Chapter 86 : Chapter 86

Chapter 86. The Scramble (2)

After leaving Chimju.

Jin Yuseong and his companions proceeded, combining training with travel as usual.

Jin Yuseong mainly trained in the Sun Moon Infinite Sword.

Crimson Lotus Ascends to Heaven and Azure Heaven’s Hidden Smile.

Especially, Azure Heaven’s Hidden Smile was still far from perfect.

Although he had succeeded in using it against Choi Cheol, it had not been a proper Azure Heaven’s Hidden Smile.

Because he had executed it imperfectly, its completeness was low, and he had even suffered an internal injury as the price for using it just once.

Of course, it was just as imperfect during training.

Often, his internal injuries would act up while practicing Crimson Lotus Ascends to Heaven or Azure Heaven’s Hidden Smile.

A thin stream of blood flowed from the corner of Jin Yuseong’s mouth.

Nam Geon, seemingly used to such a sight, glanced at him and casually remarked.

“B-Bro. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Baek Hyang, however, seemed genuinely worried and said with a bitter smile.

“Senior Brother. You should tend to your internal injuries a little.”

Dang Sopyeong shook his head.

“You really are something else.”

Regardless, Jin Yuseong continued to devote himself to his training.

The others also followed Jin Yuseong, each swinging their weapons or practicing their movement techniques.

After several shichen of dedicated training.

As everyone seemed to have reached their limit, they found a spot on the mountainside and began to rest.

They hunted animals nearby, cooked, and each practiced energy circulation to recover their internal energy.

After finishing their meal and while everyone was taking a short break, Dang Sopyeong cautiously approached Nam Geon.

“Young Warrior Nam.”

“W-Why, what is it, Physician Bro.”

Was it because they had gone through hardships together, caring for the beggars in Chimju and fighting against Choi Manor?

Unlike before, when they had been together but indifferent to each other, Dang Sopyeong, feeling they had grown a little closer, mustered the courage to speak.

“Well… I’m sorry to ask this, but the story I heard last time has been on my mind. If it’s not too rude, may I ask you something?”

“P-Physician Bro, your words are too long. M-Make it short.”

“Ahem. You said last time that you were going to avenge your mother, didn't you? I, too, am training to avenge my mother.”

“R-Right! I-I have to avenge my mom! W-We are friends!”

“Ha. Hahaha. F-Friend, that is a truly nice word. Ahem. But how did your late mother meet her unfortunate end?”

“M-My mom was k-killed by bro.”

“……Ah! You had a brother. Young Warrior Nam.”

Dang Sopyeong, having misunderstood something, nodded and cried out in an indignant tone.

“Then that brother was the enemy! Such a patricide, he is a man who must be found and killed immediately.”

Right after shouting as if giving a speech, Dang Sopyeong felt something strange.

For some reason, Baek Hyang was smiling awkwardly, and Nam Geon was blinking his eyes.

Soon, Nam Geon pointed somewhere with his finger.

When he turned his head, it was pointing at Jin Yuseong.

“I, I have no brother. Th-The one who killed mom is bro.”

“……”

Dang Sopyeong felt his head spin for some reason.

“Ha. Haha. S-So, you’re s-saying that crazy bastard harmed Y-Young Warrior Nam’s late mother?”

Nam Geon nodded his large head up and down.

“Th-Then why are you c-calling that bastard ‘bro’ and st-staying with him?”

Dang Sopyeong, who was stuttering like Nam Geon, asked just in case.

“C-Could it be that crazy bastard t-told you to develop your skills and kill him?”

It seemed that crazy bastard was more than capable of doing such a thing.

But for some reason, Nam Geon was making a strange expression.

It was a look similar to the one Dang Sopyeong had when he looked at Jin Yuseong.

“W-Why would I kill bro?”

Just as Dang Sopyeong was feeling dizzy, Baek Hyang, who had been smiling awkwardly, opened her mouth.

“Big Brother Nam Geon. Would it be alright if I told him about your mother instead?”

“H-Hyang is smart. Y-You speak better than me.”

Only after receiving Nam Geon’s permission did Baek Hyang open her mouth with a calm tone.

About the life of the Steel Sinew Sect Leader, Cha Hui, which she had learned from a diary on Mount Heng.

And about his feelings, which she had learned through conversations with Nam Geon.

“For these reasons, Big Brother Nam Geon is training in martial arts to avenge his mother.”

After hearing all of Baek Hyang’s story, Dang Sopyeong felt so ashamed that he wanted to find a hole to hide in.

It was not because he had spouted nonsense to Nam Geon.

‘Ah. I was nothing.’

Nam Geon’s story was so tragic.

He felt like a pathetic fool for having been pessimistic about his own life, trapped in the Sichuan Sword Clan.

Now he thought he understood why that crazy bastard Jin Yuseong had beaten him up on their first meeting.

From that man’s perspective, his own story would have been nothing.

Dang Sopyeong, who had managed to overcome his shame, cupped his fist to Nam Geon.

“I swear. No matter who Young Warrior Nam’s enemy is, I will help as much as my hand can reach.”

At his oath, Baek Hyang smiled gently.

Nam Geon laughed cheerfully.

“P-Physician Bro is kind! W-Will fight the Danmok Clan t-together.”

Nam Geon, who had shouted so, quickly covered his mouth with his pot-lid-like hands.

“What’s wrong, Young Warrior Nam?”

When Dang Sopyeong asked with a puzzled expression, Nam Geon replied with a gloomy face.

“I-I made a mistake. B-Bro said. B-Before I get stronger, d-don’t talk about the Danmok Clan.”

No sooner had he finished his words than Jin Yuseong, who had been quietly watching the situation, opened his mouth.

“It’s alright to tell him. He is not a man with a loose tongue.”

Just as Dang Sopyeong was looking at Jin Yuseong with a strange gaze, Nam Geon’s booming voice pierced his ears.

“W-What a relief! C-Can tell the secret! I, I have to fight Danmok Hwan.”

“Danmok Hwan……. Are you perhaps talking about the young master of the Danmok Clan?”

“Y-Yes!”

“Heo……”

Only then did Dang Sopyeong think he understood why this matter was being kept a secret.

And why Baek Hyang had not revealed the enemy’s name while telling the story of Nam Geon and his late mother.

What had happened to Nam Geon’s mother was not something the young master of a clan that claimed to be of the Righteous Path would do.

Such hypocrites would stop at nothing to hide a scandal.

‘Just like the Sichuan Sword Clan did.’

For some reason, Dang Sopyeong felt a sense of kinship.

So he too cautiously opened his mouth.

“Ahem. Since you’ve heard Young Warrior Nam’s story, this time I will tell you mine.”

What had happened to his maternal grandparents. And the treatment he and his mother had received from the Sichuan Sword Clan.

“So I escaped the Sichuan Sword Clan with that man. To kill the Black Heart Ghost Claw, who murdered my maternal grandparents and tormented my mother, with my own hands.”

“I-I swear too. I-I will also help Physician Bro!”

“Thank you, Young Warrior Nam.”

After watching the two men forging a passionate bond of loyalty for a moment.

As the mood seemed to be flowing that way, Baek Hyang cautiously opened her mouth.

“I am not training in martial arts to avenge anyone in particular. I do have an enemy… but my mother would be sad.”

Her father, who was addicted to alcohol and gambling, would take the money her mother earned and did not hesitate to commit violence.

Unable to endure the daily violence and on the verge of being sold to a gambling den to pay off her father’s gambling debts, Nam Geon and Jin Yuseong had saved her.

“So I am with my big brother and Senior Brother. I want to help them punish bad people.”

After sharing their stories with each other as if in an Oath of the Peach Garden from an old tale, the gazes of the three people turned to Jin Yuseong all at once.

Come to think of it, none of them had heard Jin Yuseong’s story.

In fact, this was why Baek Hyang had bothered to bring up her own story.

She wanted to hear her Senior Brother’s story by pretending to be swept up in the mood.

At the gazes of the three, Jin Yuseong replied with an indifferent face.

“There’s not much of a story to tell. My parents passed away from illness when I was about ten. Then I was picked up by a kind-hearted innkeeper and worked as a waiter.”

Tilting his head, Dang Sopyeong asked.

“Then when did you go crazy, no, when did you throw yourself into the Jianghu?”

Jin Yuseong, who had been rummaging through decades of memories, replied.

“It seems to have been about a year.”

Come to think of it, it had been a little over a year since he had returned to the past.

All three of them looked at him with surprised expressions.

Dang Sopyeong’s surprise was the greatest.

“Y-You reached such a level in just one year?”

A greenhorn who had been learning martial arts for only a year, and an orphan who used to be a waiter at that, defeated Jang Ik, who was called the hunting dog of the Sichuan Sword Clan?

He felt as if his common sense was being completely overturned.

Jin Yuseong replied in a nonchalant tone.

“I was lucky.”

“If you were lucky twice, you’d become the best in the world.”

At Dang Sopyeong’s nonsense, Jin Yuseong chuckled, and Baek Hyang cautiously opened her mouth.

“Then, Senior Brother, how did you come to set your sights on the Jianghu?”

A question from his junior sister, who had never asked about his story before. She must have been holding it in all this time.

Jin Yuseong, who had once again delved into decades of memories, answered briefly.

It felt too long and convoluted to explain everything.

“It’s the same as now. When I was an orphan, when I was a waiter. Watching what trash like the Underworld or bandits did, so much anger built up inside me that I couldn't stand it.”

Of course, he could have omitted or appropriately modified the events of his past life to explain.

The reason he kept his words short was simple.

“It seems we’ve discussed our pasts enough, so let’s get up now.”

“Are you going to start training again?”

When Dang Sopyeong asked as if he were fed up, Jin Yuseong shook his head.

“Today is a lucky day.”

“???”

“Because we get to have a real fight instead of training.”

Jin Yuseong turned his head and looked up at the mountain path ahead.

Just as the rest of the group turned their heads to follow Jin Yuseong with puzzled faces.

Rough-looking men began to appear one by one from between the bushes.

“Uahahaha! If you want to cross this Ma'anshan, you’ll have to get permission from our Pungsu Fortress!”

At the appearance of the tactless bandits, Dang Sopyeong let out a deep sigh.

“Haa.”

Baek Hyang had a slightly sullen expression, perhaps because she had been interrupted while hearing her Senior Brother’s story for the first time.

On the other hand, Nam Geon had a determined expression.

“B-Bandit uncles are b-bad people. G-Gonna punish them.”

As Nam Geon stood up saying so, the bandits, who had been approaching confidently as if they were heroes, flinched.

“F-Fortress Lord. Is that guy even human?”

A person’s build looked as big as a bear.

The Fortress Lord was just as surprised by Nam Geon’s size.

As if embarrassed by that fact, the Fortress Lord’s face turned red as he shouted.

“Do you think fights are won with size alone, you idiots! Show those brats how scary the world is!”

There were only four opponents. And all of them looked young.

The bandits, filled with courage by the Fortress Lord’s shout, began to surround Jin Yuseong’s party.

Thwack!

“Kuaaaargh!!”

A wail echoed on the slopes of Ma'anshan.

***

Right after dealing with the bandits, Dang Sopyeong approached Jin Yuseong.

“No one is hurt.”

At Jin Yuseong’s assumption, Dang Sopyeong snorted.

“I can tell that much just by looking.”

“Then do you have something else to say?”

At Jin Yuseong’s question, Dang Sopyeong seemed to ponder for a moment, then let out a deep sigh and answered.

“I have a concern.”

“Speak.”

“I’ve recently been training in poison arts based on the medical skills I learned from my mother.”

“I know.”

“But there’s a big problem with this poison art. It’s fine if I’m alone, but it’s difficult to use when I’m with allies.”

“So that’s why you haven’t been using poison?”

The man who claimed to be learning poison arts had only been swinging his sword against the bandits.

Even when fighting at Choi Manor before, there was no trace of him using poison.

At Jin Yuseong’s question, Dang Sopyeong nodded and contemplated.

He wondered if it was really right to ask this man.

‘This crazy bastard would probably just tell me to use poison arts without worrying about allies.’

A madman who would be delighted, saying that it would also be good training for dealing with poison.

That was Dang Sopyeong’s assessment of Jin Yuseong’s character.

But surprisingly, Jin Yuseong had a deeply troubled expression, with a frown on his forehead.

He was not thinking of a solution to Dang Sopyeong’s problem.

He was thinking of the Poison Immortal of the future.

‘So that’s why the Poison Immortal learned that?’

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