Rebirth of the Heavenly Demon

Chapter 15 – Where My Sword Points (4)

I was overwhelming Jeong Yeo with my aura.

He didn’t recognize me. Well, even if he had seen me once before, it would have been impossible to associate the current look in my eyes and my aura with the good-for-nothing of the Byeok Sword Family.

“Did you enter the martial world to serve such people?”

I could sense his wavering in his trembling eyes.

I leaped down nimbly.

Jeong Yeo was startled by my agile movement. Regardless of inner energy, there’s a way to showcase one’s physical prowess.

I deliberately displayed the essence of my movement technique, and Jeong Yeo had the skill to recognize it.

Jeong Yeo’s gaze turned towards the entrance of the courtyard. The guards at the entrance were sitting slumped against the wall with their heads bowed.

“Are they dead?”

I shook my head. I had merely suppressed their acupoints to put them to sleep.

“Wait here. This will be the moment your life changes.”

Without waiting for Jeong Yeo’s response, I opened the door and entered. He might have many thoughts, but he would ultimately wait. If not, he would have drawn his sword already.

Yang Gi-cheol and the Blood Hound were startled when I opened the door and entered.

“You?”

Yang Gi-cheol recognized me. No matter how much my aura had changed, he couldn’t fail to recognize the one who had beaten his son to a pulp just the other day.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Me? What insolent way of speaking is this?”

Yang Gi-cheol frowned and glared at me coldly, but my following words were even colder.

“You, who ordered the annihilation of the family of someone you once called brother, dare to speak of manners? What kind of person are you?”

Struck at his core, Yang Gi-cheol was speechless. Instead, he exuded a fierce aura as if he might rush at me and strike at any moment.

But he was cautious. He seemed unable to comprehend the situation no matter how he thought about it.

How I had gotten this far, and why I was so confident.

He spoke to the Blood Hound as if giving an order.

“Get rid of him.”

He once again proved that he was someone who thoroughly looked out for himself first in any situation. He was wary of me.

So, could I really kill Yang Gi-cheol?

With just five years of inner energy and Byeok Ri-dan’s still unrefined body.

My answer was ‘yes’.

If I had concluded that it would be difficult or that there were variables, I wouldn’t be here.

But I was confident I could kill them.

Of course, if it came down to a battle of inner energy or a prolonged fight, I would be at a disadvantage.

But I had no intention of letting that happen.

The decisively advantageous point was that the opponent didn’t know my true nature.

When I visited the Byeok Clan Sword Manor before, I felt it while watching Yang Gi-cheol putting on airs with his hands behind his back.

He had grown rusty.

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If he were truly the most skilled martial artist in Shandong, he might be difficult to deal with.

But he was merely the head of the largest organization in Shandong.

Although both bore the modifier “number one,” there was a huge difference between the two.

When was the last time Yang Gi-cheol had experienced real combat? A year ago? Two years ago? It might have been over ten years. The larger the organization, the further its leader tends to be from actual combat.

Rather, that Blood Hound fellow might be the more dangerous one.

Just as Yang Gi-cheol had, the Blood Hound also showed once again what kind of person he was.

“I’ll add five thousand nyang.”

“Are you mad! He’s one of those we need to kill anyway!”

“Not here.”

“Five thousand nyang is too much for killing just one youngster.”

“Then do it yourself. Surely such a youngster is no match for the Faction Leader?”

The Blood Hound folded his arms and took a step back.

“Damn it!”

Yang Gi-cheol glared at me again. He couldn’t discern anything from me. He must be wondering why he was hesitant to act when I should be no match for him. In any case, while he might lack in actual combat experience, his instinct for detecting danger was still alive.

“Fine. I’ll give you five thousand nyang.”

Only then did the Blood Hound step forward with a smirk.

“Thanks, kid.”

Contrary to his words, the Blood Hound wasn’t letting his guard down. Having lived as a vagabond, he sensed the danger I exuded even faster than Yang Gi-cheol. He just judged that the danger wasn’t enough to harm him.

I wasn’t letting my guard down either.

This was the moment I was about to engage in my first proper fight since reincarnating.

His weapon was an iron rod about the length of an adult’s forearm.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

He swung the iron rod quickly and shortly twice, then immediately unleashed a deadly attack.

Bang! Babababang! Bang!

The iron rod struck the air with terrifying force. If hit, it would have enough power to crush bones.

The iron rod grazed my shoulder by a hair’s breadth.

Certainly, Byeok Ri-dan’s body was slow. If I hadn’t predicted where the attack would come from by observing the Blood Hound’s movements, I would have been finished with this one attack.

In this fight, it wasn’t Byeok Ri-dan’s body fighting, but my experience.

The continuously flying iron rod created a tension where a single mistake could lead to death.

Then, from deep within my chest, an emotion surged up like lava.

It was fighting spirit.

Bang!

This time, I nearly had my head split open.

Even in this perilous situation, I was savoring the joy of fighting after a long time.

I could feel it anew.

I was truly someone who loved fighting. It was because I was such a person that I had risen to the position of the world’s greatest. My later years without fights had been so tedious.

Crash! Crunch!

The objects in the room were smashed to pieces.

The corners of Yang Gi-cheol’s mouth, who was watching, curled up. It probably looked like I was being overwhelmed one-sidedly, so he must be thinking the Blood Hound would win. He might be regretting the five thousand nyang, thinking he should have handled it himself if he had known it would be like this.

The Blood Hound paused his attack for a moment.

“You little rat! You’re quite good at dodging!”

It was a statement full of confidence in victory and enjoying the leisure.

But while it was leisure for him, it was an opening for me.

This moment of opening might have been a split second for him, but it was an eternity for me.

My sword flashed in the air.

Swish!

Swooosh!

Two different sounds of air being cut by the sword.

The Blood Hound’s movement stopped.

Rustle.

The Blood Hound’s clothes were cut diagonally. A red line was visible inside.

Rustle.

This time, his clothes were cut diagonally in the opposite direction. Again, a red line was drawn.

A red tilted X engraved on his chest.

I stepped slightly to the side.

The next moment.

Splash!

The red lines split open, and blood gushed out in the shape of the wounds.

It was the first form of the Soul-Reaping Asura Sword Technique, Instant Killing, that had been unleashed.

Originally, his body would have been shattered into pieces.

But because I only used three years of inner energy, this was the extent of its power.

After spewing out an enormous amount of blood, the Blood Hound collapsed.

Thud.

He was already dead before hitting the floor.

I turned my head to look at where the remaining two years of inner energy had been used.

Yang Gi-cheol was staring at the Blood Hound’s death with a shocked face.

But soon he felt his chest getting hot and lowered his head.

Blood spreading from his chest was dyeing his white clothes red. Behind the torn clothes, there was a spiral-shaped wound on his chest. It was the trace left by the second form, Truth-Seeking Person.

I had divided my five years of inner energy in two, sending three years of inner energy with Instant Killing towards the Blood Hound, and two years of inner energy with Truth-Seeking Person towards Yang Gi-cheol.

So now I had not even a handful of inner energy left. I was defenseless until I could perform breathing exercises to replenish my inner energy, but Yang Gi-cheol was struggling to save himself, let alone seize an opportunity.

Yang Gi-cheol coughed up a mouthful of dark red blood.

He probably never dreamed that I, who seemed to be overwhelmed one-sidedly by the Blood Hound, would attack him. Even if he had been on guard, it would have been difficult to avoid this attack. If he hadn’t instinctively twisted his body at the last moment, he would have died instantly.

The blood flowing from his mouth and chest was soaking the floor. He had probably never seen so much blood coming out of his own body before.

“…S-save me.”

I retrieved my sword and picked up the iron rod that had fallen to the floor.

Yang Gi-cheol had suffered a fatal injury, but he was still sharp.

“…You’re planning to make it look like the Blood Hound and I fought each other!”

“Not exactly. It will be that this man killed you and ran away.”

Yang Gi-cheol’s eyes filled with despair.

“If you spare me… I’ll do anything.”

Ignoring his plea, I approached, and he staggered towards one side of the wall.

“Wait… Please! Just a moment!”

He hurriedly touched several mechanisms, and the wall rotated to reveal a safe.

“If you spare me, I’ll give you everything in here!”

“Still setting conditions. You’re quite composed.”

I strode forward and raised the iron rod towards his head.

If you push someone without giving them time to think, the safe often opens more easily.

Yang Gi-cheol’s hands moved frantically. Because of his self-serving nature, this life-threatening situation paralyzed all his reason. His only thought was to survive by any means necessary.

Indeed, after waiting for just a brief moment, the safe door opened without him even managing to set a proper condition. Of course, even if he had, it wouldn’t have worked.

Promissory notes and gold items were piled up inside the safe.

Leaning painfully against the wall, he spoke desperately.

“If you dispose of everything, it’s worth over thirty thousand nyang. So please…”

I looked at him. His eyes were filled with an earnest desire to live.

On the other hand, the coldness in my eyes was enough to extinguish that heat.

“You said earlier, didn’t you? That in this martial world, there are only two types: the strong and the weak. The strong survive, and the weak die.”

It was what he had said to Jeong Yeo earlier.

“Today, it seems you’re the weak one.”

Thwack!

I swung the club mercilessly, smashing his head. With a splattering sound, his head was crushed like a watermelon.

I’m not merciful enough to spare someone who tried to annihilate my family.

Thud!

I struck his chest again with the iron rod. His ribs shattered, erasing the wound left by my Truth-Seeking Person.

This time, I struck the Blood Hound’s chest, erasing the traces. Once you’ve laid hands on something, you need to handle it thoroughly.

As I expected, Jeong Yeo hadn’t left and was standing outside until the fight ended.

“Come in.”

He entered cautiously.

He flinched at the scene inside, but as if he had expected it to some extent, he wasn’t completely shocked.

I swept everything from inside the safe into a leather bag at the edge and slung it over my shoulder.

“The Blood Hound killed your Faction Leader and his son, stole the money, and ran away.”

Jeong Yeo looked down at the Blood Hound’s corpse and swallowed hard.

I am certain.

Jeong Yeo will dispose of the Blood Hound’s corpse and report it that way to the sect members. Not because he values his life.

It’s because of the words I’m about to say. These very words that will completely change his fate. What he had been hoping for while waiting outside.

“From now on, you are the new Faction Leader of the Yang Minor Faction.”