Thudthudthudthud!
Four fine horses thundered down the main road. Exhausted from too little rest, they were already gasping for breath, but we couldn’t afford to ease the reins.
System
Time Limit: 16:25:32
31, 30. The time kept ticking down.
Three shichen—a full six hours—had already passed. We had stopped at a small village along the way to look for fresh horses, but all they had were small, painfully slow packhorses.
We really do need to rest.
We were trapped between a rock and a hard place.
We had been forcing our march as hard as we could, but the time limit was dangerously close. If we kept running like this, the horses wouldn’t hold out.
Do we have a choice?
I was just about to suggest to Wolhwa and Jin Mukyung that we rest, even if only briefly, when—
“Hm?”
“Young Master Jin! Ahead!”
Even without Wolhwa’s shout, I had already seen them. Several dozen jang ahead, a group of dark figures blocked the main road.
Every one of them wore filthy clothes, with a single curved saber sticking out from his belt. There was no need to say anything more.
The Red Wind Band.
The men had surrounded what appeared to be ordinary civilians and were threatening them. At the sound of hoofbeats, they whipped their heads around.
The mounted bandits spotted me riding well out in front and grinned, baring their yellow teeth.
“Well, look at that. Our next customer’s here already. Stop!”
“Oh, sure.”
They told me to stop, so I had to stop. What else could I do?
Thud! Thud!
“Gaaah!”
“Argh!”
My horse didn’t come to a halt until it had trampled the two or so men blocking the road. The mounted bandits—and even the travelers they had captured—stared at me wide-eyed.
“You—you bastard!”
I hopped down from the saddle and asked,
“I’m asking just to make sure. You’re the Red Wind Band, right?”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Judging by your reaction, I guess I was right. I’m short on time, so let’s finish this quickly.”
Without hesitation, I kicked the nearest man in the leg.
Crack.
With a chilling sound, his shinbone snapped, and he crumpled to the ground.
It all happened in an instant. The others stood stunned for a moment, then hastily leveled their curved sabers and spears at me.
“Kill him!”
“A man should always watch his back.”
“What?”
“I said, watch behind you.”
The instant I finished speaking, ten pairs of eyes turned to look behind them.
Craack! Thud!
Three fine horses charging at full speed swept the men away.
The battle was over before it had even begun. The men struck by the horses had been sent flying like bowling pins and lay sprawled out half-dead. The rest were easily subdued.
“P-Please, just spare my life.”
“I won’t kill you. But I’ll have to fix a few things first.”
“Eek!”
While Jin Mukyung methodically broke the limbs of the surviving bandits, Hyuk Mujin brought over the horses tied up beside the road.
“It looks like we can switch to these healthy ones. There must be at least ten of them, so we might as well take them all and change horses whenever one gets tired.”
I had been thinking the same thing. Unlike the last group we encountered, these mounted bandits each had their own horses. It was fortunate.
But still…
How many of these Red Wind Band bastards were there?
According to the information we obtained at the shrine, more than a hundred remnants had scattered throughout northern Shanxi.
Some were hiding in the foothills, while others were concealed in remote villages or crowded areas, gathering at a designated rendezvous point when ordered.
These men aren’t stragglers.
They were ambush forces carrying out an operation. The Red Wind Band Leader was replenishing his forces on the plateau and moving south, while sending the subordinates he had left behind north.
I could easily understand why Wolhwa had described the Red Wind Band Leader as such a terrifying man.
The judgment to retreat swiftly when the tide turned against him. The meticulousness to prepare his next plan even while retreating. And the drive to put that plan into action.
On top of that, I had heard that his own martial arts were formidable.
At this point, I almost felt bad for treating him as nothing more than a mounted bandit.
This has gotten seriously messy.
Now I understood why the Quest Grade had risen to Peak. Things kept getting worse the more I learned.
Surely the Red Wind Band Leader wasn’t a Peak master too… right?
I asked Wolhwa just in case, and she immediately nodded.
“Yes. He is.”
“…Ah.”
“There has to be a reason someone rose to prominence so quickly. He isn’t widely known yet, but according to our sect’s intelligence, the Red Wind Band Leader is indeed a Peak master.”
I was dumbfounded.
“Why would a Peak master become a mounted bandit?”
“There are even Supreme Peak masters among mountain bandits and water bandits. Why couldn’t a mounted bandit be one?”
“Supreme Peak masters? Among mountain bandits and water bandits?”
“If you ever meet the Green Forest Alliance Leader or the Alliance Leader of the Yangtze River Channel League, ask them yourself. Not that you ever will.”
“…I sincerely hope that’s true.”
A Supreme Peak master? I genuinely hoped I would never meet one.
I shook my head repeatedly and mounted one of the newly taken horses. Jin Mukyung and Hyuk Mujin followed after tying up the Red Wind Band’s mounted bandits and handing them over to the commoners.
System
Time Limit: 15:59:13
The time limit continued to tick down even now. Leaving the commoners behind as they bowed deeply in thanks, we kicked the horses in the ribs.
“Giddyap!”
Deep within the inner grounds of the Mount Heng Sword Sect stood a garden that only a very small number of people were allowed to enter. Cheol Mubaek, the Tiger of Mount Heng, was the only outsider granted that privilege.
“This is my first time here.”
“Because it was a special place. Whenever Father had something weighing on his mind, he would come to the garden.”
Lee Seowol walked through the snow-covered garden, her footsteps crunching softly. Then she suddenly stopped when she spotted a frost-covered flower.
“Mother loved this flower.”
“Did she?”
“Yes. Whenever she tended the garden, she would always bring me here and tell me the names of the flowers.”
After thinking quietly for a moment, Lee Seowol continued.
“But I can’t remember it now.”
“It was a long time ago. Don’t trouble yourself over it.”
“Uncle Cheol.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t like flowers. I only followed Mother because she liked them. In truth, I never cared about flowers. It’s the same reason Father used to come to the garden.”
Lee Seowol slowly looked around the snow-covered garden. The flowers had withered, and the number of burial mounds in the center of the garden had grown from one to four.
Her gaze sank as she silently stared at the mounds where her family slept.
Whose fault was it?
Perhaps it was her own fault for being born the daughter of a Murim martial artist.
That was why she had lost her father and two older brothers one after another, after losing her mother ten years ago.
I should have kept trying to stop him until the very end…
A memory from two months ago suddenly resurfaced and blurred her vision.
It had been a conversation between father and daughter, held late one night with no one else present.
“I’ll have to tie you to the third son of the Jin Family of Taiyuan.”
“The third son? Surely you’re not thinking of marrying me to that good-for-nothing?”
“No. But it will become an unbearable scandal for you.”
“I see.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“What can I do? It’s my fault for having a heartless father.”
“You’re a child I can never understand. Are you really all right with this?”
“If I say I don’t like it, will you change your mind?”
“At the very least, I’ll look for another way.”
“So the war with the Jin Family of Taiyuan is a foregone conclusion.”
“Now that the Strange Hero of Shanxi and the Heaven Shaking Sword are absent, this is the perfect time. This opportunity will never come again.”
“The Jin Family of Taiyuan is strong even without the Family Head and the Second Young Master. Please reconsider.”
“No. My decision has already been made.”
“Then make sure you win. Become strong enough that no one in Shanxi can even open their mouth about a scandal involving me.”
“…If you had been a man, I would have made you the Young Sect Leader.”
“I’m glad I was born a woman. I have no interest in being this sect’s Young Sect Leader.”
Her fears soon became reality.
Had even a fortnight passed before Lee Seogeun returned as a cold corpse? Not long after, she lost Lee Cheonbaek. In the end, even her eldest brother, Lee Seogwang, was gone.
Now I’m alone.
And so, the Blood Wolf Sword Lee Cheonbaek’s last surviving blood relative became the new Sect Leader.
As she silently gazed at the burial mounds, a warm palm gently caressed her shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I should have come sooner…”
“Uncle Cheol, please don’t say that. If you hadn’t come, our sect wouldn’t have been able to hold out this long.”
Under the Red Wind Band’s fierce assault, the Mount Heng Sword Sect had been helplessly driven back. If not for the Peak master known as the Tiger of Mount Heng, who had rushed over after belatedly learning of Lee Cheonbaek’s calamity, the enemy would never have withdrawn.
“I’ll tear that bastard limb from limb and kill him.”
At the thought of the Red Wind Band Leader, Lee Seowol shook her head.
In a life-and-death duel between Peak masters, Cheol Mubaek had the edge.
They had already clashed once, and Pung Yang had retreated with a minor internal injury.
But an opportunity like that will never come again.
The Mount Heng Sword Sect had always gathered information on the mounted bandits of northern Gaoyuan and remained constantly on alert.
There were dozens of mounted-bandit groups in Gaoyuan, but among them, the Red Wind Band led by Pung Yang had grown frighteningly fast.
A man particularly strong and meticulous even among Gaoyuan’s chieftains.
That man was Pung Yang.
There’s no way someone like that would engage Uncle Cheol in a life-and-death duel. If Uncle Cheol rashly tried to confront him, Pung Yang would turn the tables on him instead.
Lee Seowol turned toward Cheol Mubaek.
“Uncle Cheol, could you tell me once more about Pung Yang’s martial arts?”
“Early Peak. His saber arts and throwing-knife techniques had reached a high realm. However…”
A deep furrow formed between Cheol Mubaek’s brows.
“Every one of his forms was thoroughly insidious. I suspect he has learned demonic, heterodox martial arts.”
“Demonic, heterodox arts…”
Ever since the Great Faction War, practicing demonic, heterodox arts had become synonymous with death in the Central Plains. Unorthodox factions might present themselves as orthodox, but no one openly declared themselves unorthodox.
“For now, it’s only a suspicion. We’ll know if we clash again.”
“I trust you, Uncle Cheol. But don’t underestimate the Red Wind Band Leader. He has any number of subordinates he can sacrifice in his place.”
With enemies bearing down from both directions, their combined force was close to three hundred strong.
Meanwhile, even after gathering every martial artist stationed at its branches, the Mount Heng Sword Sect had less than half that number.
Given the situation, morale was low among both the ordinary martial artists and the newly appointed senior members.
“Seowol. May I say something?”
These were the words of a benefactor who had risked his life out of loyalty to his dead friend. Lee Seowol bowed politely.
“I’ll take your words to heart.”
Cheol Mubaek spoke heavily.
“Leave.”
It was a single word laden with meaning.
But there was not the slightest hesitation in Lee Seowol’s answer.
“I’m sorry.”
“It isn’t too late. You must survive.”
“It isn’t over yet. And I will survive.”
“If you thought Cheonbaek would have wanted this…”
“Uncle.”
At her resolute voice, Cheol Mubaek closed his mouth. Firm determination filled Lee Seowol’s clear eyes.
“This is what I wanted. As the Sect Leader of the Mount Heng Sword Sect.”
“Whew…”
Cheol Mubaek let out a sigh instead of answering.
“I’m already deeply indebted to you, Uncle. Even if you leave now, I won’t resent you.”
“Do you really need to hear my answer before you’ll be satisfied?”
Lee Seowol shook her head. Cheol Mubaek had cherished her like his own child since she was young. In some ways, he had been more of a father to her than her actual father.
“I will never forget this debt. Uncle Cheol, you are the benefactor of both me and the Mount Heng Sword Sect.”
“I’ve watched you since you were little, but… you really are a sly child.”
“I was sly when I was young. Now I’m a ruthless bitch.”
Watching Lee Seowol smile faintly, Cheol Mubaek could only continue to sigh deeply.
“Do we have any chance of winning?”
“If we fought now? Ten percent.”
“What?”
“But if reinforcements arrive, fifty percent. More than that.”
“Reinforcements? From the Jin Family of Taiyuan?”
“A messenger pigeon from the Lower District Sect’s Jeongyang Branch arrived two shichen ago.”
“How many are coming? A hundred? Two hundred?”
“Four. One of them is the Heaven Shaking Sword, Jin Mukyung, and another is…”
Lee Seowol let out a wry laugh, reminded of her ill-fated connection with him.
“The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi, Jin Taekyung.”
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