Let's Have Some Fun
Bo-yeol was right in the middle of the smoke. Quite thick smoke, at that.
“Damn bastards, just how much are they burning? My throat feels like it’s on fire.”
Bo-yeol was an expert in the early Harmonious Realm. However, practitioners of poison arts were generally considered one stage below their actual realm. The higher one’s cultivation climbed, the less effective poison became. Moreover, look at this—imprisoning an early Harmonious Realm master in such a flimsy jail and merely burning Scattering Internal Energy Incense as their countermeasure?
But his was a poison art where, once internal energy scattered completely, the poison core would run amok. With just this much preparation, he had no choice but to desperately suppress the chaos inside his body and could do nothing else. So for now, Bo-yeol could only remain quietly imprisoned while tending to his poison core.
That was when it happened. A faint presence appeared within the smoke, and soon one figure slipped into view.
“Sir, are you alright?”
“You… aren’t you the third son of the Yo family? What was your name again? Yo-min?”
“Yes, I am Yo-min.”
Bo-yeol’s mind snapped awake. My evidence! The evidence has come to me!
“Your cheeks, have your cheeks healed? Let me see. Come closer.”
Yo-min obediently pressed close to the iron bars. Bo-yeol grabbed his chin, turning it left and right, examining it closely. He tapped here and there, asking if it hurt, if it pulled, and so on, all with an oddly urgent expression as he took his pulse.
And the result?
“It’s all healed. Completely healed.”
It really had healed perfectly! After taking a palm strike from the Lesser Hand Demonic Art, both cheeks should have been rotting and falling off by now, exposing teeth. Instead, the skin looked smoother—almost healthier than before.
My evidence…!
Bo-yeol’s vision went black.
Whether he liked it or not, Yo-min asked, “Um, I brought some incense. Would this be able to replace the Scattering Internal Energy smoke?”
“Wait, you’re trying to help me?”
“Yes…”
“Why? Did Flame Lord Yo order you to?”
“No, it’s just… I wanted to thank you for taking my pulse before…”
Bo-yeol felt like he’d been slapped. He had simply shown the casual whimsy typical of old men. The boy was getting beaten by his father every day; out of pity, Bo-yeol had only wanted to look at the wound. Upon reading the traces of the Lesser Hand Demonic Art, he had given the boy a single packet of golden wound medicine, thinking that since the flesh would rot and fall off anyway, it might at least preserve a little more of his cheeks.
Apparently, to a child abandoned by his heartless father and pushed around by his brothers, that small act had been a blazing warmth.
Following Bo-yeol’s instructions, Yo-min opened the brazier lid, stirred the contents, and secretly lit and placed the new incense behind it where it couldn’t be seen.
Now the thick Scattering Internal Energy smoke slowly subsided, and different smoke would serve as camouflage instead. Once the Scattering Incense was cleared, escaping wouldn’t be difficult at all. As soon as he recovered enough internal energy to use sword qi, he could simply cut through the iron bars and leave.
“Then… I’ll be going now…”
“Wait. How did you get in here? Weren’t there guards in front?”
“There were. But there’s a secret passage.”
“Hmm. Hey, kid.”
Bo-yeol scratched his wrinkled cheek.
“I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to meddle in another family’s affairs, but since I’ve received your kindness, I must speak now. From the beginning, what your father wanted was your death. Once the Gyerim Sword Sect bastards killed you, he planned to use that as an excuse to invade immediately, deadline be damned.”
Yo-min’s eyes widened, then quickly filled with tears.
“But… what did I ever do to deserve that…”
“Even if you stayed in the family, you wouldn’t have lived long anyway. A man who dreams of building a great clan would never allow a useless collateral branch to exist. So it would be best for you to leave right away. However… I’m already over eighty years old. I suppose I should have at least one person to attend to me in my remaining years.”
Yo-min’s reddened eyes grew wide. The words “attend to me” carried the same meaning as “become my disciple.”
“Me? But I have no talent for martial arts…”
“Originally, those without talent are the ones who should learn poison arts. If you can endure being steeped in poison consistently, you’ll at least be useful as one person. Even if not, poison arts overlap heavily with medical techniques, so you’ll be able to earn your own living.”
Yo-min hesitantly brought his hands together in respect. Bo-yeol quickly stopped him.
“Think carefully. This old man has nowhere left to run even if I escape. That’s why I plan to throw myself to the Blood Sect. They called an innocent person a spy for the Blood Sect? Fine. If that’s what they want, I’ll become their real spy. But you still have a bright future ahead. So if you want to follow me and mingle with those Blood Sect devils, come along. If not, go your own way and pretend you never knew me.”
At the heavy word Blood Sect, Yo-min swallowed hard.
“I heard the Blood Sect only eats human flesh…”
“Are there only one or two bastards who eat human flesh? Besides, they’re still people. They’ll eat delicious things too; they won’t only devour human flesh. I know one child from the Blood Sect, and honestly, she’s better than most from the Unorthodox Path. She knows how to respect her elders. Now that I think about it, even among the Blood Sect’s trash, there must be some with their own stories.”
If Cheong heard that “Blood Sect child” comment, she would probably tilt her head and ask, Huh? Me?
“Still, rumors aren’t entirely baseless. Most of them are trash. If you’re fine spending the rest of your life among such people, then follow me. Otherwise, let’s part ways here.”
Yo-min hesitated for a long time. Then his eyes gradually grew resolute. He straightened his posture once more.
“I know I’m a pathetic person. My martial arts are shallow and I have no other skills, so I don’t have the confidence to survive anywhere on my own. But if you are willing to take me in, I will serve you for the rest of my life, sir.”
“Good. Still, a physician never receives shabby treatment anywhere. Even the Blood Sect, if they’re human, won’t treat their own healing physician poorly. Since I have no separate sect, let’s replace the formal bowing ceremony with a single disciple’s bow.”
At that, Yo-min prostrated himself flat on the ground.
Bo-yeol looked at his first disciple with satisfaction, but then a sudden thought made him grit his teeth.
“By the way. Even if we’re leaving, shouldn’t we give these despicable bastards a good smack first? What kind of advice is that? A greenhorn brat acting like he’s older than his own father.”
Cheong’s light footwork was first-class. Both the greatest female martial artist of the era and the Divine Thief had personally guaranteed it, making it a skill acknowledged throughout the martial world. It possessed the explosive acceleration of the Heavenly Demon Dominion Steps that reached maximum speed in just three steps, the Void-Piercing Instant Body—the fastest light footwork for short-to-medium range—and the Thousand-Li Flight that lived up to its name for long distances. She freely used the gravity-defying steps of the Moon Maiden Mountain Walk for bizarre changes and even the ultimate evasion technique Wave-Treading Micro-Steps for emergency escapes.
Therefore, even if Cheong’s eyes rolled back at the taste of blood and she dropped right into the middle of enemy lines, she had the ability to slip back out the moment she felt danger.
But that was not usually the case for others. Charging alone into the middle of enemies meant you had to at least put on a spectacular show before dying to call it an honorable death. Otherwise, it was just a dog’s death.
This was also why commanders always emphasized formation and drilled discipline during battle.
The moment the three guest experts confirmed Cheong’s safe return, they first felt relief. Only afterward did they realize something was missing.
“Gyeon No!”
“Old Man Gyeon No!”
“Gyeon No!”
Chang Yeo-in, Gakda-gwi, and Munmaeng Si-in shouted.
Cheong puffed out her chest with vigor.
“Let’s go save him!”
“Young Lady!”
“Young Lady!”
“Young Lady!”
As Cheong charged forward again, the three Super Peak guest experts hurriedly lifted their spears and swords and followed right behind her shoulders.
Could mere first-class warriors possibly block the path of four Super Peak experts? The four carved through the enemy like splitting bamboo.
“Ah, you bear-like oaf. Me too—urk.”
Na Yang-gyeol, who had tried to follow, had her collar grabbed by one of the Prince’s guest experts. With a choked sound, her feet lifted off the ground before landing again.
“Young lady, please stay with us. You should only butt in where you belong. If you squeeze between Super Peak experts, you’ll only hold everyone back.”
“Ugh, being Peak really makes life hard.”
Meanwhile, Gyeon No was fighting well.
His bizarre dual weapons—spear in the right hand, sword in the left—were the martial arts known as Mount Shang Sword and Mount Shang Spear. Both spear and sword drew straight lines with pure ferocity, so the straight paths his two arms traced spread out like a folding fan. Unorthodox Path warriors clutched their chests and rolled on the ground. Even though the spear tip and sword edge had pierced them, the holes in their bodies were no bigger than needle marks. It was a vicious technique that precisely struck vital points and withdrew, leaving them to die in agony.
The Unorthodox warriors who had rushed in upon seeing an enemy now hesitated. A circular clearing formed with Gyeon No at its center.
The Unorthodox warriors lying between Gyeon No and the enemy line clutched the tiny holes in their hearts and thrashed about, desperately trying to live. They were members of the Baek-ung-dan. Since Jo Gwang-ang, who loved flaunting military strategy, had arranged their formation, he had naturally placed his own unit in the rear where casualties would be lowest.
So how could Jo Gwang-ang simply watch his subordinates die?
Although she was Super Peak, she was still a young girl. He would show her the difference a single small stage made between a seasoned late-stage Super Peak expert and a mere Super Peak.
Thus Jo Gwang-ang burst forth with a heroic shout.
“How dare you harm the cherished children of the Sadoryeon! You wench—uh, who are you? This old man?!”
He had clearly seen the Heavenly Flower Sword descend, yet when he charged in, the Heavenly Flower Sword was nowhere to be found and some old man had taken her place.
The subordinates crawling on the ground clutched their necks and chests, but the bleeding didn’t seem severe. Since their hearts had already been pierced, they were as good as dead, but from the outside it still looked like they might be savable. Jo Gwang-ang grew desperate.
He stomped the ground and roared, rousing his fighting spirit.
“Fine! Old man! Today is your funeral!”
Gyeon No responded by raising his spear tip. And above the hand holding the spear, a brilliant light bloomed—a flat, round star upon the earth. It was sword gang.
Jo Gwang-ang displayed the wondrous feat of retreating at the exact speed he had been charging. Screeech. It wasn’t a sound that actually existed, yet it seemed audible to the eyes—an auditory illusion.
Well, the Unorthodox Path followed the rule of the strong and the weak! Retreating before the strong was never shameful!
“Um, Senior… may I ask your honorable name…?”
“Why? Weren’t you calling me an old man?”
“In the middle of a battlefield, isn’t that what everyone does?”
“True. Since we met on the battlefield, there’s no need to resent my handiwork.”
“Damn it! Hiding a high expert! You despicable bastards! And you still call yourselves the Righteous Path?! Shouldn’t you fight fair and square with everything out in the open?!”
It was a statement that made one curious just what kind of pathetic fools the Unorthodox Path thought Righteous Path martial artists were.
Thick beads of sweat rolled down Jo Gwang-ang’s face. He had been beautifully deceived!
However, Jo Gwang-ang was also (self-proclaimed) a master of military strategy who had read military texts dozens of times until he could recite them by heart. His brain, pushed into a corner, burned hot as it frantically searched for the best plan.
“Attack! Warriors of Baek-ung! The enemy is one, we are many! Deploy the Infinite Spear Wave!”
Infinite Spear Wave. Meaning an endlessly surging giant wave, it was the most basic joint attack formation for multiple people facing a larger force.
“Kill them!!”
“We are Baek-ung!”
“The Four Legions of Sadoryeon stand tall!”
One extremely ominous shout slipped in, and Gyeon No’s expression twisted violently. These Unorthodox bastards have gone mad!
He decided to pierce the heart of the leader first. At that moment, Gyeon No’s face went blank.
Among the Unorthodox warriors moving left and right to take their positions in the joint formation, those with particularly nimble movements suddenly turned and fled. Their leader, Jo Gwang-ang, did the same.
Jo Gwang-ang’s head had faithfully produced a strategy. The Thirty-Six Stratagems, the thirty-sixth stratagem—When all else fails, run! If you gave an order both sides already knew, the enemy would obviously prepare for it. To the elite of the Baek-ung-dan, “Infinite Spear Wave” was not an order to form a joint attack. It was a command to abandon the underlings when there was no solution and escape.
Jo Gwang-ang immediately cut through the combat unit and urgently grabbed Mun Jeong-yeok.
“We’ve been had! We need to run right now!”
“What nonsense is that?! Suddenly—”
“There was a hidden expert! A Harmonious Realm master was hiding!”
Mun Jeong-yeok’s expression grew grave.
“With the three of us, one Harmonious Realm should be—”
“Who’s going to face Kang Su-yang?! And that wench Seomun Cheong?!”
“If the Peak experts use a joint formation—”
Jo Gwang-ang pounded his chest furiously.
“Then who’s going to face their Peak experts!”
“First, use the first-class warriors of the combat unit—”
“Are you trying to cover bad debts with more bad debts?! Are you planning to go all the way down to third-class?! Are you going to let the entire combat unit get annihilated?! We have to save whoever we can save!”
It was a razor-sharp application of the Thirty-Six Stratagems. In truth, Jo Gwang-ang’s judgment was exemplary for a commander, so it could be said he hadn’t read those military texts for nothing. If a fight couldn’t be won, one must retreat immediately regardless of the losses. How many commanders in the past and future had become obsessed with minimizing damage, failed to escape in time, and ruined entire battles?
Beep beep! Finally, Mun Jeong-yeok gave the signal to retreat.