Chapter 140 : Chapter 140
Chapter 140 - The Most Precious Luggage
“Huaaaah…… hap!”
Hyeokri Hong, who had been yawning languidly, quickly covered her mouth.
Biyoung’s stern words came to mind.
From now on, she had to show a reliable side as a martial artist of the Diancang Sect, not a thoughtless child.
Hyeokri Hong, who had blinked her eyes incessantly to wipe away the moisture, opened her eyes wide and looked left and right.
“…………Huaaam.”
But that was only for a moment.
The only things she could feel on the vast lake were tranquility and languor.
Maintaining a sense of tension in such an environment was quite a difficult task for the young Hyeokri Hong.
As if finding the sight of Hyeokri Hong pinching her thigh to endure the boredom cute, the head manager of the merchant caravan spoke to her.
“You said this was your first time going out to Jianghu, Miss?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Hyeokri Hong answered with a bright smile.
She couldn’t have been happier that he had started a conversation with her when she was bored.
“I’ve lived locked up in Jade Dragon Snow Mountain since I was young, and I’ve hardly ever been outside the main headquarters since I entered the sect.”
“Jade Dragon Snow Mountain…… Then how long has it been since you entered the Diancang Sect, Miss?”
“It hasn’t even been a year yet, I think?”
“I see.”
The head manager’s face changed a little strangely.
The quick-witted Hyeokri Hong immediately read his expression.
“You don’t, by any chance, find me unreliable, do you?”
“Pardon? Hahaha. Of course not.”
He laughed it off appropriately, but sweat trickled down the head manager’s temple.
‘She’s like a ghost. For a child.’
It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t disappointed.
She was already young, and if it hadn’t even been a year since she entered the sect, how high would her level be?
The head manager had led hundreds of merchant caravans, but this was his first time trading in Lijiang City.
He was delighted when he heard that the new forces of the Diancang Sect would help, but it seemed there wasn't much to expect from this child.
“Hmph! Don’t be surprised by this young lady’s martial arts later!”
“Of course. I will watch the young lady’s skills closely.”
As the elderly head manager obediently bowed his head, Hyeokri Hong’s heart quickly softened.
“But I don’t know if that will happen. It’s already been two hours since we left the pier. How can it be so quiet?”
“Elm Leaf Lake is a huge lake that takes more than four hours to cross by boat. We’re about halfway there now.”
“Wow…… It’s incredibly big. Still, since nothing has happened even after coming this far, maybe we can pass through safely?”
“I hope so too. In fact, not all boats that cross over to Lijiang City are attacked. If that were the case, no one would come to this Elm Leaf Lake. Lucky boats sometimes arrive safely on the other side just like this.”
“Aha. I hope we can be a part of that. Heehee.”
Hyeokri Hong was not one to shy away from a fight.
But she also had some sense.
Right now, the priority was for the merchant caravan to arrive safely, rather than showing off her martial arts.
“From now on is when we need to be most vigilant of our surroundings. This is because we are geographically floating in the middle of the lake. We can no longer return to the pier, nor can we swim to the nearby shore.”
“Ah……”
At the head manager’s words, Hyeokri Hong felt a chill run down her spine.
In the middle of a vast lake, the only thing to rely on was this boat.
If the boat were to be attacked by any chance, they would be dead meat.
It might be different on land, but she absolutely wanted to avoid being left alone in the middle of a lake.
“It’s just like a cliff……?”
“Pardon?”
Hyeokri Hong muttered with a stiff face.
“There’s no escape route…… Elm Leaf Lake is a place where all four sides are no different from cliffs.”
Pishuuuk!
As if in answer to her words, a long object flew towards the boat with a sharp, piercing sound.
“!”
Pak! Pak! Pak!
In an instant, three arrows were embedded in the deck of the flat-bottomed boat.
Soon, Hyeokri Hong’s eyes widened like saucers.
It wasn’t because of the enemy’s attack.
It was because it contained the most fatal thing for a wooden boat.
“F-Fire!!”
Hyeokri Hong was greatly flustered by the sudden fire arrows.
To use a fire attack on a boat.
It would be better to fight with bare fists on the dirt ground, but she had no experience with this kind of attack.
“Do not panic.”
Just then.
A large hand calmed her agitated shoulder.
When Hyeokri Hong looked up, a tall warrior with strong features had come to her side.
“Senior Brother?!”
“Be calm, Junior Sister. The boat won’t catch fire with just these.”
Chwaaaak!
As if to prove his point, the fire arrows were soon extinguished when the merchants poured buckets of water on them.
Hyeokri Hong looked at Absolute Protector with new eyes.
It was amazing that he didn’t panic at all in this situation, but there was a bigger shock.
‘He was a person who could speak for so long?’
Without paying any heed to Hyeokri Hong’s intense gaze, Absolute Protector asked the head manager of the merchant caravan.
“Please control the merchants. There’s water everywhere, so the fire attack is just for intimidation. I will block the arrows on the deck, so please gather the merchants to one side.”
“I-I will do that.”
Once the incident occurred, Absolute Protector acted like a different person.
He ordered the necessary instructions like a rapid-fire gun, and then moved agilely on the boat, surveying the surroundings.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and follow.”
“Yes…… Yes!”
Hyeokri Hong, who had been staring blankly, seemed to have finally come to her senses and followed Absolute Protector.
***
“How pathetic……”
Unlike Hyeokri Hong’s boat, which had been in a brief commotion, there was no major disturbance on Biyoung and Sedong’s boat.
This was because Biyoung, who had sensed the arrows flying, had unleashed a lightning-fast sword strike and deflected all three fire arrows.
“You scared me. I wondered what was going on when you suddenly drew your sword.”
Sedong swept his chest as he looked at the arrow shafts floating on the lake’s surface.
Just a moment ago, he had been peacefully chatting with him.
Just as his expression changed in a flash, his body had already moved to the side of the deck and was deflecting the fire arrows.
‘It’s not my place to judge, but…’
Did his skills improve even more?
Sedong’s thought was a fairly accurate guess.
The Heaven-Shaking Divine Pill and the Earth-Drawing Spirit Pill, which were said to be permitted only to the sect leader, the Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art which he had been steadily cultivating, and Hyeokri Chong’s Cradle-to-Grave Pill.
His swordsmanship had already reached the extreme, so as long as he had the internal energy to support it, everything would be fine.
Biyoung was relentlessly breaking through a realm that was absolutely unattainable for someone of his age.
To the point where he didn’t just dodge the arrows that flew in unknowingly, but deflected them with his sword.
“I think they’re starting to come.”
Biyoung’s gaze turned in the direction from which the arrows had flown.
Boats that had not been visible before had suddenly appeared and were widely deployed.
“Gather the merchants to one side. Let’s see how they come at us.”
Biyoung gave a similar order to Absolute Protector.
But, unlike the stern-faced Absolute Protector, a friendly smile was drawn on Biyoung’s lips.
***
“……Crazy. He deflected that?”
Two men standing side by side on a boat.
The taller of the two let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded.
“Brother. Is that possible?”
“Hmph. It seems that bastard is full of luck today.”
The shorter man answered in a gruff voice.
The older brother didn’t think much of it, but the younger brother’s thoughts were a little different.
‘Can this be done with luck?’
The tall younger brother looked at the boat on the other side with suspicious eyes.
It was still too far to see clearly, but the skill with which he reacted to the arrows was extraordinary.
“……Well. Even so, he’s just a toad trapped in a well.”
But the younger brother didn’t think about it any further.
What did it matter if his martial arts were a little better than others?
So far, not a single person had survived their attack on this lake without surrendering.
This Elm Leaf Lake was no different from their large living room.
“There are two boats, what should we do?”
“Let’s split up and attack. It’s a waste of time.”
“Yes. That’s the way of us Yewi Twin Tyrants.”
Yewi Twin Tyrants.
The two men standing side by side on the boat were none other than Chu Gap and Chu Eul, the leaders of the Hojubang.
Perhaps because they had lived their whole lives by the water, their appearances were quite unique.
They were wearing tight-fitting clothes without sleeves, and the skin on their arms and legs was so excessively smooth that one might think they had scales.
Their unusually long heads and ears.
And the short sickles hanging at their waists.
Except for the fact that one was a head taller than the other, anyone could tell they were brothers.
“Let’s start with an introduction.”
At his hand signal, only the Yewi Twin Tyrants’ boat among the several boats that had formed a circle moved a little further forward.
The direction was, of course, the boat with Sedong.
When the distance became quite close, Chu Gap spoke.
“Who are you?”
A rude remark with no trace of politeness.
This Elm Leaf Lake was the territory of the Hojubang, so there was no need to be mindful of the opponent.
However.
There was one thing Chu Gap had not expected, and that was that the opponent in front of him was one step ahead when it came to being rude.
“Are you Chu Gap?”
“……?”
Chu Gap momentarily doubted his ears.
As if to confirm that there was nothing wrong with his hearing, the man continued.
“Seeing as you’re the size of a dwarf, you must be Chu Gap.”
“Heo……”
Dwarf.
That was like Chu Gap’s reverse scale.
He had lived his whole life complaining because he was much shorter than his younger brother.
In the Hojubang, the word dwarf was something that should never be mentioned.
But to hear that word from a little kid much younger than him, how could his feelings be anything but terrible!
Grind.
At the insult he had received for the first time in a long while, Chu Gap gritted his teeth.
His aura was so fierce that Chu Eul, who was next to him, was watching him carefully.
“Whew!”
Instead of jumping onto the boat right away, Chu Gap whistled.
At the same time, the crew members lifted an object from the floor.
“Ho?”
Biyoung let out a sincere exclamation of admiration as he watched.
The sight of hundreds of crew members on about ten boats moving in perfect order was quite a spectacle.
“!”
Unlike the nonchalant Biyoung, the faces of the merchants turned pale.
This was because they had no means of counterattacking.
“E-Everyone, take cover!”
The best the merchants could do was to find cover and duck as low as possible.
“Hey, kid.”
As if he hadn’t vented all his anger yet, the end of Chu Gap’s voice trembled slightly.
“If I had my way, I’d chew you up and spit you out, but I’ll give you one last chance.”
“A chance?”
“Hand over all the luggage you’re carrying to our boat. Then I’ll leave you with your one most precious piece of luggage.”
“The most precious piece of luggage……? What’s that?”
“Your life.”
As cold as his voice, Chu Gap’s eyes flashed with a murderous glint.
“Isn’t life the most precious piece of luggage in one’s life? I’m saying I’ll leave you with that.”
Hundreds of arrows were aimed at one boat.
That was why Chu Gap’s words did not sound like an empty threat at all.
Biyoung was silent for a very short moment, then he shouted in a clear voice.
“Hey! I can’t hear you well! Is your voice so damn small because you’re short?”
“?!”
“I heard something, but this is all we have to give.”
Biyoung fumbled for something in his sleeve.
Chu Gap, who couldn’t even find the timing to get angry, focused on his actions.
“Here, take it.”
What Biyoung took out from his sleeve was his middle finger.
“You son of a bitch, I’ll tear you to pieces!”
The enraged Chu Gap roared with bloodshot eyes.
He wondered if he had ever been so frustrated since the founding of the Hojubang.
Next to Chu Gap, who was jumping up and down and couldn’t even speak properly, Chu Eul gave the order instead.
“Turn that bastard’s body into a beehive!”
Pyuuung!
Pyuuung!
Soon, hundreds of arrows rose high into the sky and rained down.
No matter how fast a person was, it was impossible to dodge the current rain of arrows.
Those who were cowering on the boat screamed in terror.
“Hiiik!”
“We’re all dead!”
But for some reason.
The expression of the man standing at the very front of the boat was as relaxed as could be.
Dal-kak.
The scabbard that left his hand fell to the deck.
Biyoung’s sword, which had seen the sunlight after a long time, emitted a murderous glint.
Ssssss…….
An formless haze shimmered around Biyoung’s body.
And soon, his sword began to shine as brightly as the sunlight.
The arrows that were pouring down like a heavy rain had now reached right in front of the man.
The merchants were horrified as they watched.
But why?
Why wasn’t he dodging?
The merchants did not doubt that the man’s body would soon become like a piece of meat on a skewer.
Just then.
Hwiriririk!
The man spun his body once.
With the lightning-fast rotation, his shoulder, arm, and wrist gained centrifugal force and moved even faster.
And at the end of that rotation, there was a sword with the emblem of a hawk.
Syaaaak!
The arrows that were flying as if to pierce the man’s body were sucked into the sword path that the man had guided, as if they had never been there.
“!”
The rotation of the sword did not stop until the rain of arrows had all fallen.
For a moment, a ring made of hundreds of arrows formed around his body.
And a moment later.
Absolute Protector, who was watching this from the other side, let out a groan-like voice.
“Shooting Rotation Reversing Shift……!”
Biyoung’s body, which had been rotating repeatedly for a moment, stopped, and the tip of his sword, full of centrifugal force, pointed in one direction.
Paat!
At the same time, hundreds of arrows imbued with internal energy rushed in that direction.
The destination was the place where the tip of the man’s sword was pointing.
It was the largest boat where the Yewi Twin Tyrants were standing.
Swaeaek!
“!”
It was a lightning-fast blow that didn't even give them a chance to say ‘dodge.’
The figures of the Hojubang who had frozen stiff.
The Shooting Rotation Reversing Shift exploded towards the boat they were standing on.
Kwagwagwang!!!