By Sword and Tongue
Song Mu-yeol, the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend, had never once shown his full strength until now.
Of course, that was true of most martial artists.
Keeping thirty percent of one’s true skill hidden was simply common sense for people like them. They lived with a blade in hand and danced with death every day, so such caution was only natural.
But Song Mu-yeol was even more so than the average martial artist.
He had deliberately cut his own abilities down by more than half and spread rumors that he was nothing special.
That way, the fools would come swarming in droves to seize the Rippling Wave Sword.
But not now.
Since he meant to kill his opponent and silence him, there was no need to keep hiding his strength.
He was, after all, a man trying to scheme his way into ruling the world. His true skill was therefore not something to dismiss lightly.
That was why the power behind every stroke of his sword was so terrifying.
The martial art used by the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend was a strange sword art called the Daeraturo Sword Art.
It was a sword technique almost no one had ever heard of. Hardly anyone would recognize it, even if they saw the path of the blade, let alone merely heard the name.
That was only natural. The Daeraturo Sword Art had been created by the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend himself.
To be exact, it wasn’t truly a technique he had created from nothing.
He had studied countless sword arts and pieced together the most fitting sword paths from among them.
It was a style possible only because he wielded the Rippling Wave Sword, a blade that had already risen into the ranks of the finest weapons.
It was a sword art that trusted in the sharpness and sturdiness of the blade itself.
And because that technique had proven effective, the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend had survived this long.
All the while hiding even his true strength.
The Rippling Wave Sword Fiend’s sword did not look like a blade being swung by a man’s hand, but rather like a sword shot forward and then dragged along by the person holding it.
And the Flame Flower Sword, Cheon Hyeong-jin, instinctively tried to parry the sword flying straight for him, only to flinch and twist his body at the last instant.
It was Mount Hua footwork, Dark Fragrance Step—precise, elegant, and worthy of the Plum Blossom Sword Protectors.
Still, even though he narrowly avoided the attack, the Flame Flower Sword had been forced slightly out of position.
So the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend did not miss the chance granted to him and immediately whipped his sword forward.
The sword path was neither especially fast nor particularly difficult.
It was the sort of strike that seemed to beg to be blocked. Most who saw it would likely have thought, What is this? and calmly taken it head-on.
But the Flame Flower Sword was not fooled.
He had recognized the man as the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend and confirmed that the weapon in his hand was indeed the Rippling Wave Sword.
The Rippling Wave Sword was a treasured blade acknowledged even by the Murim Alliance.
He knew better than to meet that sword head-on, even if his own weapon was a White Lotus True Steel sword.
So the Flame Flower Sword wielded his blade with utmost care, batting aside the edge of the Rippling Wave Sword.
And that very blade then flexed and slipped in a flash, angling toward Song Mu-yeol’s wrist.
The link was flawless. The sword path was so natural it looked as if the attacker had been aiming for it from the very beginning.
But the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend had been through every manner of hardship and battle.
He neatly avoided the strike and kicked the Flame Flower Sword in the chest.
It was not a blow meant to deal damage, but one meant to create distance.
Thus the Flame Flower Sword took little harm; the gap between them merely widened by a little.
And from outside the Flame Flower Sword’s blind spot, another man thrust his sword in.
Startled enough to feel a chill race down his spine, the Flame Flower Sword could not help but react. Even if Cheon Hyeong-jin was a master of the Plum Blossom Sword, he would not have expected someone to interfere in a one-on-one duel.
Only because his level was no ordinary one did he catch the attack coming from that blind angle at all.
"How dare you!"
The Flame Flower Sword roared in fury and swung his blade.
The sword flashed viciously, and with it the subordinate’s chest was split clean in two.
But the sacrifice of that subordinate had not been meaningless.
With the Flame Flower Sword one move behind, the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend’s blade shot forward again like a loosed arrow.
The Flame Flower Sword clicked his tongue at the sight and once again moved with a grace bordering on the inhuman, evading the strike.
Yet from the Flame Flower Sword’s blind spot came another blade from another subordinate.
"You little bastards!"
The Flame Flower Sword shouted in a voice thick with genuine anger and cut the subordinate down.
Then that sword traced an uncanny line through the air and shot straight toward the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend.
The Rippling Wave Sword Fiend jumped in alarm and hurriedly raised his sword to block the Flame Flower Sword’s attack.
Clang!
And the Flame Flower Sword, instead, grimaced in frustration.
Merely once—just one clash blade against blade—and he could already tell his sword had taken a heavy shock.
Three more times. Probably about that.
If their blades met three more times, his sword would crack or shatter.
Even with sword aura wrapped around it, it had been pushed this far.
Without it, the sword would already have been split in half by that single exchange.
The Flame Flower Sword found the situation deeply aggravating.
Of course, blaming these men for ganging up on him would only make him look painfully naïve to the world.
He was not that immature. Nor that foolish.
But dealing with the sharpness of the Rippling Wave Sword while also guarding against attacks from the blind spots was a tremendous pain.
Which meant this could not be ended quickly—and that, in turn, meant the situation was unfavorable for him.
If he had been alone, perhaps it would have been one thing, but he also had to protect those two girls.
Yet contrary to the Flame Flower Sword’s worries, Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young were not helpless children. They had both skill and a keen eye for battle.
Once again the Rippling Wave Sword flashed, and in response another subordinate charged in—this time, two of them.
Then, with a boom, one subordinate was sent flying by Baek Jin-ah’s palm strike.
The man rolled several times and smashed into a tree with a loud crack, a crust of thin ice blooming across the spot where he had been hit.
And another subordinate suddenly toppled face-first to the ground.
The Flame Flower Sword noticed the fine needle lodged at the back of the man’s neck and laughed aloud without realizing it.
"Good! Yes, that’s it! Well done! But don’t overdo it!"
Then he turned his full attention back to the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend.
Three more clashes and his sword would break, yes? Then all he had to do was finish this within those three exchanges.
With a sharp ring, the two swords collided.
The Rippling Wave Sword Fiend was startled when the Flame Flower Sword suddenly refused to evade and met him head-on.
And the Flame Flower Sword did not miss the chance, driving his next strike forward immediately.
It aimed for the waist—an odd, difficult-to-block path.
But the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend trusted his blade and forced the Rippling Wave Sword into that line of attack.
Clang!
There came a faint, ominous crack on impact.
So the Flame Flower Sword spun his body swiftly and thrust his already fractured blade straight at the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend.
Then he poured more inner force than usual into the sword and released it all at once.
BOOM!
The Flame Flower Sword’s weapon shattered outright, and the fragments were launched toward the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend.
At such close range—and with the sheer force packed into the blade by the Flame Flower Sword—the attack was devastating.
"Kraaaah!"
The Rippling Wave Sword Fiend wrapped himself in protective qi to the limit and slashed desperately.
A sword barrier—yet the attack had come too close, and it had been too powerful.
More importantly, the Flame Flower Sword, having shattered his sword with raw force, had already prepared his next move.
He whipped the half-broken blade toward the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend’s wrist just as the man raised his sword barrier.
The Flame Flower Sword had predicted that he would defend himself with the barrier, and this strike had therefore been ruthlessly calculated.
The wrist was severed with a wet slash. Hand and Rippling Wave Sword both fell away.
The Flame Flower Sword snatched the Rippling Wave Sword from the air and, in the same motion, stabbed it into the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend’s throat.
So the enemy’s sword was too sharp? So his own sword was about to break? Then simply take the enemy’s sword away!
From the start, that had been the Flame Flower Sword’s true goal.
It was the sort of thing only someone at the level of a Plum Blossom Sword Protector could attempt—a feat possible only because he was skilled enough to turn thought into action.
"Urk…."
With his throat pierced, the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend stared at the Flame Flower Sword with dark, hollow eyes.
He had never once imagined he would die like this.
He had intended to gather both the Rippling Wave Sword and the Jade Sea Saber someday and reign over the world….
But now that future was gone.
And so his vacant eyes rolled upward and never closed.
Ma Yeong, the subordinate of the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend, watched the body of his sect master collapse and felt as though the world itself had stopped.
But stepping forward here would be stupidity.
To rush in with no power and no ability was nothing but a pointless death.
So he bit his lip until blood welled and quickly assessed the situation.
He had to survive. Revenge taken by a gentleman could wait ten years and still not be too late.
With that thought, he swiftly slipped away from his position.
If not now, there would be no way to escape this place. Only now was it possible.
He took a whistle from his robes and blew it.
It was not a normal sound, but a high-pitched note resembling a bird’s cry.
Only those specially trained could hear it.
And as soon as the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend’s men heard that sound, they began fleeing in all directions.
Ma Yeong did the same.
It was regrettable to leave the sect master’s corpse behind, but those men would not be able to do anything to the body.
So there would be time to recover it later. Probably.
After that bizarre whistle rang out and the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend’s men scattered in all directions, the Flame Flower Sword clicked his tongue.
The Rippling Wave Sword Fiend had not been some idiot who merely stumbled upon a treasured blade by luck.
For reasons unknown, he had been highly skilled and had even commanded well-trained subordinates.
Now he could understand why so many people had been drawn to this mountain as if bewitched.
If these men had intended it, such a thing would have been entirely possible.
But the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend was dead. The Rippling Wave Sword was in his own hands.
So his mission was finished. All he had to do now was take this back to the Murim Alliance.
The rest would be handled by the Alliance. That was no concern of his.
"Are you all right?"
The Flame Flower Sword smiled warmly as he looked at Baek Jin-ah and Dang Yeong-young.
If those two hadn’t helped, it might have been he who had ended up in danger.
"Yes. I’m fine."
"I’m fine too."
Fortunately, both girls seemed unharmed.
I must have underestimated them far too much.
Thinking that, the Flame Flower Sword kept smiling and said,
"Phew. Now that everything’s finished, let’s head back to the Alliance at once. There shouldn’t be any more trouble."
After saying that, he removed the scabbard from the Rippling Wave Sword Fiend’s waist, sheathed the Rippling Wave Sword, and hung it at his own side.
Then the three of them traveled for three days without incident and eventually arrived at the Murim Alliance in Kaifeng.
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