Chapter 180: The Covert Strategist

The old man says,

"I do not harbor any feelings towards you two. However, I was disturbed enough that my progress was interfered with. The two of you are young and seem to have excellent skills, so why don't you work under me for three or four years or maybe five and put your precious lives on the line? I promise to release you when the huge task is done. Not only will you earn a lot of money, but I can guarantee you a position that will have no one telling you what to do."

The gray-haired old man, who didn't even introduce himself, began to speak of business with me and Yukhap.

Was this some type of Demon Clan recruitment or something?

It wasn't like he was swearing, and this wasn't meant to be threatening or a warning, so I answered back in a polite manner.

"Old man, as you can see here, this ugly Master Yukhap isn't someone meant to be under others. Look at the situation and tell me. Old man doesn't even know how to assess things, where did you even spend all these years?"

The old man glares at me and so does Master Yukhap.

"...."

I apologize in a calm tone as it seems like I made two enemies at the same time.

"Kidding, let's move on."

The old man speaks to Yukhap in a friendly tone.

"Master Yukhap, I often hear this name. Wouldn't it be better to come under this old man than to die here right now? You seem to be under someone else, but, in fact, if you come under me then you will have far more people below you than you have now."

I nod at his words and turn to Yukhap.

"Right. It doesn't seem like a bad proposal, but let's hear the answer from the person involved."

Master Yukhap answers while looking at the old man through the corner of his eye.

"I am not the one to go under the evil ones."

I frown.

"What are you saying? Does that mean you will go under Alliance Leader?"

Yukhap says,

"Sect Leader, are you going to speak all that shit in the midst of this?"

"I often have the habit of spitting shit before a fight. Just for your reference."

The gray-haired man, who is smiling slightly, asks me,

"Are you of the same thoughts as Master Yukhap? You are young. You must be the same age as our elder young lord. It's a pity to kill you."

I nod like I agree with him.

"If it is a pity, you can back out. Old man bastard, you seem to have lived spilling blood all your life, so do not pretend like you are coveting talented people. It doesn't fit you. And I am on my own."

"To what extent is that answer?"

"Even if I get caught by you and tortured, I have no intention of going under you. It doesn't matter if you are the Cult Leader."

At that moment, I remembered being dragged around by a monk and felt my stomach churn. But at that time, I had poor martial arts skills, so it couldn't be helped.

The old man smiles as he says,

"You are such reckless young friends. Anything more to say?"

I have a question for this gray-haired man.

"Is the old man who doesn't know how to speak with the flow one of the benefactors to the third young lord?"

"Yes."

"If you get injured or die, what will happen to the third young lord?"

The old man tilts his head and asks me,

"Who are you, and why do you speak as if you know about this situation?"

I smile and he looks at me.

"I am the enemy of the old man's leader."

"What? Are you delusional? Master Yukhap."

To which he answers with a short answer.

"What."

"Why are you hanging out with such an insane man?"

To which Yukhap snorts as he says,

"Sometimes it is normal."

The old man tells me.

"Listen carefully. There are no more than five to six names of enemies which Cult Leader mentions at times. It means that no matter what you do, there is no way Cult Leader would mention someone like you."

I nod.

"After some time, it will be six or seven."

An old man threatens us.

"Now, you will not have a graceful death. You will lick my shoe and beg me to spare you. I came here to make a polite offer, but it is a pity things turned out like this."

I try my best to shake his psyche.

"Old man, if you go back with even one arm cut, the third young lord's position will be in trouble. Even if you don't die today in our hands, things will be tough in the future, so fight properly."

The old man holds out his pair of spears to Yukhap and me.

With the intention of protecting myself, I wrap myself in flames and strike back.

Kwaaaang!

My ears went deaf at that moment and, before I knew it, I was in the air. The ground where I released my qi was dug in and, at a distance, Yukhap was landing on the ground.

As soon as I land on the ground, I ask the old man.

"Oldie. Your name?"

The moment he tries to speak, I shout out loud.

"Shut up! Come to think of it, I am not curious about your name. Let's continue fighting."

The old man sighs as he rubs his temple several times.

As soon as I see it, I say,

"Insane bastard...."

Did the provocation work? The old man rushes at me and not Yukhap.

The force is so fierce that at that moment I run away.

"...."

While walking around during the past couple of days, I looked at most of the valley around. As I fled down the valley, I found that the troops led by the old man had built a siege ready. As a result, I made a wide turn and returned to the place. In the meantime, the old man and Yukhap arrived one after another.

"Phew...."

The old man asks me,

"Something? Why do you run away? I have already deployed my men outside. I am going to take back what I said earlier. If you don't defeat me in your good condition now, you too will die trying to escape from the siege."

I blink and then frown.

"Ah, oldie bastard. Every time you talk I feel so bored that I can fall asleep. Ah, it is nap time for me, but it seems like I might die of this boredom. Ah... Yukhap, you fight for a while. The old man and his way of speaking is so slow that it makes me feel so stuffy."

When Yukhap draws his sword, the old man charges at me again.

"No...."

I am taken aback and run away again. The old man's light footwork technique is good, but I always run in a pattern-less manner. I run through swamps and hide behind huge trees and then leap into the air, and push off a tree before turning. In the meantime, the sounds of trees falling could be heard.

Running away, I say,

"Mount God will be quite angry."

This time, I wasn't able to escape for long and get blocked in by the troops, so I warn them.

"Get out."

At the same time, dozens of swords move for me.

As soon as I pull my wooden sword at those who weren't moving out, I begin to release my Sword Qi.

Swish!

Dozens of people swing their swords to counter me. I quickly approach the guy who is staggering and step on his shoulder and swing the wooden sword. But the oldie says,

"Get out of the way."

I feel my eyes widen and my senses expanding. All my instincts and senses feel so heightened. While piercing the troops with the purpose of moving past them and not killing them, I escape their encirclement by bouncing back and forth through the narrow trees.

I turn again, put some distance with the old man, and head to the right corner. When I arrived at the place where we talked again, I found Yukhap on his knees meditating.

So, I say hi.

"Yukhap, this isn't the time to meditate."

Yukhap responds back with his eyes closed.

"I will join you when you stop fighting. It is hard to run and catch up."

"Honest confession. It was good."

Then the old man appears to the right of me and looks at me with an absurd expression. I repeat exactly what I told him in the beginning.

"... old man, come on now. Compared to your internal qi, your footwork is a bit lacking. Since you spent a lot of days working at home having the servants doing everything, your knees don't seem to be in great shape. You will run out of breath sooner or later. Oldie bastard, you are controlling your breath."

"...."

Suddenly, I turned to Yukhap. Even during the midst of this, his eyes are smiling.

"Smiling?"

I speak in a serious tone to the oldie.

"Oldie, this man is smiling? Instead of attacking me, why don't you check out Master Yukhap's technique?"

To which he says,

"I don't know what this junior is trying to say. I don't mind if you two attack me at the same time."

I try to mimic his voice in a slow manner.

"Both... attack... at... haaaa."

The old man charges at me and I dodge.

"Ah, fuck!"

Why are you following me again? The level of the old man's internal Qi is high, so I ran again. This time, I try to appease the old man while running.

"I apologize."

"..."

"Let us go back to the right method and formally fight."

In the midst of this, the old man asks me,

"Will you not run?"

"Let's fight. I will join with Master Yukhap."

"Join me."

"Nice."

I turn and move again. Suddenly the field of flowers from the side, which looked friendly, came into view and I called Master Yukhap.

"Yukhap..."

When my tone of speaking changed, he opened his eyes.

"I will let you attack first. Let us fight in an alternating format. I will replace you when you are in danger."

Yukhap gets up.

As he heads to position, Yukhap asks the old man,

"Senior, can I fight you with such a method?"

When he asks politely, the old man nods.

"You first?"

"I get it."

Drinking a glass of alcohol, I look out at the two people and mumble.

"Phew... you are following him so disgustingly. Oldie bastard."

As soon as I curse, the old man glares at me. I reach out to calm him.

"I am sorry."

The old man rushes to Master Yukhap. The two face each other like bear cubs and then begin to have a fierce fight. In my opinion, Yukhap isn't one to be polite. And the fact that such a person was being polite to the enemy means that he was being funny.

To be honest, I don't know how long the guy will last.

For now, from all the running, I have to pee immediately. So, I pull my hands down to pee. I can't see any water, so I go for the most famous traditional method.

"Shhhh... shhhhhh...."

There is a roar from behind, and from time-to-time small pebbles fly in grazing my ear. So, of course, I still can't see the stream of water.

But I did it in the end.

"Phew."

Chakkk....

Looking at the water, I hear the sound of Ghost Demon struggling. Every time the swords collided, the internal Qi of the two warriors could be heard throughout. It was definitely an opponent strong enough, so it was a situation where the Ghost Demon was being pushed back.

After I finish my errand, I tighten my belt and take in a deep breath and exhale.

"Ohmyitisdone."

In my right hand, which was still in my pants, was the scent of chlorine and a white flower scent.

Urine is, in other words, a covert strategy to prepare for ambush. Compared to when I fought with the Alliance, my level of ice arts is higher now. It wasn't amazing, but the coldness of my technique was quite cold.

Like a craftsman who makes treasured swords, I concentrate on flame and ice qi in both hands.

Still, the old man and Yukhap were fighting. The two of them had no idea what I was doing.

In an instant, I pour out my Qi and suppress the two again, like processing Taiji arts. The polar opposite energies engage in a close battle.

Pkikikiki!

Yukhap spots me and then shouts.

"Have you lost it!?"

The gaze of the old man lingers on me without even realizing it and then he hurriedly avoids Master Yukhap's sword and steps back.

I risk my life and continue to do it.

"... old man. You may be able to avoid it, but I will let all your men who are building a siege cross over the Santu River."

Only then did his expression turn pale while fighting Yukhap.

I stare at him and speak in a cold manner.

"I am Low-Down Sect Leader, Lee Zaha. You have touched the wrong person."