Invincible with Twin Swords

Chapter 3 : Let's Make Another Bet!

"Are you finally coming to your senses?"

When I opened my eyes, I saw my mother's face.

She said I had been unconscious for several days after being pulled out of the coffin.

She looked exhausted from prying open my clenched mouth to feed me gruel and constantly massaging my limbs. It seemed the person who should have been lying in bed receiving care had been switched.

I had lost my mother the year after the Righteous-Demonic War began, so it had been nearly twenty years since I had seen her alive like this.

In this moment, the purpose and meaning of returning to the past were all unnecessary.

I just silently gazed at the face I had missed.

My mother, worried that something might happen to me again, didn't even go to her quarters and fell asleep in my room. Her face looked peaceful, so my heart was at ease too.

They said there was a huge commotion when a dead person came back to life from a coffin. She had told everyone not to come near as I still needed to rest. Thanks to that, the surroundings were as quiet as if not even an ant was stirring.

Well, there weren't many people left in this Flying Heaven Sword Sect anymore.

I went outside and sat on the front porch.

As I felt the cool dawn air, my mind finally cleared and became sharp.

Being reborn, even the smell of the air felt new.

If I hadn't returned to the past, I would still be breathing the same air as the Heavenly Demon.

It was my body, but it felt unfamiliar.

I sat in a cross-legged position and began to circulate my true energy. I could feel the energy flowing along the blood vessels throughout my body. The internal energy in my dantian was pure.

The pure internal energy I had accumulated since childhood played a large role in the foundation that later made me famous with a single saber.

Of course, it wasn't enough yet.

Fortunately, I knew a way to accumulate internal energy faster.

Of course, it would require constant training.

I am twenty-seven years old!

I had returned to an earlier time than expected. Thanks to that, I had gained enough time to prepare.

There were roughly five years left until the revelation was sent down!

Before that, no one could know who the Heavenly Demon was.

When the revelation was sent down, the Demonic Cult would move to confirm its authenticity.

I have no choice but to follow that movement.

What I must do before that!

First, I must become stronger.

Becoming a little stronger won't do. I must become much stronger than before the regression.

Second, I can't do it alone.

I can't do everything by myself, from observing the movements of the Demonic Cult to finding the Heavenly Demon. I need reliable companions to quickly respond to all situations when the revelation is sent down and the Demonic Cult moves.

Third, I need information.

Although I had experienced the Righteous-Demonic War, there was almost no information known about the Heavenly Demon and the Demonic Cult. I can't even commission the Beggars' Sect or the Underworld. If they sense even the slightest hint, the Demonic Cult will hide in the Hundred Thousand Mountains with the Heavenly Demon. I must find a way.

I will prepare everything and find the Heavenly Demon.

And I will kill him.

It is a contradiction to condemn someone for a crime they have not yet committed.

But I have witnessed the terrible future that will unfold because of the Heavenly Demon.

I will carry all the karma!

* * *

Go Hyeon Geom Jin Sogi, the sect leader of the Flying Heaven Sword Sect, was my father.

He was a martial artist who had reached the pinnacle with the family's inherited Red Sun Sword Art and was quite famous in the vicinity of Samdo County in Guizhou. He was also highly respected for his righteousness and chivalry, and was a good father and a good husband.

Everything was good.

Except that his life was short.

Sickness can find even a martial artist who has reached the pinnacle.

Not long after I lost my father to illness, people from a place called the Tyrant Heaven Sect in the vicinity of Guiyang came to visit. They held a strange document with my father's seal on it.

They said that my father had lost a bet in a duel with the Tyrant Heaven Sect's leader, Du Bokyang, during a martial arts tour a few years ago.

The condition of the bet was that they would hand over the Flying Heaven Sword Sect and the Tyrant Heaven Sect to each other depending on the outcome of the duel!

So now they were telling us to hand over everything, including the estate.

Would he have made such a bet?

My father was not a fool, nor was he someone who would bet the Flying Heaven Sword Sect he had built. It was absurd, but the contract with my father's seal was perfect, and we couldn't prove it was false.

After losing its sect leader and being pressured by the Tyrant Heaven Sect, the Flying Heaven Sword Sect collapsed at a rapid pace.

I was born with a Heavenly Martial Body, but I had no interest in the sword. I had neither the strength nor the ability to protect the sword sect. As the Flying Heaven Sword Sect was taken away, I dreamed of revenge, and the desire for revenge led me to take up the saber and enter the path of a ronin.

My mother was a strong person, but she was no match for them.

Now, the only family members left were the old steward couple and a few servants.

They said that on the day I collapsed, the riffraff from the Tyrant Heaven Sect came and caused a ruckus, and I suddenly collapsed while trying to stop them.

And that I had stopped breathing right then and there.

It was probably something that happened in the process of my soul being switched.

I was almost buried in the ground as soon as I returned to the past.

The first thing I had to do was decided.

The Tyrant Heaven Sect!

They are trash that must be cleaned up first.

As I was thinking about this and that, I arrived at the training ground.

I picked up a sword and a saber that were rolling around, rusted here and there, and entered the unfamiliar yet familiar training ground. It was once a place filled with the shouts of martial artists. Now, only sparse weeds were growing.

The image of a child swinging a wooden sword and his parents smiling proudly behind him overlapped on the abandoned training ground.

...It's been a long time since I've been here.

With the tip of the sword in my left hand pointing towards the ground, I swung it in a light arc. A light cloud of dust rose.

Now, the sword felt more familiar than the saber.

I first held a sword right here. And here, I abandoned my father's sword.

I became a ronin and took up the saber. Because I wanted a stronger and more tyrannical power.

At that time, I didn't know that both the sword and the saber would eventually reach the same place.

I swung the sword and the saber until dawn broke.

It's only been five years since my arm was cut off, but my right arm feels awkward.

I'm managing to imitate the forms, but it lacks the former strength and fierceness.

My left arm is more familiar, but I'm still clumsy at imbuing the sword with internal energy. When I try to forcefully imbue it with internal energy, the waste of internal energy is severe, and the sword path collapses.

In the Valley of Abandoned Bugs, I had never properly swung the Sword Emperor's great swordsmanship with internal energy.

If the dead Sword Emperor came back, he would give me a good scolding.

I must quickly get used to the Sword Emperor's swordsmanship.

So that I can properly swing even a single form with internal energy.

This time, I held a sword in my left hand and a saber in my right.

I tried to raise my internal energy to the fullest and perform the Heaven and Earth Hundred Severing Sword Manual and the Limitless Saber Art simultaneously.

It's a mess.

As if drawing a circle with my left hand and a square with my right hand at the same time, both arms just drew meaningless pictures in the air.

...This is going to be harder than I thought.

* * *

As soon as the sun rose, Steward Go came to find me.

He is a strict old man who has been in charge of the Flying Heaven Sword Sect's household since before I was born. He was always taciturn and had a sharp impression, but he was always warm to me as if I were his grandson.

Thinking about it now, there could be no greater loyalty. In the future, after the Flying Heaven Sword Sect collapsed and I left home for revenge, the steward served my mother until the end.

"Are you feeling a little better?"

Seeing Steward Go again, tears suddenly poured out.

I hugged him tightly and wiped my tears and snot.

On Steward Go's clothes.

"After being in a coffin and coming out, I feel like I've been reborn. It feels like I'm living a second life. Haha."

"People are chattering about being possessed by a ghost or a corpse walking around, but in my opinion, it happened because your energy was weak. I've ordered them to brew some medicinal herbs that are good for the body, so please take them well for your mother's sake."

His tone is blunt, but he's always worried about me.

"I understand. I'll take my medicine well and eat my meals well..."

- Bang! Bang!

Someone was loudly knocking on someone else's gate since morning.

Judging by the loud sound, it seems they kicked it?

As expected, the trash from the Tyrant Heaven Sect came pouring in.

"Oh ho. Young Master Jin is here too. No, should I call you Sect Leader Jin now? You won't be able to use the name Sect Leader for more than a few days, but I'll still call you Sect Leader Jin. That way, you'll at least have the name of the former Flying Heaven Sword Sect Leader to live with. Haha."

That guy with the beady eyes is the Tyrant Heaven Sect's Steward Woo. He was practically the Tyrant Heaven Sect leader's brain, and was considered the real power in the Tyrant Heaven Sect.

"What is this outrage? Didn't I tell you that the bet is absurd? How are your actions no different from those of the underworld and unorthodox factions? How lightly did you regard the Flying Heaven Sword Sect..."

If the Tyrant Heaven Sect has Steward Woo, we have Steward Go. He is a person who will say what he has to say without being intimidated even if a knife is at his throat.

Moreover, his work is clean, and his beard is even more magnificent.

"Enough of that, I'll give you three days! We are making a legitimate demand according to the bet. Be grateful that we are giving you time to pack your things and leave!"

"Why should we leave this place? We will forgive all the evil deeds the Tyrant Heaven Sect has committed so far, so please leave quietly."

"Didn't you also confirm the sect leader's seal? Is Go Hyeon Geom Jin Sogi a person who makes empty promises?"

How dare this bastard mention my deceased father's name?

In fact, my father had met the Tyrant Heaven Sect leader during his martial arts tour in the past. They said that at that time, the Tyrant Heaven Sect leader had drugged my father's drink and secretly stamped his seal while he was asleep.

In the past, no, in the future, I heard it directly from that bastard's mouth. He was a tough guy, so he only confessed after I pulled out his seventh fingernail. He begged me to spare his life until the end, saying he wasn't involved.

"That seal! Didn't you actually drug my father's drink and secretly stamp it while he was asleep?"

Steward Woo flinched.

I know the truth, you bastards!

If I had my way, I would wipe them all out, but I'm still not strong enough to wipe out the Tyrant Heaven Sect by myself. They have quite a few numbers.

And in that way, the Flying Heaven Sword Sect would be disgraced. That they didn't keep a legitimate bet and intimidated with force.

"By the way. I definitely saw you stop breathing, so how did you come back to life? I was so surprised when I heard you came out of the coffin alive. If you were dead, you should have just gone quietly, why do you surprise people like that?"

Instead of Steward Woo, a big guy who was at the front stepped forward and said.

I had often heard that I was tall, reaching six feet, and had a sturdy build, but this guy in front of me was a head taller than me. His face looked like a wild boar that had been rolling in a sewer, and there was a long sword scar across the middle of his face.

The guy who followed him looked like a weasel, with a short stature and a large saber on his back that was as big as his height.

I could bet my right arm again that he couldn't draw the saber on his back in one go.

"Yeah. I was thinking hard in the coffin, and I remembered something I forgot. So I came out again."

"What was it that you had to open the coffin lid again to come out? You couldn't close your eyes leaving your mommy alone? Hehe."

The wild boar in front of me said with a face that looked like it wanted to be shoved back into the sewer.

The weasel next to him was laughing along.

I was going to just exchange some idle jokes, state my business briefly, and send them back, but this bastard is touching my parents, asking to die?

"I forgot to smash the heads of a wild boar and a weasel, you bastards!"

While the wild boar and the weasel were flustered, not knowing what he was talking about, I suddenly threw a punch at the jaw of the wild boar at the very front. And then I kicked the weasel's nose.

- Thwack! Thwack!

The wild boar's jaw snapped to the side, but he didn't fall. Because I held back. The weasel was clutching his nose and rolling on the ground.

The big wild boar, angry after being hit once, reflexively drew his sword. I also drew my sword and confronted him. It was so slow that I could have yawned, but I pretended to fight with all my might and clashed with him for dozens of exchanges.

- Clang! Clang!

In fact, I was just letting my sword meet the wild boar's sword. At the right moment, I stabbed his right shoulder, and the wild boar dropped his sword.

The weasel, who had come to his senses, was struggling to draw the saber on his back. I waited until he drew his saber, but even after drawing it, he couldn't charge at me. It seemed the weasel was a level below the wild boar.

The other riffraff who had followed them also drew their swords, but they were just watching.

The Tyrant Heaven Sect's Steward Woo, who had been watching the situation from behind, stepped forward.

The reason he just watched until the wild boar fell was probably because he was curious about the skills of the new sect leader of the Flying Heaven Sword Sect.

"Does the Flying Heaven Sword Sect really want to resolve this in this way?"

"How dare a mere steward speak informally to a sect leader?"

Our Steward Go flinched.

Ah, don't misunderstand. I'm not talking about Steward Go!

"Go back and tell your sect leader!"

I shouted with all my might, panting as if exhausted.

"Let's make another bet!"

(End of Chapter)