Star Instructor, Master Baek

Chapter 158: The Nine Yin Witch (3)

TL: FoodieMonster007

“Y-You witch…!” Yeo Min’s body slowly became rigid, and a thin layer of white frost formed on her skin.

The Nine Yin Witch gently stroked Yeo Min’s cold cheek, tears streaming down her face. “Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. You won’t feel anything. It’ll all be over before you know it.”

Yeo Min’s eyelids fluttered briefly, and the light in her eyes dimmed. The Nine Yin Witch reached out and gently closed them.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, a sharp Blade Wind sliced through the air toward the Nine Yin Witch’s wrist. Skillfully dodging it, she turned around to face her attacker.

Hyonwon Kang stood there, blade drawn, glaring at her with terrifying eyes. “Step away from Yeo Min,” he growled like a beast, his killing intent far more intense than when he first arrived in the Valley of Evil, having survived a fight to the death.

Unfortunately, his opponent was one of the ten most notorious villains in the jianghu.

The Nine Yin Witch stared blankly at Hyonwon Kang, completely unfazed.

Gritting his teeth, Hyonwon Kang continued, “I thought it was strange how nice you were being… Did you bring us here with this in mind from the start?”

“No, so please, just leave this place quickly,” the Nine Yin Witch pleaded, her expression sorrowful.

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At the sight of her tears, Hyonwon Kang blinked in confusion. “What the hell? Why are you the one crying?”

“Senior!” Ya Suhyeok shouted, arriving right after Hyonwon Kang. Even though his entire body was wrapped in bandages like a mummy, when he saw the frozen Yeo Min, a slew of curses erupted from his mouth, “You filthy witch! What the fuck did you do to Senior Yeo Min? I’ll tear you limb from limb!”

“…Calm down, you idiot.” Snapping back to his senses thanks to his even more hot-headed junior, Hyonwon Kang cautiously pointed his dao at the Nine Yin Witch. “Hand over my junior right now, and we’ll leave quietly.”

“Hey, you damn bitch! Just try to hurt my senior! I’ll snap you in half!”

“I said calm down, Ya Suhyeok,” Hyonwon Kang repeated.

Seeing the two men showing no fear before her, the Nine Yin Witch frowned slightly. “Are you… not afraid of dying?”

Only then did Ya Suhyeok notice she was crying. “Uh… Senior, why is she crying all of a sudden?” he asked, flustered.

“Because she’s a total nutjob,” Hyonwon Kang muttered.

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White cold energy formed in both the Nine Yin Witch’s hands, tears still streaming down her face as she pleaded, “I… I don’t want to kill you. But I can’t help it. If I don’t absorb yin energy, it’s unbearably painful. I don’t want to die. So, so…”

Whining like a child for a moment, she glanced at Yeo Min, then turned back to Hyonwon Kang and Ya Suhyeok with a faint smile as pure as snow.

“I’ll let you stay by her side so she won’t feel lonely,” she said softly.

“You crazy bitch!” Ya Suhyeok shouted.

The Nine Yin Witch slid smoothly toward them, formidable cold energy pouring from her hands.

“Think we’ll just let you?” Hyonwon Kang retorted.

Hyonwon Kang and Ya Suhyeok split to the sides. An ice barrier formed instantly where they’d just been standing.

CRACK!

Exchanging glances, they circled to her sides. Facing an overwhelming master with a coordinated attack, they felt more confident than in the chaotic free-for-all battles they’d fought while escaping the Valley of Evil.

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Heh, we’ve done this countless times at the White Dragon Manor!

They even had their own student lingo for situations like this.

“Defeat Baek Suryong Plan Number Three, let’s go!” Hyonwon Kang called out.

“Got it!” Ya Suhyeok replied.

Though they were always bickering, Hyonwon Kang and Ya Suhyeok made the best team. Ya Suhyeok charged forward with his massive body, blocking the Nine Yin Witch’s view, while Hyonwon Kang hid behind him, swinging his blade like lightning.

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“You two… Where did you learn those martial arts…” the Nine Yin Witch murmured.

Seeing their techniques, she froze momentarily before hastily waving her hands.

BOOM!

Ya Suhyeok, despite being several times larger than her, was struck by her palm wind and sent flying. Hyonwon Kang’s blade bounced off her icy, cold-clad nails.

“It’s not over yet!” Hyonwon Kang shouted. Twisting his waist, he spun his body and mustered the last of his inner strength to swing powerfully.

SWOOSH!

Fierce blade qi flew toward the Nine Yin Witch as if to shred her. She couldn’t underestimate the attack, so she spread her hands to unleash her ice arts.

BOOM!

“Argh!” Hyonwon Kang was thrown back by the impact, hitting the wall and rolling to the ground. Blood gushed from his mouth.

Meanwhile, the Nine Yin Witch had only a slight cut on her sleeve.

“Damn…”

“Shit…”

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Having been hit by her ice arts, Hyonwon Kang and Ya Suhyeok shivered as a creeping chill seeped into them. To their despair, they realized that they couldn’t even last five minutes against the Nine Yin Witch, the difference in strength was just too great.

Still, Hyonwon Kang grinned, blood dripping from his mouth. They had lost the fight, but they’d achieved their minimum goal.

“We’ve bought enough time. By now, he should be far enough away,” Hyonwon Kang said.

“Don’t tell me…” The Nine Yin Witch realized one presence was missing—the small boy who had been poisoned. Extending her senses, she felt Wiji Cheon’s qi rapidly fading into the distance. However, she didn’t care.

“You stalled for time to let that child escape, but what’s the point? No one in the Valley of Evil will help you, and those three gatekeepers guard the exit. Even if one person escapes, he can’t do anything,” she said, almost pityingly.

“Why… do you think he can’t do anything? He’s gone to get our teacher.” Ya Suhyeok, who had been lying on the ground, struggled to his feet. Having taken the Nine Yin Witch’s ice arts head-on to buy Hyonwon Kang time, his body was frosted over, but even so, thanks to the Eighteen Strikes of the Viridian Forest, he could gather the strength to stand.

“Teacher? Do you mean Baek Suryong?” the Nine Yin Witch asked, recalling the name she’d heard earlier while chatting with Yeo Min.

Hyonwon Kang nodded with difficulty, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yeah. We wanted to handle it ourselves if we could, but you’re not someone we can deal with. That’s why… to fight an adult, we’re calling another adult. Oh, and if you’re wondering why we believe in him, our teacher is really strong. So far, I’ve never so much as grazed his clothes while sparring, and yet…”

Hyonwon Kang grinned, looking at the Nine Yin Witch’s slightly torn sleeve. Filled with pride at the fact that he’d managed to reach one of the top murim masters, he declared confidently, “I managed to cut your sleeve, right? That means our teacher is stronger than you.”

“Hah, what a load of nonsense,” the Nine Yin Witch scoffed. It was ridiculous logic. She hadn’t fought with her full power earlier. If she had, Hyonwon Kang would have been turned into an ice block and shattered, and he couldn’t be dumb enough not to realize that.

Should she call such blind faith futile or pitiful? Whatever it was, it was an emotion she’d never felt. Learning martial arts from someone was… nothing but a horribly painful memory for her.

“Still, you have good friends, so at least you won’t be lonely,” she murmured.

“……”

Still stroking Yeo Min’s cheek, the Nine Yin Witch reached out toward the two collapsed young men, sending wisps of cold energy out from her palms and wrapping it around their bodies.

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“Ugh…”

“Argh…”

As he lost consciousness in the overwhelming cold, Hyonwon Kang hoped Wiji Cheon wouldn’t be too late.

Hurry up, Wiji Cheon!

“Huff… Huff…” Wiji Cheon ran, gasping for breath. His stamina was depleted from being poisoned for so long. Even so, he had to run at full speed—the time his seniors had bought with their lives depended on it.

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Senior Wonkang…

Wiji Cheon recalled his conversation with Hyonwon Kang before leaving the cave. His senior had shaken him awake from a deep sleep, speaking in a low but hurried tone, “Get up. Looks like something’s happened.”

“What?” Wiji Cheon’s drowsiness disappeared instantly. Hyonwon Kang was known for his unmatched keen senses at the White Dragon Manor, even better than his own. If he said something was wrong, there was no doubt about it.

“We’ll go check on Yeo Min. You go find Mr. Baek.”

“Mr. Baek? Do you know where he is?”

Hyonwon Kang told him the last place where Baek Suryong and the Bloody Ripper’s qi had clashed.

“I injured my leg, so I can’t properly use movement arts, and Ya Suhyeok is too big and stands out wherever he goes. You’re the only one who can do it,” Hyonwon Kang explained.

“I’m sorry. It’s all because of me…” Wiji Cheon mumbled, his voice filled with guilt.

“Enough, no time for that kind of talk. Damn it… I didn’t want to rely on a teacher, but we haven’t got a choice. Go quickly,” Hyonwon Kang urged.

Their opponent was one of the Ten Great Villains. The Nine Yin Witch wasn’t an enemy the students could handle with only bravado.

Wiji Cheon nodded. “Okay, I’ll go get Mr. Baek. Please hold on until then!”

He then quickly left the cave and used his movement arts at full speed, gritting his teeth and whispering bitterly, “This is all my fault. Who do I think I am…”

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He had been kidnapped by the White-Haired Demon and poisoned, forcing his teacher and friends to come to the Valley of Evil and risk their lives to save him. As a result, Hyonwon Kang suffered a deep wound on his thigh, Ya Suhyeok’s back bore extensive burns from Yeo Min’s bomb, and Yeo Min was captured by the Nine Yin Witch for who knows what evil purpose.

“If only I hadn’t been kidnapped, if only I were a bit stronger…” Wiji Cheon lamented, biting his lip so hard that it bled.

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!

With each step, he pushed off the ground with all the strength in his legs. While he was poisoned, he had drifted countless times between dreams and reality, and in his dreams, the many people he had killed in the past cursed him endlessly.

You killed me!

Accursed murderer!

Someday, the same will happen to you!

They had lunged at him like hungry ghosts, knocking him down, slashing, stabbing, tearing him apart… and he’d surrendered himself to the dead, foolishly unable to open his eyes due to guilt.

Meanwhile, in reality, his friends were getting hurt and the poison was eating away at him. He was so angry he couldn’t forgive himself.

“Huh? Isn’t that one of those guys from earlier?”

“Yeah, the one who was poisoned…”

Suddenly, several villains spotted Wiji Cheon and approached him. A few rolled up their sleeves, seeing it as a good opportunity.

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“Looks like he’s alone. Don’t see the others.”

“Let’s catch him. It’s a chance to get in Elder Bloody Ripper’s good books.”

“Alright. If it’s just one guy…”

The villains quietly hid, preparing to ambush Wiji Cheon. Ambushing someone who was only looking ahead and running wasn’t difficult.

“Die!”

With a loud shout, four villains attacked simultaneously from Wiji Cheon’s left and right, and…

SWISH!

Four heads fell to the ground in one slash, and Wiji Cheon continued running straight ahead at full speed as if he hadn’t even noticed the ambush.

“M-Monster…”

“Forget it. If we mess with him, we’ll just get ourselves killed.”

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Intimidated by Wiji Cheon’s aura, the villains retreated.

After a while, Wiji Cheon arrived at the place where the Bloody Ripper and Baek Suryong had clashed.

“Huff… Huff… This must be the place…” he panted, stopping briefly to look around. The area was devastated from their fight, but he couldn’t sense Baek Suryong’s presence.

“Mr. Baek! Mr. Baek!” he shouted in frustration, but there was no answer. Only a few villains glanced at him like hungry dogs.

“Where are you? Right now, Senior Wonkang, Senior Yeo Min, and Suhyeok are…”

As Wiji Cheon looked around urgently, he suddenly felt a pounding in his heart. Whipping his head around, he began to walk in one direction, muttering as if conversing with someone.

“This way? Or this way?”

Soon, he found a hole in the ground and jumped in without hesitation. Broken and damaged mechanical traps greeted him. Using his movement arts, he followed the traces of a terrifying battle. Someone—or something—inside was calling him.

The deeper he went, the stronger the pounding in his heart became.

“Who are you? Do you know me?” he cried desperately, his throat parched. Unconsciously, he clenched and unclenched his fists. He put more strength into his legs, which already felt like they would burst.

After a while, he arrived in front of a huge wall. His heart felt like it would burst from the pounding. He was sure Baek Suryong was beyond this wall, and that the voice calling him was also there.

“Here. This is the place… Mr. Baek? Mr. Baek!” he called out.

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There was no answer. Wiji Cheon drew his sword and slashed at the wall.

CLANG! CLANG!

Unfortunately, this was a door made of Meteor Iron, which couldn’t be easily cut even with enhanced qi.

Flustered, he pounded on the wall with his fists. “Mr. Baek! Mr. Baek! Everyone’s in danger! Senior Wonkang and Suhyeok are hurt! Yeo Min was captured by the Nine Yin Witch!”

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Blood began to flow from his fists, but he didn’t feel any pain. “Please, you need to save them quickly. Please help me. I can’t save my friends with my own strength. I’m too weak… Because of me…” he cried.

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THUMP.

Finally exhausted, Wiji Cheon collapsed on the spot, sobbing. Getting this far was a miracle in itself. To make matters worse, he heard footsteps behind him.

“Please…” he looked up at the wall desperately.

“Step back. I’m going to smash this damned wall,” a voice behind the wall said.

Recognizing Baek Suryong’s voice, Wiji Cheon exclaimed, “Mr. Baek!”