Return of the Heavenly Sword

Chapter 28. The Steel Sinew Clan (3)

I had broken the Flying Swallow Sword Art, the one that had crippled my left arm and against which I couldn't even last ten exchanges.

It was something to be wildly joyful about, but I had no intention of savoring that joy like an idiot.

The fight wasn't over yet.

With our swords locked, I pressed down on her sword and took a step forward.

Step.

Following that, as I reached within fist's reach, I thrust my left fist towards her solar plexus.

The Steel Sinew Sect Leader wasn't an idiot either, and she hastily moved her left hand in the middle of that.

Thwack!

Right in front of her solar plexus, my left fist and her left palm collided, and the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed.

I had anticipated it being blocked.

I wasn't a master of fist techniques, after all.

My left fist was a feint in the first place.

I quickly tilted my head back, then used the momentum to thrust my head forward, towards the bridge of her nose.

Crack!!

The sound of something breaking erupted from the leader's nose as it collided with my forehead, and something warm flowed down my forehead.

It was a nosebleed.

The leader, her head snapped back, let out a scream of pain.

“Aaaaaargh!”

Whether it was because of her hideously broken nose or because she was covered in a nosebleed, a nasal sound echoed.

Even in the midst of that, the leader swung her sword with her upper body bent backwards.

However, her eyes were half-closed as she grimaced in pain.

“Her nose is broken, so why is she closing her eyes?”

It seemed that because she was a crazy bitch, she couldn't even tell the difference between her eyes and her nose.

It would be idiotic to be hit by a sword swung blindly with her eyes squinted shut.

I easily dodged the crazy bitch's sword and at the same time, thrust my sword.

Stab.

My sword pierced the Steel Sinew Sect Leader's heart.

“Keok…”

Letting out a short final cry, the Steel Sinew Sect Leader looked down at the sword blade that had penetrated her chest with a somewhat vacant gaze.

The image of the crazy bitch who had been rampaging just a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.

“Revenge… must…”

Leaving that empty muttering as her last words, she collapsed.

I looked down at the leader's corpse for a very short moment.

Then I turned my head and looked around.

The three heretic bastards who had retreated because of the leader's command were still alive.

As soon as I took a step towards them, they threw away their weapons and knelt on the ground.

“H-hiiik.”

“P-please spare us!!”

As I calmly approached them step by step, I asked.

“Do you know anything about the relationship between the leader and the Danmok Clan?”

When I was fighting the leader, killing her was the priority, so I had let it go.

Now, I was about to try and solve that mystery.

But at my question, the three heretic bastards hastily shook their heads.

“I-it's the first time we're hearing about it.”

“T-that's right. The leader, no, that bitch never mentioned the Danmok Clan, n-never!”

Just because the leader was dead, their title for her had already changed from ‘Leader’ to ‘that bitch’.

They were truly amazing bastards.

“You seem to have lived comfortably. Do you think all problems are solved if you don't know?”

As I, having arrived right in front of them, asked again, the bastards started to rack their brains with various expressions.

Following that, one of them remembered something and hastily opened his mouth.

“Y-yes, it was a while ago, but when I entered the Leader's Hall on urgent business, I w-was severely scolded by that bitch. At that time, that c-crazy bitch seemed to be hastily hiding something.”

She hid something in the Leader’s Hall.

“And you lot?”

I turned my gaze to the other two, but it seemed they couldn't remember anything.

“W-we really don't know anything. P-please, spare us!”

“T-that vicious bitch called us family, but she never once trained in front of us. That Flying Swallow Sword Art thing, t-today was the first time we saw it.”

I nodded at their answers and said.

“It can't be helped. Then you may go now.”

“T-thank you, young warrior.”

“T-thank you!”

Towards the bastards who were bowing their heads while kneeling, begging with their hands and feet, I willingly swung my sword.

“To the afterlife.”

Slash.

Three heads fell to the ground, and soon, the bodies that had lost their balance collapsed with a thud.

It seemed I had paid the price for their thanks.

At least I sent them off without pain.

While stopping the bleeding from the wounds I got from the fight with the leader, I scanned the messed-up estate.

Except for one bear sleeping spread-eagled over there, it was all just corpses.

It would take a while for that guy to wake up, so I started to walk for now.

Towards the Steel Sinew Sect's estate.

***

After arriving at the Steel Sinew Sect's estate, the first place I went to was the pavilion with the plaque that read Leader’s Hall.

After rummaging through the inside of the Leader’s Hall for a while.

“Here it is.”

One side of the wall.

A place where there was no reason for handprints, yet it had a strange sense of use.

It seemed there was some kind of mechanism, so I swung my sword with internal energy.

Clang!!

Thanks to hitting it with all my might, the sword broke again, but it didn't really matter.

Clunk.

A hole formed in the wall that couldn't withstand the force, and the inside was revealed.

There were a total of seven books placed there.

Strangely, the top three books had no names written on them.

I moved those books and looked at the ones below, and they had these names written on them respectively.

[Flying Swallow Sword Art], [Iron Blood Golden Skin Art], [Great Swallow Harmonious Will Art], [Eight Trigrams Flying Stream Steps]

A total of four martial arts manuals.

Going back to the beginning, I opened the books that had no titles written on them.

“Hmm.”

As I skimmed through them, those three books were a kind of journal, written by the Steel Sinew Sect Leader herself.

It was a journal like the dregs of emotions, mixed with anger, malice, and impatience.

Naturally, the contents were also jumbled, but after reading through from beginning to end, I could roughly infer the situation.

The Steel Sinew Sect Leader's real name was Cha Hui.

She was originally a woman who lived with her father near Lu'an in Anhui Province, where the Danmok Clan was based, but her father lost his life in an unfortunate accident.

Fortunately, the Danmok Clan, who could be said to be the local powerhouse, took her in as a servant.

Perhaps because she was quite beautiful, while working as a servant at the Danmok Clan, she fell in love with the young master, Danmok Hwan.

That is, she thought she had fallen in love.

One day, while dreaming of a reversal of fortune by sharing love with Danmok Hwan.

She overheard a conversation she shouldn't have.

- I am worried that the young master has fallen too deeply for that servant.

- Do not worry. I asked the young master about it myself, and he answered thus. That he has not the slightest intention of marrying such a base girl with no parents.

It meant that to Danmok Hwan, she was nothing more than a plaything.

But Cha Hui did not completely believe those words at first.

Danmok Hwan might have been deliberately saying harsh things to deceive them.

A few days later, after sharing a passionate love as usual, Cha Hui asked tentatively, as if probing, when they would be able to openly announce their relationship and get married.

And Cha Hui did not miss it.

Under the moonlight faintly shining through the window, Danmok Hwan's expression, which had crumpled for a moment.

He quickly changed his expression and changed the subject with sweet words.

Cha Hui, who had not only lost her virginity but had also learned that she was nothing more than a plaything, burned with a desire for revenge.

Using the fact that she was the young master's favorite, she used Danmok Hwan's name to enter the library, stole the martial arts manuals, and fled.

To kill the young master of the Danmok Clan with the martial arts of the Danmok Clan.

After reading all of that story, such an impression came to mind.

“What a crazy bitch.”

There was no doubt that Danmok Hwan, who had played with her, was a son of a bitch.

However.

“Then she should have gone to kill Danmok Hwan. I don't know why she was playing the heretic in an unrelated place. As expected, I can't understand crazy things.”

The journal even had contents about the Iron Blood Golden Skin Art.

Contents about how she had caught a few men and taught them, but they all either went mad or committed suicide, so she failed.

At this point, she was definitely a crazy bitch.

Having grasped the general situation, I took the books and left the estate.

They were the manuals of the Danmok Clan, which was treated as a prestigious righteous sect.

They were worth researching.

As for the Steel Sinew Sect Leader's journal, I wasn't particularly interested, but it seemed it would have its uses.

When I returned to the Five Sword Sect's estate, quite a few people had gathered.

It seemed they couldn't stand the noise from the battle and had come out to watch.

At the sight of the estate, where dozens of corpses were scattered and the smell of blood was thick in the air, a man showed a startled reaction.

“Hiiik.”

The man, who was backing away with a pale face, bumped into me.

Soon, the man who turned his head saw my face and screamed again.

“Hiiik. A-a corpse is w-walking.”

He didn't seem to be in his right mind.

Thanks to that madman, the gazes of those who had gathered turned towards me.

They all had confused expressions.

“Ah.”

Only then did I realize why he was acting like that.

Because of the battle at the Five Sword Sect, my appearance was a mess.

Above all, I was probably covered in blood from head to toe.

Suddenly, I thought it might be for the better.

“Would you mind helping me clean up the corpses? If we leave them like this, I'm afraid corpse poison will develop, and it will be dangerous.”

As I said that and scanned the people gathered at the estate, I saw a familiar face.

It was the owner couple of the inn I had stayed at yesterday.

“After cleaning up the corpses, would you mind distributing the wealth these bastards stole to the residents together?”

Before the couple could answer my question, a middle-aged man interrupted.

“What right do you have to entrust the task of distributing the wealth to those people?”

Greed was visible in his eyes.

“Should I kill him.”

As I was muttering to myself, a middle-aged woman hastily opened her mouth.

“I-I saw it. I-I saw that young warrior entering the Five Sword Sect. A-and just before, coming out of the Five Sword Sect covered in blood.”

Only then, as if they realized that the corpses here were killed by my hands, the middle-aged man who had been showing greed retreated with a pale face.

“S-sorry, young warrior. I-I didn't know. Ahem.”

I looked at him for a moment, lost in thought, then soon shook my head.

He hadn't committed any crime yet, so I decided to let it go for now.

Just then, the innkeeper's wife opened her mouth.

She pointed to the foolish sleeping bear and asked.

“W-what happened to Seup? Y-young warrior.”

“There is no need to call me young warrior. And, I just put him to sleep.”

At least, for now, that was the case.

As for what to do in the future, I thought it would be decided when he woke up.

After that, I cleaned up the estate with the people who had come to the Five Sword Sect.

By the time we had gathered all the corpses and were cleaning up by lighting a fire.

“Kkeueueung.”

Finally, Nam Seup opened his eyes with a faint groan.

Nam Seup, who was looking around with blurry eyes as if the effect of the drug remained, opened his mouth with slurred pronunciation.

“M-momma? W-where did you go?”

“The leader of the Steel Sinew Sect is dead. At my hands.”

As soon as I answered, Nam Seup's eyes turned towards me.

“B-bad guy. I-I will have my revenge.”

Nam Seup, who shouted with the same blurry eyes and slurred pronunciation, staggered to his feet.

As I dodged his flailing fist and tripped him, the bastard rolled on the ground again.

Thud.

Still, the bastard staggered to his feet again.

After knocking him down several times like that.

“Heok. Heok.”

Whether it was because of the drug or because his stamina had run out, the bastard was sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily.

Now that he seemed a little calmer, I threw the Steel Sinew Sect Leader's journals at him.

“Read it. See if the woman you thought of as your mother really thought of you as a son.”

Those journals also contained the process of raising Nam Seup.

The mindset of treating him not as a person, but as an animal or a tool, was written as it was.

I had brought this with the intention of showing it to that guy in the first place.

“Tsk. What kind of name is Nam Seup in the first place? What mother names her son after being picked up from the south?”

I watched his reaction, muttering with a displeased expression.

I intended to decide whether to kill or spare him depending on how he reacted after seeing the journal.

Nam Seup, who had caught his breath, looked back and forth between the book in front of him and me, and said.

“I-I don't know how to read.”

“…”