Chapter 30
Chapter 30
His heart pounded. Every hair on his body stood on end as his muscles stiffened.
Youngho looked toward those seated loftily in the distance.
“So now the real festival begins, is that it?”
Where Youngho’s gaze rested, the leaders of the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions had gathered.
‘As expected, the Demonic Cult sent a Guardian.’
If someone possessed that level of presence, the probability of him being a Guardian was high.
In the first place, the Heavenly Demon had little interest in events like this.
Murim Alliance Leader Han Yonghu.
Unorthodox Alliance Lord Cheonung.
And a Guardian of the Demonic Cult.
It was a face he had never seen before, but Youngho did not think much of it.
‘He must have died of natural causes before the Orthodox–Demonic War broke out.’
Originally, rising to the position of Guardian in the Demonic Cult required an enormous amount of time.
Though he appeared to be in his early thirties, aging progressed slowly depending on one’s realm. Regardless of appearances, he was likely quite old.
Youngho repeatedly clenched and unclenched his tingling hand as he sensed the powerhouses of the current Murim.
The head of a faction must never be looked down upon. If they were underestimated even slightly, jackals who did not know their place would bite at them and stir up unnecessary strife.
That was why Cheonung and Han Yonghu, like masters who unconsciously exuded an aura, were secretly raising their martial presence to the utmost.
Even so, it could not escape Youngho’s eyes.
‘As expected, the Demonic Cult shows no reaction at all.’
Well, with a monster like the Heavenly Demon behind them, why would they concern themselves with such things?
At that moment, Cheonung’s gaze met Youngho’s. Youngho gave him a faint smile, and Cheonung let out a soft chuckle.
“What do we do? What do we do?”
“S-Sopyung, calm yourself.”
“Grandfather, does it look like I can calm down right now?”
“There is no need to make such a fuss….”
“The Young Master might win?!”
Sopyung glared at Horyeung and shouted loudly as though he had uttered something sacrilegious.
“Win the Dragon–Phoenix Gathering! Win!”
“The matches have not all been concluded yet….”
“But how did he even make it to the Round of Thirty-Two?”
“Did I not tell you? The Young Master is far more extraordinary than you think.”
Seeing Horyeung fluster as he tried to calm the excited Sopyung, Youngho let out a small chuckle.
“Sopyung, are you that happy?”
“Aren’t you happy, Young Master? You might win!”
As if utterly dumbfounded by Sopyung’s ignorance, Jongpal spoke on behalf of the others.
“Not might. He will.”
“Ah, seriously! Why are you getting my hopes up like this!”
“Kick kick kick.”
Jongpal giggled mischievously at Sopyung’s cute reaction before turning his gaze back to the sparring of the junior disciples.
Watching the others treat her like a child again, Sopyung unconsciously puffed out her cheeks.
‘Oh, come to think of it….’
Among everyone here, she was the only one excited at the thought that Youngho might win.
‘Could it be that the Young Master is incredibly strong?’
“I am incredibly strong.”
‘I did not say that out loud?’
“It is written all over your face.”
“You did not learn mind-reading, did you?”
“Learn how to control your expressions first. I can predict what you are about to say without you speaking. How could I possibly tell you any secrets like this? It is frightening.”
“You had secrets, Young Master?”
“No, I did not.”
“Ah, really!”
“Youngho! Youngho, step forward!”
“Ah, the referee is calling. I am going.”
At the referee’s call, Youngho slowly walked toward the sparring stage.
“Do your best!”
“Alright.”
He answered casually to Sopyung’s cheer from behind.
As Youngho stepped onto the stage, his opponent, Unjeong, spoke as if he had been waiting.
“As expected, your skill is remarkable.”
“It is enough to protect this one body.”
Youngho replied with a faint smile.
“I watched your spar with Baekcheong. It felt as though a beautiful plum blossom opened my eyes.”
At those words, Unjeong laughed awkwardly.
“Haha, my realm is still lacking. It is nothing but shameful.”
“That is why I wish to ask you something.”
“Pardon? What is it?”
“When you cannot save three hundred thousand out of one million people, what will you do?”
At the chilling voice, the referee stepped in and widened the distance between them. Unjeong stared blankly at Youngho, unable to process what he had just heard.
Soon, however, his face began to twist in anger.
“What is that supposed to—!”
“Begin!”
The moment Unjeong tried to speak further, the referee announced the start of the match. At the same time, Youngho’s body movement form vanished from Unjeong’s sight in an instant.
Clang!
The speed was so fast that Unjeong nearly lost track of it. He hastily raised his sword and blocked Youngho’s attack.
“Answer me. Will you abandon three hundred thousand? Or will you strive to save them?”
A savage question flew at him once more, proportional to the fierce assault.
“Answer.”
As if urging a response, Youngho’s attacks gradually grew stronger and more relentless.
‘What is this!’
Was he hiding his strength? There was no time for further thought. Youngho’s sword strikes carried power that could not be ignored.
Yet Unjeong seemed determined to say at least this much, shouting as if tearing his throat apart.
“I will save them all!”
“With strength like this?”
Smack!
Youngho’s sword sheath struck Unjeong’s shoulder. The sound was so tremendous that one might think the bone had shattered.
At the same time, Youngho slowly sheathed his sword and spoke.
“With merely this much, can you truly protect the common people?”
In the future—no, before the Regression—Unjeong had been a vile hypocrite. Behind the scenes, he had committed every unspeakable deed while pretending to be righteous in front of others.
However, Unjeong had not been such a hypocrite from the beginning. It was said that small incidents had piled up layer upon layer, gradually changing him.
‘It would be better to steady his mental state at least a little, even now.’
The moment Youngho looked away, Unjeong immediately rotated his sword and drew out the Plum Blossom Sword Art to its utmost extreme. He had no worry that his opponent might be injured.
No—more precisely, it would have been rude for Youngho to even entertain such a concern. He was a powerhouse Unjeong could not even dare to look up at.
Clang!
Yet with a single strike, Youngho shattered the Plum Blossom Sword Art and, still holding the sword in its sheath, swung it toward Unjeong’s knee.
Noticing it, Unjeong instantly stepped through a footwork pattern to evade the attack, but……
Thud!
Youngho’s sword struck not his knee, but his abdomen.
“Guhk!”
It felt as though every breath within his body had been expelled at once. Just how could someone unleash such a powerful blow?
No—why had Youngho’s sword, which had clearly aimed for his knee, embedded itself in his abdomen instead?
His thoughts began to tangle in confusion. But at that moment, Youngho’s voice snapped his mind back into place.
“Answer me. Will you abandon the three hundred thousand? Or will you save them?”
Unjeong roared and swung his sword.
“I said I would save them all!”
Smack!
“With strength like this? Too feeble. How exactly did you train your lower body? You are so light I thought you were performing a sword dance.”
At the same time, Youngho’s sword struck Unjeong’s entire body.
Smack smack smack smack!
The word ‘flash’ suited Youngho’s blade; not a shred of mercy was contained within it.
“How exactly will you save them? If I were to kill those three hundred thousand myself, could you still save them? Even if there exists an enemy you cannot possibly handle, would you stake your life to save the people?”
Thud!
“No—could you sacrifice your senior and junior brothers to save the common people?”
It was difficult. Far too difficult a question. Not even his own life—but the lives of his senior and junior brothers……
He could not. Honestly, that answer would have been the realistic one. Yet today, unlike usual, an odd stubbornness—no, a defiance—rose within Unjeong.
Why was he asking such questions? Why was he forcing him into a corner just to make him speak?
Smack!
Youngho’s sword sheath struck Unjeong’s forehead slightly off target, splitting the skin as blood streamed down.
“Anything is easy when spoken. But justice that is merely prattled with words cannot be called true justice. That is…….”
Smack!
“Hypocrisy.”
Crack.
A blue vein throbbed on Unjeong’s forehead.
“What is it you want from me?”
“What else? Your true nature. And your conviction.”
“I will save everyone!”
“Idealism fit for a child. It makes me sick.”
Smack!
“Guhk!”
His vision gradually blurred. Yet even amid that haze, Youngho’s voice pierced clearly into his ears.
“Saving everyone is impossible. Just as sand slips through your grasp even when you clench it, people will slip from your hands as well. Can you catch every grain that falls?”
“Then what are you telling me to do!”
“Look at the sand you can hold.”
“……What?”
“Saving everyone. A very simple phrase. But it is only easy because it is words. At this rate, you will not save the common people—let alone your senior and junior brothers or your junior disciples. Face reality.”
Youngho spoke without ceasing his assault.
“If you lack strength, you are crushed. Is that not the Jianghu? As you are now, you cannot save anything. Nothing at all.”
“…….”
It was true. As he was now, he was utterly powerless. All he could do was be beaten down without resistance.
He needed strength—strength to protect everything. Overwhelming strength.
“Is a single common person more important to you? Or a single junior disciple?”
“That…!”
“When your junior disciple sacrifices herself for the common people, can you remain unmoving? Even if that is the role of the Orthodox Sect?”
It was an unbearably cruel question. Had such a question been posed to an elder or a Sect Leader, perhaps they could have answered more readily than he.
But now, his thought process could scarcely function.
Mind and body were being driven to their limits. In situations where life itself was endangered, a person’s true nature was bound to surface.
That was why Youngho wanted to see. Did the Unjeong of this era already harbor hypocrisy? Or was he one who genuinely pondered and pursued the path of the Righteous Path?
But there was something even more important at this moment.
‘His mental fortitude is remarkable.’
No matter how far he pushed his mind and body to the brink, every word that came from Unjeong was truth.
Having lived decades within the Unorthodox Alliance, would he fail to discern truth from falsehood? Especially from the lies of a mere junior disciple?
And soon, Youngho reached his conclusion……
‘He is still pure.’
Every word he spoke was truth, and every truth he spoke belonged to those who walked the path of the Righteous Path.
‘I would like to push him further….’
But if he did, Unjeong might spend the rest of his life crippled.
Unjeong never once uttered the word surrender. Even for Youngho, such mental strength was worthy of praise.
At last, when Unjeong collapsed, Youngho ceased swinging his sword.
The reason was simple. At last, the words Youngho had wanted to hear spilled from Unjeong’s lips.
“I will… not give up. No matter what happens to me… no matter what occurs, I will not give up…….”
Watching him repeat those words deliriously, Youngho smiled in satisfaction.
A promise without ability is merely a lie. Saving everyone was, in truth, nearly impossible. Even Youngho himself could not easily answer that question if pressed.
There was no single correct answer to it.
But if it was a matter of resolve, it was different. No matter what happened, he would not give up. That was enough.
If he continued to live with such a mindset—if he walked a different path from the Unjeong who had lived with a hypocrite’s heart……
‘Was the Divine Plum Blossom Sword too much?’
In any case, unlike before the Regression, he would become an extraordinary figure.