Chapter 9

Chapter 9 — A Strange Ability

The dagger flew toward the back of Jaha’s neck, where he could not see it.

It was fast, but more importantly, it had deliberately been thrown from his blind spot.

Since Jaha was already in the middle of attacking, it looked impossible for him to block the dagger that had suddenly appeared.

Jaha himself was so focused on driving his decisive strike through the enemy’s chest that he did not even notice the incoming dagger.

With Byeokho’s mere twenty years of internal energy, he simply did not have the ability to sense such a faint flow of force.

But then—

The sword that had been about to pierce the attacker’s chest suddenly changed direction and knocked away the dagger flying toward the back of Jaha’s neck.

At first, Jaha thought Byeokho’s spirit had changed the sword’s path because it did not want him to kill anyone.

However, the instant his sword blocked the dagger, the curse that had been rising in his throat went right back down.

Clang!

The dagger fell and stabbed into the ground near Jaha’s feet.

The attacker, who had narrowly escaped death thanks to that unexpected movement, quickly leaped backward and shouted,

“You bastard! You’re no ordinary fighter!”

Having practically returned from the dead, the attacker felt a chill run down his spine at Jaha’s technique.

First, Jaha had concealed his internal energy to make them lower their guard.

And even the attacker himself would not have been able to block his companion’s dagger in that situation.

Yet Jaha had done it with ease.

That meant Jaha was by no means weaker than them.

Meanwhile, Jaha realized something through that brief exchange.

Byeokho’s spirit is watching the directions I can’t see and defending me on its own.

If I’d known it had an ability like this earlier, I would have trained with that in mind.

To become the leader of the Demonic Cult, Jaha had built his skills through countless real battles and sparring matches.

Within the Demonic Cult, they always emphasized one thing.

Actual combat was ninety percent.

Techniques were only ten percent.

Only those with abundant real combat experience could react properly to unexpected situations.

Because of that, before a fight even began, Jaha had been trained to quickly examine the surrounding terrain and identify both advantageous positions and escape routes.

Some people might consider such things trivial.

But in a real fight, details like those often determined whether someone lived or died.

Was the ground covered in stones?

Was it mostly sand?

Were there fallen leaves?

Or was it grassland?

The footwork and techniques one used had to change depending on the terrain.

They had taught him that simply practicing martial techniques endlessly did not make someone a true master.

True martial prowess emerged only when three things came together.

Man—the techniques and talent of the practitioner.

Earth—the terrain and surrounding environment.

Heaven—luck.

This was also something Jaha had heard from his father, Jagang, far more often than any martial arts formula.

Because of Byeokho’s spirit, it’s as if I have a third eye.

If that’s the case, I’m the one with the advantage.

Quickly understanding his newfound strength, Jaha picked up the dagger lying at his feet.

Then he spoke inwardly.

“Byeokho, I’ll leave this left hand to you.”

“Block the attacks I don’t notice.”

“I’ll focus entirely on attacking this bastard.”

As soon as he said that in his mind, his left hand automatically rose in front of his chest.

Jaha released the pressure on the acupoints of his left arm so that Byeokho’s spirit could move it more easily.

The attacker grew even more cautious after seeing Jaha release the acupoints he had sealed himself.

He could no longer tell what kind of technique Jaha would use next.

Jaha could not freely use the martial arts of the Demonic Cult.

For one thing, there were too many people watching.

So Jaha appropriately mixed the Cheongun Sword with the martial arts of the Demonic Cult.

Even then, he did not have to be overly cautious.

Even if the attackers were members of the Demonic Cult, they would not recognize Jaha’s martial arts.

Most of the martial arts Jaha knew could only be learned by the leader of the cult.

Others had been created later, based on the insights Jagang had gained.

There were probably only a handful of people, such as the Chilcheonma, who could recognize them.

Excited by the rare opportunity to fight again, Jaha forgot about his own disadvantages and charged toward the attacker.

Jo Unryong and Han Seol had never before seen their Second Senior Brother fight while covered in flying blood.

The sight of him engaged in such a vicious battle felt completely unfamiliar.

Every time an enemy blade missed their Second Senior Brother by only a step, their hearts nearly stopped.

For the first time, they truly understood what people meant when they said their blood ran cold.

Even so, Jo Unryong watched without blinking, determined not to miss a single movement.

His Second Senior Brother’s swordsmanship was strange.

It was clearly the Cheongun Sword.

And yet, somehow, the techniques looked far more destructive.

Even the lightness skill, Flying Crane Treading Clouds, which was normally used alongside the Cheongun Sword, seemed to contain a mysterious quality.

Jo Unryong also practiced Flying Crane Treading Clouds.

But he had never once believed it was a supreme technique capable of perfectly avoiding an enemy’s sword.

He had learned both the Cheongun Sword and Flying Crane Treading Clouds from his master for many years.

Yet he had never considered either of them to be supreme martial arts.

If anything, the longer he trained, the more obvious that became.

And yet...

The Cheongun Sword and Flying Crane Treading Clouds currently being displayed by his Second Senior Brother looked like supreme martial arts from some great sect.

Jo Unryong had heard the saying countless times—

The level of a martial art changes depending on the person using it.

But this was the first time he truly understood what those words meant.

Han Seol, on the other hand, began crying as she watched her Second Senior Brother fight such a bloody battle.

“Senior Sister, why are you crying?”

Worried that she might be terrified, Jo Unryong asked her.

Han Seol sniffled.

“Sniff... Youngest, I think I finally understand how much Senior Brother Byeok suffered during the last three years.”

“How many battles did he have to fight before he could fight like some battle demon?”

“How many times must he have been injured?”

“When I think that Senior Brother Byeok may have suffered far more than we ever imagined... I can’t stop crying.”

Jo Unryong understood what she meant.

That’s right.

To reach that kind of level, he must have gone through countless battles.

He assumed that while working as an escort, Byeokho must have encountered many bandits and fought them.

Perhaps by constantly fighting thieves who targeted the goods he escorted, his Second Senior Brother had developed such extraordinary combat instincts.

At first, Jaha was unfamiliar with using the Cheongun Sword together with the martial arts of the Demonic Cult.

He barely managed to block the attacker’s strikes using the Half-Yang Deflection Art.

However, as the battle continued, he gradually grew accustomed to mixing the Cheongun Sword with the Demonic Cult’s martial arts.

And once that happened, he could feel the attacker beginning to panic.

If the Cheongun Sword was a sword art that sought strength within softness, then most of the Demonic Cult martial arts Jaha had learned were supreme martial arts overflowing with overwhelming, domineering power.

Once that power was added to it, the Cheongun Sword transformed.

It became like lightning crashing down from a clear sky.

Normally, it would have been impossible to combine two completely different martial arts so easily without going through harsh and prolonged training.

Yet Jaha was doing exactly that without even consciously trying.

As he fought, Jaha felt it.

At first, he had assumed the two martial arts were merging because of his own genius.

But that was not it.

He realized that Byeokho’s spirit was helping the Cheongun Sword and the martial arts of the Demonic Cult blend together.

The longer the battle continued, the clearer it became.

If the martial arts of the Demonic Cult were bricks...

Then the Cheongun Sword was the mud binding those bricks together.

Even while fighting, Jaha continued stacking them.

Brick by brick.

Until they formed a massive wall that would never collapse.

Softness met strength...

And together, they created dominance.

Claaang!

Jaha and the attacker clashed once more before both retreating.

At that moment, the attacker suddenly charged forward again.

His sword tore through the air.

It was a true master’s strike that nobody had expected.

It was so fast that neither Han Seol nor Jo Unryong even had enough time to shout a warning.

It looked as though Jaha was about to be cut in half by the attacker’s sword.

Since Jaha lacked internal energy, he chose defense rather than counterattacking.

He raised his sword and blocked the attacker’s blade.

But the instant their swords collided, the attacker’s head suddenly rushed straight toward Jaha’s face.

The attacker had planned to headbutt him from the very beginning.

An inexperienced fighter would inevitably panic when faced with such a crude and unexpected attack.

Jaha was certainly not inexperienced.

But even he frowned.

He had no room to stop the headbutt.

So he gritted his teeth and prepared himself to have his nose broken.

Then—

His left hand moved on its own.

The dagger in his hand stabbed straight into the forehead of the attacker who had been about to smash his skull into Jaha’s nose.

Thunk!

The dagger was nearly a handspan long.

It sank into the attacker’s forehead until only the handle remained visible.

“Ghk!”

The attacker who had been trying to catch Jaha with a surprise attack had instead suffered an unexpected attack himself.

Brain matter began leaking from his nose and ears.

Then he collapsed to the ground.

Even Jaha had not expected that.

The attacker’s method—retreating, suddenly charging forward, then following the blocked sword strike with a headbutt—had been extremely bold.

Even Jaha, who had gone through countless life-and-death situations since childhood, had been unable to defend against it.

Yet Byeokho’s spirit had driven the dagger into the attacker’s forehead at exactly the right moment, almost as if it had known what was coming.

How did Byeokho figure out that bastard’s technique?

Jaha began looking around.

And then he understood.

One of the coachmen—the man with upward-slanting eyes—had suffered a broken nose before having half his neck cut open.

Byeokho had watched one of the coachmen fall victim to the exact same technique.

So he had prepared for it in advance.

Jaha had been too focused on his own opponent to observe the other battles.

But Byeokho, who now existed as a type of spirit, had been watching everything happening around them.

He had understood the entire situation at a glance.

Even the Demonic Cult probably doesn’t have a bizarre art like this.

If this can be considered martial arts, then it may be a supreme technique that exists nowhere else in the world.

A bitter smile appeared on Jaha’s face.

But at the same time, this strange experience filled him with excitement.

The remaining attackers immediately retreated when they saw their companion killed by someone they had barely paid attention to.

Something clearly felt wrong.

Their retreat finally gave the thick-browed coachman a moment to breathe.

The coachman stared blankly at the body of his companion, blood pouring heavily from the man’s neck.

He himself had almost ended up the same way.

But because the attacker had died at the hands of the young hero named Byeok, a path to survival had finally opened.

In a way, Jaha had saved his life.

The coachman now looked at him in an entirely different light.

Jaha knew exactly how to behave during this kind of standoff.

Even if it was nothing but a bluff, he needed to act intimidating enough that the attackers would hesitate to strike again.

Jaha deliberately walked toward them slowly.

Then he said,

“Now we can finally have a proper fight.”

The attackers were not stupid enough to miss the fact that he was bluffing.

But when Jaha walked toward them with a crooked grin, a flash of murderous intent passed through his eyes.

They instinctively flinched.

They realized that even if they managed to kill both Jaha and the coachman, at least one of them might die in the process.

In that case, they had only one choice.

Their original mission had been to track them.

Not assassinate them.

While the attackers were still considering their options, Jaha continued approaching.

When the distance between them shrank to less than thirty feet, they immediately turned and fled.

Jaha had no strength left to chase them.

Only after they completely disappeared from sight did he finally relax his body.

He had already started feeling the symptoms of paralysis spreading through him again.

If those men had decided to fight to the death, Jaha probably would not have lasted even fifteen minutes.

The coachman covered his dead companion’s face with a cloth and muttered,

“They attacked us like they were determined to kill us, but then they ran away far too easily.”

Jaha answered,

“That’s because they’re trackers.”

“They have no reason to insist on finishing us off themselves, so they retreated.”

The coachman stared at him in disbelief.

“Experts like those were only trackers?”

Jaha searched the dead attacker’s clothes and pulled out a bamboo tube.

“This is a signal firework used to reveal a location.”

“Trackers often carry things like this.”

“And judging by this firework, we can make a reasonable guess about who they are.”

The coachman listened closely.

Jaha possessed far more knowledge of the martial world than he had expected.

Until now, the coachman had dismissed him as little more than an instructor from some martial arts school in the countryside.

He immediately corrected that judgment.

This man named Byeokho was certainly not beneath him.

Because of that, he paid even closer attention to Jaha’s words.

Jaha sighed.

“This is a serious problem.”

“They’ll report everything to their superiors.”

“Then stronger people will come after us.”

“We already struggled just dealing with their trackers...”

Without thinking, the coachman asked,

“Is there no other way?”

Compared to earlier, when the coachmen had made every decision themselves, his attitude had clearly changed.

Jaha looked at him and asked,

“Did you bring plenty of money?”

The coachman frowned at the sudden mention of money.

Still, he assumed Jaha had a reason for asking and replied,

“I did. The branch manager gave us more than enough.”

Jaha nodded.

“Then we’re fine.”

“There’s a safe place we can go.”

The coachman’s eyes widened.

“Really?”

He could hardly believe that there was somewhere safe from the attackers in such a remote village.

Jaha held out his hand.

“Give me everything you have.”

The coachman pulled a bank draft from inside his clothes and handed it over.

Jaha examined it and nodded.

“This should be enough to negotiate with them.”

“For now, let’s head into the village.”

Unable even to bury his dead companion before leaving, the coachman looked back several times with a guilty expression.