Episode 142
As Sunwoo Jung listened to Sunwoo Jin’s explanation, a worried expression suddenly crossed his face.
“The Ha family’s power is strong. Even if it’s a surprise attack, if we fight them head-on, our losses could be significant.”
Sunwoo Jin gave a confident smile, trying to ease his father’s concerns.
“Don’t worry, Father. By the time you lead the warriors here, the main gate of the Ha family estate will already be open. All you have to do is walk through the open door.”
“Hm?”
Sunwoo Jung frowned, puzzled by what his son meant.
But Sunwoo Jin just smiled with quiet confidence.
About half an hour after Sunwoo Jung returned to the Sunwoo estate, he gathered all the warriors from the first, second, third, and fourth divisions, and together with the martial artists from the Danga workshop, they charged into the Ha family estate.
It was nothing short of a lightning-fast storm.
Meanwhile, the Ha family, who had been expecting good news from the Baekho first and second divisions, were completely unprepared for the sudden assault.
For some unknown reason, just before the attackers arrived, even the gate guards had all been killed, and the main gate was left wide open. The Ha family’s warriors had no warning and were forced to face the attack from within their own estate.
“Gwahak!”
“Arrgh!”
“Enemy! Ahhh!”
“How did the enemy get in here?! Ugh!”
Sunwoo Jung swiftly cut down the Ha family warriors he encountered inside the estate, shouting,
“Kill anyone who blocks our path! We’re heading straight to kill Ha Guyang!”
“Yes, sir!”
Their advance was like a whirlwind even inside the Ha estate.
The Ha family warriors, scattered here and there, tried desperately to hold them back, but ordinary fighters could not stop a force of over three hundred led by two peak masters.
They were like grains of sand swept away by an overwhelming tide.
At that moment, Ha Guyang, the head of the Ha family, was having breakfast with his family when he received the news of the Sunwoo estate’s sudden attack.
He was so shocked that he spat out the water he was drinking.
“Pfft! What did you say?! What’s going on with the Sunwoo family?!”
“The warriors led by Sunwoo Jung are passing through the training grounds near the main gate and heading this way!”
Ha Guyang couldn’t believe it.
“What nonsense is this?! How could they have gotten here? And what were the guards doing, letting them pass the training grounds already?!”
His subordinate shouted almost in desperation.
“I don’t know! Even when the warriors tried to stop them, they couldn’t hold back those led by peak masters!”
“Don’t we have peak masters too? Hurry, alert the first and second division leaders…!”
But Ha Guyang’s shout quickly faltered as he realized something.
The first and second division leaders, both peak masters, were not in the estate.
And that meant Sunwoo Jung’s arrival here carried a very serious implication.
Ha Guyang shouted again, panic rising in his voice.
“Then where are the Grand Elder and Elder Lee?!”
The Grand Elder Mosundo and Elder Cheoyonggu were the Ha family’s peak masters who remained in the estate with Ha Guyang.
If they had stepped up, they could have held off the two peak masters from the Sunwoo estate.
But his subordinate had no answer.
“I don’t know! Neither of them have been seen since this morning!”
Enraged, Ha Guyang’s face turned red as he shouted,
“What kind of nonsense is this?! Find them immediately…!”
At that moment—
KRAAAASH!
A tremendous crash echoed through the estate, leaving Ha Guyang and his subordinate speechless.
That sound was unmistakably the main hall’s gate being broken down.
The Sunwoo warriors had already reached the main building.
About a moment before Sunwoo Jung and his warriors stormed the Ha estate, the Ha family’s Grand Elder, Kang Paedo Mosundo, was training in the estate’s practice grounds.
A peak master with seventy years of internal energy cultivation, Mosundo was at the early stage of the peak realm.
Lately, every time he wielded his sword, he felt something strange—an almost ticklish sensation, as if a barrier was about to break.
He thought this might be the sign that he was about to break through the seventy-year wall of internal energy and ascend to the next level.
The thought filled him with exhilaration.
“Finally, finally!”
He had reached the peak realm over ten years ago, but now, after a decade, he was finally finding a clue to further advancement.
It was an exciting prospect.
So recently, he had been fully immersed in the joy of training again.
“Hup!”
Swish!
Despite being over sixty, Mosundo’s large, sturdy frame moved his great sword with dazzling precision.
The blue aura coating his blade shone brightly for someone at the early peak stage.
But it still wasn’t enough.
“Just a little more, just a little more!”
He felt he was close—just a little more and he could shatter the suffocating shell that trapped him.
But that invisible shell had stubbornly refused to reveal itself for days.
“Ughhh!”
As he desperately swung his sword to break through the ticklish sensation, something caught his eye.
“Hm?!”
A figure dressed in black, wearing a mask, stood watching his practice with arms crossed.
When had that masked figure appeared?
‘An assassin?’
That was Mosundo’s first thought.
But something felt off.
Why would an assassin just watch without attacking, waiting to be noticed?
The perfect moment to strike would have been when he was unaware.
‘Not an assassin, then? What else could it be?’
Mosundo pointed his sword at the figure and demanded,
“Who are you?!”
The masked man, named Gyeon Jung, immediately dropped his arms and spoke as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“Mosundo, I’ve come to kill you. I hope you do your best.”
“…What?”
Mosundo frowned at the strange words.
If he came to kill him, he was certainly an assassin, but why would he openly announce it and challenge him to a fair fight?
This was a strange man indeed.
‘Maybe a gambler who doesn’t want to reveal his identity?’
There were many such thrill-seekers in the martial world.
But it didn’t matter.
Either way, soon he would be a corpse.
Mosundo smiled fiercely and took his stance.
“To challenge me now? How unfortunate for you.”
Without another word, Gyeon Jung moved like a ghost, swiftly closing in on Mosundo.
Ssshk!
Startled by the silent, swift movement, Mosundo’s eyes twitched.
An impressive new technique.
But he scoffed and shouted a battle cry.
“Try all you want! Hah!”
His great sword, glowing with blue energy, slashed diagonally toward Gyeon Jung, as if to split a mountain.
True to his nickname, Kang Paedo, his strike was powerful and fast.
Swish!
Gyeon Jung’s figure retreated as if unaffected by inertia, moving like a ghost.
He had been advancing but suddenly stepped back, quickly escaping Mosundo’s domain.
Even though his strike missed, Mosundo’s smile didn’t fade.
If anything, it deepened as he advanced toward Gyeon Jung.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Swish, swish, swish!
Mosundo’s sword strikes came in rapid succession, like waves crashing ashore.
Though wielding a heavy great sword, his strikes were surprisingly smooth and powerful, flowing like water.
In an instant, he forced Gyeon Jung back into his domain and swung his blade diagonally, as if to cleave him in two.
“This ends now!”
Chak!
Gyeon Jung, unable to dodge the strike by retreating, raised a forearm-sized short sword to block it.
Mosundo sneered.
A short sword no longer than an arm, trying to defend against his great sword, even reinforced with energy? Foolish.
Kraaaash!
But in the next moment, Mosundo’s smile vanished, replaced by shock.
The deep red aura radiating from Gyeon Jung’s short sword withstood Mosundo’s strike.
“Peak realm…?”
Mosundo muttered in surprise.
Gyeon Jung quickly stepped back, putting distance between them.
Though he had barely defended the strike, he knew he couldn’t withstand a continuous barrage.
Hidden nearby, Jeon Ma-hyeok asked Sunwoo Jin through a secret transmission.
—His skill is impressive, but the weapon matchup isn’t in his favor. Gyeon’s short sword doesn’t seem enough to handle that great sword. Should we intervene, Young Master?
Sunwoo Jin, also hidden, smiled and replied.
—What good would it do to jump in now and risk blame? Besides, Gyeon Jung hasn’t even given his all yet.
From what Sunwoo Jin had observed, Gyeon Jung was a martial arts fanatic and gambler to the bone.
He had joined the Sichuan Assassins because he couldn’t learn proper martial arts anywhere else and sought training on his own.
The battle was just beginning.
When it came to passion for martial arts and competition, no one knew a man as fiercely driven as Sun Woo-jin.
Because of that, he had thrown himself into mastering the Cheonsal Technique that Sun Woo-jin had taught him, obsessively and without pause.
And before long, he had naturally and swiftly reached the pinnacle of his skill.
“Well, even before reaching the peak, he was already someone who could easily outmatch most experts just entering that level. Now, with his internal energy and advanced martial arts backing him, it’d be stranger if he didn’t reach the summit.”
Since arriving in Gwiju, Gyeon-jung had repeatedly expressed his desire to face a strong opponent head-on.
Despite never questioning any orders given to him, this was the one thing he persistently demanded.
So today, Sun Woo-jin had granted him the chance to spar one-on-one with Mo Sun-do, a truly seasoned master at the threshold of the peak.
But so far, the results hadn’t been promising.
“Haaah!”
Kwah! Kwah! Kwah!
Mo Sun-do’s powerful strikes, like blows that could split mountains, flowed seamlessly in a relentless chain.
With no openings in that barrage, Gyeon-jung—whose weapon was lacking both in length and destructive power—had no choice but to retreat.
It was, in truth, a very poor tactic.
Though he managed to deflect the attacks with his exceptional spirit techniques, stepping backward to dodge Mo Sun-do’s direct charges was no easy feat.
Moreover, judging by the vivid blue aura surrounding Mo Sun-do’s strikes, it was clear he held the upper hand in skill.
Just by observing that aura and his movements, Sun Woo-jin could guess exactly what level Mo Sun-do had reached.
“On the verge of breaking through the seventy-year barrier. If things go well, maybe this fight with Gyeon-jung will push him over the edge.”
If left unchecked, Sun Woo-jin feared he might lose his valuable subordinate right then and there.
He hesitated, wondering whether to intervene, but when he caught Gyeon-jung’s gaze, he had no choice but to abandon the thought.
Despite looking like he was about to be crushed by Mo Sun-do’s next strike, Gyeon-jung’s eyes still shone brightly.
Usually emotionless, like an unfeeling object, now, overwhelmed and seemingly on the brink of death, his eyes gleamed with a joy unlike any other.
Seeing that, Sun Woo-jin couldn’t bring himself to offer help.
With a wry smile, he gave up on stepping in and instead sent a mental message.
—Gyeon-jung, wasn’t your goal to give your all against a peak-level master? Is your best really to fight using only the sword techniques you’ve been practicing, ignoring everything else?
At that, Gyeon-jung’s expression, as he desperately dodged Mo Sun-do’s strikes, stiffened slightly.
Sun Woo-jin pressed on, driving the point home.
—A true head-on battle means fighting at full strength, fully aware of each other—not ambushing. You’re already facing him directly, yet you want to fight without your stealth or concealment techniques? Are you trying to go easy on him?
At that moment, Mo Sun-do’s focused expression suddenly brightened.
His blue aura sharpened and stretched out further in an instant.
Whoosh!
Mo Sun-do had finally broken through the seventy-year barrier of internal energy.
“Finally! Hahaha!”
He burst into wild laughter and, moving faster than ever, surged toward Gyeon-jung.
This was the most powerful and swift strike he had shown so far.
Gyeon-jung’s body looked as if it might shatter at any moment.
Chuak!
His eyes widened in realization.
This was an unavoidable blow.
Gritting his teeth, Gyeon-jung stopped moving.
He had given up dodging Mo Sun-do’s strike.
Then, he spread both hands wide toward his opponent.
Shiiik! Whirrr!
Shadow needles.
A dozen or so flew at close range toward Mo Sun-do.
“Ugh?!”
Mo Sun-do’s eyes twitched.
If he struck down with his technique now, the needles would end him—but he would be hurt as well.
Having just broken through the barrier, he couldn’t risk such a gamble.
“Haaah!”
As he brought his strike down, Mo Sun-do twisted his wrist, using the blade to deflect the incoming needles.
He also bounced off the ones curving in from the side.
Tititititit!
Meanwhile, Gyeon-jung darted through the dense trees, apparently trying to escape.
“Where do you think you’re running?!”
Mo Sun-do shouted loudly, launching a strike at the trees where Gyeon-jung had disappeared.
Kwaaaang!
With a single blow, three trees exploded simultaneously, scattering debris everywhere.
The force was tremendous.
Among the flying splinters, Mo Sun-do spotted a flash of black fabric hiding behind a tree near the fence.
A savage grin spread across his face.
“Got you, rat!”
He lunged again, unleashing his technique toward that tree.
With the fence right behind, there was nowhere left to run.
“Uhaaah!”
Determined not to lose him now, Mo Sun-do poured all his strength into his strikes.
A storm of blows rained down on the tree.
His furious assault seemed capable of obliterating everything within reach.
Kwa-kwak-kwak-kwak-kwak!
The result was astonishing.
The entire area struck by his technique, including the tree, exploded violently.
Shattered wood splinters scattered in all directions.
Among the fragments, pieces of torn black fabric fluttered.
They had been completely pulverized by Mo Sun-do’s strikes.
But seeing this, Sun Woo-jin chuckled softly.
“See? When you give it your all, you do just fine.”