Chapter 95

Chapter 95: Dragons and Tigers Gather in One Place (2)

At the unexpected words, Dam Ho's eyebrow twitched. At that, Gi Ye-hwa smiled an even more alluring smile.

"This time, I am not asking for payment in advance or changing the terms midway, so there should be no objection?"

In her mind, the memory of their previous encounter remained vivid.

She had merely added one more thing to the original payment, yet Dam Ho had reacted so violently.

He kept whatever promises he made, but when the other party broke a promise, he reacted with an intensity that could only be described as excessive.

In other words, as long as one kept the original agreement, there would be no problem. That was why she wanted a favor instead of money.

Dam Ho asked, "What do you want?"

"Help us once, at a time of our choosing."

"Why? The Haowen Sect's fighting strength should not be lacking."

"You may or may not know this, but right now, the area around Dongting Lake is like the calm before a great storm. The Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families are holding a gathering, and countless martial artists are flooding in. There has not been a similar case in the past hundred years."

Because of this, the Haowen Sect was on high alert.

The number of martial artists coming from the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Families alone already exceeded five hundred.

That was a tremendous force—enough to annihilate the Akyang Sword Sect, the dominant power of Akyang, before a single night had passed.

Naturally, all of Akyang, and indeed the entire Hunan martial world, was thrown into turmoil. The Haowen Sect's Akyang branch was no exception.

This was beyond what they could handle. No matter how formidable the Haowen Sect might be, it could not contend with the great sects like the Nine Great Sects.

That was why they needed a countermeasure.

Gi Ye-hwa had chosen Dam Ho as that countermeasure.

Dam Ho was perfectly suited in many respects.

Terrifying martial strength, decisive methods, and a cold, ruthless nature.

Continuing to deal with him would be burdensome, but receiving his help once when needed would pose no problem.

Dam Ho's eyes narrowed.

He had seen through Gi Ye-hwa's intentions at once.

'She has also calculated that he could be discarded if things went wrong.'

Dam Ho and the Haowen Sect were connected through transactions. There was no loyalty or friendship between them.

"What will you do? It is a fair proposal in which no one stands to lose."

"…"

"What we want is a single act of assistance while you are in Akyang. You will learn Jo Yun-san's whereabouts, and we will gain a reliable shield. What say you?"

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you will have to find Jo Yun-san's whereabouts yourself."

Even as she spoke, Gi Ye-hwa was tense. If Dam Ho were to refuse and take violent action again, the Haowen Sect had no means to stop him.

Dam Ho did not answer readily.

Gi Ye-hwa felt her lips growing dry and her heart pounding furiously. Depending on Dam Ho's answer, the course of action she would need to take would change.

If only he would show some sign of emotion—any at all—but Dam Ho remained silent. The one burning with anxiety was Gi Ye-hwa.

But for now, she could say nothing. The dice had been cast, and she could only wait for the result.

After a long silence, Dam Ho spoke.

"Very well. We have a deal."

"You will not regret it."

Only then did a bright smile appear on Gi Ye-hwa's face.

She was not one who usually revealed her emotions, but now the joy was plainly visible on her face. That was how tense she had been.

It was a proposal from which Dam Ho stood to lose little.

He was not a man who cared about the world's opinion. He had already accumulated more than enough evil deeds. Adding one more would change nothing.

"I promise. I will prioritize finding Jo Yun-san's whereabouts above all else."

"I will be waiting."

Dam Ho nodded and rose from his seat.

With his business concluded, there was no reason for him to remain.

Gi Ye-hwa silently watched Dam Ho's retreating figure as he left the room.

Tap!

The door finally closed, and Dam Ho's form vanished.

"He is truly a man of his own ways."

Her heart was complicated in many ways.

***

A woman was climbing the stairs. Between the tiger-skin vest she wore, her tawny skin was visible, evoking the image of a wild horse.

Her name was Hwang Hye-ryeong, and she was the daughter of Hwang Gyeong-mun, the chief chief of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds.

Having grown up in the forests since childhood, she possessed a freer and more untamed personality than anyone. That did not mean she was ignorant of the world or reckless.

Hwang Gyeong-mun had educated her with painstaking care. He had attached renowned martial artists of the forest as her masters, and Hwang Hye-ryeong had absorbed their teachings, achieving remarkable results.

Thanks to this, her martial arts had reached a level that placed her among the upper echelons even within the Eighteen Forest Strongholds. But what made her stand out even more was that she was quite beautiful and possessed a keen mind.

"So many have come."

Her face was filled with gravity as she surveyed all of Akyang.

Today, the streets were unusually crowded with martial artists. According to her estimates, over two hundred martial artists had already entered Akyang.

How many more would come, it was impossible to guess.

No matter how one dressed it up, the forest strongholds were ultimately a gathering of bandits. What they were most concerned about was not the government troops, but the great sects represented by the Nine Great Sects.

After the fall of the Demonic Cult, the great sects like the Nine Great Sects had periodically launched campaigns against the forest strongholds to win the hearts of the people.

If the exceptional martial artist Hwang Gyeong-mun had not rallied the forest strongholds, they would have been scattered and destroyed long ago.

Because of this, the forest strongholds had no choice but to keep a keen eye on the movements of the great sects. Especially when a gathering of this scale took place, they had to be even more vigilant. It was a matter directly tied to their survival.

"For what purpose are they gathering?"

Hwang Hye-ryeong felt she must discover the reason. Only then could she devise a fundamental countermeasure.

Hwang Hye-ryeong walked and walked.

She had walked so much that she could now find her way through every street of Akyang with her eyes closed.

"Oh my! Even walking is tiring."

Hwang Hye-ryeong stopped at the edge of Dongting Lake.

The sun was setting. The water surface, dyed in golden hues, dazzled her retinas.

Hwang Hye-ryeong stood gazing at the scene.

She had watched many sunsets in the mountains. She had thought there would be nothing new about it. But the sight of the sun setting over the lake offered her a different kind of emotion.

"How beautiful."

As she murmured without realizing it, a man walking along Dongting Lake caught her eye.

He was a man with black hair, clad in a black leather robe. For some reason, his image caught in her eye. Perhaps it was because he was limping.

The man passed her by without a glance.

"Um…"

Hwang Hye-ryeong was about to call out to him but stopped.

A fishing boat was approaching the shore of Dongting Lake where she stood.

"Wow! A boat is coming."

"Father!"

A middle-aged woman and a boy, who appeared to be her son, ran down from the hillside overlooking Dongting Lake.

"Haha!"

The fisherman stepped off his boat with open arms.

The boy leaped into the fisherman's embrace. The fisherman held the boy tightly.

"You rascal, you'll hurt yourself jumping like that."

"Did you catch a lot of fish?"

"Of course! Want to see?"

"Yes!"

The boy climbed out of his father's arms and scrambled onto the fishing boat. Inside the small boat was a considerable amount of fish.

"Wow!"

The boy let out a cry of amazement.

Watching this, the fisherman and the middle-aged woman smiled.

It was an ordinary family, an ordinary scene. But the sight was so heartwarming that Hwang Hye-ryeong could not look away for some time.

By the time she came to her senses, much time had passed. When she did, the fisherman's family was already loading the fish into baskets and climbing the hill.

"Ah!"

On the fisherman's one shoulder hung a basket, and his other hand held the boy's hand. His wife walked beside them.

Hwang Hye-ryeong watched their retreating figures for a long while. Then she realized that there was someone else besides herself watching them.

It was the man she had just seen.

The man in the black robe with black hair, who limped.

Like a tree, he stood motionless, watching the fisherman's family. Then, as if nothing had happened, he resumed walking.

Tears welled in Hwang Hye-ryeong's eyes.

"Why… am I doing this?"

She was bewildered by an emotional turbulence she could not understand herself.

She wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

By the time Hwang Hye-ryeong had dried all her tears, the man in the black robe was no longer visible.

"Who is he?"

As Hhang Hye-ryeong wondered, a rough voice suddenly came from behind her.

"My lady!"

She turned to see a familiar face.

He was a giant of a man, seven chi tall, with a massive axe strapped to his back.

The moment the giant appeared, the people near Hwang Hye-ryeong froze in their tracks.

'Good heavens!'

'What manner of eyes are those…'

His fierce face and killing intent in his eyes made people's hearts clench. People quickly lowered their heads, avoiding his gaze lest he look their way.

At the reactions of the people around her, Hwang Hye-ryeong let out a soft sigh.

"Oh dear! This is exactly why I tried to leave you behind."

The giant's name was Muk Il-gwang. He was the bodyguard Hwang Gyeong-mun had assigned to her.

After becoming the chief chief, Hwang Gyeong-mun had selected young and capable talents from among the Eighteen Forest Strongholds to form a single military unit. That was the Dragon Ascending Corps.

When Hwang Gyeong-mun first announced his intention to create the Dragon Ascending Corps, every stronghold had opposed it. They feared that if their young and capable talents were taken, only empty husks would remain.

But Hwang Gyeong-mun had replenished each stronghold with martial strength equivalent to what he had taken, and now, after more than a decade, no one called that decision a mistake.

After more than a decade of grueling training, the Dragon Ascending Corps had grown into the elite force of the forest strongholds. Whenever a problem arose in the strongholds, the Dragon Ascending Corps was always the first to step forward and resolve it, earning them the trust of all.

Muk Il-gwang was a martial artist who had risen from the Dragon Ascending Corps.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been the commander of the Dragon Ascending Corps. But Muk Il-gwang had volunteered to serve as Hwang Hye-ryeong's bodyguard instead of becoming its commander.

Though his appearance was no different from a demon or a fiend, in truth his heart was purer and kinder than anyone's.

But people had no interest in Muk Il-gwang's inner nature. All they saw was his outward appearance.

Most people cowered at the mere sight of his killing intent. Young children and women in particular would often faint upon seeing his face alone.

That was why they could not go anywhere together. His striking appearance and murderous gaze alone drew the attention of countless people.

For Hwang Hye-ryeong, who preferred to move quietly whenever possible, Muk Il-gwang's appearance was inevitably a burden.

"I told you not to come into Akyang if you could help it."

"I had no choice, my lady."

Normally, Muk Il-gwang would have blushed with a bashful expression. But today, his face was as hard as a stone.

Only then did Hwang Hye-ryeong sense something unusual.

"What is it?"

"The movements of the Black Water Stronghold are suspicious."

"You don't mean…"

"Yes! It seems they have judged this to be the perfect opportunity. The Golden Tiger Stronghold and the White Deer Stronghold are openly siding with them. How many other strongholds have joined the Black Water Stronghold, I cannot say."

At Muk Il-gwang's explanation, Hwang Hye-ryeong's face darkened.

"How much time do you think we have?"

"There is still some leeway, but it will not last long. We must return to the stronghold as quickly as possible."

"I understand. But there is something I must do first."

"I know. But you must finish as quickly as possible. That is what I came to tell you."

"I understand."

Hwang Hye-ryeong moved forward with a grim expression. Muk Il-gwang followed silently behind her.

They soon vanished among the crowd.