Chapter 98: Chapter 98
Feeling the rigid, unmoving skin, he confirmed the horse was dead.
And beneath the settled dust, he saw it bleeding profusely, as if pierced to death by something.
How could this happen…
There had definitely been no one pursuing him.
Just as his mind went blank with questions.
“Are you with the Iron Horse Bandits?”
A man’s voice drifted down from a nearby rooftop. When he lifted his head, Thud. The man had already dropped to the ground like a shadow and stood facing him.
White martial uniform, unremarkable features. It was the bastard from the Bumun Inn whose eyes had met his.
「…Was this your doing?」
Gwa-pyeong asked in a voice grown thoroughly cold.
It wasn’t that he was overcome with emotion over the horse’s death.
When heading to battle, he had always brought five or six horses. To switch when one tired, and to slaughter for food when hungry.
He was simply enraged by the fact that only one man had followed him.
If he had known, there would have been no need to run so hard.
「Thanks to you, I’ve been made a fool, panicking for nothing. I didn’t even need to go to the Captain.」
Gwa-pyeong muttered not in Chinese but in a peculiar language.
Jang I-seo narrowed his eyes and asked again.
“Can you not speak the Central Plains tongue? I’ll ask again. A fifteen-year-old boy came to the inn a few days ago. Did you take him?”
「A boy from a few days ago? Ah, right. You mean that insolent brat who brazenly tailed us. So you’re the one who came looking for him. Heh, I thought it was the Flying Dragon Hall bastards in disguise. Turned out to be nothing special.」
“What are you talking about?”
「No need for you to know. Anyway, the kid… But what a shame. It’s already too late to find him.」
Gwa-pyeong grinned mockingly. When Jang I-seo tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand at all, Gwa-pyeong offered a bitter smile and continued.
「That kid too. I don’t know why you keep hovering around us, but give it up. You idiotic Demonic Cult bastards will scour the north trying to find us again, but it’ll be completely useless. By now, that kid has probably been dragged to the Sea of Death. Heh.」
“Sea of Death…? You mean the desert of death on the Cheonsan Southern Road?”
「Oh, you actually know that! So there’s a well-informed one in the Demonic Cult after all. But wait…」
Gwa-pyeong’s eyes went blank like someone who had been struck hard in the back of the head.
“What is it?”
「Why, you ask? Isn’t it strange?」
“Strange how?”
「The very fact that you’re asking me questions right now!」
“Why would that be…」
「Grrr! I’m saying, how are you answering every single thing I say!」
Gwa-pyeong’s face turned red like a demon’s, and he bellowed.
Jang I-seo offered a chilling smile.
That was when Gwa-pyeong realized.
「Y-you bastard. You tricked me! You knew our language!」
Took you long enough.
Jang I-seo, as if there was nothing left to hide, went one step further.
「You are… descendants of the Xiongnu.」
That was right. The language he had spoken was that of the Xiongnu.
Long ago, they had dominated the northern steppes, but having since fallen, only small villages barely preserved their lineage.
They had been renowned for their powerful bone structure and horsemanship for generations.
Their rugged features and physiques, rarely seen in the Central Plains, made sense now.
“Answer me straight! How do you know our language!”
Gwa-pyeong switched to Chinese and demanded, apparently finding no more point in hiding.
Jang I-seo answered in kind.
“It’s the same principle as you, a Xiongnu, knowing the Central Plains tongue, isn’t it?”
“Nonsense!”
True. It was nonsense. In reality, Gwa-pyeong had simply been unlucky.
Of all people, he had run into Jang I-seo, the finest agent of the Hidden Pavilion, who was fluent in countless languages.
Jang I-seo approached step by step with calm deliberation.
“Anyway, I understand that you took Maeng Hwi to the Sea of Death. In that case, it seems we have more to discuss.”
Discuss? This is my discussion. At Jang I-seo’s suggestion, Gwa-pyeong took a combat stance and shouted.
“You heard what you shouldn’t have. I’ll kill you and silence that mouth before I go.”
“Spouting off to your heart’s content and now blaming the other party. Isn’t that a bit unreasonable?”
「Die!」
Some conversations don’t translate even when the language does. Gwa-pyeong launched forward like a bolt and swung a massive fist.
FWOOM!
His left hand was pulled back to guard his jaw, while his right, loaded with his full weight, flew in horizontally.
‘Western martial arts?’
It wasn’t a Central Plains martial art, but the Xiongnu were gifted with powerful builds by nature. Moreover, Gwa-pyeong was an elite warrior even among them.
The charging force and the weight behind it were not to be underestimated.
FWISH!
As Jang I-seo leapt backward to dodge, Gwa-pyeong immediately twisted his waist and swung his left hand, lunging in again.
A swift transition!
“If this form of communication is more comfortable, by all means.”
Though he couldn’t compare to the rugged Gwa-pyeong in appearance, Jang I-seo was no pushover either.
In fact, when it came to communicating with his body, he was more direct and aggressive than anyone.
VWOOM!
Jang I-seo thrust a palm toward Gwa-pyeong’s charging chest. This wasn’t the past. He was now armed with the Heavenly Demon’s internal energy.
Though launched late, it was sharp and clean without a trace of wasted motion.
「Hah! What do you expect to do with those fragile little hands!」
But Gwa-pyeong had no intention of dodging. He didn’t pull his fist back and continued right through. A declaration that he would gladly take a palm strike to land his blow.
But this was a serious underestimation of Jang I-seo.
Contrary to appearances, the demonic qi contained in his palm was enough to reduce rock to powder.
And the price for underestimating him was severe.
KRAK.
「Ka-hak!」
With a horrific sound, his left hand, which had nearly reached Jang I-seo’s ribs, stopped as if struck by lightning. Saliva dripped from his mouth, and his face contorted in agony.
A crack had formed in bones sturdy enough to withstand falling boulders.
「You… bastard…」
But Jang I-seo was equally surprised. A palm strike from an absolute realm master that could shatter stone had only managed to draw a line on his bone. What in the world did this man eat growing up?
And it didn’t end there.
「I’ll kill you!」
Gwa-pyeong’s eyes rolled back, and as if pain meant nothing, he began rampaging even more violently, like a berserk beast.
BOOM! FWOOM!
His rage seemed to fuel his strength, making him even faster and stronger.
As Jang I-seo fell back to evade, he soon found himself backed against the wall of a small building.
And a fist flew toward his face.
“Damn.”
Jang I-seo dropped his body low to dodge, and KWAANG!
The wall exploded outward from the impact of his fist, shattering into flying debris. Yet his hand was merely dusty, without a single scratch.
A truly nonsensical body.
‘At this level, it wouldn’t be strange to call him an absolute realm master. I understand now why Sa Ho-jeong said what he did.’
A genuinely formidable opponent. Moreover, he had lost all reason, snorting like a wild beast. He was completely berserk.
Swish. Jang I-seo circled sideways and secured space.
He caught his breath and drew a dagger from his waist.
‘He’s strong, but a tier below Wang-u. I could end it quickly with the Thunder Circulation Method, but…’
He still had many questions to hear answered.
This was a man who couldn’t die yet.
Therefore.
「Come.」
He would match strength with him.
Jang I-seo smirked and beckoned with his hand.
「KRAAAAH!」
Gwa-pyeong charged in a frenzy.
In response, Jang I-seo shot forward like a ray of light.
PA-PA-PAT!
Their clash passed a dozen exchanges in the blink of an eye.
While Gwa-pyeong staked everything on his powerful fists and stamina, Jang I-seo countered with fast and precise blade work.
And the result was summed up by Gwa-pyeong’s own words.
「You slippery little bastard…!」
Jang I-seo dodged with what seemed like precognition, maintaining exactly an inch of distance.
With the gap closing that tightly, the speed of his counterattacks was devastating.
SLASH SLASH SLASH!
「Kuh!」
In a split second, five gashes were carved into Gwa-pyeong’s body.
If there was any consolation, it was that his muscles, as tough and dense as his horse’s, prevented fatal wounds.
「You bastard!」
Gwa-pyeong offered his own body and launched a counterattack.
An utterly reckless fighting style.
But the effect was undeniable.
BAM!
His outstretched fist sent Jang I-seo flying far back.
Even with both arms crossed to block, the force was overwhelming.
「You can actually take a hit!」
Seizing the momentum, Gwa-pyeong charged like an enraged rhinoceros.
A simultaneous barrage of relentless blows.
PA-PA-PA-PA-PAK!
Jang I-seo was helplessly driven back. He was hard-pressed just blocking and dodging.
‘They’re not easy opponents by any measure. They’re definitely strong.’
His innate bone structure and movements were excellent, but Gwa-pyeong’s fists were definitely loaded with internal power.
Wherever he had learned it, it was at a level that couldn’t be ignored.
Moreover, their retreat strategy, their attempt to confuse him using the Xiongnu language. Their organization was also impressive.
‘They would have been valuable assets. If only they hadn’t touched the Soul-Befuddling Powder and kidnapped Maeng Hwi…’
But the water was already spilled.
‘The Flying Dragon Hall will be here soon.’
They weren’t on good terms, but this was a case involving the kidnapping of the Sixth Young Master. No matter how unhinged they were, they would have that much sense.
Right now, finding Maeng Hwi in cooperation with them was the priority.
Jang I-seo deflected Gwa-pyeong’s attacks and stalled for time.
Then, a moment later.
[Halt!]
A sharp Six-Harmony Sound Transmission echoed, and warriors in pristine white robes began pouring down like a torrential rain.
‘They’re here!
Wide sleeves, and on their backs, the character for Flight embroidered in gold.
“Flying Dragon… Hall.”
Gwa-pyeong muttered with a face of utter despair.
The Flying Dragon Hall.
To those who operated outside the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, they were grim reapers.
They had finally arrived.
“Damn it…”
Naturally, the fight between the two men stopped as well. Even a wild stallion like Gwa-pyeong had no tricks left when the Flying Dragon Hall surrounded him on all sides with blades drawn.
A complete checkmate.
But Gwa-pyeong wasn’t the only one caught off guard. Jang I-seo was equally stunned.
‘Why are they here?!’
These were definitely the Flying Dragon Hall warriors he had been waiting for. But this was vastly different from what he had expected.
The character for Flight embroidered in gold meant they were the elite.
And for them to appear as a group like this meant only one thing.
“Hohoho! Anyone who moves from this point on gets a feather planted in their body. It will sting quite a bit.”
A venomous voice echoed through the area.
Jang I-seo and Gwa-pyeong’s heads snapped upward.
There she stood, atop a building’s roof.
A green gem embedded in the center of her forehead, dressed in a bizarre outfit covered in pure white feathers like a bird.
A woman who, despite being past forty, looked like a sharp beauty in her thirties.
From her appearance to the aura she radiated, her presence was overwhelming.
“Who is that woman?”
Gwa-pyeong asked, tense and on guard.
Jang I-seo swallowed dryly and answered.
“The Flying Dragon Hall Master…”
Jang I-seo’s bitter nemesis.
The bird that flies ten thousand li.
The Flying Dragon Hall Master, the Ten-Thousand-Li Bird, Myo Chae-gyeong.
“To dart outside the cult without a permit. Hohoho, you’re as out of your mind as ever.”