Go ahead. Try and kill me. (5)
“…..Are you insane?”
Baek Sang shouted in confusion. The intrusion had been so unexpected that, for an instant, he even forgot there was an enemy right before his eyes.
“Quit barking nonsense and raise your sword properly!”
Yu Gong swore harshly, glancing irritably at Baek Sang.
“But, why…”
“Why? You bear-brained punk! Those bastards have already figured out the situation – do you think I’ll come out unharmed?”
Yu Gong bared his teeth at the speechless Baek Sang.
It would take Sapaeryeon only a few sichen [2 hours] to realize that Yu Gong had betrayed them. After that, the outcome was as obvious as seeing fire in front of one’s eyes.
If the world fell under Saparyeon’s rule, there would be nowhere to escape. No, escape itself would be impossible. Yu Gong’s child was still on Hainan island, and Saparyeon clearly knew this – so where could he possibly flee?
“Damn it…….”
This was precisely why he had never wanted to get involved. He just wanted to avert his eyes.
Doing something beyond one’s capacity inevitably leads to ruin. This was something Yu Gong had learned repeatedly through his experiences in Gangho. And yet, what remaining trace of a righteous spirit [의협심(義俠心)] had made him commit a deed he could never bear?
“Arrrgh! You damned dogs!”
Either way, there was no turning back now.
Baek Cheon’s judgment was correct. With Diancang bound like that, Cheonumaeng had no chance of victory. Yu Gong, observing the battlefield as a third party, was able to judge this even more objectively.
Only one method remained. He had to somehow help those trapped here escape and free Diancang. If he couldn’t manage that, neither Yu Gong himself nor his family left behind on Hainan would survive.
But… was that truly the only reason?
Fwoosh!
Yu Gong irritably swung the cheap iron sword in his hand.
“They’re coming!”
“Damn it!”
Startled for only a moment by Yu Gong’s unforeseen strike, the members of Sapaeryeon exploded with killing intent. Screaming, they rushed at Baek Sang and Yu Gong all at once.
“You filthy vermin!”
Clang!
He focused all his strength on blocking the incoming blades. However, before even a handful of moves had passed, his hands and feet were already growing unsteady.
Yu Gong panted heavily.
‘Is this really all I am now…?’
It wasn’t simply that the enemy was strong. Yu Gong was just weak. No – he had grown weak.
‘When was the last time I trained?’
Back when he lived on Hainan, training had been as routine as eating or sleeping. But since leaving Hainan, not once had he voluntarily swung a sword.
Because he had lost the reason to hone his blade.
Of course, even in the past, Yu Gong might never have had a clear reason.
Yet it had surely existed. Bearing the name of Haenam Sect alone had laid a distinct path before him.
Perhaps what he had lost was not his life, but his path…
Fwoosh!
There was no time to stay lost in idle thoughts. A blade wreathed in sharp energy was hurtling towards Yu Gong’s face.
The instant he sensed it was too late to evade, something flashed through his mind.
Clang!
At that very moment, Baek Sang’s sword flew in like lightning, knocking away the blade in one swift move.
“Get a grip, damn it!”
Yu Gong nodded silently in response.
Baek Sang sensed something strange in Yu Gong’s expression, but he had no leisure to dwell on it.
“Uaaaah!”
Baek Sang’s sword split into dozens of dazzling flashes, sweeping through the enemies.
Rather than coldly aiming to kill, it was clearly intended to threaten – a flashy yet ultimately hollow display of swordsmanship.
Yet in a situation like this, that kind of sword had the effect of damping the enemy’s momentum. No cat wants to be bitten and wounded by a rat it has already caught, and to them, Baek Sang and Yu Gong looked like rats already in the trap.
As their enemies cautiously stepped back, creating a bit of distance, Baek Sang growled, sweat dripping down his face.
“You damned bastards!”
His mind raced.
He might, with his skill, be able to keep their eyes fixed on him. But to get Baek Cheon and all the children out, he would have to pin the enemy down so tightly that not even water could seep through. That was utterly impossible.
‘What if instead……’
What if he saved only Baek Cheon?
Baek Sang erased the thought the moment it brushed his mind. It was an idea he dared not entertain. If it became inevitable that one must be abandoned, that one had to be Baek Cheon – even though that was the outcome Baek Sang least desired.
‘If one is a swordsman of Hwasan, that is how it must be.’
Baek Sang’s hand, gripping the sword, trembled faintly.
It wasn’t the choice itself that frightened him. What terrified him was that he might rescue neither side and lose his life in vain.
While Baek Sang was agonizing over this crushing pressure in his mind, Yu Gong, strangely enough, was wrapped in a feeling as though he were floating slightly above the ground.
It was an absurd emptiness to feel on a battlefield where lives were at stake. Perhaps that was why Yu Gong noticed a movement he would never have detected under normal circumstances.
One of Sapaeryeon’s members encircling them broadly was sneaking subtly out of his peripheral vision. His direction was their rear.
He might have been aiming for Baek Sang’s or Yu Gong’s back, but Yu Gong instantly sensed where that bastard’s feet were headed.
Fwoosh.
At that moment, as if someone had given a signal, that member of Sapaeryeon shot towards the back. Just as Yu Gong had predicted. His target was Baek Cheon, who was unconscious.
Before he knew it, Yu Gong kicked off the ground with all his might.
“Ah!”
“N-No!”
The young disciples of Diancang who tried to block the enemy were flung aside with a single strike of the enemy’s blade.
And in the blink of an eye, Yu Gong stood before Baek Cheon. It was a move so instinctive even he could not understand it.
‘Why?’
Yu Gong’s eyes filled with confusion.
The blade of Sapaeryeon’s member who had scattered Diancang’s youngsters came crashing down on Yu Gong.
Gritting his teeth, Yu Gong raised his sword.
A single strike.
Claaang.
Yu Gong’s cheap iron sword was split clean in two by Sapaeryeon’s member’s heavy blade. The massive blade split Yu Gong’s shoulder and dug into his chest.
“Gkk…”
Fwooooosh!
A tremendous amount of blood burst forth.
“Kh……”
Yet instead of groaning and collapsing, Yu Gong stretched out his hand and seized the enemy’s body standing before him.
“This idiot?”
The member of Sapaeryeon tried to push Yu Gong’s head aside as though swatting a fly. But even as Yu Gong’s knees buckled, he stubbornly refused to release his grip.
“Hm?”
A strange light flickered in the man’s eyes as he looked at Yu Gong.
And no wonder: though Yu Gong’s face had turned deathly pale, his pupils trembling as he sensed death closing in, the strength in his fingers was so fierce it was hard to believe it belonged to a dying man.
“Vermin like you is really kicking up a fuss.”
Thuck!
The blade yanked from Yu Gong’s chest was thrust straight through his abdomen.
Yu Gong couldn’t even scream. His whole body shook like a leaf. At last, the strength left his hands and he released his grip on Saparyeon’s member.
Thud.
His body finally crumpled.
“Hrr…….”
Stepping over Yu Gong’s body, the enemy lowered his blade and brought it to Baek Cheon’s neck.
“So that’s it – you’re that desperate to protect this crippled fool?”
Baek Sang watched the entire sequence with a face drained of spirit. Though it had happened in the span of a heartbeat, it felt as if he were witnessing something that took a thousand years.
Yu Gong lying there in a pool of blood, Baek Cheon looking peaceful as though merely asleep, and the enemy smirking back at them with his blade pressed to Baek Cheon’s throat…
Every bit of it felt unreal.
“Then watch closely.”
The member of Sapaeryeon bared his teeth in a chilling grin.
“And watch this bastard’s head come off.”
Fwoosh!
As the blade swept across, red blood gushed out. Baek Sang collapsed to his knees where he stood.
❀ ❀ ❀
Piiing!
A sword wreathed in crimson sword energy surged forward, aiming for a snow-white neck. The instant the victim jerked his head aside, the blade narrowly passed by, grazing right next to his throat.
Fwoosh!
But that wasn’t the end. The sword energy coiling around the blade suddenly extended and finally sliced as though biting into the pale flesh.
Drip.
Dark, crimson blood trickled down Jang Ilso’s white neck.
Swaaash!
At the same time, a blue palm [장(掌)] shot in a straight line towards the sword’s edge.
Fwack!
Just as Chung Myung poured even more internal energy into his sword and braced for the impact, the palm that had been flying straight suddenly zig-zagged [갈지(之)] in mid-air and slammed into the hand that held the sword instead of the blade itself.
Boom!
Crack!
A thunderous crash echoed along with the sound of something breaking.
Yet at that very instant Chung Myung spun his body and hammered his left elbow down at Jang Ilso’s right arm, while Jang Ilso quickly withdrew his outstretched hand and struck back.
Chung Myung’s and Jang Ilso’s elbows collided head-on in mid-air.
Smash!
It was a dull sound, but chilling enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end.
Thud!
As if once were not enough, their elbows crashed together again in quick succession.
Taat.
In this foolish showdown of pride, the first to retreat was Jang Ilso. Unlike Chung Myung, who wouldn’t care even if his left arm were torn off, Jang Ilso was a fist-fighter. Sacrificing an arm was not an option, no matter how much damage he could inflict on Chung Myung.
Thud!
As though he had long expected that choice, Chung Myung charged straight at the retreating Jang Ilso.
Paaaaang!
Swish!
The descending sword that pursued him and the rising fist thrown while retreating collided without restraint in the air.
Kwoooooom!
With a thunderous boom that felt like it would tear their eardrums apart, the two of them were flung backward at almost the same moment.
Puuut.
Blood gushed out from Chung Myung’s mouth.
Unable to withstand the sword’s murderous energy, another gash split the back of Jang Ilso’s hand, exposing white bone.
Barely steadying his staggering body, Chung Myung stretched his foot out to charge forward again, but suddenly stumbled.
“…Huff.”
While drawing shallow breaths, Chung Myung turned his head abruptly like someone who had seen something he never should have.
His gaze shot off into the distance.
A very distant place. A place far, far removed from this battlefield.
‘What…?’
An unbearably strange sensation crept over him – no, it felt more like a premonition. Ominous and chilling, just like the feeling he had once experienced long ago…
“Hmmm.”
It was Jang Ilso’s faint hum, tinged with annoyance, that snapped Chung Myung out of his trance. Wearing a faintly displeased smile, Jang Ilso flicked the blood from his hand.
“You still have room to let your attention wander with me standing right here?”
Only then did Chung Myung’s gaze slowly return to Jang Ilso.
“I’m starting to feel a little offended, you know?”
Chung Myung looked at him indifferently and asked back.
“Offended?”
“…”
“You should consider it an honor that I’m even entertaining you – nothing but a filthy Sapa bastard.”
“Honestly… that mouth of yours.”
Jang Ilso chuckled and shook his head as though at a loss. The exaggerated gesture made Chung Myung let out a short laugh as well.
Despite the exchange, Chung Myung acknowledged Jang Ilso more than anyone. Had Chung Myung been placed in the same circumstances, would he have achieved so much?
‘Probably not.’
Natural disposition aside, Jang Ilso was certainly someone extraordinary. Had Chung Myung not returned from the dead and stood here today, that man would surely had the world in his grasp by now.
Even if it was a world destined to burn down soon enough.
And so, suddenly, a thought occurred to him.
Is it truly the right thing to block Jang Ilso’s path? No… could it be that even standing here was part of the world’s arrangement?
‘…Who cares.’
No matter how hard he wracks his brain, he cannot grasp something so complex.
Chung Myung may be a Taoist, but he was never one to delve into the Tao. He was simply a man who did what lay before him, what needed to be done. That was all.
“Seems like you’re getting lost in thought, aren’t you?”
“…”
“Well, I suppose that makes sense. The outcome is becoming clear now, after all.”
“Indeed. I can see it clearly – the outcome where I kick your severed head across the ground.”
At Chung Myung’s retort, Jang Ilso grinned, baring his teeth.
“You’ve grown awfully weak. Think that’s possible?”
“The weak one is you. You threw away what you couldn’t shoulder.”
“…”
“At least I don’t pull stunts like that. I’m not a coward like you.”
Jang Ilso’s eyes flickered briefly.
“Oh, really?”
His eyes curved into a softer arc than usual, but for some reason, it felt far more chilling than ever.
“Boast all you want… but can you live up to those words?”
He pointed somewhere with his finger. Chung Myung, casting his gaze that way almost without thinking, hurled his body forward at full speed. That reaction, which was close to an instinct, was almost instantaneous, snapping out like a spring.
Fwooooosh!
A ring shot out from the tip of Jang Ilso’s finger, hurtling towards a single point. And at its destination… was Yoon Jong, fighting frantically amid the enemy.
But no matter how fast Chung Myung moved, he could not outpace the burst of energy already released.
“Sahyeoooooooooong!”
At Chung Myung’s near-convulsive scream, Yoon Jong jerked in surprise and turned his head.
In that instant.
“Huh?”
Crack!
Tearing through the air, Jang Ilso’s ring pierced straight through Yoon Jong’s body.
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What the hell even was this chapter? Yu Gong died? Baek Cheon died? WTF??? No one should have had any hopes for Yu Gong because he didn’t change anything cause HE IS SO WEAK. BRO? He just died from one strike of a mediocre-level sapa… Baek Cheon being a Schrodinger cat in a box for weeks – is he alive or is he dead, this prolongation just dulls my feelings.
“just like the feeling he had once experienced long ago…” WHAT FEELING? This chapter is making me so mad, so much has happened but at the same time we don’t know anything.
CM glazing Ilso?? Hello?
YOON JONG IS ALSO DYING NOW? Biga, what’s happening…
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