Chapter 13 - Unbong County's Lowly Expert
“Uwaaaah!!”
A one-against-many brawl erupted.
Oepari flailed his arms in panic, screaming before he could even swing his sword properly.
Left as he was, he'd be a corpse after a few breaths.
Jin Muhon scooped up a stone from the ground and hurled it forward with a whoosh.
Thwack!
“Guhk!”
One of the Ghost Soul Sect warriors snapped his head back.
It went unnoticed amid the tangled melee, but it bought Oepari a moment to dodge a fatal blow.
“Die, you bastard!”
“You worthless scum, do you even know where you are?!”
Clang! Scraaape!
Swords clashed in a deafening cacophony.
A blade grazed Oepari's arm with a vicious slice.
“Kuhk!”
Hot blood streamed down his arm.
Then another sword slashed his shoulder.
The agony of torn flesh, the searing burn in his bones, the metallic tang of blood—it overwhelmed him.
Oepari could barely think straight.
“Uwaaaah!!”
At some point, his eyes rolled back, and he began swinging wildly.
Slash! Slash! Clang! Clang!
Blood sprayed. Chunks of flesh burst open.
The chilling feedback through his sword grip made his skin crawl.
“Uwaaak!”
“Kuhk! You son of a—!”
Unlike the elegant techniques of masters, this was the raw, brutal slaughter of amateurs—utterly merciless.
“Aaaargh! Fuck you all!!”
Oepari was gradually consumed by madness.
Ever since meeting Jin Muhon, he'd lived in constant fear of death, clinging to each day.
“I ain't fuckin' dyin'! Not me! Not like this! Fuck!”
And yet.
For some reason, right now, Oepari wasn't afraid.
That fearlessness kept the Ghost Soul Sect warriors from overwhelming him easily.
“Family Head! Forgive me! This wasn't my intention at all!”
Chukang hurried to Jin Muhon's side and bowed deeply.
Watching Oepari's desperate frenzy, Jin Muhon replied indifferently.
“No. Anyone who picks up a sword has to fight like that.”
“...Yes, sir.”
Chukang turned pale as he followed Jin Muhon's gaze.
“Kraaaagh! You fuckin' bastards!”
The man he'd ignored completely, hidden behind Jin Muhon.
With only one arm, he'd seemed like mere baggage, a servant at best.
Yet here he was, holding his own against honed Ghost Soul Sect warriors.
Rolling on the ground, biting, clawing, stabbing relentlessly despite the cuts everywhere.
“Uwaaak!”
“Th-this bastard!”
Of course, Oepari wasn't unscathed.
His entire body was soaked in blood, crimson tears streaming from bloodshot eyes. Face, arms, legs, back—every inch slashed.
He could collapse any second.
Why? Why go that far...?
Chukang couldn't comprehend Oepari's ferocious spirit.
The screams of Ghost Soul Sect warriors multiplied by the moment.
But then.
“What is all this commotion?!”
Three stern-faced elders emerged from inside the manor.
All with long white beards.
The one in the center had particularly sharp eyes.
“Sect Leader. You've come.”
The chief steward bowed deeply to the central elder.
A world of difference from his attitude toward Chukang.
Jin Muhon glanced at Chukang.
“Sect Leader?”
“Ah, yes. My father had me late in life.”
“Hm. I see.”
The Ghost Soul Sect Leader, who could pass for a grandfather, eyed the chief steward coldly.
“Explain.”
“Yes, sir.”
The chief steward folded his fan and reported calmly.
“Young Sect Leader brought in some outsiders. One of them killed a disciple of our sect. We were in the midst of capturing them.”
“What?”
The Sect Leader stared at him in disbelief.
The chief steward bowed with dignified poise.
“My apologies. It all happened so suddenly.”
“......”
Turning from the steward, the Sect Leader's gaze swept over the gasping Oepari and warriors, then to Chukang and Jin Muhon standing aside.
“Hmmm...”
Even as sect leader, he paused briefly on Jin Muhon, swallowing hard.
“Is something wrong, Family Head?”
“No. Let's head down.”
“Yes, sir.”
Step. Step. Step.
The Ghost Soul Sect Leader descended into the courtyard with the two elders flanking him.
The warriors parted to either side in a rush.
“Hahk... hahk... hahk... fuck...”
Oepari lifted his head with effort, blood pouring from him.
Using his bloodied sword as a crutch like a staff, his eyes already unfocused.
The Sect Leader let out a hollow chuckle.
“Ha! Just who the hell are you?”
Addressing Oepari, but his senses locked onto Jin Muhon.
Not an ordinary man. A hidden master from the Iron Blood Society?
The arrogant steward must have missed it, but Oepari was no swordsman worth noting.
The real threat was the man whose mere glance chilled him to the bone.
Looks like today brings more ill than fortune.
As the Sect Leader's mind raced, the half-dead Oepari bellowed in a raspy voice.
“Kahk! Ptoo! I'm Unbong County's lowly expert, Oepari! Fuck!”
“Huh? Unbong County? Not Iron Blood Society?”
“Yeah, you bastard! Shut up and come at me!”
“......”
The Sect Leader's mouth fell slightly open.
It was so absurd, he wasn't even angry. When was the last time he'd heard such filth?
Regardless, he turned to the elder beside him with utter confusion.
“Elder Yi. Do you know this fool?”
“No idea. Never seen him before.”
“Elder Seo?”
“First I've heard of him.”
The Sect Leader scanned the surroundings.
“Anyone! Does no one know this scum?!”
The warriors who'd been fighting Oepari to the death blinked around in bewilderment. Groans of pain echoed here and there.
Then one warrior shot up his hand.
“Sect Leader! That bastard! Black Wind, one of Yunbong Pavilion's underlings!”
“What?”
The more he learned, the deeper the Sect Leader fell into confusion.
He'd thought his fool son had fallen for an Iron Blood Society ploy.
Yunbong Pavilion, out of nowhere?
“Yunbong Pavilion... isn't that under that Mang fellow?”
“Yes! Exactly, Sect Leader!”
The Sect Leader glared at Oepari, eyes murderous.
Playtime's over.
“Tell the truth. I'll make it quick.”
“Kahk! Ptoo! Life's short anyway! Think I'm scared of dyin'?!”
“Ha!”
Tempered by Jin Muhon or numb from all the blood, Oepari feared the Sect Leader not a bit.
Harsh breaths hissed through gritted teeth, burst veins making his eyes gleam demon-red.
“Die!”
One elder charged Oepari, thrusting his right palm.
Infused with solid inner energy, the air rippled around it.
The lethal aura snapped Oepari alert.
“Eek!”
He tried to raise his sword, but his arm wouldn't move.
This was leagues beyond before.
Hairs stood on end; instinct screamed.
Fuck, shoulda hit on Cho-hyang at least once.
“Die.”
The elder's wrinkled palm loomed like a massive bell before his face, filling his vision.
“Fuuuuck yoooouuuu!!!”
No escape. Death.
Oepari squeezed out his last strength in a roar.
But then.
Whoosh.
Jin Muhon moved behind Oepari.
As natural as if he'd always been there.
The Sect Leader cried out in alarm.
“Body-Switching Illusion Step!”
The attacking elder's eyes bulged.
Too late to halt; momentum carried him forward.
Jin Muhon tapped Oepari's sword arm from behind with an impassive expression.
The armed limb shot straight forward.
Puuk!
“Kuhk!”
The elder's palm halted inches from Oepari's face. Eyes wide, mouth agape.
“Hahk!”
Terrified, Oepari dropped his sword and stumbled back.
But a solid wall blocked him.
A wall?
Oepari slowly turned his head.
A wall terrifying as death when foe, reassuring as anything when ally.
Jin Muhon looked down at him.
“Family... Head?”
“Remember this. A swordsman never drops his sword.”
“...Yes?”
Jin Muhon's voice faded in Oepari's ears. His vision blurred.
Thus, Oepari collapsed to the ground, unconscious, blood pooling beneath him.
Thud!
Jin Muhon glanced down briefly, then raised his head.
Before him, the elder stared at his pierced chest in disbelief.
Jin Muhon reached out and yanked the sword free.
Spuuurt!
“Kuh-eeek!”
Blood gushed as the elder crumpled.
All stared blankly at the fallen elder.
Crimson spread across the hard earth.
“El-Elder Yi...”
“One strike... how...?”
The warriors trembled in shock.
Not one had even glimpsed Jin Muhon's movement.
“You bastard!”
The remaining elder kicked off the ground, charging Jin Muhon.
Shiiiing!
His sword tip, laced with inner energy, cut fiercely.
But not enough to force Cloud Peak Demon Sea.
Jin Muhon stepped back half a pace, twisting slightly.
“No!”
The elder's blade whistled past Jin Muhon's throat by a hair.
In return, Jin Muhon's sword plunged precisely into the elder's neck.
Puuk!
“Kuh-eeek!”
Again, a single stroke.
The time it took for the sect's vice-leader-like elder to lose his head.
“Grk! Grrrk!”
The elder foamed blood, knees buckling slowly.
Jin Muhon slashed horizontally.
Slaaash!
Blood erupted; the head tumbled free.
Drip... drip... drip...
Over a hundred warriors packed the manor, yet silence choked the air.
The drops from Jin Muhon's sword tip weighed heavy on every heart.
“Uuuuh...”
“Master! He's a master!”
“R-run!”
Terror spread like plague.
Some dropped swords; others fled the manor outright.
“Hmmm...”
The Ghost Soul Sect Leader stared at Jin Muhon, face rigid.
From behind, the chief steward screamed in a quavering voice.
“Wh-what are you all doing?! Kill him! Kill that, that monster! Now!”
Gone was his Zhuge Liang poise; now he shrieked like he'd seen a ghost.
Yet no one moved easily.
Only voices drenched in fear wailed like funeral dirges through the manor.
“Who... are you?”
The Sect Leader's mouth opened heavily.
Even using honorifics toward the young-looking Jin Muhon.
Jin Muhon, in turn, treated him like a subordinate, as if it were natural.
“Jin Muhon.”
“Jin Muhon? Did the Iron Blood Society put you up to this?”
The Sect Leader couldn't make sense of it. No matter how he puzzled, no answers.
He'd first assumed Iron Blood Society ties.
But this man toyed with elders even he couldn't face alone.
Not even Nine Great Sects masters could display such prowess.
“Put me up to it?”
Jin Muhon smirked.
“Must be loaded, that Iron Blood Society.”
“......”
He didn't get it. At all.
But one thing was clear.
Today, Ghost Soul Sect would hang up its sign no more.
The Sect Leader squeezed his eyes shut.
Accepting death, his life flashed by: youth groveling like a stray dog, his horrific first kill, founding the sect, holding his late-born son for the first time.
The Sect Leader slowly opened his eyes, gazing at Jin Muhon.
“Do you have children?”
Shaking off regrets, fear ebbed; calm settled.
Jin Muhon's impassive face cracked faintly.
“...I did.”
“Tch. You've got a story, then.”
“......”
“A favor to ask.”
Jin Muhon met the Sect Leader's eyes steadily.
Eyes resigned to death.
No questions despite the curiosity.
Dignified, not groveling.
But Jin Muhon felt nothing. Better the writhing Chukang or Oepari for survival.
“Should I hear it?”
“Fair enough.”
The Sect Leader chuckled dryly, then erupted his inner energy, lunging at Jin Muhon.
Kwaaaang!
“Haaaaap!”
Daggers gleamed in both hands, flashing in the sunlight.