Resolving the Conflict (3)
“Kwahahaha! It’s a complete victory! Pursue those women!”
On the wooded hill where the Nine Yin Association had taken root, someone was letting out a hearty burst of laughter in the dead of night.
It was none other than Chu-sal, the deputy leader of Salui-dang and a top-class assassin known as the Nameless Sword.
Even if the Nine Yin Association has some capable people, what can they do once their armory is raided, their food supply is cut off, and even their water is blocked?
Chu-sal and Salui-dang’s plan had been truly vicious.
They had poisoned the well on this hill where the Nine Yin Association had established its base, and they had even scattered paralysis poison near the stream, along with Junjisan, which prevented the use of inner energy.
“If this goes well, we might be able to take them over without much trouble.”
Chu-sal had always been cruel, and on top of that he was lecherous by nature, so his expectations were even higher than usual.
The Nine Yin Association had long been a sect that barred men, a small but elite faction made up mostly of female experts.
That meant if Salui-dang succeeded in suppressing them, there would be nothing to stop them from humiliating the women however they pleased.
Just thinking about it made Chu-sal and the assassins of Salui-dang tingle with anticipation.
“Deputy Leader. The Nine Yin Association’s vanguard is scattering and dispersing. Should we pursue them?”
One after another, the other assassins of Salui-dang also bared sinister glints in their eyes, each face twisted with greed.
A common fool would have been blinded by lust and chased after them on the spot, but Chu-sal was shrewd.
“Even a worm twists when stepped on. And besides... if they’ve dispersed, it may be a ploy to lure us away from the main force of the Nine Yin Association.”
Unfortunately for him, Chu-sal’s guess was correct.
The vanguard of the Nine Yin Association intended to drag Salui-dang’s advance force into mutual destruction, even if it cost them their lives.
But they had already stumbled onto the road to failure.
“A man with something to lose must do the digging himself. If we keep ransacking the Nine Yin Association’s main base, won’t the vanguard show themselves again?”
Chu-sal meant to press the advantage and strike the main force while the iron was hot.
Even if this one battle alone might not topple the whole of the Nine Yin Association, one thing was clear.
If we destroy their water, their food, their weapons, and now even their base... the morale of the Nine Yin Association’s fighters will collapse.
Chu-sal was executing the Salui-dang leader’s order perfectly, arranging everything so that the Nine Yin Association had no choice but to head toward total defeat.
“Listen up, valiant assassins of Salui-dang! We shall rest briefly, finish our preparations, and then march boldly into the Nine Yin Association’s main camp...!”
Just as Nameless Sword Chu-sal was proclaiming this like a victorious general who had conquered the enemy’s camp—
Swish!
Something subtle happened for the first time from Salui-dang’s perspective, where they had been certain of total victory.
Along with a sound so chilling it made the hair stand on end,
Thud!
the subordinates of Salui-dang who had been furthest from Chu-sal began to drop one by one.
Even more frightening was the fact that no death throes, no screams, and not even the slightest trace of the enemy’s presence or attack could be felt.
To put it another way, the assassins were the ones being hunted.
Impossible! Are there people capable of stalking and striking down us, the elite assassins?
Chu-sal could neither believe it nor wanted to.
For assassins like themselves to become prey in turn was the greatest humiliation imaginable.
“W-who is it?!”
“What the hell are you people?!”
“Are you from the Nine Yin Association?”
As their subordinates and comrades fell one by one like puppet strings severed in the blink of an eye, the Salui-dang members shouted in confusion.
It almost seemed as though the Nine Yin Association’s vanguard was retaliating.
First Form: Greedy Wolf!
At that uncertain moment, a torrent-like mass of sword force suddenly poured down from above the heads of the Salui-dang assassins.
Whoooosh!
The sword qi was so thick and so dense that it almost seemed like a swarm of stars were all falling at once from the heavens.
What was certain was that almost no one here today could evade that technique.
“Aaaaaagh!”
“Deputy Leader!”
“S-save me!”
And so, within the span of a single cup of tea, twenty members of Salui-dang’s advance force had already been cut down.
“Show yourself! Where in this world is such insolence acceptable?!”
Nameless Sword Chu-sal, who had unexpectedly lost most of his subordinates, cried out in shock.
Chu-sal was a top-class assassin from the Great Desert, and ever since he had taken up the profession of assassin with nothing but a single sword to trust, he had survived the harsh and brutal jianghu without ever once feeling fear.
Shudder.
But this time was different.
A single glance at a sword could reveal the skill of a swordsman.
The method that had just taken the lives of so many elite assassins with that insane technique was not merely terrifying; it was deeply, almost unbearably awe-inspiring.
“If you want, I will.”
With those words, a strikingly handsome young man appeared beneath the moonlight.
It was, of course, the Golden Young Master, Seok Geum-ryong.
Seok Geum-ryong, together with Shin Dan-woo, whose lightness skill was as fast as his own, had rushed out and lightly toyed with the Salui-dang advance force, which had let its guard down.
“You are...”
As the deputy leader of Salui-dang, Chu-sal naturally recognized Seok Geum-ryong’s identity.
“Why are you helping the Nine Yin Association instead of helping Salui-dang? We even said we would pay for the weapons first, and we told you not to interfere even if we didn’t sell them!”
Once he realized the identity of his enemy, Chu-sal’s rage erupted like fire.
By contrast, Seok Geum-ryong remained cool, almost icy.
“Just because Salui-dang said so... do you think I have any obligation to obey?”
Seok Geum-ryong said with a faint, crooked smile.
And he was right.
Whether to follow Salui-dang’s words was entirely Seok Geum-ryong’s own judgment and choice.
No one could force him, and no one could command him.
“Th-that...”
Chu-sal, instead, was rattled by the overwhelming confidence and pride shown by nothing more than a boy in his mid-teens.
What was even more astonishing was how perfectly Seok Geum-ryong carried himself while saying such things; he seemed born to stand in the position of the superior from the moment he entered the world.
“And if Salui-dang truly wanted that path, you should have behaved with a bit more courtesy.”
“Courtesy?”
Still unable to grasp what was happening, Chu-sal looked bewildered as Seok Geum-ryong gave him the answer.
“Three bows, nine prostrations.”
Three bows, nine prostrations meant bowing to the ground three times and repeating that humiliating act three times over.
In other words, Seok Geum-ryong was saying that if they had truly wanted to persuade him, they should have been prepared to endure that degree of shame and approached him with much greater courtesy and caution.
“You crazy bastard!”
At last, Chu-sal realized he had been toyed with. Trembling all over in fury, he shook with rage.
“You even refuse the cup offered in courtesy and instead gulp down the punishment cup yourself. Trying to take the easy road by going around it!”
With that, Chu-sal discreetly signaled the remaining subordinates.
Although many had unexpectedly been killed by Seok Geum-ryong and Shin Dan-woo, more than half their number was still intact.
Above all, there was himself, Chu-sal, the top-class assassin who had once made the Great Desert proud and was now guaranteed by Salui-dang.
What reason was there to fear? At most, there was only a boy in his mid-teens and his escort warrior.
“From the beginning, I never liked the fact that the leader was sending you a formal letter. An assassin should kill first and notify afterward.”
After delivering a lesson on how an assassin ought to behave and think,
“Everyone, get up and kill that Golden Young Master Seok Geum-ryong...!”
Chu-sal longed to kill or at least capture Seok Geum-ryong, even if he had to let Shin Dan-woo slip away.
Actually, this works out well. If we capture Seok Geum-ryong, we can extort an enormous amount of gold and weapons from Seokga Manor, can’t we?
He was just about to issue another command while dreaming up that hope when—
“Who said they were killing who?”
A cold, furious voice came from directly behind Chu-sal.
To his shock, the owner of that voice was Im So-gun, the Moon Spirit Swordswoman.
While Seok Geum-ryong drew Chu-sal’s attention and deceived his focus, Im So-gun had approached through his blind spot without him noticing.
“...!!”
Was this how the people killed by his own hand must have felt?
It was as if something had plunged deep into his entrails and then twisted the handle once, and Chu-sal could not even turn his head.
Moonlight Sword Under Moonlight.
Before he could even turn, Im So-gun’s sword had already pierced straight through the center of Chu-sal’s chest.
Shudder.
Chu-sal desperately wanted to turn his head, to launch even a half-hearted counterattack, or to spit out the poison hidden in his mouth, but none of it was possible.
Even... stronger than Seok Geum-ryong!
In the end, Chu-sal died as a corpse frozen cold, never even learning who had killed him.
“Well done, Miss Im.”
Seok Geum-ryong praised Im So-gun, who had now reached the point where the two of them worked together with effortless precision even without words.
“Now then! From this point on, let us wipe out every single one of Salui-dang’s advance force without leaving even one behind!”
Along with Im So-gun and the small number of others who had been waiting in reserve, he completely slaughtered Chu-sal and every last one of his subordinates in a very short time.
After cutting down the entire group, they deliberately left the bodies behind so that the scattered Nine Yin Association fighters, who had fled in all directions, could return.
“The Nine Yin Association members requested that our Bukcheon-won weapons and armor be delivered directly after purchase. Now the destination is right ahead of us, so let’s hurry!”
Seok Geum-ryong shouted boldly, and the forces of Seokga Manor’s Bukcheon-won who accompanied him stood firm behind him like an unshakable wall.
The battle between the Nine Yin Association and Salui-dang.
From preparation to ambush to meticulous planning, every part of the battle had favored the Nine Yin Association’s enemy, and yet for the first time, Salui-dang was showing signs of defeat and collapse.
* * *
An ambush should always be answered with an ambush.
Using that method, Seok Geum-ryong easily annihilated Salui-dang’s advance force and found the Nine Yin Association’s main camp.
The Nine Yin Association’s situation was even worse than he had expected.
There were almost no people left to stop them as they descended into the main camp.
That was only natural, since every member of the Nine Yin Association had gathered in the sect leader’s chamber to prepare for a life-or-death struggle and mutual destruction.
Rustle.
Seok Geum-ryong’s group deliberately made their presence known as they entered the main camp.
Gulp.
By then, the Nine Yin Association’s last remaining fighters, already prepared to die, had each made up their minds and were readying themselves for death—
“Sect Leader of the Nine Yin Association! Miss Cho So-yeon! Are you there?! We are Seok Geum-ryong of Seokga Manor’s Bukcheon-won!”
The savior who had appeared to preserve trust with the Nine Yin Association.
Seok Geum-ryong, with his clear, ringing voice, helped break the icy tension hanging over the front line.