Annihilation
Yi Do arrived at Jangan Commandery.
It was nothing like before — no scaling walls, no slipping in under cover of shadow.
He walked straight up to the front gate, bold as day.
Behind him came Myeong Hyeon and Un Dohyeon, and behind them, a force of ninety martial artists marched in perfect formation.
They hardly looked like martial artists at all. They looked like soldiers.
And then Yi Do kicked the front gate of Jangan Commandery off its hinges.
BOOOM—!!
The gate shattered into splinters. He walked inside.
In his hand was a single long rope — two ropes bound into one, each with a man's neck tied to its end.
The necks of Pung Bi-chang, Branch Master of the Heaven Cleaving Fist Sect's Jangan Branch, and of his Vice Branch Master, Inhak.
The people of Jangan Commandery, seeing it, recoiled in collective horror.
This was the Jangan Branch — the very branch that had ruled this region as the Heaven Cleaving Fist Sect's dominion. And now its core figures had come home in wretched pieces.
Horror was only proper. Who was Pung Bi-chang, after all? A master of the Ogijowon realm.
And more than that — who in the world was this man, and why had he come here at all?
And with so many warriors in tow, no less.
One glance was enough to tell: every single one of them was elite. As the onlookers realized that all ninety were masters of at least the early stages of the Qi Condensation realms, a cold shiver ran down every spine.
He had come to start a war. That much was certain.
They'd called him a madman — and a madman he truly was.
This defied all reason from the very start. It was as if the Kingdom of Jeok had marched in to invade Yeon State itself.
Yi Do ignored every stare fixed upon him. He simply walked on, dragging two severed heads behind him along the ground.
As he had said countless times, his targets were the thirteen sects of Jangan Commandery.
He headed first for the Mun Clan estate.
The front gate, again.
The moment the two guards at the gate drew their weapons, Myeong Hyeon and Un Dohyeon kicked off the ground and cut them down.
Shrk—!
Two heads fell. Un Dohyeon opened the gate. Yi Do walked in. Every step of it flowed as naturally as breathing.
Yi Do stopped in the courtyard; those behind him halted as well.
"Listen well."
They answered as one.
"Yes!"
"I have no long speech to give, nor do I want to give one."
Sensing something deeply wrong, the warriors of the Mun Clan came running one by one.
He said it simply.
"Annihilate the clan."
"AS YOU COMMAND!"
The warriors surged forward. In an instant, the courtyard became a hell of screaming and blood.
Even the Mun Clan had men they called their strong — among them Yeon Sekwang, the 'Fortunate Laugh Sword,' a Three Flowers Gathering master.
He drew his sword with a face twisted in fury.
"You bastards! Do you have any idea where you—"
Before he could finish, a man was already moving.
It was Yi Do.
His body shot forward like a beam of light, and his hand seized Yeon Sekwang by the hair. He didn't stop there. He kept going and slammed the man's head into a pillar across the courtyard.
CRUNCH—!
With a sickening sound, Yeon Sekwang's body burst and crumpled to the ground.
Yi Do turned his head.
"Leave not a single soul alive."
A colossal killing intent poured from his two black eyes.
"Kill them all."
"YES, MY LORD!"
Before even half an hour had passed, the Mun Clan had been wiped from existence.
The next destination was Yeom Clan Manor.
The Manor Lord of Yeom Clan Manor swallowed hard.
"Wh-what did you say?"
"The Mun Clan has just been annihilated, my lord!"
"…Annihilated? How does a clan simply get annihilated! Where is Pung Bi-chang?"
"…Dead."
The shocks came one after another.
"They say his head is tied to a rope and being dragged through the dirt as we speak."
Which meant—
"Who in the world is doing this?!"
"…Yi Do. Yi Do, the Cruel Demon."
"The Asura Sword Sect…?"
"Yes. You must flee at once."
The decision came fast. He had to run. He couldn't even grasp what was happening — better to survive first and think later.
But just as Yeom Munseong of Yeom Clan Manor grabbed his valuables and made to bolt, he froze where he stood.
…Too late.
They were already inside the manor. His eyes fell upon the man standing at their head.
A sword in one hand.
And in the other, a rope with two heads tied to it.
Yi Do, the Cruel Demon, Branch Master of the Asura Sword Sect's Sambong Branch.
"…What in the… what do you think you're doing!"
Yi Do let out a dry chuckle.
"Do you genuinely not know what I'm doing?"
"…This isn't right. I'm telling you, this is wrong. Ambushing enemies in the dark is one thing — but marching in the open and slaughtering like this, it can escalate all the way into a matter between nations!"
"And?"
"…Stop here. I'm not saying you haven't already butchered the entire Jangan Branch — you have. That should be enough. More than enough…"
Yeom Munseong's voice trailed off. It had no choice but to.
The face was achingly familiar. The man standing beside Yi Do — that face, with its two eyes burning bright with fire, looked just like a woman he had seen once before.
Yi Do spoke.
"Un Dohyeon."
"Yes, my lord."
"That man says you should stop here. What do you think?"
"If you tell me to stop, my lord, I will stop."
"Is that so?"
A smile curled at the corner of Yi Do's mouth.
"Do you think I'm going to stop?"
"No, my lord."
"Then why are you hesitating? Isn't one of your sister's murderers standing right over there?"
Un Dohyeon's grip tightened hard around his sword.
"Go cut off his head, and ease your sister's grievance."
"…YES… COMMAND!"
Un Dohyeon lunged. Yeom Munseong stumbled backward, caught his foot on the veranda, and crashed to the ground. Un Dohyeon stood over him, his face boiling with killing intent, blade leveled at the man's throat.
"Before I kill you, there is something you must hear."
"P-please…"
"I am going to kill you now — and then I will hunt down and kill every last soul who shares your blood."
"Wh-what…?"
"Did you not expect it? You killed my sister so brutally. Did you think you were innocent?"
"It… it wasn't me alone!"
"I know."
"Then why must my household—"
"And why mustn't it?"
"…"
"Listen carefully. Every living being who shares your blood will die today. And it will be entirely your fault."
"…P-please…"
"Don't worry. I won't stop at your family — I'll kill every man connected to that affair as well. Trade your final farewells in the afterlife."
That was the end of it.
Thwish—!
Yeom Munseong's throat was run through. Un Dohyeon withdrew the blade and swung in the same motion.
Yeom Munseong's head went flying. Still moving, Un Dohyeon drove a kick into the man's chest and burst his heart, then reversed his grip on the sword and crushed his dantian.
He picked up the head with one hand and walked back to Yi Do, where he knelt and laid it down before him.
"Stand. This isn't over yet."
"…Yes."
"Far too many of them are still breathing. Kill them all."
"YES, COMMAND!"
Yeom Clan Manor, too, was annihilated. Then came the Han Clan estate, the Jang Clan Manor, the Jinak Sword Gate, the Thunder Force Sword Sect, the Nakseong Sword Family, and on and on.
Twelve of the thirteen sects of Jangan Commandery burned to the ground.
Inside their walls, not a single survivor remained.
One target was left.
The Pung Clan.
This one mattered more than all the rest.
Yi Do had moved in strict sequence, annihilating the sects one by one — which meant the sects further down the list had always had time to run.
The people of the Han Clan estate had fled to the Jang Clan Manor, where they were all cut down anyway. The Jinak Sword Sect, the Thunder Force Sword Sect — the pattern repeated, again and again.
And now, at the Pung Clan estate, the heads of the three great families had gathered.
Treating the place as their final line of defense, they had massed every warrior they could muster and readied themselves for the coming storm.
It was almost funny.
Their judgment wasn't wrong — but it wasn't right, either. If anything, fleeing Jangan Commandery entirely would have given them some sliver of a chance at survival.
Not that it mattered for the key figures. As for them, Yi Do intended to hunt them down and kill them wherever in the Central Plains they ran.
"We move on the Pung Clan. Prepare yourselves."
"Yes."
Yi Do and everyone who followed him were drenched in blood, but they did not stop.
It had to end here, today.
They had already come too far to turn back. Every last one of them had to die.
And then, someone stood in their path.
Dozens of men in blue robes. Stitched across their chests was the character for "Yeon" — the constables of Jangan Commandery.
"Halt! This far and no further!"
With carnage unfolding across the county, the authorities could hardly sit idle.
At the head of the constables stood a man in black robes and a remarkably large hat, its trailing feathers quite striking.
It was Maeng Jeoksin, Prefect of Jangan Commandery itself.
"You bastards! This is Jangan Commandery of Yeon State! However lawless you may be, there are limits — just how far do you intend to go?!"
Yi Do stepped forward.
"How far will I go?"
"…"
"To the very end, naturally."
"…You lunatic… Do you think this is the Kingdom of Jeok? I told you plainly — this is Yeon State!"
"So?"
"…Lay down your weapons… and go back. Now."
Pfft. A scoff escaped him.
"Maeng Jeoksin, I'll warn you one final time. This is the only chance your career as a prefect will ever get, and it won't come again. Get out of my way and get lost. If you don't, I'll add your name to today's list of the dead."
"…You slaughtered the soldiers of the Kingdom of Jeok, and now… you truly are insane… Go! Get out of here this instant!"
One warning was enough.
Two would be excessive — and he had no desire to give even one more.
Yi Do walked forward. The heads of Pung Bi-chang and Inhak in his hand had become a nuisance, so he simply tossed them aside.
He drew the Cloud Dragon Sword from the scabbard at his waist. Maeng Jeoksin stumbled backward.
No. No, no, no.
This was not the Kingdom of Jeok. This was Yeon State.
Killing an official of Yeon State? That was beyond all sense and reason.
But Yi Do had committed crimes beyond all sense and reason more times than anyone could count.
This was no different.
Without mercy, he brought the Cloud Dragon Sword down.
KRA-KOOM—!
With a thunderous crack, Maeng Jeoksin's head split in two. The constables staggered back. A smile spread across Yi Do's lips.
And then two martial artists came sprinting past him.
Myeong Hyeon and Un Dohyeon.
The pair fell upon the constables and began the slaughter. Behind them, the eighty warriors surged forward as well.
Shrk—! Shrk—! Shrk—!
In the time it took to blink four times, dozens of constables lay dead.
Yi Do shook the blood from his blade.
"We move on the Pung Clan."
"Yes."
Yi Do's party did not stop.
Myeong Hyeon, trailing behind Yi Do, was — honestly, without a shred of exaggeration — in awe.
He had wondered how far this man could possibly go, and what truly astonished him was that this wasn't even the final destination.
Just how far will he go?
Cleaning up the aftermath of all this?
That wasn't Myeong Hyeon's burden to carry, but he understood, roughly, how things would play out.
He'd stake his life on it: this whole affair would be brushed away as if it had never happened. If anything, the "Kingdom of Jeok" held the stronger justification in this matter.
By now, the Prefect of Sambong County would surely be in motion.
And naturally, the Prefect would not be moving alone.
…The Battle King, was it? That man… he was a genuinely terrifying one.
That's right. The Battle King was entangled in this affair as well.
The cleanup could be managed. Intervention from Yeon State? There was a way to strangle that in its cradle.
But all of it hinged on one thing: Yi Do had to seize all of Jangan Commandery today.
If he failed to take it — if he died halfway or stopped short—
Then forget the aftermath; Myeong Hyeon's and Un Dohyeon's own necks would be on the line.
He scratched his head.
He's doing it because he's confident… right?
And so they reached the Pung Clan estate. Just as he had at every gate before it, Yi Do kicked the door in. The moment it burst apart, a storm of arrows came pouring out from within.
Myeong Hyeon reacted first. His sealed blood pathways flew open — an act of pure instinct, one even he didn't fully understand. I have to block it. I have to protect Yi Do. He would throw his body in the way if he had to.
Un Dohyeon lunged in as well. There were far too many arrows. Both men moved to shield Yi Do with their own bodies — and then had no choice but to stop, because of what Yi Do did next.
Yi Do smashed his fist into the wall. With a rumbling crash, the enormous hall above it came toppling down.
He raised the fallen hall in front of them like a shield and leaned into it.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD.
Hundreds upon hundreds of arrows buried themselves in the hall's timber.
He turned his head. There stood Un Dohyeon and Myeong Hyeon, frozen in half-crouched, awkward poses.
"Don't make a scene."
He turned back. No more arrows were flying.
He hurled the hall at once. He couldn't have merely thrown it — he packed it with every ounce of sword qi he possessed.
The hall tore across the courtyard and flattened the warriors waiting in reserve on the far side.
"So they flail about at the end."
The words were barely out of his mouth before Yi Do charged. The warriors behind him charged too. Yi Do had exactly one target.
Amid the sea of blood and corpses stood a man, bow drawn and drawn, holding his stance perfectly rigid.
One look told the tale: Three Flowers Gathering. The man's eyes blazed. Yi Do's feet did not slow. An arrow flew. Yi Do reached out.
Tk.
He snatched it from the air, and the man panicked. Yi Do hurled the arrow right back. The man twisted away in terror as Yi Do's Cloud Dragon Sword came sweeping down. The man ripped a dagger from his belt and parried.
CLANG.
He blocked it — but Yi Do didn't stop. His body accelerated. He drove his knee up into the man's gut, and the instant the man doubled over, Yi Do's elbow hammered down onto the back of his skull.
BOOM.
The man collapsed to the ground. Yi Do drove his sword down. Thwish — the blade punched through the man's head. He turned. His frigid gaze settled on the warriors, and he yanked his sword free and charged.
Shrk—!
One head fell. Shrk again — two more heads rolled across the ground.
Pung Bi-ryang, head of the Pung Clan, staggered backward.
"Please… stop this. Stop here, I beg you!"
Yi Do's eyes were as cold as ever.
"Pung Bi-ryang. Aren't you Pung Bi-chang's elder brother?"
"…That…"
"Pung Bi-chang died at my hand. If I let you live, you will point your sword at me someday. Or am I wrong?"
"…"
"Do you understand now?"
"…Ah…"
Pung Bi-ryang understood, at last.
Yi Do.
He truly was never going to stop.
Yi Do's sword swept through the air.
Shrk—!
Pung Bi-ryang's head fell to the ground.
Myeong Hyeon and Un Dohyeon surged in after him.
They cut, and cut again.
The eighty warriors behind them flooded forward.
The strongest warriors were already dead. The clan head was dead.
Even if someone among them could still give orders, morale had long since crawled into the dirt.
It had been the same at every sect before this one.
Nothing changed now.
They simply had to kill.
Yi Do's gaze shifted. In a corner, a man was trembling uncontrollably.
The Young Master of the Pung Clan.
Pung Cheonbi.
So the thief who stole the thirty Asura Pills was this wretch.
Yi Do walked toward him.
"You seemed so confident in your movement art. Run, then. Give it a try."
Pung Cheonbi, whose fighting spirit had long since shattered, scrambled backward as if hope had been handed back to him — then broke into a desperate sprint. Yi Do hurled the Cloud Dragon Sword at his fleeing back.
Thwish—!
The blade buried itself in the back of Pung Cheonbi's right thigh.
It didn't end there. The force packed into the throw was so immense that the sword carried him clean forward, pinning him — body and blade together — against a pillar of the building.
"Aa… AAAAGH…!"
Yi Do walked over to the screaming man and wrenched the Cloud Dragon Sword free of the pillar. Pung Cheonbi tumbled to the ground, hobbled backward, caught his foot on a stone, and fell.
Yi Do walked over in silence and drove the Cloud Dragon Sword into his chest.
Thwish—!
"Ghk… hkk…"
The gaze looking down at him was utterly frigid.
"You played your little games with nothing more than that pathetic footwork."
"…P-please… spare me…"
He didn't bother to answer. He pulled the sword free —
Shrk—!
— and took Pung Cheonbi's head where he knelt.
That day.
Thirteen sects of Jangan Commandery were annihilated.