Chapter 39 – Blood Cult (3)

“I’ve never seen these clothes before. Where are you from? The Righteous Alliance? And how do you know about Mount Hua Sword Flower?”

Wang Mun-pung sighed at Cho Ryeong’s behavior. In the current situation, her curiosity wasn’t a good thing.

“Ryeong! Go to Lanzhou and bring people back.”

Wang Mun-pung had Cho Ryeong return to Lanzhou first. Since Sun-woo was there, now someone needed to go back first to request support.

Moreover, he didn’t want her to keep pestering with questions and lose her memory. Though they said there were no particular problems with body and mind, he couldn’t trust those words completely.

“What? Can’t we all go together?”

Cho Ryeong shook her head vigorously at Wang Mun-pung’s words, but had no choice but to comply with Wang Mun-pung’s stern look. She wasn’t unaware of Wang Mun-pung’s intention to remove her from danger.

Eventually, Cho Ryeong had no choice but to run toward Lanzhou first with a tearful face. She quickly ran ahead.

When she ran ahead, Sun-woo also stepped forward alongside Wang Mun-pung.

“Is she your disciple?”

“She learned well, didn’t she? Well, I just taught her a few moves because she was cute, and she grew up properly.”

At Sun-woo’s question, Wang Mun-pung smiled with satisfaction.

“But an escort mission? Do you know what’s going on?”

“It’s my first time too. It’s not like those guys above suddenly developed compassion. This has become quite troublesome. Since the snow cat escaped, at this speed we’ll probably be caught up again…”

Wang Mun-pung whispered quietly while glancing at the women following behind.

Sun-woo found it interesting that a spirit beast called snow cat would bring people, but decided to just think of it as a smart animal.

The women were following as hard as they could, but since they were ordinary people who hadn’t learned martial arts, they could barely walk at walking speed.

Moreover, all the women looked pale. This was because all the personnel escorting them during the kidnapping had been killed.

Still, perhaps because they were children of trading companies, they were all following earnestly without crying.

After walking like this for about 30 minutes, Sun-woo looked back. The vibration caught by his senses.

“It seems to be a pursuit team. They’re quite fast.”

Sun-woo frowned. Among those running here, there was someone whose vibrations were hard to feel. Similar to the feeling when Nan-seol moved.

“There’s a peak-level expert mixed in.”

At Sun-woo’s words, Wang Mun-pung also made a serious expression. If they were first-class level, he and Sun-woo could block them sufficiently, but if it was peak level, that was a different story.

“It’ll be difficult, right?”

At Wang Mun-pung’s question, Sun-woo nodded.

Though Sun-woo had various abilities, they were all auxiliary abilities or wide-area attack abilities that required time. To fight peak level, he needed support from a proper martial artist.

Moreover, it was even more difficult to face them while taking along frightened women.

“I’ll act as a decoy. Even if they’re peak level, I can dodge sufficiently using my techniques.”

“Decoying is impossible. The snow cat is pursuing. A snow cat will pursue a scent it has caught once no matter what interference comes. Unless you kill the snow cat, you can’t avoid pursuit.”

At Wang Mun-pung’s words, having already failed at decoying, Sun-woo groaned.

According to Wang Mun-pung’s words, no matter how quickly Cho Ryeong brought people, it seemed they needed at least another half day.

This made it impossible to receive support, unlike before.

“I can act as a decoy if I go along.”

At that moment, a voice was heard from among the women. A calm and cool voice. It was the woman in white clothes.

“Huh? Did you hear our conversation?”

Wang Mun-pung looked puzzled at her words. The two had been talking quietly so the women couldn’t hear.

Of course, if she had learned martial arts, she could have heard enough, but no trace of martial arts could be seen from her at all.

Moreover, the relationship among them now looked a bit strange. They all seemed to quite respect or revere her, who wore the most shabby-looking clothes.

“What is this about now?”

Wang Mun-pung seemed to have given up understanding. Incomprehensible things kept happening. But none of them said anything.

“How can you be sure of that?”

“The cat that escaped was following me. At the manor, I had the cat smell my handkerchief.”

Wang Mun-pung clicked his tongue at her answer.

If what she saw was true, it meant the Blood Cult members were moving to chase her.

“We should probably do as she says.”

“Ugh, there’s no other choice. Can you escape while carrying luggage?”

“It seems possible. It’s a hundred times better than everyone moving.”

“That’s true. Can’t be helped.”

Wang Mun-pung grumbled while looking at the sky, and the woman greeted the other women before approaching Sun-woo.

The other women seemed very worried about her moving separately, but seemed unable to disobey her words.

Wang Mun-pung immediately moved with the other women, and when they left the area, Sun-woo began releasing the spirits of the earth.

The ground began writhing and erasing traces. After the traces disappeared, Sun-woo turned and showed his back to her.

“Get on my back.”

The woman looked a bit troubled at his words, then eventually got on Sun-woo’s back.

Soft.

She had an unexpectedly voluptuous figure. Sun-woo changed direction and began running toward the mountains.

Fortunately, as she said, the Blood Cult members followed Sun-woo. The snow cat definitely remembered her scent.

Even after passing through dense forests, crossing streams, and erasing traces on the ground, the pursuit didn’t stop.

Unexpectedly, the peak-level expert didn’t come running first but came crowding together with everyone. Thanks to that, the distance wasn’t narrowed much, but the problem was that individual defeat became impossible.

Probably since Sun-woo wasn’t moving toward Lanzhou, they seemed not to be forcing things to catch them for sure.

Sun-woo continued climbing the mountain while carrying the woman.

After moving like this for quite a while, the woman finally spoke from behind.

“My name is Bing Yeon-hwa.”

Sun-woo was puzzled by the sudden self-introduction. He thought a worried question would come out, but it was unexpected words.

“Hah, I’m Min Sun-woo.”

Inevitably, Sun-woo briefly exhaled and introduced himself.

After that, the woman, Yeon-hwa, was quiet again. Sun-woo found the woman’s behavior strange, but thanks to her being quiet again, he could climb the rough mountain path safely.

After chasing and being chased while moving for quite a while, Sun-woo stopped walking.

Because there was nowhere else to go.

“It’s a cliff.”

When Sun-woo put Yeon-hwa down, she looked ahead and spoke peacefully.

Though she was off about the peaceful part, as she said, ahead was a dead-end cliff.

It was a place where the mountain ridge was split in half due to a valley, and it looked like even a peak-level expert couldn’t cross to the opposite cliff without flying like a bird. Moreover, below the cliff was a deep valley with rapids flowing, so it looked difficult to preserve one’s life if you fell.

Sun-woo ignored her strange reaction and first explained the situation.

“It seems difficult to separate the pursuers or defeat them individually. I’ll settle things here.”

“Yes.”

“Even if there are things you don’t understand, please trust me and follow as much as possible.”

“Yes.”

She answered as if it were natural, and rather Sun-woo looked at her with an incomprehensible expression.

“Why are you like that?”

At her question, Sun-woo shook his head. He couldn’t ask her why she trusted him.

Instead, Sun-woo had no choice but to ask a different question.

“Do you happen to know why you had the snow cat smell your handkerchief?”

“Yes, I know. Originally, their target was me.”

Her story, spoken calmly, once again complicated Sun-woo’s mind.

But the story seemed like it should end here. The enemy had approached.

***

Unlike the prohibited time, Blood Cult warriors wearing black clothes. And at the very front, a one-eyed warrior holding a cat in one hand. Since there was almost no sound of footsteps, he seemed to be the peak-level warrior.

The snow cat cried lowly toward Yeon-hwa standing behind Sun-woo, and the one-eyed warrior seemed to look a bit relieved.

Certainly, they were chasing Yeon-hwa.

The other warriors except the one-eyed warrior looked at Sun-woo, who stood with his back to the cliff, with slightly mocking expressions. Sun-woo, who had fallen into a trap on his own, seemed ridiculous to them.

“We’ll handle this.”

“No, everyone moves.”

Several Blood Cult members said they would step forward, but the one-eyed warrior shook his head at their words. If they moved loosely and missed the target or died, it would be all for nothing.

“Even a cat catching a sick mouse does its best.”

“Yes.”

At his words, all the Blood Cult members began approaching Sun-woo and Yeon-hwa while surrounding them widely, and the one-eyed warrior also raised his sword high.

‘Phew.’

Sun-woo also sighed with relief at the enemy’s words. If they had tried to use wheel warfare to drain Sun-woo’s energy, it would have been a big problem.

He had gone to the trouble of luring everyone here, and if he made a mistake, it would all fail.

Sun-woo checked the gradually approaching enemies while spreading spirits under his feet.

At some moment, the one-eyed swordsman explosively rushed in. And at that moment, Sun-woo stomped his foot forcefully.

Rumble!

The entire cliff where Sun-woo and the Blood Cult members stood shook greatly.

Other Blood Cult members staggered, but the one-eyed warrior didn’t stop and came running even faster. He tried to leap over Sun-woo and snatch Yeon-hwa.

But his hand could only grasp empty air.

Yeon-hwa’s body had sunk downward. No, Yeon-hwa and Sun-woo, and the cliff of the area began collapsing.

Crash!

This was a vertical cliff that protruded outward. This place with weak ground due to old age was a place Sun-woo had barely discovered by extending his senses to the maximum.

And while the enemies were coming, he had pushed internal energy in to widen the gaps as much as possible. Fortunately, the new internal energy succeeded in widening the gaps between stones, unlike before.

Thanks to that, now Sun-woo and Yeon-hwa, and all the Blood Cult warriors were falling downward.

Some warriors tried to swing swords or spears to stick them into the wall, but they had already gained momentum and couldn’t stick weapons into the wall.

“Ahhhhh!”

The Blood Cult warriors screamed as they fell downward.

Yeon-hwa looked at the falling warriors and then looked up at Sun-woo who was holding her.

The two were also sliding downward like the other warriors. But their descent speed was very slow compared to others, and that speed was getting even slower.

Sun-woo was putting his hand on the wall and using sorcery to reduce speed.

Yeon-hwa was looking at Sun-woo curiously, but Sun-woo was in the middle of a hard struggle.

While the cliff was crumbling, the wall surface had all become a mess, so sorcery wasn’t activating properly.

He should have stopped long ago, but thanks to this, he kept sliding down continuously.

And there was another problem.

“You bastard!”

The one-eyed warrior shouted at him from a slightly distant wall while his sword was stuck in the wall.

Blood kept flowing from the warrior’s hand, but still, befitting a peak-level warrior, he had been able to stick his sword into the wall.

“Die!”

The warrior pulled out his sword and launched his body toward Sun-woo.