Light Novel: Volume 20 Episode 1
Manhwa: N/A
“Keugh! Hng!”
Ya Yul-il kept groaning.
His entire body still felt like it was about to fall apart due to the pain.
As expected of an absolute master, the Wind Saint’s hand dexterity was far from ordinary. On the outside, his body seemed fine, but his internal organs and blood vessels were all damaged.
Even when he summoned the most skilled doctor in Shaoyang, the doctor shook his head after examining his pulse.
“These are wounds I cannot treat. If I attempt to treat you, it might even worsen your condition.”
“So, I have to suffer like this until I die?”
“Fortunately, the one who inflicted the wounds showed restraint, so you will not die. However, it will take a considerable amount of time for you to heal naturally.”
“Ugh! Are you saying I have to wait indefinitely until I recover naturally?”
“If not, you might consider receiving treatment at the Qi Family Medical Hall…”
The doctor said cautiously, gauging Ya Yul-il’s reaction.
“The Qi Family Medical Hall?”
Ya Yul-il frowned.
It was because of the Qi Family Medical Hall that all this trouble had started.
“You’re suggesting I entrust my body to some clinic in the slums?”
“It’s regrettable to say, but the medical skills of the Qi Family Medical Hall are far superior to mine.”
“The skills of those who serve the poor are that good?”
Ya Yul-il still looked skeptical as he looked at the doctor.
The doctor felt an uncomfortable tightness in his chest.
Although the Qi Family Medical Hall was undervalued for being in the slums, those trained in medicine knew how sublime their medical arts were.
He didn’t know why the Qi Family Medical Hall was located in the slums, but their medical skills far surpassed his own.
If treated by the Qi Family Medical Hall, Ya Yul-il’s wounds would heal quickly. However, Ya Yul-il’s prejudice and pride prevented him from going there.
Above all, the fact that the Wind Saint, who had caused him this misery, was associated with the Qi Family Medical Hall made him reluctant to seek treatment there. Hence his hesitation to outright say he would go there for treatment.
He gestured for the doctor to leave.
“Leave me.”
“Yes! I’ll prepare some pills for you to take. It’ll take some of the pain away.”
“Fine, now go.”
“I wish you a swift recovery.”
The doctor bowed to Ya Yul-il and retreated carefully.
Ya Yul-il did not even look at the doctor.
“Damn it all! Why did the Wind Saint have to interfere…”
They say money can hire even ghosts.
With the wealth of Heavenly Golden Manor, it was possible to hire the top experts of Jianghu. But even they couldn’t stand against the Wind Saint.
The Wind Saint was a heaven beyond heaven.
He was of a different caliber from ordinary martial artists.
Even the sect leader of the Hundred Strike Sect, known as a formidable expert in the region, was beaten down like a dog by the Wind Saint. And that’s saying something since the sect leader was recognized as a powerful master in his own right.
That’s what an absolute master was.
That was what an absolute master was.
It was impossible to control them through conventional order and force.
Only an absolute master could face another of their kind. That’s why Ya Yul-il had cleanly given up on avenging himself against the Wind Saint.
As much as it hurt his pride, he also gave up on his ambition to flatten the slums and build a new neighborhood of luxury mansions.
“The Wind Saint won’t be coming back, will he?”
After the series of events, Ya Yul-il tripled the guards protecting Heavenly Golden Manor. Yet, he couldn’t shake off the anxiety.
“Damn it! Damn it! Why did I have to get involved with the Wind Saint… It won’t do. I must leave Shaoyang for a while.”
He had a villa outside Hunan Province.
He thought it would be better to stay there and wait for the Wind Saint to leave for the time being.
He felt a bit more at ease after making a plan.
It was then.
“Argh!”
“Block it!”
Suddenly, screams and yells erupted from outside.
“What’s going on? Is the Wind Saint back?”
Ya Yul-il’s face turned deathly pale.
The dreadful memories from not long ago were resurfacing.
“Aaack!”
“Save me, please!”
But the intensity of the screams was different from when the Wind Saint was there.
The Wind Saint had a deadly hand, but he didn’t kill. The current screams, however, were on a different level.
They sounded more desperate and terror-stricken.
Eventually, Ya Yul-il opened the door to check the situation outside. It seemed more accurate to see for himself.
“What, what’s this?”
Ya Yul-il’s pupils shook.
The scene outside was far more terrible than he had imagined.
Most of the warriors guarding Heavenly Golden Manor were either groaning from severe wounds or had lost their lives.
At the center of it all was a completely red warrior.
A man with a sinister aura, red hair, and red eyebrows—it was the Red King.
Around him were warriors in similar red robes.
They were the Asura Vagabonds,1 subordinates of the Red King.
They were all vagabonds who had followed the Red King and made their names in Saibei.
They had fought life-and-death battles across countless battlefields and led each of those battles to victory.
Anyone who had witnessed them fight was seized by fear. For they were brutal.
So much so they were referred to by the name, Asura Vagabonds.
The Asura Vagabonds numbered more than a hundred in all.
For them, defeating the warriors of the Heavenly Golden Manor was a simple matter.
“Why are they so weak?”
“Are these weaklings supposed to protect the manor? Ha!”
To them, the warriors of Heavenly Golden Manor were nothing but easy prey.
They lacked force, but most of all, there was no ferocity or the desire to kill in their eyes.
They were like well-tended flowers within a fence, too tame.
They might try to look threatening by shouting and charging, but to the Asura Vagabonds, it was comical.
Their life experiences and the paths they had taken were too different.
“Keughk!”
“S, Save me…!”
The Asura Vagabonds were relentless, they killed even those who begged for their lives.
“My God!”
Ya Yul-il stood dumbfounded, watching the scene.
It felt too surreal, like a nightmare.
At that moment, the Red King’s gaze fell upon Ya Yul-il.
“Are you the head of Heavenly Golden Manor?”
“S, Stop the massacre! Who are you to commit such an atrocious act in my manor?”
“Heh! Want to see what a real atrocity is?”
“No! Please, stop, my people are innocent.”
The Red King raised his hand, and the Asura Vagabonds ceased their killing.
He approached Ya Yul-il.
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“I heard you were humiliated recently. Tell me more about it.”
“Humiliated?”
“Yes! They say you and the sect leader of the Hundred Strike Sect suffered a great disgrace. Tell me all about it.”
“Why would you want to know that?”
Swoosh!
At that moment, with a chilling slash, Ya Yul-il’s arm was severed from his shoulder.
“AHHH!”
Ya Yul-il screamed in agony as he tumbled to the ground.
The pain of his cleanly severed arm rendered him senseless.
At that instant, the Red King firmly stepped on Ya Yul-il’s chest.
“You still haven’t grasped the situation, have you? I didn’t come here to have a leisurely chat with you. I ask, and you answer diligently. Got it?”
“Guh! Yes, I understand.”
Ya Yul-il nodded frantically through the pain.
“Tell me everything about what happened that day. From the beginning to the end…”
“The, the truth is…”
Ya Yul-il detailed the assault he had suffered at the hands of the Wind Saint.
The Red King silently listened to his entire story.
As soon as Ya Yul-il finished his account, the Red King asked,
“So, you were coveting this place called Qi Family Medical Hall, and unexpectedly, the Wind Saint showed up, right? Is that correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“And there was some young guy with the Wind Saint?”
“I didn’t see him myself, but according to reports from my men, yes.”
“What did he look like?”
“They said he wore his hat so low that they couldn’t see his face.”
“Hmm!”
The Red King stroked his chin thoughtfully.
‘It seems that the one who was with the Wind Saint might be the Reaper.’
Why Pyo-wol was with the Wind Saint was unclear, but if he came with the Wind Saint, it was certain that they had some connection with the Qi Family Medical Hall.
‘Surely, he’s hiding in the Qi Family Medical Hall.’
The Red King had been tracking Pyo-wol with the Ten Thousand Man Slayer, but they couldn’t find him anywhere in Shaoyang.
If he had been staying in a regular inn or manor, his men would have found him by now. The fact that they hadn’t suggested that he was deeply hidden in the slums—the only area they hadn’t searched.
Then, news about Heavenly Golden Manor and Hundred Strike Sect reached his ears.
They had tried to control the slums using Black West Society but failed due to the intervention of an absolute master.
As soon as he heard the rumors, he instinctively knew that Pyo-wol was involved.
He didn’t have any evidence or connections, but his instincts told him so. And his hunch was right.
He hadn’t anticipated that the Wind Saint would be involved, but it was clear that Pyo-wol was connected to the Qi Family Medical Hall.
The Red King furrowed his brows.
Dealing with Pyo-wol alone was challenging enough, but if the Wind Saint, an absolute master, was also involved, the problem became even more severe.
The Wind Saint was among the highest echelons of martial artists in Jianghu.
If it came to a head-on collision, even he couldn’t guarantee victory.
“It seems we’ll need more people.”
What was at least fortunate was that the New Moon Manor, or rather the Kowloon Assassin Guild’s main base in Qiyang, wasn’t too far from here.
At that moment, Ya Yul-il, who was just watching cautiously, spoke up timidly,
“I have told you everything, please spare my life.”
“Eh?”
The Red King looked at him with wide eyes as if hearing something unbelievable. Ya Yul-il then knelt down.
“I will not disclose today’s events to anyone. I will keep it a secret, so please spare my life!”
“You are quite perceptive. I like that.”
“Does that mean you will spare me?”
“Haha!”
The Red King laughed.
He found Ya Yul-il’s desperate struggle to live despite the carnage around him amusing.
The fact that he thought the survivors would be spared after creating such a bloodbath showed how lightly Ya Yul-il was taking the situation.
Flash!
In that instant, a bolt of lightning struck Ya Yul-il.
The sword hanging from the Red King’s waist struck Ya Yul-il like lightning.
Lightning Spirit Flash.2
That was the name of the technique the Red King had executed.
With that one move, Ya Yul-il was reduced to a charred husk.
Thud!
Ya Yul-il collapsed where he stood.
Then, the slaughter by the Asura Vagabonds, who had been bystanders until now, began.
“Aaargh!”
“Please spare us.”
“Heaven will not forgive you for this. Gah!”
Cries of despair filled Heavenly Golden Manor.
That day, not even a single mouse was left alive in Heavenly Golden Manor.
* * *
“This isn’t good.”
“What do you mean?”
Pyo-wol looked at Eunyo.
Eunyo, with her characteristic unfocused gaze, was looking over the slums.
“I mean this place. If they turn this area into a battlefield, the damage will be unimaginable.”
“That’s true.”
Pyo-wol nodded in agreement.
The homes in the slums were all made from wood and cloth picked up from somewhere.
They were barely shelters, just enough to keep out the wind and rain, with tarpaulins stretched over wooden frames.
If a fire started in one place, the entire slums would be engulfed in flames.
It had happened in Chengdu as well.
The slums were burned to the ground, and in their place stood the mansions of Chengdu’s dignitaries, including Pyo-wol’s Red Pine Manor.
If this place becomes a battlefield, the same thing will happen again.
Eunyo turned to face Pyo-wol.
“We need to change the battlefield, big brother!”
Instead of answering, Pyo-wol took out a neatly folded map from his bosom and handed it to Eunyo.
“What’s this?”
“This is a map sent by Hong Yushin. It details the terrain of the area.”
Eunyo touched the map with her fingertips.
Instead of using her eyes, she distinguished the lines drawn on the map by the sensation under her fingers.
“This place would be good.”
Her finger was pointing to a particular area on the map.
Pyo-wol smiled and said,
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“I knew it. Brother, do you have any intention of changing out of that blood-red robe?”
Eunyo looked at Pyo-wol and smiled.
LUNACAVE
You cannot copy content of this page