Light Novel: Volume 16 Episode 16
Manhwa: N/A
“Oh! My back…”
Lee Myung-hak patted his back and looked at the horizon.
He was currently aboard a small fishing boat.
On the boat, his subordinates, disguised as fishermen, were busily moving about.
But, they weren’t just pretending to be fishermen.
The way they pulled in the nets and rowed the oars were no different from real fishermen.
All of Lee Myung-hak’s men were skilled seafarers. They had genuinely learned how to manage a boat before being dispatched to Poyang Lake.
Knowing that any half-hearted effort would be discovered quickly, Lee Myung-hak made sure his men learned the true art of seafaring.
The easiest way to escape from Poyang Lake was to use a fishing boat like this.
Poyang Lake was so vast that once a boat was set to sail, it was not easy to find. Moreover, disguising oneself perfectly as a fisherman would make it even more difficult to find them.
Lee Myung-hak’s men looked like real fishermen, so much so that the other boats didn’t suspect them.
Lee Myung-hak looked around and said,
“It seems we can escape at full speed now. Unfurl the sail and rush forward with all our might.”
“Yes!”
His subordinates answered energetically and moved busily.
They gathered all the nets that had been laid out and unfurled the sail widely. Thanks to the wind-filled sail, the boat went forward at a frightening speed.
“Phew! It feels like we’ll live now.”
Lee Myung-hak muttered as he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.
Smiles also appeared on the faces of his subordinates.
“It’s thanks to you, My Lord. We’ll be able to return safely this time as well.”
“Don’t let your guard down just yet. Keep on being alert.”
“Haha! What’s there to worry about in the middle of Poyang Lake? No pursuers will be able to follow us here.”
The subordinates answered, laughing as if there was nothing to worry about.
Lee Myung-hak chuckled as well.
He thought the same way as his subordinates.
It had been difficult to get out of the workshop and onto the fishing boat, but now that they were out in the middle of Poyang Lake, there was nothing that could threaten them.
“By the way, I’m not sure if Ye-seol made it out safely. Well, I’m sure she made it out just fine, right? She’s someone who knows how to secure her way out.”
Although he was a retired assassin, Hong Ye-seol was an active one. Her senses were much sharper than his, and her ability to respond to crises was also excellent.
She might even have gotten out of Poyang Lake even before he did.
“Let us head off to the safe house in Nanchang. Run at full speed.”
“Yes!”
Nanchang was a large city located to the southwest of Poyang Lake.
There, Lee Myung-hak had arranged a safe house.
He planned to rest deeply with his subordinates at the safe house for about three months. By that time, Jianghu would have quieted down again.
It was then.
“Uh-oh! My Lord!”
Suddenly one of his subordinates called him.
“What?”
“Look at that boat.”
“A boat?”
Only then did Lee Myung-hak look in the direction his subordinates were pointing.
A large ship was coming toward them at high speed.
Lee Myung-hak’s expression stiffened.
It was because the shape of the ship was strange.
With a streamlined hull and masts that appeared to be three or four times larger than those of an ordinary ship, it was a vessel that had been built with an extreme focus on speed.
It was obviously different from an ordinary ship at a glance.
And the ship was heading straight for the boat that Lee Myung-hak and his men were on.
“Damn it! Speed up!”
“Yes!”
The men sped up the fishing boat, and the oncoming ship sped up as well.
This made it clear.
The target of that ship was the fishing boat they were on.
Lee Myung-hak channeled qi to his eyes, and the figures of those on the streamlined ship came into view.
They were all carrying weapons.
It was clear they were all warriors.
“Who are they? Are they Ye-seol’s pursuers?”
A deep frown creased Lee Myung-hak’s brow.
Although he had retired from the front lines and led the support group for several years, this was the first time he had been followed so closely.
He was confident that their escape route was perfect.
Even if their pursuers knew they had escaped from Poyang Lake, they would never be able to follow them unless they knew the ship’s course in advance.
‘How could they know where our ship is going and blindly follow us when Poyang Lake is this vast? There must be someone who knows our escape route.’
The problem was that he could not figure out where the information had been leaked.
If he thought about it long enough, he might be able to deduce it, but he didn’t have time for idle thoughts right now.
Even now, the streamlined ship was rapidly closing in on their fishing boat.
It was impossible from the beginning to shake off a ship specialized in tracking with their small fishing boat.
Lee Myung-hak shouted.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
“Damn it!”
“It seems this place will be our grave.”
The subordinates grumbled as they picked up weapons like harpoons and straight swords.
They too felt that the atmosphere was not normal.
At that moment, the menacing approaching ship rammed directly into the fishing vessel Lee Myung-hak and the others were on.
Crash!
With a loud noise, the side of the fishing boat burst open.
“Ugh!”
“Damn it!”
Not expecting that they would be rammed directly, Lee Myung-hak and his men groaned in pain.
In the meantime, the warriors on the rammed ship jumped onto the fishing boat.
“Kill them all!”
“Charge!”
They immediately attacked Lee Myung-hak’s men.
Lee Myung-hak bit his lips hard.
He hadn’t expected that their opponents would attack them without any dialogue.
‘Is there no need for negotiations?’
If so, then their opponents’ intentions were clear.
It was to kill them.
At that moment, a man who appeared to be the leader of the other ship came straight at Lee Myung-hak.
At first glance, he looked like a warrior with formidable strength.
There was a red glow in his eyes, and he naturally radiated a sharp aura like a well-honed sword.
He looked at Lee Myung-hak and asked,
“Are you Lee Myung-hak, the leader of the Hundred Wraith Union’s support group?”
“H, How do you know that?”
Lee Myung-hak’s pupils trembled.
He could understand that the opponent had tracked him and his subordinates. If someone were truly skilled in tracking, such a thing could be possible.
But knowing his real identity was a different matter. Since that would mean that information from the inside of the Hundred Wraith Union had been leaked.
Secrecy was the lifeblood of the Hundred Wraith Union.
They could fail or succeed in their mission, but there had never been a single instance where the identity of the assassins and their support group had been revealed.
The fact that their opponents knew their identity meant that there was either a traitor within the Hundred Wraith Union, or that they had an intimate understanding of the internal situation of the organization.
Either way, it was a disastrous situation for the Hundred Wraith Union.
Lee Myung-hak licked his lips and asked,
“Who are you?”
“My name is Noh Shin-pil.”
“Noh Shin-pil?”
“You’ve probably never heard of me. I’m hardly active outside. But they call me the Blood-Eyed Ghost Sword1 at the Rain Sword Mountain Manor.”
“Rain Sword Mountain Manor?”
Lee Myung-hak’s eyes widened.
An unexpected name had popped up.
The name Rain Sword Mountain Manor was enough to confuse him.
He knew that Jang Hoyeon of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor had invited Noh Kang-hyun. Therefore, it wasn’t at all strange that the Rain Sword Mountain Manor set out to avenge Noh Kang-hyun.
However, there was one thing that bothered him.
‘Too fast.’
Even if the Rain Sword Mountain Manor had set out for revenge, the speed at which they had found them was too fast.
It was as if they knew beforehand and were waiting for them.
For a moment, Lee Myung-hak felt a shock, as if he had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer.
‘Did they know about it advance?’
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind like a carousel.
The more he organized his thoughts, the more his expression hardened like a stone.
Lee Myung-hak cautiously voiced his thoughts,
“Could it be that the Rain Sword Mountain Manor commissioned Noh Kang-hyun’s assassination?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Noh Shin-pil shrugged in response, but he couldn’t completely hide the faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
Lee Myung-hak was certain that his guess was correct.
‘This mission was requested by those Rain Sword Mountain Manor bastards.’
It was obvious that the Rain Sword Mountain Manor had invited Noh Kang-hyun, and they were also the ones who commissioned his assassination. And now they were attempting to annihilate them.
“Everyone was playing into the Rain Sword Mountain Manor’s hands.”
Noh Shin-pil didn’t respond to Lee Myung-hak’s words, he only smiled darkly. It was virtually an admission of Lee Myung-hak’s words.
“Geuh!”
“Kueck!”
Even at that moment, Lee Myung-hak’s men were dying.
Although his men were also martial artists, they were no match for the elites of the Rain Sword Mountain Manor.
Lee Myung-hak realized there was no hope of winning. He threw himself toward the lake.
He had chosen to flee.
“Where–?”
Swoosh!
At that moment, Noh Shin-pil blocked his path and sent a sword energy strike at him.
Kwaang!
Lee Myung-hak was struck by the sword energy and bounced back into his stomach, but he managed to minimize the damage by swinging his sword to meet the sword energy just before it struck.
Lee Myung-hak wiped the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth and murmured,
“It seems this place will be my grave today. I never thought I’d end up as fish food…”
Noh Shin-pil was walking towards him.
Desperation clouded Lee Myung-hak’s face.
He, too, had once been a great assassin in his teens, enough to be ranked among the top ten within the Hundred Wraith Union, but after a long retirement, his body was no longer in the same shape.
Moreover, it was an environment where he couldn’t launch a sneak attack.
In such an environment, the chances of surviving against a traditional martial artist, and one who had reached a higher level than himself, seemed almost none.
‘Ye-seol, I guess this is the end for me.’
He hoped that Hong Ye-seol had safely escaped as he charged at Noh Shin-pil.
Swoosh!
* * *
Hong Ye-seol blinked her eyes.
It seemed as if someone had called her name.
She soon shook her head.
“I must be getting weaker. For me to hear hallucinations.”
Hong Ye-seol chastised herself and sank deeply into her chair.
She was currently riding in a carriage.
Two horses were pulling the carriage, and a flag with the three characters for Cheolsin Escort Service was fluttering on its roof.
Cheolsin Escort Service was an escort agency stationed at Poyang Lake.
Hong Ye-seol had signed a transportation contract with them before carrying out the assassination.
The escorted item was herself.
The destination was Songyang, a city hundreds of miles away from Poyang Lake.
The pretext was to visit her maternal grandfather in Songyang.
It was not unusual for a woman traveling a long way alone to ask for an escort service.
The Cheolsin Escort Service readily accepted her request.
Thanks to that, Hong Ye-seol was able to travel comfortably in a carriage, accompanied by the escorts.
“Phew!”
Hong Ye-seol let out a sigh of relief.
It hadn’t been a smooth process, but the assassination had been carried out perfectly. Now her work here was done.
“I’ll have to lay low for a while.”
Hong Ye-seol knew.
That what she had done had turned Poyang Lake and the whole world upside down. She couldn’t even guess how far the repercussions and ripple effects would reach.
Everyone had their eyes ablaze, looking for her. Among them, the one she feared the most was the warrior who had attacked her at Poyang Lake.
Even now, thinking of him made her body tremble like a reed.
He had instilled fear in her, an elite assassin.
For the time being, she had to live in hiding, as still as a dead mouse.
“It’s a shame that I won’t see Pyo-wol again, but it can’t be helped if I want to live.”
Her own life was more important than his.
It was then.
Suddenly, the carriage slowed to a stop.
“What happened?”
Hong Ye-seol asked the coachman who was driving the carriage. However, no answer came.
She immediately realized that something had happened.
Hong Ye-seol carefully opened the window of the carriage. Then, the face of someone who shouldn’t be here appeared.
“How are you?”
The man smiling at her was none other than Lee Geumhan.
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