By Zephyria 
Late at night, a clamorous drumbeat signaling an enemy intrusion echoed through the campsite, and torches flared up everywhere.
“You should have killed him when you had the chance.”
Baek Ryeo-il clicked his tongue as he surveyed the menacing demonic cultists surrounding the area.
“…Haha.”
Peng Do-hwan could only let out a hollow laugh, having nothing else to say.
“Exactly. I really… I keep falling for it every time.”
The Demonic human, who had promised to help them approach secretly, changed his attitude the moment he entered the influence of their allies. He began shouting at the top of his lungs and immediately charged straight into the heart of the campsite.
“The Hwasan Sect is here! The Peng Family of Hebei is here!”
The desperate cries ringing out in the quiet night were enough to rouse everyone in the camp.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. As we discussed earlier, I’ll take seven, you take eight…”
Peng Do-hwan trailed off. The number of enemies gathering far exceeded expectations. He tried to count them again.
“I… I’ll take twelve, the Heartless Sword can take thirteen…”
But more and more demonic cultists kept appearing. By the time the number surpassed thirty, the smile faded from Peng Do-hwan’s face. When it exceeded fifty, it vanished completely.
“…You said fifteen.” “Did you really believe that, you fools! Hahahaha! My brothers will make this place your grave!”
The Demonic human who had fled was now shouting triumphantly from amidst the densely packed enemies.
“Just wait. After I finish sweeping these guys away, it’ll be your turn.”
Peng Do-hwan gritted his teeth.
“Do you think just the two of you can handle us!”
Meanwhile, Baek Ryeo-il quickly scanned the surroundings, but there was no sign of Yak Seon or the hostages.
“Attack!” “Kill them!”
They drew their weapons and charged without any particular order.
Meanwhile, Seong Mu-yeon watched with an anxious heart as the flames in the distant campsite flared up even more intensely.
“The number of enemies is greater than expected.”
Gang Woong, who had somehow appeared beside Seong Mu-yeon, narrowed his eyes and stared piercingly at the campsite.
Seong Mu-yeon thought he would immediately go to aid the two. But contrary to expectations, Gang Woong swiftly turned his body and went back to sit on the rock.
“How many enemies are there…?” “Hmm. It’s not exact, but roughly around sixty or seventy, I think.”
When Owl asked, Gang Woong took a piece of jerky from the pouch he had set aside earlier and put it in his mouth. Seong Mu-yeon, astonished by his composed demeanor, gaped.
“You seem uneasy. It’s fine. The enemy numbers are large, so one or two might come our way, but that’s precisely why I stayed behind. The two of them will be safe, so rest assured.”
That’s not the problem!
He knew that neither Baek Ryeo-il nor Peng Do-hwan were people who would die easily, but what if they were seriously injured by a momentary mistake?
‘Do something about it…!’
Seong Mu-yeon looked at Owl, hoping for help. Since he couldn’t speak, he hoped Owl would persuade Gang Woong to join the battle. But Owl seemed to share Gang Woong’s sentiment and avoided Seong Mu-yeon’s pleading gaze.
Owl gave him a stern look, as if to say not to stir up unnecessary trouble.
However, Seong Mu-yeon simply couldn’t maintain composure like them.
The thought of Baek Ryeo-il fighting a perilous battle not far away made scenes of him being struck by a blind sword or poisoned involuntarily surface in Seong Mu-yeon’s mind.
Not giving up, he tried to express his opinion using gestures and body language in front of the two, but only received clean disregard in return, making him furious to the core.
‘Then I’ll go alone…!’
He had no intention of participating in the fight. Doing such a thing would only increase the risk of his identity being exposed. Moreover, Seong Mu-yeon was well aware that with no guarantee of when he might meet Yak Seon again, he needed to be as cautious as possible and endure.
He simply intended to directly watch them fight rather than wait anxiously. That way, he could be prepared in case of any unforeseen situations.
Just as Seong Mu-yeon turned his body, Gang Woong’s eyes flashed, and in the blink of an eye, he grabbed Seong Mu-yeon’s arm.
“Not allowed.”
He seized the struggling Seong Mu-yeon, forced him to sit down, and pressed down on his shoulder with strong force to prevent escape.
“Individual actions will not be tolerated. Master ordered me to protect you, and I must fulfill that command. If you become a hindrance, I am prepared to use rough methods, so please do not test me.”
He warned in a surprisingly cold, low voice. Stunned by this unfamiliar side of Gang Woong, Seong Mu-yeon froze, even forgetting his own purpose.
“…Hic.”
When Seong Mu-yeon started hiccuping, Gang Woong, who had been holding him with strong force until then, released his grip.
“I trust you understand now.” “He probably understands now…”
Owl also threw a cold glance.
“…Hic.”
Apart from the distant sounds of battle and Seong Mu-yeon’s intermittent hiccups, a quiet silence flowed.
After a while, having gradually regained composure, Seong Mu-yeon felt wronged. Did they think he was crazy enough to charge into the heart of the battlefield like a moth to a flame? No matter how wronged he felt, he couldn’t speak, so he had no way to explain.
Gang Woong kept his gaze fixed on Seong Mu-yeon as if monitoring him in case he took sudden action.
Just as Seong Mu-yeon was pounding his chest in frustration, as Gang Woong had said, a demonic cultist who had left the battlefield appeared and quickly approached their direction.
“Shh.”
Gang Woong put his index finger to his lips, then quietly leaned his back against a tree trunk. The cultist, seemingly not expecting anyone to be waiting, kept looking back as he ran forward without hesitation.
As the cultist drew near, Gang Woong subtly stuck out his foot.
“Uh…?!”
As the off-balance cultist panicked and tried to make a sound, Gang Woong, with a fluid, seamless movement, precisely struck his vocal cords to cut off the sound and wrapped an arm around his neck from behind. The choked cultist kicked his legs, but Gang Woong stood firm as a mountain, and soon the strength drained from the cultist’s body.
Gang Woong quietly laid the suffocated cultist down in a corner and began thoroughly searching his entire body. He soon pulled out a crumpled letter from within the clenched fist.
“It’s written in code.”
Gang Woong frowned as he tried to somehow read the writing on the paper.
“It seems this fellow was trying to inform the outside about the attack. With luck, we might decipher this code and find their base… Where is Badger?”
By the time Gang Woong belatedly realized one person was missing, Seong Mu-yeon was already sprinting towards the campsite.
“Huff… Huff…!”
Seong Mu-yeon ran down the forest path, relying on the faint light emanating from the campsite. As he got closer to the light, the clashing noises of metal and shouts grew louder.
Finally, his vision brightened, and the scene of the battle came into view.
Seong Mu-yeon’s eyes widened.
Baek Ryeo-il was fighting just 10 jang (approximately 30 meters) away.
“Graaah!”
As his sword, mercilessly piercing an enemy, was pulled out, spraying blood, it simultaneously sliced through the chest of another enemy charging from behind.
For a moment, the characters engraved on the blade were imprinted in Seong Mu-yeon’s vision.
‘Nansaeng Sword…’
Thump!
His heart leaped. Baek Ryeo-il and the Nansaeng Sword were the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign himself, a hero of the martial world.
This was the moment he was witnessing the complete form of Baek Ryeo-il with his own eyes.
With each swing of his sword, demonic cultists fell two, three at a time. Baek Ryeo-il continued his sword strikes, unconcerned even by the blood droplets splattering on his cheek. Enemies fell like rain before his sword, swung sometimes sharply, sometimes heavily, and he flew across the battlefield, stepping on fallen bodies.
Now he understood why Gang Woong had been so relaxed. Baek Ryeo-il had already been at a level not to be ignored before, but in the time he hadn’t seen him, he had grown even stronger.
No matter how fiercely the enraged enemies gritted their teeth and charged to inflict even a single wound on him, they met their end without even grazing his clothes.
Seong Mu-yeon couldn’t tear his eyes away from his swordplay, which even seemed beautiful at a glance.
“Badger.”
Startled.
The cold voice instantly dragged Seong Mu-yeon back to reality.
Gang Woong and Owl had already caught up to him. Though he couldn’t see the face hidden behind the owl-shaped mask, Seong Mu-yeon instinctively sensed that Owl was extremely angry.
“I thought I gave sufficient warning, but it seems it wasn’t enough. I had no idea you could be this fearless.”
Gang Woong was equally angry. He stared at Seong Mu-yeon with an expression Seong Mu-yeon had never seen before and spoke.
“I will keep that well in mind from now on.” “……”
Like master, like disciple?
Seong Mu-yeon saw Baek Ryeo-il in Gang Woong. They hide their sharp claws, not revealing them directly, stimulating the opponent’s imagination to maximize fear.
Truly, it was a bearing worthy of Baek Ryeo-il’s disciple.