Chapter 87: Blood Incident of the Yangtze River (3)
The Tiger Butcher’s room was empty.
“……Oh dear.”
Chui furrowed his brow.
He had indeed thought it strange that there was no sign of presence despite the thick smell of blood.
Chui turned his steps back the moment he grasped the situation.
The target was the deep forest.
It was the cliffside where only darkness lurked.
* * *
“Hey! Are you fleeing alone?! You cheap bastard!”
Jeok-hyang shouted toward Gyeon Sul, who was ahead.
At that, Gyeon Sul slowed the speed of his lightfoot technique a little.
Soon, Gyeon Sul, who had drawn close to Jeok-hyang’s side, winked one eye.
“Watch closely, child.”
“……?”
“This is a demonstration by a skilled instructor.”
At the same time, Gyeon Sul spun his body around sharply.
Behind him, Shin Butcher was just extending two palms forward.
“I will drive a single palm strike into your back!”
Shin Butcher had intended to strike Gyeon Sul’s back with his palms.
That was, until Gyeon Sul, who was gradually being caught up with, suddenly spun his body around in the middle.
“Urgh!?”
When Gyeon Sul stopped suddenly, Shin Butcher was taken aback.
The moment the palms he originally intended to thrust out hesitated briefly, Gyeon Sul held both ends of the Dog-Head Guillotine with both hands and thrust it forward.
Snip!
The horizontally laid Dog-Head Guillotine cut off Shin Butcher’s neck and eight fingers, excluding the thumbs of both hands, all at once.
…Crash!
Shin Butcher’s neck and body, unable to overcome the speed at which they were running, tumbled straight forward.
It was far too futile to be called the end of a peak expert.
Gyeon Sul shrugged his shoulders.
“Did you watch closely and learn, Junior Sister?”
“……I watched closely and learned, Senior Brother.”
Jeok-hyang replied with a grin.
Soon, five Thousand-Heads descended in front of them.
Myo Butcher, Jin Butcher, Oh Butcher, Mi Butcher, and Yu Butcher.
They ground their teeth as they looked at the deceased Shin Butcher.
“Die!”
Myo Butcher’s twin swords swung toward Jeok-hyang.
Mi Butcher also raised her chain sickle and threw it at Jeok-hyang.
Jin Butcher, Oh Butcher, and Yu Butcher also pounced on Gyeon Sul.
A giant mace, a long spear, and a longsword flew in unison, aiming for Gyeon Sul’s neck.
“It’s a good thing we entered the forest.”
Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul went deeper into the pine forest.
There were many curved pine trees atop the hard bedrock.
Below them, a massive stream where the main flow (本流) of the Yangtze began was running.
“Did you choose this place as your grave?”
Oh Butcher charged while brandishing his long spear.
Gyeon Sul raised the Dog-Head Guillotine to block the long spear.
Clang!
As sparks flew, the silhouettes sunken in the darkness were revealed.
Jin Butcher and Yu Butcher aimed for Gyeon Sul’s left and right sides with the mace and sword.
Right at that moment.
…Thud!
Gyeon Sul kicked Oh Butcher’s chest and twisted the Dog-Head Guillotine sideways.
Rip—
The trunk of a pine tree was cut, and wood splinters flew.
Seeing that, Oh Butcher sneered.
“Can’t you see because it’s dark? Where are you swinging…… Urgh!?”
He stopped mid-sentence and quickly covered his eyes.
Red pine resin had splattered from near the trunk of the pine tree that Gyeon Sul struck with his guillotine, entering Oh Butcher’s eyes.
Under those circumstances, Gyeon Sul stealthily extended his leg forward.
Tap—
Oh Butcher’s body, which was running forward, tumbled headfirst.
Oh Butcher quickly twisted his spear back to prepare for an attack that would fly to his back, but Gyeon Sul had already distanced himself far away.
“……?”
Oh Butcher wondered why Gyeon Sul did not follow, but
“……!”
soon realized the answer.
Because a sheer cliff was lurking beneath Oh Butcher’s feet.
“Argh-aaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Oh Butcher plunged below helplessly.
…Thud! …Thud! …Thud! Snap!
On his way down, he struck his head several times against protruding rocks and fell into the water, spraying blood.
Splash!
The sound of a water column soaring erupted from far below.
Gyeon Sul grinned.
“Now only two are left.”
However, the situation was not as easy as it sounded.
Having witnessed the cases of Oh Butcher and Shin Butcher who had died futilely due to a split-second of carelessness, the vigilance of the remaining Jin Butcher and Yu Butcher had become sharply acute.
“You dog-like bastard!”
Yu Butcher brandished his sword.
Flaring sword-qi splattered like a sticky liquid and enveloped Gyeon Sul.
A sharp blue sword-qi also erupted from Gyeon Sul’s Dog-Head Guillotine.
Rip!
The moment the guillotine and the longsword collided, the surfaces of the surrounding rocks began to crack open.
Jin Butcher’s mace fell down on top of it.
“Whoops.”
Gyeon Sul quickly withdrew his body, but Jin Butcher’s mace was slightly faster.
Thud!
Gyeon Sul’s body was struck by the mace and thrown back.
His forehead broke, and blood burst out.
“I won’t let you get away.”
Behind it, Yu Butcher’s sword thrusts poured down.
Gyeon Sul had to retreat after sustaining long wounds near his forearm, flank, and shin in an instant.
“……Now my cheap tricks won’t work anymore.”
Gyeon Sul looking troubled, and it was the same for Jeok-hyang on the opposite side.
Clang! Clang! Clang—
Jeok-hyang’s twin axes were fully occupied blocking the incoming twin swords and chain sickle.
Myo Butcher growled toward Jeok-hyang.
“You pig of a bitch, I have disliked you since the old days.”
“Just what kind of foxy tricks did you play that Master constantly favored only you?! Huh?! You sly fox of a bitch!”
Mi Butcher also shouted as she pressed down on Jeok-hyang.
In that instant.
…Thud!
The blades of the twin swords and the chain sickle struck Jeok-hyang’s waist.
The moment the two Thousand-Heads wore triumphant smiles.
“……Is that why you betrayed Master?”
Jeok-hyang’s mouth opened.
Myo Butcher’s sword and Mi Butcher’s sickle were firmly caught in the armpit between Jeok-hyang’s flank and forearm.
“Was it for the sake of such petty jealousy and inferiority complex that you betrayed even our senior brothers?”
Even when Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher pulled with force, their weapons did not come out.
“Crazy! What kind of strength is this……!”
Having no alternative, they infused internal energy into their weapons.
Right at that moment.
Thud!
Jeok-hyang’s twin axes swept past their heads.
“Argh-aaaaaargh!”
Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher shrieked while clutching their foreheads.
Hot blood was gushing out in streams from where the axe blades had grazed.
Jeok-hyang’s flanks on both sides were also dyed red.
Yet as if she felt no pain at all, she charged straight ahead.
“Is this crazy bitch?!”
“Do you intend to drag us to mutual destruction?!”
Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher clenched their teeth and swung their weapons.
Thud!
Two blades and a single chain sickle dug deep into Jeok-hyang’s chest, flank, and thigh respectively.
However, like a person prepared for death, Jeok-hyang dashed straight ahead.
A wild boar’s reckless charge (猪突猛進).
Even a tiger cannot stop the charge of a boar whose eyes have flipped.
How much less could a rabbit and a sheep block it?
“Urgh! J-Just how far are you pushing us, you madwoman!”
“H-Hey, you bitch! R-Really? Are you serious?!”
Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher were terrified as they looked at Jeok-hyang pushing their bodies.
However, it was too late to escape.
Jeok-hyang was already tightly constricting the bodies of Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher with both arms.
Soon, Jeok-hyang’s feet left the ground.
The three women plunged straight down toward the bottom of the cliff.
“Argh-aaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher struggled, emitting internal energy, but Jeok-hyang was also infusing internal energy into her arms.
The three women began a battle of internal energy in mid-air.
The moment Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher channelled their internal energy to push Jeok-hyang’s body away,
Thud!
a protruding rock on the cliffside struck the heads of Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher.
The two women plummeted like kites with cut strings, swept into the currents of the Yangtze.
Jeok-hyang closed her eyes.
She too would be swallowed by the fierce currents following Myo Butcher and Mi Butcher, and this time she would absolutely not survive.
……Right at that moment.
Rip!
Jeok-hyang opened her eyes wide despite herself at the tremendous pain felt in her flank.
“Urgh!?”
The chain sickle embedded in her flank was being pulled tautly upward.
The opposite sickle of the chain sickle that Mi Butcher had released was seen firmly embedded in the pine root on the cliffside.
“Ugh!”
Jeok-hyang instinctively reached out and gripped the chain sickle embedded in her flank.
She grabbed the iron chain with her trembling hands and crawled up the cliff.
Though the wound in her flank had opened to the extent that her intestines were about to spill out, it was at least extremely fortunate that she did not fall below the cliff.
Meanwhile, Gyeon Sul, who was atop the cliff, was continuously being pushed back by Jin Butcher and Yu Butcher.
“Phew, let’s take a break! It’s unfair since you two keep coming in turns!”
“Cut the crap.”
Jin Butcher threw his mace toward the fleeing Gyeon Sul.
Gyeon Sul brandished the Dog-Head Guillotine to block the mace, but could not block Yu Butcher’s longsword following right behind.
Thud!
Gyeon Sul’s right earlobe was sliced off, and a long bloodline was drawn on his neck.
“I almost died, you rooster bastard!”
Gyeon Sul leaned his neck back and at the same time delivered a kick to Yu Butcher’s chest.
However, Yu Butcher did not sustain much of a blow.
It was because he could not fully put his strength into it, as Jin Butcher’s mace had fallen down once more toward Gyeon Sul’s extended leg.
“Did you call that a kick? You have turned entirely into a mangy dog.”
Yu Butcher twisted his sword with a crooked smile.
Right at that moment.
Crack!
A hand axe flying from the side struck the back of Yu Butcher’s sword.
!?
The moment Yu Butcher turned in startlement, Jeok-hyang’s axe fell down once more.
“Crazy!”
Yu Butcher was horrified to see the blood-soaked Jeok-hyang charging.
He hurriedly withdrew his sword and backed away, allowing Jeok-hyang to land right beside Gyeon Sul.
Gyeon Sul whistled.
“As a woman, can’t you walk around a bit more demurely? Your intestines are spilling out.”
“Are you bitching even after I saved you, Gyeon?”
Jeok-hyang replied while wrapping the iron chain tightly around her abdomen.
“……”
Jin Butcher and Yu Butcher looked at the two of them with fed-up expressions.
Before long, Yu Butcher spoke.
“You guys. What is the reason you struggle so desperately like that?”
“Do you ask because you don’t know? You bastards betrayed Master and our senior brothers.”
When Jeok-hyang replied, Yu Butcher scratched his head.
“Does righteousness (人義) feed you, that you keep doing this? It seems the physical states of you two are already shattered, whereas we are still full of vigor. If we keep fighting, you will absolutely die.”
“Try killing us. It will be hard for you bastards to return intact either. At the very least, I will cripple half of your limbs.”
At Jeok-hyang’s murderous words, Yu Butcher crumpled his expression violently.
“Senior Brother. It seems talking won’t work……”
In that instant, Yu Butcher, who turned his head, widened his eyes.
Since when had it been? Because Jin Butcher, who stood behind, was looking down at him with a peculiar gaze.
“S-Senior Brother?”
Yu Butcher’s voice trembled.
A bad premonition always comes true.
Soon, Jin Butcher raised his mace.
“I am sorry, Junior Brother.”
“S-Senior Brother! Hold on! Why me……?!”
Yu Butcher could not even shriek properly.
This was because Jin Butcher’s mace had shattered his head in an instant.
Splat, splat, splat—
Flesh and blood scattered.
Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul raised their heads with bewildered expressions.
Jin Butcher, who had beaten Yu Butcher to death, spoke in a calm tone.
“You two, go to the Tiger Butcher just like this.”
“Why are you helping us?”
“Helping? I merely do not wish to deal with mad dogs any longer.”
Jin Butcher turned his head as if annoyed.
“How much of a loss is it if I sustain even a minor wound while engaging in a dogfight with those like you who have nothing to lose?”
“……”
“Anyway, you bastards can absolutely never defeat the Tiger Butcher. Seeing as you don’t seem like you would flee either, it wouldn’t be bad to leave you to die in vain after picking a fight with the Tiger Butcher like this.”
“……”
“I’m saying this just in case, but this is strictly a favor I extend because I find it troublesome. So don’t get any ideas. I haven’t sustained a single wound on my body, nor do I have any loss of internal energy. I can beat you two dying bastards to death within seven and a half minutes.”
Jin Butcher moved his steps in a languid tone.
At that time.
“Wait!”
Jeok-hyang called to stop him.
Jin Butcher turned his head.
Jeok-hyang asked.
“You are of military officer origin, aren’t you?”
“……”
At those words, Jin Butcher’s brow furrowed.
Gyeon Sul picked up Jeok-hyang’s words and continued.
“Come to think of it, I believe I have heard of it. The rumor that our Senior Brother Jiang was originally from the Eastern Depot (東廠).”
“……”
Jin Butcher Jiang Jiao (姜蛟) remained silent with his mouth closed.
Jeok-hyang opened her mouth once more.
“A young expert who had infiltrated from the very beginning to weaken the water bandits of the Yangtze. This could make a fine play, couldn’t it?”
“What is it you want to say?”
When Jin Butcher asked, Jeok-hyang immediately continued.
“Master knew everything.”
“……”
“For what purpose you became Master’s disciple, and why you entered the water bandit gang and acted as a water bandit—he knew everything from the very beginning.”
Jin Butcher still had no reply.
Jeok-hyang glanced at the deceased Yu Butcher and spoke.
“If you want to dismantle the water bandits of the Yangtze, now is the opportunity. Let’s join hands with us and strike the Tiger Butcher.”
“……”
Jin Butcher, who pondered for a moment.
But he soon sneered.
“If I were to join hands with you bastards, I would have joined hands with Senior Brother Ja and Senior Brother Chuk before that.”
“Had Senior Brother Ja and Senior Brother Chuk won, they would have revived the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union even further. So back then, it was correct to side with the Tiger Butcher.”
“……”
“But not us. Our target is simply to kill that fucking Tiger Butcher bastard. Afterward, whether something like the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union is dismantled or not, we don’t care.”
“……”
“Isn’t that the minimum courtesy toward Master, who turned a blind eye even while knowing your identity?”
At Jeok-hyang’s persuasion, Jin Butcher pondered for a moment.
Soon, Jin Butcher—no, Jiang Jiao’s head nodded.
“……What do I need to do?”
The moment Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul were about to cheer at that question,
an answer drifted from beyond the dark forest.
“You just have to die.”
The moment Jeok-hyang, Gyeon Sul, and Jiang Jiao turned their heads,
Squish!
a crimson burning blade flew and sliced Jiang Jiao’s neck about halfway.
“……! ……! ……!”
Jin Butcher Jiang Jiao. He died futilely without even being able to offer any resistance.
Splat—
The blood spraying.
A red crescent moon hung brightly in the pitch-black air.
Ominous Tears of the Sword (劍淚) dripping like honey mixed with blood.
The abnormally curved barbarian blade (蠻曲刀) pointed toward them in a slow movement.
“It’s been a while, Junior Siblings.”
Tiger Butcher Ga Jeong-maeng.
He was looking this way with a bright smile.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost