"S-stop them! Stop!"
The black-robed swordsmen surged forward in unison, lowering their stances.
A deep red plum blossom seemed to bloom among them.
This overwhelming sight struck fear even into those unfamiliar with the name of Mount Hua. A chilling aura, sharp as a blade, enveloped the pirates.
"U-ughhh!"
The ones at the front swung their weapons wildly. Despite the panic, the pirates' harpoons, renowned for their swiftness and sharpness, lived up to their reputation.
Yet, before their attacks could fully land, a sword would flash like lightning, striking them down.
Chaaang!
A sharp metallic sound pierced the air as the harpoon was knocked skyward.
'Kuak!'
Just as the pirate gritted his teeth, attempting to retrieve the harpoon swiftly—
Swish!
A sword darted in from behind like a ray of light.
'What is this?'
By the time he realized, it was already too late. His eyes widened in shock.
Puak! Puak! Puak!
In an instant, three sword blades pierced his body.
"Grrk…"
The pirate's body trembled. At that moment, pain was overshadowed by the question of 'how?'
Of course, it was natural to coordinate with one's comrades. Didn't they also strive to attack efficiently by observing the changing surroundings?
But this was beyond that level.
The moment the swordsman in front raised his weapon, a sword was already flying in from behind. Suppose the movements of the one in front had deviated even slightly from expectation. In that case, the sword might have struck their comrades, too.
How could they attack with such precision? What did they even believe in?
'Insane… bastards…'
His thoughts couldn't continue.
Paaat!
A sword slashed deeply into his chest. Without sparing a glance at the fallen pirate, the swordsmen of Mount Hua pressed forward.
Paaat!
Paaat!
The swords sliced through the air, one after another.
There were no flashy changes. No dazzling swords moving around. The swords swung by the swordsmen of Mount Hua moved without any waste, only to cut off the pirates' breath.
The Mount Hua disciples, with their expressionless, hardened faces and extremely efficient sword techniques, were surprisingly pressuring the pirates.
"Block them! Clothe them all! There are just a few of them! Block the remaining ones here so they cannot land anymore!"
As the pirates who had occupied Plum Blossom Island retreated hesitantly, one of the pirate elders shouted out.
"Push them with the water and drive them to the edge of the place! Do not give them ground to step on!"
In theory, it might have been a good strategy to implement. But wasn't a strategy only meaningful when it was carried out perfectly to the end?
"Samae!"
"Yes."
Tat. Tat. Tatatatatar!
Before Baek Cheon could finish speaking, Yu Yiseol began to move. The sound of her kicking her feet turned faster and faster, and soon, she turned into lightning and rushed in front of the Mount Hua line.
"Eik!"
"Die!"
The pirates who saw her flying like a ghost were startled and swung their harpoons. No, they tried to swing their harpoons.
At that moment.
Paat!
Yu Yiseol accelerated twice as fast as she had initially moved and arrived right in front of the pirates who had pulled their harpoons back to attack.
No, from the pirates' perspective, it was a dramatic movement that was more appropriately described as 'appeared' rather than 'arrived'.
And her core was faster than their feet.
Before the pirates could even show their surprise, the sword cut through the space and cut them all down in one go.
Ptttt!
Blood splashed out like a fountain from the wounds. The entire front row collapsed in an instant.
"Cover!"
But, as if to prove they had been through countless battles, the pirates immediately stepped on the backs of their fallen comrades and leaped to attack Yu Yiseol.
"No can do."
At that moment, a man rose from behind Yu Yiseol, creating dozens of sword forms in the air, sweeping away the pirates.
"Acccck!"
"Accck!"
The pirates screamed and were thrown back as they were struck by the sword qi that appeared out of thin air.
Yoon Jong, who had crushed the pirates targeting Yu Yiseol with a single sword, kicked the ground as soon as he landed, rushing to assist the sago, who was already running ahead.
Yu Yiseol straightened her body and charged into the pirates, beginning to swing her sword as if dancing.
Swisssh!
The sword, swinging gracefully in the air, pierced the pirates' bodies here and there.
Sash! Slash! Slash!
The one whose thigh was cut screamed and fell, and the one whose neck was cut held his neck and collapsed. However, their situation was far better than those whose hearts were torn apart by a single sword.
"D-Die, you wench!"
A harpoon filled with qi exploded and hurled towards Yu Yiseol's head. Instead of retreating, she took another step towards the harpoon.
And then, an amazingly swift sword!
Slash!
Her sword cut the wrist of the pirate holding the harpoon.
Slash!
Her sword, which immediately rose up in reverse as if twisting, cut off his elbow as well.
And then.
Kwaang!
The moment her sword finally struck the harpoon, the harpoon, filled with qi, lost its direction and flew towards another harpoon aimed at Yu Yiseol.
Crack! Crack!
The harpoon, which easily pierced a person's body without losing its force, continued to stab the person behind. The pirates, hit by the harpoon and skewered, collapsed with eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
In the blink of an eye, three sword strikes completely crushed their tactics.
Her movements didn't stop for a moment.
Slash.
Red blood gushed out from the throat of the pirate who was hit.
Yu Yiseol, who had cut off the head cleanly, lowered her form as if she were going to crouch. She bent down so that her body almost touched the ground, spun around like a top, and successively split open the knees of the pirates rushing at her.
"Ack! Ackkkk!"
"M-My legs! My legs!"
Swish!
Yu Yiseol, spinning around as if sweeping the floor, bounced up and swung her sword in three swift attacks. She pushed the hesitant pirates back, glanced ahead with an indifferent look, and flew to the side like a swallow skimming across the water.
At the same time, a black shadow flew to where her body had been.
Paaat!
Soon, this sharp sword, which was beyond comparison to 'lightning,' pierced the necks of the pirates in front.
Slash!
The sharp metal blade cut through the soft human flesh, and the sound of bones cracking followed. Before the sound could fully resonate, the sword, which had been retrieved, pursued those who had retreated.
Cold eyes, firmly shut lips.
Tang Soso's expression was now difficult to describe with any one word other than belonging to a real swordsman. Her sword swelled in an instant and swept ahead.
At that moment, the pirates had to feel the opposite. What kind of sight must those fighting pirates have seen? Dozens of sword forms shot out from the tip of her sword as if dozens of enemies were cutting them down.
"Accck!"
Those who couldn't dodge were helplessly swept by the sword qi. The pirates, whose bodies were riddled with holes the size of a child's foot, collapsed on the spot, bleeding.
Yu Yiseol, Yoon Jong, Tang Soso.
Those three created a clear crack in the dense, forest-like formation of the pirates.
"Push ahead!"
The swordsmen of Mount Hua rushed into the cracks the three had made as if it were a given.
The pirates, still reeling from the shock of the sword form and sword qi, were brutally attacked by the Mount Hua swordsmen who had rushed in.
A desperate scream of fear filled the air over Plum Blossom Island.
The swordsmen ran without changing their expressions, focused solely on taking the lives of the pirates. The pirates, completely overwhelmed by their momentum, instinctively kept retreating.
"S-stop them! You damn bastards! Do not back down and stop them!"
The elder giving orders turned pale.
They had already proven their skill against the Namgung family. Wasn't suppressing the opponent by pushing a group into a limited space one of the pirates' strengths?
But such tactics were not working on this sect at all.
Because they were strong?
Nonsense!
They had already fought against the Emperor's Sword of the Namgung family. No matter how strong these young warriors were, could they be as strong as them?
But the scene unfolding before the elder's eyes now was so different from when he had fought the Namgung family.
He couldn't even believe the sight, but he understood the cause of all this more clearly.
'What on earth did they do to be like this?'
They didn't seem to be fighting like the Justice faction sects at all.
It was ridiculous, but these bastards were used to fighting. They knew how to fight when groups of people clashed at once.
Perhaps even more than the pirates, who were known to fight countless wars.
They looked like worn-out veteran warriors who had fought a hundred wars.
What was even more terrifying was that there was no hesitation in the swords of those bastards. They did not even have a single hair on their faces to show their manliness, yet the hands moving the swords showed no hesitation in taking lives.
What else could you call those insane warriors if not Sword Demons?
"You morons! Don't try to kill them; just hold your ground! Just once! Just once, stop their force!"
In a fight between a few, skill was the deciding factor, but in a fight between many, morale and momentum were the deciding factors. If they could stop their feet just once, it wouldn't be impossible to crush them later with the advantage of numbers.
"Get in line! Use the corpses of those in front of you as shields to hold on! They will definitely get exhausted!"
If that lofty momentum was broken once, Mount Hua would also showcase its weakness of being short in number. So, just once, they had to tie their feet.
The pirates who heard the elder's order gritted their teeth and pressed their shoulders against their comrades. They planned to defend as firmly as possible and first defend where they stood.
But their misfortune was… that Mount Hua wasn't the only one who had set foot on Plum Blossom Island.
Swish! Swish!
"What?"
"That is…?"
Green pouches flew one after another over the heads of the pirates who had braced their formation to increase their defense.
And after a while.
Pung! Boom!
The black poison that gushed out as the pouches burst covered the heads of the densely packed pirates.
"P-Poison!"
"Ahhh! Fucking bastards!"
"Cough! Cough! My b-breath…!"
Finally, Tang Gunak, who had stepped onto the ground of Plum Blossom, gritted his teeth and let out a roar.
"It is time to take revenge for the Namgung family! Do not let a single one of them off this island alive!"
"Yes!"
The warriors of the Sichuan Tang family followed the Mount Hua sect. The pouches that came out of their sleeves burst one after another over the heads of the pirates who had just remade their formation, throwing out poison.
They were so densely packed together that they had nowhere to retreat or go, and they couldn't even think of evading, so they were hit by the poison and grabbed their throats.
"Grrrrk!"
Blood was bubbling out of their mouths. Some were rolling their eyes back and collapsing, while others madly scratched their throats until they bled.
It was the very essence of the poison.
The moment the Tang family confronted the pirates, a man struck from the forefront of Mount Hua.
KWAAANG!
Baek Cheon cut down and blew away five pirates with his sword, accurately capturing the attention of the Namgung family survivors beyond the pirates.
"I will open the way! Follow me with the determination to die!"
"Yes!"
Baek Cheon, furious at the situation, charged ahead. Mount Hua's swordsmen and Tang family's warriors followed him with high spirits.
Mount Hua and the Tang family.
The two sects, which were the pillars of the Heavenly Friends Alliance, first revealed their power to the world on the Yangtze River.
For anyone living in the murim world, anyone who had ever held the ideals of Harmony and Justice in their hearts, this was a sight that would make their hearts tremble and shiver in awe.
But across the river, there was a man who couldn't help but tremble at this sight. The entire body of this man shook.
"… how…"
The eyes of Shaolin's abbot were filled with shock and disbelief.