Chapter 43 : The Encounter (1)
As the two men from the Diancang Sect stood in the rain on the tree, watching Jang So-gil and Yang Gwan, they considered many things.
The sword Jang So-gil proudly wore was the White Azure Divine Sword. The divine artifact of the North Sea Ice Palace, bestowed directly by the Martial Alliance Leader upon his own inspector, was a symbol in itself, making it easy to know his affiliation and current situation.
To attack, or not to attack.
Should they force their way through and kill that merchant?
If they killed her, should they kill Jang So-gil and Yang Gwan as well?
While the two were pondering such things in the rain, Jang So-gil and Yang Gwan were also observing them.
The two middle-aged men were as identical as reflections in a mirror, but their arms were complete opposites. The Daoist on the left had a left arm so black it was invisible in the darkness of the night and the rain, while the Daoist on the right had a right arm so white it shone brightly in the moonlight. Jang So-gil narrowed his eyes and said.
"Yin and Yang, the Taiji. The foundation of Daoism. And they look like twins, do you know who they are?"
"I have heard of their reputation. They are Daoist Hyeoneum and Daoist Hyeonyang."
"Are they strong?"
"They are first-rate masters that the Diancang Sect boasts of. Of course, they are strong."
"First-rate masters again?"
He grumbled, but he understood. A pursuit team needed to have learned tracking skills, be able to run for a long time, be persistent, move in small numbers, and yet be able to kill the enemy upon discovery. Therefore, the higher the master, the better, and the more first-rate, the better.
"Even so. Masters are popping up like they're on a clearance sale."
"The Diancang Sect is a prestigious sect of the Nine Sects One Union. Of course, they have first-rate masters."
"That may be so, but it feels strange."
"By the way, what's a clearance sale?"
"When the season changes, it's when they sell off the seasonal specialty items they haven't been able to sell yet at a special low price. It's just baggage to keep holding onto them, and it's exhausting to store them."
"And what are seasonal specialty items?"
"For example, things like snow shoes in winter, or thick clothes and blankets."
"Aha. Things you only use in that season. I understand."
"I'm one to answer, but you're something else to ask. This isn't the time for this."
While the two were talking leisurely, Daoist Hyeoneum and Daoist Hyeonyang were fiercely debating. To fight, or not to fight. Between the two, Daoist Hyeoneum usually spoke negatively, and Daoist Hyeonyang usually spoke positively, but this time was different.
"I will kill the inspector, Daoist Hyeoneum."
"I will be the one to kill him, Daoist Hyeonyang."
The two were already mad. Their eyes had opened to slaughter, and they were feeling the pleasure of killing.
They saw this commotion as a form of amusement. It was so much fun to play the hunting game of chasing and tormenting a fleeing goose, but with a person.
That was why Jin Sangran, who had been caught once at the inn, was still alive.
"I don't like that fellow, Daoist Hyeonyang."
"It's the same for me, Daoist Hyeoneum."
They had fought countless times with martial artists like Yang Gwan. There was nothing special about it now.
But Jang So-gil was different. Arrogant and haughty eyes. His martial prowess was insignificant, but his dignified air was as if he feared nothing in the world.
Such an air was not the characteristic of a martial artist. It was the atmosphere of a strategist, a tactician, a manager. Those who proved themselves not with martial power but with intellect, not with fists but with brains.
"Please yield, Daoist Hyeonyang."
"This time alone, I cannot yield, Daoist Hyeoneum."
The look of disgust on Jang So-gil's pretty face set a fire in the hearts of Hyeoneum and Hyeonyang.
When they saw someone like that, they wanted to make them kneel and hear their begging voice. They had to crush them with force and prove that their glib tongue and brain were nothing before power. It could be called a sense of mission, or a sense of duty. It could even be called sadism and desire.
Listening to their conversation, Jang So-gil stuck out his tongue as if he was about to vomit.
"Is that really what Daoists are saying? Did I hear wrong?"
"I heard it too. They speak as if they are demons. It might be Qi Deviation."
"Qi Deviation, Qi Deviation. I've been hearing that a lot lately. But can you speak so well even with Qi Deviation? Seok Pacheon became half-crippled after Qi Deviation, and Ouyang Xiu became like an old man with a stroke after a heart demon possessed him. Those guys are crazy, but it seems like they're crazy with a clear mind..."
"I-I've heard that there are those who go crazy in that way."
Unable to be certain, Yang Gwan trailed off. Qi Deviation was when a heart demon took root, causing damage to the mind and body. One whose Yongquan acupoint was possessed by a demon would limp. One whose Baihui acupoint was possessed by a demon would become an idiot. If a demon possessed the lower dantian, the internal energy would get tangled and the qi and blood would flow backward, shortening one's lifespan. Just as the symptoms of a person's illness were all different, the symptoms of Qi Deviation were also all different. Jang So-gil thought for a moment, then gave up trying to understand the incomprehensible and prepared for the present.
"I need you to protect me from those guys, can you do it?"
"Individually, they are weaker than me, but they are twins. And they are openly showing off their Yin and Yang, aren't they? They will definitely use a combination formation. It must be the Yin-Yang Contest, the advanced martial art of the Diancang Sect."
A combination formation was a technique where two or more people formed a formation to face an enemy, and if their breathing was in sync, it was an advanced martial art that could easily subdue an opponent a level above them. If it was a combination formation used by twins, it would be even harder for their breathing to be out of sync. Having to protect Jang So-gil without allowing such an enemy to break through?
Yang Gwan aimed his spear and regulated his breathing.
"I will show you that I can block them."
"The fact that your answer is abstract means it will be tough."
As Yang Gwan, who had been hit where it hurts, shut his mouth, Jang So-gil took a step forward.
He nonchalantly drew his sword, even though his body was getting wet.
"Young Master So! Why!?"
"Isn't it obvious? If they have a combination formation, then so do we."
"What? What kind of combination formation could you and I..."
"You'll understand soon enough once we fight."
Jang So-gil grinned and swept back his long, rain-soaked hair.
The situation was extremely simple. At the edge of his vision were two evil villains aiming for their lives, and catching them would be a merit in itself. It was also a golden opportunity to put the merchants from Yunnan, who were sleeping soundly, in his debt. Killing two birds with one stone. As a merchant, it would be a loss to miss such an opportunity.
If possible, it would be good to create a slight advantage before fighting. What would be good? As expected, martial artists of the orthodox sects get angry easily, so a strategy of provocation would be good.
Having made his decision, Jang So-gil spoke in a languid voice.
"It seems the Daoists of the Diancang Sect consider muttering on a tree in the rain to be a form of training. Truly, the patience befitting a corner of the Nine Sects One Union. I am impressed."
The effect was indeed spectacular.
"You baaastard-!"
"You baaastard-!"
Perhaps because they were twins, Daoist Hyeoneum and Daoist Hyeonyang charged, shouting the same thing.
* * *
He had heard that martial artists were people who could talk for twelve months a year about the value of martial arts and their own thoughts on how to become stronger. But the universally acknowledged number one under heaven had cut to the chase.
[A fight, you see. It's half eyes and half legs. If you see well and dodge well, you have no enemies.]
He said that what was important in a fight was not an infinite internal energy as if connected to the great nature, nor the monstrous strength to overturn mountains and cover the world, but the eyes and legs.
Jang So-gil's eyes were a masterpiece that the Alliance Leader acknowledged as top-special grade, and his legs were ordinary, but he had learned the Kunlun's Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon, which the Alliance Leader and Military Advisor Sima had personally acknowledged as one of the five great lightness skills under heaven.
Good eyes and good legs were in place. So, he was confident.
'With this much, even if I can't fight properly, I won't get stabbed and die somewhere.'
He had the guarantee of the number one under heaven. A guarantee is something you only believe in when you have no other choice, but since it was the guarantee of the number one under heaven, there could be no higher credit rating. In that case, he had to go without asking any questions.
At that confident provocation, the two Daoists' eyes half-flipped.
"The sin of disrespecting our sect!"
"You will pay with your neck!"
The swords of the two Daoists, who drew their twin swords and flew like eagles, were very linear. The reason was that their anger had clouded their vision, but it was also because they were underestimating Jang So-gil's level. A straight line is a simple and honest trajectory. It can be easily dodged by moving in any direction except the front.
Jang So-gil used the first form of the Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon, Divine Dragon Spirals in Mist, to fly up into the sky. As he flew up, rotating like a dragon playing in the clouds, the two Daoists who had swung their swords at empty air grabbed each other's arm, swung wide to block Yang Gwan's intervention, gathered their strength, and flew up after So.
Yang Gwan was astonished at the truly astounding proficiency of their combination formation and gathered strength in his legs. He intended to follow and help Jang So-gil. But there was no need. No, there was no opening to intervene.
"How does this fellow have such a lightness skill!"
"This is the Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon, Daoist Hyeoneum!"
"How did that fellow learn the ultimate skill of the Kunlun Sect?!"
"How did I learn it? I paid for it. You got a problem with that?"
Jang So-gil grinned and kicked off the air, changing direction and leaping again.
Once, twice, three times, four times, five times.
"Y-y-y-yeeek!!"
Daoist Hyeoneum and Daoist Hyeonyang kicked each other in mid-air and even released fist winds to push each other up, following Jang So-gil's leaps. But even that had a limit of three times. They were no match for Jang So-gil, who changed direction five times and jumped up.
"Gwan, combination formation, combination formation!"
"Ah-!"
Yang Gwan, who had been blankly watching the aerial battle, belatedly realized the meaning.
'So Young Master becomes the bait, and I attack.'
It could be said that he had mastered the Eight Forms of the Cloud Dragon. If he changed direction five times in the air, even Yang Gwan had no way to follow. He would have to cling on until his internal energy ran out or bring a bow.
Since it was like that for Yang Gwan, it was the same for the two Daoists. They could not attack Jang So-gil. They were just flying in the air meaninglessly.
In that gap, Yang Gwan would attack. It was a simple, logical, and excellent combination formation where their roles were clearly divided and there was no chance of encroaching on each other.
'The combination formation is one thing, but to so confidently draw the enemy's attention and take the initiative in the first exchange. What kind of courage is this!'
Yang Gwan did not hide his admiration and swung his spear. Everyone has an opening when they land after flying high. And for those who had kicked each other to stay in the air a little longer, wasting their breath and internal energy, a fatally large opening is created. Yang Gwan fiercely stabbed at that opening.
"You were the ones who attacked together first, so you can't call me a coward!"
Yang Gwan used the Fire Wheel Art to wrap his iron spear in flames. Evaporating the moisture, the fire-engulfed spear split the night sky. Daoist Hyeonyang belatedly raised his sword to protect his heart but received a considerable shock. The sword broke, and fresh blood flowed. He had blocked the spear from piercing through, but he had lost one weapon, and the shock paralyzed his left lung, stopping his breath. When his breath stopped, his feet stopped, and his thoughts stopped too.
In that brief opening, Jang So-gil's attack followed.
"They say ice arts are twice as strong on a rainy day. Shall we check!"
The baptism of cold energy falling from above his head was terrifying. Jang So-gil drew out half a year's worth of the three years of true qi contained in the White Azure Divine Sword and unleashed the Soul-Stealing Flash. And then, the raindrops froze and became ice needles.
"Wh-what kind of sorcery is this!"
It was enough to make Daoist Hyeoneum gasp in astonishment. Hundreds, thousands of ice needles poured down along the trajectory of the Soul-Stealing Flash's cold energy. Even if Daoist Hyeonyang was a first-rate master, it was an attack that could kill him instantly if he didn't raise his internal energy to block it and got hit in the head. But his consciousness had momentarily betrayed his body. A touch-and-go crisis!
"Daoist Hyeonyang!"
He couldn't let him die.
Daoist Hyeoneum hastily raised his innate true qi and struck Daoist Hyeonyang with a fist wind, sending him flying.
"Ack-!"
Letting out a single scream, Daoist Hyeonyang crashed into a stone statue. He rolled, vomiting blood, and regaining the consciousness he had briefly lost, Hyeonyang struck his own solar plexus, threw the broken Shakyamuni statue, and shot up. Jang So-gil was looking down at him from the roof of the shrine. As he looked up at the fellow in frustration, he brushed the frost off his sword and said.
"If you run away, I won't chase you. You still want to fight?"
(End of Chapter)