novelraw Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121 : Chapter 121
Chapter 121 - A Terrible Hybrid
“Right……”
If a son he met for the first time in ten years pointed a sword at him, how would that father feel?
“You want to kill me.”
Anger.
Dancheong’s voice was filled with anger.
Was it because of the sense of betrayal from his child?
No.
Such thoughts could only be had when there was affection for the child.
He had children scattered all over the place, so he could replace one with another anytime.
The only reason Dancheong had thought of Danseol as special was because of his talent.
His talent as an outstanding assassin.
That was why he had shown a little more interest, and why he had felt it was a waste when he couldn’t find him.
But that was only for a moment.
Dancheong never brought up Danseol’s name again.
From the beginning, he had never cherished him as a son.
Then why was Dancheong angry now?
The reason was extremely simple.
“You…… dare?”
Ssssssss…….
An intangible haze shimmered from Dancheong’s entire body.
A worm crawling on the ground was ‘daring’ to bare its fangs at him.
A creature that would turn into a handful of blood with just one outstretched hand.
An insignificant being looking down on him.
That was precisely why Dancheong was enraged.
Gulp.
Danseol swallowed dryly without realizing it.
Dancheong’s aura was so ominous and fierce that it felt as if fine needles were pricking his skin.
In his childhood, his father was a being greater than Mount Tai to Danseol.
Just imagining pointing a sword at him made his legs tremble.
Now, ten years later.
How much had the gap between himself and Dancheong narrowed?
In Simao.
And at Diancang Mountain.
Danseol had grown so much that the phrase ‘the sea has changed into a mulberry field’ couldn’t be more fitting.
But even if a mulberry field turned into a blue sea, when viewed from the sky, it was merely a minor change.
How much had the once-distant gap truly narrowed?
To confirm this, Danseol drew his sword.
“Haap!”
Danseol extended his sword with a kiai he rarely uttered.
This was a testament to how much energy he had poured into this single strike.
Swish!
The first form of the Eagle Talon Twelve Swords.
Sky-Mirror Shattering Strike.
A clean, quick sword strike without any superfluous movements flew towards Dancheong’s Adam’s apple.
And then,
Waver.
At close range, the tip of Danseol’s sword wavered strangely.
His flexible sword had suddenly created three strands.
It was Danseol’s unique Sky-Mirror Shattering Strike, based on the Eagle Talon Twelve Swords but utilizing the advantages of a flexible sword.
“Wow……!”
Uma let out an exclamation of admiration without realizing it.
His complicated feelings about Danseol were not yet sorted out, but the Sky-Mirror Shattering Strike, enhanced with the variation of the flexible sword, had a charm that made him forget such feelings for a moment.
Smirk.
Dancheong smiled.
And the meaning of that smile was clear ridicule.
Waver.
Just as Dancheong’s shoulder seemed to twitch, only a blurry afterimage remained.
Fwip!
And the moment Danseol’s sword passed through the afterimage.
“!”
Danseol’s pupils, behind his narrow eyes, trembled violently.
He had thought his attack might be dodged.
But he hadn’t expected to be unable to even guess in which direction it was dodged.
“Hehe.”
Dancheong’s thin laughter was heard from behind him.
Feeling the hair on his entire body stand on end, Danseol quickly spun around and extended his flexible sword.
Fwack!
But, once again, Danseol’s sword only cut through the empty air.
“You intended to cut off your father’s head with just that?”
A voice filled with ridicule.
Unbelievably, this time the voice came from the ceiling.
Danseol looked up with a dazed face, but again, he couldn’t find him.
Dancheong, who had already moved from the ceiling, was standing in his original spot.
Left and right.
And ceiling and floor.
Dancheong was moving freely through all those places.
‘Ghostly Body Method……!’
The ground and walls, and even the ceiling.
When light footwork reached its peak, every place one’s feet touched turned into ground.
Its movements were so elusive and godlike that it was named the Ghostly Body Method.
Danseol had only heard about it; this was the first time he had seen the Ghostly Body Method with his own eyes.
‘Damn it…….’
The variation at the tip of Danseol’s sword felt like a child’s play compared to the Ghostly Body Method.
What was so great about a change at the tip of a sword the size of a palm?
Especially when his opponent was moving between the floor and the ceiling.
Grit.
Danseol ground his teeth once and swung his sword again.
As if reflecting his burning anger, the sword aura of the flexible sword was emitting a brighter light than ever before.
Fwaaat!
However,
Whoosh,
No matter how many times he extended his sword, its tip could not even brush against Dancheong’s collar.
The Ghostly Body Method was one of the two martial arts that had instantly promoted Dancheong, who was a mere member of the Green Killer Squad, to the position of leader.
A person who had mastered the body method, which was like life itself to an assassin, to its limit.
The Ghostly Body Method was a martial art whose footwork could rival the advanced body methods of the Nine Sects One Union.
“It’s impossible.”
Biyoung, who had been watching the battle in silence, finally opened his mouth.
Solbo, who was next to him, asked with wide eyes.
“Are you saying Senior Brother can’t catch Dancheong?”
Biyoung shook his head.
“To be more precise, it’s impossible with the ‘Flying Eagle Steps’.”
“……!”
The Diancang Sect’s Flying Eagle Steps was a solid basic footwork that could hold its own anywhere in Jianghu.
It was an excellent martial art for building a foundation, but it was, after all, only basic footwork.
It was impossible to catch Dancheong, who was flying around like a ghost using the Ghostly Body Method.
“If it were the Vast Sky Eagle Body Method, it would have caught up to the Ghostly Body Method in an instant.”
No matter how great the Ghostly Body Method was, it couldn’t stand against the Vast Sky Eagle Body Method, which was once called the best in the Murim.
But even with Biyoung’s words, Solbo couldn’t relax his expression.
The problem was that Danseol had not yet learned the Vast Sky Eagle Body Method.
Fwaat!
Once again, Danseol’s flexible sword cut through the empty air.
Each time, Danseol bit his lip until it bled.
It was only because Dancheong was toying with him; otherwise, he would have died several times over by now.
He had been sharpening his sword for over ten years for his mother’s revenge, but was this how he was to meet his end, being toyed with like this?
‘That can’t happen.’
Danseol suddenly stopped extending his arm.
He, too, had realized that the Flying Eagle Steps could not keep up with Dancheong’s Ghostly Body Method.
“Is the little show over? What a terrible hybrid you are.”
Dancheong flicked his tongue and his blade glinted.
It seemed he was now tired of toying with the son he had met after so long.
‘A terrible hybrid, he says…….’
It might look that way in Dancheong’s eyes.
The motion of drawing the sword itself was the clean, basic swordsmanship of the Orthodox Faction, but adding a variation at the end was purely Danseol’s own technique.
A hybrid.
“……Yes.”
“?”
“Perhaps my very birth was that of a hybrid.”
Because I am the being born between a benevolent mother and a murderer like you.
“So, you should take a look at this hybrid too.”
Ssk.
No one could tell because of his narrow eyes, but Danseol closed his eyes.
And he gently swayed his flexible sword.
The swaying gradually became shorter, and faster.
“……?”
Danseol’s trembling flexible sword emitted an intangible energy.
It was not a sound, nor was it a dangerous force like a palm strike.
It was just a very small wave, like the breath of a newborn baby in a sweet nap.
“!”
For a moment, Biyoung’s eyes sparkled.
He had sensed what Danseol was trying to do.
“Senior Brother. You’re overdoing it.”
Biyoung gave a bitter smile and began to gather his internal energy.
Just one more move.
That could determine Danseol’s life or death.
‘I can feel it.’
The wave of internal energy created by the vibration of the flexible sword.
It extended like an invisible thread and reached Dancheong.
Although he hadn’t opened his eyes, Dancheong’s aura came into view as if he could grasp it with his hands.
Towards that spot, Danseol extended his flexible sword.
“Hmph.”
Dancheong snorted and moved to the right blind spot.
It was the moment when Danseol’s sword, as always, was about to pass through his afterimage.
Whoosh!
“!?”
But, Danseol’s sword, which had never once been able to chase him, curved in towards Dancheong’s Adam’s apple.
Dancheong, who had been sneering all along, felt his heart sink at this moment.
Clang!
For the first time, the sound of sword clashing against sword was heard.
Danseol’s flexible sword had stopped precisely in front of Dancheong’s Adam’s apple.
Although it was blocked, he had succeeded in chasing Dancheong’s Ghostly Body Method.
Drip.
But, though he wasn’t wounded.
Dark red blood poured from both of Danseol’s nostrils like a waterfall.
“Senior Brother!”
Solbo, startled, shouted towards Danseol.
Just as Biyoung had said, Danseol was overdoing it.
Although he used the expression ‘quite a bit’, in reality, it was at the level of laying down his life.
Using the characteristics of the flexible sword and internal energy to grasp the opponent’s movements was a good idea.
But to cover this vast space with the waves of the sword required an amount of internal energy that transcended common sense.
No matter how consistently he had taken the Cradle-to-Grave Pill, it was not a level that the current Danseol could use.
‘He’ll have to risk his life, and even then, it’ll all be over in one move.’
Biyoung was just having that thought.
“This worm-like bastard……”
It seemed that even as a father, he couldn't do anything about his characteristic narrow eyes.
It wasn't easy to determine whether the son in front of him had his eyes open, or if he was even conscious.
But there was one clear fact.
The Ghostly Body Method, which no one had been able to chase for a long time, had been touched by another's sword.
And that, against a greenhorn swordsman.
Malice filled the corners of Dancheong's mouth, which had been sneering all along.
From the time he ran away from the Green Killer Squad, no, perhaps from the moment Danseol was born.
Dancheong had never considered Danseol as family.
So, there was no hesitation in killing the bug in front of him.
It was just as Dancheong was about to plunge his flexible sword into Danseol's chest.
Swiiiish!
“!!!”
A sword strike containing a formidable energy approached Dancheong.
The moment Dancheong, greatly alarmed, raised his sword to defend himself, the energy vanished as if it were a lie.
And Danseol, who had been in front of him, also disappeared, leaving only a bloodstain.
“…………?”
Even the great Dancheong couldn’t help but be bewildered at this moment.
“Hey.”
Then, a provocative voice was heard from one side.
“From now on, you’ll fight with me.”
“You are……”
Was his name Biyoung?
The one who had deceived everyone’s eyes and infiltrated the Ghost Face Gang.
And the one who said he had lured the entire Green Killer Squad out and annihilated them.
He was a man who evoked more killing intent than the son who wanted to kill his own father.
‘But…….’
When had it happened?
Danseol was already lying next to Biyoung.
A woman who was nearby hurriedly approached and checked the condition of the lying Danseol.
Dancheong was dumbfounded.
It was baffling enough that he had lost track of the opponent’s movement, but the more astonishing fact was…….
‘Was I scared? Me?’
He didn’t want to admit it, but Dancheong had been startled by the energy that flew in like lightning.
So much so that he didn’t even notice Danseol being snatched away as he hastily raised his sword.
Had he ever had such an experience in his life?
Besides, the man in front of him looked a couple of years younger than Danseol.
“I’m full of regret.”
Unexpected words flowed from Dancheong.
At those words, the junior disciples of the Diancang Sect narrowed their eyes suspiciously.
With the revenge of the Diancang Sect right before him, was he reflecting on the past slaughter?
However, Dancheong’s regret was of a completely different nature than what ordinary people would think.
“I should have gone myself and made sure to wipe out the seeds. I should have killed all the children around the mountain before returning.”
“!”
Sparks flew in the eyes of the Diancang Sect members.
He wasn’t reflecting on the past, but regretting not killing more.
‘He’s rotten to the core.’
Just as Jeong-i was having that thought, Biyoung’s hand went up to his shoulder.
Then he slowly massaged his own neck.
For the first time in a long time, his habit, which only appeared when he was extremely angry, had emerged.
“You. Don’t even think about dying peacefully.”
Because there are too many grudging souls you owe.
After massaging his neck once, Biyoung’s hand moved towards the hilt of his sword.