Chapter 144: Chapter 144
Dozens of iron needles fired by Dang Sa-woon stopped a span short of Jang Geon, their sharp tips pointing forward as they trembled quivering.
Jang Geon stood facing him with calm eyes, holding Azure Dragon tightly against his waist and keeping his upper body straight. The iron needles that met his gaze were held in midair, unable to advance any further, before dropping straight down to the ground.
Dang Sa-woon quietly looked down at the iron needles clashing and making metallic sounds. All dozens of iron needles had lost momentum and dropped without even touching Jang Geon’s body.
During the brief moment of a single breath, a peculiar silence flowed between Jang Geon, who had dropped the iron needles, and Dang Sa-woon. That silence was cold enough to feel as though the space between the two was distinctly severed, even while a chaotic bedlam erupted around them with members and Demonic Practitioners tangling together, shouting, and scattering blood.
And it was Jang Geon who broke that silence. Without blinking an eye even as the iron needles fell, he spoke.
“Did you say General Subduing the East?”
Dang Sa-woon relaxed his hardened face and nodded lightly.
“That’s right. That’s what I mean, if we were to draw a comparison.”
“Under which Emperor’s reign was that official title?”
Dang Sa-woon’s eyebrows twitched greatly. When mentioning an Imperial Army official title to martial artists, most of them were intimidated by its momentum or, at best, scoffed at it. In such a situation, no one ever asked about the origin of the title. Moreover, the fact that his martial arts were not mixed with the aura of the Imperial Army also played a part. Martial artists estimated a person’s origins by looking at their martial arts, so there was no way they would accept talk of the Imperial Army at face value from someone lacking its aura.
“…You seem to have read quite a few books, my friend.”
Jang Geon replied calmly.
“One doesn’t need to read much to know. In the Empire today, there are Generals Subduing the West, South, and North, but no General Subduing the East. Because east of the Central Plains is the sea.”
Dang Sa-woon couldn’t help but chuckle softly. He was right. The official title of General Subduing the East did not exist in the current Empire. The east of the Empire was a vast ocean, and it was believed that beyond it lay only uninhabited islands.
Jang Geon continued speaking.
“That leaves only the title of an ancient dynasty. Before the Empire was established, during the Spring and Autumn Period or the Warring States Period, or even earlier during the ancient imperial eras.”
Dang Sa-woon fiddled with the iron staff resting on his waist, his eyes sparkling with interest.
“You seem to have a great interest in history as well.”
“Even if I don’t want to remember, there is much that remains in my head.”
“Then do you perhaps also guess where our Palace originates from?”
When Dang Sa-woon asked slyly, Jang Geon burst into a chuckle. He had already guessed it when he captured Namgoong Cheon.
“The Xiang Clan of Overlord Xiang Yu.”
Dang Sa-woon’s mouth gaped wide open. Seeing that expression, Jang Geon knew his guess was not wrong.
Before the Han Emperor unified the Central Plains, the figure who marked the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period when heroes rose—Overlord Xiang Yu. The figure known as the Hegemon-King of Western Chu who competed for the world with Liu Bang, the Supreme Ancestor of the Han Dynasty. Although he was reported to have died by suicide after being defeated at the Battle of Gaixia, in reality, his descendants had survived and taken root as the demonic path’s Demonic Palace.
Unable to contain his amazement, Dang Sa-woon let out an exclamation.
“…This is astounding. Did you really see right through it? How on earth did you know? Even within our Palace, that is a classified secret known only to those of general rank or higher.”
Jang Geon gripped Azure Dragon while twisting it slightly at his waist and replied.
“It’s nothing special. A faction with a deep grudge against the Han Imperial Court, a demonic path lying low awaiting an opportunity despite the prosperity of the Thousand-Year Empire, and an organization following the army structure of an ancient dynasty. When the conditions line up, there is only one answer.”
Dang Sa-woon scrutinized Jang Geon for a long while.
* * *
Dang Sa-woon, watching the iron needles he fired stop in midair and drop with a rattle, muttered with genuine wonder and interest.
“…Are you emitting a kind of wave using internal energy? It shares similarities with the Northern Imperial Sword Form. But to catch physical iron needles using only such waves… It doesn’t seem like sorcery or spells, yet it’s a remarkable martial art.”
Straightening up from his stance of charging at Jang Geon, he tapped his shoulder with the iron cudgel used to fire hidden weapons. He licked his lips as if they were dry.
“While you were spending time inside the Martial Alliance, we did a bit of research on you. The second son of the Hunan Jang Clan in the Central Plains, Jang Geon. Though there might not have been enough time to investigate deeply, we couldn’t find out much other than the fact that your family was somewhat wealthy over the four days. It seems that after arriving on the New Continent, you merely wandered here and there.”
Dang Sa-woon spoke while looking back and forth between the iron needles lying on the ground and Jang Geon standing tall before them.
“…I honestly don’t know how a warrior like you could emerge from such a background. You have no connections with the Imperial Army, no backing from the Martial Alliance, nor are you the descendant of some ancient martial clan. Could it be that the real Jang Geon died long ago, and you are some kind of secret weapon created with the backing of the Imperial Court? I would understand better if it were something like that.”
“Cut the crap.”
Hearing Jang Geon’s brief reply, he slowly shook his head as if he had a headache. Then, raising his hand to scratch his head, he naturally reached into his bosom and pulled out several small daggers.
“I’m just so surprised. Even when watching the Cult Elder’s spells, it wasn’t as fascinating as this. So I’ll have to see it a few more times.”
The next instant, Dang Sa-woon’s daggers cut through the air. Subsequently, the vibration from earlier shook the ground once more, and the daggers, like the iron needles before them, stopped a span short of Jang Geon and quivered trembling. Perhaps because the daggers were larger compared to the iron needles earlier, the vibration of their blades was even more noticeable.
Just then, Dang Sa-woon moved again. Without watching the daggers get blocked, he continuously threw dozens of hidden weapons. The motion of pulling out and throwing hidden weapons was so fast that Dang Sa-woon’s upper body momentarily appeared like a blurry mass.
And in that split second, various flying blades all stopped a span short of the empty space before Jang Geon.
When Dang Sa-woon exhaled his held breath, all those hidden weapons lost power and dropped to the ground with a rattle. Dang Sa-woon let out a helpless laugh watching that.
“This is really too much.”
Having blocked all hidden weapons with Body-Defending Qi, Jang Geon took a step forward without taking his eyes off Dang Sa-woon. It was merely a single step, yet it felt as if a heavy thud of vibration occurred.
Dang Sa-woon reflexively stepped backward, then came to a dead stop and looked down at his own feet. Then, raising his head again, he looked at Jang Geon and smirked.
“…As expected, problems always arise in crude plans. Who would have known a variable like you would pop up? Well, in truth, nothing ever goes entirely according to plan. That’s why someone like me exists, after all.”
Muttering to himself like that, he drove the iron cudgel he held deep into the ground. The iron rod dug into the soil ground hardened by people’s treading. Having gained freedom for both hands in that manner, Dang Sa-woon untied the cords of his outer robe, took it off, and continued speaking.
“Judging by what I saw on the street last time and that skill right now, I understand why that fellow Namgoong Cheon was defeated and captured by you. Ah, are you going to capture me as well?”
Jang Geon shook his head.
“You don’t need two? Come to think of it, that’s true. A single general is enough to find out all the information the Imperial Army needs—the location of the Demonic Palace, or its approximate military strength.”
Upon the body of Dang Sa-woon, who had taken off his outer robe, was clothing that looked like iron armor. That iron armor moved flexibly in response to his movements, and looking closely, the armor was chainmail, with all sorts of sharp blades attached between the rings, making them look like iron plates of armor.
Jang Geon quietly watched him reveal his armaments like that. In truth, the reason he had not immediately charged while blocking the hidden weapons was because he was testing in actual combat the Body-Defending Qi he had only thought about in his mind, examining the workings of his body and internal energy in the process.
For now, it seemed capable of blocking only light flying projectiles, and the consumption of internal energy was also heavier than expected. Vibrating Azure Dragon while extending his sensory perception and unleashing internal energy from his dantian presented the issue that his concentration dropped, making it difficult to move easily.
However, using today’s experience as a sample to refine it well, a technique worthy of being named Body-Defending Astral Qi, rather than merely defining it as Body-Defending Qi, could be created.
Just then, Dang Sa-woon, his armor gleaming, caught Jang Geon’s eye after he organized his thoughts.
In the battle between the Martial Alliance warriors and the Gam-rang Unit Demonic Practitioners running amok with demonic power, loud shouts, screams, and vicious curses resounded. Meanwhile, the sun transitioning into early evening was now painting the western sky in an orange sunset that somehow felt sticky. While the shadows of pavilions and pagodas stretched long, the warriors’ blades wielded flashing reflections, spilling their opponents’ blood and staining those shadows red.
Although Dang Sa-woon’s armor was not moving, it was scattering reflection far more chilling than any blade present.
Standing with his chest puffed out while revealing that armor, Dang Sa-woon’s eyes met Jang Geon’s.
“…It certainly is a peculiar skill. It doesn’t seem easy to breach. But keep this in mind. The ones our Palace’s martial arts intend to face are not half-baked single-strike martial arts, but the legions of the Han Dynasty. We naturally have arrows prepared to pierce armor as well.”
A small rattling noise sounded from Dang Sa-woon’s armor. It sounded like hard scales moving and rubbing against each other.
Sensing that momentum was no ordinary matter, Jang Geon also adjusted Azure Dragon, which he had lowered again. Just as Dang Sa-woon could not understand his Body-Defending Qi, Jang Geon also could not know exactly how that armor was moving. Even at a rough glance, it was an object far detached from the present era.
Just then, the sound of the armor, clearly audible even amidst the noise of battle, stopped. A gleam flashed in Dang Sa-woon’s eyes.
Ringing Azure Dragon to raise Body-Defending Qi, Jang Geon charged at Dang Sa-woon. An invisible wall formed around his body, causing the empty air to shimmer.
Immediately after, the scales of Dang Sa-woon’s armor, which had been lying flat, stood up all at once, transforming as if the hair on his entire body had stood on end. And flashes of light were fired.