Single-Instant Blade

Chapter 79 : Escape (4)

Farmers lay in a farm shed they had built to avoid the hot sun.

“That’s a spear, right?”

Mongseol said.

There was no need to answer. A spear was placed next to the man.

“Tsk! This place is blocked too.”

Mongseol muttered.

All the roads were blocked. From proper roads like the main road to small country roads, they were all blocked.

The people who had blocked the roads were local martial artists.

Anyone who had a place in the martial world was walking around outside with a weapon.

The one who had been lying in the farm shed suddenly stood up. And then he suddenly called out to the man and woman who were walking down the road.

“Hey, wait a minute!”

“Yes? Why?”

“I haven’t seen you around the neighborhood. Where are you from?”

“We’re from Sochon. We have a patient at home, so we’re on our way to Changnam. To get a doctor. The doctor has been to our house a few times, so if we just meet the doctor, he’ll prove our identity.”

The man and woman spoke naturally, as if they had been questioned quite a few times.

They clearly stated who they were, where they were going, and who could prove their identity.

“Please understand. The martial world is in an uproar right now. Please go on.”

The one who had been in the farm shed gestured for them to go quickly.

He did not completely believe the man and woman’s words. He only took half of it to heart. He suspected the other half. But he had not found any traces of martial arts on them. So he opened the way.

If he saw a suspicious person, he would ask politely.

If the doubt was resolved, he would open the way.

If he was still suspicious, he would speak politely again. It didn’t matter if it was a martial world sect, a government office, or a military camp. He would say that he was going to check their identity, and would ask if they were willing to cooperate.

The person who was asked to confirm their identity would naturally follow.

Refusal was a fight. Although the words were polite, the meaning was clear, so they could not leave without having their identity confirmed.

This kind of thing was happening all over Hebei Province.

“All the roads are already blocked.”

“You expected it, didn’t you?”

“I expected it, but it’s too fast.”

“No, it’s about three or four days later than I expected. It should have been blocked sooner.”

Mongseol looked at Ah Geol as if she were dumbfounded.

“Three or four days late? Then did you expect that we would become public enemies of the martial world?”

“From the moment we fought the Sacred Sword Sect, we were public enemies of the martial world. Why, are you scared?”

“Tsk! I’m a person who has been to the afterlife more than three or four times. What would I be scared of?”

“Haha!”

“Shall we disguise ourselves like last time?”

“That’s not enough.”

They were also worried about disguises. So they were observing very carefully.

“Then what should we do? I think it would be fine to just break through as we go. I’m saying this because I think we can break through faster than the speed of their pursuit.”

“It works at first, but it gets blocked later. You shouldn’t look down on the martial world.”

“I’m not looking down on it, I’m saying it because it’s frustrating. Then what do we do?”

“Let’s go back.”

“Go back? Where? Is there even a way to go back from here? All the roads are blocked.”

Ah Geol raised his hand and pointed to a distant mountain.

“You want to cross the mountain? Then it will take about five more days. It’s a very long detour.”

“Time is not important. From now on, we’ll be moving secretly.”

Ah Geol was already walking towards the distant mountain. On a mountain path where people did not go.

* * *

Woooong! Woong!

The sound of a beast’s cry was heard from the mountain.

“This… is a bear, right?”

Ah Geol looked around and nodded.

A hunter had messed with a bear. He had stabbed it with a spear or had shot it with an arrow, but he had not been able to kill it.

The bear was very angry.

“Of all things, why is there a bear on this mountain?”

‘It’s not a coincidence. The order given by the Sacred Sword Sect doesn’t just apply to martial artists.’

The hunters had been wandering the mountain and had found a bear. Although they had not been searching the mountain with the intention of hunting, since it had caught their eye, they had attacked with the intention of hunting.

Woooooong!

The bear roared fiercely.

“Ugh! It’s coming this way. Right?”

“Up!”

Ah Geol immediately snatched Mongseol’s shoulder and shot up into a tree.

The two waited in the tree until the bear appeared.

“If it’s a wounded bear, isn’t it better to kill it? It seems like it will die in pain anyway.”

“We can’t leave our traces.”

“Does killing a bear also leave a trace?”

“Any clue is not allowed.”

“Aren’t you being too careful? I think it’s okay to do this much. How can you be more careful than our Drunken Flower Garden assassins?”

Ah Geol looked at the forest.

Woooong! Woooooong!

The bear came running out, roaring fiercely.

A spear was stuck in its chest. It had also been hit by two arrows. There was also a wound from being cut by a sword.

The bloodstains were also clearly visible.

Its front paws were red, as if they had been dipped in blood and then taken out. Its snout and face were also covered in blood.

It was not the blood that the bear had shed. It was the trace of having bitten a person.

Some, or all, of the hunters had been hit.

Woooong!

The bear looked up at the tree.

It had smelled a person. A terrifying killing intent flashed in its eyes as it looked at Ah Geol and Mongseol.

The bear had already gotten a taste of human flesh.

“This bear, it’s become a man-eating bear. If we leave it, it will eat every person it sees.”

Mongseol was about to draw her sword.

Ah Geol stopped Mongseol. He pressed down on her sword with one hand, and pressed down on her shoulder with the other.

“If you touch this bear… maybe tomorrow evening, you might have to kill dozens of innocent people.”

Mongseol could not do this or that and just looked at Ah Geol.

Woooong! Woooong!

The bear roared roughly and began to climb the tree.

“Let’s go!”

Shwiiit!

Ah Geol launched his body and crossed over to another tree.

Mongseol raised her hand.

The eyes of the bear that was climbing the tree to get Mongseol were terribly ferocious. If she didn’t kill the bear right now, it seemed that many innocent people would be hit.

“Hwiiiuu! You should know that you’re very lucky.”

Mongseol launched her body, chasing after Ah Geol.

She didn’t know why Ah Geol was being so careful. Wasn’t it okay to kill one man-eating bear? They would think it had died at the hands of a hunter. But since he had told her not to, she did not use her hand.

Shwiiit!

Her body cut through the air nimbly.

While walking on the road, Ah Geol had not touched anything. He had not touched anything other than the ground he had stepped on with his two feet.

When he was hungry, he would dig up mountain potatoes and eat them. Of course, he would clean up the place where he had dug up the mountain potatoes. He would never touch a living animal. Because it would leave a trace somehow.

He slept comfortably lying down. But when the day broke, he would meticulously clean up for a full half a two-hour period.

“Let’s catch and eat a rabbit. We can just clean up meticulously like this, can’t we?”

“An animal leaves a mark.”

“Even if we clean up the aftermath cleanly?”

“It will at least smell fishy.”

Mongseol did not understand what Ah Geol was saying.

It was the first time she had heard that a rabbit smelled fishy.

“We also learn how to escape, but it’s not this intense. Rather, if we go into a rough place like a mountain, we have to replenish our physical strength well, so they tell us to eat meat.”

“That’s not my way.”

“Did Grandpa Ah Sam teach you this?”

“Hmph!”

Ah Geol neither confirmed nor denied, and just smirked.

It was true that Grandpa had taught him. But it was not Grandpa’s way either. It was not the Red Wolf Squad’s escape technique either.

Ah Geol was executing the All-Encompassing Stealth.

It wasn’t that he didn’t touch anything that existed in the world. As Mongseol had said, sometimes he would eat meat. He would also catch and eat rabbits, and roast and eat pheasants.

All judgments were based on instinct.

He felt that if he killed the bear, he would definitely be discovered. So he had not touched it. He felt that if he caught and ate meat here, he would become very tired. So he did not eat.

Sleeping was also the same. Although it might seem to Mongseol that he had found a place to sleep because the day was ending, in reality, he had been looking for a place to sleep since dusk.

This place is not good. Then he would continue to go.

This place is okay. When he felt a strong sense of safety, he would finally prepare a place to sleep.

This stealth method did not even have a name. But any Single-Instant Sect disciple could use it.

The Single-Instant Sect disciples trained their blades, crossing life and death.

Seori Gaheon and Seori Hyeonggae had also been dropped alone in a rough mountain since they were young and had lived. Then, to avoid the beasts, they had to develop a sense for the All-Encompassing Stealth.

“Sleep well. We’ll cross the river tomorrow.”

“A river? Is there a river here?”

“There is. I smell water.”

“Water smell…?”

“…? Ha!”

Mongseol was so dumbfounded that she opened her mouth wide.

As expected, a large river appeared as Ah Geol had said.

“It’s too far to cross by swimming. We’ll have to get a boat.”

“We can make a raft.”

“I knew you would say that. A green tree is heavy and won’t float on the water… still, shall I go and cut a tree?”

“No, gather some branches.”

Ah Geol began to pick up small branches, wandering around.

It seemed that he was thinking of making a raft by gathering branches, not a log raft.

“With this… a raft… can a raft be made?”

Mongseol said, looking at the small branches that would be perfect for use as kindling.

He cut a vine with a blade, and pushed a branch in between. He strung the branches, as if drying a dried pollack, as if spreading a dried persimmon.

One line, two lines, three lines… a line of strung branches was made.

Ah Geol used a vine to connect the lines.

“If you do it like this, it will float on the water, but a person can’t ride it. It will sink as soon as you sit on it, right?”

No. This was just the beginning.

Ah Geol made twenty of the woven branches. And he stacked them one by one and wove them. When he had stacked twenty layers, a thick raft that came up to his knees was made.

Swoosh!

As soon as the raft was put in the water, it floated up.

“Get on quickly. We have to cross diligently. The knot is weak, so it will come undone soon.”

“It’s not going to come undone in the middle, is it?”

“It could.”

“What? Just try to make me drink water!”

When Mongseol got on the raft, Ah Geol pushed a pole into the river and pushed hard.

It took five days to make the raft.

It took another three days to disassemble the raft and float it on the river one by one.

He had spent ten days crossing one river.

“Aren’t we moving too slowly? We might really get trapped in the encirclement at this rate.”

“Time is not important.”

“I know. I know… but I’m saying it because we’re going too slowly.”

“Time is…”

“Ha! This is really frustrating. I told you I know!”

Mongseol shouted.

It was the first time she had known that moving with Ah Geol was such a frustrating and crazy thing.

Ah Geol only stood up after he had floated the last branch on the water.

“Are we going too slowly?”

“Yes. We’re going too slowly, even if we’re going slowly.”

“Thanks to that, I’m almost healed.”

“Ah!”

Mongseol looked at Ah Geol with surprised eyes.

Although she hadn’t known because Ah Geol had endured the pain so well, the wound he had received from Seori Hyeonggae had healed as if it had been washed away. Although he had recuperated to some extent in Sugujin, it seemed that he had now completely recovered from his internal injuries.

“That’s really great. I didn’t know. You should have told me sooner. Then I wouldn’t have rushed you to go quickly.”

Mongseol said with a sorry expression.

“And… although we came slowly, Misan is a day’s journey away. We’ll arrive at Misan tomorrow.”

“W-What! Really?”

Mongseol’s eyes widened.

She had not asked Ah Geol where they were going. She also knew that it was best to just escape for now. So she had just run away silently.

Ah Geol was going to Misan.

To the place where the Drunken Flower Garden assassins trained, the Misan Taiqing Palace.

(End of Chapter)