Chapter 5
As the nine bandits rushed at Jaseong all at once—
Thud-dadak!
Jaseong quickly fled up the stairs leading to the upper floor of Moon Castle Pavilion.
Axes and blades slicing through the air brushed past the hem of his clothes.
"That bastard's running away!"
"Get him! Don't let him live!"
Like a pack of wolves crazed with blood, the bandits surged toward the staircase.
Their eyes gleamed with a cruel, murderous intent.
But contrary to the bandits' expectations, Jaseong was not running away.
Just as the nine bandits chased him up the stairs—
"Huh?!"
Jaseong abruptly halted midway up the staircase. After a quick breath to stabilize himself, a blue gleam flashed in his eyes.
Saaa—
The instant the Samadhi Eyes activated, the world slowed.
And in the slowed-down time, he could see a red thread of energy stretching out from the right hand of the bandit charging farthest ahead.
Within that slowed time, Jaseong dodged the red thread with all his might— for it marked the trajectory of the enemy's sword. Next—
Pusshuk!
He stabbed his sword into the gap between those red currents.
"Guhuhk!"
Though Jaseong had moved his wrist barely once, the first bandit's throat was pierced through.
"Pi, Pilho!"
The second bandit screamed in horror. But regrettably for him, vengeance was not something he could even dream of.
Chuak! Chuak!
"Aaaargh! My leg!"
The second bandit yelled in agony. Jaseong's sword had cleanly severed his knee ligaments.
Thanks to the narrow confines of the staircase, the situation became at best two-on-one, or often one-on-one. Thus, the nine bandits could not take advantage of their numerical superiority.
"W-what is this?!"
"Fall back! It's a trap!"
Flustered, the bandits tried to retreat, but it was already too late.
Chuak! Pusshuk! Chuak! Chuaaaak!
Descending the stairs, Jaseong relentlessly swung his sword.
His movements lacked flair— if anything, they were monotonous and detached.
Yet his blade unerringly sought the bandits' vital points: necks, armpits, groins, and so forth.
Each sweep of his sword produced jets of crimson blood.
In that moment, Jaseong's field of vision was filled with countless threads of energy.
'What on earth happened to Jaseong in the past half year...?'
'Is he really the same Jaseong I used to know...?'
Watching the staircase, which had turned into a slaughterhouse in an instant, Hyang-I and the other courtesans were completely dazed.
With Jaseong having changed so much in half a year, their shock was inevitable.
About an incense stick's time later—
"Huff... huff...."
There was not a single unharmed bandit left before the blood-soaked, breathless Jaseong.
Seven bandits lay beheaded and lifeless. Five others, with stomachs pierced, weakly bled out.
No fewer than twelve bandits had disappeared at the hands of a young boy— and these weren't just any bandits, but the notorious Iron Ring Fortress's men.
"Kuhulk... P-please, just spare my life...."
"G-great hero...! Please, have mercy...."
The still-breathing bandits prostrated themselves at Jaseong's feet, begging for their lives.
In their terror, they even began to call him 'great hero.'
But Jaseong looked down at them with eyes utterly devoid of pity.
In those eyes, the memory of his parents being murdered by bandits in his childhood remained vivid.
"My parents died at the hands of bandit scum like you."
"...!"
"So don't expect any mercy from me. Be gone to hell."
With cold murderous intent in his eyes, Jaseong spoke. Then—
Chuak! Chuaaaak!!!
Jaseong's sword drew lines of blood.
The executor of Heaven's Mandate, the Calamity Sent from Heaven.
This was the first moment that the executor of Heaven's Mandate destroyed evil upon the earth.
* * *
"Whew..."
Only after eliminating all the bandits did Jaseong finally release the Samadhi Eyes and catch his breath.
At the same time, a dreadful dizziness washed over him.
'So this is the aftermath of using the Samadhi Eyes...'
Leaning against the wall, Jaseong drew slow, deep breaths.
This was the price for using the Samadhi Eyes for so long while still inexperienced.
Even amid severe dizziness, Jaseong smiled.
'... Samadhi Eyes. This ability was far greater than I thought.'
There's a saying in martial circles: 'In martial arts, the hands are less important than the feet, and the feet less important than the eyes.'
In other words, the most important thing in martial arts is vision, or perception.
In that sense, the Samadhi Eyes were nothing short of a cheating ability.
Within slowed time, all enemy attacks and intentions became plainly visible.
Thanks to that, Jaseong—without learning even a single footwork or sword art—could perfectly dodge the bandits' weapons flying in from all sides and land exquisite counterattacks with his blade.
"Ja, Jaseong..."
At that moment, a trembling voice called from behind—it was Hyang-I.
When Jaseong turned to look at her and the other courtesans, their expressions were pure shock.
Jaseong had wiped out Iron Ring Fortress's bandits with overwhelming martial prowess without spilling a single drop of his own blood.
Just moments before, twelve bloodthirsty bandits had been rampaging about here—now only Jaseong stood, holding a bloodied sword.
"To defeat all those bandits alone... So you vanished for half a year to train martial arts somewhere, didn't you...?"
Hyang-I spoke again, astonishment on her face. Not knowing how to respond, Jaseong simply remained silent. Then, at that moment—
"Escort warrior Jang was right..."
"... Escort warrior Jang?"
"Yes! Escort warrior Jang from Flower Immortal Gate! Just like he said, Jaseong, you really do have tremendous martial talent...!"
No sooner had Hyang-I finished than the other courtesans also began to speak up, all at once.
But just then—
"Everyone, shh! Be quiet!"
A courtesan looking outside from the upper floor of Moon Castle Pavilion shouted.
"What is it?"
"Look out the window! The bandits are back!"
"What...? Bandits?!"
"This time there's got to be more than thirty of them!"
At her cry, Jaseong turned to look outside the window. Beyond the dark street, a group carrying torches was approaching.
At the head of the mob, a flag emblazoned with Iron Ring Fortress's insignia flapped in the wind.
'... Damn it.'
Jaseong frowned. In his current state, confronting those bandits would be a problem.
After going all-out against twelve enemies just now, Jaseong was thoroughly exhausted.
His whole body felt heavy, and the energy in his dantian had greatly diminished.
On top of that, due to using the Samadhi Eyes repeatedly, he was suffering severe dizziness.
He inwardly hoped the bandits would simply pass by....
Thump— thump—
Unfortunately, the thirty bandits stopped in front of Moon Castle Pavilion.
"I think Donghu-big brother said for us to gather at Moon Castle Pavilion... but it's weirdly quiet."
"Yeah, even the lanterns are out."
"And I think I can smell blood...."
"What? The smell of blood?"
The torchlight of the approaching bandits leaked in through the cracks in the door.
The courtesans, overhearing the bandits' conversation, trembled in silent fear.
But unlike the others, Jaseong did not tremble. Instead, he once again raised his bloodstained sword.
'... I made a promise:
To become a master worthy of dominating the world,
to tear off the limbs of those who killed my big brother and sister-in-law,
and to wipe out both the Righteous Faction and the Demonic Cult.
So...
There's no way I'll fall to mere bandits like these.
Be it thirty or three hundred, I'll just wipe them all out.'
A vicious determination, impossible to believe from such a young boy. It was forged by his exceptional and harsh upbringing.
Surviving on boiled leftovers thrown away by others,
mocked as the fool of the Red Light District alongside his big brother, pelted with stones,
chasing down those thugs for revenge, beating them all one by one,
Entering the junior guard qualification test for a top escort agency at the age of twelve just to survive the slums of the Red Light District,
gritting his teeth to claim overwhelming first place out of fifteen hundred in the stamina test,
and, at the bitter end of tragic loss of his brother and sister-in-law, even opening his upper dantian on his own.
All these memories became his parents, raising Jaseong to be the toughest person alive.
Gulp! Gulp!
Jaseong grabbed a water bottle from the table and drank deeply. The cold water slid down his throat, replenishing a bit of his exhausted energy.
He then drew his sword and pressed close to the door— preparing to cut down any bandit who entered.
'... Come. I'll cut you all down.'
At that very moment—
"Stop."
Suddenly, a low and deep voice echoed down the street.
Peering through the gap in the door, Jaseong saw a middle-aged man walking out between the torches.
Wearing a black satgat with black clothes, three swords neatly fastened at his waist, he walked with a slow gait— yet carried the imposing air of a mountain.
"Who are you?"
"Where'd this bastard crawl out from?"
The bandits spoke threateningly, but the man remained calm and replied—
"As of today, this street belongs to the Hao Sect. Why don't you just turn back quietly?"
... Hao Sect?
At the name, Jaseong recalled what Hyang-I had said earlier—
'Don't worry. The Hao Sect's sword unit will be here soon!'
Then, is this man the reinforcements Hyang-I was waiting for? But if he's a sword unit, why is he alone? What could he do by himself?
As Jaseong pondered his doubts, the man leading the thirty bandits stepped forward— Iron Ring Fortress's chief, Cheol Muyong.
A deep knife scar across his face, he slammed his heavy saber into the ground with a thud and shouted:
"I heard the Hao Sect's been strutting around since the sect leader changed."
"..."
"But aren't you just a group of lowlifes—courtesans, errand boys, gamblers, ferrymen? And you dare get in the way of Iron Ring Fortress's chief, Cheol Muyong?!"
Cheol Muyong sneered, then raised his saber.
As befitted a chief, his aura was no ordinary thing— enough to make the courtesans inside Moon Castle Pavilion shudder.
But as soon as Cheol Muyong exuded his aura—
Ssak!
Suddenly, something incredible happened. In the blink of an eye, the middle-aged man in the black satgat shifted positions.
Next—
Chwaaaak!
A line of red appeared across Cheol Muyong's throat, who had just been boasting.
His head and body parted, and a fountain of blood gushed out.
"Chief...?"
"W-what was that... what just happened...?"
"A master...! He's a real master!!"
In a speed too fast for the eye to follow, the middle-aged man in black had cut down Iron Ring Fortress's chief in a single stroke.
As the bandits watched his inhuman martial skill, they froze in terror.
Though some still hastily raised their weapons—
Chuak! Chuak! Chuak! Chuak! Chuak! Chuak!
It was utterly meaningless. Before the bandits could even ready their weapons, all their heads were lopped off.
"Guhuk!"
"Kkehrk?!"
The bandits collapsed in puddles of blood. The middle-aged man lifted his satgat slightly and spoke in a cold voice,
"I warned you. From now on, this is the territory of the Hao Sect."
"...!"
"Who's next?"
The remaining dozen-odd bandits swallowed hard. Their eyes now held only fear, not greed.
From within Moon Castle Pavilion, Jaseong, who watched this, was also left speechless.
'... There was a master like that in the Hao Sect?'
In that moment, a thought flashed across Jaseong's mind.
Heaven's Mandate's first task: form a force. Perhaps, at this very moment, the chance to take his first step had arrived.