Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Yielding Ten Moves
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Everyone present had heard the Advance Teaching Gang's Young Gang Leader, Yi Myeong-chu, publicly declare that he would yield ten moves.
No matter how ferociously powerful Baek Yang-hui's first strike had turned out—contrary to all expectations—from the Young Gang Leader's position, there was no taking those words back.
"Your face is full of bewilderment. What, didn't expect an eight-year-old brat to count like this?"
Instead of launching straight into his second move, he twirled his sword leisurely and flicked out his tongue.
The Young Gang Leader's face was rigid, trembling not just with stiffness but with outright fury.
Veins bulged across his neck like snapped bowstrings, and a throbbing cross pulsed on his forehead.
"You pissed off? What're you gonna do if a kid like me gets mad? What, wanna fight fair now? Huh?"
"......A brat like you must've scarfed down some spirit pills, but let me teach you there's always a sky above the sky."
Oh, this kid. Not biting on provocation this strong, huh.
For the daughter of a Black Path boss, she sure had some training under her belt.
Fine then.
Baek Yang-hui sauntered forward with light steps and casually tapped the flat of the Young Gang Leader's massive cleaver with his sword.
"Yup!"
"......What the hell are you doing?"
"What? That was my second attack."
"......You damn little shit."
"Yup! Third one!"
The Young Gang Leader's already beet-red face twisted once more.
Damn, how much blood rushed in to turn it from red to straight-up purple.
Time to switch it up a bit.
"Yup!"
He tossed in the cue lightly, but poured genuine inner energy into his swing this time.
Buuuung! Kwaang!
Baek Yang-hui's sword struck the side of the cleaver. Perhaps lulled by the two prior pranks, the Young Gang Leader hadn't braced properly, so the massive blade whipped around to the opposite side as expected.
Right toward his own face.
Peok!
"Keurk!"
The Young Gang Leader, smacked in the face by his own cleaver.
As the blade slid down, his bloodied nose came into view, both nostrils gushing.
"Whoa, you okay there! Your nose is pouring blood!"
"......"
"Puhahaha! Puhahahaha! Can't even block a kid's first move properly and you get a nosebleed!"
"......"
"And after all that? Yielding ten moves? Thought your age made you a big shot? Puhahaha!"
Laughter and murmurs erupted from the onlookers in sync with Baek Yang-hui's words.
"Heavens, the Baek Clan Manor's young master is truly skilled."
"More like the Advance Teaching Gang's Young Gang Leader is getting completely played by that young master's words and actions."
"Kuhahat, nosebleed from letting his guard down. Doesn't even have the basics of a martial artist!"
"Alright, six moves left now? Wanna call off the ten-move yield even now?"
He continued, eyeing the quivering Young Gang Leader.
"Ah, but words alone won't cut it. A real man keeps his word, but only after cutting loose what's needed. Right, fellow Righteous Path brothers!"
"Puhahaha!"
"Well said, little brother!"
"That young friend sure knows how to talk!"
Grinning with a curled lip, Baek Yang-hui swung his sword once more.
"Five!"
Buung, kwaang!
Unlike before, the Young Gang Leader blocked properly this time, but his wrist trembled visibly.
Well, the power behind it wasn't light enough to brush off easily.
'Young or not, I've got more inner energy than you, kid.'
As the Advance Teaching Gang's Young Gang Leader, he'd no doubt been stuffed with tonics since childhood.
But that was still just the heir of a minor faction lording over a county.
Spirit pills weren't cheap; no matter how good the stuff, there were limits.
Compared to that, what Baek Yang-hui had consumed was the legacy of the world's greatest, who had ascended to immortality.
'Haven't even fully refined it yet, and my inner energy's already half a jia. Where's a twenty-year punk get off acting superior.'
"Getting scared now? Feels like you'll drop before the ten moves are up, right?"
"......Shut your mouth."
"Regretting it? Be honest. It's all over your face, kid."
"Shut up and come at me!"
True to habit, Baek Yang-hui—ever the contrarian—skipped his sixth swing and circled the Young Gang Leader instead.
"He's twenty and getting owned by a single kid! But hey, credit where due—even a retard knows the weight of a warrior's word!"
"I'll kill you for th—"
As the Young Gang Leader exploded in rage, Baek Yang-hui stepped into Ghostly Heaven Step.
One step infused with speed, then swiftness, then speed again.
A second-realm expert like the Young Gang Leader, but rage slowed his reaction.
Successfully flanking him, Baek Yang-hui thrust his sword-tip forward.
Precisely between the Young Gang Leader's cheeks.
"Kaaaaak!"
A red stain bloomed at the center of the Young Gang Leader's rear.
"Kaaak! Kraaaak!"
"Kid, it barely went in an inch."
"You bastard! You damn little shit! I'll kill you!"
"Whoa, Young Gang Leader. Veins popping like spiderwebs. Your mom a spider demon or something? Guess the Advance Teaching Gang Leader has those tastes."
"Shut your trap! Once these last three moves end, you're dead!"
"Might bleed out first, though. Blood pouring from your ass. Got hemorrhoids or what?"
The crowd could hold back no longer and burst into roaring laughter.
"Kuhahahaha!"
"Puhahaha! Him and a spider demon... Puhahat!"
"Hemorrhoids at that age..."
"Age gap's double, but who's the kid here?"
"Pure humiliation! Is this the Advance Teaching Gang's level? Haha!"
Baek Yang-hui eyed the blood on his sword-tip, making an exaggerated disgusted face.
He wiped it on the ground and tossed in a line.
"Ugh, the smell! Figures it'd stink from a Black Path bastard."
Crimson-to-black skin tone. Thick veins pulsing wildly. Body shuddering like an epileptic fit.
The Young Gang Leader's eyes bulged.
'Kid. Reached his limit, huh.'
Pajik!
Huh, snapped. Something definitely snapped just now.
Baek Yang-hui braced for the follow-up ambush.
But.
"Keurk, keuk, kuluk!"
The Young Gang Leader spewed a bowl's worth of congealed blood.
Seemed what snapped wasn't quite what he'd expected.
'Qi Deviation?'
Qi Deviation.
A phenomenon where, during energy circulation, a massive shock or inner demon disrupts control, causing energy to backflow or rampage.
The collapsed Young Gang Leader began vomiting blood madly.
No doubt about it—that was Qi Deviation.
"Hey. You alright?"
"Keuk, kuh, kuluk! Kuluk! Kuuuak......!"
The Advance Teaching Gang Leader hurled himself forward upon seeing his son's state.
"Chuya! Are you okay?!"
Baek Yang-hui spoke up quickly, before any aid could be given.
"Helping him now means he lost the deathmatch!"
"......"
"How could you saddle your son with the infamy of losing to an eight-year-old brat as a grown man in his thirties?"
"......You'll die for this."
The Advance Teaching Gang Leader ground his teeth until blood welled, then silently sealed his son's acupoints.
But Yi Myeong-chu's Qi Deviation showed no signs of subsiding.
"Kuluk! Kuluk! F-Father, keuk......!"
"Chuya! Pull yourself together! Chuya!"
Finally, the Young Gang Leader lost consciousness.
'Oof, even if he recovers, he's done as a martial artist.'
Thanks to his sharp senses, he could tell at a glance.
The kid was crippled for life, best-case.
"You little shit...... You'll die. I'll hack off your limbs and make you stare at the stumps."
"Whew, Uncle Advance Teaching Gang Leader. Isn't that too cruel for a kid like me?"
"Shut it. I won't play your word games. Remember this—you'll die."
"Sigh, figures from a Black Path boss."
Baek Yang-hui demonstratively wiped the bloody sword-tip on the ground again.
"Hmm. Can't sheathe it like this. Would dirty the scabbard."
Hearing that, the trembling Advance Teaching Gang Leader finally calmed his fury with effort.
"I acknowledge defeat in the first match. Step forward for the second."
Still the head of a faction, huh.
He'd pushed hard to provoke and enrage him for a morale break, but the result was a tad underwhelming.
'Eh, good enough.'
Grinning, Baek Yang-hui stepped back.
Baek Clan Manor retainers swarmed him with praise.
"Truly amazing, Young Master!"
"Young master Hui, when did you grow this strong?!"
"A once-in-a-millennium genius! Heavenly martial prodigy!"
He bowed humbly.
"Didn't feel much saying it myself, but hearing it from others is embarrassing. Enough, everyone, haha. So, who's next?"
Baek Mu-ryang or Gu-ak. Who went second could tip the scales.
Baek Mu-ryang stepped forward and questioned the Advance Teaching Gang Leader.
"Who from the Advance Teaching Gang plans to step up?"
After a moment's thought, the Advance Teaching Gang Leader replied curtly.
"Blood Night Wanderer. I leave it to you."
The man who stepped forward silently gripped a sharply curved blade.
A middle-aged ronin infamous for loving bloodshed on jobs—so much so that once he drew his curved sword, fields ran red.
The Blood Night Wanderer.
"I'm second. Who's coming from your side? Ah, doesn't matter. I'll gift death fairly to whoever."
Gu-ak hardened his face, pondering deeply as he moved to step up.
But Baek Mu-ryang beat him by a pace.
"Clan Leader?"
"Hall Leader Baek Ik. I'll settle this with the Blood Night Wanderer myself!"
"But that's!"
"Gu, it's fine."
Gu-ak, who had tried to stop Baek Mu-ryang, turned at Baek Yang-hui's words.
"What are you thinking, little brother?"
"Nothing special?"
"If you don't have a plan, I should go. You know that."
It was a fair point.
Gu-ak, who'd reached first-realm first, would boost their odds.
'Though that's from a month ago.'
A month ago—when the Advance Teaching Gang's letter first arrived, setting the deathmatch for today.
Baek Yang-hui had secluded in training with Baek Mu-ryang since.
"Gu, you'll see."
As they spoke, Baek Mu-ryang stood before the Blood Night Wanderer.
Watching from behind, the Advance Teaching Gang Leader scowled.
"Baek Clan Leader. Wouldn't it look better for leaders to match leaders?"
He apparently thought facing Baek Mu-ryang himself guaranteed the win.
Baek Mu-ryang replied lowly.
"As leader, I wish to face the Blood Night Wanderer."
A jab at hiring someone of higher realm.
The Advance Teaching Gang Leader's face soured as he bared his fangs.
"Blood Night Wanderer. Kill him."
"Don't need to tell me."
The confident Blood Night Wanderer spun his curved blade.
"Baek Clan Leader. Word is your skill's second-realm. Made some progress, I see."
"Just swung my sword diligently."
"Haha, then your head hits the dirt today."
A brilliant glow rose from the Blood Night Wanderer's curved blade.
Proof of peak realm.
The product of sword intent manifesting.
Sword aura.
"I'll end you in one stroke, hahahaha!"
As the Blood Night Wanderer launched forward with booming laughter.
Buuuuung!
A buzz like swarming bees filled the air.
The Blood Night Wanderer's eyes bulged.
"I-Impossible."
Baek Mu-ryang's sword, at the pinnacle of sealed peak realm, vibrated intensely.
Above the blade, sword aura rose.