Let Them Remember From Now On (4)
KA-GA-GA-GAK!
The descending blade and the blackened hand twisted together in midair.
Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword, forged from Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron, bent taut as if it might snap at any moment. The trembling tip of the sword proved just how much force was being driven into it.
Kwa-deuk! Kwa-deu-deuk!
The surging sword aura was quite literally shaving away the Law Enforcer’s hand. Flesh crumbled and scattered like powder.
“You bastard!”
Kwoooaaaaa!
With a snarl, the Law Enforcer flung out force from his other hand. The black, rippling energy twisted into a whirlpool and shot straight at Chung Myung.
Chung Myung’s brow twitched for an instant. Then his left hand, the one not holding the sword, spread wide.
From the lightly trembling fingertips, red force poured out and collided head-on with the Law Enforcer’s incoming energy.
KWA-ANG!
The impact exploded with a deafening blast, scattering fragments of qi in every direction.
The Law Enforcer’s lips twisted in a faint sneer. As if he had expected an attack like that all along.
But then—
SWAAAAAAK!
The Law Enforcer violently jerked his neck back.
Through the exploding shards of qi, a blue force, entirely different from the one Chung Myung had just released, shot forward and skimmed past right in front of the Law Enforcer’s face.
Fast, impossibly fast…
Puh-uk!
Before he could even finish the thought, another burst of force hammered into his shoulder.
“You little—!”
As pain spread from his shoulder, the enraged Law Enforcer twisted his face and whipped his blackened hand through the air like a storm.
The force behind it was terrifying. The speed was monstrous.
If he so much as got caught in it, there would be nothing left of him but minced meat.
And yet Chung Myung did not so much as blink.
His sword, wrapped in red sword aura, stabbed through the spinning torrent of force like a blade driving into a cartwheel in full rotation.
Tang! Taang! Tang! Tang!
He was moving too fast to be seen clearly, but Chung Myung kept thrusting at the Law Enforcer’s wrist again and again.
His relaxed footing kept the distance between them open, while his low stance anchored his body in absolute stability. His shoulders looked utterly loose, and the sword in his hand was correspondingly light and swift.
It was the very ideal Mount Hua’s sword study pursued.
And then—
Chung Myung’s cold eyes, empty of all emotion, fixed on the Law Enforcer’s attack and pierced straight through it.
He found the tiniest slivers of opening amid the violent storm of force and drove his sword in without hesitation.
KAGAGAGAK!
“Gh—!”
The Law Enforcer bit down hard on his lip before he realized it.
He had no choice. The sword had neatly slipped past his blackened hand and kept stabbing at his wrist.
Even his body, hardened harder than steel by the surrounding demonic energy, was being sliced open like mud. Blood sprayed out.
What the hell is this brat…?
It was absurd. Completely absurd.
How could a human possibly thrust a sword so deftly through a waterfall of force like this?
Openings?
Of course openings existed. His martial arts were not perfect.
But being able to stab into those openings was a completely different matter.
You needed the audacity to drive a blade precisely into the vortex of force that could pulverize flesh simply by touching it.
And beyond that, you needed the calm to control the tip of the sword flawlessly while doing it.
That alone would be impossible.
But that wasn’t all.
Just moments ago, this bastard had released two different kinds of force almost at the same time.
Even if they were all palm techniques from the same sect, their application and nature would inevitably differ.
And yet he had switched the force he was releasing into another form in the blink of an eye, then unleashed it again in succession? That was a divine skill even the Law Enforcer himself would never have dreamed of attempting.
What was more, the brat was still deploying his sword at the same time, with perfect precision.
It wasn’t as though he were a Wudang disciple who had mastered Twofold Divine Skill and could split his mind in two, so how in the world was this possible?
“Kraaaah!”
As the sword stabbing at his wrist scraped bone, the Law Enforcer let out a scream. Then, in that instant, the force he hurled out began to engulf Chung Myung’s entire body.
Hssssst—
And then, at that moment, Chung Myung’s sword, extended lightly before him, bent limply and began batting aside the force flying toward him in quick succession.
The sword’s flat side gently pushed against the edge of the force, shifting its direction little by little. And once its direction had twisted enough, the force passed by Chung Myung’s body by the barest of margins, so narrowly it was like a sheet of paper separating life and death.
KWA-AA-AAANG!
The force crashing down behind Chung Myung shattered the ground in a series of explosive booms. The shockwave sent Chung Myung’s long hair flying up into the air. But his eyes remained as deep and dark as ever.
The Law Enforcer was stunned speechless.
Of course he was shocked that Chung Myung had twisted every bit of his force away. But what truly horrified him was that Chung Myung had shown not the slightest trace of agitation through the entire process.
What on earth is this brat?
How could he be so calm?
Unless he were a veteran of the jianghu who had rolled through the world for over a hundred years, or a war ghost who had survived decades on the battlefield, this was impossible.
And yet this impossible calm was being displayed by a kid who looked barely old enough to be in his twenties.
...I have to kill him.
Absolutely. At any cost.
If he left this boy alone, there was no doubt he would one day become a disaster of monstrous proportions for the Demonic Sect.
“So I see now… You’re the one who killed Seol Cheon-sang.”
The Law Enforcer narrowed his eyes and muttered lowly.
That fellow called Yeo Sa-hon, and the other one beside him, Han something-or-other—there was no way they could have stood against Seol Cheon-sang with their level of ability.
He had already found that odd. But this brat’s existence had given him the answer to every question.
“You’ll die here. You’re never making it back alive.”
“Oh, that bastard?”
At the Law Enforcer’s murderous murmur, Chung Myung let out a scoff and casually flicked his sword.
“When did Demonic Sect bastards get so damn talkative? You’ve been lazing around in the comfy lands of the North Sea too long. Looks like all the venom’s drained out of you idiots.”
“...What?”
“Don’t just yap with your mouth—come at me already, you moron.”
The Law Enforcer’s bloodshot eyes swelled with rage until they looked ready to burst.
“You little—!”
Meanwhile, the Mount Hua disciples watching from behind smiled faintly.
“That’s Chung Myung.”
“If he’s still trash-talking in a situation like this, then it’s definitely him.”
“A man can’t help his nature.”
Despite their words, what came out of their mouths was a collective sigh of relief. They had been holding their breath the whole time, watching his back, and only now were they able to let it out.
If he still had the leisure to talk like that, then it meant he had enough room to maneuver.
Yoon Jong, who had been quietly observing Chung Myung, suddenly frowned.
“Senior Brother.”
“Hmm?”
“...That Law Enforcer looks twice as strong as Seol Cheon-sang, does he not?”
“Twice? More like several times stronger.”
At the very least, he looked several times stronger.
“...And yet Chung Myung looks even more relaxed than before. Is the effect of the elixir he received from the Ice Palace really that extraordinary?”
“No way.”
Baek Cheon shook his head firmly.
They had experienced the effects of spiritual pills enough themselves, but just swallowing one pill couldn’t make a person this much stronger so suddenly. In the first place, spiritual pills enhanced inner power; they weren’t some miracle that made your swordsmanship stronger.
“Amitabha.”
Unexpectedly, the answer came from Hye Yeon.
“It is because we are safe.”
“Huh?”
When Yoon Jong turned around, Hye Yeon spoke with a hardened expression.
“If Sect Leader Seol had tried to deal with Chung Myung benefactor slowly and leisurely, he would not have found it difficult to subdue him without injury. But if he had done that, some among us, surrounded by the Ice Palace elders and disciples, would have died or been gravely injured.”
And the North Sea people led by Yeo Sa-hon would have suffered greatly as well.
“That is why Chung Myung benefactor chose to end the battle quickly even if it meant sustaining injuries himself. But now there is no need for that. So he can simply pressure his opponent at his own pace.”
As he spoke, a strange light appeared in Hye Yeon’s eyes.
He changes with every passing moment.
He found the optimal path at each instant and brought his opponent down in the most perfect way possible. It was an ideal so flawless that no one in the world could truly live it out.
There were hundreds of paths one could choose, but what a person could actually do was always limited.
This was something only Chung Myung could do.
If he wanted to, he could press forward with ruthless speed, or he could leisurely toy with his opponent.
That level of stillness of mind, combined with such chilling brutality. Such absolute decisiveness and execution. Who in the world could possess both?
It’s not that the sword is strong.
Hye Yeon shivered slightly.
The reason he had followed Chung Myung to Mount Hua was now standing fully revealed right before him.
The sword was not strong.
The person was strong.
If Chung Myung had merely been someone whose martial prowess was higher than his own, Hye Yeon would have chosen the path of sharpening himself and would never have thought to follow him.
But a person’s strength was not something one could refine alone.
Hye Yeon’s gaze on Chung Myung grew even more solemn.
“Amitabha. That is the kind of person Chung Myung benefactor is.”
At that very moment—
“What are you doing? Hey, are you asleep? Come at me, you idiot. Are you saving that force to dig your own grave later? Though I guess maybe you won’t even have a corpse left to bury?”
“...”
At Chung Myung’s infuriatingly mocking voice, the Mount Hua disciples all turned back to Hye Yeon at once.
Under those odd looks, Hye Yeon shut his eyes tightly without meaning to.
“...Amitabha.”
Yet even with Chung Myung’s provocation, the Law Enforcer’s eyes only became more cautious.
He could ignore a petty taunt like that. But Chung Myung’s sword was another matter.
This was not someone he could deal with carelessly. That precise sword, that unwavering stance, that absurd calm—he was certainly beyond the ordinary level.
Seol Cheon-sang was no match for him.
On the surface, Seol Cheon-sang was probably far stronger.
His inner power and raw strength were indeed superior to Chung Myung’s. But from the Law Enforcer’s perspective, Seol Cheon-sang could have fought Chung Myung a thousand times and still never won once.
It might have been a difference thinner than paper.
But it was exactly those sword masters who never allowed the chance to close that paper-thin gap.
And…
That inner power.
It was incomprehensible, but every time the demonic energy that should have crushed the opponent’s inner power clashed with Chung Myung’s, it actually flinched and was pushed back.
As if it had met its natural enemy.
This bizarre phenomenon, one the Law Enforcer had never experienced before, made him even more cautious.
But…
WOOOOOOOONG.
In the next instant, demonic energy whirled through the Law Enforcer’s entire body. Crimson bloodlight streamed from his eyes.
I’ll give up one arm.
Instead, I’ll take your life and the Ice Crystal!
“KRAAAAAAAH!”
With a beastlike roar, he charged at Chung Myung with ferocious speed.
It was truly terrifying. A black streak of light tore across the white ground at incredible velocity.
Chung Myung’s eyes narrowed slightly.
So he isn’t as easy as I thought, huh?
The tactic had changed.
Realizing he could not beat Chung Myung through precision, the Law Enforcer had decided to crush him with strength, speed, and destructive power.
Rather than surrender the chance for complete victory, he was prepared to be injured as long as he could kill his opponent for certain.
“That’s more like it.”
Chung Myung bared his teeth in a sinister grin.
“That’s what a Demonic Sect bastard should be!”
KAGAGAGAK!
Dark Fragrance Plum Blossom Sword rasped harshly against the ground.
PAAAAH!
Chung Myung kicked off the earth and charged straight at the Law Enforcer, who was hurtling toward him.
Flit—flit!
From the tip of his rushing blade, red plum blossoms began to bloom.
In an instant, the form of Seven Plum Blossoms Sword, Plum Blossom Wall, layered itself again and again.
A wall like a net woven from plum blossoms overlapped more than a dozen times in a split second, giving birth to an incredibly dense barrier of sword aura.
But—
KWA-AA-AA-AAANG!
Without the slightest hesitation, the Law Enforcer slammed his own body into the wall of plum blossoms Chung Myung had erected.
KAGAGAGAGAK! KAGAGAGAK!
The body, now harder than steel thanks to the demonic energy surrounding it, was carved apart in an instant. As if he had thrown himself into a net made of blades, the skin across his entire body split and tore endlessly.
But such injuries meant nothing to him.
“N-nooooooo!”
Covered in wounds from head to toe, the Law Enforcer burst through the plum blossom wall and struck out with a fist toward Chung Myung.
KWA-AA-AA-AAANG!
A terrifying fist force, like a waterfall of black violence, crashed against Chung Myung’s sword. With a thunderous detonation, Chung Myung was blown backward, blood spraying from his mouth.
“I’m not letting you get away!”
The Law Enforcer, now a blood man from the blood he had spilled himself, flashed eyes crazed with madness and shot after Chung Myung as he was flung back, moving at near-light speed.