Light Novel: Volume 16 Episode 3
Manhwa: N/A
Boarding the ship had been challenging, but once on the deck, there was little resistance.
This was because the number of warriors from the Blood Ant Gang far outnumbered the rest.
Using their numerical superiority, they overwhelmed the warriors of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group.
“Keugh!”
“Heuk!”
One after another, the warriors of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group fell, spewing blood.
“Damn it!”
Jang Jinsam, the man in charge of the ship, looked around with bloodshot eyes.
Everywhere he looked, he could only see his own men dying.
‘When did the Blood Ant Gang become this powerful?’
Even though the Blood Ant Gang was said to be a force that dominated Poyang Lake’s underworld, it should still pale in comparison to the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group.
After all, that’s why Ju Seolpung did not hesitate in suppressing the Blood Ant Gang, but the strength and power the Blood Ant Gang is currently demonstrating now goes beyond the level of an ordinary underworld organization.
The warriors of the Blood Ant Gang who boarded the ship were like ants truly thirsting for blood.
The way they swarmed around, killing the warriors of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group perfectly mirrors blood ants.
The warriors of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group were cornered.
Already half of their forces had died. Those who remained were desperately hanging on by a thread, but their situation was precarious.
Among the warriors of the Blood Ant Gang, one who looked particularly fierce stepped forward.
“Haa! Ptsoo!”
He intentionally spat a thick glob of phlegm on the floor and glared at Jang Jinsam.
It was a blatant act of provocation.
“Esteemed warrior of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group. What do you think? Do you still think, we Blood Ant Gang, are a joke?”
“Do you think the Blood Ant Gang can get away safely after this?”
“Hehe! What if we can’t? Don’t you know the world has changed?”
“The world has changed? You’re speaking nonsense.”
“You should have your eyeballs plucked out. For you to blindly believe that the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group is still great when the world has changed so much.”
The warrior of the Blood Ant Gang sneered at Jang Jinsam.
Jang Jinsam was furious at the comment, but he couldn’t rush forward recklessly.
If he did, the battle formation that was barely holding would collapse.
Lee Gu-yeol, a warrior from the Blood Ant Gang, continued the conversation.
“Hehe! To think I’d live long enough to see this day. Indeed, one must live long to see everything.”
Lee Gu-yeol’s eyes were bloodshot with excitement.
He had been hiding in his ancestral home, escaping the pressure of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group.
He hadn’t been able to sleep properly due to fear of being captured and killed, but now the situation had changed.
The Blood Ant Gang was no longer weak.
The current situation said it all.
While they were talking, two more warriors of the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group fell. Their last line of defense was on the brink of collapse.
“People must indeed know their place. It’s unbelievable that the Rain Sword Mountain Manor has sided with us.”
“That’s enough!”
A cold voice echoed at that moment.
One of the warriors of the Blood Ant Gang had spoken. But Lee Gu-yeol’s face froze.
“Watch your mouth. We have nothing to do with you lot.”
“Heuk! My apologies. I misspoke.”
“This ship has been taken by the Blood Ant Gang’s strength alone. This has no connection whatsoever to the Rain Sword Mountain Manor. Do you understand?”
“Of course. Hehe!”
Lee Gu-yeol chuckled awkwardly.
A significant number of the warriors who attacked this ship on behalf of the Blood Ant Gang were warriors from the Rain Sword Mountain Manor.
As soon as Deung Chol-ung, the leader of the Blood Ant Gang, heard the news that Jang Hoyeon and the warriors of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor had entered Poyang Lake, he sought them out.
He daringly offered Jang Hoyeon a deal.
As long as the Rain Sword Mountain Manor helps the Blood Ant Gang defeat the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group, Deung Chol-ung would willingly do everything in his power to cooperate.
At first, Jang Hoyeon was so taken aback he tried to kill Deung Chol-ung. However, upon further consideration, he thought it wouldn’t be so bad to have someone who could handle the aftermath here.
Even if Poyang Lake wasn’t too far from Anhui Province, where the Rain Sword Mountain Manor was located, it was still not their territory.
They needed people to take care of the dirty work.
The Blood Ant Gang fits the bill perfectly.
In the end, Jang Hoyeon accepted Deung Chol-ung’s offer.
The warriors of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor disguised themselves as Blood Ant Gang warriors and joined in the attack. Without their help, it would have been impossible for the Blood Ant Gang warriors to seize this large ship alone.
Their participation had to be kept a secret.
If it were to become known that the Rain Sword Mountain Manor had intervened in the fight between the Imperial Yuan Merchant Group and the underworld organization, not only would their reputation hit rock bottom, but it could also invite the intervention of other sects.
As it was, they already had a headache due to the clash between the Golden Heaven Association and the Silver Lotus Association. If the situation were to worsen any further, it would become impossible to recover.
Therefore, the warriors of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor were trying to keep their involvement a complete secret.
A warrior of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor said,
“Tsk! Because of your loose tongue, you just sentenced everyone on this ship to death.”
“I apologize.”
“If the word ‘Rain’ even slips out of your mouths, I’ll kill you all. Remember that.”
“Yes, I will keep that in mind!”
Lee Gu-yeol bowed his head and replied.
It was then.
“For the Rain Sword Mountain Manor to get involved in the power struggle of Poyang Lake, aren’t you ashamed?!”
Jang Jinsam, who had been listening to their conversation, shouted loudly.
At that, the warrior of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor clicked his tongue.
“Tsk! You’re impatient, aren’t you? Not that we were planning on sparing you anyway–”
“You will receive divine punishment!”
“Divine punishment? How amusing. Do you think the heavens are that idle?”
The warrior of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor openly sneered at Jang Jinsam.
“The heavens may be idle, but I’m not.”
A cold voice pierced into the ears of the warrior from the Rain Sword Mountain Manor.
The unfamiliar voice caused the warrior of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor to look up in surprise.
A man was standing high up on the mast.
The moment he saw the man, the warrior of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor felt the blood in his body run cold.
“Pyo… wol?”
He recognized the man’s identity in an instant.
He had seen Pyo-wol’s face in the past.
“Weren’t… you supposed to have left Poyang Lake?”
“What business does the Rain Sword Mountain Manor have in Poyang Lake? Have you been tracking me?”
“……”
The warrior of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor could not reply.
This confirmed Pyo-wol’s suspicion.
It was not common for such a large army to move into an area with no known affiliations or ties.
This was because moving such a large force without a clear objective would have financial repercussions.
It was also for this reason that many factions are extremely reluctant to send large numbers of martial artists into areas where they had no connections. Nevertheless, the fact that so many warriors were deployed meant that the Rain Sword Mountain Manor had a clear objective.
The only entity in Poyang Lake with a connection to the Rain Sword Mountain Manor was himself.
Even though Namgung Wol had organized the Silver Lotus Association, an anti-Golden Heaven Association, that fact was not yet known to the public, hence, Namgung Wol and the Silver Lotus Association could not have been the Rain Sword Mountain Manor’s objective in the first place.
In the end, the only one left was himself.
They must have followed him all the way here.
Pyo-wol asked,
“Did Jang Hoyeon come himself?”
“Attack!”
Instead of answering, the warrior of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor ordered his subordinates to attack.
“Yes!”
The subordinates moved in response to the command.
The massive warrior at the front raised his axe and struck the mast. The large mast was cut down in a single stroke and fell.
At that moment, Pyo-wol kicked off the mast and threw himself into the air.
“Now!”
The martial artists of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor pulled out the axes they had concealed at their waists and hurled them all at once towards Pyo-wol.
Shiiish!
Dozens of axes flew with great force.
Unless one had reached the peak of their cultivation, it was impossible to change direction in mid-air.
Before they came here, they had thoroughly analyzed Pyo-wol’s martial arts, which was well-known in Jianghu. As a result, they concluded that it was most effective to aim at him when he was suspended in the air.
It was also for that reason that they were carrying unfamiliar throwing axes.
Although they were not learned and trained in professional throwing techniques, all of them were still martial artists who had reached a certain level. Hitting a target within a dozen yards was something they could do even with their eyes closed.
Let alone hitting a martial artist who was floating in the air. That was not difficult at all.
The axes they threw flew to Pyo-wol’s periphery in an instant, but at that moment, Pyo-wol unleashed the Soul-Reaping Thread, sweeping it through the air.
Thud!
Dozens of axes got all tangled in the Soul-Reaping Thread.
The martial artists of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor widened their eyes at this unbelievable skill.
Pyo-wol swung the Soul-Reaping Thread and drove it toward the martial artists of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor.
Kwaaakwaaak!
Axes fell down like rain.
The results were devastating.
“Agh!”
“Geugh!”
The martial artists of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor were hit with their own axes.
The sight of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor martial artists falling to the ground, mortally wounded by the axes they had thrown, was terrifying.
“Ah!”
“Hiiik!”
The martial artists of the Blood Ant Gang who had been watching the scene froze in place.
There should be some kind of gap for them to muster the courage to challenge and attack their opponent, but the gap was too wide that they didn’t even dare to think about it.
Swoosh!
In a flash, Pyo-wol, who had dealt with the martial artists of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor, landed on the ground without a sound.
Upon seeing him, the leader of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor martial artists opened his eyes wide.
Pyo-wol quietly walked towards him.
As he approached, the leader of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor backed away.
Thunk!
But his back soon hit the railing.
The moment he realized there was no more room to retreat, his face contorted. He could not believe that he had been pushed back by his opponent’s energy.
He may not be well-known in Jianghu, but he too was a highly respected martial artist within Rain Sword Mountain Manor.
Before meeting Pyo-wol, he had been confident.
That he would never be outmatched.
‘No matter how great he is, he’s still just an assassin. If I face him head-on, I’ll be able to take him out in one fell swoop.’
But now, he deeply regretted how foolish his thoughts had been.
He couldn’t sense any presence from Pyo-wol as he walked toward him.
Pyo-wol was like a shadow without substance.
And yet, his nerves felt like they were on fire.
He had never felt anything like this before.
Had Pyo-wol shown a strong presence and exerted pressure, he might have resisted, but his quiet approach made fear surge up instead.
He felt overwhelmed by Pyo-wol’s face and atmosphere, which didn’t seem of this world.
‘Damn it!’
At this rate, it seemed like he would kneel down to his opponent without any resistance.
The leader bit his lip as hard as he could.
Flesh tore, and blood flowed out.
The sharp pain brought him back to his senses.
“Bastard!”
He roared, lunging at Pyo-wol.
Shiiiing!
The sword drawn from his waist aimed for Pyo-wol’s neck in the shortest path possible, but his blade never made contact with its target.
Pipipit!
He suddenly felt a fiery pain in the back of his knee, and his body immediately lurched forward.
“Urgh!”
A fountain of blood gushed out from his knee.
Before he knew it, Pyo-wol had slashed his knee with a phantom dagger.
His tendons and muscles were split, and his leg was dangling below the knee.
“H, How is this possible?”
The leader’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Such a thing was impossible according to his common sense.
Pyo-wol had used Demon Shadow Exchange, confused him, and slashed his knee. From the victim’s perspective, it felt like they were being haunted by a ghost.
That’s how the leader felt right now.
To shake off his fear, the leader shouted ferociously,
“Bastard! What kind of demonic art did you use? Do you think you’ll get away with this?”
“The same.”
“What?”
“Demonic art this, I won’t get away that. Everyone says the same thing.”
The majority of those Pyo-wol had faced so far reacted the same as the man in front of him.
When their common sense didn’t work, they would call his techniques demonic art, and would threaten him that the sect behind them wouldn’t let him off the hook.
The leader was no different.
Despite his eyes filled with fear, he threatened, but he only ended up looking like a scared puppy barking.
Pyo-wol squatted down in front of him and asked,
“I’ll ask again. Did Jang Hoyeon come in person?”
“Heuk!”
Fear filled the eyes of the leader who clenched his teeth.
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