Chapter 59
Chapter 59: Third-rate Martial Family Becomes the Best Under Heaven
Every soul gathered in the yard had heard the youthful chief of the Gyojin Gang, Yi Myeongchu, loudly pledge that he would surrender ten moves without retaliation.
Even with Yanghwi’s opening attack proving far more devastating than anticipated, the young gang leader could not swallow his words.
“Terror is practically written across your face. What’s the matter, never imagined an eight-year-old child could strike with such force?”
Instead of pressing his advantage with an immediate follow-up, Yanghwi twirled his sword with nonchalant grace and poked out his tongue.
The young gang leader’s expression froze before twisting into a violent, quivering grimace of fury.
Cords stood out taut along his throat, and swollen veins formed a cross on his brow.
“Fuming, are we? What will you do about it, rogue? Care to duel on equal terms now? Well?”
“…A few stolen sips of spirit elixir won’t save you, whelp. I will show you that beyond every sky, another heaven looms.”
My, look at that. He refuses to take the bait.
For the scion of a den of cutthroats, he possessed an unexpected shred of restraint.
If that was the game…
Yanghwi drifted forward on featherlight steps, casually knocking the flat of his edge against the side of the greatsword.
“Hah!”
“…What is the meaning of this?”
“Can you not see? That counts as my second strike.”
“…Vile little cur.”
“Hah! Number three!”
The dark flush on the young gang leader’s skin deepened once more.
Good grief, how much hot blood had rushed into his skull for his face to turn an almost inky shade of violet?
Time to alter the rhythm.
“Hah!”
Though his shout seemed utterly whimsical, Yanghwi channeled six stars of internal power directly into the steel as he whipped it across.
Vwooom, CRACK!
Yanghwi’s sword crashed brutally against the broadside of the massive blade. Lulled into a false sense of security by the two prior taps, the young gang leader’s fingers had loosened, causing the greatsword to rebound violently against the force of the collision.
It snapped straight toward his own visage.
Smack!
“Gah!”
Battered squarely across the bridge of his snout by his own weapon, the young gang leader lowered his arms, revealing crimson streams pouring freely from both nostrils.
“Oh dear! Are you unharmed?! Heavens, look at that double geyser!”
“…”
“Pwahahaha! Pwahahaha! Look at the sight of him! Unable to deflect a boy’s swing, leaving himself drenched in his own blood!”
“…”
“And after blustering about yielding ten moves, no less! Did you believe simply growing older was an accomplishment to boast of? Pwahaha!”
Ripples of snickering and lively murmurs spread through the circle of spectators following Yanghwi’s ridicule.
“Good heavens, that young master of the Baek Estate possesses truly frightening ability.”
“Worse still, the young master of the Gyojin Gang is being danced upon the palm of that boy’s hand, entirely helpless against his jeers.”
“Kahah! Letting down his guard only to smash his own nose with his sword! He lacks the most rudimentary training of a martial artist!”
“Well, six exchanges remain, do they not? Would you prefer I release you from your vow this instant?”
Yanghwi flashed a mocking grin as he observed the trembling young gang leader.
“Of course, nothing in this life comes without cost. If a fellow wishes to reclaim his pledge, he must pay the appropriate toll. Do you not agree, esteemed martial brothers?!”
“Pwahahahaha!”
“Spoken like a true man, Little Brother!”
“The lad possesses an extraordinarily wicked tongue!”
Gleefully amused, Yanghwi cut the air with his blade once more.
“Fifth strike!”
Vwooom, CRACK!
This time, the young gang leader managed to brace his guard in time, yet his forearms trembled visibly beneath the shuddering impact.
It was inevitable; the raw internal energy packed into the strike was far from trivial.
I might be small, but my internal energy dwarfs yours, fool.
As the prized heir of the Gyojin Gang, he had undoubtedly been pampered with nourishing medicines since infancy.
Even so, he was merely the young master of a provincial outfit dominating a single backwater county.
Rare spirit elixirs cost exorbitant fortunes, meaning whatever he had ingested had a firm, modest ceiling.
Yanghwi, on the other hand, had consumed the miraculous heritage left by the Greatest Under Heaven prior to his ascension.
I have yet to refine all of it, and already half a gapja of internal energy courses through me, idiot. What makes your meager two decades of life worth showing off?
“Dread is creeping in, isn’t it? Starting to worry you won’t survive the ten blows after all?”
“…Silence.”
“You’re drowning in regret, aren’t you? Speak plainly. You’re cursing your own arrogance. It’s written all over your face, brat.”
“Hold your tongue and strike!”
True to his mischievous nature in such situations, Yanghwi declined to deliver his sixth blow; instead, he drifted lightly around the perimeter of the young gang leader, wearing an insufferable smirk.
“Look at a grown man of twenty years faltering before a mere child! Still, idiot though you are, you at least respect that a man’s promise carries the weight of a thousand gold—I’ll grant you that much courtesy!”
“I will slaughter you, you wretched—”
The exact instant the young gang leader’s composure shattered under blinding rage, Yanghwi unleashed the Vessel Thousand Steps.
With a single stride defined by swiftness, speed, and yet greater swiftness, he erased the distance between them.
Though the young gang leader was an expert dwelling within the second-rate realm just like Yanghwi, his reflexes had been severely dulled by incandescent fury.
Seizing his opponent’s blind spot in an eye-blink, Yanghwi drove the steel straight forward.
Right between the young gang leader’s buttocks.
“GRAAAAH!”
A bright scarlet stain bloomed outward across the seat of the young gang leader’s pants.
“AARGH! GRAAAAH!”
“Ease up, fellow, the steel only bit an inch deep.”
“You rotten spawn! You filthy cur! I’ll skin you alive!”
“Tsk, tsk, Young Gang Leader. Look at those veins pulsing like a tangled web. Was your mother a spider-faced demon, perhaps? I had no clue the Gyojin Gang leader harbored such eccentric tastes in women.”
“Shut your treacherous mouth! When these final three strikes conclude, you die!”
“I fear you will bleed dry long before then, Young Gang Leader. Crimson is gushing from your rear like a fountain. Could it be an atrocious flare-up of hemorrhoids?”
Unable to contain themselves any longer, the onlookers erupted into roaring hilarity.
“Kwahahahaha!”
“Pwahaha! Coupling with a spider-faced demon… Pwahat!”
“Afflicted with hemorrhoids at twenty years of age…?”
“He has lived over twice the boy’s lifetime, yet from this farce, one can hardly tell who the true infant is!”
“An absolute disgrace! Is this truly the pinnacle of the Gyojin Gang’s prowess? Haha!”
Glancing at the crimson slicking the tip of his weapon, Yanghwi screwed up his face in exaggerated revulsion.
He dragged the edge along the dirt to scrape off the gore, casting another stinging remark over his shoulder.
“Ugh, what a vile stench! A true offspring of gutter thugs—the reek alone is suffocating!”
The young gang leader’s skin darkened past crimson, taking on a bruised, ghastly purple tone. Swollen vessels beat frantically across his temples and neck.
His entire frame trembled as violently as if he were gripped by convulsions.
His eyes, engorged with blood, glared with mad intensity.
Brat. It seems you have reached your breaking point.
Snap!
Ah. Something gave way.
An undeniable fracture had just occurred within him.
Yanghwi braced his posture, anticipating a sudden, desperate ambush.
Instead…
“Guh… cough, hack!”
A dark torrent of clotted blood erupted violently from the young gang leader’s mouth.
The thing that had snapped was far different from an ambush.
Qi deviation?
Qi deviation.
The catastrophic calamity wherein a practitioner’s internal energy reverses or breaks wild after the spirit is overtaken by inner demons or suffers shattering mental trauma, shattering their ability to govern their meridians.
Collapsing to the dirt, the young gang leader writhed helplessly as blood spewed from his lips.
By every known measure, it was an unmistakable onset of qi deviation.
“Hey. Are you still breathing?”
“Guh, cough! Hack! Aaaargh…!”
Bearing witness to his offspring’s ruin, the Gyojin Gang leader vaulted forward in sheer panic.
“Chu’er! Answer me, Chu’er?!”
Before the father could lay hands on his son, Yanghwi cut in with a crisp shout.
“Touch him now, and the young gang leader forfeits this life-and-death duel!”
“…”
“Would you truly brand your child with the everlasting shame of a grown warrior bested by an eight-year-old boy?”
“…I will tear you limb from limb.”
Grinding his molars until his gums bled, the Gyojin Gang leader swiftly pressed his fingers to his son’s acupoints to halt the chaos.
Even so, the wild eddies of internal energy within Yi Myeongchu showed no trace of calming.
“Cough! Hack! F-Father, ugh…!”
“Chu’er! Cling to your senses! Chu’er!”
Moments later, the young gang leader collapsed into senselessness.
Tsk, even if he survives this ruin, his martial path is utterly extinguished.
With his keen spiritual senses, Yanghwi perceived the reality instantly.
Even if treated by miraculous physicians, that youth was destined to remain an invalid for the rest of his days.
“You venomous whelp… Your life ends here. I will hack off every extremity of your body and force your living eyes to behold the butchery.”
“Oh my, Uncle Gyojin Gang Leader. Are such barbaric threats fitting to direct at an innocent child like me?”
“Silence. I have no patience for your insolent mouth. Remember my words: you shall perish beneath my palms.”
“Tsk, tsk, every bit the coarse bandit chief.”
Yanghwi deliberately dragged his soiled blade through the dirt once more.
“Tch. I cannot sheathe it like this. It would ruin my scabbard.”
Watching the insolent youth carry on, the Gyojin Gang leader shook with murderous fury before barely reigning in his breathing.
“The first match goes to your side. Let whoever dares to fight the second contest step forward.”
He is indeed the master of an entire gang, after all.
Yanghwi had intentionally heaped mockery upon mockery to provoke him into a mindless rampage, making the man’s swift recovery somewhat disappointing.
Still, the harvest had been generous enough.
Wearing a contented grin, Yanghwi withdrew into his ranks.
The retainers of the Baek Estate immediately clustered around him, showering him with breathless adulation.
“That was magnificent, Eldest Young Lord!”
“Young Master Hwi, when in heaven’s name did your martial prowess climb so high?!”
“An unparalleled prodigy! A heaven-sent genius!”
Yanghwi ducked his head with mock modesty.
“It rolls off the tongue easily when I boast of it myself, but hearing it from others makes my cheeks burn. Let us leave it at that, haha. Regardless, who steps into the ring next?”
Depending on whether Baek Muryang or Gu Ak took the stage for the second bout, the entire trajectory of this battle could be altered.
Advancing forward, Baek Muryang called out toward the Gyojin Gang leader.
“Whom does the Gyojin Gang intend to deploy?”
Following a dark pause, the Gyojin Gang leader gave a cold, measured response.
“Blood Night Wanderer. Step forward.”
A grim, middle-aged warrior gripping a curved blade emerged without a sound.
A wandering blade renowned for unquenchable slaughter on every contract—a butcher reputed to leave entire fields soaked in scarlet whenever his scimitar cleared its sheath.
None other than the Blood Night Wanderer.
“I am your second opponent. Which of you intends to step out? Ah, it makes no difference. I will grant you all death just the same.”
As Gu Ak hardened his features and prepared to move out after a heartbeat of reflection, Baek Muryang stepped half a pace ahead of him.
“Lord of the House?”
“Master of Baekik Pavilion. I will confront the Blood Night Wanderer myself!”
“Lord Baek, surely that is—!”
“Brother Gu. It is quite well.”
Gu Ak, who had tried to restrain Baek Muryang, turned toward Yanghwi upon hearing the boy’s calm voice.
“What are you planning, Little Brother?”
“Nothing peculiar.”
“Unless you have some hidden tactic prepared, I am the one who must face him. You know this truth.”
His logic was unassailable.
Having stepped into the first-rate realm earlier, Gu Ak naturally held far greater odds of securing victory.
At least, that had been the case thirty days ago.
A full month had elapsed since the challenge missive from the Gyojin Gang arrived.
Across that entire month, Yanghwi had undertaken secluded cultivation alongside Baek Muryang.
“Brother Gu. You will comprehend everything once your eyes behold the fight.”
While words passed between them, Baek Muryang halted directly before the Blood Night Wanderer.
Observing from behind, the Gyojin Gang leader narrowed his gaze into a deep frown.
“Lord of the Baek Estate. Would it not be far more appropriate for the heads of our respective factions to settle this directly?”
Evidently, the Gyojin Gang leader believed that confronting Baek Muryang in single combat was his surest route to claiming a win.
Baek Muryang answered with unyielding calm.
“It is precisely because I shoulder the mantle of this household that I step forth to meet the Blood Night Wanderer.”
It was a sharp, unsparing condemnation of the gang leader for hiring an outside champion of superior cultivation to fight his battles.
Predictably, the gang leader’s face twisted into an ugly, sneering grimace.
“Blood Night Wanderer. See to it that he never draws breath beyond this ground.”
“You need not waste breath commanding me.”
Bursting with unbridled certainty, the Blood Night Wanderer twirled his curved blade in a languid arc.
“Lord of the Baek Estate. Word traveled that your cultivation lingered merely within the second-rate realm. Have you chanced upon some modest breakthrough since?”
“I have simply wielded my blade with honest diligence.”
“Haha! Then your severed skull will roll upon the dirt this day!”
A radiant luminescence erupted along the edge of the Blood Night Wanderer’s curved steel.
The indisputable hallmark of a master of the apex realm.
The true manifestation of intent harmonized with raw internal energy.
Sword energy.
“I shall tear through you in a single breath! Hahahaha!”
Bellowing a wild laugh toward the heavens, the Blood Night Wanderer lunged forward.
BZZZZZZT!
A deafening hum, akin to the relentless fluttering of thousands of frenzied bee wings, overwhelmed the surroundings.
The Blood Night Wanderer’s eyes bulged with raw terror.
“H-How can this be…”
Baek Muryang’s blade hummed with violent resonance, thoroughly imbued with the ultimate Bee Wing realm.
Above his edge, brilliant, piercing sword energy surged straight toward the heavens.
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