Go And Reclaim It

Sunlight shone upon the rivers carving their way through the mountains.
Chongqing looked like a fortress nestled atop the mountains.
The Yangtze River and Jialing River surrounding it were no different from fortress walls.
Galleries, pavilions, and towers rose at angles above the cliffs, interlocking in dozens of layers.
The steep stone stairways were always slick with mud and rain.
It was truly an impregnable fortress.
Now, while the entire Central Plains was in turmoil from war.
Chongqing was strangely quiet.
Chongqing was now no different from a fuse.
No one knew when it would ignite, and the Jeokyang Clan stood at its center.
One of the Seven Powers of the Evil Heaven Alliance.
This was where the Jeokyang Clan’s main estate was located.
Yet the clan, which should have been pressing the offensive, remained silent.
It had not even dispatched reinforcements.
It was not turning its back on the Evil Heaven Alliance.
Quite the opposite.
No one wanted the war more than they did.
That was why not only the surrounding sects but even the authorities held their breath and watched the clan’s every move.
They had good reason to do so.
Jeokyang Gwang, who had returned a month earlier, had ultimately lost his life.
His funeral had ended only recently.
The eldest son, Jeokyang Hu, had lost an eye, while the third son, Jeokyang Gwang, was dead.
Neither the Twelve Heavens nor the Murim Alliance had done it.
Both had suffered at the hands of a single man.

“…Where is he?”
“He is reportedly heading this way.”

The murmuring grew louder at the report.

“That insolent bastard!”

One of the elders spat the words out, unable to contain his anger.
The Patriarch raised a hand.
The meeting hall fell silent.

“Considering what he has done, he has earned the right.”

The others gasped at the sight of the Patriarch speaking with a smile.

“I heard he cannot use either hand.”
“Yes.”
“…It seems he has taken us lightly as well.”

It was not merely insolence. The clan’s dignity had already been shattered.
They had no grounds to complain about being taken lightly.

“Black Shadow Unit Leader.”

A man knelt at the Patriarch’s call.

“Bring him here. I wish to see his face.”
“As you command!”

The man turned to leave.
At that moment, the door opened.

“I will go.”

A man wearing an eyepatch over one eye stood there.

“First Young Master!”

The elders tried to dissuade him in alarm.
Unlike the elders, the Patriarch regarded him indifferently.

“I believe I ordered you to remain in confinement.”
“This is my affair. I must be the one to settle it.”

Dense killing intent filled Jeokyang Hu’s gaze.

“Hmm.”

The Patriarch stared at him before gesturing to the Black Shadow Unit Leader, who had stopped on his way out.
The Black Shadow Unit Leader returned to the meeting hall.

“You have already lost once. Do you understand that?”
“I do. But this time will be different.”

Kkadeudeuk.
The sound of grinding teeth rang out.
The Jeokyang Hu of the past would never have done such a thing.
He might have been arrogant, but he would never have dared bare his hostility before the Patriarch.
However, rage had paralyzed Jeokyang Hu’s reason.
And the Patriarch never allowed anyone who bared their teeth at him to live.
That remained true even if the offender was his own sibling.
The elders held their breath and watched.

“Very well.”

The Patriarch nodded.
The elders and unit leaders glanced at him in surprise.
Considering the Patriarch’s usual temperament, his response was difficult to believe.
He entrusted authority to those who proved capable, but discarded anyone who failed, even if they were family.
However, the Patriarch had not finished.

“Dark Shadow Unit Leader, you heard me.”

The Dark Shadow Unit, together with the Black Shadow Unit, was practically a symbol of the Jeokyang Clan.
However, its position had become precarious because it had failed to support Jeokyang Hu.

“Whether it is my son or that man, do not intervene until one of them is dead. That is an order.”
“Patriarch!”

The response didn’t come from the Dark Shadow Unit Leader.
One of the elders beside him had spoken.
He was an elder who supported Jeokyang Hu.
The Patriarch slowly turned toward the elders.
Those who met his gaze lowered their heads.
After silencing the elders, the Patriarch looked at the Dark Shadow Unit Leader.

“…As you command.”

The Dark Shadow Unit Leader bowed his head.

“That order does not apply only to the Dark Shadow Unit. No one is to help him under any circumstances.”
“As you command!”

The unit leaders bowed their heads in unison.
Only then did the Patriarch nod in satisfaction.

“Are you satisfied?”
“…Yes.”

Jeokyang Hu answered the Patriarch’s question.

“Go and reclaim it.”

He did not say what Jeokyang Hu was to reclaim. However, Jeokyang Hu understood, for the words carried many meanings.

“As you command!”

Jeokyang Hu left the hall.
The Patriarch watched him depart and continued in a low voice.

“If he cannot reclaim it, there will be no need for him to return.”

The elders who heard him remained silent, while the unit leaders trembled faintly.
A bitter wind seemed to blow through the meeting hall.

Just because Gyo-ha had lost both arms didn’t mean he had given up.
His feet moved busily.

“As I thought, my existing movement art reacts too slowly.”

The Flowing Cloud Steps that Gyo-ha had learned was a movement art that kept the practitioner moving continuously like drifting clouds, just as its name suggested.
Although it could be used with both fist arts and fist-and-kick arts, it placed greater emphasis on the hands than the feet.

“It needs to be simpler.”

He needed to move at the same time he attacked.
Countless figures appeared and vanished within Gyo-ha’s mind.
They included not only martial artists but also yokai and animals.
Whether they were weak or strong did not matter.
He needed to find the most efficient movement.

Peong!

The air burst from Gyo-ha’s kick.
Another kick followed.

Peong! Peobeong!

The air erupted repeatedly.
It was an intimidating display.
Yet Gyo-ha frowned, apparently dissatisfied even with that.

“It’s too slow.”

It wouldn’t matter if his opponent were his equal, or even slightly stronger.
However, against someone far stronger, having the kick blocked would leave the center of his body exposed.
He had no arms with which to defend himself.
Gyo-ha kicked again.

Peong!

This time, rather than advancing, he retreated.
A hit-and-run tactic.
This was also too slow.
Moreover, after creating distance, he would have to advance again before he could attack.
After considering it briefly, Gyo-ha made a light hop.
The instant his foot touched the ground, his body appeared to stretch.

Kwang!

The air exploded with a force unlike anything before.
At the same time, Gyo-ha had already returned to his original position.

“Good.”

Only then did Gyo-ha smile in satisfaction.

“If I refine it a little and add a few variations, it should be usable.”

Gyo-ha nodded.
Even then, his feet never stopped moving.
The once-crude sequence gradually became smoother.
Anyone who witnessed the sight would have been astonished.
A new martial art was being born before their eyes.

Grandmaster.

It meant Gyo-ha was already capable of creating martial arts of his own.
Of course, it hadn’t happened in an instant for Gyo-ha. He had been considering it throughout his journey.
Nevertheless, a martial art could not be completed in a single moment.
It approached perfection only through prolonged trial and error.
Yet Gyo-ha’s martial art continued changing even now.
A martial art created solely for Gyo-ha.
By the following day, it had already begun to resemble a proper martial art.

“All that remains is testing it in battle.”

He wouldn’t know what it lacked until he used it in a real fight.
Even Gyo-ha had limits when it came to fighting opponents who existed only in his imagination.
He needed an opponent.
Not some random rabble, but a proper martial artist.
As though answering Gyo-ha’s wish, an opportunity soon presented itself.

Gyo-ha buried his face in the bowl and slurped down the thin noodles.
The broth and noodles went down his throat together.
Even as he ate, his foot moved and picked up a dumpling.
The moment he raised his head, the dumpling popped into his mouth.
The people around him stared blankly at the nearly miraculous display.

“Mister! Another bowl of thin noodles over here.”
“Huh? Ah. Right away!”

The innkeeper, who had been watching, hurried away.
After watching him leave, Gyo-ha shifted his gaze.

“Hmm.”

Someone had been watching him ever since he arrived in Chongqing.
It was different from the gazes of those watching him out of curiosity.
These felt far more persistent.
They carried emotion.
Gyo-ha picked up a dumpling with his toes and tossed it upward.
He caught the falling dumpling in his mouth.

“Oooh.”

Exclamations arose around him, but Gyo-ha paid them no attention.
He was already accustomed to them.
At that moment, Gyo-ha sensed the atmosphere change.
It was not inside the inn.
The people inside were still watching Gyo-ha.
It was the gazes that had been monitoring him.
Something about them had changed.
He soon learned why.

Kkiiiik, the inn door opened.
A man stood before the entrance.
A one-eyed man.
He looked at Gyo-ha, then turned around.
The man simply walked away.
Had he come to the wrong inn? Gyo-ha knew perfectly well that wasn’t the case.
His next bowl of thin noodles arrived at that moment.
Gyo-ha poured the noodles into his mouth and shuddered.
The heat scorched the roof of his mouth.
Even his throat felt as though it were burning.

“Thanks for the meal.”

He quickly pulled a pouch from inside his robes.
With a wiggle of his toes, he loosened the knot.
Gyo-ha grabbed an approximate amount and placed it on the table.
The innkeeper’s eyes widened.

“My goodness, this is far too much.”
“It’s fine.”

Gyo-ha had already gotten up and was heading outside.
However, the innkeeper was not the only one surprised by Gyo-ha’s purse.
Several men drinking in a corner exchanged glances.
They quietly rose from their seats.

“Innkeeper, bring us the bill.”

While one man paid, the other three attempted to follow Gyo-ha discreetly.
However, they were soon forced to stop.
Shadows blocked their path.
Figures wearing black masks.
Like their black martial uniforms, even their sword hilts and tassels were black.
Before they realized it, the shadows had surrounded them.
They had heard no footsteps. The figures had appeared before them like ghosts.
The men hiccupped in fright.
One of the shadows addressed them.

“Get lost.”

It was the Dark Shadow Unit Leader, with only his eyes exposed.

“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, sir.”

They couldn’t refuse. The instant they resisted, swords would come flying from every side.
The three quickly retraced their steps.
The man who had finished paying emerged at that moment.

“Why are you coming back? What about that sucker?”
“Shut up and go back inside.”
“What are you talking abou…?”

The man was about to complain when he met the eyes of the shadows watching him from beyond the others.
Only their eyes were visible within the darkness.
One glance was enough to tell that they were dangerous.
Only one group in Chongqing could move about like that.

The Jeokyang Clan.

“…I-I was running low on wine anyway.”

The man reopened the inn door with a trembling hand.
When he returned, the innkeeper tilted his head.

“Did you forget something?”
“Bamboo Leaf Green!”
“And thin noodles!”
“Ah, of course. W-welcome back?”

Had these men not just left?
Although confused, the innkeeper accepted their order.
The Dark Shadow Unit Leader watched them before speaking.

“Make sure no one interferes.”
“As you command.”

The members of the Dark Shadow Unit bowed in unison.
They then melted into the darkness.
The Dark Shadow Unit Leader watched them disappear before turning his gaze.
He looked in the direction Jeokyang Hu and Gyo-ha had gone.
Jeokyang Hu had lost one eye.
Moreover, for some unknown reason, he had lost a portion of his internal energy.
But that was already in the past.
Jeokyang Hu had grown ruthless since then.
His sword had become steeped in killing intent.
It was a disposition ill-suited to the Jeokyang Clan’s martial arts, which concealed the sword within darkness.
Many who sparred with him had suffered severe injuries.
There had even been many occasions when they would have died had the Dark Shadow Unit Leader not intervened.
The current Jeokyang Hu was no different from a murderous fiend.
The Dark Shadow Unit Leader did not think that was necessarily a bad thing.
These were turbulent times.
One thing was certain. Jeokyang Hu had grown stronger than before.
To an incomparable degree.
There was no way someone who had lost both arms could stand against him.
Yet for some reason, unease rose from a corner of the Dark Shadow Unit Leader’s heart.
Suppressing that ominous feeling, the Dark Shadow Unit Leader followed after Gyo-ha.