Chapter 88
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Red-Faced Spear Ghost (1)
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“Tch, I’m bored.”
Lying in bed, Maeng Yo clicked his tongue and sat up.
He hadn’t been able to leave his bedroom because of King Yeong’s sudden appearance, and he was getting incredibly antsy.
“Hah!”
He opened the window to get some air, and from a distance, he heard shouts.
Maeng Yo, who had been wearing a bored expression, grinned and moved toward the source of the sound.
“Hard at work, I see.”
“You’re here?”
Gu Jahong glanced at the newly arrived Maeng Yo, unfazed.
While most people reacted sensitively to others watching their martial arts, Gu Jahong showed no such signs.
“What do you say? Care for a match?”
This was likely because Maeng Yo had no interest in his martial arts.
Maeng Yo had no intention of stealing a glance at the sword techniques Gu Jahong was practicing.
On the contrary, he was filled with the thought of sparring with him.
“Very well.”
Gu Jahong nodded without hesitation.
It seemed there was much to be gained from a duel with Maeng Yo. After all, it helped him realize his own shortcomings.
Of course, the same would have been true when he dueled with Jinmyeong or Shin Yehyang, but back then, Gu Jahong had no interest in martial arts, so it hadn't been of much help.
“Hm? Wait a moment.”
Just as he was about to clash with Gu Jahong, Maeng Yo frowned and raised a hand.
Gu Jahong sighed as he watched Maeng Yo immediately jump over the wall.
Maeng Yo always leaped over the wall like that whenever someone from the Green Forest came to find him.
This was because Jinmyeong had banned the bandits from entering, saying their rough-looking faces might scare the patrons of the brothel.
“A shame, but I can’t today.”
“Did something happen?”
“It seems someone has attacked the Green Forest.”
A stronghold belonging to the Seventy-Two Strongholds of the Green Forest had been attacked.
Only one person had survived to bring the news.
“They seem to be a considerable master, so I think I should go.”
“…May I go with you?”
“You?”
Maeng Yo looked at Gu Jahong with a quizzical expression.
“Don’t you hate this sort of thing?”
“It was a nuisance.”
In the past, he had complained endlessly to Jinmyeong, who would drag him along by force.
But since he had started training in martial arts again, he wanted to test his skills.
“Besides, the Grand Chieftain has helped me a great deal until now.”
Although Maeng Yo had only asked for a duel to pass the time, Gu Jahong still felt grateful to him.
“How admirable. Unlike a certain someone.”
Gu Jahong could easily guess that the ‘certain someone’ was Jinmyeong.
“Let’s go.”
The two left Myeonghwaru immediately.
“By the way, where are we going?”
“Guizhou.”
Maeng Yo and Gu Jahong immediately unleashed their movement techniques and began running toward Guizhou.
Was it because they were relatively close to Guizhou? Or was it because they ran without rest?
Though the sun had set and darkness had fallen, the two managed to arrive in Guizhou before the day was over.
“Hmph.”
As if he wasn't tired at all, Maeng Yo immediately began climbing the mountain where the stronghold was located.
Gu Jahong, also showing no signs of fatigue from such a run, followed Maeng Yo up the mountain.
“Hup!”
How far had they climbed?
Gu Jahong frowned at the scent of blood that tickled his nose.
Maeng Yo’s expression also hardened.
“There it is.”
“What’s your plan?”
“What do you mean, plan? We’re going straight in.”
Maeng Yo drew his two axes and charged directly toward the stronghold.
“Interesting.”
Gu Jahong followed Maeng Yo, equally unconcerned.
*Crash!*
Maeng Yo kicked down the stronghold gate and entered.
Inside, he saw the corpses of bandits piled up haphazardly.
And next to them, men sat casually, eating something.
“You bastards…”
Maeng Yo found them incredibly familiar.
Dark blue martial arts uniforms with a qilin embroidered in pure white thread.
They were the ones he had seen when he was with the Mad Demon.
The warriors of the Heaven-Shattering Society stared blankly at Maeng Yo, who had suddenly burst in by breaking down the gate.
“What do you think you’re doing here?”
Maeng Yo immediately rushed at them, swinging his axes.
One might have expected them to be flustered by the sudden attack, but the warriors of the Heaven-Shattering Society showed no signs of surprise, swiftly putting on masks and beginning to counterattack.
‘So it’s them.’
The ones who had fought alongside the Mad Demon in Fujian. These must be the men who had moved with the former Vice Cult Leader, the Blood Hand Demonic Lord.
Gu Jahong immediately drew his sword and pierced the neck of an approaching masked man.
‘Not too difficult.’
Was it the result of quitting alcohol and training?
Even after facing a considerable number of enemies, he still had energy to spare.
Gu Jahong thought that at this rate, he could take care of all the masked men occupying the stronghold.
“Hoh. To think the King of the Green Forest would actually show up just because we touched one of his strongholds.”
At the sudden voice, Maeng Yo felt the hair on his entire body stand on end.
“Who are you?”
“My name isn’t so trivial as to be shared with the likes of you.”
Maeng Yo looked at the middle-aged man who had revealed himself.
To be precise, he looked at the crimson spear in the man’s hand.
‘I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere.’
Even while looking at the spear with its ornate patterns, Maeng Yo couldn't easily identify his opponent.
“I’ve been away from the martial world for quite a while. To think some nobody is using the title of King now.”
“…A nobody?”
Maeng Yo’s face hardened at the middle-aged man’s words, but he didn’t do anything foolish like rushing in blindly.
-Go and bring him.
Instead, he was very calmly sending a telepathic message to Gu Jahong.
‘I can’t beat this one alone.’
Maeng Yo got the same feeling from the middle-aged man before him as he had from the Blood Hand Demonic Lord.
“Hmm. Thinking of running away alone?”
The middle-aged man didn't move, even as he watched Gu Jahong leap away.
“Chase him. Go and kill him.”
Instead, he merely sent his subordinates.
At the middle-aged man's command, his subordinates began to swiftly pursue Gu Jahong.
“Now then, let’s see just how strong this fellow who uses the title of King is.”
The middle-aged man raised his red spear and aimed it at Maeng Yo.
And Maeng Yo, holding his two axes, kept his eyes fixed on the man.
“Keuk!”
But as if to mock him, the middle-aged man’s body vanished.
*Clang!*
And in the next moment, he appeared right in front of Maeng Yo, lightly thrusting his spear.
Maeng Yo hastily blocked the attack with his axes, but because he had blocked so urgently, he couldn't put proper strength into it and was pushed back.
The middle-aged man had pushed back Maeng Yo, who was two heads taller than him, with sheer force.
“For your size, you’re not very strong.”
Maeng Yo couldn't easily open his mouth in response to the man's provocation.
He wanted to taunt his opponent and provoke his anger like Jinmyeong would, but he didn't have the mental space for it.
He felt that if he opened his mouth, his concentration would shatter, so he focused as hard as he could, keeping his eyes on the middle-aged man.
“What’s going to change just because you concentrate like that?”
The middle-aged man’s body vanished again.
*Kang!*
Maeng Yo immediately spun his body, swinging his axe to parry the man’s spear.
Having seen it once, he was able to respond calmly this time without being surprised.
“Hoh.”
The middle-aged man smiled as if intrigued, and then his hands began to move.
“Ugh!”
The man’s spear began to attack Maeng Yo with incredible speed.
Maeng Yo hurriedly swung the two axes in his hands to block the attacks, but the spear exploited an opening and finally pierced Maeng Yo’s body.
“Tch!”
Maeng Yo bit his lip hard and brought his axe down on the spear.
*Clang!*
He had swung his axe with the intent of splitting the spear in two, but instead, the impact made his own hand tremble.
He had thought it was no ordinary spear just by looking at it, but it seemed to be far more formidable than he had imagined.
“You think it would break that easily?”
The middle-aged man grinned and moved the hand holding the spear.
The spear bent greatly and struck Maeng Yo hard in the chest.
“Gah!”
Overwhelmed by the immense pain, Maeng Yo clutched his chest and retreated.
The pain was so intense that his breath caught in his throat and his mind went blank for a moment.
“How is it? Compared to that fellow, the Blood Hand Demonic Lord…”
“…”
Maeng Yo was gasping for breath and couldn't answer easily.
‘To think I’d meet another master on his level so soon.’
It had only been a short while since he met the Blood Hand Demonic Lord, and he never imagined he would encounter another master of that caliber again.
“It seems you have no intention of speaking. Then I’ll have to make you open your mouth.”
The middle-aged man continued to thrust his spear. And Maeng Yo was desperately blocking the attacks.
Even though he was just defending without a single chance to counterattack, Maeng Yo’s body was already pierced in several places, blood trickling down.
“Heave-ho!”
The middle-aged man let out a playful shout and thrust his spear.
Maeng Yo tried to raise his axe to block the spear again, but the man’s hand flickered once more.
“Keuk!”
The spear, like a snake, twisted in a bizarre direction, ultimately evading Maeng Yo’s axe and achieving its goal.
*Thud!*
Stabbed in the left shoulder, Maeng Yo could no longer hold on and had no choice but to drop the axe he was holding.
“Who do you think is stronger? I’d have to say the one I met before seems stronger.”
“…”
The middle-aged man’s expression hardened at Maeng Yo’s words.
“Because I lost consciousness immediately against him.”
At that time, Maeng Yo had lost consciousness from a single attack by the Blood Hand Demonic Lord.
It was a situation where he could have died in an instant.
Compared to that, although he was getting beaten to a pulp, he had held out for quite a long time against this middle-aged man.
“I was merely toying with you, and you think this is my true strength?!”
As if displeased by the fact that he was losing to the Blood Hand Demonic Lord, the middle-aged man’s face turned red.
If he had used his full strength, Maeng Yo wouldn't have been able to last this long and would already be dead.
“Then, as you wish, I will kill you.”
The middle-aged man immediately thrust his spear toward Maeng Yo’s neck.
*Clang!*
But the spear aimed at Maeng Yo’s neck was blocked by a sword that suddenly flew in.
A smile began to spread across Maeng Yo’s lips when he saw the sword.
Jinmyeong, whom he had been waiting for, had finally arrived.
“About time you got here.”
But Maeng Yo wasn’t the only one who welcomed Jinmyeong.
In fact, the middle-aged man whose attack had been blocked was even more pleased by Jinmyeong’s appearance.
“…You were waiting for him?”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t notice your little scheme? You underestimate me far too much.”
The middle-aged man grinned.
He had been aware from the moment Gu Jahong fled alone that he was moving to call Jinmyeong.
“The Blood Hand Demonic Lord told me that man must be killed.”
He said that Jinmyeong had to be killed because he knew too much about the Heaven-Shattering Society.
Since he could do what the Blood Hand Demonic Lord couldn't, the man had kept Maeng Yo alive, even though he could have killed him.
He figured that if Jinmyeong saw Maeng Yo dead, he wouldn't show himself.
“Khahaha. Is that so. Was I wrong to think that way?”
Seeing the man’s expression, Maeng Yo finally burst into laughter.
However, it was different from his usual hearty laugh; it was a self-deprecating laugh, one that seemed to have given up on everything.
“That’s what he says. What are you going to do?”
“Well. Now that I see him, I’m starting to think I came here for nothing.”
Jinmyeong, who had approached Maeng Yo’s side, frowned and looked at the middle-aged man.
“Why the hell is someone like you here?”
“Hehe. It seems the heavens have given me an opportunity to kill you.”
“A Spear Ghost talking about the heavens… how amusing.”
“…You. I really must kill you.”
At Jinmyeong's words, the middle-aged man's—the Red-Faced Spear Ghost's—already demonic face turned an even deeper shade of red.