You Started This Fight (4)
"Stop them! Stop them!!"
The sword cultivators in black robes crouched low and surged forward as one.
Between them bloomed crimson plum blossoms.
It was a scene so overwhelming that even those who did not know the name Mount Hua felt a prickle of fear. A blade-sharp, chilling killing intent swept over the river bandits like a storm.
"A-ahhh!"
The ones in front thrust and swung their weapons in a panic, as if seized by convulsions. The Water Bandits' reputation was no empty boast; even in their confusion, the javelins they hurled were swift and vicious beyond doubt.
But before those attacks could even fully extend, a sword flashed in like lightning and slapped one javelin upward.
Clang!
With a shrill metallic screech that stabbed at the ears, the javelin was knocked clean toward the sky.
Hngh!
The bandit clenched his teeth and hurriedly tried to pull the javelin back, and that was when it happened.
Whoosh!
From behind him, a blade burst in like a streak of light.
What?
By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late. His eyes flew wide.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Three sword blades sank into his body in an instant.
"Ngh…."
The bandit's body trembled. In that moment, what filled his head wasn't pain, but a single question: How?
Of course, coordinating with allies was only natural. Everyone watched the flow of the battlefield and tried to attack as efficiently as possible, didn't they?
But this wasn't that kind of coordination.
The moment the sword cultivator in front knocked his javelin upward, a sword was already flying in from behind. If the first man's movement had been even slightly off from what the others expected, that sword might have skewered one of their own comrades instead.
How could they attack like this? What were they trusting?
Madmen…
His thoughts never went any further.
Flash!
The sword that swept past cut deep into his chest. Without even so much as a glance at the man who had just died, the Mount Hua sword cultivators kept running forward.
Flash!
Flash, flash!
Swords cut through the air in succession.
There was no fancy variation, no dazzling sword energy. The swords in the hands of Mount Hua's cultivators moved without a single wasted motion, doing nothing but reaching for the enemy's life.
With faces set in stone and expressions devoid of anything but cold focus, the Mount Hua sword cultivators were crushing the bandits with terrifying efficiency.
"Hold them! Hold them, damn it! There are only a few of them! Stop them here! Don't let the rest land ashore!"
As the Water Bandits who had seized Maehwado grew pale and stumbled back, one of their elders shouted as if he might spit blood.
"Pressure them from the water and drive them to the shore! Don't give them a foothold!"
Strategically, it might have been a fine judgment. But what was strategy worth if it could not be carried out?
"Junior Sister!"
"Yes."
Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap!
Before Baek Cheon's words had even finished, Yu I-seol was already moving. The sound of her feet striking the ground grew faster and faster until, in an instant, she became a single black line and shot to the front of Mount Hua with breathtaking speed.
"Damn it!"
"Die!"
Seeing her fly toward them like a ghost, the bandits screamed in alarm and thrust out their javelins. Or rather, they tried to.
At that moment—
Whoosh!
Yu I-seol accelerated until she was at least twice as fast as when she first began running, and appeared directly in front of the bandits who had just drawn their javelins back.
No, to the bandits, "appeared" was almost too mild a word. It was such a sudden, dramatic movement that it felt as though she had simply materialized there.
And her sword was even faster than her feet.
Before the bandits could even finish registering their shock, the blade sliced through space and cut them down at once.
Fwoosh!
From the long gashes, blood burst out like fountains. The entire front line collapsed in an instant.
"Swarm her!"
But the bandits also proved they had survived countless battlefields. They immediately stomped on the backs of their falling comrades and leaped over them to attack Yu I-seol.
"No."
But just then, from behind Yu I-seol, a man sprang upward over her head and formed dozens of sword shadows in midair before sweeping the bandits away.
"Aaaaaagh!"
"Aaaagh!"
The bandits struck by the sudden sword energy from the sky were flung back while screaming.
Having destroyed the bandits who had targeted Yu I-seol with a single sword strike, Yoon Jong landed and immediately pushed off the ground, moving to support the advance already underway.
Yu I-seol straightened and plunged into the bandits' ranks. Then, as though dancing, she began to swing her sword.
Whoosh!
The blade swept elegantly through the air and sank into every exposed part of the bandits' bodies.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
One man, his thigh cut open, screamed and collapsed. Another, with his neck sliced, clutched at his throat and rolled across the ground. But their suffering was still far better than the fate of the one whose heart had been split open in a single strike.
"Die, you bitch!"
A javelin packed with fierce energy shot toward Yu I-seol's solar plexus like an explosion. Yet she did not retreat; instead, she stepped one pace closer to the weapon.
And then came a breathtaking flash of swordsmanship.
Slash!
Her sword cut the wrist of the bandit holding the javelin.
Slash!
The blade twisted and snapped upward, cutting through his elbow in the same motion.
And then—
Boom!
As her sword struck the javelin one final time, the weapon, stripped of its direction by the force packed into it, flew off and slammed into another bandit who had been aiming at Yu I-seol.
Crunch. Crunch.
The javelin, which had pierced a human body as though it were nothing, did not lose its momentum. It continued on and skewered the man behind as well.
Like skewers on a spit, the bandits collapsed one after another, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
In the blink of an eye, three sword strikes had completely shattered the enemy's attempt.
Her movements never paused.
Blood spurted from the throat of the bandit who had thrust the javelin.
After neatly cutting his throat, Yu I-seol dropped low as if she had gone out like a candle. She lowered her body until she was almost touching the ground, then spun in place like a top and sliced through the knees of the bandits charging at her.
"Agh! Aaaaaagh!"
"My, my leg! My legggg!"
Shraaak!
Spinning as if sweeping the ground clean, Yu I-seol sprang upward and thrust three swords forward. She shoved back the bandits who had hesitated, then cast a cold glance ahead and flung her body sideways like a swallow skimming across the water.
At the exact same instant, a black silhouette flew into the place where her body had been.
Flash!
And then a sword flash so swift that even the word lightning seemed inadequate pierced the throat of the bandit in front.
Crunch!
The sound of a sharp metal edge cutting through frail human flesh, and through bone. Before that sound had even finished ringing out, the retracted sword chased after the retreating enemies.
Cool, lowered eyes. Lips pressed tight.
Dang So-so's expression now defied any description other than that of a true sword cultivator. Her sword expanded in an instant and swept across the front.
At that moment, the bandits had to feel what it meant to be on the receiving end. They had seen what the Water Bandits had seen. The dozens of sword shadows released from her sword tip were like dozens of bandits thrusting javelins at once.
"Aaaagh!"
Those who could not dodge were swept away helplessly by the sword energy. Bandits whose bodies had been riddled with holes as large as a child's fist crumpled where they stood, blood pouring from them.
Yu I-seol, Yoon Jong, Dang So-so.
The three of them had created a clear rupture in the dense formation of the Water Bandits, as if slicing through a thick forest.
"Push forward!"
And as if it were only natural, Mount Hua's sword cultivators charged straight into the breach they had made.
The bandits, still unable to recover from the impact of the sword energy raining down on them, were mercilessly crushed by the attacks of the Mount Hua cultivators surging in.
Fear-stricken, agonized screams filled the air above Maehwado.
The sword cultivators ran with blank expressions, driven by nothing but the urge to sever enemy throats. Overwhelmed by that momentum, the bandits kept retreating on instinct.
"H-Hold them! You bastards, hold them! Don't back away—stop them!"
The elder issuing orders had gone the color of ash.
They had already proven their strength against the Namgung Clan. Wasn't group pressure in a confined space one of the Water Bandits' specialties, using sheer numbers to overwhelm their foe?
But that tactic meant nothing here.
Because they were strong?
That couldn't be it.
They had already fought the Namgung Clan's King Sword, and had experience reducing even those elders to a pulp. No matter how strong these young brats were, how could they compare?
Yet the sight before his eyes was too different from when they had fought the Namgung Clan.
He could not believe it, but he understood the cause of all this with perfect clarity.
What on earth are these people made of?
They didn't look like righteous sect members at all.
It was absurd, but these monsters were accustomed to battle. They knew exactly how to fight when two groups collided.
Maybe even more than the Water Bandits, who had lived through endless wars.
They looked like weathered old veterans who had seen dozens, hundreds of battles, did they not?
Most terrifying of all was the fact that there was no hesitation in their swords. Though they were still young enough that their faces had hardly shed their downy fuzz, they had no qualms about hurling a blade and ending a human life.
What else could he call those lunatics but sword demons?
"You useless morons! Don't try to kill them—hold your ground! Just once! If we can break that momentum even once—"
A battle between a small number of people was decided by skill, but a battle between many was decided by morale and momentum. If they could stop the enemy's feet just once, then crushing them with numbers would not be impossible.
"Form up! Use the corpses of the ones in front as shields if you have to—just hold on! They're the ones who'll tire first!"
If that soaring momentum was broken even once, Mount Hua would expose its weakness: its lack of numbers. So just once. Just one time was enough to bind their feet.
Hearing the elder's command, the bandits gritted their teeth and pressed their shoulders against those of their comrades. They intended to defend as solidly as possible and hold the ground they stood on for the time being.
Unfortunately for them... they were not the only ones who had stepped onto Maehwado.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
"What is that?"
"Those are...?"
Above the heads of the bandits, who had stiffened their front line and their resolve, a stream of green pouches flew in.
And a moment later—
Boom! Boom!
As the pouches burst, black clouds of poison dust billowed out and covered the tops of the tightly packed bandits' heads.
"Poison!"
"Aaaagh! These bastard—!"
"Cough! Cough! I-can't... breathe!"
At last, Dang Gun-ak, who had set foot on Maehwado, ground his teeth and unleashed a thunderous lion's roar.
"It is time to avenge the Namgung Clan! Do not let a single one of them leave this island alive!"
"Yes, sir!"
The warriors of the Sichuan Tang Clan followed behind Mount Hua. The pouches shot from their sleeves burst one after another above the bandits' heads, who had fortified themselves defensively, showering them with poison sand and poison dust.
Hemmed in with no place to retreat and no room to advance, they had no chance to escape the poison. Choking, they clawed at their throats.
"Grrrkh!"
Blood foam gushed from their mouths. Some rolled back with their eyes white and flipped up, while others scratched at their own throats until they bled like madmen.
It was utter hell on earth.
And at the very moment the Tang Clan shook the enemy apart, a man charged out at the very front of Mount Hua.
BOOM!
Baek Cheon cut down and sent flying five bandits with a single sword strike, then locked onto the Namgung Clan survivors beyond them with perfect precision.
"I'll open a path! Follow me, even if it kills you!"
"Yes, sir!"
With Baek Cheon gritting his teeth and crashing forward, Mount Hua's sword cultivators and the Tang Clan's warriors followed with their momentum rising higher and higher.
Mount Hua and the Tang Clan.
The two sects that formed the twin pillars of the Heavenly Friends Alliance were, right here on the Yangtze River, showing the world the alliance's power for the very first time.
For anyone who lived in Jianghu, for anyone who had ever held the two words righteousness and loyalty in their hearts, this was a sight that should have made their chest swell with awe.
But across the river, there stood one man who could not even tremble with excitement at the sight. His whole body shook violently.
"...How...?"
Shaolin's Abbot, Beop Jeong, had eyes that swelled with shock and disbelief.