Chapter 51
After sleeping properly for two hours, Baek Mu-Gun switched with So Yeon-Hwa for the night watch. Yeon-Hwa was conscious of the fact that she was in the same room with Mu-Gun, so she tossed and turned for a long time before finally falling asleep. Mu-Gun looked at Yeon-Hwa as she fell asleep amid her whimpering. Seeing her sleeping so beautifully was quite lovely. Looking at her made him want to hug her.
‘I’ve been maintaining abstinence for too long.’
Mu-Gun smiled bitterly. He was in the prime of his life. However, he had never bedded a woman since he reincarnated. It could’ve been fine if he had never been with one before, but Mu-Gun had experiences with such things already. Hence, he craved the touch of a woman. He had been suppressing his lust all this while, but his sexual desire soared when he saw Yeon-Hwa sleeping soundly. Mu-Gun took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
He had no aversion to sleeping with a woman. With or without marriage, he believed that if two people were interested in each other, they could have a relationship as long as they wanted it.
However, he wasn’t the type to recklessly sleep with a woman. He knew full well that being in a relationship came with various responsibilities.
While some people did enter a relationship simply for the purpose of having fun, Yeon-Hwa wasn’t that kind of person. Mu-Gun didn’t particularly like those types of relationships either. Therefore, he couldn’t just thoughtlessly sleep with her unless he intended to take responsibility for her.
‘Phew, I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch.’
Mu-Gun smiled bitterly and moved toward the window. He found it ridiculous to think about whether to take responsibility or not without even considering Yeon-Hwa’s heart.
“...!”
Mu-Gun opened the window to get some fresh air for a while, but he noticed dozens of people approaching the inn from afar. Mu-Gun expanded his qi senses to check their aura. Although their level was low, they all seemed to have learned martial arts. A particular energy stood out among them, which Mu-Gun judged to be a Peak Realm master.
There was only one faction in Shaoxing that could move a Peak Realm master and dozens of martial artists—the Black Sword Gang. They seemed to have come. Mu-Gun immediately woke Yeon-Hwa up. He could handle them alone, but he didn’t know how the situation would go, so he had to wake her up first. Yeon-Hwa woke up right away.
“Is it the Black Sword Gang?”
“Most likely.”
“He really doesn’t know how to reflect.”
“Under normal circumstances, people don’t change that quick, even more so if they’re evil. When you meet such individuals, you have to root them out.”
“Still, shouldn’t we at least give them a chance to have a change of heart? If even one person out of ten—no, out of a hundred, change their ways, then doing so would be meaningful.”
Befitting the disciples of the Putuo Sect, which was influenced by the Putuo Hermitage, there was a deep benevolence in Yeon-Hwa’s train of thought. Mu-Gun had different thoughts from hers, but he didn’t want to make her change her mind either. There was no right answer in the world. Everyone lived their own way, and they would have to take responsibility for that.
“Let’s deal with the Black Sword Gang first.”
Mu-Gun and Yeoh-Hwa flew straight out through the window. The height from the inn’s third floor was over thirty feet, but they descended to the ground with ease. The Black Sword Gang members who stormed into the inn noticed and quickly surrounded them.
“Where do you think you’re going? There’s not a chance I’ll let you escape.” So-Chu provoked under the assumption that the two were trying to run away.
“Escape? We just came out so the fight wouldn’t damage the inn. You’re really beyond redemption, though. I sent you away for your own good, but rather than reflecting on yourself, you’re doing this,” Yeon-Hwa spoke up first.
“Self-reflection? You fuckers should be the ones reflecting. How dare you oppose and even injure me, the Black Sword Gang’s young leader? You two seem to have pretty good skills, but it’s useless now that Master Meteor Saber is here.”
Mu-Gun looked at the middle-aged man standing behind So-Chu. As he had expected, he was a Peak Realm master. His eyes and expression contained the composure that only those who had experienced all kinds of hardships could have. It was nothing short of ridiculous for Mu-Gun.
“You likely lived your life in vain, considering you can’t even determine when an adult should butt in or not.” Mu-Gun’s words made Gun-Seong’s expression turn menacing.
“You really want to die, huh.”
“Do you have the ability to kill me?”
“A young man like you shouldn't be elated just because you’ve cultivated your martial arts for a bit. This old man will teach you some lessons today.” Gun-Seong unsheathed his saber and walked toward Mu-Gun.
“The rest of you, quell that bitch!” So-Chu ordered the Black Sword Gang members as he pointed to Yeon-Hwa.
The Black Sword Gang members unsheathed their sabers and surrounded Yeon-Hwa. Mu-Gun looked at Yeon-Hwa, gesturing to her as if to ask if she would be fine.
“Don’t worry. This much won’t even be a problem.” Yeon-Hwa responded as if it was a trivial matter.
Mu-Gun smirked at her confidence and executed the Vajra Exorcism Finger toward Gun-Seong, who was approaching him.
A golden ray of qi flew toward Gun-Seong’s chest like an arrow. Gun-Seong was approaching Mu-Gun slowly, but he was still taken aback. He swung his saber to block the golden ray.
“Ugh!” Gun-Seong groaned as his saber tremored upon making contact with the golden qi ray.
‘This bastard is no ordinary guy.’
He abandoned the thought of belittling Mu-Gun. However, he should have done so from the very beginning. Having already lost the initiative to Mu-Gun, there was nothing else he could do. After launching the Vajra Exorcism Finger, Mu-Gun immediately closed the distance with Gun-Seong and swung his sword at Gun-Seong’s neck. Shocked, Gun-Seong rolled on the floor. Gun-Seong was doing the Lazy Donkey Roll[1], a move that martial artists regarded as most humiliating. However, there was no other way to avoid the sword.
Avoiding the incoming sword didn’t mean that the danger disappeared, though. Mu-Gun unleashed moonlight sword qi toward Gun-Seong, who was rolling on the floor. In retaliation, Gun-Seong released saber qi while lying on the floor to block Mu-Gun’s sword qi. However, it was impossible to block Mu-Gun’s sword qi with his saber qi since he hurriedly unleashed it in an unstable posture. The moonlight sword qi shredded Gun-Seong’s saber qi and devoured Gun-Seong.
The sword qi caused the ground where Gun-Seong was lying to explode and a cloud of dust to soar. When it settled, Gun-Seong was found wretchedly shredded. He had been cut and torn all over and was covered in blood, resulting in his death.
“That’s impossible...”
So-Chu firmly believed in Gun-Seong, so the latter being reduced to a cold corpse in the blink of an eye confused him. It wasn’t just Gun-Seong. Yeon-Hwa annihilated the other Black Sword Gang members as well. Only then did So-Chu realize that Mu-Gun and Yeon-Hwa were masters in a different league.
‘I have to run away.’
That was the only way he could survive this situation. So-Chu immediately turned around and tried to run away.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
However, Mu-Gun didn’t let him off. Mu-Gun unleashed the might of the Vajra Exorcism Finger and crushed So-Chu’s knees. So-Chu was just about to invoke his movement art, but he tumbled down with a scream instead.
Mu-Gun left So-Chu as he was since his knees had been crushed and he couldn’t move anyway. He then launched the Vajra Exorcism Finger toward the other Black Sword Gang members. Every time he shot a golden qi ray, a Black Sword Gang member’s knees were shattered, causing them to fall to the floor. Yeon-Hwa alone was already singlehandedly beating them. Hence, Mu-Gun joining the fray made the Black Sword Gang members helplessly collapse. The fight ended when the last Black Sword Gang member fell.
Mu-Gun and Yeon-Hwa left behind the group of Black Sword Gang members, who were moaning and lying on the floor, and approached So-Chu. So-Chu tried to somehow escape by crawling on the floor using his two intact arms, but it was useless.
“I’ve already given you a chance. You were the one who threw it away. If you’ve got someone to blame someone, blame yourself.”
Yeon-Hwa lifted her sword.
“W-wait a minute! One more, please. Just give me one more chance. I will really reflect on myself and become a new person this time.”
“It’s too late.”
“N-no!”
Despite So-Chu’s scream, Yeon-Hwa cut off the tendons holding onto his shoulders without hesitation.
“Kuackkk! You motherfuckers! I’ll never let you get away with this. I’ll kill the two of you even if it means having to sell my soul to the devil!” So-Chu shouted in anger as his eyes turned upon having his shoulder tendons severed.
“You leave me no choice but to take your life,” Mu-Gun remarked, to which Yeon-Hwa couldn’t readily answer.
She had yet to kill a human being. Even though she was a martial artist, murder was not something that could be done with a normal mindset. On top of that, she practiced Buddhism as a disciple of the Putuo Sword Sect. Killing was prohibited, so she couldn’t help but hesitate to take the life of a human being. However, if they let So-Chu live even though he cried for revenge with resentful eyes, he would be a source of trouble in the future.
Yeon-Hwa pondered for a while, lifted her sword as if she had made up her mind, and thrust it at So-Chu’s heart. Just before it could stab So-Chu, Mu-Gun’s sword deflected her weapon away.
“...?”
“Come to think of it, I don’t think it’s right to kill such an insignificant man as your first experience as a martial artist.”
Mu-Gun shrugged at Yeon-Hwa as she stared at him confused. He then stabbed So-Chu’s heart without giving Yeon-Hwa any time to react.
“Kuhk!” So-Chu shouted his final agonies, then succumbed to death.
“Thank you.” Yeon-Hwa thanked Mu-Gun for his thoughtfulness.
“You thank people too much. Let’s just go back inside.”
“What do we do about them?” Yeon-Hwa pointed to the Black Sword Gang members, who were looking at them while walking on eggshells.
“What do you think we should do?”
“If we let them go, they would spread the news of their young leader’s death, and the Black Sword Gang likely won’t stay quiet, right?”
“Most probably.”
“That doesn’t mean we can kill them all, though. Why don’t we subdue them and render them immobile for now?”
“Alright, let’s do that.”
Mu-Gun and Yeon-Hwa pressed the Black Sword Gang members’ numbing acupuncture points to prevent them from moving and gathered them in one place. They wouldn’t be able to move until their numbing points were released, and it would also be difficult for the Black Sword Gang to get news regarding the recent fight. Mu-Gun and Yeon-Hwa returned to the inn after dealing with the Black Sword Gang members.
“What do we do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“If they find out that their young leader is dead, the Black Sword Gang won’t just stay still.”
“What else can we do? If they come, then we’ll just have to destroy them,” Mu-Gun replied as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Even if the entire Black Sword Gang came, he wasn’t afraid at all. He didn’t find the need to worry about how the Black Sword Gang would react to the situation. Mu-Gun’s relaxed demeanor dumbfounded Yeon-Hwa, but considering his martial prowess, it was understandable.
“By the way, I’m all awake now because of them. There should be about two hours left under the sun rises.”
“Why don’t we just circulate our qi for now?” Mu-Gun replied. He would rather circulate his qi than stay still, which would give him time to think of weird things.
“That’d be great.” Yeon-Hwa nodded. She had nothing to do anyway.
They immediately assumed a lotus position and began circulating their qi until daybreak. When the sun had risen, they ended their qi circulation and briefly washed up before heading to breakfast.
They left Shaoxing afterward. They didn’t leave early because they were afraid of the Black Sword Gang’s revenge. Rather, they just moved as planned.
***
Yang Tae-Seok, the Black Sword Gang Leader, trembled at the sight of his son returning as a corpse.
“Wh-who in the world did this?” Tae-Seok suppressed his anger and asked his subordinates.
“That’s... It’s said that a man and a woman did it. However, we don’t know their exact identity.”
“Are you hearing yourself right now? The young leader of the Black Sword Gang died in Shaoxing, not anywhere else, yet you don’t even know who killed him?”
“I’m sorry.”
“So, where are those two fuckers?”
“They left Shaoxing early this morning. We’re tracking them right now, so we should be able to find their whereabouts soon.”
“What on earth have you been doing?! Find out where they are within the day. If that can’t be done, know that your necks will fall instead of those two motherfuckers.”
“We’ll be sure to locate them.”
“What are you standing around here for, then? Quickly go!”
“Understood.”
His subordinates left the pavilion in a hurry. Left alone, Tae-Seok looked at his son, who was now a gruesome corpse. He gnashed his teeth.
“Do you think you’ll be safe after killing Yang Tae-Seok’s son? I will chase you two fuckers to the depths of hell and tear you to pieces.”
Tae-Seok’s words weren’t meant for others. It was an oath to his dead son and a pledge to himself. Meanwhile, the Black Sword Gang members devoted all their forces to finding Mu-Gun and Yeon-Hwa, the ones responsible for So-Chu’s death.
However, they couldn’t find traces of Mu-Gun and Yeon-Hwa anywhere since they moved without leaving any behind. In the end, Mu-Gun and Yeon-Hwa slipped through their fingers. Enraged, Tae-Seok beat the gang executive, who was in charge of tracking the two people, to death.
1. Lazy Donkey Roll is a rolling move, but it’s basically a very self-explanatory move as its name suggests. ?
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