Chapter 313: Reunion (6)

The memory of that moment vividly resurfaced.

An order came down to deal with someone digging into the organization’s traces.

They said he might be a troublesome expert, having earned the notorious name “Sickle-slaying Demon” for cruelly killing people with a sickle.

So I made full preparations, but when I actually met him, it was beyond my expectations.

[I wondered who was snooping around, but to think it was a teenage brat who hasn’t even been weaned.]

He was young.

Not even of age.

Moreover, contrary to the order from the organization,

[You bastard… You haven’t even learned martial arts.]

[M-martial arts?]

[You don’t even know what martial arts are? Ha!]

The brat hadn’t even learned martial arts.

It was truly fascinating.

Assuming he had learned martial arts, I struck his abdomen with the power of three stars.

This level of attack could make even a supreme expert suffer internal injuries and possibly die, yet this brat without any internal energy endured this pain.

[Interesting. A brat who hasn’t even learned martial arts is still alive after taking a strike from me…]

[Kuk, what the .... are you…]

-Stab!

[Ugh!]

So I stabbed a sword into his belly.

Even if one hasn’t learned martial arts, there are those born with innate supreme strength.

This brat might have been that type of person.

In that case, there was no need to keep him alive.

[Killing you now would save me from future troubles.]

-Skewer! Stab!

[Kuh!]

Not satisfied with stabbing his abdomen, to make sure, I pulled out the sword and stabbed it into his left chest as well.

[You should’ve just lived quietly. Why did you have to act up and hasten your doom?]

[Haa… haak…]

I tossed the bastard aside like that.

There were many eyes watching, and I figured this was enough for him to lose his life, so I left.

But how could something like this happen?

The moment he took off his human skin mask and smiled, the memory of when I first saw the bastard resurfaced.

The sight of him grotesquely laughing while killing people in front of the burning village overlapped.

‘…Sickle-slaying Demon!’

Lee Gwang’s pupils trembled violently.

It was unbelievable, but I had the thought that the bastard might be alive by heavenly luck ever since seeing him at the Heaven and Earth Society.

It was because the face was identical.

As I tracked his traces, the conviction that the bastard might be alive grew stronger.

Among those who had contact with the bastard, no one suspected him based on appearance.

But they all said something about him seemed different.

Especially those who had contact with the Wooden Eyes Swordsman.

However, since the bastard lost his life at the Forbidden Guards selection tournament, I thought it was no longer an issue to worry about.

No, until just moments ago, I absolutely couldn’t connect him to that bastard.

‘…This doesn’t make sense.’

This was something that couldn’t happen according to common sense. No, it was completely impossible.

The bastard hadn’t learned martial arts at all.

Unlike others, I directly confirmed this myself.

But what is going on?

‘It hasn’t even been half a year.’

It was astounding.

If he had reached the level of a third-rate or second-rate martial artist, I would have said he had talent despite starting late.

This wasn’t an issue that could be dismissed with mere talent.

-Tremble tremble tremble!

The trembling of his hands intensified.

I prided myself on being a senior member in the organization and had faced quite a few monsters.

But this existence before my eyes was lacking even to be called a monster.

Is it possible to reach the sixth heaven, known as the peak of the martial world, from nothing in less than half a year?

Anyone who heard this would find it absurd.

‘This is a dream.’

For a moment, Lee Gwang wondered if he was dreaming.

Then Mok Gyeong-un spoke.

“We finally meet, but the reaction is different from what I expected.”

“What?”

“Are you not happy to see me?”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Lee Gwang was momentarily at a loss.

With such an incomprehensible pace of advancement, he was on the verge of doubting if this bastard was really that bastard. How could he be happy to see him?

Putting everything else aside, he was the very person who stabbed a sword into the bastard’s heart.

In a situation where it was obvious the bastard would see him as an enemy, welcoming him was nonsensical.

At that moment,

“How can this be…”

Guyang Sa-oh, the Eight Poison Sect Leader and patriarch of the Guyang Clan, also couldn’t hide his astonishment.

He naturally assumed it would be the Six Heavens’ top figure, but when the human skin mask was removed, a face even younger than now—no, not even of age—was revealed.

No matter how he looked, he appeared to be only 17 or 18 years old. What was going on?

Could it be that this extraordinary person had undergone rebirth or returned to a youthful state?

The puzzled Guyang Sa-oh soon asked,

“Who are you?”

“Who knows? Who could I be? This person seems to know me best.”

Mok Gyeong-un smiled and looked at Lee Gwang.

Then Lee Gwang spoke with a trembling voice,

“You bastard… what the .... are you? This is something that absolutely cannot happen. Don’t tell me you deliberately pretended to be dead back then?”

Unable to comprehend Mok Gyeong-un’s tremendous pace of advancement, Lee Gwang shifted his thoughts to the idea that he had been practicing martial arts from the beginning.

Otherwise, it was hard to accept this.

At this, Mok Gyeong-un shrugged.

“How could that be? I really almost died back then. Thanks to you.”

-Swish!

With that, he slightly raised his hand.

Then the black sword that Lee Gwang had dropped, looking as if it had been charred, floated up and flew towards his abdomen.

-Slash!

Lee Gwang tried to take a step back from the rushing sword.

But his feet wouldn’t move.

No matter how unusual the sword was, at this speed, it wasn’t impossible to dodge it.

However, he was so shocked that his body wouldn’t move.

As his belly was about to be pierced,

-Whoosh!

At that moment, a powerful energy infused with green poison flew in and blocked the black sword.

The one who unleashed the poison was, of course, Guyang Sa-oh.

“Since I owe you, I was going to give you at least one hole in your belly, but you’re interfering.”

Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue and smacked his lips.

At this, Guyang Sa-oh hurriedly shouted,

“Come to your senses! Are you going to keep being like this?”

No matter how strong the opponent was, what difference was there between being in a daze and baring one’s neck waiting for death?

At his shout, Lee Gwang snapped out of it.

‘Kuk!’

He had lost his fighting spirit for a moment due to the incomprehensible sense of relative deprivation.

Coming to his senses, Lee Gwang circulated his internal energy and instantly raised his martial power to ten stars.

Since he had reached the transformation realm, having surpassed the wall, the speed of his energy circulation was extremely fast.

-Woooong!

Using sword fingers to create a sword energy, he assumed a sword-pointing stance and shouted,

“Elder. We must attack together!”

“I had the same thought.”

-Swooooosh!

Judging from Lee Gwang’s reaction that persuasion through words was impossible, although his identity was unknown, Guyang Sa-oh also reawakened his eight poisons and steeled his resolve.

The opponent was a peerless master on par with the sixth heaven realm.

Only by attacking together with the determination to fight to the death did they have a sliver of a chance to survive.

They exchanged glances, about to seize the initiative, when Mok Gyeong-un lightly waved his hand.

-Woooong!

Then the surrounding true energy surged, and the air felt different.

Wondering what he had done, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“I’ve blocked the sound within a radius of five jang using qi.”

Block the sound?

Why would he do that?

Waiting for an opportunity to launch a joint attack, they couldn’t hide their puzzlement.

To them, Mok Gyeong-un said,

“I’ll give you just one chance.”

“Chance? what the .... are you talking about?”

“A chance for you two to survive.”

“What?”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Lee Gwang furrowed his brows.

What kind of scheme was this?

This bastard would consider him, who had stabbed a sword into his abdomen and chest, as an enemy.

Moreover, he had revealed his identity as if he had been waiting.

Lee Gwang glanced at the true energy filling the surroundings and the masked individuals fighting outside with Mok Gyeong-un’s subordinates.

‘…Is this something even his subordinates mustn’t hear?’

Otherwise, there would be no reason to block the sound.

Lee Gwang discreetly glanced at Guyang Sa-oh.

Meeting his eyes, Guyang Sa-oh nodded as if to say they should listen for now.

No matter how skilled they were in the transformation realm and poison arts, their chances of winning against an expert of the profound realm were extremely low.

If there was even a slight room for negotiation, there was no reason to refuse.

However, to make it clear, Lee Gwang said,

“I pushed you to the brink of death. And you’re giving me a chance?”

‘!?’

At these words, Guyang Sa-oh looked at Lee Gwang with surprised eyes.

How did Lee Gwang push an expert comparable to the sixth heaven to the brink of death?

It was incomprehensible.

What is happened happened between the two of them?

While he was puzzled, Mok Gyeong-un chuckled and said,

“If I wanted to kill with that, I would have killed you earlier instead of having this conversation.”

“…”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Lee Gwang bit his lip hard.

This bastard had become incomparably stronger than before and was looking down on him.

However, he couldn’t strongly deny it.

If Mok Gyeong-un had properly raised his martial power when he struck his abdomen earlier, it might not have ended with just vomiting.

“You seem quite upset.”

“…”

“You should have definitely cut off my head back then instead of stabbing my chest.”

“…”

Those words truly made him regret.

He was angry at his complacency in thinking the bastard couldn’t possibly survive after stabbing his abdomen and heart because he hadn’t learned martial arts.

However, Lee Gwang barely suppressed this and said,

“You mentioned giving us a chance. What is it?”

“It’s nothing much. Just answer my questions kindly.”

“Answer your questions?”

At these words, Lee Gwang and Guyang Sa-oh’s expressions darkened.

The chance he mentioned seemed to be extracting information from them.

Come to think of it, the brat not only knew their organization’s emblem but also seemed to know information related to their hierarchy.

Handing over information to someone like him meant betrayal.

At this, Guyang Sa-oh spoke with a heavy voice,

“Are you telling us to betray the organization and hand over information?”

“Yes. You understand well. Think of it as betrayal or whatever you want. I just need you to give me the answers I want.”

“…With such a demand, did you not consider that we would fight you to the death?”

As soon as those words ended,

-Shudder!

Guyang Sa-oh’s expression froze.

Mok Gyeong-un was smiling eerily while looking at him, and the overwhelming pressure of his murderous intent made it difficult to breathe for a moment.

Is this the difference between being separated by a single wall?

As his breathing trembled, Mok Gyeong-un said with a smiling face,

“You seem to be discarding the chance too easily.”

“What?”

-Swish!

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un’s figure disappeared.

Unable to grasp Mok Gyeong-un’s traces with just his senses, Guyang Sa-oh urgently bent his knees and leaped, spinning his poisonous palm strike towards the back with the momentum.

‘Toad Poison Art. Seventh stance, Resisting Tail Clam Palm!’

The momentum was like a leaping poisonous toad, enough to make an ordinary person retreat.

-Smack!

However, Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his right arm, into which his powerful poison energy and momentum were poured, as if snatching it.

Then he twisted his wrist in the opposite direction.

-Crack!

The broken bone protruded from the elbow of his twisted arm.

“Aargh!”

A scream burst from Guyang Sa-oh’s mouth.

Regardless, Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his shoulder.

At the same time, he tried to pull his broken wrist while twisting it further.

“Stop!”

At that moment, a blue sword energy stabbed towards Mok Gyeong-un’s face.

It was Lee Gwang’s strike.

It was a strong thrust with domineering momentum, but Mok Gyeong-un didn’t dodge at all and lightly extended his left palm.

-Woooong! Clang!

‘No way?’

Ripples formed, and the stabbing sword energy was deflected by the elastic force.

This was the profound principle of the Scripture of Transferring True Qi.

The moment his sword energy was deflected, Mok Gyeong-un tried to pull Guyang Sa-oh’s broken wrist again.

In an instant, Guyang Sa-oh hurriedly struck Mok Gyeong-un’s chest with his left poisonous palm.

-Bang!

It was a poisonous palm strike with the power of ten stars, infused with the poison of the Eight Poisons.

His poisonous palm strike hit squarely, but Mok Gyeong-un’s upper body slightly leaned back, then he straightened his waist again.

At that sight, Guyang Sa-oh’s face turned pale.

Despite being hit by the extremely poisonous Eight Poisons palm strike, he acted as if nothing happened. No matter how profound his realm was, wasn’t this too monstrous?

-Crack!

At that moment, as if Mok Gyeong-un was determined to pull out his wrist, he tried to yank it again.

Guyang Sa-oh cried out in shock,

“I-I’ll talk! I’ll say anything, so please stop!”