Return of the Sword Emperor - Chapter 45

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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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Chapter 16: Three Men Create a Tiger (2)

It was the moment an awkward tension settled over everything.

“Stop! Stop right there!”

At the sudden cry, all eyes turned toward the source of the voice.
Beyond the crumbled outer wall, Yu Seol Ran and Yang Gyu came running with grave expressions.
In the blink of an eye, Yu Seol Ran reached Dok Go Jin and cast an urgent glance around—her eyes betrayed deep worry that someone might be injured or worse.
Dok Go Jin smiled faintly and spoke.

“There’s no need to worry. Nothing serious happened.”
“Is that so? Thank goodness.”

Yu Seol Ran exhaled in relief, then immediately cursed under her breath.
The Yang Family Estate had been conversing with their people when the sudden sound of clashing Military Weapons erupted—and to discover that Dok Go Jin and Nam Gung Ho were nowhere to be found. The shock had been considerable.
Yang Gyu likewise counted his blessings that no serious disaster had occurred.
Yet their understanding of the situation differed greatly.
Yu Seol Ran was relieved that Dok Go Jin and Nam Gung Ho hadn’t harmed the Yang Family Estate’s martial artists, while Yang Gyu was grateful that the quick-tempered Yang Hwa hadn’t mistaken his own allies for enemies and caused an accident.

“I heard the clash of weapons and was quite startled…….”

Yang Gyu approached Yang Hwa with a smile, but his expression hardened and his words trailed off.
His widened eyes fixed on the blood seeping across Yang Hwa’s shoulder.

“You’ve been wounded?”

At Yang Gyu’s question, Yang Hwa gripped his throbbing shoulder and shook his head.

“It’s nothing of consequence, Uncle.”

Yang Hwa spoke calmly, as if such a wound were insignificant—but this came not from genuine boldness of character, only from the shame of having been wounded at all, forcing him to feign strength.

‘Tch. That temperament of his! He must have taken quite a beating.’

Yang Gyu, who knew Yang Hwa’s character better than anyone, turned a wry smile toward Dok Go Jin and Nam Gung Ho.
Yang Hwa, a direct heir of the Yang Family Estate trained systematically from childhood, possessed skill that—while inferior to his older brothers—was unmatched among his peers. Yet he had been wounded. Moreover, from the atmosphere surrounding them, it seemed he had suffered a complete defeat with no room for excuse.

‘I’d heard the Mil Geom Dan was weak compared to other combat units. I shouldn’t have underestimated them.’

From the Mil Geom Dan members he’d already encountered and from the aura he sensed in Yu Seol Ran, Yang Gyu concluded that the popular opinion of the Mil Geom Dan needed drastic revision.

“In any case, it’s fortunate matters went no further. The Patriarch is waiting, so let’s move at once. It seems the Ma Do Ryeon dogs have already fled.”

Yang Gyu saw Yang Hwa’s defeat as a valuable lesson against arrogance and naturally sought to settle the situation smoothly.
Yu Seol Ran, who had been watching nervously at the direct heir of the Yang Family Estate being wounded, was also relieved that the matter hadn’t escalated further. She signaled to Dok Go Jin and Nam Gung Ho with a glance to move out quickly.
Unfortunately, the situation did not unfold as the two of them wished.

“What in the world is going on here?”

Yang Hoe, who had arrived moments before, regarded Yang Hwa’s blood-stained shoulder with narrow, piercing eyes.

“Ah, Elder Brother.”
“I wasn’t speaking to you. Hwa—what happened?”

At Yang Hoe’s question, Yang Hwa could not bring himself to answer, only grinding his teeth.

“Hmm.”

Yang Hoe’s gaze, narrowing with displeasure at his youngest son’s bearing, swept across the retainers who had moved with Yang Hwa.
Their clothes were caked with dust as though a fierce battle had taken place, and most stood in uncomfortable postures—to anyone’s eye, they bore the aspect of men defeated, their tails between their legs.
The sight of his youngest and the retainers displeased Yang Hoe deeply; his mouth twisted.
Yang Hoe stepped forward and seized Yang Hwa by the shoulder.

“Ugh!”

A cry of pain escaped Yang Hwa’s lips.
The wound tore open again, blood that had begun to clot flowing freely, yet Yang Hoe’s hands as he peeled back the cloth to examine the injury moved without hesitation.

‘So this is how it is.’

Yang Hoe’s eyes narrowed as he assessed the injury.
The blood had flowed freely enough, but the wound was shallow—and more tellingly, there was unmistakable intention behind each strike, deliberately avoiding any vital point.

‘I see. A lesson, then. Ha! How dare a rabble like the Mil Geom Dan lay hands on the blood of the Yang Family?’

A cold smile played across Yang Hoe’s lips.
Both Yang Gyu and Yu Seol Ran, seeing that smile, could sense at once that the situation was turning in an unwelcome direction.

“Hwa.”

Yang Hoe’s hands pressed harder against the wound.

“Yes, Father.”

Yang Hwa bit back the cry of pain trying to escape his lips and answered.

“I asked you how this came to pass. Why have you still given me no answer?”
“That is… well…”

Unable to respond, Yang Hwa hesitated until he read the fury in his father’s eyes, then cried out as though in self-defense.

“That man attacked first! We were merely conducting a search to see if remnants of the Ma Do Ryeon remained.”

His voice, at first wavering, grew louder as he spoke, gathering conviction.

“Are you certain of this?”

Yang Hoe turned his gaze toward Dok Go Jin and Nam Gung Ho, asking again.

“Yes, absolutely. Ask them yourself, Father.”

Yang Hwa pointed to the retainers, who were caught off guard by the turn of events.

“Is what Yang Hwa says without error?”

Yang Hoe posed the question to the retainers.
His voice betrayed no emotion whatsoever, yet every person present—whether questioned or merely standing nearby—could feel the weight of his intent.

“Something about this feels wrong.”

Nam Gung Ho, sensing that matters were unfolding strangely, nudged Dok Go Jin and spoke in a low voice.
Yu Seol Ran’s expression too had darkened.
The newly arrived Yang Hoe’s intent was far too clear—he was steering toward conflict what should have been a cleanly resolved situation.
Dok Go Jin watched with an impassive face as Yang Hoe pressed for answers, his gaze fixed on the patriarch and his retainers.

“Y-yes, that’s right. They struck first.”
“There was no chance to determine their identities before they attacked.”
“It was a terribly sudden assault.”
“The youngest master has come under attack…….”

The moment someone spoke, excuses tumbled from all quarters, each voice scrambling to bury their own mistakes.

“Don’t lie! You were the ones who attacked first!”

Nam Gung Ho, who had struggled mightily to maintain restraint even under the coordinated assault, roared with a face flushed crimson.
But his voice was swallowed at once beneath the tide of objections from the others.

“Elder brother, this isn’t right.”

Yang Gyu spoke quietly, his brow furrowed, but Yang Hoe didn’t even grant him a glance.

“It seems we’ve reached an impasse. Captain Yu, what do you make of their claims?”

Yang Hoe turned his question toward Yu Seol Ran.

“Cut to the chase—what do you want?”

Yu Seol Ran, having already seen through Yang Hoe’s malicious intent, replied with a sharp edge.

“I want nothing in particular, but I’ve heard it said that those who make mistakes must apologize, and those who commit wrongs must face punishment—such is the way of the world.”

Yang Hoe’s gaze swept across Dok Go Jin and Nam Gung Ho with a chill in his eyes.
Just as Yu Seol Ran was about to respond, Dok Go Jin seized her arm.

“One moment, Captain.”
“Stop.”

Dok Go Jin, pointedly ignoring the warning flash in Yu Seol Ran’s eyes, studied Yang Hwa and his men with a deliberate gaze before speaking.

“There’s a saying: Three Men Create a Tiger—when three people agree on a tale, they conjure up a beast that never existed. But here, with over twenty voices crying out in concert, they’ve birthed something far worse than a tiger—something that reduces a man to refuse in a single breath.”
“Insolent fool. If you’ve made a mistake…….”
“That mistake of yours!”

Dok Go Jin cut through Yang Hoe’s words with glacial finality, then fixed him with a gaze brimming with contempt.

“Your premise was flawed from the start.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Dok Go Jin’s blade moved.
Whissh!
A chilling rent through the air accompanied the explosive burst of Sword Aura, splitting into dozens of strands that crashed down upon Yang Hwa and his men.
Yang Hoe, caught completely off guard, instinctively stumbled backward, and Yang Gyu rushed forward desperately to shield him—but the outcome was already decided.
Stifled screams and the sound of wind being cut erupted from all sides.
Yang Hwa and all twenty of the martial artists who had spoken false testimony, as if bound by a single pact, frantically touched their temples and the napes of their necks.
The cold sensation beneath their fingertips.
Shorn hair fell like snowflakes through the air.
In a single stroke, without grazing a single inch of skin, he had cropped the hair of twenty men—a Divine Technique indeed.
Every soul present understood: had Dok Go Jin harbored even the slightest darker intent, what would be rolling across the floor now would not be hair, but their heads.

“W-what is this madness!”

Yang Gyu’s fury spilled over, but Dok Go Jin answered with an air of unshakeable calm.

“Did it truly seem to you that I would require an ambush?”

Dok Go Jin swept his gaze around the room with derision before continuing.

“If, as they claimed, I had truly resorted to ambush……”

Dok Go Jin’s eyes gleamed with an unsettling light, meeting Yang Hoe’s gaze.

“You couldn’t have spouted such nonsense at all. Not if a single one of you had survived. Isn’t that so?”

Dok Go Jin proved through his skill alone that he’d had no reason for a surprise attack. Without drawing blood—merely trimming a few strands of hair—he had inflicted on them humiliation and fear worse than death itself.
At Dok Go Jin’s provocative words, Yang Hoe’s eyes narrowed to slits and his lips trembled. Yet for all the audacity of the attack, having failed to mount even a proper defense against it, he found himself with nothing concrete to refute.
Moreover, Yang Gyu was desperately sending Distant Communication, insisting that colliding with the Mil Geom Dan while the Cham Hoe was in collapse would be absolutely catastrophic.
Then Dok Go Jin let his blade hang diagonally at his side.

“If you cannot believe my words, I can demonstrate directly.”

At the same moment, an aura incomparably heavier than before erupted from his entire body.
A cold so sharp it seemed to flay the flesh, an overwhelming pressure that suggested a single careless twitch would steal one’s breath—both Yang Gyu and Yang Hoe reflexively gripped their sword hilts without conscious thought.
Yet they could not move.
Those who had prided themselves as masters of the Yang Family Clan fell into shameful silence before the aura Dok Go Jin had deliberately unleashed.
Nam Gung Ho, who had been watching the situation with every intention to join the fray, clenched his fists, and even Yu Seol Ran’s sharp, stern gaze softened imperceptibly of its own accord.

“Do you have anything further to say?”

When Dok Go Jin withdrew his aura, those who had been pressed beneath it gasped roughly for breath.

“Indeed…….”

Yang Hoe, gripping his sword hilt with trembling hands, continued, struggling to maintain composure.

“There appears to have been a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding, yes—merely a slight misunderstanding, nothing more. In any case, I appreciate your words. And I offer my apologies for my own rudeness as well.”

Dok Go Jin gave a slight bow, preserving the last shred of face for Yang Hoe.

“The sect leader awaits. Let us go.”

Just as the situation seemed to reach its worst point and then settle, Yu Seol Ran quickly grabbed Dok Go Jin’s arm and pulled.

……

Behind the backs of the three departing figures, Yang Hoe’s gaze—brimming with malice—flew after them and struck deep.

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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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