The Ruler of Darkness

Yeom Baek-ha’s finger pointed to a spot on the map.

“In today’s meeting, the young master commanded us to rendezvous with the investment group’s procession at this point.”

Seeing the location Yeom Baek-ha indicated, Elder Yeom unconsciously nodded his head.

Beside him, the veteran military officer stroked his beard and clicked his tongue.

“Hmm. I’d like to discuss military strategy with the young master sometime.”

***

The unprecedented chaos was enough to send a young lady, unfamiliar with such situations, into a state of panic.

“Aaahhh!”

The force that pulled the screaming Daseollang lady, who had simply collapsed on the spot, was tremendous.

Shoved into the carriage they had been riding, her eyes widened at the sight of her friends looking at her.

“Now, young ladies. Is everyone on board with this?”

The one who closed the door last and boarded the carriage was a middle-aged woman they had never seen before.

“Everyone, please move a bit further away from the windows. I’ve already covered them all, but….”

The moment the Daseollang ladies reflexively moved to the opposite side at her words.

Countless arrows began protruding into the carriage.

“?!”

Before they could realize the situation and scream, the middle-aged woman who had gathered them in the carriage spoke.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. From what I can see, this carriage won’t break unless they bring cannons. You’ve invested well in the carriage.”

She then grabbed the young ladies’ arms and positioned them on the opposite edge.

“W-who are you…?!”

Sanggwan Nanhwa asked, but the woman, who had slightly opened the carriage window to assess the situation, said something else.

“Now, the second arrow rain is coming.”

As soon as she finished speaking, arrowheads once again sprouted all over the carriage walls.

“Haha. No need to be tense. I’m here, after all.”

She casually crossed her legs and sat on the spot where arrows were still being embedded, introducing herself.

“I’m Cheongsu.”

The middle-aged woman smiled like a mischievous child, her short hair fluttering.

“I’m the person the young master of the Sword House, my master, specially sent to protect you.”

***

“Let me introduce the new member who has joined Wongak Pavilion this time.”

At Yeon So-hyeon’s gesture, Cheongsu awkwardly stepped forward and smiled clumsily as everyone’s attention focused on her.

“Cheongsu…?”

The overly brief self-introduction drew everyone’s gaze to the young master.

“She recently retired from the main clan’s Organ and has now pledged her sword to me.”

At the mention of Organ, everyone’s eyes turned to Cheongsu in surprise.

“Ahaha. I look forward to working with you all.”

She was the commanding warrior Yeon So-hyeon had invited to join them on his way back from attending the supreme operational meeting.

‘If you ever leave Organ, come to Wongak Pavilion. We’ll need many capable people in the future.’

‘Uh…, my name is Cheongsu. If that time comes, I’ll be in your care.’

The one who had given that answer had actually left Organ and sought out Yeon So-hyeon.

Yeon So-hyeon addressed the group.

“Her outstanding abilities will greatly benefit us in the future.”

***

“Hmm. The enemy’s archery has ended, and it seems Elder Yeom is going to attack? As expected of the Breaking the Mountain of Swords and Peaks.”

Cheongsu, who had been peeking outside through a slightly opened window, reached her hand out and retrieved an arrow embedded in the carriage wall.

“Oh?”

The young ladies’ attention was drawn to her as she examined the arrow, but Cheongsu didn’t give any answer and simply collected the arrow carefully.

‘Poisoned arrow.’

She flashed a bright smile at the young ladies looking at her.

A fresh smile that didn’t suit her age.

It also didn’t suit the situation.

“Shall we take turns introducing ourselves since it’s boring?”

“….”

Of course, there was no response.

***

“We will not be escorting but attacking.”

Having silenced the Emei Sect’s Head Priestess like that, Elder Yeom shouted without looking back.

“Jeong Ryung!”

The commander of the Xi’an government troops, called Jeong Ryung, shouted with a smile on his lips.

“Hey, boys! Commander Yeom says he wants to see our skills after a long time!”

With his shout, forty government troops who had skillfully hidden from the arrows all threw off their straw hats at once.

Revealing light armor of an oddly practical design, they took out the items they had been carrying on their backs.

They were portable repeating crossbows.

“Scarlet Silk Road Guerrilla Unit!”

Jeong Ryung, their commander who had also taken out a repeating crossbow, shouted.

“Show the enemies what real archery is!”

***

A merciless storm of arrows swept in.

The team members who had been charging with weapons at the forefront collapsed and tumbled all at once as if swept away by a fierce wave.

“Raise your shields! Raise more shields, you fools!”

The deputy leader yelled at the top of his lungs, but from the start, the enemy’s arrows were piercing through the shields of their own troops, tearing flesh and bones.

Moreover, as if by some trick, the archery seemed to stop and then intensify again in a repeated pattern.

The leader, who had narrowly caught an arrow that had flown all the way to him at the very rear, gritted his teeth.

“Iron arrows!”

The arrow he had caught had a black tint.

Even with a grip infused with internal energy, the arrow only bent but didn’t break.

“Damn it, those government troops! The Scarlet Silk Road Guerrilla Unit from Xi’an?!”

Someone who had been in this business for a long time like him couldn’t be unfamiliar with that name.

“Why the hell are those who should be playing around near the Yumen Pass here?!”

***

The repeating crossbow fire of the Scarlet Silk Road Guerrilla Unit was powerful, but their numbers were few, and the enemies were many.

Moreover, the durability of the repeating crossbows, originally designed for portability, was not particularly good.

Seeing the enemies rushing over the corpses that had become pincushions, Jeong Ryung shouted.

“Alright! We will retreat to the second line!”

They had sufficiently blunted the enemy’s spearhead, and with that, their role was practically over.

Amidst the Scarlet Silk Road Guerrilla Unit retreating with running steps without any lingering attachments, a middle-aged man with a huge physique stood tall.

“Are you satisfied?!”

“Well done.”

Elder Yeom, who gave a brief word of praise, pointed his sword towards the oncoming enemies.

He slowly inhaled.

“Kill them!”

“Charge at these bastards!”

The smell of blood dyeing the earth red, the stench wafting from torn intestines, the faint groans of the dying, the roars of those intent on killing, the bloodshot eyes half-rolled back, the smell of oil rubbed on weapons, the scent of battle intermingling fear and bloodlust.

The smell of war.

The smell of home.

“You son of a bitch!”

The first to charge was a man whose left arm had been pierced by an iron arrow.

Holding a giant sword, the sight of the giant standing as if nailed to the ground was intimidating in itself.

‘Kill, kill, just kill them!’

However, the drug administered just before the close combat began gave him sufficient courage.

“Die!”

He swung the iron mace in his hand with all his might.

He definitely swung the mace.

But it was strange.

For some reason, it seemed to his eyes that the head of the mace had split into two.

Perhaps he had taken too much of the drug.

At that moment, he felt a hot liquid flowing down from his forehead.

‘Huh?’

He wanted to touch his head and check what was happening, but with his head sliced open above the forehead, he could no longer do anything.

‘Am I dead…?’

***

The martial nuns of the Emei Sect had to stay near the investment group’s procession and protect it because of their word.

Although they had certainly expected a fierce battle, once the battle actually began, the last thing they did was deflect the incoming arrows.

However, they couldn’t abandon their escort duty and rush into the midst of the enemies either.

In the end, their gazes naturally turned to Elder Yeom, who had ventured out alone from the formation.

Elder Yeom’s appearance, looking too serene unlike the enemies rushing in with monstrous shouts, was so incongruous that it felt strange.

And the first enemy arrived in front of Elder Yeom.

“Ah!”

The nuns of the Emei Sect, who had been watching the scene from afar with sharpened eyesight, unconsciously let out an exclamation close to bewilderment.

None of them had properly seen when Elder Yeom’s sword had moved.

They only realized that it had been a ‘horizontal slash’ after seeing Elder Yeom’s posture after finishing the sword strike.

That single sword stroke contained no momentum, no intense aura, not a hint of killing intent, not even a presence.

And then, amidst the enemies rushing in like waves, Elder Yeom’s giant sword seemed to stir up a gentle breeze.

The result of that gentle breeze felt truly bizarre.

There was no sound of clashing weapons.

The enemies’ limbs didn’t scatter savagely in all directions.

There were no death throes.

The enemies simply collapsed, losing body parts in the very posture they had been charging in, as if they had fallen over, unable to withstand their own momentum.

In the span of just a few breaths, no one was left alive around Elder Yeom.

“….”

The nuns’ minds went blank at the sight they could neither imagine nor understand.

“…Observe carefully.”

The one who spoke with an unreadable expression was the Head Priestess.

“When people see Yeom Gwak-chu for the first time, they always expect him to primarily use unorthodox martial arts. You must have thought the same.”

The nuns nodded their heads with stiff expressions.

“External martial arts that have reached the extreme, starting from the Natural Stance. Swordsmanship derived from that external martial arts, thoroughly efficient and without any waste.”

The elderly nun was glaring at Elder Yeom with eyes smoldering like coal beneath deep wrinkles.

“Even though those sword strikes are undoubtedly imbued with extraordinary internal energy, the way he utilizes it is so delicate and exquisite.”

Assassins hiding their presence among the enemies leaped out.

The attack launched by those who held the position of masters in the assassination group was as perfect as if they had synchronized their breathing thousands and tens of thousands of times.

“To the point where it’s hard to even tell if he’s expending internal energy at all, such a bizarre swordsmanship.”

They dug into Elder Yeom’s front, back, left, and right, unleashing their lethal assassination techniques infused with all their internal energy.

However, their weapons never reached Elder Yeom.

Even they, like the assassins they had trained, simply collapsed and flowed to the ground in pieces.

“The opponent can’t help but feel as if they’re fighting against a rock made of swords.”

Elder Yeom’s appearance, having crushed the enemy’s elite like that, remained unchanged from the beginning.

As if nothing had happened.

Without his breathing disturbed in the slightest.

Like a tranquil lake amidst a scene of blood and flesh splattering.

“That is the very reason the word ‘sword’ is included in his moniker, ‘Sword Peak.'”

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