Episode 33

Majonghwan looked at me with concern and asked,
“Are you alright?”

His gaze was fixed on the area around the acupuncture point on my arm where the Dongpaekyeong was embedded.

I first retrieved the Samchaesisa and then smiled as I replied,
“I’m fine. I’ve trained in external martial arts, so my skin is tough. The pain is dull, and thanks to the antidote you gave me earlier, the poison seems to have been neutralized immediately. Thank you, sir.”

I wasn’t just saying that out of politeness.

Earlier, while running, the antidote Majonghwan handed me had completely neutralized the poison applied to the acupuncture point on the Dongpaekyeong.

Of course, this was only possible because I already knew the type of poison the low-level warrior used.

The wound on my arm was no different.

Since it was a secret technique infused with strong energy, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the blade had pierced through my arm and body. But because the sword’s speed had slowed after piercing the Dongpaekyeong, and thanks to my external martial arts training, the wound wasn’t very deep.

It was fortunate I used my old sword instead of the Mukrang one, just in case the enemy recognized it.

More than anything, training in external martial arts with Bae Jonghwan had proven to be a truly wise choice.

Majonghwan shook his head and said,
“It’s fortunate, but don’t take the wound lightly. Let me take a look.”

He carefully removed the acupuncture needle from my arm, nodded approvingly, and applied some medicine.
“So you really have mastered external martial arts. The wound isn’t too bad at all.”

Then he asked me,
“Who exactly are you? At your age, you already possess top-tier martial skills, a secret technique that surpasses even the peak masters, incredible adaptability, and external martial arts training. It’s strange I haven’t heard of anyone like you before. Will you tell me your identity?”

I grinned and answered,
“Of course, sir. I’m Sun Woojin, a member of the Seventh Squad of the Flying Dragon Thirteen. I happened to be on leave and came across your story by chance. I suppose fate brought us together.”

He looked surprised and asked again,
“The Flying Dragon Thirteen?! Ah, so that’s why you’ve remained unknown!”

We resumed walking, continuing our conversation—mostly about how I had saved his children.

Listening to the story, he sighed and said,
“The children must have misunderstood so much. I thought I was doing what was best, but it must have been terribly harsh for them. Thank you. If it weren’t for you, they might have died resenting me.”

“Oh, that was my friend’s doing. If you want to thank anyone, please do so when you meet him.”

As we talked, I suddenly froze, putting a finger to my lips.
“Wait!”

I listened carefully and sensed something approaching from ahead—more than one person.

“People are gathering up ahead. Looks like the encirclement has already tightened this far.”

I had thought it was a half-surround, but it was actually a full encirclement.

For a moment, I considered breaking through the encirclement.

But I shook my head.

There were probably peak masters among those closing in. With three peak masters still out there, I couldn’t afford to take reckless risks.

In the end, I decided to turn back.
“Let’s go back, sir. I think the path I came through is the loosest part of the encirclement.”

More precisely, the squad leader was coming from that direction, so it seemed the safest, but I had no way to confirm exactly.

“Sorry, but I’ll carry you again, sir.”

“I’m sorry to trouble you like this.”

With Saengsa Goeui on my back, I picked up speed and started running again.

My route was slightly north of where I had killed the Dongpaekyeong earlier.

I had chosen that path thinking the squad leader would come from the north, but unfortunately, I was wrong.

Instead of the squad leader, I ran into another enemy first.

“There he is! Get him!”

Shouting that, a huge brute with a black furry face and a massive iron mace charged from the northwest with numerous subordinates.

He was probably Han Jeoksam, the third brother of Heuksang Bangju Go Jooyong, known as the Black Mountain Iron Mace.

Because of the enemies charging from the west and northwest, it was tricky to keep running straight.

I scanned my surroundings briefly and then turned back the way I had come.

“Don’t let him escape! Surround him! Throw your secret weapons!”

As Han Jeoksam shouted, the enemies who had surrounded me from the north began throwing secret weapons at me.

That Han Jeoksam was as simple-minded as they said—he even forgot that killing Saengsa Goeui was forbidden.

Ping! Ping! Whizz! Swish!

Holding the Mukrang sword in my left hand, I easily deflected the secret weapons.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

These were easy enough to block without even looking.

Han Jeoksam shouted again,
“He’s holding a Mukrang sword?! How did he get that?!”

Of course. The sword was entirely black with a wolf’s head engraved on the hilt, so he recognized it as Mukrang.

That was why I had used my old sword against the Dongpaekyeong earlier, but since the secret weapons had damaged its blade, I had no choice.

It seemed I had one more reason to annihilate the Heuksang faction.

I deliberately adjusted my speed so they could barely keep up.

Still, Han Jeoksam, a peak master, led the chase.

The distance between us was closing.

Three jang, two jang, one jang.

“Got him!” Han Jeoksam shouted, mistakenly thinking he had caught me.

At that moment, my new form suddenly sprinted vertically up a large tree ahead.

Tat-tat-tat!

“What—what’s that?!”

Startled, Han Jeoksam skidded to a stop, staring at me.

I swiftly ran along the branches like the wind, then leapt far toward the west, the direction I had originally intended to go.

Crack!

“Whoa!”

“Don’t let him escape! Throw your secret weapons!”

Panicked, the Heuksang warriors threw secret weapons at me, but they couldn’t keep up with my sudden acceleration.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

I heard the secret weapons whiz harmlessly past behind me as I landed lightly among the Heuksang warriors waiting below.

I threw secret weapons of my own—black acupuncture needles taken from the Dongpaekyeong’s corpse.

Pew-shu-shu-shuk!

“Arrgh!”

“Ugh!”

“Aaah!”

The enemies screamed as they were bombarded by the needles.

Landing lightly among them, I charged forward, activating my sword technique.

It was the Second Form of the Sunwoo Thirteen Sword: Divine Response Flying Wings.

Shu-haak!

The sword light spread out like wings in a dazzling display, and the Heuksang warriors’ blood splattered everywhere.

Like a flying tiger, I leapt out from the bloody path and sprinted at full speed again.

Behind me, I heard Han Jeoksam’s furious roar.

“You bastard! I’ll never let you live!”

Surprisingly, he seemed to share my resolve.

Because I intended the same.

But there was no time to relax.

The encirclement was tightening much faster than I expected. Enemies had already appeared from the southwest.

“There! The one carrying Majonghwan on his back! Don’t let him escape!”

A sharp-faced man in his fifties—the author—was apparently Go Jooyong, the Heuksang faction leader.

Two peak masters appeared from the north and south. Had I gone east, would I have met Heukgwangryun Gak Gi-hyo?

Choosing west as my route had been an excellent decision.

But that didn’t mean the situation was easy.

Go Jooyong was rumored to be a master with nearly ninety years of internal energy cultivation.

Whether true or not, his speed chasing us was no joke.

Though not a specialist in secret techniques, he was moving as fast as the Heuksalpyo Dongpaekyeong had earlier.

I probably couldn’t create enough distance with secret techniques alone.

Then I noticed something ahead—the path was cut off.

We had reached the cliff where I had carried Saengsa Goeui earlier.

Before, I had climbed up, but now I had to jump down.

The cliff was about thirty jang high—roughly 100 meters. Carrying Saengsa Goeui and jumping down was impossible.

Go Jooyong seemed to think the same.

I heard his voice,
“That’s a cliff! Spread out on both sides to prevent escape!”

Then Saengsa Goeui on my back spoke,
“Put me down at the edge. I’ll buy you some time while you get down. They’ll never catch me.”

That could have been a strategy.

In my previous life, even without my help, Saengsa Goeui had succeeded in killing Go Jooyong.

But…

Wouldn’t that be too humiliating?

To come all this way, then say ‘sorry’ and put him down to run away?

That thought crossed my mind.

I was confident I was better than my past self.

But I had never tested that limit.

I asked Saengsa Goeui,
“Sir, do you trust me?”

He hesitated, then answered,
“Trust you? Of course I do. But…”

Even if he hadn’t trusted me, I was going to do it anyway. But since he did, there was no reason to hesitate.

I said confidently,
“Then leave it to me.”

“Huh? Leave what to you?!”

At that moment, my new form suddenly accelerated.

Crack!

Startled, Saengsa Goeui shouted,
“Y-you!”

In an instant, my body leapt forward like a bird, soaring over the thirty-jang cliff.

“Yahoo!”

“Ahhh! You!”

Looking down at the dizzying drop below as I moved forward, it felt as if I were flying through the sky.

Of course, it was just a feeling—I wasn’t actually flying.

My body was starting to plummet downward.

Maybe because of the weight, the acceleration felt brutal.

This was the critical moment.

Gripping Saengsa Gwaeui’s body, I spun us around together.

Our bodies began rotating like a ball suspended in midair.

Once I felt we’d built up enough momentum, I threw Saengsa Gwaeui with all my might toward the sky—the opposite direction of our fall.

“Hah!”

Whoosh!

“You?!”

His startled eyes quickly faded into the distance.

The recoil from throwing him sent me plummeting even faster toward the ground.

I was hurtling down like a meteor crashing into the earth.

But even then, I didn’t lose my composure.

My nerves sharpened like a razor’s edge as I watched the ground rapidly approach.

Moment by moment, I tracked the closing distance.

Then, suddenly, time seemed to slow down.

Everything around me appeared to freeze or move in slow motion, while I alone remained fully aware, as if I were the sole protagonist calmly observing the world.

And at that moment, my feet finally touched the ground.

A tremendous impact threatened to shatter my body to pieces.

Yet my senses remained sharp and calm.

I began to steadily disperse the shock throughout my body, as if stepping down a staircase.

First the tips of my toes, then the rest of my toes, the soles, ankles, knees, hips, and waist—each joint absorbed a bit of the force.

Like water taking shape, flowing without resistance.

Then, in a split second, I was rolling fiercely across the ground like a ball.

I had successfully dispersed the impact completely.

A surge of ecstatic joy filled my heart.

I wanted to leap up and shout in triumph.

But there was still work to be done.

After rolling enough to neutralize the shock, I sprang to my feet and looked up.

Saengsa Gwaeui, whom I had thrown upward, was falling back down.

Snap!

I snatched him out of the air just as he descended.

“Whoa!”

I smiled at him, who looked dazed.

“Are you alright, sir?”

He seemed to take a moment to gather himself before answering with a strained voice.

“If you ask me again whether I trust you, I’ll have to say no next time. I really thought I was going to die.”

I grinned in response.

“To be honest, even if you said no, I was planning to jump anyway.”

“Haah.”

Now I felt light enough to joke.

Go Jooyong stood on the cliff, mouth agape, just watching.

And ahead was the path I had cleared earlier of the Heuksangbang gang.

All I had to do was run straight along the same route.

That’s what I thought.

Just for a moment…

“Hahaha! You thought I’d come back this way? You’re right where I want you, old man!”

The ambushers waiting ahead revealed themselves.

Among them, the leader appeared to be a sharp-looking middle-aged man wielding a pair of rings—probably Heukgwangryun, Go Jooyong’s second younger brother.

This time, I was truly caught off guard.

I never imagined they’d be lying in wait on the very path I had broken through.

Startled, I stopped in my tracks.

From the cliff above, Go Jooyong burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! You really are a master of tactics! Well done, hahaha!”

I glanced around.

There was nowhere to go.

Neither behind nor ahead.

If I tried to escape, maybe to the sides—but their encirclement was wide and tight, so that wasn’t an easy option either.

This time, I was truly surrounded.

The situation before me looked utterly bleak.