Light Novel: Volume 20 Episode 4
Manhwa: N/A
“Huff! Huff!”
The Wind Saint gasped for breath.
His entire body was covered with large and small wounds.
In front of him stood the Ten Thousand Man Slayer.
He had just as many wounds as the Wind Saint, but there was a crucial difference between them.
It was the injury on the Wind Saint’s side.
It was a trace of the God-Slaying Bow’s arrow that had penetrated him.
The God-Slaying Bow was different from ordinary bows.
When its arrows were fired, they rotated ferociously, so once they hit, they tore and twisted the flesh and muscles around the wound. This made the injury inevitably bigger and worse.
The Wind Saint tried to press on his acupoints to stop the bleeding. However, the wound was so large that the bleeding didn’t stop.
To properly stop the bleeding, he needed to apply healing ointment and compress the wound with a cloth. But the Ten Thousand Man Slayer did not allow the Wind Saint the leisure to tend to his wounds.
The Wind Saint was a tempting prey indeed.
As one of the Three Saints, he was an absolute martial artist who had reigned at the pinnacle of Jianghu for a long time.
No matter how important it was to capture Pyo-wol, the Wind Saint was an existence that could not simply be overlooked.
Killing the Wind Saint would elevate his own status just as much.
“Let’s end this, Wind Saint!”
A dark smile curved his lips.
He took out the God-Slaying Bow again.
He was ready to finish things for good.
“Not a chance!”
The Wind Saint charged at the Ten Thousand Man Slayer.
He knew all too well what would happen if he gave his bow-wielding opponent any distance, so he pushed through despite the pain.
Swish!
He executed his signature technique, the Sea Breeze Sword.
A blade of wind condensed with qi flew out, threatening to slice through the Ten Thousand Man Slayer’s body. However, the Ten Thousand Man Slayer easily dodged the Sea Breeze Sword with a movement technique called Reasoning Wolf Step.1
At the same time, he fired an arrow from the God-Slaying Bow.
Swish!
Since the arrow was fired from such a close range, it was impossible to dodge.
The Wind Saint concentrated his energy on his sword to strike down the arrow.
However, the arrow exquisitely flew past his sword and pierced his palm as if it were tofu.
“Keugh!”
The Wind Saint groaned and hastily stepped back.
The power of the God-Slaying Bow was truly beyond imagination.
Fufufufuf!
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer fired three arrows at once.
It was a technique called one shot, three arrows.2
The Wind Saint immediately threw himself flat to the ground and rolled.
It was a technique called the lazy donkey roll,3 something that high-level martial artists would never perform for fear of embarrassment, but with the Wind Saint’s life on the line, he had no choice.
The arrows missed the Wind Saint’s back by a hair’s breadth.
Despite the searing pain, the Wind Saint gritted his teeth and unleashed his Sea Breeze Sword again.
“Ha!”
Giving up just because the advantage had fallen to the enemy truly meant the end.
As long as a person was still alive, they had to fight back somehow.
That was how the Wind Saint had lived.
Kwagagak!
A tremendous windstorm struck the Ten Thousand Man Slayer.
“Ugh! Still–!”
This attack was something even the Ten Thousand Man Slayer could not take lightly.
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer quickly executed his qinggong to escape the full force of the windstorm.
At that moment, the Wind Saint struck the ground with his pierced hands, using the recoil to propel his body a good distance into the air.
In that state, the Wind Saint kicked seven times.
It was the technique known as Whirling Wind Kick.4
Bam, bam, bam!
Bursts of air exploded continuously.
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer’s face contorted in shock.
Despite blocking the Wind Saint’s foot with the God-Slaying Bow, the impact was transmitted directly.
Had the God-Slaying Bow been an ordinary weapon, it would have already shattered from the impact.
The Wind Saint furiously pressed the Ten Thousand Man Slayer, preventing the latter from firing the God-Slaying Bow again.
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer didn’t dare to counterattack and instead braced himself defensively.
He knew.
That although the Wind Saint was counterattacking so ferociously, it was only temporary.
It was because the wounds he had sustained were severe.
His wounds were very large, and blood continued to flow profusely. Given his condition, he couldn’t keep up such a furious attack for much longer.
“Kheuk!”
It was as the Ten Thousand Man Slayer anticipated.
The Wind Saint, who had been attacking furiously, suddenly fell to the ground and coughed up blood.
He had taken a toll from executing a technique with his battered body.
“Heh!”
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer finally straightened his crouched body and laughed.
The Wind Saint, lying face down, barely lifted his head to look at the Ten Thousand Man Slayer.
“Ten… Thousand Man Slayer!”
“It’s nothing personal, I’m simply doing this because I find you to be a very tempting prey. So don’t blame me.”
“I feel the same.”
“What?”
Bang!
At that moment, the Ten Thousand Man Slayer was thrown backwards with a loud explosion.
He flew a good ten yards back before tumbling across the ground.
“Ugh!”
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer groaned as he looked at his hands.
The God… Slaying Bow…”
The last bastion that had protected him, the God-Slaying Bow, was broken in two.
It was then that the Wind Saint picked himself up.
His whole body was drenched in blood, but his eyes still shone with a fierce light.
His risky gamble had paid off.
The Whirling Wind Kick was not just a simple technique.
The power of the initial kick was average, but as the kicks continued, their power increased. Above all, once the accumulated impact reached its limit, it would explode.
The Wind Saint had bet his life on the Whirling Wind Kick to destroy the God-Slaying Bow of the Ten Thousand Man Slayer. And his gamble had paid off.
“Heuk!”
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer’s face twisted viciously.
“Yes! That expression suits you.”
“I’ll tear you apart–!”
The Ten Thousand Man Slayer screamed in rage as he rushed toward the Wind Saint.
The Wind Saint charged in response, murmuring to himself.
‘I’ve kept my promise, Pyo-wol!’
* * *
“I’ve found them.”
The Red King’s eyes lit up.
Far in the distance, along the river, he could see a small boat making its way upstream.
It was the boat carrying Pyo-wol and his party.
Then on both sides of the river, he could see his men racing alongside the boat.
His subordinates did not hesitate to risk their lives, plunging towards the boat. However, Pyo-wol and Eunyo, with their combined strengths managed to fend off their ferocious attacks.
“It won’t be long now.”
Pyo-wol and Eunyo might have been unharmed, but the boat they were on had long reached its limits.
Water was streaming in through the holes made by arrows in the boat, making it dangerously close to being submerged in the river.
Suddenly, the Red King’s eyes caught sight of a small island in the middle of the river.
The boat carrying Pyo-wol and the others was desperately heading towards that island.
“Is that their destination?”
To some extent, he understood.
The river’s width expanded significantly around the island, making it impossible to continue chasing the boat from the shore and jumping onto it as they had been doing. Even with the aid of an iron disc to leap from, it wouldn’t be possible.
It was then.
“The boats are ready.”
The voices of the Asura Vagabonds came from behind.
As soon as they heard that Pyo-wol was escaping on the river, the Asura Vagabonds had scattered to find boats to board.
Looking in the direction the Asura Vagabonds pointed, he could see more than ten boats waiting.
The Red King boarded one of the boats and ordered,
“Pursue them.”
“At your command!”
The boat carrying the Red King and the Asura Vagabonds quickly set off, chasing the one carrying Pyo-wol and his party.
Following them, the martial artists who had been running along the riverbank swiftly boarded the boats.
The faces of those who landed on the boats were filled with rage and murderous intent.
Thump! Thud!
Corpses floating on the river were knocked away by the boats.
All of the corpses were their comrades.
No matter how much of their human emotion had been eroded, they were not devoid of camaraderie.
The deaths of their colleagues incited their rage.
“We’ll tear them to shreds.”
They vowed to avenge their fallen comrades.
The gap between the boat carrying Pyo-wol and theirs was closing rapidly.
No matter how vigorously Nam Shin-woo rowed, it was futile. He was rowing alone, while the other boats were propelled by several rowers.
Fortunately, just before being caught by the boats carrying the Red King and others, the boat carrying Pyo-wol and his party reached the small island.
Thump!
The three of them abandoned the boat and disembarked on the island.
They each took positions in three different directions on the perimeter of the island.
The island was merely about ten meters across.
The small island was formed by the accumulation of sand from upstream.
Now the three of them were isolated on a small island.
One by one, the boats carrying the martial artists led by the Red King, swarmed around the island.
he Red King glared at Pyo-wol and roared,
“Surrender, Reaper!”
Boom!
With his roar, the gently flowing river water violently rippled.
“Ah!”
“Keugh!”
Even Eunyo and Nam Shin-woo let out pained groans.
Only Pyo-wol stood upright, staring back at the Red King.
Pyo-wol’s face was obscured by his hat, making it impossible to discern what he was thinking. But one thing seemed certain.
He had no intention of surrendering.
The momentum emanating from his body gave off a sense of determination to fight to the death.
“It was clever of you to escape using a boat, but this is where it ends for you. This will be your grave.”
“……”
“Arrogant bastard! Until the end–!”
The Red King trembled with rage.
He was infuriated that Pyo-wol, despite all his talk, had not uttered a single word.
He raised his hand.
Then the Asura Vagabonds and martial artists aboard the boat leaped onto the island.
It was then.
Nam Shin-woo suddenly stomped his foot.
Thump!
When his foot struck the ground with great force—
Swish!
Suddenly, metal pillars shot up from under the sand.
They were metal pillars powered by a mechanism.
“What’s that?”
“Hic!”
The martial artists who had jumped onto the island panicked.
They had thought Pyo-wol and his party had fled blindly and by chance ended up on the island. But the suddenly emerging metal pillars suggested otherwise.
Eunyo murmured softly,
“Eight Directions White Mist Ghostly Array!5 Open!”
As soon as her words finished, a dense white fog swirled around the metal pillars. The fog swiftly enveloped the small island where they were.
By the time the Asura Vagabonds and other martial artists landed on the island, it had already been swallowed by the dense white mist.
“Kugh!”
“I can’t see anything.”
Panicked voices were heard all around.
They couldn’t see the companions right next to them, nor could they determine the direction.
At that moment, Pyo-wol and the other two moved.
Unlike the others whose sight and senses were limited, their movements were swift, having understood the principles of the array.
The Eight Directions White Mist Ghostly Array was originally a supreme array of the Xiaoleiyin Temple.
Before Eunyo went blind from being experimented on, she had read a manuscript containing the mysteries of the Eight Directions White Mist Ghostly Array.
The contents of the manuscript had been so impressive that she had read it several times, and she still remembered it.
Yesterday, Eunyo, along with Hong Yushin and the Black Tiger Squad, had come here and installed metal pillars capable of triggering the Eight Directions White Mist Ghostly Array.
Even when installing the pillars, they weren’t sure if the array would activate properly. However, seeing the thick white mist, it seemed to have been activated perfectly.
Eunyo felt the presence of an Asura Vagabond nearby, looking around in confusion.
Eunyo could clearly sense their presence, but the same could not be said for the other party.
That was the effect of the Eight Directions White Mist Ghostly Array.
The array concealed the movements of those who were on the life paths while thoroughly disorienting the senses of those on the outer paths.
That’s why the Asura Vagabonds couldn’t notice Eunyo even though she was right next to them.
Swish!
The cheap sword in Eunyo’s hand slashed across the neck of the Asura Vagabond.
The Asura Vagabond whose throat was slit couldn’t even scream before collapsing.
Eunyo muttered to herself,
“Half a day! Just half a day is all we need.”
LUNACAVE
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