At last, the decisive moment that would change the fate of the Sado Alliance had arrived.
Baek Jagang standing there, and Baek Jagang with his sword drawn, were two entirely different people.
The air around him began to flow differently.
Baek Jagang had begun to make even the flow of the air his own.
Beoncheon and Illang had their subordinates withdraw far behind them. In any case, no one was allowed to interfere in a fight between the Alliance Leader and the Fighting King, and there was no one with the skill to do so either.
Bisa-in, too, stood beside Geom Mugeuk, silently watching the Alliance Leader and the Fighting King.
It was the first time he had ever watched his master engage in a life-and-death battle with someone. Of course, he believed his master would win. Even so, the reason he trembled like this was not because he doubted the Alliance Leader’s skill.
It was because this was the path he himself had to walk. Someday, when he became the Sado Alliance Leader, a day like this would come for him as well.
What kind of person would he be when he stood there?
Geom Mugeuk felt the Heavenly Demon Protective Art activate on its own. The Heavenly Demon Protective Art, having reached great completion, was warning him that he stood within a space dominated by someone else. He had now reached the realm where mind and martial arts were one.
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward the Fighting King. If he had sensed the change in the air, then the Fighting King must have sensed it too.
Now, what will you do?
The Fighting King slowly raised his hand.
Paang!
With his right fist, he struck the palm of his left hand with force. When he had first confronted the Sado Alliance martial artists here, he had struck his palm with his fist in just that way.
Dooong!
A wave extending from the Fighting King’s hand shook the flow of air that Baek Jagang had seized.
But the space did not break.
Paaang!
With an even louder sound, the surroundings trembled. He tried to force his way into any gap and refresh the air around him, but the space Baek Jagang had created did not break. That space seemed to be saying:
From now on, breathe only with my permission.
Even so, the Fighting King was not frightened in the least. He had his own secret technique to oppose his opponent’s momentum. He focused his mind. Then, in his eyes, everyone other than Baek Jagang began to appear in black and white.
Only Baek Jagang, the one he was to fight, appeared in his original colors, while all others turned monochrome like an ink painting.
That was not all. Within that black and white, if someone drew a sword or used inner power, only that part would be marked in red. Because of that, even when he stepped into a space filled with hundreds of people, he could immediately tell who was the most dangerous opponent.
It was a secret technique of his own, created through training in extreme concentration.
But today, he experienced something unusual.
There was one person from whom he could not remove the color. The one whose color did not fade despite not being his opponent was none other than Geom Mugeuk.
No matter how hard he tried to suppress Geom Mugeuk’s presence, his color would not disappear. The other man’s presence was overcoming his concentration.
‘How in the world?’
When the Fighting King looked at Geom Mugeuk, the gazes of the Sado Alliance martial artists naturally turned toward him as well. Favor flowed in their eyes. After all, he was the one who had saved their lives today.
After looking over the corpses of his subordinates, the Fighting King spoke calmly.
“The variable that is you created this result.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk answered.
“How could their deaths be because of me? They are because of you, who plotted to swallow the Sado Alliance whole. Because of the greed of those who joined hands with you. And because of the will of these people here, who risked their lives to fight you for the Sado Alliance and their comrades.”
Geom Mugeuk was seeing straight through the Fighting King’s heart.
“In any case, weren’t you planning to silence all those subordinates who died earlier once you became the Sado Alliance Leader?”
He had been planning the heroic tale of an instructor from the Samaeng Hall ascending to the position of Sado Alliance Leader. There was no way he would have left alive those who had been used in the process.
“That’s why you were able to be so calm.”
The Fighting King could not deny it. Because it was true. The moment he became Sado Alliance Leader, he had intended to discard everything and fill it all with something new.
“So don’t blame others for no reason, and go properly by the Alliance Leader’s hand.”
Geom Mugeuk bowed his head to Baek Jagang and said,
“Then I leave it to you.”
He asked with utmost courtesy, as though only the Alliance Leader could do this.
“This man can be eliminated only by you, Alliance Leader.”
Before Baek Jagang’s subordinates, Geom Mugeuk showed him the highest respect and courtesy. Suddenly, Baek Jagang recalled something Geom Mugeuk had once said to him.
—My honor does not lie in looking impressive. I want to return safely and see my people. I want to return safely, drink with them, and talk with them.
Baek Jagang looked at Bisa-in. Yes, he too had a reason to return.
The moment Geom Mugeuk finished speaking, the Fighting King saw it. He saw the color drain from Geom Mugeuk’s body. He saw him entrust this fight completely to the Sado Alliance Leader and suppress his own presence.
‘Truly outstanding!’
The Fighting King stretched his body out as if limbering up. He felt good. As long as opponents like these existed, he would be able to fight like a madman. Thinking of the immense pleasure he would savor when killing men like them, he felt a desire to win even if he had to commit any deed to do it.
Pang! Paang! Paaang!
The sound of palm and fist colliding rang out like drumbeats raising the Fighting King’s momentum.
In this battle, Baek Jagang did not yield the first move.
He did not view his opponent as a martial artist, but as an assassin. Since he was someone who would do anything, Baek Jagang intended never to reveal the slightest opening.
The moment Baek Jagang’s form flashed, he was thrusting his sword in front of the Fighting King.
Shiiiiik!
It was a killing attack aimed at the Fighting King’s throat.
Ttaang!
The Fighting King flicked the blade away with his fingers and sent a fist toward Baek Jagang’s chest.
Baek Jagang’s sword, which had been knocked aside, returned like a spring and struck upward in a semicircle.
Thus, the exchange between the two crossed as straight lines and curves.
When the first exchange ended, the Fighting King landed lightly a dozen steps away.
Tuk.
The front of the Fighting King’s robe split open.
Baek Jagang’s sword had been faster, and the Fighting King had abandoned his attack and pulled his body backward.
As he looked down at the severed hem of his clothes, exhilaration flashed across the Fighting King’s face.
“You truly are str—”
Before he could finish speaking, a sword line was passing through where his mouth had been.
Shiiiiik!
As the Fighting King dodged that swift attack, his fist flew toward Baek Jagang’s face. His attack, too, was so fast that his arm could not be seen.
Paang!
The space where Baek Jagang’s face had been exploded. If air had possessed form, whatever it was would have been smashed to pieces by that powerful attack.
Baek Jagang, having avoided the Fighting King’s fist, cut diagonally with his sword. Though it was an attack that minimized the angles from which one could evade, the Fighting King avoided it and even added a counterattack.
Even without using exclusive martial arts that required vast inner power, a terrifying exchange where lives hung in the balance continued.
The confidence that each could kill the other with a single sword stroke or a single fist shot toward one another like light.
To those watching, only dozens of lines could be seen. Formed and vanishing, formed and vanishing. The moment one of those lines touched a body, victory and defeat would be decided in an instant—lines of death.
It was also an exchange that revealed the fundamentals of a martial artist. It was a conversation with sword and fist: thrusting, cutting, dodging, throwing punches—things that could never be understood through flashy techniques alone. The fist asked, and the sword answered. That sound was like the wind, and also like rain.
Peoeok!
Then, with a sound like a drum bursting, the two separated.
“Hoo, hoo.”
The Fighting King’s breathing immediately grew rough. It showed just how exhausting the exchange moments ago had been. By contrast, Baek Jagang’s breathing was steady. That breathing alone revealed whose fundamentals were superior.
Baek Jagang gave the Fighting King no time to rest.
In the instant he flashed forward, Baek Jagang’s sword rushed in, fast and precise.
The Fighting King blocked that perilous attack by striking it aside with the back of his hand.
Shukak! Shukak!
Baek Jagang’s sword began carving away the space. It was a chilling attack that seemed as though life itself would be carved away if one remained there.
The Fighting King took his first step backward.
Just when it seemed he would be pushed back that way, the Fighting King’s fist flew in with unusual lightness.
Ordinarily, it would have been something easily knocked aside with a sword. It was that light of an attack.
But Baek Jagang instinctively sensed danger and desperately twisted his body away from the fist.
Whoooooong!
Along with a tremendous sound of wind.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
The ground and grass behind him were swept away, and a vast trench appeared in a straight line. It was an astonishing attack that erased even the distant trees and rocks.
Had he not realized that the essence of fist arts was contained in that one move that seemed so light, he would have suffered a fairly serious injury.
Bisa-in, who had been watching, clenched his fist tightly. If it had been him, would he have recognized the power contained in that light fist? No. He would not have. It was a level of skill entirely different from the Cheongsalgwi he had fought earlier.
The Fighting King was a heartless man who treated the lives of his subordinates like worn-out shoes, but at least his martial arts were profound.
Baek Jagang recognized his opponent’s martial art.
“Linked Wind and Cloud Fist!”
The martial art of Magyeo, who had once been called the god of the battlefield.
“As expected! You recognize it.”
“If it is the Linked Wind and Cloud Fist, then I can acknowledge it.”
An intense radiance poured from Baek Jagang’s eyes.
To oppose that momentum, the Fighting King stamped his foot down where he stood.
Kwang!
Jjeoooooook!
The ground split in all directions like a spiderweb.
A line cracked open and passed even between Geom Mugeuk and Bisa-in.
Because it happened to pass between them, Bisa-in felt uneasy. Was it foreshadowing some ominous future?
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk lightly leapt over the split line and stood beside him. Then, without a word, he stared at the fight.
‘Ah! This is it.’
He could simply cross over like this, so what had he been agonizing over? What in the world had he been agonizing over?
If someone were to ask what kind of person Geom Mugeuk was, he could now answer. He was someone who crossed the line first.
It had always been this side that felt lacking, yet he was the one who lightly hopped over first. He hopped across and said, let’s be friends. He did not let pride get in the way, wondering whether he should go over or tell the other to come.
Bisa-in watched Geom Mugeuk’s profile.
The way he was absorbed in the battle was the most serious he had ever seen him. This was the face of the martial artist Geom Mugeuk.
‘…Even if he approached me in order to kill me.’
Bisa-in’s gaze also turned to the fight. In that time, he had missed dozens of moves, but that was fine. Learning this one thing—the way he casually leapt over a line—would make him grow far more.
Because to him, that small hop a moment ago was far more difficult than the soaring leap now taking place.
Unable to withstand Baek Jagang’s attack, the Fighting King shot up into the sky.
Baek Jagang soared after him.
The two flew upward at terrifying speed and vanished from sight in an instant. Only Geom Mugeuk, who had mastered the Divine Eye Art, could perceive what was happening up in the sky.
A short while later, someone fell at terrifying speed.
Kwang!
He crashed into the ground.
The one who had fallen with enough impact to cave in the surroundings was the Fighting King.
Lying on his back and facing the sky, he immediately rolled to the side.
Chwaaaak.
A streak of sword energy cut through the place where he had been lying. Had he stayed still, his body would have been split in two; the line created by the sword energy was that straight and deep.
Baek Jagang, who dropped down after him, pressed the attack like a storm.
The Fighting King tried to say something, but Baek Jagang gave him no opportunity.
If it had been the Heavenly Demon he was fighting, they might have talked leisurely, drunk wine in the midst of battle, then fought again. In that way, they might have battled for seven days and nights.
But Baek Jagang did not grant the Fighting King that worth.
Sword and fist crossed the air. The movements of the two were so fast that sound could not keep up with them.
In the end, the Fighting King used a perilous move. In a life-and-death duel, it was always the disadvantaged side that took risks.
Shiiiiik.
Gwaak!
He caught the incoming sword blade with his bare hand. None of those watching had expected him to dare attempt to seize the Sado Alliance Leader’s blade with his bare hand.
At the same time as he caught the blade, his elbow flew toward Baek Jagang’s chest.
Papapak!
Even though Baek Jagang twisted, pulled, and pushed the blade with lightning speed, the palm was not cut.
Shwaaaaaak.
The elbow grazed past Baek Jagang. It was a move he had staked everything on, but Baek Jagang narrowly avoided the attack.
The instant their bodies crossed, the Fighting King’s headbutt aimed for Baek Jagang’s face. It was a move as unexpected as catching the sword with his hand.
Peoeok!
Before anyone knew it, the hilt of Baek Jagang’s sword, which had slipped free from the Fighting King’s hand, struck his face.
At the same time, Baek Jagang’s sword flashed through the air like lightning.
Seogeok.
With a sound that announced the end, the movements of the two men stopped. It was the price of his recklessness in catching the Sado Alliance Leader’s sword with his hand and even attempting a headbutt.
A long cut had been carved across the Fighting King’s chest.
But not a single drop of blood flowed. What had been cut was his clothing.
This time, Baek Jagang’s gaze turned to the Fighting King’s hand. He had clearly cut his palm before cutting his chest, yet not a single drop of blood had appeared.
Still, as though he felt pain, the Fighting King grimaced and rubbed his chest. Then he slowly took off his outer robe.
Revealed beneath it was a treasured garment.
“The Immortal Divine Armor. The greatest protective garment, one that cannot be cut by any sword.”
Then he raised both hands to show them.
“The Fighting God. Gauntlets that may likewise be called the finest. Consider it my courtesy toward you.”
As Geom Mugeuk had expected, he had come wearing protective treasures. And not just any, but the Immortal Divine Armor and the Fighting God. If compared to martial artists, they were the supreme protective treasures occupying the positions of Cult Leader and Alliance Leader.
“That is fine. To face me, you ought to be wearing at least that much. However, seeing that protective garment makes me curious about one thing.”
Baek Jagang released a new aura.
After one great tremor, a bluish light began to coil around his sword. It was the first time since the battle began that his sword had held sword force. At the same time, an energy different from anything before began to ripple around Baek Jagang’s body.
With those small eyes that were all the more frightening because they were small, Baek Jagang said,
“That protective garment had better truly be impossible to cut.”