Last Vacation (3)
Grit!
Meng Yuon, teeth clenched as if he'd been grinding his grudge to dust, charged straight ahead. His all-out swift sword sliced through the air, hurtling toward the Savage Twin Mace Man Beomseong with ruthless ferocity.
Comparing the two was like night and day—two warriors at opposite extremes. The Little Affectionate Swordsman Meng Yuon wielded light, blisteringly fast swordplay paired with nimble footwork, while Savage Twin Mace Man Beomseong was a brute swinging a pair of unyieldingly solid metal maces with heavy, unyielding force.
Boom!
Meng Yuon's ambush was solid, but Beomseong managed to cross his signature twin maces and block it. No direct wounds, but the blinding speed and domineering power of that swift sword had shaken his stance.
"This martial art... I've seen it somewhere before!"
Beomseong, who'd been thoroughly underestimating Meng Yuon, suddenly widened his eyes as the familiar sword style jogged his memory.
"I am Meng Yuon, the Little Affectionate Swordsman of the Fighting Sword Sect."
Meng Yuon spat the words like he was chewing each syllable, his gaze fierce and unyielding.
Hearing that, realization dawned on Beomseong a beat too late. He recoiled in shock.
"Right! I've heard the rumors! The Fighting Sword Sect's one and only genius—the only one from a minor sect to make it into the upper class..."
Stunned, Beomseong glanced not just at Meng Yuon but at all of us as he continued.
"So that's it. You lot are from Cheonmu Academy."
Now that he'd pieced together who we were, Beomseong and his Black Heaven Gang crew looked genuinely rattled. But it didn't last.
"Fine. We came here to wipe out the Fighting Sword Sect completely, so you're dying by my hand too."
With that, Beomseong crossed his twin maces—each one heavy enough to be a nightmare on its own—and launched a ferocious assault.
The technique that earned him his Savage Twin Mace moniker—the Shattered Bone Twin Mace Method, a brutal art of swinging twin clubs with terrifying might.
Those wildly swung maces brimmed with unfathomable inner energy and raw power.
'If this were Meng Yuon from the early upper class days, he wouldn't have stood a chance.'
But Meng Yuon now was different.
Slip!
Rather than clash head-on with the overwhelming attack, Meng Yuon chose to deflect it smoothly. The old Meng Yuon might've lost his head in a rage and gone for a straight brawl, but not anymore.
The moment he fluidly redirected Beomseong's strike, Meng Yuon's advanced technique erupted.
The Fighting Sword Sect's pride, from their Fighting Advance Swift Dragon Sword Method—a stance renowned for speed, said to sever an enemy's head the instant its flash passed.
Flash!
A dazzling light dazzled the foe's eyes, throwing him off balance. Then—
Slice!
A chilling sound of something being severed sent shivers down spines.
No need to watch any longer.
"Wha...? Huh?"
Before Meng Yuon stood Beomseong, one arm gone, too stunned to even scream in pain. Only when he registered the missing limb did he unleash a throat-shredding wail.
"Aaaargh!"
Watching him howl in agony felt so damn satisfying—like a decade's worth of pent-up frustration melting away.
'You mocked the Fighting Sword Sect and their arts... and now you've tasted them.'
How's that flavor, you bastard!
Even more shocking was the Black Heaven Gang's reaction.
"I-Is that really Fighting Sword Sect martial arts?"
"The others were quick, but not this quick..."
"This is the essence of the Fighting Sword Sect's swift sword!"
The eyes of the Black Heaven vanguard, who'd dismissed the sect as a joke, wavered.
"You bitch!"
But the fight wasn't over. Beomseong was a hardened evil faction warrior, the type to gnaw through with gums if his teeth were gone. He'd lost an arm to carelessness, but his feral tenacity remained.
With his one good arm, he swung all-out for Meng Yuon's skull.
Beomseong probably thought Meng Yuon had let his guard down in victory, but I knew better.
'He's timid by nature, but timidity breeds meticulousness.'
So even if Meng Yuon seemed distracted, he'd been tracking Beomseong's every twitch. Proof came as he effortlessly parried the desperate, mutual-destruction lunge.
Slice!
A casual sword swing pierced the remaining arm, halting the attack cold.
"Gaaack!"
In an instant, one arm severed, the other run through—the Savage Twin Mace Man Beomseong. He'd earned his brutal title swinging those iron clubs, but today, "savage" fit Meng Yuon far better.
"You're the one who ordered them to torch the Fighting Sword Sect?"
Meng Yuon, pinning the subdued Beomseong, no longer looked weak or timid. He shone with unprecedented fighting spirit.
"Th-That was..."
Sensing his life hung by a thread, Beomseong stammered.
It was obviously his call, but he had an excuse.
"It wasn't my idea—it was orders from above, from the Black Heaven Gang Lord!"
Facing death, he half-switched to polite speech with Meng Yuon, who was young enough to be his son. I nearly burst out laughing.
"The one who gave the order or the one who just passed it along—same difference."
Peng Jincheon snorted with cold disdain.
Meng Yuon nodded in agreement, raising his sword again—
"What are you idiots doing? We still outnumber them! Get these bastards!"
He'd proposed one-on-one duels to shift focus when it suited him, but now that he was cornered, he called for his men. Classic evil faction thug. I shook my head.
Roar!
His underlings couldn't refuse their boss. As they charged with battle cries to rescue him—
I spread my hands toward the rushing Black Heaven Gang thugs, unleashing the Formless Poison Skill.
In the blink of an eye, the poisoned men collapsed into deep slumber.
This time, it was sleep poison—they couldn't hold out.
Stagger... Thud!
It wasn't just one or two—over a dozen burly giants dropping like marionettes with cut strings was a spectacle. Even Beomseong on our side, plus Meng Yuon and Peng Jincheon, gaped in astonishment.
I waited until the last one hit the dirt, then approached Beomseong.
"D-Don't come closer!"
As I neared, he freaked out, staring like I was the King of Hell himself.
Undeterred, I closed in and declared:
"I'll let you live—so go tell your Black Heaven Gang Lord."
I'd said it earlier: To beat a larger force with a small elite squad, strike the enemy leader first.
Time to make it happen.
"Cheon Myeong, upper class student of Cheonmu Academy, challenges him to a duel. If he's no coward, tell him to face me one-on-one."
"What?"
Beomseong's shock was brief. Then—
"Hahaha! HAHAHAHA!"
Resigned to death, he cackled like a madman.
"I get it—you're a sharp kid for your age. But... our Black Heaven Gang Lord is on another level entirely."
Beomseong had reason for such confidence.
The rising star of the evil factions, leader of the Black Heaven Gang—the Black Heaven Sword Ghost Du Jeongcheong—was undefeated to date.
'I learned here in Sichuan Province that he built the Black Heaven Gang by crushing famous masters in challenge duels.'
A green rookie who hadn't even properly debuted in the martial world challenging him to one-on-one? Hilarious.
"Word is, the Black Heaven Gang Lord rose to power through one-on-one duels. So!"
I wasn't bluffing.
I emphasized it gravely once more.
"If he's got the guts, tell him to come to the Fighting Sword Sect in a week. Oh, wait—one more thing."
Glancing down at Beomseong, I barked, then realized something. Grabbing his hair, I yanked him to his feet like livestock.
"Come with me. Got something for you to do."
Couldn't just send him off empty-handed.
* * *
After wiping out the Black Heaven vanguard, we returned to the Fighting Sword Sect. Sure enough, Sect Leader Meng Danya—who'd barely survived—down to Meng Yuon's senior brothers, still limping, were all waiting at the gate.
"M-Master?"
Meng Yuon asked, flustered. Why aren't you resting? Why come out to greet us?
"We were worried you and your friends might get hurt... Gasp! Th-That's the Savage Twin Mace Man Beomseong behind you?!"
Meng Danya started calmly, then spotted the hulking figure behind Meng Yuon and recoiled in horror.
But wait—what was this?
Looking closer, the once-terrifying Beomseong looked... off.
"Huh? What's with his arms?"
"And his face—looks like he got pummeled."
"Where'd all his men go?"
Meng Danya aside, Meng Yuon's brothers and the sect disciples buzzed with questions.
I gave them the simple answer.
"Yuon took down the Savage Twin Mace Man."
Ooooh!
The reaction was explosive.
"My god!"
"He beat a top-tier expert?"
"B-But Yuon was only first-rate before he left the sect!"
Many couldn't believe it, but the once-exceptional sect leader saw differently.
"You fools. Look at that severed right arm."
Meng Danya pointed to the stump.
To me or Peng Jincheon, outsiders, it meant nothing—but to the Fighting Sword Sect, it clicked.
Ooooh!
Another cheer, but this one held realization, not doubt.
Examining the clean cut...
"That's our sect's Fighting Dragon Flash Sword technique."
Gasps erupted anew.
"Exactly—an advanced stance you need peak mastery or higher to unleash."
Meng Danya nodded calmly, then—
Step.
—walked right up and hugged Meng Yuon tight.
"Yuon, you've grown so strong."
Reunited with his family-like sect after so long, for Meng Yuon, those words erased all his hardships in an instant.
And it didn't stop there.
"You're the pride of our Fighting Sword Sect."
Master and disciple, robbed of reunion joy by the Black Heaven raid, finally shared their bond.
I wanted to savor the touching scene, but duty called.
"Ahem. Sorry to interrupt this moment, but... I brought this heaven-defying scum here for a reason."
I grabbed Beomseong's hair again, propping him up like an animal.
"I hear this bastard's the one who smashed your sect's signboard."
Approaching the shattered plaque—yep.
This piece of shit had clearly bashed it with his maces.
"That's right. But why bring the Savage Twin Mace Man...?"
To Meng Danya's question, I nodded toward Beomseong—make him hear this.
"The one who broke it fixes it. Or pays up full price. Until then, he's not going anywhere."