Novel Martial Artist Lee Gwak - chapter 357
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Episode 357
Carrying their names(1)
‘Death.’
It was instinctive.
Ban Cheon-sang raised his sword almost reflexively to block the front.
Clang!
At that moment, a metallic sound erupted and Ban Cheon-sang’s body was pushed back three steps.
Two deep grooves appeared where he had dug in his heels.
“Ugh!”
Ban Cheon-sang let out a delayed groan.
A trace of blood appeared on his lips.
It felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a heavy mace, making it difficult for him to breathe.
After several attempts, Ban Cheon-sang finally managed to expel the air that had filled his lungs. But his distorted face showed no signs of relaxation.
A single strike had shaken his internal organs and damaged his heart meridian.
Ban Cheon-sang was a master. And not just any master, but one of the top masters within the Jade Heaven Alliance. His internal energy had also reached the highest levels, making it difficult for anyone to overpower him.
For someone with such powerful internal energy to suffer such a blow in a single strike, it was clear that someone of unbelievable prowess had appeared on the battlefield.
Ban Cheon-sang raised his eyes and looked at the person who had struck him.
It was a tall man.
If the man hadn’t been holding a blade, it would have been hard to believe he was the one who had just delivered that fierce blow. He appeared gentle, even mild.
He wasn’t looking at Ban Cheon-sang.
The man’s gaze was fixed on Seok Yi-cheon, who lay collapsed on the ground.
Ban Cheon-sang tightened his grip on his sword and shouted,
“Who are you?”
His roar echoed loudly across the battlefield.
It was so loud that even those fighting nearby stopped for a moment in surprise. There was no way the man hadn’t heard it. Yet, he paid no attention and instead cradled Seok Yi-cheon.
“Brother!”
“Gwak!”
“Are you okay?”
“How did you…?”
Seok Yi-cheon’s pupils trembled.
He wondered if he was dreaming. The events unfolding before his eyes seemed too unreal.
It was Lee Gwak.
He had appeared at the critical moment, forcing Ban Cheon-sang to retreat and saving Seok Yi-cheon.
Stunned by his unbelievable arrival, Seok Yi-cheon forgot his pain and stared blankly.
“You… came. You really came.”
Seok Yi-cheon’s voice trembled.
His eyes reddened, and soon moisture gathered in them.
“Kuhuk! Everyone’s dead. Gong Do-do, Ung Bok-i, A Chil-i….”
Seok Yi-cheon buried his face in Lee Gwak’s chest and wept bitterly.
The determination he had desperately maintained crumbled like a sandcastle when he saw Lee Gwak.
Lee Gwak patted Seok Yi-cheon’s back and looked around.
“Hmm.”
A storm brewed in his eyes.
It wasn’t just because many people had died.
He recognised far too many faces among the scattered bodies.
“Hoo.”
Lee Gwak took a deep breath to calm his raging heart. But his fiercely beating heart refused to settle easily.]
The scene before him was that shocking.]
Lee Gwak’s gaze was fixed on a corpse with his eyes wide open.
A man who couldn’t even close his eyes in death.
Lee Gwak didn’t even know his name.
Even though Lee Gwak had been in the Jade Heaven Alliance for a long time, it was impossible to know everyone’s name. But he remembered the face well, having seen it a few times in passing.
Lee Gwak’s gaze shifted to another man lying nearby.
He recognized the face but not the name. They had at least exchanged a few words once or twice.
There were many like that.
People whose names he didn’t know, but whose faces he remembered, and with whom he had exchanged a few words.
Some might say such connections weren’t particularly special. But Lee Gwak remembered their living faces vividly. That alone made them special.
At least, to Lee Gwak, they were.
Then—
Swoosh!
A chilling sound of slicing air echoed.
Ban Cheon-sang had launched a sword strike.
Clang!
Lee Gwak stood up and parried his blow.
His gaze still lingered on the fallen outer-hall martial artists.
They still clutched their weapons, even in death:
Swords and blades made of low-quality scrap metal.
These were the cheap weapons issued to every outer hall warrior at the start.
Their quality was poor, and their strength was weak, making it uneasy to entrust one’s life to them. Yet, the outer hall warriors used them.
Some did so to save money, while others rationalized that they would never be pushed to such life-threatening extremes.
Swoosh!
Another slicing sound echoed.
It was Ban Cheon-sang again.
“How dare you! Distracting yourself in front of me.”
His face was filled with rage.
He had already realized his opponent was a formidable master. But even so, the fact
that Lee Gwak was paying attention to something else in his presence wounded his pride.
Clang!
But his attack was blocked once again by Lee Gwak.
A chilling sensation ran through Ban Cheon-sang’s entire body.
His opponent was like a wall.
A huge iron wall with no gaps.
There was no way he could penetrate it.
Cold sweat dripped down Ban Cheon-sang’s back.
Lee Gwak stood up, leaving Seok Yi-cheon behind, and looked at Ban Cheon-sang.
Ban Cheon-sang, leader of the Demon Squad.
There wasn’t a single person in the Jade Heaven Alliance who didn’t know his name. His reputation within the Alliance was absolute.
Lee Gwak had also heard of him. But he had never seen him in person.
Ban Cheon-sang was a lofty figure, far beyond Lee Gwak’s reach, while Lee Gwak was
merely a low-ranking squad leader.
Ten years ago…
If this had been when Lee Gwak first joined the Jade Heaven Alliance, he would have
been overwhelmed with honor just to stand before Ban Cheon-sang.
That’s how it would have been for the old him.
Grip!
Lee Gwak tightened his hold on his blade.
There was no trace of respect in Lee Gwak’s eyes as he looked at Ban Cheon-sang.
From behind, Seok Yi-cheon’s voice rang out.
“He used us as bait. If he had come just a little sooner, more of us could have survived….”
Seok Yi-cheon was a bright person by nature.
No matter how tough things got, he never showed despair. But now, his voice was filled with nothing but despair.
That made Lee Gwak’s heart ache even more, and it fueled his anger towards Ban Cheon-sang.
Ban Cheon-sang raised his sword, gathering his qi.
A thick haze rose above his shoulders.
It was a sign that Ban Cheon-sang was unleashing his ultimate move.
Snow Form Infinite Sword.
Ban Cheon-sang’s ultimate technique.
A supreme technique of the Jade Heaven Alliance, said to be capable of cutting down every snowflake falling from the sky with a single strike.
Until now, no enemy had ever withstood Ban Cheon-sang’s Snow Form Infinite Sword.
Ban Cheon-sang’s eyes became white as snow, with no black in them.
It was a phenomenon that occurred when the Snow Form Infinite Sword reached its peak.
His vision expanded to the extreme, and his senses sharpened to a razor’s edge.
He could even sense the airflow several strides away with clarity. Ban Cheon-sang focused all these sensations on Lee Gwak.
Lee Gwak walked towards Ban Cheon-sang.
With his arms outstretched, he looked defenceless at first glance.
‘Is he underestimating me?’
Ban Cheon-sang gritted his teeth.
He didn’t know the identity or name of his opponent.
No, he thought he had heard Seok Yi-cheon say something.
‘What was it? Gwak? Lee Gwak?’
As Ban Cheon-sang recalled the name, a chill ran down his spine.
The Sura Blade, Lee Gwak
How could he not know that name?
In recent times, Lee Gwak had become the number one enemy of the Jade Heaven Alliance.
“So! It’s Lee Gwak, huh?”
A fierce light appeared on his face.
If his opponent was really Lee Gwak, defeating him would bring a level of fame beyond anything he had achieved so far.
The moment his hand tightened on his sword, his legs kicked the ground.
Pop!
His figure stretched forward in a blur.
He moved so fast that an afterimage followed behind him.
Shiiak!
Just as his sword reached for Lee Gwak’s neck—
Lee Gwak vanished from his line of sight.
Shryururuk!
At the same time, a strange ripping sound echoed through the air.
It sounded like the flow of a stream.
‘What?’
But he realized immediately afterwards that it was caused by the turbulent air.
Lee Gwak’s blade came slashing through the disturbed air.
Like cutting through tofu, it made no sound.
Ban Cheon-sang felt his entire body go cold and hastily retreated. True to his reputation as a master, he defended himself meticulously.
But Lee Gwak’s blade followed him as if it had eyes.
Ban Cheon-sang swung his sword over a dozen times in a single breath.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Tatatatang!
Sword and blade collided, ringing out countless metallic clangs, but Lee Gwak’s blade never wavered or deviated from its path.
It was as if the blade itself had a will, relentlessly pursuing Ban Cheon-sang.
“Damn it!”
Ban Cheon-sang roared and unleashed the ultimate technique of the Snow Form Infinite Sword—One Sword Severing Snow.
Crack!
A technique of a completely different level was unleashed towards Lee Gwak.
The condensed sword qi seemed capable of cutting through all the snow falling in the world.
Yet, even against such a fearsome technique, Lee Gwak didn’t use any special moves. He simply extended his blade.
Sssk!
A sound like scissors cutting paper pierced the battlefield.
The chilling sound made everyone instinctively shrink their necks, and even those fighting nearby stepped back, clutching their heads.
“Ah!”
“What?”
Their jaws dropped in disbelief.
Before their eyes, an unbelievable scene unfolded.
Ban Cheon-sang stood frozen in the stance of his ultimate technique. Lee Gwak’s blade was embedded in his forehead.
The blade had pierced through his skull, protruding from the back of his head.
Drip, drip!
Blood dripped from Lee Gwak’s blade.
The sight of blood falling to the ground overwhelmed everyone present with horror.
“Ugh!”
“How could Lord Ban…?”
Their teeth chattered uncontrollably.
To the martial artists of the Jade Heaven Alliance, Ban Cheon-sang had been one of their undefeated legends.
A warrior who never fell, who knew no defeat.
The leader who commanded the Demon Squad.
That was Ban Cheon-sang. And today, the legend of invincibility had crumbled.
In the dao of Lee Gwak, Sura Blade.
Clang!
The sword in Ban Cheon-sang’s hand dropped to the ground.
His hand reached out towards Lee Gwak as if trying to grab his collar, a mere final gesture of a dying man.
“Ggrrugh…!”
With a grotesque groan, Ban Cheon-sang’s eyes rolled back.
That was his end.
As Lee Gwak withdrew his blade, Ban Cheon-sang’s body collapsed.
“Aaaaah! Lord Ban is dead!”
“It’s Lee Gwak! The Sura blade, Lee Gwak, has appeared!”
Chaos erupted.
Martial artists from the Jade Heaven Alliance, Dragon Heaven Valley, and even the Martial Sword Troupe staggered back in fear at Lee Gwak’s presence.
Lee Gwak turned to Seok Yi-cheon.
“Brother, retreat with the survivors.”
“What will you do?”
“Mourn.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mourn the dead. So their deaths won’t be unjust.”
Seok Yi-cheon blinked, still uncomprehending.
“Brother! Trust him and retreat—now.”
“This is our chance to withdraw.”
Go Cheon-gwang and Woo Il-yeong swiftly seized Seok Yi-cheon’s arms and pulled him back. The surviving warriors of the outer hall gathered around them and retreated.
The others could only watch, paralyzed. Their gaze was fixed on Lee Gwak, captivated by the eerie aura emanating from him – the very air around him shifted, drawing their attention.
Lee Gwak’s eyes swept the battlefield until they landed on a child-sized pillar lying broken on the ground, likely dislodged during the siege.
He hoisted the pillar onto his shoulder. Though it weighed hundreds of pounds, he showed no strain as he walked.
His first stop was the corpse of an outer hall martial artist.
Even in death, the warrior clutched his sword tightly, as if he did not want to let go.
Lee Gwak quietly took the sword from the warrior’s hand. Strangely, as soon as Lee Gwak touched it, the grip loosened.
Thud!
Lee Gwak plunged the sword into the pillar on his shoulder.
He moved to the next body.
It was Sa Gong-do, the member of Seok Yi-cheon’s squad.
Lee Gwak took Sa Gong-do’s sword and also stabbed it into the pillar.
One by one, Lee Gwak collected the weapons of the fallen outer hall warriors and embedded them into the pillar.
The smooth pillar was soon covered with swords and blades, resembling a spiky porcupine.
In life, they had not stood together.
He had not been able to protect them.
No one would remember their names.
They were like pebbles rolling at the bottom of the Jianghu.
But they were not mere pebbles.
They were human beings.
Equal to the warriors who now fought and bled on this battlefield.
From now on, he would make sure everyone knew that.
With all their weapons on his shoulder, Le Gwak walked to the center of the battlefield.
What he carried was their names.
“Come, all of you. Let us go together.”