Chapter 123: War of Extermination (4)
Chapter 123: War of Extermination (4)
Screams echoed long and loud across the city of Jinju. The walls of the Eon family estate were shattered, and its pavilions went up in flames.
It was pandemonium—a living hell unfolding before everyone's eyes.
In contrast, the other streets of Jinju were eerily silent. It was as if the world had decided that all the chaos in the universe was permitted to happen only within the walls of the Eon estate.
The terrified commoners, the warriors of the Orthodox martial sects who had gathered at the commotion, and even the government soldiers and officials—all of them simply watched. No one dared to intervene, and no one dared to even speak.
"Save me! Please, save me!"
A warrior stumbled out, gasping for breath. Bleeding and limping, the Jinju Eon family member had somehow managed to break through the perimeter established by the Black Path warriors.
He spotted a group of officials in their formal robes. Filled with hope, he scrambled toward them.
In Jinju, there wasn't a single official who hadn't accepted bribes from the Eon family. Everyone in the local government lived off the Eon family’s wealth and habitually turned a blind eye to their tyranny.
He believed this time would be no different. The Eon warrior fell to his knees.
"Please, save me, Lord Heo. You... you know my face, don't you?"
"..."
The official did not look at the warrior. He simply stared silently at the burning pavilions of the Eon estate.
Behind the kneeling man, a Black Path warrior approached with a smirk.
"Please, I beg you!"
The Black Path warrior and the official did not acknowledge each other. They ignored one another completely, as if the other didn't even exist.
"Now, let's go back. Your family elders are fighting so hard; where do you think you're running to?"
"Lord Heo! Heo Seung-an, you son of a bitch!! Do you have any idea how much of our family's gold you've swallowed?"
"Ahem."
The Eon warrior was dragged away by the Black Path swordsman.
The Black Path warrior never once looked at the official, and throughout the entire process, no one moved to stop him.
The local government remained silent. The massive funds provided by the Black Path Demonic Alliance and the countless interests that would flow from the collapsing Eon family had effectively gagged them.
There was only one reason they had even shown up here.
"Do not worry, Lord Prefect."
"I must ensure that no commoners or soldiers are harmed in this affair."
"Would we ever dare cause such trouble? This is merely a minor friction between brawling ruffians. There is no need for high officials to concern themselves."
At my signal, the warriors waiting behind me stepped forward and handed over a small box.
The Lord Prefect weighed the box in his hand, cleared his throat, and stepped back.
"Is this not simply the beautiful tradition of our Martial World?"
"Ahem. Indeed. I am relieved to see a young talent of the Peng family possesses such fine manners. Well water does not invade river water. Why should a great river concern itself with a commotion in a small well?"
"Precisely."
At my words, the Prefect and his officials slowly retreated.
Though they feigned composure, I could clearly see their hands trembling, turning white as they gripped their robes. They were all terrified by the overwhelming might of the Black Path Demonic Alliance.
Yes, this was it. This was the power of the Black Path Demonic Alliance. Or rather, one could call it the true strength of the Hebei Peng Family.
The ability to mobilize enough power to exterminate one of the Five Great Clans with a single gesture. The authority that commanded the willing obedience of every Black Path sect in Northern China. And the ability to execute the entire affair with absolute legitimacy, leaving no messy aftermath.
Well water does not invade river water? What a joke. This was a surgical strike—a hostile takeover conducted through the cooperation of the government and the people.
We would carve up the interests of the Jinju Eon family, swallowing just enough to stay satisfied without bursting, and toss the remaining crumbs to the local government.
And above all...
To reign through absolute terror at every moment.
—BOOOOOM!!
Like the thunderous roar echoing from the sky.
Like the commoners cowering in fear at the sound that seemed to herald the end of the world.
Like the Orthodox warriors who felt a sense of utter helplessness because they were just strong enough to realize what was happening up there.
And like the government officials who chose to close their eyes and settle for the crumbs of profit we threw them, rather than dare to oppose a Peng family that could wield such power with a mere wave of a hand.
The Hebei Peng Family does not rule through fear alone.
Our family presents a path within that fear. By showing the benefits of standing on our side and displaying the punishment for forfeiting those benefits.
He who can restrict the actions of another is the one who rules them. This is called awe—a heart that both looks up to and fears.
We rule Northern China not through terror, but through cooperation.
—RUMBLE!!
The heavens groaned. I turned my gaze to see a life-and-death duel between those who could claim to be peerless.
As if they didn't care for the tribulations on the ground, the immortals in the sky were locked in combat.
"Six-Armed Rakshasa, Peng Ik-cheon. So you were still alive."
Eon Do-cheon stood upon the air, looking down with his hands behind his back. He spoke toward the old man standing atop the corpses of Eon warriors in the inner courtyard, where the banners of the Hebei Dragon Slaying Alliance fluttered.
"Heh, Do-cheon. Yes, this old man has clung to life long enough to see a sight like this. Have you been well?"
Peng Ik-cheon gave a thin smirk and kicked a corpse at his feet. At that gesture, a vein throbbed on Eon Do-cheon's forehead.
"What, are you angry? Did you think someone else was cowering down here, pretending to be dead? Are you not going to hide this time? I truly thought you had died that day. Had I known sooner that you were alive, I would have sent you to join your father."
"...Peng Ik-cheon...!!"
"You Eon family brat. The little boy who held his breath and lived a pathetic existence under the corpses of his kin that day. Considering what your family did, the fact that you were allowed to live was an act of great mercy. And yet, you survived only to pull a stunt like this again?"
Peng Ik-cheon raised his saber. The ink-black blade rested on his shoulder. The gauntlet on his left hand let out a heavy metallic grind as he clenched his fist.
"The blood debt your family should have paid to my house that day was total extermination. Since the Alliance spared your life and even granted you that undeserved title, you should have lived the rest of your days crawling on the ground."
"How dare you...! How dare you speak of that day!"
"How dare I? Hahaha...! Eon Do-cheon!!!"
Peng Ik-cheon stomped his foot. The intent of a Peerless Master scattered intensely, pushing back the scent of blood. It wasn't wind; the sheer spirit of one man was shaking the atmosphere.
"Have you forgotten what your father did that day?! The souls of the Peng family members your father tore apart are still wandering the underworld! Most of them were women and children who didn't even know martial arts! And yet, you say 'how dare I'? You, who survived by curling into a ball while your family burned!!"
I remembered the day the Righteous-Demonic War ended in defeat.
It was an event from over sixty years ago. Peng Ik-cheon, then only in his teens, remembered the warriors of the martial units dwindling day by day.
Outside the walls of the Peng family estate, the world was a den of tigers and dragons. Those who left returned at less than half their number, and countless family members had to hide their names and flee just to survive.
Until his elder brother's secluded meditation ended.
How long did it take? How many people died?
And among them, these people—the Jinju Eon family—how ruthlessly had they hunted down the hiding family members and hung their heads at the military gates?
They had declared that no one with Peng blood would be left alive, running wild with the massive support of the Alliance behind them—puppets of the Alliance who lusted after the fertile interests of Northern China.
And when his brother finally emerged from meditation...
They finally collected the blood debt. Northern China was pacified.
The War of Extermination, which lasted nearly five years, ended in the Peng family's victory, followed by two years of stabilizing the region.
The final act was the destruction of the Jinju Eon family. Every member of the Eon family was killed, and their library and treasury were burned. Their martial lineage was severed, and their bloodline was cut.
However, there were those who survived. Those who clung to life like persistent vermin.
One of them was this man—the Heavenly Roar Fist, Eon Do-cheon.
They couldn't simply go and kill Eon Do-cheon while he was under the protection and funding of the Alliance. To do so would have sparked another Righteous-Demonic War, and the Peng family's strength was too depleted to handle a second one.
And so, nearly sixty years of peace followed. Each side accumulated enough strength. Enough time passed for the boy who had barely survived to make a name for himself with the title of Fist King.
Now, that ill-fated connection was ending.
Today, the stubborn life of the Eon family would be severed.
Finally.
"I have come to collect the blood debt."
Speaking the words that a Peng warrior who had lost his kin must say, Peng Ik-cheon’s saber slowly rose from his shoulder.
Eon Do-cheon, looking down from the sky, also clenched his fists.
"If I kill one of the Peng Family Twin Devils, your Family Head will weep tears of blood. I will make sure the weight of his bloody tears equals the blood shed by the Eon family."
Who could say whose grudge was deeper?
The Righteous-Demonic War began with the murder of the Peng family's matriarch, but the moment that blood price led to the destruction of the Shanxi martial world and the bloody incident in Shaanxi, the Peng family's actions could not be called entirely justified.
In return, the Peng family was pushed to the brink of extinction, and even family members who hadn't learned a single martial move had to die. That, too, could not be called a righteous revenge.
Conversely, the past act of personally killing every member of the Eon family to collect a blood debt could not be called a fair price either.
Such ancient grudges were not in the realm of right and wrong. They existed only in the realm of hatred and catharsis.
In this place, how could the criteria for distinguishing Orthodox and Demonic be "righteousness"?
"Fine. Try it."
At the very least, the two Peerless Masters here did not hold the "righteous cause" of the masses in their minds for even a single second. They only desired to crush and kill their opponent.
The last snow of the year was falling. Beneath the cloudy sky, a burning pavilion collapsed with a thunderous roar.
The warriors who had been killing each other in front of it stopped their blades and slumped their shoulders. They all looked up at the sky.
"Fall back! Retreat!"
"You'll get caught in it!"
Those who could still move gathered their subordinates and cleared the area. A massive surge of energy was swirling around the inner courtyard of the Jinju Eon family.
Soon, the falling snowflakes stopped. As if frozen in time. They stopped so completely that one could see the individual shape of every single flake.
Every warrior below the Peak Realm instinctively fell to their knees. Even those above that realm fled as if moving through water, floating away.
—CRAAAAACK!!
The sky split open. Black fissures streaked across the white clouds. The heavens wailed. A black dot appeared between the fragmented clouds.
[Heavenly Strike]
The Six Harmonies Resonance rang out. Everyone within the domain heard the sound from all directions.
When a warrior reaches the limit of what a human body can produce, it is called the Peak Realm.
When one steps past that limit and begins to walk toward the end of martial arts, it is called the Super Peak Realm.
Most of those people perish, and among those who remain, there is a realm that most never reach.
[Heaven-Rending Strike]
A realm so distant that most only admire it from afar, never daring to challenge it. The common folk call it the Harmony Realm.
It is a realm where one twists and dominates the harmony of Heaven, Earth, the Nine Provinces, and the Four Seas with the power and will of a single individual.
Those who reach this realm...
Because they have reached the limit of what the human spirit can achieve... because their spirit alone has reached the pinnacle of an era...
They are called Peerless Masters.
[Great Luo Sky-Annihilating Strike]
The fist of a man who could challenge for the title of "Best Under Heaven" in any era of Central Plains history descended. A star containing only destruction fell from the heavens to the earth.
The ultimate technique of the Eon Family Star-Moon Fist. As the fist that "surpassed the stars" crushed the ground...
[Defying Heavenly Mandate]
A single saber struck upward from the earth toward the heavens.
[Tiger's Roar]
The tip of the blade caught the sky. The blade trembled. The tiger let out a cry. And then...
—CRAAAAACK!!
When the saber spun and struck the ground, a mark like a beast's claw rent the pale clouds asunder, revealing the clear sky above.
"What do we do now?"
"There's nothing we can do. Go get some candy, brother."
"You do realize I'm your older brother, right?"
"I don't treat First-Rate warriors as brothers. Have you reached the Peak Realm yet?"
"...Why do you talk about that like you're just hanging a lantern for a festival?"
"If you feel it's unfair, you should train harder, right? We're not exactly helping each other out here. I'm the only one doing the work. You useless brother."
I pushed my grumbling brother aside and looked up at the sky.
The two old men were fighting like madmen. Honestly, I couldn't even track half of it with my eyes.
According to what Chief of the General Bureau Baek Seo-ui taught me, a blade moving faster than sound was called Seom (Flash). It was said to be the fastest strike one could perform in the Peak Realm.
I was seeing sonic booms occur right before my eyes. Honestly, I wondered how a human body could do that, but seeing it in person, I had no room to argue.
Regardless, every single strike those old men exchanged...
—BOOOOOM!!
...was clearly faster than Seom. To the point where the afterimages only left the sound of the atmosphere being torn apart.
And yet, seeing their clothes—even that thin silk—remain perfectly intact meant that their Protection Aura was so dense that even my best strike wouldn't leave a scratch.
How much further would I have to walk to reach that level? A spoonful of lamentation mixed with a spoonful of pure greed to become like them.
"Intent Domain, huh."
Honestly, I couldn't even grasp the feeling of influencing the world through thought alone. Before even mentioning my soft 21st-century sensibilities, this was simply something that defied physical common sense.
However...
Just because my common sense couldn't keep up didn't mean I could deny the reality before my eyes. At least, that's not how I was taught.
So, I strained my eyes to dissect Peng Ik-cheon's martial arts one by one. I glared at Eon Do-cheon's offensive as if trying to swallow it whole.
Even if I could see less than half, that alone was of immense value. These were the true ultimate techniques of masters who had no rivals under heaven, performed in a life-and-death struggle.
Just witnessing this was a lesson. No, it had to be. I had to gain something, anything, from this. That was the attitude of a martial artist.
—Kiiiiing...!!
At that moment, my Middle Dantian began to interfere with my eye techniques of its own accord. From the Jingming, Canshu, Chengqi, and Sibai acupoints to the Tongziliao and even the Duyi. Every acupoint surrounding my eyes flared up as if they were on fire.
My eyes throbbed with a stabbing pain. Despite that, my body wouldn't move, as if I were experiencing sleep paralysis.
A sensation of every nerve concentrating on my eyes. A feeling as if every function of my body was focused on the eye technique. It was the sensation of the Hunyuan Cultivation Method shedding its skin and erupting from the achievements of the Peak Realm.
"Urgh...!"
I couldn't even turn my gaze away. My instincts were screaming. If I closed my eyes now, if I looked away, if I deactivated this eye technique, I would surely regret it.
"Of course... I would...!"
I didn't know what was leading my internal energy. Was it some instinct dormant in the Peng bloodline? But such things weren't important right now.
Only one thing mattered.
Even if my eyes burned, I would sear this sight into them as much as possible!