Chapter 279
Kwang-gyeon Jeon Seok-gu hurried to the apothecary as fast as he could.
He quickly relayed the scene he had witnessed to Sunwoo Jin and the others.
“The entire city of Soju is swarming with Baek family warriors searching for you! And it’s not just them—other martial sects in Soju, even ordinary citizens, are combing through the city like a net, trying to capture you!”
The situation sounded dire.
The city gates of Soju had been firmly shut for some time, and everyone inside was out searching for Sunwoo Jin’s group.
At this rate, Jeon Seok-gu couldn’t even step outside his own home, nor could they stay hidden inside forever.
Eventually, they would be discovered.
Hearing this, Sunwoo Jin and his companions fell into deep, serious thought.
They were at a loss about what to do next.
Just then, Seol Poong, who was standing closest to the door, suddenly spoke up.
“The warriors are closing in. Looks like they’re planning to surround this place. We’ve been found out.”
“What?!”
“W-what did you say?!”
Startled, the others turned to look at Jeon Seok-gu.
Since this happened right after he returned from outside, he had to be the cause.
Yeon Tae-jin clenched his teeth and glared at him.
“That’s why I said I couldn’t trust you…”
But Jeon Seok-gu hurriedly shook his head, denying it.
“No, no! I would never betray you!”
“Shut up! If it’s not you, then who else…!”
Just as Yeon Tae-jin lunged at him, Sunwoo Jin spoke calmly.
“It wasn’t him.”
“…What?”
“Y-yeah! It wasn’t me either!”
All eyes shifted to Sunwoo Jin, who glanced at the herbs Jeon Seok-gu had brought and explained.
“If he had betrayed us, he wouldn’t have come back here. It seems they had someone watching the apothecary, keeping an eye on the herbs we were buying.”
“…Watching the herbs?”
“That means they knew these herbs were needed to treat Lord Baek Mu-ho. It looks like that doctor Yang Nosa is involved in this, as well as some high-ranking figure who can command the Baek family warriors.”
Everyone immediately understood what he meant.
In other words, the person trying to poison Baek Mu-ho was connected to the Baek family and colluding with Doctor Yang.
Kwang-gyeon asked, stunned.
“Th-then the real head of the Baek family…?”
At that moment, Seol Poong warned coldly.
“The encirclement will be complete soon. Are you going to stay here and wait?”
Sunwoo Jin answered immediately.
“We can’t stay here. But Baek Mu-ho can’t move right now—he needs treatment. So here’s what we’ll do.”
Speaking with calm confidence, Sunwoo Jin laid out a plan to the group.
Their eyes lit up as they listened intently.
Byun Dae-jong, a bandit leader, had originally been part of the Soju Byun clan but had switched allegiance to the Baek family when Lady Byun married into it.
He was roughly the cousin of Lady Byun by generation.
Because of this, whenever Lady Byun needed to carry out secret, unspeakable tasks, he acted as her blade.
This time was no different.
Lady Byun had ordered him to watch for anyone buying the herbs that Doctor Yang had requested.
They couldn’t risk the Baek family warriors finding out about the antidote.
So he sent his subordinates to keep an eye on all the apothecaries in Soju.
Soon enough, reports came in.
“We found someone buying the herbs you mentioned! A man named Kwang-gyeon Jeon Seok-gu, affiliated with the Hotu Association.”
“Kwang-gyeon Jeon Seok-gu?”
“According to the report, he was the first to confront the three siblings!”
“Hmm! Suspicious indeed. Surround his residence! And alert the other warriors that a suspicious person has been spotted!”
“Yes, sir!”
After giving orders, Byun Dae-jong began moving toward the location.
He had no intention of capturing them himself.
He knew it wouldn’t look good if it became known that they were tracking the herbs, so he planned to just mark their location and let other warriors arrive before retreating.
But just as he neared Kwang-gyeon’s home, a sudden explosion rocked the side of the house they were surrounding.
“W-what was that?!”
Startled, Byun Dae-jong looked toward the blast and saw a group of people bursting through the wall.
“Who are they?!”
It was the three siblings from the report, breaking through the wall and escaping.
Byun Dae-jong’s eyes quickly scanned them.
He spotted an old, frail man, a man with long hair, and two beautiful women—one with long hair, the other with short.
There was no doubt—they were the ones.
He shouted urgently to his men.
“They’re breaking out! Stop them!”
At that moment, his gaze caught the man at the very back carrying someone on his back.
The carried person’s head hung low, unconscious, but judging by his clothes, it had to be Lord Baek Mu-ho.
“So Baek Mu-ho is really alive!”
A look of urgency crossed Byun Dae-jong’s face.
He couldn’t bring himself to order his men to kill him in public.
Then Seol Poong, leading the group, shouted.
“Let’s go! We have to get out of here!”
As he dashed forward, Byun Dae-jong’s men rushed to intercept.
“Don’t let them…! Ugh!”
“You bastard…! Argh!”
But they were powerless.
With a flick of Seol Poong’s hand, an invisible gust of dragon-like energy swept over the attackers, sending them flying helplessly.
It was like watching leaves scatter in the wind.
“Waaah!”
“Stop them…! Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Seeing this, Byun Dae-jong’s expression darkened.
He had planned to quietly surround them without direct confrontation, but he couldn’t let them escape now.
“Stop them! Don’t let them get away!”
He finally shouted and charged at the group himself.
Blue dragon energy flared like flames around him.
“Haah!”
But he didn’t realize who he was attacking.
And unfortunately for him, the one leading the charge was Seol Poong.
Seol Poong glanced at Byun Dae-jong’s attack and smoothly spun his body, delivering a kick faster than any sword strike.
Wham!
“Argh!”
Byun Dae-jong was sent flying backward faster than he had come forward.
For Seol Poong, it didn’t matter if his opponent was a master or a top-tier warrior.
One strike was all it took.
Back at the Baek family estate in Soju, Lady Byun received an urgent report.
“The ones who harmed Lord Baek are fleeing toward the west gate, carrying him on their backs!”
Her eyebrows twitched—not because they were heading west, but because they were carrying Lord Baek.
“They’re carrying him? Could it be he’s still alive?”
Swallowing hard, Lady Byun shouted.
“What are you waiting for?! Pursue and capture them immediately!”
“Yes! The scattered forces are all moving in that direction! But it seems their martial skills are quite formidable—they’re breaking through our warriors without slowing down!”
Hearing this, Lady Byun grew anxious.
She was deeply worried that they were taking Baek Mu-ho away.
What if he really recovered and investigated who had poisoned him?
Her voice sharpened.
“What nonsense is this?! Are our Baek family warriors being overwhelmed by those beasts?! Where is Lord Byun Dae-jong?! Tell him to chase them down at once!”
A warrior hesitated before answering.
“Well… the first to be attacked were the guards near Byun Dae-jong himself. He’s currently unconscious from internal injuries and can’t move.”
“What?!”
From the fact that Byun Dae-jong was the first to fall, Lady Byun realized what had happened.
They must have been caught while buying herbs at the apothecary.
“So they really were trying to treat the second young master…?”
Her heart pounded rapidly at the thought they might actually heal Baek Mu-ho.
It was a terrifying prospect.
She shouted frantically.
“Capture them! No, kill them! Under no circumstances let them live! Send all the elders and lords after them!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The reporting warrior hurried off to deliver her orders.
Left alone, Lady Byun bit her nails anxiously, unable to hide her unease.
Officially, the highest authority in Soju was the government-appointed branch governor.
But just as the Sa Wang Ryeon ruled Jiangsu Province, the Baek family effectively controlled Soju.
Therefore, the warriors guarding the four city gates were all Baek family warriors.
Though there were regular soldiers, once the Baek family warriors took control of the gates, the soldiers answered only to them.
Choi Gong-do, the lord of the Jecheon Four Temples responsible for the west gate, read the news delivered by Jeon Seok-gu moments ago and narrowed his eyes sharply.
The warriors of the Soju Baek family often communicated swiftly through their messenger system. According to the latest dispatch, the vicious killers who had harmed Lord Baek Muho were heading toward the western gate of the fortress.
He clenched his fists tightly.
If this news was true, it was an opportunity he absolutely could not afford to miss.
“I’ll take revenge on Lord Baek myself. And I can finally earn some honor in the process.”
With that thought, Choi Gongdo shouted to his subordinates.
“Everyone, tighten the defenses! The fiends who attacked Lord Baek are coming this way!”
His words sharpened the eyes of the ordinary warriors already on edge from inspecting the citizens passing through the gate.
Loyalty to the Baek family, the burning desire for vengeance against those who harmed the most humane of the lords, Baek Muho, and the frustration of being relegated to gate duty instead of fighting—all these emotions ignited into a fierce blaze.
“We will catch them, no matter what!”
That was the unanimous resolve of every warrior stationed at the gate.
Then, from afar, a few figures were spotted rushing at an incredible speed.
Choi Gongdo, the grand master of Jecheon’s Fourth Division, shouted,
“They’re here! Archers, ready your bows!”
The soldiers atop the gate raised their bows at his command.
“Aim for direct shots! Their speed is too fast for arcs!”
The enemy’s speed was astonishing.
Except for the man carrying someone on his back, the others had barely come into view before they were already closing in on the gate.
“Fire!”
Fwoosh!
Fifty or so arrows shot out like streaks of light toward the attackers.
Without waiting to see if the arrows hit, Choi Gongdo barked,
“If they slow down, the warriors—!”
He hadn’t expected the arrows to stop them, but even a slight delay would give the warriors above the gate time to surround them.
But before he could give the next order, his mouth fell open in shock.
The man in the crimson warrior’s robe at the front didn’t slow down—instead, he surged forward even faster.
Bang!
The arrows seemed to bounce off him as if they were repelled by an invisible force.
Choi Gongdo’s eyes widened.
“Arrows?!”
The arrows that had been aimed at him scattered in all directions, as if the man’s very presence forced them aside.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
Choi Gongdo couldn’t understand why this was happening.
“Shoot! Don’t let them through the gate!”
At his command, the warriors atop the gate leapt toward the intruders.
“Yahhh!”
Dozens of warriors poured down like a waterfall.
But the man in the enemy’s uniform showed no hesitation.
He charged fiercely into the torrent of warriors.
Pffft!
“Graaah!”
“Ughhh!”
The next scene that met Choi Gongdo’s eyes was devastating.
The warriors who had surged forward were scattered like pebbles struck by cannon fire.
Just like the arrows, no one could land a blow on him.
“Impossible!”
And that wasn’t all.
Watching carefully for any opening, Choi Gongdo suddenly realized something that sent chills down his spine.
“He… has no blood?”
Indeed.
Though the warriors who charged him were flung aside in an instant, none of them bled.
He hadn’t killed a single one.
Swallowing hard.
This man was repelling every attacker alive and unharmed.
It was an utterly incomprehensible martial skill.
“Stop him?”
The thought of trying to stop such a being melted away like ice in Choi Gongdo’s heart.
At that moment, the man who had created a storm of people behind him charged straight to the gate and struck it with all his might.
Kraaaang!
Choi Gongdo immediately knew.
The gate, built to hold back the enemy, shattered into pieces.
He swallowed and turned to look outside the gate.
There, the man in the enemy’s uniform who had broken through was staring at him with the eyes of a wild beast.
Choi Gongdo had no choice but to admit it.
There was nothing he could do.
This man was a master beyond his reach, with eighty years of internal energy—someone he could not even hope to touch.
“What did you say?! We lost them?!” Lady Byun shouted, her voice tearing through the air.
The commander who reported to her lowered his head, unable to meet her gaze.
“Y-yes, before our warriors even arrived, they broke through the encirclement and forced their way through the western gate…”
“That’s nonsense! Didn’t our warriors guard every gate?”
“Yes, the Jecheon Fourth Division was stationed at the western gate. But they said it was impossible to even delay those fiends. It was like watching the head of the Baek family in his prime, even though he’s bedridden now…”
Baek Cheonggwang, the head of the Soju Baek family, was a formidable master ranked among the Thirty-Six Stars of the realm, though now confined to his sickbed.
Yet the commander was saying the fiend’s martial skill reminded them of Baek Cheonggwang at his peak.
“That can’t be…”
Instinctively, Lady Byun tried to deny it but found herself swallowing hard.
If that was true, even the entire force of Soju Baek warriors might not be able to catch them.
And if they really managed to heal Baek Muho and bring him back…
Gritting her teeth, Lady Byun shouted again.
“Mobilize every warrior we have! Pursue them at all costs! Do not let them escape! Kill them! No one returns until the fiends are dead!”
Her voice was so charged with emotion she slipped into commanding tone without realizing it.
The commander bowed briefly, then cautiously asked,
“Should we also send word to the Third Lord, who is currently in seclusion at the residence?”
Her expression changed instantly.
She looked horrified for a moment before shouting urgently,
“What nonsense is that?! Are you suggesting we risk the last heir of the Baek family? Absolutely not! No one is to let him step outside the main house!”
The commander silently regarded her desperate outburst for a moment, then bowed and left.
He knew well that the heads of the Soju Baek family had always led from the front in times of danger.
The greatest power came with the greatest responsibility—that was the Baek family’s tradition.
As he stepped outside, he sighed, thinking the future of the Soju Baek family looked grim.
Meanwhile, after the commander left, Lady Byun began pacing the office, biting her nails.
Her heart felt like it would burst from anxiety; she couldn’t calm herself.
“Damn it!”
After a moment, she finally stormed out of the office.
Her destination was the medical wing.