Dongbang Hwi felt truly hollow. He had forced his daughter, who was smoldering with rage, to hide among the warriors.
If she was what they wanted, everything else was meaningless. So her daughter had been the target all along.
Dongbang Hwi let out a hollow laugh at the overwhelming sense of futility.
If his daughter were captured by those men, she would suffer a humiliation hard to even imagine. No, knowing her temperament, she would likely take her own life before allowing such a thing to happen.
He had desperately hoped to save at least his daughter and the clan’s servants, but now, only one choice remained.
Die doing nothing, or die fighting. However, he was not simply a father with a daughter. He was also a martial artist who had lived through an era.
The rage he had suppressed through clenched teeth to save his family and his daughter finally exploded.
“I’ve seen all sorts of crazy bastards in my time. Come at me. I will personally cut out your filthy tongue and your lower half to throw to the dogs.”
At Dongbang Hwi’s changed aura, not only Dongbang Seollin and the warriors but even the bandits flinched and froze for a moment.
However, it was only for a moment. Jo Pyeong, snapping back to his senses, stared at Dongbang Hwi, who had insulted him, and shouted with a flushed face.
“Kill everyone except the girl! Attack!”
Finally, the bandits drew their weapons and charged. Dongbang Hwi swung his sword toward Jo Pyeong.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
Jo Pyeong took a step back under the continuous onslaught. But at that exact moment, a broadsword suddenly lunged from his left.
Startled, Dongbang Hwi quickly lowered his sword to parry the broadsword. Taking advantage of the gap, Jo Pyeong retreated, and two bandits nearby rushed toward Dongbang Hwi.
Jo Pyeong turned his gaze to find Dongbang Seollin. She was fighting two bandits on the left, but she seemed to be gradually getting pushed back.
“Ho, she’s quite something, isn’t she?”
Dongbang Seollin’s movements as she swung her sword against the two bandits began to waver slightly. If time continued to pass like this, his subordinates might actually be defeated.
Jo Pyeong threw himself toward Dongbang Seollin.
Dongbang Hwi grew anxious seeing Jo Pyeong approach his daughter. However, he could not easily reach her because of the two bandits persistently clinging to him.
‘What a mess…!’
As expected of a squad leader of the Blood Wolf Band, Jo Pyeong deflected Dongbang Seollin’s killing-intent-filled sword a few times and immediately began to overwhelm her with pure strength.
Facing three attackers while being outmatched in power, Dongbang Seollin, who lacked practical combat experience, began to panic.
The enemies did not miss that opening and intensified their assault.
As she twisted her body to avoid a sword aimed at her abdomen, a broadsword flew toward her head. She hurriedly turned her head to dodge and extended her sword, which buried itself deep into an opponent’s shoulder.
*Thud!*
“Aaargh!”
But at that moment, another broadsword flew toward her. As she twisted to avoid it, the blade grazed her.
*Rip!*
Fortunately, it wasn’t a deep cut, but her clothes were torn long, revealing the flesh of her shoulder.
Jo Pyeong spoke with a lewd smile.
“If you just follow me quietly, everyone can live.”
“You dog-like bastard, I’d rather you just kill me!”
Dongbang Seollin lunged her sword toward the bandit whose shoulder she had just injured, along with a curse.
However, Jo Pyeong was waiting for that exact moment. He moved like lightning, launching a fierce attack that aimed for Dongbang Seollin’s opening. It was a calculated surprise attack targeting the direction her arm was extended.
‘My arm is going to be cut.’
She instinctively bit her lip.
*Swish! Thwack!*
Startled by the unexpected turn of events, what entered her vision was the face of a bandit falling and screaming, his arm pierced through.
Jo Pyeong dropped his broadsword and quickly retreated, searching for the direction the arrow had come from.
“Who is it?”
Then came a terrifying silence. A suffocating silence followed, as if one shouldn’t even make a sound.
A low voice pierced through that silence.
“Blood Wolf Band?”
It was a pitch-black night, with only the faint moonlight illuminating the world. However, that light alone was not enough to provide a clear view.
Both bandits and warriors began to look around, searching for the source of the sound.
The voice echoed again from a distance.
“That’s right… Heh heh heh.”
It was an ominous laughter, as if echoing from deep within a forest.
“The hunt begins now.”
It was unclear who he was speaking to. But as soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding air shifted, and something approached rapidly from the darkness.
*Swish! Thwack!*
Another bandit was struck in the chest by an arrow and fell backward helplessly.
*Thump!*
The bandit collapsed to the ground. Then, a person rushed in like the wind.
It was Baek Geombi.
A bandit, terrified by Baek Geombi’s sudden appearance, raised his broadsword and swung it down.
Baek Geombi, watching the opponent’s blade falling toward his head until the very end, performed the Shadowless Lightning Step of the Shadowless God Hwang Gok—a technique said to leave no shadow—and dug into the opponent’s inner circle in an instant.
At the same time, in the brief moment Baek Geombi’s sword left its scabbard and returned—
*Split!*
The bandit’s chest was split deep, and he collapsed backward.
Jo Mu, appearing next, grabbed the opponent’s hand and pinned it before they could even swing their blade. Then, he delivered a powerful blow to the abdomen with his other fist.
*Puck!*
“Kerrrrgh…!”
The bandit’s eyes rolled back instantly. Jo Mu struck the bandit’s head once more with great force.
*Crash!*
With a dull sound like an explosion, the headless corpse tumbled to the floor.
The bandits, terrified by the overwhelming martial arts of the men who had suddenly intruded, instinctively huddled together in one place. They gripped their weapons tightly, guarding all directions, and shouted with trembling voices.
“Who are you? Reveal your identities!”
Du Ilchung slowly revealed himself as he looked at them.
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know. And what do you plan to do once you know?”
Du Ilchung’s sword, finishing his words as he walked slowly, shot toward the bandits like lightning.
*Clang! Clang! Slash! Slash!*
Two bandits, clutching their necks and spraying blood, collapsed to the left and right.
Du Ilchung, lightly flicking the blood off his sword, leaped once more to pressure them. The bandits desperately deflected his fast and accurate sword, being pushed back little by little.
However, fear was etched onto their faces. One surviving bandit shouted.
“You must not know who we are! We are the Blood Wolf Band! This is our territory!”
But the response that returned was one full of ridicule.
“We know, Blood Wolf Band. Of all people, you had to get involved with the Hall Master… But why is this your land?”
As Na Myeong approached with a smile and raised his sword, one bandit could not contain himself and lunged forward.
At that moment.
*Swish! Thwack!*
The arrow fired by Gok Jeong pierced the left eye of the bandit who had raised his blade to attack Na Myeong.
Na Myeong shouted at Gok Jeong in dissatisfaction.
“Hey, let’s not touch each other’s prey!”
At the same time, as if hiding in the shadow of the slowly falling bandit, Na Myeong’s sword rose from a low position. It passed through, slicing the body of the bandit next to him diagonally.
Gok Jeong frowned as if something displeased him while looking at the bandits who had fallen to his arrows. Gangchan lightly tapped Gok Jeong’s shoulder.
“You’ve improved a lot. But the wind is an obstacle, not an energy.”
Gangchan’s words echoed in Gok Jeong’s mind like an oracle. And then came the realization.
‘Energy must be overcome and pushed through, but obstacles must be avoided.’
Jo Pyeong quickly broke the arrow stuck in his arm and gathered the remaining bandits into a tight formation.
Gangchan, watching this, stepped forward and raised the Soul Axe.
“If you’re going to gather together, that’s not bad either.”
Watching the Soul Axe flying horizontally, a bandit in its path tried to block it by holding his broadsword vertically.
*Clang! Whirr!*
However, the broadsword was shattered into pieces, and subsequently, the torso of the bandit who had tried to block it and the torso of another bandit next to him were sliced through in an instant.
The Soul Axe, flying in a beautiful horizontal trajectory, rose into the sky like a brilliant white moon and then plunged toward the ground like a lightning bolt.
*Crrraaaaack!*
Then, the scene was revealed. Due to the Axe Qi, the ground within a radius of nearly 10 feet was hollowed out, and pieces of flesh were scattered everywhere.
Just before the Soul Axe struck, Jo Pyeong had retreated by pushing a subordinate forward to sacrifice him. However, he too was barely standing, covered in blood.
He bit his lip and glared at Gangchan, shouting.
“I am of the Blood Wolf Band! Just what is the reason for this?”
Gangchan replied shortly.
“The reason? Because you’re the Blood Wolf Band.”
“What kind of…”
Before Jo Pyeong could finish his sentence, the Soul Axe struck once more. His body was split in half and tumbled to the ground.
Gangchan murmured quietly.
“Since you’re the Blood Wolf Band, you have to die.”
It was a low and calm statement, but it contained no emotion. However, the moment those words were heard, a shiver ran through everyone’s bodies as if a chill were seeping in.
The hunt was over.
The team members scattered in all directions to search for any remaining bandits and returned.
“There are no remnants.”
“Good work, everyone.”
The people of the Dongbang Bureau could not snap out of it because the situation was so sudden. When they saw the bandits appear again, they thought it was truly the end this time.
But then, men who had appeared out of nowhere slaughtered all the bandits in the blink of an eye. It was like escaping a wolf only to encounter a tiger.
They instinctively gathered in one place and took a defensive stance. Since they did not know the identities of the men, they couldn’t judge how to act.
Just then, one of the mysterious men walked toward them.
They were so tense they couldn’t even breathe properly. The man was about 6 feet tall with disheveled hair.
His attire, consisting of black clothes, made him look like an ordinary young man with nothing special about him except for his height.
In one hand, he held a bow that was smaller than those typically used in the Middle Plains, and a quiver hung on his back. And hanging below that was a strange weapon they had never seen before.
He opened his mouth.
“Is anyone injured?”
At those words, a sense of relief washed over the faces of the Dongbang Bureau people. Asking about their well-being meant that he was, at least, not an enemy.
“As you can see, everyone is safe thanks to you.”
“That is a relief. We are people of the Heavenly Mandate Hall from Hangju, who happened to be passing by.”
Heavenly Mandate Hall?
Dongbang Hwi quickly searched his memory. But no matter how much he thought about it, he had never heard the name Heavenly Mandate Hall.
“I was so startled that I am late in greeting our savior. I am Dongbang Hwi, the one responsible for the Dongbang Clan.”
As he bowed politely, Dongbang Hwi desperately tried to recall any memory of the Heavenly Mandate Hall. But in the end, nothing came to mind.
“My experience in the Kangho is lacking, so I failed to recognize the Heavenly Mandate Hall. I am truly sorry.”
“It is nothing for the Clan Master to be sorry for. The Heavenly Mandate Hall is a newly formed sect, so not many people know of it.”
“Then, are you perhaps the Hall Master?”
“Yes. I am the Master of the Heavenly Mandate Hall, Gangchan.”
After Gangchan replied politely, he instructed his team members behind him to prepare food.
“We don’t have much, but it should be enough to satisfy your hunger.”
“Ah, I don’t know how to thank you…”
Upon Gangchan’s instruction, Na Myeong hung a large pot over the campfire. He then began to boil a meat porridge by mixing rice powder with jerky.
Gangchan smiled as he watched Na Myeong boil the porridge. His thoughtfulness felt warm once again.
They could have simply shared the jerky, but Na Myeong’s consideration in wanting to feed warm and soft porridge to those who hadn’t had a proper meal in a while felt heartwarming.
Dongbang Hwi and Dongbang Seollin were also deeply grateful for his meticulous thoughtfulness. Dongbang Seollin approached Na Myeong, who was boiling the porridge.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“It’s not a difficult task anyway, so you can just rest.”
“Still, I can’t just sit and be fed. Please give me something to do.”
“Haha, in that case, please find something we can use as bowls. Along with those guys over there.”
Na Myeong pointed to where Gwak Sugi and Baek Geombi were standing blankly.
“I will.”
As Dongbang Seollin approached them, Gwak Sugi and Baek Geombi looked at her, wondering what was going on.
“He asked me to find something to use as bowls.”
“Ah, if it’s that, we’ll do it.”
“No. I can’t let you do that. This is a job I barely managed to get.”
“Pardon? No, what kind of job did you have to plead for?”
“I’m going to kill that guy right now…”
“Pffft!”
A smile formed naturally. Their playful tone and actions might have been a form of consideration for them.
‘Thank you for sending such good people.’
For the first time in her life, Dongbang Seollin thanked the heavens.