Chapter 269 — A Mountain of Corpses, a Sea of Blood
In his hand was a short, slender hwandō that looked as though he had taken it from someone else.
Thick red blood clung to the silver blade.
Whenever the tip tilted downward, drops of blood gathered at the end and fell to the floor.
Yelü Zhangnu lost color for the first time.
"No..."
Had he truly brought down that many soldiers alone?
There had not been only personal guards inside.
There had also been the masters Zhangnu had stationed there separately.
They were men who had earned names even within the Liao army, men whom most warriors could not endure for even one exchange.
Yelü Zhangnu looked back.
The guard-warrior Cheon Manseok bit his lip.
"What happened?"
Cheon Manseok looked inside the door, then answered in a low voice.
"It appears they have all fallen."
He stepped forward and blocked Yelü Zhangnu's front.
His stance was firm, but deep caution had settled over his face.
Yeongu let the bloodstained hwandō hang at his side and said,
"I told you. They would all die. So let us stop now. I said I would simply go back. Why do you insist on solving everything by killing people?"
Yelü Zhangnu's mouth did not open easily.
"That, that is..."
Only then did the people gathered in the great hall begin to grasp what had happened.
They had been offering congratulatory words only moments ago.
They looked back and forth between Yelü Zhangnu's face and the bloodstained man standing before the door, then one by one began to retreat.
No one had to go first.
Soon, they forgot the gift boxes and wine cups alike and fled without looking back.
Yelü Zhangnu barely managed to speak.
"You dealt with that many men alone?"
Yeongu answered with a tired face.
"I told you the number is not what matters."
He walked slowly.
The hwandō's tip hung downward, and blood continued to drip from it.
There was no haste in his steps and no excitement.
Rather, he looked like a man utterly exhausted.
"Ah, if you change your mind, let me know. I saw a relay station on the way here. Hang red and blue flags there. Then I will come."
Yelü Zhangnu's face twisted.
"You...!"
At last, he shouted.
"Seize that man and kill him!"
Cheon Manseok took one more step forward.
Then he stopped.
He could not grasp the feeling.
If a man was strong, there should have been a strong aura.
If a man was weak, there should have been openings.
Yet the man before him was neither.
Like water seeping into sand, nothing caught on his sense of qi.
He stood there covered in blood, yet his force did not boil over.
No murderous intent flashed from him, nor was his breathing rough.
He stood as if he were not a man who had just fought over a hundred people, but a traveler who had missed a meal after walking a long road.
Cheon Manseok said quietly,
"Your Highness, it must not be done."
Yelü Zhangnu clenched his teeth.
"You cannot do it either?"
"Yes. I am ashamed."
"Then what are we to do?"
Cheon Manseok lowered himself further.
"He does not appear to intend harm against Your Highness. I believe it is proper to let him leave as he said."
Yelü Zhangnu's hand trembled.
"How can such a thing..."
Cheon Manseok bowed again.
"Your Highness."
For a long while, Yelü Zhangnu glared at Yeongu.
The bloodstained clothes.
The short hwandō in his hand.
The expressionless face.
And beyond the door, his personal guards lying in layers.
All of it forced an answer from him.
At last, Yelü Zhangnu shouted,
"Do it!"
Cheon Manseok answered immediately.
"At once."
He extended one hand toward Yeongu.
"I will guide you out."
Yeongu nodded.
"Thank you."
Cheon Manseok walked ahead and gave a glance.
Three other guards behind him immediately ran into the side room.
They had to check inside and return.
They had to see in Yelü Zhangnu's place the scene he did not wish to see.
What they saw was a scene too dreadful to look at for long.
The personal guards lay layered across the floor and beneath the walls.
Some had collapsed still gripping spears, and some had stiffened while clutching shields.
Those who had been called masters were no exception.
Slashes and stab wounds were mixed together, and blood ran down through the cracks in the floorboards.
Some were still alive, but not one could stand.
Those who still breathed could not make a sound and only blinked their eyes.
One guard held back a retch.
He forced down what rose to his throat and ran back outside.
He approached Cheon Manseok and reported in a low voice.
Cheon Manseok gave a heavy nod.
There was no need to ask more.
He hurriedly guided Yeongu out.
The corridors of the manor felt excessively long.
Lamps burned at every pillar, and in the place where laughter from the birthday feast had existed moments ago, only footsteps remained.
Cheon Manseok did not look back.
Yeongu did not ask anything.
He simply carried the blood-dripping hwandō low and walked slowly.
When they reached the outer gate of the manor, Cheon Manseok stopped.
He stepped aside and opened the way.
"If you go straight along this road, it will lead to the relay station."
"I understand."
Yeongu stepped outside the gate.
The night wind pushed away a little of the smell of blood.
He looked down at the bloodstained hem of his robe, then looked back at Cheon Manseok.
"The flags must be red and blue.
Both must be hung."
"I will convey it."
Yeongu said nothing more.
He held the hwandō upside down and walked into the darkness.
The gate closed quietly behind him.
Cheon Manseok stood before that gate for a long time.
In the face of such martial power, explanations were useless.
Troops, traps, guards, masters — all had collapsed at once.
Exchanging blows was the law of lesser men.
The man who had just passed through stood outside that law.
He was a martial artist of a different order.
If one offended such a man, not merely one army camp but an entire fate could be broken.
Cheon Manseok slowly exhaled.
Then he turned back toward the great hall.
There was only one thing he had to say to Yelü Zhangnu.
For now, they had to withdraw.
They had to live and think of the next move.