Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Fierce Tiger Blade Hyuk Ri-gwang
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Hyuk Ri-gwang of Tigerleaf Blade
Unexpected flailing caught me off guard.
He dodged it? Just on instinct?
He'd lost his reason and turned into a beast, and it seemed even his crisis detection had risen to a beastly level.
“Grraaah!”
Hyuk Ri-gwang, having evaded the qi restraint, roared again and charged.
Clicking my tongue in regret at wasting a good opportunity, I met the tiger's rush head-on.
-Kagak!
A sword stroke aimed at my side.
I raised my sword to twist its trajectory, and Hyuk Ri-gwang brushed past me.
Unable to control his own momentum, he slid across the ground before spinning back around.
Watching him, I racked my brain on how to handle him.
First off, restraining him with qi wasn't going to work.
Even if I tried again, he'd surely dodge it just like before.
So what should I do? As I pondered, I suddenly recalled Hyuk Ri-gwang's appearance from moments ago.
The way he'd dodged the qi restraint purely on sense alone.
The way he'd recoiled in terror from the barrage of Hyuncheon Gale Force.
...Thanks to his heightened senses, he could even detect the qi movement,
And because of those same senses, he'd overreacted to the rapid strikes infused with the principles of speed?
If that's the case...?
A good idea struck me, and I swung my sword at the charging Hyuk Ri-gwang once more.
-Swaeek!
“Grrrng!”
A sword infused with the principles of speed.
It looked at a glance like a Hyuncheon Gale Force barrage, and Hyuk Ri-gwang flinched.
But he didn't recoil in panic.
Because I'd twisted the trajectory of my swing before it could touch him.
-Shuuung!
Next came a thrust.
A series of thrusts mimicking Sword Shadows Piercing the Heavens flew at Hyuk Ri-gwang.
He flinched again, but my sword didn't touch him this time either. I'd made sure of it.
Confusion flickered in Hyuk Ri-gwang's eyes at the threatening strikes that never actually reached his body.
The tiger's pupils, lost and shaking amid the sword strikes filling his vision without landing.
When that trembling peaked, I brought my sword down on the crown of his head.
An attack he could have easily dodged under normal circumstances.
But after the barrage of feints constantly disrupting his senses, Hyuk Ri-gwang's reactions weren't as sharp as before.
In the end, amid dozens of feints, a single real strike slithered like a snake in the underbrush and struck the crown of Hyuk Ri-gwang's head.
-Ppak!
With an ominous sound, Hyuk Ri-gwang's head slammed into the ground.
And that was the end.
The ferocious killing intent vanished without a trace, and the unconscious Hyuk Ri-gwang slumped limply, unable to rise.
“Whew...”
Seeing that, I let out a small sigh of relief.
I wasn't entirely sure, but thankfully it worked.
If even this hadn't, I'd have been fighting all night.
The technique I'd just used came from Nangong Se's signature martial art, the Heavenly Wind Sword Method.
Sixth form of the Soaring Palace Free Sword: Misty Haze.
A technique embodying the essence of the Heavenly Wind Sword Method, freely switching between feints and real strikes...
The problem was, this technique was still incomplete.
Considering that the seventh form and ultimate technique, Transcending the Heavens, was already complete, it was certainly odd that the preceding sixth form remained unfinished.
Of course, it wasn't entirely incomplete.
If it weren't even at this stage, I couldn't have taken down Hyuk Ri-gwang.
The form of Misty Haze itself was complete.
Yet the reason it was still unfinished lay in an external factor beyond that.
“Hyuk Ri, the hero!”
Meanwhile, Zhuge Geun-young, confirming the spar's end, hurried over.
He flinched upon seeing Hyuk Ri-gwang face-down and slumped on the ground.
“N-No way, you killed him...?”
“No chance. I struck with the flat of the blade.”
Zhuge Geun-young, who had been panicking, belatedly checked that no blood flowed from Hyuk Ri-gwang's crown and sighed in relief.
He directed others to carry the unconscious Hyuk Ri-gwang back to the carriage he'd leaped from earlier, then bowed to me.
“Thank you for showing mercy.”
I nodded at Zhuge Geun-young's thanks.
Setting aside my personal impression that it had been quite thrilling and fun, it was true that Hyuk Ri-gwang had been excessively murderous for a mere spar.
So it wasn't strange for him to apologize, but for some reason, a laugh escaped me.
“Apologizing on behalf, thanking on behalf—you're always so busy.”
“Ahahaha...”
Zhuge Geun-young laughed weakly.
The pathos of a middle manager was no illusion on his face.
Shrugging, I replied lightly.
“Well, it was entertaining enough, so we're good. Mind if I ask something?”
“Ask away. I'll answer anything I know to the best of my ability.”
I chuckled again at Zhuge Geun-young's unnecessarily solemn words and glanced at Hyuk Ri-gwang being carried into the carriage.
“The Fierce Tiger Blade's martial arts were pretty unique. Do you happen to know his origins?”
“Ah, that... I don't know the details myself. I just vaguely heard he's from Yunnan...”
“Yunnan... so the Southern Frontier region?”
Sure enough, I'd thought his skin was on the darker side—turns out he's from there.
The Southern Frontier, huh?
A martial school came to mind for beast-like martial arts from the Southern Frontier.
Southern Frontier Beast Palace.
Warriors of the outer regions who tamed beasts in the jungles and mastered martial arts mimicking them.
According to my master, the outer martial world was currently under suspicion from the emperor as a tendril of the Demonic Cult and surveillance by the Imperial Guards.
Could Hyuk Ri-gwang be from the Beast Palace?
If so, why was he a guest warrior for the Zhuge family?
Tucking my suspicions about Hyuk Ri-gwang in a corner of my mind, the night deepened.
*
Setting out early in the morning toward Yangyang once more, Hyuk Ri-gwang on horseback approached me as I drove the carriage.
“Hey, good morning! To the young lady beside you too.”
“.......”
“.......”
Hwa-ryeon, seated beside me at the time, and I stared at Hyuk Ri-gwang with utter disbelief.
How could he be so brazen?
“...We're not exactly on greeting terms, are we?”
“Hm? Why not?”
Hyuk Ri-gwang tilted his head as if he couldn't grasp my point.
He glanced back and forth between Hwa-ryeon and me, then let out an “Aha!” of realization and grinned.
“Is it about last time? Come to think of it, I never apologized.”
Oh, surprisingly straightforward...
“Sorry about that. Telling you to meet another man's woman. I got ahead of myself since I was looking for a good match for my son of marriageable age, and she seemed like a rare find.”
“...That's all?”
“Hm? What else is there?”
Seeing his utterly clueless expression, I snapped and shouted in a low voice.
“No, aren't you sorry for commenting on a grown woman's breasts and hips like that?”
“...Why would that be something to apologize for? Should I apologize while complimenting her?”
“...You're serious?”
“Of course. A woman with wide hips will bear children easily and vigorously, and big breasts mean plenty of milk to feed them—what's that if not praise?”
I was at a loss for words at Hyuk Ri-gwang's response.
That baffled look—he was dead serious.
Those infuriating words were, in his mind, sincere compliments.
Glancing at Hwa-ryeon, she stared at him in sheer astonishment.
Then her gaze suddenly turned to me.
I could read her thoughts plainly in her eyes.
What the hell do I do with this lunatic who calls teasing praise?
Even so, with a look like that.
It's not like I had some brilliant solution...
“Puhaha! Quite the firecracker! Already so passionate—you two will have at least ten kids down the line!”
...It hit me.
Let's kill him. That guy.
If I kill him, I won't have to put up with his nonsense.
Killing just him would make my life better without his drivel, cheer Hwa-ryeon up, and even lighten Zhuge Geun-young's burdens a bit.
Wow, thinking about it, everyone would be happier without just that one guy?
I accepted the murderous impulse rising from deep within without a shred of resistance.
The moment I reached for the sword on the driver's seat,
“H-Hyuk Ri, the hero! What are you doing here? Your body's still not fully recovered—get back in the carriage and rest!”
Zhuge Geun-young spotted the imminent crisis and rushed over.
He seized the reins of Hyuk Ri-gwang's horse and dragged it forward.
“H-Hey. Hey!”
Hyuk Ri-gwang panicked at Zhuge Geun-young dragging him off without a word.
He kept yelling “Hey, hey!” to stop him, but Zhuge Geun-young ignored him completely.
The two vanished to the front of the procession in an instant.
I stared at their retreating figures for a moment before setting down the sword in my hand.
Shrugging at Hwa-ryeon beside me, she replied with a small sigh.
“...I suddenly feel tired.”
“Yeah? Want to borrow my shoulder? Or head inside the carriage...”
I couldn't finish.
Hwa-ryeon had taken my half-joking offer and leaned her head on my shoulder.
“.......”
The faint fragrance tickling my nose froze my body.
An addictive weight on my shoulder that felt better than good.
Turning my creaking head, I saw a snow-white face with eyes closed as if asleep.
Careful not to jostle her lest Hwa-ryeon be uncomfortable, I drove the carriage—and oddly, felt a bit grateful to Hyuk Ri-gwang.
Of course, gratitude and annoyance were separate matters.
So don't come back if you know what's good for you.
*
“Hey! We meet again.”
...Contrary to my hopes, Hyuk Ri-gwang showed up brazenly again the next night.
“...Coming at this hour makes it feel like you're targeting when I'm on night watch. Am I wrong?”
“Hm, sharp eye. Geun-young said that girl hates his guts, so if you want to talk to her, go when she's alone.”
His words conjured an image in my mind unbidden.
Zhuge Geun-young desperately trying to dissuade Hyuk Ri-gwang.
But it fell on deaf ears with that beast of a man, so he eventually relented and told him when I stood watch.
Far from annoyed, I felt pity hearing Zhuge Geun-young's imagined sigh.
“...So? What exactly do you want to talk about with me?”