novelraw Chapter 181 : I Will Never Forgive Again (2)
Chapter 181 : I Will Never Forgive Again (2)
Chapter 181: I Will Never Forgive Again (2)
The Leader of the Martial Exalt Union, Gong Taemun, slowly opened his eyes.
‘……Where is this?’
As the darkness receded and his vision returned, an unfamiliar ceiling and bed came into view.
The dreadful, throbbing pain wracking his entire body came as an added bonus.
Due to the tremendous shock his body had suffered, even his meridians had been slightly twisted.
As he became aware that these were traces of battle, fragments of memory returned.
‘That’s right. I was clearly fighting Tang Sewoon, that man…….’
Judging by the circumstances, it seemed that after his defeat, that man had brought him here.
But no matter how he thought about it, something felt strange.
‘……But how did I lose?’
He had no memory of the process.
There was a blank space in his memory, as if his mind had been wiped clean.
After Ho Daewon died, he had clearly drawn his blade.
Gripping the Six-Soul Blade, he had unleashed all his power and charged at his enemy.
Yet after that, there was nothing but a complete blank slate.
It was as if someone had deliberately carved out only that scene from his mind.
And then, at that moment.
“Oh, you’re awake!”
“……!”
He hastily sprang up and thrust a fist toward the direction the voice came from.
But his punch soon stopped in midair.
‘……What?’
“Ah! I’m terribly sorry. I must have startled you.”
That was because he could not sense even the slightest trace of qi from the unidentified man, who showed not a shred of hostility.
The man, who kept bowing his head repeatedly, was holding something long and slender wrapped in silk with both hands.
“It’s nothing special—I brought the blade now that the maintenance is finished.”
“This is……?”
When the man removed the silk, a familiar object lay within.
“The blade should be perfectly restored. The Clan Head personally inspected it for you.”
“……!”
It was his beloved weapon, the Six-Soul Blade.
Dazed, he examined the blade he had received for a long while.
It was certainly his blade, yet it felt completely different.
Every change was for the better.
It had already been worthy of being called a treasure before, but now it could truly be called a divine weapon.
As he stared in a daze, the mysterious man—who seemed accustomed to such reactions—continued speaking.
“Ah, my apologies for the late introduction. I am Yeoseon, the chief strategist and head instructor of the Sichuan Tang Clan, serving our Clan Head.”
“……Yeoseon?”
It was a name he had never heard before.
Yet the name Yeoseon was instantly engraved into his mind.
Because he had realized that an opponent who could so lightly deflect his presence without drawing up even a shred of qi was no ordinary individual.
“Hehe, you’ll be seeing me often from now on. Let’s leave introductions at that for today. The Clan Head is waiting, so shall we head over?”
“……Why would that man want to see me.”
“That, you’ll find out once you arrive.”
Yeoseon was wearing a meaningful smile.
After leaving the building, the interior of the estate spread out before him.
Gong Taemun headed toward the place Yeoseon had indicated.
Yeoseon said that his master wished for a private meeting and only pointed out the direction before leaving, but finding Sewoon was not difficult.
Shwaaaa!
‘If you can’t feel that overwhelming, overflowing aura, you might as well be blind.’
Because an oppressive presence was surging forth from a single location.
Good. I’ve decided. I’ll take you as my first subordinates to follow my Dominion over the Unorthodox.
‘……He definitely said that.’
It was the reason he had been summoned, and the last words Sewoon had spoken before their spar.
Dominion over the Unorthodox, or Uniting the Unorthodox.
It was truly an arrogant statement.
After all, it was something no one in the history of the Jianghu had ever achieved.
He had certainly been defeated by him, but he did not believe those words.
They could have been spoken merely to exploit the creed of the Martial Exalt Union, which pursued nothing but strength.
As his thoughts grew complicated.
Passing over a small wall, the training ground immediately came into view.
And then.
“……!”
At the very center of the training ground, Sewoon was swinging his sword.
Kuururung!
Dudududu!
With every movement, the surrounding air twisted, and the stone floor beneath his feet trembled violently as if an earthquake were occurring.
Gong Taemun’s eyes widened as if they would burst.
There was only one reason.
How could that man use that martial art!
‘Six-Soul… Blade Art……?!’
His own true martial art, the Six-Soul Blade Art, was being recreated and displayed in the form of a sword.
How could that man unfold his martial art with such perfection?
Amid that incomprehensible sight.
What you pursue is the pinnacle of martial studies. And overwhelming power.
I will show you its completion.
Another set of words Sewoon had spoken to him was shaking his mind.
Shwaaaa!
At the same time, forgotten memories burst forth like a flood breaking through a dam.
The despairing memory of his Six-Soul Blade—into which he had poured his entire life—being destroyed with utter ease.
“……!”
He froze on the spot like a stone statue, exhaling softly.
The reason his memories of the battle had been completely blank.
It had not been mere shock or injury.
It was because of the horrific impact of his martial art being so effortlessly shattered by his opponent that his mind and consciousness themselves had temporarily sealed away the memory.
“Kuh!”
Gong Taemun slowly pressed a hand to his forehead.
Only now were the memories slowly fitting together, piece by fragment.
From the very first technique, he had poured out all his strength.
But.
‘……Only two moves.’
Gong Taemun had fought countless battles throughout his life, but—
That day, a ‘battle where the fight itself never came into being’ was something he had never experienced in his entire life.
Sewoon was not simply strong.
It was not a matter of looking down from above his head, but from the very end of the heavens.
With merely two movements extended by his opponent, everything he had was nullified and collapsed.
‘And yet, just by seeing those two techniques, he grasped the very foundation of my martial art so perfectly……?’
At the moment Gong Taemun felt his heart hardening under the tremendous shock of that truth newly realized.
Shwaaaaa.
At last, Sewoon finished his training, sheathed his sword, and turned his head.
“You’re awake.”
“……!!”
Gong Taemun could not bring himself to utter any reply.
Then, as Sewoon slowly walked down from the training ground, he spoke.
“But isn’t it a bit rude to stare so intently at someone else’s training?”
“I, I have committed a discourtesy.”
As Gong Taemun stammered without realizing it himself, Sewoon let out a faint chuckle.
“It’s fine. I was joking.”
“……!”
“Besides, it’s your sword to begin with, so it doesn’t really matter whether you watch or not.”
“Th-then, does that mean truly……!”
Before he realized it, Sewoon had already come right in front of Gong Taemun.
Slowly meeting Gong Taemun’s eyes, he spoke in a low voice.
“I hear that the symbol representing the Martial Exalt Union is ‘martial wagering’. A fight where each side stakes their own martial art.”
“……!”
“So, since I won, I took it as my spoils of war.”
“!!”
Gong Taemun’s mouth fell wide open.
To dismantle a martial art in just two moves—was that truly possible?
Could that man, who looked as though he had only just passed his coming-of-age, truly possess the qualities of a ‘Grandmaster’?
As Gong Taemun swallowed hard without realizing it, Sewoon began speaking without restraint.
“The foundation of the Six-Soul Blade lies in the overlapping of waves. You condense internal power to create waves, layer them atop one another, then unleash techniques and trigger explosions at the right moments to multiply their might.”
“……!”
“But the problem is that your explosions are too fast. That’s why your momentum leaks out before you even cut through the opponent’s center.”
“!!”
Gong Taemun’s eyes trembled like quaking leaves.
“The overlapping itself is perfect, but the transmission of internal power is half a beat too fast. It’s likely the aftereffect of spending your entire life focused on the principle of swiftness, but from now on, it would be better to concentrate on realizing slowness.”
“……How, how could you.”
“Because I can see it.”
“……!”
Sewoon answered Gong Taemun’s question as if he were asking something obvious.
For some time after that, Gong Taemun said nothing.
It was not that he chose not to speak—he was unable to.
Shwaaaa!
Within him, changes bordering on upheaval were taking place.
Long-standing blockages, bottlenecks in his flow, and breaks he had never understood were unraveling one after another with a single sentence from Sewoon.
‘I knew nothing.’
He had believed that he understood his own martial art.
That was only natural—it was his own, after all.
Yet the man before him had pierced through its essence after seeing merely two techniques.
A moment that felt like eternity passed.
“…….”
After finishing the consolidation of his enlightenment, Gong Taemun slowly opened his eyes.
But he dared not say a single word to Sewoon.
His heart was pounding madly, and sweat streamed down his back.
Even though he had taken a step forward—or rather, because he had taken that step—
it was the aftereffect of glimpsing just how far Sewoon had reached.
At last, Sewoon spoke first.
“Do you want to become stronger?”
His tone was plain.
A voice without any pressure or affectation.
After pondering the question for a long while, Gong Taemun replied.
“……I have lived for that very purpose.”
Sewoon nodded and said.
“Then do you believe that the way you’ve pursued that goal until now was the right one?”
“……!!”
Gong Taemun could not answer.
Step.
Sewoon took one step closer.
Even that short distance carried a strange weight.
“You must have defeated those you deemed strong. And you must have learned by pushing yourself to the brink of death.”
“…….”
“But now you’ve reached a limit, like this. Why do you think that is?”
“……Because I am lacking.”
Gong Taemun, the Leader of the Martial Exalt Union—famed in the Jianghu for never bowing his head to anyone even in death—was lowering himself and speaking humbly.
But Sewoon gave his reply without any such consideration.
“That’s right.”
“……!”
“Ordinarily, you’d have to stop there, or barely cross that limit after rolling through life-and-death crises countless times.”
“That is…….”
“But even that is just a single step. Even if you invest your entire life, if you walk alone, that’s where it ends.”
Thump! Thump!
Gong Taemun’s heart was pounding like mad.
Sewoon continued.
“If you truly wish to become strong, there is only one path.”
“To be endlessly crushed by an existence overwhelmingly stronger than yourself.”
“True strength is attained only when someone who has gone hundreds of steps ahead opens the path just one step in front of you.”
Gong Taemun slowly drew in a breath.
“And that someone is me.”
“……!!”
Sewoon spoke a single sentence.
The words themselves were simple.
But within them was a sincerity more precise than any metaphor.
He did not reach out a hand toward him,
nor did he coerce or tempt him.
He merely showed the path.
Sewoon added one final remark.
“The most foolish person in the world is the one who keeps his eyes closed, not even knowing that an opportunity has come.”
“……!!”
“Will you let this chance slip away?”
Gong Taemun stared at him blankly.
Sewoon shot him a gaze as cold as ice.
His heart dropped heavily.
If he were to refuse, Sewoon would abandon him without the slightest hesitation and leave.
Even imagining that situation made him feel dizzy.
And so, in the end.
Koo-woong.
“I will follow you, my lord.”
Gong Taemun dropped to his knees on the ground.
The Leader of the Martial Exalt Union, Gong Taemun, was bowing his head in sincere submission to his master.
It was not simply because he had been defeated.
Nor was it because he could not defeat him and thus surrendered.
It was possible only because this was an existence that had pierced through his martial path and shown him the road to complete it.
As Sewoon looked at the one who had broken his lifelong convictions and sworn loyalty.
‘Have I obtained Zhang Fei.’
Sewoon was wearing a deeply satisfied smile.