Chapter 29 : Master’s Gate (4)

Three bodies were moved inside.

The Raging Dragon Sword, and the two bodies that had been in the wooden coffins.

The short man had cut down the Ten Swords of the Living Sword Sect, the Raging Dragon Sword, in a single move. He had killed him without hesitation.

The Duke Heo’s residence was a prestigious orthodox sect. It was the number one family in the martial world. Jo Chuhan was one of the strongest people in the Duke Heo’s residence. And yet, Jo Chuhan had just watched as a swordsman from a prestigious orthodox sect died.

What would the people of the martial world say if they saw this? The prestige of the Duke Heo’s residence would plummet at once.

But unfortunately, the people of the martial world did not know who had killed the Raging Dragon Sword and how.

Now the Raging Dragon Sword would disappear from the world.

He would not be dead, but would be treated as completely missing.

Creak!

A door opened and a person entered.

A man who was tall, with a sturdy body, and sharp eyes that reminded one of a snake’s eyes.

He glanced around the room.

In the room, there were three bodies and two people. One person was Jo Chuhan, and the other was the short man who had killed the Raging Dragon Sword.

“What is it?”

The man who had entered said to the short man. He did not even look at Jo Chuhan.

The short man pointed to the bodies with a nod of his head.

“I don’t like any of the things those guys bring. This time, what kind of trouble…”

The man who was examining the bodies suddenly shut his mouth.

He just glanced at the Raging Dragon Sword. But he stared intently at the two bodies that had been brought in the wooden coffins with wide eyes.

“…Whose work is this?”

He said, looking at Jo Chuhan.

“Huhu! You seem to be interested now.”

Jo Chuhan said with a smirk.

“I asked whose work this is!”

“I heard that it was the work of a stable boy who was taking care of the horses at a small stable near the Living Sword Sect.”

“A stable boy?”

The snake eyed man looked at the short man.

The short man shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know what was going on either.

“Kukukuk!”

The snake eyed man chuckled and sat down in a chair.

Creak!

The door opened and a man wearing thick leather clothes entered.

He had grown his hair long like a woman. He had tied his long hair back neatly.

He was a handsome man with distinct features. His eyebrows were thick, and his eyes were large like a woman’s. He had grown a mustache and a beard… and it was slightly trimmed, giving off a rough feeling.

After pushing the door open, he glanced around the room.

Three living people, three dead people.

“You’re here?”

He said to Jo Chuhan.

Jo Chuhan just nodded his head to show his respect.

“What is it this time? I haven’t heard from you much lately… I’m excited, man.”

“Kukuk! It’s the Single-Instant Blade.”

The snake eyed man said.

In that instant, sparks flew from the eyes of the man in the leather clothes.

“You… what did you say?”

“It’s the Single-Instant Blade.”

“The Single-Instant Blade?”

The snake eyed man raised his hand and pointed to the two bodies lying straight.

The man in the leather clothes approached the bodies and examined the cause of death.

“Hey… this is interesting.”

The man in the leather clothes said with a grin.

“This is our blade, right?”

Jo Chuhan said.

“That’s right. The Single-Instant Blade. It’s our blade.”

The man in the leather clothes said, taking his eyes off the bodies.

“These guys, who killed them? I’m asking who used this blade.”

“They say it was a stable boy and an old servant.”

The short man began to speak. The story he had heard from Jo Chuhan.

“This blade can’t be used by anyone but us… isn’t it interesting?”

The snake eyed man said with a laugh.

“It’s certainly interesting. Since we haven’t left the mountain… it means some guy used our blade… what is this? Is it that our master took in another guy besides us?”

“No, our master only has the three of us as disciples. I can guarantee that.”

The short man said.

The master had three disciples.

Two of them had devoted themselves only to martial arts training in a remote place. On the other hand, the short man had trained by his master’s side for a while and had even served him. He had never been separated from his master for a moment.

If the master had another disciple, the short man would surely have known.

“Then what is it? How can you use the Single-Instant Blade without being taught? It’s impossible. It’s something that can never happen. Dongbak, you’re wrong, man. Our master has taken a disciple. Without us knowing.”

“Kukuk! I’m with you on that.”

The snake eyed man said.

“He didn’t take a disciple… Ha! When did he take him? I was always with him.”

The short man called Dongbak said with a frown.

“If this blade is your blade… can I leave these bodies here? It’s a matter of your master’s gate, so you should resolve it well, right?”

Jo Chuhan said.

“Go. We’ll take care of that stable boy.”

The man in the leather clothes said.

“But… I’m saying this because I don’t know, but the Single-Instant Blade that Dongbak executed, the Single-Instant Blade that the stable boy executed. Who is more outstanding? To my eyes, the stable boy seems more outstanding.”

“Hahaha!”

“Kukukuk!”

At Jo Chuhan’s words, the three men laughed at once.

The Single-Instant Blade was beyond common sense. The Single-Instant Blade could not be understood with the martial arts of the central plains.

The Single-Instant Blade was not a martial art. It was not a martial art either. It was just a killing blade.

The question of who was stronger between Dongbak and the stable boy… Heo Dogi would not ask. There was no need to ask. If you looked at the body, you could grasp it at once, so why would you ask with a sore mouth?

Of course, he understood why Jo Chuhan had asked.

The Single-Instant Blade that the stable boy had executed was very exquisite. He had only cut a hand’s breadth of the heart area. It would be more correct to say that he had killed the person with the blade’s energy, not with the blade.

On the other hand, Dongbak was very rough.

The Raging Dragon Sword was cut long from his right shoulder to his side.

Anyone could see that he had been killed with the blade. It seemed that he had no intention of using something like blade energy.

To Jo Chuhan’s eyes, the stable boy was far ahead.

But… he laughed. The Single-Instant Blade was not such a blade. It was a severing blade that split the heavens and the earth. It was not strength, speed, or exquisiteness.

It just cut.

Dongbak had cut without thinking, and the stable boy had thought deeply. He had considered various things while using the blade.

Dongbak was a cut above.

Heo Dogi knew this principle. But Jo Chuhan did not.

Only when you surpassed the Illuminating Thousand Swords and reached the Ten Illuminating Explanations would you understand what the Single-Instant Blade was.

The man in the leather clothes said, “What’s the use of knowing so deeply?”

“Huhu! Actually, there’s no need to know. I just asked out of curiosity. How long will it take to clean up?”

“A month to go and come back.”

“Good.”

Jo Chuhan turned around without any regrets. Then, as if he had remembered something, he turned around and said, “I did not report this matter to our master. Since it’s your blade, I told you to clean it up yourselves. I have no other meaning. Take it as a favor.”

Jo Chuhan grinned.

* * *

“It’s definitely a junior brother. If it’s not a junior brother, he can’t use the Single-Instant Blade. Kukuk! What kind of guy did our master leave behind? Looking at the blade, he’s a young brat who hasn’t even dried the blood on his head.”

The snake eyed man said.

“Don’t you know yet? This guy, he’s telling us to come to him.”

The man in the leather clothes said without taking his eyes off the bodies.

“That guy, he didn’t hide his blade at all. As you said, senior brother, he’s telling us to come to him. Then we have to go. We have to go if he’s telling us to come. I’ll go.”

“No, no. Hyeonggae, you went out last time, so this time Dongbak will go. He needs to get some fresh air too, doesn’t he?”

“Yes. Senior brother.”

Dongbak quickly stood up.

“Kukuk! Are you excited to go out to the central plains after a long time?”

The snake eyed man, Hyeonggae, said.

“I’ll buy you a good bottle of liquor when I come back. Don’t be too sad.”

Dongbak said, rubbing his half blade with his hand.

“Remember that the blade the guy uses is the Single-Instant Blade.”

“Ah! That… I have to remember that.”

Dongbak said as if he didn’t know, nodding his head.

It was impossible that he didn’t know. There was not much difference between the Single-Instant Blade executed by a novice and the one executed by an ultimate master.

It meant that anyone would be hit if they were careless.

The three people in this place… they thought that they were the strongest.

Stronger than anyone else. Dongbak was confident that he was stronger than his two senior brothers. The man in the leather clothes, Gaheon, did not even have his two junior brothers in his eyes. The second, Hyeonggae, also thought that he was stronger than his senior brother and junior brother.

If you asked, ‘Who is the strongest?’, they would immediately answer that it was themselves.

Then let’s ask differently. Let’s ask Gaheon if he can cut down his two junior brothers.

This question would not be answered immediately.

You have to fight to know.

This was the Single-Instant Blade.

Once you reached a certain level, there was no above, and no below. The opponent was also at the same level. So you had to fight to know the victory or defeat. It was not a duel. It had to be a life and death battle.

The junior brother whose face he did not even know had just grabbed the Single-Instant Blade.

Looking at the cause of death, it was to the extent that he could twist his arm with his eyes closed. He was at a snot nosed kid’s level, so he could watch with a smile.

But it was still the Single-Instant Blade. If you were careless, you would be hit.

Gaheon said, “Before you cut that guy down, ask for his surname first. We need to know if he’s a formal disciple or a guy who picked up a trick or two, don’t we?”

“Hahaha! Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to ask.”

Dongbak said.

The Single-Instant Sect!

The word ‘single-instant’ meant one in a hundred thousand.

It was the very ‘instant’ that was mentioned in the sequence of hal, pun, ri, mo, sa, hol.

If you taught martial arts to a hundred thousand martial artists, one or two would be born as true sword demons.

Without being bound by forms, without caring about the level of true energy or experience… a truly strong person who would unconditionally cut down the opponent standing before them would appear.

That person was the single-instant.

Sometimes… strange things happened in the martial world. A martial artist being beaten to death by a farmer who had only known farming his whole life was one such case. The impossible happened.

To become a single-instant, you had to be born with a natural reflex.

Your bones and muscles had to be different.

Even if you hadn’t trained in martial arts, you were as agile and strong as someone who had trained for over ten years.

A single-instant was born.

They were by no means a created human. They were a naturally born fighter. They were a real fighter who could defeat a decent martial artist even without training in martial arts.

So the term ‘Single-Instant Sect’ was not appropriate.

Gathering such people, passing on martial arts, and living together as senior and junior brothers.

The Single-Instant Sect was nothing more and nothing less than that.

It wasn’t that the Single-Instant Blade had a special martial art incantation or a form. They each trained in over a hundred different martial arts, gathered the characteristics, and created a martial art that suited them… and a specific martial art was formed by following the person who guided them.

In the case of the Single-Instant Sect, it was the severing blade that split the heavens and the earth.

The master had used a blade, and he was especially skilled in the severing blade. So his disciples also followed the severing blade.

The Single-Instant Blade was born that way.

If the master who had led the Single-Instant Sect had been Heo Dogi, the three would probably have trained in a sword art close to the Ten Illuminating Explanations. The weapon they used would also have been a sword.

On the day the three had created their own martial arts, the master had bestowed a surname.

The surname that had been passed down through the generations of the Single-Instant Sect, the Seori surname.

He did not know why the Seori surname was bestowed. Among the thirty six previous Single-Instant Sect Masters, there was not a single one who had the Seori surname as their real name. They all had different surnames.

The moment they obtained the Single-Instant Blade, they became the Seori clan.

The first, Gaheon, was Seori Gaheon, the second was Seori Hyeonggae, and the third was Dongbak.

Among the three senior and junior brothers, Gaheon was the first to receive the Seori surname. Seori Hyeonggae had received it two years later, and Dongbak had never received the surname. Even though he had pestered his master until he died.

The reason why Gaheon had told him to ask if he had received the surname before cutting down his junior brother was also for that reason.

If he had received the Seori surname, the stable boy would become a true junior brother.

At that time, he would have to recruit him, not cut him down. There was no need to use the word ‘recruit’. If his senior brother appeared, he would not even be able to make a sound and would just bow his head.

Swoooosh!

That night, Dongbak left the Wind Path Valley.

(End of Chapter)