Chapter 292. Once You Attain the Dao, You Can Eat Too.

Because of my experiences in my previous life and the fortuitous encounters in this one, my eye for such things had also risen to a high level. Each time I looked at the Special Operations Commander with those eyes, his movements in a single instant left a strong impression on me.

That was because the men who crossed weapons with Im Sobaek collapsed as though they were children tripping over.

Im Sobaek seemed to know exactly where to strike in that fleeting moment to send an opponent flying.

It was easy to say, but it was not something one could succeed at every time while swinging a sword.

Even so, the enemies were often hurled away with their weapons still in their hands, and at times, their weapons split apart as futilely as chopsticks snapping, spraying blood.

It was astonishing every time I saw it.

Yet, since it was the Alliance Leader’s Six-Battle Great Sword, which even the Sword Demon had struggled to deal with, it also felt only natural.

In any case, it was a peculiar sword art.

Im Sobaek stood at the head of the breakthrough formation, and it looked impossible for anyone to ambush him from the rear. That was because the Special Operations Unit occupied the Alliance Leader’s rear and filled in the invisible blind spots. Moreover, from the outside, it even looked as though the alliance members were fighting better than the Alliance Leader.

It had been the same when he fought the Sword Demon, but.

Im Sobaek’s Six-Battle Great Sword was a sword art filtered down into a simplicity with no trace of flashiness.

How could his subordinates not look more like masters than he did?

Im Sobaek pierced through the Legalist House’s forces at the front with his sword, and the Special Operations members rushed in to finish what came after. It was a combined assault that made it seem as though they had coordinated together for more than ten years.

Strangely enough, among the Legalist House forces Chumyeong Scholar had brought with him were many unfamiliar and varied experts, but Im Sobaek advanced while ruthlessly slaughtering only those experts he picked out.

What should I call this?

The reassuring fullness of having stuffed one’s belly with pork backbone, perhaps.

At that moment, Special Operations members, including Dan Hyeoksan, caught up behind me and murmured just loudly enough for me to hear.

“Sect Leader, we will support you.”

Like the Special Operations Commander, I, too, had gained reinforcements to guard my rear. There were not many of them, but I had not known that two rear supporters could be of such great help. I copied Im Sobaek’s breakthrough formation exactly as I had observed it.

Now that I thought about it, Dugu Heavy Sword was perfect for times like this.

Only now did I feel as though I understood the Sword Demon’s heart.

Perhaps the defeat he had suffered at Oksu Mountain Villa had been provoking the Sword Demon all this time. Watching Im Sobaek fight so tremendously well, I was provoked just like the Sword Demon had been. There are times when one falls into thought even while fighting, and this was one of those times.

With the Murim Alliance mixed into the battlefield, Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven had become an ultimate technique I could not choose to use. I tried to break through the battlefield like Im Sobaek with a wooden sword infused with wood-element energy, but every enemy I ran into was an expert.

‘Damn it…….’

Only after killing three or four of them did I realize that Chumyeong Scholar had scraped together experts and brought them here, seething with poison. After dealing with five or six, the seventh man I encountered was so featureless he was almost boring, but as soon as he met my eyes, he smiled faintly.

“So you are the famed Hao Sect Leader.”

I knocked aside the man’s sword and replied.

“And who are you?”

The boring-looking fellow seemed flustered, then immediately unfolded a merciless sword art and raised his speed. It was a speed that would not have fallen behind even if he had clashed with the Butcher I had killed before.

Even as I deflected his sword, I found it absurd.

Trends were bound to repeat even in the jianghu, but was the fast sword in fashion these days?

When I parried each of the bastard’s strikes and even counterattacked, emotion appeared on the face of the previously boring man.

“The rumors weren’t false.”

There were occasionally bastards who liked to chatter while fighting, and this one was like that. But the same went for me.

“What are you muttering about, you idiot?”

When our clashing swords refused to separate as though they had stuck together, I collided left palms with him.

Thud!

In that instant, Dan Hyeoksan sprang out from behind me, cut off the boring man’s neck, and moved forward.

Goosebumps rose on my skin.

They were men who had truly been trained mercilessly, so the jianghu principle of one-on-one did not apply.

Seen this way, the ones who fought most similarly to the Demon Cult were the Murim Alliance.

Had they come to resemble each other in order to win?

The boring man wore a shocked expression just before he died, then collapsed. Perhaps thinking my movements had slowed by about a breath, the alliance member supporting me from behind spoke as if scolding me.

“Sect Leader, you need to focus.”

I looked over, wondering what bastard was speaking informally to me, and saw an old jianghu veteran who looked three or four years older than Alliance Leader Im Sobaek fighting the Legalist House’s warriors.

At that moment, a familiar voice called me in a tone filled with all sorts of emotions.

“Hao Sect Leader.”

Chumyeong Scholar, who had closed the distance in an instant, swung a sword wreathed in a whirlwind.

Kaaang!

As soon as I blocked Chumyeong Scholar’s sword, I felt my wrist cry out in pain. I strengthened my grip, then tangled with Chumyeong Scholar.

Chumyeong Scholar sneered.

“To think you even brought the Murim Alliance. What a cunning bastard.”

I laughed off those words. I had not brought them. Moreover, he seemed unaware that even the Alliance Leader was fighting. I had no intention of borrowing the Alliance Leader’s prestige, so I kept my mouth shut and swung my sword.

If my wrist was going numb, then the palm that had been pierced through must have been agonizing for Chumyeong Scholar.

Fighting, like life, was a series of pains.

Chumyeong Scholar was an opponent I could not possibly handle with wood-element energy alone, so I poured flame-element energy into my wooden sword and the palm force of the Moon Shadow Heartless Art through my left palm.

When Chumyeong Scholar and I clashed…….

Those around us, regardless of ally or enemy, moved back a little.

Blade-like sword winds with indistinct trajectories continued to extend from Chumyeong Scholar’s sword.

Since I was spreading cold energy as well, it could not be helped. After we exchanged more than ten moves in an instant, I confirmed that part of my clothing had been torn. I avoided a fatal wound, but there was no helping my clothes being shredded by the sword wind. In the middle of swinging my sword, I asked.

“Comrade Chumyeong, have you seen Sado?”

My breathing was uncomfortable, so I could not speak at length. Chumyeong Scholar answered while swinging a sword meant to kill me.

“I have not.”

“How about whoever wins kills Sado too?”

“Why?”

For a moment, I could not answer because I was busy knocking aside Chumyeong Scholar’s sword. The sparks we created within the whirlwind flared up, then were torn apart at once.

When I coiled the thunder energy of the Hundred Battles Ten Stages Art around my wooden sword, Chumyeong Scholar, wary of the loud crackling sound, shifted to defense. Only then did I gain the chance to speak.

“You must have seen my public notice.”

“I did.”

“If orphans are to be treated like that, what use is law?”

Chumyeong Scholar’s expression turned bitter, and he responded to my words.

“……Fine. I will find him and kill him.”

I smiled as I struck away Chumyeong Scholar’s sword.

“Good. That’s what makes you my comrade.”

“The path I walk is different from yours.”

“You may hate me and kill me.”

I brought my wooden sword, wreathed in flame-element energy, down diagonally, then spoke.

“The law should be fair.”

We fought with our mouths shut. Once we gave up on talking, each other’s attacks became far heavier and more dangerous.

Scholar Chumyeong suddenly poured qi waves from his entire body, as though he had released something. His complexion grew even more murderous. Perhaps sensing that the situation around him was unfavorable, he seemed intent on deciding the match quickly. If I had to describe Chumyeong’s swordsmanship, I would say it was meticulous, with offense and defense evenly balanced. It felt like a gifted student who studied well, trained solidly from the basics, and reached a certain level.

Moreover, like most scholars, he must have collected all sorts of sword arts and learned a martial art that compiled them into one. Left with no choice, I dragged out every sword art I had. The Plum Blossom Sword Art was blocked without making a dent, and among the Limitless Heavy Sword techniques I had not used in a long while, I mainly employed the Short Sword Form, which compressed qi. Only then did I belatedly realize that both the Limitless Heavy Sword and the Dugu Heavy Sword contained the principle of heaviness.

In other words, I was now compressing qi with the Short Sword Form to make the wooden sword heavy, then attacking with the principle of the Dugu Heavy Sword. Even so, it was impossible to pressure or drive back Scholar Chumyeong.

Because Scholar Chumyeong also had the internal energy and experience to receive all those attacks. At this rate, even if the river bandits and the Legalist troops around us were all slaughtered by the Sword Demon and Im Sobaek, I felt I would still be crossing blades with Scholar Chumyeong.

If there is no method.

You make one and respond.

From the moment Scholar Chumyeong decided he would kill the Apostle.

The possibility of using the Zaha Divine Art had vanished.

But I could not very well die for him either.

So I interpreted the Short Sword Form, which compresses qi into the sword, as the Alliance Leader’s Six-Battle Great Sword.

Imitation is the mother of creating martial arts.

Or not.

The Six-Battle Great Sword that I had grasped and discussed with the Sword Demon was a case in which the long time spent infusing qi into a shabby longsword so it would not break had developed into a single ultimate technique.

In my words, it was the sword art of a poor martial artist who could not use a good sword.

And when it came to being poor, I was a beggar bastard who would never be outdone anywhere in the martial world, so imitating the Six-Battle Great Sword was not that difficult.

I infused the Short Sword Form into the wooden sword, then infused it again, and shoved it in as though striking in broken beats to compress it, maintaining the qi wrapped around the blade. In other words, this was not the Six Battles but an ultimate technique of about Three Battles.

Why did I go to such trouble to prepare this?

I do not know.

But I had a purpose. I had also decided on the point of impact.

While fighting as usual, every time an opportunity came to clash swords fiercely with Scholar Chumyeong, I crammed the Three-Battle Great Sword into Scholar Chumyeong’s blade.

My own wrist felt as though it might break.

But the surface of Scholar Chumyeong’s face, as he parried, was also trembling faintly.

Wow, who knew a heavy sword could have this kind of charm?

It seemed the trend in the martial world was the swift sword, but I, on the contrary, had fallen completely for the charm of the heavy sword. If one could combine the swift sword and the heavy sword, would that not make one a great swordsman of the age?

Was it the man called Confucius who spouted, “If one hears the Dao in the morning, one may die in the evening”?

I understand it to mean that if you realize the Dao in the morning, it is fine to die in the evening.

A swordsman is different.

If you realize the sword in the morning, you can still eat dinner.

In that instant, I realized.

A life with an evening is granted only to an enlightened swordsman.

Did I go too far?

Scholar Chumyeong’s attacks, like a whirlwind, were so dazzling that even inside my head, as I defended against them, a cold wind was blowing.

The fortunate thing was that the Murim Alliance’s brilliant illumination still enveloped me.

Once I had grown accustomed to the Short Sword Form, I reinterpreted the Three Battles yet again. While remembering the principle of the Three Battles...

Into the first sword, I infused the Wood Realm and stored it.

With the second sword, while knocking away Chumyeong’s blade, I infused the Flame Realm.

With those two types of qi compressed, I infused the lightning qi of the Hundred Battles Ten Stage Art with enough force to break Chumyeong’s sword as it came fiercely toward me.

A strange sound I had never heard before erupted from the collision of sword against sword.

In a flash, there came a tuk— and blood spurted from the back of Scholar Chumyeong’s sword hand.

At that moment, I unleashed the Flame Realm Great Hand Seal toward Scholar Chumyeong’s face. Just before the reddish palm force spread out, Scholar Chumyeong’s left palm arrived as though sealing off the blaze.

Kwaaaaaang!

Our sword-holding hands and the hands pouring out palm force crossed each other.

Scholar Chumyeong responded in the exact same posture as I did, his eyes wide open.

It was only an instant, but I felt as though I had been exchanging gazes with Scholar Chumyeong for a very long time.

At that moment, we smiled at the same time.

Because we were simply doing our utmost to survive.

Scholar Chumyeong said to me,

“You grew even stronger in that short time, Sect Leader.”

I nodded slightly.

“If I want to survive, I have no choice but to grow stronger.”

Our joined hands trembled so much they could not be controlled. Perhaps, after friends, the ones closest to me are my enemies.

Only after pressing our hands together and competing in internal energy did I understand that the essence of Chumyeong’s martial arts was swordsmanship built upon pure internal energy.

We were also holding out with our swords.

When I lowered my eyes slightly, blood was still bursting from the back of Scholar Chumyeong’s hand. The wound I had pierced before had not fully healed, and it had been torn open by the Three-Battle Great Sword.

Even so, Scholar Chumyeong stood firm.

We paid no attention to our surroundings. If Chumyeong’s subordinates charged in, the Murim Alliance would step forward, and in the opposite situation, the Murim Alliance would not commit such a despicable act.

Thanks to that, we were able to compete in martial strength without interference.

Scholar Chumyeong’s eyes and my own heart knew that this was a fight neither of us would regret, no matter who died.

Scholar Chumyeong smiled even as he gritted his teeth.

Did losing too much blood reduce one’s very vitality? Perhaps he had spent excessive internal energy with his dwindling strength, because now blood was streaming from Scholar Chumyeong’s smiling mouth as well.

This was my victory.

Yet why could my heart not rejoice even at such a victory?

As I pleased, I asked Scholar Chumyeong, who was pouring out all his strength, without much expectation.

“...Comrade, will you try living again?”

Scholar Chumyeong let out a low laugh, then answered.

“Let us stop saying insulting things to each other now.”

I met Scholar Chumyeong’s eyes, then nodded.

“You are right.”

I could kill Scholar Chumyeong, but I could not break his pride. I pushed away Scholar Chumyeong, who was faltering from the blood he had lost, and gave him the courtesy of allowing him to unleash his final move.

I do not understand my own heart.

I wanted to receive Scholar Chumyeong’s last technique.

Scholar Chumyeong, who had been pushed back, wrapped a gray whirlwind around the sword he raised high and brought it down vertically.

At the same time, with my wooden sword infused with the Hundred Battles Ten Stage Art to its peak, I executed the Thunder Sword Form, which I had once cleanly given up on.

They say sword qi turns into a thunderstorm, but how was I supposed to do that?

Now, I could.

The lightning extending from the wooden sword was tearing Scholar Chumyeong’s whirlwind to pieces.