Chapter 75 : Chapter 75

Chapter 75. Bad Friend (6)

At Jin Yuseong's praise that wasn't quite praise, Dang Sopyeong answered with a resolute expression.

“I decided to abandon my surname so as not to live like them. I will not live like those bastards who persecute and treat people like tools just because they are illegitimate sons or from a collateral branch. All those who become my family are one with me, so I have decided to repay their grace or their enmity as if they were my own. So for now, as you said, I intend to start by avenging my mother's enemy.”

For some reason, Jin Yuseong clicked his tongue lightly.

“Tsk. Still so weak. Just repaying is not enough. Shouldn't you repay grace tenfold and enmity a hundredfold.”

Dang Sopyeong made an expression similar to when he first met Jin Yuseong.

“...Isn't that too harsh? A hundredfold means you'd cut off their neck even if your sleeves just brushed against theirs, doesn't it?”

He was looking at him as if he were a madman.

“And whether it's grace or enmity, if it's ten times, it's ten times, and if it's a hundred times, it's a hundred times. Why do you calculate grace and enmity separately?”

At the extremely rational point, Jin Yuseong snorted.

“The world is teeming with trash worse than the Sichuan Sword Clan. You must have at least this much resolve to be able to protect your family from these trashy bastards.”

He felt like he could roughly understand what Jin Yuseong was trying to say.

Dang Sopyeong, who nodded, answered.

“The talk of ten times or a hundred times seems too exaggerated to be realistic. I will try to repay grace twofold and enmity threefold.”

Jin Yuseong clicked his tongue lightly, as if he didn't like it.

“Unnecessarily realistic.”

For some reason, Jin Yuseong was reminded of his anecdote with Nam Geon.

“So you just left your name as it is? To live a small and peaceful life. It's obvious that the clan head bastard gave you that name to work you like a slave, telling you to be content with reality. How about changing your name on this occasion?”

“……”

After staring at Jin Yuseong for a moment with an expression as if he were at a loss for words.

Dang Sopyeong opened his mouth in a tone that was trying hard to suppress his anger.

“The name Sopyeong is a name that my. Mo. Ther. Per. Son. Ally. gave me, with the wish that I grow up small, peaceful, and without trouble.”

“……”

Jin Yuseong, who was at a loss for words for a moment, coughed drily.

“Ahem. Thinking about it again, it's a truly fine name. I have misspoken.”

Jin Yuseong performed a clasped fist greeting and even bowed his head slightly. Dang Sopyeong, who had been glaring at him for a moment, chuckled.

‘He’s a madman, but he doesn’t seem to be a villain.’

Well, he had beaten him up without rhyme or reason upon their first meeting, but in the end, he was also the one who had come to save him.

When his thoughts reached that point, Dang Sopyeong belatedly realized something important.

‘Come to think of it, how on earth did this madman come to save me?’

A man he had never met before knew all about his circumstances and even his mother's last wish.

A question he hadn't even thought of due to the series of urgent situations. Dang Sopyeong finally voiced that question.

“By any chance, did you know my mother? I-is that why you came to find me?”

Could it be that this young man was an arrangement left behind by his departed mother for him?

His mother had told him to endure in the Sichuan Sword Clan somehow.

Wasn't that because she wanted her still young son to finish growing up within a safe fence?

‘Yes. Mother was a wise person.’

She must have known that he would live a hellish life as a bastard son.

His mother would have surely known that they were only thinking of using them.

Could it be that's why his mother had made arrangements?

For her son who would be grown up in the future.

To get him out of the clan that was no longer a safe fence but an abyss that was suffocating him.

As his thoughts continued, a sense of longing filled Dang Sopyeong's eyes.

Looking into those eyes, Jin Yuseong shook his head without a moment's hesitation.

“I have never met your late mother.”

He had no intention of deceiving that guy by telling lies.

“Th-then how on earth did you know my mother's last wish?”

As Dang Sopyeong asked again, as if he couldn't understand at all, Jin Yuseong gave a moderately truthful answer.

“I told you. I came at the request of an acquaintance who knows you very well.”

He couldn't very well answer that the future Jang Sopyeong had asked for help.

Before the still-confused Dang Sopyeong could ask anything more, Jin Yuseong turned his back.

“Seeing you chatter on like this, it seems your stamina has returned. We still haven't left Sichuan, so use the stamina you have for chattering to move your feet.”

Jin Yuseong, who said so, took a step forward and began to advance.

Dang Sopyeong stood still for a moment and stared at his back.

‘He has never seen my mother but it was a request from someone who knows me well?’

One possibility came to mind.

Could it be that a friend of his mother, or a distant cousin whom he didn't know, had made a sort of request to that young man?

Suddenly, he felt that it was a relief.

If it was really his mother who had sent that madman, that in itself would have felt strange.

Dang Sopyeong, whose mind was much more at ease, finally moved his legs and followed Jin Yuseong.

“Let's go together!”

He didn't know who sent that madman, but since he had escaped the clan thanks to him, it seemed it wouldn't be bad to be together for a while.

***

How long had they been running, taking only minimal rest?

After 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. So are we going to rest a bit while we move now?”

Dang Sopyeong was beyond a beggar's state; he looked almost dead.

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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