Chapter 142 Summary-3

Chapter 142 Summary-3

Listening to Seonwoo Jin’s explanation, Seonwoo Joong suddenly spoke with a worried expression.

‘The Ha Clan’s growing power is worrisome. Even if it’s a surprise attack, fighting them would mean heavy losses for us.’

Seonwoo Jung’s worried words drew a sly smile from Seonwoo Jin, who reassured him.

‘Don’t worry, Father. By the time you lead your warriors there, the Ha Clan’s main gate will already be open. You’ll simply walk through the open door.’

“Hm?”

Seonwoo Jung frowned, puzzled by the meaning behind those words.

But Seonwoo Jin only offered a confident smile in response.

***

Sunwoo Jung, having assembled all four generations of the Shin family, struck the Ha clan’s estate alongside the warriors of the Dan family. This occurred roughly half an hour after Sunwoo Jung had returned to the Sunwoo estate.

It was nothing short of a storm-like, rapid charge.

Meanwhile, the Ha Clan, who had believed the White Tiger Division and the Second Division would bring good news, were completely unprepared for their attack.

Moreover, for some reason, even the gate guards had all been killed just before their arrival, leaving the gate wide open. The warriors of the Ha Clan had to face their attack inside the clan compound without any warning.

POW!

“Kraaah!”

“Enemy! Enemy!”

“How did enemies get here! Gah!”

Sun Woo-jung instantly slaughtered the Ha Clan warriors he first encountered in the inner courtyard as he shouted.

“Kill anyone who blocks our path! We’re going straight to kill Ha Gyu-yang!”

“Yes! Understood!”

Their advance was like a whirlwind even within the Ha Clan compound.

The scattered warriors of the Ha Clan tried desperately to hold them back, but ordinary soldiers could not withstand the charge of three hundred armed men led by two peak masters.

They were merely grains of sand swept away by the surging tide.

Meanwhile, when Ha Gu-yang, the head of the Ha Clan, heard news of the Sunwoo Clan’s surprise attack, he was having breakfast with his family.

Upon hearing the news, he was so shocked he spit out the water he was drinking.

“Phew! What, what?! What did the Sunwoo family do?!”

“The warriors led by Seonwoo Jaju and Seonwoo Jung are now passing through the training grounds near the main gate and heading this way!”

Haguyang couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“What nonsense is that?! How could he possibly be here?! And what were the guards doing that they let them pass the training grounds?!”

Then his subordinate shouted, almost in a wail.

“I don’t know! Even though the guards tried to stop them, they couldn’t hold back those led by peak masters!”

“Don’t we have peak masters too?! Quickly, inform the First and Second Lords…!”

But Haguyang, who had been shouting like that, soon realized.

The fact that the masters of the first and second ranks of the White Tiger, the ultimate masters, were not present at the sect right now…

And what it meant that Seonwoo Jung had come here now.

Haguyang shouted urgently once more.

“Then… where are the Grand Elder and Elder Yi?!”

Grand Elder Mo Xunduo and Elder Che Yonggu were the peak masters remaining at the Ha Clan alongside Ha Guyang himself.

Therefore, if they stepped forward, they would be more than capable of holding off the two supreme masters of the Sunwoo Clan.

But the subordinate couldn’t give a proper answer to that question either.

“I-I don’t know! Neither of them has been seen since this morning!”

At that, an enraged Haguyang shouted, his face flushed crimson.

“What the hell are you talking about?! Find them immediately…!”

It was at that very moment.

BOOM!

A massive roar echoed from somewhere, leaving Haguyang and his subordinate speechless.

That sound was unmistakably the main gate being shattered.

The warriors of the Seonwoo Clan had already arrived at the main hall.

***

About two hours before the warriors of the Seonwoo Clan and the Seonwoo Family stormed the Ha Family, Kang Pae-do and Mo Sun-do, the senior elders of the Ha Family, were conducting their morning training in their martial arts hall.

A martial artist at the very peak of his seventy years of cultivation, he had recently been sensing something odd whenever he wielded his sword.

A tingling sensation, as if something were about to break through.

He was pondering whether this sensation might be a sign that he was about to break through the seventy-year barrier of his internal energy and ascend to the next level.

And that thought plunged him into ecstasy.

‘Finally, finally!’

The peak of his career was already over a decade ago.

So it had been nearly a decade since he finally found a clue to progress.

For him, it was nothing short of thrilling.

Lately, he had been thoroughly engrossed in the joy of training for the first time in ages.

“Whoosh!”

Whoosh!

Despite being over sixty, the great sword of Mo Xundou, wielded with a large and sturdy physique, flashed brilliantly through the air.

The blue glow enveloping his sword was quite vivid for the very beginning of its peak.

But it still wasn’t enough.

‘Just a little more, just a little more!’

Just a little more, and it would be done.

Just a little bit more, and it felt like I could tear open this suffocating shell imprisoning me.

But that invisible shell had stubbornly refused to reveal its true form for days now.

“Ugh!”

It was just as he was desperately swinging his sword to break through that tingling sensation.

Suddenly, something that shouldn’t have been there caught his eye.

“Huh?!”

What caught his eye was a single masked figure clad in black.

It was unclear how long the black-clad masked figure had been there, but he stood with arms crossed, observing his martial arts practice from the sidelines.

‘An assassin?!’

That was his first thought.

But something felt off about that assumption.

Why would an assassin simply watch him without attacking, waiting until he noticed them?

The moment he hadn’t noticed him would have been the perfect opportunity to strike?

‘So he’s not an assassin? Then what is he?’

Moshundo pointed his sword at him and demanded,

“Who the hell are you?!”

Then, as if he had been waiting for this moment, the black-clad masked man, Gyeonjung, uncrossed his arms the instant Mosundo recognized him and spoke.

“Mosundo, I’ve come to kill you. I hope you give it your best shot.”

“…What?”

Mosundo frowned at his words.

If he came to kill, then he must be an assassin, but what kind of assassin tells his opponent to prepare and then wants to fight head-on?

He couldn’t help but think this guy was strange.

‘Could he be a duelist who doesn’t want to reveal his identity?’

That seemed entirely possible.

After all, there are plenty of moths drawn to flames in the martial world who chase nothing but victory.

But whatever it was, it didn’t matter.

After all, he’d be a corpse in a moment anyway.

Mochundo took his stance with a savage grin.

“How unfortunate that you chose to challenge me now.”

Then, in the next instant, Gyeonjung began to move silently.

Moving ghostly and silently, he instantly closed in, covering him.

Swish!

Startled by that stealthy and swift movement, Mochundo blinked in surprise.

It was an incredible technique.

But he soon scoffed and let out a battle cry.

“It’s all the same! Haaah!”

His great sword, imbued with the blue river, slashed diagonally toward the bear that had entered his domain.

A fierce and swift strike, as if it could cleave mountains. It was a powerful sword strike, true to his nickname, the Fierce Sword.

Shwaaah!

Then, Gyeonjung’s figure retreated backward again with a movement seemingly devoid of inertia.

It was truly a ghostly movement.

He, who had been advancing, retreated in an instant, escaping from Moxundu’s domain in the blink of an eye.

Yet, even though his strike had missed, the smile on Mochundo’s face did not fade.

He let out an even deeper laugh and began advancing toward Gyeonjung.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Whoosh!

As the Dao of Contradiction was drawn in succession, it felt like several waves crashing in succession.

Though it seemed a single, fierce strike delivered with all his might, his attack did not end there.

In stark contrast to the heavy great sword, a smooth yet powerful series of strikes flowed like water.

In an instant, Mo Xundou’s great sword brought Jian Zhong back into his domain. This time, it slashed diagonally, as if it would cleave Jian Zhong apart along with the very air.

“It’s over!”

Chu-haak!

Gyeonjung, realizing retreat alone would not save him, raised a dagger as thick as his forearm to block the blow.

Seeing this, Mosundo sneered.

It was nothing but a pathetic dagger, barely as long as his own arm, utterly incomparable to his great sword. Moreover, attempting to defend against a great sword imbued with sword energy with such a flimsy thing was nothing short of reckless.

Kwaaang!

But in the next instant, Mo Xunduo finally wiped the smile from his face and stared at his opponent in shock.

The deep crimson sword energy erupting from the opponent’s dagger had withstood Mochundo’s great sword.

“It was the climax?”

As Mo Seondo muttered with a look of surprise, Gyeon Jung quickly stepped back, creating some distance.

He had barely managed to defend, but if the relentless attacks continued, he feared he wouldn’t be able to withstand them.

Then, watching from concealment, Eun Shim-hyeok silently asked Seon Woo-jin.

– It’s not just skill; the weapons seem poorly matched. Brother Gyeon’s dagger looks hard-pressed against that great sword. Shouldn’t we help him, Young Master?

Hidden as well, Seonwoojin chuckled in response.

– Why are you butting in now, looking for trouble? And Gyeonjung hasn’t even given it his all yet.

The Gyeonjung Seonwoojin observed was a martial arts maniac and a gambler to his very core.

From what he’d heard, hadn’t Gyeonjung joined the Sichuan Sword Sect because he couldn’t learn proper martial arts anywhere else and sought it out himself?

In terms of passion for martial arts and competition, he was a man fiercer than anyone Seonwoo-jin knew.

Consequently, he had become utterly obsessed with the Heavenly Sword Technique Seonwoo Jin had taught him all this time.

And he reached the pinnacle of mastery with astonishing ease and speed.

‘Well, even before reaching the pinnacle, he was the sort who could easily steamroll most masters just entering their prime. With his internal energy and advanced martial arts now fully developed, it would be strange if he hadn’t reached the pinnacle by now.’

Ever since arriving in Guizhou, Gyeonjung had expressed his desire to Seonwoojin to face a true powerhouse in direct combat.

Despite never questioning any task assigned to him, he had persistently demanded only that one thing.

So today, Seon Woo-jin had given him the chance to face off one-on-one against Mo Sun-do, a true master at the very peak of his prime.

But the results so far didn’t seem very promising.

“Haah!”

Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa

Mo Sun-do’s powerful sword strikes, capable of splitting mountains, flowed like water.

With no opening visible in that relentless barrage, Gyeonjung, whose weapon lacked both length and destructive power, had no choice but to retreat.

That was actually a very poor response.

Though he was somehow managing to parry with his superb footwork, dodging the charging Mochundo by backing away was no easy feat.

Moreover, judging by the vivid blue sword energy, Mochundo clearly held the upper hand in skill as well.

Seon Woo-jin could gauge just what realm Mochundo had reached now, merely by observing that sword energy and movement.

‘He’s on the verge of breaking through the seventy-year barrier. With luck, the fight against Gyeonjung might just help him achieve it?’

It seemed likely that if he left things as they were, he might lose the subordinate he had just gained.

So Sunwoo Jin, who had been debating whether to intervene, ultimately abandoned the idea upon seeing Gyeonjung’s gaze.

Gyeonjung’s eyes, which seemed poised to be struck by a contradiction at any moment, still shone fiercely.

Despite acting like an emotionless lifeless object normally, now that he was being pushed around frantically and looked like he might die any moment, his eyes seemed more joyful than ever.

Seeing this, Seon Woo-jin simply couldn’t bring himself to offer any help.

Sunwoo Jin ended up letting out a hollow laugh, giving up on intervening in the fight and choosing instead to send a telepathic message.

– Gyeonjung, wasn’t it your goal to do your absolute best and face a peak master? So, your ‘best effort’ meant fighting using only the Dao techniques among all the skills you’ve mastered?

Then, he noticed Gyeonjung’s expression stiffen slightly as he frantically dodged Mo Seondo’s attacks.

Seon Woo-jin drove the point home to him.

– A head-on confrontation means fighting with everything you’ve got after recognizing each other, not a surprise attack. You’re already locked in a direct fight with your opponent, and now you say you’ll fight without using any hidden techniques or stealth? Are you planning to go easy on them?

It was at that moment.

Mochundo’s expression, focused on the duel, suddenly brightened.

Simultaneously, his sword strike extended more sharply and with greater reach.

Whoosh!

Mo Sun-do had finally shattered the seventy-year barrier of his internal energy.

“At last! Hahahahahaha!”

He burst into laughter and charged at Gyeonjung with even faster movements.

It was the most powerful and swiftest strike he had shown thus far.

It seemed as though Gyeonjung’s body would shatter at any moment.

Chu-haak!

Gyeonjung’s eyes widened.

He instantly realized.

This blow was utterly unavoidable.

Gyeonjung clenched his teeth and halted his movement.

He had given up on evading the attack.

Then he flung both hands out toward him.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

It was a hidden weapon.

A dozen or so projectiles were fired at close range toward the contradiction.

“Ugh?!”

Moshundo’s eyes narrowed.

If he brought his sword down like this, the enemy would be finished, but he would also suffer damage.

Having just broken through the wall, he couldn’t risk such a gamble now.

“Haah!”

Mid-swing, Mochundo twisted his wrist, deflecting the flying projectile head-on with his sword.

He also deflected the projectile curving in from the side.

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

Meanwhile, Gyeonjung darted through the thickly wooded area. He was likely trying to escape.

“Where do you think you’re running?!”

Moshundo roared, launching himself forward to strike at the trees where Gyeonjung had hidden.

BOOM!

With a single strike, three trees exploded simultaneously, scattering in all directions.

The power was immense.

And amidst the scattering wood fragments, Mo Xunduo caught sight of a black collar disappearing behind a tree right in front of the wall.

His mouth twisted into a vicious grin.

“Gotcha, you rat!”

Mochundo leapt forward again, unleashing his sword technique toward that tree.

There was a wall behind them, so there was nowhere left to run.

“Ugh!”

It was Docho, giving it his all as if determined not to miss this time.

Storm-like strikes poured toward the tree.

A frenzied Docho, seemingly intent on shattering everything within the range of his strikes, swept through the space.

Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa

The result was astonishing.

The entire area touched by the sword, including the tree, exploded outward as if detonating.

Shattered wood fragments scattered in all directions.

Amidst those fragments, torn pieces of black cloth could also be seen fluttering about.

It seemed completely crushed by the force of the contradiction.

But Seon Woo-jin, witnessing the scene, chuckled softly.

‘See? When you try your best, you do well, don’t you?’