Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 382 – Joining (4)

The Mad Swordsman Ji-oe was dumbfounded.

‘The sword isn’t his entire life?’

How could someone like that reach a realm surpassing Ou Cheon-mu’s sword techniques?

He couldn’t believe it.

There’s a saying: “A hundred days for the saber, a thousand days for the spear, ten thousand days for the sword.”

This means the sword is the most difficult among weapons.

Even dedicating one’s entire life to the sword, it’s hard to achieve even small accomplishments. To reach its peak, one’s mind should be entirely filled with nothing but the sword.

‘Haa.’

Is he doing this on purpose?

Just to avoid a duel with him.

At this, Ji-oe fell into momentary contemplation.

To retreat now when the most tempting fruit imaginable is right before his eyes is unthinkable.

To walk away without tasting it is unacceptable for a sword disciple.

After all, the essence of a martial artist lies in their fighting spirit.

‘My opponent is someone who has reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, capable of receiving all I have. Even if it’s discourteous, if I give up this chance, such a day may never come again.’

-Swish!

With that, Ji-oe slowly moved his hand towards his sword hilt.

At that very moment.

-Shing! Shing!

A sharp sword touched the back of his hand reaching for the hilt, and the head of a snake-shaped staff was aimed at his neck.

The owner of the sword was Ma Ra-hyeon with the mask, and the snake staff belonged to Guyang Sa-oh of the Eight Poison Snake Staff.

Guyang Sa-oh spoke to him in a low voice.

“Our Lord has refused. Remove that hand, Ji-oe.”

At his warning, Ji-oe’s eyes sharpened.

He had been skeptical due to the aura that couldn’t be sensed through qi.

But these two were both peerless experts who had surpassed the wall.

Ji-oe, who had scanned both of them with his eyes simultaneously, opened his mouth.

“…… You surprise me greatly. To command masters of the Transformation Realm as subordinates. No, it’s not surprising considering you’ve even subjugated Master Ou, one of the Six Heavens.”

At his words, Mok Gyeong-un looked at him indifferently and said,

“Is that all you have to say?”

It was an order to leave.

Ji-oe was inwardly disappointed in himself at Mok Gyeong-un’s indifference, showing not even a bit of interest in him.

Even if he didn’t measure up, to not even spark a bit of interest in this person made him feel that his life dedicated solely to the sword had been in vain.

“Please see him out.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, waving his hand, Guyang Sa-oh of the Eight Poison Snake Staff and Ma Ra-hyeon with the mask simultaneously withdrew their staff and sword.

“I understand your martial artist’s fighting spirit and competitive nature, but that’s enough. Please leave now, Ji-oe.”

“You……”

Ji-oe frowned.

This man clearly has a young face, but why does he seem strangely old in his manner of speech?

Ji-oe, who had been staring intently at Guyang Sa-oh, turned his head.

Then he said to Mok Gyeong-un.

“Are you truly not willing to give me a chance?”

“No.”

“Then I have no choice but to create an opportunity myself.”

No sooner had those words ended.

-Swoosh!

Ji-oe’s figure shot towards Mok Gyeong-un, kicking off the floor.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

-Bam bam bam bam!

Guyang Sa-oh and Ma Ra-hyeon simultaneously tried to stop him, but at that moment, his figure slipped past them as if sliding, reaching right in front.

‘What kind of movement technique?’

‘What?’

The two experts’ eyes flickered at Ji-oe’s strange movement technique.

Especially Ma Ra-hyeon, who prided himself on being faster than anyone except his Lord Mok Gyeong-un and his master Six Thousand Commander So Yerin when it came to movement techniques, was surprised.

In the meantime, the sharp sword energy rising from Ji-oe’s sword intent was already rushing towards the space between Mok Gyeong-un’s eyebrows.

However,

-Clang!

‘Huh?’

His sword energy was deflected by an enormous fist force.

-Whoosh!

Ji-oe, pushed back about five steps, frowned and looked at the one who had deflected him.

It was none other than Ja Geum-jeong, the fallen monk and Subduing Demon Fist Master from Shaolin.

‘Oh?’

The reason Ji-oe reacted this way was because Ja Geum-jeong’s inner force exceeded his expectations.

Judging by his qi sense, he had clearly seemed to be at the Transcendent Realm.

But just now, for an instant, he felt an endless power in his fist force.

As if he had drawn in the energy from his surroundings.

“Keukeukeu, I was hoping to fight you anyway. Come at me.”

“Could it be you……”

Before he could finish his words.

Someone grabbed his shoulder and tried to push him forward.

It was Ma Ra-hyeon.

-Smack!

At this, Ji-oe turned his shoulder in the direction Ma Ra-hyeon was pushing, while lifting his back foot to kick at Ma Ra-hyeon’s head.

-Thud!

Thanks to this, Ma Ra-hyeon’s figure was pushed forward and nearly fell.

Ma Ra-hyeon, who instantly regained his balance, narrowed his eyes sharply.

He was very flexible for his age.

His movements were unpredictable and full of surprises.

Perhaps because of this, Ma Ra-hyeon actually wanted to fight him properly now.

-Bam!

Ma Ra-hyeon took a kicking stance.

Ji-oe, widening the distance, said,

“You’re quite good, but you’re not the one I want to fight.”

“If you want to fight so badly, you’ll have to defeat all of us first.”

“Oh my.”

-Swoosh!

As Ji-oe sighed, Ma Ra-hyeon unleashed a storm-like barrage of kicks.

His consecutive kicks created dozens of afterimages as they pressed forward, their speed so fast it was dizzying to watch.

-Cha cha cha cha cha cha chang!

Ji-oe, who had already drawn his sword, blocked only the real attacks among Ma Ra-hyeon’s kicks.

He focused only on the vital points, as the false attacks were merely shadows anyway.

But at that moment,

-Ta tak!

Ma Ra-hyeon’s figure split into three.

As his figure suddenly divided, Ji-oe hurriedly switched from defense to offense.

He judged that defensive techniques alone wouldn’t be enough to block, as all three split bodies possessed equal strength.

As Ji-oe’s hand sped up, the trajectory created by his sword gradually increased.

-Cha cha cha cha cha chang!

Blue sparks flew in all directions as the leg energy from Ma Ra-hyeon’s feet clashed with Ji-oe’s sword energy, creating a clamorous metallic sound.

The floor of the guest room cracked, and the impact spread in all directions.

-Pa pa pa pak!

Flicking away the flying stone fragments with his hand, the fallen monk Ja Geum-jeong clicked his tongue with a displeased expression.

“Damn it. This damn monk was about to fight, but that cursed blue-eyed bastard stole the lead.”

He was itching to jump in right away, but what fun would it be if two people attacked at once?

He had no choice but to watch for now.

Meanwhile, Ji-oe seemed to have found an opening and launched a sword strike to create distance from Ma Ra-hyeon.

-Cha-aang!

As Ma Ra-hyeon, who had narrowly avoided the sword strike, tried to close in on him again,

-Swoosh!

At that moment, Ja Geum-jeong, who had been waiting for an opportunity, suddenly launched his body and unleashed a fist technique towards Ji-oe.

It was his unique skill, the Demon Subduing Attack Fist.

Ja Geum-jeong, who had instantly reached Ji-oe’s chest, launched his fist technique with enough force to break Ji-oe’s sword, using the third form of the Demon Subduing Attack Fist, the Continuous Strike Attack.

-Cha cha cha cha chang!

Due to Ja Geum-jeong’s overwhelming aggressive momentum, Ji-oe had no choice but to focus entirely on defense.

He had just started to get used to Ma Ra-hyeon’s offensive, but it was difficult to immediately adapt to a completely different style of attack.

As a result, Ji-oe’s figure kept being pushed back.

“Kuahahahat! Good! Try blocking this too!”

Ja Geum-jeong, whose momentum had risen, unleashed another form of the Demon Subduing Attack Fist.

It was the seventh form of the Demon Subduing Attack Fist, the Heavy Pressure Breaking Fist.

Gathering energy all at once to launch a single punch, its power was so strong that it created shockwaves, causing even the sword blade protected by sword energy to bend.

‘What kind of inner force?’

Ji-oe was dumbfounded for a moment, then let go of his sword hilt and employed a strange technique.

It was spinning his sword like a windmill.

-Pa-aeng aeng aeng aeng!

As the sword rotated, it weakened the shockwave of fist pressure created by Ja Geum-jeong.

In that instant, Ji-oe unleashed an energy release towards that shockwave.

The released energy, passing through the rotating sword, flowed along Ja Geum-jeong’s fist and flung his figure backward.

-Pa-aang! Whoosh!

Ja Geum-jeong, pushed back about four steps, dispersed the inner force that had penetrated his fist through his two feet.

-Crack crack crack!

The floor cracked due to the inner force flowing out from his two feet.

White steam flowed from Ja Geum-jeong’s mouth as he dispersed the energy.

Despite suffering internal injuries from the turmoil inside, his fighting spirit seemed to rise even more as the corners of his mouth stretched almost to his ears.

“Huu.”

Ji-oe sighed.

Although they were both called part of the Three Madmen, he had thought Ja Geum-jeong would be the weakest in martial prowess, being just a fallen monk from Shaolin.

But that wasn’t the case at all.

‘He’s not someone I can defeat in one breath.’

It seemed it would take at least dozens of exchanges before a winner could be determined.

As he clicked his tongue, his gaze turned to Mok Gyeong-un’s other subordinates who were quietly surrounding him.

Each of them was formidable.

He had thought if he could just shake these people off, he might be able to exchange a few moves with Mok Gyeong-un, but it seemed impossible now.

‘To not even be able to handle the subordinates……’

If he kept fighting them, he would eventually tire out and in the end, wouldn’t even be able to touch a hair on Mok Gyeong-un’s head.

Finally realizing that burning his fighting spirit was futile, Ji-oe withdrew his energy and raised both hands.

“What? Why are you raising both hands?”

Just as his fighting spirit was rising high, Ja Geum-jeong raised his voice when Ji-oe showed this attitude.

Regardless, Ji-oe clearly showed he had no intention to fight with both hands raised.

Then he said to Mok Gyeong-un,

“I apologize. I tried to be greedy and exchange even a few moves with you, but I can’t even handle your subordinates.”

“Hey. Put those hands down.”

“I have no more intention to fight.”

“Shut up and put your hands down. You think we’ll just let you go after you attacked our master? You must pay the price.”

“I agree with that.”

Ma Ra-hyeon with the mask also agreed with Ja Geum-jeong’s opinion.

The other subordinates felt the same way.

Guyang Sa-oh also snorted and said,

“Our Lord clearly gave you a chance to withdraw. We have our pride as subordinates too, and you must pay for what you’ve done.”

“……”

Surrounded by them, Ji-oe finally had to lower his hands.

There was nothing more to say in his defense, as he had clearly been discourteous, so their reaction was natural.

‘I have no choice.’

Since he had brought this upon himself, he couldn’t avoid fighting them.

Just as he was about to take a fighting stance, it happened.

“I hear you’ve been in the Sword Valley for twenty years trying to defeat Master Ou.”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s voice, Ji-oe answered with a faint breath.

“…… That’s right.”

“Then what were you planning to do if you lost to me?”

At this question, Ji-oe paused for a moment, then answered as if he had put on a mask of shamelessness.

“The purpose of my life was to defeat Master Ou, who opened my eyes to the sword. But when you subdued Master Ou, my purpose changed.”

“Did I become that purpose?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you think you can win?”

“Not yet.”

“Then what do you intend to do?”

“I intended to follow you until I could defeat you.”

As soon as his words ended, Ja Geum-jeong snorted and shouted.

“You’re not obsessed with the sword, you’re just shameless. I’ve never seen someone more useless than this very own damn monk.”

To Ja Geum-jeong’s criticism, Ji-oe replied nonchalantly.

“I don’t mind if you insult me. As long as I’ve dedicated my life solely to the sword, I intend to focus only on the sword as long as it doesn’t deviate from the right path.”

“So devoted to the sword……”

-Swish!

As Mok Gyeong-un raised his hand, Ja Geum-jeong immediately closed his mouth.

As he fell silent, Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,

“Your shamelessness is amusing.”

“……”

“But I’m the type who likes to receive a hefty price.”

“Price?”

“Yes, unlike Master Ou, I don’t feed and take care of those trying to defeat me for free.”

“…… Then what do you want?”

Ji-oe asked, showing a slightly uneasy look.

To this, Mok Gyeong-un replied nonchalantly.

“Let’s take one year of your life as the price for fighting you.”

“One year? Surely you don’t mean……”

“Yes, your loyalty.”

‘!?’

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