One Fifth (3)
“Huff, huff!”
Dorong Geosa Hong In-gyeol recalled a memory from the past as the handsome young man approached before his eyes.
How could he ever forget?
The humiliation of that day.
—You reek like the filthy beggar you are.
Decades ago, those had been the first words spoken to him upon his initial encounter with Demon Sword Ghost Old Man Cheon Baeksang.
At the time, there had been a minor skirmish between the Demon Sword Sect and the Beggars' Sect over dominance in Hebei Province. While the young Cheon Baeksang had already been the sect leader of the Demon Sword Sect, Hong In-gyeol was merely an outstanding late-stage disciple of the Sa-gyeol generation.
—Tremble!
He clenched his fists tightly but didn't even dare to unleash his martial arts.
Because at that tender young age, he simply didn't want to die.
And Hong In-gyeol would spend the rest of his life regretting that he hadn't challenged the old man that day.
‘Because I didn't dare face Old Man Cheon that day, I spent my life cowering and submitting.’
Humiliations from one's youth often become etched as deep-seated fears.
Once his momentum was broken, he could never muster the courage to try again.
Especially since, unlike the other members of the Heaven's Five Venerables, Hong In-gyeol had stayed closest to the Demon Sword Ghost Old Man within Hebei Province, his resentment toward him burned the hottest.
“D-Don't make me laugh! I, our Beggars' Sect—we're a faction truly vying for supremacy in the martial world!”
Eventually, that ugly era and his jealousy became the driving force behind calling only the righteous sects the “true” martial world.
Hong In-gyeol projected the Demon Sword Ghost Old Man onto Hyeon Yucheon but forced himself to stop cowering.
‘He looks just like him. But you're not the Demon Sword Ghost Old Man!’
Unlike those painful memories, the present reality was reversed: Hyeon Yucheon was the young late-stage disciple, while he had become one of the Heaven's Five Venerables.
How cruel was fate to turn the situation completely upside down?
“The true martial world?”
Hyeon Yucheon smirked faintly.
His goal was to shatter their martial world.
“Save your bullshit for that dead mad dog trio's ugly mugs. Now come at me already.”
Hyeon Yucheon beckoned with his fingers.
And it wasn't empty talk—Hong In-gyeol's drunken stupor had completely worn off, leaving him with plenty of fight left in him.
Of course, he wasn't in perfect condition, but how often was anyone in top shape during real combat?
Whoosh!
Hong In-gyeol raised the Dog-Beating Stick he carried like an extra limb.
This staff, resembling black bamboo, was a divine relic symbolizing the Dragon Head Division Leader and, by extension, the Beggars' Sect itself—a priceless treasure.
The martial art unleashed with this Dog-Beating Stick was the Beggars' Sect's supreme technique: the Dog-Beating Stick Technique.
From time immemorial, the leaders of the Beggars' Sect had mastered two arts.
The Dog-Beating Stick Technique and the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms.
—Nan-ta-gu-bae!
If one had to categorize, Dorong Geosa Hong In-gyeol was a man who had devoted everything to the Dog-Beating Stick Technique.
Boooom!
Hong In-gyeol's staff, whose internal energy prowess made him second to none in the world, bent in a bizarre arc as it whipped forward.
This Dog-Beating Stick Technique was originally inspired by a beggar beating a dog—unmatched in raw power and practicality.
Hummm, huuummm!
The internal energy gathered at the tip of Hong In-gyeol's Dog-Beating Stick was so immense that the end visibly trembled.
Pa-at!
Even grazing it would shred flesh from bone.
Hyeon Yucheon struggled, retreating step by step.
“I am Dorong Geosa, one of the Heaven's Five Venerables! I won't lose to a greenhorn like you!”
Hong In-gyeol's pride was immense.
Especially his self-given title of Dorong Geosa, earned through unmatched internal energy, served as his pillar of support.
—Hong-hu-gwang-geon!
—Ak-gyeon-ta-jak!
Once he seized the momentum, Hong In-gyeol became unstoppable.
People often dismissed staff techniques as inferior to spear arts, lacking killing intent.
But think about it.
In the Beggars' Sect—the faction with the largest forces alongside Shaolin, the North Star of the righteous martial world—their primary martial art was this very staff technique.
The power emanating from its profound variations and elusive movements was beyond description.
Kwaang, kwaaaang!
Moreover, Hong In-gyeol was a super peak realm master, one of the top five in the righteous martial world, having reached the level of the Heaven's Five Venerables.
In other words, even among super peak experts, he ranked at the pinnacle.
And since the Dog-Beating Stick Technique rampaged like a mad beast once momentum was gained, turning foes into “dogs” to be beaten, Hyeon Yucheon was repeatedly pushed back.
—Heavenly Dominion Step!
Each time, it was this movement art that pulled Hyeon Yucheon from the brink of death.
“Damn it all!”
Hong In-gyeol spat curses as memories of the past resurfaced upon seeing that footwork.
He was already annoyed by how the opponent dodged like a nimble field mouse, but that stepwork evoked the Demon Sword Ghost Old Man all too clearly.
“Fine! Let's see how far you can run!”
Flash!
A fierce glint erupted in the eyes of Hong In-gyeol, who had been bellowing in rage.
This was proof he was unleashing his internal energy in earnest.
And sure enough?
Kwaaaaaang!
An ocean of internal energy incomparable to before surged forth.
Hummm, huuuummm!
His Dog-Beating Stick howled like a rabid dog, manifesting a massive staff aura.
Just as swords had sword auras, staffs had staff auras.
With full power from the internal energy master Dorong Geosa, a staff aura naturally formed, and he unleashed a barrage of linked forms.
—Gyeon-sal-gwang-gi!
He even deployed the form with the thickest killing intent from the Dog-Beating Stick Technique.
Whirrr!
The Beggars' Sect's pride, the Dog-Beating Stick, spun ferociously, calm like a teacup typhoon yet containing world-shattering power within.
‘I couldn't break the Demon Sword Ghost Old Man, but I'll shatter you for sure!’
Dorong Geosa Hong In-gyeol unleashed his grudge against the Demon Sword Sect onto Demon Sword Young Master Hyeon Yucheon.
But if comparing grudges, Hyeon Yucheon held the advantage.
‘I've been waiting for a big attack like this.’
The reason Hyeon Yucheon retreated while checking the Dog-Beating Stick Technique wasn't fear or inability to handle it.
It was to create the perfect moment.
To hook a big fish like Hong In-gyeol required a grand technique.
“Haaaaap!”
Hyeon Yucheon poured every ounce of strength, veins bulging on his forehead.
Even in the instant of unleashing his form, he prayed desperately.
‘Master, watch over this disciple.’
This duel wasn't mere pride or a petty spar—it involved his master's sworn enemy.
Endless invisible sword strikes
And so, Hyeon Yucheon unveiled one of the final forms of the Formless Flash Quick Sword—the technique his master had called an o-ui.
The formless sword aura unfolded infinitely as the Formless Endless Sword, targeting a single foe for the first time.
Looking back, he had only ever used it on objects or the Black Iron Wall, never a person.
But today was different.
Pababababat!
It was a gift Hyeon Yucheon had prepared solely for Dorong Geosa Hong In-gyeol.
‘I'll kill him. I must kill him.’
Hyeon Yucheon gritted his teeth through the immense fatigue and internal energy drain from unleashing the Formless Mystery: Formless Endless Sword.
Whenever exhaustion hit, he remembered his master watching from the heavens—and Hong In-gyeol's mocking words.
The way he had ranted about sharing a “fun story” about his old title, Mangeum Gongja, treating it like war spoils!
“Th-This can't be!”
Facing Hyeon Yucheon's all-out Formless Endless Sword, Hong In-gyeol realized he was cornered with no escape, plummeting into despair.
But only for a moment.
‘I can't just die like this.’
He gripped his Dog-Beating Stick and unleashed the ultimate pinnacle form of the technique.
Back when the Demon Sword Ghost Old Man lived, Hong In-gyeol had honed this form, vowing to use it against him.
Who could have known it would be unleashed on his disciple?
What an ironic twist of fate.
—Cheon-ha-mu-gu-ta-gu-gyeon-sal!
Paaaaat!
Hong In-gyeol's Dog-Beating Stick Technique displayed its peak might, clashing with Hyeon Yucheon's Formless Endless Sword—but the gap in skill was vast.
No matter how much one of the Heaven's Five Venerables, as individuals, none could overcome Hyeon Yucheon, who had reached the Entering Divinity realm.
While they had roamed the martial world leisurely these past years, Hyeon Yucheon had sharpened his blade of vengeance from the start—the difference was on another level.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
With a deafening roar, Hong In-gyeol's form shattered completely, and he collapsed backward.
Plop, plip plip!
His upper body was utterly torn apart by the formless sword auras—grotesque beyond words.
“L-Lord Dragon Head!”
Seok Mugyeong, the fourth young master of the Seok Family Manor and current Mangeum Gongja, who had watched with amusement at first, finally realized the fire was at his feet and screamed.
No matter how he shouted, the outcome was set.
Stagger, stagger!
Hong In-gyeol could barely hold himself up.
“Uh, uhhh……”
So-ryong-a's potent liquor had long worn off, yet he reeled as if still drunk.
His face was a mask of blood, skin shredded by invisible sword aura blades.
The blood pooling on the floor could fill it entirely.
That he hadn't died from such fatal wounds might have been due to his pride as one of the Heaven's Five Venerables.
“Wh-What kind of…… form……”
Hong In-gyeol mustered superhuman effort to open his mouth and speak.
‘This is a form even the Demon Sword Ghost Old Man never unleashed—no, couldn't unleash.’
As the one who had watched him closest in Hebei, Hong In-gyeol could assert this with certainty.
“It's the o-ui of the Formless Flash Quick Sword. The form that sends you straight to hell.”
Usually, once a duel was decided, Hyeon Yucheon showed mercy.
Whether to wicked foes or the upright.
But not this time.
“Dorong Geosa Hong In-gyeol, that day, Master didn't die. He endured superhumanly and passed everything to me.”
Hyeon Yucheon drew forth formless sword auras once more.
“Even with you dead, my vengeance isn't over. I'll put that Dog-Beating Stick and your Beggars' Sect warrants to good use.”
Hyeon Yucheon taunted the dying man, savoring his despairing face.
“N-No…… Aaaah……”
A master of Hong In-gyeol's caliber would typically depart without regrets or with solemnity.
But Hyeon Yucheon's words drove him mad.
The divine relic of the division leader, the Dog-Beating Stick, falling into the hands of the Demon Sword Sect leader?
An unprecedented disgrace in Beggars' Sect history.
Kwajijik!
Hong In-gyeol tasted utter despair until his final breath.
His head rolled across the floor, frozen in an expression of ultimate horror no painting or sculpture could capture.
Demon Sword Young Master Hyeon Yucheon, sovereign of the unorthodox and lord of the Demon Sword Sect.
He had finally crushed Dorong Geosa Hong In-gyeol, one pillar of the righteous martial world's sky—the Heaven's Five Venerables.
‘Master! I've finally taken down one of the Heaven's Five Venerables!’
The moment he slew him, Hyeon Yucheon was overcome with emotion, gazing toward his master in the heavens.
Some say vengeance leaves only emptiness, breeding more revenge—better to forgive.
Hyeon Yucheon dismissed it as nonsense.
Such words were excuses from the powerless, comforting themselves for failing to avenge.
Right now, he felt not void, but joy.
“This is just the beginning. I've now repaid one fifth of my vengeance.”