Chapter 150: Seonwoo Family's Crisis-1
Chapter 150: Seonwoo Family's Crisis-1
Kwaaaang!
In an instant, the main gate of the Seonwoo family exploded into splinters.
And from beyond the shattered gate, a massive monk entered with a leisurely gait, a greasy smirk plastered across his face.
It was Hell's Blood Monk Chuk Ho-tak, a transcendent-level demon head.
He looked over the scene unfolding inside the gate with a somewhat surprised expression and remarked,
"Ho-oh, you've all crawled out in the meantime. Your training must be quite thorough."
He was right.
Seonwoo Jung, the elders, and the warriors of the Divine Eagle Unit were all already out in the training grounds in full arms and armor.
If one excluded the fourth son, Seonwoo Gi, who had been ordered to lead the women and children to safety at the Seogidang, it was no exaggeration to say that every martial artist of the Seonwoo family was present.
Considering that Chuk Ho-tak had killed the guards and strolled in at a leisurely pace, this was an extraordinarily rapid response.
But Chuk Ho-tak looked as if he didn't feel the least bit threatened by them.
Rather, he grinned as if he was enjoying himself and said,
"You must be Seonwoo Jung. I thank you for sparing me the trouble of hunting you down. But... seeing as I'm already here, how about you just oblige me and die? In that case, I won't kill any other Seonwoo warriors."
Chuk Ho-tak's words were pure, insolent arrogance.
He was saying that how many others died was the only question—Seonwoo Jung's death was already an established fact.
To this, Seonwoo Jung answered with a solemn expression.
"A warrior of the Seonwoo does not betray his honor for fear of death."
At his reply, Chuk Ho-tak clicked his tongue and nodded his head.
"Tsk, tsk. So be it. You've chosen to drink the cup of punishment, then. Did you all hear that? It seems I'll have to unleash a slaughter today."
At these words, seven more demon heads appeared behind him as if they had been there all along.
They grinned with greedy anticipation and answered,
"We'd actually prefer that, Blood Monk Elder."
"We've been waiting for it, khehehe!"
"Elder, may we run wild to our hearts' content?"
Looking at them, Seonwoo Jung nervously swallowed his saliva.
It seemed that all eight of those demon heads were peak-level masters.
Yet the only peak-level masters in the Seonwoo family were himself and the Great Elder—just two.
In particular, the one standing at the very front gave off a very bad feeling. Wasn't that man the Hell's Blood Monk, Chuk Ho-tak, a monster he had only heard of in rumors?
A monster said to be a transcendent-level master.
If that man truly was the Hell's Blood Monk, it meant these were not foes they could handle with their own strength alone.
Tension dried Seonwoo Jung's mouth into parchment.
At that moment, Chuk Ho-tak was scolding the demon heads standing behind him.
"Did you not hear the young master's orders? He said we must preserve the parts to be used as puppets. Kill the family head, Seonwoo Jung, without fail, but spare the rest of the trash as much as possible. Understood?"
The demon heads hid their dissatisfied expressions and bowed their heads obediently.
"Yes, understood, Blood Monk Elder."
Chuk Ho-tak, a satisfied smile settling on his face at their deference, now turned his gaze back to Seonwoo Jung and spoke.
"Now then, bring me that man's head."
"Yes, Blood Monk Elder!"
"Understood!"
The moment they answered, the seven demon heads lunged forward. All of them charged directly at Seonwoo Jung.
"Keuhahahahaha!"
"Die!"
"Kihaaaa!"
***
At that moment, I was racing forward as if I had become the wind itself.
The scenery flew past so blindingly fast that it looked like a world separate from my own.
At some point, the landscape seemed to detach itself, as if it existed in a world different from mine, and a strange sensation washed over me, as if even the sound had vanished.
The distance from Gaeyang to Gwiyang was not that great.
At this speed, it felt as if it wouldn't even take half a shichen.
Yet despite that, my heart only grew more desperate. Because even that half-shinchen felt far too long.
I had fully anticipated that enemies might move against the Seonwoo family in my absence.
And that was precisely why I had put countermeasures in place.
But even so, the anxiety did not disappear.
I could not know the scale at which the enemies would come.
If the enemy's scale exceeded my expectations, in the worst case, I could lose my father even in this life.
I gritted my teeth.
'Absolutely not!'
I had only just managed to understand Father, only just started to feel the meaning of warmth in the word 'family'. There was absolutely no way I could lose him again like this.
"Hyooooo!"
I took a deep breath and shook off my impatience and distracting thoughts.
It was painfully clear that such a state of mind was no help to me right now.
I had to empty my mind and focus instead.
I decided to think of only one thing.
To become the wind itself—only that.
Suddenly, I felt as if my emptied mind and lightened body were gradually scattering into the atmosphere.
***
At roughly the same time, the Seonwoo family residence.
The seven peak-level demon heads were charging toward the Seonwoo family's warriors like a gale.
Seonwoo Jung, jaw clenched tight, shouted,
"Warriors of the Seonwoo family, retreat is not an option!"
"Yes!"
Seonwoo Jung, the elders, the commander of the Divine Eagle Unit, and its soldiers all aimed their swords at the demon heads with a unified and resolute heart.
A transcendent-level demon head and seven peak-level masters—by sheer military power, they knew they were hopelessly outmatched. Yet at least for now, there was no fear visible in their eyes.
Their gazes shone brilliantly, as if they had all resolved themselves to die.
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, the sound of music came from somewhere.
Giiiii iii iing.
It was a thin and mournful resonance of strings.
A sound so piercing and sorrowful that it rang clearly in the ears of everyone present, despite not being loud.
At the sound, which seemed to shake the very soul, the charging Blood Cult demon heads suddenly stopped in their tracks. They had no choice but to strain their ears toward that music, unable to tell where it was coming from.
It was an action they had fallen into naturally, without realizing it.
At this, the smile vanished from the face of the grinning Hell's Blood Monk Chuk Ho-tak.
He muttered to himself, an expression of alarm spreading across his features.
"This is... the sound of an erhu? No way?!"
Chuk Ho-tak whipped his head around, searching for the person playing the instrument.
Soon, he spotted a beautiful woman in white, seated on the wall beside the main yard. She was playing the instrument by drawing a bow across the strings attached to a soundbox shaped like a massive hammer.
Chuk Ho-tak shouted her name in a voice full of fury.
"So Nan-so! So you were hiding here, you bitch!"
At that, the woman stopped playing, hopped lightly down from the wall, and answered with a bright smile on her face.
"Hiding? Nope. I was just passing by and caught a nasty stench, so I came to check it out?"
She then began to walk toward them, swaying as if dancing, and continued speaking.
"I'm a neat freak, you know? So I was going to just avoid the smell. But, ugh, my conscience just wouldn't let me. If I don't clean up a stink quickly, other people are going to smell it too, right? So I hardened my resolve and came over. And that's how I ran into you guys! My, isn't it amazing?"
Even her speaking voice sounded exactly as if she were singing.
As her clear voice rose and fell in rhythm, the people found themselves unconsciously fixated on her words in a daze.
The first to snap back to his senses was Chuk Ho-tak.
Startled back to full alertness, Chuk Ho-tak hastily shouted,
"Run! That bitch is the Chaos Soul Witch...!"
That was when it happened.
As she spoke in a singing tone and swayed with dancing steps, she suddenly swung the erhu she held in her hand.
The erhu was an instrument with a long neck attached to a small drum-like resonating box, making it look at a glance like a massive hammer.
And when she swung it, infusing it with her internal energy, it truly became a war hammer.
Puuuuung!
Per-seok!
As the war hammer, wreathed in energetic force, swung down like a lightning bolt, the head of one entranced demon head burst apart on the spot.
It all happened in an absolute, breathless instant.
Moreover, what the Chaos Soul Witch swung was not only the erhu.
The bow used to play the erhu's strings was the same.
When her energetic force coalesced upon the bow stick and bowstring, it transformed directly into a sharp blade.
The sword, imbued with crimson energetic force, lashed out like a bolt of lightning.
Shaaak!
Puhwaak!
"Hurk!"
"!"
The moment two of their comrades were slaughtered in an instant, the demon heads finally jolted in horror and regained their senses.
But the distance to her was already far too close.
The Chaos Soul Witch So Nan-so did not stop.
With one hand, she swung the erhu at another demon head's skull, and with the other, she swung the bow, cleanly severing yet another one's throat.
Her thinking was to reduce their numbers as much as possible before they could fully collect themselves.
But in that instant, one of the massive chakrams came flying in, spinning viciously as it bore down on So Nan-so.
Wiiiiing!
"Tch!"
So Nan-so had no choice but to halt her assault on the demon heads before her and block it with her erhu and bow.
Teo-eong!
Rebounding from the impact with the chakram, So Nan-so leaped far backward.
In that brief moment, the demon heads, now numbering only five, also gathered their wits, retreated with a leap backward, and began to warily surround her.
So Nan-so clicked her tongue inwardly.
She should have reduced their numbers further just now....
With only two eliminated, things were bound to get much harder.
She felt a slight pang of regret in her heart.
'Was it just pointless meddling after all?'
Just then, Yeomra Hyeolseung Chuk Ho-tak, having retrieved his massive chakram, approached slowly and spoke.
"So Nan-so, the apostate who disobeyed the Supreme One's orders and was playing at being the Hao Gate master in Guijuseong. I searched a long while for where you might be hiding, and so you were concealed here. So the reason the Seonwoo clan suddenly began making unexpected moves was because of you, wench."
At those words, So Nan-so let out a smirk.
It was true that she had disobeyed the Blood Demon's command.
The Blood Demon's order had been to establish an advance base in Guijuseong and encroach upon the Guizhou martial world, but after taking over the Guijuseong Hao Gate, she had devoted herself solely to aiding orphans, gisaeng, and the impoverished.
However, the place where she had been hiding was not the Seonwoo clan.
It had been the Gwiyang branch of the Hao Gate.
Thanks to her childhood friendship with the branch leader No Sam-ryong, he had been hiding her.
Thus, the fact that No Sam-ryong had not been particularly cooperative with So Nan-so, the former Hao Gate master, had also been a ruse to deceive the eyes of others.
It was because So Nan-so, thinking of the future, had asked him to act that way.
Despite being well over forty, So Nan-so, who outwardly still resembled a beauty in her early thirties, replied with a beaming smile.
"I clearly said earlier that I just came by because I smelled something foul passing through. Are you stupid? Hmm, is it because you have no hair? Ah, right. Your whole monk act was just to hide the fact that you're bald, wasn't it?"
At So Nan-so's brazen retort, Yeomra Hyeolseung Chuk Ho-tak's expression twisted slightly.
"...You're still a wench I'd love to tear apart and kill. It's rather fortunate. I get to kill you with my own hands right here."
At his words, So Nan-so spoke with a look of feigned surprise.
"Ohhh, you? Kill me? Guess your skills must have improved? Though seeing as you're still bald, it doesn't seem like it.... Well, fine. Alright, come at me then. Let's see how much you've improved; this big sister here will check for you, after so long."
So Nan-so was continuously provoking Chuk Ho-tak.
So that he would become enraged and charge at her alone, one-on-one.
The martial prowess of the Chaos Soul Witch So Nan-so and Yeomra Hyeolseung Chuk Ho-tak was almost equal.
Therefore, if they could fight just the two of them, there might be a slim chance of victory.
But if even a single other demon head interfered, today's outcome was sure to become utterly grim.
So she had tried to provoke Chuk Ho-tak somehow, but upon seeing Chuk Ho-tak's nasty, grinning expression, So Nan-so instantly realized her failure.
"Heuheuheuheu. How pitiful, So Nan-so. A fool like No Jo-song might fall for your tricks, but did you think this Yeomra Hyeolseung would?"
At his question, the laughter finally vanished from So Nan-so's face.
It was just as he said.
Chuk Ho-tak was a cunning bastard who, rare among the Blood Cult's demon heads, actually knew how to use his head.
Chuk Ho-tak shouted at the demon heads.
"All together, strike that wench first! Do not let your guard down for a moment!"
"Yes! Elder Hyeolseung!"
So Nan-so gave a bitter smile as she watched them assume stances as if ready to pounce at any second.
In the end, it seemed she had failed.
Moreover, not only had she failed to protect the Seonwoo clan, but her own whereabouts had been exposed, making this the worst possible outcome.
'I should have listened to Sam-ryong when he told me not to come.'
Coming here had been nothing but a rash impulse.
A rash impulse she had acted on after hearing the intelligence that Yeomra Hyeolseung was heading for the Seonwoo clan while Seonwoo Jin was absent.
It was likely because she had felt so stifled.
Stifled by her own situation, forced to do nothing but hide, forced to live in hiding for the rest of her life.
As a famous demon of the Blood Cult, her name was already registered on the orthodox faction's list of public enemies of the martial world.
And now, she had even been reduced to a status hunted by the cultists themselves.
Thus, she could not help but be in a truly bleak situation, with no place left for her anywhere in the martial world.
'I've completely become a bat. A bat that has to live hidden away in a cave.'
For her, hearing about Seonwoo Jin's exploits from No Sam-ryong had been something so enjoyable, practically her sole source of entertainment.
Entertainment that gave her immense vicarious satisfaction, watching the sight of him dealing with his clan's enemies and screwing over the Blood Cultists.
So, perhaps that was why she had wanted to protect him.
Him, whose happiness reminded her of the family she had lost a very long time ago.
So Nan-so smirked.
'I got a little too invested.'
Of course, she could survive if she fled right now.
She couldn't continue staying at the Hao Gate's Gwiyang branch, but with her transcendent-level skills, she was unlikely to fail in an escape.
However, she decided against it.
Because the thought occurred to her that ending this miserable life of having to live hidden away in a cave hereafter wouldn't be so bad either.
'Alright, let's burn it all up!'
It was as she was thinking that, her fighting spirit ablaze, that Seonwoo Jung suddenly approached from behind and spoke to her.
"Thank you for your aid, Hao Gate master. Let us fight together."
She was caught completely off guard.
Because these were words she had never even remotely expected.
Flustered, she replied.
"Eh, eh? But I am of the Blood Cult...."
Then, cutting her off, Seonwoo Jung spoke.
"I heard in detail from my son that the Hao Gate master devoted herself wholly to aiding the impoverished and the orphans. I had wanted to meet you someday regardless, and so we meet like this."
So Nan-so stared at Seonwoo Jung with a blank face.
And there he was, the man with a dignified face, smiling gently as he looked back at her.
Having heard their conversation moments before, there was no way he didn't know she was the Blood Cult's demon, the Chaos Soul Witch.
And the Chaos Soul Witch was far too infamous a demon to not know.
So it seemed that Seonwoo Jung's current intent was to acknowledge that he knew she was the Chaos Soul Witch, but was choosing to bury that fact.
They were words she had never, ever imagined she would hear from an orthodox martial artist.
After staring blankly at Seonwoo Jung for a moment, So Nan-so suddenly flashed a bright smile and spoke.
"It seems your son takes after his father. Very well. Let us fight together."
Somehow, she felt a surge of strength.
Seonwoo Jung shouted to the Seonwoo family retainers.
"Warriors of the Seonwoo clan, raise your swords! Let us strike them down together with the Hao Gate master here!"
"Woaaaaah!"
Then Chuk Ho-tak, who had been watching their actions with scornful eyes, also bellowed.
"Strike! Do not leave Seonwoo Jung and So Nan-so alive!"