The Worth of a Hostage
“Wait! Don't come any closer! I'll be good! I really won't make another sound—!”
My fist slammed into Ju Hwaryeon's gut.
“Aaagh.”
She went limp.
I answered roughly.
“If I kill you and then say I'm sorry, would you accept that?”
I hauled her up and sat her roughly in front of me.
Damn it. I should've learned pressure-point techniques.
The regret came far too late. With how fast I'd grown, there were any number of basic skills an ordinary martial artist would have mastered long ago. Of course I hadn't. And now I was paying the price in full.
I seized her shoulder and stripped away the clothes covering it.
Ju Hwaryeon, still coughing up spit and vomit, froze mid-retch and stared in pure horror.
“W-what the hell are you doing?! You rapist bastard!”
“….”
[She's no ordinary woman.]
Mumyeong muttered.
She glared up at my masked face with trembling, tear-bright eyes.
“Hic… hic. Shit. At least be handsome. You filthy ugly bastard. Coward who probably can't even get it up. Using force on a helpless woman like me.”
“….”
[She really isn't ordinary.]
I lowered my head, then raised it again.
“You should thank your ancestors that the intruder turned out to be me.”
I bit the sleeve of my robe with the teeth beneath the mask and tore it free with a sharp rip.
“Now he's tearing his own clothes off with his mouth?! You pervert!”
I bound her arms and legs while she kept spouting nonsense, then scanned the surroundings. A tin pot caught my eye. I picked it up and held it upside down.
“Put this over your head and shut up until we get out of here.”
“Hey, you crazy bastard! That's not a pot!”
Ju Hwaryeon went deathly pale and shrieked.
“That's a chamber pot, you son of a bitch! Kyaa!”
I jammed it down over her head. A distant-cave chorus of every curse imaginable immediately began echoing from inside.
I slung her over my shoulder and started running.
“Young miss!”
“The intruder has kidnapped the young miss!”
Breaking through the Blood Sect's inescapable net had taught me one lesson in my bones: the difference between having someone to protect and having no one. The difficulty gap was overwhelming. One of the reasons I'd suffered so badly back then was that I hadn't been alone—I'd had to keep Namgung Sogyo alive. On top of that, under Ryu Hwasa's orders the Blood Sect had avoided lethal strikes aimed at me except when absolutely necessary, pouring everything into killing her instead. I could say it with certainty: that was what made it so much more painful and exhausting. Through that ordeal I had learned the true value of a hostage—especially during an escape.
This time I had a hostage again. And this time it was the opposite. I held their hostage.
“Don't swing your swords recklessly! He has the young miss!”
“You cowardly bastard!”
Curses and threats filled the air. Even when the Ju Family martial artists tried to cut me down, they froze as if iced over. Killing moves started and then faltered, unfinished. Carrying Ju Hwaryeon on my shoulder limited my own movements, yet it limited their once-unrestrained attacks far more—more than enough to make up the difference.
Piiit!
An arrow someone loosed grazed Ju Hwaryeon's shoulder.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! You hit the young miss! Do you want the master to kill you?! Aim properly!”
A scream from a distant pavilion reached all the way here.
“—! —!!!”
Ju Hwaryeon thrashed wildly on my shoulder. I cycled Hwan-yeong-dae-sin-bo, vaulting buildings and racing along the walls.
The winter rain was tapering off. The drops grew sparse. The dark clouds parted. Beyond them a pale half-moon emerged, casting a wan blue light.
Kugugugu…
Under that cold blue moonlight a vast serpent seemed to coil, tightening its grip to encircle me completely.
Pabat.
I stopped. With a sharp whirl I set Ju Hwaryeon down and pulled her back against my chest.
I drew a breath.
“Everyone, listen well!”
The world was brightening as if day had come. Torches were still multiplying. Looking down from the high wall, the sheer oppressive weight of the scene made my whole body want to shrink. Archers packed every pavilion roof, bows drawn. Directly below the wall, martial artists aimed spear points in a seamless wall. Behind them swordsmen stood ready to surge forward. And further back, at least fifty more riders were galloping up on horseback.
“D-daughter! What is going on—who is that bastard I'll tear limb from limb?!”
A pot-bellied man who could only be the Ju Family head came stumbling out half-naked. Two equally half-dressed courtesans fled past him into the darkness.
“Lord Ju Garyeong! It's dangerous! You must not come out!”
A martial artist tried to restrain the enraged family head.
“Th-that dog-spawned bastard! R-right now—!”
Lord Ju Garyeong foamed at the mouth and stamped his feet.
“What in heaven's name did you put on my precious daughter's head?!”
I drew the last mid-length sword remaining on my back. Aside from a few throwing knives, it was the final weapon I had brought from the Namgung Family. Using Ju Hwaryeon as a living shield against the arrows, I roared.
“Do not approach!”
My voice rolled like thunder through the darkness.
“Come any closer and I cannot guarantee this woman's life! Of course I have no desire to kill a powerless woman either…!”
“Son of a bitch. Ugly bastard.”
A faint curse rumbled from under the chamber pot.
“If things go even slightly wrong I will show absolutely no mercy! I will kill her! I swear by the gods of heaven and earth—I will kill her without fail!”
[…Drop the emotion, Host.]
Mumyeong added dryly.
Ju Garyeong shouted in desperation.
“W-what do you want?!”
“Safe escape! Guarantee me a clear path out and I will leave this woman right where she stands! I have not the slightest intention of dragging along such an ugly bitch!”
Ju Hwaryeon thrashed violently on my shoulder. Muffled shouts, blocked by the chamber pot, battered my ears.
[I said drop the emotion…]
Mumyeong muttered again.
Ju Garyeong jumped up and down, bellowing.
“Th-that bastard I'll have drawn and quartered! How dare you speak of my daughter that way—!”
“So clear the path already—!”
Swaeek!
An arrow sliced through the night sky.
“Aah!”
“Which bastard was that?! Who loosed without orders?!”
Shocked voices erupted among the archers. Ju Hwaryeon thrashed and her body pitched forward—placing her heart directly in the arrow's path.
“Kh!”
I kicked her ankle hard. She staggered wildly.
“Kraak!”
The arrow skimmed past her bent side and buried itself deep in my shoulder.
“You bastards!”
I clenched my teeth, jerked my upper body upright, and snarled.
“Fine! You want to play it that way?!”
I gripped the sword hilt and began smashing the iron chamber pot with frenzied force.
Kwang! Kwangkwangkwangkwang!
Ju Hwaryeon thrashed and groaned in pain inside the pot, then went limp. At the sight, Lord Ju Garyeong's face drained of color.
“Stop! Everyone stop! You bastards! On whose orders are you shooting?!”
His scream tore through the darkness. I panted and shouted back.
“Back off! Next time it won't be the hilt—it'll be the blade! Do you think this is a joke?!”
“Clear the path! Now!”
At Ju Garyeong's roar the crowd began parting. Using Ju Hwaryeon as my shield I retreated step by step, facing hundreds of martial artists as I slowly gave ground.
[It's ready.]
Mumyeong spoke calmly.
Fortunately the second residence sat on the outermost edge of Luoyang. In the distance a dense forest waited. I let red light flare in my eyes and concentrated internal energy into my hand. I was still clumsy with internal force—more often than not I burst a sword just trying to form sword qi—but endless practice had at least let me focus energy at my fingertips.
Kiiik.
I tore the crushed mouth of the chamber pot wider. A ragged, panting voice drifted out.
“I'll get my revenge. Count on it.”
Venom filled every word.
“You think I'll feel even a speck of gratitude just because you took an arrow for me? Pervert bastard.”
“….”
Whatever else happened, I never wanted to see these Ju Family people again after tonight.
Kwang!
A silent blow of the sword hilt rang the chamber pot like a bell. Ju Hwaryeon went completely limp. I laid her stretched form on the ground and lifted my head.
Kiiiiiik…
The taut hum of bowstrings reached me clearly. I swallowed.
Every person packing the space before me was waiting for the exact instant my fingers left her. They held their breath, focused on my every twitch. Dozens of archers had climbed into the trees and trained arrows on me. Below them swordsmen stood coiled to sprint. Behind them an endless river of torches stretched away. Even in this heartbeat, distant torch clusters were slowly circling wider, tightening the noose on my retreat.
“Hoo.”
I drew a deep breath.
Pajik.
Lightning-flame qi boiled through my body. Internal energy was plentiful. With an open path behind me, there was nothing left to fear. As long as I ran at full power, almost no one in the entire Jianghu could catch me.
I spun and exploded into a sprint at the same instant.
“After him!”
The ground seemed to collapse under the roar of pursuit.
“Young miss! Are you all right?!”
Like a mother bird covering her chicks, the crowd swarmed over the fallen Ju Hwaryeon. I confirmed the sight one last time and called out low and clear.
“Namsang Samadhi!”
Kiiiing!
Crimson light erupted from my eyes. The Heavenly Demon's authority manifested.
Possession Experience: Synchronized
Extraction System: Fully Deployed
1st-class — Blood Sect
The distance between each stride lengthened. The speed of my legs increased. My upper body tilted sharply forward until it was extreme—any pause would have sent me pitching face-first into the earth. I had become a human arrow.
“Th… the world…”
“T-to think such lightness skill even exists!”
Without any order the family's martial artists began peeling off the chase one by one. Under the blue moonlight they could only stare blankly at the single red streak of light vanishing into the distance.
Thud.
Lord Ju Garyeong, who had come running in a panic, collapsed onto the ground. His face was paper-white, drenched in cold sweat. His fat cheeks trembled like a dog's jowls. He stared at the red flash cutting through the darkness and muttered as if he could not believe his own eyes.
“G-good heavens. I know that footwork. I saw it—at Baekhakmubong…”
“My lord? Snap out of it!”
The martial artists supporting him grabbed his arms. Ju Garyeong was already half out of his mind.
“Th-the Blood Sect. The worst fanatical cult in the entire Jianghu!”
“What?”
To his blankly echoing subordinates he screamed until his throat tore.
“The Blood Sect!! Do you even know what that footwork is?! Do you rice-bucket eyes think a technique that produces movements that eerie is common?!”
His glittering eyes shook with raw terror.
“Good heavens! How can Hyeol-yeong-mu-hwan-sin-sul—something even the Blood Sect reserves for high ranks—appear here in Luoyang?!”
“My lord, calm yourself!”
Trembling from head to toe, Ju Garyeong accepted their support. For a moment he simply stared, vacant, then suddenly shouted at the men beside him.
“C… contact him! Contact that person at once! This is no petty kidnapping by the Lower Gate or some small outfit! Hurry… hurry…!”
Lord Ju Garyeong's voice cracked into a raw scream.
“Contact the Guardian—contact him immediately!”