CLS-Chapter 48

Chapter 48:

With a terrifying air-piercing sound, something flew between the green-clothed man and Peng Daoji. The green-clothed man felt the momentum flying toward him and pulled back his body with full force.

Kwang!

Whatever had flown between the green-clothed man and Peng Daoji crashed into the ground.

“What is it?”

‘What’s that?’

The green-clothed man and Peng Daoji looked at it simultaneously.

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

Both were momentarily at a loss for words.

What had separated them was a large box, properly packaged and well-tied with rope.

‘This is, so…’

Peng Daoji pondered what the identity of that box could be.

But his pondering didn’t last long.

‘So this package flew here with such tremendous momentum?’

That much he could understand.

Whether it was a package or whatever, it wasn’t difficult for something to fly with tremendous momentum.

But if it flew with such terrifying momentum that the box crashed into the ground, why was it so perfectly intact?

It should have been shattered to pieces, or at the very least, it should have shown some denting to match the way the world works.

“That guy’s thinking random thoughts again?”

“……”

Peng Daoji snapped back to attention.

‘What am I thinking about right now.’

“You brought all these enemies here, and now you’re going to die without even doing your part because you’re thinking random thoughts? You’re really like a water ghost, a water ghost.”

Peng Daoji bolted upright and raised his blade.

“Oh my, Uncle Gok. You’ll die if you keep that up.”

Kwang!

“Why is that uncle acting like that over there?”

Kwang!

Sounds of things flying and crashing or exploding came from all directions.

Peng Daoji was going crazy wanting to see what was happening behind him.

But it wasn’t a situation where he could turn around.

‘What I can do right now is grab onto at least one more guy and drag him down.’

Fortunately, there were still three green-clothed men left in front of him.

He could handle at most two. To be coldly honest, even two would be overwhelming. Hadn’t he almost set foot in the underworld just now while facing two?

With three, he could at least do his part.

“Haaat!“

The ultimate technique of the Hebei Peng Family, the Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade, unfolded from his hands.

An intense dominating blade that seemed to split heaven and earth threatened the green-clothed men. Considering his age, it was a level that naturally drew admiration.

A level not shameful for a descendant of the Peng Family!

But a very unfavorable evaluation followed.

“Just bite down on your sword and die, die!”

The momentum of the flying blade energy was broken.

Even in that moment, Peng Daoji seriously pondered.

‘What did I do wrong again?’

Now whenever he heard that ill-tempered voice from behind, his first instinct was to think that he had done something wrong.

Peng Daoji soon realized his mistake.

Seeing the incoming blade energy, the green-clothed men didn’t meet Peng Daoji’s blade head-on but scattered left and right to target his exposed flanks.

This wasn’t a duel.

There was no reason to meet his powerful blade energy head-on.

Especially if they outnumbered him, it was an all-too-natural tactic.

“Hup!“

Peng Daoji swallowed empty air and withdrew his blade.

But it was already too late.

A sword was already approaching his flank, about to reach him.

‘I’m dying……’

Kwang!

In that instant, the green-clothed man who was about to stab a sword into his flank was hit by a box that flew from behind and went tumbling away.

The box burst open and the ginseng inside scattered in all directions.

“Ah, that looked expensive… I threw it wrong.”

Then a flustered voice pierced Peng Daoji’s ears.

At that moment, Gok Bi-hang’s shout was heard.

“Instead of doing that up there, come down and help us out!”

‘I agree!’

Peng Daoji was very grateful to Gok Bi-hang for saying what he himself couldn’t bring himself to say.

But the answer that came was enough to confuse him.

“Huh? But I’m cargo?”

‘What kind of nonsense is that crazy bastard talking!’

However, Gok Bi-hang’s response confused him even more.

“W-well, that’s true, but now isn’t the time to be particular about such things!”

‘What does “that’s true” mean?’

It became more incomprehensible as it went on.

“Before coming here, that vicious girl from the Moon Family said that if anything happens, I shouldn’t cause trouble and shouldn’t come down from the wagon. Otherwise, it would harm the Hanlin Grand Academy, and if she hears that I caused trouble carelessly, she’ll chase me to the ends of hell to torment me.”

‘What kind of talk is that?’

Peng Daoji wanted to cry.

“I-I’ll take responsibility, so please help us.”

“That’s a bit difficult. I tend to keep promises I make.”

“Is it not because you’re lazy?”

“……”

At this point, Peng Daoji seriously considered whether it might be better to just cover his ears.

Then Gok Bi-hang threw his winning move.

“Don’t you need to get to Seongsu Village quickly!”

“Who says that? I’m someone who has nothing urgent.”

“I-if we die, won’t your journey be inconvenient too!”

“It’s not particularly convenient right now either.”

“T-that’s right! How uncomfortable it must be to stay up there on the wagon! If we resolve this matter well, let’s rest at an inn for a couple of days as soon as we reach a village!”

“Two days?”

“You can eat as much food as you want to your heart’s content!”

“Food too?”

“Yes! So please help us! You donkey-like bastard!”

Something strange seemed to have slipped out at the end, but Wei Yan-ho didn’t care about such things.

“You promised!”

“That’s right!”

Peng Daoji was utterly confused by the incomprehensible conversation between the two.

What kind of situation was this supposed to be?

And an even more confusing thing happened.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!

Exactly seven explosive sounds erupted.

At the same time, the faces of the green-clothed men in front of Peng Daoji began to turn deathly pale.

‘What happened?’

Peng Daoji unconsciously turned his head back.

That was Peng Daoji’s mistake.

“Eek!“

The green-clothed man in front thrust his sword toward Peng Daoji, who had turned his head.

‘Oh no!’

Peng Daoji gritted his teeth, cursing himself for making yet another mistake after having made so many already.

Kwang!

At that moment, with an explosive sound, the green-clothed man went flying.

Peng Daoji turned his head to look at the man standing beside him.

Was he about the same age as himself?

No, he even looked a bit younger.

‘Such a person smashed eight elite members of the Green Forest in the time it takes to exhale once?’

Peng Daoji looked at Wei Yan-ho with reverent eyes. Where on earth had this young man appeared from?

But conversely, Wei Yan-ho didn’t seem to like Peng Daoji very much.

Wei Yan-ho looked at Peng Daoji with an irritated face and started shouting.

“Hey!”

“Yes?”

“Let’s have a human-to-human talk.”

“……”

“You brought those guys here.”

Peng Daoji unconsciously nodded.

“Then if you have even a minimum of conscience, you should try to be at least somewhat helpful.”

Peng Daoji’s shoulders shrank.

“No, fine. I won’t even hope for help. I’m not asking for it. Still, if you’re human, you should have at least some minimum… huh? That kind of… huh? You should have that, shouldn’t you?”

Peng Daoji’s shoulders shrank even more.

“You cause trouble and bring the kids here, but when it comes time to fight, you can’t even earn your keep. I’d understand if you did your best with what little ability you have. You almost get stabbed while thinking random thoughts, you almost get stabbed while looking back.”

Peng Daoji wanted to hide in a mouse hole.

Then Wei Yan-ho asked as if he was genuinely curious.

“Why do you do that?”

“……”

“No, really, why do you do that? I’m asking because I’m genuinely curious. But why do you really do that?”

Peng Daoji wanted to cry.

Where would Peng Daoji have ever received such treatment?

What made Peng Daoji even sadder was that he had no words of rebuttal. Since all of it was mistakes he had made, he couldn’t even make a peep. If he made a sound here, he was certain that the human in front of him would swap that box in his hands with his head.

“If you have a brain, use it to think! Look, see. Your sword is a dominating blade, a dominating blade! It’s strong! It’s heavy! But it’s slow! What are you trying to accomplish by swinging a slow, strong sword first against multiple people! Are you going to kill two guys and die with them?”

“N-no.”

“Then you should wait for them to make the first move! If not that, then take out one guy for sure!”

“Yes!”

Peng Daoji listened to Wei Yan-ho’s words with the reverent posture of a disciple receiving teaching.

“Your technique from earlier was like that too! Why do you waste it on empty air! Watch carefully!”

Wei Yan-ho snatched Peng Daoji’s blade.

‘Kuhuhuhuk!‘

At that moment, Peng Daoji was so shocked his heart felt like it would pop out of his mouth.

‘He snatched the sword from my hand so I couldn’t even react. Conversely, that means if he wanted to cut off my neck, I wouldn’t even be able to react?’

Peng Daoji felt like fainting.

“So! What you demonstrated here!”

Wei Yan-ho swung the blade through the air.

Now Peng Daoji’s eyeballs were practically popping halfway out.

‘T-the Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade?! How does this person know the Five Tigers Severing Gate Blade! Don’t tell me just from watching what I demonstrated?’

“This!”

“Y-yes.”

“If you’re going to face multiple people, you need to swing a bit faster! Just because the energy in the blade is reduced a bit, does it change the fact that you die if you get stabbed?”

“No!”

“Depending on the situation, sometimes you reduce power and swing quickly, and sometimes you need to swing slower and stronger! Why can’t you understand that!”

“S-sorry.”

Even as he spoke, Peng Daoji was very confused.

‘But why am I saying sorry to this person?’

“Frustrating, so frustrating. If you had met our old man, you really would have been beaten to death. I’m being nice, so I’m just…”

At that moment, a green-clothed man who had been looking for an opening thrust his sword toward Wei Yan-ho’s neck at terrifying speed.

“Huh!“

Peng Daoji swallowed empty air.

‘He needs to dodge……’

Kwang!

At that moment, with a tremendous explosive sound, the green-clothed man who had rushed in with his sword was flung back even faster than the speed he had charged in.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

He must have been thrown with tremendous force, as the green-clothed man bounced on the ground three times and writhed while coughing up blood.

“Hey! Someone’s talking here!”

Wei Yan-ho held out the sword to Peng Daoji with an irritated face.

“Here.”

Peng Daoji took the sword.

“Now do well!”

Wei Yan-ho left those words, turned around, climbed onto the wagon, and lay down.

Peng Daoji looked at Wei Yan-ho with a very dumbfounded expression, then turned his head to face the green-clothed man.

The remaining green-clothed man looked at Peng Daoji with sharp eyes.

‘When facing multiple opponents, even if you reduce the energy in your sword, be faster and more concise!’

Peng Daoji was also called a prodigy.

He grasped the meaning of those words and gripped his blade lightly.

“Alright, here I go……”

Now at last! Who he was! Definitively!

“Let’s see!”

At that moment, the green-clothed man abandoned Peng Daoji and fled at terrifying speed. Peng Daoji couldn’t even think to chase after him and stared blankly at the scene.

“N-no……”

This wasn’t right.

He needed to restore the honor of the Peng Family that had fallen to the ground.

An irritated voice came from atop the wagon.

“Frustrating, so frustrating.”

Moisture gathered in Peng Daoji’s eyes.