Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Life-Ending Saber, Geum Cheong-san
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Jang Ung asked.
“Ja-un, what is the Lord’s ultimate goal?”
“To become the strongest combatant in the world, isn’t it?”
“Then what do you think would happen if the Lord were appointed to a high position in the Martial Alliance?”
“What would happen? What does that have to do with anything?”
Jang Ung explained calmly.
“For the Lord to become the strongest, he must fight the most powerful masters in the world. And those masters exist in the Demonic Path, the Unorthodox Path, and the Orthodox Path as well.”
“Ah!”
“The Martial Alliance, the culmination of the Orthodox Path, is also teeming with opponents the Lord must defeat.”
“I see.”
“Furthermore, if the Lord holds a high position in the Martial Alliance, he’ll be bound by his station and unable to do anything.”
Ja-un clasped his hands and bowed his head.
“My thinking was shallow. I apologize.”
I quietly stated my own thoughts.
“The reason I remain the Grand Branch Master is that martial arts masters consistently seek me out for a fight. That’s all there is to it.”
* * *
A few days later, as I was strolling along the riverbank, the Dong-ro Branch Master, An Do-pil, came rushing over, shouting.
“Grand Branch Master! Please, come quickly!”
“What is it?”
“An Alliance applicant has made a complete mess of things and is now asking for you!”
Most applicants sought me out first. Their reason was always that they had heard of my reputation and wished to become my subordinate.
One hundred out of one hundred applicants who came to the Dong-ro Grand Branch said they were applying because of me.
“A mess, you say?”
“He defeated the Hangzhou Regional Master!”
I stopped in my tracks and looked at An Do-pil.
There was that one time when Neung Yu-seong, a so-called twelfth-generation disciple of the Divine Spear Sect, had defeated the Chief Steward of the Hangzhou region, Mak Pyo, but this was the first time anyone had beaten the Regional Master, Do Hyeon-tak.
“Explain in detail.”
“From the start, he wanted to face you, Grand Branch Master, but he followed procedure and underwent the martial arts evaluation, defeating a branch member and a member of the Peerless Sect in succession. After that, he beat the Chief Steward of the Hangzhou region, and then the Regional Master himself!”
Sang Gang-jo had once told me that the Hangzhou Regional Master, Do Hyeon-tak, was on a similar level to the Sword Demon King, Nu Jin-sang.
If an applicant had defeated Do Hyeon-tak, he had to be a formidable master. It was enough to pique my interest and interrupt my walk.
“Let’s go.”
As we walked, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t seen the members of Team Three for quite some time.
They used to always be by my side, but lately, I hadn’t seen a trace of them.
“Where are the members of Team Three?”
“I don’t know, sir. I haven’t seen them at all recently.”
The application assessment had been temporarily halted because of the man who wanted to fight me.
He stood tall on the dueling stage, a single saber slung over his back. He had the dignified build of a mountain and appeared to be in his mid-thirties.
He spotted me approaching from behind the Dong-ro Grand Branch and his eyes never left me.
A short distance from the stage, Mak Pyo and Do Hyeon-tak were sitting on the ground, circulating their energy.
Neither was seriously injured, but the blood at the corners of their mouths suggested they had suffered minor internal injuries.
The man on the stage appeared to use a saber, yet Mak Pyo and Do Hyeon-tak had no cuts. This meant he had held back, and they had been injured internally after clashing with the energy imbued in his saber.
I reached the front of the stage, but my martial arts had not yet activated.
Go Un-hyo sent a cautious spirit message.
[Brother, shall I face him?]
I raised a hand to stop him and approached the stage.
The opponent wanted me; letting Go Un-hyo fight him would be disrespectful. And if he was a strong adversary, I had to be the one to face him.
The problem, however, was that I now had to get on the stage, and my martial arts still hadn't activated.
‘This is getting troublesome.’
The dueling stage had no stairs; it was about half a zhang high, requiring a leap from the ground.
A similar situation had occurred before. An applicant named Neung Yu-seong had defeated Mak Pyo and then requested a duel with me.
At that time, I had recalled the desperate memory from thirteen years ago, when I was a low-ranking warrior in the Martial Alliance, nearly killed by Cheol Ryu-yeop while escaping the Valley of Departed Souls. That memory had activated my martial arts.
I decided to use that memory again. I grabbed one of the stage’s support pillars and relived the wretched moment my cheek was sliced open by the iron leaf projectile Cheol Ryu-yeop had thrown.
Simply remembering wasn’t enough. I had to immerse myself in it until fury toward Cheol Ryu-yeop boiled over.
People must have thought it strange, seeing me stand there motionless, clutching the pillar.
It was taking longer to activate my martial arts than when I faced Neung Yu-seong. The next time, it would take even longer.
Eventually, a time might come when the memory of Cheol Ryu-yeop would no longer be enough to activate them.
Cheol Ryu-yeop’s cruel face grew larger, engraving itself in my mind. The moment rage surged from within me, *whoosh!* I felt my martial arts activate.
It was a hassle, but for now, it was a relief that thinking of Cheol Ryu-yeop still worked.
*Swoosh!*
I floated up from where I stood and landed on the stage.
The opponent, dressed in brown warrior’s attire, offered a respectful fist-and-palm salute.
“Are you the Fire Dragon Sword?”
I was on the taller side, but he was a head taller than me and about half as broad.
“I am. And who are you?”
“I am called Geum Cheong-san.”
“Do you have a title?”
“The people of the martial world have given me the name Life-Ending Saber.”
‘Life-Ending Saber?’
I had never heard of it. I didn’t even know all the titles of the Fifteen Venerables of the Martial World, so it wasn’t strange that I hadn’t heard of a cool title like Life-Ending Saber.
Just then, gasps of surprise erupted from the crowd around the stage. They seemed to know the title.
Geum Cheong-san seemed to be a man of few words, saying only what was necessary. I liked people like that.
At that moment, Do Hyeon-tak sent me an urgent spirit message.
[Grand Branch Master! The Life-Ending Saber is a man whose name is listed in the Record of the Unrivaled of the Divine Province! I just found out myself!]
I had never heard of the Record of the Unrivaled of the Divine Province. The name alone carried an immense aura.
‘Divine Province’ referred to the world, and ‘Unrivaled’ meant just that—having no equal.
So, Unrivaled of the Divine Province meant unrivaled in the world. With ‘Record’ attached, it must be a book chronicling the world’s most invincible figures.
Even if they weren't truly invincible, their names must have been recorded for being tremendously powerful.
Jang Ung hadn't told me about this record. From that, I guessed it must have been created recently and consisted mainly of rising masters. That was probably why Jang Ung had thought it not worth mentioning and had skipped over it.
Do Hyeon-tak sent another message.
[That man possesses one hundred and twenty years of internal energy. Please be careful.]
‘One hundred and twenty years?’
That level of internal energy was greater than any master I had faced so far.
It meant he was even stronger than the Snow Cloud Ice Venerable, Hwa U-gun, one of the Fifteen Venerables, whose energy was around a hundred years.
Geum Cheong-san looked to be in his mid-thirties; possessing one hundred and twenty years of energy at that age was incredible.
It was no wonder Mak Pyo and Do Hyeon-tak had lost to him.
I was curious about Geum Cheong-san’s intentions in wanting to fight me. I couldn’t just fight him without reason.
“What is your purpose for coming to the Dong-ro Grand Branch?”
“I came to join the Alliance.”
“In that case, you have already earned the right to join.”
Geum Cheong-san’s expression remained unchanged as he spoke firmly.
“I will join if I am defeated in a duel with you, Fire Dragon Sword.”
His goal was likely to fight me, not to join the Alliance. Joining was just a pretext. He meant that if he won, he wouldn't join.
The martial world was full of people like him, who sought to fight masters they believed to be stronger than themselves. That was the way of the warrior.
Geum Cheong-san spoke as if eager to begin.
“Set the rules for the duel.”
“The loser is the one who falls and is unable to resist. Let’s do that.”
“Fine.”
We both found the rule agreeable.
*Shhh-ring!*
As Geum Cheong-san drew his saber halfway, a brilliant azure light flashed and vanished.
‘Hmm?’
The moment I saw it, something flashed through my mind.
‘Is that the Thunderclap from a Clear Sky Saber?’
The instant I thought of it, the mnemonic verses for the Thunderclap from a Clear Sky Saber, one of the Three Divine Sabers of the World, flooded my mind.
The Thunderclap from a Clear Sky Saber was one of the one hundred and eighty-six martial arts I had mastered. It was a fortunate coincidence.
A characteristic of this saber art was that from the moment the blade was drawn, a flash of lightning erupted with every movement.
Geum Cheong-san strode directly toward me and raised his saber above his head.
Again, a flash of lightning erupted from his large saber and disappeared. It meant he was reciting the mnemonic verses for the art.
*Thud, thud!*
His steps were as if he didn't even see me in front of him. They carried a strong will, a declaration that he would cut me down if I didn't move.
I gripped the Fire Dragon Sword with my right hand and drew upon eighty years of my internal energy in preparation.
Geum Cheong-san had one hundred and twenty years of energy, but I intended to test him with eighty first.
*Whooosh!*
Geum Cheong-san closed the distance in three steps and swung his saber down at me. It was an exceedingly ordinary attack, aimed at the crown of my head.
He didn't even emit saber energy; it was a simple downward chop.
*Flash!*
In the process, the sharp edge of the saber unleashed not a blue saber light, but something like a bolt of lightning.
It was lightning.
The bolt, about a handspan long, was not saber energy. Saber energy was typically projected in long streams or used like a whip; it wasn't short like this.
My eyes widened in an instant.
‘That is saber aura!’
I had thought it was lightning that flowed from his saber with every move, but what he just unleashed in his attack was clearly not lightning, but saber aura.
The handspan-long bolt of lightning that shot toward me curved rapidly, forming a semicircle.
*Keeut!*
The lightning that flashed with every movement of his saber couldn't change shape. It was just like light. If it could be reshaped, then it was aura—saber aura.
*Kiiiit!*
The simple, handspan-long saber aura had transformed into the shape of a crescent moon.
I had never seen sword aura or saber aura before, let alone fought against it.
Come to think of it, I had never deployed sword aura myself. With the Fire Dragon Sword emitting the Azure and White Ice Flowers or the Yang Essence of lightning, I had never seen the need.
Once saber energy was released, that was it. But saber aura could have its shape and power altered even after being unleashed.
The crescent-shaped saber aura was rushing toward my face, now only two feet away. It was too late to draw the Fire Dragon Sword and block it.
I unleashed the Floating Light, Divine Shadow, evading the saber aura by sliding to Geum Cheong-san’s left as I drew my sword.
But Geum Cheong-san, as if unaware that I had dodged to his left, laid his saber horizontally and slashed to his right.
*Keeeut!*
‘It’s over…’
I froze, my Fire Dragon Sword poised to strike Geum Cheong-san’s side.
*Flash!*
In an instant, his sweeping saber had unleashed a second wave of saber aura.
I had dodged to his left, and he had slashed horizontally to the empty right. But the result was that he had spun around on the spot with incredible speed and was now cutting at my waist.
Had I known beforehand, I would have stabbed his side even faster, and that would have been my victory.
And yet, he had chosen the seemingly reckless method of spinning a full circle to strike my opening.
Recklessness and courage are different. Recklessness stems from ignorance, while courage is acting despite knowing the risks.