Chapter 86
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: An Unwilling Sparring Partner
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Ga Du-dal immediately turned and began to flee.
The moment he realized who the voice belonged to, his body reacted before his mind could, independent of his will.
‘Why is the Blood Hand Honored One here…!’
It was a bolt from the blue, the likes of which he had never experienced.
At least Cho Ak-ryang didn’t immediately give chase.
Perhaps he hadn't expected Ga Du-dal to bolt so quickly.
He couldn't miss this golden opportunity.
But on a day when luck was against you, you could break your nose even falling backward.
From the darkness ahead, what he thought was a massive, crouching boulder suddenly seemed to rise…
“Our Du-dal is busy today, too, I see?”
A voice that made his heart drop rang out.
The color drained from Ga Du-dal's face, his features twisting in horror.
‘Mang Mountain's Thistle, too!’
The sight of Beom Gye-wi waving cheerfully felt like a summons from the King of Hell himself.
‘Damn it all!’
Gritting his teeth, Ga Du-dal summoned every ounce of power he possessed.
Simultaneously, his form flickered lightly.
“Oh?”
Beom Gye-wi let out a soft exclamation of surprise.
Ga Du-dal, who had vanished from sight for a moment, reappeared fifty feet away.
“You even know how to use the Phantom Step Technique? Not bad.”
In the time since they had last met, Ga Du-dal’s movement arts had clearly improved.
But there was yet another person waiting for him.
It was Han Seol-hwa.
Just then, the clouds parted, revealing the full moon.
Beneath the cascading azure moonlight, Han Seol-hwa stood with a noble grace, her beauty truly unparalleled in the world.
He was so stunned that he froze, forgetting he needed to run.
But that was his mistake.
‘Ah!’
Ga Du-dal belatedly came to his senses.
However…
‘Huh?’
He couldn't move his feet, as if they were glued to the ground.
Startled, he looked down, and his eyes trembled.
Pure white ice had already crept up to his ankles.
He suddenly recalled the woman before him waving her sleeve just a moment ago.
‘Impossible!’
As Ga Du-dal struggled to escape, his face turned ashen.
The two monsters were slowly approaching with smiles, drawing ever closer.
“Haha…”
Ga Du-dal forced a smile.
It was a smile worse than weeping.
“Have you been well?”
A short while later.
Ga Du-dal, thoroughly cowed, looked up at Han Seol-hwa with eyes full of suspicion.
“You’re telling me that woman is the Ice Jade Fairy?”
At first, he thought it might be a title passed down through generations.
But they said it wasn't.
Fifty years ago, and even a hundred years ago…
She herself was the only one who had ever used that title.
He thought it was a joke, but it wasn't that either.
Neither Cho Ak-ryang nor Beom Gye-wi were the types to waste time on idle chatter.
Ga Du-dal let out a sigh so heavy it seemed the ground might collapse.
Even for a man like him, who had weathered the storms of the martial world for ages, it was impossible to maintain his composure in this situation.
*The kind do not visit, and those who visit are not kind.*
At this moment, he was feeling the bitter truth of that saying deep in his bones.
Cho Ak-ryang alone was enough to make his heart stop, but now there was also Beom Gye-wi, a walking mountain of corpses and sea of blood, and Han Seol-hwa, a living legend he had only heard about in storytellers' tales.
‘Am I dreaming right now?’
Being surrounded by these three felt that unreal.
Ga Du-dal looked up at the three of them with the most pitiful expression he could muster.
“Why are you all doing this to me…?”
As if on cue, Beom Gye-wi stepped forward.
“You threw lime powder in my eyes. I’ve come to collect on that debt.”
“What? So suddenly?”
Ga Du-dal cried out, his eyes filled with a sense of injustice.
“That was over ten years ago, wasn't it? Besides, I already paid the price back then.”
“Oh? Did you?”
“Yes!”
Recalling that time, Ga Du-dal shouted as if making his case.
“The Mihyang Pavilion in Cheongju! Remember the courtesan who was the Blood Hand Honored One’s lover at the time? You told me to secretly deliver a letter to her. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to approach her without him noticing…?”
Ga Du-dal couldn't finish his sentence.
A sudden chill ran down his spine, and the hair on his head stood on end.
“So that was you?”
He turned his head at the eerie voice and saw Cho Ak-ryang glaring at him.
At the sight of those eyes, shimmering with a piercing blue light, Ga Du-dal nearly wet himself.
Ga Du-dal grabbed onto Beom Gye-wi’s pants leg and clung to it.
“Please, say something!”
But Beom Gye-wi simply whistled and avoided his desperate gaze.
“You wouldn’t have any complaints if you died by my hand right here, would you?”
Faced with Cho Ak-ryang’s murderous tone, Ga Du-dal stammered.
“But he was the one who ordered me to do it…”
“All debts between me and that fellow were settled long ago.”
“What?”
“We had too many tangled affairs, so we decided to sort things out.”
As Beom Gye-wi nodded, Ga Du-dal carefully asked, a sliver of hope in his voice.
“Then, me too…?”
“Not you.”
“Why not?”
“Because my grudge against you has only just begun, hasn’t it?”
“This is unfair!”
“Among the dead, how many do you think didn't die unfairly?”
Ga Du-dal’s face went completely pale.
Surrounded by three grandmaster-level experts, escape was not even a dream.
Just when he thought he was done for, a lifeline descended from the heavens.
“Shall I give you a chance?”
At Cho Ak-ryang’s suggestion, Ga Du-dal nodded without hesitation.
“Yes! Please do! Of course, you should!”
He was in no position to be picky.
For it was an immutable truth that life was precious, even if one had to roll in a pile of filth to keep it.
As Ga Du-dal took the bait, Cho Ak-ryang laid out the condition.
“Spar with that child and win ten times, and I will let you go.”
Ga Du-dal turned his head in the direction Cho Ak-ryang pointed.
On one side of the valley.
He saw a child sleeping soundly under a canopy set up to ward off the night dew.
Was it because of the day's hard training?
Despite the considerable commotion nearby, Dan Ak-seon remained still, lost in a deep sleep.
An undeniable suspicion arose on Ga Du-dal's face.
He had expected a much harsher condition, but this was too easy.
“Is that all?”
He asked just in case, but the answer that came back was the same.
“One match every three days. He is a child who has not even been learning martial arts for a full year. So it should not be a very difficult task.”
Ga Du-dal looked back and forth between Cho Ak-ryang, Beom Gye-wi, and Han Seol-hwa.
There was definitely something fishy about it, but his opponents were far too formidable for him to dare question them openly.
In the end, he had no choice but to accept.
Just then, Beom Gye-wi suddenly spoke up.
“If you want to run, feel free to do so at any time.”
“Really?”
At Ga Du-dal’s question, Beom Gye-wi grinned.
“In fact, I’d be grateful if you did.”
“What?”
“I haven’t tasted blood in a while.”
“…!”
Startled, Ga Du-dal bowed his head deeply to the three of them.
“I will be in your care for the next month!”
Escape?
He wouldn't even dare to dream of it.
Even so, Ga Du-dal kept glancing at Dan Ak-seon, who was still sound asleep.
No matter if he was taught by these three, it had only been a year.
Besides, he was just a child whose limbs had yet to fully mature.
In contrast, the years he had spent navigating a forest of blades were several times the boy’s age.
‘This will be a piece of cake.’
All he wanted was to fulfill the condition as quickly as possible and escape from the inhuman monsters before him.
The next morning.
“Ah! So you are the esteemed Divine Thief.”
At the sight of Dan Ak-seon greeting him with a bright smile, the corners of Ga Du-dal's mouth twitched involuntarily.
Was it because of the grudges he had accumulated over the years?
Others rarely called him the Divine Thief.
“That’s right. I am the Ghostly Shadow.”
As Ga Du-dal, feeling pleased, was about to puff out his chest in pride.
A line of telepathic thought flew into his mind.
—The moment you speak of our deal, you die. Remember that you volunteered to help with his sparring.
It was Cho Ak-ryang.
Immediately after, Beom Gye-wi also sent a telepathic message.
—I told you, right? If you don’t like it, you can scram anytime.
Ga Du-dal flinched, forced a smile, and approached Dan Ak-seon.
“I owe these masters a great debt and have been eagerly awaiting a day to repay their kindness. It seems the heavens have granted me this opportunity.”
Ga Du-dal continued smoothly.
“For the next month, I will wholeheartedly help you in your martial arts training.”
“Yes. I’ll be in your care.”
“Shall we begin then?”
Wanting to complete the ten matches as quickly as possible, Ga Du-dal was in a hurry.
Dan Ak-seon also nodded readily and immediately prepared for the spar.
As he stood facing Dan Ak-seon at a slight distance, Ga Du-dal suddenly felt a strange sensation and looked around.
He soon realized the reason.
It was because of the warm gazes the three of them directed at Dan Ak-seon.
To think that the world-renowned Blood Hand Honored One and Mang Mountain's Thistle could wear such gentle smiles!
And even on Han Seol-hwa’s frigid face, which seemed carved from ice, a faint smile lingered.
Ga Du-dal could tell at a glance how much they cherished Dan Ak-seon.
‘Perhaps?’
The thought that he might be able to use Dan Ak-seon as a hostage to escape crossed his mind.
—Go on, try it.
A telepathic message came instantly.
Startled, he turned his head to see Beom Gye-wi wearing a meaningful smile.
But his eyes were nothing short of murderous.
Cho Ak-ryang and Han Seol-hwa were the same.
They had encountered countless villains.
Gauging an opponent’s intentions from their eyes alone was as easy for them as flipping their hands.
*Gulp.*
Ga Du-dal swallowed dryly without realizing it.
Their sharp gazes, so different from the gentle ones of moments ago, were ruthlessly tearing his heart to shreds.
“Th-then, let’s begin.”
Though he tried to feign nonchalance, a chill ran down Ga Du-dal’s spine.
The moment he spoke, the spar began with Dan Ak-seon’s opening attack.
As they had agreed beforehand, Ga Du-dal did not use his internal energy.
For now, to gauge Dan Ak-seon’s capabilities, Ga Du-dal focused on deflecting his attacks and observing.
‘He mimics it quite convincingly.’
Ga Du-dal inwardly smirked at Dan Ak-seon’s attacks, which seemed to imitate Cho Ak-ryang's grappling arts.
But it wasn't just a clumsy imitation.
Then, in a certain moment.
“Whoa?”
A sound of bewilderment escaped Ga Du-dal’s lips.
The longer their exchange went on, the more precise Dan Ak-seon’s movements became.
After trading a few more blows, he realized the boy was not to be underestimated.
The techniques that exploited his openings were quite fierce and sharp.
Furthermore, his reaction speed could not be ignored.
His movements—grabbing, twisting, pressing, and pulling—were one thing, but his ability to push, parry, and deflect was also extraordinary.
‘Is this possible?’
He couldn't believe this was the skill of a child who had been learning martial arts for less than a year.
Those monsters had clearly lied to him.
What he was seeing was simply impossible by his common sense.
At that moment.
*Riiip.*
The cloth on Ga Du-dal’s chest was torn open in a long gash.
Startled, Ga Du-dal hastily retreated.
“…”
Ga Du-dal’s face turned red.
Even though he wasn't using his internal energy, he never imagined he would suffer such an embarrassment against a young kid.
Sure enough.
When he risked a glance, he saw the disbelieving eyes of the monsters on him.
‘Damn it!’
Shame, along with a burning anger, surged within him.
If he wanted to, he could think of at least a hundred ways to kill the brat in front of him right now.
But if he did, his own head would fly off first.
‘They said I could do anything but that, right?’
Ga Du-dal grinned.
In that instant, Ga Du-dal vanished from Dan Ak-seon’s sight.
And in the next moment, he appeared right in front of him.
He had decided to use his specialty, his movement arts, to settle the match.
Although he wasn't using internal energy, his movements were incredibly swift, a result of a lifetime dedicated to his craft.
But Dan Ak-seon was already fully prepared.
Facing the dizzying flurry of hand techniques, Ga Du-dal’s eyes wavered slightly.
The relentless barrage of grappling techniques was not something to be taken lightly.
‘But it’s not enough.’
A cold light glinted in Ga Du-dal’s eyes as he stared at Dan Ak-seon.