Chapter 45. Twin Swords of the Wind and Clouds (20)

“Yes, grandfather.”

Song Woo-Moon drew his sword and walked toward the bandits.

Baek Sang-Woon called out to the Northern Fox Gang, who were so frightened that they had lost their will to fight.

“Hey, you all. If you can beat my grandson, I’ll let you live. Stop being so scared and fight as best as you can.”

Having witnessed Sang-Woon’s martial skills, as different from their own as heaven from earth, the Northern Fox Gang members couldn’t even feel frustration. This was not an opponent they could even survive, much less defeat. However, hearing what he had said, the light in their eyes changed.

“Are you serious? Why are you doing this to me? It’s so annoying,” Woo-Moon complained.

“You little brat, you lack practical experience.”

Wang Pae shouted, “A-are you serious?! Are you really going to honor that?”

Sang-Woon smirked.

“Do you really think that my words are as cheap as the trash you’re spouting? My promise is worth its weight in gold.”

Given his demeanor and actions, Sang-Woon was clearly not a proper member of the Righteous Faction, but that didn’t mean he sided with the Evil Faction. Wang Pae thought that there was no way an expert from the Righteous Faction who had even put his reputation on the line would break a promise, especially when it involved people’s lives.

‘No, forget about that! We have no choice, right? We have no choice but to fight and hope he keeps his promise!’

Wang Pae shouted to his men, “Kill that bastard no matter how! That’s the only way we can live!”

Of course, if Woo-Moon were to really die, there was little chance that Sang-Woon, who was his grandfather, would really forgive them. Thinking that this was the only path they had before them, however, the bandits attacked desperately.

Seeing this, Woo-Moon was perfectly calm.

“Well, it’s true that I’m not as strong as my grandfather, but still...if you think that trash like you can do anything to me, think again.”

He had just finished his sentence when his figure began to blur.

Woosh! THUD!

A bandit collapsed, blood spraying from his throat.

Almost at the exact same time, those in front and behind Woo-Moon also had their chests caved in, blood spewing out from their mouths in unison.

The bandits couldn’t even properly see how Woo-Moon was moving.

Soul-Chasing Ghost Archer was running through the gang of bandits, continuously shooting arrows. Woo-Moon didn’t even bother to follow him. Instead, he simply grabbed an arrow in mid-air and launched it back like a dart, piercing through the Soul-Chasing Ghost Archer’s forehead as if it was nothing.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

As the massacre went on, Wang Pae sneaked behind Woo-Moon’s back and gathered all his qi into his hands, throwing his glaive forward. Among all of the skills that he knew, this was the strongest and put all his bloodlust into a single move.

“

Hmph.

”

Woo-Moon let out a low snort as his body immediately turned blurry. A fraction of a second later, he appeared right behind Wang Pae and his sword swiftly passed through the man’s neck.

Seeing this, the morale of the Northern Fox Gang was completely broken, and Woo-Moon proceeded to harvest their lives like wheat in the fall.

Less than a minute later, Woo-Moon flicked his sword in the air, shaking off the blood, and put it back into his sheath.

Sang-Woon's empty voice rang out.

“

Hmph

. It seems like they weren’t even able to give you a good warm-up. You little monster. How is your cultivation so high at your age?”

Woo-Moon stood expressionless.

He had killed a lot of people, but as his grandfather had said, they had been worthy of death. If any of these bandits had survived, many good people would have lost their lives later on.

Even his hometown, Unhan, had also been attacked by a group of bandits. It was fifty years back, quite some time before he was born, but he had heard about how even the children were brutally murdered, while many women were taken captive by the bandits and used as their playthings.

Thus, he felt absolutely no guilt about killing the bandits.

Still, ending a life felt strange to him, let alone fifty.

“Let’s go. There’s no need to show your father or Jin-Jin something like this.”

‘Yes, grandfather.”

Sang-Woon returned to the inn, but Woo-Moon actually turned back after a moment and walked toward Dok-Du.

The man was lying on the ground with blood on his chest and his eyes closed.

Thud.

“Hey, wake up.”

Dok-Du didn’t even twitch. It seemed that he was well and truly dead.

Thud, thud.

“Hurry up and get up.”

Even with Woo-Moon’s prodding, there was no movement.

“

Hoo...

well, this is annoying. Are you really dead, punk?

Hmm

, should I try stabbing him to check?”

The moment Woo-Moon said that, Dok-Du jumped up, fell to his knees, and prostrated himself, his head banging on the ground.

“Please allow me to live, young hero! I acted with such audacity because I wasn’t aware of your presence!”

“

Whew...

Hey, the rest of you idiots, get up.”

Dok-Du’s gang and Gwang Ryeok-Gwi, who were all pretending to be corpses, quickly got up and prostrated themselves on the ground as well.

Surprisingly, unlike the Northern Fox Gang, the entire Dok-Du gang was fine.

Sang-Woon and Woo-Moon were able to sense the weight of the evil deeds their opponents had committed through the bloodlust they were emitting. Naturally, they had left these small fry alone.

“Please allow us to live!”

“I purposefully took matters into my own hands because I thought you all didn’t deserve to die, so why would I kill you now?”

As Woo-Moon spoke, looking at them with a pitiful gaze, Dok-Du suddenly slapped his own cheek hard.

“I made a mistake! Please just allow me to live! Rat! Come quickly and hit me! Hit me hard!”

“P-pardon?”

“Go ahead and hit me quickly, you bastard!”

“Understood!”

Woo-Moon’s eyes were treated to an odd but hilarious sight. Dok-Du, who had gotten to his position using just his axe, was being beaten by his weasel-faced subordinate, whom he always made fun of by calling him Rat.

‘Dok-Du, you bastard!’

Maybe it was because he had been mocked by Dok-Du since he was young, but the look in Rat’s eyes suddenly turned brutal.

‘You fucking rodent bastard! You’re really hitting me! You dumb bastard.’

Woo-Moon watched the strange performance for a few moments, then asked jadedly, “Do you really want to live that much?”

“Yessh!” Dok-Du’s swollen face made him sound like he was speaking with his mouth full.

“Hehe... is there anyone in the world who really wants to die?” Rat said, rubbing his hands and laughing slyly.

Smack!

“

Aghk

!”

“Don’t laugh like that in front of me.”

“Understood!” Rat answered, holding his throbbing head.

Woo-Moon pointed at Dok-Du, Rat, and Ryeok-Gwi. “You, you, and you! If you want to live, follow me. We are going all the way to Anhui, and it seems like I’ll have to personally guide you onto the right path, so I’m taking you along with me.”

“Pardon?”

“Pardon?! The three of you stand right here. The rest of you, scram!”

“Understood!”

Dok-Du and Ryeok-Gwi felt a great sense of betrayal when they saw their subordinates running away for their lives.

‘You ungrateful bastards. As if we didn’t swear to live and die together!’

Thwack!

Suddenly, Woo-Moon hit his fist and palm together.

‘W-what is he doing...’

Dok-Du, Ryeok-Gwi, and Rat looked at Woo-Moon with anxious eyes.

“Even after being beaten like that, you didn’t come to your senses and you even ended up dragging in those bandits. I’m going to make sure that you are completely and fully rehabilitated and turned into honest people, right now.”

“T-that’s not it. We didn’t call the Northern Fox Gang, but...”

Dok-Du hastily poured out excuses, but he was unable to finish his sentence as Woo-Moon also poured out some Heavy Rain with his fists.

Thud, thud, thud!

“AGH!!”

“AGK!!”

The rain of fists was unimaginably painful. None of them could tell how exactly he was hitting them, but they had never felt this much pain in their lives.

Of course, for Dok-Du, it was less painful than when Baek Jin-Jin had struck him in his most precious place the other day, but just barely.

“P-please stop hitting us!”

“Shut up. Every time you open your mouth, you get a hundred more.”

After being hit countless times, Ryeok-Gwi raged on the inside.

‘This is all because of Dok-Du! That bastard! Why did you have to mess with that little flower bitch?!’

*

Following Woo-Moon’s suggestion, they purchased a carriage to make the trip more convenient.

For the next ten days, Sang-Woon, Dae-Woong, Jin-Jin, Woo-Moon, and Yeon Si-Hyeon rode in a carriage together and enjoyed the journey comfortably.

Woo-Moon also asked Jo Mu-Jae to ride the carriage with them, but the man insisted that he would ride alongside them instead.

Behind them, Ryeok-Gwi and Dok-Du trodded forward, loaded with massive pieces of luggage. The luggage was not just big, but also extremely heavy, including everything from blankets to pots and other kitchenware.

Now that they had porters they could use for free, the family had started to purchase things that they needed while on the road.

Meanwhile, a coachman was needed, of course, to drive a carriage. Thus, Woo-Moon had ordered Rat, who was much weaker than his superiors, to act as such.

Rat was ecstatic on the inside—said superiors, Ryeok-Gwi and Dok-Du, were carrying luggage while he was comfortably driving a carriage.

‘This is why having strength isn’t everything. Ahem. Or at least that’s what I heard.’

As they passed through mountain trails, there was one thing that they often encountered over and over again.

“Hahaha! You bastards! If you want to live, then leave everything here and scram!”

There were a lot of bandits in the

gangho

.

Fortunately, Woo-Moon’s family wasn’t that large, so most of the time, the bandits only showed up in groups of less than ten.

“Hey, what the hell do you want now?!” Woo-Moon shouted in annoyance.

Ryeok-Gwi and Dok-Du, who were walking behind them, quickly put down the luggage and ran forward.

“We’ll take care of it immediately!”

The two men went to the front of the carriage and faced the bandits.

“What the hell are these guys?”

The bandits glared as Woo-Moon kicked the back of Rat, who was still sitting on the coach seat, instead of leaving.

“You go out too, you dumbass!”

“Agk!”

Rat rolled right to the front and felt terrifying gazes upon him as he raised his head up to see Dok-Du and Ryeok-Gwi glaring at him with murderous eyes.

“Ha... haha. Sorry for being late!”

Just as Ryeok-Gwi and Dok-Du were about to say something to Rat, Woo-Moon’s voice echoed again.

“What’s taking you so long? Are you taking a break or something?”

‘You bastard!”

Cursing Woo-Moon in their minds, the three glared at the bandits.

“W-what’s with these bastards?”

As if they saw the resentment and rage deep within Dok-Du and Ryeok-Gwi’s eyes, the bandits were already starting to lose their momentum.

Ryeok-Gwi, Dok-Du, and Rat were all peppered with wounds. These were not caused by Woo-Moon; rather, they were the result of fighting every single bandit they’d encountered so far all by themselves.

The three of them were much weaker than their new masters, but that was just because Woo-Moon and his family were monsters. As people who ruled over the back alleys of an entire city, they were naturally capable people.

“You dog bastards!”

“Why are you blocking our path?”

Filled with venom, they threw themselves at their enemies, not caring if they were injured or not. They knew that if they dared to hold back, Woo-Moon would have an excuse to beat them up again.

The bloody battle ended quickly.

However, even though the fight had ended, Dok-Du and Ryeok-Gwi didn’t stop and continued to stomp on the bandits. Meanwhile, Rat lay on the ground, knocked unconscious after being hit by a spear swung by one of the bandits.

Finally tired of the sight, Woo-Moon shouted, “Hey! Why does it feel like I’m getting hurt while you’re hitting the bandits? You’re thinking about hitting me, aren’t you??”

‘You fucking demon bastarts!’

‘You devil!’

The two were, in fact, beating the bandits while visualizing Woo-Moon’s face under their feet.

“Huh? Why are you so shocked? Wait, so you really were beating them while thinking about me? What, it’s been so long you want another beating?”

“No! That’s absolutely not it!”

“Really? Hmm... and here I thought that’s what you were doing... you know you’d die if you really did that, right?”

“Yes!”

“Hurry up and clean this up so we can leave. We’re not that far.”

“Understood!”

“Hey, Rat. Stop being such a baby. Get up and drive.”

As if he had been awake and trembling for some time, Rat jumped up with the mental strength of a superhuman and sat down on the coach seat.

“Depart!”

Watching everything happen, Sang-Woon looked somewhat proud as Dae-Woong dozed off, and Jin-Jin sighed.

Moreover, Si-Hyeon thought to herself as she watched Woo-Moon.

‘He’s starting to resemble grandfather more and more. His personality... hmm, it seemed much more kind and gentle before.’

They traveled for a while, and as dinner time came, Ryeok-Gwi and Dok-Du found a flat area in their vicinity. It was clear that they were familiar with what they had to do—they immediately took out some shovels that they were carrying and removed the protruding stones on the ground. Then, they shoveled flat the soil on the higher areas and sprinkled it all over the holes, making the ground more even. The way they moved made them appear not only well-practiced, but even passionate.

“Hurry up and finish.”

...Or it was because Woo-Moon was watching them from behind.

“It seems these brats are being much slower these days,” Sang-Woon said from the side.

“Is that so? No worries, grandfather. If I beat them up a little, they’ll be way faster!”

Immediately, Ryeok-Gwi and Dok-Du sped up.

Meanwhile, Rat was holding its head in tremendous pain while standing next to Dae-Woong, who was making their meal.

“You brat! I’ve been teaching you for a few days already, and yet you still can’t do a single damn thing right! Why the heck are you putting in the salt now?!”

Since Rat was quite dextrous, he had been serving as an assistant to Dae-Woong whenever he was cooking.

What was the most upsetting for the three of them was that even Eun-Ah, who was an animal, ate with Woo-Moon and his family, while they had to sit off to the side and eat quietly, not even making a single sound.

‘Are we supposed to be worse than that tiger cub?’

What was even more upsetting was Eun-Ah’s behavior.