Moorim Pochang - Chapter 91

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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 91. The Trap (2).

“Yeop called his allies together easily enough, but the sect leader struggled dearly. Still, he managed to gather talent from all quarters and brought down Hyeol-gyo.”
Kang Jo listened to her quietly.
“At first, ambition clouded our judgment—we thought we could defeat Hyeol-gyo at any moment. Back then, no one imagined the war with Hyeol-gyo would drag on for nearly three years. Even this conflict, now that it’s begun, doesn’t look to end within a year.”
She finished speaking and regarded Kang Jo intently.
“You must have other things to attend to. What made you take up work at a Guest Inn?”
Ha ha……
Kang Jo laughed.
The only skill he possessed worth mentioning was cooking.
“What else could I possibly do?”
“But you have considerable martial arts skill.”
At her counterpoint, Kang Jo offered a self-deprecating smile.
“Protecting this inn and my younger brother is already taxing enough. How could I venture out into the Gangho?”
That was his answer, though it was also true that he longed to venture into the Gangho.
He wanted to go out and freely kill those who stood against him.
If Sam-ryong could even protect himself, it would all have been settled by now, and he’d be wandering the Gangho searching for a man named Hyeol Je.
And then there was the promise his master made when she ascended to the Immortals.
Cho Yak no longer wished to persuade him.
In fact, he loathed himself for it.
Why did he keep toying thoughtlessly with others’ lives?
“Thank you for the drink.”
As she rose from her seat, Kang Jo bowed respectfully.
“Please come again.”

*

Huff…. huff……
Yang Jung breathed heavily, his chest heaving.
“Almost there.”
The outline of a village emerged through the darkness ahead.
Once he passed through that village, the Guest Inn would be just beyond.
‘I’ve been hunted by the Divine Path’s master for days now, and finally I’m heading home.’
If his brother asked where he’d been, that’s what he would tell him.
He glanced down at the bundle clutched in one hand.
Inside it were ginseng, He Shou Wu, and Heavenly Stone Oil.
‘I’ll hide these before entering the inn.’
If he stashed them and pestered his brother for a few days, the man would surely demand he fetch ginseng and Heavenly Stone Oil.
Then he could produce them at that moment and call it done.
“Perfect.”
With a thin smile, he moved toward the village.
But he’d barely gone any distance when he stopped and shifted his body.
A faint presence was approaching rapidly from behind.
By instinct, he could tell it wasn’t the presence of an assassin, but rather that of martial artists.
As he turned his body, he saw dozens of martial artists approaching swiftly in the distance.
Yang Jung stood still and watched them.
Even as he opened his eyes wider to observe, the martial artists closed the distance rapidly.
Hmm?
He recognized the faces of those in the lead.
“Hyeol-gyo? Of all the……”
Their faces were covered in black tattoos.
Yang Jung urgently spun his body and unleashed his Lightness Martial Art.
Whoooosh……………
The moment he deployed his Lightness Martial Art, those rapidly approaching also began to move with their own Lightness Martial Art.
Whoooosh……………
As Yang Jung fled, cutting through the wind, he glanced backward.
Then a chilling voice rose from the Hyeol-gyo group.
“Kill him…”
“Damn it all…”
Yang Jung began running for his life with everything he had.

*

“Brother……………!”
Kang Jo, who had been about to fall asleep, shot upright and threw on his clothes.
It sounded as though Sam-ryong’s voice had reached him through the haze of drowsiness.
“Dead.”
He had no intention of finishing this in just one or two blows.
This time, he had to beat this bastard half to death.
“Spare me, brother……………!”
As though aware of his own wrongdoing, he was already crying out like a man about to die.
“Spare you? What’s there to spare, you dog….!”
Kang Jo raised his voice and burst from the room.
Yet something about the moment felt off.
Whoosh…
He reached out, and the sword that had been in the room split the air and flew into his grasp.
“Brother…………!”
As he vaulted over the wall, he saw Sam-ryong running toward him in panic.
And dark figures were chasing hard at his heels.
“What in the hell did you do outside…….”
As Kang Jo voiced his bewilderment, Sam-ryong closed the distance in a flash and dove into the Guest Inn.
“Brother, save me….!”
Whistle…
“What happened?”
Sam-ryong answered through ragged breaths.
Gasp…gasp….
“Hyeol-gyo is chasing us, brother.”
At this, Kang Jo turned to look at the dark figures.
If they were headed toward the Murim Alliance, he would simply let them pass.
But that slim hope shattered in an instant.
Screech………….
A sword came flying through the darkness.
Dark figures poured into the Guest Inn right after.
Crash crash crash bang……………!
Kang Jo swung his sword, batting down the incoming blade and knocking back the storm of steel that rained upon him.
“Sam-ryong, you bastard. What the hell did you do out there……….?”
“I did nothing, brother…!”

*

Screech…..
Moyong Jak caught the returning blade mid-flight.
A satisfied smile played across his face.
The Reverse-grip Sword Technique had been clumsy before, but now it flowed as naturally as breath.
“Kill them all.”
At his command, the men arrayed behind him launched themselves forward in unison.
They were not members of the Moyong Se Family.
They were masters whom Hyeol Je had assigned to him.
Crash crash crash bang……………!
Steel clashed against steel, and waves of energy rippled outward in all directions.
His eyes flashed as he tracked the young man’s movements.
At first, he had not understood Hyeol Je’s command.
Slaughter an entire inn?
But now it made sense.
This man was a hidden master.
A master whose skill could shake all of Gangho.
Scrape…
In the darkness, the elder’s head flew into the air.
Slice… slice…
Following in succession, the heads of the masters that Hyeol Je had brought with him rose into the void one after another.
Spotting an opening, Moyong Jak sent his blade flying once more.
A shrieking wail…
Crash-crash-bang…!
The moment blade met blade, the elders’ swords poured toward the young man.
Astonishingly, the elders and masters were driven backward.
A choking grunt.
The master who was being pushed back suddenly stumbled forward.
As the master fell, his blade vanished into the darkness.
‘An assassin?’
This Guest Inn harbored an assassin.
And not merely an ordinary one, but a genuinely skilled assassin.
“Sam-ryong! You cannot face them with concealment and ambush alone!”
One of the reclusive masters raised his voice and cried out.
Crash-crash-bang…! Crash-crash-bang…!
Sword strikes and waves of dark energy collided, and the wall crumbled.
It was not only the wall that shattered.
The Energy Waves spreading in all directions even cracked the pillars of the Guest Inn.
A tremendous crash.
The roof tilted to one side and let out a deafening screech.
Moyong Jak lifted his body into the air with a graceful movement.
A long, sharp whistle…
In that instant, an arrow flew out of the darkness.
A shrieking wail…

*

Hyeol Je, arriving late, watched the fierce battle at the Guest Inn from a distance.
His creations were performing rather well.
If he added just a touch more of his strength, he could certainly kill the young man.
Kee-kee-kee…
Hyeol Je let out a sinister laugh and nocked an arrow to his bowstring.
A shrieking wail…
The arrow pierced through the darkness and drove itself into the young man’s chest.
The arrow that passed through his chest pierced clear through to the Guest Inn behind him.
Crash-crash-bang…!
The young man’s body scattered into the darkness as his chest was pierced.
Slice.
In that moment, a head flew into the void.
Hyeol Je nocked another arrow to his bowstring.
Not one, but three arrows at once.
A shrieking wail…
The arrows he released drove into the young man’s head, chest, and abdomen.
But one of the arrows meant for his abdomen collided with an old elder’s blade.
Crash-crash-bang…!
Two arrows pierced through the young man’s head and chest, destroying the Guest Inn.
Slice.
At that same moment, the head of the elder who had blocked the arrow flew into the air.
“Three arrows after all—the power is slightly weaker.”
He nocked a single arrow to his bowstring.
But the young man was nowhere to be seen.
Turning his head to the left, the young man was already closing the distance toward him.
His robe was torn in places and blood seeped from the wounds, yet his eyes blazed with a deep azure brilliance.
The young man’s blue pupils suddenly multiplied into dozens.
Hyeol Je drew his blade and slashed horizontally across the space before him.
Crash-crash-crash-bang…!
The blade tore through the dozens of bodies of the young man and flipped the ground behind him.
The moment Hyeol Je moved his body, a blade fell from the sky.
Crash-crash-bang………..!
The moment he knocked the blade aside, his neck stung again.
‘Damn it…’
Hyeol Je gritted his teeth and swung his sword back and forth through the darkness.
The black energy carved the darkness into fragments.
Crash-crash-crash-bang..! Crash………..!
Blade met blade with terrible force, and the young man’s body technique sent him flying backward, crashing hard to the ground.
Kee-kee-kee…………
Hyeol Je suppressed his fear and laughed.
“What are you all doing?”

*

Moyong Jak could not hide his shock.
That blade—the one that had just carved through the darkness—was not something he could stop even if he poured forth all his strength.
The man who had barely budged under the combined assault of himself, the elders, and all the masters was sent flying backward and driven into the earth by that single strike.
‘……….He is enjoying himself.’
Hyeol Je was indeed the Heaven’s First.
Even should he himself become the master of the Gangho, he would have to bow to Hyeol Je.
But the time to reveal his greater ambitions had not yet come.
One day he would surpass even Hyeol Je and become the true Heaven’s First.
“What are you all doing?”
The moment he heard Hyeol Je’s voice, he sent his blade flying.
Shriek……
The instant Kang Jo, rolling across the ground, gathered himself to rise, Moyong Jak’s sword pierced his chest.
A grunt of pain—
Kang Jo swallowed the cry and swung his blade.
He dodged in desperation, but the sword still raked across his chest.
Crash-crash-crash-bang………..!
The cascading blades scattered; his chest split open, and blood sprayed from his throat.
Moyong Jak moved to send his recovered blade flying again.
But something slipped silently into his flank.
Because the killing intent had been so thoroughly suppressed, he nearly failed to sense it in time.
Crash……….!
As he swung, a handsome face vanished into the darkness alongside his blade.
“You dare……..!”
A sudden, violent fury surged through him.
How dare an assassin target his life.
He moved to track the assassin’s presence.
The faint aura darted swiftly back and forth.
‘This bastard.’
Moyong Jak sent his sword flying toward the rapidly moving presence.
Shriek…….
Crash……!
A strangled cry—!
The assassin, struck by the Reverse-grip Sword Technique, let out a single scream and flew backward, crashing down.
Crhe-hehe-hehe………
Moyong Jak smiled with satisfaction.
“Moyong Jak.”
But then Hyeol Je’s chilling voice reached him.
He turned his head to see Hyeol Je regarding him from within darkness as deep as an abyss.
Only then did he hastily send his body technique rushing toward Kang Jo.
Scrape……scrape……..
But while his attention was on the assassin, the number of elders and masters around him had plainly dwindled.
*

Shriek……
Crash…..!
Kang Jo knocked aside an arrow and a Reverse-grip Sword Technique in quick succession.
As the fierce battle wore on, his body seemed to grow more accustomed to it, moving more freely than at first.
And the killing intent grew ever thicker.
This time—he would end Hyeol Je.
Even if it cost him his own life, as long as he could take that man down, he would close his eyes and smile.
Crack—!
But then a scream tore through the darkness.
His enemies were the ones he faced; that cry belonged to none of them.
“Sam-ryong……”
Kang Jo’s entire frame erupted with a killing intent so overwhelming it seemed ready to swallow the world itself.
Even the enemies wielding their blades faltered before that force.
Slice…slice…
Kang Jo cut through everything his eyes could perceive.
Chests split open and torsos fell; arms and legs were severed and scattered.
Bodies split clean in half from crown to groin, blood surging skyward.
A wail pierced the air……

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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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