Chapter 55: Head-Severing Yama

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Jianwen Mountain has long been one of the most rugged and stunning high peaks in all of Hunan – a famous mountain.

A sharp peak soaring above the clouds, boasting an extraordinary presence, and below it limestone cliffs stretching out like a folding screen.

And the primeval forest covering the endlessly spreading land in green.

Thus, Jianwen Mountain and the surrounding grown forest boasted scenery that could be called an unparalleled masterpiece not just in Hunan but across the entire continent.

Perhaps because it was a remote area that didn’t easily permit human footsteps.

Not only the original mysterious and wondrous feeling but even a wild atmosphere overwhelmingly surpassed other famous mountains – it was a supreme elegance that seemed to properly show what the beauty of ancient mountains and rivers truly was.

If there was a masterpiece of great nature crafted by heavenly deities, it might be this Jianwen Mountain.

At some point.

A single dwelling had appeared on a plateau halfway up Jianwen Mountain.

Just how many people could know that someone’s residence existed on this remote cliff edge where not even a plank road had been laid?

The backdrop of the dwelling was also unique.

Because in the middle of the steep cliff face, a cave was open wide enough to show the blue sky within, reminiscent of an unknown paradise filled with auspicious energy.

Amid the singing of various mountain birds.

Click.

The door of the house opened and an elderly man in gray clothing walked out into the yard.

With a moderate height and stern features, just from his appearance it was difficult to guess his age.

Sixties? Seventies?

While most of his hair had turned white, his face had few wrinkles, making it somehow incongruous.

“That little guy said he was going hunting – how far did he go? Is he going to spend another night at the eastern valley again?”

Having muttered thus, the old man gazed at the mountains and streams below the open view in front of him, then suddenly picked up a wooden training sword placed at one side of the yard.

Given how the handle area was smooth and gleaming, it was clearly an item that had been worn by hand over quite a long time.

‘Hmm, this wooden sword is also getting quite old and will break soon.’

The old man soon closed his eyes gently.

For what reason?

Suddenly his right hand moved rapidly.

Swish, swish-swish-!

Following the swift hand movements, the wooden sword drew successive trajectories and produced sharp sounds.

A smooth-flowing sword momentum that attested to high sword cultivation.

Swoosh, swish-swoosh- Swoosh- Shhhing-!

Each time the wooden sword in his right hand cut through the air, transparent energy waves resembling heat haze spread in all directions.

Swinging a sword with eyes closed, yet his body showed no great wavering.

This was a scene that clearly proved he was a sword master with excellent skill in maintaining center and balance.

Sword forms that achieved maximum effect with minimum motion, and also sword forms that emphasized offense over defense.

‘I’ve been attacking relentlessly for over twenty seconds and yet… I can’t see an opening.’

In the old man’s mind, an opponent holding and swinging a sword just like him had appeared.

That’s right.

Currently, he was engaged in an imaginary sparring match.

The wooden sword continuously drew simple lines and rushed toward the opponent’s front in his mind.

Shwak, shwa-shwak- Swish-swoosh- Chuh-chuk-!

Not a single target of the sword tip and blade was anything but a vital area.

It was a killing sword.

An assassin’s sword technique whose primary purpose was taking others’ lives.

In truth, professional killers’ main goal was eliminating the target in the shortest time possible, so the sword operation method itself was quick and simple.

But the old man was different.

The wooden sword he was swinging now only appeared fast on the surface, but hidden within was a subtle ingenuity of change that made him formidable enough to be called an ultra-first-rate swordsman of a famous major sect.

However.

‘Urgh!’

It wasn’t working at all against the opponent in his mind.

Not only did the opponent perfectly defend against all the various attack-focused sword forms, but they counter-threatened by gaining the upper hand with terrifying sword techniques.

Before he knew it, pushed to the defensive, the old man furrowed his brow slightly with eyes still closed.

‘Strong! As always.’

If it were an ordinary swordsman, they would have had their head severed and died already before his sword forms.

Sword forms transitioning to ascending techniques.

But the opponent’s martial prowess was still solid.

Like a wall that could never be surmounted.

Even if only in imagination.

Well, it could be called perfectly natural.

Because that opponent in his imagination was Ba Hun, the Ascending Heavens Sword Dragon who had reigned as the previous martial world’s strongest champion – the first Sect Master of Dragon Martial Gate.

In an instant.

Whoosh-!

Unable to withstand Ba Hun’s overwhelming sword technique any longer, the old man snapped his eyes open, flipped his body, and emitted a single fierce sword energy.

Fwasshh-!

The sword energy shot forward struck a boulder with a BANG!

Crack, crackle-

The boulder, which had developed large fissures, shattered into pieces that scattered chaotically into the air.

Thud-thud, thud-thud-thud, thud…

As countless fragments fell to the ground, a faint smile formed at the corners of the old man’s mouth.

It was his defeat after all.

In truth, the final sword energy had been deployed desperately after his chest was mercilessly pierced through by Ba Hun in his imagination.

‘Heh… Why do you never allow even a single defeat? Making this body’s alias of Head-Severing Yama so shabby.’

Head-Severing Yama, Seop Pyo.

The greatest swordsman who had written the myth of the assassin’s path in the past and then suddenly disappeared – that was the true identity of this old man.

“Phew.”

Having steadied his breathing, Seop Pyo placed the wooden sword at one side of the yard and went to the storehouse to retrieve one hind leg of a deer he had hunted yesterday.

Because he’d gotten hungry after moving his hands for a while.

Having prepared mud and wood, Seop Pyo lit a fire, then skinned the hind leg and applied mud thickly.

Crackle, crack… Crackle…!

He placed the mud-covered meat on the sparking firewood and waited briefly as smoke began to rise.

‘That day too, we grilled meat and talked while eating.’

Over the flames, Seop Pyo saw Ba Hun’s face overlapping.

It had been around this time of autumn.

The day he’d last seen Ba Hun’s face.

‘It was an unexpected meeting.’

Thus, Seop Pyo recalled memories from thirty years ago.

* * *

In the year he turned forty-eight, Seop Pyo took his one hundredth assassination commission and, as always, completed it flawlessly before quietly turning his back on the martial world and leaving.

He had put an end to over twenty years of assassin life.

Since it was something he’d decided long ago, there were no regrets.

Having set foot on Jianwen Mountain, he searched for a place to live for several days before discovering a plateau that not even ginseng gatherers or hunters visited, and began building a house.

But.

Before even a few days had passed, an old man suddenly appeared.

With neat attire and profound eyes, he was Ascending Heavens Sword Dragon Ba Hun, the current martial world’s greatest master who had officially announced his retirement around the same time.

“Oh! Sect Master Ba Hun, what brings you here…?”

Seop Pyo was quite flustered by this unexpected appearance of someone he knew.

“Haha. Sect Master, really – just call me senior. Anyway, I was a step too late. I’ll have to find another spot.”

When Ba Hun spoke with a gentle smile, Seop Pyo set down his tools and lightly bowed his head.

“I heard the news about you, Senior, recently. Are you perhaps looking for a place to retire?”

“I am.”

“Ah, I’ve inadvertently caused you trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it. There’s another good place. By the way, you seem to have quit the business too.”

“Yes. I’ve been thinking about this kind of life for quite some time.”

“Everyone has their reasons. Since I came all this way anyway, I was thinking of staying just one night here – would that be alright?”

“Of course. As it happens, I have wine and deer meat.”

“Excellent. But I can’t eat for free. Let me show you the Four Dragons Sword Art as a sword dance. Wouldn’t that be worth the cost of the wine and food? Haha.”

“Um… Then might I request a sparring match instead of a sword dance?”

“A sparring match?”

“Yes. A final sparring match commemorating our respective retirements. I’d like to find out one last time how much my martial prowess has developed since exchanging blows with you a few years ago.”

At Seop Pyo’s polite request, Ba Hun replied with a smile.

“Gladly.”

A contest between the martial world’s strongest, the Ascending Heavens Sword Dragon, and the martial world’s greatest assassin, the Head-Severing Yama – this was a match worthy of going down in history.

Of course, there would be no official record of it.

As Seop Pyo faced Ba Hun, who had drawn the Divine Martial Sword, tension and competitive spirit mixed in his chest.

This would be the third time.

Seop Pyo had previously requested secret sparring matches with Ba Hun twice to test his martial prowess, and had a record of losing both times.

The first was forty exchanges, the second was fifty exchanges.

If so, he was curious how this sparring match would end.

“I would be grateful if you would treat this like real combat.”

“Haha. That goes without saying… If I don’t, I’ll be the one hurt badly. Do you think receiving your sword is easy?”

“You flatter me.”

With those words, Seop Pyo inwardly set his goal.

‘Let’s just last seventy exchanges!’

When Ba Hun gestured to yield the first attack, Seop Pyo immediately executed elegant lightness technique along with swift swordsmanship.

Clang-clang, clang- Clang-clang, clang, clang-clang-!

The stinging metallic sounds of sword meeting sword rang wildly through the mountains.

Their sparring match passed forty exchanges, fifty exchanges, sixty exchanges, advancing ever deeper.

Ba Hun, mid-exchange, praised his opponent’s fierce sword strokes.

“You’ve improved.”

Seop Pyo, hearing those words, was instead seized by awe.

‘What remarkable skill!’

Currently, he had no leisure to even open his mouth for fear of revealing an opening.

Then, just as they passed seventy exchanges.

CLAAANG-!

Simultaneously with the ear-piercing metallic sound, Seop Pyo’s body retreated about twenty paces back.

‘Urgh!’

In that instant, Seop Pyo grimaced.

The power exerted by Ba Hun’s Four Dragons Sword Art had shaken his energy channels and caused internal injury.

The gap in their martial prowess was as stark as in the previous two sparring matches.

Seop Pyo’s breathing was noticeably rapid.

In contrast, Ba Hun’s breathing was utterly calm.

It must be thanks to the unfathomable divine power of the Divine Martial Sword, which only manifested upon reaching a supreme level of martial cultivation.

Having sheathed his sword with a click, Seop Pyo clasped his hands and exclaimed in admiration.

“I have received great teachings. It seems you’ve become even stronger.”

At that, Ba Hun smiled warmly and replied.

“You’ve also grown. In the past, that last sword form would have overturned your heart meridian. Conversely, if this had been a rear assassination rather than a frontal contest, I too would not have escaped with every part of my body intact.”

“That you rate me so highly moves me deeply. Anyway, now that I’ve concluded my life’s final sparring match like this… I feel somewhat bittersweet.”

“Haha. Who knows? We might each take on new successors while in seclusion and end up connected again. Of course, this old man has no such intention… But who can guarantee the future?”

“Hahaha! That’s true. First, let me do some energy circulation practice, then I’ll bring out some food.”

That night, the two ate and drank their fill while sharing many stories, only falling asleep at dawn.

Finally, when Seop Pyo woke to a bright morning… Ba Hun had already left.

That was the two people’s third sparring match and final meeting.

* * *

As Seop Pyo traced old memories, he muttered internally.

‘Hmm… So much time has passed, he probably isn’t still alive.’

Then suddenly, he snorted with laughter.

It suddenly occurred to him that he had confessed his secret to Ba Hun while sharing drinks.

-Senior, this is a secret history I’m revealing for the first time… The mysterious assassin who killed the Hall Master of the Seven Ghost Hall, infamous for the Seven Poisons Manual – that was me.

-What? Is that true?

-Yes, it was the one and only secret assassination in my assassin career. As you well know, that bastard met his end while going to the outhouse.

-Then in the shit pit…

-Hahaha! That’s right. He was a fellow so excessively cautious in everything that I couldn’t find a way to kill him, so I eventually chose to hide in there.

-Hahaha, hahahaha! Did you not get shit poisoning?

-Oh, please don’t even mention it. I nearly died for real. I was too ashamed to tell anyone. Hahahaha!

Suddenly.

Boom… Boo-boom… Boom…!

Heavy reverberations heard from somewhere mixed with the sound of burning wood.

His energy sense, which had been suppressed by reminiscence, rose quickly.

Seop Pyo perceived that those vibrations were approaching at tremendous speed and his expression hardened.

‘Someone is riding a horse while emanating energy!’

Immediately after, with a BANG! of a loud noise, a person and horse burst through the thick forest to one side and entered the yard.

Scrape-scrape-scrape- Scrape-scrape-scrape-!

The identity of the person and horse that came to an abrupt stop while gouging the ground against a backdrop of dust clouds was Cheol Ryu-heun and Divine Wind.

Seop Pyo tilted his head.

‘Who is it?’

No matter how he looked, it was an unfamiliar face.

At that moment, Cheol Ryu-heun, meeting his eyes, spoke bluntly.

“You’re alive. Shit swordsman.”

“…”

Seop Pyo stared at him blankly as if dumbfounded, then soon emanated a chilling glare.

Hah, crazy… What did he just say?

For the first time in thirty years, bloodlust was surging.

Caused by words carelessly thrown by someone he was seeing for the very first time in his life.