Chapter 36
Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Help Me!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘Shadow.’
Namgung Urin called for the Shadows.
The world was cloaked in darkness, and with the addition of the harsh rain, no one could notice the presence of the Shadows.
‘You will block the rear so the Master cannot escape.’
‘Understood.’
The Shadows' role wasn't to help Namgung Urin deal with the forty-five martial artists, but to prevent the possible escape of the Yeongun Faction's Master.
The forty-five martial artists, drenched by the downpour, sharply gauged Namgung Urin's level through the deaths of their comrades.
The man who had walked out last stepped to the front. He was the leader of the group.
His aura was fierce yet sharp. He felt like someone who had tasted all the bitter and sweet sides of the martial world.
Just looking at his gaze, not even his aura, confirmed it. His eyes were deep and keen enough to suggest the level he had attained.
What did Namgung Urin look like in the eyes of such a man?
A master knows a master.
However.
Even he could not see all of Namgung Urin. Though he appeared to be a rookie new to the martial world, he displayed the composure and calm of an old master.
He was full of openings, but it was hard to tell if they were openings or traps.
‘He's no ordinary fellow!’
The martial artist at the front told his subordinates.
“You have seen for yourselves.”
How their comrades died in an instant.
Therefore.
“You must use all your strength.”
No answer came.
*Patter-patter-patter.*
Only the sound of rain lashing against the ground answered.
“Go!”
The forty-four martial artists walked.
With each step, the direction the pooled water splashed was different, but there was no reason for their destination to differ.
Their opponent was just one man.
He loosened the grip on his sword. He circulated his internal energy through his rigid body, relaxing it.
Had they not seen their comrades die?
Before them stood someone who could not be taken lightly.
The steps of the forty-four martial artists quickened.
Namgung Urin closed his eyes.
He brought forth everything he had drawn and erased through his training until now. He had always repeated the tedious process of drawing and erasing in his mind.
Now, he thought, it was time to shake off that tedium and master it with his body.
Namgung Urin’s eyes slowly opened.
His gaze was like that of an avatar of darkness, ready to spring from his bottomless pupils.
Namgung Urin kicked off the ground hard.
*Fwoosh!*
Namgung Urin charged toward the forty-four martial artists first.
Not to be outdone, the forty-four martial artists also picked up their pace. Without a word, five of them moved to the front. Their movements had long been synchronized as one.
*Fwoosh!*
Namgung Urin soared high, piercing through the thick raindrops of the downpour.
*Splash.*
The footsteps of the five men and the thirty-nine following them stopped simultaneously, sending rough sprays of water into the air. At the same time, the gazes of all forty-four men shot up toward the ascending Namgung Urin.
Having soared high, Namgung Urin swung his sword toward the five men at the front.
*Ting!*
The sound of the sword’s flat striking a raindrop echoed through the area.
Exactly five raindrops shot toward the five men, piercing through the torrential downpour with the speed of lightning.
The five men at the front deflected the raindrops flying toward each of them.
*Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!*
The sound of five raindrops colliding with five swords struck the air forcefully.
*Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!*
The five men were forced to stumble backward, unable to withstand the force of the raindrops. In the end, the five men at the front were pushed back, ending up on the same line as their comrades.
Namgung Urin descended toward the group of forty-four at twice the speed he had ascended. He then unleashed the Thousand Echoing Thunder Seal.
*KABOOM!*
With a tremendous roar, the ground was gouged out. But the warriors moved quickly, and no one was injured.
It was to be expected.
Namgung Urin had unleashed the Thousand Echoing Thunder Seal to land in the center of the group.
Namgung Urin landed on the ground with incredible speed.
*BOOM!*
Instantly, the water pooled on the ground shot up toward the sky as droplets.
Soon, the water droplets that had soared toward the sky began to fall.
Namgung Urin did not leave them be. He spun in place, striking the falling droplets with the flat of his sword.
*T-t-t-t-ting!*
Countless water droplets were fired toward the warriors.
*Clang-clang-clang!*
Some blocked them with their swords.
*Thwack-thwack-thwack!*
Others had holes punched through their bodies, collapsing on the spot as they bled.
There were as many as seven of them.
Now, thirty-seven warriors remained.
The warriors did not hesitate. They did not even breathe.
Namgung Urin and the thirty-seven warriors clashed.
Flashes of sword light and the sound of swords colliding were all that could be heard. The movement of the blades was too fast to follow with the eye.
Namgung Urin was not fighting the thirty-seven warriors with death on the line; he was chasing something beyond that.
It was the direction his own sword sought to go.
It could be the azure sky the Namgung Family sought to paint, or the origin of the world the Primordial Chaos Art wished to draw.
But Namgung Urin wanted to draw his own sword.
Like giving birth to a child that resembled him.
In the pouring rain, the fight between Namgung Urin and the thirty-seven men was like a painting in every moment.
The red blood splattering in all directions was the final touch to their picture.
“Dammit.”
The words slipped from the mouth of the man watching his subordinates fight.
He had a premonition.
A premonition that today might be the last for him and his men.
He had faced death more times than he could count while roaming the martial world, but never had he felt such certainty as he did at this moment.
The leader of the forty-nine men, including the dead, drew his sword.
Should he not face the end together with his men?
Escape?
“Hmph.”
If he had entertained such thoughts every time he faced death, he would not be who he was today. His subordinates would not be here either. He had always overcome.
Thus, the word ‘escape’ was an act that would reduce him and his men to cheap, third-rate thugs.
Though they were men who took money for their services, they were true before the sword.
So, now was no different.
And so, the leader of the forty-nine men also plunged through the downpour toward Namgung Urin.
To grasp even the faintest glimmer of hope.
Was it rainwater,
or blood,
or someone's tears.
The darkness did not say.
Instead, a faint groan answered.
It was not rainwater.
Nor blood.
Nor someone's tears.
It was the reason the martial world was made.
The reason the martial world continued.
They lived because the martial world existed.
Blood and death were the fertilizer that cultivated the martial world.
After the leader joined the fray, blood began to spurt from Namgung Urin's body as well. As time passed, Namgung Urin's wounds multiplied. But the number of those dying was greater.
Namgung Urin made no effort to block the swords coming at him. He only followed the path of his own sword.
The path of the sword that Namgung Urin envisioned.
The path of the sword he had drawn, erased, and drawn again.
Finally.
A rough groan escaped from the last remaining man, the leader.
“Keuk.”
Namgung Urin’s gaze turned to the leader, who was kneeling.
“A good lesson learned.”
The sword, in the end…
was a tool for killing others.
Swordsmanship was a technique for killing others.
The leader spoke.
“Congratula…tions.”
*Splash.*
The leader, too, followed his subordinates.
Leaving behind only something that could have been rainwater.
Or blood.
Meanwhile, the Master of the Yeongun Faction and his son, who were fleeing toward the back of the pavilion, were so startled by the sight of the Shadows before them that they fell on their backsides.
“Eek!”
“Aargh!”
As the Master and his son tumbled pathetically onto the rain-soaked ground, the Second Shadow spoke.
“What a pathetic scene. For a martial artist, your behavior is disgraceful. Tsk.”
The Fourth Shadow also chimed in.
“The Lord was right. I knew you’d try to run. Well, what can you expect from a man who’d abandon all his subordinates and flee?”
The First Shadow approached the Master, who looked as if his soul had left his body.
“D-D-Don’t come any closer!”
When the First Shadow didn't stop, the Master hastily unleashed a palm strike.
*BAM.*
The palm strike passed right through the First Shadow and destroyed an innocent wall.
“What… A-Are you ghosts?”
“Do ghosts look like us?”
He had no way of knowing.
It was doubtful whether ghosts even existed, and he had never seen one with his own eyes.
The Master’s trembling lips struggled to open again.
“…If you’re not ghosts… th-then what are you?”
“Us? We are beings called Shadows.”
‘…Shadows?’
Shadows in the dark?
Yes, they looked like that, but…
Still, such things didn't exist in the world.
He had never heard that darkness, let alone shadows, could move and speak like people.
Reapers, maybe.
Of course, he had never seen a reaper either.
The First Shadow spoke.
“Get up. Get up and kneel before our Lord.”
Just then, the Second Shadow shook his head at the First Shadow.
The First Shadow asked.
“Why?”
“The Lord is in a bad mood right now. You can feel it too, can’t you?”
The Shadows shared Namgung Urin’s feelings.
The Fourth Shadow added.
“I don’t want to get beaten black and blue in this downpour.”
The Third Shadow nodded vigorously in agreement.
The First Shadow let out a deep sigh.
“Ugh. What a pain. The Lord’s swordsmanship seems to have reached a new level today. Why is he in such a foul mood? I don’t get it.”
The Second Shadow replied.
“Beats me.”
The Fourth Shadow didn’t miss a beat.
“Same here.”
At that moment, something like black smoke shimmered in the First Shadow's hand, and a sword tinged with black light materialized.
Then, with an air of annoyance, he swung the suddenly-appeared sword.
“Hmph!”
*Thwack.*
Something fell onto the water-logged ground.
The Yeongun Faction Master’s son’s eyes widened into saucers. His father’s head was rolling on the ground.
The First Shadow's sword swung again.
*Thwack.*
*Roll, roll.*
The son’s head also fell.
The Second Shadow said.
“Quietly. Let’s go back very quietly.”
They all agreed with a nod and left the scene.
Namgung Urin stood in the rain for a long time. Even though the Shadows had taken the head of the man who had defiled Anhui, his mood did not improve. This was despite the fact that, as the Shadows had said, his sword had reached a new level.
Namgung Urin himself couldn't understand why he felt this way.
Namgung Urin’s feet finally began to move.
The rain was now subsiding.
He opened the gate of the manor and stepped outside. So Hwi and Chanjo approached him with looks of utter astonishment.
So Hwi was the most pleased to see him.
“You crazy bastard. To actually come out of there alive. You… you’re really something.”
Chanjo applauded generously.
But Namgung Urin simply walked past So Hwi and Chanjo. So Hwi shouted after him.
“Hey! You said you’d save them! Huh! That bastard, really…”
Namgung Urin paused his steps for a moment. A heavy, low voice came from his lips.
“Where is it?”
So Hwi answered timidly.
“Myeongwol Pavilion in Myeonggwang.”
“Alright. I’ll be there soon.”
“……”
‘Son of a bitch.’
*Acting all cool by himself.*
* * *
Namgung Urin walked and walked.
He didn't count how far he had walked, so he didn't know. He just walked aimlessly. He didn't even think about why he was in such a mood.
He simply walked.
Wherever his feet took him.
In the rain.
The morning sun had risen, though it was hidden behind the rain clouds.
Still, he walked.
Before long, a large lake spread out before him.
It was Hongze Lake, the largest in Jiangsu Province.
The rain was now a light drizzle.
Namgung Urin approached the edge of the lake.
A woman in her early twenties was standing there, watching the lake and getting soaked by the rain just like him. She was accompanied by three guards.
Namgung Urin paid them no mind.
Just then, the woman cried out desperately toward the lake.
“Seol-u! Where are you?! Please, help me!”
“……”