Chapter 10
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: I Am a Disciple of the Sword of Completion (5)
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“Just as Gu Gi-po said, things went south.”
The Jeungbyeok Sect Master, Gun Dae-byeong, handed a small envelope to Min Sik-gi.
Min Sik-gi blew into the envelope’s opening and checked its contents. Inside was a thick stack of promissory notes from the Golden Bank.
“It’s not like our relationship will falter over a small hiccup in our business.”
His words were completely different from what he had told Gu Gi-po the day before.
The Righteous Alliance’s Jungrang Prefecture branch had the duty of ensuring public safety, but that was secondary.
In reality, it was an organization meant to monitor and keep the local evil faction, the Jeungbyeok Sect, in check.
As the senior team leader of the branch, Min Sik-gi had been looking after the Jeungbyeok Sect’s interests, fabricating the reports sent to the Righteous Alliance.
“The medicine your Jeungbyeok Sect produces… where does it come from?”
“You don’t need to know.”
When Min Sik-gi showed interest, Gun Dae-byeong frowned.
The Jeungbyeok Sect and Min Sik-gi were cooperating for mutual benefit, but they were not partners.
“So cold. Well, as long as the money keeps coming, I don’t care.”
The Jeungbyeok Sect ran its operations through two main businesses. One was collecting protection money from shops in Jungrang Prefecture and running gambling dens and brothels. The other was drug distribution.
Of the two, drug distribution accounted for over seventy percent of the Jeungbyeok Sect’s finances.
‘The Soul Revival Pill started in Jungrang Prefecture and is spreading throughout all of Sichuan Province… but no one knows where the ingredients come from.’
While dealing with the Jeungbyeok Sect, Min Sik-gi had been trying to find the source of the Soul Revival Pill’s ingredients and its manufacturing techniques.
He judged that if he could get his hands on those two things, he could cut out the Jeungbyeok Sect and run the business himself.
‘Where could it be? The place that supplies the ingredients for the Soul Revival Pill?’
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but don’t get any funny ideas. Not if you want our relationship to continue.”
“Well, I know. We have a symbiotic relationship, after all.”
Whether it was the corrupt Min Sik-gi or the Jeungbyeok Sect hiding in the shadow of the Righteous Alliance with his help, if their true identities were revealed, ruin would be the same for both.
The moment Gun Dae-byeong nodded, the building they were in was struck by an earthquake.
“An earthquake?”
“No, the building, the building is collapsing!”
The two men, startled, looked at the window. The scenery outside was plummeting toward the ground in an instant.
Gun Dae-byeong and Min Sik-gi quickly broke the window and leaped outside.
The sect master’s office they had been in was on the fifth floor of the building, but as they were both martial artists of a certain caliber, they used their lightness arts to escape safely.
“An enemy attack? Then the person who brought down the building is the enemy?”
“What nonsense. They must have used an incendiary bomb.”
Min Sik-gi refuted Gun Dae-byeong’s guess.
No matter how skilled a master was, how could they possibly collapse a five-story building?
And the enemy that came into their view was standing outside the main gate. For someone at that distance to destroy the building was unbelievable, no matter how outstanding their martial arts were.
‘But how could someone over there use an incendiary bomb on the building?’
With that question in mind, Min Sik-gi looked at the people standing outside the gate.
Among them, a familiar face was cautiously observing the situation. It was Nam Gyeong, from his own branch. Spotting him, Min Sik-gi subtly stepped back.
‘Is it a master from the main Alliance? Or the regional branch? Then I’d better get away.’
Min Sik-gi glanced around before fleeing through the back gate.
Gun Dae-byeong didn't care whether Min Sik-gi ran or not. Instead, he glared at the intruders who had come to the Jeungbyeok Sect.
“Which bastard dares to attack our Jeungbyeok Sect….”
Just as he was about to shout, brimming with fury, Jin Je-yong drew his sword.
And when Gun Dae-byeong saw him swing his sword at the nearly two hundred warriors of the Jeungbyeok Sect, he could not speak another word.
* * *
As the building collapsed, well over a hundred warriors poured out.
They were frantically looking around, trying to grasp the situation of the suddenly collapsed structure.
Then they spotted me and confidently drew their swords.
They seemed either not fully awake or just plain stupid, unable to assess the situation properly.
Or maybe I just looked like an easy target.
‘I suppose I don’t have the same imposing air as my master.’
I had never given much thought to my appearance, but it seemed people were misjudging me because of this youthful face.
Even my disciples were initially reluctant to learn the sword from me, thinking I was too young and looked too simple.
“Will that change when I get older?”
“I don’t think it’s a matter of age.”
Jeok-sam, who was standing behind me, chimed in.
I let out a sigh and walked toward the warriors of the Jeungbyeok Sect.
The Jeungbyeok Sect warriors swung their blades at me. I could see the paths of their swords so clearly that a slight dodge was all it took to avoid their reach.
And by placing my sword in their openings, I could easily subdue them.
“Th-this is impossible.”
Lee Geum-yeong muttered as she watched the Jeungbyeok Sect warriors fall one by one.
What was so impossible? After I swung my sword a few more times, the paths drawn by the warriors’ swords were no longer visible.
The warriors gulped and stared at me. It was a familiar sight. People looking at me with eyes full of fear. At the school, this fear had turned into admiration.
“Gyeong, this is the sword I taught you.”
“Instructor….”
Nam Gyeong lifted his head, tears streaming down his face.
He was no longer trembling in fear. His eyes held a mixture of guilt and a strange excitement.
Nam Gyeong was a disciple with a gentle heart.
He had joined the school to change his timid nature, and despite the grueling training, he couldn't bring himself to say he wanted to quit, training at the school for three years.
That same Nam Gyeong now drew his sword against the warriors of the Jeungbyeok Sect. Raising his sword to his chest, he spoke.
“Instructor, all this time, I doubted your skills, and I doubted the sword you taught me. I am sorry.”
“It’s nothing. It’s alright. It’s understandable.”
“Instructor….”
Tears welled up in Nam Gyeong’s eyes again.
When he wiped them away and raised his head once more, his eyes were filled with venom.
“Then I will go and capture the fleeing Team Leader Min.”
I had seen two men leap from the collapsing building.
One of them seemed to be someone Nam Gyeong knew.
“Will you be alright on your own?”
“Yes! This disciple will no longer cause you worry, Instructor.”
Nam Gyeong spoke with a firm voice.
I smiled and nodded.
“Alright, then go. We will be waiting at the Jungrang Inn.”
“Yes! I’ll be back!”
With those words, Nam Gyeong kicked off the ground and ran.
I watched with a satisfied expression as he dashed past the frozen Jeungbyeok Sect warriors and out the back gate.
“He’s a disciple who needs a lot of attention, isn’t he, Instructor?”
“Yes, that’s why he was the one I worried about the most.”
But it seemed I no longer needed to worry.
Having found his confidence, Nam Gyeong now possessed enough skill to take care of himself, no matter who he faced.
“It’s quite nice to see the first and second disciples, with such different personalities, looking out for each other.”
“Of course. It is the role of the eldest disciple to look after his lacking juniors.”
Among the disciples, Jeok-sam had spent the least amount of time learning swordsmanship from me, yet he always insisted on his status as the eldest disciple.
Commendably, he was also the one who led his martial siblings in place of his young master.
“Yes, Sam was always like that.”
“Haha! That’s right. So, what will you do now? Now that Gyeong has regained his confidence, shall we head back? Or should we crush the Jeungbyeok Sect as we are?”
I glanced over the terrified warriors of the Jeungbyeok Sect, then fixed my gaze on a man in a flamboyant golden silk robe below the collapsed building.
The man, who appeared to be the sect master of Jeungbyeok, was looking at his warriors and me with a displeased expression.
“My master used to say that the bastards from the evil factions are like cockroaches, and that I should crush them on sight.”
“Well, Grandmaster did fight in the War of Righteousness and Evil. I heard it was a truly terrible era.”
“For my gentle master to say such a thing, they must truly be like insects.”
I raised my sword and swung it through the air.
The sword cut through the space, creating a transparent blade of wind.
The formless sword ki created in this way swept across the necks of the Jeungbyeok Sect warriors.
“This should be enough for now.”
My purpose was accomplished, so there was no reason to cause unnecessary harm.
I sheathed my sword and turned my back.
From behind me, I heard the sound of straw bundles collapsing.
* * *
Lee Geum-yeong was speechless at the astonishing sight Jin Je-yong had displayed.
The divine prowess shown by this simple-looking young man was on a different level from any martial art she knew.
‘He can project sword ki that far?’
Jin Je-yong’s sword ki had sent the head of the Jeungbyeok Sect Master, Gun Dae-byeong, flying into the sky.
Before that, he had sliced a five-story building in half, so sending a man’s head flying from the same distance probably wasn’t an impossible feat.
‘No! He said he only has half a cycle of internal energy?!’
What she found most incomprehensible was the absurd power of his sword ki relative to his internal energy.
Ki was something projected from inside the body to the outside, and even those who could emit standard sword ki possessed a full cycle of internal energy.
Jin Je-yong had displayed a divine skill that even ordinary masters couldn't dream of imitating, and with only half that energy.
Internal energy aside, she had never seen such martial might, capable of splitting a building with a single strike.
“...What in the world is his identity?”
“He is the Sword of Completion.”
Jeok-sam, noticing Lee Geum-yeong’s expression, reminded her once more with a proud face.
She had thought their words were just the typical boasts of country folk.
But everything she had seen so far had defied her expectations. It was simply that Jin Je-yong and Jeok-sam had been honest about their skills all along.
‘Come to think of it, he was a fellow disciple of that A-mun.’
And who was A-mun, the master of the Inner Documents Hall? A monster who had appeared out of nowhere and risen to become the second-in-command of the Eastern Depot in just twenty years.
His martial arts were the best in the Eastern Depot, and he never failed in his duties.
And Jin Je-yong was such a man’s junior martial brother.
‘I can’t just stand here! I have to report this immediately!’
But despite her burning urgency, she maintained a smile on the outside as she replied.
Jin Je-yong was a dangerous man.
She had to report Jin Je-yong’s true abilities to her superiors as soon as possible.
“The Sword of Completion… it really is just as you say.”
Jeok-sam glanced at her, then offered a meaningful smile.
“The instructor is fundamentally a kind person. But he shows absolutely no mercy to his enemies.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You came to our school looking for traces of Senior Martial Uncle A-mun, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
Jeok-sam’s eyes narrowed. This was not the young man who would sparkle his eyes while calling out ‘Instructor, Child Instructor.’
This was the look of a shrewd and dignified master merchant.
“There are cases where people follow in someone’s footsteps out of admiration, but there are also cases where they dig into their past because they’re an enemy. Usually, it’s the latter.”
“…”
“My instructor may treat you as a guest since you’ve brought news of his Senior Martial Uncle after so long, regardless of whether you’re friend or foe, but I am not as merciful as he is.”
“So?”
“This is just a warning. In the end, I will follow my instructor’s words.”
As Jeok-sam spoke, there was not a hint of a smile on his face.
Lee Geum-yeong swallowed hard at the cold warning.
* * *
“Hah, damn it. Shit. Fuck!”
Min Sik-gi stopped running and spat out a string of curses.
Behind him, Nam Gyeong came to a halt.
“You bastard! Why the hell do you keep chasing me?”
“Team Leader Min Sik-gi, I am placing you under arrest.”
“Arrest my ass. On what charge? For having a drink with the Jeungbyeok Sect Master? Hey, a low-level warrior like you might not know, but building ties with local influential figures is part of our job, got it?”
Min Sik-gi offered a ridiculous excuse.
Even so, killing intent flowed from his body in streams.
If Nam Gyeong showed an opening, he was fully intent on killing him.
‘Shit, what’s with this guy? What is he? Why is he so different?’
The Nam Gyeong that Min Sik-gi knew had been a fool from the moment he arrived at the Jungrang Prefecture branch. He was always timid, constantly walking on eggshells not just around his seniors and juniors, but also the very citizens he was supposed to protect.
As a result, he made mistakes constantly, becoming something of a nuisance at the branch.
But now, he couldn't see a single opening in this Nam Gyeong.
“You were dealing drugs. That alone is enough.”
“It wasn’t me! I have nothing to do with it!”
“That is a matter for the Alliance to determine.”
The only thing that hadn’t changed was that rigid attitude.
A stickler for rules. But Nam Gyeong’s adherence to principles was merely a crutch, born from his lack of self-confidence.
Nam Gyeong drew his sword.
“Hmph! Do you even have the skill to arrest me?”
“Yes, of course.”
Nam Gyeong raised his sword and took his stance.
A stance for a thrust.
He had heard that the only technique Nam Gyeong knew was a single-point thrust. If the place that recommended him hadn't been a business partner of the Righteous Alliance's Sichuan branch, he never would have been admitted.
“This bastard, I’ve had enough of him.”
Min Sik-gi, unable to contain his anger, swung his sword. A ferocious sword ki flew toward Nam Gyeong.
Nam Gyeong thrust his sword, striking a point in the path of the sword ki. The ki shattered and vanished.
“Give up. Resistance is futile.”
“Give up what?! You son of a bitch! I’m a team leader! A team leader of the great Righteous Alliance!”
Min Sik-gi shouted as he drew upon his ki.
An aura of over a full cycle of energy swirled around his body.
As the powerful momentum of a master erupted from his entire being, Nam Gyeong let out a long sigh.
“A team leader of the Righteous Alliance, you say? In that case, I am…”
Nam Gyeong aimed the tip of his sword at Min Sik-gi.
“A disciple of the Sword of Completion.”