I’m here now. (2)
“Whoa…”
Jo Geol’s jaw dropped.
The sword energy resembled Hwasan’s plum blossoms, yet was different. Unlike the plum blossoms that swirled and soared, the pure white snowflakes [설화(雪花) – literally snow blossoms] scattered and fell, pouring down on demonic cultists like a blizzard.
It was an overwhelming sight.
Even Yu Iseol, whose pride in Hwasan’s martial arts went beyond fierce to downright extraordinary, now had no choice but to acknowledge it. Though an unsavory incident had given them the same roots, what that sword now brought into bloom had a different character from Hwasan’s martial arts.
‘Heavy.’
It might seem strange to describe snow [눈(雪)] as heavy. Especially when that snow wasn’t piling up until it collapsed under its own weight, but was instead scattering through the air.
But that sword unmistakably carried a sense of weight. No, rather than weight…
“You crazy bastard! What the hell are you doing charging ahead! Honestly, you’re just……!”
At that moment, Baek Cheon shattered Yu Iseol’s concentration with a rapid-fire barrage of curses.
Normally, this would have been the point where Yoon Jong or someone else stepped in to politely remind him, ‘Now, please think about this. You are Hwasan’s Head Disciple, and will soon become its Sect Leader. However senseless demonic cultists may be, they do still have ears, and with everyone listening, isn’t that sort of foul language a little inappropriate?’
This time, however, no one blamed Baek Cheon. Instead, they joined him in hurling curses.
Demonic cultists Jin Geumryong had ignored and leaped over were attacking Hwasan’s disciples without so much as glancing his way. If anything, the sword energy raining down behind them seemed to spur them on, making their charges even more frenzied.
“Seriously, this is supposed to help us? This?”
“…I think he instinctively goes for whatever makes him stand out the most.”
“Is this really the time for that? He looks perfectly normal, so what the hell is wrong with that guy?”
“…They’re brothers. Of course he’d be just like our Sasuk.”
“Ah.”
“Don’t just accept that, you bastards! I’m nothing like that guy!”
Baek Cheon shouted indignantly, his blood pressure seemingly rising at the mere thought of being lumped together with his brother. Of course, no one responded to his anger. More precisely, no one had the strength to spare for a response. Demonic cultists were pouring in right before their eyes.
Clang! Clang, clang, clang!
The long, dark energy extending from the cultists’ fingertips resembled the claws of a beast. They came slashing viciously at Yoon Jong’s face. He turned deathly pale as he stretched his sword as far as he could to fend off the demonic energy.
Surely anyone would rather have a blade driven into their throat than die with their face slashed to ribbons.
“H-Help me! Help….”
“I’m at my limit here too!”
“D-Do something, Monk! Don’t just lie there on your face…”
“…Life and death are inseparable……”
“Then hurry up and drop dead, you useless monk!”
Desperation filled Yoon Jong’s eyes.
‘No.’
Dying was something he could accept. As that bastard Chung Myung was always saying whenever he got the chance, hadn’t he lived by the belief that the moment you picked up a sword and swung it at another person, any death that befell you, wherever or whenever it happened, should be considered a natural death?
“But this wouldn’t even be a natural death!”
Dying because the bastard who came to help was an idiot. What on earth was he supposed to call that cause of death [사인(死因)]. Death by stupidity?
The strength was gradually draining from Yoon Jong’s arms. He had held out as long as he could, but now he truly could go no further.
“I-I’ll curse you. You damned Jongnam bastards!”
Just as Yoon Jong began gasping for breath, keenly understanding why their ancestors had been such bitter enemies with those bastards, a sword suddenly shot out right beside his head.
“Huh?”
The sword stretched forward and split into more than a dozen in an instant, covering every direction ahead and momentarily blocking the surging demonic cultists like an iron wall.
Yoon Jong’s eyes widened at the sight of that incredibly solid sword energy.
“Uh…….”
“…I’m sorry I’m late.”
Yoon Jong slowly turned around.
He saw a face he had seen many times, one he could no longer quite call unfamiliar, yet could not quite call familiar either. The man spoke with a gentle smile.
“The damned Jongnam bastard, Lee Songbaek, has just arrived in response to your request for reinforcements.”
“…”
“It seems Sahyeong has already caused you trouble again. I hardly know how to apologize.”
“Well… It’s all right. Sasuk is always causing trouble too…”
“…What are you two doing right now?”
As two victims of the Jin family shared a moment of heartfelt understanding, the one who had abandoned that family snapped and cut it.
“Demonic cultists…….”
Lee Songbaek’s expression immediately grew serious. He could feel the strength of his enemies pressing against the sword energy he had unleashed upon his arrival. He felt a crushing pressure, as if the Thirty-Six Swords Under the Heaven – executed with his full strength – were on the verge of being shattered.
Facing that surging power, Lee Songbaek gave a slight nod.
“To have held out this long against foes like these. I would expect nothing less from Hwasan’s disciples.”
“…If you’d come a little sooner, I don’t think we’d have had to hold out this long.”
“That’s true. Haha.”
Lee Songbaek let out an awkward laugh.
But Yoon Jong couldn’t bring himself to laugh along. More than anyone, he understood what it meant to be able to hold a conversation and even smile while using sword energy to fend off demonic cultists who were charging in recklessly.
‘He can spare this much attention?’
Chung Myung had once said something like that.
If the day ever came when Jongnam set its sights on Hwasan again, the person they would have to be most wary of would be Lee Songbaek, rather than Jin Geumryong.
– I’m not going to spout some cliche about deep-rooted trees or anything like that, but… those who work themselves to the bone building their foundations from the ground up tend to rise to some truly ridiculous heights.
‘But he was talking about the distant future.’
Wasn’t it far too soon for that?
As if answering that question, Lee Songbaek advanced past Yoon Jong, keeping his sword extended forward.
“Well… Be caref…”
Just as Yoon Jong tried to warn him to be careful, his legs suddenly gave out and he sank to the ground. His body seemed to have been pushed closer to its limits than he had realized.
Sensing his condition without even turning to look, Lee Songbaek spoke.
“I’ll buy some time.”
Yoon Jong tried to reply, but soon gave up and let out a shallow breath.
‘Damn it.’
He could muster no strength in his legs. At this rate, even if Lee Songbaek bought them time, he would not be able to make a proper escape.
He needed to circulate his internal energy – even if only in a haste – to muster the strength to flee.
‘But can he really hold out?’
Yoon Jong watched Lee Songbaek anxiously. From where he sat, all he could see was Lee Songbaek’s back. But after watching him for a moment, Yoon Jong soon realized that his fears had been groundless.
Steadfast.
Yes, that was the only word that fit.
Looking at Lee Songbaek, Yoon Jong felt he finally understood the nature of the heaviness he had sensed in Jin Geumryong’s sword earlier. Jin Geumryong, too, had somehow managed to imbue his sword with the steadfastness that was practically synonymous with Jongnam.
“……Unbelievable, seriously.”
A hollow laugh escaped Yoon Jong’s lips.
That bastard Chung Myung had made Hwasan strong. Anyone who denied that had to be out of their mind.
Then what had done the most to make Hwasan strong after Chung Myung.
Some would say Jang Ilso and Sapaeryeon, while others might answer Shaolin.
But Yoon Jong was certain. When it came to sects rather than individuals, whatever anyone said, Jongnam had ultimately spurred Hwasan on the most.
But…
“So it works the other way around too.”
Watching them now, everything became clear.
Just as Jongnam had made Hwasan stronger, Hwasan had made them stronger too. Lee Songbaek and Jin Geumryong were now proving the result.
Kraaaaaaaaah!
Demonic cultists’ howls erupted in an endless succession, like echoes rolling through the mountains. Yoon Jong knew better than anyone. How violent the pressure pouring forth with those monstrous cries was. And how reckless it was to stand against that power with a single sword.
“Watch out!”
That was why he couldn’t help shouting a warning. It was not because he underestimated Lee Songbaek’s skill or feared their enemies. It was simply because the power of the foes Yoon Jong had faced until now had been that terrifying.
But Lee Songbaek dispelled those fears in an instant.
Thoom!
Lee Songbaek’s forceful stomp shook the ground.
It wasn’t merely a matter of stamping his foot. The moment Lee Songbaek’s foot struck the ground, Yoon Jong felt something spreading outward through the earth.
It was something that stirred his sixth sense rather than his perception of energy. Embodying with his entire being that weight absent from Hwasan’s martial arts, Lee Songbaek thrust his sword forward in a single motion.
Woooooooom!
A deep and powerful resonance.
The sword energy he had unleashed earlier had long since shattered, but that didn’t matter. The sword Lee Songbaek wielded had once again transformed into countless sword images, sealing off the space before him like an iron wall.
The Thirty-Six Directions Under Heaven [천하(天下) 삼십육방(三十六方)].
For Lee Songbaek, who had mastered the Thirty-Six Swords Under the Heaven, a technique capable of simultaneously covering every direction around its wielder, ‘defending the front’ was something so natural that there was no need to even question whether he could do it.
“…”
Yoon Jong stared blankly at the sword wall [검벽(劍壁)] Lee Songbaek had created, as though his soul had left his body.
To Hwasan’s disciples in the past, a ‘sword wall’ had been something almost beyond their reach. Simply being able to manifest one was enough to prove a martial artist’s skill [기예(技藝)].
But now, no disciple of Hwasan would call a sword wall impressive in itself. Even Yoon Jong had reached a level where he could create one whenever he wished.
For Hwasan’s disciples, who could blanket the whole world with sword energy, a sword wall that merely sealed off the space ahead without any gaps could hardly seem like a particularly impressive technique.
But what Yoon Jong felt at that moment was a shiver that came from seeing his own understanding of the world shatter.
Jongnam’s sky-blue sword energy overlapped so tightly that not even water could seep through.
So densely that even the word layered failed to do it justice. And every single strand of that sword energy held power that could not be taken lightly. As that formidable sword energy accumulated and converged, deepening into a rich blue, there appeared before Yoon Jong an absolute wall… one he could not even imagine breaking through.
‘Good heavens…..’
Could it really be this different?
Can a sword, swung with the sole purpose of defense, truly achieve such a transformation?
Boooooooooom!
A tremendous explosion erupted. It must have been the sound of demonic cultists throwing themselves headlong into the sword energy spread out before them, just as they had done before.
But unlike Hwasan’s sword wall, which had been breached in an instant at the cost of only a few lives, Lee Songbaek’s sword wall did not so much as waver under that tremendous impact.
“This…”
For a moment, Yoon Jong forgot even to tend to his own body as he stared in a daze.
“This is Jongnam’s sword.”
Yoon Jong’s gaze shifted to the sword wall that remained as unshakable as ever, and at the same time, to the man standing proudly behind it.
‘A towering tree [거목(巨木) – or a giant tree]…..’
If they were a forest of plum blossoms, then Lee Songbaek was a towering tree standing alone in a vast field. The steadfastness displayed by that mighty tree sent a shiver through Yoon Jong.
Hwasan’s sword, which spared no means or methods in its determination to cut down the enemy.
Jongnam’s relentlessly tempered sword, forged to block an enemy’s attacks at any cost.
A living contradiction*.
The sword of Jongnam, which had spurred Hwasan onward for countless years, had now revealed its perfected form here, in this very place.
________
*Here Biga uses 모순(矛盾) for the word contradiction/incongruity/paradox. Which is very beautiful because it consists of two hanja meaning lance and shield (Hwasan and Jongnam, basically, right). Since we are already here, there is a tale where it came from: There was once a man in the state of Chu, who was selling shields and lances. He was praising them saying: “My shields are so firm, that there is nothing that can pierce them.” He praised his lances saying: “My lances are so sharp, that there is nothing that they cannot pierce.” Someone asked: “What if you used your lances to pierce your shields?” The man could not answer. A shield that cannot be pierced and a lance that can pierce everything cannot exist in the same world.
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