Chapter 20
Chapter 20
20.
That's why my name is Jaha.
Even while feeling intimidated by the Ring Sword Twin Devils, Cha Seong-tae hovered around the front lines, muttering.
"Hey, baldy. Watch your back. I'm joining in. You know my alias? You'll only know it after you've been stabbed by my sword. You don't need to know it now. Go on, keep flailing around."
In reality, Cha Seong-tae took a few steps as if he were about to charge with his Straight Sword, then stopped.
It was an obviously bluffing move to anyone, but not to the Ring Sword Twin Devils.
I found Cha Seong-tae's actions amusing, and chuckled while wielding my whip.
"Crazy bastard."
Cha Seong-tae, still holding up his Straight Sword, continued to threaten the Ring Sword Twin Devils while chuckling.
"Alright, I'm joining in. Let's make it a fair two-on-two fight. Here I come. Baldy, I'm going to split you open first. Surprise attack!"
Wi Seon-woo, who was wielding two Ring Swords, swung one of his swords behind him as the whip was being retracted.
Whoosh!
A Blade Wind cutting through the rain came crashing down on Cha Seong-tae like a bolt of lightning.
Startled, Cha Seong-tae screamed and swung his Straight Sword.
With a thud! Cha Seong-tae, who had blocked the Blade Wind, rolled several times on the ground and then lay motionless as if he had fainted.
Cha Seong-tae, in his own way, was using his head and lying still as if he had fainted. His intention was to observe the situation and then launch a surprise attack.
While blocking the Ring Sword Twin Devils' attacks, I said to Cha Seong-tae.
"It's not working, get up."
Cha Seong-tae quickly raised his head.
"Oh, really?"
Wi Seon-woo hadn't exerted much Inner energy to deal with me. It was merely a warning that if he continued to act recklessly, he would kill him even if it meant overexerting himself, but the fact that the Ring Sword Twin Devils' concentration was disrupted was, in any case, thanks to Cha Seong-tae.
* * *
The rain that Geum Cheolyong and Jang Deuk-su and I were watching was quite poetic. Geum Cheolyong must have been thinking about the War Weapon he would gift me while watching the rain.
Jang Deuk-su must have been listening to our conversation while appreciating the rain.
I had been looking at the rain while thinking about how my life was unfolding so differently from my past life.
Perhaps it was because the three of us were watching the rain together that we were lost in sentimentality.
But the rain falling now is different.
The rain that I had been watching with a peaceful heart at the Chunyang Inn had become part of a fight that I had to use to kill my enemies. I know that someone must die in this rain.
Of course, it's not me.
The Ring Sword Twin Devils are guys who died by my hand even when they weren't the greenhorns they are now.
Anyway...
Why is fighting so fun?
Once again, thunder and lightning split the sky, briefly revealing the expressions on our three faces.
Wi Seon-woo and Gu Yang-su realized that I was still smiling.
Gu Yang-su said.
"The whip first."
In response to the brief suggestion to neutralize it by cutting it or taking it away, Wi Seon-woo replied.
"Sword at his waist."
In the ensuing fight, Gu Yang-su grabbed my whip as if to ensnare it with his two Ring Swords, and Wi Seon-woo rushed in and cut the middle of the whip with a blow infused with Inner energy. If they had forced a battle of Inner energy, the whip wouldn't have been cut, but because I was facing two opponents, I had no choice but to retreat.
The whip was now quite short.
As a brief lull in the fighting ensued...
I showed the cut whip to Geum Cheolyong and said.
"An unbreakable conviction... I guess not."
Geum Cheolyong, who had been watching from inside the Chunyang Inn, must have heard my words clearly. If a War Weapon made at the Dragon Head Smithy was cut so easily, Geum Cheolyong's insides should be boiling.
As soon as I threw away the shortened whip, I drew the Black Dragon Sword from my waist.
As soon as I drew the sword, the situation seemed to change, and the two men paused for a moment.
"You guys are in big trouble now. I'm better with a sword than a whip."
Cha Seong-tae chimed in at my words.
"Then why didn't you use the sword from the start? Why..."
"Call it the last shred of conscience."
Cha Seong-tae swallowed a curse inwardly.
'What nonsense is he spouting?'
In fact, I briefly thought about the harsh fate of having to kill the guys I had already killed.
Now that it has come to this, I have no choice. I have to kill them again.
End of deliberation.
As I held the sword vertically, Flame Chicken Energy coiled around the Sword Body.
The sword turned reddish.
And whenever raindrops fell on it, they sizzled and burned away.
Not only Cha Seong-tae, but also the Ring Sword Twin Devils, who had been confronting me, showed clear signs of surprise.
Frankly, it was a bit embarrassing for me, a Shop Assistant who had been ordinary until just recently, to be displaying such high-level Martial arts.
There was a need to come up with a reason.
"You see my sword..."
Cha Seong-tae responded in a dazed tone.
"I see it. The red light..."
I nodded and said as if making an excuse.
That's why my name is Jaha (Purple Glow)."
In fact, the sword was shining like the reddened evening sun, and the raindrops that hit the blade were turning into a strange-colored smoke that spread out like a sunset.
Even I, who was lying, was starting to think that this was why my name was Jaha.
Anyway, Lee Jaha of the Purple Glow Inn, that's me.
"It's time to die. You pathetic bastards."
The curse became the signal to start the battle, and the Ring Sword Twin Devils and I charged towards each other. The Ring Swords that these guys use are classified as Great Swords, and the range of their swings is wide.
This one-on-two fight isn't entirely disadvantageous for me.
Because the range of their swings was wide, the Ring Swords they were wielding could hurt each other depending on my movements.
This was possible because I knew their Sword Wind better than anyone.
While wielding the sword that was turning red, I sporadically unleashed bursts of Sword Wind imbued with Flame Chicken Energy in front of their faces.
Sword Wind is basically wind, but it contains heat transferred from Inner energy.
When the concentration of energy contained in it is further compressed.
Sword Wind becomes Sword Energy.
Sword Energy is a higher-level technique, but sometimes Sword Wind is more effective.
Sometimes a single Sword Energy, which consumes more Inner energy, is more effective, and when you need to conserve Inner energy, the correct answer is to wield the sword without using either of the two.
Of course, there are many higher-level techniques than Sword Energy, and their characteristics vary depending on the sect.
Therefore, there are many things to decide during a fight, and because that is the cause of victory or defeat, building practical skills is as endless as training in Martial arts.
While deflecting the four Ring Swords wielded by the Ring Sword Twin Devils, I kept this in mind and made a plan.
At this moment, Cha Seong-tae once again took a stance as if he were about to jump out with his sword in hand. This time, he clenched his mouth shut and only raised his killing intent.
"..."
He was really thinking of joining in with a surprise attack.
The Ring Sword Twin Devils don't know Cha Seong-tae's skills.
Wi Seon-woo, with a distorted expression, took a step back and swung the Ring Sword in his right hand towards Cha Seong-tae.
While blocking Gu Yang-su's sword, I immediately realized why Wi Seon-woo was retreating, and I bounced back and swung my sword.
At the moment Wi Seon-woo's Ring Sword unleashed a Blade Wind towards Cha Seong-tae, my sword, which had extended out at the same time, cut off Wi Seon-woo's forearm.
Splurt!
Following that, Cha Seong-tae lowered his Straight Sword to the lower right and charged fiercely, splashing rainwater. His momentum was intended to finish off Wi Seon-woo, whose arm had been cut off, so I went straight into a one-on-one fight with Gu Yang-su.
Wi Seon-woo, whose one arm had been cut off, clashed with Cha Seong-tae.
While deflecting Gu Yang-su's Twin swords, I gathered Flame Chicken Energy in my left hand and flicked it out with Finger Flicking Skill.
The moment Gu Yang-su deflected the Flame Chicken Finger Flicking Skill with his Ring Sword, not only the sword but also the arm holding the sword shook.
I removed the strength from my arm and spammed empty stances that only focused on stabbing. I deflected Gu Yang-su's Twin swords and aimed for his neck and arms while stabbing.
The mystery of the Illusion Sword, which exists in most sects, is to intentionally leave a faint energy wrapped around the Sword Body like an afterimage. If that number increases to about three or four, Martial World people usually attach aliases such as Illusion Three Swords, and naturally, the faster the sword, the higher the number.
In other words, Illusion Sword is a technique that can be seen once or twice in any sect.
In the rain, I created three afterimages of the Illusion Sword each, nine in total, towards Gu Yang-su, and then accurately stabbed Gu Yang-su's neck with the Black Dragon Sword.
Thwack!
The Twin swords, which arrived half a beat later than my sword, came close to my chest and then fell to the ground.
As I pulled out the blood-stained sword, the sky flashed wildly.
When I turned my head, I saw Cha Seong-tae stabbing his sword into the body of the fallen Wi Seon-woo.
Seeing Wi Seon-woo being killed by Cha Seong-tae instead of my sword, I felt strangely satisfied. Thanks to this, I became more certain that not only Cha Seong-tae's fate but also my own fate would change a lot.
Until just now, I had thought that the Ring Sword Twin Devils would all die by my hand.
Cha Seong-tae pointed at the corpse with his sword and asked.
"By the way, who is this guy?"
"Black Fan Stronghold bastards."
"Black Fan Stronghold..."
Cha Seong-tae sighed and then ordered the onlookers.
"Why did you guys bring these guys all the way here? Do you want to die?"
As Cha Seong-tae approached with a blood-stained sword in his hand, the onlookers backed away. One of them protested as if he was wronged.
"We brought them because we were threatened. If we hadn't, we would have all been killed first."
Cha Seong-tae turned to look at me.
"You're going to run the Low Filth Sect with guys like this? Will it work?"
I scoffed at Cha Seong-tae's words.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Huh? You're the Sect Leader."
"You have to manage the guys who need rehabilitation. You're the Sect Leader of Life Gate, Cha Seong-tae, you bastard. Aren't you educating your subordinates properly? Do you want to die?"
Cha Seong-tae opened his mouth.
"Ah..."
After shaking his head a few times, Cha Seong-tae bowed slightly and said.
"I'll take care of things here. Please, continue your conversation. I think Master Geum is at the inn."
"Good work."
"Yes."
While Cha Seong-tae was calling the onlookers to clean up the corpses, I went into the Chunyang Inn.
Jang Deuk-su and Geum Cheolyong, who had been watching comfortably from inside the store, greeted me.
"Welcome. You've worked hard."
Geum Cheolyong gave me a thumbs up.
"Sect Leader, your skills were amazing. Your fighting skills are one thing, but your ability to hide your strength and draw out the enemy's helper was superb. How did you know there was a helper nearby?"
I tilted my head.
'Why is he so analytical?'
I answered vaguely.
"I just knew it by intuition."
"Amazing."
My clothes were too wet. While water was dripping, I said to Geum Cheolyong.
"Master Geum."
"Speak."
"I'll wait for Mad Blade. If anything happens in the meantime, contact Cha Seong-tae or me."
Geum Cheolyong nodded and replied.
"I understand."
I looked down at my wet body and said goodbye to the two men.
"I'm going to wash off some blood."
Jang Deuk-su, who heard my words, tilted his head. There was no blood on me anywhere. I had said it without much thought.
* * *
While returning to the Plum Blossom Brothel, I suddenly remembered Jang Bo-do, whom the Ring Sword Twin Devils had coveted. Jang Bo-do is not in my hands now, but I have not forgotten the location marked on Jang Bo-do.
However, since it was quite a distance away from here, I had to think a little more about when to depart and retrieve it. Since I took it quite a while later in terms of timing, it didn't matter much when I visited.
The forces that I had to deal with immediately had increased to the Black Cat Clan and the Black Fan Stronghold, but I wasn't too worried. When I thought about the hardships I had gone through in the Celestial Net of Earth of the Demonic Sect, this was just a warm-up period.
I opened the main gate of the Plum Blossom Brothel, then turned around again and looked around the scenery of Ilyang Prefecture, which was submerged in the pouring rain.
Not only me, but the entire Ilyang Prefecture felt soaked in rain.
Because it was late at night, the streets, where the lights had been reduced, were deserted.
It was a callous scene, as if it had no interest in the deaths of the two Martial World people who had been wielding Ring Swords on this street.
Martial World people are the kind of people who are constantly killing and being killed by each other.
It was just that something that often happens happened on a rainy day.
I stood in front of the main gate of the Plum Blossom Brothel for a while and looked at the pouring rain to my heart's content.
I came back stronger, and all of this looked beautiful.
Suddenly, I had this thought.
Am I a man who is half-crazy, as I was in my past life? Or am I going crazy and then returning to normal?
I couldn't tell right now.