Chapter 294 : The Masked Man with Bloodshot Eyes (2)

Chapter 294: The Masked Man with Bloodshot Eyes (2)

Jo Gyeongmae hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to speak or not, but eventually opened her mouth, thinking it might help her daughters in life.

"Long ago, I had a deep bond with the Heavenly Central Sect and the Geum Clan Manor. Yong Biyang of the Heavenly Central Sect, Geum Myeongryeol of the Geum Clan Manor, and your father Jeong Woong were like sworn brothers. And I became close to them after meeting them in the murim. Since I was like a real sister to Ha Yanggyo, now the matriarch of the Shangguan Clan, the five of us cherished one another like siblings."

It was the first time the two daughters had heard this story.

"I had feelings for one of them. That man was Yong Biyang of the Heavenly Central Sect. And Jeong Woong of the Jeong Family Manor liked me."

The daughters felt estranged as their mother referred to their father—her husband—as if he were a stranger.

Jo Gyeongmae continued.

"As time passed and I came of age, I confessed to Yong Biyang."

The daughters gulped. A tension akin to facing life-and-death enemies filled the air.

"But I found out that Yong Biyang had long harbored feelings for Ha Yanggyo. I also learned the two were in love. My pride was hurt, and I was angry, so I married Jeong Woong, who had feelings for me. I thought doing so would be revenge on him."

"Ah!"

The two daughters couldn’t help but exclaim.

Then they looked at each other.

It dawned on them why their mother had never gotten along with their father, and why she had always been so cold to them.

She had married a man she did not love. There was no way affection could’ve bloomed.

And it was unlikely she could’ve developed any real affection for children born from that marriage.

Even after marrying Jeong Woong, Jo Gyeongmae realized her mistake.

She had thought that with time she would forget Yong Biyang and live happily with Jeong Woong, but that was a grave miscalculation.

Jo Gyeongmae, once considered among the Three Beauties of Jiangnan alongside Ha Yanggyo, was a woman of immense pride. Time did nothing to soften her.

"You probably can’t understand this mother. I couldn't understand myself either."

Jeong Suji cautiously asked.

"Then why do you reject Young Master Yong? I still don’t understand."

Jo Gyeongmae slowly closed her eyes.

"Every time I see Young Master Yong, I see him. The one who rejected me and chose another woman. It drives me mad. And now, to hear that his son and my daughter are in love—it makes me feel like I’m going insane. I can't even explain the feeling."

Jeong Suji and Jeong Daji let out long sighs.

They felt like they could understand their mother, but still couldn't accept it.

"Think about it. I see the face of the man I once loved through Young Master Yong. Do you think I can accept my daughter being in love with him?"

Jo Gyeongmae's voice trembled with emotion.

"It felt like I was being betrayed by Yong Biyang all over again. I couldn’t bear to look at him."

The daughters bowed their heads.

Regretfully, their mother had clung to an old affection that had long turned into bitterness and hatred.

That was why she couldn't see Yong Hwarin as himself, but only as the shadow of Yong Biyang.

She kept seeing the man she once loved, and it pained her deeply.

A self-deprecating laugh escaped Jo Gyeongmae’s lips.

"I’m sorry to you both, but saying this aloud truly lightens my heart. It’s like a boulder pressing on my chest has been lifted."

As Jeong Suji tried to speak, Jo Gyeongmae raised her hand.

"Wait, be quiet."

At those words, the two daughters focused on the noise outside.

Footsteps were approaching.

They exchanged glances.

No one was supposed to come since they had already eaten dinner.

Three sets of footsteps.

Clank!

The lock was undone and three men entered the room.

And the three women instinctively knew—they hadn’t come with good intentions.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Jo Gyeongmae maintained her composure and asked the three men.

"We’ve decided to move you to a different safehouse tomorrow."

"And?"

"Before that, we thought we’d have a little taste. Who knows when we’ll see beauties like you again?"

Jo Gyeongmae and her daughters were speechless.

"You two wenches are called the Three Chivalrous Sisters, aren’t you? I heard you’ve sliced off the manhood of countless men. Isn’t it your turn now to be taken by a man?"

"You think you’ll get away with this?"

The three men sneered.

"We’ve done this to every woman brought here, but not once has any of them dared speak of it. The three of us will do it together—who would you even tell?"

These bastards knew all too well a woman’s vulnerability.

They relied on shame to silence them afterward.

"You still think you’ll be safe after this?"

"Why so serious? We’re martial artists of the demonic path. What did you expect?"

One of the men stepped forward toward Jeong Suji, who had the most voluptuous figure.

"I hear your alias is Mad Sword. Why don’t you go mad right now—on my stomach."

As he approached, Jeong Suji backed away.

Clank, clank!

The shackles clanged as they collided against each other.

But then, a man grabbed Jeong Suji’s shoulder from behind.

Jeong Suji immediately kicked toward the man's abdomen.

However, with the shackles binding her, she couldn’t put strength into it.

Thud!

The man caught her ankle and struck her abdomen in return.

Puhk!

“Keuk!”

Jeong Suji’s head spun from the punch driven into her abdomen.

With no spiritual energy, she couldn’t withstand the fist of a martial artist.

As the man untied Jeong Suji’s waistband, she ground her teeth.

“You bastards! I’ll kill you all!”

“Yeah, go ahead and kill us. That’s exactly what I want.”

The men made lewd remarks, deliberately provoking Jeong Suji’s fury.

“Let go of my sister!”

As Jeong Daji tried to rush at them, another man pressed down on her Ahyeol and Mahyeol.

Thump!

Jeong Daji collapsed like a log to the floor.

“You, wait your turn.”

Seeing the situation worsening, Jo Gyeongmae spoke quietly.

“I’ll take care of all of you. Let my daughters go.”

One of the men sneered.

“We’re not really interested in old hens. We’ll enjoy the young chicks first, then deal with you later.”

Jo Gyeongmae thought that she’d rather die than watch her daughters be violated before her eyes.

‘If I kill at least one of these bastards, they might change their minds.’

She knew that killing even one of them would mean she wouldn’t make it out alive.

‘But since we’re important hostages of Young Master Yong, they won’t kill us easily.’

“Mm! Mm! Mm!”

Unable to scream after her Ahyeol was sealed, Jeong Suji shook her head.

“Hehehe, that body’s a work of art.”

The man who had stripped open Jeong Suji’s clothes now began untying his belt.

Jo Gyeongmae stood up with resolve.

“You bastard!”

Suddenly rising and shouting, she drew the attention of one of the men.

Slam!

Jo Gyeongmae headbutted the man in the forehead.

“Ugh!”

The man staggered back.

But with no spiritual energy, her attack didn’t inflict serious damage.

“You bitch!”

The man shouted as he drew his sword.

“Let’s see if that venomous glare stays after I chop off one of your arms!”

“Hey, don’t get blood on her.”

The man who had been about to assault Jeong Suji spoke to the one with the sword.

Sssht!

Without hesitation, the man’s sword lashed toward Jo Gyeongmae.

Jeong Suji and Jeong Daji clenched their eyes shut, unable to bear watching their mother’s arm get severed.

Clang!

At that moment, someone entered the room and deflected the man’s sword.

Because of that, the sword narrowly missed Jo Gyeongmae’s shoulder by mere inches.

“Who the hell are you?!”

The man furiously shouted at the one who had entered the room.

The three men were the ones in charge of this safehouse—there was no one else to stop them.

That was why they had acted so brazenly.

Turning his head, he saw that the masked man who had entered the room had already slashed his neck with a thin soft sword.

Slish!

As his head dropped and blood spurted, the masked man kicked the decapitated body.

Thud!

The man who had been about to violate Jeong Suji jumped up and pushed aside his fallen comrade’s corpse.

But the second masked man’s soft sword pierced straight through his chest, and he collapsed to the floor, blood bubbling from his mouth.

Thump!

“Wh-who the hell are you?!”

The last remaining man held his sword to Jeong Daji’s neck and shouted.

“Come closer and I’ll kill this bitch!”

“Do it.”

A chilling voice echoed as someone approached.

Panicked, the man shoved his sword toward Jeong Daji’s neck.

But Jeong Daji slammed the back of her head into the man’s face.

Thud!

“Guh!”

The man staggered from the pain of his broken nose.

In that moment, the masked man’s soft sword shot out like a flash of light.

Pit!

The soft sword pierced through the man’s left eye and exited from the back of his head.

Gurgle!

The man exhaled his last breath and collapsed backward, dead.

Watching Jeong Daji strike the man’s face with the back of her head even while her pressure points were sealed, the masked man muttered,

“As expected of the Three Chivalrous Sisters.”

From the coarse tone, the voice had been altered.

The masked man immediately tapped the three women's pressure points and released them.

He then searched the three men's bodies, found the keys to the shackles, and freed them.

“Thank you.”

Jeong Suji said, fixing her disheveled clothes.

To Jeong Suji, the masked man's arrival had been the greatest relief.

Had things gone wrong, she would have been violated by those men and left with a lifelong shame.

Jeong Suji tried to see if he was someone she knew, but the bloodshot eyes within the mask gave nothing away.

“Leave this place.”

“We also need to free the people of the Geum Clan Manor.”

The masked man tossed them the keys and said,

“That’s your task.”

Clatter!

The bundle of keys landed in Jeong Suji’s hands, and she headed toward the room where the Geum Clan Manor people were imprisoned.

Jo Gyeongmae cupped her fists respectfully toward the masked man.

“I will not forget this grace.”

Then the masked man said something unexpected.

“Be thankful to Yong Hwarin. I only helped you because of his face. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered.”

With that, the masked man disappeared without a trace.

Wiping the blood trickling from her forehead, Jo Gyeongmae murmured,

“Yong Hwarin...”

Jeong Daji and Jeong Suji unlocked the shackles of the Geum Clan Manor members, released their pressure points, and escaped from the Heavenly Demon Sect’s safehouse.

Having had their pressure points sealed for so long, they would need to circulate their qi for at least one hour to fully recover their spiritual energy, but there was no time for that now.

The priority was to get as far away from here as possible.

If a pursuit unit arrived, they’d be easily caught in their weakened state.

Once the people of the Jeong Family Manor and the Geum Clan Manor had escaped, the masked man removed his mask.

“All this pointless exertion because of that Yong brat.”

Muttering to himself, the man turned around—only to be met by warriors exiting the safehouse, who froze upon seeing him.

“Wh-who are you?”

“Ah, you’re the Third Young Master.”

“Third Young Master! The captives from the safehouse have escaped.”

“I see.”

Eum Sajuk nodded and swung his soft sword.

Whoosh!

As he retrieved the sword, five Heavenly Demon Sect warriors gave puzzled looks—then collapsed to the ground.

“I’ll make damn sure Yong pays the price for this.”

The masked man muttered as he wiped the blood from the soft sword.