Chapter 279: Suzhou Baek Clan-1
Chapter 279: Suzhou Baek Clan-1
Jeon Seok-gu went to the pharmacy as quickly as he could.
Then he urgently reported what he had personally witnessed to Seonwoo Jin's group.
"Right now, all of Soju is packed solid with Baek Family warriors searching for you! And that's not all! Not just the other martial sects of Soju—even the common people are turning the entire city upside down like they're hunting lice, saying they'll capture you!"
The situation seemed extremely dire.
The city gates of Soju had long been bolted shut, and every person in Soju was out hunting for Seonwoo Jin's group.
At this rate, they could neither step outside Jeon Seok-gu's house nor continue staying inside.
Even if they stayed inside, they would inevitably be discovered sooner or later.
Hearing his words, Seonwoo Jin's entire group sank into deep thought with grim expressions.
They were agonizing over what to do next.
That was when it happened.
Seol Pung, who had been standing closest to the door, suddenly spoke.
"Fighters are closing in. It seems they intend to surround this place. We've been discovered."
"What?!"
"Wha—what did you say?!"
The startled people all turned to look at Jeon Seok-gu.
This was because the trouble had begun the very moment he returned from outside, so there could be no other cause.
Yeon Taejin glared at him through clenched teeth and said,
"I told you over and over that I couldn't trust him...."
At that, Jeon Seok-gu hastily shook his head in denial.
"N-no! I absolutely did not inform on you!"
"Shut it! If not you, then who...!"
Yeon Taejin was just about to lunge at him when it happened.
Seonwoo Jin opened his mouth in a calm voice.
"It wasn't him."
"...What?"
"S-see! It wasn't me!"
When the gazes now shifted to Seonwoo Jin, he looked at the medicinal herbs Jeon Seok-gu had bought and spoke.
"If he had informed on us, there's no way he would have returned here. They must have placed surveillance on the pharmacy. They were watching the herbs we were buying."
"...Watching the herbs, you say?"
"It means they already knew this medicine was needed to treat Young Master Baek Muho. As I thought, that physician called Yang No-sa seems to be involved in this matter. Along with a high-ranking figure who can move the Baek Family's fighters."
The group immediately grasped the meaning of his words.
In the end, it meant that the person trying to kill Baek Muho by poisoning him was a figure of the Baek Family who had colluded with Physician Yang.
The Mad Dog asked with a stunned face,
"Th-then the real Baek family head, too...."
That was when it happened.
Seol Pung warned in a cold voice.
"The encirclement will be complete in a few moments. Do you intend to stay like this?"
At that, Seonwoo Jin answered immediately.
"We can't do that. However, Young Master Baek Muho cannot be moved right now. He needs to receive treatment. So let's do this."
As if he had already devised the entire plan in advance, Seonwoo Jin explained to the group in a calm voice.
The group's eyes sparkled as they began to focus on his explanation.
***
Baekgangdo Byun Dae-jong was originally a person of the Soju Byun Family who had transferred to the Baek Family when Lady Byun married into it as a bride.
Moreover, by genealogical reckoning, he was on the level of a male cousin to Lady Byun.
And so, whenever Lady Byun engaged in secret dealings she could not speak of to others, he had always served as the blade carrying them out.
This time was no different.
Lady Byun gave him orders to watch for anyone buying the herbs that Physician Yang had named.
This was because the fact that they knew the antidote could not be exposed to the Baek Family's warriors.
So he had just deployed his direct subordinates to surveil the pharmacies across Soju.
Not much time passed before reports came in from his subordinates.
"We've found the man buying the herbs you mentioned! It's a fellow named Jeon Seok-gu who belongs to the Ho-tu Association."
"Jeon Seok-gu?"
"According to reports, he's the very man who first fought against those three men and two women!"
"Ho-oh! It certainly seems suspicious. Surround the bastard's dwelling! And notify the other fighters that we've spotted a suspicious figure!"
"Yes! Understood!"
After giving orders to his subordinates, Byun Dae-jong slowly began moving toward the location.
He had absolutely no intention of personally stepping forward to capture them.
Knowing that the story of tracking the herbs was not aboveboard, he planned merely to tip off the location and then drop back once other fighters arrived.
But he had just arrived near the Mad Dog's dwelling, thinking such thoughts.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
With a sudden explosive roar, one side of the surrounded house burst outward as if detonating.
"Wh-what is that?!"
The startled Byun Dae-jong stared toward the sound of the explosion and was able to witness a group of people smashing through the wall and charging out.
"Those are—?!"
It was them.
The three men and two women he had heard about in reports had just burst through the house wall and burst out.
Byun Dae-jong's eyes swiftly swept over them.
Then he immediately spotted one old, wizened man and two beautiful women—one with long hair and one with short.
It was unmistakably them.
Byun Dae-jong urgently shouted to his subordinates.
"It's them! They've smashed through the wall and come out!"
That was when the man standing at the very rear caught Byun Dae-jong's eye.
It was a man carrying someone on his back.
The face of the person being carried was bowed as if unconscious and could not be recognized, but judging by the attire, it almost certainly seemed to be Young Master Baek Muho.
'Young Master Baek Muho really was alive!'
Urgency appeared on Byun Dae-jong's face.
Because before all these people, he could not bring himself to shout for them to kill him.
That was when it happened.
"Let's go! We must break through quickly!"
Seol Pung at the front shouted this as he surged forward.
Then Byun Dae-jong's subordinates, who had surrounded the area, frantically rushed at them.
"Don't let them esca—! Keuheok!"
"You bastards—! Kuaaaak!"
But they could do nothing.
When Seol Pung and the group lightly swung their hands at the charging warriors, the attackers were helplessly flung away as if swept up by an invisible dragon whirlwind, unable to do a thing.
It was like watching autumn leaves driven by the wind.
"Uwaaaaak!"
"Block them—! Heo-eok!"
"Kuaaaak!"
Witnessing that sight, Byun Dae-jong's expression also turned grave.
He had intended to just quietly encircle them without lifting a hand himself, but he could not allow them to flee like this either.
"Stop them! You must not let them escape!"
Byun Dae-jong finally shouted this and himself charged at the group as well.
From his blade as a peak-level blade master, a blue blade energy surged up like a flame.
Hwareureuk!
"Haaap!"
But he did not know.
Just what kind of people these foes he was now attacking were.
And on top of that, of all people, the opponent he had chosen was Seol Pung, who was breaking through at the front.
Seol Pung glanced sideways at Byun Dae-jong charging at him, then lightly twisted his body and swept a kick at him.
It was a kick like a blade, far faster than the speed Byun Dae-jong could bring his sword down.
Puh-eong!
"Kuaaaak!"
Struck by that lightning-fast kick technique, Byun Dae-jong could do nothing but be hurled away from Seol Pung at a speed even faster than his charging approach.
Unfortunately for Byun Dae-jong, to the current Seol Pung, whether an opponent was peak-level or first-rate was of no great consequence.
Because either way, they were opponents who could be dealt with in a single strike.
***
Urgent news reached Lady Byun, who was in the inner courtyard of the Soju Baek Family.
"It is reported that those who harmed the young master are carrying him and fleeing toward the western gate!"
At those words, Lady Byun's eyebrows twitched.
But the reason was not because she had heard they were fleeing toward the western gate, but because she had heard the words that they were carrying the young master.
'Carrying that child? Does that mean he's somehow still alive?'
Swallowing hard at the thought, Lady Byun yelled.
"Then what are you doing?! You must chase and capture them at once!"
"Yes! All the armed detachments that had been dispersed are already heading that way! However, their martial prowess seems quite formidable! It is said that their speed has not lessened even as they break through our warriors!"
Hearing this, Lady Byun's heart grew frantic.
Because the fact that they were taking Baek Muho with them gnawed at her nerves unbearably.
What if, by some chance, he truly got back on his feet and began investigating who had poisoned him?
Lady Byun cried out in a sharp voice.
"What nonsense is that?! Are you telling me our Baek Family warriors cannot handle such mere cutthroats?! Commander Byun?! Where is Commander Byun Dae-jong?! Convey my order for him to chase them down immediately!"
At that, the warrior hesitated, then answered.
"The thing is... the first to be taken down were the warriors of the Guard Detachment in the vicinity, including Commander Byun Dae-jong. He is currently unconscious from internal injuries and can no longer move...."
"What did you say?!"
From the words that Byun Dae-jong had been the first to fall, Lady Byun could realize what they had been up to.
They must have gone to a pharmacy to buy the herbs and been discovered by Byun Dae-jong.
'Did that mean... they really were trying to cure the second son...?'
Lady Byun's heart began to race at the thought.
It dawned on her that they might actually cure Baek Muho.
To her, this was nothing short of a terrifying prospect.
Lady Byun shouted spasmodically.
"Catch them at once! No, kill them! You must not let them escape alive! Send all the Elders and Commanders after them!"
"Yes, yes! Understood!"
The warrior who had reported immediately ran off to relay Lady Byun's orders.
Left alone, Lady Byun began biting her nails, unable to hide her anxious expression.
***
Nominally, the highest authority in Soju was the Prefect appointed by the state.
But just as the Four Kings Alliance governed Jiangsu Province, the power that actually controlled Soju was the Soju Baek Family.
Thus, the ones currently guarding Soju's four directional gates like iron fortresses were also the warriors of the Soju Baek Family.
Though there were ordinary soldiers as well, they were merely in a position to obey the commands of the Baek warriors from the moment the warriors seized control of the four main gates.
Commander Choi Gong-do of the Jecheon Sadae Squad, who was currently in charge of Soju's western gate, had just read a message delivered via messenger pigeon, his eyes flashing sharply.
The warriors of the Soju Baek Family often communicated quickly through messenger pigeons, and according to the message that had just arrived, the culprits who had harmed Second Young Master Baek Muho were heading toward this western gate.
He clenched his fists tightly.
If this news was true, this was an opportunity he absolutely could not afford to miss.
'I will personally avenge the Second Young Master. And while I'm at it, I can rack up some meritorious deeds.'
So thinking, Commander Choi Gong-do shouted to his subordinates.
"Everyone, tighten the perimeter! The culprits who harmed the Second Young Master are heading this way!"
His words made the eyes of the ordinary martial artists, already on edge from inspecting the citizens passing through the gate, flash wide open.
Loyalty to the Baek family, a thirst for vengeance against those who had harmed Second Young Master Baek Muho—the most humane and approachable of the young masters—and even the irritation that martial artists like them were stuck managing a gate like common soldiers... all those emotions intertwined and blazed up at once.
'We will catch them without fail!'
This was the unanimous thought of all the martial artists stationed at the gate.
Just then, several figures were spotted in the distance, racing toward them at a terrifying speed.
Commander Choi Gong-do of the Jecheon Sadae Squad shouted.
"It's them! Soldiers, prepare your bows!"
Under Commander Choi Gong-do's orders, the ordinary soldiers atop the gate drew their bows and took aim.
Commander Choi Gong-do immediately shouted again.
"The enemy is moving fast! Aim directly, not in an arc!"
The enemy's speed was astonishing.
In particular, aside from the man carrying someone on his back, the rest had barely come into view before they were already closing in on the gate.
Commander Choi Gong-do shouted.
"Loose!"
Pipipipiping!
Over fifty arrows shot toward the targets like streaks of light.
Without waiting to see if the arrows hit their mark, Commander Choi Gong-do immediately gave his next order.
"Once their speed slows, the warriors will...!"
Commander Choi Gong-do hadn't actually expected that firing arrows at them would land a hit.
He only thought that if he could slow them down even a little, it would buy enough time for the warriors on the gate to surround them.
But Commander Choi Gong-do could not even finish giving his next command and was left standing there slack-jawed.
Because the man in red martial robes at the front hadn't slowed down at all—he had surged forward at an even faster speed.
Paaang!
The arrows shot at him seemed to charge forward as if their nerves had been severed.
And the reason for that was immediately apparent.
"The arrows?!"
The arrows flying at him were ricocheting in all directions, as if parting to clear the way for him of their own accord.
Tititititing!
Commander Choi Gong-do couldn't even grasp why this was happening.
He frantically shouted.
"Strike! Don't let him reach the gate!"
At his command, the warriors of the Jecheon Sadae Squad atop the gate immediately flung themselves at the enemy.
"Yiaaaaaa!"
Dozens of warriors poured down all at once.
It looked like a roaring waterfall crashing down.
But the man in the enemy martial robes didn't hesitate for an inch.
He barreled fiercely into the waterfall of dozens of warriors.
Puhwaaaaak!
"Kuaaaak!"
"Uwaaaaaak!"
The next moment, the sight that met Commander Choi Gong-do's eyes was devastating.
The warriors who had cascaded down on him like an avalanche were bouncing off in all directions like pebbles struck by cannonballs.
Just like the arrows before, none of them had been able to touch his body.
"Th-This is impossible!"
That wasn't all.
Commander Choi Gong-do, who had been watching him intently in case an opening presented itself, suddenly realized a new fact and felt a shiver run down his entire body.
"No... blood?"
It was true.
All of his subordinates who had charged at the man had been knocked back in an instant, but not a single one of them was spraying blood.
Because he hadn't killed anyone.
Gulp.
The man was repelling everyone who attacked him, all alive and intact.
It was a display of martial prowess that was utterly absurd.
'Stop someone like that?'
The thought of attacking him melted away from Commander Choi Gong-do's mind like snow.
In that instant, the man, who had created a storm of people behind him and charged to the very front of the gate, smashed into the gate with all his momentum.
Kwaaaaaang!
Commander Choi Gong-do knew immediately.
That single strike had shattered the gate meant to stop the enemy into pieces.
He gulped and turned to look outside the gate.
The man in enemy martial robes, who had already burst through the gate and exited the city, was staring at him with eyes like a wild beast.
Commander Choi Gong-do had no choice but to accept it now.
There was nothing he could do.
This man was a master so far beyond someone like himself, who had only reached eighty years of internal energy, that he couldn't even dare to approach him.
***
"What did you say?! You let them escape?!"
Lady Byun screamed in a voice that seemed ready to tear apart.
The chief steward, who had come to report to her, bowed his head, unable to meet her eyes, and said.
"Th-That is correct. Before our warriors could even arrive, they had already broken through the encirclement and breached the western gate...."
"What kind of nonsense is that?! Weren't our warrior squads guarding every single gate?!"
"Yes, the Jecheon Sadae Squad was guarding the western gate. However, they reported that it was impossible for them to even stall the culprits for a moment. They said it was like seeing the family head in his prime, back before he became bedridden...."
The family head of the Soju Baek Family lying ill in bed, Wind-Cloud Giant Whale Baek Cheonggwang, was a master who counted among the Thirty-Six Stars of the World.
Yet now, the chief steward was saying that the culprits' martial prowess had seemed just like that of Family Head Baek Cheonggwang.
"That's utterly absurd...."
Instinctively about to deny the words, Lady Byun swallowed hard without realizing it.
If by some chance those words were true, it meant that even if the entire warrior force of the Soju Baek Family swarmed them, they might not be able to catch them.
And if those people actually managed to cure Baek Muho and come back....
Lady Byun gritted her teeth and started shouting again.
"Mobilize all of our warriors and pursue them! You must not let them get away! They must be killed! Tell them no one is to return until those bastards are dead!"
Perhaps because she was too agitated, she seemed to have lost her reason and was speaking in the low form. At her orders, the chief steward lowered his head for a moment, then raised it again and cautiously inquired.
"Then shall I send word for the Third Young Master, who is currently in closed-door training at his residence, to sortie as well?"
Her complexion changed once again.
A look of horror crossed her face for an instant, and then she shouted at the chief steward in an urgent voice.
"Wh-What kind of absurd nonsense is that?! Do you intend to endanger the sole remaining successor of the Baek family?! Absolutely not! Do not let Mujak take a single step outside the main estate!"
The chief steward silently observed her almost desperate shrieking for a moment, then finally bowed his head deeply and exited the room.
The masters of the Soju Baek Family that he had known, generation after generation, had always led by example in the face of danger.
The family ethos of the Soju Baek Family was that those who held the greatest power bore the greatest responsibility.
After stepping outside, the chief steward sighed, thinking that the future of the Soju Baek Family seemed none too bright.
Meanwhile, after the chief steward left, Lady Byun resumed biting her nails and pacing around the office.
Her heart felt like it would burst from anxiety, and she simply could not calm herself.
"Damn it!"
A moment later, she finally threw the door open and strode out of the office.
The direction she headed was toward the Medical Hall.