In the martial world, war was a clash of wills and justifications.

It was a fight between martial artists, organizations, and beliefs, with each side raising their symbolic flags high.

However.

It only took half a day to realize that the current war was different from any war the martial world had experienced before.

“Block them!!”

“We have to buy time! Never retreat!”

The martial artists of the Hebei Peng Clan had to face madness, covered in the blood of their kin.

There were no flags symbolizing their affiliation.

There was no cause or justification to be found.

Even the great Heavenly Demon Divine Cult had a justification when they started the Righteous-Demon War.

They had declared war and had wanted to fight fairly.

“Why… what on earth are these bastards!”

The head of the Hebei Peng Clan, Peng Sogeon, watched the final defense line of the Peng Clan, which was barely holding on by piling up the corpses of their kin like a wall, with a bewildered face.

They were a disaster that had come without warning.

Even the beggars of the Beggars' Sect who had a branch in Hebei were late in delivering the news.

‘Did they aim for the main family from the beginning!’

It was not because the information power of the Beggars' Sect was lacking or their information network had been hit.

It was because these unknown people had been attacking the Hebei Peng Clan without a single break from the moment they had shown themselves in Hebei until now.

In other words, when the beggar of the Beggars' Sect had come to the Hebei Peng Clan and had sent a warning, they had already come right in front of the Hebei Peng Clan.

“Don’t retreat! This is the territory of the great Hebei Peng Clan! We must block them with our lives!”

Although they had succeeded in evacuating the women and the elderly through a hidden back road, the martial artists of the Hebei Peng Clan, including Peng Sogeon, could not retreat.

Although the number of their enemies was enough to swallow the Hebei Peng Clan.

This place had been their home since the moment the Peng Clan had existed.

A place they could never give up.

A place that contained the soul and history of the Hebei Peng Clan.

“Block them!”

“Break through! Keep pounding!!”

The huge group of martial artists who had attacked the Hebei Peng Clan showed their teeth and laughed. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“You foolish bastards! As expected, you’re not running away!”

The Hebei Peng Clan did not retreat to protect their land.

Thanks to that, the members of the Peng Clan fell one by one on the cold ground.

The death of their kin made the martial artists of the Peng Clan feel anger, but on the other hand, it brought despair.

On the other hand, the invaders laughed and laughed again.

They didn't care much even if their comrades next to them died.

“What’s with this bastard? He was blabbering about how his skills were not inferior to the Peng Clan, but he died first? You fool!”

“Kekeke! Since the number of mouths has decreased, our share has increased!”

“Kyakakaka! Push them! Cut off all the necks of the Peng Clan bastards!”

“There’s a wench over there too!?”

“Leave the wench alive and kill all the rest!”

The brave female martial artists of the Peng Clan felt an indescribable shame, humiliation, and fear at the lewd gazes of the men directed at them.

“Get lost! You bug-like bastards!”

“Try to struggle more! Seeing you resist makes me even more excited down here?”

“Ugh…!”

The daughters of the Peng Clan couldn't even swing their swords properly in fear greater than death.

“If only the Fierce Tiger Iron Sword were here at a time like this…!”

The martial artists of the Peng Clan sighed in regret.

The Fierce Tiger Iron Sword was the strongest force that the Peng Clan possessed.

Their absence was keenly felt.

“Clan Head! At this rate, we will all die! We must retreat!”

The elders who were leading the martial artists at the forefront of the battle shouted with the feeling of vomiting blood.

“I…”

Peng Sogeon’s hand, which was holding his sword, trembled.

The tide of the war had been flowing unfavorably for the Peng Clan from the beginning.

In the surprise attack of the unknown brutes, most of the Peng Clan martial artists had been killed without even being able to swing their swords properly.

After that, the number of martial artists had been gradually decreasing due to the blades of the brutes that were rushing in like a flood.

Although the external masters who were staying as guests of the Peng Clan were helping, even that was not a great help.

“What about the other sects in Hebei? What happened to the Martial Alliance?”

“There is no news. The attack happened just a moment ago…”

The land of Hebei is vast.

No matter how nimbly they moved, there was no faction that could immediately send support to the Peng Clan.

Moreover, the opponent was a brute with a huge number and power, enough to surround the huge estate of the Peng Clan.

“Clan Head!”

The elder’s voice pierced Peng Sogeon’s ears, who was contemplating.

“People come first! If not a single bloodline of the Peng Clan is left on the land of the Peng Clan, what’s the use of all this!?”

“…The Third Elder is right. Tell all the Peng Clan members to retreat to the inner quarters right now!”

The clan head’s order was given.

He rang the alarm bell of the Peng Clan, which had been well-managed with great care every day but had never been rung.

Clang— clang—!!

As the sound of the bell was heard, the martial artists of the Peng Clan who were blocking the men in black at the forefront shouted in unison.

“The alarm bell has rung!”

“Retreat!”

“Retreat immediately!”

As the martial artists of the Peng Clan began to retreat all at once as if by agreement, the eyes of the men in black became fierce.

“Don’t let them go! Kill them all!”

They flashed their eyes, which were stained with killing intent and madness, and swung their swords and sabers wildly.

In the slashes that flew in from all directions, the Peng Clan members who were slow or injured lost their lives one by one.

“Go quickly!”

“First Elder! It’s dangerous!”

“It’s an order! Don’t mind me and retreat!”

The First Elder of the Hebei Peng Clan, Peng Wiyeom, gripped his sword and faced the men in black who were rushing at him like wild dogs.

“This is the land of the Peng Clan. You damn bastards who deserve to be torn to shreds!”

“Kill that old man first!”

The men in black rushed in from all directions like hungry wild dogs that had found their prey.

Peng Wiyeom supported his sword on his shoulder and took a deep breath.

“How—dare you!”

With a loud roar, Peng Wiyeom’s sword fell from the sky to the ground.

At that moment, a slash with tremendous power cut the men in black who were rushing at the forefront in two.

“Damn it! This old man is a master!”

“He’s an elder of the Hebei Peng Clan!”

“You damn bastards! You fight first! We’ve been fighting at the front until now!”

“You’re talking nonsense!”

A dispute broke out among the men in black in front of Peng Wiyeom.

‘Something is strange.’

Peng Wiyeom felt a kind of incongruity in the attitude of the men in black in front of him.

‘They’re not united.’

The most important thing in a war is the unity of the organization.

It was the first condition of victory to become one body and one mind and fight against the enemy.

But these people were different.

They were not united as if they had met for the first time today, and they were moving according to their own thoughts and judgments.

The only thing that moved them was desire.

“The one who cuts off that old man’s head and kills him will be the first to take the wealth of the Hebei Peng Clan!”

At the shout of a man who had appeared from somewhere, a poisonous light appeared in the eyes of the men in black.

“That bastard is mine!”

“Get lost! I’ll kill him first!”

‘Is their goal just the wealth of the main family!?’

Peng Wiyeom gritted his teeth, blocking the attacks of the rushing men in black.

The blades that had stabbed in from the blind spots he had not noticed had created large and small wounds on his body.

Nevertheless, Peng Wiyeom did not retreat.

‘Not… yet!’

He had to buy as much time as possible for his kin to escape safely.

‘Their individual skills are insignificant. I have to hold them back as much as possible here!’

Peng Wiyeom shouted generously, pouring out his internal energy without reservation.

“I am the First Elder of the Hebei Peng Clan, Peng Wiyeom! Who will take my head!”

The soaring strong ki cut the man in black who had rushed in without knowing anything, along with his blade, in two.

Peng Wiyeom, who was moving forward, cutting the men in black into pieces, followed the man who had incited the men in black just a moment ago with his eyes.

‘I have to catch that bastard!’

The one who was leading the disunited wild dogs.

Peng Wiyeom threw himself, taking the blades that were flying at his shoulder.

‘Anyway, I will die here.’

From the moment he had remained on the battlefield for his kin, Peng Wiyeom had given up on his life.

Peng Wiyeom, who had started his last run, pushing through the killing intent of the enemies that were pouring down like a rainstorm, finally stood in front of the man.

“Tsk…! Can’t you even take care of one old man?”

“You’re coming with me!”

“As expected of the Hebei Peng Clan. Your spirit is admirable.”

The man sneered, looking at Peng Wiyeom’s sword that was falling on his head.

“But the problem is that you’re stupid.”

Thud—!!

Peng Wiyeom’s sword stopped in the empty air.

“Keuleok…!”

Peng Wiyeom, who had vomited blood from his mouth, brought the hand that was not holding the sword to his chest and fumbled.

A cold sensation was felt at the tip of his finger.

It was a spear.

A long throwing spear that had flown through the men in black.

‘No… don’t think… do what you have to do!’

Peng Wiyeom raised his sword again.

His gaze was fixed on the man.

But the second spear that flew in next pierced Peng Wiyeom’s neck.

“Keok…!”

In the end, Peng Wiyeom’s sword could not be swung.

The man, who was looking at the dead Peng Wiyeom, who couldn't even fall down with two spears embedded in him, as if he were a decoration, shrugged one shoulder and said.

“The spear has rusted a lot. To think that it couldn't even kill an old man like this in one go.”

“Hmph! Don’t look down on the Peng Clan. They are one of the five pillars of the Five Great Families of the world.”

“I don’t know. I don’t think the word five pillars can be used anymore.”

The man who had appeared with five spears did not bother to answer the man’s words.

As he had said, the Hebei Peng Clan was collapsing.

On their land.

In their house.

The man looked back at the land of the Peng Clan that they had trampled on and said.

“Take everything you want, and burn all the rest. So that the Hebei Peng Clan in the land of the Central Plains…”

A flame flickered in front of his eyes.

“As if it never existed in the first place.”

***

“My goodness…”

Peng Ohyun and the members of the Fierce Tiger Iron Sword, who had belatedly returned to the main family, slowly walked into the estate of the Hebei Peng Clan, which had been reduced to ashes, with dazed faces.

There was nothing left.

The small garden where children had been playing just a few days ago.

The training ground where they had trained their martial arts, shedding blood and sweat.

The numerous old houses and buildings that held the history of the Hebei Peng Clan.

Now, there was no longer any trace that the Hebei Peng Clan had existed here.

The only thing left was the ashes that had been burned black and the pungent smell of burning coming from somewhere.

“No… no…”

“…”

The one who was at a loss for words was also Yeom Yoa, who had rushed to help the Hebei Peng Clan with the disciples of the Four Divine Daoist Temple.

She followed Peng Ohyun with her mouth tightly shut.

Peng Ohyun’s body, which had been continuing his bewildered steps, stuttering, stopped abruptly.

“Ah.”

His open mouth and even his trembling pupils stopped.

What was placed in front of him was something that he could not understand even though he was looking at it with his own two eyes.

And Yeom Yoa, who had discovered that something, following Peng Ohyun, covered her mouth with one hand and stopped the disciples of the Four Divine Daoist Temple who were following her with the other.

“Stop!!”

At Yeom Yoa’s sharp shout, the disciples of the Four Divine Daoist Temple stopped in their tracks in surprise.

“Don’t… come any closer. From here on… I will go alone.”

Yeom Yoa, who had finished her words one-sidedly, looked at the hill in front of her with a face that could not believe it.

It was an artificially created black mountain.

Made by piling up corpses.

A mountain of ashen corpses.

***

“I heard the Hebei Peng Clan bastards ran away, leaving their own estate.”

“They really tucked their tails and ran? Hahaha! You fools!”

“It’s a shame… if we had gone, the rest of them wouldn’t have been able to run away.”

“Don’t worry. The day when we will completely crush the noses of the proud Five Great Families is not far off.”

“Let’s kill the men and leave the wenches alive to use as playthings.”

The more than two hundred men in black filled their stomachs with the food they had plundered from a nearby village and looked at the women who were imprisoned in a roughly made prison with lewd eyes.

“So how long are we supposed to just watch those wenches?”

“How should I know? Damn it! I can’t take it anymore!”

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think!”

The man who had stood up, grabbing his crotch, licked his lips with his tongue and approached the wooden prison.

Inside it, the scared young or young women were holding each other and trembling in fear.

“It’s okay to taste one or two wenches, right? Let’s see… this wench is the most delicious-looking? Hey! You!”

The woman, whose eyes had met the man’s call, trembled all over and bowed her head deeply.

“You bitch! Do you want to die?”

“P-please save me…”

“I’ll save you, so come out quickly! Before I burn all the rest to death!”

“Sob… sob…”

As the chosen woman approached, limping, for the sake of the others, the man’s lust boiled even more.

“It’s a shame, but… I’ll be satisfied with this wench for today…”

The man looked at a young man standing next to the wooden prison with a puzzled face.

‘When did he come?’

The man asked, raising one corner of his eye.

“Who are you?”

“Me?”

The young man asked, pointing at himself.

The face that was revealed was so handsome that even a man’s eyes would turn.

“What kind of man… who are you? What’s your affiliation? I’ve never seen a guy like you.”

The young man who had been asked smiled brightly and then said, drawing a flying sword from his bosom.

“Me? Jin Sohyun.”

(End of Chapter)