Chapter 149
"How dare you trespass at will upon the Hebei Peng Clan, the rightful master of Hebei Province...!"
A thundering voice shook the sky across a span of five hundred zhang.
This was no mere shout.
A lion's roar imbued with internal energy split the air and battered their eardrums.
It was Hebei Peng Clan head, the King of Fists, Peng Yun-ho.
He had revealed himself.
Boom! Boom!
With each stride he took, the ground screamed beneath his feet.
As befitted a supreme peak expert, he closed the distance in huge strides as if folding space itself.
Every time he approached, his furious presence caused the pillars of the hall to tremble and shattered intact windows, tiles cascading down in a torrent.
"Ghh...!"
Even the Iron Wall Squad members guarding the Peng Clan couldn't withstand the clan head's murderous intent, collapsing helplessly.
It was unrestrained fury, not distinguishing between ally and foe.
Even as he ran, Jaseong activated his Samadhi Eyes and sensed Peng Yun-ho's approaching energy.
Shaaa―
In the slowed flow of time, he could see a massive crimson energy enveloping Peng Yun-ho's whole body.
It resembled a roaring volcano.
'... Comparable to the aura of Zhong Yeob, the sect leader of Zhongnan whom I once slew. Truly one of the Ten Great Experts of the orthodox faction.'
Jaseong hesitated for a brief moment.
Should he try to take down the Peng Clan head now?
The Hebei Peng Clan was his sworn enemy.
Above all, Peng Clan head's name was on the 'Kill List of the Celestial Realm' handed him by Sword Immortal Lü Dongbin—a true villain.
But at that moment, Gal Seo-ryeong cried out urgently.
"Scarlet Lotus Hall Lord! Don't expose any murderous intent. Now is not the time for battle!"
Gal Seo-ryeong's judgment was coolheaded.
They had already eliminated their targets, the three Peng brothers and Tang Jin-ryong.
They had secured the evidence.
Rushing into a life-or-death duel with the Peng Clan head here would be an unnecessary risk.
Besides, there was no guarantee of victory.
So for now, Jaseong merely nodded silently and followed after Gal Seo-ryeong.
Tatadat! Tatadat! Tatadat!
The group exercised their lightness skill to the extreme and made their escape.
They vaulted over walls, skimmed rooftops, and plunged into the darkness of the forest.
But Peng Yun-ho had no intention of letting them go.
"Where do you think you're running, you rats!!"
An overwhelming force surged like a storm from behind.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
Peng Yun-ho thrust his fist at the air.
A massive blast of fist wind tore through the sky.
Compressed air surged like cannonballs—a devastating blow.
"Dodge it!"
Gal Seo-ryeong shouted.
The group quickly sprang left and right.
KWAANG!
The fist wind struck the ground where they had just been.
With a deafening explosion, a column of dirt rose into the air.
The earth caved in, leaving a huge crater at least ten zhang in diameter.
"Insane cultivated power...! If we're only talking about raw power, he exceeds even Zhong Yeob, the sect leader of Zhongnan!"
Gu Janghu cried out in shock.
To so thoroughly alter the terrain with a single blow—the devastation was unimaginable.
If one were struck directly by that, not even bones would remain.
But Peng Yun-ho's attack did not let up.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
Fist winds poured down like rain.
Huge trees were ripped from the ground, boulders shattered, and shrapnel flew in all directions.
The forest was reduced to ruins in the blink of an eye.
"Ghh...!"
At that moment, a pained groan burst from Lee Rin.
The shockwaves from the fist wind striking the earth had slammed into her back.
It wasn't a direct hit, but the aftershocks of a Ten Great Experts' fist wind were enough to jolt the organs of even a peak expert.
"Rin! Are you alright?"
Jaseong, still using lightness skill, asked urgently.
Her face under the moonlight was pale, blood trickling from the corner of her lips.
Yet, her eyes were still clear.
"I'm fine! *Cough* Just keep running! We can't fight that monster right now."
Lee Rin gritted her teeth as she replied.
"Back when we brought down Zhong Yeob, we had Master Eternal Divine Physician with us, but now, we're on our own. Besides, even Right Protector is exhausted...."
Her assessment was accurate.
While Right Protector Gal Seo-ryeong was also a supreme peak expert, she was definitely a tier below the Ten Great Experts of the orthodox faction.
And she had already used up much of her internal power during the battle against the Iron Wall Squad.
Most importantly, if they were pinned down and forced to fight the Peng Clan head, the Peng Clan's elite warriors would soon swarm in.
Once it was discovered that the Peng Clan's three sons were dead, the entire clan would hunt them down with ferocity.
Their only choice was to retreat at all costs.
Unfortunately, Peng Yun-ho would give them no such chance.
"Heaven-Splitting, Mountain-Smashing Fist!"
Peng Yun-ho clasped his hands together and unleashed a massive energy into the sky.
The Peng Clan's ultimate fist technique, said to split the heavens and shatter mountains.
The secret essence of the art was activated at that very moment.
KUGUGUGUNG!
Tremendous pressure crashed down from the sky.
It felt as if an invisible giant was pressing down on the entire forest with its palm.
Fist winds fanned out in all directions like a hand fan, sweeping everything away.
Jaseong's party had no choice but to scatter in all directions.
And at that moment, Peng Yun-ho's gaze fixed upon a single target.
The slowest among them—the wounded and weakened Lee Rin.
'I'll start by capturing and torturing that wench.'
Peng Yun-ho didn't yet know his three sons were dead.
Thus, his priority was to capture the weakest, to uncover the intruders' identities.
"Rin!"
"Don't worry about me! If they realize who I am, they won't dare harm me easily!"
Lee Rin shouted, coughing up blood.
But was that really the case?
Lee Rin was the Little Palace Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace, the most powerful among the Four Great Outlander Factions.
The rumors claimed that Ice Palace Mistress Lee Seol-hwa's martial strength was to be matched only by the alliance leader, and she completely dominated the entire North Sea region.
Above all, the North Sea Ice Palace had a decent relationship with the orthodox faction.
Based upon that, the Peng Clan head probably wouldn't kill Lee Rin out of hand.
'But if he finds out his three sons are dead, he'll go insane—and Lee Rin will never survive.'
Jaseong's gaze turned cold.
Of course, Lee Rin was astute—she might be able to bargain, or reveal her identity to buy time.
Yet....
Thud!
Jaseong stopped running.
Dust swirled around his feet.
'I can't lose anyone else. Especially not Lee Rin.'
Memories flickered through Jaseong's mind like a lantern at the threshold of death.
The Red Light District of Ansun.
The blood-soaked alleys.
There, his eldest brother and sister-in-law, and their unborn child, lay cold and still.
Jaseong knew all too well the pain of losing loved ones.
He had entered the martial world for revenge, but if he lost more precious friends in pursuit of it?
That would be self-destruction, not vengeance.
And Lee Rin was special to Jaseong.
She was the first companion he had made after coming to the martial world.
Even when he revealed he was from the Red Light District, Lee Rin hadn't cared at all.
Instead, she volunteered to help him take revenge and fought back to back with him on countless deadly battlefields.
He could never abandon such a woman to danger.
Thud!
Jaseong turned toward Lee Rin, who was being chased by the Peng Clan head.
Kicking off, the earth caved in beneath him and he shot forward like an arrow.
* * *
KWA! KWA! KWA!
Peng Yun-ho's giant shadow completely covered Lee Rin's back.
The sense of oppression was as if a whole mountain were moving.
Despite his bear-like bulk, his speed exceeded the wind itself.
His reputation as one of the Ten Great Experts of the orthodox faction was no idle boast; it was proven by his overwhelming movement technique.
"Ghh...!"
Lee Rin bit her lip, suppressing her groan.
Due to repeatedly taking the aftershocks from Peng Yun-ho's fist winds, her internal injuries had only worsened.
The cold true ki she pulled up from her dantian scattered instead of flowing through her energy channels.
As her feet began to feel heavy, Peng Yun-ho's hand shot out.
Whoosh—!
As if an eagle swooping on a chick, his gigantic, rough hand clamped down on Lee Rin's shoulder.
Crunch!
"Ugh...!"
A scream nearly burst from Lee Rin's mouth, but she choked it down.
The pain of her shoulder blade being crushed assaulted her entire body.
But instead of screaming, she bit her lip until it bled.
At the same time, she drew up all the cold energy from her dantian and swung her sword in a surprise attack.
Yet—
KWAANG!
Peng Yun-ho lightly deflected Lee Rin's desperate strike.
Then, as if she weighed nothing, he lifted her by the grasped shoulder and slammed her to the ground.
KWAANG!
"Urgh!"
Lee Rin rolled across the dirt, raising a cloud of dust.
With the impact, her suppressed internal injuries ruptured, and blood gushed violently from her throat.
Her vision blurred, her consciousness faded, but she forced herself to prop up on trembling arms.
She straightened her staggering legs and lifted her chin to glare at Peng Yun-ho.
Her eyes blazed, unbroken.
Peng Yun-ho looked down at her.
There was a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
"With a cold-laden internal energy like that, you must be a daughter of the North Sea Ice Palace."
His voice thundered through the woods.
"Our Hebei Peng Clan and the North Sea Ice Palace have no bad blood. So why has the Ice Palace's Little Palace Lord broken into another's house?"
Lee Rin roughly wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand and spoke.
"You so-called Five Great Clans of the orthodox faction have been manufacturing drugs in secret, poisoning the pleasure districts of the Central Plains."
"......."
"I came here to find evidence of your filthy deeds—and to reveal your crimes to the world!"
At Lee Rin's outburst, Peng Yun-ho's eyes narrowed.
"Hmph. A sense of chivalry, is it? I didn't expect such a thing from an outlander faction like the North Sea Ice Palace."
Peng Yun-ho sneered.
But beneath that mockery, there was an unease—his clan's dirty secret had been revealed.
"In any case, now that you know the truth, I cannot let you live. Whatever your status, you will quietly die here."
Peng Yun-ho slowly raised his right fist.
The air around it began to distort.
Wuuuung—
Tremendous internal energy condensed into a single point on his fist.
Fist energy swirled and sucked in the surrounding air.
If that fist struck, Lee Rin's body would be obliterated, completely pulverized.
Lee Rin shut her eyes tight.
She lacked the strength to resist, or the energy to flee.
She thought to muster one last surge of cold energy from the North Sea Ice Palace's ultimate technique, but her dantian was empty, and her energy channels were in shambles.
'I'm sorry, great hero... I won't get to finish our vengeance together.'
At death's threshold, Jaseong's face surfaced in Lee Rin's mind.
A man taciturn but warm.
The times they laughed together, fought together, and shared drinks under the moon sped through her mind like a dying lantern's flicker.
'Still... I'm glad I met you.'
"This is the end."
At Peng Yun-ho's words, the fist descended.
With a ripping sound in the air, overwhelming murderous intent flooded down upon Lee Rin's head like a waterfall.
But then—
KWAANG—!
Suddenly, Peng Yun-ho's fist halted right above Lee Rin's crown.
No one had intervened.
He simply stopped the strike himself.
'Why... all of a sudden?'
Lee Rin, certain she was about to die, opened her eyes in confusion.
What she saw next was even more perplexing.
The Peng Clan head had abruptly thrust his fist backward—at nothing, into empty air.
"Mountain-Opening, Heaven-Cleaving Fist(山開闢天拳)!"