Chapter 295. Yukjeondae Sword
While we were drinking, Im Sobaek asked me how I had been.
How my heart had been lately, what I had been thinking, whom I had fought…….
Because there was liquor, stories mingled as well.
A few times in the middle, members of the special operations unit came by, saying they would guide us to our quarters, only to accept a cup of wine from the Alliance Leader and vanish somewhere.
Come to think of it, Alliance Leader Im Sobaek was a man who listened remarkably well to other people’s stories.
He listened to the Ghost Demon’s tale of revenge for the Six Harmonies Sect, and from the Lust Demon he heard about the Pungun Mong Clan.
But not all of our stories came out.
Even the Sword Demon never told the Alliance Leader about his own personal affairs in the end.
In a way, there were likely few in the martial world with a life as eventful as the Murim Alliance Leader’s, yet Im Sobaek did not pour out his own story in detail either.
No matter how much wine passed between us, one could not reveal everything in one’s heart.
By the time I had forgotten how many rounds of drinks had gone around.
I asked Im Sobaek something I had been curious about.
“Senior Alliance Leader.”
“Hm?”
“Tell me about the Yukjeondae Sword.”
“The Yukjeondae Sword.”
Suddenly wearing an unreadable expression, Im Sobaek murmured again.
“The Yukjeondae Sword…….”
Could a person’s expression change this much at the words Yukjeondae Sword?
In a word, regret settled over his face. It seemed the Alliance Leader, too, had many emotions tied to the Yukjeondae Sword. Not only I, but this time the Sword Demon as well stared intently at Im Sobaek, as though listening closely.
As expected, swordsmen could not resist talk of sword arts.
Im Sobaek asked me.
“How much do you know about the Yukjeondae Sword?”
“Only that the sword unit you led was called the Yukjeondae.”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“Sword unit and combat unit are merely different expressions. Back then, if there were many who did not use swords, they were called a combat unit. There were comrades who had been with me since youth, and juniors as well. There were friends, and there were men I disliked. There were members who followed me exceptionally well, and there were bastards who rebelled at every turn. Under the condition that numbers would be limited, the previous Demon Cult leader and the Alliance Leader of the time held a meeting. We supported that meeting with escort and various duties. Do you know why they met?”
Im Sobaek looked at the Sword Demon.
The Sword Demon answered.
“To determine the greatest under heaven?”
“That was the superficial reason.”
Im Sobaek continued.
“The main objective was to negotiate an exchange between the Demon Cult spies imprisoned in our dungeon and the spies the Murim Alliance had planted inside the Demon Cult. As soon as they met, they could not even bring up the negotiations. They said they had already killed them all. At that moment, the former Alliance Leader ordered a retreat. Since the negotiations had collapsed, he judged there was nothing to gain. Even though both sides had limited their numbers from the start, a pursuit began. Even as we fled, it felt strange. Why not simply see it through to the end? Why was he withdrawing? Only after we were caught and clashed did I understand. The martial prowess of the experts the Cult Leader had brought far exceeded our expectations. The Alliance Leader told us. They were experts from the old main headquarters, so do not face them and withdraw. Do you know of them?”
The Sword Demon answered.
“The wraiths of the old main headquarters. They are also masters. Their martial arts are outstanding, but their sociality is lacking. They are also people who believe themselves unsuited to the position of Cult Leader. The side effects of demonic arts have reached their minds as well, so they cannot be considered normal. If the wraiths came forward, annihilation was inevitable.”
The Sword Demon spoke in a decisive tone.
Im Sobaek asked.
“Tell me a little more about these wraiths.”
“The old main headquarters is, well, a somewhat strange place. They exile those who have committed crimes there, and at the same time they send people there to learn martial arts. But whether it is exile or whatever else, if the wraiths dislike you, they beat you to death. Mm, if an official order comes down telling you to return there, it is a place you must go to with the feeling of being dragged into hell. The Cult Leader does not interfere much with what happens there. Whether one dies or not.”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“As I remember it, they were not all strange. I think there were also some among them who had retired from high positions. The Alliance Leader’s title at the time was simply Divine Sword, without any other modifier, but his sword broke while he was killing those wraiths. The Cult Leader at the time also died by the Alliance Leader’s hand. Since the Cult Leader was dead, I thought the pursuit would end as well. I was withdrawing while escorting the gravely wounded Alliance Leader, but I continued fighting the wraiths who had not yet died, and it was hard to keep my senses.”
The Lust Demon said.
“The former Alliance Leader was incredible as well.”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“If I ran with the Alliance Leader on my back, my men were dying. If I looked after my men, it seemed the Alliance Leader’s breath would soon cease. In truth, from the moment the Alliance Leader I served killed the Cult Leader, he became the publicly acknowledged greatest under heaven. Yet that greatest under heaven was on my back, hovering between life and death.”
When Im Sobaek took hold of his cup, the Lust Demon quietly poured wine.
Im Sobaek drank, then said.
“The men told me to quickly and safely escort the Alliance Leader to a secure place. With the Alliance Leader on my back, I asked them. What will you do? I remember what Gyeongcheon, who was always good at joking, said then. Unit Leader, we are not the greatest under heaven, are we? Please hurry and go. That was when I learned that circumstances could break a person’s mind. Since my movement art was the fastest, it was right for me to carry him. Dying together with my men would not have been bad either, but I had no choice but to run with the Alliance Leader on my back. As I ran, I kept repeating to myself that the Yukjeondae was disappearing. So this is how the Yukjeondae disappears. I am the captain, yet I am only running away like this. At the moment I was about to lose my reason, the Alliance Leader on my back said to me.”
Im Sobaek recited the Alliance Leader’s words from that time exactly.
“Sobaek, put me down. I must fight more.”
Im Sobaek nodded and continued speaking.
“That was when I committed what you would call insubordination. The Alliance Leader was such a person. Then it was right for me to keep running and save him. In the end, I saved the Alliance Leader, and at the same time, I lost the Yukjeondae.”
Im Sobaek looked at me.
“The Yukjeondae Sword has no forms, nor any grand rules. It is merely the collective name for the martial arts I have learned. It is nothing more than a name I gave to the people, memories, and moments I must not forget. Rather, if those memories made me stronger, then indeed, the name of the sword art ought to be the Yukjeondae Sword.”
Im Sobaek finished speaking with an unwavering expression.
It was a story that could not be heard without wine, so I drank as well.
As I drank, I thought that this Yukjeondae Sword was a martial art that stood in the same place as the Zaha Divine Art.
It was not the time to bring up my own story, so I only thought it inwardly.
The Sword Demon nodded.
“So that was how the martial art was born.”
The Sword Demon looked as though he had resolved his question of just what the origin was of the martial art that had defeated him.
The Lust Demon asked as if curious.
“After that, did you train your martial arts incredibly hard?”
At this simple question, Im Sobaek laughed.
“Mongrang.”
“Yes.”
“I always trained hard.”
“Ah, yes.”
Suddenly, Im Sobaek looked at the Lust Demon and me, then said this.
“The two of you may not believe it, but when I was your age, I was likely weaker than you two. It is not that I am strange, but that you two young men are unusual.”
The Lust Demon scratched his head.
“You flatter us.”
“It wasn’t exactly praise.”
“Yes.”
As I listened, I asked the Alliance Leader.
“By any chance, in that pursuit party…”
“…….”
“Was the current Cult Leader there as well?”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“Of course. He was there. That bastard lost his father, the previous Cult Leader, and I lost my men. Their side entered a struggle over succession. We were in a state of emergency until the Alliance Leader recovered. I believe the epithet Sword Demon started being heard from time to time around then. I know he was involved in the succession struggle.”
The Sword Demon, who had been listening, quietly nodded.
“Back then, the Cult Leader was quite a fine man.”
Im Sobaek asked.
“And now?”
“It seems he has cast even that aside.”
“I see.”
Suddenly, Im Sobaek took hold of the sword on the table, went out to the front of the inn, and turned around. Looking around at us, Im Sobaek said,
“I tried several times to teach the Six-Battle Great Sword, but I confirmed that, in truth, this is a sword art impossible to pass on. However, you can watch. If there is anything to gain, take as much as you please. This is the Six-Battle Great Sword.”
Im Sobaek held the sword upright and said,
“I won’t mix in any internal energy, so watch as you see fit.”
Was the Alliance Leader drunk?
Im Sobaek displayed the Six-Battle Great Sword before us. Since I was curious as to what sort of sword art it was, I straightened my posture.
Im Sobaek swung his sword like the owner of a famed local martial hall.
Striking down, slashing, thrusting.
With movements as though he might gather spectators and splendidly cut an apple tossed into the air, he moved from right to left.
After living this long, I had even ended up watching the Alliance Leader demonstrate his sword art.
Im Sobaek’s simple swinging movements began to change, but even this was not particularly flashy. Bending low to swing, striking down, thrusting. Turning as he slashed, thrusting, cutting upward. At the end, he performed something like a one-stroke bisecting cut; perhaps because he knew precisely where the sword began and where it would arrive, the movement was plain and disciplined, with nothing to add or subtract.
Walking back to where he had originally been, Im Sobaek asked,
“Did you see?”
We looked at one another, and since praising him outright felt absurd, we either nodded or answered briefly.
“Yes.”
In truth, they were movements that stirred no particular feeling.
Returning to his place, Im Sobaek smiled faintly as though he had expected our reaction and said this.
“You do realize I showed it slowly.”
The Lust Demon answered.
“We do.”
Im Sobaek raised the sword upright in the exact same posture as before, then spoke in a slightly changed tone.
“I will move as if in real combat. There will still be no internal energy.”
As soon as Im Sobaek finished speaking, he moved from left to right like a gale. Within that gale were all the previous movements he had shown slowly. Striking down, slashing, thrusting, bending low to swing, striking down, thrusting, repeating while turning, and at the end, the one-stroke bisecting cut.
Sword wind stretched out into the empty space ahead.
Im Sobaek looked back at us.
“Did you see it?”
“Yes.”
Seen like this, it looked merely like a single attack. Just then, Im Sobaek, who had been observing my expression, asked me,
“What do you think?”
I smacked my lips, then answered honestly according to what I felt.
“It looks like a single sword.”
“You mean it looks like one attack?”
Im Sobaek nodded, then asked the Lust Demon,
“And Mongrang?”
“I’m not sure. It only felt extremely fast.”
Im Sobaek nodded again this time and looked at the Ghost Demon.
“What about you?”
The Ghost Demon answered.
“I do not know. It seems extraordinary, but as for what meaning it holds…”
Im Sobaek looked at the Sword Demon.
The Sword Demon asked with a reluctant expression,
“Alliance Leader.”
“Speak.”
“Did you perhaps just swing it however you pleased? Against an imaginary enemy.”
Im Sobaek nodded.
“I swung it at random. Since I do not know how the opponent will come at me. You could say I swung roughly.”
The Sword Demon asked,
“Are you saying you can maintain this from the beginning to the end of a fight?”
Im Sobaek shook his head.
“It is not maintenance. I can change this from beginning to end and unfold it faster and stronger than now. For now, internal energy is beside the point. Remember only the sword art. Especially if I were to appear as your enemy, how would you block this? Only by starting there will it help each of your current martial training.”
I thought to myself.
Most people would die to the first sword, wouldn’t they?
Predicting the opponent’s reaction and an attack suited to that prediction were taking place simultaneously. Of course, the movements were divided into several parts, but because prediction and attack were contained in one process, it looked like a single sword. On top of that, the final one-stroke bisecting cut must have contained the principle of that strange overlapping sword he had shown at the mountain villa.
Since I was not the type to beat around the bush, I asked Im Sobaek,
“Senior Alliance Leader, do you have any rivals in the present age?”
Im Sobaek answered as he returned to his seat.
“I do. Many.”
“Who?”
“There are the Three Calamities, and the Emperor, and perhaps surviving ghosts. There are masters I have not crossed hands with. There is poison, and there are traitors. If you all grow further, one day I will not be able to guarantee victory either. The man I considered my master was gravely injured as soon as he became the greatest under heaven. What use is being the greatest under heaven? People are bound to grow old, and even a body trained to hardness will have a sword driven into it. None of you should neglect your training. You, too, are my rivals.”
“Mm.”
“The previous Alliance Leader also seemed to regard himself inwardly as the greatest under heaven. Look at the result that arrogance brought. The next Cult Leader dreams of revenge, and I, after being buried in the sense of loss over what I lost then, am serving as Alliance Leader like this.”
Im Sobaek took hold of his wine cup.
“One way or another, it is a weary life.”
I personally poured wine for the Alliance Leader, who was worn down by the years. I stood and poured wine for the Sword Demon, the Ghost Demon, and the Lust Demon as well, then filled my own cup with what remained.
Deep into the night, Im Sobaek offered us words of goodwill.
“……Fortunately, the second son of the Pungun Mong Clan has grown this strong thanks to the Sword Demon. And the young sect leader, too, has become so strong that it is difficult to find a match among his peers. When the old ones are pushed aside, the two of you will have to suffer in their place. Understood? Do not run away to some deep mountain valley. I will send people to drag you out.”
Im Sobaek looked at the Ghost Demon.
“I hope you, too, create a sect like the Six Harmonies Sect.”
We Four Great Evils raised our wine cups and looked at Im Sobaek. Since we had engraved his words in our hearts, there was no need to answer.
I poured the liquor down my throat.