Chapter 38
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Act First, Think Later (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Die! Die! Dieee!!”
*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*
The beating was so relentless, the sound of flesh meeting fist almost sounded like a cheerful rhythm.
Ma Dongpil grew frantic.
“Young Master!”
*Murmur, murmur.*
“Move!”
*THWACK!*
Ma Dongpil sent another member of the Berserk Demon Unit flying.
The bewildered members of the Berserk Demon Unit unleashed their killing intent again. It was an almost instinctive reaction.
Ma Dongpil foamed at the mouth.
“You crazy bastards! Back off! This isn't the time to be fighting amongst ourselves!”
“What's this asshole talking about!”
He felt like he was going to lose his mind. How could they live their lives being so damn simple-minded?
“Your commander is about to die!”
Those words snapped the Berserk Demon Unit members to their senses.
*Fwoosh!*
Parting the sea of people, Ma Dongpil instantly leaped into the kitchen.
“Grrrk!”
Just then, the battered Wi Hongryeon gritted her teeth and swung her leg.
*Thud!*
Seo Ryang’s body staggered.
But that was all. It was a blow struck with all her internal energy amidst the chaos, but it wasn't enough to make Seo Ryang retreat. Had he been in his right mind, the attack wouldn't have even landed.
Seo Ryang swung his leg.
*Crack!*
Blood burst from Wi Hongryeon’s mouth.
It was a truly merciless kick. If she hadn't instinctively turned her head, not just her teeth but her jawbone would have been shattered.
Wi Hongryeon felt her senses sharpen.
‘I'm going to die!’
She had intended to half-kill him, but she never meant to actually take his life. This wasn't a problem that could be solved with her life alone.
But this bastard was different.
This man, who had only been receiving her attacks until now, was genuinely trying to kill her. And he was trying to beat her to death with his bare fists.
“You!”
*Rumble!*
In that instant, her Azure Demonic Art flared even more intensely.
She wasn't afraid just because her opponent was trying to kill her. She had run through too many battlefields of life and death for that.
If anything, it invigorated her.
Realizing her opponent was serious, a layer of fighting spirit was added on top of her madness.
*BOOM!*
Seo Ryang staggered back two steps. Wi Hongryeon had unleashed the Divine Fist of the Berserk Demon, a technique she had created herself.
However, Wi Hongryeon, who had landed a fist squarely on her opponent's chest, couldn't help but be shocked.
‘Is that all it did?’
She hadn't expected to fell him with a single blow, but she thought she could at least inflict some internal injuries.
Seo Ryang growled.
“You're dead!”
*BAM! CRASH!*
“Guh!”
It was the same punch, but the power was different. Wi Hongryeon was slammed into a wall, shattering all the kitchen utensils in her path.
Blood naturally spewed from her mouth. Her head rang, and her vision swam.
This ignorantly strong bastard?!
*Thwack!*
Seo Ryang's body staggered again. He had been struck on the collarbone by Wi Hongryeon's hand-blade.
But that was all. A blow that would have shattered the collarbone and ribs of any decent master merely made Seo Ryang falter for a beat.
Seo Ryang grinned.
At the bright smile that revealed all his upper and lower teeth, Wi Hongryeon flinched despite herself.
“...Crazy.”
Normally, she would have quipped, 'He's got some nice teeth,' but she couldn't even manage that now. She realized her opponent was just as unhinged as she was.
“I am the Commander of the Berserk Demon Unit, you crazy son of a bitch!”
*BOOM!*
The two erupted into another fiery exchange.
Ma Dongpil, who had been inside for a while but hadn't dared to intervene, glanced around before looking outside the kitchen.
The Berserk Demon Unit members were staring blankly at him.
‘...Damn it.’
Common sense was lost on them. They were madmen who would just tilt their heads in confusion if he asked them to help break up the fight.
‘What do I do?’
He didn't care if he got hurt. What was coughing up some blood if it meant he could stop the Young Master?
The real problem was that he couldn't stop him even then.
‘He was like this back then, too.’
In the Solitary Bamboo Forest, Ma Dongpil had nearly died trying to hunt down the apes.
Seo Ryang, returning after cleanly dispatching three of them, had shown him what true madness was. The five apes Ma Dongpil had been fighting at the time had vanished without a trace, not even leaving bones behind.
Of course, Seo Ryang hadn't been unscathed either.
‘What do I do? What do I do?’
*Crack!*
“Kuaaaargh!”
Wi Hongryeon let out a monstrous scream.
Her face was a mess, almost unrecognizable, and her entire body was drenched in blood. Her appearance was enough to send a chill down anyone's spine.
“You son of a bitch, I'm really going to kill you!”
*Surge. Surge.*
Ma Dongpil's face turned pale.
The killing intent pouring from Wi Hongryeon's body was on a completely different level than before. After taking hit after hit, her anger had boiled over, and she had resolved to kill her opponent.
*Shing!*
Wi Hongryeon even drew the wide, strangely shaped sword from her back.
Ma Dongpil shouted.
“Commander of the Berserk Demon Unit!”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
*Vwooooom!!*
Wi Hongryeon swung her sword.
*Flash!*
An azure sword ki, which almost looked gentle at first glance, flew in the shape of a crescent moon.
Seo Ryang's eyes flashed.
The azure sword ki shot forward like a beam of light. It was a level above the sword ki Ma Dongpil had produced in the Solitary Bamboo Forest—the realm of Mind-Intent Chasing Sword.
‘Excellent.’
Seo Ryang was not as mad as Ma Dongpil feared.
Or rather, he had been at first, but not anymore.
If the madness he'd shown initially had continued, he wouldn't have engaged in a slugfest like this, trading blows one by one. He would have just buried her on the spot.
Naturally, the killing intent he was showing now wasn't entirely genuine either.
‘Ah, well, there's a little bit of sincerity mixed in.’
The thought that Geumho might have been hurt by the palm strike made his blood pressure spike all over again.
‘Anyway...’
Despite the incredible speed of the approaching sword ki, his thoughts were calm. This was thanks to maintaining the second form of the Heavenly Net Six Arts, Hyper-Cognitive Observation.
Hyper-Cognitive Observation was something that those who hadn't trained their upper dantian couldn't even attempt. The reason was that opening it drastically accelerated the speed of one's thoughts.
Opening Hyper-Cognitive Observation without a trained upper dantian would turn one's brain to mush before they could even take a breath. Though it was the second form, it was ten times more dangerous than the first, Hyper-Perceptive Observation.
Seo Ryang looked directly into Wi Hongryeon's eyes.
In the illusion that the world had slowed down, he could clearly see the intense light in the Commander's eyes.
Atop the Hyper-Cognitive Observation, the Demonic Eye of the supreme Dark Shadow True Demonic Art descended.
‘Anger, impatience, bewilderment, defiance...’
He quickly read her emotions and condition.
‘Competitiveness, a sense of defeat, acknowledgement... acknowledgement?’
Huh, acknowledgement?
‘Oho? Look at this?’
Her enraged face felt new. Beneath the expression burning with anger, killing intent, and madness, he could glimpse a sliver of her wounded pride.
Seo Ryang smiled.
It wasn't a sneer at his opponent, but the smile of a martial artist, born from sincerity.
His left foot stomped the ground.
*BOOM!*
A powerful force originating from the floor shot up through his lower and middle dantians to his upper dantian.
The azure sword ki was now right before his nose.
Seo Ryang reached his hand toward the sword ki. It was a gesture that seemed almost wistful, as if trying to grasp someone.
And...
“...?”
The sword ki vanished without a trace.
Wi Hongryeon's eyes widened.
“...What?”
What happened? He just reached out his hand, so why did her Blue Wing Sword Ki dissipate?
“Ugh, that stings.”
Seo Ryang shook his hand. On the palm that had caught and extinguished the sword ki, a straight red mark had appeared.
“It pierced my Steel Wall Hand? Impressive.”
The Steel Wall Hand was a hand technique from the Heaven-Lifting Technique, the opposite of the Explosive Mountain Strength which maximized Hidden Strength.
A vicious technique that made the hand itself as hard as steel to crush everything from the outside in.
He may have been short on time, but he had still executed it with vigorous Dark Shadow Demonic Ki, yet it left a mark. This meant Wi Hongryeon's level of enlightenment was higher than Seo Ryang had thought.
Wi Hongryeon's face twisted viciously. Not that it didn't already look twisted enough, being swollen all over.
“You...”
She wanted to curse, but the words wouldn't come out.
His martial arts were on a completely different level from what they had exchanged before. She thought they were climbing the same hill, but it turned out he was strolling along the eighth ridge of Mount Tai.
*Fwoosh.*
As he clenched his fist, the sticky, blood-colored demonic ki transformed into a brilliant, flame-like demonic ki and blazed up.
“That was impressive, but this is as far as you go.”
*Grit.*
“I'll give you a choice while you catch your breath.”
*Shhh.*
The demonic ki on Seo Ryang's hand vanished, and the mark on his palm disappeared completely.
“Will you turn yourself in for corruption?”
“...”
“Or will you be dragged away for lèse-majesté against the Third Young Master and attempted murder, bringing the grand finale to a life you've only lived for thirty years? Hmm?”
“...”
“You know you're no match for me, and you know which of the two is the better choice, so I don't get why you're hesitating.”
“...”
“Ah, is that it? I suppose you don't like some insignificant punk telling you what to do, giving you choices and all?”
*Shwing.*
Seo Ryang drew the saber from his waist.
It wasn't a divine weapon rarely seen in the world, but it also wasn't a blade that any ordinary craftsman could make. Despite its simple appearance, the body of the saber overflowed with a treasured light.
“I guess I was a bit rude to the Commander of the Berserk Demon Unit, who lives on pride alone. Toying with you with a question whose answer is already obvious.”
*Shhh.*
He aimed the saber at Wi Hongryeon.
A seriousness filled Seo Ryang's eyes.
“No need to drag this out. Let's end this.”
*Vwoooooom!!*
Wi Hongryeon's eyes grew wide.
The saber in Seo Ryang's hand was vibrating on its own. It wasn't reacting to his true ki; the blade itself was emitting a clear cry, as if it were alive.
‘The Saber's Cry!’
It was the same state as the Sword's Cry for swordsmen.
The cry of life that can only be achieved by one who has reached a state of perfect unity between the external weapon, the body, and the mind, achieving optimal balance.
When all become one, the saber finally gains a soul and sprouts a will of its own.
This proved that, depending on the degree of training, one could even reach the highest realm of the sword path: Sword Control.
*Tss-tss-tss.*
The blade began to grow larger.
It hadn't actually grown, yet Seo Ryang's form was obscured, hidden by the image of the saber.
Wi Hongryeon's eyes wavered.
The madness that wouldn't subside until someone died vanished in an instant.
‘That is...’
A supreme state of Body-Saber Unity that couldn't even be compared to that of an ordinary peak master.
Fire erupted from Seo Ryang's eyes.
“Farewell.”
*VWOOOOOOM!!*
The giant blade lunged forward like an illusion.
It was at that moment.
*Clang.*
Her oddly shaped sword fell to the floor, letting out a deep cry.
*Drip. Trickle.*
A line of fresh blood ran across Wi Hongryeon's forehead.
Wi Hongryeon didn't panic. No, she stood there with a relaxed expression, her eyes even closed.
And at the edge of her forehead rested the tip of Seo Ryang's saber.
Seo Ryang spoke coldly.
“Why didn't you dodge?”
“...Because I couldn't.”
“Did you accept death?”
“If you can't avoid it, you die.”
“And so you dropped your sword?”
“My life hasn't been fortunate enough to leave room for regrets. Like the countless people who died by my hand, I too will one day die by another's.”
“And that day is today?”
“I don't know. And even if I did, it wouldn't matter.”
Her words starkly revealed the kind of life she had lived.
Although to a lesser extent, the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon was still an organization within the martial world. She must have been constantly looked down upon simply for being a woman.
To shatter those gazes and prejudices, she must have lived her life working ten times harder than anyone else.
Moreover, she was also from a martial family that had once opposed the Divine Cult. Naturally, she must have struggled viciously and fiercely to survive.
Watching her quietly, Seo Ryang sheathed his saber.
Wi Hongryeon's eyes slowly opened.
*Thwack!*
She collapsed into a corner of the kitchen. Seo Ryang had thrown a punch.
“Consider your lèse-majesté and other minor crimes paid for with this one punch.”
Wi Hongryeon looked up at him, stroking her cheek.
“Let me tell you this beforehand, don't think I'll do as you wish just because you let me off a little.”
“I won't, you bitch.”
“...”
“I crushed the bait on the hook with my own hands. Would I expect to catch a fish now?”
“...What's that supposed to mean?”
“I don't know! I can't believe I went through all that damn trouble and even drew my saber.”
Grumbling continuously, Seo Ryang took out a silk pouch and placed it in the hand of the unconscious restaurant owner.
“My apologies. I don't know if you can hear me, but this should be enough for the repairs.”
He shot a glare at Wi Hongryeon.
Wi Hongryeon flinched.
“If I hear you stole this money, I'll smash your head in.”
“Do I look like some back-alley thug to you? I won't take it.”
“From the way you act, a thug would be a saint in comparison, you uneducated, ignorant wench.”
Seo Ryang shouted.
“Dongpil! Let's go!”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
“Sorry for getting your hopes up for nothing. I thought it would get pretty heated.”
“If it had gotten any more heated, I might have died of a heart attack.”
“Such a drama queen.”
The two left the Zami Pavilion as if nothing had happened. Geumho had already climbed onto Seo Ryang's shoulder and was yipping.
Wi Hongryeon watched the two men and one animal leave from the destroyed kitchen.
A moment later, a subordinate approached with an awkward expression.
“Are you all right, Commander?”
“I'm not.”
“Ah... yes.”
Wi Hongryeon got to her feet.
“Clean this place up and order some drinks.”
“Pardon?”
“The company dinner hasn't even started, we can't end it like this, can we? The others are waiting. Hurry up and clean.”
“Yes.”
Wi Hongryeon watched Seo Ryang's retreating back again.
Scratching his head as if something was weighing on him, he looked just like any ordinary young man you might find in any neighborhood.
“...Who's calling who uneducated and ignorant, coming from a simple-minded brute who only knows strength.”