Chapter 231: The Approaching Assassins
Chapter 231: The Approaching Assassins
Seonwoo Jin's party was moving eastward.
Since Ma Gyeong's base of operations, Daenam Island, lay in the waters off the northeastern coast of Guangdong Province near Fujian Province, their plan was to first cross over to Fujian Province and then board a ship.
But their movement speed was not very fast.
They were currently moving leisurely, taking frequent rests, without any sense of hurry.
It almost felt as if they were hoping someone would follow them.
It was the same even now.
Seonwoo Jin was currently sparring with Jin So-eun and advising her on the areas she needed to improve.
Swish!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Jin Sojeo, your Natural Staff technique is overwhelmingly superior in defense compared to offense. That is because you are not using energetic force at all when attacking. If you use energetic force appropriately when seizing an opening in your opponent's guard, your attacks will become much more powerful."
"Ah, yes! Thank you!"
"Jin Sojeo, since you are a woman and your physique is not large, you can be troubled by opponents who push in with brute strength. You will likely need to further strengthen your footwork and movement techniques."
"I see! Thank you, Young Master Yin!"
Seonwoo Jin sparred with Jin So-eun, gave her a few pieces of advice, and even taught her some decent hand techniques and movement techniques that she could use.
Jin So-eun's eyes sparkled, and she never once took her gaze off Seonwoo Jin.
It was a fervent gaze, as if she intended to engrave his entire appearance into her eyes.
Son Dae-su the Drifting Cloud Guest, his granddaughter Son I-rang, and the two grandchildren were sitting on the grass watching the two of them.
But the expressions on the two of them were not very bright.
Son Dae-su had a somewhat dark expression, and Son I-rang looked like she was in a slightly petulant mood.
A little later, when Seonwoo Jin's instruction ended and Jin So-eun began practicing what she had learned, Son Dae-su suddenly called out to Seonwoo Jin.
"Young Master Yin, could we talk for a moment?"
Seonwoo Jin smiled readily and replied.
"Of course."
The two of them moved a little to the side.
And after hesitating for a moment, Son Dae-su opened his mouth.
"Young Master Yin, by any chance, what I was going to say...."
At that moment, Seonwoo Jin smiled first and asked.
"It is about our movement speed, is it not? Because we are too slow."
At those words, Son Dae-su's face brightened as he answered.
"That's right! As expected, Young Master Yin was thinking the same thing! As you know, the assassins of the Hengshan Sect are pursuing us, and according to your own words, Jin Tae-do will also be targeting us. But moving this slowly...."
At his words, Seonwoo Jin nodded and said.
"Yes, I thought you would feel that way. And what you are thinking is correct. If we move like this, we will soon be caught up by the enemy."
When he heard this, Son Dae-su's expression became strange.
It was because it sounded like he was deliberately going slowly, even knowing that.
Son Dae-su, who had been pondering those words for a moment, soon recalled something and asked with a surprised expression.
"Th-then, you don't mean?"
"Yes, what you are thinking is correct. I am deliberately waiting for them."
At those words, Son Dae-su let out a low groan with a heavy expression.
"Hmm."
Son Dae-su could not help but think that this young master was perhaps underestimating the enemy's strength far too much.
Against the Hengshan Sect and the Hainan Sect, no less.
Of course, considering the skills he had displayed so far, he had ample reason to be confident against any opponent.
Because this young master named Inparang was a prodigy and a young master the likes of which he had never seen in his entire life.
But while other opponents might be one thing, the Hainan Sect and the Hengshan Sect were not.
Were they not powerful forces ranked among the top ten under heaven?
Son Dae-su's judgment was that no matter how much of a once-in-a-few-centuries prodigy Inparang was, it would be difficult for him against them.
Because the latent might of the Hengshan Sect and the Hainan Sect—one of the Nine Great Sects, and a force possessing military strength comparable to them—was not something this young master could shoulder alone.
Son Dae-su carefully parted his lips with a dark expression.
"...Young Master. In my opinion...."
But this time too, Seonwoo Jin cut him off with a gentle smile.
"I know very well what you are worried about. But it will be fine. I cannot tell you everything right now, Son Sook, but the visible forces on our side are not the entirety of our actual strength. And the reason I am waiting for them is that, according to my plan, we absolutely must defeat them this time. Overwhelmingly so, at that."
"...We must defeat them?"
"Yes, because only then will the head emerge."
It was while Son Dae-su was having that conversation with Seonwoo Jin.
His granddaughter Son I-rang glanced at them briefly, then approached Jin So-eun, who had been practicing the footwork she had learned from Seonwoo Jin for quite some time.
Then, with a meaningful smile, she spoke to Jin So-eun.
"So-eun eonni."
At her call, Jin So-eun, who had been deeply focused, turned her head to look at her and replied.
"Huh? What?"
Then Son I-rang smiled mischievously and asked her.
"Eonni, you like Young Master Yin, right?"
It was an exceedingly direct question.
At that question, Jin So-eun blinked as if she had no idea what she meant, and answered vacantly.
"Yeah, of course I like him."
"Oh!"
Son I-rang was slightly surprised.
She had expected that, given Jin So-eun's personality, even if it were true, she would be too incredibly embarrassed to answer.
But such a bold admission was a reaction she had completely failed to anticipate.
However, at the very next moment, at the words that followed from Jin So-eun, Son I-rang could not help but frown deeply.
"But isn't that obvious? Since he's our Jin Family Stronghold's benefactor and treats me so well, there's no way I could dislike Young Master Yin, right? Why are you asking something like that?"
Her face as she asked this was filled with a pure innocence that truly seemed to know nothing at all.
At that utterly innocent expression and answer, Son I-rang gritted her teeth for a moment and then let out a deep breath.
"Hooooo."
And she slowly asked again.
"No, I meant, do you like him as a man? Do you, eonni, like Young Master Yin as a man?"
But even at those words, Jin So-eun only blinked her eyes as if she understood nothing.
"As a man? Uh, well, Young Master Yin is a man. So of course I like him as a man...."
At that, Son I-rang could no longer hold back and shouted.
"No, that's not what I meant!"
Jin So-eun looked at Son I-rang, who was suddenly shouting, and scratched her head.
It was because she felt like she had done something wrong, but she couldn't figure out what it was.
Seeing Jin So-eun making an apologetic face at her while having no clue what was going on, Son I-rang calmed her heart once more and tried her best to explain.
"So, eonni, there's this feeling called 'yearning,' you know?"
"?"
"No, it's what a man and a woman feel for each other...."
"?"
"So, for a man and a woman to marry each other and have children...."
"?"
"Aaaaargh! Seriously!"
It seemed it would take a great deal of time and effort to instill the common sense that fifteen years of mountain living had taken from Jin So-eun.
***
At the same moment, in a small village located on the route Seonwoo Jin was traveling, a sudden wind of blood was blowing through.
Swish!
"Aaaargh!"
"S-save me, aaaargh!"
"Why, why? Kyaaak!"
"Please, at least our child, nooooo!"
"M-mommy! Aaaargh!"
It was a small slash-and-burn farming village where people had lived peacefully, if always in want.
But the black-clad figures who suddenly appeared there began slaughtering them indiscriminately without any explanation.
They had no expression, no emotion whatsoever.
It was a mechanical massacre, like reaping weeds in a field.
It did not even take half a ke for every person in the slash-and-burn village to be completely annihilated.
The black-clad figures searched the village thoroughly, confirmed that there were no survivors, and then gathered once more like ghosts in the center of the village.
Shhhk!
Then the black-clad figure positioned at the very center of them spoke.
"Prepare the village. Dispose of the bodies and clean it up more neatly. Don't forget to set up an inn at the center."
At his words, the black-clad figures nodded simultaneously before scattering to begin preparing the village.
And before long, the shabby slash-and-burn village in the mountains began to be reborn as a fairly prosperous village with a larger scale and a clean exterior.
The attire of the black-clad figures had also changed into that of common folk.
They transformed respectively into farmers, merchants, an innkeeper, and children, and the village was gradually morphing into a lively place where people walked around with smiling faces, and children clamored and played pranks on the streets.
The assassin operations of the Blood Rain Lotus, known as the greatest assassin organization in the martial world, were thus extraordinary even from the preparatory stage.
***
At the same moment, further east from where the Blood Rain Lotus occupied the slash-and-burn village, seven Bamboo Hat Persons wearing blood-colored robes were deploying their lightness arts westward.
The Bamboo Hat Person dashing like a storm at their vanguard appeared to be a woman, her frame small and delicate. The six Bamboo Hat Persons behind her were barely managing to follow, their breath reaching their chins from her ferocious sprint.
Dadadadadada!
"Haa! Haa! Haa!"
Then it happened.
Eventually, one Bamboo Hat Person who could endure no longer cried out in a dying voice.
"F-Faction Leader!"
At that, the small-framed Bamboo Hat Person at the vanguard abruptly stopped, turned to look back, and slightly lifted her bamboo hat.
The face revealed beneath was that of a beautiful woman with dazzlingly fair skin.
She opened her mouth toward the Bamboo Hat Person who had called her.
"You want to die, real bad? Did I tell you to train harder or not, huh? You slacked off despite my warnings and now you're dragging me down?!"
At her scolding, the subordinate hastily shook his head.
"S-Slacking in training! Absolutely not! It's just that you're far too fast, Faction Leader! Look! Isn't everyone else struggling besides me? I was merely representing—!"
"Shut up!"
Ppeok!
"Gurk!"
With a lightning-like kick from her, the Bamboo Hat Person was sent flying backward mid-sentence.
Watching their comrade, the other Bamboo Hat Persons silently conveyed their regret and gratitude in their hearts.
Because thanks to him stepping forward first and taking the beating, it seemed everyone else would get off easy.
The Faction Leader they knew, Hawondalgi Yeon Tae-jin, had a filthy temper, but she wasn't a faction leader who didn't know how to care for her subordinates.
Now that she knew her subordinates were struggling, she would surely take some kind of measure, they all thought.
Then, sure enough, having vented some of her anger by kicking her subordinate, she glanced around at the others with dissatisfied eyes.
At that moment, the Hawon faction followers' eyes lit up as they screamed inwardly.
'Now!'
'This is the crucial moment!'
They all began to cough dryly, avoiding Yeon Tae-jin's gaze.
"Ahem, ahem."
"Uh-hmm."
It was an extremely difficult performance.
They had to act as though they weren't struggling at all on the outside, even though they were dying inside.
At this, Yeon Tae-jin's expression crumpled fiercely, and she spat out her words.
"These useless fools."
Cursing her subordinates who couldn't keep up, Yeon Tae-jin abruptly turned around and looked west.
She really wanted to fight that man called Inparang.
Because she truly wanted to clash with the man who had defeated the Blood Sea Demon Blade Yun Sak—even if it was through combined attack—a man she had desperately wanted to fight in the past but had hesitated, lacking confidence in her survival, until he eventually disappeared.
How badly did she want to fight? Enough that she felt she could quit her position as faction leader of Hawon for it.
'Of course, I've always wanted to quit that job anyway...'
Anyway, that was how it was.
After frowning and staring westward for a moment, Hawondalgi Yeon Tae-jin suddenly turned back to her subordinates and asked.
"If we go that way, can I really meet this Inparang?"
At her words, one of the subordinates hastily replied.
"Yes! According to Hao Gate's intelligence, he's moving along the path below Mount Namgon! If that's the case, this is the only official road!"
"Really?"
Nodding at her subordinate's words, Yeon Tae-jin grinned and then spoke to them.
"Then I'll go ahead first. You all follow slowly."
At that, her flustered subordinates asked again.
"Y-Yes?!"
"You're not going to fight alongside me anyway, right? Then there's no need for me to go with you. So take your time following. I'll go ahead."
"N-No, F-Faction Leader, that's...!"
They became flustered and tried to dissuade her.
But Hawondalgi Yeon Tae-jin had a personality where action always came a little before words.
Having said that to them, Yeon Tae-jin was already running swiftly.
Pabababak!
"F-Faction Leader!"
"Faction Leader, you can't!"
The Hawon faction followers had no choice but to wail and run after Yeon Tae-jin as she became a dot and vanished in an instant.
"Uhuhuhuhung!"
"Faction Leader!"
"Faction Leader, let's go together!"
Even though she was a faction leader with a filthy temper and actions faster than words, they couldn't possibly let her go alone.
For the Hawon faction followers who had been by her side since she was young, all cherished and loved her deeply.
***
At the same time, further to the northwest, two groups of six each—twelve Bamboo Hat Persons in total—were rapidly moving south.
Shwiiiiik!
They were sprinting at a speed incomparable to the Hawon faction followers.
Like two flocks of wild geese, they maintained a precise formation, their movements unified as if a single person were moving.
Then, the Bamboo Hat Person leading one group sent a telepathic transmission to the Bamboo Hat Person leading the other.
- Let's rest here for a moment.
And he was the first to come to a halt on the spot.
At that, the five Bamboo Hat Persons following him stopped on the spot without a sliver of error.
Tak!
It was a precise movement, as if watching the motion of a single person.
As that group of Bamboo Hat Persons stopped first, the other group of Bamboo Hat Persons also soon halted on the spot.
Tak!
They, too, moved as one.
The leader of the Bamboo Hat Persons who stopped later slightly lifted his bamboo hat and asked with a frown.
"What do you mean we should rest in this empty place, Un-dang?"
At that, the Bamboo Hat Person called Un-dang chuckled and replied.
"Isn't it the squad leader's role to keep the squad members in optimal condition? They might not say it, but they could be struggling."
At his answer, Un-gyeong, the leader of the Pasan Seventh Squad of the Hyeongsan Sect, stared at the back of his colleague's head with sharp eyes.
But without saying more, he commanded his squad members.
"All of you, sit and manage your energy."
At his command, the five members of the Pasan Seventh Squad simultaneously plopped down onto the ground and entered energy management.
And Un-gyeong also plopped down among them.
Before entering energy management, Un-gyeong glared at his colleague Un-dang, the leader of the Pasan Fourth Squad.
He already knew why his colleague Un-dang had suggested resting.
It was because he had long been envious of his Pasan Fourth Squad, which included the woman Un-yeong.
'Lucky bastard.'
Then he closed his eyes and entered energy management.
Because he knew full well that watching would only make his stomach ache.
The Pasan Fourth Squad leader Un-dang grinned fishily, glanced at Un-gyeong, and then commanded his own squad members.
"Everyone enter energy management."
Then all five squad members simultaneously plopped down onto the ground and entered energy management.
The movements were identical, like machines.
But Un-dang did not sit; he stood there, staring at one of them.
That person was Un-yeong—one of the few female squad members not only in the Pasan Fourth Squad but among the entire Six Harmony Swordsmen.
A greedy smile spreading across his face, Un-dang licked his lips and commanded her.
"Un-yeong, stop managing your energy and come to me."
At that, the expressionless Un-yeong opened her eyes, rose, and approached him.
"Uhuhuhu!"
Letting out a greedy laugh, Un-dang began to grope her body.
But even under his unrestrained touch, Un-yeong showed no reaction whatsoever.
Her humanity already extinguished, she merely submitted her body to his touch with an expressionless face.
Groping her body, Un-dang savored his good fortune once more.
How worried he had been when he first received the order to join the Six Harmony Swordsmen.
But as expected, his sect leader Wi Jeong-guk was not one to abandon his own people.
He had appointed him, who had sworn loyalty to the sect leader rather than the Hyeongsan Sect, as the squad leader of the Six Harmony Sword Formation.
With that, now entrusted with the heavy responsibility of commanding the Ghost Extermination Six Harmony Sword Formation—a powerful force capable of defeating even transcendent peak masters—a path of flowers was surely spread before his future.
It could not be anything but utterly satisfying.