Martial Artist Lee Gwak Episode 190
Those with Nothing to Lose Fear Nothing (3)
“Brother!”
Cheol Gwang Woo called Lee Gwak.
He too had recognised the bodies.
Lee Gwak looked around for a moment, then picked up a thick rope used to anchor boats.
Whoosh!
The rope left his hand and stretched out like a poisonous snake, wrapping itself around a corpse. With a flick of his fingers, the rope retreated, bringing the corpse to the deck.
Lee Gwak knelt down on one knee and examined the body closely.
Though the face was horribly distorted from swelling in the water, it was undoubtedly an escort martial artist from the Shenyang Escort Service.
“Sigh!”
Even though he hadn’t had much interaction with them, seeing someone he knew dead was unsettling.
Lee Gwak inspected the wounds on the body.
The injuries were chaotic and varied, indicating that the victim had been attacked by multiple assailants.
The Shenyang Escort Service consisted of five leaders and twenty-five escorts, along with twenty porters.
Excluding the body pulled onto the boat, more than twenty corpses were floating downstream, nearly half of the escort’s people had lost their lives.
While examining the bodies, Cheol Gwang Woo asked,
“Were they attacked by bandits?”
“This is too precise for bandits. The attackers were skilled martial artists.”
Lee Gwak shook his head and stood up.
Nam Woo Gyeong looked across the river with a serious expression.
“As far as I know, there are no Green Forest bandits active in this area. And if they were proper Green Forest bandits, they would negotiate first rather than resort to outright slaughter.”
Green Forest Bandits usually sustained themselves through tolls.
While they might plunder, they rarely kill to avoid severe repercussions from the Sky High Castle, one of the Ten Sects. The laws of Sky High Castle are strict and do not allow the bandits to loot at will or venture outside their designated areas.
Lee Gwak frowned as he looked upstream where the bodies had floated from. Nam Woo Gyeong approached him.
“Have you guessed something?”
“Yes!”
Lee Gwak told Nam Woo Gyeong about the old man who had entrusted himself to the Shenyang Escort Service.
After hearing the explanation, Nam Woo Gyeong frowned.
“If your guess is correct, those who were tracking the old man must have attacked the Shenyang Escort Service.”
“It seems so.”
“We don’t know what information the old man had, but it must have been important. Considering that the Shenyang Escort Service had a formidable force, but was so easily overwhelmed.
“I think so too”.
Lee Gwak nodded.
The unpredictability of life weighed on him.
Had the Shenyang Escort Service not terminated their contract, he and Cheol Gwang Woo would have been fighting the attackers to protect them. Perhaps the casualties wouldn’t have been as severe.
Then,
“Why did you bother pulling up the corpse? Just let it drift away. It’s unsettling…”
A woman’s voice interrupted.
Turning, they saw Ji Yeo Wol covering her mouth with her sleeve, grimacing. The stench of the corpse nearly made her vomit.
Ji Sang-hwan scolded Ji Yeo Wol for her reaction.
“Ah! Can’t you just stay quiet?”
“But why bring up the body and make us smell this stench?”
“Read the room before you speak.”
“What did I do?”
Ji Yeo Wol raised her voice.
At that moment, Cheol Gwang Woo’s expression darkened significantly.
He had been patient for Lee Gwak’s sake, but his patience had reached its limit.
“Hey, bitch! If you keep making noise, I’ll tear that mouth of yours.”
“How dare you!”
“How dare I?”
A malicious aura enveloped Cheol Gwang Woo’s usually mild face.
Ji Yeo Wol’s face turned pale at Cheol Gwang Woo’s look, resembling a fierce demon. She wanted to retort but couldn’t muster the courage to face Cheol Gwang Woo’s intimidating presence.
Then, Ji Sang-hwan stepped in front of her.
“Phew! I apologize. My sister will not make any more noise. Please, let your anger subside. I’m apologizing on her behalf.”
“Goodness!”
With Ji Sang-hwan stepping in like this, Cheol Gwang Woo could no longer hold onto his anger.
‘If it weren’t for her brother, that girl would have been dead a hundred times over. She’s rotten, but she’s lucky to have such a brother.’
Cheol Gwang Woo shook his head in disapproval and returned to Lee Gwak’s side.
By then, the boat had reached the other side.
Ji Sang-hwan and his sister disembarking.
“Aren’t you angry, brother?”
“Let’s just go.”
“I was insulted. I was…”
“Be quiet, please.”
Watching Ji Yeo Wol vent her frustration on her brother, Cheol Gwang Woo looked fed up.
His head began to throb with pain.
He sincerely did not want to encounter a woman like that ever again.
Scratching his head, Cheol followed Lee Gwak and Nam Woo Gyeong off the boat.
The Ji Sang-hwan siblings, who had disembarked earlier, were nowhere to be seen. They seemed to have already left the pier.
The three also hurried off the dock.
Throughout the journey, Nam Woo Gyeong’s expression remained grim.
Being the young master of Hao Clan, an organization that dealt with information, he sensed that something unusual was happening.
‘What exactly is going on?’
After the war with the Celestial Demon Troupe, the Jianghu had been as peaceful as could be, with the balance of power among the ten sects being delicately maintained.
Even though the Jade Heaven Alliance’s power stood out, it wasn’t enough to overshadow all the other sects. This cautious atmosphere among them had led to an unprecedented era of peace in the Jianghu.
“Following the Blood Rain Assassins, now the blood incident at the Shenyang Escort Service? Something is happening beneath the surface.”
Nam Woo Gyeong decided that as soon as he entered the Jade Heaven Alliance, he would thoroughly investigate this matter.
Suddenly, he glanced at Lee Gwak walking beside him.
Lee Gwak was walking quietly, his eyes looking down.
It was unclear what he was thinking, but it seemed ominously significant.
“I wonder if it’s a coincidence that these events started occurring around the time Lee Gwak returned to Jianghu. Perhaps he’s brought turmoil with him.”
Such individuals existed occasionally.
Martial artists who, regardless of their intentions, shook the Jianghu.
Their arrival signaled upheaval. Whether they intended it or not, the Jianghu revolved around them. The history of the Jianghu has proven this.
Nam Woo Gyeong hoped Lee Gwak was not one of these individuals.
He knew all too well how difficult such an individual’s fate could be.
“Sigh!”
Nam Woo Gyeong let out a deep sigh without realizing it.
He never imagined he would worry and think so much about someone else in his life.
Suddenly, he wondered if he was also being swept up in Lee Gwak’s destiny.
“If only it were all just my imagination.”
Nam Woo Gyeong shook his head to dispel his thoughts.
He looked up to see Lee Gwak and Cheol Gwang Woo in front of him. He had fallen back, lost in thought.
Just as Nam Woo Gyeong hurried to catch up with them,
Clang! Clang!
Suddenly, faint sounds of metal striking metal came from ahead.
Nam Woo Gyeong’s expression stiffened.
He knew instinctively that the faint metallic sound carried by the wind was the clash of weapons.
Lee Gwak and Nam Woo Gyeong exchanged glances.
The source of the sound was directly in their path. They could neither avoid nor ignore it.
Shortly afterward, they came upon a group engaged in a fierce battle.
About ten martial artists were attacking a man and a woman.
“Damn it! Who are you people? Attacking out of nowhere.”
The man shouting and wielding a sword was none other than Ji Sang-hwan. Behind him, Ji Yeo Wol was trembling with fear etched across her face.
“Oh, brother.”
Fear filled her eyes.
The attackers had suddenly appeared and attacked them.
Normally, one would at least ask questions or inquire about identities, but there was none of that. They attacked the siblings without warning. Ji Yeo Wol was paralyzed with fear by their ruthless assault.
She always considered herself brave. Confident in her martial skills, she believed she could protect herself from any danger. This belief allowed her to act boldly and engage in verbal confrontations without hesitation.
However, when faced with real danger, her mind went blank, and fear rendered her speechless.
The martial arts techniques she was usually confident in did not come to mind, and she did not know what to do.
All she could do was hide behind her older brother, Ji Sang-hwan.
Protecting himself was hard enough, but having to protect Ji Yeo Wol as well quickly pushed Ji Sang-hwan to his limits.
“Pant, pant!”
His labored breathing broke through his lips, and even natural movements became challenging.
The enemies did not miss the opportunity to exploit Ji Sang-hwan’s vulnerabilities.
Swoosh!
A sharp slicing sound was followed by a long gash appearing on Ji Sang-hwan’s side.
“Arggh!”
He staggered as he let out a scream.
“Brother!”
Ji Yeo Wol screamed at the sight but was still unable to move as if her feet were rooted to the ground.
Extreme fear had paralyzed her reasoning and stiffened her nerves.
Shhh-shhh-shhh!
Over a dozen swords flew towards the staggering Ji Sang-hwan. Fearing the sight of him being mutilated, Ji Yeo Wol closed her eyes tight.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing reached Ji Yeo Wol’s ears, but Ji Sang-hwan’s screams were not among them.
When Ji Yeo Wol cautiously opened her eyes, she was met with a surprising scene.
A giant man was standing in front of Ji Sang-hwan, taking all the attacks on his behalf.
His body was so sturdy that the swords could not penetrate and were instead repelled.
“What?”
The unbelievable sight made Ji Yeo Wol’s eyes waver.
The giant man protecting Ji Sang-hwan was none other than Cheol Gwang Woo.
“Krh!”
Cheol Gwang Woo grinned eerily, his eyes blazing red.
The attackers hesitated for a moment at his menacing appearance.
‘Where did this guy come from!’
They exchanged glances briefly.
Their order was to prevent anyone from passing through this forest today.
That seemed like an easy command to follow.
They had been doing this kind of work for a very long time and were more skilled than anyone.
The naive siblings had just happened to fall into their surveillance.
The man’s martial skills were strong, but that was it. An inexperienced youngster with little experience in the Jianghu was no match for them.
The woman, who appeared to be his sister, had a loud voice but posed no real threat. So, they attacked without worry.
However, the sudden appearance of the giant man who interfered was different. His aura of killing intent alone was fiercely intimidating.
While Cheol Gwang Woo was holding off the attackers, Lee Gwak and Nam Woo Gyeong approached Ji Sang-hwan.
“Are you alright?”
“Ah! Thank you for saving me.”
Only then did Ji Sang-hwan regain his composure and express his gratitude. His back was drenched in cold sweat.
Nam Woo Gyeong examined Ji Sang-hwan’s wounds, and Lee Gwak asked a question.
“Do you know who they are?”
“I don’t know. They just appeared out of nowhere and attacked us for no reason…”
“So, you mean there was no prior grudge.”
“That’s right.”
“Understood. Please step back with your sister and treat your wounds.”
After the conversation, Lee Gwak headed towards Cheol Gwang Woo. The sight made the attackers flinch.
Facing Cheol Gwang Woo alone was daunting enough, but the addition of Lee Gwak signaled a serious crisis.
Lee Gwak looked at the attackers with a calm gaze.
“Who are you?”
“…”
No one answered. But Lee Gwak continued, unfazed.
“Why did you attack the passerby? Are you also responsible for the attack on the Shenyang Escort Service?”
A ripple of reaction spread across the attackers’ faces, and Lee Gwak did not miss it.
“It seems I’m right.”
“Kill them!”
At that moment, a shout erupted from among the attackers.
The attackers charged at once.
Watching them, Lee Gwak spoke.
“Gwang Woo!”
“Yes, brother.”
“Subdue them.”
“Huu!”
Suddenly, an overwhelming madness emanated from Cheol Gwang Woo’s entire being, engulfing the area.