A Stab in the Back
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber drove Bulsama's men all the way to the end of the stairs, and only then could he reunite with his daughter.
"Huh? What's that?"
Do Ok-myeong couldn't immediately recognize her father's face either—it kept shifting from one appearance to the next. But she could guess from his martial arts. The whirlwind that rose from a blade belonged to the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber's saber art alone. Even the epithet Fluttering Saber had been given because of those whirling gales. Every time a saber flashed in the corridor and a whirlwind rose, she knew it was her father.
"Father!"
"Myeong-ah."
The moment she found him unharmed, Do Ok-myeong's tears came in a flood. She had been sick with worry—so sick that if anything had happened to him, she had been ready to follow him into death. She had no confidence she could survive this world alone in her ailing body.
"That's him!"
Bulsama's men recognized the man Do Ok-myeong had called Father and refused to back down.
"From now on, ignore everyone else. Focus your attacks on the girl and her father."
The words had barely left his mouth when they charged—
"Protect the lord! All of you, assemble!"
The voice of Bulsama's bodyguard rang out from the floor below. The men in the corridor stopped looking at Do Ok-myeong and the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber and poured down the stairs. Guarding their lord took priority over hunting down an elixir.
With Bulsama driven into a corner, his subordinates flocked to his side.
"Ugh!"
Bulsama recovered almost instantly even when the Plum Blossom Swordmasters' blades cut him, so the wounds themselves were no real problem—but he was being stabbed and slashed far more often than before. Without that monstrous regenerative power, he would already have been carved into a thousand pieces. And even if the martial artists gathered at the inn couldn't finish him, they were more than enough to get under his skin. His bodyguards had no choice but to prioritize their lord's protection.
Once every last one of Bulsama's men on this floor had gone to him, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber spoke quietly to Do Ok-myeong.
"Myeong-ah, let's leave this place."
"Now?"
"Yes."
Do Ok-myeong looked at him, then shook her head hard.
"Father, I cannot obey that."
"It's dangerous to stay here."
The battle could turn at any moment. Bulsama might be at a disadvantage now, but until he was dead, there was no such thing as safety. A man who would attack an inn where the Mount Hua Sect was staying was a man obsessed with the elixir.
"Father, these people answered a complete stranger's plea to save you. They even resolved to fight Bulsama for my sake. How could I turn my back on them? I cannot follow your order."
"This is not the time to talk about honor!"
In the middle of their argument, Kang Chu-mi's whip quietly coiled around Do Ok-myeong's waist.
"Sorry, but even if you're leaving, you'll be handing over half the elixir first. You did promise us, didn't you?"
Kang Chu-mi and Ham Cheon-yeong had already anticipated this and moved in beside Do Ok-myeong. Only Ham Cheon-yeong looked at her with a trace of apology.
"Big Brother!"
Kang Chu-mi came toward Seo Joo-cheon, who had been lost in thought for a moment.
"Hm?"
"What are you doing down here? Honestly! If you stand there spacing out, what happens when a stray blade finds you?"
The martial artists who had been pressing Dokgo Ho-in had all gathered around Bulsama, leaving Kang Chu-mi free to come down to the first-floor hall.
"What about Ho-in? You just left him up there?"
"If you were that worried, you should've come up to the second floor yourself."
"I trusted you."
Seo Joo-cheon smiled, and Kang Chu-mi smiled with him.
"You really know how to talk, don't you."
"And Miss Do? Don't tell me her father already took her and—"
Seo Joo-cheon asked, worried the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber might have fled with his daughter. Kang Chu-mi grinned.
"Big Brother. After all the years we've spent together, you think we'd miss something like that? Second Brother and Third Brother are already watching Miss Do like hawks. And Miss Do isn't the type to turn her back on the people who saved her and run off with her father anyway."
"I was worried because the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber and the White Salt Blade are both experts."
"If you're that worried, you go watch them yourself."
"Maknae. You go up too and make sure the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber doesn't run off with Miss Do. With three of you, he won't dare make a move."
"That's not it—I think we need to go up there right now."
Seo Joo-cheon looked at her.
"They're about to split the elixir, aren't they."
"They are? Then this is no time to be standing around."
Whatever Bulsama was plotting, the Stalactite Milk came first. Seo Joo-cheon went into the guest room where he'd been staying. The fighting in the inn was fierce, but the room itself was still intact. He quickly pulled a small porcelain vial from his pack. Since he always carried poison, he kept several spare porcelain vials on him as a matter of course. Vial in hand, he headed for the far end of the second-floor corridor where the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber was waiting.
"Hero Po."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber looked at the approaching Seo Joo-cheon with a bitter expression. Anyone who wouldn't feel the sting of giving away Stalactite Milk wasn't human.
"I trust you'll keep your promise."
Seo Joo-cheon said, unscrewing the porcelain vial.
"Here?"
the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber asked as the lid came off.
"Better to settle this quickly. There's no telling what might happen downstairs."
"Very well."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber had no choice but to comply. Ham Cheon-yeong and Dokgo Ho-in stood to either side of Do Ok-myeong; there was no room to flee with his daughter. And he didn't have the skill to put those two down in a single exchange, so he couldn't risk a fight.
Nothing for it. Better to split the Stalactite Milk and get out of here fast.
If he refused them the elixir and ended up clashing, he might lose far more than he saved.
Even my own daughter has taken their side. I have no choice.
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber drew a jade bottle of Stalactite Milk from his robes and opened the lid. Everyone watching swallowed hard. The legendary elixir—Stalactite Milk. It was revealing itself to the world at this very moment.
He poured a measure, then gave the jade bottle a slight shake. A sloshing sound answered from within.
"That should be about half."
Seo Joo-cheon took the porcelain vial and sniffed it.
It's the real Stalactite Milk, no question.
To be certain, he dabbed the residue at the vial's mouth with a fingertip and touched it to his tongue. He nodded.
The novel described it clearly: even a trace of Stalactite Milk on the tongue hits you with a powerful mint fragrance. There's no faking that.
Already his whole body was flushing hot, his inner energy swelling. The claim that a single drop granted ten years of internal power was no lie.
At least he knows the debt of having his daughter saved. That said... is this how I collect the Karma Mission reward? I got the elixir, but not the martial art. He's not going to just hand that over if I ask. Maybe you don't actually receive every listed reward? First things first—secure the elixir.
He felt a pang of regret at not receiving the martial art among the rewards for the mission to save the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber.
I'll have to be satisfied with the Stalactite Milk alone.
He tucked the porcelain vial of Stalactite Milk into his robes.
"Thank you for keeping your word."
"No. I'm the one who should thank you for keeping my daughter safe. We'll be going now."
He had stolen the elixir in the first place to heal his daughter's severed meridians; of course he wanted to leave the inn now. Seo Joo-cheon gave him a small nod.
"Take care. Word's still out that you have the elixir, so martial artists will be hunting you wherever you go. If it comes to that, palming off a fake should get you out of a tight spot."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber bowed in farewell, then tucked Do Ok-myeong against his side and slipped out through a second-floor window. Before following, Jeo Pung, the White Salt Blade, turned and clasped his fists in salute.
"May fortune favor your martial path."
Once the two were gone, Ham Cheon-yeong stared at the window with hollow eyes. For a brief moment, he had found his heart leaning toward Do Ok-myeong.
"What? Want to go after her?"
Kang Chu-mi teased. Ham Cheon-yeong gave a short laugh. He had never once believed he could take a woman and live happily. He had lived his whole life without even allowing himself that kind of daydream. All he expected was the lonely death of a martial artist, cut down someday by someone's blade.
"I just helped her because she reminded me of my little sister. The one who died a long time ago."
Kang Chu-mi and Dokgo Ho-in glanced at each other and said nothing more. They knew too well what was in Ham Cheon-yeong's heart.
"Don't be lonely, Second Brother. You've got us."
Ham Cheon-yeong smiled.
"I know."
Seo Joo-cheon glanced at the situation downstairs, then spoke.
"Let's go down. Time we finished this ourselves."
The chance to take Bulsama was now or never. Originally, this was a man destined to die at Jang Hyeon-nam's hands—but if he kept growing stronger like this, even Jang Hyeon-nam might not be able to handle him.
If we don't do it now, Jang Hyeon-nam might be the one who falls to Bulsama.
That fear decided him. Seo Joo-cheon resolved to wipe Bulsama out today.
"Third Brother, stay here and protect Miss Baek Seol."
Quite a few Mount Hua disciples had been wounded in the fighting; someone needed to guard them. Dokgo Ho-in couldn't leave Baek Seol anyway, so he nodded.
"Understood. I'll hold this floor."
Seo Joo-cheon started toward the stairs.
"You two, get ready to join the fight."
Bulsama and his men were still locked in fierce combat. The fight was roughly even; they could go all night without a winner. The balance was strange, but as time passed, Bulsama's side was tipping toward disadvantage.
Once we join in, even Bulsama won't be able to hold.
Just as the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes were about to move, someone smashed through what was left of the inn's half-destroyed door.
BANG!
"Huh?"
Ham Cheon-yeong stared at the newcomer in surprise.
"Daoist Go Jin?"
Kang Chu-mi watched Go Jin limp in on his staff, Qingcheng Sect disciples at his back. Dang Seol-yong didn't look particularly surprised.
Just as I thought. Now that Bulsama's in a corner, he's come back to snatch some credit.
She looked at Go Jin with open distaste. Seo Joo-cheon, thinking the same thing, watched Go Jin as well.
But when he saw who came bursting through the empty front entrance next, Seo Joo-cheon's unease spiked. The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber, Do Ok-myeong, and the White Salt Blade were stumbling back into the inn, faces stricken. Looking closer, he saw blood staining the robes of the Qingcheng disciples and Daoist Go Jin.
"What's going on?"
Ham Cheon-yeong asked. Go Jin answered in a shaking voice.
"Damn it! We're surrounded!"
"What do you mean?"
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber answered Ham Cheon-yeong's question.
"The Blood Heaven Unit has the inn surrounded. Over a hundred of them."
At those words, Bulsama, still fighting, threw his head back and roared with laughter.
He had been fighting all this time, waiting for the Blood Heaven Unit that had been hunting the elixir. Mak Goeng, commander of the Blood Heaven Unit, had been chasing the elixir; Vice Commander Mi-u had kidnapped Baek I-jin. But the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber's disguises had thrown them off the trail, forcing Mak Goeng to track the wrong place and turn back. The moment Seo Joo-cheon had taken Do Ok-myeong from him, Bulsama had sent a subordinate to order Mak Goeng to assemble at Namcheon Inn. At last the picture was coming together the way he'd planned, and Bulsama couldn't help but laugh.
"Commander Mak! Annihilate every enemy in this inn!"
Bulsama roared, pouring inner energy into his voice. From outside, Mak Goeng's answering shout rolled in from the encirclement.
At Mak Goeng's command, more than a hundred Blood Heaven Unit martial artists charged the inn.