Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 29

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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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#029

Ching!
A clear note rang out, and a sound wave shot through the air.
Bae Seok-chang, Sect Master of the Heuksamin Sect, could sense the invisible power of qi.
Any Black Blade sect master who had survived in this frost-edged Anhui by the Namgung family’s hand could never be weak.
That was why he had been able to intercept the sound wave that cut through the final inch of distance.
Clang!
He had blocked it, but the impact of the sound wave colliding with the blade sent him flying back several zhang. Bae Seok-chang only came to a halt after crashing against a pillar.
His meridians twisted, and it felt as though blood might spill from his lips at any moment.
‘Internal injury from a single strike!’
Until now, he had thought all the rumors about the Bloodwind Four Lions were exaggerations. If those stories were true, wouldn’t the Bloodwind Four Lions be less a person and more an immortal?
There was a reason the saying existed that one should trust only three parts of every ten in Murim rumors.
Yet it had taken just one exchange to realize that the tales of the Bloodwind Four Lions were fact.
He himself had barely managed to block it—any ordinary disciple would have had their neck severed by that single strike.
“What exactly have we of the Heuksamin Sect done wrong to deserve this?”
“You’ve done wrong. That’s all you need to know.”
“Black Blade brothers turning on each other—isn’t that too much?”
“Black Blade brothers? Just because something is yellow, does that make gold and excrement the same thing?”
Cough!
As Bae Seok-chang coughed, Seo Seok-san’s voice fell like a blade.
“Do you know why I’ve kept you alive?”
‘He could have killed me, but he chose not to?’
“Watch your subordinates die before your eyes. Yours will be the final death.”
“Attack!”
At someone’s shout, the Heuksamin disciples surged toward the three in unison. Bae Seok-chang knew his subordinates were like moths drawn to flame—they had no choice but to charge forward.
Yet he had harbored the faintest hope, only to have it answered with grim certainty.
Each time the Cheoneum Gwi’s fingers moved, three or four men coughed blood and fell, and none of them mounted a second assault.
The martial arts of two of the Gangseо Samak were far from weak.
They demonstrated a marvel of technique—severing both weapons and necks in a single motion.
The sight was so extraordinary that Bae Seok-chang stared at their movements with unflinching intensity.
‘Those are… the Ssangryong Swords!’
With just the Cheoneum Gwi alone already impossible to face, adding two of the Gangseо Samak wielding the Ssangryong Swords made this a battle that was hopeless from the start.
The screams of subordinates he had nurtured with care echoed endlessly.
Bae Seok-chang managed to raise himself with the support of his blade.
More than thirty subordinates had already fallen in the brief time since combat began.
‘I’ll remember this.’
Bae Seok-chang was not fool enough to throw himself into a battle with no chance of victory. Only by staying alive could he one day avenge his fallen subordinates, after all.
Yes. His flight was purely for the sake of avenging them—not out of fear of death.
When Bae Seok-chang passed through the back gate, traversed the dense forest, and arrived at the Cloud Bridge suspended between cliffs, the screams fell silent.
“Are they all dead?”
The time had been brief, but given that the opponent was the Cheoneum Gwi, his assumption was likely correct. Bae Seok-chang drew a ragged breath and crossed the Cloud Bridge.
If he could only sever this bridge—forty zhang in length—the Cheoneum Gwi would be unable to pursue.
He planted his feet on the solid rock and drew his blade when the Cheoneum Gwi and the Gangseо Samak appeared on the far side.
Startled, Bae Seok-chang slashed through the Cloud Bridge in one swift motion.
Watching the bridge disappear into the darkness, he finally released a breath of relief.
“Cheoneum Gwi! You will surely regret not killing me today!”
“Who said I wasn’t going to kill you?”
The voice seemed low, yet Seo Seok-san’s words reached him with absolute clarity.
“How are you going to catch me? Unless you’ve grown wings—!”
The Cheoneum Gwi launched into the air.
Without wings, the Cheoneum Gwi tore through the night sky and drew steadily closer to Bae Seok-chang.
‘This… this can’t be real.’
For a human to clear forty zhang with a single push from the earth was to cease being human.
Boom!
The Cheoneum Gwi landed on the far rock with a heavy sound, and it cracked straight through. Bae Seok-chang, unable even to think of fleeing, collapsed where he stood.
“Please… save me.”
With no way to flee, all that remained was begging.
“It’s not I who kills you.”
Cheoneum Gwi appeared in an instant, seizing Bae Seok-chang by the collar and hoisting him into the air. Even the Master of the Heuksamin Sect, greatest in all the land, dared not resist.
Cheoneum Gwi hurled the frozen Bae Seok-chang toward the cliff face opposite.
It was a distance one could easily cross in a single leap—throwing a man to the other side was nothing.
Waiting for Bae Seok-chang as he flew forty zhang through the air were the Ssangryong Swords. O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong, who had been standing ready, drew their blades.
One severed his neck; the other cut across his waist. Bae Seok-chang was quartered thus, crossing the river of the afterlife without ever knowing why he had to die.
Seo Seok-san, who had returned across the cliff, asked a question.
“Have you confirmed all the bodies?”
“Yes. Including the Master, it comes to ninety-nine.”
“Among the corpses should be whoever did that to Go Seo-bang. The vengeance is complete, then.”
At those words, O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong let out long sighs.
“It is all thanks to you, Master.”
As they moved to offer their gratitude, Seo Seok-san cut them off.
“Let’s go home. It’s been only two days since we left, and I’m missing it. If you arrive more than three hours behind me, be prepared.”
“What? What do you mean by that, sir?”
“It means you’d better run like your lives depend on it.”
With that, Seo Seok-san vanished. The two men, their faces fallen, looked at each other.
“Think we can make it?”
“Hell—we’ve got no choice but to give it everything.”

***

Arriving at the Estate in less than a day, Seo Seok-san asked with an air of indifference.
“What of Go Seo-bang?”
“Buried in the ground.”
Do Pyeong-su spoke and then patted his shoulder as if to comfort him.
“Ah, so he’s dead then. Foolish wretch. The Heuksamin Sect deserves death if they can be cut down by a blade. Where was he buried?”
“The back garden.”
Seo Seok-san made his way to the place Do Pyeong-su had indicated, then tilted his head in puzzlement.
“You made a grave inside the house? Who on earth thought of such a thing?”
He had expected to find it easily, but Go Seo-bang’s tomb was nowhere to be seen.
“You’re back early. What are you looking for?”
Yeon Geum-hong did not ask how the vengeance had gone. Seo Seok-san pointed toward the back garden and spoke.
“Do Pyeong-su said the grave was in the back garden.”
“What are you talking about? Why would we kill him when he’s perfectly alive?”
“He’s alive? But Do Pyeong-su said Go Seo-bang was buried in the ground.”
“He was buried, certainly enough.”
Then Jang Man-dok appeared casually and began digging. Soon he pulled out a coffin—and inside was Go Seo-bang.
“Something about an Earth-qi Healing Treatment, was it?”
“Looks like it’s time to unearth him already.”
Do Pyeong-su appeared with an expression of surprise, and Seo Seok-san burst out at him.
“You wretch! You should have mentioned it was a treatment!”
“He is buried in the ground, though, isn’t he? Were you frightened? Ah, our Seok-san—your affection for this servant is quite something.”
“Aff—affection is hardly the word! If I have to teach someone new, it’s just a headache.”
“What of the two who went with you?”
“If they want to live, they’ll arrive early.”
O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong, arriving at the Estate, tumbled through the gate.
“Retch!”
In thirty years of facing death in the Murim, enduring countless mortal battles, never had they experienced such despair.
They had run until their internal power bottomed out, and even when they felt the terror of potentially succumbing to Qi Deviation, still they ran.
Over the past two years or so, living together, they had forgotten—but Seo Seok-san was one of the Bloodwind Four Lions, Cheoneum Gwi himself.
The martial prowess Seo Seok-san had displayed when annihilating the Heuksamin Sect made abundantly clear why the Murim shrank before the name Bloodwind Four Lions.
And he had given them an order.
Rather than risk meeting death on the road, they dared not face Seo Seok-san’s wrath.
Just before their breath gave out, they finally arrived at the Estate.
Do Pyeong-su’s shadow fell over them as they lay sprawled, retching their insides out.
“What’s wrong with these two? Are they dead?”
Do Pyeong-su flipped O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong over with the tip of his foot. Too exhausted to resist, they could only flop helplessly onto their backs.
“He still seems to be breathing, at least. Did he catch a stray blade somewhere in the Heuksamin Sect?”
―Don’t be fool enough to take a stray blade. If you do, I’ll kill you myself.
Do Pyeong-su’s parting words echoed in his mind.
“Ah…… ugh! No, sir. I’m not hurt in the slightest.”
“Then why do you look half-dead?”
Do Pyeong-su examined both their bodies meticulously while they, barely able to draw breath, struggled to prove their innocence.
“Wait—there’s a wound here on the shin.”
Called out, Gal Ma-pyeong somehow summoned the strength to bolt upright.
“I, I scraped it on a branch while using the Lightness Kung Fu.”
Do Pyeong-su’s eyes narrowed with skepticism.
“So even the supposedly skilled catch themselves on branches?”
Thinking of the path O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong had taken, it would hardly have seemed strange if grass alone had slit their throats—their journey had been that harrowing.
“Look here! If it were a blade wound, the flesh wouldn’t have torn away like this.”
“Could’ve been a thorn or something similar.”
“That’s not it!”
“Are you talking back to me?”
“No, no, how could I presume…… it’s just so unfair…….”
He looked as though he might actually weep from the injustice of it.
“Why are you pestering these poor souls who barely made it?”
“Pestering? I’m worried they might be hurt.”
“We’re perfectly fine!”
O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong sprang up as if to prove it. Seo Seok-san, watching them, tilted his head and glanced at the sun slanting westward.
“I think it’s been more than three hours since I arrived.”
“Pardon?”
Seo Seok-san casually planted Gal Ma-pyeong’s precious Ssangryong Swords in the ground and studied the shadows.
“Yes, it’s definitely been more than three hours.”
“No, sir! That can’t be right!”
“How would you two know when I arrived?”
“Even if it has been, it hasn’t!”
Their desperation seemed capable of moving the sun itself. As Seo Seok-san opened his mouth to speak, O Tong-su suddenly thought of Go Seo-bang and asked.
“That’s right! What happened to Seo-bang?”
“He was buried.”
“What?”
“…… dug him up three hours ago. So it’s definitely been more than three hours.”
“What…… what do you mean by that?”
When Do Pyeong-su told them Go Seo-bang was safe, O Tong-su and Gal Ma-pyeong’s legs gave out again and they collapsed.
“Rest today. I’ll think carefully about whether it’s been three hours or not, and let you know tomorrow.”
Before the words had finished leaving his mouth, both men sprawled flat on the ground. Soon came the faint sound of snoring.
Seo Seok-san had servants carry both of them to a room. Do Pyeong-su clicked his tongue as he watched them being carried away.
“How have such weak ones survived in the Murim all this time?”
“I feel sorry for them. Should I teach them a few things?”
At Seo Seok-san’s words, Do Pyeong-su’s eyes widened.
“You’re taking them as disciples?”
“Disciples? No, just teaching them enough so they don’t get hurt when they’re out and about.”
“If you teach them martial arts, that makes them your disciples.”
“Did our teacher take us as disciples by teaching us martial arts?”
“True, she didn’t.”
“But I noticed something strange about your senior earlier.”

***

Cultivate the Cheolyeol-gong to its peak, and one achieves a body of Blade-Piercing Immunity. But if Cheolyeol-gong merely hardened the outer shell, one might as well learn Iron Skin more quickly and simply.
Cheolyeol-gong held the power to harden not just the outer body but the inner force as well.
Most martial artists would tilt their heads if told that internal power could be “hard” or “soft”—they knew high and low, but the terms hard and soft were strange to their ears.
Yet even among those possessing First Rank Internal Strength, there was a clear difference in the force they could wield.
Some with First Rank Internal Strength could match Second Rank masters in an Inner Qi Contest, while others with Third Rank Internal Strength scattered uselessly like morning mist.
Internal power accumulated alongside Cheolyeol-gong neither scattered easily nor dried up. Thus, even First Rank Internal Strength, when felt by an opponent, seemed like the inexhaustible internal force of a higher realm.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each time Geom U-bin extended an arm or leg, explosive shockwaves tore through the air. Just as blades and swords release force through their steel, Fist Technique at the Upper Realm naturally emits that force.
Of course, unlike metal weapons, projecting force from flesh and bone was far from simple.
Yet Geom U-bin had already reached that realm.

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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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