Chapter 132. Trying to Row a Boat On Land (3)

Because of Ma-Ra’s tight hold, Woo-Moon found it a little difficult to breathe.

That was fine, though. It felt good to be held tightly. Breathing could be done later.

Each with their own thoughts, the two returned together to the encampment.

Of course, it went without saying that the Justice Coalition had entered a state of emergency after their late return.

Woo-Moon explained to the others that they had been late because of Ma-Ra’s serious injuries. Obviously, they would have actually arrived at least an hour earlier if he had used his movement technique instead of walking the entire way back, but that was none of their business.

***

‘Go to that place... go to that place... go to that place. Gotothatplace. GotothatplacegotothatplaceGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACEGOTOTHATPLACE!’

Si-Hyeon suddenly rose from her bed with half-lidded eyes, opened the door, and walked out.

Her thin sleeping gown fluttered, revealing the curves of her body with every step, and her calves and feet were bare.

“O-oh, my goodness! What are you doing here, Guild Master?”

An older maid who had been heading to the restroom hurriedly approached Si-Hyeon after seeing her in the hall.

“What if someone sees you dressed like this? Hurry and return to your room. Guild Master? Guild Master! Guild Master!”

Si-Hyeon only seemed to come to her senses after the maid repeatedly called out to her. She still seemed to be in a daze, even so.

“Ah...what...”

The maid asked cautiously, “Are you okay, Guild Master? Let’s go to your room now.”

Si-Hyeon’s face glowed red as she realized that she had been sleepwalking in nothing but a thin gown. She had to rush back in before anyone saw her.

“Ah, thank you. You don’t have to worry. I’m just like this sometimes... Please, keep this a secret. Alright?”

"Yes, I understand."

After quickly returning to her room, Si-Hyeon covered herself with a blanket, shivering.

At first, it had only been nightmares. But today, she had even gone so far as to walk out of her room, sleepwalking.

It was terrifying.

She was in a state where she couldn’t protect herself, and if something untoward were to happen without her realizing it, while in that state... how could she not be terrified? She had gone out defenselessly while only wearing a sleeping gown; how dangerous was that?

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Si-Hyeon was fully aware of how evil and ugly the world could be, and that was why she was so terrified of her own actions.

The more it happened, the more desperately she hoped that Woo-Moon would return.

‘Senior brother... I miss you. I’m scared. Please come back quickly...’

***

The war was gradually progressing in favor of the Justice Coalition.

However, while they were excitingly progressing forward, news arrived like a bolt of lightning on a clear summer day.

The Justice Coalition had suffered a crushing defeat in Sichuan.

The shock of the news was even greater considering how great the influence of the Justice Coalition had always been in Sichuan. Yet the allied forces of the Qingcheng Sect, the Emei Sect, the Kunlun Sect, the Tang Family, and the Xiahou Family had been defeated.

Now, even the Justice Coalition stronghold was in danger of being overrun by the Black Bull Gang.

If the Justice Coalition were to be defeated in Sichuan, they would have to win on a different front in order to balance the situation. However, the second army in Guangxi Province was still fiercely competing with their enemy, while the third army here, in Jiangsu, only had a slight advantage.

Therefore, the Justice Coalition needed a decisive victory.

The third army, which had been using a defensive-forward strategy to maintain their advantage, suddenly switched to the offensive, attempting to overturn the overall unfavorable situation. Although it could be dangerous for the Fist Emperor as a large number of Transcendent Class experts could surround him, there was nothing he could do in the current situation.

***

One day before the day of the decisive battle, the Wind Sword Battalion, which had been one of the busiest in the coalition, finally had a decent break.

The first thing Woo-Moon did was to go to Ra Mi’s quarters.

Knock, knock.

He knocked on the door, but there was no response. Therefore, he called out her name.

“Ra Mi.”

“What...?”

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah... come in...”

After receiving her permission, Woo-Moon opened the door and entered. However, the moment he took a step past the threshold, a sword flew toward him like lightning.

“Agk!”

After dodging the sword, Woo-Moon used the Northern Wind Steps and quickly approached Ra Mi. Then, he grabbed her by the hand to prevent her from attacking again while calling out her name.

“Ra Mi!”

“Ah... oh, sorry.”

Ra Mi had fallen asleep in the time that it had taken for Woo-Moon to open the door and enter, causing her to use her Sixth-Sense Sword without even realizing it.

Sighing to himself, Woo-Moon took out a small glass bottle from his sleeve containing a shiny, milky liquid.

“What...?”

“It's Pure Stalactite Milk. It’s not a completely refined product, so you can’t drink a lot. But one drop should be okay. Drink it.”

Pure Stalactite Milk was incredibly rare.

The majority of people in the

murim

would never be able to see a single drop in their lifetimes, let alone taste it. In terms of performance and efficacy, it was one of the best elixirs in the world.

In fact, it was such an incredible elixir that it would have been reasonable if Ra Mi found it a little suspicious that Woo-Moon would give her such precious Pure Stalactite Milk without any hesitation. It was especially reasonable for

her

to be suspicious, as she had experienced countless times the ugly nature and wicked tactics of men spurred by her curse of narcolepsy.

Still, she didn’t have the slightest suspicion that what Woo-Moon was offering her was some kind of drug. After everything that happened, she trusted him.

On the other hand, she still couldn’t drink it.

She already owed much to Woo-Moon and didn’t want to cause him any more trouble. Her conscience wouldn’t allow it. Therefore, she shook her head slowly.

“I don’t want to...”

Woo-Moon knew why she was refusing.

“It’s fine. I can only drink a single drop of this anyway, so it’s of no use to me anymore. Well, I’m not saying that I’m giving it to you for free. You can just give me something better in exchange later. So stop worrying and just drink it,” he said with a playful smile.

But what could be better than the Pure Stalactite Milk? At least for the people of the

murim,

there wasn’t anything.

Ra Mi also knew as much, so she was still hesitating. However, it wasn’t easy for her to continue refusing, with Woo-Moon insisting like this.

“...Okay, then...”

As Ra Mi sat cross-legged, Woo-Moon poured a drop of the Pure Stalactite Milk into her mouth.

She would need quite a long time to finish assimilating all of the energy of the elixir into her qi, primarily because of her tendency to fall asleep.

The silver lining was that the qi cultivation method taught to her by her father, the sect master of the Haenam Sword Sect, was one that allowed her to circulate her qi instinctively, even if she were to fall asleep while cultivating. It would be slower, but it would still be working.

Woo-Moon stayed by Ra Mi’s side for a total of six hours. He had entered her quarters around sunrise and only left when the sun had set.

“Something seems a little wrong, Leader.”

When Woo-Moon emerged from her quarters, everyone outside looked at him with strange eyes.

“What?”

In response to his question, Mu-Bi just tilted his head and asked something else.

“Why isn’t Ra Mi nuna coming out?”

“Ah. She’s a little tired, so she’s resting.”

Then, the expressions on the faces of the rest became even stranger and more warped. By this point, even Woo-Moon could tell what they were thinking.

“I swear, you brats! Do you want die today?”

As Woo-Moon put his hand on the hilt of his sword, the members of the Wind Sword Battalion all screamed and ran away.

“I swear, what goes on in those idiots' heads? Tsk, tsk. Perverted little brats.”

Woo-Moon clicked his tongue and went up to the second floor of the pavilion.

Ma-Ra, who belatedly realized what was going on, muttered in the dark.

“You’re the same. Bad boy.”

There was no way that Woo-Moon, with his incredibly high cultivation, wouldn’t have heard her muttering. She was referring to the incident that had occurred not too long ago when Woo-Moon touched her breasts.

Pretending that he didn’t hear her, Woo-Moon continued up the stairs, his face turning bright red.

***

The day of the decisive battle finally dawned.

After waking up early in the morning and honing all of their weapons, Woo-Moon joined the front lines with his members.

The Fist Emperor came forward and gave a brief speech. Unlike the long-winded speeches some people liked to give to boost morale, his was far more... straight to the point.

‘We are members of the Righteous Faction, people who walk the correct path. We must never allow ourselves to be defeated by mere thieves and hooligans.’

His short speech made Woo-Moon like him even more. Who needed long and unnecessary speeches? All they had to do was fight.

“Depart!”

The troops of the third army of the Justice Coalition launched an all-out attack toward the main base of the Black Bull Gang, where the Lust Emperor was, using their movement techniques to the best of their abilities so they could sustain a rapid pace throughout the march.

They aimed for only one thing: to overturn the unfavorable situation of the Coalition in one fell swoop.

In order words, the death of the Lust Emperor and the destruction of the Black Bull Gang’s main base.

Unfortunately, the Black Bull Gang seemed to have anticipated this tactic, even though the Justice Coalition generally stayed on the defensive. Because the Black Bull Gang continued to be on guard, the Justice Coalition was unable to gain any benefits from their surprise offensive.

Still, they had nothing to lose from their current assault, so it was still worth continuing.

The Wind Sword Battalion was stationed on the right side of the front lines, engaging with the enemy. As if to herald their performance, the Justice Coalition seemed to be on the cusp of victory on their side, pushing hard against the gang forces from the right side.

“Lust Emperor! Where are you? How long do you plan on hiding behind your henchmen?!” the Fist Emperor shouted as he punched forward, several hundred gang members torn limb from limb by the force of his fist wind and spraying blood everywhere.

“Fist Emperor! You measly grunt who runs errands for the Sword Emperor, how dare you think that you’re equal to me, the boss of this great gang?!”

Grunt who runs errands for the Sword Emperor.

Those words had such power that they shook the Fist Emperor’s composure.

“How dare you talk nonsense!”

Among the Eight Heavenly Martial Emperors, the Fist Emperor was the most generous but also the most emotional. With a great roar, he flew toward the rear of the Black Bull Gang base, where the voice of the Lust Emperor could be heard.

The path behind the Fist Emperor was lined with the corpses of the gang members. Because of his wild rampage, the Black Bull Gang’s formation, which had already been collapsing from the right side, gradually fell apart altogether, forcing them to retreat.

Although the Justice Coalition also suffered considerable damage, they were nonetheless holding the upper hand, and considering there was a possibility to exterminate all the troops of the Black Gang here, they wasted no time tenaciously pursuing the retreating gang.

The Divine Monk, who had secretly joined their forces not long ago on behalf of the Shaolin Temple, was incredible. There were some other troops as well, but only he had been able to catch up to their march. He was an Absolute Master, and he was so fast that it was impossible for any Transcendent expert to keep up with him.

Even though the Fist Emperor had gone ahead, the figures of the Justice Coalition continued to push back the Black Bull Gang, this time with the Divine Monk spearheading the army.

“Gasp, gasp.”

During the battle, the Wind Sword Battalion, which had particularly strong martial skills as compared to the other battalions, had pushed somewhat ahead of the rest of the front lines.

‘The Fist Emperor pushed forward to this point earlier, right?’

What stood magnificently in front of Woo-Moon was the Black Castle, the headquarters of the Black Bull Gang.

All of the gang troops who had fled the battlefield had also entered here.

“OOORAH!!!!”

The bald Ha Gun-Choong ran toward the main gate of the Black Castle, clearly intent on wrecking things, when Woo-Moon stopped him with an iron grip on his shoulder.

“Huh? Are we not going in? All of those rats went in there!”

With a cold gaze, Woo-Moon looked at Ha Gun-Choong, who was still drunk from the heat of battle and the spilling of blood. After a moment, he struck him on the head.

Thunk!

His fist and Ha Gun-Choong’s head collided, creating the sound of metal clashing on metal.

“Agk!!”

Although Ha Gun-Choong had incredible physical cultivation—to the point where not even metal could penetrate his flesh, he was far from strong enough to brush off a blow from Woo-Moon.

“Do you want to be the Battalion Leader, then?”

Coming to his senses from the pain and returning to his usual self, Ha Gun-Choong shook his head and mumbled.

“N-no. Just, why did you have to hit me when you could have just said something...”

“Yeah, as if you were paying any attention to what I was saying. You let your emotions get the better of you. Be careful not to start a rampage and end up trapped somewhere on the battlefield.”

After warning Ha Gun-Choong, Woo-Moon looked over at the members of the Wind Sword Battalion and continued.

“We’re moving too fast. Let’s not rush in first and just wait for the others to come. It’s better than dying like idiots because we went in too deep.”