Chapter 24
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Translator: MJK
Chapter: 9.3
Chapter Title: Black Sword White Blade
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-Swish... Slash!-
He drew his blade and immediately unleashed a blade aura nearly a chi long.
-!!!!-
As the massive blade aura hurtled toward him, the protector desperately dodged, barely saving his own life.
"Graaah!"
But he couldn't dodge completely.
His shoulder was torn open in a long gash.
-Clang!-
Blood poured out, and he finally dropped the sword he had been gripping.
With a single strike, one protector was neutralized. Black Sword and White Blade's faces lit up.
"Hahaha! You finally show up?"
"I thought we were done for."
"Sorry for being late."
Unlike the brightening faces of Black Sword and White Blade, the other protectors' expressions darkened further.
Five of them had barely been able to handle Black Sword and White Blade. Now there were only four left.
And to top it off, the rumored White Wolf had appeared before them.
From their perspective, it was the worst possible scenario they could have imagined.
White Wolf approached the grim-faced men and spoke.
"Surrender, and I'll accept it."
"Grit..."
At his offer of surrender, some of the protectors ground their teeth and glared furiously.
Seeing this, White Wolf shook his head.
He had realized they were already prepared to die here.
'Truly enviable.'
He casually thought of Mi Bang.
Not only had he ultimately perfected his sword art, but he had men willing to die for him. It was something to envy.
-Whoosh... Slash!-
-Chaaak!-
Regardless, his movements were fierce and savage.
He had unleashed the White Wolf Heavenly Soar out of respect for them.
In an instant, he slashed two more and pierced the heart of the one who had been wounded earlier.
-Kakakang! Stab! Slash!-
"Aaaargh!"
-Sasasak! Chajajak!-
Black Sword and White Blade swiftly dispatched the rest as well.
Their combined assault flowed as naturally as water, stabbing and slashing one protector in a flash before tearing the last charging one to shreds.
"Phew~ What a noisy bastard."
"Tch. Is that what you have to say?"
"Calling noisy what is noisy— what's weird about that?"
"Forget it. What am I even saying to you?"
"Sheesh. You always pull that when you have nothing to say."
"..."
Black Sword shook his head wordlessly at his friend, who only cared about the fact that the enemies were dead and showed no interest in their desperate final moments.
Black Sword had every reason to be annoyed, but from White Wolf's view, Black Sword and White Blade didn't seem all that different.
Still, Black Sword was the one he could talk to, so White Wolf lightly shook off his blade and asked him.
"By the way, where is the young master?"
"We don't know either. He just said to guard the supplies well in case the protectors launch a surprise attack."
"Hmm?"
White Wolf's doubts grew at the unexpected answer.
If the young master had known about the protectors' ambush and prepared for it, then what reason could he have for leaving his post?
'I knew it would turn out like this.'
As the protectors vacated the area, An Hoe looked pityingly at the figures emerging from hiding here and there.
These were none other than warriors from Evil Spirit Castle, rummaging through Mi Bang's residence like thieves.
Red Bear Stronghold was as vital as Juyang City, with massive supplies dispatched here.
In fact, thousands had resided here, making it equivalent to the cost of raising an army.
An Hoe figured the Evil Spirit Castle warriors couldn't possibly be unaware of that.
So after Mi Bang's death, he predicted they would retreat like cowards and then swoop in to loot the place when the chance arose.
"Still, they're moving exactly as expected, which is almost disappointing."
He had pegged them as unorthodox scum. After watching the pillaging for a bit, he sized up the branch leader.
'Hm. His skills are pretty high for a branch leader.'
That was it.
He was still inferior to White Wolf, not to mention Mi Ryang.
On the other hand, the other unorthodox experts exceeded his expectations.
One surpassed even White Wolf, and the other three were on par.
With experts like that, it made sense they couldn't easily control nine protectors.
"Nothing more worth seeing here."
-Thud!-
With a powerful stamp of his foot, his figure shot like an arrow through the open window into the room.
-Swish... Chaaak!-
The moment he entered, he drew his sword, and a chilling sound rang out.
A slender sword aura sliced across his waist.
"Graaaah!!!!"
His upper body split in half, he crawled on his elbows, shrieking grotesquely.
In the instant the area turned into a bloodbath of chaos, An Hoe kicked off again and thrust his sword.
-Saaat!-
A half-chi sword aura extended, decapitating a warrior rushing desperately into the room.
-Slash!-
He then lopped off the neck of the one still writhing, then launched himself out of the residence with another mighty kick.
-Whoooosh!-
Spotting someone who sensed the anomaly and tried to flee, he swung his sword, and a fierce sword wind seized the man's steps.
It was just a momentary hesitation, but that sealed his fate.
-Stab! Chaaak!-
"Kuhuk!"
An Hoe's blade had already pierced and split his heart precisely.
-Step step-
Having slain three in a flash, An Hoe leisurely walked deeper into the residence, toward Mi Bang's office where the branch leader had entered.
The moment he arrived and reached for the door, a ferocious blade aura shattered it, pouring toward him.
-Kwaakang!-
The door and surroundings exploded, dust billowing thickly and engulfing the area.
It was a mighty strike, but the branch leader who unleashed it wore a twisted expression.
"Damn it all!"
-Whiuuung!-
As he spat curses, a strand of sword wind coldly sliced toward him. He rolled backward to evade.
-Kwagak!-
It was an instinctive judgment, but the right one.
Had he tried to block the sword wind with his blade, he would have ended up in quite the sorry state.
What was terrifying was that the sword wind wasn't just for attacking him—it also blew away the scattered dust around.
"You filthy dog!"
As the dust cleared, the identity of their hunter was revealed, and he cursed again.
It was a hunter unlike any he'd seen even in Evil Spirit Castle.
A boy who hadn't even reached scholarly age approached with supreme techniques utterly at odds with his bored demeanor.
The combination was too bizarre and grotesque.
That's why he realized.
"You're the one. The one who got him."
An Hoe merely shrugged at the man's words, having deduced he'd killed Mi Bang. He said nothing more.
Not all unorthodox folk were like that, but he knew most had personalities worse than dogs.
They were verified trash, and he had no desire to waste breath on them.
He could mix words to extract info, but he already possessed the Supreme Soul Subjugation Art.
In silence, he summoned the demon.
"Wh-what the hell is this mad thing?!"
-Tzzzzzt!-
Evil Spirit Castle teemed with malice, but the branch leader had never seen anything like this. With a horrified face, he swung his sword.
-Chajajang!-
Blade aura fluttered toward him, but it shattered like a lie beneath the demon's swing.
"???"
His eyes shook wildly—it was his first time seeing blade aura pulverized like that.
In that gap, the demon savagely swung its sword.
-Kang... Crack! Clang!-
-Slash... Slash! Saaak!-
"Ka... Kaak..."
He desperately raised his sword at first, but as cracks formed, he crumbled helplessly.
His limbs fell away as if disassembled, his waist split, his shoulders parted. His head, screaming wretchedly until it fainted, rolled off.
-Roll. Thud.-
In a flash, the head with its agonized expression came to rest at An Hoe's feet.
-Tap!-
An Hoe flicked it up into the air with his sword, caught it, and dismissed the demon.
"Let's see. No need to peel the eyelids this time."
The eyes bulged in unconscious agony, a gruesome sight, but it stirred no emotion in him.
Compared to what he'd seen before his regression, this was nothing.
Facing the head and eyes, he unleashed the Soul Subjugation Art.
-Crush!-
Soon after, he withdrew the art and crushed the head he held.
"Even more trash than I thought."
In extracting the information, the culprit had committed atrocities beyond imagination, as casually as breathing.
'Should've fed a pig this one alive.'
Crushing the scattered remains underfoot, he reviewed the extracted intel.
Though a branch leader, he clearly wasn't highly valued.
He knew little about why Evil Spirit Castle was re-entering Hobuk.
It felt like he'd simply followed orders from above.
From these circumstances, they seemed like a group dreaming of expansion.
In truth, Hobuk made sense as a target for Evil Spirit Castle's territorial ambitions.
'I heard it by chance back then.'
It was hearsay from passing by, so credibility might be low, but the one who mentioned it was the Supreme Branch Leader.
A Supreme Branch Leader's words carried weight.
'The Fiend Sovereign...'
According to him, a place in Hobuk hid everything of the Fiend Sovereign.
The branch leader had shown interest but soon forgotten.
He figured an untrusted nobody like himself wouldn't benefit anyway.
But An Hoe's position differed.
'Was it for the Fiend Sovereign's relic that the old associates targeted Hobuk? Or did intel on it surface during that?'
Either way, if the info on the Fiend Sovereign was real, it would plunge Hobuk's martial world into chaos.
Not just Evil Spirit Castle—any in the jianghu would be tempted.
No matter who the Fiend Sovereign was, the title of Sovereign wasn't given lightly.
Only to those with matching prowess and feats. Rumors of such relics always drenched the jianghu in blood.
'Tempting enough for me, let alone them.'
Of course, he wasn't coveting the martial arts left behind.
Knowing supreme arts of the 1st and 2nd hierarchies, he had no reason to crave some Fiend Sovereign's techniques.
His greed stemmed from elsewhere.
Secrets leaking to this extent usually meant a massive trove.
Beyond martial arts, there would be plenty to gain.
'With luck, I might snag something on the level of a Great Return Pill.'
Even without, vast wealth was certain, and using it for the merchant group could spur massive growth.
Still, as branch leader, he knew other things too.
He hadn't paid much attention, so details were fuzzy, but he grasped how far Evil Spirit Castle had infiltrated and its structure.
"A branch has already been established. And this was a month ago..."
He couldn't gauge further infiltration since then.
Just that, with Blade Lord's alliance, more forces than expected might have entered Hobuk.
"Still, we've got time."
A few months without worry at least.
Blade Lord, having lost both arms in Mi Bang and Mi Ryang, couldn't wield the clan anymore.
'That doesn't mean Mi Clan can slack off.'
Now they had to clean up Blade Lord's messes.
Cover the rebellion plot with massive funds and manpower, of course.
And shift stance on Evil Spirit Castle entirely.
At minimum, they'd withdraw support or move to block them. That much was certain.