Chapter 25

But who was he?

There was no way Jinmu wouldn’t know a master of his caliber.

The Sun and Moon Demonic Cult, Sapacheon, the Orthodox Martial Alliance.

He searched his memory, but none of the renowned masters matched the old man.

“You’re quite impressive, child. Perhaps the finest of your age in all the Central Plains. I had heard nothing of Wudang having a disciple like you.”

The old man smiled, his toothless cheeks shifting in their hollows.

“Maybe your damned ears have clogged up with age.”

“Heh heh. What a lad. Quite a tongue on you.”

“Shut up. Are you with them?”

“With them? Hmm, well. I am making use of these children at present, so I suppose you could say so.”

Damn it! Geum Jeoksan, you son of a bitch. How much money did you spend?

Of all people, a master this powerful.

With skills like that, he should be holed up somewhere playing elder in comfort. What the hell was he doing taking contracts? The toothless old bastard.

Irritation surged through Jinmu.

Things would have been different in his former life, but with his current skills, defeat was certain, no matter what tricks he pulled.

Even if he attacked together with Cheongsang and Cheongu, he doubted they could leave so much as a scratch.

Had he known an old man like this was here, he would never have taken things so lightly.

“A man of your caliber taking a contract to kill the likes of me? Have you no shame?”

“Hmm? I said I was with them. I never said I had taken a contract.”

“What?”

Was this old bastard making a fool of him?

Jinmu glared at the old man, his brow deeply furrowed. Then the old man seemed to sense something.

“Heh heh. Some with sinister qi, and now the Jegal lot as well? Dear me, dear me. What sins has a young Wudang Taoist committed to have so many people after him already?”

“What did you say?”

Sinister bastards? The Jegal Clan?

What bullshit was this old man spouting?

“In any case, that fellow is all I need. What do you say, child of Wudang?”

“…”

The old man pointed at the slight man Cheongu had knocked unconscious.

“I must take him back alive. If you do not interfere, I shall pretend I never saw you.”

“Pretend you never saw us?”

Jinmu repeated the words, but the old man merely smiled, his toothless cheeks sunken inward.

Still, this was a relief.

It meant he wouldn’t have to fight the terrifying old man before him.

“Fine.”

No merchant was mad enough to invest in a venture guaranteed to lose money.

He disliked handing over someone who had tried to kill him, but bowing his head once and bending a knee was better than foolishly throwing his life away over such a trivial(?) point of pride.

At least, that was the sort of man Jinmu was.

“Settled, then. Heh heh.”

The old man approached slowly, hands clasped behind his back, and Jinmu cautiously stepped aside.

After checking the fallen man’s pulse, the old man slung him over his shoulder as easily as lifting dry cotton.

Then—

He slowly turned his head toward Jinmu.

Huh?

Something chilling flashed through the old man’s eyes.

This f***ing old bastard!

Bang!

Before Jinmu could prepare, the old man’s hand shot out.

“Move!”

Shouting, Jinmu swiftly retreated and swept his hands through a flurry of motions.

Whirrr!

Internal energy surged up in an instant, stirring the air as it poured from his palm.

Wham!

At the moment of collision, Jinmu’s palm strike twisted the old man’s palm force aside.

Kraaash!

The wall along the corridor shattered with a tremendous explosion.

“Oh?”

A curious look came into the old man’s eyes.

Jinmu’s response at the instant their palm forces met had been quite remarkable.

The old man had offered a bargain because he had to keep Gowol—the slight man now slung over his shoulder—alive.

The moment that objective was fulfilled, he had unleashed his palm force to kill Jinmu.

But at the instant of impact—

“To use Wudang’s Whirling Wind Palm in such a way.”

The Whirling Wind Palm was characterized by force that surged out like a whirlwind.

Yet Jinmu had used the wind it stirred up, rather than the force of the palm strike itself.

Realizing he was outmatched, he had compressed the wind from the Whirling Wind Palm into a layer of air and used it to deflect the old man’s palm force.

Easy enough to describe, perhaps, but extraordinarily difficult to accomplish.

Without an understanding of martial arts at its very pinnacle, one could not even attempt it. And even then, getting the timing right was difficult.

It was impossible without vast experience.

“Hah. A mere child handles his techniques better than some old monster with decades behind him.”

The old man stared at Jinmu in disbelief.

Where had a boy like this come from?

“Who are you?”

Tense from head to toe, Jinmu glared fiercely at him.

“Well. Mine is not a name to share with someone about to die.”

The old man’s expression turned sinister.

At that instant, cold killing intent swept toward them like a savage wind.

Feeling gooseflesh rise along his spine, Jinmu swiftly drew his sword and swung it to either side.

Clang! Clang-clang!

Though there was nothing to see, harsh metallic clashes rang from his swinging blade.

“Oh? You sensed that as well? You are making me more certain by the moment that you must die.”

“…”

He had aimed at Cheongsang and Cheongu.

Invisible qi force.

The old man could conceal his energy at will.

Then a vivid, blood-red energy rose from his hand.

Fuck.

His fears always came true.

The old man wasn’t merely at Qi Intent. He had reached the realm of Gang.

[Cheongsang! Cheongu! Run! No matter what! That’s an order!]

“…!”

Even as he shouted, Jinmu lunged at the old man.

“M-Martial Uncle!”

Cheongsang’s cry reached him.

But their opponent was a master of Gang qi.

The moment the old man revealed his true strength, they would all die.

At his mere level of Qi Projection, Jinmu could never stop him.

He had given the warning. Fleeing was up to Cheongsang and Cheongu now.

Jinmu intended to buy them only a little time.

As their guardian.

Whoosh!

Kicking off the wall, Jinmu hurtled toward the old man. His sword wove a dazzling series of changes, filling the tavern with countless streaks of sword qi.

It was not a method he liked.

A sword should always be practical.

Cut out the effort spent on unnecessary movements and concentrate solely on the power to injure the enemy.

Short and simple.

But his opponent was too strong for that.

Jinmu’s aim was to buy time.

Use as many feints and variations as possible to create a dazzling display, draw the eye, and gain a few moments.

Then prepare a hidden attack while the enemy was distracted.

Please let this work!

The sword qi filling the surrounding space converged on a single point.

“Hmph!”

Just as it poured down as though to slash the old man to pieces—

Thump!

One light step.

Swish!

And a hand tracing a small circle.

For those who had reached an absolute realm, whether they held a sword was immaterial.

A sword was merely an extension of the hand.

Gang qi could be released from anywhere.

As the old man spread his fingers, blood-red Gang qi unfurled before him like a spiderweb.

Claaang!

Jinmu’s blue sword qi scattered into nothing.

Bzzzing!

The tip of his thrusting sword stopped in midair, trembling like a cicada’s wing.

Blocked.

He had distracted the old man with sword qi and thrust into its center, but his blade had stopped before it could even touch the old man’s palm.

“Boy, you’ve put some thought into—”

Having reduced every attack to nothing, the old man was puzzled by Jinmu’s expression.

The corners of Jinmu’s mouth rose.

A mocking smile.

Why?

Before he could resolve his puzzlement, a chill struck him.

The old man snapped his head aside.

Fsst!

“…!”

A thread-thin strand of energy grazed his earlobe.

Blood trickled down.

“Y-you little…”

As the sting followed the running blood, the old man’s face flushed dark red with a sudden surge of fury.

He had thought the hidden blade beneath that dazzling display was the single sword thrust aimed at its center.

But even that had been a feint to conceal a third attack.

Before thrusting his sword, Jinmu had sent out a slow, thread-thin strand of energy.

An attack timed to arrive later.

Bang!

Having already retreated, Jinmu taunted the old man.

“Well? Like it? I put some thought into that, you damned old bastard!”

For all his talk, it was a bitter disappointment.

If the old man hadn’t jerked his head aside, he could have pierced an eyeball, at least.

“You…”

The old man’s narrowed eyes trembled.

To him, Jinmu was no more than an ant.

An insignificant insect he could crush beneath a finger.

But now and then, a brave one forgot its place and bit a person’s skin.

That was what had just happened to the old man.

And at the jaws of Jinmu, an ant brimming with venom.

While Jinmu held his attention, the boys called Cheongsang and Cheongu had vanished from Jinmu’s side.

“How dare a mere child try such tricks on me.”

“Oh, fuck off. What do you mean, ‘how dare I’? You haven’t even told me who you are.”

Jinmu twisted his sword into a diagonal guard as he answered.

He was the weaker martial artist, but he refused to lose a war of words.

He had to win at something.

Yet his insides burned, and his lips grew parched.

The old man’s cold energy began to bear down on everything around him. Its immense pressure left Jinmu struggling for breath.

Damn it. I shouldn’t have provoked him.

He had stirred up a hornets’ nest, not some ordinary bees.

“Very well! You’re hastening your own death!”

Pop!

A faint sound.

Huh?

In a split second, as though it had leaped across the intervening space, the old man’s hand was right in front of Jinmu’s nose.

Wh-what the hell is this?!

Palm force.

A palm strike without any of the preliminary motions of drawing back, gathering energy, and pushing out.

Feeling the immense energy in that outstretched hand, Jinmu kicked off the floor in haste.

But the erupting palm force was faster than his retreat.

Goddamn it!

Jinmu swiftly kicked up at the old man’s wrist and crossed his arms.

Booom!

A tremendous impact hurled him straight through the building’s wall.

“…”

Yet the old man’s face twisted into a scowl.

He had twisted.

In that fleeting instant.

The moment the old man’s palm force struck the center of his crossed arms, Jinmu had spun his body like a top, deflecting the impact.

He was still young.

But considering his age and martial attainment, his potential was beyond imagining.

What was more, his application of martial arts surpassed anyone’s.

The old man approached the shattered wall.

He intended to make certain of the kill.

But—

He could not venture outside.

There were too many eyes watching.

His qi senses alone detected dozens of people.

With his skills, he could kill everyone there right now and vanish.

But his mission was to take Gowol back.

And there was another reason he could not reveal himself carelessly.

“Still.”

The old man flicked a finger at the falling Jinmu.

Whooosh!

A fierce blast of finger force shot toward him.

Claaang!

The old man’s brow furrowed again.

Even then, the damned whelp had twisted in midair and blocked it with his sword.

The impact drove him into the ground, and he even vomited blood, but he did not die.

Twice now.

He clearly lacked the strength, yet he had blocked both the palm force and the finger force.

“What an extraordinary boy. A pity. I ought to kill him myself to prevent future trouble, but I might leave a trail for that beggar.”

With a cold smile, the old man raised his foot high.

Then, unleashing an enormous surge of energy, he stamped down hard on the floor.

Kraaash!