Longevity - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 14: A Single Gap
“Master, the Five Elements Formation is fully deployed!”

Jeon Jingung’s cry rang out from beyond the forest.
Na Yangja drove forward.
Jong Agyeong’s machete came at her neck. The Fire Blade wrapped around her right wrist as she pivoted.
Clang!
The blade’s tip skittered sideways. When Na Yangja’s elbow struck his chest, Jong Agyeong staggered back. The machete that slipped from his grip was in her hand before it touched the ground.

“Stop her!”

The men beside Jong Agyeong rushed at her in unison.
The foremost drove his blade forward. Na Yangja twisted, letting the point slide past, and swept the machete outward.
Thunk.
The blade buried itself in his ribs. As he folded, the man charging behind him lost his path. Na Yangja shoved the falling body, toppling both men together.
Another machete came at her shoulder from the right.
Clash!
Two blades met. The enemy’s sword flew upward, his wrist exposed. Na Yangja’s Fire Blade struck the back of his hand, and the machete grazed his throat. He released the blade and dropped to his knees.
A third man vaulted over the falling body.
Na Yangja slipped half a step sideways. The man swept through empty air and tumbled toward Jong Agyeong. The Fire Blade coiled around his ankle and yanked; his face plowed into the earth. The machete crossed his throat.
A blade flashed from the left. Na Yangja planted her foot on the fallen man’s back and launched herself upward. The machete grazed beneath her; her landing foot crushed the attacker’s wrist.
Crack.
The man screamed and released his grip. Na Yangja kicked the blade toward Jong Agyeong. As he hurriedly dodged aside, the distance between them widened.
Jong Agyeong retreated, shouting.

“Close in! Don’t leave her isolated!”

But those standing near hesitated to advance.
Jang Saeng turned his head.
Yi Jungyong and Jin Ipchu were still encircled by blades. Though Jin Ipchu held the line with his iron spade, the wound on his chest had split open, staining his garments dark red. Yi Jungyong alone was parrying three machetes before Ba Turu.
Clash! Clang!
His long sword drove back two blades. When a third machete came low, Jin Ipchu’s iron spade wedged in from the side.
Crash!
The machete bent toward the ground. Jin Ipchu drove his haft into the man’s chest, but his strength was insufficient. The man retreated one step, then rushed back in.
Jang Saeng saw the monkey at his feet. A short arrow lodged in its skull caught the torchlight.
He drew out the arrow and fitted it to the crossbow. The string would not catch.

“Second brother!”

Yi Jungyong raised his blade to block the two men before him.

“Hook the notch at the arrow’s end into the string and draw!”

Jang Saeng fitted the arrow to the string. As he pulled with both hands, his left shoulder tore with pain. Clenching his teeth and forcing strength, the string caught the trigger.
The man before Jin Ipchu raised his machete.

“Third brother!”

Jang Saeng aimed the crossbow.
Twang—
Thunk.
The short arrow lodged in the man’s thigh. His advancing leg buckled, and he dropped to one knee. Jin Ipchu’s iron spade shot upward, striking his jaw.
Crack!
The man fell backward, his ankle catching the one behind him. As the two tangled, Yi Jungyong stepped forward and blocked the path with his long sword.
Jin Ipchu planted his iron spade against the ground and pushed himself up. He parried a blade coming at his flank with the haft, then positioned himself between the two fallen men and the wooden chest. It was only a narrow gap, but it was enough to catch a breath.

“Youngest disciple, fall back!”

Jang Saeng clutched the empty crossbow and withdrew beneath the tree. There were no more arrows.
To the west, Jong Agyeong had seized the machetes from two of his subordinates and now wielded both in his hands.

“I’ll kill you!”

Two blades flashed alternately toward Na Yangja’s face and waist. She discarded the Machete she’d seized and gripped the Fire Blade short, moving straight into the gap between the two blades.
Jong Agyeong’s right hand moved first.
Clang!
The Fire Blade’s hilt struck the flat of his sword. The Machete was forced outward, opening his right side. Jong Agyeong pulled his left-hand blade forward, but Na Yangja was already inside his guard. Their shoulders collided and he stumbled back a step.
His subordinates nearby tried to press in again.
Just then, a man standing on the periphery shrieked.

“Ah!”

He clutched his shin and went down. Another man beside him gasped, striking his neck, and crumpled. A brief flash of light cut through the darkness again.
Thud!
A third man took the strike on his shoulder and rolled sideways.
Jang Saeng’s eyes narrowed. He couldn’t see who’d thrown the hidden projectile. A black shadow had merely passed beneath the rustling branches for a moment.
Jong Agyeong heard the cry. His head spun halfway around.
Na Yangja twisted her body.
Slash!
The Fire Blade swept across Jong Agyeong’s face. Fine wounds opened across his cheek and forehead at once. Blood poured from both eyes.

“My eyes!”

Jong Agyeong dropped the Machete and clutched his face.
Na Yangja’s right hand fell from above his crown.
Crack!
Jong Agyeong’s knees buckled. His head tilted to one side and his body fell backward.
Jang Saeng exhaled without thinking.
In that instant, white light erupted from inside Jong Agyeong’s robes.
Burst!
Fine needles thin as hair scattered in all directions. Na Yangja raised her arm to shield her face, but white needles lodged in her shoulder, chest, and ribs. Her body shook briefly.
The Ma Bang men nearby couldn’t escape either. One man covered his eye socket and dropped his Machete; another clutched his throat and collapsed before Na Yangja. A man fleeing backward took a needle in the thigh and tumbled over a corpse. The man holding a blade behind Na Yangja was struck on the back of his hand. As his Machete fell to the ground, the man beside him bent to retrieve it. This time a white needle pierced his neck. He fell prone, still clutching the sword’s hilt.

“Master!”

At Jang Saeng’s cry, Na Yangja lifted her head.
The men pressing Yi Jungyong and Jin Ipchu turned toward Jong Agyeong. With their leader fallen and his companions screaming, their sword arms wavered.
Jin Ipchu’s Iron Spade didn’t miss the opening.
Smack!
The shaft caught the man’s ribs. He folded and retreated, and Yi Jungyong’s Long Sword pushed the adjacent Machete aside.
Clang!
The blade fell to the ground.

“Scatter!”

Someone shouted and the Ma Bang men dispersed in all directions.
Na Yangja rushed forward with needles still embedded in her robe.

“Leave none of them behind.”

Yi Jungyong and Jin Ipchu followed in pursuit. Jin Ipchu pressed one hand to his chest yet refused to release the Iron Spade. At the forest’s edge, Jeon Jingung emerged and cut across the path of two fleeing men.
The remnants of Ma Bang threw Torches. Their light rolled across damp earth before going out one by one. To Jang Saeng’s eyes, Na Yangja’s grey robe simply vanished between the trees.
Shouts and the sound of weapons grew distant in the darkness.
Jang Saeng stayed beside Ba Turu.

“Hold on just a little longer.”

Ba Turu opened his mouth, but only a faint groan emerged. Without moving a single finger, his eyes tracked the forest.
As the surroundings grew quiet, the sound of soil being scraped came from nearby.

Jang Saeng turned around.
One of the bodies lying prone suddenly jerked upright.
The man showed no sign of injury as he rushed toward the wooden chest, kicking aside the fallen machete with his foot and immediately seizing the lock.
Jang Saeng picked up the empty crossbow.
The man saw it and laughed.

“Unh…”

Ba Turu tried to push himself upright, but only his shoulders heaved.
The lock gave way. The man stripped off his upper garment and swept the ancient books and bamboo slips into it. One bundle of bamboo slips fell to the ground, but he didn’t pick it up.
He strained to listen into the forest, but even the nearest shout had already faded into distance. If Jeon Jingung had deployed the Five Elements Formation in full, the man could not have fled so far. There was a gap in the formation somewhere.
The man clutched the secret documents and bolted southward.
Jang Saeng tried to stand, but his legs gave way beneath him. Even with the empty crossbow, he couldn’t pursue fast enough. Ba Turu made a rough sound in his throat—whether a command to stop or a plea not to be abandoned, Jang Saeng couldn’t tell.
He grasped the arrow embedded in his left shoulder.
It was the only thing he could use now.
He clenched his teeth and tore it free in one violent motion.

“Ugh!”

Blood poured into his clothes. Jang Saeng staggered and pressed his weight onto his knees, but he didn’t drop the arrow. He fitted the short shaft into the crossbow and, bending low, drew back the string. The catch engaged.
The man was fleeing past the fallen torch.
Jang Saeng planted one knee and raised the crossbow. He aimed at the man’s wavering back.
Ting—
Thunk.
The arrow buried itself between his shoulder blades. The man pitched forward, spilling the ancient books and bamboo slips from his grasp across the ground.
Jang Saeng rolled onto his side.
Blood seeped between the fingers clamped over his shoulder. He pushed himself along the earth with his elbows, dragging himself back to the tree where Ba Turu lay.
Ba Turu looked at Jang Saeng with reddened eyes and nodded hard, with effort.

“He didn’t take them.”

Jang Saeng slumped against the tree and sat.
From the darkness came the clash of blades once more, then silence. He couldn’t see who was winning. Jang Saeng kept his shoulder pressed to stanch the bleeding, his eyes fixed only on the man fallen to the south. If he rose again, there would be no way to stop him this time.
Mercifully, the man didn’t move.
Before long, Yi Jungyong returned, supporting Jin Ipchu. Jin Ipchu’s chest was soaked with blood again.
When Yi Jungyong saw the open wooden chest, he stopped short.

“The secret documents?”

He pointed south. The fallen man and the scattered books were visible in the dying light’s reach.

“Did you shoot him?”

Jang Saeng nodded wordlessly.
Yi Jungyong asked nothing further. Jin Ipchu began gathering the scattered books and bamboo slips, placing them back in the wooden chest. Yi Jungyong drew out trauma medicine and cloth, binding Jin Ipchu’s chest, then sat down in front of Jang Saeng.

“Move your hand.”

The moment Jang Saeng lifted his hand from his shoulder, blood flowed fresh. Yi Jungyong sprinkled trauma medicine and wrapped the wound tightly.

“Brother Yi, I’m all right.”
“Don’t talk.”

Na Yangja and Jeon Jingung arrived shortly after. Several white needles protruded from Na Yangja’s robe.
Yi Jungyong pointed toward the south.

“Our youngest disciple pulled the arrow from his own shoulder and shot that one.”

Na Yangja’s eyes moved back and forth between the fallen man and Jang Saeng’s shoulder.

“Well done.”

Jin Ipchu closed the wooden chest.

“Had we been a moment later, we’d have lost both the documents and our youngest brother.”

Na Yangja spoke, her eyes on the cloth wrapped around Jang Saeng’s shoulder.

“Stop the bleeding first.”

Jeon Jingung gathered the abandoned torches and rekindled a flame. As darkness receded, the needles embedded in Na Yangja’s garment became starkly visible.
She lowered her head.

“Master, I was foolish. There was a flaw in the Five Elements Formation.”

Na Yangja offered no rebuke, only unfastened her outer robe and turned to show her back.
Yi Jungyong retrieved the tweezers from the wooden chest. As he drew out the first needle and held it to the firelight, his brow tightened.

“Master, this appears to be an Ox Hair Needle

laced with poison.”
“Don’t worry.”
“Jingung, search Jong Agyeong’s body for the antidote.”

Jeon Jingung rushed toward the corpse.
Jang Saeng watched from the darkness. Those needles had not been thrown by Jong Agyeong’s hand. They had burst from within his garments as he fell—a hidden weapon meant to take him with them. If such a poison had been designed for mutual destruction, there might be no antidote at all.
Moments later, Jeon Jingung returned with a small vial and a bamboo slip from Jong Agyeong’s robes. Na Yangja uncorked each container and breathed in their scents.

“This is the antidote to Drunken Fish Herb. Give it to Ba Turu.”

Jeon Jingung supported Ba Turu’s jaw and administered the medicine. Ba Turu coughed twice before managing to swallow.
Yi Jungyong withdrew the final needle and set it gently on the cloth.

“Thirteen in total.”

Na Yangja fastened her robe and drew a pill from another vial, swallowing it whole. Moments later, Ba Turu’s fingers stirred. A faint sound emerged from his rigid tongue.

“The… the youngest brother…….”
“Don’t move, brother. Rest yourself.”

Ba Turu’s gaze fixed on Jang Saeng’s bound shoulder, and he ground his teeth.
Jin Ipchu leaned on the iron spade and rose. Holding a torch, he surveyed the bodies scattered about, then nudged a dead monkey with the tip of his boot.

“If the youngest brother brought down even a monkey, there’s no fear of rumors spreading.”

Jang Saeng spoke up.

“Third brother, how many were there in all?”
“Including Jong Agyeong—twenty-six. Not a single one escaped.”

Jang Saeng’s eyes widened.

“Twenty-six?”
“I counted every body.”

Jeon Jingung nodded in agreement.

“I counted twenty-six as well.”

Jang Saeng slowly shook his head.

“No. There were twenty-seven.”

The eyes of the Buddhist monks converged on Jang Saeng all at once.

“When we were first surrounded, I counted twice. There was one more person behind the Western Willow Tree. He was hidden from view by the others, but he was definitely standing there.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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