Episode 74
Bisa-yeong knew full well she had no chance of winning. Even if she were just at the very start of her peak, it would still be impossible. Judging by the length of the author’s crossing, it didn’t even seem like she was at the beginning.
If she confronted him head-on, there was no doubt she’d be torn in two within a single day.
But running away wasn’t an option.
Putting aside the shame of fleeing in front of Jeong-an, it was obvious what would happen to Jeong-an if she left him behind.
Bisa-yeong gritted her teeth.
‘I don’t want to risk my life… but this time, I have no choice.’
Meanwhile, Jang San-sama’s second disciple, Myeong Dae-sul, who was watching Bisa-yeong, seemed to understand why she was recklessly trying to face him.
‘It must be because that woman was captured.’
Apparently, he was the lover of this woman.
That only made him more eager.
He wanted to see the expression she’d show when she witnessed her lover’s death right before her eyes.
He intended to show her the cruelest sight possible.
Myeong Dae-sul, who had been walking slowly, suddenly lunged forward.
“Die!”
Smack!
But just as he was about to slash off the opponent’s arm, he had to let out a startled sound.
“Huh?”
Despite his surprise attack, the distance between them hadn’t closed.
The man had stepped back the moment Myeong Dae-sul charged, maintaining the same distance.
To be able to move backward at such speed—this new technique was truly formidable.
Myeong Dae-sul sneered with a bitter expression.
“What’s this? Weren’t you trying to save that woman? You pathetic fool. All you can do is tuck your tail and run? Thought you were some kind of hero, but you’re just a mangy mutt.”
He meant to provoke him.
Taunting those righteous sect guys who always acted so prim and proper was nothing new.
But instead of getting angry and charging forward as Myeong Dae-sul expected, Bisa-yeong just snorted and retorted.
“What are you babbling about? You worm. Are you so slow you can’t even keep up while backing away? Ridiculous. Hey! Why are you so slow? Was your mother a turtle or something?”
Cough!
Myeong Dae-sul was momentarily thrown off and coughed.
He had assumed this was some righteous sect guy, but this was more like a street thug…
And since becoming a peak master, he’d never been treated like this.
How dare some worm insult not only him but his mother as well?
Though he was the head of the Blood Sect, Myeong Dae-sul had always held gratitude toward his mother, and now anger began to boil inside him.
His expression darkened as he ground his teeth.
“You bastard…”
But Bisa-yeong wasn’t finished.
Feigning exaggerated surprise, she said,
“Oh dear, sorry! Calling your mother a turtle was too harsh, wasn’t it? My bad. If you’re a worm, then your mother must be one too, right? Isn’t that so, you little worm?”
With a sly grin, she asked.
That was the last straw for Myeong Dae-sul.
“You bastard!”
He shouted and charged at Bisa-yeong.
But she quickly stepped back, evading his attack with ease.
Clicking her tongue, she shook her head with a pitying expression.
“Pfft.”
“Argh! I’ll tear you apart!”
Myeong Dae-sul pushed himself to go faster with all his might.
Until he tore that bastard to shreds, nothing else mattered.
All he could see was the shrinking distance between them.
But inside Bisa-yeong’s mind, as she sneered at Myeong Dae-sul with a bitter expression, she was colder and more composed than ever.
Having spent so much time trading barbs with Sunwoo-jin, mocking an opponent like this was as natural as eating and drinking.
It was far easier than giving compliments or thanks.
Using all her senses except her eyes, she carefully scanned behind her.
Suddenly, she noticed something in her rear path.
Immediately, she formulated a plan.
The next moment, Myeong Dae-sul saw the man, who had been teasing him by leaning backward, suddenly step on a stone.
“Ah?!”
The man’s startled expression was clear as he stumbled and fell backward.
Filled with joy, Myeong Dae-sul burst into laughter and pounced on him.
“Hahaha! Got you…!”
But at that instant, Bisa-yeong’s body, having tumbled backward and rolled once on the ground, suddenly shot off diagonally like an arrow.
Bang!
A beam of light flew in the opposite direction from Myeong Dae-sul, who could only let out a shocked scream.
“Ugh?!”
The technique Bisa-yeong just used was the Explosive Charge, once wielded by the mighty Ma Jeo-ung.
Sunwoo-jin had found the secret manual for the Explosive Charge among the Blood Sect’s martial arts in the dead man’s possession and suggested Bisa-yeong learn it.
He even joked it would be fun to have Bae Jong-gwan master it.
When Ma Jeo-ung used it, the Explosive Charge showed an explosive acceleration like a cannonball.
Now that Bisa-yeong had used it, there was no way Myeong Dae-sul could counter.
‘It’s done!’
Leaping toward Jeong-an, who was still sealed, Bisa-yeong finally smiled genuinely.
She had won.
From the start, Bisa-yeong’s goal had been to save Jeong-an, not to defeat the man.
“Master!”
Just as Bisa-yeong was about to reach Jeong-an, laughter echoed from somewhere.
“Hahaha! This is fun! Truly amazing!”
It came from the rooftop.
At that moment, Bisa-yeong’s heart turned cold.
A third person, completely undetected by her senses, was dropping down in front of Jeong-an.
And Bisa-yeong hadn’t reached Jeong-an yet.
“Grrk!”
She gritted her teeth.
Now, she really had to risk her life.
“Hah!”
Swish!
Bisa-yeong’s swift blade sliced through the air like a thin line.
But unfortunately, it didn’t reach the opponent.
Thwack!
The man caught Bisa-yeong’s blade easily with his index finger.
Her vision blurred.
Not only did he dodge her strike, he stopped it with ease.
She couldn’t even guess how skilled he was.
It seemed this was as far as she could go.
But contrary to her expectations, the man just smiled and spoke.
“It’s alright. I’m not your enemy.”
“…Huh?”
Bisa-yeong saw Jeong-an, whose seal had been lifted, staggering slightly before regaining her balance.
She spoke with a bright smile.
“Oh, the seal’s broken!”
It seemed the man was responsible.
‘He really isn’t an enemy?’
Only then did Bisa-yeong properly study his face.
He looked to be in his early twenties, strikingly handsome… with pale skin, a clear smile, and, for some reason, his eyes were always closed.
He spoke again, his voice as clear as his smile.
“Sorry to startle you. I was searching for the women kidnapped along with Master Sa, and on my way through the checkpoint, I happened to come across you two—or rather, four.”
Bisa-yeong blinked in surprise.
He was looking for kidnapped women?
More importantly, if he knew there were four of them, that meant he was aware of Sunwoo-jin and Jeong-yeon as well.
Before Bisa-yeong could ask anything, he continued.
“We can discuss the details later. For now, we should deal with this author.”
When Bisa-yeong glanced back, Myeong Dae-sul was charging at them with a demonic expression.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
The man with closed eyes passed by Bisa-yeong and walked toward Myeong Dae-sul.
His steps felt weightless, as if he were walking somewhere unreal.
And Bisa-yeong immediately understood what that meant.
‘An incredible new technique.’
She swallowed hard.
At a glance, she could tell his new technique rivaled her own.
But it wasn’t just the technique that was astonishing.
He slowly drew his sword.
Not with any flashy or unusual move—just a simple, ordinary motion anyone could recognize.
Yet, she couldn’t look away.
It was as if he alone existed in a different world.
And when the drawn sword began to move, Bisa-yeong saw it.
A sword forged from blue steel traced a line, and around it, a crimson sunset spread.
A sight so majestic it defied understanding.
“No way…”
But even all this paled in comparison to what happened next.
The man charging at the sword was splitting apart.
This was likely a peak master with over seventy years of internal energy cultivation, yet he seemed to throw himself into the blade, splitting in two.
At a glance, it looked like suicide.
At that moment, Jeong-an, with a horrified expression, muttered nearby.
“Cheongun… Jeokha Sword? How?”
Hmm? The Cheongun Jeokha Sword?
Bisa-yeong had heard of it.
A sword technique said to be achievable only by the rarest geniuses in the Cheongseong Sect—so rare it might appear once in a hundred years.
Even Han Gyo-seong, the so-called genius leader of the Cheongseong Sect, had never mastered it.
Then who was this man?
The author, who had just effortlessly slain a peak master, turned around with the same innocent smile as before and greeted them.
“Nice to meet you. I am Lee Geon of Cheongseong.”
Bisa-yeong had sensed the arrival of the others even before the battle was about to unfold.
So I was able to respond without hesitation to the guy who spoke to me.
“Is that a ‘One Time, One Kill’? You one of those Point-Strike guys?”
“I’m not an official disciple of the Point-Strike sect, but you could say I’m similar. And you? The Blood Sect’s Demon Head?”
On the surface, I answered casually, but inside I sighed.
I’d just taken down one peak-level fighter, and now three more were coming.
One of them had over eighty years of internal energy cultivation, and the other two looked like they were just entering the peak level.
What is this, an onion? Layers upon layers.
To think the Blood Sect could send such high-caliber experts even to a small area like this—truly impressive.
Or maybe they valued this place more than I had thought.
Either way, this was clearly an extremely dangerous situation.
So naturally, the smart move would be to run away as fast as possible…
‘This is troublesome.’
Strangely, I felt unusually calm.
In fact, I was getting this urge to fight.
Ever since that encounter with Mukrang, who faced off against me and Georyeokma, I’d been replaying that battle and my responses over and over—dozens, maybe hundreds of times.
And the conclusion I reached was this:
The world I saw before that fight and the one I see now are definitely different. Except for the final moment of “emptiness is form,” I feel like I can handle everything now.
So I wanted to test just how far I could push myself.
‘Starting with that guy—the Demon Head with over eighty years of cultivation, who until recently I would have been desperate to run from.’
But the impulse to fight was short-lived. I ultimately decided to retreat.
I couldn’t risk it—not with Jeong-yeon Sojeo here with me.
‘Too bad.’
I forced myself to calm down and sent a quick message to Jeong-yeon Sojeo.
Finally, I managed to put some distance between us and regain my composure, but having to carry her again was a bit of a pain. Still, there was no other choice.
The guy was answering my question now.
He seemed so confident in my calm demeanor that he didn’t suspect I’d run.
“Heh heh heh, this elder here is Jang San-sama’s Demon Rider, Yang Bul-gi. And the one you just killed was my fourth younger brother…”
That was when I shouted,
“Three! Let’s go, Sojeo!”
I grabbed her and was about to bolt when out of the corner of my eye, I saw another newcomer flying in like a meteor from the checkpoint.
“Haap!”
The man’s sword emitted a long, red blade aura, trailing behind like a comet’s tail.
A sword aura that long meant he was also at least a peak-level expert with over eighty years of cultivation.
‘But… the sword aura isn’t aimed at me—it’s heading straight for that Demon Head.’
I hesitated, pausing my escape to assess the situation.
Yang Bul-gi, Jang San-sama’s eldest Demon Rider, noticed the attack late and quickly drew his sword to meet the strike.
“Who the hell are you?! Hahap!”
Kra-kra-kra-kra-bang!
Where their weapons clashed, red sword and saber auras collided, sparking a dazzling explosion.
In that brief moment, they exchanged several moves in rapid succession.
Their duel clearly revealed who held the advantage.
“Haahap!”
Kra-kra-kra-bang!
Yang Bul-gi wielded a powerful saber technique similar in strength to the one I’d faced earlier.
Every time he swung, it was like crimson lightning struck down from the sky.
Meanwhile, the man’s sword aura resembled a sunset glow.
Shuaak!
As he unleashed his sword energy, the red sunset aura spread through the space, absorbing even the crimson lightning and sapping its power.
It was like watching lightning dissolve into the evening sky.
At that moment, I heard Jeong-yeon Sojeo’s excited voice beside me.
“Red Crane Sword Technique! That’s Master Hwa’s style!”
Huh? Master Hwa?
Could this be Hwa Young-bin, the Red Crane Divine Sword, disciple of the infamous Cheongseong Gwaeseon?
Jeong-yeon Sojeo’s words made me look at him again with admiration.
The first thing that caught my eye was his striking appearance.
Though probably in his late thirties, he looked like a handsome young man in his late twenties.
And his martial skill was truly remarkable.
His cultivation was around ninety years, it seemed.
Not quite at the super-peak level yet, but right on the cusp.
Among the warriors in their thirties I’d met, he was the first who seemed to surpass even Chief Seolpung.
His Red Crane Sword Technique was breathtaking.
Not as fast or lethal as the Point-Strike style, but watching it was like witnessing the grandeur of nature itself.
‘So this is what swordsmanship looks like when it’s truly about pursuing the Way.’
That thought came naturally.
Then I saw two peak-level Demon Heads who had come with Yang Bul-gi rushing in to join the fight.
“You bastard! We’re here too!”
“Master! We’ll help!”
A smile crept onto my face.
Sure, even with reinforcements, I didn’t think the Red Crane Divine Sword would lose.
But I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
At least I’d take on those two to ease my frustration.
I shouted as I charged forward.
“Why are you going that way?! Don’t be so rude!”
The brilliant wings of sword shadows I created spread wide, ready to strike at them.