Chapter 38

Chapter 38, Annoying, But Somehow Trustworthy

Vermilion Bird Unit warriors blocked Hwancheonma's path, but they could not last more than a few moves before being thrown aside.

The Tang Clan's Five Heroes simultaneously fired their sleeve arrows and charged like lightning.

Before anyone could even tell when they had launched their hidden weapons, the entire space around Hwancheonma was filled with projectiles.

They truly were talents raised by the Tang Clan for their future family head.

The Tang Clan's Five Heroes had been trained carefully so they could stand beside Dang Jong and support him once he became the master of the Tang Clan.

However, every hidden weapon bounced off Hwancheonma's protective qi, and his iron ruler flashed.

"Aaaaaaaaaagh!"

One long scream rang out, then the Tang Clan's Five Heroes collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Because all five had screamed at nearly the same time, it had sounded like one long scream.

Looking at the fallen Tang Clan's Five Heroes, wounds covered their chests and throats.

Whirrrrr!

The iron ruler floated in the air and revolved around Hwancheonma's body.

Jaha groaned inwardly.

I didn't know he had even learned the Heaven-Revolving Aura Wheel.

The Heaven-Revolving Aura Wheel was one of the Demon Cult's Ten Great Martial Arts.

Whether the user carried a sword or saber, it allowed them to control their weapon through Sword Control within one jang around the body.

Once the weapon moved farther than one jang, the technique would collapse, but within that distance it could be used for both defense and offense.

Dang Jong stood frozen while staring at the corpses of the Tang Clan's Five Heroes. Namgung Cheol and Paeng Umyeong immediately gave orders.

"Stop him!"

Just as Hwancheonma stretched his hand toward Dang Jong, the Namgung Seven Swords and the Paeng Family's five New Tiger Sabers shot toward him like harpoons.

Both groups consisted of the finest young talents raised by their respective families.

The Five Great Families had invested enormous effort into raising them so they would not fall behind the geniuses of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang.

But all that effort was useless before Hwancheonma.

Shwaak!

Hwancheonma slightly twisted his body.

The Namgung Seven Swords saw an opening and stabbed with their swords.

Three swords pierced straight through Hwancheonma's abdomen.

The Namgung Seven Swords looked at him with victorious expressions.

"Dodge!"

The Namgung Seven Swords did not know about Hwancheonma's Hollow Spirit Empty-Step Art, so they turned toward Namgung Cheol when he shouted.

At that moment, Namgung Cheol's eyes widened as he witnessed the horrifying scene of the head of the Third Namgung Sword, who had stabbed Hwancheonma's side, sliding from his shoulder and falling to the ground.

"No!"

To Namgung Cheol, the Namgung Seven Swords were no different from his own cousins.

Seeing them die so meaninglessly caused him to lose his reason and rush toward Hwancheonma.

"Die!"

At the same moment, Dang Jong also charged forward in rage over the deaths of the Tang Clan's Five Heroes.

Shiririririk!

Before they could reach him, the remaining Namgung Seven Swords attacking Hwancheonma had their throats cut open, spraying blood across the ground.

Namgung Cheol and Dang Jong drew up all their strength and unleashed their families' ultimate techniques.

Paeng Umyeong, watching everything, trembled from head to toe.

This was not the kind of battle he had imagined.

The people he knew were not supposed to die.

The enemy was supposed to die.

That was the kind of battle Paeng Umyeong understood.

But now, after watching famous young masters like the Tang Clan's Five Heroes and the Namgung Seven Swords die helplessly, his hands trembled and his bladder felt ready to burst.

Then he suddenly realized that he had not yet lost the New Five Tiger Sabers, and felt relieved.

That thought immediately began tormenting him.

His friends, Namgung Cheol and Dang Jong, were risking their lives against Hwancheonma, yet he stood here trembling and unable to move.

Paeng Umyeong spoke to Zhuge Yuyeon.

"Yuyeon, don't go too far away..."

He stopped speaking when his gaze landed on Jaha, who stood behind them watching the battle calmly.

"Stay beside that man called Byeok Ho."

Paeng Umyeong instinctively felt that the safest place here was beside Jaha.

He believed Zhuge Yuyeon would remain safe if she stayed there.

He did not know why he felt that way.

But he somehow believed that Jaha would protect Zhuge Yuyeon.

"The honor of the Paeng Family is on the line. If there is a time when I must fight even if I die, I think it is now."

Paeng Umyeong made up his mind to face Hwancheonma and spoke to the New Five Tiger Sabers.

"Instead of dying uselessly like dogs, why don't you follow my instructions?"

Jaha approached Paeng Umyeong and spoke.

Paeng Umyeong tried not to show it, but Jaha's proposal gave him hope.

Hope that he could survive.

"What is it?"

Paeng Umyeong asked quickly.

"The New Five Tiger Sabers should remain together. When I shout, immediately form the Seven Stars Formation and scatter saber qi in every direction with all your strength."

The Seven Stars Formation had originated from the Wudang Sect and was one of the basic sword formations commonly taught to martial artists.

The New Five Tiger Sabers looked confused by Jaha's strange request.

"What do you mean?"

Paeng Umyeong answered instead.

"Understood. New Five Tiger Sabers, follow Young Hero Byeok's instructions. Right now, he's the only person here we can trust."

"Young Family Head, are you seriously telling us to follow an outsider?"

To the New Five Tiger Sabers, Jaha did not look impressive.

He seemed even weaker than the Martial Alliance branch warriors Songrim had brought.

They had assumed he was simply a disguised Beggar Sect member.

When they objected, Paeng Umyeong said,

"If you want to live, follow him without question."

It was the first time the New Five Tiger Sabers had ever seen their young master show such deep trust toward someone.

He had never shown this much trust even when speaking about his friends Dang Jong or Namgung Cheol.

"Understood."

If Paeng Umyeong trusted him this much, then he was worth following.

"Let's go."

Paeng Umyeong met Zhuge Yuyeon's eyes for a moment before entering the battlefield to support Dang Jong and Namgung Cheol.

Watching him, Jaha murmured toward Zhuge Yuyeon.

"He's a better man than I thought. He probably hasn't experienced a slaughter like this before, but he managed to overcome his fear and fight."

Zhuge Yuyeon smiled when Jaha praised Paeng Umyeong.

She did not love Paeng Umyeong in her heart, but he was still someone she was expected to accept as her future husband.

Hearing Jaha, who stood out far above the rest, praise Paeng Umyeong naturally made her feel good.

"But why did you tell them to use the Seven Stars Formation against Hwancheonma?"

Zhuge Yuyeon asked while Jaha watched the battle between Hwancheonma and the three young family heads.

Even while blood sprayed and limbs were severed in the horrifying battle, Jaha watched without blinking, like a veteran of a hundred battles.

Zhuge Yuyeon stared at him in fascination.

Without taking his eyes off the battlefield, Jaha answered.

"I'm only guessing myself, so it's difficult to explain. If my prediction is correct, you'll understand when it happens."

Dang Jong and Namgung Cheol attacked as though willing to die, while Paeng Umyeong and the New Five Tiger Sabers poured all their strength into their assault.

Even Hwancheonma had no choice but to slow down slightly.

The corner of Hwancheonma's eye trembled.

Using so much energy to break the formation after already consuming strength while fighting Ma Gi was a mistake. Otherwise, I could have killed these flies with one hand.

More than the energy he had lost fighting Ma Gi, Hwancheonma regretted the enormous amount of true qi he had consumed trying to break the formation.

He had remained silent because he did not want Ma Gi to notice, but more than seventy percent of his remaining power had been used breaking the formation.

That was why Dang Jong's occasional poisoned hidden weapons were becoming troublesome.

If he had more true qi left, he would have ignored those weapons and crushed them all already.

Shwaaaak!

While attacking Namgung Cheol and Paeng Umyeong in front of him, Hwancheonma suddenly jumped to avoid a hidden weapon flying from behind.

Thunk!

Something like a tiny metal bead passed beneath his feet and embedded itself into a thick tree.

Chiiiiii!

Poisonous energy flowed from the metal bead and ate a hole through the tree.

That was why Dang Jong, constantly circling behind him, had become irritating.

Hwancheonma activated the Hollow Spirit Empty-Step Art and rushed toward Namgung Cheol and Paeng Umyeong.

His body vanished, leaving only an afterimage behind.

Namgung Cheol flinched.

A strange foreign sensation passed across his chest.

Then that sensation became hot.

"Ugh!"

Namgung Cheol's chest split open, and blood poured out.

Paeng Umyeong quickly struck the acupoints around his chest to stop the bleeding.

However, Hwancheonma had no intention of leaving the youngsters alone.

His figure blurred again.

At that moment, Jaha shouted.

"Seven Stars Formation in front of Paeng Umyeong!"

The New Five Tiger Sabers immediately blocked the space in front of Paeng Umyeong and formed the Seven Stars Formation.

They were indeed skilled masters. They carried out Jaha's instructions perfectly.

While forming the Seven Stars Formation, they swung their sabers and scattered saber qi in every direction.

A suppressed groan suddenly came from their right.

"Keuk!"

Shockingly, Hwancheonma appeared there with five wounds across his body, blood pouring from them.

The New Five Tiger Sabers had followed Jaha's instruction, but none of them expected such a result.

Hwancheonma muttered in shock,

"How?!"

No matter how fast a movement art was, it still had to move around a certain central axis.

The Hollow Spirit Empty-Step Art was based on the Seven Stars Steps.

Even the other Seven Heavenly Demons did not know that secret.

Hwancheonma could not understand how that damned brat knew it.

He wanted to tear out those eyes staring at him as if they knew every secret he possessed.

But Hwancheonma understood that now was not the right time.

The New Five Tiger Sabers finally came to their senses after hearing his shocked voice.

They had formed the Seven Stars Formation the instant Jaha shouted, but they had never expected to actually injure Hwancheonma.

They had merely trusted Jaha because their Young Family Head trusted him.

Hwancheonma's wounds were apparently quite deep, because large amounts of blood were flowing down.

Shinbi stopped fighting and rushed over.

"Father, stop the bleeding."

When Shinbi tried to press the acupoints around the wounds, Hwancheonma slapped his hand away.

"Enough. I'll do it."

Hwancheonma had never suffered such humiliation in his life.

He did not even have the mental space to care about his own child.

He glared at Jaha as though he wanted to kill him with his eyes.

"How did you know?"

Jaha did not answer.

Instead, he spoke to Dang Jong.

"Now is your chance. Hwancheonma seems to have suffered internal injuries. If you're going to use poison, use it now."

Dang Jong immediately came to his senses and pulled poison bombs from his waist.

He did not throw them directly at Hwancheonma.

Even if he did, he probably could not hit him. More importantly, Tang Clan poison bombs were designed to spread poisonous powder around the target.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The poison bombs exploded.

Even Hwancheonma did not dare ignore them. He shot ten jang into the air and retreated.

His speed and ghostlike movements were enough to make anyone click their tongue in disbelief.

They had not dealt a direct blow to Hwancheonma, but forcing him to retreat was already an impressive achievement.

Hwancheonma looked around briefly before speaking.

"Retreat."

At Hwancheonma's command, Shinbi, the Right Protector, and four remaining guards rapidly left the battlefield.

Fifteen of Hwancheonma's guards had died fighting the Vermilion Bird Unit, so their departure looked almost like fleeing after defeat.

However, three times as many Vermilion Bird Unit warriors had died, so it could hardly be called a true victory.

Once Hwancheonma escaped, the Vermilion Bird Unit focused everything on attacking the Western Gorge Sect.

Since they had failed to capture Hwancheonma, they at least needed to capture Ma Gi.

At that moment, someone rapidly approached Jaha.

It was Western Monster Saeng Goryang.

"I absolutely must kill you."

Western Monster Saeng Goryang had been waiting for revenge for Sail Sword Hwang Ilhyeok and Ghost Flying Strike Sang Pa, both of whom had died because of Jaha.

The reason Saeng Goryang was suddenly rushing now was because Hwancheonma had left the battlefield, causing the tide of battle to change dramatically.

If Leader Ma Gi felt that the situation had become unfavorable and ordered a retreat, Saeng Goryang would lose his chance for revenge.

So he decided to kill Jaha before that could happen.