RM-Bab 25

Chapter 25: You’ve Come to the Right Place.

“What’s with that guy?”

Gwon asked, glaring at Yang Dang.

“He’s a wanderer we haven’t dealt with yet.”

“You should have dealt with him! The deal was to hand over only the woman and child, wasn’t it?”

“I’ll take care of him.”

“Do it now!”

Yang Dang drew his sword and approached me.

He was confident he could defeat me.

I wondered how much arrogance and misunderstanding my youthful face would cause in the future, how many more like Yang Dang it would attract.

“You look like a bunch of ruffians who betrayed your master. Do you think you’ll actually get paid? He’ll probably kill you to silence you and swallow the money meant for you.”

At that, Gwon’s eyes blazed with fury.

“What? A bunch of ruffians who betrayed their master?”

“I’m holding back because of the child.”

Gwon laughed in disbelief.

“This guy is strangely crazy.”

“You’re flustered because I hit the mark, aren’t you? You really were planning to kill him and take the money, weren’t you? Don’t. He killed all his companions to get here.”

Unable to hide his inner thoughts, Gwon’s face turned red.

“This worthless wanderer!”

Gwon shouted to his subordinates.

“Kill that bastard first!”

Three masked men stepped forward.

“See? He said ‘that bastard first.’ Doesn’t that mean you’re next after me?”

Hearing this, Yang Dang couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“Even if I run, I have to get paid first.”

Yang Dang, who had taken a step back, flinched in surprise.

“What nonsense is this? When did I ever try to run?”

At the very moment he was shouting in anger.

Shhh!

A hidden weapon thrown by Gwon in a surprise attack cut through the air.

Unable to dodge the suddenly flying weapon, Yang Dang collapsed.

“The fool handles things so poorly.”

I said, looking at the dead Yang Dang.

“Live like that, and this is what happens. Your turn is next.”

This time, I spoke to Gwon.

“You’re just like him. You should have at least kept one of them alive to face me. How can you just kill him because you’re angry? How can any of you survive long if you can’t control your tempers?”

“How long are you going to listen to this bastard’s mouth?”

As Gwon shouted, the three masked men drew their swords and approached.

Indeed, they were skilled enough that they didn’t need to keep Yang Dang alive as a shield.

I looked at the woman and gestured for her to cover the child’s eyes.

The woman hugged the child, covering its eyes and ears.

I didn’t drag this fight out.

Before they could attack, I moved first.

I used the Underworld King Step of the Four Divine Wind Steps.

I had only just reached a level of mastery akin to taking baby steps, but it turned my opponents into newborns.

They were given no chance to defend.

In a flash, I was right in front of my opponent, and the moment he registered my presence, his neck was slit.

I could see the eyes of the second man widen behind his mask.

If I could read his thoughts, they would have been something like, ‘Ack! What…’ before his throat was also cut.

The third masked man failed to react appropriately even though his two companions had died.

In reality, less time had passed than the blink of an eye.

With the Four Divine Wind Steps added to my original martial arts, it was an attack that they couldn’t have blocked even with a hundred years of preparation.

Just like before, I closed in on the third masked man with the Underworld King Step and cut him down with the Flying Heaven Sword Technique.

Gwon was staring at me with a face of pure horror.

In his eyes, it must have looked as if three sword strokes appeared simultaneously, and his subordinates all collapsed at once.

“Fast Sword Technique?”

“I didn’t even use a Fast Sword Technique, but I suppose it would look that way to you now.”

“Wh-who are you?”

Gwon’s voice trembled with fear.

Instead of answering, I asked the woman.

“Who is that man?”

“He is Gwon Won, one of the vassals who protected our family. I am Geum Sa-yeon, the daughter of the Manor Lord of the Golden Manor.”

“The Golden Manor!”

I acted surprised, but in truth, I already knew her identity.

This woman’s father was Geum Ah-su, a Great Merchant ranked among the top ten in the Central Plains, the wealthiest man in Fujian, and the master of the Golden Manor.

This was the reason I had traveled so far.

The rebellion of the Golden Manor.

It was the incident Im Chu had told me about.

The event where the Manor Lord of the Golden Manor was betrayed and killed by the vassal he trusted most.

The daughter of the Manor Lord, who had avoided the villains’ grasp due to a last-minute change in schedule, tried to escape by hiring a wanderer, but in the end, they all lost their lives.

“I wish to hire you, young hero. Please, help us.”

“The situation has changed, so my price has gone up.”

“That’s a relief. We can afford any price, no matter how high. Please, kill that man and save my father.”

At that, Gwon Won pleaded with me.

“Spare me and join our side. I’ll speak to the Elder and have him pay you more than that woman!”

“More money than the daughter of the Manor Lord? How?”

For a moment, Gwon Won was at a loss for words.

I walked toward him and scolded him coldly.

“You were a vassal, you said? Then your place should be in front of that woman and child.”

Gwon Won desperately tried to dodge my sword, but the difference in our skills was not something that could be bridged by a desperate struggle for survival.

My sword cut through Gwon Won’s flesh and bone, piercing even his heart.

He collapsed with a single scream.

Only upon seeing him die did Geum Sa-yeon feel a sense of relief.

Of course, she kept the child’s eyes and ears firmly covered.

I searched the bodies of Gwon Won and the masked men, taking daggers to use as hidden weapons.

The place I had to go from now on would be teeming with enemies.

“Let’s go.”

“We must take my Yang to a safe place first.”

I said as I climbed onto the driver’s seat.

“Get in. The safest place right now is next to me.”

Geum Sa-yeon’s hesitation was not long.

She had seen my skills firsthand, and she would have died anyway if not for me.

As she boarded with her child, the carriage turned around and began to speed back the way it came.

+++

Yeo Sang.

The Manor Lord of the Yeo Family Manor, the guardian clan of the Golden Manor, and the mastermind of today’s betrayal.

He had prepared for ten long years for this day’s undertaking.

During those years, he won over the key martial artists of the Golden Manor, eliminated some by staging accidents, and sent those who could not be swayed or eliminated far away.

He thought he had succeeded perfectly.

That is, until I reappeared with Geum Sa-yeon.

When Geum Sa-yeon and the child got off the carriage, he smiled brightly.

He mistakenly thought his subordinates had captured the two of them.

“Hahahaha!”

If he had let this mother and child escape, he would never have slept peacefully for the rest of his life.

“Where is Gwon Won?”

He thought I was one of Gwon Won’s subordinates.

“He’s dead. Everyone except me is dead.”

He might have felt something was off about my tone, but he was more curious about the next question.

“To whom?”

“A young, handsome, mysterious master.”

“What did you say?”

Yeo Sang shouted, his face contorted in disbelief.

“You pathetic fool! What are you thinking, showering the enemy with such praise?”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Fine. Let’s say that’s true. Then how did you survive…”

Yeo Sang flinched and then grasped the situation.

“It was you!”

I answered with a faint smile.

Yeo Sang shouted, gathering his subordinates.

They swarmed forward, surrounding me and the carriage.

“If you saved the woman and child, you should have run far away. Why did you return to the tiger’s den?”

I looked around.

“Where’s the tiger here? All I see is a pack of dogs that bit the master who raised them.”

Yeo Sang, as well as the men surrounding us, radiated killing intent.

They were Yeo Sang’s limbs and the treacherous martial artists of the Golden Manor.

With guilty consciences, they masked their shame with an even colder fury.

Standing beside the carriage, Geum Sa-yeon held her son tightly.

It was a terrifying situation, but she showed no sign of fear.

She knew well that composure was a privilege of the strong, and like a true merchant’s daughter, she was quick-witted.

To let me fight without distraction, she took her son and went inside the carriage.

Yeo Sang also sensed I was no ordinary person and was extremely cautious.

“Who are you, young hero? First, let’s go inside, have a drink, and talk. I will treat you to fine wine.”

“There’s no need for such formalities. I won’t spare you for acting nice. I won’t spare you for begging. So feel free to curse and rage all you want.”

Sensing that his attempt at appeasement had failed, Yeo Sang gave a cold command.

“Attack together and kill him!”

He emphasized the words ‘attack together.’

The moment the order was given, the men charged from all directions.

Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! Shhh!

With the sound of a cool breeze, daggers flew from my hand.

By the time they thought of dodging or deflecting, the daggers had already severed those thoughts and embedded themselves in their vital points.

The charging martial artists dropped one after another, tumbling to the ground.

The throwing dagger technique I had learned in my past life was the Death-Stealing Hidden Blade Technique of the Flying Dagger Grandmaster, Seo Mun-cheol.

Before or since, I had never found a superior dagger technique; it was a martial art worth keeping for a lifetime.

When I ran out of daggers, I could see the survivors looking pleased.

It was a fleeting moment of joy, born from the misunderstanding that I was merely a master of throwing daggers.

I drew my sword and charged at them.

Their skills varied from masters to intermediate levels, but before my Flying Heaven Sword Technique, which had reached Great Mastery, they showed no discernible difference.

After I tore through the field, all the enemies were down, and Yeo Sang’s face had gone pale.

“Who might you be, Great Hero?”

A sword dripping with blood had turned a young hero into a Great Hero.

“Great Hero? What nonsense! I’m just a swordsman who happened to smell money passing by.”

“How much would it take for you to just walk away?”

“You have a lot of money?”

“Enough to change a person’s life.”

“Why would someone with so much money do something like this? If you wanted to change your life, you should have used your own money. Why touch someone else’s? And your own master’s money, at that.”

At a loss for an answer, Yeo Sang could only bite his lip.

Just as he was racking his brain, wondering what to do.

“Drop your sword!”

From a building behind, one of his subordinates was emerging with a sword pointed at Geum Ah-su’s throat.

The subordinate seemed to be trying to force my surrender by taking a hostage, but at the sight, Yeo Sang sighed with a look of dismay.

He had intended to keep Geum Ah-su hidden and negotiate with me, but his foolish subordinate had brought him out.

In any case, what was done was done, so Yeo Sang roared, pressuring me.

“Drop the sword, now! Or the Manor Lord of the Golden Manor dies!”

In an instant, a streak of Sword Qi tore through the air.

The Fourth Form of the Flying Heaven Sword Technique, Blazing Heaven Form.

It was already a rough and tyrannical Sword Qi emission technique, but when channeled through the Black Demon Sword with powerful inner energy, its force was enough to startle the heavens and overturn the earth.

Ruumble!

The Sword Qi, swirling as if alive, flew past and struck the martial artist.

He had been using Geum Ah-su as a shield, hiding two-thirds of his body, but the exposed one-third had simply vanished.

Leaving only Geum Ah-su standing, the dead body crumpled to the ground.

Believing this was his chance since I had expended inner energy releasing the Sword Qi, Yeo Sang launched a surprise attack, thrusting his sword like a lightning bolt.

I was prepared, so his desperate strike naturally missed.

In his continuous attacks, Yeo Sang’s openings were constantly visible.

Even if he had trained his whole life, he would have been no match for me.

But greed had taken the place of training, so he was no opponent of mine.

I could have subdued him immediately, but I gave him a few more moves.

If I were to defeat the Lord of the Yeo Family Manor too easily, the curiosity and mystique surrounding me would grow too large.

Yeo Sang’s sword flew continuously, aiming for my vital points.

With his own life on the line, his attacks were desperate.

To a spectator, it might have looked like a breathless, close-fought battle, but my heart was as calm as a clear mirror.

When some thirty moves had passed.

Thud.

With the sound of tearing flesh, the fight was over.

Yeo Sang’s thrusting sword was frozen in mid-air.

Reflected on its blade was the joyous face of Geum Ah-su.

My sword, having crossed his attack at an angle, was embedded in his heart.

Yeo Sang’s eyes were full of resentment toward me, but I spoke to him calmly.

“You are the head of a guardian clan, are you not? You, of all people, should not have done this. In your next life, if you want to make money, become a merchant. If you want to kill people, become an assassin.”

Already dead, Yeo Sang could not answer.

When I pulled out my sword, he collapsed.

Geum Sa-yeon, who had been watching from the carriage window with bated breath, cheered and got out with her son.

“Father.”

“Grandfather!”

Geum Sa-yeon and the child ran to Geum Ah-su and embraced him.

“Sa-yeon! Yang!”

Clinging to her father, Geum Sa-yeon shed tears, and when his mother cried, the child cried along.

A short while later, the imprisoned martial artists of the Golden Manor were freed.

Once the area was cleared, Geum Ah-su expressed his gratitude to me once more.

Having heard the story from Geum Sa-yeon, his gratitude for saving his daughter and grandson was far greater than for saving himself.

“I will never forget this debt. Young hero, you are the benefactor who saved our family from annihilation. Would you please tell me your esteemed name?”

I could imagine how great his curiosity about me was, since I had dealt with Yeo Sang and his men single-handedly.

“I am merely a passing wanderer.”

“Even if the King of Wanderers himself had come, he could not have dealt with them so easily.”

“You praise me too highly.”

When I refused to reveal my identity, Geum Ah-su did not ask further.

Geum Sa-yeon told Geum Ah-su about the promise she had made with me.

“I promised our benefactor. I said we would pay him in money.”

Geum Ah-su praised his daughter with a satisfied expression.

“Well done. You made the most certain of promises.”

Having regained his composure, he finally showed the bearing of the wealthiest man in Fujian.

“If what our benefactor needs is money, then you’ve come to the right place today.”