Chapter 54 :

A First-Rate Warrior Who Shocked the Divine Sword (2)

I decided to travel together with the warriors of the Namgung Family.

Originally, I had planned to stop by the Namgung Family before returning to the Taeul Sect, and since Namgung San said, “You must come with us no matter what. Grandfather was furious, asking why we just let you go,” with an attitude that showed he would not back down, I ended up moving together with them.

“It will be hard to see you for a while.”

At the moment of parting, Moyong Sangwon let out a heavy sigh.

“When I have time, I will stop by the Moyong Family.”

I tried to comfort him, but Moyong Sangwon shook his head.

“No. How could I tell a busy person to come and go? I will visit the Taeul Sect once.”

“……Uh, I will probably spend a lot of time away from the Taeul Sect because of various matters.”

“Is that so? Even better.”

“Pardon?”

Moyong Sangwon said something whose meaning I could not understand.

“Ah, right! Is there perhaps a type of woman you dislike?”

At the sudden question, I tilted my head.

“Well. I have never dated anyone.”

Sadly, in this life as well as my past life, I had never dated anyone.

Suddenly, I felt ashamed of myself, wondering what on earth I was doing now.

“I see?? Then do you feel any aversion toward a woman who is much stronger than you?”

If it was a woman stronger than me right now, I would not be able to find one among those my age.

Moyong Sangwon’s question, asked because he still could not grasp the level of my martial arts, only made me smile bitterly.

“More than that, I think having a kind heart is the most important thing.”

“Haha! Then there is nothing to worry about.”

“……?”

I could not understand what he was talking about at all, but leaving behind Moyong Sangwon, who nodded with satisfaction anyway, we headed back toward Anhui Province.

The procession moving together with the warriors of the Namgung Family was extremely comfortable.

First of all, no one blocked our path.

With as many as one hundred people riding horses and a flagbearer at the very front raising the flag of the Namgung Family.

Then even mountain strongholds, famous for charging expensive tolls, did not show the tips of their noses.

In medium and large cities, there were merchant guilds or tea houses run by the Namgung Family, so there was no need to separately find an inn.

When there was nothing, the advance party of the Namgung Family ran ahead first and rented out an entire inn.

Moreover, the guest rooms and rooms assigned to me were all of the same grade as Namgung San and Namgung Seonhwa’s, so it could be called the most comfortable trip across both my past life and this life.

At a distance where only one day remained until we reached the Namgung Family.

With Mount Gueom, the last mountain we had to cross, ahead of us, Namgung Seonhwa brought her horse close to mine.

“Is it really all right even if a woman is stronger than a man?”

During the long journey, as we traveled together and ate together, most of the formality between Namgung San, Namgung Seonhwa, and me had disappeared.

“What are you talking about?”

“……No, well. You know the conversation you had with the young family head at the Cheongmyeong Escort Agency…….”

“Ah…….”

In my past life, most female warriors had been stronger than me.

Close by, Hong Saryeon had a higher achievement in martial arts than I did, and Moyong Seol, whom I would meet later, had a nearly unreachable gap.

“What meaning is there in who is strong and who is weak when a man and woman love each other?”

“Still…… men do not really like women stronger than themselves.”

“Is that not actually better? There would be nothing to feel anxious about wherever she went. If she stood ahead to protect me, I think that would be even better.”

“Hmmm…….”

Namgung Seonhwa made a strange sound and nodded.

“But is it also true that you have never met a woman?”

There had been a slightly awkward incident at the Cheongmyeong Escort Agency, but after we became closer, Namgung Seonhwa treated me warmly, as if she had forgotten that matter.

It was not easy for me to deal with women, but since she always asked questions and started conversations, it was not particularly burdensome.

However, if there was one slightly uncomfortable point, it was that because Namgung Seonhwa’s appearance was so outstanding, whenever people saw her talking to me, passing martial artists or pedestrians would say a curse or two.

“Huh! That man must have a fox tail attached to him.”

“He must have a lot of money.”

“Seeing a daughter of the Namgung Family follow him like that, his family must be impressive.”

Since I had merely overheard what they were saying among themselves, I could not say anything, and because I had also been in a position where I envied others like them in my past life, I did not feel much anger toward them.

“I grew up my whole life in the Taeul Sect, so whom could I have met? Also, if I said I was from the Taeul Sect, even a woman who had interest in me would run away.”

“Was there a woman you were interested in?”

“…….”

For some reason, I felt as if I were continuously being interrogated.

“It seems there was not.”

“……‘It seems there was not?’ Did you not say you never forget anything you remember once?”

I did not know why I had to keep answering her questions, nor why I was continuing to answer, but compared to when we met at Maling Plateau, I definitely seemed to have become more comfortable with her.

‘What should I do…….’

I looked at Namgung Seonhwa with complicated eyes.

Although I had saved her at Maling Plateau, the problem was that her life was still in danger.

Because of the loss of Namgung Seonhwa, the Namgung Family would experience a great war.

They annihilated the sects related to the Mita Divine Water, and in that process, the family was greatly shaken.

Amid that, a branch line of the Namgung Family attacked Namgung San.

Namgung San’s skill was so outstanding that he did not meet death, but in the process, he suffered deep internal injuries and became unable to properly use his internal energy for the rest of his life.

The branch line of the Namgung Family used this as an excuse to isolate the direct line and had the goal of seizing control of the entire Namgung Family.

Even though all external affairs had originally been entrusted to the branch line, they had thought the direct family members took all the rights.

However, what they had not expected was that the Divine Sword would eventually take up his sword.

What they trusted in was the fact that, no matter what, they were also members of the Namgung Family.

They had complacently thought that the Divine Sword would never personally kill his own blood relatives and drag both the family’s honor and his own honor into the dirt.

But when the full story of the incident was revealed by chance and the culprit became known, the Divine Sword eventually took up his sword and cut down everyone in the branch line who used the Namgung name.

Because of this incident, the strength of the Namgung Family clearly decreased, and in the end, they could not withstand the military might of the Demonic Cult and were ultimately annihilated.

The branch line’s plot had not even begun yet.

They would likely target someone from the direct line as the signal flare to begin their plan.

‘If they are going to target someone anyway, they will target Namgung Seonhwa, not Namgung San.’

Although Namgung San could not be active because of family matters, he belonged to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering, where only the most outstanding graduates of the Martial Academy entered and were active.

Targeting him, who had already passed first-rate and was about to reach the peak level, was a burden even from the branch line of the Namgung Family’s perspective.

In the end, it was clear that the one they would target would be Namgung Seonhwa.

I felt frustrated by the situation where I knew but could not tell her.

“Why can you not answer? Do you remember but are not saying it?”

“Young Lady Seonhwa.”

“Yes?”

“We are almost at Mount Gueom. We need to stop talking for a moment.”

A faint smile formed on Namgung Seonhwa’s lips.

“You are getting out of it well. What mountain stronghold would dare attack after seeing the flag of the Namgung Family?”

Unlike her relief, my sense of energy detected people hiding on Mount Gueom right now.

‘About five hundred?’

I could not sense them all precisely, but roughly that many people were hiding their presence as much as possible.

It was quite a different reaction from when we had crossed mountains before.

Back then, they had watched us from as far away as possible to hide themselves.

Now, it was the sight of a tiger hiding its body as it prepared to hunt.

As we fully entered Mount Gueom, the wide road gradually began to narrow.

When I looked back, the warriors of the Namgung Family had let down their guard and were chatting.

‘Have they not sensed it yet?’

Around the time I was wondering what could happen to stir their vigilance.

Fortunately, Namgung San seemed to have sensed something and raised his clenched fist high.

“Stop.”

Neeeigh.

Because they suddenly stopped moving, the horses snorted.

“Be on guard. Someone is watching us.”

No sooner had Namgung San finished speaking than the warriors of the Namgung Family immediately began raising their fighting spirit.

As expected, they were truly warriors of a prestigious family.

“We move slowly.”

The horses began moving again, and as the road grew narrower and narrower until barely two horses could pass through.

A huge boulder appeared, blocking the road completely.

“Draw swords!”

Cha-cha-cha-cha-chang.

At Namgung San’s shout, the warriors of the Namgung Family all drew their swords at once.

They also knew at least that the boulder ahead was not ordinary.

A brief silence.

Then came the sound of bowstrings being drawn.

I quickly shouted.

“Arrows!”

Shu-shu-shut.

No sooner had my words ended than arrows began pouring down like rain from above the cliff.

“Kuaak!”

“Keuheok!”

Warriors struck by arrows without warning rolled down to the other side of the road.

Without even having time to go save them, the other warriors were busy abandoning their horses and immediately hiding behind cover or striking away the flying arrows.

Rumble. Bang. Bang.

Along with the sound of a landslide from behind, a massive pile of rocks fell and blocked even the retreat path.

The enemies standing atop the cliff were madly shooting arrows while hiding behind cover, so climbing up the cliff was not easy either.

“Damn it! Abandon all the horses!”

Most of the horses were already dying after being struck by arrows.

The warriors of the Namgung Family could only push the horses down the slope and barely secure space.

Namgung San tried to climb up the cliff through the rain of arrows, but that was by no means an easy situation.

I quickly spoke to Namgung San.

“Senior. Please buy me a little time. I will try going up.”

“You?”

“Yes. I have a method.”

“……Understood.”

Namgung San put his sword back and gathered internal energy in both hands.

“Uaaaaah!”

Then he began pouring out Heavenly Wind Palm Force.

Puh-buh-buh-buh-buh-bung.

Along with the sound of air bursting, part of the cliff collapsed, and through that gap, the masked men who had been shooting arrows began to fall.

Whoooooosh.

Taking advantage of that opening, I drove the Flying Dragon Claw into the cliffside, kicked off the wall, and leaped up onto the cliff in one bound.

“A-Above us!”

The archers, greatly shocked at my sudden appearance, shot several arrows, but they could not hit me as I fired the Flying Dragon Claw I had retrieved again and slammed down to the ground.

“Kuaaaak!”

The moment I no longer needed to worry about the eyes of the Namgung Family.

I scattered the Twin Heaven Sword Art as if spreading out a fan.

“Keuheok.”

“Kek!”

“Puheok!”

Fifteen illusion swords that appeared in an instant took the lives of five archers.

Behind the archers lined up on the cliff, warriors carrying blades tried to cut in, but it was not easy because of the archers standing in rows.

How many archers could draw their bowstrings when their own lives were on the line?

Showered in blood like rain, I moved freely among the archers.

By the time the warriors finally approached one by one and began crossing swords with me, I could roughly determine the level of their skill.

‘Their skill is between first-rate and second-rate. Their martial arts seem to be of the dark faction type. Are they using retired soldiers as archers?’

Since Anhui Province already had the Namgung Family as its local powerhouse, there were no large dark faction forces there.

Therefore, these were people who had come from outside the province, and yet they had dared to carry out an attack despite knowing this was the Namgung Family.

‘Has the branch line already started moving?’

Then again, in my past life, by the time Wang Soso had already died and Wang Geumsan had given up the position of salt merchant, the movements of the Changgung Merchant Guild, which had taken the qualification for that position, had been active.

If anything, the fact that they moved now could be considered late.

“Young Master Sowoon! Are you all right?!”

Once the rain of arrows stopped, the warriors of the Namgung Family climbed up the cliff.

“I am all right. Is the damage below serious?”

“It is still fine. But as soon as the rain of arrows stopped, the enemies who had been lying in ambush below the slope began coming up.”

They blocked the front and rear and attacked from both sides.

Even if their opponents were warriors of the Namgung Family under heaven, around five hundred was still a number worth trying with.

“I will deal with the archers first.”

“We leave it to you.”

The warriors of the Namgung Family apparently did not have much expectation of me, so they readily left it to me and went to face the blade-wielding men.

I moved back and forth along the edge of the cliff, dealing with the archers, and shot the Flying Dragon Claw toward those climbing up the cliff to pull them up.

“Thank you, young master!”

There was no time for them to ask how such great force could be contained in a thin cord.

Once a certain number of people gathered, they immediately began unfolding the Azure Dome Sword Formation.

“Unfold the formation!”

Once the Azure Dome Sword Formation was formed, even the enemies who had seemed overwhelming in number could not easily break the warriors of the Namgung Family, and instead, they often became lonely souls under their sharp swords.

After quickly dealing with the archers clinging to the cliff, I immediately looked below.

If I were the branch line of the Namgung Family and had prepared this attack, I would surely want to kill either Namgung San or Namgung Seonhwa.

Sure enough.

The masked men were risking their lives to prevent Namgung San and Namgung Seonhwa from joining the sword formation.

Compared to the warriors of the Namgung Family, who were maintaining a somewhat stable sword formation, the two of them were in an extremely precarious situation.

Around Namgung San, the masked men who approached were piling up in layers as corpses, but in contrast, wounds continued to increase on Namgung Seonhwa’s body.

I immediately threw myself down from the cliff and fired the Flying Dragon Claw.

Using the elasticity of the Flying Dragon Claw, which was lightly embedded in a tree, I changed direction, kicked off the tree, dropped to the ground, and thrust the Small Heaven Sword Art into the necks of the two masked men who had been trying to attack Namgung Seonhwa from behind.

“T-Thank you.”

Seeing the blood that splashed onto her face, she realized the existence of the masked men.

“Let us save the thanks for later.”

I quickly shot out the Small Heaven Sword Art.

Swaaaek!

Once again, a masked man fell.

But space was not secured.

A new masked man quickly filled that place.

The masked men were focused on Namgung San and Namgung Seonhwa.

Moreover, because those two were gathered in one place, the number of enemies was by no means one that three people could handle.

“Young lady! Please excuse me for a moment.”

“Yes?! What do you mean?”

I wrapped an arm around Namgung Seonhwa’s waist, fired the Flying Dragon Claw, and flew upward with its elasticity.

“Kyaaaak!”

I fired the Flying Dragon Claw into a giant tree again and placed Namgung Seonhwa atop the cliff, then sent a voice transmission to Namgung San.

-Senior, can you hide behind the boulder?

Perhaps he did not even have the mental space to send a voice transmission back, because Namgung San nodded while fighting.

-I will give you the signal.

At the same time, I took out something like a silver bud from within my clothes.

It was an artifact that Yang Gunbaek, the owner of the black market in Yueyang, had given me in place of the Friend Token.

‘The ghosts of Sichuan will not stay still because of this, but if I put the Divine Sword forward, it should be smoothed over.’

Hundred-Hair Fire Cylinder.

It was one of the forbidden concealed weapons made by the Sichuan Tang Family, the originator of poisons and hidden weapons.

I did not know how this had ended up being sold at the black market of Yueyang, but right now, only this could save the warriors of the Namgung Family and me.

Namgung San was being swept up in the wave of people, and his figure was now nearly hidden.

-Now!

No matter how much one struck the Hundred-Hair Fire Cylinder, it would never activate.

But if one pressed the bud’s leaves using internal energy in a specific way, it would activate even with a small impact.

At the same time as my words, Namgung San threw himself behind the boulder and hid, and I lightly struck the Hundred-Hair Fire Cylinder flying with the Flying Dragon Claw.

Chararararak.

The leaves wrapping the bud all spread open at once, and feather needles scattered wildly from within.

Shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu-shu.

Just like the rain of arrows they had shot, the feather needles began pouring down like rain.

And unlike hidden weapons that were clearly visible like arrows, the feather needles were extremely stealthy, barely visible to the eye.

The masked men struck by the feather needles began falling over one after another like sheaves of rice.

“Keuheok.”

“Keuk!”

“Heok!”

“S-Save…….”

When nearly fifty people suddenly died helplessly, a brief silence flowed through the field.

Soon after, Namgung San leaped up from behind the boulder and shouted with a roaring lion’s roar.

“If there is anyone who wants to see this through to the end with the elites of the great Namgung Family!! Stay where you are!! We do not take our enemies alive!”

At that, the masked men hesitated and began jumping down the slope, while the masked men on top of the cliff began running away to the rear.

The surviving warriors of the Namgung Family shouted.

“Waaaaaah!”

When I brought Namgung Seonhwa, who still had not come to her senses, down from the cliff, Namgung San approached.

The look in Namgung San’s eyes as he saw me coming down while carrying Namgung Seonhwa was indescribably complicated.

“Thank you. ……I owe you again.”

“Not at all.”

Namgung San soon shook his head and looked at the injured warriors as he spoke.

“By the way, who on earth dared to do something like this? Did the Green Forest bandits all go insane together?”

Namgung San still did not seem to have grasped it.

“When I looked from above, they were especially determined to stop you and Young Lady Seonhwa from joining the sword formation.”

“Hm?”

The two of them still had dazed looks in their eyes.

“……This is just my thought, but I believe this attack was clearly aimed at the two of you.”

“!”

“!”

I drove the point home there.

“But that is strange. How could they dare to think of attacking the direct line of the Namgung Family in Anhui Province? And with no fewer than five hundred people, while avoiding the eyes and ears of the Namgung Family spread throughout all of Anhui Province?”

“…….”

“…….”

The faces of the two, who met each other’s eyes, hardened stiffly.