Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 141

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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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#141

“If you breathe a word of what happened with Dong Tam Rap to anyone, do you understand what will follow?”
“The Murim Alliance will arrest me for aiding their wanted man. I’m not so foolish as to miss that.”
Geum Dae-bang, having answered, mimed sewing his own lips shut.
“Best you hide somewhere nearby and head down tomorrow or so.”
Geom U-bin, who had offered this counsel, made for the Ancient Tomb that Geum Dae-bang had described.
The mountain was treacherous and the forest dense; without Geum Dae-bang’s detailed directions, he would never have found it.
‘Keep that peak to the left and continue on, he said? Then a rock shaped like a carp should appear. There it is!’
The boulder visible fifteen paces ahead bore a striking resemblance to a leaping carp.
After shifting eastward from the rock a few steps, he came upon a cliff face rising some fifty paces high.
It stood roughly thirty paces from the facing cliff across the way, and there, on that far side, the entrance to the Ancient Tomb appeared just as Geum Dae-bang had described.
Geom U-bin descended the cliff. No trace of the Murim Alliance was visible.
Once he’d climbed the opposite cliff, Geom U-bin entered the tomb’s mouth.
The entrance was narrow, barely three feet in height and width, but after crawling forward a few paces, it opened to a passage tall enough to stand upright in.
Though without a trace of light, Geom U-bin’s vision was keen enough that darkness posed no obstacle.
The Ancient Tomb grew wider as he progressed, until its breadth and height approached ten feet.
True to Geum Dae-bang’s word, the cavern twisted like a spider’s web—one would lose their way easily without intimate familiarity.
As Geom U-bin picked his way slowly forward, a skull caught his eye.
The cloth wrapping the corpse had long since rotted away, and the centuries had bleached even bone to grey.
Above the skull, a name had been carved in relief—likely that of its former owner.
Such skulls lay scattered throughout the cavern. Had he carried a torch, the Ancient Tomb would have seemed far more desolate still.
Though the cave twisted like a labyrinth, it was not without beginning and end.
Geom U-bin moved with care, his senses trained to catch any trace of Dong Tam Rap.
Hunted by the Murim Alliance as he was, the man would not yet have abandoned this place.
After descending a steep incline, he chose the left passage where the tunnel forked in two directions.
Even deep within the cave, Geom U-bin had not lost his sense of direction; he knew that another exit lay to the north, and so he chose that path.
His measured advance came to a halt when he discovered Dong Tam Rap’s traces.
A blood smear stained the cave wall with unmistakable clarity—it could only belong to Dong Tam Rap.
The blood had not yet fully dried, marking it as recent.
Geom U-bin pressed forward, following the trail of crimson.
His footfalls were so deliberate that even his own ears heard nothing.
He must remain vigilant.
If Geum Dae-bang’s words were true, Dong Tam Rap had learned Ma Gun-ja’s martial arts yet remained his mortal enemy—which meant Dong Tam Rap was likely Geom U-bin’s enemy as well. And given the murders the man had committed, he was no ordinary opponent.
The blood trail continued to lead deeper into the cavern, away from its entrance.
It seemed Dong Tam Rap had lost his way.
At a junction where three passages split apart, the bloodstains vanished entirely.
While Geom U-bin had never formally trained in tracking, he knew at least that footprints could be read.
The passage had seen human traffic long ago, so dust lay thick, and the prints remained clear.
Geom U-bin stepped into the central passage.
After advancing about ten paces, he set foot around a curve to the right.
“A rat has followed me here.”
There, five paces ahead, he stood.
A man barely over five feet tall, with large eyes, a flat nose, and thick lips—unmistakably bearing the distinct features of the Miao people.
“So you’re Dong Tam Rap?”
His thick brows twitched.
“How do you know my name?”
“I met the man who brought you here.”
Dong Tam Rap nodded, a twisted smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Only that fool would know my name and where I am. No trust in Zhongyuan people after all. Are you from the Murim Alliance?”
“I could be a worse enemy than the Murim Alliance.”
“Keh-keh-keh! This boy speaks with wit.”
“Is it true that Ma Gun-ja killed your parents and your tribe?”
Geom U-bin wanted to hear the confirmation once more from Dong Tam Rap himself.
At the mention of Ma Gun-ja’s name, Dong Tam Rap’s face went rigid.
“You know that bastard? Where is he?”
“Seems like I was the one who asked first, wasn’t I?”
Dong Tam Rap drew the Muk Ryong Sword from his back. It was barely a motion, yet blood welled up again from the wound on his left arm.
“That’s right. He slaughtered my family and my entire clan.”
The murderous intent streaming from Dong Tam Rap in thick currents was no lie.
“What is your relationship to Ma Gun-ja?”
“He is my master.”
“You’re saying you’re a disciple of Ma Gun-ja?”
Geom U-bin nodded and spoke.
“Are you not also his disciple?”
Undisguised fury blazed across Dong Tam Rap’s face.
“Don’t spout such nonsense! Who would call themselves the disciple of such a murderer?”
“A murderer? You exterminated the entire Hyegeom Faction to find him, and yet you dare make such accusations?”
“To kill a demon, one must become a demon.”
Dong Tam Rap leveled his blade at Geom U-bin.
“I’ll kill you and display your head in the marketplace. When he sees his disciple’s head, he’ll show himself. Hehehehe….”
His laughter cracked as Geom U-bin’s voice cut through.
“No. He won’t appear.”
“Why? Because he’s such a heartless bastard he doesn’t even care about his own disciples?”
“Because he’s already dead.”
Dong Tam Rap staggered back a step. His shock was so profound his stance crumbled.
“Ma Gun-ja is… dead? That man is dead? Impossible. That monster couldn’t be dead!”
He felt as a traveler crossing the desert, who spots an oasis in the distance and rushes toward it with every ounce of strength, only to discover it was a mirage—that same despair was washing over Dong Tam Rap now.
“Yes. The man you sought vengeance against no longer exists in this world.”
For a long moment Dong Tam Rap stared into empty space, then a twisted smile crept across his lips.
“Then why are you standing right in front of me!”

***

Dong Tam Rap smiled as he brought his blade to bear.
Geom U-bin felt his skin prickle. The murderous intent that blazed forth kindled a tension unlike anything he had experienced before, creeping steadily upward.
He had sparred endlessly with Hyeolpung Saja and Gong Seong-tak, and had seen real combat a handful of times. But in those instances, his opponents had been contemptible—no real threat to Geom U-bin at all.
Dong Tam Rap was different.
Dong Tam Rap possessed martial strength sufficient to single-handedly annihilate the Hyegeom Faction.
‘Seventh stage? Or perhaps I should reckon him at eighth stage mastery?’
He was a man who had studied the Gwiyeong Mado, just as Do Pyeong-su had. Yet one could infer he had not achieved perfect mastery—the evidence being the wound on his arm.
Had he perfected the Gwiyeong Mado at the pinnacle level, the one bearing wounds would not be Dong Tam Rap, but rather Maeng Seo-pil of the Cheongseong Faction.
“Well, meeting even a disciple of Ma Gun-ja isn’t without satisfaction. I’ll kill you and slaughter all those Bloodwind Four Lions dogs as well!”
Geom U-bin could understand Dong Tam Rap’s fury.
How could the rage against one who slew your family be small? How agonizing must those thirty years of solitary training have been, chewing endlessly on that hatred?
And so his heart ached.
He wanted to help this man achieve his vengeance. Perhaps beneath it all lay the reason his master had become what he was.
“The man who killed your family may not have been my master after all—”
Dong Tam Rap’s blade trembled as it shot forward toward Geom U-bin.
Unlike a sword, which excels at thrusting, the blade is better suited to cutting. Yet when martial prowess ascends to the highest stages, such distinctions lose their meaning.
Dong Tam Rap was proof of that.
Even before the blade made contact, its sword aura reached Geom U-bin’s chest like a sharp, gouging lance.
Defending against the aura with both hands, Geom U-bin drove his leg at the blade.
Jincheon Raeigak!
Dong Tam Rap shifted the angle of his blade to meet the leg. Daring to thrust a leg at a sword! He would pay a steep price for such foolishness.
Crack!
Yet Dong Tam Rap’s blade failed to sever Geom U-bin’s leg.
The impact was real, certainly. Geom U-bin felt a sharp sting in his shin. But by accepting that pain, he had gained the distance he needed.
Body arcing parallel to the ground, Geom U-bin drove his heel at Dong Tam Rap’s chest.
Dong Tam Rap swept his blade in defense, and the flat of the sword met Geom U-bin’s foot twelve times in the empty air.
With a thunderous boom, the collision of their forces sent chips of stone raining down from wall and ceiling.
Feet touching ground, Geom U-bin lowered his stance and spun, targeting Dong Tam Rap’s legs.
Leaping to dodge was precisely the move Geom U-bin had calculated.
Bang!
His palm struck the floor and Geom U-bin closed the distance between them in a flash.
His fist flew toward Dong Tam Rap’s face.
“Ugh!”
Startled, Dong Tam Rap blocked the punch with his forearm, but Geom U-bin pressed forward, driving his elbow toward the temple instead.
Unlike Geom U-bin, who knew his own lack of real combat experience, Dong Tam Rap improvised with the fluency of someone who’d fought hundreds of times.
Geom U-bin had thought this attack might end it all, but the sword’s hilt caught the blow instead.
The hilt struck above Dong Tam Rap’s eye, drawing blood, but that was the extent of the damage.
“Impressive.”
With those words, the blade spun toward Geom U-bin’s throat. It was a casual flick of the wrist, yet it carried a force that could not be ignored.
Geom U-bin arched his spine backward, and the blade whispered past his nose. From that inverted posture, he snapped his leg upward at Dong Tam Rap’s jaw.
But his foot carved only through empty air, and the distance between them swelled to more than a zhang.
Dong Tam Rap licked the blood that had run down from his eye socket across his cheek.
“Surely you don’t think there’s been a misunderstanding?”
“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”
Dong Tam Rap rushed forward again.
This time Geom U-bin was ready, drawing his Martial Force to its peak in a single breath.
“What if there was someone else behind it all?”
Bang!
The power behind the sweeping blade had changed from the first exchange. Dong Tam Rap had clearly raised his Martial Force to its maximum.
Where the blade met Geom U-bin’s leg, the fabric of his pants shattered like stone struck by a chisel.
“Everything out of that boy’s mouth is a lie! I believe only what my own eyes have seen!”
“All you’ve seen are corpses!”
Geom U-bin swept his leg in a continuous motion, driving Dong Tam Rap backward.
“Dojam Bulchim?”
Dong Tam Rap had been certain he could cut through.
This time, unlike before, he had drawn upon the Martial Force of Peak Mastery. But he was not the only one who had unleashed all his power.
And yet—he was being pushed back!
This child’s Martial Force was clearly superior to his own.
Dong Tam Rap was startled, but did not crumble. He retreated quickly and swung his blade toward the advancing Geom U-bin.
The Bifung Kangwoo technique from the Gwiyeong Dobeop was far too familiar to Geom U-bin.
He dodged the sweeping arcs, parried the thrusts, and waited for the hairline opening that would soon appear.
Even Do Pyeong-su had not known of this flaw in Bifung Kangwoo until Geom U-bin found it.
In that brief moment when the blade was drawn upward from below and then swept horizontally, the armpit opened—a gap in the defense.
As Geom U-bin countered with the Jincheon Raeigak, the moment Dong Tam Rap’s center of gravity lowered, he stamped his left foot against the ground.
The blade was drawn upward from below.
But Geom U-bin’s left foot, striking the earth, rotated his body and deflected the blade past him.
When Dong Tam Rap’s blade had nearly completed its arc to the left, Geom U-bin’s left foot struck the ground once more. Then his body shot toward Dong Tam Rap faster than an arrow leaving the bowstring.
Dong Tam Rap, caught off guard, tried to mount a defense, but that brief break in his technique’s continuity opened a microscopic gap—one that would prove fatal.

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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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