Chapter 21: Chapter 21
The black-cloaked warrior staggered back a step. His expression was filled with confusion.
“A Lion’s Roar? A disciple of Shaolin? But the Lion’s Roar is only used by elderly eminent monks…”
Just then, the eyes of the retreating black-cloaked warrior caught sight of the hired swordsmen and the valley tribe warriors. They looked completely dumbfounded by the sudden, immense vibration, but contrary to their dazed expressions, their faces remained flushed and their pupils slightly unfocused.
Seeing that sight, the warrior hurriedly groped his own body. He then glared at Jang Geon again and muttered.
“It wasn’t a real Lion’s Roar…! It lacked the power to dispel evil. A voice that is merely loud enough to halt the effects of the toxic qi? Just where on earth did he learn such martial arts…?”
Jang Geon gave a light cough and thought to himself. If it had really been a sound that was merely loud, everyone’s eardrums here would have burst completely.
Regulating the vibration of his voice using internal energy to reverberate through the entire body, rather than tearing the listener’s ears, to calm excitement and soothe the body had been the result of Jang Geon’s own effort to understand the meaning of ‘expelling evil’. Though he recalled being somewhat deflated later upon learning that Shaolin’s true Lion’s Roar possessed genuine evil-expelling power.
Soothing his scratchy throat with a fake cough, Jang Geon spoke in a calm voice, unlike a moment ago.
“Calm down, everyone. Let us not swing blades at one another indiscriminately.”
Only after hearing his words did the hired swordsmen and the tribe warriors realize that they had grown excited too easily.
“Uh, uh… W-What is this? Why does my body feel so hot?”
“This wasn’t something to get so excited about…”
“…That gentleman’s voice is extraordinary. He is definitely a expert.”
Red Wind took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice to the surrounding warriors.
“Everyone, open your chests and regulate your breathing. Some foul air has been scattered around.”
Only then did the warriors regain their senses and begin using their spirit energy. Their eyes, which had been gleaming with murderous intent, regained their original golden luster and sparkled. Among the hired swordsmen, some who felt the strange air also began using their internal energy.
“A stimulant? To use something like this instead of poison!”
“Suppress it with internal energy!”
Of course, there was still someone who had not come to his senses.
“This! Didn’t those barbarian bastards scatter this? As expected, those motherfuckers need to be beaten to, ”
At that moment, a sharp whistling sound rang out, and an arrow pierced the topknot tied above his head, pinning it to a tree beside him. His head was yanked sharply to one side; after stumbling foolishly for a moment, he checked the arrow and realized he could have died, his flushed face turning pale.
The surrounding hired swordsmen did not look pleased either, but they shut their mouths upon seeing Bi-rang nocking another arrow.
At any rate, both groups were now able to look at each other in a calmer state than before. Seeing this, the black-cloaked warrior knew it would be difficult for the situation he had desired to unfold. Thus, he glared at Jang Geon with narrowed eyes and asked quietly.
“What is your identity? Martial Alliance? A noble clan? Or could it be… the Palace?”
“I am more curious about your identity.”
The black-cloaked warrior snorted and chuckled at Jang Geon, who retorted instead.
“A imitation Lion’s Roar. A fascinating trick indeed… You are certainly not from the Palace. Those prideful bastards would never copy the martial arts of a temple. Tsk. This has become troublesome.”
Clicking his tongue lightly, the black-cloaked warrior tossed the cloak covering his body back over his shoulder with a flick. Revealed beneath it was a dense array of all sorts of bladed weapons covering his body.
From small throwing daggers to larger daggers, cross-shaped throwing stars, palm-sized round blades, long heavy needles, curved blades, straight swords, and more. Blades that seemed capable of being thrown in every imaginable manner hung all over his body.
Exposing his weapons in that manner, he spoke.
“What is your name?”
“Jang Geon.”
The black-cloaked warrior nodded.
“I am Dang Gyeon-sang. You have created a bothersome chore for me.”
Having revealed his name, he turned around to look at the hired swordsmen.
“You scum came here to kill people for money. I will give you the money now, so do the job. Go and kill those barbarians.”
At those excessively blatant and rude words, the expressions of the hired swordsmen distorted.
“What the fuck. Who the hell are you to order us around like this? You wanna die?”
“Those guys don’t look easy, why should we bother…”
Dang Gyeon-sang sneered.
“Didn’t you come here knowing full well what the job was from the start anyway? You knew it was a job to slaughter and plunder those barbarians, didn’t you? And now you’re going to pretend otherwise?”
The hired swordsmen’s expressions distorted further. Those who had managed to regain their senses at Jang Geon’s shout were growing red-faced and excited once more. Just then, Dang Gyeon-sang flicked his hand through the empty air.
Immediately, the hired swordsman who had been swearing at him collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
“W-What? What the fuck?”
“C-Could it be… Not a stimulant, but poison? To be able to scatter such poison in empty air…”
The excited swordsmen quickly calmed down. Dang Gyeon-sang spoke with a cold smile.
“Go. And kill and plunder as you originally intended. All the gold and women obtained from their village belong to each individual. Afterward, I will give you the antidote. If you don’t like it, then just die.”
“…But doesn’t that gentleman over there look like an expert?”
One of the hired swordsmen asked, pointing at Jang Geon, who stood with a hardened expression. Dang Gyeon-sang turned back around and spoke.
“I will handle that guy. You lot just deal with those barbarians.”
Watching the swordsman who lay foaming at the mouth, the hired swordsmen glanced at one another, exchanged glances among themselves, and then quietly drew their swords as they stealthily turned toward the valley tribe warriors.
The atmosphere quickly turned strange. Though it was similar to before in that things had settled down, this time it was not a silence that erased excitement, but a quietude on the verge of exploding. Jang Geon stared quietly at Dang Gyeon-sang and said to Red Wind beside him.
“Fall back. Do as you originally intended.”
“What about you?”
He answered while meeting Dang Gyeon-sang’s dark, purplish-black glinting eyes.
“I need to beat this bastard up a bit.”
“…Be careful.”
Speaking briefly, Red Wind and the tribe warriors withdrew with shadow-like movements, disappearing into the forest just as they had appeared.
“Hey! Those guys are running!”
“After them!”
The hired swordsmen muttered among themselves as they watched the tribe warriors disappear into the forest, then drew all their weapons and began running after them. In doing so, they stayed far away from Jang Geon, as if an invisible wall existed that they were skirting around.
Even while they swept past his side shouting and yelling, Jang Geon simply looked at Dang Gyeon-sang in silence.
Only after all the hired swordsmen had disappeared into the forest a moment later did he speak briefly.
“Your hands are quick.”
Dang Gyeon-sang, who had been smiling coldly, slightly widened his eyes.
“You saw that? Good eyes.”
Jang Geon was referring to the hired swordsman who had collapsed just now. Unlike the excited swordsmen who had been easily tricked, the reason the swordsman currently foaming at the mouth had fallen was not poison, but a needle-shaped hidden weapon that had burrowed into his sideburn.
The stimulant was merely a stimulant. Dang Gyeon-sang had felled the warrior with a single gesture and deceived the rest.
“Even though you knew that, you didn’t stop them?”
“If they came without knowing, that would be one thing, but if they came to burn down the village knowing the circumstances, they must bear the consequences themselves.”
Dang Gyeon-sang chuckled.
“How cold-hearted. Do you think those barbarians will defeat all those swordsmen?”
Jang Geon did not answer. He merely stepped forward with his right foot, twisted his body into stance, and gripped his scabbard with his left hand. Dang Gyeon-sang observed that stance and spoke.
“Right. So we determine each other’s identities after subduing the opponent first, is that it? Let’s see just how fast your sword is.”
His face gradually hardened as he bent his knees and lowered his stance. His two hands moved smoothly at his middle chest level as if pressing down on empty air, descending slowly before coming to a firm halt. Rather than a stance prior to throwing hidden weapons, it resembled the opening stance of a fist art.
Due to Jang Geon’s shout earlier, mountain birds and animals in the vicinity had fled, and the chirping creatures had shrunk back completely. Thanks to that, the forest trail was quiet enough that the faint sound of the river flowing far away could be heard.
That quietude included the two martial artists as well.
At a distance of about five jang, farther than typical single-clash combat, Jang Geon and Dang Gyeon-sang faced each other with deeply sunken eyes. Their breathing was so slow it seemed as if they were not breathing at all, freezing as though turned into stone statues. The two remained frozen in stance for a long while, watching for each other’s openings.
However, inside the two of them, their respective internal energy coursed between tense muscles, heating themselves up so they could explode at any moment.
Just then, someone’s scream rang out from the distant forest.
Immediately, before one could even ponder whose scream it belonged to, the two martial artists moved.
Dang Gyeon-sang’s arms blurred and vanished from near his shoulders. Simultaneously, Jang Geon rapidly closed the distance toward him and drew his sword. The next moment, a clear metallic ringing echoed as countless bladed weapons began bouncing off Jang Geon’s sword.
As if he were a mechanical device rather than a human, Dang Gyeon-sang shot out all sorts of hidden weapons. Yet Jang Geon deflected every single hidden weapon with his sword, closing in on him like a ghost. Red sparks flew wherever steel met steel.
Before the reverberating metallic clashing even faded, Jang Geon’s closed-in sword slashed with a swoosh through the spot where Dang Gyeon-sang had been. However, Dang Gyeon-sang was already somersaulting backward into the air, moving away.
“…”
It was a brief yet lightning-fast single exchange. And the two stopped as if their movements just now had been a lie. Jang Geon remained just as he was after swinging his sword, and Dang Gyeon-sang remained in the squatting posture he had landed in after somersaulting.
From that squatting posture, Dang Gyeon-sang spoke.
“…The sword of a New Continent martial artist is mostly just a single strike. That’s all. Few properly understand what it means to move the body and train accordingly. It can’t be helped. That’s because the martial arts of the Central Plains, which were trained to enter the Imperial Army, came over as they were.”
The postures of the two appeared unchanged, yet there was a slight difference. That was Dang Gyeon-sang, whose face was beaded with sweat as his breathing turned rough, and Jang Geon, who was as calm as he had been before drawing his sword.
Dang Gyeon-sang glanced at his hidden weapons scattered on the ground. Not a single hidden weapon capable of inflicting an effective strike had penetrated Jang Geon’s sword. Any hidden weapon that chanced to pass beyond it had at most pierced a hole in his clothes.
A smile formed on his lips once more. This time, it was not a sneer, but a smile filled with a certain anticipation.
“Someone who knows only how to swing a sword just once like that cannot block my hidden weapons. My hidden weapons are equivalent to executing dozens of such sword strikes in a single move… You seem a bit better than those half-witted fools.”
A moment ago, Jang Geon had not even swung his sword very wide while blocking Dang Gyeon-sang’s hidden weapons. He had merely watched the incoming hidden weapons, brought his sword into their trajectory, and appropriately adjusted the angle so that they deflected outward away from his body.
It was a moment that demonstrated eyesight capable of seeing all incoming hidden weapons, composure, and muscle and internal power capable of handling those minute adjustments, all far exceeding the ordinary.
Looking at the sweat dripping from the tip of Dang Gyeon-sang’s nose, Jang Geon spoke in a low voice.
“Gold was certainly not your objective. Being a merchant is a cover.”
“Heh. Of course not. Riches like that can be obtained anywhere else. This New Continent is broader than the Central Plains yet has few people, so it is overflowing with unexcavated resources.”
Dang Gyeon-sang must have expended a tremendous amount of energy in a short time, as sweat poured over his face. He stuck out his tongue, licked his salty lips, and continued speaking.
“First, you are definitely not from the Imperial Palace, and judging by the lack of any wretched vibe, you aren’t a warrior of a noble clan either… Then the Martial Alliance is most likely, but… I’ve never heard of someone like you being in the Patrol or Strike Force. What then, some kind of secret weapon? Did the Martial Alliance read the movements of our Main Branch?”
Jang Geon did not open his mouth. Since the man was blurting out information on his own, chatting unnecessarily would only ruin things.
However, Dang Gyeon-sang instead gained some sort of conviction from that lack of reaction and smirked.
“…None of them, damn it. You’re really just a wanderer roaming the wilderness.”
Just then, a scream echoed from the distant forest once more. This time, it did not end with a single instance, but large and small cries resounded one after another. Hearing those sounds, Dang Gyeon-sang slowly stood up. He wiped the sweat from his face and spoke.
“That side will be decided shortly. We should wrap things up here as well. I’ve bought enough time.”
As if saying he had bought time was no empty talk, a certain momentum suddenly began gushing forth from him. A dark and cold momentum. Somehow, meeting his purplish-black eyes gave a feeling of shrinking back and one’s body freezing up. Jang Geon had seen a similar momentum before. It was that Red Sand Gang boss bastard.
Jang Geon flicked his sword once, stood upright, and spoke.
“Hidden weapons, poison, and on top of that demonic arts. What kind of bastard are you really?”
“Ha, demonic arts? No! This is a divine art! Do not compare it to the filthy rubbish found in the wilderness! This is the true martial art of the Central Plains that has evolved beyond the shadow of the Liu Empire!”
Shouting so, he pulled out two short swords from behind his waist. Those blades, slightly longer than forearms, quickly lost their metallic sparkle and turned pitch-black. Powerful internal energy was contained within, manifesting external energy.
Jang Geon closely examined Dang Gyeon-sang’s eyes. Though he seemed slightly excited, he did not appear to have completely lost his reason like the Red Sand Gang boss. If he possessed reason while exerting monstrous internal energy like that fellow, it would not be easy.
Therefore, Jang Geon ignored Dang Gyeon-sang’s words as he tried to chatter more and launched a surprise attack. Before trying to gain information through conversation, he had to win the fight first.
Dang Gyeon-sang, who had been feeling an intense thrill from the power filling his entire body, hastily parried Jang Geon’s suddenly intruding attack.
Jang Geon’s sword and Dang Gyeon-sang’s two pitch-black blades collided rapidly. Jang Geon’s sword was so fast that Dang Gyeon-sang could not take advantage of wielding twin blades, frantically having to block, deflect, and parry.
However, that was fundamentally because he had been slightly taken aback. Having exchanged five or six moves rapidly, Dang Gyeon-sang regained his composure and mobilized the internal power of his awakened divine art. Thereupon, he could see Jang Geon’s sword, which he had barely kept up with, and was even able to launch a counterattack.
He felt awe at the divine art he had mastered and fiercely pressed Jang Geon. Jang Geon, pushed back in internal power, had no choice but to falter and step back.
“Hahaha! How unfortunate! If you were truly someone without an affiliation, I could have invited you to our Main Branch to master the divine art together!”
Dang Gyeon-sang, who even displayed the leeway of opening his mouth in the midst of combat, then caught sight of an opening exposed as Jang Geon’s sword was pushed aside. He did not miss the opportunity. He thrust straight into that opening with the sword in his right hand.
At that moment, Jang Geon took a large step back, escaping the range of Dang Gyeon-sang’s relatively short sword, and swung his sword like lightning. Dang Gyeon-sang hurriedly pulled back his thrusting sword to block that strike, only to fall dazed.
Jang Geon’s single sword blurred and split into three, rushing toward his neck.
What was that? Which one was real? How could a sword split into three? Was such an illusion possible merely by moving quickly?
At that moment, only those four questions flashed through Dang Gyeon-sang’s mind. The two swords held in both hands moved hastily to block two of the three blades, but those blades lightly scattered the instant they met Dang Gyeon-sang’s swords.
The final blade flew quietly and brushed past Dang Gyeon-sang’s neck.
Dang Gyeon-sang could not even let out a scream. His neck simply severed smoothly, his head dropping to the ground while his mind repeatedly echoed the exact same thoughts.
Jang Geon looked at his collapsing corpse and let out a deep breath. After catching his breath for a moment, he flicked the blood off his sword, sheathed it, and prepared to turn around.
Even if he hadn’t learned anything, he intended to go help the tribe warriors first. If he caught even one of the hired swordsmen quickly, there would be something to find out. Furthermore, the screams echoing from the other side of the forest were no longer heard.
However, in Jang Geon’s eyes, the headless corpse was seen trembling violently. Looking closely, the muscles at the neck were even tightly contracted, stopping the bleeding.
Judging by how the eyes of the rolling head were dully unfocused with no vitality felt, it did not seem like it was trying to come back to life, but rather that a bizarre vitality was making a final struggle.
It was a sight worthy of the term demonic arts. It was also a sight showing that had he not severed the neck in a single stroke, the fight might have been prolonged.
Jang Geon chuckled softly. It was a matter of no concern. Because he had won. Vitality or whatever, Dang Gyeon-sang was dead. Jang Geon watched the corpse soon go limp and gush blood, sheathed his sword, and turned around.
The commotion in this valley was coming to an end.