Chapter 158 : Who Should One Follow? -03
Chapter 158: Who Should One Follow? -03
Even while Ilwoo was lost in thought, the loud clamor continued to fill the Meeting Room.
At a glance, it looked no different from a bustling marketplace.
However, the impassioned voices of the leaders did not reach Ilwoo’s ears.
Instead, speculation slowly shifted toward certainty.
Swoosh.
And the moment he saw several leaders quietly slipping out of the Large Tent, that certainty became firm.
The fact that the two of them would not be coming here.
Brrrr!
The instant his thoughts reached that point, Ilwoo’s pale face flushed bright red.
His fury had exploded.
But that rage did not last long.
As blood rushed to his head, excruciating pain surged from his severed left shoulder. For his own sake, Ilwoo had no choice but to calm himself.
“Huff! Huff!”
Feeling blood begin to seep once more from the wound he had managed to stanch, Ilwoo clutched his shoulder.
At the same time, his eyes gleamed sharply.
Because he believed all of this was Ban Hojin’s fault.
Had Ban Hojin fought alongside them from the beginning, the damage would not have been this severe, and Ilwoo ground his teeth.
‘I will never let him off.’
Having heard from the Elders and the First-Generation Disciples what Ban Hojin had done while he was unconscious, Ilwoo’s gaze turned murderous.
However, Ilwoo did not realize.
He did not notice that Seong Jung-gyeong, seated beside him, was looking at him with a gaze filled with contempt.
As if to conceal his frustration, Seong Jung-gyeong let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.
It was the dead of night, darkness having fallen heavily over the surroundings.
With the waning moon making it feel even darker than usual, dozens of shadowy figures cut through the night air.
All of them wore Night Clothes, and the place they were heading toward was the Encampment of the Shaanxi Murim.
Swoosh.
The dozens of black-clad figures who infiltrated from the south concealed their presence within the sound of the wind and swiftly dispersed throughout the Encampment.
As though they had predetermined Destinations, they moved without the slightest hesitation.
Moments later, suppressed groans could be heard from various places.
“E-enemy! It’s an enemy ambush!”
Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng!
But not every assassination succeeded.
As a result, alarm bells and whistle blasts rang out across the Encampment.
Those who had fended off the assassins were spreading word of the ambush in all directions.
Then, from all around, figures clad in black Night Clothes sprang up like grasshoppers.
“Capture them!”
“Kill them!”
“Aaaargh! My junior sister!”
Following the black-clad figures who leapt up like grasshoppers, the martial artists of the Shaanxi Murim also revealed themselves from all sides.
Even without anyone issuing orders, they instinctively joined forces to surround them.
However, despite being swarmed from every direction, the black-clad figures slipped away with ease.
They made use of retreat routes they had already scouted and fled swiftly.
“How dare they!”
KWA-A-A-ANG!
Among the targets of the assassination squad was Ilwoo as well.
Given his severe injuries, they had judged him an easy mark.
In the end, while the assassination itself failed, they did succeed in worsening his injuries.
Chwa-haat!
Instead, three of the black-clad figures fell with their heads severed.
They had managed to inflict injury, but they had not escaped alive.
“Uwaaaagh!”
Already infuriated from losing the battle and his left arm, Ilwoo howled when he was wounded yet again by assassins.
He could not suppress the fury surging up from the depths of his chest.
But whether Ilwoo raged or not, the assassination squad withdrew from the Encampment along their prearranged route.
“Brother!”
“Are you unharmed?!”
The assassination squad had also targeted the Encampment of Ban Hojin’s group.
Not only Ban Hojin, but also Seo Jo-woon, Seonwu Bang, Murong Cheok, Jeong Iryong, Sang Il-gi, and the others who could be considered the leadership were all targeted.
Three were sent against Sang Il-gi, and two each against Murong Gung and Seonwu Cheong, but fortunately, no one fell victim to the ambush.
“Of course I’m fine.”
“You captured one!”
“This much is nothing.”
Seo Jo-woon, who had rushed outside in what was practically sleepwear, his eyes shining, exclaimed in admiration.
Unlike the others who had rushed out in haste, Ban Hojin appeared entirely at ease—and he had even captured an assassin alive.
And without a single scratch.
“As expected of you, Brother!”
“You’re flattering me even now? Don’t expect too much. Just because we captured him doesn’t mean he’ll spill what he knows.”
Looking at Murong Cheok, who was making a fuss over something trivial, Ban Hojin shrugged.
He had taken one alive, but he did not expect to extract any meaningful information.
After all, he already knew where they had come from.
“Even so, isn’t it better than not being able to try at all?”
“That’s true. More importantly, it’s chaos over there.”
“Even at a glance, it seems their losses are greater than ours.”
Seo Jo-woon wore a bitter expression.
It seemed that posting sentries had meant little.
And that was equally true here.
Had the sentries properly fulfilled their duties, things would not have escalated this far.
“The damage aside, I don’t think they should pursue them. It could be a trap.”
“I agree.”
Unlike the others, Sama Uiseong, who had rushed out with a bloodless face, answered in an anxious voice.
It seemed as though the assassins were deliberately fleeing in plain sight.
If their true goal had been survival, it would have been more advantageous to scatter in all directions.
Yet the black-clad figures were fleeing together.
“Then shouldn’t we stop them immediately?”
“They’ve already gone that far. And with their eyes blinded by rage, they won’t listen to anything.”
Jeong Iryong spoke urgently, but Ban Hojin shook his head.
It was already too late to stop them.
Moreover, Ban Hojin and Sama Uiseong were not the only ones who had sensed a trap.
Even in the Shaanxi Murim’s Encampment, several people shouted for the pursuers to stop, but among those giving chase, not a single person halted their steps.
“The direction is cunning as well. If they had fled toward where the Ironblood Fortress is stationed, no matter how enraged they were, they wouldn’t have pursued. But instead of heading north, they’re escaping to the northeast.”
“That means…….”
Not only Jeong Iryong, but everyone’s expressions turned grave.
As Sama Uiseong had said, it truly did feel too perfectly calculated.
However, the distance had already widened too much to give chase.
“It most likely means it’s a trap. I’m sorry. I should have taken the possibility of an ambush into account as well……”
“If you could prepare for every possible situation, you’d be called the reincarnation of Zhuge Kongming. And even if you had said something, would they have listened?”
“Uh…….”
Sama Uiseong trailed off.
Considering what they had shown so far, there was a high chance they would have ignored him, just as Ban Hojin had said.
“For now, let’s do what we can. First, check on the Namgung Family and the Hebei Peng Family.”
“Yes!”
Ban Hojin cast a look at Sang Il-gi, entrusting this place to him, and then slowly walked toward the Encampments of the Namgung Family and the Hebei Peng Family.
Unlike his own position on the outskirts, those two families stood at the very heart of the Encampment, as they were core among cores.
However, the expression on Ban Hojin’s face as he walked was far from ordinary.
‘At this rate, it’ll be difficult.’
He had never thought it would be easy from the start.
But neither had he expected they would be pushed back this badly, and a bitter taste rose in his mouth.
At this rate, it seemed a situation might arise where he would have to step forward himself.
Ban Hojin hoped that such a situation would never come to pass.
‘If I have to step in, it would mean all the effort up to now has been meaningless.’
Ban Hojin prayed inwardly.
That the three of them would awaken and bring down the Ironblood Fortress.
Only then would all the running about he had done until now feel worthwhile.
In stark contrast to the bright, clear weather, the eyes of the martial artists walking through the Encampment were uniformly hollow.
After the attack the previous night, none of them had slept properly.
On top of that, news that those who had lost their reason and pursued the enemy had returned as cold corpses struck the Encampment like a blow, plunging the atmosphere to depths it could hardly sink any lower.
“As expected, both of you are here.”
“You knew and pretended not to.”
“Hahaha.”
A new face appeared in the Large Tent used as the Meeting Room by Ban Hojin’s group.
It was none other than Oh Jung-geon, who had not come the previous day.
With an easygoing smile, he casually placed the wooden chair he had brought into an empty spot and sat down.
“What are you doing here?”
“It seemed to me that a breakthrough would come from here. Personally, there’s someone I’m looking forward to as well.”
“Isn’t the other side devising countermeasures too?”
“Oh, come now. You know how it is. They were at each other’s throats yesterday, and it’s no different now.”
“So you’re going to side with this camp?”
Peng Mancheol glared fiercely.
An ordinary person’s heart would have pounded in fear, but Oh Jung-geon was different.
Having dealt with Peng Mancheol for quite some time, he was not intimidated in the slightest.
“Side with? People will misunderstand if you put it that way. I’ve never sided with any faction. I’ve merely delivered information fairly to everyone.”
“Your words flow like a clear stream.”
“Heh heh! Isn’t it this mouth of mine that earns me my meals?”
“E-excuse us…….”
Despite Peng Mancheol’s brusque attitude, Oh Jung-geon only laughed amiably.
At that moment, however, several figures hesitantly entered.
“What is it?”
“Hm?”
Seeing those who entered with hunched shoulders and cautious expressions, Peng Mancheol glared once more.
But the atmosphere was completely different from when Oh Jung-geon had arrived.
Oh Jung-geon, as he had said, had maintained neutrality.
But these newcomers had not.
“We apologize for what happened before!”
“We came to offer our apologies!”
“Hah!”
Thus Peng Mancheol openly snapped at them, but the sudden visitors did not flee even under his fierce gaze.
No—instead, brazenly holding their ground, they immediately bowed and apologized to Ban Hojin.
These were the very people who, only days ago, had treated Ban Hojin as nothing more than a mere Later-Generation Expert and had not given his words so much as a passing thought.
Seeing them bow deeply at the waist, Peng Mancheol was reminded anew of a saying of the Murim.
In the end, the strong are the ones who survive, and the strong are the ones who are respected.
At the same time, he could not help but think—how desperate must they have been to come this far?
“What is the meaning of this?”
“What meaning? They’ve only just realized they grabbed the wrong rope. If they stay aboard a sinking ship, won’t they just drown with it?”
At Ban Hojin’s act of feigning ignorance, Peng Mancheol let out a dry chuckle and scratched exactly where the visitors itched.
That was precisely why they had come here.
Yet Ban Hojin continued to play dumb.
“Coming here won’t change anything.”
“Why wouldn’t it? At the very least, you won’t die in vain. We have precedents—the Seonwu Family and the Moyong Family.”
“That was Uiseong’s doing.”
Ban Hojin gave a hollow laugh at Peng Mancheol, who spoke as though he were a spokesperson.
Just moments ago, he had glared as if he would devour him; now he was backing him up.
“Wasn’t it you who took in the child of the Sama Family and raised him? Placing talent in the right position is also an ability. It’s the most essential virtue for a leader. To put it bluntly, what has Dojang Ilwoo done? He just charged in recklessly, fought, and got crushed, didn’t he?”
At Peng Mancheol’s words, the newly arrived leaders quietly nodded.
Though the phrasing was somewhat crude, it was true.
On top of that, they had abandoned others to save themselves, and now they had even lost trust.
“I am not a leader.”
“That’s right. You’re not a leader. But you are the center, aren’t you? You could be called the representative.”
“That’s correct.”
“I agree.”
Seonwu Cheong and Murong Gung subtly chimed in.
Peng Mancheol wore a triumphant expression.
It was clear that everyone thought the same—everyone except Ban Hojin.
“A representative? I never wanted such a thing.”
“We know. Do you think we don’t? But that’s how others see it. Do you think those people would bow to you for no reason? Not only their bodies, but even their tone of voice has changed. What does that tell you? It means they acknowledge you that much!”