Chapter 320. The Chopstick-Like Life of a Waiter.

“Hold on. One more wooden sword.”

Gongsun Yue looked as though she didn’t understand what I meant, then quickly jerked her chin at Meng Yuan.

“Pardon? Ah.”

When Meng Yuan came up onto the sparring platform with another wooden sword, Dosu looked at me in puzzlement.

“Hao Sect Leader, you use twin swords? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

I took the wooden sword Meng Yuan had brought in my left hand and replied.

“I’ve been using twin swords since I was three. Didn’t you look into when I was three? Your intelligence is shoddy.”

As I remembered it, they had been twin chopsticks, but that didn’t matter. Dosu said with a disappointed expression,

“I advise you to take this seriously.”

What was with this bastard’s way of talking? He had a talent for making simple things sound complicated.

“I’m always serious.”

“Do not speak informally to me.”

“My apologies.”

In any case, I gripped the twin swords and took my stance.

There was nothing particularly special about the stance.

I extended my left hand forward, raised my right hand, and laid the sword forward.

Put the left leg slightly forward, bend the rear right leg a little, and from the perspective of combining offense and defense, it becomes a perfect stance. If you bend the rear leg too deeply here, you look like an idiot, so there is no need to go that far.

Twin-Sword Inn Form (雙劍客棧式).

Maintaining the stance was tiring, so I said to Dosu,

“Am ready.”

This was a manner of speech that was neither polite nor informal.

Dosu scratched his chin, snorted, then swung his wooden sword. Naturally, I blocked it easily with my left sword and struck down fiercely with my right. As expected, the rebound that traveled through my wrist was considerable.

But there was nothing complicated about twin-swordsmanship.

One was for defense, the other for attack.

As for how efficient twin swords were in a duel like this—

If the Army Sword King or the Sword Demon had used twin swords, each of them would have struck the other’s shoulder, then used the intact wooden sword to smash the opponent’s head again. If they had done that, anyone could see it would not have been a draw, but a perfect victory.

That was how frightening twin swords were.

Logically speaking, it was an invincible sword art.

Of course, the only drawback was that the martial world did not operate on logic alone.

I used the sparring platform broadly as I swung the twin swords. I knocked aside Dosu’s wooden sword and retreated, aimed my right sword at his knee to disrupt his footwork, and at times thrust out my left sword to block his field of vision.

I annoyed him as much as possible and watched as many of his techniques as I could.

Once the opening skirmish passed in brief fashion, Dosu’s sword, now adjusted to the wooden blade, gradually grew faster.

If it had grown moderately faster, I would have let it pass, but...

It became excessively fast, as though he were overcoming his limits every single moment. When you swing twin swords too quickly, there are times your hands and feet get tangled, and that was exactly what was happening to me now.

Dosu’s sword art was so light and brisk that I could not help it.

Dosu rampaged like a madman who had lived obsessed with swift swords, so it was not difficult to imagine that he ate his meals quickly too.

In truth, there was something primal in the twin-sword style I was displaying that instinctively stirred excitement.

You would understand if you tried swinging twin swords.

You would have the strangely exhilarating experience. Did I learn twin swords with chopsticks? No. Originally, I was a man who cut grass with a sickle.

If a person spends years doing nothing but cutting grass, he is bound to develop into using twin sickles, and if he swings twin sickles repeatedly, he gains the confidence that he could even cut down Mount Tai.

Of course, the trap is that one cannot live well in this world on confidence alone.

At any rate, I learned the basics of twin swords through twin sickles (雙鎌).

Since I learned twin swords on my own, wouldn’t this make me a grandmaster of my generation?

Dosu’s sword art was as complicated and unpleasant as grass whipping about before my eyes, but it was obvious he had never thought about how to deal with suppressing twin swords.

That was because experts who used twin swords were rare to begin with.

Thanks to that, I continued memorizing Dosu’s methods.

On the other hand, in order not to give him room to analyze my twin-swordsmanship, I deliberately swung the twin swords like a lunatic.

You could say it was a method of slipping meaningful forms into a barrage of random attacks. Once you become skilled at something, you can mix orthodox forms into irregular movements, and you can also alter orthodox forms midway as though ruining them.

I had lived like a lunatic from the start, so this kind of application was not difficult for me.

Sometimes there are areas where things happen on their own even though no one taught you. In my case, I had a chronic disease where I could not make delicious food even after learning how, and a peculiar side where I fought well despite never being taught.

Simply fighting was a little boring, so I fought while muttering meaningless words like a chant, the way a waiter with over thirty years of experience might hum while wiping tables.

Dosu said, as though I was getting on his nerves,

“Shut up a little.”

“Understood.”

In any case, the twin-swordsmanship I was displaying was the Self-Intoxication (自我陶醉) technique of the Twin-Sword Inn Form (雙劍客棧式), so it had no rules, much like the Plum Blossom Sword Art. That was because people who repeatedly do hard work must fall into self-intoxication in order to endure their daily lives.

One endures a hellish daily life with the confidence that one is impressive, or that one can endure. A repetitive daily life is hell too. When I do the work, but the bastards who take the money are the ones who profit, that is hell.

I materialized into sword art the chopstick-like life of a waiter who had survived hell.

In other words, most of the techniques were generally useless.

When you swing twin swords too quickly, the profundity of the forms drops noticeably, but if it becomes so fast that it looks like a frenzied fit, it can instead become a form that looks like it has something to it.

My life was the same.

I had come this far with the mindset of raising hell over everything.

I blocked every one of Dosu’s swift-sword attacks while ducking, turning, crouching, and counterattacking the motions that stretched out toward me. After exchanging fiercely for thirty or forty seconds, Dosu suddenly withdrew and warned me.

“Sect Leader, I thought you were joking, but you are quite accustomed to twin swords. Be careful.”

The moment I heard him tell me to be careful...

I wrapped the twin swords in snow-white ice art and completed every preparation. Then I took my stance again and looked at Dosu.

“......”

Sparring or whatever else, winning came first. In truth, because of the material of the wooden swords, it was difficult to use the Flame Realm or the Baekjeon Ten-Stage Art, but ice art was entirely possible. Since ice art made the wooden swords even harder, it was actually better.

But even though I had wrapped the wooden swords in ice art, Dosu showed no sign of surprise.

‘Good. If he were surprised by this much, I would have been disappointed.’

Dosu, too, must have infused compressed qi into his wooden sword, for a strange-looking sword qi (劍氣) coiled around the blade like a skein of thread.

It looked as though a haze were rising along the blade.

Of course, since there were many experts here as well, some among them accurately named the realm of swordsmanship Dosu had displayed.

“Hah, to think he would display Sword Threads (劍絲).”

Emitting sword qi to cut objects was not the only high realm. There were also consummate techniques that wrapped qi around the blade to increase its cutting power, and that was one such form. In other words, Dosu was harboring the intention to cut some part of my body.

Would a wooden sword wrapped in sword thread be stronger?

Or would my wooden sword, wrapped in ice arts, be sturdier?

I knocked away Dosu’s wooden sword as he charged at me again, then opened some distance.

My heart had sunk a little, so as I widened the gap, I thought about why. I had a feeling that, depending on Dosu’s internal energy control, that sword thread would transform into a form of sword qi difficult to block.

To put it more concretely, it felt as though the skein of thread wrapped around his wooden sword might suddenly become thin, straight needles and pierce my face.

For a moment, I wondered where such an impressive expert had suddenly popped out from.

But in the first place, the title New Northern Five Tigers itself referred to young experts newly coming into prominence. Just as I belonged to the Six Dragons. I strained to receive his attacks with my twin swords for a long while, then calmly prepared my counterattack.

I measured Dosu’s speed, the force in his sword, the level of his external arts, the grip strength conveyed through his strikes, the level of his internal energy, his footwork, the characteristics of his sword art, and how much irregular intent he mixed into orthodox movements. I even memorized the changes in his expression.

‘Dosu, take my counterattack.’

The moment I went on the offensive with my twin swords, I mixed Jeyunjong into my footwork.

It was the only choice if I wanted to avoid the sword thread at once.

When I imitated, as though copied exactly, the movements of none other than the White-Robed Scholar I had fought on the sparring stage, even Dosu, who had remained calm until now, revealed a hint of panic.

It was probably because, no matter who looked, it resembled the White-Robed Scholar’s bizarre movements.

It seemed Dosu was not the only one surprised, as the murmuring around us grew louder. I shifted all that attention toward another spectacle.

While kicking off the ground with Jeyunjong and widening the distance…

I overlapped the wooden sword in my left hand with the one in my right, then gripped the wooden handles as if crushing them and converted my ice arts into Hyeonwol energy.

Crunch!

The handles shattered and froze, and cold energy clung densely even to the place where the two wooden blades had joined.

Would this look a bit like a club?

I had combined two swords, but it was still not as thick as the monk’s staff I had used in my previous life, Unbreakable Conviction. As Senior Shingae had instructed me, I made my body light and held the weapon heavy.

Then this, too, was the Dugu Heavy Sword.

As I moved with Jeyunjong footwork, I shifted the momentum of my entire body into something aggressive, like Eldest Brother.

While I rained attacks on Dosu one-sidedly, the expressions and eyes of many people flashed through my mind.

The Beggars’ Sect Leader, the White-Robed Scholar, the Sword Demon, the Military Sword King, the Mad Monk… When Cha Seongtae came to mind, I snapped back to my senses.

Thwack!

Now, each time he received my wooden sword, hardened by cold energy, a dull impact rang out, and Dosu’s body began to be pushed back. If Dosu had been able to endure it completely, we might have clashed quite fiercely, but pressed by my overall momentum and strength, the two wooden swords mixed with ice arts, and the momentum of the Dugu Heavy Sword, Dosu’s stance and gaze continued to shake every time he blocked a strike.

At moments when Dosu should have taken one step forward to regain his balance, he retreated three or four steps. That was my chance to unleash the Dugu Heavy Sword more comfortably. Each time he trusted his footwork and pulled far away, I pursued him instantly with Jeyunjong and smashed down the now-heavy wooden sword.

Thud!

Bewilderment colored Dosu’s expression.

‘Did this bastard take me for an idiot? Or was he really that confident?’

Even if we competed in intelligence, I had the upper hand.

In terms of experience, I had more.

I probably had more experience killing people, too.

If I counted all the fights from my previous life, I had more experience losing as well.

Had some disciple of a scholar who had lived in comfort somewhere looked down on me just because he trusted his speed?

Even this bastard’s speed was a turtle before me.

Dosu was a strong opponent, but after finding a way to overwhelm everything he had, I continued to drive him back. Now the impact of wooden swords clashing sounded like the pleasant music of percussion instruments.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Crack!

It also sounded a bit like beating a turtle’s shell.

As I beat him as though I would kill him, I sensed something…

A great counterattack would soon come.

Of course. It had to.

At one moment, when I struck Dosu’s wooden sword, Dosu blocked the combined twin swords and rotated smoothly. The sight made it seem as though he were using my power against me, so without even confirming what it was, I soared into the air.

Sword thread shot out in abundance exactly where I had been standing moments before. It was sword qi made of thread, but because rotational force had been added, it took the form of a slash with little breadth.

Already airborne, I descended from a slanted, reclining posture with the One Stroke Severing that Im Sobaek had urged me to use by the campfire, striking down as if splitting Dosu’s crown.

Dosu hastily blocked with his left palm and staggered.

Thud!

In that instant, I used the Heavenly Prison Star-Absorbing Great Art with my left palm and pulled at the staggering Dosu’s neck. When I seized the neck of Dosu, who was dragged in an instant, an incomprehensible cry escaped his mouth.

“Kek!”

Among the New Northern Five Tigers, people sprang to their feet all at once.

“Hao Clan Leader!”

Still gripping Dosu’s neck, I asked Gongson Wol.

“Strategist Gongson, the outcome? I think you need to say it quickly.”

Gongson Wol’s urgent voice came out swiftly.

“The Clan Leader is victorious!”

I looked at Dosu, whose face had turned bright red, and grinned.

“…So he says.”

As I released his neck and deliberately shoved him away, Dosu fell flat on his backside. If I had been pointlessly moderate, I could have been met with Dosu’s counterattack, and if I killed Dosu the moment I saw that counterattack, the sparring tournament would lose its purpose.

Only after falling on his rear did Dosu exhale and steady his breathing.

“Haaah…”

The surroundings were oddly silent.

‘Did I go a bit too far?’

Since several people from the New Northern Five Tigers’ side were standing, I apologized in an indifferent tone.

“Young Master Dosu was strong, so the sparring became a little intense. I apologize.”

Now that I looked, Deungpyeong, who seemed to be Dosu’s older brother, was glaring at me with a murderous gaze.

No, I didn’t even kill him. Was this really something to glare so murderously over?

Fortunately, Im Sobaek’s voice quelled the commotion.

“…Young Master Dosu, are you all right?”

Dosu nodded.

“Yes.”

Im Sobaek spoke toward the group of the New Northern Five Tigers.

“The sword-thread attack Dosu used in the final exchange was also a dangerous attack to use in a spar, so all of you calm yourselves as well. This is something that can happen perfectly well during sparring. Besides, Dosu is not badly hurt. Everyone, sit down.”

As Im Sobaek’s words fell in the tone of a command, the group of the New Northern Five Tigers all sat back down.

Then Im Sobaek called me.

“Hao Clan Leader.”

“Yes.”

When I looked at him, Im Sobaek spoke with an expression pretending to be solemn.

“That was a little excessive.”

“Yes. I got excited.”

I found it a little sad that, if not at times like this, there was nothing for me to get excited about, so a sigh escaped me on its own.

Im Sobaek rose and, looking around at the assembled heroes, said,

“It seems even those watching got a little excited, so we’ll stop the sparring here. Sovereigns, and juniors… for now, let’s go eat. Clean this up. Those who are injured, speak to the alliance members so you can receive treatment.”

I walked across the sparring platform and stood where the Four Great Villains were. The Four Great Villains quietly rose from their seats as well and looked up at me.

With my hands on my hips, I said to the Four Great Villains,

“Did you see that? If Mongrang had gone out, he would’ve been beaten like a neighborhood dog, wouldn’t he? Right? What do you all think?”

The three of them turned away without a single word of congratulations and moved away from me like close brothers.

“…….”

Even as he moved away, the Lecher was staring at the women walking nearby. In any case, it seemed no one had any interest in my victory. Suddenly, my eyes met I Gunak’s, who was standing there blankly.

I Gunak stared at me for a moment, then raised his thumb.

“I enjoyed watching.”

I nodded to the foolish friend from my previous life.

“Don’t mention it.”