Chapter 30 – The Dagger In The Bag(1)
Until just ten years ago, merchants had no reason to worry about thieves, enjoying an era of peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, recently, bandits have begun rampaging in various regions.
If it had just been forest bandits, there would have been less to worry about. All they took was at most the baggage of unfortunate travelers, and apart from that, they only collected tolls.
The forest bandits weren’t fools either. They knew well that as their power grew and more people died, they would attract the attention of government troops and eventually be subjugated.
Therefore, they positioned themselves at suitable checkpoints and just appropriately extorted money from poor travelers or small-scale escort agencies passing by. However, recently, things have greatly changed.
Murder was the norm, and even rumors of deliberate kidnappings were openly circulating within the city. Fear began to increasingly inflate itself.
Bang Hyeok, the head of Geumhyeon Escort Agency, had heard these rumors, but not only was the agency’s situation not good recently, but also because nothing special had happened until recently.
The complacency of thinking that things would be fine this time too finally brought disaster. Bang Hyeok looked with bewilderment at the warriors of the escort agency falling before his eyes.
“Bl, block them! Somehow block them!!”
“We, we cannot block them!!”
“Aaaaaargh!!”
“What kind of hell is this.”
Third-class warriors couldn’t even hold up and were falling like paper, while the few second-class warriors in the escort agency were somehow holding on, but even they were reaching their limits.
At first, it seemed like there were just a lot of beggars by the roadside in ragged clothes holding bowls in their hands. But at the moment they approached for passage.
They suddenly revealed their true colors. They pulled out weapons hidden in their clothes, instantly cut off the breath of the escort agency’s warriors, and launched a surprise attack, causing this chaos.
However, even though they were the guard warriors of a countryside escort agency, they still had skills worthy of being called warriors without shame. To so easily dispose of them all…
“I’ll give you whatever you want! Just please spare my life!!”
Bang Hyeok tried to negotiate somehow to at least save his life, but they didn’t even pretend to listen. Instead, they answered with a smile.
“What we want is your lives.”
“All second-class warriors and above have been captured alive.”
“Good job, now kill all the remaining scraps and gather the valuables to return.”
“Yes, sir!”
From the beginning, they had no intention of leaving anyone alive. Thus, Bang Hyeok’s desperate pleas came to nothing. If only he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have been so stingy with money…
It was just as he was repeating futile regrets while waiting for approaching death. Suddenly, a sharp flash of light appeared and cut off the necks of two bandits in front of him.
Flash Cloud-Splitting Sword
The bandits who had been playing with the escort agency’s warriors like toys lost their lives without even being able to react. With that, the hope that was fading in his eyes blazed hot again.
Bang Hyeok rolled his two eyes looking for Mu-myung who had suddenly appeared. In this situation. There was only one way to survive in this situation and that is to rely on the master.
But when he realized that the owner of the technique just wielded was at most a young child, even Bang Hyeok couldn’t help but be greatly bewildered. Wh, what on earth is going on?
“Unlike usual, I thought today was too late… as expected, there was an attack as predicted.”
“As expected of you, Master.”
“Master! I want to fight too!”
“Seolhwa, I cannot permit you yet. Your basics are too lacking, and if you make a mistake, you could get hurt.”
“…”
What kind of scene is this?
Bang Hyeok lost his words at the bizarre scene that could not be described in words. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than an old man out for a stroll with his grandchildren.
However, the conversation they exchanged was not like that at all. And that with bandits who kill people without hesitation right in front of them. What’s even more bizarre is the reaction of the bandits.
Despite having committed a massacre against the escort agency’s warriors without any hesitation, they were now cowering before just two children and one old man? It was truly incomprehensible.
But this was merely the view of an ignorant countryside fellow; the bandits who attacked the escort agency immediately noticed that the old man was no ordinary person when they saw him.
‘Although his appearance is extremely ragged… the aura he gives off is not ordinary.’
‘The girl’s technique just now was nearly first-class in terms of sharpness, so then the old man who appears to be the girl’s master must definitely be at least a first-class master.’
‘There’s no choice, I’ll have to fully release the demonic energy and attack with full power.’
Demonic cultivation allows one to accumulate internal energy by any means necessary. Thanks to this, the speed of accumulating internal energy is unparalleled, but the drawback of demonic cultivation lies in its stability.
While first-class masters of orthodox sects can deploy ultimate techniques very stably despite slower cultivation, first-class masters who cultivated with demonic methods often die from explosions while trying to deploy ultimate techniques.
Therefore, those who practice demonic cultivation usually suppress it and only release it in important moments, and even then, they cannot maintain it for a very long time.
Just that much is enough to easily handle warriors below the second-class, but if the opponent is first-class, the situation is different. To see a master who must belong to the Five Great Families or the Nine Major Sects.
Even if life doesn’t hold out in the middle.
There’s no shortage of effort to fight with all one’s might.
The five remaining warriors, now burning with fighting spirit, all released the demonic energy they had been suppressing. Immediately, an enormous internal energy on par with a first-class master pressed down on the atmosphere.
Yet facing the ferocious aura that was completely uncontrolled like a beast, Mu-myung was excessively calm. It is the nature of weak dogs to bark more loudly.
Eventually, Mu-myung drew his sword against the five beasts coming at him at once. The horizontal slash he wielded was not yet at the level of being called a horizontal slash.
Three Disasters Sword Technique is a sword technique that encompasses the principles of Heaven, Earth, and the Human in between, the beginning and end of all swords. How could one dare to say they have mastered these principles?
Still lacking in depth, not even able to be called a form.
Its name is merely.
Horizontal Slash
â—‡
Could it be that the heat of midsummer cannot exempt even beasts? Or is pulling a cart burdened with all sorts of baggage and even people much more arduous than people think?
The horses pulling Geumhyeon Escort Agency’s cart were gulping down the flowing river water as if they would drink the entire river. It’s fortunate that the clients didn’t feel discomfort.
Otherwise, things could have gone awry from the very beginning. Bang Hyeok approached the girl while forcibly putting a kind smile on his chubby face to hide his impatience.
The girl with rare ghost-like white hair and red eyes seemed to find the horse very fascinating. She was sitting next to the drinking horse, playing by pulling its mane here and there.
“Does the young lady find the horse interesting?”
“Yeah, I’m seeing this for the first time.”
‘Such a young age and speaking so rudely…!! Argh, tsk tsk.’
Bang Hyeok was instantly filled with fury when he heard casual speech from a girl similar in age to his own child, but recalling numerous instances of arrogance he had endured as the head of a small escort agency, he managed to barely hold back.
“Seolhwa, come here. It’s almost time to eat.”
“Okay! Master!!”
‘Right, endure it. She’s the disciple of a great warrior after all! Current patience will become future blessing.’
Two weeks ago. Bang Hyeok, who encountered bandits near Geumhyeon Mountain, almost lost everything including his own life, but fortunately, by a stroke of luck, he was able to survive.
But a true first-class person seizes opportunities in crisis. Although appearing almost like a beggar in ragged clothes on the outside, he noticed that the true value was that of a Supreme Master.
Thanks to this, Bang Hyeok, wanting to transform this chance encounter into a lasting connection, decided on his own to travel to Hanam, which wasn’t even in the original plan. In addition to expressing gratitude, he took responsibility for meals as well.
Despite being a life-saving benefactor, the gratitude was so excessive that Mu-myung expressed reluctance. And the escort agency’s warriors didn’t view it favorably either.
“Do you really think that old man is a Supreme Master?”
“Of course I admit he’s not some inadequate second-class warrior, but… why would a Supreme Master be in this countryside?”
“A first-class master might be the limit, no…?”
It’s true that they were defeated by those bandits, but to say they were overwhelmingly outmatched would not be accurate. If the number of second-class warriors had been similar, they would have had ample chance of victory.
Naturally, they were too low in rank to even realize that the opponent wasn’t using full power, and instead, they chose to cover their eyes with jealousy and envy.
“This time I really have a hunch. The Great Swordman is a Supreme Master comparable even to the leader of the orthodox martial arts alliance!!”
“Didn’t you also believe in your hunch last time and ruin the escort mission?”
The escort agency’s warriors each sighed and shook their head at the sight of Bang Hyeok’s exaggerated behavior. A Supreme Master on par with the leader of the martial arts alliance in a rural area like this?
Say something that makes sense.
