Chapter 16
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Baptism of the Sword of Completion (1)
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“Brother, don't you think Master is showing too much favoritism?”
Twenty years ago, Je Yung-geon, unable to contain his dissatisfaction, sought out his eldest brother, A-mun.
A-mun was in the training hall, swinging a wooden sword as he did every day. As far as Je Yung-geon knew, he was a man who possessed greater talent, diligence, and character than anyone.
“Who is showing favoritism to whom?”
Spotting Je Yung-geon, A-mun set down his wooden sword and wiped the sweat from his brow with a dry towel. Beads of sweat trickled down his sculpted muscles, glistening in the sunlight.
Je Yung-geon gulped and continued.
“I'm talking about Je-yong. Je-yong. I think Master dotes on him far too much.”
“Are you... jealous of a five-year-old?”
“No, that's not it, Brother. The kid picked up a tree branch, saying he wanted to learn the sword, didn't he? But his swordsmanship was anything but ordinary.”
“Hah, what a madman.”
A-mun let out a hollow laugh at Je Yung-geon's words.
He had thought his fourth junior brother was a little strange, but it seemed he wasn't just a little strange—he was completely out of his mind.
*A beating is the only cure for a madman. Should I thrash him or not?*
Still, Je Yung-geon was his junior brother, and in Sinnae Village, he was like a younger brother from next door.
A-mun sighed as he looked at his fourth junior brother.
“Hoo, alright. What was it? Something about his sword strokes with a tree branch?”
“No, that's not it, Brother. I think Master must have passed down his secret techniques only to Je-yong.”
“Huh? Secret techniques? You mean the secret techniques of the Three Talents Sword Art?”
“Yes, Brother...”
A-mun was dumbfounded by his deranged junior brother's words.
The only martial arts Jin Sang-ho had learned were the Three Talents Sword Art, the Wall-Walking Art, a basic internal art, and a movement technique.
All of these were martial arts that weren't difficult to find in any marketplace, so there was nothing that could be called a secret technique.
However, the proficiency of his forms, honed through the War of Righteousness and Evil, was on a different level from that of a typical third-rate warrior.
In short, what the disciples of the Sinnae Sword School learned from Jin Sang-ho wasn't martial arts theory, but practical combat skills.
“Alright, alright, let's go see for ourselves. Just how amazing our youngest junior brother is. Haha. Secret techniques for a five-year-old. Hahaha!”
To placate Je Yung-geon, A-mun called for Jin Je-yong.
Jin Je-yong, who had turned five that year, looked around with wide eyes, perhaps because he had been suddenly dragged over by Je Yung-geon.
*What? Sword strokes with a tree branch? Master hid something and passed it down to him?*
A-mun didn't believe a word Je Yung-geon said.
Still, the reason he had called for Jin Je-yong was simply to foster a bond between the brothers.
“Je-yong, would you like to try holding a wooden sword?”
A-mun spoke in a gentle voice. He remembered seeing Jin Je-yong peeking at his brothers training from a corner of the hall several times.
After teaching Jin Je-yong how to hold the wooden sword, A-mun picked one up himself.
And was utterly defeated.
***
*That day, my eldest brother fled the training hall as if running for his life.*
Je Yung-geon touched the eyepatch covering his right eye.
After that, he tried relentlessly to defeat Jin Je-yong. But he could see no way to win against a boy three years his junior.
After more than ten years of challenges, Je Yung-geon concluded that he could not win through martial arts and left the school immediately.
“And now, has it already been ten years?”
Ten years from when he left the school to when he would meet Jin Je-yong again.
He was no longer the eighteen-year-old Je Yung-geon who had only ever lost to his younger junior brother.
“Elder, so in order to obtain the Tang Clan's secret techniques...”
“What is it that Tang Jin-seong fears? The erasure of the Tang Clan's history, the loss of their secret techniques, perhaps?”
“I've hinted at that several times, but he remains unshaken.”
When the branch family's power surpassed the main family's, they relentlessly pressured them, stopping at nothing, as if venting years of pent-up frustration. Thanks to that, Tang Ju-seong became a cripple from Qi deviation.
As the village chief, he had to drive the final nail in the coffin now that Tang Ju-seong was incapacitated.
“Hope can sometimes be crueler than any torture. Having seen Jin Je-yong's skill, Tang Jin-seong will try to use him one way or another.”
“Doesn't that put us in danger?”
“Why do you think I prepared the Thunderclap Bombs? Even if his sword can cut through anything, how can he handle a collapsing mountain? Hahaha!”
Je Yung-geon burst out laughing at the thought of finally getting his revenge after ten years.
He and the branch family had buried one hundred *gwan* (approximately 375 kilograms) of Thunderclap Bombs in the escape route.
All of this had been prepared under the assumption that Jin Je-yong would seek out the Tang Clan after leaving Sinnae Village.
“Finally, I will defeat you! Hahahaha!”
Je Yung-geon laughed like a madman.
***
*Knowing my brother's personality, he's probably laughing like a madman right about now.*
I glanced at the escape route Tang Jin-seong had mentioned and muttered to myself.
Master had five disciples in total, including me. Among them, my fourth brother, Je Yung-geon, tormented me with relentless obsession.
Even though we learned the same martial arts, as my achievements grew greater than his, he became convinced that Master had taught me secret techniques in private.
*Master taught us everything without holding back. How much better would it have been if he had just learned without doubting, like me? What a foolish brother.*
It was the same with my other brothers and my senior sister; they all lacked respect for Master.
Some criticized him for teaching only the Three Talents Sword Art, while others condemned him for supposedly teaching me secret techniques in private.
“It's absurd. Master cherished his disciples so much.”
“Pardon?”
“No, it's nothing. Anyway, you're saying we can escape the branch family through here?”
“That's right. Ah! But even after we leave the branch family, the road to Anhui, where the Namgung Clan resides, is not smooth. We'll need your help, Young Master Jin.”
Tang Jin-seong spoke as if making an excuse, feeling a pang of guilt.
But for someone supposedly fleeing the clutches of the branch family, he was alone, not even escorting his ailing father.
Tang Ju-seong was likely waiting somewhere else, and there was probably another secret passage.
*Engraved in bone, never to be forgotten, was it? Should I make them owe me a debt of gratitude?*
The Tang Clan advertised that they took debts and grudges very seriously, repaying kindness tenfold and vengeance a hundredfold.
Having become one of the Five Great Clans by promoting this slogan, they had to repay any kindness, if only to save face.
“Young Master Tang, let me be clear. With this, the matter concerning my school is to be considered closed.”
“Of course.”
“No matter what happens.”
“...The Tang Clan... Tang Jin-seong, the young master of the Tang Clan, will not forget the kindness of the Sinnae Sword School. Regardless of any faults. And as for what Tang Jin-wi did... it was not the behavior of someone from a prestigious family.”
Tang Jin-seong said, referring to the incident with Tang Jin-wi.
I nodded and descended into the underground escape route. Past the wooden stairs, a long, natural cave stretched out before me.
*I don't smell any gunpowder. And they've meticulously erased any traces of installation. But dusting everything clean is like advertising that there's a trap here, isn't it?*
My brother, Je Yung-geon, always missed one thing.
His swordsmanship was the same.
He desperately tried to copy my sword, ruminating on Master's teachings to improve his skills, but he was always one step short.
“If only he hadn't doubted Master, my brother could have been as skilled as Nam Gyeong.”
After I had walked a short distance, the presence following me vanished.
Then came the heavy sound of a door shutting. I turned to look back and saw that the way down had been sealed. Just as I expected, Tang Jin-seong had used me as a decoy.
“So the plan is for me to draw the branch family's attention here while he escapes separately?”
And Je Yung-geon had used this opportunity to set a trap for me.
I drew my sword, feeling pleased.
With this, Tang Jin-seong would be indebted to me, and I would finally be able to face my foolish brother who left the school so long ago.
“No matter how well you hide it, the fire energy is swirling all around. Does my brother not know this?”
I muttered, watching flames erupt from the floor and ceiling.
Faced with fire pouring from all directions and the collapsing tunnel, I drew my sword.
***
“Hahahaha! You're finally dead! Jin Je-yong!”
With a massive explosion, the Tang Clan's training ground collapsed completely.
The sudden commotion drew people out, not only the servants of the main family but also those from the branch family.
Amidst it all, the laughter of the one-eyed Je Yung-geon echoed from the collapsed training ground.
“Huh?! Isn't that you, Uncle? Your nephew, Jeok-sam, greets you for the first time in ten years.”
“Finally! Finally! ...Huh? Nephew Jeok-sam?”
As Je Yung-geon laughed maniacally, Jeok-sam appeared by his side, cupping his fist in his palm.
Je Yung-geon's eyes widened in surprise at Jeok-sam's appearance.
“Y-Yes. It's been a long time.”
“So you were at the Tang Clan, Uncle. Master was worried since he hadn't heard from you for so long.”
Jin Je-yong's disciples all had different personalities and martial arts, but they shared one thing in common: an unparalleled respect for their master.
Jeok-sam, Jin Je-yong's first disciple, in particular, worshipped him almost like a fanatic.
“You left the school ten years ago, Uncle. You must not know how much stronger our instructor has become since then.”
Before Jeok-sam could finish speaking, something sharp shot up from the middle of the collapsed training ground.
Tinged with a blue light, it resembled the tip of a sword.
The color drained from Je Yung-geon's face as he stared at it.
“Sword Aura...?”
Aura Ki. It was a state where one could give form to their ki, a level unattainable without achieving enlightenment.
Once one could wield Aura Ki with proficiency, they were called a supreme master in the martial world.
“N-N-No way, he survived? In there?”
The Sword Aura that had shot up from the training ground tore through the earth.
Then, a shadow shot into the sky like an arrow before landing softly in front of Je Yung-geon.
“It's been a while, Brother.”