Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 11. Inhuman (2)

From the very beginning, Jin Yuseong hadn't trusted Byeok Cheollyong's words.

Unorthodox bastards settling things with a fair one-on-one fight? Especially in a situation where their numbers were vastly superior?

In Jin Yuseong's common sense, this was an impossible event. Bastards like that had no business being unorthodox if they acted that way.

Because he had been watching the situation with eyes full of suspicion, he didn't miss it.

In the chaotic atmosphere as the remaining riffraff moved for the life-or-death battle between the sect leader and the leader.

The sight of the snake-like man called the vice-leader and this disciple exchanging glances and secret hand signals amongst the ruffians.

He didn't know exactly what they were plotting, so he had shrewdly positioned himself next to the disciple, and the result of drawing his sword as soon as the man made a move was this.

“Keoheok……”

The man, pierced in the side, clutched the bleeding wound and collapsed with a groan.

“Heek.”

As the sword that had flown right in front of his neck was moved away, the youngest son finally let out a strange scream belatedly.

Clang!

Subsequently, the sons and disciples of the Azure Sword Sect leader hastily drew their swords.

Their swords were aimed at Jin Yuseong.

“You scoundrel!”

“So you were a spy sent by the Iron Dragon Sect!”

Having been focused on the duel between the sect leader and the leader, they had not properly seen the disciple swinging his sword at the youngest son.

They had only seen their fallen comrade on the ground and the blood on Jin Yuseong's sword.

At their misunderstanding, Jin Yuseong lightly clicked his tongue and said.

“This one is the spy.”

As Jin Yuseong pointed with his sword at the disciple who had been stabbed and was lying on the ground, the youngest son, who was half out of his mind, nodded his head violently as if having a seizure.

At that reaction, the Azure Sword Sect disciples and sons all wore confused expressions.

Just then, a shout erupted from the Iron Dragon Sect's side.

“What are you doing! Strike!!”

It was the vice-leader's shout.

The plan to take the youngest son hostage through the spy had failed, but the vice-leader judged that there was no reason to avoid a fight.

While running toward the Azure Sword Sect side with a shout, the vice-leader lightly clicked his tongue as he looked at the Azure Sword Sect disciple who was bleeding and sprawled on the ground.

‘He was a useful fellow with good sense.’

He was not a spy planted by the Iron Dragon Sect from the beginning.

They had approached the man who was a disciple of Azure Sword Sect and used him as a spy.

Thanks to that fellow, it was much easier to tempt the Azure Sword Sect disciples, and they could also easily grasp the Azure Sword Sect leader's movements.

However, the regret was momentary.

‘Well, he's dead, so it can't be helped.’

To the vice-leader, that disciple's value was only that much anyway.

Meanwhile, seeing the Iron Dragon Sect ruffians charging, the sect leader swung his sword with an enraged expression.

“Leader! What is the meaning of this!!”

Blocking that powerful strike, Byeok Cheollyong wore a sly smile on his lips.

“Hmph. You should be grateful. It seemed lonely to cross the Yellow Springs alone, so I'm sending your disciples and sons along with you.”

“Eeeek!!”

Cheong Daejin, gritting his teeth, unleashed a barrage of attacks on Byeok Cheollyong.

It wasn't just to vent his anger. He had to deal with this man quickly to help his disciples and children.

Clang!

However, Byeok Cheollyong blocked or dodged his offensive without much difficulty.

Slice!

“Kuaaaak!!”

A melee erupted behind them between the Azure Sword Sect disciples and the Iron Dragon Sect ruffians, and screams and shouts began to burst forth.

***

While the Iron Dragon Sect ruffians were charging, avoiding the sect leader and the leader who were engaged in a life-or-death battle in the center, the Azure Sword Sect disciples and sons still had confused expressions.

“Get a grip!”

At Jin Yuseong's shout, they finally came to their senses one by one and began to aim their swords at the ruffians.

“Tsk.”

A smile soon appeared on the lips of Jin Yuseong, who had lightly clicked his tongue.

It wasn't because of the Azure Sword Sect members' excellent response. There were still a few who looked dazed.

There was another reason for Jin Yuseong's smile.

“That brat is mine!!”

The nearly fifty ruffians charging toward Azure Sword Sect. One of them pointed his sword at Jin Yuseong and shouted so.

An ugly man with a face swollen and tinged with a dark blue color.

“Know that today is the day of your death!!”

It was the very same man he had encountered while he was intimidating the old man.

“Your ugly face has gotten even uglier since I last saw you.”

At Jin Yuseong's ridicule, the face of the charging man crumpled.

The sight was so ridiculous that Jin Yuseong felt like a loud laugh would burst out.

“This is all because of you!!”

It was the leader Byeok Cheollyong who had made his face like this, but he did not dare to challenge Byeok Cheollyong.

The Azure Sword Sect leader who had interfered with his work was the same. He was an expert he could not dare to face.

His anger was directed solely at Jin Yuseong, who seemed weaker than himself.

From Jin Yuseong's perspective, it might have been unfair, but Jin Yuseong didn't particularly care.

“A bastard worse than a dog is spouting bullshit.”

It wasn't the first or second time he had seen unorthodox bastards spouting nonsense.

“Die!!”

Jin Yuseong focused not on the unorthodox bastard's nonsense, but on his sword.

Unlike a typical unorthodox idiot, it flew in, drawing a straight and powerful sword path.

A smirk once again escaped Jin Yuseong's lips.

It wasn't because of the unorthodox sword path.

It was because his swordsmanship was familiar.

The sword the man swung was drawing the same sword path as the one the Azure Sword Sect leader had used.

“Idiot.”

Jin Yuseong lightly dodged the man's sword and moved his lips.

Swish.

“Was it to receive such treatment that you betrayed Sect Leader Cheong Daejin and joined the Iron Dragon Sect?”

Swish!

“You traitorous bastard. You cowardly bastard. A beast worse than an animal who knows no shame.”

As Jin Yuseong relentlessly repeated his provocations while dodging the sword, sparks flew in the man's eyes.

“Shut up! You son of a bitch!!”

Heat rose to his bruised face, tinting it with a bizarre color.

The man, filled with rage, swung his sword wildly.

Crack!

Jin Yuseong's sword, which had slipped through the opening of the man whose movements had become larger, pierced through his chest.

“A vile man who is also stupid in the head.”

As he was having a light thought about dealing with one unorthodox bastard.

A dao flew in from behind.

Swish.

Jin Yuseong, who dodged the dao by twisting his upper body minimally, rotated his body as it was and slit the throat of the unorthodox bastard who had swung the dao.

While blood splattered on his face, the state of the battle came into his view.

The swordsmen of the Azure Sword Sect side, only nine in number, were surrounded by over forty unorthodox bastards and were engaged in a fight.

Jin Yuseong willingly ran towards that crucible of chaos.

An unorthodox bastard swung his dao at Jin Yuseong.

While he was blocking that dao, another unorthodox bastard from the side was swinging his sword at his arm.

That wasn't all. Unorthodox bastards were swinging their weapons from all directions—front, back, left, and right.

“Hehehe.”

A laugh escaped Jin Yuseong's lips without him realizing it.

It wasn't just because there was an abundance of trash to clean up everywhere.

The eeriness of the flashing blades on all sides. The pressure of being able to be cut by a blind sword at any moment.

This situation of a chaotic battle surrounded by enemies was relentlessly stimulating his nerves.

‘I see it.’

At some point, in a slowed-down world, everything came into view clearly.

Among the enemies filling all directions, an incomparably greater number of trajectories than before were embroidering the empty space.

Clear trajectories were drawn along the weapons held by the men around him. Along with countless sword paths that could pierce their vitals.

As he performed a sword dance following that sword path, which could be called an ideal, he felt as if he was being sucked into a state of ecstasy without realizing it.

Slice.

Crack.

“Keoheok……”

The joy of harvesting the lives of the trash was a bonus.

***

The youngest son of the Azure Sword Sect leader.

He could not accept the reality unfolding before his eyes.

Corpses were scattered about, blood splattered everywhere, and the groans and screams of pain from people, whether friend or foe, echoed incessantly.

‘Th-this isn't what I, what I imagined…’

It was too gruesome a battle for a young man of only seventeen to accept.

No, he had been half out of his mind since he was first unexpectedly ambushed.

‘Why did Taeju-hyung do that to me?’

A man he had treated almost like a real brother, having trained with the sword together at Azure Sword Sect since childhood.

For such a man to suddenly swing a sword at his neck.

The voice of his second older brother pierced through his dazed ears.

“Gyunmyeong! Get a grip!”

His second older brother had shouted while cutting down a Iron Dragon Sect ruffian's chest with his sword. Right in front of him.

“Heek.”

Startled by the sight of splattering blood, Gyunmyeong quickly turned his head.

The disciples of Azure Sword Sect and his two older brothers had formed a large circular formation to deal with the ruffians, and Gyunmyeong was being protected in the center of that formation.

Gyunmyeong, who had been out of his mind, was unaware, but it was a wise decision made by his first older brother.

The most frightening thing in a chaotic battle was a blade flying in from an unseen direction, so as long as the circular formation did not collapse, there was no chance of a sword flying in from behind.

The swordsmen of Azure Sword Sect were swinging their swords tenaciously to avoid collapsing.

Among them, the eldest son was so busy dealing with the Iron Dragon Sect vice-leader that he didn't even have the leeway to utter a single word.

‘I, I have to help.’

That thought occurred to Cheong Gyunmyeong, but he couldn't readily move.

He was afraid of dying.

‘I-if I needlessly step up, I might just p-put my brother in d-danger.’

As Gyunmyeong was making such excuses to himself, he suddenly thought of a boy.

The boy who had visited Azure Sword Sect today. A boy who seemed to be around his age. The boy who had saved him from Taeju-hyung's ambush just a moment ago.

Among those who had formed the circular formation, the boy's figure was not seen.

‘H-he must be dead by now, right?’

The reason he thought so was simple. The boy looked weak.

His body was so frail that even clothes couldn't hide it, and he didn't feel any special aura.

It was the same when he was dueling with his father. He had just barely endured by throwing his body tenaciously. He didn't feel anything special.

The boy had not only dropped his sword in the final tenth exchange but had even rolled on the ground.

Both were actions considered a lifelong shame for a swordsman.

Seeing his outwardly weak appearance and his shameless smile even after doing such things, Gyunmyeong thought the boy was a novice.

He believed he had endured the ten exchanges because his father had gone easy on him and he was lucky.

He also thought that saving him just a moment ago was also due to luck.

Such a novice would have surely died in a gruesome battle like this.

Just then.

“Kuaaaak!”

A rough scream that pierced his eardrums was heard from beyond the circular formation.

The Azure Sword Sect disciples who were protecting Gyunmyeong, and through the gap between them and the unorthodox ruffians attacking them, he saw the figure of the boy he thought was dead. Along with the sight of an unorthodox bastard, his abdomen pierced by the boy's sword, screaming.

The boy, as if uninterested in the ruffian he had stabbed, once again threw his body and swung his sword.

Slice!

Cheong Gyunmyeong watched the boy's movements, dazed.

Slice!

The boy was fighting terribly well.

He pierced the enemy's throat and, at the same time, rolled on the ground without a moment's hesitation to dodge a sword flying in from behind.

Fwoosh!

The act of scooping up dirt and dust from the ground while rolling and throwing it into the enemy's eyes flowed like a single technique.

Crack!

Kicking a ruffian's private parts was a common occurrence.

“Spit!”

He even spat into the enemy's eyes while their swords were locked.

He was fighting more like a ruffian than the Iron Dragon Sect ruffians.

However, the sight was not funny.

Rather than being funny, it was goosebump-inducing.

Slice.

‘He's… smiling?’

Even when he was stabbing a sword into the heart of a Iron Dragon Sect unorthodox bastard.

Crack.

Even when he was cutting off a neck and the blood was soaking his face.

Slice.

Even when he was using the corpse of a beheaded Iron Dragon Sect ruffian as a shield to block a sword flying in from behind.

The boy was smiling innocently.

As if this gruesome hellscape, rampant with blood, entrails, screams, and groans of pain, was so enjoyable.

‘A m-monster…’

At that innocent smile, goosebumps rose all over Cheong Gyunmyeong's body.

“Keuk.”

Just then, a stifled groan pierced Cheong Gyunmyeong's ears.

When he turned his head, he saw that it was his second older brother who had made the sound.

A stream of blood was flowing from his brother's forearm, and unorthodox bastards were swinging their spears and swords at him.

Cheong Gyunmyeong, who had felt fear watching the boy, gritted his teeth.

‘Even that guy is doing it…’

It wasn't a matter of skill.

That guy, who was his age, was fighting like that in the midst of the enemy, while he felt ashamed of himself for being terrified and only being protected.

He moved his hand, which was trembling with fear, and gripped the hilt of his sword, which he had not yet drawn.

“Hoo.”

While he was repeatedly taking deep breaths to calm his trembling even a little.

Clang!

The metallic sound of his second older brother blocking an unorthodox bastard's sword pierced his ears.

“Die!!”

The moment another unorthodox bastard thrust his dao at his second older brother whose hands were tied.

“Haat!”

With a trembling shout, Cheong Gyunmyeong drew the sword that had been stuck in its scabbard and thrust it at the unorthodox bastard.