Chapter 132. It Had Been a While Since He Ate Dirt.
In the end, the Sword Demon unfolded his legs from the lotus position, rose, and stood by the window, watching outside. At the edge of where the gisaeng house’s lights barely reached, he could see his disciple and the Hao Sect Leader facing off.
‘Young. So young.’
Because of the lamplight and moonlight, two shadows stretched out long across the ground.
He already knew that the disciple brat had fought his father and elder brother, but since it was a family matter, he had not interfered. The Hao Sect Leader, however, had gotten into a quarrel with his disciple in the middle of their conversation.
The disciple brat’s martial talent was outstanding.
And the Hao Sect Leader was also an exceptional master, so he was watching because he was curious about how their fight would unfold.
Besides, if he did not keep watch from here, it seemed the two would even stir up their internal energy to fight.
The man who had blown away Saryugok’s main base with an incomplete ultimate technique was the Hao Sect Leader.
Furthermore, his disciple’s ice arts originally had a side that did not distinguish between friend and foe, so there was a possibility that this quiet neighborhood called Ilyang County would turn into utter chaos.
Before long, as the two clashed…
Dull impacts began to burst out beneath the moonlight.
In an instant, windows opened here and there, people poked their heads out, and passersby also joined as spectators, making even more shadows gather around them.
Even without internal energy, the two fought quite viciously and quite well.
At times, the disciple brat was struck by a kick and sent flying, only to kick off the ground and charge back in.
At other times, both were struck by the fists they had thrown at the same moment and were pushed back together. Watching from afar, the Sword Demon found himself thinking that the sounds made when body collided with body were surprisingly varied.
Thud! Crack! Crunch! Smack!
The two kept stamping the ground with their feet, their breathing grew heavier and heavier, and they continued fighting with curses, difficult to make out, increasingly mixed in.
“Hey, you!”
“You son of—!”
“You fucking—!”
Perhaps because the situation was so urgent, most of the curses ended while half-cut off.
For a moment, the Sword Demon was so dumbfounded that he let out a “Huh…”
In the midst of clashing with the disciple brat, the Hao Sect Leader had even grabbed his hair and was yanking it out.
“Aah… are you not letting go?”
Even in the middle of that, their qinna hand techniques were twisting each other’s wrists, and they kept tripping over legs, falling, then getting up again. It was a bizarre fight that, while high-level, had instantly developed into something like a street brawl.
‘What in the world is this…?’
Even the experienced Sword Demon had never before seen martial masters of the jianghu tear at each other’s hair.
When the disciple brat cursed and grabbed the Hao Sect Leader’s leg,
the Hao Sect Leader seized the disciple brat’s waist with both hands, lifted him up, and slammed him into the ground.
Boom!
Then, when the Hao Sect Leader stomped down toward his face, the disciple brat hurriedly dodged by rolling across the ground again and again.
The Sword Demon watched with his mouth open.
‘Ah, the Lazy Donkey Roll…’
The Lazy Donkey Roll meant a lazy donkey rolling on the ground.
In truth, the disciple barely managed to dodge while coating his entire body in dust. The Lazy Donkey Roll was the movement that dignified people of the jianghu found most shameful. It was the disciple who had rolled on the ground, yet the Sword Demon’s own face was turning red. Of course, when one’s life was in danger, the Lazy Donkey Roll was something that could be used at any time.
Still, to think they would fight this blatantly, this filthily.
Just as the Hao Sect Leader had said before…
It was a dogfight that could fittingly be called a feast of shit and piss. In that instant, the shadows moved faster.
After the disciple brat unleashed a kick in midair and landed on the ground, he immediately threw the dirt in his hand into the Hao Sect Leader’s eyes.
“No…!”
It seemed he had scooped up dirt when he performed the Lazy Donkey Roll.
As soon as he confirmed his disciple’s hideous scheming, the Sword Demon was so flabbergasted that a gasp escaped him on its own.
The Hao Sect Leader fiercely waved both hands—hands that could not produce palm winds—through the air, and the moment he crossed his arms, he was struck by the disciple brat’s kick and sent flying backward.
‘To think he actually fell for that.’
Thinking that he must not laugh here, the Sword Demon quietly raised a hand and covered his mouth.
“……”
The enraged Hao Sect Leader’s shout burst out.
“You son of a bitch, you threw dirt at me?”
The disciple taunted the Hao Sect Leader.
“How does dirt taste? You ate plenty of it since you were little, right? Been a while, hasn’t it? How’s the taste of home?”
In the middle of all that, the disciple brat was even carrying out a psychological attack. It was clearly a remark made knowing that he himself had been born into a fairly wealthy family, while the Hao Sect Leader had once been a waiter.
It was childishness so ugly there was no end to it.
As the two clashed again…
Strangely, from among the spectators came words like these.
“Jaha, don’t go easy on him. Smash him. Why are you fighting like that?”
The Hao Sect Leader answered while driving the disciple brat back.
“Shut the hell up!”
The spectators chimed in.
“Uncle Pyeong, please shut up. If you’ve been drinking, go home.”
“I’m going to watch the fight before I leave. You shut up.”
The Sword Demon watched the fight with his arms crossed. It struck him anew that this place was the Hao Sect Leader’s hometown.
In that moment, the Hao Sect Leader jumped in place several times, then assumed a stance with both hands thrust out in an overt manner. It was a strange stance, neither qinna hand technique, nor palm art, nor fist art.
“Hmm…”
The disciple brat spat out a curse and charged in.
“What kind of bullshit stance is that!”
“Come in.”
Amid the exchange of fists and feet, there came a crisp slap, and the disciple was struck across the cheek. Even as the Hao Sect Leader took the disciple’s fist with his body, he slapped him across the face again.
Slap!
The sound was exceptionally crisp.
By now, even just from his shadow, one could tell the disciple brat was riled up.
‘He lost the psychological battle because of the slaps…’
The Sword Demon found it strange that he was still coldly analyzing the fight even in the middle of this.
Judging from how things had unfolded so far, he even wondered whether getting hit with the dirt had been part of the Hao Sect Leader’s psychological warfare.
It felt like a fight between idiots of an extremely high level.
The enraged disciple charged in, and the two fiercely competed with qinna hand techniques, fists, and kicks. Then, at some point, the Hao Sect Leader grabbed the disciple by the collar, quickly lowered his body to kneel, and in that same motion slammed the disciple into the ground in a subtle, ingenious way.
Boom!
This time, the impact was quite strong. A “Ghk” escaped from the disciple’s mouth.
The Sword Demon narrowed his brow.
‘It is no crude technique.’
It was an effective technique that broke the body’s balance with little strength and slammed the opponent into the ground. When the disciple kicked from his prone position, the Hao Sect Leader caught it with his hand, then seized the disciple brat’s foot again, lifted him, and slammed him this way and that.
Thud! Thud!
Even just from his shadow, the Hao Sect Leader was a merciless man.
The merciless man lifted his disciple with one hand again, and this time brought him down with his own knee braced near the disciple’s waist.
Thud!
The onlookers jumped in fright and collectively let out a gasp.
“Oof……”
“Didn’t something break?”
In the meantime, the sound of slaps burst out one after another.
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
In an instant, the fight had shifted sharply in favor of the Haomun Sect Leader. Every time the disciple bastard moved, either his sleeve or his leg was inevitably seized by the Haomun Sect Leader. At one point, the Haomun Sect Leader grabbed the disciple by the collar with his left hand, pulled him in, and asked.
“Surrender?”
“No?”
In that instant, the Haomun Sect Leader hoisted the disciple up with both hands and slammed him into the ground with all his might.
Thud!
“……”
Perhaps the blow had been rather heavy, because the disciple bastard writhed on the ground like an earthworm.
Even the Sword Demon could not help but marvel.
Strangely enough, the two had truly fought without using even a handful of internal energy. Since he had watched from the beginning, he knew their external skills were at a similar level, but the disciple had been completely unable to respond to the Haomun Sect Leader’s methods after he changed his stance midway.
It looked like a kind of body technique developed by expanding upon qinna techniques.
‘So he learned some bizarre martial art that is neither fist art nor qinna.’
The Haomun Sect Leader spoke to the onlookers in a calm tone.
“It’s over, so all of you piss off. Not going to hurry up?”
The onlookers grumbled as they dispersed.
The Sword Demon stared silently at the disciple lying on the ground and the Haomun Sect Leader who had driven off the spectators. He could only keep watching, curious as to what conversation the two would have after the fight ended.
As the onlookers scattered, the Haomun Sect Leader kept spitting onto the ground. He must really have eaten dirt, because he spat, spat, and wiped around his mouth as well.
The disciple bastard lying on the ground apparently still had his mouth alive and well.
“If that had been poison, you’d be dead.”
The Haomun Sect Leader replied.
“If you were the sort to use poison, I’d have killed you before that.”
“……Bullshit. Be thankful I didn’t use internal energy.”
“Fuck off.”
The disciple bastard sat up and brushed the dust off his arms.
The Haomun Sect Leader also brushed the dust off his body, then walked toward the Plum Blossom Pavilion without another word.
“……”
The Sword Demon, who had expected some sort of conversation to pass between them, watched the Haomun Sect Leader with his arms crossed.
‘Hmm……’
The Haomun Sect Leader, wearing a blunt expression, disappeared from view just like that and entered the Plum Blossom Pavilion.
When they fought, they had made such a vulgar, childish, swear-laden commotion, yet once the fight ended, there were no particular words exchanged.
In the empty clearing, the disciple bastard sat with one knee raised and let out a sigh.
“……”
A moment later, the disciple bastard also rose, dusted off his backside, and entered the Plum Blossom Pavilion.
The Sword Demon stared endlessly at the clearing with his arms crossed.
For some strange reason, that idiotic fight remained stuck in his mind.
What was clear was that what had taken place in the clearing was not a fight of the Demonic Path.
It was simply a fight between men.
“Well now…… What a strange fight.”
***
As soon as I returned to the Plum Blossom Room, I rinsed my mouth with liquor and spat it into an empty bowl.
“That son of a bitch. Been a while since I last ate dirt.”
I washed out my gritty mouth with liquor.
Perhaps because I had loosened up my body so thoroughly, the liquor seemed to soak right into me.
“Burp.”
The Lust Demon bastard had fought surprisingly well, so I had no choice but to make clever use of the special techniques I had roughly picked up by eye when I fought the Fist King.
They certainly worked well.
Why else would the Fist King be called the Fist King?
If I had used internal energy as well, the Lust Demon bastard’s waist would have broken today.
Just then, the door flew open and the Lust Demon entered, sitting down across from me.
Maehyang poked her head in from the doorway and asked.
“Sect Leader, shall I bring more liquor?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, do that. No need for snacks.”
“Yes.”
A little later, I poured the Dukang liquor Maehyang had brought into the Lust Demon’s cup. Then the Lust Demon took hold of the Dukang liquor and poured some into mine.
As soon as we drank a cup, we looked toward the door again.
The Sword Demon opened the door and appeared, speaking as he walked in.
“……Disciple, I saw your Lazy Donkey Roll well.”
The Lust Demon straightened his posture and replied.
“Yes, Master.”
“You rolled quite well, like a donkey.”
“Yes.”
As the Sword Demon sat in the seat of honor, he said to me.
“Sect Leader, I also saw you tearing at my disciple’s hair. It was impressive.”
I nodded and replied.
“I am glad I broadened your horizons, Senior.”
“……”
Once the Sword Demon was seated, the Lust Demon held out the Dukang liquor.
“Master, please accept a cup.”
“Very well. Let us drink a little today.”
As the Lust Demon poured liquor into the Sword Demon’s cup, he said.
“I only lost because I did not use internal energy, so please do not take it too much to heart.”
“I know.”
The Sword Demon, holding his cup, looked at me.
“But what does tearing out hair have to do with broadening my horizons?”
As I poured liquor, I replied in a serious tone.
“Why do you think the masters of the Buddhist schools shave their heads? It is all to avoid suffering such a calamity. This little shit is always concerned about his appearance, but since I taught him a lesson today, it will be of use to him someday. This is all experience too.”
The Sword Demon nodded.
“Sect Leader, you always had a profound meaning after all.”
This time, the Sword Demon looked at his disciple.
“You threw dirt quite well, like hidden weapons. It was like watching some third-rate Black Path thug. It was a filthy attack the likes of which I never even saw in the Demonic Cult.”
The Lust Demon replied.
“You saw it precisely. If that had been a large number of poisoned needles, would this bastard be drinking in front of me like this right now? In truth, the match ended then. You should consider it not as a single bout, but as an even fight of one win and one loss.”
The Sword Demon nodded, then held out his cup.
“So this is when one says that only a man’s mouth is still alive. Let us drink.”
The three of us downed the Dukang wine, then set our cups down.
“…….”
I suddenly looked at the Sword Demon’s expression.
His expression was bizarre.
It was exactly the look of someone on the verge of laughing, yet not quite.
“Senior, why is your face like that? If you’re going to laugh, then laugh. Your facial muscles are going to suffer qi deviation.”
The Sword Demon replied.
“Where did such pathetic fellows meet each other… How curious.”
“Uh……?”
The Lecher, who had suddenly seemed about to say something, tilted his head back and touched his nose. A little blood was trickling out. Probably because I’d slapped him. Abruptly, the Lecher tore off part of his sleeve in a hurry, stuffed it into his nose, then lowered his head.
With one nostril plugged, the Lecher suddenly looked at his master.
“…….”
I followed his gaze and looked at the Sword Demon as well.
The nostrils of this taciturn, devil-like man were flaring nonstop.
With a complicated expression, the Lecher said to his master.
“Master, please just laugh.”
Then the Sword Demon laughed quite loudly.
The moment I heard the Sword Demon’s laughter, I applauded with a deadpan expression.
“Senior, congratulations.”
The Sword Demon looked at me with a bewildered expression.
“For what?”
“Isn’t this the first time you’ve laughed since you were born? The first time is hard, but the second will be easier. A man should at least know how to laugh. Tsk…….”
When the Sword Demon grew flustered, this time the Lecher held back his laughter.
I deliberately looked at the two of them with a solemn expression. Since the Sword Demon might draw his demonic sword, I spoke to them in as grave a tone as possible.
“……Let’s have a drink.”
At times like this, the key is absolutely not to laugh.