And not to look back. Every one of them agreed immediately.
Han swore again that the heavens would bring their punishment down on these bandits.
At the village gate, the bandit guards were wondering why the clouds were thundering on a clear winter day. A second later one of their heads flew off so fast that the man himself never realised it had happened. The second died of the same stroke.
Han took a deep breath and challenged the bald leader to come out and fight. He would show no mercy to these animals. Anything that came in the way would be cut down. He came up from under the bandits as if they were nothing and brought down many of them at once. Today Han intended to erase this entire clan.
Everyone watching was terrified and trembling. Each of them knew he was next.
Then an arrow flew close past Han. The bald leader's group had arrived. This was what Han had wanted. Now he had to fight with more skill than before, and the timing was perfect.
A familiar voice echoed across the camp. The vassal had come with his men to crush the place.
The guards charged the bandits, and the vassal fought well too. He could really handle himself.
The bald leader told his men to stand and fight, and then chose to run away himself. Han had no intention of letting that insect go. The bald man could not tell that his pursuer was still behind him, and he did not recognise Han's new face at all.
Then he saw the raised middle finger, and suddenly he remembered everything. His fear grew worse. He was horrified. How could a person become that strong overnight? Only now did he understand what that strength had been.
He came down on his knees and started to apologise. He offered women, food, sleep, everything he had. But Han asked him whether the bandits had ever shown mercy to anyone. Today he was punishing him in the name of Heaven.
Then Han did what he had come to do.
Just then the vassal arrived and asked whether he was all right. But he did not realise that the person in front of him was his own young master. He asked where Han was. Then he started mumbling about him. The young master was rude, just like his father. Bad-tempered. And he ate like an ox.
Han spent a moment considering killing his own vassal.
But when the vassal came to know that this really was his young master, his tune changed instantly. Suddenly the young master was incredibly handsome, and he had to come back quickly or the clan leader would kill them both.
Han's account with the Servant of Chaos was still unfinished. So the vassal mentioned the Divine Whip he had used in his days as an inspector.
Han had no plan of going along with any of it, so he started to run. But the man caught him with the whip and dragged him back. On the way Han swung at him, and the vassal blocked it. Everyone was shocked. In only a few months the young master had become strong enough to put pressure on a former inspector.
One blow pushed the man's guard back several steps. But then Han was caught off guard by a strike from behind. The vassal had to follow the orders of the clan leader.
The fight was about to reach its peak, and everyone had gone dead serious.
At that same moment the old guide came in. He thanked Han for saving him and said that the prisoners had got out safely. This time he was deeply grateful. Han had saved a great many lives.
As he was saying his goodbyes, Han got distracted, and he was quietly tied up and dragged away, yelling the whole way. Then the vassal knocked him out so that he would be easier to carry.
He also told everyone to keep quiet about what Han had done. Han had used a false name, so let it stay that way. The nail that sticks out too far is the one that gets hit, and too much attention would only bring trouble.
Some time later there was someone back in that cave. The Servant of Chaos came looking for the ginseng, and he was so angry at the theft that he nearly killed one of his own men. Then he killed him. He gave the order that the thief be found and his entire family killed with him.
The thing was gone, and he was angry. Finders keepers, losers weepers.
When Han finally woke up, he realised that he had missed his chance to track the Servant of Chaos in the ginseng cave. Even so, when the other creature appeared — the Millennium Snail — he would get another chance at him.
A little later he reached Hefei City. It was very large and very lively. The trade here was nothing like the trade in his hometown, and there was space built into the city for visitors.
As Han got down from the carriage he found himself at the Emperor's Gate. The guard stopped him when he tried to go in. But then someone told the man to lower his weapons.
It was his father. He had been waiting there.
Seeing how old the old man had become, Han tried to return the affection, but he had to give up on it, because Papa did not recognise him. Instead the old man started hitting the vassal, for lying in his letter, because Han was supposed to be with him.
After a great many blows, the vassal finally blurted out that the handsome man standing nearby was his beloved son.
Papa looked at Han. Then he started hitting the vassal again. No. That good-looking young man was not their son.
So Han called him Papa.
The old man froze at the sound of it and asked whether this really was his dear son. Even then his eyes would not believe it.
The news soon spread. The squadron captain reported that the public had been told the old man's vassal had settled the entire affair. But the truth was that Han had wiped out the entire clan single-handedly.
That impressed old Namgung, and it made him curious. Although he still asked whether the captain had perhaps made a mistake in what he had seen.
The captain added that Han had to be brought back by force. Everyone together had to hold him down before it could be done at all.
Then the head of the family said that his son was simply stubborn. Han was a great martial talent, the clan's future heir, born with it. And on top of that he had turned into a handsome young man.
Basically, his son had been ignoring the truth and trusting to gossip, which was where the doubt had come from.
The patriarch declared that from now on he would personally handle Han's wedding.