Chapter 73 : The Final Phase
Even if they accepted Madam Han's goodwill, they could not continue to stay in the hut.
As mentioned before, for peak masters who handled sword qi, a hut made of wood was no different from a house made of paper, so it was bound to be vulnerable to defense.
So the party moved to the cave that Jang Baekseo had seen before.
After moving to the cave, which was not easily visible unless one got close because of the dense bushes around it, and after finishing all the preparations for the delivery, Jang Baekseo and Hwa Mokyeon were about to go out to prepare to fight them.
"Wait… wait. You two…"
Madam Ma caught the two of them.
"Don't worry, Madam Ma! You know we're strong, don't you, Madam Ma!"
Hwa Mokyeon, who had shouted confidently, put his arm around Jang Baekseo's shoulder.
Although Jang Baekseo frowned for a moment, he soon said to Madam Ma with a smiling face.
"Well, don't worry too much. It's not a fight without a chance of winning."
But Madam Ma, not caring about their words, rummaged in her bosom and took out a wooden box.
"This is…"
When Jang Baekseo, who had received the wooden box, opened it, a snow-white pill revealed itself.
"…Madam Ma, this is…?"
"Snow Wheel Pill… it's the best elixir that has been passed down in the Cold Demon Palace…"
Madam Ma continued, gasping for breath.
"I'm sorry… I should have given this to you sooner… it's not that I didn't trust you. I just couldn't find the right time to give it to you…"
"I know. I know very well. Madam Ma…"
Since they had been moving without a break until now, even if Madam Ma had given it to them, there would have been no time or place to eat the elixir and slowly digest it.
"But… the unfortunate thing is that I only have one of that elixir."
At those words, Jang Baekseo and Hwa Mokyeon looked at each other.
It was a moment of choice.
***
From the next day, Madam Ma's labor began.
And at the same time, the pursuers who had been searching Guiyang finally began to surround the mountain.
"…We can't just leave it like this."
"…That's right."
"I'll go and stir things up a bit."
Jang Baekseo said lightly and left the cave.
Hwa Mokyeon also tried to leave the cave, following such a Jang Baekseo.
But.
"Someone has to stay here and protect the party."
"That's Jang Yuran…"
"The ones who are surrounding this place are all elites. There is no one who is a lower-level person below the peak realm…"
Hwa Mokyeon, who knew the meaning of those words better than anyone, shut his mouth.
If it were up to him, Hwa Mokyeon wanted to tell Jang Baekseo to protect this place and that he would divert the enemies' eyes.
But Hwa Mokyeon, who had gone through a crisis with Jang Baekseo for several months, knew well.
Although both he and Jang Baekseo were at the peak realm, Jang Baekseo was clearly ahead of him in both martial prowess and experience.
Hwa Mokyeon gritted his teeth at his own patheticness. It was not that he was jealous of Jang Baekseo's level. It was because he was pathetic for not having been more serious about martial arts even though he had lived for a longer time.
Jang Baekseo did not say anything to such a Hwa Mokyeon.
Leaving behind the bowing Hwa Mokyeon, Jang Baekseo moved his steps. Before throwing himself into the mountains, Jang Baekseo said softly.
"I'll leave this place to you… big brother."
"…What?"
When Hwa Mokyeon turned his head, Jang Baekseo had already disappeared into the mountains.
***
Swish!
Crack!
"Aak!"
"It's an enemy!! Be on your guard!"
One of the members of the Strong Sword Squad, the pursuers who were surrounding the mountain in groups of three, covered his face with a stone that had struck his eye.
As they were the elite of the Righteous Heaven Alliance, they quickly formed a formation and were wary of the appearance of the enemy, guarding the four directions. But the opponent was not good.
"Keuk!?"
The member who had been covering his eyes until just a moment ago was now covering his neck and was gargling with blood.
"What!?"
"Sword qi, you see."
While their eyes were focused on their comrade who was suddenly spitting out blood, a black figure fell from above their heads.
"Ah!?"
"This bastard!!"
"Although it can't be flown, depending on how you use it…"
Although the members of the Strong Sword Squad tried to swing their swords at the enemy who had suddenly fallen in their midst, the enemy's position was unfortunately a position where the comrade who had just been gargling with blood was used as a wall.
"You can do this too."
The enemy, Jang Baekseo, lightly swung his sword, and blood spurted from the back of the head of one of the Strong Sword Squad members who had aimed his sword.
"Keuk!?"
"Wh-what, ugh!?"
Jang Baekseo, who had taken the life of the Strong Sword Squad member who had been distracted for a moment by the sudden scream, then cut the breath of the guy who was covering the back of his head and the guy who was still making a gurgling sound from his neck.
"Hmm, it works better than I thought?"
Jang Baekseo said so and swung his sword as if he were swinging a fishing rod.
Then.
Whirl!
The stone that had crushed the eyes and the back of the head of the Strong Sword Squad member bounced off the floor and flew into Jang Baekseo's hand.
"Even if it's sword qi, you can do this too, depending on how you apply it."
The method that Jang Baekseo had used was a kind of trick.
By connecting the sword qi wrapped around the sword to the stone, the sword played the role of a fishing rod, and the stone played the role of a fishing float. It was a kind of pseudo-sword-controlling art.
Moreover, since the energy connecting the sword and the stone was, after all, sword qi, it could also be used to cut the opponent.
Although the power was lacking because the length had been forcibly extended, even if it was sword qi, it was no problem to make a wound on the neck of a careless opponent.
Of course, being able to do such a trick was possible because Jang Baekseo was an absolute master who had already reached the Unrestrained Realm before his regression.
Ordinary peak masters would not even be able to imitate it, let alone think that such a thing was possible.
Although it was a technique that a master who had reached at least the transcendent realm could try to imitate… it was a matter of course, but if it were a master of the transcendent realm, it would be much better to use a sword force art, leaving aside such a trick.
With this, Jang Baekseo, who had dealt with a total of four groups, twelve members of the Strong Sword Squad, left the place without a moment's rest.
Although Jang Baekseo was steadily reducing the number of enemies, running all over the mountain, the enemies were not easy opponents either.
The ones who communicated through a whistle that imitated the sound of a specific bird were checking on each other and exchanging contact at regular intervals.
Of course, the group that had been dealt with by Jang Baekseo's hand would not be able to respond, and they were tracking the existence of the enemy who was currently stirring them up based on that.
Of course, since he had noticed this much, Jang Baekseo was also somehow confusing their information, but since he did not know the code system of the signals they were exchanging, there was a limit.
"Enem… ugh!"
Jang Baekseo, who had attacked another encirclement group, blew away the neck of the enemy who had discovered him and was about to take out a whistle and blow it, without a word.
For a moment, a contorted face, as if it did not understand what had happened, flew into the air.
And as if they had matched their breathing, the swords of the remaining two flew at the same time, aiming for Jang Baekseo's upper and lower body.
Jang Baekseo immediately lowered his body and used the sword manual of Jowon against the attack on his lower body.
The sword, which had bounced up on Jang Baekseo's sword as if it were sliding, collided with the sword that was being swung towards the upper body.
Chang!
At the unexpected situation, bewilderment appeared on the enemies' faces, and the situation was already over.
Swish!
"Aaaaaah!!"
"M-my leg!!!"
Jang Baekseo, who had cut the legs of the two, mercilessly cut the necks of the two who were falling backwards.
Pshuuuuuuuu!
Jang Baekseo, who did not even blink an eye even though he was covered in a spray of blood, muttered softly.
"That's fifteen…"
At that moment.
Flinch!
Jang Baekseo hurriedly threw his body.
Kwaang!!
And a crimson light fell on the spot where Jang Baekseo had dodged.
A roar, as if a thunderbolt had fallen, shook the mountain, and…
A man wrapped in black clothes revealed himself…
"…"
"Ha, look at this?"
The one looking at Jang Baekseo, who was contorting his face without a word, was the leader of the men in black who had attacked the escort mission on Mount Emei in Sichuan, a master of the transcendent realm.
It was him.
"We've met before, haven't we?"
Jang Baekseo glared at the man with a fierce smile.
Ignoring such a Jang Baekseo, the man opened his mouth.
"Go. Find the target."
Then, the two men in black who had belatedly shown themselves showed a flustered expression for a moment.
"But, leader…"
"The subordinates…"
"Don't make me say it twice."
Saying so, the man called the leader glared at Jang Baekseo with cold eyes and said.
"Even if you guys are here, you'll only be a hindrance."
""!?""
Looking at such men in black, Jang Baekseo said with a crooked and sly smile.
"Ah~ you're sending them away? What a shame! To lose two meat shields."
'“!!””
At Jang Baekseo's ferocious attitude, which was not even enough to be called arrogant, a chilling killing intent emanated from the two men in black.
But when the man called the leader glared at them once more, they had no choice but to leave.
"Whew, your leadership is amazing, isn't it?"
Jang Baekseo said so and swung his sword, shaking off the blood of the ones he had just dealt with.
"Did these guys listen to you that well too?"
Jang Baekseo said, kicking the three corpses that had already breathed their last with his foot.
But.
"Provocation is useless."
"…Tsk."
Jang Baekseo, whose inner thoughts had been seen through, clicked his tongue once and glared at the leader.
"To act so recklessly means that you are confessing that you are afraid that the place where you have hidden the target will be discovered."
At the leader's words, Jang Baekseo answered with a fierce smile.
"I've left it to a reliable person, you see? So that's not something you should worry about…"
Jang Baekseo said so and aimed his sword at the man called the leader.
"I don't know about you, but I have a lot of grudges against you. Let's stop the talking here and the next thing is…"
A dark sword qi formed on Jang Baekseo's sword, which was aimed at the man called the leader.
"Let's do it with this."
This series of events that had started with the helper of the escort mission who had entered the Mysterious Tiger Escort Agency. The curtain of the final phase, which would decide the success or failure of this long journey that had continued from Sichuan to Guizhou, from Guizhou to Guangxi, and now to Hunan, had now risen.
(End of Chapter)