Chapter 347

First, let’s take stock of the situation.

Qing digs his fingers into the riverbed and pushes deeper.

By the time he’s about in the middle of the river, it feels like his airways are twisting and turning from the lack of breath.

Qing’s head pops up above the dark river water.

Huff, huff, huff, his oxygen-deprived brain is gasping for air.

“Find him! Hurry up! Bring him back alive!”

Across the river, Wang Cheol-gun is flailing about like a madman.

Qing waves his arms and turns his body.

And on the shores of the Green Forest-

“Search for Seomun Qing! He must be badly injured and drifting away! If you rescue him, all rewards will be yours!”

A guy with a goat-like beard yells at the top of his lungs.

Qing is perplexed.

What gives this guy the right to order others around when he can’t even muster a strong voice?

But funny enough, suddenly, the bandits of Green Forest charge in with the courage of elite warriors, leaping into the river with a raucous cheer that shakes the waters.

What is this, a public swimming pool?

It’s half people, half water; the river is about to overflow.

Qing takes a deep breath.

His lungs swell, and, oof, pain shoots through his side, where the hammer might’ve hit him.

Ugh, I have no idea how bad my wound is right now.

His head submerges again.

He digs his fingers into the riverbed and vigorously pushes, moving forward one push at a time.

Bong!!

Qing crashes his crown into something hard.

A little bubble escapes from his nose.

He was focused on the riverbed and ended up headbutting a rock, giving himself a nasty headache.

Not just breath, but tears start to slip out, too.

In the pitch dark of night, he can’t see a thing thanks to the muddy water of the river.

Had he been able to see, that beautiful, sharp nose would have been broken, so maybe it’s better he just has a bump on his head instead.

Ugh, this hurts like hell.

Qing grimaces as he paddles through the riverbed.

Suddenly, he feels something snag on both shoulders, and then, splash, something falls into the water and slightly pushes him down.

Ugh!

It’s his back that’s being pushed down, but the pressure is really coming from whatever is stuck between him and the riverbed, making him feel a dizzying pain as air escapes his lungs.

Almost instinctively, Qing pushes himself up and nearly emerges from the water up to his waist.

At that moment, the splashing and gasping sounds around turn into the sound of water dropping, and an angry voice emerges from behind Qing.

“Hey! Even if you’re in a hurry, do you really need to knock people over?”

Only then does Qing realize that the thing grabbing his shoulders were someone’s feet.

Those feet shot out like arrows, getting stuck on him, and now they’re pushing down on his back.

Fire blazes in Qing’s eyes.

“It’s you! My enemy from the side!”

Qing’s pale hand dives directly into the bandit’s side and yanks out something long and stringy.

“Ahh!”

The insides are floating in the water now.

Qing has just learned some new knowledge.

“Here! Seomun Qing is—”

But the guy next to him yells and ends up getting hit by the Moonlight Sword, which quickly runs through his throat and out the back.

“Yeah! Seomun Qing’s resurrection! You bastard, ahh!!”

Qing’s triumphant shout trails off into a scream.

He attempts to shoot up from the water but suddenly feels a spark in his brain.

Ah, maybe it’s not just my side that hurts.

It feels as if a searing hot iron skewer is poking through my pelvis.

Qing stumbles and struggles before clenching his teeth and standing again.

He then limps towards the riverbank.

“It’s Seomun Qing! Get him!”

“He’s limping! He’s injured! He’s hurt!”

Catching the injured Seomun Qing would be a life-changing moment!

The red-eyed bandits charge through the water toward him.

But how much faster could they be in the water?

Blades flicker and severed heads float; corpses with their upper bodies split from crown to solar plexus drift in the current.

“Damn! He’s fine!”

At that moment.

“Se-Mun-Qing!!”

A booming voice echoes, shaking the heavens, as a familiar figure approaches.

Uh-oh, that guy is coming at me while he’s stomping through the water, ack.

The light of his eyes is soaring high into the sky, another meteor is falling!

Qing hurriedly dives and sticks to the bottom.

The water barely comes up to his waist, but at night, the dirt floor and water blend to hide him.

And above him is the onslaught of Wang Cheol-gun’s martial arts.

Sky-shattering, great-earth shattering,

The heavy head of the Noble Heavy Staff, descending like a line of destruction, pierces the surface, creating a tremendous explosion.

Splash! An unimaginable noise accompanies waves rising like a massive crown.

If Je-gal Lee-hyun or Sama Chun-bong were present, they would have recognized it right away as “Sky-shattering! Entrance to Demon! It’s a demon’s true identity!”

But Qing, unable to see, absorbs the shock beneath the water.

In an instant, a crushing pressure grips his entire body, and, ugh, a spurt of red blood blooms at his lips.

Thwack, Qing suddenly loses his buoyancy and is thrown against the bottom.

What the heck? Why?

He flips over and springs up, his eyes wide in disbelief, taking in Wang Cheol-gun’s impressive stance with the heavy staff, still buried deep in the muck, posing like a grand show-off.

What happened to my water?

But before he can process that, the flowing river shows no mercy, rising like a vengeful ghost over the raw riverbed again.

Seizing this opportunity, Qing kicks off the ground, yelling, “Ugh! Damn it!” as his left foot lands carelessly, causing him to crash and tumble.

But there’s no time to wallow in pain.

Qing jumps up again, chasing after Wang Cheol-gun.

Then he notices that dozens of bandits are floating down the river.

In his hometown’s lingo, it’s like mines exploding underwater, waterborne devastation.

It’s an attack even more dangerous than an aerial explosion, hitting with pressure that could burst every vein and organ, cutting off one’s breath instantly.

Yet, as is often the case with immense pressures, once you reach a certain level of resilience, the damage decreases exponentially.

Qing’s body is rock solid, the toughest in the world.

So, he avoided major organ ruptures.

But dozens of bandit members who just wanted to “find Qing” met their doom.

That realization sets a fire in Qing’s mind.

His vision swells oddly, and though he can’t quite tell, he sees the blackness of the water and recognizes the floating bodies of bandits.

So they’re done for.

Yeah, if they’re scared of a pincer attack, let’s just make it impossible for them to even try.

“Wow! Bandit extermination! Sudden benevolence! No! I need to go to hell and meet my children!”

“Se-Mun-Qing!”

“Yes! Daddy!”

Wang Cheol-gun’s figure suddenly looms larger.

Not just larger, but right in his face.

As Qing splits into eight shadowy forms, ugh! He stumbles from the sudden pain, and a translucent Qing bursts out, crashing into the nearest bandit.

“Die!”

“Uwah! Wuaah! Waaah!”

Qing bellows, flailing about as Wang Cheol-gun’s heavy staff targets the spot where Qing once stood, crushing the dazed bandit mercilessly.

Needless to say, that bandit’s fate is sealed.

“My dad’s gone mad! He’s killing everyone! Dad! Dad!”

Even while Qing limps, he darts away with incredible speed.

He doesn’t have a specific destination.

Mainly because his vision is blurry and hard to see.

His ears are still ringing, feeling as though submerged in water.

After all, the shock wave has affected him directly through the water, injuring his already sensitive eyes and ears.

But with his poor sight and hearing, his tactile senses are heightened.

What was once a two-step awareness through Awakening Skill now expands wildly.

So, Qing sprints.

The darkness is the night, the ground below is solid, the yellow glow is from torches held by people.

And towards those bandits.

Wherever the bandits have gathered.

With a cacophony piercing his eardrums, he hears not even the screams of the air crackling with tension.

Yet he discerns the trajectory of Wang Cheol-gun’s heavy staff approaching from behind.

Qing leaps as if diving into the water.

His body rolls like a seven-year-old showing off, just barely missing the heavy staff grazing past him.

He tumbles three times like a dancer and, with a flourish, seizes the vague figure before him.

“—!!”

The figure seems to be talking, but Qing can’t make it out.

He pushes the bandit back.

Wang Cheol-gun, charging in like a wild boar, is now just a being of sheer violence.

That sinister side effect from the Entrance, he’s completely lost his sanity.

He’s like a human battering ram crushing anything in his path.

With Qing’s fading vision, he can see the bodies being mutilated.

The heavy hammer cleaves through the waists of men, making him shudder, but he forces himself to laugh it off, finding his will to fight rekindled.

If he’s going to act like that, then why not just use a sword instead of a hammer?

Dad! Dad! In the drowned-out chaos, Qing keeps calling out for his father.

But every time he does, a flood of red flames bursts forth, seeming to convey something.

Qing runs, chased by Wang Cheol-gun.

And the bandits flee alongside them.

“Chief! Get a grip—”

A bandit desperately searching for the Great Chief gets his head shot through, just leaving a torso lying on the ground.

It was a nighttime chase.

The pursuer is Wang Cheol-gun, and the others are the ones fleeing.

The bandits realize now that the Chief is completely gone.

So, when Qing comes charging at them, they scatter in a panic.

Yet even limping, Qing is fast.

He quickly closes the distance, grabbing any sleeve, collar, or even the waistband of bandits and tossing them aside.

Then, Wang Cheol-gun swings his heavy staff.

Some become jerky, some lose their heads, and only the luckiest ones escape, with arms or legs smashed, sprawling on the ground, screaming.

And ahead of Qing is—

“Don’t come any closer! I said don’t!”

Ajan Deok, known for his swiftness, yelled at Qing.

What’s he even panicking about, thinking he can’t defend with martial arts? He’s a trickster who can’t even muster proper excuses.

“Stop! Don’t come here! Please, don’t!”

Busy as he is, Qing can’t quite identify who this is, but hold on—he feels light?

He quickly grasps at Ajan’s ankle tightly and—here comes the human battering ram!

Qing spins thrice and then tosses Ajan Deok towards the soaring Wang Cheol-gun.

“Stay away!”

Ajan’s head crosses paths with Wang Cheol-gun’s thick skull, making a loud thud!

A heartwarming scene where the top two bandits reunite at last.

And thus, the two entwined men crash through the tent’s roof.

Did he nudge a pole? The tent collapses.

Qing finds himself thinking without realizing it.

Did I just take care of him?

Murmuring a forbidden incantation that could revive the dead, the tent heaves, puffing up and—

“Se-Mun-Qing!!”

“Lady, Daddy! I’m over here!”

Qing rushes out again.

And then bang! Whoosh! Don’t come! The Great Chief has lost it, flee, bang! Pow! Crumble.

The Great Chief’s vile deeds are being continuously unraveled.

Though Qing’s virtuous deeds rise alongside.

Now the bandits are all in a hurry to escape.

And if Qing comes following closely behind, they cry out in terror, pleading with him not to come.

It’s not just words; they’re tossing away their most cherished weapons to block him.

Qing’s senses are all-encompassing.

But human consciousness can’t focus on everything at once.

A massive axe suddenly slams into Qing’s forehead.

His head stops while the inertia propels his body forward.

The result of the misalignment between his head and body leaves Qing flying forward on his feet.

And just as he’s about to meet a rugged landing, feeling as if he’s going to scream from the pain—there it is again, in the sky!

“Whoosh.”

As Qing leaps into action, seven others scatter around him, and one particular Qing, with his back down, gets into position behind three others.

Both throw their bodies upward simultaneously.

At that time.

“Cough.”

Wang Cheol-gun stumbles, coughing blood.

It’s not so much he’s vomiting blood, but rather a waterfall cascading out like spilling from an overturned bowl.

Then finally, he drops to one knee on the ground.

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