The Scent of Blood
Her legs were shaking.
No—her entire body was trembling.
That was the kind of killing intent Heugam possessed.
Bloody. Announcing the end of all things.
Her teeth clenched tight.
He was smiling. That was all.
Yet it felt like she might throw up.
She could barely breathe.
The shadow of death still gripped her ankles, dragging her down into the earth.
All because of that one old monster and his killing aura.
Damn it.
She understood now.
Just how careless she had been.
And how terrifying the gangho truly was.
The realization hit her again, sharp as a knife to the bone.
The gangho was a place crawling with monsters like him.
The truth made her heart tremble once more.
Moyong Sehui turned her gaze toward Namgung Cheol.
He was shaking violently.
Grind.
Her teeth ground together.
He should have told them.
Before the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes walked into this trap, he should have warned them not to come.
Heugam’s killing intent grew thicker by the second.
She bit down on her lip.
Moyong Sehui endured that murderous aura.
All while the metallic stench of blood filled her nose.
Slowly, Heugam’s eyes turned toward her.
His presence alone crushed her heart.
He spoke.
“Daughter of the Moyong Clan, you might have actually captured Jeoksan. You had the chance. If only that trembling son of the Namgung Clan over there hadn’t been around.”
“……!”
“The Namgung boy kept dragging you down. That’s why you missed your opportunity to catch Jeoksan. And knowing that, I figured a simple trap like this would be enough to snare him. In the end, he delivered you right to me.”
Namgung Cheol’s face turned deathly pale.
He never imagined his actions had been predicted so perfectly—that this entire trap had been built around him.
That he was the one who had dragged them all into the jaws of death.
All he had wanted was to raise the name of his clan…
Heugam continued.
“Son of Namgung, did you really think I wouldn’t know you’d abandon the vast city of Hangzhou for the West Lake, with nothing but a wide lake and one small village? That you’d settle in Yeohang, a place that’s little more than fishing boats and docks? The daughter of Moyong knew that, which is why she tried to find us here in Hangzhou.”
“……Ugh.”
Heugam laughed again.
As if he had no further use for Namgung Cheol, he turned fully toward Moyong Sehui.
“You already know, don’t you? That you’re going to die here.”
“……I won’t beg for my life.”
“Good. That’s how it should be. You’re nothing like that Namgung boy.”
Moyong Sehui’s twisted gaze shot toward Namgung Cheol like a dagger.
I can’t believe it. Namgung Cheol, that bastard. He actually said something like that? The Namgung Clan—one of the Three Great Righteous Families—begging for mercy from the Sapa?
Her eyes burned with hatred as she demanded the truth.
Was it real?
Namgung Cheol whipped his head away.
The violent trembling of his jaw told her everything she needed to know.
He’s insane. He’s completely lost his mind.
That sudden, reckless behavior.
Because of it, the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes had fallen into this trap.
And while they fought for their lives, he had been begging for mercy.
She should have ignored him.
She should have abandoned him.
No matter what it meant for her relationship with the Namgung Clan.
Srrrng.
Moyong Sehui drew her sword.
She leveled it at Heugam.
She was going to die here.
But she had no intention of dying quietly.
She would land at least one blow. If that failed, she would bite and claw until the very end.
No matter how ugly it became.
The moment she drew her blade, the rest of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes seemed to steel themselves and drew their weapons as well.
All except Namgung Cheol, once again.
“The more I see, the more I like you.”
Heugam smiled with cold amusement.
And then—
KWOOONG!
His internal energy erupted.
A wave of dust exploded outward from him, slamming into Moyong Sehui who stood two jang away.
The power far exceeded anything she had anticipated.
It was nothing like the relaxed, smiling energy he had displayed during his spar with her father.
This was savage. It reeked of rotting blood.
Damn it. Was Heugam’s martial arts this strong?
Cold sweat ran down her back.
The hand gripping her sword hilt was slick with sweat.
The moment a drop of that sweat slid from her palm and hit the ground—
Crack!
Heugam kicked off the earth.
The stones embedded in the ground shattered and flew outward.
It was unbelievable.
He raised the sword he had obtained from the hidden vault—So Ha Cheon Ji—and brought it crashing down toward Moyong Sehui.
Clang—! Crackle—!
“Guh!”
Her sword shattered under a single strike.
She didn’t need to feel the horror of that fact.
She already knew the vast gulf that existed between their skills.
“Ugh!”
The dark red blood that burst from Moyong Sehui’s mouth was the result of taking Heugam’s internal energy head-on.
Her qi had gone into reverse flow.
Blood poured out of her in rapid, choking spurts.
With a hand sticky with blood, she pulled a dagger from within her robes.
Amid the scattering fragments of her broken sword, she exploited the momentary distraction in his gaze and charged straight at Heugam.
Crunch.
Heugam stared blankly at the dagger now embedded in his right arm.
The blood dripping from it—how long had it been since he last saw his own?
Snort.
It had been a long time.
A long time since a martial artist had come at him with such desperate ferocity.
The half-buried dagger stimulated all his senses.
“To know your sword would break and use the flying fragments to hide your approach… I like you more and more.”
Shuk—!
Heugam adjusted his grip on the sword.
As if he were finally getting serious.
His expression changed.
The internal energy that smelled of rotting blood turned foul, like a stench.
It wasn’t real, but that was how it felt.
Bang—!
Heugam stepped forward with a movement technique and thrust his sword at Moyong Sehui.
Without a blade, she slipped into the gap, grabbed his wrist, and twisted.
If he would just fall like this…
But he didn’t.
Heugam lifted her entire body into the air.
The moment her eyes widened—
His left fist drove into her torso.
“Aaaargh!”
A sound like breaking bones accompanied the horrific pain.
The scream she had tried to hold back burst out as her body flew backward.
Moyong Sehui tumbled across the ground.
As she rolled, the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes flickered into view.
They were struggling desperately against the Saheol Alliance warriors who had formed a coordinated assault formation.
They were being torn apart, slashed, and killed.
Just like her.
Heugam’s subordinates were strong.
Thud!
Once again, a pained groan escaped Moyong Sehui’s lips.
“Guh!”
Heugam had closed the distance in an instant and struck with a brutal kick.
Blood sprayed from her mouth again.
Her eyes widened.
Heugam’s fist was already flying toward her chest in a merciless, vicious blur.
Is this the end? I wanted to see them one more time… the people of the Dan Manor…
In that instant.
Heugam’s fist slammed into her chest.
KWAAANG—!
In a quiet, peaceful pavilion.
Dan Hyunwoo, who had been drinking tea with Hwa Yuhwa, suddenly turned his head.
“What’s wrong, Captain?”
“I smell blood. And the air is stirring again.”
“What should we do? Are you going?”
Dan Hyunwoo nodded.
Hwa Yuhwa might not have noticed yet, but he sensed a familiar presence.
“If this is fate, then it’s fate. Let’s go, Yuhwa.”
Dan Hyunwoo and Hwa Yuhwa rose to their feet.
Leaving behind tea that was still warm.
Yu Sucheon and Jeon Akgwan ran like madmen. Every leap made the duck in Yu Sucheon’s arms quack loudly.
Choosing familiar alleys in Hangzhou and taking the shortest possible route, Yu Sucheon soon caught up to the rear of the fifty-or-so Saheol Alliance thugs.
Huh? That bastard’s the Blood Sword Guest, Seokcheon.
Someone he had known fairly well back in the Saheol Alliance.
There was only one impression he had of the man.
Son of a bitch.
No need to exchange words.
He would cut first and talk never.
Slaaaaaash!
True to his Saheol Alliance roots—where stabbing people in the back was everyday life—he began slaughtering them from behind.
Startled by the sudden chaos, Seokcheon spun around.
“Yu Sucheon…?! What the hell is this bastard doing here? Wait… I see. So Jeoksan really got taken down. By a piece of trash like him.”
Seokcheon drew his sword.
“Whatever. I’ll just kill him myself and be done with it.”
Clang!
The swords of the rushing Seokcheon and Yu Sucheon collided.
What the…? This uneasy feeling?
Facing the sparks flying from their blades, Seokcheon frowned.
This wasn’t the Yu Sucheon he remembered.
His internal energy, his swordsmanship—everything felt alien.
Seokcheon quickly tried to retreat using a footwork technique.
That was when he realized.
It was already too late.
Slaaash!
“Aaaargh! You bastard!”
The arm holding his sword flew away.
He saw it with his own two eyes.
Unbelievable as it was, the arm lying on the ground was his.
Seokcheon screamed.
“Fuck! Kill him!”
The remaining forty-plus Saheol Alliance warriors swarmed Yu Sucheon.
They formed a formation and began pressing him.
“This many is actually pretty tough. Akgwan… huh?”
He ran away again.
Peeking over the wall with just his eyes.
This time he could see two ducks and three heads poking out.
I’m really going to kill you later. Just wait.
Yu Sucheon’s blade surged upward.
Clang-clang-clang! Clang! Claaaaang!
Swords clashed fiercely.
Even as Yu Sucheon steadily cut them down, he himself began accumulating wounds.
There were simply too many of them.
Cold sweat broke out.
Slash!
His shoulder. His thigh.
No—his entire body was being cut.
This is getting dangerous. These guys are way stronger than I expected!
These men had the skill to earn themselves nicknames.
He didn’t know why such experts followed Seokcheon, but the cold sweat poured even more heavily.
“Please step back one pace.”
A familiar voice suddenly rang out from somewhere.
Yu Sucheon hurriedly used his footwork to retreat.
In that instant—
Swish-swish-swish-swish!
Dozens—no, hundreds—of large acupuncture needles flew in and swept away every single Saheol Alliance thug at once.
And then—
Whoooosh!
Dan Hyunwoo and Hwa Yuhwa shot past him using lightness skill.
Crazy…
Moving at that speed while launching this many needles and hitting every single vital point perfectly?
Every needle had struck a critical point.
The men collapsed without even having time to scream.
To clean them up so easily.
Like throwing out trash.
Yu Sucheon’s head snapped around to follow the direction Dan Hyunwoo and Hwa Yuhwa had run.
“But where the hell are they rushing off to in such a hurry? First Jeoksan and Seokcheon show up, and now this. Something big must be happening. Hey! Akgwan!”
“Y-yes! I was diligently guarding the ducks, sir.”
“You head back to the Dan Manor, lock the gates, and don’t let anyone in. If anyone suspicious shows up, cut them down immediately.”
Whoooosh!
With those words, Yu Sucheon’s sword sliced through the neck of the trembling Seokcheon, who still didn’t understand what was happening.
He had probably left him alive just so Yu Sucheon could finish him off.
As Seokcheon’s head rolled across the ground—
Bang—!
Yu Sucheon kicked off the ground, chasing after Dan Hyunwoo.
From behind, Jeon Akgwan shouted.
“You’re covered in blood! Where are you going?! Brother Yu, you’re badly injured!”
“I know that!”
Yu Sucheon raised his internal energy and stepped forward.
Her mind was hazy.
Moyong Sehui had rolled dozens of times after being struck by Heugam’s fist.
A sound like shattering bones rang out, followed only by blood.
From her mouth. From where she had been hit.
Her skin had been torn to shreds.
She could barely see.
Heugam grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up.
Then he frowned.
Crunch.
Another dagger had embedded itself in the arm where the first one had been.
If it had been a moment ago, he might have laughed at how pathetic it was.
But Heugam’s frown did not fade.
“I’m starting to get tired of this.”
The others were still holding on, living up to the name of the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes.
It was time to clean up and move on to his original objective.
The game was over.
“Farewell.”
Heugam raised So Ha Cheon Ji.
The moment he brought it down toward Moyong Sehui—
“……?!”
A spine-chilling sensation made him turn his head.
Someone was there.
Someone other than the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes and his subordinates.
Even his subordinates froze.
A man and woman who had suddenly appeared.
They stood between the Five Dragons and Three Phoenixes and the attackers, stopping a sword with their bare hand.
It had been the exact moment a subordinate’s blade was about to sever the neck of the girl called Jegal Yeon—yet that sword was now trembling violently in the man’s grip.
The man walked forward slowly and spoke.
“Let go of that hand. The one holding Moyong Sehui.”
“Who the hell are you? How did you get in here? What are you all doing?! Kill that bastard right now!”
It was then.
Slash-slash-slash! Slaaaaaash!
In a single instant, the subordinates’ heads flew into the air simultaneously.
No—their entire bodies, their limbs, were sliced and torn apart.
The man hadn’t done anything. He had simply walked.
Blood rained down like a crimson shower.
Walking through that downpour, the man—Dan Hyunwoo—radiated a ferocious killing intent as he spoke.
“I won’t repeat myself.”