Chapter 74 : Chapter 74

Chapter 74. Bad Friend (5)

About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea ago.

Jang Sopyeong was staring, half in a daze, at the forms of the old man and the young man intertwining under the pale moonlight.

How on earth could that young man, who seemed to be of the same age as him, match up with Elder Oh?

In Jang Sopyeong's common sense, it was simply incomprehensible.

Just then, with an eerie sound, a faint spray of blood splattered.

Slice.

Jang Sopyeong's body flinched as he belatedly realized that a wound had appeared on Jin Yuseong's body.

‘I have to help.’

But by what means?

Clang!

Once again, the old man and the young man intertwined.

A speed that was difficult for Jang Sopyeong's eyes to even follow.

It was even harder to follow because of the darkness of the night.

He had been looking for a way to help Jin Yuseong since a while ago, but he couldn't bring himself to interfere.

If he recklessly interfered here, he might end up helping Jang Ik instead.

While he was unable to do either, the young man was slowly being pushed into a corner.

Wounds were accumulating.

But even in such a situation, there was no fear in the young man's eyes.

There was no look of resentment towards Jang Sopyeong either.

Jang Sopyeong couldn't understand.

It was a man he was clearly seeing for the first time today.

And he was a madman who had even beaten him up as soon as they met.

‘Why is he going this far?’

After his mother passed away, had there been anyone who had fought for him like that?

When his thoughts reached that point, Jang Sopyeong hurriedly opened his mouth.

Because he couldn't just stand by and watch on the grounds that he lacked skill.

“I-I will return to the clan, Elder! So please, just let that guy go!”

However, his shout was nothing but empty.

“Hulhulhul.”

Jang Ik was still swinging his sword towards Jin Yuseong, as if he had no interest.

“Heheheh.”

At some point, Jin Yuseong was also letting out a strange laugh and avoiding Jang Ik's sword.

Jang Sopyeong realized once again.

That his voice did not reach Jang Ik.

That Jang Ik also just considered him a tool.

Once again, a wound appeared on Jin Yuseong's body.

Slice.

Watching the blood spurt from Jin Yuseong's body, Jang Sopyeong had to feel a sense of frustration.

‘Do I really have to live as their tool in that hell?’

Just then, Jin Yuseong's voice pierced his ears.

“Heheh. Push me further!!”

Jang Sopyeong raised the head he was about to lower and looked at the young man.

A gaze that seemed not just brave, but mad.

Jang Ik's mocking voice was heard.

“Brat. Do you think anything will change just because you shout a little? Keulkeulkeul.”

For some reason, Jang Ik's words sounded as if they were mocking him.

Soon, Jang Ik's sword flew towards Jin Yuseong's heart, faster and sharper than before.

“No!!”

The moment the startled Jang Sopyeong shouted.

A flame swirled around Jin Yuseong's sword, which had been trapped in darkness until now.

Whiiirrrrr.

The sword Jin Yuseong held let out a sword cry, and the sword, wrapped in intense sword qi, soared.

Clang!!!

With a fierce metallic sound, the two swords clashed, and at the same time, Jang Ik's arm was thrown high up.

It was the first moment Jin Yuseong had gained the upper hand.

Thud.

Jin Yuseong, who had taken a large step forward, brought down the Restoring Name Sword he had raised up.

Slice!!

A refreshing cutting sound echoed as a large amount of blood spurted from Jang Ik's body.

That scene was engraved in Jang Sopyeong's eyes.

It was the moment the latch of the abyss that had confined him was cut off.

But Jin Yuseong, who had actually cut the latch, did not look very pleased.

“Tsk.”

Jin Yuseong, who clicked his tongue lightly, looked at Jang Ik, who had retreated far back.

A large, long wound had appeared on the man's chest.

He had originally swung with the intention of bisecting his upper body, but the seasoned Jang Ik had survived by taking a large step back with his footwork even while his posture was broken.

Of course, since the wound was quite large, finishing him off would not be difficult.

The reason Jin Yuseong clicked his tongue was because of the figures that were beginning to reveal themselves through the bushes.

They were the hunting dogs of the Sichuan Sword Clan.

He had wasted too much time dealing with that old man.

“Hoo.”

As Jin Yuseong lightly controlled his breathing and aimed his sword at the newly appeared hunting dogs.

Jang Ik, who was hastily stopping the bleeding from the wound on his chest, opened his mouth.

“Hulhulhul. Do you think you can escape from the grasp of the great Sichuan Sword Clan? Keuk.”

Before Jin Yuseong could answer Jang Ik's words, who had been smiling slyly before clutching his chest, Jang Sopyeong spoke first.

“Elder Oh. Before I am dragged away, may I ask just one thing?”

“Keulkeul. Please do, Youngest Young Master.”

“Elder Oh. If I had cultivated my skills and earned the clan head's recognition, do you think the clan head would have taken revenge on those people for me and my mother?”

“Hulhulhul. What a foolish question. A member of the clan should naturally be loyal to the clan head without any conditions. How impious of you to dare to wish for something from your master.”

Jin Yuseong, who was observing the approaching martial artists, snorted without realizing it.

He was a man thoroughly steeped in a slave mentality.

On the other hand, Jang Sopyeong let out a deep sigh.

“Haa. You all truly never once saw me as family.”

Jin Yuseong wondered if that foolish bastard still hadn't come to his senses. He stealthily turned his head and looked at Jang Sopyeong.

Jin Yuseong tilted his head.

Unlike his mumbling lament, Jang Sopyeong's face looked somehow relieved. As if he had shaken off all his last lingering attachments.

Soon after, Jang Sopyeong said with a venomous expression.

“And you, Jang Ik, are truly nothing but a slave.”

Jin Yuseong felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Because the face of the Poison Immortal he knew was just like that.

Despite Jang Sopyeong's sudden verbal abuse, Jang Ik smiled slyly.

“Hulhulhul. You seem very angry…”

But Jang Ik's words could not continue to the end.

At the moment he was running his mouth, Jang Sopyeong suddenly swung his hand in the air.

Under the cover of darkness, something small flew towards Jang Ik.

A needle aimed at a vital point.

Unfortunately, it failed to penetrate the vital point at once.

Even while being seriously injured and caught in an unexpected surprise attack, Jang Ik quickly twisted his body, and the needle Jang Sopyeong threw missed the vital point and embedded itself in Jang Ik's side.

“Keulkeulkeul.”

Jang Ik, who had narrowly survived, sneered for a moment. His expression crumpled.

At the same time, Jang Sopyeong opened his mouth.

“In consideration of our past affection, I will personally fix that broken head of yours steeped in slave mentality.”

“You bastard! How dare a young master of the great Sichuan Sword Clan despicably use poison!!”

Jang Ik, who shouted as if wronged, coughed up blood once and then hurriedly sat cross-legged.

Only then did the surrounding martial artists of the Sichuan Sword Clan rush towards them.

“Catch them!!”

At that moment, Jang Sopyeong suddenly threw something at them.

As the poison powder scattered in all directions, the martial artists of the Sichuan Sword Clan hurriedly retreated and covered their mouths and noses with their clothes.

Jang Sopyeong shouted at them.

“In consideration of our past bond, I will grant you one last mercy! Return to the clan's pharmacy right now! If you decoct and drink Three-Stalk Herb there, you will live, and if not, all of you will die!”

While the martial artists of the Sichuan Sword Clan flinched, Jang Sopyeong shouted again.

“And never come looking for me again! I am no longer the illegitimate son of the Jang Clan! I have abandoned the surname Jang and will live as Dang Sopyeong, following my mother's surname! So get the hell out of my sight right now!”

Just then.

Perhaps because of his injury, or because the poison was too powerful, Jang Ik, who was sitting cross-legged, coughed again and spat up blood.

“Cough.”

Only then did the martial artists of the Sichuan Sword Clan begin to retreat with surprised faces.

“T-take care of the Elder!”

A few of them, sensing the situation, approached the cross-legged Jang Ik and supported him.

As the martial artists of the Sichuan Sword Clan retreated, Dang Sopyeong, who had been wearing a venomous expression, let out a big sigh.

Soon after, he turned his head towards Jin Yuseong and said.

“We have to run away right now.”

A series of sudden situations. When Jin Yuseong made a curious expression, Dang Sopyeong added.

“The one used on Jang Ik was indeed poison, but what I scattered afterwards was not poison. It was just a bluff. They will soon notice.”

In the first place, the only poison he had was that one poison needle.

He had kept that poison needle because of his mother's advice to always carry it with him in case of an emergency.

What he scattered at the martial artists of the Sichuan Sword Clan was just dirt and torn grass.

It was what he had picked up just in case while Jin Yuseong was fighting with Jang Ik.

Only then did Jin Yuseong, who realized the truth, burst into a wild laugh without realizing it.

“Hahahahahaha.”

He felt a sense of familiarity because it overlapped with the Poison Immortal he knew.

“Haa. We don't have time to be laughing.”

Dang Sopyeong, who said so, started running away with all his might, and Jin Yuseong also followed him.

***

How long had they been moving, erasing their tracks?

By the time they had not only left Sichuan but had also been in Chongqing for several days, Jin Yuseong stopped walking.

“At this rate, we should have shaken off the pursuit.”

Dang Sopyeong, who took a deep breath, said with a desperate expression.

“Haa. Then are we going to move at a more relaxed pace now?”

Dang Sopyeong was beyond a beggar's state; he looked like he was about to die.

Jin Yuseong, who was in a similar beggar's state, frowned.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Taking a break.”

“If we've shaken off the pursuit, there's no need to move in a hurry, is there?”

“Since we've shaken off the pursuit, shouldn't we now step up our training.”

The two men looked at each other as if they were looking at a madman.

“Your late mother's revenge. Have you already given up on it?”

At Jin Yuseong's point, Dang Sopyeong gritted his teeth.

“I will take revenge, and I will train. But don't misunderstand, I'm not doing it because you said so.”

After chuckling for a moment at the venomously shouting Dang Sopyeong, Jin Yuseong soon lost interest and began to swing the Restoring Name Sword.

The life-and-death struggle with Jang Ik from several days ago vaguely surfaced in his mind.

As he forcefully clung to that memory, the hazy memory gradually became clearer.

At the same time, trajectories were embroidered in the air.

The countless exchanges he had with Jang Ik in their life-and-death struggle.

Jin Yuseong swung his sword, chasing those trajectories as if possessed.

He wasn't simply trying to follow the trajectories. Because if it hadn't been for the last gamble, he would have lost.

While chasing the trajectories embroidered in the air, he sought out ways to break through Jang Ik's techniques one by one.

After moving his body here and there with his footwork and swinging his sword for a long time.

At some point, only one trajectory remained embroidered in the air.

Whiiiirrrr.

The Restoring Name Sword roughly let out a sword cry, and an intense sword qi swirled around it.

After finally executing Crimson Lotus Ascends to Heaven, Jin Yuseong lightly controlled his breathing.

“Sss. Hoo.”

His Dantian was already empty, and his limbs trembled as if they had reached their limit.

Jin Yuseong stealthily turned his head and looked at Dang Sopyeong.

He was staggering and swinging his sword diligently.

It seemed he was continuing to swing because of his pride, even though he had reached his limit.

After that, he continued his journey with Dang Sopyeong for several days, combining training and travel.

Jin Yuseong, who had been watching Dang Sopyeong swinging his sword for a while, asked.

“What on earth have you been doing for the past few days?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why have you only been training with the sword for days?”

“A swordsman trains with a sword, what else would he train with?”

“You have the medical skills passed down from your late mother, don't you? Why are you training with an irrelevant sword when you have good poison, is what I'm asking.”

Why was the man who would be called the Poison Immortal in the future not training in poison arts.

Jin Yuseong simply couldn't understand.

Dang Sopyeong frowned and answered.

“Medicine is knowledge for saving people. Also, poison is cowardly. I don't want to tarnish the knowledge I learned from my mother.”

Jin Yuseong tilted his head once and asked politely.

“Are you perhaps an idiot?”

At the abusive remark delivered in a formal tone, Dang Sopyeong frowned and was about to answer.

Swoosh.

At some point, Jin Yuseong, who had drawn the Restoring Name Sword, aimed it at him.

‘I-is this madman finally doing it?’

As Dang Sopyeong was startled and retreated, Jin Yuseong looked at him as if he was looking at a madman and said.

“What does this look like to you?”

“……It’s a sword, isn’t it?”

“That’s a relief. It seems you’re not an idiot in the eyes too.”

“No, but why have you been calling me an idiot since a while ago…”

As Dang Sopyeong was about to argue, Jin Yuseong swung the Restoring Name Sword in the air.

Swiiiiish!

After an eerie sound of cutting through the air burst out, Jin Yuseong asked indifferently.

“So if I killed innocent commoners with this sword, or for example, your late mother. Since I killed them honorably with a sword, does that make me a good person?”

“……”

“Conversely, I assassinated and killed a villain worse than trash who killed hundreds and thousands of innocent commoners with poison. Does that make me a villain?”

“……”

“A sword or poison, they are just tools. Who uses them and how is more important. I just use a sword because the first martial art I learned was a sword art.”

Jin Yuseong, who said so, retrieved the Restoring Name Sword, sheathed it, and added.

“Someone once said. That medicine and poison are one. That depending on how it's used, even medicine can become poison.”

It was what the Poison Immortal had said in his past life.

“Killing those who are worse than trash with poison is a way of benefiting the world, so this is also a medicine.”

Jin Yuseong's conviction was mixed in there.

Listening to Jin Yuseong's sophistry, for some reason, Dang Sopyeong was reminded of a story he had heard from his mother.

The people who had tormented his mother and maternal grandparents, demanding the elixir.

His maternal grandparents had saved a dying man with the elixir, but that man was a villain who tormented innocent people.

So, was that saving a person? Or was it killing a person?

While Dang Sopyeong was contemplating the profound problem, Jin Yuseong suddenly slapped his cheek.

Slap!

“What is this!?”

“This is your late mother's share.”

Dang Sopyeong, who had fallen to the ground and was about to ask accusingly, soon shut his mouth.

“To be concerned with pride in the face of your parents' enemy, you’re no different from an unfilial son.”

Dang Sopyeong couldn't refute it.

He didn't want to act as that madman said, but no matter how he thought about it, Jin Yuseong's words seemed to be right.

Dang Sopyeong picked himself up and said to Jin Yuseong.

“Then from now on, when we pass through mountains, give me time to dig up poisonous herbs.”

At his determined expression, Jin Yuseong readily nodded.

“Follow me.”

Jin Yuseong, who said so, unfolded his movement technique at an even faster speed than before without looking back.

For Dang Sopyeong, whose realm was lower than Jin Yuseong's, just keeping up was enough to make the sky turn yellow.

Just then, Jin Yuseong's voice reached his ears.

“Unfold your movement technique while imagining your enemy running away in the distance.”

Only then could Dang Sopyeong understand why that man was running so fast.

This was also a kind of movement technique training.

How long had he been relentlessly chasing after Jin Yuseong?

Around the time he thought he might die just from running, Jin Yuseong stopped walking.

“Since we’ve increased our speed, we’ve gained some time. I’ll give you half a shichen, so go around this area and dig up medicinal and poisonous herbs.”

He was already on the verge of death, and now he was being told to search the mountain.

He had a lot to say about that crazy suggestion, but Dang Sopyeong gritted his teeth and moved his feet.

It was training to avenge his enemy. He couldn't just whine that it was hard.

And above all.

‘I won't lose to that madman.’

At some point, Jin Yuseong had drawn the Restoring Name Sword and was training his swordsmanship.

Despite having run that long distance without rest, just like him.

If that madman could do it, what reason was there that he couldn't?

Thus, the two men continued their journey, challenging the limits of their bodies every single day.

And after passing through Chongqing and entering Hunan, Dang Sopyeong asked.

“But where on earth are we going?”

At that question, Jin Yuseong smiled faintly.

From Sichuan to this place. Even though they had been together for over half a month, it was a smile Dang Sopyeong was seeing for the first time.

“Mount Heng. My comrades are there.”

For some reason, at that answer, Dang Sopyeong's expression darkened.

‘Comrades? Does that mean there are more madmen besides this one?’

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