Mu-jin, having finished his calculations, dodged the bodyguard’s sword but got another scratch on his right thigh.
*Flash!*
He quickly retreated.
“Running away like a rat!”
As Mu-jin attempted to flee, the bodyguard rushed forward, swinging his sword.
Allowing Mu-jin to escape the pavilion was dangerous. It might have been different if Ryu Seol-ho had already been established as the sure leader, but with witnesses, the situation could get unnecessarily complicated.
The moment the bodyguard lunged forward, Mu-jin, who seemed to be retreating, suddenly charged.
“Tricks!”
The experienced bodyguard anticipated this and swung his sword at the charging Mu-jin.
“!!!”Mu-jin did not dodge the sword strike. Instead, he accelerated.
*Slash!*
Blood spattered from Mu-jin’s left forearm as the sword cut deeper than before, slicing through his skin and into his muscle.
But Mu-jin didn’t care. To seize a single opportunity against a superior opponent, this was a small price to pay.
In exchange for the deep wound on his arm, Mu-jin succeeded in closing the distance for a punch.
Mu-jin’s left fist aimed for the bodyguard’s face.
‘Hmph.’
Despite the sudden situation, the bodyguard didn’t panic and turned his head to dodge the punch. Or so he thought.
*Thud!*
Surprisingly, Mu-jin’s true aim wasn’t his fist. Using his left fist as a feint, he used his forward momentum to shoulder-charge the bodyguard’s chest.
Simultaneously, he grabbed the bodyguard’s leg with his right hand, completely breaking the bodyguard’s balance.
As the bodyguard fell backward, he hastily swung his sword to finish Mu-jin off.
‘When!?’
Mu-jin’s left hand, which had thrown the feint, was now gripping the bodyguard’s right forearm, the one holding the sword.
‘That strike should have incapacitated his muscle!’
Despite the deep wound on Mu-jin’s left forearm, the bodyguard couldn’t move his right arm due to Mu-jin’s extraordinary strength.
*Thud!*
In the midst of their tackle, Mu-jin, now on top of the bodyguard, fell to the ground together.
*Slash!*
The bodyguard managed to create another deep wound on Mu-jin’s back with just a flick of his wrist.
However, the bloodied Mu-jin seemed indifferent to the wound on his back.
In fact, despite being covered in blood, Mu-jin’s eyes burned fiercely.
“Heh heh heh. First time experiencing this?”
The only advantage Mu-jin had over the bodyguard was his external martial arts, which he utilized perfectly in combat.
That advantage was none other than a submission hold.
Mu-jin, mounted on the bodyguard’s upper body, pressed his entire body tightly against him.
In modern times, he would have used the ‘mount position’ to punch the bodyguard in the face, but doing so here might have resulted in his side being pierced by the bodyguard’s sword.
Instead, Mu-jin, completely pressing his body against the bodyguard’s, grabbed the bodyguard’s sword-wielding right hand with his left hand.
With one hand each locked in place, the ensuing struggle for dominance clearly favored Mu-jin.
Mu-jin had the advantage in strength, and a ground-level, mud-slinging fight was unfamiliar territory for the skilled bodyguard.
As they rolled on the ground several times, their hands locked together,
“Krgh!!”
Mu-jin’s right hand, which had somehow entangled all the bodyguard’s limbs with his body, gripped the bodyguard’s neck.
“Did you enjoy playing around?”
Covered in blood, Mu-jin smiled like a malevolent spirit and tightened his grip with his right hand.
The muscles in his blood-soaked right arm bulged, and veins started to pop out.
Feeling as though his neck would snap instantly, the bodyguard desperately circulated his internal energy to his neck and twisted his body.
He had no leeway to divert his internal energy elsewhere. The moment he relaxed his neck, his neck bone would break, resulting in instant death.
But for some reason, despite his superior internal energy, the pressure on his neck only intensified.
This was to be expected.
Internal and external energy create a greater synergistic effect when harmonized.
No matter how advanced the bodyguard’s skills and internal energy were, there was an insurmountable difference between the untrained muscles of his neck and the grip strength Mu-jin had honed over three years.
“Why? Trying to use your sword qi through your neck?”
With Mu-jin’s sneer,
*Crunch!*
The bodyguard’s neck bone shattered instantly.
“Whew.”
The intense pain from countless scratches and the deep wounds on his forearm and back surged, but there was no time to rest.
Completely drenched in blood, Mu-jin dashed towards the banquet hall.
* * *
Shortly after Mu-jin and a servant left the banquet hall,
Some of the warriors surrounding the banquet hall began to exchange secret signals.
– Begin.
Upon receiving the command from one of the warriors, about half of the guards surrounding the banquet hall suddenly employed their body techniques, vaulting over the high walls and leaping into the banquet hall.
“Chase them!”
“What are you doing!”
The startled remaining guards hastily pursued them, but the warriors who had moved first were already closing in on the Ryu family.
Each of them was an expert, their swords and blades emanating powerful auras, moving with unparalleled speed.
As they charged forward, radiating energy from their weapons at an incredible pace, some faces showed confusion, others despair, and a few even dared to hope.
“Amitabha.”
A soft chant echoed.
In that moment, the warriors who had been about to strike the Ryu family suddenly collapsed to the ground.
“!?”
Ryu Seol-ho couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he watched the warriors fall while swinging their weapons in front of him.
Well, it made sense that attacks aimed at him were just part of an act to clear suspicions.
But why did those attacking Ryu Ji-gwang and Ryu Seol-ryong also collapse?
The ones most bewildered were the warriors themselves, who had charged at the Ryu family with their weapons.
‘What is this?’
A powerful force had suddenly appeared, pressing down on them.
The energy was so overwhelming that the auras emanating from their swords faded, and even their high-level martial arts were rendered useless.
Such a powerful force would have caused ordinary people to collapse and cough up blood.
Yet, how was it that Yeon Ga-hee, who had not even practiced martial arts and was quite elderly, remained so calm?
Ryu Ji-gwang resolved the mystery for everyone.
“Thank you, Master Hyun-gwang.”
All eyes turned to the old monk sitting in meditation.
However, Hyun-gwang gave an unexpected reply to Ryu Ji-gwang’s gratitude.
“There are also those in the back who were exchanging secret messages.”
As soon as Hyun-gwang spoke, some of the warriors who had been moving towards the banquet hall suddenly collapsed. These were the ones tasked with rescuing Ryu Seol-ho and cleaning up afterwards.
Thanks to these successive strange phenomena, everyone realized that these events were caused by Hyun-gwang.
But while they understood the source, no one in the room could fathom how Hyun-gwang could accurately bring down only the suspicious individuals in such a large space.
Moreover, overhearing secret communications—what kind of sorcery was that?
Ryu Ji-gwang, deciding to give up on understanding and instead focus on practicality, expressed his gratitude to Hyun-gwang once more before issuing an order.
“Those who can still move, subdue the ones who have collapsed!”
Following Ryu Ji-gwang’s command, the warriors who had regained their composure began to move to subdue the fallen.
At that moment, the door to the banquet hall opened, and Mu-jin, covered in blood, appeared.
“Mu-jin, monk!”
Ryu Seol-hwa’s face turned pale with shock. But rather than fear of the blood, it was worry that came to the fore.
With a pale face, she ran frantically towards Mu-jin, her delicate clothes fluttering in the air.
However, Mu-jin, overwhelmed with urgency, didn’t even hear Ryu Seol-hwa calling out to him.
Instead, despite his dizziness from anemia, he quickly grasped the situation in the banquet hall and realized that Hyun-gwang had already subdued the enemies.
Perhaps relieved that the ordeal was over, he managed to speak.
“Please… capture Ryu Seol-ho, Grandfather.”
As the tension left his body, he nearly collapsed, but Ryu Seol-hwa, who had hurried over, caught him just in time.
“Gal!!!”
Hyun-gwang, who had remained composed until now, suddenly let out a thunderous shout, causing all the warriors who had been sitting to start bleeding from their seven orifices.
But Hyun-gwang’s fierce energy wasn’t only directed at them.
The heavy aura bypassed Mu-jin, Ryu Seol-hwa, and Yeon Ga-hee, leaving them unaffected.
The oppressive energy paralyzed everyone in the banquet hall.
“No one here shall dare to oppress a disciple of Shaolin in my presence.”
Hyun-gwang’s fierce gaze, which seemed capable of inciting fearsome destruction, was fixed on Ryu Seol-ho.
The terrifying pressure of Hyun-gwang’s presence brought a moment of silence to the mansion.
Remarkably, it was Ryu Seol-hwa who broke the eerie silence.
“We need a doctor! Fetch a doctor!”
While she had only supported Mu-jin for a moment, his blood had soaked through her once delicate clothes, now stained red.
In response to her urgent cry, Hyun-gwang turned his gaze from Ryu Seol-ho to look at Ryu Ji-gwang.
‘Phew.’
The moment Hyun-gwang’s gaze fell upon him, the pressure lifted, and Ryu Ji-gwang couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“I will call for a doctor immediately, Master Hyun-gwang.”
Even though he had been threatened in the very heart of the Cheonryu Trading Company, Ryu Ji-gwang neither mentioned it nor showed any anger.
The seasoned Ryu Ji-gwang knew better.
He understood the truth of not provoking an enraged tiger.
‘No, that’s not a tiger.’
It was more like a dragon, and not just any dragon, but one whose reverse scale had been touched.
And, damn it, it might have been his second son who provoked that dragon.
Otherwise, Mu-jin wouldn’t have ended up in this state, mentioning his second son’s name.
‘I can only hope there’s been a misunderstanding.’
With that thought, Ryu Ji-gwang, the head of the trading company, moved to call for a doctor himself.
However, there was no need to go far.
“Surround the banquet hall immediately!”
“What is happening!?”
People from all over the Cheonryu Trading Company’s headquarters, who had been attending to their duties, swarmed into the banquet hall due to the commotion.
Seeing the commotion in the banquet hall where the entire Ryu family was gathered, everyone quickly gathered.
But instead of explaining the situation to each person, Ryu Ji-gwang focused on the most urgent matter.
“Fetch the doctors immediately! Bring all the medicinal herbs we have in stock!”
First and foremost, he needed to calm the dragon’s anger.
Even in the midst of confusion, the quicker-witted individuals promptly followed his orders.
Before long, the doctors employed by the Cheonryu Trading Company rushed into the banquet hall.
“Attend to Mu-jin’s condition.”
At Ryu Ji-gwang’s direction, the doctors approached Mu-jin, who was supported by Ryu Seol-hwa.
The doctors examined Mu-jin, then began applying various medicinal herbs and bandaging his wounds.
“There are no injuries to vital organs or internal damage. Though he has deep wounds on his left arm and back, proper treatment should suffice. However, he has lost a significant amount of blood and will need nourishing food and herbs to recover his energy.”
Hearing the doctors’ report, both Ryu Ji-gwang and Ryu Seol-hwa sighed in relief.
“Prepare a decoction with the herbs to replenish his energy immediately.”
After giving additional instructions to the doctors, Ryu Ji-gwang turned to the guards surrounding the banquet hall.
“Bring the Chief Officer of the Golden Security Bureau here immediately.”
As the highest authority in the trading company responsible for personnel and assignments, it was Ryu Ji-gwang himself.
But he had never issued such orders. The only one who could have done so in his stead was the Chief Officer.
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