate voices of the running Yue Clan martial artists made them feel pangs of conscience.
The eyes of those running with torches were filled with despair and earnestness.
The archers all muttered inwardly.
‘Do not come. I said do not come!’
However, the Yue Clan martial artists could not do so. They were already under the black magic of the unorthodox martial artists, brainwashed to run like mad toward the Eon Clan.
Even if they woke from the black magic, there was no place to return.
Since the moment they turned back, they would end up as shield targets for the unorthodox martial artists’ arrows anyway.
Now they had reached quite a close range.
“Save us!”
“Please!”
At the outcry of the Yue Clan martial artists, the archer captain shouted.
“Clan Leader! The command!”
“Sigh. Shoot.”
When the heavy and low command fell, the archers finally released their strings.
Twang, twang, twang!
Swish, swish, swish!
A swarm of dark arrows split the air and flew.
Thud, thud, thud!
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
The Yue Clan martial artists who were crying and weeping fell one by one, then soon knelt down and shuddered.
“To die… like this…!”
“The Yue Clan Leader toward us…!”
The next moment,
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Along with noisy explosions, the bodies of the Yue Clan martial artists burst messily. At the same time, a dark green toxic mist scattered into the night air.
If they had been slightly closer, the toxic mist would have seeped into the Eon Clan Estate as well.
Although the proper fight had not even begun, the martial artists of the Eon Clan Estate could not hide their heavy hearts.
Their morale was dropping on its own.
Namgung Cheon turned back to the archers and Eon Clan martial artists whose shoulders were slumped.
‘He is indeed a troublesome fellow.’
This was Ryu Nan.
Lifting and dropping people’s psychology.
A man who could play with it entirely at his own will.
To make them directly kill the reinforcements who ran a long way before the battle even began. Just by that, the allies’ morale had already fallen to the ground.
There would be no way to avoid heavy hearts.
If thoughts became complicated before a big battle, they would naturally become disadvantaged.
“They will be sincerely grateful.”
……?
At Namgung Cheon’s sudden words, Eon Yang-geol winced and turned back.
Namgung Cheon quietly continued, looking at the blood-stained front.
They were running toward the Eon Clan because they were brainwashed. Although they outwardly cried to save them, that was also because they fell victim to black magic. They must have known it too. That the Eon Clan had no choice. If so, rather than dying disgracefully, they would have wanted to die cleanly.
…
If they had entered the Eon Clan and exploded, it would have been a disgraceful death. However, they died cleanly by being shot before that. Because of the Explosive Extermination Gu, the moment of death wouldn’t have been so painful either. Rather, the moment they were hit by the arrows, they would have felt grateful inside. For not making a wrong judgment led by lingering affection, and giving them an honorable death.
Namgung Cheon’s words flowed calmly in the darkness.
However, there was power in that voice.
The archers who fell into a strange sense of self-reproach grasped their bows firmly at that moment.
When thoughts change, the situation is also perceived differently.
Namgung Cheon continued.
In war, you must know the enemy clearly. Right now, our enemy is the Black Mist Alliance. You are not the ones who killed the Yue Clan martial artists who died while running here. It was the Black Mist Alliance bastards who killed them. Now, they have rather delayed the enemy’s attack with their deaths. Since the explosive gu poison is spread in the air, they have bought us time, even if briefly. Perhaps that is what the Yue Clan martial artists truly wished for.
Stopping for a moment and scanning the people, Namgung Cheon put strength into his voice again.
You gave them peace, so now is the turn for revenge. Although even the Martial Alliance is turning a blind eye to the battle occurring here right now, after today, this battle will be remembered forever in everyone’s minds! As the heroes of Jinzhou! The Eon Clan and the Paeng Clan will be carved in everyone’s hearts!
……!
Eon Yang-geol and the archers turned back to Namgung Cheon with swelling hearts.
A strange power was loaded in Namgung Cheon’s voice.
Every word became a great comfort to all of them. In addition, the morale that was sinking to the bottom rose hotly as if set on fire again.
Eon Yang-geol felt the atmosphere of the martial artists change instantly.
And for good reason, was his own heart not moved by Namgung Cheon’s speech?
Actually, he did not know whether the Yue Clan martial artists truly wished to die or to live.
The important thing was that right now, the allies were raising their heads at Namgung Cheon’s words.
As the leader, he had to step forward at a time like this.
Eon Yang-geol loaded internal energy and shouted with a stiff expression.
“As everyone heard, heaven’s command is now handed down to us! Revenge for the deceased! And let the Jianghu know that the Eon Clan and the Paeng Clan are alive and well, and make them realize that no one can touch us!”
“Woooaaaaah!”
A great roar rose from the Eon Clan Estate enough to shake heaven and earth.
Goosebumps ran from their toes to the top of their heads.
Eon Yang-geol turned back to Namgung Cheon with an admired expression once again.
‘He is indeed great! To change the atmosphere this way with a few words! Namgung Cheon, you are the savior and hero of the two families!’
Eon Yang-geol glared at the torches in the far darkness with a determined expression.
‘Come! I will receive you as much as you want!’
* * *
At the roar heard faintly following the explosion, Ryu Nan furrowed his brow slightly and soon wore a faint smile.
“Did it end up setting a fire instead?”
“To kill allies and raise morale. He is a madman.”
As the subordinate next to him muttered, furrowing his brow, Ryu Nan chuckled.
“Or he is an extraordinary fellow.”
……?
In any case, controlling the crowd’s psychology is no easy task. Perhaps it will be a more troublesome fight than thought.
Then, a man of robust build strode out from among the black-clad men.
“Valley Master… no, Alliance Leader! Do not worry! If you send me, the Eon Clan and the Paeng Clan will not see the rising morning sun!”
Wearing black iron armor, he held a massive wolf-tooth mace, the size of which was about that of a young child.
The sight of him lightly shaking the wolf-tooth mace, which seemed too heavy to even hold with both hands, as if it were a chopstick was simply marvelous.
Ryu Nan turned back to him and smiled softly.
Indeed, the phrase ‘killer smile’ was meant for times like this. His smile had a strange power to scatter all wariness to pieces.
“Iron Arhat. Are you confident?”
“Of course! Your subordinate, if you just give the command, I will sacrifice my life to crush the enemy and return!”
Ryu Nan looked at the Iron Arhat with a reliable expression.
However, he fell into thought with an anxious expression on the other hand.
“Iron Arhat is reliable. But this fight is truly not easy. So I am worried. If I lose you, I will find the grief hard to bear.”
As Ryu Nan’s expression already sank half into grief, the hearts of everyone looking at him seemed to ache.
Iron Arhat shouted with a surging heart.
“Your subordinate, no matter what happens, I will not disappoint you, Alliance Leader!”
“Iron Arhat. No matter what happens, I will not be disappointed in you. I will only carry on your will at the risk of my life if something happens.”
“It is an honor!”
“Iron Arhat.”
“I will receive the command!”
Iron Arhat knelt on one knee with a thud and cupped his hands.
Ryu Nan turned back to the Eon Clan Estate and asked.
“How many do you need?”
“The Arhat Squad and the Black Cloud Squad are enough!”
Ryu Nan nodded and ordered.
“Lead the Arhat Squad and the Black Cloud Squad and annihilate the enemy. However, leave Jin Cheon-rang’s son alive, but you may kill him if it is difficult. I will send additional support while watching the situation.”
“Accepting orders!”
Iron Arhat stood up and looked back. He shouted in a thunderous voice.
“Arhat Squad, Black Cloud Squad!”
No sooner had his words fallen than the black-clad men moved in an orderly fashion.
The Arhat Squad wore black iron armor like the Iron Arhat, and the Black Cloud Squad wore light black clothing.
As the two organizations lined up in front, Iron Arhat turned around and shouted.
“Let’s go! Show the bat-like Eon Clan bastards and the Paeng Clan who only put on airs the terror of the Black Mist Alliance!”
“Woooaaaaah!”
The next moment, the two organizations, including the Iron Arhat, rushed toward the Eon Clan Estate with a roar.
* * *
“They are coming!”
As an Eon Clan martial artist shouted, the archers set their arrows on the strings in unison.
‘Finally!’
Eon Yang-geol clenched his fists tightly and turned around.
“Young Hero Namgung! Please… huh?”
He winced and looked at Namgung Cheon.
Namgung Cheon, who widened his eyes and wore a somewhat mad smile.
Uh… why is his state like that?
Is he not caught in a strange excitement with a flushed face?
Actually, Namgung Cheon was shuddering.
Those fireflies rushing in a swarm toward him!
Ah, how long had it been?
Look at those numerous lines of light rising from the dantian.
Are they not beautiful?
The end of a firefly is miserable, but its passion shines beautifully in brilliant colors.
“Hehehehe!”
Namgung Cheon, who was immersed in the nostalgia of his past life after a long time, let out a strange laugh, twitching his facial muscles.
Namgung Cheon smirked and turned back.
“Clan Leader.”
“Y-Yes?”
“If we cannot avoid it, we should enjoy it, right?”
‘What, what? This guy. Why with a strange expression since earlier… scary…’
Before Eon Yang-geol could reply, Namgung Cheon kicked the ground and flew away.
‘Wait, he flew? Where?’
Eon Yang-geol cried out in panic at that moment.
“Wait! Young Hero Namgung! Where are you going! This is a defensive battle! Quickly return…”
However, Namgung Cheon, whose excitement had already risen, was flying at terrifying speed toward the rushing fireflies.