“How dare you, in a place like this!”
“Boss, give the order!”
To the giant's left, two men were glaring at Jeong I-shin as though to kill him.
To his right, Heo Ung, who had fled, knelt with the veins standing out on his neck.
“It is certainly the Tattered Garment Iron Guard Corps!”
“......The Beggar's Gang, you say?”
“Yes, Boss! I am certain!”
The giant, the Boss, nodded and asked Heo Ung,
“What became of the Third Squad?”
“Th-They were wiped out.”
“Then why did you come back alive?”
“......U-Uh, what?”
That idiotic answer was Heo Ung's last will.
CRUNCH!
Heo Ung's head burst apart.
Blood spattered down and soaked the ground.
“A man who sat in a seat beyond his station. To have such wretched judgment of people.”
The giant clicked his tongue and wiped his hand.
Jeong I-shin's mouth fell open.
Of course he had witnessed a killing just before, but this was far too naked.
‘Life really is as cheap as a fly's.’
Heo Ung, who had laughed as he told Shin Jong-ik of the Azure Cloud Escort Agency that his head would come off.
Absurdly, the one who ended up that way was Heo Ung himself.
Goosebumps rose along the back of his neck.
Anew. Truly, freshly anew.
Looking at Heo Ung's skull, burst by a fist, he felt it once more through his whole body.
This land.
This land he stood on with both feet was a world where human rights were driven into the dirt.
‘The murim of the Central Plains.’
So I have finally come to the four old men's homeland.
He was letting out a breath at that short yet long reflection when.
“Young. Ordinary bearing, too. Dressed like a beggar, but you're no beggar.”
At the Boss' words, which sounded like an analysis of him, he tilted his head.
“Why do you think that?”
“Smell. You have no smell. Only what you've draped over yourself is worn out; the scent coming off you is clean. Why did you play at being of the Beggar's Gang?”
“......What nonsense. Where in the world is there a madman who pretends to be a beggar?”
“And if you were of the Tattered Garment Iron Guard Corps to begin with, this one would never have come back alive.”
Looking at Heo Ung's corpse spilling bright red blood in gouts, the Boss shook his head.
“State your affiliation. Why did you approach the Ink Tiger Keep?”
“This bastard doesn't listen to a word I say.”
“Fine. If you won't speak nicely...... then blood it is. Twin Swords, cut off only his limbs.”
The two men standing beside the Boss kicked off the ground at the same time.
The Boss had spoken so calmly that he had not even realized an attack had been ordered.
‘Wasn't this supposed to be more of a conversation?’
Jeong I-shin lowered his stance and swept his eyes over the surroundings.
Besides the two charging at him, there were more than ten people on the grounds.
Naturally he took into account all of them joining in.
‘Hmm, even if they all come at once...... it wouldn't make much difference.’
They were better than the ones he had knocked down on the way, but the gap was not large.
The energy he faintly sensed from them was all coarse and impure.
It was different from the Boss' fairly weighty energy.
The difference in level was considerable.
‘Is that why he plays the leader?’
In the end, the conclusion was that nothing here posed a threat.
Only then did he look at the men rushing him.
“Insolent bastard......! I'll have you crawling on your belly!”
Clear hostility was right in front of him.
The instant a sword flashed toward his lower body, Jeong I-shin rang the temple bell within.
DONG—
Since the second Thunder Ring had formed, the true qi of the Sinew-Transforming Marrow-Cleansing Scripture had also taken on a warm amber hue.
Thanks to the Thunder Ring's function his accumulated qi had increased, but the total volume of true qi was still small.
Since preserving his body took priority, the Scripture's true qi had only now barely passed the inner arts volume of a third-rate martial artist.
‘Enough.’
But even so it was enough. He did not even need ‘Amplification.’
Amber true qi rose strand by strand and wrapped his hand.
Jeong I-shin took a step forward to meet the bandit lunging in.
The distance closed in an instant and the trajectory of the sword the bandit had thrust went astray.
He did not seem capable of correcting his sword path moment to moment; the man could not hide his panic.
Jeong I-shin struck the sword blade that had lost its momentum. There was no hesitation even in hitting a blue-white blade with his bare hand.
CLANG—!
The bandit's eyes went wide at how easily the blade shattered.
Before the man could gather himself, Jeong I-shin struck his abdomen, seized his collar, and hurled him.
“Uheok!”
The man who had been following close behind hastily withdrew his sword.
The moment he caught his comrade in an awkward posture, Jeong I-shin, who had followed right in, drove out a single palm.
The target was the chest of the man he had thrown.
The principle held in the extended hand was Striking the Ox Through the Mountain.
Interpreted literally, it meant striking a mountain to hit the ox on the other side of it.
Dig into it and it was an art with much to argue over, beginning with force-issuing.
‘Just a good hard smack.’
To Jeong I-shin it was merely one of the forms Gongheon had carved into his body.
THUD—!
“Guhk......!”
The bandit who had caught his comrade from behind floated up and crashed down.
Soon the two bandits rolled across the ground tangled together.
Jeong I-shin strode over and struck both of them on the back of the neck.
Looking at them sprawled like dolls, he rolled his wrist.
“Easy enough.”
His plain remark stirred a small commotion.
“The Ink Wolf Twin Swords in one go......!”
“The Second Squad Leader wasn't even touched, how!?”
The sound of indrawn breath spread through the place.
Just before that murmuring crossed its limit.
THUD!
“Oh.”
THUD! THUD—
The Boss rose from his throne.
He took one step, then another, and the ground shook in time with them.
‘He's big, sure, but enough to shake the ground? He's not an elephant.’
Even if his bones were made of steel it would not resound like this.
The true qi drifting off the giant's lower body was clearly visible.
‘A martial art of the kind that increases weight?’
Jeong I-shin's eyes brightened.
When he had learned Shaolin's martial learning from Gongheon, he could not help asking about the Thousand-Catty Drop.
Was it not the most famous technique alongside the Tathagata Divine Palm?
But Gongheon's answer had been deeply shocking.
‘Shin, does it make sense for a person to become a thousand catties? There is no such thing as the Thousand-Catty Drop in this world.’
‘......Liar!’
In truth, the Thousand-Catty Drop meant using one's center of gravity and true qi to become as immovable as a thousand-catty weight, he had said.
‘To think it isn't increasing mass. You can bring down a mountain with a sword, so why can't you increase your own weight?’
Holding that reasonable doubt, he faced the Boss.
Sure enough, the man's steps were also close to a kind of footwork arts.
When the steps stopped, the true qi that had been pouring from the Bubbling Spring Points of his soles cut off abruptly.
Jeong I-shin stuck out his lips.
“He puts on a filthy amount of bluster.”
The Boss was a giant a full head taller than Jeong I-shin.
He looked down at Jeong I-shin with indifferent eyes.
“So you're not entirely a nobody. I too am a martial artist who walks the martial path. I will face you in earnest.”
“Are you from the Hwangbo Clan?”
“......What was that?”
“I've heard the Hwangbo's bluster is second to none.”
“Impudent.”
THUD—
The Boss stamped his foot hard, and at the same moment Jeong I-shin stepped back.
CRASH!
An instant later, an enormous fist buried itself where Jeong I-shin had been standing.
It was the blow that had burst Heo Ung's skull.
As the dirt ground cracked open, Jeong I-shin did not counterattack but studied the Boss.
He could not tell exactly, but the momentum against his skin was respectable.
Jeong I-shin intended to learn his own level through this fight.
“Hwangbo. What sort of level are you?”
WHOOOSH!
The fist flew the instant he asked.
“You bastard......! Watch yourself!”
“I'm asking because I really want to know.”
“You rat-like bastard!”
WHOOSH!
Dodging fist after fist, Jeong I-shin realized something.
‘He isn't that different?’
It was true he was far faster and stronger than Heo Ung or the other bandits. The footwork arts that seemed to increase his weight were interesting too.
But this level could not enter Jeong I-shin's classification system for martial prowess.
To put it bluntly...... it seemed he would lose even to the flying squirrel.
“If I had to put it, three times Heo Ung? About three Heo Ungs?”
“How dare you!! To me, who has been chosen by that person......!”
CRAAASH!
The Boss smashed the ground with his fist once more, then stamped his foot hard.
THOOM—!
Qi rippled from his lower body. The same true qi handling as when he had walked.
He seemed at last to be unfolding a proper martial art.
The moment Jeong I-shin narrowed his eyes, the Boss shouted.
“I will kill you without fail!! He told me this is the martial art that crushed a martial monk of Shaolin's ‘Emptiness’ generation to death!”
Through the booming voice, faintly, a low RUMBLE— slipped out.
It was a sound only Jeong I-shin heard.
“Consider it an honor! With this Great Ridge Rigid Strength Art——!”
The Boss' babbling, spoken with bloodshot eyes, did not reach him.
CRACKLE—
By the time a single strand of golden lightning qi leapt across Jeong I-shin's shoulder, he was already right in front of the Boss.
The man was still shouting toward the place Jeong I-shin had been standing.
And Jeong I-shin, without the slightest hesitation, drove out the hand he had drawn back all the way.
The pulse of true qi condensed in his palm center was vivid.
The shout and the pulse crossed.
“——into a bloody pulp——”
CRACK—
The Thunderclap Wave slammed into the Boss' solar plexus.
THUUUD—!
He was a martial artist without even a proper body-protecting qi. There was no way he could resist a pulse of true qi that bored inward and spread.
“......B-Bloody...... p-pul......”
The Boss never did perceive Jeong I-shin's movement.
THOOM—
The staggering giant frame crumbled and dropped straight to its knees.
His waist stayed upright, but his head hung broken toward the ground.
There was no visible external wound, but the inside could be guessed at.
SPATTER!
Blood poured from the face of the bowed Boss.
Without even knowing that the blood was soaking his own martial arts uniform.
The Boss breathed his last that way.
CRACKLE—
Looking down at the sight, Jeong I-shin frowned.
“......That name did not seem fit to be discussed by that mouth, so I closed it for you.”
The faint stench of burning scattered indifferently into the air.
***
The lightning qi wrapped around his hand scattered.
Jeong I-shin looked around.
It was different from when the two men before had fallen.
There was no commotion.
‘Not one of them steps up to avenge him, either.’
In the chillingly quiet atmosphere, Jeong I-shin quickly examined his own body.
He had unfolded the Thunder-Severing Myriad Transformation Hand.
The moment the man put Shaolin in his mouth, he had reflexively lashed out with the Thunderclap Wave. He had worried about worsening his internal injury, but.
‘This much...... the body's fine.’
The Heavenly Thunder Qi spent on the Thunderclap Wave was two-tenths of the whole.
Thanks to keeping the output as low as possible, the expenditure was small.
However, because destructive Heavenly Thunder Qi had run through him, the qi meridians that had been recovering were screaming again.
Still, it was not enough to kill him, so the internal injury issue passed.
His inner arts were no great problem either...... so his body was fine as it was.
Then, what about his mind?
‘......Hmm.’
He looked at the fallen Boss.
He had used his own hand to take a life.
He had killed a man he had known for less than a quarter of an hour.
But.
‘Less feeling than I expected......’
There was no particular sentiment. That in itself was a little chilling.
It was the moment he frowned slightly.
“M-Master!! We're sorry!”
“We're sorry!”
“Please just spare our lives!”
“It was all the Boss' doing!”
Everyone around dropped to their knees and pressed their heads to the ground.
The atmosphere was completely different from when the Boss had been there.
Jeong I-shin pointed at the man nearest him and asked,
“Strategist.”
“Y-Yes?”
“A strategist, an advisor...... well, is there no one like that?”
“......”
The man looked at Jeong I-shin with an even stranger expression than when the Boss had fallen.
As if to say he should want what could be wanted.
“......Never mind, then.”
Money and information.
There was much to gain here.
For that, he needed someone who knew the mountain keep well.
Sharp would be better.
While he was studying face after face.
He suddenly noticed a large iron-barred cage in the corner.
Inside that crude prison, a single person lay.
Bronze skin and a sturdy build.
Propped on one arm, lying there at his ease.
Jeong I-shin's eyes met those of the man idly scratching his belly.
“......”
“......”