Reincarnated Sword Ghost

Chapter 98 : Gate Leader Conference

Gate Leader Conference

The room was utter chaos.

Every object visible ahead, including the large furniture and miscellaneous items, had been split in half. Wedged between them were four corpses.

All of them had faces with eyes wide open.

There was no trace of the fear that would come from crossing the river of death.

Their expressions only showed shock at the sudden sword strike and bursting energy that had descended upon them.

The two men who had ruled Kaifeng's underworld did not even realize their own deaths as they died.

"Crazy...."

Unable to help himself, Soo Il-san muttered as he took in the scene through his narrowly opened eyes.

At that unbelievable sight, Soo Il-san's eyes flashed wide.

Even though a storm of vital ki had erupted right in front of him, Soo Il-san's body was unharmed.

The energy burst shattered everything with an oval motion, directly ahead of Jeong-un.

The door, the corridor, and even the wall of the room across were split evenly in two.

Soo Il-san was frozen in place, his mouth agape.

Glancing at Soo Il-san's state, Jeong-un spoke.

"Go out and tell the men outside."

"Huh, what do you...?"

"Tell those who want to avenge their Gate Leader to come straight up."

"Pardon?"

As Soo Il-san blankly asked again, Jeong-un turned his head to stare at him.

This snapped Soo Il-san back to his senses. He quickly corrected his posture and bowed his head.

"Y-yes, understood!"

With that, Soo Il-san hurriedly dashed through the broken door and ran down the corridor.

Jeong-un ignored the hurried, pounding steps on the stairs and thought to himself.

'My sense for handling internal energy has become more delicate. My cultivated power has thickened as well.'

The effects of diligently training internal energy and practicing ki circulation every day showed.

The dormant internal energy was truly a once-in-a-lifetime fortuitous opportunity.

Every day, he drew a little bit into his meridians, refining it into true ki.

Now, he had accumulated a greater amount of energy than before.

Yet, even now, much of the internal energy still slumbered in one corner of his lower dantian.

'It's not as if I don't desire more.'

Surely there were other ways to refine it.

Jeong-un knew that One Illumination Movement Technique could not be the only answer; there must be renowned mind methods for rapidly amassing energy.

However, he had no desire to go out of his way searching for them.

The gains from daily internal energy practice were great enough as it was.

Originally, moving true ki was as simple as breathing.

But everything changed when a foreign internal energy filled his dantian in one go.

To forcibly move it, led by his innate internal energy, required powerful intent.

But this resulted in incredible training.

He could feel, in his body, how the subtlety in controlling his cultivation was improving.

'Having a lot of internal energy isn't everything.'

He already knew that profound cultivation was no longer the sole measure of strength.

That's why he tried not to let impatience get the better of him.

"What nonsense is this?!"

"I must see it with my own eyes!"

The commotion outside grew.

Footsteps of hundreds rushed closer.

Soo Il-san had apparently informed the subordinates about the deaths of Yang Kang and Il Do-hae.

Jeong-un rose from his seat and walked out into the totally destroyed corridor.

Amid the shattered debris, vivid bloodstains and four cleaved corpses stood out.

Soon, dozens of men appeared in the narrow corridor.

"T-this is insane!"

"T-the Gate Leader...!"

They stared, aghast, at the corpses of their fallen Gate Leaders, and then turned anger-filled faces toward Jeong-un.

"You think you can live after doing this?!"

"Crazy bastard!"

Jeong-un murmured as he looked at them.

"These people are always slow to grasp the situation."

Even after seeing the corpse of what had undoubtedly been their strongest—probably even their boss—they still didn't get it?

In the martial world, failing to recognize someone stronger was a crime deserving death.

They all glared at him with dark looks, but to Jeong-un, it seemed surreal.

Did they actually think they stood a chance?

If any of them had an ounce of sense, they would have run already.

Jeong-un stepped forward and spoke.

"Did you not come up here for revenge?"

At his nonchalant attitude, a few of them flinched.

It seemed they were finally feeling it. His face was too relaxed—he wasn't even feigning composure.

To remain perfectly calm in front of dozens, even hundreds, of martial artists was truly unusual.

"That brat...?"

"How can a kid look like that...?"

They began whispering among themselves and started to retreat.

Whenever Jeong-un advanced, they took backward steps to maintain distance, causing those behind to be pushed back, completely clueless.

"Why are you pushing?"

"What are you idiots in front doing?!"

The narrow corridor was hopelessly packed with martial artists—so many that proper spacing was impossible.

None seemed to have enough room to fully wield their weapons.

"Don't retreat! Idiots!"

"Can't you see the Iron-Blood Gate isn't stopping him? He's alone!"

For all the noisy commotion as they came up, not a single sound of blades clashing was heard.

Apparently, no one tried to stop them.

'Is that so.'

Jeong-un was hardly surprised. The Gate Leader who had held sway for years had only just died that morning.

Even if Jeong-un declared himself the new Gate Leader after killing the previous one, it hadn't been long enough for these men to develop loyalty.

They weren't a military unit with strict order. In fact, deep down, they might be hoping Jeong-un would die here and now.

He hardly needed their loyalty anyway.

To Jeong-un, the Iron-Blood Gate's men were no different from the others here.

Both oppressed and exploited the common people of Kaifeng all the same.

Before he knew it, those who had been timidly retreating could go no further; there was no more space.

"D-damn it."

"Let's just rush him. He's alone!"

While the men clamored, Jeong-un began circulating internal energy through his meridians, preparing to unleash true ki.

There was no need to throw his sword in a surprise attack—the only chance these men had was to encircle Jeong-un and rely on numbers alone.

But even that would barely leave a scratch on Jeong-un, whose senses had become razor-sharp.

And now, their numbers were locked into a narrow corridor.

Step, step.

At last, their faces were close enough to see in detail.

Jeong-un advanced with a forcible stride, gripping his sword guard. He was utterly calm—not a moment for excitement.

Gathering a surge of true ki into his wrist, he poured it into his sword and prepared to unleash it all at once with his footwork.

"He's coming!"

"Block him!"

As the men at the front hurriedly adjusted their stances, Jeong-un drew his sword.

The distance between the black sword sheath and golden hilt widened, revealing a gleaming blade.

Following the sword's path, a burst of vital ki erupted in a long arc.

Taaang!

This was the same sword strike and bursting energy that had already claimed four lives.

Once again, everything directly ahead—within the narrow corridor—was split in two.

Sshhh─

Walls and doors, along with numerous silhouettes, were sliced vertically.

A golden stream traced a straight and unnatural line, like a thin brush, painting an unreal scene.

The energy burst belatedly whipped up a storm-like gale.

Boom! Splatter!

As the walls and door collapsed, blood sprayed forward.

Through the abruptly collapsing bodies, Jeong-un's gaze met the bewildered men standing further back.

"C-crazy!"

"What the hell is that?!"

With a single move, he had sent over ten men to the afterlife. His mastery of internal energy had completely transcended mere skill.

He fired off a burst of energy like a blade through the sword's trajectory. He had fully entered the realm of a master.

Step, step.

He took a few more steps into the chaos, walking across the blood-soaked ground and over the corpses.

"Spare me!"

"He's a grim reaper, a grim reaper!"

"Out of the way!"

Upon witnessing this, the men screamed and devolved into bedlam.

They shoved each other in panic, retreating in pitiful disorder.

'Spare you?'

What a joke.

From what Jeong-un had already overheard, these men deserved death without need for further sorting.

That was why he did not hesitate to wield his sword, even after hearing that they only wanted the Musan Group Leader's head.

'They're garbage—no reason to hesitate.'

The Heavenly Martial Hall existed to cut down men like these.

Merits and honor were gained by executing such filth. There was no reason to hold back.

Tightening his grip on the sword guard, Jeong-un readied his killing stance again.

"U-ugh!"

"Get out of the way, damn it!"

To these men, the sight was nothing short of terrifying.

One slash had claimed multiple lives. For any second-rate fighters here, the notion of resisting was unthinkable.

Slice!

Again, a shimmering beam flashed through the air.

The sword strike and bursting energy swept forward and split over a dozen more figures in two.

The range of carnage grew as bodies fell and blood splattered.

"D-damn."

"Those idiots up front can't even do anything..."

Even then, a few with fierce gazes could be seen. Veins bulged on the hands gripping their weapons.

It seemed they judged it better to attack than to flee in panic.

'That's wise.'

Most ended up scrambling back in a panic or getting tangled with those late to arrive.

Some even ended up fighting among themselves.

A few, without even basic lightness skill training, leapt out from five stories up to escape.

All this unfolded from just two moves by Jeong-un.

"Get him!"

At that, three men sprang forward, slashing with their swords.

Despite the narrow corridor, their movements were coordinated, as if choreographed.

Almost simultaneously, true ki surged in Jeong-un's body.

It rapidly circulated, filling him, then flowed along his moving muscles and rushed to the Yongcheon point beneath his feet.

He was accompanied by a multitude of footwork techniques gleaned from all his previous battles.

Boom!

At the instant his foot struck the ground, the entire pavilion trembled.

The wooden floor, unable to withstand the circular wave of ki erupting from his foot, burst apart, and the building shook.

The attackers' movements froze instantly. From the grounding foot, a colorless wave of ki radiated out and pressed down with overwhelming force.

In that moment, the only thing they could move was their pupils, wide in fear.

The black sword then extended in a light arc.

After what seemed like only a couple of swings, all three men's heads flew off nearly simultaneously.

The slash was so swift, not even a single eye caught the moment in detail.

Pushing further, Jeong-un swung again.

Craaaash!

The room next to the stairs was blown away in one stroke, debris scattering everywhere.

The men in the adjacent passage fell in heaps, horribly mangled.

"W-what?!"

"What is that...?"

Thanks to this, the view opened up instantly, and the men stared at Jeong-un in horror.

They finally understood why those in front had turned pale and tried to run.

Expressionless, Jeong-un spoke.

"... Surrender your lives quietly, you worms."