Talent Difference
"Now it's my turn?"
"Ah...!"
Before Jin Hun could answer or even react.
Shrrrrk—!
Do Gwang's form dissolved into the air like a heat haze as if melting into nothingness.
"!!??"
Jin Hun's eyes bulged so wide they looked ready to pop out of his skull.
Do Gwang, who had vanished from his sight in an instant—
Swish—
"I'll borrow this for a sec."
Had already closed the distance to right under Jin Hun's chin, casually snatching the sword from his grip.
"K-Krrrk!!!"
Jin Hun's face twisted with shame. For a swordsman to have his weapon taken by an enemy without even getting a single swing off — that was a greater humiliation than death itself.
"Y-You bastard! Give it back!!!"
It was utterly ridiculous — this was the same man who'd already exhausted himself flinging a hundred forms into empty air, now trying to cling to his pathetic pride as a swordsman.
Pfft.
"You want it?"
"Yes! Return it! Return my sword...!"
Jin Hun's bloodshot eyes fixed on Do Gwang as he roared.
"Fine. Here."
"Give it— wha...? Yes, hand it over!"
'The moment I get this sword back, I'll shove it down this filthy demon's throat!'
Murderous intent flashing through his mind, Jin Hun reached out his hand.
Do Gwang, seemingly willing to comply, extended the sword forward and murmured softly.
"But in exchange for getting this back..."
Do Gwang lifted the massive iron clube held in his other hand. Then, with its tip, he pointed at the corpses of the third disciples — already reduced to unrecognizable lumps of meat.
A beastly gasp burst from Jin Hun's lips.
"Hi... Hiik...!!!"
He didn't need to hear the rest to understand. Do Gwang was kindly offering him a choice. Take this sword back and become filling for meat dumplings? Or obediently get stabbed by your own blade? Whichever he chose, the result was death.
"Aaaaaagh!!!"
In the end, terror completely consumed his reason. Abandoning all pretense of swordsman's pride or senior discipline honor, Jin Hun let out a pathetic scream and turned to flee.
But—
Fshiiik—!
"Aaaaaaaagh!!!"
Jin Hun, mid-flight, let out a death rattle as excruciating pain lanced across his back, and he face-planted onto the ground.
"...You're way too dramatic."
Do Gwaning muttered, dumbfounded. Because all he'd done was barely graize him with the tip of the sword. But Jin Hun's mind, already flooded with the fear of death, had mistaken that small pain for a fatal wound and sent him into convulsions.
"Look at this guy, throwing a fit over a little scratch! Heh heh!"
"And they say he's the second disciple of Cheongseong? He's worse than a little girl! Kekeke!"
The dark path bastards on the cart were now openly mocking Jin Hun as he writhed on the ground.
"Aaaagh!! How far will you humiliate me?!"
Jin Hun was pathetic and spineless, but even a worm will squirm when stepped on.
Fine, just kill me!!"
Humiliated in front of mere vermin-like dark path scum, toyed with like a plaything, he finally gave up on life out of sheer shame.
"Go on, cut off my head with one stroke! You assassin of the Status Window! I'll curse you even in death!"
Jin Hun, veins bulging in his neck, spat out a cliché line worthy of a third-rate martial arts novel's porting character.
Do Gwang curled one corner of his mouth into a bitter smirk and replied.
"Aww... can't do that."
"What? You bastard, how far will you—!"
Jin Hun's voice, choked with resentment, cut off as if by a lie.
Thud—!
Do Gwang threw the heavy iron club in his left hand to the ground. Then, with Jin Hun's sword in his right hand, he began to take stance.
"...!?"
Jin Hun's eyes couldn't help but widen. Because it was a stance so familiar to him. A movement he couldn't possibly fail to recognize.
"YOOOOUUUU BASTAAAARD!!!!"
Jin Hun's face twisted grotesquely with rage and shock.
"A rootless unorthodox scum like you dares to imitate the great Cheongseong's sword technique?!"
The stance Do Gwang was taking was none other than the first form of the Cheongpungsipsik.
"It's not imitation."
"Wha, what...?"
Pfft.
Do Gwang sneered. A hundred words were slower than a single demonstration, anyway.
"...The realm you spent your whole life reaching — let me put it to better use."
Whoosh—!
"K-Kheeuuk!!?"
in Hun choked on his own breath. A strike so perfect and swift that he couldn't even react — one he himself could never reach even if he trained his entire life. Convinced his head was about to fly off, Jin Hun squeezed his eyes shut.
"Uh...?"
But his neck wasn't cut. Leaving a hair's breadth of a hair's gap, Do Gwang's sword tip stopped precisely right before Jin Hun's throat.
"Don't was so much, old man."
"Y-You bastard..."
"You've still got ninety-nine left."
"Wha, what...!?"
"I'll show you a hundred moves too."
"Gurg...!"
Dark red blood gushed from Jin Hun's mouth. Was he stabbed in the belly? No. It was because his pathetic pride as a swordsman and his sanity had shattered into piece and a vicious simma had taken hold.
How could it not?
From the very first form he'd started with—
—!
The second form.
—! —! —!
third, fourth fifth forms...
—!!!
All the way to the final nineteenth form.
It was too perfect.
'No, it far surpassed perfection...'
The Cheongpungsipsik that Do Gwang was playing was so exquisite and sharp that it was hard to believe it was just a basic sword technique taught to newly initiated third disciples.
'U Gyeong...'
A certain junior disciple's, hadn't joined this journey and was training back at the main sect, flashed through Jin Hun's mind.
Cheongseongpa — a sect that prided itself on being one of the Nine Schools One Clan, but in reality always lingered near the bottom. Yet all the adults, including the sect leader and elders, unanimously praised one unprecedented genius.
Third disciple U Gyeong. They said that child would open a new era for the great Cheongseong! Jin Hun had believed that too.
But the moment he saw the monstrous movements before him this monstrous display of skill, that pathetic belief was thoroughly denied.
'Even that so-called genius couldn't replicate it this perfectly after seeing it just once...!'
This unidentified assassin bastard, who looked similar in age to U Gyeong or perhaps even younger, had stolen the Cheongpungsipsik with just a single glance!
And it wasn't mere imitation. It was a form far more evolved and refined than the sword path he himself had forcibly displayed just moments ago.
'Even if the Cheongpungsipsik is a basic sword technique, it's not a martial art that can be stolen so easily...!'
But Jin Hun was still far too early to be shocked.
Because—
lick—!
Do Gwang, curling his lips into a bitter smirk, didn't stop and immediately took the next stance.
"urg... Kheugh...! Y-You bastard...! Don't make me laugh......!!"
Jin Hun denied it, spitting bloody foam. Because the trajectory of the sword Do Gwang had taken next was unmistakablythe starting stance of the Cheongungeombeop.
"A demonic bastard like you might have luckily mimicked the Cheongpungsipsik, but that form...!"
You can't. You absolutely can't! Because from the intermediate martial arts onward — the advanced martial arts that follow the basic technique — you can only fully execute them if you've mastered Cheongseong's internal energy heart method!
The probability that this crazy murder culprit had learned Cheongseong's Taoist heart method? No way. Absolutely no way! There's no way a madman who enjoys killing people so cruelly could harbor the pure energy of the Tao.
And even if he were a heaven-sent prodigy...!
"You're not going to tell me you saw through the breathing and hidden flow of energy within my forms in a single glance too, are you!?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Wha... what...?"
Jin Hun's pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck them.
As if mocking him—
Whooosh—!
A faint andclear blue energy began to bloom over the sword blade that enveloped Do Gwang's body.
"Ah... Ah...!"
Jin Hun's jaw trembled.
"Don't make me laugh... Don't make me laugh......!"
You're saying he learned the internal energy heart method just by seeing it once with his eyes? Through both orthodox and unorthodox sects, no legend or myth in the entire martial world had ever recorded such a bizarre talent!
And moreover, that clear and deep energy he was emitting right now wasn't at the level of the crude basic heart method that second disciples like him learned!
"You bastard, don't try to dve me!"
On the verge of madness, Jin Hun found a plausible answer for himself.
"I haven't personally heard it from the elders at the main sect, but... you're an old demon!"
A terrifying secret of the main sect, thoroughly kept hidden from low-ranking seconds disciples like himself!
"You must be an old demon who committed a great sin at theainsect was imprisoned, then broke out and achieved reverse rejuvenation!!!"
Pfft.
p>Do Gwang's lip twitched. The sight of Jin Hun shouting with conviction as if he'd made a brilliant deduction was utterly ridiculous.
Pfft.
Do Gwang let out another laugh of disbelief.
"You fucking idiot."
"...Wha... what......?"
"I just copied the heart method you use as is."
"...Wha... what...... wha......?"
That's impossible. The heart method Jin Hun had mastered was merely the basic 'Cheongmyeongsimbeop' — an introductory heart method for executing Cheongseong! That's why he had displayed the Cheongungeombeop, Songpunggeombeop, and Cheongnoegeombeop so terribly!
"That's impossible! You're saying that's the Cheongmyeongsimbeop? How could you emit such pure blue energy with that!!!"
Pfft.
"...You want to know?"
Jin Hun panted, glaring at Do Gwang.
Do Gwang was about to tell him honestly, then clicked his tongue. Even if he explained it was a game trait, the bastard wouldn't understand anyway.
To blow the lid off this hypocritical and despicable bastard's mind even more spectacularly, Do Gwang picked a particularly juicy word.
"Talent difference."
Do Gwang deeply regretted not having a keyboard to add 'lol' at the end. If he could have attached that, it would have been the perfect teabagging.
But—
"Ta... Talent difference...?"
"Yeah, the 'talent difference' between you and me."
"Ta... Talent difference..."
For Jin Hun, who had spent his whole life rolling around in the sect, breaking his bones to barely hold onto his position as second disciples, those words alone were the worst dagger to
"Aaaagh!! urg... Kkhk!!"
Jin Hun had a seizure, spewing black blood.
But Do Gwang, ignoring he, adjusted his grip on the sword.
"Alright, I'll show you the remaining 81 forms."
A game's tutorial should be completed to the end to get the full experience.
The sword light surged.
—!
Cheong!
—!!!
The trajectory of the sword, ceaseless and infinitely smooth like flowing clouds. It was on an entirely different dimension from the stiff and clumsy movements Jin Hun had shown earlier — literally 'flowing clouds' itself.
"Kheuhhuk...! Kheok...!"
Even though the sword never touched his skin, the overwhelming force of the surging blue sword wind alone inflicted internal injuries on Jin Hun, making him vomit blood.
But Do Gwang's demonstration wouldn't end here.
Next.
—!!!!
Songpunggeombeop!
This was the true sharp and fierce swift sword that cut through pine treets! These too were perfect strikes that tore through the wind, completely different from the dull swinging of an iron lump that Jin Hun had shown.
"Kyaaagh! Kheok...!"
Every time the sword energy grazed past, Jin Hun's simma deepened, and the energy in his dantian twisted miserably.
"Now, for the real last one..."
"St... Stop...! Please just... kill me with one stroke...!"
Jin Hun, crawling on the ground, sobbed. Now, he had lost not only his pride as a swordsman but even his dignity as a human being, begging only for euthanasia.
Pfft.
"Yeah, no."
At the same time as Do Gwang's merciless laugh fell—
"Aaaaaagh!!!"
Jin Hun's scream was swallowed as the essence of Cheongseongpa's advanced martial arts split the air.
KWA-A-A-ANG---!!!
An explosive power like a true thunderbolt, incomparable to the pathetic energy Jin Hun had forcibly squeezed out just ago!
Exploding like a blue thunderbolt striking the earth.
Cheongnoegeombeop!
Its appearance was so majestic and destructive that—
"Whoa..."
"Damn... that's fucking incredible..."
Even the dark path bastards on the cart, who had been cackling and mocking Jin Hun until just now, dropped their jaws and let out awed exclamations.
And—"urg...!"
Jin Hun, who had long since far exceeded his limits.
"...Gurgle..."
for the first scratch that had lightly grazed his back, Do Gwang's sword hadn't touched a single hair on Jin Hun's body. Do Gwang had kept his promise to show a hundred moves perfectly.
But the absolute terror thatominated his mind and the and the simma that denied his entire life had already cut off his breath.
Thud—
"Gurg... Gurg..."
Jin Hun, eyes rolled back collapsed like a crumbling tower, foaming at the mouth stained with blood, and breathed his last.