novelraw Chapter 140 : Anger Laced with Coldness
Chapter 140 : Anger Laced with Coldness
Cheon Yerang and her party were able to follow Ju O thanks to the homing instinct.
The yellow-feathered lark named Nani, having finished its task, returned to Ju O, who was its nest.
And Cheon Yerang, with her blue eyes, saw this.
“Stop for a moment.”
Cheon Yerang, who had entered the forest, stretched out her hand and stopped the party.
The party, consisting of Peng Sopyeong, Moyong Susu, Hyeok'ugun, Oh Seolhwa, and Go Durim, held their breath and concealed their presence.
In the meantime, Cheon Yerang’s eyes scanned the surroundings.
‘It’s artificial.’
It is known that nature has no form, but this is different from the truth.
Nature has its own order.
Trees try not to invade each other’s territory.
Bushes also grow, creating their own territory within the trees’ territory.
But.
The first thing Cheon Yerang felt when she entered the forest was a sense of incongruity.
An artificial order that was not natural came into her sight.
This was…
“A formation.”
At first glance, it was impossible to tell, but upon closer inspection, she could see it.
Of course, it was a formation so subtle that it would have been difficult to see through without Cheon Yerang’s blue eyes.
‘There is a formation inside here. It will take time to break it.’
To break a formation, it took twice the time it took to create it.
But there was no time.
The Namrangbang, having realized that their plan had gone awry, would be trying to clean up their hideout and escape.
‘I won’t let them go.’
No matter what.
Cheon Yerang had no intention of letting them go just like that.
At the very least, she intended to find the one who had planned this and punish them.
Cheon Yerang’s hand, gripping the hilt of her sword, trembled finely.
It was not fear, but anger.
“There is a formation ahead of us. It will take time to break it, so I will go in alone.”
“What? But… it’s too dangerous!”
Entering a formation recklessly was no different from entering a tiger’s den without any preparation.
Moyong Susu was surprised and tried to stop Cheon Yerang.
“The fact that there’s a formation means that their hideout is here, right? So…”
“There’s no time. At this rate, we will lose the one called Ju O.”
Cheon Yerang looked back with a cold gaze.
“I will go in alone. Do not come in.”
With these words, Cheon Yerang threw herself into the formation without even listening to their reply.
“Oh no!”
As Peng Sopyeong looked at him with a face that said, ‘what do we do now,’ Hyeok'ugun furrowed his brow.
“It’s not like there’s no way at all.”
“Oh! Is there some kind of way?”
As Oh Seolhwa asked with shining eyes, Hyeok'ugun let out a short sigh and drew his sword.
“A formation is hard to break, but it’s not impossible. If you remove the five elements that make up the formation, you can at least weaken the power of the formation.”
Moyong Susu asked.
“How do we remove them?”
“There is no other way. If there’s anything that looks suspicious, we have to break it first.”
“That means…”
The gazes of Moyong Susu and Peng Sopyeong stared at the vast expanse of the forest.
“We have to destroy something that makes up the formation among these?”
“That’s about right.”
“So in the end, we have to use our bodies! I’ll do it!”
As Peng Sopyeong gripped his saber and stepped forward, a familiar voice came from behind him.
“No, I’ll do it.”
Everyone’s gaze moved to where the voice had come from.
Namgung Seoru was standing there.
“Young Lady Namgung!”
Peng Sopyeong and Moyong Susu, who knew her, greeted Namgung Seoru with surprised faces.
Namgung Seoru, who had already drawn her sword, stood at the entrance of the forest where the formation began and raised her sword.
“I don’t know anything about formations, so I will destroy everything I see.”
At Namgung Seoru’s words, which exuded a strong energy, Hyeok'ugun nodded his head.
“We will help too.”
Namgung Seoru’s sword, which had nodded her head in the same way, swept through the surrounding area.
Sword wind and sword ki poured out in succession, and began to shatter trees, bushes, and even rocks.
‘Who was that.’
A while ago, on the sparring stage, the martial artists of the Namrangbang had launched a surprise attack on Cheon Yerang.
They had thrown a wooden box containing poison at her, and at that time, Namgung Seoru was standing not far from Cheon Yerang.
She too had tried to swing her sword to stop the Namrangbang martial artist.
It was then.
—Oops! I’m sorry!
A familiar tone and voice.
The man in black who had appeared like that had thrown Namgung Seoru far away and then grabbed Cheon Yerang’s hand.
After that, the wooden box had shattered and a poisonous mist had burst out, and the formless poisonous gas had killed the Namrangbang martial artist.
‘That can’t be.’
Namgung Seoru tried to erase the face that came to her mind.
He had lost his martial arts while fighting with the assassins of the Nameless Pavilion.
Of course, he couldn't have appeared there.
But the movement of the short spear that pierced the hawk reminded her of Jin Sohyun’s flying sword technique.
‘I have to know.’
Namgung Seoru’s sword moved even more fiercely and swept through the area.
***
Kugugung—!!
At the rough explosion coming from the front, the martial artists of the Namrangbang flinched.
“They seem to be very angry.”
On the other hand, Gwi Hak was relaxed.
He was sitting in a chair, waiting for his guests to arrive.
“Is it okay to just wait like this? The Martial Alliance will soon rush in. The masters they have are enough to kill all of us.”
As Ju O said anxiously, Gwi Hak dusted off his hands.
“What if there is only one way for the Namrangbang to survive?”
At Gwi Hak’s question, the martial artists of the Namrangbang and Ju O’s eyes shone at the same time.
They were always on the side of the times.
They stood on the side of the strong and fought with all their might.
That was the secret to how the Namrangbang, which had walked the path of bandits and ronin, had survived until now.
And the strong that the Namrangbang had chosen in this era was the Heretic Path's Alliance.
“Does that mean we can enter the direct command of the Heretic Path's Alliance?”
“Yes. The ones coming here now are the late-stage prospects of the righteous path. I can feel that their movements are still clumsy and they lack experience.”
If the masters of the Alliance had stepped forward themselves.
If at least Dokgo Jeokmyeong, the External General Manager of the Martial Alliance, had moved with them, they would not have been breaking the formation in this way.
But this time, the intruders were moving, literally shattering the formation.
That meant they were inexperienced martial artists.
“Among them, arrogant ones with some skill must have followed you.”
“Moyong…”
“Do you have any idea?”
“A girl named Moyong Susu from the Blue Dragon Daoist Temple knows me.”
“If it’s the Blue Dragon Daoist Temple, that’s where the daughter of the White Moon Palace is. Perhaps.”
Gwi Hak licked his upper lip with his longer-than-average tongue.
“We might be able to catch a big fish.”
His prediction was not wrong.
A woman revealed herself from between the covered bushes.
In the deep forest where not even light could properly enter, the woman’s appearance was truly incongruous.
Beauty.
Her two eyes, imbued with emotion, shone blue like jade, and not a single flaw could be found in her appearance.
Could a swordsman who appeared, holding a sword, be this beautiful?
The martial artists of the Namrangbang were captivated by the sudden appearance of Cheon Yerang.
“They said the daughter of the White Moon Palace was beautiful enough to move the world… there are some believable rumors after all.”
Gwi Hak stood up from his chair and put his hands behind his back.
“So you are Cheon Yerang.”
“The antidote.”
“Hm?”
A cold anger could be felt from Cheon Yerang’s body.
The ground she was standing on began to freeze, unable to withstand the coldness, and the weeds bent their heads and froze white.
“Give me the antidote.”
A terrible coldness flowed from the sword in her hand.
“The antidote… it seems there’s someone you want to save? Surprising. To think there’s someone the princess of the White Moon Palace would risk her own life to save.”
“The antidote.”
“There has to be a give and take. If I give you the antidote, what can you do for me?”
“I’ll kill you without pain.”
“What? Hahahahaha! As expected of the White Moon Palace! Your confidence pierces the heavens…”
Gwi Hak couldn't continue his words and had to step back.
‘What!?’
His body reacted first to the dizzying feeling of a sharp killing intent piercing his lungs like a blade.
Cheon Yerang was still standing in the same spot.
Lick—
Gwi Hak, who was licking his lower lip, narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth.
“There is no such thing as an antidote for the Formless Earth Killing Poison I made.”
“…”
“That bastard you were trying to save is probably dying in agony, vomiting blood from all over, by now.”
Cheon Yerang took a breath and then slowly exhaled.
‘I was thinking of shaking her mind and body.’
Gwi Hak swallowed dryly.
The news that a precious person might already be dead was enough to shake even a martial artist with a strong will.
But Cheon Yerang was not shaken.
Rather, she glared at him with an even sharper momentum.
‘I’m sorry. I couldn’t get the antidote.’
Cheon Yerang took her first step.
Soon after, Cheon Yerang rushed toward Gwi Hak.
“Stop her! You idiots! If you bring me this girl’s head, the Namrangbang will receive the favor of the Heretic Path's Alliance!”
“Waaaaah!!”
The martial artists of the Namrangbang rushed in, letting out crazed screams.
There were a total of thirty of them.
Watching the spearheads rushing in from all directions, Cheon Yerang’s eyes shone with an even brighter blue light.
At the same time, the spearheads brandished by the martial artists of the Namrangbang stabbed in from all directions.
Cheon Yerang dodged their spears with only simple movements.
And yet, her speed did not decrease at all.
As if she had eyes all over her body, Cheon Yerang dodged all the stabbing spears without even looking.
Cheon Yerang’s goal was one.
‘That is the blue eye that only the bloodline of the White Moon Divine Lord is born with!’
“Amazing!”
Gwi Hak was genuinely impressed and spread his hands forward.
“I’m sorry, child. You’ve taken a wrong step. This is a snake’s den.”
Snakes shot out from under the ground.
Each and every one of them was a poisonous snake with a terrible poison.
Cheon Yerang cut down the poisonous snakes rushing in from all directions.
But the number of snakes was considerable.
Cheon Yerang, who was cutting the necks of the snakes, launched her body into the air to avoid the mouth of a snake aiming for her ankle.
Cheon Yerang’s sword, which had risen into the air, launched several sword strikes.
The sword ki, imbued with a sharp momentum and coldness, tore the snakes on the ground to shreds.
In the meantime, Gwi Hak gathered his hands and spread them forward.
“Haap!”
As the poison palm, imbued with a momentum so strong that it made his blood tingle, approached quickly, Cheon Yerang held her sword straight and took a long breath.
“Hooooo—!”
Half Moon, Moon Shadow Heavenly Dance.
The sword, imbued with moonlight, began a dazzling sword dance.
The silver-white sword ki tore Gwi Hak’s poison palm to shreds and poured down.
Gwi Hak, who discovered this, grabbed the shoulder of a Namrangbang martial artist standing next to him and threw him with all his might.
“Ugh!!”
The body of the martial artist, who had received the pouring sword ki of the Moon Shadow Heavenly Dance with his bare body without any resistance, was torn to shreds.
The corpse of the martial artist, who had died in a gruesome state, rolled on the ground.
“Tsk! Are you all okay with your comrade dying?”
The reason the martial artist had died was because of Gwi Hak, but the martial artists of the Namrangbang, whose minds were half-crazed with fear, glared at Cheon Yerang with hateful eyes.
“Swallow the pill. This is your last chance.”
At Gwi Hak’s shout, the martial artists of the Namrangbang took out the dark red pills they had been given.
The hesitation was only at the beginning.
“Son of a bitch! I don’t know anymore!”
As one person threw it into his mouth, the rest of the martial artists also threw the pills into their mouths.
It was from then on.
The faces of those who had swallowed the pills turned red, and their eyes began to be bloodshot.
“Keuhaak!!”
Their pressure points expanded and swelled up.
At the same time, their internal energy rose greatly.
The martial artists of the Namrangbang, who felt the amazing increase in their ki, rushed toward Cheon Yerang from all directions with crazed screams.
(End of Chapter)