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The Green Forest!
They're called the Unorthodox Faction, but no matter how generously you describe them, they're just bandits who've learned martial arts.
They give the government office a headache, but the reality is that active subjugation is incredibly difficult for the authorities.
Because of their sheer numbers, any government subjugation is meaningless.
They are too widely spread out, so even if you go to suppress one area, they will spring up elsewhere.
Furthermore, even after a successful subjugation, there's a need to keep managing that region afterward. So the government only managed the main roads connecting city to city and the strategic military points.
The Green Forest slipped into the government's blind spots. The authorities gave up on large-scale subjugation and simply left them alone to build their stockades in the mountains and fields, letting them act like the masters of the hills.
The result was the Green Forest 72 Stockades.
This incredibly vast bandit confederation elected its own Green Forest King and established its own system. Many who wielded considerable power proclaimed themselves the King of the Green Forest, but only one is widely known to the outside world.
<Great Axe Mountain Lord(泰斧岳君)> Bang Deuk-pae!
The Green Forest King, who wields an axe larger than a tiger, is a master of the peak realm, a fitting title for a 'king'. Having mastered a harmonious blend of external and internal arts, he is a dangerous entity the White Path's Murim Alliance keeps a wary eye on.
'A fox-like bear.'
At events like the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering and the Two Phoenixes Decisive Battle, mindful of the Murim Alliance Leader's watchful eyes, he showed the appearance of a magnanimous swordsman and a doting father there to support his daughter. But that was nothing more than a fox-like act to deceive the public.
Those who see the Green Forest King's chivalrous demeanor will praise his reigning as the monarch of the mountains.
They wouldn't know that behind the scenes, he's a mountain bandit who thinks nothing of kidnapping women and pillaging villages.
Since everyone who knew the truth was killed, the Green Forest King's true nature is thoroughly hidden behind a curtain.
And the two women he kidnapped and forced to bear him children are the present-day Mountain Lord Phoenix Bang Cheol-su and the one flexing her pectoral muscles right before my eyes, Bang Yeong-hui.
If the eldest daughter inherited the fox-like internal energy, the second daughter inherited the bear-like external arts.
...And the woman standing before me, brazenly declaring she'll take me as her bridegroom, isn't the epitome of a vibrant beauty like Mountain Lord Phoenix Bang Cheol-su, but the epitome of an energetic, muscular brute like Bang Yeong-hui.
"My lord, shall I kill them?"
From behind, Sagong Hee radiated a subtle killing intent, toying with the sword she had placed inside the carriage. With Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix and the Jabo Sword, it looked like she was poised to leap up and slice through the Green Forest martial artists in a single stroke at my permission.
"Calm yourself. I'll sort this out myself."
I couldn't let blood stain Sagong Hee's hands. Her hands could get wet in the kitchen, or even get stained with essence while handling my member, but I couldn't let the hands of a woman who will one day be pregnant be stained with blood.
'I'll beat down the Green Forest.'
Killing them would be the cleanest solution, but then they'd come screaming for revenge, making it a hassle. The best way is to simply overpower the Green Forest with force, and a fistfight is the most suitable method.
"You said you're the daughter of the Green Forest King? Bringing dozens of your subordinates to take me as your bridegroom isn't a good look."
"Hahaha! That's what everyone says! Don't worry! You just have to get pinned on the bed and fuck me, that's it!"
"......."
When Lee Si-a says stuff like that, my heart flutters, but when Bang Yeong-hui says it, I feel nothing but fear. If she climbed on top of me in the cowgirl position, it wouldn't be a sex act but a hunting act to devour a man.
'What should I use to beat them down?'
Should I burn all their hair off with Zhongli Divine Fire Well? Or freeze them for a day with Ice White Divine Art? If not, should I use the Twin Blades of the Ascending Sky Dragon Emperor to slash their arms open?
'Even picking a suitable martial art is a chore.'
There are so many martial arts crammed into my head that pulling one out when needed is a task in itself.
'There's really only one clean way to handle this.'
I rose from the carriage. I stroked the backs of the agitated horses, calming them in the face of the bandits, then lightly shook out my arms.
'The Blood Cult-style solution.'
When in doubt, just hit them in the solar plexus first. If I make them all foam at the mouth, they'll certainly come to their senses and never dare to challenge me again.
'The martial art I'll use is the Tyrant King's Fist Art.'
In the future, the woman who, alongside Sky-Shattering Divine Sword Dokgo Yeon, beat down Blood Cult members with nothing but her two fists.
The strongest practitioner of fist arts, who blocked thousands of Blood Cultists in a canyon like at Changban Slope with her frail body.
The Ultimate Fist Under Heaven, a level that even peak experts of the Thunder Divine Fist and harmony realm masters of the Hundred Steps Divine Fist could not reach.
<Fierce Tiger Overlord Fist(猛虎覇王拳)>.
'Originally, the younger sister is someone the older sister beats into line.'
Mountain Lord Phoenix Bang Cheol-su—the woman who later changed her name to Bang Yun and made it famous.
Borrowing her strength, I channeled a tiger-like aura into my two fists and both feet. I could feel Bang Yeong-hui and the other bandits gulping hard.
The terror of meeting the mountain's true master, the Mountain Lord.
* * *
"......!!"
Mountain Lord Phoenix, Bang Cheol-su, felt a shiver run down her spine from the strange aura she sensed in the distance.
"What's wrong, Cheol-su?"
"...Dad, didn't you feel that just now?"
"Just now?"
Bang Cheol-su's father, the Green Forest King Bang Deuk-pae, pointed at the two women wrapped around his waist on either side and shrugged.
"I don't know about anything except women?"
Being served wine by women around his daughter's age, right in front of her? Everyone would condemn him, asking if he had no shame, but regrettably, this was a Green Forest stockade where fists were closer than the law.
"Did you two feel anything?"
"Hohoho, nothing at all."
"We know nothing except being toyed with by an aura like Mount Tai."
The two women, reeking of powder perfume, poured wine into his bowl and laughed thickly. Bang Cheol-su could see the corners of their mouths trembling, but she paid it no mind.
The law of the jungle.
For someone who had lived in the Green Forest since childhood, it was a natural principle and a matter of course that the strong dominate the weak.
However, though she couldn't explain it, the gazes around her made Bang Cheol-su feel increasingly uncomfortable for some reason.
"Chief! Let's have a bout! I'll take the virgin Cheol-su for myself!"
A red-faced man entered and pounded his muscular chest. Even with a distance of nearly one jang between them, Bang Cheol-su scowled at the smell of alcohol wafting from him.
"Kuhaha! If you want to take my daughter, you have to beat my daughter first!"
"...Ugh."
Bang Cheol-su slowly rose and grabbed the polearm placed beside her. The iron staff, as long as her body, was caked with dark red blood.
"I feel like I became one of the Six Phoenixes for nothing. What is this, it's only gotten more annoying."
"Haha! It's because you're so pretty. I'm starting to want to see my grandchildren, hahaha!"
"Ooooh, if I beat Mountain Lord Phoenix, I can have her? Heeya, to think the day would come when I address the Chief as my father-in-law!!"
"Keuheuheu, this son of a bitch."
Bang Deuk-pae downed a bowl of liquor and cackled.
"Do you think my Great Mountain Divine Art(泰岳神功) will be defeated?"
* * *
"Ah, refreshing."
I shivered from the thrilling sensation running down my spine. It was the first time in months that I'd exerted such powerful force as much as I wanted.
"Wh-who... what the hell are you...!"
"The best in the world."
Thud. I drove my fist into the solar plexus of the bandit sprawled on the ground. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it would make him suffer in agony for about a week.
"Clean and neat!"
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. Thanks to moving my body purely through physical techniques instead of martial arts for the first time in a while, my entire body felt refreshed.
Fierce Tiger Overlord Fist.
A fist art that fights as a purely physical technique, channeling inner energy solely into muscle strength and stamina, excluding all martial forms and techniques.
Though it's called a physical technique, there are no set forms. It's simply swinging your fist in a way that will hurt the opponent the most, to incapacitate them as easily as possible.
Doesn't a tiger not use a specific form when hunting a deer?
"Young lady, what should we do with them?"
I pointed at the bandits collapsed on the ground. Sagong Hee, who had exited the carriage and clearly witnessed my martial arts with her own eyes, gulped nervously, seemingly tense from the momentum of the Fierce Tiger Overlord Fist.
"...They aren't dead, are they?"
"No. I didn't kill them."
"Then let's just go. I don't want to spill any blood."
On my hands. I walked over to Sagong Hee and stroked her hair.
"You are kind. But Hee, these men are bandits who tried to kill us. You must not show mercy in your dealings."
"...If you call me by my name."
"Don't worry. There's no risk of our identity being exposed."
Silencing witnesses is the best way to conceal an identity. But even though she showed killing intent toward those who tried to kill us, Sagong Hee didn't actually want to kill them.
"How could I not know your kind heart? But you were troubled because we have to kill them so we can visit Mount Hua quietly, weren't you?"
If we didn't kill them, there'd be no risk of being tracked, but she didn't want to solve things by killing. Seeing this, I truly felt that Sagong Hee was a born martial artist of the White Path.
"...My lord, I..."
Sagong Hee grabbed my hand. She nodded with a resolute look in her eyes.
"If you order me to kill them, then I will pick up the sword and kill them myself."
"Hee."
"Because I am yours, my lord, and I am on your side. Even if you ask for my opinion, my answer will always be the same. It's not that I have no thoughts of my own, but the top priority for all my standards is you."
"...I understand your feelings. But aren't we on a journey right now? I don't want to cause a killing calamity on such a fine, sunny day."
I calmed Sagong Hee, who was intent on acting as my sword.
"I appreciate you prioritizing my will, but I want Sagong Hee to remain my woman, not my sword."
"My lord...!"
"The reason I taught you the sword was to give you a means of self-defense to protect your own body, not to teach you to kill others. I'll do the killing."
That's why I chose the Lust Demon(色魔) over the Lustful Hero(色俠). Even though I could have chosen a different path in this newly reborn life, I chose a path that doesn't hesitate to use cruel and ruthless methods regardless of what is right.
"If you absolutely must see blood, then someday when I'm not around, cut off the member of any wicked man who tries to take your chastity. For a bastard like that, you can even stab him in the throat, heart, dantian, and manhood. Understand?"
"......Yes, my lord."
Sagong Hee wiped the blood from my hands with a handkerchief. Since I had thoroughly beaten the bandits, a little blood splatter was unavoidable.
"So what will you do? They'll definitely come after us once their bodies recover."
"Soul-Hooking Technique. It's not about erasing their memories, but manipulating them. Hee, draw your sword with the Taiji Wisdom Sword. And can you gather all these bastards in one place for me?"
I pulled the bandits' weapons over, draped them on their clothes, and forcibly dragged them across the ground. Sagong Hee also used her three swords, hooking the handles around the bandits' collars and dragging them along the dirt.
"They're all gathered."
Seeing dozens of bandits laid out in a row was truly a spectacle. I pried open the mouths of the gathered bandits, then finely chopped a pile of mushrooms I'd picked up nearby and stuffed the pieces into their mouths.
"Listen up, you Green Forest sons of bitches."
Whoosh.
I lightly flicked Samadhi True Fire into the bandits' mouths. Since the flames weren't applied strongly, it would only sting like a scorched tongue, but what was more important was the mushroom fragments burning inside from the fire.
Sssssmolder.
Yellowish smoke began to rise from the bandits' mouths. For mushrooms that were just lying around nearby, they contained a surprisingly potent hallucinogenic compound.
"You were attacked by the Sword Demon. He's a bald man whose head flashes in the sunlight, with eyes blazing red. Do you understand?"
"Yes...."
Under the influence of the Soul-Hooking Technique, the bandits powerlessly obeyed my words. Now, even if interrogated about their attacker, they would describe the appearance of the Sword Demon.
"You didn't attack a married couple. You attacked a swordsman who looked like he had money, and you were beaten badly. Do you understand?"
"Understood...."
I erased the memory of Sagong Hee and myself. Now the evidence was perfectly gone.
"My lord, isn't the Sword Demon dead?"
"That's why it's the Sword Demon."
Whether the listener is a fool or a genius, they'll be confused by the claim of being attacked by a Sword Demon who is already dead. Especially for a smart person, the confusion would be even greater, wondering if a new Sword Demon has appeared.
And now for the last one.
"...What should I do with this?"
Bang Yeong-hui, a giant I truly couldn't bring myself to deal with, was lying on the ground with her eyes wide open.
She had fainted just like that, in the exact moment she glared with wide eyes when I punched her in the stomach.
"Haah, now—"
Crack, crackle.
"...Hmm?"