Swordless Demonic Path

Chapter 43 : The Scent Travels a Hundred Li

Thwack! Thwack-thwack! Thwack!

The twelve subordinates died, spewing blood from their necks and foreheads, without even being able to put up a proper fight.

As they fell, Jin Sa-wol's and Jo Mal-sang's eyes met in the air.

"Ugh... Ugh!"

Jo Mal-sang trembled all over, and then, as if some strength had surged from somewhere, he jumped up and started running into the forest.

Jin Sa-wol watched Jo Mal-sang, who was dragging one foot and fleeing into the forest, and then turned his eyes to the village chief.

The village chief trembled all over and said.

"Steward Jo ordered everything. It's true. If you die on the lake, it's hard to even find the body. If you become fish food, there won't even be a corpse. Please save me. If you save me, I will repay your kindness. I have an old mother and a wife and children at home. If I die, who will take care of and raise them? Please save..."

Jin Sa-wol's sword pierced the village chief's forehead.

Jin Sa-wol, after confirming the village chief's death, walked into the forest. A short while later, the village young men came up, but they only had to see the corpses.

"Heok! Heok!"

Rustle! Chwa-chwa!

Jo Mal-sang, who was running forward, parting the forest, was out of his mind. He was just full of the desire to live.

Although his leg hurt, that was not important right now. He had to live first. Fortunately, the branch members who had come with him were left at the foot of Yiga Mountain.

If he met them, he could live.

"You son of a bitch. A guy like the Demonic Cult. Heok!"

Jo Mal-sang, who was cursing Jin Sa-wol and going down the mountain ridge, tripped on a stone, fell, and rolled.

"Ugh!"

Rumble! Tsk-tsk! Thump!

His body, which was rolling helplessly, was caught by a large tree and stopped, and Jo Mal-sang got up with difficulty.

"Keuuuk! You son of a bitch!"

Blood was still flowing from his knee.

"How can this be? This son of a bitch... I'll kill him!"

Jo Mal-sang, who muttered, biting his molars, put strength in his legs to walk again.

At that moment, he felt something sharp touch his neck.

"Keuk!"

Jo Mal-sang, who had just then discovered the silver sword blade placed in front of his neck, trembled all over.

Jin Sa-wol was standing right behind Jo Mal-sang. Jo Mal-sang shouted.

"Are you a ghost? How did you appear without a sound?"

He hoped that his voice would reach the branch members who were waiting at the foot of the mountain. But that was just a vague hope, not reality.

"Did Yun Deok order it?"

When Jin Sa-wol asked, Jo Mal-sang's shoulders trembled.

"That's right."

Jin Sa-wol said briefly and then asked again.

"The reason?"

"I was trying to kill the disciple of Wudang. The girl who was with him was just unlucky."

"A mere branch master dared to order the killing of a disciple of the Wudang Sect? Who in the world would dare..."

Jo Mal-sang did not open his mouth. Jin Sa-wol's expression hardened.

"The Namgung family?"

The branch master of the Nanchang branch was from Chunggeommun, which belonged to the Namgung family. This region was all the Namgung family's.

Jo Mal-sang, who felt that Jin Sa-wol's voice had become stiff, quickly tried to hit Jin Sa-wol's side and bow his head.

"Keok!"

But what Jo Mal-sang had hit was not Jin Sa-wol, but a tree.

Rather, Jin Sa-wol's sword had slightly pierced Jo Mal-sang's neck. Jin Sa-wol was standing behind a tree, with only his sword extended.

Cold sweat flowed down Jo Mal-sang's entire body.

"If you kill me, you will die too."

Jin Sa-wol's sword passed Jo Mal-sang's neck. Jo Mal-sang stared blankly ahead and then fell helplessly onto the fallen leaves.

Thump!

"I was never here."

Jin Sa-wol sat in front of Jo Mal-sang, confirmed his death once again, and then stood up.

Rustle!

Jin Sa-wol's figure scattered like dust.

Whoosh!

Jin Sa-wol, who flew through the sky and left the forest, quickly went back the way he had come.

What he had to catch now was Wang Gu.

Wang Gu was the only survivor who knew that he had come here.

He unfolded his lightness skill for nearly an hour, ran through several mountains and fields, and crossed a stream.

Papapat! Whoosh!

Jin Sa-wol, who had jumped over a dense forest, stopped in front of the main road leading to Nanchang City.

His whole body was soaked in sweat.

"Hoo! Hoo!"

He gasped for breath and looked around, but there was nothing to be seen.

The main road was deserted, and there were no passersby.

Even though he had run for more than ten li, he couldn't see Wang Gu.

'Did he go back by boat?'

Thinking of the waterway, he thought he might have made a wrong guess. Wang Gu was a person who did not know martial arts. Such a person could not go more than ten li in less than half a day.

Moreover, since there were many mountains and streams, even with a cart, he could not have gotten more than ten li away.

He had to meet Wang Gu around here.

Clatter! Clatter! Rattle! Rattle!

A carriage slowly approaching from the south far away came into Jin Sa-wol's eyes.

The carriage was moving slowly.

Rattle! Rattle!

The person sitting in the driver's seat was wearing black clothes and had his bamboo hat pressed down deeply, so his face could not be seen properly.

As the carriage approached, Jin Sa-wol stepped aside to the side of the road.

The carriage approached near Jin Sa-wol and slowly stopped. It was a carriage that gave off a strange atmosphere.

Jin Sa-wol frowned as he smelled the scent of blood that seeped into his nose.

Swish!

As the curtain of the carriage was opened, a woman in her early thirties who was sitting inside poked her head out. It was a woman he had never seen before.

"Jin Sa-wol."

In that instant, Jin Sa-wol's sword pierced the woman's forehead.

But the woman dodged Jin Sa-wol's sword by turning her head and then extended her hand. The dagger in her hand was embedded in Jin Sa-wol's shoulder.

Immediately after, the man in the driver's seat had already stabbed a sword into Jin Sa-wol's side.

Thwack-thwack!

Jin Sa-wol staggered, hit by a sword and a dagger in an instant.

The woman's voice was heard.

"I like you. You have a face I like."

Jin Sa-wol looked at the woman. She was licking her red lips and looking over Jin Sa-wol's entire body.

The woman's eyes turned to Jin Sa-wol's sword.

"You had the same thought as me."

Jin Sa-wol was silent. What he had just imagined was highly likely to become a reality.

She was a master, and the man in the driver's seat was also not an easy opponent.

She, too, like Jin Sa-wol, had thought of murder. She was a woman with eyes accustomed to murder.

'How peculiar.'

There was almost no feeling of a general master of the martial world. It was not a feeling like Woo Jeong-bong, but a feeling like Hyung-wook or Ma Ryong of Ghost Spirit Valley.

A similar smell to Son Ae-hwa, who had left far away, also wafted.

"Tonight, at the hour of the pig, come to Honghwaru."

"What if I don't go?"

When Jin Sa-wol asked, the woman touched her red lips and then slowly nodded.

"I'll give you a gift you'll like. If you see it, you'll want to come."

Whoosh!

She threw a box wrapped in a cloth. Jin Sa-wol quickly snatched it.

Thump! Thump!

As she tapped the back of the carriage, the carriage started to move slowly again.

Rattle! Rattle!

Jin Sa-wol stared blankly at the carriage moving away, then took his eyes off it and untied the cloth.

Inside the cloth was a box stained with blood. When he opened the box, Wang Gu's head was inside.

It was the reason he had to go to Honghwaru.

* * *

Splash! Splash!

A person who looked like a drowned rat was crawling out of the reed forest. It was Woo Jeong-bong.

"Heok! Heok!"

As Woo Jeong-bong came up on land, he lay spread-eagled and gasped for breath.

"Haa! I almost died."

After going up on the small boats and killing the water bandits, he had to come back to land. On the boat, he had fought with a rain of arrows, and in the water, he had dealt with guys who attacked with harpoons.

He had cut down at least twenty or so.

"He must have done well, right?"

Woo Jeong-bong thought of Jin Sa-wol and looked at the sky. Seeing that the evening glow was setting, it seemed that night would come soon.

But Jin Sa-wol did not appear.

"If I wait, he'll come."

Woo Jeong-bong closed his eyes without much worry and tried to sleep. Perhaps because he was tired, he fell asleep easily.

How long had he slept? He saw Sang Yu-rim in his dream.

"Hmph!"

Woo Jeong-bong, who had jumped up, looked around. As he faced the black world, his eyes widened.

He raised his head and looked at the sky, and he saw the moon and stars floating together.

"Is it already night? But why isn't this bastard coming?"

Woo Jeong-bong clutched his rumbling stomach and contemplated what to do.

While thinking that it would be better to go and find him, he was worried about what to do if Jin Sa-wol came and looked for him in the meantime.

"Let's wait a little longer."

Woo Jeong-bong muttered and then lay down again to sleep. He thought that if he slept, Jin Sa-wol would wake him up.

But even when the next morning came, Jin Sa-wol was not in sight.

Woo Jeong-bong had no choice but to leave the spot and go looking for Jin Sa-wol.

* * *

Honghwaru, around the hour of the pig, was a red-light district where many men came and went. The men and courtesans, laughing and talking, created a noisy din.

Amidst the chattering sounds, a woman was entering a separate courtyard, passing a long corridor with dozens of separate rooms. The woman in her early thirties was wearing a red skirt and holding a folding fan in her hand.

In the room, which was brightly lit by a lamp, wine and food were placed. A pretty courtesan who appeared to be in her early twenties greeted her.

The woman who sat in the seat of honor glanced at the small waterwheel and pond where water was falling through the open window. As she did so, she held out her wine cup. The courtesan quickly poured her wine.

In the woman's eyes, she saw a man in black standing next to the waterwheel. The man in black, who had appeared without a sound like a ghost, was also facing the woman.

A smile hung on the woman's red lips.

"Come in."

At the woman's words, the man in black walked without a sound and entered the room. Then, as if she had been waiting, the courtesan who appeared to be in her early twenties began to take off her clothes.

Jin Sa-wol said.

"Put it on."

As a cold chill flowed from his voice, the courtesan was flustered.

As the sitting woman nodded, the courtesan who was taking off her clothes put her clothes back on and quietly left the place.

"How did you know I was chasing that person?"

"First, have a drink."

The woman held out an empty wine cup to Jin Sa-wol. Jin Sa-wol received the wine cup with an indifferent face.

Jjoreureuk!

The woman poured the clear wine and said.

"He came running to me in a hurry and said so. That you were killing people. So I killed him."

"Who?"

"The branch master of the Hao Mun in Nanchang."

As the woman smiled, Jin Sa-wol drank the wine as if he understood. The woman said.

"Ha Mae-sang will also die tonight."

"Name."

"Jo-rim."

Hearing the name Jo-rim, Jin Sa-wol immediately noticed that it was a pseudonym.

Rustle!

Jo-rim half-lay down and untied her top.

"It's a bit hot."

Although her cleavage came into Jin Sa-wol's eyes, Jin Sa-wol's expression showed no change.

Jo-rim raised her skirt and showed her legs, but Jin Sa-wol was still indifferent.

"I'm not interested in old foxes."

"Oh my? That's a very pride-hurting statement. There are many men who rush to embrace me. They are overflowing."

Jo-rim laughed lightly, then poured and drank wine again. After putting down the empty wine cup, she raised her upper body and then naturally poked her head in front of Jin Sa-wol's face.

Her eyes, nose, and lips seemed to touch Jin Sa-wol's face.

"Did you kill Ha So-eun and Son Ae-hwa?"

Although it was a sudden question, Jin Sa-wol's eyes were as transparent as cold ice, as if they would break.

"Who are they?"

Jin Sa-wol asked back. Only then did Jo-rim retreat.

The thick fragrance she had left behind brushed past Jin Sa-wol's nose.

"They are the Flower Ghosts who were in your house next door. You wouldn't not know, would you?"

"Because I'm not interested in other people's houses."

"That can't be. There's no way a Slaughter Ghost wouldn't know his surroundings."

Although he had heard the word 'Slaughter Ghost', Jin Sa-wol was not excited. He just thought that she was a woman who knew him very well.

"The branch master of the Hao Mun in Nanchang knew even useless things. Where did you come from?"

"Hwahwaru."

Jo-rim smiled as if it were interesting and took off her upper garment, showing her left shoulder.

(End of Chapter)