I Don’t Have The Time To Deal With The Likes Of You.

Gyo-ha and Namgung Hyeok followed the little boy.
The boy led them down a path with fewer and fewer people.
The boy stopped in front of an unnamed shrine.

“Is it here?”
“Yes… It’s… here, but.”

Confusion rose on the boy’s face.
Namgung Hyeok looked at the boy with an indifferent gaze, and the boy flinched and backed away from that look.
Just as Namgung Hyeok was about to speak, Gyo-ha lifted his head.

“Looks like they’re coming now.”

Not long after, he sensed the presences.
Not just one.
They were slowly closing in around them.
They were being surrounded.
Soon, people in black martial robes appeared. Despite the many presences, their footsteps didn’t make a sound.
They had been deliberately letting their presence leak.
Soon, a man in red appeared among the martial artists.
He looked back and forth between Gyo-ha and Namgung Hyeok, who weren’t startled, and grinned.

“Looks like you knew we were coming?”
“I didn’t know who would come, but I knew it was a trap from the start.”

Namgung Hyeok replied coldly.
Gyo-ha was the same. There was no way he couldn’t know from the beginning.
The inn they’d been at was on the road to a large village. Of course there were many people there.
Among them, there were quite a few martial artists.
Some even wore hero’s sashes and set their swords on the table, as if shouting that they were clearly heroes to anyone who looked.
But the boy ignored them and came to Gyo-ha and Namgung Hyeok.
That meant the target had been the two from the start.
Maybe if it were only Gyo-ha, but Namgung Hyeok was still young.
And just by looks, Gyo-ha didn’t seem suited to fighting either.
Did a kid like that have the discernment to tell masters apart?
It meant they weren’t a suitable choice to ask for help.

“Well, it doesn’t matter even if you noticed. You Orthodox bastards won’t be able to ignore what this kid says.”

Perfect to exploit.
At the young man’s words, Gyo-ha blinked.
Because it wasn’t the reason the young man thought.
If they picked a fight on their own, there was no need to avoid it.
Then the boy ran over to the young man and spoke carefully.

“Is it done?”

The young man nodded and looked to the side.

“Hand it over.”

At the young man’s signal, the man beside him swung his sword.
Chwaak!
The boy’s body fell.

“…!”
“…!”

At the sudden turn, Gyo-ha and Namgung Hyeok furrowed their brows.
There wasn’t even time to stop it.
But the only ones flustered weren’t the two of them.
The young man’s face twisted, and he slapped the man across the cheek.
Ssaak!
The man staggered from the blow. As he straightened again, blood trickled from his mouth.
The young man looked at him with a cold gaze.

“What do you think you’re doing?”
“…I’m sorry. He knew Young Master’s face, so I dealt with him.”

The young man held out his hand to the side, and another man handed him a sword.

“Because of you, I’ve become a liar, haven’t I?”

The sword flashed, and the man’s left arm fell to the ground.

“I want to take your head, but you’ve done work for me, so I’ll settle for this.”
“Thank you.”

The man bowed with a pained expression. Watching him, the young man clicked his tongue and looked at the one who had handed him the sword.

“Go to that kid’s home and pay twice what we promised.”
“Understood.”

Watching it all, Gyo-ha and Namgung Hyeok’s eyes went to the fallen boy.
He had died in an instant.
He probably didn’t even feel pain.
Noticing their gaze, the young man gave a nasty grin.

“What? Does this bother you?”

At the young man’s question, Gyo-ha shook his head.

‘It’s regrettable, but.’

It couldn’t be helped.
Maybe if someone had been taken hostage, but he tried to trick them for money.
It was no different from reaping what he sowed. Namgung Hyeok also seemed to think similarly and looked away.

“Who the hell are you people?”

They weren’t ordinary.
Not just the young man, even the aura of those around him was unusual.
They didn’t seem inferior even compared to the Namgung Clan’s Martial Prowess Unit.

‘…No, they’re above the Martial Prowess Unit. They’re closer to the Thunder Sword Unit.’

The Namgung Clan’s strongest martial force.
People like this couldn’t be common. At Namgung Hyeok’s question, the young man’s eyebrow twitched.

“A kid like you speaks awfully bluntly, doesn’t he?”

The young man glared at Namgung Hyeok. But Namgung Hyeok didn’t avert his eyes.
The first to look away was the young man.

“Consider yourself lucky. I don’t have business with you.”

Saying that, the young man looked at Gyo-ha beside Namgung Hyeok.

“You’re Gyo-ha, right? Hm. You don’t look that impressive.”

The young man rested his chin on his hand.
Namgung Hyeok’s eyes turned icy at the slight.

“I’m Jeokyang Hu.”

The young man watched for Gyo-ha’s reaction, but Gyo-ha only tilted his head.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know me?”

At Jeokyang Hu’s question, Gyo-ha scratched his cheek.
Namgung Hyeok spoke softly in Gyo-ha’s place.

“He’s the Jeokyang Clan’s rightful heir.”
“Jeokyang Clan?”
“Yes. One of the Seven Powers of the Evil Heaven Alliance.”

Gyo-ha knew about the Seven Powers too.
The Shin siblings he’d met before were also connected to the Guizhou Shin Clan, one of the Seven.

“Heh, I see.”

When Gyo-ha exclaimed, Jeokyang Hu’s face twisted.
Because it looked like he was mocking him.

“…Birds of a feather. You’re all equally arrogant.”

Jeokyang Hu stepped forward.
Namgung Hyeok blocked Jeokyang Hu’s path.
Seeing that, Jeokyang Hu clicked his tongue.

“I heard you were bedridden not long ago. I’ve got no business with you, so get out of the way.”

But Namgung Hyeok’s expression stayed cold.

“How dare some heretical scum set their sights on anyone. If you wish to spar with my brother, you’ll have to get past me.”

Namgung Hyeok barked coldly.
At Namgung Hyeok’s reaction, disbelief rose on Jeokyang Hu’s face.
Just as the successors of the Seven Powers were, the successors of the Five Great Clans would be arrogant too.
That wasn’t a flaw.
They had the right to be.
Before Jeokyang Hu could speak, someone else spoke first.

“No. There’s no need. He said he came for me, didn’t he?”

Urgency seeped into Gyo-ha’s voice.
But Namgung Hyeok was firm.

“When you become famous, people like that are bound to swarm. But since this younger brother is here, you don’t need to worry.”
“No, I’m telling you I’m not worried.”

Gyo-ha muttered softly, but it didn’t seem Namgung Hyeok heard him.

“I won’t trouble my brother’s hands. My brother isn’t so free that he can waste time dealing with the likes of you.”

He was free.
So free he’d followed them into a trap. And even now, his body itched because he wanted to fight.
Jeokyang Hu let out a hollow laugh as if it were ridiculous.
He didn’t even look angry.

“…Who are you supposed to be? One of his underlings?”
“I’m his sworn younger brother.”

Seeing Namgung Hyeok answer proudly, Jeokyang Hu pressed his forehead hard.

“Anyway, your sworn older brother says he’s fine with it, so why don’t you step aside now?”

Jeokyang Hu hadn’t been advising Namgung Hyeok.
When he looked behind him, martial artists stepped forward.

“Just tie up his legs so he can’t interfere.”
“Yes.”

They all drew their swords at once.
Namgung Hyeok’s eyebrow twitched as he saw them.

“You think these people can stop me?”

Namgung Hyeok drew his sword as well.
Thunder Qi rose, clearer than before.
His internal energy may have decreased, but its purity was incomparably cleaner than before.
And that wasn’t the only change.
The muscles in Namgung Hyeok’s sword arm swelled.
Kwaang!
A martial artist who took Namgung Hyeok’s sword strike was flung backward.
Even if it was limited, Namgung Hyeok’s body itself had entered the ranks of external-arts masters.
The martial artists were pushed back.
But Jeokyang Hu didn’t even spare them a glance.
He was only watching Gyo-ha, who kept stealing glances at Namgung Hyeok.

“Now that you don’t have a guardian, are you scared?”
“No.”

Gyo-ha tore his gaze away and looked at Jeokyang Hu.
Scared?
No. It was the opposite.
He licked his lips at the momentum he felt from Jeokyang Hu.

“I’m excited.”

Before the words could even settle, Gyo-ha hurled himself at Jeokyang Hu.
Gyo-ha leapt in an instant.
At that sight, a nasty smile rose on Jeokyang Hu’s face.

“You’ve got guts. I hear you fight barehanded? Then I’ll face you with bare hands too.”

Jeokyang Hu took his stance.
Gyo-ha was fast, but not so fast he couldn’t follow.
Gyo-ha extended a kick, but Jeokyang Hu focused on Gyo-ha’s fist.

‘An obvious attack!’

The kick brushed past his head, and then the fist flew in.

‘A simple bastard.’

Jeokyang Hu sneered at Gyo-ha and reached out.
In an instant, Jeokyang Hu’s palm wrapped around Gyo-ha’s fist.
And then.

“…!”

He was knocked right back.
Gyo-ha’s attack wasn’t something you could block just because you could read it.
Gyo-ha’s fist drove at Jeokyang Hu without any intention of stopping.
Kwaang!
Jeokyang Hu staggered backward.
At some point, his other hand had come up.
He had reacted in a split second.
But his arm had turned red from the shock. If he hadn’t blocked with Protective Aura, his arm would’ve broken. And it wasn’t only his arm.
Tweh.
Jeokyang Hu spat.
Blood was mixed in with the spit.
Even though he blocked, the shock had carried into his head.
Jeokyang Hu stared blankly as if he couldn’t believe he’d been hit, then furrowed his brow.

“Bastard!”

Rage surged belatedly.
A hand shot out.
Gyo-ha knocked it aside with his elbow.
Then Jeokyang Hu’s fingers shot in.
But that too was blocked by Gyo-ha’s hand. Jeokyang Hu’s fingers were pushed back instead.
Gyo-ha’s Ink Blood Claw was the Darkshadow Mountain Ghost’s exclusive martial art.
Even if it wasn’t a divine art, it was the martial art of someone who had dominated an era.
When Gyo-ha’s feet joined his hands in targeting Jeokyang Hu, Jeokyang Hu couldn’t keep up the exchange and retreated.
Embarrassment was plainly written on his face.
Gyo-ha read the emotion that rose in his eyes.

“You can use it.”
“…What?”
“That sword.”

Gyo-ha pointed at Jeokyang Hu’s waist. At those words, Jeokyang Hu bit his lip.
Because of what he’d said, he couldn’t easily reach for it.
But refusing made the outcome obvious.
Gyo-ha was waiting as if he didn’t care.

‘That bastard.’

He was strong. It didn’t look like he was trying to look down on him, but it was beyond what he’d imagined.

“…Fine. I admit it. You have the right to receive my sword.”

If Namgung Hyeok had seen it, he would’ve shouted about who was judging whose qualifications, but fortunately, Namgung Hyeok was too occupied fighting Jeokyang Hu’s subordinates.
Jeokyang Hu slowly drew his sword.
The sword slid out smoothly. Strangely, the blade was black.
Unlike ordinary blades that reflected light, it seemed to swallow even light.

“Since you made me draw my sword, I’ll teach you something good.”

Jeokyang Hu spoke as he took a sword-hand seal.

“Even among the Seven Powers, the Four Great Houses are special. Do you know why?”

Gyo-ha shook his head.
Because he didn’t even know what the Four Great Houses were.

“Not every heretical art is the same. There’s an origin passed down since ancient times. The Four Great Houses inherited that lineage.”

A chilling momentum burst from Jeokyang Hu’s body.
Truly explosive energy.
The surging haze was ominous beyond words.
Soon, the haze wrapped around the black sword.
But Gyo-ha felt something familiar.

‘Wait, that…?’

Similar.
Yokai Qi. It was a bit different, but it felt similar.
But it was a little too weak to call it Yokai Qi.
Like it was imitating Yokai Qi?
But Gyo-ha’s thoughts didn’t continue.
Because Jeokyang Hu launched his body at Gyo-ha.
Jeokyang Hu’s sword flew toward Gyo-ha’s neck.
A sword that advanced straightforwardly.
Gyo-ha twisted his upper body and avoided it.
The sword swung again.
Gyo-ha tried to dodge this too.
But.
Chwaak!
Before he could even dodge, blood burst from his chest.