Time to Take Something More Precious
"...Are you people actually insane?"
"Quiet down, beggar ajusshi."
"..."
Namgung Yerin, who had been hanging back, shoved past my shoulder and stepped forward. Then, without so much as a pause, she swung her sword at the towering wooden palisade standing before us.
Along her blade's arc, azure sword qi carved through the air and sheared clean through the thick timber barrier. Smoothly hewn logs rolled away in every direction.
Beyond them, we locked eyes with the bandits who had been sitting huddled together, chewing on balls of rice.
Chwi Geolgae clutched his forehead and let out a long sigh. "...I wash my hands of this."
"Honestly, ajusshi, you can't really argue with us, can you? Right? If you wanted to sneak around, you should've just camped in the mountains."
Not strolling down into a village to lodge at an inn.
And besides, we'd already spared one stronghold — there was no going back now.
Jin Sowol and Namgung Yerin leapt over the broken palisade.
"Yerin, try not to kill them if you can help it."
"..."
Namgung Yerin scowled and glared at the bandits as though the very sight of them displeased her. Watching her, Jin Sowol broke into a bright smile.
"You heard him, right? Thank you."
And in the very next instant, countless flower petals blossomed from the tip of Jin Sowol's sword. Namgung Yerin's blade, wreathed in azure sword qi, came crashing down toward the earth.
Only then grasping what was happening, the bandits began to scream.
"It's an attack from the orthodox sects!"
"The Nine Great Sects...!"
"Huaaaah! Spare me!"
With a cold smirk, Jin Sowol charged at one of the bandits and rained petals down upon him. Hundreds of shallow cuts bloomed across his skin, and the sheer shock of it knocked him unconscious on the spot.
There was no hesitation in that sword. None at all.
My gaze shifted to Namgung Yerin. She glared at a bandit with eyes full of contempt and murmured in a voice cold as ice.
"...Die, you trash."
The next moment, her sword — carrying the azure qi — shattered the man's blade outright. It was the inevitable result of an overwhelming gap in internal energy, and in fundamentals besides.
Weaponless now, the bandit stared down at the severed halves of his dao in utter panic.
And then Namgung Yerin kicked him square in the crotch.
THWACK—!
"Uh... uh... ughaaah..."
Unable to even scream, the bandit clutched his most precious possession with both hands and crumpled sideways into the dirt.
Watching that spectacle, both my face and Chwi Geolgae's twisted in horror.
"Uuugh..."
"That's a bit much..."
"That crazy woman, honestly... I tell her not to kill them, and she ends their lives as men instead."
Every bandit who crossed Namgung Yerin's path ended up the same way. As a result, the rest were doing everything in their power to keep their distance from her — as if being shredded head to toe by plum blossom sword qi was preferable to being caught by that woman.
Beop Yun, who had been quietly surveying the battlefield-turned-chaos, began to emit a golden radiance from his smoothly bald scalp.
Vmmmm—
"...I cannot simply stand idle. Allow me to go enlighten them."
Beop Yun leapt skyward in a single bound, joined the fray trailing a golden afterimage, and light erupted in one corner of the stronghold.
Clearing out a whole stronghold didn't take very long at all.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Whoa... that's three strongholds already."
I drummed my knuckles against the sack slung over Chwi Geolgae's back as I murmured. The hefty weight I could feel through the cloth filled me with a quiet satisfaction.
No, it wasn't as if I urgently needed the money. But money and internal energy were the kinds of things where more was always better, weren't they? Especially when I remembered the days I'd spent wandering the streets with nothing at all.
"Heh heh heh... money, money..."
"Pfffthaha."
Cheon Seolhyeon, a child of the streets like me, was hugging the money sack outright, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth. Watching her, Jin Sowol burst out laughing.
Then she sidled up to Cheon Seolhyeon in a friendly way and asked, "So, might I ask how old you are, young lady?"
"Uh... I'm twenty this year..."
Shrinking back slightly at this approach with zero awkwardness, Cheon Seolhyeon glanced my way. I patted her shoulder.
"You two are about the same age. Just talk comfortably, why don't you?"
At that, Jin Sowol beamed and leaned in close to Cheon Seolhyeon's face. "There we go, Seolhyeon?"
"Ah... yeah. Sure..."
"What's your relationship with that loser, anyway?"
"What do you mean, relationship? We're just senior and junior disciples."
At Cheon Seolhyeon's answer, Jin Sowol's eyes slid sideways toward their joined hands. "And do normal disciples usually hold hands?"
"Huh? Ah, no, this is—"
Cheon Seolhyeon jolted and instinctively tried to pull her hand free, but I gripped it tight and yanked her toward me.
"You've got a lot of nerve, kid. 'Loser'? You wanna die for real?"
"Oh, come on. Am I wrong, though, you loser? Honestly — beating up two fragile, delicate young women like this..."
"...Want me to show you what a real loser looks like?"
A vein bulged on my forehead. They pick the fight first, and then it's my fault? My fist clenched on its own, strength flooding into my arm.
And that was when Jin Sowol giggled. "Kidding, kidding... You two seem close, though. I'm kind of jealous? The kids in my sect fight like they're trying to kill each other every chance they get."
"Don't you have any senior or junior disciples?"
"My master is... a rather unusual person. There's no one in the sect I can really get along with."
"What kind of person are they?"
"Hmm... I honestly don't know how to describe them. Anyway — you."
Jin Sowol's index finger jabbed into my chest. Then, brushing past my side, she leaned in and whispered softly into my ear.
"Yerin... don't hate her too much. She might seem strange, but she's a poor child."
"...Hm."
I studied Jin Sowol for a moment, then shifted my gaze to Namgung Yerin. She, who had been glaring at me like she wanted me dead not a minute ago, hastily looked away the instant our eyes met.
"Did I hit her too hard?"
"Enough with the idle chatter. The one up ahead is the last stronghold — Mount Taesan Stronghold."
Chwi Geolgae pointed ahead. Fitting its grand name, Taesan Stronghold radiated a far denser presence than any of the ones before it.
"Four at Peak realm, and about twenty First Rate? That's record-breaking. Is this even a bandit stronghold?"
Chwi Geolgae looked at me with an uneasy expression. "...Are we really doing this? No matter how I look at it, this seems like a bad idea."
It wasn't just him, either. Cheon Seolhyeon and Jin Sowol both moved to block my path.
"W-well, we've earned plenty of money already. Baek Sihyeon, do we really have to go?"
"I also think this is pushing it..."
"Nope."
For the first time, I — who had done nothing but spectate from the back until now — took the lead. And I strode boldly through the main gate of Taesan Stronghold.
Unsurprisingly, the sentries moved to block me.
"Who the hell—? Hk, a Taoist!"
"Move."
My clenched fist drove itself into the jawbones of the two men barring the gate. A single blow containing the distilled essence of the fist arts I'd copied from Beop Yun.
CRACK—! THUD—!
"Kuaaaaagh!"
"Aaaargh!"
Both bodies went flying into one of the tall buildings. Within that hall, I could feel not one but four Peak realm presences. One of them sauntered out with a dao resting on his shoulder — a man with a bristling beard and thoroughly unkempt hair.
"...So you're the ones? The orthodox-sect later-generation prodigies who've been ransacking strongholds?"
"So the news did travel, huh."
"Every stronghold in the area is on high alert because of you bastards right now. Why the hell do you keep doing this?"
"...Hmm, I don't know — what kind of idiot asks an orthodox sect why they're hunting down bandits?"
At my words, the bandit let out a dismissive laugh, as if I'd said something absurd. "There are lines both sides are supposed to respect... no, never mind. You're young, so you clearly have no idea how the world works."
He raised his dao, wreathed in a blue glow. "Let me teach you just how terrifying this world can—"
"I'm a few decades older than you, you little shit."
"Huh?"
The only thing visible to the bandit's eyes was the faint trace of thunder qi lingering on the ground. The next instant, my scabbarded sword came crashing down on the crown of his head.
CRRRK—
A sound like something splitting clean apart echoed through the compound.
"Ah... agh..."
And just like that, the Peak realm master who had strutted out fell in a single exchange.
Unbelievable. Arguing about age in front of me?
That's a privilege reserved for people at my master's level.
At the shocking scene that had unfolded without warning, the pupils of everyone present trembled. They hadn't known that a clash between warriors of the same realm could end in such an overwhelming difference.
I shouted at them.
"Small fry, get lost. The ones inside — get out here."
"...You'll be okay? Betting your life over a few coins seems a bit..."
Cheon Seolhyeon grabbed my sleeve, worry plain on her face. I took her cheek and stretched it out long.
"I didn't come this time for the money. This time, I'm taking something more precious."
"...Something more precious? Oh."
"Shall we try the Heavenly Escape Sword Technique this time?"
The sword swung. A storm of lightning began to rage down from the heavens.
Hiding myself within that storm, I scattered heavenly thunder across the ground. The remaining four Peak realm masters all burst out and raised their weapons at the sight — but...
"Kuaaaagh!"
"Aaaargh!"
"Ugh..."
"Uaaaargh!"
With the exception of one, all of them collapsed where they stood, their skin charred pitch black.
Jin Sowol hugged Namgung Yerin's arm and murmured. "That... Taoists had a sword technique like that...? What is that, how does it have that much power..."
"..."
Leaving Namgung Yerin's scorching stare behind me, I walked slowly toward the one who still remained standing.
A woman draped in a green robe, her fair forehead revealed between locks of parted brown hair.
"How did you endure that? You're the master of this stronghold... hmm, no, probably not."
"...You don't know who I am?"
"How would I know that."
"When a Taoist of the Wudang Sect attacks the stronghold I was staying in, I did wonder what was going on..."
Her furrowed brows lifted as she looked up at me. Watching her, I gave a hollow laugh.
"Fine. Then who exactly are you?"
And then, I couldn't help but be astonished.
"I am the successor of the Green Forest King, who rules every mountain in the Central Plains. I am called Nok Soyun. Might I ask what brings you to this place?"
"Me? I'm here to take something precious of yours."
Money. And martial arts.
These were the things most warriors held dear, after all.
For a moment, Nok Soyun wore a baffled expression — then she quickly smiled and raised her dao.
"Men do tend to underestimate me, simply because I possess a woman's body."
The very next instant, her dao became steeped in a green energy, like the living spirit of a verdant forest.
"Well then, go ahead — try to take it. I'll show you that I am no easy woman."