Chapter 99
‘What? The Murim Alliance?’
I whipped around.
I saw the two people whose expressions had brightened the moment they heard the words ‘Murim Alliance.’ More precisely, they were the young talents of the Five Great Families.
Suddenly, I remembered what Zhuge Ye had said in the prison.
“Yes, that’s right. Before coming here, just in case, I sent a messenger hawk. I told them to hurry over because we were going to Yongcheok Stronghold first…”
Come to think of it, Zhuge Ye had said he’d asked their companions for help. But I had expected, at most, the other young talents from the Inspection Group to come. I hadn’t expected them to actually bring martial artists from the Murim Alliance.
On the other hand, perhaps one of their companions had thought those two had surely been captured by bandits and requested help from the Alliance itself. I secretly admired him.
‘He’s smart.’
“We’re saved, Brother Paeng, Brother Dan! Now that we can join up with the Murim Alliance and attack Yongcheok Stronghold together, we’ll be able to capture the stronghold lord much more easily…”
“That would be troublesome.”
“Pardon?”
I stared at Zhuge Ye in disbelief.
Apparently, because we had traveled together for a while, Zhuge Ye seemed to think of me as a member of the orthodox sects too. But I wasn’t one of their people, and there were plenty of people among the orthodox faction who disliked me.
There was no need to join them and unnecessarily stir up trouble.
In the first place, my goal was simply to quickly check the beauty’s face and leave. It wasn’t as though I had some grand righteous cause.
So…
“Then I suppose we’ll part ways here.”
“Pardon?”
“What do you mean, ‘pardon’? Do you think cooperating with you two means we’re on the same side? Now that we’ve each achieved our respective little goals, wouldn’t it be better for us to go our separate ways here?”
“Pardon? But still…”
“Well, well, it was fun traveling together until now, and let’s try not to see each other again if we can help it. Then this body has something urgent to attend to, so I’ll be off…!”
Tap!
With that, I immediately dashed toward the tower.
I used my qinggong while keeping my eyes fixed solely on the tower. However, before long, I had no choice but to turn around.
“What the hell! Why are you following me?!”
“Let’s go together! Brother Dan…! Now that we’ve decided to go together, shouldn’t we stay together until the end?”
Paeng Ga shouted after him.
“Exactly! How am I supposed to send you off alone when I have no idea what you might do! Didn’t I say I wouldn’t let you get away with any funny business? I’m going to keep a close eye on you to make sure you don’t have any ulterior motives!”
“Ah, damn it, I told you I don’t have any ulterior motives…”
I sighed and slightly slowed my pace. Only then did the two catch up and begin running alongside me.
Zhuge Ye smiled brightly and said,
“We’ll be of help.”
I gave a helpless laugh and replied,
“Do whatever you want, whatever you want.”
We arrived in front of the tower in an instant. As expected, the defenses in front of the tower had fallen apart.
Apparently, my earlier impression that they wouldn’t budge even if the imperial army attacked had been an illusion. Half of the forces guarding the tower had already rushed off to defend the wooden palisade, leaving their numbers greatly reduced.
Even those who remained were running around in confusion, unsure of what to do.
‘Now’s our chance.’
Right now, while they were completely off guard.
Boom!
“Argh…!”
I struck the person standing at the entrance of the tower with a palm strike. At the same time, I grabbed the collar of someone charging in from the side and, using the Charyeok Taryeok technique, hurled him toward the bandit in front of me.
With the force of my inner power added to the momentum of their flight, the bandits tumbled to the ground one after another. I stepped on the body of one of the fallen men, leaped up, and entered the entrance in an instant.
Tap, tap!
I glanced back and saw that the two of them had also made it inside safely. I threw the two swords I had just picked up toward them.
Whoosh!
The two caught their respective weapons.
“Brother Dan, this is…?”
“You’ll need weapons if you’re going to keep dealing with bandits, won’t you? I’m more comfortable fighting barehanded, but wouldn’t you two be more comfortable using your family’s sword or saber techniques?”
“That’s true. I’ll put it to good use, thank you.”
“Hmph.”
Zhuge Ye expressed his thanks, while Paeng Ga merely snorted. It was so very typical of the two of them that I let out a small laugh.
Surprisingly, the three of us worked together quite well.
First, I would go ahead and knock down half a group of bandits with powerful palm strikes. Then the two would follow behind, cutting down the remaining enemies or striking their acupoints so they couldn’t move.
Watching a bandit who had just rushed toward my side collapse after being struck by a sword before he could even stretch out his hand, I was overcome by a strange feeling.
‘They really are useful.’
Originally, I would have had to deal with all of this alone.
It had been like that when I first ventured into the martial world alone, and it had been the same while traveling to countless places in search of the young lady. It had been that way in the past, so it was obvious that I would continue to be alone in the future.
But now that I was entrusting my back to people I had once considered enemies, the feeling was…
‘Strange.’
A smile escaped me before I knew it.
I snatched away the spear of the bastard attacking from above and instead pierced his shoulder with it. At the same time, I unleashed the Mandarin Duck Chain Kicks, kicking backward to drive away the bandit charging from behind.
Then I stepped on the falling and collapsing bandits and leaped upward. The dizzying scenery around me flashed past.
First floor, second floor, third floor, fourth floor…
Continuously moving both hands and feet, I calmly counted the floors.
I had been counting the floors from the moment I entered. The tower consisted of nine floors in total, and if I accidentally entered the wrong floor, I could only waste time, so I had to be careful.
The floor below the ninth floor, the eighth floor. I needed to go to the eighth floor, and the eighth floor was…
Tap!
Just as I leaped up the stairs from the seventh floor.
“Wait.”
I stopped the two who were about to enter the eighth floor.
The surroundings were quiet.
Perhaps they had never imagined we would make it this far, because there wasn’t a single bandit on this floor. There had been the most bandits on the lower floors, and their numbers had decreased the higher we went.
Still, this was too quiet…
I cautiously surveyed the surroundings. The interior of the eighth floor, enclosed by walls on all four sides, was lavish.
Luxurious furniture had been placed around the room, silk was spread over the chairs, and the place was decorated with precious ornaments. And there could only be one person who would stay in such a lavish interior.
‘The stronghold lord’s woman.’
I heightened my sense of presence, stayed alert, and carefully took one step at a time.
Unexpectedly, I could sense only one person inside the room.
One person behind the folding screen.
Moreover, judging by the fact that she couldn’t conceal her presence, she didn’t seem to be a martial artist either. Strange. I thought she would be together with the stronghold lord, but apparently not?
Before I knew it, I had approached the folding screen. I flicked my sleeve and sent the folding screen flying–
“Eek…!”
She was there. The beauty.
…No, she wasn’t the beauty?
“Eeeh?”
An airy sound escaped me involuntarily.
I looked over at the young lady trembling in the corner of the bed.
Of course… objectively speaking, the woman was pretty. Her slender face, snow-white skin, and slim figure were enough to qualify her as quite a beauty.
But if she was supposed to be the greatest beauty under heaven, then… well.
‘No.’
She wasn’t the greatest beauty under heaven.
She didn’t have the kind of face that made you gasp the instant you saw her, as our young lady did. She wasn’t the kind of face that stayed in your thoughts whether your eyes were open or closed. She didn’t have thick eyelashes, a long, deer-like neck, or that delicate, pure, sly, and haughty charm of a beauty!
Those bastards lied to me!
“Miss, are you perhaps the woman whom the stronghold lord of Yongcheok Stronghold brought here?”
I asked, wondering if the stronghold lord might have switched people. But the young lady obediently nodded.
“Yes, yes…”
“May I ask how old you are…?”
“Pardon? Eighteen…”
“Haa…”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead.
I had already thought she wasn’t the one just from her face, but hearing her age made it even more certain. The young lady was older than me. Since even her appearance didn’t match, there was no need to ask anything more specific…
‘Another dead end.’
I bitterly rubbed my face. Even so, I couldn’t quite let go of my lingering attachment, so I glanced at the young lady again.
“Why can’t you take your eyes off her? You’ve seen the beauty’s face, so haven’t you already accomplished what you came here for? Don’t tell me… you’ve already gotten some lecherous ideas?”
I hurriedly waved my hands when I saw Paeng Ga holding his sword diagonally.
“No, when did I ever have any lecherous thoughts… Forget it, forget it. Fine, I’ve seen what I came to see. Let’s go now.”
“…Pardon? Brother Dan, you’re really leaving?”
“What exactly do you take me for? I said I only wanted to check the beauty’s face. I even spoke to her once, so this should be enough to satisfy me…”
As he spoke, I looked down at the young lady again and politely said,
“Miss, I’m sorry for suddenly barging in and frightening you. I didn’t come here intending to harm you. I merely wanted to see your face and leave. We’ll be going now, so please rest comfortably…”
“Um…!”
At that moment, the young lady spoke in a soft voice.
“Are you… the great hero Flower-Glutton?”
I was bewildered, but for the moment I nodded.
“Me? I am.”
Then I stopped.
The young lady had already come out from the corner of the bed and was looking up at me with tearful eyes. She gazed at me desperately and cried out,
“Please, help me!”
Comments (0)