The Immediate Execution of Wang Jin
“Immediate execution?”
Wang Jin’s face twisted.
Of course it did. He had just been sentenced to die here and now, without so much as a proper trial.
And since it was me—the one he had always looked down on—who was doing it, the humiliation must have been beyond words.
“Ha, haha. Hahahahaha!”
After grimacing for a moment, Wang Jin suddenly burst into mad laughter.
“Ridiculous. Young Lord—no, Jin Muyeol. Do you really think a mere whelp like you can execute me?”
“There’s no reason I can’t.”
“You’ve been getting full of yourself lately, so I suppose you’ve finally lost your mind. Fine, then. I’ll kill you, kill the rest of these Law Enforcement Hall curs as well, and walk right out of here.”
“Elder Wang! What nonsense is this?”
Seo Un-hwi, the Law Enforcement Hall Leader, roared in outrage.
Wang Jin’s words had clearly infuriated him.
“Surrender peacefully, even now! Do you have no pride at all as an elder of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect?”
“Hmph. What pride is there in being an elder of a family that was already rotting away?”
Wang Jin sneered.
“You lot should think carefully about serving as the Young Lord’s hunting dogs. He may look like he’s rising now, but the family will soon return to the way it was.”
“You...!”
“Hall Leader Seo. There’s no need to listen to the ravings of a madman.”
I stopped Seo Un-hwi before he could explode and spoke calmly.
“He has no escape left, and the evidence of his crimes is already clear. He’s only babbling like that because he knows he’s finished. Pathetic.”
“You bastard...”
“Then let’s begin. Hall Leader Seo—make sure they can’t flee, but do not interfere.”
Leaving that firm warning behind, I charged forward.
Gale Slash.
A terrifying cut shot straight for Wang Jin’s throat.
But perhaps there was a reason he had risen as far as elder.
“Not a chance!”
He blocked my strike without much difficulty.
Wang Jin himself was a master of the Transcendent Realm, and his martial strength was far from shallow.
“What are you planning? Don’t tell me you truly mean to fight me alone?”
“I’ve been itching for a proper fight lately. I needed someone to sharpen my real combat experience on.”
“What?”
Wang Jin threw his head back and laughed.
“So you really are insane. A brat who was coughing up blood and on the verge of death until recently thinks he can afford this kind of composure?”
His eyes flashed viciously.
“You must think the men behind you will save you if things turn bad. I’ll kill you before that happens!”
Tremendous force erupted from Wang Jin’s body, enough to shatter stone.
I retreated a step and, at the same time, drew up my Vajra Yaksha Qi.
A soft golden aura spread around me.
Wang Jin looked slightly startled at the sight, but quickly settled into stance again.
We collided once more, swords crossing in a storm.
Bang!
KWAANG!
KWA-AANG!
Every time our weapons slammed together, numbing shock tore through my arms.
My grip felt as though it might split open; my muscles throbbed from the impact.
But the one truly shaken wasn’t me.
It was Wang Jin.
His eyes warped with confusion.
To be fair, he must have thought he could kill me in an instant—so the fact that I was blocking his attacks so easily left him rattled.
“How? Were you hiding your strength?”
“Something like that.”
I’d heard the same question from too many people by now.
At this point, it wasn’t even worth explaining.
I moved around Wang Jin with Overlord’s Footwork, my body leaving afterimages in its wake.
Then, in the next breath, I lunged forward with explosive speed.
This time I used Gale Steps, the clan’s own movement art.
What followed was the thrusting form Gale Strike.
“Kgh!”
Perhaps realizing he couldn’t block it cleanly, Wang Jin twisted his body in haste.
But my attack flowed seamlessly into the next movement.
The instant Gale Strike missed, I swept my sword sideways and unleashed Gale Chain Slash.
KANG!
KANG!
KAAANG!
A relentless chain of slashes tore at him with savage momentum.
Each one carried enough power to cleave through a thick tree in a single blow.
Even for a master of the Transcendent Realm like Wang Jin, it was a crushing burden.
In the end, he seemed to decide he had no choice but to use his final measure.
“Insolent brat!”
Wooooong!
An ominous light flowed from Wang Jin’s sword.
At the same time, a blade aura emerged—far sharper and denser than ordinary Sword Qi.
Sword Gang.
The moment it formed, it knocked aside my attack.
Convinced the advantage had swung back to him, Wang Jin curled his lips into a crooked smile.
“Good. I’ll admit it. You’re far stronger than I thought. You hid that power well and survived until now. But—”
He leveled the sword wreathed in Sword Gang at me.
“It ends today. I told you before, didn’t I? When a person suddenly changes, it can be a dangerous sign—one that ends in death. Today I’ll cut you down and prove it.”
“Young Lord, it’s too dangerous! Fall back! We’ll attack together!”
Seo Un-hwi’s urgent voice rang out from behind me.
Seeing Wang Jin draw out Sword Gang, he was preparing to step in before something went wrong.
But I remained calm.
Instead, I pushed the Vajra Yaksha Divine Art as far as I currently could.
Wooooong!
The golden aura wrapping my body deepened.
Then, like a garment, it settled over me.
And in the next instant, the visible gold vanished.
To the eye, it seemed to have disappeared entirely, but I knew better.
My bones and muscles had hardened, and my physical abilities had risen tremendously.
It worked.
This was Yaksha Transformation, the secret art of the Vajra Yaksha Divine Art.
I still couldn’t call forth the full power of the true Vajra Yaksha...
But this was a formidable technique that let me borrow at least a fragment of it.
I quietly infused my blade with Sword Qi.
Though it was clearly sword energy, what filled the edge was an impossibly dense golden force.
“What?!”
Everyone who saw it froze in shock.
The power I had drawn out was visibly no ordinary thing.
Yes.
It was not an exaggeration to call it Sword Gang as well.
“H-how can you use Sword Gang? That’s impossible!”
Wang Jin shouted in disbelief.
Even seeing it with his own eyes, he clearly wanted to reject reality.
But there was no mistake.
This was Sword Gang.
I had forcibly brought it forth through the experience I’d gained in my first life and the reinforcement of Yaksha Transformation.
Of course, for now I can only use it while Yaksha Transformation lasts...
But for the present, that was enough.
KWAANG!
I kicked off the ground and closed the distance in an instant.
Wang Jin swung desperately at my neck, trying to stop me somehow.
But I was already countering his slash with one of my own.
Shhk!
A sickening sound rang out, like a lump of iron being sliced apart like radish.
Wang Jin stared down, his eyes gone pale.
In his hand remained only half a sword.
He looked at me as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
But I left him only a final word before sending my blade for his throat.
“Farewell.”
Chwahaak!
Wang Jin’s head flew into the air.
His staggering body swayed once, then dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
“No...”
Seo Un-hwi and the martial artists of the Law Enforcement Hall could only stare, mouths hanging open in stunned silence.
But the stillness lasted only a moment.
“WAAAAAAAH!”
“The Young Lord has won!”
As the reality of victory finally hit them, they erupted into deafening cheers.
“Hoo...”
I let out a light breath and wiped the blood from my sword.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Sagong Cheon and Gong Hyeon, who had been concealed nearby, came over to me.
Both of them looked stunned as well.
“When you told us not to interfere, I wondered what you were thinking...”
“You were confident all along.”
Their eyes, fixed on me, brimmed with deep trust.
After seeing a scene like that firsthand, I supposed it couldn’t be helped.
I gave a faint grin, sheathed my sword, and said,
“Honestly, I wasn’t certain. But I didn’t want to miss the chance to fight a master of the Transcendent Realm.”
This, too, was for the growth of the Vajra Yaksha Divine Art.
The art grew stronger the more one pushed oneself to the brink, the more one continued fighting powerful opponents.
That was why I wanted to accumulate as much real combat experience as possible.
And it was also why I kept sending Sagong Cheon away whenever battle broke out.
“In any case, we caught a big one. Hall Leader Seo—did you secure the evidence?”
“Yes. Before he arrived, we had already obtained the ledger of Heuksahoe, the confession of Heuksahoe’s leader, and the tribute money they had gathered. We also captured the two subordinates who came with him, and since we executed him in the act, there should be no room for objections afterward.”
“Good. I’ll leave the rest in your hands.”
We dragged the prisoners of Heuksahoe back to the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect.
As expected, the entire sect was thrown into uproar.
Even calling it a major incident felt insufficient.
Who could have imagined that one of the elders of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect had colluded with underworld scum, used the sect’s name, and extorted protection money from innocent commoners?
The whole thing was so absurd that many refused to believe it at first.
But we presented the evidence, piece by piece.
And as a result—
“Good heavens...”
“Wang Jin, that lunatic son of a bitch!”
“He dared use the family’s name to line his own pockets?!”
The retainers of the Northern Heavenly Sword Sect were livid.
This was a matter directly tied to the honor of the clan.
My father immediately convened a clan council.
“Hall Leader of the Law Enforcement Hall. Search Wang Jin’s residence thoroughly and determine whether this matter was his independent doing, or whether someone else stood behind him.”
“Yes, Lord.”
“If any evidence emerges that another person was involved in this affair, they will be punished severely. No exceptions will be made for anyone.”
My father’s warning fell hard over the terrified retainers.
Even Yi Tae-gyeom, the Head of the Elders’ Council, and the rest of his faction didn’t dare object this time.
The matter was too grave. If they stepped forward carelessly, they risked being burned by the backlash themselves.
“Furthermore, the commoners harmed in this matter will be compensated for everything taken from them, and we will restore the honor of our Northern Heavenly Sword Sect with a formal apology. Does anyone object?”
“...”
Of course no one did.
My father ended the meeting after sweeping his gaze across the assembly—especially the Elders’ Council faction—with openly suspicious eyes.
“Everyone is to return to their quarters. Until Hall Leader Seo completes his investigation, anyone displaying suspicious behavior will be detained immediately.”
“Yes.”
With that, the senior figures dispersed.
“That damned bastard...!”
Back in his residence, Yi Tae-gyeom gnashed his teeth in uncontrollable fury.
“Wang Jin, you idiotic fool—how in the world did you let yourself get caught doing something like this?!”
KWAANG!
Unable to suppress his rage, Yi Tae-gyeom smashed an innocent table to pieces.
It was no wonder he felt sick with anger. This incident had cut the elders’ faction’s standing in half at a stroke.
And on top of that...
With fury burning across his face, Yi Tae-gyeom shouted toward the outside.
“Is no one there? Bring me Sagong Cheon, that accursed wretch, at once!”
Before long, a servant fetched Sagong Cheon, who had returned home after finishing his guard duty.
Yi Tae-gyeom seized him by the collar and shouted,
“What the hell were you doing that you failed to notice the Young Lord pulling something like this?!”
With that, he swung his hand to slap Sagong Cheon across the face.
But—
Tak!
Yi Tae-gyeom’s palm never reached him.
Before the blow could land, Sagong Cheon caught his arm.
“What?!”
Shock flooded Yi Tae-gyeom’s face.