Chapter 102 : Chapter 102
Chapter 102. A Swordsman, to a Swordsman (3)
Within the consciousness space created by the Predation ability.
“I was, by nature, a base and insidious man.”
The Three-Extreme Sword, Jang Tae-san, appeared before Dam Jeok-san in the form he had possessed in life and spoke to him.
If he wished, Dam Jeok-san could cast him aside. He was already an opponent he had once defeated, and unlike Wi Cheon-rak, he did not possess any transcendent power.
However, Dam Jeok-san calmly listened to his story. There was no need to rush.
“The reason I suddenly decided to protect Nameless Village… well, I suppose it was a whim.”
That whim had led Jang Tae-san’s stagnant sword to the next realm.
“A whim? Do you truly think so?”
Dam Jeok-san did not believe it was merely a whim.
“If not a whim, then what?”
Jang Tae-san asked in genuine confusion.
“A mere whim cannot lead to enlightenment.”
“……”
“You must have lived knowing what was wrong, yet turning your eyes away from it, knowing what was unjust, yet passing it by.”
That meant that, deep down, he had always believed that not turning away, and not passing by, was the right path.
And because he finally acted upon that belief, enlightenment had come.
“A convincing argument. Have you studied martial philosophy as well?”
Jang Tae-san said with a trace of admiration.
In truth, he had grown somewhat weary of his own baseness.
He had been born into the Three-Extreme Sect, a righteous sect of some renown in the region, as the fourth son of the Sect Master.
Granted, he was an illegitimate child born of an affair between his father and a household attendant.
It was impossible for him to inherit the sect, and even learning the family’s inherited martial arts was difficult from his position.
Yet Jang Tae-san possessed desire.
The desire to become stronger. The desire to grasp greater power.
Thus, he learned swordsmanship by watching over others’ shoulders. Because he had talent, he could imitate the forms convincingly, and the Three-Extreme Sect Master took an interest in the ability of his illegitimate son.
“Thanks to that, I was able to learn martial arts. In exchange, my elder brothers tried to kill me.”
This was not a metaphor for jealousy or envy. The children of the Three-Extreme Sect Master truly tried to kill Jang Tae-san.
They slipped poison purchased from the Black Market into his food, hired assassins to take his life in secret…
“It was sheer fortune that I did not die back then.”
Jang Tae-san survived, but his birth mother and the guard who had followed him since childhood could not endure the assassination attempts and perished.
Having survived through sheer tenacity, Jang Tae-san left his family at the age of twenty and wandered the Central Plains.
Five years later, he had become a renowned hero and a peak expert, achieving more than any of his brothers.
Upon returning to his family, on a dark night, Jang Tae-san cut down all of his brothers. A blade without the slightest mercy.
When the investigation team from the Righteous Heaven Alliance arrived, Jang Tae-san calmly presented documents detailing his brothers’ corruption and crimes.
“I said that when I confronted them with this, they tried to kill me, so I had no choice but to cut them down.”
Jang Tae-san continued, recalling that time.
Of course, it was a lie. He had not said a single word to his brothers.
He had merely torn them apart one by one, like slaughtering beasts.
After the Righteous Heaven Alliance’s investigation team departed, he threatened his father and seized the position of Three-Extreme Sect Master. His father, reduced to the status of Senior Elder, languished in illness for several months before dying suddenly one morning.
“After that, as the Three-Extreme Sect Master, I associated with the major figures of the Murim of the Central Plains.”
In the process, he did not hesitate to employ schemes, intrigue, and underhanded dealings if it benefited the sect.
There was no grand reason for it. He had simply lived his entire life that way.
“And then… yes, I met the Taoists of the Wudang Sect.”
Men who had lived their entire lives in pure cultivation grounds, maintaining upright conduct. They were true embodiments of righteous chivalry.
Men prepared to sacrifice their own lives to save a single commoner. Men who believed it natural to abandon immediate gain in pursuit of the great will.
“I could not live that way, but I thought that life was truly admirable.”
Of course, not all Wudang Taoists were like that. Among them were those more despicable than worldly men.
Yet was it not precisely because such people existed that true righteous chivalry shone all the brighter?
“In one corner of my heart, a feeling of admiration for them took root.”
Perhaps it was because he paraded himself as righteous while speaking of justice and chivalry. Jang Tae-san felt considerable self-loathing for his own hypocrisy.
“That feeling may have influenced my final choice. You were right.”
“I am usually right.”
Dam Jeok-san replied flatly.
“Hah. Now that I look at you, you even know how to make pointless jokes.”
Jang Tae-san said, sounding dumbfounded.
“In any case, I suppose my story ends here.”
The words carried a double meaning. Not only that his recollection of life was over, but that his life itself had ended.
“I have listened well. May you now find peace.”
Dam Jeok-san said so, and—
SLASH—
Cut Jang Tae-san’s form cleanly in half. He did not wish for a man who had lived by the sword to die by anything else.
His image scattered and vanished, and the remaining demonic energy flowed into Dam Jeok-san.
The amount was truly terrifying. It was not the demonic energy an ordinary human could hold, but that which the earth itself had harbored.
Yet it was bearable. He had understood the human who stood at the center of that land, and he had decided to make that life a part of himself.
Still within the illusion formed by the Predation ability—
WOOOOOO!!
A mass of demonic energy, coalesced into the shape of a grotesque monster, surged toward Dam Jeok-san.
And Dam Jeok-san—
With a nameless sword form that imitated the Three-Extreme Contracting Fang Sword, cut the monster down.
A single sword strike.
That alone ended everything.
Dam Jeok-san firmly suppressed the torrent of demonic energy pouring into his body with the internal power he already possessed. Having lost its will, the demonic energy slowly circulated through his major meridians under his guidance and began to settle quietly in his dantian.
***
Dam Jeok-san fully consolidated the devoured demonic energy within his dantian.
An amount of internal power that could not be obtained even by consuming most famed spiritual medicines had accumulated there.
‘With this much, I should be able to use the Red White Extreme Smoke Slash up to three times.’
In that case, he would not have to worry about lacking internal energy.
Of course, complacency was forbidden.
Among Ultra-Peak experts, there were occasionally those whose accumulated qi was even deeper than that of the Northern Heaven Sword Venerable. Against such old monsters, even Dam Jeok-san would not be able to gain the upper hand in a contest of internal power.
Dam Jeok-san lightly surveyed his surroundings. The time that had stopped on the day of the tragedy a hundred years ago began to flow once more.
Most traces of Nameless Village had corroded away and vanished, and the demonic energy that had clung stubbornly to the land was gone as if washed clean.
The sky returned to its original state. The quietly shining moon and the stars gently circling it filled Dam Jeok-san’s vision.
“It truly has been purified.”
Watching him, Bukgung Wan murmured in disbelief.
The density of demonic energy had been so high that even with his abilities, purification would have been difficult. Yet Dam Jeok-san had absorbed it as if devouring it.
Even Bukgung Wan, who had acquired countless sorceries and mysteries while staying with the Ming Cult, had never seen such a sight in his life.
The ominous rumors that had followed Dam Jeok-san had failed to capture even half of his true nature.
“What in the world are you?”
Bukgung Wan asked sharply.
“Did you not say it yourself, Young Cult Leader? The Sword Dragon of this era. Embarrassing as it sounds.”
“…Yes. That is true.”
The third disciple of the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle. The Sword Dragon. The only junior who had ever defeated Bukgung Wan.
“There is no point in questioning further what just happened. The secret transmissions of martial artists are originally like that.”
Bukgung Wan said, swallowing a sigh.
Whether Dam Jeok-san was safe or not was not for him to decide. At least not while the Ming Cult Leader and the Lord of the Martial Sovereign Castle were still alive.
However—
“I swear one thing. If that bizarre ability ever causes a problem, I will stake everything I have to eliminate you.”
If he intended to inherit the name Heavenly Demon, then it was something he would ultimately have to bear.
“Do as you please.”
Dam Jeok-san did not display any particular anger at those words.
He instinctively understood the sense of duty driving the Lesser Heavenly Demon. Had their positions been reversed, he would have said the same.
“I am going to the main castle. What will you do?”
“Hm…”
At that, a troubled expression crossed Bukgung Wan’s face.
He could return westward to the Ming Cult’s main headquarters. He had completed every task the Cult Leader had assigned him.
‘No. That is not it.’
The mission to defeat the Sword Dragon had ultimately failed. And now, seeing Dam Jeok-san, it seemed that defeating him would only become more difficult.
Once Dam Jeok-san received the Lord’s teachings at the Martial Sovereign Castle, the gap between them would widen even further.
The thought made him impatient. At the very least, he wanted to witness with his own eyes how strong Dam Jeok-san would become.
To do that—
‘I will have to bear some political burden.’
Bukgung Wan made his decision swiftly.
The position of Young Cult Leader was fairly secure. Bukgung Dantian was a cold and ruthless Cult Leader, but he was not one to easily withdraw trust once it had been given.
“I will go with you as well. I will make a formal visit. As your guest, Sword Dragon.”
“There is no reason to refuse.”
Dam Jeok-san replied, slightly surprised.
The Ming Cult was a colossal sect whose might rivaled that of the Righteous Heaven Alliance or the Unorthodox Alliance as a single power.
Its strength was such that one could almost understand why it had once harbored the absurd dream of ruling the world through the demonic path.
The struggle over succession at the Martial Sovereign Castle did not occur only at the main castle in Shanxi, but sporadically throughout the entire Central Plains.
This was because the influence of the Martial Sovereign Castle extended across the whole region.
Thus, major powers like the Ming Cult or the Namgung Clan could exert direct or indirect influence on the succession struggle without sending troops to the main castle itself.
In such a situation, if the Ming Cult’s Young Cult Leader hinted at a friendly relationship with Dam Jeok-san—
‘That will be enough to shake those bat-like figures still clinging to neutrality.’
It was true that the balance had tilted noticeably toward the Eldest Young Master. However, within the Martial Sovereign Castle, there remained a considerable neutral faction centered around the Five Great Families.
‘People who believe there is no need to choose sides.’
Whether Dam Jeok-san or the Eldest Young Master ascended to the Lord’s throne, neither could discard the Five Great Families. They were one of the fundamental sources of the Martial Sovereign Castle’s power.
Yet even within the Five Great Families, there were certainly those dissatisfied with the current situation.
Those who disliked the Eldest Young Master. Those who desired greater power. Or those who simply enjoyed conflict.
To draw them in, Dam Jeok-san had to prove his potential.
‘It should be about time for the bait to be taken.’
Now that the turmoil in the north had completely settled, countless rumors would soon sweep across the Central Plains.
With the level of intelligence possessed by the Five Great Families, they would be able to discern truth from falsehood to some extent amid that flood of rumors.
***
By the time Dam Jeok-san and Bukgung Wan reached the northern outskirts of Shanxi Province, they headed to an inn called Jeoknimhyang to have a proper meal for the first time in a while.
Servers bustled about carrying steaming dishes, the head cook shut himself away in the kitchen, wholly absorbed in his cooking, and ronin, flushed with drink, shouted loudly.
The inside of Jeoknimhyang was the very image of a typical inn.
…Except for the fact that, in one corner, there sat an Ultra-Peak expert with a bamboo hat pulled low over his face.
Dam Jeok-san had considered that someone from one of the Five Great Families, or a comparable power, might make contact.
But he had never imagined that person would be the new Family Head of the very clan he had shattered with his own hands.
The Eccentric Hero, Woo Gi-hwan.
Dam Jeok-san recognized him at a glance—the man he had crossed paths with only once, fleetingly, ten years ago.
[Come over here. Let us have a drink.]
At that moment, the Eccentric Hero’s telepathic voice echoed in Dam Jeok-san’s mind. A tone that seemed endlessly light, like that of a drifter, yet concealed its true intent beneath that lightness.
His instincts told him this was no opponent to be taken lightly.
[Very well.]
Dam Jeok-san did not bother to refuse the invitation to join him.