Chapter 13
Faster, More Cruelly
“Tang Woon-hwi…… defeated Tang Yuchang."
No. The audience was completely shocked by the totally unexpected result.
Some people were shocked for a different reason.
“Tang Woon-hwi really—”
“Dangon, is that really the skill he’s had for only ten days?”
Dangon puffed up his chest arrogantly.
“Hehe! This is all thanks to Musabu teaching him well.”
“Nonsense!”
“If teaching alone worked, we wouldn’t be in this situation!”
Dangtae and Dangjin. The two, who were core members of Gwangpungdae alongside Dangon, seemed ready to grab their long-time friend by the collar at any moment.
At first, when Dangon said he had something interesting to show and asked them to come out, they were indifferent.
They were so busy organizing the matters to report to Amjon that seeing him after a long time, they felt like they were going to die from the effort.
Still, being asked to constantly squeeze in non-existent time made them furious.
But since Dangon said if it wasn’t interesting, they could grab him by the collar, they had just come along.
It seemed like it had gone far beyond just being okay…… right?
“What on earth happened? Explain it properly.”
“Ah, it’s a bit difficult to explain with bare words.”
“Is that so? Then shall I give you this at least?”
When Dangtae subtly pulled a dagger from his sleeve, Dangjin quietly slipped a small knife between his fingers behind him.
It meant that if things went wrong, they were ready to shove the knife into his body quite generously.
Judging by their sharp eyes, it was absolutely no idle threat.
“………I’m just trying to make everyone laugh, just trying to make everyone laugh! Haha, hahaha!”
“Don’t make me laugh—just explain properly!”
“Forget it.”
“This bastard really—”
“Ah, I’m serious! I said forget it!”
Dangon jumped in surprise and raised both hands, and even Dangtae and Dangjin, though suspicious, couldn’t bring themselves to press further.
“Say it simply. What the hell does that mean?”
Dangon explained everything that had happened with Woon-hwi.
How, on the very first day they met, Woon-hwi had effortlessly memorized various martial arts, including Amyeongbo, and had even grasped the forms of Gwangpungmu.
And over the past ten days, he had fiddled with other weapons in various ways and quickly mastered even the intent of Gwangpungmu.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I don’t believe it either! But it’s true—what can I do about it!”
“Had he ever practiced Gwangpungmu before this?”
“I doubted that too. But don’t you know my eyes?”
If someone could deceive the eyes of an expert like Dangon, Woon-hwi would already have to be an even greater master. In other words, it made no sense.
In the end, they had to accept Dangon’s words as truth.
Woon-hwi had truly defeated Tang Yuchang with Gwangpungmu practiced for only ten days!
“……This is impossible.”
At this point, Dangtae and Dangjin felt as if all the common sense they had known was shattering into pieces.
And now that the shock had slightly worn off, other thoughts slowly began to rise in their minds.
“No way—”
“Are you saying that Woon-hwi is a Pungjae?”
Pungjae literally meant a talent that could ride the wind.
Every member of Gwangpungdae had a little of this talent, but there were exactly two people who possessed it exceptionally.
One was currently the head of the Guryong branch, and the other had died and was buried in a grave.
Because of that, Gwangpungdae had chosen to disband.
“If a new Pungjae hasn’t appeared, how else could you explain that?”
“…….”
“…….”
At these words, Dangtae and Dangjin could not answer at all.
Dangon’s eyes… were shining more brilliantly than ever before.
After the other Pungjae possessor, with whom he had lived like a brother, had died, his eyes had always been lethargic and dull, but now, for the first time, they were alive with vitality.
“On top of that, Woon-hwi wants to restore Gwangpungdae.”
“!”
“!”
“That means Woon-hwi, who hadn’t paid much attention to Gwangpungdae—which neither Gyujin nor Yuchang cared about—has now brought it up. How are we supposed to take this?”
“…….”
“…….”
“This doesn’t mean we should immediately support Woon-hwi. I too still have many doubts about him.”
Dangon was certain that Woon-hwi must have had another master.
Until he could learn the truth about his background, he could not entrust the fate of Gwangpungdae to him.
The weight of the debts and responsibilities Gwangpungdae carried was far too heavy.
“Still, we can at least look at him with some expectation, can’t we?”
Dangtae and Dangjin continued to remain silent.
But Dangon was certain.
That in their hearts, the existence of Woon-hwi had now taken root very strongly.
Just like in his own heart.
“…Whether we can really have expectations or not, we’ll know after watching a little longer.”
The three of them turned their gaze back toward the training ground.
* * *
“You—”
It was hot.
Thump thump thump!
She felt suffocated.
Thump thump thump thump thump!
Her heart was beating too fast.
So Tang Gyujin could not bring herself to speak easily.
A duel proposal?
To her?
She knew that Woon-hwi’s skills were decent.
But she never imagined he could defeat Tang Yuchang in just a second, nor did she expect him to have the audacity to boldly challenge her.
All eyes were on her, but Tang Gyujin didn’t care at all.
Right now, the most important thing for her was the voice inside.
I want to fight.
She definitely had the thought of wanting to test herself.
But what if she defeats Woon-hwi here?
She had just begun to overturn the prejudices of the retainers, yet she could be underestimated again.
But if Woon-hwi wins?
She would lose far too much.
The responsibility resting on her left shoulder as the successor of the Guryong branch, and the weight on her right shoulder as a high-ranking member of the Cheongseong faction.
Was it worth risking both of these as stakes to exchange swords with Woon-hwi?
Moreover, her mother would lose even the means to recover.
Since both children would have been defeated by a bastard, her status as the matriarch would be lost.
No matter how much she resented it, her mother was still her mother.
She wondered if it was right to impulsively shift all the responsibility onto her.
But.
「Why are you hesitating so much? What you want to do is right there in front of you.」
The voice inside her kept whispering like a demon.
「Forget all the calculations. Do what you want to do right now. You want to fight, don’t you? You want to fight, right? Huh? Isn’t that so?」
Thump thump thump thump thump!
Her heart was pounding faster, just like the voice inside.
「It’s not Tang Woon-hwi and Tang Gyujin here. It’s warrior versus warrior.」
At those words.
Hehe!
Tang Gyujin smiled brightly.
Like a demon inside.
Yes.
She was a warrior.
She drew her sword.
Kyaaaa!
Cheongsaek Gwimyeon.
With a thrilling demonic wail, the face of the demon briefly appeared over Tang Gyujin’s face.
* * *
Kwaaaang!
Tang Gyujin seemed to hesitate for a moment, then drew her sword and landed on the training ground.
Whish whish whish!
Indeed.
Her momentum was on a completely different level compared to what he had seen at Baeksaekjeon.
Her skin tingled.
Even though she was clearly stirring up a whirlwind.
“Hehehe. Are you really ready, Woon-hwi? Once I draw my sword, I never hold back.”
The demonic aura seeping from between Tang Gyujin’s twisted lips mixed with the Cheongseong faction’s unique Cheonjijin-gi, creating a distinctive temperament.
God and demon.
It looked as if both a celestial god and a devil had taken residence in her body.
Is this the Cheongsaek Gwimyeongeun?
Yes. Surely the possessor of Younggeun was of a different breed from ordinary people.
“If you hold back, I would be disappointed. Please give it your all.”
“That’s something you’ll regret later, but I won’t care! Hehehehe. Good, good. Let’s have some real fun.”
Then, she suddenly stopped laughing, drove her sword into the ground, and took a formal stance.
“I am Tang Gyujin, successor of the Tang clan’s Guryong branch and sword master of the Cheongseong faction’s Sangcheonggung. For the past five years, I have studied under Wuhodojang, and my specialties are Cheonji Ilgi-mun and Sajeonjeolgwang Geom. I am embarrassed, but many in the martial world have given me the formidable title of Cheonyeopseonja. I hope this will be a good duel.”
I also assumed the formal stance.
“I am Tang Woon-hwi, second of the Tang clan’s Guryong branch. I studied under the fierce warrior Dangon, and I have mastered Gwangpungmu. I have no title. I look forward to your guidance and instruction.”
After the introductions were finished.
Pahaaat!
Tang Gyujin moved first.
Ssssss–
She thrust her sword as smoothly as flowing water.
Before long, the Cheongsaek Gwimyeon had returned to her face.
“Isn’t it a virtue to give your junior a three-second advantage?”
“Hehehe! Since we agreed to play together, what do you mean by yielding!”
Tang Gyujin seemed to say to throw away such nonsense.
Well, this was actually what I had hoped for.
Being treated as an opponent, not a junior or sibling. Didn’t that mean she acknowledged my skill?
So I decided to give it my all too.
Dokryong Simgyeol
Gwiryong Gaebang
Kyaaaa!
The whirlwind surrounding me mixed with demonic energy, malice, and poison, forming a sinister mapung.
Gwiryong.
This morning, I finally succeeded in entering the second stage of Dokryong Simgyeol.
“Cursed Poison!?”
“So that’s the secret behind Tang Woon-hwi’s sudden surge in martial skill!”
“Cursed Poison and Gwangpungmu… If we only consider destructive power and sinister nature, they might actually complement each other!”
While the audience was completely shocked, I did not dodge Tang Gyujin’s sword thrust from the front; instead, I pressed my body against it.
“What—”
Tang Gyujin was slightly surprised.
Gwangpung Sipiseon
Seonpung Dolbyeok
Pa-at!
In an instant, a whirlwind blew, and my trace vanished completely, like a crab hiding its eyes.
Tang Gyujin’s sword cut through nothing but the stray gust of wind.
I was already gone from that spot, leaving only a faint shadow behind.
“Amyeong Pyosim? Not bad! You’re far more interesting than I thought.”
Tang Gyujin quickly processed the sensations.
Then, at the spot where she had thrust her sword deeply, Woon-hwi appeared out of empty air, and a collision occurred.
Yes. I had blocked an attack aimed at my blind spot purely through my senses.
“That sense is a bit annoying.”
“But it’s okay, right?”
“Yes. I didn’t expect this to be blocked.”
I clicked my tongue lightly.
I had mixed demonic energy and poison into the whirlwind, thinking that my movements might be hard to read because her senses would be temporarily dulled.
But the senses granted by the Cheongsaek Gwimyeongeun seemed far more incredible than I had anticipated.
“More importantly, that hand—is it okay?”
“It’s better than I thought.”
I was confronting Tang Gyujin’s Cheonggang Sword with the sharply raised edge of my hand.
If it were ordinary flesh, it would already be deeply cut, but I remained unharmed, as if my body were made of diamond or steel.
Sagpung Ingyeol.
A technique of Gwangpungmu that wraps a whirlwind around the body and uses it like a weapon.
It made it possible to use one’s hand like a sword.
“Then—”
Tang Gyujin smiled widely again.
“I won’t care about my arm at all while fighting!”
Shush shush shhik!
The Cheonggang Sword flashed.
Jeolgwang—a fierce and fast attack, as if cutting through light itself.
Of course, I wasn’t going to be pushed back either.
I had a weapon no less than the Cheongsaek Gwimyeongeun, didn’t I?
Pokho Sipibak.
I sharply raised my hand edge and swirled it rapidly.
Like a tiger with a fierce temper going out on a hunt.
Shush shush shhik—
Babababak!
The whirlwind rising from my hand had by now wrapped around my entire body and even covered the training ground.
Gwangpungmu was better understood not as a martial art, but as a complete “flow”.
Sagpung Ingyeol, Mapung Chamgak, Gwangpung Sinbeop, Jilpung Bobeop, Gongpungpo, Chupung Toebeop, and so on.
Gwangpungmu combined all the martial arts that Gwangpungdae had once boasted, far surpassing the previous cumulative limits.
Because of this, Gwangpungmu was not bound by rigid forms.
Even if one performed techniques from completely different martial arts, its power never weakened.
This was exactly why I had lured Dangon to obtain Gwangpungmu.
To incorporate Dokryong Simgyeol, Pokho Sipibak, the Cheonma Gumeom and absolute demonic techniques I would learn in the future, and even other secret techniques of the Dang family, there was nothing better than this.
Even the previously rough Pokho became fiercer and more intense the moment it met the whirlwind.
Faster.
More cruelly.
Just as the whirlwind raged without pause, the strikes of Pokho relentlessly drove Tang Gyujin back.
Chronicles of the Reincarnated Demon God
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