Chapter 91

Cheonghanssangsal and Gonggongjinin watched the white thread rising from Danwooseong’s palm.

A tiny thread swayed and danced. It was curious, but not a threatening sight.

When Danwooseong flicked the white thread floating on his palm with a light hand movement, it fluttered away like a butterfly, light as a feather.

Cheonghanssangsal instantly retreated seven or eight paces backward. The movement was as light as a thread, and he retreated stiffly without moving his body much, making it look eerie.

Gonggong Zhenren, without retreating, lashed out at the incoming white snake with a fiery strike.

A faint popping sound erupted, and the white snake vanished without a trace. Gonggong Zhenren shook his head and clicked his tongue.

“You startled me, you little brat.”

The two Qinghan twins spoke in unison from behind.

“Gonggong… be careful.”

Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!

Over a dozen white snakes shot out from Danwooseong’s outstretched hand, suddenly swarming Gonggong Jin-in. When Gonggong Jinren swung his fire-breathing sword, three or four white snakes scattered with a thud. Yet, these white serpents, formed from lightning, sprawled out wildly, tangling together like a chaotic mass, and finally wrapped themselves perfectly around Gonggong Jinren’s neck.

“Guhk.”

Seven or eight white snakes coiled together once more, then transformed into a white whip that began to strangle Gonggong Zhenren’s neck. Gonggong Zhenren’s face flushed bright red as he summoned all his qi to resist. Behind him, Qing Hanshang swiftly closed the distance as he approached…

Dan Woosung shifted his head slightly and glared at the Blue-Haired Twin Blades.

Dan Woosung smirked as if daring him to come closer.

Cheonghanssangsal halted his lightness technique and looked at Danwooseong and Gonggongjin. He judged the timing for intervention was too late. He had judged it a trick.

Seeing Cheonghanssangsal not advance, Danwooseong gathered his energy and declared.

“Old men, do you think the Chief of the Piao Bureau is a laughingstock?”

Once he thought these men were harassing the postal station or merchant guild, he had no intention of showing them any mercy.

As Gonggong Jinren swept away the whip forged from thunder and lightning, he cried out for help in a strained voice.

“Senior members…”

Dan Woo-sung addressed Gonggong Jin-in.

“You talk like a senior. Do you really think those bastards will spare you? Why are you acting like this among villains?”

Danwooseong was conserving his energy. He had planned to unleash his lightning energy with his left hand once the Qinghanssang joined in, but since it didn’t, he poured his energy directly into Gonggongjinin. It was the lightning energy that had torn the Twelve Demon Sword’s body to shreds. Since consuming the Natural Essence Fruit, his energy had grown far deeper, leaving Gonggongjinin no chance to withstand it.

“Kyaaaah!”

Buljin fell to the ground first, and Gonggong Jinren convulsed violently in his standing position. Only when the thick smell of burning flesh wafted from Gonggong Jinren’s body did Danwooseong finally withdraw his white whip.

Dan Woo-sung asked Cheong Hanssang.

“Are you thinking of running away?”

Qing Hanshang’s one-armed man spoke.

“It’ll be tougher if the inn’s expert joins in.”

“I agree.”

The new Qinghan Twin Blades slid backward, then finally turned and began to deploy their lightness skills. As the Qinghan Twin Blades started to flee, Dan Wuxing spoke from where he stood.

“Qinghan Shuangshan, you damn fools…”

Qinghanshangshan simultaneously halted his lightness technique. They hadn’t even revealed their aliases, yet the young chief of the Piao Bureau knew their true identities. It couldn’t be helped. Dan Wuxing knew most of those who had gained fame and infamy.

Dan Woosung spoke in a tempting tone.

If we fought here, I would have taken you on alone. I heard the two of you annihilated the Shandong Yue Clan—is that true? Where did that fighting spirit go? You’ve turned into fleeing rats. Wasn’t the only thing you two feared the leader of the Yu Zhenghong faction? Swear there that you’ll bow to the courier office’s party every time they pass by from now on. I hear you two are villains who keep your promises. Make a vow, and I’ll let you go.”

Cheong Hansang glared at Dan Woosung.

“Hey, young man. You weren’t the Chief of the Piao Bureau after all. That position doesn’t suit your skill level.”

“No way he’s the Chief Courier. Was he affiliated with the Martial Arts Alliance?”

Danwooseong retorted.

“Oh, right. He’s with the Martial Alliance. He’s also the Chief of the Biao Bureau. No matter what happens, you two will die by my hand. You two, if you’ve lived this long, you should die fighting. You say you spent forty years in the martial world? Forty years spent hiding like rats in a cesspool, constantly worrying the leader might storm in, running for your lives. You’ve had a rough time.”

As Dan Woo-sung finished speaking…

Dan Wooseong, Cheong Han Ssangsal, and the other man all burst out laughing simultaneously.

Cheong Hanssang spoke.

“What a remarkable tirade.”

“The old man at the inn, do not intervene in this fight. If we survive, we will seek your teachings in the future.”

Inside the inn, Kwangshin replied in a calm tone.

“Very well. I won’t interfere. But I swear to heaven that from this moment on, any man who flees will be torn to pieces.”

Danwooseong walked toward Cheonghanssangsal, then stepped on the neck of Gonggongjinn, who lay on the floor, breaking it with his foot.

Thud-

His attitude left no room for doubt or variables.

Cheonghansangsal spread his stance wide, then One-Armed Madu, Cheongil, let a steel fishing line, glowing with a blue light, dangle from the sleeve of his uninjured arm.

It was a ranged weapon.

Inside the sleeve, the fishing line was coiled up much longer than anyone could have anticipated.

The man with both arms intact, Cheongwol, drew a curved blade weapon from his waist that resembled a moon. Its exterior was shaped like a full moon, while inside it held a crescent-shaped blade.

The Sun-Moon Wheel and fishing rod wielded by the Blue Twin Blades were weapons for passing the test.

He had killed countless masters, indiscriminately wrapping them in his fishing rod before slicing their throats with the Sun-Moon Wheel.

As Danwooseong approached, Cheonghansangsal widened the distance left and right before closing it again, simultaneously hurling the fishing rod and the Sun-Moon Wheel.

The trajectory was uncanny.

Whoosh!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The fishing rod flew in a wide arc, then swept in along a trajectory that coiled around Danwooseong’s body.

The Sun-Moon Wheel flew toward Dan Woosung’s neck.

Dan Wooseong lowered his stance to evade the Sun-Moon Wheel, then caught the incoming fishing rod with his gauntlet.

The man holding the rod then backed away, releasing it. Its length was impossible to gauge.

Meanwhile, the Sun-Moon Wheel spun back through the air, and Qingyue, both arms intact, charged forward with his twin blades drawn.

An ordinary person would have died before even grasping the meaning of this technique and the vicious method hidden within it.

However, that only applies when opponents of similar skill levels are fighting.

Danwooseong retreated while deploying his footwork, then yanked the fishing rod.

A sharp crack erupted from the rod’s midsection as the one-armed man shot skyward, dragged along by the force. Amidst this, Dan Wooseong clashed one-handed with Cheongwol, who unleashed a palm strike imbued with frigid energy.

Thud! Crackle!

After exchanging a few blows and palm strikes, Cheongwol, judging he couldn’t withstand Dan Wooseong’s power, leapt backward and caught the incoming Sun-Moon Wheel.

Both men were utterly dumbfounded.

Their method is to hook them with a fishing rod, manipulate the sun-moon wheel, and strike their necks. There were many variables. When the sun-moon wheel hooks the blue-eyed twin, causing it to move in a large circle, it usually gets caught on the fishing rod like it’s trapped in a net. But the strategy didn’t work from the start.

Dan Woo-sung casually grabbed the fishing rod and kept pulling it steadily.

The fishing rod, a weapon, had reversed the positions of fisherman and fish.

Cheonghanssang-sal launched another attack.

Dan Wooseong couldn’t immediately inject his aura through the rod. This was because Cheonghansangsal’s Cheongil kept extending the rod’s length.

Dan Wooseong burst out laughing.

“Ha ha ha······.”

Dan Woo-sung flicked his fishing rod into the air.

Thwack!

The middle section of the rod arched upward as Dan Wooseong dodged Cheongwol’s attack, soaring into the air. He grabbed the rod’s middle section and descended, instantly halving its length.

As Dan Wooseong spun sideways and pulled the rod, Cheongil continued unwinding the fishing line coiled around his arm while retreating backward.

In that moment, Dan Wooseong unleashed a thunder fist toward the approaching Cheongwol, then grabbed it roughly with both hands, hauling it up like a giant fish.

Cheong-il, floundering like a fish, was flung into the air and dragged along…

Dan Woosung discarded the fishing line. He then extended his left hand, wrapping a whip made from the brain of a blue-eyed bird around Cheong-il’s neck. Since consuming the Natural Spirit Fruit, the nature of his offensive and defensive combat had changed dramatically compared to his days as the King of Power.

Meanwhile, Cheongwol skillfully extinguished the Thunder Fist and appeared, swinging the Sun-Moon Wheel. Dan Wooseong seized the Sun-Moon Wheel and infused it with the Five Star Power of the Hundred Battles Ten Deaths Technique.

Crackle-crackle…!

Startled, Cheongwol dropped the Sun-Moon Wheel.

Dan Woosung kicked the handle of the falling Sun-Moon Wheel, sending it flying.

Thud! Splash!

“Guh.”

Cheongwol caught the Sun-Moon Wheel as it suddenly flew toward him with both hands, only to have seven fingers severed and flung away. Danwooseong, maintaining the Thunder Whip in his left hand, raised his right foot and struck Cheongwol squarely in the face.

Thud!

Cheongwol was flung backward, blood spurting from his severed fingers into the air.

Dan Wooseong muttered.

“The Sado’s techniques are truly vicious.”

Dan Wooseong hadn’t used his full strength. His accumulated experience and countermeasures were sufficient to break the Sado’s technique. As he pulled back the Thunder Whip, Cheongil thrust his left arm forward as if seeking mutual destruction, channeling his power into his empty sleeve to deliver a final strike.

As Danwooseong pulled the whip downward, Cheongil, who had been charging forward, fell headfirst to the floor. Meanwhile, from behind, Cheongwol, whose finger had been severed, kicked off the ground once and flew toward him with a headbutt that could hardly be called a technique.

This was a two-pronged attack. Perhaps because they were Black Path warriors, their fighting was vicious and merciless.

Dan Woo-sung pulled back his whip, arranging for Cheong-il and Cheong-wol to collide mid-air. With a thud, both men’s skulls shattered, and they died instantly where they fell.

Born on the same day and hour, the twins died on the same day and hour—there was something poignant about it, though it didn’t apply to Danwooseong. He had often heard of the evil deeds they had committed.

He kicked the Qinghan twins, clinging together as if embracing each other, sending them flying far into the wilderness where rough stones rolled about. Then, grabbing Gonggong Zhenren by the waist, he hoisted him up and tossed him toward the spot where the Qinghan twins’ corpses lay, as if sending them off together amicably.

“Senior and junior, go feed yourselves to the beasts together.”

.

.

.

Yellow dust carried by the wind lightly blanketed the corpses of Gonggong Jinren and the Blue-Haired Twin Assassins. A man who had appeared from the wilderness tapped the bodies with his foot, shifting their positions, then examined the faces of the three men as he thought.

‘Black Path. The other two are the Blue-Haired Twin Killers.’

The man examining the corpses with a stony expression was the Iron-Blooded Sword Master, who roamed the martial world alone. Glancing around, he spotted an inn within his sight. Like a whirlwind in motion, he unleashed his lightness skill and approached in an instant.

In front of the inn stood carriages bearing the sign of the West Wind Express.

Inside the inn, couriers from the West Wind Courier Agency were just emerging, looking as if they had finished their meal.

If you killed the Blue-Eyed Twin Blades, it means there’s a master of the White Path.

As the Iron-Blooded Sword Master entered the inn, a stranger among the group gathered around a table spoke up.

“Well, well, who might this be? Our darling junior, isn’t this the Sword Master?”

Ironblood Sword Master recoiled in shock, cursing under his breath.

“Damn it all!”

There was only one man who would call the Sword Master, one of the Ten Great Masters of the White Path, “cutie.”

Kwang-shin, his appearance completely transformed, beckoned him over.

As the Iron-Blooded Sword Master tried to leave the inn as if he hadn’t seen him, Kwang-shin called him back.

“If you saw your senior, you should come and greet him. Do you want to get beaten? You’ve grown a lot.”

The Iron-Blooded Sword Master sighed. Even Yu Jeonghong, the leader of the sect, didn’t treat him this harshly.

As the Sword Master approached Gwangshin, he said,

“Greetings. Senior, are you putting on airs? Have you turned back the hands of time?”

The Sword Master surveyed the group. They were all men he had never seen before. Only one young man sat with a troubled expression.

Of course, it was Dan Woo-sung.

Dan Woo-sung knew the Iron Blood Sword Master. In his past life, he had trained to defeat the Iron Blood Sword Master and his disciple, so he naturally knew him. But now, he couldn’t pretend to know him.

Kwang-shin addressed his companions.

“This is Cheolhyeol Geomje of the White Path. Alongside Uije, he’s the junior I cherish most here. Let’s exchange greetings.”

Baekyak and Cheolmyeongho bowed respectfully, while Danwooseong belatedly clasped his hands. Since the Sword Master had been a senior in the martial world even during the Kwonwang era, there was no particular emotional difficulty.

ⓒ Yoo Jin-seong