A Day to Go Mad, Once in a While (1)
Hyeolsu, who looked as though his blood was about to give out, shot his hand toward Jin Yigang's face.
“Huk!”
A groan burst from Hyeolsu's mouth. The dazed-looking Jin Yigang had abruptly vanished from his field of vision.
The footwork that had dodged Hyeolsu's strike in a heartbeat was the Extreme Ghost Shadow Step.
Chwae-aek!
Jin Yigang's fist traced a ferocious arc through the air.
With a pathetic punch like that…
Hyeolsu's head snapped back. The simplest way to dodge a fist flying in on an arc was to tilt the head backward — and even as he evaded, his hand shot upward. A hand steeped in blood, hungry for Jin Yigang's jaw.
Hm?
Hyeolsu's eyes widened slightly as he retreated.
Normally, a punch left the wrist and fist in a straight line. But Jin Yigang's wrist was bent all the way back.
“What, are you going to throw a rock at me?”
The moment Hyeolsu muttered those words, Jin Yigang's fist snapped sharply forward, the palm spreading open — and a stone went flying at Hyeolsu's face.
N-No way…
The distance was far too close to dodge with the Daenae Divine Art, and the stone was coming in far too fast. Hyeolsu hastily marshaled his internal energy into his face.
Even so, his stabbing hand did not stop.
It was then that Jin Yigang's left foot sliced through the air. Having already released the stone, channeling strength into his left leg was no trouble at all.
Pwaeok! Pwaeok! Pwaeok!
Three impacts detonated one after another.
The first burst against Hyeolsu's face, the second against Jin Yigang's chest, and the third against Hyeolsu's lower body.
“Khek!”
Hyeolsu's face went pale.
His face had been shielded by protective gang qi, so while it felt like his skull had cracked, it was bearable.
It was the blow below that had drained the strength from his entire body. The sky turned yellow, his breath caught, and his legs buckled beneath him.
“You little acorn bastard, where do you get off—”
Jin Yigang drove his fist into the face of the half-conscious Hyeolsu.
Pwaeok!
“Keok!”
Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!
He chased down the retreating Hyeolsu, hammering punches into him without mercy. Hyeolsu flailed back at him all the same — a bloodshot fist and a gray-toned fist erupting against each other's bodies in a savage exchange.
“Keok!”
Even as they hammered each other, it was Hyeolsu who kept getting driven back.
“H-Hyeolsu!”
Dokji cried out in terror and hurled finger qi at Jin Yigang.
“So you took me for a straw dummy you could pin down and beat.”
Pae-at!
Nang Baek's silhouette vanished in an instant.
A masterful display of the Arching Heaven Shadow Spring technique.
Seu-ak!
Arriving before Dokji in the blink of an eye, he swept the Half-Blood Demon Saber in a wide arc.
“I no longer fear the likes of you.”
Dokji unfurled his Asura Demon Poison Finger. Four streams of finger qi shot toward Nang Baek.
“You think that can stop the Half-Blood Saber?”
Seu-ak!
The moment the Half-Blood Demon Saber carved through empty air, the finger qi vanished like smoke. Nang Baek, having neutralized the attack, shot forward at Dokji.
Pae-at!
Dokji kicked off the ground and sprang upward.
Chwae-aek!
“Huk!”
Dokji turned his head, a groan spilling from his lips.
Pwaeok!
The sight of Hyeolsu's fist exploding against Jin Yigang's torso filled his vision.
He's… getting pummeled, and yet he throws stones at me…
Pwaeok!
“Keok!”
Agonizing pain flooded up from his dantian.
Suddenly, he remembered the moment his dagger had been knocked from his hand earlier.
“It was him. That bastard, it was him all along—”
The Half-Blood Demon Saber hurtled into Dokji's entire body, which had been paralyzed for an instant by the stone Jin Yigang had smashed into his dantian.
“GRAAAAH!”
A bloodcurdling scream tore from Dokji's mouth. His body, sliced into dozens of pieces, dropped in a patter of flesh.
Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack! Thwack-thwack!
“Is that all you've got? Hit me harder, you bastard. Come on, hit me harder!”
Jin Yigang roared as he swung.
Pwaeok! Thwack! Thwack-thwack!
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack-thwack!
Jin Yigang and Hyeolsu traded blows, each fist detonating against the other's body. The frenzied slugfest of fists pounding into each other's torsos finally wound down a short while later.
“You… what are you?”
Hyeolsu stared at Jin Yigang in disbelief. He had landed at least a hundred blows by even the most conservative count. And yet the man stood unharmed. No — not unharmed. His face was a bloody mess, blood streaming from his mouth and nose.
But he wouldn't die.
“How are you…”
“You, too, you bastard — go take what I take. Get yourself beaten black and blue, day after day, by the Jecheon Five Powers and the Jincheon Four Blades! Swallow body-forging pills, douse yourself in body-forging elixir, and take that beating every single day — then come talk to me!”
Jin Yigang rolled his fist in a wide circle and buried it in Hyeolsu's jaw.
Pwaeok!
“GRAAAH!”
Struck beneath the chin, Hyeolsu's body floated gently upward.
Jin Yigang gave him a brief glance, then stepped back.
Thud!
The airborne Hyeolsu collapsed in a heap. He twitched a few times — then moved no more.
“Ah, hell. He's dead.”
Jin Yigang slumped down right where he stood.
“You… how?”
Nang Baek gaped at him.
Hyeolsu was not the strongest in the Central Plains, but the warriors who could stand against him could be counted on one hand. And Jin Yigang had beaten him. No — more than that. While trading blows with Hyeolsu, he had thrown stones that drove Dokji into a corner.
Dokji's death was due entirely to Jin Yigang.
“I've just gotten used to being hit.”
Jin Yigang brushed off his backside and rose to his feet.
“Even so, getting used to it doesn't explain this…”
“How does my face look?”
“Your face?”
“It got hit pretty badly, you know.”
“Pfft!”
Nang Baek burst out laughing. In a word, Jin Yigang's face was a steamed bun that had been sat on.
“Oh, no. Now my nose is bleeding.”
Jin Yigang hastily pinched his nose shut.
“Old man! Granny!”
he shouted, still plugging his nose.
“Why were you looking for them?”
Nang Baek asked.
“Our replacements just walked in.”
“Is there another way out of here?”
“Yep. Old man! Granny!”
Jin Yigang called again. Still no answer.
“Looks like they've gone to…”
Just then, a black shadow drifted toward the two of them. The Evil Venerable, Umun Heo.
“Why did you call me?”
Part of the shadow split open, and Umun Heo's voice seeped out.
“Old Man Woo?”
“The very same.”
“That was seriously cool.”
“Shall I teach you?”
“Maybe when I've got time. More importantly, can you tell where the others are?”
“Let's see… About fifty paces to the right.”
“How can you tell?”
“That's the beauty of the Evil Shadowless Blood Evil Skill. When you flatten yourself against the ground like I do, footfalls alone are enough to find anyone.”
“So it's basically like pressing your ear to the floor.”
“Exactly.”
“That's awesome.”
Jin Yigang started walking.
“Where do you think you're going?”
“To help.”
“I don't know who he's facing, but the Demon Venerable will want to fight alone.”
“Then I'll just cheer him on, won't I?”
Jin Yigang's pace quickened. With the Blood Fiend Corps and the Eight Kings pouring in, the front line seemed to have shifted in that direction, and no enemies crossed his path.
Before long, the three of them reached where Na Hujeok stood — locked in battle with Maya.
Jin Yigang fished out a stone and started idly tossing it up and catching it.
“But is that really necessary?”
Jin Yigang asked, glancing back at Nang Baek.
“What are you talking about?”
“We're just standing around here, and he insists on shouldering it all by himself?”
“That's what a warrior calls pride.”
“People still have that?”
“…”
Nang Baek looked at Jin Yigang without a word.
“Seems to me like that's the first thing you ought to put down when you get old.”
“There are things a man cannot put down, no matter how old he gets.”
“Did you hold a grudge against them?”
“Yes.”
Nang Baek nodded.
“If it were me, I'd let them live a little longer.”
“Why?”
“They're not the Cult's Nine Demons anymore — the Cult's Six Demons, I suppose. Either way, the only thing they gained by betraying the old men was groveling and bowing to a boy whose neck's still wet behind the ears. And now this mission's going to fail, and they'll get chewed out and hammered for being useless — can't you just see it? Honestly, that sounds more humiliating than dying here at the hands of this old man, don't you think?”
“You're right about that.”
Na Hujeok loosened his stance and withdrew.
“Retreating, are you?”
Maya asked.
“The boy speaks wisely. I'll postpone killing you.”
Na Hujeok gestured toward Jin Yigang.
“…”
Maya turned his gaze to Jin Yigang.
“Your old men picked a bad ship to board.”
“Do you understand our circumstances?”
“I don't know the circumstances. But no matter how desperate you are, climbing aboard a sinking ship seems like a fool's errand, doesn't it? Especially when you're not even first-choice crew — you're second-rate.”
“A wiser choice than the fools who chose war to cling to their seats, I'd say.”
“What they were clinging to wasn't a seat — it was the Demonic Cult, wasn't it? And you lot abandoned the Cult because you wanted the seats. Am I wrong?”
“No. We chose the dream of the Demonic Cult.”
“What dream would that be?”
“The thousand-year ambition of our Cult is the conquest of the Central Plains.”
“The conquest of the Central Plains — by men who are now vassals to those who once ruled it? Good luck with that, truly. Oh, and here's a gift for you.”
Jin Yigang hurled the stone he was holding.
Chwae-aek!
A sunset-red radiance erupted from Maya's body.
Pok!
Pusususu!
The stone that struck the radiance scattered into dust.
“Whoa—!”
Jin Yigang's eyes went wide.
Then he thrust his thumb high and beamed from ear to ear, before adding:
“You're wasted serving under someone. Honestly, you're amazing.”
“Die!”
A thick, viscous killing intent began to seep from Maya's body.
“Pass this along to your master, Danmok Cheonri: Jin Yigang will be coming to find him before long.”
“You… you're Jin Yigang?”
Maya's eyes widened. He had never imagined the young man standing alongside the Five Venerables could be the Jin Yigang that Danmok Cheonri was hunting.
“Just explain it to Danmok Cheonri like this: the very moment I was about to kill one of your old men, the Demon Venerable, the Blood Venerable, and the Evil Venerable ganged up on me, and I — cowardly, I know — ran away.”
“You insolent wretch!”
Maya's wrinkled face flushed crimson.
His pride had been wounded to the bone.
“You look pretty angry.”
Jin Yigang began walking toward Maya.
When he was about three paces away, he held out his hand and beckoned with his fingers.
“You truly wish to die.”
“If you're angry, then come at me, you old fossil.”
Maya did not move from his spot. Even Na Hujeok alone had been a handful — with Nang Baek and Umun Heo there as well, a three-way joint assault would mean defeat, one hundred times out of a hundred.
“The ones behind you — I'll kill you before they ever step in. You have my word.”
What in the world is that boy doing?
Na Hujeok sent a transmission to Nang Baek.
Jin Yigang's words just now had been a declaration: even if it cost him his life, they were not to interfere.
How would any of us know? True, the boy did eliminate Hyeolsu, but Maya is…
He eliminated Hyeolsu?
Yep.
“What do you think you're doing right now?”
Umun Heo asked Jin Yigang.
“It's that kind of day.”
Jin Yigang replied.
“That kind of day?”
“The day you go a little mad — once in a while.”
“RAAAAGH!”
In that instant, Maya could hold back no longer — and hurled himself at Jin Yigang.