Even Death Would Be Fine
Dokgo Ho-in staggered as he worked his twin swords, the motions so ragged they could hardly be called proper forms. Sword wounds marked him in several places, and the gash across his abdomen was the worst of them. The flesh had split so wide that any violent movement threatened to spill his entrails.
"Out of my way, you bastards!"
Kang Chu-mi sent her whip cracking through the air in a frenzy, fighting to reach him. Ham Cheon-yeong had planted himself at Dokgo Ho-in's back, meeting the Macheon Chong warriors who came charging in. Seo Joo-cheon, occupied with saving Jang Hyeon-nam and Baek I-jin, had lost all track of his three younger siblings. Locked against enemies of real caliber, he had no luxury to glance around.
"Ho-in! Hold on! Don't you dare lose consciousness!"
At the sound of Ham Cheon-yeong's voice, the shutter of a nearby carriage cracked open.
It can't be him. There's no way.
The woman inside, Baek Seol, heard the name of a lover she had parted from long ago on a battlefield and dismissed it as a hallucination. Then she froze. The man bleeding freely as he fought — was that not the beloved who still visited her in dreams?
Why is he here?
When Dokgo Ho-in clutched his abdomen and fought on with a single sword, everything else vanished from her sight. She flung the carriage door open and stepped out.
"Young Lady Baek, please get back inside. It is dangerous here."
Where had this courage come from in a woman who, until now, had been too cowed even to answer a Mount Hua Sect disciple?
"Right now, out here and inside the carriage are equally dangerous."
She answered, then tore her underskirt. The silk ripped with a sharp, violent sound. The Mount Hua Daoist stared, stunned by a boldness he had never seen from her. Throughout the journey from Mount Hua she had never once questioned his instructions, and the shock of it struck all the harder. But there was no time to dwell. He turned to hold back the Macheon Chong warriors pouring in.
"Why are you here?"
The voice was closer to reproach than worry. Dokgo Ho-in watched her wrap his wound in silk and smiled faintly.
"Have you been well?"
"You're greeting me? In this situation?"
"I have been well. Truly. There were times I wanted to die from missing you — but I have been well."
The blood running down his abdomen stopped as the silk bound it.
"I haven't been… well either. Satisfied?"
"That is a pity."
"Why did you join this fight? What good are the people who denounced you as Unorthodox?"
"How could I stand idle when you were in danger? Even if that place were hell itself, how could I not go?"
"You really are—! Hah."
Baek Seol sighed at the reckless man before her. Then a flying dagger came from somewhere, aimed at Dokgo Ho-in, and she threw her body into its path.
Steel rang. Dokgo Ho-in struck the dagger aside with his sword first, wrapping her in his arms as he murmured,
"I would rather die than watch my beloved come to harm."
"Your wound is grave. We have to leave this place. Now."
"Forgive me. I cannot leave. Where would I go, abandoning so many enemies? Once you are safe, then I will go."
"You fool."
Then the Macheon Chong warriors shouted.
"That's the girl! Seize her!"
A dozen warriors charged. Dokgo Ho-in stepped forward and roared,
"Come! You dog bastards! Dokgo Ho-in will take you on!"
"I'm here too! You demonic scum!"
Kang Chu-mi came up, her face a mask of blood, and shouted. Her whip was so caked with clotted gore that the leather itself was invisible, painted entirely scarlet.
"Today we settle this for good!"
Ham Cheon-yeong bellowed from Dokgo Ho-in's side, and Baek Seol looked at him with sorrowful eyes.
You're not alone anymore. You have people who will die with you. I always worried you would be alone.
The Mount Hua Daoists formed a defensive array around Baek Seol, preparing to meet the enemy. An array of six, and that was all. Ham Cheon-yeong wondered how long they could hold against thirty Macheon Chong warriors charging from both flanks.
Until now he had barely survived on the inner energy he had managed to increase and the superior saber art, the Phoenix Controlling Dragon Saber. Whenever his strength failed, he had slipped behind the Mount Hua Daoists to weather the crisis — more than once. Without that, he would already be a corpse sprawled on the cold ground.
"Fourth! You guard Third and the young lady."
"No! Second Brother can't handle this alone!"
"It's fine. The Mount Hua Daoists are here too!"
"They don't give a damn about us!"
The Mount Hua Daoists were locked in their formation, with no attention to spare for anyone else.
"We have to fight on our own!"
Ham Cheon-yeong regretted that he had not more firmly stopped Dokgo Ho-in from going to the carriage where Baek Seol was.
But even if I had held him back, would the kid have stayed away?
He gave a wry snort. His younger brother was a bit reckless, but he was not the sort to sit easy while his beloved was in danger. He raised his great saber and glared at the approaching Macheon Chong warriors.
"Hold on a little longer! I'm coming!"
Their eldest brother's voice rang from the other side.
"You heard him? Anyone who dies before Big Brother gets here dies by my hand first."
"Tch! How many times am I supposed to die?"
Kang Chu-mi pouted, fighting spirit pouring off her, and Ham Cheon-yeong stepped one pace ahead of her. He meant to meet the enemy before his younger siblings. But Kang Chu-mi slipped even further forward.
"Get back."
Ham Cheon-yeong growled. Kang Chu-mi grinned.
"What's this about? My whip is longer. I can hit them first."
"Honestly, all mouth. Chu-mi. You have to live. Don't just talk a good game."
"What kind of unfunny joke is that?"
Even in these dire conditions, Kang Chu-mi's fighting spirit only burned hotter.
Her whip cracked through empty air and came down. The Macheon Chong warrior sidestepped it.
"Ugh!"
Something grazed his abdomen. He looked down. A sword was already attached to the tip of the whip. In the instant the lash had struck the ground, she had coiled a fallen blade and cut him with it.
"You bitch—!"
The warrior's entrails spilled out. He dropped to his knees and collapsed. Kang Chu-mi brought the whip down from above on another charging man. The sword at its tip plunged with terrifying force. He blocked. She released the coil, snared his neck, and hurled him to the left. Bone snapped. His body flew and slammed into another warrior rushing in.
"Two down!"
Of all who had received the Human-Shaped Snow Ginseng Liquid Essence and the Phoenix Heaven-Gazing Art, Kang Chu-mi had benefited the most. From that art she had taken the footwork and the movement technique. Those two supreme skills had maximized the power of her Whip-Flying Radiance Art. Combined with her increased inner power, she could now load true qi into the whip's tip, snatch up a sword or saber, and strike with it. At last she could display the true essence of the art.
True qi loaded into the lash. A fallen blade coiled and hurled. The whip's true essence, unveiled at last.
"I got three!"
While Kang Chu-mi killed two, Ham Cheon-yeong killed three and caught his breath. No small number of wounds had accumulated on his body. He had only been able to take those three by fighting as if he meant to die with them.
"Sorry. I only got one."
Dokgo Ho-in still clutched his abdomen with his left hand, standing there with an apologetic look. Ten had charged. In less than a quarter of an hour, six were dead. The Macheon Chong warriors could no longer take them lightly.
"Be careful! They're strong! Coordinate your attacks!"
When the Blood Heaven Unit of Macheon Chong failed to break through the three, they reformed their ranks.
"Die, you bastards!"
At that sudden shout, all three turned at once. It was the curse their eldest brother Po Un spat when he got drunk on combat. Seo Joo-cheon was charging toward them in a trance, unfolding the White Snake Sword Art. His presence was such that even the Macheon Chong warriors faltered and gave ground.
Unleashed in a self-forgotten trance, the sword presence alone was enough to make seasoned killers hesitate and fall back.
"Was our Big Brother always that strong?"
Dokgo Ho-in managed. Ham Cheon-yeong answered.
"He's probably wringing out every last drop of true qi. For our sake."
Kang Chu-mi grumbled.
"Honestly, Big Brother. Why come all the way over here? He should've just stayed put."
"He can't stand watching us get hurt. I'm scared of what he'll do when he sees Ho-in."
Ham Cheon-yeong put on a show of dread, and Dokgo Ho-in smiled bitterly.
I'm sorry, Big Brother. Because of me, our brothers are in danger.
Even so, he knew their eldest would clap him on the back and say a man was entitled to that much — and the thought made his chest tighten for no reason.
The Macheon Chong warriors could not stop Seo Joo-cheon.
"Hah— hah—"
Fighting so hard the acrid scent of overdrawn inner energy clung to him, Seo Joo-cheon reached his younger siblings and looked at Dokgo Ho-in.
"Third. You all right?"
"Yes, Big Brother. I'm sorry."
"For what? A man's supposed to do exactly that. But the bastards who cut your gut won't live. This Big Brother promises you that."
It was cheap bravado, but Dokgo Ho-in loved it. If he died with his brothers, there would be nothing to regret.
Forgive me.
He glanced at Baek Seol. The place he would die was at his brothers' side.
The Macheon Chong warriors, ranks reformed, approached in coordinated groups. Then someone who recognized them shouted.
"Aren't you the Shaanxi Four Fiends? Why are the Shaanxi Four Fiends helping the Mount Hua Sect?!"
At those words, Baek I-jin and Jang Hyeon-nam both started and glanced at Seo Joo-cheon.
"I may be Unorthodox, but I can't stand injustice. And I really, really hate you demonic dogs."
"Hahahaha! Since when do Fiends play at being chivalrous heroes?"
Seo Joo-cheon shot back.
The thick profanity flushed the Macheon Chong warriors' faces red.
"We'll kill you and show you what happens when you resist us!"
"Fine! Come on! We'll show you how the Shaanxi Four Fiends butcher Macheon Chong dogs!"
When it came to talking trash in a fight, no one could match their eldest. Even Kang Chu-mi, who had a sharp tongue of her own, heard him and snorted with laughter.
"Little brothers!"
"Yes, Big Brother."
"Would dying today be fine with you?"
Ham Cheon-yeong answered.
"Hahaha! Big Brother! I have lived until this day for this very moment!"
"Third, what about you?"
"If it's at my brothers' side, even death would be a joy!"
"Fourth. You want to live?"
Kang Chu-mi bellowed.
"Big Brother. Want to die by my hand first?"
"Hahahaha! Good."
Seo Joo-cheon felt himself rising, exalted.
Po Un really is a magnificent bastard. A character like this, an extra? He's main-character material.
Seo Joo-cheon liked Po Un. And the thought came to him that he might die today. With it rose the stock rhetoric he had always written into his novels when characters faced danger.
Today the omens of death outnumber those of life. Perhaps this time next year will be the anniversary of my death.
The thought his characters always had when they were in peril. Seo Joo-cheon shouted.
"Little brothers! Let's die today!"
"Yes, Big Brother!"
As the four martial artists fought a desperate battle against the surging Macheon Chong warriors, the Mount Hua Daoists bit their lips. They had formed a defensive array to protect Baek Seol, but they wanted to fight alongside those four. The fighting spirit the Shaanxi Four Fiends displayed would make any martial artist's blood boil. But they were Daoists who had already learned, through cultivation, to restrain their emotions. They simply clenched their teeth and endured.
"You don't need to protect me. Go fight with them! Hurry!"
Even as Baek Seol cried out, the Mount Hua Daoists did not break formation. Above all else, protecting Baek Seol, the sect leader's beloved daughter, was their highest priority.
Then Baek Seol suddenly sprinted toward the Shaanxi Four Fiends. None of the Mount Hua Daoists had expected her to do such a thing — they had been watching the Four Fiends' desperate struggle — and they failed to catch her.
"Young Lady Baek!"
Baek Seol had thought that if she went to the Shaanxi Four Fiends, the Mount Hua Daoists would fight with them. The moment she broke from the formation, two Macheon Chong warriors seized the gap and lunged. They were wolves racing toward a lamb.
Dokgo Ho-in launched himself the instant she was in danger. He threw one of his twin swords to check the nearer warrior and attacked the other with the remaining blade. But as he landed, his body lurched. The Macheon Chong warrior did not miss the opening. The tip of a sword shot out in a straight line, aimed at Dokgo Ho-in's chest.
He twisted, exhausting every last scrap of true qi. He clamped the warrior's sword under his left ribs and locked it there.
A form of the Phoenix Soaring Heaven Sword. As a phoenix folds its wings, true qi poured into the armpit so the trapped blade could not be withdrawn — and in that locked instant, his own sword punched through the enemy's throat.
"Ghk—!"
The warrior with the pierced throat staggered back and crumpled.
"Are you all right?"
Dokgo Ho-in asked. Baek Seol nodded, her eyes full of tears.
You're still as white as snow.
He smiled as he looked at her face.
Don't cry. Don't cry — smile for me.
Baek Seol grabbed his hand, trying to hold onto him.
"Kyaaaaah!"
A scream tore from her throat as she pulled on Dokgo Ho-in's hand — a scream to freeze the blood.