Chapter 41

To face an opponent with the tip of the sword raised means to kill with intent to kill.
Where I must kill my opponent in order not to die.
At the same time, my back is turned.
To prevent the death of those whose trust is based solely on me.
A place where I must abandon all mercy.
A place where I must not blink an eye at the cries for help.
It was called the battlefield.
Arriving at the ghastly battlefield, I watched as the men crossed swords and snarled at each other.
Thickly gripped pakdos, axes made of ash wood, toothless sabers, and shapeless moon swords.
A feast of weapons whose lack of form makes them seem all the more menacing.
This was the Green Forest.
Of the three strongholds of the Green Forest, this was the one that was currently the most active.
Men who wielded their bodies as if they were weapons, except for the vital parts that were barely covered by leopard skin.
Thwack!
Another group of men facing the bandits with sword tips raised and causing friction were members of the Southern Palace, each wearing a familiar mark across their chests.
“Dead!”
“Ouch!”
“Wipe them out!”
“Let’s kill all the sword-wielding sandbags and have a festival today!”
Spread out across the foothills, hard to center.
Spears of all kinds clash, cutting off lungs and limbs.
Screams and shrieks erupted as they struggled to survive.
Seeing the scene for the first time, Kang Woo-moon and Dong-hwi were blue in the face.
The two young men cleared their stiff necks and clenched their teeth to keep from falling.
And they could only stare.
A boy who had been running impatiently since the beginning of the mountain, his sword blazing with heat.
With each swing, he mercilessly delivered blows to three or four bandits who thought he was too young to come, and they died.
So it was.
After days and days of fighting at the point of his sword, with no time for adjustment, the bandits were now wary.
As a result, the boy.
He was called the Sword Demon.
He was also called Soyacha.
All of these names were ghosts.
It was the kind of story that would have come out of the bandits’ heads, and it showed just how lame it was.
“Why is it so big and wide, there are so many of them, even if you kill them.”
A map of hell from my previous life was unintentionally drawn. It was because the future was bleak.
I said to myself.
“You thought it was easy. This is one of the Green Forest’s strongholds. Even in the entire Zhongyuan Forest, the Green Forest is the most numerous group, and a den of bugs.”
True to her uncle’s words, she stared in disbelief at the number of bandits that poured out of the forest at all hours of the day. The mountain range was large, and as one of the strongholds of the Green Forest, the number of bandits was staggering.
I thought.
“Wow, the number of heads makes me feel like I need to spread my hands.”
The power of the Southern Palace in the Shandong branch and the power of the Southern Palace families deployed on the front lines cried out.
Then.
“That’s strange.”
There weren’t that many people from the Southern Palace on the front lines. Only about a hundred and fifty in total.
With that number of people, it was hardly enough to hold off the Green Forest’s troops pouring in from the mountains.
Who the hell was in charge?
A sharp voice pierced through my thoughts.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s always been that way back home. They don’t care about the lives of those of us in the branch.”
His name was Namgung Han, and his eyes held no kindness for me.
He was the commander of the front against the Green Forest. And this man was more favorably disposed to my uncle An Baek than to me.
Before I left Kangho and came to the Namgung House,
“This place you built for me, the front, gave me breathing room.”
The iron-blooded swordsman An Baek was said to have been active at the front here.
Somehow, he was familiar with the Green Forest.
Anyway, thanks to him, I was able to get a general idea of the situation in the Southern Palace.
My requests for assistance to the main family were met with silence.
The lack of support, compared to the responsibilities that came with the name Namgung, left Namgung Han and the other members of the front line feeling desolate.
“There’s a lot of trouble, Uncle Eosuk.”
“Do you feel it?”
“Unless you’re hiding something.”
“It’s not…… that. It’s not the time yet, and they’re not saying much because they know you’re the Grand Duke, but they’re getting on your nerves.”
The members of Shandong’s Southern Palace Family eyed the group warily as the old man spoke.
“If you tell the story slowly.”
“No.”
I grunted.
Rather than take the time to convince them to compromise.
“Never mind, we’ll just have to show them who we are.”
“But, Grand Duke, I have a feeling we’re unnecessarily coexisting with an enemy within.”
I nodded in agreement with Kang Woo-moon.
It was possible that they might antagonize us just because we were from the Southern Palace, but they might react that way because we hadn’t proven ourselves yet.
It was a bluff. It was the same attitude that the walls of the Southern Palace had suffered so much in their previous lives, and the distance that grew as we approached.
It was a problem that had to be overcome.
This was the home he’d built as he struggled to survive. No one would take kindly to being asked to give away their grain.
You can’t truly talk to them and build trust by just walking up to them.
In my previous life, the South Palace Wall threw itself into dozens of operations and completed them safely, saving hundreds of soldiers with my own hands.
Though at the time, I threw myself into action not for anyone, but for myself.
The men were hot, and on the battlefield they burned quickly. Simple and solid was the trust and faith of the men.
So.
I had to show them.
Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.
An action is better than a hundred words.
“I’ve got your backs, so trust me and watch your backs.”
“……!”
“And let’s show them. Let’s show them that we are people they can trust.”
Kang Woo-moon, Dong-hwi, and even Black Ho nodded at my words.
“So.”
I sheathed my sword.
“Don’t let your guard down.”
I glanced at the three men, who seemed to agree with me. They looked like bandits, but how strong could they be?
I shook my head, especially at the smug looks on Kang Woo-moon and Dong-hwi’s faces.
“On the battlefield, everyone becomes an animal.”
I tapped the back of Kang Woo-moon’s neck and both knees with my sword.
“Your limbs will stiffen, your body will stop listening to you, and if you have mercy at the end of your blade, you will die in an instant. A thrown hatchet will split your blinded backs.”
“……!”
I calmed their excited hearts.
“That is the battlefield. Do you remember when you fought the Eight Elders?”
How could they not remember?
Near death, stronger than anyone they’d ever faced.
The Eight Elders wielded their swords without mercy.
“There are few men stronger than the Eight Elders. But one will be more cruel than Elder Eight. Nausea will come and vomit will be repeated.”
Your nostrils will be paralyzed by the stench, and your mind will be clouded by the smell of rotting corpses.
The men stared at me speechless as I added the last part.
How do you know so much?
What is my identity?
Before they could ask, I stomped forward.
“I don’t have to tell you twice. If you want to survive, watch my back and follow me closely.”
Without hesitation, I plunged into the front lines of the greenery. With a body of only fifteen.
* * *
The gentle spring breeze picked up a lot of heat.
The heat of the spring breeze, which washed over the leaves.
The fallen leaves and the snowflakes that accumulate on the ground are impressive.
After experiencing the change of seasons five times.
The boy had changed into a young man’s appearance.
“Congratulations on reaching the age of the terms!”
“Congratulations!”
“My apologies for the reduction, Grand Duke!”
The boy, or rather, the young man, had become the arch-enemy of the Southern Palace.
The Grand Duke sighed heavily, running a hand through his bouncing long hair.
“You guys are really great.”
What’s so great?
Kwaaang!
The other young man’s sword tip pierced through his heart as the flying mass slumped against the tree, moaning in pain.
The tip of the sword pierced through the heart with a loud clang, a skill that Chu Hao couldn’t doubt.
The cunning bandit stuck out his tongue to ask what was so injustice.
“You want to congratulate me with a dead body like that lying around?”
“If I don’t, you’ll pout again.”
“Aww, I’ll be so busy when I get in there, I won’t have time to care.”
From boy to young man.
The other man smiled as he watched them transform from young men into stronger young men, all of them with a distinctly unmanned demeanor.
“It’s time to congratulate you, as the two small circles say…… icha!”
The man’s two daggers slashed at the bandits’ wrists and knees. They were so fluid that their movements were like a fish swimming through water, almost mystical.
Kaaaaaah!
The dark current swirled around him, and he lost his grip on his limbs.
One after another, bandits were swept away, unable to walk again.
Next.
Kaang!
There was a burst of sound, and then a wild axe slashed down, cutting off a wrist.
Sasasasasak!
A sword that rippled through my body like an ovum, severing the throat of a bandit who tried to scream.
It became a sword that went ahead of me and pierced my opponent.
As if to follow suit, another sword, this one light and swift, moved.
The sword winds that blossomed simultaneously drew a comet out of thin air, and in an instant, it parried all eight hatchets that the bandits threw threateningly.
The Kagaga River!
It became the sword that protected my back.
It was an unbelievable display from a mere man, but the bandits took a few trembling steps back.
“Yes, you bastards!”
A booming voice echoed through the mountains.
I shrugged at the sight.
“Seven times, eight times, and now they’re gone.”
Mountain man. Bandits of bandits, recognized even in the greenery.
Nevertheless, I approached with a twinkle in my eye.
“Then I can’t use it. Grand Duke.”
“What.”
“The Great Duke will be furious if he finds out.”
I sighed. I could feel my popularity waning.
“Finally!”
The drunkard emerged and approached one of the members of the mountain clan standing before me.
He looked like a snake looking at a frog.
I rolled my eyes at the sight of such a pale face.
Here we go again.