“Hahahaha! Wow. You were surprised, weren’t you? Huh? You were surprised, right? Right?”

A surprise attack with a cunning stab.

Gwak Cheon-hu, in order to block it, had taken two steps back without even realizing it.

To step back in a fight meant that he had been pushed back.

It was clear.

Gwak Cheon-hu had been defeated by Neung-heo’s one move.

If it had been another martial artist instead of Gwak Cheon-hu, a hole would have been pierced in his body before he could even block or dodge.

“Kya. This is Neung-heo’s Left Sword, I’m telling you.”

The elixirs he had eaten at Shaolin, and on top of that, the left-handed sword technique of the Red Blood Sword Demon.

Although he was always beaten by Cheon Mubaeck, Neung-heo had become a skilled person who could claim to be a peak master.

“Indeed… they say the martial world is wide.”

Gwak Cheon-hu sighed and gripped his sword again.

But what was on his face was not something like anger.

A faint heat.

On the contrary, it was a faint heat that had risen with excitement.

Moreover, his eyes were glittering and shining.

“I apologize for looking down on you. I’ll do it properly!”

As Gwak Cheon-hu’s momentum changed, Neung-heo’s face hardened.

“Huh? This is a duel, you know it’s a duel, right?”

It was killing intent.

What was a few years in the black-way? Wasn’t it Neung-heo who had rolled around for decades?

This was definitely killing intent.

At that moment, Im Hong, who had been watching, muttered in a pitiful voice.

“To think that he doesn’t know that a duel with the Fighting Ghost is a life-or-death battle.”

“What? Why is a duel a life-or-death battle! Huh? Doesn’t he know the word ‘duel’?”

“Well. The guys who died fighting are all dead, so there would be no one to spread the rumors.”

“No, shit! Hey! You bastard! Why are you telling me that now!”

Jjeojeojeojeok!

Neung-heo’s mouth was firmly shut.

If he had been distracted for even a moment, a sword strike that would have cut his body would have poured down.

“Keuk!”

Neung-heo’s left hand moved dizzily.

Neung-heo’s Left Sword.

So the left-handed sword technique of the Red Blood Sword Demon was a sword technique that placed a great emphasis on stabbing.

In other words, it was an extremely aggressive sword technique.

It also suited Neung-heo’s nature quite well, and who was the one who was teaching him?

It was Cheon Mubaeck.

Cheon Mubaeck, who had personally created the tremendous genius called the Sword Master in his previous life, also had a talent for teaching.

Thanks to that, the aggressiveness of the sword strikes that Neung-heo was pouring out was so intense that even Im Hong, who was watching, felt a chill down his spine.

But the opponent was not easy.

If it was about being aggressive, he was the Fighting Ghost who would be sad if he was second, and unlike Neung-heo, Gwak Cheon-hu was someone who had no shortcomings in not only attack but also in defense.

Jjeong! Jjeong!

“Indeed! They say the martial world is wide, and there was such a master!”

On the surface, it looked as if they were fiercely exchanging blows.

But anyone with even a little bit of an eye for things could roughly guess the situation.

Although Gwak Cheon-hu had the leisure to talk and be impressed, Neung-heo was slowly getting one or two wounds on his body.

What more needed to be said when the talkative Neung-heo was keeping his mouth shut?

Although Neung-heo had held on quite well in the beginning, he was gradually giving up space due to the continuous attacks.

Peok!

The Fighting Ghost not only used his sword well, but he also freely used his fists and feet at the right time.

“Keok!”

When a fist was planted in his abdomen, Neung-heo stepped back, throwing up what was inside him.

But he could not just stand there foolishly.

The sword strike of the Fighting Ghost, who had taken the reins, poured down.

Jjeong!

“Keup! I, I lost…!”

“You still look like you can fight enough!”

The moment Neung-heo was about to admit defeat.

Gwak Cheon-hu thrust his sword and blocked his mouth. At this point, Neung-heo’s stomach also turned upside down.

“This son of a bitch! I am the One-Eyed Snake, Neung-heo!”

“That’s right! Let’s fight as if it’s a life-or-death battle, not a duel!”

Gwak Cheon-hu burst into laughter as if he had been waiting.

On the contrary, his face was flushed with excitement. It was full of an excited look. Neung-heo, facing that face, felt goosebumps all over his body.

‘Shit, there’s another madman!’

Look at that flushed face, as if he were having sex with a woman.

This is a complete madman.

He regretted that he had been so eager to have a duel with such a madman.

Although Neung-heo fought with all his might, the momentum of the fight had already passed to Gwak Cheon-hu.

Gwak Cheon-hu moved as if he had grasped all of Neung-heo’s attacks, and Neung-heo, on the other hand, could not.

When the wounds on his whole body were increasing one by one.

When Neung-heo could not block it and a long wound was left on his abdomen.

Jjeo-eong!

A small dagger that had flown from somewhere struck Gwak Cheon-hu’s sword.

“…!”

Gwak Cheon-hu’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

Not only was his sword blocked by the flying dagger, but the tremendous repulsive force that was transmitted to his wrist made his hair stand on end.

On the other hand, Neung-heo, who had been staggering, twisted his lips and laughed without even realizing it.

“You son of a bitch, say you’re dead. Quickly.”

Cheon Mubaeck had come.

* * *

Cheon Mubaeck, who had finished training for a few days in the training ground that Im Hong had prepared, was in a pretty good mood.

Because he had polished and refined the Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique in his own way, and had completed it to some extent.

It wasn’t just that he had completed the sword technique.

The Heaven-Earth Eagle Steps, which the Ghost-Faced Asura of the Blood Demon Sect had been shocked by before.

The footwork that the demons of the past had also often said, ‘The Sword God fights while walking in the sky!’

He had shown some results in acquiring it.

But both the Heaven-Earth Eagle Steps and the Heaven-Concealing Sword Technique were monsters that consumed a tremendous amount of internal energy.

Cheon Mubaeck had researched and trained a way to use these two in an appropriate combination.

‘Well, the best way is to increase my internal energy.’

Eating elixirs was also a way, but that also had its limits.

‘I’ll have to increase my cultivation time relatively.’

Come to think of it, he had been busy lately and had not been able to properly cultivate the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

From Shaolin to the Ghost Tomb, and to the Blood Demon Sect.

Wasn’t it a very busy schedule?

At least now he had some leisure.

Of course, it wasn’t that Cheon Mubaeck was doing nothing and resting.

‘I’m looking into the Blood Ghost Valley through the Hao Faction, and Cheonghyeonjin from Mount Hua said he would help.’

So far, the only clue was that the old man named Gu-seong had fled to Shaanxi.

After that, his tracks were completely unknown.

Moreover, even while beating up the Blood Demon Sect, he could not find anything related to the Blood Ghost Valley.

But it probably wasn’t that there was nothing, so if it was the Hao Faction, they would be able to bring some results.

If he just caught one clue, he could start a full-scale tracking through the control of Mount Hua.

Until then, Cheon Mubaeck was thinking of organizing what he had obtained and concentrating more on the Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

So.

The plan before a guy who got on his nerves appeared was like that.

“This is…”

Gwak Cheon-hu’s pupils shook as if there were an earthquake.

He instinctively realized that the Cheon Mubaeck who had just appeared was unusual.

At least if he was the one who had blocked his sword by throwing a dagger…

“Are you by any chance the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero?”

“That’s right.”

“Heo. The Hao Faction is quite bold. To not sell information even with the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero right behind them… Then this person called the One-Eyed Snake must be one of your people.”

“That’s also right.”

Gwak Cheon-hu glanced at Neung-heo, who was covered in blood from his wounds, and took a fist-and-palm salute.

“It was a good duel, young hero.”

“Ha.”

Neung-heo had a face as if he had chewed on something.

Although he had nothing to say since he had been the one to ask for a duel first.

But to see him being polite, saying that it was a duel after attacking as if he would kill him, made his stomach turn upside down.

To be frank, Neung-heo had thought that even if he hadn’t died if he had lost the fight, at least one of his limbs might have been cut off.

That was how utterly ferocious Gwak Cheon-hu’s fighting spirit was.

“Hey.”

“Did you call me?”

“Are you a member of the Gwak family of Chongqing?”

Gwak Cheon-hu’s eyes widened.

“I was called the Gwak family. Now it’s the Flaying Sword Sect.”

“That brat has opened a sect.”

Gwak Cheon-hu flinched.

It was his father who had opened the sect.

But wasn’t Cheon Mubaeck muttering as if he knew him well?

Moreover, expressing him as a brat.

“A brat? Are you by any chance referring to my father?”

“Is your father’s name Gwak Yong?”

“…”

“You look just like him. You look like him when he was young.”

“What nonsense are you talking about!”

“His personality is also as shitty as a dog.”

“Young hero!”

“What, you bastard.”

“If you insult my father and me any more, I will not stand for it.”

“Well. You didn’t come here to fight anyway?”

Cheon Mubaeck smirked.

“Was that guy Gwak Yong’s nickname the Fighting God? The people of the martial world are really unique.”

“…”

“They just fight like a wild boar that has been hit by a forest fire, and they wrap it up, saying that it’s fighting spirit or whatever, and they even give him the nickname of the Fighting God. It’s the same for you, right?”

Cheon Mubaeck saw through Gwak Cheon-hu in one go.

He knew that type very well.

The ones you run into countless times while traveling the martial world.

‘Just guys who are crazy about fighting. Bastards who pick a fight, believing in the abilities they have.’

Were there just one or two?

And then they justify it as if it were the natural law of the martial world.

As if they were fighters who were full of a strong fighting spirit.

The people around them praise it, wrapping it up, saying that it’s fighting spirit, the Fighting God, or the Fighting Ghost.

In fact, they’re just gangster bastards who like to fight.

“Ha. I can’t stand it anymore. How can a young brat talk as if he knows my father?”

“Hey.”

“…Huh?”

“Do you use your mouth to fight with a sword?”

Padeuk.

Gwak Cheon-hu clenched his molars.

* * *

“Hey, Young Hero Neung.”

“What.”

“Is that guy the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero?”

“Since everyone calls him that, he probably is.”

“The Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero who saved Shaolin, and who saved Mount Hua, Zhongnan, and the fellow martial artists from the evil cult.”

“For now, that’s right.”

“But the scene I’m seeing in front of me is like some gangster beating up a child.”

“Our master is younger.”

“Ah.”

Im Hong let out a hollow laugh.

In fact, he was very tense.

The duel between the Fighting Ghost, Gwak Cheon-hu, who was counted as a successor, and the Heavenly Dragon Sword Hero, who had recently gained a reputation.

Although it was just a duel, Cheon Mubaeck’s provocation was fatal, and the Fighting Ghost was exuding killing intent, not his characteristic fighting spirit, and was coming at him.

Of course, Im Hong had expected Cheon Mubaeck’s victory.

But wouldn’t it be a pretty good fight to watch?

Because the Gwak Cheon-hu who was coming at him with his eyes half-rolled was more ferocious than when he had fought with Neung-heo before.

But the result now was unexpected.

Ppeok!

“Keuk!”

“Wow. All the blockages are being cleared.”

Neung-heo laughed with joy.

Gwak Cheon-hu was literally being beaten to a pulp by Cheon Mubaeck.

It was, in a sense, violence.

Ppaak!

“Uup!”

Cheon Mubaeck seemed to know very well where to hit to make the opponent feel pain.

At first, Gwak Cheon-hu had had a pretty even fight.

‘For about five exchanges?’

On the contrary, it seemed that Cheon Mubaeck had gone easy on him.

On the contrary, he had made a face as if he understood, and had sent Gwak Cheon-hu’s sword flying in one go, and had wielded that ruthless violence.

In fact, it was not just violence.

‘In-Internal Injury Technique!’

Gwak Cheon-hu, even in the midst of feeling like he was going to faint, could not help but be shocked.

He wasn’t just hitting him.

Every time he hit him, the opponent’s internal energy shook his insides.

Hitting the outside to hit the inside.

It was a pain as if his skin were being pierced and his bones and internal organs were being beaten.

What was even more maddening was that he did not faint.

The opponent was stimulating him with the Internal Injury Technique, preventing him from fainting.

So he was hitting him, making him feel the pain fully, without even letting him faint.

Gwak Cheon-hu, who had never been beaten like a dog like this in his life, was dumbfounded at his current state.

He was angry, but that also subsided after a while.

He even wished that he would stop hitting him.

He had just… just wanted to try fighting with a guy whose reputation seemed to be soaring to the sky.

This was not a duel, not a fight, and not a life-or-death battle.

It was just being beaten.

He suddenly felt a sense of injustice and shouted.

“S-Stop. Why are you doing this, to this extent!”

At that, Cheon Mubaeck pointed to a certain place with his finger.

“Huh? Me?”

Neung-heo’s face was contorted with emotion for a moment.

He had not known that Cheon Mubaeck would point at him there.

‘Ha. That guy. Pretending not to, but he still has a soft spot for me…’

Neung-heo, who had been receiving scoldings until now, felt a surge of emotion without even realizing it.

Of course, that was also for a moment.

Cheon Mubaeck’s indifferent voice was stuck in his ear.

“Even if I beat him, it’s me. Not him.”

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep