Chapter 138

'No, how can each and every one of those young kids emit a more terrifying momentum than the Nanchang branch head, Su Jang-hae? Am I dreaming now, or am I seeing things because my energy has been depleted due to last night's late-night activities?'

He rubbed his eyes a couple of times, but this feeling that was seeping into his skin, not his eyes, was by no means a lie. He, too, was a person who was called a master as one of the seventy-two fortress leaders in charge of the seventy-two fortresses of the Green Forest.

But the incident had happened just as the leader of the Red Bear Fortress, the Red Bear Saber, Mak Jeok, whom he had often seen, had stepped forward and was about to enter into an agreement, exchanging words with hidden meanings with a smiling face as always.

They had only felt as if a gust of wind had passed by them for a moment.

Peok! Ppak! Keek!

The situation ended in an instant. Bi Ryu-yeon's excessively fast fist had flown towards the dazed face of Mak Jeok, and the moment Mak Jeok's head was thrown back with a 'peok' sound, Bi Ryu-yeon had already twisted Mak Jeok's arm, had pressed his acupoints, had drawn his sword, had brought it to his neck, and was demonstrating, wondering when he would drop his head.

Indeed, Mak Jeok was an excellent mountain bandit who did not neglect the management of his business tools, and because of that, his blade was emitting a sharp and menacing aura.

If this were a normal business, this eerie aura would have been an infinite threat to the passersby who were called prey, but since it was aimed at his own neck, Mak Jeok could not help but be scared out of his wits.

Even though it had only been lightly touched, his skin was already cut, and blood was gushing out.

"Wow! For a mountain bandit, your sword is incredibly sharp. With this much sharpness, it would sell for quite a bit of money!"
Bi Ryu-yeon said with a happy expression after confirming the sharpness of the Red Bear Saber. It was Bi Ryu-yeon, who always associated all things with money.

Anyway, for this reason, the escort guards of the Jungyang Escort Bureau and the rugged and sturdy mountain bandits of the Red Bear Fortress came to a strange standoff.

A strange relationship where they could neither pass nor openly block was established. It was not unreasonable for the Water Poison Spider, who was secretly following them, to hold his head.

"Krrrr... How did such a thing happen! Oh, heavens!"
The great man, the Yangtze River Flood Dragon, Su Jang-hae, who had not shown tears even when his father had passed away, suddenly found it hard to suppress the urge to cry.

It was the first time he had felt this way.

The Red Bear Saber, Mak Jeok, was a well-known name in this mountain forest business area, or the Green Forest path, which was called the mountain bandits. He was a person who had lived without knowing any particular fear until now.

He did not touch the dangerous-looking people who looked like masters. Because he had no intention of hastily getting a coffin made. So his business partners were always opponents with less power than him. Therefore, he had not been able to feel the emotion of fear relatively.

But now, Mak Jeok was having the rare experience of being a hostage while being a fortress leader. But to say that he was a weak life trembling in fear as a hostage, his rugged and rough-looking face and huge body did not match at all. He was a hostage who did not feel like a hostage at all.

Besides, it was unreasonable to say that the existence of the leader of the Red Bear Fortress, one of the seventy-two fortresses of the Green Forest, who had plundered thousands of good people (although they insisted that it was a business), was pitiful.

He was now just blinking his eyes at this absurd situation, with his windpipe held in someone's hand.

'Kkeung! Good grief! What should I do about this!'
From the moment the Red Bear Fortress leader, the Red Bear Saber, Mak Jeok, was taken hostage, the endless worries of the vice-leader, the Single Demon Saber, Bang Cheon, began.

If this were just a small and medium-sized mountain fortress of nobodies, Bang Cheon would have confidently uttered the following words from the moment the fortress leader was captured.

"The fortress leader has lost his life under the blade of the enemy. Let's avenge the fortress leader! From now on, I am the fortress leader!"

From that moment on, Mak Jeok's life or death was not a problem. And then he would have raised the hand holding the sword high into the sky. Because such an exaggerated action was quite effective in inciting people.

No matter how much the fortress leader struggled to be saved, it was enough to pretend not to have heard and to treat him as if he were not there. He was a person who would soon die, so it was not his business.

But the problem was that this was the Red Bear Fortress, one of the historic seventy-two fortresses of the Green Forest. According to the rules of the Green Forest Alliance, a private change of fortress leader was not possible. If such a thing were to be tolerated, there was a risk that order would not be established, so it was forbidden by the general fortress. Also, since he was a master selected from the seventy-two fortresses of the Green Forest, it was not easy to change the fortress leader.

Therefore, Bang Cheon was just pacing back and forth, unable to do this or that.

"Hey, guys!"

"Yes!"

"Let's all avenge our fortress leader who has gloriously died in battle! And thus, let's make the name of the Green Forest Alliance known throughout the world. Will you follow me?"

"We obey! Waaaaaaah! Fortress Leader Bang! Long live! Long live! Long, long live!"
...How nice it would have been if it had turned out like this. But it was just a wish. Bang Cheon's delusion could not last long. He could not turn a blind eye to Mak Jeok, who was looking at him with a pitiful expression.

"Fortress leader, I'm ashamed."

"Pretend you didn't see..."
Mak Jeok replied in a mosquito-like voice, with his face flushed red with shame.

"There are too many eyes around for that."
In fact, both the fortress leader, Mak Jeok, and the vice-leader, Bang Cheon, had their faces flushed red and were burning. For a fortress leader to be unable to avoid the move of a child and to become a hostage in a disgraceful manner... Even if he were to be safe today, he would not be able to avoid punishment for the price of tarnishing the honor of the Green Forest Alliance. But until there was a punishment and an expulsion, he was definitely their fortress leader.

"Kkeung!!"
The feeling was not good from the beginning.

When the Red Bear Fortress had suddenly appeared, the Vermilion Bird Squad had not shown any sign of being flustered.

It was not that the power of the Red Bear Fortress was weak either.

200 people! It was a number that was more than enough for ordinary people. But this number of 200 was a truly shabby and modest number in front of the 26 Cheonmu Academy students and one Yeomdo.

Originally, these 200 people had been brought out for a mobile ambush training because the weather was good. Usually, about 50 people was an appropriate number.

Besides, since they were not unacquainted with the Jungyang Escort Bureau, to be honest, this number was excessive. But the opponent's reaction was even more unexpected.

For them not to even bat an eyelid in front of the 200 people who had been brought out for training and business... It was proper to show a surprised expression at least as a courtesy.

But to have a calm demeanor as if they had come out for a walk. It was natural that Mak Jeok and his gang were dumbfounded.

Besides, these punks were ruthless punks who did not even communicate.

"Aren't you afraid of our seventy-two fortresses of the Green Forest? If you release the fortress leader even now, we will pretend it never happened."
Bi Ryu-yeon, still holding a blade to Bang Cheon's neck, did not even pretend to have heard. Bang Cheon had chosen the wrong person to talk to now.

"Gung-sang! Shall we have an actual combat for the first time in a while? It's been a while since we had the mountain bandit subjugation battle. It's good to revive the feeling before your body gets stiff. It might be a good opportunity."
Bang Cheon was provoked by Bi Ryu-yeon's words. This was too much of an insult to them.

"Don't you think you're being too arrogant? Aren't you afraid of the shadow of the Green Forest Alliance?"

"Gung-sang? Are you scared?"
Bi Ryu-yeon asked, tapping Mak Jeok's carotid artery with his blade.

"Haha! Of course not. We are the ones who have blocked even the Hogolchae and the Yonggolchae. To talk about fear with just this many people."
Bang Cheon's eyes became as big as a lantern at Namgung Sang's laughing words.

"D...don't tell me you are the Cheonmu Vermilion Bird Squad, the main characters of the Yonggolchae massacre?"
Bang Cheon's words, as he asked back, were trembling severely with fear. It seemed his tongue was stiff.

"Yonggolchae massacre? What's that?"
Then, Namgung Sang, who was next to him, said as if he had remembered.

"Ah! That's right. The ones who had attacked our escort mission when we were returning to the Cheonmu Academy in the past were the punks called the Hogolchae and the Yonggolchae. According to the rumors, they were aiming for the Goryeo celadon, which was priced at an astronomical price, among the escort goods. I remember having a very hard time because of them."
Namgung Sang's words were as good as an admission.

"Wow! You guys have become quite famous. Even the mountain bandit uncle recognizes you."
Bi Ryu-yeon said as if he were surprised.

"Indeed."
Things had gone wrong. Mak Jeok and Bang Cheon felt it instinctively.

They should have noticed from the beginning. There was no way that the punks who were unhesitatingly committing an act of bravado that a person in the escort bureau industry would never do were people from an escort bureau.

The Cheonmu Vermilion Bird Squad, the main characters of the rumor that only 16 people had driven two Green Forest mountain fortresses to a state of annihilation, and after that incident, an order had even come down to never touch the Cheonmu Academy.

After that day, the Hogolchae and the Yonggolchae had taken down their signs, and the Green Forest general fortress had to send people to reorganize. According to the custom, the name of the annihilated mountain fortress was considered unlucky, so even the name was changed to something else. Especially, while the Hogolchae had only had its fortress leader replaced, the survivors of the Yonggolchae were extremely few, so everything had to be reorganized.

It was a major incident in which one mountain fortress belonging to the Green Forest Alliance had completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

So it was natural that Bang Cheon and Mak Jeok were terrified. The place that had a slightly lower power than the Yonggolchae, which had lost all its power while putting all its efforts into an attack, was the Red Bear Fortress.

Bang Cheon's mouth was wide open.

'D...damn it! Where does that son of a bitch who went out for reconnaissance live!'
Suddenly, Bang Cheon wanted to cry. He had touched one of the places that should never be touched. The Cheonmu Academy, a large-scale genius master holding place where each and every one of the officials had skills comparable to a peak master, was a place that was awkward for them to touch.

Although he had a strong desire to immediately catch the punk who had come back from reconnaissance and twist his neck, he could not realize his dream right away because of the situation.

He had only glared at him once with his eyes flashing.

'Just you wait until we get back!'
At Bang Cheon's gaze, which was full of killing intent, the reconnaissance subordinate, the lowly mountain bandit Gu-i, could not help but cower like a frog hit by a stone.

"We've become famous without even knowing it."
Namgung Sang showed a surprised expression as if it were strange. It was the first time he had known that they were so famous in the mountain bandit industry. At Namgung Sang's words, Bang Cheon's face became even more pale. Because his words were as good as a definite answer to his question.

'D...don't tell me it's that notorious Vermilion Bird Squad! Damn it...! O heroes of Liangshan Marsh, please look after us!'
In this industry, the reputation of the Vermilion Bird Squad was not just famous. They were people who belonged to the special class of targets to be avoided in business.

But to think that he would meet them in a place like this! It seemed that today was a very unlucky day.

He felt like he wanted to turn his back and run away right away.

"Hyo-ryong! Go and catch that punk."
Bi Ryu-yeon, who had noticed a suspicious sign, pointed at Bang Cheon and said a word. Hyo-ryong immediately complied with his request.

Piing!
It was a swift movement as if an arrow were flying. It was not a level of study that a mere mountain fortress vice-leader could block in the first place.

Bang Cheon was also dragged by Hyo-ryong's hand in a state not much different from Mak Jeok. Now, the number of hostages had increased from one to two.

The mountain bandits of the Red Bear Fortress could only watch blankly as their vice-leader was hit twice in the abdomen and once in the face and was dragged away. Hyo-ryong's skills were too high for them to block with their skills.

A strange light appeared in the eyes of Moyong Hwi and Cheong-heun, who had watched Hyo-ryong's agile and neat skill. Although they had felt that he was not ordinary from the first moment they had seen him, to be honest, they had not expected him to have this level of skill.