Chapter 47

-Brat, Go Wash Your Feet and Sleep

The back of his head suddenly felt cold.

"Sword ki!"

Damn it, wasn't this something that wasn't even forewarned!

In the brief moment that Bi Ryu-yeon turned around and waved his hand once at Hyo-ryong and Jang Hong who were standing behind him,
aiming for that small gap, six fierce and extremely sharp crescent-moon-shaped sword ki rushed towards him from the back of his head.

Huh, but when he tried to dodge the extremely shameless and impudent attack that was aiming for the back of his head and his back, damn it, the space was too narrow. Due to the narrow space, smooth evasive movement was impossible. The space was narrow, but the sword ki filled that narrow space and flew in as a surprise attack. In other words, it was impossible to dodge.

"Damn it!"

Bi Ryu-yeon had no choice but to raise his hand. In that instant, his right hand shone white and then was struck down like a thunderbolt. A strike as fast and strong as a thunderbolt, the Command Thunder Hand! The ultimate technique of the Command Thunder Hand, which was said to wield the energy of thunder, had been cast.

The sword ki and the thunder energy clashed head-on. Who said it couldn't be dodged? They didn't say it couldn't be blocked. Of course, if one had a superior power, they could also make it disappear. Bi Ryu-yeon tore the swarm of sword ki flying towards him in half with a simple hand movement, a single move. The thunder energy of the Command Thunder Hand and the unannounced sword ki collided head-on, a dazzling flash bloomed, and a roar echoed. And a huge shockwave that covered the surroundings!

The building shook, and the storm tore out the walls, drawing geometric shapes. The forest of swords shattered to pieces, and thousands of sword fragments scattered fiercely in the air like fallen leaves swept away by a storm. It was a power that was just right for a tour of the underworld just by being grazed.

Clang! Clang! Clang-clang-clang!

The bell rang violently due to the impact. But the bell, which could not withstand the force, soon shattered to pieces and rolled on the floor. It took some time for the storm, which had turned one side of the building into a completely irrecoverable ruin, to subside. The damage was even greater because it was an incident that occurred when forces beyond the limit clashed in a narrow space in an instant.

It was only after a long time that the storm finally began to subside, and the dense dust that had filled the corridor with a yellow color was finally cleared away.

"The bell rang, so did I pass?"

Bi Ryu-yeon smiled brightly, as if he had experienced nothing, and looked at one end of the corridor. There, a man with a long, heavy, and sharp greatsword with a tiger-patterned decoration had been standing silently for some time. His sword was a greatsword, much larger and sharper than a normal sword, and the angry tiger pattern decorated on the hilt was very impressive. And, Bi Ryu-yeon could recall having seen that angry tiger pattern decoration once before.

Roaring Tiger! Angry Tiger!

It is a famous symbol of Tiger Fang Manor, a prestigious family of the sword that has recently been gaining fame in the Murim. It was so famous that there was almost no one in this Nanchang who did not know this crest. Of course, Bi Ryu-yeon also had a memory of it, as he had visited Tiger Fang Manor a while ago. But he had seen the sword, but the man holding the Roaring Tiger Sword was someone he had never seen before.

And if you look closely, you will notice that the huge hegemonic sword the man was holding had a different shape from the ordinary Roaring Tiger Swords he had seen surrounded by numerous warriors at Tiger Fang Manor. Of course, that was if Bi Ryu-yeon's observation skills were that outstanding, and if he was interested in the man's sword. But the fact that his sword was an inch longer than the swords the manor disciples had at that time, that the decoration of the sword strike was more splendid and elaborate, and finally, that the color of the blade was a distinctly dark black, had little to do with Bi Ryu-yeon.

And the fact that that sword was the divine object, the Hegemon Roaring Tiger Sword, which was passed down only to the successor just before the master, had even less to do with it. It was a sword that the master had passed down to the man, meaning he was entrusting everything of himself and the manor to him. The man gripped his beloved sword even more firmly. Perhaps because of the sense of responsibility and expectation contained in the Hegemon Roaring Tiger Sword, his sword felt even heavier.

"Who are you?"

The person who spoke first was Bi Ryu-yeon. It seemed he was quite curious about the identity of the man who had appeared out of nowhere and had struck his back with sword ki. But seeing that he still had a bright smile, it didn't seem like he had any particularly bad feelings towards the opponent.

Finally, a voice as cold as ice came out of the man's mouth. His two eyes were burning silently with an uncontrollable anger.

"Do you remember Tiger Fang Manor?"

It was a question thrown out on the assumption that the opponent would naturally know, but Bi Ryu-yeon simply betrayed the man's expectation. It was only after pondering for a long time that Bi Ryu-yeon finally remembered where that place was.

"Tiger Fang Manor? Ah, I visited there a while ago."

As soon as he heard his words, a divine light shot out from the man's eyes. It was a gaze filled with a chillingly cold and intense killing intent.

"You call turning a martial arts sect of the Murim into a mess a mere visit?"

A fierce shout like a volcano erupting. The man seemed unable to hold back the anger hidden within him any longer. The man's emotions were about to run wild, to the point where it was impossible to control them with reason anymore. A hand that gripped the huge greatsword so tightly that it bled, two eyes gleaming with madness and anger, lips clenched so tightly that blood would seep out if he put a little more force, in every way, he was a typical human figure burning with the madness of revenge.

In general, the kind of people whose eyes are overturned by revenge are fatally lacking in a rational thought system in their heads, so they are not easy to deal with. Therefore, it is the best of the best to avoid them if possible. But one such human who wanted to go crazy with revenge was now standing in front of him with a sword.

"Ho Cheon-gang, the great disciple of Tiger Fang Manor, I challenge you here and now to wash away the disgrace of my sect. Pick up your weapon!"

The man in the blue martial robe said proudly, raising his sword forward. There was no redundancy in his disciplined movements. So, in the eyes of an ordinary person, it would have looked sufficiently intimidating. Surprisingly, the man was the great senior brother that the disciples of Tiger Fang Manor had been waiting for so faithfully. He was the very person who was not at the scene(?) due to his entrance to the Cheonmu Academy at the time of Bi Ryu-yeon's visit to Tiger Fang Manor.

But Bi Ryu-yeon's face, who had received Ho Cheon-gang's challenge, still showed no sign of agitation. He just showed an unknown smile...

"A challenge? I see that these days, a challenge is made by sending sword ki at the opponent's back without warning. Is this perhaps a unique and individualistic way of challenging here? Or did you perhaps mistake an ambush for a challenge?"

His tone was polite, to the point of being cynical.

"Th-that was just a greeting, there was no other intention."

As Ho Cheon-gang stammered out an excuse in a flustered manner, Bi Ryu-yeon looked around the passage, which had been reduced to a near ruin. And after intentionally looking around the corridor once, he said.

"Don't you think it was too grand for a greeting?"

"Y-you insolent punk!"

Seeing his complexion change from red to blue every moment, it seemed there was almost no reason left in him. From now on, emotions would begin to dominate his body and mind. But he was still holding back his anger and swallowing it down without exploding. He couldn't just launch a preemptive strike without warning again. If it happened one more time, it was obvious that he would be branded as a petty coward who aimed for the opponent's back without warning, regardless of his own intentions. So Ho Cheon-gang endured it for now.

Without caring about Ho Cheon-gang, who was in the midst of a fierce struggle with himself, Bi Ryu-yeon diligently analyzed the situation. And he summarized it simply.

"So, what you're saying is that I visited Tiger Fang Manor and, absurdly, Tiger Fang Manor was damaged. To get revenge for that, you're going to defeat me and restore the prestige of your sect! Of course, it's questionable whether I did anything to deserve your grudge."

A reason to deserve revenge? There were plenty and various reasons, but Bi Ryu-yeon might be deliberately ignoring those facts. Bi Ryu-yeon asked.

"But then, are you bluer?"

It was a question without any context.

A sudden question from Bi Ryu-yeon. Bi Ryu-yeon asked like a supervisor checking a construction site.

'Bluer? Is that punk crazy?'

Ho Cheon-gang couldn't understand or comprehend what Bi Ryu-yeon was babbling about.

"What are you talking about?"

'What are you babbling about? I can't understand what you said at all,' Ho Cheon-gang asked back with an honest face.

"I'm asking if you're bluer. Don't you know?"

Bi Ryu-yeon said in a reproachful tone, as if it were really too much that he couldn't know that. For Ho Cheon-gang, who was hearing such words, it was just dumbfounding and unfair.

"You're quite slow on the uptake, aren't you? To make a person repeat the same words twice."

With an extremely annoying face, Bi Ryu-yeon nonchalantly scratched Ho Cheon-gang's insides as if scratching a bowl. Ho Cheon-gang couldn't even guess whether that guy was saying such things sincerely or if he was doing it on purpose. He was a completely unpredictable punk. For the guy who was staring blankly and pondering over Bi Ryu-yeon's sudden words, he decided to explain it kindly.

"What I'm saying is, are you 'blue from indigo'? That's what I'm saying. In other words, are you stronger than your master? That's what I'm saying. I think the head is for using, not for decoration."

Bi Ryu-yeon showed a faint smile, but it's safe to bet all your fortune that that smile did not give Ho Cheon-gang any good feelings at all. Rather, it only provoked him even more.

Ho Cheon-gang was enraged once again. For him, who was young and full of vigor, such words were no different from a terrible insult. But he still had some patience left in him, so he didn't howl like a beast while swinging his sword. But it seemed that reason was also running out.

"Hehehe... How can my insignificant skills dare to be compared to my master's? Don't do such a foolish thing!"

Ho Cheon-gang answered, barely suppressing the anger that was boiling like lava.

"That's strange, isn't it?"

Hearing Ho Cheon-gang's answer, Bi Ryu-yeon tilted his head as if he couldn't understand at all and asked back.

"What is?"

Ho Cheon-gang's tone became more and more irritable and sharp.

"Isn't it? How could you step forward to do something about me, whom even Tiger Fang Manor, where your master and the elders of your sect were gathered in large numbers, couldn't do anything about, even though you yourself know and accept that your skills are inferior to your master's? Surely you're not hoping for a fluke, are you? That's an act of looking down on the world too much."

'Surely not,' Bi Ryu-yeon's gaze, filled with all sorts of questions, was directed at Ho Cheon-gang. His tone was very kind and gentle compared to the content. His face was as if he were saying, 'For me, your ability to analyze the situation and your sense of thinking are truly an incomprehensible mystery.' Whether he knew Ho Cheon-gang's state, where the thread of reason had become extremely weak, or not, Bi Ryu-yeon continued to turn Ho Cheon-gang's stomach upside down. Ho Cheon-gang's shoulders were trembling severely.

His sword was gripped so tightly in his fiercely trembling right hand that it seemed it would never come out of his hand.

'Why am I not crazy yet?'

Ho Cheon-gang was just amazed at himself. It felt as if his mind was gradually turning white.

'I have to have a formal duel quickly. Quickly, formally... formally...'

To Ho Cheon-gang, who was struggling to pull himself together by repeating it to himself countless times, Bi Ryu-yeon delivered a decisive blow that turned his desperate efforts into nothing in an instant.

"Challenging the impossible is something a man might try once in his life, but this time it seems too absurd. In my opinion, it would be very beneficial for your physical and mental health to just go home, wash your feet, and get a good night's sleep."

At least on the outside, Bi Ryu-yeon's words, which seemed to be full of courtesy, were already close to ridicule, beyond taunting, for Ho Cheon-gang. To put it a bit twistedly, but to interpret it easily, wasn't it saying, 'Kid, don't waste your time on something you're no match for, just go home, wash your feet, and sleep!'

"You punk!"

In the end, Ho Cheon-gang's anger exploded. There was no more patience. For Ho Cheon-gang, it was a miracle that he had endured this far. A terrifyingly strong sword ki bloomed from the Hegemon Roaring Tiger Sword he held. The words he had said earlier about being weaker than his master were just humility, as it was a terrifying energy that even a considerable master could not ignore.

But what should not be overlooked here is the fact that Bi Ryu-yeon was not a considerable master. And that was a great misfortune among misfortunes for Ho Cheon-gang.

To Ho Cheon-gang's patheticness, who was rushing in like a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot, trying to derive some unexpected result without even properly gauging his own skills, Bi Ryu-yeon responded with a polite taunt and a high-class ridicule. A brat who couldn't even grasp his own place was nothing more than a laughingstock to him. Unlike Ho Cheon-gang's words, his Fierce Tiger Thirty-Six Swords had a power that was not inferior to his master, Ho Cheon-sang's. During the year he had trained at the Cheonmu Academy, Ho Cheon-gang had made great progress without even realizing it. His self-improvement was commendable and praiseworthy, but that by no means meant that he could defeat Bi Ryu-yeon.

Without caring about the hegemonic sword ki that was extending with a terrifying momentum, Bi Ryu-yeon rushed in. The sword ki that was crushing in from all directions passed by his body in vain, and Bi Ryu-yeon was able to leisurely plant his right foot in Ho Cheon-gang's lower abdomen. It was a thoughtless kick. The match was decided anticlimactically with this one blow. The direction of victory and defeat was so clear that there was no room for reconsideration. Ho Cheon-gang's face turned pale. His tongue was frozen from the shock of being so terrified that he couldn't even speak properly.

"Th-th-thth..."

Ho Cheon-gang's two eyes widened as if he had witnessed an unbelievable fact. His hand holding the Hegemon Roaring Tiger Sword trembled violently like an aspen tree. Ho Cheon-gang could not believe the current reality. It was not because of Bi Ryu-yeon's foot that was stuck in his abdomen. It was already unfair and frustrating to be hit by a thoughtless kick, but the Command Thunder Hand that Bi Ryu-yeon had struck with his thoughtless kick—Bi Ryu-yeon had struck his precious sword with the Command Thunder Hand at the same time as he had slammed his thoughtless kick into Ho Cheon-gang's abdomen—was an even bigger problem. It was a shock beyond shock for Ho Cheon-gang. The place on the blade of the Hegemon Roaring Tiger Sword where Bi Ryu-yeon's Command Thunder Hand had struck could no longer be found. It meant it was no longer there. The remaining part of the blade, which had been cut in half, was rolling on the floor beyond the five viscera like a piece of a broken gourd.

The divine object of the sect was broken. For Ho Cheon-gang, it was an earth-shattering event, the same as the jade Buddha statue of Shaolin being broken, or the bamboo staff of the Beggars' Sect being broken.

Ho Cheon-gang was so startled that he was about to faint, and his mind went blank, so he was in a state where he could not think or reason at all. Seeing his idiotic appearance with his eyes glazed over and his legs giving way, he temporarily folded the fist he was about to throw for a second blow and began to observe the situation. But Ho Cheon-gang did not think of moving, like a hardened stone statue. His mind was already empty.

No matter how foolish and loose he looked on the outside, with a screw loose, Bi Ryu-yeon was a person who was raising hundreds of cunning snakes inside. To rush at such an opponent without any countermeasures, it was natural to be beaten and fall down. It was a pity for the person who had fallen, but it was a natural result.

Although he had tried to speak politely, as you know, Bi Ryu-yeon had not a speck of politeness in him, so there was no such thing as going easy on him. So, although it was troublesome, Bi Ryu-yeon once again moved his hand like a thunderbolt and touched Ho Cheon-gang's entire body evenly. It was the scorching heat of the Three Dog Days Beating Fist Method. After beating up the successor of a sect like a dog on a dog day, he was calmly contemplating the next treatment when a person appeared and saved him the trouble. But it was by no means a welcome person.