The Heavenly Demon Copies Martial Arts - Chapter 145
The arena floor was soaked in blood and writhing with broken men.
Broken rods and wooden poles lay scattered everywhere.
—Clump, clump.
Only the aged and enfeebled remained below the stage.
“S-sacred heavens.”
They trembled in terror at the men who had been brutally beaten on the stage.
“…! …!!”
While the surrounding crowd cheered wildly.
“Hoo.”
Gasping for breath, Sub-master Lee Eultak wiped the blood from his cheek.
He gave a polite bow toward the four directions, flashing a victorious smile.
The audience erupted in cheers.
“Get up! What kind of man’s spawn are you? You think that’s all you’ve got! How much money did I bet?!”
“Hah! Even though they’re just ordinary civilians, I expected them to hold out a little longer. But with that much spirit? No way!”
High-ranking officials from Shaanxi fanned themselves with fans, tongue-clicking in disdain.
In the first place, this had never been anything more than entertainment.
Ordinary men who had never learned martial arts.
The opponent was a seasoned fighter who lived by his honed techniques.
No one had expected a reversal.
The victory was already certain; the stage had simply been set to test how long the peasants could cling on.
“Ha… ha…”
The man who had started the fight rose shakily, leaning on a half-broken rod.
He would know better than anyone how absurd it all was.
They had no power, but they were not fools.
The man’s entire body was drenched in blood.
Both eyes were swollen with bruises and could not even blink.
He was crying.
Crying in rage.
So Cheonpa let out a small sigh.
“Even a bug has spirit, I see.”
So Jeongmun pointed with his thick arm.
“Lee Eultak, you worthless bastard. I told you to hold back during the banquet so the mood would stay light, but I never said to go easy on me when I’m the head of Unwol Jiju.”
Lee Eultak, realizing too late, spotted the rising man and bowed politely toward So Jeongmun.
“I’m sorry. The bugs here are so weak that I had to be kind, or they would have died.”
“Finish it. Bad luck if you don’t.”
So Jeongmun grinned. “The rent might even be cut.”
“Ah, don’t worry about that. I’d rather fall over and crack my skull than let it slide…”
That was when—
—Thud, thud.
A man shoved the onlookers at the base of the stage and stepped onto it.
“I mourn for you! I mourn for you! How can a warrior commit one-sided violence and humiliation against ordinary commoners who have never learned a single stroke of martial arts?!”
The man’s clear voice rang out across the arena.
He was emaciated.
His threadbare clothes were moldy and torn.
So Cheonpa frowned.
“What now.”
The man showed no fear.
He walked straight into the middle of the arena.
“As for me! I have firmly rooted myself in Shaanxi, unbroken even under the oppression of the Jegal Clan, carrying on the legacy to this very day!”
He strode forward, voice booming through the entire venue.
“The orthodox sect of Shaanxi, the current fourteenth master of the Tang Clan, and the true successor of the decisive technique Byeoksan-ryeon!”
“Hah, who’s this? Some clown.”
Lee Eultak muttered, unimpressed.
The man carried a pack on his back as he advanced.
“I assumed there had been unavoidable circumstances up until now! But I can no longer stand by as just another man who has learned martial arts or as one who pursues the Way and Spirit!”
Two worn, tattered gauntlets—symbols of boxing—hung at his wrists.
Between the fluttering rags of his clothes, a pair of simple straw sandals peeked out.
Over them, multiple layers of cloth bandages were tied roughly with string.
“You are sucking the blood of the commoners! Exploiting them with usurious loans! Taking advantage of the precious hearts of fathers who promise to protect their families while you harass the women! In this present age, as one who possesses strength, how can you ignore all of this?!”
So Jeongmun’s brows furrowed as he gestured at his subordinates.
—Chak.
So Cheonpa took his hand.
“So Cheonpa-nim?”
“Stay quiet.”
So Cheonpa smiled slyly.
“You don’t seem to be feeling this crowd’s excitement.”
So Jeongmun glanced around.
Realizing the situation, he nodded and smiled.
—Murmur, murmur.
The crowd, who had expected a fierce battle, had already grown bored.
They had hoped for a flashy fight with blood spraying; the early collapse left them yawning.
What they wanted was a glorious duel between warriors.
Yet here was one man stepping forward to challenge another.
The audience began to chatter.
“Did the Tang Clan even exist?”
“No, I’ve never heard of it. Shaanxi doesn’t even have sects registered with the Murim Alliance.”
“A fraud.”
“Still, they’re wearing gear that looks like proper boxing equipment.”
Soon laughter erupted.
“Puhahaha, what is this? He’s wearing completely rotted gear!”
“Even our sect’s youngest gets better clothes than that.”
“Khehehe, they’re trying to act cool about it, so maybe they’ve actually learned some martial arts.”
Not a single soul paid attention to Gang Ilbi’s outburst.
Everyone treated his tattered clothes and miserable appearance as the mark of a madman.
Only the face of the man facing him—Sub-master Lee Eultak—showed growing disgust.
“Where the hell did this crazy bastard come from…?”
Gang Ilbi pointed one finger after another as he shouted.
“Sub-master So Jeongmun, Sub-master Lee Eultak! You promised to fulfill any wish asked of you the moment I defeat one of you. Is the only requirement for participating in this duel that the fighter be an ordinary commoner residing in Shaanxi?!”
“What nonsense…!”
“That’s right. As the representative of Unwol Jiju, I will answer.”
Before Lee Eultak could finish his red-faced outburst, So Cheonpa cut in from below the stage.
“Anyone who is a resident of Shaanxi and pays rent to us may enter this duel. Or anyone with direct family ties or enough connection. That is why the master of the so-called Tang Clan.”
Staring at the writhing men on the ground, So Cheonpa continued.
“As one who has learned martial arts, did you come here to personally earn some pocket money by representing these commoners?”
Everyone fell silent, all eyes on Gang Ilbi’s mouth.
“I, Gang Ilbi, the fourteenth master of the Tang Clan, am here representing the commoners of Shaanxi.”
Grip tight on his trembling legs, Gang Ilbi spoke.
“I challenge you once more as a warrior, in the name of the spirit of these ordinary commoners.”
So Cheonpa answered readily.
“Good. What is your wish if you win? I will grant it without conditions. Woman? Money? Gold? Or land?”
“No, I don’t need any of that.”
“What?”
Pointing at Lee Eultak and So Jeongmun, Gang Ilbi shouted again.
“If I defeat Sub-master Lee Eultak, forgive the outstanding rent debts of everyone who was dragged here. That is all I ask.”
“Oh?”
So Cheonpa’s eyes sparkled.
Gang Ilbi did not stop.
“And… if I defeat… or rather, if I defeat…!”
Gang Ilbi could not even meet the eyes of the massive So Jeongmun.
Sweat poured down his face like mashed beans.
Still, he shouted.
“I do not ask for everything. I only ask that the rent of the tenant farmers bound to Unwol Jiju be reduced—even by a third! Even until the harvest in autumn! Just a little less!”
“…”
A brief silence fell.
Then—
—Puhahahaha!
The crowd burst into laughter.
They rolled on the ground holding their stomachs.
Some wiped tears from their eyes.
Prostitutes, half-naked, poured drinks before throwing themselves laughing into the arms of the men beside them.
Food scraps flew from their laughing mouths.
“True chivalry!”
“Even in this day and age, there are people living in old stories like this!”
“Tears, tears, tears!”
Some members of the Hwangbo Clan glanced toward the Jegal Clan and muttered.
“Even in Shaanxi, there are lunatics calling themselves warriors. Hah. The lid can’t stay on the pot forever.”
“…”
The Jegal Clan members’ faces flushed with rage at the mocking words.
Several scholars of the Jegal Clan tried to calm them.
—Chak.
So Cheonpa folded his fan and slammed it into his palm.
“Understood. Master of the Tang Clan. I know your true heart. I will grant every condition as representative of Unwol Jiju. However, to add more excitement to this duel, I will change the terms in your favor.”
So Cheonpa had already seen through Gang Ilbi’s strength.
So Cheonpa smiled coldly.
“Without a single word of surrender, if you can endure our Sub-master’s full attack, I will gladly praise your fighting spirit. The first condition is fulfilled.”
“…”
“One minute. Can I trust this promise?”
So Cheonpa nodded without hesitation.
“I do not tell jokes in front of respected elders. I swear on the heavens. Then, wishing you good fortune, we shall begin at once….”
So Cheonpa pointed at Gang Ilbi with his fan and ordered Lee Eultak in a cold voice.
“Lee Eultak. Fight with everything you have. Since it is warrior against warrior, use your full power. If you go beyond one minute, I will question you about the enormous losses the Unwol Jiju will suffer.”
“I obey your command, So Cheonpa-nim.”
After bowing, Lee Eultak approached Gang Ilbi and snarled.
“You heard the story, didn’t you, you fake bastard? You won’t last even half a minute and will be begging me to save your broken body.”
Gang Ilbi swallowed hard.
He pulled a faded brown hair tie from his waist and tied it around his head.
“If you are a warrior, you should have been prepared for this. You must accept your fate.”
His voice trembled as he clenched his fist.
“I do not think your fist, which knows no shame under the blue sky, will bring down my will!”
Lee Eultak laughed mockingly.
Soon murderous intent filled his eyes.
—Paat!
Lee Eultak’s body blurred as he charged forward at full power toward Gang Ilbi.
They collided.
And so the duel began.
This time, no twist.
The audience’s passionate cheers, which had expected a fierce battle, quickly faded.
—Bbaak.
It was one-sided beating.
Even the opponent could not hold up.
Lee Eultak gave everything.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Not even a fight between a child and an adult would be so one-sided.
“…”
The dry sound of fists echoed in the air.
—Bbaak, bbaak.
“Why…?”
I muttered in a dry voice.
I had watched it all from the start.
My eyes were black.
The first thought that came to me was, why?
That was it.
It made no sense.
I even wondered if Gang Ilbi had truly gone mad.
The Way and Spirit?
The memory of the words he had hurled at me resurfaced.
I had thought his declaration was nothing more than a childish rant from a grown man who knew nothing of reality.
Someone who could not tell reality from fantasy.
—Bbaak, bbaak, bbaak!
Lee Eultak pounded Gang Ilbi mercilessly with his fist.
“You still won’t say you want me to save you? You bug!”
—Bbaak, bbaak.
The sound of skin tearing echoed through the air.
—Chak.
Blood sprayed as a cheek split open.
Gang Ilbi fell.
He staggered back to his feet.
“Is this really the heaviest punch you can manage?”
“What?”
Gang Ilbi wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand.
Standing on wobbly legs, he shouted one sentence after another.
“Is this the punch of a bug who calls himself a warrior who struts around power-holders?!”
“…”
Veins bulged on Lee Eultak’s forehead.
“Hah, you crazy bastard. Fine. I swear on the blue sky today.”
Lee Eultak ground his teeth and shouted.
“I’ll make you say, ‘Please save me!’ and pull at my pants!”
The beating continued.
It was no longer a duel.
The dry sound of a wooden drum filled the arena.
—Bbaaak.
Gang Ilbi rolled across the stage.
[With towering arrogance and a laugh that shakes the waves of ten thousand mountains…]
“What…?”
Lee Eultak frowned.
Gang Ilbi wiped his bloodshot eyes and rose.
He had always smiled gently at the villagers.
His sunken cheeks were now horribly swollen.
Thin ribs showed beneath his disheveled clothes.
Gang Ilbi muttered as if sobbing while standing with all his strength.
[With hot blood burning like the red light of the sun…]
These were lines from the scholar’s book he had loved since childhood—Namsadangjagang.
—Tch.
Gang Ilbi spat out his teeth and forced himself up.
He was crying.
Crying from pain.
Yet he never shouted that he would give up.
Saliva dribbled as he muttered.
[With a chest spanning a thousand zhang and eyes reaching ten thousand li…]
His jaw was broken.
Tears pooled and flowed from his swollen eyes beneath it.
“Ha… ha…”
Still, he clenched his trembling hands and shouted his final vow.
[I swear to rise and become a true man…]
Lee Eultak roared and lunged.
“This madman, even to the very end!!”
Blood sprayed.
It was a beheading.
—Kkuk.
Someone grabbed my sleeve.
I turned to see a servant from the Jegal Clan standing behind me.
“Master Jegal Sea sent me.”
“…”
“Jegal Sea?”
The servant spoke slowly, watching my confused face.
“Remember only the goal. Do not act rashly. Last time.”
“…”
“Think logically.”
She had sent the servant from the VIP seats because she feared I would act impulsively.
“…”
My goal.
I recalled my goal.
My goal was simple.
To graduate from Cheonsubaekryeonsa.
To obtain the seal.
One week later the Hwangbo Clan would leave, and I would receive the promised seal from Jegal Sea.
With luck, I might receive another from one of the Oho-samhwa.
Then I would end this hated hell with a single breath.
—Bba-jik!
“Aaaah!!”
A miserable scream as Gang Ilbi’s right arm snapped.
Gang Ilbi howled.
“Why won’t you surrender! Why won’t you surrender!”
Lee Eultak finally grabbed Gang Ilbi by the collar.
Gang Ilbi continued without stopping, reciting his belief.
His voice trembled.
[To become a true man every day requires self-strengthening…]
“You little bastard, are you joking?!”
Lee Eultak began striking Gang Ilbi’s face with his fist.
The lip split open.
Gang Ilbi’s small frame swayed as the collar was pulled.
“As you were told, think logically.”
The Jegal servant whispered again.
“Logically…”
Their lives had nothing to do with mine.
Whether the hell in Shaanxi unfolded one way or another, whether Unwol Jiju or the conflict between the Jegal and Hwangbo Clans—none of it mattered.
My nose was three zhang long.
I would simply wait here quietly, obtain the seal, and leave.
Like the wind that appeared here at the beginning.
I was, after all, nothing.
The illegitimate son of a concubine of the Moyong Clan, a man who could barely save his own life.
I was.
I was someone who had always diverged from the eternal heroes of the Jianghu—ordinary, ordinary, nothing more than a bug with pride but no talent, a short-tempered and easily provoked man, endlessly lacking.
So then.
…So then.
—Kwadang-tang!
Gang Ilbi was thrown.
He crawled with his broken arm.
He hugged Lee Eultak’s legs.
Already more than a minute had passed.
So Jeongmun rose, his face twisted in anger.
So Cheonpa frowned and grabbed his fan.
“W-what… aren’t you going to let go?!”
Lee Eultak’s face was ashen.
Gang Ilbi clung desperately, panting.
“I-I… I know. I’m a fake. Compared to you, I can’t even master third-rate martial arts…!”
My breathing stopped.
Gang Ilbi spat blood and shouted.
“Unlike the heroes of the Jianghu from those books, I am not even the protagonist of my own life! I have no strong power. No chosen qi vein. No chosen bloodline…!”
Spitting blood foam while still gripped by the collar, Gang Ilbi muttered.
“But even if I’m just a fool. Even if I’m fake. Even if I’m treated as a brainless fake chasing ridiculous dreams. But… even so…!”
Gang Ilbi muttered with his swollen lips while clutching Lee Eultak’s pants and clinging with all his strength.
“As one who pursues the Way and Spirit… as one who represents the weak…!”
Clenching his teeth, Gang Ilbi shouted.
“My childhood dream of becoming a true warrior… is real, damn it!!”
“You bastard!”
—Uuuuuung!
Murderous intent swirled in Lee Eultak’s eyes. His hand opened, inner energy gathering.
“No, if I kill him outright there will be—”
So Jeongmun jumped up in shock.
Lee Eultak, losing his reason, shouted.
“If that’s your wish, I’ll kill you!”
Lee Eultak’s hand struck down on Gang Ilbi’s head.
—Bbaaak!!!
The sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed.
—Jureok.
Blood fell.
—Ddok… ddok.
Red blood fell.
It slowly crossed his forehead and dripped from the tip of his chin.
“Wh-what…?”
Lee Eultak’s eyes widened as he muttered.
“When…?”
“…”
Below his feet crouched the man who had been hugging Gang Ilbi—me.
His hand rested against my forehead.
—Ttok. ttok. ttok…
A stream of red blood flowed from my forehead and dripped from the tip of my chin.
—Pa-jik… pa-ji-jik…
A faint black lightning crackled beneath my feet and scattered away.
“Hey.”
I muttered in a hellish voice.
Lee Eultak flinched.
“Remove your hand, you bastard.”
Red light blazed from my eyes, as if about to burst.