Chapter 412. The Ghost of the Six Harmonies Sect.
I wondered if the second brother was being far too tenacious in his assault. Even considering that his epithet in his previous life had been Ghost Demon.
The sparring match was continuing with far too much intensity.
Without thinking, I looked at Eldest Brother. Eldest Brother, too, looked at me with his brow furrowed. Our expressions were probably much the same.
‘This isn’t a sparring match. It’s a life-or-death duel, isn’t it?’
Eldest Brother and I exchanged a look that held the same thought, then turned our attention back to the match.
‘At this rate, one of them is going to die.’
The problem was that the second brother could die, the Blood Cult Leader could die, and because the match was flowing in such a savage direction, there was a fairly high chance that both of them might die. From time to time, the Ghost Demon even employed techniques meant to bring his opponent down with him. Fortunately, the Blood Cult Leader’s level was high enough that he refused to engage with the Ghost Demon’s mutual-destruction tactics at all.
A sigh escaped me on its own, and I watched the match with my arms crossed.
Because of the second brother’s pride, this was a match I absolutely could not intervene in, so there was nothing I could do.
At that moment, blood-red spiderwebs once again burst from the Blood Cult Leader’s body, shooting out in every direction as if exploding.
The second brother retreated, scattering the Sword Curtain he had once taught me several times before him. Some of the blood threads were severed, some were torn apart by the sword wind, and some were blocked by the Sword Curtain, but the blood threads that had stretched into the air gradually warped with a delay, turning into curves or whips as they continued to rush at the Ghost Demon.
Pababababababak!
Anyone could tell it was an art difficult to block.
In the end, some of the crimson-glowing blood whips touched the Ghost Demon’s body. A dreadful chiik— sound mingled with the Ghost Demon’s shout, and the thunderous boom of his stomping step striking the ground mingled with the Blood Cult Leader’s laughter.
At last, after blocking the art through all manner of responses, the Ghost Demon steadied his breathing several times. There was no way he could be in good condition.
“…….”
The Blood Cult Leader, watching the Ghost Demon’s ragged breathing, tilted his head and asked.
“Do you truly wish to die?”
The Ghost Demon replied.
“It isn’t over yet, so what kind of question is that?”
The Blood Cult Leader said.
“As the Sect Leader said, I thought the Mount Hua sparring matches were meant to confirm differences in skill. Are you saying this much is insufficient?”
The Ghost Demon replied.
“Is that so? Then why am I beneath you?”
The Blood Cult Leader let out a long laugh, then charged in again. This brutish Ghost Demon rushed straight ahead and swung his sword.
As if intending to kill the second brother, the Blood Cult Leader thrust out the Great Cloud Sword, and elongated sword qi suddenly extended from it.
The Ghost Demon soared into the air, completely abandoning defense as he thrust out the Six Harmonies Sword, and in an instant, the two clashed again at close range.
The reason the Blood Cult Leader was so difficult to face could be seen with the naked eye in no time.
Because his internal energy was deep, even while facing the Ghost Demon, blood-red spiderwebs shot out from the Blood Cult Leader’s back and attacked simultaneously. In other words, what the Ghost Demon had to block was not merely a single sword.
In that instant, as soon as the Ghost Demon knocked aside the Great Cloud Sword, he lightly rotated his body to the right, striking away six or seven streams of blood qi at once, and immediately counterattacked again.
It seemed he was becoming more proficient in his responses as he fought.
Now it was difficult to describe the Ghost Demon simply as a swordsman who could mount an iron-wall defense.
Furthermore, the Blood Cult Leader’s internal energy was not infinite either.
The blood qi he had used to suppress the Ghost Demon was, in terms of a swordsman, equivalent to releasing sword qi several times over.
Perhaps because of that, the two now engaged each other persistently with only their swords.
The fight looked strange.
It had clearly seemed that the Ghost Demon was behind by about two moves in the combined sum of internal energy and martial arts, but not now.
The Ghost Demon pressed in as if pursuing the Blood Cult Leader right up beneath his chin, swinging his sword like a wild beast.
His internal energy was lacking, but he looked ready to fight until his external strength ran dry.
Was the Blood Cult Leader frightening, or had Cheonak been more frightening?
The Ghost Demon was a man who had volunteered to train under Cheonak. Against a powerful opponent, he fought truly like a ghost, without showing even a single moment of shrinking back.
That was it.
A ghost.
That seemed to be the Ghost Demon’s identity.
The instant a surging wave of qi erupted fiercely from the Blood Cult Leader’s body, the Ghost Demon’s response was astonishing.
The very sword technique Im Sobaek had once displayed while advancing before us was executed identically in the exact opposite direction, and in the end, the Ghost Demon stamped down with a stomping step as if to shatter the earth and poured a massive burst of sword qi forward.
Swaeeeeeeek!
Moonlight, shaped like a half-moon, raced across the ground.
The Blood Cult Leader’s expression turned startled as he gripped the Great Cloud Sword with both hands and struck it away with blood wrapped around the blade.
In that instant, a thunderous boom struck the eardrums of every spectator.
Kwagwagwagwagwagwang!
Afterward, the Blood Cult Leader retreated five or six steps and looked at the Ghost Demon.
“…….”
His eyes were wide. If he had failed to properly block that attack just now, even the Blood Cult Leader could have died.
We checked the Ghost Demon’s condition as well.
He was working his mouth, and after his chest heaved once, he spat blood onto the ground.
It seemed he had poured out power beyond what he possessed. In other words, he had used sword qi even at the cost of consuming his true qi.
I stared silently at the Ghost Demon.
Even the somewhat mad Blood Cult Leader was accepting the format of the sparring match I had proposed here.
Perhaps no one understood the Ghost Demon’s heart. Only then, as I recalled events from the past, could I understand what sort of mindset the Ghost Demon had carried.
“Mm.”
In an instant, the surroundings grew quiet.
The Blood Cult Leader, who had nearly died after letting his guard down, glared at the Ghost Demon without a word.
The Ghost Demon, still in stance, continued swallowing the blood bursting out of his mouth. The blood that had risen up gurgled, then passed back down his throat. If he fought any more like this, it would be no different from the Ghost Demon killing himself.
The Blood Cult Leader raised the Great Cloud Sword and looked at the Ghost Demon for a moment.
“…….”
The Ghost Demon nodded, then spoke briefly.
“……Come.”
The Blood Cult Leader asked.
“It seems I have won. Must you really struggle so stubbornly and die?”
The Ghost Demon said what he had to say.
“I said come. Let’s see it through to the end.”
“No, just what in the world…….”
The Ghost Demon suddenly roared.
“Usa! Come in.”
In the end, the Ghost Demon charged again.
The Blood Cult Leader, greatly startled, blocked with the Great Cloud Sword, but this time the sound of sword striking sword was different.
Perhaps because the Ghost Demon’s true qi had been thrown into disorder and the flow of his internal energy had momentarily clogged, he swung the Six Harmonies Sword using only his external strength. Even so, it was quite fast and powerful.
The Blood Cult Leader, seeming to have realized that the Ghost Demon’s internal energy was not flowing smoothly, knocked away the Ghost Demon’s sword, then grabbed him by the collar and threw him to one side.
The Ghost Demon’s body spun round and round in the air, then landed perfectly on both feet before glaring at the Blood Cult Leader as if he would kill him.
Blood was streaming from his mouth, but the Ghost Demon wiped it away with his hand, then seemed to decide even that was useless and spat out another mouthful of blood.
The Blood Cult Leader looked at the Ghost Demon’s wretched face and smiled faintly.
“Yukhap, you look splendid.”
When the Blood Cult Leader suddenly sheathed the Great Cloud Sword, the Ghost Demon glared at him with his brow furrowed.
“It isn’t over. What are you doing?”
The Blood Cult Leader scratched his forehead with a finger and looked at the Ghost Demon with a strange expression. In other words, he was having trouble managing his face.
The Blood Cult Leader spoke in a calm, subdued tone.
“Master Yukhap.”
“…….”
The Blood Cult Leader glanced once at the ground, then spoke in an even voice.
“I apologize for what happened at the Tongcheon Gang.”
The Ghost Demon watched the Blood Cult Leader in silence.
The Blood Cult Leader continued.
“I have heard of your past. They say you are the sole survivor of the Yukhap Sect. The fact that I picked out the men at the Tongcheon Gang and killed them must have been especially unbearable for you. In truth, if the Hao Sect Leader had not stopped me then, I intended to kill every last one of the rest as well. As for me, I thought of it as something I had let pass because I had shown mercy, but it seems you did not see it that way. If you have not forgotten the Yukhap Sect, then you could not forget what happened to the Tongcheon Sect either.”
Was that it?
The Ghost Demon glared at the Blood Cult Leader with his molars clenched tight.
So from the very beginning until now, it seemed he had endured all this suffering in order to face the Blood Cult Leader, who had so casually massacred the Tongcheon Gang. It meant he had never considered this fight a martial contest in the first place. That was why the Ghost Demon had sprung to his feet when the Blood Cult Leader asked who his opponent was.
The Ghost Demon said,
“Apologizing like that will not bring back the dead.”
The Blood Cult Leader nodded.
“I know.”
The Blood Cult Leader, too, was a man drenched entirely in blood, but now the Ghost Demon’s eyes were no less engulfed in crimson.
Two men, each soaked in blood for different reasons, faced one another.
The Ghost Demon said,
“The Tongcheon Gang is too weak to take revenge on you. I have failed as well. I know you accepted this in the form of a martial contest. I lost. Blood Cult Leader, why did you kill those innocent people so casually? It was not even revenge. There was a time when I was no different from you.”
After throwing that question at the Blood Cult Leader, the Ghost Demon sat down where he was, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes. As if he meant to begin circulating his qi and regulating his breathing at once, the Ghost Demon’s murmur flowed out.
“……I lost because I was lacking.”
It sounded like words meant for the men who had died at the Tongcheon Gang. In other words, it was the ghost of the Yukhap Sect apologizing to the ghosts of the Tongcheon Gang.
Seeing him like this, he truly was the Ghost Demon.
The Blood Cult Leader stared at the Ghost Demon for a long while, then likewise sat cross-legged on the spot and closed his eyes.
To think the martial contest would end like this in an instant.
When Left Envoy Wi was defeated, the Blood Cult Leader’s mockery and even my applause had run rampant, but this time no one could utter a word.
I looked at the two people circulating their qi and regulating their breathing.
In the midst of the deep quiet, the Plum Blossom Manor Lord appeared carrying a tray himself and looked at the two men meditating.
I had told him to bring water, and I wondered why he was so late.
He had brought the fruit tea he had served to the Cult Leader and us.
Without saying a word, the Plum Blossom Manor Lord went to Cheonak and silently offered him the fruit tea.
Cheonak received it first, and the White-Clad Scholar also silently accepted a cup of fruit tea.
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord bowed his head slightly to Cheonak and said,
“Senior, this junior knew too little and failed to recognize that you were one of the Three Calamities.”
Cheonak nodded while holding the teacup.
“It is fine. Most people fail to recognize me.”
“Yes.”
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord was also a stubborn man, so he did not speak to the White-Clad Scholar. Instead, he looked at the Cult Leader and said,
“Cult Leader, would you like another cup of tea?”
The Cult Leader answered.
“No need.”
Since there was extra fruit tea on the tray, I answered right away.
“Give it to me.”
“Yes.”
“Why waste such delicious tea? Give that one to Eldest Brother.”
“Understood.”
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord answered like an inn waiter. He was a truly outstanding Number One Sword of Huashan. I asked the Plum Blossom Manor Lord, who was handing fruit tea to Eldest Brother,
“Manor Lord, were you watching from inside?”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“How was it?”
At my question, everyone looked at the Plum Blossom Manor Lord, who was holding the empty tray. In truth, they all must have wanted to voice their impressions of the martial contest, but the atmosphere prevented them from doing so. So I had, in effect, entrusted the review of the duel to the Plum Blossom Manor Lord.
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord said,
“My skills are meager, so I cannot discuss their abilities. However, only after seeing Master Yukhap and the Blood Cult Leader did I realize that I have spent half my life here leisurely swinging a sword as if playing at children’s games. Was the jianghu such a place? That is how I feel.”
As expected of Huashan’s Number One Sword.
I wanted to attack everyone’s expressions with the words, “Well said, my elderly junior,” but the atmosphere prevented me from doing so.
After drinking the fruit tea, I spoke to the Plum Blossom Manor Lord with the most serious expression in the world.
“Manor Lord.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“I have one lifelong wish. Will you grant it?”
“Please speak.”
I turned my head slightly and checked the color of the sky. It was growing dark. Night would soon fall.
I said to the Plum Blossom Manor Lord,
“As it happens, the people who need to treat their internal injuries are occupying the dueling ground while circulating their qi and regulating their breathing, so given the mood, continuing with the martial contests would not be right. Since the sun is setting, if you prepare dinner, I would like to eat together with everyone here. Their qi circulation should be finished before then.”
The Plum Blossom Manor Lord blinked several times and looked at me.
“A meal was…… naturally something I intended to prepare.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
I looked at the Plum Blossom Manor Lord with a serious expression.
“It is not something to take for granted. The people gathered here eating together is close to a miracle, both for all under heaven and for the jianghu.”
For a moment, the Plum Blossom Manor Lord looked at the Cult Leader and Cheonak with a startled expression.
“Ah, yes. I will hurry and prepare it.”
“I leave it to you.”
As the Plum Blossom Manor Lord went inside, I inadvertently met the White-Clad Scholar’s eyes. Since the White-Clad Scholar was sipping his tea, I asked in a needling tone,
“……Is it good?”
The White-Clad Scholar glared at me with an annoyed expression.
“Were you born with that obnoxious way of speaking?”
“They say even my first cry was obnoxious. How did you know?”
The lecher bastard, who had been sitting quietly, seemed angry that he hadn’t gotten to drink the fruit tea. He clicked his tongue and said,
“Childish. So childish. Truly, the whole world is childish.”
I looked at Cheonak and the cult leader, then asked in a serious tone,
“Among Mongrang’s sobriquets, there is one called Bedwetter. Would you care to hear the story behind it?”
The lecher’s face went rigid.
“Don’t, you bastard. Why would you bring that up now?”
Eldest Brother let out a slight sigh, then called to me in a dignified tone.
“Third Brother.”
“What?”
Eldest Brother looked at me.
“Was that really a story we needed to hear before eating?”
“Mm.”
“Stop it.”
“Fine.”
Seeing that no one laughed even after the Four Great Villains had launched such a coordinated attack, I realized anew that the greatest masters under heaven had indeed gathered in one place.
Where else would one ever meet such formidable opponents?
Life in this world is not easy.