Chapter 029
"He's not as easy as I thought, Baek Sugyeong."
Gal Yerung had just returned to her inn after leaving the drinking party and removing her disguise. A man in a black mask, prostrated before her, replied.
"What would you like to do?"
"About what?"
"The fact that you, the Left Commander, came all the way here yourself..."
"Silkworm Assassin. Enough."
Perhaps she was sensitive to being called a commander. When Gal Yerung's voice sharpened like an awl, the prostrated man, Silkworm Assassin, closed his mouth.
Looking down at her subordinate with an irritated gaze, Gal Yerung said:
"I've already reached an agreement with the Chairman of the Ming Wang. This was accomplished through our agreement. This is my mission. Do you think the Cult Leader sent me for no reason?"
"T-that is..."
"Even as my escort, be careful with your words. Silkworm Assassin."
Gal Yerung's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Don't forget that I can cut off your head at any time."
"I understand."
Silkworm Assassin bowed his head, feeling a chill run down his neck. His superior was the Left Commander.
Along with the Great Commander and Right Commander, she was one of the core executives of the Hao Sect. After the negotiations with Baek Sugyeong at Mount Song failed, she was a high-ranking official directly sent by Yanoe, the Hao Sect Leader, while leaving Silkworm Assassin behind.
A woman with enough martial prowess to easily take Silkworm Assassin's head. That was Left Commander Yajeop.
A master with no known name, called the Nameless One and Thousand Faces. Gal Yerung was just a temporary name created for this mission.
"But he's more resolute than I expected, this Baek Sugyeong. Even though he has the Jade Sword Flower under him. Silkworm Assassin, what did you think of him at Shaolin?"
"I considered him immeasurable. If the Heaven Reaching Talent's judgment is correct, he has at least reached Return to Simplicity."
"Return to Simplicity..."
Gal Yerung's eyes narrowed.
"Why would someone with such martial arts skill write novels? With that level of martial prowess, people would be falling over themselves to recruit him."
"The eccentric figures of the martial world often have incomprehensible aspects—perhaps he simply has a peculiar personality. Maybe he just doesn't reveal it normally."
"Hmm... I suppose that's it."
The reclusive eccentrics of the martial world are all peculiar in their own ways. If Baek Sugyeong's behavior fell within that category, it wouldn't be incomprehensible. There's a reason they're called eccentrics, after all.
Gal Yerung took out a foldable bronze mirror and asked:
"Silkworm Assassin. What about the background investigation?"
"It's still ongoing, but we've uncovered almost nothing. From the beginning, even the Dragon Gate Escort Agency hasn't reported any notable external activities since he took the Inspector position, nor has he distinguished himself in any special way. He's suspiciously ordinary."
"Inspector... an unusual career."
It was a position for determining the authenticity of rare items brought to the escort agency. Commonly called "appraisal experts," people with the insight to recognize rare items and treasures are placed in that position.
It's not a position typically found in escort agencies, but a special position only in agencies like the Luoyang Dragon Gate Escort Agency that frequently deal with ancient books or antiques.
If he held the Inspector position, it meant he had that level of discernment.
Gal Yerung said:
"That makes him even more suspicious?"
"Yes. If he can hide his martial arts this perfectly, his abilities must be truly extraordinary."
It was a complete misunderstanding.
One that would make Baek Sugyeong cough blood if he heard it.
"It's suspicious that a master who has reached Return to Simplicity would come to the city instead of focusing on his training. Could he be seeking new enlightenment in the secular world?"
"That possibility cannot be ruled out."
"Hmm. I definitely can't take my eyes off him. That man."
Gal Yerung snapped her mirror shut.
"We must acquire him. Considering the impact he could have on the martial world, we absolutely cannot let those orthodox faction nobodies have him."
"Understood."
"You may go."
After dismissing Silkworm Assassin, Gal Yerung took out a comb.
"Now then, how should I seduce that man..."
The voice of the Hao Sect's Left Commander, deep in contemplation, flickered like a flame in the night air.
...
Riiip.
The shoulder of Bang Soran's clothes tore away, revealing her white skin. Though she wasn't wounded since it was torn by hands rather than weapons, Bang Soran's expression was not pleasant.
The bandits laughed as they looked at Bang Soran in her half-tattered clothes.
"Even the great Thousand Sword Heroine is helpless when her disciple is held hostage!"
"Even prostitutes don't dress as lewdly as that! Are you really a famous female master, or just a willing whore?!"
Provocations bordering on sexual harassment.
But she couldn't carelessly wound them. Every time she tried to cut down the bandits, Park Do would threaten to slit So Seonha's throat.
"Kuk..."
"Master...!"
So Seonha's eyes were brimming with tears. Her beloved master was being humiliated by bandits.
Because of her.
Because she had been helplessly captured by these men.
"Master!!"
"You'd better stay still, kid. Unless you want your neck cut."
Park Do slightly scratched So Seonha's neck as she struggled against the ropes binding her, drawing blood.
So Seonha stopped at the chilling pain rising from the cut on her neck.
Jang Yu cackled.
"Just stay there and watch your master become a rag. We'll let you go with your master when we're done."
"Ah, aah..."
Tears welled up in So Seonha's eyes.
Her cool, strong, and beautiful master Bang Soran was being violated.
All because of her.
So Seonha's voice flowed like tears as she lowered her head.
"What kind of... hero are you..."
"Aagh!"
Bang Soran's scream came from not far away.
So Seonha quickly raised her head to see Bang Soran retreating with a wound on her shoulder.
She had numerous wounds all over her body. Her clothes were torn beyond repair, and she was gradually being pushed into a defensive position due to the large and small wounds covering her entire body.
'If only she, So Seonha, hadn't been there.'
"Master—!!"
"Seonha! Wait! I'll definitely save you!!"
Bang Soran rose and swung her sword to block the bandits' attacks.
But she couldn't wound the bandits.
The conditions were too unfavorable.
It was a fight that began under conditions terribly advantageous to the bandits, Jang Yu, and the Green Forest bandits of Nine Dragons Stronghold.
No matter how skilled Bang Soran was, she couldn't subdue all of them without killing them, and then go after Jang Yu.
Because Jang Yu would use her as a shield again.
Jang Yu's maniacal laughter echoed.
"Hahahahaha! This is fun! Very fun! Come up here, Thousand Sword Heroine! Look at that nameless girl crying! Break through my men and use your great skills to save your disciple!"
"Looking as cheap as a whore! How can you call yourself a hero of the martial world, the Thousand Sword Heroine, looking like that! More like a Thousand Whore Slut!"
"Hahaha!"
"The Stronghold Leader is right!"
"Thousand Whore Slut, that rolls off the tongue! How about we call her that instead of Thousand Sword Heroine from now on!"
Even as she glared at the bandits mocking her, she couldn't kill them.
The conditions were too restrictive.
She had stepped too deeply into the trap set by Jang Yu.
'If only I had been a little more calm, this disaster...'
Perhaps the problem was that she set out immediately to save So Seonha, her only disciple.
It's not strange that she ended up in this situation, jumping in before understanding the enemy's scheme and trap.
Despite facing countless incidents in the martial world, she had never considered herself hasty.
But today, Bang Soran thought she had been far too impulsive.
'If I had acted just a little more wisely, I wouldn't have been so helplessly cornered.'
The bandits' blades came rushing in.
She avoided their attacks with her footwork, but there was no way to avoid the wounds being carved into her skin.
She could only furrow her brow at the pain that scraped across her entire body.
One-sided offense.
And one-sided defense continued.
Watching this, So Seonha shouted.
"I'm fine! I'm fine, so...!"
She was just a burden, only hindering her master.
If only she had been stronger.
If only she had quickly gained powerful martial arts like So Yuhyeon, the protagonist of "Little Immortal's Chivalrous Journey", this wouldn't have happened.
So Seonha shouted as if spitting blood.
"Don't worry about me! I'm willing to die! But you can't be like this, Master! You're the Thousand Sword Heroine! You're a righteous person! You're a hero! So, don't worry about me and...!"
"You bitch!"
Smack.
Jang Yu slapped So Seonha's face, cutting off her words.
Jang Yu's face was covered with a chilling killing intent as he looked back at his guards.
"All of you go down too! Tear that Bang woman to pieces!"
"Yes, Stronghold Leader!"
Seeing So Seonha being hit by Jang Yu, Bang Soran shouted as if spitting blood.
"Seonha!!"
"It's time to take your head, Bang Soran!"
"The Stronghold Leader wants your head!"
Axes, sawtooth blades, longswords, broadswords...
All kinds of weapons rushed toward Bang Soran with murderous intent.
Until now, the bandits had only been tearing her clothes and making shallow cuts on her skin to humiliate her.
But now that Jang Yu had expressed his will to kill her, they had no choice but to use their full strength.
Having sustained injuries, depleted her inner energy, and being physically exhausted, Bang Soran was struggling to withstand their attacks.
Jang Yu, having silenced So Seonha, seemed to have regained his composure.
"Kekekeke, after playing patiently for two hours, you must be exhausted. You die here, Bang Soran!"
Hearing Jang Yu's voice, So Seonha looked down below with blurred eyes.
Through her hazy vision, she could see Bang Soran, covered in blood, being cornered.
Like hunters driving their prey, they were slowly surrounding her like a great tiger.
If she had been her usual self, she would have defeated them all and come to rescue her.
But seeing her master unable to do so, So Seonha tightly closed her eyes.
It was because of her.
If only she hadn't been captured.
If only she had the strength to resist these men instead of being helplessly caught.
'I need power...'
Power to crush these bandits before her eyes and save her master.
She desperately needed it.
'What should I do? How can I...!'
So Seonha thought with her eyes closed.
Her meager inner energy.
Bang Soran's martial arts techniques that she had only memorized.
She was so weak now that she couldn't even untie these ropes.
How could she turn this situation around?
"Ah!"
Suddenly, she remembered a passage from Little Immortal's Chivalrous Journey.
As if foreseeing this situation, So Yuhyeon had also faced such a trial.
So Yuhyeon had overcome that trial with his own strength.
He had defeated those who were trying to kill his master and saved him.
An unorthodox, reverse method.
With his Reversed Acupoint Body, he reversed the flow of his inner energy to exert explosive power, and So Yuhyeon dramatically overcame that crisis.
But a sudden wave of anxiety came over her.
'Can I do it?'
She had never tried it before.
She had never even attempted to imitate it.
So fear came first, but...
Calming her mind and body with deep and shallow breaths, So Seonha began to slowly guide the inner energy seated in her dantian.
A flow path close to reverse circulation, going against the normal flow.
The flow of energy moving opposite to the blood flow began to gradually accelerate explosively as it passed through the meridians of the Reversed Acupoint Body.
"It's working!"
Similar signs to what the protagonist So Yuhyeon had shown in the second chapter of "Little Immortal's Chivalrous Journey" were appearing in her body.
Once accelerated, her inner energy traversed her entire body at a terrifying speed.
The inner energy, which had seemed insignificant, swelled like it was going berserk, and the power that had been submerged deep below raised its head.
Like forcibly pulling and stretching her small and unremarkable body compared to her peers.
"Huh?!"
Jang Yu turned his gaze to So Seonha.
He had felt an unusually powerful inner energy surging and thought Bang Soran might be making a final desperate move.
But that wasn't it.
An unusually intense inner energy was surging from So Seonha's body.
"How is this girl..."
Perhaps it was a mistake not to seal her acupoints, thinking her inner energy was insignificant.
The ropes binding So Seonha's body were tearing apart strand by strand, as if unraveling, due to the inner energy swirling around her like a metamorphosis.
"You bitch!!"
Just as Jang Yu urgently raised his cleaver—
A blast of wind as intense as an explosion of light pushed Jang Yu far away.
Bang!
"Kuhuk!"
With his face contorted from the pain of his back being struck, Jang Yu saw So Seonha freed from the ropes.
A terrifying inner energy swirled around So Seonha.
Seeing this, Jang Yu was shocked.
"How can this little brat...!"
So Seonha's cold gaze, freed from her restraints, turned toward Jang Yu.
Jang Yu drove a stake into the stockade at that icy gaze.
"Die—!!"
With a fierce cry, Jang Yu's cleaver fell toward So Seonha's head.
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📚 Author's Note:
Thanks to Pasqualem for the 1 Power Stone!
🐧