Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Part 2. Neither Favors Nor Grudges Are Forgotten (1)
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The next day, Damho left the inn early at dawn.
Hiiing!
Black Ghost, who had been alone in the stable, neighed happily as if greeting him. Damho saddled Black Ghost and led him out.
Toroban was still shrouded in darkness.
Damho took a moment to get his bearings, then mounted Black Ghost.
As if venting the frustration of being cooped up in the stable for so long, Black Ghost bolted forward like a madman.
'You were frustrated too, just like me.'
Damho understood Black Ghost's feelings.
How stifling it must have been for a creature that roamed vast plains freely to be trapped in a cramped stable?
Black Ghost became a black wind. Damho became one with him.
The surrounding scenery rushed closer and then receded rapidly. Barren wilderness appeared, and the distant mountains drew rapidly near.
Damho let Black Ghost run until he tired. He would stop on his own when exhausted.
Damho surrendered his body to Black Ghost and felt the wind.
It was the warm light and breeze he felt after twelve years. He wanted to savor this moment.
Damho even forgot the flow of time.
How long had they run like that?
Damho suddenly felt their speed drop sharply. Black Ghost had finally tired.
"Alright, let's rest a bit."
Damho looked around for a suitable spot.
Just then, he spotted a large boulder in the distance. Its shadow provided shade underneath.
Damho guided Black Ghost toward the boulder.
As he approached, Damho narrowed his eyes slightly. A foul stench of blood assaulted his nostrils.
The smell grew stronger the closer he got. Beneath the shadow of the boulder lay dozens of corpses scattered about. They had been dead for some time and were already decomposing, emitting a putrid odor.
Damho dismounted and approached the bodies. A gruesome scene unfolded before him, enough to induce vomiting.
The corpses had been mutilated beyond recognition. Wounds gaped open here and there like the gills of a fish.
Damho examined the wounds on one of the bodies closely.
"They toyed with them."
There wasn't a single wound deep enough to kill instantly.
The killers had inflicted wounds all over their bodies, just like a cat playing with a mouse, and watched them die in agony.
Suddenly, the errand boy's words came to mind.
"Demonic bandits?"
Damho moved to stand.
It was tragic that they had been killed by bandits, but it had nothing to do with him.
It was then.
"Ugh!"
A faint groan came from among the corpses.
Damho pushed aside the other bodies and pulled out the one making the noise. The moment he saw the man's face, Damho's eyes darkened.
The man groaning with a long gash from chest to abdomen was someone Damho knew well.
Bang U-gwang, Bang Jin-bo's father.
Despite the horrific wound exposing his entrails, Bang U-gwang clung tenaciously to life. But Damho knew he didn't have much time left. Surviving this long was sheer luck.
Only then did Damho closely examine the faces of the corpses scattered around. He recognized a few.
They belonged to the Silver Lotus Merchant Company. Damho pieced together what had happened.
Damho channeled his inner energy into Bang U-gwang. Color briefly returned to his face.
Bang U-gwang struggled to open his eyes.
He seemed to recognize Damho's face and barely parted his lips.
"Y-You are...?"
"Any last words?"
"What...?"
"You know you don't have long."
"Kuhk!"
Tears streamed down Bang U-gwang's cheek in that instant. Damho watched him in silence.
After a moment, having somewhat gathered his wits, Bang U-gwang looked straight at Damho. Desperation filled his eyes toward Damho. A fervent wish to protect the most precious thing, even if it cost him everything.
"Jin-bo has been captured by the bandits. Please... save Jin-bo... my son."
"..."
"Great hero, I beg you... That child is..."
Bang U-gwang grabbed Damho's hand with his blood-soaked one. The grip of a dying man was heavy.
That earnestness transmitted through his hand to Damho.
His lips twitched like a fish's.
"Great hero, please..."
Damho recalled having seen such eyes before.
Long ago, when his village was raided, his own father had the same look as Bang U-gwang.
The only difference was that back then, the Mount Hua Daoists arrived after his father had died, whereas Bang U-gwang had met him before breathing his last.
A rough, hoarse voice escaped through Damho's lips.
"If he's alive."
"Th-Thank you... Please..."
Bang U-gwang's voice faded. His body grew cold, just like his voice.
The light faded from his staring eyes. But the desperation remained unchanged.
Damho reached out and closed Bang U-gwang's eyes, then stood and surveyed the surroundings. Not far away, he discovered a pile of numerous corpses tangled together.
Among them, Damho found another familiar face.
'Oh Gi-oh.'
The chief escort of the Silver Lotus Merchant Company, the man who had included him in their caravan. Beside him lay the company head, Jo Su-gwang, dead with his tongue lolling out.
So full of resentment in death, they couldn't even close their eyes. Damho gazed long into their lifeless eyes.
They could say no more, but their extinguished eyes told more than words ever could.
Damho stared silently into their vacant eyes, as if in conversation.
After a long while, Damho closed their eyes and rose.
Damho mounted Black Ghost.
Having rested briefly, Black Ghost neighed vigorously once more. No trace of fatigue could be seen anywhere on him.
"Let's go."
Black Ghost shot forward as if he had been waiting.
***
Bang Jin-bo's eyes were streaked with tears.
He couldn't believe what had happened to him. He couldn't understand why he had to be in such a place.
Bang Jin-bo was trapped inside a small wooden cage. It was like a beast trap.
He wasn't the only one caged. The younger merchants from the Silver Lotus Merchant Company shared his fate. There were over fifty of them.
The rest had all been killed. The company head Jo Su-gwang, and even Bang Jin-bo's father.
Jo Su-gwang had set out with another merchant company out of fear of bandit raids. Two companies, over 150 people in total—he thought even bandits wouldn't dare touch them.
But he was wrong.
The bandits charged in without fear, even against the combined forces.
The escorts led by Oh Gi-oh fought valiantly, but they couldn't hold off over a hundred bandits.
In the end, the escorts were slaughtered, and countless merchants died. Bang Jin-bo had witnessed it all with his own eyes.
The bandits had lit a large bonfire in the center of the clearing and were sharing drinks. On one side, goods plundered from the caravan were piled high.
A burly man sat before the bonfire. He held up a luminous pearl the size of a child's fist to the firelight.
"Heh heh! What luck. Such a fine night pearl."
Even all the other plundered goods combined weren't worth a tenth of this night pearl.
Today was the best day since he started raiding in this area.
His name was Dong Ja-chu, the leader of the Blood Wolf Band, who mainly preyed on merchants crossing between the Western Regions and the Central Plains.
The Blood Wolf Band was a mix of Han, Hui, and various ethnic groups. Their common traits were strong martial prowess and never settling in one place.
They roamed the Toroban region, plundering. They killed people and sold stolen goods. With the money, they drank and bought women to enjoy.
After fiddling with the night pearl for a while, Dong Ja-chu asked a subordinate beside him.
"What about them?"
"We sent the signal smoke, so they'll head this way soon. They'll arrive within two or three hours."
"Is that so? What shall we do until then?"
Dong Ja-chu's eyes gleamed dangerously in the firelight.
His gaze suddenly turned to the people in the cages.
"Drag those ones out."
"Why, Leader?"
The deputy leader Jo Bok, whose face resembled an owl's, looked puzzled. Dong Ja-chu grinned.
"I'm bored."
"Ah!"
Jo Bok grinned lewdly in understanding.
He rushed to the cages and scanned the prisoners. Those who met his eyes shrank back.
"Why are you doing this to us?
"You've taken our goods—let us go."
Some pleaded, but Jo Bok ignored them and said,
"Pull out this one and that one."
"Yes, Deputy Leader."
The subordinates dragged out the people Jo Bok pointed to from the cages. A sturdy man in his early thirties and a youth in his early twenties.
Jo Bok and the subordinates threw the man and youth before Dong Ja-chu.
Uncomprehending, the two fell prostrate before Dong Ja-chu. He looked down at them with a sinister smile.
"Do you know your fate?"
"What?"
The sturdy man jerked his head up. He was a merchant from the allied company.
The timid-looking youth couldn't even lift his head and just trembled. Dong Ja-chu's voice reached his ears.
"Some people will come soon. I'm planning to sell you to them as slaves."
"You can't!"
The sturdy man and youth paled. Dong Ja-chu savored their expressions.
"Once sold as slaves, you'll never see the sun again. No one taken by them has ever survived. So, I'm giving you a chance."
As soon as Dong Ja-chu finished, Jo Bok tossed a sword to each.
The two blinked in confusion, not understanding.
"Fight. The winner goes free. Heh heh!"
"Heh heh heh!"
Lewd chuckles erupted from all around.
The Blood Wolf Bandits' eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
It was their entertainment.
Watching desperate, bloody fights for freedom was one of the greatest pleasures.
Fights between ordinary folk who had never held a sword were surprisingly fierce and offered a different thrill from martial artists' duels.
The sturdy man jerked his head up to look at Dong Ja-chu.
"Is that true?"
"Of course. Win, and you're free. Lose, and the other goes free. How about it? That's reason enough to fight, no?"
Conflict flickered in the sturdy man's eyes.
'For freedom? I don't want to spend my life as a slave.'
A wife and child awaited him at home.
He had to return to them, no matter what.
The sturdy man gripped the sword. Poisonous resolve filled his eyes. The youth, meanwhile, trembled.
"I-I can't."
"Heh heh! Then you die now."
"No..."
Teardrops like beads rolled down the youth's cheek.
Ching!
Jo Bok drew his sword and pressed it to the youth's neck.
"Grab the sword, you coward."