Chapter 40 – Ghost Sword Valley

Chapter 40 – Ghost Sword Valley

“Tsk, tsk. You are hastening your demise with your three-inch tongue.”

“……”

San-ho alertly scanned his surroundings.

There were four voices heard. Although they hid their figures, the faint murder lust filled the space, making it not difficult to find its source.

‘…There are more of them than I expected.’

They surrounded him as if laying siege, front and back, left and right.

“Foolish child. Do you know who this seat is?”

Then, along with a solemn voice, a figure lightly descended from atop a rock in front of him. Despite clearly leaping down from a high place, not even the sound of stepping on grass was made.

Seeing his appearance, San-ho's expression stiffened.

‘His aura is immense.’

An old man who exuded an intimidating pressure as if heavily weighing down the space. Judging by the aura he radiated, his internal energy did not seem ordinary.

“Who are you?”

Then, out of nowhere, a man in the back popped out and answered in his stead.

“To think you don't know our big brother, who is called Geom-hoe. Oh dear, brother, your reputation is completely dead! Kuhahat.”

The husky-voiced man kept bursting into laughter while slapping his own knee with his thick hand.

As if this situation was truly hilarious.

San-ho's brow furrowed on its own at the bizarre sight.

“Keukeu… A Tiger Ghost. Yes, so that is how the rumors spread.”

The old man called Geom-hoe stroked his long beard and spoke with satisfaction.

“I thought a prey had entered after a long time. To think it's a brat who isn't even a mouthful… Tsk. Youngest, you catch him.”

“Kuhahat! See, second brother. It really is my turn this time, isn't it?”

“Hmm? But is that guy empty-handed? He doesn't even have a sword?”

The voices chattered as if San-ho did not exist here. Along with that, the presences occupying both sides all revealed their figures.

“Sigh, child. Didn't the bastards of Sogu Village warn you?”

When all four figures were finally revealed.

‘No way…’

San-ho was able to realize their identities.

“…Are you the four martial artists who disappeared from Sogu Village?”

The first victims of the tiger attacks.

Those who had completely vanished from the world, leaving behind only torn clothing and bloodstains.

“It seems you have heard the rumors about us?”

“Tsk, that's why I said we should tear those Sogu Village bastards apart even more. Only when the rumors spread properly will such troublesome things not happen.”

“Uh-huh. If we blow things out of proportion and a great sect gets involved, it will be even more troublesome. Just leave it as it is now.”

The four martial artists whom he had wondered why not even a single one could escape.

As the tiger attacks continued, the villagers were said to have searched frantically for their corpses. They had intended to hold a tiger-eating burial to suppress the impurity by finding even a part of the corpses. However, in the end, the corpses could not be found.

They were alive and well before his eyes. They had faked their deaths, vanished, and hidden here, calling this place the Ghost Sword Valley.

‘Just what in the world is this…’

San-ho looked at them with dumbfounded eyes.

It was strange.

According to Chu Young-rak, these people were definitely not unorthodox sect members. They were brothers called Sa-han. They were said to be orthodox martial artists who trained in a small sect. But why on earth.

“Tsk tsk, still, isn't he the first one to completely break through the illusion array? Even though there were occasionally guys who triggered parts of it.”

“Ugh. Brothers, you are going to make me do it again, aren't you? It's bothersome to death.”

“Youngest. It's just a matter of putting the illusion stones back in their places, is it right for you to find it so bothersome?”

Wasn't the conversation heard subsequently content that could not possibly come from orthodox martial artists?

San-ho felt as if the blood in his entire body turned cold in an instant.

If what they said was true, it meant all the tiger attack incidents that occurred nearby were murders they committed intentionally.

‘Then…’

They were not the victims. They were the culprits behind all the incidents. They themselves were the Tiger Ghost and the tigers.

“…The tiger attack incidents that occurred near Baekma Mountain and Samwang Mountain all this time. They were all your doing, weren't they.”

San-ho asked in a low, sinking voice.

“Kuhahahat! What if it is? Have you come to take revenge?”

“Keukeukeu… How can a bastard who is about to die have so many things he is curious about?”

“Second brother. Can I kill him now?”

“How can you still be so impatient?”

For a moment, San-ho thought he had told a funny joke.

Those who committed evil deeds that put the village in terror and caused even the passing foot traffic to disappear.

How could they laugh?

How could a human…

The corners of San-ho's eyes trembled.

Chu Young-rak, who helped him regardless of the warning that he should not get involved with outsiders. The bitter expression he saw when he asked him the reason was unforgettable.

– The elder whom I served like my own father also fell victim to a tiger attack. I resolved to take revenge no matter what… but sigh, that really didn't go well.

– Isn't it funny? Even when my insides boiled as if I had swallowed a ball of fire, my body trembled when it actually came to climbing the mountain. Because I found myself pathetic, I couldn't even bring myself to visit the elder's grave.

Was it really only him?

There was no telling how many more people were living their days in endless self-reproach.

‘…Those who gave up on being human themselves, do I have to treat them as human?’

San-ho calmed his churning stomach as he thought.

“Looking at you, you are a precious young master of a noble family. The breed I hate the most. Pig-like bastards who are born holding everything from birth.”

“………”

Geom-hoe looked down at San-ho and continued.

“Are you curious about why we committed these evil deeds? But. What use is it to know that? You are a dead man anyway.”

“……”

At Geom-hoe's words, his clenched fists trembled.

Yes.

What use was it to ask for the reason?

Why they hid here, why they slaughtered those passing by the mountain paths. Why they killed the people of Sogu Village.

Was the reason for such crazy acts really important?

He believed that no matter what reason they attached to it, there were things a human should absolutely not do. Putting aside orthodox and unorthodox, a minimum line that should not be crossed because one is human, a duty that must naturally be kept.

But what about them?

San-ho forced down the rising urge to vomit.

He also folded his thought of asking what object they were looking for in Sogu Village. Whatever it was, it would be here anyway.

“…Right. I thought wrong.”

Not everyone wearing a human mask is a human.

“Why would the reason matter? Nothing can justify what you did. So don't say a word till the end.”

“Hmph, what does a brat like you know to babble? Knowing who we are. Weaklings in this place… Keo-huk!”

That happened in a mere instant.

The fierce-looking man fell backward with a thud before he could even finish his sentence.

“…I told you there's no need to speak.”

Silence momentarily hung over the space.

A situation where he was surrounded by four murder-lust-exuding martial artists.

It was because no one expected that young kid would attack first.

“………”

“Youngest!!!”

“No!!”

The two guys standing on both sides, excluding Geom-hoe who stood in front, rushed to the youngest.

But how could someone whose head was pierced by a flying dagger be alive?

Embracing his youngest brother who breathed his last without even being able to close his wide-staring eyes, the second brother wailed like a scream.

“Y-You bastard who deserves to be torn to pieces! Aaaagh!! Youngest! Youngest!!”

The third brother, who had run over together, turned his body around right away at the sight dripping with blood and flesh. His eyes, filled with resentment and rage, turned red as if about to burst.

“I will kill you!!”

It was laughable.

San-ho watched the third brother of the Sa-han rushing toward him without a single movement. Even for bastards who killed people like a game, the death of their own family seemed to be a shock.

If so, weren't they even more disgusting bastards?

The people slaughtered by their hands must have also all been someone's family.

San-ho had never committed murder since coming to the martial world.

It was largely due to not leaving the Tang Clan Castle, but in truth, the repulsion he felt was a bigger reason. To him, who had lived in a world where just laying a hand on someone landed you in jail, murder was too distant a story.

But San-ho did not hesitate any longer.

Things that felt distant now felt very close.

Because mercy was not needed for things that were not human.

Swish!

The flying dagger that flew while tearing the air grazed the rushing third brother's neck.

“You bastard!!!”

Blood erupted from his neck, but he did not care and launched his body. The sharp sword blade struck down like lightning.

Kaang!

San-ho drew a short sword from his chest and blocked the incoming sword.

A cold sound rang through the space.

Paat!

At the same time, the eldest of the Sa-han standing in front, Geom-hoe, charged forward with his face distorted like a demon.

The third brother shouted to the second brother, who was wailing while holding the youngest's corpse.

“Second brother! Take the youngest and go in… Keok, keo-eok!”

That brief moment when his gaze shifted.

Puuk!

Not missing that moment, San-ho flipped the short sword held in his right hand and drove the blade straight into the third brother's neck.

As fishy blood gushed out, the third brother's body collapsed.

San-ho grabbed the longsword from his hand just like that and blocked the sword of the charging Geom-hoe.

Kaaaaang!!

An even louder sound than before rang out as sparks flew from the clashing sword blades.

“Keo, eok… Keok!”

Collapsed on the floor, the third brother held his neck and repeatedly spat up blood.

At this rate, the probability of him choking to death on his own blood rising up his throat seemed higher than dying of blood loss.

“Just what in the world is this…”

Geom-hoe could not close his mouth at the miserable mess that unfolded in an instant.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

He had not even seen the youngest die, and the third brother also lost his life before the sword strikes of Geom-hoe, who was confident that he would not lose to anyone in swift swordplay, could even land.

How could this be.

Surely, there were things possible and impossible in the world. This was flatly in the realm of impossibility. His brothers were at least not so weak that they would draw their last breaths without even being able to counterattack properly.

‘…We did not endure in this place for such a futile death.’

Yes, it was true he had underestimated the young martial artist in front of him.

Even if he had broken through the illusion array he created, after all, he was just a young kid who hadn't lived even a quarter of his life. But for the price of underestimating him for a moment, wasn't this too harsh?

His mind boiled with rage.

Gripping the sword hilt as if to crush it, he poured more internal energy into the sword and muttered.

“I will surely… make you beg for death.”

Woong-!

A sword qi that seemed to burn red rose wildly, and the sword hummed.

A far more domineering energy than just now. A thick murder lust and a suffocating, dizzying intimidation pressed down on San-ho.

It was an aura completely different from the previous two who lost their lives in an instant.

Kaang! Kang! Kaang!

Charging like a beam of light, Geom-hoe poured out fierce sword strikes in an instant.

‘Damn…!’

Kang! Kaang! Kang! Kaang!

San-ho was trying his best to read Geom-hoe's sword path, which was as fast as a lightning flash. Perhaps because of how much internal energy was loaded into it, his wrists throbbed every time the swords clashed. If he possessed this level of skill, he surely should have heard rumors about him even outside of Sogu Village. For some reason, questions arose at the unfamiliar name.

Screeech!

An exchange where he could not let his guard down for even a single moment took place.

It was at that moment.

Chwaaat!

A fire-like resentment flowed from his bloodshot eyes.

The second brother, who had been wailing while holding the youngest, tore long gashes down San-ho's back with his poison claws enveloped in a long stretch of internal energy.

“Ugh…!!”

Along with a burning sensation as if scorched by fire, hot blood trickled down. Because he was blocking the wildly swirling sword so rapidly, he had failed to dodge the poison claw flying from behind in time.

“I will surely tear you to death, carving your flesh piece by piece to see the sight of bones and flesh flying in all directions!”

San-ho, whose back was tattered as if torn by a beast's claws, held onto his dizzying consciousness.

‘If I don't pull myself together, I will die.’

Kaang! Kaang! Kang!

Fierce poison claws from behind, and Geom-hoe's sword strikes, too fast to catch one's breath, poured from the front.

‘…I really feel it now.’

So this is what the Jianghu is.

A deep blue murder lust also settled in San-ho's eyes.