24. Is It You?
In the center of Moyong Sega's rear garden, thick with the stench of blood, two madwomen were locked in a suffocating battle of glares right in front of my nose, invisible sparks flying between them. The air around me crackled with lethal tension from these two fanatics' wordless turf war, as if lightning might strike any second.
"I'm dizzy from losing so much blood right now... Can't you two bandage me up first and then fight...?"
I let out a mosquito-like whimper of desperate survival instinct. But my pathetic plea was instantly buried under a earth-shaking roar that rattled heaven and earth.
KABOOOOM!!!
"Gah!"
My head whipped around reflexively toward the source of the explosion. Yeah, this wasn't the time to worry about these girls' childish(?) staring contest. The real, world-shattering sparks were flying from the clash between the family heads.
The unprecedented head-on collision between the patriarchs of two prestigious houses that dominated the world: Hwangbo Sega and Moyong Sega. Hwangbo Daeryeok's mighty, overwhelming fist arts intertwined ferociously in midair with Moyong Sega's elegant yet razor-sharp swordsmanship.
CLANG!BOOM!CRACKLE!
When human fist met steel sword, the explosions and sparks were far grander than any clash of iron lumps, erupting in every direction.
Insane... Is that really a human fist?
I'd written tens of thousands of murim web novels in my previous life, but the overwhelming destructive power unfolding before my eyes was beyond what words on a page could capture. The term Iron Fist existed for monstrous punches like that.
The duel shook mountains and split the earth. It was a breathtaking spectacle of supreme martial prowess that stole the breath from onlookers, but the outcome was brutally clear from the start.
Even as heads of the Five Great Families, their power levels weren't equal. Moyong Cheol, patriarch of Moyong Sega, was undoubtedly a renowned master of the jianghu. But the colossal mountain blocking his path—Hwangbo Daeryeok—was no mere family head.
He was one of the ten absolute strongest in all murim: the Ten Great Masters of the World. Among their titles—One God, Two Emperors, Three Marvels, Four Immortals—he held one of the top-tier Two Emperors: the overwhelming Collapse Heaven Fist Emperor, said to shatter the sky with a single punch.
His terrifying reputation was now perfectly proven by the massive blue-glowing fist that crushed Moyong Cheol's ferocious sword.
BOOM!
"Urk!"
Hwangbo Daeryeok's ferocious, heavy punch cleaved the air. Moyong Cheol paled and hastily raised his sword to block, but unable to fully dissipate the Collapse Heaven Fist Emperor's residual force, his feet dug deep furrows in the dirt as he slid back.
Straight-backed like a massive tiger, Hwangbo Daeryeok gazed down at the retreating Moyong Cheol with infinite coldness. That arrogant stare of absolute supremacy snapped the last thread of reason holding Moyong Cheol's patience together.
"You bastard!"
A beastly howl erupted from Moyong Cheol's mouth. At the same moment, a gruesome, pitch-black crimson aura began seeping from his entire body.
Demonic arts. The upright patriarch of a righteous sect was revealing to the world the forbidden demonic cultivation he'd hidden by devouring his own soul.
"It was that damned look in your eyes!"
Foam flecked his lips as Moyong Cheol screamed in madness. "That disgusting glare, like I'm some worthless bug!"
The intensifying black-crimson aura coiled viciously around his blade, igniting it. My web novel veteran instincts went haywire.
Aha, so that's it! Deep-seated inferiority complex toward his childhood genius rival!
The delicious cliché that gave perfect plausibility to readers' favorite narratives was unfolding before me.
"Back when we were young masters, at the Five Families' gathering—that duel!"
Moyong Cheol's face twisted not like a man's, but a yaksha crawled from hell. "After that humiliating defeat, I wept blood every night and swore it."
Even his pupils flashed with bloody light, dyeing red. "I'd gouge out those accursed eyes with my own hands! Shred that arrogance that dares look down on me!"
The reason this noble patriarch turned to evil demonic arts? Not some grand dream of world domination. Just bone-deep inferiority and petty jealousy toward an overwhelming contemporary genius.
"Today is that day!"
Moyong Cheol thrust his sword skyward. "For my younger self—the day I rip out your smug eyes! Raaagh!"
With a scream that tore eardrums, he kicked off the ground and charged Hwangbo Daeryeok. His sword strikes, now laced with demonic aura, grew even more savage and deadly. Even the Collapse Heaven Fist Emperor couldn't take this berserk demonic assault lightly.
Clearer blue aura boiled around Hwangbo Daeryeok's fists. Rooting his stance, he met Moyong Cheol's blade with full power.
KABOOM!KABOOOM!
Explosions on a whole new level ripped the night sky. "Gaaah!" "F-Fall back!"
The shockwaves alone from the two absolute masters flung surrounding warriors backward. Luckily, the auras instinctively emitted by Hwangbo Suyeon and Seol Muyeong on either side of me pulled me safely back, shielding me perfectly.
Phew, talk about a spine-tingling VIP seat.
"Kraaagh! Kyaaah! Keeek!"
In the battlefield's heart, Moyong Cheol's frenzy continued, screeching as he swung wildly. He seemed to be losing his humanity, reduced to animalistic instinct to kill the enemy before him, pouring every ounce of soul-burning demonic power into Hwangbo Daeryeok.
Yet amid that horrific storm, Hwangbo Daeryeok stood unyielding like a mountain, not retreating a single step. Contrary to his macho, bandit-like ferocity, his eyes executing the arts were bone-chillingly calm and rational.
He perfectly read Moyong Cheol's rampage and deflected the monstrous strikes with astonishing minimalism. Parry. Flow. Counter heavy.
No flashy techniques or flourishes. Just brutally honest, weighty motions—overwhelmingly stable, impenetrable as fortress walls. This was the bedrock basics of a true Ten Great Master, the pinnacle of true martial arts.
Then, beside me, Hwangbo Suyeon—watching her father's flawless fist art—gaped wide.
"No way..."
Her clear eyes shook with shock. "Father... Father has long understood centrifugal force and inertia perfectly!"
Her genius brain was already racing through enlightenment circuits. What she'd missed before clicked perfectly after hearing my modern science nonsense.
In that split-second as he threw his heavy fist, he subtly twisted his knees and waist for massive rotational force. At the precise impact point, he cut power exquisitely, accelerating the explosive qi with inertia to pierce the enemy's bones.
My shallow babble was validated as perfect truth through a Ten Great Master's real combat. Just watching her father's fists, Hwangbo Suyeon achieved massive growth again.
"Grrraaagh! Keeek! Hah, hah."
How much time passed? The eternal black-crimson demonic storm finally lost momentum, petering out. That life-devouring frenzy left only shallow scratches on Hwangbo Daeryeok's tough hide.
Moyong Cheol, reason gone, heaved ragged breaths, swinging on instinct alone. Hwangbo Daeryeok's eyes flashed sharply at the gaping flaws in his trajectory.
"It's over."
Instantly channeling all dantian power into his massive right fist, he unleashed without hesitation—smashing dead-center into Moyong Cheol's crimson blade.
SHATTER!
The sword that had served Moyong Sega's patriarch for decades screamed like steel breaking, shattering like glass under the Collapse Heaven Fist Emperor's single blow.
But it didn't stop. The fist surged onward, mercilessly slamming Moyong Cheol's chest.
THUD!
"Guhk!"
With a chilling impact, Moyong Cheol's body folded in two. He rocketed like a cannonball, crashing into Moyong Sega's massive wall.
KABOOM!RUMBLE!
The wall crumbled in a cloud of dust. "Kahak! Cough! Cough!"
From the debris pit, Moyong Cheol spewed endless black-red blood, as if his organs ruptured. The pathetic downfall of a Five Great Families patriarch.
The Moyong Sega warriors watching in stunned silence couldn't even whimper—pure terror, total loss of will to fight.
Hwangbo Daeryeok slowly approached the blood-vomiting wreck amid the ruins. Once a comrade, now distant due to their burdens. With complex eyes, he murmured low and bitterly.
"I never knew you harbored such deep inferiority toward me all these years."
His gruff voice echoed in the night. "Forgive my callousness for not seeing your heart."
Moyong Cheol stared blankly into void, still gushing blood. Hwangbo Daeryeok's massive palm gently settled on his twisted chest.
Whoosh.
Pure qi flowed from the palm, quietly severing Moyong Cheol's heart meridians. The last mercy for his fallen old friend.
Moyong Cheol's twitching limbs went limp; his turbulent life ended.
Hwangbo Daeryeok silently closed the dead man's staring eyes. Rising, he erased the bitterness, resuming his cold iron-blooded patriarch face.
His thunderous roar shook Moyong Sega's night sky. "Hwangbo Sega's Fierce Tiger Corps, hear me!"
Pointing at the crumbled wall like lightning: "Seal this Moyong Sega headquarters airtight now! Root out every last trace of this demonic filth—no exceptions!"
"Yes, sir!"
At his command, Hwangbo Sega's elite Fierce Tiger Corps moved in perfect unison from the shadows.
Step, step, step!
With disciplined strides and ferocity, they encircled the headquarters. "Damn it!" "Get lost!"
Some Moyong executives resisted or fled blindly, but their futile struggles were crushed instantly by the Tigers' merciless fists, pinned to the cold ground.
Watching the scene of total control, I stood dumbfounded, mouth agape.
Whoa. Insane. That uncle was too cool just now? Romance overdose!
True master's leisure. Overwhelming might. Heavy charisma capping his old friend's end. He'd perfectly embodied web novel dopamine highs in gritty real murim. I was mesmerized.
At this rate, I might actually fall for Uncle Hwangbo.
My heart thumped pathetically. But it was the flutter of a fanboy beholding his written ideals in flesh.
Then Hwangbo Daeryeok approached me.
"Is it you? The bastard who seduced my daughter!"
Me?