Chapter 12 - A Third-Rate Warrior Defending His Sect's Honor (6)

"What in the world is happening?"

"E-Exactly. No matter how you look at it..."

"They said the Blood Wolf of the Twin Wolf Iron Swords was at the level beyond the province's best, but that was clearly a completely baseless rumor."

Even though a disciple of the Taiyi Sect was overwhelming the genius of the Iron Sword Sect, the atmosphere leaned much more toward disparaging the Iron Sword Sect than acknowledging the Taiyi Sect.

Fucking hell, seriously.

Because the Taiyi Sect hadn't even managed to act as a paper fox for hundreds of years, let alone a paper tiger, it would still take a long time to change the perception of the Taiyi Sect.

And to buy that time, I needed a justification great enough to not just thoroughly shatter the Iron Sword Sect's honor, but cause it to collapse completely.

If the Iron Sword Sect so much as lifted a finger, the perception that 'Look at them, trying to swallow the Taiyi Sect like the Underworld' had to be firmly rooted in Jianghu.

"Haa, haa. Haa."

In that sense, the current situation was flowing perfectly.

Seong Mohyeon was a disheveled mess after executing a Lazy Donkey Roll—a humiliating move for a martial artist—and his entire body was covered in minor wounds.

On the other hand, I was clean without a single scratch, and I wasn't even short of breath. Anyone could see that I had overwhelmingly seized the upper hand, but Seong Mohyeon couldn't easily admit defeat.

'Even I wouldn't be able to do that.'

For one thing, there were too many eyes watching.

Not only were there people from within the Iron Sword Sect, but all the avid drinkers in Anhui Province had gathered here.

And isn't gossip what drinkers consider to be the finest side dish?

If he recorded a defeat today, Seong Mohyeon would wear the label of a guy who couldn't even beat the Taiyi Sect for the rest of his life.

Furthermore, his belief that he shouldn't be losing was probably the biggest reason he couldn't give up.

Judging by the flow of the sparring match, I had no sword technique to counter the Mountain-Shattering Sword Technique.

He surely thought he could win, yet for some reason, his internal energy kept cutting out and his energy circulation wasn't flowing properly.

"Your training in internal energy seems lacking."

"... Y-You bastard!"

The internal energy surging from his Dantian was supposed to flow smoothly and endlessly like a stream running through a valley, but because the Jade Dragon Bracelet kept cutting it off, he couldn't properly string together his techniques or his strength.

"What the hell are you..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Could it be that you...?"

"Your skills must be lacking if you have the time for idle thoughts."

SLASH!

SWISH.

In the end, Seong Mohyeon's hair was sheared off by my sword.

Seong Mohyeon, looking like a beggar with his disheveled hair, was huffing as if he couldn't hold back his anger.

"Is something wrong?"

"Hoo, hoo."

Even the foolish Seong Mohyeon seemed to have realized something by this point, as he started using a fist technique instead of his sword, and the moment our hands clashed, I activated the Jade Dragon Bracelet to drain a massive amount of his internal energy.

"Gasp!"

A look of absolute certainty finally appeared in his eyes.

Seong Mohyeon rapidly backed away as if he had seen a ghost.

Then, he shouted toward the platform.

"S-Sorcery! It's sorcery!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the warriors of the Iron Sword Sect and the Iron Sword Sect figures on the platform sprang to their feet.

Regardless, I swung my sword at Seong Mohyeon with an even more vicious momentum.

"Eek!"

A sound that was neither a scream nor a battle cry leaked from Seong Mohyeon's mouth as he began to roll on the floor.

The wounds carved into his body grew larger, and his face was covered in despair and streaming snot.

"Stop!"

In the end, the Iron Sword Sect Leader shot up from the platform and shouted.

His shout, heavily laden with internal energy, rang out sharply as if it would tear the eardrums of everyone watching, and those lacking in internal energy even grabbed their heads and staggered.

"Haa, haa."

The moment Seong Mohyeon turned his head as if breathing a sigh of relief at the Iron Sword Sect Leader's shout, I unleashed the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique with the intention of cutting off his head.

"Did you think this would be the end?"

SLASH!

Seong Mohyeon, who had let his guard down upon the Iron Sword Sect Leader's intervention, began to retreat and run away without even having the time to execute his footwork against the Lesser Heaven Sword Technique that struck unawares. However, I was one step faster, bringing my sword down in a long slash across his back.

"Aaargh!"

Red blood splattered everywhere alongside a wound that cut across from his right shoulder to his left flank.

The moment I was about to swing my sword at his back in the opposite direction again.

The Iron Sword Sect Leader abruptly appeared and reached out his hand.

With a *BANG! *, my body was sent flying away by twenty feet.

* * *

'Something is going wrong.'

The Iron Sword Sect Leader, Seong Cheonwol, thought just that.

Isn't there such a thing?

That ambiguous situation where you couldn't put it into exact words, but you felt with certainty that something was wrong, yet the matter was too important to easily call a halt to.

That was exactly Seong Cheonwol's position right now.

"The Taiyi Sect's swordsmanship is quite sharp."

At Zhuge Somyeong's muttered words, which sounded like he was talking to himself, that suspicion began to grow.

The Taiyi Sect's sword was too light to pierce through the Iron Sword Sect's sword.

Because the depth of their sword paths was different, the matchup was poor.

To overcome the Iron Sword Sect's sword with the Taiyi Sect's sword, one needed an overwhelming advantage in internal energy.

"That child from the Taiyi Sect seems to have a lot of real combat experience."

The fog finally cleared at Zhuge Somyeong's words, and when he began to objectively view the skills of that arrogant child named Jin Sowoon, he was struck by a shock that felt like a blow to the back of the head.

His adaptability, which surpassed that of any average wandering warrior, made the same martial move look like a completely different martial move.

However, by the time he realized what was wrong, it was too late.

"Aaargh!"

His precious Seong Mohyeon collapsed to the floor screaming, and blood was splattering everywhere.

Seong Cheonwol had no time to continue his train of thought.

"You bastard! Did you not hear me tell you to stop!"

The brat, who had been pushed back twenty feet, was walking back this way as if he still had no intention of ending things.

"Has the match been decided?"

"How dare you!"

"That man Seong did not admit defeat. Had he obediently admitted defeat, he wouldn't have seen blood."

Even so, was it right to draw blood in a sparring match?

"So you're saying you did well?"

"Instead of admitting defeat, that guy shamelessly insulted my victory by claiming I used sorcery, and in the end, he even showed his back to run away. If today weren't the Sect Leader's 60th birthday banquet, I would have cut his neck, not his back."

"Shut up! You bastard!"

Seong Cheonwol was trying to bury that word 'sorcery' no matter what.

Given the weight carried by 'sorcery' and 'forbidden art,' they were words that should never be thrown around recklessly.

The problem was that his own grandson had spouted the word.

"In the first place, this one-sided public shaming masquerading as a sparring match started because of your grandson's forced insults. Do you still think you're in the right?"

"This bastard!"

The Iron Sword Sect Leader's robes slowly billowed out.

He tried to force the brat to back down by exuding an imposing pressure, but the boy showed no signs of doing so.

No, he instead began charging forward with a fiery glint in his eyes, as if he had caught onto a perfect weakness.

"It seems the Iron Sword Sect is such a petty sect that its Sect Leader must personally step forward to annul the outcome when they can't even accept a rightful defeat in a sparring match. Do you understand now? The reason the Iron Sword Sect can't enter the 108 Peaks is because there's a problem with the Iron Sword Sect."

Every time the boy continued to speak, the atmosphere among the spectators slowly began to shift.

The Iron Sword Sect Leader was trapped in a situation where he could neither do this nor that.

"It's sorcery, it is definitely sorcery. Grandfather!"

Seong Cheonwol felt like sewing Seong Mohyeon's mouth shut on the spot.

"... Be quiet!"

"It's true. I felt it clearly! That bastard has definitely learned the Great Star-Absorbing Art!"

The Iron Sword Sect Leader stared at his grandson in sheer disbelief that he could be so foolish.

During combat, it could have been brushed off as nonsense, but with people clearly listening like this, he shouldn't have affirmed the presence of a forbidden art.

Because the moment he uttered the words of a forbidden art, they would ultimately be held responsible for it.

Furthermore, the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist and the people from the Namgung Clan were currently present.

Fortunately, neither the Namgung Clan nor Zhuge Somyeong showed any particular reaction.

It was a moment where feeding them a massive bribe didn't feel like a waste.

"Is that the truth?"

"How else could I possibly have lost!"

"This little..."

If he was saying this simply to evade responsibility for losing, it could never be forgiven.

Even if it meant the Iron Sword Sect's lineage would end.

"Grandfather! I am the Blood Wolf Iron Sword, Seong Mohyeon. I am someone who has never lost to my peers in internal energy or martial arts since childhood. Do you really think it makes sense for someone like me to lose to the Taiyi Sect?"

Although it was partly due to his own efforts, Seong Mohyeon had received every possible benefit since he was young, from bone-cleansing and marrow-washing to various spiritual elixirs.

Even judging objectively, there was no way Seong Mohyeon should have lost to Jin Sowoon.

"Why would I hold a grudge and make up a story? I definitely felt my internal energy cut off and slip away several times during the sparring match, and I only continued fighting to confirm it."

Seong Mohyeon poured out his impassioned speech while shedding tears.

"Are you absolutely certain it was cut off while you were circulating your internal energy?"

"Of course. And that's not all. At the end, I even felt the internal energy I was circulating suddenly slip away."

With him saying all this, the suspicion turned toward Jin Sowoon once again.

"If what you say isn't true..."

"Your grandson—no, as a disciple of the Iron Sword Sect, Seong Mohyeon. If this isn't true, I will willingly pay the price for my actions."

"Good."

Seong Cheonwol decided to bet on his grandson.

Furthermore, fueled by the anticipation that he might be able to uproot the Taiyi Sect as early as tomorrow, he spoke to Jin Sowoon.

* * *

"Did you hear that? I will have to examine your body."

The old man, who had been agonizing over the gravity of the matter, finally made a fatal misstep.

On one hand, he was probably desperate for me to have actually learned such a forbidden art.

If that happened, he could establish a lay martial arts hall for the Iron Sword Sect where the Taiyi Sect disappeared, secure a position in the 108 Peaks, and expand his dominance across the Hefei region.

But I would never let him see such a sight.

"By what right will you do that?"

"As a warrior who wishes for peace in Jianghu, it is only natural for me to do so."

"Do you wish to corner my sect to this extent?"

But Seong Cheonwol had played a terrible move.

Anyone with basic sense wouldn't do something as foolish as using the Great Star-Absorbing Art in a place with so many people.

That would be no different from begging to have their body torn limb from limb.

"The Iron Sword Sect is raising its prestige in Hefei, no, across all of Anhui Province. But are you telling me that just because you failed to enter the 108 Peaks, you wish to falsely accuse a small sect like the Taiyi Sect of practicing heretical arts!"

"Then are you saying my grandson is lying right now!"

"My sect's name has already been smeared by that rash fool. If I and the Taiyi Sect are innocent, how will you deal with the aftermath!"

"..."

"Though it may be in name only, we too hold one of the 108 Peaks. May I consider this an expression of doubt against the Murim Alliance?"

Since the Chief Strategist was here, I tossed the Murim Alliance into the mix too.

"Shut up! Seeing how you continue to drag this out, I am only growing more suspicious. Just as you say, once I confirm it, I will contact the Murim Alliance's Disciplinary Pavilion and hold both you and the Taiyi Sect accountable for this matter."

I grabbed the pants leg of the Iron Sword Sect Leader, who was trying to back out, and pulled hard.

"I! I will stake my honor and my sect's honor to resist the Iron Sword Sect's unreasonable and irrational behavior to the very end!"

Instead of internal energy, I drew upon my innate true qi.

Heat rose to my face, and my robes billowed as if they were about to burst, just as the Iron Sword Sect Leader's had done earlier.

"This crazy bastard..."

The Iron Sword Sect Leader spat a curse, seemingly appalled by my readiness for mutual destruction.

Filling my voice with internal energy, I shouted sharply.

"Hall Leader! If I am crippled or killed here today! Please ensure that no one lays a single finger on my body until the Murim Alliance's Disciplinary Pavilion arrives."

"Jin Sowoon!"

My father called out to me desperately.

"Father! Though your unworthy son ultimately forsakes this precious body because of this insult, it is for the sake of the Taiyi Sect which I value as my own life, so please forgive me."

Once my resolve was set, an indescribably tremendous pressure began to materialize over the training ground and its surroundings.

The faces of the Iron Sword Sect Leader and Seong Mohyeon were thoroughly crushed under that pressure.

Looking as though I feared nothing, I took a step toward the Iron Sword Sect Leader, and the Iron Sword Sect Leader subconsciously took three steps backward.

"Hmph! Do you think I'd let a disciple who hasn't even joined the Kwaehwa Hall yet needlessly sacrifice his body!"

Kang Chaeseok, Hong Saryeon, and even my father stepped up onto the training ground.

"No father in this world would outlive his child. I will bury my bones in the Iron Sword Sect today."

The Taiyi Sect truly looked ready to stop the Iron Sword Sect Leader even if it meant mutual destruction.

"H-How dare you..."

Unable to suppress his anger, the Iron Sword Sect Leader was huffing and puffing.

However, there was nothing he could do.

He could always crush them with martial force, but if he did, the position in the 108 Peaks would end up a hundred years out of reach.

The Iron Sword Sect Leader looked at Zhuge Somyeong with a desperate expression.

The gazes of the spectators all turned toward Zhuge Somyeong as well.

They knew all too well that he was the only one who could resolve this situation now.

"Enough."

Rising from his seat, Zhuge Somyeong's voice rang through every corner of the training ground.

Despite not being a loud voice, an undeniable weight could be felt from it.

"Everyone... sheathe your swords."

As soon as his words fell, Seong Mohyeon and Seong Cheonwol sheathed their swords, and the people of the Taiyi Sect put their swords away one by one.

"...?"

Zhuge Somyeong's gaze, filled with question, turned toward me.

"Why do you not sheathe your sword?"

Keeping the same gaze I had directed at Seong Cheonwol, I looked at Zhuge Somyeong and spoke.

"I will not sheathe my sword, for I cannot trust the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist who has done nothing but watch idly until now."

"!!!"

"!!!"

The people standing on the training ground.

The people surrounding the training ground.

Even those watching from the pavilion windows beyond the training ground wore expressions of uncontainable shock.