Volume 5 Chapter 24 – Complete Victory

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Translated by Rain

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Inside the carriage.

A sigh escaped from Cheongsu, who was peeking out the window.

“Ah. In the end, with their level, they could only draw out the ‘Sword Mountain’ of the Sword Mountain Splitting Peak. What a pity. I wanted to see the rumored ‘Splitting Peak’…”

“Excuse me…”

At the voice coming from behind, Cheongsu blocked the window again and sat down in his seat.

“Please speak.”

Cheongsu’s leisurely manner seemed to have been of great help to the Tea Fan Maiden ladies in regaining their composure.

Sangwan Nan-hwa asked him.

“Did you say the Eldest Young Master of the Sword Family sent you?”

“Yes. Why?”

Sangwan Nan-hwa’s speech quickened slightly.

“Did the Eldest Young Master happen to mention anything about our situation? Perhaps any prior word?”

Cheongsu tilted his head.

“Uh, first of all, his mention that there might be an attack…”

Sangwan Nan-hwa interrupted.

Her tone became even more urgent and rapid.

“It is not about the attack. Right now, our Tea Fan Maiden’s…”

However, her words did not reach an end.

“…”

That was because Cheongsu gripped his sword and held up a finger to show her.

“Excuse me…”

When nothing happened even after waiting quietly, Sangwan Nan-hwa tried to speak again.

Then, the door of the carriage burst open.

And at the same time, the sword from Cheongsu’s scabbard, which had been waiting, extended as if fired.

It was a beautiful sword drawing, to the extent that explaining how it was possible inside a narrow carriage was impossible.

It was the Institution-style modified Sword Drawing Stance of the Sword Heart, Sword Ring, which was the common sword technique of the Sword Family.

“…!”

“…!”

The one who had opened the door and tried to look inside was startled.

However, surprisingly, Cheongsu was equally startled.

This was partly because the opponent was wearing the Buddhist robe of the Emei Sect.

But more than that, it was because the opponent had succeeded in blocking his sword-drawing technique with the sword she was holding.

‘Although I relaxed my strength at the very end because I had no intention of killing…’

As expected, even a rotten fish is still a fish; the Emei Sect was indeed the Emei Sect.

While Cheongsu wore an interested smile, the other party was gritting her teeth.

“…Ugh!”

This was because, no matter how much she raised her internal energy, she could not push away or deflect Cheongsu’s sword.

The one who saved her was the urgent cry of the Tea Fan Maiden ladies.

“Wait a moment! She is our teacher!”

“Teacher!”

At that sound, Cheongsu tilted his head and retrieved his sword.

“…Teacher?”

Just like when he drew the sword, he sheathed it with extreme speed and accuracy.

“Girls! Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?”

The one checking the children’s well-being with worried eyes was a young nun whose hair was cut shorter than Cheongsu’s.

“Yes! Teacher! We are all safe!”

“We are glad you are safe too, Teacher!”

Sangwan Nan-hwa spoke to Cheongsu.

“She is the self-defense teacher at our academy.”

“Ah… is that so.”

What is a teacher instead of a master.

Cheongsu, who did not know much about the academy system, replied casually while examining the opponent with his eyes.

‘Unlike the other young Emei Sect martial nuns, she has tasted some blood. I smell blood.’

Although she was quite beautiful, she had absolutely no adornment, so she was a nun who could only be described as unusual for the Emei Sect.

Faint scars were visible here and there on her exposed skin.

“Thank goodness, thank goodness… I was worried about you…”

Having embraced the Tea Fan Maiden ladies for a moment, she looked at Cheongsu.

“Who is this…?”

“Ah, I am of the Sword Family…”

Cheongsu’s words could not continue.

“You there!”

The sharp voice made the Tea Fan Maiden ladies shrink back.

The nun, who was said to be the self-defense teacher, also wore an awkward expression and moved away from the Tea Fan Maiden ladies.

Approaching with a fierce expression was the Dean Nun holding a sword.

“Do you not know that the battle has not ended yet?! What on earth are you all doing, losing your minds like this?!”

The answer came from the roof of the carriage.

“Well, you do not have to worry about such a thing.”

“Who are you…?”

It was Cheongsu, who had climbed onto the carriage at some point and was checking the surroundings.

Looking far off in the direction of the reed field, he continued speaking.

“Since it is basically all over anyway.”

* * *

The main force was completely crushed by Elder Yeom.

At that grandeur, even in their drug-addled state, the members of Clear Field split up to instinctively avoid him.

However, waiting for them were the warriors of the military advisory group, deployed in advance by the old strategist.

Spreading out to the left and right to form wings, they began to attack the scattering members.

It was a one-sided slaughter.

“Uaaah!”

Occasionally, there were members who miraculously succeeded in their attacks, but it only amounted to adding scratches to the military advisory group’s armor.

The martial artists remaining among the members also failed to last even a few exchanges and fell in the reed field.

The remaining dozens of members formed a circular formation and resisted desperately, back to back.

“Maintain the formation!”

“Hold out, you bastards! Hold out!”

With venom in their eyes, they each swung their weapons toward the front.

Elder Yeom’s warriors merely watched their appearance with calm expressions.

Although there might have been those whose heads grew hot in the battle, having been battle-hardened in the northern lands, they never became uselessly excited.

Or perhaps, a battle of this level was simply not enough to pique their excitement.

“Fuck, bring it on, you sons of bitches!”

“I will butcher you all, so come at me!”

The warriors did not even answer.

Some merely let out a cold sneer.

As if teasing them, the warriors deflected the weapons being swung haphazardly or delivered a blow through the gaps when an opening appeared.

Gradually, a dry taste filled the mouths of the screaming members, their lips dried up, and their bodies lost strength.

Their venom evaporated rapidly along with their physical strength.

The old strategist, examining their condition with a sharp gaze, waved his hand grandly.

“…Now!”

The moment the warriors forming the two wings and the members clashed, Elder Yeom, who had been quietly watching that scene from a distance, turned around.

“It is over.”

As he said.

The twenty heavy cavalrymen of the Sword Family who rushed in from the rear of the Clear Field members trampled them just like that.

With a gruesome sound of tearing flesh, arms and legs scattered in the air, and heads rolled far away.

The heavy cavalry rode through the two wings.

There was no one standing there.

* * *

Surprisingly, the leader of Clear Field was still perfectly alive.

“Phew… phew…”

He was someone who already knew from the beginning that, whether the Sword Mountain Splitting Peak intervened or not, there was no chance of winning against the regular forces of the Luoyang Sword Family.

‘I wonder if the vice leader bought some time…’

Immediately after charging his members, he was escaping from the combat area through the escape route he had scouted in advance.

“Huff… huff…”

Running with light body movements in this situation was something only novices did.

Had he run using light body movements, he would have been turned into a honeycomb by the Silk Road Guerrilla Unit’s repeating crossbows by now, or eventually caught by the cavalry.

Instead.

As the most experienced assassin in the Clear Field assassination group, he was crawling slowly and quietly using the lush and wide reed field.

‘There is no need to feel regret. As long as I survive, I can rebuild the organization anytime.’

The Snake Crawling Art, said to be modeled after the movements of a snake, might look ridiculous.

But to him, the Snake Crawling Art was a divine art that had saved his life several times in desperate moments.

‘Good. If I can just get a little further away like this…!’

Just as he muttered so to himself, a woman’s voice was heard right beside him.

“Oh my~ waiting in a place like this, ‘another’ snake passes by.”

“?!”

The Qi perception he was spreading in all directions still felt absolutely no presence around him.

“Who…?! Ugyaaak?!”

He swore that throughout his life, raised as an assassin and living as an assassin, he had never let out such an undignified scream.

However, anyone would have done the same.

Since thin, long fingers had dug into his spine and gripped his vertebrae.

“Mmph?! Mmph?!”

It was a pain that felt as if his nerves were being squeezed whole.

For some reason, his body would not obey his control, except for screaming.

‘At this rate, I will be captured alive…!’

He could barely move his jaw.

That was also thanks to the secret of body control he had trained for a long time as an assassin.

“Oh dear, oh dear. You cannot do that, no.”

As if knowing full well what he was trying to do, the woman’s opposite hand swept over his face.

The woman’s fingers, digging into both of his cheeks like tofu, prevented him from moving his jaw.

The poison pill for suicide placed between his teeth thus became useless, but the woman did not seem satisfied with just that.

As the woman mysteriously moved her fingers dug between his cheeks, his jaw dislocated just like that.

“Fufu. I have caught both snakes with this~”

Beside him, the vice leader, whom he had expected to buy time, was already lying there in the same state.

* * *

Having finished introducing Cheongsu, Yeon So-hyeon pointed to a woman sitting beside Se-ah, smiling brightly.

“Here. There is one more new face.”

A beauty dressed in gisaeng robes stood up and politely bowed to the gathering.

“Nice to meet you~, everyone.”

Although they had no way of knowing who she was, everyone clapped for now to welcome her.

“Thank you~, thank you~.”

Se-ah, who stood up along with her, cleared her throat.

“She is a person hired for this plan in accordance with the Eldest Young Master’s command…”

The beauty in gisaeng robes raised her hand high.

“I am called Seo Rim-cheong~”

Once again, the gathering clapped reflexively.

This gorgeously beautiful gisaeng possessed a mysterious power to sway the crowd with her gentle smile.

Of course, there was someone in this room who was not affected by such power.

“She is Luoyang’s best underworld expert, whom I hired.”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s words, everyone looked at her with surprised eyes.

“Huhuhu.”

As if embarrassed, she covered her mouth with her sleeve.

Yeon So-hyeon added briefly.

“And based on her extensive geographical knowledge of the entirety of Luoyang, she is also a guide who will guide the Tea Fan Maiden throughout Luoyang.”

“Please look after me~!”

* * *

The aftermath of the battle was being cleaned up in various places.

“Their identity is presumed to be Clear Field, an assassination group that made a name for itself in Henan Province.”

Jeong Ryung of the Silk Road Guerrilla Unit was reporting to Elder Yeom.

“For now, the body of the one who appears to be the enemy leader could not be found, so we are searching beyond the encirclement…”

“Over here~!”

A woman dressed in court attire was approaching on horseback, crossing the reed field.

Behind her, as she waved her hand gently, the leader and vice leader of Clear Field were loaded piled up.

“They are…?!”

“They are snakes~”

Startled, Jeong Ryung ordered his subordinates to secure the leader and vice leader.

“Oh my, oh my. Their spines have been dislocated bit by bit, so please lower them carefully~”

At her words, Jeong Ryung’s subordinates hesitated for a moment and then moved very carefully.

“Young lady…”

Jeong Ryung, who was about to speak to her, noticed the reflex bow hanging from her horse and the quiver containing a mix of signal arrows.

“Ah! You are the one who shot the signal arrow to let us know the location of the assassination group!”

“An assassination group…?”

Covering her mouth with her sleeve, she smiled.

“Fufu. If you call those mere things an assassination group, wouldn’t a real assassin somewhere feel sad~?”