Chapter 371: Upheaval (5)
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“Hehehe, hehehe…….”
Gu Jinqing let out a hollow laugh. It was a laugh that looked foolish enough to make one wonder if he had become a simpleton.
“Yes, I understand. I understand very well.”
We looked at Gu Jinqing without a word. Gu Jinqing continued speaking in succession, as if our answers were not needed in the least.
“I was abandoned. This Gu Jinqing has become a dog inside a cooking pot. Hahaha!”
The Blood Cultist on the roof was smiling faintly. It was no surprise that Gu Jinqing thought that way. Moreover, it was also the truth.
It was true that the imperial palace had assisted Mount Hua, but the fact that the Blood Cultist who came to help abandoned Gu Jinqing in that manner was no different from discarding a playing piece. No matter how much it was the Blood Cultist’s impromptu judgment, ultimately, even a Blood Cultist would not have acted against the will of the imperial palace.
“Fine. Come at me, all of you. I shall teach you why I am the Violet Mist Divine Sword, and why I was included among the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven.”
Gu Jinqing drew his sword and growled. Cho Seo-gi and the elders of Zhongnan also raised their swords to face him, but I reached out my hand and waved at them. Everyone’s eyes gathered upon me.
“If we all rush him here, that will be precisely what Gu Jinqing wants.”
At my words, Cho Seo-gi tilted his head.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Even if we join forces and win, people will speak of Gu Jinqing who forced us to unite. I dislike that.”
Gu Jinqing’s face contorted. He was the first to understand my words.
They say a tiger leaves behind its hide when it dies, and a person leaves behind their name when they die.
Those who reacted most sensitively to those words were undoubtedly martial artists. If one was a martial artist, anyone would wish to make a name for themselves in posterity.
In that regard, I did not want to grant even a shred of honor to a person named Gu Jinqing. If I killed Gu Jinqing one-on-one, Gu Jinqing would certainly be overshadowed by my name.
Even if someone remembered Gu Jinqing, he would merely be remembered as a martial artist who lost to Muk Hui-yeong and died. I believed that was truly the punishment that should be meted out to Gu Jinqing.
“Setting aside taking me on by yourself, do you wish to obliterate me to that extent?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Personally, I don’t really like people like you.”
Gu Jinqing’s face scowled. Hearing such words from a youngster some thirty years younger was bound to be displeasing.
“A person with no convictions of their own, but filled with immense greed. It makes me feel a bit of human contempt.”
“It matters not how you evaluate me. But one thing is certain: you have made a mistake. I know your name has been drifting across the Central Plains these days, but to dare stand as my match.”
The people of Zhongnan on my side also seemed to agree with those words. Though I had struck down the Eight Exalts, the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven were an entirely different realm. From my perspective, there seemed to be no need to take such a gamble.
If not for Legitimacy, I would not have needed to go this far either. However, considering the Legitimacy that rose when I struck down the Eight Exalts, I could expect an even greater aftermath when I struck down one of the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven with my own hands.
Without even drawing my sword, I beckoned with my finger. It was a signal telling Gu Jinqing to come. Gu Jinqing’s expression hardened.
Until now, when facing an enemy, there had hardly been a time I failed to observe etiquette. In particular, I had always maintained decorum against renowned orthodox seniors like Gu Jinqing.
Yet this time, for some reason, I did not wish to maintain it. Though they were words I strung together offhandedly, in truth, Gu Jinqing was indeed the type of human being I detested.
“You rush to your own grave.”
Still, as if Gu Jinqing had not earned his title among the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven through gambling tiles, he did not easily fall for my provocation.
Even if it had strong lay characteristics, the Mount Hua Sect was also a Daoist martial art. The power of Daoist martial arts stemmed from composure, so Gu Jinqing did not lose his temper either.
Gu Jinqing and I held our swords and quietly glared at each other. Even without moving a single step, we had already begun our battle.
A clash of moves, advancing and retreating as we read each other’s gaze and breathing. Since none of the onlookers failed to understand that, everyone was watching with bated breath.
“……It was not an empty reputation after all.”
The one who spoke first was Gu Jinqing. Those were words I wished to utter as well.
Even though the Violet Mist Divine Sword was evaluated as the lowest rank among the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven right now, the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven were still the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven.
To think that even to me, armed with Heavenly Eye, Divine Foot, and Heavenly Martial Body, not the slightest opening was visible.
While glaring at each other, we implicitly agreed on one opinion. A battle of moves without moving could not reach a conclusion. One had to move and draw out the opponent’s movements to create variables.
We moved simultaneously. And we met instantly at the midpoint of our distance.
Sword and sword clashed. Setting aside Gu Jinqing’s character as a person, his sword was beautiful. Like plum blossoms fluttering down in a spring breeze, pink sword force poured down profusely.
The ground where the sword force landed was gouged out and overturned. Gu Jinqing skillfully struck into the blind spot of my balance, which had been shaken while dodging the sword force. I twisted my waist to dodge the thrusting sword. The fabric of my clothes, unable to keep up with the speed of my twisting waist, was torn by the sword.
Of course, that did not mean I was just taking it passively. Using the momentum of twisting my waist, I spun my body and slashed my sword upward. The sword flew as if it would cleave Gu Jinqing’s chin. Gu Jinqing recoiled in fright, snapping his head back to dodge.
Naturally, that was not the end. Sword force burst forth from the blade, extending all the way to where Gu Jinqing’s head was bent back.
The width of the sword force was merely three inches, yet it radiated sharpness intense enough to leave scratch marks even on the ground.
Gu Jinqing also pulled his body back sharply, but like me, the hem of his clothing was sliced open, exposing his chest. Even so, Gu Jinqing’s face maintained its calm.
Having one’s clothes sliced might look as if a hair’s breadth faster would have cut flesh. But it was entirely different. The less time one spent dodging, the more opportunities one had to attack, so he had dodged at the latest possible moment.
That was why my clothes were cut, and Gu Jinqing was the same. Just as losing by a single point in Go did not mean a difference of only a single point in skill.
Our battle did not break. In the midst of it, I witnessed the essence of the Mount Hua Sect’s sword arts. I thought it was indeed martial prowess befitting the supreme expert of the Mount Hua Sect.
And at the same time, I also felt that enlightenment as a martial artist did not necessarily signify the growth of one’s character.
Until now, the experts I had met mostly possessed character matching their prowess, and accordingly, it was possible to persuade them through the sword. However, Gu Jinqing’s sword was magnificent, unlike his character.
As I continued clashing swords, I tried to grasp and understand the person named Gu Jinqing. When one reached a realm like ours, the sword projected the person themselves.
Yet for some reason, despite Gu Jinqing possessing a well-balanced sword, his character seemed severely warped.
“Did you say I have no convictions and only greed?”
When our swords clashed, Gu Jinqing’s eyes blazed. Seeing his fierce gaze, it seemed those words stung quite a bit.
“Is that not so?”
“Do you think I could have climbed to this position without convictions?”
“That is precisely my question. In my eyes, you have no convictions, yet how did you rise to the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven?”
“A bastard who climbed up through monstrous talent like you wouldn’t know. Someone who started from the very bottom like me must look utterly trivial.”
“Can one among the Five Great Sword Masters Under Heaven lack talent?”
“Of course, there must have been some degree of talent. But I worked harder than anyone else. That much is something even my enemies acknowledge.”
Indeed, I was feeling that as well. Gu Jinqing’s sword was far less creative than expected.
It was simply that his sense of balance and the precision of his forms had been honed to the absolute limit.
In that case, rather than Gu Jinqing being a balanced person, it meant this result was what he had desperately carved out through sheer effort.
I had been misunderstanding something. Gu Jinqing was a case different from the martial artists I had seen until now.
Rather than a martial artist who broke through walls through creativity by projecting himself, he had reached that realm by truly whittling himself away through extreme effort. If so, it was fully understandable that his own self was not steeped in his martial arts.
“This is my conviction: the effort to survive. That is all.”
“Did you kill others just to survive?”
“Is that not originally the principle of nature? One survives by killing someone else. Is it not the same for the meat and fruit we eat?”
“You’ve thrown humanity to the dogs.”
“Humanity was like that from the very beginning. It was corrupted by hypocrites like you.”
Gu Jinqing glared at me as if he would devour me whole.
“Can a bastard like you who rose through talent understand the effort I have built up until now? You wouldn’t blabber that reaching such a realm at that age is the result of effort, would you?”
Reluctant as I was to admit it, only then did I feel I could understand the person named Gu Jinqing.
To be precise, it was not genuine understanding, but rather resigned comprehension. The level of understanding that there were things I could not understand. Acknowledging our ‘difference’ rather than the person’s inner self, so it could be called superficial.
Looking at it from that perspective, Gu Jinqing’s words were correct. Even if I died and came back to life, I could never truly understand Gu Jinqing.
“I made efforts to live, and you are probably the same. If you win here, it does not mean I am more trivial than you, and if I win, it does not mean I am superior to you. It is merely that the losing side will feel a bit aggrieved.”
“…….”
I revised my thoughts. Gu Jinqing was a person with sufficient conviction. Placing survival itself as the purpose of life made me wonder if he had a better insight into life than anyone else.
“What is wrong with me not treating others with benevolence? Why shouldn’t I? They are just strangers after all.”
“That is not wrong. Indeed.”
I nodded.
“It is just that because of that, you are dying by my hands like this.”
“Arrogant bastard……!”
Gu Jinqing rushed at me. Truly, Gu Jinqing was a person standing at the pinnacle of effort. That was worthy of sufficient respect, regardless of his personal character.
It was merely regrettable. If he had possessed slightly good values and exerted such effort, wouldn’t he have become a more dependable ally to me than anyone else?
Or, had it not been a chaotic age like this, he would have become quite a decent martial artist. Leaving his name reasonably well in posterity.
Gu Jinqing’s limit was the very limit of a human. He was human, and had no interest in things like ascension. That was the basis upon which I could defeat Gu Jinqing.
Because through talent, I had already surpassed human limits. I could see what humans could not see, and unleash speeds humans could not produce.
And Gu Jinqing seemed to have foreseen that as well. That was why, even when the blade directly touched his neck, not a shred of regret or fear could be felt in Gu Jinqing’s eyes.
My Heavenly Martial Body enabled muscle movements transcending humans, Heavenly Eye taught me trajectories humans could not see, and Divine Foot granted the speed to move along those trajectories.
When unleashing full power in an instant, I felt as if my body were floating. Along with that peculiar sensation, Gu Jinqing’s head flew into the sky.
Between the separation of Gu Jinqing’s head and shoulders, the Blood Cultist sitting on the roof came into view. The Blood Cultist was wearing a satisfied smile.