Chapter 167:
Killing Field
The sudden appearance of the wild man, wielding a Langdao (a type of curved sword), created a terrifying scene as he slaughtered the surrounding bandits with unstoppable force.
The encirclement of bandits surrounding Mu-jin’s group was torn apart like paper, revealing a blood-soaked path created by the wild man through the broken gaps.
The sight was truly reminiscent of a “mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.”
“Arghhh…”
“Run, run!!”
With both their leaders dead, the terrified bandits began fleeing in all directions.
While Mu-jin was momentarily taken aback by the realization that the wild man was the Wolf King, Baek Ga-hwan misunderstood the situation and, thinking they had been helped, cupped his hands in gratitude.
“Great warrior! I will not forget this favor.”
However, the Wolf King didn’t respond to Baek Ga-hwan’s greeting. Instead, he walked leisurely towards Mu-jin’s group with an irregular gait.
Mu-yul, who had been fighting near where the Wolf King appeared, expressed his gratitude with his characteristic bright smile.
“Thank you for helping us. Hehe.”
At that moment, Mu-jin, already tense from the Wolf King’s presence, sensed something was wrong and shouted urgently.
“Get out of the way!!”
“Screech!”
Mu-jin’s shout coincided almost simultaneously with Ling-ling’s scream as she pulled Mu-yul back.
A silver thread appeared where Mu-yul had been standing.
“Whoa!”
“What are you doing!?”
Both Mu-yul, who had narrowly avoided death, and the rest of the group were shocked and yelled out.
But the Wolf King seemed uninterested in their reactions.
“Ho, it seems to be a real spiritual creature.”
He showed brief interest in Ling-ling, then cast a lifeless gaze over Mu-jin’s group.
“Another wasted effort.”
He had been looking for a missing item—an artifact hidden within a silk garment that had disappeared during the bandits’ raid on the Bukpoong Escort Agency.
But it was clear none of these people had the silk garment.
While the Wolf King was muttering to himself, Mu-jin, pretending not to know who he was dealing with, asked,
“Who are you, and why are you attacking us suddenly?”
The Wolf King responded with a crooked smile.
“It’s strange that you don’t know who I am after attacking those two places.”
“Which two places are you referring to?”
“Feigning ignorance, huh? Not a bad strategy.”
As Mu-jin sensed the conversation going awry, the Wolf King’s expression turned serious as he added,
“Let’s see how long you can keep pretending.”
As the words “let’s see” reached Mu-jin’s ears, the Wolf King had already vanished from sight, swinging his Langdao at Mu-yul.
“Eek!”
Mu-yul barely dodged the attack by instinct, a hair’s breadth away from being struck.
It wasn’t a conscious reaction; Mu-yul’s animal-like senses warned him of the danger, prompting him to move instinctively.
Slash!
Though he narrowly escaped, the attack still tore through his clothes, drawing a thin line of blood.
“Ho?”
As the Wolf King showed a faint interest in Mu-yul for dodging his attack, Mu-jin and Mu-gung, who had belatedly caught the Wolf King’s movement, lunged at him.
But just as they were about to strike with fists and palms, Mu-jin felt a chilling sensation and urgently shouted,
“Retreat!”
Slash!
Reacting to Mu-jin’s shout, Mu-gung quickly withdrew his outstretched palm, which was lightly grazed, leaving a faint scar.
However, Mu-gung’s gaze wasn’t on his injured palm.
“…Qi Force.”
The Langdao didn’t have Qi Force before the Wolf King swung it.
Realizing the opponent could freely manipulate Qi Force—a skill even beyond his master Hye-dam—Mu-gung swallowed hard. freewebnøvel.com
As Mu-gung realized the opponent was far more skilled than anticipated, the Wolf King muttered with interest,
“You brats have good senses for your age. Hahaha. Have you had a lot of real combat experience?”
The Wolf King didn’t intend to kill them immediately. His goal was to interrogate them.
The reason Mu-yul, Mu-gung, and Mu-jin managed to avoid his attacks was partly due to their good instincts, but also because the Wolf King had only aimed to wound them lightly.
Had he targeted their vital points, they would have been easily cut even with a hurried dodge.
“Let’s see how long you can last.”
With a twisted smile, the Wolf King swung his Langdao through the air.
The blade moved so fast it was hard to track, scattering dozens of slashes in all directions.
“Ugh.”
Mu-gung, Mu-jin, Mu-yul, and Ling-ling quickly backed away, either deflecting or dodging the slashes.
However, as they retreated, Cheongsu Dojang’s position, where Baek Ga-hwan and Ju Kyung-il were standing, became closer to the Wolf King.
Tap!
Without delay, the Wolf King lunged towards Cheongsu Dojang, who was now the closest target.
Clang!!
“Ah!”
Recognizing the absurd skill level of the opponent, Cheongsu Dojang instinctively deployed the Taegeuk Haegum, barely deflecting the initial strike.
As the Wolf King’s Langdao clashed with Cheongsu Dojang’s sword, the Wolf King twisted his wrist, hooking the sawtooth end of his Langdao onto the Songmun Antique Sword, preventing a clean deflection.
Barely managing to block the first strike, Cheongsu Dojang faced another swing of the Langdao.
In a desperate bid to survive, Cheongsu Dojang pushed his limits, using the Taegeuk Haegum within a state of Muah Ji-kyung, but it was futile.
Slash!!
Unlike the first strike, the Wolf King’s Langdao, now imbued with Qi Force, effortlessly cleaved the Songmun Antique Sword in two.
“You’re from Wudang!”
Recognizing Cheongsu Dojang’s affiliation in just two exchanges, the Wolf King prepared to strike again when,
“Haah!”
“Get down!”
The Muja Quartet flanked the Wolf King, each unleashing their respective techniques.
Instead of finishing off Cheongsu Dojang, the Wolf King scattered his slashes again, nullifying the Muja Quartet’s attack.
“We should retreat. It seems like we’ll only be a hindrance.”
In the meantime, Baek Ga-hwan pulled Ju Kyung-il, who was dazed beside him, and stepped back to give Cheongsu Dojang some space.
“Haaap!”
Conversely, Cheongsu Dojang channeled his internal energy into the broken Songmun Antique Sword, replacing the shortened blade with sword energy, and charged at the Wolf King.
In an instant, the battle turned into a five-on-one, or six-on-one if you counted Ling-ling.
Mu-yul moved with a unique, bright expression, making strange sound effects with his mouth.
“Huit!”
No one could react with their eyes alone. They just sensed and threw their bodies, leaving only gray traces of energy where they had been.
Perhaps their body recognized that even a tiny mistake could be fatal.
Despite already moving like an animal, Mu-yul now displayed bizarre, seemingly divine movements, narrowly evading the Wolf King’s attacks.
Of course, no matter how divine Mu-yul’s movements were, it was impossible to evade all of the Wolf King’s assaults.
“Dodge!”
When Mu-yul was in danger, Mu-gung’s palm, slashed by the energy, released a tremendous amount of extreme yang energy.
Mu-jin and Ling-ling used that broad shield of yang energy to dive at the Wolf King.
However, the Wolf King effortlessly nullified their attempt with a few swipes of his blade through the air.
The gray sword energy emitted from his blade shredded Mu-gung’s yang energy and still had strength left over.
Mu-jin and Ling-ling, who had been hiding behind the yang energy, quickly raised their energy to deflect the sword energy or threw their bodies to narrowly save their lives.
In the meantime, Cheongsu Dojang, wielding the broken Songmun Antique Sword, and Mu-gyeong, each launching sword energy and fist energy, pressured the Wolf King.
Clang!
But after just two exchanges, both were put on the defensive.
Despite their excellent martial instincts, trying to analyze and counter the Wolf King’s martial arts instinctively was futile.
Slash!
“Gah!”
The Wolf King’s martial arts had no particular pattern. It was unclear whether he simply didn’t need to use named techniques or had already reached a level beyond forms.
As the two held on, receiving small cuts here and there, Mu-yul, Mu-gung, and Mu-jin launched their attacks again on the Wolf King.
“Damn it.”
Despite aiding each other to overcome crises, the battle situation did not improve.
Not even one minute had passed since the fight began, yet everyone was accumulating wounds.
“A prolonged battle is self-destructive.”
On the other hand, the Wolf King remained unscathed.
Mu-jin decided against a long-term fight not just because of their current state but because of another reason.
Despite being able to manipulate energy freely, the Wolf King refrained from recklessly using energy attacks.
The sword force with the highest destructive power, compressed from dozens to hundreds of energy blades, consumed a vast amount of internal energy.
If the Wolf King had recklessly used such energy attacks, Mu-jin might have aimed for a long-term battle despite the risk.
However, the Wolf King did not recklessly use such attacks.
“Hahaha! You’re jumping around like monkeys!”
Even so, Mu-jin’s group had to keep dodging every time the Wolf King swung his blade.
Since the Wolf King could create powerful energy attacks at any moment, they couldn’t block his attacks directly.
The moment they tried to block, the energy attack would split their bodies in half along with their defenses.
“Taiji Sword Technique, Tathagata Palm, Shaolin Five Fists, and Vajra Exorcising Devil Fist. I think I know who you are now.”
The Wolf King smiled wickedly as he fought against Mu-jin’s group, as if he was just out for a stroll.
“Heh heh heh. I must hear from your own mouths how Shaolin and Wudang learned about us.”
Even though they were using hidden named techniques, barely holding on was the best they could do.
They were only holding on because the Wolf King intended to interrogate them.
‘I must do something while he’s still off guard.’
Mu-jin also vaguely realized this.
‘If we scatter and run, at least one or two might survive…’
It wasn’t about whether he would be one of the survivors or not.
Even if he survived, most of the others would be captured, mutilated, and interrogated by the Wolf King.
Even if it were strangers, he’d feel terrible seeing them in such a state. The kids he spent six years with at Shaolin Temple, especially those he considered nephews like Mu-yul, Mu-gung, and Mu-gyeong, couldn’t be left to such a fate.
Long-term battles were not an option, and escape was impossible.
Thus, there was only one choice left.
‘I don’t know if this will work or not.’
Mu-jin decided to take a gamble with his life while the Wolf King was still off guard.
Right after Mu-jin barely dodged the energy blade flying at him.
As the Wolf King turned his gaze to Cheongsu Dojang on the opposite side.
Pop!
Mu-jin, who had been focused solely on dodging, suddenly charged at the Wolf King with the extreme Fast Ascent Step and Golden Turtle Technique.
However, was even the shift in gaze a trap?
Sneer.
As Mu-jin charged, the Wolf King swung his blade at him with a sinister smile.
But Mu-jin, with the mindset of someone riding a tiger, charged directly at the Wolf King’s blade.
At that moment, as the Wolf King channeled his energy into the blade, gray sword energy burst forth from the blade.
The gray sword energy from the Wolf King’s blade shredded Mu-jin’s Golden Turtle Technique and still had power left to fly towards Mu-jin’s right arm.
However, Mu-jin seemed unconcerned about protecting his arm and continued to charge forward.
Seeing this, the Wolf King’s smile grew even wider.
‘Heh heh. I don’t necessarily need to cut off limbs to interrogate.’
Realizing that Mu-jin was willing to sacrifice an arm, the Wolf King altered his blade’s trajectory.
The blade that was aimed at Mu-jin’s right arm suddenly swung towards his right side.
As the Wolf King’s eyes gleamed with the thought of interrogating someone with their guts and intestines spilling out, golden energy burst from Mu-jin’s abdomen.
“Futile resistance, boy!”
Recognizing the golden energy shield he had just torn through, the Wolf King ignored it and swung his blade.
Crrreeek!!!
As the blade touched Mu-jin’s side, a bizarre noise echoed, like the scream of a woman.
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