Chapter 54 : A Glimmer of Hope (4)

He looked at Mongseol, who was in the middle of energy circulation and breath regulation.

It was impossible to know what he was thinking as he looked at Mongseol. There was no emotion in his eyes as he looked at Mongseol. He was so expressionless that it seemed he was looking at a stranger.

His gaze turned. This time, he looked at the Drunken Flower Garden master.

The Drunken Flower Garden assassins were tense.

They still didn’t know who the man was. Just because he had killed the strong men didn’t guarantee that he wasn’t an enemy.

It was still impossible to distinguish whether he was an enemy or not.

If he were to attack the Drunken Flower Garden master, they would try to block him with their lives, but it seemed difficult. It had been hard to block the men he had killed, and this man was much stronger than them.

Swoosh! Puk!

The man stuck his blood-stained sword into the ground.

“Hoo!”

One of the Drunken Flower Garden assassins let out a deep breath.

Seeing the man’s action, the tension was finally released.

Although it was still impossible to say for sure whether he was an enemy or not, it was certain that he had no intention of fighting the Drunken Flower Garden.

Thud! Thud!

He walked towards the Drunken Flower Garden master.

The Drunken Flower Garden master also looked at the man.

When the man approached, the elder tried to block his path, but she was stopped by the garden master.

“The fight is over.”

“Garden Master!”

“If that person has a killing intent, none of us will survive.”

“But we can’t just give up and die…”

The Drunken Flower Garden master shook her head.

It meant that he should not speak any further.

The elder sheathed his sword and supported the garden master.

The Drunken Flower Garden master was in a state of internal injury. Since she had not yet performed energy circulation and healing, her face was pale.

The man walked in front of the garden master and then stopped.

It was the place where the man who had rushed at the Drunken Flower Garden master had been struck by a blade that had fallen from the sky and had died.

The man pulled out the half iron blade from the dead man’s head.

Whirik!

The half iron blade was scattered in the air. Then the blood on the blade became small pellets and scattered.

Swoosh!

The man pushed the half iron blade into his belt without any thought.

He walked towards the Drunken Flower Garden master again.

The two stood facing each other.

The man looked at the Drunken Flower Garden master with calm eyes. It was a gaze that made it impossible to distinguish whether he was an enemy or an ally.

“My name is Ah Geol.”

He said.

The Drunken Flower Garden master nodded her head as if she had expected it.

“Somehow… you’ve grown up well.”

The Drunken Flower Garden master said, staring intently at Ah Geol.

“How much do you know about me?”

“Not at all. I hardly know anything.”

“The Ren meridian’s Guwei point, the Du meridian’s Zhiyang point. The strong energy penetrated the Guwei point through the Zhiyang point. The True Energy Pain Strike is a very high-level technique, but since a person like this uses it freely, I think we should remove the word ‘high-level’ now.”

Ah Geol looked at the dead man.

The dead man was not a man to be ignored as ‘a person like this’. He was a great high-level master. It was by no means something that ‘a person like this’ could do to drive the Drunken Flower Garden master into a corner in an instant.

“What is the True Energy Pain Strike? I’ve never heard of it.”

The Drunken Flower Garden master asked, tilting her head.

She couldn’t help but not know. The True Energy Pain Strike was the secret, hidden technique of the thirty-sixth Single-Instant Sect Master, his master.

“It’s frustrating when you don’t know, but it’s simple when you do, so let’s start with the healing.”

“I think I should. Seeing that I’m even breaking out in a cold sweat, it seems my internal injuries are getting worse.”

The Drunken Flower Garden master nodded her head and sat on the ground.

There was a technique called the True Energy Strike.

It was a method of striking a point with true energy, and depending on the strength of the strike, it could be a healing technique, or it could inflict a fatal injury. Depending on the part being struck, it could be a simple suppression that only made the body unable to move, a heavy suppression that even caused fainting, or a death point strike that led to death.

The True Energy Strike technique was used by almost all sects, although there were differences in the technique.

It strikes a point.

That’s right. The True Energy Strike technique was about striking a single, fixed point.

His master had developed the True Energy Strike technique to a very high level.

If you struck the front of the body, the true energy would penetrate the body and strike a point on the back.

He would strike two points with one move.

If you struck a point on the back of the hand, a point on the palm would be struck at the same time.

The person being struck would only look at the point of impact.

They would hardly be aware of the fact that there was another damaged point on the opposite side. So, even if they blocked the damaged point with improvisation, or spun around, the true energy would not be properly connected.

The fact that there were two points of impact could only be found out by calmly practicing energy circulation and breath regulation like Mongseol.

But even if you found out the damaged point, you would not be able to find out when, where, and how you were struck. Because even if you replayed the fighting process dozens of times, you would not have been struck.

If you were hit by the True Energy Pain Strike during a fight, it was the same as losing both legs. It was the same as fighting with your dantian exposed.

The dead, they were subordinates of one of his senior brothers.

The True Energy Pain Strike had been passed down from master to disciple, to senior brother, and now the same True Energy Pain Strike had appeared.

He walked behind Mongseol.

No one blocked him. The elders and the assassins did not block him because they had heard what he had said to the garden master.

Swish!

He placed his palm on the Mingmen point on Mongseol’s back.

He infuses true energy.

Mongseol was in the middle of energy circulation and breath regulation, so she had completely closed off her five senses. She could not hear what was happening outside, let alone the sound. She would not feel it even if a snake came and bit her foot. Just like her sight, hearing, and smell, she had also blocked her sense of pain.

Naturally, Mongseol did not feel the hand that had touched her Mingmen point.

She would not be conscious of it at all even if someone hit her hard or pinched her.

She was immersed in the circulation of her true energy.

All her consciousness and unconsciousness were focused only on the circulation of her true energy.

It was a perfect state of selflessness.

For a martial artist, such a defenseless state could lead to a very dangerous situation. No matter how strong a person was, if someone launched a surprise attack, they would have no choice but to be hit.

So, such a deep energy circulation was only performed in a training room that was completely sealed off on all sides. Even if you did it outside, you had to ask a truly trustworthy person to stand guard.

Mongseol had entered a state of selflessness without setting up any guard at all.

It wasn’t that her internal injuries were that serious. It was enough to practice energy circulation after the fight was over. And yet, the reason why she had immersed herself in a deep energy circulation without hesitation was because she trusted him.

“A dangerous woman.”

Ah Geol muttered lowly and infused his true energy.

* * *

“Grandpa’s words, I heard them. They said they had collected the body, so where did they enshrine it?”

“No. Grandpa is not dead.”

“Oh my! Really!”

Mongseol’s frowned face brightened and she was pleased.

“Can Grandpa die as he pleases? He went to the afterlife and was chased back by a ghost.”

“He’s really alive! I heard that he was cut down by the Strange Blade Master and that it would be hard for him to live, so I thought it had finally happened. I’m so glad. Where is he now?”

“In a coma.”

“…”

Mongseol was silent.

Mongseol knew what Ah Sam had done.

She had heard how he had provoked the Living Sword Sect disciples, and even that he had killed the Ghost Slaughter Sword, who was one of the Ten Swords and the master of the Fifth Hall of the Living Sword Sect.

Ah Sam had killed the Ghost Slaughter Sword? Ah Sam was such a great master that he could even kill one of the Ten Swords of the Living Sword Sect. Well… looking at Ah Geol’s martial arts, it seemed that Ah Sam’s martial arts would not be ordinary either.

The Living Sword Sect incident was a big incident that no one, not even a non-martial artist, did not know about.

It was also a main topic of conversation that was not missed in any place where people gathered, such as inns and teahouses. So, even if she tried not to listen, it would naturally come to her ears.

She did not know why Ah Sam had picked a fight with the Living Sword Sect.

She knew that Ah Sam and Ah Geol were doing something on the occasion of her contract killing, but she had not heard more than that. Neither Ah Sam nor Ah Geol had told her the details. They had only said that it would be very difficult to survive this incident.

She had also heard a rumor from an inn that Ah Sam had eventually died at the hands of the Strange Blade Master.

‘In the end!’

Ah Sam’s death was not surprising.

Before they had parted, the two had talked about ‘death, death’ and had mentioned death, so she had thought that it had finally happened.

Who was the one who had cut down Ah Sam?

The Ten Swords of the Living Sword Sect? The Living Sword Sect Master? Or a master dispatched from the Sacred Sword Sect?

She had had many thoughts, but she had not been able to confirm them. She had not even heard a rumor about that part.

But Ah Sam was alive. It had been so long, but he still hadn’t woken up and was in a coma.

Mongseol could read the grim situation hidden in the short words as if she had seen it with her own eyes.

“That person, who is he? The one who cut down Grandpa?”

“Let’s talk about that later.”

“Alright, then. I’ll just ask one thing I’m curious about right now. The person who cut down Grandpa, he’s dead, right?”

“…”

Ah Geol looked at Mongseol.

Mongseol smirked.

“You don’t have to look like a rabbit. You wouldn’t have parted with the person who cut down Grandpa as if nothing had happened. The thing that had to happen between the two of you was resolved, so you came here. One person came, so the other person must have died.”

“Pfft!”

Ah Geol smirked and turned his head.

But at this moment, Mongseol was not laughing. Although she had a smile on her lips, she was very surprised inside.

Ah Geol had said that this fight was a fight with no chance of winning. Ah Sam had not denied that either.

He had come, having won that fight.

His four limbs were intact, he had not even been injured, and there was no joy or excitement of having won on his face. He was as calm as when they had met in the stable. He was so calm that he was even annoying.

“We… how should we live from now on?”

Mongseol said abruptly.

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know like that.”

Mongseol stared intently at Ah Geol.

She had already seen his true colors when he had practiced energy circulation in the middle of a fight… she was indeed a dangerous woman.

Her outward appearance looked so fragile that it seemed she would fly away with just a gust of wind, but her belly was filled with an iron core. She was a strong-willed woman who would not even shed a tear at a trivial matter.

Ah Geol said the thoughts he had already organized.

“First… let’s break off the engagement.”

“Why?”

Mongseol asked back before Ah Geol could finish his words.

“I have three senior brothers, and they are all demons. Even Duke Heo Dogi has to be careful of my senior brothers.”

Mongseol swallowed her saliva without making a sound.

Now, Ah Geol was continuing his words casually. When she had asked for the reason, he had started talking about his senior brothers first. It meant that he had already thought of telling her this.

But, unexpectedly, from Ah Geol’s mouth, a person she had never thought of, a person she could not think of, a person who should never become an enemy, the God of War, Duke Heo Dogi, was mentioned.

The people called Ah Geol’s senior brothers… she could roughly guess the extent of their martial arts.

“The one who cut down Grandpa was my third senior brother.”

“Ah!”

A fight between senior and junior brothers? The fourth had killed the third senior brother? What on earth kind of martial artist, what kind of sect, had raised these demons?

“As you may have already guessed, I have already killed my third senior brother. Now, there’s no turning back. Since I’ve already gotten on the tiger’s back, I have to go to the end, and you know where the end is, right? I have to kill the other two senior brothers as well… but this is impossible.”

“Hmph! As I recall, you said that defeating the third senior brother was also impossible, right?”

“I barely managed to press down my third senior brother by a real stroke of luck, somehow… but if my third senior brother was a wild dog, my other two senior brothers are tigers. Would you understand if I said the difference was this much?”

“What does that have to do with breaking off the engagement?”

“If my only enemies were my senior brothers, I could do something… but before I came here, I killed Jo Chuhan, one of the Ten Lesser Swords of the Sacred Sword Sect. A pursuit team from the Sacred Sword Sect has probably been formed by now.”

Mongseol’s mouth dropped open.

Ah Geol’s words… meant that even the God of War, Duke Heo Dogi, was an enemy.

Mongseol said, stuttering, “Why, why this absurd fight…”

“And these people, they’re probably my senior brother’s hands and feet. Their hands and feet are this much. So leave. As far away as possible.”

Ah Geol looked at Mongseol.

Then Mongseol frowned and said gravely, “If that’s true, we have nowhere to go. I understand now. They said the assassin sect had disbanded, but I wondered why they were chasing and killing to the end. This kind of case is rare. Even if we run far away now, we’ll eventually be brutally killed… breaking off the engagement, I can’t. As a fiancé, take responsibility for your fiancée.”

Mongseol said firmly.