Chapter Title: Ambush
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A young man named Goon Ja-seong spat out those words, leaving Je-gon utterly dumbfounded.
'What the hell did that punk just say?'
Kill? Who? Me?
This fresh-faced kid who just hit twenty daring to threaten me, Shin Je-gon, one of the four great guards under the Tyrant Heaven Fortress Lord?
It was so ridiculous he couldn't even laugh properly.
He'd already heard a bit about the youngest son of the local landowner family who frequented Heavenly Wind Martial Hall for the past ten years, from Neung Baek-seo.
From what he'd gathered, the guy had spent a whopping ten years practicing nothing but the Three Talents Art.
'Three Talents Art, of all things.'
It was pathetic, really—spending a full decade on a third-rate technique you could buy for a couple of coins at a street stall.
In that time, he could've at least paid tribute to one of the Nine Great Sects' remnants and learned something decent.
Je-gon realized why Goon Ja-seong had so arrogantly declared he'd kill him.
His skill was so low he couldn't even sense the overwhelming internal energy Je-gon possessed.
Convinced of that, Je-gon shook his head.
'Idiot who doesn't know his place, like a bolt of lightning striking a bald man's head.'
Naturally, Je-gon's opinion of Ja-seong plummeted.
"I'll give you one chance. Step aside, and I won't kill you."
But this punk—the more he talked, the worse it got.
"...Hah, hahaha. Kill me? You?"
"..."
Ja-seong fell silent at the question, merely sending a cold glare his way.
In place of his answer came mocking laughter from those around them.
"Kh, khkhkhkh...!"
"Pfft."
"Kekeke..."
Neung Baek-seo, who'd been beaten to a pulp by Ja-seong, and even the black-clad assassins surrounding Seo-hee and Jin Myeong—they all ridiculed his words.
As the jeers echoed through Heavenly Wind Martial Hall, Neung Baek-seo spoke up.
"Khihihihi... You're truly insane. Do you even know who stands before you? It's the leader of the Tyrant Heaven Fortress Lord's four great guards, the great hero Heavenly Spine Shin Je-gon! You think a punk like you can kill one of the top experts in Tyrant Heaven Fortress? You really believe that's possible?"
"Yeah, seems possible."
Ja-seong replied in a cold tone, as if he hadn't heard the surrounding mockery.
Je-gon glanced sideways at the young fortress lord's group, wondering if the kid had some hidden trick up his sleeve.
But their reactions were no different from his own.
They all stared at Ja-seong with disbelief or utter bewilderment.
Certain his judgment was correct, Je-gon burst into hearty laughter.
"Krahaha-! They say ignorance breeds courage, and you're the perfect example. A guy who can't even sense my internal energy—"
"You're doing it right now? You've got a filthy lot of it. Hell, if I had just that much, I'd be set."
'...He can sense my internal energy?'
So he'd spouted that nonsense even after sensing this overwhelming gap in power?
Je-gon tilted his head in confusion, but Ja-seong's next words made his face harden.
"But so what if you've got a ton? It's useless if a moron like you can't even use it properly. That's what they call putting horseshoes on a dog's paws, right?"
"...What?"
It was utterly absurd.
A novice who'd never set foot in the jianghu daring to call him a moron.
"...Your arrogance knows no bounds. You, who hasn't even seen real combat, dare tell me I don't know how to use my internal energy?"
"It's the truth."
Ja-seong gave a curt reply, then scanned the faces around him.
"It's not just you. That Neung whatever-guy over there, that assassin lady, even your master. To me, you're all morons. You've piled up all that internal energy and don't even know how to use it properly."
Even the young fortress lord's group looked dumbfounded at Ja-seong lumping their allies in with the insults.
-Whoosh!
Je-gon's face stiffened as he raised his mace.
No more words were needed. He'd just crush this lunatic in one blow.
That was all.
Je-gon stepped forward, positioning himself before Ja-seong.
Ja-seong drew his sword and assumed a stance.
Right foot forward, sword held in his right hand at his left side.
It was the stance for Horizontal Sweep of the Minor Heavenly Host from the Three Talents Swordsmanship.
Seeing it, Je-gon smirked.
Horizontal Sweep, of all things? Trying to kill him with that most basic of basics?
He seemed confident in his speed, given how he'd overwhelmed Neung Baek-seo earlier, but...
'That shit won't work on me.'
No need to let him close in—he'd smash him first.
Je-gon's aura intensified.
The energy fully dominating the surroundings made Hwa Ryeon's group look grim.
But Ja-seong's expression remained utterly calm, unchanged.
"You've got some guts, I'll give you that. But this jianghu is a world of the strong devouring the weak. Guts alone won't keep you alive!"
With those words, Je-gon swung his cherished weapon, the Dragon-Breaking Spine, with full force.
At the same moment, Ja-seong charged at him.
His speed was no joke—reaching Je-gon in an instant.
'Hm...!'
And it wasn't just his feet that were fast.
The sword slashing in a textbook Horizontal Sweep stance targeted Je-gon's neck in the blink of an eye.
At this rate, Ja-seong's blade would hit first.
A desperate crisis where his head could fall any second.
Yet Je-gon's face didn't pale with fear—instead, a sinister smile curled his lips.
He'd instinctively sensed Ja-seong had moved too soon for the sword tip to reach his neck.
'Fool who can't even gauge his own sword's length.'
Ja-seong's blade would cut only empty air, and in that gap, his Dragon-Breaking Spine would pulverize the kid's upper body.
That's what Je-gon thought.
Until he saw the faint haze rising from Ja-seong's sword tip.
'...What?'
What the hell was that haze...?
As Je-gon wondered, the haze from the sword tip grazed his neck.
In that instant, Je-gon's swing froze.
Thanks to that, Ja-seong passed by without a scratch.
Thus, the two crossed paths, switching places.
"..."
"..."
Bewilderment dawned on everyone's faces as they watched.
What? What just happened?
Even amid the growing murmurs, neither moved.
Then, one finally stirred.
-Sring.
It was Ja-seong.
As he sheathed his sword wordlessly, Je-gon's voice reached his ear.
"What... what is this?"
"What else? Proof you're a moron."
"....Hah, hahaha."
Je-gon let out a hollow laugh at Ja-seong's sharp retort.
"You're right.... I am... we all are morons.... What the hell have we been doing all these years...."
His lament cut short.
A long line appeared across Je-gon's neck, and blood poured out like a waterfall.
"Cough!"
-Thud!
Je-gon coughed up blood, dropping the Dragon-Breaking Spine from his hand.
He himself collapsed atop his weapon, unable to hold on.
And didn't move again.
He was dead.
Heavenly Spine Shin Je-gon, a renowned jianghu expert, felled by the hand of a rural landowner's youngest son.
"..."
"..."
Everyone lost their words at the unbelievable sight.
*
'...In the world.'
Wang-sam—no, Yeo Dae-un, former leader of the Tyrant Heaven Fortress Lord's four great guards and Thunder Flash Sword—alternated stares between Ja-seong and the dead Je-gon, mouth agape.
When Ja-seong declared he'd kill Je-gon, he'd thought the kid was drunk on his win over the young fortress lord and lost all sense of reality.
No matter how he'd beaten the still-youthful young fortress lord, Je-gon was an expert incomparable.
Ja-seong, who'd only trained in third-rate arts, winning? It defied common sense.
And lumping him, Je-gon, and all the surrounding martial artists as morons? Even Dae-un found it ridiculous.
For a moment, he'd wondered if the kid was truly mad.
But look at the result.
Ja-seong stood unscathed, while Je-gon met a pathetically anticlimactic end unworthy of his fame.
If he'd fought Je-gon himself, could he have won that overwhelmingly?
'No, absolutely impossible.'
That realization led Dae-un to another fact.
'All this time in spars... he's been holding back on me.'
He'd seen exactly how Je-gon died.
The haze rising from Ja-seong's sword tip—it had sliced his neck.
Dae-un didn't know what it was, but he'd never seen anything like it in all their spars.
In other words, Ja-seong had hidden his true power during practice.
"...Hah, that punk."
"Monster" didn't even cover it anymore.
The kid was a monster incarnate.
"N-No way!"
As he stared at Ja-seong with eyes full of inexplicable horror, a scream rang out.
Neung Baek-seo, wrist twisted and leg broken, shrieked with a pale face.
"How could Great Hero Shin, one of Tyrant Heaven Fortress's top experts, fall to you...! You worm! What sorcery did you use-!"
Ja-seong ignored Baek-seo, who glared murderously and bellowed, and turned to Dae-un.
"Should I handle the rest of them too?"
"What?"
As Ja-seong glanced left and right at Dae-un's question, Dae-un realized what he meant and shook his head.
"No. Leave this place to me now. You head to Goon Family Manor, quick."
"...Alright, then."
Ja-seong nodded and bolted out the martial hall's main gate.
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