An Unplanned Death (1)

Twinge.

Deung Myeong’s attack placed a tremendous burden on Neung Je-gang’s arm. Though he was a half-immortal, Neung Je-gang had done something reckless to personally find out with his own body just how great Deung Myeong’s internal power was after absorbing his own younger sister’s Primordial Yin.

Thud.

Neung Je-gang was pushed back several steps. Deung Myeong’s attack had that much force. He could not simply withstand it.

From what Neung Je-gang felt, the internal power itself seemed at least not that different from his own. If not for the fortuitous encounter in Kunlun, its force might have been enough for him to be pushed back by Deung Myeong.

‘Phew! Was Dam Yeo-yeong’s Primordial Yin energy this great?’

However, when it came to shock, Deung Myeong’s shock was far greater than Neung Je-gang’s.

Deung Myeong had thought that perhaps he possessed the strongest internal power under heaven. Unless it was meant to create that level of ability, there was no way his grandfather Deung Gak would have schemed to create a human spirit medicine called Dam Yeo-yeong.

But what on earth was that monster who had lightly blocked his all-out attack and only retreated a few steps? At the very least, it should have been normal for him to retreat while vomiting blood.

“Who are you?”

Deung Myeong’s voice, asking that, was trembling slightly. When humans met an existence beyond imagination, they were bound to feel fear.

That was Deung Myeong’s current state. Both Deung Gak and Deung Hyeon, whom he relied on, were not by his side now. He had to decide for himself whether this was an opponent he should fight like this, or one he should temporarily avoid, even if it was humiliating.

Since he had always listened to his grandfather Deung Gak’s advice, when the moment came for him to make a decision directly, he could not find his bearings. But the conclusion had already been decided. At the very least, Deung Gak had not easily abandoned Deung Myeong or made him weak.

“You are the best.”

Deung Myeong had grown up always hearing these words from Deung Gak and Deung Hyeon. Had he not thought that absorbing his younger sister’s Primordial Yin was also a natural right he was entitled to because he was the best?

Deung Myeong controlled his stiffened heart and slightly loosened the strength in the hand holding his sword. Kunlun’s martial arts were Taoist martial arts. Martial arts with controlling the mind as their foundation.

And Deung Myeong had learned and practiced those martial arts to the extreme. He was accustomed to raising his condition to its peak.

“You’re Deung Myeong, right? The one who plundered his younger sister’s Primordial Yin energy. Right?”

Neung Je-gang shook the hand holding his sword several times, then asked as he approached Deung Myeong with a calm expression. He completely ignored the others.

“Who are you, to even know that?”

Deung Myeong flinched in surprise. The fact that he had absorbed the Primordial Yin was a secret known only to a few. But the answer to his question burst out from one of the Jieun Territory members who had survived and were waiting for Deung Myeong’s order while surrounding Neung Je-gang.

“That man is the one called Secret Shadow.”

“Secret Shadow? Indeed. If it’s someone at the level of Secret Shadow, I can understand how he blocked my attack. If he learned a forbidden art, he should be able to do that much. But no matter how great a forbidden art is, I do not believe it can withstand Kunlun’s martial arts.”

Once Deung Myeong learned that his opponent was Secret Shadow, he understood how his attack had been blocked. Though he did not acknowledge it himself, Secret Shadow was an existence whom the entire martial world recognized as perhaps the greatest under heaven. It was because he had learned the Heaven-Shattering Thunderbolt Sovereign.

Strength entered again into the hand that had loosened. Now that he knew his opponent’s identity, he could not relax his tension. No matter what anyone said, the name Secret Shadow was not something so trivial that it could be looked down on.

Watching Deung Myeong like that, Neung Je-gang formed a faint smile. Fighting spirit boiled up in him. The original plan had been to buy time for Ma-jil and Gongsun Gyeong-in to safely steal what they needed, but now that Deung Myeong was actually before him, that plan had already vanished from his mind.

An opponent he had to fight with all his might was right in front of him. And they were two people who had met as enemies. Whatever the plan was, there was no helping the blood of a martial artist from boiling.

Fear—such a thing no longer existed. Now, what remained for the two of them was the annihilation of a worthy rival! Only the law of the wild, to win, survive, and let the world know that one was the strong, awaited them.

Whooong.

Perhaps even the wind was startled by the two men raising their momentum, for it abruptly stirred up dust. As the wind tried to pass between the two of them, it was pushed back by their force and knocked about here and there.

Ssssss.

The wind formed a small whirlwind. The small but vigorous whirlwind rose up, gathered the dust on the ground, blurred the people’s vision, and soon disappeared.

Those belonging to Jieun Territory raised their sleeves and covered their eyes.

Clang, clang.

Then, at the sudden sound of swords, they hurriedly opened both eyes wide and looked toward where the sound came from. Light was flashing in the center, where the dust had not yet cleared.

It was finally the moment when Deung Myeong and Neung Je-gang were about to enter a life-or-death duel.

The tunnel Ma-jil dug was cozy. As Gongsun Gyeong-in crawled along the flat tunnel floor without a single pebble, his respect for Ma-jil deepened even further.

“I did not know you possessed such an exquisite skill.”

Gongsun Gyeong-in spoke while looking with eyes full of respect at Ma-jil, who was digging the tunnel ahead and moving forward. As his respect deepened, even Ma-jil’s twitching backside did not feel burdensome at all. He naturally began speaking to Ma-jil more politely.

“Hoho! This is nothing. I’m still far from my master….”

Ma-jil somehow felt quite burdened by Gongsun Gyeong-in’s attitude, which seemed to have suddenly changed. But who would reject being praised? Ma-jil felt unnecessarily good, so he even showed a humility unlike his usual self.

“Is your master still alive?”

Gongsun Gyeong-in deliberately raised his voice as though surprised and asked.

“Of course. That old man won’t die easily, you know? If things get bad, he can dig a tunnel and run away. Even if he meets an enemy no matter how strong, what can they do when he digs into the ground in an instant and disappears?”

When thinking of Bibun, Ma-jil answered in a somewhat curt tone, as if he was sick of him.

“Wow! Is he that incredible? He really is an amazing person.”

Gongsun Gyeong-in cried out as if impressed.

But as Ma-jil thought about it quietly, Gongsun Gyeong-in’s exclamation just now somehow felt like he had shouted it on purpose. To put it bluntly, digging a tunnel and running away in the martial world was by no means something that would earn praise.

In the case of ordinary martial artists, they would rather bite off their tongues and die in such a situation than dig a tunnel and run away.

Ma-jil stopped his hands. It was because his mood had turned foul. He spun around backward while seated. Then he raised fire in one hand. A small bead of flame shone like a lamp.

“Are you laughing at me right now?”

Ma-jil was ready to fling the fire bead at him if necessary.

After coming out into the world, was not the second person to treat him like a human being the Golden-Furred Rat Bibun? Laughing at that person was something Ma-jil could not endure, no matter how servile and ignorant he was.

The moment a fire bead formed in Ma-jil’s hand, Gongsun Gyeong-in flinched in surprise. Only now had he learned that Ma-jil had skills other than digging tunnels. But he was not afraid. To him, Ma-jil was already someone he respected. With that feeling still filling his chest, what fear could there be?

“Laughing at you? Am I not a thief in name? I only find someone with such a skill worthy of respect.”

Gongsun Gyeong-in answered with a serious face.

“Worthy of respect? Just because he can dig a bit?”

Ma-jil could not understand it. Since he was not a true thief himself, it was a fact he could not feel on his own.

“Of course. Do you know when the most troublesome time is while stealing? It is when you finish the job, try to slip out, and run straight into the homeowner. If the homeowner is an expert, there’s no need to say more. If you get caught, it means death at the very least. But if you have such a wonderful skill, does that not mean one such danger disappears from the start? It means you have already secured the most certain escape route.”

When Gongsun Gyeong-in answered seriously, Ma-jil could only feel embarrassed. He had thought Gongsun Gyeong-in was mocking him, but he really had been admiring him.

Ma-jil extinguished the fire bead and sat facing forward again. He had wasted time for no reason. But from behind him, Gongsun Gyeong-in spoke to him again.

“Could you introduce me to your master?”

“Hm? You mean my master?”

“Yes.”

“What for?”

“If possible, I would like to take him as my master too….”

“What?”

Ma-jil spun around backward again. He was not just saying he wanted to greet him. Was he not saying he wanted to become his disciple?

“Is that not possible?”

Gongsun Gyeong-in asked again with an earnest gaze.

“Well, it’s not impossible, but… Don’t you already have an original sect?”

In the martial world, taking another master while one already had an original sect was a kind of taboo.

“Of course I do have an original sect, but if it is to learn a skill in the first place, such things can be ignored. Most practices in this line of work are like that.”

“By line of work, you mean thievery?”

“Yes.”

Ma-jil stopped speaking for a moment. In any case, it was not as if he could not introduce him. Whether he became a disciple or not was something his master would decide. His master was also a recognized figure in that line of work, so he might gladly take him as a disciple.

But the problem was precisely there. He did not know exactly how old Gongsun Gyeong-in was, but at a rough glance, he looked more than ten years older than himself. His damned master was the sort of person who regarded age as if it were some official rank.

If he introduced Gongsun Gyeong-in and he suddenly became a disciple, there might be a truly damned situation where Ma-jil would have to call Gongsun Gyeong-in senior brother.

“L-let’s talk about that after we finish the job and go back.”

Ma-jil postponed the problem. Looking at Gongsun Gyeong-in’s attitude, it did not seem like he would give up easily even if Ma-jil refused. Most of all, if they wasted more time arguing about that issue here, the problem would become serious.

Even now, outside, Neung Je-gang was probably fighting until his head nearly burst to buy time. It was unlikely, but if Neung Je-gang were injured, that anger might later pour down on Ma-jil.

When Ma-jil hurriedly turned around and moved on, only then did Gongsun Gyeong-in remember what they had come here to do and obediently crawled after Ma-jil. However, since Gongsun Gyeong-in still did not know Neung Je-gang’s temperament, he could not seriously think about what form a slight delay might take when it came back to him later.