Chapter 273 — Blades Standing Like a Forest 4
Then Yeongu muttered again.
"The Three Foolish Absolutes died, and now all your spirit has drained away. With that kind of nerve, how will you even beg for a bowl of rice anywhere?"
The warriors' faces twisted at the words "beg for rice."
Everyone knew the words had been thrown out deliberately as provocation.
Yet anger still surged up.
The names of dead comrades had become mockery, and those who had been called the Three Absolutes of Changbai only moments ago had become the Three Foolish Absolutes.
Yeongu did not stop.
He let the bloodstained hwandō hang downward and looked over the warriors' hands and faces one by one.
"You probably carry those blades around to slice meat for meals. Lord Yelü Zhangnu is the pitiful one, feeding you as retainers and paying you as guards. Tsk, tsk."
Those words cut deeper than a blade.
They struck the pride of martial men head-on.
For men who lived by their bodies and weapons, few insults were worse than being called useless.
It meant they failed to earn their meals.
It meant they were not worth the blades they wore.
It meant they were little different from dogs consuming their master's wealth.
A few men ground their teeth.
One drew his blade half an inch and stopped.
Another tightened his grip on his spear shaft.
Their bodies had frozen because the Three Absolutes of Changbai had fallen before their eyes, but their faces flushed again.
Rage tried to push fear aside.
Cheon Manseok lowered his palm and pressed downward.
It was a gesture as if pressing the air itself.
At that small movement, several warriors behind him barely swallowed their breath.
"Stop. Further provocation will only make the matter larger."
Yeongu tilted his head.
"Me? I came here to make the matter larger. I am only holding back because these fools have their heads lowered and are trembling."
The corners of Cheon Manseok's eyes hardened coldly.
Was it superhuman patience?
Or had he given up because he knew trying would achieve nothing?
Before the words could continue, he pointed to the outer gate.
"Once you pass through that gate, everything that happened today will be treated as if it never happened."
Yeongu looked at the gate.
The gate that had been firmly closed when he entered now stood open.
Beyond it lay the darkness and cold air outside the estate.
One step out, and there would be the road.
Once on the road, he could go back to the relay station and wait for the red and blue flags.
Yet behind him, the blades were still breathing.
The men had stepped back, but their hearts had not.
The blood of the Three Absolutes of Changbai had spread across the road, and their anger was boiling again over that blood.
Yeongu laughed softly.
"Treat it as if it never happened?"
Cheon Manseok answered in a low voice.
"That is how it must be. His Highness has stepped back, and I have opened the road. Once you leave, this estate will close its gate."
"But those men do not seem to think so."
Yeongu pointed with his chin toward the warriors behind.
A few avoided his eyes.
A few did not.
In their eyes, there still remained the thought, just once more.
Cheon Manseok turned his head toward them.
His voice was low, but harder than a blade.
"Whoever moves, I will cut down first."
The warriors' breath stopped at those words.
Cheon Manseok was not a man who jested.
He was Yelü Zhangnu's chief bodyguard, and he stood above the warriors of this estate.
More than that, he was the man who understood most clearly what had just taken place.
Yeongu said with a smile.
"You are the easiest one to talk to here."
"This is not talking. This is avoiding a place of death."
"That too means we can talk."
Cheon Manseok did not answer.
He extended his hand toward the outer gate again.
"Go."
Yeongu took one step.
Blood fell from the tip of the blade.
A red dot appeared on the stone floor.
Another step.
Another dot.
Behind the path he walked, drops of blood remained here and there.
The warriors split to both sides and opened a road.
At first, they had tried to surround Yeongu and drive him along.
Now they moved aside so he could pass.
They stood aside and did not even breathe.
It was the pressure of a tiger, king of beasts, sauntering right past them.
The terror that a single wrong breath might bring death swept over the bodies of those stepping aside.
At first, they had tried to encircle Yeongu and push him forward.
Now, whenever Yeongu took a step, they moved aside first.
The road itself was the same, but the master of the road had changed.
Yeongu stopped before the threshold.
Without looking back, he said,
"Cheon Manseok."
"Speak."
"Tell His Highness."
"Say it."
"The flags. One red, one blue. Hang them at the relay station, and I will come again."
"I will remember."
Yeongu crossed the threshold.
The wind carried away the smell of blood.
He looked down at the bloodstained hwandō, then threw it with a sharp flick.
The blade flew high into the air and fell, burying itself deep in the ground.
Only a little of the handle remained visible, and the entire blade was sunk into the earth.
"A borrowed blade should be returned."
No one answered.
Yeongu left the estate empty-handed.
Cheon Manseok did not move until he disappeared into the darkness.
The warriors behind him also did not move.
No one followed.
They could not follow.
That would have meant stepping onto the path behind death.