CLS-Chapter 203

Chapter 203

“Don’t move from here.”

“Yes!”

Wei Yan-ho pulled Jin Ye-ran right next to him. Though fear was clearly visible on Jin Ye-ran’s face, she trusted Wei Yan-ho completely and stayed close beside him, slightly lowering her head.

“Yan-ho, what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, Mother. Don’t come out.”

“I don’t need to go out?”

“Right, don’t come out. Nothing to worry about.”

Wei Yan-ho didn’t leave his position. In situations like this, his first priority was to protect those who didn’t know martial arts.

‘Let me see.’

Considering the enemies charging at them, there were six people here he needed to be concerned about.

First was naturally his mother, and second was Jin Ye-ran right beside him. And then…

“What the hell, did some ghost that died from being unable to fight possess them?”

Wei Su-ryeon, Lee Seol-hwa, Seomun Da-yeon, and Namgung Hye—all of whom were extremely weak by Wei Yan-ho’s standards—were boldly drawing their weapons and engaging the Green Forest bandits.

With that level of martial prowess, it would probably be more helpful if they just threw stones from beside the carriage, but these aggressive female warriors were radiating martial spirit as if they would never fall behind the men.

‘I really can’t live like this.’

Actually, Wei Yan-ho understood. For those living in the martial world, such reactions were rather normal. When you’ve had “never retreat from enemies” and “have no fear in battle against foes” hammered into your ears for about fifteen years, naturally such reactions emerge. The body moves before the mind can think of anything.

At least Wei Yan-ho had convenient ears that automatically blocked out unpleasant words and a master who boldly declared, “If you feel even slightly uneasy, run first. You have to live to do anything. If you die fighting in ambiguous situations, you’ll just be smelling incense from behind a folding screen.” This allowed him to look for escape routes first when trouble arose.

Whether that was the right thing to do was another matter entirely.

So now, the people beside Wei Yan-ho were his mother, Jin Ye-ran, and…

“But…”

“…”

“Why aren’t you fighting?”

Musan closed his mouth tightly and looked at Wei Yan-ho with ox-like large eyes.

Those eyes could be interpreted as: ‘Should I go out and fight now, or should I guard the side? I’m not really sure what I should do, so if you ask me like that, how should I answer…’

Wei Yan-ho knew exactly how to use this ignorant monk who lacked self-solving ability.

“Could you go pick up some stones first?”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Musan began collecting stones, leaving afterimages behind.

The thought crossed Wei Yan-ho’s mind that if the Shaolin monks knew that the Immovable Diamond Divine Technique was being used to weave between enemies and allies during this fierce battle just to collect stones, they probably wouldn’t be able to close their eyes even in death. But Wei Yan-ho wasn’t inclined to consider the circumstances of other sects one by one.

Thud thud thud.

Fist-sized stones began piling up beside Wei Yan-ho.

Wei Yan-ho nodded and said:

“Now you can go fight.”

Just as Musan was about to move, Wei Yan-ho called him back.

“Ah, wait a moment.”

“Yes?”

“While you’re fighting, please stay close to Su-ryeon and protect her. She already has a bad personality, and if she gets scars on her face, she won’t be able to marry.”

“…Yes.”

Imagining Wei Su-ryeon growing up with that personality and being unable to marry, staying attached to the house—there could be no greater hell. If Wei Jeong-han ever retired, Wei Yan-ho might have to support his sister, a terrifying situation indeed.

Money wasn’t the issue—the family had enough, and Wei Yan-ho’s wealth was more than sufficient, overflowing even. But worldly affairs couldn’t all be solved with money.

Wei Su-ryeon was the type of woman who might beat up her husband and return home if married off carelessly in a political marriage. Her only advantage was her pretty face, so at least that advantage had to be protected.

‘Future brother-in-law, I’m working so hard for you.’

Wei Yan-ho mentally sent a letter to someone he couldn’t even identify, then quickly surveyed the surroundings.

Though the Green Forest bandits far outnumbered their group, Wei Jeong-han and Seok Mun-cho were performing admirably, maintaining some balance.

Wei Jeong-han was facing five Green Forest bandits alone, while Seok Mun-cho was handling two.

And surprisingly, there was someone facing even more Green Forest bandits…

“Wow, truly a drowning ghost. He’s got three clinging to him.”

“Hiiiik!“

Peng Daoji was nearly half-dead. Though he hadn’t suffered physical wounds, his face had already turned blue with terror, and his hands and feet flailed about as if dancing.

Compared to when all those Green Forest bandits had charged at him alone earlier, the current situation could be considered much better, but even now, things weren’t easy for him.

Having already fled here at full power, his internal energy was running dangerously low, and his stamina was greatly depleted. Fighting three Green Forest bandits in such a state couldn’t be easy.

As the legitimate heir of the Peng Family, did it make sense for him to struggle against just three Green Forest bandits?

‘These aren’t ordinary Green Forest bandits!’

If these Green Forest bandits were just mountain bandits who lived roughly gathered in the mountains, robbing the purses of passing civilians, then thirty of them, let alone three, would pose no problem. But unfortunately, these weren’t such ordinary and “good-natured” bandits.

If he let his guard down for even a moment, their vicious and incomparably fierce Ghost Head Blades would turn the Peng Family’s great saber into something like a small knife and slice his throat.

“Urrgh.“

Though he tried not to show weakness, a groan inevitably escaped his lips. His stamina was too low, causing his concentration to suffer as well. He was barely holding on with the desperate determination to survive, but even that had limits.

“H-help…”

Peng Daoji realized.

The blade flying toward his throat now—he couldn’t block it. His saber was pinned down by two other blades, and his body wasn’t moving smoothly, perhaps due to the true energy his opponents had released.

At this rate, he would have to watch with wide-open eyes as his own head flew off. Perhaps because his mind was spinning frantically, time even seemed to flow slowly. The blade that should have sliced his throat at any moment was flying toward him very, very slowly.

‘This isn’t…’

At that moment, before he could even feel despair.

BANG!

A stone that flew from somewhere struck the side of the Green Forest bandit who was about to behead him, embedding itself completely and sending the bandit flying with an unbelievable explosive sound.

“Hmm?”

With a deflating sound, those who had been pressing down on his saber turned their heads.

BANG! BANG!

And the moment they turned their heads, fist-sized rocks struck their faces with enough force to make the world turn black.

No screams were heard.

At the bizarre and surreal sight of people being sent flying after being hit by stones, Peng Daoji’s mouth fell wide open.

‘This, somewhere…’

It was a strange sense of déjà vu.

He definitely felt like something like this had happened before. Being chased by Green Forest bandits, discovering a supply wagon, and on that supply wagon…

Peng Daoji slowly turned his head to look up at the supply wagon.

“…”

Peng Daoji’s eyes widened.

The person who had made his eyes grow as large as they could possibly get looked at Peng Daoji and spoke.

“…Hey, drowning ghost.”

Brrrr.

Peng Daoji’s body trembled as if he had been doused with cold water in the middle of winter.

Why was this person here?

When he had searched everywhere for him, he was nowhere to be seen, but why did they meet again in such an absurd place?

“My master once said something.”

“Yes?”

Peng Daoji found himself answering without realizing it.

“He said the most frightening person on a battlefield isn’t a clever enemy or a brave enemy, but an incompetent ally.”

“…”

Since he knew exactly who that incompetent ally referred to, he had no choice but to hang his head low.

“But I think differently.”

Peng Daoji’s head slowly lifted.

It felt like something hopeful might be said…

“An incompetent ally at least doesn’t drag enemies along to get their comrades killed. From what I’ve seen, the most frightening person on a battlefield seems to be a drowning ghost. Don’t you think so?”

“…”

Though he already knew the answer, he had no choice but to keep his mouth firmly shut.

“Don’t you think so? Hm?”

But Wei Yan-ho persistently pressured Peng Daoji. What saved Peng Daoji from this crisis was a man among men who valued chivalry like his life.

“Hey! You rotten bastard!”

Wei Yan-ho sighed and turned his head.

“Yes?”

“What are you doing! Can’t you see the current situation! Are you planning to trade that sword for candy or something! Get down here and fight right now!”

“Ah, well, about that…”

Wei Yan-ho scratched his cheek as if troubled and said:

“I’d like to help right away, but as you know, I’m extremely filial, aren’t I?”

Wei Jeong-han almost got stabbed by a sword.

Upon hearing such an absurd statement, he had momentarily turned his head back even though he could see a blade flying toward him. Seeing the blade that barely grazed past him, Wei Jeong-han gritted his teeth and shouted:

“What nonsense!”

Watching his father’s crisis, Wei Yan-ho calmly replied:

“No, well… if I leave this spot and one of those guys happens to get inside, Mother would be in danger. You’re not telling me to abandon Mother and go fight, are you?”

‘It seems like he’s deliberately raising his voice?’

If Han Sang-ah in the carriage heard this entire conversation, she couldn’t possibly tell him to fight. If she did, only grass would appear on the dinner table until the day he died.

Unless he wanted to live the rest of his life as an herbivore, he had to be careful with his answer.

“No, what I mean is!”

Seeing Wei Jeong-han hesitate, Seok Mun-cho looked at the father and son duo with incredulous eyes.

He couldn’t tell whether Wei Jeong-han’s martial prowess—facing five Green Forest bandits while nagging his son—was impressive, or whether his determination to make his son work no matter what was impressive.

“Besides, it’s much better for me to be here.”

Just as Wei Jeong-han was about to shout, Wei Yan-ho grabbed stones beside him and began hurling them fiercely.

Three stone throws.

Wei Su-ryeon and Namgung Hye, who had been dangerously pushed back and seemed about to suffer serious injuries, were startled to see the Green Forest bandits they were facing get hit by fist-sized stones and fly away, turning around in surprise.

“If I had moved clumsily, these guys would have gotten hurt. I’m not doing this here because I’m lazy. You understand, right?”

Like hell he understood.

Wei Jeong-han ground his teeth fiercely.

He could clearly see that if Wei Yan-ho just drew his sword and made one round, everything would be cleanly resolved, yet there he was, half-lying down throwing stones, saying such things.

‘I need to provide moral education.’

At this rate, his son might become known in the martial world not as a proud descendant of the Wei Family, but as the greatest scoundrel under heaven.

Swoooosh.

Sensing that the Ghost Head Blades flying toward him were becoming slightly sharper and more intense, Wei Jeong-han gripped his sword tightly.

CLAAANG!

With a tremendous metallic sound, the five Ghost Head Blades flying toward him were all knocked back at once. The Green Forest bandits, unable to overcome the rebound and staggering back several steps, looked at each other with bewildered faces.

“…I’ll leave discovering your identities for next time. Right now, I’m busy, you see.”

Wei Jeong-han slowly advanced on the five, sword in hand.

And into his ears came a languid voice:

“Even if you show off such a cool appearance, no one’s watching, you know?”

For a moment, Wei Jeong-han seriously considered whether to abandon the Green Forest bandits and whatever else to charge up to the carriage.

Seriously, quite seriously.

***