Chapter 33
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: A Dragon with Broken Wings
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The Top 100 Martial Artists of the Murim
Skitter, skitter, skitter.
A nauseating sound echoed from all directions.
“Shit, what is this now!”
Just when he thought it was all over, a new situation arose.
In an even worse form.
Namgung Yuya swung his sword relentlessly.
With each swing, insects died, their corpses piling up on the ground.
Hae Myo, beside him, was in the same predicament.
“I am a proud warrior of the great Huashan Sect!”
He drew his sword and swung it frantically. A dozen or so insects died with every slash.
Several more burst each time he took a step.
Their stamina was draining. Their internal energy was also nearly depleted.
As they continued to kill the insects, Namgung Yuya and Hae Myo suddenly felt their bodies go rigid.
Near Jegal Biyeon, an even greater number of dead insects lay piled up than those killed by Namgung Yuya and Hae Myo.
She had fought while protecting Ha Yuseong, so minor cuts were visible on her body.
Still, Jegal Biyeon, who was in better shape than the other two, noticed the strangeness in her body at almost the same time.
“It won’t… obey.”
“Kekeke.”
Dang Guyu sneered at the four martial arts novices whose bodies had stiffened.
“Have you forgotten my title? Well, it matters not.”
Dang Guyu leisurely walked over to the box lying on the ground.
The three could only watch him.
“Finally, it falls into my hands.”
Countless treasures exist in this world.
Spirit swords.
Martial arts manuals.
Elixirs.
The Earth Pill was one such treasure.
Countless battles have been fought over this Earth Pill, yet no one has ever managed to claim it.
Even the Tang Family of Sichuan had only been safeguarding it.
A mystical pill that holds the energy of the earth.
To this day, no one has discovered how this Earth Pill is created.
One thing is certain: to a practitioner of poison arts, this Earth Pill is like the greatest elixir of all time!
Such was the treasure known as the Earth Pill.
“With this, a new Poison King shall emerge in the world!”
The box was in Dang Guyu's hands.
Now, he had no need for witnesses, aside from his insects.
Those brats had foolishly been poisoned by the very insects they killed with their own hands. For the insects release poison even in death.
Even if left alone, they would die on their own.
“Still, I should erase all evidence, just to be sure.”
As he finished speaking, a giant centipede burst through the ground.
“Kiyaaak!”
Namgung Yuya trembled.
“Do I really have to die like this!”
Hae Myo closed his eyes in resignation.
“The sword intent of the great Huashan Sect will live on!”
Jegal Biyeon, with surprised eyes…
“Yuseong?”
…was watching Ha Yuseong slowly get to his feet.
Indeed, what the two of them said was right.
The price for using my internal energy twice was steep.
My whole body felt as if a massive boulder was weighing it down. It took immense effort just to move a finger.
Thinking negatively, I felt like I could collapse at any moment. But thinking positively…
“Haha. This is good training.”
If I were in this state every time, I wouldn't need to train with heavy boulders.
Even in this moment, Ha Yuseong considered what he could do. Just as he always had.
So this is what they call the Murim.
It has been over thirty years since I first set foot in the Murim.
I've heard countless anecdotes, experiences, and exaggerations in my life, but this is the first time I've seen such a monster actually exist.
A giant centipede, the size of a human body, was moving its hundreds of legs, baring its massive poison fangs.
I don't particularly like or dislike insects, but that thing... I disliked.
“Die.”
At Dang Guyu's command, the centipede crawled first toward Namgung Yuya.
“Aaargh! Shit! I may have lived a loser's life, but I wanted to die with honor!”
The centipede crawled up Namgung Yuya's body and plunged its poison fangs into his neck.
Thwump!
Namgung Yuya had fainted the moment the centipede crawled onto him, so he didn't see Ha Yuseong manage to move and offer his own arm in his place.
The centipede's venom spread through Ha Yuseong's body.
“Kugh!”
The centipede was quite displeased that its hunt had been interrupted. So it injected its venom with all its might.
“Kyaak!”
It was enough to kill dozens of men.
Ha Yuseong's arm turned purple, then returned to normal.
“Kyak?”
The centipede injected its venom.
He was poisoned, then returned to normal.
“Kyak??”
The centipede injected its venom.
He was poisoned, then returned to normal.
This sequence repeated several times.
“Kyak???”
The centipede was baffled by this unprecedented situation.
For reference, this centipede wasn't a thousand-year-old beast, but it was at least a hundred years old.
This centipede was the leader of these insects.
“Kyak!”
Its pride wounded by its inability to poison a single human, the centipede commanded all the venomous insects under its control.
-Poison this human!
At the centipede's command, all the surrounding insects swarmed toward Ha Yuseong.
Dang Guyu watched this and laughed heartily.
“Looks like my little Ah-gong was very hungry.”
Ah-gong was the centipede's pet name.
Dang Guyu raised his sword to deal with the remaining people himself.
He approached Jegal Biyeon, who was closest to him.
Jegal Biyeon simply stared at Dang Guyu with a calm expression.
Dang Guyu disliked that Jegal Biyeon could maintain such a gaze even when her life was on the line.
Because those were...
...the eyes of someone who believes they are right.
...the eyes of someone who believes they are not wrong.
And conversely, the eyes of someone telling you that you are wrong.
They were the same eyes Dang Guyu once had.
Swish!
Dang Guyu swung his sword.
Clang!
The sword was blocked by something and ricocheted away.
“Hah! You damn old geezer.”
Dang Guyu's eyes widened in shock—first, because his sword had been deflected by a mere pebble, and second, because of the figure who had suddenly intervened.
“I've kept my promise.”
The man muttered to the empty air as he drew his sword.
Shinggg.
“You're in for a beating.”
* * *
Right after Moyong Jin left.
Seo Pung wondered if there was some kind of festival he hadn't heard about.
“‘What a coincidence,’ they say. I haven't gone anywhere, so why are so many guests dropping by?”
Opening one eye, Seo Pung saw an old man standing before him.
“Good to see you. You haven't changed a bit.”
“Old geezer. Just be on your way.”
“Kekeke. You're probably the only one in this entire Murim who dares to treat me this way.”
“I call an old geezer an old geezer. What else would I call you?”
Dang Mandok looked at Seo Pung with amusement.
In truth, the bond between him and Seo Pung was not a light one.
Dang Mandok had known Seo Pung for a very long time.
To be more precise, back in the day, he used to follow him around, cutely calling him 'Grandpa!'
The current Seo Pung was just going through a very late puberty.
“Having a mid-life crisis?”
“Mid-life crisis? How old do you think I am?”
“But how long are you going to live like this?”
“Even if you are an old geezer, don't cross the line. You might get hurt.”
“Haha. What has the world come to? A punk not even half my age dares to speak to his elder with such disrespect.”
“So, why are you here!”
Seo Pung finally dusted himself off and stood up.
In the past, whenever Dang Mandok came to see him, something troublesome was bound to happen. This time was clearly no different.
And that prediction…
“Your master would be so pleased to see you now.”
…was spot on.
“Old man.”
Seo Pung's words became curt.
“Oh? You think you can take me?”
“There are things you can touch and things you can't. Why are you bringing the dead into this?”
“He was my friend once. What business is it of yours if I want to speak of my friend? Are you his son or something?”
“…”
Seo Pung and his master were not related by blood.
However.
-Kid. You alone?
-What do you want, old man!
-Hoh! Your lack of manners reminds me of myself when I was young.
-So what! You want a punch to the jaw?
-A man should have that much spirit! I like you! I happen to be alone too, so you! Be my son!
“Do you want to die?”
“Pung-ah. How long will you live like this?”
Dang Mandok used the old nickname he had for Seo Pung. All traces of playfulness were gone from his voice.
Faced with Dang Mandok's changed demeanor, Seo Pung found it difficult to treat him as he had just moments before.
“Stay out of it. It doesn't matter how I live.”
Dang Mandok knew why Seo Pung had become like this. And he also knew that to overcome it, Seo Pung had to do it himself, not with the help of others.
Knowing this, Dang Mandok was simply waiting for Seo Pung to realize it on his own.
Besides, it would be ridiculous to lecture a man who was nearly forty.
Dang Mandok continued speaking, moving on to the real purpose of his visit.
“Pathetic. Truly pathetic. To think my friend took such a man as his disciple. If he had taken someone else, he would be living large in the world by now.”
“…”
Once.
“Come to think of it, I hear that boy from your generation, the one called the Divine Dragon, is doing very well for himself. Something about becoming the youngest elder in the Murim Alliance.”
Twice.
“Wow! This is going to be a fiercer competition than I thought. The birth of the youngest elder versus the birth of the longest-serving low-level unit leader! Who do you think will achieve their goal first?”
Three times.
He endured.
“Shall we make a bet? I'm willing to wager my entire fortune.”
He did not endure a fourth time.
“It's been a while. Let's fight, old geezer.”
“Same rules?”
“Yeah. The loser grants one request from the winner.”
“Maybe it's my age, but my knees and back haven't been feeling so good lately.”
“Don't make excuses.”
A moment later.
Seo Pung was sprawled on the ground, flat on his back.
“What was that about your knees and back aching from old age?”
Dozens of large craters pockmarked the ground around Seo Pung. The area was devastated, as if a typhoon had torn through, uprooting trees and shattering rocks.
“How did you get even stronger than you were ten years ago?”
Perhaps that wasn't it.
Maybe the old geezer hadn't gotten stronger, but he himself had gotten weaker.
“Haa… shit.”
A wave of self-loathing washed over him.
But there was nothing he could do.
Just like that day.
A damp, suffocating feeling, like being trapped in a deep pit, consumed his entire being.
At times like these, the best thing to do was just close his eyes and sleep without a thought, as usual.
He would have, if not for the bet.
-I played a little prank on your new recruits. But it seems they might actually die if things go wrong.
“I wondered what you were up to, visiting after so long. In the end, you're just dumping your mess on me.”
Seo Pung dusted himself off and stood up.
Seo Pung thought he had some idea why the old geezer had come to find him.
Who could have moved that lazy old geezer into action?
One person came to mind.
Just as he had recognized him.
Surely!
“There's no way the old geezer wouldn't have recognized him.”
Seo Pung descended the mountain.
His direction was toward the outskirts of the Murim Alliance.
For the first time in a long while, the dragon with broken wings left the territory of the Murim Alliance.
* * *
The moment Dang Guyu saw his opponent, he swung his sword.
A palpable sword aura was imbued in his blade, visible at a glance.
This was only natural.
Because he was a supreme master.
In the Murim, being a supreme master meant you could hold your head high anywhere you went.
This was true in the great sects, and it was true in the Murim Alliance, the largest faction of the Orthodox Path.
And it would be the same in the Demonic Cult or the Unorthodox Factions.
A level of skill that earned you the respect of a master wherever you went.
That was what it meant to be a supreme master.
But Dang Guyu's expression, even as he wielded his sword aura, was deadly serious.
As he faced a man who looked to be barely half his age.
Seo Pung's eyes showed no emotion as he watched the approaching sword aura.
It was as if he were looking at something perfectly ordinary.
Seo Pung swung his sword.
And Dang Guyu's sword aura shattered.
Naturally, Seo Pung's sword was also imbued with aura.
For only sword aura can block sword aura.
Seo Pung spoke.
“An old man shouldn't be bullying the Murim's fresh-faced fledglings.”