CRS Chapter 24
by BlossomTLAt the main gate of the Iron Blood Castle, headquarters of the Four Evils Alliance.
“Young hero, are you really going?”
“Why else would I have come all this way?”
“Inside is truly one of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters. Not to mention over a hundred warriors.”
Despite Yang Jintae’s concerns, Eunho strode steadily towards the main gate.
The gatekeeper blocking the two was met with Eunho’s fist without a word.
Struck by Eunho, the gatekeeper fell unconscious without even knowing what happened.
“I’m sick of gatekeepers.”
There was no need for conversation.
“Young hero, be careful. The entire Iron Blood Castle has a formation…”
BOOM-!
Eunho’s kick shattered the main gate.
“When charging into enemy territory, gaining the upper hand is most important. What were you saying?”
“Nothing…”
“Let’s go.”
Entering the Iron Blood Castle, Eunho walked unimpeded.
He knocked down those who blocked him, and even those too scared to attack.
“Intruders! Kill the—Ugh!”
Eunho didn’t even draw his sword.
He simply threw the warriors using Void Object Manipulation technique.
As they went deeper, the level of the warriors seemed to increase.
“They’ve built quite large for a den of thieves.”
“Young hero, the Four Evils Alliance isn’t just simple thieves, but the core of the evil faction along with the Green Forest…”
“Those who live off the backs of non-martial artists – if they’re not thieves, what are they?”
“…”
Yang Jintae, a real thief, gave up trying to explain further.
Advancing relentlessly, they came upon a huge hall with a wide plaza in front.
The plaza was filled with warriors of the Four Evils Alliance.
“Making a plaza inside a fortress. Is the Four Evils Alliance leader incredibly wealthy?”
Yang Jintae was dumbfounded.
‘Says the young master of the Cheonha Merchant Guild…’
To Yang Jintae, Eunho was an incomprehensible figure.
His unrestrained words and actions didn’t seem like those of a noble family’s son, and his martial prowess was beyond common sense.
“I have business with the Four Evils Alliance leader. I’ll kill anyone who blocks my path with a sword.”
Yang Jintae stuck out his tongue.
This was hardly the attitude of someone facing over a hundred warriors.
Just then, a slim middle-aged man emerged, parting the crowd of warriors.
“Boy, where do you think you are to act so impudently?”
Yang Jintae’s face hardened as he recognized the man.
“T-The Dark Blood Sword!”
He was Cheol Museong’s right-hand man, second-in-command of the Four Evils Alliance, and a Transcendent realm master.
Yang Jintae’s legs began to tremble.
Facing him made it feel real that they had invaded the Four Evils Alliance headquarters.
“Isn’t that Jintae.”
His low voice was thick with killing intent.
Yang Jintae squeezed his eyes shut.
“Hehe, you’ve lost your mind. Did you come all this way trusting the guy next to you?”
Eunho answered instead:
“You talk too much. I plan to meet the Four Evils Alliance leader. Interfere quickly if you’re going to.”
“Crazy bastard. Kill him.”
At the Dark Blood Sword’s order, the warriors swarmed Eunho like a pack of dogs.
Their numbers and momentum seemed about to swallow Eunho and Yang Jintae whole.
Thud.
Impact sounds were heard from all around.
Crack.
The sound of bones breaking.
“Huh?”
The warriors were bewildered.
Anyone who made it this far must be a master.
But they never thought they’d lose.
This was the Four Evils Alliance headquarters, and they were the Alliance’s elite.
Even a master should have no way out when surrounded by over a hundred elites.
No, that should be normal.
Thud, crack, rip.
Their expectations were completely off the mark.
With lightly thrown fist techniques, warriors either had their ribs broken or jaws crushed to death.
“I said I’d kill you.”
The more they swarmed, the faster the number of warriors decreased.
The warriors began to hesitate in the face of Eunho’s martial prowess that defied common sense.
Watching this, the Dark Blood Sword shouted:
“What are you doing! Go fight! This is why they say you’re not even as good as Nanman’s beasts!”
The warriors glanced nervously between the Dark Blood Sword and Eunho, unable to decide.
When they no longer advanced, the Dark Blood Sword snatched a sword from a subordinate and sliced off his head.
Thud.
The warrior’s severed head rolled on the ground.
“Those who are too scared to fight cannot be called Four Evils Alliance elites. I’ll personally behead you.”
Suddenly, Eunho’s gaze turned to the Dark Blood Sword.
“Then why aren’t you attacking?”
The Dark Blood Sword stared at Eunho with a firm gaze.
Silently, he drew his ink-colored sword.
The well-honed blade revealed itself.
Even he had to acknowledge that the young man before him was an incredible master.
“Impressive for your young age. Transcendent realm?”
“Profound realm.”
The Dark Blood Sword burst into laughter.
The Profound realm was known to be beyond the Transformation realm.
It was said that no one in the current martial world had reached it, nor even seen its reality.
“Throughout history, less than five have entered the Profound realm. Are you saying you’re above the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters?”
Eunho nodded matter-of-factly.
“That’s how it seems. I was quite disappointed too.”
“Are you insane? Ah, you must be insane to invade this place alone.”
“I’m not alone.”
Eunho looked at Yang Jintae.
Everyone’s attention focused on Yang Jintae.
“Yang Jintae, you bastard! Do you think you can betray the Four Evils Alliance and live?”
The Dark Blood Sword’s roar struck Yang Jintae’s ears hard.
Yang Jintae was terrified, but he shook his head.
The situation was already beyond salvaging.
Staring directly into the Dark Blood Sword’s eyes, he said:
“What’s there to fear when I came with a Profound realm master!”
“Huh.”
These guys were clearly insane.
“You thieving bastard. I’ll kill you soon.”
“Hmph, to kill me, you’ll have to kill him first!”
Eunho looked at Yang Jintae incredulously.
Since when were they so close?
“Don’t worry. I’ll kill you both amicably.”
The Dark Blood Sword lowered his stance.
His ink-colored blade aligned horizontally with the ground, aiming at Eunho, as the killing intent swirling around his body began to infuse into the sword.
“I’ll end this in one strike. Ink Line Sword!”
“Why announce the technique name?”
Despite Eunho’s mockery, the Dark Blood Sword’s blade shot forth as its name suggested.
His body sliced through the wind, flying low as if to become one with the ground. The target was Eunho’s neck.
The form, shot like lightning, soon collided with Eunho.
The Dark Blood Sword’s eyes wavered.
Eunho had caught his blade between his palms as if in prayer.
BANG-!
The wind exploded behind Eunho’s back from the tremendous speed of the rebound.
Eunho’s hair fluttered in the wind.
A brief silence fell over the scene.
“…He blocked it? With his bare hands?”
Moreover, the damn sword caught by this bastard wouldn’t budge.
“Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t bring a sword. Let me borrow one.”
As he spoke, the small dagger from Yang Jintae’s chest floated into the air.
“Benefactor, with such a dull blade… Huh?”
Yang Jintae couldn’t believe his eyes.
The floating dagger began to emit a white aura.
Though he’d never seen it before, he could tell it was sword energy.
The dagger, infused with sword energy, shot straight through the Dark Blood Sword’s neck.
Unlike Void Object Manipulation technique which simply moved objects using energy, this was different.
Sword Control with Energy!
It was known to allow free manipulation of weapons by imbuing them with will, even containing sword qi or sword energy.
Sword Control with Energy was like a symbol of the Transformation realm.
The Dark Blood Sword, his neck pierced, collapsed.
Thud.
Due to his slim build, he didn’t even make much noise falling.
Thus, one of the Transcendent realm masters who had dominated the martial world met a pitiful end.
The Dark Blood Sword’s corpse couldn’t even close its eyes, as if it had seen something unbelievable.
The same was true for Yang Jintae.
He recalled Eunho calling himself Profound realm earlier.
“Surely you’re not really Profound realm…?”
Looking at Yang Jintae, Eunho said:
“Ah, was that an important sword?”
Yang Jintae shook his head vigorously.
“Y-Young hero, please keep it.”
“Why would I keep that? I have a better one.”
Eunho picked up the Ink Sword and swung it through the air a few times.
“Not a bad sword. Let’s go.”
Eunho headed towards the inner hall, dragging the sword.
No one could block his path.
Yang Jintae followed behind Eunho with a dazed expression, walking the path cleared by hundreds of warriors.
At the end was a massive door, and Eunho could sense it.
Cheol Museong was inside, and he seemed to sense someone approaching as well.
BANG!
He kicked the door open, just as he had the main gate.
As expected, Cheol Museong was there, along with bewildered Nanman warriors.
“What an ugly face.”
This was Eunho’s first assessment upon seeing Cheol Museong.
His expression crumpled.
The Nanman warriors had some sense.
At least they knew Eunho was their enemy.
They drew their swords and unleashed their beasts.
The beasts looked ready to pounce on Eunho and tear out his throat at any moment.
Nanman’s beasts were different from ordinary ones. They were much larger, and their strength was incomparable.
They had been bred and trained that way for hundreds of years.
Grrrr-!
The beasts bared their fangs fiercely at Eunho.
The Nanman warriors pointed at Eunho and shouted:
“Go and tear him apart!”
Eunho shifted his gaze from Cheol Museong to the beasts.
“…”
“What in the world…”
The Nanman warriors were shocked.
The beasts that met Eunho’s eyes lowered their gaze and avoided eye contact.
Whine…
They even started making frightened noises.
Even Cheol Museong was greatly confused.
Even to him, who knew little about animals, the beasts seemed scared.
Cheol Museong shouted at the Nanman warriors:
“How can they act like this when they bared their fangs even at me!”
But there was nothing they could do.
The Nanman warriors had never seen such behavior before either.
“Why? Because I’m scarier. Let me ask one thing. Why do you keep robbing counting houses?”
Cheol Museong glared at Yang Jintae as if he were looking at an evil spirit.
“Cheol Museong. Don’t be stubborn. It makes me want to kill you. I asked why you keep robbing them.”
Instead of answering, he raised his aura.
RUMBLE-!
The entire hall shook, and stone dust fell from the ceiling.
Not just Yang Jintae, but even the Nanman warriors were overwhelmed by Cheol Museong’s aura.
Twenty-four martial artists who had reached the pinnacle of the martial world.
The reputation of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters began to feel real.
As Cheol Museong reached out his hand, a saber flew to him.
His saber was the Horse-Slaying Saber, said to allow even ordinary people to behead a horse’s thick neck in one stroke.
True to its fame, the huge blade of the Horse-Slaying Saber, coupled with Cheol Museong, exuded tremendous pressure.
Yang Jintae was honestly terrified.
Not just scared, but scared enough to wet himself.
He even felt a bit of regret.
In the face of his overwhelming aura, it felt like his soul had completely left his body.
Looking at Cheol Museong, Eunho shrugged.
“This isn’t bad either.”
Eunho unleashed his aura in response.
There was no need to hold back against someone like Cheol Museong.
BOOM!
As the two auras collided, a sound like thunder rang out.
It seemed like the hall might collapse at any moment.
Seeing this, the Nanman warriors were astonished.
“A-An aura equal to the Evil King! How can this be!”
The most surprised was actually the Evil King Cheol Museong himself.
‘You fools… Equal, you say?’
The Evil King himself could clearly feel it.
Eunho’s aura was devouring his own.
“Cheol Museong, are you really going to do this? I didn’t intend to kill you.”
It was a meaningless question, and Eunho knew it.
Someone of the Evil King’s status couldn’t flee in front of others.
For ordinary martial artists, pride was more precious than gold, and for someone of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters, it went without saying.
He would absolutely never run away…
“Huh?”
He ran away.
That tremendous aura disappeared without a trace.
Cheol Museong used all that aura to power his lightness skill.
He didn’t care about the gazes around him.
From a back-alley thug to the Four Evils Alliance leader, rising to become the Evil King.
He knew better than anyone that surviving was the most important thing.
“Young hero, he ran away…?”
Yang Jintae finally lost strength in his legs and sat down.
The Nanman warriors were speechless.
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Aren’t you going to chase him?”
Eunho shook his head.
“Not now.”
“Why!?”
Why let Cheol Museong go when they had him cornered?
“It’s time to pick up Somi.”
“…Are you joking? If we let Cheol Museong go like this, Somi or whatever won’t…”
Yang Jintae couldn’t finish his sentence due to Eunho’s fierce gaze.
He didn’t know who Somi was, but he resolved never to mention her again.
“It’s too late to chase him anyway. He ran away really fast, didn’t he?”
“…I have an idea where he might have gone.”
“Where?”
“Probably to the Green King. They’re quite close, and since he judged you to be stronger than himself, he’ll need someone to help him. Only another of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters can aid one of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters.”
“Oh.”
Eunho looked at Yang Jintae with renewed interest.
He thought he was just a blockhead, but he was quite logical.
“That’s good. We’ll visit soon. I was thinking of visiting Inwang Fortress or whatever it’s called anyway.”
“?”
Yang Jintae stuck out his tongue at Eunho’s nonchalance.
Is this really the attitude of someone who’s made an enemy of the Twenty-four Martial Arts Masters?
The Evil King didn’t know at this point.
He had no idea that Inwang Fortress was already in conflict with the Cheonha Merchant Guild.