Dumin

I checked Dumin’s qi level with my Lone Awakening Eye. He was at the Fourteenth Tier. This bastard had continued training even after fleeing Gyorei Cave. This had become troublesome.

“There are faces I don’t know here. Are you Elder Shanshi’s new direct disciple?”

Dumin asked. Hearing that, Kanru looked displeased.

“That doesn’t matter. I’m the one who’s going to defeat you.”

“Hmph. Can you really defeat me?”

Kanru attacked Dumin using Dragon Qi Sword Art. When Kanru’s treasured sword was swung sideways, Dumin leapt back and dodged it. Then high-speed combat using Dragon Qi Sword Art began.

The two of them, whose physical abilities had been raised by dragon qi, unleashed high-speed attacks that ordinary people could not follow with their eyes, and dodged those attacks. I watched while entering the state of Moment of Foam. Even though the time around me had slowed down, only Dumin and Kanru’s time seemed to have sped up.

“Senior Brother Ryuuho, weren’t you going to cooperate and fight together?”

“I know. Can I leave the remaining bandits to you two?”

“Leave them to us.”

After hearing my answer, Ryuuho raised his physical ability with dragon qi and joined the fight. When he was attacked by two people, even Dumin was forced entirely onto the defensive.

Even so, Dumin grinned. What was that confident smile?

“You fools! It seems you forgot what I was good at.”

After saying that, Dumin gathered dragon qi in his hand while dodging the attacks. That dragon qi became a small sphere. I called it a “dragon qi bullet,” but Gyorei Cave did not seem to have an official name for it.

“Senior Brother, it’s Dragon Qi Throwing Art!”

At the same time as I shouted, Dumin flicked the dragon qi bullet. The dragon qi bullet flew with incredible speed and dug into Ryuuho’s leg. At that moment, the surviving bandits attacked us. I knocked a bandit’s sword upward with my Serpent-Goat Broadsword, then tore open the bandit’s chest with the blade as I reversed it.

When I glanced toward Ryuuho, he had collapsed, and Kanru and Dumin were fighting. Kanru, who now knew there were dragon qi bullets, was fighting cautiously, so he was being pushed back. I had to clean up the bandits quickly.

There were five bandits remaining. The total did not add up to thirty, but the rest might have gone out as lookouts. I psyched myself up and jumped into the group of bandits. While I was in the state of Moment of Foam, the bandits’ movements looked like slow motion.

As I ran between the bandits, I swung my Serpent-Goat Broadsword compactly and lopped off their heads. One head after another danced into the air, and red blood spread across the ground.

The bandits other than Dumin and the one Yulong was fighting had fallen. I headed toward Ryuuho.

“Are you all right?”

“I am fine. Take care of Kanru.”

Ryuuho, who had collapsed, was painfully holding his leg. He probably could not fight anymore. I took a Healing Pill out of my small pouch and handed it to Ryuuho, then ran toward Kanru.

At that moment, Dumin leapt back and opened up distance, then flicked a dragon qi bullet. Kanru noticed it, hurriedly leapt to the side, and rolled across the ground.

“Die!”

Just as Dumin was about to flick another dragon qi bullet, I drew my qi bullet gun, poured Heavy Yin Qi into it, and pulled the trigger. A qi bullet was fired and grazed Dumin’s face. The impact caused the dragon qi bullet to spill from Dumin’s hand.

“You bastard, what did you do?”

Ignoring that question, I pointed the muzzle of the qi bullet gun at Dumin. Seeing that, Dumin leapt to the side and rolled across the ground. As if chasing him, the qi bullet struck the ground and sent earth and sand flying. Dumin, who used Dragon Cannon Shot, seemed to understand what the qi bullet gun was in an instant. Then, when I pointed the muzzle at him, he took the action of dodging.

“Damn it, using some strange treasure tool.”

I returned the qi bullet gun to its holster, readied my Serpent-Goat Broadsword, and leapt. I slashed diagonally down at Dumin as he stood up. Dumin deflected it with his treasured sword, so I stepped in and kicked a low kick into his leg.

“Guh.”

Dumin let out a pained voice, so I knew it had worked quite well. However, since it had not been a low kick to the shin, it should not have been damage serious enough to make him unable to walk.

While leaping backward, I poured Floating Yang Qi into my Serpent-Goat Broadsword and aimed for Dumin’s neck with Yang Fox-Flame. When the blade of my Serpent-Goat Broadsword, trailing flame, closed in on Dumin, Dumin blocked it with Dragon Qi Dance, which clad his treasured sword in dragon qi.

“Brat, you’re a user of Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique, aren’t you?”

The instant our blades locked, Dumin said that while grinning. Then he put strength into his treasured sword and pushed me back. As expected, I could not win in a contest of strength.

When I was shoved away and my stance broke, Kanru came in to help me. I took a deep breath and focused my attention on the Floating Yang Qi flowing through my yang meridians. I was thinking of using Wind Cutter, the secret technique of Meisen Swordsmanship, the first martial art I had learned. Wind Cutter, which applied the Shrinking Earth Method of Meisen Swordsmanship, had also evolved by adding Floating Yang Qi and Lightness Skill. It should work even on Dumin.

When I looked at the battle, Dumin and Kanru were fiercely crossing blades. Dumin’s skill seemed to be just slightly superior. Dumin’s treasured sword grazed Kanru’s shoulder, and blood sprayed up.

When Dumin tried to follow up, an opening appeared. I used Wind Cutter and stepped in instantly. To Dumin’s eyes, I probably looked as though I had disappeared for an instant and teleported. Once I entered range, I swept through Dumin’s stomach.

“That’s…”

Dumin let out a voice and staggered as blood flowed from his stomach. Kanru then slashed in, and Dumin’s head danced into the air. When that head fell to the ground, Kanru stared at it with a complicated expression.

“Senior Brother Dumin, you had continued training. …Did you want to return to Gyorei Cave?”

There was no way Dumin, whose head had been severed, could answer. I wiped the blood from my Serpent-Goat Broadsword, disassembled it, and put it away in the leather bag on my back.

I found Dumin’s treasured sword and picked it up.

“Senior Brother Kanru, what should we do with this?”

“We were able to defeat Dumin because of your efforts, Kou. Take it. I doubt Senior Brother Ryuuho will object either.”

“Thank you very much.”

After finding the scabbard and sheathing the treasured sword, I turned my gaze toward Yulong. Yulong, who had defeated his bandit, was sitting on the ground with an expression as if he was thinking about something. He did not seem to be injured, so he was probably just tired.

I went to Ryuuho and asked about the state of his injury.

“The muscle in my thigh was gouged out, but I am all right.”

We decided to have Ryuuho rest inside one of the huts. We cleaned up the bandits’ bodies and gathered valuables. We found gold, silver, and copper coins worth around three hundred gold coins.