Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: A Lesson in the Dark
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At Bu Eun-seol’s words, the reclining Namgung Un shot up.
“What in the world are you talking about?”
He then crossed his arms, his face brimming with confidence.
“While I may not be as skilled as you, Brother Seol, I am not so weak as to be defeated by the wretches of Eum-sa-gok.”
“Have you ever fought assassins before?”
“No, but… what threat could men who only stab people in the back possibly pose?”
“Assassins are strong. In the mountains, they are nigh invincible.”
“Hahaha. To call mere assassins invincible.”
Bu Eun-seol spoke coldly.
“A large-scale battle in the mountains is different from a martial arts duel. Especially a battle in the dead of night, deep in the forest.”
Bu Eun-seol had experienced a variety of battles during his time on the Hellish Island.
Fighting numerous enemies in the mountains on a dark night was a perilous situation where one’s life could be snuffed out at any moment.
And if the enemies were assassins? No matter how skilled one was, death was almost certain.
“A battle with assassins in the mountains will grant you a greater enlightenment than a hundred fights with martial artists in the open.”
Bu Eun-seol said in a low voice.
“Assuming you survive, of course.”
“If what you say is true, Brother Seol, then we’re doomed to die.”
“We’ll see.”
Seeing Bu Eun-seol smile, revealing his white teeth, Namgung Un’s expression turned aghast.
“Are you really saying their scouts will come here?”
Instead of answering, Bu Eun-seol gave a faint smile, and Namgung Un thought he could see the ominous black specter of the grim reaper behind him.
“Ah, I think I’ve gotten myself into something terrible.”
A chill running down his spine, Namgung Un flopped back down onto the ground.
“Dammit. I came to gain experience in the martial world, not to get myself needlessly killed.”
Around the third watch, even the chirping of insects had quieted.
The moonlight was hidden by clouds, and the world was filled with silence.
If the assassins of Eum-sa-gok were planning a surprise attack, now would be the perfect time.
Bu Eun-seol remained standing ramrod straight, with Heuk-pyo beside him.
Namgung Un, however, was snoring as if fast asleep.
Suddenly, Bu Eun-seol’s eyes, which had been narrowed, glinted in the darkness.
“Just as I thought. They’re coming.”
As Heuk-pyo tilted his head in confusion, Namgung Un, who had been lying down, also sensed something and quickly got up.
*Ch-ch-ch-ch.*
It sounded like insects rustling in the wind, or perhaps the whisper of clothes brushing against tree bark.
“From the sound of their footsteps, there are at least twenty of them,”
Heuk-pyo said, pressing his ear to the ground. Bu Eun-seol rose nonchalantly and spoke.
“No need to wait. You strike first.”
“M-me?”
Heuk-pyo swallowed hard.
He knew well the terror of assassins. He was especially unsure if his throwing weapon techniques would be effective against the Eum-sa-gok assassins, who were seasoned veterans of nighttime raids, as proven by their recent attack on the Jin-cheon-mun.
“Forget about trying to eliminate them. All you need to do is withstand their attack.”
“Just… withstand it?”
“That’s right. For as long as you can.”
“Understood.”
At Bu Eun-seol’s command, Heuk-pyo took a deep breath and activated his movement technique.
He stretched out both arms toward the approaching figures, unleashing a chaotic flurry of thin, round throwing weapons.
It was the technique Dang Gon had taught him, the Flashing Blood Chain Rings.
*Shhh-ree-reek!*
The Blood Chain Rings created dozens of afterimages. But then, their rotation began to slow, becoming visible to the naked eye.
‘What?’
Heuk-pyo’s eyes widened as he watched.
‘They keep hitting the tree branches!’
*Pak!*
With a short scream, one of the Eum-sa-gok masters who had been rushing through the darkness collapsed to the ground, Blood Chain Rings embedded in both his shoulders.
Despite unleashing one of the Dang Family’s ultimate throwing weapon techniques, and with the element of surprise, he had failed to properly take down even a single person.
“Over there!”
The men who spotted Heuk-pyo drew their swords and surrounded him.
Normally, he would have used his movement technique to flee. But under Bu Eun-seol’s order to hold out for as long as possible, Heuk-pyo stood his ground and threw a volley of darts.
*Ting! Tang!*
But the masters of Eum-sa-gok, having anticipated the darts’ trajectory, easily deflected them.
“Surround him!”
Like true assassins, they began to fire their own projectiles, sealing off Heuk-pyo’s movements.
*Chang-chang-chang!*
Heuk-pyo drew a dagger in each hand and deflected their projectiles, but he was overwhelmed.
In less than a moment, he was completely surrounded, unable to move.
If not for the movement technique Bu Eun-seol had taught him, he would have already fallen and become a lonely ghost in the mountains.
“Hmm.”
Bu Eun-seol, who had been observing, spoke.
“Now.”
He gestured toward the dumbfounded Namgung Un.
“Go help him.”
At Bu Eun-seol’s words, Namgung Un frowned and pointed at his own face.
“Me too?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to gain practical experience?”
“Well, that’s…”
“This is a good opportunity. To face men who are experts at surprise attacks in the dead of night.”
“Umm.”
Namgung Un hesitated.
The prospect of fighting assassins in the mountains didn’t appeal to him.
“Brother Seol. I am, for all intents and purposes, a member of the Namgung Family.”
“Are you afraid?”
“Afraid?”
Namgung Un’s eyes suddenly flashed as he shouted.
“Who said anything about being afraid?”
Spitting on his hands with a *ptui*, he gripped his Golden Needle Sword.
“It’s just embarrassing to get tangled up with assassins like them.”
“You’ll understand once you fight them.”
Bu Eun-seol said with a solemn expression.
“The terror of a forest where no light penetrates.”
“Just watch me!”
Namgung Un charged down the mountain toward where Heuk-pyo was fighting and swung his Golden Needle Sword in a wide arc.
“Take this!”
*Crack! Crash!*
Each time the Golden Needle Sword danced through the air, nearby trees were sliced down.
But despite its immense power, most of the Eum-sa-gok masters surrounding Heuk-pyo were unharmed.
“These bastards?”
It didn’t seem like the assassins had made any particular effort to dodge, yet his Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword kept missing.
He furiously unleashed his sword forms at the assassins for a while, but very few of them actually fell.
Looking closely, he saw they were expertly using the surrounding terrain—trees and rocks—to evade his techniques.
“Dammit all!”
Finally, a curse erupted from Namgung Un’s lips as he swung the Golden Needle Sword.
“You rats! Stop cowering and face me fair and square!”
The Namgung Family’s Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword was a style specialized for one-on-one duels against masters.
It was not suited for fighting multiple enemies in a dark forest.
*Thwack! Smack!*
The sword strikes he unleashed repeatedly struck trees and rocks.
Moreover, unaccustomed to the darkness, Namgung Un occasionally unleashed his attacks in Heuk-pyo’s direction.
“Young Master! It’s me!”
“S-sorry.”
Namgung Un had always traveled alone and had never fought alongside anyone else.
In his panicked frenzy of swinging his sword, he kept crossing paths with Heuk-pyo.
“Dammit.”
As he paused in his bewilderment, the Eum-sa-gok masters seized the opportunity and swung their swords.
*Swish-swish-swish!*
The Eum-sa-gok masters scattered and regrouped repeatedly, cornering Namgung Un and Heuk-pyo.
Both men fought with all their might, but they were helpless against the assassins’ tactics, which utilized the harsh mountain terrain and the darkness.
‘I’m going to die at this rate.’
Namgung Un was so unnerved that he couldn’t even bring out a tenth of his true skill.
Watching Namgung Un struggle to swing his sword while avoiding his own chaotic movements, Heuk-pyo’s mind raced.
‘What if, instead of joining the attack, I just disrupt the assassins’ movements?’
Having followed Bu Eun-seol for so long, Heuk-pyo had developed the ability to analyze the flow of a battle from a broader perspective and devise strategies.
“Young Master! I’ll stop their movements!”
Having made up his mind, Heuk-pyo immediately distanced himself from Namgung Un and began to circle the assassins.
*Pyu-pyu-pyu-pyu!*
Seizing his chance, Heuk-pyo unleashed a continuous stream of throwing weapons.
His aim wasn’t to hit the Eum-sa-gok masters, but to restrict their movements.
“Now!”
“Got it!”
As the assassins were forced out from behind their cover, unable to use the terrain, Namgung Un swung his sword.
It was not the Azure Sky Flying Swallow Sword, but a desperate flurry of strikes aimed solely at exploiting the enemy’s openings.
“Keuk!”
Unlike before, the assassins suffered grievous wounds from the sharp sword strikes.
‘I see.’
Having regained his composure, Namgung Un stopped swinging his Golden Needle Sword recklessly and instead unleashed precise, deadly strikes timed with the enemies’ movements.
“Uwaaack!”
Screams began to erupt one after another.
Seeing this, Heuk-pyo gleefully threw his weapons with even more vigor.
The assassins tried to ambush Heuk-pyo, who was directing Namgung Un, but each time, Namgung Un blocked their attacks like an iron wall.
“They make a decent team.”
Bu Eun-seol, watching from a distance, nodded.
As the two men tenaciously held on, the tide began to turn against the Eum-sa-gok assassins.
Namgung Un had broken free from his rigid sword forms, unleashing deadly strikes at will, while Heuk-pyo now threw his weapons with an understanding of the enemy’s weaknesses and the overall state of the battle.
—A battle with assassins in the mountains will grant you a greater enlightenment than a hundred fights with martial artists in the open.
The words Bu Eun-seol had spoken echoed in both Namgung Un’s and Heuk-pyo’s minds.
—Assuming you survive, of course.
Only now did the two of them understand the meaning behind his words.
If they could survive this battle.
They would surely elevate their skills to the next level.
“These tenacious bastards…”
The Eum-sa-gok assassins gritted their teeth.
Thanks to Namgung Un and Heuk-pyo, who clung to life like drowning ghosts when they seemed on the verge of death, their plan to scout the encampment’s size was a complete failure.
“Retreat!”
With a frustrated shout, the Eum-sa-gok assassins instantly fell back, disappearing into the darkness on the other side.
“*Gasp. Gasp.*”
As they retreated, Namgung Un and Heuk-pyo gasped for breath, panting heavily.
“I… I really thought I was going to die.”
“You said it.”
A chaotic battle against assassins in the dead of night, deep in the mountains.
In this fight, the elegance of swordplay and the speed of throwing weapons had been of no help at all.
Bu Eun-seol, looking down at them, spoke calmly.
“Now you understand the difference.”
A battle against multiple enemies in a dark forest.
It was a clash of killing intent against killing intent, something entirely different from a martial arts duel.
“You’re right about that. Ugh.”
Using his blood-soaked Golden Needle Sword as a cane, Namgung Un stood up and caught his breath.
“But I really don’t get it. Why didn’t my family ever conduct this kind of training?”
“Because there was no need to.”
Bu Eun-seol said, gazing into the dark forest.
“A direct descendant of a family fighting multiple enemies deep in the mountains at night… That kind of scenario wouldn’t happen unless the very fate of the clan or sect was at stake.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Sheathing his sword, Namgung Un smacked his lips.
“Does that mean you’ve fought with a clan’s fate on the line, Brother Seol?”
Bu Eun-seol remained firmly silent at the question.
To become one of the Sip-ma-jeon-in, he had fought for his life against countless prodigies on the Hellish Island.
Such training methods were virtually unheard of in the history of the martial world; it was an experience unique to the survivors of the Hellish Island, the Sip-ma-jeon-in.
“Young Master. Do you think the surprise attack was successful?”
Heuk-pyo asked then, a worried look on his face.
“If they sent scouts this way, it means the Pae-do-mun has seen through our movements… I don’t think the raid could have succeeded.”
Heuk-pyo had come to understand Bu Eun-seol’s nature quite well.
If he had expected the attack by the mercenaries to succeed, he wouldn't be sitting here leisurely guarding the camp.
“To execute a successful surprise attack, one must grasp the state of the battle as if reading the palm of one’s hand. But the Jin-cheon-mun rushed their schedule far too much.”
Bu Eun-seol lifted his head and looked north, in the direction the mercenaries had gone.
“They will most likely fail miserably.”
Heuk-pyo, who had been nodding silently, made a curious remark.
“It seems there’s truly nothing you don’t know, Young Master. No matter how much experience one has in the martial world…”
“It’s not from experience in the martial world.”
“Pardon?”
Instead of answering, Bu Eun-seol turned away.
‘Back then, Hwangju was filled with countless martial artists who died away from home.’
He was suddenly lost in a memory of the past.
At that time, Hwangju was a place of constant strife and conflict between the orthodox and unorthodox factions. Countless martial artists, or spies, fought and died there.
While preparing their bodies for burial, Bu Eun-seol and Bu Jan-yang would always try to deduce the cause of their deaths.
That act was tantamount to studying and understanding the strategies and habits of martial artists on a daily basis.
“Get some rest for now.”
Bu Eun-seol lay down in the bushes and closed his eyes.
As dawn broke, the sound of trudging footsteps approached the camp. Figures emerged from the woods.
They were all soaked in blood, their eyes vacant.
“……”
Heuk-pyo and Namgung Un, who had been resting against a rock, looked at each other and gaped.
Bu Eun-seol’s prediction had been frighteningly accurate.