Righteous Chivalry Guild (1)

Sect Leader Gyeolhan of Emei struck the Righteous Chivalry Guild the night after leaving Guanyin Hall.

They had actually arrived near the Guild far earlier, but after learning that the Guild’s main strength had concentrated toward Guizhou Province, she chose to wait until that night, when the bulk of their forces had departed.

Elder Gyeolsang, her junior, asked carefully.

“Sect Leader, how shall we enter the Guild? Shall we look for a weak point along the wall?”

Gyeolhan snorted.

“Hng! I, the Sect Leader of Great Emei, would not sneak into a mere guild like a thief! We will take the front gate. We will walk in openly and wash these Blood Cult lackeys with blood!”

It was bravado made possible because the place stood mostly empty.

Even so, Gyeolhan felt confident she could have done the same regardless.

Among the thirty or so close followers she had brought, no fewer than twenty were pinnacle masters.

Though Emei no longer possessed the hundred-plus pinnacle masters of old, it still had nearly forty—and more than half of those stood in Gyeolhan’s camp.

Nor had she become Sect Leader by political talent alone.

Her cultivation had passed ninety years of inner skill, approaching the super-pinnacle; in present, weakened Emei, fewer than five could even compare to her martial level.

Calling her Emei’s strongest expert at present wouldn’t have been far from the truth.

Emei’s strongest, plus twenty-odd pinnacle masters.

Gyeolhan felt certain that with just these women, she could erase the Righteous Chivalry Guild tonight.

A thunderous blast shattered the quiet night.

With a sudden boom, the Guild’s main gate exploded into splinters.

Through the ruined doors strode Gyeolhan, leading Emei’s elite.

The gate guards had long since become wandering ghosts.

“What—what was that?!”

“An intrusion!”

“Enemies! Enemies are coming through the front gate!”

Shouts rang out as night watchmen swarmed toward the entry.

Gyeolhan stood, eyes cold, and waited for them to gather.

Then she projected her voice with inner power.

“I am Gyeolhan of Great Emei! We have come to punish the Blood Cult lackeys who hid behind the name of ‘Righteous Chivalry’ to deceive the world! Blood Cult lackeys—kneel at once!”

Her majestic voice left the Guild’s fighters whispering in confusion.

“What nonsense is this? Us—Blood Cult?!”

“B-but that is indeed Sect Leader Gyeolhan of Emei!”

“What?!”

“W-what is going on?”

Their bewilderment didn’t look feigned, and Gyeolhan narrowed her eyes.

She remembered that most of the Guild’s ordinary fighters were from Sichuan.

Likely the rank and file knew nothing of the leadership’s true ties.

In short, they had been duped—not Blood Cultists themselves.

Even so, Gyeolhan barked at the Emei warriors behind her.

“They run with the Blood Cult devils all the same! Kill them all!”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

Whether the men were Blood Cult or not mattered little to Gyeolhan.

What mattered was showing the world Emei destroying the Guild—and these were perfectly suitable weak opponents for such a spectacle.

The thirty-odd Emei warriors fanned out in a breath and began butchering the Guild’s defenders.

“Cut them down!”

“Leave no one alive!”

In the dark, more than twenty fighters flared sword-qi so bright they lit the grounds like a scene from myth.

Up close, it was simply slaughter.

Mostly second-rate, with a sprinkling of first-rate, the Guild’s fighters had no way to withstand an onslaught by over twenty pinnacle experts.

Slash!

“Graaah!”

“Uwaaaah!”

Whistle!

“Argh!”

“Help me!”

Gyeolhan herself lopped three men in a single stroke, then smiled thinly as she walked inward.

“Check inside the buildings—free any captives. If any remnants remain, kill them to the last. If none remain, burn every building to the ground!”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

While she moved at a measured pace, Emei’s elites busied themselves—killing Guild men and setting fires.

Gyeolhan had told them to check inside, but they had no intention of it.

They slew anyone who ran out, then torched the structures from outside.

From the rear wall, Seonu Jin, Bi Sayoung, and Hwa Yeong-bin watched in concealment.

Bi Sayoung muttered under his breath.

“This is off. Never mind the massacre of non-Cult grunts—if you only kill those who rush out and set fires immediately, won’t you miss the inside?”

Seonu Jin nodded.

“Exactly. Looks like they never meant to rescue anyone. They never planned to, from the start.”

Hwa Yeong-bin shook his head, face set.

“Tragic. How did Emei’s Sect Leader come to this…”

As they watched, flames spread like ink through paper—wherever the Emei women passed, fire swallowed the Guild.

Gyeolhan smiled, satisfied.

More men kept rushing out, but all of them were weak. At this rate, burning the entire compound wouldn’t be difficult.

Then she, Gyeolhan, would have the merit of razing a Blood Cult den. No one would dare smear her with rumors of ties to the Guild.

Losing the future tribute payments would be a slight regret.

All the more reason to seize everything of value tonight—better she take it than let it burn.

Everything was going her way, and she let out a laugh.

“Ohohohohoho!”

Then it happened.

“Kyahhh!”

“Aaaagh!”

Screams rent the air—not the Guild’s men this time, but women—the voices of Emei disciples.

“Hm?”

Gyeolhan turned, puzzled.

Through the flames, she saw them: three Emei elites already torn apart, and a small, wiry old man walking forward, holding an Emei warrior by the neck with one hand.

He beamed as if in grand spirits.

A few Guild fighters who recognized him cried out.

“It’s the Guild Master! The Guild Master has come!”

“The Guild Master is here to drive out the intruders!”

Most of the men, however, seemed not to know him, whispering in confusion.

“The Guild Master?”

“That old man is our Guild Master?”

The old man spoke, voice riding inner power.

“Righteous Chivalry Guild men—fall back and guard the rear gate perimeter. I will handle these invaders myself.”

The few who had recognized him caught on quickly and shouted orders.

“Fall back! The Guild Master will handle this!”

“Go guard the rear!”

The surviving grunts, bewildered, flowed out like the ebbing tide.

Left alone, the old man looked refreshed. He glanced at the Emei warrior in his grip.

It was Elder Gyeoljin, who had joined from Guanyin Hall.

Sealed at her acupoints, unable to move, she stared at Gyeolhan with terror.

“Se—Sect Leader, save—!”

Crunch!

She never finished.

The old man squeezed lightly; her neck crushed like fruit, and her head separated from her body.

“Ugh!”

“Gyeoljin!”

“Junior Sister!”

Even warriors used to blood had to turn their heads—the cruelty sickened them.

A handful of enraged Emei elites hurled themselves at him.

“You fiend!”

“We will avenge Gyeoljin!”

“Die!”

Azure and yellow sword-qi blazed dazzlingly—pinnacle experts, every one.

The old man only smiled, muttering.

“To think I must move personally for such trash.”

He stepped once and idly reached out a hand.

The arm of the foremost Emei master—still holding her sword—ripped off.

Splatter!

“Aaagh!”

It looked easier than twisting off a child’s arm.

And that was just the start.

In the blink it took to rip the arm, he was in front of the second warrior; his hand reached, and her head came away clean.

Shwick!

Blood geysered from her stump.

Fwoosh!

The last of the trio froze, abandoning her attack to raise a desperate guard.

The old man clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. Already too late.”

He tossed the severed arm behind him.

The sword still gripped in that hand shot back, burying itself in its owner’s chest.

Thunk!

“Urk!”

At the same time, with his now-empty hand he simply reached and gripped the third woman’s head—no more complicated than picking up a stone.

Of course, nothing a top expert did was “simple.”

The Emei master didn’t dare take him lightly; she poured everything into her swordwork—Ragged Gale Sword, an Emei specialty.

“Haaap!”

Shu-aaah!

Her blade howled like crosswinds from all sides, savagely pressing him.

The old man only flicked his hand as if bored.

A tiny motion—yet vast force exploded from his palm, smashing her blade again and again.

Pupupung!

“Kh—?!”

Her sword bucked like a live thing, fighting to leap from her grasp.

Thunk!

While she struggled to hold it down, the old man plucked off her head as easily as fishing something from a pocket.

She seemed not even to register death; her severed face stared in frozen shock.

Now holding two heads, he strolled forward.

Behind him, the headless body collapsed, blood fountaining from the neck.

Thud!

A shabby face, a small frame.

Yet to the Emei women, he now looked like Death incarnate.

He chuckled.

“Since you made this seat move, none of you should think of leaving alive.”

As his words fell, the two heads in his hands burst like melons.

Pop!

Horror upon horror.

Everyone stood stupefied, staring at the old man.

Gyeolhan whispered, dazed,

“A s-super-pinnacle master…?”

On the wall, still concealed, even Hwa Yeong-bin hissed in shock.

“Narrow eyes like a viper, small build, super-pinnacle skill… and that smile. He must be Sa Won-yang, the Smiling Demon Marquis!”

“…What?!”

“The Smiling Demon Marquis Sa Won-yang?!”

The grounds blazed so bright the scene was clear as day, and no one knew the Blood Cult better than Hwa Yeong-bin; he recognized the man at once.

“Smiling Demon Marquis…”

Seonu Jin bit his lip hard.

They had shadowed Emei expecting just such a turn.

Even if the Guild had massed strength toward Guizhou, they would have left forces at the base—and especially the unknown Guild Master would likely remain. That was Seonu Jin’s read.

If Emei drew out the Guild Master, they planned to slip in behind.

Seonu Jin muttered, face tight.

“Sa Won-yang… that’s too big a fish.”

A super-pinnacle—comparable to a head of one of the Nine Great Sects.

Compared to him, the fallen Emei’s Sect Leader Gyeolhan wasn’t even close.

Bi Sayoung asked,

“Going by plan, we should slip inside now and look for Lady Jeong-in, right?”

“….”

Seonu Jin couldn’t answer right away.

The plan had been to go in while Emei bought time—but with Sa Won-yang as the opponent, could they buy time at all?

They might well run into him, finished with the massacre, on their way out with the captives.

If that happened, attempting the rescue would be worse than not trying at all.

But retreating wasn’t wise either. Miss this moment—when the Guild’s main force had left and Emei had drawn eyes—and they might be stuck waiting on Qingcheng’s reinforcements that might never arrive.

Seonu Jin gathered his thoughts and spoke quickly to Hwa Yeong-bin.

“Senior Hwa, I have a favor to ask.”

He whispered so the others couldn’t hear, and Hwa Yeong-bin nodded gravely.

Meanwhile, Gyeolhan, forcing courage, screamed at the smiling Sa Won-yang.

“What are you doing?! He’s alone! Attack that devil now!”

“Yes, Sect Leader!”

Shaken by his overwhelming display, Emei’s elites rallied at her command and launched themselves at him.

“Die, devil!”

“Haaaap!”

“Taat!”

A dozen masters hurled a rainbow of brilliant sword-qi—an awe-inspiring sight.

Gyeolhan didn’t stand idle either.

Blade drawn, she waited for the slightest opening to pounce.

Sa Won-yang merely smiled, utterly at ease.

“Glittering little moths to a flame.”

As he spoke, crimson orbs formed in his hands, as if by nature.

It was concentrated qi orbs..

The foremost Emei master dove to strike.

“Haap!”

Sa Won-yang’s narrow eyes flashed; he hurled both orbs like lightning.

“Hup.”

Shuaaak!

“!”

They moved at impossible speed.

The two leaders in front tried to set their sword-qi to block, faces aghast.

Impossible.

Crack!

“Keuk!”

“Ghk!”

Each qi orb smashed straight through their sword-qi—and their swords themselves—then punched through their bodies.

Thunk!

Those behind suffered the same.

The orbs blasted through the leaders and kept going; the followers had no time to react.

Pupupupunk!

“Aaagh!”

“Uwaaaah!”

“Ghk!”

Gyeolhan’s face went blank.

“Im…possible…”

With just two qi orbs, six pinnacle masters lay dead or ruined.

Unbelievable.