◈ The Martial Genius who Remembers Everything ◈
Chapter 450: The Definition of Justice (5)
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Tremble tremble tremble tremble tremble tremble tremble tremble.
Heo Gwanjung’s body shook like an aspen.
His face was pale as he trembled uncontrollably.
Only one emotion filled his eyes.
Fear.
He was so shocked that he could not even stop the blood flowing between his severed fingers.
Heo Gwanjung grew paler by the second.
‘W-What is this?!’
They had already investigated Taeul Sect’s martial arts.
It had been a sect marked for caution from the beginning.
They had also thoroughly investigated the secret arts it had recently recovered.
The martial arts Dongryong used were clearly the Lesser Heaven Sword Art and Greater Heaven Sword Art.
They were rated low and intermediate respectively.
When combined into the Twin Heavens Sword Art, they received a high rating, but they still fell short of peerless martial arts.
They had never been a match for the Heavenly Flower Eighteen Claws.
That had certainly been true.
It certainly…
“Hmm… That’s strange.”
A pure voice came from above him.
“Um, how did you do that… sir?”
“What?”
Dongryong smiled brightly and opened his palm.
“I was sure I’d be able to cut them all off.”
Heo Gwanjung’s severed fingers lay in his palm, fingers that had once emitted blue claw qi and taken countless lives.
“So I’m asking because it’s strange… sir.”
“…”
He could not understand it.
The idiot asking such a foolish question was clearly half-witted.
“…Why won’t you answer me… sir? I’m even speaking politely!!!”
Why?
Why was his body shaking so badly?
The killing intent pouring out alongside flashes of bloody light made it hard to breathe.
Setting aside the unfathomable sword art, he could not imagine facing that bastard because of the killing intent whose origin he could not fathom.
“W-What are you doing?! Kill this bastard first!!!”
Heo Gwanjung usually ignored Black Officers older than himself, yet he called out to them without realizing it.
“…”
The Black Officers, who had never seen him like this before, exchanged glances and hesitated.
“What are you doing?!”
“Yes, sir!” the Black Officers answered in unison.
Heo Gwanjung’s shout rang out again, making them move.
Dongryong’s smile vanished as he moved, bloody light flashing from his eyes.
Flash!
It was clearly the same sword art Geumpyo and Jin Sowoon had used.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
Yet unlike when Heo Gwanjung had faced it himself, Dongryong’s sword art did not seem special at all when viewed as a third party.
‘It isn’t fast.’
Taeul Sect’s sword arts were built around the principles of Change and Illusion.
There was no way the Heavenly Flower Eighteen Claws could lose in speed.
Even so, though the sword had greater reach, his fingers had still been slower and were cut off.
“Are you thinking of running away… sir?”
His head was cocked to one side, bloody light flashed in his eyes, and his voice remained pure despite it all.
Though Mount Mao Sect and Taeul Sect were the ones in danger, chills ran down the Black Officers’ spines instead.
“Attack!”
At Heo Gwanjung’s shout, they shot forward like arrows. As they moved, they formed a coordinated formation and attacked Dongryong from three directions.
Dongryong responded.
‘W-What is he doing?’
He turned his back to them where he stood.
Just before the Black Officers’ swords pierced him,
Whoosh!
He swung the Black Dragon Sword as though cutting through space, using the force of his spin.
“W-What…?”
“Huh?”
Shhhhk!
With the sound of air tearing apart, three Black Officers’ heads dropped to the ground.
Their headless bodies continued forward from momentum before crashing down and spraying blood everywhere.
“A swift sword?”
Heo Gwanjung’s mouth fell open.
A swift sword was something Dongryong, who wielded a sword too large and heavy for his body, should never have been able to use.
Yet Dongryong had found an unimaginable way to unleash a swift sword with the massive Black Dragon Sword.
‘He used a swift sword… like that?’
That was not all.
Leaping into the air to attack gave one a positional advantage, but it also restricted the body’s movement while airborne.
Tap!
Dongryong jumped without hesitation, rising higher than his opponent.
Then he curled his entire body, adding even more weight before crashing down on them.
Bang!
With a heavy strike more suited to a heavy sword, he shattered the opponent’s blade.
Even those who withstood it usually vomited blood, their insides shaken apart.
After landing, he did not pause for even a moment before swinging his sword again.
The Change and Illusion that formed the basis of the Lesser Heaven Sword Art and Greater Heaven Sword Art seemed like nothing more than tools to him. His sword path carried no wasted movements.
No, it was as if he had stripped away every unnecessary form, using only the smallest Change and Illusion to toy with his opponents.
Like a child playing with a little bug.
Dongryong moved constantly like a child playing with an energetic puppy, and each time he moved, Black Officers fell like dolls with their strings cut.
“You aren’t going to run away, right… sir?”
His clumsy polite speech froze the air like frost.
Dongryong had already killed all eight Black Officers. Showing Heo Gwanjung his palm, he was about to charge at him.
“Eek!”
For the first time in his life, Heo Gwanjung felt such pressure and fear that he covered his head.
“Good grief!!”
Geumpyo, who had appeared after dealing with the other Black Officers, grabbed Dongryong’s arm in shock.
“W-What is this?! Ew!”
With a flick of Geumpyo’s hand, the fingers in Dongryong’s hand rolled across the ground.
“Dongryong! Didn’t I tell you not to play with filthy things(?)!”
“Huh? They aren’t filthy…”
Heo Gwanjung did not even have time to feel offended. He searched for the Black Officers who had been facing Geumpyo.
Most lay sprawled across the ground with their chests or parts of their heads crushed.
‘When did that happen?!’
The additional Black Officers who should have arrived were nowhere to be seen.
Jin Sowoon had run toward the mystic formation, so something had clearly gone wrong there as well.
‘…Damn it.’
Heo Gwanjung had to make a choice.
Should he fight the Gold and Bronze Brothers, who were wiping the younger brother’s hand with their clothes, then go help the Black Officers?
Or…
“Brother, wait a moment. I have business with that person.”
“What business? I told you not to touch things like that…”
“That person is bad.”
Geumpyo’s eyes turned cold as he scolded his younger brother.
“I know. That’s why I don’t plan on killing him easily. He’s the leader of this group.”
At the same time, a coarse fighting spirit poured from Geumpyo’s body.
Heo Gwanjung’s breath tightened again, and he made his decision.
“Don’t think you’ve won!”
“Do you think you can escape?”
Geumpyo and Dongryong moved in perfect unison to block his retreat.
There was not the slightest opening.
At that moment,
“Uh!”
“Huh?”
Heo Gwanjung threw himself into the mystic formation without hesitation.
“…He’s insane.”
Heo Gwanjung’s voice, filled with malice, came from within the foggy mystic formation.
“I will definitely return!”
#
Thinking about it now, there was one enormous question that could never be answered.
Why Yong Soa?
Countless rising talents had appeared over the martial world’s long history.
They made their presence known, proved themselves, carved their names into history, and sometimes withered away or betrayed their path.
Every era had its remarkable rising talents, and every era had absolute masters.
Yet Yong Soa transcended time and eras as though he existed outside this world’s standards.
When he was in Wudang Sect, when he entered the martial world, when he made a name for himself as a rising talent, when he reached middle age, even after he became Martial Alliance Leader.
He had not steadily risen to the absolute realm through experience and the tempering of time like other talented people.
Even when he was immature, he was always acknowledged. No absolute master could deny Yong Soa.
It was an age so full of exceptional divine prodigies that it had been called the War of the Stars.
Among all those stars, Yong Soa had been overwhelming.
Ilmyeong, called Shaolin Sect’s greatest talent of all time, had been eclipsed by Yong Soa’s shadow. Dang Seohui, who had broken the Tang Clan’s unwritten rules, had been unable to make her presence known.
Ilgak, who had learned the Muscle-Tendon Change Classic, Hwa Jeongsan of Mount Hua Sect, and even Namgung San of the Namgung Clan.
Countless talents had been buried beneath Yong Soa’s name.
When I had been a nobody in my past life, I had simply accepted it.
But thinking about it now, it made no sense.
Everyone had strengths and weaknesses.
A transcendent being who could overwhelm everyone in every field could not truly exist, no more than the mythical Black Tortoise or dragon.
Even the absolute masters of a hundred years ago and the divine prodigies of five hundred years ago faded when compared with Yong Soa.
He won acknowledgment from those who had once looked down on him, and reverence from those who already acknowledged him.
He was always the one at the front, someone who could never be defeated by anyone in any field.
Absolute.
A man who had broken the unwritten rule that nothing could be absolute in the martial world, where countless variables existed.
How?
How could that be possible?
Clang!
I swung the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
The Whirlwind Sword Art slipped past my sword path and thrust toward a vital acupoint.
Slash!
I hurriedly pulled back my sword and blocked it.
The Whirlwind Sword Art lightly pierced my vital acupoint before immediately cutting into my shoulder.
Slash!
Whenever I used the Greater Heaven Sword Art to create distance, he was already close, unleashing the Two Modes Fist Art.
Bang!
His attacks and defenses flowed together as if he already knew what I would do.
They were smooth and effortless, as natural as breathing.
“Did you ignore my advice just to achieve this result?”
His emotionless voice was irritating.
I did not bother answering. No, I had no time to answer.
If I relaxed for even a moment, the small cuts all over my body would become irreversible injuries.
There was only one reason that usually emotionless bastard was saying something so pointless.
‘Gu Songbaek.’
His objective was too obvious.
Clang!
I blocked the Whirlwind Sword Art cutting toward my waist with the Devouring Gauntlet.
Surprise briefly appeared on his irritating face.
“…Was this it?”
I did not understand his meaningless murmur.
Knowing his goal, I could not drag this out any longer.
Besides,
“Grrr…”
Yu Jiryang, who was holding back the closing Soul-Destroying Formation, was nearing his limit.
At this rate, I had no chance of winning.
Swordsmanship was ultimately a battle of moves.
What were the odds of winning when the opponent had seen every card in your hand?
‘Then.’
I needed to turn this into a fight that did not require a battle of moves.
I sharply raised my internal energy.
Step.
Yong Soa, who had been pressing his attack, took a step back and prepared the Flowing Cloud Sword.
As if he knew what attack I would use.
‘Damn it…’
I drew on my vast internal energy and produced sword force.
Reflecting my state of mind, crimson qi force spread ominously in every direction from the Scarlet Radiance Sword.
Boom!
The first explosion rang out.
Boomboomboomboomboom!
A chain of explosions struck Yong Soa like mad.
The shockwave overturned the ground and scattered the fog of the mystic formation.
The area turned hazy with dust and mist.
Everything in the path of my powerful strike shattered.
“Jin Sowoon…”
Then,
“I’ll eliminate you first.”
The man’s eyes fixed solely on me.
They were no longer emotionless.
Why did even peerless masters acknowledge Yong Soa?
Why was he considered an existence beyond eras and time?
His incomparable insight, along with his sect’s principles of Move after, control first and Softness Overcomes Hardness, gave absolute strength to the ability heaven had granted him.
No matter his level or which absolute master he faced, he would never suffer a one-sided defeat.
Perhaps it was only natural that someone like him would transcend eras and time.
“Fuck…”
I could only stare blankly at the Taiji Wisdom Sword flying toward my heart.
I instinctively raised the Devouring Gauntlet to block it, but the profound principle of the Taiji Wisdom Sword used the gauntlet as a foothold and targeted my neck even faster.
Had he prepared even for this?
Like a chess piece trapped with nowhere to go, I watched the course of my death with perfect clarity.
Just as despair struck me, knowing I had fallen into the trap my opponent had laid,
Crackle!
A beam of light struck Yong Soa directly with the sound of thunder and lightning.
‘Huh?’
Before I could even understand what had happened,
Crackle!
Another beam of lightning shot from behind and attacked Yong Soa.
Crackle!
The third beam burst forth.
Yong Soa moved away as if he had vanished.
“Stop it, Yong Soa.”
The one who had attacked him was none other than Namgung San.
“…”
I had no idea why he was here with Yong Soa, but there was only one thing I needed to do now.
Thud.
“You…”
I grabbed Gu Songbaek and ran.
Whoosh!
I sprinted faster than I ever had in my life.
#
“…”
“…”
After Jin Sowoon vanished like the wind, Yong Soa and Namgung San faced each other awkwardly.
Namgung San had stepped forward with resolve to stop Yong Soa, but now that Jin Sowoon had escaped, he felt awkward. Still, he forced himself to keep his expression steady.
It was troubling enough that Mount Mao Sect had become a target of the purge operation, yet Jin Sowoon of Taeul Sect had been there as well.
This could not be allowed to continue.
Yong Soa, having lost Jin Sowoon and Gu Songbaek, asked without emotion.
“Why did you interfere?”
“I still cannot be certain.”
Yong Soa frowned.
“Your actions led countless people of the martial world to their deaths.”
“…Are you certain of what you saw?”
Mount Mao Sect had believed until the end that the Martial Alliance would never betray them.
Namgung San had seen that naïve trust with his own eyes.
So even if Yong Soa had seen something…
No, when Namgung San did not even know what Yong Soa had seen, he could not simply believe it and follow him.
“If they were truly members of the Blood Cult or Demonic Cult, if they had something to hide… would they have responded so naïvely?”
“…”
“What did you see?”
Yong Soa’s emotionless eyes darkened.
The two men saw the world from vastly different perspectives.
Each believed what they had seen was right.
Yong Soa had lived his entire life with the world tilted to one side like this.
He chose his words carefully.
How could he explain Gu Songbaek, whose only remaining eye flashed with bloody light among Demonic Cult members as he turned hundreds of White Path martial artists into madmen?
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