“Hmph, this is shoddy work.”
This was William’s initial impression of the Demon-Slaying Sword Formation.
To him, who had prior experience breaking through countless formations during war with his knights, it was easy to spot the flaws in the Demon-Slaying Sword Formation.
“A single sword has very clear limits. If they wanted to properly block me, they should’ve brought a shield along. And if the skill gap is this large… then a sword formation is meaningless from the get-go.”
A sword formation created by individuals who’ve learned the same martial arts technique and cultivate identical internal energy worked by combining their energies to enhance efficacy and restricting the opponent’s movements with the same sword techniques, much like a spider weaving its web.
The primary advantage of a sword formation was that it could suppress significantly more powerful opponents through numbers alone. However, this is only meaningful when the power gap is moderate.
“Anything else you’d like to show me?”
William shouted towards the martial artists with a voice filled with disappointment.
At the sound of his voice, the martial artists who were deploying the Demon-Slaying Sword Formation for the first time in a real combat situation hesitated and could not close the distance. Of course, the main reason was that William still held the branch master and Yang Danju as hostages.
“If I close my eyes and kill them both…”
Behind the martial artists wielding the sword formation, number 37, the deputy chief, found himself lost in thought.
Since they’ve already been exposed, wouldn’t it be better to finish off all three and report to higher-ups? That way, he might seize the position of the branch master as an act of damage control. His mind raced with the thought.
“Since there’s no way to save both anyway, I’ll kill all three at once.”
37 gave a silent signal to his subordinates.
It meant to ignore the hostages and kill them. The martial artists hesitated for a moment upon receiving the message, but then gripped their swords more firmly and tightened the encirclement.
“Don’t I have hostages in my hands?”
“What the hell are you bastards doing!”
“37! What is the meaning of this!”
“I am succeeding the branch master.”
“Hmph, they’re really good at this.”
William leisurely observed the farce unfolding within the sword formation. What surprised him was that even the subordinates under the branch master readily accepted betrayal without hesitation.
“In the original storyline, they subtly stabbed each other in the back, so is this kind of behavior normal? Anyway, whether the leader changes or not…”
William cannot be stopped.
Attempting to block a knight purely with physical force is nothing short of foolish.
If their Aura Armor cannot be pierced, then the formation is ultimately meaningless.
To counter a knight, they need to use heavy arms, nets, and even poison, not a half-hearted sword formation.
The faint blue glow surrounding William’s body became significantly more noticeable.
“If I get caught here, I can leave peacefully. Is there anyone willing to surrender?”
“…”
“If there’s no answer, I’ll assume you’re refusing to surrender. Is there really no one who will?”
“…Charge!”
The sword formation rapidly tightened, with no regard for the hostages. Immediately, William hurled Yang Mun-pyeong and Song Un far away and began walking towards number 37.
In his steps, there was no sense of urgency. Although the martial qi around him was overwhelming, to William, the combined power of these top-tier experts was not at all intimidating.
Compared to the formations deployed by thousands simultaneously, this was nothing.
As William advanced, swords from all directions rained down on him. Although they weren’t blade techniques, the swords carried an eerie energy. Their attacks from all sides somewhat resembled the Invincible Sword Technique. However, William’s expression remained calm and serene.
As if daring them to try.
“What is this? Surrounded by a sword formation, yet his expression…”
When 37 looked at William with unease, their eyes met.
William pointed at him with his finger.
“I’ll see you shortly.”
37 experienced a previously unknown sense of crisis.
“Escape! I need to escape!”
However, for a newly accomplished martial artist to evade a supreme expert was practically impossible without extraordinary luck. William moved toward 37 as if the sword formation didn’t exist.
The Demon-Slaying Sword Formation collapsed as easily as a child’s sandcastle.
“The, sword formation!”
“Block him!”
“Unleash the Reverse Heaven Technique! For the sect’s sake, we must eliminate him!”
“Charge!”
As the situation grew dire, the martial artists began hastily deploying the Reverse Heaven Technique, one after another, out of desperation.
With dozens of martial artists simultaneously showing protruding veins and bloodshot eyes, the scene resembled the descent of hell into the mortal realm. However, William calmly observed them.
“You’re proving to be quite troublesome.”
The slightly refined sword auras. Yet, they couldn’t scratch his Aura Armor even slightly.
As the attacks failed, the martial artists disregarded their own safety and rushed towards William.
Swords slashing against his body, darts thrown, and palm strikes raining down.
However, such measures couldn’t impede William’s advance. He advanced like Goliath from the scriptures towards 37.
From 37’s perspective, the situation was utterly hellish.
There was only one way to escape, with the mysterious figure chasing behind and his subordinates failing to even delay William’s advance, only flying away like rag dolls.
“Damn! If I can just evade and escape, maybe I can…”
“Did you think you could evade me?”
“What?!”
Before 37 could react, a heavy blow struck his neck, causing him to fall flat. Bouncing off the wall, 37 struggled back to his feet. He noticed that William had his arm outstretched towards him.
“This feels quite clunky after not doing it for so long.”
“Damn…”
“The only option left is for us to perish together.”
If he was captured this way, it would bring great shame to the Heavenly Demon Sect. Before that happened, his only option was to give even the slightest blow to this man. He immediately deployed the Reverse Heaven Technique and drew his sword from his waist.
“If only you had willingly surrendered.”
Instead of his usual longsword, William drew a gladius.
An optimal choice for Roman gladiatorial combat and a sword style used by countless swordsmen throughout history until it evolved into knights’ swords.
With his unarmed hand positioned forward like a shield, William charged towards 37. Simultaneously, 37, having lost his mind, charged towards William, aiming for his neck.
A sharp sword strike. But his strike was deflected upon hitting the back of William’s spread hand.
Much like a shield, the attack was effectively blocked, causing 37’s posture to collapse. William’s gladius swiftly pierced through 37’s shoulder and pushed him into the wall.
“The answer to tame a mad dog is discipline.”
William then delivered a powerful kick into 37’s stomach with his leg, sending him flying into the wall with such force that cracks appeared. 37 spat out blood as he struggled.
However, struggling wouldn’t change the outcome. With a tightened grip on his sword, William pushed 37 to the side and spoke.
“Any last words? Though, judging by your appearance, you won’t even be able to speak.”
“Thousand Demon…Rebirth…Myriad Devils…Retribution…”
“You have time to say that, huh?”
William pulled out the sword from his shoulder and thrust it directly into his heart.
“Is this Anja?”
After subduing the martial artists and discovering the underground passage, we directly made our way towards Anja via the tunnel.
Upon reaching Anja through the passage, there was not a soul around.
“Still, there’s quite a lot of emergency rations here.”
“Eun-gong, I see some medicinal herbs for stopping bleeding.”
“Uncle! There’s a fancy box here!”
“A box?”
Upon hearing Hye-ryeong’s words, I immediately moved to the box, opened it, and inspected its contents.
“Wow. How many did you consume?”
“Isn’t this enough to buy ten thousand red bean paste buns?”
“At this rate, I’d buy a hundred thousand with red bean paste buns as the benchmark.”
There’s got to be at least thirty gold ingots here.
“Hye-ryeong, please carry the box; we’ll take it with us.”
“Yes!”
Hye-ryeong struggled to pick up the box. Naturally, the box pressed against her chest.
It was an undeniable scene where one couldn’t help but be drawn to Hye-ryeong’s highlighted chest, yet I deliberately avoided looking and searched the inner compound.
Unfortunately, the inner compound only had standard first-aid supplies and some preserved foods. Therefore, we decided to head back to Seopyeong with just the gold ingots.
“Is it permissible to just take this?”
“It’s the Demon Sect’s property. Simply taking this will harm them.”
The essence of war is supply lines.
Thus, the method of crippling the opponent by cutting their supply lines is as effective as it gets.
Even the most skilled martial artists cannot perform at their best if they’re starving.
“Let’s return, tie up loose ends, and raid other places.”
“Yes!”
“Understood.”
We quickly returned via the tunnel to Seopyong and met the branch master of the丐帮(Gaebang). As we handed over the box, he looked at it with curiosity, but upon hearing “gold ingots,” he stepped back with licking lips.
It must be ours.
Since I’ve already taken so much, there’s not much point in interfering.
“Considering you as labor expenses, we have an intention to give you one.”
“It’s fine. What would a beggar do with gold? Being a beggar is about begging for food, which is enough.”
“Indeed, the丐帮(Gaebang) is impressive.”
“If they were greedy, they could’ve done the bounty hunting business somewhere else.”
“Ah, understood.”
“Let’s let them finish handling the matters here… will you head back to Muhan?”
“Since we suspect some other areas, we plan to visit them on our way back.”
“Hmm. Understood. Oh, and…isn’t carrying these gold ingots bothersome?”
“Ah, it is indeed difficult to carry them as they are. We plan to exchange them for something easier to carry.”
“Take them to the Haomen branch. You can leave them there.”
“Should someone from the丐帮(Gaebang) say that?”
Isn’t it inappropriate for the丐帮(Gaebang) to say this?
“If no one knows, it’s fine, right? Since there’s no appropriate place to leave them, it’s best there. The Haomen are everywhere.”
“Understood. Then…”
“Well then, we may meet again when the occasion arises.”
We headed straight towards where the Haomen branch master was.
“Thirty gold ingots… Though there must be more wealth that might surface upon further investigation, for now, this is what we’ll keep. With this charter, if you go to the Golden Dragon Exchange, you can borrow the equivalent amount in silver.”
Since there are no cards, this is how we deal with money.
I carefully stored the charter I received from the branch master and turned around.
“Then, I shall take my leave.”
“Ah, before you go… Brother Wi. We’ve received intelligence that the abbot of Shaolin visited the Martial Alliance not long ago.”
“The sect leader? Unexpectedly?”
Was there an instance like this in the original story?
As much as I tried to recall, there was none at this point.
Given that the sect leader’s position of Shaolin is not one to move lightly, it would probably require the assassination of the leader of the Martial Alliance for them to budge.
“Thank you.”
“It’s merely my duty.”
Then, I’ll quickly check the suspicious areas and head to Muhan.
Things are progressing better than expected.
Is it a coincidence, or…
Is that relevant right now? As long as things proceed properly, that’s all that matters.
I shook off my uneasiness and immediately set off towards Muhan.
