Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 77

Nine Dragons Chronicle (77)

The Gu Long Manor was the largest estate in Sanyang County, its walls longer than the combined walls of three or four ordinary houses.

These walls surrounded the manor’s buildings in a square, making it difficult to see inside from the outside.

Moreover, because it was formerly the site of the Danri family, who once held great power, no buildings taller than the Gu Long Manor existed in the vicinity. Thus, no one could know what was happening inside until they had entered the walls.

Figures clad in red clothes and masks scaled the western wall of the Gu Long Manor, concealing their identities.

As soon as they were over the wall, they scattered in all directions within the Gu Long Manor.

“Kyaaak!”

A scream echoed, seemingly from a member of the Gu Long Manor’s household staff.

Starting with this scream, cries rang out from various parts of the Gu Long Manor.

The red-masked figures unleashed their deadly skills on the Gu Long Manor’s staff, and their methods were exceedingly cruel.

“Aaaagh!”

A woman who spotted a red-masked figure screamed in fear and collapsed to the ground. He approached her swiftly.

The woman sat trembling, but suddenly, a sharp dagger flew from behind her and pierced the approaching man’s chest.

“Keoeok!”

He looked at the woman with eyes that seemed to ask what kind of ridiculous situation this was. The woman stood up, dusting herself off as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

As the man fell forward, the woman pulled the dagger from his chest.

“Salmiho-nim [Miss Salmiho, using ‘nim’ as a respectful suffix], we’ve received reports that black-masked figures have crossed the wall on the opposite side.”

“Are these bastards crazy? Who are they?”

“We need to investigate, but it seems they have a grudge against the Clan Lord. However, unlike these guys who are disguised as members of the Demonic Path, they are genuine Demonic Path individuals.”

The intruders who crossed the western wall and those who crossed the eastern wall belonged to different factions, but coincidentally, they crossed the Gu Long Manor’s walls on the same day, at the same time.

“Really? Then isn’t that side more dangerous?”

“It seems the Clan Lord will have to deal with the red-masked figures, so Salmiho-nim, you should go over there.”

“Alright. You help the Clan Lord. I’ll go and take their heads.”

Salmiho was the younger sister of Mun So, the leader of the Sadang [a top assassin clan], the top assassin clan in Shanxi Province. Her real name was Mun Sohui, but people called her Salmiho.

The reason was that her method of killing, which maximized her feminine charms, resembled a fox seducing a man. Mun Sohui didn’t dislike her moniker and preferred to be called Salmiho rather than her real name.

As Salmiho moved to the opposite side, she caught a whiff of a pungent smell.

“These lowlife bastards!”

They had set fire to the buildings.

“Fire! Fire!”

The staff working at the Gu Long Manor had no choice but to come out to extinguish the fire, which put the assassins of the Sadang at a disadvantage as they had to protect them while fighting.

“What’s going on?”

As Salmiho quickly passed through the outer courtyard, three people entered through the main gate.

“Who are you!”

Salmiho asked the three people who had entered through the gate.

If they had been wearing masks, she would have attacked immediately, but they were not. They were young people, one woman and two men, so she asked just in case.

“We are friends of the manor lord here. My name is Sa Dojun, and these are Namgung Jin and Namgung Yeon-a. Who are you?”

“Namgung Jin? That Namgung Jin who is one of the Ten Dragons and Eight Phoenixes [renowned young martial artists]?”

“That’s right. I asked who you are.”

“Well, this is fortunate. There are two groups of intruders in our lord’s house. One side is being held back, but those who came in this way are setting fire to the buildings, trying to burn them all down. I would appreciate it if you could help.”

“Lord?”

“There’s no time to talk at length, just help. Let’s go!”

Salmiho spoke to the three as if giving an order and headed towards the detached building where the fire had broken out.

“You bastards!”

Arriving at the detached building, she saw the black-masked figures, and Salmiho rushed at them without hesitation.

Although she was an assassin, her martial prowess was considerable.

Cheeeeng!

One of the masked men came forward and easily blocked her attack, even launching a counterattack, which surprised Salmiho.

‘These guys are not ordinary.’

While she was thinking this, the masked man used a deadly move, aiming for Salmiho’s chest.

‘Judging by the way they’re unhesitatingly aiming for a woman’s chest, these guys are from the Demonic Path. Are they from the Eum Sa Clan [a top Demonic Path sect]?’

As she was thinking of the Eum Sa Clan, the top Demonic Path sect in Shanxi Province, Namgung Jin, Sa Dojun, and Namgung Yeon-a arrived at the detached building.

“What are these guys?”

Sa Dojun stepped forward, aiming for the masked man’s vital points all over his body as he attacked Salmiho.

The masked man stopped attacking Salmiho due to the sudden murderous intent and stepped back.

“Go and protect Yeon-a. This friend and I will take care of these guys.”

“You…….”

“Go, if you fight those guys with your mediocre skills, you’ll only waste time, and they’ll burn down the entire detached building.”

Salmiho was taken aback by the murderous intent that bound her whole body as she was about to say something.

“It’s better for your lord and my friend if you do that. So go and protect Yeon-a.”

Sa Dojun spoke and called out to Namgung Jin.

“Jin-a, you take the left side.”

At Sa Dojun’s words, Namgung Jin’s body reacted first. He drew the Azure Sky Sword, which symbolized the young leader of the Namgung family, and unleashed the Azure Sky Boundless Sword Art, the pride of the Namgung family, towards the masked men.

The Namgung family’s swordsmanship contained the aura of a ruler. Whether one acquired this aura or not made a world of difference in the Namgung family’s swordsmanship.

Namgung Jin was able to accept the aura of a ruler into his body at the age of fifteen, and he had used that aura to master the Namgung family’s swordsmanship, becoming the Sword Dragon among the Ten Dragons today.

“Keoeok!”

Namgung Jin’s sword was fierce. He had considerable real combat experience, and he did not hesitate to cut down people.

However, he lacked the decisiveness to end an enemy’s life in one go, as Sa Dojun did.

Unlike Sa Dojun, Namgung Jin incapacitated his enemies, inflicting injuries while avoiding vital points.

“Hey, are you crazy? Instead of torturing them like that, just kill them in one go. Do you think that making them cripples like that will make that guy happy?”

Sa Dojun shouted at Namgung Jin.

“When a martial artist encounters an enemy, the greatest virtue is to end their life without pain in one go.”

At that, Namgung Jin nodded.

“I know. I was just wondering if I could find out something from these guys.”

When murderous intent appeared in Namgung Jin’s sword, its power doubled, and the proper Azure Sky Boundless Sword Art of the Namgung family began to pressure the black-masked figures.

Although there were many black-masked figures, they could no longer do what they wanted because of the two men.

“Capture those women.”

Seeing Salmiho and Namgung Yeon-a standing back, several masked men broke away and moved separately.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Sa Dojun took out daggers from his pocket and threw them at those figures.

Shweeeik!

The masked men who dodged the daggers flying with sharp tearing sounds arrived in front of Salmiho and Namgung Yeon-a, but suddenly their bodies tilted forward and they collapsed.

The daggers that Sa Dojun had thrown were embedded in their backs. The daggers had spun in the air, aiming for their backs and hitting them.

At that moment, one of the masked men aimed at Sa Dojun and extended his sword, which pierced Sa Dojun’s chest.

“Jun-Oppa [Older brother/friend, a term of endearment]!”

Namgung Yeon-a shouted in surprise at the sight. However, the figure of Sa Dojun, who had been pierced by the sword, became blurry and disappeared from that spot.

The masked man was flustered and quickly turned around, but Sa Dojun’s sword cut through his waist.

“Ugh!”

The moment he felt a burning sensation in his waist, he felt a great pain in his chest as well.

Sa Dojun’s sword had pierced his chest.

If Sa Dojun was a bit unorthodox in dealing with the masked men, Namgung Jin was straightforward. However, that didn’t mean that the masked men could easily block Namgung Jin’s swordsmanship.

Namgung Jin’s martial arts were that outstanding, and he perfectly understood his family’s martial arts. In addition, the experience he had gained through many real battles was added to it, so one could understand why the Heavenly Dragon, Sword Dragon, and Slaughter Dragon were said to be the best among the later generations.

‘That friend is amazing, too.’

Sa Dojun was impressed just by watching Namgung Jin fight the masked men.

From the perspective of the Gu Long Manor, they could have suffered great damage, but fortunately, they were able to minimize the damage thanks to the unexpected three visitors.

In the meantime, one more person came to the detached building, and that was Seo Daeyeong, the chief manager of the Gu Long Manor.

“What happened?”

Seo Daeyeong approached Salmiho, who was with Namgung Yeon-a, and asked.

“They say they are friends of the manor lord. It seems we have overcome a great difficulty thanks to the two of them.”

Seo Daeyeong knew that the two people fighting the masked men were Namgung Jin and Sa Dojun and nodded.

“But what happened to the red-masked figures who invaded from the west?”

“Their numbers were small, so we were able to subdue them easily.”

“Then we just need to subdue these guys.”

“That’s right. We need to deal with them before the buildings of the detached building burn down further.”

Seo Daeyeong was also put into the fighting scene.

Seo Daeyeong was a former Dongchang [a Ming Dynasty secret police] expert, and his martial arts were so great that they could be used in the martial world.

In addition, he was stronger than when he left the imperial palace due to the Howling Emperor’s Eighteen Swords that Hwa Ryeong had taught him.

As Seo Daeyeong joined, the masked men, who were already struggling with the fight against Sa Dojun and Namgung Jin, had an even harder time.

Namgung Jin’s sword contained the aura of a ruler, so one could feel the power, and Sa Dojun’s sword was light, causing numerous changes. In addition, Seo Daeyeong’s sword was concise and simple.

The three people, who used different swordsmanship, harmonized strangely, and in that harmony, they subdued the black-masked figures one by one.

Kwajijijik!

In the meantime, one of the detached buildings burned down, unable to withstand the power of the fire.

“Damn it, what do you guys think you’re doing? Our manor lord is not someone who can live with debt…….”

Seo Daeyeong thought that the intruders would burn down the entire manor since one of the detached buildings had collapsed.

“Set fire to the remaining buildings!”

“It would be better not to do that.”

Seo Daeyeong warned those who were trying to set fire to the other detached buildings and charged forward.

“Block him.”

At that moment, Seo Daeyeong’s sword moved. It was a transforming sword that caused countless changes, similar to Sa Dojun’s, rather than the concise swordsmanship he had shown so far.

In addition, Seo Daeyeong’s movements were so fast that they left afterimages.

“Heoeok!”

It was the Howling Divine Steps, which was created by modeling the howling skill, which could be said to be the beginning of the Howling Emperor’s Eighteen Swords, and the image of a tiger sprinting at full speed towards its prey.

The men who blocked Seo Daeyeong bled and fell after suffering three sword wounds on their chests, as if a tiger had swung its claws at the enemy.

Namgung Jin and Sa Dojun were also a little surprised by this sight.

‘He is by no means below me. No, he is a master I cannot handle.’

The two realized that a new powerhouse was hiding in this Gu Long Manor because of the one move that Seo Daeyeong had shown.

‘Hwa Ryeong, that friend, also seemed so strong that I couldn’t know the end, but Chief Manager Seo was also a powerhouse that couldn’t be ignored.’

They realized that Gu Long Manor was a place like a hidden dragon’s abode or a dragon’s lair.

“How much money does it cost to build a new building, and you’re trying to set it on fire? We already have to paint the building with black soot.”

After mercilessly killing those who were trying to set the fire, he turned around and spoke to the masked men.

“If you want to set the fire, kill me and do it. If you can’t, give up.”

The remaining masked men exchanged glances. They judged that they could no longer achieve their goal, and it would be more helpful to run away and report the situation than to continue fighting now.

“Don’t try to be clever. You may have crossed the wall according to your wishes, but whether you go out again depends on our wishes.”

Paah!

The masked men ignored Seo Daeyeong and flew in all directions, but they had to return soon.

It was because of the hidden weapons flying from all directions.

The assassins of Salmak Valley and the assassins of Sadang, who had come here after clearing out those who had crossed the western wall, were blocking the masked men.

“Well, then, shall we have a deep conversation from now on?”