Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 20

Nine Dragons Chronicle (20)

The Red Fox Gate’s leader, Min Hyung-doo, wore a bewildered expression as he looked at the corpses delivered to his sect.

Some bodies were intact, but two had their wrists and ankles severed.

“Is this bastard crazy?”

KWAH-AH-AHNG!

Just then, an explosion shattered the Red Fox Gate’s main entrance, and a figure slowly walked in—none other than Hwa-rin.

Before the corpses arrived at the Red Fox Gate, Hwa-rin had come to Sangnam County to investigate all the businesses run by the Red Fox Gate. He also learned what the merchants in Sangnam County’s market streets thought of the Red Fox Gate.

After confirming that the corpses were delivered to the Red Fox Gate, he came on this dark night.

“What? Who is it!”

Startled by the sudden intrusion, the gate leader, Min Hyung-doo, shouted.

“Are you Min Hyung-doo, the leader of the Red Fox Gate?”

When Hwa-rin spoke, Min Hyung-doo narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Hwa-rin.

“Do you think you’ll know who I am just by looking?”

Min Hyung-doo alternated his gaze between the dead disciples’ corpses and Hwa-rin, realizing he was related to the Nine Dragons Gate, and asked,

“Did you do this to our children?”

“Since you know, it’ll make the conversation easier. Our Nine Dragons Gate suffered a loss of five thousand gold taels because of them. I think you’ll have to repay that.”

Min Hyung-doo could sense from Hwa-rin’s words that he wasn’t here for reconciliation or compensation.

“Do you know where you are to be saying such things? You must be young and unable to distinguish right from wrong.”

Hwa-rin chuckled at those words.

When Hwa-rin was in the Wild Tiger Death Squad, they were always the ones going to the other party’s territory to eliminate threats in advance. No one ever came to them.

“So? This is the Red Fox Gate, so I should bow my head and beg you?”

The Red Fox Gate’s warriors spread out around Hwa-rin, taking their positions.

“Even for a third-rate sect, you’re terrible at assessing the situation.”

“What?”

“Hey, Min Hyung-doo! Do you think I would have come here alone if I couldn’t handle it?”

Min Hyung-doo’s eyes widened at Hwa-rin’s words.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hwa-rin moved, leaving faint afterimages as he moved towards the subordinates who had spread out. It was then that they saw it.

Hwa-rin held a sword in his hand, having drawn it at some point. He slashed the chest of the man in the center and then moved to the left, swinging his sword at the warriors.

Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword!

A unique sword technique of Yuk Moon-sik, the Remnant Killing Sword, a legendary master of the Demonic Path a hundred years ago. He was a figure who spread terror throughout the martial world at the time.

Obsessed with evil, he massacred civilians, even those living in a village, leading the Eastern Depot’s [secret police/intelligence agency of the Imperial Court] masters to pursue and kill him after more than a hundred victims. He was a true master among masters in the martial world.

The Eastern Depot recovered his martial arts, studied and analyzed them, and then stored them in the Imperial Armory. The Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword from a hundred years ago was now being fully unleashed by Hwa-rin, one of the ninety-nine supreme martial arts he had learned.

There was no separate footwork to assist the Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword, but Hwa-rin naturally used footwork to assist the Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword through numerous practical experiences.

Adding the skills of the Elusive Phantom Shadow Step made it seem as if he was leaving afterimages, creating the illusion that he was moving slowly to those who watched.

“Keuh-eok!”

The Red Fox Gate’s disciples didn’t even get a chance to defend themselves properly and collapsed, spitting blood. Compared to the large sects and organizations of the frontier, foreign lands, and the Western Regions that Hwa-rin had faced, these guys were too easy.

Nevertheless, Hwa-rin did his best.

When facing enemies in the Wild Tiger Death Squad, the possibility of survival increased even slightly when doing one’s best in every situation, so doing his best when facing enemies had become a habit.

The Red Fox Gate’s disciples collapsed, spitting blood, without even realizing what was happening. In an instant, more than a dozen people had fallen to Hwa-rin’s sword.

“Ugh…”

When the remaining disciples realized the situation, the thought of running away dominated their bodies rather than the will to fight.

Hwa-rin looked at the disciples trembling with fear and said coldly,

“That’s why you need to meet the right superiors.”

Hwa-rin had no intention of letting them live. Not only because stories about him would spread, but also because he judged that the absence of the Red Fox Gate would be more helpful to the merchants and people in Sangnam County’s market streets.

If even one of them survived and left the gate, he would hide for a while and then become a leader of thugs, harassing the market merchants and extorting money from them. Just like he annihilated the Black Snake Gang, he intended to kill them all without leaving a single one alive.

Even though he had been discharged from the Wild Tiger Death Squad, he couldn’t help it due to the habits ingrained in his body.

“You bastard!”

Min Hyung-doo shouted in anger, but Hwa-rin didn’t even pay attention to him.

For Hwa-rin, the Red Fox Gate’s disciples came first. This time, he moved to the right.

Hwa-rin’s sword changed once again. It was a swordplay similar to the Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword, but the energy contained in the sword was completely different.

If the Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword was like the fierce winter wind, the sword Hwa-rin was using now was as splendid as flower petals scattering in autumn.

Thousand Blossom Dance!

It was the unique sword technique of Hwa Geom, Heo Nanseol, a righteous eccentric from the same era as Yuk Moon-sik, the master of the Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword.

She was a secular disciple of the Mount Hua Sect and could not be taught the Mount Hua Plum Blossom Sword Technique.

Despite her outstanding talent, she was unable to learn the Plum Blossom Sword Technique simply because she was a secular disciple. With the determination to create her own Plum Blossom Sword Technique, she created the Thousand Blossom Dance in her later years.

Heo Nanseol didn’t know whether the Thousand Blossom Dance was superior to the Plum Blossom Sword Technique or not, but what was clear was that she was confident that it was a sword technique that was by no means inferior to the Mount Hua Sect’s Plum Blossom Sword Technique, and it was indeed an excellent sword technique.

Hwa-rin’s sword lightly crossed the air, creating small flower petals, and each time a flower petal was created, a Red Fox Gate disciple fell.

Hwa-rin’s movements were long and graceful, making it seem as if a woman was dancing.

When Hwa-rin’s movements stopped, Red Fox Gate Leader Min Hyung-doo swallowed hard.

In the wide courtyard of the Red Fox Gate, only he and Hwa-rin were standing on two feet.

Hwa-rin sheathed his sword and looked at Min Hyung-doo.

Min Hyung-doo, whose eyes met Hwa-rin’s, trembled so much that he couldn’t even stand properly.

“Don’t say things like ‘Why did you kill them?’ or ‘You’re cruel.’ If I hadn’t killed you, I would have been killed.”

“Th-th-this…”

His body trembled at Hwa-rin’s words, but there was nothing he could do.

“You know that there’s no point in arguing about right and wrong in killing and being killed.”

Min Hyung-doo looked at Hwa-rin standing there. It wasn’t a close distance, but he thought that if he launched a surprise attack now that he had sheathed his sword, he could seize the initiative.

“After killing you…”

The moment Min Hyung-doo took a step, something flew and struck his forehead hard.

“Ugh!”

The impact flipped his body over, and he flew backward, crashing violently into a pillar of the building and falling.

There was a hole in Min Hyung-doo’s forehead, and an iron coin was embedded in the wall of the building.

“That’s why guys who use their brains too much don’t work out.”

Hwa-rin slowly walked to where the dead Min Hyung-doo was and pulled out the iron coin embedded in the wall.

Hwa-rin looked down at the dead Min Hyung-doo and opened his mouth quietly.

“You know that the winning side in a war takes the spoils. So don’t be resentful.”

Hwa-rin moved his steps and entered the Red Fox Gate’s building.

* * *

The fact that the Red Fox Gate in Sangnam County, following the Black Snake Gang in Sanyang County, was destroyed overnight created a strange atmosphere in Sangnam County.

“Who did that?”

“I don’t know. The government office has collected the bodies, so if they cremate them, we won’t know who did it.”

“Won’t the martial world intervene?”

“I don’t know. It’s not uncommon for third-rate sects to be destroyed. They probably provoked a passing master or something.”

The disadvantage of third-rate martial artists is that they can’t grasp the opponent’s martial arts.

Of course, the same goes for second-rate martial artists, but they still have a sense of it. Third-rate martial artists don’t have this sense, so they sometimes provoke masters and get beaten to a pulp, and sometimes the sect is completely destroyed.

The people living in Sangnam County thought that the Red Fox Gate was destroyed due to such an incident.

The government office in charge of Sangnam County’s security was not in Sangnam County but in Sanyang County.

Although the counties are divided by administrative districts, the Sanyang County government office is in charge of the security of Sanyang County, Sangnam County, and Sangju County due to a shortage of government personnel.

The corpses were lying in the Sanyang County government office, and several people who looked like beggars came to examine the corpses.

They were the Beggars’ Union members from the Shanxi branch.

They heard the news that the Red Fox Gate was destroyed following the Black Snake Gang and were examining the corpses with the help of the government to investigate the possibility that an unknown force had appeared.

The Beggars’ Union members frowned as they examined the corpses because they couldn’t figure out what martial arts they had been attacked by.

What was clear was that at least two or three people, not just one, were involved in the destruction of the Red Fox Gate.

“This wound and this wound are different. And the one that pierced Min Hyung-doo’s head is also different.”

“These are sword wounds, but they are different from each other, and if Min Hyung-doo was killed by internal energy, that means there is at least one master of the highest level, right?”

“That’s what we have to assume.”

“Why would a master of the highest level do that?”

“I can’t know that. These guys probably didn’t recognize a master and greatly upset him.”

While the Beggars’ Union members were talking, a group of people entered the government office.

The man at the front greeted the Beggars’ Union member with his hands together.

“I greet Gul Cheol-seon, the Shanxi branch leader of the Beggars’ Union.”

“Did the Hao Moon [a martial arts sect] also come?”

These were none other than the Hao Moon’s disciples, and they, like the Beggars’ Union, were people from the Hao Moon’s Shanxi branch.

“Given the situation.”

Gul Cheol-seon stepped aside. It meant to come and take a look.

Nam Seon-yeong, the branch leader of the Hao Moon’s Shanxi branch, slowly examined the wounds of the dead.

Nam Seon-yeong, who had been examining the wounds silently for a while, narrowed his eyes slightly, and when he showed the same reaction to other corpses, Gul Cheol-seon, who did not miss it, asked.

“What? Did you find anything?”

“I’m not sure, but this wound seems to be the Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword of Yuk Moon-sik, the Remnant Killing Sword who terrorized the martial world and civilians a hundred years ago.”

Gul Cheol-seon asked back with a surprised expression at Nam Seon-yeong’s words.

“Are you talking about Yuk Moon-sik, who suddenly disappeared a hundred years ago?”

“I need to check a little more, but I think so.”

Nam Seon-yeong examined the wounds of the corpses a little more and then said as if he was convinced.

“This wound is definitely caused by the Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword. And this side seems to be a wound caused by Sword Bloom.”

“A wound caused by Sword Bloom?”

If it was Sword Bloom and not Sword Energy, then at least a master of the highest level had destroyed a third-rate sect.

“There is a code of conduct in the martial world. No matter how much the Red Fox Gate upset him, for a master of the highest level to destroy a third-rate sect…”

“I think it’s a rising star who has just entered the martial world.”

Gul Cheol-seon listened to Nam Seon-yeong’s words and thought for a moment before asking.

“Does the master who bloomed the Sword Bloom also seem to be a figure from the Demonic Path?”

“I don’t think so. The wounds are too clean for the Demonic Path’s martial arts.”

“So, that side is the Demonic Path, and this side is the Righteous Path. Are the masters of the Righteous and Demonic Paths in one place?”

“To be exact, they are not masters of the Righteous and Demonic Paths, but martial artists between the Righteous and the Unorthodox. They seem to have learned martial arts on their own and have now come out into the martial world.”

“Then they wouldn’t be very old.”

“I can’t know that, but the fact that they killed all these opponents who were no match for them may be due to inexperience and youthful blood taking the lead, so I’m guessing they’re not very old.”

Gul Cheol-seon nodded his head after listening to Nam Seon-yeong’s words.

“The top priority is to find them as soon as possible and prevent them from causing trouble.”

“I think that’s something that the Righteous and Demonic Paths will take care of. We’re just collecting and selling information, so if there are many incidents and accidents, we can make quite a bit of money.”

“Hey, what if the Hao Moon gets hit like this?”

“We are thoroughly educating them. Even if someone else provokes them first, the disciples of the main sect will not provoke them first.”

“Haha, how nice would it be if things went as planned.”

“We are working on it. Then, I’ve finished my business, so I’ll go back.”

“Do so. And give our disciples around that inn a hearty meal.”

Nam Seon-yeong did not answer, smiled, bowed his head slightly, and left the government office.

“Hoo… The Remnant Killing Sixteen Sword that disappeared a hundred years ago has now appeared. There will be things happening one after another for the time being.”

Gul Cheol-seon turned his body and said to the government soldier.

“Thank you for your cooperation. As you have heard, there is nothing certain right now. Our martial world will also do its best to resolve this matter.”

“I understand. I will report as I heard from the magistrate.”

“Please do so. Then!”

Gul Cheol-seon lightly greeted the government soldier and left the government office with the Beggars’ Union members.