Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Youngho looked at Hyeon-gang with a gaze filled with concern, unlike his usual self.
“Hyeon-gang, could it be that you…….”
“I’m not crazy, I’m not crazy.”
As if he had read Youngho’s thoughts, Hyeon-gang waved his hands and spoke.
“I’m just shameless.”
“No, even that has its limits. After we humiliated those bastards that badly, I never thought he’d ask why we were here of all things…….”
“Devil.”
“Beast.”
When Kang Chowon and Kang Hosan chimed in at Youngho’s words, Hyeon-gang shot them a glare.
But Kang Chowon and Kang Hosan were already pretending not to notice.
Hyeon-gang let out a deep sigh before speaking.
“To the Tang Clan bastards, I’m already the disgrace of the clan. More than that, I’ve joined the Unorthodox Alliance. Do I really need to watch their eyes?”
“There’s no need.”
“Then that’s enough.”
“You’ve become shameless enough that I hardly recognize you in just a year.”
“It was a virtue I needed in order to serve my lord.”
“You’ve become quite eloquent too.”
Youngho let out a faint chuckle and said,
“So why is Tang Gunhyeon here?”
“He came to request a sparring match with the Orthodox Dragon… that is, Namgung Cheon.”
“……That’s all?”
“It seems he’s also touring the Jianghu while he’s at it.”
“There were too many escorts to call that a Jianghu tour.”
“That’s how the young noble masters of great clans are.”
“A Jianghu tour is meant to gain real combat experience… those bastards are hopeless.”
“They still seemed to have some real combat experience, though. They were quite skilled in a fight.”
Youngho nodded at Kang Chowon’s words.
“That’s true. It’s not true combat experience—just half-baked combat experience.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Tang Clan’s primary weapons are poison and hidden weapons. Especially hidden weapons—once they leave the hand, they can’t be controlled, making them extremely dangerous.”
At that, Kang Chowon let out an exclamation as if she had realized something.
“Ah~”
“Right. Even if they didn’t want to, they would have had to train as if it were real combat. Maybe some fool who couldn’t control his strength seriously injured his opponent.”
Youngho’s words were extremely accurate. Hidden weapons were not something one held in hand but something one threw from the hand, which made control exceedingly difficult.
The inability to control them was directly linked to death. The Tang Clan’s martial artists likely had no choice but to train under conditions akin to real combat.
“That’s why I call it half-baked combat experience. Those bastards have only ever faced hidden weapons and poison—and at best, whips.”
“They still have many immature aspects.”
“Right. And you all have many immature aspects as well.”
After that, the group said nothing. More precisely, they could not speak.
There was too much they wanted to ask. What kind of life had Youngho lived to know such things?
His fighting style was far too perfect to be dismissed as mere talent.
It was a combat method that required practicing and refining hundreds, thousands of times. Even Horyeung, who had fought countless battles, would find it exceedingly difficult to replicate Youngho’s method.
Moving swiftly was possible. At times like a weasel snatching prey, at times like an eagle, at times like a tiger.
But maintaining that movement continuously was an entirely different matter. Youngho’s movements embodied the most ideal form for battle.
It was a mystery how he could sustain such movement without faltering.
And eventually, the group realized the difference between Youngho and themselves.
Experience.
An overwhelming gap in experience. This was not a matter of practice but of real combat experience.
The tension of minor muscles, the movement of internal energy, adaptability in the moment—methods of movement that could only be acquired through experience.
That was Youngho’s fighting style. A style they could not even dare to imitate.
Youngho knew why they could not bring themselves to speak. Even so, he left them be.
This was not something that could be explained. His fighting style had not been completed through mere sparring matches. Nor had it been perfected through simple duels to the death.
‘War.’
Youngho’s combat method had been forged solely through war.
It was different from a one-on-one duel to the death. It was also different from facing multiple opponents.
War.
His fighting style had been obtained solely from the war against the Demonic Cult.
It was not a movement that brats who did not even know the meaning of the Demonic Cult could hope to imitate.
For some reason, the group kept recalling the movements Youngho had shown before.
When the next day dawned, Youngho’s group immediately began sweeping through the Unorthodox sects of Hubei.
“The Sect Leader wasn’t involved here. It was just something the underlings did among themselves.”
At Youngho’s words, Ak Gung, the Sect Leader of the Jongsu Sect, let out a deep sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Fifth Young Master.”
“It’s nothing. I’m just stating the facts. If you had been connected to the Demonic Cult, you’d be dead too. Consider it thanks to your wise judgment.”
Was it because he felt the sincerity? Even though Youngho’s indifferent tone carried no particular weight, Ak Gung trembled as goosebumps rose to the top of his head.
“……Thank you.”
“And don’t torment the common people too much.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
Youngho led his group toward another sect.
Meanwhile, Hyeonu looked around with shining eyes, apparently fascinated by the entire process.
“Is it that interesting?”
At Youngho’s question, Hyeonu answered quickly.
“Yes. It is quite different from the atmosphere of the Unorthodox Faction that my master described.”
“That’s only natural. After all, I am the disciple of the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance.”
“Now that I think about it, are there other senior brothers?”
“Three are dead. Now only one remains.”
Hyeonu’s expression stiffened for an instant, and he spoke with an apologetic tone.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know….”
“There’s no need to feel sorry. They were ones I killed.”
“…Pardon?”
Hyeonu thought he had misheard. As if considering him, Youngho repeated himself.
“One was killed by another senior brother. Two were killed by me. The last one was somewhat useful, so I didn’t kill him.”
Seeing Youngho speak so calmly, Hyeonu glanced at the others’ expressions as well.
There was no agitation. Everyone wore calm expressions, as if they were discussing something ordinary.
Rather, the one called Horyeung, a master of the Transformation Realm, was even laughing heartily as he brought up past events.
“When Sopyung was caught in the Fourth Young Miss’s scheme, Young Master was truly terrifying.”
“Horyeung. Your killing intent was the thickest of all.”
“It may have been so.”
Hyeonu stared blankly at Youngho’s group. He could not understand. No matter how hard he tried, he could not read the thoughts of these people through his own way of thinking.
They killed their senior brothers? Was such a thing even possible?
“Do not be shaken.”
Seeing Hyeonu’s trembling eyebrows, Youngho spoke with a faint smile.
“This is the Unorthodox Faction. Daoist, you have yet to be stained by the grime of the world. To put it bluntly, that means you are still a brat.”
Hyeonu’s brows furrowed briefly at the word brat, but Youngho continued gently.
“In the Unorthodox Faction—especially if one stands in a position as high as being the disciple of the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance—one inevitably faces threats to one’s life.”
Youngho’s eyes sank slightly.
“My senior sister killed the physicians in the Medical Hall to seize spiritual medicine in order to kill me.”
“…….”
“And my third senior brother even commissioned the Slaughter Heaven Sect to kill me. More than that, he laid hands on someone precious to me.”
Heavy.
“My second senior brother… well, he openly tried to kill me, so I killed him.”
There were no words to say. How could one possibly comprehend the terror of one’s own senior brothers trying to kill him?
As a member of the Orthodox Sect, it was utterly incomprehensible. They were his own senior brothers—yet they tried to kill him?
One question bred another, and that question returned to Hyeonu as a great wave.
Yet there seemed to be a far more important issue.
“May I ask… how old you are?”
“I have passed the age of coming-of-age.”
An age that defied belief.
‘He hasn’t even reached forty?’
Hyeonu’s appearance, perhaps due to Bone-Marrow Reforging, made him look as though he had only just passed the age of coming-of-age. Thus, he had assumed Youngho was of a similar age.
Moreover, saying he had passed the age of coming-of-age could only mean he was still in his early twenties.
A certain hypothesis formed in Hyeonu’s mind.
“And your eldest senior brother…?”
“He is alive. He has just passed forty. And he is far weaker than Daoist Hyeonu, so there is no need to worry. I am simply an anomaly.”
“Ah…….”
Yes, it had to be so. For a moment, he had thought all disciples of the Lord of the Unorthodox Alliance were as strong as Youngho—or even stronger.
Realizing what he had been thinking, Hyeonu cleared his throat and asked,
“Is it not… difficult?”
At Hyeonu’s cautious question, Youngho answered indifferently.
“If one finds each of these things difficult, one cannot survive in the Unorthodox Alliance. It is not quite hell, but it is far from comfortable.”
“Hah…….”
No matter how he considered it, this was not the mindset of an ordinary man.
Youngho glanced at Hyeonu’s expression and asked,
“Since when have you trained in the mountains, Daoist?”
“Since I was ten.”
“That is why.”
“……Pardon?”
“The Sword Immortal did not send you alone into the world but had you accompany us. Do you know the reason?”
“Hmm….”
After a moment of hesitation, Hyeonu answered in an uncertain voice,
“In case I cause trouble?”
“…….”
Youngho did not bother to deny it. That was certainly part of the reason the Sword Immortal had sent Hyeonu with him.
“You must also consider the opposite situation.”
“The opposite?”
“Yes. Daoist, you may be the one who suffers misfortune instead.”
“That is…….”
He was strong. Not only Hyeonu himself but his master—and even Youngho—acknowledged that fact.
As if piercing through Hyeonu’s thoughts, Youngho immediately spoke words that left him flustered.
“No matter how much of a master of the Transformation Realm one is, if one’s neck is cut by even an inch, one dies. Do you understand the meaning?”
“…….”
“The Jianghu is cruel. It may be discourteous to say this to a Daoist, but I will say it nonetheless.”
Youngho’s tone carried a weight unlike his usual demeanor.
“In the Jianghu, strength is truth.”
Hyeonu’s eyes widened, and Youngho continued swiftly.
“Do you know why Daoist-affiliated sects such as Wudang or the Mount Hua Sect are revered?”
“It is because they are strong, but that is not all.”
“Yes. Many complicated matters are entangled in that statement. Let us simplify it. To sustain a sect, one needs money.”
That was true. No matter how much of a martial artist one was, one could not train while eating dirt.
“And that money mostly comes from dealings with merchant groups or from sponsorships. Well, one could, like Mount Hua’s Hwayum County, purchase most of a region and operate merchant groups directly, but let us set that aside.”
“…….”
For some reason, Hyeonu felt as though he already knew what Youngho was about to say.
“If Wudang were a sect without martial arts, pursuing only the Dao, would there have been sponsorship and investment toward it?”
“…….”
He could not answer.
“Then even if we set aside sponsorship and investment, if enemies attacked, could they have protected themselves? A martial family without strength?”
Youngho did not stop there.
“When the Murim Alliance was corrupt, did people side with the strong? Or with the weak?”
“…….”
“The Sword Immortal did not send you out merely to let you see the world. He sent you out so that you could face the world directly and derive your own answer.”
“That is….”
Youngho let out a faint chuckle as he watched Hyeonu struggle for words.
“From now on, watch carefully. And before we met, did not the Sword Immortal tell you that if you went outside, you were to head straight to Wudang and pay no attention to anything else?”
“Ah, he did say something like that.”
“That was because he was afraid you would be taken advantage of.”
When Hyeonu stared blankly at him, Youngho let out a quiet laugh.
“The world we are about to face is far more than this. Let us move again.”
With that, Youngho resumed walking.