Chapter 11. A Third-Rate Warrior Who Protects His Sect’s Honor (5)
“Did I not tell you so!”
After I returned to the lodgings and told them what had happened after I left the banquet, a bolt from the blue came crashing down.
Kang Chae-seok snorted with rage, unable to hide his fury, and Jin Tae-san’s face had hardened more rigidly than ever before.
“They insulted the sect. Was it right for me to endure it there?”
“Y-you…… you bastard, truly!”
In place of Kang Chae-seok, whose face had flushed red with agitation, Jin Tae-san spoke.
“You gave their scheme a pretext. Did you not expect what result that pretext might bring?”
“The pretext was one-sided and forced. Even if I had endured the insult, they would have dragged me out in the end.”
“Then there would have been no one-sided violence disguised as a martial duel.”
“I am not afraid of being injured in defeat. But I am afraid of the sight of myself running away because I fear defeat.”
“…….”
Jin Tae-san rose without a word and began undoing the ties of his upper garment.
“Tae-san, you!”
Even though Sa-ryeon was with us, Father did not stop, whatever he was thinking.
“……!”
“What is this!”
On Jin Tae-san’s back, revealed after he removed his clothes, there was a deep scar.
Strangely, the scar stretched long at the width of four fingers, and its end was sharp.
“Look. What wound does this seem to be?”
Although Father lived under the same roof as me, he had never shown me his bare body.
Come to think of it, it was astonishing that I had no memory of this wound even from when I was very young.
“What sort of wound…… is it?”
“Look closely.”
The scar was too uniform to have been made by a whip, and its end was too sharp to have been made by a club.
Its shape was exactly as if a sword had been pressed down hard and then lifted away…….
“Surely…… the flat of a sword……?”
“You saw correctly. It is a wound carved by Seong Ju-tak, the Young Sword Lord of the Iron Sword Sect, twenty years ago.”
GRIND.
My teeth ground together.
“……What happened?”
“Pain is a more frightening thing than you imagine.”
“Please tell me what happened.”
“…….”
Jin Tae-san silently put his clothes back on.
And just like that, he left the lodgings.
“Stop there. Sa-ryeon, you should return quickly as well.”
“If I do not hear the story, I cannot know what happened. If I cannot know what happened, I cannot know what I might do from now on.”
“…….”
“Anyone feels the tearing of their family’s flesh more deeply than the pain of their own bones breaking. If I simply fall asleep like this, tomorrow, even if I die for it, I will fight with the resolve to kill Seong Mo-hyeon.”
“……Judged by equal levels of attainment, the Taeul Sect’s sword cannot defeat the Iron Sword Sect’s sword.”
The essence of the Iron Sword Sect’s sword art was weight.
Ghost Sword Immortal Elder, the founder of the Iron Sword Sect, had used a four-chon greatsword, and now, as their sword arts had all neared completion, they had been unified around swords with three-chon-wide blade faces.
The essence of the Taeul Sect’s sword art was speed.
The principle of speed was light in weight, so it could not pierce through the Iron Sword Sect’s sword.
If the speed were more overwhelming, one would not have to cling to weight, but for that, one had to possess inner arts or attainment far more overwhelming than the opponent’s.
“Even so, how can it possibly be reasonable to do such a thing to the loser?”
Hong Sa-ryeon spoke, unable to contain her anger.
“It was a place where numerous figures of the murim had gathered, just like now. Sa-ryeon. Could you meekly admit to a fault you did not even commit?”
“…….”
“That is why I told you not to be swept up in any forced situation, no matter how unreasonable. With the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance and even people from the Namgung Clan present, can you even imagine what sort of absurdities those wicked bastards might force upon us?”
In the end, Father did not return all night.
Only when the appointed time had nearly arrived did I learn where Father was.
He was at the central training ground.
“…….”
“Jin Tae-san, you foolish bastard.”
At the sight of him lying prostrate on the cold floor in a bow, flames seemed ready to burst from Kang Chae-seok’s eyes.
Those who had been lavishly treated at the sixtieth birthday feast were gathering one after another at the central training ground, thinking that an amusing spectacle had appeared.
“What in the world is going on?”
“They say a disciple of the Taeul Sect insulted the Iron Sword Sect.”
“Heh heh! Have you ever seen such a fearless brat? How dare the Taeul Sect do such a thing to the Iron Sword Sect?”
“It looks like his father is apologizing. They say the Iron Sword Sect Leader magnanimously declared that he would forgive them if he showed genuine repentance.”
In order to gather even more people, the Iron Sword Sect had servants deliver simple snacks and liquor around the training ground.
Even those for whom liquor mattered more than the spectacle began rushing out of the halls.
“…….”
When I walked toward Father, the gazes soon turned to me.
“Is that bastard the one?”
“Because of his immature son, the father is going to be whipped raw.”
I approached, but Father did not budge an inch.
“……Stay down below.”
“Please stand. Why are you lying there like a criminal?”
“……What father in this world could bear to see wounds appear on his son’s body?”
“No son in this world is pleased to see his father in such a miserable state.”
“…….”
The moment I reached out to lift Jin Tae-san up, the murmur among the people grew even louder.
On the training ground appeared the Iron Sword Sect Leader, the Young Sword Lord Seong Ju-tak, Jegal So-myeong, the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance, and Namgung Tae-won and Namgung San of the Namgung Clan.
“You bastard must be Jin So-un of the Taeul Sect.”
The Iron Sword Sect Leader stared down at me with contemptuous eyes.
“That is so.”
“You truly are a brat without the slightest speck of courtesy. Even after seeing what trouble that rash tongue of yours has now caused, do you still fail to grasp the situation?”
“What warrior in this world shows courtesy to his father’s enemy?”
“What did you say?”
“I heard that the same thing happened twenty years ago.”
“……What are you talking about?”
“Did you not invite the Taeul Sect to the Iron Sword Sect’s banquet, insult us, make us draw our swords, and inflict humiliation upon us?”
“……!”
At my words, the murmuring among the people grew.
“What is he talking about?”
“Come to think of it, in the past…….”
“Hey! Be quiet! Have you forgotten where we are right now?”
Those who had begun to speak clamped their mouths shut at the terrifying glare of the Iron Sword Sect members.
“I understand that you wish to eliminate our Taeul Sect and enter the One Hundred Eight Peaks, but I would like to ask whether those who have committed such vile acts, acts even street scum would not do, truly have the qualifications to become allies of the Murim Alliance.”
The uproar grew even louder.
Surely, there had to be someone who remembered what had happened twenty years ago, and they would feel a sense of déjà vu at the two situations that resembled each other far too closely.
“Y-you bastard……!”
The Iron Sword Sect Leader’s beard trembled as he glanced at Jegal So-myeong.
“…….”
But Jegal So-myeong merely watched the whole chain of events quietly without a single change in expression, and the Iron Sword Sect Leader, emboldened all the more by that, changed his expression.
“I do not know what you are talking about. In any case, because of what you have done, your father is suffering that disgrace.”
His back, bent and hunched as he lay prostrate on the floor, felt firmer and more enormous than ever today.
“I feel no shame in a father’s act of worrying for his child. But I cannot hold back my nausea at your stinking, despicable behavior, trying to exploit even such a father’s heart!”
“T-that bastard!”
I pointed at Seong Mo-hyeon.
“Seong Mo-hyeon over there told me to take responsibility for my words. Then why is he not appearing?”
Seong Mo-hyeon was watching his father’s and grandfather’s reactions.
This board had gone badly awry from their original plan.
Moreover, now that even the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance and people from the Namgung Clan had appeared, he seemed to be agonizing over what to do.
I gave those bastards no more time to think.
“Seong Mo-hyeon! Your father and grandfather have laid out a board of this scale for you. Should you not be the one to place the final mark upon it?”
I drew my sword and spoke to Father.
“The sword has already been drawn, so from now on, Father’s knees have no meaning. Please go down.”
For the first time, Jin Tae-san lifted his head.
“……Are you confident you can endure it?”
“I have already shown my resolve.”
“Then do not act in a way that makes you ashamed of yourself because of a single moment’s pain.”
Instead of answering, I looked at Sa-ryeon.
Sa-ryeon and Kang Chae-seok came up onto the training ground, supported Jin Tae-san, who could not walk, and brought him down below the training ground. At the same time, Seong Mo-hyeon came up from the opposite side.
“It is a shame that this did not go as you intended.”
Seong Mo-hyeon’s expression had stiffened.
“I do not know what you are talking about.”
“Surely you did not move without even knowing what the adults intended? I suppose it was true that the Beautiful Wolf Iron Sword is superior to the Blood Wolf Iron Sword.”
Seong Mo-hyeon’s face flushed.
“Even if you defeat me in the martial duel, you probably will not achieve what you want.”
I looked at the spectators around us.
“Moreover, if you lose to me, or if the match ends evenly, what happened today will make the Iron Sword Sect ashamed forever.”
I had already planted doubt in people’s minds.
Those who supported the Iron Sword Sect would deny my words, but those who had inwardly disliked the Iron Sword Sect now possessed a good opportunity to criticize it.
“……Stop spouting nonsense.”
Seong Mo-hyeon assumed an Opening Stance.
As if displaying the Iron Sword Sect’s aggressiveness, it was a stance tilted heavily forward, as if he would spring out at any moment.
There was no yielding according to seniority or level in the murim.
The martial duel, from which courtesy had vanished, remained only in name, and our respective momentum was fierce enough to take the other’s life at any moment.
“Chaaat!”
Seong Mo-hyeon moved first.
Enormous strength gathered in the thick sword, nearly four finger-joints wide, and each time that sword swept through the air in all directions, a sharp sword wind whirled.
Those who had ever received the Iron Sword Sect’s sword would often say that it felt like bearing the burden of blocking a gigantic iron mace with a thin sword.
It was a sword art impossible to receive with the Taeul Sect’s light and lively sword.
This was what Kang Chae-seok and Father had worried about most.
‘But that only applies when we are on the same level.’
The Minor Heaven Sword Art, which, during the days of the Great Righteous-Demonic War, had not merely reached the Twelfth Star, but moved as my heart willed.
As I began circulating the inner arts raised by spiritual medicines, energy filled my entire body.
SWISH.
SLICE.
Seong Mo-hyeon’s face turned blue as he was bringing his sword down, along with a chilling cutting sound.
“Hup!”
“D-did you see that just now?”
The people could not take their eyes off the edge of Seong Mo-hyeon’s garment that had fallen to the floor.
“What in the world…….”
Although the martial duel had begun, the training ground, which had been noisy, fell into a silence as if there were not even a single ant present.
Without delay, I stepped toward Seong Mo-hyeon with the Central Advance Footwork.
Following the First Form, Sword-Breaking, a technique of the Minor Heaven Sword Art, the Second Form, Sword-Shearing extended.
Seong Mo-hyeon could not even deploy a proper defensive form and was merely dodging the sword by a hair’s breadth, offering up the ridge of his sword and the edges of his clothes.
“The Taeul Sect is overwhelming him right now, isn’t it?”
“This is a complete disgrace. After they made such a huge fuss, too.”
“Be quiet. The Sect Leader’s expression does not look good.”
From the beginning, it was only natural that the same thing as my past life would not happen.
There was me, who had accumulated desperate real combat experience by facing the Demonic Cult’s running dogs at the very front of the battlefield, and there was Seong Mo-hyeon, who had lived a life soaked in Marrow-Cleansing and Hair-Shedding and spiritual medicines like a flower in a greenhouse.
If his inner arts were more overwhelming, Seong Mo-hyeon certainly might have had a chance of winning, but now, my inner arts were not lacking anywhere either.
“After you laid out all those schemes, for the result to be merely this. You surely will not be able to lift your face before the people of your sect.”
“Shut your mouth!”
Having widened the distance, Seong Mo-hyeon gave up on the Stone-Shattering Sword Art and prepared to unfold the Mountain-Shattering Sword Art.
The Mountain-Shattering Sword Art was the essence of the Iron Sword Sect.
Only by overwhelming me with the Stone-Shattering Sword Art could they make it clear that the Iron Sword Sect stood above the Taeul Sect, but if he lost while doing so, everything would become worse than if he had done nothing at all, so it was an unavoidable choice.
‘Is it right to end it like this?’
Even if it was the Mountain-Shattering Sword Art and not the Stone-Shattering Sword Art, the current Seong Mo-hyeon could not defeat me.
But even if I defeated Seong Mo-hyeon here and now, could I completely block the Iron Sword Sect’s plots from now on? That was not the case.
I merely possessed ability strictly outside the standard because I had lived two lives, and the Iron Sword Sect would soon learn that as well.
‘Perhaps they will act even more shamelessly.’
The disgrace they suffered after having invited even the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance would surely make them put on a shameless human mask and commit atrocities.
If so, a special measure was needed.
‘I will make it so the Iron Sword Sect can never raise its head again.’
WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH.
Each time Seong Mo-hyeon swung his sword, a massive wave of force moved with the sound of bursting wind.
It was no ordinary enormous strength, enough to make the stone floor of the training ground tremble.
I fired out the Minor Heaven Sword Art once again and faced the Mountain-Shattering Sword Art.
CLANG. CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.
As if I had thrown a single needle into a rapidly spinning top, my sword was flung back, and at last, a smile appeared around Seong Mo-hyeon’s mouth.
“Do you understand now? This is the difference in our class!”
WHOOSH, WHOOSH, WHOOSH.
THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD, THUNK!
When the even more triumphant Seong Mo-hyeon’s sword swept across the floor, shards of stone scattered in all directions and flew as far as the spectator seats.
“D-dodge!”
“What power!”
“As expected, the Iron Sword Sect is still the Iron Sword Sect.”
I did not attack his weak points and reduced the amount of inner arts I used, deliberately continuing to make my sword fail to go through.
And each time my sword was blocked by the Mountain-Shattering Sword Art, I retreated, until in the end, I was driven all the way to the edge of the training ground.
“This is the end!”
The moment Seong Mo-hyeon was about to bring his sword down.
I slipped into his chest, placed my left hand on him, and activated the Azure Dragon Bracelet.
“……!”
Like a man whose strength had suddenly drained away, he dropped his sword to the floor.
“Hup!?”
Seong Mo-hyeon was looking at me with eyes that could not believe it.
“Why? Have you seen a ghost?”
