Chapter 90: Same Bed, Different Dreams (2)

Yeon Hojeong, the beggar, and So Cheong burst out of the den.

Far off down the mountain path, three beggars were descending.

So Cheong’s eyes went wide.

“Why are they suddenly—?”

In that instant Yeon Hojeong’s eyes flashed.

“Hold this till I come back.”

THUD!

He flung the axe aside and moved at once.

WHOOOM! FWOOSH!

With White Tiger Qi he flared his lungs open, and with Vermilion Bird Qi he heated his heart. At the same time he flooded both legs with Jade Wave True Qi.

THOOOOM!

He shot out faster than ever.

Grave light crossed his face.

Killing intent!

GLINT!

Behind the descending beggars, a razor line of killing intent rose.

Yeon Hojeong’s eyes shook.

“Danger!”

THWACK!

One beggar spat blood and crumpled.

Not the torso—the head. Something that struck square at the back of the skull drilled through the glabella and stuck in the ground.

An arrow?!

“Uwaaaah!”

The remaining two ran harder. Terrified out of their wits, they weren’t themselves.

Yeon Hojeong pushed even more speed.

THOOM! THOOM!

Fast—yet at the same time, slow.

The distance was too great. Faster than before, but not enough to close it in an instant.

Damn it!

THWACK!

Another beggar pitched forward. Again the head was pierced.

Yeon Hojeong lifted his gaze.

Someone stood on the far summit, drawing the string of an enormous longbow. The image branded itself in his eyes.

From there?

Astounding.

Even by straight line it was well ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) over seventy jang. From that distance, striking dead center of the head.

GLINT!

Another razor of killing intent rose.

The gap shrank in a lurch. He was just over ten jang from the beggar now.

For a heartbeat, red firelight rippled in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

FWOOSH! BAM!

With three steps of Blood Wing Sweeps the Heavens he snapped the distance tight.

Then—the string loosed.

SHWEEEEE!

Terrifying speed.

Air around the spinning arrow seemed to whirl in a vortex. A blisteringly fast, dead-straight shot.

Too fast. I’ll miss it.

The arrow would pierce the head faster than his hand could reach and yank the beggar.

He chose in a flash. He poured Black Tortoise Qi into his outstretched hand.

BANG!

“Gugh!”

The beggar ricocheted the other way—thanks to the rebound of the Northern Heaven Twelve Walls.

SNRRK! THUD!

The arrow that grazed the beggar’s brow grazed Yeon Hojeong’s arm and buried itself in the ground.

Yeon Hojeong yanked the shaft free in a snap and sprang up the mountain path.

The beggar would live. Internal injuries were inevitable, but a life saved is a life.

Now the only thing that mattered was the unknown archer. Catch the archer and it ends.

Perhaps surprised the shot had gone awry, the archer paused, watching this way, then set another arrow to the longbow.

KRA-KA-KAK!

The string draw seemed audible even here. It looked like a bow that demanded monstrous poundage.

No way...

A fierce light rose in Yeon Hojeong’s eyes.

Muk Bi?!

Was that really Muk Bi? Could he meet him this quickly, and by chance?

A hundred thoughts jumped, but this was a time to empty the head. The archer’s aim was now on him.

The archer loosed.

TIIIIIING!

Yeon Hojeong’s body slid on a left diagonal in the same beat.

THUD!

The arrow punched through a tree and pinned the earth.

He’d realized it when a Beggars’ Union man died—this power was monstrous. It bored through a tree as if tofu, then planted to the fletching in the ground.

With that level of penetration, even Yeon Hojeong couldn’t block it head-on. He had to snatch it mid-flight or evade.

And it wasn’t a speed you could snatch easily.

THOOM! THOOM!

Yeon Hojeong closed fast.

What?

The archer didn’t run. He pulled out three arrows at his belt and set one again.

A naked threat. As the distance closed, the keen killing intent pricked his brow.

That bastard...

Even in urgency, Yeon Hojeong couldn’t hide his puzzlement.

The build is different.

He was bigger than Muk Bi.

Which meant he wasn’t Muk Bi. His frame was rangier, his limbs longer.

Decisively, Muk Bi used a composite horn bow, not a longbow. Chain-shot with a specially made horn bow was Muk Bi’s specialty.

Yeon Hojeong’s gaze went cold.

He knew it wasn’t Muk Bi. No reason to go easy.

Red energy from his heart rippled across his body in a blink.

KA-BOOM!

At extreme speed, Blood Wing Sweeps the Heavens vaulted three boulders at a bound.

His speed spiked without warning. Startled, the archer loosed the other two arrows in a flurry.

THUD! THUD!

They missed.

A fight with an archer is a fight of distance. Blood Wing Sweeps the Heavens burned inner force hard; it was a burden to chain it—but now there was no choice.

KRA-KA-KAK!

The string drew again.

WHOOO—

He let Vermilion Bird Qi down and shifted off the Blood Wing dash. Using the Jade Wave True Formula, his movement was slower than Blood Wing Sweeps the Heavens, but smoother and freer.

Twenty jang!

At this distance, even if he fled, the tail would be his.

Eyes pinned to the archer to the end, Yeon Hojeong suddenly flared his eyes wide.

WHOOOO—

It was just a single arrow. Not even a special iron arrow—just a common wooden shaft.

Then what was this pressure?

Silk-Twisting Force?

Qi condensed at the point brewed a colossal whirl. A higher-order twist that seemed to gulp all the air around it.

The problem was this arrow—no, this martial art—was something Yeon Hojeong also knew.

His jaw dropped.

Dragon Tooth Cannon!!

The archer loosed.

BWAAAAAAM!!

The very air felt like it was burning.

The instant he recognized the Dragon Tooth Cannon, Yeon Hojeong abandoned the idea of catching it. He hurled himself behind a tree.

The spiraling arrow slammed into the trunk.

KRAAANG!

It mulched a thick tree whole, smashed a boulder, and burst the ground.

RUMMMMBLE.

Trees toppled, shattered rock skittered everywhere.

CRACK! K-CRAK-CRAK! RUMBLE!

Rock slammed rock, ricocheting stones smashed more trees and shoved other boulders downslope.

From a single arrow of terrifying power, a small landslide broke loose. The hill was weak to begin with; once trunks fell and stones rolled, it became an unbridled calamity.

KWA-KWA-KWANG!

The fifteen-jang fan ahead of the archer was turned to a blasted field.

RUMMMMBLE!

At last the quaking stilled. Dust boiled up on all sides.

The archer tipped his bamboo hat.

A flash cut across his sharp eyes.

“......Got him.”

At fifteen jang he could clearly feel a presence. But he felt nothing.

Dead, surely.

Should I clean up more?

He’d missed a beggar. One of the three had seen his face. For safety, he should kill them all.

Just then—

TATADAK.

Far off, many people were converging. Some were martial artists.

No helping it.

Even if someone had seen him now, it didn’t matter. He’d only meant to kill them all just in case; the cart was already rolling anyway.

Still, what snagged him was the young man who had charged him to the end.

A remarkable expert.

He hadn’t thought he’d have to bring out the Dragon Tooth Cannon. Without it, he might have been caught.

SHFF.

The archer turned away. His business was done.

He should, however, have been more thorough.

GLINT.

A shadow that had somehow climbed to the ridgeline watched the path where the archer ran.

****

“So—did you get them all?”

“Yes.”

“Well done. Here, take this.”

“Thank you.”

“No need for thanks. You and I—we’re just lives clinging on at the cliff’s edge. No need to be grateful every time.”

Baek Gungcheon took the pill the old man passed and bowed at the waist.

“Hack! Hack!—Hueegh!”

Racked by a rasping cough, Baek Gungcheon spit blood.

The old man sighed.

“How long has it been?”

“......Three days.”

“If the spasms are coming faster, you should’ve said so.”

“......”

“You are a trying man.”

Rummaging among his medicinals, the old man drew out a black pill.

“Take this too.”

“Thank you.”

After swallowing both, Baek Gungcheon let out a low breath.

The effect came faster than he expected. In a blink, his body eased.

But he knew this wasn’t good. The faster the effect, the harsher the medicine; and needing a harsh medicine meant the body was already ruined.

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“How long do I have?”

“......”

“My movement is clumsier than before. My strength for the Crossing Dragons Great Bow has dropped. At some point, even my inner force seems to be leaking.”

“......Inner-force loss.”

The old man’s breath carried a groan.

“So it’s reached that stage.”

“......Is it that bad?”

“As I told you, Heart-Settling Red is a poison and not a poison. The moment you’re addicted, the toxin lodges in the heart. If you don’t detoxify immediately, that’s the end. The poison camped in the heart infinitely drinks your life.”

“I know. You told me before.”

“Your will and inner cultivation are extraordinary—that’s why you’re still alive. But Heart-Settling Red is vicious. Since it couldn’t easily suck your primal essence, it’s begun to take your inner force instead.”

“......”

“When it drinks enough qi—finished. Your heart channels will rupture and you’ll die on the spot.”

“That’s why I’m asking. How long?”

“Half a month.”

“......”

“At most, half a month. At least, you might not survive five days.”

Even at the shocking words, Baek Gungcheon’s expression didn’t change.

“You said Ga Ryeong’s procedure is tomorrow?”

“That’s right. As I said, it will take seven nights.”

“Five days... seven nights...”

Baek Gungcheon rose.

“We start today.”

The old man spoke quickly.

“No. You coughed blood. You must rest today.”

“There’s no time. I don’t know when that one will come out again. We have to be on standby now.”

“And if you collapse?”

“Then pack me pills—strong ones—so I don’t.”

“Haa...”

At last the old man sighed and drew a small box from under the table.

“I made these just in case. Two pills, morning and evening.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“You’re the one who has.”

“And you will keep working.”

Taking the box, Baek Gungcheon turned toward the door.

Then—

“When did Heart-Settling Red turn into a death sentence?”

FWIP!

Baek Gungcheon spun and drew in a flash—lightning itself.

His eyes flared. A shadow vaulted in through the window.

WHIP! SHWEEEEE!

Surprise crossed his face. He’d missed.

THOOM! KRA-KA-KAK!

He set the string again—but too late. The shadow that had come in at staggering speed flowed like a soft wave and subdued the old man in a breath.

“Gaaah!”

The old man’s back went ramrod straight.

Behind him, a young man locked his arm and choked his neck, eyes like blades.

“We already did greetings.”

Baek Gungcheon’s eyes shook.

“You—?!”

“Your reaction is art. The posture, too—you’re a dead ringer for that man.”

Yeon Hojeong’s voice went cold.

“Put the bow down.”