Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 196 - Conflict (3)
Chapter 196 – Conflict (3)
In my previous life, I had never heard of a Daoist named Cheong-yu. Because of that, I had taken it to mean that Cheong-yu was not a strong enough expert to make his name known in the jianghu.
“Heh…”
Zhuge Gyeom’s sword was simply blocked by Cheong-yu’s sword. If I had tried to block it, I would have had to use every trick I knew just to divert it to the side. As expected, the Cheong generation was different.
“Why are you only laughing? Do you not intend to answer my question?”
With his characteristic prickly tone, Cheong-yu pressed Zhuge Gyeom. When it was aimed at me directly, it was annoying, but when it was aimed at an enemy, it felt incomparably reassuring.
“Because it is absurd.”
“What is absurd?”
“That a mere elder of the Wudang Sect would maintain such an attitude toward the head of a great family.”
The martial world was governed not by age, but by generation order. No matter how young someone was, if his generation standing was high, one spoke respectfully to him, and even if he was older, if his generation was lower, one spoke casually.
In that sense, the head of one of the Five Great Families was tacitly treated as being on the same level as the sect leader of one of the Nine Great Sects. So in truth, Cheong-yu ought to have been using the highest level of honorific speech toward Zhuge Gyeom.
But Cheong-yu was a man who valued acting like a Daoist of Wudang more than he valued the martial world’s conventions.
“It is only because you are at least a clan head that I am using polite speech at all. Do not forget that I am already showing consideration.”
“I never asked for your consideration. Whether you speak casually to me or respectfully is not what matters.”
At Cheong-yu’s words, Zhuge Gyeom’s face flushed red. A rebellion against the proper order was taking place in real time. On top of that, all the people of the other great families and sects were gathered here. Which meant Zhuge Gyeom would feel even deeper humiliation.
“What matters is whether you tried to harm a disciple of the Wudang Sect.”
“And if I did?”
“Then as a man of Wudang, I cannot simply stand by and watch.”
“And if you cannot stand by and watch, what exactly do you intend to do?”
The atmosphere turned cold. Both Zhuge Gyeom and Cheong-yu were releasing their presences to the fullest, but even so, Cheong-yu’s aura was being pushed back slightly.
“N-now, now. That is enough, both of you. This is going to become a disaster.”
When it truly looked as though they were about to clash, people stepped forward to stop them.
But Zhuge Gyeom would not permit even that.
“No one move. If you do, I will regard you as enemies of the Zhuge Clan.”
At Zhuge Gyeom’s lion’s roar packed full of internal force, everyone froze.
“Right now, I have been deeply insulted by that elder of the Wudang Sect. If anyone tries to stop this, that means he is taking the side of Wudang.”
“Clan Head, you are too agitated. Please calm yourself just a little more…”
“Calm myself, my ass.”
When Zhuge Gyeom barked, the elder of the Hebei Peng Clan who had been trying to stop him shut his mouth.
At this point, it could no longer be helped. The situation had been shaped so that a clash was inevitable. For a moment, the wind stilled between Cheong-yu and Zhuge Gyeom.
That was the moment they moved.
Kugugung.
Cheong-yu’s sword and Zhuge Gyeom’s sword began to collide with each other. The sounds that burst out at intervals were not the sounds of swords striking, but the sounds of explosives going off.
The tables and chairs inside the dining hall were overturned, and food began spilling everywhere. But now no one could stop Zhuge Gyeom and Cheong-yu.
As I watched, I frowned slightly. I too had seen the sword of the Zhuge Clan before. It had only been their Minor Star Sword Art, but I remembered it as a very logical and composed sword art.
Of course, Minor Star Sword Art could not possibly be the only sword art the Zhuge Clan possessed. Still, the general nature of their swordsmanship should have been similar, yet the sword art Zhuge Gyeom was now unfolding was strange and chilling enough that one would not be wrong to say it belonged to the unorthodox path.
“Since when has the Zhuge Clan walked the evil path?”
Cheong-yu, who was directly facing it, pointed that out as well. But Zhuge Gyeom merely kept chopping down his sword without answering.
Cheong-yu kept drawing curves and redirecting the sword, while Zhuge Gyeom targeted Cheong-yu’s body with the fastest possible trajectories. Flashes of straight lines and curves intertwined brilliantly.
“Ugh.”
But once a hundred exchanges had passed, Cheong-yu began to fall clearly behind. Redirecting became less and less effortless, and he even started allowing small cuts.
“This is going to be bad at this rate, is it not?”
“It is. The Alliance Leader has to come out at least…”
As more and more wounds appeared on Cheong-yu’s body, some people began to worry. But from their position, they could not intervene. Zhuge Gyeom had already threatened that the moment anyone entered this fight, he would declare them enemies of the Zhuge Clan.
Which meant that only I could step in.
“Ah.”
People cried out. A crisis had come for Cheong-yu. A sword stroke he failed to fully deflect had driven quite deeply toward his waist. If he allowed that through, he would clearly suffer a serious wound.
“…This is getting laughable.”
Zhuge Gyeom said that with a sigh. Before the blade could bury itself in Cheong-yu’s waist, my sword had already gone in and blocked it.
“And what changes because you interfere, brat?”
With a roar, Zhuge Gyeom burst out sharp force. Keen sword qi shot toward Cheong-yu and me.
It was certainly strong and fast. But now that it had split into two streams, it was no longer beyond what I could handle.
“Huh.”
When I redirected Zhuge Gyeom’s sword qi with the same movement Cheong-yu used, exclamations spilled from the mouths of the onlookers.
I naturally moved into the place where Cheong-yu’s intent did not extend, namely the opposite side. In other words, with Zhuge Gyeom in the middle, Cheong-yu and I now stood behind and in front of him.
“You bastards dare.”
Zhuge Gyeom’s sword qi seemed to gather together, and then took on a clear shape. Normally sword qi spread outward in a flowing way, so this was the first time I had seen something like that.
“Sword Force.”
Someone shouted the name, allowing me to understand what it was. That was Sword Force, the mark of a transcendent master.
‘It is beautiful.’
It belonged to an enemy and it was aimed at me, but even so, that impression remained valid.
Still, I could not just admire it. Zhuge Gyeom rushed straight at me. Since I was weaker than Cheong-yu, he meant to break through my side first.
The sword imbued with Sword Force came down at me. Reflexively, I raised my sword and blocked. But astonishingly, my sword was cut through by the Sword Force.
The pine-pattern sword granted to disciples of Wudang was naturally of good quality. Mine even held sword qi within it. Yet to think it would be severed so emptily.
As I watched my sword being cut apart, I let go of the hilt and bent my body as far as possible. If I had not let go of the hilt, my chest would have been split open right then. If even an iron sword could be cut apart that easily, then how much more easily would flesh be severed?
Projected force swirled and wrapped itself around my fist. I had abandoned the sword at once and unfolded Dragon Splendor Soaring Wind Dance.
“Hm?”
Because I suddenly used a martial art of a completely different nature from Wudang’s, Zhuge Gyeom seemed slightly startled.
Unlike the Wudang Sect’s leisurely and unadorned body arts, Dragon Splendor Soaring Wind Dance was fast and dazzling. Zhuge Gyeom’s sword imbued with Sword Force brushed past the bridge of my nose. The gap truly was no more than a sheet of paper.
The thought that I might have spent the rest of my life without a nose sent a chill down my spine, but apart from that, my martial senses were already moving my arms and legs swiftly.
I kicked upward, aiming for Zhuge Gyeom’s chin. It was a rising kick launched from such close range that my right foot and left foot nearly became vertical.
With the hand not holding his sword, Zhuge Gyeom struck my shin. The trajectory shifted and my foot seemed about to shoot straight into the sky, but the kick circled back toward Zhuge Gyeom and came crashing down. It was Dragon Linked Kick of Dragon Splendor Soaring Wind Dance.
When my toes struck the ground, fragments scattered. Zhuge Gyeom stepped backward. He could not come forward again, because the moment he moved back, Cheong-yu was there.
In the end, Cheong-yu caught up with Zhuge Gyeom, and I too pressed in from the front again. My sword had been cut in half, but the edge still remained, and since I mixed in a great deal of body art centered on Dragon Splendor Soaring Wind Dance, I was more than capable of remaining a threat.
In the chaotic situation of three people interweaving together, my ability to see intent shone brilliantly. This too was my first time fighting someone in tandem with another, and if I had not been able to see intent, my movements likely would have overlapped with Cheong-yu’s techniques and only tangled us up.
But because I could see intent, I could perfectly match Cheong-yu’s support and pressure Zhuge Gyeom from the exact opposite side of where Cheong-yu struck. If I could make even the head of one of the Five Great Families split his attention, that was already more than enough to count as one full man’s worth.
Just as the three of us had been tangled together for some time like that, I felt a burst of projected force rapidly approaching me. Because it had suddenly flown in from outside, I was startled and jumped back.
When I dodged and looked ahead, both Zhuge Gyeom and Cheong-yu had also retreated. They had felt the same thing I had.
“Now then, all of you stop here.”
The one standing in the middle of the three of us was none other than the Martial Alliance Leader Su Je-heon. Well, naturally, anyone who could stop all three of us at once would have to be a master above that level.
“Alliance Leader. It seems you came too late to hear it, but right now I am fighting with the dignity of the Zhuge Clan on the line.”
“And I am stopping this fight with the dignity of the Martial Alliance on the line. I invited guests after a long time. If a fight breaks out, is it not only natural that the host should stop it?”
There was a firmness in Su Je-heon’s tone that said he would accept no rebuttal. Zhuge Gyeom seemed to sense it too, and clicked his tongue before sheathing his sword.
“You will regret this, Alliance Leader.”
Leaving those words behind, Zhuge Gyeom turned sharply and strode away. Several members of the Zhuge Clan, including Zhuge Yan, hurried after him.
Once the people of the Zhuge Clan had left, the dining hall was complete chaos. The dishes and food had been overturned, the windows were broken, and even the floor had cracked.
“Heh. I was reviewing some documents for only a moment and did not expect this to happen. I apologize for coming late.”
Su Je-heon looked around at the surroundings and gave a fist-and-palm salute.
“How could this be the Alliance Leader’s fault? We should have stopped it and failed to do so. If you want to speak that way, then it is our fault as well.”
“To hear you say that lightens my burden somewhat.”
The elders and the Martial Alliance Leader seemed intent on wrapping this whole situation up with a harmonious scene.
But I had no intention of letting this end so warmly.
“Now that the Alliance Leader is here, I suppose I can ask.”
“Hm?”
“Why did you provoke conflict?”
It was a short and plain question, without the slightest embellishment. Precisely because of that, it carried greater destructive force.
“Haha. I am not sure I understand what you mean.”
“Then is it the official position of the Martial Alliance to humiliate secular disciples like this and drive their treatment into the dirt?”
At my words, the collateral lines turned blazing eyes on Su Je-heon. There was no emotion better than anger when it came to binding people together as one.
“It seems you are distorting things somewhat. I merely separated them.”
“Are you going to maintain that attitude?”
“What sort of attitude are you referring to?”
“The cowardly attitude unworthy of the leader of the orthodox martial world.”
At my words, not only the clan elders but even Cheong-yu opened their eyes wide. I knew it myself. By generation order, I ranked even below Myeong-gyeong. For someone like me to speak this roughly to the Martial Alliance Leader was something the martial world would never normally tolerate.
“A cowardly attitude, hm. Is that how it looked?”
“If anyone sets things up so obviously and then tries to slip away by saying he never meant it, that is a very cowardly method.”
“I see. If it looked that way, then I apologize.”
Unexpectedly, Su Je-heon gave me a fist-and-palm salute and bowed his head. That sight shocked everyone even more than when I had spoken rudely to the Alliance Leader.
In that way, Su Je-heon apologized to me, and even apologized to the direct lines and the collateral lines. He even publicly declared that the treatment of the collateral lines would be restored.
If that was how he intended to end it, then why had he done something like that to begin with? I had thought that question would remain unsolved unless I could step inside Su Je-heon’s heart, but perhaps that was not the case.
“The Alliance Leader requests your presence.”
Late at night, after the sun had long gone down, a messenger of the Martial Alliance came quietly to my room. It was a private meeting with the Martial Alliance Leader.