Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 67

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Chapter 67: When Water Is Too Clear, There Are No Fish (15)

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Yeon Sowol remembered.

What Yi Yubaek had feared most during this expedition.

‘Our overall strength is overwhelming. Heavenly Road Mountain already took a serious hit when Hang Inwoo was here. And we have righteous warriors gathered from all across Guangdong, so of course we are bound to overwhelm them. But.’

Yi Yubaek would bite his lip as he spoke.

‘Hang Inwoo said there’s a peak realm master on Heavenly Road Mountain now. That’s the variable. That’s the variable...’

Sowol had asked him about it then. Even so, there was only one of them. Their side had masters close to the peak realm too. Was it really that serious?

‘Of course it is. The peak realm is called Hundred Flowers in Wild Profusion. It means every kind of flower blooming in splendid abundance. Those flowers refer to qi. The harmony of qi becomes so profound that qi itself begins to develop a distinct quality, like flowers in full bloom.’

Yi Yubaek had stated it plainly.

‘A sword that has gained its own character is completely different from what came before. Whether someone is at the middle or late first-rate stage stops mattering. Those who have truly mastered the sword will somehow endure, but those who have not will lose their heads in one or two exchanges. Realm becomes trivial, and only the subtlety of one’s martial arts matters. In Guangdong’s martial world, where people who have received proper instruction are rare, it is utterly unreasonable.’

Sowol remembered that conversation clearly.

That was why, when Yong Useok smiled warmly and said,

“Hey, young warrior. Do we really need to fight each other? Are you truly planning to fight a peak realm master? People will only die or get hurt for nothing. Just let me go quietly. I’ll leave quietly too.”

Sowol found himself considering the offer.

Even while he spoke of peace, the haze exploding from behind Yong Useok’s back resembled a demon’s face. It put no small amount of pressure on Sowol.

‘Thinking rationally, it might not be a bad offer.’

His opponent was a peak realm martial artist. Even Yi Yubaek could not fully judge his strength.

It stung to let them escape with the spoils, but if many people died and were injured trying to stop them, the cost would outweigh the gain.

Rationally, it was worth considering. Should they let him go, or keep pursuing him until the end?

But why was it...

‘I don’t want to.’

The thought of stepping aside before Yong Useok made him feel awful.

Sowol let the feelings boiling in his chest spill out.

“You. What are you?”

“...Hm?”

“Why do you even carry a saber? I took up a sword because I refuse to watch disgusting shit like this. What about you? Did you take up a saber just so you could run off with some money?”

“That’s quite the provocation.”

Sowol shook his head.

It was not a provocation.

“This is contempt.”

Yong Useok’s relaxed expression stiffened slightly.

“Why are people like you always the same? I heard you were driven out of the Eighteen Strongholds and fled. Wasn’t Heavenly Road Mountain the place that took you in and treated you well? But look at you now. Look at you abandoning Heavenly Road Mountain, the place that helped you when you were desperate, and running away.”

A sigh escaped Sowol’s mouth.

He was thinking of Hang Inwoo.

Why were all the people connected to Heavenly Road Mountain so contemptible?

“Peak realm? What bullshit.”

Sowol sneered.

“Your saber already tells me the answer. It’s a saber meant only for betrayal and escape, so doesn’t that make you nothing but a cowardly traitor? Not a peak realm master.”

The Demon-Severing Sword slowly leveled out, pointing at Yong Useok.

“A cowardly fugitive like you, leaving while cackling with more wealth than you deserve. Isn’t that a disgusting sight? I can’t stand to watch it.”

Of course, being a lowlife did not necessarily mean his martial arts were lowly too.

Sowol remembered the sight he had glimpsed earlier.

Great Hero No Gil, Already Gone When Seen, famous throughout Guangdong for their Movement Art, had been beheaded in a single strike.

‘Great Hero No Gil’s sword was definitely pushed away then.’

He had clearly heard someone shout about a protective qi art.

‘If he has something like that, using the Heaven-Killing Star won’t be easy either.’

The activation condition of the Heaven-Killing Star was contact.

But if a protective qi art prevented contact...

‘I’ll pierce through that protective qi art somehow and cut him with my sword qi. Even if it’s only the slightest graze. As long as it touches him...’

He could kill him.

He did not need to touch him directly. As long as Yong Useok made contact with qi Sowol had released himself, that was enough.

Sowol had already tested it many times.

The Heaven-Killing Star’s condition was contact.

But that did not mean only physical contact.

It included contact with qi he had generated himself.

It was only natural.

A human body was material formed from condensed essence, and essence itself was condensed qi. If this power was activated by touching the material of the body, it naturally had to activate upon touching the more fundamental qi as well.

There were more complicated rules he still needed to investigate, but for Sowol, that fact alone was enough for now.

Even if his sword did not touch Yong Useok directly, he could kill him if the sword qi extending past its blade so much as grazed him.

‘No matter how powerful that protective qi art is.’

Couldn’t he at least break through it enough to graze him?

Then he did not have to step aside for someone so pathetic.

Fwoosh!

True Flame bloomed within Sowol’s body.

Flap!

His robes swelled as haze blazed over his shoulders and head.

“If you really want to pass.”

Sowol glared at Yong Useok.

“Then get on your knees and beg.”

Yong Useok’s smiling expression turned cold.

* * *

“Sowol!”

Yi Yubaek was frantic.

He knew Sowol had grown astonishingly strong.

Strong enough that Yi Yubaek could no longer confidently say he would win even if they fought seriously.

Sowol had become that strong.

But his opponent was a peak realm martial artist.

“We need to help Young Hero Yeon!”

“Damn it! But those bastards...!”

Because Sowol had blocked the way ahead, Yong Useok’s subordinates had stopped as well.

Once they stopped, they began attacking the people around them viciously. They had realized they needed to drive their enemies back before they could escape again.

That briefly held Yi Yubaek and the expedition back. Although Sowol and Yong Useok were right in front of them, they could not immediately break in to help.

“Young Hero! Hold on a little longer! We’ll break through soon!”

Someone raised their voice.

Yi Yubaek could not shake a grim thought.

‘Can Sowol endure even that long?’

Growing anxious, Yi Yubaek shouted.

“I’ll take the lead! Support me from behind! We have to reach Sowol!”

“Great Hero Yi Yubaek! You mustn’t rush!”

“Those lackeys are no ordinary fighters either! We cannot act rashly! Given time, we can win easily!”

“What if we do not have that time?”

Yi Yubaek shouted back.

“Our opponent is a peak realm martial artist!”

Peak realm meant exactly that. The very pinnacle.

A peak realm martial artist was fundamentally different from those below.

Sowol had consumed the Greater Rejuvenation Pill, so he could reach the peak realm even while doing nothing, but that was an exceptional result possible only because it was the Greater Rejuvenation Pill.

Normally, one could not reach the peak realm that way. Even consuming an excellent spiritual elixir would not be enough.

The peak realm could only be reached after melting all the essence within the Eight Extraordinary Vessels into qi, then refining that qi until it became pure.

In other words, one needed an almost supernatural stage of maturity.

Every corner of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels had to be searched through, their essence melted down, then refined into pure qi. Without superhuman control of the heat required to brew it perfectly, one could never reach that realm.

That was not all. The process of purifying qi was also the process of giving it character. To give qi character, one needed a deep understanding of martial arts.

What did one wish to contain within one’s martial arts?

Only after knowing that precisely could one give qi a fitting character. Only once one could give it character could one refine qi correctly.

So the peak realm was where the stage of maturity of one’s internal energy and the artistry of one’s martial arts both reached their limit and met.

Before that, imbalance was possible. Someone might possess internal energy at the late first-rate stage while their martial arts remained below even second-rate. But a martial artist who had reached the peak realm could not have such an imbalance, given the process of training required to reach it.

Unless they had found and consumed something like the Greater Rejuvenation Pill.

That was why peak realm martial artists were terrifying. Not simply because their internal energy was deep, their stage of maturity profound, or because they could wield the unique qualities of qi.

Perhaps what truly made them frightening was their combat sense and exceptional skill, which allowed them to handle all of it.

That was why Yi Yubaek was anxious.

No matter how much of a genius Sowol was, Yi Yubaek believed he could not match Yong Useok, a peak realm master, in combat sense, technique, and experience.

The fight could be decided in only a few exchanges.

“Mm... That’s true.”

“Great Hero No Gil was killed in an instant earlier too.”

“Put some strength into it, everyone! We can’t lose Guangdong’s young genius here!”

Yi Yubaek’s urgency was so palpable that the other righteous warriors began to grow anxious as well.

That was right. Their opponent was a peak realm martial artist. It could be difficult for a young and inexperienced martial artist like Yeon Sowol to handle.

Everyone drew out more strength, trying to break through the enemy lines and support Sowol.

Even while fighting, they kept glancing over at him.

Then...

“Mm...?”

“Huh?”

“Oh. He’s doing better than expected...?”

Their expressions gradually turned strange.

At last, even Yi Yubaek tilted his head.

“He... He’s holding up well, isn’t he?”

At someone’s question, Yi Yubaek found himself nodding without thinking.

* * *

Clang!

Claaang!

Whoosh! Fwoosh!

Yong Useok’s saber tore through the air in a wild frenzy.

Yet Sowol moved like a shadow, never torn apart amid those strikes.

No. More precisely, he was like a willow swaying in the wind.

When the saber came down hard, he bent before it.

When the saber passed, he rose before it.

He flexed and swayed, stabbing his sword through gaps in Yong Useok’s attacks, leaving Yong Useok unable to rampage as he pleased.

“This brat...”

Yong Useok’s saber art was a technique of the unorthodox schools called the Strength and Chaos Saber.

It took the characters for strength and chaos from the phrase strange powers and disorderly spirits to form its name.

Strength referred to the force that tore an enemy apart in a single exchange.

Chaos referred to attacks that came down in a disorderly rush without allowing the opponent time to react.

It was an excellent saber art that combined the principles of a one-strike kill and a relentless barrage.

Yet it could not catch Sowol.

When Yong Useok unleashed a single killing strike, Sowol avoided it. When he swung an unbroken barrage, Sowol evaded and deflected it.

It felt like fighting an untoppleable roly-poly toy.

‘His qi sense... It’s absurd.’

It felt as though every attack was blocked before he even made it.

‘He can read all my intentions, even though I’m at the peak realm? A child still at first-rate has qi sense like this?’

Did that make any sense?

Yong Useok grew anxious.

‘And this brat. There’s something ominous about him.’

From the sword that struck his openings with ghostly precision and coldly concealed killing intent, Yong Useok sensed the instincts of an assassin.

Was that why it felt even more ominous?

It felt as though something terrible would happen if he allowed even a single attack through.

‘...If he learned an assassin’s martial arts, it would not be strange if he coated his blade in a deadly poison...’

Yong Useok was irritated.

He had not planned to get this serious here.

His eyes began to dart around. Before he was held up any longer, he intended to launch one fierce assault, then find an opening to pull away.

Then Sowol suddenly asked,

“Trying to run again?”

Yong Useok flinched inwardly.

‘His qi sense is downright uncanny.’

Was he not practically reading his mind?

Hiding his surprise, he answered calmly.

“I’m simply making the smart choice.”

“Running away?”

“Risking your life in a place not worth dying for is what’s foolish.”

“Then where is worth risking your life for?”

“At least it isn’t here. Even if I leave without fighting here, there won’t be many people in the world who mock me for it. Plenty will nod and call it smart. Whatever you think, you are not an opponent worth fighting. You people aren’t worth fighting either. Neither is Heavenly Road Mountain.”

“...”

Sowol felt terribly offended by the way he seemed to look down on Guangdong’s martial world.

“Someone like you dares to judge us.”

“The world is cold.”

“I told you before. If you want to pass, get on your knees.”

“You have plenty of spirit.”

Yong Useok had roughly assessed Sowol.

He could not subdue him quickly, but he could certainly avoid him and escape.

His eyes moved as he searched for a path out.

That was when it happened.

“Big brother! I’m here!”

A booming voice shook the battlefield.

Ma Gukdo, chieftain of Cheonro Mountain Stronghold, charged over with an axe in hand, covered in blood.

Behind him, Heavenly Road Mountain’s remaining elites radiated fierce killing intent.

Ma Gukdo cried out as if vomiting blood.

“Big brother! We’ll hold them back! You must get away!”

“You...?”

Yong Useok’s brow twitched.

“Big brother, you’re the man I want to be! Just... when you go to the Central Plains someday and reclaim your glory, say one thing for me! Say there was a man in Guangdong named Ma Gukdo who threw away his life for you! Aaaah!”

Ma Gukdo roared and charged Yi Yubaek with his huge axe.

Yi Yubaek and the expedition members, who had been driving back their enemies, lost their momentum when they were suddenly caught in a two-front battle.

“Damn it...! You bastards!”

That did not mean the tide of battle had turned.

Ma Gukdo and his men were little more than remnants.

Yi Yubaek’s side still had greater numbers, and righteous warriors from the expedition who had cleared out bandits elsewhere on the mountain were steadily joining them.

Before long, Ma Gukdo and Heavenly Road Mountain’s bandits would be wiped out.

But Yong Useok would be able to escape easily.

All because Ma Gukdo swung his axe while throwing his life away as though it meant nothing.

“Gukdo...”

Yong Useok looked at blood-soaked Ma Gukdo, his voice seething.

“You bastard... Your little schemes have always been clever, haven’t they?”

Ma Gukdo, who had been fighting with a fierce expression, burst into laughter.

“Was it obvious?”

“Very.”

Thud!

Yong Useok untied the saber scabbard hanging from his belt and threw it onto the ground.

Dust rose in a puff.

His bearing changed.

The bearing of a thief who had been looking around for a route of escape became that of a tiger prepared to slaughter every enemy before him.

“You’ve been crafty since you were young, Ma Gukdo. If you act like that, how am I supposed to run away?”

“Heh heh. Since you know, please keep me alive.”

“Hah. So today is another day when I have to risk my life. I thought it wouldn’t be.”

He gripped his saber with both hands.

The haze pouring from him now burst not only around his body, but across the blade itself.

“Gukdo. Don’t die. Once we kill them all, let’s have a drink.”

“Ah. Sounds good.”

Sowol was a little bewildered.

It was good that the man who had tried to run away had chosen not to, but Sowol could not understand why.

“You’re going to fight now? You said this wasn’t worth it earlier. You were about to run, but now that the situation is perfect for escaping, you’ll fight?”

Yong Useok grinned.

“Ma Gukdo showed up like that. I can’t run now.”

“Why?”

“Now it would make me a coward, not smart. If people found out, they’d point fingers at me.”

“And before, they wouldn’t?”

“Before was different.”

“...Your standards are completely arbitrary.”

What else could one expect from a man of the Jianghu?

Sowol gave up trying to understand.

“Bandit. That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a cowardly fugitive.”

But Yong Useok remained calm. Unlike before, he showed no sign of being provoked. He only raised his large saber.

“You said the saber would reveal the answer.”