Chapter 137

So much blood had splattered that it felt as if the escort boat had originally been painted red. Of course, if it was a paint job with white spots here and there like this, it was worth doubting the skill of the painter.

The escort boat felt as if it were floating on a river of blood. Such a terrible attack was an enormous thing that Su Jang-hae had experienced for the first time in his 20 years of escort bureau life.

Even now, on the deck, the escort guards were busy dealing with the corpses of the attackers, who were not water bandits, lined up in a row.

Among them, there were some that were cleanly cut in two, which had the power to make them vomit the food that was in their stomachs, and there were also corpses that were so burnt black that their form could not be recognized, and not a single drop of blood was shed. And then, there were also corpses that were dead, but no wounds could be found anywhere.

It was truly a variety of corpses with a variety of causes of death.

The martial arts of those who had approached at a high speed from the fast boat and had tied up the escort boat with a Dragon's Beard Hook (a throwing weapon with a rope and a hook shape) were also too much for the escort guards of the Nanchang branch to handle, but compared to the Cheonmu Academy group who were fighting against them, they were as shabby as a drop in the bucket. The attacking side also showed a clear sign of being flustered.

Only today could the chief escort leader keenly realize why the name of the Cheonmu Academy was resounding in the Jianghu. The skills of the young people, of whom there was not a single one who could not handle sword ki freely, were the kind of skills that he himself could only wish for in his dreams. It was to the point where he was ashamed of the age he had eaten in vain.

Among them, the one who had stirred up the fight most powerfully and splendidly was the beloved saber of the Flame Saber, the Crimson Flame.

At first, Yeomdo did not join the fight and took a position similar to an observer next to the young man named Bi Ryu-yeon. Then, perhaps he got tired of watching, he whispered to the young man with his hair covering his eyes, who was next to him, and drew his saber.

The faces of the chief escort leader and the escort guards, who had not dared to join the fierce battle of the masters and had only been watching, suddenly flushed with a sudden heat.

At first, they had thought that the water bandits had launched a fire attack. But it turned out that it was the famous Sword Flame Ki that had been emitted from Yeomdo's saber.

Crimson Seventeen Flames Sword Flame Ki
The Twelfth Form
Dragon Flame Thunder.

It was an enormous power. It was indeed the divine prowess of a super-master who could be named among the five great saber masters of the world.

It was a heat that seemed to make even the flowing Yangtze River boil. The act of directly confronting this heat and the sword ki of such ruthless power was in itself an act of an idiot and a fool who ignored common sense. It was probably the wisest way to express recklessness with one's body.

Sword ki soared to the heavens, and saber light was rampant. Yeomdo, who had roughly finished the work on the escort boat, did not stop there and flew to the enemy's fast boat. Since it was attached at a distance of less than three zhang, it was not far.

And once again, Yeomdo's saber emitted flames.

Now that all the situation was over, the ambushers' fast boat was burning on the Yangtze River. In a little while, it would be dismantled one by one and would sink to the bottom of the river. It was all Yeomdo's work.

"Uk!"
But all these things could not suppress the headache that was now attacking Su Jang-hae's head.

Last year, how much had the head of the Jungyang Escort Bureau, the Eighteen Swords, Jang U-yang, warned him when he was leaving!

It was a warning to never be careless and to be careful, as he did not know what would happen if he got involved with the young man who came with his letter. He remembered the request to be careful, careful, and careful again, to check even a fire that had been put out, and to be as cautious as crossing a stone bridge after tapping it, so that nothing would happen, and his heart was heavy.

No matter how expensive the escort goods he was transporting now were, it was not to the extent of mobilizing this many people and launching a full-scale offensive with a straight face.

"Where on earth did things go wrong?"
Su Jang-hae's head was throbbing. It seemed that there would be no medicine for this headache. He had no choice but to pray to the gods of heaven and earth, although it was suspicious, so that this escort route would end as soon as possible.

Since there was no purified water, he scooped up the river water as a substitute, and the appearance of the branch head, Su Jang-hae, who was earnestly bowing in front of it, was full of a desperate sincerity.

'When I go to Wuhan, I must make a talisman right away! O gods of heaven and earth and the heavenly fairies, please look after this man!'

At this time, because of Su Jang-hae's decision, he rushed to one place as soon as he arrived in Wuchang.

There lived a painter who was famous for his good drawing in Wuchang.

The talisman he chose was a painting of a fairy.

The so-called Four Fairies Painting, in which Na Ye-rin, Lee Jin-seol, Jin Ryeong, and Namgung Sansan were drawn. It is said that this fairy painting became famous for its miraculous power in the escort bureau industry and became a great trend, and soon there was no one in the escort bureau industry who did not carry this Four Fairies Painting on their body.

---

The Lament of the Thousand-Li Pursuing Water Poison Spider

According to the rumors around,
the Thousand-Li Pursuing Water Poison Spider of the Secret Shadow Pavilion's Soul-Chasing Squad
seems to be evaluated as a very outstanding person.
Therefore, there seems to be no one who has a complaint about his ability
and hurts his feelings.

The face of the Water Poison Spider, who was hiding in the dense forest, was seriously stiff.

"Shouldn't we help?"

"Whom do you mean?"

"..."

At the Water Poison Spider's sharp question, the First Secret was at a loss for words for a moment. Who on earth should he help?

The Water Poison Spider looked at the First Secret, who was assisting him by his side, with a slightly dissatisfied gaze. It seemed that he was maintaining too deep a relationship with Baek Mu-yeong, the brain of the Nine Orthodoxies Association and the leader of the Ten Secret Squad, these days, and it was not pleasant to watch.

When the Water Poison Spider had taken on this mission, he had not known that such a difficult and strange thing, which kept making him doubt his own eyesight and judgment, would happen one after another, as if in protest.

When the groups of people, who had never been seen or heard of before, had suddenly ambushed them in the middle of the Yangtze River, how much had it made them, who were diligently chasing after them, fuss? Even now, a few members were remaining and were digging into the background of the ambushers.

Besides, what on earth was happening now?

Since there was no one to take out his anger on, his irritation was rising even more. The Water Poison Spider tried to take out his anger on the First Secret, who was losing a lot of points these days, and to hide his embarrassment. It did not go as he wished.

"Why is there no answer? Should we help the students over there, or the mountain bandits over there?"

There was no way the First Secret would have anything to say. The Water Poison Spider was really so embarrassed by what was happening on the other side of the mountain path that he could not watch.

"Why are your movements so sluggish? Didn't you hear me say to quickly hand over everything you have?"
A young man's voice pierced the ears of the Water Poison Spider, who could not hide his embarrassment.

In the young man's hand, there was a hideous saber that looked like it would be used by a mountain bandit, and the fierce blade of that saber was being held to the neck of a man of the kind who looked like a mountain bandit leader and who went around with his profession engraved on his face, a thing like a log stick with layers of dirt on it.

Receiving the falling sunlight, the blade of the saber in the young man's hand glinted menacingly. Suddenly, the Thousand-Li Pursuing Water Poison Spider held his temples as if his head were throbbing. Something that made people doubt their eyes was happening in a place that was perfect for mountain bandits to do their business!

---

Bi Ryu-yeon's Sudden Hostage Situation

"Everyone, if you don't care about this punk's life,
throw away your weapons.
And if you want to save this punk,
bring a ransom.
This is a very just demand."

Moyong Hwi, Cheong-heun, Hyo-ryong, and Jang Hong all had to turn pale with horrified faces. What on earth was happening in front of their eyes now? A scene that was incomprehensible even with their brilliant minds was shamelessly unfolding in front of their eyes in broad daylight.

'What is that man doing now?'
Na Ye-rin also did not understand the situation that had befallen them now. His actions were always beyond her prediction. That's why she was even more flustered.

The face of the branch head, the Yangtze River Flood Dragon, Su Jang-hae, who was leading the escort mission, was so dark that it was pitiful to see.

'A well-practiced skill...'
It was one thought that came to everyone's mind. There was no room for doubt.

A hostage situation!
What exactly is a hostage situation? Since there must be many who do not know about this difficult concept, let's go over it once. Then, the second question that suddenly comes to mind! What would be the answer to the profound and mysterious question of whether Bi Ryu-yeon's current action is a hostage situation or not?

According to the dictionary definition of a rampage that is carried out by threatening an innocent person with a weapon and holding them hostage to demand something, Bi Ryu-yeon's current action could not be called a hostage situation. A hostage situation was not established in the first place.

Why?
The person Bi Ryu-yeon was holding hostage now was by no means a legally innocent person. If the leader of the Red Bear Fortress of the seventy-two fortresses of the Green Forest, who made a living by being a mountain bandit, was innocent, that would be even more strange. At that time, it would be better to check once whether the world was turning upside down.

A hostage situation does not happen as often as a robbery and attack on a mountain path deep in the mountains, but it still happens once in a while. But the reason why everyone was shaking their heads at this hostage situation was because the target had changed. The person whose windpipe was being held by a sharp blade was not the neck of a good person who was usually targeted by that blade or was very often cut, but the neck of a pig that looked like a mountain bandit leader at a glance. And the one who was holding his beloved saber, the Red Bear Saber, to the neck of Mak Jeok, who was once the leader of the Red Bear Fortress, was none other than Bi Ryu-yeon.

The expression on Bi Ryu-yeon's face, who was playing with a person's life with a single blade, was full of leisure. It was an arrogant attitude as if the 80 bandits surrounding them were not even in his sight.

'How did things turn out like this again...'
Su Jang-hae felt as if the sky had caught him and was collapsing all at once in one day.

In the plan he had made at the beginning of the escort mission, he had not even dreamed of such a thing. Who could have imagined that such a thing would happen?

There was no escort bureau that was so foolish as to have a head-on fight with the mountain bandits of the seventy-two fortresses of the Green Forest during an escort mission. Because it was much more profitable to pay the so-called passage fee, the agreed-upon fee for passing through their territory.

Because if you fought with such a group, you could never win without any damage. Considering the cost of training the escort guards, the amount paid as consolation money, and the credibility that would be lost, the passage fee was a much more profitable business.

So, no matter how big an escort bureau was, there was no fool who would have a head-on fight with a large mountain fortress out of a foolish bravado.

This time too, Su Jang-hae had prepared the agreed-upon fee in his inner pocket to pass this road. Although it had been useless in the Yangtze River before, he had thought that it would be useful this time.

The incident in the Yangtze River was enough.

"Huhuhu! Wait! Even if you're going, you should pay the passage fee before you go, shouldn't you?"
Even when the Red Bear Fortress leader, Mak Jeok, appeared, shouting the business term with a strange laugh, Su Jang-hae was not shaken.

How many times had he passed this road?
He had expected him to come out, and so the escort guards were also relieved. Because this time too, they would pay the passage fee and pass this road. Only the new escort guards were trembling in fear, but there was no agitation in the expressions of the veteran escort guards. Rather, since they had become acquainted through business, and their identity was certain, they were rather relieved even though they were mountain bandits.

The only ones who were slightly flustered were the Cheonmu Academy's Heavenly Sword Group members, except for Bi Ryu-yeon's group, Moyong Hwi, and Cheong-heun.

But as befitting the talents who had been carefully selected, a terrifying momentum began to rise from their whole bodies. It was a sign that they would move with all their might if necessary.

"Huk! W...what? What are those things?"
The Red Bear Saber, Mak Jeok, could not help but be terrified at the fierce momentum that instantly covered the hall. It was not a momentum that could be emitted by novices. Judging from his accumulated experience, his premonition was not very good.