Wudang Sacred Scriptures

Uno Zhenren said with a troubled expression, “Corps Commander Jegal, I understand why you are angry, but I think it would be best to restrain yourself today. Renowned elders of the martial world are expected soon, and before long, the Sword of Wudang will also arrive.”

Jegal Geon said coldly, “Zhenren, I am sorry, but that is precisely why it must be today. The renowned elders of the martial world will bear witness to the fact that the Jegal Family has rightfully collected a debt owed to our family.”

“...”

“Uno Zhenren, are you perhaps intending to defend and shelter a lay disciple, even if it means violating the righteousness of the martial world?”

“That is not my intent.”

In the martial world, one could not interfere when the parties involved were settling a grudge between themselves.

If it involved a disciple still under one’s sect, Wudang could have intervened, but in the private grudge of a lay disciple who had left the mountain, like Kwak Yeon, it should not interfere.

In truth, Uno Zhenren had no desire whatsoever to protect Kwak Yeon over his string of unpredictable actions.

“Uno Zhenren, moved by your affection for a fellow Wudang disciple, I will settle this grudge through a martial duel rather than a life-and-death match.”

Once Jegal Geon even went so far as to preserve his face that way, Uno Zhenren immediately nodded.

“You have yielded enough to say that you will end a blood grudge by the result of a martial contest. As a Taoist, I can no longer stand in your way. I ask only that Corps Commander Jegal show mercy in your hand.”

At Uno Zhenren’s purely self-serving request, Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family, Jegal Geon, responded readily.

“As a senior of the orthodox martial world, I will not pursue Taoist Kwak if he accepts defeat and withdraws.”

Jegal Geon said it because he had no intention of giving Kwak Yeon the chance to withdraw.

Since they were inside the Martial Alliance, he would not take the man’s life, but he intended to take one arm and one leg in its place.

Once the duel to resolve his family’s grudge had become a foregone conclusion, Jegal Geon turned his gaze toward Kwak Yeon.

“...?”

Jegal Geon felt a brief flicker of doubt when he saw that Kwak Yeon had stood in the same place like a stone statue the entire time, without saying a word.

Soon, he decided Kwak Yeon was doing it because he feared a duel with him, and said, “Taoist Kwak, let us settle this old grudge cleanly by exchanging a move.”

Jegal Geon did not call Kwak Yeon Chief Secretary because he wanted to limit this duel to their private grudge.

If Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family, Jegal Geon, had not had the purpose of preserving his Corps Commander position, he would have drawn his sword the moment he entered the manor.

Yet even though Jegal Geon was showing such patience and courtesy, Kwak Yeon did not answer, nor did he so much as look at him.

This Cave Hermit Taoist bastard deserves to be torn apart.

Jegal Geon barely suppressed the fire dragon rising in his chest and said, “Taoist Kwak, no clever answer will appear just because you keep looking at the Zhenren like that. As a Wudang lay disciple, this is something you must handle yourself.”

Jegal Geon spoke as if soothing him, but Kwak Yeon did not move a muscle.

What is this?

Jegal Geon stared at Kwak Yeon in disbelief, then soon judged that the man had completely lost the will to fight.

At the same time, he felt disgusted by his cousin, Jegal Waryong, who had been killed by this Cave Hermit Taoist.

Even if he was caught off guard, to think he was killed by a nobody like this.

Feeling the limit of his patience, Jegal Geon said, “Taoist Kwak, if a martial duel against me is too much of a burden, draw your sword and break it.”

Among orthodox martial artists, if an opponent sought forgiveness through submission by breaking the sword, one was generally supposed to forgive him.

“The blood grudge is grave, but in consideration of the good relations between the Main House and Wudang, I will forget Taoist Kwak’s past deeds.”

It was a concession that made Jegal Geon seethe, but he could hardly insist on a duel against an opponent who was cowering like a puppy with its tail in its mouth.

A sound could only be made when both palms met. The bastard had to draw his sword before Jegal Geon could cut off his limbs.

Then—

“Do not forget.”

Kwak Yeon suddenly opened his mouth.

“Hm? What did you say?”

“I told you not to forget the blood grudge. And do not take the friendship between Wudang and the Jegal Family into consideration at all. In addition, do not show mercy in your hand. I will not either.”

Jegal Geon was about to shout that the man was spouting nonsense when he could not even look at him.

“I am currently waiting because there is something I must hear from Martial Uncle Uno, so please keep that mouth of yours shut.”

“...!”

“Then I will soon send you to your cousin’s side.”

Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family, Jegal Geon’s face turned red as a furnace.

Not because he was angry, but because his fire-dragon qi had surged to its peak.

SHING!

When Jegal Geon drew the Red Dragon Sword, its blade red as though drenched in blood, a scorching heat swept through the courtyard.

“You... Cave Hermit Taoist bastard! Turn around and draw your sword at once!”

Even though Jegal Geon’s rage had exploded and he looked ready to thrust his sword at any moment, Kwak Yeon did not budge. He simply stared at Uno Zhenren.

The person most shocked by this absurd situation was Uno Zhenren.

Remembering Kwak Yeon’s vow that he would not move a single step unless Uno withdrew his words about Unseon Taoist, Uno Zhenren was aghast.

I heard he had been terribly stubborn ever since the training ground, but I never imagined it was this bad.

Uno Zhenren shook his head helplessly and had no choice but to speak.

“Bringing up Senior Brother Unseon was a careless mistake on my part. I apologize to you, Martial Nephew.”

Uno Zhenren backed down because Kwak Yeon would soon suffer disgrace anyway.

As the one who had to receive the Sword of Wudang and the guests, he also needed to end this unsightly situation quickly.

Kwak Yeon was not unaware of what lay behind Uno Zhenren’s words, but in any case, he had received an apology for the disrespect shown to his late master, so he bowed without hesitation.

“Thank you.”

Kwak Yeon raised his head and turned toward Jegal Geon.

At that instant, an enormous wave of qi erupted from his body and swept through the courtyard.

BOOM!

Uno Zhenren’s Taoist robes whipped as though they would tear, and when his beard was thrown into disarray, he turned pale with shock.

What is this...?

Of course, Uno Zhenren knew that the one who had released that wave of qi was Kwak Yeon.

That made it even more shocking.

Until just now, he had felt no momentum whatsoever from Kwak Yeon. Yet the man had suddenly released a wave of qi like this.

It was not particularly shocking for masters to release a wave of qi through inner power and true qi.

He had heard the rumors that Kwak Yeon had reached the Flower Realm. Since rumors in the martial world were often exaggerated, he had been skeptical, but he had known of them, so he could accept that much.

But releasing a wave of qi while showing no momentum at all should have been impossible.

And one this powerful, as if it could tear his robes apart, at that.

Uno Zhenren hurriedly looked around, wondering whether he had mistaken something.

When he saw the disciples and workers gathered in the courtyard all frozen in shock, and the flowers and tree branches at the edge of the courtyard still shaking, he confirmed that it had been real.

Then Martial Nephew Kwak’s realm is Peak’s End!

It was a mastery that could not be explained unless he had reached Peak’s End.

Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family, Jegal Geon, was several times more shocked than Uno Zhenren.

Because he had reached the middle level of the Flower Realm, he could tell Kwak Yeon’s realm at a glance from his mastery over that wave of qi.

The upper extreme of the Flower Realm.

Jegal Geon realized that every piece of information he knew about the Cave Hermit Taoist was wrong.

The Cave Hermit Taoist had not killed Jegal Waryong by seizing an opening while he was careless, and it was not through luck that he had annihilated the Alliance of the Demonic Path’s Special Kill Squad.

Nor had the Alliance of the Demonic Path placed a public commission of one million gold on him for no reason.

This Cave Hermit Taoist bastard has been hiding his true realm and playing the whole world for fools.

Jegal Geon knew better than anyone how high the wall was between the early Flower Realm and the middle level.

How great a sacrifice had he made to climb that wall?

Even then, it had taken him ten years.

Yet a bastard who had supposedly only just entered the Flower Realm had already reached the upper extreme. That was impossible.

For the first time since leaving the family’s secret cave, Jegal Geon felt tension.

That did not mean he was afraid.

His fire-dragon qi had not been shaken in the slightest by the wave of qi Kwak Yeon had released.

Moreover, he had mastered the Jegal Family’s peerless secret art.

Using its power, he had easily forced Changunja of the Kongtong Sect, one of the ten great masters of the orthodox path, to kneel.

Jegal Geon watched Kwak Yeon move his hand toward the Blue-Steel Sword and smiled coldly.

HISSSS!

Fire-dragon qi surged from the Red Dragon Sword as though the blade had caught flame.

SHING!

Kwak Yeon drew the Blue-Steel Sword more lightly than ever before.

It was because, when he released that wave of qi, he had shaken off his guilt and burden cleanly.

Kwak Yeon could do that because he did not have to feel even human pity for the man he was about to cut down.

Even when he had stood like a stone statue while looking at Uno Zhenren, Kwak Yeon had been infinitely saddened by the sorrow of humanity.

As he listened to the pathetic conversation between Uno Zhenren and the Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family, his heart had been torn to shreds.

Inside the same fence, fellow disciples could harass one another, and they could hate one another. Even among family, conflict was not absent.

But if one saw an outsider aiming for a fellow disciple’s life, should one not at least show the bare minimum of affection between members of the same sect?

Even if that disciple belonged to Samryeong Palace, which they looked down on.

Each of Uno Zhenren’s awkward, hollow words, plainly meant only to look like concern, turned into a dagger and gouged through Kwak Yeon’s heart.

The Honwonmusang Technique reacted to that pain, and some energy awakened.

GRRRR.

It was not the bright, radiant energy from before.

It was an energy so black and viscous that it could not even be compared to the gray energy that had once settled into all the major points of his body.

Kwak Yeon knew that it was energy manifested from the hatred in his heart.

Uno Zhenren was not the target of that hatred. He had merely triggered Kwak Yeon’s sorrow toward humanity.

If Uno Zhenren had been the only one to stir his disgust for humanity, perhaps that energy would not have erupted.

The one who made the black energy lift its head and rise was the Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family. More precisely, it was the Jegal Family to which he belonged.

Kwak Yeon had thought the horrific events at the silver mine were a deviation committed by the Hidden Dragon Command Lord, so he had killed only the Hidden Dragon Command Lord and buried the incident.

If he did so, he had naturally thought that the Jegal Family, a traditional and prestigious martial family of the orthodox path, would cleanse itself.

If it lacked even that much power of self-purification, it could not have continued for so long as a prestigious martial family.

Kwak Yeon had even considered it understandable when the Jegal Clan Master sent an underhanded agent to muddy the waters behind him.

It was a scheme befitting the Jegal Family, and every single one of the people that underhanded agent dealt with had been a wicked piece of human filth.

But now, despite Kwak Yeon giving them one final chance by letting that underhanded agent live and leave, Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family had come to find him, claiming he would avenge the self-inflicted death of that wicked Hidden Dragon Command Lord.

Kwak Yeon could no longer help suspecting that the silver mine business had not belonged only to the Hidden Dragon Command Lord, but to the entire Jegal Family.

Murder to silence the mouth.

Otherwise, why would they insist on killing him after he had given them three chances to cleanse themselves?

While standing like a stone statue as Uno Zhenren and Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family prattled on, Kwak Yeon had already decided that he would begin by killing Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family, then hold the Jegal Family responsible.

That meant what Kwak Yeon had said to Jegal Geon about sending him to his cousin’s side soon had been sincere.

In any case, when the black energy rooted in hatred for humanity rose, his heart instead felt light.

Until now, even when he killed villains, he had always carried guilt in one corner of his heart. Now, that guilt was completely gone.

Since Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family had provoked him first, he had gained a legitimate reason to strike the Jegal Family openly.

Cutting the throat of someone who put a blade to one’s own was a virtue of the martial world.

Kwak Yeon poured inner power and true qi into the Blue-Steel Sword with all his might.

WHOOOOSH!

A white sword aura surged one zhang high, then rapidly shrank.

Instead of remaining a full zhang, the sword aura contracted to about three feet, but it shone with a brilliance dazzling enough to blind.

White Astral Qi.

Kwak Yeon charged at Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family without hesitation.

Fire Dragon of the Jegal Family charged straight back at him. Fire-dragon qi exploded from the Red Dragon Sword as he thrust it out.

ROOOOAR!

Toward the fire-dragon qi charging at him with a roar like a red dragon, Kwak Yeon brought the Blue-Steel Sword down with all his might.

KRAK-BOOM!

The red dragon’s head shattered to pieces, and crimson flames burst out in every direction.

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