Chapter 107 : Chapter 107

Chapter 107. Hoyeon Clan (2)

After subduing the warriors of the Yun Clan, I proceeded with the interrogation.

The result was as expected.

When the Yun Clan raided the Hoyeon Clan at night, there were reinforcements clad in black martial arts uniforms.

“T-They were from a mysterious sect that hunts the underworld!”

“Chivalrous warrior! The Hoyeon Clan are villains who colluded with the underworld! P-Please believe us!”

The Yun Clan warriors spouted such nonsense.

A snort escaped me on its own.

“There are no other madmen like them.”

As soon as I drew the Restoring Name Sword again, someone shouted.

“T-They said it! That the Hoyeon Clan colluded with the underworld! T-The Black Heaven Sect? That’s right! They said they colluded with the Black Heaven Sect!”

“Furthermore, after we dealt with the Hoyeon Clan, ledgers and stolen goods and the like came out from deep within the Hoyeon Clan!”

It was rather interesting information.

Black Heaven Sect.

According to the information I had gathered so far, they were an underworld group that encompassed the northwestern part of the Central Plains.

And the reason Hyeok Ilso had headed to Chongqing was to face the martial unit of that very Black Heaven Sect.

Naturally, a certain possibility came to mind.

In the process of facing the Black Heaven Sect’s martial unit, Hyeok Ilso found out about their Black Market as well.

After raiding that Black Market, he made a deal with the Yun Clan using what he had obtained there.

It was just my deduction, but it seemed highly probable given the circumstances.

For a moment, I listened to the cries of the Yun Clan warriors who were earnestly spewing information, claiming they were wronged.

I asked them.

“So what happened to the stolen goods and the wealth of the Hoyeon Clan that you took after raiding the Hoyeon Clan?”

They asked back with foolish expressions.

“Yes?”

“T-That, we also don’t know well……”

“The Clan Head knows, but……”

The thought of ‘as expected’ made me nod my head automatically.

“Whether the Hoyeon Clan dealt with the underworld or not, didn’t their wealth and stolen goods ultimately come from the common people of Chongqing?”

“That…… is that right?”

“But why didn’t you return it?”

As if momentarily at a loss for words, no one opened their mouth.

At that moment, Yun Geohak hurriedly spoke.

“T-The Clan Head is managing it, chivalrous warrior!”

“T-That’s right!”

“S-Surely the Clan Head must have distributed it to the residents!”

A foolish shout.

There was no reason to listen any longer.

There was no way the Clan Head bastard would have distributed it, and if he had, it didn't make sense for these bastards not to know.

Slice!

As soon as I cut the neck of the bastard closest to me, Yun Geohak shouted again.

“Do you really think you’ll be safe after killing us! The Clan Head will never let this go!!”

I didn’t know why these bastards were all so foolish.

“If I was afraid of the Yun Clan, I wouldn’t have fought you in the first place.”

“Ah……”

Someone’s idiotic exclamation.

Slice.

Soon, after I cut one more bastard’s neck, their pale faces were reflected in my eyes.

***

After cleaning up all the idiots from the Yun Clan, I looked back and saw Hoyeon Myeong looking at me with a complicated expression.

“Is there something you want to say?”

At my question, Hoyeon Myeong shook his head vigorously and clasped his hands in a greeting towards us.

“I am just grateful that you believed my words and avenged my enemies. I will repay this kindness even if it costs me my life.”

“There’s no need to repay the kindness. It wasn’t something I did particularly for you.”

“I-Is that so?”

As Hoyeon Myeong scratched his head with an awkward expression, the Dang Clan fellow chimed in.

“That’s right. That madman is just crazy to kill people, so there’s no particular need to repay the kindness. Tsk. For once, he captured them alive.”

“They’re trash who would continue to torment the common people if left alive. Is there a reason to keep them alive?”

As I asked, glaring at the Dang Clan fellow, he subtly averted his gaze.

“Ahem. Well, that’s true, but. Ah, more importantly, what are you going to do now? Are you really planning to strike the Yun Clan?”

“Is your head the problem, or are your ears the problem? I don’t know why you’re asking the obvious.”

“Haa. Your body is going to become a rag like an old shoe again.”

“Are you worried about me?”

The Dang Clan fellow said, shuddering.

“Don’t say such creepy things. It’s just that my own situation of having to treat a guy who’s about to become a patient again soon is pitiful.”

“I-It’s okay! T-This time, I’ll help so b-big bro doesn’t get hurt!”

“Me too, big brother. It’ll be different from before!”

As I was smiling contentedly at the determined words of Nam Geon and Baek Hyang, the Dang Clan fellow threw a wet blanket on it again.

“Young Warrior Nam. Miss Baek. Don’t you feel wronged? You both get into danger every time because of that madman.”

“I-I don’t get hurt anymore. I’m strong.”

“I’m fine too, Young Master Dang.”

“Haa. How did I get entangled with people like this.”

While the Dang Clan fellow was shaking his head, Hoyeon Myeong, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, cautiously opened his mouth.

“Um. I’m sorry, but are you really planning to attack the Yun Clan?”

“That’s right.”

“……It’s hard for me to say this about my enemies, but it’s too dangerous. I know that your skills are outstanding, but they are not to be taken lightly.”

A gesture of trying to stop me, saying it was dangerous, even though I said I would fight his enemies.

To put it badly, it was weak; to see it in a good light, his kind nature was revealed.

I thought that because of such a nature, he couldn't dare to speak directly to the Clan Head, and out of that guilt, he wandered Murim and continued to perform chivalrous acts.

“We’re fine, Young Master Hoyeon. The ones who joined hands with the Yun Clan and attacked the Hoyeon Clan. We are chasing them. Anyway, we have to visit the Yun Clan to catch them.”

“R-Right! And the Y-Yun Clan are bad people! W-We have to punish them!”

“Ah. And that bastard doesn’t listen to others in the first place, so there’s no use in saying it’s dangerous. No, he’s a madman who likes it more when he hears it’s dangerous. So just give up.”

After the words of my Junior Sister, Nam Geon, and the Dang Clan fellow ended, Hoyeon Myeong, who had been pondering for a moment, opened his mouth with a determined expression.

“Then I will join you as well. Whatever your purpose may be, it is a fight against my clan’s enemies. I cannot just watch from the back.”

Even though his face was without a single scar, it overlapped with the middle-aged Hoyeon Myeong.

Indeed, though he may be weak and kind, he had at least a minimum of fortitude.

Well, I thought that because he had such fortitude, he was able to run away from the clan on his own feet.

As I was quietly looking at Hoyeon Myeong, the scabbard hanging at his side caught my eye.

“You are still learning the blade art.”

“Still? What do you mean? When it comes to the Hoyeon Clan, it’s the blade art.”

I tilted my head at the Dang Clan fellow’s nonsense.

“What are you talking about? The Hoyeon Clan is famous for its sword art, isn’t it?”

“What kind of crazy talk are you spouting?”

For a moment, the Dang Clan fellow and I looked at each other as if we were looking at an idiot.

Hoyeon Myeong cautiously opened his mouth as if reading the room.

“As Young Warrior Dang said, our Hoyeon Clan is originally famous for its blade art. It is a blade art that has been passed down since our distant ancestors who were northern nomads, but……. The Clan Head has been training in sword art for several years because of this problem. He said that because of that blade art, we have to live with the stigma of being barbarians.”

Hearing it briefly, it sounded somewhat plausible.

Because the surname Hoyeon was originally a surname of the Xiongnu tribe.

“But how did you, Young Warrior Jin, hear the news that our clan is learning sword art?”

At Hoyeon Myeong’s question, the Dang Clan fellow also tilted his head.

“It is strange. Even in Seongdo of Sichuan, which is relatively close to Chongqing, the Hoyeon Clan was known for its blade art.”

I was also perplexed.

In the distant future, when I was actively roaming Murim, the Hoyeon Clan was famous for its sword art.

For a moment, I pondered this strange situation.

Suddenly, the question that had been on my mind from a while ago was resolved.

Why on earth did Hyeok Ilso choose the Yun Clan?

That bastard who had joined hands with the Hoyeon Clan in his past life.

He was not the kind of trash that just moved according to his mood without any reason.

He was a bastard who would move while weighing the pros and cons in any situation.

If such a bastard chose the Yun Clan instead of the Hoyeon Clan in this life, there must have been some reason for it.

That question was connected to the conversation just before.

For several years, the Clan Head has been researching sword art instead of the blade art that was passed down in the clan.

On top of that, in the future I know, the Hoyeon Clan was a clan famous for its sword art.

If so, it meant that the sword art that the Clan Head was researching was a much more superior martial art than the current Hoyeon Clan’s blade art.

“Was he after that sword art?”

“What do you mean? He was after the sword art?”

“That bastard I’m chasing. I mean Hyeok Ilso.”

I organized my thoughts while answering the Dang Clan fellow’s question.

There was one hole left in this leap of logic.

Why did he aim for that sword art in this life, when he didn't in the past life?

When I thought of the question, two possibilities came to mind.

One was that it was already too late to aim for it.

If the Hoyeon Clan’s collusion with the Black Market was a matter of the distant future as the middle-aged Hoyeon Myeong said, then by that time, the Hoyeon Clan had already built up quite a bit of strength.

It was after they had monopolized Chongqing for at least several years.

It might have been a big burden in many ways to attack just to steal one sword art.

Another possibility was that there was no reason to aim for it.

Similarly, if he had learned of the existence of that sword art decades later, by then, his realm would have been at a level that transcended the limits of martial arts.

There was no reason to covet the Hoyeon Clan’s sword art.

As I was pondering the changed future, I heard the Dang Clan fellow’s voice again.

“How would that Hyeok Ilso or whatever fellow know and covet the Hoyeon Clan’s sword art?”

“If he stayed in Chongqing for a while, couldn’t he have gotten the information from somewhere? Like information about the sword manual that the Hoyeon Clan Head obtained.”

“What are you talking about, Young Warrior Jin? Our Clan Head obtained a sword manual?”

To Hoyeon Myeong’s reaction, who seemed to know nothing, I answered briefly.

“The Clan Head might have created the sword art himself, but it’s highly likely that it’s a sword art he obtained through a deal or a miraculous encounter. Or he might have created an even more special sword art by melting the Hoyeon Clan’s blade art into the superior sword art he obtained that way.”

Creating a new martial art was a difficult thing.

Moreover, the Hoyeon Clan Head was originally a bladesman.

Someone who had learned blade art his whole life created a sword art, and that sword art is an outstanding ultimate art to the point of being widely known in Murim in the future?

Unless the Hoyeon Clan Head was an unbelievable genius, it was not an easy story.

At that moment, the unbelievable genius who had been quietly listening to the conversation opened her mouth.

“If Senior Brother’s prediction is correct, then the sword manual that the Hoyeon Clan Head obtained must be a martial art of a similar nature to the Hoyeon Clan’s blade art.”

“It probably is.”

Creating a new sword art by mixing sword art and blade art.

It was not a matter that would end with just this one thing.

Only when it also matched the Hoyeon Clan’s footwork and divine art would that martial art truly shine.

Unless he was going to completely overhaul the footwork and divine art as well, it had to be a sword art of a similar nature to the existing blade art as much as possible.

After hearing my answer, my genius Junior Sister turned her head and asked Hoyeon Myeong.

“Young Master Hoyeon. By any chance, is the Hoyeon Clan’s blade art one that emphasizes hegemonic movements?”

“H-How did you know that, young lady?”

“That……. you said it was a blade art passed down since your ancestors.”

It was a plausible deduction.

They were called nomads, but they must have been no different from mounted warriors.

And the blade art of a mounted warrior had to be hegemonic.

Because there would be no leisure to exchange blows multiple times.

With each exchange, they had to cut down the bastard blocking the front and pierce through the enemy lines.

“Umm……. then it’s highly likely that the sword art the Hoyeon Clan Head was training in was also a hegemonic sword art.”

It was as my Junior Sister had predicted.

In the future, the Hoyeon Clan’s sword art was famous as a hegemonic sword art that emphasized the subtlety of weight and strength.

“But why do you ask that?”

My Junior Sister answered my question with a cautious attitude.

“The person named Hyeok Ilso I saw last time didn’t seem to fit with a hegemonic sword art. Why would such a person specifically aim for the Hoyeon Clan’s sword art?”

The moment I heard my Junior Sister’s question, my eyes flashed open without me realizing it.

“It’s because of the footwork he learned.”

“The footwork?”

“Yes. The footwork he learned is called Life and Death Blood Steps, a footwork created by a general who had roamed the battlefields for decades. On the other hand, the Shadowless Blood Flash Sword he learned is closer to the technique of an assassin rather than a swordsman.”

Shadowless Blood Flash Sword and Life and Death Blood Steps.

Although both were outstanding martial arts, they were not of the same nature.

But in his past life, that bastard became a master called one of the Seven Evils with those two martial arts.

How?

The answer was right in front of my eyes.

Just like my Junior Sister, he was also a genius.

Even if they were not of the same nature, he would have matched the misaligned parts with his talent.

So if he had been given a few years.

But in this life, that bastard chose a different path.

Instead of matching the misaligned nature over several years, he chose to plunder a martial art that fit the nature.

The moment my thoughts reached that point, a certain scene automatically came to mind.

The image of Hyeok Ilso I had seen in the last fight was drawn first.

The movement of the bastard who fought like an assassin even though he had learned the footwork of a veteran of a hundred battles.

Soon, the bastard’s movement was reversed.

Hegemonic sword art was added to the bastard’s profound footwork, where his posture never crumbled in any situation.

The image of a general commanding the battlefield was automatically drawn.

The image of a terrifying general who cuts down any enemy blocking the front in a single exchange and moves forward.

It was an image that did not suit the trash of the underworld, but it seemed Hyeok Ilso could easily pull it off.

After the Hyeok Ilso in my imagination slaughtered all the small fries that were blocking the front, he swung a hegemonic sword at me.

The sword he swung grazed past my nape.

Goosebumps rose on my forearm.

Only now did I realize.

Just as I had become stronger at a rate incomparable to my past life, that bastard was also becoming stronger much faster than in his past life after getting entangled with me.

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