noveltune Chapter 167:
Chapter 167:
Chapter 167:
Killing Field
The sudden appearance of the wild man, wielding a Langdao (a type of curved sword), created a terrifying scene as he slaughtered the surrounding bandits with unstoppable force.
The encirclement of bandits surrounding Mu-jin’s group was torn apart like paper, revealing a blood-soaked path created by the wild man through the broken gaps.
The sight was truly reminiscent of a “mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.”
“Arghhh...”
“Run, run!!”
With both their leaders dead, the terrified bandits began fleeing in all directions.
While Mu-jin was momentarily taken aback by the realization that the wild man was the Wolf King, Baek Ga-hwan misunderstood the situation and, thinking they had been helped, cupped his hands in gratitude.
“Great warrior! I will not forget this favor.”
However, the Wolf King didn’t respond to Baek Ga-hwan’s greeting. Instead, he walked leisurely towards Mu-jin’s group with an irregular gait.
Mu-yul, who had been fighting near where the Wolf King appeared, expressed his gratitude with his characteristic bright smile.
“Thank you for helping us. Hehe.”
At that moment, Mu-jin, already tense from the Wolf King’s presence, sensed something was wrong and shouted urgently.
“Get out of the way!!”
“Screech!”
Mu-jin’s shout coincided almost simultaneously with Ling-ling’s scream as she pulled Mu-yul back.
A silver thread appeared where Mu-yul had been standing.
“Whoa!”
“What are you doing!?”
Both Mu-yul, who had narrowly avoided death, and the rest of the group were shocked and yelled out.
But the Wolf King seemed uninterested in their reactions.
“Ho, it seems to be a real spiritual creature.”
He showed brief interest in Ling-ling, then cast a lifeless gaze over Mu-jin’s group.
“Another wasted effort.”
He had been looking for a missing item—an artifact hidden within a silk garment that had disappeared during the bandits’ raid on the Bukpoong Escort Agency.
But it was clear none of these people had the silk garment.
While the Wolf King was muttering to himself, Mu-jin, pretending not to know who he was dealing with, asked,
“Who are you, and why are you attacking us suddenly?”
The Wolf King responded with a crooked smile.
“It’s strange that you don’t know who I am after attacking those two places.”
“Which two places are you referring to?”
“Feigning ignorance, huh? Not a bad strategy.”
As Mu-jin sensed the conversation going awry, the Wolf King’s expression turned serious as he added,
“Let’s see how long you can keep pretending.”
As the words “let’s see” reached Mu-jin’s ears, the Wolf King had already vanished from sight, swinging his Langdao at Mu-yul.
“Eek!”
Mu-yul barely dodged the attack by instinct, a hair’s breadth away from being struck.
It wasn’t a conscious reaction; Mu-yul’s animal-like senses warned him of the danger, prompting him to move instinctively.
Slash!
Though he narrowly escaped, the attack still tore through his clothes, drawing a thin line of blood.
“Ho?”
As the Wolf King showed a faint interest in Mu-yul for dodging his attack, Mu-jin and Mu-gung, who had belatedly caught the Wolf King’s movement, lunged at him.
But just as they were about to strike with fists and palms, Mu-jin felt a chilling sensation and urgently shouted,
“Retreat!”
Slash!
Reacting to Mu-jin’s shout, Mu-gung quickly withdrew his outstretched palm, which was lightly grazed, leaving a faint scar.
However, Mu-gung’s gaze wasn’t on his injured palm.
“...Qi Force.”
The Langdao didn’t have Qi Force before the Wolf King swung it.
Realizing the opponent could freely manipulate Qi Force—a skill even beyond his master Hye-dam—Mu-gung swallowed hard.
As Mu-gung realized the opponent was far more skilled than anticipated, the Wolf King muttered with interest,
As the two held on, receiving small cuts here and there, Mu-yul, Mu-gung, and Mu-jin launched their attacks again on the Wolf King.
“Damn it.”
Despite aiding each other to overcome crises, the battle situation did not improve.
Not even one minute had passed since the fight began, yet everyone was accumulating wounds.
“A prolonged battle is self-destructive.”
On the other hand, the Wolf King remained unscathed.
Mu-jin decided against a long-term fight not just because of their current state but because of another reason.
Despite being able to manipulate energy freely, the Wolf King refrained from recklessly using energy attacks.
The sword force with the highest destructive power, compressed from dozens to hundreds of energy blades, consumed a vast amount of internal energy.
If the Wolf King had recklessly used such energy attacks, Mu-jin might have aimed for a long-term battle despite the risk.
However, the Wolf King did not recklessly use such attacks.
“Hahaha! You’re jumping around like monkeys!”
Even so, Mu-jin’s group had to keep dodging every time the Wolf King swung his blade.
Since the Wolf King could create powerful energy attacks at any moment, they couldn’t block his attacks directly.
The moment they tried to block, the energy attack would split their bodies in half along with their defenses.
“Taiji Sword Technique, Tathagata Palm, Shaolin Five Fists, and Vajra Exorcising Devil Fist. I think I know who you are now.”
The Wolf King smiled wickedly as he fought against Mu-jin’s group, as if he was just out for a stroll.
“Heh heh heh. I must hear from your own mouths how Shaolin and Wudang learned about us.”
Even though they were using hidden named techniques, barely holding on was the best they could do.
They were only holding on because the Wolf King intended to interrogate them.
‘I must do something while he’s still off guard.’
Mu-jin also vaguely realized this.
‘If we scatter and run, at least one or two might survive...’
It wasn’t about whether he would be one of the survivors or not.
Even if he survived, most of the others would be captured, mutilated, and interrogated by the Wolf King.
Even if it were strangers, he’d feel terrible seeing them in such a state. The kids he spent six years with at Shaolin Temple, especially those he considered nephews like Mu-yul, Mu-gung, and Mu-gyeong, couldn’t be left to such a fate.
Long-term battles were not an option, and escape was impossible.
Thus, there was only one choice left.
‘I don’t know if this will work or not.’
Mu-jin decided to take a gamble with his life while the Wolf King was still off guard.
Right after Mu-jin barely dodged the energy blade flying at him.
As the Wolf King turned his gaze to Cheongsu Dojang on the opposite side.
Pop!
Mu-jin, who had been focused solely on dodging, suddenly charged at the Wolf King with the extreme Fast Ascent Step and Golden Turtle Technique.
However, was even the shift in gaze a trap?
Sneer.
As Mu-jin charged, the Wolf King swung his blade at him with a sinister smile.
But Mu-jin, with the mindset of someone riding a tiger, charged directly at the Wolf King’s blade.
At that moment, as the Wolf King channeled his energy into the blade, gray sword energy burst forth from the blade.
The gray sword energy from the Wolf King’s blade shredded Mu-jin’s Golden Turtle Technique and still had power left to fly towards Mu-jin’s right arm.
However, Mu-jin seemed unconcerned about protecting his arm and continued to charge forward.
Seeing this, the Wolf King’s smile grew even wider.
‘Heh heh. I don’t necessarily need to cut off limbs to interrogate.’
Realizing that Mu-jin was willing to sacrifice an arm, the Wolf King altered his blade’s trajectory.
The blade that was aimed at Mu-jin’s right arm suddenly swung towards his right side.
As the Wolf King’s eyes gleamed with the thought of interrogating someone with their guts and intestines spilling out, golden energy burst from Mu-jin’s abdomen.
“Futile resistance, boy!”
Recognizing the golden energy shield he had just torn through, the Wolf King ignored it and swung his blade.
Crrreeek!!!
As the blade touched Mu-jin’s side, a bizarre noise echoed, like the scream of a woman.