When the Wind Blows from Shandong (2)
“Don’t wait!”
The thought surged instinctively in Song Hwarin’s mind.
They were surrounded, and Im Yehwa, who hadn’t been in a real fight for a long time, was behind her.
“I need to take down the enemies on my side quickly and help Mother. I can’t hesitate like before!”
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, her body moved, slicing through the air.
Swoosh!
A wave of energy burst from her sword.
After unleashing a powerful sword energy, she followed up with the most formidable technique from her advanced swordsmanship.
Executing these two moves in succession was no easy feat. But she was determined, and her relentless practice did not betray her.
The men approaching her dodged the first attack, having anticipated it. But the second attack caught them off guard.
The essence of her swordsmanship exploded forth, and five men fell in an instant.
This alone proved how much Song Hwarin had improved, but her true success lay in her next move.
As she landed, she immediately turned and charged toward Im Yehwa.
Her instincts led her to a new experience.
Realizing that this choice could determine life or death for both her and Im Yehwa, her senses heightened.
Suddenly, everything around her seemed to slow down.
It wasn’t that she was moving faster; rather, everything else moved slowly, allowing her to see her opponents’ movements clearly.
It was a moment of experiencing what happens when a martial artist focuses their mind to the extreme.
As Im Yehwa cut down one man, another aimed for her thigh with his sword. Behind him, yet another man charged forward. The scene unfolded like a slow-motion picture.
“Cut his throat and pierce the heart of the one behind!”
Even as she thought it, Song Hwarin’s body was already in motion.
Her sword sliced through the neck of the man attacking Im Yehwa, then pierced the heart of the one charging from behind.
Both men fell, just as she had planned.
The next moment, her concentration wavered, and everything returned to normal speed.
This was the limit of her current focus. As she became more skilled, she would be able to intentionally create this state and maintain it longer.
“Hwarin, run.”
Im Yehwa grabbed Song Hwarin’s hand, pulling her over the bodies as they dashed forward. They didn’t miss the brief opening in the encirclement.
Men pursued them from behind, while more masked figures tried to block their path ahead.
As they passed a small stone lantern in the garden, the two women vanished.
The masked men were startled. They had disappeared right before their eyes.
“It’s an illusion!”
As someone shouted, the two women stood beside the stone lantern. In the past, the Byeok family had set up an array at the Byeok Sword School and the Song household. It wasn’t a grand array like the Black Abyss Formation, but it was enough to hide them temporarily.
Just as they caught their breath, a voice cut through the air.
“You fools! You can’t even catch two women?”
A middle-aged man stepped forward. With a sharp aura like an assassin and a short sword at his waist, he was Danwol, the first of the experts summoned by the Blood Merchant to arrive.
Song Hwarin and Im Yehwa, hidden in the array, could sense it. This man’s skill was incomparable to the masked men they had faced earlier.
The masked men looked somewhat aggrieved. If they had intended to kill the two women, this situation wouldn’t have arisen.
The problem was capturing them alive. Song Hwarin’s martial arts were stronger than expected.
Danwol drew the short sword from his waist. It was slightly shorter than a typical sword, with strange patterns etched into the blade.
Chanting an incantation, Danwol drove the sword into the ground.
Boom!
As the sword struck the earth, a red aura erupted in all directions.
Whoosh!
The aura affected the bodies strewn on the ground. The red energy seemed to envelop them, and soon, the blood from their bodies rose into the air.
As Danwol pulled out the sword and swung it, the blood suspended in the air scattered in all directions.
Splash!
An astonishing sight followed.
Most of the blood fell to the ground like rain, but the blood scattered around the stone lantern remained suspended in the air.
It was as if an invisible barrier held it in place.
Crackle.
The blood vibrated in the air, and then…
The array hiding Song Hwarin and Im Yehwa vanished with a pop.
The two women were exposed.
Danwol looked at the startled Song Hwarin and Im Yehwa and sneered coldly.
“Did you really think such a shallow trick would work on me?”
Song Hwarin despaired.
“It’s over.”
She hadn’t exchanged blows with him, but she knew. His skill was overwhelming.
Song Hwarin glanced back at the building they had come from. With all this commotion, her father and Byeok Dojun should have emerged, but there was no sign of them. Had they drunk too much and fallen asleep? Not just them, but none of the Byeok Sword School’s guards were in sight.
“Aren’t you curious why no one is coming?”
Danwol’s words brought even more despair to the two women.
“Everyone here, except for you two, is dead.”
“What?”
Im Yehwa collapsed to the ground, her mind going blank at the thought of Byeok Dojun’s death.
Song Hwarin shouted in defiance.
“Don’t talk nonsense! My father and Master Byeok wouldn’t fall so easily.”
“Heh. Then why aren’t they coming out?”
Song Hwarin tightened her grip on her sword.
Danwol remained relaxed.
“They say you’re the most beautiful in Shandong, and indeed, you are.”
“Shut up!”
Song Hwarin launched herself at him. She thought there was only one way to survive: take down the man who seemed to be their leader.
Whoosh!
A gust of energy flew at her, striking her pressure points. In her agitated state and with the clear difference in skill, Song Hwarin couldn’t avoid it.
She froze in place.
Danwol approached her slowly.
“Your face is beautiful, but this body… I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He reached out to grope her chest.
“Stop!”
Im Yehwa, who had been in shock, finally moved to intervene.
At that moment, four distinct sounds followed in quick succession.
Swish. Slice. Thud. Tap-tap-tap.
Danwol blinked. A flash of light, and something fell to the ground.
What lay on the ground was something he had seen countless times in his life. Astonishingly, it was his own arm.
The shock and disbelief made it feel like a dream.
“Is that really my arm?”
Danwol looked at his body. His arm was cleanly severed at the forearm. It was indeed his arm.
“What on earth…?”
Even more surprising, there was no blood from the severed end.
Astonishingly, the one who had cut his arm had also stopped the bleeding and sealed the pressure points. The final tapping sound had been that.
The person who had accomplished this unbelievable feat stood beside Song Hwarin.
“I didn’t stop the bleeding to save you. I just didn’t want your filthy blood splattering on Hwarin.”
The man finished speaking and turned to Song Hwarin.
Tears of relief welled up in her eyes.
”…You’re here.”
It was Byeok Lidan, smiling as he stood there.
With my arrival, the atmosphere shifted dramatically.
“Mother, I’m here.”
Mother sprang to her feet and rushed toward me.
Swish, thud.
The man who tried to stop her fell, his neck sliced by a sword energy.
The Suramyeongwang Sword was so fast that no one saw the energy being unleashed.
Whistle! Whistle!
The remaining men blew their whistles, calling for reinforcements, but no one appeared.
I looked at the man with the severed arm. Immobilized by the sealed pressure points, he couldn’t move.
“Aren’t you curious why no one is coming?”
I returned the words he had spoken to Mother and Song Hwarin.
“Everyone who came here with you is already dead.”
“Impossible!”
At that moment, men appeared from all sides.
The man’s expression brightened momentarily, only to darken with despair. The newcomers wore black uniforms, not the red ones, and their masks were black, not red.
They were the warriors of the Black Panther Unit.
Baekpyo shouted.
“Eliminate them all!”
The Black Panther Unit charged in unison. Outnumbered and demoralized, the enemy stood no chance against Baekpyo and the Black Panther Unit. In no time, they were all reduced to corpses.
The Black Panther Unit then formed a perimeter, maintaining vigilance. Their swift movements and overwhelming presence demonstrated what it meant to be elite warriors.
Soon, Father and Song Wookyung appeared.
“Dear!”
“Father!”
Mother and Song Hwarin called out to them with faces full of relief. They rushed to the two women. Though ambushed during the feast, Baekpyo and the Black Panther Unit had saved them.
“What on earth happened here?”
“We learned of their plan to target you and Hwarin and waited to capture them all.”
After discovering the secret of the Soul Sealing Technique in the confidential archives, I had immediately returned to Shandong with all my subordinates. I didn’t take any chances, whether they knew my identity or not. I came straight here.
Song Hwarin asked me.
“What if I had died fighting?”
“There’s no way they’d do that. They’re here to use you and your parents as hostages. They wouldn’t kill you.”
“But what if they make a mistake?”
“Well, then…”
“Oh my goodness!”
Finally regaining her composure, my mother cracked a joke.
“Hwarin, now you see? Men never really grow up.”
“Yes, Mother, I understand exactly what you mean now.”
The two of them were perfectly in sync. Having fought for their lives together, they had grown incredibly close.
In truth, despite my words, I was on high alert, watching the fight unfold. If things had truly turned dangerous, I would have stepped in.
But I held back for Song Hwarin’s sake. That was the reason.
“When else would you get to experience a fight like this?”
“For my sake?”
I nodded.
“How was it?”
“It was terrifying. But… it was exhilarating too. Especially at the start, I felt like I was in a trance. I’ve never been so immersed in a fight before.”
I knew exactly what she meant, and I smiled. This experience would surely enhance her skills.
From the other side, more warriors appeared. It was Gwangdu and the warriors of the Taeseong Sword Squad.
They had joined forces with Seojoong’s sword squad and Gwanhui’s small sword squad to defeat the intruders at the Byeok Clan. Without Gwangdu, we would have been ambushed in our sleep. But the Taeseong warriors had woken us first, allowing us to counterattack and defeat the masked men.
“If it weren’t for Gwangdu’s intervention, we would have been done for,” Gwanhui said sincerely, and Gwangdu smiled.
“No need to thank me. We’re all family, aren’t we?”
Though we had started as rivals, we had now become stronger together.
Sword Master Seojoong approached to express his gratitude.
“Thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Seojoong’s eyes wavered as he looked at me. When he first saw me change, he couldn’t have imagined I’d transform this much.
Then, Galsaryang entered the scene.
I introduced Galsaryang and Baekpyo to my parents and Song Woo-kyung. My parents were shocked to learn they were once the chief strategist of the Martial Alliance and the leader of the Fierce Tiger Group.
“Father, Mother, and Master Song.”
Everyone turned to look at me.
“I’ll explain in detail later, but here’s the gist: there are those who seek to control the martial world from the shadows. They’ve taken over the upper echelons and even the Martial Alliance. I’m going to fight them. It might involve the entire martial world. I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
I bowed my head respectfully.
But none of the three scolded me. My father spoke on behalf of everyone, addressing Song Woo-kyung.
“Why don’t you join us for the time being?”
“I’ll gladly accept your offer.”
It was a sign that the Song family would combine their forces with ours. If the enemy was strong, we needed to unite.
My father stepped forward decisively.
In the next moment.
Swish. Thud!
With a swift strike, my father pierced the heart of the one-armed man who had survived until now.
Without sparing a glance at the fallen body, he looked at me and Song Hwarin.
“If you’re going to fight, we’ll give it everything we’ve got to help.”
It was the head of the family’s retribution for the intrusion and a declaration of our resolve.
Behind him, my mother and Song Woo-kyung nodded with determined expressions.
Galsaryang, Baekpyo, Gwangdu, Seojoong, and Gwanhui all wore expressions of loyalty.
My true identity was revealed to them. It was time to face them openly and fight alongside them. Those I once protected were now comrades in arms.
I raised my voice to everyone.
“We’ll wipe them out and reclaim the martial world!”
For the first time, Cheonma, who had been silent, burst into laughter.
[Ha ha. Yes, this is your martial world. Arrogant, confident, and… terrifyingly formidable. Ha ha ha ha.]