Chapter 187
Chapter 187: Night of the Long Sword (3)
At the moment the Fire Bell Society party arrived on the rooftop of a house no more than several dozen meters from Single Eye Gate.
"Leader. Something is off."
The Fire Bell Society's First Guardian, who had been following directly behind Jo Jung-heon, pressed himself flat against the rooftop and murmured in a low voice.
Jo Jung-heon, the Society Leader himself, had already sensed something amiss, so he saw no need to question it. He simply gestured for his subordinates to lower their postures, then fixed his gaze on the wall of Single Eye Gate, now quite close, and opened his ears and Energy Sense wide.
It was too quiet.
And too deserted.
Not a single guard protecting the main gate was visible, and not a single sound could be heard. Even accounting for the power struggle with Black Wind Hall, wasn't it only natural that guards protecting the main gate would be visible?
"……."
He continued watching for a good while longer, but from Single Eye Gate came not a single hint or sign.
"……Damn."
There was no other option now.
"We go in first."
Jo Jung-heon moved toward the main gate of Single Eye Gate with a stealth incomparably greater than when they had come this far. The Fire Bell Society's Guardians, Elders, and Vanguard Warriors followed close on his heels.
It was only once they reached the main gate that they could sense it, even a little.
That some kind of incident had occurred inside Single Eye Gate.
Not only was there no Gate Guard present, but the thick iron gate of Single Eye Gate was already ajar.
"……It could be a trap—"
Just as the First Guardian, out of excessive caution, was about to argue for prudence.
Shwwwwwwwwwsh—!
Hundreds of wind-splitting sounds tearing through the air.
Arrows and flying darts rained down like a torrential downpour. From random directions too. From the walls of Single Eye Gate, from nearby houses, and even from near the eaves where they had been hiding just a moment ago.
For no less than One Watch Period, the volley of hidden projectiles claimed the lives of two Fire Bell Society elites.
Hidden weapons generally did not work well against masters, but that common sense too was meaningless before sheer numbers.
"What sort of scoundrel commits such a cowardly act?"
As if in answer to Jo Jung-heon's grave words, a silhouette dropped down from atop the wall of Single Eye Gate.
"I'd rather not hear that sort of thing from a ruffian who barged rudely into someone else's home. Society Leader Jo?"
A grinning face, a black eyepatch covering the left eye, and a sharp, high-pitched voice like a bird's call.
The moment Jo Jung-heon saw the man's face, he recognized him at once.
"Smiling-Face Poison Eye Cheong Go-ryang……. How are you here?"
Cheong Go-ryang.
None other than the Gate Leader of Single Eye Gate.
Smiling-Face Poison Eye was a double-meaning epithet given to him because behind the smiling face of his single eye he concealed viciousness. That was how renowned a master Cheong Go-ryang was in Gangdo's Martial World—known for his outstanding scheming and ability alike.
"How? Is there anything strange about me being in my own home?"
Cheong Go-ryang's single eye-corner curved long. Combined with his lips curled up to the maximum, it gave a most peculiar sense of pleasure. As if savoring in advance the slaughter that was about to unfold.
"In any case, glad you came. I shall make sure the hospitality is nothing short of generous, so relax and enjoy yourselves. Friends."
Thud thud
Every time Cheong Go-ryang stepped forward, clear footprints were left on the Blue Stone floor. And then, dropping down one by one behind him, a group of dozens of silhouettes.
Those who revealed themselves fully all had but a single eye each.
They were Single Eye Gate's finest elite—the Single Eye Poison Hand Squad.
Cheong Go-ryang advanced, closing the distance once more together with the Single Eye Poison Hand Squad. The formation naturally became a semicircle, pushing the Fire Bell Society party into Single Eye Gate.
A semicircle whose radius slowly contracted.
"Fall back! If you fall back now, you can still save your lives!"
Even against the ferocious killing intent radiating from Cheong Go-ryang and the Single Eye Poison Hand Squad, the Fire Bell Society's First Guardian did not lower his head. Instead, he drew flames up into his palm and glared at Cheong Go-ryang.
"Even surrounded as we are, with this strength, we can at least send you, Cheong Go-ryang, to the afterlife as company!"
Was the word company amusing?
Cheong Go-ryang cackled even more deeply than before.
"I won't say anything about a cornered dog barking. But in those moments, you see."
The instant his words ended.
Swish—
Cheong Go-ryang's hand touched the sword hilt thrust at his waist.
No—he was not touching it. He was sheathing it.
The blade had already sliced through its target's throat and returned to its home before even a drop of blood could stain it.
"Baring your teeth is far less conducive to survival than wetting yourself."
Along the diagonal cut running from the Fire Bell Society First Guardian's left shoulder to his right ear, his body split in two.
Slllide—, the upper half of the First Guardian slipping along the cross-section.
Cheong Go-ryang stepped lightly on his fallen head as it rolled across the floor and advanced toward Jo Jung-heon.
Each time Cheong Go-ryang stepped forward, Jo Jung-heon stepped back. Naturally and without intention, Jo Jung-heon and the rest of the Fire Bell Society party were being drawn inside Single Eye Gate.
"I say, Fire Bell Society Leader."
At that, Cheong Go-ryang crooked his left index finger toward himself and smirked.
"Enough of this—go ahead and die. Unlike your leisurely schedule, I am extremely busy. After I cut you into five pieces, I must hurry off to take the Black Wind Hall Leader's head as well."
But of course, Jo Jung-heon had no intention of dying.
With a glance, he sent the remaining Guardians and Vanguard Warriors ahead into Single Eye Gate first.
Tiger's Maw.
In truth, entering Single Eye Gate right now was the same as voluntarily thrusting one's head into a tiger's jaws. It was already beyond question that everything that had unfolded was Cheong Go-ryang's scheme. Which meant it was a foregone conclusion that he had deliberately lured them into being herded inside.
What kind of formations might be set up.
How many men might be waiting.
How many mechanical devices might be lurking.
None of it was knowable.
Even so, there was no other option now, and so he had sent his subordinates first, as a kind of reconnaissance.
Keeping his gaze fixed on Cheong Go-ryang, he slowly stepped backward into Single Eye Gate. Because if he took his eyes off Cheong Go-ryang for even a moment, he could be cut down in an instant, just like the First Guardian.
One step, two steps, three steps.
Slowly, very slowly, he stepped fully inside Single Eye Gate. Hoping his subordinates had at least established a basic foothold.
And yet……
It was too quiet.
And too still.
Whether formations, mechanical devices, or men—there should have been a clash with the subordinates who had entered first.
'Something has gone wrong…….'
Using the moment Single Eye Gate's main gate blocked him from Cheong Go-ryang's line of sight, he immediately turned his body to face the interior of Single Eye Gate.
"……."
The subordinates who had entered first were indeed well positioned, as he had ordered.
The problem was that they were positioned here and there lying down.
No formations, no mechanical devices, no men—nothing whatsoever had come out to meet them.
He hadn't exactly been expecting a warm welcome.
But he hadn't anticipated at all a situation where he would be standing alone in this vast space.
No—to be precise, there was one more person.
A young man standing alone in this wide-open space.
"Who—"
—He could not finish asking.
His vision slides. His voice does not come out.
Thud, roll roll—
The world spins and spins as it falls, and then one person's body looms large.
The clothing is familiar. The three characters written large in red-brown on the back.
Fire Bell Society
The thing standing there headless and alone was……his own body.
Without even realizing it, as Jo Jung-heon was tumbling down into hell, a single last voice pierced his ears.
"Five."
Even as he fell into hell, he was curious.
Five.
What that meant.
And who the owner of this emotionless voice was.
***
Cheong Go-ryang did not bother pursuing Jo Jung-heon in any hurry.
The opponent was a rat in a jar regardless.
The Fire Bell Society Leader himself was quite a skilled master, but in the end, he was hopelessly outnumbered.
Right now, 326 elites were on standby inside Single Eye Gate, and yet, just in case there might be any room for escape, he had set up seven Bewilderment Formations at various points throughout the compound. He had also hidden several dozen Fire Bomb Soldiers.
"And yet……."
He was lightly whistling as he slowly approached Single Eye Gate's main gate, which would become his gate of victory, when he cocked his head to one side.
"Why is it so quiet?"
If the Fire Bell Society Leader and his party had gone inside, even if not quite a fierce battle, surely sounds of them struggling and floundering about in the formations should have been audible?
Aah.
He quickly understood why.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh. If I'd known the Fire Bell Society Leader was this weak, I would have made my move long ago."
The Fire Bell Society Leader and his party must have been too feeble and been subdued in an instant.
He smirked broadly and shoved open the main gate of his own sect—Single Eye Gate, which would soon grow several times larger and come to dominate all of Gangdo—striding inside.
"I say, Fire Bell Society Leader. Are you still ali—. Huh!?"
There was a young man standing there.
To be precise, that man 'alone' was standing there.
Someone who appeared to be Jo Jung-heon was also standing, but calling that 'standing' was something of a misnomer. Someone standing without a head was either a statue, or a corpse that amounted to one.
The rest of the Fire Bell Society members were all lying down as well. Either without heads or torn to shreds so completely that their forms no longer remained.
Then what of his own subordinates?
The formations he had laid out?
The Formation Trigger Stones of the various Bewilderment Formations he had carefully placed throughout were all reduced to powder scattered across the floor. The Fire Bomb Soldiers he had secretly deployed throughout the manor had been struck by their own fire bombs and turned to charcoal, and the iron spike devices set up at various points were twisted and warped as though wrung by a giant hand.
Single Eye Gate's 326 elites.
They too were collapsed here and there. No—even the word 'collapsed' was inadequate. Most had been torn to pieces so badly their forms were unrecognizable.
Beyond that, countless more corpses were strewn about. Their identities hardly needed asking.
"……Who are you?"
The young man, who had been standing still as a stone statue, slowly turned his head toward him.
Only then could Cheong Go-ryang meet his eyes.
Jet-black pupils.
Deep.
So deep that whatever pooled inside those pupils was entirely unknowable.
Whether it was hot emotion like rage or fury, a cold feeling like dread or terror, or simply the tranquil emotionlessness of nothing at all.
"Late."
The word that then fell from his lips. A voice with no rise or fall.
If that emotionless gaze of his could be put into words, it would feel exactly like this. An intonation like nothing but a bottomless abyss.
Cheong Go-ryang furrowed his brow at an inexplicable chill.
"The master of this house is me. Anyone hearing you would think you were the owner of this place."
As he said so, he slowly placed his hand on his sword hilt. Simultaneously, he began channeling all the Internal Energy gathered in his Dantian, sending it through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
It did not matter who this man was.
The moment he had entered this place, he was an enemy, and Cheong Go-ryang never permitted an enemy within his own sect.