Chapter 349
Ma Cheon-deuk looked at me with calm, sunken eyes.
It seemed he was trying to gauge my skill level.
"First, you'll have to tell me who you are and how you know about the Green Snake."
"Why's that?"
"Because that will determine whether I kill you in one blow, torture you to death, or just let you live."
"Oh. So letting me live is also an option?"
"Of course."
"How can I just be let live?"
"I heard you're no ordinary fellow. You cut down Lord Wang-ho with a single stroke?"
It seems the title of the person I killed a few days ago was Lord Wang-ho.
Come to think of it, I remember them calling him something like 'Lord'.
"Become my subordinate. If you have that much ability, I can certainly accept you as a subordinate. And you will cooperate with me to rescue the Green Snake together. If you agree to do so, I will treat you specially and accept you as the second-in-command of our Green Forest."
"Second-in-command? Aren't you rating me too highly without even seeing my abilities?"
"Lord Wang-ho's martial arts were not on the weak side even within our Green Forest. But the fact that you cut him down in one blow means that your skills are that outstanding. And one more thing. Right now, the fact that you know the information about the Green Snake is much more important to me than the fact that you have learned outstanding martial arts. So if you can give me that information, I can give you the position of second-in-command even if you are a person who has not learned a single martial art."
"Interesting. The Green Snake must be that important. But that kind of trust, if I rescue the Green Snake, couldn't you just kill me right away?"
"Although I am the Green Forest King, I value trust above all else. It means that I will keep the words I have spoken with my mouth no matter what."
I chuckled.
Trust from a mountain bandit. It seems more fitting for the Demonic Cult bastards to say they want peace in the Central Plains.
Ah! The Demonic Cult bastards did indeed cry for peace.
Did they say that once they unified the martial world, there would be no more wars and disputes?
Without even thinking about the people who died in the meantime.
"Did the Evil Faction Alliance Leader tell you to find the Green Snake? Or are you looking for her on your own? Or perhaps both?"
"What...?"
"Unfortunately, I know everything. What your purpose is, and why you are doing this."
"You bastard. By any chance..."
I, looking at him, smiled broadly.
It's about time he figured out my identity after I've said this much.
Because I'm the only one who knows this much about their situation.
Since Dokgo Ju-gwak must have told the Evil Faction Alliance about me, I must have become one of their targets as well.
"Did the Green Snake tell you everything?"
"What?"
"Did you torture the Green Snake by any chance?! Is that why she told you all that information?!"
But he, having completely missed the point, began to get more and more visibly excited.
Although I had intended to provoke him from the beginning, and I should even be happy that I am not yet their target, for some reason, I don't feel good.
Somehow, I feel like I'm being ignored, and on the other hand, I also thought that my reputation was only this much.
But, the disappointment was brief.
'Did that Dokgo Ju-gwak bastard talk about me? Or not? Or perhaps he did talk, but they haven't figured out that all of this is connected to me yet?'
While I was having these thoughts. Ma Cheon-deuk, who had been angry by himself, now looked at me with a completely angry face and said, "Speak! Did you torture the Green Snake?!"
I, after looking at him blankly, opened my mouth.
To make him completely lose his reason, it seems this answer would be the most effective.
"If not, how would I know that you are a disciple of the Evil Faction Alliance Leader, that you are preparing step by step from now on and planning to invade the Martial Alliance in about five years, and that the Green Snake was scraping up money like that at the gambling house because of that? You don't think the Green Snake just spilled everything on her own without being tortured, do you? Was the her you knew that disloyal?"
"You baaaastard!"
He, letting out a roar, rushed at me.
His sword was already drawn and held in his hand.
And although they were a step late, his subordinates who had followed him also rushed at us, following Ma Cheon-deuk.
The number of fighters was exactly five against five.
Perhaps because he had brought the five strongest from the Green Forest, not just simple subordinates, the momentum felt from them was unusual.
But, I thought I shouldn't worry about them anymore.
Because I believed that my senior brothers would be enough to deal with them.
No, it's not just a simple belief. My senior brothers, whom I have seen from the side until now, can surely handle them.
Because I am confident that our Five Swords of Wudang have already surpassed the power of the third-generation disciples and have the power to overwhelm even the elders.
As Ma Cheon-deuk's sword and my sword collided, a sound like a ringing gong echoed.
At the stronger-than-expected clash of internal energy, my hair stood on end, and I felt goosebumps on the back of my neck.
Because I had felt a thrill in the one blow with him without realizing it.
That thrill was felt because I could know how much I had grown with just one blow, along with the pure sense of facing a strong person.
"This bastard...?!"
"Why? You didn't think I could block it?"
As soon as my words ended, I immediately kicked the ground and pushed Ma Cheon-deuk's sword forward.
Thanks to the true qi erupting from the soles of my feet, I was able to put a great force into my sword, and Ma Cheon-deuk was pushed back.
When Ma Cheon-deuk, trying to resist my strength, shifted his center of gravity forward and was about to pour all his strength into his sword, I instantly retrieved my strength and broke his balance.
Thanks to that, Ma Cheon-deuk's body collapsed forward.
I, without hesitation, swung my sword at his neck.
If his neck were to be cut like this, it would be a very easy end, but I had no intention of fighting this guy for that long.
If the fight ends like this, I just have to help my senior brothers.
But unfortunately, it didn't end as easily as I thought.
Because Ma Cheon-deuk, the moment he felt his body tilting, rotated his body and soared upwards.
He rather used the rotating force as it was and swung his leg at me.
That leg also contained a great force that could not be ignored, so it felt as if a mace were being swung at me.
As I had no choice but to pull my body back and dodge the kick, Ma Cheon-deuk's leg shattered the innocent ground.
Although his leg was buried about a foot deep, he pulled his leg out as if nothing had happened.
"You have a more amazing martial art than I thought!"
Ma Cheon-deuk shouted loudly.
Is it because of the clash with me? His anger seemed to have subsided a little.
No, on the contrary, he seems a little excited.
I just remembered about him.
'Crazy about battle... literally a battle maniac.'
He liked to fight. He wanted to fight a strong person every day.
The reason he became a disciple of the Evil Faction Alliance Leader, and became the Green Forest King, which didn't even suit his disposition, and unified the mountain bandit group.
And the reason he fought with the orthodox martial world after that was all to fight a strong person.
He had thought that since there were many masters in the righteous faction, if he, as a member of the Evil Faction Alliance, started a fight with the righteous faction, he could fight a strong person as much as he wanted.
But he died a rather futile death.
He, with the grand name of 'Green Forest King', recklessly started a fight with the abbot of Shaolin and met his death at the abbot's hands.
'If I lose to this guy now, it means I can't even reach the tip of the abbot's toes. Although the abbot is amazing, it's a realm I have to pass through someday.'
I changed my mind about playing along with Ma Cheon-deuk.
I thought I had to kill him as quickly as possible with the best technique I could perform at my current level.
Because if I drag this out a little longer, his head, which I had barely managed to excite, will cool down, and a master with a cool head is much more difficult to deal with.
I firmly planted my back foot as a pivot and pushed the ground hard.
As much as I pushed, the ground pushed me, and my movement was soon filled with true qi.
The true qi soon moved to the sword, and the sword, filled with energy, began to emit a bluish light.
A strange light appeared in Ma Cheon-deuk's eyes.
"Sword Aura? Is it really Sword Aura?"
He said as if he couldn't believe it.
To be honest, it's not a real Sword Aura.
When I put the true qi of the Six Yang Divine Art and the clear qi I had been learning as a Wudang Sect martial artist from the beginning on both extremes using the mystery of Taiji, and then mixed them together with the energy operation method applied to the Heaven and Earth One Sword and put it into the sword, something bluish like a Sword Aura would be coated on the sword.
Its power does not reach that of a real Sword Aura. But, that by no means means that it is weak.
If it were a real Sword Aura, I wouldn't know, but with just the level of putting energy into the sword, you can never overcome this energy.
As if not to lose to me for a moment, Ma Cheon-deuk also began to draw out his energy to the fullest extent he could.
The speed at which he drew out his energy was much faster than I had expected.
It would be most correct to say that the martial art he had learned had an unexpected explosive power.
A halo of light began to form on his sword in an instant, and red thread-like things began to wrap around his sword.
He had already reached the realm of Sword Thread.
Although I didn't think Ma Cheon-deuk would have reached this realm already, I was not flustered.
As my fake Sword Aura and Ma Cheon-deuk's Sword Thread collided, a tremendous shockwave scattered in all directions.
The shockwave, along with the qi wave, caused a gust of wind, and Ma Cheon-deuk and I exchanged blows several more times with our hair standing on end.
Every time we exchanged blows, I couldn't hide my surprise.
Ma Cheon-deuk's martial arts were much more advanced than I thought.
I don't know how much stronger he will become if he trains for another five years like this.
The abbot of Shaolin defeated a Ma Cheon-deuk who was even stronger than he is now.
For a moment, a sense of shame settled deep in my heart.
I had been under the illusion that I had become something like the best under heaven just because I had gained some enlightenment and had seen some achievement in my martial arts recently.
I thought that at this rate, I could quickly skip the elders and grand-elders and rise to the ranks of the best masters in the martial world.
But my current strength is at a level that can never reach the Shaolin Temple's abbot.
The moment I felt shame, I stopped exchanging blows with Ma Cheon-deuk and performed a movement technique to get far away from him.
Ma Cheon-deuk, who was using all his available internal energy to operate the Sword Thread, missed my movement for a moment, and the place I headed to was where Senior Brother Un Cheol was, who was dealing with one of Ma Cheon-deuk's subordinates a little leisurely.
"Keu-a-a-ak!"
I, with the speed of my run, performed the Nine Palaces Sword Art and cut the mountain bandit's back long.
Although the mountain bandit reflexively swung his sword at me, I, who was constantly moving, was no longer there.
I was already next to Senior Brother Un-ji-hak and was swinging my sword at his opponent.
I deliberately swung my sword wide and hit the mountain bandit's blade from bottom to top.
He, who couldn't withstand my strength for a moment, had his chest opened, and.
Senior Brother Un-ji-hak did not miss that opening and plunged his sword into his chest.
"Keu-euk..."
The balance of numbers was broken in an instant.
Senior Brother Un Cheol, who was quick-witted, had already stuck to Un Gwang and was helping him, and Senior Brother Un-ji-hak, as if he had grasped what I wanted, helped Senior Brother Un-hwang.
Soon, the remaining two subordinates also collapsed.
Ma Cheon-deuk, at the situation that had happened so quickly, looked at me with eyes filled with both futility and anger.
"You cowardly...!"
Then I felt as if something that had been suppressing my heart until now had been blown away.
"That's right. This was it. Why did I only think that I had to be fair and square when dealing with bastards like you? I should have looked for an easier and more comfortable way."
Ma Cheon-deuk, as if he were dumbfounded, did not answer my words.
My senior brothers came and stood next to me, and now the situation is five against one.
"You're the only one left."
"You bastard...!"
"Shall I tell you a way to survive? Cripple your own martial arts and become my subordinate. Then I'll at least spare your life."
A broad smile appeared on my face without me realizing it.
As expected, I think this side suits me better.
To win somehow rather than being foolishly fair and square. This is no different from my true self.
(End of Chapter)