Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Joining the Battle
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Rattle... rattle...
The cart loaded with rice sacks rolled into the entrance of Fierce Tiger Mountain.
The squad members had climbed atop the cart driven by the rice shop clerks and were resting their weary bodies.
Clang... clang...!
Kraaah...!
Se Yeong heard the sounds of weapons clashing, carried on the wind, along with agonized screams.
"Sounds like a major battle's broken out."
Doubt flickered in the eyes of the squad members who hadn't yet heard the noises.
"What do you mean, hyungnim?"
Se Yeong quietly gazed toward the stronghold's entrance.
A group of martial artists was emerging from that direction, but no matter how he looked, they weren't from the Heavenly Martial Squad.
"Bandits, hyungnim!"
Paeng Se Gi leaped from the cart first, and the squad members followed suit.
Ughhh...
As the bandits began swarming in, the clerks froze in terror, not knowing what to do.
"How's your real combat experience?"
Yi Cheon Yeong answered Se Yeong's question first.
"I've had three or four bouts."
"I've had two."
"I... I've never had any."
Hahu Yeon's voice trembled with tension as he gave the last reply.
"Facing real battle is good experience too. Give it a try."
No sooner had Se Yeong spoken than Paeng Se Gi charged ahead.
"Die, you bastards...!"
At the same time, Yi Cheon Yeong and Dang Ok Yi launched themselves forward.
But Hahu Yeon hesitated awkwardly, trailing behind.
Clang clang! Clang...!
Kraaah...!
The sounds of weapons clashing and screams began to echo.
Se Yeong stood at the rear with an iron club in one hand, watching his squad members' fierce fight.
Yi Cheon Yeong calmly handled his foes, while Dang Ok Yi hurled hidden weapons into the bandits.
"Die! Die!"
In contrast, Paeng Se Gi rampaged like a madman in the midst of the enemies.
The problem was Hahu Yeon.
Clang...! Thud...!
He faced two bandits, but even when openings appeared, he couldn't thrust his spear properly.
"Hahu Yeon. If you don't kill your opponent, you'll die."
Clang! Thud!
"I... I know... I know!"
Hahu Yeon barely blocked the enemy's weapon and shouted back.
Spotting a gap at that moment, he thrust his spear into the bandit's chest.
But being small compared to the long spear, the shaft caught on his waist.
The spear tip merely grazed the bandit's shoulder, and another bandit's strike came down on Hahu Yeon's head.
Thwack!
Se Yeong thrust his iron club through the head of the bandit about to smash Hahu Yeon's skull.
"Now there's just one left. Stay calm and handle him well. Grip the spear a bit longer."
"Y-yes, got it."
His face was drenched in sweat from the tension.
Se Yeong swung his iron club again, piercing the throat of a bandit charging at him, then sequentially smashed the heads of those following.
Splurt...!
As bandits fell to the iron club, Hahu Yeon's spear tip finally pierced his opponent's chest.
Grghhh...
Ughhh...
But the agonized groans came simultaneously from the falling bandit and Hahu Yeon's mouth.
Thwack!
"Pull yourself together."
Se Yeong smacked the head of Hahu Yeon, who was staring down at the fallen bandit.
"......Yes."
"Take that one."
Se Yeong pointed his iron club at a bandit rushing toward him.
Clang! Clang!
Hahu Yeon hurriedly stepped in front, and his spear clashed desperately with the bandit's.
"Run...!"
Clearly outmatched, one surviving bandit turned tail first.
The rest began fleeing into the forest.
Of the thirty-odd bandits, twenty lay dead and sprawled.
Hah... huff...!
Hahu Yeon collapsed onto the ground, gasping raggedly.
His expression suggested he'd faced a hundred foes, but in reality, it was just two.
"We need to clear the bodies if the cart's gonna move, right?"
"Ah, yes."
At Se Yeong's words, Hahu Yeon scrambled up and dragged the corpses into the woods.
He wasn't in his right mind now.
Real combat was far more grueling and terrifying than he'd imagined.
"C-could we... just turn back here?"
The clerks pulling the cart trembled in fear too.
"You're free to leave the horses and cart behind."
The clerks' faces fell at Se Yeong's words.
Horses and carts were irreplaceable assets for a rice shop.
Rattle... rattle...
In the end, they drove on with grim resolve.
How long did they travel?
A hellish scene came into view in the distant field.
Clang clang...! Thud! Clang clang...!
Aaagh!
The clash of metal blades and agonized screams shook heaven and earth.
Blood flowed from limbs severed by swords, entrails spilled from split bellies.
Grghhh...
'No better chance than this.'
Se Yeong inwardly cheered at the sight.
He had no desire to help the Murim Alliance for free, but this time he had to step in personally.
Boom! Bang!
Seeing surges of qi, it seemed several notorious bandits from the martial world were present.
Eliminating them would build his reputation, letting him roam freely under the Alliance's banner.
"I'll kill them...!"
Impatient Paeng Se Gi moved to charge.
"Hold."
Se Yeong stopped him sharply.
"Why, hyungnim?"
"I'll handle this. You lot guard the cart."
"Got it, hyungnim."
Paeng Se Gi stepped back without protest.
The squad members watched Se Yeong with eager eyes.
A master's real combat wasn't something you saw every day.
Whoosh...
The moment Se Yeong stepped forward, his form vanished from the squad's sight.
"Urk..."
As a stifled groan escaped Yi Cheon Yeong, Se Yeong appeared in the midst of the field.
Thwack!
A short thrust of the iron club shattered a bandit's head.
Splat! Splat!
Swinging it left and right next pulverized more heads in succession.
Se Yeong wove through the falling bandits, extending the club a bit longer.
Thwack...!
A bandit's throat pierced by the club spewed blood as he collapsed.
Grggl...
What Se Yeong wielded now was the foundational sword art, Three Disasters Sword Technique.
He drew no plum blossoms with the club, revealed no sword qi, aura, or energy.
Swish...
Thud...! Thwack!
As a spear tip dug toward his chest, the club smacked it left, then right to smash the wielder's head.
The club's tip then pierced the head of a bandit standing behind.
Having cleared the nearby foes, Se Yeong scanned for a strong enemy.
To build fame, he needed to topple leaders, not grunts.
His eyes caught a young, burly female warrior locked in fierce combat with skilled foes.
Clang clang...! Thud...!
Her swordplay was savage and sharp; the experts facing her struggled.
Se Yeong reached out toward a spear rolling on the ground.
Whoosh...
The instant he extended his hand, the spear flew into his grasp.
Screee...
It streaked across the blood-and-death-choked battlefield.
Even the bandit swinging an axe at the burly woman sensed the killing intent from behind.
Thud...!
He twisted away, deflecting the incoming spear tip from his back.
But the force-laden spear made his arm waver.
The woman seized the momentary gap.
Slash.
The bandit's head who'd just parried the spear rolled across the ground.
Thud... roll roll...
Se Yeong reached for another sword on the ground.
It flew to his hand, then shot off across the space.
Screee...
Blade energy flickered along the great sword of the Life-Seizing Blood Blade.
Boom! Bang!
Sword energy also rose from the blade of the Heavenly Martial Squad leader opposing him.
'Time to pull back.'
In truth, he had no intention of fighting the squad to the end.
Retreating now meant no losses.
Rumors would spread that Fierce Tiger Stronghold of the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds had clashed evenly with the Alliance's Heavenly Martial Squad.
The Alliance would then tread carefully on bandit purges, holding back their warriors.
But more than that, he risked enraging the Five Absolutes of the Martial World, so retreat was wise.
Even for rowdy bandits, those five were truly fearsome.
Boom!
Having smacked the leader's blade, the Life-Seizing Blood Blade leaped back.
Screee...
But at that instant, chilling killing intent pierced in.
He urgently bent at the waist; the sword grazing overhead pierced a bandit's head fighting a squad member nearby.
Thwack...!
'Damn it...'
His crisis didn't end there.
Boom...!
Screee...
He barely parried the leader's sword with his blade and shifted position desperately.
Thwack!
The axe he'd dodged smashed another bandit's back.
Kraaah...!
'What the hell is this guy?'
Boom...!
Having smacked the leader's sword, he leaped back again.
The whistling and speed marked no ordinary master hurling weapons.
Moreover, the thrower precisely accounted for his evasion, targeting subordinates' positions.
Boom! Bang...!
"Retreat...!"
Having repeatedly smacked the leader's sword, he fled first.
Lingering meant losing his head.
The moment he turned to flee, an iron club flew at his face.
"Gasp..."
Bang...!
The Life-Seizing Blood Blade desperately swung his great sword to swat the club.
But the weight from the club exceeded imagination.
A seasoned master could gauge an opponent's skill from one clash.
'A true expert.'
The club-thrower was no one to dismiss.
No—perhaps even superior to him.
With the squad leader at his back and this unknown expert ahead, urgency mounted.
Haaa...!
He poured all his inner energy into one strike.
Swish.
His great sword, wrapped in brilliant qi, cleaved space in an instant.
This all-out blow even the Five Absolutes couldn't easily block.
Boom boom...!
Yet the space-slicing blade energy frayed and scattered against the iron club.
'Impossible...'
As despair blurred his vision, icy killing intent stabbed his side.
Splurt...!
The Life-Seizing Blood Blade looked down at the sword buried deep in his flank.
Burning pain hit like fire, his mouth gaping involuntarily.
Grggaaah...!
'Me... dying so pointlessly like this...'
He'd seized treasures he coveted, forced beautiful women into his bed.
He'd thought he'd live life on his terms forever, yet death came at an unknown's hand.
Sprawled limply on the ground, the Life-Seizing Blood Blade looked up at the man before him.
Handsome face, broad shoulders, tall stature—he looked every inch the manly hero.
The leader's sword had killed him, but that man's club had sealed his doom.
And that man's form gradually darkened before his eyes.
The squad members watched Se Yeong with dazed expressions.
How to describe those movements, that martial art?
Their eyes couldn't track him properly.
But one thing was clear: he felled foes with minimal motion.
The instant the club pierced a bandit's head, a spear thrust at Se Yeong's back.
Se Yeong shifted half a step, dodging the tip, and pierced the spearman's throat.
The flow was so fluid and swift, it was like watching a peerless master dance sword forms alone on an empty plain.
Ah...
A gasp escaped Yi Cheon Yeong unbidden.
Mount Hua Sect's swordsmanship was famed for its flashy sharpness.
Yet watching this made even those ornate forms seem embarrassing.
'How many forms must one polish to reach that realm...'
Snap out of his trance by a voice nearby, sudden anger flared in him.
"S-saw how strong hyungnim is, right?"
Even Paeng Se Gi, who knew Se Yeong best, had a trembling voice.
"Shut up!"
"Why're you snapping, you prick."