Chapter 95
"...!"
Instinct screamed that it was an impenetrable wall.
The judgment was swift.
The Blood Fiend threw Cho-hye, who was tucked under his arm, towards the wall.
The unconscious Cho-hye flew towards Baekji.
"Huh?"
Baekji, who was about to strike the suddenly flying object with his bamboo staff, realized it was a person and retreated.
Thud!
Cho-hye rolled on the ground.
"Aack!"
Cho-hye, who had woken up in immense shock and pain, screamed.
Baekji recognized Cho-hye.
"Huh? It was you? Should I have caught you? Are you okay?"
Cho-hye, her shoulder seemingly dislocated, couldn't even get up properly.
As soon as the Blood Fiend had thrown Cho-hye, he had flown away again.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Baekji, who had been distracted by Cho-hye, belatedly threw his bamboo staff, but it missed.
The Blood Fiend was also a master who had reached the peak of the 'manifestation realm'.
He was not a person who would normally run away like this.
However, since a master of the 'manifestation realm' was chasing him from behind and a brat with an unprecedented ki was in front, he had intended to withdraw for now.
Since he had poured all his internal energy into his lightness skill, he was so fast that his figure was not visible.
But Baekji was faster.
He snatched the bamboo staff that was flying through the air and then flew towards the Blood Fiend like an arrow.
"Let's have a go, shall we? I'm pretty good at running too."
The Blood Fiend, who had turned around at Baekji's shout, was greatly surprised.
He had not known that there was such a fast brat.
Even in the same 'manifestation realm', the achievements were different depending on the characteristics of the martial arts.
The Blood Fiend had been proud that in the field of lightness skill, there was no one in the world who could follow him except for the Blood Cult Leader.
'Blood Shadow Illusory Divine Step’
It was a peerless skill that was said to rival the steps of a god when unfolded to its peak.
He could make an excuse that he had not been able to shake off Mado because he had been running with Cho-hye by his side, but now he was empty-handed.
But that brat was gradually closing the distance.
The Blood Fiend sent all his internal energy to his two legs.
Paang!
The empty air shimmered, and the Blood Fiend turned into a handful of red shadow and flew away.
He had unfolded the 'Blood Shadow Illusory Divine Step' to its peak.
The distance with Baekji widened again.
Baekji was not particularly unfolding any lightness skill.
He was running as if flowing along the grain of the wind.
Even so, he had thought there was no brat he could not catch, but the Blood Fiend's 'Blood Shadow Illusory Divine Step' was unexpected.
Although Baekji also emitted his entire body's internal energy and quickly cut through the grain of the wind, the distance did not narrow easily.
'He's really fast. What kind of a divine technique is that?'
Baekji, clicking his tongue and chasing, suddenly shouted in surprise, "Hey! Get out of the way! The Blood Fiend is coming!"
He saw Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol running in the distance.
It seemed the Blood Fiend had also already noticed their presence. The direction he was running was that way.
He saw Nangong Zhao, who was flustered for a moment, draw his sword.
Next to him, Tang Yunseol stood.
'Oh dear. They're going to be a bloody mess!'
Although he had not directly exchanged blows with the Blood Fiend, he knew at a glance that he was a master of the 'manifestation realm'.
He was at a loss as to why such a master was running away.
Nangong Zhao, as Baekji had perceived, was knocking on the door of the 'true realm' from the Transcendent Peak.
Tang Yunseol had just stepped on the threshold of the 'Peak Realm'.
Although they had achieved it at an incredibly fast pace for their respective ages, it was not a realm that could be compared to the Blood Fiend.
"Hey, you crazy brat! I said get out of the way!"
He saw Nangong Zhao raise his sword.
The running Blood Fiend twisted his body greatly. Then, a crimson blood aura, 'sook', flew out.
'Blood Blood Asura Strong Ki'.
A crimson blood aura, incomparably more vivid than Tang Tian'e's, rushed like a storm.
In an instant, he saw Nangong Zhao throw his sword towards the Blood Fiend and Tang Yunseol pour out her hidden weapons.
At the same time, Nangong Zhao grabbed Tang Yunseol's waist and flew.
Nangong Zhao's sword and Tang Yunseol's dagger hit the blood aura and bounced off.
Boom!
The blood aura fell on the spot where the two had been.
As the blood mist spread, a pit with a radius of three zhang was dug.
While the Blood Fiend was momentarily distracted by Nangong Zhao, Baekji chased him closely.
"You're dead!"
Baekji, thinking of Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol who must have become a bloody mess, had his eyes turn over.
Paang!
As he rolled in the air, his figure was not visible.
In an instant, he had narrowed the distance with the Blood Fiend to about ten zhang.
Then, the Blood Fiend threw something behind him.
"Huh?"
The direction was not towards him.
When he looked back, he saw Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol staggering up from the edge of the pit as the blood mist cleared.
The red bead that the Blood Fiend had thrown was flying.
"Damn it!"
Baekji, twisting like a dragon in the air, threw his bamboo staff like a spear.
Shiik!
The bamboo staff flew towards the red bead.
Nangong Zhao, who had sensed the danger, was seen jumping into the pit, holding Tang Yunseol.
Then, the bamboo staff hit the red bead.
Boom!
With an explosion as if space were tearing, the empty air shimmered.
"He's got all sorts of things."
Baekji, gritted his teeth and chased after the Blood Fiend again.
The distance had widened in the meantime.
Since a master of the 'manifestation realm' was running for his life, it was not easy to catch him.
"Good, good. Let's do it. I'm ready to run all night."
Baekji shouted and chased after the Blood Fiend.
At some point, the Blood Fiend had reached the river.
The boatman, who had dropped off Nangong Zhao, was hurriedly returning to the dock with his wife.
Having seen a master who could walk on water and push a boat with his palm force, his liver had turned cold, and he was quickly taking refuge.
The Blood Fiend jumped straight into the river.
Papapat.
The Blood Fiend, kicking the river water, ran.
"Aack!"
When the terrifying red-haired old man kicked the river water and came running, the boatman's hands trembled so much that he could not row.
To see 'walking on water' twice in one night.
"Honey, get a grip."
Even his wife rushed in and rowed like a madman, but the Blood Fiend had already approached.
The Blood Fiend, who had boarded the pleasure boat, stomped his foot.
Boom!
The pleasure boat shattered into pieces, and the boatman and his wife shot up into the air and then fell into the river.
With that rebound, the Blood Fiend crossed the remaining distance in one go.
The boatman, who had fallen into the river, flailed and looked for his wife.
"Honey, where are you, honey?"
He saw his wife, who had lost consciousness, floating down the river in the distance.
The boatman swam and shouted, "Help! Help me!"
As soon as he fell into the cold river, his body felt like it was freezing.
The boatman, who had drunk a lot of water in his panic at the unexpected situation, was dazed.
Just then, he heard someone muttering, "Ha! The Blood Fiend, now I see he was a cheap fox!"
At the same time, he felt his body being pulled by something and floating in the air.
When he came to his senses, he was flying through the air.
He saw his wife's face next to him.
"Aack!"
As the boatman screamed and struggled, Baekji's voice was heard.
"Hey, calm down. I'm having a hard time too. It's not easy to run on water with people."
* * *
Baekji dropped the boatman and his wife at the pleasure boat dock across the river and then returned to Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol.
When he reached the place where the two were, an unexpected sight came into his eyes.
"Huh? What are they doing?"
The woman standing in front of Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol was Mado.
Mado, with Cho-hye on her back, was confronting Nangong Zhao.
With one of Mado's swords, Nangong Zhao would be split in two.
Baekji hurriedly approached and shouted, "What's wrong? Talk it out. Talk it out!"
Nangong Zhao was standing in front of Tang Yunseol, glaring at Mado.
When he heard Baekji's words, he said without turning around, "She's a master. Be careful."
A cold chill flowed from Mado's entire body.
Baekji thought he knew what was going on.
"They say a person who has been startled by a turtle is startled by a pot lid. Are you startled by Mado after being startled by the Blood Fiend?"
Nangong Zhao, took a breath and turned his head to ask, "Mado! You said Mado!"
Mado's cold gaze turned to Baekji.
"Yes. It's Mado. But why are you all like this? The atmosphere is so tense."
"She suddenly appeared and is just glaring without a word."
Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol had hidden in the pit and had avoided the flame bomb, but they had suffered internal injuries from the shockwave.
When they had barely crawled out of the pit, Mado had appeared.
Even when they had asked who she was, Mado had just let out a cold chill and had glared without answering.
They were naturally on guard and confronting her.
Baekji, hearing Nangong Zhao's words, nodded.
"She's always short on words."
Baekji said to Mado, "Is your disciple okay? It looked like it would hurt a lot."
Mado looked at Baekji.
The words 'if you have internal injury medicine, give it to me' only lingered in her mouth.
Mado was not a person who had ever asked for anything from anyone. No, before that, she was clumsy at mixing words with people.
The reason she had stopped when she had run into Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol was because she had thought that since they were martial artists, she might be able to get some internal injury medicine.
But those words did not come out of her mouth.
Baekji, who had met Mado's eyes, smiled.
"Can I take a look at your disciple's condition?"
"Do you know medicine?"
"A little?"
Mado laid Cho-hye on her lap and sat cross-legged.
Cho-hye was in a state of sleep, her vital points having been struck.
Baekji held her wrist and let his ki flow.
When Nangong Zhao stood behind Baekji as if to guard him, a cold chill shot up from Mado's entire body.
"Ah, ah. You don't have to be so sensitive. The brat who caused the trouble has fled, so there's no need for us to be like this."
When Baekji spoke, Nangong Zhao took a step back, and Mado's ki also subsided.
Baekji released Cho-hye's wrist and said to Tang Yunseol, "Miss Yunseol, do you have anything to eat? And a Healing Pill."
When Tang Yunseol took out a Healing Pill and handed it to him, Baekji fed it to Cho-hye.
"Anything to eat?"
"I don't have any. We were on a pleasure boat to eat dinner and this happened."
"I see. It seems this child has been starving all day."
Baekji asked Mado, "Why did you starve your disciple?"
"I have never done that."
Mado was not a person who could say the long words, 'if I had gotten some firewood, I would have caught some wild animals and eaten them'.
Grumble.
A hungry sound was heard from Mado's stomach.
"Were you planning to join the Beggars' Sect? Let's go. We have to eat something to come to our senses."
* * *
The Tianlong Inn.
"Hey, you know, right? Today's ten dishes! Bring them to the room."
Baekji, who had ordered food from the waiter, took the group to his guest room.
Since it was the best room at the Tianlong Inn, it had a separate reception room and living room, and it was large enough to hold a small banquet.
Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol took internal injury medicine and circulated their ki.
Mado woke Cho-hye up, had her circulate her ki, and watched over her from the side.
Finally, the food was laid out on the living room table.
"Let's eat! Because of that brat, we almost starved until dinner."
Although Mado ate a few pieces of vegetables and put down her chopsticks, Cho-hye ate a lot.
"Should you starve a growing child? Not everyone is an absolute master. No, an absolute master should eat even better. There are brats who eat only weeds to gain enlightenment, but they run out of ki and die on the threshold of the 'life and death realm'."
Baekji said, emptying the plates in front of him in succession.
Nangong Zhao and Tang Yunseol's stomachs were not well due to their internal injuries.
They ate a few sips of the fish soup, which was easy on the stomach, and stopped.
The two were stealthily observing Mado, the second in the ranking of the top ten masters.
For a master of the 'manifestation realm' to be unable to treat a disciple's light internal injury.
Somehow, they couldn't believe she was Mado.
Looking at the pure white saber hanging from her waist without a scabbard, it seemed so.
When he was somewhat full, Baekji patted his bulging stomach and asked Mado, "You don't have money, right?"
Mado's cold expression was like a stone statue.
After looking at Baekji for a while, she placed the 'Heaven-Shattering Demonic Saber' on the table.
"I will entrust this sword."
Nangong Zhao stared at Mado, dumbfounded.
"I will come to find it later."
Mado stood up and said to Cho-hye, "Let's go."
Baekji grabbed Cho-hye's sleeve.
"If you follow her, you'll become a beggar."
"Let go of this."
Cho-hye shook off Baekji's hand.
Baekji put his hand to his forehead.
"Oh dear, what a hopeless master and disciple."
Then he said to Mado, "Mado! Do you think this sword can cover the cost of the food?"
Mado's stone-like expression wavered for a moment.
"Is it not enough?"
(End of Chapter)