A Gambler’s Conditions
Buzzzzzzz-kraaaang!
Cheon Sohyeon’s palm force exploded against Doje’s ribs. Brilliant sparks flew, and with them came a series of razor-sharp metallic clashes, as though iron were striking iron.
As a Buddhist of great compassion, he bore no ill will toward Doje.
What irritated him was that arrogant, all-too-casual manner, as if he were forever testing everyone around him. Cheon Sohyeon gathered his strength, determined to crush that smug nose flat.
But at the moment the palm force struck, he felt a bizarre sensation, like pounding on a fortress wall, and the force was already scattering.
“Damn thing’s tough as hell.”
Doje’s protective qi had thrown back the impact and blocked the blow.
Still, that made no difference. If one hit wasn’t enough, then he’d just hit him twice, three times in a row.
Kwoooaaang!
Cheon Sohyeon stamped down hard.
The strike came aimed at Doje’s instep, and the force behind it was even more savage than before, as if he meant to grind it into dust where it stood.
Fsssh!
Doje was about to defend with his protective qi when he abruptly changed his mind.
What is this...?
That eerie feeling was the reason. The moment it met Cheon Sohyeon’s force, his demonic energy seemed to recoil, as if it hated the collision itself.
Was the buddha-force interfering with it, or was this simply a trait of the fist technique?
With no better option, Doje retreated half a step to the left.
Kwoooooong!
The ground shook as if a giant boulder had fallen from the sky.
At the same time, Cheon Sohyeon rotated on his supporting leg and snapped out a smooth kick. Doje’s brow furrowed.
Fast.
The shockwave bursting from the empty air was vicious beyond measure.
Doje struck it aside with a palm before falling back into retreating footwork.
Well, this is just embarrassing.
It was maddening. Even if he had yielded the initiative, he had never expected to be driven backward like this.
Then Cheon Sohyeon kicked off the earth and surged forward, as if he meant to shatter the ground beneath him.
Kwoooong! KUNG!!
I can’t give him an opening.
Before Doje could even steady his stance, Cheon Sohyeon’s fist tore through the air and came flying in.
Arhat Fist unleashed three blows in a flash, and under that fierce assault, Doje spread out Bloodless Shadow Steps.
Yet the footwork he was so proud of couldn’t perform to its full strength. The flow of his energy still wasn’t smooth enough.
Kwoooong!
In the end, Cheon Sohyeon’s fist dug into Doje’s shoulder.
Amitabha!!
Cheon Sohyeon stamped down again. An even more intense force rippled through the earth.
A stamping step was not simply a way to intimidate an opponent. It drew qi up from the soles of the feet and used rebound force to amplify the power of martial arts several times over.
That was why Shaolin martial learning had long enjoyed fame throughout the world. Every movement, every stance, every footstep was steeped in profound principles.
And the man called the strongest fist in the world had reached the summit of that teaching.
Wooooooom!
Cheon Sohyeon’s fist spat out streaks of light.
Dragon Transformation Fist.
Its dragon form was still clumsy, for his mastery remained incomplete, but when it met that sinister demonic energy, its momentum grew even more ferocious.
In an instant, five punches flew out, leaving behind white afterimages.
“Ha.”
Doje let out a dry laugh and unleashed Great Thunder Soul Palm.
With his left hand he raised a wall to neutralize the attack, and with the other he obscured his opponent’s vision, disrupting the chain of the technique.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Even so, the Third Young Master’s fists never ceased. The white afterimages swelled as they surged forward.
While that almost acrobatic assault continued, Doje’s sleeves were scorched black and his breathing grew increasingly ragged.
At last, he gave a rare grunt of admiration.
“You’re acting like a demon’s possessed you!”
“A demon? Pick the right things to compare me to.”
Cheon Sohyeon drew the Void Spirit Qi up to its limit and thrust out another fist. How could I, a man born to the Buddha, have anything to do with a demon? If there’s a greater distance than that, I’d like to see it.
KWAANG!
The wave-like chain of attacks surged again. Doje looked at him with narrowed eyes.
Strange.
He had already realized that the Third Young Master’s martial prowess was anything but ordinary, but what he was seeing now went beyond even that.
If he could admire it purely as martial arts, that would have been fine. But there was clearly something wrong with the Third Young Master’s achievements.
He had the excellent bone and sinew that came with the blood of the Cheon family, and beneath that was no small amount of painstaking internal and external training.
But the refinement of his forms is far too superb.
What was considered the most difficult part of ascending to higher realms was making martial arts your own, then polishing the forms until they fit your body.
And Cheon Sohyeon had already done that.
To be precise, it was as if he could do nothing else. Like a child who had just learned to read and yet could perfectly reproduce an adult’s handwriting.
Why? No... how?
No matter how he thought about it, the mismatch was too severe. He had seen countless people in his life, but never anyone like this. Most were either lacking in similar ways or gifted in similar ways.
What on earth had happened? Had he only honed technique in order to speed up his achievements? If not, then...
Could the foundation of that explosive chain be his insight into martial arts...? In any case, even if I hadn’t yielded the initiative, the result would’ve been much the same.
As he recognized his own mistake, Doje shuddered at the threat he felt for the first time in a very long while.
The end of a gambler who failed to read the hand properly was bankruptcy and ruin. He needed to correct this now.
Yes, if that’s the level...
His left hand flashed, then settled over the saber at his waist. The air around him seemed to sink heavy with pressure.
“Would one move be all right?”
At the thickening killing intent, Cheon Sohyeon’s eyes flew wide open.
Dangerous!
He drew the Void Spirit Qi up with all his strength. Reflexively leaning his body to the right, he unleashed his footwork just as...
Fshaaaaaak!
A white streak shot out like lightning.
It was the saber qi Doje had drawn.
It cleaved the ground like tofu and carved a long trench through the earth.
“Hah... hah...”
Cheon Sohyeon narrowly avoided the strike and gasped for breath.
Doje gathered his energy back in with a satisfied expression.
“Your instincts are pretty sharp. How about we end the duel here? If we keep going, I think I’ll start getting serious.”
“If you get serious twice, some innocent bystander’s going to die.”
“What an exaggeration.”
Doje snorted and brushed at his clothes.
His sleeves had burned, and here and there his garments were wrinkled—traces left by Cheon Sohyeon’s attacks that had slipped past his guard.
“I didn’t expect to have to draw my saber in a spar with you. To be honest, I thought I’d be lucky if you even managed to touch me.”
“So, have you confirmed there’s potential?”
Doje nodded.
“I’ve confirmed enough to know this isn’t some absurd act of recklessness or arrogance. With martial prowess like that at your age, it’d be stranger not to be confident. Though I can’t help having a few questions.”
“Questions?”
Doje’s gaze sank deep.
“Your martial arts, for one. The inner technique, the fist, the palm, the footwork—all of it uses pure yang energy. Some parts feel familiar, and others are completely foreign. May I ask where it all comes from?”
Cheon Sohyeon brushed off his hands and replied shortly, “I taught myself.”
“Hm?”
“I learned it on my own. I can’t lay all my cards on the table, so don’t ask too much.”
Even if Doje had ever encountered Shaolin arts before, he wouldn’t have been able to discern the similarity.
There was demonic energy pouring through him, not even a shred of buddhist force, and all of it reeked of wickedness. How was he supposed to catch that?
Even if a whole troupe of bald monks came marching in, they still wouldn’t have been able to tell.
Doje burst out laughing at the nerve to tell him not to pry any further with the man standing right in front of him.
“Ha ha! Sure. There’s nothing dumber than showing your hand too early. I can’t say I don’t understand, but... if you came here to persuade me, shouldn’t you at least lay out your circumstances?”
“What exactly are you curious about?”
“The limitations you carry.”
At the abrupt remark, Cheon Sohyeon’s brow twitched.
“My limitations?”
Doje nodded.
“Your martial prowess and cleverness are astonishing for someone your age, but that’s all thanks to the refinement of your forms. Your internal and external cultivation are still far beneath that.”
“...”
“Given enough time, any martial art will naturally come into harmony, but yours is already imbalanced as though it began wrong from the start. In the end, doesn’t that mean your constitution—or something else—has a serious flaw?”
Cheon Sohyeon clamped his mouth shut and stared at Doje.
He’s sharper than I expected.
So he hadn’t won his place as Saber Emperor by gambling alone. From the moment he started babbling about compassion and all that, Cheon Sohyeon had known he was a fiend with an unusually keen mind.
“The biggest problem is...”
Doje’s eyes gleamed green.
“...that it’s a limitation even the Mahwandan couldn’t solve. What’s even more irritating is that you hid that fact and still had the nerve to ask for help.”
Even under that sharp stare, Cheon Sohyeon remained calm.
“Ahem. Your judgment is devilish indeed. Yes, I do have a limitation.”
“And you were planning to hide it to the end?”
“Not hide it so much as not bother revealing it. Like I said, the most important thing for reaching my goal is raising my martial power, and this constitution of mine hasn’t been an obstacle.”
“Meaning you found a way?”
“I did.”
The problem with a half-finished dantian was that it limited the total amount of internal energy one could store. For any martial artist, that would have been a burden. He didn’t care.
Nothing in this world was eternal—that was his creed.
If the quantity’s lacking, then all I have to do is win with quality.
That was why he had poured every ounce of his attention into refining his energy and increasing the purity of his demonic qi.
“You just confirmed yourself that it isn’t some huge issue.”
“For now, yes. But who knows about the future? It’s a tired old story—some trifling matter you brushed off without a care, only for it to come back as a catastrophe.”
As the conversation dragged on pointlessly, Cheon Sohyeon narrowed his eyes.
“So what is it you’re trying to say?”
“Are you dense, or just pretending to be?”
“Didn’t you say you confirmed the possibility? If you’re convinced that even with this limitation I’m a worthwhile hand, then isn’t the answer obvious?”
“...”
“If you’re going to refuse me in one stroke, there’s no need to talk in circles. Just say what you want. It’d be easier for both of us.”
Doje let out a soft snort.
How strange.
It was a method of negotiation he had never heard or seen before. He couldn’t tell whether the man was simply bizarre or so sharp he was monstrous.
“Fine. No point pretending anymore, I suppose. I did confirm your potential. Your entry into the Central Plains is a fate no one can easily defy, but if anyone were to stop that fate, you’d be the kind of talent I’d bet on.”
“...”
“But my worries remain.”
Doje’s eyes flashed green again.
“Your limitation. Whether that so-called way out is really a path forward, and even if it is, where’s the assurance that you won’t back out halfway? I can’t be certain of any of it. All those years you spent holed up and wasting time—or falling into qi deviation—weren’t they because of that limitation in the end?”
“...”
“Looks like I hit the mark.”
Doje’s eyes shifted to blue.
“Third Young Master, when you sit in the position of valley master and lead your own forces, you encounter all kinds of people. Do you know who the lowest of the low are?”
“People who cheated you out of money?”
“That’s still gentlemanly enough. You can just point a blade at them. The troublesome ones are the type who’ve lost everything at the gambling table and still act cocky, swearing they can get back on their feet. Those wretches usually drag everyone around them down into ruin.”
“So you’re saying you’re not sure whether I’m that kind of person or not?”
Doje scoffed.
“More than that. You’ve got the luxury of your noble standing, so even if you fail while opposing a grand design, it won’t cripple you. But our situation is different. We need the resolve to risk our necks.”
“...”
“Take Imaje, for example... no, forget it. Do you have the desperation, the vicious drive, to claw through the mud and still see your goal through to the end?”
Cheon Sohyeon and Doje’s gazes tangled in the empty air.
Only then did Cheon Sohyeon understand what Doje had been trying to say. Opposing a grand design was essentially the same as going against the will of the cult.
No matter how much of a Demon Emperor he was, he would still feel the weight of that.
“That isn’t something you can explain in a sentence or two. Are you asking for something in return?”
Something gleamed in Doje’s eyes.
“Would there be anything else? If you came to a gambling den, then you should be prepared to gamble.”