Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Northern Martial Artists
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Fast legs, sharp fangs, claws that could strike from anywhere at any time.
A single blood wolf had combat prowess comparable to a third-rate martial artist wielding a sword. And there were over a hundred of the damn things.
On this side, there were barely four of them, and two were already injured. Not to mention, they didn't even have proper weapons.
The fight between four makeshift experts against a hundred third-rate fighters was bound to be desperate. Before half an incense stick's time had passed, all four were drenched in the blood wolves' blood.
Each time hot blood splashed onto their faces, they could feel the life force of the dying creatures. Still, they had to kill them. To survive, they had to kill them desperately.
Thwack!
"Twelve!"
Hyeon-gak smashed a blood wolf lunging like a flying arrow with a rock to the head and shouted. The blood wolf tumbled to the ground, convulsing.
"Hmph, that's all you've got?"
Gong Cheon-ak thrust his horn spear deep into one blood wolf, skewering it. Without even pulling it out, he pierced another flying in from the left. Then, as if to show off, he yelled.
"That's fourteen for me!"
On the precipice between life and death, the two were locked in their final contest.
"Gonna rip out your guts and pickle them... Yank out your tongue and shove it up your ass... Pull out every tooth and cram 'em up your nose..."
Yeom Jin-sang spat incomprehensible curses in a frenzy as he battled the blood wolves.
It was unclear who the curses were aimed at.
Maybe at his own fate, which had never once truly loosened its grip on him. Or at this godforsaken world.
Or perhaps at Heuk Do-san, who had forced mutual destruction upon him against his will.
Heuk Do-san swung his axe wildly at anything in reach. He never imagined the Thunderclap Axe left by Old Man Mu would prove so useful in his final moments. Suddenly, words Old Man Mu had once said came to mind.
"If you wander battlefields too long, you can never go back to your old life. Even if you do, it won't be the same. So go home before it's too late."
Dang Yak-ran and Bing-seol had long since vanished beyond the cliff. A few blood wolves might have left the ravine to pursue the two women.
But he wasn't worried. Dang Yak-ran's martial prowess would be more than enough.
'It was the right call.'
He recalled Dang Yak-ran savoring the king clams deliciously. Her snoring with her foot on Gong Cheon-ak's chest, and how she'd beamed and dashed off when she liked the arrow he'd given her.
"Damn it!"
A sharp shout made him turn. Gong Cheon-ak had two blood wolves clinging to his back and was flailing helplessly.
While fending off ones charging from the front, two more had snuck up behind him.
"You stupid mutt!"
Hyeon-gak threw himself forward.
He embraced the blood wolves on Gong Cheon-ak's back with both arms and rolled across the ground with them.
As Hyeon-gak fell, more blood wolves swarmed like a pack. It looked just like hunting dogs piling onto a wild boar brought down by an arrow. Hyeon-gak's life hung by a thread.
"You gone mad, you rock-headed fool!"
With those words, Gong Cheon-ak shot forward this time. He hurled his body as if to crush the blood wolves whole. A couple actually died with broken necks.
But far more blood wolves lunged at the fallen pair. Sensing the end, had they lost all reason? Even Yeom Jin-sang charged in madly.
"Arrrgh!"
Dozens of blood wolves tangled with the three men in a chaotic melee.
Determined to take at least one more with them, the three bit into the wolves' necks indiscriminately. It was impossible to tell wolf from man.
"You idiots!"
Heuk Do-san rushed over and hacked at the wolves indiscriminately. Thud thud! The gruesome sounds rang out for a moment before the blood wolves, unable to withstand the ferocity, broke away from the humans.
The sight that emerged was horrific. Gong Cheon-ak, Hyeon-gak, and Yeom Jin-sang were covered head to toe in blood from bites everywhere.
"You okay?"
Heuk Do-san shouted, axe aimed at the blood wolves.
"The mutt looks done for."
"Damn it, who said I'm done?"
"You look like you're about to drop dead any second."
"Shut up, I'll outlive you."
Meanwhile, the blood wolves had encircled the four, surrounding them completely. There were still at least seventy left. They'd fought for over half a shichen, but only managed to drop around thirty.
Lately, they couldn't even kill them in one blow. Their stamina waning, their axe strikes had lost their edge. The others were in the same boat.
Heuk Do-san sensed time was running out. He bellowed, making the ravine echo.
"You're not tired already, are you? Let's take five more each before we go. Get up, no whining!"
Hyeon-gak and Yeom Jin-sang shook their heads as if to say they were spent. Unable to die sitting, they mustered their last strength and flanked Heuk Do-san.
But Gong Cheon-ak couldn't rise. The blood gushing from his back was no joke.
At that moment, the pack of blood wolves parted like receding tide. An especially massive one slowly revealed itself.
The white wolf.
It bared its sharp fangs, glaring at Heuk Do-san. The sight was chilling.
"Challenging the leader, huh?"
-Grrr...
"That's what I want. Come on!"
In an instant, the white wolf before him vanished like smoke. Or so it seemed. It had leaped a whole zhang from its spot. Like a massive hawk diving.
Heuk Do-san swung his axe frantically, slicing at its belly. But the axe merely cleaved empty air.
Lightly vaulting over Heuk Do-san, the white wolf dropped to the ground. Using the rebound, it sprang up and clamped onto his side.
'This is a beast's movement!'
Shocked, Heuk Do-san slammed the axe down on its spine with all his might. But the wolf shook its head violently first, still gripping his side.
The axe veered off course from the immense force and struck the ground instead. Agony shot from his side.
'Damn it, if we'd fought at the start!'
After tearing at his side once, the white wolf leaped away like a gale. It growled from afar, fangs bared, blood dripping from its maw.
Heuk Do-san hurriedly glanced at his right side. The leather strap around his waist had split the wolf's hide roughly, blood soaking through profusely.
'The strap saved me.'
Judging by the force of its head shake, it had aimed to rip out his entire flank. But the thick strap caught in its teeth, thwarting it.
'As expected, no ordinary beast.'
All contempt gone, Heuk Do-san switched the axe from left to right hand. He stood at an angle, sideways.
The wolf knew what the strap was now, so there'd be only one chance. When it lunged, offer the left arm as bait, then cleave its skull with the right-hand axe.
'Please bite the left arm.'
The wolf crouched low.
Poised to leap.
Just then, the sun emerged from clouds behind the wolf. Blinding light filled his vision.
'Damn it!'
He felt it leap.
A massive shadow swooped from above. Too late to raise his left arm or draw the axe.
That's when it happened.
Screee!
A shrill whistle pierced the air as something long streaked from the left sky. Whatever it was packed serious power—it pierced straight through the airborne white wolf.
Thud!
Yelp!
A scream echoed through the ravine.
Heuk Do-san caught the falling white wolf and rolled. He shoved it off hastily, jumping up to prepare for counterattack.
But the white wolf lay sprawled, blood gushing, limbs trembling, eyes gleaming with an unknowable light.
Return light.
The final flicker of life as a dying being reflects on its past. Astonishingly, the white wolf was dying.
The cause: a single arrow through its heart. Accounting for the exit wound, it was nearly three chi long. Thinner and darker than ordinary arrows.
"Iron arrow...!"
Exactly as named—an arrow forged from hammered steel. At three chi, it was practically a spear.
Naturally, no ordinary bow could fire it. Only a steel bow—an iron bow—could. And even that wasn't wielded by just anyone.
'Who the hell...!'
Heuk Do-san turned toward the arrow's origin. Gong Cheon-ak, Hyeon-gak, and Yeom Jin-sang whipped their heads around, faces like they'd been struck by lightning.
Atop the left cliff stood a lone figure. A man holding a bow nearly as tall as himself, standing like a god overlooking the ravine.
Backlit by the sun, details were hazy, but his aura was immense.
'An incredible master!'
Then, shadows appeared beside the stranger. About a dozen, one craning his neck to call out.
"You alright?"
The voice sounded familiar.
'Dang Yak-ran?'
Shielding his eyes with his hand, he peered. It was definitely her. Bing-seol stood nearby, face flushed with excitement.
The iron bow wielder raised a hand. As if on cue, people began hurling sticks into the ravine.
Especially Dang Yak-ran and Bing-seol, tossing vigorously. Not mere sticks—sharpened wooden spears.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Thud thud thud!
Yelp!
Yelp!
Yelp!
The sudden barrage from the clifftop caught the blood wolves off guard. Thud thud! Screams of impaled wolves echoed everywhere.
With even the white wolf dead, none fought on. As a couple turned tail, the rest followed in a stampede.
Moments later, not a single blood wolf remained in the ravine. The people atop the cliff vanished abruptly.
Soon after, they reappeared via the ravine's midsection path, where the wolves had infiltrated.
Bing-seol spotted Gong Cheon-ak collapsed and bloodied, gasping as she rushed over.
"Seventh Star Lord!"
"I won't die from this."
"Where and how bad?"
"Just temporary weakness from blood loss. More importantly, those are the northern martial artists who lit the bonfire?"
"Yes."
"Do you know who they are?"
"Treatment first."
With that, Bing-seol moved to strip Gong Cheon-ak's clothes. He yanked her collar, whispering.
"Aren't you going to ask who they are?"
Gong Cheon-ak sensed his own death looming. After he went, only Bing-seol and Yeom Jin-sang would remain. Their lives hinged on the newcomers' identity.
"They are..."
"...?"
"Righteous faction folks."
"Damn it!"
The shock?
Gong Cheon-ak passed out cold.
Meanwhile, the northern martial artists approached. Exactly seven in number. Yeom Jin-sang's guess was off, but enough for a proper unit.
Crucially, they were fully armed with real swords, spears, bows, and such.
Dang Yak-ran, among them, nodded lightly at Heuk Do-san.
Yet her expression was darker than ever. Heuk Do-san looked away quietly. He focused on the iron bow wielder.
Around thirty, massive build, iron bow in one hand, a five-chi dragon-head longsword strapped to his back.
Sharp, blade-like brows over deep, abyssal eyes. Heuk Do-san knew him well.
'Seop Dae-gang!'
Seventeenth-generation disciple of the Huashan Sect, orthodox sword school.
Current inheritor of Plum Blossom Swordsmanship, one of the Three Great Sword Arts alongside Pointed Spear Sect's Four-Day Swordsmanship and Wudang Sect's Taiji Swordsmanship.
But Heuk Do-san remembered him for two reasons. First, as one of the young martial prodigies who visited White Deer Academy every winter to hear the master's lectures.
Second, as the fiancé of Mo Yong-ak—another young talent staying at the academy, and Heuk Do-san's first love.
'Why is Seop Dae-gang here...'
Then, another figure pushed through the group. Cloaked in a black leather windcoat—long robes martial artists wore against rain and wind—with a slender longsword at his waist.
He removed his hood.
His face revealed under the daylight.
Snow-white skin, clear eyes, black-and-white pupils so beautiful they drew you in.
Heuk Do-san's heart stopped.
'Mo Yong-ak...!'