Chapter 289
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 289
Chapter Title: Huh, Mom...!
"Fi, finally..."
Gongya Hwiyeon's voice trembled slightly.
The city was now right before her eyes.
She could clearly make out the towers dotting the skyline.
Just a little farther, and she'd be inside the walls.
Then she could crash for the day.
She was beyond exhausted at this point.
After that, hop on a boat, and it was over.
She'd finally shake off those damn Shaolin monks.
It was late afternoon now.
As she hurried her steps, determined to enter before sunset...
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!!
A distant whoosh cut through the air.
Chills ran down her spine at the ominous sound.
Gongya Hwiyeon poured strength into her legs.
She quickened her pace, breaking into a sprint.
Somehow, she knew that sound was gunning for her.
No, she was certain.
'How...'
She'd erased her tracks so meticulously.
Yet here they were, tracking her so precisely, so quickly.
She ran.
She didn't know why, but...
If she could just reach the city, surely something would turn up.
She sprinted at full speed.
Her breath ragged, sweat pouring, legs aching to the bone.
She ran for her life.
"Got you. Heh heh heh."
A sinister voice and a creepy chuckle pierced her ears, sending shivers down her spine.
It came from behind, unmistakably.
Yet a shadowy figure materialized before her like a ghost.
Despite the sudden ambush, Gongya Hwiyeon didn't stop.
She veered toward the city, desperate for one more step.
"Heh heh. Such a cute little struggle."
Thud.
A heavy blow slammed into her back.
Gongya Hwiyeon tumbled forward, rolling across the dirt.
Even so, she sprang up and lunged toward the city again.
"Tch. What a pain. Stop."
That single command.
Just those words...
And Gongya Hwiyeon couldn't move forward an inch.
A gloomy, sinister aura wrapped around her body like chains.
She was utterly pinned, helpless.
"Wh-what is this..."
An absolute monster.
Only now could Gongya Hwiyeon see her captor clearly.
Red eyebrows, eyes glowing with a faint crimson haze.
A shaved head gleaming under tattered monk robes.
He looked the part of a monk.
But the aura he exuded was anything but holy.
For Gongya Hwiyeon, a woman of the unorthodox paths, to sense such gloomy menace...
"You put up quite the sly fight while running. This monk is Hyun Hwang of Shaolin."
Gongya Hwiyeon's eyes widened in fury.
This creep was a Shaolin monk?
Impossible.
She'd have believed Demonic Cult or Blood Cult first.
Hyun Hwang smirked at her reaction, clearly amused.
"Insolent mortal. The world is full of mysteries beyond your ken."
He glanced back at the city.
"Was it that guy in there you were rushing to so desperately?"
Hyun Hwang had clearly sensed Ha Mu-baek's presence within the walls.
Gongya Hwiyeon's eyes flickered at his words.
How could he know who was in the city?
It made no sense to her.
"If I had the time, I'd play with you longer. But I'm short on it. I need to drag you back to Song Mountain now."
With a casual flick of his wrist...
Gongya Hwiyeon's body floated up, drifting to his side.
She hovered in midair beside him.
She strained with all her might, but nothing budged.
Hyun Hwang eyed her coolly.
"You've got some interesting toys."
His gaze lingered on her face and wrists.
"Doesn't matter. Whatever the Abbot does with you is his business. I just need to deliver you on time."
He muttered, counting days on his fingers.
"Heh heh heh. If I hustle, I might even stop for a breather at Deungbong."
The five-day deadline Hyun Gwang had given.
At this pace, he could spare a day.
"Wh-what are you talking about? Why torment a nobody like me? Do you even know who I am?"
Her raspy voice cracked.
She'd deliberately scarred her vocal cords with medicine.
Hyun Hwang chuckled at the sound.
"Even messed with your voice, huh? Heh heh. Anyone else, and you'd have slipped away. Heh heh. Sending me was the Abbot's smartest move."
A girl with two disguises and the smarts to alter her voice...
He was sure Yeon Jin's crew couldn't have caught her, dead or alive.
"I-I have no idea what you're saying."
Gongya Hwiyeon feigned utter confusion to the bitter end.
Hyun Hwang's face hardened coldly.
"Shut your trap before I rip every stitch off you. Tricks like that don't work on this monk—or rather, this lord."
Gongya Hwiyeon clamped her mouth shut.
Those eyes...
They meant it.
Keep struggling, and he'd shred her clothes for real.
She bit her lip.
Trapped now, headed to Shaolin for sure.
Blood trickled from where her teeth pierced her lip.
Hyun Hwang ignored it, gauging directions.
Straight line was fastest to Song Mountain.
He hadn't taken the shortest path tracking her.
Direct shot, and he could booze it up in Deungbong.
"Deungbong's brothels are such a letdown, though..."
He grumbled wistfully.
No helping it.
With Shaolin nearby, brothels were scarce, girls hard to come by.
Deungbong teemed with incense pilgrims to the temple.
Tough spot for pleasure houses.
At his mention of girls, Gongya Hwiyeon flinched.
Worried he'd eye her body.
Hyun Hwang smirked.
"Relax, girl. You're off-limits, not a hair out of place. Damn Abbot. Sends me after prime meat like this and says hands off."
He couldn't see her true face, masked by the full-face veil.
But her curves under the robes? Perfect.
Relief or worry?
Confusion clouded Gongya Hwiyeon's face.
"Time to go. This lord's thirsty for booze and broads."
He set his course and kicked off the ground—then froze.
His gaze snapped sideways.
"Hm? A little rat tailing me?"
Hyun Hwang had charged ahead, senses locked on Gongya Hwiyeon.
Front was scanned far; rear was blind.
Only after capturing her did he spread his senses normally.
Now he noticed the pursuer.
But...
His expression twisted oddly.
"Oh ho! A woman!"
His eyes gleamed with dark lust.
Couldn't touch the one he had, but the tail? Fair game.
Gongya Hwiyeon reeled from the shifting situation.
A woman chasing this monstrous monk?
Who? Why?
U Mun Ga-yul ran with everything she had.
While broadcasting her presence loud and clear.
The sinister aura had met up with the Shaolin monks, then veered off.
She was sure it was after her daughter.
So she aimed to draw its attention first.
To keep it from reaching her girl.
It moved with ruthless purpose, zero hesitation.
She had to halt it.
Even blasting her aura, it didn't stop.
Just barreled one way.
Small mercy: it paused at night.
U Mun Ga-yul chased relentlessly.
Only way to close the gap.
Three sleepless nights already.
Yet her eyes burned bright.
Clear goal in mind.
She poured qinggong into a sprint, mile after mile.
Late afternoon, sun dipping west.
Her face darkened.
The aura had stopped.
Target reached.
She pushed harder, praying her daughter wasn't there.
Closing in.
Maxing her inner power, she glimpsed the figure afar.
Tattered robes, freshly shaved bald head.
Shaolin monk.
And hovering beside him in midair—a woman.
'Yeon!'
Looks didn't matter.
She knew instantly.
Her daughter.
Too late by a step; captured.
Her bad feeling had been spot on.
Subduing someone and levitating them? What realm was this?
He'd just now sensed her.
Ignored her aura till then.
Still too far for eyes.
Yet their gazes locked across the void.
U Mun Ga-yul halted.
She unslung her bow from her shoulder.
Nocked an arrow to the Tyrannical Force Heaven-Slaying Bow.
Drew to the limit.
Bow creaking, near snap.
All her power into bow and arrow.
Tyrannical Force Heaven-Slaying Bow.
Ultimate, supreme technique.
Tyrannical God-Exterminating Heaven-Slaying Arrow.
Her maxed inner energy formed qi on the arrow.
Jet-black, inky qi.
Why they called her Ink Orchid.
'Should've packed better arrows...'
Standard ones couldn't handle her power fully.
She had more to give, but arrows buckled.
Qi-infused, but not peak force.
Too late for regrets.
Do her best now.
Ping!
U Mun Ga-yul released.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!!!
The Tyrannical God-Exterminating Heaven-Slaying Arrow hurtled like world-ending doom.
Roaring through the air.
A streak of light.
Hyun Hwang sensed the massive intent first.
Then saw the arrow.
Ink-qi brimming, ripping toward him at terrifying speed.
Gongya Hwiyeon spotted it too.
Her eyes quaked.
She knew at a glance.
Tyrannical Force Heaven-Slaying Bow's Tyrannical God-Exterminating Heaven-Slaying Arrow.
With ink qi.
And he'd called the shooter a woman.
Woman. That technique. Ink qi.
One person fit.
'Huh, Mom...!'
In the chaos, "Mom" popped into her head over "Mother."
Tears spilled.
"Not bad!"
Hyun Hwang sneered.
Gongya Hwiyeon's floating body shifted.
Positioned squarely between arrow and him.
Direct hit: her chest.
Yet U Mun Ga-yul didn't flinch.
Her daughter's tears hurt from afar, but duty first.
She just watched the arrow.
Gongya Hwiyeon too.
Tears flowing, but steady.
Mother's arrow flying at her heart—no tremor.
Hyun Hwang, clueless to their bond, watched with glee.
In a blink, the arrow reached her chest.
Then—
It veered sharply skyward.
Plunging straight at Hyun Hwang's crown.
Realm of Qi-Controlled Arrow!
U Mun Ga-yul willed the path with thought alone.
"Not bad?"
Undaunted by the twist, Hyun Hwang swung his fist.
Hundred Paces Divine Fist.
Gray, ominous qi-coated knuckles clashed with ink arrow.
Kwaaaaaang!!!!!
Earth and sky quaked from the blast.
The shockwave hurled Gongya Hwiyeon tumbling.
"Kuhk."
Pain wracked her; a groan escaped.
U Mun Ga-yul leaped forward.
Daughter free now—rescue time.
Three arrows already nocked.
Fired mid-stride.
Silent Arrow.
Tyrannical Force Arrow.
Heaven-Slaying Arrow.
Three styles, three paths, homing in.
Hyun Hwang's right fist still locked with the first arrow's ink qi.
His lips curled at the trio incoming.
"Getting cocky now, huh..."
His body erupted with colossal aura.
Earth shook, heavens trembled again.
U Mun Ga-yul struck with full fury.
To save her daughter.
Their battle raged on.
The clash unfolded near Anyang.
But the shockwaves didn't quite reach the city.
Just far enough out.
Ha Mu-baek, senses locked solely on the city, missed it.
Not potent enough for him.
Still...
The air felt off.
He tilted his head.
"Something happening?"
He paused his search for Gongya Hwiyeon's presence.
Time to expand outward.
Then the ripples hit Anyang.
A low thunder rumbled overhead; people froze, scanning.
Perplexed faces everywhere.
Some tinged with fear.
Ha Mu-baek sensed the anomaly.
Shifted his scan wide, beyond the walls.
Trouble outside.
Senses spread.
Then snagged on presences.
"This... Fuck."
A curse slipped out.
Ha Mu-baek vanished from the rooftops.