Chapter 135 : We Have Reinforcements Too? -03

Chapter 135: We Have Reinforcements Too? -03

Janhyung, who looked so lifeless that at a glance he resembled a corpse rather than an old tree, grinned.

However, that smile felt incomparably chilling to Nan Hee-ju.

Among the Eight Evils, Janhyung was the most cruel, and it was said that he always smiled when killing someone. Unconsciously, Nan Hee-ju swallowed dryly.

“But that one looks quite delicious. My little thing is going wild. That means you’re quite the beauty.”

Nan Hee-ju trembled.

Chuhyung was the one who lusted obsessively after women due to his hideous appearance.

Moreover, Chuhyung uniquely used an awl as his weapon and had the twisted hobby of boring holes into a woman’s body while violating her.

“Janhyung and Chuhyung, huh.”

“This time there are three.”

“Shouldn’t we be able to handle at least one of them?”

Although two of the Eight Evils had suddenly appeared, the Four-Man Group did not cower.

Rather, their competitive spirit burned hotter than ever.

In the case of the Demonic Fiendess, approaching her properly had been difficult because of her Soul-Capturing Art, but Chuhyung and Janhyung were different.

Unlike her, they were closer to pure martial artists, so the four of them believed they could at least take on one of the two.

“What do you think, Hyung-nim?”

“It’s far better to challenge them and be defeated than to lose heart and give up from the start. Though considering who they are, it will be dangerous.”

“For the sake of the Jianghu, I can stake my life at any time.”

Jeong I-ryong, who had asked cautiously, answered without the slightest hesitation.

Bangcheon Sect existed to protect the Central Plains.

As its successor, Jeong I-ryong had always been prepared to lay down his life for the Central Plains Murim.

“That mindset is good, but it’s not yet time.”

“What are you whispering about? Surely you’re not plotting to flee because you feel the disadvantage in numbers?”

Janhyung spoke with a friendly smile.

But Ban Hojin knew all too well the meaning of that smile.

The deeper Janhyung’s killing intent became, the broader his smile grew. Ban Hojin grinned back.

“As if. If I ran from mere Janhyung and Chuhyung, my pride would be in shambles.”

“Kuhahaha!”

“You’ve grown quite arrogant after capturing the Blue and Red Twin Fiends. Good. A true man should have that much confidence.”

Rather than being tense, Ban Hojin raised his voice boldly, and Janhyung and Chuhyung burst into loud laughter in their own ways.

However, unlike the two who laughed uproariously as if mocking him, the Demonic Fiendess watched Ban Hojin with strange eyes.

For some reason, his words did not sound like bluster to her.

‘Why is he so confident? Does he have a hidden card?’

By all appearances, Ban Hojin’s group was at a disadvantage.

Though they had slightly greater numbers, three of those present were members of the Eight Evils.

With this level of strength, they could even contend with those ranked in the lower tier of the Ten Great Masters Under Heaven.

Yet Ban Hojin, who surely knew this, was far too at ease.

“I came intending to capture all Eight Evils. I can’t lose spirit over just three, can I?”

“What?”

“He’s insane, isn’t he?”

The two old men stopped laughing and glared at Ban Hojin with vicious eyes.

They had treated him generously, and yet he seemed to be climbing endlessly over their heads.

Thus, both of them simultaneously released the aura they had kept contained.

Whoooooong!

Though they might fall short of the Ten Great Masters Under Heaven, the Eight Evils were individuals who had roamed the Murim at will throughout their lives.

Infamy, in its own way, was also fame.

As if proving that fact, the two old men unleashed a terrifying presence.

“If madmen call me crazy, doesn’t that make me normal?”

“Huh!”

Seeing Ban Hojin mutter that not as a joke but in complete sincerity, Chuhyung made an exasperated expression.

On the other hand, Janhyung moved at once.

With all trace of amusement gone from his face, he charged toward Ban Hojin.

“I’ll tear that rotten mouth of yours apart first.”

“If you can.”

Using the technique of Body-Drawn Shadow, Janhyung closed the distance in an instant and shot out his emaciated arm.

Though it seemed like nothing but skin clinging to bone, the energy coiled around his hand was terrifying.

The immense power contained in his right hand was enough to pulverize a house-sized boulder in a single blow.

Yet that overwhelmingly powerful right hand stopped abruptly right before Ban Hojin’s face.

“Huh?”

Janhyung stared blankly at his own hand, halted right before Ban Hojin’s nose.

It had been seized far too easily, leaving him momentarily stunned.

But his shock was brief.

Quickly regaining his senses, Janhyung thrust in his left hand once more.

Woooong!

In an instant, tremendous power gathered into his left hand as it burrowed toward Ban Hojin’s dantian.

If he burst the heart, death would be instantaneous, so he deliberately aimed for the dantian instead.

Crunch!

Janhyung’s eyes bulged wide.

Unexpected pain surged from his left hand.

Even without looking properly, his senses told him everything.

Every bone in his left hand had been crushed.

“You said you’d tear my mouth apart. By the rules of the Jianghu, it’s only fair I return the favor, isn’t it?”

Crack—!

Janhyung’s face twisted grotesquely.

His right hand, which had been seized first, shattered just like the left.

And Ban Hojin did not stop there.

Repeating Janhyung’s earlier words back to him, he actually extended his right hand toward Janhyung’s mouth.

“W-wait!”

Seeing Ban Hojin’s calloused right hand approaching slowly—so slowly that it was even more vivid—Janhyung cried out in horror.

At the same time, Chuhyung rushed in.

If Janhyung fell, he could not guarantee that he and the Demonic Fiendess alone could defeat Ban Hojin.

Though both his hands had been crushed, Janhyung was still Janhyung.

Even without directly swinging his arms, he could fight.

If he unleashed Force Energy or used his legs to hinder Ban Hojin’s movements, it would benefit him or the Demonic Fiendess.

Thus, in urgency, Chuhyung drew out his beloved long awl and charged at Ban Hojin’s flank.

“A joint attack, huh. But what a pity. I have reinforcements too.”

“I thought you would know.”

“Master!”

At the familiar voice that rang out from the air, Jeong I-ryong’s face lit up with joy.

At Sang Il-gi’s voice—the one he had parted from when they descended the mountain—Jeong Iryong felt both delight and shock.

He had never once imagined, not even in his dreams, that he would reunite with Sang Il-gi in a place like this.

“Keugh!”

But where there was someone pleased, there was bound to be someone displeased.

Such was the law of the world.

As if to prove it, Awl Fiend, who had been rushing toward Ban Hojin, was suddenly struck by an unseen Dark Strike and sent rolling across the ground.

Sang Il-gi had blasted Awl Fiend away with Formless Fist Force.

Kkadeudeudeuk!

While Awl Fiend tumbled disgracefully across the ground, Ban Hojin did exactly as he had said and seized Remnant Fiend by the jaw.

Then he crushed it as it was.

“Uueoeeok!”

The jawbone crumpled far too easily—like soft tofu being smashed—and Remnant Fiend let out a horrific scream.

But unfortunately for him, he could not even scream properly.

With his jaw shattered, the groan could not fully escape his mouth.

Even so, the severity of the pain was more than clearly conveyed to those watching.

Shuuuk!

Yet even with both arms and now his jawbone destroyed, Remnant Fiend did not stop resisting.

Three parts of his body had been ruined, but that did not mean it was over.

Clinging to a final thread of hope, Remnant Fiend gathered all the power in his Dantian into his knee and drove it toward Ban Hojin’s abdomen.

If Ban Hojin’s hand could touch his body, that also meant Remnant Fiend’s knee was close enough to reach Ban Hojin.

Teoeoeong!

But the decisive blow—launched with every ounce of True Energy he could muster—was blocked in the most futile manner.

As if he had anticipated this exact move, Ban Hojin received the Knee Strike with his left palm, caught it, and slammed Remnant Fiend into the ground.

He handled him like a piece of luggage—smashing him down roughly, lifting him up, then smashing him down again, over and over.

“Eueoeo….”

The pain began in his back and shot up to the back of his head.

It then traveled down his spine, spreading through his hips and all the way to the tips of his toes.

In an instant, Remnant Fiend could not so much as twitch a finger, and he lost consciousness.

Surprisingly, he had not endured long against such simple brutality.

“Keeek!”

In that regard, Remnant Fiend was certainly better off than Awl Fiend.

Awl Fiend was suffering a sight as ugly as his own hideous appearance.

Sang Il-gi was beating him like a dog on the hottest days of summer.

Peong! Peopeopeopeong!

The awl that symbolized Awl Fiend—his beloved weapon—had been flung somewhere out of sight. In its place, he crossed both arms to block Sang Il-gi’s Myungwang Fist.

Naturally, he had raised his Protective Energy to its peak as well.

But Sang Il-gi’s Myungwang Fist crushed through all of it.

Everything that stood in its way was pulverized, and Awl Fiend suffered devastating blows.

Kung! Kung! Kung! Kung!

In the end, unable to endure any longer, Awl Fiend staggered backward, leaving behind heavy footsteps.

Those footsteps betrayed the fact that he had failed to fully disperse the impact.

Yet even with the distance widened, Awl Fiend did not dare entertain the thought of fleeing.

He merely stared blankly at Sang Il-gi with a face filled with fear.

“W-Where did a martial artist like you…!”

The same was true for Demonic Fiendess, who stood some distance away.

As if she could not believe the current situation, Demonic Fiendess had completely failed to manage her expression—unlike her usual composed self.

Sang Il-gi’s sudden appearance had unsettled her to that degree.

The fact that a martial artist comparable to one of the Murim Ten Kings had appeared at this very moment was utterly dreadful to her.

“I heard that my one and only disciple was searching for the Eight Evils. How could a master simply watch from afar? Of course, I was not particularly worried. I knew well that he did not truly need me. But I wanted to see him. To see how much he had improved in the time I had not seen him.”

“…You weren’t worried?”

For an instant, Demonic Fiendess’s pupils trembled.

She immediately grasped the underlying meaning of what he had just said.

That was why disbelief filled her face.

“I am already seeing it, am I not?”

“You’re saying that even without you, the Divine Dragon would have handled it?”

“You already know the answer. Why ask again?”

Sang Il-gi smiled meaningfully at Demonic Fiendess, who questioned him with an expression of disbelief.

Why seek confirmation from him when she already understood?

“That’s absurd!”

“If you refuse to believe it, then do not. Even so, the outcome would not change.”

Sang Il-gi’s gaze shifted toward Remnant Fiend, who lay sprawled like a true corpse.

He had never possessed much to look at to begin with, but now he had become nothing more than a tattered rag.

And that was only natural.

In fact, considering his opponent had been Ban Hojin, he had fared remarkably well.

Sseuuk.

While Sang Il-gi observed Remnant Fiend, Demonic Fiendess subtly stepped backward.

Even if the three of them—herself, Awl Fiend, and Remnant Fiend—had charged together, victory against Sang Il-gi would have been uncertain.

Though she was a master of Soul-Capturing Art, such techniques only worked against those roughly within her level.

Sang Il-gi was, quite literally, a being of a different class. She did not even consider attempting seduction, let alone an attack.

‘I must leave this place at all costs.’

If even the three of them together could not guarantee victory, then now—with both Remnant Fiend and Awl Fiend subdued—charging in alone would be certain defeat.

Thus, Demonic Fiendess thought only of escape.

Forgetting entirely that she had once joined forces with the two old monsters, she calculated dozens of possible retreat routes.

The safest and most certain path of escape.

“Do you believe you can flee from me?”

“Ohohoho!”