novelraw Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63 - What a Mad Dog
Second Line Leader Jeongmin.
He was a man considered to be the most outstanding in the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes when it came to swordsmanship.
As is common for those active in an information syndicate, Jeongmin also engaged in an ordinary profession on the surface.
He ran a moderately sized bookstore, and with an appearance that perfectly suited a scholar, no one ever suspected him.
But when he drew his sword, his calm eyes that had been reading letters would change to those of a demon.
A man called the best among the Second Line Leaders, who took on the most difficult and arduous tasks in the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes.
Jeongmin called out to Jin Seung, who was beside him.
“Indeed. He doesn’t seem like an ordinary fellow.”
From the moment Biyoung revealed his identity, a message was sent to all the Second Line Leaders.
It stated that a master of unfathomable skill was having a private meeting with Lady Mihwa.
Jeongmin, who was already on edge due to Han Ryeong’s disappearance, set aside all his work and headed to the Loyal Heart Pavilion.
Fortunately, when he arrived, there had been no bloodshed, but Jeongmin had no intention of letting Biyoung go peacefully.
The only people who could know the location of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes’s headquarters and live were members of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes.
Regardless of what conversation had passed between him and Lady Mihwa, Jeongmin believed he had to do what he had to do.
“As I said before, you must be especially careful. The fellow’s skill is by no means beneath ours. We have no chance of winning unless we attack him together.”
While Biyoung was drinking with Lady Mihwa, Jin Seung had been hiding within arm’s reach.
He thought he could slit Biyoung’s throat at any moment, as soon as Lady Mihwa gave the signal.
However, that was a grave misunderstanding.
Biyoung had long since seen through his ambush, and the aura he felt when the fight with the Heavenly Demon was mentioned was something he had never felt before in his life.
But belying Jin Seung’s advice, Jeongmin shook his head.
“His talent for detecting a tail is outstanding, but what’s with a joint attack against a brat like that? You’ve grown a lot more worried since I last saw you, Jin Seung. I’ll take care of the fellow, so you just watch.”
Jin Seung wanted to say more, but Jeongmin had already taken a few steps forward.
‘Well. I was like that at first too.’
Pale white skin and smooth complexion, as if he had never stood under the sun.
If not for his martial arts attire, he had the appearance of someone who would have been cherished as the fifth-generation only son of some wealthy family.
The suggestion of a joint attack against such a greenhorn could only be an insult to Jeongmin.
Look at him even now.
He was bickering with his colleague with a thoughtless expression.
“If you’re scared, then go die!”
“How many times do I have to say I can do it!”
“Hmm! Your expression looks scared though?”
“This is the expression I make when I’m brimming with confidence!”
“Alright! Let’s go, Uma!”
“Don’t order me around like I’m your subordinate! I’m your senior brother!”
“Alright, let’s go! Senior Brother Uma!”
“What’s the difference!”
It was a low-level conversation that made the onlookers feel foolish.
How could one possibly warn someone to be on high alert after seeing such a scene?
Jin Seung felt wronged, as if he had become a liar, but he did not loosen the grip on his sword.
“Are the last words over?”
Jeongmin’s murderous voice was carried by the mountain wind to the two men.
Biyoung grinned and replied.
“Are you the strongest one in the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes?”
“Seeing a brat who hasn’t even shed his baby fat talking about ‘this one’ and ‘that one,’ you really deserve to die.”
“Stop it. You’re no match for me. Though perhaps this friend here is.”
“I’m not his friend, I’m his senior brother, you punk!”
As Uma growled, Biyoung giggled.
“Right. Though perhaps this senior brother is. So you two have a good fight.”
“……?”
Jeongmin doubted his ears.
The man with the nasty impression standing next to him… the one called Uma, also looked to be about twenty years old at most, just a bit older than Biyoung.
The combined ages of the two fellows probably wouldn’t even reach Jeongmin’s age.
Yet one of them had stepped back, saying he was no match, and only the one called his subordinate was baring his teeth and drawing his sword.
“You vermin-like bastards……”
As the one called the top master of the Second Line Leaders, Jeongmin felt the current situation to be extremely humiliating.
“Do not expect mercy in my hands……”
Swoooosh!
At that moment.
A piercing sound, colder and more chilling than the winter mountain wind, dug into Jeongmin’s ear.
Though he had fought in numerous battles, in this moment, his heart sank.
Claaaang!
A sound that felt like it would shatter his eardrums echoed throughout the mountain.
A hand’s breadth in front of his chest.
The sword strike Uma had unleashed had stopped right before his chest.
If his reaction had been even slightly late, his chest would have been pierced through.
‘Fast!’
No.
The word ‘fast’ alone was not enough.
It was a sword strike that was both fast and imbued with a powerful and fierce aura.
Literally, a Quick sword.
The quick sword that Uma had extended was enough to surprise all the First Line Leaders.
‘How can someone so young possess such a sword…….’
‘I need to be on my guard.’
However, the evaluation of the most important person was not very good.
“No. You haven’t improved at all, have you? It was a waste of effort to show you! A complete waste!”
Biyoung beat his chest as if he was truly resentful and lamented.
That began to heat Uma’s chest.
“Damn it!”
Was he saying that to Jeongmin in front of him?
Or was he saying that to the young brat nagging from behind?
With an expletive of unclear target, Uma swung his sword again.
Chwaak!
With a sound that seemed to tear the surrounding air apart, Uma’s sword cut through the air.
Jeongmin hurriedly moved back to barely block the slash.
“You coward……!”
To attack while he was still speaking.
Jeongmin exclaimed in anger, but all that came back was the sneer of the man with the nasty impression.
“Coward? Is that something you guys, who secretly tailed someone like rats, should say?”
“……!”
“Once swords are drawn between us, all further conversation should be done with the sword.”
At Uma’s words, Biyoung let out an exclamation of admiration as if he had drunk a refreshing mineral water.
“Kyah! Well said!”
“Taaat!”
This time, Jeongmin was a step ahead and drew his sword.
He hated to admit it, but the words of that grim-faced man were right.
Once they recognized each other as enemies, conversation was unnecessary.
A sword filled with killing intent headed for the crown of Uma’s head.
Clang!!
Uma raised his horizontal sword to block Jeongmin’s strike.
But he soon grimaced and took a couple of steps back.
The speed of the sword was not much of a problem, but the difference in internal energy due to age was something he could not overcome.
“You can’t escape!”
Jeongmin shouted triumphantly upon seeing Uma staggering back.
However,
Chwaak!
“!”
The small gap between a slash and a thrust.
A sharp sword flew into Jeongmin’s chest, exploiting that momentary gap.
“Hup!”
Startled, Jeongmin retracted the sword he was about to unleash and blocked Uma’s attack.
Claang!
This time, Jeongmin’s feet were pushed back a couple of steps.
Jeongmin’s eyes, looking at Uma’s sword, were colored with astonishment.
‘Sword Aura……!’
Something whitish was formed on Uma’s sword.
Although it was still at an embarrassing level to be called Sword Aura, considering his age, it was truly a surprising level.
‘How can a guy with such insignificant internal energy…….’
While he was staring at Uma with a dumbfounded face,
“You won’t last long if you fight like that.”
A clear voice was heard from behind Uma’s back.
But Uma did not respond to Biyoung’s words.
As Jeongmin had guessed, Uma had not yet cultivated enough internal energy to possess Sword Aura.
He was overexerting himself quite a bit after confirming his opponent’s skill.
In fact, Uma’s eyes were bloodshot, and the metallic taste of blood was slowly rising in his throat.
“Of course, your skills improve quickly if you go back and forth across the line of death.”
As if Biyoung’s words were a signal, Uma kicked off the ground and charged forward.
Clang!
Uma’s rigid and fast quick sword and Jeongmin’s well-honed swordsmanship repeatedly clashed in mid-air.
A strange line was drawn on the lips of Biyoung, who was watching the scene.
‘Has he shed a layer?’
He had something similar to Sword Aura before.
The Eagle Talon Twelve Swords was not much different from before either.
In the first place, the martial arts of the Eagle Talon Twelve Swords were not so flimsy that they could be corrected immediately just because Biyoung had shown him a few times.
But even so.
Uma’s swordsmanship had improved by one level compared to before.
What was the source of that growth?
‘Conviction.’
Conviction.
What had changed was the change in his mind.
He had gained the conviction that the martial arts of the Diancang Sect were by no means weak, and that he could confidently face masters just by properly mastering the basic swordsmanship, the Eagle Talon Twelve Swords.
That conviction had sharpened the blunt tip of his sword and granted precision to the hand holding the sword.
All swordsmanship begins from the mind.
It was a change that might seem trivial to some, but its effect was not something to be ignored.
Moreover, the saying that the best practice is actual combat was not made for nothing.
A resemblance to the swordsmanship of the Eagle Talon Twelve Swords that Biyoung had shown began to appear at the tip of his sword.
Flash!
“Keuk!”
Again.
A troubled groan escaped from Jeongmin’s mouth.
On a large scale, it was an unremarkable swordsmanship.
Somehow, the connection between the forms was clumsy, and there were crude parts in the movements.
However.
An occasional flashing sword strike made Jeongmin retreat.
A high-speed sword strike that maximized the power of the elbow and wrist, using a momentary gap at close range.
Jeongmin had no way of knowing that it was the Ready Gap Strik, the counter-attack technique of the Eagle Talon Twelve Swords.
“Jeongmin.”
“Shut up!”
At Jin Seung’s voice, which clearly had the intention of persuasion, Jeongmin screamed convulsively.
The reason he had called Jeongmin was as clear as day.
It must have meant for them to jointly attack the young and foul-faced man before them.
But Jeongmin was a man who possessed a pride as unbending as his skills.
Though not affiliated with a prestigious orthodox sect, he was still a swordsman living with roots in the Murim.
To engage in a joint attack after exchanging dozens of blows was the same as admitting defeat himself.
Drip.
Above all, Uma’s condition began to change rapidly over time.
A stream of dark red blood flowed between his lips.
Just as Biyoung had predicted he wouldn’t last long, Uma’s internal energy was hitting rock bottom.
Confirming his condition, Jeongmin revised his strategy.
‘I must go for a war of attrition, even if it takes some time.’
Jeongmin held such thoughts and adjusted the power of his sword.
Because all a swordsman with depleted internal energy could do was collapse to the ground.
However, this strategy greatly provoked Uma’s temper.
“Stop trying to sneak away!”
Paang!
“You rat-like bastard!”
Buung!
“Die!”
Pabat!
A relentless fierce attack erupted from the tip of Uma’s sword.
It was around the time his clothes were torn for the first time that Jeongmin sensed something was wrong.
‘How can this be……?’
Although he could clearly feel his energy depleting, the momentum of his sword did not decrease at all.
No.
Far from decreasing, it was becoming ferocious, as if the sword itself was on fire.
“Yiaaaaaaah!”
‘What kind of guy is this?’
Uma, who was brandishing his sword while spewing blood from his mouth, looked like a swordsman from the realm of the dead, rushing into the fires of hell.
He looked precarious, as if he would spontaneously combust if left alone, but the problem was that Jeongmin himself was also in those hellfires.
Even Biyoung, who was watching Uma’s vicious sword, couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
“……What a mad dog.”
A sword that grew more powerful the more he got angry, the more he was cornered, the more he hit the bottom.
The Diancang Sect did not have such a characteristic.
It was purely a sword that revealed Uma’s own disposition.
And finally, the tip of Uma’s fiercely burning sword reached Jeongmin’s body.
Gwaak!
“Keuk……!!”
Jeongmin staggered back two or three steps.
The difference from before was that he was now spewing dark red blood from below his collarbone.
“Jeongmin!!!”
Jin Seung’s panicked voice echoed through the mountain.
‘It landed……!’
“Heuk, heuk.”
Uma, heaving his shoulders and breathing heavily.
He was unable to even perform the basic breathing of a swordsman properly, but that was not important.
Only one thing was important.
The fact that a descendant of the Diancang Sect, not Biyoung, had subdued the top master of the Syndicate of Ten Thousand Eyes.
“Senior Brother, you won.”
A sweet voice flew into his flushed earlobe.