Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Pruning (3)
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Watching this, the masked man couldn't hide his look of disbelief.
He wanted to rip off this suffocating mask right this instant.
‘How dare these bastards… in front of me, of all people!’
Zha Meng, the Nine Serpent Sword.
A title earned because his masterful swordplay was said to resemble the movements of nine snakes.
Just a month ago, his talent had blossomed upon reaching the first-rate level, allowing him to completely overhaul the swordsmanship he had learned on the streets.
Therefore, no one knew it, and no one could see through it.
It was a style without any roots, what some would call unrefined swordsmanship.
‘How could the likes of Mount Hua or Wudang, with their precious Dao, ever read the path of my sword?’
One of them had just come of age, the other not even that.
Feeling they were sufficient to test his sword, Zha Meng took a long breath.
"Hoo…"
A small spark of rivalry and an inferiority complex grown on the streets.
These two things intertwined, making Zha Meng curious to see if his martial arts would work against a Daoist from a prestigious sect.
Furthermore, Zha Meng was under a certain delusion.
‘A young master like him couldn't possibly know the bloody duels of the martial world.’
He believed Ouyang Jue, who had just descended from Mount Hua, was a greenhorn who wouldn't be able to handle his unpredictable sword.
Of course, he was wrong.
Ouyang Jue had been trampled on more times than Zha Meng could imagine and had even fought a five-on-one battle with his back to a cliff.
How could he possibly be called a greenhorn?
Just then, Zha Meng's exhaled breath brushed past Ouyang Jue's nose.
"Your breath is foul."
Ouyang Jue swung his fist as lightly as if swatting a fly.
Seeing this, a sneer spread across Zha Meng's face.
‘Does he really think he can beat me with such paltry power?’
Aside from its slightly clear glow, the energy was extremely faint, looking like five years of training at most.
That wouldn't be enough to defeat him.
Having made his judgment, Zha Meng unleashed his Nine Serpent Sword Arts.
But…
*Pang—!*
His internal energy surged to a single point in an instant, and a magnificently drawn straight line pierced through Zha Meng, causing blood to spurt from his lips.
"Keuk, ugh!"
Zha Meng's head slumped forward, and the clothes covering his torso burst open.
And yet, Ouyang Jue's fist hadn't even touched his abdomen.
Watching from behind, Liu Zhangming let out a small gasp of admiration.
It had been like this for a while now, but the more he watched Ouyang Jue, the more he felt he was beginning to understand the depth of martial arts.
‘He can extend the Inch-force technique like that!’
Inch-force was a method of projecting internal energy, a technique that could deliver a shock deep inside the body through a short movement, piercing the skin.
But Ouyang Jue used Inch-force differently.
Before even making direct contact with Zha Meng, he had fired a small, condensed ball of internal energy in the form of a Crane Wing Palm strike.
However, to Liu Zhangming, it seemed somewhat strange.
Because Ouyang Jue could have defeated Zha Meng without even needing to use Inch-force.
‘Why?’
Observing Zha Meng with a hint of doubt, Liu Zhangming soon realized.
There were no external injuries on Zha Meng at all.
‘He doesn't want to leave a trace.’
At that moment, Ouyang Jue turned his head to look at Liu Zhangming.
"Why have you drawn your sword?"
"…Haha."
Liu Zhangming scratched the back of his head with his other hand.
To be honest, he had thought Ouyang Jue wouldn't easily gain the upper hand against the battle-hardened Zha Meng.
‘But it was just a needless worry.’
*Shing.*
Slyly sheathing his sword, Liu Zhangming smiled wryly.
He was simply amazed at how Ouyang Jue's martial arts had improved by leaps and bounds.
"So, Junior Brother, what do you plan to do with this man?"
"…Ah, that."
Ouyang Jue knew he was just changing the subject, but he felt the warmth of Liu Zhangming's concern and smiled.
But the words that came out were anything but warm.
"His dantian will have to be destroyed first, though I might spare the meridians in his limbs."
"…"
Liu Zhangming fell silent at those words.
Seeing this, Ouyang Jue's expression turned peculiar.
‘Surely he’s not going to suggest we go easy on this one too.’
Fortunately, Liu Zhangming showed none of his usual softness.
He knew it as well.
This time, at least, he had to judge as a martial artist, not a Daoist.
What he learned from his conversation with Bai Chuan, in particular, had a great impact on him.
Liu Zhangming calmly met Zha Meng's resentful gaze.
"How can a man who has learned martial arts so readily swing his sword at a boy who has not even come of age!"
Liu Zhangming rebuked him with a resolute expression. Then he looked at Ouyang Jue.
"It would be best to do as you say."
"Then I'll do it."
Seeing Ouyang Jue raise his hand, Zha Meng's face turned pale.
"W-Wait! I was just following orders from above…"
"I don't know why you and the person inside keep repeating the same thing."
Liu Zhangming's face grew incredibly cold, his aura alone potent enough to wound a person.
Moreover, if Ouyang Jue had only recently reached the first-rate level, Liu Zhangming was a genius who had become a Sword Qi Master at the age of fifteen.
He was not someone Zha Meng could ever hope to match.
"The Righteous Path and the Unrighteous Path are not divided by the words or orders of others."
*Thump, thump.*
Walking toward Zha Meng at an unhurried pace, Liu Zhangming crouched down in front of him.
"It is the strength to see your own will through. That is not something that can be expressed with the body."
A sense of frustration colored Liu Zhangming's breath.
Why couldn't martial artists uphold the righteousness and principles they were supposed to?
Did they take human life so lightly?
Was the value of survival of the fittest truly heavier than that of humanity?
Internal energy began to shimmer at the tip of Liu Zhangming's index finger.
Seeing this, Zha Meng shrieked desperately.
"I had no other choice!"
"…You had no other choice."
Liu Zhangming thought of Jo Hun. And he thought of Ouyang Jue's childhood circumstances.
In his mind, anyone could be born into unfortunate circumstances.
Even Liu Zhangming himself hadn't joined Mount Hua willingly at first.
There were unavoidable reasons.
But the one who chooses the path from there is solely the master of one's own life.
The resolve to not become evil, at the very least.
The conviction to not draw one's sword against a boy who had yet to come of age.
That was something he could not see in the masked man.
"To the very end, you can't be honest."
As Liu Zhangming the person, not the Daoist, he could look upon him with sympathy.
But he was a Daoist who had studied various Daoist philosophies, including that of Lao-Zhuang.
As a Daoist, he could only evaluate Zha Meng this way.
‘A victim who chose the direct path of evil, rather than the winding path of good.’
Whatever Zha Meng’s circumstances, the sin for what happened could not be erased.
That was the law of the world.
"Junior Brother, is there anything about this man written in the ledger?"
At those words, Ouyang Jue shrugged.
"I already looked through it, so yes."
As much as the Guild Master had desperately tried to protect the ledger, it contained a great deal of information.
The cold handwriting seemed to have taken into account the possibility of Zha Meng's betrayal.
"After killing the young lord of the Great Iron Sect, a minor sect, he buried the body on Mount Wuseol."
Though it was enough to make one's face scrunch up in disgust, Liu Zhangming's expression remained unshaken.
Ouyang Jue's voice continued to ring out clearly.
"He murdered a Mount Hua disciple, Mae Il-sang, who was on an escort mission, disguising it as an attack by the Green Forest Bandits. He was instructed to let the body be discovered later so a reward could be collected."
As the story continued, Zha Meng's expression filled with bewilderment and a deep sense of betrayal.
‘The Guild Master told them everything about me!’
There was no guilt in his expression.
Ouyang Jue and Liu Zhangming both noticed Zha Meng's inner thoughts.
‘So it was to men like these that a nameless child and a Senior Brother whose face I barely knew died such a meaningless death here!’
The injustice of it all must have been overwhelming.
The more of Zha Meng’s crimes that flowed from Ouyang Jue's lips, the more Liu Zhangming wept internally. And he swallowed it down.
He would never let it show.
One does not show sorrow in front of an enemy.
"…This time."
Liu Zhangming mumbled in a small voice.
The sorrow of one who had seen the ugly side of the outside world, not the principles learned as a Daoist of Mount Hua, was keenly felt.
"It is difficult to control my emotions."
*Crack—!*
Liu Zhangming's hand struck Zha Meng's lower dantian in a single motion.
He couldn't control his strength at all, striking with sixty percent of his power in one go.
"Puh-heok!"
Zha Meng's body convulsed violently, trembling like a toad flipped onto its back.
Seeing this, Ouyang Jue stepped forward to stop him.
"Senior Brother."
But Liu Zhangming's expression hardened as he spoke coldly.
"…There are still two dantians left. Step aside."
Of course, Ouyang Jue had other intentions.
"If you hit him like that, he won't last long. Take this opportunity to learn."
"…"
Liu Zhangming paused for a moment, then turned his gaze to Ouyang Jue.
Had he still been safely ensconced on Mount Hua, Liu Zhangming would have refused outright.
But not now.
It wasn't an escort mission, just a short trip outside, but he had felt it to his bones.
The martial world was by no means a world built on goodwill.
To resolve this contradiction, much time and learning were needed.
"Will you teach me?"
Liu Zhangming looked at Ouyang Jue with desolate eyes.
They were so empty, as if they had consumed all emotion.
A strange smile formed on Ouyang Jue's face.
‘He has shed his skin.’
Making Liu Zhangming see the martial world for what it truly was.
Especially by showing him the ruthlessness of the world through the Mount Hua Sect's finances, he might be tormented now, but he would eventually come to accept it.
And that wasn't all.
They had found the culprit and had the ledger in hand.
With this, recovering the lost assets would be a simple matter.
Now, at least, they wouldn't have to face the disaster of their sect's annihilation due to poverty.
However.
It was also pitiful to see Liu Zhangming witness the ugly side of the martial world earlier than he had in the past.
"Of course, I will teach you."
Speaking as if making a vow, Ouyang Jue pointed at the crumpled form of Zha Meng.
"First, let's deal with this one, then we'll go inside."
*Tap, tap, tap.*
Ouyang Jue's hands moved quickly, tapping various points on Zha Meng's body.
The spots his fingers brushed were the mute and paralysis points, respectively; with his lower dantian already shattered, even a little pressure could be fatal.
In that regard, Ouyang Jue was skilled enough to be called an expert.
"…!"
Even Zha Meng himself hadn't realized he'd been subdued for a moment, his eyes widening in shock.
Of course, Ouyang Jue had no intention of leaving him like that.
Since the man had aimed for his life, he had to be thoroughly crushed to reduce any future threat.
Ouyang Jue folded the joints of his fingers, leaving only his thumb, shaping his hand into a spear.
"This will hurt a little."
*Thrust.*
Ouyang Jue's hand pressed hard into the middle dantian that Liu Zhangming hadn't yet destroyed.
Though it contained no internal energy, the force Ouyang Jue momentarily exerted was enough to scatter the internal energy housed within.
It wasn't purely cultivated energy to begin with.
That made it all the easier to disperse.
Watching Zha Meng's eyes roll back, Ouyang Jue said softly,
"The night is still young, is it not?"
He let out a small sigh and looked behind him.
Now that Zha Meng was captured, it was time to sit him down with the Guild Master and have a little talk.
"You over there, you can stop the pointless act."
*Flinch.*
With that, the Guild Master's fate was sealed.