Chapter 330

The Green Forest has spread its influence all across the Central Plain, and boy, are there a lot of them.

And there are quite a few masters hidden in there, which has resulted in a mishmash of martial arts techniques.

By that alone, they could be recognized as one of the prominent forces in the Central Plain, you know?

But the unfortunate reality is, they can’t quite manage that.

First off, they’re a lowly bunch of bandits, a gang of villains, and then there’s the unique fatal flaw of the Green Forest itself.

A wise person wouldn’t have to resort to banditry.

Put another way, if you’re the kind of fool who resorts to banditry, it means you’re either born rotten or you’re just not smart enough to stay out of trouble, which ultimately means you’re plain old rotten.

And wisdom often comes hand in hand with intelligence.

Of course, that’s not always the case, but generally speaking, that’s how it goes.

“So, beep beep beep beep, attention, beep beep, oh wait, right, beep, is that left? Beep beep beep beep beep, um, what was that, or was it?”

“Is that beep beep the right side? Or beep beep isn’t it?”

“Damn it, can’t you just shout beep beep beep right! If your ears are open, you should hear everything without memorizing all this junk!”

Signal flags and hand signals are sneaky but suffer from the drawback that you have to see them,

while sound signals like flutes and drums are noisy but have the advantage of providing information as long as you keep your ears open.

However, both have a major flaw: the sender and receiver must memorize the pre-agreed signal system,

which makes teaching such a pain!

“Dammit! You blockheads! This won’t do!”

So, the signal system of the Green Forest got simplified to the point of being laughable.

Even the most crucial signals for an ambush or a call for help—like “big trouble, please help!”—got dumbed down.

“Just blow that thing like your life depends on it! Make it so that anyone hears it knows something big is going down!”

And so, ever since Qing started the Moonlight Sword’s first strike, the shrill sound of the flute echoed continuously,

even if fighters tend to get numb to the noise, it still annoyed and disturbed the bandits lounging around.

“Who the heck is blowing that horn?”

“Looks like someone’s bored.”

“C’mon, does nobody sleep at night? What about those who do sleep during the day? They deserve some consideration too!”

Originally, the daytime guard duty in the Green Forest followed an ancient tradition where the senior member sleeps while the junior member keeps it quiet.

So, shouldn’t they be considerate and let those napping have their peace?

Like, which idiot is disrupting their sleep?

Thus, it took quite a while for them to realize that it was an emergency signal.

The guards furrowed their brows, thinking it sounded like something coming from the direction of the Yulnak Peak—who was up there, and what were they like?

Then, all of a sudden.

“Wait a minute, isn’t that an emergency signal? Is the enemy attacking?”

“Huh? That can’t be. Who’d be bored enough…”

Beep!

The senior bandit’s face turned pale.

“Damn it, something must be going down. What do we do? What should we do?”

“Should we ring the bell?”

“What if it’s nothing? No, ring it. But I have no clue.”

“Um, I’ll first see what’s going on-”

“You idiot, are you going to sit there? Ring it immediately! Or do you want me to knock your head off?”

And so, the guard bell rang, clanging loudly, “Gather ’round! What’s all this ruckus, trying to get yourself killed? No wait, did I hear a flute? A flute? What’s a flute?”

Holy crap, something must be going down!

If you received the signal, you have to respond that you did receive it—either with a yes or no.

Unless there’s an unavoidable circumstance, you can’t say no to a request, so obviously, you need to send back a signal that you’ll be there.

And hence, the warning went off.

Bang!!!

The sound was painful just to hear.

In that moment, everyone instinctively huddled up in pain.

Even the poor guy blowing that flute was momentarily dazed, staring at the showdown between man and nature.

But times were still primitive and uncivilized.

It was too early for humans to triumph over nature.

Humans had yet to conquer nature, obliterating forests, toppling mountains, raising temperatures on the ground, despoiling greenery into vast deserts, and whatnot.

“Nature, behold human greatness! If you don’t listen, the ecosystem dies. Just the other day, I raised sea temperatures by two degrees due to a tsunami. If you care about the environment, low temperatures and obey humans.”

That aggressive environmentalism still had a while to go.

In any case, the result? Um. A stalemate?

The Great Lord hung limply, but from the looks of it, he wasn’t dead yet.

And since the rock was unharmed, it seems this contest ended in a mutual survival stalemate.

With that, Qing, who suddenly garnered everyone’s attention, instinctively denied it.

“I—I swear I didn’t do it. You all saw it, right? The guy was running like a coward and tripped over himself like an idiot. I didn’t push him! I’m not the guy who shoots blasts out of my hands, well, I do shoot them, but this time, I didn’t! It’s not like I was even looking to kill him! Just wanted a distraction until I could pull out—”

“Young Master!”

The Deputy Lord, snapped back to reality from his mumbled words, hurriedly rushed to the Great Lord’s side.

Seeing the Great Lord’s head hanging like a mountain, Qing quickly waved them off.

“Wait! His neck is dislocated! If you touch him, he’ll die! We need to brace it and carry him out carefully.”

Qing was a skilled physician acknowledged by the master physician of all people.

If a master physician acknowledged you, you were good enough for the job compared to some random village doctor.

But since the sentiments of the Central Plain didn’t favor women, even a skilled female physician like Qing wouldn’t be recognized as a physician.

Thus, a female physician only earns recognition among the people when they exceed certain standards, like Tang Nan-ah of the Sicheon Tang Family.

In any case, hearing that he might just die, the Deputy Lord quickly put the Great Lord down.

The Great Lord’s crown was bulging out like a mountain, ridiculous as hell. He needed attention fast.

The Deputy Lord, in a rush, asked,

“Oh, um, what do we need for the brace?”

“That’s up to you. Do I have to do everything? What do you think this is, a buddy-buddy thing?”

“Wait, but actually—”

“Ugh! I’m so done with this. Why can’t you figure anything out on your own? What do you think I’m here for, to babysit you? I’m over it! This ends here—”

“Wait! Just listen—”

“Warriors solve things with swords! I’ll teach you how to stabilize a brace with my sword! Keep your ears open! Sword up, lady, up!”

As Qing shouted that, preparing to step up,

Beep-!

An unfamiliar, bizarre sound pierced through Qing’s ears.

It was the sound of a unique arrow, called a “signal arrow,” which makes a noise from a whistle-like device attached at its tip instead of a traditional arrowhead, or has air blown through a hollow shaft to make a whistling sound.

What the heck? This feels wrong—

Beep-! Beep-! Beep-! Beep-!

Before Qing could finish her thoughts, all around, noises exploded from every direction, threading together like a spinning top.

Qing loosened her stances as if she was about to run.

“Um, just checking, but is that something similar to a flute? A sky net? Coming this way?”

“Y-yeah! Save the Young Master now! If you do, maybe we can save our own lives—”

“Lady. Guess this is for real.”

There were too many sounds to ignore.

And weren’t they coming from all sides?

At this rate, there was a real threat of being swarmed by hundreds.

Unfortunately, the fun had to end here; she couldn’t even get a proper feast going before it had to wrap up.

Qing made up her mind just like that.

Strategic counter-offensive was necessary!

Qing sprang backward.

At that moment, the Deputy Lord yelled out in a panic.

“Damn it! Grab her!”

Qing picked up a skewer lying on the ground.

It’s back! The Moonlight Sword!

Qing brandished the Moonlight Sword (Ten Ho), slicing down an advancing bandit.

It cleanly severed the body with the sheer weight of the weapon, which felt like five bunches of sheer brute force.

Five bunches might sound modest, but in terms of a cold weapon, that’s an absurd weight.

Even the giant two-handed broadswords the flat-nosed people of the Western Regions wielded are barely over four。

Yet here’s Qing swinging a five-bunch long weapon with one hand!

Add in the Sword Aura, and it amounted to unrestrained, violent might, screaming through the air.

If your arm gets caught, your arm goes; if your leg gets caught, your leg goes; if your torso gets caught, well, you guessed it.

Even the weapons got sliced right through, and the poor sap wielding an axe got cut in half along with it.

Wow, what’s making this slice so easy?

What’s the matter, grandfather’s weapon said he wouldn’t make anymore or something, yet here’s some hidden talent popping out!

With each clean slice, a quirky joy filled the air as well.

Just simple actions of slashing down and cutting upward.

One bandit swayed, slightly staggering before the relentless strikes shred his arm to bits.

Chop, chop, chop, chop. The sight of slender human forms piling up on the ground resembled some eerie exhibit.

This is just—wow, really. Phew, whew.

Qing suddenly got dizzy for a moment.

Something flew in from above; the sensation filled her surroundings, enveloping her—uh, where to dodge?

Strong, fierce Qi sliced through the air.

Splitting sounds echoed as something caught on her.

But wait, as it all wrapped around her, a familiar feeling emerged; lady, it’s a net.

But Qing wasn’t the same girl who struggled when caught in a net in the past.

Now, she ripped through the net before diving into a bandit’s approach, making sure to hurt his shoulder before he could label his victory.

But it was bothersome.

Every time she moved, the sound of something snapping resonated, but the sticky net was firmly stuck, catching everything in its path.

Stepping heavily, her next foot got caught in the net.

Suddenly, a force yanked hard on her shoulder—her own brutal strength pulling at her shoulder.

Wobbling, she barely held herself up, still breaking free from the net as another object flew at her back.

With a crash, something heavy splattered liquid down her back.

What is it! It’s unpleasant, what is it? What the heck!

Seeing her vision clouding over, Qing thought,

What the heck are these guys throwing at me?

Qing, having dropped her sword, began furiously tearing at the net with both hands.

She tugged at the tightly twisted netting with a fierce effort, like plucking weeds from the ground.

“Damn it! Throw more nets!”

“We don’t have any!”

“Why not! Shouldn’t we have three to carry?”

According to regulations, every patrol crew should carry three nets, but nets are generally heavy stuff.

Carrying three nets would just draw laughter rather than being suited for military gear in Qing’s hometown.

“Attack! Just attack!”

“But—”

Where Qing was ripping away the net, the area was awash with dismembered human remains.

It was a sight no one dared to approach; truly horrific.

“Everyone, just charge in!”

The Deputy Lord yelled and dashed forward.

He had the spirit.

But there were no followers behind him.

Qing thought, yeah, this is what bandit loyalty amounts to, huh?

But the Deputy Lord was unaware.

From atop the broadsword and wielding a masterful technique, an elite martial artist charged down toward Qing with everything he had.

The one ripping the net, grew a graceful hand to wave and sunshine filled the room for the Deputy Lord.

Yes! I’ll cut that hand right off!

In that brief moment before the sword struck Qing, it was as if the Great Chief’s declaration echoed in his ear.

Did he promise anything? The upper patrolman? Would that kid claim independence with his crew, maybe gold and silver? His daughter was a beauty, right?

But just as quickly as that happy vision formed, it broke.

Crash!

The Deputy Lord’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The strike of the pinnacle swordsman’s broadsword sliced threw the heavy limbs, slipping down the forearm as sparks flew.

Finally, the heartbeat stopped.

That natural motion of reaching to slash at another’s blade should’ve made me realize it without a moment’s hesitation.

And then came the grip of the Han holding his wrist tight.

The Deputy Lord looked at Qing with trembling eyes.

Qing also directed her unnaturally shiny and menacing gaze at the Deputy Lord.

Beyond the net, facing the most ominous eyes imaginable, the Deputy Lord shouted,

“Aaaah!!”

In an instant, a brutal grip squeezed down on his wrist.

Nearly unconsciously, a scream broke free.

If she had the strength to bend iron, how could his mere flesh and bones hold?

Qing’s fingers curled completely around.

The sensation of flesh oozing out from between her fingers tickled in a way—ah, the world!

Down fell the Deputy Lord’s broadsword, and next to it, his severed arm rolled away.

With a pitiful scream, he clutched his crushed stub and shrieked as the bandits scattered in a panic, turning tail in unison.

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