Chapter 15 : An Ambush (1)

Chapter 15: An Ambush (1)

"Young Master, that plaque is…."

"I'm someone who learned a great deal from that child. He's worth more than that plaque."

Mo Biyoung stopped speaking and stepped back.

That was because she knew how fond Yong Hwarin was of Ha Cheolryeong.

‘He must’ve been starved for affection for so long that even a child from a remote village finds a place in his heart.’

Even so, Yong Hwarin couldn’t hide his sense of guilt. So, he chose the most expensive items from Hae Deokgong’s medicine storehouse, paid generously, and bought them.

Mo Biyoung scolded him for purchasing such useless things, but Yong Hwarin simply laughed in response, and she didn’t push the matter any further.

Mo Biyoung, too, had grown fond of Hae Deokgong and his son during their time together and had wanted to do something for them.

And so, Yong Hwarin parted ways with Cheolryeong and descended from Mount Wudang.

As they descended the mountain, Mo Biyoung asked, noticing the joyful smile on Yong Hwarin's face.

"What’s making you so happy? You've been smiling the whole time."

"Hahaha, does it look that way?"

Yong Hwarin hadn’t mentioned the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra to any of them yet.

This was something he intended to keep secret for the rest of his life.

If it became known in the martial world that he possessed this secret manual, attacks from martial artists would pour in, and it could lead to the annihilation of his entire clan.

"Are we heading to the Jaegal Clan?"

When asked about the direction, Yong Hwarin shook his head.

"I'm returning to the main house."

"Huh? I thought you were going to visit your fiancée. You're just going to leave without seeing her when the Jaegal Clan is so close?"

Namwook asked, baffled.

"The timing doesn’t seem right to visit my fiancée just yet."

The pretext for leaving home had been to visit his fiancée. But now, to say that the timing wasn’t right when they were so close made Namwook and Jungwook glance at each other in confusion.

However, they had no choice but to follow Yong Hwarin’s will.

"Still, wouldn’t it be good to at least drop by and let them know that the Young Master has recovered?"

Yong Hwarin didn’t hear them—his mind was already elsewhere.

He was burning with the desire to return to his clan and begin mastering the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra.

That was why he decided not to visit the Jaegal Clan. He didn’t know how much time would be wasted if he went there.

Right now, there was nothing more important to Yong Hwarin than learning the Tai Chi Profound Heavenly Sutra as soon as possible.

*

However, Yong Hwarin’s intentions crumbled before they even left the county.

The group was on the road to the Heavenly Central Sect after retrieving their horses from the inn. As they entered the road leading into Hakjeong County, it happened.

The stench of blood suddenly filled the air.

“There’s a fight happening.”

Mo Biyoung scanned the official road cautiously.

“In the forest!”

Namwook pointed toward the forest on their right.

Yong Hwarin looked in the direction he indicated and saw several corpses strewn along the path leading into the woods.

"Martial artists, honestly! They solve everything with bloodshed. That’s always the problem."

Yong Hwarin muttered words he used often in his previous life.

Back when he lived in the Upper World, he had seen countless martial artists draw their blades over the smallest disputes. He used to say that all the time back then, and now it had come out naturally.

Namwook asked, “What should we do?”

He looked like he was itching for a fight. Having come all this way without encountering a single bandit, he’d been dying to test his skills.

Yong Hwarin replied coolly.

“There’s no need to meddle in someone else’s fight.”

In situations like this, young martial artists often rushed in with youthful arrogance and a sense of heroism, wanting to protect the weak.

But Yong Hwarin didn’t care about that in the slightest. He ignored fights that had nothing to do with him.

Mo Biyoung wasn’t sure whether to see this as a virtue or a flaw. She, too, knew the unspoken rule of not getting involved in others’ martial affairs.

So she simply followed Yong Hwarin’s decision.

The Two Wook Sword Demons glanced longingly toward the woods, then urged their horses forward behind Yong Hwarin.

Neighhh!

Just then, Yong Hwarin, who was at the front, suddenly pulled his horse to a halt.

“What is it?”

Mo Biyoung followed his gaze.

A corpse lay beneath the horse’s hooves.

‘What’s going on? He said we were just going to move on.’

He could’ve just stepped over the body, but he stared at the corpse for a long while.

“…It seems I can’t just pass by after all.”

“Why not?”

“This corpse belonged to a Jaegal Clan escort.”

“Ah!”

Upon closer inspection, it was clearly one of the escorts who had come with Jaegal Yohye.

And the fact that this escort was now a corpse meant that Jaegal Yohye herself was likely in danger.

Yong Hwarin had strong ties to the Jaegal Clan.

Even someone like him, who had gone through all kinds of ordeals in his past life, couldn’t ignore that connection and turn a blind eye.

“Hyah!”

As he neared the forest, the clashing of weapons grew sharper.

Even just from the sounds, one could roughly gauge the level of the combatants.

The weight behind the clang of weapons indicated they were skilled enough to imbue their arms with internal energy.

“These aren’t just some ragtag bandits.”

“Which is probably why the Jaegal Clan’s escorts were killed.”

Yong Hwarin replied as he dismounted.

“Let’s leave the horses here.”

He stopped the Two Wook Sword Demons from rushing into the woods.

“Don’t charge in blindly—let’s assess the situation first.”

Even in this tense moment, Namwook smiled faintly. Seeing someone younger than him remain calm gave him a sense of trust.

“Understood.”

Yong Hwarin gently pushed aside some branches and saw a clearing deeper within the forest where a fight was raging.

Jaegal Yohye, despite being splattered with blood, glared fiercely at her attackers.

A small sword was clutched in her hand, and several Jaegal Clan escorts and middle-aged men stood around her.

“Uaargh!”

A middle-aged man screamed as a sword pierced his back.

“Uncle Oh!”

Jaegal Yohye shouted, but the man she called Uncle Oh rolled across the ground a few times and stopped moving.

There were already at least fifteen bodies of fallen warriors scattered across the ground.

The assailants all wore masks and bamboo hats, making it impossible to distinguish their faces. They were all dressed in white. There were about fifteen of them, and every one of them was strong enough to overpower the Jaegal Clan’s warriors.

In contrast, the survivors of the Jaegal Clan included one of Jaegal Yohye’s escort warriors, two middle-aged men, and a young man who appeared to be around her age.

As Yong Hwarin looked at them, he involuntarily swallowed hard.

“What is it?” asked Mo Biyoung.

Yong Hwarin replied in a low voice.

“Do you know who those men in white are?”

“I do not.”

Yong Hwarin nodded.

‘So their identities aren’t known yet.’

What made Yong Hwarin hold his breath was the emblem on their backs—a symbol that looked like a snake’s head with the horns of a green deer.

They were the Blood Antler Serpent Group, who would come to be known ten years later as the most ruthless and flawless assassins in the assassin world.

Formed by a man named Deuksang, who had obtained the spiritual core of the mystical Blood Antler Serpent and reached the peak of martial arts, the group had taken the creature as their symbol.

However, since this was the early stage of their activity, no one seemed to know who they were yet.

The young man of the Jaegal Clan fighting against the Blood Antler Serpent assassins was someone Yong Hwarin also recognized.

Mo Biyoung, too, identified him and muttered under her breath. She had visited the Heavenly Central Sect several times with Jaegal Cheongyeong and knew his face.

“That’s Jaegal Byeok, the older brother of Young Master’s fiancée.”

Jaegal Byeok was the most severely injured among them. He was practically leaning against Jaegal Yohye for support.

It was truly an unusual event.

Two of the Jaegal Clan’s New Twin Thunderbolts were being ambushed in such a place.

“What should we do?”

There were still five assassins from the Blood Antler Serpent Group, including one who looked like the leader, who had not yet joined the battle.

Yong Hwarin had never heard anything about this incident.

Either it had been too insignificant to reach his ears, or the Jaegal Clan had kept it secret.

Had there been any information on the incident, he might have been able to formulate a response. But with no intel, the only way to handle it was through personal martial skill.

‘Fifteen in total. Can we even win against them? With my current level, I couldn’t even handle one of those assassins.’

The assassins of the Blood Antler Serpent Group were powerful enough to clash with the Jaegal Clan’s elites. With only the four of them, it was more likely they would be overwhelmed.

That thought alone made it difficult to muster the courage to jump into the fray.

It wasn’t about bravery or cowardice—Yong Hwarin had lived his past life based solely on rational thought. Naturally, it seemed foolish to enter a fight with no chance of winning.

But Yong Hwarin clenched his teeth.

‘I have decades of experience and knowledge. They say martial strength is thirty percent power and seventy percent experience. I’ll just have to rely on that.’

In his past life as a merchant, Yong Hwarin had lived as a mediocre man.

Now that he had restarted his life, there was no meaning in living the same way again.

“Aaah!”

Just as the last escort of the Jaegal Clan lost his head while trying to shield Jaegal Yohye, Yong Hwarin instinctively charged forward.

Though he’d been briefly caught in confusion, he ultimately resolved to live a life without regrets.

“You two, don’t leave the Young Master’s side!”

Mo Biyoung instructed, and the Two Wook Sword Demons nodded.

Among them, Mo Biyoung was the most skilled. On a battlefield, they had no choice but to follow the orders of the strongest.

Yong Hwarin drew his sword and rushed in, striking one of the white-robed attackers who was flanking Jaegal Byeok.

Shhrik!

Yong Hwarin executed Soaring Dragon Steps to perfection and unleashed the Soaring Dragon Emperor Sword. The assassin attacking Jaegal Byeok was slashed in the side and sprayed blood.

As the attacker staggered back, Yong Hwarin chased him and raised the Soaring Dragon Steps further, thrusting his sword forward.

Puk!

But just as his blade drove into the chest of the white-clad assassin, another enemy attacked from behind.

Unable to retrieve his sword in time, he was left exposed.

This move alone proved that Yong Hwarin was still new to the martial world.

A true expert would never drive their sword too deep when killing. They would only strike vital points to incapacitate and finish the enemy afterward.

Driving the sword in too deep would cause the enemy’s muscles to contract, making it difficult to retrieve the blade.

However, Yong Hwarin immediately kicked the corpse with the embedded sword at the white-clad assassin charging at him.

Thud!

At the same time, Yong Hwarin rushed forward.

As the second assassin tried to parry and strike aside the flying corpse—

Spak!

At that moment, something sharp protruded from the neck of the corpse, piercing straight through the neck of the approaching assassin.

Yong Hwarin had simultaneously stabbed through the dead man’s neck and the other assassin’s.

“Grrrrgh!”

The white-clad man made a gargling noise for a while before collapsing stiffly backward.

All of this had happened in the span of a single breath. Both the attackers and Yong Hwarin’s allies, including Mo Biyoung, were equally stunned.

Then the man who appeared to be the leader of the white-clad group finally shouted.

“Who are you?!”