Danggye Jeyeom’s face contorted.

No matter how he looked at him, he was a nobody.

Not everyone who wore a sword at their waist was a martial artist. Not a single trace of sharp internal energy could be felt, and his momentum and atmosphere were all ordinary.

Danggye Jeyeom’s lips curled up as he instinctively felt that he was nothing special.

“Did you butt in because you want to die? Or do you want to play the part of a hero of justice trying to save a damsel in distress?”

Danggye Jeyeom’s momentum became a sword and focused on Cheon Mubaeck.

It was quite something. There was a reason he was a rising star. Of course, to Cheon Mubaeck, who had traveled the martial world and met all sorts of masters, it was a level that was not even worth mentioning.

“I never thought of it that way, but hearing you say that, it seems you yourself thought you were intimidating an innocent woman?”

Danggye Jeyeom’s face turned red.

At the talent of playing with people with just a single word, Danggye Jeyeom’s eyebrows twitched.

“Get lost. Your unnecessary meddling will only hasten your death.”

“Have you ever thought that those words might apply to you as well?”

Danggye Jeyeom gripped the hilt of his sword with a red face, as if he would explode at any moment.

But he did not draw it.

“Young Master, please endure it for now!”

“Are you crazy? Old man Gu? Don’t stop me. I have to cut that bastard’s head off to feel…”

“Compose yourself! Young Master!”

“…!”

At old man Gu’s shout, Danggye Jeyeom stopped with a surprised expression.

As the person who could not even raise his voice at him exuded momentum with a hardened face, Danggye Jeyeom could not move.

But seeing old man Gu, whom he had treated like a mere servant, stop him, Danggye Jeyeom’s anger erupted.

“Old man Gu? Are you crazy?”

Old man Gu said in a stiff voice.

“It is dangerous to swing a sword in the ironworks. If you make a big deal out of it, the family head will not look upon it favorably. Think about the influence of the Yukga Ironworks in Shandong, and furthermore, its influence in the martial world.”

“…!”

Danggye Jeyeom could not help but take his hand off the hilt of his sword, even while frowning.

If he made a big deal out of it and it reached his father’s ears, he would not even be able to dream of the position of heir in the future. But even if he understood it in his head, his emotions did not subside.

“Just quietly pay for the sword and leave.”

“Hmph. Old man. Let’s see each other after this is over. I have no intention of letting the rudeness you committed today slide.”

“…I will gladly accept my punishment.”

“Tsk.”

While listening to Danggye Jeyeom’s clicking tongue, old man Gu inwardly let out a sigh of relief.

Swinging a weapon at others in the ironworks was strictly forbidden.

However, that was not the entire reason. It was not the reason why old man Gu had stopped Danggye Jeyeom.

Old man Gu glanced at Cheon Mubaeck. His mind became complicated.

‘I don’t know. I really don’t know!’

A strange something that only an old martial artist who had lived in the martial world for decades could feel pierced his chest.

No matter how hard he looked, he could not see anything. He could not feel anything either.

Ordinary. There was no peculiarity.

That was why it was strange.

A graceful attitude and a beauty that naturally drew one’s gaze.

A low but unwavering voice. Even the shape of his well-built muscles faintly revealed through his clothes.

There was not a single element that could be felt as ordinary.

Despite having all the elements, the feeling that old man Gu received was extreme ordinariness.

His momentum, his atmosphere, he could not feel any peculiarity in anything.

This rather gave him a strong sense of incongruity.

So, instinctively, old man Gu stopped Danggye Jeyeom who was about to draw his sword.

If it were the first-rate Danggye Jeyeom, he would cut down that ordinary person who did not even have a handful of internal energy in an instant.

So did he stop him because he was worried about his opponent? Or did he stop him because he was afraid it would reach the family head’s ears, as he had excused?

It was neither.

‘I don’t want to die.’

That was right. The moment Danggye Jeyeom swung his sword, he had a strong intuition that he might cross a river of no return. Not just for Danggye Jeyeom, but for himself as well. If Danggye Jeyeom was attacked, as his guard, and as long as his granddaughter was in the Danggye Clan, he had to swing his sword for Danggye Jeyeom.

He was not afraid of swinging a sword. Because he had crossed swords countless times while going through the martial world.

But.

‘I don’t want a dog’s death.’

He did not know why. He did not know why he had such a conviction.

But since the experience of an old martial artist of several decades had made him act that way, old man Gu did not regret it.

“…Huh?”

Old man Gu’s eyes widened as he saw Cheon Mubaeck’s expression that flashed by.

An expression that seemed somewhat regretful appeared and disappeared. A part of old man Gu’s chest grew cold.

‘Was he waiting for it?’

Although martial artists have a strong impression of swinging their swords at the slightest provocation, depending on the situation, a justification is important.

For example, in an ironworks where swinging a sword is forbidden.

For a martial artist, the justification is very simple.

Self-defense.

Swinging a real sword means that one has decided to kill the opponent.

If Danggye Jeyeom had drawn his sword, Cheon Mubaeck would have gained a justification.

‘A justification to kill him without consequence.’

It was a natural thing for any martial artist in the world, no, even for the masters of the Orthodox Path.

If someone swings their sword first, it is the life of martial artists to cut off their life.

But no one can blame them.

In front of the just cause of self-defense.

Brrrrr!

‘No way…’

At that thought, old man Gu suddenly became afraid of Cheon Mubaeck.

Therefore, the way to live was to take the sword and leave as soon as possible.

Old man Gu stepped forward on behalf of Danggye Jeyeom.

“If we are to discuss the qualifications to purchase a sword, what are the criteria for those qualifications, and who judges them? If you are simply making such remarks to avoid selling the weapon, that would rather be a violation of the ironworks’ rules. We will pay the price of the weapon, so hand it over.”

As old man Gu pressed the employee, Danggye Jeyeom sneered.

“Yes. You speak well. Old man Gu. I’m not that lawless of a person. I’ll pay a lot of money. Hand over the sword.”

The employee did not know what to do and eventually sighed.

He glanced and saw that Yu Seoryeong still had an angry expression, but she could not step forward, just clenching her fists.

She probably did not have the money to pay the price.

Thinking that if he stubbornly resisted, as a low-ranking employee of the merchant group, he might mess things up, he eventually handed over the sword.

No, it was the moment he was about to hand it over.

“Wait. I also have an intention to purchase.”

“…!”

Danggye Jeyeom’s face contorted.

He felt his patience finally snap.

“Hey. Do you really want to die?”

“Wow. You have a talent for saying exactly what I want to say.”

“This crazy bastard. Do you even have money?”

Seeing his appearance, it seemed he was from a family that handled quite a bit of money, so Danggye Jeyeom was inwardly nervous.

“I’ll have it soon.”

“Soon? You don’t have it now? Ha. This worthless bastard.”

Danggye Jeyeom sneered to his heart’s content.

“You look like a guy who’s trying to imitate a martial artist after holding a sword once. I can tell without looking. How pathetic your sect or master is. Hehe. No, do you even have a master?”

Cheon Mubaeck’s face was still expressionless, but it was old man Gu who had hardened.

‘Oh no…’

Although he talked about the martial world, Danggye Jeyeom was also a novice. A frog in a well who had never been outside of Shandong, no, who had never even done anything properly in the Shandong martial world.

So he did not know what his current statement meant.

Insulting one’s sect and master was a more fatal attack than insulting an individual.

It was the way of martial artists to not tolerate their master being insulted, even if it meant giving up their own lives.

In a word, insulting one’s master and sect was a kind of taboo in the martial world.

An attack that would not be out of place even if a sword fight broke out immediately. It would have been more manly to just swing a sword, this was nothing.

Old man Gu hurriedly looked at Cheon Mubaeck.

‘…Huh?’

At that moment, a strange smile appeared on Cheon Mubaeck’s lips.

A smile that spread as if he had been waiting for it.

A coldness pierced old man Gu’s mind.

“I said I’ll have the money soon.”

“Are you playing word games with me? Are you trying to borrow money from someone? Hmph. I’ll pay twice as much as you, no matter what.”

“I’m not borrowing it. I have to get it from you.”

“What?”

“No matter how much you pay, I just have to pay more than that, right?”

Danggye Jeyeom made a dumbfounded expression.

What on earth did this mean? At the attitude of belittling and mocking him to the end, a murderous intent appeared on Danggye Jeyeom’s face. Danggye Jeyeom gritted his teeth.

“You’re crazy to want to die…!”

“It won’t be more expensive than the price of your life, right?”

Before the words were even finished, Danggye Jeyeom, who had understood the meaning, felt the string of his reason snap and rushed forward without realizing it.

No, it was the moment he was about to rush forward.

Jiiing!

Not a noise that pierced his ears, but a strange bursting sound that vibrated his entire brain.

The moment the bursting sound vibrated his brain, the hair on his whole body stood on end.

“…!”

The world turned black.

Pitch black.

Darkness fell as if ink had been poured.

Thoughts were cut off in his head. His cognitive ability became poor and his thoughts did not connect properly.

His whole body hardened like a stone and became as cold as ice.

Encroachment.

He was being encroached upon by the darkness. The ink-colored light quickly rushed in.

The moment the ink-colored light reached right in front of his nose. In the darkness, contrasting pure white and vicious teeth opened wide.

“Heok!”

Vicious teeth as if they would tear his throat out. At that moment, in Danggye Jeyeom’s cut-off thoughts, a single perception clearly emerged.

A terribly strange fear that he had never felt before in his life.

‘I’m going to die.’

Really, I’m going to be torn apart. By the teeth of that beast. My neck will be torn to shreds.

But at that moment, the teeth that were tearing at his neck disappeared. As the encroaching ink-colored light disappeared, light spread. Cheon Mubaeck’s strange smile appeared before his eyes.

“…”

A terribly heavy silence fell.

No one saw it.

From the sword being drawn, cutting through the air, and being sheathed again.

The series of processes, like a thunderbolt, like a flash of light.

It passed in a flash, but it could be said with certainty that there was not a single person on the scene who had watched the entire process.

At best, only two people vaguely understood that something had happened.

‘…Crazy.’

Yu Seoryeong had seen it faintly. No, to be precise.

‘I only saw the afterimage.’

The afterimage left by the sword.

An afterimage of a sharp, straight ink-colored line, as if ink had been poured into the air.

Old man Gu was slightly better than that. Because he had seen not only the afterimage but also the path the sword had taken, at least a little.

‘The entire process took place in a single breath. No, before the time it takes to inhale.’

The pinnacle of speed.

That was why no one had seen it. Old man Gu let out a hollow laugh at that moment.

The rule that swinging a sword in the ironworks was forbidden?

Who could enforce that rule?

Even the warriors who were watching the situation had not even seen the sword being drawn.

In just the blink of an eye, a tremendous momentum had encroached upon the ironworks, and the moment he came to his senses.

Thud!

“Ueo-eu-eu-eu!”

The sight of Danggye Jeyeom sitting on the floor with drool dripping from his mouth was truly pathetic.

His whole body trembled, his face was pale, and his eyes had lost focus.

Only then did old man Gu understand.

‘He could have killed him but didn’t.’

Old man Gu sighed inwardly and looked at the collapsed Danggye Jeyeom.

His confident momentum from before was gone, and his trembling appearance was shabby. People were murmuring. Because it seemed that he had just blinked and he was sitting there, terrified.

Even more so.

“Gasp.”

“Ugh, what is it? Did he wet himself?”

Seeing the bright yellow water spreading in a circle on the floor, old man Gu sighed.

‘It’s too expensive for the price of a life.’

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep