Book 22 Chapter 17

Ten-sided ambush (十面埋伏)

-Arrow rain on a spring evening over a black umbrella

Na Yerin's footsteps paused as she stepped onto the bridge that spanned a small canal about five kilometers wide. Even if it was the Jianggang Forty Dragon or something, it was far from enough to deceive the attention of the immediate apprentice of the first sword master of the Heavenly Martial Triad.

"Yeonbi."

Na Yerin called out to Yunbi cautiously on the full tone. He made eye contact with her and nodded. It was a sign that he felt what she felt.

"I felt it too."

Na Yerin tensed, realizing that her senses were not mistaken after all. Something was stalking her and Yunfei. This was no mere spontaneous action of the Qihan. Though she couldn't see them, she could tell they were professionally trained.

"You noticed the Yeonbi too, didn't you?"

"It's weird not to feel it," she says, "and I've been getting a tingling sensation in the back of my head for some reason. It's annoying that beautiful people get attention everywhere."

Na Yerin smiled wryly when she heard the Yeonbi grumble.

"What do you want me to do?"

There was a way to counterattack right now. The way things were going, they were hoping they could get up onto the bridge ahead. Something was lurking there, waiting for them.

"I'll just go, whatever."

No big deal, said Turo Yeonbi.

"Is that okay?"

Na Yerin asked to confirm.

"I think you're just shuffling along on your heels because you can't confess, but let's give you one chance to charge."

I gave him a chance, but I had no intention of accepting his heart.

"Yeonbi, then?"

At Na Yerin's slightly startled exclamation, Yunbi nodded once more, but as she smiled back at him, Na Yerin could not detect a shred of tension in his face.

"So let's keep walking, don't stop."

She had no intention of stopping. A dark smile spread across her face as she took each step. Na Yerin walked alongside, trying to keep pace.

Blah, blah, blah!

Soon we're in the center of the bridge. That's probably where the Yeonbi would have been.

"It's about time they showed up."

Judging by the number and orientation of the pieces, this was clearly an ambush. A basic rule of thumb when dealing with the Jin is to be careful not to get into the enveloping formation, but Yunbi's response to digging without hesitation was lightheartedly cheerful.

"I'm just going to take a moment to say hello."

I wanted to find out who had organized such a cumbersome welcome. It's safe to say that Yanbian rarely pretends to be anyone's friend. And yet, it was Yanbian himself who was the target. Judging by his whereabouts, it was obvious.

"Then who?

I had to find out, and if I did? Of course I'd pay them back with three times what they took. If you don't have the ability, I don't know, but if you do, I don't think you should let the person who harmed you off the hook. If the perpetrator is retaliated against for this, it's only as a result of the karma of his actions.

"Rin, what do you think karma is?"

As I walked, I asked myself a lazy question about Yeonbi.

"Well, that's an out-of-the-blue question."

Although Gumgak has a strong Buddhist coloring due to the influence of Bhotaam, I hadn't really thought about it.

"I wonder if karma is a kind of meticulous income and expense register, where sometimes if you're late with a payment, it's carried over into the next life, not just this life, but the next life. So wouldn't it be helpful to a busy god to bring that payment forward a little bit, without causing any transmigration?"

There is no such thing as good or evil in the strict sense of karma. Good and evil are nebulous concepts that change over time and space. However, it is a fact that people's words and actions have power that transcends time and place. It's just that it's a power that doesn't know good or evil. And the consequences of an action will always be manifested in any case, though whether they will prove to be good or evil in that particular time and space is an unknown.

Accumulated causal power. The stronger the force, the stronger the consequences, and whether that would be for good or ill, only the gods knew.

The work of the ten warriors of Zhang Kang The three rivers, each with a flame in each hand, divided into three defenses and approached the target.

Clack, clack, clack, clack!

It was already loaded. The loaded arrow lay in its quiver, full of life, reserving its strength to cut off the lifeblood of its target within its mechanism. With a single flick of the finger on the trigger, a human life could be taken from this world. This was the kind of weapon that could take a man's life. Especially with a sniper's long-range weapon like this, it's all over before you can feel the weight of your life. There is no turning back. And none of the three wanted to turn back; they were too used to this.

Eek!

Ilkang silently raises his hand. The moment his hand fell, the ambush would be triggered. Ilkang took one light, deep breath and lowered his hand.

"Trigger the dodecahedron ambush!

Emerging from three directions simultaneously toward Yun Li and Na Yerin, it spat out a series of young arrows of flesh it had been biting.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The arrows that had been lying in a pile on the launching pad of the Yonno flew at breakneck speed toward Yunbi and Na Yerin. They were engineered to fire continuously, so reloading took no time at all. Three of them could easily do the job of twelve archers.

A rain of arrows, with the equivalent effect of twenty men shooting simultaneously from three directions, flew toward the two men's lives, but they did not move as the arrows flew toward them.

"Let me go first."

The first to make a move was Na Yerin, the white-coated smiler.

Pavabababat!

Na Yerin swung her white sword hard, and in an instant, a wall of sword energy unfolded. Arrows intercepted by the wall of white light fell to the ground in shreds, unable to reach their targets. The rain from the arrows cleared without soaking the hem of his clothes. The first wave of fury had come to naught.

"Nice work, Rin."

Yunbi clapped and praised her. It was as if he was counting on her to stop him.

"This… this can't be……."

Astonishment erupted from the mouths of the three men, who had never guessed that such an exalted sword skill could be hidden within such a slender body.

"Uh… what do I do, brother?"

I expected some resistance, but I didn't expect it to be so thoroughly invalidated.

"Ouch, what can I do, reload!"

After the first wave of attacks were thwarted by the beauty saboteur, Ilgang, Lee Kang, and Sam Kang hurriedly replaced their quivers.

"Shoot!"

Quickly reloading, they began firing arrows like crazy again.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

Another hail of arrows.

"Here we go again."

Yeonbi looked at it and said something.

"Do something useless……."

Na Yerin frowned as she calmly dangled her Aegon Binglu.

Yay!

Na Yerin stood as still as a statue of ice as the arrow sliced through the wind and flew right past her nose, but her ears were wide open. The scream of the wind was telling her the arrow's trajectory.

Pod! Pod! Pod! Pod! Pod!

The arrows that had been coming toward Na Yerin were cut off as if by an invisible blade.

"What… what kind of harmony is that?"

To Ilkang's eyes, Na Yerin's sword was still there, hanging down toward the ground. Nevertheless, the arrows that approached her fell in two.

"That's a fine sword, Rin!"

He even applauded the Yeonbi.

"A light sword that slices through arrows so fast you can't see them! It's a sight for sore eyes, and to the untrained eye, it looks like I'm just standing still."

No one was listening, but Yunbi was talking to herself in an expository tone, as if they were. In fact, I would have liked to have heard it from the dumbasses who were probably looking like they were possessed by ghosts by now, but their inability to hear made that impossible.

Pot! Pot! Pot!

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Even a rain of arrows could not pierce Na Yerin's invisible sword wall. Even if they were full of killing intent, they would only crack and fall in front of her invisible sword wall.

That's how the Jaffa attack came to nothing.

"Eight, shoot every last one of them!"

Without a second thought, Il, Yi, and Samgang discarded the empty quiver and loaded the third, which they had set aside as a spare, onto the brazier. With a clanking sound, the swap was complete.

"Fire, fire, fire!"

Some resistance is to be expected. They seem to be pretty good at it. But I hadn't expected to be blocked so futilely. The ambusher wanted to protest, so he decided to use arrows rather than words.

'Tut tut tut tut tut tut tut tut'

Once again, a hail of arrows rained down from three directions, and the Yeonbi spoke up.

"They're idiots, at least change the direction of the attack."

I'd already figured out where to hide and shoot my arrows.

'I don't need to advertise, "I'm here."'

It was so obvious it was embarrassing. I could have thrown a bido from here and hit it, but I didn't.

"It's my turn."

She spun around with her open umbrella lightly raised, meaning she was facing the exact opposite direction of where the arrow was coming from. Of course, she didn't have an extra snowball on the back of her head.

"Danger……!"

Before Na Yerin could finish her guard, a hail of arrows slammed into Yanbi's body.

Pah-bah-bah-bang!

Black Umbrella The arrows that hit Chen Tianlin scattered in all directions, unable to penetrate the rain barrier. With a playful flick of the umbrella's tip, a black barrier unfolded in front of them, protecting them both.

"This umbrella is kind of special. It's an all-weather umbrella that can keep out most rain. Even if it's arrow rain."

Turning to face Na Yerin, he spoke in a relaxed tone. When the rain had almost ceased, he spun around once more, snatched up the last three arrows in the air, and sent them flying in three directions with barely a half-breath between them. He threw them by hand, and the speed was still many times faster than if he'd used the engine.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The arrow flew lightning straight to where the three ambushers were hiding, mercilessly piercing the muzzle of the fury before finding its way to the shoulder and lodging.

Quack!

"Off!"

The rage was quickly rendered useless, and the three men found themselves unable to take up arms for the time being. It was as precise as a ruler. They should be grateful it didn't pierce their brow.

"Mmmmm, a little reciprocation, it's a bit of a burden to receive."

In those cases, it's good to have a quick reconciliation to spread the load.

"Are we done?"

"No, it's probably just getting started…?"

Yunbi suddenly grabbed Na Yerin's hand and quickly tossed it upward. There was no need to ask why. The answer came from the bottom of the bridge.

Shhh! Shhh!

No sooner had I finished my rant than a dark, sharp object rose from beneath the bridge at frightening speed. It was a sharp spear. It was a double-hilted spear with a body made of steel, and the blade and body were one, so that even if it pierced through an object, it wouldn't catch on the tip. It was as if the spear had been made for just such a situation.

It was Saha of the ten brave men of the Yangtze River who stabbed their spears in surprise from below. They had been hanging upside down from the ceiling beneath the bridge, and as their target approached, they did not hesitate to thrust their spears. However, their lack of spear skill and stealth meant that their presence was discovered sooner than planned.

Yanbi and Na Yerin leapt up and landed on the spear's tip, light as a feather, as a foothold. The sudden weight of the spear's tip stunned Saha and Oha. They had never imagined standing on the tip of a spear. If they had stood anywhere else, they would have tried to attack again, but now they couldn't.

"Profit! Profit!"

I tried to pull the spear out, but it wouldn't budge. Some great force had grabbed the tip and wouldn't let go. Yunbi held the blade with her black umbrella, and Na Yerin held the shinshin with her sword sheath.

Saha and Oha's faces grew pale at the unexpected turn of events. But the spear was still there. They had no choice but to give up their spears.

"Ha!"

At that moment, part of the bridge floor rose upward. Saha and Oha jumped out of the circular hole as if they were being sliced open. It was a device they had set up before their target reached the bridge. Floating between the two holes, Saha and Oha drew their sharp daggers and attacked the target.

"Die!"

Muttering uncharacteristic words, the two assailants swung their two daggers sharply, but their attack, embarrassing to say the least, was intercepted by Yan Yu's open umbrella.

Whirrrrrr!

With a light twirl of the fuel-black umbrella, the two daggers caught in the spin slipped out of the assailant's hands and down the bridge.

With the next two light stabs, the two assailants fainted with a heart-stopping shock.

"That's it……."

Thump!

and a fault line appeared in the middle of the bridge. Where there should have been a unity, there was a divide.

"What?"

The Yeonbi was short-lived.

The bridge, which had been cut off exactly in the middle, could not support the weight of the two men and gave way. Once it was down, the collapse came quickly.

"Lean!"

It was a short call, but Na Yerin understood the meaning behind it. Nayarin quickly used Yunbi's umbrella as a springboard to pull herself up like a bird of prey, and then Yunbi quickly tried to break free of the fall with a light air.

Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!

But the six rainbows that rose from the water forced him to abandon the plan. Yunbi responded calmly, crushing the winds of his enemies, who were panicked by the sudden turn of events and hoping to get away with it.

He flipped freely in the air with no foothold, dodging one raindrop after another. This was a basic lesson that he had repeated countless times as a child. I could dodge this stuff with my eyes closed by now. In fact, I did. But that wasn't the problem. By dodging the rain, I missed the time to leap upwards.

"Chet, I can't do that."

Yunbi had given up on jumping upstream. But he also didn't want to fall into the river, which, though not very deep, would be as hard to get out of as a swamp. There were people lurking in the water, like sharks, waiting for their prey. As much as I love fish, I had no desire to become a shark's meal. I would much rather catch a shark, remove its fins, cook it, and eat it.

Yeonbi unfurled a black umbrella.

Boom!

I lightly stomped on the crumbling floor, and my fall slowed considerably.

"I'm not really into swimming on days like this."

Once in the air, he pointed the open umbrella downward at his feet. The tip of the black umbrella hit the water first. The upside-down umbrella floated effortlessly. Yunbi landed on the umbrella stand with one foot. The fear that the umbrella would flip over soon proved to be unfounded. Only ripples spread out from the center of the black umbrella. The inner gong sent through the toes increased the repulsion between the umbrella and the water, and the light gong reduced the weight of the body. This was very unfortunate for the attackers, who would have loved to see Yunbi floundering in the water.

Na Yerin breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped off the collapsed bridge and landed on the canal bank. Luckily, Yunbi was unharmed by the onslaught and hadn't been struck by any debris from the collapsing bridge, but her relief was short-lived.

Thrrrrr!

He had seen two shadows approaching a black umbrella that was rippling in the water.

Originally, the Jianggang water harvesters were as skilled in their craft as they were in their industry. Their craftsmanship was so specialized compared to others that a bare hand could cut a hole in a boat with a single knife, and their power was such that they were able to dominate the Yangtze River.

Six and Seven, the sixth and seventh of the Ten Heroes of the Yangtze River, were the most skilled of the ten in hand-to-hand combat. They lurked in the canals, dressed in blood-red robes, just in case, hoping that their turn would never come, but knowing that if it did, they would be unrelenting. They leapt like fish to the surface and attacked the shark with two misshapen, serrated daggers in a fierce, jaw-dropping stroke, the first of what they pride themselves on as their signature hand-to-mouth kill. Mimicking a shark's bite to kill its prey, the herbivore swooped in for the nape of Yanbi's neck and waist.

Even if she shouted, "Wait!" she wasn't going to wait for him; he was right, he was going to come back with a vengeance. She stamped her toes on the umbrella pole and launched herself upward, crossing the tips of her feet slightly to curl the umbrella. The umbrella floated upward in a semicircle as Yunbi's footwork was so deft.

"No! Huh!

After floating his body, Yun Fei's next foothold was the head of Chil Tian.

Puck!

Yun Fei's foot stamped on Qi Tian's face.

"Crack!"

Together, they were thrown off balance by a short stroke, and Qi Chen was knocked to the surface.

Boom!

Unperturbed by the splash, Yeon Bi placed his left foot on top of Yuk Ha's outstretched deformed dagger. He then pivoted his body on its axis and slashed at Yuk-ha's right side.

Wuduk! 퍼석!

"Kueh-eh-eh-eh!"

With a grotesque shriek, a fountain of blood and several teeth spewed from its mouth as it slammed into the surface of the water. After bouncing off the surface a few times like an otter, he was only able to stop himself when he crashed into the remains of the shattered bridge, but his body, which no longer had the energy to swim, sank to the bottom of the water.

Done with his task, Yunbi landed on the surface with a light step. It wasn't as if he'd stepped on nothing; it wasn't impossible, either, but it would have taken too much of his inner space to draw. There was no need for such inefficiency now, as there were countless pieces of wood floating around in the aftermath of the broken bridge that could be used as footholds. Yun Fei picked up a few of them, shifting lightly to land beside Na Yerin.

"Glad you're okay, Yeonbi."

Na Yerin said with a reassuring smile.

"Well, it wasn't a big deal, it wasn't worth the effort, we only caught two fish."

Turo Yeonbi replied with a no-brainer.

"Are you sure Lean is unharmed?"

Lin smiled at the gentle question of Yeonbi.

"Yeah, I'm good to go, thanks, Yeonbi."

"Oh, well, it's not like I'm being honored."

Yeonbi said, throwing up his hands.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

All she had to do was block the first two bolts of arrows. After that, the Yeonbi took care of everything else. Na Yerin felt bad about that.

"That's good enough for me……."

"No, it's not enough."

Na Yerin said in a firm voice. I wasn't satisfied. She wanted to be a friend and an equal, not a protector. She wanted to show Yanbi that she could take care of herself now, that she wasn't the helpless girl she'd been a decade ago.

"There will be another opportunity in the future, and then……."

The opportunity came sooner than I expected: my enemies had no intention of resting on their laurels.

Shhhhhhhhhhhh!

Something black, slender, and elongated flew from all directions, lashing out like a whip, targeting the gas guzzlers.

"You're more persistent than I thought."

Yunbi sighed lightly, and Na Yerin reacted to the movement instantly. Na Yerin unleashed a sharp sword beam at the whips coming from three directions.

The whip, caught in her gaze, receded around them like a startled snake.

With a folded umbrella, Yanbi beat two flying snakes. One whip tried to wrap itself around the black umbrella, but was unsuccessful as Yunbi quickly pulled the umbrella back and struck it on the head.

In the last one, two people's umbrellas and swords came at them simultaneously.

Yunbi and Na Yerin stood on guard with their backs to each other. Soon they were surrounded by six men swinging black ropes over their heads, forming a circle, three of them with wounds on their right shoulders.

"What was that? Was it a whip? I swung it with the intention of cutting, but I couldn't."

Na Yerin said, her voice not yet recovering from her surprise. The only thing she could feel was a heavy sensation along the hilt of her sword, as if she had been struck by it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The black, long lines were rotating with an ominous sound, like a swarm of thousands of bees.

"That's not a whip."

Fuel said, focusing his amber eyes.

"That's a rope, used to tie up a ship!"

Sailors need to be good with their sacks, or ropes. To a sailor, a rope is a lifeline. It's a rope that saves you from the wind, it's a rope that keeps your boat from sinking. It's the first thing they tie to rob another ship, and it's the first thing they tie to raise and lower the sails and steer the ship, so they have to tie it well, untie it well, throw it well, and pull it well. They have dozens of different ways to tie and untie ropes. One could not be a sailor without being able to handle a rope like a hand, so it was not surprising that the most brilliant martial arts of the Jiangkang Surochai were those that utilized ropes.

The rope they were twirling above their heads was a mooring line, used to anchor ships. The difference was that the rope they were holding was black, whereas normal mooring ropes were yellow. This black mooring rope was braided with several special materials and chemicals, and could be cut with a sword, let alone a spear, but it could not be cut.

Three of them were bleeding from their right shoulders. They had wrapped the wound in a makeshift white cloth, but the blood was oozing through it.

"Gee, that looks like a pretty bad wound, is it okay if I don't treat it?"

When asked about Yeonbi, Ilgang replied with concern in his voice.

"Oh, no, that's okay……."

But as I was answering, I realized something was wrong.

"This can't be good, damn it, whose fault is this?"

"What and who?"

"This is all because of you!"

Zhang Kang and his men shouted in unison about Yeonbi.

"Bitch, watch your tongue, before I stitch your disrespectful mouth shut, and don't you dare talk down to me, you uneducated bastard. By the looks of it, you've got an arrow wound, and whose arrow was that in the first place?"

Yeonbi said in a sharp tone.

"That's, that's… our……."

Ilkang's voice trailed off.

"Look, those arrows are yours and you can't tell me what to do with them, and aren't you the one who shot them without telling anyone?"

"Well, well, well, but……."

I kept getting backed into a corner.

"Women are delicate, and they don't like that kind of abrupt approach. It's got to be a little more subtle. They need a little time to warm up, okay?"

"Ah, yes, I see."

In a groggy voice, Ilgang replied. Perhaps it was the side effects of the analgesic pills he'd used to reduce the pain, or the golden spear pills he'd applied to stop the bleeding, but he was nodding his head as if Yeonbi's words made sense.

"Large, wake up!"

Yi Kang and Sam Kang, who had been watching him in a daze, realized the oddity and shouted. The shout brought Il Kang to his senses.

"Sah, was it witchcraft……."

Yeonbi shook his head. Then he replied.

"No, it's rhetoric."

It was meant to be a reminder not to take things too seriously, but needless to say, it only fueled the anger of the Jiangkang Ten Warriors-now four in number.