Chapter 159
Chapter 159. The Black Flame Dragon Who Calms the Chaos (4)
“Fire!”
“Fire! Fire!”
“Wake everyone up!”
As the flames that had begun in the pavilion spread in every direction, the Mukhyul Gang grew frantic, as if they had been struck by a bolt from the blue at the worst possible moment.
Warriors so drunk that they could not even tie their clothes properly staggered on their feet, scooped up water, and poured it over the pavilion, but the flames showed no sign of dying down easily.
A cartwheel rolled down a mountainside does not stop until it catches on a stone.
The nine Black Path sects of Yueyang, led by the Mukhyul Gang and the Black Axe Palace, would not stop the war simply because the Gang Chief of the Mukhyul Gang had died.
Yueyang’s Black Path forces were the cartwheel.
And the stone that would stop them was, paradoxically, the exact same method they had been using all this time—
‘Creating fear.’
Once the Mukhyul Gang Chief died, the Deputy Gang Chief would step forward.
If the Deputy Gang Chief died, the Black Axe Palace would step forward in place of the Mukhyul Gang.
The way to stop people like that was to make them recognize that their lives, too, were hanging by a thread.
And not the lives of the rank-and-file used and discarded like expendables, but the lives of those with decision-making authority.
“The minds of those at the top are all more or less the same.”
Even within the Murim Alliance, the number of Politicians who threw away their own lives like blades of grass could be counted on one hand.
Still less did I have any thought that Black Path riffraff would be better than the White Path bastards.
“Wake up the brats! The fire is spreading!”
“Everyone is out at the Yujang Sect, so we are short on people.”
“Then wake the villagers! Tell them to help if they do not want to die!”
The fire attached to the enormous pavilion where the Gang Chief resided made them even more anxious.
Watching that scene from afar, I unfolded Ghost-Breathing Step once more and ran toward the place farthest from the burning pavilion.
‘Now it begins.’
Because of the enormous blaze spreading from the pavilion, a vast shadow had fallen over where I stood.
I hid myself within the shadow using the Ghost-Breathing Great Art, then wandered through the Mukhyul Gang while looking only for those giving orders.
“Hey, you bastard! Run! Are you not running?!”
In one corner, a massive man was spewing curses and killing intent.
The fellow, who was swinging around an axe the size of a person’s torso, looked as if he would split apart any subordinate who did not obey him in one blow, and because of that, the warriors of the Mukhyul Gang did not even go near the giant.
I moved through the shadows and approached behind the giant.
Perhaps he sensed my presence, for he spat out a curse and swung his fist.
“Hey, you bastard! Who the hell are……?”
SQUELCH.
Perhaps he felt the foreign sensation embedding itself into his chest, for the giant’s head slowly lowered.
“What is your rank in the Mukhyul Gang?”
“…….”
For some reason, he was quiet. When I tapped his body, the giant was no longer breathing.
“Oh dear…… I did mean to stab him shallowly.”
I dragged the giant’s body into a place out of people’s sight, then moved through the shadows again and searched for a suitable target.
However, because they were trying to put out the fire, those who seemed to be the command staff were too close to the pavilion, and I could not find a suitable fellow.
Instead, I began targeting the rank-and-file.
“Hey, who the hell are you……?”
SQUELCH.
“Hey! Why are you not carrying water……?”
SQUELCH.
There was no need to fight.
After I caught and cut off the breaths of the fellows too busy carrying water to notice anything, other fellows soon filled those places.
Before I knew it, the narrow alley behind the building where I had been piling the corpses was so full there was no room to step.
‘I need to go a little farther inside.’
CRASH—
Just then, one side of the pavilion failed to endure the flames and collapsed, spreading fire everywhere.
“Dodge! The fire is spreading!”
“Get out, you bastards!”
“Gang Chief! Has anyone seen the Gang Chief?!”
As the pavilion collapsed, the pavilion beside it caught fire.
The bastards, whose minds had half fled already, stopped trying to put out the flames, threw down even their buckets, and began fleeing in every direction.
BOOM.
In the end, the largest pavilion collapsed, turning the area around the Grand Training Ground and the Grand Riding Ground into a sea of fire.
“The fire is spreading over there too! Bring water!”
“We do not have enough buckets.”
“Then bring dirt, you bastards!”
The moment people’s eyes were focused on another pavilion,
I slowly approached behind the dazed bastards.
And just as I was about to grab one and pierce his throat,
an unfamiliar voice came from above my head.
“You are a fearless fellow.”
“!”
The moment I raised my head, dozens of footprints filled the air.
CRACK—
When I hurriedly stepped with the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps to dodge, the floor made of Blue Steel Stone shattered, and fragments of stone flew in every direction.
‘What kind of destructive power is this…….’
I had heard that Snake Evil’s kick technique was an Ultimate Art, but I never imagined that a foot not even covered in internal qi would shatter Blue Steel Stone.
“You ran away from me earlier and came back again. Did I look that easy to you?”
A middle-aged man descended from the roof with his hands clasped behind his back.
The man, whose goatee made his impression look even more cunning, chuckled and said,
“I heard the Black Flame Dragon was a fellow whose mouth was the only thing alive, but you have learned a strange martial art.”
“I am not the Black Flame Dragon.”
“I saw you during Black Path Night March.”
Damn it, was he one of the Black Path bastards gathered there at that time?
“Ah! So we had a connection. Then could you step aside? This is between the Mukhyul Gang and me.”
Snake Evil twisted his goatee around his finger as he spoke.
“To speak precisely, it is between the Mukhyul Gang and the Yujang Sect.”
“Is there really any need to work so hard now that the one who will pay you is gone?”
“I always take payment in advance.”
“Well, believing a Black Path bastard’s credit would make one a total idiot.”
“Cluck, cluck, cluck. Your martial arts reek of a Daoist sect, yet why does your mouth sound like some back-alley thug?”
Snake Evil, with his hands behind his back, lifted his right foot and swung it like a whip eight times.
THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!
Even though my external arts training was not lacking and I had even wrapped myself in qi, the places the blows grazed hurt as if my bones would shatter.
Moreover, the entry and advance of his kick technique were faster than most swift swords, so I could not even aim for an opening.
I tried to widen the distance and swing the Black Dragon Sword, but Snake Evil did not allow that.
I brought up some trivial words to create an opening.
“My sword is my Ultimate Art. Do you not want to witness my swordsmanship?”
“Puh-hah. Do you mean that swordsmanship you used to kill the Mukhyul Gang Chief? My courage is small, so I have no curiosity.”
However, he was different from the foolish Sojeong Squad bastards.
THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!
With three directions, his Kick Qi occupied the space so thoroughly that not even water could leak through, and when I tried to retreat, he threatened me with an even larger attack and closed the distance.
“Where do you think you are going, little one!”
When I tried to rush in and knock him down, he used the narrow distance to strike my thigh, and each time, a tremendous shock erupted, enough to make my body stagger.
‘His improvisation is extraordinary.’
It was not a form of combat honed through martial duels or practice, but an extreme close-quarters combat art created through real battle.
Because of that, even when he used the same move, it felt like a different move,
and even when he used a different move, it felt like the same move.
It had only been a short moment, but because the battle had lengthened, the members of the Mukhyul Gang began looking this way one by one.
If I delayed any longer, even the fear I had originally intended to create would surely fail, so I desperately pulled my body away.
Retreating was also an important tactic.
“Are you still trying to run away?”
“There is someone waiting for me.”
“I will deliver the message that you could not go.”
“I decline. I prefer to speak directly.”
I stepped with the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps to the extreme and created three illusions.
At the same time, I unfolded the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist to block Snake Evil’s vision, drew out the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand, and aimed for Snake Evil’s Vital Acupoints.
He desperately twisted his body and launched Kick Qi to avoid the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand.
POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP!
Sparks burst everywhere along with the explosions.
“I felt it earlier too, but those are no ordinary flames. What martial art is that?”
“The righteous flame that beats down the Black Path.”
With those words, I scattered the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand, opened a gap, changed direction, and put strength into my legs.
But at that moment, Snake Evil said something strange.
“He’s still mine. Do not touch him.”
Prickle.
He clearly had not spoken to me.
The moment I quickly lowered my head at the strange feeling climbing up my spine,
SWIIIISH—
With a sharp sound of cutting air, my hair was severed and fell to the ground.
‘……I did not sense his presence?’
Snake Evil looked at my hair on the ground and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. I told you not to touch him.”
“Snake Evil, employer dead. Do not play around.”
“See, I told you. You should take payment in advance.”
“…….”
Why was he growing gloomy in the middle of a battle?
Ah, I truly hated this.
One fellow was smirking and joking even though his employer had died, and the other was sulking like a child because he would not get paid.
There were many strange people in the Orthodox Path murim as well, but compared to the Black Path bastards, they were extremely normal.
“Oh? Your promissory note is running away.”
Do not call a person a promissory note! You lunatic!
At Snake Evil’s words, Sword Evil raised his head and appeared before my eyes before I knew it, blocking my retreat.
“Do not run away. Promissory note.”
“At least treat me like a person!!”
When I scattered the Twin Heaven Sword Formula and constricted Sword Evil from all directions, one of Sword Evil’s brows twitched.
In an instant, Sword Evil’s sword began moving so quickly that it looked blurry.
WHIZZ— WHIZZ— WHIZZ— WHIZZ— WHIZZ—
I was shocked by Sword Evil’s move.
Good heavens, he did not distinguish between illusion swords and real swords.
Illusion deceives by deluding.
Conversely, if one does not distinguish between illusion and truth and cuts down all of them, one will not be deluded.
It sounded like something incredibly stupid, but seeing it in reality drew admiration from me on its own.
Enough that I secretly coveted it.
“How much were you supposed to receive?”
“A lot.”
“I can also give you a lot.”
“How much will you give?”
“Ten thousand gold taels?”
One of Sword Evil’s eyebrows moved.
No, he actually fell for that?
“……What do I do?”
“Please kill the Mukhyul Gang bastards and that Snake Evil over there.”
Snake Evil, who had been listening, grumbled and launched Kick Qi.
“Th-that idiot, why are you listening to him!”
“…….”
Sword Evil sulked and pouted, then shook his head.
“Snake Evil has bad temper. Holds grudges. Bullies for a long time.”
I avoided Snake Evil’s Kick Qi with the Iron Bridge technique and said, “Then you can just kill him here, cannot you?”
“If Snake Evil dies, I cannot get work.”
“Are you two friends?”
The answer came from Snake Evil.
“You could call us childhood friends.”
Oh-ho.
So they were friends.
“This is why adults tell you to choose your friends carefully.”
“That fellow became one of the Eight Evils all thanks to me.”
Just as Snake Evil said, perhaps because the two had coordinated for a long time, they covered each other’s weak points rather well.
Above the waist, Sword Evil stole my soul away, and below the waist, Snake Evil tangled my feet.
It was already difficult enough to face one of them, and now that I had to exchange moves with two, I could not even think of escaping.
I began forming a plan while engraving each of their martial arts into my mind.
“Is it something to be proud of, ruining your friend’s life?”
“For the Black Flame Dragon, infamy is also fame.”
Fuck, since when did my title become infamy?
The question surged up to my throat, but I swallowed it again at the blade that suddenly appeared before my eyes.
‘What kind of sword art has no presence?’
As if the sense I had felt earlier had not been wrong, Sword Evil’s sword art had no presence this time as well.
Putting speed aside, because my senses could not catch it, I could not turn my eyes away.
When I fixed my gaze on Sword Evil, Snake Evil persistently targeted my lower body.
“Over there! The intruder is over there!”
The members of the Mukhyul Gang, who had been distracted by the fire, began gathering one by one.
I unfolded the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist containing the Holy Flame Demon-Extinguishing Hand in one hand, and in my other hand, I unfolded the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula to create two swords of Ten Thousand Swords.
POP, POP, POP.
The Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist, facing Snake Evil’s kick technique, burst flames in every direction.
CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!
The Twin Heaven Sword Formula scattered by Ten Thousand Swords was shattered into pieces by Sword Evil’s sword.
If I infused them with Sword Qi, they would be stronger, but I could not buy time because I was dealing with Snake Evil.
Before I knew it, the Mukhyul Gang members who had occupied the area could not easily approach due to the aftermath of the battle, but they were exuding a fierce momentum, as if they would charge at me with weapons at any moment.
“Promissory note, give up. Arm gets cut.”
“…….”
Just as he said, I was moving my sword and hands so urgently that I could not even curse.
It felt as if I were some foreign object wedged between two perfectly fitted latches.
It was truly a situation where if I wavered even an inch, it would be difficult to avoid death.
Instead, I threw my body into their bosoms.
Sword Evil’s blade brushed just above my eyebrow, and the tip of Snake Evil’s foot left a sharp wound on my thigh.
‘Now!’
I withdrew the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist, then stretched even my left hand toward Sword Evil.
“Are you saying my foot is worth being hit by?”
Snake Evil swung his foot, which clearly carried internal qi, with all his might.
It carried destructive power that, if it struck, would leave not only my bones but even my skin far from intact.
With my withdrawn left hand, I seized Sword Evil’s blade.
My skin split open, and blood burst out like a fountain.
“Hm?!”
While Sword Evil made a startled expression, I unfolded Lotus, the art of Transplanting Flower and Grafting Tree Art, with all my strength and twisted Sword Evil’s Sword Path toward Snake Evil’s foot.
SQUELCH—.
BOOM!
The sound of flesh being pierced and the sound of compressed internal qi exploding rang out.