Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Yangtze Blood Battle (2)
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They had broken through the pirate ships blocking the path, but that didn't mean everything was resolved. Pirate ships, built for swift plundering and fleeing from government troops rather than carrying heavy loads of cargo and passengers like merchant vessels, were far faster.
The distance between the merchant ship and the Yangtze Waterway Alliance vessels closing in from all sides had narrowed to within twenty-odd zhang.
Whiiiish!
A horn blared, and moments later, a massive jolt rocked the merchant ship.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The impacts came one after another.
Countless enormous arrows wrapped in ropes came flying, embedding themselves deep.
Cheol Woo and Sima Geon moved swiftly to bat them away, but with so many raining down from every direction and at every angle, they eventually had no choice but to stop.
The arrows pierced not only the deck but the midsection and even the lower hull, halting the merchant ship dead like an insect trapped in a spiderweb.
"What do we do?"
Cheol Woo yanked on a rope, glancing at the pirate ship rapidly closing in, and asked.
"No need to think. Rampage to your heart's content."
"Now that's my style. No point waiting around then."
Cheol Woo grinned and selected a promising pirate ship as his target.
"Don't push yourself too hard."
"What're you worried about? Sure, I've got the build, but I'm nimbler than a swallow skimming the water. Unless I'm being stubborn, no one escapes faster than me when I set my mind to it."
Cheol Woo scowled at Noejeon's ambiguous words and spun his fists with a whoosh.
"Just you wait. I'll sew that mouth of yours shut."
With that grim warning, Cheol Woo dashed across the deck and leaped powerfully off the railing.
"Krahahaha! I am the Diamond Yaksha, Cheol Woo!"
He roared like a wild beast and crossed to his target pirate ship in a single bound.
"Ah, seriously!"
Noejeon shook his head as if he'd witnessed something unseemly.
Just then, his eyes met those of the women watching from nearby. Their gazes, like they were looking at an idiot, made his face burn hot.
"You two, guard the cabin."
Sima Geon pointed at the entrance to the cabin as he regarded Noejeon and Manchu.
"Got it."
"Yes."
Noejeon and Manchu answered in unison.
Sima Geon placed a hand on Manchu's shoulder.
"It's been a short time, but this is a fine chance to test your training."
"I know."
A searing heat emanated from Manchu's body as he replied.
"Remember, the Intoxicated Immortal Step is an extraordinary footwork technique. Relax your body. Master that, and riffraff like pirates won't lay a hand on you."
"I'll keep it in mind."
Sima Geon patted Manchu's shoulder once more and walked over to Neung Sohwa and her group.
"As you can see, the situation's turned out like this."
"I see."
Neung Sohwa gave a curt reply, gazing briefly at the pirate ship Cheol Woo had leaped onto—which was already a chaotic mess—before slowly drawing her sword.
"Don't worry about us. We'll handle ourselves."
"Understood. Then, good luck in battle."
Sima Geon offered a light fist salute and turned away.
'If they learn of her presence, they won't keep their heads.'
Sensing the battle aura rising from Neung Sohwa's entire body, he figured the Yangtze Waterway Alliance had finally met a worthy foe. But he failed to realize that the target of her aura wasn't the pirates—it was him.
Boom!
Deung Cheol shattered the railing as he stepped onto the deck.
Having thrust himself forward as the vanguard with a flashy entrance, he immediately whipped his eyes around in search of his nemesis.
"So it's you!"
His voice dripped with venom as he leveled his axe at Sima Geon, who approached at a leisurely pace.
"No familiarity on my end, but you seem to know me. One of Hongik Hall's pirates?"
"Shut your trap! This ain't about Hongik Hall!"
"Then who?"
"Bi. Woong. Stronghold."
Deung Cheol emphasized each syllable, as if to burn it into memory.
"Biwoong... Ah, the axe."
Sima Geon recalled the pirate whose windpipe Neung Sohwa had crushed after he'd swung his axe wildly just like Deung Cheol.
"Harsh as it may sound, strictly speaking, I'm not your enemy."
"Don't spout nonsense!"
"If you can't believe it, don't. But I didn't so much as lift a finger. The one who smashed Biwoong Stronghold's pirates was her."
Sima Geon pointed at Neung Sohwa, who wore an incredulous expression.
Deung Cheol's gaze followed his gesture.
"Daring to pull such an absurd stunt..."
His booming voice suddenly cut off.
At first, he thought Sima Geon was toying with him. But when their eyes met Neung Sohwa's icy stare, the possibility that it wasn't a lie dawned on him.
Her gaze held no malice, just utter indifference—yet it sent a chill up his spine, weakening his legs.
Deung Cheol swallowed hard without realizing it.
In that brief moment, cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"Grudges should be settled among those involved. That's my plan too."
Sima Geon turned his back.
Deung Cheol was awestruck by Sima Geon's brazenness, turning away with an enemy right in front of him.
He was utterly defenseless.
One swing of the axe could sever his neck—but his instincts screamed wildly not to move.
'Revenge comes first.'
With his nemesis right there, he told himself there was no need to tangle with someone else first, making excuses as he turned toward Neung Sohwa.
"Did you take Biwoong Stronghold and the lives of my sons?"
Neung Sohwa's delicate brows arched slightly at Deung Cheol's crude words.
"If those bandits we met the day before were from Biwoong Stronghold, then yes. And so?"
"I'll rip your crotch open and kill you."
Having at last encountered his enemy, Deung Cheol let out a bellow and charged.
The sight of him swinging an axe as massive as his own body with a single arm that could barely keep balance was quite intimidating.
Having lost his two sons—more precious than life itself—he had nothing left.
A man with no thought for what lay behind him was terrifying.
That was Deung Cheol now.
No greed for life, no fear.
He was prepared to pay any price for revenge.
Deung Cheol charged headlong, swinging his axe.
Every motion, every technique brimmed with an ineffable killing intent.
Yet Neung Sohwa didn't so much as blink.
She parried the axe crashing down with terrifying force using a single sword—a near-divine feat. Most astonishing was that she hadn't yielded a single step. If anything, the more he attacked, the more Deung Cheol fell back.
'Where did this monster of a woman come from...'
Deung Cheol's face, as he poured every ounce of strength into his assault, was soon overcome with shock.
"Tahat!"
Just before Deung Cheol and Neung Sohwa fully engaged, Sima Geon—who had turned away—suddenly swung his Heavenly Demon Sword.
Sword qi erupted from the blade, slicing horizontally and sweeping away the pirates crossing on ropes.
A few who instinctively released the ropes and plunged into the river aside, the rest had their torsos bisected and perished. That single strike brought the movements of all pirates crossing on ropes to a halt.
Sima Geon gazed at the pirates with elegant poise, then slowly climbed onto a rope. It connected to the pirate ship carrying the Yangtze Waterway Alliance's leader.
Sima Geon hadn't chosen that rope with the leader in mind.
During Deung Cheol's talk of vengeance, he'd caught sight of one man by chance. Though they hadn't clashed directly, there was a faint memory of meeting on Sungmyeong Island: Yu Wol.
Among the horde of pirates, with no way to identify Hongik Hall's members, Yu Wol was the surest clue to tracking their leader.
Sima Geon stepped onto the rope and began strolling casually, hands clasped behind his back—unlike the pirates gripping it tightly to cross upward.
The rope, which swayed wildly whenever the pirates took a step, remained strangely steady. His feather-light movements evoked the Grass-Flying Step, stirring great unrest among the watching pirates.
"Impressive."
"Indeed. Now I see why he's so highly rated."
Cho Su and Yu Ak, who had been preparing to cross to the merchant ship just before Sima Geon boarded the rope, couldn't hide their admiration as he massacred their subordinates in one blow and then casually returned to their ship as if nothing had happened.
And all while crossing to the vessel where virtually all of the Yangtze Waterway Alliance's forces were gathered—what composure!
"This looks like it'll be a tough fight."
"Tsk tsk. Can't even rein in one little brother properly—what a mess."
Yu Ak gave a wry smile at Cho Su's jab.
"A kid, maybe, but what can you do with an old coot? Besides, I know he's going all out for that grown son of his."
"The problem's not that."
Cho Su glanced slyly behind him.
Yu Mok, deputy leader of the Yangtze Waterway Alliance's inspection unit, stared at Sima Geon with a face taut with tension. Beside him fidgeted Yu Han, the root of all this trouble.
"He's talented, no doubt, but not leader material. That one's more like it."
Cho Su indicated Yu Wol, who burned with battle spirit even amid his fear.
"I think so too."
Cho Su looked at him in surprise at Yu Ak's response.
"No way..."
"If we get through this safely, I'll summon him to headquarters. He's gained plenty of experience by now—no point keeping him on pointless tasks forever."
"The ones scheming for the leadership seat will have a fit. Still, feels like a proper choice for once."
"I'll give him the chance. Whether he seizes it is up to his own ability. Anyway, enough chatter. We need to deal with the disaster right in front of us."
Self-assured of his keen senses, Cho Su found the word "disaster" most fitting.
"Hmm, good choice."
Sima Geon rebounded off the rope and landed lightly on the deck. He smiled as he surveyed the Yangtze Waterway Alliance's top brass glaring at him, then turned his gaze to Yu Wol.
"Not sure about the others. But the two of us? Plenty to discuss."
As Sima Geon focused on him, Yu Wol stepped forward.
"If my memory's correct, Sungmyeong Island, right?"
"That's right."
"As I thought. If I'd known back then you were with Hongik Hall, no need to come all this way."
"I regret what happened to your little brother."
Sima Geon's smile vanished at Yu Wol's words.
"Regret? Mighty cheap coming from a human trafficker. We severed the limbs and returned him intact."
Sima Geon's seething fury began to pervade the surroundings. The aura pouring from his body was so intense that even those with substantial inner power staggered under it.
"That's far enough."
Unable to stand it, Yu Ak hurried forward.
"I am the leader of the Yangtze Waterway Alliance, Yu Ak."
Yu Ak introduced himself boldly, but Sima Geon turned away as if uninterested.
"Who's the Hongik Hall leader?"
Several pirates' gazes drifted unwittingly toward Yu Han, and Sima Geon didn't miss it.
Sima Geon's cold eyes met those of Yu Han, who clutched Yu Mok's hand tightly.
"Old man. It's you."
A murderous smile curled Sima Geon's lips.