Chapter 11 :

Chapter 11. The Third-Rate Warrior Who Protects His Sect’s Honor (5)

“I told you so!”

After returning to the lodging, I spoke about what had happened at the banquet, and a thunderbolt struck.

Kang Chaeseok huffed and puffed, unable to hide his anger, and Jin Taesan’s face was stiffer than ever.

“They insulted the sect. Was it right for me to endure it there?”

“You, you…… You truly!”

Instead of Kang Chaeseok, whose face had flushed red in excitement, Jin Taesan spoke.

“You gave their scheme a pretext. Did you not predict what result that pretext would bring?”

“The pretext was one-sided and forced. Even if I had endured the insults, they would have dragged me out in the end.”

“Then there would not have been one-sided violence disguised as sparring.”

“I am not afraid of being defeated and injured. But I am afraid of myself running away because I fear defeat.”

“…….”

Jin Taesan silently stood up and began untying the front ties of his upper garment.

“Taesan, you!”

Even though Saryeon was with us, Father did not stop, whatever he was thinking.

“……!”

“What is this!”

On Jin Taesan’s back, revealed after he removed his clothes, there was a deep scar.

Strangely, the scar stretched long at the width of four fingers, and its end was sharp.

“Look. What kind of wound does this seem like?”

Even though Father lived under the same roof as me, he had never shown me his bare body.

Come to think of it, it was surprising that I had no memory of this scar even from when I was very young.

“What kind of wound…… is it?”

“Look closely.”

It was too uniform to be a whip scar, and the end was too sharp to be from a club.

Its shape was exactly like a sword pressed down hard and then lifted……

“Could it be…… the flat of a sword……?”

“You saw correctly. It is a scar carved by Seong Jutak, the young sect leader of the Iron Sword Sect, twenty years ago.”

Grit.

My teeth ground together.

“……What happened?”

“Pain is more frightening than you think.”

“Please tell me what happened.”

“…….”

Jin Taesan silently put his clothes back on.

Then he left the lodging just like that.

“Stop. Saryeon, you should return quickly too.”

“If I do not hear the story, I cannot know what happened. If I cannot know what happened, I cannot know what I will do from now on either.”

“…….”

“Anyone feels the tearing of their family’s flesh more greatly than the pain of their own bones breaking. If I simply fall asleep like this, then tomorrow, even if I die, I will fight with the resolve to kill Seong Mohyeon.”

“……When judged at the same level of attainment, Taeul Sect’s sword cannot defeat the Iron Sword Sect’s sword.”

The subtlety of the Iron Sword Sect’s swordsmanship lay in heaviness.

The founder of the Iron Sword Sect, the Ghost Sword Immortal Elder, used a greatsword four inches wide, and now, as the sword arts had approached completion, they had all been unified around swords with three-inch-wide blades.

The subtlety of Taeul Sect’s swordsmanship lay in speed.

The principle of speed was light in weight, so it could not pierce the Iron Sword Sect’s sword.

If one’s speed was overwhelmingly greater, one would not be tied down by weight, but for that, one had to possess overwhelmingly greater internal energy or attainment than the opponent.

“Even so, does it make any sense to do such a thing to the loser?”

Hong Saryeon could not hold back her anger and spoke.

“It was a place where countless people of the murim world had gathered, just like now. Saryeon, could you obediently admit to a wrongdoing you did not commit?”

“…….”

“That is why I told you not to get swept up in any forced situation. With the chief strategist of the Martial Alliance and people from the Namgung Family present, can you even imagine what kind of absurdities those treacherous cranes will try to force?”

*

Father did not return all night.

Only when the appointed time drew near did I learn where Father was.

He was at the central training ground.

“…….”

“Jin Taesan, you foolish man.”

At the sight of him lying face-down on the cold ground and bowing, flames seemed ready to burst from Kang Chaeseok’s eyes.

Those who had been treated lavishly at the sixtieth birthday feast began gathering one after another at the central training ground, thinking there was an amusing spectacle to watch.

“What in the world happened?”

“They say a disciple of Taeul Sect insulted the Iron Sword Sect.”

“Haha! Have you ever seen such a fearless brat? How dare Taeul Sect do something like that in the Iron Sword Sect?”

“His father seems to be apologizing. They say the leader of the Iron Sword Sect magnanimously said he would forgive him if he showed sincere repentance.”

In order to gather even more people, the Iron Sword Sect had its servants deliver simple side dishes and alcohol around the training ground.

Even those for whom alcohol was more important than a spectacle began hurrying out from the pavilion.

“…….”

When I walked toward Father, all eyes soon focused on me.

“Is that the brat?”

“Because of an immature son, the father will be beaten.”

Even when I came close, Father did not move at all.

“……Go down.”

“Please get up. Why are you lying there like a criminal?”

“……What father in the world could watch wounds appear on his son’s body?”

“No child in the world is happy to see their father in such a miserable state.”

“…….”

The moment I reached out to lift Jin Taesan up, the murmuring among the crowd grew even louder.

Onto the training ground appeared Seong Cheonwol, the leader of the Iron Sword Sect, Seong Jutak, the young sect leader, Jegal Somyeong, the chief strategist of the Martial Alliance, Namgung Taewon and Namgung San of the Namgung Family.

“You must be Jin Sowoon of Taeul Sect.”

The leader of the Iron Sword Sect stared at me with contemptuous eyes.

“That is so.”

“You truly are a brat without even a speck of courtesy. Even after seeing what trouble your frivolous tongue has caused, do you still not understand the situation?”

“What martial artist in the world shows courtesy to the enemy of his father?”

“What?”

“I heard something like this happened twenty years ago too.”

“……What are you talking about?”

“Did you not invite Taeul Sect to the Iron Sword Sect’s feast, insult us, make us draw our swords, and then inflict humiliation on us?”

“……!”

At my words, the murmuring among the people grew louder.

“What is he talking about?”

“Come to think of it, in the past……”

“Hey! Be quiet! Have you forgotten where you are right now?”

Those who had been speaking shut their mouths tightly under the piercing gazes of the Iron Sword Sect members.

“I understand that you wish to remove Taeul Sect and enter the One Hundred and Eight Peaks, but I want to ask whether those of you who commit such acts, which even marketplace thugs would not do, truly have the qualifications to become an allied sect of the Martial Alliance.”

The commotion grew even louder.

Surely there were some who remembered what had happened twenty years ago, and they would feel a sense of déjà vu from the two situations that resembled each other far too closely.

“You, you brat……!”

The leader of the Iron Sword Sect trembled his beard and glanced at Jegal Somyeong.

“…….”

However, Jegal Somyeong simply watched the series of events quietly without changing his expression at all, and the leader of the Iron Sword Sect, emboldened even further by that, changed his expression.

“I do not know what you are talking about. In any case, because of what you did, your father is suffering such treatment.”

Father’s bent back, lying face-down on the ground, felt especially firm and enormous today.

“I feel no shame in a father’s actions when he worries for his child. But I cannot hold back my nausea at your foul and despicable behavior of trying to use even such a father’s heart!”

“Th-That brat!”

I pointed at Seong Mohyeon.

“That Seong fellow there told me to take responsibility for my words. But why is he not appearing?”

Seong Mohyeon was gauging the reactions of his father and grandfather.

The board had gone far off from their original plan.

Moreover, since the chief strategist of the Martial Alliance and people from the Namgung Family had come out as well, he seemed to be worrying over what to do.

I gave them no more time to think.

“Seong Mohyeon! Your father and grandfather have prepared a board of this scale for you. Should you not be the one to place the final mark on it!”

I drew my sword and spoke to Father.

“The sword has already been drawn, so from now on, Father, your knees have no meaning. Please go down.”

Jin Taesan raised his head for the first time.

“……Are you confident you can endure it?”

“I have already shown my resolve.”

“Then do not do anything that will make you ashamed of yourself because of a single moment of pain.”

Instead of answering, I looked at Saryeon.

Saryeon and Kang Chaeseok came up onto the training ground, supported Jin Taesan, who could not walk, and helped him down from the training ground. At the same time, Seong Mohyeon came up from the opposite side.

“You must be disappointed that things did not go as intended.”

Seong Mohyeon’s expression was stiff.

“I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Could it be that you acted without even knowing what the adults intended? It seems the saying that the Beautiful Wolf is better than the Blood Wolf was true.”

Seong Mohyeon’s face flushed.

“Even if you win against me in this sparring match, you likely will not achieve what you want.”

I looked at the spectators around us.

“Moreover, if you lose to me or the match ends evenly, today’s events will forever bring shame upon the Iron Sword Sect.”

I had already planted questions in people’s minds.

Those who supported the Iron Sword Sect would deny my words, but those who secretly disliked the Iron Sword Sect had gained a good opportunity to criticize it.

“……Enough with your nonsense.”

Seong Mohyeon took his opening stance.

It was a posture that showed the Iron Sword Sect’s aggressiveness, leaning far forward as if he might spring out at any moment.

There was no yielding based on hierarchy or level in the murim world.

A sparring match without courtesy left only the name behind, and our auras seemed ready to take each other’s lives at any moment.

“Chaaat!”

Seong Mohyeon moved first.

Great force filled the thick sword, which was four fingers wide, and every time that sword swept in all directions, sharp sword wind surged.

Those who had ever received the Iron Sword Sect’s sword would often say that it felt like receiving a giant iron mace with a thin sword.

It was a sword art impossible to receive with Taeul Sect’s light and lively sword.

That was what Kang Chaeseok and Father had been most worried about.

‘But that is only when we are at the same level.’

The Small Heaven Sword Art, which had reached twelve-star mastery during the Righteous-Demonic War and moved wherever my heart wished.

As I began circulating the internal energy I had grown through elixirs, energy spread throughout my whole body.

Swoosh.

Slice.

With a chilling cutting sound, Seong Mohyeon’s face turned pale as he had been striking down with his sword.

“Hup!”

“D-Did you see that just now?”

The people could not take their eyes off the hem of Seong Mohyeon’s clothes that had fallen to the ground.

“What in the world…….”

Even though the sparring match had begun, the training ground, which had been noisy, fell into a silence as complete as if not even a single ant were present.

Without delay, I stepped toward Seong Mohyeon using the Heavy Advance Footwork.

Following One Strike Breaks the Sword, a technique of the Small Heaven Sword Art, Two Strikes Shaves the Sword extended outward.

Seong Mohyeon could not even properly unfold a defensive form and was only barely avoiding the sword while giving up the tip of his sword and the hem of his clothes.

“Taeul Sect is overwhelming him right now, isn’t it?”

“This is a complete humiliation. After they made such a big fuss too.”

“Be quiet. The sect leader’s expression does not look good.”

In the first place, it was only natural that things would not go the same way as in my previous life.

There was me, who had accumulated desperate real combat experience at the very front of the battlefield while facing the lackeys of the Demonic Cult, and Seong Mohyeon, who had lived a life soaked in marrow cleansing and elixirs like a flower in a greenhouse.

If his internal energy were more overwhelming, Seong Mohyeon might certainly have had a chance to win, but now my internal energy was not lacking anywhere either.

“After plotting so much, this is all the result amounts to. You surely won’t be able to raise your face before your sect members.”

“Shut up!”

After widening the distance, Seong Mohyeon gave up on the Rock-Breaking Sword Art and prepared to unleash the Mountain-Breaking Sword Art.

The Mountain-Breaking Sword Art was the essence of the Iron Sword Sect.

Only by overwhelming me with the Rock-Breaking Sword Art could he clearly show that the Iron Sword Sect stood above Taeul Sect, but if he lost while trying that, everything would become worse than if he had done nothing. It was an unavoidable choice.

‘Is it right to end it like this?’

Even if it was the Mountain-Breaking Sword Art rather than the Rock-Breaking Sword Art, the current Seong Mohyeon could not defeat me.

However, even if I defeated Seong Mohyeon here and now, would that completely block the Iron Sword Sect’s schemes from now on? No, it would not.

I merely possessed skill outside the norm because I had lived two lives, and the Iron Sword Sect would soon realize that as well.

‘Perhaps they will act even more shamelessly.’

The humiliation they suffered after even inviting the chief strategist of the Martial Alliance would surely make them put on a brazen human mask and commit tyranny.

If so, a special measure was needed.

‘I will make sure the Iron Sword Sect can never raise its head again.’

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Every time Seong Mohyeon’s sword swung, a massive wave of energy moved along with the sound of bursting wind.

It was extraordinary great force, enough to make the stone floor of the training ground tremble.

I fired out the Small Heaven Sword Art once more and faced the Mountain-Breaking Sword Art.

Clang. Clang, clang, clang.

Like throwing a single needle at a rapidly spinning top, my sword bounced away, and a smile finally appeared at the corner of Seong Mohyeon’s mouth.

“Do you understand now? This is the difference in class!”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

As the even more triumphant Seong Mohyeon’s sword swept across the floor, stone fragments flew in all directions and even reached the spectator seats.

“D-Dodge!”

“What power!”

“As expected, the Iron Sword Sect is still the Iron Sword Sect.”

Without attacking the weakness, I reduced the amount of internal energy and deliberately kept making it look as if my sword could not get through.

And each time my sword was blocked by the Mountain-Breaking Sword Art, I retreated, eventually being driven all the way to the edge of the training ground.

“This is the end!”

The moment Seong Mohyeon was about to strike down with his sword,

I slipped into his chest, placed my left hand on him, and activated the Azure Dragon Ring.

“……!”

He dropped his sword to the ground as if his strength had suddenly left him.

“Hup!?”

Seong Mohyeon looked at me with disbelief in his eyes.

“Why? Did you see a ghost or something?”