Chapter 224
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 224
Chapter Title: Assault on Wudang
“Eup!”
-Shunk!
With a low grunt, I swung my sword down, cleaving the grotesque rabbit monster with its oversized ears clean in two as blood sprayed out.
Red blood seeping between the floor mats.
Tch, gonna be a pain to get the smell of blood out.
-Kieeeek-!
-Kyaack!
A dissonant cacophony of ear-piercing shrieks.
I shoved aside the needless stray thoughts and scanned for the next foe.
“P-Please, spare me!”
Right on cue, a desperate cry rang out.
I turned to see a Taoist disciple dangling in midair, his leg wrapped tight in a monster’s tentacle.
Below him, a twisted abomination—impossible to guess its original form—gaped its maw wide, waiting for its snack(?).
-Thud!
In a flash of Crescent Moon Instant Slash, I closed the distance and sliced off the monster’s lower jaw.
-Shunk!
-Kieee-!
The thing could no longer chew anything as it let out an agonized screech.
At the same time, it released the Taoist it had gripped with its tentacle.
“Uwaaack-!?”
I caught the disciple mid-fall—headfirst—and set him on his feet before plunging my sword into the monster’s skull to finish it.
-Kiii….
The massive body crumpled with a low whimper.
The dazed disciple stared blankly before belatedly offering his thanks.
“Th-Thank you.”
“If it gets too tough, fall back.”
Snapping to at my words, the disciple shook his head.
“I-I can’t do that. As a disciple of Wudang, I can’t show my back to these invading fiends…!”
“It’s fine. They’re the ones showing their backs first.”
“P-Pardon?”
I jerked my chin toward the rear for the bewildered disciple.
He turned and understood immediately, letting out a soft gasp.
“Ah….”
The monsters were retreating.
Over half their horde lay dead already.
Sensing no chance of victory, they fled like the ebbing tide.
“W-We’re alive….”
Realizing the battle was over, the disciple collapsed as his legs gave out.
For someone who’d just staunchly refused to flee, he sure looked clueless.
I chuckled and patted his shoulder before heading toward Hwa-ryeon.
I’d kept her within my sensory range the whole time as a precaution, so no need to hunt her down.
“Whew….”
“You okay?”
I approached Hwa-ryeon, who was catching her breath amid a pile of monster corpses, and she nodded slowly while sheathing her sword.
“Ja-seong, you hurt anywhere?”
“Me? Fit as a fiddle. Just sticky from all the blood.”
She tilted her head to check me out.
Racing around slaughtering monsters had left me drenched in gore from head to toe.
And Hwa-ryeon was the same.
No—worse off.
Every monster around her was one she’d taken down solo, her training robes soaked through without exaggeration, clinging tight and outlining her curves perfectly….
“Hmm, serious in more ways than one.”
I quickly draped my outer robe over her.
But she acted like it was no big deal.
“Everyone’s too exhausted to notice anyway. And they’re all Taoist priests.”
“No. They’re still hot-blooded guys. Who knows what they’re thinking seeing you like that.”
I said it dead serious, but Hwa-ryeon narrowed her eyes.
“And what thoughts might the hot-blooded young lord saying all this have had?”
“…….”
Her sneak attack left me speechless for a beat.
I blinked in fluster before managing to reply.
“N-No, it’s not like that. I-I wasn’t thinking anything.”
“Why the stutter?”
“I’ve always talked like this?”
“What?”
She let out an incredulous chuckle.
Couldn’t argue—I’d said exactly what popped into my head.
I ended up laughing sheepishly along with her when someone approached us.
“Young Hero Goon, Lady Joo. You’ve done enough. We’ve troubled our guests far too much.”
A middle-aged Taoist with white streaks in his hair, proving his advancing years.
His name was Elder Mu-jin, if I recalled.
The stern-eyed Wudang elder, looking apologetic, offered a polite clasped-hands salute.
“Even the sect leader’s matter aside, we truly owe you. Just imagining what might’ve happened without you sends shivers.”
Such humility from a senior by decades felt odd.
Not that I couldn’t understand why.
“Any word on casualties?”
“Fortunately, not too bad. Thanks to your group’s efforts, only minor injuries—no serious ones.”
That morning.
We’d tossed and turned sleepless in Wudang’s guest hall, then stepped out to a frantic bell tolling in our ears.
Followed by urgent shouts.
-We’re under attack!
Attack.
No need to ask who.
Only one bunch crazy enough to raid Wudang right now.
-This what you expected? Shall we hurry, then?
Ye So-ha, who’d predicted this, breezed past our stunned group.
Snapping to, we joined the fray and racked up impressive kills.
No exaggeration.
Our group handled over half the fallen monsters.
Elder Mu-jin here felled five alone, but I’d taken down dozens by myself.
Different leagues entirely.
No wonder none of their disciples were badly hurt—huge debt owed from Wudang’s view.
“Good to hear. Oh, and maybe have Lady Ye check the minor injuries, just in case?”
“N-No need. Our sect’s medical hall can handle that fine. We’ve already received a debt too great to repay—can’t impose further.”
I didn’t push as he firmly refused.
“Miss, you alright?”
Then Master and Seol-i approached, both bathed in blood like us.
I clicked my tongue at Seol-i’s gore-smeared face and asked.
“You insisted on fighting right by Master’s side, huh?”
“I’m a martial artist too, you know. Quit treating me like a kid?”
Her retort dripped with subtext: *Told you to stay back and you never listen.*
Seol-i bristled and shot back.
Elder Mu-jin, seeing this, murmured in surprise.
“The young lady doesn’t look of age yet—did she fight on the front lines?”
“Eek….”
Seol-i winced at his perplexed reaction.
See? Even a Wudang elder thinks so….
“Impressive. For such a young disciple to stand tall as a true martial artist. Our third-generation disciples could learn from her.”
“…Pardon?”
I blinked at Elder Mu-jin’s unexpected praise.
Wait, complimenting her like that?
Now…
“Hmph, hmph!”
…See? She’s all puffed up now.
Seol-i shrugged her shoulders and stuck out her nose.
I stifled a sigh and looked away when I caught Elder Mu-jin muttering low.
“…That one could stand to learn a thing or two.”
*That one*?
Who’s he talking about?
His face had twisted harshly for a split second—someone he clearly despised.
I eyed him curiously, but he blinked at our bedraggled state and lightly smacked his fist into his palm as if remembering something.
“My apologies—kept you hardworking folks too long. Rest now. I’ll have disciples prepare baths and fresh robes in the guest hall.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Hwa-ryeon brightened at the promise of a bath and replied at once.
I glanced her way, and she subtly turned her head.
Yeah, those blood-soaked clothes were bugging you bad, huh?
I smirked and gathered the others to head back to the guest hall.
*
“Phew, now I can breathe.”
I soaked in the tub, scrubbing off the crusted blood, then changed into the fresh Taoist robes they’d brought.
The bloodied training robes I’d stripped off? They’d said they’d wash them and already carted them away.
Before changing, I’d tucked my badges into my bosom, and now I held a small box in hand.
“…Come to think of it, I still haven’t given this.”
Truth was, I’d meant to slip it to her secretly at the annex of Cheonhyang Pavilion last time.
-I thought about it long and hard. All because of one casual remark someone tossed my way.
One wrong word and the mood iced over—I never got the chance.
“Whew….”
Thinking of Hwa-ryeon’s words brought a sigh unbidden.
Seems I was the one who said it….
“But I don’t remember it at all. Not in my memory.”
I’d racked my brains countless times since, but nothing surfaced.
Wanted to ask if she’d misremembered, but she’d probably get upset for real, so I held back.
All I could do was guess the timeframe from the start.
She’d said “quite a while,” so not too long ago—probably right after I started at Heavenly Wind Martial Hall.
Maybe a year or two in?
Back then, Hwa-ryeon and I…
“…weren’t exactly the type to give each other advice.”
I recalled fleeing Zhuge Seo-hee’s aggressive advances(?) at the Zhuge estate recently and chatting with Master.
I’d subtly denied his words then, but yeah—we’d snarled at each other on sight.
-Life in the martial world ain’t kid’s play. Quit while you’re ahead.
-Who are you to tell me to quit?!
Hwa-ryeon disapproved of my training, I got pissed at her—we spat barbs daily.
Your classic hate relationship. Mutual loathing.