Chapter 22
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Heavenly Net of Heaven and Earth (2)
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The Old Man brushed off Han Sojung's words lightly and issued orders to the men standing around him.
“I’ll buy us some time by fighting to the death. No matter how strong they are, they can’t hold out for half a shichen, can they? Hurry and escort the young master up to the peak. From there, follow the ridge westwards, and you’ll escape their heavenly net. I’ll hold out as long as I can and follow behind, so make haste and go.”
At those words, the largest of the three men swiftly hoisted Han Sojung onto his back.
Then, without delay, he leaped forward again.
Over a dozen shadows were lightly ascending the valley.
It was pitch-black darkness, but their toes accurately struck the uneven rocks.
At that moment, a thud rang out, and one of them tumbled backward.
Then another took a rock to the face and collapsed.
But the third stone was deflected by the blade swung by the man in the lead.
Now the shadows all drew their swords and stood in place, scanning their surroundings.
From the dark valley below, the sound of barking dogs approached.
“Step forward. You dared to block our path, so you must be prepared for the consequences.”
A couple more stones flew in, but they were all bounced off the blades.
But at that moment, another let out a gasp and fell.
He had thrown two or three stones to draw attention while simultaneously launching hidden weapons.
The technique of hurling stones to distract while attacking with hidden weapons was no small feat.
“This won’t do. Charge up together and catch him. Charge!”
At the leader’s signal, the dozen or so Eastern Depot warriors leaped simultaneously toward the direction the stones were coming from.
“Argh!”
“Ugh! My foot….”
The moment the leaping warriors hit the ground, several of them screamed and rolled about.
“That must itch quite a bit. It’s coated with Seven-Colored Centipede poison, so take your time on the road to the afterlife. Heh heh….”
From the darkness-shrouded woods, the Old Man’s mocking voice echoed.
But the pursuers couldn’t budge.
The soles of the fallen men’s feet were pierced with poison caltrops.
It was four or five steel needles bound together—lethal when scattered on the ground.
Normally scattered along the enemy’s expected path and camouflaged with leaves, but in this pitch-black night, even plain scattering made them deadly.
Moreover, coated with the venom of the infamous centipede, the Seven-Colored Centipede, every step was a gamble with death.
“Ugh… When I catch you, I’ll rip out your liver and chew it raw. Prepare yourself.”
As the leader of the pursuers ground his teeth and shouted, the Old Man’s voice came again.
“Don’t rush—come slowly. I still have plenty more gifts for you. Kah hah hah….”
At that moment, the Eastern Depot’s main force arrived, leading snarling dogs.
The Chief Punisher Thousand Household Officer Bangu, who led the group, stepped forward and bellowed hoarsely.
“What are you lot doing? Why haven’t you hunted them down yet?!”
“Thousand Household Officer, sir. The path is littered with poison caltrops. Already several men…”
“Hmph. Utterly incompetent. Hey, release the dogs at once.”
Bangu immediately ordered the ferocious dogs unleashed.
Yap!
Two or three dogs that charged in were pierced by the caltrops and collapsed. But the remaining six or seven dashed straight into the woods where the Old Man hid.
Grrrr….
Thud! Thwack!
Yap… Yap… Grrrr….
Soon, sounds of beating the dogs in the woods rang out, and Bangu immediately issued another order.
“What are you doing? Fire the crossbows. Don’t you hear the noises?”
At Bangu’s command, the Eastern Depot warriors immediately cocked their crossbows and unleashed bolts wildly toward the sounds.
As the steel bolts flew like rain into the woods, soon a groan of “Urk” came from within.
The moment Bangu heard the groan, he drew his longsword and leaped toward the woods.
To avoid the poison caltrops, Bangu trampled without hesitation over the dogs whimpering on the ground after being pierced.
Two Eastern Depot experts followed right behind him.
Swish….
The moment they entered the woods, they were greeted by a handful of ox-hair needles.
Among hidden weapons, ox-hair needles were infamous for being tricky to handle.
To kill with needles as thin and small as cow hairs required profound inner power and precise skill.
Especially blocking silent-flying ox-hair needles in such deep darkness was even harder.
But the ox-hair needles posed no threat to the Eastern Depot experts.
Clink….
Bangu, charging ahead, had them all stick harmlessly to the breastplate over his torso.
The breastplate Bangu wore wasn’t quite on the level of the imperial palace’s treasures but was a top-grade item infused with magnetic properties.
“Heh heh… For a rebel, you sure put on a good show of tricks. Now hand over your neck.”
Bangu thrust his blade toward the Old Man now visible before him.
The two Eastern Depot experts who arrived right after split to Bangu’s flanks and began a linked hands combined assault.
The Eastern Depot’s martial arts were infamous for their speed and viciousness.
They hadn’t trained for duels or escort missions.
They existed solely to stab and slash foes.
Their sword forms and techniques had no fancy names, nor did they care for such.
Taboos in the jianghu like linked assaults or backstabs meant nothing to them.
The Old Man drew a single backsaber and faced off against the three.
The blade clash in the dark mountains was ferocious, yet the Old Man maintained composure, dragging out the time.
“Rebel scum. You think stalling is enough? Heh heh….”
At Bangu’s words, the Old Man retreated three or four steps.
“You think I’d fall for your sly tongue? The young master is already far gone, you bastard.”
“Heh heh… You underestimate the Eastern Depot’s heavenly net too much. Do you even know what heavenly net means? A net spread across heaven and earth—think it’ll let that brat slip away? Ha ha….”
The Old Man grew uneasy as Bangu’s words dragged on.
“This won’t do. I was going to play with you longer, but now I must go.”
Reading the Old Man’s intent to withdraw, the three positioned themselves in a triangular formation, blocking his escape.
“Delusional nonsense. Your skills are decent, so let’s spar a bit more.”
“You ignorant fools. You think I can’t escape with my life even if I can’t kill you all?”
The Old Man’s aura sharpened.
His backsaber, swung with true resolve, began emitting a savage whistle.
* * *
The three who barely reached the foot of the peak encountered a fork leading along ridges in both directions.
“West is left. Let’s go.”
“Achil. Put me down now. I can walk.”
“Understood. Tell me anytime if you tire.”
The hulking man called Achil set Han Sojung down from his back. The three quickened their pace along the westward ridge path.
But that pace didn’t last long.
The moment they rounded a corner from the summit, five Eastern Depot experts appeared, blocking their way.
“The Thousand Household Officer must be some kind of Zhuge Liang. Heh heh….”
“Indeed. Showing up right on time like this.”
And behind them, four or five more had appeared, cutting off retreat.
Achil was utterly stunned.
Neither in martial prowess nor numbers could they match.
“Young master. This is the end of the line.”
“Seems so. Kill me first. Can’t let them capture me. You know that, right?”
Achil drew a sharp dagger from his bosom and handed it to Han Sojung.
“I’ll do my utmost, but if it comes to it…”
Achil guarded the front, the other man the rear. But the Eastern Depot experts showed no tension.
“Come on. Enough playing—time to take the noose obediently. Drop the sword.”
“In your dreams.”
“I promise. If you surrender meekly, we won’t treat you harshly…”
Swish!
“Urk!”
At that instant, a crossbow bolt flew from somewhere in the surrounding woods and embedded in Achil’s chest.
Achil collapsed with eyes bulging wide.
Simultaneously, two bolts struck the man facing the rear.
“Where do you think you’re going, brat? You can’t die yet.”
Seeing Achil fall, Han Sojung raised the dagger to his own throat, but the expert who’d been taunting moments ago flew in, seized his arm, and twisted it away.
The dagger clattered harmlessly to the ground, and Han Sojung’s arms were swiftly bound behind his back with rope.
At the same time, two Eastern Depot elites emerged from the woods where they’d hidden to fire the crossbows. They kicked the two fallen men to check if they lived, then yanked out the bolts from their bodies.
“Alright, let’s go. Ended quicker than expected—perfect time for a midnight snack…”
At that moment, an owl hooted through the night, and the man who’d just spoken crumpled to the ground.
Simultaneously, a dark shadow appeared before them.
“Not too late, I see.”
The Eastern Depot group drew their swords in alarm.
“Another rebel bastard.”
The shadow gave no reply and charged at them.
Bare-handed, without a weapon, he subdued the enemies one by one.
He casually dodged viciously swung blades, stiffening his fingers to strike vital points one after another.
It wasn’t even a fight—just a one-sided massacre.
In the span of a few breaths, all twelve Eastern Depot warriors lay dead on the ground without exception.
Finishing the deed, the shadow approached Han Sojung, who stared at him in a daze, then jabbed a finger at a point on his body. Han Sojung collapsed limply.
The shadow caught the falling Han Sojung, slung him over his shoulder, and vanished into the darkness once more.
A short while later.
A shadow leaped nimbly up, surveying near the summit, then spotted the fallen ones.
It was the Old Man who had been escorting Han Sojung.
“Achil, Brother A…”
He first checked the two bodies on the ground and scanned further, but Han Sojung was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, Eastern Depot warriors lay scattered everywhere.
“He clearly wasn’t taken by them. They wouldn’t leave the bodies and take only the young master. What on earth happened…”
At that moment, he sensed a group pursuing him from below the mountain.
The Old Man leaped back into the darkness and vanished.
“What on earth…”
Bangu, who had lit torches to inspect the fallen bodies, let out a bewildered sigh.
Over a dozen Eastern Depot warriors had been slaughtered by someone.
Han Sojung had clearly escaped.
“They have more escorts. And at least a peak-level expert. They went down clean without any resistance.”
“The Old Man’s doing?”
“Foolish talk. He doesn’t have the skill, nor the time.”
“Then who…”
“Enough prattle. Fire the signal at once. Tighten the perimeter.”
At Bangu’s order, one of the group set down the long tube on his back, lit the fuse.
Soon, with a boom, something launched, painting the night sky with red sparks.
It was the Eastern Depot’s signal for night operations.
“We must head down. Can’t let them get away like this.”
“Sir, what about these bodies?”
“No time now. It’s a race against time.”
The Eastern Depot warriors immediately vanished down the mountain.