CH 285

“Crazy bastard!”

Lee Yul shuddered.

As soon as Baek Do-kyung realized that Pyo-wol had broken into the manor, he had advised Lee Yul to flee, but he had refused.

Until now, he had never shown his back to anyone.

No matter how great Pyo-wol was, Lee Yul didn’t think he could do him any harm. But now he realized how careless he had been.

Pyo-wol was beyond what he had expected.

Heuk-ho, the Black Cloud Corps, and even Baek Do-kyung and the Soulless Ghosts.

The combined power of all the people Pyo-wol killed today alone was enough to wipe out a major sect.

That meant that Pyo-wol had the power to take out a major sect alone.

A single man who possessed power equal to that of a great sect.

And now, that said man is targeting him. 

For the first time in his life, Lee Yul felt a strong sense of crisis.

He regretted not listening to Baek Do-kyung, but he could not just waste time here regretting.

Even now, Pyo-wol was running toward him over the high wall.

The sight of Pyo-wol running toward him, looking like he had been bathed in blood, was creepy in itself.

For the first time, Lee Yul realized that a beautiful man could also be so terrifying.

Lee Yul trembled.

His plan was perfect.

The picture he had created with so much time and manpower was so vast that no one dared to guess its true nature.

But, all of his plans got distorted, and even its true nature has been exposed to some degree by just one person alone, Pyo-wol.

“Great job, Pyo-wol! I’m truly impressed. You are the only one who has ever made me admire someone this much.”

A part of him wanted to clap Pyo-wol on the back. He sincerely wanted to applaud Pyo-wol and tell him he was great, but he couldn’t.

Even at this moment, Pyo-wol was rapidly closing the distance between them.

Whoosh!

A sharp rippling sound was heard, and two arrows flew from behind Lee Yul. The arrows grazed both of his cheeks and flew out, landing heavily on Pyo-wol.

Thunk!

With a sound of impact, Pyo-wol’s body was thrown backwards.

He looked at his two hands holding the phantom daggers.

The phantom daggers had been torn apart.

He had blocked the arrows with the phantom daggers before it could hit him, but the power of the arrow was too much, tearing his daggers apart.

Pyo-wol raised his head and looked at Lee Yul,

Two men appeared out of nowhere beside him.

“We will escort you.”

“We’ve already secured an escape route.”

The two immediately grabbed Lee Yul’s arms and carried him away.

Pyo-wol’s eyebrows twitched.

He recognized their faces.

‘The Ghost Brigade.’

They were the Ghost Brigade martial artists he had fought on the nameless island.

They were the ones who had retreated without delay at the command of their master, Mok Hanseong.

To think they would appear here again.

The two men run away without looking back.

Pyo-wol followed them without delay. 

If he didn’t seize this opportunity now, there was no telling when he’d get another chance like this.

Swish! Swish!

At that moment, another arrow flew by.

It was shot by another group of warriors.

Pyo-wol dodged the arrows using Snake Steps, but that caused the distance between him and Lee Yul to increase.

Pyo-wol gritted his teeth and increased his speed, but every time he did, he was interrupted by the other group of warriors.

They shot arrows to slow him down, and triggered the traps in the Snow Sword Manor to catch him off guard.

They never face him head-on.

They knew how frightening he was, having fought him before.

Their goal was just to rescue Lee Yul, not to engage in a fight with him.

Despite losing their leader, Mok Hanseong, to Pyo-wol, they were not driven by personal feelings of revenge.

They were only focused on saving Lee Yul.

“Now is the time. Send them in.”

The newly appointed vice captain of the Ghost Brigade shouted,

At that moment, four new martial artists appeared and attacked Pyo-wol,

They were the Four Red Lotus Ghosts.  

They were the assassins hired by Lee Yul along with Heuk-ho.

“Stop!”

“That’s enough!”

The Four Red Lotus Ghosts attacked Pyo-wol.

While their individual prowess was nothing compared to Heuk-ho’s, their combined strength was still formidable. 

While Pyo-wol was being held back by the Four Red Lotus Ghosts, the Ghost Brigade took Lee Yul and slipped away.

Pyo-wol gritted his teeth as he watched Lee Yul disappear into the darkness. Unaware of this, the Four Red Lotus Ghosts attacked him even more fiercely.

Their combined strength was truly terrifying, but they were still no match for Pyo-wol. They attacked for over a hundred seconds, but in the end, they still lost their lives.

However, by the time Pyo-wol had killed all four of them, Lee Yul had disappeared without leaving a trace.

“Hoo!”

Pyo-wol let out a ragged breath.

* * *

When the sun came up, the appearance of the Jin manor looked truly miserable.

The village had been destroyed, and the streets were littered with corpses.

The fight against the Snow Sword Manor was fierce.

The atmosphere of ‘to kill or be killed’ went on all night.

It was a midnight raid.

The Snow Sword Manor had staked its fate, and the Jin family was furious at the ambush.

The fight could only get more intense. 

The warriors lost their sanity at the sight of their comrades dying next to them.

The warriors lost their cool and went mad.

Both the Snow Sword Manor and the Jin family suffered heavy losses.

The number of dead alone went over a hundred, while the wounded were several times more than that number.

The Jin manor turned into a giant tomb overnight.

The mysterious energy of Tianzhongshan was no longer present. 

All that remained in the manor were the painful groans and dreary air.

“Help me!”

“Keugh!”

The pained groans of people could be heard everywhere.

They were actually better off dead.

That way, they wouldn’t feel any pain.

The injuries of the wounded warriors were truly great. 

Without a doctor, they could only try to endure the pain.

The doctors prioritized treating the warriors of the Jin family, while the wounded men of the Snow Sword Manor were left to suffer without receiving any treatment.

But not everyone died or became injured.

Many of the warriors who stood on the side of Snow Sword Manor fled when the situation turned against them, in turn, the warriors who stood on the side of Jin family chased after them and killed them.

Their resentment toward each other was already at an all time high, and this incident only made it worse.

“I will never forget today’s humiliation.”

“Just wait and see.”

They vowed revenge against the warriors who escaped.

To completely eliminate the aftermath, they had to find and kill them all, but that was an impossible task from the beginning. The Jin family had taken so much damage that they could no longer afford to move.

“Amitabha! What is this?”

It was right at that moment when the warriors from the Shaolin Temple came in.

They were horrified to see the hellish scene that occurred in the Jin manor.

It was their first time seeing so many people dead or injured.

“Are we too late?”

The old monk leading the group sighed.

The unusually tough-looking monk was Woon Seong. He was a monk known as the First Book of Shaolin. 

Woon Seong frowned as he looked around.

There was no sign of the Jin family’s former splendor. Everything was destroyed, and stained with blood. It was truly a pitiful sight.

He wondered how anyone could live in such a place.

“Amitabha Buddha! What should we do about this?”

It was an incident that happened in Henan province.

Although it happened in Runan, which was thousands of miles away from the Shaolin Temple, it was inevitable that this aftermath would go beyond the Shaolin Temple and spread throughout the entire Jianghu region.

Even a huge fortress could collapse from a single mouse hole, let alone an incident where hundreds of people died and several times that many were injured.

There was no telling how much this would exacerbate and divide public opinion.

“Why are they here?”

“What are they trying to do now?”

The monks could hear some warriors criticizing the Shaolin Temple.

They were blaming the Shaolin Temple for allowing the situation to escalate to this point, even when it was not actually their responsibility. 

The monks of the Shaolin Temple could not help but be flustered. Even though they were said to be stronger minded than ordinary warriors due to their years of training, they were still human.

They hated to be disliked, and it made them feel uncomfortable to be resented for no reason.

“Amitabha Buddha!”

“Umm!”

The monks tried to maintain their composure and ignore the stares of the people. 

Woon Seong and the monks pushed past the people and entered deeper in the manor. 

No one tried to stop them. Since the fight was already over and the warriors didn’t want to openly confront the monks, they could pass without obstruction.

As a result, they were able to enter the innermost part of the Jin manor with ease.

It was then that their eyes caught sight of a middle-aged man sitting on a large rock. The man had a tired look on his face as he was leaning on his sword like a staff. 

As soon as Woon Seong saw the man’s face, his eyes shook,

“Amitabha! It’s the Sword Saint!”

“Woon Seong!”

The middle-aged man, Han Yucheon, also recognized Woon Seong.

“We give our greetings to the Sword Saint.”

“We send our greetings to Master Han.”

The monks who followed Woon Seong also greeted Han Yucheon in unison, but Han Yucheon didn’t even bother to look at them.

“You’re late.”

“We came as quickly as we could.”

“Hmpf! You must have been late because you were deliberating hard about it. I guess the Shaolin is more calculating than any ordinary sect.”

“Amitabha, I don’t mind you insulting me, but please don’t insult the Shaolin. Our sect had their reasons too.”

“Is that so?”

“Where is Un-hae?”

“He is around here somewhere.”

“Hoo!”

Woon Seong sighed at Han Yucheon’s cold attitude.

It was then that he noticed that Han Yucheon’s sword was covered in blood.

“Did the Sword Saint fight as well?”

“If so?”

“Didn’t you vow to see the downfall of the Jin family? So why did you fight?”

“The Ten Thousand Man Slayer has come.”

“Ten Thousand Man Slayer? That murderer?”

Woon Seongi’s eyes widened.

The Ten Thousand Man Slayer’s notoriety was well known even in the Shaolin Temple.

Woon Seong had tried to capture him many times, but he had been so elusive that he hadn’t been able to catch him.

“Why was he at the Jin manor?”

“Do I have to tell you the reason why?”

Han Yucheon’s sarcastic remark made Woon Seong shut up. He realized that no matter how many times he asked, Han Yucheon would never answer.

Han Yucheon was known for his eccentric personality.

Even with the prestigious reputation of the Shaolin Temple, Han Yucheon saw it as beneath him. That explains his dismissive behavior even when in front of Woon Seong of the Shaolin Temple.

Above all, Han Yucheon did not trust the Shaolin.

He had confirmed that unknown individuals were involved in the death of his disciple.

As of now, he couldn’t trust anyone.

The only person he believed in, even if it’s only a little, was Pyo-wol.

‘They’re called Jianghu’s North Star, yet things have come to this point.’

Han Yucheon did not hide his disdainful expression.

Woon Seong cautiously asked,

“What happened to the Ten Thousand Man Slayer?”

“We fought for about three hundred seconds, and when he felt that he was at a disadvantage, he fled.”

“He ran away?”

“Yes. He was lucky to have escaped this time, but the next time I see him, I’ll make sure to slash his throat.”

The Ten Thousand Man Slayer and Han Yucheon were equal in strength.

It was difficult to determine the outcome of the battle between the two of them. 

In the end, when the Ten Thousand Man Slayer was unable to break through the barrier of Han Yucheon, he retreated.

Han Yucheon did not also bother chasing his opponent. Even though they had only been at each other’s throats for about three hundred seconds, both of them had already expended so much energy in their fights, and incurred heavy injuries.

Han Yucheon rose to his feet and said,

“Woon Seong.”

“Speak.”

“While the Shaolin is idling around thinking of what to do, the doors of chaos have opened. Do you understand? The age of chaos has begun.”