Chapter 170: Chapter 170
Standing on the roof, Jang Geon’s gaze left Serpent Duke and slowly swept around the yard.
Dan Sang-woon trickling blood from his lips, Jin Gyeon with a large wound on his back, and the children clinging to each other in fear were visible. Among them, Seo-ha discovered Jang Geon and shouted with a brightened face:
“Uncle!”
A small smile rose at the corners of Jang Geon’s cold, stiffened lips. It was a smile meant to reassure the child.
“…I’ve delayed too much time because of vermin.”
Looking up at Jang Geon with blank eyes for a moment, Serpent Duke snapped out of it at Seo-ha’s voice, wiped away her expression, and spoke. Simultaneously, her voice like scraping iron grew even gloomier and sharper. It felt as if the surrounding air grew cold just from the voice.
Jang Geon’s eyes turned to her again. The smile that had stayed at the corners of his lips had vanished like a lie.
He spoke:
“Are you The Palace?”
“…Do not recklessly attach the word ‘demonic’, for that character is merely an unexisting character created by the seeds of the thief emperor long ago to slander us. A person of discernment would know that…”
“I am Jang Geon.”
Serpent Duke’s mouth shut. Because she realized Jang Geon had not asked to confirm her identity. He was merely notifying her before swinging his blade at her.
Tightly closing her mouth, she slowly examined her surroundings. The demonic practitioners who had come with her were all dead and lying about. Jin Gyeon and Dan Sang-woon had also retreated wounded, so the only ones standing upright and facing each other were her and Jang Geon.
Realizing she was facing Jang Geon alone, she opened her mouth:
“…My name is Soo. I have long forgotten my family name. I am the master of those who crawl on their bellies upon the earth, the executor of the Great Plan, and the servant who serves the rightful master of the Central Plains. Call me Serpent Duke.”
Saying so, she slowly turned her body to face Jang Geon head-on. And she naturally let her pale hands hang down. However, separate from such naturalness, supreme internal energy seemed to fill them, as her skin color, originally pale, now turned past pale to transparent, so the blood vessels inside were clearly visible.
Looking down at such a sight, Jang Geon spoke:
“For a mere burglar targeting an empty house, you have quite many titles.”
They were words reducing her to a simple thief targeting an empty house. However, she conversely wore a thin smile on her old and young face, answering:
“…Targeting when the opponent is weakest is the foundation of military art. If I can obtain the Nine Yin Death Acupoint, what does such criticism matter? Furthermore, with that single girl, the completion of the Great Plan will be accelerated by twenty percent. Since a single insignificant life will liberate countless lives exploited and oppressed in the Central Plains, it is the most valuable way to use that useless life.”
Jang Geon let out a small, hollow laugh.
Most demonic practitioners he met were insane monsters who viewed human life like flies, but Namgung Cheon and Dang Sa-woon, who could be called the pinnacle, were slightly different. Unlike other demonic practitioners, those two had not gone mad from demonic qi, and appeared to be people who engaged in their own thinking. Crucially, they knew what they were doing right now.
Even though Jang Geon had not engaged in long, deep conversations with them, he felt it while sharing life and death in that moment back then.
And facing that woman with old and young faces, Jang Geon felt a feeling similar yet completely different from when he met those generals. What was similar was the level of that martial art, and what was different was that that woman completely believed the words she had just uttered herself.
That grotesque woman truly considered herself a liberator.
The Azure Dragon gleamed blue. Feeling there was no meaning in sharing further words, Jang Geon had raised his internal energy. Standing on the roof, Jang Geon, and standing with hands hanging down, Serpent Duke, had not twitched a single hand, but simply by raising their momentum like that, the air there grew heavy.
Seeing such a situation, Dan Sang-woon and Jin Gyeon quickly drove the children inside the house and retreated. Serpent Duke could not turn her gaze from Jang Geon even while feeling such movement.
She trickled a single drop of sweat from her wrinkled half-face and opened her mouth:
“…Indeed, there was a reason General Namgung and General Tang were defeated. Where did such a man emerge from… Had we been able to walk together toward the same goal, it would have been superb…”
“Bullshit.”
After a brief answer to nonsense, he dropped thud beneath the roof. And letting the Azure Dragon hang naturally, he began walking toward her with steady strides.
Serpent Duke, who had flinched unconsciously the moment he dropped beneath the roof, looked at Jang Geon approaching like that with a blank expression for a moment, then feeling a sense of crisis, reflexively poured out all the internal power she had raised.
Her two hands expanded while creating countless afterimages. As if she had not used full strength when fighting Jin Gyeon a moment ago, this time not only her hands, but her entire body created multiple afterimages. She was like a grotesque goddess possessing dozens of hands and arms, and multiple young and old faces.
All those afterimages were both real and illusory for a very brief moment. That was a bizarre and chaotic technique created by combining martial arts, strictly speaking, demonic arts, CJK sorcery, and the shamanism of the natives of this land. Because things completely different in nature including demonic arts merged into one, even Jin Gyeon, who had learned Shaolin’s demon-subduing martial arts, could not grasp the reality even after seeing it with his eyes.
So seeing that scene, Jin Gyeon realized his mistake. He had failed to even give a warning to Jang Geon to be careful. Preparing even slightly for the opponent’s power versus not knowing at all was an important issue deciding life and death in a battle where lives were at stake.
However, his thought was too late, and Jang Geon and Serpent Duke clashed.
No, saying clashed was a bit of a misnomer. Jang Geon merely walked toward Serpent Duke with steady strides as at first. Instead, Serpent Duke’s countless hands poured toward Jang Geon who approached like that. Among those countless lines, only the single line Jang Geon could not block would become reality.
“Huh…”
“Oh…”
Yet Jang Geon did not swing his blade even once, merely walking toward her, and those countless afterimages pouring down vanished without a trace like shadows touched by sunlight. Watching him, Jin Gyeon and Dan Sang-woon let out exclamations with different meanings.
Jin Gyeon was amazed at the sight of martial arts he could not even properly grasp breaking vainly, while Dan Sang-woon saw the infinite sword paths that could start from Jang Geon’s body at that moment. All lines drawn by Serpent Duke’s afterimages could not block a single swing starting from Jang Geon.
Finally, the moment Jang Geon’s steps stopped, what remained before him was merely a single woman possessing a grotesque face.
Serpent Duke asked, slightly out of her mind:
“…My Bare-Handed Infinite Art…”
“Did you make possibilities visible with sorcery? It’s somewhat fascinating, but not very useful.”
In the next instant, Jang Geon’s blade flashed toward Serpent Duke’s neck. At that time, the fact that she raised her hand to block that blade even reflexively proved that her level could not be compared with other demonic practitioners.
“Keu-ugh…”
Serpent Duke let out a suppressed groan and leaped backward. On that path of retreat, red blood fell thud-thud to bloom red flowers on the floor. Where those flowers began, a single pale hand was rolling around. It was Serpent Duke’s hand.
“…Truly regrettable. Had the beginning not gone awry, you could have become a splendid talent of The Palace.”
Jang Geon slowly shook his head at the sight of Serpent Duke uttering nonsense even while her wrist was severed. Even if his first meeting with The Palace had not been bad, there was no way he would cooperate with those who slaughtered natives. In the first place, his first learning of The Palace’s existence was when breaking the plot in the valley tribe.
Tidying up random thoughts while flicking the Azure Dragon whack-whack, Jang Geon took a step forward for the finish. Because her hand was much harder than expected, he failed to sever her neck. He intended to swing his blade taking that into account this time.
However, Jang Geon could not take the next step and stopped abruptly. Because a bizarre atmosphere was felt from Serpent Duke who was clutching her wrist.
“…Indeed, you possess martial power capable of defeating our main Palace’s two generals. However, in this world there are countless powers besides martial arts, so can you sever even this with a single stroke like my wrist?”
In the next instant, red smoke exploded violently from the red blood droplets scattered on the floor. That smoke filled the yard where they stood in an instant, covering all four directions. As for how thick it was, one could not see even an inch ahead properly.
The red smoke entering was the same for the house side watching the situation. Jin Gyeon and Dan Sang-woon were also surprised and flustered by that sudden wave, and when those who had been right beside them until a moment ago became invisible, the children grew terrified again and wept. What was visible before their eyes was merely red fog, and the existence of others could only be confirmed by sound.
Jang Geon stood right where he first stopped his steps. In his ears too, flustered Jin Gyeon and weeping children’s cries were heard.
In such ears of Jang Geon, Serpent Duke’s voice echoed:
[Now, what will you do? Now even if I grab the Nine Yin Death Acupoint and flee, you cannot stop me. Thus in the fog where you cannot see even an inch ahead, experience your own helplessness, ]
Standing still, Jang Geon threw the Azure Dragon with a swish. Turning into a silver disc and flying into the red fog, the Azure Dragon soon made a sound of slicing through something cleanly snip.
“Huh?”
“…What on earth is going on here?”
Slowly, the red fog settled down. And hurriedly tensioning their bodies in panic, Dan Sang-woon and Jin Gyeon confirmed each other’s faces right beside them and assumed sullen expressions. The red smoke vanished in an instant, just as it had taken over the surroundings in an instant.
“Look over there!”
Believing in Jang Geon and not panicking from the start, Seo-ha raised her hand first and pointed at one spot. There, Serpent Duke, whose left arm was severed from the shoulder down, was stumbling while bleeding in streams. Behind her, driven into the pillar of the house, the Azure Dragon was stuck.
Having lost her right wrist and left arm to become a complete cripple, Serpent Duke trembled violently and glared at Jang Geon:
“…How did you see?”
“I didn’t see.”
“Then?”
Jang Geon spoke while approaching Serpent Duke again:
“I felt it.”
Seeing Jang Geon approach, Serpent Duke gritted her teeth, then soon vomited a beastly scream *kyaa, *. At that, red smoke, like what covered the yard a moment ago, began pouring out in billows from her severed left arm and right wrist. Of course, whether smoke poured out or not, Jang Geon did not stop his stride toward her.
However, at her following appearance, even Jang Geon had to be slightly flustered, because covered in red smoke, she suddenly began soaring into the sky as if she had become a firework.
“Ooh-waa…”
Unlike Jang Geon looking at it with absurd eyes, Seo-ha let out an exclamation of admiration as if it was fascinating. And that was the same for the other children beside her, Jin Gyeon, and Dan Sang-woon. They too were looking with blank eyes at Serpent Duke soaring toward the sky.
Seeing such an appearance, Jang Geon smiled slightly. Seeing both the children who had been weeping in fear until a moment ago, and the two adults who had shown the appearance of martial artists prepared for death, unable to take their eyes off the sky, laughter came naturally.
His eyes also turned to the sky again. Soaring toward the sky wrapped in red smoke, Serpent Duke reached a certain height, stopped abruptly in midair, and looked down over here. Thanks to concentrating internal energy in both eyes, Jang Geon was able to see her expression, which was a face full of resentment as if refusing to forget this house, this place, and this moment today.
Confirming that face, Jang Geon looked down again at Jin Gyeon. Feeling that sudden gaze, Jin Gyeon also looked down and met Jang Geon’s eyes.
Jang Geon spoke:
“I wonder if Shaolin Temple happens to have this martial art right now.”
“…What martial art?”
Jin Gyeon asked back blankly. However, instead of an answer, Jang Geon spread both feet shoulder-width apart, lowered his knees slightly, and placed his lightly clenched two fists at both hips. Afterward, in that stance, looking up at Serpent Duke above the sky, Jang Geon stepped half a stride forward with his left foot as if brushing the floor, and struck upward into the air with his right fist.
The instant that fist struck the air like that, a deep bell sound *thung, * echoed from that point of impact.
Afterward, fist force extending faster than the bell sound pierced through Serpent Duke’s chest above the sky.
With a gaping hole in the middle of her chest, Serpent Duke began falling thud like a doll with severed strings. The red smoke wrapping her body was now nowhere to be found. And Jin Gyeon, who was still watching all that with blank eyes, looked at Jang Geon again with that exact gaze.
Exhaling a deep breath, Jang Geon returned to his initial stance, soon released even that, lightly dusted off his hands, and spoke:
“It is the Hundred-Step Divine Fist.”
As he said so, Serpent Duke’s corpse fell thud onto the roof of the residence, making a sound of roof tiles shattering.