Genius Martial Arts Trainer

Arrogance.

The imperial army was said to number a million, so fifty thousand might seem small at first glance compared to that staggering figure, but the sight of that many soldiers approaching in formation right before one’s eyes could only exert an overwhelming pressure.

Naturally, everyone standing in the way of that great army wore tense expressions.

“Long time no see, Lingling. Right?”

“Ookki~!”

But looking at the innocent-faced monk who seemed to have no interest whatsoever in the battle about to unfold made all that tension vanish without a trace.

“Phew.”

Letting out a faint sigh at the absurd sight, Zhuge Jinxi drew a fan from inside her robes.

It had been made from the Pillar Lord’s judge’s pens, which she had obtained after killing the Pillar Lord during the war against Shincheon. She had entrusted those judge’s pens, forged from ten-thousand-year cold iron, to renowned craftsmen, and they had transformed them into the iron fan Zhuge Jinxi now used.

However, her gaze was not fixed on the iron fan, which was practically a divine weapon, but on the strip of cloth tied to its end.

Jang Hun, her husband and the live-in son-in-law of the Zhuge Family, had tied it there because he was worried about her going to the battlefield.

She briefly thought of Jang Hun as she looked at the cloth, then steeled herself and turned her gaze toward the others.

“As you all already know, our mission is only to draw their attention. Do not grow greedy for military merit. Make returning alive your highest priority whenever possible.”

The ten martial artists gathered here, including Zhuge Jinxi and Muyul, were all experts with considerable reputations in the martial world.

That was partly because of the nature of their mission, but in another sense, it was also the most rational choice.

Martial artists were difficult to use effectively in battles involving thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers in the first place.

That was even more true when they were fighting an army rather than other martial artists.

Unless someone was powerful enough to endure cannons, Thunderclap Bombs, and volleys of hundreds or thousands of arrows, the reality was that joining such a battle would only turn them into targets for arrows and gunpowder.

At Zhuge Jinxi’s warning, the martial artists around her nodded with solemn expressions.

“Okaaay~!”

“Ookki~!”

Everyone except Muyul and Lingling.

Zhuge Jinxi glared coldly at the two of them for a moment, then turned her head away with an expression of resignation.

She had known them for years, and had realized long ago that expecting anything serious from them was foolish in the first place.

“Then, let us begin.”

Immediately after Zhuge Jinxi said that while looking at the army of fifty thousand.

PAP!

The ten martial artists and one monkey spread out widely and executed their lightness skills toward the enemy.

They crossed several zhang at a time in an instant, and the moment they closed the distance beyond a certain point.

Hundreds of volleys of arrows began pouring down, painting the air black.

Even amid the absurdity of only ten people and one monkey blocking the road, the army had formed ranks and prepared itself.

It was an appropriate response from a force composed of elite soldiers who had spent years being battered on the northern battlefield.

And the martial artists’ response to the tremendous rain of arrows was quite simple.

SWISHHH!

Despite the arrows flying toward her and blackening the sky, Zhuge Jinxi maintained a calm expression as she continued running forward with her lightness skill.

Thanks to that, most of the arrows flew past behind her.

CLANG!

A few arrows did fly directly toward her, but when she swung her fan, the arrows became wrapped in cold energy and fell to the ground with metallic scraping sounds.

“Eek!”

“Ookki!”

Unlike her calm response, Muyul and Lingling twisted their entire bodies into bizarre shapes and avoided the arrows while letting out strange shouts, as though performing acrobatics.

The other martial artists also endured the rain of arrows by avoiding or blocking them in their own ways.

SWISHHH!

As soon as they had done so, just as many arrows as they had avoided or blocked once again filled the sky and flew toward them.

Even after successfully blocking and avoiding several successive volleys of hundreds of arrows, the ten people and one monkey continued steadily toward the army of fifty thousand.

And when the distance had closed to a certain point, a change occurred in the army’s front ranks.

'Are those the matchlock guns I have only heard about?'

Gunpowder and matchlock guns were treated as instruments of high treason merely for possessing them, so they were used exclusively by the military.

The men handling those matchlock guns stepped forward and aimed them at the approaching martial artists.

BANG!!

Along with a powerful explosion, something tiny flew toward them at tremendous speed.

Perhaps because there was still some distance between them, or perhaps because of the quality of the matchlock guns, their accuracy was not particularly high.

Of all the bullets fired at barely more than a dozen targets, at most only around twenty percent actually flew toward the martial artists.

CLANG!

Even those bullets that came her way were not difficult for Zhuge Jinxi to block by wrapping her fan in cold energy.

“Eek! They are really fast, Lingling. Right?”

Muyul used his monstrous dynamic vision, which surpassed even that of animals, to avoid them by the narrowest of margins.

“Ookki! Ookki!”

Lingling apparently had not avoided them completely, and pouted while showing a shallow wound where one had grazed him.

The other martial artists had also suffered a few scratches from glancing hits, but no one had been seriously wounded.

The matchlock soldiers were briefly shocked to see them survive both the arrows and bullets.

Then they hurriedly began moving their arms and legs to reload, while another rain of arrows blackened the sky from behind them, seemingly to buy them time.

While striking aside or avoiding the incoming arrows with her iron fan, Zhuge Jinxi calmly examined the situation.

'The distance to the enemy is approximately twenty zhang(60m). And as I heard, those matchlock guns are threateningly powerful, but require a long time to reload.'

If they endured the arrow volleys and perhaps two more rounds of bullets from the reloaded matchlock guns, they seemed likely to reach the enemy lines.

The problem was the risk of someone being struck by an arrow or bullet along the way.

No matter how skilled they were, it was not easy to deflect or avoid everything amid such a dense barrage.

However, she was not worried about that.

'They should begin moving soon.'

And as though answering her expectations.

A subtle fracture appeared in the enemy army’s orderly movements.

“Aaaaaagh!”

Someone’s screams rang out one after another in the distance.

And the instant a gap appeared in the enemy’s movements.

“Now!”

PAP!

Drawing up her internal energy and accelerating her lightness skill, she swiftly advanced toward the enemy.

***

Around the time the vanguard of ten people and one monkey, including Zhuge Jinxi and Muyul, was drawing the imperial army’s attention from the front.

Another group cautiously approached the imperial army’s left flank.

Because their numbers were not particularly large, they used the undergrowth to approach within close range without much difficulty, then suddenly charged toward the imperial army.

The sight naturally brought to mind the phrase about striking a rock with an egg.

At most, barely more than a dozen people were launching a surprise attack on an army of fifty thousand.

However.

“Release the precept against killing!!”

Led by the warrior monk who shouted those words as he charged at the very front, they began tearing through the enemy formation.

'The more violently I rampage, the greater Muyul’s chances of returning alive!'

The man leading the ten warrior monks was none other than Hyegyeol, Muyul’s grandmaster and Shaolin’s Outer Hall Master.

Having plunged into the imperial army at the very front, Hyegyeol drove the soldiers back by performing various fist, palm, leg, and foot techniques taking the forms of the crane, snake, leopard, tiger, and dragon, collectively known as the Five Shaolin Fists.

They did not possess the same wild, jumbled naturalness as Muyul’s techniques, but the Five Shaolin Fists balanced natural flow with disciplined form.

Following Hyegyeol, renowned experts of Shaolin moved behind him and began supporting him.

They had merely failed to become widely known because they were overshadowed by Mujin and Mugung, who had now left Shaolin, as well as Muyul and Mukyeong.

Shaolin possessed several experts who had devoted themselves to Buddhist cultivation for decades.

Thanks to the distraction created at the front, the ten warrior monks were able to penetrate easily and throw the imperial army’s left wing into confusion.

However, the elite soldiers who had been thoroughly tempered in the north were indeed different.

“Open a path on the left!”

“Shield soldiers!!”

At someone’s orders, they moved in perfect unison. Even amid the enormous density of troops, a path opened, and men carrying shields suddenly appeared from all directions and surrounded Hyegyeol and the others.

As though intending to crush the warrior monks to death, they thrust their shields forward and pressed in without restraint.

Spearmen who had already moved into position behind them then began slipping their spearheads through the gaps between the shield soldiers and attacking the warrior monks.

The shields occupied every direction, blocking all routes of movement, while spears stabbed through the gaps between them. The mere ten warrior monks were quickly trapped as though inside a cage.

However.

CRUNCH!!

To men who had reached a realm where even martial artists acknowledged them as experts, shields were not much of an obstacle.

Golden fist energy covered Hyegyeol’s arms and legs as he moved them as though the shields and spears did not exist, and every shield or spear that touched his body shattered and broke.

Their efforts caused casualties to rapidly accumulate among the shield soldiers and spearmen, but the gaps they created were usually filled in an instant.

The difference in numbers was simply too great.

And that presented a serious problem.

For now, they were fighting without difficulty, smashing shields and spears apart, but the moment their internal energy and stamina ran dry, they would be as good as dead.

Perhaps aware of that fact, the imperial army began moving cavalry and other infantry to form a wide encirclement around the warrior monks while they struggled with the shield soldiers and spearmen.

Their intention was to wear them down by feeding infantry and spearmen into the battle, then trap and kill them so they could not escape.

This was precisely why even an expert was considered to have no chance of victory against a well-trained great army.

Hyegyeol was also fully aware of the situation they were in.

However, despite being in danger of slowly being worn down and killed, Hyegyeol’s face remained calm.

It was not because he had resolved himself to die and accepted his fate.

'It should begin soon.'

That had been their role from the beginning.

To induce a well-trained army to move this way and that in perfect order.

***

“They report that the martial artists who penetrated the front, left wing, and right wing have all been successfully tied down by shield soldiers and spearmen!”

Even before receiving the Assistant Provincial Military Commander’s report, the Provincial Military Commander had already grasped the general situation through flags and signals, and nodded with satisfaction.

In addition to the ten people and one monkey at the front and the ten warrior monks who had penetrated the left wing, more than a dozen martial artists had begun creating chaos on the right wing as well.

Every single one of them was an expert of truly earth-shaking ability.

There were martial artists in the military as well, but each of the attackers was comparable to or even surpassed several generals and commanders famed as the greatest experts in the armed forces.

But that was the nature of war. The strength of a well-trained great army was greater than that of a single outstanding general.

Judging from the casualties so far, they would suffer at least several hundred losses, perhaps even more than a thousand, but victory was ultimately as good as assured.

“Send the cavalry around behind them so they cannot escape. And.”

Having finished assessing the situation, the Provincial Military Commander issued his orders.

The Assistant Provincial Military Commander immediately relayed those orders to the generals under his command.

Then, when he turned his head to hear the rest of the Provincial Military Commander’s unfinished command.

A strange sight entered his eyes.

“......?”

The Provincial Military Commander’s face, his mouth still open as he continued speaking, was separating from his neck and falling.

His face showed no trace of pain as it dropped toward the ground, as though he had not even realized that his own head had been severed.

And in the space where the Provincial Military Commander’s face should have been, there was only a dagger that had suddenly appeared in midair.

“Provincial Military Commander!!!”

Only then did the Assistant Provincial Military Commander comprehend reality and shout in shock, and the nearby men drew their weapons in alarm.

Like a ghost, a man dressed in black monk’s robes appeared from thin air.

WHIIIIINE.

Together with hundreds of golden droplets