21. Yeolgong Abducted
"Finally found you. Yeolgong."
That chilling voice brushing against my ear made my heart feel like it had plummeted straight to my feet. The true identity I'd desperately hidden—my secret pen name—had finally slipped from the lips of this ruthless bastard. Those two mere syllables carried such heavy, lethal weight that they completely short-circuited my brain.
"Wh... who are you?"
I wanted to bellow it out with authority, but all that escaped my lips was a pathetic, trembling rasp like scraping metal. I barely managed to lift my quivering gaze upward to stare at the mysterious masked figure. He responded to my pitiful, fear-stricken state with a disgustingly mocking sneer.
His face was wrapped more than halfway in a pitch-black mask, making it impossible to read his exact expression. But even in the darkness, those beastly glinting eyes clearly looked down on me as perfect prey—brimming with blatant ridicule and scorn.
"Don't rush me. We'll have plenty to talk about soon enough... heh heh heh."
The murky, sticky laugh oozing from him carried killing intent that was anything but ordinary bandit trash. Alarms blared wildly in my head as an uncontrollable wave of dread surged up from the depths of my heart.
How the hell did they find out? Danche Ryeong went to insane lengths to keep my identity airtight—how did these guys dig it up?
A chain of horrifying imaginings and despairing guesses coiled endlessly in my mind at that life-or-death moment.
Boom!
"Wh... what the hell?!"
The driver's frantic, bewildered shout from the front seat. The carriage, barreling along at breakneck speed, slammed to a halt with a massive jolt.
"Hand over my master, you fiend!"
In that instant, a familiar, resonant voice thundered from outside the carriage—Hwangbo Suyeon, the sheltered jewel of the Hwangbo family, roaring in fury.
"Ah...!"
A hopeful gasp slipped out unbidden. She'd pierced through their relentless interference and miraculously caught up to this hellish carriage spiriting me away. She'd come to save me.
Suyeon! I knew you wouldn't let me down!
I was just about to cheer inwardly in emotion when—
Poke.
"Urk."
The masked man struck my shoulder and chest acupoints with lightning speed I couldn't even see. A foreign, icy energy burrowed into my body like a needle. Instantly, my muscles and nerves stiffened like frozen logs, stripping me of all control.
D... damn it, is this the pressure point and mute point?
I couldn't even twitch my mouth, rolling my eyes in silent horror. That staple of every wuxia novel I'd devoured and written for a decade in my past life—the damned pressure and mute point seal. I was living it in real life now.
It was such a convenient plot device when I wrote it, but getting hit with it myself? This helplessness is utter bullshit!
I swallowed a scream of despair amid the suffocating restraint that barely let me breathe.
Boom!
While I was trapped in terror of the acupoint seal, an explosion ripped the sturdy carriage roof away like tissue paper, sending it flying into the air.
Shatter, crash!
Sharp wooden shards from the roof rained down like arrows.
Kaboom!
Then a second merciless roar. The solid ebony walls, lined with premium carpet, shattered entirely, punching a massive hole through.
"......!"
Through the wreckage and swirling dust emerged a welcome face—my sole savior, Hwangbo Suyeon.
But the woman before me wasn't the noble, icy lady of a righteous sect I knew. Her pristine white martial robes were drenched in enemy blood, stained as if they'd always been red. Fresh crimson dripped from her face, pale neck, and compact fists—warm blood still steaming. She looked like a horrific asura crawled from the river of blood at hell's bottom.
"Get going first."
Sensing the gravity, the masked man hurled my rigid body toward the driver's seat like discarded luggage. Without hesitation, he kicked off the broken wall and launched himself ferociously at Hwangbo Suyeon, barking an order.
"Hya!"
The driver caught me like trash and cracked the whip viciously, spurring the horses into flight again.
"No!"
Hwangbo Suyeon leaped from the blood puddle, lunging beast-like after the fleeing carriage. But a massive cleaver blade plummeted from the sky, blocking her path mercilessly.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
She halted, forced back a step by the savage sweep of the enormous cleaver's chill edge.
"Master, was it?"
Landing with a skid, the masked man slung the cleaver over his shoulder and hissed in serpentine mockery.
"The Hwangbo family's precious flower calls a lowly literature teacher her master..."
His eyes raked over her blood-soaked form from head to toe.
"Definitely not your average scum."
"You fiend! Reveal yourself!"
Hwangbo Suyeon's voice dripped with hell-scraped rage.
"Daring to assault Cheongryong Mugwan and spill innocent blood just to kidnap my master!"
"You got time to yap? Your precious master's already long gone."
The masked man cackled relentlessly, snapping her last thread of patience.
Hummm!
Finally, she clenched her fists, rooting her stance like bedrock, and unleashed an explosive aura.
"Out of my way!"
She exploded forward, thrusting a devastating punch. But the masked man was seasoned.
Clang!Shing!
He twisted his wrist effortlessly, batting her fist aside with the cleaver. Their clash erupted into a brutal exchange—over a dozen furious bouts in seconds, air thick with lethal intent.
Whoosh!Clang!Crack!
Amid the frenzy, Hwangbo Suyeon sensed a faint oddity.
He's strong, no doubt. But... his movements feel off, clumsy somehow.
Her sharp eyes tracked the ceaseless cleaver tip. The moment she smashed it with a destructive punch, shaking it wildly—
In his recovery to guard, she caught an inexplicable awkwardness, utterly unnatural.
Swordsmanship.
A chilling shiver raced down her spine. As the breathless skirmish dragged on, her suspicion hardened to certainty. To hide his true affiliation, he wielded a heavy, crude cleaver instead of the slender sword he'd honed lifelong. No fixed forms or cleaver style—just overwhelming inner energy and reflexes producing ambiguous, freakish motions. A sword master's clumsy cleaver mimicry.
Then let's shake that cleaver to its limit and test him.
Her icy gaze flashed. Predicting his next swing's arc perfectly, she planted her feet firm as rock.
Centering on her dantian and waist, she spun her torso like a top.
Centrifugal force and inertia exploded. But this time, she converted the massive spin not to raw power, but pure speed. Her fist shot out and retracted in a blur too fast for eyes.
Clanggg!
The fluid dynamics of that ultra-rapid punch yanked his cleaver tip harder than expected.
"Hup!"
Reversing her twist viciously, the backlash surged through her back muscles into her opposite fist.
Thud!
Her lethal strike barreled toward his exposed flank, ribs set to shatter, organs rupture—a perfect killing blow.
Slip.
But his massive cleaver slithered back like a living serpent, smooth and natural. It arced in a bizarre curve, intercepting her punch dead-center.
Clang!
Her fist met metal, sparks flying wildly. Her eyes bulged in shock.
That fluid, sticky sword path. The eerie curve traced in air. She'd witnessed it clearly—undeniable swordsmanship, the pinnacle of softness only masters attain.
Worst, it wasn't alien. Eerily familiar, like something glimpsed before, spine-tingling.
"Khm..."
A displeased groan escaped him; instinct had leaked his true specialty in crisis. Sensing exposure, his masked eyes twisted viciously, glaring murderously.
"Dangerous wench."
His serpentine voice sliced the night air low.
"Thought I'd spare the Hwangbo brat to avoid hassle."
His killing intent shifted qualitatively—no longer a pesky child, but a deadly foe to eliminate.
Hummm!
His cleaver blade filled with grotesque, dark-crimson energy—far beyond the murky red he'd used on instructors. Vile, ferocious qi cascaded like a waterfall, cracking the ground in spiderwebs. Crushing pressure bore down, suffocating her.
Tension peaked, heaven-shaking clash imminent. Hwangbo Suyeon bit her bloody lip, summoning every azure inner energy for her final desperate strike—
"Over there! Explosions came from that direction!"
"Move, fast!"
Urgent voices and rustling hordes approached from the distant dark path.
"Tch!"
The masked man withdrew his aura, kicking off into the air like a massive night raven, vanishing traceless into the black woods.
"Stop, you fiend... urk!"
Hwangbo Suyeon screamed after his back, lunging in pursuit—but collapsed after three steps.
Thud.
She crumpled to her knees in the mud, body quaking uncontrollably like aspen leaves. Exhausted beyond limits.
Genius prodigy, pinnacle talent—but today's first real life-or-death kill, smashing flesh and bone firsthand. The gruesome feel of foes pulped by her fists, stench of blood, duel with a supreme master. This slaughter overwhelmed the young girl mentally and physically.
"Hah... hah..."
She stared blankly at her trembling, bloodied hands. Crimson pooled in her palms, dripping mockingly at her powerlessness.
"Urk... Master... hu hu huk."
Hot tears of endured despair finally spilled from her clear eyes, mingling with blood.