Chapter 560:
“Isn’t he being a bit too bold?”
Anxiety colored the voice of Divine Strategist. However, unlike him, those filling the space beside him were utterly nonchalant.
“His humanity seems somewhat alive today?”
“At least he’s speaking politely, which shows he’s acting nicer than usual.”
“Even though they’re about to cross swords anyway.”
Jang-il clicked his tongue.
“That guy is better when he’s throwing tantrums and struggling. When he speaks softly, it gives me the chills. I have no idea where that personality came from.”
“Ahem!”
“…I wasn’t badmouthing the Great Hero. I was just saying, you know. Hehe.”
As Jang-il shrank back, Wei Jeong-han glared at him and spoke heavily.
“Watch your words and actions.”
Divine Strategist looked at Wei Jeong-han as if he found him pathetic.
“You should be more careful yourself.”
“What did I do?”
“What did you do?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Until now, Wei Jeong-han had pressed down on the children with his authority, but in front of Divine Strategist, his authority was meaningless.
“But is this really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is it really okay that your son is about to fight the Bishops?”
Wei Jeong-han’s answer was lukewarm.
“Well… it should be fine.”
“Is that what a father should say? Isn’t the kid acting like this because you’re like that!”
“Then why don’t you try handling him once, Military Advisor.”
“No way.”
Divine Strategist cleanly brushed off his hands. Rather than laying a hand on Wei Yan-ho, cutting off his own hand would be more constructive.
“Fighting Bishops, Bishops!”
“If he says he’ll fight, what can we do?”
“No…”
Divine Strategist was about to scold Wei Jeong-han when he closed his mouth. Come to think of it, none of Wei Yan-ho’s companions were worried or trying to stop him.
Not only that, even with two Demonic Cult Bishops in front of them, they showed no signs of fear. As if it was perfectly natural for Wei Yan-ho to stop them.
‘What’s this?’
Usually, such reactions come from absolute trust. But it didn’t seem like these people would have absolute trust in Wei Yan-ho.
“Has Yan-ho become that strong? No way?”
“Hm? What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Aren’t you this calm because you think he can sufficiently win against two Bishops?”
“Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? That Yan-ho guy will win.”
“Can you be that certain?”
Just as Divine Strategist was about to be surprised, Wei Jeong-han let out the steam that had built up.
“Ah, but it’s not necessarily because we know Yan-ho’s strength and think he won’t lose to the Bishops.”
“Huh?”
What kind of talk is this?
Wei Jeong-han continued his explanation as if he would clear up Divine Strategist’s confusion.
“Actually, from our perspective, both Yan-ho and the Bishops are at such lofty heights. We can’t know just by looking.”
“That’s right.”
Divine Strategist was stronger than Wei Jeong-han. Even such a Divine Strategist couldn’t gauge Wei Jeong-han’s martial prowess. So how could these people know?
And even if they knew how strong Wei Yan-ho was, they wouldn’t know how strong Sa-ma and Dok-ma were, so they couldn’t be at ease.
“Then why are you so calm?”
“That guy is acting like that, isn’t he?”
“Huh?”
Divine Strategist tilted his head.
Wei Jeong-han sighed and continued speaking.
“Actually, you might not know well, but that guy is indescribably cunning.”
“I already know that quite well.”
“If you know, then it should be easy to understand. That guy is stepping forward happily right now, isn’t he?”
“…”
Wei Jeong-han looked at Wei Yan-ho’s back and snorted.
“Does that guy look like someone who would risk danger? If he thought it was dangerous, he would have abandoned even his own father and run away by now.”
“Whoa…”
“The fact that he’s stepping forward on his own shows he has enough confidence to handle it. Right?”
“It’s obvious.”
Jang-il snorted and agreed with Wei Jeong-han’s words.
“He’s been carefully gauging the situation from earlier. And now he’s got his angle. He figured it would be fine to engage roughly, so he’s sticking out his belly and charging in like that.”
“…”
Divine Strategist couldn’t figure out how to accept this situation.
“He’s got his angle?”
“That guy reads angles like a ghost. If he steps forward thinking he might get even slightly hurt, his expression would be different from the start.”
“That’s right.”
Mu-san also nodded vigorously, agreeing with Jang-il and Wei Jeong-han’s words.
“Seeing Yan-ho Master step forward like that, it seems those Bishops aren’t that strong among their kind.”
‘But that’s not right…’
Dok-ma definitely had such tendencies. Dok-ma’s poison was frightening, but among absolute masters, poison was troublesome but not impossible to deal with. Simply put, even if you couldn’t overcome Dok-ma’s poison, if you were at a similar level, it wouldn’t be difficult to kill Dok-ma while enduring the poisoning.
But Sa-ma was different. Sa-ma was famous among Bishops for being vicious and cruel. He was by no means inferior to other Bishops.
But to have leisure while facing both Dok-ma and Sa-ma simultaneously?
‘Does this even make sense?’
Of course, Wei Yan-ho was originally strong. When he first saw him, how surprised he was to see Wei Yan-ho sparring with Kwon-geuk. Since then, Wei Yan-ho had always shown growth that exceeded imagination.
But…
“No, logically…”
“Then you’re already wrong.”
“Huh?”
Wei Jeong-han shook his head.
“Logic doesn’t work on that guy. He’s my son, but I’ve already given up such expectations. How should I put it…”
Jang-il drew the conclusion for him.
“Wei Yan-ho is Wei Yan-ho.”
“That’s right. Wei Yan-ho is Wei Yan-ho. It’s easier on your mind to just understand it that way.”
“…”
I have no idea what this means.
‘This isn’t something that can be understood with words.’
Then I’ll have to see for myself.
Anyway, there was nothing Divine Strategist could do now except watch.
Because of his position as a military advisor, he was always watching the battle situation from one step back like this, but it was the first time he was watching a situation with such a strange feeling.
‘What exactly are you planning to show us?’
Divine Strategist’s gaze followed Wei Yan-ho’s back.
“This bastard…”
Unlike the typical reaction, Sa-ma’s eyes had sunk coldly.
‘A sword that emits light…’
It matched exactly with what he had heard in rumors. Then the words about being wary of that light-emitting sword would also be true.
‘Gwang-ma, that guy wouldn’t just say such words.’
The fact that the arrogant Gwang-ma had used the word “wary” meant Wei Yan-ho’s strength was already verified.
Then?
Sa-ma slightly turned his head to look at Dok-ma.
“Joint attack?”
“It seems we should.”
“You’re saying we two should jointly attack that young brat now?”
“It seems you don’t understand the situation.”
Sa-ma bared his teeth.
“Look at reality straight, Dok-ma. That guy is no mere youngster. There are no youngsters like that in the world. That guy is a source of trouble that must be killed here. He might be the biggest obstacle to our Cult.”
“Hmm…”
“If it were just killing him, I wouldn’t need to borrow your hand. But as you know, we must capture him alive. You know what that means, right?”
Dok-ma nodded.
“Because it’s that person’s command.”
“Right, exactly that.”
“Can’t be helped.”
Dok-ma pointed forward with his chin.
“We strike the bastard.”
As soon as those words ended, the three Demon Cultists who had been guarding Dok-ma’s rear spread out left and right, widely surrounding Wei Yan-ho.
“Oh?”
Wei Yan-ho tilted his head at the sight.
“Are these guys fighting together too?”
Sa-ma cackled at Wei Yan-ho’s reaction.
“What? Are you going to say joint attacks are cowardly?”
“No. That’s not it.”
“Huh?”
Wei Yan-ho chuckled and said,
“When I fought the Central Plains old men, I got ganged up on and poisoned, but in terms of being petty and cowardly, there’s nothing in the world that can match the Demonic Cult old men, so expecting fairness would be ridiculous.”
“Y-you bastard! How dare you say the Demonic Cult is cowardly!”
“Has that old man gotten dementia?”
Wei Yan-ho giggled and said,
“Or maybe you’re willing to step forward alone and give three seconds to this junior wave of the Yangtze River to offer your neck? If so, I’ll acknowledge that the true way of Jianghu lies in the Demonic Cult. If I ever have children later, I’ll tell them for generations that the Demonic Cult truly knew the way. How about it?”
“Shut up, you bastard! Before I rip out that insolent tongue of yours!”
“See? You have no such intention anyway.”
Wei Yan-ho spat on the ground with a ‘ptooey’.
“Old men who have cowardice ingrained in their bones wouldn’t be surprising for acting cowardly now. I was surprised for a different reason.”
Sa-ma was about to ask what that different reason was. But he never got to voice those words. Because Wei Yan-ho’s hand moved before he could open his mouth.
Swish.
Flash.
There was no other way to express it.
Wei Yan-ho’s hand in the world where time had returned to normal contained a completely different swiftness than before.
And that swiftness at his fingertips led to a terrifying fast sword.
The world flashed for an instant.
Light burst forth as the sword was drawn, instantly illuminating the world brightly.
Then the sword slowly descended downward again.
“…”
Sa-ma bit his lips tightly.
“I couldn’t understand why you’d include people who are of no help at all.”
Dok-ma’s face also hardened beyond measure.
‘Damn it…’
The reason their faces hardened was very simple. Others might not know, but they had seen clearly. The sight of the light bursting from Wei Yan-ho’s sword slicing through the Demon Cultists’ necks.
Thud, thud.
With sounds like straw falling, the three Demon Cultists who had stepped forward collapsed on the spot. Vivid red stained the ground.
‘That bastard.’
He shows no mercy in his hands.
Even Demon Cultists, who had no hesitation about taking human lives, wouldn’t be able to cut off people’s necks so easily just because they stepped forward.
“So, because you old men made a mistake, innocent people died.”
He killed three people with one strike and showed not the slightest wavering. His reaction was like swatting and killing a buzzing mosquito by his ear.
“Certainly…”
Dok-ma nodded heavily.
“That bastard is dangerous.”
“Do you understand now?”
Dok-ma slowly raised both hands. Dok-ma’s hands, which had been hidden by his sleeves, were revealed. His hands, dyed green, gave viewers a feeling of eeriness.
“I understand well that he’s not someone to take lightly. But no matter what kind of bastard it is, if they get a taste of poison, the result is the same.”
“Keke, it’s been a while since I heard those words.”
Dok-ma and Sa-ma slowly approached Wei Yan-ho. With a completely different momentum than before.
Wei Yan-ho sighed as he watched them.
“You don’t understand what I’m saying.”
From ancient times, the method for dealing with those who didn’t understand words was decided.
“Since it doesn’t look like beating will be enough to end this, let me say this in advance. May you achieve rebirth in paradise!”
Wei Yan-ho and the two Bishops charged toward each other.
