Chapter 133: Chapter 133
The next morning.
Cheon-hwi, who was sleeping soundly, lifted his eyelids at the sudden killing intent and grumbled.
“Don’t they know not to mess with someone when they’re sleeping.”
He immediately raised his index finger.
At that moment, a ray of light shot out.
“Keuheok!”
With a short groan, a man fell from the tree to the ground with a thud.
“Heok!”
“What?”
“Is it another attack?!”
The rising stars, who woke up belatedly at the loud noise, grabbed their weapons while half asleep, then freaked out when they discovered the corpse.
“When did they…….”
At that time, a group of people poured out from above the trees.
“Haam.”
Cheon-hwi, seemingly still sleepy, yawned before drawing the sword he had left on the ground.
Then, he slashed sideways.
Seugeok!
In that instant, long bloodlines were drawn across the waists of those rushing in.
Tududuk…
A blood rain poured down.
“Kyaak!”
Hwangbo So-hyeon was terrified by the blood rain and corpses suddenly pouring down from above, startlingly stepping back before freezing.
It was because an assassin had suddenly appeared in front of her holding a sword.
“I will take you hostage……. Keuheok!”
As the assassin swung his sword.
“Kyak!”
Hwangbo So-hyeon threw a punch with a scream.
Kwajik!
The Heavenly King Three Fists struck the chin of the careless assassin, sending him flying.
“Uh?”
Hwangbo So-hyeon, rather surprised as she looked at the fallen assassin, clenched her fist tightly.
“Hmph! How dare you attack me?!”
She placed both hands on her waist.
Yang Se-ryeong, who was looking at her acting arrogant, grabbed her three-section staff with both hands and spoke.
“I’ll leave my back to you.”
“Don’t worry!”
Hwangbo So-hyeon and Yang Se-ryeong stood back-to-back.
The remaining three rising stars also exchanged glances and took their respective positions.
Having established a defensive formation in an instant, they fought against the assassins.
Kaang! Chaaeng! Seugeok!
Cheon-hwi sheathed his sword as the rising stars fought better than expected.
There were no assassins coming toward him.
Instead, for some reason, they began to persistently target those rising stars.
He slowly stretched his body.
With a cracking sound, as his body loosened up, hunger rose from his stomach.
“Something to eat for breakfast…….”
Just in time, a small shadow passed by.
“That’s good too.”
Cheon-hwi immediately picked up a stone from the ground and then quickly threw it toward the sky.
Ssweaeaek!
The stone that flew cutting through the wind pierced the gliding bird.
Deopsseok!
Catching the falling bird, Cheon-hwi approached Yang Se-ryeong, who was still fighting.
“……!”
Yang Se-ryeong, who was fighting fiercely against the attackers, was startled by the bird’s head that suddenly appeared.
Then, belatedly discovering Cheon-hwi, she opened her eyes wide.
“Da, Daehyeop?”
“Let’s have this for breakfast.”
“Yes?”
Yang Se-ryeong was merely dumbfounded.
Hwik!
At that time, an assassin tried to strike Cheon-hwi’s back, which had suddenly appeared, but.
Peok!
A stone pierced his chest.
Cheon-hwi handed the bird over to Yang Se-ryeong without even paying attention to the falling corpse.
“How long will it take to cook this?”
“About two meals’ time…….”
“Hmm. Good.”
Cheon-hwi turned his body while dusting off his martial arts uniform.
Subsequently, he scanned the tense assassins one by one before drawing the White Lotus Sword.
“I’ll take care of them before that.”
The time it took for Cheon-hwi to take care of them was much earlier than two meals’ time.
To be exact, they ran away before he could take care of them, so it was sorted out quickly.
“They run away suddenly?”
Doubts bloomed.
Until now, rather than running away, they had rushed in like crazy, yet now it was a retreat.
Around the time he was looking at them quizzically.
“What, it was this?”
While spreading his qi sense, he half-opened his eyes.
Hundreds of presences spread out with him at the center.
Those presences were densely narrowing down little by little like a net.
“They’re doing all sorts of things.”
A chuckle burst out for a moment.
Because it was a formation and method that was all too familiar to Cheon-hwi.
‘They spread out the Heaven and Earth Net?’
Unlike the grand name of the net of heaven and earth, the Heaven and Earth Net was a very simple and ignorant method.
Pressing down the minority with the majority.
As a method of dealing with an expert, it was to harass them by any means necessary, regardless of whether a large number of people died or not.
And Cheon-hwi knew how to break the Heaven and Earth Net better than anyone else.
That made sense, as it wasn’t just once or twice that he had experienced this.
In the North Sea, in the Great Desert, in Tibet.
Whenever he came near, the Heaven and Earth Net would be spread out.
‘The Sun and Moon Sect seems to have a lot of disciples.’
His eyebrows curved like half-moons.
Spreading out the Heaven and Earth Net meant they intended to see it to the end.
‘They’re coming to their deaths on their own.’
As Cheon-hwi grinned.
“It’s all done. Great Hero.”
Yang Se-ryeong approached carefully.
In the wooden bowl made the previous night, there was thick porridge and roasted bird meat.
As Cheon-hwi stared blankly at the porridge.
“I boiled the remaining jerky. I thought it might be good for the morning…….”
Yang Se-ryeong spoke while reading his countenance.
She wondered if she had done something unnecessary just to please him.
“That’s good.”
Contrary to her complicated thoughts, Cheon-hwi smiled with satisfaction.
“Phew.”
Yang Se-ryeong let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I haven’t tasted it yet, though?”
“…….”
“Let’s talk after I taste it first.”
Yang Se-ryeong broke out in a cold sweat.
‘I-It’ll be okay, right? No, it will be okay. Everyone said it was delicious.’
She became more serious than ever.
When she was having various thoughts about what would happen if it didn’t appeal to him.
“Let’s see.”
Cheon-hwi savored the porridge.
The seasoning was more appropriate than he had thought, and he also liked the texture of the jerky.
“The taste is alright.”
The moment Yang Se-ryeong swept her chest in relief.
“Hmm?”
Cheon-hwi, who was chewing the bird meat, suddenly frowned and spat it out right away.
“Have you tasted this?”
“T-that’s……”
Yang Se-ryeong’s face turned pale.
With a pathetic expression, Cheon-hwi quickly tossed the roasted bird meat to her.
She caught the bird meat in surprise.
“Try eating it.”
At Cheon-hwi’s words, Yang Se-ryeong carefully chewed the bird meat before scrunching her face.
It was because it was not seasoned properly, making it taste completely fishy.
“……I’m sorry.”
“You said you were good at cooking…….”
As Cheon-hwi was about to say something.
“Great Hero, aren’t you thirsty?”
Zhuge Seung-ho hurriedly approached and handed over a water bottle he had fetched from the stream the previous night.
“It will be cold.”
Cheon-hwi stared silently at Zhuge Seung-ho before gulping down the water.
‘Hmm, shall I let it slide this once?’
Cheon-hwi, whose mood improved slightly at Zhuge Seung-ho’s skillful attendance, looked at the restless Yang Se-ryeong and moved his lips.
“I’ll let it pass just this once.”
Yang Se-ryeong’s expression brightened.
Watching her change in expression, Cheon-hwi turned his head and met Zhuge Seung-ho’s eyes.
“You have good sense.”
“Ha, haha.”
“But there won’t be a second time.”
After throwing the water bottle at the awkwardly smiling Zhuge Seung-ho, Cheon-hwi raised his body.
“Then let’s go now.”
“Yes.”
As if she had been waiting, Yang Se-ryeong stood up.
Her expression had brightened slightly from the relief of finally leaving this place.
Shortly after, as the two took the lead.
“Huu.”
Peng Cheol-wi let out a deep breath and clutched his side where the wound had opened.
“Is it too much to move significantly.”
Thanks to the Heavenly King Pill given by Hwangbo So-hyeon, he barely managed to treat his internal injuries, but his body was not in the same condition as before.
Because the bruises were still present.
‘I should restrain myself a bit.’
As Peng Cheol-wi fiddled with his deeply wounded side, Hwangbo So-hyeon, who had finished her qi circulation breathing, approached with a worried expression.
“Are you okay?”
“Not as much as before, but still, thanks to the internal injury medicine and the Golden Spear Medicine given by Miss Hwangbo, my body has gotten quite better.”
“Really?”
“That is so.”
“That’s a relief.”
Hwangbo So-hyeon smiled brightly.
However, that was only for a moment; she looked at Peng Cheol-wi’s side and clenched her fists.
“Still, if you ever feel it’s too hard, tell me. I am a martial artist too.”
“I trust Miss Hwangbo’s skills.”
As the two who had gotten considerably closer were conversing amicably, Moyong Sang, who did not know the situation from yesterday, dropped his jaw.
“J-Zhuge Gongja. What happened to them?”
“Something like that happened.”
Zhuge Seung-ho slurred over it and moved on.
Because it was also ambiguous to say, ‘Romance bloomed last night.’
Instead, watching the party gradually moving further away, he urged Moyong Sang.
“Let us hurry as well.”
* * *
“Damn it!”
Zhuge Seung-ho gritted his teeth.
He had been relieved to barely start traveling with Cheon-hwi, but that didn’t last even a day.
‘They aren’t giving any time to rest!’
His gaze swept the surroundings.
Those wearing martial arts uniforms with the character for Sun clearly written on their chests and the character for Moon on their backs were rushing in with madness-filled expressions.
Wrinkles formed on Zhuge Seung-ho’s forehead.
“It’s like every single day…….”
It would be fortunate if it were just a day.
Surprise attacks came in nearly every two hours.
Just like right now!
Chaeng! Chaeng!
“Keuk!”
Zhuge Seung-ho unfolded his folding fan, barely deflecting the hidden weapons shot from the left.
And then immediately took a starting stance.
‘I’m going crazy.’
His head began to ache.
A little over half a day since they started traveling together.
The surprise attacks that occurred during that time had already reached their third.
And those three surprise attacks were different from the earlier raids.
A hit-and-run tactic, not just attacking blindly.
It was akin to the method hunters used to catch fierce beasts.
“Are they trying to dry us out and kill us.”
Cold sweat began to flow from his forehead upon realizing that the Sun and Moon Sect had deliberately begun to act.
‘Does that person know?’
His gaze turned to Cheon-hwi.
However, that was only for a moment.
‘Haa. He probably already knows.’
He let out a sigh inwardly.
Wasn’t he staring at the Sun and Moon Sect disciples with a calm face, as if he had absolutely no connection to the current situation?
But Cheon-hwi was thinking differently.
‘They keep sending small fry to test the waters.’
Cheon-hwi glanced at the rushing Sun and Moon Sect disciples and then took out a few iron coins.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
Then, he flicked them one by one with his fingers.
The iron coins that flew at speeds the eye could not track pierced the foreheads of the Sun and Moon Sect disciples, taking their lives.
‘Sloppy.’
Although it was a surprise attack they had paid attention to, to him who had experienced large-scale Heaven and Earth Nets in the past, it was no different from children’s play.
‘And there are no experts.’
Cheon-hwi’s gaze swept the surroundings.
The Sun and Moon Sect disciples scattered in all directions.
Perhaps they had deliberately brought disposable pawns, as there was no one among them who could be called an expert.
‘And they wouldn’t have any more places to run away to…….’
Cheon-hwi drew up his internal energy.
‘They will come out when pushed into a corner.’
As he lightly stomped his foot.
Seureuk…
His figure disappeared.
At the same time, hitting sounds along with screams belatedly echoed from all directions.
“……Huu.”
Yang Se-ryeong wiped the sweat off her forehead.
The fact that there were no rushing Sun and Moon Sect disciples and screams echoing from all directions proved that he had moved.
As expected, Cheon-hwi revealed his figure a moment later.
“Thank you. Great Hero.”
Cheon-hwi silently looked at Yang Se-ryeong, who conveyed her gratitude, and opened his mouth.
“Let’s just eat.”
* * *
The fourth day since the journey together began.
As time passed, the appearances of the rising stars were noticeably changing.
Their haggard faces stained with fatigue were all too natural, and a deep, pitch-black darkness was now taking up large spaces under their eyes.
Was that all.
Their clothes were already so dirty and torn in various places that it was questionable if they could properly function as garments.
It was a severe state, so much so that it seemed like they would smell from a distance.
“……When will this end?”
Hwangbo So-hyeon spoke in an exhausted voice.
She had already long given up on neatness.
Being at a state where it wouldn’t be awkward to call her a member of the Beggars’ Sect, she forcefully applied strength to her eyes that were trying to close from fatigue.
“It would probably be until they all die or we all die.”
Zhuge Seung-ho spat out a complaint.
The continuous surprise attacks of the Sun and Moon Sect.
There were no experts among them.
However, since they rushed in without fearing death, it was natural that the rising stars also couldn’t relax their tension continuously.
But the most terrifying thing was.
‘That they do not distinguish between day and night.’
He felt dizzy at the thought of the surprise attacks.
They couldn’t get a good night’s sleep for several days.
Since they repeatedly attacked whenever they tried to sleep.
With the fatigue from that building up, they were mentally driven to the worst, and their pupils had already lost focus a long time ago.
On the contrary, Cheon-hwi was fine.
Even when the rising stars were tossing and turning from the surprise attacks, he had been sleeping soundly.
And since they took care of his meals.
It was the optimal environment for him.
‘Hmm, it’s about time I step forward personally.’
Cheon-hwi read the presences in all directions.
During the more than ten surprise attacks, he absolutely did not let the Sun and Moon Sect disciples escape.
The reason was simple.
It was to draw out the important forces of the Heaven and Earth Net by reducing their numbers.
And right now, he had almost reached his goal.
However, the rising stars, unaware of that, shook their heads looking at the slowly walking Cheon-hwi.
“It would be nice if we walked a bit faster…….”
“I’m exhausted now.”
Around the time when their growing exhaustion became noticeably severe, Yang Se-ryeong, who had conversing with Cheon-hwi the most, stepped forward.
“Great Hero.”
“What is it?”
“Could we just hurry up a little?”
“There is no need for that.”
“Yes?”
Cheon-hwi turned his head to the side.
“Why don’t you come out already?”
The moment those words ended.
“……You dreadful bastard. To be fine even after suffering the Heaven and Earth Net.”
A familiar face revealed itself from between the bushes along with a familiar voice.
A middle-aged one-armed man with his right shoulder tightly wrapped in bandages.
It was Myeongwol-do, whose arm had been ripped off by Cheon-hwi.
Cheon-hwi, who already knew he had approached, twisted the corners of his mouth.
“You didn’t run away this time.”
Myeongwol-do’s eye corners rose.
“It was one step back for two steps forward.”
“Not just a retreat?”
What do you mean ‘one step back for two steps forward’.
You just ran away to survive.
“Did you bring everyone this time?”
“You seem to be afraid.”
“I am afraid.”
“As expected. Our Sect’s…….”
“If there are still guys left after this, I have to personally visit the Sun and Moon Sect. When am I going to go all the way there.”
“You talk as if you can deal with our Sect all by yourself.”
“Isn’t that a given?”
“……You are overflowing with confidence.”
“Rather than confidence, it’s a fact.”
Myeongwol-do’s outer eye corners shot up.
“I will break your arrogant confidence.”
“Is that so?”
Cheon-hwi spoke unenthusiastically.
There were countless people who claimed they would fix his personality since his past life, but not a single one had succeeded.
“Then go ahead and try to break it.”
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