The Red Moon (3)

The two stood in a clearing in a forest some ways off.

Facing Jin-hyeon, Jong Baek silently adjusted the white-iron staff.

Kaang!

A spearhead sprang from the tip, gleaming viciously.

Though buried in the ground for quite some time, it showed no damage at all. There was no sign of upkeep either. It was a treasured weapon forged of rare iron.

“Are you ready?”

To Jong Baek’s question, Jin-hyeon looked up at the sky without answering.

With hands clasped behind him, head tilted to the drifting clouds, he looked oddly empty. Perhaps because of that, Jong Baek couldn’t bring himself to attack without a word.

“If you are ready, let us begin.”

Only then did Jin-hyeon lower his head and look at Jong Baek.

Jong Baek flinched. There was no emotion at all in Jin-hyeon’s eyes upon him.

They hardly seemed to be eyes of a human. He felt his body tense on its own.

Seureuk.

His body was taut, but his spirit burned. Lowering his stance and leveling the white-iron spear at Jin-hyeon, Jong Baek looked unshakable.

Jin-hyeon asked.

“Before we start, let me ask one thing.”

It was a natural tone of a superior to an inferior. Without relaxing his stance, Jong Baek answered,

“Ask.”

“I dealt with everyone from the Abundant Prosperity Guild, the Divine Spear Clan, and the Black Bamboo Fort who came here. You alone slipped through.”

“…”

“If I had set myself to it, I could have found you. I simply didn’t. I only prepared for every case. The likeliest was that you would return to the Divine Spear Clan and report that your Patriarch and his men had vanished.”

“…”

“I assumed you would form a search party and come. That would be rational. So why did you not, when you knew I was the culprit?”

Jong Baek’s eyes sank deep.

“I did not know you were the culprit. But I judged you likeliest.”

Jin-hyeon nodded.

“So you tested me. And I took the bait.”

“Indeed.”

“One last question.”

“…”

“Did you love your father?”

The sudden question shocked him, and at once became an awl stabbing his chest.

Staring silently at Jin-hyeon, Jong Baek spoke in a suppressed voice,

“It is not a matter of loving or not.”

“Why?”

“Like it or not, he is my father. A son has the duty to avenge his father.”

From that, Jin-hyeon realized the other was not of the main bloodline.

“Why not leave that duty to the legitimate sons?”

Even words that gouged his chest did not shake Jong Baek.

“Because those legitimate sons are gone.”

“…”

“And if they weren’t, I doubt they would truly avenge him.”

Jin-hyeon didn’t ask whether he could succeed any better.

“We have talked too much. Thank you for answering.”

Seureureung.

The Indestructible Sword slid free.

Wooooong.

The broad blade stretched as it took in Heavenly Wolf Qi.

A greatsword already heavy with presence, once infused with internal energy it radiated terrifying spirit. Sweat beaded on the hands gripping the white-iron spear.

Jin-hyeon closed his eyes.

“Begin.”

Paaak!

Before the words were done, Jong Baek charged.

It was a straight head-on clash. He was a shade slower than Song Cheol-gwang, but the force he exuded was not inferior to the Patriarch’s.

The white-iron spear shot for Jin-hyeon’s throat like a flash.

Jjeong!

Jong Baek’s eyes wavered wide.

It was not the sword, but a fist. He had smashed the treasured spearhead aside with his bare knuckles.

But there was no follow-up. Jin-hyeon stood tranquil still.

Tadak!

Spinning with the rebounded spear, Jong Baek stamped swiftly and unfolded his next art.

There was no reason to be angry that his foe did not answer properly. This was a duel to the death. Any result was to be accepted.

Pabababak!

Gorgeous flowers bloomed from Jong Baek’s hands.

It was the art Song Cheol-gwang had shown. The Flowery Eighteen Spear.

Amazingly, Jong Baek’s Flowery Eighteen Spear did not fall short of Song Cheol-gwang’s. His internal energy was clearly lesser, but in the polish of forms and lines he might well be beyond him.

Jin-hyeon’s Indestructible Sword breathed fire.

Jjeojeojeojeo-jeong!

From the War-Sword Three Arts, the forms One-Sword Severing the Soul and Cross Soul-Slash alternated and filled the air.

Jong Baek ground his teeth.

‘Strong!’

He had known he was strong, but not like this.

He knew the man was not going all out. Even so, his hands on the spear felt about to split. The shock through his palms crashed past his elbows into his shoulders.

Piing!

With a string-snapping twang, Jong Baek’s form ducked in low.

Even after taking a blow like that, he instead tried to attack low. Something impossible unless he was prepared to stake his life on it. The white-iron spear swept sideways, aiming for Jin-hyeon’s ankle.

Kaaang!

The Indestructible Sword traced an arc and knocked the spear clean away.

Beyond precision or speed, Jin-hyeon’s strength was overwhelming. The perfected Soul-Refining Art had raised his brute force to the superhuman. Jong Baek could not cope with the destructive power on Jin-hyeon’s blade.

Even so, Jong Baek did not give up.

Again the spear sprang back; he dipped his waist and, with exquisite handwork, spun it to bleed the shock off behind him.

Catching the fiercely spinning spear like a feat, Jong Baek unleashed the Flowery Eighteen Spear once more.

Flash!

It was a startling variation.

Different from the first unveiling, it was a killing form that targeted the glabella, philtrum, uvula, heart, pit of the stomach, and all the limb joints.

In terms of pure skill, if they fought without internal energy, even Song Cheol-gwang would likely struggle to beat him. The fact that he could display such superb spearwork with such weak internal energy meant Jong Baek’s talent was on par with Seol So-ha’s.

Hook!

Heavenly Wolf True Qi poured out in all directions.

The fingers on the Indestructible Sword moved terrifyingly fast, switching to a reverse grip in an instant.

Kwang!

He stabbed the ground. A clear, bluish shimmer surged fiercely around the blade.

Scattered sword-light. In a blink, ten Indestructible Swords formed a perfect wall in all eight directions and up and down. It was the defensive form of the War-Sword Three Arts, the Tenfold Prison Wall.

Kakakang!

A harsh scraping of metal on metal rang all around.

The white-iron spear snaked for high, mid, low, even curving in for the back of the shoulder. Yet the Tenfold Prison Wall’s perfect guard blocked it.

Split into a three-section staff linked by chains, it attacked even the rear. This was the proper way to wield the white-iron spear. Song Cheol-gwang had not used his own weapon like this.

‘I do not know what art that is, but…’

Jong Baek had to admit it. His foe overwhelmed him in every aspect.

Internal energy, forms, experience, even eye. There was no comparing. He had not imagined he would foresee the spear’s rear attacks and raise an all-around defense.

‘As expected, an opponent I cannot beat.’

Chwareureuk!

He reeled in the three-section white-iron spear with possessed handwork and sank his stance even lower.

Hwaak!

A burst of aura. He drew up all his meager energy, preparing his strongest strike.

Chwareuk!

The spear snapped back to a single straight shaft and became a ray of light for Jin-hyeon’s heart.

An honest strike without variation, yet the speed was tremendous, like a bolt of lightning driving in.

The Divine Spear Clan’s finest art, the Azure Thunder Spear Art.

Jin-hyeon’s figure vanished from that spot.

Peoeong!

The spear that pierced the air left a pale smoke.

Kaaaang!

Jin-hyeon appeared at his side and smashed the spearhead. The spear drove into the earth. Jong Baek clenched his teeth and tried to recover it.

But Jin-hyeon’s blade was twice as fast.

Kakakang! Kwadeudeuk!

He hammered the shaft with merciless swift cuts, and the white-iron spear broke into a three-part iron staff.

The joints shattered. He had broken a treasured, energy-infused weapon with raw force.

He tried to grab the butt and retreat to strike, but Jin-hyeon was gone again, like a ghost

“…”

Jong Baek’s body froze as-is.

Gone from sight, Jin-hyeon appeared behind and set the Indestructible Sword on his shoulder. A twitch and his head would fly.

It was a perfect defeat.

“Will you continue?”

Jong Baek looked down at the spear.

The joints were broken. The chains were intact, but a weapon that could not be a single spear was useless.

Weapon aside, his hand was a problem. His right hand, which had taken the Indestructible Sword’s destructive force, was soaked in blood.

Jong Baek closed his eyes.

“I truly sought to kill you.”

“…”

“I did everything I could, but sadly my skill doesn’t reach even your toes.”

“…”

“I did my utmost and have no regrets. Kill me now.”

Staring at the back of Jong Baek’s head, Jin-hyeon slowly withdrew the Indestructible Sword.

Jong Baek opened his eyes.

Turning his head, he saw Jin-hyeon had sheathed his sword and stood with hands behind his back.

“…Why?”

“I will ask again.”

“…”

“Did you love your father?”

The way he spoke down to him was the same. But the air was different. This was the victor’s tone to the defeated.

Gazing at Jin-hyeon, Jong Baek closed his eyes.

“I hate him.”

“Yet you hold to a son’s duty?”

“When my mother lay dying, that man was drinking with courtesans.”

“…”

“At the same time, saying I had aptitude, he fed me and taught me letters and martial arts.”

Jin-hyeon’s eyes wavered.

“So not as a son, but to repay grace?”

“That grace, I would not have it even if given. But as a child, I didn’t know.”

“…”

“If I had the chance, I wished to kill him. Yet, I know he is my father.”

“…”

“As a son I trained for him, and as an enemy I sought his life. I achieved neither.”

Chiring.

Letting the spear fall, Jong Baek closed his eyes again.

“Kill me.”

That calm was the quiet end of a man who had lost his life’s aim.

Jin-hyeon found it hard to understand his desire for death. He understood it in his head, but not in his heart.

Yet his stance, burning his last for a man unworthy to be called father, bound by grace and grievance, was striking.

Jong Baek had made grace and resentment clear.

He might be called clumsy, but he had at least not lost himself. Jin-hyeon felt the man was akin to him.

But there was a decisive difference.

“I do not spare those who come for my life.”

“…”

“Therefore I will not kill you.”

Jong Baek’s eyes flew open.

“What nonsense? I came to kill you.”

“You did not come to kill me. You came to vent.”

“?!”

“You meant to vent and then die. You only meant to use me to end your life, not truly to kill me.”

“What absurd……!”

“You must’ve known I’m far stronger than you. If so, you should’ve bided your time and endured, or waited for the shadows and struck with an ambush. But you foolishly declared your revenge openly.”

Jin-hyeon spoke coldly.

“Do not tack shabby excuses onto a reason to die. If you want to die, do it alone. I am not kind enough to take responsibility for the death of one who is not my enemy.”

“!!”

“If you mean to kill me, come for real, and then I will kill you. But if you simply wish to die, stab your throat with your father’s spear.”

Jin-hyeon turned away.

“People live without reason and die without reason. You are no different.”

“…”

“Still, thanks to you my head feels sorted. If you die, I will at least pray you are reborn in bliss.”