Chapter 188
Chapter 188: Night of the Long Sword (4)
"Fzzzt—!"
Single Eye Flash Light Slash.
A martial art meant only for those who perceive the world through a single eye.
It was a swift sword technique centered on sword-drawing that pursued one-strike kills by dominating space at extreme speed and concentrating all energy into a single point, in order to overcome the limits of one-eyed vision.
The technique that had disposed of the Fire Bell Society's First Guardian earlier was this very same one.
Cheong Go-ryang kicked off the Blue Stone floor.
Thud—, the Blue Stone warped as his silhouette stretched long toward the young man.
Single Eye Flash Light Slash, First Movement: Flash Lightning Light Trace.
Because he moved as fast as lightning, the air compressed as if time had stopped, and afterimages remained consecutively along the path of movement, making it appear so.
KRAAANG—!
The vast sound wave generated as the floor shattered wholesale.
By the time it spread throughout all of Single Eye Gate, Cheong Go-ryang's silhouette was already surging close enough to nearly graze the young man's nose.
One Eye Ten Thousand Miles Step.
The moment it was deployed, the practitioner's body accelerated to supersonic speed while producing an effect that seemed to fold all space along the path of movement—a custom Lightness Art created solely for straight, swift sword techniques like Single Eye Flash Light Slash.
'Heh-heh-heh-heh.'
Even as he charged forward cleaving through the wind, his lips curled into his characteristic deep smile.
Whoever this was, he could not be forgiven. To dare kill his own subordinates and on top of that steal his prey.
And yet……
The young man was still standing there.
At first he had thought it was because the man could not react in time, but even in the midst of accelerating to supersonic speed, his own silhouette was reflected and visible in the pupils of the man's eyes.
Strange.
The man's expression remained exactly like a bottomless abyss.
Even while he himself was in the middle of an attack, his expression was one of bewilderment.
Splitting and splitting instants as he flew, Cheong Go-ryang's thread of thought stretched out long as a spool of thread thanks to that, allowing him to perceive all such changes in expression.
Single Eye Heavenly Heart Formula.
It was a Mental Cultivation Method that allowed one to deliberately perceive the world through a single eye, expanding concentration to its utmost limit and stretching an instant out like eternity for thought.
Single Eye Heavenly Heart Formula was precisely the kind of formula that existed solely for Single Eye Flash Light Slash and One Eye Ten Thousand Miles Step.
In truth, until just moments ago, he had been confident that even if it were Bukgung Ri, a surprise attack combining these three martial arts would kill him in a single blow……
That confidence shook.
The man was far too composed.
Moving this fast, and yet the man watched every one of his movements while gazing at him. Though not moving at all, from the trembling of his pupils alone it was clear—could be felt—that he was seeing it all.
He was accomplishing it all far too naturally.
A sensation as if he himself had instead stepped into the man's own time and interval, caught in the man's spider's web.
But he had already launched, already struck out. From the start, the combined blow of these three martial arts was an attack that, once thrust out, could not be withdrawn.
'Fine. Just believe in it.'
I am Cheong Go-ryang, Gate Leader of Single Eye Gate.
One of the supreme masters who has ruled this lawless city of Gangdo for decades—Smiling-Face Poison Eye.
Swish—
At last, his blade was drawn and extended toward the young man.
In that instant.
Something leapt out from the young man's previously bottomless-abyss eyes.
A dreadfully sharp and burning emotion that burst out like an explosion from eyes that had seemed to hold no warmth whatsoever.
Killing Intent.
Honed so keenly that it cut through all of Cheong Go-ryang's will in an instant.
Like a peerless blade of renown slicing tofu—lightly.
Ah……
Only then did Cheong Go-ryang realize he had moved far too rashly.
This man—more than any master he had encountered in decades in Gangdo, whether Bukgung Ri or Cheol So-a, or even the Assembly Leader of the previous generation's Seven Star Immortal Assembly or the Society Leader of the Iron God Society.
Was incomparably above them.
No—he was not of the same kind of existence as them.
Those others, in any case, were within the human range, were they not?
This man……
He had never seen nor experienced one, but he must be among the ranks of the Immortal Realm.
Without doubt, he was either one of them or a Cultivation Seeker who approached their level.
An existence incomparably higher than the humans of the Martial World.
In every respect—in martial arts and in emotion alike.
"Tch—"
A sense of futility settled at the corners of Cheong Go-ryang's lips.
Only then did he come to understand why martial artists who had reached or approached the Peak—men like Bukgung Ri—were so obsessed with Cultivation.
"—Six."
At the end of his life.
The young man's silhouette moved. His body evaded his sword and then overlapped him directly—his forehead onto his forehead, his chest onto his chest, his lower body onto his lower body.
It passed through.
Passed through completely.
Every last cell was disintegrated.
Before he could even think about what meaning the '6' he heard at the very end held, his consciousness too was dismantled and scattered.
Single Eye Gate Leader Cheong Go-ryang, exactly as he had been in the midst of charging, dissolved into a spray of blood and scattered over his own sect.
Ssss……
As the blood mist slowly settled, Single Eye Gate's courtyard sank into silence. In a stillness where even the wind seemed to have ceased, Dong Bong-soo stood alone. His black hem trembled faintly, and
Bong—
A beautiful mechanical chime, closing the curtain on the 'Purification' here, reached his ears.
【Sub】Unification of Gangdo
【Sudden】: The world is always overflowing with evildoers worthy of being purified. A hero has the duty to properly dispose of such people and make the world more beautiful.If you unify by force all guilds currently existing in this city, you may be able to gain the trust of the city's inhabitants.․ Unify all of Gangdo's guilds (6/13)
├─ Progress: 48.5%
└─ Reward: Hero History +2
※There are various methods, so find the one you prefer.
***
Dong Bong-soo's frenzied activity continued for quite some time.
As the night deepened, a strange stillness spread throughout all of Gangdo. At an hour that would ordinarily have been filled with the din pouring out of taverns and gambling dens, tonight was different. Not even the sound of crickets could be heard. It was as if the entire city was holding its breath.
It continued until the leaders and sect heads of every sect of sufficient scale for the 'What is Hero' system to recognize as a 'guild' had been eliminated.
On the Western Road: Black Wind Hall, Single Eye Gate, Fire Bell Society, Blue Snake Society, Ten Thousand Gold Tower, Brilliant Offering.
On the Eastern Road: Clear Wind Stronghold, Cloud Flower Society, Black Tooth Tower, Flying Stream Moon Squad, Drunk Star Tower, Mysterious Yin Society, and Wall Snake Squad.
The long night held long stories, bloody battles, and incidents, but to Dong Bong-soo they were already finished matters, nothing more than passing 'numbers.'
When at last he wrapped things up, a dry, flat declaration fell from his lips.
"Thirteen."
The place where he stood was atop the ruins of Wall Snake Squad.
Dawn was breaking. The red morning sunlight stretched his black shadow even longer. The shadow of death that had swept Gangdo through the night had finally come to a halt.
Bong—
【Sub】Unification of Gangdo
Progress: 100% achieved
Reward: Hero History +2 obtained
[Your heroic march advances Hero History considerably. A reward is given.][+2]
[The world has become quite a bit more beautiful.]
Behind the simple reward hologram, the dismantled corpses of the Wall Snake Squad Leader and countless Wall Snake Squad warriors overlapped into view.
But not all living beings within Wall Snake Squad were dead.
"P-please spare us. W-we……."
Wall Snake Squad warriors who still remained, along with their households.
※There are various methods, so find the one you prefer.
Tread, tread
Dong Bong-soo approached those gathered at one side of the ruined building.
About thirty people?
All the adults were plastered against the wall, frozen with terror.
Most of the children were the same, but one among them gathered their courage and came toward him.
"A-are you going to kill us all too?"
"That is not my preferred method."
"Huh? What do you mean—."
"Have you done deeds evil enough to deserve death?"
"N-no. I……."
"Then it's fine. Those whose lives still hold value must live."
All those who died today were killed because they could only hold value in death. That was his preferred method.
Perhaps the system intended various 'heroic aspects' of various methods, but this path was the fastest and most certain.
Dong Bong-soo let a bitter—or rather, a bitter-seeming—smile settle on his face as he looked over the gathered people.
A perfect smile. So perfect it might actually be a mistake. Anyone looking on would see it as the lonely smile of a chivalrous warrior who could not help but agonize between death and killing.
"I am called Kim Rae-won."
He gently ruffled the head of the child who had just asked, then continued speaking toward the people.
"There must surely be among you those whose family members died today. For such people, I have undoubtedly become a mortal enemy. However—"
Dong Bong-soo met the eyes of those who remained, one by one, and spoke in a sincere tone that came from the heart.
"—I will say this plainly. All who died today were those who deserved to die. They were people who would have eventually received their just punishment even without me."
Among the people, there were clearly those who twitched, wanting to object.
Eyes that seemed to cry out: My brother, my father, my uncle—they were not that bad a person.
Yet, the intense gaze of Dong Bong-soo, armed with his 'chivalry and heroic spirit,' devoured the gaze of every last one of them.
"If any of you wish to take revenge……then very well. Come and find me and our Hero Gate anytime you please. If that is your sense of chivalry, I shall receive you anytime. However, I would ask that you know just one thing."
Dong Bong-soo looked at each of them in turn with an even more intense gaze and opened his mouth with force.
"This Kim Rae-won swears he acted with chivalry today."
"……."
"Just because your family has died does not mean that chivalry ceases to be chivalry."
With those words, Dong Bong-soo ruffled the child's head once more and turned away.
In any case, all the work here was done and 'bait' had been scattered plentifully enough. Whether what might be called 'justification' would take root and sprout remained to be seen a little longer, but for now, this much would suffice.
From behind, along with murmuring, he could feel piercing gazes coming to rest on him, but it mattered little. The important groundwork had already been completed and laid down in a manner that could not be resisted even by the great tide of things.
And so all the influential powers of Gangdo collapsed entirely without even a single day having passed.
The Night of the Long Sword—which began at the Hour of the Dog (around 7 PM) and ended the following day at the Hour of the Tiger (around 6 AM).
During that brief span of time, the order of Gangdo that had continued for hundreds of years collapsed completely.
And upon those ruins, a new name was carved in perfectly.
Countless blood and wreckage swept throughout all of Gangdo, leaving every sect with nothing but an empty shell.
No—to be precise, one remained.
The owner of the long sword.
The enemy of all who survived.
And yet—
The hero of all others who survived.
Kim Rae-won.
And.
Hero Gate.
The single, solitary sect that would henceforth sustain Gangdo.