Chapter 85: Blood Incident of the Yangtze River (1)
Chui was watching the situation from atop a tree.
Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul stood on the branches right below him.
The place they were currently at was in front of the wooden fence surrounding the outermost perimeter of the Tiger Fortress.
“The guard is tight.”
Jeok-hyang clicked her tongue.
To charge in recklessly, the number of water bandits visible atop the wooden fence was quite large.
It was obvious that if they entered like this, a massive war of attrition would unfold.
Gyeon Sul looked up at Chui and asked.
“Are you really going to charge?”
“Yes.”
Chui nodded his head.
However, seeing him half-leaning on the branch with both eyes closed, it seemed he had no intention of moving from here for the time being.
Perhaps anxious, Jeok-hyang asked once more.
“When do you plan to go in?”
“Not yet.”
“I mean, when?”
“Wait.”
Chui was still calm.
For Jeok-hyang, who was watching, she could only beat her chest with her fist.
‘What is he thinking?’
Gyeon Sul also tilted his head.
The Chui he had grasped was, at first glance, extremely simple and ignorant, but in reality, he was a figure who moved with a great deal of intentions laid out behind the scenes.
‘He doesn’t seem like a guy who would start things without any plan……’
Had it been so, he would not have disguised himself as a courtesan to point a sword at his neck.
Gyeon Sul’s eyes narrowed thinly.
‘If he is a guy of only that level, it won’t be very fun to follow him around. Mmm~ in that case, it might be better to eliminate him early on……’
Right at that moment.
Squeak—
The gate of the wooden fence opened.
“Let’s throw them away quickly and come back.”
“It’s damn cold.”
“Of all things, to get caught in this bad luck, sigh.”
Three water bandits came out.
One carried a shovel, while the other two carried two leather sacks split between them.
‘What is that?’
Gyeon Sul closely examined their appearance and movements.
As he listened, the conversation the water bandits were sharing was heard clearly.
“Seeing that, it seems Thousand-Head Ja and Thousand-Head Chuk were nothing special either.”
“Tsk, you fellow. That is because our new Union Master is an incredible person.”
“Yeah. It’s not that Ja Butcher and Chuk Butcher were nothing special, but that Union Master In is strong.”
At those words, Gyeon Sul flinched.
‘Ja Butcher? Chuk Butcher?’
To think there would be bastards who call the Thousand-Heads of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union butchers, excluding the fellow Thousand-Heads.
And they dared to do so inside the mountain fortress of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union, low-ranking water bandits at that.
However, the words that followed were even more shocking.
“Just how high must our new Union Master’s martial arts be? To instantly crush the joint attack of the rat-bastard and the ox-head.”
“It wasn’t just crushing it. He made them into completely shattered rags.”
“It was quite a chore picking them up into the sacks. There were so many pieces of flesh and bone scattered about.”
Gyeon Sul opened his mouth halfway.
‘Senior Brother Ja and Senior Brother Chuk lost to that Tiger Butcher bastard? And that was after a joint attack?’
It seemed that the corpses of the two senior brothers were contained in the leather sacks that those low-ranking water bandits were carrying right now.
Gyeon Sul stood up with a stiffened expression.
And he quietly began to follow behind the water bandits.
Ssshh…
Jeok-hyang was also beside Gyeon Sul.
Jeok-hyang’s hands were trembling completely.
“There’s no way. There’s no way Senior Brothers turned out like that……”
However, the water bandits paid no heed and went on their way.
Before long, the water bandits stopped in a deep mountain where there was absolutely no sign of human presence.
“Here you go, wild dogs. Food.”
When the water bandits opened the leather sacks, two battered corpses rolled out from within.
The corpses of Thousand-Head Ja, Seo Woo-hak, and Thousand-Head Chuk, Woo Cheol-woo, were discarded carelessly in the grassy bushes.
The water bandits snicker-laughed and spoke.
“Our grand-mannered Thousand-Heads. Why did you rebel against our Union Master like that, why indeed~”
“Since you’re taking it, I will give you something good of mine. Have plenty.”
“Wuhahaha—you bastard, even so, they were guys who once acted as Thousand-Heads, isn’t pissing on them too harsh?”
Yellow streams of urine splattered down onto the two corpses.
The water bandits each took out their “things” and shook them over the two corpses.
Watching the hot steam rising in trails, the water bandits snickerred.
“Seeing things like this, one truly doesn’t know human life. Right?”
“That’s right. Who would have known that heroes who once commanded the world atop a thousand heads would turn into such a miserable state?”
“To think their end is becoming wild dog food while being hit by the urine of far lower-ranking subordinates. How pitiful.”
Right at that moment.
Abruptly—
A single shadow sprang out of the darkness from out of nowhere.
“Huh?”
Even in their surprise, the water bandits did not put away their exposed items.
It was because the opponent who appeared was a woman of beautiful appearance.
“What is this in the middle of the night in the mountains?”
“Hey—why did you come here?”
“Did you come to touch ours once? Hehehehe—”
The water bandits were still snickerring.
However, as the darkness lifted and the woman’s face drew closer, the water bandits’ expressions gradually froze.
“Huh? By any chance, Thousand-Head Hae……?”
The moment one of them opened his mouth halfway.
Slash-slash-slash-snip!
Jeok-hyang brandished the hand axe she held in her hand.
The stream spraying from the water bandits’ items changed from yellow to red.
“Argh-aaaaaargh!?”
They rolled over and over on the ground while clutching their crotches.
Before them, Jeok-hyang’s shadow was cast heavily.
“P-Please spare us! Please spare us!”
The water bandits begged for their lives even while pouring blood from between their thighs.
Of course, without any reaction, Jeok-hyang merely brandished her hand axe once more.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The three heads burst without fail, in sequence.
Thick blood was soaking into the pile of dry pine needles.
“Senior Brothers……”
Jeok-hyang lowered her axe.
And she wept, hugging the two corpses that had grown freezing cold.
Thousand-Head Ja, Seo Woo-hak, and Thousand-Head Chuk, Woo Cheol-woo.
Since she had lost those who were like her real brothers, whom she followed next to her master, her sense of loss must be beyond words.
Gyeon Sul also smacked his lips with a bitter expression.
“Mmm. Senior Brother Ja and Senior Brother Chuk were decent people.”
It was not particularly a word spoken for comfort.
Since Gyeon Sul’s relationship with Seo Woo-hak and Woo Cheol-woo was also not that bad.
But that was simply all.
Gyeon Sul had little interest in upright and proper people.
‘For me, how should I put it, those who are a bit more twisted are……’
As Gyeon Sul slowly turned his head.
!
Chui’s figure came into his view.
“……”
Chui standing still with an expressionless face.
However, his gaze had already changed.
Gyeon Sul thought.
‘As expected of my pretty boy, he was aiming for something.’
True to his thoughts, Jeok-hyang, who had been wailing in front, sprang to her feet.
Before she knew it, she was clutching her hand axe firmly in her hand.
“I don’t care about plans or anything anymore. I am going straight to the Tiger Fortress. I will go and smash that Tiger Butcher bastard’s head to death.”
Seeing that her eyes had flipped, she seemed in no mood to listen to anyone.
Jeok-hyang ran off immediately upon finishing her words.
At that.
Slowly—
Chui finally moved his body.
Seeing Chui ascending toward the opposite side of where Jeok-hyang ran, Gyeon Sul burst into laughter.
“Hohohohoho—yes! I was waiting for this!”
Had he intended to use Jeok-hyang as bait from the very beginning?
Or was he simply reacting to variables?
Although he could not tell which it was, Gyeon Sul liked Chui.
“He looks cute, but his actions are for all the world like an old demon master (老魔頭).”
With his mood thoroughly lightened, Gyeon Sul unsheathed the Dog-Head Guillotine he was carrying on his back.
‘My feelings want to follow that side, but……’
While Jeok-hyang caused a ruckus, Chui would stealthily stab the opposite side.
In that case, the more and the longer Jeok-hyang drew the enemies’ attention, the easier it would be for Chui to penetrate deep inside.
Should Jeok-hyang die without lasting long, Chui’s path would surely become hard as well.
‘Indeed, to enjoy it for a long time, it is right to follow this side, isn’t it?’
Before long, Gyeon Sul began to run after Jeok-hyang.
“Good. Good, pretty boy, if this is the board you set up, I will willingly become your chess piece.”
With a crooked smile hanging at the corners of his mouth.
* * *
Crash!
Jeok-hyang smashed the wooden fence right away and charged inside.
“W-Who…… Urgh!?”
One sentry’s head was sliced off diagonally.
With an expressionless face, Jeok-hyang swung her hand axe, smashing five heads and splitting eight spines vertically.
“Die.”
By the time she spoke those words, there was already no living person left near the wooden fence.
Jeok-hyang immediately picked up a torch and poked it here and there.
…Woosh!
The fire from the torch spread to the thatched cottages and the wooden fence, soon reaching the stone walls and the watchtower.
“Uaaaaargh! Enemy! An attacker has come……!”
The wrists of the water bandits trying to fire a signal flare from afar were sliced off in a sweep.
It was because Gyeon Sul had brandished the Dog-Head Guillotine.
“Senior Brother Ja and Senior Brother Chuk wouldn’t have entered like this since they are upright people…… but we are the youngest, so our generation is a bit different~”
“Yeah, right. We are originally a bit unprincipled.”
Jeok-hyang caught Gyeon Sul’s words and threw her hand axe.
Snap! Crack!
The head of a water bandit who was going up to deliver the news split open, scattering blood and brain matter.
Verily, a terrible chaos was erupting in the area of the mountainside.
* * *
……Meanwhile.
While Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul were running wild, Chui was climbing over the wooden fence on the opposite side.
Flutter—
As soon as Chui soared above the wooden fence, he swung the hem of his robe.
…Thud-thud-thud!
Iron caltrops flew and embedded themselves into their foreheads.
Several sentries fell dead without a sound.
Chui stripped and wore the outer robe of a water bandit with a similar build among them.
“Attack! Enemies have charged in below!”
The response came instantly upon shouting.
Since the light of the fire was spreading and rising from below, it would be stranger not to know.
While the water bandits formed bands and rushed down in swarms, Chui stealthily slipped back and took the uphill path.
Before long, the large inner courtyard where the Tiger Butcher resided came into view.
Chui climbed over the wall beside the inner gate and went inside the pavilion.
In that instant.
Piiiing—
Chui felt something catch on his knee.
Extremely thin cocoon silk thread.
The moment it caught on Chui’s foot and was pulled.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch…… Swish—
A black mist dispersed into the darkness.
Although observation with the naked eye was almost impossible because it was night, Chui could tell immediately.
‘……Poison.’
It was by no means an ordinary poison.
It was to the extent that mice passing over the rafters would die and fall just from sniffing.
Chui continued to retreat while covering his nose with his sleeve.
‘It is much thicker than the poison I used.’
The poison Chui had used when striking the Black Path Gang was the poison of the Qiang tribe.
However, what was dispersing before his eyes now was far more potent than that.
To Chui’s knowledge, there was only one kind of such poison.
‘……The poison of the Miao tribe.’
It was precisely the poison made in the indigenous village where Chui spent his childhood.
And Chui thought that this scent of poison was strangely familiar to his nose.
Huuuk—
Chui took a deep breath.
Although his lungs felt hot as if burning and his nasal mucous membrane prickled……
‘It is not to the extent that I cannot endure.’
Chui also confirmed that he already possessed resistance to this poison.
If so, the answer was clear.
The one who set this trap was definitely from Chui’s hometown.
Chui swung his spear and broke the poison sprayer attached behind the pillar.
At that.
…Rustle!
There was a reaction between the pillars further ahead.
‘I must capture them before going.’
A task had arisen before meeting the Tiger Butcher.
Chui immediately moved his steps.
“……”
Toward the fellow tribesman who must be hiding beyond that darkness.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost