Chapter 14
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Translator: MJK
Chapter: 6.2
Chapter Title: Chapter 6. Mi Family Clan
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"So that's why they said it was dark... a new moon."
Mi Ryang had stepped out into the garden to ward off his fatigue, only to come face-to-face with a moon as slender as a woman's eyebrow.
It was a moment that made him newly realize just how much time had slipped by unnoticed amid his hectic daily routine.
If everything had gone according to plan, he wouldn't have been thrown into this grand undertaking for another year.
But when the one called White Crane ascended to the position of Prime Minister, they had no choice but to accelerate all their plans.
"Where did a monster like that even come from?!"
Even the Blade Lord had assessed him in such terms.
It wasn't just that he excelled at administration.
His command of military affairs was as seasoned as a veteran of a hundred battles. In preparation for any contingencies, the high officials and royal figures they had painstakingly drawn into their fold were all purged in a single stroke.
Using the wealth seized in that purge, he swiftly set the royal house back on its feet—and at a speed that defied all reason.
Even though there were plenty of matters for the martial world to handle in relation to the court, he had taken this desperate gamble for precisely that reason.
He had intuited that time was not on their side.
As such, he mobilized all those who could be considered his limbs to the utmost, aiming to seize Juyang City as swiftly as possible.
Among them, Mi Ryang was very much like his left arm.
When it came to martial prowess alone, he was one of the top handful in the clan.
And with a sharp mind to boot, plus unwavering loyalty, the Blade Lord's trust in him ran deep.
The overall situation in Juyang City might as well have revolved around him.
"Mm..."
Even he, however, had lately been struggling to shake off his exhaustion.
Not even a peak expert could keep going with reduced sleep forever—it was simply too grueling.
As he wandered the garden without bothering to hide his weariness, he suddenly halted in his tracks.
"Who's there?"
He called out, staring into one particularly dark corner of the garden, made all the more shadowy by the new moon.
The bushes rustled, and a small shadow emerged.
"Damn it. Looks like I need to pick up some kind of stealth technique. Getting spotted this easily."
"???"
Mi Ryang stared in utter bewilderment at the figure who grumbled and stepped into view.
It was just a boy—far too young.
The boy who appeared before Mi Ryang drew his sword and spoke.
"I was hoping to take you out quietly, but no helping it."
"Are you insane?"
When this brat, who couldn't even reach the initial attainment level, talked about killing him, Mi Ryang could only shake his head in disbelief.
The boy—no, An Hoe—frowned.
"Hearing that I'm crazy again?"
"If everyone's saying it, then you probably are."
"Ha! Go ahead and die by the hand of that madman, then."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than An Hoe stomped the ground. At the same instant, a tremendous malice unfurled from his sword like something twisting in agony.
"Hup!"
-Tadadak!-
Mi Ryang sharply cut his breath and instinctively unleashed the peak Shadowless Step.
True to its name of a footwork where no shadow could be seen, the Shadowless Step boasted extreme speed, but it couldn't easily shake off that ferocious sword trajectory.
-Pabababang!-
In the end, Mi Ryang had to unleash a barrage of Mountain Opening Palms, and only then could he barely extricate himself from the sword's path.
"Hah... hah!"
Having retreated more than ten zhang in that single instant, Mi Ryang gasped for breath.
His eyes trembled widely, but it wasn't just his eyes—his entire face was rigid with shock.
'I've never seen anything like this, not even during the great Honam War!'
It went beyond a sword that was merely sharp and ferocious; this was no weapon for a human to wield.
"I've never even seen anything like this from an evil spirit."
The evil spirit had been the most horrific supreme expert of the unorthodox factions during the great Honam War.
Even the current Blade Lord couldn't face that evil spirit alone.
It had taken the combined might of the present Honam Five Great Clans to capture him.
Even that evil spirit had never displayed such malice.
"What are you... a demon?"
"Calling me a demon? That's quite the rude thing to say so casually."
An Hoe shrugged lightly, brushing off the remark.
From that gesture alone, he looked every bit the boy his age.
That disconnect instilled fear in Mi Ryang.
Above all, it was his calm demeanor that posed the greatest threat.
Though hastily executed, his palm technique bore a name that meant splitting open mountains, and its power was accordingly immense.
Yet this foe had torn through the Mountain Opening Palms as if they were child's play. It was only natural for alarm bells to ring.
However, he was a supreme expert worthy of being called a battle-hardened veteran.
A man who had survived and triumphed through countless bloody trials.
-Sring-
Above all, his true specialty lay not in palms, but in the blade.
No sooner had he drawn his dao than he unleashed the peak Giant Mountain Blade Art.
-Whoooong!-
A momentum evoking a majestic mountain rippled along his blade, shaking the entire garden.
That aura was profoundly threatening, but...
"Haha."
An Hoe, facing it head-on, let out a short laugh.
As his laughter faded, a malice utterly different in nature from before extended from the tip of his sword.
It was no mere demon.
"...A devil?"
Mi Ryang belatedly realized the true essence of that malice.
A devil stood before him, one who could laugh off his Giant Mountain Blade Art, executed with mountain-like force and power.
-Sususuk!-
The moment realization dawned, an enormous blade energy capable of shattering house-sized boulders poured from his dao—yet Mi Ryang's mind remained endlessly uneasy.
That it was more than mere unease soon became clear.
-Saaak!-
As the blade energy flew toward him, a single strand of sword energy extended from the devil's sword in response.
Judging purely by momentum, the sword energy was less than half—no, not even that—of the blade energy.
To the eye, it seemed the sword energy would be swept away and shattered.
But the outcome was different.
-Pasasak!-
It was the blade energy that shattered.
Without any significant resistance, the blade energy crumbled, and Mi Ryang hurriedly withdrew his body.
He summoned blade energy once more, pouring it onto the incoming sword energy.
One, two... He drew up every ounce of his qi, unleashing blade energies in a frenzy.
Each carried a ferocity capable of crumbling mountains, and naturally, the surrounding garden was rent and shattered under their influence.
-Puseok, puseoseok...
But nothing changed.
For all their ferocious momentum, the blade energies were all pathetically shattered at the tip of the devil's sword.
-Puuu!-
In the end, Mi Ryang had no choice but to spit blood and tumble away.
"Enemies! Ambush!"
"Hurry!"
Only then did Mi Family warriors begin rushing in from all directions.
Their numbers exceeded a dozen, including two peak experts among them.
Encircling the garden as they did, they presented a threatening sight.
Yet An Hoe paid them no mind whatsoever.
-Thud, thud-
"Did I expect too much?"
He approached Mi Ryang, who gazed up at him with eyes full of fear, a hint of disappointment on his face.
Mi Ryang was supposed to be one of the clan's top experts, so he'd held high hopes—yet the reality fell far short.
The most disappointing part was the blade energy he'd unleashed.
"A blade energy form without even a proper intent behind it..."
It looked impressive on the outside, but it was hollow within.
Like building a roof before laying a solid foundation.
In contrast, An Hoe's sword energy contained not just intent, but true will.
Intent was mere thought.
When thought reached its peak, it became obsession, at which point one could wield Sword Qi Point Acupoint.
When obsession culminated, it rose into consciousness—that was will.
From there, one could transcend the formless to reach tangible arts like qi reinforcement.
That difference produced this result.
When a flimsy blade energy clashed with sword energy that surpassed even perfection, no amount of power infused into the blade energy could prevail.
"...Who the hell are you?"
"Why should a dead man soon know that? Just die thinking I'm some lunatic."
No sooner had he spoken than An Hoe swung his sword. Mi Ryang rolled desperately with a tumbling technique and unleashed his dao once more.
-Kagagang!-
But already outmatched in momentum, he couldn't block An Hoe's sword.
"Cough..."
He spat blood again, his body caked in dirt.
"Save the elder!"
"You bastard!"
If anything could save him, it was the Mi Family warriors charging from all sides.
Their dozen-plus numbers lunged ferociously, a fairly intimidating sight—yet An Hoe didn't spare them a single glance.
-Kagang! Kang!-
-Chwaaa!-
Instead, he pressed Mi Ryang even harder, ultimately succeeding in slashing deeply across his waist.
-Kaang!-
"Guhk!"
With his waist half-severed, Mi Ryang couldn't even scream properly as he dropped his sword.
By then, An Hoe was already surrounded by the Mi Family warriors.
It looked as if he'd be hacked apart by blades assailing him from every direction.
Mi Ryang squeezed his eyes shut.
The outcome was obvious.
-Hwaaa!-
"!!!!"
The devil went berserk.
But it was different from when he'd faced Mi Ryang.
A more primal malice surged outward in all directions like an undercurrent.
The gruesome slaughter unfolded in utter silence.
-Seogeok! Seogeok! Chwaaa!-
-Tuduk! Thud!-
There was only the sound of swords slicing through humans.
"Gu... guhk."
"Huu... hup."
The peak experts at least managed short, scream-like bursts of breath, but the rest were reduced to mere chunks of meat, indifferently scattered.
-Sring!-
Having butchered the dozen-plus warriors in an instant, the devil revealed thick disappointment.
As if this meager blood couldn't quench its thirst.
The devil rebelled against its master's will to withdraw.
"Oh?"
Unexpectedly, An Hoe seemed pleased.
Compared to the rampaging devil from before his regression, it had been far too docile lately, cause for concern.
Just as he thought, 'That's right, if it's a devil, it should do at least this much,' and felt glad...
-....-
"Tch."
The devil suppressed its instincts and vanished.
Remembering, belatedly, the fear it could not defy.
-Saak! Thud!-
An Hoe shook his head in regret as he swung his sword, sending a head flying into the air before it crashed down noisily.
The head's owner was Mi Ryang.
He had already sensed his fate, eyes squeezed shut in terror.
"What a pain."
An Hoe picked up the severed head and forced its eyes open.
A faint thread of consciousness remained in Mi Ryang's eyes, which quivered before being dyed in rippling blue light.
A little over a moment later, An Hoe withdrew the Soul Subjugation Art.
He tossed aside the head he held and nodded to himself.
"I was worried your skills were lacking, but..."
The information extracted from Mi Ryang was on a whole different level from what he'd obtained before.
It had to be.
Mi Ryang was one of the masterminds behind the rebellion plot.
Thanks to that, An Hoe not only grasped the Mi Family's hidden resources and personnel in Juyang City but also accessed far more fundamental intelligence.
As expected, the Mi Family was supporting bandits.
Specifically, a mountain stronghold elevated to greenwood ranks, centered on survivors from the Red Dragon Stronghold who escaped the subjugation.
"But I didn't expect someone from the Mi Family to take the position of stronghold lord."
Among unorthodox factions, bandits were the most reviled and scorned.
The prejudice rivaled that against courtesans or street thugs in the underworld.
Greenwoods were a slight exception, but the overall impression wasn't much different.
Yet for someone from the Mi Family—one of the upright faction's great leaders—to sit as lord of such a stronghold?
This was an enormous humiliation for him.
"Still, that stronghold is that important."
Once the mountain stronghold properly established itself, it could easily shake Juyang City and its surroundings.
With control over intelligence from various locales to boot, it would grant them superiority against any subjugation forces.