Chapter 71

Dan Woo-sung kicked the broken sword with his foot, piling it atop the corpse’s remains, then buried it by trampling it with his foot.

Somehow, his manner bore a striking resemblance to the actions of the Heavenly Demon.

Was it because both men kept revenge in mind, or because their mindsets were similar? Perhaps they were people who shared many similarities, except for their differing perspectives on the world.

He sent the tainted sword and the corpse that had refused to be human back to the earth.

He had no desire to study the corpse, nor any intention of utilizing the broken sword. It could have been tainted by the ways of the dark arts or exerted a harmful influence.

Returning it to the earth seemed the cleanest solution. Especially since it wasn’t an ordinary sword, but a cursed blade that resonated with its wielder.

The day he killed the Sword Demon’s subordinate…

Danwooseong kept reliving the battles of his past life in nightmares. Was he having these dreams because regret was overwhelming him? Or had he been influenced to some extent by the evil energy flowing from the sword?

He couldn’t say.

Regardless, Dan Woo-sung spent the entire night repeating the fight, as if reviewing it, while keeping his eyes fixed on the enemy.

He could fight far more efficiently than before.

He deliberately and relentlessly targeted their eyes. He either deliberately drove the stolen swords into the ground while infusing them with his inner energy, or hurled them as far as possible. Once, after completely shattering all twelve of his subordinates, he faced off against a man presumed to be the Sword Demon. The moment Danwooseong seized his chance, he jabbed two fingers into his opponent’s eyes.

Clang…

It was a horrific sound.

Then, with his abdomen pierced, Dan Wooseong collapsed, only for the fight to repeat itself as if it had never ended.

It was a bloody nightmare.

This time, Dan Woo-sung used his lightness skill to break free from the formation, then employed hit-and-run tactics, constantly widening the distance. As the situation unfolded this way, the man presumed to be the Sword Demon intervened in the fight even faster than before.

The dream unfolded in a jumbled sequence before skipping forward in time.

At some point, when Dan Woo-sung, having killed every single one of those who had joined the fray, collapsed from exhaustion, a man clad in a purple robe slowly approached, bursting into laughter.

“Kwonwang, you really fight like a bastard.”

It was a line spoken in his past life too. Back then, it had come from the man wielding the sword, but in the dream, it was different.

Regardless, the outcome of this fight was the same.

The approaching man reached out as if he’d been waiting for this moment, grabbing Dan Wooseong’s head.

Dan Woosung’s body wouldn’t move. Being unable to move at the boundary between dream and reality felt similar to actual exhaustion, which was unpleasant.

In that instant, Dan Wooseong’s eyes snapped open.

‘Damn it…’

After Dan Wooseong got up and drank some water, he interpreted the dream’s meaning. It didn’t seem to be the simple message that fighting again would lead to the same result.

The owner of the nightmare wasn’t the Sword Demon, but the man in the purple robe.

The meaning behind his persistent shadowing, as if constantly looking for an opportunity, weighed heavily on my mind throughout.

It wasn’t just me being watched; even the leader of those who had passed the exam occasionally stared at me with a chilling gaze.

The expression might sound silly, but that was the feeling.

‘Who should I devour first?’

Applying dark magic to this scenario provided the answer.

‘Could they be using demonic arts that absorb internal energy…?’

The man presumed to be the Sword Demon and the man in the purple robe both gave off an aura where their very mental worlds seemed like absolute evil.

Danwooseong, now wide awake, changed his clothes and left the Eunhasa Trading Company.

As I faced the cold night air, I found myself unknowingly arriving at Baekyak’s lodging. With my hands behind my back, I wandered the streets.

My restless heart finally settled calmly. I intended to walk aimlessly along the road, waiting for Baekyak until dawn.

This thought occurred to me.

Unless fate intervened, it seemed unlikely he could suddenly become stronger from his current level.

It wasn’t just Danwooseong.

Cheol Myeong-ho, Sama Gyeok, Yi Ja-eon, and the Martial Arts Alliance Leader were all the same.

He couldn’t just wait around for a stroke of luck. After all, one couldn’t always rely on fortune alone.

Then, what a man must do was clear.

Day by day, I had no choice but to improve little by little and grow stronger. I felt it was a stroke of luck and a blessing that Baekyak, a rare master of ice magic, had joined me.

Only as the darkness lifted and dawn began to break did Baekyak emerge from the lodgings.

Baekyak gazed intently at Danwooseong. Somehow, he sensed she had been waiting for him all night.

“When did you arrive?”

Dan Woo-sung felt the dark clouds lift the moment he met Baek Yak. He was certain that breaking the Demon Sword had somehow affected him. The negative energy that had been tainted by nightmares had completely vanished.

Dan Woo-seong smiled and replied.

“About an hour has passed.”

Baekyak approached with wide, startled eyes.

“Did you perhaps not sleep?”

“I killed someone yesterday who was likely a subordinate of the Sword Demon. I also had some nightmares. Let’s talk about it on the way.”

“Yes.”

Dan Woo-sung headed toward Yangpyeong Lake, recounting yesterday’s battle in detail.

Baekyak, who had been listening silently, nodded and then took Danwooseong’s hand.

It was also a gesture of mutual attraction between a man and a woman.

Then Baekyak poured out her extreme yin energy, while Dan Wooseong poured out his extreme yang energy, as they kept holding hands. On the way to Yangpyeong Lake, when Dan Wooseong created a sphere with his brain energy, Baekyak froze it. Baekyak first created a single extreme yin white flower, which Dan Wooseong shattered into pieces with his brain energy.

They were both peculiar individuals.

Their cultivation and the affection between them were intricately intertwined.

The harmony of thunder qi and cold qi.

The harmony of extreme yang and extreme yin.

Shortly after, Yangpyeong Lake froze over, then cracked like lightning bolts, and Baekyak froze the entire defensive barrier of the thunder wall created by Danwooseong.

Now was the time to gradually reveal the hidden techniques they had kept concealed.

Revealing one’s martial arts techniques was akin to opening one’s heart to the other.

Danwooseong waited for Baekyak’s decision, making no haste. For now, he was simply grateful to Baekyak for making the nightmares fade completely.

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.

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Cheolmyeongho continued to strike down with his iron-clad umbrella. But lately, he wasn’t striking at empty air; there was a target.

The disciples of the Eight Dragon Sect were his targets.

At first, he started sparring with lower-ranked martial artists, but now he was gradually advancing in rank and sparring with deputy squad leaders within the Eight Dragons Sect. Since consuming the elixir, even the deputy squad leaders found the sparring difficult.

It wasn’t because his sword technique was exceptional.

Cheol Myeong-ho still only used downward strikes, horizontal cuts, and thrusts. However, in the daily grind of sparring, he moved desperately, as if fighting to avoid getting hit less.

His ability to counter had developed remarkably.

Moreover, the weight of the iron-clad umbrella meant he didn’t get pushed back even in real sword duels.

Clang!

Cheolmyeongho found it incredibly satisfying to see Mokcheolwoosan struggle when his opponent blocked his strikes. It felt almost like an addiction to the downward strike.

He found it so satisfying it made him think the pinnacle of sword technique was indeed the downward strike.

Ha Jeon-ik, who had come by after a long absence while tracking the Golden-Silver Murder Society, was also secretly astonished.

“Master Cheol, you’ve improved greatly.”

At first, he wondered what this was all about. No one in the martial world trained like this. Yet, Cheol Myeong-ho, using only the Samjae Sword Technique against his own men, was steadily growing stronger.

Ha Jeon-ik tilted his head.

‘That’s quite remarkable.’

Cheol Myeong-ho, drenched in sweat, looked at Ha Jeon-ik with a confident expression.

“Master Ha, let’s have a spar.”

Ha Jeon-ik raised his hand in refusal.

“Let’s do it later.”

Ha Jeon-ik chuckled inwardly.

‘The little brat’s lost his mind.’

Cheol Myeong-ho whined.

“Come on, let’s do it. Scared? That can’t be. The Eight Dragon Gate Master…”

Ha Jeon-ik snorted derisively and continued speaking.

“What…? Scared…? Young Master Cheol, you’ve developed incredibly fast even against the deputy squad leaders. It’ll be tougher starting with the squad leaders. You’ll probably need to swing it another fifty thousand times before you can match them. I’ll spar with you then.”

Even Ha Jeon-ik was now counting the strikes of the Three Calamities Sword Technique.

Cheol Myeongho lowered his iron-clad umbrella and took the first stance.

“Master Ha, I challenge you. I am Cheol Myeong-ho, a lowly martial artist known as the ‘Poisonous Dragon Blade’. Please instruct me.”

Veins bulged on Ha Jeon-ik’s forehead.

“Very well. Step aside.”

What’s so difficult about beating a few people? After having the subordinates occupying the center of the underground training ground step aside, Ha Jeon-ik approached Cheol Myeong-ho and paid his respects.

“You go first.”

Cheol Myeong-ho chuckled, shouted a warning, and charged forward, swinging his black iron umbrella vertically downward.

Ha Jeon-ik shifted his stance to Cheol Myeong-ho’s right, dodging the iron umbrella. The moment he evaded, he delivered a flying kick precisely to Cheol Myeong-ho’s face.

Thud!

Cheol Myeong-ho’s body spun round and round, flying all the way to the far end of the underground training hall. He crashed with a thud and was knocked unconscious for a moment.

The underground training hall fell silent.

One subordinate nearly burst out laughing but covered his mouth. Ha Jeon-ik gestured toward Cheolmyeongho and addressed his men.

“Wake him up. That bastard, where does he think he’s going?”

“Yes, Lord Moon.”

Cheol Myeong-ho shook his head, regaining his senses, then stood up, clutching his beaten face. His startled expression was quite a sight.

Ha Jeon-ik asked with a smile.

“Young Master Cheol, are you alright?”

Cheol Myeong-ho burst out laughing and retorted.

“Knocked out? Me? This Cheol Myeong-ho? What did you hit me with? Your foot? Wow, you really know how to use your foot.”

Ha Jeon-ik chuckled and said.

“Yes. Rest for a moment, then with the squad leaders…”

Cheol Myeong-ho approached, swinging his black iron umbrella with a whirring sound.

“Let’s try again.”

He was a truly fearless man. Ha Jeon-ik wiped the smile from his face.

“Master Cheol, you want more of a beating?”

Cheol Myeong-ho nodded, his eyes wide and fierce.

“Yeah, I want more. What are you gonna do about it? My body’s itching for more.”

Ha Jeon-ik jumped to his feet and said.

“This brat, though. Just because he’s the Crown Prince’s friend, he thinks he can talk down to me. And he’s a lot younger too.”

Cheol Myeong-ho retorted.

“I’m speaking informally because I’m destined to be the Nine Dragon Sect Leader. You rotten bastard, come at me. The day you lose to me is the day you’re dismissed as the Eight Dragon Sect Leader. You little shit.”

Ha Jeon-ik’s face flushed bright red.

“You lunatic…”

Ha Jeon-ik deployed his footwork to close the distance, then delivered a thrusting kick toward Cheol Myeong-ho, who stood motionless. It felt strange. He sensed Cheol Myeong-ho was standing still, waiting for the right moment. Ha Jeon-ik had intended to counter based on Cheol Myeong-ho’s response, but since he remained still, he had no choice.

Cheol Myeong-ho, who had waited until the very end, sidestepped backward and countered Ha Jeon-ik’s kick with a thrust.

Thud!

Once again, Cheol Myeong-ho, who still hadn’t closed the gap in their internal energy, was sent flying backward and slammed into the wall. This time, as if anticipating the flight, he pushed off the wall with his left hand.

Ha Jeon-ik’s soles were numb, and he closed his mouth for a moment.

Cheol Myeong-ho then pointed his iron-tipped umbrella at Ha Jeon-ik and said.

“Hey, Eight Dragons Sect Leader. If that had been a sword, would it have pierced your foot or not? Answer me. Shall we call it a draw one-on-one? How well can a guy with a hole in his foot fight? If you feel wronged, come at me again.”

Ha Jeon-ik laughed briefly, looking utterly dumbfounded, then spoke to his subordinate in a low, hushed tone.

“Bring me the wooden sword.”

Ha Jeon-ik, having received the wooden sword from his subordinate, pointed it at Cheol Myeong-ho and said.

“Hey, Cheol Myeong-ho. Take a good beating and don’t go telling the Crown Prince.”

Cheol Myeong-ho grinned, baring his white teeth.

“You little bastard, do I look like a child? I’ll take the beating and report it.”

Ha Jeon-ik’s insides boiled over. The guy had a knack for getting people riled up just by talking. The two faced off, then charged at each other as if intent on smashing each other’s skulls.

Crack!

The moment their thrusting swords collided, the wooden sword split vertically. Once again, Cheol Myeong-ho was sent tumbling across the floor without fail.

Ha Jeon-ik stared blankly at the split wooden sword for a moment.

Only then did he begin to understand what the Crown Prince of Eunha Trading Company expected from this man.

As Ha Jeon-ik turned his head, Cheol Myeong-ho was rising, one corner of his mouth curled upward.

This man was a rare breed of tough bastard.

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