Chapter 133: Go Tell Him Right Now
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The faces of the three Black Ox Hall members turned bright red upon hearing those words – that their mothers had birthed trash.
Though they instinctively recognized that Cheol Ryu-heun, who had appeared so extraordinarily, was a high-level master, a more primal emotion exploded.
The base habits of thugs – lenient toward themselves but strict toward others…
They didn’t even think about how they had just freely insulted Gwak Woon-bi’s mother, but immediately bristled at insults to their own mothers.
“DAMN!”
With a shout, they charged.
The two hall members in front and even the internally injured one behind.
Forgetting the gap in martial prowess they’d sensed, these fearless actions were driven by primal emotion – that savage rage.
It was murderous courage – a state where, gripped by the desire to kill their opponent, they feared nothing.
This was exactly what Cheol Ryu-heun had aimed for from the start.
After all, humans simply cannot endure insults to their parents.
The moment the sword tips of the two hall members approaching from left and right cut through the air aiming at his arm and waist.
CRACK- SMACK-!
The sounds of their blades being brutally shattered and fists striking something rang out simultaneously.
WHOOSH- BOOM, CRASH…!
The forms of the two hall members who had attacked with murderous intent shot backward like rays of light and powerfully collided with a building wall behind them.
Immediately after.
THUD, THUD.
Neither before the other, they collapsed face-down on the bare ground.
“Gugh…”
“Huh… Ugh…”
The silence that had been hanging in the air became even heavier.
‘GAH!’
‘What… What did he just do…!’
‘Too fast!’
The stunned crowd’s gazes all focused on Cheol Ryu-heun’s expressionless face at once.
The legs of the lone remaining hall member had already stopped in their tracks.
‘…!’
Cheol Ryu-heun’s tremendous power had touched something more primal than his primal rage, causing his murderous intent itself to subside.
Fear.
His spine went cold.
Already his whole body was becoming soaked in sweat.
DRIP.
Standing frozen in place as if turned to stone, the hall member felt droplets falling from under his armpits.
Soon, Cheol Ryu-heun, with hands behind his back, walked forward.
His expressionless face made his gait appear even more leisurely.
“Since you drew your swords with killing intent first, you won’t have any complaints if I do as I please now, right?”
Gripped by spine-chilling fear, the hall member trembled his lips, unable to even think of fleeing.
All he could do was.
“S-sorry… I’m sorry.”
Just to fearfully utter words of apology.
Cheol Ryu-heun stopped a few paces away and asked.
“For what?”
“……”
“What are you sorry for?”
“Ah… I, I… J-just… Everything…”
“You lack sincerity.”
With those words, Cheol Ryu-heun glanced at the black ox emblem embroidered on the man’s martial uniform.
“Is the ox head at home?”
A question referring to the Black Ox Hall Master.
“Yes… Y-yes…”
The moment the hall member gave a slight nod, Cheol Ryu-heun’s fist drove into his jaw.
CRUNCH-!
With the chilling sound of crushing bone, the hall member’s jaw twisted grotesquely.
“Uh-buh… Ooh-uh, ooh-uh-uh…! Uh-buh…!”
Collapsing to the ground, the hall member writhed in apparent agony, letting out sounds that were unclear whether they were screams or something else.
-Look at that uh-buh, uh-buh. Pfft. It’s hilarious.
That mockery that had torn at someone’s heart had ultimately brought about such calamity.
Cheol Ryu-heun’s kick followed.
THWACK-!
The form of the hall member, struck squarely in the lower abdomen, flew backward in the blink of an eye and crashed into another hall member lying face-down on the ground.
“Uh… Uh-buh…”
The hall member with the shattered jaw continued to make such sounds.
His intestines felt as if they had all been flipped inside out – an indescribably agonizing pain.
Cheol Ryu-heun leisurely walked again while speaking.
“I am Cheol Ryu-heun, the new Sect Master of White Peak Sword Sect.”
At that, the expressions of the three hall members changed completely.
Earlier, when Gwak Woon-bi had briefly cried out “Sect Master,” they had been uncertain, but they never imagined this was Cheol Ryu-heun, the subject of rumors about becoming a vegetable.
“Promoting good and punishing evil – I have no interest in such things. I am merely punishing the actions that harmed a disciple of my sect.”
Gwak Woon-bi, positioned behind, choked up upon hearing those words.
‘Ah… Sect Master…!’
He finally understood everything.
The Sect Master had predicted long ago that such a thing would happen.
Cheol Ryu-heun stood beside the Black Ox Hall group sprawled on the ground and continued in a blunt tone.
“Today I shall clearly show you. What calamity befalls those who touch not only disciples of my sect, but even their families.”
Due to formless energy, the hall members’ bodies floated into the air, then suddenly collided hard with the ground as if dropping with boulders on them.
CRASH-!
The three made no further movement.
They appeared to have fainted.
The moment Cheol Ryu-heun turned around, applause erupted from the crowd.
All the marketplace merchants who had suffered from Black Ox Hall’s tyranny let out cheers of all sizes, feeling as if their long-blocked chests had finally cleared.
Gwak Woon-bi gently embraced his startled mother’s shoulders and headed toward Cheol Ryu-heun.
“Sect Master… Thank you so much. But when did you arrive here?”
“About a shichen ago.”
When Cheol Ryu-heun replied in his expressionless manner, Gwak Woon-bi’s mother bowed repeatedly expressing her gratitude.
I will never forget the grace of saving my son who was endangered because of this worthless mother.
Though she couldn’t speak, she could feel her heart.
“It was only natural for me to do as the sect master.”
Having observed Cheol Ryu-heun’s lip movements, the mother understood the approximate meaning and drew a warm smile on her tear-stained face.
“Sect Master, by the way, if Broken Mountain Sword Manor lurking behind Black Ox Hall gets involved in the aftermath of this incident…”
“Pay no mind and just leave for Baizhou where the new house is prepared.”
“But…”
“I’ll take care of it. As always.”
“GAH…! You’re going to… fight here?”
“Yeah. Gotta stomp on them. Whether it’s the Five Martial Paragons or whatever, so they can’t crawl up against our sect.”
Gwak Woon-bi repeatedly cast astonished glances and clicked his tongue internally.
‘Good heavens… He plans to drag in even the Broken Mountain Sword Manor Head using this as justification. A one-on-one duel with a martial artist of the region’s highest caliber… Will he be alright?’
Yet inwardly, anticipation preceded worry for some reason.
Yes, for someone who had routinely done mysterious and unfathomable things, a premonition passed that anything seemed possible.
Cheol Ryu-heun gestured with his hand as if he couldn’t care less.
“Get going.”
“Ah… Yes, understood. Sect Master. Then I will organize the house belongings and leave for Baizhou.”
When Gwak Woon-bi gave his greeting, Cheol Ryu-heun summoned Divine Wind with a whistle and spoke indifferently.
“You fought well. Especially while carrying a bundle on your back.”
Only then did Gwak Woon-bi notice the bundle on his back and sheepishly scratched the back of his head.
“Ah… No wonder my movements… I was so angry I didn’t even think to put down the bundle.”
“Mountain Martial Association Head.”
“Pardon?”
“That is your position.”
“…!”
“I made up my mind watching you earlier execute a sword stroke from the middle section of White Peak Sword Formula and shoot sword energy. Know that.”
“I-I’m going to be the Association Head…”
While Gwak Woon-bi wore a moved expression before the unexpected declaration, Cheol Ryu-heun bound the unconscious three with rope, connected them, and mounted Divine Wind’s back.
Meanwhile, the marketplace was stirring greatly.
“That… Is that a horse?”
“Wow, how can its muscles be so massive…”
“It really looks powerful.”
When Cheol Ryu-heun gripped the reins and signaled with one foot, Divine Wind immediately gathered his hooves and began galloping.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE… RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE…
Right after, when his mother made worried gestures, Gwak Woon-bi smiled reassuringly.
“It’s alright, Mother. Our Sect Master is stronger than anyone in this world. There’s absolutely no chance he’ll carelessly suffer defeat.”
Then he explained one by one the matters he hadn’t yet been able to tell her, including the new house prepared in Baizhou.
His mother carefully observed his lip movements, and when the story was finished, she teared up once again.
Her eyes spoke.
My son has met a very good superior.
After suffering so much because of this worthless mother, now he can focus solely on martial arts.
I did nothing.
It’s simply the blessing that came from you growing up so good.
Gwak Woon-bi, reading the heart behind those eyes, also teared up and slightly trembled his voice.
“No, Mother… This blessing came because of you who gave birth to me. Let’s… Live happily from now on.”
Thus, the mother and son embraced each other and took their first steps toward a new life.
* * *
Black Ox Hall.
Under the autumn sunlight, about a hundred hall members gathered in the round training ground swung their swords while shouting their battle cries.
“CHA!”
“HAAP!”
And on a square platform, a middle-aged swordsman was quietly watching that scene.
A man in his late thirties with piercing eyes and a prominent hooked nose – it was Bae Pyeong, alias Fighting Ox Great Sword, the hall master here.
A famous swordsman of Zhanzhou who had earned that alias for supposedly swinging a great sword as if oxen were fighting.
Not far to the side, another swordsman could be seen standing below the platform.
A man in his thirties boasting a bearlike tremendous build, he was Tang Ja-gae, a Black Ox Hall executive who also served as the master’s bodyguard.
His alias was Ox Strength Sword.
Meaning his personal sword power was as heavy as an ox’s strength.
But suddenly.
BOOM…
A roar and vibration were detected from far beyond the main gate.
‘Hm?’
The moment the startled personnel turned their gaze toward the main gate, they saw something pure white in the air.
“Huh?”
It was quite large.
Soon, the white mass of light crossed the distance in the blink of an eye and flew over Black Ox Hall’s main gate.
It was descending toward the training ground.
“AAAH!”
“Fall back!”
“Dodge!”
Just as the approximately hundred panicked hall members tangled over each other and fell, creating chaos.
BOOOOM-!
The moment the white light mass landed in the center of the training ground, the stones on the floor rose like a giant wave, then settled back in a jumbled mess.
SSSSHHHH… SSSSHHHH…
As dust scattered in the wind, the white light vanished.
Atop Divine Wind standing on the wrecked ground, Cheol Ryu-heun revealed himself.
Fighting Ox Great Sword Bae Pyeong, Black Ox Hall Master, and all present stared at him with absurd expressions.
“…!”
Cheol Ryu-heun, paying no mind either way, dismounted from Divine Wind and looked toward the platform at the front with an indifferent face.
“The Black Ox Hall Master?”
At that, Bae Pyeong, quickly gathering his wits, stepped off the platform and onto the training ground floor.
“Ha, what the hell… Who are you?”
At that moment, one of the hall members nearby shouted.
“Wait, those are our juniors…!”
Because he had spotted the three beaten hall members, nearly wrecked, bound and dragged along by rope.
Bae Pyeong immediately gripped his sword hilt with fury.
“DIE! How dare you lay a hand on a member of this hall!”
“You touched first.”
“…!”
“You used force to oppress the mother of a disciple of my sect.”
“Your sect? Where’s that?”
“White Peak Sword Sect.”
At Cheol Ryu-heun’s brief answer, Bae Pyeong cast a blank look, then curved his lips in a sneer.
“Pfft, White Peak Sword Sect? Wait, so what’s your status?”
“New Sect Master, Cheol Ryu-heun.”
“Hahaha. Cheol Ryu-heun? Cheol Ryu-heun, you say? Hahaha. How absurd. Is that true? Weren’t you supposed to be a vegetable?”
“As you can see, I recovered.”
“Tch… How tiresome. Some crazy bastard shows up with some bizarre creature and…”
No sooner had Bae Pyeong finished speaking than bodyguard Ox Strength Sword Tang Ja-gae drew a great sword fitting his massive build and walked forward.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Tang Ja-gae, stopping with five or six paces between them and casting a shadow, spoke with killing intent.
“Any last words before you die?”
At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun quietly looked up at him and asked in a dry tone.
“Do you know what a bodyguard’s role is?”
“What?”
Suddenly.
KA-BOOM-!
With a fierce explosion, the bear-sized Tang Ja-gae vanished somewhere through the distant air.
The delayed heavy sound.
THUD…
The sound of Tang Ja-gae’s body being buried into the ground somewhere far away.
Soon, Cheol Ryu-heun’s indifferent voice followed.
“When danger strikes, getting hit first instead of the master – that’s a bodyguard’s role.”
An atmosphere that had become silent as if submerged in the deep sea, in an instant.
In a flash.
CRASH!
Cheol Ryu-heun had somehow moved to the front of the platform, grabbed Bae Pyeong’s head, and shoved it into the ground.
“GACK… GUHK…”
A shock that rattled the brain.
CRASH, CRASH, CRASH-!
Through the merciless hand movements gripping his hair, one side of Bae Pyeong’s forehead was brutally split, dripping fresh blood.
“GUHH…! S-stop… Please… Mercy…”
When Bae Pyeong, covered in blood, pleaded in terror, Cheol Ryu-heun opened his mouth without change of expression.
“The Broken Mountain Sword Manor Head’s orders, right? The marketplace stall fees.”
“Yes… Th-that’s right.”
When Bae Pyeong answered with a face smeared with tears and blood, Cheol Ryu-heun’s gaze turned to a hall member in the distance.
“You.”
“Y-yes… Yes!”
“Go tell the Broken Mountain Sword Manor Head right now. Tell him Hunan’s First Martial God is waiting for him here.”