Night of Carnage
"Have you forgotten the promise you made to your Master?"
Jiang Zhou had once sworn an oath that he would never be the first to draw his blade.
"If you're that worried about it, why don't you go see for yourself."
"Hyung-nim! What if those lunatics burn the inn down as payback? Someone has to stay and guard it, and that someone will be me."
"I'll guard it. Now hurry up and go."
"Then I'll go with you, hyung-nim."
"Aaargh... you gutless little worm."
Yang Jeong was hardly weak — it was just that he'd only ever spent that strength beating down bandits and common thugs.
Jiang Zhou crossed the Stone Bridge, and Yang Jeong trotted faithfully at his heels.
"Hyung-nim, why are you turning back?"
"What's the point of standing around watching? When things get like this, not looking is the smart play."
"But hyung-nim, if those bastards swallow the Murim Alliance whole, this inn will be next on their list."
"I know that, you idiot. That's exactly why I feel like I'm going to explode. Agh, why did you have to go and say it out loud..."
Yang Jeong murmured at his back, low enough that only he could hear.
"It's not like your Master is around anymore to see it. What good is an oath nobody can witness? Just play dumb and go."
"Come inside and finish the rice you left half-eaten."
"Hyung-nim................."
Shff.
Cleaving through an enemy's neck, Baek Won-young shouted himself hoarse.
"Lock your backs together and hold the line...!"
But his cries meant nothing to the late-stage prodigies around him. Faced with enemies who hurled their very lives away without a flicker of hesitation, none of them could unfold their true martial arts.
Only Yeon Ja-seol was properly holding her ground against them.
Ak Hwan wheeled his short spear beside her, punching through the attackers' throats, though even he had been rattled enough that his usual skill had abandoned him.
"Big Brother.........!"
Baek Ha-young's desperate cry rang out from far away.
"Don't panic! Hold your ground and keep them off...!"
Kicking off from where he stood, Baek Won-young flicked toward the source of her voice.
ARGH...! ARGH...!
But the white-eyed, frenzied attackers came rushing in from every direction, and there was no easy path for his body to take.
Shff... shff...
He was cutting through their necks and shooting forward when a ferocious black sword qi came crashing down on him.
BOOM..................!
Baek Mun-do swung with everything he had and beat the qi aside.
The moment he deflected it, he was driven back a good six paces.
Hoho.......
"So you're Baek Won-young."
The woman who had barred his path smiled brightly, her face covered in dense black script tattoos — and the smile was so grotesque that gooseflesh crawled over his entire body.
Baek Mun-do understood at once that he was facing a master beyond his ability to handle. Yet more terrifying than that was the thought that he might fail to save the younger sibling who was somewhere in this chaos crying out desperately for him.
"I'll go, Senior Brother...!"
Just then, Ja-seol shot forward with a cry.
The woman didn't spare her so much as a glance. By the time this night was over, every one of the late-stage prodigies would be dead anyway.
She gave Baek Won-young a light flick of her willow leaf saber — and inside that lightness lay a weight no ordinary man could ever withstand.
BOOM.......!
Baek Won-young was flung back yet again.
The woman shifted her form in a flash, her blade sweeping for his waist.
Or rather, she would have cut it off.
"What a nuisance..."
She smashed away the spearhead driving in at her shoulder.
BOOM......!
Left alone, it would have done no more than tear her sleeve — but her pride would not permit even that.
Ak Hwan, unable to absorb the shock, went tumbling across the ground.
BOOM......!
Baek Won-young, too, staggered under the weight of her blade.
With an icy smile, the woman swung for his neck.
CRASH-CRASH-BOOM......!
But this time, something else caught her blade.
"Sect Leader.........!"
Baek Won-young's face lit up.
Sin Pung-gae and the veteran masters who propped up the Murim Alliance had made their appearance.
"Leave this woman to us and go take command of the prodigies."
"Thank you."
As Baek Won-young dashed off toward the others, the woman let out a snort of a laugh.
"You haven't lived this long for nothing. You're still going to die soon, though."
ARGH...! Shff.
Having lopped off another head, Ja-seol pressed her back against Baek Ha-young's.
Baek Ha-young was bleeding from wounds scattered all over her body, and Ja-seol, who had fought her way through the enemy horde to reach her, was soaked in blood from head to toe as well.
"Don't worry about me, Junior Sister."
"Senior Brother..."
Tears were streaming down Baek Ha-young's eyes.
The corpses sprawled across the ground had been warriors of the Murim Alliance — men who had exchanged morning greetings with her barely an hour ago. And now they lay there, cold and still, strewn about like discarded things.
"Where's my brother?"
Wiping her eyes, her first thought was for Baek Won-young.
Thwack...! Shff.
Severing an enemy's neck, Ja-seol shouted back.
"Right now, all you need to worry about is your own hide!"
She sized up their situation in an instant. They were a fair distance from the Murim Alliance grounds, and there was no guarantee she could carry Baek Ha-young all the way back to her brother unharmed.
"Run for the inn. Don't stop for anything."
That left only one path. There were fewer enemies at their rear — they could punch through.
"Why the inn?"
"Trust me and run."
Ja-seol wheeled about and began carving a path.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.......! CLANG........!
Shhk.
The instant her blade met the enemy's weapon, Baek Ha-young cut the man down at the waist. Terrified as she was, she was still Baek Mun-do's daughter and his disciple.
Yang Jeong sat by the stream washing dishes.
"Aigoo, my miserable lot."
While a bloody battle raged nearby, here he was scrubbing bowls at the water's edge.
'Agh... I never should have eaten that He Shou Wu.'
The herb had his muscles twitching with power, and courage he never knew he had was bubbling up besides. Fights were only fun when you were winning — battles that looked like certain losses, he wanted no part of, ever. But if his big brother were at his side, he felt like he could squeeze out courage he didn't even have.
"I did my part. They just didn't trust me."
Muttering to himself, he suddenly sprang to his feet — he had recognized someone running this way at breakneck speed.
'Enemies?'
Yang Jeong snatched up the sword lying beside him. As the distance closed, faces emerged from the darkness.
"L-Lady Baek!"
Startled out of his wits, he hurried across the Stone Bridge.
"Young Hero Yang......"
Baek Ha-young flushed pink even now, in the middle of all this. She and Ja-seol were drenched in blood from head to toe.
"Please, get inside, quickly."
Before Ja-seol could even ask, Yang Jeong ushered the two of them in with a low, steady voice.
Jiang Zhou, who had been sitting at a table, rose to his feet as well.
"We'd like to rest here for a while."
At Ja-seol's words, Jiang Zhou nodded.
"Those wounds look serious. Take a room and treat them."
"Thank you. Do you happen to have any golden wound salve?"
"It's in the room."
Yang Jeong hurried them into a room. The moment he slid the door open, a mountain of weapons came into view, stacked wall to wall.
Even exhausted and wounded, Baek Ha-young's eyes went wide. What in the world was with all these weapons? Ja-seol, however, seemed to have her suspicions already, and hardly blinked.
"Here you are, Lady Baek."
Yang Jeong pulled the golden wound salve and a clean cloth from his pack and handed them over.
"Thank you, Young Hero Yang."
"I'd be happy to help with the treatment, so............"
"No, thank you. I can manage."
Ja-seol turned him down flat, and a sheepish Yang Jeong had no choice but to shuffle out.
"Th-then I'll go keep watch outside."
Once outside, Yang Jeong walked straight to the Stone Bridge and planted himself at its center, one hand gripping his sword, standing his ground like a general holding the pass.
Jiang Zhou watched him with an expression of pure disbelief.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Can't you see, hyung-nim? Somebody has to protect the ladies, no?"
Good grief...
"That lunatic."
Jiang Zhou heaved a long sigh. That boy would never do something like this unless his screws had come loose.
As he stared blankly at Yang Jeong's back, Ja-seol and Baek Ha-young emerged from the room.
The moment Baek Ha-young stepped out, she spotted him standing firm at the center of the bridge.
'Could it be... Young Hero Yang?'
Her heart swelled with emotion. His martial arts were weaker than hers, and yet he was ready to risk his life to protect her. Was there another man like that in all the world?
"Young Hero Yang.....!"
she called out — and Yang Jeong turned, flashing her a bright smile.
"Do not worry. I will defend this bridge with my life."
Jiang Zhou's face burned so hot he couldn't bear to watch the rest of it.
Oh, for heaven's sake...
'That little schemer. He planned this all along. When it comes to useless stunts, that head of his works overtime.'
He wanted to crawl into a mouse hole that very moment, but some part of him also wanted to see how far the boy would take it.
"I'll help hold them back too."
Baek Ha-young walked toward Yang Jeong with a resolute face.
"No, Lady Baek. Your wounds are grave — please leave this to me."
Yang Jeong shook his head, smile unwavering.
'They play their parts well, don't they. What a performance.'
Jiang Zhou shook his head at the absurd sight the two of them made. But unlike them, Ja-seol was studying Jiang Zhou.
"Thank you, Young Hero Jiang."
"Think nothing of it. Drop by anytime."
Jiang Zhou answered in his polite innkeeper's voice — and then she asked something entirely unexpected.
"Could you... help the Murim Alliance?"
"What..........?"
Just as Jiang Zhou opened his mouth to ask what she meant, Yang Jeong's shout rang out.
"Hyung-nim! Enemies incoming!"
Urgency was written all over his face as he cried out.
"Perfect timing. About time the world's greatest hero showed us what he can do."
When Jiang Zhou showed no sign of budging, Yang Jeong's eyes wavered.
Shff.
A veteran master's head tumbled from his shoulders. Blood fountained from the severed neck, and the body crumpled without a sound.
Having cut him down, Yeo Hwa flicked forward and struck at the Dragon-Headed Staff.
BOOM...............!
Four veteran masters already lay severed by her hand, yet not a trace of fatigue showed on her face. Even Sin Pung-gae, who had survived a lifetime of battlefields, felt fear creep over him.
Hoho......
"From the look on your face, it's about time you crawled into the ground."
As Yeo Hwa smiled, the tattoos covering her face writhed sickeningly.
Something about her voice tugged at the edge of Sin Pung-gae's memory.
'Have I known this woman before?'
It felt as if the answer sat on the tip of his tongue, yet the memory refused to surface. His face hardening, he readjusted his grip on the Dragon-Headed Staff. If he had to die here, he would drag that demoness down to the underworld with him.
"Sect Leader....!"
But his time had not yet come, it seemed — a crowd of the Alliance's middle-aged masters came swarming in. Without a moment's hesitation they hurled swords and sabers at Yeo Hwa.
CRASH-CRASH-BOOM..............!
Shhhk...
Parrying their blades, Yeo Hwa slipped away in a blur of movement.
"What a pack of pests..."
The Alliance's middle-aged masters didn't frighten her. It would simply take time to cut down every last one of them.
"Kill them...!"
At her shriek, the white-eyed, frenzied ones came charging.
Slipping back a step, Yeo Hwa swept her gaze across the battlefield. For all the countless Alliance masters she had slaughtered, the Alliance's warriors still numbered many.
She began to move, hunting for Baek Won-young.
'I want to see Mun-do weep.'
But he was nowhere to be found.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM...................! BOOM-BOOM...........!
As her eyes roved the field, they caught sight of Cheolgoe and the Alliance Leader locked in a titanic clash.
Hohoho.........
Spear and sword crossed again and again, and the forms of Bi-ja and Baek Mun-do split into dozens of afterimages before collapsing back into one.
"Why did you become a lapdog of the Blood Cult?"
"The enemies you fought back then were never the Blood Cult. You and your kind simply gave us that name."
"Bi-ja! Enough of your sophistry!"
Baek Mun-do raged. How many lives had the Blood Cult's horde wasted, snuffed out for nothing? Among the dead were not only helpless commoners — there had been children beyond counting.
Hoho......
A sultry laugh rang out of nowhere, and Bi-ja's eyes flashed a wild crimson.
"Stay out of this, Yeo Hwa."
"Why, Cheolgoe? Between the two of us, shouldn't we take Mun-do's head easily enough?"
With those words, Yeo Hwa shot toward Baek Mun-do.
KWAAANG....!
But the tip of Bi-ja's spear barred her path.