Breaking the Encirclement
“Don’t worry. It doesn’t seem all that difficult.”
At the same time, Yoo Eunhyeon lifted the Black Gold Rake from his back. The inner energy he drew up slowly made no attempt to hide his will to smash through the encirclement by force.
Yet the faces of the Demonic Cult martial artists surrounding them on all sides showed not the slightest ripple of unease. They simply tightened the net in silence, with no intention whatsoever of letting him go.
There are signs more will come… but we still have time.
Ten men encircled the three of them. If reinforcements arrived, the number would at least double. They had to be dealt with before that happened.
“Change formation.”
At that moment the man’s order fell. Two of those blocking Yoo Eunhyeon’s front shifted positions without the least hesitation, as if they had anticipated it. There was not a trace of reluctance in their movements.
As expected, they’re redeploying the strongest first. Meaning they have no intention of underestimating me.
Until now, most of those Yoo Eunhyeon had faced had rushed in recklessly after judging him by his ordinary appearance alone. These men were different. From the very start they left no openings, as though they had already taken his measure.
“No choice, then. I’ll have to go all out myself.”
Steadying his aura, Yoo Eunhyeon raised the Black Gold Rake high. It was easily ten times heavier than the pitchfork he usually used, yet with his inner energy drawn up, the weight was no issue at all. Only the familiar, forward-heavy feel of the tool transmitted to his fingertips.
Tadat.
Then Yoo Eunhyeon took one step forward and kicked off the ground. His body shot toward the encirclement. And just as if he were plowing a field, he swung the Black Gold Rake straight at the man standing in front of him.
“Kh!”
A beat too late, the man twisted his body to dodge, but the attempt ultimately failed. Yoo Eunhyeon’s Black Gold Rake came crashing down far faster than the trajectory the man had predicted. Unable to evade the strike, the man hurriedly raised his sword to meet it.
Kaaang!
Yet a far greater impact than expected traveled up the blade, making the tips of the fingers gripping the sword tingle. For an instant, bewilderment frosted over the man’s face.
Of course Yoo Eunhyeon’s attack did not end there. Plowing a field was never finished merely by driving a tool into the earth.
Once you planted it, the next step was to pull and turn the soil over. Yoo Eunhyeon immediately hauled the driven Black Gold Rake back toward himself.
Kwadudeudeuk!
“Keuheok?!”
The sound of the man’s sword being ground apart rang out in every direction. The two trajectories—striking down, then drawing up—crossed, and at that intersection an explosive shock burst forth.
Originally, Pokjonghoe had been a method of amplifying power by crossing two trajectories, but Yoo Eunhyeon’s was different.
Through the motion of plowing a field—which to him was practically a single continuous action—he had created a new form of Pokjonghoe that reduced the movement to its absolute limit.
Explosive Vertical & Horizontal — Land Reclamation
A simplified, highly efficient offensive technique based on the motion of plowing. Movement reduced to the extreme; inner energy consumption low. Yet because it is so simple, the crossing point is easy to read.
Paying it no mind, Yoo Eunhyeon kept yanking the Black Gold Rake upward. In the end the man could not endure the fierce shock and lost his grip on the sword.
“You… you bastard! How dare you!”
Yoo Eunhyeon was not one to miss that opening. He hurled himself straight at the disarmed man. Using the Black Gold Rake as a prop to kick off the ground and add speed, he drove his foot into the man’s solar plexus. The man desperately raised both arms to block the blow, but unable to fully deflect the impact, his body was shoved backward until he finally slammed into the ground.
“Whoa…”
Watching it, Ho Won-jik let out a gasp of admiration. With a single technique he had neutralized an opponent who had looked far from easy. It was impossible not to be surprised.
“That guy somehow seems to get stronger every day.”
“I think he was always strong…”
Whether the two muttered or not, Yoo Eunhyeon paid them no attention and immediately charged another opponent. Once more he unleashed Pokjonghoe-Gaegan, driving it from above to below, and another man went flying backward.
“Do not fall back! He must be captured alive!”
Of course the opponents were also desperately trying to block Yoo Eunhyeon’s attacks.
They were no fools either; they managed to read the monotonous trajectory of his downward swing and subsequent pull, barely dodging at times.
But Yoo Eunhyeon was no pushover either. Whenever necessary he subtly twisted the path of his strikes in response, and one after another the men went down helplessly.
At last a clear gap opened among them. Seeing it, Yoo Eunhyeon immediately shouted toward Ju Yu-ryeon and Ho Won-jik.
“Now!”
When Yoo Eunhyeon gave them a look, Ju Yu-ryeon and Ho Won-jik flung themselves toward him without delay.
“Don’t let them escape!”
The men who noticed too late began charging the two. Yoo Eunhyeon swung the Black Gold Rake to open a path, and a full gap tore open in the encirclement. In one breath the three of them burst through the siege and raced outward.
Running in the lead, Yoo Eunhyeon suddenly glanced back, then slightly furrowed his brow.
“They’re just chasing us without even caring about the ones who went down?”
“Means the mission comes first.”
“What a pain… Should I just knock them all out?”
“No. We don’t have time to waste. Let’s get out of here as we are.”
The three of them poured full power into their light-body techniques, escaping the secluded spot and heading back into Chengdu proper.
Now that things had come to this, there was no longer any reason to insist on deserted places. Passing through crowded areas would be better.
“S-so, where are we going?”
“To the Dang Clan, of course.”
“Will that be all right? Won’t we just end up leading the pursuers there…?”
Ho Won-jik’s worry had merit. As long as these men were chasing the three of them without looking back, there was no guarantee they would stop even if they entered the Dang Clan. Ju Yu-ryeon seemed to ponder for a moment, then opened her mouth with a quite serious expression.
“Even if we shake them off, nothing actually changes. The fact that the Demonic Cult is targeting the Dang Clan is already out in the open. So there’s no reason to delay. Let’s go to the Dang Clan, like Eunhyeon said.”
Hearing that, Ho Won-jik found himself nodding as well.
In the first place he lacked the insight to decide directions himself, so he had no further intention of raising objections.
Having thus aligned their wills, the three of them once more spurred their light-body techniques and flew without delay toward the Dang Clan.
Perhaps because they had used their light-body techniques to the fullest, they arrived at the Dang Clan in the blink of an eye. The gatekeeper who recognized Yoo Eunhyeon and Ju Yu-ryeon gave the cross-dressed Ho Won-jik a quick once-over, but made no particular attempt to stop them. Thanks to that the three entered without delay and were soon able to face Yeo U-hui.
“What on earth happened to your faces! And what is with those outfits!”
As expected, the moment Yeo U-hui saw the three of them she started in surprise and demanded answers. Her gaze in particular was fixed on Ho Won-jik. Unable to endure the stare, Ju Yu-ryeon pointed at him and said,
“Ah, Mom, this is your first time meeting him, right? This is Won-jik, the one we told you about.”
“The young master of Chukhobang who came all this way with you? From what I heard he was a boy—was that wrong?”
Ho Won-jik’s disguise was perfect, yet Yeo U-hui, with her wealth of experience in such matters, seemed to sense something off about his appearance. And since Ho Won-jik himself had no desire to invite unnecessary suspicion, he let out a deep sigh and bowed his head toward Yeo U-hui.
“It is an honor to meet you. I am Ho Won-jik, young master of Chukhobang.”
“The voice is a man’s, all right. Nice to meet you. Since you’re friends with Yu-ryeon and Eunhyeon, I can just call you Won-jik comfortably, yes?”
“Yes. That’s fine. Please treat me at ease.”
Because this was none other than Ju Yu-ryeon’s mother, Ho Won-jik could not act carelessly according to his usual nature, and so he bowed his head politely.
“From the looks of it, you cross-dressed to hide your identity. Well, as the young master of Chukhobang, it wouldn’t do you any good if word got out that you were coming and going from the Dang Clan right now.”
As expected, Yeo U-hui seemed to grasp the situation at once and nodded. Looking at her, Ho Won-jik whispered into Yoo Eunhyeon’s ear.
“Somehow Madam is different from what I imagined.”
“What did you imagine?”
“Well… you know, with the way Noona is…”
Ho Won-jik glanced at Ju Yu-ryeon and mumbled, but Yoo Eunhyeon fully understood what he meant. Fortunately Ju Yu-ryeon seemed not to have heard the muttering, engrossed as she was in an animated conversation with Yeo U-hui.
“Anyway, we came because we have something to report.”
Once the situation settled, Yoo Eunhyeon immediately brought up the main point. He had judged it better to consult with her first rather than report straight to the Dang Clan. After hearing Yoo Eunhyeon’s explanation of the circumstances, Yeo U-hui gave a small nod.
“If it’s the Demonic Cult, they’re more than capable of something like this… Still, it’s a bit too fast.”
Yeo U-hui was surprised, yet it did not seem she had failed to predict the situation itself at all. She nodded more calmly than expected, and toward her Ju Yu-ryeon also let out a deep sigh as she spoke.
“Exactly. I never thought they’d move this brazenly without even reading the room. It’s a good thing Eunhyeon was there—if we’d slipped up even a little we would have been done for.”
At Ju Yu-ryeon’s words Yeo U-hui made a short sound with her mouth. When she nodded as if in agreement, Ju Yu-ryeon continued.
“You know it well too, Mom. In times like this, pulling out is the best policy. There’s no need to keep faith with the Dang Clan while risking danger. Just say something urgent came up at the main family and leave.”
“I know that too. If it were only my heart, I’d want to do exactly that. But there’s something holding us back.”
“Why? Don’t tell me there’s progress in Dad’s research?”
At Yeo U-hui’s words Ju Yu-ryeon took a breath and asked back. Yoo Eunhyeon also pricked up his ears.
“There is progress. That’s the problem.”
“Ah…”
At Yeo U-hui’s reply Ju Yu-ryeon tilted her head for a moment as if not understanding, then suddenly seemed to realize something; she clamped her mouth shut and furrowed her brow.
Seeing that, Ho Won-jik whispered softly to Yoo Eunhyeon as if asking whether he knew something, but Yoo Eunhyeon had no proper answer to give either.
If there were no progress at all it would be one thing, but why are both of them sighing when there is progress?
And as if it were only natural that the two of them would be curious, Ju Yu-ryeon turned her head to look at them and said quietly,
“It’s because of my dad. Now that the research has made progress, Dad will absolutely refuse to leave this place.”