Chapter 230: Chapter 230
At the sight of the Splendid Spirit Squad rushing in like madmen, the Green Forest bandits, who had been fully prepared, were instead taken aback.
“Are they really Plum Blossom Swordsmen?”
When one spoke of Plum Blossom Swordsmen, they were the elite and the face of the Mount Hua Sect.
Outstanding martial prowess and numerous chivalrous deeds.
And the image they usually showed as Taoists was well-reputed not only in the Jianghu but throughout the entire world…
“I thought they were the Plum Blossom Swordsmen of the Mount Hua Sect?”
“Aren’t they just mad dogs?”
The Green Forest bandits burst into bewilderment.
From the Plum Blossom Swordsmen rushing at them now, the image of Taoists could not be seen.
No, what Taoists.
They did not seem human at all.
The eyes of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen raising their swords were not only bloodshot red, but fighting spirit was overflowing.
It was exactly as if starving beasts had discovered prey and were pouncing.
At that time, Cheon Hyang, who stood at the forefront, fiercely kicked off the ground and shot forward like an arrow.
Tadadat!
The Splendid Spirit Squad members followed behind her.
“What momentum…”
In an instant, the Green Forest bandits were completely overwhelmed by the momentum of the Splendid Spirit Squad led by Cheon Hyang.
They overflowed with desperation and madness more than anyone they had seen so far.
If it were not for the Mount Hua Sect Taoist robes they were wearing, one would have easily mistaken them for crazy combat ghosts wanting to fight.
Just as they, pushed back by the momentum, were about to instinctively step backward.
“What are you doing?”
An endlessly low voice flowed out.
The low voice that struck their ears as if echoing from a cave was enough to make the Green Forest bandits snap back to their senses.
Wi Jung-yeon cast his eyes downward.
Seeing the burning fire in his indifferent eyes, the Green Forest bandits pulled their backward-leaning upper bodies forward again.
Then they grabbed the spears on their backs.
As the Green Forest bandits drew their spears, pointed at the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, and took their stances.
“Annihilate the enemies.”
Wi Jung-yeon issued an order.
At that moment.
“Understood!”
The Green Forest bandits grabbed their spears and ran forward.
Chaeaeng! Chaeng!
Soon, the Plum Blossom Swordsmen and the Green Forest bandits clashed, and sparks flew.
Wi Jung-yeon’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the space that had become a battlefield in an instant.
Even though the number of Green Forest bandits was more than double, they were gradually being pushed back.
“I heard the current Plum Blossom Swordsmen were much weaker than in the past.”
His brow gradually narrowed.
As the number of Green Forest bandits rapidly decreased despite not much time having passed, he turned his head to the side.
“Vice Stronghold Leader.”
“Did you call for me?”
The Vice Stronghold Leader, Seong-yang, answered immediately.
“You need to change the flow.”
Seong-yang nodded his head, grabbed the long spear he had planted in the ground, and bowed his head.
“Understood.”
With those words, Seong-yang lightly kicked off the ground and dug into the fight.
And he quickly approached the woman rampaging at the very forefront among them.
‘That person directed everything.’
After raising his internal energy, Seong-yang thrust the spear he gripped tightly with both hands forward.
Swaaek!
The sharp spear tip embracing spear qi shot toward Cheon Hyang’s chest.
A sharp and fast strike!
It was the peak Gold Shattering Strike that had taken the lives of countless people.
An intense strike that even a decent Martial World expert would seek to dodge rather than face head-on.
However, the opponent was not just a decent Martial World expert, but Cheon Hyang.
‘Her skill is different from the other Green Forest bandits.’
Seeing the Gold Shattering Strike, she raised her sword.
The pure white White Lotus Sword, reflecting the beaming sunlight, sharply changed direction and met the end of the shooting long spear.
And at that moment.
Hwiririk…
Cheon Hyang fluidly twisted her wrist.
Then, the sword touching the spear tip bent smoothly and deflected the Gold Shattering Strike.
“……!”
At the unexpected situation, Seong-yang hastily tried to pull the spear back, but it was far too late to retract the Gold Shattering Strike carrying intense power.
Because of that, the moment the deflected Gold Shattering Strike vainly pierced the empty air.
Huk!
Cheon Hyang’s face suddenly appeared up close.
‘When!’
A single step.
Cheon Hyang, who had closed the distance between them at once with just that, curled up the corners of her mouth.
‘…She’s smiling?’
When Seong-yang thought it was a relaxed and beautiful smile unsuited for the current urgent situation.
Peok!
Before he knew it, Cheon Hyang’s left palm, which surged from below, struck his jaw.
“Keok!”
Seong-yang’s head jerked back.
Seeing Seong-yang stumble a few steps back from the impact, Cheon Hyang snorted.
“Compared to Junior Brother, you’re too slow.”
Of course, the Gold Shattering Strike was also an outstanding spear technique, but compared to the sword arts Cheon-hwi had unfolded, it was so slow that it made her want to yawn.
“This time I’m first!”
Cheon Hyang, whose spirit had greatly risen from landing a hit, stepped heavily again.
“Where!”
Countering that, Seong-yang also raised his spear and stepped heavily.
Chaeng! Chaeng!
Soon, sharp sparks flew.
“Iik!”
“Keuk!”
It was a fierce decisive battle.
Soon, Cheon Hyang’s neatly tied hair became disheveled and fluttered, and her Taoist robe was torn.
Seong-yang’s appearance becoming a mess was the same.
When quite some time had passed for scratches to appear on their bodies.
Peok!
Seong-yang was sent flying backwards.
Foam frothed from the mouth of him who had fallen face down on the ground with a clear handprint left on his chest.
“Kkeureureuk…”
The mouths of the Green Forest bandits dropped open.
“V-Vice Stronghold Leader?”
“How could this…?”
Seong-yang was called the Hengshan Spear Ghost, and his infamy was widespread in Shanxi.
As if to prove it was not a false reputation, his skill was that of an expert who had reached the peak realm.
Having been defeated by a female Taoist not even in her thirties, how could they not be bewildered?
“Heok, heok!”
Breathing heavily, Cheon Hyang wiped the wound formed on her cheek and grinned.
Then she raised her sword high and shouted.
“There’s not much left now!”
“Waaa!”
As if answering that cry, the Splendid Spirit Squad cheered and pressured the Green Forest bandits.
“For the Vice Stronghold Leader to be defeated…!”
Wi Jung-yeon gritted his teeth.
When his halberd began to tremble as if his anger had been transmitted.
[We will handle the Plum Blossom Swordsmen.]
A suddenly flying sound transmission knocked on his ears.
The moment Wi Jung-yeon, with widened eyes, turned his head in the direction the sound transmission came from.
Pababat!
Those wearing black capes suddenly appeared and surrounded the Plum Blossom Swordsmen.
“You are…”
Cheon Hyang narrowed her brow.
The momentum exuding from them was on a different level from the Green Forest bandits they had faced so far.
Staring at Cheon Hyang and the Splendid Spirit Squad with desolate expressions, they drew their swords at the same time and directly rushed at the Splendid Spirit Squad.
* * *
Meanwhile, Heavenly Ear Beggar, who was watching the situation from inside the carriage, glared fiercely at their appearance.
“Th-those bastards are the Black Shadow Squad?!”
At those words, Junior Beggar was dumbfounded.
If it was the Black Shadow Squad, they were the assassination group of the Four Black Alliances who, upon appearing, invariably brought a storm of blood.
“W-why are they here…?”
Heavenly Ear Beggar gritted his teeth.
The cases of the Black Shadow Squad appearing in the Jianghu were rare enough to count on one hand.
But for them to have appeared now meant.
“The Four Black Alliances have staked their lives on this matter!”
It was proof of their will to bring the Green Forest and the Daeeun Merchant Guild into the embrace of the Four Black Alliances even if they turned the Mount Hua Sect into an enemy.
“At this rate, even if a war breaks out…”
The worst assumption popped into his head.
If it was a fight between the Mount Hua Sect and the White Ghost Castle, it was a fight between sects, so it could be passed off as their own problem.
But the Black Shadow Squad was a battalion raised by the Four Black Alliances.
In other words, since the Four Black Alliances had provoked the Mount Hua Sect, there was ample room for the Martial Alliance to intervene.
At that time, Cheon-hwi’s voice flowed out.
“I wondered why they kept approaching.”
Cheon-hwi’s gaze turned in all directions.
Even without that, it was the moment when the bastards stealthily approaching from earlier had been bothering him.
“Were they trying to silence the witnesses to hide that the Black Shadow Squad came.”
As soon as Cheon-hwi brought up those words.
Pababat!
The hidden Green Forest bandits popped out.
“This is!”
“Since when was there an ambush…!”
The escorts and porters, who had been admiring the active performance of the Plum Blossom Swordsmen, were instantly terrified.
“Everyone protect the cargo!”
As soon as the Chief Escort’s words fell, the escorts urgently drew their swords.
“Porters, step back!”
At the subsequent words, the porters hastily stuck close to the carriages and cowered their bodies.
Perhaps because they hadn’t done it just once or twice, the series of actions was very swift.
At that time, a giant black shadow fell in front of them like a meteor.
Kung!
Using the halberd planted in the ground as a cane, the black shadow slowly raised his body.
He was none other than Wi Jung-yeon.
Having left the Splendid Spirit Squad to the Black Shadow Squad, he raised his halberd while looking at the Chief Escort.
“Giant Bear Yaksha…”
The Chief Escort muttered with a tense expression.
“A nickname I haven’t heard in a long time.”
Wi Jung-yeon formed a twisted smile.
“Are you all ready?”
“We are ready!”
At the vigorous shout of the Green Forest bandits, Wi Jung-yeon ordered with an extremely relaxed expression.
“Kill them without leaving a single one alive!”
The Chief Escort bit his lip and shouted.
“We will stop those rude bandits!”
“We won’t lose to bandit bastards!”
The escorts also fought against the Green Forest bandits with shouts filled with maximum internal energy.
Chaeng! Chaeng!
Sharp sparks flew.
Meanwhile, the porters, tightly clinging to the carriages, had their complexions turning pale at the blood, flesh pieces, and sparks flying in front of them.
At that time.
“Do you think hiding will save you?”
A mean-looking Green Forest bandit stretched his toothless lips wide and raised his spear.
“P-please spare me!”
The porter urgently rubbed his hands.
However, the Green Forest bandit brought the spear tip in his hand to the porter’s Adam’s apple with a sneer and chuckled.
“No matter how much you beg, it’s useless. You bastards are all destined to die here…”
At the moment he was about to thrust the spear with those words.
Puuk!
Suddenly, a sword blade popped out from the Green Forest bandit’s stomach and stopped right in front of the porter’s eyes.
“Heuiiik!”
The porter was horrified by the blood and spilling intestines on the sword blade that had pierced through the stomach.
“Wh-what is th-this…”
On the other hand, the Green Forest bandit stared blankly at the sword blade before dying just like that.
Teolsseok…
The porter was terrified by the corpse that fell into his embrace, and soon fainted.
“Huh? He fainted?”
Cheon-hwi withdrew his gaze from the porter lying together with the corpse with his eyes rolled back, and scanned the surrounding sight.
“Perhaps because it’s an escort agency directly raised by the World Merchant Guild, they still have some level of skill.”
Looking at their combat ability, it was enough to say it was superior to the disciples of a decent sect.
However, the number of Green Forest bandits was too high.
An amount that at least surpassed double.
Furthermore, the Green Forest bandits held spears.
No matter how much the sword is called the king of all weapons, that is a phrase that applies when there is a certain level of skill.
In a state without the skill to close the distance, the long weapon, the spear, was bound to be more advantageous than the short sword.
“The Green Forest has changed. They weren’t guys who did things this systematically.”
It was quite different from the Green Forest he knew.
Unlike before when they recklessly rushed in, the sight of them swinging spears while maintaining an appropriate distance was exactly like an army.
“And that Stronghold Leader guy is different too.”
Cheon-hwi stared at Wi Jung-yeon, who was pressuring the Chief Escort by swinging his halberd.
It was then.
Huuung…
The halberd that cleaved the air, not satisfied with just pressuring the Chief Escort, was swung as if to completely smash his head to pieces.
“That won’t do.”
Cheon-hwi vanished in an instant.
“Ugh…!”
Despair filled the Chief Escort at the halberd tearing through the air and approaching.
‘Am I dying like this.’
As the two sharp blades attached to both sides of the spear tip, the Moon Crescents, approached right before his eyes, he squeezed his eyes shut.
But strangely, even as time passed, no pain came.
The Chief Escort slowly opened his eyes.
In front of him was a giant back.
“Young Hero…?”
He looked at Cheon-hwi with eyes more surprised than ever.
He had no choice but to do so.
Because Cheon-hwi standing in front was standing while catching the Moon Crescent of the halberd, which had been swung roughly with great power, with merely his index and thumb.
Cheon-hwi met Wi Jung-yeon’s gaze and said.
“You swing it quite well compared to my thoughts.”
Wi Jung-yeon calmly restored his momentarily enlarged eyes from surprise, and opened his lips.
“…How did you block it?”
“What do you mean how. It’s nothing much.”
Cheon-hwi, who answered casually, applied force to his index and thumb.
At that moment.
Jjeoeong!
The Moon Crescent broke, and iron pieces fluttered.
“I just blocked it. It’s not even that amazing.”
At the words looking down on him, Wi Jung-yeon bit his lip and stepped back.
Cold sweat flowed down his forehead.
At the same time, he quickly scanned the Green Forest bandits around him and shouted.
“Attack that guy first!”
At Wi Jung-yeon’s shout, the Green Forest bandits stopped attacking the escorts and rushed toward Cheon-hwi.
Tadadat!
Looking at the Green Forest bandits rushing in together with Wi Jung-yeon, Cheon-hwi slowly raised his sword.
“Oh my, look at this. They’ve really changed a lot. If it was the old Green Forest, they would have run away with their tails tucked.”
With those words, Cheon-hwi grinned.
“To come to die on your own. How commendable.”