CLS-Chapter 112

Chapter 112

“A-attack!”

They had already confirmed that keeping their distance wouldn’t work against this opponent.

Gwak-hwan issued the best command he could under the circumstances. But no matter how much you give your best, if there’s a fundamental difference in skill, it’s all meaningless.

Wei Yan-ho raised his sword as he watched the demon cult member charging at him from the front. His eyes had sunk lower than usual, unlike his normal self.

***

“Should I kill them?”

“Of course you should kill them.”

“Come on, how can you just kill people like that?”

“Is that something a martial arts family descendant should be saying?”

“Well, I am from a martial family…”

Wei Yan-ho felt frustrated as he looked at Baek Mu-han, who was staring at him with a look of exasperation.

“Martial arts aren’t something you learn to kill people with.”

“That’s right.”

“What?”

“I said that’s right.”

“……”

Wei Yan-ho stared at Baek Mu-han with a bewildered expression.

Until now, all the people he knew who could be called masters had said things like martial arts were a means to attain the Way or a method to become one with nature. The stronger someone seemed, the more they tended to say such things.

But seeing Baek Mu-han openly say that you learn martial arts to kill people, one thought couldn’t help but creep into his mind.

“As I thought, a heretic…”

Thunk!

“Owwwww!”

Tears sprung to his eyes from the destructive power of the stone fist that struck his head, and Wei Yan-ho babbled.

“Why did you hit me? Why! It’s true though. Even the high monks of Shaolin learn martial arts, but those gentlemen don’t learn martial techniques to kill people.”

“I said you’re right!”

“……”

Wei Yan-ho flinched when Baek Mu-han shouted.

“Am I right?”

“Tsk.”

Baek Mu-han began explaining with an expression of exasperation.

“You spoke well. Why do those bald Shaolin monks learn martial arts?”

“To attain Dharma.”

“And what happens when you attain Dharma?”

“You achieve liberation.”

“Dying is liberation.”

“……”

Wei Yan-ho could only shake his head. He was someone who had studied Buddhism here and there, but his master had surpassed him in every aspect.

“If you say that in Shaolin, they’ll beat you to death.”

“I already did?”

“Then how did you survive?”

“Do you think those guys could even raise their fists in front of me? You should have seen the abbot’s eyebrows twitching back then. Hehehe, it was priceless.”

Wei Yan-ho looked up at the empty cave ceiling.

Right.

Perhaps he was fortunate to have met the ghost of Baek Mu-han.

How much hardship must the people who lived in the same era as Baek Mu-han have had to endure?

“Master.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way.”

“Speak.”

“With that personality of yours, haven’t you ever thought that maybe that’s why no one came looking for you even after three hundred years?”

“Want me to regret it?”

“Not regret exactly, but maybe you should think about it…”

“What does it matter? I’m already dead. There’s nothing I can change now, is there?”

“Ah…”

Who would have thought a person’s death could be such a pitiful thing?

“Anyway!”

Baek Mu-han cut off Wei Yan-ho’s words.

“If a monk wants to escape the cycle of rebirth, he should delve into the scriptures, and if a Taoist wants to attain the Way, he should study the classics. There are other methods, so why would they grab swords and blades and swing them around? It’s ridiculous. And then what? They say there’s a path in the sword or the Way? There is a path, alright. The path of how to kill people with as little effort as possible.”

This wasn’t even heresy anymore.

Wei Yan-ho just laughed.

“Am I wrong?”

“Well, your theory is quite something…”

“But?”

“In practice, you seem to have a tendency toward bloodshed.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve never shed blood. They were the ones who shed blood.”

“…I see.”

“Anyway, whether it’s Shaolin martial arts or Wudang martial arts, they were all created because those idiots built temples and Taoist halls in the middle of mountains and got thoroughly robbed by bandits, crying ‘Oh, we can’t live like this.’ And then afterwards, it was the bandits who got thoroughly robbed instead.”

“That’s a very fresh perspective.”

“It’s the truth!”

“Yes, yes.”

Whether it was right or wrong, it was definitely something that shouldn’t be said out loud.

Wei Yan-ho was lazy and found things bothersome, but he wasn’t at least arrogant. But his master was the kind of arrogant person who made you wonder how he managed to live a full life without getting stabbed.

“So martial arts is about how efficiently you can defeat your enemies. While learning such martial arts, all that talk about mercy and letting people live—they’re all out of their minds.”

Wei Yan-ho raised his hand.

“Then what about the demonic path?”

“The demonic path?”

“Those demonic path guys are the ones who study how to kill people efficiently. According to your words, master, doesn’t that mean true martial arts belong to the demonic path?”

Wei Yan-ho became triumphant.

Still, this man took pride in being from an orthodox sect, so there was no way he could properly answer this question.

“Tsk tsk tsk, you fool.”

But the series of tongue-clicking and contemptuous looks from Baek Mu-han that followed made Wei Yan-ho dejected.

“You think the demonic path is pure? So that’s why they bathe in virgin’s blood and kill people by dismembering them?”

“Geez…”

“They went crazy from pursuing strength to the extreme. They thought it was a shortcut and took a side path, but instead of going faster by taking the wrong path, they jumped into a thorn bush. They might be fast, alright. But the further they go, the more thorns pierce their entire body and blood flows. Eventually, they become slower than those who took the main road—that’s the demonic path.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“Being pure isn’t about that. It’s about fitting the purpose. If you want to lose weight, what happens if you just cut off flesh? You’ll lose weight, sure. But is that truly losing weight?”

“No.”

“Right, that’s what it is.”

Baek Mu-han glared at Wei Yan-ho.

“So in real combat, you must never think about sparing your opponent. If they don’t die despite you doing things properly, that can’t be helped, but the martial world is a place where you die if you hold back even a bit of strength to keep your opponent alive.”

“……”

“And even if you don’t die, what will you do if those who hold grudges against you for defeating them target your family?”

“My father would kill them.”

“……”

Even Baek Mu-han seemed to lose his words for a moment and waved his hand in confusion.

“Wh-what about your brother?”

“My brother’s really tough.”

“Your mother?”

“My mother is a bit weak, but to target our mother, you’d have to infiltrate the Wei family estate, and they’d probably get beaten up right at the front gate.”

“Your sister!”

“I guarantee she’ll be stronger than me within two years.”

As the atmosphere began to shift toward family bragging, Baek Mu-han changed the subject.

“Family aside, anyway, you’ll get a knife in your back. So never think about sparing your opponent.”

“Hmm…”

Baek Mu-han clicked his tongue.

He had detected a displeased expression on Wei Yan-ho’s face.

This disciple’s intelligence was superior to anyone he had ever seen, but his lack of a ruthless heart was a weakness.

Someday, that trait would trip him up.

“If you don’t want to, there’s nothing I can do. But remember this.”

Baek Mu-han’s voice lowered.

“Everything that happens because you showed mercy will ultimately become your responsibility. Regret is always too late, no matter how quick. To survive in the treacherous martial world, you need a ruthless heart like killing intent. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I understand what you’re saying.”

“Yeah?”

“But I’m just going to sleep at home anyway, so do I really need that?”

“Argh! You brat!”

That day, Wei Yan-ho had to painfully learn the importance of a ruthless heart while getting pummeled by flying stone fists.

***

His master was full of nagging, but he never said anything wrong.

And if it was right, then it was proper to follow it.

Wei Yan-ho knew that fact well.

The demon cult member charging at the front swung his blade down.

Clang!

He deflected the incoming blade with the flat of his sword, changing its trajectory, then continued his sword swing.

Slash!

Both wrists and elbows.

Wei Yan-ho, who had severed all the tendons in four places at once, split the leg of the demon cult member who was kicking at him with his uninjured foot without even letting him scream.

“Urgh.”

Even in the midst of this, a suppressed groan escaped—it couldn’t be helped.

He struck the demon cult member falling to the ground with the flat of his sword and sent him flying toward the charging demon cult members.

But the demon cult members struck down their own comrade with cold eyes and charged straight at Wei Yan-ho.

Whoosh.

Instantly, sword energies flew toward all the vital points on Wei Yan-ho’s body.

Wei Yan-ho, who had taken a low breath, glanced back slightly.

He could see Seo Mun Da-yeon crouching behind him. He could dodge if he wanted to, but if he did that, he might meet not Seo Mun Da-yeon but something that used to be called Seo Mun Da-yeon.

“Ugh.”

This is why you shouldn’t get involved in other people’s business.

Well, considering it was a demonic cult event, it couldn’t really be called someone else’s business either.

Wei Yan-ho’s sword began to emit brilliant light.

“Wow, that’s really dazzling. Seriously.”

The Light Sword Style was good in every way except for this problem. Everywhere he went, it felt like announcing to the whole neighborhood, “Hey, I’m using martial arts right now,” so until now he had tried to use his sword without infusing it with internal energy, but given his opponents, he couldn’t hide his true martial arts.

Moreover…

He felt like loosening up his body for the first time in a while.

‘Should I try it?’

Wei Yan-ho’s sword began to trace an arc.

As he lightly drew a circle, the internal energies that had been lingering at the sword tip didn’t follow along but remained in the air, creating a glowing circle of light.

Spin, spin.

After rotating his sword several times to create a clear circle of light, Wei Yan-ho pushed the light circle forward with his sword tip.

‘Wh-what kind of monster technique is that!’

There are countless sword monsters in the world.

There are sword masters who scatter sword energy like pine needles dancing in the wind, and there are monsters who shoot sword force like palm strikes.

But was there ever a martial art in this world that could fix internal energy in mid-air and make it stay there?

Gwak-hwan’s body began to tremble.

But it wasn’t time to be surprised yet.

When Wei Yan-ho pushed the circle of sword energy created in the air forward with his sword tip, the pure white circle of light began rotating and flying forward, then started absorbing all the surrounding sword energies.

Gwak-hwan’s mouth gradually opened.

But that wasn’t the end.

“Ah, ahhh!”

“No!”

The sword circle didn’t just absorb sword energies—it also pulled in the surrounding demon cult members.

It was obvious what would happen to those sucked into the fiercely rotating circle of sword energy.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

While everyone was screaming as they were sucked into the sword circle, Wei Yan-ho slashed his sword down through the air once.

Swoosh.

And at the same time, the sword circle that had been absorbing the demon cult members burst outward, covering those who had been drawn in with pure white light.

BOOOOOM!

A tremendous explosion erupted in the mountain shrouded in darkness, and birds that had been sleeping all took flight into the sky at once.

It was a sight that could be called spectacular in one sense, but Gwak-hwan couldn’t admire the scene.

His subordinates were all writhing on the ground as lumps of flesh and blood. It was amazing that they were all still breathing in the midst of all that.

Wei Yan-ho looked at Gwak-hwan, then turned his head to ask Seo Mun Da-yeon.

“Should I capture him alive?”