Duty (1)

Kugung!

The hut shook, and dust fell from the ceiling.

Gyeong Hang sat at the table, staring at the wall, and his posture didn’t waver.

‘What is happening?’

Could it be that his grandson had sent people to kill him?

‘If that were the case, he could just have the watchers do it. There’s no reason for a fight to break out in a place like this.’

He had lived his whole life analyzing and predicting. The acumen that had taken the already rock-solid reputation of the Divine Iron Merchant House and hauled it up to the heavens had all come from his own head.

Even if age had dulled him, his inborn brilliance had not gone anywhere.

‘Could it be someone is coming to rescue me?’

The moment he pictured that thin hope, Gyeong Hang let out a bitter smile.

‘Who would rescue an old man rotting away in a back room. Even if they did, it wouldn’t be out of goodwill. It’s more believable that they were sent to use me.’

He knew well what a selfish breed people were.

He didn’t even feel like cursing them. If you called them selfish, he was no different.

He had lived a life filled with the greed to break the family rules and pass the leader’s seat to his own blood. Looking back, it was shameful.

‘It doesn’t matter if my life is denied. Even if I fall into hell and struggle for endless ages, so be it.’

Gyeong Hang prayed to the heavens anew.

‘All the karma was mine. So please, spare only my son.’

Kurreung!

The moment his prayer ended, heaven and earth shook once more. It was as if the sky were laughing, saying it couldn’t grant it.

Gyeong Hang let out a sigh.

‘Would it be better to end my life like this?’

Of course, he couldn’t.

Death was not frightening. But if he died, that grandson who committed filial impiety would be glad, and he would fabricate the incident.

As long as he held ‘that’ in his hands, Gyeong Hang couldn’t die. And at the same time, because of “that,” he still carried a sliver of expectation.

The expectation that he could punish the grandson who committed filial impiety. Even if he could not erase what had happened, he could at least curse him to his face.

Jjeojeong!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out again and again. But Gyeong Hang’s expression did not change.

Now, whatever it was that was happening had no meaning for him.

The blood pouring down in heavy drops felt somehow unreal.

Go Ak staggered back like a madman, his face pale as if it had been powdered.

‘How can this be!’

The instant his arm was severed, the extreme fear climbing up his spine triggered Shifting-Phantom Void Steps on its own.

If not for that, it would have taken his neck as well. The small cut carved into his nape proved it. It was proof that the sword that tore him apart had gone straight for his throat.

Fear was fear, and reality was reality. Go Ak could not believe this moment.

‘How is this possible!’

Hwaaak!

Go Ak hurriedly pressed his acupoints to stop the bleeding, then felt his body stiffen and widened his eyes.

Chiiiiik!

The writhing white hair caught the moonlight and shone mysteriously.

The haze pouring off his whole body looked like the Spirit Thread Sword Qi a Maoshan Sect master would unfold. The opponent’s momentum burned so fiercely he couldn’t even feel the cold night air. It was like another martial art in itself.

Uuuung!!

The huge greatsword resonated like mad.

A sword ring bursting in brilliant flashes. The Indestructible Sword was screaming because it felt the strain of Heavenly Wolf Qi that had explosively strengthened.

‘Run!’

He didn’t know why. But the opponent in front of him had become a monster. That was what mattered.

Pasak!

Go Ak pulled three talismans from his chest and desperately scattered them into the air. Even as he did, he couldn’t believe it. To think the day would come when he would use these!

Hook!

The talismans that claimed three directions, excluding the rear, flared up in an instant with a Puk! sound.

At the same time, Go Ak threw his body backward.

‘Even for a moment!’

The talisman art he unfolded was one of the Maoshan Sect’s basic spells, No-Body Spell.

It was a technique that used talismans to slip out of the enemy’s sight. For a moment, the enemy would lose the caster’s figure and presence, and a master could use that brief opening to prepare a counter or escape.

Even without specializing in training the upper dantian, Spirit-Radiance True Qi itself matched well with arts like this. It had never felt so fortunate that he carried it for the one-in-ten-thousand.

‘Ghk!’

Go Ak clenched his teeth.

With one arm gone, it was hard to keep his balance. When he ran, he kept tilting left, and when he forced himself to correct it, he tilted right.

Even though this was not the time, an indescribable sense of loss hit him. The thought that he would have to live as a one-armed man for life made anger surge up his throat.

‘Living comes first. First, I’ll head to Daoling Pal…!’

It was then.

Go Ak’s eyes widened.

Before he knew it, a massive blade filled his vision.

Ppeoeok!

“Ke-ek!”

Go Ak took the flat of the thick greatsword square in the face and flew, coughing blood.

His vision flashed. He couldn’t breathe, as if his nose had broken, and shards of shattered front teeth rolled around inside his mouth.

The shock was so severe it even undid his acupoint sealing. Blood began to stream again from the severed arm.

Go Ak felt death.

But before fear, doubt came first. The No-Body Spell had definitely succeeded?

Kwadeuk!

The Indestructible Sword plunged in under his navel in a single stroke.

Huuung!

His Qihai acupoint was ruined, and his lower dantian shattered.

Go Ak’s mouth fell open. He felt it vividly, Spirit-Radiance True Qi that had been wavering unstably scattering in every direction.

‘N-no!’

In his bulging eyes, he saw a white-haired ghost.

Under the white hair writhing like a lion’s mane, a faceless ghost with nothing visible but a bewitching pink glare.

“Keo-heok! G-gh-ghost…?!”

The Maoshan Sect had long been popular among the common folk for talisman arts that drove off wandering ghosts and misfortune.

Go Ak, who trained Maoshan martial arts, believed in the existence of ghosts as well. And now, for the first time in his life, he was seeing a real one.

Go Ak trembled, then went limp.

As he died, he recalled the words of that Daoling Palace Taoist bastard.

‘The cold mountain wind stings like shards of a dagger. Trouble always breaks out at times like this.’

Damn that Taoist bastard.

Go Ak’s eyes slowly closed.

Hook!

The moment he confirmed the opponent’s death, Jin-hyeon sealed the unsealed power of the Moonlit Night.

Woong! Woo woong!

The Heavenly Wolf Qi, resentful at losing power, raked through his entire body. Horrific pain surged up from every part. Muscle, joints, nerves, bone.

Jin-hyeon clenched his teeth and drew up the Soul-Refining Art. The Soul-Refining Qi rising from between his brows naturally flowed down to the middle dantian and soothed the Heavenly Wolf Qi.

Seureureu.

The Heavenly Wolf Qi stabilized quickly.

It was a change faster and steadier than the last time. His whole body ached, but his heightened senses remained, and his trembling muscles gradually settled.

“Hoo.”

A sigh slipped out on its own.

‘As I thought.’

It definitely wasn’t a secret art he could use often.

It stabilized faster than the first time, but the impact left in his body was a bit greater.

Jin-hyeon knew it was because his state was abnormal. With the Governor and Conception Vessels opened, his qi, densely condensed, had already reached the Third Path, yet his martial attainment could not keep up and remained at the Second Path, the Cunning Wolf Path.

The gap was larger than he thought. It let him reach Third Path quickly, but using Moon-Night Unsealing in such an unstable state only increased the strain on his body over time. Worse, the time he could hold the unsealed state would shrink.

‘But I can’t lower the level of my True Qi either. In the end, the answer is…’

Either rise to the Third Path as soon as possible, or strictly seal Moon-Night Unsealing until he did.

‘Even if it’s said to have no side effects, it’s not a secret art to use lightly.’

Unsealed Heavenly Wolf Qi granted its owner tremendous power, but it also burned an absurd amount of internal energy.

If he used it without even creating a single chance to turn the tables, and still failed to kill his opponent, then his own life could end up in danger instead. It made him think again that the term secret technique really did fit.

‘How is Brother Han doing?’

He focused his senses below the peak, and there were no qi-waves of battles. Meaning, it was over.

‘He won.’

Even as he passed by at speed, he had read the level of every warrior down there. With Han Cheol-sang’s skill, he would not have struggled to win.

Chiring.

The Indestructible Sword slid into its sheath with a rough sound. It contrasted with his usual clean draw.

Jin-hyeon gripped both knees and steadied his breathing for a moment, then looked at the hut.

The light inside the hut was unchanged. And the single shadow visible by the window held the same posture as before.

‘Grandfather.’

Jin-hyeon’s eyes deepened.

It felt different from his adoptive father, Gyeong In-geol.

When Gyeong In-geol took him in as an adopted son, his grandfather had opposed it fiercely. There were too many eyes watching, and it could have harmed family authority that was not solid to begin with.

But as time passed, Gyeong Hang cherished Jin-hyeon no less than Gyeong Do-cheon.

His adoptive father looked down on the adopted son more and more, yet his grandfather comforted the grandson with not a drop of blood shared more and more as time went on. Of course, Jin-hyeon was so busy that he could hardly meet him from a few years before his death, but even when they met after a long time, he was warm without fail.

He had no grievance toward his grandfather, but since he had cut ties with the Gyeong family, it was only right to cut ties with his grandfather as well.

Having settled his heart, he approached the hut.

The moment Jin-hyeon grabbed the doorknob.

“I don’t know who you are, but come in without bringing the stench of blood.”

The voice was unfamiliar.

The Gyeong Hang Jin-hyeon remembered had a voice far stronger and rougher than this. Every time he spoke, hearty laughter clung to it, and it gave the listener strength on its own.

But now?

‘He’s deteriorated a lot.’

As if he were clinging to what little strength he had left.

Jin-hyeon freed the Indestructible Sword into his hand and slowly opened the hut’s door.

Kkiiik.

The old wooden door opened, and Gyeong Hang’s profile came into view little by little.

He did not even turn his head toward the door.

Gyeong Hang stared only at the wall with sunken eyes. He looked like firewood on the verge of being burned to ash. His once-solid build had withered thin, and his untrimmed beard fell down to his chest.

Jin-hyeon thought. The Gyeong family had changed as much as he had.

The only one who likely hadn’t changed was Gyeong Do-cheon.

Gyeong Hang wet his throat with cold tea.

“Do you know how to brew tea?”

He still showed only his profile and did not turn his head.

Jin-hyeon answered in a lowered voice.

“I do.”

“There are tea leaves on the railing behind me. Brew two cups, including one for yourself.”

He ordered him to brew tea as if it were only natural. That was Gyeong Hang’s last pride. The Divine Iron Merchant House’s Supreme Patriarch. A man who had once been Sichuan’s greatest heavyweight.

Koong!

Jin-hyeon set the Indestructible Sword upright against the wall by the door, chose the tea leaves, and put them into a ceramic bowl.

It was then.

Deolkeong.

With the sound of the chair scraping back, Jin-hyeon felt Gyeong Hang rise.

Without turning around, Jin-hyeon poured the water set to the side into the bowl and operated Heavenly Wolf Qi.

Seuseuseu.

Pale steam rose over the tea water in the bowl as it slowly heated.

“Is that your sword?”

At some point, Gyeong Hang was standing in front of the Indestructible Sword.

“Yes.”

“It’s ominous. Looks like it’s drunk quite a lot of blood. Even without drawing it, I can see black energy clinging to it in patches.”

Seureureung.

Drawing the sword without permission came to him as something entirely natural.

“How surprising. Was it a sword made with Hundred-Forged Silver Steel?”

“…”

“What a strange sword. The silver steel’s quality is about mid-grade, but the forging is excellent. It seems you made it without an edge on purpose, but considering silver steel’s hardness and spring, it’s a shame.”

“Is that so?”

Seureuk.

Gyeong Hang gripped the Indestructible Sword with both hands.

In his youth, he had made a name as one of Sichuan’s top craftsmen. Even with a body shrunk small from age, he could still grip and swing the Indestructible Sword.

Jin-hyeon poured tea into a fresh cup.

“It’s ready.”

“Who?”

“…”

“I’m asking who sent you.”

Jin-hyeon closed his eyes.

“I came of my own will.”

“What?”

“…”

“Then for what purpose did you come all the way here? From the look of it, you seem to be a tremendous master.”

When Jin-hyeon opened his eyes again, his face looked strangely blurred.

“I came because there is something I must receive from you.”

Gyeong Hang’s eyes sharpened.

“Did that bastard Do-cheon send you?”

“Gyeong Do-cheon will die by my hand.”

“What?”

Gyeong Hang suddenly felt the white-haired youth’s voice was familiar.

An unplaceable sense of déjà vu, and wariness.

Gyeong Hang asked without meaning to.

“What is your name?”

Jin-hyeon, holding a teacup, slowly turned.

Gyeong Hang’s face, which had been glaring at Jin-hyeon with sharp eyes, was covered little by little with shock.

Jin-hyeon gave a bitter smile.

“I use the name Jin-hyeon now.”

“You?!”

“And once, under the surname Gyeong, I used the name Se-hwi.”

The Indestructible Sword fell from Gyeong Hang’s hand.