Now Then... Kneel
It was as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over them all.
A single blow.
Yet that single blow was more than enough to overturn the entire atmosphere.
Intent Qi?
How could a sixteen-year-old have reached the realm of Transcendental Peak?
He was already on equal footing with the Head of Gangmu Pavilion.
No—even sharing the same Intent Qi, Jegal Mun-Hyeon was overwhelmingly stronger.
The faces of the Namgung Family martial artists twisted in utter devastation, while those standing with the Jegal clenched their fists until the knuckles went white.
The blood Mok Ja-un had spewed soaked the ground thick and stained the front of his robes. Barely managing to rise, he swayed on pale features as if he might collapse at any moment.
The worry that had been directed at Jegal Mun-Hyeon transformed into roaring cheers that shook the mountain ridges.
"H-he won!"
"Mun-Hyeon won!"
"Waaaaaah!"
But Jegal Mun-Hyeon walked on with a blank expression, as if he heard none of it.
His steps were ordinary—the Level Step.
Yet even that mere walk made Mok Ja-un, who had already sensed defeat, flinch and stumble backward.
Try as hard as you like for a hundred days.
You are already in the mire.
The more you move, the deeper you sink...
With that vacant gaze that had lost all will to fight, escape was impossible.
"Now then, this is the second exchange. It is called Seven Stars Revolving Heaven. It is a continuous strike modeled after the form of seven stars filling the sky and revolving, their light covering all under heaven. Once unleashed, it will not stop until forty-nine blows have landed."
Jegal Mun-Hyeon remained as courteous as ever.
With a bright smile, he approached step by step, pressing his feet firmly into the earth.
His footprints deepened.
Hiss!
The internal energy he held within radiated heat, raising pale steam and heat haze that crushed Mok Ja-un under an immense presence.
In the past, people had called such majestic steps of his the Sovereign's Stride.
He was simply walking while releasing all his power, that was all.
Those bastards just loved inventing names for things.
Of course, those crushed before that stride had all been so terrified they knelt and bowed their heads before even attempting resistance.
Just like Mok Ja-un now.
The man who had been struggling as if suffocating gritted his teeth, twisted his face, and waved not his sword but his empty hand.
He had already sensed his own defeat.
Having underestimated his opponent, he had suffered irreversible internal injuries from a single strike, and his condition was far worse than before he had even circulated his energy.
And continuous strikes in this state...
Mok Ja-un glanced at the Eunhangon in Jegal Mun-Hyeon's hand.
Unlike his own sword that had snapped in a single blow, it was so solid that not even a scratch marred it.
Could he block it?
With internal energy added, his body had no chance of withstanding that force. Before the forty-nine blows even finished... he would die.
If he lost his life while the Three Yang Courtesy was being bestowed, they could not find fault with the Jegal.
He had requested it himself from the start.
"W-wait... just wait a moment."
"..."
"I lose..."
Having realized with his entire body that Jegal Mun-Hyeon's skill was a level above his own, Mok Ja-un sought to preserve his life at least.
He too was a descendant of the orthodox path.
If he broke his pride and begged for his life, they would show magnanimity.
...or so he thought, but before the words even finished, Jegal Mun-Hyeon's figure moved with terrifying speed and closed in beside him.
"Who said you could lose?"
"...?!"
"Until I finish, you aren't even allowed to admit defeat."
In that instant, his nape stung.
His mute acupoint had been sealed, and the words rising in his throat could not leave his mouth.
He tried desperately to shout, but only muffled whimpers came out. No—sobbing, distressed whimpers of pure anguish.
"Now then. The second exchange."
"...!"
In his frantic eyes was reflected the image of Jegal Mun-Hyeon raising the Eunhangon high.
Ah... damn it...
To run into such a vicious little brat.
In the moment his heart sank into desolation, Jegal Mun-Hyeon's Eunhangon whirled, spitting out a cluster of light.
Seven stars fill the sky and revolve. Their light covers all under heaven. Once unleashed, the continuous strikes do not stop until forty-nine blows have landed.
Bwaaaaak!
Mok Ja-un's body, jawbone shattered by the upward strike of the Eunhangon, soared high into the air.
Then the Eunhangon, imbued with flashes of light, created countless trajectories like seven stars and poured onto his body.
Flash, flash, flash...
As if his body had been trapped entirely within the light and vanished from sight, only the sound of continuous impacts—bbrabababababak!—could be heard.
Then when the light vanished and the Eunhangon stopped moving—
Drip, drip, drip.
In the silence that had swallowed the onlookers, only the sound of blood flowing down the Eunhangon and dripping to the ground echoed clearly.
Strangely, that sound reached their ears with vivid clarity.
"Tch... there's still one more left..."
With an expression full of regret, Jegal Mun-Hyeon looked down at the ground, and at the end of that gaze lay Mok Ja-un, reduced to a bloody mess sprawled out.
He was still breathing.
He had merely lost consciousness from the extreme agony.
Under everyone's watch, Jegal Mun-Hyeon swung the Eunhangon to shake off the blood and looked at the Namgung Family martial artists who had frozen awkwardly in place.
Their eyes were so wide with shock that they could not even blink.
Baring his even teeth in a pure white smile, Jegal Mun-Hyeon spoke.
"..."
A smile and a single word were enough.
The Namgung martial artists, whose last hope had been crushed in an already defeated situation, could hold out no longer.
With their will to fight gone and their pride pulverized, they one by one bowed their heads, dropped their swords, and sank to their knees.
Now it was time to hand over the initiative.
"Uncle, thank you for giving me this opportunity. I shall withdraw for now."
After bowing politely and returning to his place as if nothing had happened, Jegal Mun-Hyeon's figure made the corner of Jegal Do-myeong's mouth lift slightly.
As expected, a smiling expression did not suit the man.
But he soon returned to a blank face and commanded the Jegal Family martial artists in a voice full of authority.
"Inspect him!"
"Yes!"
A martial artist who received the order ran over and checked Mok Ja-un's condition in detail.
Don't worry. I didn't kill him.
That bastard's head is the most valuable.
"He is unharmed."
"Fortunate."
Nodding with his usual calm, Jegal Do-myeong spoke to the kneeling Changcheon Swordmen.
"Your leader has collapsed without even completing the Three Yang Courtesy that our house offered. Resist no further. At that point, you will be dealt with by death!"
Even without those words, they who had already lost their fighting spirit had no Intent Qi left to oppose.
"The war is over! Treat the captives with care and heal the wounded! Serve food and water to the weary, and report our victory to the main house!"
"Yes!"
At Jegal Do-myeong's command, the martial artists answered more vigorously than ever.
It was a perfect victory.
A victory perfect in both strategy and martial force.
And perhaps, in a world where the boundaries between orthodox and unorthodox had crumbled, it had been the most orthodox victory of all. There had been wounded, but almost no dead.
The rumor spread quickly.
Through marketplaces, through people's mouths.
Of course, it went without saying that the Beggars' Union disciples made the spread of the rumor even faster.
And the place that took the most direct hit from that rumor was the murim forces settled in Hubei Province.
"Th-the Namgung Family lost?"
"Yes, sir! All of Hubei Province is in an uproar right now. According to what I've heard, nearly three hundred Namgung Family martial artists were subdued and dragged off to Yungjung Mountain."
"Hah!"
The shock Yi Pil-baek, Master of the Demon Shadow Tower, received was beyond words.
When the Namgung Family had attacked Hubei, he had chosen not to move rashly and simply watch the situation.
Even if they had reclaimed their place as the overlords of Anhui, stretching their hand as far as Hubei was no easy matter.
Their forces would be dispersed, after all.
He had thought that the attacked Blood Shadow Pavilion might have committed some great discourtesy against them, and that once that anger cooled, the disturbance would settle.
But things had taken a strange turn.
The Jegal Family's entry into the war.
A development he had never anticipated.
Like themselves, they had treated the Jegal Family as enemies for decades, occupying their territory and waiting for opportunities.
How deep must the accumulated grudges be?
Yet they had stepped to the forefront, aided the Blood Shadow Pavilion, and defeated the Namgung Family.
"Tower Master, that's not all."
"What is it?"
"Didn't we hear earlier that the Jegal Family had taken Dangang-gu?"
"We did."
"Apparently Wudang stands behind them."
"What? Wudang?"
"Yes."
"..."
At his subordinate Go Gyu's words, Yi Pil-baek's head grew confused.
The Blood Shadow Pavilion had gone under the Jegal Family, and even Wudang was maintaining a close relationship with them.
What did this mean, then?
Now, north of Hubei Province, the only force that could compare to the Jegal Family was themselves.
No—they could not even claim to compare.
Even when the Jegal Family had been pinned down at Yungjung Mountain, the Blood Shadow Pavilion and Demon Shadow Tower had stood together to maintain a roughly equal balance.
If the somewhat small Honyeon Alliance had collapsed and the Blood Shadow Pavilion had fallen into their hands as well?
"I-isolation?"
The predicament the Jegal Family had once faced had become their own.
Wudang to the north, the Jegal Family to the east, Hukgangmun to the south.
"Shouldn't we also prepare some kind of countermeasure?"
"..."
"If the Jegal Family decides to completely stabilize the north while they're at it..."
A chill ran down his spine.
There was no way they could stop a Jegal Family attack.
As this fight had shown, their martial force was also on a tremendous level. The Blood Shadow Pavilion had helped, but hadn't three hundred Changcheon Swordmen been captured without being able to put up a proper fight?
In that situation, the Demon Shadow Tower alone would find it hard to hold out. The forces they could gather amounted to only a few minor sects at best.
"Damn it, so in the end we have no choice but to choose?"
"Either Hukgangmun in the south, or submitting to the Jegal Family like the Blood Shadow Pavilion, I suppose."
"Mm..."
"If it were me, I would choose the Jegal Family."
"What?"
"Apparently the Blood Shadow Pavilion earned recognition of their status by voluntarily declaring their allegiance."
"Recognition of status?"
"Like a branch family. They have to follow their commands and regulations, but the autonomy of their territory is guaranteed, I hear."
"They guarantee autonomy? The Jegal Family?"
"Yes. As long as they only conduct legal businesses, they said they would never make an issue of it. It seems they also intend to pretend not to know about past grudges. The Hubei Province sects who heard that rumor are all rushing over, apparently."
"Th-that..."
"Oh, and the Blood Shadow Pavilion Master is changing the sect's name as well, I hear?"
"Changing the name too?"
"Yes. From now on, it's the Uiseong Ok Family. Ok Sa-yeong has taken the seat as the first Family Head, they say."
"O-Ok Family?"
What kind of orthodox-sounding name was that?
Had they decided to step onto the orthodox path entirely?
"In truth, even among our subordinate martial artists, the atmosphere toward Hukgangmun isn't very favorable. To speak plainly, there's nothing good about going under Hukgangmun, is there?"
"..."
"In exchange for becoming a subordinate force, we'd have to pay enormous taxes, and treat the martial artists dispatched by the Hukgangmun Master as our superiors and bow our heads to them. Frankly, for us who have lived freely of our own will—unlike those who were originally that way—Hukgangmun is not a very appealing option..."
Yi Pil-baek's eyes narrowed as he looked at Go Gyu.
He understood the situation.
But how did this bastard know all this so well?
"Go Gyu."
"Yes?"
"Have you been running spies behind my back? How do you know the affairs of other forces in such detail?"
"Well... the beggar packs have been going around talking about it."
"What?"
"These days all information flows out from that side. They call themselves the Beggars' Union, I hear? Branch halls of the beggar packs are already springing up all over Hubei Province."
"B-branch halls? Then the Beggars' Union?"
"Yes. And they say they've even set up their main headquarters at Yungjung Mountain where the Jegal Family is."
"..."
"The beggars of northern Hubei are also lining up to attach themselves over there, I hear? At this rate, I wonder if the Beggars' Union might even be revived."
Go Gyu shook his head and sighed.
Realizing he could no longer delay the choice, Yi Pil-baek casually picked up his brush.
"What are you doing?"
"...Writing a letter."
"What?"
As Go Gyu made a puzzled expression, Yi Pil-baek wrote the first line of the missive.
To the Esteemed Head of the Jegal Family.
There was no other option.
He was not so stupid as to have to taste dung to know whether it was dung or soybean paste.
The trend was the Jegal.
More than anything, seeking help from Hukgangmun was something he also disliked.
They would take everything, after all.
But the Jegal Family would not dig into past grudges, would guarantee their status, and would guarantee their power as well.
Then of course...
Hmm, what name would be good?
Should I call it the Heungsan Yi Family?