Now, Fight!
“Now, fight!”
It was as if a great tidal wave were crashing into the inn.
Individually their martial skill might have been modest, but dozens of warriors surging forward with blades drawn and killing intent pouring from their bodies generated a crushing pressure.
Even Seo Yugyeom tightened his grip on the Heavenly Killing Short Knife, his face taut. He didn't forget to keep track of Hwa Yeonseol's location out of the corner of his eye.
If it comes to it, I grab her and run.
Seo Yugyeom had a vague faith that Jin Seongun would survive any situation, so he devoted his attention solely to Hwa Yeonseol.
Amid the warriors flooding out to either side, Saryeonggeuk watched Jin Seongun with eyes full of curiosity.
What will you do?
A cramped inn. An endless stream of warriors pouring in.
Even a fairly skilled master, lacking experience, would be swallowed whole in an instant.
Saryeonggeuk never took his eyes off him, wanting to see the man's reaction, his composure, his true ability.
Then it happened.
A dozen-odd warriors of the Twilight Pavilion thrust their blades at Jin Seongun all at once, while assassins from the Blue Night Valley rained down from the ceiling.
There was quite literally no angle of escape.
Yet even then, Jin Seongun simply stood where he was. He hadn't even drawn his sword.
He looked like a man crushed beneath the immense pressure, one who had simply stopped thinking.
A sneer, laced with disappointment, curled onto Saryeonggeuk's lips.
So he was just a boy after all.
Saryeonggeuk had survived decades rolling through the jianghu.
He had seen countless geniuses—and seen them die.
That was simply how the jianghu was. A place where strength alone could not keep you alive.
Experience was never something one was born with. Only after being crushed under countless crises, only after rising back to your feet again and again—
Saryeonggeuk's thoughts stopped right there.
Jin Seongun had vanished from sight, surrounded on all sides by the warriors.
But between the black-clad warriors, a reddish light flashed.
The moment he saw that light, Saryeonggeuk flung himself out of the inn without a moment's hesitation.
One breath behind him, the Leader of the Twilight Pavilion and the Leader of the Blue Night Valley also tore themselves from the building.
Before long, short screams rang out from within.
“Aaah—!”
Truly brief screams. Cut off before they could even continue, as if swallowed by something.
A sinisterly deep, crimson energy filled the inn to bursting and then overflowed through the doors and windows.
BOOOOOOM—!
The blood and flesh of the warriors churned together and spewed outward along with the energy.
It was as if some colossal moth had burst apart and died at the center of the inn—a scene of carnage unfolded before their eyes.
Saryeonggeuk blinked. Even for a man who had lived through nearly every kind of situation, what he was witnessing did not register lightly.
“…….”
After a long moment of silence, Jin Seongun walked out of the inn. So utterly nonchalant was his manner that even Saryeonggeuk flinched for an instant.
The Leader of the Twilight Pavilion and the Leader of the Blue Night Valley stared fixedly at Saryeonggeuk.
He really is a monster, isn't he.
Their eyes said as much.
Saryeonggeuk ignored their gazes and looked only at Jin Seongun.
He had to admit it. That man was a monster.
Where in the world did he crawl out from?
It was impossible that he'd grown strong overnight.
Which meant he should have been gradually making a name for himself. The single exception would be the possibility that a supreme master of a past generation had secretly raised him in hiding.
Saryeonggeuk asked Jin Seongun.
“Do you have a master?”
“I do. Several.”
Saryeonggeuk's brow narrowed.
His attitude shifted, ever so slightly, to one of caution.
What if the boy's masters truly were supreme masters of a bygone era? Meddling with him could mean poking a hornet's nest for nothing.
Saryeonggeuk was the second-in-command of a black-dao organization spanning the entire nation. Naturally, he knew more about murim history than most.
Among the masters who had vanished from the world in their own day, several still lived on. Their martial skill was in no way inferior to those touted as the finest of the present age.
I moved too hastily.
Saryeonggeuk had to admit that his calculations had been somewhat rushed. He still did not believe he would lose. But if he killed the boy here, the fallout that might follow had grown unpredictable.
I need to learn more.
He decided that at the very least, he must find out who stood behind the man. Whether to kill him or spare him, every judgment would wait until after that.
Saryeonggeuk smiled a cool, easy smile.
“Good. The meal was generous indeed.”
The words were refined, but the meaning was unmistakable.
“Running away?”
Jin Seongun's low voice caught Saryeonggeuk's ankle in an instant.
Running away?
He had never once fled in his life. By his own standards, of course.
“You're the one who invited me to come eat, aren't you? I accepted the invitation, and my subordinates ate their fill. What more could one want?”
“So you're running.”
Saryeonggeuk's eyebrow twitched.
But a man who could be baited by a youngster's provocation would never have risen to Vice Alliance Leader of the Thousand Poisons Alliance in the first place.
Saryeonggeuk smiled in return and said,
“Then pass my regards along to your masters. I don't know who they are, but they raised their disciple well.”
“Why not deliver them yourself?”
Jin Seongun was suddenly struck by a thought.
The storeroom of Seongun Inn—that is, the Realm of Martial Gods. Could he bring other people in there with him?
If it were possible, he wanted to give the bad ones—the likes of Saryeonggeuk or the Southern Black Lotus Lord—a nice little tour of the Realm of Martial Gods.
They'd all turn sweet as lambs the moment they met the Sword Immortal and the Blood Demon.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Saryeonggeuk's figure wavered. He was unfurling his lightness skill to flee.
At the same instant, Jin Seongun gathered power into the tip of his foot. Having mastered the Divine Thief's stealth arts, he was confident he could catch the man no matter how far he ran.
Then, the very moment Saryeonggeuk took a step—
THUNK—!
A sound of parting air exploded in the distance.
Something was tearing through the air, sharp as a blade, and rushing toward this place. The sound carried on for quite a while—which meant the distance was considerable.
Every head turned toward it, and suddenly a slender hidden weapon revealed itself.
Reflecting the moonlight, the projectile shot in a dead-straight line and embedded itself at Saryeonggeuk's feet.
THWACK—!
Saryeonggeuk glued his fleeing foot back to the ground.
For a hidden weapon hurled from such a distance to fly in a perfectly straight line and strike true meant the thrower's martial art was extraordinarily profound.
Needless to say, in Sichuan—no, in all the Central Plains—there were almost no beings capable of displaying hidden weapon skill of this caliber.
Saryeonggeuk's expression turned grave.
Before long, a middle-aged man appeared with a hearty laugh draped over his shoulders—a broad man wearing a deep jade-green robe over shoulders wide as a mountain.
“……The Poison Lord.”
Grand Elder of the Sichuan Tang Clan, the Poison Lord, Tang Taesan.
Excluding the Patriarch and the Clan Head, he was reputed to be the strongest martial artist in the entire clan.
His distinctive jade-green eyes glinting like gems, he approached.
“Saryeonggeuk, it's been a long time. You've aged terribly since I last saw you. We're well past the age of toiling ourselves, you know.”
It was open mockery, open rebuke.
Isn't it shameful at your age, trying to fight a man barely twenty?
Saryeonggeuk's lips twisted in displeasure.
“How fortunate for you. With such fine juniors coming up behind you, you get to rest early.”
“You're mocking me for being shuffled off to the back room, I see.”
“Be glad your ears haven't gone deaf yet.”
Saryeonggeuk exuded a faint smile of victory.
The Poison Lord couldn't have cared less. The orthodox masters had always regarded the heterodox riffraff with contempt anyway.
With the Poison Lord's arrival, the Leader of the Twilight Pavilion and the Leader of the Blue Night Valley felt their hearts plummet.
Setting aside the sheer presence the man radiated with his very being, the mere name of the Tang Clan seemed to press down upon the entire hall.
The Leader of the Twilight Pavilion's mind spun furiously. A man nearly as quick at calculation as Saryeonggeuk himself, the Pavilion Leader was.
Why the Tang Clan?
For a giant like that to appear in person meant the entire Tang Clan was moving.
Could it be the Thousand Poisons Alliance had moved too openly, and they'd come out to check them? Or was the Tang Clan eyeing the Hwaun Merchant Group as well?
Various possibilities surfaced. But the Poison Lord's next action shattered every single one of them.
“It's been a long time. The riffraff of the Thousand Poisons Alliance, not knowing shame, have been pestering the honored guest of the Tang Clan, so I dropped by.”
The Leader of the Twilight Pavilion blinked rapidly.
It had sounded like a simple greeting, but the meaning packed inside it was unmistakable. The Poison Lord was officially declaring hostility toward the Thousand Poisons Alliance. And the reason was that young monster at the inn—the Tang Clan's 'honored guest.'
Damn it all…….
Of all people, they had to touch the Tang Clan's honored guest. The Sichuan Tang Clan were fanatics who repaid both gratitude and grudge no matter what it took.
They spared no means or method. And the fact that the Poison Lord had come in person meant they were prepared to go to war with the Thousand Poisons Alliance if necessary.
The problem was that he himself was entangled, however discreetly, right in the middle of it.
The Leader of the Twilight Pavilion felt the back of his neck go rigid. A tremendous sense of crisis was crawling up his spine.
His gaze turned to Jin Seongun.
Who in the world is that man?
What manner of being could have granted the Tang Clan a debt so great they'd risk war with the Thousand Poisons Alliance over it?
Was it even possible for a single young martial artist to put a clan like that in his debt to begin with?
As countless thoughts crossed his mind—
The man in question, Jin Seongun, simply stared at the Poison Lord. His eyes wavered within his narrowed lids. Anyone could see he didn't recognize the man at all.
The Poison Lord burst into an awkward chuckle.
“I'm Soyeon's granduncle. Did you not see me last time?”
Jin Seongun put on a look of dawning recognition.
At the sight, the Poison Lord smiled wryly. He had lived a long life, but this was the first time he'd met someone who forgot his face.
“It's been a while, Elder.”
Jin Seongun bowed his head politely.
At that sight, his disappointment washed away in an instant and a warm satisfaction welled up in its place. However he looked at it, Jin Seongun was a young man too good to hand over to the Wudang Sect.
Especially so for a clan with only a single daughter. The Tang Clan had never minded a woman becoming Clan Head—so that wasn't the reason.
It was simply that……
He'd make the perfect son-in-law.
Had there been a son, it would have been impossible—but the Tang Clan had a perfectly splendid pretext for bringing Jin Seongun into the family.
This was something neither the Wudang Sect, nor the Seomun Clan, nor the Stone Sect could so much as dream of.
And Tang Soyeon was lovely, even in her granduncle's eyes. With a sweet disposition, too.
Tang Soyeon herself pretended otherwise, but she seemed to hold some affection for the pair.
Though I've no idea which of the two that affection is for.
The Poison Lord's gaze swept over Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom in turn. He hoped for Jin Seongun, but that assassin fellow wasn't bad either.
For teaching hidden weapon arts, the latter might be the better fit.
While he was carrying on this fatuous inner monologue all by himself, Saryeonggeuk growled.
“Poison Lord. Do you dare interfere in the affairs of the Thousand Poisons Alliance? All for the sake of one snot-nosed brat?”
The Poison Lord turned his head to face Saryeonggeuk.
Then he broke into a wide grin. But only his mouth smiled—his eyes had sunk into cold stone.
“Dare? Since when has the Thousand Poisons Alliance been entitled to use the word 'dare' before the Tang Clan?”
“…….”
“Yes, I do intend to interfere in the Thousand Poisons Alliance's affairs. All for the sake of that one child.”
“You'll regret it.”
“Relying on the dregs that'll come swarming soon? A pity, but not a single one of them will set foot in Deokyang. The Tang Clan's warriors already have the city surrounded.”
Saryeonggeuk's eyes trembled for an instant.
He had never imagined the Tang Clan would commit themselves so thoroughly.
The Poison Lord continued, his face radiating the confidence of a man holding all the cards.
“The Alliance Leader of the Thousand Poisons won't be coming to help you either. The Patriarch himself has gone to meet with him. So this affair must be settled here and now, among those of us present.”
Saryeonggeuk felt his breath catch in his throat.
Dokwang, the Patriarch of the Tang Clan. If that man met with the Thousand Poisons Alliance Leader in person, the situation would spiral to the absolute worst.
The Poison Lord, watching Saryeonggeuk's face as though it were great entertainment, went on.
“If the Thousand Poisons Alliance moves, the Tang Clan moves with them. What choice do you think your Alliance Leader will make?”
It was the Tang Clan's calculated verdict.
The complete exclusion of the Thousand Poisons Alliance from Deokyang. If the Alliance refused, it meant war—but that was unlikely.
War with the Tang Clan would be an enormous burden even for the Thousand Poisons Alliance. No fool would wager his organization's very existence for the sake of seizing a single merchant group.
Saryeonggeuk exhaled a long breath.
Only two choices remained.
To face the two young monsters of the inn and the Poison Lord alone—or to meekly declare defeat and withdraw.
Both were heavy options. The former put his life at risk; the latter put his standing at risk.
Even if the situation had careened into catastrophe, if he returned empty-handed, the Thousand Poisons Alliance Leader would persecute him savagely.
The Alliance Leader was a man who demanded results no matter the circumstances.
After long deliberation, Saryeonggeuk hit upon a single stratagem.
“Poison Lord. By your own words, both the Thousand Poisons Alliance and the Tang Clan have agreed not to intervene in Deokyang. Doesn't stepping in yourself make you an even worse busybody? As for me—I am different.”
Saryeonggeuk held out a single letter.
An invitation to come and dine.
“They summoned me here, provoked me, and insulted me. What this amounts to is a personal duel, nothing more. It has nothing to do with the Thousand Poisons Alliance.”
In other words, he would exclude the Poison Lord as well.
Saryeonggeuk believed that if only the Poison Lord were out of the picture, he could manage the likes of Jin Seongun and Seo Yugyeom.
The Poison Lord's eyes widened, and he nodded.
“You make a fair point! My, do the black dao types study rhetoric these days? You argue with admirable logic. Very well—let those gathered here fight it out and settle the matter. I shall stand as witness.”
“…….”
Saryeonggeuk felt a strange unease.
Truthfully, he had planned to press the point somewhat forcefully to get the Poison Lord off his back, then search for an appropriate compromise.
But he hadn't expected the man to accept so readily.
If anything, it almost felt as though the Poison Lord was egging the fight on.
Sensing something ominous, Saryeonggeuk's face twisted oddly—and the Poison Lord roared with laughter and declared,
“Now, fight!”
The Poison Lord knew.
He knew that it was Jin Seongun who had personally torn apart and killed Sikmugaek—the Public Enemy of the Martial World, the so-called Great Demon Head.