Monopolizing Fortunes (166)
Monopolizing Fortunes (166)
Jo Seong-un glared at Won Dae-yeon with wide eyes. He could not say how long he had waited for those words.
He had waited fifteen long years, and only after all that time had passed did he give up. The sect whose approval he had so desperately wanted had ultimately turned its back on him.
Perhaps his wandering across the Central Plains leading the performing troupe was a way of mocking his own rootless fate.
Jo Seong-un turned away irritably.
"If you've apologized, then just go back!"
If he kept looking at Won Dae-yeon, he felt like tears might come. It was deflating to realize that he had agonized for all those years over something so trivial.
"I came because I have a request."
"A request? Did you just say a request?"
Jo Seong-un pointed a finger at Won Dae-yeon.
"I'm exercising every ounce of patience not to swing my sword at you, and you say you have a request! A coward hiding behind the empty name of the Greatest Hero Under Heaven dares to ask something of me!"
"You're right. That name is empty. The title of Greatest Hero Under Heaven should never have been mine—it should have belonged to your Twelve Zodiac Shadows."
"I don't need a name like that! We didn't do chivalrous deeds because we wanted fame!"
"Believe it or not, I was the same. When my family died, I cursed the man called a hero. Now, about that request—could you spare me a cup of tea?"
Jo Seong-un, who had been glaring at Won Dae-yeon, asked.
"You know nothing in this world is free, right?"
"Of course."
"My tea is expensive."
"Even if it's the most expensive tea in the world, it doesn't matter."
Jo Seong-un climbed onto the empty stage where the acrobatics had been performed.
"If you beat me, I'll treat you to a cup of tea. If your skills fall short, you should be prepared to lose an arm."
"So the price of a cup of tea could be one of my arms."
"If you're afraid, leave now."
Won Dae-yeon approached the stage and said.
"When I set out to find my enemy, what I feared most was failing to avenge them. As the years stretched on, that fear deepened, and it gnawed at me until it turned me into an opium addict. Because the moment opium seized me, the fear vanished. After I became an addict, what I feared most was not being able to get opium. Perhaps I'm a coward who spent half his life trembling in fear. And now......"
Won Dae-yeon stepped onto the stage and stood one jang in front of Jo Seong-un. For masters like them, it was a distance equivalent to standing nose to nose.
"What I fear most is disappointing my master."
"Master? Did you just say master? The Life-Stealing Twin Swordsman Won Dae-yeon has a master?"
"He never once thought of me as someone beneath him or as a man to be used. But he is unmistakably my master, and if he wished it, I would throw away my life without hesitation."
"Did you come looking for me for that master's sake too?"
"Yes."
Jo Seong-un clenched his molars. Fury that seemed ready to explode was written across his face.
"When you were the Greatest Hero Under Heaven, I could at least tolerate it. But now you've become someone's dog? The reason our sect is called Mumyeong is to tell us not to be bound by names—not to live as another man's dog!"
Facing that fury, Won Dae-yeon was rather composed.
"I never once considered myself the Sect Leader of the Mumyeong Sect. Our master didn't either. We were simply martial artists who learned the Invincible Inch-Heaven Sword."
"By becoming someone's dog, you've defiled the Invincible Inch-Heaven Sword!"
Won Dae-yeon drew two swords from his waist and said.
"Would you like to confirm whether I've defiled the Invincible Inch-Heaven Sword?"
"I should. Losing an arm might not be the end of it."
Jo Seong-un gripped a sword in each hand and lowered his stance. With his right hand holding the sword forward and his left hand holding it reverse-gripped, he shifted his center of gravity forward.
Won Dae-yeon, swords in both hands, showed not even a hint of readiness to fight.
"Are you looking down on me?"
"I have never once thought of you that way. Come."
Clenching his molars, Jo Seong-un moved. As a martial artist, his life had been a journey to surpass Won Dae-yeon.
Won Dae-yeon's talent for martial arts was truly heaven-sent. Blocked by the wall of that genius, Jo Seong-un had nevertheless never once given up.
When Won Dae-yeon trained for four shichen, he trained for six. When Won Dae-yeon trained for six, he pushed himself for eight.
That journey never stopped, and even now he devoted six shichen a day to training.
'I've surpassed him now!'
The ten years Won Dae-yeon had spent wandering the Central Plains, mad with vengeance, had become time Jo Seong-un could use to climb over the wall of genius. That was what he had believed.
So as he charged at Won Dae-yeon, Jo Seong-un was certain he could win.
It was only one jang. The sword thrusting toward Won Dae-yeon's chest arrived faster than the blink of an eye.
Clang!
It was blocked. Being blocked once was acceptable. If it ended this easily, it wouldn't be any fun. The reverse-gripped sword slashed toward the chin. Won Dae-yeon let the attack slide past by leaning his body back slightly.
The forward-gripped sword aimed for the stomach. With a sharp clang, that attack was blocked as well.
Jo Seong-un pressed on without disappointment. The Seventy-Two Linked Strikes of the Invincible Inch-Heaven Sword were faster and more dazzling than any sword art in the world.
Even if Won Dae-yeon knew the Invincible Inch-Heaven Sword better than anyone, knowing it and executing it were entirely different things.
The same martial art changes depending on the practitioner's aptitude, temperament, and physical nature. This was especially true for an art like the Invincible Inch-Heaven Sword, which had been passed down through a single successor for so long.
So apart from both using two short swords, Won Dae-yeon's and Jo Seong-un's Invincible Inch-Heaven Sword could look completely different.
Clang!
As the four short swords clashed simultaneously, the two men's fluttering hems burst apart with a sharp crack.
Jo Seong-un, on the attack, advanced one step, and Won Dae-yeon, on the defense, retreated one step.
Their single steps carried the weight of ten thousand geun, and the stage, which had barely been holding together, shattered.
The eleven members of the Twelve Zodiac Shadows who had gathered around the stage by then deflected the debris raining down like arrows.
They had never seen a duel like this. Jo Seong-un often sparred with them, but they had never seen him move like this.
"So that's the boss's real skill!"
If any of them had been standing in Won Dae-yeon's place, the fight would already have been over.
But Jo Seong-un was even more shocked than the Twelve Zodiac Shadows, to a degree beyond comparison.
His attacks were not working at all. Won Dae-yeon had surely neglected his training for over ten years while consumed by vengeance, yet he stood as solid as the insurmountable wall of old.
Even with Jo Seong-un giving everything he had, all he had managed was to force Won Dae-yeon back a single step. The Seventy-Two Linked Strikes had already been stopped.
'At this rate, I can never beat my senior brother!'
Having made his decision, Jo Seong-un leaped back and hurled his short swords. It was the flying-blade art he had never once used in real combat while operating as one of the Twelve Zodiac Shadows.
That was because he had never met an opponent strong enough to require the technique called the Cheonui Flying Blade.
The two short swords attached to silver threads flew at Won Dae-yeon's neck and leg. The two blades were deflected off Won Dae-yeon's guard and changed direction.
He had not expected the fight to be decided in an instant. Won Dae-yeon's martial arts far exceeded his expectations.
When he moved his wrist to control the silver threads, the deflected blades flew at Won Dae-yeon again.
Won Dae-yeon ducked his waist to evade the blades coming from both sides and simultaneously closed the distance to Jo Seong-un.
Now that the silver threads were out, he could not allow Won Dae-yeon any distance. Of course, Won Dae-yeon could also use the Cheonui Flying Blade, but if they used the same technique, Jo Seong-un was confident of certain victory.
The thread-bound blades came whipping back like rays of light and blocked the space between Won Dae-yeon and Jo Seong-un. Won Dae-yeon knocked the two blades away, but the returning attacks forced him to retreat.
"Not bad for someone who lived ten years as a wreck. But no matter how you struggle, you can't beat me now."
"I'll admit you were close to my level fifteen years ago. But to handle me as I am now, that much isn't enough."
"Prove it with skill, not with your mouth."
"I'll show you from here on, so be careful."
The moment Won Dae-yeon stomped the ground, Jo Seong-un also launched his blades.
Shhhik—!
That sharp sound was the sound of Won Dae-yeon's short sword slicing through the air.
"Hup!"
Jo Seong-un could not help being shocked. He could not see the silver threads that were essential for executing the Cheonui Flying Sword on Won Dae-yeon.
"Crazy!"
As he threw his body backward, two flying swords skimmed narrowly past his face.
"You think you can beat me with cheap tricks like this!"
By the time Jo Seong-un's Cheonui Flying Swords moved to attack, Won Dae-yeon was already holding two different short swords.
Clang!
Jo Seong-un tried to send the deflected flying swords back out. But suddenly the back of his head went cold.
If he had less experience dancing between life and death, the back of his skull would have been pierced. Two short swords swept over the back of his head as he ducked on instinct.
"What in the—!"
As if piercing through Jo Seong-un's shock, Won Dae-yeon threw two short swords and, almost at the same instant, caught the blades flying at him.
"Flying Sword!"
That was not the name of a technique—it was Won Dae-yeon's realm. The Flying Sword, the stage just below the legendary Qi-Controlled Sword, was unfolding from Won Dae-yeon's hands.
The second pair of flying swords Won Dae-yeon threw was too fast for Jo Seong-un to even think of dodging.
Humm—!
The two blades left a searing pain in his earlobe as they passed and embedded themselves deep in the pillar behind him.
Startled, Jo Seong-un stumbled back until his back touched that pillar. Then two of Won Dae-yeon's short swords pierced into the pillar on either side of his neck.
It was a defeat that left no room for excuses. Won Dae-yeon, having reached the realm of the Flying Sword, was not a wall he could climb.
"Do I qualify for a cup of tea?"
Jo Seong-un nodded before he knew it. Won Dae-yeon retrieved the short swords from the pillar and returned them to his waist.
There was no trace of a victor's arrogance in Won Dae-yeon.
"Boss!"
The Twelve Zodiac Shadows came running belatedly. The sixth shadow, Jo Sang-guk, pulled out a cloth and wiped the blood from the wounded earlobe.
"I'm fine. Could you prepare some tea?"
"Yes, boss."
Won Dae-yeon and Jo Seong-un went into a small room inside the tent. It was a room with folding chairs and a table, and a small cot on one side where barely one person could lie down.
As Won Dae-yeon looked around the room, a smile touched his lips.
"I like it."
"This room?"
"Your constancy. I meant what I said—the Greatest Hero Under Heaven should have been the Twelve Zodiac Shadows, not me. With your martial arts, you could have enjoyed wealth and glory."
"That was the same for you too...... senior brother."
Forcing out the title "senior brother" was as difficult as pulling a fish bone lodged deep in his throat.
The sixth shadow, Jo Sang-guk, set down a kettle of tea and two cups and quietly left. It was cheap tea that could be bought for ten copper coins a geun.
At Won Dae-yeon's remark that "the tea is good too," Jo Seong-un let out a short laugh despite himself.
"You seem to have changed a little, senior brother."
"I'm glad it looks that way."
"Did you want to change? The senior brother I remember is the Greatest Hero Under Heaven, the Life-Stealing Twin Swordsman Won Dae-yeon."
"It was an empty name. I thought I was doing it to make the world even a little better, and I believed I was walking that path. Looking back, it was only self-satisfaction. I was just a man built that way doing those things."
"Then how is the senior brother of now different from the senior brother of before? Don't tell me you've joined the evil factions instead of the orthodox ones?"
"Not the evil factions. The Underworld."
Jo Seong-un wore a baffled expression.
"That Underworld can't be the Underworld I know, and I've never heard of a sect called the Underworld......"
"It's probably the Underworld you know."
"You mean that pack of human trash that sucks the blood of merchants, traffics people, and treats robbery and murder as routine?"
He knew how the Underworld was perceived, and part of it was true, but he could not help feeling embarrassed every time he heard such things.
"I don't do those things, but it is that Underworld."
Jo Seong-un did not get angry. His face was simply full of incomprehension.
"If I hadn't known you'd reached the realm of the Flying Sword, I would have cursed you out. Because you must have neglected your training at the bottom of life to do that kind of trash's work. No, in the first place, it makes no sense for someone with your martial arts to become part of the Underworld. What in the world happened?"
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