Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The First Kill
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Dang Heeran was just as stunned by the cheer. She stared at Seok Ijin with her mouth hanging open.
But before she could say a word, a dull thud made her flinch in surprise.
The cheer hadn't given him any extra strength. Wi Seongcheon still had no idea why he had to fight.
Backing off now felt awkward too. Jijeonchang's eyes had turned bloodshot red, and he lunged not at his hated foe Dang Heeran or Seok Ijin, but straight at Wi Seongcheon.
The thick killing intent pouring from him made Wi Seongcheon's skin prickle.
“Me.”
Jijeonchang dropped his spear. He didn't even try to pick it back up.
Roaring like a beast, he swung his bulky arms with ferocious momentum. Wi Seongcheon grumbled as he slipped under the path of those arms.
“Why.”
He thrust his foot forward. The step closed the distance, and he raised his fist.
He slammed it into the wide, swollen chest. He thought it landed clean, but it was the same as before.
When he threw the punch, it felt like it connected... but on impact, it just wasn't right.
It was far too different from earlier. Was he hiding his power? No way. Even if he was, wasn't it too late to bring it out now?
“Like.”
After a few probing strikes, he figured it out. Jijeonchang's body had changed completely from before.
The swollen muscles seemed to scatter his power even when struck, and his suddenly deepened internal energy cushioned the shocks.
“This.”
It wasn't a problem, though. He'd only hit him a handful of times.
If the guy was tough, he just had to keep pounding until he broke. Or hit harder.
Either way, both were suboptimal by Wi Seongcheon's standards. No need to resort to them yet.
Jijeonchang staggered back a little after weathering the blows. He tried to chain it into another attack, but Wi Seongcheon was faster.
He ignored the arm whistling down from above and crouched low.
His shoulder caught Jijeonchang in the gut while his left arm shoved between the man's legs to hook his ankle.
His right arm lifted to seize Jijeonchang's neck. The fluid sequence flowed like water and reached its conclusion in an instant.
Jijeonchang's body spun around.
Wi Seongcheon yanked the ankle to topple his stance and shoved the shoulder into his gut. He jerked the hand gripping the neck to the side. Jijeonchang's massive frame tumbled like a fallen leaf.
The fallen Jijeonchang immediately planted both hands to push himself up.
The moment his waist lifted halfway for the momentum to rise, Wi Seongcheon dropped low to the ground and lunged forward.
One hand slid under Jijeonchang's waist while the other seized his arm.
“Uh...”
Dang Heeran stared at the scene in a daze. It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
Jijeonchang lay sprawled on the ground, and Wi Seongcheon straddled his back.
Wi Seongcheon pressed down hard on the man's straightened spine with his knee. He wrenched Jijeonchang's right arm back.
His left arm... wouldn't budge. Bent fingers dug precisely into the gap of the shoulder joint.
“It's over.”
Wi Seongcheon said, glancing at Seok Ijin.
Seok Ijin was just as taken aback. He blinked at Wi Seongcheon.
Right now, he had Jijeonchang thoroughly subdued.
The sequence of moves he'd used... weren't flashy at all.
A prodigy that age often brimmed with vanity.
They'd do unnecessary flourishes just to show off. By contrast, Wi Seongcheon's actions were utterly practical.
But that wasn't the reason Seok Ijin was shocked.
The despised Heavenly Flower Sect. Its young sect master who'd trained there...
He far exceeded Seok Ijin's expectations. When Wi Seongcheon first saved Dang Heeran, he'd suspected he was hiding something. But he hadn't imagined he'd be this outstanding.
“It's over.”
Wi Seongcheon repeated. A growl rumbled from Jijeonchang pinned to the ground.
It didn't sound human—just like a beast. As the man bucked his hips to escape the hold, Wi Seongcheon drove his knee in sharper to crush the spine.
“It's not over.”
Seok Ijin steadied his fluster and clasped his hands behind his back.
“It's over only once he's dead.”
Wi Seongcheon twitched an eyebrow.
He'd gotten dragged into a fight he didn't need. And now they wanted him to kill the guy?
He glanced down at Jijeonchang, who ground his teeth beneath him.
“Why should I do that?”
Wi Seongcheon had no reason to kill him.
Jijeonchang's grudge wasn't aimed at him, and Wi Seongcheon held no grudge against Jijeonchang either.
To him, the whole mess was just bad luck.
“I don't know who you are.”
Seok Ijin continued.
“Truth be told, incidents like this aren't rare in the martial world. Once you pick up a blade or whatever and dive into the jianghu, you're bound to tangle with a grudge or two.”
“It's got nothing to do with me.”
“That's not true. You... met Heeran and came here. Maybe it was all coincidence. But what if it wasn't? Think I'm being too paranoid?”
“Yes.”
“Better safe than sorry. I don't know you. Young sect master of Heavenly Flower Sect? Unfortunately, I've never met the sect leader and haven't heard a thing about his son. So...”
“Ah, yes.”
Wi Seongcheon's eyes cooled.
“Maybe I'm the villain who sicced this nobody on you?”
“I don't think you're the one. But you might be connected... I have to consider it. My apologies.”
Wi Seongcheon was a distant junior, but Seok Ijin bowed his head anyway.
Wi Seongcheon let out a hollow chuckle.
“Do I really have to kill him? In cases like this, wouldn't it be better to keep him alive and interrogate him?”
“I think so too.”
Dang Heeran cut in as she surveyed the situation. She frowned at Seok Ijin.
“Professor. My meeting with the Heavenly Flower Sect young master was pure coincidence. He didn't approach me first either.”
“Why did you approach?”
“...He caught my interest.”
“And that's exactly it. It's not impossible he did it on purpose to pique your curiosity.”
“But that doesn't mean we need to kill him...”
“That's a deduction.”
As Dang Heeran protested, Seok Ijin clicked his tongue.
Her eyes widened round at the word “deduction.” Seok Ijin shook his head and continued.
“Blood Madman. Didn't you learn about it?”
“...Pardon?”
Dang Heeran startled and glanced at Jijeonchang writhing on the ground. Wi Seongcheon, clueless, tilted his head.
“Once he's become a Blood Madman, interrogation's impossible. He's a violent lunatic who won't communicate.”
“Blood Madman...”
“There are cases in martial history where a Blood Madman regained sanity... but you know what that means, right?”
Dang Heeran chewed her lip.
A Blood Madman regaining sanity... meant he'd turned into a demonic cultivator.
Jijeonchang's original skill didn't matter. If he became a demon, everyone here would die.
“The longer you hesitate...”
Seok Ijin turned to Wi Seongcheon. Before he could finish,
Wi Seongcheon stepped off Jijeonchang's back. Dang Heeran's face drained white.
She'd thought maybe Wi Seongcheon really was behind it all, just as Seok Ijin said.
But Seok Ijin didn't panic. He watched Wi Seongcheon steadily with calm eyes.
“Whew.”
He felt like unleashing a string of curses, but what good would it do? Wi Seongcheon grimaced like he'd bitten into shit and shook out his wrist.
Jijeonchang shot to his feet now free of the hold. The instant he turned to face Wi Seongcheon—
Crack.
His head whipped sideways.
The strike was incomparably faster than anything before.
Dang Heeran had no idea how Wi Seongcheon's hand had moved to snap the neck and twist the head a full turn.
“I misunderstood.”
Seok Ijin muttered. Unlike Dang Heeran, he'd seen the move. How fast it was. How... decisive.
Thud.
Jijeonchang's staggering body collapsed face-down.
* * *
His mood was still sour.
Thinking about it, this was his first time killing someone. His feelings on it... he didn't want to dwell.
Most things were like that. The first time was always the hardest.
‘Too late.’
Wi Seongcheon looked down at his hands.
These hands had just killed a man he'd only met today, someone he didn't even know. He'd struck him a few times before, but that last one was the first with killing intent.
One blow had sufficed.
‘Way too late.’
Starting this late was too much. Not the latest ever, maybe...
But hardly early. Just look at Dang Heeran—she'd killed Jijeon-gwon without a second thought.
That was the norm for jianghu folk. The martial arts they honed from childhood boiled down to killing people efficiently.
Some might argue it was for enlightenment through training, not killing...
But Buddhist or Daoist arts, when used on people, were still just killing techniques.
The same went for Wi Seongcheon's Heavenly Flower Chain Art.
Hunting beasts on the mountain, practicing alone. Aimed at humans, it was simply a killing art.
It didn't bother him. If he'd had qualms about that, he never would've learned martial arts to begin with.
Becoming a martial artist meant resolving for murder someday. He'd made that resolve when he first started the Heavenly Flower Chain Art.
“First time?”
Wi Seongcheon clenched and unclenched the hand he'd been staring at.
Seok Ijin, walking ahead, glanced back at him.
“Yes. It just turned out that way.”
“Makes me feel even sorrier.”
“Now you know.”
“Appetite holding up? Mine didn't. Can't even remember when... but I do recall it well. I was ten.”
“What about?”
“My first kill. Want to hear? Who I killed.”
“No.”
Wi Seongcheon answered with a reluctant expression, and Seok Ijin smacked his lips in disappointment. He clearly wanted to share.
“Still. You look pretty unfazed. Who knows what's inside, though.”
“No real thoughts. It was something I had to do eventually.”
Seok Ijin's eyebrow arched slightly.
“Had the resolve ready long ago?”
“I hoped for a situation that was worthwhile, unavoidable... something I had to do. But I think this is better. It wasn't forced—I chose to do it.”
Wi Seongcheon's voice was flat. Dang Heeran's shoulders twitched at his words. She turned to him in bewilderment, while Seok Ijin chuckled.
“So the situation just now wasn't unavoidable or necessary for you?”
“Yes.”
“If you hadn't killed Jijeonchang, I would've killed you. You didn't think I'd go that far?”
“I did.”
“And it still wasn't unavoidable? Haha! You're an interesting one.”
“Absolute Sword... not meant as disrespect. It's just my mindset.”
“I know. That's what makes it more interesting. Heavenly Flower Sect Leader... Never met the man, just heard the name, but now I'm curious what he's like.”
“Nothing special. Just some uncle.”
“Doubt it. A tiger cub's sire is always a tiger.”
“There's that saying about a good dog from a mutt father.”
“Is the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader a mutt?”
Wi Seongcheon paused, then shook his head.
“No.”
Seok Ijin laughed as if he'd expected that.
“Of course.”
Heavenly Flower Sect martial arts.
The method he'd used to kill Jijeonchang.
That speed.
No way he'd learned something like that under his father.