Chapter 45
Chapter 45
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Tip
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The energy contained in the opponent's blade was unlike any attack Dang Mujin had ever faced before.
Even as it swung a sharp edge, it felt less like a slash and more like a strike meant to crush.
Among all the attacks he'd experienced so far, the only one remotely comparable was the final strike from Jang Sang, the branch leader, just before his death.
If it had been the Dang Mujin from back when he faced Jang Sang, that single blow would have surely killed him.
But the Dang Mujin now was on a different level from the days he'd wandered lost in the Central Plains.
"Hup!"
Dang Mujin lowered his stance to stabilize his lower body, drew his Single Soul Sword at the same time, and met the thrust head-on.
Dang Mujin's feet slid back with a long skid, carving two deep lines into the soft dirt. The difference in power was clear.
All he could manage was to hold his ground without falling. Before Dang Mujin could regain his balance, the opponent's attacks continued.
Each one was a massive technique. Yet the flow connecting them was as natural as running water, leaving no major openings.
'Just blocking won't win this.'
Instead, Dang Mujin charged forward aggressively, baiting an opening from his opponent while unleashing his own techniques.
The opponent retreated, shaking off Dang Mujin's sword. It was an unstable defensive technique born of the unexpected situation. Still, it carried genuine internal energy without fail.
'Immense internal energy. Fast yet fluid technique flow. Every movement naturally backed by precise energy control. Definitely first-rate.'
His gut churned from the gap in internal energy. Dang Mujin forced his expression to stay calm and spoke.
"Shouldn't we at least exchange names? I'm Dang Mujin. What's yours?"
To Dang Mujin's question, the man replied curtly.
"Yuk Un."
"What's your nickname?"
"No need for you to know that."
"Stingy bastard."
The conversation was brief. But in that gap, he managed to calm his boiling qi somewhat.
Dang Mujin raised his sword again and thought.
'It's not hopeless.'
Yuk Un's attacks were powerful, no doubt. But they weren't impossibly fast, nor did they come from incomprehensible angles.
He was just a bit faster than Hong Geolgae, with a bit more internal energy, a bit more strength, and a slightly sharper weapon.
'On second thought, those "bits" might add up to a lot...'
Dang Mujin steadied his mind and recalled Yi Chung's teachings.
He'd thought he'd learned little, but looking back, it was quite a lot.
When facing a master, don't meet their attacks head-on. Dodge if you can; deflect if you can't.
If you're deflecting, do it before their sword path reaches its peak.
Keep your knees bent, stance low, ready to advance or retreat at any moment.
You can't gauge the power in an attack by appearances alone. Keep your shoulders loose.
And finally, what Yi Chung had repeated countless times.
'Whether first-rate or second-rate doesn't matter. The one who pierces the heart wins.'
In other words, you haven't lost until your heart is pierced.
Muttering Yi Chung's teachings, Dang Mujin focused all his senses on his eyes and ears.
With every swing of Yuk Un's blade, faint sword wounds etched themselves onto Dang Mujin's limbs and waist.
But he didn't get impatient. Dang Mujin devoted all his attention to deflecting and dodging Yuk Un's attacks.
'Don't miss the techniques or sword paths. One slip, and I'll lose a limb.'
Dang Mujin imagined himself on a cliff where a single misstep meant plummeting a thousand feet.
At first, his steps were precarious, but soon confidence set in. Trusting his senses, Dang Mujin moved without hesitation.
As he danced through footwork like a performance, Dang Mujin gradually entered a trance.
He started by evading Yuk Un's blade by two hand spans. Soon, the gap shrank to one. Then half, and finally the width of a finger joint.
Yuk Un's relaxed expression hardened.
Dang Mujin wasn't surviving because Yuk Un's blade was drawing closer. It was because Dang Mujin had read Yuk Un's techniques, allowing him to evade by the narrowest margins.
Proof came in the fact that, at some point, no new wounds appeared on Dang Mujin's skin.
The narrower the gap between Dang Mujin and the blade, the farther victory slipped from Yuk Un's grasp.
Can't give him more time. With that thought, Yuk Un went for broke.
'End it in one go.'
Yuk Un gathered his internal energy, preparing the final technique of the Solitary Mountain Blade Method: Hundred Subduing Slash.
Among all the techniques Yuk Un knew, it was the most domineering—even if the opponent dodged by a hair's breadth, it would crush them.
Yuk Un poured all his internal energy into his blade and pulled his shoulder back.
In that motion, Dang Mujin spotted the biggest opening he'd seen yet.
Was it a lure? He didn't know. But his instincts screamed this chance wouldn't come twice.
The moment Yuk Un's blade swung, Dang Mujin unleashed the Heart-Piercing Sword technique: Tip.
The simplest and most straightforward technique among all of the Heart-Piercing Sword's forms.
It was the first one he'd learned and the one he'd practiced the most. Just thrust the sword forward—that was it.
'Old man, is this really even worth calling a technique?'
When Dang Mujin had asked that, Yi Chung had scoffed and dismissed him.
'That's why you're a novice.'
He'd thought it a joke back then, but now Dang Mujin realized Yi Chung had been dead serious.
In his trance, he grasped the profound truth behind that simple technique.
Beyond mere imitation of form and motion, he fully comprehended the essence and intent woven into it.
The simplest technique, dismissed by outsiders, was precisely the first gateway for true entry into the martial world.
He'd swung his sword tens of thousands of times under the guise of Heart-Piercing Sword techniques before, but this was the first time he'd truly executed one.
Tip, striking the shortest path without excess, embodied the pinnacle of the late strike arriving first.
Dang Mujin's delayed thrust brushed aside Yuk Un's earlier swung blade and pierced his heart.
Yuk Un sensed Dang Mujin's technique with his body before his eyes could register it.
A faint foreign sensation in his chest. His flowing internal energy tangled, his technique crumbled.
Only then did Yuk Un realize Dang Mujin's form had moved—that the sword Dang Mujin had kept coiled had pierced his heart.
Was it because the technique was so flawlessly clean?
Yuk Un looked down at the blade embedded in his chest and grinned.
That was Yuk Un's final moment.
As Dang Mujin withdrew his Single Soul Sword, Yuk Un's body collapsed with a heavy thud.
Yi Chung's voice came from behind.
"I left you to subdue him with poison arts, and you took an unexpected path."
Dang Mujin turned. Yi Chung had already subdued Ak Hwi and was sitting atop his corpse. Unlike Dang Mujin, he bore no wounds.
Dang Mujin wiped the blood trickling from his forehead, pressed his palm firmly against the cuts for basic hemostasis, and replied.
"What? Wasn't he a peak master too? Feels like I won too easily."
"Peak, absolute peak—those are standards for thugs who only swing weapons. His blade art qualifies as peak, and so does my swordsmanship. But I layer poison arts on top, so I couldn't lose even if I wanted to."
Ak Hwi's face was pitch black. Like Yuk Un, he had just one wound leaking blood—right in the chest. Yi Chung had half-killed him with poison, then finished the job with a sword to cut off his breath.
"He seemed reluctant to fight earlier, so I figured he was no pushover."
"I didn't want to kill a guy I once saved. I'd treated his illness back in the day."
"So he came charging to kill his lifesaver? Ungrateful prick."
Yi Chung chuckled.
"As for ingratitude, I hold my own. You'd freak out if you knew why I'm heading to Luoyang."
"Why are you going?"
"No need to know yet."
Yi Chung cut the talk short. If he wasn't going to explain, he shouldn't have brought it up.
Only then did Dang Mujin notice Hong Geolgae. He was squatting before a corpse, his back looking somehow forlorn.
Dang Mujin approached and said.
"What's with the gloom? We won."
"I lost."
"Huh?"
"I said I lost."
Wondering what that meant, Dang Mujin looked at the corpse before Hong Geolgae.
It wasn't battered from club strikes—it was pierced by a sword.
"I dodged and endured somehow, but I couldn't see a path to victory. Thought I was done for, then the old man helped out."
The corpse bore a single wound. And not on the chest or flank, but the back.
Against a lesser foe, this went beyond ganging up—it was a stab from behind.
Dang Mujin shot Yi Chung a dubious look, but Yi Chung remained unapologetic.
"What's the difference if it's from the front? Slash from the front or stab from behind, it's one exchange. No need for that guy to feel wronged."
It hit him anew: Yi Chung was unbound by common decency.
"Well, you're not wrong, but..."
"Only idiots worry about face and timing in a knife fight."
As he finished, Dang Mujin felt Hong Geolgae's gaze on him.
A strange look. Tinged with faint defeat.
He understood Hong Geolgae's feelings.
Dang Mujin had bested Yuk Un, but Hong Geolgae hadn't won—he'd survived only thanks to Yi Chung's aid.
The guy who'd once been weaker than him had now surpassed him. Hard not to mind, even if he tried.
Dang Mujin smirked and approached Hong Geolgae, teasing as if nothing happened.
"What? Jealous I won?"
"Nah, not that."
"Sure it is. Your face says it all. If it bugs you that much, go hunt some spirit herbs. One Black Peony, and your internal energy piles up daily."
Short exchange. Hong Geolgae let out an exasperated chuckle.
Now, the look Hong Geolgae gave Dang Mujin held envy, but no defeat. That was enough.
Defeat and envy were similar. But crucially different.
Someone who always made you feel defeated couldn't be a friend. Someone you envied could.
Dang Mujin pulled Hong Geolgae to his feet.
"Keep your eyes peeled next time. Who knows? Might snag a spirit herb with no owner."
"Fuck, now I'm pissed enough to find something better than Black Peony."
Yi Chung cut into Dang Mujin and Hong Geolgae's banter.
"Spirit herbs, huh? Since it's come up, how about we swing by Shaolin Temple?"
"Shaolin Temple?"
"Yeah. They've got the Great Returning Pill, called the miracle elixir of ages. Fat chance of getting one, of course. But since we're headed to Luoyang anyway, it'd be a shame not to stop by. Plus, Nangong Hwan mentioned Shaolin recently."
Dang Mujin pondered briefly. Who was Nangong Hwan again?
It came quick. Nangong Hwan, reception hall master of the Nangong family. The guy who'd said all three swords before Nangong Jincheon were real blades. The one who'd guided Dang Mujin and Yi Chung to the Heavenly Armory.
He'd said it outside the Heavenly Armory.
-Broad talk from a busybody, but Shaolin might be eagerly awaiting you. If you get the chance, pay a visit.
-From when I was very young, Shaolin's been searching the Central Plains for the most deft-handed person. They say there's some mechanism no one can fix.
An unfixable mechanism. Dang Mujin felt curiosity stir.
"The mechanism's name was Mok... something?"
"You mean the Wooden Man Alley?"
"Ah, right. Wooden Man Alley. You said you didn't know what it was either, right, old man?"
"I only know the name. Last moved hundreds of years ago, so no one's at Shaolin who's seen it in action."
"Think I could fix it?"
"How should I know? I've never seen it."
The three bantered idly as they left the three corpses behind and headed northwest.
A cool breeze blew from somewhere. Summer was ending.