A Free-For-All
There is an old saying in Murim that one should be wary of women, children, and the elderly.
It’s a line just about everyone knows.
They may look weak, but you must never judge by appearances alone; to be alive is to be strong.
Then again, there’s another way to read it.
If you subtract the women, children, and elderly, what’s left is an adult man. And adult men, of course, are the sort one should keep an eye on.
So in the end, the saying can be rephrased as: in Murim, you should be cautious around everyone you meet.
Either way, it all comes down to the same thing.
Don’t make assumptions. Don’t treat people carelessly.
But even sayings like that have their exceptions.
What if they were unmistakably wearing the martial robes of the Sichuan Dang Clan?
And what if, beside them, stood a woman with white hair and blue eyes?
Anyone with a bit of knowledge would start wondering whether the Sichuan Dang Clan had recently produced some miraculous rejuvenated master.
And seeing the girl, who was actually of marriageable age but looked younger than that, they would begin asking themselves whether there had once been a child among the Dang Clan’s ranks so prodigiously talented that her name had spread far and wide.
Then, after pondering just how formidable the woman from the North Sea Ice Palace might be, they would come to a conclusion.
Ah. Maybe they can be picked off, after all?
That was exactly Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young’s situation.
The North Sea Ice Palace and the Sichuan Dang Clan? Of course they were scary. Under normal circumstances, no one would dare lay a hand on them.
But if the two of them were left alone out here, in a place with no one else around?
If, for some reason, the attackers believed they could quietly wipe them out without anyone ever knowing?
The people who had come after the Rippling Wave Sword were all skilled enough to be called serious players.
So instead of being frightened off by the sight of two people who seemed connected to the North Sea Ice Palace and the Sichuan Dang Clan, their eyes actually gleamed.
They had decided the two girls were nothing more than foolish children showing off beyond their station.
People who lived half their lives with death in hand, walking a tightrope between life and death.
And on top of that, Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young were beautiful enough to stir filthy thoughts even in men who had long since gone numb to such things.
So the two of them were in quite a bind.
Enough to make them briefly wonder whether they should turn back to the Jegal Clan Manor.
Baek Jin-ah drew up her internal energy, and a chill gathered in her palm.
She thrust out her hand like a bolt of lightning. The strike caught a man in the stomach, and with a thud, the impact froze the point of contact before he was hurled backward.
With a crash, the man rolled across the ground. He wasn’t dead, but if they left him there, he looked like he might freeze to death before an hour had passed.
But Baek Jin-ah didn’t have the luxury of worrying about him.
She had a flying blade to dodge.
Dang Yeong-young was furious to the point of explosion as well, and she snatched a feather needle from her sleeve and flung it.
The hidden weapons arts of the Dang Clan, honed to perfection. The man had no time to evade as feather needles buried themselves all over his body.
From behind him, another man appeared and thrust out his sword.
Dang Yeong-young barely dodged it, then reached for another feather needle only to find her hand empty. She quickly drew a short dagger hidden at her waist and threw that instead.
The dagger sank into the man’s chest. With his eyes rolling back, the ambusher collapsed dead.
In that way, the two of them subjugated all seven men before finally letting out ragged breaths.
Even then, they did not let down their guard.
There could still be others watching this scene.
After all, those seven men had attacked immediately after the first five had been subdued, giving them no time to rest.
Fortunately, even after all that noise, no one else came their way.
Only then did the pair let out the slightest sigh of relief, though they still did not dare relax their vigilance.
Complacency was a sin. There was no telling what might appear, or from where.
Meanwhile, Dang Yeong-young, her face twisted with anger, methodically bent down and collected her hidden weapons one by one.
“This is troublesome. Is that Rippling Wave Sword really such a valuable blade?”
At Baek Jin-ah’s question, Dang Yeong-young swallowed her irritation and answered in a composed voice.
“I don’t really know. It’s the first I’ve heard of it too.”
“Is there another route? It feels like we’re running into more and more people.”
“Another route… there is one. But there’s no guarantee that path would be safe either. We have no idea where or how these people are spread out.”
Dang Yeong-young was furious, but she made a point not to take it out on Baek Jin-ah.
One mistake with Harin had already been enough, she thought.
She wasn’t stupid enough to repeat it.
“I suppose so. Still… this is really going too far.”
Hearing that, Dang Yeong-young bit lightly at her lip.
The biggest problem was that the sun had already begun to set.
If they kept moving diligently from this point on without any further incidents, they might still reach the city where the Murim Alliance’s inn was located.
But from the way things were going now, that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
They would surely run into more people, and more trouble would break out.
Then time would be delayed even further. By the time darkness fully settled, even moving freely would become difficult.
“For now, let’s go.”
That said, Dang Yeong-young did not start whining or complain.
That was simply the kind of child she was. The pride of the Sichuan Dang Clan did not make her choose surrender or settling for less in a situation like this.
And Baek Jin-ah was the same.
She was a woman who had come all the way from that distant ice palace, fully aware of the dangers of Central Plains.
She was not weak enough to abandon her purpose over difficulties like this.
In that sense, the two of them had personalities that were probably the least suited for a situation like this.
It was only because they were strong that they could get away with it.
The two set off once more.
And before even a single watch had passed, they encountered three wandering martial artists and were drawn into another fight.
Fortunately, this time it didn’t take long.
Dang Yeong-young’s hidden weapons and poison killed two of them almost immediately, and Baek Jin-ah’s Ice Soul Divine Palm inflicted severe internal injuries on the last, sending him coughing blood.
The two of them recovered their hidden weapons and moved on. Before even half an hour had passed, they ran into another group.
Question and answer? None. Just suppression. Dang Yeong-young’s irritation and Baek Jin-ah’s sigh. The surroundings were steadily growing darker.
“We may need to consider camping outdoors.”
Dang Yeong-young said it with all the calm she could muster, and Baek Jin-ah nodded as if it didn’t matter.
To Baek Jin-ah, sleeping outdoors was hardly a hardship.
Since coming down into Central Plains, she had actually slept outside more often than she had in inns or lodgings.
That was why the two of them deviated from their original route and turned toward a mountain that looked slightly less crowded.
If there had been any nearby homes, perhaps it would have been different, but there was nothing like that here. It was a wasteland between cities, a place rarely visited by human feet.
That made the deeper mountains seem preferable. A place with no people at all was better than one with too many.
But before long, the two of them realized they had taken a wrong turn somewhere.
Instead of growing quieter, the place was getting busier.
Fortunately, neither of them was so weak that they couldn’t reduce unnecessary clashes.
They spotted trouble early and changed direction to avoid fighting.
Fighting wasn’t the answer to everything. Neither Baek Jin-ah nor Dang Yeong-young were murder-crazed fiends who killed everyone they met.
But by the time night began to fall, the number of presences they could feel around them had increased considerably.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Dang Yeong-young felt a faint unease in her heart, but she didn’t show it. Neither did Baek Jin-ah.
Then the situation changed abruptly.
A shout rang out from far away.
They couldn’t make out the exact words, but both Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young heard the clear sense of it: over there.
Thinking it might be about them, they stiffened and glared into the darkened surroundings.
The forest was fully swallowed by night now, exuding that peculiar, gloomy, almost sinister atmosphere all its own.
And from all around them, the sounds of weapons clashing began to rise.
Not just one place. Trouble was erupting everywhere, spreading faster and faster beyond anyone’s control.
“Let’s pull back. This way.”
Dang Yeong-young knew this was no time for pride, and she quickly judged the situation, gauging the direction.
The two of them retreated toward the side where the clash of weapons was absent.
But then, before long, they sensed a great many figures rapidly approaching from ahead.
At minimum, there seemed to be twenty of them.
And even from the faint traces of their presence alone, it was obvious their skill was no laughing matter.
You could tell just by the sound of their footsteps.
It was too late to evade or detour. So Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young stopped where they were and took up a fighting stance.
But the sheer number of them was troubling.
It was impossible to shake the feeling that this was going to be difficult, that things had become awkward in the worst possible way.
And the ones who finally emerged looked much the same.
The suddenly encountered girl from the Dang Clan, and the white-haired girl who looked like a ghost.
They were among the ones who had been driving the hunt for the Rippling Wave Sword this way, and now that they had run into the two girls unexpectedly, they were just as startled.
What? Why are girls like that suddenly here?!
But soon, their surprise twisted into ferocious smiles, and the two girls before them seemed like nothing more than an unexpected bonus.
So they widened their formation expertly and charged at Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young.
A formation meant not for killing, but for subduing. Their intent was so obvious it might as well have been painted across their faces.
Baek Jin-ah bit her lip hard as she watched them and pushed her power higher.
The Ice Soul Divine Art spread out until the air around them grew frigid, her pure white hair fluttering in the cold wind.
Dang Yeong-young also knew this was no time to hold back her poison, and she slid both hands into her sleeves.
She gauged the wind direction and checked once more how many hidden weapons she still had tucked inside her garments.
First, they had to get out of this crisis. Right now, that was all that mattered.
And just as the two of them steeled themselves for a decisive battle, a figure suddenly dropped from the sky with a thud.
“Huh? A Dang Clan kid? And… the Ice Soul Divine Art!?”
The man looked stunned. He had neat features, a clean white martial robe, and the character "華" embroidered on his chest.
“I’ll hear your questions later. For now, step back.”
With those words, Cheon Hyeong-jin, the Flashing Flower Sword, drew his blade and slowly raised it toward the approaching horde.