Chapter 51: Loss of a Child (2)
Chui and Do Mak-saeng headed to the garden in the center of the pavilions.
The maidservants who were in the garden tactfully went inside the pavilion in the center.
Since that was the only intact pavilion currently, it was also an inevitable choice.
Sizzle……
A dark red energy emitted from Chui’s body.
The second stage of the Towering Vessel, reached after consuming Namgung Paeng-saeng.
Since it was before the Blood Cult revealed its appearance to the world, there was no one who knew this was demonic energy.
It was the same for Do Mak-saeng as well.
“You use a peculiar martial art. Is it sorcery, or is it demonic energy?”
“See it as you wish.”
Chui answered shortly.
In that the method of learning is impure and makes the learner go mad, Spear Ghost Calling is indeed a demonic art.
However, Chui was in a state where he completely overcame the latter’s drawback.
And in the case of the former, it was something he had already prepared for.
The day is late and the road is far, so to act against the natural order.
Chui recalled his childhood.
The aspects of the tribe members that he now remembered vividly.
The unique breathing he was passed down by them.
A peculiar breathing technique of inhaling nature for six shijin and exhaling nature for six shijin.
Exhaling deeply……
Chui exhaled the breath he had inhaled.
Every time he did, the madness of the spear ghost that boiled like molten iron inside a furnace slowly subsided.
The heat remained the same, yet the bursting and exploding grew quiet, allowing the fine blood vessels inside his skull to remain preserved without injury.
Thus, he could maintain a clear mind without going mad or becoming a living corpse.
At that moment, seeing Chui’s breathing technique, Do Mak-saeng spoke.
“Is it the breathing of the Miao tribe? It must be a mind cultivation method that creates a bronze head and iron forehead.”
“Do you know the Miao tribe?”
“I do. Are they not the dirty barbarians of the south?”
Do Mak-saeng grinned.
“My father was a soldier. Until he died in battle on the southern battlefield, he swept away the dirty barbarians. I suspect your parents and siblings were among them.”
Chui was slightly surprised.
Do Mak-saeng was unexpectedly knowledgeable about martial arts from outside the Central Plains.
Of course, there was nothing bad for Chui about the enemy being smart.
“I must definitely kill you and make you a spear ghost.”
“……?”
The moment Do Mak-saeng wore a puzzled expression, Chui surged forward.
Boom!
The staff and the giant saber met, creating a resonance like a giant bell tolling.
“……!”
Chui knitted his brows.
Since the staff of the Staff Ghost came into Chui’s hands, it was the first time it had met a weapon as heavy as itself.
So was it not crying like this with a ringing sound?
Meanwhile.
“……!”
Do Mak-saeng was also surprised.
His alias was none other than Giant Force Tyrant Blade.
An alias attached because he stood nearly eight feet tall, had a grand body build enough to eat a whole cow in a single day, and carried a saber large enough to split even mountains.
In this way, Do Mak-saeng could be called a great figure who could claim himself as the hegemon of Hubei Province.
Yet, a novice who had not even reached twenty formally struck back a clash of such an expert.
Furthermore, without retreating even an inch.
Aside from hatred or revenge, it was purely surprising.
Clang! Clang! Boom!
Heavy weapon and heavy weapon met, creating a massive shockwave.
The decorative rocks around them cracked with thuds and flowed down like sand, and the bark of the trees split vertically, turning them into bare trees.
Creak—
Do Mak-saeng handled the saber of immense weight like a feather.
Of course, Chui did the same.
Thrusting, blocking, swinging, countering, this entire series of processes proceeded at an immense speed.
Chui and Do Mak-saeng exchanged dozens of clashes during the time an ordinary person who did not know martial arts would blink once.
Boom, crash! Screeech!
The ground, unable to withstand the shockwave, caved in over several stages.
Now, Chui and Do Mak-saeng were in a shape of fighting inside a pit surrounded by circular steps.
Cough—
Do Mak-saeng, unable to withstand the overload of internal energy, coughed blood.
It was the same for Chui as well.
The two confronted each other fiercely, blood streaming from the corners of their mouths.
“Die!”
The blade qi emitting from Do Mak-saeng’s saber sprayed violently into the air.
Chui executed a thrust toward the front while hiding behind his staff.
Slash!
The black staff extended long, tearing the tip of Do Mak-saeng’s beard.
Do Mak-saeng threw his head back to evade the staff and immediately retracted his saber to cut Chui’s arm.
At that moment.
Spit—
The saliva Chui spat struck Do Mak-saeng’s left eye.
“Ugh!?”
At first, he thought it was merely a desperate struggle, but it was not.
At the same time as the stinging pain as if his eye was burning, Do Mak-saeng felt the internal energy in his body slowly dry up.
“What is this!? What poison is this! You barbarian bastard!”
When Do Mak-saeng’s eye went blind, the giant saber also went blind.
The blind saber split and destroyed the surroundings like mad.
However, Chui seeped like a ghost into the empty space left after the saber passed.
“Your son was also defeated by this.”
“……!”
At Chui’s single word, Do Mak-saeng’s qi and blood violently reversed.
“You dog-like bastard, how dare you……!”
An orange Tears of the Blade began to overflow from Do Mak-saeng’s saber.
Something big was coming.
Chui threw his head back half with reason, and the other half with instinct.
Flash!
There was a trajectory of light brushing past Chui’s nose tip.
It flew toward the wide lake, splitting and destroying the bridge on the west diagonally.
Boom, crash, bang! Splash!
The destroyed bridge sank into the lake water, creating a large wave.
“You are destroying everything.”
Chui shrugged.
And then, with an expression no different from usual, he grabbed his staff and swung it toward Do Mak-saeng.
Thud!
The staff struck Do Mak-saeng’s shoulder.
Because it was swung in a large motion, there were many openings.
Do Mak-saeng hurriedly retracted his saber, but he was already struck on the shoulder and thigh by Chui’s staff.
‘If it had been an ordinary guy, his limbs would have been cut off, but…….’
Chui observed Do Mak-saeng’s condition after being struck by the staff.
With only a bit of scraped wounds remaining on his shoulder and thigh, Do Mak-saeng was still as fierce as a bull with its tail on fire.
‘As expected, I have no choice but to do my best.’
Chui gathered all the spear ghost to one place.
At the end of the black staff, the original owner of the staff shed tears of blood.
The Staff Ghost, Gu Gang-ryong.
When his face flickered at the end of the staff, Do Mak-saeng was startled.
‘What is it? I saw a person’s face just now…….’
Furthermore, it was a quite familiar face.
It also seemed like a person he had met once when he went to the Heterodox Alliance.
However, he did not have the leisure to think deeply about that.
Boom, boom!
It was because Chui swung his staff to strike the ground, and grains of sand and pebbles flew in at a terrifying speed.
“You bastard! You have been playing only petty tricks since earlier!”
Do Mak-saeng stood his saber sideways to block the shrapnel flying toward him.
Of course, he could not block them all, and some eventually drew drops of blood from his body.
Watching that, Chui harbored a slight doubt.
‘……What is it?’
The blow just now was a trap.
It was merely a shallow trick of shooting sand and soil to make him evade, and taking advantage of that gap to thrust the staff half a beat earlier into the expected movement path.
Yet, Do Mak-saeng had fallen completely into that shallow trap.
No, beyond falling in, he even saw blood.
If compared to a Go game, it was like capturing a stone for free from an endgame move thrown to gain half a point.
Meaning he gained two points.
‘Does he have something else in mind?’
Chui swung his staff.
Clang!
As expected, Do Mak-saeng extended his saber to block it.
Chui leaped back to retreat.
And as before, he swept the ground with his staff to shoot pebbles.
“You bastard!”
Do Mak-saeng did not evade this time either.
He only raised his saber to block the shrapnel.
Even while bracing himself for his body slowly turning blood-stained.
‘It seems he has a hidden aim, but…….’
Chui tilted his head.
If he went in directly with his staff, Do Mak-saeng counterattacked with his best.
Yet, for some reason, if he widened the distance to destroy the surrounding terrain, that guy stood still in that spot without budging, taking all the attacks with his body.
‘I do not know what he is aiming for, but if I am missing something, it must be that my insight is only that much.’
Chui decided to think simply.
Whoosh!
The staff of the Staff Ghost was swung, targeting Do Mak-saeng’s waist.
Do Mak-saeng raised his saber to block Chui’s staff.
A battle of strength against strength.
In that structure, the one who grabbed the victory was indeed Do Mak-saeng.
Crack!
Skin was peeled off from Chui’s grip holding the staff.
As all the fine blood vessels in his forearm burst, a red fountain of blood was rising.
…Boom!
Do Mak-saeng pushed Chui.
As Do Mak-saeng’s internal energy went wild and pushed Chui’s internal energy, Chui had no choice but to break the wall of the central pavilion and be thrown out.
“……!”
Chui stood up, preparing for the additional attack that would follow immediately.
Where would it fly? Head? Neck? Waist?
Wherever it was, Chui prepared to give up about a handful of flesh and looked for a chance to counterattack.
However.
“……?”
There was no following attack.
What was visible to Chui, who stood up clearing the debris of the broken wall, was Do Mak-saeng standing leisurely far away.
He walked to a spot farther away than before, the center of the training ground, and stood with a relaxed attitude.
Only the bloodshot veins bristling in his eyeballs were still as they were, however.
“You are so weak that it makes me yawn. Attack properly, barbarian.”
“…….”
Chui tilted his head.
Even though he grabbed a golden opportunity, why did he not pursue immediately and conversely widen the distance?
And what was that clumsy provocation.
It was strange to call it a trap.
A trap was merely an additional means dug to win, and if one could win without digging a trap, there was no reason to do so.
If so, was it a case similar to a cat playing with a mouse before killing it?
It was not that either.
The skills of Chui and Do Mak-saeng did not differ that unilaterally.
Just as compared earlier, in terms of a Go game, it was a difference of half a point.
‘Then what is it.’
Chui did not know what Do Mak-saeng was aiming for.
However, in any case, this was a good sign that could reverse the situation.
…Boom!
Chui kicked the ground and leaped out from inside the pavilion.
Clang!
The staff and the saber clashed, and countless sparks flew.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Chui’s staff bent like a snake, attacking various parts of Do Mak-saeng’s body.
Do Mak-saeng only retreated backward frantically.
Without any thought of counterattacking, Do Mak-saeng was busy just evading backward.
Thinking it was an opportunity, Chui played his staff even faster.
Every time the staff end rotated and shot, a lump of flesh as large as a fist fell from various parts of Do Mak-saeng’s large body.
Right at that moment.
Shing—
Chui felt a chilly sensation brushing beneath his Adam’s apple.
It was the sixth sense that had saved Chui’s life several times in the chaotic battlefield.
…Swish!
Chui retracted the staff that was beating Do Mak-saeng and retreated back toward the pavilion.
At that moment, a red and blue slash was drawn in a cross.
It was the place where Chui had been standing just a moment ago.
“My, what a pity.”
Before long. A new shadow landed on top of the central pavilion.
Short hair like a man’s, a scar crossing the bridge of her nose.
Hae Baek-jeong of the Yangtze River Water Bandit Union was there.
Holding her red and blue twin swords, she gestured with her eyes toward Do Mak-saeng.
“Hey, Hegemon Society Leader. Our cooperation is still valid, right? Let us divide that guy’s corpse half and half.”
“…….”
Hearing Hae Baek-jeong’s words, Chui thought.
‘Following the Hegemon Society Leader, a Thousand-Head of the Yangtze River.’
That the work ahead would become slightly more annoying.
Unrivaled Spear Ghost