Longevity - Chapter 22

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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 22: Kill or Be Killed
The cart did not surge forward at once.
Batu Ru eased back on the reins, slowing the pace. The soldiers guarding the North Gate leaned their weight against their spears, and though they watched the Gae Bang thugs blocking the road, they did not so much as blink.
Jang Saeng looked between them alternately.

“Senior, won’t the garrison soldiers stop those people?”

Jin Ib Chu pulled a cloth from his bundle as he spoke.

“The soldiers guarding the city gates aren’t constables. They have no reason to stick their necks into Jianghu blade-work, and no desire to make that many Jianghu fighters their enemies.”

Jeon Jin Gung drew a handkerchief from his pack as well.

“Gae Bang people aren’t like beggars. Panhandling is only their tool for extortion, and when necessary, they won’t hesitate at threats or murder.”

Jang Saeng looked again at the ragged figures beyond the North Gate. At first glance, they were hard to distinguish from the starving people he’d seen along the roadside.
But looking closer, they did not cower like the hungry. Their feet were planted wide, their hands positioned where they could draw a weapon in an instant.
Calluses and old blade scars showed on forearms beneath the tatters. Even the one holding a beggar’s cup had first examined the cart’s cargo bed and the spacing between its wheels.
Jin Ib Chu clicked his tongue at Jang Saeng’s expression.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking pity on the poor. But not everyone who is poor is good. You’ll learn that much soon enough, traveling outside these walls.”

Jang Saeng nodded instead of answering. He knew little enough to sit in judgment of who was virtuous or wicked, and for now his injured arm barely allowed him to handle a crossbow properly.
Na Yang Ja’s voice came from inside the cart.

“Cover your faces. The fewer people who see your faces, the less retribution will follow.”

Everyone drew out handkerchiefs and cloth scraps. When Jang Saeng looked around empty-handed, Jeon Jin Gung handed him a spare.

“Use this one.”
“What about you?”
“I have another.”

Jang Saeng tied the knot with his right hand and his teeth. Yi Jung Yong offered a cloth to Batu Ru as well, but Batu Ru snorted and waved him off.

“Who won’t recognize this frame of mine, mask or no mask? All it’ll do is stop me breathing.”

As they cleared the city gate, the distance between them and the Gae Bang mob was no more than fifty paces. Batu Ru asked over his shoulder.

“Master, do we walk through them or ride through them?”

Jin Ib Chu answered first.

“Obviously we ride. You’re not thinking we’ll talk our way past those faces, are you?”

Na Yang Ja said nothing to stop them.
Batu Ru cracked the whip. The two horses bolted in alarm, and the heavy cart lurched forward, gathering speed.
Those blocking the road turned as one toward the man in their center—a portly fellow who looked to be in his thirties.
Unlike the others, his gray robes were clean, and the scrap of yellow cloth on his chest was stitched deliberately straight.
The man brought a long wooden staff down hard against the earth.

“Worth the wait. We’ll seize the treasure and divide the spoils among us. Don’t let a single one slip past!”

The Gae Bang mob shrieked and rushed forward. Cudgels and iron rods filled the front rank, with blades and axes glinting between them.
Batu Ru hurled the reins and whip to Yi Jung Yong.

“Jung Yong, catch! I’ll cut us a path.”

Before Yi Jung Yong could even grip the reins, Batu Ru leapt from the cart. As if pouring out all the rage he’d held back until now, he rushed forward wielding the Iron Staff.
Before the first thug could bring his cudgel down, Batu Ru’s fist struck his chest.
Thud!
The man’s back arched like a bow, then he crashed down on the two followers behind him. Batu Ru didn’t pause, swinging the Iron Staff sideways in a continuous motion.
Bang!
The iron rod and wooden club snapped simultaneously, and both men were sent tumbling to the side of the road.
Instead of scattering, the Gae Bang mob converged from all directions. Blades raked across Batu Ru’s shoulders and ribs; wooden clubs pounded his back and head. Cloth tore in rapid succession, yet not a single red mark appeared on his skin.
Batu Ru planted the staff horizontally across his chest. He glanced once at the carriage bearing down behind him, then spread his legs wider.

“Get out of the way!”

He drove forward without breaking stride. Clubs and iron rods shattered against the Iron Staff with sharp cracks. The front line’s feet gouged long furrows through the dirt, and finally they collided with those behind them, the whole mass crumbling into chaos.
The carriage shot through the gap he had carved. Yi Jung Yong wrapped the reins around his left hand and drew his sword with his right. Even as he steadied the carriage, he severed the wrists of anyone clinging to the wheels.
Jin Ib Chu ran along the left side of the cart, guarding the space between wheel and flesh. He didn’t chase enemies far—only cut down those who dared reach for the carriage.
Jang Saeng lay prone at the rear of the carriage, crossbow in hand. With no strength in his left arm, he pulled the string with only his right hand, but the grip kept slipping.
Twang!
Jeon Jin Gung’s Flying Blade lodged in the thigh of a man who had been about to grab the carriage. At the same moment, Jin Ib Chu’s sword flashed from the left, severing the wrist of another reaching for the wheel.
Then an axe blade came down on the front horse’s leg.
Crack!
The horse screamed and its body folded forward. The carriage lurched to one side, and Jang Saeng’s shoulder drove into the rail. The wooden chest inside struck the wall with a heavy thud. The rear horse took a spear through its flank and bled from beneath its belly.
If Yi Jung Yong had not quickly steadied the carriage, the front wheel would have run over the fallen horse and flipped the entire wagon. He kept the reins taut and twisted his body to block a sword coming in from the right.
Batu Ru looked back.

“You bastards!”

Opening the road no longer mattered. Yi Jung Yong released the reins and leaped down to the right; Jin Ib Chu covered the left. Jeon Jin Gung stayed behind the carriage with Jang Saeng, throwing Flying Blades at those who clung on.
The front horse lay on the ground, struggling to rise on its three remaining legs. Each time the severed leg scraped the dirt, a long scream escaped.
Batu Ru ran to the horse, cradled its head in his arms, gritted his teeth, and raised his palm high before bringing it down on the crown of its head.
The scream cut off.
He immediately tore away the broken harness and seized the bleeding rear horse’s reins, dragging it forward. Hot blood from the horse stained his palm, but he didn’t wipe it away.

“Move. Just a little longer. Hold on.”

The horse stumbled forward, pulling the carriage. With each step, blood poured from its torn belly, leaving a dark line between the wheel tracks.
Batu Ru pulled from the front, Yi Jung Yong covered the right, Jin Ib Chu cut down those rushing at the carriage from the left, while Jeon Jin Gung and Jang Saeng fired from the rear, picking off any who found an opening.
Jang Saeng barely managed to nock the string and fit a short arrow. The carriage lurched as he was aiming, and the target kept slipping from his sight.
A man climbed toward the rear wheel. Jang Saeng aimed for the shoulder instead of the neck, but the moment his finger squeezed the trigger, the man twisted.
Snap!
The short arrow buried itself below the man’s collarbone. He tumbled backward under the wheel, both hands clawing at the arrow shaft.
Thud-crack!
The wheel struck something and bounced hard. Jang Saeng’s teeth slammed together. His trigger finger went stiff and wouldn’t straighten, and both the arrow buried below that man’s neck and the violence of that moment flooded back at once.
An iron hook flew toward the carriage rail. Jeon Jin Gung’s Flying Blade pierced the back of the hand first, and the hook lost its trajectory, scraping the dirt beside the wheel.

“Next arrow.”

Jang Saeng lowered his head and pulled the string again. The skin of his right palm had been flayed raw, but he couldn’t let go.
The carriage rolled forward dozens more paces. But the surviving horse’s gait grew suddenly slow. Blood and foam dripped from its mouth and nose, and its front knees buckled again and again.
Batu Ru finally released the reins. He covered the horse’s eyes with his hand and brought his palm down on its head once more.
The second horse fell.
Batu Ru stood there for a moment. He swept his hand down the dead horse’s neck, then turned. As shouts from behind grew closer, he tore free all the remaining harness lines and threw the Iron Staff onto the carriage.
He grabbed the carriage shaft with both hands.

“I’ll pull. Cover the sides!”

Creeeeak—!
The shaft bent beneath Batu Ru’s shoulders. On the first step, the wheel dug into blood-soaked earth; on the second, the entire carriage lurched forward with him.

“Stay close!”

At Yi Jung Yong’s shout, the carriage began to move.
Clang!
His sword caught an iron rod. His wrist bent under the force, but Yi Jung Yong drove his shoulder into the attacker and shoved him clear of the wheel. As a club came in from the side, Jin Ib Chu struck upward with the flat of his blade.
Crack!
The wooden club shot upward into empty air, and Jin Ib Chu’s sword point swept through the gap beneath an arm. But before he could finish off his fallen opponent, another blade came slashing at his ankle. The two men locked blades, pushed back against each other, and pressed their struggle against the side of the wagon.
Screech, thump!
Jeon Jin Gung’s Flying Blade grazed over Jang Saeng’s head and pierced the shoulder of the man who’d been pursuing him. Another blade shoved away the hand gripping the iron hook. Four blades remained at his waist; only the smaller ones had been depleted.
Jang Saeng pressed the crossbow secure with his right hand. Each time his torn palm stuck and pulled away from the grip, it burned as if scorched by fire.
Click.
The bowstring caught in its groove. As he finally lifted his gaze, he saw a swordsman burrowing in behind Jin Ib Chu’s back. Jang Saeng had no time to think—he pulled the trigger.
Twang!
The arrow pierced the man’s shoulder. The sword point tore only at Jin Ib Chu’s robe hem before falling away.
Jin Ib Chu spun around and kicked the man down, shouting.

“Youngest, do you understand now? The Jianghu isn’t a place that runs on goodwill and face alone. In the end, it’s a place where you kill or be killed.”

Jang Saeng couldn’t answer. Even as he fitted another arrow, the clash of metal rang out continuously from both sides of the wagon.
Whether he felt fear was a question for later. Right now, if he let the one man in front of him slip past, that blade would bury itself in his own back or his brothers’.
Let someone live, and that person would kill them.
Nothing more complicated than that.
Batu Ru’s running stride suddenly halted. The wagon lurched forward, and Jang Saeng grabbed the rail.
The leader in gray robes blocked the path. A thick heavy wooden staff circled overhead, but Batu Ru, gripping the cart shaft, had nowhere to dodge.
Boom!
The heavy wooden staff came crashing down on his crown. Batu Ru’s knees buckled nearly to the ground, and the end of the cart shaft gouged into the earth.
Thud!
The carriage tilted to the right, and Jang Saeng and Jeon Jin Gung slammed against the wall.

“Second Brother!”

Yi Jung Yong charged forward. As the swordsman shoved back with his wooden club, Batu Ru seized the Iron Staff from the wagon bed.
Red light flashed across the black staff. The Iron Staff, now glowing bright as heated metal, met the descending heavy wooden staff head-on.
Crack!
The wooden staff burst apart at its center, wood splinters scattering in all directions. Before the leader could even release the broken handle, Batu Ru’s body twisted at the waist.
Whoosh!
The red staff slammed against his temple. The man’s body spun half a turn to the side, staggered forward a few steps, then crashed into the dirt.
The shouts around them died. Even those who’d been swinging weapons moments before stepped back two or three paces from Batu Ru. After witnessing the leader’s staff and skull shatter in the same direction, no one dared to step forward first.
The Gae Bang fighters looked back and forth between their dead leader and the Iron Staff glowing red-hot. The front ranks began to retreat, and soon a narrow gap opened down the middle of the northern road.
Batu Ru gripped the cart shaft again.

“Move aside!”

This time, no one blocked the way.
As the wagon pulled away from the gate, the sounds behind them grew quieter. The Gae Bang fighters still stood at the roadside but didn’t follow. Yi Jung Yong and Jin Ib Chu kept their blades drawn, backing away slowly alongside the wagon to guard its flanks.
Batu Ru called out as he ran.

“Master, are you well?”
“I’m fine.”

Na Yang Ja’s voice came from inside the wagon. Confirming that he hadn’t entered the fight directly, Jang Saeng felt some tension drain from his shoulders.
Yi Jung Yong turned to look at Jang Saeng.

“Jang Saeng, get in the wagon.”
“I can keep pace on foot.”
“They’re still watching from behind. If they see you limping, it’ll be easy for them to find you as a target later.”

Jang Saeng turned to look back. The people at the gate had grown distant enough that their faces were no longer distinguishable, yet their gaze still seemed to cling to his back.

“I’ll be fine even if trouble follows.”

Jin Ib Chu broke into laughter.

“Not bad. Our youngest is turning into a true man of the Jianghu already.”

Na Yang Ja rebuked him at once.

“Ib Chu, don’t speak so recklessly. If you wish to seek the Way, you must first settle your mind. Don’t let yourself be dragged along by the desire to win.”

Jin Ib Chu shrank his neck.

“Yes, Master. But there should be an Official Relay Station beyond the Official Road. If Batu Ru can hold on just a little longer, we can find fresh horses there.”

Batu Ru said nothing. Only the veins on the back of his hand gripping the cart-shaft grew more pronounced.
The blood trails left by the two horses were already fading into the distance behind them. Jang Saeng bit his lip beneath the handkerchief wrapped around his face.
They had escaped with their lives, but the horses that should have carried them for nine more days and the arrows he had loosed today would not return. The raw skin on his palm throbbed with delayed pain, and the image of the man with an arrow lodged in his neck kept surfacing unbidden. He slowly clenched and unclenched his right fist.

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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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