Chapter 173. Then that’s that.
Does even a dantian have a temper?
I don’t know about other bastards’ dantians, but mine apparently does.
There are often times when the things happening inside the body are difficult to understand. The yang energy lingering in my dantian was beating the yin black and blue, while the yin energy, even as it was getting pounded, had the yang by the throat.
But neither ever yielded to the other.
Because the master of yin and yang was ultimately me, and from the start, I was not a man who submitted to anything. I was not tense because of those who might betray me; I was sweating all over because of the sudden change in my dantian.
‘Damn it…….’
A man who drives himself into crisis—who would have thought that would be me?
Meanwhile, the White-Faced Young Master was, of course, enduring my palm force well.
The reason was simple.
It was because I had left some strength in reserve to prepare for the others’ surprise attacks. I glared at the Master of Wuhyang Valley with the most frightening eyes I could manage and conveyed my inner thoughts.
‘Anyone but me is fine. Hit the guy next to me.’
The instant the Master of Wuhyang Valley’s hand moved, strength tensed through my entire body. In the flash before my eyes, the sword the Master of Wuhyang Valley drew skimmed past in front of me by a hair’s breadth, then shot toward the White-Faced Young Master’s face.
‘Nice.’
But the White-Faced Young Master caught the sword precisely between the thumb and index finger of his right hand. I had no choice but to inwardly praise the White-Faced Young Master’s outstanding skill.
‘You were good too.’
On the other hand, the Master of Wuhyang Valley’s eyes widened when his sword was caught.
Sometimes bastards who know nothing about internal energy say, in situations like this, couldn’t you just twist the sword away? Sometimes that’s possible, and sometimes it isn’t. Unless the White-Faced Young Master was an idiot, the moment he caught the Master of Wuhyang Valley’s sword, he would have been pouring internal energy into it.
In any case, the White-Faced Young Master’s situation had become disadvantageous.
Following the natural procedure, the White-Faced Young Master requested help from his subordinates.
“……Kill them.”
At the same time, the White-Faced Young Master explosively injected power in an instant and burst out his palm force along with a wave of qi, putting distance between us.
Thud!
With a tremendous roar, the table burst apart, and sword qi aimed at my back surged in.
I kicked off the ground and shot into the air, then checked the state of the battle while rotating my body. But what I confirmed was the White-Faced Young Master’s face floating in the air at the same height as me.
The two of us drew the swords at our waists and thrust in midair.
Kuwaaaaaang!
As the two streams of sword qi wrapped around our blades collided, a roar and shockwave erupted at the same time instead of the clang of metal. The two of us spun for a moment, unable to control our bodies, but by the time we landed on the ground, we had regained our balance.
At times like this, floundering for no reason is the essence of false and true, empty and full.
Because I still had to conceal my full strength.
By the way, every time something like this happened, I had no choice but to check the condition of my thin wooden sword. Since it was thinner than an ordinary longsword, it made me worry anxiously that it might snap.
For a moment, silence continued as we gauged one another.
I asked Master Yukhap, who was standing a little way off.
“Are you Yukgap?”
Master Yukhap, who was already facing off against the White-Faced Young Master’s subordinates with his sword drawn, replied with an incredulous expression.
“It’s Yukhap.”
“Good.”
Even I, the one who had asked the question, had no idea what I meant by it.
The reason the White-Faced Young Master’s subordinates did not move hastily was because they, in turn, had been surrounded by the Master of Wuhyang Valley’s subordinates who had been waiting outside.
The White-Faced Young Master looked around with an amused expression.
“Valley Master, how unfortunate that you would choose betrayal so easily. How unfortunate indeed.”
The Master of Wuhyang Valley answered with his sword in hand.
“Since when was I on your side for you to speak of betrayal? I merely lost once in a martial gambling match. I never said I would become your slave.”
I rebuked the Master of Wuhyang Valley in a dignified tone.
“This is how frightening gambling can be, everyone.”
The Master of Wuhyang Valley suddenly shouted at me.
“Shut up! You crazy Hao Sect Leader bastard.”
Suddenly, I frowned because my lower abdomen felt uncomfortable and looked around. It was not that I suddenly needed to take a shit, but the state of my body was seriously ominous.
‘No…….’
Feeling somewhat uneasy, I hurriedly infused Flame Fragrance into my wooden sword.
Fortunately, with a whoosh, a crimson flame that made me feel better just by looking at it wrapped around the blade.
‘My internal energy is normal, though.’
I desperately focused on other thoughts to erase the unpleasant sensation in my lower abdomen. It was an application of the technique of controlling diarrhea through oblivion, but as always, it was not much help.
In my urgency, I infused the Flash Dagger in my left hand with the chilling Moon Shadow Heartless Art, like a cold man of the guesthouse.
Fortunately, my ice art also seemed normal, as the blade of the Flash Dagger turned white.
At that moment, a bizarre and terrible pain tore through my entire body.
There was the feeling that someone was gouging out my dantian, combined with the pain of my qi and blood throughout my body being forcibly expanded.
Originally, I was a person accustomed to pain, so I did not scream. But the dantian that should have remained in place kept moving on its own, and the agony of the organs around it being ripped apart surged in horrifically.
‘Ah, please……. Not now.’
As I endured the pain, my entire body trembling, I looked at the people around me. Thinking that it would be difficult to block if someone launched a surprise attack on me right now, I alone staggered backward.
Byeokgeom asked with a startled expression.
“Sect Leader, are you all right?”
Master Yukhap also asked with a startled expression.
“Sect Leader, what is happening? You can’t do this. Are you planning to get us all killed?”
When the White-Faced Young Master jerked his chin, four middle-aged swordsmen approached to deal with Byeokgeom and Master Yukhap.
One middle-aged swordsman spoke to Master Yukhap in a refined voice.
“Everyone, remain still. Now that I look closely, you are Master Yukhap. Why are you together with the Hao Sect Leader?”
Master Yukhap answered the middle-aged man.
“None of your business.”
Everyone in Wuhyang Valley was looking at me, but there was nothing I could do. Right now, even my voice would not come out.
Feeling with my whole body the pain of yin and yang violently colliding, I knelt for a moment and rested.
‘Damn it.’
Was this really a completely out-of-nowhere qi deviation? Or was my body so shocked that it was convulsing? The yin and yang in my dantian were fighting like lunatics to devour each other.
It would already be regrettable if yin and yang were in harmony, but now they were beating each other up?
Was this why I was never popular with women?
At that moment, the White-Faced Young Master, who had been observing me closely, burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha! You’re in a state of qi deviation. Watch to your hearts’ content, then kill him. Hahahahaha…… To think such a crippled fool dared defy me. Soon he’ll cough up blood all on his own. I guarantee it.”
In truth, that was exactly the situation.
In an instant, I poured out blood heavily mixed with sweat from my entire body. A few people seemed frightened by the sight of me spilling blood from every inch of myself, flinching in shock as they backed away.
This time, my own mouth opened and a curse slipped out on its own.
“Ah, fuck……”
Yeop Yahong shouted in an excited tone.
“Wow, it really is true.”
I held out my left hand to buy time.
“Young Hero Yeop, wait.”
“Wait, my ass!”
Yeop Yahong made his entrance in high spirits, dancing his shoulders. Bobbing his head this way and that like a monkey, Yeop Yahong looked at me and approached.
“Sect Leader, are you all right?”
“I am not all right. Stop right there.”
“You were really surprised, weren’t you? Hahaha…… What the hell is this? You’re bleeding like crazy. Wow, just what kind of idiotic martial art did you practice to bleed from your whole body? Where the hell did you learn martial arts, you son of a bitch!”
Even in this life-or-death moment, I answered Yeop Yahong.
“I taught myself.”
Yeop Yahong stamped his foot and burst out laughing.
“Good for you. Crazy bastard. Hahahaha. No wonder you ended up like that, teaching yourself! What are you, some genius?”
“I had a hard time learning it, in my own way. Ever heard of the Effort of Fireflies and Snow (螢雪之功)?”
When I used a learned phrase, Yeop Yahong suddenly changed his tone and roared at me.
“Hey, you Hao Sect Leader son of a bitch! Since last time I thought you were some terrifying bastard, so I got scared for nothing. You rude bastard, you pathetic bastard, you Hao Sect Leader bastard with a pathetic name. You just stand right there. Young Master, I’ll start by taking off one of his arms.”
The White-Faced Young Master smiled and said to Yeop Yahong.
“Yeop clan brat, don’t let your guard down.”
Yeop Yahong answered brightly.
“Ah, yes. Of course. Now, I’m going in.”
Still, Yeop Yahong must have been a little frightened, because he approached slowly with his sword held out in front of him.
For an instant, my whole body went slack. I withdrew the Flame Fragrance I had wrapped around the wooden sword and also recalled the Moon Shadow Merciless Art I had coiled around the Flash Dagger.
A deep sigh suddenly escaped me.
“Hoo……”
Yeop Yahong crooked his left hand.
“This Yeop Yahong is about to become the man who cut off the Hao Sect Leader’s head. Get up, you bastard. I’ll show you the bitter taste of life.”
I put the wooden sword away, then switched the Flash Dagger into my right hand.
“Young Hero Yeop.”
“What?”
For a moment, I could not stop the tears pouring from both eyes. Yeop Yahong was startled and pointed at me.
“Wow, blood tears?”
When I wiped beneath my eyes, just as Yeop Yahong said, my fingers were smeared with blood, sweat, and tears all mixed together.
But I am not a man who yields easily.
Though my strength had drained away, I held out the Flash Dagger with my trembling right hand to kill Yeop Yahong. But even then, the blood flowing from my hand ran down the handle of the Flash Dagger and dripped onto the floor.
In that instant, my temper flared so fiercely that my eyes nearly rolled back. I seized the yin and yang energies fighting in my dantian at the same time, dragged them up, and wrapped them around the Flash Dagger in one breath.
A bizarre sound struck my eardrums, and before I knew it, the blade of the Flash Dagger was dyed in violet sword qi (劍氣).
“……”
It was a color of sword qi I had never seen before.
The color was truly strange.
It looked like a hue made by mixing red, white, blood, sweat, and tears.
Thinking about it, it was not a color I had never seen before. It resembled the violet sunset I had once stared at in a daze.
‘Jaha Sword Qi (紫霞劍氣)?’
I stared, captivated by the color (色), then sensed Yeop Yahong approaching and swung the Flash Dagger.
A splitting crack sounded first. Then I saw the violet sword qi neatly cut both Yeop Yahong’s sword and body in two at once before stretching up into the sky.
For a moment, I felt sorry for Yeop Yahong and called out to him.
“Young Hero Yeop?”
Yeop Yahong’s gaze was turned toward me, but the light had already gone from his eyes. The diagonal line of red blood carved across his upper body spread wider and wider, until his entire body split into two pieces and fell to the floor.
Thud……!
With my mouth half open, I looked at Yeop Yahong, who had departed for the heavens.
“I was going to catch him and give him a hard time. But he died. What a shame.”
Perhaps the pain had been suppressed, because my body’s condition was recovering more and more fiercely.
Suddenly, through the holes all over my body that had been expelling blood and sweat as I willed, I lightly released the qi from my dantian. The blood droplets that had been ominously covering my whole body spread outward, and from where I stood, a violet, blood-colored mist scattered in fine wisps.
The only one here who knew my name was probably Master Yukhap.
Master Yukhap, who had been staring at me with a blank expression, opened his mouth.
“Jaha (紫霞)?”
I could not tell whether he was calling my name or referring to the spreading violet mist, so I answered in my usual tone.
“Yukgap, what?”
Master Yukhap laughed heartily, as if delighted.
“Was it not qi deviation?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t.”
After putting the Flash Dagger into my robe, I spoke to the White-Faced Young Master, whose face was full of shock.
“If you had attacked, you might have had a chance, but you’re too late. I recovered. I bought all the time I needed too. You’ll come to realize that all of this was an operation, a scheme, a strategy, and psychological warfare.”
Only then did the White-Faced Young Master’s expression turn awkward. He raised a finger and ordered his subordinates.
“Attack.”
Just as his subordinates rushed at me, the White-Faced Young Master soared into the air in the opposite direction and began running with qinggong.
“That bastard……”
I took three or four steps in the direction the White-Faced Young Master had fled, then gave Master Yukhap an order.
“Yukgap, can you clean this up?”
“I have to. Uhyanggok is here too.”
I walked toward the swordsmen blocking my way and slashed the Flash Dagger from the left to the upper right. Jaha Sword Qi shot out in the shape of a feather and severed three men’s necks in one blow.
Pwaak!
After killing them in one strike, the one truly startled was me.
“Chills.”
I soared into the air, spun my body, and sent out a palm wind with my left hand, using the recoil as a trick to widen the distance.
In midair, I stepped on tree branches and pushed off tree trunks as I moved, keeping my eyes fixed on the back of the fleeing White-Faced Young Master.
At times like this, I do not bother paying attention to underlings.
After all, both then and now, I have always tended to enjoy beating up just one bastard. I do not know why, but when someone runs away, the instinctive desire to catch him inevitably stirs inside me.
I increased the speed of my qinggong and provoked the fleeing White-Faced Young Master.
“White-Face, do you think you can escape?”
“……”
“The thing I’m most confident in is qinggong, you pathetic bastard. You abandon your subordinates in a situation like this? You abandon your subordinates!”
I furiously pursued the phony man who had abandoned his subordinates and fled. Whether my dantian had been fluttering this way and that like a reed, had become Taiji, or whether yin and yang had declared a temporary truce and reached an agreement was none of my concern.
In any case, I had grown stronger.
That was enough.