Chapter 15: Four Gods Unleashed (5)
Thud! With the sound of a drum exploding, the hidden weapons scattered in every direction.
She had unleashed a martial art of tremendous power, yet there were no openings. Her stance had grown as precise as the qualitative leap in her qi.
“Ho?!”
Surprise flickered across the face of Reohwabang’s leader, Ma Bang.
Jegal A-yeon had lowered her stance, shielding Jegal Jun behind her. A pure white aura poured from her body—gentle and pristine, yet fiercely potent.
It wasn’t a Taoist divine art, but its depth and purity were extraordinary. It even carried the faint, soothing scent of sandalwood.
This was the Jegal family’s famed Mystic Origin Sandalwood Divine Art—a secret technique no one could learn without the patriarch and elders’ permission.
“Impressive! So even a girl like you outshines your little brother?”
“Shut your mouth!”
Thwack!
Jegal A-yeon charged at Ma Bang. Unleashing her hidden technique made her movements swifter and lighter.
The startled Ma Bang wildly swung the dagger in his left hand.
Whing! Fwing!
Jegal A-yeon’s upper body twisted fluidly, evading every arc of the blade. Poison coated Ma Bang’s dagger—a single graze would cripple her fighting strength.
That peril sharpened her senses to the extreme.
Jegal A-yeon’s palm slammed into Ma Bang’s abdomen.
Wham!
Got him!
Ma Bang staggered back. It was the Little Heaven Star Palm Technique, linked with the Sandalwood Divine Art—clearly a cut above Jegal Jun’s version, with far greater true energy behind it.
Chain into the follow-up now…!
Then, a flash of light streaked through the air.
About to press the attack, Jegal A-yeon urgently ducked her head. The sudden twist overloaded her lower body.
“Cough! You bitch, I’ll rip you apart?!”
Ma Bang glared at her, hacking up a rough cough.
Jegal A-yeon panicked.
How did he counter?
She had landed the Shock formula of the Little Heaven Star Palm, infused with Sandalwood True Qi. Without inner strength to defend, his organs would have ruptured. Even if he blocked, the vibrations should have left him barely able to move.
“Kyaak, ptui! You fucking whore! I was going easy, and now you think you own the place?!”
Pop-pop-pop!
Nine daggers shot toward Jegal A-yeon’s vital points.
Whirrr!
Once more, she dodged them. Despite lacking real combat experience against peers of equal skill, her reactions were remarkably sharp.
But that was the limit.
Thump!
“Kuh!”
A brutal impact rocked her side. Ma Bang had closed in with a kick. Had she not instinctively blocked, her ribs would have shattered.
As Jegal A-yeon retreated, she thrust her fist at Ma Bang’s chest.
Thud!
“Nngh!”
Ma Bang reeled back. He took the hit but neither fell nor lost his strength.
This can’t be!
What kind of freakish body was this?
“Huff. Huff.”
“Just as I thought.”
Shing.
Ma Bang drew another dagger.
“That technique’s still too much for a kid like you.”
Sweat beaded on Jegal A-yeon’s forehead and trickled down.
Ma Bang was right. The Mystic Origin Sandalwood Divine Art made for a devastating trump card, but sustaining it was beyond her.
Her current level and inner strength couldn’t support its full might for long.
Ma Bang glanced around and bellowed.
“What are you cowards waiting for? She’s worn out—gang up on her!”
The hesitant Reohwabang thugs roared and charged.
Despair clouded Jegal A-yeon’s face.
Is this the end?
The moment her breathing faltered, the Sandalwood qi broke. Qi always followed the mind. With her breath unsteady and fear overtaking her resolve, her inner strength naturally faltered too.
Strength drained from her limbs.
Facing the killers’ malice closing in, a foreign emotion stirred deep within: terror.
“Get her!”
“Raaah!”
Swish-swish!Thud!
A chaotic melee erupted—one against many.
* * *
“B-Brother!”
“……”
No response came from Yeon Hojeong.
Yeon Jipyeong gritted his teeth.
“If you won’t go… then I will!”
Grab!
In one leap, Yeon Jipyeong vaulted the railing, bounding from the third-floor balcony to the second, then down to the first.
Yeon Hojeong, who had been fixated on Jegal A-yeon, finally looked down.
Yeon Jipyeong sprinted desperately toward the main gate on the first floor.
Yeon Hojeong sighed.
Whoosh!
Flames blazed outside the gate on the first floor—far too massive for the wall’s height.
Damn it!
Yeon Jipyeong flinched despite himself. Trapped here, his body might hold, but his mind would shatter.
He strained to steady his shrinking resolve.
It’s nothing. Hurry—save the Jegal family and put out the fire!
Taking a deep breath, Yeon Jipyeong reached for the gate.
Whoosh!Boom!
The air scorched as the gate’s bolt shattered. Shards from the broken gate fed the blaze, and a fierce gust drove the roaring flames forward.
Yeon Jipyeong’s eyes widened. Through his clear, innocent gaze, he glimpsed a figure cloaked in blue light bursting from the fire.
“Brother!!”
* * *
Thud!
“Cough!”
The iron club smashed her side, and Jegal A-yeon finally spat blood.
Internal injuries.
Her mind cleared, but her body felt like lead.
The Reohwabang thugs were nowhere near Ma Bang’s level, but each attack carried true qi. Cumulative blows had shaken her insides; this one caused bleeding.
Thump!
Her knees buckled, independent of her will. For Jegal A-yeon, unused to such grueling combat, this was her limit.
“Sh-She’s down!”
“Heh! She was bucking like a mare in heat!”
“Leader! Why not have a taste right here?”
Vulgar jeers tickled her ears. Terror and rage surged.
But no matter how she tried, strength wouldn’t return.
Jegal A-yeon looked up. Far off, Ma Bang smirked darkly—as if he’d assault her on the spot.
Suicide…!
Then—
Crack!
Something shattered, and crimson sprayed across her vision.
Drip-drip!Thud!
“Gasp!”
“W-What?!”
The thugs recoiled, staring at the fallen corpse.
It was gruesome—like crushed by a giant’s hand. The head was savagely torn off, fragments scattered everywhere.
The headless body still twitched its fingers, heightening the horror.
Beside it, a long iron rod stabbed the ground.
Ma Bang’s eyes changed.
“What the hell?”
The thugs turned toward Choseong-ru’s gate.
“Hoo.”
A young man strolled in, exhaling lightly. Barely in his twenties? Tall but slender like a scholar, sharp-featured—not fierce, but upright and unyielding.
Ma Bang’s face hardened like ice.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Shut it, you pyro psycho.”
“……?”
“Why torch a perfectly fine tavern, you thick-skulled bastard? I oughta shove a piss pot up your ass.”
Raw, unfiltered profanity.
Ma Bang faltered. Over twenty years in the back alleys, he’d never heard curses so brutal.
Then, a thug approached with his club, face flushed with violent frenzy.
“You little shit, who do you think……”
Stab!Thump!
The thug collapsed.
Ma Bang’s eyes bulged.
What?
The thug didn’t rise. Not unconscious—dead.
How’d he kill him?
Yeon Hojeong, gripping the dead thug’s club, stomped the ground. Ma Bang’s hair stood on end.
“Block him!”
Wham!
No sooner said than another thug dropped. His skull cracked open, blood streaming. The club mark caved in the flesh— instant death.
Yeon Hojeong rolled his shoulder.
“Hope my shoulder holds.”
Wham!
Another thug fell while dazed—head again.
Not content with decapitating one with a spinning iron rod, he now bashed skulls with a club. A merciless killer.
Utterly unlike Jegal A-yeon’s refined technique. He struck fatally at any gap.
Realizing their foe was no ordinary man, the thugs raised weapons.
“Th-This bastard?!”
“Kill him!”
Ma Bang shouted.
“Idiots! Grab the hostages and—”
Thud-thud-thud!
He couldn’t finish. Yeon Hojeong dove into their midst, swinging the club like a god possessed.
Yet the swings were odd—neither fast nor forceful. They looked dodgeable blindfolded.
But the thugs couldn’t block and fell. One kill per strike.
Some skulls shattered; others died from chest or lumbar hits.
Vital points!
Yes. Yeon Hojeong targeted only fatal spots with the iron club. Skulls got pulverized with extra force; elsewhere, the nearest acupoint sufficed.
Ma Bang couldn’t believe it. Killing via vital points with a club—not a blade—wasn’t for amateurs. Peak masters wouldn’t attempt it lightly without profound inner strength.
But…!
He wasn’t peak. His movements and leaking qi said mid-tier at best—equal to Ma Bang or a notch below.
How did he kill so effortlessly?
“What’s with you lot? Even the alley punks back home are more organized than this trash.”
Having felled twenty thugs, Yeon Hojeong tossed the bloody club and yanked his iron rod from the ground.
Ma Bang couldn’t smirk anymore.
“What’s your name?”
Yeon Hojeong ignored him, glancing at Jegal A-yeon.
Her eyes trembled faintly.
“Th-Thank……”
Crack!
“Krrk!”
Yeon Hojeong seized her wrist. Focusing on her pulse, he clicked his tongue and struck it.
“Gonna have to call it for now.”
“W-What?”
“Take your brother and fall back.”
“……”
“You’re in the way—move!”
Startled, Jegal A-yeon scrambled up. Authority laced Yeon Hojeong’s voice—legs regained strength just from hearing it.
Yeon Hojeong turned to Ma Bang, whose face twisted slightly.
“Fucking greenhorn……”
“Not Yin Chill White, so Yin Fire Red?”
“……!!”
Ma Bang paled.
Yeon Hojeong smirked.
“Explains the arson.”
“H-How do you know about Yin Fire……?!”
Whoooosh!
The heavy iron rod began to spin.
“Fire? Perfect. Just what I need to nurture Water.”
“……?!”
“What’re you waiting for? Come on.”