The Three Envoys of Death
The dull thud of wood echoed through the chamber.
“Ugh!”
Jang Muhwi shook his head as he watched Ma Uiryong swing his iron staff without pause.
“Looks like you’ve got quite a bit pent up. In that case, I suppose it’s time I got to work as well.”
Having spoken, Jang Muhwi swiftly reached out.
His fingers brushed against the nape of Chae Bi-su’s neck.
In that instant, Chae Bi-su—who had barely been holding himself upright—collapsed to the floor.
Thump.
What filled Chae Bi-su’s vision was the sight of the black-clad men toppling over one after another.
He simply couldn’t understand it.
These black-clad men were elite assassins forged through brutal training.
Yet they were falling helplessly, like a line of mahjong tiles being knocked down in sequence.
No matter how he thought about it, it made no sense.
That was when Chae Bi-su’s eyes widened to their limit.
Fear flooded into his pupils.
With every ounce of strength he could muster, he shouted.
“You have to let me out of here!”
“Let you go?”
Jang Muhwi asked, sounding utterly baffled.
But Chae Bi-su didn’t stop.
“If you don’t release me, none of us will survive.”
“Are you waiting for reinforcements?”
“No, that’s not it…”
Chae Bi-su couldn’t finish his sentence.
The ground had suddenly begun to shake.
At the same time, an unpleasant grinding noise filled the air.
Clunk… clunk…
Chae Bi-su spoke with the voice of a man who had given up all hope.
“It’s too late. You die. I die. Everyone dies now.”
The moment his words ended, a tremendous roar erupted.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The deafening booms rang out in rapid succession, growing steadily closer.
The final crash came as the entrance itself vanished.
BOOM!
The source of the noise was a massive iron gate.
One after another, iron doors had descended from the ceiling, completely sealing off the passageways from the outside.
Only then did Jang Muhwi understand what Chae Bi-su had meant.
This place was now perfectly isolated.
Biryong Pavilion was a building designed to be completely cut off from the outside world. It was a strict rule of the merchant group that no one was to approach this place under any circumstances.
That meant…
Without someone deactivating the mechanism, there was no way out.
Or they would have to find an exit passage themselves.
Jang Muhwi looked at Chae Bi-su.
“There is an exit passage, isn’t there?”
“There isn’t.”
“You didn’t even prepare an escape route for yourself?”
“I never imagined I would find myself in a situation like this in my lifetime.”
“You were overconfident. For now, you should take a few more hits.”
“W-wait…”
“Have you remembered something?”
“That’s not it. Just listen to me! The Envoys of Death will be here soon. We need to get out of this spot first. So release me!”
“Envoys of Death?”
“They’re coming. Even I cannot control them.”
Jang Muhwi had a good idea what he meant by “Envoys of Death.”
It seemed Chae Bi-su was referring to martial artists similar to the madman they had encountered in Paryun Valley.
“How many are there? From the way you’re acting, I doubt it’s just one.”
“That’s not what’s important. You couldn’t handle even one of them.”
“I asked how many.”
“Th-three.”
“That’s simpler than I expected.”
“Simple…?”
“Won’t it be solved if we feed them the antidote?”
“How can a mouse put a bell on a cat’s neck? That is utterly impossible.”
“Do I still look like a mouse to you? Seems you haven’t been hit enough.”
When Jang Muhwi reached for his sword sheath, Chae Bi-su shook his head so violently that it stirred up a gust of wind.
“They are gods created by our merchant group. There is no one in Qinghai who can defeat them.”
“You’re talking about those you call the Envoys of Death. Originally there were four, correct?”
“How could you possibly…”
“One of them was heading toward Qinghai and disappeared.”
“…”
Chae Bi-su clamped his mouth shut, his eyes widening in shock.
Jang Muhwi turned to look at Ma Uiryong.
“Stop for a moment.”
His tone had shifted back to its usual polite register.
Ma Uiryong dusted off his hands and answered with a refreshed expression.
“I was just finishing up anyway, Big Brother.”
“Take this fellow to the warehouse and find the antidote.”
“The antidote?”
“He’ll show you where it is.”
Jang Muhwi gave the sprawled Chae Bi-su a few light kicks.
Ma Uiryong hoisted the man onto his shoulder.
“If he doesn’t cooperate, can I kill him?”
“Yes. If he doesn’t listen, just kill him and be done with it.”
Jang Muhwi nodded.
Chae Bi-su’s face turned pale with terror as he was dragged away.
He knew Ma Uiryong wasn’t joking.
As Ma Uiryong carried Chae Bi-su off toward the warehouse, Jang Muhwi quietly stared ahead.
Before him, the black-clad men lay unconscious on the ground.
Jang Muhwi casually picked up one of the swords scattered across the floor.
Then he stopped in front of the warehouse.
What mattered wasn’t defeating the madmen called the Envoys of Death.
If they got out of here, those madmen would serve as crucial evidence.
To preserve that evidence, they needed the antidote.
From the situation, it seemed the antidote had been hidden deep inside.
To search for it, they first needed to block the entrance.
At that moment, a wave of heat flowed in from somewhere.
Shhhk.
It was similar to the heat the madman from Paryun Valley had emitted.
The ones called the Envoys of Death had arrived.
Jang Muhwi gauged the energy he sensed from a distance.
Fortunately, it was weaker than what he had felt from the madman in Paryun Valley.
What concerned him, however, was that there were three of them.
Jang Muhwi quietly raised his sword.
In that instant, the Envoys of Death revealed themselves.
Each of them wore a mask.
The masks, designed to inspire fear, were modeled after the Four Heavenly Kings of Buddhism and looked terrifying.
Though equally fearsome, each mask was distinct.
The one walking at the front wore a pure white mask. Its distorted expression had hollow voids where the eyes should have been, giving it an unfathomable depth.
It was Jiguk Cheonwang.
Jiguk Cheonwang carried a massive blade.
Beside him, the one wearing a mask the color of molten lava was clearly Jeungjang Cheonwang.
And the one wearing silver gauntlets wore the mask of Gwangmok Cheonwang.
Come to think of it, Damun Cheonwang—the one called the Yaksha King—was nowhere to be seen.
The madman they had encountered in Paryun Valley must have been him.
The three Envoys of Death wearing the masks of the Four Heavenly Kings slowly approached.
Judging by their varied weapons, they did not appear to be warriors raised by a single sect.
They were clearly ronin who had sold themselves to the merchant group for money.
Just like the madman from Paryun Valley.
Jang Muhwi slightly narrowed his eyes.
No matter how he thought about it, he could not forgive the Jangryong Merchant Group.
Feeding mind-confusing herbs to secretaries to turn them into puppets.
Turning ronin into these mindless berserkers!
These bastards were parasites devouring the Murim—no, the entire Central Plains.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Jang Muhwi charged toward them.
In the martial world, there was a saying: first strike, half the meal.
It meant the one who attacked first would secure at least half the victory.
The first target Jang Muhwi chose was the silver-masked Envoy who wielded gauntlets.
The silver Envoy extended his hand toward the rapidly approaching sword.
Without hesitation, he grabbed Jang Muhwi’s blade.
At that moment, Jang Muhwi smiled faintly.
In truth, he had thrust forward with the sword still sheathed.
What the silver Envoy had grabbed was the sheath.
Jang Muhwi drew the blade as if he had been waiting for this.
Srrrng.
His sword traced dozens of trajectories.
Of course, he avoided vital points.
Swish, swish, swish.
The Envoy before him was evidence.
Preserving evidence was an ironclad rule!
Thud, thud, thud!
Yet he failed to inflict any wounds on the Envoy’s body.
At that moment, sword energy flew in from behind, aiming for Jang Muhwi’s back.
Bang!
Jang Muhwi quickly ducked as the red-masked Envoy’s sword sliced through the air with a sharp crack.
As a result, the red Envoy’s blade headed straight for the silver Envoy’s neck.
Suddenly, a crimson greatsword appeared.
Clang!
The greatsword that had appeared out of nowhere deflected the red Envoy’s strike.
Even Jang Muhwi was surprised.
One of the Envoys had reacted to save his comrade.
In that instant, the three Envoys each stepped into different positions.
They were clearly trying to form a coordinated battle formation.
“There’s no need to play along with their rhythm.”
Jang Muhwi quickly retreated out of their range.
The saying about a dog chasing a chicken and ending up staring at the roof perfectly described the situation.
Once their formation was broken, the three masked warriors hesitated for a brief moment.
But they immediately resumed their assault on Jang Muhwi.
The silver mask clashed his gauntleted fists together, producing a metallic ring. The red mask intensified the heat at the tip of his sword. The white mask advanced with his greatsword held forward like a shield, closing the distance without leaving any openings.
Their movements were individual yet complemented each other’s blind spots, attempting to shrink Jang Muhwi’s field of action.
Jang Muhwi narrowed his eyes.
Their coordinated formation was textbook.
The most important element of such a formation was mutual supplementation.
One plus one equals two, and adding one more makes three—but the formation they used seemed to multiply its power with every additional person.
I need to break them apart.
In particular, the defensive power of the one with the greatsword and the close-range pressure from the one with the gauntlets were troublesome.
He deliberately charged toward the most aggressive red-masked Envoy, pointing his sword at him.
“You’re first!”
“Kekeke.”
The red mask swung his sword as if he had been waiting, meeting the attack head-on.
Scorching sword energy fiercely engulfed Jang Muhwi.
Right at that moment, Jang Muhwi’s movements became strangely fluid.
Heojeong Manhwa.
Instead of clashing directly with the burning sword energy, his blade flowed along its edge like water.
With minimal movement, he evaded the heat of the energy and slipped into the red mask’s embrace.
At the same time, he didn’t miss the movements of the other two.
As expected, the silver mask’s fist flew in from the side, and the white mask’s greatsword aimed for Jang Muhwi’s lower body from behind.
Jang Muhwi used the momentum from deflecting the red mask’s sword to spin his body.
His rotating blade collided with the silver mask’s gauntlet, sending sharp sparks flying.
Clang!
The gauntlet was hard, but the deflecting force of Heojeong Manhwa caused the silver mask’s arm to twist slightly.
Using that opening, Jang Muhwi lowered his stance and let the greatsword’s slash pass over his head.
The three warriors’ attacks crossed at the same moment, interfering with one another. This was exactly the instant Jang Muhwi had been aiming for!
Now!
Jang Muhwi’s eyes flashed like lightning.
Flash—the fourth stage of the Unnamed Sword Scripture.
However, his goal was not to kill.
He concentrated the speed and focused power of Flash solely on one point: the red mask’s sword wave.
Swoosh!
At a speed too fast for the eye to follow, Jang Muhwi’s sword split the air.
The speed and precision of the strike were astonishing.
“Gah!”
With a short cry, the red mask’s sword was sent flying.
His opponent clutched his wrist, but…
Evidence had to be kept alive.
It was then that Jang Muhwi glanced behind him.
There stood Ma Uiryong, completely dazed.
Jang Muhwi shouted.
“Throw it.”
“Y-yes, Big Brother. He said one pill is enough.”
Ma Uiryong tossed the small gourd bottle in his hand.
It was the antidote they had forced Chae Bi-su to locate.
All four figures moved at once toward the flying bottle.
Jang Muhwi and the three Envoys.
Ma Uiryong stared blankly at Jang Muhwi once again.
The reason he had been standing there in a daze was simple.
It was because of Jang Muhwi’s martial prowess.
What was even harder to believe was that the person he had challenged just days ago was none other than Jang Muhwi.
“He was holding back.”
That was Ma Uiryong’s conclusion.
The martial arts being displayed by Jang Muhwi and the Envoys were difficult to follow even with his eyes.
It was fiercer than the sword techniques of Geomhui, whom Ma Uiryong feared.
Suddenly, a burning heat surged in Ma Uiryong’s chest.
It was an emotion he had never felt before.
Not the competitive spirit of wanting to defeat an opponent, but a pure passion to step into their midst and test himself.
That rising passion lasted only a moment.
The four figures clashed fiercely around the gourd bottle.
A cloud of dust rose from their intense movements.
Ma Uiryong flinched, wondering if he should intervene.
At that moment, a figure burst out from within the dust cloud.
It was Jang Muhwi, holding the gourd bottle.
A bright smile spread across his face.
As the dust settled, the collapsed red-masked Envoy became visible behind him.