Chapter 248. Us, Again

Even in a fight, the one watching from the side and offering advice sees things in more detail. Wooden sword in hand, I quickly swept my gaze over the battles of Ghost Demon, Lust Demon, and Sword Demon, then approached Ghost Demon and asked.

“Who ambushed me?”

I went right up to Baekdoja, who was fighting Ghost Demon, and thrust out my sword.

“Was it you? I’m asking if it was you.”

In that instant, Baekdoja swiftly retreated and knocked away Ghost Demon’s sword. After all, he had no choice but to fear a two-on-one battle.

Since I had not received an answer, I gripped my wooden sword and strode toward Gosanja.

“Hey, Gosanja… so it was you. The bastard who ambushed me.”

Gosanja, who had been blocking Lust Demon’s ice arts with sword winds one after another, spoke in an urgent tone.

“It wasn’t me.”

“It wasn’t? Or it was?”

Using the assassin footwork once displayed by the Blood Night Palace Lord, I closed the distance in an instant and drove my wooden sword into Gosanja’s face. The moment Gosanja hurriedly swung his sword to knock it away, Lust Demon poured out a barrage with both palms and seized the advantage.

This time, I glared at Mureungja and deliberately spoke slowly.

“Mureungja, so it was you. You said we should fight one-on-one, but the code of the martial world has really gone to the dogs. Isn’t that far too despicable? I nearly died fighting because of you.”

Even to my eyes, Mureungja’s inner power was deep.

But he was not someone skilled enough to kill Sword Demon easily.

What’s more, Sword Demon was the sort of man who would not want me to interfere, so I had no intention of joining in either. But harassing him was another matter. This time as well, I strode over and needled Mureungja.

“You son of a bitch… stuffing yourself with peaches, and what you do is ambush people?”

When I charged in with my sword raised, Mureungja kept retreating. Not missing the momentum, Sword Demon seemed to think of the Radiant Sword as a spear and rushed straight at Mureungja. Leaving the two of them aside, I glared at the Taoists standing by. Among them were the one called Eldest Senior Brother and the one who used ventriloquism.

“…So it was actually you lot. The things that ambushed me from behind when I was fighting Ddungdungja.”

“…!”

I charged at them and wildly scattered the sword energy of the Flame Realm wrapped around my wooden sword. In an instant, the arms of several Taoists flew off and blood sprayed in every direction. At that moment, I unleashed a massive Great Flame Realm Hand Seal with my left palm.

The crimson palm force, swollen like a wall, poured down on the Taoists along the way. As the Taoists responded by swinging their swords all at once, a thunderous boom erupted.

Kuwaaaaaang!

I emerged through that shockwave and the Great Flame Realm Hand Seal shattering in midair, cutting into the Taoists’ bodies with my wooden sword. Using the Meteor Sword for the most part, I pressured them by slicing off their wrists in one stroke, and the Taoists who had been watching could not endure it and scattered.

A laugh came out on its own.

The bastards who had waited while firmly believing in Mureungja were now witnessing Mureungja fail to do anything to Sword Demon, and they chose to flee.

After killing the rabble Taoists, cutting them down, and driving them off, I looked again at Baekdoja, who was now crossing hands with Lust Demon.

“Hahaha……”

I simply laughed for no reason. When I glanced around, I saw Martial Uncle Dongsu watching me with an utterly dumbstruck expression. For a moment, I nearly called out, “Martial Uncle,” but fortunately, I did not make that mistake.

“Baldy, are you watching closely? Why? Is it cheap? Despicable? These bastards started it first.”

I moved my wrist, swinging the sword this way and that, spinning around before joining Lust Demon again.

“From what I saw, Baekdoja was the one who ambushed me. That is my conclusion. Just look at how a bastard with a face dark as soot has an alias like Baekdoja—he’s a sinister man whose outside and inside don’t match. If your alias had been Heukdoja (黑桃子), I wouldn’t have suspected you. Caught you.”

I put away my wooden sword, then, just like Lust Demon, wrapped ice arts around both hands and attacked Baekdoja. If Lust Demon attacked Baekdoja’s upper body, I attacked Baekdoja’s lower half with the Hyeonwol Finger Art. If Lust Demon used finger techniques, I also unleashed finger techniques to make the range of our attacks even more confusing. The quick-witted Lust Demon must have decided the moment he saw me join in that he should not spare his inner power, because he fiercely expelled cold energy with both palms.

To attack Baekdoja’s back, I kept moving swiftly, joining forces with Lust Demon using the same ice-arts palm techniques. To begin with, ice arts have a broad striking area, so if the difference in inner power is not great, they are tricky to block. Together with Lust Demon, I struck Baekdoja repeatedly with ice arts and froze him in place, still in the posture of swinging his sword.

Before I could interrogate him any further, Lust Demon’s knife-hand fell on Baekdoja’s frozen forehead.

With a thud, Baekdoja’s head shattered, and he collapsed where he stood.

I briefly met Lust Demon’s eyes, and since it felt unlucky, we both snorted at the same time.

Lust Demon pointed at Gosanja, who was fighting Ghost Demon.

“Actually, that bastard was the one who ambushed you. I saw it clearly.”

I nodded.

“Ah, so that was it. I was completely fooled. We can’t leave him alone. The code of the martial world, you sons of bitches… interfering with a one-on-one is truly wicked.”

I arrived with Lust Demon and interfered with the one-on-one. Ghost Demon’s swordsmanship itself boasted an ironclad defense to begin with, so he had merely been firmly withstanding the offensive of Gosanja, whose inner power was high.

Without asking anything more, I started a three-on-one battle and pressured Gosanja. Lust Demon used ice arts, and this time I wrapped both hands in the Hundred Battles Ten-Stage Art. Ice arts are on the quiet side, but the Hundred Battles Ten-Stage Art is rather noisy.

Ghost Demon still remained at the center of the basic exchange, while Lust Demon and I added our strength in the form of pressuring, harassing, and ambushing Gosanja. But I did not add only strength. I added words as well.

“Gosanja, why did you ambush me? This is karma.”

Gosanja opened his mouth.

“I……”

In that instant, Ghost Demon stabbed him in the shoulder, and Lust Demon struck him with a palm. Gosanja vomited blood and staggered.

I asked Gosanja.

“It wasn’t you?”

With blood pouring from his mouth, Gosanja answered with difficulty.

“…It wasn’t.”

I nodded.

“Sorry. I misunderstood.”

Since he was already gravely injured, apologizing was only natural. But whether my apology was accepted or not, Ghost Demon and Lust Demon continued their attacks. Gosanja struggled desperately, unable to put up much resistance, and then died after being pierced by Ghost Demon’s sword.

I looked at Ghost Demon’s and Lust Demon’s faces, then turned with the two of them and fixed my eyes on Sword Demon, who was still in the middle of fighting.

Ghost Demon shook the blood from his sword and tattled to me.

“…It seems Mureungja ordered them to launch that cowardly ambush.”

I agreed with Ghost Demon’s opinion.

“Right. It’s obvious without even looking.”

Lust Demon also chimed in.

“So that bastard was the leader.”

The three of us kept snorting as we approached Mureungja. Strangely enough, Mureungja was already bleeding heavily.

Even if Sword Demon was a public enemy of the martial world, overpowering him was no easy task.

Even as we approached, Mureungja’s sword cut Sword Demon’s arm once, but at the same time, Sword Demon’s Radiant Sword had pierced Mureungja’s thigh.

Moreover, perhaps because he had now clearly realized that he had only cut Sword Demon’s clothes, Mureungja’s complexion had turned as pale as a white peach.

After Ghost Demon, Lust Demon, and I surrounded Mureungja in a triangular formation, I said.

“…The peaches I’m thinking of seem to be the true energy of young boys or young girls, or something of the sort, extracted through the methods of the demonic path. There’s no need to know the method. Mureungja has to die. He must have given peaches to Pyeongpyeongja, Baekdoja, and Gosanja in the same way. Their inner power was far greater than their actual skill. Did you fall into the doctrine that inner power is supreme? Inner power can never be everything in a fight.”

The Ghost Demon nodded.

“That’s right.”

The Lecherous Demon shook his head.

“Still, it’s better to have deep internal energy.”

I looked at the Lecherous Demon.

“Deep is good, but there’s a line to how you accumulate it. Mureungja is the worst. What’s more, the targets were probably the disciples he recruited.”

The Lecherous Demon asked me.

“What about those Taoist bastards who ran away?”

“There have to be some normal ones mixed in for the innocent to be fooled. And they were probably unsuitable as ingredients for forcibly made elixirs. They’re Taoists in clothing only. Trash of the secular world.”

From a short distance away, Martial Uncle Dongsu asked me.

“Is everything you just said true?”

I looked at Martial Uncle Dongsu.

“If it weren’t true, Mureungja would have gone to the Murim Alliance and defended himself. This bastard can’t even defend himself here. Baldy, distinguish between those who should be killed and those who should be spared before you try to guide them. People like you die the fastest in the martial world.”

After shutting Martial Uncle Dongsu’s mouth, I looked at Mureungja and drew my sword.

“Eldest Brother, I’m joining in.”

It was only right to ask the Sword Demon’s permission. The Lecherous Demon said,

“Master, I’ll join in too.”

The Ghost Demon spoke briefly as well.

“Me too.”

After saying that, we looked at one another’s faces and burst into chuckles. In truth, I hadn’t had much intention of joining in, but it seemed everyone had been thinking the same thing as me. The Sword Demon, who had been fighting with a grim expression, slowly changed his expression, then laughed with a look of hollow amusement.

“There’s no need.”

In that instant, the Sword Demon’s eyes flared wide. He charged forward and, with his chest thrust out, extended the Radiant Sword in a straight line. Mureungja’s sword reflexively struck the Sword Demon’s chest, but the incoming Radiant Sword pierced through his neck.

We followed with our eyes the Radiant Sword that had passed through Mureungja’s neck.

With a shrill whoosh, the Radiant Sword shot out, let out a ghostly wail in midair, then changed direction and began returning to the Sword Demon.

Martial Uncle Dongsu, who had been watching, must have been startled, because he fell onto his backside and said,

“Qi-controlled sword?”

It probably wasn’t qi-controlled sword. Since I had no particular explanation to give, I left him be and looked at the Radiant Sword. Only after the Sword Demon caught the returning Radiant Sword did Mureungja’s body collapse backward.

Thud……!

The Sword Demon shook the blood from the Radiant Sword and looked at me.

“Third Brother.”

“Hm?”

The Sword Demon tilted his head.

“I won strangely easily. This is your achievement. I thought the fight would be harder than this.”

The Ghost Demon and the Lecherous Demon also looked at me. They all wore expressions suggesting they were thinking the same thing as the Sword Demon.

With nothing in particular to say, I answered vaguely.

“Well, we won, and that’s enough.”

The four of us looked at bald Dongsu, who was sitting on the ground. Only then did Martial Uncle Dongsu’s full name suddenly come to mind.

‘Ah…….’

The Jiumo clan from somewhere in the Western Regions. Luo Shi, the son of Luo Yan, the head of that clan. Dongsu’s original name was Jiumo Luoshi. Of course it was a name that wouldn’t easily come to mind. Names from the Western Regions were naturally heard and then forgotten.

I approached the seated martial uncle and met his eyes.

“Baldy.”

Martial Uncle answered.

“Yes.”

“Quit being a wandering monk. Keep this up and you’ll die away from home. You are someone who doesn’t suit the martial world at all. Don’t try to guide martial artists. Guide the far greater number of ordinary people instead. I think it would be better if you didn’t even loiter around the martial world. What do you think? If you tell me one more time to spare bastards like these, I’ll shove meat into that mouth of yours. Want to get a taste of meat?”

While I was speaking, the Four Great Evils approached. The Ghost Demon kindly reached out and helped Martial Uncle Dongsu to his feet.

The Ghost Demon said to Martial Uncle,

“Monk, care for a bite of meat?”

The Lecherous Demon grabbed Dongsu by the shoulder.

“This is fate too, so let’s have a drink. Baldy.”

The Sword Demon spoke in a dignified tone.

“Don’t go too far. His skills don’t look bad; it’s just that his temperament doesn’t suit the martial world. Let’s bury the dead.”

I looked around at the corpses.

While they were alive and fighting, they had been enemies, but now that they were dead, praying for their souls was the way of the martial world. I had a feeling this bald man would do nothing but chant sutras beside us, so I spoke first.

“Have you ever cleared away corpses?”

Martial Uncle looked at me.

“No.”

I spoke in a threatening tone.

“Then clear them away. Ah, do you people prefer cremation?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect. Let’s gather them together and burn them.”

I scattered with the Four Great Evils and gathered the corpses in one place. Martial Uncle also stepped forward, dragging corpses over and piling them atop the others.

The martial world Martial Uncle imagined and the martial world I imagined were different. Though he came from the Western Regions, Martial Uncle was the son of a prestigious family. Why he became a monk was none of my business, but people from prestigious families sometimes seemed to misunderstand the world the way Martial Uncle did.

Reality was not like that.

As I piled up the corpses, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

If I sent Martial Uncle back in one piece, could the Mad Monk also live as an ordinary warrior monk?

Who could know?

I could not know, but inwardly, I hoped the Mad Monk would not be seized by great anger and waste his life away.

Perhaps sparing Martial Uncle and sending him back……

Was my way of repaying the Mad Monk, who had shown me the sea for the first time.

Even if we never met again.