Novel Martial Artist Lee Gwak - chapter 353
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Episode 353
Where there is a breeze, a storm is bound to follow (2)
The opponent was not someone that the Heavenly Intelligence Hall could handle with their level of martial prowess.
Although Oh Gil-seong and others were relatively prominent within the Heavenly Intelligence Hall, their ranking in martial prowess was considerably low when considering the entirety of Jade Heaven Alliance.
Not just the Jade Heaven Alliance, but countless martial artists from across the land had fallen to Lee Gwak’s blade.
Compared to them, the martial prowess of Oh Gil-seong and his party was indeed insignificant.
The purpose of Oh Gil-seong and others was clear.
It was not to throw away their lives in a futile attempt, but rather to survive by any means necessary and convey information.
At least one of them had to survive to relay the information that Lee Gwak was still alive.
‘I can survive.’
Oh Gil-seong clenched his teeth.
Lee Gwak was alone, while his group had five members.
If they split up and fled in different directions, at least one or two would definitely survive.
Oh Gil-seong and the martial artists of the Heavenly Intelligence Hall fled with all their might.
Thud!
“Argh!”
A sudden, searing pain shot through his calf, causing Oh Gil-seong to let out an involuntary groan.
As his leg gave out, Oh Gil-seong collapsed roughly onto the ground.
Looking at his leg while lying face down, he saw that a blade had pierced through his calf.
“Grrr!”
Oh Gil-seong gritted his teeth, enduring the pain.
He tried to crawl away, even if it meant dragging himself across the ground. But he couldn’t. The blade that had pierced his calf was embedded in the ground.
The sound of Lee Gwak approaching from behind reached his ears.
‘Damn it!’
He had thought someone would be caught by Lee Gwak, but he never imagined it would be himself.
Oh Gil-seong moved his tongue to find the poison pill hidden in his false tooth. He intended to commit suicide to protect the secrets. But his plan failed.
Lee Gwak had grabbed his jaw and twisted it. His jaw dislocated, making him unable to exert any force. Lee Gwak then searched his mouth and found the hidden poison pill.
Lee Gwak’s eyes deepened as he examined the poison pill.
There were ranks among the Heavenly Intelligence Hall martial artists.
The higher the rank, the more sensitive information they knew, and such individuals carried poison pills to commit suicide at any moment to protect their secrets.
Go Jeon-ok once casually referred to them as lone-winged birds.
A half-bird that flies with one wing.
To become a high-ranking member of the Heavenly Intelligence Hall, everyone had to experience being a lone-winged bird.
Go Jeon-ok had done the same. He always carried a poison pill in his mouth.
His words had been so shocking that they had remained in Lee Gwak’s memory. So, he searched Oh Gil-seong’s mouth, suspecting he might have one, and indeed found the poison pill.
“You are a lone-winged bird.”
“You… know that much? But even if you torture me, you won’t get anything out of me. Don’t waste your effort and just kill me.”
The venom in Oh Gil-seong’s eyes was fierce.
If looks could kill, Lee Gwak would have been torn into dozens of pieces by now. But it wasn’t enough to shake Lee Gwak.
Oh Gil-seong spoke in a venomous voice.
“Don’t get smug just because you’ve captured me. The others will spread the news of your existence.”
“They won’t be able to.”
“What?”
“You are the last survivor.”
“What?”
Oh Gil-seong turned his head to look around. Within roughly ten zhang, he saw the bodies of his fallen subordinates.
The back of their heads were pierced by half-burnt tree branches.
At the moment the Heavenly Intelligence Hall martial artists were fleeing, Lee Gwak had pulled a burning branch from the bonfire and thrown it at them.
They had died without even understanding what had happened.
Oh Gil-seong was the only one left alive.
Swoosh!
Lee Gwak pulled the blade from Oh Gil-seong’s calf.
He swung the blade wide, shaking off the blood before sheathing it.
“Ugh!”
Oh Gil-seong groaned in pain as he watched Lee Gwak.
To him, Lee Gwak no longer seemed human.
The single move Lee Gwak had shown in that brief moment was beyond anything Oh Gil-seong could have imagined. That’s why he was afraid.
Lee Gwak crouched down in front of Oh Gil-seong and asked.
“What is the Jade Heaven Alliance doing here?”
“I don’t know anything. A lowly person like me just follows orders. I don’t know anything.”
“I doubt a lone-winged bird would be so lowly.”
“……”
Oh Gil-seong gritted his teeth.
Lee Gwak already knew everything about the Heavenly Intelligence Hall.
He even seemed to know secrets that only insiders would know. The more Oh Gil-seong spoke, the more he felt cornered.
Damn it!
At that moment.
Suddenly, Oh Gil-seong’s eyes widened.
He felt an excruciating pain in his heart meridian.
“Ugh!”
Oh Gil-seong vomited blood and his body shook violently.
Lee Gwak watched Oh Gil-seong’s condition in silence.
In addition to the extreme pain, Oh Gil-seong’s mind was filled with confusion.
How?
Lee Gwak had obviously done nothing to him. Yet he felt as if his heart meridian was being torn apart.
Oh Gil-seong’s eyes filled with terror.
He tried to gather all his internal energy to protect his heart meridian, but it was useless. It felt as if an invisible pair of scissors was slowly cutting through his heart meridian.
Oh Gil-seong’s guess was right.
Lee Gwak was using the “Heart Blade” to manipulate Oh Gil-seong’s heart meridian.
If the force was even slightly stronger, the heart meridian would be torn apart, and if it was even slightly weaker, it would have no effect.
Manipulating the heart meridian required precise control. And this kind of technique consumed many times more mental energy than using full force.
“Stop, stop!”
Unable to stand the pain, Oh Gil-seong screamed.
Despite being trained to withstand all kinds of torture, Oh Gil-seong couldn’t endure the pain inflicted by Lee Gwak’s Heart Blade.
His entire body trembled as if he were having a seizure, and extreme pain dominated his entire being.
Lee Gwak withdrew the Heart Blade.
“Ugh!”
Finally relieved of the pain, Oh Gil-seong let out a ragged breath. As if to prove the pain he had endured, the veins all over his body bulged like worms.
Lee Gwak asked.
“Why did the Heavenly Intelligence Hall come here to scout?”
“To… confirm if other forces were intervening.”
“Why are you so worried about that? Normally, you wouldn’t spread out over such a wide area to gather information, would you?”
“That, that’s…”
Oh Gil-seong hesitated for a moment. But when he saw Lee Gwak’s eyes change, he panicked and continued.
“Because it’s an operation personally planned by Young Master Yong.”
“Has Young Master Yong also come here?”
“Yes, He has planned everything. I’m just following his orders to carry out the mission. I don’t know anything beyond that.”
“Hmm!”
“It’s the truth. So please, don’t torture me anymore.”
Oh Gil-seong was crying.
The shock of Lee Gwak’s Heart Blade had been that great.
The Heart Blade had not only wounded Oh Gil-seong’s body but also his mind. Although Oh Gil-seong was unaware of it, Lee Gwak, who was watching him, could clearly see it.
Oh Gil-seong started to spill out everything he knew.
“Six teams from the Heavenly Intelligence Hall were mobilised for this operation. The purpose was to monitor the movements of the nearby sects and check for any intervention by other forces. We…”
Lee Gwak listened carefully to Oh Gil-seong’s words.
‘Yong Cheon Myeong is personally involved?’
He was a strong candidate to become the next leader of the Jade Heaven Alliance. For Yong Cheon Myeong to personally lead this operation meant that the Jade Heaven Alliance had to fully support it.
If the operation failed, it would be a serious blow to Yong Cheon Myeong’s reputation. Conversely, if it succeeded, it would strengthen his position.
Oh Gil-seong didn’t know the full details of the operation. What he knew was only a small part. But even that was a great help to Lee Gwak.
Just knowing that Yong Cheon Myeong was personally involved allowed Lee Gwak to mentally prepare himself.
“I’ve told you everything I know. It’s the truth.”
“One last question. Who ordered the creation of the Soul Forgotten Demons?”
“What are Soul Forgotten Demons?”
Oh Gil-seong asked in return.
He genuinely had no idea what they were.
Lee Gwak realized that Oh Gil-seong wasn’t lying.
No matter how much the Heavenly Intelligence Hall was an intelligence-gathering organization, they weren’t privy to the deepest secrets of the Jade Heaven Alliance.
Lee Gwak fell deep into thought.
He tried to glean some useful information from Oh Gil-seong’s words. Although Oh Gil-seong had spoken carelessly, his words contained a great deal of information.
At that moment, Oh Gil-seong glanced at Lee Gwak.
He had noticed that Lee Gwak was lost in thought.
His hand slowly moved to the dagger that had fallen to the ground.
‘Just a scratch is enough.’
The poison coating the dagger was a powerful poison developed by the Jade Heaven Alliance after years of research. There was no antidote, and even a scratch would result in certain death.
His hand gripped the dagger.
Without hesitation, Oh Gil-seong stabbed with the dagger. But the dagger never reached Lee Gwak’s body.
Lee Gwak’s blade had pierced Oh Gil-seong’s chest faster than he could react.
Oh Gil-seong had thought that Lee Gwak had been caught off guard, but Lee Gwak had neither let his guard down nor neglected his vigilance.
Lee Gwak knew better than anyone that carelessness in the Jianghu was synonymous with death.
“Ugh!”
Oh Gil-seong coughed up blood.
His blood stained Lee Gwak’s blade.
Lee Gwak watched silently as Oh Gil-seong collapsed.
“Sigh”
A deep sigh escaped him.
Killing someone who once belonged to the same group was never easy. But for Lee Gwak, sentimentality was a luxury he couldn’t afford.
There were people in Taegang he cared about.
Protecting them from the threats of the Jade Heaven Alliance was far more important.
Lee Gwak gazed at the river shrouded in darkness.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
The sound of the raging currents echoed loudly, adding to the turmoil in his already troubled mind.
****
“Has the Fifth Elder not returned yet?”
Mok Seon Wol muttered as she looked at Hundred Eyes Fortress.
There was still no word from the fifth demon who had been sent to locate the main base of the Jade Heaven Alliance. Only after receiving information from him could she decide how to proceed.
Despite being right in front of Hundred Eyes Fortress, Mok Seon Wol had taken no action, and the dissatisfaction among her subordinates was beginning to boil over.
The martial artists of the Dragon Heaven Valley wanted to attack Hundred Eyes Fortress as soon as possible to avenge their fallen comrades. But contrary to their wishes, Mok Seon Wol’s inaction was only fueling their frustration.
Unable to stand it any longer, Woo Mun Pae came to see Mok Seon Wol.
“The dissatisfaction among the subordinates is growing.”
“I know.”
“If this continues, not only the Martial Sword Troupe but even the martial artists of the Dragon Heaven Valley will resent you, Lady Mok.”
“Even so, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Sigh! Lady Mok, I don’t know why you’re acting this way, but we don’t have time to waste here. We need to attack them and seize Hundred Eyes Fortress as soon as possible.”
“I know that too. But please, just wait a little longer.”
“Can you at least tell me why you’re doing this?”
“I’ll explain once things become clearer.”
A deep furrow formed between Woo Mun Pae’s eyebrows.
“Lady Mok, you are incredibly stubborn.”
There was a sharp edge to his voice.
An ordinary person would have been intimidated just by hearing his tone.
Mok Seon Wol’s eyes flickered for a moment.
If it had been anyone else, she wouldn’t have cared, but Woo Mun Pae was an ally from the Martial Sword Troupe. That made it difficult to outright refuse him. However, she politely declined his request.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sigh! I hate to say it, but if we’re going to waste time like this, I’ll withdraw the Martial Sword Troupe disciples. We came here to fight the Jade Heaven Alliance, not to waste time.”
Woo Mun Pae issued an ultimatum.
This time, even Mok Seon Wol couldn’t simply ignore his words.
The only reason they had been able to stand on equal footing with the Jade Heaven Alliance so far was because of the Martial Sword Troupe’s support. If the Martial Sword Troupe withdrew, the Dragon Heaven Valley, already at a disadvantage in terms of strength, would be in an even worse position.
“Are you suggesting we attack them right now, Lord Woo?”
“Exactly! What reason is there to delay? We must sweep them away in one fell swoop and seize the momentum. Only then will they fear us and hesitate to act recklessly. The best defence is a good offence – this is exactly the situation that the proverb refers to.
Woo Mun Pae’s eyes were brimming with fighting spirit.
His intense gaze pressed down on Mok Seon Wol.
Mok Seon Wol glared back at him.
For a moment, tension hung thickly between the two.
Mok Seon Wol was the first to break the tension.
“Sigh! Alright.”
She had no choice.
She didn’t truly believe Woo Mun Pae would withdraw his forces, but if word got out that they were at odds, it would undoubtedly deal a heavy blow to the Dragon Heaven Valley’s morale.
Mok Seon Wol looked at the Hundred Eyes Fortress and said, “We’ll attack the Hundred Eyes Fortress early tomorrow morning.”
“Good decision. I’ll tell my subordinates to prepare for the attack.”
Woo Mun Pae turned away with a smile.
As he walked back to where the Martial Sword Troupe’s martial artists were gathered, his figure somehow seemed oddly excited.
Mok Seon Wol wrinkled her nose.
‘It must be my imagination.’
Azazar
All actors are on scene, the curtains are ready to rise – the main act of a tragedy is about to start…
Oh boy, don’t wanna read of what is about to happen… So many bad omens – all outer hall members gathered where they shouldn’t be, these Soul Forgotten Demons, Martial Sword Troupe betrayal, some dark scheming from First Disciple…
The only hope is that Gwak would make it in time, though I doubt it – it took him the whole day to track that master archer down and probably the same time to return( assuming he took the risk and went to cross river at the end of his POV ). But he still needs time to get to the plains and they are like 3 days away from that border city, if I recall correctly from the supply delivery mission( although, they moved with carts, so alone he will be much faster ), so, I assume, lady Mok will be on her own and Gwak would be able to help if only she would be able to escape