Chapter 142
My days of endless sparring in the Namgung Clan came to a sudden halt.
I was about to head to the training grounds as usual when Tang Sowol abruptly grabbed my hand.
“Brother Cheon, there’s something important I need to discuss. Could you spare a moment?”
“What is it?”
As I stopped walking, Tang Sowol silently pulled me away from the training grounds. Then, as I tried to leave the room, she backed me into a corner and slammed her hand against the wall with a dull thud.
Thump!
It was a pose full of pressure... but since she was now shorter than me, it just looked cute.
Though her next words were less so.
“Brother Cheon, I’m disappointed in you.”
I had no idea what she was suddenly talking about. “To think that I followed my betrothed all the way to a distant province, only to be treated so coldly.”
“Coldly? That’s unfair. I even spent all night with you yesterday when you were upset.”
I flinched inwardly, wondering if this was yet another reenactment of her “Brother Cheon, do you like sparring more than me?” routine after just one day.
But then, Tang Sowol smiled slyly and continued.
“Well, that’s been settled. But don’t you think you’re sparring a bit too much with Sword Dragon lately? Why don’t you test your skills with me once in a while too?”
“Oh, if that’s all, then sure. Thanks to you, I’ve built a decent resistance—how about we try something other than paralysis poison today? Though if the symptoms really kick in, I’ll consider that my loss.”
“At your current level, I suppose you could withstand something a bit stronger. And if it gets bad, I can always suck the poison back out. Oh, speaking of which, today’s dose of Hakryeong Grass—”
Still holding the wall with one hand, she raised the other.
Perhaps due to her skill with hidden weapons, her fingers were long and elegant, regardless of gender. Tang Sowol’s fingers were no exception.
Her index finger, delicate like a polished jade branch, matched the phrase slender jade hands well. She held it right up to my lips.
“Lick it.”
“…Are you serious?”
I’d gotten used to her dissolving medicine in tea or water, but this—direct intake from her fingertip—was a bit much.
But as if she had predicted my reaction, she pouted with a wounded voice.
“Oh my? I rush over to lick your wounds whenever you’re hurt, and yet this embarrasses you?”
Fine. If you're going to say that...
I sighed inwardly, convincing myself with excuses like “it's a precious medicinal extract” and carefully opened my mouth.
“There.”
Her fingertip slipped into my mouth the moment I did.
The soft touch of her skin. A fingernail teasing my tongue as if urging me on.
As I gently touched the tip with my tongue, a bitter poison, tinged with a faint numbness, began to seep into my mouth.
“Ehehe.”
Tang Sowol’s smile looked strangely suggestive today... but surely, that was just my imagination.
After finishing today’s dose of Hakryeong Grass extract directly from her finger, I finally released her hand from my mouth.
“Are we good now?”
“Yes~. Now, let’s head to the training grounds.”
She cheerfully hummed a tune as she wiped her now-wet finger on my sleeve.
There were many things I wanted to say, but instead, I simply sighed.
“Haa… Let’s go, then.”
We were walking toward the training grounds with Tang Sowol happily tagging along when—
Booom!
A loud crash rang out from a distance—not far, but not exactly nearby either.
Tang Sowol and I exchanged glances silently, nodded once, then launched into a sprint.
At first, we passed by confused-looking servants, but as we neared the source of the sound, fear began to etch itself onto their faces.
“W-What the hell is that?!”
“Forget that! Run for your life!”
“Call the warriors! Call the guards!”
I grabbed one of them.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, heavens! Aren’t you one of the young lord’s guests?! You shouldn’t go that way! Please, flee while you can!”
“I’m asking why I need to run.”
“It’s Hwangbo Gwang! That mad dog’s lost it! He and his men are killing people left and right!”
“…What?”
That never happened in my previous life. If the heir of the Hwangbo Clan went on a rampage in the Namgung Clan’s territory, no matter how much they tried to cover it up, rumors would’ve spread like wildfire.
I didn’t know what went wrong this time, but if what he said was true, I had to act immediately.
Not just to stop the needless deaths of the untrained servants and weaker guards…
But because Hwangbo Gwang—and the Hwangbo Clan—was one of the rot-infested limbs of the orthodox Murim.
Now I had both the reason and the opportunity to cut it off. I couldn’t let this chance pass.
“I’ll go ahead. Sowol, you—”
“I’ll follow. I can’t match your speed, but I won’t be far behind.”
Right. With this much commotion, news would spread on its own.
Maybe because we were getting closer, but I could now faintly hear screams mixed among the sounds of destruction.
I let out a deep sigh—different in tone from before—and unleashed my full lightness technique.
As I dashed through the rapidly changing scenery, I soon began seeing victims—some missing limbs.
It wasn’t long before I arrived at a wide-open clearing.
Or rather, it had become a clearing because someone had smashed the Namgung Clan’s front gate and surrounding buildings to bits.
The massive gate, the solid walls, and the once orderly rows of disciplined guards—now all reduced to rubble, stained red.
Even though I responded as quickly as possible, I had still arrived too late—bodies lay scattered everywhere.
Nearly twenty guards who had been stationed at the gate were dead, along with a similar number of passing servants. Including the wounded, nearly fifty people had been harmed in just a few minutes.
“Mn.”
I was used to corpses, but I hadn’t grown numb to them entirely.
Swallowing a breath, I drew my sword. That sound drew the attention of several silhouettes scattered around, who had been beating the remaining guards to death.
They turned their gazes toward me.
“So it really is Hwangbo Gwang.”
The same face I’d seen when we first arrived at the Namgung Clan—Hwangbo Gwang and his bodyguards. The atmosphere around them was vastly different now.
The bloodlust was understandable, since they were actively killing people, but more than that—they looked like they had completely lost their minds.
Bloodshot eyes. Blackened, necrotic skin. Foam bubbling from their mouths like rabid dogs. Their qi felt wildly unstable, ready to explode at any moment.
Qi deviation? No... something else.
I didn’t feel any demonic energy, so it wasn’t a Demonic Explosive Pill. But who outside the Demonic Cult could induce such extreme rampage?
It didn’t matter. I could think about the cause later. Right now, I needed to deal with Hwangbo Gwang and his men, who were more unhinged than I had anticipated.
Kkkraang!
A burst of qi from my feet propelled me forward.
With just three steps, I was within striking distance. I slashed at Hwangbo Gwang’s wrist—and—
Kadeuk!
Instead of severing the tendons, I only left a deep gash in his forearm.
“…Huh?”
I hadn’t held back. I had coated my blade in energy, intending to subdue him immediately for interrogation.
But Hwangbo Gwang reacted.
Though he didn’t completely evade it and his arm was shredded, he could still move.
His flesh had felt far tougher than expected.
At best, he should’ve just barely reached Peak Stage, thanks to a powerful body and loads of elixirs.
Even during the Demonic Cult invasion later, he had only barely scratched Sub-Perfection.
“You must’ve scavenged something useful.”
The old Hwangbo Gwang wouldn’t have been able to respond. He’d have frozen from the killing intent alone.
But now, he wasn’t fazed by my bloodlust, and his movements were sharper than before.
That didn’t mean he was a threat to me, of course.
As soon as I retracted my sword, I spun and struck again.
Chwak!
He reacted again, but not in time. I ripped open his side.
“Guaaagh!!”
Hwangbo Gwang screamed—but not from unbearable pain. It was more like a battle cry.
The blood that sprayed out slowed, then stopped entirely.
It wasn’t a superficial cut—his guts weren’t spilling out, but it should’ve caused significant bleeding.
Focusing my senses on him, I realized what was happening.
“What the hell…”
His wounds weren’t healed. His massively swollen muscles were forcibly plugging the slashes shut.
Same with the cut on his arm earlier.
I’d heard of external-type martial artists doing similar things, but Hwangbo Gwang was nowhere near that level.
This had to be a result of whatever had driven him into this frenzy.
Just then, two of his bodyguards lunged from both sides.
They were about as strong—or even slightly stronger—than Hwangbo Gwang had been originally. But their rampaging state seemed to affect each of them differently.
They were noticeably slower.
Sskuk!
I lopped off both their arms in a flash.
“Uwaaaaagh!!”
“Ggrugh!”
Even with an arm lost, they didn’t hesitate—roaring like beasts and charging again.
They looked more like animals than humans.
Hwangbo Gwang joined them, swinging his fists at me—but—
“Don’t make this annoying. Just get cut.”
Calmly, I began slicing them down, starting with the closest one.
Arms, torsos, thighs, fingers, ankles—my blade slashed through it all.
It was a rapid flurry of strikes, using the principles of Slash-the-Drop Sword—essentially, unleashing as many fast strikes as possible.
In the blink of an eye, the bodyguards were left covered in blood, writhing on the ground. Even Hwangbo Gwang, who had endured better than the rest, was staggering.
He seemed to feel no pain, but even so, he tried to raise his battered body and throw another punch.
Just then—
“Brother Cheon!”
Tang Sowol arrived slightly late and unleashed her Soul-Chasing Flying Butterflies. The graceful butterflies scattered poisonous mist in the air.
Unlike my killing intent, the poison seemed to work.
The bodyguards collapsed. Hwangbo Gwang, who had grown more frenzied the more he was injured, began to slow down.
Taking the opening, I closed in and swung my sword.
“Huup!”
Kadeuk!
This time, I cleanly severed Hwangbo Gwang’s wrist.
Perhaps I went overboard—it wasn’t just the tendons, but the entire hand. But that was fine.
I didn’t need his hand to interrogate him or hold the Hwangbo Clan accountable.
As long as he was alive.
Even Hwangbo Gwang couldn’t recover from that. He collapsed, blood pouring from the stump.
I pressed an acupoint on his wrist to stop the bleeding, then struck his energy center directly.
“Khuugh!”
As he coughed up a basinful of blood, the raging qi in his eyes faded.
“Is… is he dead?”
Tang Sowol asked with an ominous tone, but thankfully, Hwangbo Gwang didn’t suddenly revive.
“…Father… why…?”
He was muttering nonsense, but at least he was alive.