The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 39

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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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39
Woo Geom-san Seeks Supremacy
The storehouse of the Zhuyang Inn was constructed from thick, sturdy timber.
Thanks to that, it had preserved its original form despite the passage of several decades. However, that was merely its external appearance; in truth, the wood had rotted in various places, rendering it flimsy.
The thieves of the Cheongmun Gang had scouted out those rotted sections in advance.
Taking advantage of the commotion the martial artists were causing at the entrance of the storehouse, they tore away at the rotted wood.
As they chipped the timber with chisels and sawed through it, an opening large enough for a person or two to slip through was quickly created.
The bundles of tea piled high inside the storehouse came into view.
Jeong Noya, the leader of the thieves, shouted.
“Hurry and get the tea out.”
“Yes, sir!”
The thieves and Baishu who had been waiting on standby replied vigorously and entered the storehouse.
Jeong Noya smirked.
“This is easy. How great would it be if work were this easy every day?”
While the martial artists drew attention at the storehouse entrance, the thieves and Baishu broke a doghole into the storehouse to steal the tea.
It was a plan that Jeong Noya had devised himself.
“I have no idea why we’re supposed to steal this kind of junk, but since it’s the leader’s order, we have no choice but to follow.”
“So you’re saying the leader of the Cheongmun Gang ordered you to steal the tea?”
“What?”
Startled by the voice that suddenly sounded from his side, Jeong Noya whipped his head around. There, he saw a young man who looked to be barely twenty years old standing beside him.
With his black hair tied back tightly, contrasting sharply with his fair skin, the young man was remarkably handsome.
The young man exuded an aura of elegance and composure that could never be found among the members of the Cheongmun Gang.
Jeong Noya drew a dagger from his waist and demanded.
“Who are you? Since when have you been standing there?”
“I happen to be one of the owners of that tea.”
The young man pointing at the tea inside the storehouse was none other than Woo Geom-san.
When he saw the martial artists of the Cheongmun Gang making a scene at the storehouse entrance, Woo Geom-san realized there were other figures involved and had immediately rushed over here.
Jeong Noya unleashed his bloodlust and aimed his dagger at Woo Geom-san.
“You’re an unlucky fellow.”
“Am I?”
“Our goal was to quietly pack up the goods and leave without leaving behind any witnesses or traces.”
“But now a witness has appeared, is that what you mean?”
“Exactly! If we leave a witness alive, it gets troublesome for us.”
Jeong Noya was no ordinary thief.
If he were just a common thief, he wouldn’t have become a key figure in the Cheongmun Gang.
He had mastered a martial art called the Flying Serpent Soul-Severing Sword.
It was a lethal martial art that cut off the opponent’s breath just like a flying serpent.
Swish!
He thrust his dagger toward Woo Geom-san’s throat.
Because Woo Geom-san was so close, he didn’t doubt for a second that his attack would succeed.
However, his belief betrayed him.
The dagger that should have been embedded in Woo Geom-san’s throat had vanished from his hand.
Before he knew it, his dagger was in Woo Geom-san’s grasp.
Just before it could pierce his throat, Woo Geom-san had deployed Chaeuolsu to snatch the dagger away.
“When did you—?”
Jeong Noya’s eyes widened.
He couldn’t even perceive how the dagger held in his own hand had ended up in Woo Geom-san’s hand.
It was something that could never happen unless there was an overwhelming disparity in their martial arts levels.
‘He’s an expert.’
Only then did Jeong Noya realize that Woo Geom-san was an expert who far surpassed him.
He roared at the thieves and Baishu who were busy stealing the tea inside the storehouse.
“Everyone get out here and kill this bastard!”
At Jeong Noya’s urgent voice, the thieves and Baishu who were grabbing bundles of tea rushed out all at once.
Among them was the young Baishu, Jin Seo-ho.
Jin Seo-ho recognized Woo Geom-san at a single glance.
The man he had tried and failed to pickpocket in the market earlier today was standing right there.
In his hand, the man held the dagger that Jeong Noya always treasured and carried around.
In that instant, Jin Seo-ho’s mind raced.
‘Fuck! No wonder. He was an expert who mastered martial arts.’
Jeong Noya always bragged about being an expert, and everyone flattered him for it. Jin Seo-ho had feared Jeong Noya too.
Jeong Noya always said this:
As long as he held a dagger, he could slit the throat of anyone except for the gang leader, Oh Gang-yeol. And he claimed he would absolutely never let the dagger leave his hand until the day he died.
Yet right now, Jeong Noya’s dagger was in Woo Geom-san’s hand.
That meant Woo Geom-san was an expert whom Jeong Noya couldn’t dare to match.
Assessing the situation in a flash, Jin Seo-ho subtly backed away instead of attacking Woo Geom-san.
In the meantime, the other thieves and Baishu lunged at Woo Geom-san.
Weapons like daggers and knives were held in their hands as well.
“Fuck! Die!”
“Go to hell!”
Spatting curses, they thrust their daggers with all their might toward Woo Geom-san’s body. However, their weapons never got the chance to touch him.
Before they knew it, Woo Geom-san was standing far away from where he had originally been.
To be honest, they couldn’t even comprehend how Woo Geom-san had moved.
They hadn’t even caught a glimpse of a faint blur.
They were clearly staring with their eyes wide open, yet Woo Geom-san was now standing on the opposite side of the thieves and Baishu. Furthermore, the weapons that the thieves and Baishu had been holding were now clutched in his hand.
Still frozen in their thrusting postures, the thieves and Baishu hadn’t even realized that the weapons had vanished from their hands.
Woo Geom-san had executed the Flowing Void Steps to glide past the thieves and Baishu, using Chaeuolsu to snatch away their weapons.
The entire sequence of events occurred entirely outside the realm of what the thieves and Baishu could perceive.
Because of that, they only realized what had happened a long while after their weapons had been stolen.
“Dammit!”
“What? Where did my dagger go?”
The thieves and Baishu stared at each other’s faces with utterly bewildered expressions.
Watching this entire sequence from a distance, Jin Seo-ho felt cold sweat drenching his back.
‘He really was a martial arts expert. Not a fake who just brags about it, but the real deal.’
He thought of Oh Gang-yeol, the leader of the Cheongmun Gang.
Honestly, since he hadn’t seen Oh Gang-yeol fight with his full strength, he couldn’t know for certain, but he couldn’t picture a scenario where the leader would win.
That was just how shocking the single move shown by Woo Geom-san was.
But it was still too early to be surprised.
Woo Geom-san proceeded to show an even more astonishing feat.
Swish, swish, swish!
He hurled the weapons he was holding back at the thieves and Baishu.
“Aaaah!”
“Grah!”
Struck by the weapons, the thieves and Baishu collapsed while screaming. However, not a single one of them died.
Woo Geom-san had struck the thieves and Baishu with the hilts of the daggers rather than the blades. But even though the sharp edges hadn’t pierced their flesh, it felt as if they had been struck by a hammer, making it incredibly difficult for them to breathe from the sheer pain.
As the thieves and Baishu groaned and doubled over like shrimp, Woo Geom-san spoke to them in a chillingly cold voice.
“Go back and deliver a clear message to your gang leader. Tell him that if he pulls a stunt like this again, I won’t let it slide.”
In that instant, Jeong Noya and his subordinates felt the surrounding air freeze over completely.
By this point, even the most oblivious fools could realize the truth.
The opponent before them was an expert on a completely different dimension from them.
Without even daring to mutter the typical villainous cliché of ‘Just you wait!’, they hurriedly scrambled away from the storehouse.
Jin Seo-ho tried to follow behind them and quickly leave the storehouse as well.
At that moment, Woo Geom-san’s voice caught Jin Seo-ho.
“You’re quick-witted, and you seem to have talent. If you can manage it, you should leave them.”
“Fuck! If it were that easy to do as I pleased, I would’ve left a long time ago. Stop talking bullshit when you don’t know anything!”
Lashing out from a surge of emotion, Jin Seo-ho barked out the words, only to gasp and shut his mouth tight upon catching sight of Woo Geom-san’s face.
Woo Geom-san offered a bitter smile and replied.
“True. It’s not like I’m going to pull you out of that crowd myself, so I meddled needlessly. My apologies.”
“Dammit!”
Jin Seo-ho bit his lip hard and walked away.
The Cheongmun Gang was like a swamp; once you dipped your feet in, you could absolutely never escape by your own power.
Without their permission, it was impossible to even leave Guangu County.
To Jin Seo-ho, Guangu County itself was nothing short of a massive prison.
Whether he lived or died, he had no other choices available to him besides the Cheongmun Gang.
Staring at Jin Seo-ho’s slumped back as he walked away, Woo Geom-san let out a soft sigh.
He felt that he had spoken words he shouldn’t have.
However, what he said to Jin Seo-ho had been his genuine thoughts.
Woo Geom-san had now entered the ranks of experts. Therefore, he had developed an eye that could recognize an opponent’s aptitude to some extent.
To his eyes, Jin Seo-ho possessed a fairly decent aptitude and a sharp gaze.
If he were to learn martial arts properly, he would achieve no small measure of success.
But even so, Woo Geom-san could not recklessly intervene in Jin Seo-ho’s life.
Every choice inevitably brought about consequences, and the choices of someone who possessed powerful martial arts like Woo Geom-san could twist the fates of others, so he always had to be careful.
Letting out a faint sigh, Woo Geom-san walked toward the entrance of the storehouse.
At the entrance, the dispute between the village youths and the martial artists of the Cheongmun Gang was still ongoing.
The martial artists of the Cheongmun Gang still didn’t know the fact that the thieves and Baishu had all fled because of Woo Geom-san.
They drew their weapons and threatened the village youths.
“Do you really want to die? Shall I hack your bodies to pieces?”
“Where do you mountain bumpkins get the nerve to push back without any fear?”
Despite their savage momentum, the village youths never backed down.
The young men gritted their teeth and endured the intimidation of the Cheongmun Gang martial artists.
Seeing the youths look as though they wouldn’t hesitate to fight a bloody battle, it was actually the Cheongmun Gang martial artists who were slightly unnerved.
‘Why are these village bumpkins so vicious?’
‘Look at that gaze.’
If they actually fought, the youths wouldn’t even be a match for a single punch, but their sheer venom had to be acknowledged.
It was at that moment.
“Brothers!”
Woo Geom-san walked into the space between the youths and the Cheongmun Gang martial artists.
Bright smiles washed over the faces of Baek Wol-sang and the young men.
“Geom-san!”
“You’re here!”
They welcomed Woo Geom-san’s appearance as if they were looking at a massive reinforcing army.
The leader of the Cheongmun Gang martial artists looked at Woo Geom-san with an absurd expression.
“What is this now? A brat who still wet behind the ears dares to interfere in adult business.”
“Your plan has already been exposed.”
“What?”
“I am talking about how you tried to secretly smuggle the goods out using thieves while you guys caused a commotion here.”
“H-How do you know that?”
With his hidden agenda laid bare, the martial artist stammered in surprise.
Staring at the martial artist, Woo Geom-san calmly continued his words.
“I don’t know why you’re pulling these tricks, but if you want our village’s tea, request a formal trade.”
“You son of a bitch…”
Driven to the peak of fury by the humiliation, the martial artist charged straight at Woo Geom-san.
Whoosh!
The sword held in his hand aimed straight for the space between Woo Geom-san’s nose and upper lip.
He intended to skewer Woo Geom-san’s head like a kebab.
It was at that moment.
Crack!
A sharp shattering sound echoed, and the martial artist’s sword snapped right down the middle.
The martial artist’s eyes flew wide open.
To his eyes, it looked as though the sword had exploded on its own. However, he knew better than anyone else that a sword forged from high-quality iron couldn’t just explode by itself without an explosive tag.
The cause was Woo Geom-san’s two fingers.
He had struck the flat of the blade with a Sword Hand-Sign formed by pressing his index and middle fingers together.
Fingers made of mere flesh and blood had struck and destroyed a blade made of steel.
This situation signified only one thing.
‘Fuck! We’re screwed.’
The opponent was an expert.
An extraordinarily monstrous expert at that.
Cold sweat poured down the spine of the Cheongmun Gang martial artist.
He had no idea why such an expert was keeping company with the youths of Yunjung Village, but as long as this man stood by their side, such tricks would never work.
Woo Geom-san looked at the terrified martial artists of the Cheongmun Gang and uttered a single, brief sentence.
“Go back.”
“……”
With that, the entire situation came to an end.
The martial artists of the Cheongmun Gang retreated miserably like dogs with their tails between their legs, and the village youths erupted into cheers.
“Wahahaha! We won.”
“As expected of Geom-san.”
“Did you see that? See how terrifying Geom-san is! Don’t you bastards ever target our goods again!”
The sound of their mocking laughter pierced the eardrums of the retreating Cheongmun Gang martial artists.
Sunk deep in defeat, their shoulders slumped even further into the distance.

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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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