Chapter 99
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Plum Blossom Sword Formation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Do-gwang clicked his tongue inwardly as he watched the scene.
It wasn't just Do-gwang who felt uncomfortable seeing the Mount Hua Sect experts unfold the Plum Blossom Sword Formation to exact revenge.
"Hey, isn't that going too far? Those two just had a fair and square duel a moment ago."
Someone in the watching crowd—one whose identity Do-gwang didn't know—shouted out.
At that, the middle-aged Mount Hua Sect expert scanned the crowd with a chilling gaze and responded.
"I don't know which senior you might be, but if you have words for Mount Hua Sect, step forward. If you have objections, we'll first execute this green forest bandit here and then receive your teachings."
With the middle-aged expert invoking Mount Hua Sect's name to apply pressure, no one opened their mouth again.
At that moment, Bang-chung bellowed in a hoarse voice.
"Hmph. I knew Mount Hua Sect was narrow-minded in its glory days, but to think you're this cowardly too. Hypocrites who splash around in shit water."
"Heh heh... Old man. Save your complaints for the afterlife. In the jianghu, isn't the law that the strong are always right, and the victor takes all?"
When the Mount Hua middle-aged expert shot back like that, Bang-chung continued with a sigh-like tone.
"Fine, good. If you bastards are dead set on taking this old man's head, then I'll have to drag a few of you with me. I made a mistake—I should've snapped that guy's neck first back then."
"Talk drags on and things get messy. Alright, go!"
As soon as the words fell, he signaled, and the Plum Blossom Sword Formation moved into action without delay.
In truth, the middle-aged Mount Hua expert had chosen the Plum Blossom Sword Formation after meticulous calculation.
With the leader among the three Plum Blossom Sword Guards who had come here, Tanghwa, now fallen, his junior brothers—whose martial arts were clearly inferior to Tanghwa's—had no confidence in dealing with Bang-chung.
In the end, he decided to incorporate the remaining five second-generation disciples they had brought and unfold the Plum Blossom Sword Formation.
A sword formation sounded impressive in name, but this was simply seven people charging at one man with blades drawn.
If the opponent were an insurmountable master, it would be a desperate measure worth taking, but this was the foe they had barely defeated in a fair duel.
In the jianghu, ganging up on a single person was an utterly shameful act to begin with.
Moreover, for a prestigious orthodox sect like Mount Hua Sect, renowned for its fame, such cowardice was something to avoid at all costs—but they lacked the discernment for that now.
For far too long, the jianghu had been the world of a few prestigious orthodox sects led by the Nine Great Sects, so most of them were of one mind, with little mutual restraint.
The word "righteousness and chivalry" was something those orthodox sect cliques used only to praise each other, truly hard to find in their actions.
Thus, the Plum Blossom Sword Formation activated, but in truth, it couldn't unleash its full power.
There were only two Plum Blossom Sword Guards; the other five were second-generation disciples out on their mandatory jianghu training before earning the Plum Blossom Sword Guard title.
They had learned the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship and Formation, but forcing in those who hadn't even approached its profound secrets—how could such a formation display proper might?
Trapped at the center of the Plum Blossom Sword Formation, Bang-chung soon found himself in dire straits, but he was barely dodging the blades with his exquisite footwork and movement arts.
However, counterattacking was out of the question.
Imperfect though it was, a sword formation was still a sword formation.
It couldn't sever Bang-chung's life in an instant, but neither was it sloppy enough to allow his retaliation.
And so the Mount Hua Sect experts remained leisurely.
They even thought it perfectly suited to slowly toy with and kill the opponent.
No fatal blows landed, but light wounds began accumulating all over Bang-chung's body.
The painful ones were the shallow cuts from clumsy slashes.
And blood started flowing from wounds across Bang-chung's body.
This was no spar, not even a duel.
The Mount Hua Sect experts were now cruelly toying with their foe like it was a game.
As wounds multiplied on Bang-chung's body, his footwork grew duller.
Gradually, the arena fell silent.
The sense that this was excessive arose naturally in the minds and hearts of the onlookers, but no one stepped forward.
Most were disciples of prestigious orthodox sects, close enough to be fellow sect members, and the remaining few lacked the ability anyway.
'Isn't that too much? Damn bastards....'
Even those who thought so lacked the guts to intervene.
Amid all this, the Plum Blossom Sword Formation's power steadily increased.
Now, they were practicing the formation against Bang-chung as a live opponent.
The two Plum Blossom Sword Guards deliberately pushed the other five second-generation disciples forward, making them do the actual slashing.
A chance to train the Plum Blossom Sword Formation against a living, moving foe in real combat—what an invaluable opportunity for them.
"Oh ho, good. That's it, just like that...."
The middle-aged expert's praise continued.
Within the increasingly fluid, cohesive, and lethal Plum Blossom Sword Formation, Bang-chung was growing exhausted.
Unable to counterattack in the slightest, he simply dodged this way and that, sustaining large and small sword wounds.
"Filthy bastards. Can't you just kill me? Now you're playing around?"
After taking a few more slashes, Bang-chung finally let out a desolate roar.
His entire body was soaked in blood and sweat. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were threaded with red veins.
At that moment, the middle-aged expert signaled, and the Plum Blossom Sword Formation paused briefly.
"Keh keh... You've finally become obedient, old man."
He was confirming Bang-chung's state—utterly drained after bleeding profusely from countless wounds, on the verge of collapse.
Like an old hunting dog torn bloody by young wolves.
Bang-chung's gaze swept his surroundings.
Everyone looked at him with pitying eyes, but none stepped up.
His eyes caught sight of Do-gwang.
Do-gwang simply stared at Bang-chung with an inscrutable expression.
Sorry, but suspicious.
Bang-chung ground his teeth and averted his gaze from Do-gwang, focusing on the middle-aged man straight ahead.
"Fine, what now? I can no longer withstand your sword formation."
The middle-aged man then burst into loud laughter and blabbered on.
"See? If you'd fought without holding back from the start? Thieves should live like thieves."
At that point, his junior brother standing beside him asked.
"Senior brother, what exactly do you plan to do now?"
"What do you mean, what? The prey's caught its breath a bit, so let's train it some more."
"Senior brother, are you saying we'll keep going like this?"
"Isn't this an opportunity that doesn't come often? I hope that old man's life lasts a bit longer. That way, it'll help the young ones more, right?"
As he spoke, he gestured toward the other five second-generation disciples.
The five, still young men, wore complicated expressions.
What they were doing now could never be considered honorable.
But they couldn't refuse the middle-aged expert's hand signal to resume the formation.
The Plum Blossom Sword Formation moved again, and Bang-chung desperately began evading once more.
A lock of his hair was sliced off, followed soon by a slash to his thigh.
The old hunting dog resisted valiantly, but he couldn't match the young wolves, crumbling into ever more wretched shape.
At that moment, Do-gwang spoke up.
His words were directed at his grand-nephew Yi Tae-jeong, standing right beside him watching, but his voice boomed loud enough for everyone in the arena to hear.
"Tae-jeong! What the hell have you learned at Wudang?!"
Yi Tae-jeong froze at the sudden question from his martial uncle.
"Have you heard the words: aid the weak, suppress the strong, all for justice?!"
Do-gwang's voice echoed through the arena once more.
This time, it carried genuine inner power.
The arena fell deathly silent, and the Plum Blossom Sword Formation halted.
Do-gwang's first words had caught ears with the mention of Wudang; now, the weight of his inner strength was no joke.
Do-gwang's roar resounded again.
"Speak up! Will you not?!"
Yi Tae-jeong's voice followed.
"I have heard them. This disciple was taught to uphold righteousness and enact chivalry."
"Then what the hell are you doing right now?"
As Do-gwang's roar filled the arena again, Yi Tae-jeong no longer hesitated and leaped into the midst of the Plum Blossom Sword Formation.
Do-gwang followed suit, landing beside him with casual footwork.
Now, the two blocked the path to Bang-chung.
"It's Jeunjong!"
Someone in the crowd let out an exclamation.
"Sorry, we're late."
Do-gwang murmured softly, for Bang-chung's ears only.
Bang-chung simply grinned and muttered.
"What the hell are you, anyway? You mad bastard."
"We'll sort that out between us later. Right now, we've got work to do."
Before Do-gwang finished speaking, the Mount Hua middle-aged expert stepped forward.
True to form, he held his sword inverted, cupped his hands, and offered a fist salute.
"I am Jeung-pyo of Mount Hua, Plum Blossom Sword Guard. Known by the moniker Plum Frost Swordsman, though unworthy. And to which senior of Wudang might you be?"
"Hmph. Senior? Would I take bastards like you lot as juniors?"
Do-gwang's provocative reply twisted Jeung-pyo's face.
"You called us... bastard whelps?"
"What's wrong? Are your ears some bitch dog's cunt? Can't understand plain words?"
At Do-gwang's words, Jeung-pyo's rage exploded.
"I don't know what gutter you crawled out of, but you're unforgivable now."
"Keh keh... That's right! I'm that bastard whelp. Your eyes work fine, you bastards. Spotting a bastard whelp like me. Kah hah...."
As Do-gwang burst into wild laughter, Jeung-pyo thrust his sword straight at him.
Blinded by fury, he charged without any formation.
Jeung-pyo's thrust, requiring no special form, was precisely the Blood Plum Needle.
Yet as the blade tip neared, Do-gwang simply caught it between the index and middle fingers of his right hand.
It was the same technique he had used before in Xi'an to seize the sword fingers of Changgung Mu-ae Geom Namgung Jin-so.
Having snatched Namgung's ultimate Flying Swallow Spear Wave back then, today he snatched Mount Hua's Blood Plum Needle—swallow after swallow, now plum blossom.
Jeung-pyo's plum blossom sword now trembled violently.
Clamped between Do-gwang's index and middle fingers.
Jeung-pyo stared in shock at Do-gwang's face right before him.
In the current martial world, few masters could bare-handedly seize the killing blow of a Plum Blossom Sword Guard who had just entered the pinnacle realm.