Chapter 84
Chapter 84: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
Yanghwi made his way toward the center of Pungga Village. There, Gu Ak and the Tang siblings stood locked in a tense standoff against a band of twelve outlaws.
Sensing their energy, he noted that the fiercest among the brigands had barely attained the second-rate realm.
Gu Ak and the Tang pair possessed more than enough might to overpower the entire pack with ease.
Naturally, that made the current impasse rather puzzling.
“Drop your arms right now! Drop them, or every last one of these wretches dies!”
Six villagers were being held hostage, each flanked and restrained by two outlaws.
Yanghwi strode forward, falling into rank beside Gu Ak and the Tang siblings without hesitation.
“Brother Hwi, forgive us,” Tang Gun murmured softly. “Despite what I promised earlier, we failed to bring them down.”
“Pay it no mind. This trap was sprung before we even arrived.”
Tang Gun caught his drift in an instant.
“That explains why they struck so swiftly, as though lying in wait.”
Galled by their quiet muttering, a brigand ground his steel against a captive’s neck. A thin line of crimson beaded along the skin.
“Must we spill blood before you take us seriously?! I said throw down your blades!”
None among the company budged. Succumbing to such blatant threats would only entangle them further.
“Little Brother,” Gu Ak muttered beneath his breath. “What if we simply cut our losses and butcher the lot of them?”
“I am of the same mind as Hero Gu, Brother Hwi.”
Unless they possessed a desire to throw their lives away, the course offered by Gu Ak and Tang Gun was the only sensible path. Mournful as the captives’ plight was, risking their own survival for strangers was another matter.
And yet…
Yanghwi sensed the silent gazes of the villagers peeking out from behind the neighboring huts.
Unfastening his sheath, he cast blade and scabbard together onto the ground.
Brother Tang, I have a scheme.
Projecting the message via qi transmission, he took a stride ahead.
“I am Baek Yanghwi of the Baek Estate in Muju, Jiangxi. Take me in their stead, and release the villagers.”
“Bah! Why under heaven would we agree to that?!”
“Your ambush was aimed at us from the very beginning, was it not? Refuse my terms, and we shall slaughter every single one of you where you stand. Take me, however, and you retain a card to bargain with. What will it be?”
With his ultimatum delivered, he cast a side glance toward Gu Ak.
Gu Ak instantly released the terrifying pressure of an apex realm master, projecting the suffocating aura of unity of intent and qi (意氣傷人).
“Unity of intent and qi…!”
“A—An apex realm master?!”
Only at that moment did terror freeze the outlaws’ faces. They had presumed this was merely an oblivious, petty merchant convoy ripe for the taking, never fathoming that an apex master walked among them.
“Snuffing out vermin like you would not cost us a second of effort,” Yanghwi noted calmly. “So, how do you choose?”
“…Very well. But we are setting only half of them free.”
“As you wish. Let all the children go first.”
The three captives who were children were let go. In their place, Yanghwi sank to his knees before the brigands.
Leaving nothing to chance, the outlaws trained their cold steel on every lethal meridian across his frame.
“Now then, let us settle our conditions. Surrender your wagons. Once we have made our escape, the rest of the captives will be released.”
Observing the bandit chieftain’s man bluster with renewed arrogance, Yanghwi let a cold smirk touch his lips.
“I decline.”
Six swords were leveled at his flesh.
Every man grasping those hilts was a second-rate martial artist.
Within his mind, he plotted the precise course required to slip the trap with the least harm.
A heartbeat later, he surged upward like a flash of lightning.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Three blades grazed across his flesh.
Or rather, they parted only the surface of his skin and went no deeper.
Vessel Thousand Steps (器千步), Swift Exchange (快速換換).
“You insolent dog!”
The bandits swung in concert, but their reactions lagged behind. Snatching one rogue by the collar, Yanghwi dragged him forward as a human shield.
Squelch! Squelch!
“Aaaargh!”
Having slipped their perimeter through Shedding the Cicada’s Shell (金蝉脱殻), the momentum swung entirely into his hands.
Executing an empty-handed blade seizure (空手奪白刃), he tore a saber from an outlaw’s fingers and severed the man’s windpipe in a single ruthless arc.
“Brother Tang! Brother Gu! Slay every last one!”
There was no need for the command. The moment Yanghwi slipped his bonds, the Tang siblings and Gu Ak had already surged into the fray.
“Imbeciles! We still hold three hostages here!”
“Is that so? Feel free to cut them down, then.”
“W—What?!”
Those remaining three captives had been working hand-in-glove with the bandits from the start. The subtle traces of internal energy pooled within their dantians betrayed them completely.
“You think we bluster?!”
One brigand drew his edge across a captive’s forearm.
These fools truly lack eyes to see. I already made it clear I saw through the charade.
“I call upon the folk of Pungga Village,” Yanghwi projected his voice. “Are these three genuinely your kin?”
Movement stirred inside a nearby cottage, and an old man walked forth into the open.
“They dwell in our village, yes, but they are dogs who serve the bandits!”
“Are you the head of this village?”
“I am Pung Jungsam, headman of Pungga Village.”
Yanghwi offered an approving nod to the elder for his courage, then turned his gaze back upon the scoundrels.
“Time for your journey to the yellow springs, trash.”
It required less than half a gak to slaughter the twelve brigands alongside the three traitors playing at being hostages—fifteen scoundrels in total.
“We restrained three and kept breath in them for now,” Tang Gun remarked. “I thought it wise to draw answers from their lips.”
Yanghwi shook his head dismissively.
“Put an end to them. We can glean whatever we need from the villagers instead.”
Hearing this, one of the bound captives cried out in utter panic.
“Curse you all! We answer to the Crouching Dragon Stockade! Do you not fear their vengeance?! If we do not report back, our chieftain will burn this entire settlement to ash!”
Well, well. Singing without even being struck, is he? That alters our course.
“Crouching Dragon Stockade, you say? Even mountain thieves dare style themselves after dragons these days, it seems.”
“Our chieftain, the Crouching Dragon Blade, will tear you limb from limb for this!”
Crouching Dragon Blade? I have never encountered such a title.
Yanghwi glanced over at Chudal, who had stepped up while shielding Jin Geumbo.
“Do you recognize the name?”
“I’ve picked up talk of him from escort caravans running the routes through Anhui, yes.”
“Is his cultivation formidable?”
“Rumor says he hovers in the first-rate realm.”
“Is that all? A petty nobody, then.”
Yanghwi had never once crossed paths with that moniker when he wandered Pungga Village in his former life. That meant they were insignificant thieves destined to be erased within a decade at most.
“Brother Tang, finish them. If we linger, their whole nest will descend upon us soon enough… No, wait.”
Weighing the devastation that might befall Pungga Village, would it not be wiser to bring the slaughter straight to their gates?
“Brother Tang, simply wrench the whereabouts of their camp from them.”
“Leave it in my hands.”
Without a shred of pity, Tang Gun pierced the bandits’ flesh and fed them poison. Less than half a gak after the questioning began, every secret of the Crouching Dragon Stockade was laid bare.
Chudal looked on, his complexion pale and shaken.
“Chudal.”
“B—Boss.”
“Does this appear too savage to your eyes?”
“Well…”
“They held a blade to a child and forced cold iron into the grasp of a mother.”
“I understand that. I truly do, but still…”
He was merely a lad of fourteen years, wandering the martial world for the very first time. Accepting a truth in the mind did not mean the heart could swallow the sight of butchery so readily. Furthermore, the shadow of his father’s history left him with an inherent dread of blood and slaughter.
Even so…
Chudal, I require your presence beside me in this life as well.
And because of that, the boy had to be tempered.
“Chudal. Men often use orthodox (正) and white (白) as though they are one and the same. A righteous martial artist is indeed considered one of the white path. But the dark path (黑) and the evil path (邪) are separated by a gulf.”
“…”
“Never extend clemency toward evil. To do so will only leave wounds upon your own heart.”
“…I understand, Boss.”
His tone revealed that the truth had yet to sink deep into his marrow, but countless days lay ahead to carve the lesson in stone.
They dispatched the surviving outlaws. As the corpses cooled, the villagers crept out and encircled the travelers.
“Our deepest thanks to you, young masters,” the village headman stammered. “And… we beg for your forgiveness.”
Behind the elder, the woman who had earlier attempted to strike Yanghwi shivered in terror.
“My daughter-in-law told me all of it. She acted only because her child was in their clutches, so I beg of you… show her mercy…”
The headman, his frame bearing the weight of seventy winters, knelt before the fifteen-year-old Yanghwi and pleaded. Beside him, the woman pressed her boy tight against her bosom, her features striking a chord in Yanghwi’s memory.
The head of Pungga Village.
Though tender in years, the resemblance was unmistakable. This child was the very man who, in his previous existence, had arrived carrying a jar of wine to greet him as the village chief.
“What do you call the boy?”
Pung Gaho.
“His name is Pung Gaho.”
“So it is. Elder, you have committed no offense, so why throw yourself upon the ground?”
“B—But…”
Yanghwi comprehended the old man’s fear. Even if they had scattered the bandits, his company remained armed warriors from the outside world. To a humble tiller of the soil like this village headman, profound terror before martial strength was entirely natural.
“Chudal.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Why do you believe this elder kneels before our feet?”
Following a brief hesitation, Chudal spoke.
“Because we walk the martial path.”
“You speak both truth and error.”
Yanghwi gestured with the tip of his sheath toward the butchered outlaws.
“It is because of maggots like these, who wield martial strength solely to plunder the weak.”
The dark path at least preserved fundamental boundaries. Under the watchful eyes of the world, they rarely rampaged beneath the open sun. Mountain outlaws were another beast entirely. They were a pack of degenerates whose crimes ran so rampant they could no longer dwell in towns or hamlets.
For that reason, they were branded outlaws (賊).
“The fault lies with us, Village Headman. Those rogues concocted this scheme only because they caught sight of our wagons drawing near.”
When Yanghwi bent his waist in a courteous bow, the elder became utterly flustered, at a loss for how to respond.
“P—Please do not do this, Young Hero!”
“The Crouching Dragon Stockade will be wiped from the earth before this day ends. Regard it as our meager recompense for the peril brought to your door.”
At once, the villagers’ sunken faces lit with sudden hope. They must have endured bitter tyranny under the bandits’ boots for years, bled dry by constant extortion.
“Merchant Jin,” Yanghwi called out, turning his shoulder. “Our trek may be delayed by a day or two. I ask your pardon for the inconvenience.”
“When young warriors strike out in the name of righteousness, how could this old merchant ever protest? Take all the time you need.”
“You have my gratitude.”
Having exchanged courtesy, Yanghwi directed his attention toward Gu Ak.
“Brother Gu. Stand guard here and ensure the safety of Merchant Jin and the village folk.”
“Are you certain of this? Would it not be wiser for me to accompany your raid?”
Clearing a mountain lair would undoubtedly prove far swifter with Gu Ak, an apex realm master, lending his fist.
“We bear the duty of an escort. Before all else, our employer’s life must be preserved.”
Finding the logic unassailable, Gu Ak gave a measured nod.
“Besides… we possess more than enough power on our own.”
Yanghwi looked back toward the Tang siblings.
The Tang Clan honored righteousness as fiercely as any great pillar under heaven. The glare upon Tang Gun and Tang Yeon’s faces was chillingly cold. It was plain that their weapons would offer no mercy to the wicked.
Their expression was the mirror image of the cold detachment upon Yanghwi’s own brow.
“Let us move out. We butcher every last parasite.”
At Yanghwi’s back, the Tang siblings and Chudal sprang into motion.
The path to the stronghold extracted during the interrogation wound deep into the peaks, roughly half a shichen’s march from Pungga Village.
The encampment is fairly large.
Far too expansive for a stockade raised only recently.
They remain nothing more than insects. Brother Tang, Sister Tang, circle to the back and strike from the shadows.
And what of yourself, Brother Hwi?
I shall draw their full gaze through the front gates and tear right through them.
A diversion. Understood.
Having sealed their tactics through qi transmission, the party parted ways.
Unsheathing his sword from the outset, Yanghwi rested the flat of the blade across his shoulder and strolled casually toward the stockade’s main gate. Right on cue, the watchmen bellowed their alarm.
“Who dares approach?!”
“Who dares ask?”
Even as a swarm of rogues spilled out like disturbed ants, Yanghwi did not lose a fraction of his calm. Releasing his qi sense outward, he probed the depths of their dantians.
“I am hardly someone whose name is owed to vermin like you, you dogs.”
“Arrogant brat!”
“Spare me your barking.”
He drew internal energy roaring up from his dantian. Though he had not yet formally crossed the threshold into the apex realm…
“Call out your master!”
Unity of intent and qi (意氣傷人). His roar, laced with immense inner force, reverberated across the mountain peaks, scattering flights of wild birds from the forest crown in panicked flurries.
Within moments, a hulking brute bearing an eight-foot greatsword strode into view.
“You have some gall. What devil are you?”
Lest unexpected trouble arise, he could not bring up Pungga Village. Not that it mattered; he held countless reasons at the ready.
“I am merely the champion who will raze this pathetic nest to the dirt and carve my own legend!”
“GWAHAHAHA! You dare boast of tearing down my Crouching Dragon Stockade?! Do you even possess a title to your name, whelp?”
“Have you ever heard tell of the Ascending Dragon Sword?”
A sneer of sheer ridicule split the face of the Crouching Dragon Blade.
“A brazen whelp indeed! A nameless dog daring to bestow such a grand mantle upon his own head!”
“Ah, well, the tales have yet to spread this far into the wilderness. Take care to remember it well, so you never forget it in the days to come.”
BZZZZZZ!
Yanghwi’s sword let out a resonant, droning hum, vibrating with the tremors of the Bee Wing Sound.
“Though on second thought, you are all departing straight for the yellow springs, so I suppose you won’t be spreading a single word after all.”
Engaging the Vessel Thousand Steps, Yanghwi soared clear over the stockade palisade in a single bound.
CLANG!
“Urgh, you little bastard…!”
Dismay twisted the face of the Crouching Dragon Blade. The inner power saturating that youth’s blade was far too monstrous to belong to a mere fledgling. Yet having carved out his place as the master of a mountain stockade, his bloody instincts flared to life.
I cannot overcome him on my own! We must swarm him together!
“Too late, scum.”
Just as Yanghwi’s lips curled into a vicious grin—
“Cough!”
The Crouching Dragon Blade spewed a violent torrent of blood.
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