Chapter 236: A True Warrior Always Recognizes A Kindred Spirit (2)

Jin Mu-Won studied Hong Ak-San as he approached. The man exuded a mountain-toppling, tyrannical aura unlike that of any ordinary martial artist.

He wasn’t the only one like that. The entire Supreme Demon Squad radiated the same coarse, impure energy. Theirs was inner qi cultivated on a battlefield, contrasting with pure, clean inner qi cultivated in safe places like deep mountains and secluded valleys. Madness seeped into qi gained in that way, leaving a martial artist with an oppressive, savage aura.

The Supreme Demon Squad embodied this quality, but even so, the pressure rolling off them was overwhelming. They weren’t merely stained by that madness, they ruled it.

Jin Mu-Won recalled the long list of martial artists that Ha Jin-Wol had given him. The Supreme Demon Squad’s General Cheok Cheong-Yeong was listed between Hegemon and Potential. In other words, he was a man who deserved attention, one who was close to becoming the overlord of an entire domain.

Such a position placed Cheok Cheong-Yeong a single rung below the sect leaders of the Nine Sects One Gang and the heads of the Five Great Clans. Even Ha Jin-Wol could dig up no more information, because the man was elusive and impossible to get near.

The closer Hong Ak-San got, the more Jongri Mu-Hwan and the others’ tensed.

“How long are you going to stand there and watch? Weren’t you with them? You cowards.” Hong Ak-San sneered as he raised his axe and leveled it at the Iron Sect.

Go Cheon-Hu’s cheeks trembled. “How dare you call this old man a coward!”

He rushed forward without hesitation. He was literally riding a tiger, after all. There was no room to retreat once a man was on a tiger’s back, so he had to see it through to the end.

“Let’s go!” Chae Yak-Ran led the charge against the Supreme Demon Squad, with Gongson Chang right behind her.

“Guess I don’t have a choice.” Shaking his head, Jongri Mu-Hwan moved as well. He didn’t want to be part of a pointless fight like this, but he couldn’t back down now.

He looked at Jin Mu-Won, who was still sitting calmly in the carriage.

“S-Sir...” Yu Geon-Yeop stammered from beside Jin Mu-Won. His teeth chattered under the oppressive atmosphere. Being more sensitive to killing intent than anyone else, he was suffering under the intense pressure radiating from Hong Ak-San.

“It’s okay,” Jin Mu-Won said, taking his small hand.

Yu Geon-Yeop’s trembling gradually subsided. Although he was still bathed in Hong Ak-San and the Supreme Demon Squad’s killing intent, he felt strangely at ease, and he wasn’t naive enough to miss the reason why.

He looked up at Jin Mu-Won’s face. The man was quietly watching the fight between the Supreme Demon Squad, the Demon Slaying Army, and the mercenaries.

It was a one-sided massacre. The Demon Slaying Army and the mercenaries were the only ones dying. Even after Jongri Mu-Hwan and the Iron Sect martial artists joined the fight, the tides didn’t turn.

Yu Geon-Yeop’s eyes shook in horror. Boys barely fifteen or sixteen years old were dying before his eyes. They struggled desperately to survive, but they were no match for the Supreme Demon Squad.

“Ugh!”

Eventually, some of the terrified boys turned and ran. Unlike before, there was no Gwak Sung to stop them.

Panic spread like wildfire. More and more boys threw down their weapons and fled. As the formation fell apart, even the mercenaries who had barely held on gave up and ran. Since the main road was narrow, many people got in each other’s way, causing chaos.

The Supreme Demon Squad didn’t hurry. They methodically hunted down and killed the fleeing enemies one by one.

“Uwaaah! Help me!”

“Mom, I miss you!”

The boys sobbed and wailed. By throwing away their swords and sabers, they had abandoned their status as martial artists of the Demon Slaying Army. They were now merely young boys longing for their parents’ embrace.

Jin Mu-Won let out a low sigh and shook his head.

“Sir?” Yu Geon-Yeop asked.

“Stay here by yourself for a moment. Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you.”

“But...”

Jin Mu-Won gently patted Yu Geon-Yeop on the head. The boy looked up and found Jin Mu-Won smiling.

A shiver ran down his spine at that smile.

Jin Mu-Won climbed down from the carriage. Countless weapons lay scattered across the ground, including swords and daos abandoned by the Demon Slaying Army as well as all manner of oddly shaped arms dropped by the mercenaries.

He picked an iron rod out from among them. It was about the length of a sword, and the weight felt just right in his hand.

TAP! TAP!

Jin Mu-Won tapped the rod against his palm as he strode toward the middle of the fray.

Ahead of him, the Supreme Demon Squad charged after the boys of the Demon Slaying Army.

CLIP CLOP CLIP CLOP CLIP CLOP!

The pounding of warhorse hooves reverberated through the earth and up into the soles of his feet. An intense pressure washed over him, as if a storm were brewing.

The boys whizzed by Jin Mu-Won without noticing him. Their only concern was for their own lives.

The moment the last of them ran off, the Supreme Demon Squad surrounded the man standing in the road with an iron rod.

They sneered. Many martial artists had stood in the way of the Supreme Demon Squad before, but no one had ever been so reckless as to block their path with nothing but an iron rod.

“Haaat!”

The Supreme Demon Squad picked up speed, intending to use the weight and velocity of their horses to trample Jin Mu-Won.

The sight of dozens of heavy warhorses bearing down on him was terrifying, yet Jin Mu-Won remained unfazed. When they were nearly on top of him, he extended the iron rod.

CRACK!

The rod shattered the front legs of the lead warhorse despite its momentum. As the horse went down, the martial artist riding it flew through the air and tumbled across the ground.

“Keuk!” The man picked himself up with a groan, dismayed at having lost his mount so quickly.

Moments later, he saw the warhorses falling one by one.

Jin Mu-Won aimed for only the horses’ legs. The martial artists tried to run him down from their saddles, but it was useless. He never stayed in one place, flashing from east to west and striking only the legs. The Supreme Demon Squad was helpless against him.

They attacked him from horseback to no effect. Not one of them could put so much as a scratch on his body. After about fifteen minutes, the main road was littered with fallen horses.

The animals with shattered front legs thrashed and struggled, unable to rise again. Their bodies blocked the road, preventing the rest of the Supreme Demon Squad from advancing. Before they knew it, their own comrades had become the wall in their way.

“You bastard!”

Robbed of the horses that were like their own limbs, the Supreme Demon Squad warriors charged at Jin Mu-Won on foot. A rain of heavy weapons such as halberds, spears, and axes rained down on him, accompanied by streaks of qi trailing from their edges.

“I’ll tear you to pieces!”

“Yaaah!”

Their determination to kill the lone man at any cost was palpable.

Jin Mu-Won leaped into their midst and swung his iron rod through the air.

SHIIING!

With a horrifying shriek of displaced air, the rod struck the leader square in the throat.

“Gack!”

He staggered and collapsed.

“You bastard!”

The other warriors roared and charged, unleashing a ferocious aura like wild beasts let loose from a cage. Unfortunately, their murderous intent had no effect on Jin Mu-Won.

THUD! THWACK!

Each time the iron rod cleaved the air, another Supreme Demon Squad warrior dropped, his eyes rolling back into his head.

Jin Mu-Won used no special form. He emitted no sword qi or weapon qi. He simply thrust and struck his opponents methodically yet relentlessly. Yet somehow, even peak realm martial artists failed to react in time and fell one after another.

“Ah!” Yu Geon-Yeop gasped in awe from his seat in the carriage. He didn’t know what it looked like to others, but to him, Jin Mu-Won was dancing in ecstasy. So beautiful was the dance that it nearly brought him to tears, and large drops welled up in his eyes.

“Who the hell are you?” one of the Supreme Demon Squad shouted.

Instead of answering, Jin Mu-Won looked around. Go Cheon-Hu and Chae Yak-Ran were fighting Hong Ak-San off to one side.

Hong Ak-San’s axe technique was vicious. His swings packed so much power that neither opponent dared to meet him head-on. Rather, they dodged and deflected, searching for an opening to counterattack.

Meanwhile, Jongri Mu-Hwan and Gongson Chang circled the fight, keeping the other Supreme Demon Squad warriors from joining in.

“Hmm!”

A faint smile touched Jin Mu-Won’s lips as he watched Jongri Mu-Hwan. To anyone else, it might have looked like the man was circling Hong Ak-San, unsure of what to do. However, Jin Mu-Won could see the truth behind the unusual movement.

As expected, he’s setting up a formation.

Like Ha Jin-Wol, Jongri Mu-Hwan could set up a formation on the fly. As he circled Hong Ak-San, he set stones and twigs down in precise places with movements so natural that he simply looked flustered to everyone else.

Jin Mu-Won anticipated this. Formations were Jongri Mu-Hwan’s greatest weapons, and the most brilliant card he could play to turn the situation around. It was also the moment he had been waiting for.

“Everyone, fall back!” Jongri Mu-Hwan shouted.

Chae Yak-Ran retreated without hesitation, and the quick-witted Go Cheon-Hu followed her.

Hong Ak-San, who had been gleefully unleashing his axe technique, paused in confusion.

Jongri Mu-Hwan drove the final twig into the ground.

WHOOSH!

An unknown current of energy swirled up around Hong Ak-San and swallowed him whole.

“What’s this?” he roared, but quickly recognized the true nature of the black current around him. “A formation? Grr!”

He knew such things existed. He knew that some people could raise a formation on the spot with nothing but a few twigs and stones. He had simply never expected to encounter someone like that.

Hong Ak-San gave up on unraveling the formation. He wasn’t good at using his head. Mowing the formation down with brute force was far faster and easier.

“Take this! Light of the Mad Moon!”

A red light of enhanced qi erupted from his axe and enveloped the blade.

KABOOM!

The enhanced qi struck the black mist, causing the space to ripple violently.

Hong Ak-San unleashed it a second time, then a third, and again. On the sixth strike, cracks spread through the space itself. On the seventh strike, the black current and the space shattered together, and the surrounding scenery snapped back to reality.

Fortunately for him, the formation had been hastily thrown together and was imperfect. A finished one would have kept him struggling much longer.

When he broke free, he was greeted by a main road that had become a scene worthy of an Asura. Dozens of fallen and thrashing horses lay strewn about, and a similar number of Supreme Demon Squad warriors were sprawled across the ground, twitching.

“What the fuck...?”

Flames of fury ignited in Hong Ak-San’s eyes. He had fought on countless battlefields, but he had never suffered such heavy losses.

“Where did those bastards go?” he bellowed.

One of his subordinates nervously pointed down the far end of the main road.

“You mean they fled?”

“T-That’s right.”

“They dared to screw me, Hong Ak-San, over and run away?”

Hong Ak-San ground his teeth in chagrin.