Chapter 88: Blood Incident of the Yangtze River (4)
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble…
Below the cliff, the main flow (本流) of the Yangtze was running.
In front of Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul, who were covered in wounds, a single mad tiger made his appearance.
Step, step, step—
Tiger Butcher (寅白丁).
In his glowing red eyes, an uncontrollable madness was glimpsed.
“It’s been a while, Junior Siblings.”
The Tiger Butcher smiled.
The corners of his mouth drew an arc, but his eyes were not smiling at all.
Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul stood their blood-stained bodies straight.
The enemy of their master, the foe of their siblings, was now before their eyes.
But despite that, Jeok-hyang could not move her body.
“……! ……! ……!”
An overwhelming intent to kill (殺氣).
It was because that which was emitting from the Tiger Butcher’s body wound around and constricted her body like a giant python.
Soon, the Tiger Butcher reached out and grabbed Jin Butcher’s hair.
Snap!
The neck that had been cut about halfway was torn off.
The Tiger Butcher swung Jin Butcher’s neck danglingly a few times, then threw it onto the dirt ground just like that.
“To think this fellow was a spy for the Eastern Depot. I had no idea.”
The Tiger Butcher’s internal energy laden on the curved barbarian blade (蠻曲刀) flared like a flame.
It ran along the curved back of the blade, eventually forming droplets at the sharp tip.
Then, turning into red droplets like blood, it was dripping down.
“The imperial palace’s intelligence organization is indeed spread far and wide. Fearing that this might enter His Majesty’s ears, how could one comfortably act as a water bandit.”
With the curved barbarian blade dangling down, the Tiger Butcher moved his steps toward Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul.
His appearance was as if a red crescent moon had descended from the night sky and was approaching this side.
“Why did Master embrace even such worthless scamps? I don’t understand.”
The Tiger Butcher stopped in his tracks.
Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul were a mere five zhang away from him.
Jeok-hyang clenched her teeth.
“I didn’t know you would come out here yourself.”
“I must come out myself. Since I am welcoming our Junior Sister Hae, whom Master cherished the most.”
“……”
The moment words related to their master came up, Jeok-hyang’s expression turned fierce.
The Tiger Butcher continued speaking as if teasing such a Jeok-hyang.
“Shall I tell you how Master passed away?”
“……!”
Jeok-hyang flinched with visible agitation.
Her breathing grew rough, and the warm blood flowing from her wounds gradually increased.
The Tiger Butcher stroked his chin as if enjoying such a change.
“At first, it was simply old age. From a certain moment, he even found it hard to move around.”
“……”
“So I escorted him to his room and laid him in bed. I also gave him a bowl of warm herbal decoction.”
“……”
“Ah, indeed. That decoction was made by Junior Brother Sa.”
“……!”
The Tiger Butcher was now mentioning Sa Butcher Tang Sanlang.
He was a madman who had been expelled from the Sichuan Tang Clan after being caught performing inhumane acts in the process of researching lethal poison manufacturing.
There was no way a decoction made by such a fellow would be normal.
The Tiger Butcher spoke, suppressing his laughter.
“Once he took the decoction, perhaps because his body became hot, he constantly searched for water.”
“……”
“Later on, he couldn’t even move and was just clawing at the blankets, begging for water…… but I hated that voice so much.”
“……”
“So I simply piled bricks in front of his room door and plastered it over. The end.”
The Tiger Butcher ended up bursting into loud laughter after all.
“So. Even I do not know whether Master passed away or is still alive.”
“……”
“If you’re worried, hurry and fetch a bowl of water to go inside. But the plaster has already hardened quite solidly, so you’ll have to suffer a bit to break it.”
At the Tiger Butcher’s final words, Jeok-hyang’s eyes finally flipped.
“You son of a bitch worse than a dog?!”
Jeok-hyang charged forward holding two axes.
Blood gushed out wildly between the iron chains wrapped around her belly, but she did not seem to care at all.
Clang! Clang!
The Tiger Butcher laid his curved barbarian blade horizontally to block Jeok-hyang’s twin axes.
The two exchanged about a dozen passes in an instant.
Jeok-hyang’s twin axes were blocked, deflected, or thrown back by the Tiger Butcher’s blade, but his blade dug deep into Jeok-hyang’s abdomen.
…Screeech! Snap!
The iron chain wrapped around Jeok-hyang’s belly snapped, and the wound opened up once again.
Since her intestines truly felt like they would spill out if left like this, Jeok-hyang hurriedly pressed her belly with her hand and retreated.
The Tiger Butcher leisurely pursued such a Jeok-hyang.
“A wounded pig flees into the mountains to escape a tiger. Well, what do you think, can you survive?”
“……”
Jeok-hyang ground her teeth fiercely.
Soon, she discarded one axe and covered her belly with one hand.
And she lunged, swinging the axe held in her other hand wildly.
The Tiger Butcher laughed once more.
“Your grit is indeed impressive. No wonder Master cherished you.”
However, grit did not resolve everything.
Rip!
The Tiger Butcher’s curved barbarian blade seemed to flare crimson, then cut Jeok-hyang’s axe in half just like that.
As the axe blade made of solid cast iron was sliced off, a long wound was also left on Jeok-hyang’s chest.
…Thud!
Jeok-hyang rolled on the ground just like that.
Dry pine needles and damp dirt were completely smeared over her blood-soaked wounds.
Around that time, the Tiger Butcher shifted his gaze to the side.
There, Gyeon Sul holding his Dog-Head Guillotine stood with an indifferent expression.
The Tiger Butcher spoke.
“Junior Brother Sul. Why don’t you attack?”
“I am looking for an opening.”
“I see.”
At Gyeon Sul’s reply, the Tiger Butcher smiled brightly and continued speaking.
“I cherished you the most among my junior brothers. Did you know that?”
“I didn’t know. Then will you spare me?”
“No. Not that.”
“What a pity.”
“A pity, indeed. That’s why I wooed you several times, didn’t I? Telling you to come to me beforehand, before the other junior siblings arrived. Why didn’t you listen back then?”
The Tiger Butcher had put quite a lot of effort into bringing Gyeon Sul under his command until now.
Yet Gyeon Sul had refused all of the Tiger Butcher’s wooing so far.
Thus, the Tiger Butcher had given up, thinking it was simply Gyeon Sul’s nature not to follow anyone, but……
“Because I met someone I want to follow.”
Gyeon Sul’s reply was enough to make the Tiger Butcher’s brow furrow.
The Tiger Butcher asked.
“More than me?”
“You were not even worth discussing in the first place.”
“The person you want to follow wouldn’t be Junior Sister Hae. Mmm……”
Hearing Gyeon Sul’s reply, the Tiger Butcher pondered.
Then, tilting his head, he spoke.
“Then what is the reason you chose that person instead of me?”
At the Tiger Butcher’s question that seemed genuinely curious, Gyeon Sul answered flatly.
“You are just not very fun.”
“……”
The Tiger Butcher’s expression stiffened rigidly.
Displeasure soon turned into an intent to kill, boiling the surrounding atmosphere.
The moisture in the air dried up in an instant, and the surfaces of everything around cracked open, if only minutely.
“If you won’t become mine……”
“You mean I should die, right?”
“I like that our conversation is quick. That’s why it’s a pity.”
The Tiger Butcher’s curved barbarian blade and Gyeon Sul’s Dog-Head Guillotine clashed.
Crash!
Metal met metal, yet a roar erupted as if a massive amount of gunpowder had exploded.
Gyeon Sul deflected the curved barbarian blade scraping down his guillotine blade upward, and at the same time rotated his body backward to deliver a kick.
However, the Tiger Butcher grabbed Gyeon Sul’s kick too easily with his hand.
“Nice try.”
And he struck down with the curved barbarian blade that had been deflected upward just as it was.
Having his foot grabbed, Gyeon Sul had no choice but to raise his guillotine to counter it.
…Crash!
Gyeon Sul, who had lost his balance, was pinned straight to the ground.
The Tiger Butcher’s curved barbarian blade pressed Gyeon Sul down with a monstrous strength as if bearing Mount Tai.
Screeech!
While the curved barbarian blade and the Dog-Head Guillotine were engaged in a contest of strength, the faces of Gyeon Sul pinned to the ground and the Tiger Butcher drew close.
“Even now, it is not too late.”
“Suck.”
“If you are a dog, you should lie on the ground like a dog and show your belly.”
“it.”
Gyeon Sul grinned, revealing his blood-stained teeth.
Then, raising his knee, he struck up at the Tiger Butcher’s crotch.
However, the Tiger Butcher twisted his body sideways and stamped down, twisting Gyeon Sul’s thigh.
Rip!
The flesh on the inside of his thigh was twisted and torn.
Blood vessels began to stand out in Gyeon Sul’s eyes.
At that time.
Whoosh!
A hand axe flying from the side grazed past the end of the Tiger Butcher’s sideburns.
…Thud!
The hand axe embedded in a pine tree.
And the Tiger Butcher, who furrowed his brow.
Beyond that, Jeok-hyang raised her battered body.
Around that time, Gyeon Sul, who was pinned to the ground, also rolled over and stood beside Jeok-hyang.
The Tiger Butcher swept back his bangs.
“It’s nice to see you struggling to the very end. The junior brothers and junior sisters of ours who went before didn’t have that.”
“……”
“Soon, the Hundred-Heads will come down. I hope you will display such vigor then as well.”
Soon, the Tiger Butcher’s subordinates would arrive here.
For Jeok-hyang and Gyeon Sul, it was an even more despairing trend.
……Right at that moment.
Thud—
Something flew from the darkness.
Thud—thud—
Since it had the form of a round sphere and its color was dark red, it was hard to tell what it was at a glance in the darkness.
Thud—thud—thud—
They were not just one, but several.
The Tiger Butcher stared down blankly at those rolling over the dirt ground.
“What is this?”
They were human heads.
The necks of the Hundred-Heads under the Tiger Butcher’s command.
They were continuously rolling from beyond the darkness.
Thud—roll, roll……
Even the head that rolled last belonged to Sa Butcher Tang Sanlang.
“……!”
The Tiger Butcher raised his head.
Thereupon, a single shadow flickered like a ghost beyond the path laid with dry pine needles between the pine forest.
“We finally meet.”
Chui. The uninvited guest with an expressionless face stood there.
The Tiger Butcher tilted his head for a moment.
“……?”
Because Chui’s youthful face did not suit this situation at all.
But soon, the Tiger Butcher grasped the situation.
A person who brought the necks of Sa Butcher along with the Hundred-Heads was an enemy to be wary of, regardless of age.
The Tiger Butcher spoke with a hollow laugh.
“So you are the one who instigated my junior siblings. Kid, for what purpose are you doing this?”
“I have to pay for my new spear, and also plan to meet your master as well while I’m at it.”
“My master? Hahaha—there are many guests looking for Master today. I finished explaining everything earlier. I suspect he has already starved to death.”
Hearing Chui’s reply, the Tiger Butcher spoke sarcastically.
However, Chui shook his head.
“Not that master.”
“……?”
In an instant, the Tiger Butcher’s body froze.
He hurriedly raised his head toward the sky.
There was still nothing in the night sky.
The moon, the stars, and the clouds—everything trembled with fear and vanished without a trace.
Only a single star burning crimson in the very center of the night sky was casting a brilliant light.
……Clearly, it must have been so until just now.
“!”
But not now.
Another red star floated in the pitch-black night sky.
A new blood star (血星) emitting an ominous light in the same spot.
Two crimson stars.
The moment the Tiger Butcher confirmed it.
…Woosh!
A vortex of dark red internal energy began to swirl from the front.
Amidst the countless Spear Ghosts dancing in billows like flames, a terrifying voice was heard.
“Where is Hong Gong?”
Chui was revealing his true power.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost