novelraw Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Chapter 12:4. Tiger's Den (3)Thunk—
Jeong-min placed the sword he'd kept at his waist onto the table. Then he lightly drew the blade.
Shriing— The blade that slid out with a keen edge was sharp, but not a particularly formidable weapon.
"Are you truly intending to pick a fight with our Qinghai Escort Bureau? And alone, at that?"
"Yeah. Don't hold back—all of you come at once."
"With that crude sword, you think you can—"
"Ah, enough. That tongue of yours sure runs long."
Jeong-min channeled demonic energy into his left hand. Then he poured it into the sword resting on the table.
The Demonic Energy Hardening applied in an instant, making the blade dense and destructive.
Jeong-min gripped the sword without hesitation.
It was time to test the strength he'd gained from his closed-door confinement.
"If you're a warrior, fight like one—with steel."
Tsssfat!
Kwaaang!
The demonic energy scattering from Jeong-min's blade sent the tent flying.
"Ugh?!"
"Wha—what?!"
The escort fighters scrambled in panic, each drawing their swords.
They were waiting for Cheong Jin-gang's command—yet Cheong Jin-gang himself was too stunned to say a word.
"What's going on!"
"What happened?"
"Bureau Chief!"
The spear hands came rushing over one by one.
Only then did Cheong Jin-gang come to his senses and open his mouth.
"Cut him down! Cut him down!"
Just what I was hoping for, Jeong-min thought, a grin spreading inwardly.
Demon Palm Piercer.
He swung his palm at a tall escort fighter charging toward him.
Thwack!
"Ugh?!"
The escort fighter who took the blow to the gut spat a mouthful of blood and crashed far away.
Bang!
"Demonic Energy Hardening."
Licking the blood from his hand, Jeong-min took hold of his sword.
The Heavenly Demon Cult is still far too fragile. Their mindset isn't there yet.
And so what Jeong-min had chosen was this—to raze one of the surrounding factions to the ground, alone.
Picking a fight was beneath them. The Qinghai Escort Bureau controlled about two parts in ten of Xinjiang, didn't they?
Then I'll swallow them whole right here.
Crunch! Jeong-min surged demonic energy back into his palm.
Against the escort fighters rushing in, Jeong-min swung his sword without restraint.
Nameless Sword Art, First Form—Rake!
The First Form—Rake of the Nameless Sword Art: a technique that swings the blade rapidly in a horizontal arc to cut down the enemy.
Swoosh!
"Gah!"
"Argh!"
"Eek!"
The escort fighters were sent flying, and those who seemed to have some real skill finally sensed the gravity of the situation—they gathered together and formed a formation.
But to Jeong-min, it was a pitifully weak formation.
"Your formation work is worse than a newborn's. If you stand like that, the moment I cut through the left flank, the whole thing falls apart. Like this."
Swoosh!
Jeong-min severed the arm of an escort fighter standing on the left, and sure enough, the formation crumbled instantly.
"Aaagh!"
"R-run!"
Several spear hands could be seen fleeing. Cheong Jin-gang shouted after them.
"Don't run! He's just one boy!"
Yet even as he said it, Cheong Jin-gang himself was quietly backing away.
Jeong-min set him aside for now and decided to deal with the skilled fighters first.
Demonic Energy Hardening.
Swoosh! Tsssfat! Clang-clang-clang!
Even the more capable escort fighters couldn't last more than three exchanges against Jeong-min.
Jeong-min hadn't suffered a single scratch.
Heavenly Martial Physique, Peerless External Martial Arts Under Heaven, and on top of that, Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
The finest things the world had to offer, all gathered in one place.
Of course, his skills were still woefully lacking—yet even so, not even first-rate masters were a match for Jeong-min as he was now.
Let's see. Will this work too?
Jeong-min wanted to test a technique he hadn't managed to complete during his closed-door confinement.
He had conceived of a technique that pumped demonic energy from his fingertips, gathered it like a small ring, and fired it at the enemy.
But—
Pang!
—The demonic energy scattered.
"Hmm. Why won't it work?"
The principle should be the same as Demonic Energy Hardening. Is it a lack of demonic energy? Would it be possible once I push the Heavenly Demon Divine Art to the 3rd Stage?
Jeong-min pondered while continuing to cut down enemies. In the midst of it, some bold escort fighters lunged at him—but Jeong-min blasted demonic energy outward and shook them off with ease.
Fwoom!
"Gah!"
"Wh—what is that? How does a kid that young use martial arts like that?"
The Qinghai Escort Bureau is just an escort bureau.
What was it they'd said when introducing themselves earlier—that escort fighters of extraordinary martial skill had gathered from all across the land?
An escort bureau is just an escort bureau.
An escort fighter's purpose is to protect the cargo during transport. They're hardly remarkable martial artists.
Most of them barely scraped past third-rate, if even that.
Even Jeong-min alone was more than enough to level this place.
"Ah, right."
Jeong-min walked over to where the tent he'd blown away earlier had been.
Fortunately, the cup of tea he'd been drinking still sat on the table.
He took a sip.
"Oh. It really does taste better cold."
Cheong Jin-gang stared at the sight, utterly dumbfounded.
Jeong-min caught his eye, then raised his Demonic Energy Hardening-imbued sword with deliberate composure.
"Well now—have you found it in yourself to bring the deed? Bureau Chief?"
That was precisely the moment.
Two shadows appeared before Jeong-min.
Sword in one hand and demonic energy flowing in the other, Jeong-min looked at the two of them.
Cheong Jin-gang, who had been sprawled on the ground, cried out as though he'd just seized the upper hand.
"Where have you been all this time?! Jin So-yeon! Gil Sa-ryong!"
One of the two shadows was a young woman wielding a sword wrapped in bluish fabric. Her name was Jin So-yeon.
The other was an unremarkable-looking man of average height with sparse, bristly facial hair. Gil Sa-ryong.
"Apologies for the delay. I was in the privy."
"Didn't expect an attack this early in the morning."
As the two stepped forward without a care in the world, Jeong-min tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.
First-rate, perhaps.
Judging by the force they gave off, both appeared to be around first-rate caliber.
Then again—this was supposed to be the most prominent escort bureau in the area. With only second-rate fighters, no one would have entrusted them with any jobs.
As he'd learn later, the Qinghai Escort Bureau practically ran on Jin So-yeon and Gil Sa-ryong alone.
Along with that man, on top of it all.
Gil Sa-ryong stepped forward. In his right hand, a claw—a three-pronged weapon—was already fitted into place.
"You look quite young. Am I seeing things?"
"Haven't turned fifteen yet."
"My, at fourteen I was having a grand old time playing with the village kids on a few coins of pocket money from my parents."
Gil Sa-ryong gave a faint smirk and secured the claw firmly. A weapon fused with his hand, its three blades glinting—a cut from any one of them would be fatal.
"Bureau Chief. The opponent is a child. Should we go all out, or hold back?"
"Don't play around—go at him together with Jin So-yeon. Young as he is, he's without a doubt trained in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art."
At that, Gil Sa-ryong's eyes flickered faintly.
His dark complexion made the white blades of the claw shine all the brighter.
"Hooo. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art. So it wasn't just a rumor passed down in name alone."
At this time, the Heavenly Demon Hyeok Je-un's reputation had yet to spread widely, and only martial artists around Xinjiang and the upper brass of the Martial Alliance knew what the Heavenly Demon Divine Art truly was.
As if answering the other man's curiosity, Jeong-min unfurled demonic energy from his fingertips.
"That's right. Right here."
"Now that's a proper fight worth having. Well then—"
Whoosh!
—Gil Sa-ryong's figure scattered and vanished in an instant mid-air.
But Jeong-min didn't lose track of him.
Clang!
Jeong-min caught Gil Sa-ryong's blade with his sword as it came lunging from outside his field of vision.
Jeong-min knew exactly who this man was.
Of all people—it's the Blue Ghost, Gil Sa-ryong.
Named the Blue Ghost for his ghost-like martial arts, just as his name suggested.
What was Gil Sa-ryong's martial art called again? The name itself escaped him, but Jeong-min remembered that its techniques mostly revolved around ambushes like this.
"You blocked it?"
Gil Sa-ryong feigned surprise.
Without getting complacent, Jeong-min flipped his grip and reversed the sword.
Then he slashed at empty air.
Swoosh!
"Ugh!"
Jin So-yeon stumbled back, pressing a hand to the wound she'd just taken.
These two were fairly well-known figures. The Blue Ghost, Gil Sa-ryong, and the Azure Screech Sword, Jin So-yeon.
The Twin Killers of the Qinghai Escort Bureau. When Gil Sa-ryong's ambush fails, Jin So-yeon's blade follows to cut at the enemy's back—a pair that attacks from front and rear alike.
"Jin So-yeon!"
"I'm fine."
Brushing off Gil Sa-ryong's concern, Jin So-yeon breathed life into the Azure Screech Sword.
The Azure Screech Sword, charged with internal energy, came driving toward Jeong-min with the profound force of sword force.
"Azure Screech—Tongue Slash!"
Whish—!
Clang!
Jeong-min deflected it with his Demonic Energy Hardening-imbued sword.
The Azure Screech Sword was likely a blade worthy of being counted among renowned swords. An ordinary sword like Jeong-min's shouldn't have been able to stop it.
That's under normal circumstances.
But right now, Jeong-min had coated the blade with Demonic Energy Hardening.
Any sword not forged by a master craftsman would, like tofu—
Clang!
Crack!
—Break apart with ease.
The blade of the Azure Screech Sword snapped in two and clattered to the ground; Jin So-yeon stared at the sight with a stunned expression.
"The Azure Screech Sword…… you shattered it?"
"Now's not the time to stand there dazed."
Thwack!
Jeong-min channeled demonic energy into his foot and kicked Jin So-yeon square in the chest.
Jin So-yeon shot through the air like a bolt of light and crashed to the ground.
Seizing the opening, Gil Sa-ryong once again honed the blades of his claw to a razor's edge and leaped high into the sky.
And then—
"Ghost Path—Scissors Kill Mountain Burial!"
Swoosh!
Flipping his body upside down, he went to slice through Jeong-min's skull.
……He was supposed to.
Screech—
Jeong-min had already raised his sword directly above his head, and the blades of the claw had already been deflected away.
"When did you—!"
"Nameless Sword Art, First Form."
Gil Sa-ryong was still in the air, not yet fallen.
"Rake."
Swoosh!
He slashed the blade across Gil Sa-ryong's chest and immediately pulled away. Gil Sa-ryong collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
"Impossible……! Not even the Twin Killers?"
Cheong Jin-gang groaned and pointed to one of the spear hands behind him.
"You there! Go fetch Brother Chu at once."
"Huh? Br-Brother Chu?"
"Now!"
The spear hand did as he was told.
Jeong-min hadn't heard their exchange. He was only checking whether Gil Sa-ryong and Jin So-yeon, both sprawled on the ground, were dead or alive.
"Ugh……"
"Hck."
Both still breathing.
Seems my hands still haven't grown as ruthless as they were in my past life. Jeong-min smirked—and at that very moment.
Grab!
"Hm?"
Whooom!
Something seized Jeong-min by the head and hurled him high into the air.
Then slammed him into the ground.
Thud!
Jeong-min hadn't managed to brace for the fall, and his head struck the sandy ground dead-on.
"Ugh."
Only then did he barely regain his senses and right himself.
His skull was rattling.
"Chu Man-jeong! Seize that wretch and kill him!"
Cheong Jin-gang bellowed.
Ah, so this one finally shows himself.
Chu Man-jeong. The Finest Escort Fighter in Xinjiang.
Come then.
I've been waiting for you, you bald bastard.