novelraw Chapter 43 : Chapter 43
Chapter 43 : Chapter 43
Chapter 43 - How did you recognize it?
“Heh……”
Many people could only let out empty laughs.
It had been a series of incidents that were difficult to accept.
The brief joy of Jinbae's grandson appearing was followed by a declaration to postpone the restoration of the Diancang Sect's main mountain, and then five of the next-generation disciples were thoroughly beaten by a single person.
And by a young man who had not even fully matured into a youth.
In the awkward silence, Jeokseo suddenly burst into laughter.
“Holholhol.”
“Elder Jeokseo. Are you just going to stand by and watch?”
“And if I don't?”
“All the children have been defeated. The morale of the people here……”
One of the Diancang Sect members asked with a worried face.
As stated before, most of the Diancang Sect's strength could be said to be the five next-generation disciples.
The fact that the children, who were virtually their only hope, had been mercilessly defeated caused a sense of loss that was beyond words.
“Isn't this rather a good thing?”
“Pardon?”
“His speech is impudent and his expression is arrogant to no end. But his heart for our sect doesn't seem to be much different from ours.”
No.
Perhaps he cares even more than we do.
Thinking this, Jeokseo stroked his modest beard.
“A force capable of subduing our children in an instant has come to us on its own. Can't this be called a blessing that has rolled in?”
“But……”
A blessing that rolled in?
What kind of blessing rolls in and beats up promising children like dogs on a hot day?
But Jeokseo couldn't bear his joy and kept drinking from his liquor bottle.
“Kuh! This liquor tastes great.”
Jeokseo's voice wasn't particularly loud, but its resonance was quite heavy.
A new swordsman with formidable skills had joined the Diancang Sect.
The disappointment of the next-generation disciples being defeated in an instant was brief, and a new light of hope began to dawn on people's faces.
‘Is… that so?’
‘True. It’s not like that kid is going somewhere else instead of our sect.’
‘Perhaps, as Elder Jeokseo said, we might have stumbled upon an unexpected windfall.’
“Oh!”
Just as the light of hope was about to spring up in people's eyes, Biyoung's eyes lit up as he looked at Jeokseo's liquor bottle.
“My throat is parched from moving around a bit. Give me a drink too!”
“Holholhol. Would you?”
“………….”
Seeing Biyoung ask Jeokseo for a drink, their gazes had to change once more.
A guy like that is what?
A blessing that rolled in?
Aish.
You must be joking.
Complex and varied gazes focused on Biyoung, but he didn't even bat an eye.
Instead, he looked left and right and said in a clear voice.
“I will be leaving tomorrow as soon as the sun rises.”
“…………!”
“It doesn't matter if you don't follow. I can take care of the Tiger-Bear Stronghold by myself.”
Just half a shichen ago, they would have dismissed it as nonsense not even worth a snort.
But now, the situation had changed.
The martial arts he had just shown were at a level unimaginable for a boy his age.
‘Is he really planning to go alone?’
‘Maybe… he can actually do it.’
‘We saw it clearly just now. This kid is a monster.’
“I will depart tomorrow morning at the hour of the dragon. Come if you want to follow.”
Just as Biyoung said that and was about to take a step,
“You can't do that!”
A shout that was almost a cry of despair was heard from behind him.
“Oh?”
Biyoung's eyes widened in surprise.
He had beaten him all over as if mincing meat, but it seemed Eung Gajin had managed to regain consciousness.
‘He’s tougher than I thought. That in itself is a good quality.’
Biyoung asked with a barely perceptible smile on his lips.
“What can't I do?”
“The restoration of the Diancang Mountain is the duty of the Diancang Sect members who remain here. I don't know where you were holed up before you appeared, but you dare not speak of our sect's restoration!”
“Really? I’m related to the Diancang Sect too.”
“What do you, who grew up comfortably under Elder Jinbae's protection, know about the Diancang Sect! The people gathered here have worked hard to build a life in a foreign land with no connections. You have neither the significance nor the justification to restore Diancang Mountain!”
The relaxed and dignified appearance of Eung Gajin from their first meeting was nowhere to be found.
His face was swollen from being beaten everywhere and his whole body was a wreck, but his anger was clearly conveyed.
There was even a sense of sorrow in the way Eung Gajin was screaming his head off.
Perhaps that vicious and desperate appearance was Eung Gajin's true self?
The people around looked at Eung Gajin with pitiful and mournful expressions.
“I wonder.”
However, to Biyoung, such a display just seemed like a child's tantrum.
“Looking at your attire, I’m not sure who grew up comfortably.”
His gaze moved to the silk hero's cap, the high-quality martial uniform, and the luxurious-looking sword.
At that blatant gaze, Eung Gajin hurriedly retorted.
“Th-this is…….”
“Hey, Eung Gajin.”
“?”
“Stop being a hypocrite.”
“!!”
At the word hypocrite, Eung Gajin's face contorted wretchedly.
“You just don't like someone other than yourself rebuilding the Diancang Sect. All while you postpone it year after year because you can't let go of what you have in your hands.”
Biyoung's previously nonchalant expression looked more serious and stern than ever.
One might wonder if the word 'stern' suited a fifteen-year-old boy, but that was indeed Biyoung's expression.
A comfortable life?
The ‘World's Fastest Sword’ had lived a life devoted to the path of the sword, and even at the moment of his death, he had fought a fierce battle with the Heavenly Demon.
Biyoung's life here was also far from smooth, to the point of making an extreme choice.
“Among those who carry the name of the Diancang Sect, there is no one for whom the word 'comfortable' is suitable. I feel like jumping out of bed in the middle of the night and running to the main mountain, yet you say comfortable?”
He hadn't stayed put because he was laid-back.
On the contrary, hadn't he earned the nickname ‘Mad Wolf of Diancang’ because once he got angry, no one could stop him?
He had only gathered information because he didn't want to repeat the humiliation of having his sect annihilated once again.
So.
He had never slept comfortably for a single day.
Biyoung's face was filled with anger no less than Eung Gajin's.
People swallowed hard, but at the same time, a question arose.
‘He’s young, but his loyalty to our sect is considerable.’
‘Just what is the reason he’s so angry?’
‘He must have been a newborn when our sect was attacked…….’
As long as they didn't know that he was the former ‘World's Fastest Sword’, it was a riddle that could never be solved.
“If you truly cared for these people, you should have restored Diancang Mountain even a day sooner. You are not qualified to represent the people here.”
Each and every word seemed to gouge out Eung Gajin's heart.
His head was dizzy, but a fire raged in his chest.
“And you think you can represent Diancang Mountain? Even if someone who is not a descendant of our sect restores the main mountain, there is neither justification nor significance!”
“Geez. You learned all the useless stuff and none of what you were supposed to.”
“?”
Those so-called prestigious orthodox sects sure love that kind of thing.
Justification, significance.
Things that nicely package the appearance in the face of overwhelming power.
“Fine. I'll show you what you want.”
“What?”
“Justification. Significance. I'll show you that.”
After saying that, Biyoung drew his blade from its scabbard.
Sreung.
Just by drawing the sword, it felt as if a cool breeze was blowing.
“Whether I have the qualification you speak of or not. Open your eyes wide and watch.”
That was a statement not only for Eung Gajin but also for the people around who didn't trust him.
One knee bent, the entire body tensed like a bowstring.
A form focused entirely on one thing, the quick sword, made Jeokseo's closed eyes fly open.
“That is……!”
Sssssst!
A flawlessly clear dantian.
The finally merged energies of the two spirit medicines.
And the internal energy of the Profound Heaven's True Energy Unification Art, honed daily.
All that energy surged and gathered in Biyoung's sword.
“Sword Aura……!”
An exclamation burst from someone's lips.
It wasn't the first time they had seen Sword Aura.
Something similar to Sword Aura had formed on the swords of Eung Gajin and Jeong-i as well.
But the Sword Aura Biyoung was showing now was on a different level.
It wasn't a whitish Sword Aura that was barely visible, but a clear halo of light so bright that just looking at it was dazzling.
The moment he witnessed that Sword Aura, Eung Gajin felt the blood in his body freeze cold.
‘I’m going to die.’
Eung Gajin felt the fear of a mouse before a serpent.
An absolute predator was opening its great maw towards him.
An overwhelming fear, incomparable to when he was beaten in the duel earlier.
His body trembled like an aspen tree, and his teeth chattered uncontrollably.
Right now, Biyoung's body itself was like a single giant blade.
Soon, his feet kicked off the ground like a spring and shot forward.
Swhoooosh!
‘Watch carefully.’
This is the justification and significance you want.
This is the sword of the Diancang Sect.
And this is,
the future you must reclaim.
The art that led the Diancang Sect to its position as a prestigious orthodox sect, its name given because it pierces the sun.
The Sun-Shooting Sword Art.
And among its techniques, the ultimate move that simultaneously slashes nine directions, including the head.
The Nine-Shooting One Flash erupted from Biyoung's fingertips.
Swhoooosh!
“!”
“Uheot!”
“Kyaak!”
Even the women who knew little of martial arts couldn't help but scream.
They had instinctively realized that if this continued, Eung Gajin would die.
‘I can't dodge it.’
Eung Gajin, too, had a premonition of death.
He had no confidence in dodging any of the nine directions.
Dodge?
No, it was impossible to even grasp exactly how the sword was being unleashed.
A sword of such speed that it was not only impossible to evade but couldn't even be seen by the eye.
Literally, a quick sword.
The nine slashes, along with the shadow of death, descended upon Eung Gajin's body.
Paaaaaaaaaaaaaat!
“…………!”
And exactly, half a chi in front of his body, all nine slashes came to a halt.
Eung Gajin's entire body went limp, and he sank to his knees.
It was a moment so terrifying that he had to consider himself lucky his pants hadn't gotten wet.
“Is this proof enough?”
Eung Gajin looked at Biyoung with a dazed face.
Then he barely managed to open his mouth and ask.
“This…… you…… how?”
“Oh. You recognize it? It must have been a long time.”
It was true.
The last time Eung Gajin had witnessed the Sun-Shooting Sword Art, he had been only about ten years old.
But the shock and ecstasy he had received that day remained fully intact in his heart.
The ultimate art of the Diancang Sect that he had wished for even in his dreams.
The very martial art he had searched for like a madman whenever he went on an escort mission near Diancang Mountain.
For Eung Gajin, it was light, hope, and a long-cherished desire.
At the sight of that very martial art finally being reproduced, a different, hot emotion welled up inside him.
“The Sun-Shooting…… Sword Art…… right?”
In his bloodshot eyes, moisture began to well up.
Biyoung looked down at him and smirked.
“That’s right. This technique is called the Nine-Shooting One Flash.”
“…………!!!”
Drip.
Finally, hot tears flowed from Eung Gajin's eyes.
The very martial art he had searched for, unable to give up even while thinking it was lost and irretrievable, had appeared before his eyes.
“Ah ah……”
Eung Gajin, who had been looking up at Biyoung, soon lowered his head and let large, chicken-dropping-like tears fall.
Watching him, an unreadable line was drawn on Biyoung's lips.