Chapter 50: Chapter 50
Red Envoy Wang’s eyes twisted fiercely. He pulled down his face cover with slow hands. Inside, just as Jang Geon had expected, was the merchant’s face. As if angry, he bared his teeth and said.
“Kidnapping? Without a very powerful spirit medicine, an outstanding master, and a physician’s touch, Nine Yin Evil Blood leads to death before twenty. Helping her leave even a small trace in this world before dying like that is the more right thing to do. Without even that, she would merely be forgotten despite being born and living in this world. Or what, do you intend to save that girl?”
Taking a step forward, he continued.
“Right, there was a Shaolin monk below together. Then I suppose you plan to use Shaolin Temple’s Great Return Pill. That precious treasure of those monks, which they risked their lives to refuse even when past Emperors demanded it. Haha… does that make any sense?”
Red Envoy Wang scoffed as if finding it funny even as he said it, stepping forward another step. Looking at him, Jang Geon asked with an expressionless face.
“What is the grand plan?”
Red Envoy Wang, about to take another step forward, stopped abruptly. Jang Geon continued.
“You targeted the spirit in the native tribe of the Eastern Mountain Range, and in Gamsan, you tried to control the market in that area through Seo Wi-ryang. Before that, you scattered demonic art manuals to the bandits of the wilderness. Am I right?”
The laughter vanished from Red Envoy Wang’s face. With a hardened face like that, he glared at Jang Geon with wide-open eyes.
“You fellow… Don’t tell me you are the fellow who interfered with the Palace’s work in Gamsan…”
“We kept meeting on the road. It just happened.”
Stopping for a moment to glare at Jang Geon with wide eyes, Red Envoy Wang’s expression slowly settled. He pulled his right foot back and stood obliquely toward Jang Geon. And he tightly clenched his right hand hidden behind his body. At that, with a metallic clang sound from his forearm, three sharp blades tore through his clothes and sprouted out.
Revealing his weapon like that, he opened his mouth.
“…One who does not understand the oppression and years of disgrace our Palace received from the Empire cannot understand the grand plan either. Even less so one who does not know the difference between leaving a name and dying versus merely surviving.”
Even at his solemn tone, Jang Geon wore a lukewarm expression.
“Right, it seems you have no intention of speaking. In fact, I wasn’t that curious either.”
Speaking so bluntly, he pulled his left foot back a step like his opponent, stood obliquely, and slightly tilted the scabbard with his left hand.
Under the dim moonlight pouring down, the two men glared at each other on the inn’s roof. Below, only the sharp sound of swords clashing between Jin-ha and the masked men echoed, and even the gently blowing wind quieted down at that moment.
Just then, the wooden ceiling of the inn stepped on by Red Envoy Wang made a creaking sound, unable to endure the force placed on his toes. At the same time, a bluish light burst brilliantly above the dark inn.
Next moment, Red Envoy Wang and Jang Geon stood with their backs to each other in swapped positions. And after a very brief silence, they turned their bodies back toward each other. Jang Geon’s sword and Red Envoy Wang’s long nail-like blades sparkled, reflecting the light.
Glaring at Jang Geon, Red Envoy Wang glanced at his Tiger Claw. Among the blades that should have sprouted in three branches, there were only two. The blade that should have occupied that one spot spun whirring through the air, only then dropping with a thud to stick into the wooden roof of the inn.
Red Envoy Wang smirked seeing that.
“…Your skill is good. What is your name?”
“Jang Geon.”
“My name is Wang O. To me as a Palace member, you are merely an obstacle to the grand plan, but to me as a martial artist, my chest is pounding right now. Whose disciple are you?”
“If you tell me about that place called the Palace, I’ll let you know too.”
At Jang Geon’s dry answer, Red Envoy Wang merely formed a deeper smile without a word. The two men glared at each other without a word like that, then moved again. The inn’s roof made a crunching noise, unable to endure the power of the two men.
* * *
There were seven masked men fighting Jin-ha in total. The one who had been knocked down by Jin Gyeon’s kick at first also bounced up, regained his senses, and was joint-attacking her. And facing the joint attack of those seven, she was not pushed back at all. On the contrary, the ones whose wounds increased were the masked men.
As Jin-ha’s sword flashed, the masked men merely blood-spurted from various parts of their bodies and faltered back. As she swung her sword grandly next, the masked men retreated in a crowd. In the widely opened space, she covered the upper guard with the scabbard held in reverse in her left hand, and stopped with the sword held in her right hand extended straight forward. The masked men flinched as if that straight-extended sword was going to pierce them like an arrow.
Jin-ha said.
“Shameless bastards. What crime does that child have for you to pull this shit? I wondered and wondered, but you really poked your heads into Seo-ha’s room? I’ll snap all the tendons in your four limbs so you crawl for the rest of your lives. Come at me!”
Just then, one person among the masked men stepped forward with big strides and laughed.
“Ha. You’re sky-high confident. Looking at you, your age isn’t great, but indeed, achieving that level of attainment at a young age could make you that arrogant. But today you will die here. And we will take Nine Yin Evil Blood.”
“…Crazy fellow. Who was the one getting pushed back until just now?”
At Jin-ha’s words, the masked man laughed again and said.
“Everyone, raise your spears.”
At that, the masked men who had been wielding swords until a moment ago unbuckled the scabbards mounted on their backs and joined them with the sword hilts. And tapping those lengthened hilts, they extended further by the length of the original scabbard, completing a short spear with a long blade.
“What kind of…”
The moment Jin-ha wore an absurd expression wondering what that was, the masked men who completed the combination and transformation of their swords charged right at her holding them. Seven men standing in two rows thrusting forward looked as if a wall mounted with spears was approaching. However, despite the attack method changing in an instant, she lightly parried those thrusts, penetrated inside the spears, and thrust her sword. The sword tip aimed for the masked man’s chest.
However, her sword was blocked by another spear blade. And in the continuous attacks that followed, she had to retreat backwards in a streak.
The masked men then began pressing her, moving like a single organism with seven arms. Rather than each of them, Jin-ha’s sword was stronger and faster, but before the seven spear blades storming hectically, she only retreated backward. Because of the frantically moving masked men and Jin-ha leaping her body here and there, dust rose from the ground in the middle of the night.
Watching that from the broken window, Jin Gyeon let out a groan.
“Umm. It seems we must help Patron Jin-ha.”
“Pardon? Jin-ha?”
Seol Myo-geum turned her head and looked at Jin Gyeon at his words. Jin Gyeon looked out the window and spoke.
“Ey, there’s no need to do that. Jin-ha can do it alone.”
“…D-Does Patron Seol see something different from what I see? To my dim night eyes, right now she looks like she’s in danger…”
“Just watch.”
At her voice full of trust, Jin Gyeon quietly shut his mouth. And he looked at her with a more serious gaze.
And at that moment, Jin-ha’s sword, which had been retreating far back, flashed with light and swept straight across the ground in front of her. At that, soil and sand exploded from her powerful sword qi, raising thick dust.
When the masked men whose vision was blocked by that smokescreen flinched for a moment, Jin-ha spun like a shot arrow and penetrated into that dust. Next moment, at her figure emerging through the dust, the masked men flinched in surprise and tried to move, but she had already swept past them and landed on the ground.
Before the thick dust could even settle, three corpses whose necks were severed by the sword collapsed in heaps.
Watching Seol Myo-geum turned back to Jin Gyeon, smiling again. Jin Gyeon smiled as if it were surprising and cool, nodding his head.
“My words were right, wasn’t I?”
“Haha. That is so.”
Just then, the masked man who had stepped forward to speak earlier saw his comrades’ corpses collapse in heaps and urgently shouted.
“Everyone, awaken your divine art! She is no ordinary master!”
At that shout, crimson energy flowed in streams from the eyes of the remaining four masked men, and creaking noises began echoing from their bodies as well. Landing down and lightly catching her breath, Jin-ha let out a groan upon seeing that.
“They really were demonic practitioners… gasp!”
She urgently threw her body to roll. At the spot where she had been, a short spear thrown by one of the masked men stuck with a thud! sound. After rolling her body to stand up, the masked men charged at Jin-ha.
The opposite situation from earlier occurred. Earlier, Jin-ha had pressed them with stronger internal power and speed than the masked men individually, but now she dodged with difficulty, avoiding clashing head-on with them. She wasn’t injured yet, but in a situation like now, it was only a matter of time.
Jin Gyeon rested his foot on the window frame.
“Now it seems we really must help.”
“…Yes. We should.”
Beside him, Seol Myo-geum tried to come out together. But Jin Gyeon extended his hand to stop her.
“Wait. Patron Seol, please protect the child.”
At those words, Seol Myo-geum turned her head to look at Jin Seo-ha. Sitting on the bed with a blanket pulled over her, the girl was looking at her with wide-open eyes. Originally they intended to put her to sleep, but no matter how insensitive a child was, there was no way she could sleep while people were fighting and clashing.
She shook her head.
“No, Monk, you protect her. Right now I am a bit more energetic, aren’t I?”
It meant she wished Jin Gyeon, who had injured both arms, wouldn’t overexert himself. At those words, Jin Gyeon shook his head and wore a stern expression.
“Saving sentient beings swept by wicked afflictions is what this humble monk following Buddha’s teachings should, ”
Just then, something passed the window from above with a whish and fell. As Jin Gyeon and Seol Myo-geum reflexively checked it, they saw that fallen something smashing the inn’s awning and crashing into the ground. He was Red Envoy Wang.
At the same time, someone whirred down from atop the inn and landed beside Jin-ha.
“…Warrior Jang.”
“It’s already reduced by half.”
Jin-ha looked at Jang Geon who lightly landed beside her with an expression of difficulty understanding, looking back and forth between the inn’s roof and him. That height exceeded three zhang, nearing four zhang, yet Jang Geon had landed so lightly.
“How…”
As Jin-ha tried to express her question, Red Envoy Wang, who had crashed into the wooden awning a moment ago, bellowed like a beast and stood up abruptly. The Tiger Claws worn on his right arm had all three branches broken, and his upper garment was completely torn, exposing his bare body as it was. Bleeding here and there in that state, he was no different from a defeated soldier.
He stood up abruptly like that and shouted.
“Jang, Geon! You fellow!”
However, compared to that desperate tone, Jang Geon looked lukewarm.
“Hmm. As expected, your body is sturdy.”
The masked men fighting Jin-ha hurriedly pulled back and approached Red Envoy Wang. The one who had been speaking since earlier approached and asked.
“Are you alright?”
Catching his breath with heavy gasps, he looked at the energy flowing from the eyes of his approaching subordinate and asked.
“Did you awaken the divine art?”
“Yes. That woman’s martial arts are no ordinary degree… It seems she is from the Imperial Army or the Martial Alliance.”
Red Envoy Wang spat blood-mixed saliva onto the ground with a tui.
“I was too hasty. We should have investigated them more.”
“It cannot be helped… Now there is no choice but to kill them all.”
At those words, Red Envoy Wang looked at his subordinate. Named Won Gak and holding the rank of Black Envoy, as a person who awakened demonic arts, his breathing was already rough and killing intent overflowed around his eyes. On top of that, growling noises like a beast flowed from his mouth, making him no different from a wicked demonic practitioner commonly spoken of. And all of that appearance was because he practiced low-level demonic arts.
Thinking about something for a moment, he pointed at Jang Geon and Jin-ha with a hardened face.
“Right. That is the only way. Good, go. Create an opening!”
At that shout, the four growling masked men charged in like well-trained hunting dogs. At that, Jang Geon grabbed his sword with both hands and said.
“Take the two on the right.”
“P-Pardon?”
Without even listening to Jin-ha’s answer, he charged head-on toward the masked men. Perhaps because it was a dark night, his running figure stretched out long like malt taffy, and his afterimage passed right by the two charging masked men. The sword he swung became a flashing light, passing through their bodies as if there were no resistance at all.
However, the red blood bursting out right after proved the cold blade that had swept past their skin.
“Oh no!”
At that sight, Jin-ha quickly ran behind. The remaining two masked men saw Jang Geon passing right by them and tried to thrust their spears into his back. But thanks to that, they also had to have their backs thrust by Jin-ha’s sword.
In an urgent mind, Jin-ha, who even raised sword qi to cut down the two masked men, flicked her sword. And she could know why Jang Geon had moved urgently. Red Envoy Wang had sent his subordinates charging and hadn’t followed behind. He was fleeing.
“…What kind of bastard is this.”
Jin-ha muttered while looking at Red Envoy Wang’s far-receded back and Jang Geon’s figure rapidly giving chase behind him. What was even more absurd was that despite fleeing like that, he had already been caught up to by Jang Geon.
However, the red blood bursting out right after proved the cold blade that had swept past their skin.
“Oh no!”
At that sight, Jin-ha quickly ran behind. The remaining two masked men saw Jang Geon passing right by them and tried to thrust their spears into his back. But thanks to that, they also had to have their backs thrust by Jin-ha’s sword.
In an urgent mind, Jin-ha, who even raised sword qi to cut down the two masked men, flicked her sword. And she could know why Jang Geon had moved urgently. Red Envoy Wang had sent his subordinates charging and hadn’t followed behind. He was fleeing.
“…What kind of bastard is this.”
Jin-ha muttered while looking at Red Envoy Wang’s far-receded back and Jang Geon’s figure rapidly giving chase behind him. What was even more absurd was that despite fleeing like that, he had already been caught up to by Jang Geon.