Chapter 269: Night in the Inn (5)

The old man lowered his body to pick up the orange tag that the dead man dropped. He then put it into his pocket and raised his body up to stretch his waist. It looked like he had been faking his hunched back and stood straight up.

"I wasted too much time in order to get this."

The old man shook his head. The energy arousing from within him and the air about him changed suddenly and Yang Danwa realized it was dangerous. It was then that the man disappeared into a trace. It was the mirror image technique.

"Ugh!"

Yang Danwa quickly pulled out his blade and swung forward. The old man then appeared in front and backed away to dodge the attack. Yang Danwa glared at the old man as he was getting soaked from the heavy rain. The old man grinned.

"Oh, you are quicker than I thought."

If the raindrop hadn't splashed in front of his eyes, Yang Danwa would not have realized the old man had come for him. The old man was at least stage stronger than Yang Danwa himself.

"Old man... what are you?"

"Me? Hahaha. I'm just an owner of the inn."

"Lies."

There was no way that a mere inn owner can be this powerful. The skin over the old man's face began to flap over the heavy rain.

'Is that a skin mask?'

Even if the mask was highly-skilled in craftsmanship, there was no way it could hold onto the face under this heavy rain. The old man charged at Yang Danwa and Yang Danwa swung his blade to defend.

'The energy's so powerful!'

The energy coming through the old man's finger was tremendous. Yang Danwa was able to defend himself but he was pushed back about five steps. The old man then came in further, attacking in different angles to get Yang Danwa's weak points. Yang Danwa then spun and created a blade barrier to deflect the attack. With sword qi being thrown at him deflected, the old man was already upon Yang Danwa, and came after his forehead.

"Huh?!"

Yang Danwa pulled himself backward in shock and the old man kicked his leg.

"UGH!"

Yang Danwa was thrown off balance and fell to the muddy ground. He then rolled on the ground to dodge the old man's next attack that came down at him. A sharp energy shot past him, almost cutting him in half if he didn't move faster. Danwa then placed his hand on the ground to push him up like a spring and sent blade qi toward the inn.

The blade qi shot past the inn's wall, destroying it on its way. The old man shook his head.

"Hah. So, you are choosing another step."

"Hah... Hah..."

The reason for the blade qi was to wake people up within the inn. Yang Danwa wished for Chun Yeowun to notice the most. The old man scoffed.

"Do you think the weaklings inside will save you? Hahaha. You are just increasing the number of deaths."

"Weaklings? Well... we will see about that."

"You're just bluffing."

The old man then disappeared and divided into two and came at Yang Danwa in different directiosn. His movement was so quick that it looked like there was two of him.

'Which one is it?'

Only one of them was the real one, but none had a weakness. Yang Danwa then focused his energy on the blade to create force qi, and swung it widely to attack both enemies. The first trace that he came into contact with was an illusion. The real attack came from the left.

'Quicker!'

Yang Danwa swung his blade again, but it was too late to defend. The blue sword force qi came across Yang Danwa's blade and couldn't penetrate the heart where it came for, but went through Yang Danwa's left shoulder.

"Aargh!"

Yang Danwa grimaced at the pain. The old man then looked at Yang Danwa dwindling and tried to finish.

"I'll send you to hell."

The old man then zoomed toward Yang Danwa's head to penetrate it. That's when the old man felt sudden energy and jumped back. A blue blade force qi shot past him on where he stood. The force qi exploded as it went down into the ground, throwing debris up. The old man swung his fingers and the debris that came to him was deflected by the sword barrier created by his finger.

That's when someone appeared in front of Yang Danwa. Yang Danwa was still in pain, but he immediately brightened by the person's appearance.

"M-master!"

It was Chun Yeowun who saved him. It seemed he had come out quickly, so his upper clothes just hung there and his face was a bit red.

'Who is that man?'

He wasn't sure what was going on as Yeowun had just gotten out, but it seemed the old man wasn't just an ordinary inn owner after all. He was at least powerful enough to avoid getting struck by blade force qi that was thrown as an ambush.

"Hmph."

The old man became grim.

'I just thought he was a mere kid... was he hiding his power?'

Yeowun was at the end stage of the superior master level, so he could control his energy fully. That's why the old man only considered Yang Danwa to be the most dangerous.

'So, he was trying to call this young man.'

The old man now understood why Yang Danwa threw blade qi toward the inn. Yeowun aimed his White Dragon Blade at the old man and asked, "You. What are you?"

"..."

The old man did not answer. He was thinking if he should fight Chun Yeowun or run. That's when he heard the crowd coming out of the inn.

"Hmph. You saved your life."

It was a good reason. He left the words to Yang Danwa and jumped.

"Stop!"

Yeowun threw force qi bullet toward the old man, but the old man didn't even look back and just simply dodged and disappeared. He disappeared toward Sword Creek that he insisted where no one should go. Yeowun hesitated if he should chase after the old man, but gave up. He couldn't feel the old man's energy, meaning the old man was either as strong as or stronger than Yeowun. And...

"Yang Danwa. Are you okay?"

"I-I'm okay, master."

Yang Danwa replied, but he was pale. His pain must be severe as his shoulder was penetrated from the force qi. Yeowun then pressed on the blood points around the shoulder to stop it from bleeding. At that time, warrior groups including the Mudan clan came out of the inn. They all seemed to be tense from the blade qi that penetrated through first floor of the inn. Monk Mu Jinja first ran toward them and asked, "Lord almighty... what happened here?"

It was hard to explain how, and Yang Danwa quickly made up an explanation.

"Ugh... Monk Mu. I was ambushed."