Chapter 409. The Sword Demon’s Gift.

The reason that vile merchant was challenging Big Brother was probably because he had heard from the Cult Leader’s own mouth that Big Brother’s true qi had been damaged.

A duel was still a duel.

I could not optimistically assume that Big Brother would win no matter what. Big Brother’s true qi was still in the process of recovering, and Left Envoy Wei’s internal energy had likely been on par with Big Brother’s to begin with—or perhaps was now slightly superior. He was the greatest merchant in the Demon Cult. How many good things must he have stuffed himself with?

Even so, Big Brother deliberately asked Left Envoy Wei this.

“Will you be fine without a weapon?”

Left Envoy Wei nodded.

“An ordinary longsword would not be able to withstand the Guangming Sword anyway. Let us begin, Lord Sword Demon, the apostate who was the former Left Envoy.”

“Mm. How childish.”

Suddenly, Big Brother stared at me. Since our eyes met, I used sign language to convey my thoughts.

‘Big Brother, flap your mouth some more.’

Had he understood my sign language?

Big Brother said to Left Envoy Wei.

“I hear your men have been roaming all over the world, scraping together spirit medicines.”

“……”

“Your internal energy, built by hoarding spirit medicines like a rat, may be greater than mine. But I shall teach you that internal energy is not everything.”

I gave Big Brother a thumbs-up.

‘That was good.’

Unexpectedly, Big Brother looked at me, tapped his own temple with a finger, and mouthed to me.

‘Watch carefully.’

What was he telling me to watch carefully? For now, I could not tell.

In any case, Big Brother was now quite like a disciple of mine. The sharper Murong Bai and Big Brother’s tongues became, the prouder I felt for no reason.

It was like I had become the patriarch of a sect that fought with its tongue.

At this rate, if Yoran scolded me later, I felt I might be a little hurt, so I thought I should mind my words and actions in front of Yoran.

Big Brother and Left Envoy Wei soon clashed, and strangely enough, Big Brother did not draw the Guangming Sword.

Could he defeat Left Envoy Wei with the sword still in its scabbard?

Big Brother was no fool, so I simply watched.

Rather, Big Brother actively made use of his left palm, and their palm forces collided from time to time.

The aftershocks of that palm force were enough to reach even us spectators.

At first, a lukewarm wind blew, but at some point, an icy wind came surging in as well.

‘I guess Sun-Moon really is Sun-Moon.’

Though it was only the opening exchange, Left Envoy Wei poured out palm force containing both yin and yang energies.

So that was how he had killed the Hainan Slaughter Star.

There was no waste in Left Envoy Wei’s movements. Perhaps because he had trained in palm arts for a long time, his offense and defense were properly balanced, and the movements of his lower body were both firm and swift, leaving no particular openings.

I watched a little longer.

Left Envoy Wei’s palm art certainly had something merchant-like about it.

The scope of his thinking was trapped in the realm of, “I will not take a loss.” He was thorough, but there was no gamble in him, and while he was on the insidious side, it could not be said that he had reached a profound realm.

‘It’ll be difficult for him to beat Big Brother with technique.’

However, just as Big Brother and I had predicted, his internal energy truly was profound.

Big Brother’s internal energy certainly seemed lacking, but it was difficult to tell by eye whether he was deliberately pretending to be weak or if he was actually being pushed back.

After the opening exchange ended and the battle of offense and defense continued with a changed atmosphere……

The moment Left Envoy Wei grabbed the Guangming Sword with his left hand, Big Brother drew the sword just like that. But when it had been drawn halfway, Left Envoy Wei flicked his wrist, pushed the sword back in, and continued the exchange.

Next, Left Envoy Wei’s fingers pointed in succession at Big Brother’s face, chest, and abdomen. Against the finger techniques that poured out almost simultaneously, Big Brother blocked them by changing the direction of his sword three times in short motions.

Pa-ba-bak!

Then Left Envoy Wei launched a massive palm force, and Big Brother, who met it with his left palm, was pushed back while his body floated in the air.

There was a possibility that Big Brother had used a trick.

But Left Envoy Wei also did not seem to have gone all out in the first place.

Left Envoy Wei spoke in a noticeably more relaxed tone.

“……Shouldn’t you draw it now? I heard there is a supreme technique called the Demonic Sword Soul Battlefield (魔劍魂戰場).”

“I once used it against the elders. Somehow, this seems less dangerous than back then. I’ll use it when I feel like I’m about to die, so don’t worry.”

To summarize, it meant he would not die to him, so I burst out laughing.

Left Envoy Wei chuckled.

“Is that so? Then I’ll be seeing it soon.”

I felt a slight chill at the tone Left Envoy Wei had just used. His manner of speech and tone had changed subtly. This was probably his original voice. It sounded as though the tension of his social mask had naturally loosened while fighting, letting his true voice come out.

In other words, the bastard was actually even more detestable.

While the two clashed, the Lust Demon, who was watching, seemed uncomfortable, shifting his posture this way and that as he observed. His expression was full of displeasure. It could not be helped, because Big Brother was not using sword wind, sword qi, or sword aura at all right now.

As if he were fighting like the Plum Blossom Manor Lord.

Left Envoy Wei, who was terrifyingly cautious, studied Big Brother’s condition carefully while gradually raising his internal energy……

As a result, each time their palm forces collided, Big Brother was pushed noticeably farther back.

Internal energy was relative.

It was not that Big Brother’s internal energy was shallow; Left Envoy Wei’s internal energy seemed deep to a rare degree.

Even so, he did not draw the sword in the end.

Anyone could tell that Big Brother had engaged him in psychological warfare……

But no one could tell what kind of psychological warfare it actually was.

And so, strangely, this fight was……

Also a contest of patience between a merchant with quite deep internal energy and a swordsman who had once suffered grievous wounds.

Strangely, I watched Big Brother’s movements closely with a mind more at ease than during the opening exchange. Looking at him with this mindset, Big Brother was facing Left Envoy Wei with almost nothing but the fundamentals.

The images of him polishing his sword on the wooden platform, rising to swing it, challenging Lin Xiaobai and losing, then polishing his sword again, all overlapped within Big Brother’s movements.

It was fascinating how Big Brother now looked like a calm swordsman produced by a prestigious orthodox sect.

He was fighting well enough in his own way, but the reason it felt as though he was enduring was nothing else.

He was still being pushed back in the contest of internal energy.

Even so, there was not a trace of anxiety or fear on his face……

Big Brother looked like someone who was enduring well in order to overcome the circumstances given to him.

Left Envoy Wei’s voice rang out.

“……This can’t be the end, can it?”

Just how was this fight unfolding? Perhaps thinking he had seized the advantage, Left Envoy Wei had become somewhat more talkative. While attacking as though trapping Big Brother within his palm force, he opened his mouth again.

“As you said earlier.”

“……”

“If you lose, hand the sword over to your disciple.”

“……”

“I beat your disciple as well.”

“…….”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to receive your sword.”

Left Envoy Wei was pressing him almost entirely with internal energy, so Eldest Brother’s sword often lost its way, wandered, then hurriedly found its place again. Each time their palms collided, Eldest Brother was driven back, but he occasionally mixed in feints and countered by striking Left Envoy Wei’s hand with his sword.

Left Envoy Wei laughed.

“Stubborn, aren’t you?”

Left Envoy Wei even used the Split Sword through his palm arts. Palms formed of palm force floated in midair, toying with Eldest Brother as though Ilmajo were flicking a moon wheel to attack. One could tell how deep his internal energy was just by looking at the shape of his palm force; red and blue energies mingled from time to time.

Thanks to that, Eldest Brother cleaved the palm force, split it apart, and at times pierced it to cancel it out, like a diligent laborer. Each time he did, his appearance grew rougher, as if he had thrown himself into the Beggars’ Sect.

Left Envoy Wei’s methods grew more and more complex even to those watching……

Like a street performer in a busy district playing tricks on children, he covered Eldest Brother’s entire field of vision with multiple palm forces.

At some point, Left Envoy Wei, too, grew less talkative.

Since Eldest Brother’s lips were sealed so tightly, it was only natural that even the one teasing him would start to feel a chill down his spine by now.

The distance between the two as they fought repeatedly widened and narrowed.

For the first time since he had begun being driven onto the defensive, Eldest Brother opened his mouth and gave this warning.

“……I’m going to draw my sword.”

“By all means.”

But in truth, Left Envoy Wei’s attacks grew even fiercer. Now, as though he had no reason to let him draw, his movements shifted toward obstructing Eldest Brother’s motions and hindering his sword draw.

A sigh escaped me on its own.

‘He’s impressive. That bastard, too…….’

Suddenly, I wondered if the reason Eldest Brother had been fighting so frustratingly all this time was because he, too, had heard of Left Envoy Wei’s ultimate technique. Since he had served as Left Envoy, he would have ample information on his subordinates.

Left Envoy Wei’s upper body abruptly twisted like a giant snake writhing, and in the end, he landed a palm force on Eldest Brother’s left shoulder.

Thud—!

As Eldest Brother’s body shot away, twisting in midair……

Left Envoy Wei took a step and pursued, pouring out another palm force at Eldest Brother, who was still airborne. Eldest Brother struck the palm force back in the air and flew horizontally, then vanished after smashing through an intact wall.

Kwaaaaaang!

Now, only Left Envoy Wei remained in our sight.

Left Envoy Wei was heading toward the wall when he suddenly flinched, and as he raised both hands upward, Eldest Brother’s voice drifted in from beyond the wall.

“……Demonic Sword Soul Battlefield.”

At last, the Radiant Sword was planted in the ground.

Thunk!

As expected, when facing a decisive battle, one must plant one’s sword in the ground, just as I plant a dagger into a table. Left Envoy Wei hastily overlapped his twin palms and, astonishingly, produced a violent collision that shook the entire Plum Blossom Manor.

In that instant, I narrowed my brow.

“Huh?”

Was that a true Sun-Moon? Was it Left Envoy Wei’s ultimate technique?

Even I was flustered.

The moment blue and red palm force mingled in his twin palms, a pitch-black ray of light shot out from beyond the wall at tremendous speed.

Shwaaaaaaaaaak!

Perhaps because Eldest Brother had deliberately moved even more slowly than he usually did when fighting, it was a sword qi—and an ultimate technique—that appeared relatively, overwhelmingly fast.

Eldest Brother’s ultimate technique crashed straight into Left Envoy Wei’s hands just as his hazy-white technique was about to be completed.

Kwaaaaaaaaaang!

Left Envoy Wei could not help it either, since withdrawing both hands would have meant having his torso pierced. Moreover, the range of the technique was like dozens of longswords stacked together, so it must have been difficult to evade.

This time, Left Envoy Wei’s body was blasted backward at tremendous speed. He spun through the air, twisted, then fell to the ground, yet still rolled over and over for quite some time.

The match was decided in an instant like this?

In truth, the closer two fighters’ skills were, the more often the outcome was decided in an instant, so it was not a strange sight.

Eldest Brother belatedly appeared from the wall and spoke with a broad grin.

“……Did you think it was the Demonic Sword Soul Battlefield? Waiting for my ultimate technique as if it were a trade.”

Just how many times had they read each other’s moves?

My keen ears had definitely heard the Radiant Sword being thrust into the ground.

That was the first deception: a fake Demonic Sword Soul Battlefield.

Left Envoy Wei saw that scene with his own eyes and hurriedly prepared his ultimate technique.

Since there had been a fair bit of distance, he must have judged that it was enough.

He probably intended to blow Eldest Brother away in one piece along with the Demonic Sword Soul Battlefield. That meant he already knew the characteristics of the Demonic Sword Soul Battlefield.

But even I need time to combine the two techniques in order to create the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven.

Would Left Envoy Wei be any different?

Fundamentally, he must have needed time to combine palm forces of great power into a Sun-Moon, and it seemed Eldest Brother had been waiting for that very moment all this time.

In other words, the merchant and the swordsman both knew each other’s ultimate techniques.

So the moment Eldest Brother drew the Radiant Sword he had planted in the ground beforehand, he launched his ultimate technique through the draw. I guessed that the ground had held the scabbard, and that he had laid the sword down before drawing it.

The second deception: he had chosen not the Demonic Sword Soul Battlefield, but his fastest ultimate technique.

Suddenly, admiration escaped me on its own.

“No way……?”

It was likely not “no way.”

This was a countermeasure Eldest Brother had devised while thinking about how to respond when I unleashed the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven.

Otherwise, there would be no reason goosebumps were rising on my forearm right now.

In short, it was a countermeasure he had devised because of me.

Eldest Brother looked at me and asked.

“……Third, did you see it well?”

This was a gift Eldest Brother was giving me. It seemed that from the very beginning, he had predicted Left Envoy Wei’s ultimate technique and endured while taking countless hits. With such scheming, the epithet Sword Demon was not wasted on him.

Because I had received the gift well, I raised my thumb to Eldest Brother.

“……Eldest Brother, if that had been the method you used, even my thumb might have gone flying.”

Of course, I would not use the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven in such an obvious way.

I had used it only after thoroughly deceiving my opponent through psychological warfare and absolutely securing the time needed to combine the Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven. In other words, Left Envoy Wei probably had almost no experience using his own ultimate technique in real combat.

This is why experience matters.

As Eldest Brother said, internal energy was not everything.

Only then did we look at Left Envoy Wei, who had not risen from the ground for a long while.

“…….”

Left Envoy Wei looked like a merchant who had been swindled in an important transaction.

Fights between people of the martial world are originally like this.

When one side is deceived, the match comes to an end.

Only then did we realize that one of Left Envoy Wei’s hands had been completely blown away, and that Left Envoy Wei was holding the severed wrist with his left hand to stanch the bleeding.

Come to think of it, Eldest Brother’s ultimate technique was the same one he had used before to block the aftermath of my Sun-Moon Radiant Heaven.

I think its name was probably the Sword’s Ultimate Essence (劍極意).

At that moment, Murong Bai quietly rose to his feet and opened his mouth as if reporting to the Cult Leader.

“Cult Leader.”

“What is it?”

“May I administer temporary treatment to Left Envoy Wei’s arm? Since it has been severed, there is a limit to stopping the bleeding like that.”

Only then did the Cult Leader turn his head and stare silently at Murong Bai.

“Your reason?”

Murong Bai moved his lips, then spoke.

“……May I speak frankly?”

“You should be frank.”

“Because I feel that only if I act as a physician fairly will I be able to save those I originally knew as well.”

“Is that why you came here? At the Sect Master’s request?”

“In truth, I came of my own accord, following my heart.”

At Murong Bai’s words, the Cult Leader gave a faint smile, then nodded and said,

“Treat him.”

“Yes, Cult Leader.”

Amid the silence that had fallen over everyone present, Murong Bai approached Left Envoy Wei. Though Eldest Brother had won by an overwhelming margin, the atmosphere was so heavy that we could not even give him a single round of applause.

So I tried clapping slowly for the time being.

Clap…… clap…… clap…… clap!

Since there was no referee either, I declared Eldest Brother’s victory myself.

“Victory to our former Left Envoy, the apostate Eldest Brother. You worked hard.”

Were they not laughing because the atmosphere was heavy, or because my joke was not funny?

It did not matter.

It was enough that Eldest Brother had won.