Chapter 23
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: The Silent Eloquent (3)
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‘Behind me are the Yangcheong Sect and, beyond them, the Qingcheng Sect.’
Though considered a cast-off, Ham Jeong-eun was undeniably a disciple from one of the Nine Great Sects, having learned his martial arts from the Qingcheng Sect.
On his sect's recommendation, he had joined the Yangcheong Sect and, subsequently, the Yangcheong Escort Agency.
“Lay a single finger on me, and you'll see!”
As Ham Jeong-eun raised his voice, Pyo Il-jeon and Ha Hyeol-ran, who had been arguing, turned their gazes toward him.
Jin Je-yong tilted his head, a look of confusion on his face.
“And I'll see what? Strange. A martial artist should speak with his skills. Why bring up where you're from?”
The names of the Nine Great Sects were renowned throughout the martial world, but not every disciple from those sects found success.
While some endured grueling, bone-breaking training to become masters, most hovered between the ranks of first- and second-rate.
It was only because they were major sects that the number of third-rate warriors was low; in an ordinary small or medium-sized sect, the majority of disciples were third-rate.
“Could this be the result of elevating the sect's honor?”
Jin Je-yong muttered, his words cryptic.
He turned the tip of his sword toward Ham Jeong-eun.
“Perhaps you can provide the answer?”
“Wha-what?”
Ham Jeong-eun drew his sword in alarm.
His opponent was no ordinary man. Still, he couldn't just lie down and die. Besides, he felt not a hint of killing intent from him.
Though the energy of the Soul Revival Pill had vanished, halving his martial prowess, Ham Jeong-eun was still a disciple of the Qingcheng Sect.
‘Right, he wants to know the source of the Soul Revival Pills. He won't kill me, then.’
Ham Jeong-eun believed Jin Je-yong was just trying to intimidate him with a show of force.
Why was the Qingcheng Sect's name so renowned? Not only did they possess superior martial arts incomparable to those of lesser sects, but the intensity of their training was on a completely different level.
Having experienced such harsh training, Ham Jeong-eun was confident he could endure the pain of being cut by a sword, so long as it wasn't a fatal blow.
‘Come on! Are you going to torture me in front of the leaders of the Aro Sect and the Ichi Sect?!’
The Aro Sect and the Ichi Sect were both places influenced by the Emei and Qingcheng Sects, respectively.
Though they no longer had any regular contact and their ties weren't strong enough to be called secular branches, the Qingcheng and Emei Sects would be the first to rush over if news spread that their affiliates had been attacked by a demon.
“Hmph! A disciple of the great Qingcheng Sect does not bow to heretics!”
Jin Je-yong nodded silently and raised his sword.
‘Slow.’
Was it because he was so tense?
To Ham Jeong-eun's eyes, the path of Jin Je-yong's sword was clearly visible. As if time had stopped, Jin Je-yong's blade moved with excruciating slowness.
‘Is this... enlightenment?’
Having lost the energy of the Soul Revival Pill and steeled his resolve, it seemed he had reached a new realm.
A wave of euphoria washed over Ham Jeong-eun, and his confidence soared.
“Die!”
He lightly dodged Jin Je-yong's sword and, brimming with confidence, swung his own.
But the sword he thought he had dodged was still hanging before his eyes.
“Huk!”
He twisted his body once more to evade the blade. He kicked off the ground, pushed off the ceiling, and contorted himself, desperately trying to escape the path of Jin Je-yong's sword.
Yet Jin Je-yong's sword, slow but certain, pursued him relentlessly.
“A slow sword? No, can that even be called a slow sword?”
“A delayed counter? That's not it either.”
The two sect leaders were swordsmen first and foremost.
They could sense, to some degree, how incredible Jin Je-yong's swordsmanship was, but they couldn't comprehend it.
The ultimate techniques of the Qingcheng Sect flowed from Ham Jeong-eun's hands one after another, but not a single one could reach Jin Je-yong.
It was as if Ham Jeong-eun were performing a solo sword dance before Jin Je-yong's blade.
“Kuaargh!”
Ham Jeong-eun finally threw himself at Jin Je-yong.
Give the flesh to take the bone. With that desperate resolve, Ham Jeong-eun ignored Jin Je-yong's sword and thrust his own toward his opponent's neck.
The swift sword strike, closing the distance in an instant, was truly worthy of a Qingcheng swordsman.
*Crack!*
The sound of a bone breaking echoed.
Ham Jeong-eun, who had tried to block the sword's movement with his body, was sent flying, tumbling across the floor.
“It seems to be a flashy and fast sword art, but its refinement is lacking.”
Jin Je-yong's brief critique followed.
He sheathed his sword nonchalantly.
“Sect Leader Ha, to my eyes, it looked like that Ham Jeong-eun fellow threw himself onto the sword and got knocked down.”
“That's how it looked to me, too.”
“...It was the blade, not the scabbard, right?”
“Why... wasn't his body pierced?”
The two sect leaders rubbed their eyes, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.
Ham Jeong-eun's body had clearly met the blade, yet he reacted as if struck by an iron club.
It wasn't a sword as they knew it.
“It looks like he wrapped his ki around the blade to blunt its edge. Is that even possible?”
“Normally, no one would even try, and it shouldn't be possible!”
Ha Hyeol-ran shouted, almost screaming.
Pyo Il-jeon thought the same.
What was even more bizarre was when he swung his sword again.
“If it were me, I would have expressed it like this.”
The Blue Cloud Red Mist Sword, the Clear Wind Sword, the Heaven and Earth Sword.
The swift and profound swordsmanship of the Qingcheng Sect blossomed once more, this time from Jin Je-yong's hand.
In the eyes of the two sect leaders, only a chilling flash of sword light was visible.
But Ham Jeong-eun, who had learned the sword art himself, forgot the pain of his broken bone, his jaw dropping in astonishment.
“How do you know our Qingcheng Sect's sword...?”
“So this is the Qingcheng sword? Good. It's a fine sword art. The balance between speed and weight is well-distributed. And...”
Jin Je-yong's voice trailed off.
He seemed to ponder something for a moment before speaking again.
“Words are not my strong suit, so it would be better for you to see my opinion directly.”
He demonstrated the Qingcheng sword art once more. It was as if a master of the Qingcheng Sect themselves were performing it.
Seeing this, Ham Jeong-eun's face twisted in despair.
A sword art he had trained in for decades was perfectly understood and demonstrated by a young man, much his junior, after seeing it just once.
“Hmm, there are a few parts where I personally don't understand the reasoning behind the swing. See for yourself.”
The third demonstration was a modified version of the Blue Cloud Red Mist Sword.
He brought the sword to his chest, then jabbed it toward the sky. In that instant, the sword's shadow scattered in all directions.
Tens of thousands of sword images rained down, peppering the inn's floor with tiny marks.
“This is...”
“...Impossible.”
This time, even the spectators, Pyo Il-jeon and Ha Hyeol-ran, couldn't help but be amazed.
The country youth before them stood at a height they couldn't even begin to fathom.
‘Even if I trained for ten thousand years, for eons, could I ever reach the same realm as him?’
The pride Ham Jeong-eun, Pyo Il-jeon, and Ha Hyeol-ran held as swordsmen was shattered into pieces.
When Jin Je-yong sheathed his sword again, no one in the room spoke.
“I believe this conversation has been sufficient. What are your thoughts?”
“...It is more than sufficient.”
Having witnessed a level of swordsmanship so far beyond his own, Ham Jeong-eun composed his mind.
The distant memory of training with the sword until his palms were raw surfaced in his mind.
‘This is the sword I wanted, the sword I yearned to achieve! But... it is a sword I can never attain.’
Jin Je-yong's sword had shown Ham Jeong-eun the ultimate destination he could never reach as a swordsman.
And the truth that he could never arrive there.
Seeing the pinnacle of the sword he had longed for, his mind swirled with both ecstasy and despair.
‘Ah! I... I have walked the wrong path!’
A deep wave of regret washed over him.
Facing Jin Je-yong's sword brought back memories of his twisted life.
And even further back, to the days when he first held a sword and trained at the Qingcheng Sect.
“You are truly... truly an eloquent speaker.”
“Indeed?”
After reflecting on his past, Ham Jeong-eun's attitude toward Jin Je-yong completely changed.
In response, Jin Je-yong also adopted a much gentler tone with him.
“If you're looking for the source of the Soul Revival Pills, I do not know it. However, the one who ordered their distribution was the Yangcheong Escort Agency, and the person who gave the order was its chief, Go I-hyeon.”
Having had a change of heart, Ham Jeong-eun spoke honestly.
As he spoke, the venom had vanished from his face.
***
“The ones distributing the Soul Revival Pills are the Yangcheong Escort Agency?”
When I relayed what I had heard from Ham Jeong-eun, Dang Jin-seong was so surprised his voice cracked.
I nodded and continued.
“It seems the chief, Go I-hyeon, joined hands with my senior brother to orchestrate this.”
“...And Dang Gata, as well.”
For Dang Jin-seong, the young master of the Sichuan Tang Clan, this was not something he could ignore.
Even if he felt no love for his family, he was the young master and the acting head in place of the clan leader, who had been crippled by qi deviation. He could not escape responsibility.
“Sami will sort things out with the Tang Clan, so the raw materials for the Soul Revival Pills shouldn't leak out anymore.”
“But behind the Yangcheong Escort Agency and the Yangcheong Sect is the Qingcheng Sect. They're the Qingcheng Sect's source of funds.”
“So?”
“Even for you, Instructor Jin... huh?”
Dang Jin-seong asked back, his face flustered.
“This is a matter that could tarnish our master's honor because of the mess my senior brother made. It doesn't matter if the Yangcheong Escort Agency, the Yangcheong Sect, or the Qingcheng Sect is behind this.”
“I-Instructor Jin?”
“If they stand in my way, I will cut them down.”
***
“Yung-geon is dead.”
A portly man, his chin lost in the flesh of his neck, frowned.
In the end, what he had feared had come to pass.
“Then what about the supply of the pill's ingredients?”
At the man's question, Go I-hyeon licked his lips.
Je Yung-geon's job was to persuade Dang Gata and procure the ingredients for the Soul Revival Pills.
And he had been out of contact for some time.
“This is what he left behind.”
With a bitter expression, Go I-hyeon tossed a yellowish book to the man.
The man deftly snatched the book and examined its contents.
“This is...?”
“From ingredient procurement to refinement. It's a list of those who can create the Soul Revival Pills.”
“He really was thorough, wasn't he?”
“Hmph! Thorough, my foot! The fool knew he was going to die. He should have found a way to survive.”
Go I-hyeon clicked his tongue, lamenting the loss of a valuable asset.
With his help, the Yangcheong Escort Agency had been able to prepare for independence, securing a patron and immense funds.
“So, who should we bring in?”
“There was a man in Dang Gata who lost his son.”
“You mean that incident at the Jungnang Prefecture branch. With Captain Ga.”
Ga Yu-bae was an asset Go I-hyeon had recruited long ago.
He was the one who had conducted experiments on the Soul Revival Pill's effects and harvested funds in a location as far from the Yangcheong Sect as possible.
“So... I heard he was a sword instructor from some countryside sect? Anyway, I heard a member of the Tang Clan was killed by some nameless swordsman.”
“I was wondering why the Tang Clan didn't step up for revenge. Tsk! Of course they couldn't.”
“Yes, the deceased Tang member was apparently of very poor character, involved in soliciting bribes and taking kickbacks from local merchants.”
“Right. The Tang Clan was so embarrassed they were keeping it quiet.”
“But imagine how heartbroken the parents must be. Their son is dead, and their own clan is hushing it up.”
At Go I-hyeon's words, the man scanned the list, his gaze stopping on a single name.
A smile formed on his lips.
“Then we don't need to bring him in. We can just recruit him.”
“Exactly. We'll help him get his revenge. In return, he'll have to help us—help the Yangcheong Escort Agency.”