Jin Paecheon had originally possessed an overbearing inclination in his martial arts.
When the grave yet incomparably clear energy of the Gentleman Sword was added to such a Jin Paecheon, he revealed a new bearing.
Hwa Mugi recognized what kind of sword Jin Paecheon was holding.
“The greatest of all ages—the Gentleman Sword!”
At the sight of the Gentleman Sword, Hwa Mugi grew excited. He did not feel fear; rather, he rejoiced.
“See? You weren’t some bookish gentleman after all. You came here fully intending to kill me.”
Hwa Mugi’s two eyes blazed with a single emotion. It was instinctive greed, drawn toward the Gentleman Sword.
Because he did not hide it, everyone could feel his greed.
“Do you want it?”
To Jin Paecheon’s question, Hwa Mugi answered that he did want it like this.
“Isn’t a gentleman and a slaughter star only a sheet of paper apart to begin with?”
The Cult Leader of Pungcheon, who had been listening, could not hold back and said a word.
“Just how thick is that sheet of paper supposed to be?”
At those words, everyone wore a faint smile.
“Look at yourself. In what way are you and Alliance Leader Jin only a hair’s breadth apart?”
Hwa Mugi laughed, but what lay within that laugh was unmistakable killing intent.
“I’ll pierce your heart with that sword.”
In other words, it was a declaration that he would kill both Jin Paecheon and the Cult Leader of Pungcheon.
As if telling him to try as much as he liked, the Cult Leader of Pungcheon thumped his own chest with his hand.
“I may not be a gentleman, but I’m no coward. Come at me all you want. No—since you’ll die by Alliance Leader Jin’s hand, I suppose you won’t be able to.”
In that way, the Cult Leader of Pungcheon raised Jin Paecheon’s morale. Whatever the situation, he was the best at enlivening the mood.
Jin Paecheon slowly aimed the Gentleman Sword at Hwa Mugi.
“Whose martial arts will you display?”
Hwa Mugi made a cruel choice.
“I’ll kill you with the martial arts of the man you say you trust!”
Hwa Mugi intended to face Jin Paecheon with the martial arts of the Martial Emperor Divine Sword.
The Martial Emperor Divine Sword’s signature martial art was the Gwangmyeong Muyang Sword Art.
Jin Paecheon’s signature martial art was the Imperial Sword Form.
It was the moment when two supreme martial arts of the orthodox faction collided.
The two men charged toward each other at the same time and thrust out their swords.
Ting.
As if it were truly a lie, the tip of one sword struck precisely against the tip of the other. To clash sword tips while charging at each other so quickly? From the very first move, the two of them were displaying divine prowess.
Chiiiing.
The blades of the two swords scraped past each other and flew toward their targets.
With a sharp whistle of wind, the blades instantly brushed past each other’s ears. Had the two not turned their faces aside to evade, their faces would have been pierced through.
When the two swords crossed.
In that fleeting instant, Jin Paecheon’s face was reflected on the blade. Though it was a black sword, it was reflected clearly.
At some point, the face of his reflected on a sword blade during battle had become calm and composed.
It was a face so accustomed to battle that it no longer grew tense, and a weary face exhausted by life. Gradually, the face reflected in the blade had only grown older. And so he had stopped looking at it.
But today, Jin Paecheon’s face was different.
He was tense and excited. As if it were that day long ago, when he had fought his first real battle.
Jin Paecheon’s heart was pounding like the drums of a battlefield.
Kang! Kaang! Kang!
Sword clashed against sword, and sparks flew. Deadly attacks aimed at the opponent’s vital points continued one after another.
Since it was the Gentleman Sword, called the greatest sword of all ages, one would naturally think it could snap the opponent’s sword in a single blow, but Hwa Mugi’s sword remained intact.
First of all, the black sword he held was also no ordinary blade.
It was Amcheon Milgeom (暗天密劍), the Dark Heaven Secret Sword, the finest treasured sword of the Dark Palace.
And that treasured sword was being supported by Hwa Mugi’s powerful internal energy. If he had not protected it with such formidable internal energy, it would not have endured for long after clashing so violently.
Shwiik!
Hwa Mugi’s black sword flew in at terrifying speed.
Because the eye could not keep up with that speed, it had to be blocked by instinct.
No feints were used to gauge the opponent’s skill or test his response. Doing so would mean instant death.
Only when the greatest move one could make, the best move one could unfold, was brought out could one endure.
“What an incredible sword!”
Those watching the battle could tell. Hwa Mugi’s reaction was both a display of greed and a provocation toward Jin Paecheon.
What I am admiring right now is not your swordsmanship, but your sword.
This battle was a fight between those who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
It was a battle where victory and defeat would be decided by the difference of a single speck of dust in the heart.
If Jin Paecheon were affected by those words, it would certainly have an adverse effect on this fight.
But it was needless worry.
Jin Paecheon was a man who had experienced every hardship, weathered all manner of storms and bloodshed, and stood in this place.
The fact that he was being provoked meant there was a need to provoke him.
‘In other words, this is a fight worth having!’
Jin Paecheon had reached a realm where he interpreted any provocation from his opponent in a way that helped the battle.
The two men’s swords flew endlessly toward each other.
The trajectories of sword lines they created, moving between straight lines and curves.
Those lines were paths leading to death.
Jin Paecheon was walking that path like a gentleman.
The reason he could endure even while absolutely inferior in internal energy was thanks to the Gentleman Sword. Because the Gentleman Sword was so powerful, Hwa Mugi also had to pay attention to keeping his black sword from breaking.
Hwa Mugi’s sword stabbed in succession toward Jin Paecheon’s neck, shoulder, and heart.
Shwik! Shwiiik! Shwiiik!
Each time Jin Paecheon knocked those attacks away with his sword, an impact surged through him as if his wrist would break.
It was unbelievable that such swift attacks contained such profound internal energy. Each one of those rapid attacks felt like a single move into which an absolute master had poured his heart and blood.
And such attacks came flying in succession as if it were nothing.
Those watching felt it at the same time.
‘This is a battle difficult even to interfere in.’
The moment one lost focus, even for an instant, death would follow. If someone carelessly stepped in to help at the wrong moment, they might instead harm Jin Paecheon.
How could anyone intervene in a battle so perfect?
Rather, this was a battle no one could join because Jin Paecheon was fighting too well.
Geom Ujin was not watching each of their individual moves. If he tried to follow the techniques, the exchange of offense and defense was so fast that even he would be unable to intervene.
What Geom Ujin watched was the flow of the battle. He looked at the two men’s eyes, their expressions, and listened to their breathing.
Whether they were tired, afraid, seeking an opportunity, or thinking of a final move. He watched the overall flow of the fight.
The battle grew rougher and more savage by the moment.
The fight, which had been a calm lake, caught a rapid current and began to fall like a waterfall.
Jin Paecheon was completely immersed in the battle. He could neither see nor hear anything else. Only Hwa Mugi and his sword were visible.
He was fighting at the final realm he could unfold. Because he was utterly absorbed in the fight, the ones more tense than him were actually those watching.
At this moment, both Geom Ujin and Baek Jagang were sincerely worried for Jin Paecheon.
It was not because, if he died, they would be next. They were afraid that even though they had been there with him, they might fail to prevent his death—and that they would have to deliver that news to his son and disciple.
For that reason, the mental strain on those watching was also immense.
Chwaaaak.
Seogeok!
With the sound of something being cut, the two men separated.
A long strip of Jin Paecheon’s clothing was sliced away. Had it gone just a little deeper, it would have been a grievous wound.
“Haa, haa.”
Ragged breaths flowed from Jin Paecheon’s mouth. Hwa Mugi, on the other hand, was calm. Not a single breath of his had grown rough.
He was not strong merely because the martial arts and internal energy of several souls had combined within him.
He had been born with both the Heavenly Slaughter Star and the Heavenly Martial Body.
There was a joke that the Heavenly Martial Body performed straight punches even as fetal movement inside the mother’s womb. A body born from the beginning to learn martial arts.
That was why Hwa Mugi was not only powerful in internal energy, but was displaying martial arts even more outstandingly than the masters from three hundred years ago.
“Those people three hundred years ago, and you people now—you are all the same.”
Geom Ujin could sense it. During the fight, someone had spoken to him. That had interfered with his concentration, causing him to pause the battle for a moment. Who could it be? Geom Ujin thought of one person.
That rage turned toward the people gathered here.
“Do you consider me greedy merely because I tried to possess a single sword?”
Hwa Mugi’s gaze turned toward Geom Ujin.
“When you people are trying to possess this entire murim.”
This time, he looked at Baek Jagang as he spoke.
“You say my birth was a coincidence? I am an inevitable existence! One created by all of you!”
The final place his gaze turned back to was Jin Paecheon.
Hwa Mugi approached Jin Paecheon and asked.
“Is your justice not a justice built atop graves?”
Just as Baek Jagang stepped forward to take his place, Jin Paecheon looked at him.
It was a gaze asking for one more chance. Though he was exhausted, Jin Paecheon’s eyes were clear.
Baek Jagang looked at Geom Ujin. At that gaze asking what he thought, Geom Ujin looked at Jin Paecheon.
“He ought to answer that question, at least.”
It meant they should give him another chance, and so Baek Jagang stepped back.
Hwa Mugi asked Jin Paecheon.
“You defined yourselves, and decided the worth of your own existence.”
A red aura rippled in Hwa Mugi’s eyes. It was a powerful murderous intent unlike any they had seen until now.
“Are you truly righteous?”
Jin Paecheon let out a light sigh and answered.
“As you say, perhaps we truly are only a sheet of paper apart.”
In the past, Jin Paecheon had once left the alliance alone to kill every person involved in the death of his child. If he had committed that deed?
“That is why, even at this age, I am still searching for the answer to your question.”
Because Hwa Mugi knew he was speaking sincerely, he asked again.
“Alliance Leader, is the murim you are trying to protect a place worth giving your life for?”
“It is.”
The answer flowed out without hesitation.
“Does this murim truly have value enough to continue?”
Jin Paecheon’s answer was clear.
“It does.”
“Why?”
“Because in this murim, people greater than you or I will appear and preserve that value.”
Geom Mugeuk and his grandson Ha Gun would carry it on. He believed they would create a better murim than the one now. Before, he had only worried, but now he believed.
Jin Paecheon spoke proudly.
“You may be able to kill me, but you will not be able to destroy that value.”
At that proud answer, Hwa Mugi reacted coldly.
“It is because you are so stubborn that I want to destroy it.”
The two clashed again. Though they had worried because he was so exhausted, Jin Paecheon fought even better than before.
In an instant, dozens of moves passed.
Chang!
The two swords crossed in the shape of a cross. Beyond the swords, they could see each other’s expressions. Hwa Mugi was smiling. The moment he sensed the impure intent within that smile.
Hwa Mugi’s technique suddenly changed.
After displaying the Martial Emperor Divine Sword’s martial arts, he had suddenly unfolded the martial arts of the Palace Lord of Cheonui.
“The Murim Alliance Leader I failed to kill back then—I shall kill you today!”
When the spirit of the swordsmanship suddenly changed, Jin Paecheon was flustered. His body had already been adjusted to the Martial Emperor Divine Sword’s martial arts, but then a completely different swordsmanship suddenly emerged.
If it were an ordinary master, what would it matter what changes the opponent made? But his opponent was Hwa Mugi.
The changed swordsmanship flew toward Jin Paecheon at extreme speed.
Papapat!
Blood sprayed from Jin Paecheon’s shoulder and arm.
At the very moment Hwa Mugi rushed in to finish Jin Paecheon off!
Hwa Mugi turned around and swung his sword.
Kwaaang!
The sound of energy exploding in midair rang out. It was the formless sword energy the Sword King had fired, flying toward him.
After dispersing the formless sword energy, Hwa Mugi immediately flew toward the Sword King with the speed of light.
Changchangchangchangchang!
Under Hwa Mugi’s consecutive attacks, the Sword King was pushed back.
He was outmatched in speed and internal energy, but not in swordsmanship. If he had been, he would already have been stabbed five times in succession by those ferocious attacks.
Kakakakakang!
In an instant, Hwa Mugi drove the Sword King all the way to the wall.
Swaaaek!
The moment the Sword King’s back touched the wall, Hwa Mugi’s sword flew in at a bizarre angle.
It was an attack that anyone would have thought impossible to avoid.
Seogeok!
Cutting through the Sword King’s hair, it carved a long slash through the tavern wall. He had truly evaded the attack by a hair’s breadth.
Just as the second attack was about to fly in again.
Shwiiik!
The Gentleman Sword of Jin Paecheon, who had charged in from behind, stabbed toward Hwa Mugi’s back.
Hwa Mugi twisted his body, knocked aside the sword flying in from behind, and slipped away to the side.
“Is there such a thing as a gentleman who stabs someone in the back?”
At Hwa Mugi’s mockery, Jin Paecheon gave no answer. Blood was streaming down from his shoulder and arm.
“This is what happens when a gentleman keeps company with villains like them.”
Geom Ujin and Baek Jagang said nothing either. At the critical moment, they had seen the Sword King intervene a step ahead of them and so had not stepped in themselves.
In the earlier exchange between Jin Paecheon and Hwa Mugi, the place where the Sword King had been standing was the optimal position from which to help Jin Paecheon without harming him.
Despite his injury, Jin Paecheon remained composed.
“If I’d known wicked deeds were this interesting, I would have tried them long ago.”
The Sword King expressed his gratitude to Jin Paecheon.
“Thank you.”
Because Jin Paecheon had rushed in, a second attack had not come. If it had, he might not have died, but he would certainly have been cut badly.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”
If not for the Sword King’s formless sword qi just now, his wound would not have ended at this extent; he would have suffered a fatal injury.
It was then.
“There was no need for that.”
The one who spoke was Geom Ujin.
There was no need? Could he possibly mean there had been no need to help Jin Paecheon?
Everyone looked at Geom Ujin in puzzlement.
Then something astonishing happened.
Geom Ujin slowly raised his palm. The palm that seemed as though it would point toward Hwa Mugi was instead aimed at the second floor of the tavern.
Shwaaaaaak!
Kwaaaaang!
Under Geom Ujin’s palm force, the wall with the writing engraved on it was smashed apart and blown away. The wall Jo Chunbae treasured as dearly as his own life shattered into pieces and vanished.
No one had imagined Geom Ujin would destroy it, and they all stared at him in shock.
Hwa Mugi, too, asked with an expression of surprise at the act.
“Wasn’t that a work created by your son?”
At that, Geom Ujin said to the Sword King,
“You could have leaped upward just now to avoid it, but you didn’t, did you?”
Geom Ujin had seen it precisely. In the brief exchange with Hwa Mugi, the Sword King could have dodged a little more easily.
But his momentary instinct had chosen not to go up to the second floor. It was for Geom Mugeuk’s sake. Because he hoped that historic achievement left behind by him would not disappear.
Geom Ujin had read that feeling in his battle.
But in a fight this difficult, there could be no constraints of any kind.
That was why he had blown it away himself. So that from now on, everyone could fight with an easy mind.
And he had an alternative for Jo Chunbae as well. He would build him a new tavern, an even grander one.
“The writing can simply be written again. Everyone who wrote it is right here.”