Chapter 129 : Time for the Hunt

Chapter 129: Time for the Hunt. -01

When no one could open their mouth amid the heavy silence, Ban Hojin spoke.

And at that moment, starting with Seonwu Bang, the group moved.

Because Ban Hojin had taken on the Blue and Red Twin Fiends, they thought it was now their turn to face the three hundred.

“Strike!”

“We’re going too!”

“Attack!”

As the four dashed forward, the Flying Heaven Unit Leader also drew his sword and shouted.

The enemies standing right before them were the very ones who had tried to violate Nan Hui-ju.

Since they had targeted Nan Hui-ju together with the Blue and Red Twin Fiends, the Flying Heaven Unit Leader roared like a great lion and took the lead, driving the Flying Heaven Unit forward.

“Kill them!”

“That bastard must be exhausted too! He’s just bluffing!”

“We outnumber them!”

At the sight of the Flying Heaven Unit charging like a rising tide, the leadership commanding the martial artists of Ironblood Fortress hesitated for a brief moment before making their decision.

They had the advantage not only in numbers but in overall quality as well.

Of course, Ban Hojin—who had slain the Blue and Red Twin Fiends—was a concern. But as the saying went, even the strongest fell before sheer numbers. The leadership chose human-wave tactics.

Moreover, thinking of the war to come, Ban Hojin had to die here.

“Take down the Divine Dragon first!”

“No matter what, the Divine Dragon comes first!”

“Where do you think you’re going!”

“You won’t take another step!”

There were awkward accents and strange dialects mixed in, but the meaning was clear enough.

Even without words, the killing intent and momentum radiating from Ironblood Fortress made their intentions obvious. Seonwu Bang and Seo Joun raised their inner energy and shouted.

Though outnumbered, they had no intention of yielding in momentum.

And in truth, the two had every qualification to say so.

“Until you defeat me, you won’t take a single step toward my brother!”

“Chaaah!”

Murong Cheok and Jeong I-ryong joined them.

Jeong I-ryong’s momentum in particular was tremendous.

Since Bangcheon Gate was the guardian sect that protected the Central Plains Murim, Jeong I-ryong revealed killing intent for the first time and slaughtered the martial artists of Ironblood Fortress.

“Guaaah!”

“Wh-why is he this strong?!”

The pressure exuded by just four men made three hundred flinch.

Their presence was that intense and overwhelming.

“Let them know we’re here too!”

“Charge!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

As the four blocked Ironblood Fortress’s advance, the Flying Heaven Unit rushed in.

Though each individual might have fallen short compared to the martial artists of Ironblood Fortress, the Flying Heaven Unit did not retreat.

As if to make up for their lacking skill with sheer grit and ferocity, the members attacked with venomous intensity blazing in their eyes.

But willpower had its limits, and before long, the wounded began to appear all over.

“Pull the injured to the rear!”

“Hold your positions! Maintain formation at all costs!”

“Not a single one must reach the Rumor Lord!”

“Endure somehow!”

Seonwu Bang, Seo Joun, Murong Cheok, and Jeong I-ryong were handling the center where the attacks were most concentrated, but that did not mean the other areas were at ease.

Their skill was fundamentally inferior, and they were fewer in number.

As a result, the Flying Heaven Unit looked as though they might be breached by Ironblood Fortress’s forces at any moment.

At that sight, Nan Hui-ju bit her lip in thought.

She wondered if she should dispatch the Escort Guards even now.

Ban Hojin was still there, of course, but since she did not know the exact condition of his body, she could not rashly ask for help.

“They’re about reaching their limit.”

“Oppa?”

“Why? Worried I might be injured?”

“Shouldn’t you be careful?”

“No. I was just watching to let the kids gain some real combat experience. We’ll have to fight Ironblood Fortress from now on. In a way, this battle is a rehearsal.”

At his calm expression and voice—devoid of even a trace of tension—Nan Hui-ju wore a dazed look.

She wondered if she truly stood in the middle of a battlefield.

“A… rehearsal?”

“Fortunately, no one’s died yet, right? Getting hurt is experience too. Severe injuries leave aftereffects, but minor wounds become flesh and blood experience.”

Piiiiiing!

At that moment, a very faint sound rang out.

Simultaneously, Nan Hui-ju saw a Masked Man in Black who had been about to stab his blade into a Flying Heaven Unit member’s neck suddenly clutch his head and fall backward in a ridiculous manner.

“So you’ve been secretly helping?”

“There was a need to maintain some balance.”

Boom! Boom!

While they were receiving covert assistance, the losses on Ironblood Fortress’s side were severe.

Knowing that the faster and more they killed, the lighter the burden on the Flying Heaven Unit would become, Seo Joun and Jeong I-ryong spared no strength.

From the beginning, they knew Ban Hojin was neither injured nor even fatigued. With that knowledge, they—along with Seonwu Bang and Murong Cheok—poured everything into their attacks.

As a result, the area around the four had become a complete wasteland.

“I thought I knew quite a lot about you by now, but there’s still so much I don’t know.”

“There’s no need to blame yourself. It’s impossible to know everything about another person. Even married couples have things they don’t know about each other.”

Answering Nan Hui-ju, Ban Hojin extended his hand.

Astonishingly, the instant he did, a black silhouette appeared and was seized.

To others, it looked as though the figure had run into his grasp on its own, so both Nan Hui-ju and the female Escort Warrior widened their eyes.

Crack!

Ban Hojin, however, was not surprised in the slightest.

Without even sparing it a glance, he tightened his grip and crushed the man’s head.

As though there were no need to even use a sword.

Pipipiping!

Instead, he flicked the fingers of his left hand in rapid succession.

He had fired Wind Blades precisely at the glabellas of the Masked Men in Black who had been stealthily approaching.

Thud-thud-thud.

Like the saying “a hundred shots, a hundred hits,” not a single one avoided Ban Hojin’s Wind Blades.

One of them seemed somewhat skilled and, unlike the others, was struck in the forehead—but even so, he did not escape instant death.

“The Flying Heaven Unit will fall back.”

“Alright.”

He had already been strong to begin with, but after seeing him dispatch the Blue and Red Twin Fiends so effortlessly, Nan Hui-ju no longer doubted Ban Hojin’s strength.

Thus, without questioning him, she immediately ordered a withdrawal.

“You all fall back as well.”

“Understood!”

“We will carry out your command!”

It was a sudden order to retreat, but Nan Hui-ju’s command was absolute.

As the Flying Heaven Unit had no choice but to obey unconditionally, they withdrew without protest.

Even as they did, they looked toward the Four-Man Group with anxious eyes.

At that moment, Ban Hojin opened his mouth and glided forward as if sliding across the ground.

“Now! All of you, charge—!”

Craaaack!

Seeing the Four-Man Group and the Flying Heaven Unit pull back in an instant as if fleeing, the executives of Ironblood Fortress shouted triumphantly.

It looked as though they had been forced to retreat after reaching their limit.

But that was a misunderstanding.

The Four-Man Group and the Flying Heaven Unit were not fleeing.

Thud. Thud-thud!

They had merely stepped aside.

Ban Hojin proved that fact with a single slash.

At the sight of over a hundred men being split in two and turned into lumps of flesh by a single stroke, the executives issuing orders from the rear froze.

They could not believe what they had just seen.

Swish.

Ban Hojin, however, did not spare them just because they stood petrified.

Rather, as if it suited him better that they remained still, he swung his sword again, and once more more than a hundred were slaughtered and reduced to corpses.

“R-run!”

“Aaaah!”

With over seventy percent cut down in just two strikes, the Masked Men in Black lost all will to fight.

They all turned and fled.

They had no desire to die like slaughtered dogs.

“Stop!”

“What are you doing! Come back! Turn around and fight!”

The leadership screamed at their subordinates who fled without even looking back, but nothing changed.

Instead, they merely gave Ban Hojin an opening.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Several of the executives shouting at the top of their lungs were struck in the back of the head by Wind Blades and knocked unconscious.

Ban Hojin subdued only those who seemed likely to know the most and killed the rest.

“Wouldn’t the Blue and Red Twin Fiends know the most?”

“Would they talk obediently? And could the Hao Sect even control them?”

“Hmm.”

As the battlefield was roughly settled, Nan Hui-ju approached Ban Hojin and let out a low murmur.

She understood that he was pointing out how information had leaked.

Even aside from that, the current level of the Hao Sect made it difficult to handle the Blue and Red Twin Fiends.

“When it comes to Ironblood Fortress, its own martial artists would know the most. The Blue and Red Twin Fiends were probably just tools.”

“That’s very likely.”

“What matters is that after Nine Heavens Gate, Ironblood Fortress has also revealed its ambition. The problem is that we don’t know whether they recruited only the Blue and Red Twin Fiends—or the entire Eight Evils.”

“I’ll find that out. I have to tighten internal discipline anyway.”

Nan Hui-ju’s eyes turned icy.

It was the look of someone determined to uncover the traitor.

No—she intended to find them without fail and make them pay.

“I’d appreciate that.”

“But… no one seems surprised? It feels like only we were shocked by you.”

“The others already knew.”

“So I was the only one who didn’t?”

Nan Hui-ju’s face filled with a hurt expression.

Yet Ban Hojin merely shrugged at her look.

“You know now.”

“Tch! So that’s how you’re going to be?”

“Wouldn’t it be stranger if I went around boasting about how strong I am?”

“…Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Nan Hui-ju found herself convinced.

If he had done that, she would surely have thought him insufferable.

“I’m a person with dignity, too.”

“I know. But are you sure this is fine? The Blue and Red Twin Fiends aren’t like the Green Forest Great Lord.”

“It’s fine. It’ll be buried under Ironblood Fortress.”

“Ah.”

At his words, Nan Hui-ju nodded.

Ban Hojin defeating the Blue and Red Twin Fiends was certainly remarkable, but it could not compare to Ironblood Fortress.

This incident was more than enough to shake the entire Central Plains Murim. As he said, his achievement would likely be overshadowed.

“Let’s clean up first. Take whatever’s worth taking. Though there probably isn’t much.”

Thanks to Ban Hojin’s group’s efforts, fortunately there were no casualties.

However, there were quite a number of wounded, so organization was necessary.

One piece of news struck the Murim like a thunderbolt.

Following Nine Heavens Gate, Ironblood Fortress had also been revealed to be roaming the Central Plains.

Moreover, when it became known that they had been acting together with the Blue and Red Twin Fiends—two of the Eight Evils, public enemies of Murim—the entire Central Plains seethed with fury.

In particular, Gansu Province, Shaanxi Province, Shanxi Province, and other regions bordering the Great Desert were filled with the tension of impending war.

“The atmosphere isn’t good. The war with Nine Heavens Gate isn’t even over yet.”

Walking side by side with Ban Hojin, Seonwu Bang muttered in a worried tone.

It was impossible to consider Nine Heavens Gate and Ironblood Fortress separately.

They had not formed an alliance, but what mattered was that they could use one another.

“In a way, it’s cunning. They chose a timing advantageous to themselves. And at the same time, they’re using the Eight Evils, who are public enemies of Murim.”

“I truly never imagined that. The enemy of my enemy is my ally, but to take the Eight Evils into their arms…”

“Nothing has been confirmed yet. We don’t know whether they recruited only the Blue and Red Twin Fiends—or embraced the entire Eight Evils.”

“Won’t it be revealed soon? The Beggars’ Sect has been running around with fire in their eyes.”

“With the Beggars’ Sect and the Hao Sect, it shouldn’t take long.”

Both factions had suffered wounded pride and would not let the matter end lightly.

Especially the Hao Sect, since they had targeted Nan Hui-ju, the Rumor Lord—they were grinding their teeth in fury.

“Many were shocked by your news.”

“They all knew in secret anyway.”

“Ahem.”

At Ban Hojin’s words, Seonwu Bang and Murong Cheok cleared their throats and subtly avoided his gaze.

As sons, they had no choice but to inform their fathers.

Instead, they had promised to guard the secret as much as possible.

“And it’s not like I did anything wrong.”

“That’s true.”