Chapter 72. The Cold Glint of a Well-Polished Sword (19)
Ssst.
The edge of the disc was so sharp that Do-Gun was left bleeding even though it had just barely grazed him.
Do-Gun felt as though time had stopped. He watched the cleanly split disc fall to the ground. Seeing the two pieces hit the dirt, he belatedly realized what had just happened.
Still finding it hard to believe, he looked over to where he presumed the Silver Moon Disc had come from. In the distance, he could see a barely visible figure—a man wearing a black robe and a Yaksha mask.
Someone shouted upon recognizing their opponent. It was the second of the Three Peak Monsters, the Savage Twin Moon Monster![1]
Everyone in the expedition froze, horrified. The Savage Twin Moon Monster had just displayed cultivation far beyond what was known in the gangho, not to mention incredible mastery of his weapons. The greater the distance between them, the more advantageous it was for their enemy.
Without any hesitation, Ye-Ye shouted, “After him!”
Following her shout, the combined forces of the Baek and Namgoong Families rushed toward the Savage Twin Moon Monster. They quickly closed the distance.
One hundred zhang...fifty...twenty...!
However, the closer they got, the more they felt like something was off.
‘Why isn’t he throwing another disc?’
The vanguard slowed down as the strange feeling grew stronger. Then, Do-Gun, who was at the very forefront of the party, swiftly moved right in front of the Savage Twin Moon Monster and hit his head in anger.
“You damned bastard!”
Thump, thump.
The head of a wooden doll wearing a Yaksha mask seemed to laugh at them as it rolled on the ground.
“The bastard already fled.”
“He most likely switched places with this doll the moment he threw his moon disc at Baek Do-Gun.”
The vanguard returned to the main party. They had split into two groups as Ye-Ye had concerns about the Savage Twin Moon Monster being a decoy to target the rear. However, that didn’t turn out to be the case.
“Let’s hurry and get on our way,” Woo-Moon said carefreely.
Everyone turned to look at him, suddenly reminded that he was the only one to have noticed the Savage Twin Moon Monster’s Silver Moon Disc and intercepted it with sword qi. However, as all of them were feeling the pressure of the hidden enemies, none of them bothered to say anything.
All the youngsters gritted their teeth as they hurried toward the Red Fog Valley.
‘He... he just happened to notice the Silver Moon Disc. Yeah, it was definitely luck!’
The pride of these geniuses from the Ancient Families was too high to acknowledge Woo-Moon. After all, to them, he was just an intruder that appeared out of nowhere. Moreover, among them, there was one person whose heart was particularly heavy: Baek Do-Gun.
‘If... What if Woo-Moon hadn’t blocked that Silver Moon Disc?’
The knowledge that he would have most likely died sent a chill down Do-Gun’s spine.
The Savage Twin Moon Monster’s Silver Moon Discs were notorious in the gangho. They were made of a unique transparent material that made them nearly impossible to detect. They made no sound no matter how hard they were thrown and were almost invisible. Countless Righteous Faction experts had lost their lives to the insidiousness of the Silver Moon Discs.
Therefore, even though the Savage Twin Moon Monster was weaker in cultivation and skill than the first of the Three Peak Monsters, the Blood-Soaked Buddha Monster, the experts of the gangho were more terrified of the Savage Twin Moon Monster’s moon discs.
“They say the Savage Twin Moon Monster only has two Silver Moon Discs. If one of them was destroyed by Master Song, that bastard should only be left with one! That’s great!” Yong Hwa-Pyeong said enthusiastically, amazed by Woo-Moon’s skill.
However, Woo-Moon himself was far less enthusiastic about it. “Didn’t I say their cultivation and skill are higher than rumored? If my suspicions are right, then it’s highly likely that he also has more Silver Moon Discs than he is known to have, and who knows what other weapons. We should be questioning everything right now.”
“Ah! I–I see.”
Beside them, Ma-Ra walked silently, staring intensely at the Silver Moon Disc halves in her hand. Woo-Moon looked at her with a somewhat happy expression, as it was the first time he saw Ma-Ra show interest in anything.
After a while, the allied forces approached the entrance of a long canyon. Ye-Ye distributed flags to ten of the swiftest men of the Tiger Fang Squadron.
“Climb up the canyon and check for any signs of the enemy.”
“Understood.”
They all began scaling the canyon swiftly with the red flags tied to their backs. After some time, five scouts arrived at the summit on each side and moved forward with swords drawn, carefully looking in all directions.
“Do you see anyone?”
As they walked carefully while checking diligently, the scouting team advanced to a point where the main expedition party below lost sight of them. Soon, the scouting team on the right discovered an area where the color of the soil was different from other places.
‘Hey, what’s thi—’
Their doubts were cut short. Suddenly, a flying Silver Moon Disc struck the necks of two scouts in a row. Simultaneously, camouflaged assailants leaped out of the ground and shot poisoned needles at the others. The poison was so strong that the scouts weren’t even able to scream before they died.
Although the blood spurted out from the decapitated body of a scout and splattered on the flag, it wasn’t noticeable as the flag was red, to begin with. At the same time, the same ambush happened on the other side, with the only difference being that the main weapon was go pieces instead of Silver Moon Discs.
“Go and signal them,” the Life-Death Go Monster said in a low voice.
At his command, the assailants stripped the corpses of their scout uniforms and changed into them before running towards the cliff and signaling with the flags.
After confirming the all-clear signal, Ye-Ye and Namgoong Sung ordered the expedition party to march through the canyon.
“Hold on a second. Don’t you think something feels strange?”
Namgoong Sung and Ye-Ye turned to look at Woo-Moon.
“What do you mean?”
“Just now, when the scout team signaled to us. His face was covered the entire time with the flag, almost as if on purpose, so we couldn’t confirm that the scout was one of us. Maybe someone...”
Namgoong Sung interrupted him.
“Our enemies are trying to buy time right now. That’s why these people came to slow down our advance twice now. We must not act as our enemies wish.”
“I also agree with Young Hero Namgoong. The fact that they’re trying to slow us down only indicates the impact our forces could have if we arrive faster. Moreover, the enemy may have already requested aid from another Black Hand organization. We must move forward as fast as possible, right now.”
In the end, following the orders of the two representatives, the Baek and Namgoong Family expedition party ran toward the canyon. As he watched the others enter the canyon, Woo-Moon called out to Ma-Ra.
“Ma-Ra, can you go up there and check?”
“Okay.”
Although Woo-Moon wanted to confirm it himself, he thought it was better to stay with the group and prepare for any surprises.
Ma-Ra climbed the cliff at an incredible speed, incomparable to that of the scouts.
Tap tap, tap tap!
Her movements seemed like a water swallow skipping and splashing across a body of water.
Eventually, she reached the summit. With a cold look on her face, she turned to inspect the empty summit before shouting sharply, “Ambush!”
Unfortunately, by the time they heard Ma-Ra’s cry, about half of the expedition forces had already entered the canyon. At the same time, Woo-Moon shouted, “Get out of the canyon!”
Ma-Ra leaped forward from the summit's edge and stabbed the ground with a flourish of her sword.
Squelch!
An eerie sound rang out in the air as blood began to pool from the ground.
“We can’t wait any longer. Blow it up, now!”
Enemies hiding in the ground jumped out as they ignited fuses in their hands.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
The sounds of explosions shook the walls of the canyon as explosives that had been cleverly buried alongside the edge of the canyon’s walls went off in succession, causing the upper parts of the canyon to collapse.
Fortunately, Ma-Ra activated her Flowing Shadow Killing Art to the peak as she ran along the edge of one side of the canyon, cutting off many of the fuses and stopping the explosions. She had even detected and cut off the fuses buried in the ground.
“That was pretty impressive, you bitch! Take this!”
With a sharp cry, four moon discs flew toward Ma-Ra. [2]
***
Boulders the size of houses fell on the heads of the warriors of the Baek and Namgoong Families, who hadn’t been able to retreat yet. It seemed like those at the back of the retreat wouldn’t be able to escape and would be crushed.
“No, I can’t let that happen!”
Although he didn’t like them in the slightest, Woo-Moon had been appointed as a leader and he didn’t want to see any of his companions die. Thus, he leaped up and ran alongside the collapsing canyon wall.
Although the wall was nearly perpendicular to the ground, Woo-Moon scaled the cliff as quickly as if running on flat ground and leaped away from it without hesitation. He twisted his body almost impossibly, slipping through the falling boulders and soared into the air.
His gaze sharpened as he looked down from the sky and concentrated.
Shing!
The direction and speed of the warriors who looked as if they would be crushed, the momentum and impact of the boulders falling at the rear—they were all transformed into forces and angles and entered his mind.
Woo-Moon’s brain worked at a frighteningly high speed and calculated the paths.
The moment he identified the boulders that needed to be dealt with, he activated the Thousand-Catty Ballast and began dealing with them in order, starting from the most dangerous ones.
On the other hand, Namgoong Sung and Ye-Ye felt miserable. It was easy for them to avoid the boulders due to their high cultivations, but they both stopped and took a deep breath when they looked back. They couldn’t ignore the people who had gone deep into the canyon and were still unable to escape.
‘This is because of me! Why the hell did I ignore that guy?!’
If only they could turn back time.
If they only had listened to Woo-Moon’s words and checked again before ordering the advance, their subordinates wouldn’t have lost their lives in vain.
Although it was inevitable that some of their subordinates would lose their lives in battle, it was an absolutely horrible feeling to see their subordinates being crushed to death not by their enemies’ swords but by an ambush they could have avoided.
Ye-Ye subconsciously bit the tip of her tongue. The strong pain sent a jolt through her body as she raced back into the canyon.
“Y-young Heroine!”
Namgoong Sung tried to stop Ye-Ye, as even if she were to enter the canyon, she would only end up dying alongside the others. However, he changed his mind when he saw her determined eyes.
‘If we can save even one more person, we have to go!’
Before he even realized it himself, Namgoong Sung found himself rushing into the canyon to save the warriors of the expedition forces, just like Ye-Ye.
“Y-you idiots...!”
Do-Gun, who had already fled far away, clicked his tongue at the sight.
As Ye-Ye entered the canyon, she began to grab the members of the Tiger Fang Squadron, who didn’t seem to be able to escape in time, and hurled them backward. Although it was a rather drastic method, it was definitely effective.
The warriors flew quickly through the air and out of the canyon.
Arriving moments after, Namgoong Sung copied Ye-Ye and began to hurl the warriors as quickly as he could reach them, whether they were from the Namgoong Family or the Baek Family.
However, as both of them had limits to their qi, it didn’t seem as though it would be possible for them to save everyone in time. No—if things continued this way, it would be difficult for even Namgoong Sung or Ye-Ye to survive.
“Both of them are going to die like this!”
“Damn it, those bastards!”
Watching from outside the canyon, the talents of both families stamped their feet and cried out in sorrow. How could they not? The two leaders were their own family members!
However, something surprising happened at that very moment.
Bang!!
Another explosion suddenly rang out.
‘It’s not going to collapse any further, is it?’
The moment she raised her head in surprise, Ye-Ye saw a sword shining brightly with a golden light, spinning violently as it pierced through a rock the size of a house and shattered it into pieces.
“H-how is that possible?!”
Woo-Moon destroyed the boulder falling on them before kicking a human-sized boulder next to him, changing direction, and flying away. The boulder that had served as his springboard also changed direction and flew away, landing a safe distance away from the warriors.
Bang, bang, bang!!
After kicking three more boulders, Woo-Moon swung his sword imbued with golden sword qi.
BOOM!
After piercing through the middle of a boulder, his sword vibrated to shatter the rock into pieces. However, despite his efforts, the three boulders that had fallen off of the canyon wall last seemed as if they would crush some of the warriors who were yet to leave the canyon.
Woo-Moon kicked off another rock, accelerating even faster. Moreover, as if that wasn’t enough, he used Thousand-Catty Ballast with as much force as he could muster.
Covered in sparks, Woo-Moon barrelled down like a meteor and stabbed one of the three boulders with his sword. Penetrating hard rock like cheese, his sword created a hole in the middle of the rock.
“Ah...!”
Frightened exclamations escaped from the mouths of those watching in anxious anticipation, as the rock didn’t break even as the sword pierced it.
1. Savage Twin is a homonym for Yaksha in Korean and refers to both the Malevolent Yaksha and the two Silver Moon Discs that he uses to split people in two. ☜
2. These are ordinary moon discs rather than Silver Moon Discs. We also don’t know what the difference is. ☜