Chapter 113: Blue and Red Twin Swords-1
Chapter 113: Blue and Red Twin Swords-1
The Pavilion Master of Yeollak Pavilion smiled at me as if he had all the time in the world.
"Haha, Seonwoo daehyeop. Our Hao Gate branch in Sichuan Province would never..."
But I cut him off immediately.
And with the force of a peak-level martial artist, I spoke to him firmly.
"You will have to take full responsibility for those words. Because there likely won't be a second chance for the Hao Gate. I believed you understood that, but it seems people indeed fail to grasp reality until they've paid the price."
Then, without lingering, I turned and spoke to Lady Dang.
"Let us go now, sojeo."
It was a threat, of course, but it wasn't entirely a lie.
The Hao Gate were certainly useful people, but if they couldn't be trusted, they'd be worse than useless.
If he didn't spill what he'd been hiding before we left this place, I intended to contact Hwa hyeongnim right away and tell him to deal with the Hao Gate.
As expected, a reaction came.
He called out to me urgently.
"W-Wait! Just a moment! Please wait, daehyeop!"
I stopped walking and turned to look at him with cold eyes.
Then, drenched in sweat by this point, he spoke to me as if making an apology.
"I-I was never trying to hide it. It was simply that we didn't have precise information ourselves, so I couldn't speak of it easily!"
Just as I thought.
The bait had worked.
But outwardly, I gave him a laugh as if I found his words absurd.
And I replied in an icy tone.
"Ah, I see. That was a most convincing excuse. Then we'll meet next time. Though I can't say where that meeting might take place."
At that, he squeezed his eyes shut.
And when he opened them again, he finally spoke with a weary face, forcing the words out.
"I'll tell you. The branches in Guizhou, in Guizhou Castle... something about them is clearly amiss."
I stared at him silently.
The look meant: keep talking.
Then, with an expression of liberation, he continued.
"I don't know how much you are already aware of, Seonwoo daehyeop, but we also don't know precisely which branch in Guizhou is cooperating with the Blood Cult. We haven't had proper communication with them recently. However..."
In that moment, I found myself grinding my teeth.
The Hao Gate in Guizhou Castle, cooperating with the Blood Cult.
It was nothing short of shocking information.
Suddenly, the Un Clan, who had driven the Jeungak Dogak Man Jong-im to his death before, flickered through my mind.
And also my own family, the Seonwoo Clan.
I cut him off and asked coldly.
"What is the likelihood that it is every branch in Guizhou Castle?"
He faltered for a moment, then let out a sigh and answered.
"...It is not entirely impossible."
I sighed deeply to myself.
Unlike my past life, when I destroyed Jeonghyeopbang, I had hoped to completely block the Blood Cult's advance infiltration this time, but that had apparently been an overly hasty judgment.
The entire Hao Gate branch network in Guizhou Castle — if that were true, then in the worst-case scenario, Guizhou Castle might be in an even more dire state than Sichuan Province.
Perhaps even the Seonwoo Clan, where my father was, might already be...
At that moment, the Pavilion Master of Yeollak Pavilion shouted urgently.
"B-But! The odds that it hasn't reached that point are still far higher! Making too hasty a judgment would be...!"
I looked at his desperate expression with cold eyes.
What he was worried about was probably the total annihilation of the Hao Gate members in Guizhou Castle.
Which meant he was probably just as worried about this situation as I was.
If that was the case...
I spoke decisively, in an icy tone.
"Without precise information on the matter, we will have no choice but to exterminate the entire Hao Gate of Guizhou Castle."
At that, his face went white, like a man who had just received a death sentence.
"Wh-What?!"
He looked as though he might collapse into despair on the spot at any moment.
I watched him for a moment, then quietly tossed him a lifeline.
"But if we had precise information, the situation might change somewhat."
His head snapped up instantly, and he asked urgently.
"...What do you mean by that?"
I withdrew the pressure I had been using to intimidate him and looked at him with a serious gaze.
"It means you must bring us precise information from the Hao Gate. To prevent the very outcome you fear."
He froze for a moment, then swallowed hard and nodded, his face tense.
"Understood. I will do my utmost. I will absolutely uncover the situation in Guizhou Castle."
His eyes shone with a light of firm resolve.
A gaze like that seemed worth trusting, just this once.
I smiled faintly and added one more remark.
"And please deliver the content of our conversation just now directly to Hwa Yeong-bin daehyeop. Surely the Hao Gate's capabilities can manage that within two days? It must be the precise content, of course."
"...Leave it to me. I will convey it exactly as it was."
There was a chance he might tamper with the content, but knowing that Hwa hyeongnim and I could meet at any time, he likely wouldn't try such a shallow trick.
He would be well aware by now that the Hao Gate's Sichuan Province branch was no longer entirely safe either.
With that conversation as the conclusion, we walked out of Yeollak Pavilion.
As we did, Lady Dang exhaled heavily, as if releasing a breath she'd been holding.
"Hoo-ah, I was so tense."
Then she looked at me with sparkling eyes and said.
"I don't fully understand the details, but you reached an agreement with the Hao Gate to obtain intelligence on the Blood Cult forces in Guizhou Castle, right?"
I chuckled and answered.
"It was more of a threat than an agreement. I told them if they don't bring proper intelligence, we'll wipe them all out."
She shook her head from side to side and marveled.
"You're amazing. It was so cool."
Cough.
Cool, was it.
Her words pricked at my conscience.
After all, the ability to wipe out the Hao Gate belonged to Hwa hyeongnim, not to me.
So I had merely borrowed his authority to bluff, and being called cool for that was deeply embarrassing.
But Lady Dang, not knowing any of that, was gazing at me with sparkling eyes as if in reverence.
That look didn't feel entirely bad.
No, it was even a little gratifying.
I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
"Ahem, ahem. Anyway, Lady Dang, are you ready to move?"
She asked back, her expression puzzled.
"Huh? Move? Where to?"
I grinned and held out a human skin mask to her as I answered.
"Shouldn't we go and see Sucheonhoe? As people who are not Seonwoo Jin and Dang Yeoeun, that is."
She took the mask I offered and beamed brightly.
"Yes, I'd love to!"
Now, at last, it was time to rescue Do Mun-seung and uncover the secrets of the Heaven-Ascending Swordsman Mak Woo-jeon.
***
Deokchang, located somewhat northwest of Yeongnam, the southernmost tip of Sichuan Province.
Here stood the main hall of Sucheonhoe, the center of the southern Sichuan sects.
In the evening, as the sun was slowly sinking, the gate guards of Sucheonhoe were chatting idly with relaxed expressions, relieved that the day had ended without any unusual incident.
"Once our shift ends today, shall we go for a drink?"
"Sounds good. Where to?"
"How about that place over near Guho?"
It was then.
With the sinking sun at their backs, a man and a woman came trudging toward Sucheonhoe.
A man clad entirely in blue and a woman clad entirely in red. Even the silk tassels on the swords slung across their backs matched the colors of their clothes.
Something was clearly off.
The gate squad leader, realizing their approach, quickly reined in his subordinates.
"That's enough! No one let your guard down!"
At the squad leader's voice, the other gate guards soon spotted the approaching pair, and they all fixed their gazes on the two with tense expressions.
Trudge, trudge!
With steps neither fast nor slow, they continued straight toward the main gate of Sucheonhoe.
And as they drew closer, the gate guards could also see that the faces of the two were deathly pale, entirely devoid of color.
Adorned entirely in red and blue, and with faces pale as death besides.
These were undoubtedly the kind of eccentric martial world oddities one only ever heard about in stories.
Warrior Jang, the squad leader, hurriedly sent one man inside to report, then shouted at them in a tense voice.
"Halt! This is Sucheonhoe! What business brings you here?!"
At that, the man and woman, after briefly exchanging glances, immediately burst into laughter.
"Kihahahahaha!"
"Ohohohohoho!"
It was a chilling laughter, like the cackling of ghosts.
As the sound of their laughter filled the entire space, the gate guards could not endure it and had to cover their ears, staggering.
"Urgh!"
"Guuuhh! Th-This is...!"
It wasn't simply because the laughter was unpleasant to hear.
Their laughter was laden with immense internal energy.
Internal energy of a magnitude the gate guards could neither withstand nor even fathom.
Then, in a single moment, both of them stopped laughing abruptly.
And the man in blue opened his mouth.
"We are the Cheonghong Ssanggeom! Is there a man here named Mak Woo-jeon, the greatest villain in Sichuan?!"
A ringing voice — a strange, unnerving voice that gave no hint of his age.
But the gate squad leader gritted his teeth and shouted back.
"How dare you slander our alliance leader as the greatest villain in Sichuan! Our alliance leader is the greatest hyeopgaek in Sichuan!"
At that, the man gave a scoffing laugh and spoke to him in that same ringing voice.
"Pitiful creature, you have eyes but cannot see a man for what he is! We have no desire to kill pitiful wretches like you! Enough talk, now step aside!"
But the gate captain was a warrior of spirit.
If he were the type to retreat at mere words, he would never have taken up the sword in the first place. He gritted his teeth and shouted at the gate warriors.
"All of you, draw your swords! We guard this gate with our deaths!"
At his spirited cry, the gate warriors drew their swords in response.
"Yes! Squad Leader!"
Chachang! Chang!
That was the moment they drew their swords and tried to charge at the two figures.
Seuseuseuk!
In the blink of an eye, the forms of the man and woman had already closed in right before the warriors' eyes.
"!"
Simultaneously, countless hand shadows struck them.
Ppeobeobeobeobeok!
"Kuaaak!"
"Uwaaaak!"
"Keuheoeok!"
They had no time to even react.
Struck by a single palm strike from the man and woman, the eight gate warriors were sent flying in all directions almost simultaneously.
Kwang! Kwakwang! Kwang!
The warriors, flung like skipping stones and crashing into the main gate and walls, fell to the ground, writhing and groaning like insects.
"Kkeueueuk!"
"Eueueu."
Remarkably, no one seemed to have died.
But neither was there anyone who could still move.
The man and woman paid no attention to the gate warriors squirming on the ground.
They merely glided forward like ghosts, approached the main gate, and simultaneously placed their palms upon it.
Then, in the next instant, the main gate of Sucheonhoe burst apart as if exploding.
Kwaaaaaang!
***
The first master encountered by the gate warrior who had gone inside to report was Cha Ho-jung, the Fierce Hero Sword, who was training in the martial arts grounds just behind the main gate.
A prodigy still around his thirties who had reached the initial stage of peak-level, he was one of only eight peak-level masters in Sucheonhoe and also the commander of the Maengungdae, the mightiest fighting force of Sucheonhoe.
The face of the gate warrior, who had happened upon him training with the Maengungdae in the martial arts grounds at that very moment, lit up brightly.
Alongside Mak Se-ryeol, the son of Sucheonhoe's lord Mak Woo-jeon, Cha Ho-jung was hailed as Sucheonhoe's future. With him leading fifty men of the Maengungdae, he thought, those two strange freaks would be no problem at all.
The gate warrior urgently shouted to Cha Ho-jung.
"Commander! Strange beings are approaching!"
At that, Cha Ho-jung looked at the gate warrior with arrogant eyes.
It was a look that meant, continue.
"They were a strangely dressed man and woman! They...!"
Just as he reached that point, a chilling laughter suddenly rang out from the direction of the main gate.
"Kihahahahaha!"
"Ohohohohoho!"
At the words that there were only two of them, Cha Ho-jung, who had been frowning, suddenly hardened his expression.
It was a laughter that carried an extraordinary internal energy.
Cha Ho-jung immediately commanded the Maengungdae warriors under him.
"Stop what you're doing! Maengungdae, all prepare for battle!"
At this, the Maengungdae warriors, who had been sweating profusely from their martial arts training, immediately ceased action and answered as one voice.
"Yes! Commander!"
"Yes! Commander!"
"Yes! Commander!"
Then, without any further orders, they immediately moved and formed into a wedge formation centered on Cha Ho-jung.
Their unified response, speaking with a single voice even to a sudden command, and the flawless, precise movements that followed.
They were undoubtedly elite warriors who would stand out anywhere in the martial world.
And just then, with a thunderous roar, the main gate exploded.
Kwaaaaaang!
It was a sudden event, but Cha Ho-jung did not panic.
He merely drew his greatsword at once and shouted.
"Draw swords!"
At that, the fifty warriors of the Maengungdae drew their swords as one and unleashed a battle shout.
"Haap!"
Chang!
Where their gazes fell, beyond the shattered main gate, two bizarre figures, a man and a woman, were striding in.
They were pale-faced freaks whose entire bodies were wrapped in blue and red, respectively.
They halted their steps upon seeing Cha Ho-jung and the Maengungdae warriors.
And then the man in blue opened his mouth.
"The Azure-Crimson Twin Swords have arrived! Where is Mak Woo-jeon, Number One Villain of Sichuan?!"
It was a ringing, powerful voice that made it hard to guess his age. Cha Ho-jung frowned for a moment, then bellowed in a resonant voice.
"The Azure-Crimson Twin Swords?! Number One Villain of Sichuan, you say?! How dare some unheard-of trash from the evil faction speak the honorable name of our Lord?!"
At that, the man and woman burst into laughter simultaneously once again.
"Kihahahahahaha!"
"Ohohohohohoho!"
A chilling tremor like a demon ghost's wail and its echo.
As that laughter filled the space, the Maengungdae warriors contorted their faces and let out groans.
"Eueuk?!"
"What the?!"
Cha Ho-jung, a peak-level master, was no different.
He didn't groan, but he couldn't help but frown.
The internal energy contained within the sound was one thing, but the two voices resonated together, seeming to shake even the heart-soul.
'A sound attack used for a killing art?!'
Having thought this, Cha Ho-jung wasted no more time.
He immediately commanded the Maengungdae warriors.
"Maengungdae! All attack!"
At that, the groaning Maengungdae warriors reflexively shouted a battle cry and charged forward.
"Haaaaap!"
Their charge contained not even the slightest hesitation.
It was an instinctive action, born of immense training.
The sight of fifty Maengungdae warriors charging at just two people was like watching a pack of wolves rushing to catch rabbits. A momentum like a raging wave, to say the least.
Watching this, a bitter smile crossed Cha Ho-jung's face.
Because even if those two were stronger than him, they wouldn't be able to withstand a combined attack of fifty.
But Cha Ho-jung's eyes, which had been thinking thus, soon widened enormously, as if they might pop out.
"Th-that's impossible!"
The first to move was the woman in red.
Moving like a ghost, she dodged the sword of the Maengungdae warrior charging at the front and planted a palm strike into his chest.
Peoeng!
"Keuhuk!"
But up to that point, it was still possible.
The woman clearly seemed to be a master, and the warrior she had sent flying was only one.
The shocking part began from there.
The woman who had sprung forward immediately circled back around.
Because her one hand and the man's one hand were held tightly, as if linked.
Then, as if swapping places with her, the man sprang forward this time.
Into a space where three swords were already raining down.
Syuhak!
The man, holding the woman's hand, seemed not even to see the swords flying toward him.
He simply whirled his legs toward the incoming swords like a tornado.
And then, something astonishing happened.
Chaechaechaeng! Ppeobeobeok!
The man's legs, spinning like a whirlwind, had simultaneously deflected the swords and the Maengungdae warriors.
As if striking an iron flail, all the Maengungdae warriors' swords were shattering.
"Keueoeok!"
"Kuaaak!"
"Keoheoeok!"
Three Maengungdae warriors were sent flying backward like cannonballs.
At that, a problem arose for the Maengungdae warriors rushing up from behind.
They couldn't bring themselves to cut down their comrades flying toward them, and cracks appeared in the formation of the Maengungdae warriors.
So, toward the Maengungdae warriors behind who had momentarily hesitated, the woman in red, having already swapped places again, came flying like a whirlwind, kicking at them.
Ppababababak!
"Keueoeok!"
"Kuaaak!"
"Keoheoeok!"
The Maengungdae warriors struck by the woman's foot were again sent flying backward.
And at the same time, the man in blue once more sprang forward like a whirlwind.
Ppeobeobeobeobeok!
It was like watching the Taiji.
The sight of the blue man and red woman revolving while holding each other's hands.
Caught up in that unheard-of, whirlwind-like combined attack, the formation of fifty Maengungdae warriors was being utterly torn apart.
Cha Ho-jung's heart grew urgent.
He couldn't leave them like this.
At this rate, it seemed it wouldn't be long before they were all annihilated.
The Fierce Hero Sword Cha Ho-jung hastily coated his own sword with a yellow sword qi.
And then he charged at the enemies.
"Haaaap!"
His massive, ferocious greatsword, which had earned him the epithet Fierce Hero Sword, was shooting toward the enemies.
Syuhahak!
The target was the joined hands of the man and woman.
If he could just break that linking point, he would be able to break their combined attack as well.
But before his sword could even reach them, he achieved his goal.
Because the two had simply let go of their hands.
"Hm?!"
Toward Cha Ho-jung, flustered by how easily they had released their hands, the man in blue was flying.
He was maintaining the beam-like speed accelerated by that tremendous rotation just moments before.
It was a sudden development, but Cha Ho-jung, a peak-level martial artist, did not panic.
He merely turned the tip of his sword and thrust it toward the flying man.
Puuk!
His greatsword pierced the man's chest.
No, he thought it had.
That was, if the man's body hadn't moved as lightly as a flower petal blown by the wind in that one instant.
At the man's form, closing in while gently deflecting his own sword, Cha Ho-jung's eyes, horrified, widened greatly.
"What?!"
The next moment, Cha Ho-jung felt a blunt impact on his chin.
Deolkeok!
And his consciousness immediately vanished.
It was because of a strike from the man, who had delivered an upward palm heel to his chin.
It was the moment the Maengungdae, the first strike force of Sucheonhoe, the hegemon of southern Sichuan, was brought to ruin by just two individuals.