The Trap at Medicine King Hall
“...”
At my proposal, Yu Cheong-ah fell silent for a moment.
A brief silence.
But it didn’t last long. Soon, her voice came again from beyond the door.
“That’s an extremely dangerous plan. What if something goes wrong?”
“If the enemy attacks that day, we’ll have to fight them either way. In that case, isn’t it better for us to lay the trap first?”
“Are you confident?”
“If I weren’t, I wouldn’t have brought it up.”
“All right.”
Yu Cheong-ah accepted my proposal readily.
“I’ll trust you, Young Lord.”
“A wise decision.”
I smiled faintly and said to her,
“You may look forward to it. I won’t disappoint you.”
A few days later.
As the Medicine King Divine Pill neared completion, Yu Seon-woo made his way secretly toward the warehouse, pretending to be out for a stroll.
Tucked inside his robes were a flask of oil and a flint striker.
The Green Snake Sect bastards told me to set the fire, but... is this really going to be all right?
A vague dread stirred in him.
This was on an entirely different level from all the petty things he had done before.
If this went wrong, it could become a disaster.
And if he were caught, would being cast out of the family really be the end of it?
Hoo. Calm down.
Yu Seon-woo forcibly suppressed his anxiety.
Most of the family’s martial artists are at Medicine King Hall right now anyway. There’s no way I’ll get caught.
All he had to do was cause a small disturbance.
Since he was acting in the dead of night, the chances of discovery were slim.
And from the start, he had only intended to make it a minor fire.
He was planning to torch a less important storage building, not one that held anything truly valuable.
All of this will belong to me once I inherit the family. I can’t go burning my own property.
What he was doing now was simply meant to teach his arrogant, insolent younger sister a lesson.
Just as Yu Seon-woo sprinkled oil along one wall of the warehouse—
“The Young Lord told me what might happen, and even then I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think you’d really be this insane.”
Thud!
Someone suddenly smashed the back of his head.
“Urgh!”
With a cry, Yu Seon-woo collapsed unconscious on the spot.
The man who had knocked him out, Im Ho-gyeong, bound his arms with a look of utter contempt.
Then he confiscated the oil and flint from Yu Seon-woo’s robes.
“Young Master, I’ve collected everything.”
“Good. Well done.”
After hearing Im Ho-gyeong’s report, Jin Cheon-hwi let out a sharp whistle.
At once, another whistle answered from somewhere else.
It meant the preparations were complete.
The two of them poured oil over a pile of trash they had prepared in advance and set it alight.
As it began to burn, black smoke curled up into the moonlit night.
“Heh. Looks like Yu Seon-woo actually did his part.”
Outside the Shanxi Yoo Family estate, the leader of the Green Snake Sect looked up at the sky and curled his lips into a vicious smile.
“I was worried that useless idiot might fail, so that’s a relief.”
“That only shows how deep his inferiority complex toward his sister runs,” one subordinate said. “Pathetic, really.”
“Well, thanks to him, things are easier for us, aren’t they? While they’re busy putting out the fire, we’ll steal the Medicine King Divine Pill and kidnap Yu Cheong-ah.”
“Exactly. Now all we have to do is wait for the ones who infiltrated the estate to open the gates.”
And just as the subordinate said—
Creeeak.
The tightly shut gates of the Shanxi Yoo Family estate slowly opened in the dead of night, and around ten Green Snake Sect underworld fighters who had slipped inside pretending to be patients revealed themselves.
“Here. Take these.”
The leader of the Green Snake Sect distributed weapons to them.
Once fully armed, the dozens of bandits entered the estate and headed straight for Medicine King Hall.
But something felt strange.
“Why is it so quiet?”
There was no one at all on the road leading to Medicine King Hall.
It was unnaturally silent.
“Wouldn’t they all have gone to put out the fire?”
“Mm. Maybe.”
They glanced at the black smoke rising in the distance as they spoke.
The estate of the Shanxi Yoo Family was so large that they couldn’t see the flames directly, but the smoke was thick enough to make one thing certain.
Something was definitely burning.
“Fine. We’re already in. It’s too late to back out now. Move in!”
Guided by the infiltrators who had entered beforehand, they made for Medicine King Hall.
“Khahaha! Soon the Medicine King’s secret miracle medicine will be in my hands!”
The Green Snake Sect leader shouted in delight.
The Medicine King Divine Pill.
It was made to treat those suffering from grave injuries, but it also had effects on martial artists.
It not only raised one’s internal energy to a certain degree, but also strengthened bones and internal organs.
That was why it commanded such an enormous price.
And now that he had a chance to obtain it, he could hardly contain his excitement.
“Come on, move!”
And then, when the Green Snake Sect underworld fighters finally arrived in front of Medicine King Hall—
they realized something was wrong.
“There they are!”
“Cut off their retreat!”
Because dozens of martial artists hidden nearby suddenly emerged to greet them.
The Green Snake Sect leader’s eyes flew wide open.
“W-what?”
Why were they here, instead of desperately fighting the fire?
“You’re here.”
Leaning against one of the pillars of Medicine King Hall, I pushed myself upright as I watched the Green Snake Sect fighters enter.
There were dozens of them.
At a glance, they were obviously bandits of the underworld.
Their clothing was mismatched, and their weapons looked poor in quality.
But the man in the center—the leader—was someone I needed to watch.
He’s rattled right now, but he looks fairly skilled.
Judging by the force he gave off at a glance, was he around mid-Peak Realm?
If that was how much pressure he exuded standing still, then his actual skill was likely even higher.
Not bad for a back-alley thug.
Any other enemies nearby?
Just in case, I heightened my senses and swept the surrounding area, but I found no one else in sight.
Even if there were others, Yu Cheong-ah and the Medicine King Divine Pill would be safe.
I had left Sagong Cheon by her side in preparation for any unforeseen situation.
Among our group, he was the strongest. Unless a master of the Harmony Realm appeared, he would be able to handle it well enough.
In that case—
Tap!
I drew my sword and stepped forward to stand before the enemy.
“What business do underworld dogs have at a healer’s residence in the middle of the night? Looking at you, I doubt you came for treatment.”
I smiled.
“Or did you come for the Medicine King Divine Pill?”
“Tch!”
The leader of the Green Snake Sect let out a groan.
Now that he had grasped the situation, he burst out in furious outrage.
“It was a trap! Yu Seon-woo—that bastard set us up!”
He seemed to be misunderstanding something, but I had no intention of correcting him.
There was no need.
After all, none of them would be leaving this place alive.
Of course, if they surrendered now, that would be a different matter...
“Damn it! We outnumber them! Kill them all!”
But there was no chance that the underworld scum who had come all this way to pull a stunt like this would make that choice.
“Hold them back!”
“Don’t let them get inside!”
Clang!Chaang!Clang!
The battle began in front of Medicine King Hall.
Dozens of underworld fighters clashed with the martial artists of the Shanxi Yoo Family.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Cheon Hwi and Im Ho-gyeong running over from afar, and I raised my sword.
The riffraff could be handled by the Shanxi Yoo Family’s martial artists and those two.
I intended to deal with the leader myself.
Shrrk.
I moved forward as though my body were sliding over the ground.
It was a ghostlike motion, one that gave off no presence at all.
But the Green Snake Sect leader had apparently been watching me from the start, because he responded sharply.
He yanked the sword from his waist and immediately aimed for my throat.
Kaaang!
Our blades met, and for a moment we locked in a contest of strength.
“Ghk!”
A groan slipped from him.
My raw power must have been greater than he expected.
I could feel Vajra Yaksha Qi wrapping around my entire body, fortifying me.
A faint, subtle golden radiance seeped out.
It was the precursor to Yaksha Transformation, the secret essence of the Vajrayaksha Divine Art.
If I continue to train steadily and refine the Vajrayaksha Divine Art, I’ll succeed in drawing it out one day.
But not yet.
With that thought, I stamped down hard with my front foot.
At the same time, I shoved the Green Snake Sect leader backward and unleashed the Gale Continuous Sword.
The first form split forth in a single overwhelming stroke.
Boom!
A slash of terrifying force smashed into the enemy’s sword.
“You—!”
But he had no intention of simply taking it. He launched a counterattack at once.
A pale light gathered along his blade.
Sword Qi—the proof of a Peak Realm master.
With a confident expression, he swung his sword to kill me, but—
Woooong!
“What?!”
Kang!
If it was Sword Qi, then I could use it too.
Our blades collided again with a ringing metallic shriek.
Another contest of strength followed.
And once more, he failed to overcome the raw power reinforced by my Vajrayaksha Divine Art and was forced backward.
“Who the hell are you? I know you came from the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect, but how could a brat your age have reached that level...?”
“Seems you’ve spent too long playing king in some backwater town. You don’t know how the world works. The Central Plains are crawling with people my age who’ve reached the Peak Realm or higher.”
Of course, those people were called geniuses.
But the Central Plains were vast.
If every region had just one or two such prodigies, then across the whole land there would still be dozens of them.
In other words, there was nothing strange about me standing at this level.
“And I am the Young Lord of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect. If I’m to lead a clan someday, shouldn’t I be capable of at least this much?”
“...!”
At my words, his expression twisted in utter shock.
“The Young Lord of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect? That’s impossible—”
“Why? Have you heard the rumors about me?”
I was widely known as sickly and unimpressive in skill, after all.
And since this place was close to the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect, it wouldn’t be strange if he had heard stories about me.
But that was that, and this was this.
Whether he felt wronged because I didn’t match the rumors or not, what did that have to do with me?
I only had to do what I came here to do.
“Let’s end this.”
“Shut up!”
His sword came slashing down in a diagonal arc, driven by fury.
It was clearly a forced move—an attack on a completely different level from before.
I immediately unleashed the second form of the Gale Continuous Sword.
A half-moon wave of sword force spread outward, turning defense into immediate reversal.
Shhhhhaaaak!
A semicircular burst of Sword Qi fanned outward, knocking his blade aside.
“Damn it!”
He hurriedly tried to recover his stance and continue the attack, but—
he was already too late.
I was already driving my sword into his chest, its golden Sword Qi blazing.
Whoooosh!
Wind coiled around the blade as Gale Strike pierced straight through his heart.
Thrust!
“Kuhk!”
He stared at me as if he couldn’t believe what had happened.
But only for a moment.
Once his heart had been pierced, there was no way for him to survive.
Thunk.
The sword fell from the Green Snake Sect leader’s hand to the ground.
And at that, the underworld fighters—who had been locked in desperate battle while still watching our duel—went pale with shock.
“T-the Sect Leader has fallen!”
“Aaaaaaah!”
They had never imagined things would end like this, and terror consumed them.
After pulling my sword from the leader’s chest, I charged straight into the enemy ranks.
And then—
Shhhhaaaak!
The one-sided slaughter began.
It didn’t take long for the battle to end.
I cut down the last enemy still resisting and turned around.
Yu Cheong-ah had already stepped out of Medicine King Hall.
I saw her standing there, staring blankly at the battlefield.
Grinning, I said to her,
“I told you. You could look forward to it.”
“...!”