He hadn't let his guard down.
His opponent was far too formidable to take lightly.
Convinced the man would have at least one trick hidden up his sleeve no matter how diminished his abilities, he had even given his all.
But something was wrong.
This shouldn't be possible.
CRASH—!
At the moment of collision, Yeop Ji-chang's signature weapon—the Black Tiger Blade—was flung aside as limply as if it were made of twigs.
'Wh-what kind of strength is this?!'
Staggering backward, Yeop Ji-chang's back hit the wall.
By the time he tried to push off, Jin Cheong-un had already launched himself into the air and was hurling his body straight at him.
"Did you think losing my inner arts meant I'd lost my outer arts too?"
"......!"
Dignity be damned—Yeop Ji-chang frantically rolled sideways.
CRASH—! CRUMBLE—!
The wall shattered, and a cloud of dust billowed up.
Yeop Ji-chang, his face drained of color, screamed.
"You were hiding your strength......!"
He didn't even have time to finish.
BOOM—!
The center of the dust cloud was suddenly torn wide open, and with a flash, Jin Cheong-un's blade tip came crashing through.
CLANG—!
Barely managing to deflect the blade without even a proper stance, Yeop Ji-chang's face twisted in agony.
His grip throbbed. It felt less like blocking a sword swung by a human and more like stopping a boulder rolling down a hillside.
'The-the bastard's changed.'
Openly drawing up his true qi, charging head-on, even executing techniques.
Like a proper martial artist.
The Sword Ghost had never been like that.
At least, the Jin Cheong-un that Yeop Ji-chang had seen and heard of was not such a man.
One who was closer to a military commander than a martial artist.
And one more suited to being an assassin than even a commander.
Despite being a member of the Murim Alliance, the grand assembly of orthodox sects, Jin Cheong-un had always fought as though he had trained solely in the most efficient ways to bring down an opponent.
But now?
Power and weight.
He charged forward like an enraged bull or a ferocious tiger, his techniques readable enough to guess the mnemonic verses behind them.
CLANG—!
"Kgh."
Having the gaps in his technique pierced in an instant, Yeop Ji-chang clenched his molars.
He was using different martial arts than before, but his uncanny ability to read an opponent's movements was the same as ever.
'S-still, it's only brute force! His movements are simple enough—it's not like I can't handle him!'
Yeop Ji-chang shifted his stance.
He lowered his center of gravity and, eyes flashing, baited Jin Cheong-un's attack.
THUD—!
Then Jin Cheong-un once again recklessly hurled himself forward.
'Now!'
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—!
Yeop Ji-chang angled his blade to deflect the attack, then swung his left hand at Jin Cheong-un's flank like a bolt of lightning.
WHAM—!
Got him! A clean hit right to the ribs!
His smile lasted only a moment before his expression instantly froze.
"Gaahk!"
Hair-raising pain surged up from his outstretched hand.
A hasty glance revealed his wrist swollen an angry red, puffy as a ripe persimmon. As though it had shattered.
"Ptoo."
By contrast, Jin Cheong-un—having only been pushed back a few steps—calmly spat out the blood pooled in his mouth.
Hissss—!
Yeop Ji-chang's eyes went wide.
At Jin Cheong-un's flank, as he casually wiped his mouth with his sleeve, white energy flickered and shimmered.
'Don't tell me...... rebounding true qi?'
The technique that returned the force of an impact back to the attacker—was that not the most exalted method among all body-protecting qi arts?
Eight Desolations, Sovereign Heaven Art—Celestial Net Wall.
It was a new martial art of Jin Cheong-un's that Yeop Ji-chang had no way of knowing.
'The Celestial Net Wall is a martial art of the hegemonic path.'
Normally, the Qian trigram of the Eight Trigrams represents heaven, which holds the attribute of metal in the Five Elements.
Sovereign Heaven Primal Energy, a true qi hard as adamant, fortified the mind, the body, and the qi vessels.
Any conventional orthodox martial art would pair defensive techniques atop such true qi.
But the Celestial Net Wall was the opposite.
A shield was an object meant for blocking, but there was no rule against using it as a weapon. Swing it, and it was no longer a shield but a bludgeon.
A martial art that clad the body in robust true qi like armor and possessed an unbreakable, relentless forward drive—that was the Celestial Net Wall.
"I have gotten weaker."
Jin Cheong-un said, readjusting his grip on his blade several times.
"But that doesn't mean you're strong."
"......!!"
In that instant, a flash of light burst before his eyes.
WHAM—!
A sensation as though something had slammed bodily into him—Yeop Ji-chang tumbled to the ground without even managing to react.
"Ugh! Hk—!"
Rolling helplessly across the ground before scrambling to his feet—Yeop Ji-chang.
In that moment, he saw them.
Eyes.
The eyes of that Asura, looking down at him that day.
"AAAAARGH!"
Yeop Ji-chang let out an inhuman scream and hauled up every ounce of his inner power.
"I won't go down like this!!"
CRASH—!
A devastating stomp erupted, so powerful it drove his ankles into the earth.
Dense, dark-blue blade energy billowed up in heavy plumes, gathering into the Black Tiger Blade.
The distance between them was short.
Bloodshot eyes blazing, Yeop Ji-chang kicked off the ground and swung the Black Tiger Blade.
"......"
Watching him come, Jin Cheong-un simply shifted his stance—slow and impassive.
Whoooosh—!
The air suddenly changed.
The Black Tiger Gang members around them stared blankly at Jin Cheong-un.
An upright torso.
Legs planted firmly on the ground.
And a blade tip pointing skyward, as if to pierce the heavens.
It was the starting stance.
The most elementary high guard—the foundational posture learned by anyone who had ever trained with a weapon.
That was all it was, yet it made every onlooker feel a suffocating, overwhelming pressure.
Whoooong—!
From Jin Cheong-un's blade, a white shimmer began spreading outward—different from anything before.
Everyone felt the same thing.
The sky was unfolding.
At first it was faint, like a single drop of ink falling onto paper.
But that energy spread ever wider, ever more intense, pressing down upon and smothering Yeop Ji-chang's menacing aura.
'......I can't block it.'
Watching Jin Cheong-un's strike descend as a single ray of blinding light, Yeop Ji-chang squeezed his eyes shut.
***
How much time had passed?
The Black Tiger Gang members stared at one spot, doubting their own eyes.
Drip. Drip, drip.
The hem of Yeop Ji-chang's clothes, as he knelt on the ground, began to stain crimson.
He coughed wetly.
He spat out a fistful of blood.
The first words to leave his trembling lips, forced open with great effort, were these:
"......Spare me."
When there was no response, Yeop Ji-chang begged.
Just as he had back then, in those days.
"What I did to you wasn't bad enough to warrant death."
"......"
"I overstepped and came at you without knowing my place, but surely that's not a sin worthy of death. Please, at least spare my life......"
"Would you have spared someone who set your house on fire and ran?"
Yeop Ji-chang's eyes went round.
"Didn't think so. A man who abandons his own son—what would he know about mercy?"
Yeop Ji-chang trembled at the utterly dispassionate tone. In the end, he decided to change tactics.
"I-if you touch me, the fortress won't stay silent! I've already been dealing with Iron Blood Fortress! They agreed to watch my back!"
"And what am I supposed to do about that?"
Grinding his teeth at the tepid reply, Yeop Ji-chang spat:
"Do you think you'll walk away unscathed after killing me?!"
"......"
Yeop Ji-chang took Jin Cheong-un's silence as a positive sign. Seizing the moment, he hurried on.
"D-did you think I wouldn't know? You avoid killing, don't you?"
The gang members couldn't believe their ears.
How many of their own had been taken down today—what kind of nonsense was that?
"You've always held back from lethal techniques, haven't you? You didn't kill a single gang member today. S-so spare me too!"
The gang members started in surprise and looked around.
The fallen men were battered beyond recognition, but all of them were still breathing.
Even the Fierce Tiger Captain, whom they had assumed had died gloriously, had his face planted in the floor and was twitching feebly.
Truly, no one had died.
Even in the midst of such a violent battle, Jin Cheong-un had truly not killed a single person.
'Sharp eyes.'
Even Jin Cheong-un couldn't deny this.
While there had been cases where he lost control of his strength due to the ferocity of the fighting, he had deliberately avoided using outright lethal techniques.
Yeop Ji-chang grinned vilely and screamed.
"If you kill me, you'll go right back to how you were! Back to the vengeful ghost who lived for nothing but grudges! That's what you're afraid of, isn't it?!"
"......"
"Heh heh heh! You son of a bitch! You hypocrite! You can't kill me! Because the moment you kill me over something like this, you'll become——!"
SCHLICK—!
In that instant, a short cutting sound severed Yeop Ji-chang's words.
"......?"
He looked up at Jin Cheong-un with disbelieving eyes.
Jin Cheong-un flicked the blood from his blade and spoke.
"Even so, those who need killing need to be killed."
He coughed blood.
Slowly.
Yeop Ji-chang's body toppled sideways.
THUD—!
Where he fell, blood began to pool like a puddle.
Jin Cheong-un glanced aside with an uncomfortable expression.
'At that point, wasn't he practically begging to be killed?'
That aside, what now?
He'd asked the Beggars' Sect for help, so there was no way to keep this from reaching the Alliance Leader's ears.
After a brief moment of anguish, Jin Cheong-un nodded.
'Promises exist to be broken, after all.'
From the very moment he had investigated through the Beggars' Sect, he had concluded that the Black Tiger Gang Master couldn't be left alone.
There were many reasons, but they all felt like excuses.......
A man who had thrown his hometown into chaos, set fire to his house, stolen his sword, and even drawn a blade with intent to kill.
If he were the sort to forgive all that, he'd have shaved his head and entered a monastery, or secluded himself in the mountains to cultivate the Way—why would he have wandered the jianghu?
'The Gang Master aside.'
Jin Cheong-un gathered his thoughts and looked around.
"What do I do about them?"
Flinch—!
The Black Tiger Gang members who met Jin Cheong-un's eyes all shuddered in unison.
***
The Black Tiger Gang members swallowed hard, watching Jin Cheong-un's expression.
'What kind of bolt from the blue is this?'
'The Gang Master dead and even the Fierce Tiger Captain taken down, all in one night......'
What do we do?
Attack? The man who killed the Gang Master with a single stroke?
Then should we run? And if we're caught?
That was when they heard Jin Cheong-un's muttering, as though lost in thought.
"Killing all of them would be a bit much."
Every drop of color drained from the gang members' faces in an instant.
He said that in the same tone someone would use deciding what to have for dinner?
Around then, Jin Cheong-un spoke with a sheepish expression.
"I'm joking, joking. I'm not some madman—as if I'd kill you all."
He won't kill all of them? So he'll kill a reasonable number?
Tremble, tremble, tremble—!
As the gang members trembled like aspen leaves, eyes darting for any sign—
THUD—!
One gang member suddenly slammed his head to the floor.
"Spare us, Master!"
"......?"
"W-we were only following orders! P-please, spare our lives at least!"
The gang members' eyes lit up.
A genius?
That's it! That's the only way!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The gang members scrambled over each other to throw down their weapons and drop to their knees.
"W-we did do some bad things, sure, but it was only a bit of harassment at most—we never killed anyone or anything like that!"
"We'll pay for our sins, so please, just spare our lives......!"
"Please show us mercy just this once!"
Silence fell.
Jin Cheong-un thought it over briefly, then nodded.
"Fair enough. The Gang Master had to answer for his crimes, but holding his subordinates equally accountable would be a bit much."
We're saved!
Just as color was returning to the gang members' faces—
Jin Cheong-un picked up a wooden plank rolling on the ground.
'Why is he picking that up?'
The gang members watched Jin Cheong-un with bewildered eyes.
Jin Cheong-un swung the plank through the air a few times, then spoke.
"Still, I should verify whether you've truly repented."
Silence.
The Black Tiger Gang members began trembling with fear all over again.