Chapter 28
‘Ah…… I’m going crazy, really.’
Seok Yeon-u anxiously tapped his foot.
‘I’m a crazy bastard for saying that, even though I know Older Brother’s personality!’
From the beginning, he had expected Jin So-cheon to be agitated if he told him about the Black Society.
But who would have imagined that he would suddenly go wild at dawn, saying he would attack the Black Society alone?
‘That person is the most simple-minded and violent person in the world! Really……’
However, Seok Yeon-u wasn’t just standing there with a gloomy expression.
Immediately after Jin So-cheon left, he gathered the Seokga Estate martial artists staying in Chang’an and had them wait in front of Jin So-cheon’s house.
He wanted to run to Xi’an right away to help Jin So-cheon, but,
「Don’t follow me. When the sun rises, inform the Kang brothers and Master Dongbyeok of the situation, and you stay and protect So-yun.」
Jin So-cheon’s eyes were so serious when he gave that order(?) that they were almost gleaming with murderous intent.
‘If only I had interrupted Older Brother then and insisted……’
Suddenly, a chill ran down Seok Yeon-u’s spine.
Jin So-cheon.
What kind of person is Older Brother?
What kind of person could make him, with such a strong will, submit with just a few words?
Seok Yeon-u had grown up witnessing countless masters.
The Seokga Estate was a decent martial family, and he had been directly taught martial arts by Cheongmun Sword Master, one of the Seven Great Swordsmen of Mount Hua, and had seen many masters of Shaanxi over his shoulder.
But he had never felt this way about anyone else like he did with Jin So-cheon.
The Jin So-cheon that Seok Yeon-u saw was seemingly indifferent yet gentle, sometimes cold and detached, and at other times, he exuded a terrifying murderous aura.
‘But still…… Somehow, I don’t think anything bad will happen to Older Brother. It’s strange. It’s like he’s someone who would eat well and live well even if you took him to h*ll?’
At that moment,
“What’s all this? Hey, Young Master Seok. Who are all these people?”
Kang Il-dong, who had arrived at some point, asked with a puzzled look, seeing Seok Yeon-u and the Seokga Estate’s people waiting in front of Jin So-cheon’s house.
‘Ah. It’s already dawn. I wonder how far Older Brother has gone by now.’
Only then did Seok Yeon-u realize that the long dawn had passed and the morning sun was rising. He hurriedly spoke.
“Martial Artist Kang! It’s like this.”
◈ ◈ ◈
“Why are you telling us this now?!”
“Why didn’t you tell us?!”
Master Dongbyeok and Kang Il-dong shouted simultaneously.
Seok Yeon-u felt like a criminal for no reason, and after looking around cautiously, a sense of injustice welled up within him. He burst out in protest.
“I couldn’t help it! When I said I would follow him to the end, Older Brother looked at me with murderous eyes and ordered me to guard the house. In that situation, could you have talked back, Martial Artist Kang? If I had, my head would have been smashed.”
“Hmm…… That’s true.”
Kang Il-dong fully understood Seok Yeon-u’s feelings.
Jin So-cheon was usually calm and didn’t get angry easily, but he was the kind of person who could snap the necks and ankles of villains without changing his expression. Knowing Jin So-cheon’s devilish personality, it was impossible to blame Seok Yeon-u for not stopping him.
“You will continue to build relationships with So-yun’s father in the future, so listen carefully to what I have to say.”
At that moment, Master Dongbyeok slowly spoke.
“So-yun’s father is not just the type to go through fire and water for his daughter, but he’s the kind of person who would even turn the world upside down for her. When So-yun’s father found out that those despicable people were targeting him, what do you think he would have thought of first? Of course, it would be So-yun. So keep that in mind and behave accordingly.”
Kang Il-dong and Seok Yeon-u nodded with solemn expressions at Master Dongbyeok’s words.
Neither of them was married, so they couldn’t fully grasp a father’s heart, but they were beginning to understand abstractly what a child meant to a parent.
“By the way, I’ve been living in the mountains for a long time, so I don’t know much about the current state of the Jianghu. What kind of people are these Black Society members?”
Seok Yeon-u answered Master Dongbyeok’s question.
“Elder, I don’t know if you are aware that the truce between the Martial Alliance and the Demonic Cult has recently been broken, and the Jianghu is being plunged into chaos…… Because of that, most of the major sects in Shaanxi are also away. The Black Society is a force that has newly emerged, taking advantage of the situation in Shaanxi where it has become like an empty house. Some people speculate that the ‘Cult of the Evil Path’ or the ‘Demonic Cult’ might be behind them. Of course, we can’t say for sure yet, but based on various circumstances, that’s what we think.”
Then,
“What, what did you say?! The Cult of the Evil Path or the Demonic Cult? Are you serious?”
It was Kang Il-dong who reacted first.
“Young Master Seok, are you kidding me? The Cult of the Evil Path or the Demonic Cult? So you’re saying that Older Brother might have barged alone into a Black Path faction that might be backed by the Cult of the Evil Path or the Demonic Cult?”
Kang Il-dong pressed on, his voice filled with agitation.
It was understandable.
Even though Kang Il-dong was bold and confident, it was natural for him, who had just become a member of the Jianghu, to be terrified by the names ‘Cult of the Evil Path’ and ‘Demonic Cult’.
Fortunately, Master Dongbyeok stepped in to mediate Kang Il-dong’s outburst.
“There’s no need to make a fuss. You don’t seem to know, but it’s not the first time the Cult of the Evil Path has formed a relationship with an insignificant Black Path faction. Sometimes, when they want to do something openly dirty, they use those guys as a means of making money. It’s a long-standing practice.”
Seok Yeon-u also chimed in.
“That’s right, Martial Artist Kang. Even if the Black Society really does have the Cult of the Evil Path or the Demonic Cult backing them, it’s just a kind of subcontracting relationship. There’s no need to overreact and assume that the Cult of the Evil Path or the Demonic Cult will directly intervene because of them.”
But Kang Il-dong still couldn’t feel at ease.
“Sigh. I don’t know about that. I’m going to take all the members of the Dawn Heaven Sect…… no, all the disciples and attack the Black Society or whatever it is right now.”
“No, Martial Artist Kang. I’ll attack the Black Society with the martial artists from my main family. You should follow Sect Leader So-cheon’s orders, guard the house, and protect So-yun.”
Having said that, Seok Yeon-u abruptly stood up.
Then, Master Dongbyeok said with a faint smile.
“Both of you, go.”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“Both of you, go and help So-yun’s father.”
“What do you mean, Elder Dongbyeok?”
“Elder?”
“If I guard the house, no one can touch So-yun unless the Demonic Cult Leader himself shows up, so you can both leave to help So-yun’s father without worry.”
“……”
“……”
“You may not believe it, but…… I used to be quite a fighter in my younger days.”
◈ ◈ ◈
‘Stamina is the problem.’
After reincarnating, I hadn’t missed a single day of physical training.
So I thought that even this shabby body might have gotten close to ‘infinite stamina’……
But it wasn’t like that at all.
I hadn’t even attained half, or even a quarter, of the true physical stamina I had built up in my previous life.
“What are you all standing around for? Come in.”
But I overcame the limits of my stamina with willpower and continued to smash the Black Society.
People say that human willpower has no limits, but that’s a complete lie.
Willpower also needs stamina as a foundation to endure, push through, and overcome all sorts of hardships to create ‘miracles’.
But I’m fundamentally different from others in that aspect.
For example, let’s say there’s a martial artist with talent and intelligence like mine.
Then he would achieve dazzling growth and become a top promising young martial artist, but usually, such geniuses receive concentrated care from their surroundings, so they inevitably grow up safely, protected from the ‘dangers’ that transcend life and death.
But the life I’ve lived has been the exact opposite.
Before I even had hair under my arms, I was taking people’s lives. More than 30% of the bones in my body have been fractured, and there have been countless times when I’ve lost so much blood that I was on the verge of becoming a Jiangshi.
In other words, the path I’ve walked has already been ‘rougher’ than death itself.
So could my willpower, my tenacity, be the same as other martial artists?
What more can I say about the ‘tenacity’ of my past life, where I spent half a month in the snowy mountains in the dead of winter, ambushing with my skin tearing, enduring hunger, and even holding back my bodily waste, all for the sake of one goal, unleashing my fast sword?
Perhaps this kind of tenacity is a characteristic that only I possess in the entire world.
Therefore, I,
Crack━!
“Kyaaaak!”
Crack━!
“Kuuu!”
Kwaaaang━!
“Kek!”
Even as my lungs expanded as if they were about to burst and the muscles throughout my body screamed,
“There’s no use backing away. I’m incredibly fast at running, so if you try to escape, I can catch you in an instant. So just come at me. It’s easier and better for both of us.”
Kuoooong━!
“Kyaak!”
I burned with fighting spirit, unleashing efficient and deadly recoil-less hand-to-hand combat techniques, devoid of any unnecessary movements or preliminary actions, towards the Black Society bastards.
“P, please spare me! Please, just let me live! Why…… why are you doing this? I should at least know the reason!”
After smashing about 150 heads, breaking jaws, severing tendons in arms and legs, and shattering ribs, the remaining bastards had lost their will to fight and were begging for their lives.
For a moment, I wondered whether I should spare them and extract information about the Black Society to find out the whereabouts of their leader, or if I should just tear these wicked beings limb from limb.
But at that moment, I saw the ‘murkiness’ of their souls in their eyes, and it made me so irritated that I shook my head.
“I can’t do that. Because wicked people like you don’t change overnight. Well, it would take too much mental effort for me to take you all in, teach you, refine you, and discipline you until you become decent human beings. So……”
“……”
“Just die.”
I walked towards the bastards who were kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down their faces.
I could have charged at them and twisted their necks in an instant, but I deliberately walked slowly to let them savor their fear.
‘Sigh…… I’m tired. Is this the end of the Xi’an branch for now?’
But in the midst of all this, I felt a sense of despair.
The ‘Force’ attribute chunks from the Nature Meridian were almost completely melted away, but the bastards still had one branch each in Xingping and Haman.
Given my personality, I would have to finish off the Black Society today to sleep peacefully, but it seemed impossible in my current state.
‘Do I have to rely on the Dongdong brothers and Yeon-u’s help after all?’
Honestly, I don’t think they’ll be of much help……
“Go!!!”
At that moment,
stepping on the debris of the smashed Black Society gate, a figure appeared.
He shouted the cliché”Go!”as soon as he appeared, but surprisingly, that shout contained the principles of the Lion’s Roar, and the internal energy it carried was profound. I realized that he was a master close to first-class.
“Who are you to do this at our headquarters?”
The man was almost as big as Il-dong.
He looked like Zhang Fei from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so much so that a civilian might wet their pants at the sight of him.
But I instinctively knew that he wasn’t the ‘real deal’.
The ‘real deal’ was,
“……”
the thin old man who followed behind the bulky man. The old man simply glanced at the scene of carnage and then stared directly into my eyes without showing any emotion.
‘He’s a master……’
A master.
The old man was undoubtedly a formidable master.
I ignored the bulky man’s shout and asked the old man.
“Are you the leader?”
Then, a glint of killing intent flashed in the old man’s dry eyes.
“Who are you?”
“I used to be called a ‘bounty hunter’, a ‘villain who robs villains’. But things have changed now.”
“You……”
“The Sect Leader of the Dawn Heaven Sect, Jin So-cheon.”
“So you’re that crazy reckless one.”
At that moment,
“You bastard! You’re that crazy son of a……”
“Shut up.”
I cut off the bulky man who was suddenly interrupting my conversation with the old man and shouted, then,
“Old man.”
“……”
“Want to get a taste of that recklessness today?”
I boldly declared war.
I declared it, but……
‘Ah…… I’m out of stamina.’
Right now, I have no plan.