Chapter 35

“Tsk tsk.”

Clicking my tongue, I watched Heuk Un-hwi approach, femur in hand.

Even in my past life, I had seen this bastard do crazy things more than a few times.

But this was the first time I had seen him rip off a bear’s leg and lick it.

It was not just grotesque, it was downright barbaric.

“So you are planning to fight while holding that?”

“A club is perfect for beating a mad dog.”

“Then shouldn’t you give it to me? You are the mad dog here.”

For a moment, the air around us froze.

No one had expected me to slam into Heuk Un-hwi this hard.

“I should crush that mouth of yours first.”

The muscles in Heuk Un-hwi’s forearm twitched.

Strength poured into the hand gripping the femur.

I answered in a relaxed tone.

“I don’t really care, but is the famed Fourth Young Lord going to use a weapon all by himself?”

“If you are jealous, grab whatever you want. I do not want to hear that I beat some brat who could not even resist to death with my bare hands.”

“Anything, right? Then I will go with this. Guard Im.”

“Yes?”

“Lend me your sword.”

Im Yeon’s gaze wavered.

For a martial artist, a sword was a part of their own body. It was not something to be lent lightly to others.

Though I did not see it that way.

“I won’t break it.”

“But…”

“You don’t trust me?”

“…I will trust you!”

Saying she would trust me now meant she had not until this point, right?

After all the time we had built together!

‘…Even if it has only been a few days.’

After a brief hesitation, Im Yeon loosened the scabbard and handed it over.

I felt it the moment I accepted it and gripped the hilt.

It was quite a good sword.

I lightly swung it a few times. Just as it felt, the balance and length were excellent.

“Thank you.”

“Please be careful, Young Lord.”

Seeing me with a sword in hand, Heuk Un-hwi snorted.

It was like he was mocking me, asking if a brat like me even knew how to handle a sword.

‘It will still be far better than you with a club.’

Heuk Un-hwi belonged to the Hundred-Succession Heuk Clan, one of the Seven Demonic Houses.

They had the title Hundred-Succession placed before Heuk because they could swing a whip a hundred times in a single breath.

Heuk Un-hwi, the clan head’s eldest son, also mainly used a side-weapon, the whip arts, as his main martial art.

A femur was heavy and moved in straight lines, while a whip moved lightly and flexibly.

Impact point, weight, the feeling when swung.

Not a single aspect was similar.

And, crucially, this bastard did not know.

That in my past life, the weapon that I had pierced through the Heavenly Demon with was a sword.

“…”

I stood with my sword, and he faced me with the femur in his hand.

A terrifying force was pouring out from Heuk Un-hwi’s whole body.

‘He is strong, as expected.’

Yuk Ja-heung and Wi So-rang.

Both were unmatched by their peers.

Heuk Un-hwi was the same.

He was in his early twenties, yet his martial power did not suit his age at all. At the very least, he was at the entry of peak transcendent.

If it came down to realm alone, I could not even reach his toes.

However, battle is not just a game of realm.

It is important, but it is only one factor in deciding victory or defeat.

“Dieee!”

At that moment, Heuk Un-hwi roared like a beast and charged.

He was like a starving animal rushing at its prey.

I also charged straight toward him.

Since my regression, I had mainly fought passively.

Because I had little internal energy and many constraints, I did not actively attack my opponents.

But this time was an exception.

Heuk Un-hwi was a beastlike bastard.

No matter how unfamiliar the femur was to him, if I let him swing it as he pleased, his momentum would become overwhelming.

So I calmly stabbed into the gaps of the trajectory he would draw.

Shuuk.

Heuk Un-hwi hurriedly jerked his arm back. His arm had been a hair’s breadth away from being carved by my sword.

He tilted his head slightly, as if unable to understand the move I had just used.

Because I had read the trajectory of his attack before he even struck.

I thrust my sword at him again.

There was not much power in it. If it collided with the femur, the sword would simply be shaken from my grasp.

That was why I pressed him even more relentlessly.

I meant to fluster him.

When someone panics, they make mistakes, get riled up, and their openings grow.

My ultimate aim was to magnify that fleeting opening.

That was the only way to negate the overwhelming difference between him and me.

“You annoying little fly!”

Heuk Un-hwi flung both arms up and released a wave of energy.

He was enraged.

Within half a jang around him, the blue stone floor cracked with a tearing noise.

Getting caught up in that wave of energy would do me no good, so I lightly retreated.

“You sure are good at running away with your tail between your legs!”

Heuk Un-hwi swung the femur with all his strength.

I used my movement arts to evade, but sadly, the blue stones that had always lain there did not.

The same scene repeated itself several more times.

‘This crazy bastard.’

Pillars of buildings split, and the courtyard was smashed to pieces.

Everything that the femur caught was shattered.

I spoke urgently.

“Hey, swing that bone a little more gently! My house is not going to survive.”

“That’s none of my business!”

“I am not letting this slide. I am billing you for all the repairs!”

Heuk Un-hwi rampaged without caring in the slightest.

I was dumbfounded.

It was his business if he wanted to waste his overflowing internal energy, but did that really mean he could wreck someone else’s home like this?

‘We need to change locations.’

I leapt lightly over the wall.

Since I could not stop Heuk Un-hwi right away, changing the battlefield was the only way to protect my house.

Since I was the target anyway, he would follow right after me.

However.

Kuwaa-gwagwang!

He did follow, that much was certain.

The problem was that instead of jumping over the wall, he smashed straight through it.

“Your residence must be shabby, even the wall is like fluff! Haha!”

Covered in dust, Heuk Un-hwi burst into wild laughter.

Seeing that, my thoughts stopped for a moment.

He had been ignorant in my past life too, but was it this bad?

“W-what happened?”

“The Hidden Cloud Pavilion wall has collapsed.”

“Isn’t that the Fourth Young Lord?”

“Oh, the Seventh Young Lord is there too?”

Passersby on the street and people in nearby buildings were drawn by the roar.

They looked at the broken wall, at Heuk Un-hwi, at me.

After looking between the three, the crowd finally reached one conclusion.

“The Fourth and Seventh Young Lords are fighting!”

With the excited crowd as a backdrop, I glared at Heuk Un-hwi.

He again released a wave of energy and blew the dust off his body.

Heuk Un-hwi glanced at the gathered spectators around us and lifted one corner of his mouth.

“Now we even have an audience. The sight of you dying miserably will be talked about for a long time.”

This bastard was having the time of his life.

My heart ached as I looked at the shattered wall, but I had not only suffered losses.

The more wildly Heuk Un-hwi raged, the bigger his openings grew.

“Try dodging well like a bug again this time.”

Whoong!

The femur sliced fiercely through the air.

I evaded with my footwork and thought.

‘Yes, this.’

From the very beginning until now, this guy had been swinging the femur like a whip.

It was subtle enough that it was hard to notice, but it was as if he was drawing a circle.

‘Especially when he swings to the right, his wrist bends too far and creates a gap.’

In battles between experts, small gaps turn into fatal weaknesses.

This fight would end soon.

With my victory.

Whoooong!

I dodged and dodged again as the femur slammed in hard.

“What is this? I heard you took down several people and had expectations, but is this all you have?”

‘Say whatever you want.’

It was just about the time I thought I should bring things to a close.

My limit on using internal energy was drawing near.

I could just take a Tranquil Frost Pill, but the problem was that I did not have much internal energy left.

The internal energy I could still use was about a year’s worth now.

Thanks to Perfect Demonic Qi, my internal energy efficiency had increased greatly, or else I would have already hit rock bottom.

Raising my sword upright, I deliberately stepped into Heuk Un-hwi’s attack range.

He infused the femur with fierce energy, his face bright with murderous delight.

A faint but clearly perceptible light flickered.

It was Force Qi.

This guy really meant to kill me.

‘But if he cannot hit, it is pointless.’

I deliberately leaned my body to the right.

As if he could not miss this chance, Heuk Un-hwi swung the femur to the right.

It was a very fast and powerful strike, but I saw it.

Heuk Un-hwi’s wrist bent too far.

Because of that, the trajectory and speed dulled for a moment.

‘Now.’

I pushed Whirling Leaf Steps to the limit and twisted my body the opposite way.

Heuk Un-hwi’s eyes widened. He was flustered by my unexpected movement.

“How dare you!”

With astonishing reflexes, Heuk Un-hwi swung his other hand.

It was a reaction I had already predicted.

I instantly lowered my body, driving my right knee into the ground, arched my upper body back like a bow, and thrust my sword straight out.

“Graaagh!”

Heuk Un-hwi screamed. The sword had pierced his shoulder.

With a dull sound, the femur fell to the ground.

Bleeding from his shoulder, Heuk Un-hwi staggered back a few steps.

His face was full of shock.

He could not believe he had been hit by a rookie who had just joined and whom he did not even acknowledge as a sajae.

“Se, Seventh Young Lord won! He beat the Fourth Young Lord!”

“The Seventh Young Lord pierced the Fourth Young Lord’s shoulder!”

“For Berserk Blood-Whip Heuk Un-hwi to lose…!”

Gasps burst from those who had been watching in breathless silence.

I arrogantly crossed my arms.

Looking at Heuk Un-hwi, I asked.

“Are we continuing? It seems to me that I have won.”

It was a bluff.

In truth, if we continued, it was obvious I would lose.

With this one move, my internal energy had been completely drained, and my time using internal energy was almost up.

“How dare you…! I will blow your body apart right now!”

Heuk Un-hwi roared furiously.

But the subordinates who had brought the cart each grabbed one of his limbs.

“You must withdraw now.”

“Any more is impossible. The wound on your shoulder is deep.”

“Let go! I said let go!”

Heuk Un-hwi struggled violently, but perhaps due to the sword wound, he could not shake his subordinates off.

Well, they were still the ones who had carried the cart loaded with a bear corpse all the way here from the hunting grounds.

There was no way they were weak.

“Pick up your bone when you leave. You will need to recuperate for a while, so you should make broth with it.”

“I’ll kill youuu!”

“If you do not want it, give it to me. I will make broth with it.”

“Bring me my whip right now. I will tear him into a thousand, ten thousand pieces!”

“Can you make broth with that whip too? Then leave that behind as well.”

I mocked Heuk Un-hwi to my heart’s content.

Maybe it was because of what I had suffered in my past life.

It was incredibly satisfying.

After learning martial arts to some extent in my past life, I had overpowered Heuk Un-hwi several times, but I had never talked down to him or spoken so rudely.

But after my regression, I had become a different person than I was then.

At least for me, it was not a bad change.

“You little brat, I will cut off your breath soon enough. If I had my whip, you would already be a dead man!”

“Sure, sure. See you later then.”

“Graaaah!”

Heuk Un-hwi’s subordinates dragged him away.

As soon as they did, Im Yeon ran over.

“Young Lord!”

I smiled and handed her the sword.

“I used it well. There is blood on it, but the edge should be fine. It never once clashed with the bone.”

“That is not the problem, your arm, Young Lord…!”

My left arm.

Through the torn cloth, the exposed skin showed a pitch-black mark.

It was from Heuk Un-hwi’s last desperate attack.

I had deliberately crossed my arms because of this.

So no one would notice that I was injured.

‘He only grazed me slightly and it looked like this.’

So this was the difference in realm.

Honestly, it was a relief it was only this much. His fist had also been wrapped in Force Qi.

“It is fine. I can treat it quickly.”

“Sorry…?”

Im Yeon looked perplexed.

The wound was not something that would heal quickly, so it must have sounded strange to say I could treat it soon.

“This is not the time for this.”

I hurried back into Hidden Cloud Pavilion’s yard through the collapsed wall.

There, Mak Mun was lying all alone, pitifully.

‘If they were going to leave, they could have at least taken him. Tsk.’

“We will clean this up right away, Young Lord.”

At Im Yeon’s words, I shook my head slightly.

“Leave the cart and the bear, and just move that guy to a nearby clinic.”

“The bear, why…?”

Im Yeon asked with a troubled expression.

She must have found the site of the bear corpse with its leg torn off horrible.

“What do you mean why? We need to make good use of it.”

“Pardon?”

“Call some butchers. Once they are done, we are going straight to the Ink-Needle Hall Hall.”

At those words, Im Yeon’s eyes went wide.