Chapter 9: Front Lines-1
Chapter 9: Front Lines-1
The night passed in a flurry of activity dealing with the bodies and the aftermath, and morning dawned once again.
Now it was time to part ways with the ronin and head for the frontlines.
The faces of the usually cheerful ronin had grown deeply somber overnight.
It was only natural.
For martial artists who lived by the sword, the death of a comrade was not such a rare occurrence, but losing someone was never an easy thing for anyone.
Moreover, the absence of Warrior Yang, who had always kept the atmosphere warm and pleasant, and Warrior Lee, who had always played off him and matched his rhythm, was beyond words.
"Travel safely, Young Master Seonu. I earnestly wish you fortune in battle."
"Thank you. I pray that Warrior Jang and Warrior Jong remain in good health as well. And Warrior Gong, I hope you build a happy family."
After firmly clasping hands with each of them one by one, I finally took out three thin booklets that I had tucked into my baggage.
I had written them over the past few days in my spare moments.
"I had originally prepared five copies, but I never imagined I would only be able to give them to three of you like this."
"What is this?"
I answered with a bitter smile as they accepted the books with puzzled eyes.
"It is nothing particularly great, but it will still be better than the Six Harmony Mind Method."
At that, their downcast eyes snapped wide open.
"The Six Harmony Mind Method? Then it can't be...?!"
"Yes, it is called the Bowon Mind Method."
"Young Master!"
Shocked, they hurriedly began flipping through the untitled booklets.
The Bowon Mind Method was not some shoddy mental technique, just as I had implied.
It was the mind method that Squad Leader Seolpung had obtained from somewhere and given to me to learn in my past life.
It was the very technique that had taken me, with almost no internal energy, to the pinnacle of first-rate in less than ten years — the upper tier of first-rate mastery.
It could not compare to a peak-level mind method like the Honwon Mugeuk Gong that I currently cultivated, but if I had to place it, it was a mind method that barely cleared the threshold of first-rate.
Naturally, it was incomparable to the third-rate Six Harmony Mind Method.
"I have also added a few blade technique stances I know at the very back. Nothing remarkable, but they will be of help."
While Warrior Jong and Warrior Gong pored over the booklets with wide-eyed intensity, Warrior Jang looked at me with reddened eyes and spoke.
"Young Master Seonu, why on earth are you doing this? How are we ever to repay this kindness...?"
I knew full well what a proper internal energy cultivation method meant to wandering warriors like them — something a person without powerful backing or connections could go their entire lives without ever obtaining.
I knew because I had suffered for lack of one in my past life as well.
The thought of giving them a proper internal energy cultivation method had first come to me when we encountered the bandits of Nokhochae the other day.
It was when I saw them trying to get me to safety first and block the enemies themselves, even when their lives were in danger.
There had been a few like that in my past life too.
Comrades who stayed behind to protect the others...
In the early days when I first went to the frontline, my martial arts were low, and I was often the one being protected by my comrades. They sent me on ahead and stayed behind, and in most cases, I never saw those comrades alive again.
And I had seen that same sight again, this time from them.
From men who were nothing more than ronin hired for coin.
No matter how much you were paid, money could never be more precious than your own life. I knew well how most ronin behaved in crisis situations.
They usually abandoned their clients and fled first.
But these men had not done that.
Whether it was conviction or because they had grown fond of me, I could not say, but at the very least, I wanted to repay the trust they had shown me.
I smiled lightly and spoke.
"Did we not connect heart to heart and cross the line of death together? That makes us friends, does it not? It is simply that these are no longer of use to me, so there is nothing grand about giving them to friends as a gift."
"...Young Master."
To him, who looked at me as if he might burst into tears at any moment, I said hurriedly,
"Now, now. I must be going. If I delay any longer, the day will be gone before I cross even two more ridges. When we meet again, I hope we will meet as first-rate warriors, each and every one of us."
At that, he wiped away the tears streaming down his face and replied with a smile.
"Let us do that. I will absolutely reach the first-rate realm and seek you out again, Young Master. Let us drink in true good cheer then."
After we clasped hands firmly once more, I turned around and began walking without lingering attachment.
Even when I glanced back after walking for a good while, they were still standing in that very spot, seeing me off.
My heart was warm.
The things Squad Leader Seolpung had done for me in my past life — I had been able to do those things for them as well.
Just that alone was enough to make me feel that living this life once more had been worth it.
It was then that Lady Cheongyeon, who had been standing beside me in silence, suddenly spoke to me.
"I have never seen a martial artist share martial arts with outsiders before... You are a peculiar man, Young Master Seonu."
I chuckled at her words and replied.
"As it is not an ultimate technique of the Seonwoo family, does it matter?"
At that, she silently gazed at my face before muttering something under her breath.
"..."
Unable to catch it, I asked again.
"Pardon? What did you say?"
"Nothing. I was talking to myself."
In any case, it seemed I needed to have a proper conversation with this peculiar young lady now.
"My lady. Are you truly intent on going to the frontline? The frontline is crawling with countless monsters like that one yesterday, against which sword qi does not work. I mean to say, you could truly die."
At that, she, who had been looking toward the frontline for a moment, opened her mouth to answer.
"I agonized over it a great deal last night, as it happens. But I still feel that going is the right thing to do."
I felt a bit frustrated.
To think she clung to stubbornness even after seeing such a thing — she seemed to me a young lady remarkably lacking in sense.
Out of frustration, I asked again.
"Even after seeing that with your own eyes?"
Then she, still gazing toward the frontline, spoke after a pause.
"What I do not understand is this."
"Pardon?"
"How can the fact that people are fighting such things possibly remain unknown to the martial world?"
"..."
Her words were the truth.
Most people only knew that many died on the frontline; they were completely in the dark about exactly what kinds of things appeared there.
It was all because of the secret oath.
The Murim Alliance extracted an oath from every warrior sent to the frontline, swearing never to disclose what they experienced and witnessed there. Accompanied by the threat that a pursuit-kill order would be issued if they ever spoke of it.
'They said the reason was to prevent chaos in the martial world.'
But those of us who had been directly on the frontline speculated that it was perhaps to conceal the disgraceful past of the Jeomchang Sect — one of the Nine Great Sects — and the shameful defeat of the Murim Alliance.
Of course, even if that was the reason, it did not resolve every doubt about why they so strictly enforced the gag order.
She continued speaking.
"If what you say is true, Young Master Seonu, and countless such things pour forth from the frontline, then that means someone is still there now, fighting those things, does it not? But if I turn back here, knowing that, I would be willfully turning a blind eye to it, would I not?"
I could not see her eyes, but her steadfast voice alone was more than enough to tell.
The fact that she was not simply trying to go to the frontline out of some childish hero complex.
"I did not train in martial arts because I wished to live that way. Nor did my father teach me to. Young Master Seonu, what do I appear to be to you? Am I a woman? Or am I a martial artist?"
Her eyes were hidden and her tone was soft and measured, but her question carried not a shred of hesitation, and I could not help but let out a sigh.
"Haaa."
She was right.
Before she was a woman, she was a martial artist.
One who had reached the upper tier of first-rate mastery, at that.
Even mentally, she seemed far more mature than I had been at twenty-one.
To think I had been treating such a martial artist as a foolish girl — I was so dismayed by my own patheticness that I was dumbfounded.
I apologized to her with solemnity and raised my hands in a formal salute.
"I misjudged your steadfast conviction, my lady. I offer you my sincere apology, my lady."
At that, the corners of her lips lifted slightly.
It seemed to be the first smile I had seen from her.
"I accept your apology. You are remarkably forthright, both in admitting fault and in apologizing, Young Master."
I found myself thinking that her small, full, crimson lips as she formed that smile were exceedingly beautiful.
***
"Haap!"
Puhak!
"Kiaaaak!"
The sword qi, extending two inches, raked across the chest of the naked Miao tribesman and passed through.
The Miao's chest split open and blood spurted out, but after only a brief falter, the tribesman hurled himself at the young swordsman once again.
"Fall back, Jeongrang!"
"Hap!"
The young swordsman dodged the charging Miao and leaped backward, and while the Miao's gaze was fixed on him, the sword of the woman who rushed in from the side, as if switching out, sliced across the Miao's already-cut chest once more as she passed by.
Chyu-hak!
"Kiiiik!"
Then, when the gaze of the Miao, whose chest was now split even deeper, chased after the woman's retreating figure, the sword of the man who had fallen back flew in like a beam of light and impaled the Miao's heart.
Puuuk!
"Kiaaaaak!"
Even with his heart pierced, the Miao let out a bloodcurdling scream and flailed his arms wildly, but the man who had driven in the sword had already released his grip and leaped backward.
It was a coordinated attack as seamless as the turning of cogwheels.
The man grinned and spoke to the woman.
"We caught one. Good work, Sonmae."
"You too, Jeongrang."
The Gangui—the Wild Dog Demon—whose heart had been destroyed would now gradually slow down and cease movement after about half a watch.
Those who were already dead would finally truly die.
The man, who had briefly exchanged an affectionate gaze with the woman called Sonmae, soon surveyed his surroundings.
Throughout the densely overgrown jungle, eight comrades in pairs of two were fighting other Gangui.
After confirming that none of his comrades seemed to be in particular danger, the man smiled again at the woman and said,
"Looks like we finished first."
"I suppose so."
The two of them watched the flow of battle in case other comrades fell into danger and needed support, but they also savored the brief respite amidst combat, stealthily holding hands.
It had been a year since the two had started their relationship. For martial artists on the frontlines, living in a remote place cut off from the world and constantly facing death, relationships with the opposite sex were practically the only remaining human act and pleasure.
Though, of course, there was an iron rule that it must not interfere with combat.
"The squad leader went to hunt the mid-level Gangui, right?"
"Yes, there were about two of them immune to sword qi."
The man, who had been carefully observing his comrades' battles, turned toward the woman and smiled faintly.
"I hope the squad leader returns quickly. So the two of us can be alone soon."
It was just as the woman was smiling softly, as if shy, at the man's words.
Something burst out from the nearby underbrush.
"Kuahahaha!"
But the man, who had not let his guard down even while talking with the woman, shoved her away and drew the dagger strapped to his thigh with lightning speed, swinging it.
"Haaap!"
However, the attacking foe's weapon was sheathed in a crimson glow.
Clang!
It was energetic force.
The deformed sickle, coated in energetic force, sliced the dagger clean in half and embedded itself deeper. The man's expression twisted violently, and he abandoned the dagger, throwing himself backward as he shouted.
"Sonmae, run! It's the Twin Sickle Seven Evils!"
But the woman had already been subdued by the strange fiend who had ambushed her from behind, approaching unnoticed.
"Aak! Jeongrang!"
The man's gaze faltered for a moment as he saw the woman captured, her blood points sealed.
And that brief gap decided the man's life or death.
Puuuk!
"Keoheok!"
"Jeongrang!"
The sickle of the fiend who had pursued him from behind had impaled the man's heart.
"Keuhehehe! How dare you take your eyes off this elder, leaving your back exposed?"
"Jeongrang!"
"Kehelhelhel! Is that child your beloved? Worry not. I shall soon make you forget a wretch like him. Kehelhelhel!"
Before she knew it, seven strange fiends had gathered around the woman.
They were the Blood Cult's demon heads, the ones called the Twin Sickle Seven Evils.
They were seven middle-aged brothers who wielded deformed twin sickles. Three of them had reached the peak level, and four the highest tier of first-rate.
"Kyaa, take a look at this bitch, hyungnim! My mouth's watering already."
"Didn't I tell you the women of the Flying Dragon Squad were delicacies?"
"But hyungnim, there's another broad over there. Do we only take this one bitch?"
When they looked where one was pointing with his finger, a woman had spotted them and was firing a red signal flare into the sky.
Puh-eong!
Watching the red signal spread across the sky, the eldest of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils, Jimak, spoke.
"She's fired a red signal flare, so troublesome bastards will swarm here soon... but let's grab just one more bitch before we go."
"As expected! Excellent, hyungnim!"
"Second, Third—only you two follow me!"
"Yes, hyungnim!"
"Yes, hyungnim!"
Immediately, three of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils hurled themselves toward the woman who had fired the signal flare.
At that, Mae Yeo-kyeong, the vice-leader of the Flying Dragon Thirteen's Fourth Squad, shouted to the other squad members.
"Cease combat! Gather immediately and form a defensive circle!"
At her command, the squad members who had been engaging the Gangui immediately disengaged and gathered in one spot, forming a circular formation.
Their practiced movements were without a single wasted motion.
But to the three peak-level masters of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils, it merely looked laughable.
"Keuhehehehe! You think that will be enough?!"
The eldest, Jimak, emitted the red energetic force that was the symbol of a peak master and descended upon them.
Mae Yeo-kyeong, a martial artist of the highest first-rate tier, gritted her teeth and shouted.
"Hold on! The squad leader will come soon!"
Clang! Clash! Clash!
The Fourth Squad members fought desperately to block Jimak's attacks.
But the blades of their weapons were being gouged out, unable to withstand his energetic force.
"We're here too!"
"Keuhehehehe!"
Behind him, the two younger brothers of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils were descending. Their sickles too, though not as thick as the eldest's, were emitting a thin layer of energetic force.
Just as the faces of the Fourth Squad members twisted and they gritted their teeth, a whistling sound suddenly came from somewhere.
"Piiiiiiik!"
A long whistle that sounded like the cry of a hawk—it was the signature of Ma Yu-gyeom, the Jeomchang Sword Hero and squad leader of the Fourth Squad.
"It's the squad leader!"
"The squad leader has come!"
The moment the Fourth Squad members' faces lit up, a handsome young man flew in like a meteor accompanied by the long whistling sound.
"Tch! Jeomchang Sword Hero has come! Hyungnim, what should we do?!"
When the second brother asked the eldest, Jimak, he sneered and replied.
"He's still just one bastard. I'll take him! You lot handle these ones!"
Shouting thus, the eldest, Jimak, hurled himself toward Ma Yu-gyeom.
"You whelp, die!"
"Haaaaap!"
The two clashed in midair, their red and blue energetic forces colliding and beginning to create brilliant sparks.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Bang! Bang!
The skill of Ma Yu-gyeom, the Jeomchang Sword Hero, was astonishing.
Despite his young age, still in his twenties, he displayed the remarkable feat of not being pushed back an inch by Jimak, the notorious eldest of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils.
And that was not all that appeared.
The fourth brother of the Twin Sickle Seven Evils, who had been chasing after them belatedly, shouted.
"Eldest brother! Another one is coming over there!"
Where he pointed, a woman was running across the treetops as if flying at a fearsome speed.
She was a beauty so stunning that even from afar, she made one's eyes widen. The fourth brother screamed as though shrieking.
"That bitch! It's Dang Yeoeun! Hyungnim!"
Dang Yeoeun, the squad leader of the Flying Dragon Thirteen's Third Squad, known as the Tang Family Sword Peak, was a famous beauty throughout all of Yunnan Province.
The fourth brother's eyes blazed as he looked at her.
And the same was true of the eldest, Jimak, who was fighting Jeomchang Sword Hero Ma Yu-gyeom.
In fact, the very reason they had targeted the Flying Dragon Thirteen Squads several times was to capture Dang Yeoeun.
Jimak shouted as he clashed with Ma Yu-gyeom.
"I'll take this bastard! All of you, go! Grab that bitch and get the hell out of here immediately!"
At that, his younger brothers shouted with delight.
"Yes, hyungnim!"
Then, with only the one woman they had caught earlier slung over a shoulder, they began to hurl themselves in the direction Dang Yeoeun was coming from.