Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Faster, More Cruelly
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“Gale Dance... defeated the Third Young Master.”
While the audience was all plunged into shock at the completely unexpected result.
Some people were shocked for different reasons.
“Gale Dance really—”
“Gon, you’re saying that was really the skill of someone who’s only trained in Gale Dance for ten days?”
Dang Gon strutted about with his nose held high.
“Huhu! It’s all thanks to Master teaching him so well.”
“Nonsense!”
“If teaching could do it, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
Dang Tae and Dang Jin. The two core members of the Gale Corps alongside Dang Gon looked ready to grab their longtime friend by the collar.
Even when Dang Gon first said he had something fun to show them and to come out, they had been indifferent.
They were swamped sorting out matters to report to the Shadow Lord they’d see after so long.
Having to carve out time from their nonexistent schedule had pissed them off.
They had only come because he said to grab his collar if it was really boring.
But it seemed to have exceeded “decent” by quite a bit...?
“What the hell happened? Explain it properly.”
“Ah, it’s hard to explain with just words.”
“Is that so? Then how about this?”
When Dang Tae subtly drew a dagger from his bosom, Dang Jin quietly slipped a hidden weapon between his fingers from behind.
Meaning they’d stuff him full if he didn’t come through.
The fierce glint in their eyes made it clear it wasn’t an empty threat.
“...This is all just for laughs, right? For laughs! Haha, hahaha!”
“Not funny, so spit it out properly!”
“Just drop it.”
“You bastard—”
“Ah, I’m telling you, it’s true? Just drop it!”
Dang Gon jumped in fright and shot both hands up, and Dang Tae and Dang Jin couldn’t press him further despite their suspicions.
“Explain it simply. What the hell does that mean?”
Dang Gon explained what had happened with Unhwi so far.
The situation on the day they first met, where he casually memorized Shadow Scout and various other martial arts, even grasping the forms of Gale Dance.
And over the ten days that followed, he tinkered with other weapons before swiftly mastering the intent of Gale Dance.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I can’t believe it either! But it’s the truth, what can I do!”
“You didn’t secretly train in Gale Dance before that?”
“I suspected the same. But can’t you trust my eyes?”
If he could fool the eyes of an expert like Dang Gon, then Unhwi was already a superior master. Meaning, it didn’t make sense.
In the end, they had to accept Dang Gon’s words as fact.
Unhwi had truly defeated Dang Yuchang with Gale Dance he’d only trained in for ten days!
“......Impossible.”
At this point, Dang Tae and Dang Jin felt like all their common sense was shattering to pieces.
And now that the shock had somewhat subsided, other thoughts began to rear their heads.
“No way—”
“You’re saying Young Master Unhwi has Wind Talent?”
Wind Talent was, literally, a talent for riding the wind.
Every Gale Corps member had a bit of this talent, but only two had it exceptionally strong.
One was currently the Nine Dragons Branch Leader, and the other was dead and buried.
That was why the Gale Corps had chosen to disband.
“How else do you explain it if not a new Wind Talent?”
“......”
“......”
Dang Tae and Dang Jin had no response to that.
Dang Gon’s eyes... were shining more brilliantly than ever before.
Since the death of his fellow Wind Talent bearer, with whom he’d been like brothers, those always listless, hazy eyes now brimmed with life for the first time.
“On top of that, Young Master Unhwi said he wants to restore the Gale Corps.”
“!”
“!”
“Lady Gyujin and Young Master Yuchang never showed interest in the Gale Corps, but Young Master Unhwi, whom we’ve ignored all this time, brought it up. How should we take that?”
“......”
“......”
“I’m not saying we support Young Master Unhwi right away. I still have many suspicions about him.”
Dang Gon was convinced Unhwi had another master.
Until he clearly uncovered the truth about his internal energy, he couldn’t entrust the Gale Corps’s fate to him.
The weight of the Gale Corps’s vendettas was far too heavy for that.
“But we can at least watch with some expectations, right?”
Dang Tae and Dang Jin still gave no reply.
But Dang Gon was certain.
The figure of Unhwi had now taken strong root in their hearts.
Just like in his own.
“...Whether he’s worth expecting in will become clear if we watch a bit longer.”
The three men’s gazes turned back to the training ground.
* * *
“You—”
It’s hot.
Thump thump thump!
Can’t breathe.
Thump thump thump thump thump!
Her heart was beating too fast.
So Dang Gyujin couldn’t easily speak.
A sparring challenge?
To her?
She knew Unhwi’s skills were decent.
But she hadn’t imagined he could defeat Dang Yuchang in one exchange, much less have the boldness to challenge her so arrogantly.
All eyes were on her, but Dang Gyujin paid them no mind.
Right now, the most important thing to her was the voice within.
I want to fight.
She definitely wanted to clash.
But if she defeated Unhwi here?
She had just started overturning the household servants’ prejudices, only to be undervalued again.
But if Unhwi won?
She would lose too much.
The responsibility as heir to the Nine Dragons Branch on her left shoulder, and the weight as a later-generation disciple of the Qingcheng Sect on her right.
Was clashing swords with Unhwi worth gambling those two?
Her mother would even lose her last means of comeback.
With both children defeated by a bastard son, she’d have no qualification as a great madam.
No matter how much she hated her, a mother was a mother.
Was it right to impulsively dump all responsibility on her?
But.
「What are you hesitating for? What you want is right there, plain as day.」
The inner voice kept whispering like a devil.
「Forget the calculations. Do what you want right now. Don’t you want to fight? You do, right? Huh? Don’t you?」
Thump thump thump thump thump!
Her heart raced steeper, matching the inner voice.
「This isn’t Dang Unhwi versus Dang Gyujin. It’s martial artist versus martial artist.」
At those words.
Hee-hee!
Dang Gyujin grinned broadly.
Like an inner demon.
Yes.
She was a martial artist.
She drew her sword.
Kiiiiiaaa!
Azure Ghost Mask.
With a thrilling ghostly wail, a demon’s face faintly overlaid her own.
* * *
Kwaaaang!
Dang Gyujin seemed to hesitate for a moment before drawing her sword and landing on the training ground.
Whish whish whish!
As expected.
Her aura was on another level from what it had been in the white match.
My skin stung.
Even though it was clearly a gale she was stirring.
“Hee hee hee hee. You sure about this, Hwi? Once I draw my sword, I never hold back.”
The ghostly energy leaking from Dang Gyujin’s twisted lips mixed with the Qingcheng Sect’s unique Heaven and Earth True Qi, boasting a peculiar temperament.
Divine and demonic.
As if a heavenly god and demon had taken residence in her body together.
Was this the Azure Ghost Mask Technique?
As expected, the possessor of maturity seemed a different breed from ordinary people.
“I’d be disappointed if you held back. Please give me your all.”
“You won’t regret those words? Hee hee hee hee. Good, good. Let’s have some real fun.”
Then she abruptly stopped laughing, thrust her sword into the ground, and politely cupped her fists.
“I am Dang Gyujin, heir to the Nine Dragons Branch of the Tang Clan and sword guardian of the Upper Purity Palace of the Qingcheng Sect. For the past five years, I have been instructed at our friendly dojo. My specialties are the Heaven and Earth Single Qi Style and the Shooting Lightning Severing Light Sword. To my shame, fellow wanderers of the martial world have bestowed upon me the overly grand moniker of Thousand Leaf Sage. I hope this becomes a fine spar.”
I performed the formal rites as well.
“I am Dang Unhwi, second son of the Nine Dragons Branch of the Tang Clan. Instructed by Gale Knight Dang Gon, I have mastered Gale Dance. I have no moniker. I ask for your guidance and leniency.”
With greetings complete.
Paat!
Dang Gyujin moved first.
Swish swish—
Her sword thrust like flowing water.
The Azure Ghost Mask was already back on her face.
“Isn’t yielding three moves to a junior the virtuous way?”
“Hee hee hee! Yielding what, when we’ve agreed to play together!”
Dang Gyujin dismissed it as nonsense.
Well, this was exactly what I’d hoped for.
Treating me not as a junior or little brother, but as an enemy. Didn’t that mean she acknowledged my skill?
So I resolved to go all out as well.
Poison Dragon Heart Formula
Ghost Dragon Release
Kiiiiiaaa!
The gale swirling around me mixed with ghostly, murderous, and poisonous energies, turning into an eerie demonic gale.
Ghost Dragon.
This morning, I had finally succeeded in entering the second stage of the Poison Dragon Heart Formula.
“Deadly Poison!?”
“So that’s the secret behind Second Young Master’s sudden rise in prowess!”
“Deadly Poison and Gale Dance... If we’re talking pure destructive power and eeriness, they might synergize well!”
While the audience exclaimed in surprise, I didn’t dodge Dang Gyujin’s frontal thrust but closed in instead.
“What—”
As Dang Gyujin slightly flinched.
Gale Twelve Forms
Whirlwind突璧
Paat!
In an instant, the gale blew, completely concealing my presence like a hare vanishing before a hawk’s eyes.
Dang Gyujin’s sword sliced through empty gusts.
I was no longer there. Only faint traces of shadow remained.
“Shadow Drifting Body? Not bad? You’re way more fun than I thought?”
Dang Gyujin rapidly scanned with her senses.
Then, at the spot where she’d thrust deep.
Unhwi appeared from the empty air, and a clash erupted.
She had blocked an attack from a blind spot with senses alone.
“That sense of yours is a bit annoying.”
“But you’re fine with it, right?”
“Yes. I didn’t expect you to block this.”
I lightly clicked my tongue.
With ghostly and poisonous energies mixed into the gale, I thought her senses would dull temporarily, making it hard to track me.
But the senses of the Azure Ghost Mask Technique seemed far superior to what I’d anticipated.
“More than that, how’s that hand?”
“Better than I thought.”
I had met Dang Gyujin’s Qinggang Sword with my rigidly extended hand blade.
A normal person’s flesh would have been deeply gashed, but mine was unscathed, like an adamantine body.
朔Wind Blade Formation.
A technique of Gale Dance that wraps the gale around the body like a weapon.
It allowed using the hand like a blade.
“Then—”
Dang Gyujin grinned broadly again.
“I’ll fight without worrying about your arm at all!”
Shhh shhh shhh!
The Qinggang Sword flashed.
Severing Light, a fierce and swift assault like cleaving light itself.
Of course, I wasn’t being pushed back.
Didn’t I have a weapon rivaling the Azure Ghost Mask?
Fierce Tiger Twelve Strikes.
I rapidly whipped my extended hand blade.
Like a tiger of violent temperament setting out to hunt.
Shhh shhh shhh—
Baba bak!
The gale from my hand blade soon enveloped my entire body, and further, blanketed the training ground.
Gale Dance was better seen not as a martial art, but as a completed “flow.”
朔Wind Blade Formation, Demonic Gale Slicing Feet, Gale Divine Steps, Tempest Stride, Roaring Gale Cannon, Chasing Wind Retreat, and so on.
It fused all the martial arts once boasted by the Gale Corps into one, far surpassing previous comprehensive limits—that was Gale Dance.
Thus, Gale Dance wasn’t bound by forms.
Even drawing in martial arts from entirely different lineages, its power never weakened.
That was exactly why I’d coaxed Dang Gon to hand over Gale Dance.
To encompass the Poison Dragon Heart Formula, Fierce Tiger Twelve Strikes, the Heavenly Demon Sword I’d learn later, the Divine Cult’s absolute demonic arts, even other Tang Clan secrets—nothing else could do it.
Even the previously crude Fierce Tiger became far more valiant and intense the moment it met the gale.
Faster.
More cruelly.
Like the gale ceaselessly swirling, the Fierce Tiger’s kicks relentlessly hounded Dang Gyujin.