Chapter 192: Was This A Guy I Knew (2)
Chapter 191 – Was This A Guy I Knew (2)
So, his father meant me, right?
Namgung Cheon organized his thoughts for a moment.
Perhaps because of the pouring rain, it felt as though the thoughts in his head were also cleanly washed away.
As Namgung Cheon stared blankly without a single movement, Bi Ryang shrugged and swept back his brilliant silver hair with his hand.
Even when wet, silver hair did not look like seaweed.
How should I put it?
Faded wet seaweed? Hmm. Is that even stranger?
In any case, while he was having useless thoughts, Bi Ryang looked at the sky and spoke.
“Even though I tried so hard to tell you about myself, you did not listen.”
“When did you tell me?”
“Mmm. Never mind.”
“So, what is your identity, Instructor?”
“Right, it is time now. I intended to tell you eventually. Actually, I was a member of the Martial Alliance’s secret organization…”
“Before that, just a moment.”
“Look at this! I knew this would happen! I am not telling you! I said I won’t! How many times has this been already!”
“Geez, what a personality. Who said they wouldn’t listen?”
“Then why did you interrupt me!”
“It is weird to talk naked like that while the rain is pouring down.”
Only then did Bi Ryang flinch and cover his chest with his hands. And then, glaring at Namgung Cheon, he said…
“Pervert.”
Ah, should I just kill him?
Namgung Cheon let out a shallow breath, spun around, and walked to the water.
Instantly, Bi Ryang threw himself to quickly throw on the clothes he had cast onto a rock, and approached Namgung Cheon.
“I will finish speaking. I am actually from the Secret Line Division.”
“Secret Line Division? Is that like a secret strike force directly under the Alliance Leader?”
Bi Ryang replied with a rather blank expression.
“How did you know that?”
“It just naturally feels that way. It smells fishy too.”
“What do you mean fishy smell…”
“Is it not? If it were not for dirty work, would the Alliance Leader have any need to keep a separate secret strike force?”
As Namgung Cheon muttered like a monologue, Bi Ryang smiled bitterly.
Because it was not a wrong statement.
The Secret Line Division was indeed an organization that took on all kinds of dirty missions.
Although they were the elite among elites, they had to take on all kinds of dirty missions for the sake of justice.
Among those, naturally, was the mission to pursue Jin Cheon-rang, the number one public enemy of the Martial World.
“You indeed look more alike the more I see you.”
“Is it not like father, like son?”
“Even so, to think you even resemble him in the way you speak…”
“Did my father say such things too?”
Bi Ryang nodded.
“He did. Similarly.”
“What did he say?”
Namgung Cheon, who had no memory of it at all, asked demandingly.
“He asked me which organization I belonged to.”
“And then?”
“I told him I could not answer.”
“And then?”
“He said he was not curious anyway. Saying it was obvious that a secret organization made by that sly old fox would handle all kinds of dirty and filthy things.”
“Ah… I did say those words.”
“Hmm?”
“It is nothing.”
Namgung Cheon waved his hand dismissively and fell into thought.
Listening to Bi Ryang’s story, he felt like he had said those words, yet also like he had not.
It was unavoidable, as that sly old fox of an Alliance Leader had created too many organizations for a while.
Although he had smashed most of those organizations.
Bi Ryang continued speaking while still looking up at the sky.
“That day was a rainy day just like today. I received the mission to hunt down and kill your father for the first time.”
* * *
“Damn it! Where did he go?”
The Secret Line Division Leader looked around and let out a loud shout.
Clearly, Jin Cheon-rang had been cornered in a dead-end canyon just a moment ago.
However, a variable arose when lightning happened to strike a tree rising atop the cliff.
The branches, burned in an instant, showered down, and a pile of rocks tumbled down along with them.
Using that brief gap, Jin Cheon-rang broke through the Secret Line Division’s encirclement and went somewhere.
Since he had spent his life running away to avoid the Martial Alliance, his stealth technique would be amazing.
The Secret Line Division Leader grit his teeth and instructed his subordinates.
“Do not lower your guard. He is definitely still somewhere here!”
“Yes!”
The Secret Line Division martial artists replied in unison and scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes. Bi Ryang, the youngest in the Secret Line Division, also narrowed his eyes and searched the surroundings.
The canyon already had strange shadows due to the bizarre rocks, and with the torrential rain pouring down, it was even harder to distinguish their surroundings.
Every time lightning flashed, they would frequently startle, looking at the cliff wall shedding rainwater beside them.
Of course, they would not have been so intimidated if they were pursuing an ordinary opponent.
But the opponent was the Heavenly Great Killing Star.
Was he not the number one public enemy whom the Martial Alliance had pursued for decades?
Even so, it was because they were the Secret Line Division that they had driven him into a corner to this extent in a short period.
Whoosh…!
The heavy downpour filled the canyon.
It felt as though all the water in the world was gathering into this narrow canyon.
The water quickly rose up to their ankles.
Just then, a voice echoing through the canyon was heard from all directions simultaneously.
“Stop chasing me around, you tedious bastards.”
Six Harmonies Sound Transmission!
An sound art that makes it impossible to know one’s location by echoing sound from six directions simultaneously.
“Reveal yourself! Jin Cheon-rang!”
As the Secret Line Division Leader shouted, giggling sounds were heard from six places simultaneously again.
“Do you really want me to reveal myself? If I do, all of you will die. Will that be alright?”
“…!”
Gulp.
Each of the Secret Line Division martial artists swallowed their saliva.
“My mood is good today because of the rain. It is a good opportunity. Get lost while I count to three. Then I will let you live.”
“Nonsense! If you reveal yourself right now, I will spare your life instead!”
“Geez, cut the bullshit. Then I will kill you all.”
The Six Harmonies Sound Transmission ceased.
The canyon was once again filled only with the sound of rain.
Where are you? Jin Cheon-rang!
Bi Ryang grit his teeth.
After entering the Martial Alliance, his path was a highway of success.
People praised him endlessly, saying a genius comparable to Namgung Seon had appeared.
However, Bi Ryang hated those words the most.
From childhood, whatever he did, Namgung Seon was his object of comparison.
Whether he swung a sword, deployed palm force, or even shot an arrow, Namgung Seon’s name came up.
And the modifier attached to that was always the woman who hooked up with the Heavenly Great Killing Star.
To be compared to such a disgraceful woman.
How many martial artists had died at the hands of the Great Killing Star over the past decades?
Even right now, it was so.
It was not just the pouring rainwater filling the canyon.
In the canyon they had already passed through, hundreds of corpses lay scattered.
Among them, a significant number were martial artists belonging to the Secret Line Division.
They had all died at the hands of Jin Cheon-rang, the Heavenly Great Killing Star.
‘I can never forgive him. I will surely reclaim my honor.’
Bi Ryang scanned the surroundings once more with a firm resolve.
Whoosh…!
Sheets of rain fell endlessly.
As he concentrated all his mind on his vision while circulating internal energy, time seemed to flow slowly.
Each raindrop clawing through the air and falling became visible.
Streams of water glistening in the moonlight and flowing down the cliff wall even in the darkness.
Olfaction was useless due to the fishy smell of rain. Audition was useless due to the sound of rain. He had to rely solely on sensory perception and vision.
‘I must concentrate more. More…’
Bi Ryang, who was breathing slowly, stopped his breath at some point.
The moment a high level of concentration was displayed.
The world’s time also temporarily stopped.
Raindrops stopped in midair, water flowing down the cliff wall stopped, and the sound of rain that tirelessly beat against his eardrums also stopped.
In complete silence, only his senses quickly traversed the air.
Flash!
Just then, something reflected off the water film flowing down the cliff wall.
‘A sword!’
Simultaneously with his judgment, the sound of the pouring sheets of rain pierced his eardrums relentlessly.
Simultaneously, Bi Ryang spun around.
However, it was already too late!
Swish!
Jin Cheon-rang, who flew in while stepping on the surface of the pooled water, sliced the throat of a Secret Line Division martial artist in an instant.
Spurt!
“Keu-huk!”
Splash!
Swish! Slice!
A movement truly like lightning!
Buried in the darkness, it flashed here and there.
Flash! Rumble, boom!
Thunder and lightning resounded loudly.
Bi Ryang could do nothing.
Even though the opponent appeared as if blending into the Secret Line Division and wielded his sword, he could not budge a single finger.
Every time lightning flashed, Jin Cheon-rang moved freely to the left, right, front, and back, appearing and disappearing like a ghost.
Every time he appeared, a life faded away.
He was truly flashing in the east and appearing in the west.
“Kill him!”
A shout from the Secret Line Division Leader erupted, though it was unclear whether it was a scream or a command.
Swish-swish-swish!
The elite martial artists charged at Jin Cheon-rang at once.
Swish!
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
Bouncing the raindrops off mercilessly, Jin Cheon-rang’s figure spun like a top.
The Secret Line Division martial artists who charged as if surrounding him froze like stone in an instant.
After a moment.
Spurt!
The martial artists, who sprayed blood like a fountain, collapsed.
Splash! Splash!
“This son of a…”
The Secret Line Division Leader grit his teeth.
He gripped his sword anew and slowly moved his steps to the side.
The situation was that the dozen remaining Secret Line Division martial artists were wiped out.
Since the creation of the Secret Line Division, such a catastrophe had never occurred even once.
Was it just that?
The second and third cohorts of the Blue Wave Corps that pursued Jin Cheon-rang were wiped out.
He was truly a relentless bastard.
The raindrops falling from the sky were red.
It was because the blood splattered on the cliff wall mixed with the raindrops and splattered again.
Jin Cheon-rang approached step by step.
The Secret Line Division Leader spoke while glaring at Jin Cheon-rang.
“Bi Ryang.”
“Yes, Leader.”
“When I give the signal, we go simultaneously.”
“Understood.”
Although he replied resolutely, for the first time, he lacked confidence.
Bi Ryang could think of nothing as he looked at Jin Cheon-rang.
Was this the feeling of a herbivore standing before a beast of prey?
Just then, Jin Cheon-rang raised his chin and wore a smirk.
“My mood has turned bad. I will kill you all.”
“…!”
“You are the leader, right? Then you should have acted rationally, thinking of the subordinates who trust and follow you. Besides, you must have known there was no possibility of winning now, yet you are going to charge with a subordinate? If it were me, I would first think of sending at least one subordinate back alive.”
“Shut up. I have no intention of compromising with a demon. Even if I die, it is a honorable death.”
“You are spouting absolute bullshit. Where is there such a thing as a honorable death? When you kick the bucket, it is all over!”
Bang!
In an instant, Jin Cheon-rang kicked off the ground and shot forward. Water spray rose in all directions from his toes as if a thunderbolt bomb had exploded.
Clang!
As sparks erupted, the Secret Line Division Leader was pushed back. When Bi Ryang quickly supported him from behind, the Leader shouted loudly.
“Now is the time! Let us go!”
“Yes!”
The Leader and Bi Ryang rushed toward Jin Cheon-rang simultaneously.
Whiz!
The two matched their combination perfectly like a single organism.
However, Bi Ryang realized it even as he ran toward Jin Cheon-rang.
‘This person… is not our match!’
Bang!
Did Jin Cheon-rang, who flew in like a cannonball in an instant, not grab the Leader’s head with his bare hand and slam it right into the cliff wall?
Boom!
Rumble!
A loud sound resounded, and the Leader’s body went limp. Rock debris fell down.
Flash! Rumble!
As light erupted in the sky, the figure of the Leader collapsing covered in blood was clearly visible.
Jin Cheon-rang cracked his neck and slowly turned around.
“Now, only you are left?”
Stagger…!
Bi Ryang barely managed to regain his balance and poured strength into both legs.
“Come at me, you damn murderer!”