Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 126

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#126

Boom!
A thunderous crash erupted—something never heard in any of their sparring matches before—and Gal Ma-pyeong was driven back three paces.
Startled, Go Seo-bang withdrew his technique and hurried toward Gal Ma-pyeong in alarm.
“Are you all right?”
The sleeves of Gal Ma-pyeong’s robes hung tattered as his arms dangled at his sides.
“This isn’t over yet!”
Gal Ma-pyeong launched a barrage of kicks with the Huipung Gak at Go Seo-bang’s chest and face. Go Seo-bang, taken aback, deflected the onslaught of legs striking at his face and torso in rapid succession.
“Idiot! If you’re hurt, you should get treatment first!”
“I wouldn’t be hurt by your feeble swats!”
Loud words, but there was no denying he was not in his usual state.
That was why he’d deployed his leg technique—and it had proven unexpectedly effective.
There was a reason “the hand doesn’t know defeat.” Gal Ma-pyeong’s Huipung Gak bore down on Go Seo-bang without mercy.
No matter how much stronger Go Seo-bang had become, he didn’t possess the absolute strength of a Bloodwind Lion.
Moreover, given the nature of a sparring match where they had to avoid killing blows, the exchange dragged on for another quarter hour or more.
After more than half a double hour of combat, Gal Ma-pyeong was utterly spent, and Go Seo-bang was breathing so heavily his shoulders heaved. But as all feasts must end, so too did their sparring finally reach its conclusion.
Go Seo-bang swept Gal Ma-pyeong’s leg over his head, drove him down with a shoulder strike, and as Gal Ma-pyeong fell, wrapped his arm around his opponent’s throat.
“Yield!”
“No… I won’t!”
“You’re hopelessly stubborn!”
Rather than surrender, Gal Ma-pyeong chose unconsciousness.
“Huff… huff!”
Go Seo-bang stepped away from Gal Ma-pyeong’s limp form, his own breathing ragged and sharp.
He’d fought life-or-death battles that had never left him this exhausted. While Jang Man-dok attended to Gal Ma-pyeong’s treatment, Seo Seok-san spoke.
“After about half a double hour of rest…”
Yeon Geum-hong cut him off sharply.
“Half a double hour? When did we ever give rest time? Start immediately.”
“You’re saying that after watching your own disciple fall unconscious?”
“Ma-pyeong was the one who fainted, not Seo-bang. And besides…”
“Cough! Cough!”
At that moment, Gal Ma-pyeong stirred awake. Jang Man-dok was true to form. Do Pyeong-su tapped the Mingmen acupoint of the coughing Gal Ma-pyeong.
As his qi and blood steadied, his breathing returned to normal.
“How do you feel?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. Man-dok, check his arms for injuries.”
“Just a bit sore.”
“At your age, any injury must be treated thoroughly.”
Yeon Geum-hong turned to Seo Seok-san.
“Ma-pyeong’s dealt with, yes?”
There was no further excuse to be made on Gal Ma-pyeong’s behalf. And Go Seo-bang’s fighting spirit was still ablaze.
“Master, I’m ready.”
Rough breathing came with his words, yet Go Seo-bang’s determination could not be ignored.
“Good. We begin at once!”
Seo Seok-san called out and addressed Go Seo-bang.
“Flatten him out! That way he won’t make excuses!”
Do Pyeong-su shouted at O Tong-su as well.
“You’ve got the endurance advantage! Drag it out no matter what! The longer the fight goes, the better for you! Throw pebbles now and then! Forget about fair play!”
Yeon Geum-hong murmured to Do Pyeong-su.
“Isn’t that advice a bit too honest for the atmosphere?”
“What atmosphere?”
“Never mind.”
The sparring match between Go Seo-bang and O Tong-su began.
In sparring, stamina is certainly a factor that cannot be ignored. After more than half a double hour of brutal fighting, Go Seo-bang’s movements had slowed, and the power of his Gwon Gak strikes fell short of their initial force.
Yet the effect of the Ungdam-ju was remarkable, and Go Seo-bang soon gained the upper hand.
O Tong-su, overwhelmed by relentless attacks streaming from all angles—face, torso, legs—began to give ground.
The situation was so precarious that Go Seo-bang looked ready to take a heavy blow and be driven backward at any moment, yet somehow O Tong-su kept evading the decisive strike.
Pressed to land a hit by any means, Go Seo-bang began unleashing attacks without pause.
His meager reserves of stamina inevitably began to deplete. Seo Seok-san, catching on too late, cried out.
“Pace yourself! Don’t rush!”
Go Seo-bang, breathing heavily, realized it too late—but this was no solo training.
The moment Go Seo-bang slowed his assault and tried to catch his breath, O Tong-su pounced like a ravenous beast.
The offensive shifted, nothing more. Go Seo-bang had no time to recover his strength.
Fear crept over him—the fear of losing. Seo Seok-san had even given him the precious bear gall wine. To fall in a sparring match would mean facing Seo Seok-san with shame.
‘I have to win.’
Mental fortitude was no mere phantom. It was will—the primal force that moved the body.
Go Seo-bang drew his mental fortitude to its uttermost limit, and O Tong-su proved no less resolute.
If Go Seo-bang bore the hopes of one master, O Tong-su carried the longings of three.
Both fought as though their lives hung in the balance.
The thick dust churned up by their violent movements showed no sign of settling even after half a double-hour had passed.
The Hyeolpung Saja watching from the sidelines began to grow uneasy.
“Are those two going to be all right?”
Do Pyeong-su’s murmur drew a response from Seo Seok-san.
“They look pretty exhausted. Tong-su’s eyes are starting to glaze over.”
“Seo-bang’s the same way.”
Yeon Geum-hong voiced what she’d been holding back for some time.
“Why don’t we call it a draw?”
The outcome of the sparring match mattered, but no matter how important it was, the welfare of her disciples came first.
The gazes of Yeon Geum-hong and Seo Seok-san crossed for a moment.
Do Pyeong-su couldn’t read Jang Man-dok’s expression with perfect clarity, but the length of his years had granted him the ability to discern simple intentions.
“Let’s stop here for today.”
Seo Seok-san accepted Yeon Geum-hong’s proposal.
Jang Man-dok and Do Pyeong-su had no reason to object.
But suddenly, there came a sharp crack—and both Go Seo-bang and O Tong-su were flung backward simultaneously.
They’d struck each other’s chest and abdomen at the same instant.
“Nngh!”
The two men scrambled to their feet with grimaces, but neither had fully risen before one knee buckled beneath them.
The taut lines of their faces, the ragged breaths, the trembling legs—all made clear they were in no condition to continue.
“Stop! Today’s match is a draw!”
At Seo Seok-san’s ruling, O Tong-su and Go Seo-bang cried out.
“We can still fight!”
“You stubborn fools! This is just a sparring match, not a blood feud!”
Indeed. It was merely one among countless matches yet to come.
Once the decision was made, both men collapsed in sprawling heaps where they stood.
Jang Man-dok examined them and nodded—there was nothing seriously wrong.
“Then don’t we need to spar again?”
At Se-hwa’s words, the Hyeolpung Saja blinked.
“You decided to settle it once and for all today, didn’t you? So we need another match.”
The Hyeolpung Saja exchanged glances among themselves.
“Is that so?”
“Seems like it might be……”
“But then again, maybe not……”
The three members of the Hang Ju-sa Byeon burst out loudly.
“You! You’re the only one who looks fresh!”
Yeon Geum-hong grinned wickedly.
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is we agreed to finish it.”
Then she turned to the four masters.
“Shall we draw lots again?”

***

The winner was Se-hwa.
Gal Ma-pyeong’s arms were still too injured to fight, and Go Seo-bang and O Tong-su lacked the strength to even lift a spoon.
Though wreathed in complications that prevented true recognition as victor, she nevertheless rose to the highest position among the disciples.
Seo Seok-san ground his teeth at the sight of a delighted Yeon Geum-hong.
“We’ll see in three months.”
The remaining bear gall wine was more than enough for another sparring match.
“You’re going to feed more bear gall wine to Go Seo-bang again?”
“I wanted to end it in one match, but you three conspired together and turned the whole thing into a farce.”
“Still, if you’re going to do it again, we’ll have to figure out a way too.”
Yeon Geum-hong tapped her own head.
“What way?”
“Don’t we need to find something else to feed him?”
The Bloodwind Four Lions continued their bickering, but the Hang Ju-sa Byeon were different.
“Ah, what complete madness it all was.”
Go Seo-bang’s words were picked up by Gal Ma-pyeong.
“Right? What is it with these sparring matches anyway? At least Se-hwa managed to win against her opponent.”
Se-hwa waved her hand dismissively.
“Win? I thought it would all end if I won today, but looking at the masters, I have a feeling something strange will happen again next time.”
“We need to find a solution before the next sparring match. If we keep going like today……, hmm! Don’t you think we’d improve our martial arts?”
Everyone burst out laughing at O Tong-su’s joke.
Thanks to the Bloodwind Four Lions putting their all into managing one sparring match, the bonds between the members of Hang Ju-sa Byeon had only grown stronger.
“Let’s try to avoid running into the masters for a while.”
So that evening, they skipped dinner together, claiming they were unwell.
The dinner table with only Geom U-bin and the Bloodwind Four Lions echoed with nothing but the clink of chopsticks and bowls for a long time.
‘This quarrel might drag on for a while.’
The moment that thought crossed Geom U-bin’s mind, the door burst open. Along with the smell of alcohol came Noh Dae-sul.
“Huh? Beggar King, what brings you here?”
Seo Seok-san posed that question, while Yeon Geum-hong and Do Pyeong-su asked whether he hadn’t left yet.
Geom U-bin also stared at Noh Dae-sul with a confused expression.
“You! You sneaked a drink of the Oseong Wine!”
“I may borrow a drink now and then, but not this time.”
Seo Seok-san shouted abruptly.
“Oh come now! The smell of Oseong Wine is reeking from you!”
“This is why.”
Noh Dae-sul produced a bottle he’d been hiding behind his back. The startled Seo Seok-san jumped to his feet.
“Why do you have that?”
“Hiding wine within wine like hiding a leaf in a forest was a good plan. But in the end, you couldn’t escape my nose.”
Yeon Geum-hong asked.
“Is that the bear gall wine?”
“It was inside the Oseong Wine.”
Seo Seok-san extended his hand.
“That’s mine, so hand it over.”
Noh Dae-sul was not the sort of person these three would let hand over the bear gall wine without a fuss.
“It’s not yours alone—it belongs to all of us. Let me say it again: the bear gall belongs to all of us.”
“I caught it and I brewed the wine!”
“That’s why I said it was foul play.”
A roar of defiance.
The momentum of the Bloodwind Four Lions began to surge. If left unchecked, several more buildings would likely fly away.
“Please, that bear gall wine—give it to me.”
Oppressed by the atmosphere of the Bloodwind Four Lions, Noh Dae-sul, who’d been standing awkwardly, quickly handed the bottle to Geom U-bin.
“Perfect! My mission is now complete!”
The moment Geom U-bin received the bottle, the savage momentum vanished clean away.
‘So there is someone other than Ma Gun-ja who can establish such a relationship with the Bloodwind Four Lions! U-bin really is something else.’
Geom U-bin emptied all the tea from a cup on the table and poured the bear gall wine into it.
“Please have a cup too, Bang-ju.”
“Me too? Hehehehe! It has no taste, but how could I refuse bear gall wine?”
Seo Seok-san’s expression was poor, but faced with Geom U-bin’s composed demeanor, he said nothing.
“Senior, I’ll drink it gladly.”
“Yes? Yes.”
Since bear gall wine was more medicinal than alcoholic, Geom U-bin emptied his cup as well.
“Ugh! Is a-alcohol supposed to taste like this?”
Geom U-bin’s contorted face was so comical that everyone burst into laughter, and Seo Seok-san joined in.
“Bear gall wine is especially bitter! Hahahaha!”
“If you learn to drink from this, you’ll never become a real drinker.”
Then Geom U-bin refilled each person’s cup. When six cups appeared, including his own, the bottle was empty.
“Bang-ju, is that all there is?”
“Yes. That’s everything I found.”
Seo Seok-san spoke, meeting Geom U-bin’s gaze.
“The rest has already been consumed by Go Seo-bang over the years.”
“Then this is the last bottle. The disciples’ hardship ends! Let us raise our cups to the beginning of Oseong Jang-won’s happiness!”
Everyone lifted their cups following Geom U-bin’s lead, and even Seo Seok-san, who let out a soft chuckle, finally raised his own.
“Cheers!”
The moment the troublesome Ungdam-ju disappeared, the atmosphere transformed entirely, warming into something convivial and bright.
“Are you mad? Why would you give something this precious to Go Seo-bang?”
“What would you do with it if you drank it, Do Pyeong-su?”
“Well, it’s not so much about doing anything in particular…”
“Hey! All that would happen if you drank it is you’d be suffering all night.”
“Kekeke!”
Everyone burst into laughter at Jang Man-dok’s peculiar cackle. Waiting for the laughter to subside, Geom U-bin turned to him.
“Jang, don’t you have something urgent to attend to?”
Jang Man-dok’s face lit up in recognition, and he rose hastily, leaving the room.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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