“Ah!”
She had been stabbed.
Deeply, at that.
The blade had pierced through her shoulder and emerged out the back.
Ogyo screamed without realizing it from the pain, and that quickly drew attention.
“Over there!”
“Someone caught her! She’s been stabbed by a sword!”
This was bad.
Ogyo swiftly grabbed the sword that had run through her shoulder.
She tried to pull out the embedded blade, but her opponent was still holding on to it.
“Damn it, get lost!”
Still gripping the tree branch, Ogyo tucked her legs in and curled her body into a ball, then snapped herself open with all her strength and kicked the man in the chest.
“Keuk!”
The numbing poison had already begun to spread, so the man could put up no real resistance. He lost his grip on the sword and fell to the ground.
Now only the sword remained.
Ogyo gripped the hilt, clenched her teeth, and pulled the blade out of her shoulder.
She tossed the drawn sword carelessly to the ground and climbed onto the tree branch.
People were already gathering all around.
Before it was too late, Ogyo moved along the branches and left the area.
“She’s running! After her!”
Naturally, they chased after her, but they could not keep up with Ogyo’s speed.
“Stop bothering me!”
As Ogyo fled, she lashed her threads behind her, and several enemies who had been pursuing her with their guards down collapsed.
However, the enemy had also begun to grasp Ogyo’s methods to some extent, and those still moving were all highly skilled, so she could not shake them off easily.
This time, Ogyo had been inexperienced.
Originally, she was someone who knew nothing of mercy, but after Yohwa’s death, a great change had taken place within her.
Trying to show mercy in accordance with Yohwa’s words was only the reason on the surface.
Looking deep into her heart, Ogyo no longer wished to see anyone die before her eyes.
This young wild dog had begun to feel the weight of life.
But now that the situation had come to this, she had no choice but to harden her heart.
“If you keep following me……”
As Ogyo gathered her internal energy, the threads were dyed red.
That red color was proof that Ogyo’s blood poison had coated the threads, and as Wipungso had predicted in their previous fight, it was extremely dangerous.
Those without resistance would die immediately upon touching the red threads, and even those with some resistance would still die if they did not receive treatment soon.
Ogyo leaped down from the branch and landed on the ground.
When she suddenly stopped, those pursuing her hurriedly opened up the distance.
The red threads coiled around the girl like a snake.
Even in the pitch-black night, those blood-colored threads looked strangely vivid.
Ogyo pulled her left hand beside her head, preparing to swing the threads.
Sensing that something was amiss, one martial artist hurriedly made those nearby retreat.
“Dodge! Everyone, dodge!”
At those words, the martial artists merely shuffled backward, not knowing what to do, and stared at Ogyo.
Ogyo frowned.
“If you don’t want to die, get down!”
When the wild dog shouted fiercely, the martial artists lowered their bodies reflexively without understanding why.
And at the same time, they thought:
Why had they obeyed the enemy’s words?
But it was a wise decision.
A moment later, when Ogyo swung her left hand, the threads that had been coiled around her unraveled in an instant and swept out in every direction.
Yeonyeon Blood Net, Eighth Move: Red Serpent Blood Wheel.
When internal energy drawn up to the limit was infused into the threads, they became sharp as blades while also carrying lethal poison.
It was a technique that attacked in all directions by swinging the threads in that state like a whip.
The technique itself was truly simple, but its power far surpassed the imagination of ordinary people.
This was not because of the refinement of the technique, but because of Ogyo’s internal energy.
Ogyo’s true strength had always lain not in external arts, but in internal energy.
The vessel of an innate Poison King Physique.
Dan Gohyeong had recognized it at a glance and, from early on, had poured his heart and blood into instilling the essence of Myriad Poisons Return to the Source into Ogyo.
Although his years of effort had gone to waste when Ogyo ran away right before its completion, the internal energy accumulated in that small body was still as deep as the sea.
The red threads spun rapidly, sweeping through the surroundings with the force of a storm.
Thick trees were sliced apart like sheets of paper, and the forest could no longer be called a forest.
The night sky that had been hidden by the trees was revealed, and the surroundings grew much brighter.
As if a great hole had been punched through the middle of the forest, there was no longer anything standing within a radius of ten jang, about thirty meters, around Ogyo.
Because the enemies had listened to Ogyo’s warning and sprawled flat on the ground, all of them survived.
A short while later, the martial artists staggered to their feet with ashen faces and looked around at the devastation.
Shredded trees had fallen everywhere, leaving not even proper space to set their feet.
Ogyo spoke to the dazed martial artists.
“Don’t follow me. Next time, I won’t let you off.”
After saying that, she turned sharply and disappeared beyond the forest.
“W-wait!”
“Enough.”
“Senior Brother, are you not going after her?”
At the young martial artist’s question, another martial artist shook his head.
“You saw it too. Even if we chase her, with our skills, it would be difficult to handle her. Only if the elders stepped forward would we barely be able to deal with her, but it’s already too late. Besides……”
The man looked back.
“In any case, the young madam will be inside that cave. For now, rescuing the young madam takes priority, so let’s just leave that one be.”
“……Understood.”
As if everyone accepted those words, the martial artists stopped pursuing Ogyo and turned back.
The martial artist who had told them to withdraw, however, remained where he was for a moment, staring fixedly at the place where Ogyo had disappeared.
‘Come to think of it, that girl…… somewhere……’
He had seen her before.
But even after racking his brain for a while, the memory did not come back clearly.
In the end, the martial artist shook his head and turned away.
Meanwhile, Ogyo, who had been running through the forest, realized that no one was following her anymore and stopped for a moment to catch her breath.
“It hurts……”
Blood was still flowing from her pierced shoulder.
The one fortunate thing was that the wound was very clean. If the man had moved the blade around after stabbing her, her flesh would have torn and it would have become a terrible mess.
Had he not had the leisure to do so, or had he, as someone of a righteous sect, not intended to do anything so cowardly?
Either way, it did not matter.
Looking herself over, she found no other injuries, but the torn collar of her clothes bothered her.
These clothes had been made for her by Yohwa, so she had not wanted to get them dirty.
‘I don’t know how to sew……’
Ogyo kept fiddling with the torn part, looking upset.
If anything, she seemed more concerned about this than the wound on her shoulder.
She had no time to be standing around like this.
It would not be good to lose any more blood, so she needed to stop the bleeding.
To avoid damaging her outer clothes, Ogyo untied the top of her undergarment, took it off, and tore it into long strips to make a bandage.
Whatever she looked like on the outside, strictly speaking, she was a fully grown maiden, yet there was not the slightest trace of modesty to be found.
“Mm, done.”
After binding the wound on her shoulder with the torn undergarment, Ogyo nodded as if satisfied.
She had panicked when she was stabbed, but a wound of this degree would recover quickly even without any special treatment.
Rather, what worried her was the internal energy she had consumed in this fight.
The enemies would surely come after her again, so she needed to circulate her energy in a safe place and recover her internal strength.
Ogyo began running again.
After climbing a little way up the mountain along the slope, she found a narrow space between steep rock walls.
“I’m here.”
When Ogyo approached and spoke, a person popped out from the cramped gorge.
It was Cheongdam.
“Older Sister Gyo, you’re safe.”
It was only natural, but as soon as Ogyo had realized in advance that the enemy would soon attack, she had first taken Cheongdam out of the cave and hidden her somewhere else.
After that, in order to deceive the enemy, she had deliberately returned to the forest in front of the cave and prepared her traps.
“Let’s go now. Before those guys chase after us again, I think it’d be best to go up the mountain and hide.”
“Yes, I understand.”
When Ogyo held out her arm, Cheongdam nestled into it as if accustomed to doing so.
However, because Ogyo had injured her left shoulder, this time she had to lift her with only her right hand.
“Older Sister Gyo, there’s blood on your clothes…… Were you hurt?”
“Yeah. I got stabbed by some weird stuttering bastard.”
“Stuttering……”
“Do you know who he is?”
At Ogyo’s question, Cheongdam made an awkward expression.
“It was probably Young Master Im Saun, the second young master of Jeokhamun.”
“Hm.”
“Was he strong?”
“Yeah. He was really sharp.”
Compared to Yang Uisin, he too was no more than a trifling existence.
Even so, among ordinary people, it was quite a fast sword.
“I see, he…… It seems all those nights he devoted himself to training were worth it.”
“……I didn’t lose.”
Strictly speaking, Ogyo had been stabbed in the shoulder, but Im Saun had lost consciousness, so it should be considered Ogyo’s victory.
Feeling as if Cheongdam did not acknowledge that part, Ogyo felt a little hurt.
Seeing Ogyo’s sulky expression, Cheongdam smiled softly.
“Older Sister Gyo, to think you even shed blood for my sake. I will definitely repay this kindness.”
“……Yeah, do that.”
“But, Older Sister Gyo.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you perhaps kill the young master?”
As Cheongdam asked that, she looked calm at first glance, but her pupils were trembling.
Was she worried about him?
“I didn’t kill him. Anyone.”
“No one?”
“Yeah.”
Cheongdam blinked her round eyes several times, as if startled.
“Older Sister Gyo, you are truly more merciful than I thought.”
“……Am I?”
“Of course. Considering the situation, everyone must have come at you prepared to risk their lives, yet you did not take a single one of theirs. It’s admirable.”
It was neither such a great thing nor such a grand thing.
She had merely been unable to make a ruthless decision because of the unease in her heart.
Perhaps she had become weaker after meeting Yohwa.
She even had such a thought.
But even if that was so, it did not matter.
Who was weaker and who was stronger—such things were of no importance.
Only idle people like those of the jianghu staked their lives on matters like that.
“Older Sister Gyo, where are you going?”
“The mountaintop.”
“The top of which mountain? There are more than one or two peaks in these Giryeon Mountains.”
“Even if you ask me which one…… it’s over there.”
Ogyo pointed the direction with her chin, but it was the middle of the dark night, so it could not be seen clearly.
Cheongdam assumed it was somewhere around there and did not ask any further.
“Won’t it be cold if we go all the way to the mountaintop?”
“There’s a building where we can hide. If we light a fire inside, it shouldn’t be that cold.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Cheongdam asked no more questions and wrapped her arms around Ogyo’s neck.
Holding Cheongdam in her arms, Ogyo ran swiftly along the dark mountain path.
*
The battle that took place at Jeokhamun and the battle that took place in the Giryeon Mountains.
Because of these two incidents, both of which occurred in a single day, Jeokhamun and Bichwigak suffered great losses to their fighting strength.
A considerable number of disciples were killed or injured, yet in the end, they had gained nothing.
Inside the cave the butterfly had found, there remained only traces that someone had stayed there. There was no one inside.
They had all been perfectly deceived by Ogyo’s scheme.
They ought to have felt ashamed.
Though two sects had joined forces, they had been toyed with by a mere wild dog. How could they possibly go around with their heads held high now?
Because the night was deep and there were many wounded, further pursuit was impossible, and the two sects had no choice but to descend the mountain.
They decided to head to a nearby city and first reorganize themselves.
However, the atmosphere was as low as it could possibly be.
Both sides had forgotten even their dignity and fought with their eyes fixed solely on the Cheongpungdan, but the very Cheongpungdan had been stolen away by some little girl who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, someone they had never seen or heard of before.
Now they no longer had the Thousand-Li Fragrance either, so there was no way to track that girl. And even if they did find her, there was not even any certainty that they could capture her.
No matter how dark and tangled the forest had been, the martial artists of the two sects had been helplessly bested by a single girl.
Even the two sect leaders had done little more than lose their tempers, proving of no real use.
In particular, such disgraceful behavior from the sect leaders was more than enough to disappoint their disciples.
Even before that, some among the disciples of both sects had been dissatisfied with their leaders’ policies.
Both the Jeokha Sect and Bichwi Pavilion were sects that walked the righteous path of murim, placing great value not only on honing martial arts but also on practicing chivalrous justice.
Yet the recent conduct of the two sects had been far removed from justice indeed.
The misguided greed of the two sect leaders had dragged their sects’ honor down to a point where it could no longer be restored, and not many were willing to remain in their sects while bearing such disgrace.
After they arrived in the city, several disciples left their sects without even going through proper procedures, offering only brief farewells.
Now, even if all the remaining members of the two sects were combined, they numbered fewer than thirty.
Since the previous night, snow had fallen without cease, and the wind had blown fiercely.
The streets were piled high with snow, and the distant, hazy Qilian Mountains were dyed entirely white.
In the snowy mountains at this time of year, avalanches often occurred as well.
Finding the two girls who had vanished somewhere within those endlessly distant ranges was close to impossible.
The two sect leaders remained silent, unable to decide what to do next, while the disciples huddled against the cold, waiting for their leaders’ orders.
Im Saun, the only one who had achieved anything in last night’s fight, stood alone outside the inn, forlornly letting the snow fall on him.
His mind was in turmoil.
At first, anxiety over his sister-in-law, Cheongdam, had left him restless.
He could not sit still for even a moment, fearing that something terrible might happen to her.
But after fighting that girl in the forest of the Qilian Mountains, Im Saun’s heart had settled, if only a little.
“You’re the ones tormenting her.”
That girl had clearly said so.
Had she meant Cheongdam?
Who that girl was, and what relationship she had with Cheongdam, remained unclear.
But that one statement, at least, had been the undeniable truth.
Everyone was tormenting Cheongdam.
No one worried about her situation, and no one respected her.
What was so important about that damned inner core? Would eating it turn one into an immortal?
Even if it were an inner core of such value, it still could not be allowed.
And yet, he himself had done nothing all this time.
There must surely have been something he could have done.
By contrast, that girl had stood alone against two sects.
It was truly remarkable spirit.
Her martial skill, too, was so deep that he could not fathom it.
He had lost.
It was true that he had let his guard down for an instant because of what the girl said, but even if they fought again properly, he was not confident he could win.
Where did that girl intend to take Cheongdam?
He did not know.
But he did not think that girl would treat Cheongdam badly.
‘Perhaps my sister-in-law would be happier staying with that girl.’
After all, if she returned to the Jeokha Sect, she would only be dragged back into conflict.
Then what should he do?
“Haha……”
A hollow laugh escaped him, then soon turned into a sigh.
The sigh became a long plume of breath, scattering toward the overcast sky.
A short while later.
From the far end of the street, he saw a disciple of Bichwi Pavilion running over in haste.
The man rushed past Saun and burst into the inn.
“S-Sect Leader!”
His voice rang out noisily, and even from outside Saun could hear him climbing the stairs.
What is going on?
Sharp-eyed as he was, Saun had seen that the disciple was holding a sheet of paper in his hand.
He had not been able to read all the writing on it, but it was a paper with someone’s portrait drawn on it.
Beside the portrait were large characters that read Apprehend—
Wait, apprehend?
Saun realized it.
What that disciple had just been holding was a wanted notice issued by the authorities.