Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Crushing the Hidden Dragon
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The moment the Dormant Dragon appeared atop the bandit lair's fence, Baek Yang-hui had already run through every calculation.
'Their numbers are at least a few dozen. The leader's first-rate level.'
This side's forces: three first-rates and one second-rate.
Three out of the four wielded mechanism weapons, so factoring that in, it evened out to about two-to-one.
If they gang up, we're at a disadvantage. Better take out the head first.
Bwooooong!
Heaven-Covering 108 Swords, new supreme technique.
Bee Wing Resonance.
The sword strike, infused with sonic principles into weighted shadow hands, clashed against the Dormant Dragon's eight-chi great saber.
The Dormant Dragon's expression shifted in an instant.
'It's all plain as day, huh?'
Just looking at his face revealed his thoughts.
He'd realized he couldn't win in a one-on-one deathmatch.
True to form as a filthy bandit, he was already scheming a group attack.
"Too late, you bastard."
Yang-hui channeled his full internal energy, shoving it through the point of contact between sword and saber.
"Kuhuk!"
The beauty of weighted shadow hands lay in inflicting severe internal injuries even with the lightest touch.
Not slashing or stabbing for external wounds, but penetrating meridians for inner damage—that was the goal.
His body, pulled by gravity, plummeted.
In his past life's realm, he could've followed up instantly with aerial steps, but that was impossible now.
"D-Damn it! Block him! Stop that bastard!"
The Dormant Dragon, his collar soaked in blood, shoved his subordinate bandits aside to hide his body.
Yang-hui didn't rush. Whether they died now or later, they were all going to die anyway—no real difference.
Bwooooong!
One strike per bandit.
He cleaved through them in the blink of an eye.
He deflected the shower of blades with a single form.
Kagagagang!
Bwooooong!
"Kyaak!"
"Kuhuk!"
"Kuhul!"
For Yang-hui, defense was offense too.
The vibrations from Bee Wing Resonance transmitted power that shook the bandits' internals.
Puk! Puk! Puk!
After cleanly finishing them off with thrusting strikes, he glanced at the lair's wooden stockade and leaped over it.
'Breaking it can wait.'
It had been a defensive barrier, but he'd already breached it.
Now, that stockade would serve as a pen to trap the bandits inside.
"Chui-dal."
"Y-Yes, brother."
His face pale white at the sight of blood and corpses.
Yang-hui spoke calmly.
"Don't freeze up. If you get hurt, I won't let it slide."
"Got it."
A stiff reply. Yeah, one word wouldn't ease that tension easily.
"From here on, you take point. I'll cover the rear."
Since they'd decided to wipe out the lair anyway, using it as nourishment for Chui-dal seemed like a good idea.
"A-Ah, yes."
A half-dozen bandits charged, swords drawn.
Chui-dal took a deep breath and extended both hands.
The divinely gifted vein passed down through generations: Shadow Ghost Sect.
The Shadow Ghost Sect's signature martial art was based on ten threads.
Hidden Shadow Thread Bind, Whirling Leaf Bundle.
From Chui-dal's grasp extended two strands of heavenly silken threads.
At the end of the thin, transparent strings dangled a single dart and one hook.
The hook embedded into a nearby rock, while the dart targeted the charging bandits' legs.
"Kyaak!"
"What the—!"
"It's thread! Jump it! Kill him!"
Screams rang in his ears.
Killing intent roared from all sides.
Chui-dal trembled but kept extending his hands.
His low realm allowed only two of the ten threads, so he couldn't subdue them all.
"Die!"
Two bandits closed in, swinging their sabers in unison.
A blade arcing down at his head.
In that instant, Chui-dal glanced at Yang-hui—and understood from his expression.
'If I don't block it myself, I'm dead!'
He gripped the heavenly silk thread and thrust it out.
The thread, drawn from the cocoon of a millennium-old spirit moth, halted the bandit's blade without snapping.
Chui-dal immediately kicked him away.
But.
Another blade slashing from a different angle.
'I'm dead...!'
The moment Chui-dal squeezed his eyes shut.
Puk!
"Kuh, grrrk...!"
Only after the gurgling blood hit his ears did Chui-dal open his eyes.
A bandit was collapsing, Yang-hui's sword piercing his throat.
"Well done. Not bad for a first time."
"Hah, hah... Brother..."
"Finish them?"
Of the six charging bandits, only one had died—to Yang-hui's throat stab.
The other five lay wounded.
"F-Finish..."
"Bandits are irredeemable scum. You can crush them like bugs and no one cares. Death is the only thing that benefits them."
"K-Kill..."
Chui-dal's breathing began to shake violently.
—Son. Don't live like I did.
"B-Brother. Couldn't we reform them and put them to use? Like the guest warriors we took into the main family..."
"Black Path factions can be reformed and used. But unorthodox paths are different."
Yang-hui continued in a low voice.
"Righteous and White Paths are used interchangeably, but unorthodox and Black Paths are distinctly different. Bandits are unorthodox."
"B-But..."
Yang-hui eyed Chui-dal briefly.
'Chui-dal. Hesitation might kill you someday.'
But.
—Brother! If I can't kill, you think I can't protect your life?!
A faint memory from his past life surfaced.
No youthful innocence like now—just sly smugness filling Chui-dal's voice.
Eh, maybe call it here for today.
Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!
Exactly five sword thrusts.
Five heads rolled.
"Chui-dal."
"Y-Yes... Brother..."
"It's fine."
"Huh...?"
"If killing scares you, don't do it."
He shook the blood from his sword.
Gazing at his blood-unrelated little brother, a bond carried from his past life.
"I'll do it instead."
He would.
That was why he walked a different path from his past life.
Damn, saying it out loud felt kinda embarrassing.
"No, well, what I want from you is handling intel anyway. No need for you to kill directly."
The head of an intel group was meant to support from the rear.
Frontline kills? Yang-hui alone was enough.
"Let's go. Plenty of enemies left."
He moved without waiting for a reply.
Chui-dal stared blankly at Yang-hui's back.
The brother who usually tormented and teased him mercilessly.
Today, he looked incredibly reliable.
"Yes, Brother!"
A short way ahead, venomous air thickened.
"Chui-dal, circulate your qi. Looks like Brother Tang and Sister Tang are pretty pissed."
Bandit corpses littered the ground everywhere.
All twitching in agony, clinging to life.
'Tang Clan folks are scary in their own way, every one of them.'
When facing unorthodox paths, Tang Clan members showed no hesitation.
As obsessively as they pursued justice, they turned brutally ruthless against evil.
The rumors of their viciousness weren't empty talk.
'But as allies, they're rock-solid.'
Case in point right now.
The ground was covered in bandits poisoned to the brink.
Without the Tang siblings, could they have cleared a lair this size so quickly?
'When outnumbered, nothing beats poison.'
Still, where'd that Dormant Dragon bastard slink off to?
"Hey, Earth Dragon! Where'd you crawl off to?!"
He shouted loud and clear while swinging his sword to smash the lair's structures.
With the heavy internal injury, lightfoot skill was out, so he had to be nearby.
'Ah, found him.'
His sharp senses caught a faint energy leaking from deep in the lair.
Its size and quiver matched the wounded Dormant Dragon perfectly.
"Earth Dragon, Earth Dragon, not even worthy of Dormant Dragon—you're just a lowly worm. Think hiding would save you?"
He shattered the sturdy log cabin in one strike.
Through the flying splinters, the Dormant Dragon's face appeared.
"You little shit! Aren't you afraid of repercussions?!"
Worthless ravings, but the outside was handled by the Tang siblings anyway.
Might as well hear him out briefly.
"Repercussions? What repercussions?"
"I, Dormant Dragon, am one of the Green Forest Seventy-Two Strongholds! When the Mountain Heroes step in, scum like you are headed straight to the afterlife!"
Yang-hui couldn't help but smirk in disbelief.
"Mountain Heroes my ass. More like Mountain Mutt Bugs."
Note: not loyal dogs, but insect dogs.
Vermin mutts.
"Enough bullshit. You thought I'd go easy 'cause you're young and clueless."
Puk!
"Kyaak!"
He stabbed his sword tip into the Dormant Dragon's dantian and continued.
"Think the Green Forest would mobilize for a single worm like you?"
"Kyaaaak! I-I'm part of the Green Forest! The Mountain Lord will send the Ten Heroes! You little shit!!!"
For reference, the Mountain Lord ruled the Seventy-Two Strongholds, and the Green Forest Ten Heroes were his ten elite personal warriors.
"Oh, really? Let's test that then. I'll carve my moniker into the lair nice and bold. If they come, you were right."
He stomped the Dormant Dragon's head hard.
"Who do you take me for, an idiot? I know exactly how the Green Forest operates, punk."
The Green Forest seemed unified, but it wasn't.
Not a single sect.
In other words, no revenge.
At least, not unless you hit the core top twelve strongholds.
"Even if they come, it'll be after you're dead. Got nothing to do with you."
"S-Spare me. Please. Please...!"
Switching tactics now?
"Please... Please...! Over half the lair's folk support families! If I die, no one's left to look after them!"
"Oh, yeah?"
Way too common an excuse.
Whining about rabbit-like kids and vixen wives.
"You know what?"
"W-What...?"
"Scum who harm others to save their own skin? Not rare at all."
Skeeng-!
"Kwaaaaaak!"
The Dormant Dragon clutched his severed arm, howling.
Yang-hui pressed on regardless.
"Your death's set in stone, worm. Want a painless trip to the afterlife? Spill something useful. Like a treasure vault."
"We've got assets underground, kuhk. The valuables are all here, ugh, and the loot from tributes in the side warehouse, kuhuk..."
The Dormant Dragon began sobbing, tears like chicken shit streaming down.
Emotions blooming on his face.
Terror and regret.
Two feelings that suited a bandit leader's end all too well.
"And? Anything else?"
"Else... N-No, Green Forest contact method..."
"Hm? You were really Green Forest?"
A flicker of hope in the Dormant Dragon's eyes.
"I opened this lair on orders from one of the Ten Heroes. If I die, they'll really come. So please... Please..."
Unorthodox scum clinging to hope? Infuriating.
He neatly severed the other arm.
"Kwaaaaaak!"
"Where's that method?"
The stump pointed to one side.
Rummaging through papers on the guest table, he found a letter.
[Great Green Forest Seal]
The letter bore a Green Forest contact code.
"Well, well? It's real?"
"So spare m—"
Skeeng!
The Dormant Dragon's head hit the floor.
Picking up the letter, Yang-hui grinned.
Hm.
Jackpot. Nice haul.