The Mad Dog Inspector of the Martial Alliance

Chapter 140 : An Ill-fitting Suit (3)

Forcing himself to sleep when it wouldn't come, he had ridden his horse since dawn.

The sun was already in the middle of the sky. Thinking of eating delicious things in Maoshan, he had thrown away things like beef jerky and had run with all his might, so he was very hungry.

It was when Jang So-gil and Yang Gwan, who had barely arrived at Maoshan, were looking up at the city wall.

"White Azure Divine Sword-!"

There was someone who shouted the name of the White Azure Divine Sword with a voice like a fierce tiger roaring.

It was not difficult to find the owner of the voice. Because he had jumped down from the city wall just like that.

At that sight, Yang Gwan's eyes widened.

Although Maoshan was a rural frontier, its city wall was high and sturdy enough to seem capable of a siege.

But wasn't the opponent sliding down that high wall in a zigzag pattern?

It was a lightness skill worthy of clicking one's tongue.

"What kind of fellow are you!"

Yang Gwan, who had shouted loudly, hurriedly took out his spear and jumped off his horse. He was going to be Jang So-gil's shield.

And Jang So-gil, without moving, just narrowed his eyes. It was to grasp the enemy.

For a very brief moment, he thought he was a madman who had lost his mind at the sight of a divine weapon and was rushing at him.

But one breath, just one breath of time was enough to grasp the opponent.

The white hair and blue eyes that were characteristic of a person from the North Sea. The reckless attitude of looking for the White Azure Divine Sword.

Under the feet of the man who was coming down the city wall, there was a thin layer of ice. That was the 'Shattering Ice Striking Thrust', one of the forms of the Soul-Stealing Ice Art.

'A person from the North Sea who uses the Soul-Stealing Ice Art, the secret martial art of the North Sea Ice Palace. That fellow, he must be a direct descendant of the Ice Palace.'

He looked to be a couple of years older than himself. Since their ages were similar, he was probably someone like the Young Lord of the North Sea Ice Palace.

He felt that what was to come had come.

'The White Azure Divine Sword is a divine artifact of the North Sea Ice Palace.'

They were trying to retrieve their stolen divine artifact. Was there a more valid reason for rushing at him without asking any questions?

Of course, Jang So-gil had no intention of letting it be taken back. He calmly gripped the White Azure Divine Sword hanging from his waist, and, thinking it would get in the way of fighting, he took off the golden plaque hanging from the end and put it in his bosom.

Since Maoshan was originally a rural village and was built for defense, its entrance was not large. The only road was a narrow single path, and on both sides, there was even a moat made by filling it with water.

The white-haired man, Baek Yugyeong, landed lightly in the middle of the procession of visitors that filled that single path. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he cut through the crowd with a flowing lightness skill and rushed towards Jang So-gil with a fierce momentum.

Jang So-gil immediately used the Cloud Dragon Nine Steps, kicked off the saddle, and flew up into the sky.

"Uaaah!"

"The crazy martial artists are fighting!"

"Run away!"

The common people, who were terrified by Baek Yugyeong's charge and were shocked by Jang So-gil's ascension.

People who were pressed by the momentum and fell into the moat appeared one after another. The front of the city gate, which had been bustling with people, turned into a scene of chaos in an instant.

Yang Gwan, who was holding Cheongwol's reins, shouted.

"Young Master So!"

"Gwan-ah, stand back!"

Baek Yugyeong scattered daggers towards Jang So-gil. The daggers that had left his hand froze with a 'jjeojeojeok' sound and each one became a spear of ice and rushed towards Jang So-gil.

It was an application of the fourth form of the Soul-Stealing Ice Art, the 'Ten Thousand Year Ice Soul', which created a weapon with cold qi.

Although he wanted to respond with the same form, the opponent's ice art was at a much higher level than Jang So-gil's. He had not simply made a spear of ice, but had thrown a dagger and then created ice on top of it, so its power had doubled. It was truly a skillful application.

Jang So-gil used the 'Divine Dragon Spiraling Mist' of the Cloud Dragon Nine Steps to make a big turn in the air. And then he once again unfolded the 'Dragon Roaming the Purple Forbidden Enclosure' and flew through the sky like a bird.

Baek Yugyeong's pupils, who were watching that scene, narrowed like a cat's.

"Void-Treading Steps? No, is it just an advanced lightness skill? It's fast."

A person who roamed the sky at that speed could not be caught up with by running on this narrow road packed with people from the Central Plains.

Baek Yugyeong, who had judged so, immediately jumped into the moat filled with water. A place with water was no different from a road he could run on comfortably.

With a sound like dozens of birds chirping, the water of the moat he had stepped on froze. The path of ice that was created as he took each step spiraled up towards the sky.

Baek Yugyeong, while sliding on that path, made a bow of ice with the form of the Ten Thousand Year Ice Soul. The water that had been automatically sucked into his hand froze and became an arrow.

The arrows, which had increased to dozens, hundreds of shots in an instant, flew towards Jang So-gil.

'To use the forms of the Shattering Ice Striking Thrust and the Ten Thousand Year Ice Soul at the same time, and on top of that, the 'Void-Grasping Object' and such an exquisite archery skill? That fellow, he's at least a transcendent master.'

The Soul-Stealing Ice Art was a very powerful martial art worthy of being called a divine art, and it had the characteristic of being very tricky to deal with. That person was a skilled martial artist who made good use of such tricky parts.

Jang So-gil, who had been admiring for a moment, immediately pouted his lips. And then he also made a bow of ice and held it.

Although he couldn't do it before, this time he was going to strike back with the same form.

At that moment, Baek Yugyeong's white eyebrows twitched.

"This fellow, you're using ice art in front of me?"

He was showing the martial art he had taken from his opponent, and even the same form that could not help but be compared in terms of proficiency.

Baek Yugyeong, at the easy-to-understand provocation, flared up.

But Jang So-gil's Ten Thousand Year Ice Soul, which was made only with internal energy, was bound to be less effective than Baek Yugyeong's, which had used water. The elasticity of the bow would be weak, and the time it could be maintained would also be short.

When he looked to see what he was making the arrows with, he pulled out a few strands of his long hair and used them as the core.

Jang So-gil, what was he going to do with the bow and arrow he had made like that?

"With that posture, don't tell me, you're going to do a 'Parthian shot' like a Mongolian!"

Baek Yugyeong sneered.

You could tell by the movement. That fellow was not unable to shoot a bow, but he was also not a very good shooter.

The Parthian shot was an art that only those who had trained in archery to the extreme could do. A person who had learned it superficially could never do it.

Jang So-gil, who had heard that sneer, spat out his words with a 'tuk'.

"Hmph, if the Parthian shot is difficult, then I'll just look properly and shoot."

Jang So-gil could freely change his direction several times by using the Cloud Dragon Nine Steps in the air. Jang So-gil, who had spun his body around, calmly shot his bow and hit the arrow that Baek Yugyeong had shot.

Although the aim of the bow was clumsy and the number of arrows was small, each and every one of those arrows was large. Since the hundreds of arrows that Baek Yugyeong had shot were filling the sky so densely that it was harder to miss, even if he shot randomly, they would all hit.

The arrows of ice that collided and exploded in the air. The fragments that scattered in all directions collided with other arrows and exploded, and those fragments hit other arrows again, and this was repeated several times.

The broken pieces of ice fell with a 'hudeudeuk' sound. Between the fragments that reflected the sunlight, Baek Yugyeong's eyes widened.

It was not the eyes of astonishment, but the eyes of expectation and excitement. It was the eyes of a warrior full of a fighting spirit.

An advanced lightness skill that changed direction several times while racing through the sky at full speed.

Looking at the way he made a bow with the Ten Thousand Year Ice Soul and put that much internal energy into the arrows, he was a person who could be called a transcendent master.

"This fellow, he's pretty good. This is fun."

"I'm not having much fun?"

Baek Yugyeong, who was smiling with the corners of his mouth raised coolly.

Jang So-gil, who was sticking out his tongue and acting as if he were teasing.

The tiger running on the path of ice and the dragon flying in the sky had such a short exchange.

Yang Gwan, who was knocking away the ice fragments that were falling on the common people below, gritted his teeth.

It was a fight that Yang Gwan could not interfere with his martial arts. The level of their lightness skills was so different that he could not follow their movements.

Jang So-gil's gaze briefly fell on the moat, which was frozen in places. Fortunately, among the people who had fallen into the moat, no one had been caught up in the form of the Shattering Ice Striking Thrust.

Yang Gwan had also taken care of the people who had almost trampled each other while fleeing in a hurry. Thanks to that, it seemed that no one had lost their life yet.

Since they had learned each other's skills through a light preliminary battle, it was now time to fight properly.

I'll have to move to a deserted place. Since he was from the Martial Alliance, it would be better to avoid causing damage to the civilians if possible.

Jang So-gil, in front of the opponent's eyes that were shining with a fighting spirit, gestured with his head as if to say 'try to follow me', and then stepped on the end of a large tree and leaped low.

The forest, which was quite far from the road over there, seemed like a good place to fight. Jang So-gil, who had been flying in the sky, lightly put one foot on the ground like a feather.

Then Baek Yugyeong, who had run, raising a cloud of dust, soon appeared on the opposite side.

To Jang So-gil's eyes, he looked like a tiger.

But it was not a hungry tiger excited about its prey, but a tiger whose eyes were shining at its plaything.

Baek Yugyeong, who had slightly lowered his upper body as a tiger does when it hunts, gripped a dagger in each of his hands.

"To put it bluntly, give me the White Azure Divine Sword."

"To put it bluntly, I refuse. Get lost."

The gazes towards each other were as cold as a sheet of ice. At the unusual aura that flowed between the two transcendent masters, the birds were startled and flew up into the sky.

A brief silence followed, and around the time a bird's feather fell to the ground. Baek Yugyeong, who had relaxed his expression first, asked smoothly.

"Shall we introduce ourselves first? My name is Baek Yugyeong."

"I have no name to give to a robber, so make do with my title. I'm the inspector of the Martial Alliance."

"You're cold for someone who practices the same martial art."

"Are you going to say we're from the same school?"

"Haha, no way. What can we do now that the victorious Alliance Leader has divided our martial art, which was a spoil of war, as he pleased?"

"You're very understanding. Can't you understand and let go of the White Azure Divine Sword in the same way?"

"Do you think I can?"

"You can't."

Not only the secret manuals, but the divine artifacts were also like the heart of a sect.

Once, the 'Dog-Beating Staff', the divine artifact of the Beggars' Sect, had fallen into the hands of the Demonic Cult. The hundred thousand beggars of the Beggars' Sect had disregarded their lives and had rushed in recklessly, completely wiping out that Demonic Cult branch.

Decades ago, the Shaolin Temple had had its divine artifact, the 'Green Jade Buddhist Staff', taken by the 'Fire-Worshipping Cult'. They had taken the drastic measure of sending all one hundred and eight 'Arhats' who were training in the Arhat Hall and had retrieved the divine artifact.

Baek Yugyeong, with a smiling eye, nodded his head.

"It would be impossible to take it from a monster like the Thunder and Lightning Sword Emperor, but I think it's possible from you."

"Aha, the Alliance Leader-nim is scary and I'm easy?"

"That's right. It's a shame we've only met now. Before, my head was worth twenty thousand taels as a bonus."

The bounty of the Four Black Alliance's extermination order was twenty thousand taels.

Jang So-gil frowned slightly.

"That disappeared a long time ago, and you're still looking for twenty thousand taels?"

"I know, right? It's a real shame. If we had met just a little earlier..."

The White Azure Divine Sword and the twenty thousand taels would have been mine.

Leaving behind a faint sound and an afterimage that could barely be heard, Baek Yugyeong disappeared.

Jang So-gil flinched for a moment.

'Shape-Shifting Position Change!'

The technique of 'Shape-Shifting Position Change', which created an afterimage of oneself with the distribution of qi, could not be captured by the eyes, so it had to be captured with experience and 'qi sense'.

It was a technique that accurately pierced Jang So-gil's weakness, who had relied on his good eyesight to catch his opponents.

But Jang So-gil, without panicking, swung his sword at his own feet.

The dagger that Baek Yugyeong had thrown met the White Azure Divine Sword with a 'chaeng' sound, and a breath later, Baek Yugyeong, who was continuing his attack from the side, was seen.

Blocking the throw of the invisible dagger was not a fluke. It was thanks to reading the opponent's intention.

That person named Baek Yugyeong was a very seasoned martial artist. A truly seasoned person would lay a groundwork so that he could be safe even if his attack failed.

A simple method of aiming for the opponent's back or neck would put him in a disadvantageous position when the attack was blocked. So he was shaking the opponent with a check attack.

If the dagger hit, it would be good because it could seal Jang So-gil's specialty, the lightness skill, and even if it didn't hit, it would be advantageous because he could continue with the next attack.

Jang So-gil, who had read that intention, judged that it was better to play a strong move so as not to be swayed by the opponent's continuing attack.

Coincidentally, the move he had chosen was the same as the opponent's.

A single stream of blue light was shot from the White Azure Divine Sword. A single stream of blue light was also shot from Baek Yugyeong's hand.

It was the light of the 'Soul-Stealing Flash' that pierced the soul.

Although Baek Yugyeong was superior in the achievement of the Soul-Stealing Ice Art, since the White Azure Divine Sword increased the effects of the Soul-Stealing Flash, the result was a draw.

The two streams of light that flew towards each other like arrows at the same time.

The light and the light met, drew a concentric circle, and created a wave of ice.

(End of Chapter)