Chapter 36

Only confusion.Chapter 36

“What did you do to the people we sent to scout?”

His greeting after seeing his older brother for the first time in a month was hardly friendly.

Cheon Gangwol glared at me sharply.

Everything he thought about me could be heard in his voice.

“What do you mean, what did I do? We dealt with one on the way here. The others are probably still sightseeing around our base.”

“Dealt with...? The others are safe, right? You’d better take responsibility for that, Cheon Sowol.”

“Shouldn’t you worry about the situation here instead? You should probably worry about yourself first.”

“I’m not worried about my people. I trust the time we spent together. And I’ll join them soon. After dealing with you.”

Cheon Gangwol bit his lip as if making some private resolution, then charged straight at me.

A powerful sword strike filled with internal energy aimed directly for my head.

I quickly used Black Thunder Divine Steps to avoid it.

Whoosh!

BOOM!

The sword strike carried killing intent.

The crater it left in the ground proved that.

Cheon Gangwol did not stop.

He chased me with one powerful sword strike after another.

I avoided several attacks using Black Thunder Divine Steps, but the space around us was limited.

It was time to counterattack.

This little brat.

We had not seen each other for a month, yet he was already acting cool all by himself.

Did he think he was the only one who trusted his group members?

I trusted mine too.

I decided to knock his pride down a little.

Blue energy gathered around the dagger held in reverse grip.

I swung it and deflected his sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Our weapons collided several times.

I knew this sword style.

It was the same one I saw back in the stone chamber.

Still exactly the same.

He was emotional and using the same swordsmanship I had already seen.

So I redirected his powerful strikes the same way as before.

As his attacks kept being redirected, Cheon Gangwol put more and more strength into them.

His movements grew larger.

Exactly what I wanted.

When his sword drew a wide arc over my head, I swung my empty hand.

Whoosh!

“Ghk!”

A fistful of dirt flew from the hand I had kept clenched from the beginning.

If he had thought about it for even a moment, he might have been able to respond.

Did he really think I would stop using tricks just because I had a weapon in my hand?

Cheon Gangwol closed his eyes against the dirt.

I did not miss the chance.

I spun and kicked him hard in the chest.

Bam!

Thud!

Cheon Gangwol flew backward and landed hard on his rear.

“You haven’t improved at all. Tsk.”

“You’re still as underhanded as ever... Cheon Sowol.”

“It’s efficient.”

“Efficient? Poison arrows and throwing dirt in someone’s eyes are efficient?”

“Of course. Thanks to that, my people are fine. What about yours?”

Still sitting on the ground, Cheon Gangwol planted his sword and slowly stood.

At my words, he glanced around.

The battlefield was steadily tilting against him.

Wang Gi, who had been supporting him, had attacked Na-gak only to end up on the ground with broken bones.

Several people fighting Ma Cheonho were badly injured.

Multiple members had been dropped by arrows.

Those trying desperately to overcome Jintae and Jinsu were already exhausted enough that Cheon Gangwol could hear their breathing.

He had to hurry.

That seemed to be the only thought in his mind.

“Fine. I admit it. My judgment was slow and caused this situation... But this ends here. Your arrogance too!”

Cheon Gangwol began releasing a different kind of energy.

Red energy surrounded his body.

The atmosphere around him changed completely.

Moon Spirit Blazing Flame Divine Art.

Thanks to information Jin Un had given me, I could roughly recognize it.

This was Moon Spirit Blazing Flame Divine Art, famous as the martial art of Cheon Gangwol’s maternal grandfather, the Second Elder.

Inside the cult, it was called that.

In the Central Plains, it was better known as the Blazing Flame Demonic Art.

It was said to overwhelm enemies with powerful yang energy and blazing heat, continuing until everything before it was burned away.

The Second Elder who mastered it was known as the Blazing Flame Sword Demon.

Cheon Gangwol was nowhere near that level yet.

Still, he expressed the martial art in his own way.

Gentle heat slowly surrounded him.

Then he swung his sword toward me.

The flames made his attacks much more powerful.

I raised the Formless Heaven-Breaking Divine Art to the third stage and blocked.

The attack was definitely different.

His sword style covered a wider range, spreading like fire.

Still, one thing had not changed.

His style was still overwhelmingly focused on hard, powerful swordsmanship.

This brat really is...

Far too stiff.

Then it was my job as his older brother to teach him that stiff things broke easily.

I released Black Thunder again and charged.

Lightning burst from my feet.

Cheon Gangwol’s flaming sword energy tore through empty air.

The flames could not keep up with Black Thunder Divine Steps.

Fwish!

Fwish!

I narrowly dodged several flaming attacks.

Blazing Flame Divine Art was meaningless if it could not hit me.

When all his attacks missed, his divine art had no chance to show its power.

Frustrated, Cheon Gangwol changed from slashes to thrusts.

His sword tip, filled with blazing energy, shot toward me.

I dropped almost flat to the ground and slipped beneath it.

Then...

Rustle!

Crash!

I shot forward close to the earth and grabbed his clothes.

I pulled with my weight while hooking his leg.

Cheon Gangwol lost his balance.

The counterattack came from a direction he had never expected after his confident thrust missed.

“W-What is this now?!”

He fell to the ground.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

I repeatedly stabbed downward with my dagger.

Cheon Gangwol rolled his head and body desperately to avoid each strike.

He had never seen fighting like this and had no idea how to respond.

Watching the Fifth Young Master roll around on the dirt was quite a sight.

Just because it’s weapon fighting...

Does not mean you have to stay standing.

Especially with a short dagger.

A dagger often shone more brightly during a filthy ground fight than while standing upright.

Even in real operations, eight out of ten dagger fights ended on the ground.

The beautiful image of two people trading knife attacks while standing looked nice, but it was something you avoided in real combat.

It was a matter of efficiency.

Knocking someone down and stabbing them was far more efficient than trading attacks and defenses while waiting for an opening.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“You bastard! Fight properly! Properly!”

Cheon Gangwol tried desperately to escape from the ground.

It did not matter.

All he could do was roll away from my dagger.

The ground was my territory.

I grabbed his clothes, trapped his leg, and completely sealed his movement.

Jujutsu and joint locks were also included in the Krav Maga system.

Once his movement became restricted, the heat around him disappeared.

The power of his Blazing Flame Divine Art was not the only thing that vanished.

Cheon Gangwol also lost much of his strength as a swordsman.

People often said a spear became useless once its reach was lost.

But swords were similar.

Once someone dragged you down and stayed close, even a sword became a long and awkward weapon.

After several attempts to escape, I caught the arm holding his sword.

I bent it slightly backward.

The sword fell from his hand.

At the same moment, I moved behind him and rolled with him far away from the weapon.

If other martial artists saw this, they probably would have cursed us both.

The righteous martial artists who hated even the Donkey Rolling Technique would probably faint.

The thought almost made me laugh.

“Get some sleep, Gangwol. Cool that temper of yours while you’re at it.”

Squeeze.

Tighten.

Once we were away from the sword, I wrapped my arm around his neck.

Blood flow to his brain was restricted.

His breathing grew heavier.

Cheon Gangwol showed impressive determination and resisted to the end.

But the human body did not care about determination.

Soon, he lost consciousness.

Thud.

His arm fell limply.

I stood and brushed myself off, then looked around.

At that exact moment...

“It’s over!”

Whirl!

Bam!

Ma Cheonho’s spear sent the final opponent flying.

The battle was finished.

Cheon Gangwol’s group members lay everywhere.

Some had been hit by Myeonghwa’s arrows.

Some had broken bones from Na-gak.

Others had collapsed after being struck by shields.

Every one of my people had properly fulfilled their role.

The time we spent practicing the Remnant Moon Killing Formation had not been wasted.

“Looks finished. Clean up.”

“Yes!”

Everything had gone according to the plan we made beforehand.

I calmly walked over and picked up the flag Cheon Gangwol had dropped.

The blue cloth fluttered in the wind, celebrating our victory.

[Kill them all. Someday they will block our path.]

[Loyalty!]

“No! Don’t!”

Cheon Gangwol sat upright.

He had been dreaming.

Or perhaps it had felt more like a prophecy.

The vivid nightmare that came after he had been choked unconscious was horribly realistic.

He had seen something brutally cruel.

Only after sitting up did he realize it had been a dream.

Relief came.

But...

“Looks like you finally woke up.”

Reality was not much better than the nightmare.

Someone spoke as if making an effort to drag him back into reality.

“Cheon... Sowol?”

Cheon Gangwol immediately looked around.

He desperately hoped the nightmare had not been prophetic.

Fortunately...

“Haa...”

His people still had all their limbs.

Some were unconscious, but none looked dead.

They were simply tied up and forced to kneel.

Even the scouts he had sent to inspect Cheon Sowol’s base had apparently been captured.

Still, Cheon Gangwol felt relieved simply because they were alive.

As long as they lived, there could be a next time.

Only after checking on them did he finally notice his own situation.

Hands and feet tied.

Pressure points sealed.

Right.

I lost too.

The memory of defeat returned bitterly.

Cheon Gangwol raised his head and met the eyes of the victor staring down at him.

What should he say?

Should he thank him for sparing his group members?

He had never suffered such a crushing defeat before.

No one had ever taught him how to behave afterward.

“Our Gangwol. Feeling awake now?”

“...I lost quite cleanly.”

“Obviously. They say the younger brother can never surpass the older.”

“...Enjoy it while you can. This will be your first and last victory. Take the flag too.”

“You brat. You got completely beaten and still talk proudly. I already took the flag while you were snoring. Tsk. Anyway, it’s fine. Your body seems intact.”

Fortunately, the man standing before him was showing more playfulness than cruelty.

Perhaps Cheon Gangwol was lucky.

If Cheon Sowol had chosen the other side of his nature, he might never have opened his eyes.

Or he might have awakened to something much worse.

That was why Cheon Gangwol could remain relatively calm.

But...

“If you’re fine, get up. We need to start moving.”

The victor’s next words were strange.

He had already suffered a major defeat.

What else was there to do?

Was this some new kind of humiliation?

Cheon Gangwol tilted his head at Cheon Sowol’s incomprehensible words.

Then even more incomprehensible words followed.

“We’re going to take Bijo’s group next.”

Cheon Gangwol stared at him.

There was no anger in his eyes now.