Chapter 83 :

Chapter 83. Those Who Chase the Dragon (4)

I drew in a deep breath and let out a battle cry.

“Haaah!”

With a booming burst of air, the killing intent constricting the group was instantly pushed back.

Jong Seogang, who had been pressuring us with a triumphant expression, furrowed his brow deeply.

“You want all of them? I refuse. What kind of thief throws a tantrum and demands someone else’s belongings as if they were his own? Do you have a death wish?”

Jong Seogang, who had been frowning, suddenly burst out laughing.

“Ha!”

Then, as though even he had not expected it, he covered his mouth.

“My apologies. I heard something so absurd that I could not help myself.”

Jong Seogang smiled slyly.

“I do not care if you wish to act recklessly, but what will you do if your junior brothers are placed in danger because of it?”

“They’re not weak enough for you to worry about.”

Jong Seogang tilted his head.

“They said a dragon had risen from a tiny stream in Anhui Province, but it seems you were merely a fearless imugi.”

“The reason people call me a dragon is because I can see what ordinary men cannot.”

“……”

For the first time, Jong Seogang’s face, which had been wearing a smug smile the entire time, stiffened.

The men surrounding him like guards reacted the same way.

“Whew…… Nothing ever goes smoothly.”

Jong Seogang shook his head, then glared with his eyes wide open.

“I will warn you one last time. Hand over the checkpoint plaques, or choose death. Pick one.”

While listening to Jong Seogang’s nonsense, my senses were busily scanning the surroundings.

‘One hundred and fifty? Two hundred?’

The number of people encircling the forest at regular intervals was somewhere between one hundred and fifty and two hundred, based only on those I could currently detect.

Considering records from the past, there were probably five hundred surrounding the area.

‘And the young gang leader of the Qingdao Gang still hasn’t shown his face.’

Moreover, throughout the conversation, I had been unable to take my eyes off the scar crossing the eye of the man standing to Jong Seogang’s right.

‘Gam Cheoljin, the Merciless Yellow Sword.’

A master who would later become renowned as a wandering fixer after the Yellow Sword Sect was annihilated and he was cast out into the murim world.

‘They even mobilized their secret warriors?’

Those who understood the murim saying that one should conceal thirty percent of one’s true strength often cultivated secret forces unknown even to the Martial Alliance.

The Dark Palace Unit of the Namgung Family was one such force, and the Side Sword Unit of the Iron Sword Sect was another.

And those secret warriors, raised in secrecy without ever participating in the murim world……

Were used like a treasured trump card in events such as this damned Hell Official Exam.

In a way, I could understand them.

Those who failed to enter the Martial Academy could never obtain a position higher than deputy pavilion master within the Martial Alliance.

A martial artist’s entire life could be decided by the Martial Academy.

‘If I had secret warriors, I’d want to use them too.’

In any case, there was nothing more infuriating than being unable to use them myself while my opponent could.

“What will you do?”

Of course, that did not mean I intended to give up.

“I have no habit of repeating myself. I refuse.”

Jong Seogang let out a snicker, seemingly without the slightest doubt in his victory.

“You chose your own punishment.”

Shing.

At Jong Seogang’s words, Gam Cheoljin and the other guards drew their swords.

I also assumed an opening stance, making it clear that I intended to take Jong Seogang’s head in a single blow.

In response, Gam Cheoljin showed that he intended to target Dongryong.

‘Is he confident in Jong Seogang’s martial arts? Or is there another secret warrior mixed among the guards?’

If we clashed now, both sides would suffer losses, but ours would undoubtedly be more painful.

The Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers had already prepared their sword formation for battle, but they were no match for a master of Gam Cheoljin’s caliber.

At that moment, Jong Seogang restrained everyone present.

“Whoa, whoa. Do not get excited. Did I not say I wished to talk?”

As if he knew I would certainly attack him, Jong Seogang showed no intention of beginning the battle immediately.

“Put away your swords.”

At Jong Seogang’s command, Gam Cheoljin and the guards all sheathed their swords.

“As the saying goes, a wounded beast is even more ferocious.”

Jong Seogang turned away while speaking with strange certainty.

“Haa.”

Geumpyo released the breath he had been holding in tension.

Eunho asked worriedly,

“Senior Brother, will they retreat now?”

“No. The ones hiding in the forest still haven’t left.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve fought nearly a thousand people before.”

Eunho could not hide the pathetic look he gave Geumpyo.

The Twin Curtain Stronghold had possessed a far more overwhelming numerical advantage, but it was difficult to compare bandits who had not even learned a unified martial art with prestigious sects proudly ranked among the Hundred and Eight Peaks.

Moreover, with no way of knowing where the secret warriors were mixed in, confronting them directly carried a high chance of placing my junior brothers in danger.

“For now, let’s move……”

I was about to leave when my eyes met Dongryong’s, and I stopped.

“Are you having a hard time?”

“……What?”

Dongryong’s eyes had turned blood-red.

As though he had not noticed it himself, Dongryong looked at his brothers with a startled expression.

After taking Gam Cheoljin’s killing intent head-on, the murderous star within him had instinctively begun to boil again.

“Why did it have to happen now……”

“N-No! I’m fine!”

I took the Demon-Cleansing Spirit Beads out of my bundle and hung them around his neck.

“Senior Brother…… I’m fi…… Huh?”

Strangely, his reddened eyes returned to their original color.

“Senior Brother, this is……”

“Do not neglect your studies of the Taeul True Scripture. Relying on a sacred relic always carries risks.”

“Let’s move.”

The moment we left, the forest began to shake violently.

Even though there was no wind, the branches struck one another fiercely.

“……Senior Brother, how many people are there?”

“Wouldn’t it be better not to know?”

“……Ugh. I suppose so. But why didn’t they attack us immediately?”

“They either wanted to reduce their losses, or they were watching to see who would move first.”

“What?”

“They are a group formed by seven sects in total.”

“……Senior Brother.”

Eunho suddenly called me in a serious voice.

“What is it?”

“If a moment comes when abandoning me is the only way for us to survive, please abandon me without hesitation.”

While I was unable to answer because I had no idea what he was talking about, Eunho continued.

“Please promise that you will not give up entering the Martial Academy for my sake.”

It seemed Jong Seogang’s earlier nonsense had gotten to him.

I was about to tell him not to worry about it when Geumpyo spoke.

“Senior Brother, the same applies to me. If a moment comes when you must abandon me, do so without hesitation.”

Dongryong, whose eyes had returned to normal, quickly added,

“Senior Brother, me too!”

“What are you saying, Lee Dongryong? You’re the youngest, so you have to survive and return!”

“You’re the eldest son of our family! You need to survive so you can inherit the mill!”

The three brothers stubbornly argued that each of them should be the one to die.

“What are you idiots doing?”

“……Well.”

“Where did you learn to think about throwing away your lives first? Even if I entered the Martial Academy by sacrificing you, do you think I could attend with a clear conscience?”

The thing I had regretted to the point of death in my previous life was surviving alone while leaving behind my fellow disciples and martial uncles.

And now, I was running with the resolve to die precisely so I would not repeat that mistake.

“B-But…… risking your life for your fellow disciples is only natural…… Eldest Senior Brother said……”

Why did they keep claiming I had said things I did not even remember?

“I will warn you once. Never die. Do not even think about dying. If any of you thinks of sacrificing yourselves or giving up your lives for me, I will send you back to the sect immediately and ask the sect leader to expel you!”

“……!”

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“W-We obey!”

“We obey!”

“We obey!”

“……”

Where had that response suddenly come from?

I was left speechless by how stranger the children became with each passing day.

Since we were already being pursued, there was no point in taking the mountain trails.

We immediately changed direction, descended onto the main road, and began running.

“Senior Brother, shouldn’t we run faster?”

When performing energy circulation, the speed of one’s movement technique naturally decreased.

Perhaps the pressure of unseen enemies was weighing heavily on them, because Geumpyo and Eunho looked as though they wanted to shake off the pursuers immediately.

“No matter how fast we run, we won’t lose them.”

Now that we had been surrounded, the moment we clashed to break through the encirclement, their scattered allies would rush in from all directions.

Considering that this was the method humans commonly used to hunt tigers, the strategy used by the Yellow Sword Sect and Qingdao Gang to hunt us was clearly designed to produce maximum results with minimal losses.

“Then what do we do?”

“If we can’t shake them off, we can use them.”

“What?”

After passing Deokcheong, we reached the fork between Makgan Mountain and Huzhou.

“Senior Brother.”

Eunho was looking behind us.

At the far end of the main road, Jong Seogang and his guards had appeared openly and were following us.

Alongside them, warriors dressed in the same yellow martial uniforms maintained fixed distances while displaying their encirclement.

“Senior Brother! The forest!”

From the mountain slope we had just left, people dressed in dark-blue martial uniforms were gradually closing the distance.

They belonged to the Namhyang Sect, which was based in Zhejiang Province.

The strange part was that the Qingdao Gang’s members still had not appeared.

“Senior Brother, ahead.”

The reason became clear the moment we entered the fork leading toward Makgan Mountain and Huzhou.

Jang Sunwon, the young gang leader of the Qingdao Gang, was blocking the road to Huzhou with men who appeared to be his guards.

“It seems they’re trying to drive us into the mountain.”

“A mountain is easier to hunt in than a city.”

“They’re coordinating perfectly.”

“……Let’s head into the mountain.”

“What? Are you serious? Even a seven-year-old child knows that you shouldn’t flee into the mountains when being chased.”

“I know.”

I immediately turned toward the road opposite the one Jang Sunwon was blocking.

Makgan Mountain was a rugged mountain not yet famous in Zhejiang Province.

Medicinal herbs and edible plants did not grow well there, and it did not produce quality timber, so the surrounding people paid little attention to it.

‘That must be why they chose this place as their hunting ground.’

However, several years later, Makgan Mountain would attract people’s attention because of a certain incident.

I had planned from the beginning to make that incident happen a little earlier.

When I looked back, the warriors of the Yellow Sword Sect were gradually surrounding Makgan Mountain in a massive semicircle.

“Move faster.”

When we reached the middle of the mountain, a path appeared that crossed the mountain toward the opposite side.

“Senior Brother, there are people on the other side who look like warriors of the Qingdao Gang.”

The Qingdao Gang had already blocked the opposite side of Makgan Mountain.

“There’s no way out.”

Geumpyo’s voice was filled with despair.

At that moment, Eunho snapped irritably,

“Shut up! Eldest Senior Brother must have come here because he has a plan!”

“……You told me to shut up? You bastard! I’m your older brother!”

“Damn it! What do you want me to do, then?!”

When profanity burst from Eunho’s mouth, Geumpyo readjusted his grip on his sword hilt as though he were about to kill him.

Only Dongryong looked confused, unable to understand what had suddenly happened.

“Brothers, what’s wrong?”

“You shut up too! This is all because of you!”

At Geumpyo’s harsh shout, tears welled in Dongryong’s eyes.

The three brothers, who had been so close that they had urged one another to survive only moments earlier, were now snarling as though they wanted to kill each other.

I quickly stopped my energy circulation and extended my senses.

‘As expected.’

A killing intent that felt as though it were painfully pricking my entire body.

It was not the direct killing intent consciously emitted by a human.

It had naturally spread through the air and was ambushing the entire body.

When exposed to killing intent like this, humans instinctively felt fear, and in order to overcome that fear, they unleashed anger in every direction.

“Enough!”

When I unleashed the Lion’s Roar, the three brothers, who had looked ready to fight at any moment, froze in place.

“Focus on your energy circulation.”

Because we had increased our speed after entering the mountain, their energy circulation had gradually unraveled, allowing the killing intent to seep into their minds.

Dongryong had been moving at the same speed, but he had not fallen into anger because he was wearing the Demon-Cleansing Spirit Beads.

That alone proved it.

Even as I spoke, Geumpyo and Eunho still wore dissatisfied expressions, but their fierce looks gradually relaxed as if nothing had happened.

“Huh?”

“W-What in the world was that……”

“Senior Brother, did we fall into a formation?”

Could this truly be called a formation?

If it could be classified as one, then it was the cruelest formation in the world that humans could use against other humans.

“It is similar, but different. You must have heard of it before……”

It was a tactic commonly used by the demonic practitioners of the Demonic Cult to confront the absolute masters of the righteous and dark factions.

“The Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare.”