The Great Swordmaster's Entrance
[Daetaeho Sect].
There was a signboard hanging over the main gate of the Taeho Sect, grandly sized at three meters wide and one meter tall.
Thud-thoom—!
This wasn’t just any signboard.
It was the board that announced the Taeho Sect, the one that had been there since the day they crushed the competition and rose to become Gangneung’s number-one faction. In other words, it was a symbol of the Taeho Sect’s glory.
An Gojun, the sect leader who had raised the Taeho Sect from the ground up, especially loved that board.
He had it polished every single day so it wouldn’t get dirty, and when it rained he even had a waterproof canopy set up so it wouldn’t catch a cold. He took absurdly careful care of it.
Just looking at it made him feel good. It didn’t exactly fill his stomach without eating, but whatever—he liked it.
And now the signboard that An Gojun had paid a famous calligrapher a fortune to make was exploding into pieces.
No, was it just the signboard?
The grand gate itself, built by a renowned carpenter after receiving a fortune in so-called “protection money,” had been smashed to splinters too.
Kwaaaaang—!!
The red sword qi bursting from the blade blew away everything standing in its path.
This thing called sword qi was truly mysterious; depending on how it was used, it could create not a slash but a shockwave.
“Aaaagh!”
“It, it exploded!?”
The disciples inside the sect fell into collective panic, as if they’d been struck by lightning from a clear sky.
The main gate that had been there just moments ago was gone in the blink of an eye.
Thud-thud-thud—!
Something rained down from above.
It was blood, flesh, and bone fragments from the guards who’d been caught in the shockwave.
“W-what is this..?”
One disciple, without thinking, caught one of the falling things.
Roll—
Hello~?
A single eyeball, neatly separated from the rest of its body, lay on his palm and stared back at him.
“Kyaaaah!”
“M-my God!”
To ordinary people they were vicious beyond words, but these disciples had soft hearts, and they screamed like children.
“Who the hell are you!?”
“We’re under attack! It’s a raid!”
But Taeho Sect wasn’t made up entirely of such weak-kneed disciples.
The ones farther inside, away from the gate, gripped their weapons and surged toward the entrance like a rabid pack.
Years of life in a evil sect had hardened their features into something thoroughly menacing.
Step, step, step—
Through the dust thrown up by the explosion, footsteps came closer.
As the sound grew louder, a figure came into focus and then finally revealed itself.
“Junior Sect Leader?”
The disciple who had been raising his sword, tension bristling through his whole body, let out a baffled cry.
Why the hell was the Junior Sect Leader here?
“Yo. Long time no see.”
An Dongshin raised a hand with easy confidence and gave a lazy wave.
“This man has truly gone mad—”
“And now, goodbye.”
“What?”
Shaaak—
At that moment, a flash of red light flickered, and the disciple’s view suddenly slid off at a strange diagonal.
Before he could even realize something was wrong, his vision was stained dark red and his consciousness drifted away.
Thud.
The body of the disciple, his head cut cleanly on an angle, toppled backward.
“So.”
As the disciples froze at the sudden turn of events, someone approached An Dongshin’s side.
“Oof, who are the enemies this time?”
Geom Mujin flicked the sword on his back once and asked.
* * *
“This is weirdly uncomfortable.”
Geom Mujin muttered as he bounced his shoulders around.
He looked easygoing in a way that didn’t fit the situation at all, but none of the disciples in the junior-sect-leader faction dared move a muscle.
The moment he had entered, his presence had seized the entire area.
An Dongshin, who had been wearing an anxious expression outside the gate, now looked absurdly confident.
Still, storming into a sect all by himself(?)? That was beyond anything he could have imagined.
For someone only at the late First-class rank, it was an impossible feat.
And the moment Geom Mujin’s sword qi blew the gate apart, the unease in An Dongshin’s heart had been blown away with it.
“The hero of the martial world, the Great Swordmaster Geom Mujin, has come to punish you traitors! I’ll kill every last one of you and your families and acquaintances to set an example!”
As An Dongshin, his shriveled-up confidence now at maximum, roared at the top of his lungs, Geom Mujin shook his head.
Why kill their families and acquaintances?
What, are you royalty or something?
Unbelievable. This guy really was evil sect material, the way every single word came out so over the top.
Let’s just finish the job and take our payment.
Meanwhile, the disciples began to stir uneasily at An Dongshin’s words.
“The Great Swordmaster?”
“He was really here in Gangneung?”
“Fuck, what do we do now...”
They had long since heard the rumor that their sect leader had fallen to the Great Swordmaster, but they never imagined the man himself would actually appear like this.
It was basically like a trainer who’d cleared the first gym running into a shiny Mewtwo at level 100 while walking down the road.
“If you don’t want to die, surrender—”
“Don’t be scared, all of you!”
Just as An Dongshin tried to urge them to surrender, one disciple cut him off.
“Why the hell would we believe that? Maybe he’s strong, but how does that prove he’s one of the Seven Martial Stars!”
Murmur, murmur—
The disciples buzzed at the unexpectedly logical rebuttal.
“I am one of the Seven Martial Stars, you know. I even fought in the Orthodox-Demonic War.”
Geom Mujin lifted his bamboo hat just a little, showing off his black hair.
As if to say, in this martial world, I’m the only one with max-level black hair.
“Oh, right, like hell! Why would someone like that be here!?”
“......”
By rights, the Seven Martial Stars were figures who stood above the clouds, admired and envied by all martial artists—
except Geom Mujin.
It was true he really didn’t belong getting involved in something like this.
Damn. Now I’ve got nothing to say.
He didn’t look like he’d come here half-convinced by some nonsense An Dongshin had thrown at him, at least.
“And screw the Seven Martial Stars! What’s so great about those guys, anyway? They only won because they swarmed people! The Great Swordmaster? That barbarian sword bastard only got counted as one of them because of some special ethnic-minority exception. Why are you all so scared!”
“What kind of bullshit is that..”
Same as that bastard from the White Gate Escort Agency last time—who the hell was spreading this crap?
Maybe the bullshit really did work, because the disciples’ morale began to rise little by little.
Sinocentrism: ON!
They felt a surge of courage welling up in their hearts, or at least they thought they did.
They had sided with the junior sect leader and risen in rebellion, and there was no taking it back now.
Once you’ve gone this far, you have to see it through if you want to survive.
In that case, this was actually better.
The only troublesome variable, An Dongshin, had shown up on his own, which made everything easier.
Kill him here.
Step, step—
The disciples closed the distance.
“Th-these bastards...”
An Dongshin, who had been reading the mood while glancing around, let out a low groan.
“You go ahead first and take care of your business.”
“Pardon? Th-then what about you, Senior Hero...?”
“I’ll take care of these psychopaths.”
“...Understood, Senior Hero! I’ll go free my men!”
Even if he used Geom Mujin’s power to wipe out the junior-sect-leader faction, it meant nothing without the people who would become his hands and feet.
What use was it to be left with only a head and no arms or legs?
He sprinted toward the detention facility set up inside the sect.
“Don’t let him get away! Kill him!”
“No, no, that won’t do.”
As the disciples tried to chase after him, a burst of red sword qi cut off their pursuit.
“What was it you said earlier? Hm? An ethnic-minority special admission?”
Geom Mujin lifted his sword, his eyes lowered and cold.
Maybe I’ve been too quiet all this time.
It was time to restore order to the martial world, one more time.
* * *
Five blades danced before his eyes.
At first glance the sword path looked chaotic and reckless, but each blade had its own role.
Four of them distracted the prey, while the remaining blade aimed to kill it.
Cha-cha-chang—!
But Geom Mujin didn’t fall for the feint. He severed the throats of the blades’ owners and, using the subtlety of Friend Shield, sent the killing intent hidden within them right back into their own necks.
“I’ll return it to you.”
“Cough..!”
As the one whose gaze had been pulled away lunged in toward him, a blade shot toward Geom Mujin’s right ankle.
Whoosh—
“Huh?”
The disciple’s eyes went wide at the sensation of slicing through empty air.
His ankle had clearly been—!?
“Ta-da, it was there, and now it isn’t.”
Kwaang—!!
“Ghk!?”
Before anyone realized it, Geom Mujin had lifted his right foot and smashed it into the back of the disciple’s head.
The disciple’s head was driven into the ground up to his Adam’s apple, and after a few convulsive twitches of his limbs, he expired.
“Hup!”
As he withdrew his foot, three disciples thrust their swords toward the bulging center of his back.
Kaaang—!!
With a sharp metallic scream, sparks flew.
“What the—!”
The disciples were horrified.
The thrusts were blocked by a sword blade that Geom Mujin had thrown behind him without even looking back.
“That’s a bit much. A wound on the back is a mark of shame, you know.”
And there’s a customer here, too.
“Krrrgh..!”
“You bastard!”
The disciples poured strength into their blades with their body weight behind them, but the sword blade didn’t budge an inch, as if it had been nailed in place.
Whoosh—
Geom Mujin sent sword wind through the blade and shoved them back.
They tried to backstep and recover their stance, but it was impossible.
“Huh?”
Because the sword wind had cleanly bisected all three of their bodies.
“What kind of insanity is thi—”
The senior disciple, who had witnessed the carnage unfolding before him, turned pale.
They were deploying the Taeho Sect’s sword formation, the Four Directions Slaughtering Tiger Array, yet they were being pushed back.
The Four Directions Slaughtering Tiger Array was a formation that pinned down the four directions and drove the enemy in as though hunting a tiger.
That was supposed to be the kind of formation it was, and yet...
Slash! Slash-slash—!
“Aaaagh!”
“A-monster...!”
The prey had become the hunter.
Their opponent wasn’t just some barbarian.
He was a tiger leaping into a flock of sheep.
“What’s wrong? Come at me harder.”
Geom Mujin took a master’s stance, one knee bent and propped forward with ease, his hand resting on the other knee as he glared at them.
“He really is... one of the Seven Martial Stars...?”
The senior disciple staggered at the strangely crushing pressure of that posture.
With one bad judgment, they had made an irreversible choice.
If that man really was one of the Seven Martial Stars, they would all die.
But they had no intention of dying quietly.
“All of you, eat this!!”
At the senior disciple’s order, a strange light flashed in the disciples’ eyes.
The command was terrifyingly simple, but they knew exactly what it meant.
Each of them pulled something from their robes or pockets.
“Oh.”
Geom Mujin’s eyes narrowed.
Black pills caught between their fingers.
It was the same drug he had seen just recently.
So what the junior sect leader said was true after all.
Just as the disciples opened their mouths and were about to stuff the pills inside, Geom Mujin spoke.
“Want me to tell you the fatal weakness of a sword formation?”
“What?”
The senior disciple and the others faltered for a split second.
It wasn’t the time for this, but they were still martial artists, after all.
When a true expert offers advice, you can’t help but prick up your ears.
I slid my sword back into its scabbard.
Crack—! Crack-crack—!
Twisting my shoulders and waist, my muscles rippled and tightened.
“It’s this...”
The moment the shoulders and waist twisted to their limit and then sprang loose, moonlight burst from the scabbard.
Flash—!
Mujin Sword Style
Moon Fragrance Sword
Sealing Moon Frenzy
“Everybody retreat—”
“Run—guhk!”
The disciples tried to swallow the pills or flee, but it was too late.
The moonlight of the full moon drawn by my sword swept across their waists in an instant.
All at once, the disciples stopped moving.
The instant that moonlight brushed past their eyes, all feeling below their waists vanished.
A bad feeling hit them, and though they tried to move their bodies as if frozen solid, it was pointless.
Schrrk— clack—!
“If your opponent is too strong, then it’s nothing but a children’s performance.”
The shockwave from sheathing my sword split the upper and lower halves of their bodies apart, sending them crashing to the ground.
“If they’d taken the pills too, it would’ve gotten annoying, but that ended nicely and cleanly.”
Woooong—
With a telekinetic pull, the Jamsungdan pills rolling across the floor gathered into my palm.
“I can just take these to Doctor Heo.”
The more samples, the easier the research would be.
As I scooped the Jamsungdan into my pocket, I bounced my shoulders again.
“You did keep your eyes tightly shut and your ears properly covered, right?”
I asked, turning my head back over my shoulder.
......
......
“No answer, huh. Good. You’re behaving.”