Geum Yang-Baek stared at the scene unfolding before him with a dazed expression.
‘Th-that... the Ten Thousand People Clan...’
It was one-sided. The Ten Thousand People Clan, a force feared in Guangdong more than death itself, was being toyed with, quite literally.
‘How could this happen......’
It had been only a few years since he had seen Chung Myung’s skill with his own eyes at the martial contest.
Of course, he knew Chung Myung would have grown stronger. Naturally, he would. Soone with that talent not getting stronger over ti would be the strange thing.
But he hadn’t imagined it would be like this. What he had just witnessed of Chung Myung’s skill far surpassed anything he had expected.
He swore, among the ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Nine Great Sects, none knew better how fearso the Ten Thousand People Clan was than Southern Island Sect. And he also swore, Geum Yang-Baek had never once seen the Ten Thousand People Clan treated so rcilessly.
He had never.
“Sect leader.”
What kind of martial art had Mount Hua’s Sword Saint learned to be able to do this......
“Sect leader!”
Startled by the urgent voice calling him, Geum Yang-Baek turned to the side. An elder was grabbing his arm and shaking him desperately.
“Give the order, Sect leader!”
“Or- the order?”
“Can’t you see over there!”
Only then did the situation around him snap into focus: mbers of the Heavenly Friends Alliance were charging the Tiger Ghost ranks at breakneck speed.
“We must go too!”
“Y- yes! Ah, no! But the signal—”
It was at that mont.
Baek Cheon, who had been rushing forward, thrust his sword high into the air and swung. Red sword qi burst from the tip like fireworks, scattering and soon embroidering Southern Island’s sky with countless plum blossoms.
Geum Yang-Baek, who had been crouched, sprang up the mont he saw it.
A signal! Where in the world could there be a clearer signal than that!
“Attack. Now! We must seize that ship!”
“Yes!”
Southern Island’s sect mbers who had been lying in ambush all rose at Geum Yang-Baek’s thundering shout.
But before they could even take a step, Gwak Hwan-So and his sahyung-sajaes, who had been waiting for ambush on the other side, were already charging out.
“Run faster! Strike in one sweep!”
“Yes, sahyung! Aaaaah!”
Geum Yang-Baek stamped the ground and shouted.
“What are you doing! Do you plan to be slower than the disciples!”
At that shout the elders gritted their teeth and increased their speed.
There were well over two hundred Southern Island Sect disciples here now. But if things were as they had been earlier, no matter their numbers they wouldn’t have charged headlong at the Tiger Ghost troops like this.
The fear of the Ten Thousand People Clan surely still lingered in their hearts.
But the Southern Island disciples now were running at full force toward the Tiger Ghost with not a shred of fear, as if competing.
Any fear of the Ten Thousand People Clan was already gone. From the mont they saw and understood who stood at the vanguard, the Ten Thousand People Clan ceased to be an unbeatable, terrifying foe.
Even while running, they could clearly see the Heavenly Friends Alliance striking the Tiger Ghost troops ahead.
“A-MI-TA-BUL!”
With a thick chanting sound, a golden Buddhist radiance covered the shore.
Kwaaahhhhh!
Part of the shoreline ruptured, white sand scattering everywhere. Those struck directly by the radiance couldn’t even scream; they were flung like bloody sses into the vast sea.
Splash!
A great spray rose up like a celebratory burst.
“No, this is foul play, monk!”
Hae Yeon had begun the attack first, but naturally the one who reached the enemy most quickly was Jo Gul.
“So glad to see you I could cry! You Ten Thousand People brats!”
Jo Gul, pushing forward at the head, slashed his sword in an instant.
Fwaaah!
Sword forms, rapidly splitting into dozens, poured fiercely toward the Tiger Ghost troops n who had not yet regained their senses.
“Aaaah!”
“You bastard!”
A lightning-fast sword too quick to follow with the eye!
But the forward-shifted center of gravity required for that speed imdiately invited a counterattack.
“You clueless fools!”
The Tiger Ghost troops n suddenly thrust their blades frantically at Jo Gul’s exposed torso.
“Please!”
Kakakang!
But those blades struck the flowing sword that sprang from behind him before even grazing his body and were all deflected.
“Think of the aftermath and act accordingly!”
“Ah, sahyung is blocking for you!”
“Huh......”
Yoon Jong sighed and once again cleared his sword, striking at the blade flying toward Jo Gul’s face. That mad sajaes wouldn’t even try to block a sword aid at his own face; he simply thrust his weapon on.
“Ha-ha! I am Jo Gul of Mount Hua!”
“Kraaaah!”
A Tiger Ghost troops man pierced through the chest by a sword scread and collapsed on the spot.
“Damn it! Overwhelm them! Upwards...!”
The man speaking suddenly snapped his head up. From the airspace they had sought to occupy, a shadow quietly and swiftly fell.
‘When did—’
A slender figure descended, half-covering the sun.
And that was the last sight he saw alive.
Screeeech!
Yu Yiseol, who cleanly slashed a Tiger Ghost troops man’s throat as she fell, spun her body without hesitation before touching the ground.
Swoooosh!
Her spinning sword swept low and rcilessly cut the ankles of the surrounding Tiger Ghost troops n.
“Aaaah!”
“Kraaaah!”
Drop from above and strike the lowest point. Simple to the extre, yet at the sa ti the most effective sword. Especially amid a mêlée like this, it was an incredibly effective single strike.
“Below!”
“You damned wench!”
As the Tiger Ghost troops n lunged with knives at the crouched Yu Yiseol, a soft yet chilling slicing sound reached their ears.
Sarararak!
They instinctively sensed sothing approaching and recoiled in terror. But those whose eyes had been fixed on Yu Yiseol could not avoid Tang Soso’s Plum Blossom Sword qi raining down from the air.
They failed to dodge.
“Haap!”
Sararararak!
With a short sound, Tang Soso’s Plum Blossom Shower filled the sky like a shower of flowers. The fantastic Plum Blossom Sword blades swept rcilessly through the Tiger Ghost troops n who couldn’t get out of the way.
Screech screech screech!
“Waaah!”
“Aaaah!”
The sound of blades piercing flesh and desperate screams mingled and echoed.
“R- retreat!”
“Don’t retreat!”
Hoe ng, the Tiger Ghost Troops deputy captain, scread himself hoarse.
“You stupid fools! There aren’t many of them! Pin them down by numbers! Don’t give them any openings!”
Hoe ng knew how absurd that command was. Those damned petal-like blades were devastating against clustered groups. They were far more efficient in group-versus-group combat than in single combat.
That was what the sword ant.
But Hoe ng had no choice but to say it.
Because he had clearly seen Southern Island’s furious charge coming up from behind.
If they couldn’t reduce the numbers of these damned n before the heavily roused Southern Island force arrived, what would happen next would be as plain as daylight.
“Charge, you bastards! Latch on and don’t let go!”
At that command, those n, filled with venom, gritted their teeth and hurled themselves at Tang Soso.
Whoooooosh!
But at that mont small pellets flew over their heads in succession. They exploded with pops.
“What, what is this!”
“It’s poison smoke! Damn it, fall back!”
Pink smoke billowed from the pellets and engulfed the charging Tiger Ghost troops n.
“No way. If my little sibling gets hurt, my father will try to kill , you know.”
Tang Pae clicked his tongue leisurely and slipped his hand back into his sleeve. With the front raging like that, it made attacking from the rear much easier for him. In that respect, allies who shed this well with him were hard to find anywhere.
You’d be hard-pressed to find such a fit anywhere in the world.
“Originally, martial arts are supposed to be exquisitely subtle like this—”
Kwaaahhhhhhh!
At that mont, Namgung Do-Wei’s downward strike emitted a white sword radiance. A blade force the size of a house swept away the Tiger Ghost troops who stood before him in an instant.
Kwaaahhhhhhh!
With a blast that seed to tear eardrums, bodies were blown to shreds and scattered gruesoly.
“...You didn’t have to, but fine.”
Tang Pae looked slightly crestfallen and lowered his head.
Honestly, wasn’t that close to cheating? No wonder the Tang Family, despite their bitter determination, had never beaten those ignorant brutes.
And at this rate, it seed unlikely the Tang Family would surpass the Namgung Family in his generation either. Even if the sect could be maneuvered sohow, how could he personally defeat that monster?
Fwaaah!
Then Baek Cheon leapt forward. A storm of red petals surged from his sword tip. Vivid red and beautiful petals swept through the enemies like an illusion.
His blade didn’t pursue tyranny like Namgung Do-Wei’s, but it was more ornate and more precise.
“Drive them back!”
Watching Baek Cheon’s back as he shouted like a roaring tiger, urging everyone on, Tang Pae shook his head.
“This one and that one.”
How miserable it must be to be talentless.
“Bah!”
He irritably flung the dagger in his hand forward.
Beom Chung’s face twisted horribly.
“Why...”
That was all he could utter now.
“Why are you here! Why!”
Uncontrollable rage burst out.
Even if the entire Southern Island sect had ambushed and struck suddenly, they wouldn’t have collapsed so easily.
But the opponents they faced now were too nurous and overwhelming for the Tiger Ghost troops alone.
Mount Hua’s Sword Saint, Chung Myung and Mount Hua’s Five Swords, Namgung and the Tang Family’s small leaders, and Shaolin’s monk Hae Yeon as well.
Each of them was a master representing their sect. With such figures fighting hand in hand with Southern Island, what could a single unit of the Ten Thousand People Clan possibly do?
“Why!”
Beom Chung ground his teeth and shouted again in a boiling voice, and Chung Myung let out a snort of a laugh.
“Why should I tell an Evil Sect scum like you such things?”
“You...”
“Stop your bullshit and do what you have to do. I’m getting tired of waiting.”
Chung Myung’s blade pointed at Beom Chung. He bit his lip hard. What he had to do now was painfully clear.
Beom Chung pulled a long tube from his chest and quickly yanked the cord attached to its end.
Puff!
Flas burst from the tube’s end and shot high into the air.
Having fired the signal flare, the main force would now know the enemy had invaded. Or they likely already realized it from Baek Cheon’s sword, but this made it certain.
“...Don’t be ridiculous, kid.”
Beom Chung spat venomously and glared at Chung Myung.
“I don’t know what sche you’re up to, but since you’ve set foot here you will die! By any ans you cannot possibly reach the Yangtze alive! Not only you, but all of you will regret setting foot here—”
Fwaaah!
At that mont Beom Chung clutched his face and stepped back.
Drip drip!
Red blood dripped from the long diagonal cut across his face. Chung Myung casually flicked his sword as if it were nothing.
“Ah, sorry.”
“......”
“Listening to Evil Sect scum makes want to vomit. Especially those Ten Thousand People brats or whatever rat-hole they co from.”
“You—”
“Is that your entire dying wish?”
“What......”
At that mont Chung Myung’s sword flew toward Beom Chung like an apparition.
Beom Chung reflexively raised his blade and blocked Chung Myung’s sword.
Kakang!
But Chung Myung’s Dark Fragrant Plum-Blossom Sword cleaved Beom Chung’s blade in two and drove straight into his neck.
Shreek!
The cold sound of the honed edge slicing flesh rang out.
With no ti even to shudder at the death knell that rang from the sword, a chilling voice spoke from behind Beom Chung.
“Still, since I’m a proper swordsman, I’ll at least wish you well in death. Die well, you idiot.”
That was the last thing Beom Chung heard in this life.
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