The Start Of The Cleanup (4)

‘Like a stray cat.’

Eating and resting by day, then climbing mountains at night. It was a wretched way to live.

Still, there was a certain charm in watching the moon from an open summit. It was only a low hill, and in winter the trees were shabby, but the night kindly hid the uglier bits.

‘A clan, huh.’

Thinking of Jin-hyeon, Han Cheol-sang gave a wry smile despite himself.

‘I’ve tied myself to a truly peculiar man.’

He had more live-combat experience than most, but not a wide social circle. He might have talked with fewer people than youths barely in their twenties.

So for a moment he wondered if he was merely starved for company, then set the thought aside.

There was something strangely compelling about Jin-hyeon. He might be prickly, yet he was oddly considerate of others, and when it mattered, he carried more weight than anyone.

He was less the kind of man you followed with absolute trust and more the kind you wanted to befriend. At least to Han Cheol-sang, that was Jin-hyeon.

‘Sometimes I think he’s lying about his age.’

It was getting hard to believe the man was ten years younger than him.

But what did it matter? Age meant little in friendship to Han Cheol-sang.

‘He’s both a good man and a dangerous one. And the fact I can’t shake his hand off means I’ve still got a long way to go.’

Whatever the case, he didn’t regret his choice. Even if they didn’t walk to the end together, the now was good enough.

‘When this is over, maybe I really will open a shop.’

Toying with a simple daydream about his future, Han Cheol-sang lowered his head and looked toward a narrow path in the distance.

Sabak, sabak!

The sound of cautious yet urgent footfalls.

Soon a dozen men and women appeared.

“This is the right… Heok!”

The middle-aged man in the lead startled and looked at Han Cheol-sang.

It wasn’t only him. Beside him, Gu Hee and Gu Hyeon were startled as well.

“Are you constables?”

While the man cautiously probed, Gu Hee knew exactly who he was.

“You’re from the Seol Clan…?”

Seureureung!

Drawing his blade without a word, Han Cheol-sang spoke evenly.

“It’s a fine night for sword-dancing, but not for spilling blood.”

“?!”

“Put your weapons down and surrender quietly.”

The middle-aged man barked in a low voice,

“Who are you!”

“An attendant of the Seol Clan.”

Gu Hee swallowed.

“Why are you here?!”

“As expected, you don’t plan to surrender, right?”

Han Cheol-sang approached in an almost leisurely step.

Chiring!

The middle-aged man, the Black Bamboo Fort’s Second Fort Master, Yeom Ho, drew a broadsaber.

There was no point in talking

“You! Suspicious rat! I’ll seize—!”

Jjeoeong!

Yeom Ho’s face flushed scarlet; Han Cheol-sang had closed and slashed in a blink.

The two blades clashed, driving each other opposite ways.

Yeom Ho’s back bent more and more. He held the saber with both hands, yet Han Cheol-sang pressed him back with only his right.

Han Cheol-sang’s eyes slowly changed.

From dumpling-shop owner to Mad Demon just like that.

“What you lot do is all so petty.”

“Why are you here?!”

Song Cheol-gwang couldn’t control his voice.

Gu Yong-seon didn’t stop him; he, too, was shocked by Jin-hyeon’s sudden appearance.

“They say if you cheat small, you’re a swindler; cheat big, and they call you a great merchant.”

Dugeun dugeun!

Why did his heart pound at that languid voice?

“Whoever said it, it’s pleasant nonsense. Cheat is cheat, big or small. Why should the name change with the outcome?”

“?!”

“So I’m ready to accept ‘swindler’ as my title. Some will prattle about ruses or tactics, but what I did was clearly a con. I conned you.”

Seureureung!

The Indestructible Sword slid free against the moonlight, true to its indestructible name.

“And I feel no regret about it.”

“You wretch! I asked why you’re here!”

Hwaaak!

Killing intent streamed off Song Cheol-gwang.

His precious eldest son had come back crippled; it had driven him half mad.

Broken bones mend; a broken mind may not. Song Geon was worse than that. Whether he could live as a person, let alone a warrior, was in doubt.

And now, standing before him was the bastard who had crippled his son. If killing intent did not surge up in him, he had no right to call himself a father.

“A trap, then?”

His first words after steadying his pounding heart.

The calm in Gu Yong-seon’s voice startled Song Cheol-gwang.

“A trap?”

He looked to Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon tilted his head.

“I can’t understand.”

“?!”

“I truly can’t tell why you chose to join hands with the Lee brothers. I can guess plausibly, sure, but it still makes no sense. You’ve seen the sects crippled dealing with them, so why grasp those hands anyway?”

“…”

“Even if you hate me or the Seol Clan, would you stoop to hiring those dogs to murder?”

Gu Yong-seon’s cheek twitched.

He didn’t know how, but the mastermind here was clearly the man before him.

The instant certainty hit, his vision darkened. He couldn’t see how he’d been deceived.

“I heard that you even sent people to Black Bamboo Fort. I thought only the Abundant Prosperity Guild was involved, but it turns out as many as three of the Eight Martial Houses have joined hands.”

“Silence!”

No matter his fury or the lack of witnesses, that was not something to admit.

Chiriring!

Song Cheol-gwang whipped out a three-section staff, locked the joints, and it became a six foot iron pole.

“For daring to insult the leader of one of the Eight Martial Houses, the only payment is your death!”

“And so, why are you here?”

“Silence! I won’t watch a villain like you gnaw at Sichuan Murim! I’ll end you here!”

Jin-hyeon smiled.

“You only say what you want.”

As Song Cheol-gwang moved to attack.

“Stop.”

“Guild Master?”

Gu Yong-seon calmed him and stepped forward.

“I’m the one who can’t understand.”

Composed again, his face was the usual impassive mask.

“Doing this won’t let you die clean.”

“Care to define ‘this’?”

“Setting yourself against the Eight Martial Houses.”

“You should speak properly. What you should be asking is why the crimes you committed keep getting dragged into the light. Am I wrong?”

“I’ve no idea what you mean.”

“I’m disappointed in you, Guild Master of Abundant Prosperity.”

“?!”

“That idiot. I knew from the first time I saw him that he was both stupid and shameless. Even if a dog wraps itself in a tiger’s hide, it’s still a dog.”

Song Cheol-gwang’s eyes reddened.

“You damned bastard!”

“But you, aren’t you at least a man who can think? You’ve already been drenched in filth, so spare the lies no dog would believe and admit it like a man.”

“What are you…”

“If you’ll stay a cur to the end, that’s fine by me.”

Jin-hyeon’s lips curled.

“I’m not here to prove your guilt. Only to decide whether to fix you later, or kill you now.”

“!!”

“I don’t care if no one else knows.”

Jin-hyeon lowered his stance.

“As of this moment, the Eight Martial Houses are gone.”

Killing intent finally bled into Gu Yong-seon’s face as well.

“Madman! Let’s see you try it!”

Paaang!

He closed in from the start at a tremendous speed.

It was a strike meant to kill in a single blow. Gu Yong-seon knew Jin-hyeon’s skill lacked nothing compared to his own.

Gu Yong-seon’s palm carved the air toward Jin-hyeon’s heart.

Kwareung!

Behind the evading Jin-hyeon, a great tree shattered.

There was no sign of any force being released, yet that massive tree exploded into hundreds of fragments. It was an astonishing palm technique and a display of truly exceptional martial skill.

“You wretch!”

Pa-ang!

Song Cheol-gwang kicked off the ground, leaping to swing his White-Iron Staff at Jin-hyeon.

It carried enough force to pulverize rock in a single blow. Like Gu Yong-seon, he showed no mercy.

The Indestructible Sword swept through, as if erasing the empty air.

Jjeoeoeong!

“Kh!”

Bounced from midair, Song Cheol-gwang landed unsteadily.

Bureureu!

The White-Iron Staff quivered on its own. Pain lanced through both hands, shock traveling from palms to bone.

‘Strong!’

He lifted his head.

Pipipik!

He fired three palms in succession at the airborne Jin-hyeon, but Jin-hyeon slipped past all three with exquisite movement as he dropped.

Flash!

What descended before his body was the Indestructible Sword’s cross-shaped afterimage slash.

Gu Yong-seon’s eyes flashed open.

Kwaang!

The earth caved in, boasting the cross-mark.

Slipping to the side, Gu Yong-seon launched himself at Jin-hyeon again.

If nothing else, his footwork lacked nothing compared to Jin-hyeon’s.

This was the Abundant Prosperity Guild’s secret art, Eight-Directions Windbreaker. A peak footwork enabling swift motion in any direction, underpinning the guild’s powerful Qi arts.

As Jin-hyeon landed, Gu Yong-seon’s palm swept his upper body again.

Huuuung!

A vast, majestic palm force. It was the heavy, crushing Rock-Wind Seal.

Blue flame lit in Jin-hyeon’s eyes.

Kwak!

Planting the Indestructible Sword in the ground, his two hands savaged the air.

Peopeopeong! Jjiiik!

Gu Yong-seon’s face changed.

It was a strike aimed at the instant he landed. And he had used Rock-Wind Seal at that. Though it was not fast, in sheer power it was a palm art that ranked among the foremost of the Abundant Prosperity Guild.

Yet that force was torn to shreds by clawing hands like that of a hawk’s talons and a serpent’s maw.

It was a chained sequence of Snake-Bite Hand and Eagle-Killing Strike from the Ten-Finger Soul-Slaughter Art. At its peak, that technique could rip iron plate like paper, and in front of it the Rock-Wind Seal’s palm force meant nothing.

‘Tch!’

Pababak!

As Gu Yong-seon fell back again, Song Cheol-gwang advanced.

Woooooong!

The madly-shivering White-Iron Staff traced a sudden blossom of petals.

It was not staff work, but spear work. The Divine Spear House’s secret art, Flowery Eighteen Spears, had unfolded.

An unrelenting close-quarters art. Gripping the Indestructible Sword, Jin-hyeon sank his stance and lashed out sideways, hands laden with the Ten-Finger Soul-Slaughter Art’s force.

Jjeojeojeong! Koogung!

He knocked aside all three of the illusory spear’s low strikes, halting Song Cheol-gwang’s advance.

Flash!

After the horizontal slash, he pressed in.

Moving with Moon-Shadow Divine Steps rather than Heavenly Evasion Steps, Jin-hyeon drove the Indestructible Sword for Song Cheol-gwang’s chest.

Chiriring!

He blocked it with the White-Iron Staff, but the force behind it was immense. Song Cheol-gwang’s body was sent flying through the air.

Then Gu Yong-seon’s palm force came again.

Peoeong!

He wheeled the Indestructible Sword to block with its broad blade, yet the shock bit to the bone.

Jin-hyeon was flung wildly to the side. It was the Rock-Wind Seal again.

Pabak!

He had seized a moment of opportunity. Gu Yong-seon could not afford to let it slip.

Using Eight-Directions Windbreaker, he closed the distance to right in front of Jin-hyeon and swept out with both palms. It was Quick-Wind Eight Hands, a swift palm art entirely different from Rock-Wind Seal.

‘Got him.’

He knew even before he struck.

It was clear that Song Cheol-gwang was below Jin-hyeon in skill. However, he was more than capable of disrupting Jin-hyeon’s focus.

If he struck in that opening, Jin-hyeon would never be able to win. Gu Yong-seon was certain of it.

‘Farewell, you bastard!’

It was then.

Huk!

Jin-hyeon’s figure vanished from that spot.