How Do You Want to Die? (1)
“Aaaaagh!”
The long spear pierced straight through his chest.
He swung the spear deeper into the chest of the Mount Hua disciple blocking his way, and Hweonseon Spear Ghost grinned with a grotesque face as he said in a low voice, “You pathetic bastard.”
“Kh... ugh...”
Whoosh!
He yanked the spear free in one smooth motion, and blood geysered from the wound. Hot droplets sprayed across his face, staining the skin beneath his eyes red.
He kicked the man down before he could even collapse on his own, then wiped the blood from his face with one hand.
The thick, nauseating stench of blood.
That sticky, feverish heat.
“Heh-heh.”
A soft laugh slipped from his lips.
This wasn’t exactly a worthy opponent, but did that matter? What mattered was that they were resisting.
There was a special thrill to stabbing a fleeing man in the back, yes, but nothing could compare to batting aside the sword of someone who fought back and driving a spear into his chest. The pleasure it gave him was beyond words.
It’s been far too long.
Brutal light spilled from his eyes in streams.
The humiliation of having to run from the Four Hegemons Alliance, the frustration of being pressed down beneath the Nine Great Sects—all of it was being washed away by this moment of liberation.
“Still not enough.”
He turned his bloodshot eyes toward the next prey.
“Aaaagh!”
“Aaagh!”
Cries erupted from every direction. He bared his fangs and charged toward the place that looked weakest.
Whoosh!
A head soared into the air.
Those eyes, filled only with pain and terror, looked up at the sky for a brief instant before crashing to the ground.
“Heh...”
Xue Dao-Sal stared ahead with glistening eyes, as if intoxicated by the scent of blood drifting through the air.
The faces of those who had clearly seen a man’s head fly were turning white with shock.
This is why orthodox bastards are fun.
The Sapa didn’t dare recklessly challenge the strong. They understood better than anyone that such a thing meant surrendering their lives.
But these men were different. Even knowing they could not survive on skill alone, they still refused to retreat easily.
Watching people caught between a mind that refused to yield and a body that wanted nothing more than to run was thoroughly amusing.
But then.
Xue Dao-Sal rushed forward, cut down a faltering man in a single stroke, then severed the neck of another who had not even managed to close his eyes before death.
“All they do is hasten the date of their death.”
He chuckled softly and shook the warm blood from his hand. In his eyes, vulgar delight and thick killing intent roared together like a storm.
Fueled by that killing intent, the others became even more ferocious in their attacks on the Xi'an martial artists.
“They’re gone mad,” someone muttered.
“Hmm.”
Gal Cheon-lip watched the battlefield with a strange smile.
The ones who had been worked up to the limit were swinging their blades without a thought for what lay behind them.
This will be a long night.
They would probably never satisfy their thirst, even after killing everyone here. Only after seeing more blood would they recover their reason and realize what they had done.
Not everyone in Sapa was mad with bloodlust.
Only the more violent among them, and those who had endured greater pressure, had come to him. All Gal Cheon-lip had done was create a stage on which those dogs could run wild.
By this point, they won’t even be able to sneak back in under a false identity.
There was no way a bandit who robbed a merchant caravan and one who annihilated a caravan and slaughtered commoners could be treated the same.
Even Shaolin and Beggars' Sect—who had likely only hoped Shaanxi would suffer a manageable amount of damage—would go pale once they saw the catastrophe about to unfold.
All Gal Cheon-lip had to do was gather those who now had nowhere else to go and build a firm power base from them.
Then...
Crack.
Blue killing intent flared in Gal Cheon-lip’s eyes.
I’ll be able to strike that bastard who chews on steel right in the mouth.
Jang Il-so’s smiling face floated into his mind. Not even twenty years ago, the gap between them had not been so great. No—at one point, Gal Cheon-lip’s reputation had even exceeded Jang Il-so’s, and his skill had been judged superior as well.
But now the distance between them was as vast as heaven and earth.
If I had built my power earlier, I never would’ve had to bow to that bastard.
It was a regret too deep to swallow, but even so, it was fortunate that an opportunity had come now.
In a way, this is the opportunity he created for me.
If Saperyeon had not moved to subjugate the Sapa in Jiangnan, it would have been impossible for Gangseo-chilsal to gather this much strength. It would have taken at least several decades, and before those decades passed, Saperyeon would have turned its eyes on them anyway.
But in chaotic times, opportunity always came.
If he could make the most of this chance, he could build a formidable force in a single stroke. Of course, turning these men into obedient dogs would take a little time—but that was a price worth paying, wasn’t it?
So...
Gal Cheon-lip jerked his chin forward.
“There may still be a few who haven’t realized what they’ve gotten themselves into. Go on and rampage a little more.”
“Yes, big brother.”
The younger men guarding his back burst forward, spewing killing intent as they charged into the fray.
Gal Cheon-lip ran his tongue over his lips. Unhidden desire gleamed in his eyes.
“Damn it!”
Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes were bloodshot.
The sects of Xi'an were collapsing one after another, blood spraying everywhere as they went down.
“Aaaagh!”
When he saw yet another man spatter blood and fall, Hong Dae-gwang’s face drained of color.
Dammit!
They were outmatched.
Everyone gathered here had trained as hard as they could in their own way, but a family sect was still a family sect. There was no way they could stand against the infamous evil villains who had made a name for themselves all the way from Jiangnan.
“Hold the line! Don’t let the formation collapse!” he shouted.
“Yes!”
The Beggars' Sect disciples, hearing his frantic command, gritted their teeth and rushed forward. They weren’t exactly experts within the Beggars' Sect, but they were still Beggars' Sect. They were incomparably stronger than the disciples of an average minor sect.
But even that isn’t enough. It’s still hopelessly outnumbered.
Even if the experts of the Beggars' Sect main branch arrived, they might at least have a chance of fighting these men and seizing a slim advantage.
What was even more horrifying was that the enemy’s morale was easily twice as high. The Sapa bastards who had finally tasted blood were rampaging like wolves that had gone a month without food. Crushed by that momentum, the already inferior martial artists here were falling before they could even properly display their skill.
Hong Dae-gwang clenched his fists with a look of growing desperation.
At this rate, they would be wiped out before long. Their strength was more than their reputation suggested. Even if they held out from this moment on, they would not last through the hour.
“Where the hell are those damn Southern Edge bastards!”
Now the only hope left was the Southern Edge Sect. Someone sent on his orders had already asked them for rescue. Southern Edge, having declared seclusion, might ignore even that—but Hong Dae-gwang forced the possibility out of his mind.
If Southern Edge didn’t come, everyone here would die anyway. And the whole of Xi'an would be drenched in blood. Why even think about it further?
Grip!
Hong Dae-gwang’s hands tightened around his taku-gong staff until they hurt and began to bleed, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Logically, he should be here. Right now, Hong Dae-gwang was the only one who could grasp the battle situation and issue proper orders. If he survived to the end, they could at least buy a little more time.
But...
“Aaaagh!”
“Kraaaagh!”
Even the Beggars' Sect disciples who had charged into the front lines were dying with miserable screams.
“Ugh...”
He knew that with his head, but he simply couldn’t endure it.
“You dog-shit bastards!”
In the end, Hong Dae-gwang could no longer hold back. He bellowed at the top of his lungs and charged forward.
“Hm?”
His taku-gong staff, driven by fierce force, came crashing down toward the head of Hweonseon Spear Ghost, who had just pulled his spear free from a Beggars' Sect disciple’s chest.
With a twist of his lips, Hweonseon Spear Ghost spun his spear and blocked the descending staff.
Rumble!
The taku-gong staff and spear collided inches before Hweonseon Spear Ghost’s head. Hong Dae-gwang’s arms shook violently as he pressed down on the spear with all his strength.
“You... bastard!”
“A beggar with some guts?”
Thump.
Hweonseon Spear Ghost casually shoved Hong Dae-gwang back and fixed him with a confident stare. Judging by the heavy sensation that lingered at his fingertips, this one was clearly on a different level from the rest of the rabble.
“You’re a Beggars' Sect dog. You can’t possibly not know who I am. Admirable courage.”
“Maybe you’re too stupid to understand, you Sapa bastard. The courage is yours.”
“Hm?”
Hong Dae-gwang raised the taku-gong staff and ground his teeth.
“After starting something like this, none of you will die cleanly. Every last one of you will see hell.”
“Ha! Does the Beggars' Sect really have the strength to do that? Shaolin and Wudang won’t have the spare power to chase us either, will they?”
“You clueless bastard really doesn’t know anything.”
“...What?”
“This is Shaanxi. You attacked a branch sect of Mount Hua on Mount Hua’s own land.”
Hong Dae-gwang bit out each word.
“You don’t understand what that means. You’ve gone and provoked people you should never have touched.”
“Have you been eating shit too long and fried your brains? You think we’re afraid of some nobody like Mount Hua when we don’t even fear Shaolin or Wudang?”
“That’s why you’re an idiot.”
“...What?”
“This is Xi'an. And right now, you’re attacking Mount Hua’s people on Mount Hua’s land.”
Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes blazed as he continued.
“You don’t know what that means? Then let me tell you. You’ve just touched men you were never, ever meant to touch.”
“Have you been talking nonsense for so long that your brain’s rotted? You think we’re afraid of some puny Mount Hua when we don’t even flinch at Shaolin or Wudang?”
“That’s exactly why you’re a fool.”
“...”
Hweonseon Spear Ghost’s face stiffened. It wasn’t a particularly great provocation, but the way Hong Dae-gwang spoke kept getting under his skin.
“Do you think the people fighting here are holding out because they don’t know fear? Of course not. They’re not throwing away their lives because they don’t care whether they live or die.”
“...”
“They’re standing here because they believe they’ll be avenged. Absolutely avenged. Because they firmly believe that Mount Hua will chase you to the ends of hell itself and make you pay, no matter what. That’s what it means to belong to Mount Hua.”
Hweonseon Spear Ghost glared at Hong Dae-gwang in disbelief.
“Hah...”
He looked around—and absurdly enough, the eyes of those who had heard Hong Dae-gwang’s words had changed. The ones who had been lost a moment ago, faces pale and terrified like children, now had a cruel edge burning in their eyes.
“Exactly.”
“Heh-heh. These bastards don’t seem to understand what it means to touch Mount Hua.”
“If they understood, they wouldn’t dare.”
Hweonseon Spear Ghost frowned at the sneering faces around him.
Mount Hua?
Not Shaolin, not Southern Edge... Mount Hua?
What the hell was Mount Hua supposed to be, that these men were reacting like this?
At that moment, Hong Dae-gwang growled, almost like a beast.
“There’s no way left for you to survive. The moment the Mount Hua Divine Dragon... no, the moment the Mount Hua Sword Hero learns what happened here, you’ll be staring into a hell you can’t avoid.”
Hweonseon Spear Ghost stared at Hong Dae-gwang with an expression of utter disbelief.
“...What can that brat from Mount Hua possibly do?”
“Brat?”
Hong Dae-gwang let out a sharp, biting laugh.
“If you want to survive after crossing swords with him, you’d need to be someone like Jang Il-so. But you? Even if you died and came back to life, you still wouldn’t be in that class.”
“...You bastard...”
Hweonseon Spear Ghost’s face darkened in humiliation, and cold killing intent surged out of him.
“Let’s see whether you can keep talking with holes punched through your whole body.”
“Try it, you stupid bastard!”
The moment he finished speaking, Hong Dae-gwang instead charged straight at Hweonseon Spear Ghost.
At the sight of him acting as if life itself meant nothing, Hweonseon Spear Ghost gritted his teeth.
“Crazy beggar bastard!”
His spear, packed with all his internal force, shot out like a bolt of light toward Hong Dae-gwang’s throat.