Side Story 58. Crimson Fighting Fiends, Fire And Rain (3)

Tsering and Baek Sang-ye were withdrawing.
The Crimson Fighting Fiends were running wild and the venue was a hellscape, but those two also knew how to use martial arts, so there was less need to worry.

That left only herself, who had been mistaken for the imperial princess.
It was an absurd misunderstanding, but for So-ryu, it was actually fortunate.

‘I cannot use my martial arts openly right now.’

She clearly used the martial arts of the Baek Clan.
If she slaughtered the Crimson Fighting Fiends while pouring out Sword Aura with the Heaven’s Shadow Sword Technique, it would be good for the moment, but then it would immediately be revealed that So-ryu wasn’t the imperial princess.

‘Run away first.’

That was So-ryu’s choice.
She leaped into the audience seats, where people were densely packed.
As expected, she couldn’t unleash her lightness art with all her strength. Hiding her realm, she used only a movement technique at exactly the level Baek Sang-ye could display.
She lowered her body as she slipped between people’s shoulders.
Behind her back, the sound of a blade cutting through the air rang out.

Whoong!

Hot blood sprayed where the sound passed.

“Catch her, I said catch that bitch!”

The blade that had been aiming for her had cut through the neck of an innocent spectator instead.
So-ryu was horrified.

‘These madmen!’

The Crimson Fighting Fiends, their eyes glowing scarlet, were chasing her.
The principle of escape was to slip into a crowd, but those madmen treated human lives like flies.

She had no choice but to turn toward a place without people.
She would be able to evade them by moving a little faster.
Fortunately, there were warriors blocking the Crimson Fighting Fiends who were chasing her.

“Run!”

So-ryu did so.
She would leave the venue like this and regroup with Baek Sang-ye.
Just as So-ryu made that decision and was about to kick off the ground.
Someone blocked her path.

So-ryu could neither cut down the person who appeared nor dodge away.
Her opponent was someone even she could not be confident of defeating.
Because they had fought together, because he was her comrade, and…

“…Gege¹?”

Because he was her betrothed.
Namgung Shin stood there.
He had been a man as blunt as ice, but he had always smiled warmly only for So-ryu.
But not now.
His mouth was pressed into a firm line, and his two eyes shone with an ominous light.
So-ryu remembered that Namgung Shin, like the Twin Tigers of the Peng Family, had also eaten Guihon Jade.

“……”

Namgung Shin had approached So-ryu according to Ahim’s command to ‘capture that woman.’

Sreureureung.

Namgung Shin drew his sword.
The sword that had always guarded So-ryu’s back was now pointed at So-ryu.
So-ryu also drew her sword.

“Come to your senses.”

Unable to even raise her voice, she pleaded as if forcing the words out.
But Namgung Shin finally even took a starting stance.
The veins in his neck and forehead bulged.
Even So-ryu could see the muscles of his lower body pulling taut.

So So-ryu also raised her sword.
After a brief silence hovered between them.
Without either one being first, both of them launched their swords.
It was at that moment.

Namgung Shin’s lips moved with difficulty.

“…Cut me.”

Ah, the tip of the sword wavered.
The sword that had been descending toward So-ryu’s shoulder brushed past one handspan in front of it and stabbed hard into the ground.
And So-ryu.

“……”

She too could not cut her betrothed and stopped her sword before Namgung Shin’s nape.
How could she cut him?
When the chance Namgung Shin had squeezed out with every bit of his willpower and given to So-ryu was lost, his face filled with despair.
It took only an instant for his face to become cold as ice again.

Peobeok!

When Namgung Shin struck the Gyeonjeong Acupoint of So-ryu, who wore a sorrowful smile.
So-ryu collapsed with a thud.

The Crimson Fighting Fiends who had chased her gathered around in delight.

“We got her! Damn, this bitch was fast.”
“Take her!”

The Crimson Fighting Fiends carried So-ryu and returned to Ahim.
Namgung Shin merely stood there blankly, unable to do anything.
Only his tightly clenched fist had turned white.

Tuk, tuduk.

He was clenching his fist so hard that drops of blood dripped from between his fingers.

The Crimson Fighting Fiends brought So-ryu to Ahim.
Ahim was gripping the neck of Seok Sung, whose paralysis points had been struck.

“Well done.”
“Shall we take her?”
“Yes, and we will take Seok Sung as well. In any case, it seems the Guihon Jade is not stored inside this manor.”

He handed Seok Sung over to a subordinate.
He did not immediately feed him Guihon Jade and interrogate him as he had done with the Eastern Depot Eunuch.

At that moment, a sound like someone choking rang out.

“Kkeureuk, kkeuk. Kek!”

The Eastern Depot Eunuch, who had eaten Guihon Jade and leaked information.
Suddenly, bright red blood gushed from his mouth.
Chunks of flesh were mixed into the blood he spat out.
He had bitten the tip of his tongue and regained his senses.

Ahim was impressed.

“Hooh. You still have spirit. As expected of the Eastern Depot.”
“You, you bastard.”

Even if someone had eaten Guihon Jade, their mind could not be completely and permanently controlled.
Even so, the eunuch’s recovery was quite fast.

“Did you think you could get out of here? Keuk, an army, the Ming army, is waiting in Hangzhou.”

He spat out his anger like a curse.

“When that flag is raised, they are to march on Seok Family Manor. You bastards have nowhere to run.”

At some point, a red flag had been raised atop a pavilion in the inner courtyard.
As expected, they had also made preparations.

“Listen to the drums and the shouts.”

If one listened closely, it could be heard.
The sound of drums used when soldiers marched.
And the booming shouts of commanding officers as well.
The extraordinary operation of marching an army into bustling Hangzhou had truly been carried out.
If that was true, escape would not be easy.
But Ahim wasn’t flustered.

Clap!

He merely clapped loudly and asked.

“Good. The third defensive measure. Was this your final plan? Nothing else?”
“…You are bluffing.”
“Yes, so there is nothing else. Then that is enough.”

With a bang, the gate of the outer courtyard was broken down.
And soldiers truly rushed in like a tide.
Some hooked grappling hooks and climbed over the walls, and there were also those who took positions atop the walls and drew their bowstrings.
At last, a relieved smile rose on the Eastern Depot Eunuch’s face.
But Ahim merely looked up at the sky with the Crimson Fighting Fiends.

“I wished to light a fire and offer a rite to the heavens… and the firewood gathered on its own.”

It was impossible to tell what he meant.
But something that looked like a dot was flying through the sky.
The Eastern Depot Eunuch’s eyes widened like lanterns.

“Huuuk, huk.”

Ragged breaths flowed from Noh Shik’s mouth.
The reason why he, a Transcendent master, had become this short of breath while running was clear.
It was because he had run for a ‘long time.’
He had run like mad from Suzhou, where he had been staying, all the way to Seok Family Manor in Hangzhou.
The beggars of the Beggars’ Union who had been running with him had long since fallen behind.
Even knowing that, Noh Shik couldn’t slow down.
It was because of the letter he had received from Yi-gang.

The letter contained new information.
To think that events in faraway Tianzhu and the bloodshed occurring in the Central Plains were this closely connected.
But the point at which he had learned that fact was far too late.

Yi-gang was helping Prince Akbar in Tianzhu.
The opponent Prince Akbar faced was his relative, Kamran Mirza.
Kamran Mirza had fed Guihon Jade to his elephant corps and used them strategically.
Yi-gang had helped Akbar beat down those yokai-transformed elephants and recover the Guihon Jade in return.

Yi-gang eventually drove out Kamran Mirza and finished recovering the Guihon Jade there.
And as he was about to leave for the land of Egypt, which lay farther west than that place, he had learned something new.

‘It seems Kamran Mirza had already recovered most of the Guihon Jade not only in Tianzhu, but also in the Western Regions. Compared to that, the amount of Guihon Jade I recovered is far too small.’

The amount of Guihon Jade Yi-gang had gathered was not small either… then where had all that Guihon Jade gone?

‘I obtained information that Kamran Mirza’s son took the Guihon Jade and left eastward one year ago.’

It was also said that the son had taken tactical weapons containing Tianzhu’s technology.

‘They say he possesses dozens of things called Flame Jade Bombs, so we must prepare against him. His name is…’

‘Ahim Mirza.’
As far as Noh Shik had learned, that was the name of the person from Tianzhu who had participated in Hangzhou’s Number One Cooking Competition Under Heaven.
If he truly possessed Guihon Jade, he was certainly connected to the Crimson Fighting Fiends’ organization.
Also, if the Flame Jade Bombs were as he had heard, they were dangerous enough to be compared to Heaven-Shaking Thunder or thunder bombs.
He had to run to Seok Family Manor as quickly as possible and inform them of this.

But when he actually arrived in Hangzhou, it seemed things had already begun.
Soldiers were surging into Seok Family Manor.
The residents of Hangzhou were startled by the sudden appearance of the army and were busy hiding.

“Damn it…”

It did not seem like there was a problem yet, but for some reason, he felt uneasy.
It was just as Noh Shik was about to rush into Seok Family Manor.

Tuoong.

The sound of something snapping loose rang out.
It sounded like a bowstring being released, but for that, the sound was too loud and heavy.
And above all, it came from up there.

In bustling Hangzhou, many tall pavilions could be found.
Beside Noh Shik, near Seok Family Manor, there was also a five-story tavern.
The sound had come from its top floor.

Noh Shik’s mouth fell open.
One wall on the top floor of the pavilion had been opened wide.
And what was installed there looked like a giant slingshot.
It was a simple device that launched projectiles by winding an elastic cord around two wooden pillars.
Several people there seemed to pull the cord, and then something flew.
Something like a sphere the size of a person’s head.
It flew through the sky, into the inside of Seok Family Manor.

Kwaaaaang!

With a tremendous roar, flames surged upward.
Seok Family Manor began to burn, with countless people trapped inside.

“Huaaaaak!”
“Aaaaak!”

Chilling screams rang out.
Few things could be as painful as being burned alive.

What had flown from the sky was an object called a Flame Jade Bomb.
The moment it fell to the ground, it burst and scattered powder.
Then the ember inside it ignited the powder, and it spread in every direction in an instant.
Everyone whose body the powder touched caught fire.
It would have been good if there had been even a pond to jump into, but there was no such thing.
The soldiers were still pushing in even amid all this, and because of the soldiers pushing in, those trying to flee couldn’t escape either.
The outer courtyard of Seok Family Manor, now overcrowded with people, soon turned into a fiery hell.
And Ahim and the Crimson Fighting Fiends, the very ones who had caused this…

“Then, farewell.”

Ahim took something out from his robes.
It was an object with Guihon Jade strung together like prayer beads.
When he shook it, light poured out.
At the same time, the figures of Ahim and the Crimson Fighting Fiends began to fade transparently.
It was the Hidden Concealment Art, which hid their forms.

In the chaos, there was no one who could pursue them.
Cheongho barely raised himself up.
The inside of his mouth had split and stung, and his head rang.

“Put out the fire!”
“Bring water! Damn it, get out, everyone go around and get out!”
“Who is the commander!”

His ears hurt because of the people screaming.
Cheongho had been struck by Ahim and sent flying.
He had lost consciousness for a short while like that. It was utterly pathetic.

Cheongho forced himself up and turned his head.
Then he ran toward the people over there.

“Tsering!”
“S-Senior Brother!”

Tsering was with Baek Sang-ye, who had sunk to the ground.
In the fiery hell, Baek Sang-ye was streaming tears.
The one collapsed beside her was Namgung Shin.

“T-this person suddenly lunged at us, then stabbed himself…”

Namgung Shin was bleeding from his abdomen.
Baek Sang-ye was blocking it with both hands.
But even so, blood kept seeping out between her fingers.

“Brother-in-law… stabbed himself so he wouldn’t hurt me. At this rate, he will die.”

That was not the issue. Flames were spreading everywhere, so they had to leave this place quickly.
Baek Sang-ye was crying as if her tear ducts had broken.

“I’m sorry. I, I lied. I shouldn’t have done that from the beginning.”
“Let’s leave. It’s dangerous.”
“I have to, Brother-in-law… I have to save Sis too.”
“Come to your senses!”

Cheongho grabbed Baek Sang-ye’s cheeks.

“Come to your senses.”
“…Yes, yes.”

Cheongho looked at Tsering and spoke.

“I will make a path, so you carry him on your back.”
“Understood!”

Cheongho looked around, searching for a route to escape.

“…Keuk.”

There was none.
Everywhere was a fiery hell.

“Follow me.”

But that didn’t mean they could stop.
Before the fire spread further, they had to get out somehow.
The sky was damnably clear, so it would have been nice if rain would at least come.
The heat entering with each breath felt as if it would burn him to his core.

His head felt as if it would burst from frustration.
A cold sensation touched his face.

Tok.

As if by a miracle, a raindrop fell.
When he raised his head, the sky was still clear.
However, amid it, a single cloud had mysteriously gathered.

Tododok, tok.

A cloud floating exactly above Seok Family Manor.
Rain was falling from it.
Cheongho muttered.

“…It’s sorcery.”

It was unmistakably the Sorcery of Calling Wind and Summoning Rain.
And the sorcerer who had caused this miracle was standing atop the wall of the outer courtyard.
Cheongho’s eyes met his.
They had clearly said it would take fifteen days for him to arrive.

“Is that you, Cheongho!”

Far away, Dam Hyun was waving his hand.