Chapter 228
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 228
Chapter Title: Bandits Live on the Mountain (3)
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Without any warning whatsoever, the two men clashed and exchanged a few moves while swallowing their mutual surprise.
What the hell? What kind of baseless martial art is this?
What the hell? What kind of baseless swordsmanship is this?
Suh Taepyeong, who had honed his martial prowess by mastering every weapon under the sun just to survive as a bandit in the unorthodox world, had never bothered with proper forms from the start.
What kind of weapon could a bandit even hope to call his own?
Suh Taepyeong had quite literally learned his martial arts from the real world.
His family massacred when he was young, he'd done whatever it took to survive ever since.
Like a blind man swinging a knife with nothing but raw grit and balls of steel, living hand-to-mouth day by day until he inevitably became a full-fledged Green Forest bandit.
So.
If he picked up a sickle, that became sickle arts. An axe? Axe arts.
If he lucked out and killed some greenhorn traveling Jianghu, snagging a decent sword, that became swordsmanship. Once he figured he had some experience under his belt, he'd hack together a rough dao from scrap wood, and that was that.
Of course, forging a proper blade was out of the question, so he'd swing it sloppily until the edge dulled, then toss it.
"Hey, you lot! Throw 'em over!"
"Yes, Boss!"
"You bastards! I told you not to call me Boss!"
The bandits who'd been bickering with Baek Liyeon hurled their weapons in unison.
Geum Sihyeon felt a powerful sense of déjà vu.
It was just like what Dugok Bulpae had shown him in the underground sword vault of Sword Valley.
Weapons lined up in every direction, kept at just the right distances. Swords stabbed into the ground as if ready to slice the sky, axes poised to cleave the earth, iron chains slithering like serpents to ensnare the whole body.
But the crucial difference was...
"No, seriously, it's not a bad style or anything, but why is it so utterly baseless?"
"You call that not a bad thing? Hah, unbelievable!"
True martial exchanges only worked when your opponent unleashed their forms first.
The sword that sought to counter and break those forms began to get gradually crushed by the weapon arts of this world-spawned monster.
But Geum Sihyeon quickly had an epiphany.
Opponent picks up a weapon from the ground and swings it?
Then just get rid of the damn weapons.
The thought was fleeting, and the action instantaneous.
Pak! Pok! Clang!
His grip on the Sword Principle loosened just a touch, fingers flicking lightly, and the handles of the weapons piercing the earth shattered to pieces.
But Suh Taepyeong had already been watching closely, committing the feat to memory.
"Now that's impressive!"
Exclaiming in admiration, he still thrust out his left palm to block that insidious formless sword.
But in a scramble like this—especially with so many targets—the destroyer always held the edge over the defender.
Geum Sihyeon's finger-flicks—using four meridians at once to snap all four fingers simultaneously—were far faster than Suh Taepyeong could muster his palm force.
Suh Taepyeong was getting fired up.
"Haha! This is fun, real fun!"
"You're no slouch yourself, sir!"
Their excitement fed off each other.
And Suh Taepyeong prepared to paint the world in his own colors.
"Keep your eyes peeled and watch close! And don't breathe a word to anyone!"
When was the last time he'd unleashed his unique mind-image?
But the kid had smashed all his weapons first, so no choice.
So.
"Ten Thousand Weapons—"
The moment Suh Taepyeong boldly shouted his technique's name like a battle cry...
"What the hell do you idiots think you're doing?!"
A voice terribly familiar to both men rang out.
And Seo Dohee plummeted from the sky, slamming a strike of utter devastation right between them.
After a brief commotion...
"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Geum Sihyeon, sect leader of the Geumhyeon Sect and third son of the Ten Thousand Gold Treasury Fortress."
Despite having just swung deadly blades moments ago, Geum Sihyeon bowed with utmost politeness.
It was only natural.
Who in their right mind would try to harm his sky-like master's father? It was an unforgivable crime.
Geum Sihyeon had been trembling in terror, fearing the father-daughter duo might kill him on the spot.
But the moment Suh Taepyeong heard the name...
"Geum Sihyeon? That Geum Sihyeon? My daughter's prized disciple, Geum Sihyeon?"
His face lit up like the sun.
Who was Geum Sihyeon?
The one man his daughter—who'd never held a guy's hand and had crushed enough walnuts from men's crotches to line the path from Daebyeol Mountain's base to peak—had finally taken as her one and only.
A man! A disciple!
Of course, a master-disciple bond turning romantic was about as taboo as it got.
But forbidden love only burned hotter for it.
The Romance Literature Gallery regular 'MutualLoveTaepyeongRulesAll' could attest to that.
The relationship between Ha Hu-hwal and Jo Ran in the latest scorching hit novel Heroic Alliance Saga was exactly that.
Even his subordinates had hinted that ever since getting tangled with this Geum Sihyeon, their girl had started blooming with femininity.
Finally.
At long last.
He could send her off.
Hand her over.
Eliminate that final lingering regret, resentment, and worry!
"Aigoo, you shoulda led with your name! Come on in to Daebyeol Mountain. I've heard so much about you."
"Uh, y-yeah, sir? Please, make yourself comfor—"
"Nonsense. How could I speak casually to such a distinguished guest? Hey! Chunsik! Fetch some liquor quick, and hunt down a few beasts! What're you standing around for?!"
Geum Sihyeon looked awkward, but Suh Taepyeong was dead set.
Handsome fellow, too.
Martial realm at Fusion at just twenty-one? Insane. The power of talent? Astonishing.
Letting this one slip would be idiotic.
Suh Taepyeong was a man who'd survived in the Green Forest for far too long.
And surviving that long as a bandit meant...
Even trash mobs like Geum Sihyeon treated as fodder for EXP and fame came gunning for you—and you still made it out alive.
So half of him was dead set on snatching this guy up.
But.
The worries of a father with an unruly daughter stirred faintly in his heart too.
"Uh, Young Master Geum Sihyeon?"
"Sir, please, just... speak comfortably..."
Ignoring Geum Sihyeon's discomfort entirely.
"Do you have another sect besides ours? Who do you serve as master?"
Suh Taepyeong asked with a serious face.
Was this former bandit sizing up his family status?
Geum Sihyeon felt a twinge of oddity at the question.
But Suh Taepyeong had no such intent.
No matter how objectively he looked at it...
Wasn't this guy way out of his old-maid daughter's league?
Looks, martial level, talent—even Suh Taepyeong, another man, thought Geum Sihyeon was too good to pass up.
Of course, unless there were flaws.
If there were flaws?
"You're not from the Five Poison Sect, are you? Those ass-obsessed freaks sometimes lure in good boys for fake weddings—" Urk!
Before the question could even finish.
"Daaaad!"
Seo Dohee's hurled axe handle smacked Suh Taepyeong square in the forehead.
Protective aura only flared in true combat with full focus. A betrayal from family like this pierced it effortlessly.
The horrific filial impiety committed before their eyes!
And the response from Geum Sihyeon—righteous orthodox hero, rising star of the sect...
"Mm. Mind if I take a swing too?"
Was a gruesomely taboo superstar line.
Truly.
A man who'd smashed his father-in-law-to-be's dantian.
Who'd crippled and imprisoned his brother-in-law-to-be's dantian.
A bold soul who wouldn't hesitate to press his chest to his father-in-law-to-be's back—utter conviction in his words.
"You need to grow up too!"
"Ow!"
As expected.
The axe handle, back in Seo Dohee's hand, claimed its next victim: Geum Sihyeon's crown.
The two men lay side by side, crowns dented, twitching on the ground.
Watching the farce unfold.
Baek Liyeon was utterly confused.
A man who'd united all the worthless bandits scattered across the land—mere trash who preyed on common folk—under the banner of the Green Forest.
The merciless ruler of the Green Forest, who was said to have retired after a bloody duel with Instructor Seo Dohee: the Twin Mighty Warriors.
Yet still unable to shake his old habits, supposedly raping village women, devouring their flesh raw, ever ready to set the martial world ablaze again—the supreme unorthodox master.
...Was this really him?
Somehow, it didn't seem right.
The middle-aged man she'd just seen as the Twin Mighty Warriors...
Was just a doting father who loved his daughter too much, willing to swallow his pride for her sake. At a glance, he seemed like the friendly neighborhood butcher.
Sure, she'd only met him today.
He might've committed atrocities in the past, and this could all be an act.
But.
Baek Liyeon had escaped the Mount Hua rear mountain seclusion chamber...
Not a true training room, but where they'd essentially imprisoned her, cutting her off from the world.
Ever since then, too many of her preconceptions had crumbled.
The demonic cult said to rip out hearts for food, mince the rest of the body, collect the blood for skyward sacrifices.
The vice leader of that cult?
- Hic.
Just a cute, clumsy little critter.
The Nangong Family from the orthodox sects, blinded by power worship, ignorant of hierarchy or the heavens themselves, strutting about?
- "Haha! Junior! Why the funeral face?!"
At least Senior Nangong Hwi wasn't like that, nor were the Nangong Family disciples under Vice Leader Nangong Heun who'd left the Azure Heaven Society.
And more besides.
How many of her beliefs had shattered?
"Haa..."
Am I being fooled?
Fallen for the demonic and unorthodox sects' cunning disguises?
Or—
"Cadet Baek Liyeon. This feels a bit embarrassing up close."
Baek Liyeon's reverie shattered.
She turned her head.
There stood the one object of her untainted admiration.
The symbol and hope of all female martial artists.
Instructor Seo Dohee.