novelraw Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Chapter 22:8. Red Dragon (1)Bang-rip waited anxiously for something.
"Damn it. Blast it all."
There hadn't been a single night where he'd slept properly.
Why did Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un say nothing to him? At some point, Hyeok Seol-hwa had even begun refusing to share the same bedchamber as him.
Even as the rewards and recognitions for toppling the Forest Bandits were being distributed, Bang-rip's name was not mentioned even once.
My standing within the Heavenly Demon Cult is growing narrower by the day.
Of course, it was Bang-rip himself who had brought that upon himself—but that kind of trivial matter was something he brushed off with ease.
He kept looking up at the sky, waiting for something. It should be arriving around now.
"When is it coming? Tch."
As if his wish had reached it, a hawk at last came circling through the sky.
A Carrier Eagle!
The Carrier Eagle spotted Bang-rip and landed on his fingertips.
Bang-rip pulled out the white cloth tied to the eagle's hind leg and unfolded it. Then he read.
[Martial Alliance Advancing]
Only those 5 characters were written in a firm hand. It was the handwriting of Gwan Tae-ho of the Eagle Eye Six Swords—a Martial Alliance member who was secretly in contact with Bang-rip.
Bang-rip laughed under his breath. The message I've been waiting for has finally come!
The Martial Alliance is advancing and coming to Xinjiang. If that happens… Tianshan will be mine.
Gulp. He swallowed and envisioned the future that might soon be his.
The thought of himself, surrounded by gold and silver treasures and peerless beauties, laughing freely and merrily—a smile naturally spread across his face.
Heh. Hehehe.
It was only a shame that he couldn't laugh out loud.
"Hm?"
But there was more than 1 letter.
There was a second page. Bang-rip took it out and saw that it was filled with writing, far denser than the first.
As Bang-rip read down the letter, the color slowly drained from his face.
What… is this.
Written in the letter was a certain "instruction."
An instruction—telling Bang-rip to accomplish something.
W-with my own hands?
Gulp—he swallowed hard.
With my own hands, you say? Is there no one who could help…
No. No.
I am a martial artist too.
He was once a man of the martial world, known as the Wily Fox Swordsman. And was he not the father of Hyeok Jeong-min, who was these days being called a prodigy?
Of course, back when his youngest Jeong-min had been suffering from the Demon Vein Affliction, Bang-rip had treated him like a defective product for having such a wretched disease—but that past was already pitch-black with forgetting.
Bang-rip clenched his fist tightly. Right, he was not the kind of coward who would flinch at something like this.
Hmph! Indeed, do you think I can't do it? I'll give you exactly what you want. Martial Alliance.
In that case, he would need to prepare to set out a grand table as well.
It was the moment when a sly smile crept to the corners of Bang-rip's lips, he who had only been fearful until now.
.
.
.
Jeong-min climbed the Ten Thousand Mountain Range without delay, and before he had walked far, he came face to face with the group he had been looking for.
"You've saved me the trouble of searching."
It was the pack of Blood Wolves.
Dripping bloody red from their mouths, the Blood Wolves closed in on Jeong-min.
—Grrrrr.
—Growl!
The sounds they made were vicious and threatening. It was as if they were telling him to leave this mountain at once.
And then.
"I've found it strange for a while now."
When Jeong-min stepped forward 1 pace, the Blood Wolves stepped back 2.
If Jeong-min kept advancing, the Blood Wolves would simply retreat that same distance.
The Blood Wolves only fell back, keeping a fixed distance from Jeong-min—they would not attack.
"Back then, you were clearly fighting some bandits. But you didn't bite until the bandits attacked first."
Which meant—
Unless attacked first, the Blood Wolves would not bite—that was what this said.
That makes no sense.
Blood Wolves were demonic beasts. Demonic beasts were called demonic beasts precisely because they lost their reason and mauled people to death. They were different from ordinary animals.
And yet such demonic beasts wouldn't bite unless attacked first?
There was only 1 thing that could mean.
"There's someone controlling you."
When it came to being controlled, Jeong-min would be the senior. Well—in this life, was he still the junior?
In his past life, Jeong-min had heard his title from the Crooked-Nose Taoist and would stop cold, swallowed by the Madness Curse.
That was how he knew. These Blood Wolves were also under someone's dominion.
"Now then—lead the way. Who is it that gnaws at your minds?"
And 1 more thing.
"Who, and with what intention, deliberately released you into the Ten Thousand Mountain Range?"
He was someone who knew that Blood Cult Leader Gyeong Ga-ryeong suffered from a wolf phobia.
—Grrrr.
The Blood Wolves growled as if to say they had no intention of answering.
Jeong-min simply—
"Hmm. Right. I'm not all that curious anyway."
—shrugged his shoulders.
What did it matter to him who hated Cult Leader Gyeong, or who was controlling demonic beasts?
If he was being honest, he had no interest.
Demonic Energy Hardening.
As far as Jeong-min was concerned, these pathetic demonic beast pups—he just had to sweep them all away.
Then he could go back, get the signature on the Western Alliance pact, and obtain the cure for the Demon Vein. That would be that.
So he would cut them down.
Nameless Sword Art, 1st Form—Rake.
Click—Whoosh!
Jeong-min swiftly drew his sword from his hip and swung it horizontally, slashing at the Blood Wolves.
—Yelp!
Jeong-min blinked in surprise and looked down at his sword.
What is this?
Heavenly Ascent Sword. It's ridiculously light.
It was a weight that made it hard to tell whether he was gripping a sword or a feather.
And yet it wouldn't break, they said—truly a supreme blade.
The blood on the edge slid smoothly down the flat of the blade. It had been honed well enough that nothing sticky clung to it.
Grandfather seemed to have kept this without using it, only as an ornament.
Well, I beg to differ, Grandfather.
If a sword is given, it ought to be used—that is only right.
And since all the generations before Grandfather had indeed used this sword, so they said.
In a sense, the Heavenly Ascent Sword held within it the wisdom of ancestors across many generations.
"Here I go."
1st Form—Rake.
Whoosh!
Some fell in an instant, and others quickly stumbled back.
Neither could keep up with Jeong-min's speed.
"If you properly lead me to whoever is controlling you, I'll kill only that one and be done. That's easier for me too. If you don't lead the way? Then you all die—that's all."
Easier for me, and you get to live.
That's the better deal, isn't it—that was the spirit in which Jeong-min had spoken.
But—
—Grrrowl!
—Grrr.
—Yap! Yap!
The Blood Wolves had somehow communicated among themselves, and before he knew it, their numbers had grown enough to pack tightly before Jeong-min.
What. Is this mountain nothing but wolf pups? Are there no other animals?
Jeong-min gripped the Heavenly Ascent Sword harder.
"Ah, right. Negotiations have broken down."
From here on, I won't show any mercy either.
Not that I was showing any to begin with.
Demon Bullet.
Whooooo!
A Demon Bullet formed at Jeong-min's fingertips.
Swish! He fired the compressed Demon Bullet and pierced the heart of a Blood Wolf that had been drawing close.
—Yelp!
—Yap!
At that moment, 1 wolf came flying in as a surprise attack from above.
Jeong-min raised the Heavenly Ascent Sword to block the Blood Wolf's claws.
Clang!
"Hey, wolf. Are you looking to find nirvana?"
—Growl?
"I've never eaten wolf meat before. I'll score it nicely so the seasoning soaks in well."
Whoosh!
There was another Blood Wolf behind the first.
Jeong-min pressed his body low and shifted his center of gravity onto the blade of the Heavenly Ascent Sword.
Now let's see—how much more power does it add. Heavenly Ascent Sword.
Nameless Sword Art, 2nd Form—Ogre Grip.
Crack! Shwaaaaa!
The blade of the Heavenly Ascent Sword, launched like a slashing cut, sent all the Blood Wolves in front of Jeong-min flying away on the wind.
Jeong-min nearly stumbled and fell. Having shifted his weight onto the blade, he'd found it difficult to hold his balance.
Getting used to this is going to take some time.
A light sword might seem advantageous at first glance, but the truth was that it was just as difficult to wield. It was hard to even gauge whether it was in his hand or not.
But as he sharpened his senses and spent more time with the sword, it would surpass an ordinary sword by far.
That was the realm of Sword-Body Unity.
I've already achieved Sword Energy Hardening, so Sword-Body Unity will come quickly too.
Not that he had any intention of growing complacent.
"Shall we keep going?"
It was exactly that moment.
Whoosh!
Something caught Jeong-min's eye. Thinking it might be an arrow, he twisted his body sharply to dodge.
Thud!
What he had dodged struck a tree and lodged itself in.
It was a throwing blade.
Which means.
The moment Jeong-min turned his head, a low, deep male voice rang out from directly before him.
"Stop right there."
When did he get so close?
Jeong-min was astonished that this person had slipped past his energy sense—and yet he felt as though he might know who it was.
"Are you the one controlling the Blood Wolves?"
"You've done quite a lot of awful things to my precious children."
Sliiing—
A blade drew close and pressed right against the back of Jeong-min's neck. A chill ran through him.
The man said.
"Turn back. If you wandered in by mistake, then descend from the Ten Thousand Mountain Range."
"I can't do that. I need to drive away all the Blood Wolves."
"Says who."
"I made a promise. With the Vessel of God."
"—!"
With that, the chill vanished from Jeong-min's neck.
Jeong-min turned his head in that direction—a middle-aged man was standing there.
"You… what is your connection to Gyeong Ga-ryeong, Vessel of God of the Blood Cult?"
Whoosh! Jeong-min flicked the Heavenly Ascent Sword once to clean it and sheathed it.
Then he observed the middle-aged man standing before him carefully. To be precise, he looked less middle-aged and more like his late 30s.
Long hair. Long beard.
He looked as though there was almost no flesh on him, as if skin clung to bone. It seemed he was someone who lived on the mountain—there was no sign that he had washed properly, and had it been anywhere else, Jeong-min would have had to hold his nose shut from the smell.
Each of his knuckles had throwing blades fitted between them. He appeared to be a practitioner of the throwing blade art.
And—
‘……’
Every finger had a ring on it, each one faded in color—save for only 1 ring on his ring finger, which gleamed with a golden shine.
After all these years without washing, how was it that only that one still glittered?
Jeong-min looked at the sight for a moment and thought of something. A gold ring on the ring finger.
Hmm. I see.
After sorting his thoughts, Jeong-min answered the question the man had asked earlier.
With a lie.
"A lover."
"……!!"
The moment he heard Jeong-min's words, the man ground his teeth hard.
The veins on his forehead were visibly rising.
Jeong-min, in that moment, wondered whether he should draw the Heavenly Ascent Sword again, and quietly rested his hand on the hilt.
"A lover… you said."
"That's right."
"You look young."
"What does age matter? Love is all you need."
"What's your name?"
"When asking someone their name, the proper order is to introduce yourself first."
The man bit down on his back teeth once more, then spoke.
"Red Dragon No Gang-sak. That is my name."
"Hyeok Jeong-min. No title worth attaching yet."
"Right, Hyeok Jeong-min."
No Gang-sak made a gesture, and the Blood Wolves snarled as they closed in.
He gripped the throwing blades fitted between his fingers even tighter.
"You die here."
Suddenly?
Sliiing! Hearing that, Jeong-min finally drew the Heavenly Ascent Sword once more.
"Surely you meant to say 'you die here' about yourself?"
Swish!