Chapter 159 – Runaway! (1)
“Building a reputation…?”
“Yes, I think it would be better to do so.”
Thanks to Hwangbo Hyoseon, who didn’t go out, Yeonghogyeong was enjoying relatively free time again.
But instead, he had to endure two consecutive visits from Kang Yoon.
“Did you already make contact with Hwangbo Hyoseon, who was prevented from approaching the village by the school’s martial artists…?”
“Yes, I hid my face.”
As expected.
Yeonghogyeong inwardly clicked his tongue. He had hoped it wouldn’t be true, but it seemed he would be stuck in the faction for a while.
“Are you trying to dilute the hostility Hwangbo Hyoseon has towards the school by doing this?”
“Yes. If she spreads the word, it will be a great help in calming down the factions.”
It didn’t seem necessary, but it wouldn’t hurt to do it.
Lost in thought for a moment, Yeonghogyeong soon nodded vigorously.
“Good. I’ll choose a suitable person to place nearby, so don’t worry.”
“Thank you.”
After chatting with the man who nodded his head, Yeonghogyeong suddenly noticed that the man’s gaze was focused on one side of his neck.
“Do you have an interest in this?”
“I’m a little curious. The wooden box looks quite… well-made.”
The fist-sized neck was clearly polished smoothly.
When Yeonghogyeong grabbed the neck and opened the lid, a red pill emitting a refreshing scent was revealed inside.
“Is this your first time seeing this? This is the Sangheuldanilse.”
“Oh, this is…”
The Sangheuldan was a martial art that slowly eroded potential as a reward for giving some internal strength to those who learned non-traditional martial arts, or martial arts other than traditional martial arts.
Yeonghogyeong had previously manipulated some of the senior members of the factions in Sollim to take this as part of a passive provocation.
“It’s relatively easy to produce and has excellent efficacy, but it’s not widely used because not many people have learned traditional martial arts to take it without side effects.”
“If you take it incorrectly, is that the end of it?”
“Not necessarily. It requires a fairly rare herb, but it’s said that you can make an antidote. However, the internal strength gained must be dispersed.”
After taking a sip of tea, the man spoke again.
“So, how many times can a suitable martial artist take this medicine to increase their internal strength?”
“Ah, that’s different. Since it’s a martial art that is based on magi, taking it more than twice can cause damage to the jinwon, which can be fatal.”
“…Is that so?”
Yeonghogyeong, who was answering the man’s question with interest in the Sangheuldan, suddenly had a thought and opened his mouth.
“By any chance, did someone close to you take the Sangheuldan?”
If he was in the position of a faction member, it could happen. They already had a hostile relationship with the Myeonggyo due to the previous conflict.
The man didn’t answer, and Yeonghogyeong smiled softly and spoke again.
“If so, it’s not difficult to prepare an antidote. However, this information must not leak out from the other party…”
“I’ll think about it.”
Once the existence of the Sangheuldan in the hands of a faction member is exposed, friction with the Myeonggyo will arise.
As Kang Yoon, who is cooperative in Hwangbo Hyoseon’s efforts to root herself in Jungwon, it is natural that he cannot make a decision easily.
‘I’m thinking about confronting them after the school has gained some popularity among the people.’
Yeonghogyeong could wait as long as he needed to, as long as Kang Yoon held Hwangbo Hyoseon’s hand.
Fortunately, thanks to Yeonghogyeong’s willingness, the preparation seemed to be no problem.
‘I have nothing to show, but I have to put on a show.’
He didn’t know why Hwangbo Hyoseon was so obsessed with it, but showing himself as a “kind martial arts instructor who protects the village” might improve his image.
If not, there was really no answer for him.
Anyway, information about the Sangheuldan was also obtained as a bonus. If there was already an antidote in the school, it wouldn’t be difficult to get one.
The problem is how to silence Masohyang and Neungpungyeon, but that can be dealt with later.
‘Let’s focus on Hwangbo Hyoseon for now.’
After leaving Yeonghogyeong, I practiced martial arts all day and stayed up all night.
“What are you going to show me?”
When I went to see her, Hwangbo Hyoseon was already waiting for me outside her residence, dressed in black night clothes.
“You’ll see when you follow me.”
It couldn’t be said that she was going to show me the village. She had to show something.
I guided Hwangbo Hyoseon to the predetermined location with Yeonghogyeong.
Of course, we continued to move in secret, as the information that a regular guard was putting on a show would be too widespread.
“It seems like we’re going further and further out… Are we going the right way?”
“Yes, we are.”
Yeonghogyeong said that he had someone under the command of the head of the faction to protect him.
Making a commotion and getting caught by someone from another faction would be of no benefit, so it was natural to go to a place on the outskirts.
“Wait a minute.”
While we were on the move, Hwangbo Hyoseon grabbed me. Not only that, but she covered my mouth and hid us behind a dense forest.
“No, Yeohyeo… Mmph!”
Hwangbo Hyoseon sent a warning to me, covering my mouth.
“Don’t make a sound. Weren’t you planning to bring me here to show me something?”
What is she talking about? We still have a ways to go to get there…
“There are some amazing martial artists gathered there. Isn’t this what you wanted to show me?”
As Hwangbo Hyoseon spoke cautiously, I could feel that indeed several skilled martial artists were gathered in one place.
It seemed like they were gathered in front of a small tent, but there was no reason for such skilled martial artists to be there.
Usually, the outskirts were residential areas for ordinary people who had little knowledge of martial arts.
Moreover, most of them were probably more skilled than me.
“Answer me. Is it true or not?”
“No, it’s not.”
What the hell? Why are those guys gathered in a place like this?
I came out half-excited for a picnic. I just wanted to appeal that “if you’re part of the faction, then the people will take care of you” in a humanistic way.
Something seems to be going wrong. I had a feeling that if I got involved for no reason, it could turn out to be a serious problem.
“For now, let’s retreat. Something is not right.”
“…Alright. Let’s go back to the hideout and talk about it in detail.”
Osoosoosoo
The moment I decided to retreat, I felt a chill down my spine. This is…
“Run away!”
As soon as Hwangbo Hyoseon and I felt the intense energy being focused on us, we immediately used all our internal energy to jump back.
The path we had been carefully hiding in was now being chased by those who were emitting a terrifying aura from behind us.
Glancing back, there were four of them. Judging by the magic emanating from them, their internal energy levels were all above their peak.
“For now, let’s not worry about getting caught and just run!”
“Weren’t we doing that from the beginning?”
Hwangbo Hyoseon was actually fine. The internal energy of an ordinary three-ga was not strong enough to resist against a magi.
If we can just shake them off and hide in the hideout, who would know?
But I had no room to spare my strength, and my body, which had released all its energy, began to emit a thick aura of demonic energy.
This is going to get us caught. We’re definitely going to get caught if we keep this up.
If that martial artist chasing us is in a position to get information from the leadership, he’ll definitely know who I am!
“But if we get caught like this, we’ll die!”
Thinking that we were all from the same faction, I thought we would be fine. However, the fact that we were hiding was enough to show that those who were chasing us were ready to kill us at any moment.
I didn’t know what kind of trouble those guys were up to, but if we were caught, the chances of us dying were much higher.
As my internal energy, which was almost always hidden by the Qi-blocking technique to minimize backlash against the Ma-gong, was released, my legs became lighter and lighter.
“Oh no…!”
My movements were getting faster and faster, and Hwangbo Hyoseon was having trouble keeping up.
“Let’s hurry a bit! We might be questioned about what we were doing in the outskirts of the Ma-gyo at night, but for now, surviving in a crowded place is a priority!”
The skilled martial artists were gradually closing in on us. But if we can maintain this pace, we won’t be caught until we get back to Yeongbingak…
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo
Damn it.
As the distance between us narrowed, they started throwing spells at us.
While I was distracted by the spells, the others were able to catch up to us.
“We’re going to get caught at this rate…”
As Hwangbo Hyoseon said, whenever one of them threw a spell, the rest would catch up while we were delayed.
What should we do? When we entered a narrow passage due to the buildings and cliffs, Hwangbo Hyoseon turned around.
“I’ll block the way here for a moment, you run away first!”
This is crazy!
“No, we can’t. We have to avoid them first…!”
There was no way she could block them alone. There were four peak-level martial artists, and even if the passage was narrow, what could one peak-level martial artist do?
I turned my body quickly, but Hwangbo Hyoseon was already surrounded.
Due to the fact that the Geomgyeom was left in the storage of the Geogeom, which was the place where the Geogeom was kept, she was able to withstand the attacks with her Yeon-geom, but she already had a few injuries.
“Ugh…!”
Due to the nature of the Ma-gong, it caused severe pain to an unfamiliar person’s body, so as the injuries increased, her movements became slower.
“This is stupid!”
Taking advantage of the gap in their formation, I used my Geom-geom to strike from the side and used my Jipung to blow them away. Then, taking advantage of the moment when they were somewhat crumpled, I pulled Hwangbo Hyoseon out.
“You’re the stupid one. I clearly told you to run away…”
“Stop arguing about who’s stupid and just run!”
Before they could attack us again, I grabbed Hwangbo Hyoseon’s hand and started running.
At the same time, Hwangbo Hyoseon pushed her internal energy into my veins through my pulse, suppressing the Ma-gong. She wasn’t as fast as before, but she was still running at a decent speed.
“They’re opening their mouths now…”
Finally, those who hadn’t said a word opened their mouths.
I didn’t get a good look at the attacker since I was in a hurry to defend myself, but when I looked back, one guy was screaming and clutching his leg, probably injured.
But I was still running and sending glances at the three chasing us when I suddenly opened my eyes wide and shouted, “Watch out! Behind you…!”
Thud.
“I told you to watch your back.”
One quick-witted guy turned around and got hit in the back of his head by a rock I threw. I put all my internal energy into it, but unfortunately, he didn’t lose consciousness and got up again.
“You dirty bastard!”
“Thanks for the compliment. But you guys who badmouth others are even dirtier.”
Thanks to Hwangbo Hyoseon, who briefly held them off, we were lucky that one guy was limping and couldn’t chase us properly, but the situation was still two against three.
Moreover, their average martial arts level was higher than ours.
‘Now, how do we get out of this…?’
It would be great if the opponent was a fool like me who only had a lot of internal energy… but that was unlikely.
The lucky chance of the sabu coming out to look for me, realizing that I wasn’t in my room, was… unlikely.
‘How would he know when I go out every night?’
Think, think.
I have to survive this damn situation no matter what.
