The Genius Warrior Who Remembers Everything Chapter 54

Chapter 54. A First-Rate Warrior Who Startled the Divine Sword (2)

I decided to travel with the Namgung Clan’s warriors.

Originally, I had planned to stop by the Namgung Clan before returning to the Taeul Sect, and Namgung San said, “You absolutely must come with us. Grandfather flew into a rage, asking why we simply let you go,” while showing no sign of backing down. In the end, we ended up traveling together.

“It will be difficult to see you for a while.”

At the moment of parting, Murong Sang-won let out a heavy sigh.

“When I have time, I will stop by the Murong Clan.”

I tried to comfort him, but Murong Sang-won shook his head.

“No. How could I tell a busy man to come and go? I will visit the Taeul Sect once.”

“……Uh, I will probably be away from the Taeul Sect quite often because of various matters.”

“Is that so? Even better.”

“Yes?”

Murong Sang-won said something whose meaning I could not understand.

“Ah, right! Is there perhaps a type of woman you dislike?”

At the sudden question, I tilted my head.

“I am not sure. I have never met anyone.”

Sadly, both in this life and in my previous life, I had never dated anyone.

For some reason, I suddenly felt a sense of shame over what I was even doing with myself right now.

“I see?? Then do you feel any aversion toward women who are far stronger than you?”

If we were talking about women stronger than me now, there would be none to find among those my age.

Murong Sang-won’s question, unable to grasp the height of my martial arts yet, only made me smile bitterly.

“Rather than that, I think having a kind heart is the most important thing.”

“Ha ha! Then there is nothing to worry about.”

“……?”

I could not understand what he was talking about at all, but in any case, we left Murong Sang-won behind as he nodded in satisfaction, and headed back toward Anhui Province.

The procession traveling with the Namgung Clan’s warriors was extremely comfortable.

First of all, there were no people blocking the road.

A hundred people rode horses, and at the very front, a standard-bearer raised the Namgung Clan’s flag.

Then mountain strongholds famous for charging exorbitant passage fees did not show even the tips of their noses.

In medium and large cities, there were merchant guilds or tea houses operated by the Namgung Clan, so there was no need to reserve a separate Lodging House.

When there was nothing at all, the Namgung Clan’s advance party rode ahead first and rented out an entire inn.

Moreover, the guest rooms or chambers assigned to me were all of the same grade as Namgung San’s and Namgung Seon-hwa’s, so it could be called the most comfortable journey across both my previous life and this life.

We were a day’s distance from the Namgung Clan.

With Mount Gueom, the last mountain we had to cross, ahead of us, Namgung Seon-hwa brought her horse close to mine.

“Does it really not matter to you if a woman is stronger than a man?”

During the long journey, we had traveled together and eaten together, so almost all formality had disappeared between Namgung San, Namgung Seon-hwa, and me.

“What do you mean?”

“……No, you know. The conversation you had with the Young Clan Head at the Clear Bright Escort Agency…….”

“Ah…….”

In my previous life, most female warriors had been stronger than I was.

Close by, Hong Sa-ryeon’s martial achievement had been higher than mine, and with Murong Seol, whom I would meet later, the gap had been almost unreachable.

“When a man and a woman love each other, what meaning is there in who is strong and who is weak?”

“Still…… men do not really like women who are stronger than themselves.”

“Is that not rather a good thing? There would be no reason to feel uneasy wherever she went. And if she stepped forward to protect me, I think that would be even better.”

“Hmmm……”

Namgung Seon-hwa made a strange sound and nodded.

“But is it also true that you have never met a woman?”

There had been a slightly awkward incident at the Clear Bright Escort Agency, but after we became close, Namgung Seon-hwa treated me familiarly, as if she had forgotten that matter.

I had never found it easy to deal with women, but she asked questions and struck up conversations every time, so there was no particular burden.

However, if there was one slightly uncomfortable point, it was that Namgung Seon-hwa’s looks were so outstanding that when passing warriors or pedestrians saw her talking to me, I could hear each of them throwing out a remark.

“Huh! That man must have a fox’s tail attached to him.”

“He must have a lot of money.”

“If a daughter of the Namgung Clan follows him like that, his family must be something impressive.”

Since I was merely overhearing words exchanged among themselves, I could not say anything, and I myself had once been in the same position, envying others just like them in my previous life, so I did not feel great anger toward them.

“I spent my entire life growing up in the Taeul Sect. Who could I have met? And if I said I was from the Taeul Sect, even a woman who had been interested would probably flee.”

“Was there a woman you were interested in?”

“…….”

For some reason, it felt as if I were being interrogated continuously.

“It seems there was not.”

“……‘It seems there was not?’ Did you not say that once you remembered something, you never forgot it?”

I did not know why I had to keep answering questions, or why I continued answering them, but it did seem certain that we had become more comfortable with each other than when we met on Demon Spirit Plateau.

‘What should I do…….’

I looked at Namgung Seon-hwa with complicated eyes.

I had saved her on Demon Spirit Plateau, but the problem was that her life was still in danger.

Because of Namgung Seon-hwa’s loss, the Namgung Clan would experience a great war.

They would exterminate the sects related to the Mita Sacred Water, and in that process, the clan would be greatly shaken.

In the midst of that, the Namgung Clan’s Collateral Line would attack Namgung San.

Namgung San’s skill was so outstanding that he would not meet death, but in the process, he would suffer deep internal injuries and become unable to properly use his power for the rest of his life.

The Namgung Clan’s Collateral Line had intended to use that as a pretext to isolate the Direct Line and seize control of the entire Namgung Clan.

Even though all external affairs had originally been left to the Collateral Line, they had believed that the Direct Line family members had taken all the rights for themselves.

However, the point they had not anticipated was that the Divine Sword would eventually take up his sword.

What they trusted in was the fact that, no matter what, they were still people of the Namgung Clan.

They had held the complacent thought that the Divine Sword would absolutely never personally kill his own blood relatives and drag both the clan’s honor and his own honor into the dirt.

However, when the whole truth of the incident was revealed by chance and the culprits became known, the Divine Sword eventually took up his sword and cut down everyone of the Collateral Line who bore the surname “Namgung.”

Because of that incident, the Namgung Clan’s strength was clearly reduced, and in the end, unable to withstand the Demonic Cult’s military force, it was exterminated.

The Collateral Line’s plot had not even begun yet. Most likely, as the signal flare to begin their plan, they would certainly target someone from the Direct Line.

‘If they’re going to target someone anyway, they will target Namgung Seon-hwa rather than Namgung San.’

Although Namgung San could not be active because of family affairs, he belonged to the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, which was said to accept only those with the most outstanding results among Murim Academy graduates.

Targeting him, who had already passed First-Rate and was about to reach the Peak, would be a burden even from the Namgung Clan Collateral Line’s perspective.

In the end, the one they targeted would clearly be Namgung Seon-hwa.

I felt troubled by the fact that I knew, yet could not tell them.

“Why can you not answer? Do you remember, but refuse to say?”

“Lady Seon-hwa.”

“Yes?”

“We are almost at Mount Gueom. We should stop talking for a while.”

A faint smile formed on Namgung Seon-hwa’s lips.

“You avoid the question well. What mountain stronghold would dare attack after seeing the Namgung Clan’s flag?”

Unlike her reassurance, my Sensory Perception could feel those hiding on Mount Gueom now.

‘Are there about five hundred?’

I could not sense all of them exactly, but roughly that many people were concealing their presence as much as possible.

It was a reaction quite different from when we had crossed other mountains so far.

Back then, they had watched us from as far away as possible to keep themselves hidden.

Now, it was the sight of a tiger hiding its body while preparing to hunt.

Once we entered Mount Gueom in earnest, the wide road gradually began to narrow.

When I looked back, the Namgung Clan’s warriors had relaxed and were chatting.

‘Have they not sensed it yet?’

Around the time I was thinking about what might rouse their vigilance.

Fortunately, Namgung San seemed to sense something and raised his clenched fist high.

“Stop.”

NEIGH.

Because they had suddenly stopped walking, the horses snorted.

“Be on guard. Someone is watching us.”

No sooner had Namgung San finished speaking than the Namgung Clan’s warriors immediately began raising their Fighting Spirit.

They were indeed worthy of being warriors from a prestigious clan.

“Move slowly.”

The horses began moving again, and as the road grew narrower and narrower, until barely two horses could pass through at once.

A large boulder appeared, firmly blocking the road.

“Draw swords!”

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.

At the same time as Namgung San’s shout, the Namgung Clan’s warriors all drew their swords at once.

They knew at least that the boulder before them was not ordinary.

A brief silence.

Then came the sound of bowstrings being drawn.

I shouted quickly.

“Arrows!”

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.

No sooner had my words ended than arrows began pouring down like rain from atop the cliff.

“Gaaakh!”

“Guhk!”

The warriors struck by arrows before they knew it rolled down to the opposite side of the road.

Without even having time to save them, the other warriors were busy abandoning their horses and immediately hiding behind cover, or knocking away the incoming arrows.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE. CRASH. CRASH.

Behind us, along with the sound of a landslide, an enormous pile of rocks fell and even blocked our retreat.

The enemies standing on the cliff were shielding their bodies behind cover and firing arrows like mad, so climbing up the cliff was no easy matter either.

“Damn it! Abandon all the horses!”

Most of the horses were already dying after being hit by arrows.

The Namgung Clan’s warriors pushed the horses down the slope and barely secured space.

Namgung San tried to break through the rain of arrows and climb up the cliff, but the situation was by no means easy.

I quickly spoke to Namgung San.

“Senior. Please buy me just a moment. I will go up.”

“You?”

“Yes. I have a way.”

“……Understood.”

Namgung San put his sword back and gathered power into both hands.

“Uaaaaah!”

Then he began pouring out Heavenly Wind Palm Force.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.

Along with the sound of air bursting, part of the cliff collapsed, and the assailants who had been firing arrows from there began to fall.

WHIRR—.

I used that opening to drive the Flying Dragon Claw into the side of the cliff, then kicked off the wall and leaped up the cliff in one burst.

“A-Above us!”

Several archers, greatly startled after seeing me suddenly shoot up, fired arrows, but they could not hit me as I fired the retrieved Flying Dragon Claw again and dropped to the ground.

“Gaaaaakh!”

The moment I no longer needed to worry about the Namgung Clan’s eyes.

I scattered the Twin Heaven Sword Formula like an opening fan.

“Guhk.”

“Khk!”

“Puhk!”

Fifteen Illusion Swords that appeared in an instant took the lives of five archers.

Behind the archers lined up on top of the cliff, warriors carrying blades tried to push in, but it was not easy because of the archers standing in rows.

How many archers could draw a bowstring even with their own lives hanging by a thread?

As I was drenched in blood like rain, I moved freely through the archers.

Eventually, when the warriors approached one by one and began clashing swords with me, I could grasp the general level of their skill.

‘Their skill is between First-Rate and Second-Rate. Their martial arts seem to be of a Black Path lineage. Are they using retired soldiers as the archers?’

Since Anhui Province already had the Namgung Clan as its established local power, there were no large Black Path forces.

Therefore, these people had come from outside the province, and even knowing that this was the Namgung Clan, they had dared to carry out an ambush.

‘Has the Collateral Line already moved?’

In truth, in my previous life, by the time Wang So-so had already died and Wang Geum-san had abandoned the position of Salt Merchant, the movements of the Azure Sky Merchant Guild, which had taken that Salt Merchant qualification, had already been active.

If anything, moving now could be considered late.

“Young Master So-un! Are you unharmed?!”

Once the rain of arrows stopped, the Namgung Clan’s warriors climbed the cliff.

“I am fine. Are the losses below severe?”

“They are still all right. But as soon as the rain of arrows stopped, enemies lying in ambush below the slope began coming up.”

They blocked the front and rear and attacked from both sides.

Even against the Namgung Clan’s warriors under heaven, five hundred was indeed a number with which one could attempt this.

“I will deal with the archers first.”

“Please do.”

As if they did not have any particular expectations of me, the Namgung Clan’s warriors readily left it to me and went to confront those holding blades.

I moved along the cliff’s edge, dealt with the archers, and fired the Flying Dragon Claw toward those climbing the cliff to pull them up.

“Thank you, Young Master!”

There was not even time to ask how such tremendous strength could be contained in a thin cord.

Once a certain number of people had gathered, they immediately began unfolding the Firmament Sword Formation.

“Deploy the formation!”

Once the Firmament Sword Formation was created, even the enemies who had seemed to possess superior numbers could not easily break the Namgung Clan’s warriors, and instead, they were often turned into lonely ghosts by those sharp swords.

After quickly dealing with the archers hanging from the cliff, I immediately looked below.

If I were the Namgung Clan’s Collateral Line and had prepared this ambush, I would certainly want to kill one of the two, Namgung San or Namgung Seon-hwa.

Just as expected.

The assailants were risking their lives to prevent Namgung San and Namgung Seon-hwa from joining the Sword Formation.

Compared to the Namgung Clan’s warriors, who were maintaining a somewhat stable Sword Formation, the two of them were in an extremely precarious situation.

Around Namgung San, the assailants who approached were piling up layer upon layer as corpses, but conversely, the wounds on Namgung Seon-hwa’s body continued to increase.

I immediately threw myself down the cliff and fired the Flying Dragon Claw.

Using the recoil of the Flying Dragon Claw lightly embedded in a tree, I changed direction, kicked off the tree, dropped to the ground, and thrust the Minor Heaven Sword Art into the necks of the two assailants who had been about to attack Namgung Seon-hwa from behind.

“Th-Thank you.”

She realized the assailants had been there only after seeing the blood splattered on her face.

“Let us save the thanks for later.”

I quickly fired the Minor Heaven Sword Art.

SWISH!

Another assailant fell again.

However, no space was secured. A new assailant immediately filled the spot.

The assailants were concentrated on Namgung San and Namgung Seon-hwa.

Moreover, because the two of them were gathered in one place, the number of enemies was not a number the three of us could possibly handle.

“Lady, excuse me for a moment.”

“Yes?! What do you mean?”

I wrapped an arm around Namgung Seon-hwa’s waist, fired the Flying Dragon Claw, and soared up with its recoil.

“Kyaaaaak!”

I fired the Flying Dragon Claw into a giant tree again and raised Namgung Seon-hwa onto the cliff, then sent a Sound Transmission to Namgung San.

-Senior, can you hide behind a boulder?

Perhaps he did not even have the mental leeway to send Sound Transmission, because Namgung San nodded while fighting.

-I will give you the signal.

At the same time, I took out something like a silver flower bud from inside my robe.

It was the item Yang Gun-baek, the Master of Yueyang’s Black Shop, had given me in place of a friendship fee.

‘The ghosts of Sichuan won’t stay still over this, but if I put the Divine Sword forward, it should be smoothed over.’

Hundred-Hair Fire Cylinder.

It was one of the forbidden hidden weapons produced by the Sichuan Tang Clan, the patriarch of poison and hidden weapons.

I did not know how this had come to be sold at a Black Shop in Yueyang, but right now, only this could save the Namgung Clan’s warriors and me.

Namgung San was being swept up in the wave of people, and by the time he was almost entirely obscured.

-Now!

No matter how much one struck it, the Hundred-Hair Fire Cylinder would never activate.

However, if one used Internal Qi in a specific way to press the bud’s leaves, it would activate even from a small impact.

At the same time as my words, Namgung San threw himself behind a boulder and hid, and I lightly tapped the Hundred-Hair Fire Cylinder flying on the Flying Dragon Claw.

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK.

The leaves wrapped around the bud spread all at once, and from within them, Ox-Hair Needles scattered wildly.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.

Like the rain of arrows they had fired, Ox-Hair Needles began pouring down like rain.

And unlike Hidden Weapons that were clearly visible like arrows, the Ox-Hair Needles were so stealthy they could barely be seen.

The assailants struck by the Ox-Hair Needles began toppling one after another like bundles of straw.

“Guhk.”

“Khk!”

“Huk!”

“S-Save……”

When nearly fifty men suddenly died helplessly, a brief silence flowed through the scene.

Soon after, Namgung San leaped up from behind the boulder and roared a Lion’s Roar that rang thunderously.

“If anyone wants to see this through to the end against the elites of the Great Namgung Clan!! Stay where you are!! We do not take enemies alive!”

At that, the assailants hesitated and began jumping down the slope, while the assailants on the cliff began fleeing backward.

The surviving Namgung Clan warriors shouted.

“Waaaaaa!”

When I descended below the cliff with Namgung Seon-hwa, who still had not regained her wits, Namgung San approached.

Namgung San’s gaze as he looked at me carrying Namgung Seon-hwa down was complicated beyond measure.

“Thank you. ……I am indebted to you again.”

“Please do not mention it.”

Namgung San quickly shook off his thoughts, looked at the injured warriors, and said.

“Anyway, who in the world dared to do something like this? Has the Green Forest gone mad all at once?”

Namgung San still seemed not to have grasped it.

“Looking from above, they were especially intent on keeping you and Lady Seon-hwa from joining the Sword Formation, Senior.”

“Hm?”

The two of them still had blank looks in their eyes.

“……It is only my thought, but this ambush seems clearly aimed at the two of you.”

“!”

“!”

I put the emphasis there.

“But that is strange. How did they dare think to ambush the Namgung Clan’s Direct Line in Anhui Province? With a not-insignificant number of five hundred people, no less, while avoiding the eyes and ears of the Namgung Clan spread throughout all of Anhui Province.”

“…….”

“…….”

As the two looked at each other, their faces hardened stiffly.