Chapter 89 : Chapter 89

Chapter 89. The Scramble (5)

The smell of blood that permeated the air made my brow furrow on its own.

Over a hundred corpses were scattered about, and the undergrowth was completely soaked in blood.

And still, over a hundred pieces of trash were there, each holding their weapons.

But strangely, there were no screams, shouts, or clashing of steel.

Everyone gathered there was just standing still, sizing each other up.

“With so much trash gathered in one place, the stench is piercing my nose.”

As I stated a small observation, the gazes of those nearby turned to me all at once.

All of them with bloodshot eyes devoured by greed.

“What are you brats doing here!”

A few fellows nearby shouted and rushed at me.

For someone who dismissed me as a brat, their skills were pathetic.

I cut off the head of the first one who approached.

Swish.

Following that, Nam Geon shattered someone’s left arm and asked with a troubled expression.

Crack.

“B-Bro, wh-who do I kill and wh-who do I let live? T-Too many people.”

Instead of answering Nam Geon’s question right away, I glanced around.

Was it because a few had been taken down so easily? Instead of rushing in recklessly, they were just glaring at us as if to kill us.

I looked at them and said to my companions.

“You all wait here. Those who attack even when you’re standing still deserve to die.”

It was not because it was difficult to distinguish between good and evil.

The herb gatherer who had found the spiritual medicine was already dead.

The one who killed the herb gatherer also seemed to be dead already.

The corpses and blood scattered on the ground were already enough to be called a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

They were people who, for the sole reason of greed, had their eyes turned by something that was not theirs and committed murder.

If I had my way, I would have told them to kill everyone.

But there were too many of them.

If we were to delve deep into that hell of hungry ghosts, it looked as if someone from our party could be seriously injured or even killed.

But that was only a story for my companions.

“I will go clean up the trash inside and come back.”

For me, who was used to chaotic battles, there was nothing to be afraid of.

Fwoosh!

After giving instructions to my comrades, I suddenly launched myself forward.

I swung the Restoring Name Sword at the closest fellow.

The man, with a startled expression, hastily swung his axe, but it was a sluggish movement.

Swish!

Right after one man died futilely, they started swinging their weapons at me from all directions, shouting.

“Die!!!”

I stepped on the footwork to dodge a spear, and as I twisted my upper body, a sword blade grazed past my clothes.

The Restoring Name Sword, propelled by the momentum of my turn, pierced the heart of a bladesman approaching from the right.

Crack!

As blood splattered, I approached the already dead bladesman and grabbed his collar.

As I spun around, the sound of blades continuously embedding themselves into the human shield’s body echoed.

Throwing the tattered corpse, I closed in on the fool who had collided with it.

Thwack!

Crack!

After piercing the man’s heart along with the corpse, I used the momentum from my launch to roll on the ground once.

While weapons from behind repeatedly struck the ground, I pushed off the ground with my hands and got up in a rotating motion.

Dizziness naturally set in.

It was not because I had rolled on the ground so quickly.

Thanks to my first eye, which had opened at some point, I could see the countless trajectories embroidered in the air.

Thanks to so much trash, the number of trajectories was also so great that my eyes were spinning.

But the most absurd thing was something else.

A significant number of the trajectories embroidered in the air were not aimed at me.

“Die!”

A bladesman swinging his blade at me.

Crack.

A spear thrust by a fellow behind him pierced through the bladesman’s stomach.

In the time it took to kill a few, a chaotic battle had already broken out all around.

A situation where hungry ghosts blinded by greed were killing each other.

Amidst the dizziness, a smile naturally formed.

“Yes. Kill each other.”

What was there to be upset about when trash was killing each other?

“Hahahaha!”

I laughed heartily and threw myself into the fray.

I dodged a hook-sickle flying from the front and swung my sword.

Swish!

As blood splattered on my face, I saw two hungry ghosts in front of me, locked in a power struggle with their weapons.

I closed in on the nearer one and thrust the Restoring Name Sword.

Crack!

“Th-Thank you!”

I was about to swing my sword at the one who expressed his gratitude, but there seemed to be no need for that.

There was already a fellow swinging a blade from behind him.

Swish.

I rotated my body halfway and swung the Restoring Name Sword.

Swish.

A whip that had been aiming for my back was cut off.

I swung my left leg and kicked the ground.

A masterless sword lying on the ground flew towards the one who had swung the whip.

“Gack……”

After a glance at the one who collapsed with a groan, his stomach pierced, I launched myself again.

I moved freely through the hell of hungry ghosts, swinging my sword without rest.

Just the sword was not enough.

I threw the daggers hidden in my sleeves, and I used the Lazy Donkey Rolls on the Ground to roll on the ground and then threw the weapons I picked up from the ground like hidden weapons.

With blood and corpses everywhere, there were plenty of masterless weapons.

Well, thanks to that, my whole body was caked with dirt and blood every time I rolled on the ground, but it did not really matter.

Swish!

Every time I killed a hungry ghost, blood splattered on my clothes, so my whole body was already stained with blood.

Right after stabbing the back of a fool who was exchanging blows with another, just as I was about to close in on the one in front.

The man opened his mouth in an urgent tone.

“Y-Young brother! Join us!!”

I had no intention of playing along with that nonsense, so I gladly thrust the Restoring Name Sword.

That fellow was quite skilled, so he did not die in one exchange.

Clang!!

Soon, from the side, someone else shouted.

“Fellow martial brothers! Everyone calm down!”

The sight of those who were busy killing each other calling each other ‘fellow martial brothers’ was so ridiculous that I hesitated for a moment. The one who had blocked my sword quickly pointed somewhere and shouted.

“Qingliang Xueshang has the Hundred Yang Ten-Knot Grass!”

“Fellow martial brothers! For now, let’s deal with that man first!”

“Who gets the Hundred Yang Ten-Knot Grass is a matter to be discussed after that, isn’t it!”

Surprisingly, after the shouts of those two ended, the sound of steel clashing in the surroundings subsided.

Thinking what a stupid thing to say, I sneakily turned my head.

Towards the direction the fool had pointed his finger.

Beyond the curtain of people, a strange sight came into view.

I could see an old man, covered in blood from head to toe just like me.

Watching that old man thrust his judge’s pen, goosebumps rose on my arms.

It was a motion that looked like he was swatting a fly, but that single move contained a deep martial art that was unfitting for trash.

Crack!!

Soon, the sound of a human body being pierced by that judge’s pen echoed.

I knew instinctively.

The most skilled master in this hell of hungry ghosts. The one who stood at the pinnacle of the hungry ghosts was that old man.

Qingliang Xueshang.

It was an alias I had never heard of during the time I was active in the Jianghu.

Well, considering that old man’s age, he would have probably died of old age by then.

Crack!

The face of the old man who was slaughtering the hungry ghosts with his judge’s pen was truly strange.

A boredom like that of a butcher cutting meat. Only annoyance was contained within it.

A sight that was truly not lacking to be called a human butcher.

Just how many people had he killed so far?

No sooner had I thought that he was an old man who must be killed here than an interesting plan came to mind.

Actually, I was not very interested in the spiritual medicine.

It was not mine in the first place.

If a situation arose where I had to cut both the body of the one holding the spiritual medicine and the spiritual medicine itself, I was determined to gladly swing the Restoring Name Sword.

No. If I could kill all the trash here in exchange for losing the spiritual medicine, I was determined to gladly do so.

Because I had engaged in battle with that mindset, I had not thought of a certain simple logic.

The fact that if I killed that old man and took the spiritual medicine, the hungry ghosts with their eyes turned by greed would surely continue to flock to me.

Just like these fellows who had proposed a temporary alliance to me now.

That trash would come to me on their own without me having to go look for them. Could there be anything more interesting than this?

While I was observing Qingliang Xueshang, the people around me had already joined forces and were shouting.

“Alright!”

“Of course! Punishing that vicious old man is the priority!”

They looked as if they were about to swear brotherhood under a peach tree today.

Finding the sight ridiculous, I grinned and nodded.

I gladly accepted the alliance proposal of those who were only thinking of stabbing me in the back at any time.

“I will join you.”

I was also planning to stab these fellows in the back, so there was nothing bad about it.

I took a step with the people who had become my companions by chance.

A hollow laugh escaped me.

“Hehehe.”

It was not that I was laughing because I had become one of the trash.

As long as I could clean up more trash, anything was fine.

What was funny was because of the trajectories visible to my eye.

Right after dealing with the enemy in front by swinging my sword.

Swish!

A trajectory aimed at my torso appeared and disappeared.

It seemed the temporary ally on my right had tried to swing his blade at me and then given up.

I did not feel the need to deal with the one who had aimed for me.

Crack.

There was already a spear tip sticking out of the man’s abdomen.

“Kuh…! Gah…!”

It was the end of a fool who had not seen the spear flying from the front because he was watching my back, a temporary ally.

It was the same elsewhere.

They work together while aiming for each other’s weaknesses.

They hesitate, as if they were about to stab someone in the back but decided it was not the right time yet.

On the other hand, it was clear that with every swing of the sword, they were wary of whether a comrade would stab them in the back.

Often, those who turned their heads, afraid of being betrayed by their sworn brothers, would be struck and killed by a blade flying from the front.

“Gack……”

Every time I saw that, it was so funny that my laughter would not cease.

The eyes of those who were enraged by the death of their sworn brothers were filled with joy.

“Damn it.”

“Just a little more effort! We’re almost there!”

Since it was the death of someone who would one day become an enemy, how could they not be happy?

After continuing the pleasant march with the fools for a while.

After breaking through the hungry ghosts, we finally reached the vicinity of that old man called Qingliang Xueshang or whatever.

Our sworn brothers.

Our comrades-in-arms, who had rejoiced in each other’s deaths, began to cautiously size up the situation.

They seemed to be afraid to be the first to charge at that old man.

I gladly decided to give courage to my timid brothers.

I stealthily moved and closed in on the fool of a sworn brother who had first proposed the alliance, then thrust both my palms and pushed the man’s back with all my might.

“The eldest brother must take the lead!”

Thwack!

The man, filled with courage, flew towards Qingliang Xueshang as if he had been shot.

Indeed, was the eldest brother the eldest brother?

“Damn it!!”

Clang!!!

That man succeeded in blocking Qingliang Xueshang’s judge’s pen.

Clang!!

Just once.

Crack!

“Gack……”

Was it because they wanted to express their condolences for the regrettable death of the eldest brother?

While the eldest brother held on for one exchange, a few sworn brothers launched a surprise attack.

And at the moment the eldest brother’s heart was pierced, they swung their weapons to avenge the eldest brother.

A chaotic battle unfolds again, centered on Qingliang Xueshang.

As if swatting away troublesome mosquitoes or flies, Qingliang Xueshang swung his judge’s pen with an annoyed expression.

As if they were really mosquitoes, the sworn brothers were torn apart by the judge’s pen and pierced to death.

If this continued, it seemed the sworn brothers would lose their courage.

So, I tried swinging my sword at Qingliang Xueshang from behind from time to time.

Clang!

And after pretending to be pushed back and retreating, I would push the backs of the scared sworn brothers.

Thwack!

After mingling with the sworn brothers and the crazy killer old man like that for a while.

Crack!

Qingliang Xueshang, who had once again pierced the neck of a sworn brother, turned his eyes to look directly at me.

Had he gone mad?

“Hehehehe.”

The old man, who had been wearing an annoyed expression until just now, suddenly burst into laughter.

“Hehehehe. Today is a truly lucky day.”

A laugh filled with killing intent.

“To not only get a spiritual medicine but also have the Ghost Sword Young Master come to me on his own feet.”

I gifted another timid sworn brother from the side to the old man and asked.

“Do you know me?”

“Hehehe. How could I not know? The reckless brat who has interfered with our business several times.”

At Qingliang Xueshang’s answer, a smile also appeared on my lips.

“Hehehehe.”

I had been foolish.

“Today is a lucky day.”

There was no way the Black Market trash would be missing from a scene like this.

“To be able to exterminate the Black Market trash in addition to the nearby trash.”

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