Chapter 105: There is Still Three Thousand Two Hundred Taels' Worth Left (2)
Chapter 104 – There is Still Three Thousand Two Hundred Taels’ Worth Left (2)
Looking at the cheering people, the Alliance Leader narrowed his eyes.
“Have you made the preparations well?”
When he asked in a low voice, the chief administrator standing next to him bowed his waist and whispered.
“Yes, Alliance Leader. We have scattered Gongjin Powder on the martial arena. It will probably take effect about half a quarter-hour after the match starts.”
“What about Baek Mu-geuk?”
“We had him ingest the poison-evading pill in advance.”
“Did you give Mu-geuk a separate warning?”
“Yes, I thought it would be better for him to know for now.”
“Well done.”
The Alliance Leader nodded and quietly looked down at the martial arena.
Grains resembling sand were scattered on the floor of the martial arena.
Originally, such grains of sand were purposely scattered on the martial arena for dramatic effect.
It was for the same reason as making the martial arena somewhat weak so that it would break easily.
However, the difference now was that there were not simply grains of sand there.
After about half a quarter-hour passed since the start of the match, the effect of the Gongjin Powder would manifest.
If that happened, Namgung Cheon would be unable to use any of his inner energy, and Baek Mu-geuk would be able to win easily.
‘Not only will he win, but he will also surely extract the aching tooth.’
With a satisfied expression, the Alliance Leader looked around the venue and cast his gaze at Namgung Cheon, who was waiting below the martial arena.
‘Namgung Cheon… If I had known you would grow this much, I would have rooted you out long ago. I was complacent. But it is not too late even now. You will experience all your dreams crumbling today.’
Even if he were lucky enough to stay alive, he would no longer be able to live as a martial artist.
Finally, Namgung Cheon and Baek Mu-geuk began to climb the stairs toward the martial arena.
Climbing the stairs to the beating of the drums, Baek Mu-geuk forced himself to hold back the distortion of his mouth.
‘Stop laughing.’
‘We can permanently bury that cheeky bastard. How can I not laugh?’
‘Are you going to kill him?’
‘Since the Alliance Leader said it is fine to kill him.’
‘What about just making him a cripple?’
‘Wow! This guy. Looking at you at times like this, I can’t tell if you’re nice or fucking wicked.’
‘Why is that?’
‘If you make a martial artist a cripple, they would rather ask you to kill them. Speak honestly. Are you showing mercy? Or are you giving him pain worse than death?’
The moment Mu-geuk was about to answer, Namgung Cheon, who had approached right in front of him before he knew it, smiled broadly and spoke to him.
“How are you all doing, split personalities?”
“……”
“Right now, it’s Mu-geuk.”
“Correct.”
“Are you ready to get beaten up?”
“……”
“I have given it some thought. I figured we could count one hit as a hundred taels. Since it’s four thousand six hundred taels in total, let’s settle it with you getting beaten only forty-six times.”
Baek Mu-geuk stared at Namgung Cheon for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Do you think I’m an easy target?”
“Do you… read minds too? How did you know that?”
“Why, you dog bastard who deserves to be chewed to pieces, how dare you wag your tongue…”
“Oh! It’s Il-geuk. Nice to see you, you bastard.”
“You crazy…!”
While Baek Mu-geuk wore an absurd expression, Namgung Cheon smirked and lifted the sword at his waist.
At that moment, Baek Mu-geuk’s eyes widened, and the surroundings also fell silent.
A few spectators buzzed.
“What is that…? Isn’t it a wooden sword?”
“Is Namgung Cheon planning to fight with a wooden sword?”
“Wasn’t the main tournament of the Joint Conference a fight with real swords?”
“Baek Mu-geuk has a real sword.”
Just as the people said, what Namgung Cheon drew was surprisingly a wooden sword. Moreover, the edge was so blunt that it felt closer to a club than a sword.
Watching this, Gold King Jin Deuk-rang turned to Namgung Geom.
“Patriarch, is that not a wooden sword? Did you perhaps tell Young Hero Namgung to fight with a wooden sword?”
Gold King recalled the sight of Namgung Geom and Namgung Cheon having a serious conversation earlier.
He could not hear it in detail at the time due to the cheers of the people, but Namgung Geom seemed to be giving some instructions to Namgung Cheon with a fierce expression.
Since it was a conversation with the position of Young Patriarch on the line, he thought he might have set some difficult conditions, but to think it would be a wooden sword.
However, Namgung Geom’s reaction was unexpected.
“I did not order it.”
“Pardon? Then why did Young Hero Namgung use a wooden sword…”
Gold King, who was speaking, shut his mouth.
Looking at Namgung Geom’s expression, it was clear that he did not know either.
‘Just what in the world are you planning, Young Hero Namgung, by using a wooden sword?’
Namgung Hwa was also feeling the concern he had conceived.
‘Just what is that child planning…!’
Namgung Hwa once again recalled the conversation Namgung Cheon and Namgung Geom had shared a few days ago with the position of Young Patriarch on the line.
That day, Namgung Cheon said to Namgung Geom:
“In the finals, I will win just as you say, Patriarch.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Whether it is twenty exchanges or fifty exchanges, I will match whatever number you call.”
At that time, Namgung Geom’s expression distorted more viciously than ever before.
“You will win by matching the exchanges exactly as I call?”
“Yes. Because that will be a clear proof of my skill.”
“You should be past the age of not being able to distinguish confidence from arrogance.”
“You will know whether it is confidence or arrogance once you see the result.”
Namgung Geom glared at Namgung Cheon with a cold expression.
He was still the grandson who had made him look forward to things a little. Thus, he had tried to look at his good points in his own way, but to think he would spit out such arrogant words.
In the end, Namgung Geom proposed a condition that Namgung Cheon could absolutely never achieve.
“If you are that confident, finish it in a single exchange.”
At that moment, Namgung Hwa, who was listening, was so shocked.
Even so, Namgung Cheon replied calmly.
“Are you telling me to decide the match with a single strike?”
“Yes.”
“I understand. I shall do so.”
“……!”
“Instead, if the victory or defeat is decided in a single strike, please give me the position of Young Patriarch.”
“I will think about it.”
“That is enough.”
After Namgung Cheon left like that, Namgung Hwa secretly resented Namgung Geom.
“Even so, to demand a single exchange. You went too far, Father.”
“He is young. If he learns arrogance before humility, he will never survive in this Jianghu.”
“Still, at least to let him have some hope…”
“I have nothing more to say.”
Ultimately, even Namgung Hwa could not change Namgung Geom’s mind.
Just as Namgung Geom said, there was indeed a need to correct his arrogance to some extent.
‘Even so, a single strike…’
Even that was an overwhelming condition, so what in the world was that wooden sword?
It was said that martial artists put their souls into their weapons. That meant the weapon and the body were linked as one.
In other words, a person holding a wooden sword and a person holding a real sword could not help but have different mindsets. It was for the same reason that even if the same person performed the same stance, they would display far superior skill when using a real sword than when using a wooden sword.
‘But why on earth a wooden sword…!’
While Namgung Hwa was sighing, Namgung Cheon spoke in a clear and resonant voice at that moment.
“A single strike.”
“……?”
As Baek Mu-geuk tilted his head, Namgung Cheon continued.
“Deciding the match with a single strike. However, since you have to be beaten forty-six times, I won’t end it easily.”
Baek Mu-geuk did not react, wearing his usual blank expression.
Sitting in the VIP seats, the Alliance Leader narrowed his eyes and stroked his beard.
‘Is he crazy?’
Unless he was crazy, to come out holding a wooden sword and claim he would beat him down in a single strike?
He had to say something that made sense for anyone to react.
‘Well, no matter how much he flies and crawls, he is still a young greenhorn.’
There would be nothing more to see after this.
If this was Namgung Cheon’s provocation tactic, it was a complete failure.
For Baek Mu-geuk was not so careless as to fall for such a provocation.
Perhaps he had overestimated Namgung Cheon.
‘Well, whatever the case, I should consider it weeding out the bud at this opportunity.’
As the Alliance Leader expected, Baek Mu-geuk was not shaken in the slightest. Instead, Il-geuk’s voice rang out irritably in his head.
‘Looking at him now, he’s a total lunatic.’
‘Is it arrogance?’
‘Arrogance or whatever, we just have to beat him down. He won’t even be able to use his internal energy in a little while anyway.’
‘Still, we must not let our guard down.’
‘Just don’t be scared, you idiot.’
Finishing the conversation with himself, Baek Mu-geuk drew his blade with a shring.
The exceptionally blue blade glinted in the sunlight.
Namgung Cheon slightly twisted his lips and glanced toward the seat where Namgung Geom sat.
‘Old man, watch closely.’
The next moment, Baek Mu-geuk kicked the ground first and flew forward like an arrow.
*Step!*
*Swoosh!*
‘It’s Mu-geuk.’
He could see the qi of the metal phase spreading through his entire body.
Namgung Cheon immediately operated the qi of the fire phase, which formed a counteracting relationship, and clashed against him.
The watching people clenched their fists.
“It has finally started!”
“How well will he do with a wooden sword?”
“Will he really decide the match in a single strike?”
“He should at least not get defeated in a single strike.”
Receiving the expectations and worries of the people all at once, Namgung Cheon dug into Baek Mu-geuk’s space.
*Whoosh!*
In that instant, the flow of Baek Mu-geuk’s inner energy was caught in Namgung Cheon’s vision.
‘That is an illusion art!’
Sure enough, Baek Mu-geuk’s figure dispersed to the side.
However, Namgung Cheon was not deceived.
Instead, as if he had been waiting, he shook his inner energy and countered the illusion art.
For a brief moment, Baek Mu-geuk felt Namgung Cheon’s figure sink deep into the ground.
“……”
Baek Mu-geuk, who was about to swing his blade, hesitated.
‘He vanished…?’
‘What do you mean vanished! Wake up, you idiot!’
‘Behind.’
The other egos screamed in Baek Mu-geuk’s head.
Baek Mu-geuk whirled around, but once again, Namgung Cheon’s figure cleanly vanished before his eyes.
“……”
‘Fuck, who just said it was behind?’
‘You’re equally unhelpful.’
‘Shut up!’
‘Quiet, you rabble! Focus!’
Chaos broke out in Baek Mu-geuk’s head.
At that moment, a thunderous shout from Namgung Cheon erupted from the left.
“Single striiiike!”
Simultaneously with Baek Mu-geuk twisting his body, the wooden sword fell vertically and struck the crown of his head.
*Crack!*
In an instant, feeling a pain that seemed to split even his soul, Baek Mu-geuk collapsed to his knees on the spot.
“Arrrgh!”
Dozens of egos screamed, floundering in pain.
As the desperate scream rang out, the watching spectators froze, each of their mouths gaping wide.
Instead, the person broadcasting from the top of the spectator seats shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Waaaah! Namgung Cheon has truly split Baek Mu-geuk’s noggin… no, his head, in a single strike! It hurts so much that even my own head feels painful just watching! If it had been a match with real swords, this situation would be no different from it already being over! Seeing how Baek Mu-geuk’s head did not break despite such a tremendous strike, could that head be as hard as ten-thousand-year cold iron?!”
Meanwhile, Namgung Geom, who had watched this situation from the beginning, widened his eyes and could not even make a movement.
“Ah, Father…”
“It is a single strike.”
“……”
Putting strength into his eyes, Namgung Geom shut his mouth tight.
It was without a doubt a single-sword match.
Although Baek Mu-geuk’s head did not break, his life would have flown away if it had been a real sword.
Was that all?
“To think he deliberately showed mercy.”
“Pardon? Cheon-ie stayed his hand?”
Namgung Geom nodded silently.
Namgung Hwa blankly turned her gaze to look at Namgung Cheon.
Come to think of it, if he had not stayed his hand, would Baek Mu-geuk’s head not have been broken long ago?
She was so surprised that she had not even thought that far.
Right then, the broadcaster shouted as if his throat would tear.
“Ah! But it does not end here! Namgung Cheon’s follow-up attaack!”
Just as the broadcaster said, Namgung Cheon did not even give Baek Mu-geuk time to fall. Suddenly, he spun like a whirlwind, and struck the collapsing flank of Baek Mu-geuk with the wooden sword, did he not?
*Thwack!*
“Keugh!”
Foaming at the mouth, Baek Mu-geuk lurched to the side.
A pain so intense that his consciousness felt on the verge of snapping right then!
However, that was not the end.
*Swoosh, thwack!*
*Whack! Bam!*
Before he could even gather his senses, shocks that pierced his mind shook his entire body.
Whenever he tried to lose consciousness due to the pain that felt as if his whole body were shattering, he would hit his vital acupoints in an exquisite manner, snapping him back awake.
“Aaargh! Dammit! You dog bastard!”
Il-geuk’s voice erupted desperately from Baek Mu-geuk’s mouth.
But before he could do anything, Namgung Cheon’s wooden sword stabbed his solar plexus.
*Thump!*
“Guh!”
The moment Baek Mu-geuk was about to collapse while coughing up blood,
*Catch!*
Namgung Cheon’s wooden sword propped up Baek Mu-geuk’s upper body.
At the same time, Namgung Cheon’s chilly voice pierced eerily into Baek Mu-geuk’s ear.
“There is still 3,200 taels’ worth left.”