Sichuan's Greatest Nangin Ace Instructor ~Practical Edition~ -4
“Ugh!”
“No!”
“Aaaah!”
I shoved the crowd’s screams out of my head and hauled my concentration up to its peak. From this moment on, it was the real performance. Through high-level acting I had to turn Kang Jun into a genuine master.
Staggering Kang Jun saw me leap and, in pure shock, snapped into a defensive stance.
The instant our blades met, I twisted the edge of my sword.
Screeeeech!
Sparks erupted in a dazzling shower as Kang Jun stumbled back. The contact point had clearly been the upper half of his blade, yet because I deliberately rolled my edge downward, the true force of the blow landed at the very tip—the base of the blade.
The visual of flying sparks, combined with the subtlety of the move, would make any martial artist believe Kang Jun had cleverly drawn my strike all the way down to the weakest part of his sword and blocked it with exquisite skill.
As a bonus, the force I poured into the tip also corrected the center of gravity he had lost while catching the Four Tigers earlier. His stance had been forcibly realigned, but everyone except me would simply think he had either used clever power or gotten lucky.
“Tch. You’ve got a few tricks up your sleeve!”
I spun my sword once in a flashy circle and immediately pressed the attack.
I had mastered three sword arts in total: the Bright Moon Sword Art, the Ban Yu Gok Sword, and the One Thousand Sword Art. The Bright Moon Sword Art specialized in defensive principles, the One Thousand Sword Art in aggressive ones. And the Ban Yu Gok Sword… that one contained the principles of Saryangbalcheongeun and the Transformation Realm that the entire Murim went mad for.
The Ban Yu Gok Sword was a technique I used only when facing someone stronger than myself—relying on probability, deflection, and counter-strikes just to stay alive. Today I had no need for it.
What I needed were the forms of the Bright Moon Sword Art.
The reason I had chosen the Bright Moon Sword Art out of the countless sword styles in Murim Cheonha was that it possessed one unique trait no other art shared.
Preemptive defense. Specifically, the sword form called Elusive Moonlight Trace.
Preemptive defense could be considered an attack in itself, and that was true enough. But as always, the broad framework was something anyone could force into place; victory or defeat was decided in the fine details beneath it.
Even though it was merely a Second-rate sword art, Elusive Moonlight Trace contained the principles of illusion, making it extraordinarily flashy.
It possessed almost no real killing power, yet recovery was extremely easy. In short, it was a preemptive defense that interrupted the opponent’s flow of attack just once.
Shhhhhhrrraaa!
With the added effects of my gambling techniques that boosted illusion-type martial arts, Elusive Moonlight Trace reached the absolute pinnacle of spectacle.
“Uwaaaaah!!”
Kang Jun flailed his sword wildly. How could a mere Second-rate warrior have ever tasted illusion swordplay like this? In his vision I must have looked as though I were wielding three swords at once. He called himself One-Step Three Swords, yet right now it probably seemed as if four or five blades were flying out with every single step of mine.
Still, the moniker One-Step Three Swords did not appear to be empty boasting.
Perhaps desperation brought out his true skill; he was managing to catch and deflect Elusive Moonlight Trace surprisingly well.
Kang Jun seemed the type who tensed up in real combat, yet the more I drove him into a frenzy, the more his ability came alive. Those frantic sword strikes he was throwing out right now were probably his genuine level.
Clang! Clang! Kaaang!
Above all, the scene unfolding was spectacular, and I loved every second of it. Kang Jun barely blocking or dodging my strikes had the entire crowd on the edge of their seats.
Whish!
“Aaaah!”
“You can do it, Great Hero!”
“Taegyeong Gate! Taegyeong Gate! One-Step Three Swords!”
When my blade grazed past Kang Jun’s chin, the marketplace erupted.
A truly razor-thin contest!
Once Kang Jun began responding properly, I no longer held back and poured out my sword freely. After all, Elusive Moonlight Trace could at best scrape skin; I could thrust without the slightest hesitation.
A facial cut that split the skin would cause an uproar back on Earth, but thanks to the bizarrely advanced trauma medicines and the existence of internal energy, a wound of that level vanished without a trace after a single application of salve.
Kang! Kaaang! Chaaeng! Ting!
Sword strikes exchanged at blistering speed, and in the midst of them Kang Jun would occasionally deflect a blade by a hair’s breadth or fail to react and take a shallow cut.
Every time he barely escaped or received a scratch, the crowd let out continuous gasps of awe.
The atmosphere on site had reached its absolute climax. Every spectator in the market, and even Kang Jun and I ourselves, were completely immersed in the duel.
There was a reason for the saying “Leave while they’re still clapping.” If I tried to push Kang Jun’s elevated state to 120 or 150 percent of his peak ability, the entire stage could collapse.
It was time to wrap things up.
What would make a good finale?
The ideal scenario would have been for Kang Jun himself to break through my sword and gamble on a decisive strike, but right now he was completely locked into receiving my attacks. Expecting more than that from his current capacity seemed unrealistic.
So I had to create an opening myself. Limping once would have solved everything, but with Ho Cheon-an’s legend currently being rewritten, I was supposed to just trip on flat ground? Then people would say, “Kang Jun got lucky—that wandering warrior just happened to plant his foot wrong on solid earth.”
That kind of talk would start flying around.
Thud.
That was when it happened.
A single chestnut rolling underfoot was kicked by my boot. Had it spilled from the basket I had kicked earlier?
In that instant a new scenario flashed through my mind—one that even Kang Jun’s current skill could fully digest, yet still deliver a powerful ending.
Claaaang!!
I abandoned Elusive Moonlight Trace and smashed Kang Jun’s sword aside with a genuine single strike. He could not withstand the residual force and staggered. In truth, the gap between our abilities was exactly what the scene now showed. If I swung seriously, he would not last three seconds.
“Haha, Kang Jun! I’ve got you now!”
Aaaah!!
Using the surrounding gasps as background music, I raised my sword high above my head.
“Die, Kang Jun!”
Aaaah! Stop him!
Amid the crowd’s uproar I took one step forward and, at the exact moment I brought the sword down, stepped on the chestnut.
“Wha—!”
The chestnut crushed underfoot; my supporting leg collapsed, my posture broke, and the path of the blade warped. In the end the finishing stroke merely sliced empty air in front of Kang Jun.
Kang Jun was still a martial artist.
Seeing my completely collapsed stance and failed attack, he reflexively thrust his sword.
Straight at my face.
This bastard really was trash to the very end.
Normally one aimed for the hand to subdue an opponent, yet this guy went straight for the face? I had been ready to drop my sword on a moderate attack and deliver my next line, so I hurriedly poured strength into the blade and knocked his aside.
Kaaang!
Whish!
He had thrust with genuine killing intent; even though I deflected it in haste, I could not block completely, and the tip grazed my cheek.
Should I just kill him?
The searing pain on my face made me seriously consider ditching the Black Cat training and simply flattening him.
In an instant the entire market street fell silent.
Killing intent.
The fact that Kang Jun’s sword had only grazed my cheek was pure luck. Literally pure luck. It would not have been strange if fortune had simply exploded here and produced this result. Even though I blocked in panic, the defense was incomplete and I had not calculated the rebound angle at all.
If that blade had flown toward my eye, forehead, or throat, I might actually have died.
Having nearly died and then briefly considered murdering Kang Jun in pure rage, the killing intent I released for that split second was something these ordinary townsfolk had never experienced in their lives.
Fine. I’ll endure it just this once.
Black Cat is watching, and today’s performance has been ridiculous. Am I really going to throw it all away? A little golden-wound salve and a round of energy circulation and the mark will vanish without a trace. The guy got a cut on his face too, so of course he’s pissed. I already decided to give full service today, so let’s finish it properly.
Ssshk.
I dragged my foot.
Overwhelmed by my killing intent, both Kang Jun and the crowd had been fixed on my every move; now their eyes locked onto my boot.
The crushed remains of the chestnut!
I made no sound out of fear, yet a breathless hush spread through the spectators.
They too finally understood why I had cut empty air and exposed an opening a moment ago.
At the perfect instant, of all places, a chestnut had been lying exactly where I planted my foot, and that was why the attack went wide!
“…That thing’s been bugging me since earlier.”
I deliberately released a thin thread of killing intent and looked behind me.
The old woman’s face had turned deathly blue; she clutched the half-gathered chestnut basket and trembled from head to toe.
I did not feel particularly sorry.
Once this play ended, Taegyeong Gate would hand her a considerable sum under the name of consolation money. At this very moment the consolation money that would have ended at the price of a few chestnuts was ballooning into a serious amount.
I deliberately turned my body with slow, dragging steps.
Even someone completely dense could guess that the moment I fully turned my back, I would not leave the old woman alone.
I trusted Kang Jun.
I trusted his burning personality.
When the Two Tigers had been under my feet earlier, what had Kang Jun done? Seeing my unstable posture, he had been unable to restrain that base instinct and launched a sneak attack! And now, with half my back already turned, he was going to suppress that same instinct?
Impossible.
“Stop him!”
“Get out of the way!”
Chaaeng!
Kang Jun poured out a ferocious assault. The look in his eyes—convinced that if the previous thrust had landed cleanly he could have finished me—burned with hope and irritated me deeply.
For a second I nearly smashed his sword far too hard out of pure anger.
My face flushed bright red.
Again, an application of gambling technique. When the art of controlling facial expression reached its extreme, even complexion could be adjusted like this. Actually, anyone could make their face red just by tensing the muscles.
“Damn it… internal injuries!”
Was a bastard like this even allowed to be orthodox?
I was the one who had dropped the clue so people could deduce, ‘This guy must have taken internal damage when his foot slipped while preparing that final strike!’…
Even so, the way his expression brightened and the power in his limbs suddenly increased the moment he heard his opponent had weakened made me sincerely question his qualifications as an orthodox martial artist.
With no unorthodox sects in Sichuan, even snake-hearted scum like him got to call themselves righteous.
Imagining Kang Jun being called “Great Hero” starting tomorrow because of today’s performance made my guts twist.
“Haaaap! Taegyeong Single Strike!”
My motivation had hit rock bottom at the sight of him, so I let my body fly backward as if overpowered by that single blow and released my sword.
I’ll just bill Taegyeong Gate ten times the price of the sword later.
“Urgh…!! You bastard!”
I staggered two steps back. My gaze went to my hand. I could feel every eye in the crowd and Kang Jun’s own locking onto it. My hand was trembling like an aspen leaf.
Anyone could see I was no longer capable of fighting.
I retreated unsteadily, glaring back and forth between the old woman and Kang Jun. Faced with my venomous expression, the old woman stumbled backward.
Kang Jun also noticed my gaze and hurriedly stepped in front of her. That damn professional consciousness of his—why did I have to feed this kind of guy the final rice cake? Anyway, it was truly over now.
“…Just you wait, Taegyeong Gate’s Three-Step One SwordKang Jun! I will never forget today’s grudge!”
I leaned my upper body far forward as if I might collapse at any second and retreated into the back alley.
Waaaaaaaaaah!!!
Kang Jun! Kang Jun!
Three-Step One Sword! Three-Step One Sword!!
Taegyeong Gate!! Taegyeong Gate!! Taegyeong Gate!!
“Ugh, fuck, that was seriously exhausting.”
“You worked hard, Senior.”
Black Cat, who had followed without a sound, was suddenly standing at my side.
“That wasn’t a normal mid-level request, so remember this. What you need to learn today is that the situation on site is always changing a thousand ways. You have to respond when neither you nor the other party knows each other, and you must never give the crowd even a hint of the truth behind the curtain. Being a Sichuan nangin is truly a shit job.”
“I knew it intellectually… but today’s request was truly… I don’t even know how to describe it.”
Black Cat’s voice was flushed with excitement; she had clearly been deeply impressed by today’s performance. Of course—witnessing a Ho Cheon-an legend live on her very first request would move anyone.
If I had been Black Cat, I might have clapped with tears in my eyes.
“When that happens, you do this.”
I raised a thumbs-up.
Black Cat stared at me for a moment, then raised both hands and gave me double thumbs-up.
The sight was strangely cute, so I let out a short laugh.
She was a quick-learning junior.