63. Ruins (7)
Ruins (7)
63. Ruins (7)
Byeok-geum cackled as he fingered the gold. Fortunately, he hadn't entirely abandoned the idea of earning a living. Cheonghwa Hall Master, who had rented three cottages, was furious. He pulled money from his robes and hurled it into Byeok-geum's face. Three cottages meant thirty silver taels a day. That amount showed he intended to remain here for at least three days.
"Ten silver taels for a cottage you threw up in a few hours—isn't that a flat-out rip-off? Even a luxury inn in Shenyang, the high-end kind, costs five silver taels and that's plenty."
"It's not a rip-off. Because we're going to serve food that's better than those inns."
"You don't mean...?"
"Yes. I'll have to ask Steward Lee. Oh. Half of this money will go to the steward. Those people—they probably won't want to leave by the end, don't you think?"
Truthfully, since those bastards had been calling themselves my junior brothers all this time, I had been worried about them too. What would they live on now that they'd quit banditry? I'd worried plenty about whether they'd make trouble in the villages or extort money from the common folk. But seeing them temporarily earning coin through a surprisingly decent lodging business put my mind at ease. I hoped the Black Heaven Association Leader would come as late as possible. That way Byeok-geum, just now starting to earn money, could squeeze him for every last coin in room charges.
But not even four days later, Yeongsan Sect at last received the guest it had been waiting for.
—A master!—
The first to sense it was Flame Emperor.
—There's still a strong warrior in this era?—
Moon Immortal, who had kept silent since that day, finally spoke.
—Be careful. I heard what happened from the Flame Emperor, but never forget that you are defenseless while we attack the enemy.—
Cautious Heosan.
—Last time was a surprise attack, was it not? This opponent will assume you are a master capable of Qi-Guided Sword and Sword Aura. He won't lower his guard, so this will not be as easy as before.—
Finally, Geo Am as well.
Having heard their warnings and preparing, I cut a somewhat ridiculous figure—wearing no fewer than four swords at my waist.
"Senior Sister Jeong. Please take Senior Sister Lee and Senior Sister Cho inside the chambers."
"Is something wrong? Junior Brother?"
Jeong-hyang asked worriedly, seeing me emerge with four swords and a tense face.
"The Black Heaven Association."
At those words, the women, who had been chattering and enjoying themselves, froze stiff with shock.
"Don't worry. But it will be a rough fight, so the three of you, please go inside."
"Junior Brother. I can trust you, right?"
"Don't worry."
"Junior Brother. I'm not asking as your senior sister right now. I truly don't have to worry, do I?"
She wasn't asking as my senior sister. She was asking as my lover whether there was truly nothing wrong. My heart pounded and a cold sweat ran down my back, but looking at her anxious face, I spoke to her with a confident expression, sheer stubborn pride at work.
"Yes. Please have some tea inside."
To be honest, my heart felt ready to burst. The Four Heroes of Dong-o were strong; I had experienced the Flame Emperor's power firsthand. But our opponent was a genuine master too. He was called one of the Top Hundred Masters, though no one actually gathered every master under heaven and held an official tournament. In practice, defeating members of the existing Top Hundred Masters a few times was enough to be counted among them. There were probably around one hundred and twenty such people. No one would visit a master who had slipped from hundredth to hundred-and-first and announce, 'You are no longer one of the Top Hundred Masters.' Their rankings remained approximate.
But unlike Murong Sang or Heuk Cheon-gyeon, who barely made the rankings thanks to such loose standards, Murong Hyeok-jung and the Black Heaven Association Leader were top-tier powerhouses whose place among the Top Hundred Masters was beyond doubt. And facing such an opponent in a situation that was no surprise attack—this was a first for me too.
I was frightened and trembling. I was no genuine master whose confidence and fortitude had been forged through brutal training. Deep down, I already knew why I still lived in a hut despite holding a vast sum of gold, why I kept postponing martial-arts instruction for Son Yeong and my Senior Sisters even after obtaining the spirits of the masters I had wanted so badly, and why I went to the White Tiger Sect almost every day to empty my mind and drink.
It was because I knew better than anyone that if I couldn't defeat the Black Heaven Association, none of it meant anything.
—Pull yourself together. We are your swords, literally. If the one holding the sword grows weak, even grasping the finest blade under heaven means nothing.—
Flame Emperor spoke in a low voice. He was right. There was no avoiding this anyway. Through both my past life and this present one, I had always lived as the weak one. Now, to break free from that life, I had to take a step forward with my own two feet.
"Master. And Senior Sister Son, please face the Black Heaven Association with me."
"Will my meager strength be of any help?"
Son Yeong asked without confidence, but she was handling her treasured sword. The enlightenment she'd gained through contemplation must not have been insignificant.
"I understand, Yeongmok. I am the Sect Leader, after all, so the Black Heaven Association Leader should be mine to face."
Master, with a resolute expression.
I didn't wish for their help. But Son Yeong was Yeongsan Sect's future strongest. Now that she had gained peerless martial arts, it was only a matter of time before she spread her wings and soared. I wanted to show her a truly high-level battle.
And Master was, of course, the Sect Leader of Yeongsan Sect. I liked her for her purity. I had always wanted to protect that purity. But since Master had also become a Taoist and resolved to truly become the Sect Leader of Yeongsan Sect, she needed to grow accustomed to the cruelty of the Martial World from now on.
"H-hyung!!! It's the Black Heaven Association Leader! The Black Heaven Association is here!!"
Because the White Tiger Sect stood directly across from Yeongsan Sect, Byeok-geum effectively served as our gatekeeper. The Black Heaven Association Leader, however, made no effort to hide his presence. Though clearly a first-class master capable of concealing his internal energy, he instead spread that explosive power across all of Yeongsan as an open threat.
I didn't want their blood staining Yeongsan Sect. When I passed through the main gate to meet them, the White Tiger Sect men had wiped away their usual foolish grins and readied their weapons against the Black Heaven Association. Cheonghwa Hall Master, who had been enjoying his mountain retreat, had also gathered before the gate with his warriors.
"Hyung. As you know, we will be of no help at all against the Black Heaven Association Leader or Bloodslaying Sword. But we will guard the Sect Leader and Lady Son with our lives against the Black Swordsmen, so please face those two without worry, hyung."
What I liked about Byeok-geum was that whether he was receiving command of his subordinates or presenting rare medicinal ingredients, he showed respect not to me, but to Master. A master of Byeok-geum's level must already have realized that our Master was so weak she could barely be called a martial artist.
—Reverend Heo San. Draw a line in the earth, please.—
At those words, Heosan rose and traced a deep, distinct line across the ground. And at last, the Black Heaven Association arrived before us.
A slightly protruding belly and an ugly face. The Black Heaven Association Leader, one of the Top Hundred Masters, wore robes embroidered with a black dragon and carried a strange curved sword resembling a sickle. Beside him stood a handsome man in his early forties, presumably Bloodslaying Sword. The only woman had climbed the mountain clinging to Bloodslaying Sword's side. Her figure remained voluptuous beneath her formal martial attire, and her refined, beautiful face made her look no older than her twenties. Geum Sa-hwa, the Black Heaven Association Leader's third disciple and a former member of the Four Flowers of the Martial World, had come as well.
Were these people out of their minds? Or did they think me laughable? Paired with Flame Emperor, I was a master capable of striking down Heuk Cheon-gyeon. And they'd brought all three of the Black Heaven Association's top-tier figures against such an opponent. Even at the Jilin Baek Clan Estate event, Father, myself, and Dan-yeong had never set out into the Martial World all together. If a catastrophe befell us, the Baek Clan Estate's line would be severed. Even in the Murong Clan, if the eldest son Murong Su hadn't already produced an heir, the Henan trip of all the heirs—Murong Su, Murong Jun, Murong Rin—could never have been permitted.
This had to be one of two things. Either I still looked ridiculous, or their faith in the Black Heaven Association Leader was that absolute.
"I am Gyeonghwan, Leader of the Black Heaven Association. Are you the one who fought my disciple?"
The Leader spoke with a smile, glancing at the line drawn before him.
"You knew that already and came, didn't you?"
"A Qi-Guided Sword wrapped in Sword Aura. Frankly, I find it difficult to believe, but I've lost a disciple, so I had to come see for myself. How could I believe that a wet-behind-the-ears whelp who couldn't even handle one Black Swordsman killed my prized disciple, even through a cowardly surprise attack?"
There was no reason for warm feelings on either side. When I levitated four swords into the air, the Black Heaven Association, White Tiger Sect, the Martial Alliance Liaoning Branch, and even our Master and Son Yeong all gasped in astonishment.
"Qi-Guided Sword? So it was true. But four swords? A brat stumbles into a fortunate encounter and knows nothing! Using Qi-Guided Sword is, in the end, your own martial prowess. Don't you know that one strong master is far more fearsome than four middling martial artists?"
"We may not look it, but we are orthodox. I have no need for instruction in unorthodox martial arts. Enough useless chatter. Begin. Cross that line and I will cut you down."
In that instant, four Sword Auras manifested, each with a distinct character. The Flame Emperor's familiar scarlet flames. Heosan's sleek, refined blue Sword Aura, the very model of orthodoxy. Geo Am's, inexplicably larger than the others yet blunt enough to resemble a cudgel more than a sword. And Moon Immortal's, slightly thinner but incomparably sharp, with the tip curving faintly. Every face in the crowd changed as those four vividly individual Sword Auras bloomed.
But a master was a master, and the Leader, who had lived his entire life as a martial artist, crossed the line with a bitter smile.
"In a case like this, I must trust my senses, not my eyes. Whatever sorcery you've used, the internal energy I feel from you, the way you stand, your face tight with tension, that disastrous breathing of yours. If I saw all this and still fled in fear, then I've no business calling myself a martial artist!"
The Black Heaven Association Leader manifested a crimson Sword Aura and charged. His overwhelming momentum resembled an armored vehicle bearing down on me, but the Flame Emperor met him head-on. Sword Aura struck Sword Aura, unleashing a tremendous explosion. With my low martial attainment, I could barely follow the blinding flashes and thunderous collisions. Unable to tell who held the advantage, I merely watched as the Association Leader steadily closed the distance between us.
However formidable Flame Emperor was, he had no physical body to block the advance. Through countless exchanges of offense and defense, the gap shrank bit by bit. But once I sent Geo Am, two swords now began to press the Black Heaven Association Leader. Geo Am was slower than Flame Emperor's blade, but each strike carried absurd, weighty power. When the Black Heaven Association Leader confirmed that both swords were truly Qi-Guided Swords wreathed in genuine Sword Aura, genuine sweat began to bead on his face. No matter how seasoned a master of the Martial World, he could never have faced two swords using completely different martial arts before.
Under the combined assault of Flame Emperor and Geo Am, wounds began to accumulate, little by little, all over the Leader's body. But he too was a top-tier master who had astounded the world. A martial artist fundamentally equipped with genius-level talent, a fine sect, and abundant experience. Even as his disciples sank into despair, the light in his eyes did not die. Taking a gash near the shoulder joint from Flame Emperor, the Leader seized that gap to charge straight at me. His senses were accurate. What he had to contend with was not the swords but me, the one wielding them. And true to his senses, my own martial prowess was, in reality, utterly pathetic.
But I was a coward. Heosan, prepared in advance, smoothly diverted the Black Heaven Association Leader's final suicidal charge and used its momentum to pierce his chest with perfect precision. Transforming Force and Yield Self, Follow the Opponent—principles found even in foundational Wudang arts such as Taiji Fist and Taiji Sword. Like the revolving Taiji symbol, Wudang swordsmanship was renowned for defense and counterattacks. Caught off guard and grievously wounded, he had no choice but to receive the pursuing swords of the Flame Emperor and Geo Am while completely defenseless.
The Black Heaven Association Leader—a master who had haunted countless orthodox warriors' nightmares, and one whom even Murong Hyeok-jung hesitated to face—died an anticlimactic death here on Yeongsan Mountain.