Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Are You Really the Young Leader?
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The invisible force binding his limbs seemed to be growing even stronger.
“Yo, yo, young leader, I—”
“How dare you try to touch my followers right in front of me.”
“W-wait just a moment, young, young, young leader, hear me—”
“You pull this crap just because I stepped away for a bit?”
Gwijun could no longer speak.
The binding force was now clamping down on his jaw joint as well.
He screamed inwardly.
He hadn’t wanted to do this at all.
It was all just an order from Gwigok, and he, a mere low-ranking member, had no power to defy it.
“I get it. Of course I do. What power could a lowly grunt like you have, right?”
As expected, the young leader’s mercy is as vast as the sea—
“So die powerless, just like that.”
Along with a sweet laugh that resembled a wicked ghost.
*Thud!*
Gwijun flipped the greatsword he held and thrust it into his own abdomen.
“Ugh, aah—”
Perhaps because death was near, the Death Command Seal’s binding broke, allowing him to finally speak.
In Gwijun’s final field of vision, Unhwi gleamed brilliantly, bathed in the moon’s crystalline blessing, flickering with will-o’-the-wisps like ghostly flames.
“Divine punishment for heretics. We mustn’t forget.”
*Splurt!*
Gwijun dragged the greatsword upward, splitting his remaining upper body clean in two.
*Whoosh!*
Flames erupted on their own once more, incinerating the corpse entirely.
Unhwi looked up at the night sky.
“Die, all of you.”
It was a word spirit.
*Splurt! Slash!*
Sounds of swords piercing flesh echoed from here and there.
They were the noises made by the remaining four sword guards as they all took their own lives.
And then.
“You can come out now.”
At Unhwi’s words directed at a certain spot, someone emerged with cautious footsteps.
“Ar... are... you... really... the young... leader...?”
A follower of the Fierce Demon Divine Transformation Sect who had hidden in the shadows, watching helplessly as Gwijun died. His voice trembled.
He was badly injured from the long chase.
But in his gaze toward Unhwi, conflicting emotions intermingled: shock and disbelief, awe and fear, attachment and lament.
“If I’m not me, then who is?”
“I’m so relieved you’re safe. Truly, truly.”
Tears wouldn’t stop flowing from the follower’s eyes.
「Waaah!」
「What a touching scene!」
「The loyal follower who awaited only the young leader’s arrival, and the young leader gazing warmly upon such a follower—」
「Forgive us not for turning things into this mess!!」
While the specters tore at handkerchiefs from who-knows-where with their teeth, I gently stroked the follower’s head.
“You’ve suffered greatly all this time.”
“The young leader—”
The follower seemed eager to say something. But sobs choked his throat.
The corners of my lips, hidden by the mask, curled upward.
“I know exactly what you want to say. Even without words, your heart reaches me clearly, so don’t push yourself.”
“...Thank you.”
“But though I’d love to catch up properly with you, it seems I’ll have to put that off for now, which is truly regrettable. Let’s handle the urgent matters first. Fall back.”
I hid the follower behind me and lifted my head.
Something had been detected.
The follower’s gaze naturally turned that way as well.
A shadow dropped lightly onto the rooftop opposite.
*Thud!*
A man stood there, arms crossed, smirking.
He exuded a formidable aura.
I knew instinctively.
He was the elite who had risen to the Demon-Exorcising Ghost Array from one of the Nine Great Sects, as the specters had mentioned.
“I was wondering what the hell was going on all of a sudden... and then this unexpected catch falls right into my lap. One of the Five Great Sword Commanders? But I’ve never heard of anyone like you in Sichuan.”
*Whoosh!*
A frigid wind howled.
The chilling gale of the Demonic Horse North Sea Sect’s signature Ice Soul Divine Energy.
*Whirl whirl whirl...!*
Ice blanketed everything in all directions.
* * *
Sama Seon-ui clenched her fist tightly.
‘Like a mirage.’
It felt as if she’d just woken from a daydream.
The shock Unhwi had left behind was that unreal.
No matter how much she stretched it, he had a face that looked about her age or even younger, yet he displayed such prowess.
Sama Seon-ui knew full well that the swordsmen Cho Do-yang had brought were no amateurs.
The Blade Lion Squad.
They were the Lion Gate’s absolute elites, personally trained in swordsmanship by the Lion Gate Master himself, and the unit that had enabled them to perfectly dominate Guiju’s martial world to this day.
Even the Blue Flower Manor had been on high alert for the Blade Lion Squad’s intervention when clashing with the Lion Blade King.
In fact, Sama Seon-ui had accepted Cho Do-yang’s rude challenge precisely because of them.
She had read the implicit threat: if she refused the duel, he’d deploy the Blade Lion Squad to force a showdown anyway.
Had Yu Su-min gotten hurt in the process, Sama Seon-ui would never have been able to show her face in Sichuan again.
Yet all that resolve had crumbled in vain as the Blade Lion Squad was crushed in one fell swoop.
By a single person, no less.
The problem was she couldn’t fathom Unhwi’s identity.
If someone of that caliber belonged to the Tang Clan, he should already be renowned in the martial world, yet the only name that came to mind was Tang Gyujin.
Obviously, Tang Gyujin was a woman.
He couldn’t be that man.
‘Wait! This guy definitely knows about that man, right? He said he was from the Nine Dragons Branch Family—’
Sama Seon-ui’s gaze naturally turned to Hyeok U-gi.
Hyeok U-gi jerked his head up.
“Yeah! Evil sorcery! It has to be evil sorcery! That bastard definitely used sorcery!!”
Sama Seon-ui unwittingly furrowed her brow.
It reeked.
Hyeok U-gi’s pant leg was soaked through.
“Yeah! Otherwise, it makes no sense! That guy’s Tang Unhwi! Tang Unhwi of the Nine Dragons Branch Family! There’s no way a cripple like that could be this stron— Eek!”
Hyeok U-gi cut himself off with a gasp.
Cho Do-yang’s blade had silently appeared under his chin.
“Do you know who that man is? Tell me everything you know, now!”
The shock Unhwi had given Cho Do-yang was immense.
‘To make even me... afraid. Among my peers, he’s the first since Cheongseong’s Yi Cheolsan or the South Palace Clan’s Namgung Ji-hun.’
Cheongseong Sect’s senior disciple Yi Cheolsan and South Palace Clan’s young lord Namgung Ji-hun were already renowned figures in the martial world.
They had surpassed the realm of later-generation talents, earning mention as the next generation’s top ten masters—transcendent elites.
And now, the thought that Unhwi might be on their level meant he needed to gather as much information as possible.
Moreover, he was determined to avenge the humiliating ordeal he’d just suffered.
He was already en route to the Nine Dragons County with the Blade Lion Squad, bearing the Lion Gate Master’s decree.
If Unhwi was from the Tang Clan, they could encounter him at the Nine Dragons Branch Family too, he figured.
The lion, king of all beasts, could never accept defeat, and one who claimed that title had to know how to avenge themselves.
Of course, with his current skill, he couldn’t beat Unhwi even if they met.
But he had one other method.
A method only he could use.
‘I originally planned to use it on the White Sword Orchid... but plans change. I won’t see my era dawn unless I crush that guy first!’
So he intended to scrape together every scrap of info on Unhwi beforehand.
“Th-that—”
“Spit it out straight.”
“Eek! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything I know, just spare my life!”
Seeing the blade digging into his throat, Hyeok U-gi spilled every bit of information he had.
His schemes to seduce Yu Su-min and Sama Seon-ui, his ambition to properly establish the Golden Sword Sect—all had already vanished like illusions.
And then.
“You expect me to believe that nonsense?”
When the explanation of Unhwi concluded, Cho Do-yang’s face crumpled in disgust.
“I-it’s true! Believe me! I never imagined that guy could’ve changed so much!”
No matter how menacingly Cho Do-yang threatened, Hyeok U-gi had no proper response left.
But Sama Seon-ui believed his account was entirely truthful.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve heard the rumors. The Nine Dragons Branch Family’s second son has changed a lot lately. They said he matched the Thousand Leaf Immortal, which I thought was nonsense, but it was real.’
Martial world rumors were usually exaggerated, but every so often, the truly unbelievable ones turned out real.
Unhwi seemed to be one such case.
‘My daughter, it looks like you’ll have to visit the Nine Dragons Branch Family yourself.’
Suddenly, she recalled her father’s words before she’d left home, when he’d called her aside.
‘Go see for yourself. Whether there truly is a prodigy there worthy of inheriting the Mad Wind Legend, as the rumors say. And if there seems to be—’
Her father, the Clear Sky Sword Emperor, always warm and benevolent like his alias suggested, had shown a brutally cold martial artist’s face that day.
‘You must eliminate him with your own hands. Without fail!’
Now Sama Seon-ui finally understood the heavy emotion weighing in her father’s voice.
‘You were afraid, Father.’
The Clear Sky Sword Emperor afraid of someone.
She knew well that the Mad Wind Corps was a legend of Sichuan’s martial world, but it was an old tale from a long-dissolved group.
Yet she couldn’t understand why her father cared so much.
But now, she thought she grasped it a little.
—A prodigy who might inherit the Mad Wind Legend.
Sama Seon-ui resolved that if she visited the Nine Dragons Branch Family, she’d scrutinize Unhwi’s every move.
‘But why would someone who should be in Nine Dragons County show up here?’
As she tilted her head in puzzlement.
*Clang!*
Cho Do-yang and the Blade Lion Squad sheathed their drawn swords.
“...I wanted to settle this here, but let’s duel later—at the Nine Dragons Branch Family!”
“Fine by us.”
They all instinctively realized everyone present was headed to the Nine Dragons Branch Family.
The Blade Lion Squad gathered the corpses and exited the teahouse.
They even seemed to have enough time to promise compensation to the teahouse owner.
*Thud!*
Sama Seon-ui slumped into her chair.
In that brief span, she felt as if she’d exhausted all her mental energy.
Yu Su-min was the same.
Fatigue covered her face.
“Uh, Miss Sama, Miss Yu, so, about today—”
“Still haven’t left?”
Hyeok U-gi belatedly tried to speak, only to clamp his mouth shut under Yu Su-min’s sharp glare.
The refined lady from a noble house who used to smile and respond to his words was gone.
There was only the tigress monk Pama Satae, who would sternly punish the outer path as a matter of course.
Her naturally honed killing intent, forged from slaying demons, turned Hyeok U-gi’s face deathly pale.
“We’ll send word to the Golden Sword Sect separately regarding today’s events. Please return to your sect, Gate Master.”
Faced with the clear order to leave, Hyeok U-gi fled the teahouse like a rabbit.
In their exhausted state, Yu Su-min brushed back her hair and forced a smile.
“I’m beat, but how about we grab some drinks instead of tea for a change of pace?”
Sama Seon-ui nodded.
Before heading to Nine Dragons County, she wanted to clear her head a bit today.