Chapter-40 (Abandoned Disciple of Heavenly Demon)

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Episode 40: Attacking the Escort Agency (2)

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‘I can’t tell how much time had passed.’

Jin Myeong was currently sitting on a tree branch overlooking the road, while cultivating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

‘It would have been very noisy if there were people around.’

Not only Jin Myeong, but most of them were also hiding in places like bushes or trees. Since they are all from high social classes and have never experienced this, they might still be constantly complaining.

If Jin Myeong hadn’t had the experience of spending a year training in a cave, he would have found spending time like this boring.

‘It’s been quite some time.’

It’s already been five days since they hid here and waited for the target, the escort agency. Jin Myeong was just waiting on the tree, cultivating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, and occasionally eating jerky to satisfy his hunger.

‘Hmm?’

Jin Myeong, who had been cultivating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes at the vibration he felt from the tree.

Then he saw a carriage passing by on the road. But even as the carriage passed by, Jin Myeong’s demeanour was very calm.

‘Not this time either.’

There were no people guarding the carriage. It was probably a small merchant group that could not afford to hire an escort.

If there was an escort agency with them, then there has to be a number of swordsmen. If that were the case, then not even a single carriage would move like that.

At first, Jin Myeong was worried about whether he should check on the other person even when a carriage passed by, but now he has a calm and composed demeanour.

– Beep!

‘How long do I have to wait, while watching carriages pass by?’

Suddenly, Jin Myeong heard a strange noise. ~~It’s a sounded like tinnitus, yet subtly distinct. ~~

‘This is it.’

Jin Myeong could immediately tell that this strange sound was the sound of the flute signal that the Shadow Demons had given him.

‘The distance is further than you think.’

Jin Myeong, who had figured out the approximate location, immediately jumped out of the tree.

‘What the heck is this?’

‘The sound was heard only once. But strangely enough, I felt like I knew the general location.’

Jin Myeong thought it was strange, but he quickly moved towards the source of the sound.

‘Are they all gathered?’

Jin Myeong, who had been hiding near the direction where the sound came from, could sense many people around him.

When they heard that sound, everyone gathered.

‘But why do they look so calm?’

It was loud enough to be heard from quite a distance away.

Of course, they should have been wary of their surroundings, but the people of the Escort Agency paid no attention to it and continued to move.

– We’ll wait until it gets dark.

Commander Neung Byeok-mun’s voice reached Jin Myeong’s ears.

Not only Jin Myeong, but everyone else seemed to be nodding as if they had heard the same thing.

– Let’s follow along carefully.

They began to move along the signs as carefully as possible.

‘There are more soldiers than I thought.’

The number of bodyguards were greater than Jin Myeong’s expectations.

‘I don’t think they are part of escort agency.’

Among the martial artists, most of whom were similarly dressed, there were some who wore different clothes. They were wearing pure white uniforms embroidered with purple patterns.

‘They’re Mount Hua’s disciples.’

As Jin Myeong looked closely at the uniform, the name of the Mount Hua Sect came to mind.

‘No matter how much they say it was a proxy set up by the Secular Disciple, I never thought the Mount Hua Sect would get involved themselves.’

‘Of course, the number of direct disciples of the sect was not greater than the number of escort warriors.’

‘But as much as I said I would move carefully, I wondered if it was okay to fight with the Mount Hua Sect.’

However, Neung Byeok-mun did not look flustered at all, even after recognizing the Mount Hua Sect’s disciple.

Jin Myeong just kept waiting for it to get dark.

“How about taking a rest here?”

“…All right.”

Even though the sun had not yet fully set, one of the Mount Hua Sect’s disciples spoke. The man who appeared to be the head of the escort group nodded, but his expression was not good at all.

He was thinking of moving a little further and then sleeping outside, but he couldn’t refuse the words of the Mount Hua Sect Disciple.

“Prepare to sleep out!”

At the Head Escort Warrior’s words, the soldiers and the porters unpacked their luggage and quickly began preparing to camp out in the open.

Even though they were preparing to sleep out in their familiar surroundings, Mount Hua’s disciples did not move.

Unlike the soldiers and the cavalry, the Mount Hua Sect warriors were not preparing to sleep out in the open, but were instead keeping a close eye on their surroundings.

‘I guess there will be a time.’

‘I didn’t think they were that strong just because they were Mount Hua’s Disciples.’

However, Neung Byeok-mun looked very cautious.

They will target the moment the escort group is asleep in order to kill everyone without missing a single one.

In the end, Jin Myeong, like everyone else, had no choice but to wait quietly until night fell. It was deep into the night when the Shadow Demons began to move again.

– Let’s go.

The Commander of the Shadow Demon sent a short message and then flew away. Then, the Shadow Demons also moved in a coordinated manner.

“Ugh!”

Commander of Shadow Demon appeared behind the Mount Hua Sect’s disciple guarding the surrounding area and stabbed him in the neck with his sword.

“Hmm?”

Even though the Mount Hua Sect’s disciple died without being able to scream, there were those who reacted to that small sound.

“Ugh!”

But they also failed to respond properly. Before they knew it, other Shadow Demons had cut off their heads.

“It’s an attack!”

Jin Myeong killed those who were on guard, but it seemed that there were still some who had their eyes open.

They quickly opened their eyes at the small sound and reacted quickly.

And then, at the sudden shout, those who had been sleeping opened their eyes with a start. They sprang to their feet with incredible speed and drew their weapons.

“Kill them”, Commander Neung said calmly.

At those words, the Shadow Demons began to move quickly.

“Tsk.”

Was it because Commander Neung’s words felt like an order. Tongue-clicking sounds could be heard here and there.

However, other disciples quickly began to attack the escort warriors.

“Who are these guys?”

And Jin Myeong was also facing the elite disciple of the Mount Hua Sect.

“Do you know who we are?”

Even though they had been attacked, there was a certain confidence in the voice of the disciple of the Mount Hua Sect.

Although there was only a little over thirty of them, they were the elite disciples and second-generation disciples of the Mount Hua Sect.

They were outnumbered by the raiders. And don’t they even have badges. The lead disciple of the Mount Hua Sect had no intention of being unable to stop the attack.

“The Yokja Escort Agency and the Mount Hua Sect.”

“You attacked us knowing that?”

But when they hear Jin Myeong’s answer, they felt something was wrong.

Because it meant that they were attacked even though the raiders knew that there were disciples of the Mount Hua.

‘I thought they were just bandits like the Green Forest, but that wasn’t the case.’

“You guys, who on earth are you?”

“If we were going to reveal our identity, would we have put on this?”

Jin Myeong said, pointing to the mask covering his face. If he really was a green forest, he wouldn’t have covered his face with a mask like this.

“Aren’t you afraid of the Mount Hua’s wrath?”

“Entire Mount Hua Sect… How can you launch an attack like that with just a few people?”

Jin Myeong’s appearance was so calm. It’s as if the Mount Hua’s wrath wasn’t scary. Because of that, it was immediately clear that those who had attacked were no ordinary people.

“But how long are you going to keep talking?”

Jin Myeong moved towards his opponent.

However, even though he was using a technique that did not look that complicated, Jin Myeong’s movements looked quite awkward.

Every time he utilized his internal energy, he seemed to be constantly concerned about something.

“To these ridiculous guys……”

Seeing such a display, the Mount Hua Sect warrior made a dumbfounded expression.

It was hard to believe that Jin Myeong, who was showing sloppy movements, ignored the Mount Hua’s prestige and attacked.

That Mount Hua’s disciple stretched out his sword, ignoring absurd display.

“Ugh!”

Jin Myeong’s hand moved, and then something flashed and struck his sword. And the disciple’s body, unable to overcome the power of Jin Myeong, was pushed back.

‘It’s so rough and simple, yet it has such power….’

‘The power contained in the sword could not be ignored, but the speed was too fast. It seems as fast as a sword, but the power contained within is like a heavy sword’, thought the disciple.

‘It’s not easy to stop it.’

Of course, the sword that Jin Myeong wields itself is not sloppy. But because his swordsmanship was so sloppy, his sword also looked sloppy.

‘I guess I let my guard down too much because of that appearance.’

“Eww!”

“Cough!”

The sword itself seemed to strain against the disciple’s grip, its hilt throbbing with the sheer force it had absorbed. A scream tore through the night, but the trembling in his own hand, a violent, uncontrollable vibration that felt like bone-deep failure, was louder.

“What the heck is this…….”

He looked around blankly. He saw the Mount Hua Sect disciples and the escort warrior helplessly taking on about thirty people.

“The Mount Hua’s wrath…….”

Although the number of disciples of the Mount Hua Sect is not large, it is still close to thirty.

It was hard to believe that the Mount Hua Sect’s disciples were being pushed back despite having similar numbers to their opponents.

‘Each and every one of them is similar to first generation disciples.’

The great words of the disciples of the Mount Hua Sect.

~~This is Song Jo-hyuk, the disciple of the Mount Hua Sect and one of the fifteen new dragons of the Orthodox Alliance.~~

But some of them seemed to be comparable to the elders of Mount Hua, not Song Jo-hyuk.

“Why on earth do these experts come after an escort agency…….”

‘I don’t know where these masters came from, and I don’t know why they’re after us.’

‘The things in the carriage are very old. I didn’t think these things were worth the experts moving …..’

“You guys, no way!”

‘I was wondering where such a master came from.’

Song Jo-hyuk of the Mount Hua Sect let out an exclamation as if he had remembered something.

Recently, he had heard that about thirty warriors that had recently appeared in the Central Plains.

Since the place they were in was also Seomyeon, it seems that the disciples of the Mount Hua Sect were helping the Yukga Escort Agency just in case.

It just occurred to him that the number of people and the number of weapons were similar.

“I clearly heard that Cloud Escort Agency is not accepting orders. As expected, Demon…….”

He couldn’t finish his speech.

Crunch!

Before he knew it, Jin Myeong’s sword had cut off his neck. Jin Myeong looked at the head of the Mount Hua Sect disciple that had fallen to the floor.

‘But he figured it out anyway.’

That is why Neung Byeok-mun has said that not a single person should be allowed to survive.

‘Song Jo-hyuk can tell, even if I didn’t use the sword control art, but it’s uncomfortable.’

‘He can tell, even if I didn’t use the sword control art, but it’s definitely uncomfortable.’

Jin Myeong was even more cautious because he had been given the nickname of Sword God.

Plus, he had to get used to fighting with his body.

But Jin Myeong couldn’t help but feel that it was more convenient to just stand still and control the swords while attacking. Of course, others may feel more comfortable moving their bodies than carefully manipulating their internal energy.

‘How many people could use the sword technique similar to me?’

“Instead of just sitting still, why don’t you move around a bit?”

Commander Neung Byeok-mun spoke to him as he remained still.

Although he couldn’t tell who it was just by hearing the voice, Jin Myeong nodded and flew towards the warriors and others who were screaming and trying to run away.

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