Going To Tianshan (4)

“Who are you?”

A certain valley he had reached after running after the Tracking Incense again.

“As expected, those who hide away prefer valleys.”

Neung Je-gang watched with admiration, and in front of Ak Chang, no fewer than a dozen natives jumped down and blocked his path.

“It is me. The Blood-Squeezing Demon, Ak Chang.”

“Ah, welcome. But what business brings you all the way here?”

“Are the two of them inside?”

“Well, they are currently in secluded training, so I do not think you will be able to see them.”

“Secluded training? What is that supposed to mean? Others are suffering and wandering through Tianshan because of Secret Shadow, yet they are enjoying their luck in secluded training?”

“Did you say you were suffering because of someone like Secret Shadow? Haha! Elder Ak, you have become much more fond of jokes while we have not seen you.”

The people blocking Ak Chang’s way seemed to think Neung Je-gang was some half-chewed arrowroot. Seeing how they chewed him out freely just because he was not in front of them, that is. Rage surged up in Neung Je-gang.

“Secluded training or whatever, go and tell them quickly. Tell them Mushik was done in by him.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, tell them the Mushik Poison Demon was killed by Secret Shadow without even being able to use his strength once.”

“U-understood.”

One person quickly ran into the valley.

“I will report it for now, but are you comparing our two masters to someone like the Mushik Poison Demon?”

Perhaps the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters had been gathering talented people among the natives of Tianshan and teaching them martial arts, because there were quite a lot of people. Another person looked at Ak Chang and spoke with a mocking smile.

“Huh! The truly ignorant ones were here. Do you know what kind of existence Secret Shadow is? He is the one who turned the Martial Alliance, which even your two masters could not withstand and had to flee from, into a complete mess. He is someone the Martial Alliance was too afraid to even attack. And yet what? Someone like Secret Shadow? I am truly dumbfounded. Do you know that the Mushik Poison Demon was a master who could sweep away people of your level in less than half a shijin?”

“Hmph! How can you say the two of them fled? Please stop spreading such absurd rumors.”

At Ak Chang’s words, they responded with only a snort, as if they had merely grown more stubborn. Even when they heard the rumor that the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters were criminals of the Central Plains, they ignored it. That was because their attitude in the Central Plains and here was completely different. In Tianshan, the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters were revered as brave warriors.

At that moment, the one who had run inside came running back out to Ak Chang, who was getting heated, and delivered the message.

“What did they say?”

“They said that even if Secret Shadow comes, the two masters will handle him, so you need not worry. And they said you should come inside, have a cup of tea, and then leave.”

It was understandable why the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters’ native disciples had only large guts. They had learned it from the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters. These people had not originally been only courageous fools. That was why they made such bold declarations.

“The two of them will stop him?”

“That is correct.”

“Hehehe! Good. Then tell them this. If Secret Shadow comes here, that is not my fault. That is…….”

Ak Chang, who had been about to make some excuse, shook his head and stopped speaking.

“Phew! If he comes, everything will be over anyway, so what use is making excuses? Hehe! Tell them that I will come later and collect their corpses. Also tell them that I am leaving like this because I do not think we can possibly win unless we attack together with the Three Demons.”

Ak Chang said something that would infuriate the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters and then flew out of the valley just like that. Then he headed west again. As he went on, increasingly high and rugged mountains blocked Ak Chang’s path.

The Wind-Wave Twin Monsters had not actually entered secluded training. They had simply ordered their disciples to say that.

“What did he say?”

“He said he would personally collect your corpses later and left.”

“What? He said that? Anything else?”

“He told us to pass on that he is going to the Three Demons because he does not think he can possibly win unless he attacks together with them.”

“Is that so? Understood. Go out. Keep strict watch.”

“Understood.”

Once the native left, the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters looked at each other. Somehow, they had an ominous feeling about this matter.

Ak Chang had fled. Leaving behind the words that he would attack together with the strongest Three Demons of Tianshan. Only now could the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters feel that perhaps they might die.

“Would it not be better for us to go to the Three Demons too?”

“It is already too late. The disciples have already all gathered here. If we say something weak like that now, even they will turn their backs on us.”

Most tribes living not only here in Tianshan but also outside the Central Plains regarded strong and courageous men as the greatest heroes. The reason they served the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters as masters was also because they had seen the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters’ unrestrained strength.

But if they went to the Three Demons now as if running away, the natives would no longer treat the two of them with respect. To the two, who had been living like kings in Tianshan, that would be a fatal blow.

“Then what if Secret Shadow really is that strong and comes here?”

“Then we die. I hate the thought of running away again at this age.”

They would die while fighting. That was the final way of life the two decided on. They no longer wanted to be chased again. It seemed the fighting spirit of the natives had seeped into them as well.

Neung Je-gang became a single assassin. Wherever his body brushed past, one person’s life disappeared. There was no scream, and there was no sound. Of course, there was no trace either. The people who had simply been there merely had their lives disappear.

“Hey! Doesn’t something feel strange?”

There were occasionally people with good instincts. People who knew something abnormal had happened even when there was no sign at all.

“It’s nice and quiet, so what is strange?”

“Exactly, isn’t it too quiet? If the others were talking like us, shouldn’t it be at least a little noisy?”

“Useless thoughts. You shouldn’t think everyone else is like you.”

“…….”

The man who had answered thought another reply would come back again, but no sound could be heard.

“Hey! What’s wrong? Are you angry because I said your words were useless? Hey! Say…….”

Together with his companion, he too became someone who could no longer speak.

“Hmm, now it is finally quiet.”

Neung Je-gang found every person outside the valley and made them disappear. All of them had their death acupoints pressed, so they would no longer become warriors of great Tianshan and would instead turn into nourishment.

“Every last one of these hiding things lives in places with good scenery.”

It could not even be compared to the dwelling on Antang Mountain from the matter of size alone. If that place had been cozy, this place was vast. It was only a single valley, but this valley was so deep and wide that it seemed even the entirety of Antang Mountain could come in and still not fill it.

“There were people inside too. What exactly do the natives like so much about villains under heaven like the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters that they try to protect them like this?”

Naturally, the natives did not know that the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters were bad men. After coming to Tianshan, they had not done bad things. Even when they did bad things, they quarreled with those who strutted around calling themselves martial artists, and it felt good to beat and smash them.

But here in Tianshan, there were almost no martial artists. Even those called martial artists were only bad men not worth harming. Still, that was at least better than having none at all, so when they punished and harassed Tianshan’s villains, the natives cheered and praised them as warriors.

That was how the current situation had come to be. A strong enemy had appeared, yet they were in an awkward state where they could not run away.

Since he would have to fight the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters in one lively bout anyway, Neung Je-gang revealed himself.

At Neung Je-gang’s sudden appearance inside the valley, an emergency was raised among the natives.

Piiik.

Piiik.

The sound of finger whistles rang out long. It was the signal that an enemy had come. Those who had been hiding inside the valley poured out in a crowd. From outside, it had not looked as if there were many of them, but their number was actually over a hundred.

“Even with the people I have killed so far, it is already more than thirty, and now I have to kill another hundred?”

“Why is there no news from the fellows outside?”

Someone said that and approached Neung Je-gang.

“Who are you?”

Fortunately, it was the language of the Central Plains. Well, there was no way the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters would bother learning their language.

“Where are the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters?”

“What did you say?”

The natives could not understand the words Wind-Wave Twin Monsters. They did not even know the names of the people they revered as heroes.

“I mean the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters. Those two fellows who committed crimes in the Central Plains and ran away to live here. Where are they?”

Murmur, murmur.

The natives murmured. The two people they were protecting were warriors, but the ones Neung Je-gang was looking for were criminals, so they were confused.

They had heard the rumors too. They knew the two were criminals who had committed crimes in the Central Plains and ran away. But after seeing their conduct, they had thought they had been falsely accused, or that the rumors were false.

“Hey! Wind-Wave Twin Monsters, I already know you are here. If you do not want all these people to die because of you, hurry up and crawl out.”

Neung Je-gang shouted with inner power so that he could be heard even deep inside the valley.

Rumble.

At the sound of his shout, the white snow atop a high mountain in the distance poured down all at once.

There was no way the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters could fail to hear that sound.

“I am glad to meet the number one under heaven in the current martial world like this.”

At last, the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters appeared.

“If you know I am Secret Shadow, then you know why I came, don’t you?”

“Of course. We do not cowardly make excuses or anything of the sort.”

“Cowardly? Was it because you were not cowardly that you killed women and children who did not even know martial arts like that? Was it because you were not cowardly that you went around so brutally killing men and women who were getting married?”

To the natives, it was something they had only heard as rumors. Until now, not even one person had come to question them over such a reason, so they had thought it was indeed a false rumor, but now someone had come like this. If so, it meant all those rumors were true.

“You brat, what nonsense are you spouting? We entered Tianshan before you were even born. Where did you hear absurd rumors and come to pick a quarrel with us?”

“Hehe! Pick a quarrel? Absurd rumors? Can you swear to heaven that you bastards did not go to the Central Plains recently? Can you swear that you did not kill dozens of people on Antang Mountain?”

Neung Je-gang’s tone gradually turned cold. If they acknowledged everything and attacked, he had intended to face them as martial artists at least, but if they came out denying it like this, he absolutely could not let them die as humans.

“W-we…….”

They could not say they had never gone to the Central Plains. There were quite a lot of natives who knew they had gone to the Central Plains.

“Good. We admit everything. We went to the Central Plains, and we went to Antang Mountain too. But we did not kill even a single person. Your master and the men were killed by Deung Gak and Deung Hyeon, and the other people died because the Mushik Poison Demon scattered poison.”

Admitting one’s fault was also a virtue of a warrior.

“Shall you also say why you went there? I doubt you went there just to have fun. Well, there is no need to talk about such things. I did not come here now to ask the reason.”

“What?”

“I came to kill you. Fine, even if the matter at Antang Mountain was not your fault. But surely you do not fail to know where I belong, do you? By the authority of the Eastern Depot’s Deputy Commissioner, I will arrest the wanted criminals, the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters.”

“Arrest?”

“Haha! Arrest? No matter that you have learned Heaven-Shattering Thunderbolt Sovereign, we are not people who will be taken down easily.”

The Wind-Wave Twin Monsters began to move. However, there were also others who began to move with them. They were the native warriors. Even though they had learned the true nature of the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters, it was not something they could easily sever their relationship over.

Neung Je-gang had already expected that anyway, so he did not spare them just because they were natives. And the Wind-Wave Twin Monsters, who had taken Heaven-Shattering Thunderbolt Sovereign lightly, were buried forever inside the collapsed valley. Never again would they be called warriors by the natives of Tianshan.