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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Ambush (2)
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Clang!
Dongyun had been certain he could pierce Jinmyeong's back.
He had seen Jinmyeong distracted by his subordinates.
But instead of piercing Jinmyeong's back, his sword was blocked with absurd ease.
"How in the world…"
Dongyun was speechless, staring at Jinmyeong who had blocked his sword with nothing but his fingers.
To be stopped not by a sword, but by mere fingers, filled him with self-loathing.
He had never imagined the gap between him and Jinmyeong was this vast.
No, he didn't want to admit it.
"It's just an ordinary finger technique."
The Heavenly Demon Finger was a technique that shot out internal energy like a bullet.
In contrast, ordinary finger techniques involved strengthening the fingers to make them hard enough to attack.
One would block an enemy's sword or pierce their body with fingers hardened like steel.
And the Heavenly Demon Finger could also be used like one of those ordinary techniques.
"An ordinary finger technique…"
Dongyun couldn't agree with that.
The method that had instantly blown up his subordinate's head was strange enough, but the finger now blocking his sword looked far too special.
His eyes were drawn to Jinmyeong's finger, which was wreathed in pure white flames.
"Where did you acquire such a formidable martial art?"
"Hm. I found it in the place I was hiding, thanks to you lot."
At Jinmyeong's words, Dongyun's eyebrow twitched.
"Hup!"
At the same time, Jinmyeong's finger began to push his sword back.
Dongyun bit his lip tightly, putting all his strength into his sword to keep from being pushed back.
"Coveting my martial arts?"
Jinmyeong could see the greed in Dongyun's eyes.
"But can you take it from me? With your level of skill?"
Dongyun's lips twitched at Jinmyeong's remark, but he couldn't easily open his mouth.
He felt that the moment he spoke, his strength would falter, and he would be immediately overpowered.
"I wonder, are you weak, or am I strong?"
Unlike Dongyun, who was biting his lip and pushing with all his might, Jinmyeong looked completely at ease.
"Weak?"
He had taken a Dragon Pill and reached the peak realm.
His pride wounded by Jinmyeong's words, Dongyun began to pour internal energy into his sword.
Whoom!
Soon, a dark blue aura began to swirl around Dongyun's sword.
"This is truly the end for you."
Now that he was using sword ki, he had to kill Jinmyeong as quickly as possible.
Even after taking the Dragon Pill, he didn't have enough internal energy to maintain the sword ki for long.
"How dare you look down on me, one who has reached the peak realm!"
Jinmyeong extended his index finger toward the charging Dongyun.
And soon, Jinmyeong's Heavenly Demon Finger shot toward Dongyun's forehead.
"Hmph!"
He had already seen his subordinate's head explode after being hit by the Heavenly Demon Finger.
So, the moment he saw the whitish projectile flying toward him, he immediately raised his sword.
Clang!
A tremendous shock coursed through his hand, and unable to withstand the power of the Heavenly Demon Finger, Dongyun fell backward.
"Huh?"
Sitting on the floor, Dongyun stared blankly at the sword in his hand.
'Where did the blade go?'
The long blade, which should have been intact, was snapped in two.
His sword had been wreathed in sword ki, yet it had failed to withstand Jinmyeong's attack.
"Gaaah!"
Then, a sword flew through the air, pierced Dongyun's right thigh, and embedded itself in the floor.
Dongyun screamed, bringing a trembling hand to the sword.
"Guuh."
He tried to pull it out, but Jinmyeong's sword, stuck in the floor, wouldn't budge.
"Stay like that for a bit."
Leaving Dongyun behind, Jinmyeong turned his head.
He could see the masked men still held at bay by his swords.
'They're holding up well.'
Because he had been focused on Dongyun, he hadn't been able to properly control the swords fighting the masked men.
The four swords hadn't managed to kill the masked men, but they were doing a good job of fending them off.
'Why does this feel easier than when I was fighting that man?'
It was strange how easily he was handling the masked men, unlike when he had faced Dongyun with the Heaven-Embroidering Sword Control Arts.
After all, he hadn't even been paying proper attention to the swords.
'Hmm. Is it because of that sword ki?'
The difference from his fight with Dongyun was that his swords were now ablaze with white flames.
'I think I understand why there's so much talk about sword ki.'
Simply wreathing the blades in sword ki had changed their power.
He wondered how much more powerful they would become if he used sword force, which was said to be stronger than sword ki.
'There are definitely more of them now...'
How nervous he had been when he first saw these masked men.
But now, he felt foolish for having been tense.
They were currently helpless against swords he wasn't even properly controlling.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Jinmyeong began to focus on moving the swords again.
The four swords, excluding the one pinning Dongyun's thigh, began to move with agility.
"Hut!"
The swords, moving much more sharply than before, began to attack the masked men.
"Keuk!"
And Jinmyeong's swords, swirling with white sword ki, started piercing through the bodies of the masked men.
Clang!
The masked men also tried to block with their swords, but Jinmyeong's blades shattered theirs with ease.
"Hyaaaah!"
Among them, some used their comrades' corpses as shields to approach Jinmyeong.
The bedroom wasn't very large, which restricted the movement of the flying swords, and they had exploited that opening.
"You should have come a little earlier."
Jinmyeong smiled at the two masked men who had managed to reach him and extended his index finger.
Thwack!
Just before their swords could touch him, Jinmyeong used the Heavenly Demon Finger to blow up the head of the closest masked man.
"You might have had a sliver of a chance then."
The headless body collapsing to the floor could no longer hear Jinmyeong's words.
If they had approached like this while he was fighting Dongyun, he probably would have been flustered.
"Keuk!"
The remaining masked man watched his comrade lose his head and bit his lip tightly.
Of course, they too would have wanted to close in on Jinmyeong.
But while they were flustered and unable to properly deal with the flying swords, Dongyun had been taken down.
'An easy mission?'
How could killing Jinmyeong—who was slaughtering them without even moving from his spot—be an easy mission?
Seeing Jinmyeong's index finger pointing at him, the masked man charged forward even faster and thrust his sword.
Thwack!
But his sword never reached Jinmyeong's body.
Having blown up the heads of the two masked men who had gotten close, Jinmyeong looked around again.
Thrust!
The four swords flew swiftly through the air, piercing the bodies of all the remaining masked men before returning to Jinmyeong's side.
'This is impossible.'
Dongyun stared blankly at his falling subordinates.
He couldn't properly process what was happening.
"Guuuuh."
A few of his subordinates lay twitching on the floor, but most were completely still.
Thrust!
Jinmyeong grabbed one of the floating swords and began stabbing the fallen masked men one by one in the neck or head.
Without any hesitation, Jinmyeong was confirming his kills.
"Gasp!"
Dongyun's eyes met Jinmyeong's, and a chill ran down his spine.
'Is he insane? Why is he smiling like that?'
It was because of the smile playing on Jinmyeong's lips.
Seeing him smile so brightly in a bedroom full of corpses made him seem completely unhinged.
"Young Master! Are you there!"
Just then, a voice called out from outside the bedroom.
"Took you long enough. Come in."
The person who had rushed over because of the commotion in Jinmyeong's room was none other than Yang Jeon.
"Why is it so... at this hour of the night..."
Yang Jeon, who had been grumbling with a frown, trailed off.
It was because of the bodies strewn across Jinmyeong's bedroom.
"W-What in the world is all this?"
"What do you think? They're the ones who tried to kill me."
Yang Jeon swallowed hard and began to unmask the men.
"Well? See anyone you know?"
"No, sir."
With that, Yang Jeon immediately turned to Dongyun, the only one left alive.
"Why did you leave this one alive?"
"Good question. Why did I leave him alive?"
Yang Jeon gave Jinmyeong a strange look and approached Dongyun.
At that, Dongyun swung his broken sword at the approaching Yang Jeon.
"Whoa! Didn't you already subdue him? You should have at least sealed his pressure points."
Yang Jeon shouted as he hastily retreated, but Jinmyeong was still lost in thought.
"Hey, what are you thinking so hard about?"
"Huh? Oh, I was just wondering why I left this guy alive."
"Is that really so important right now?"
Yang Jeon exclaimed, but Jinmyeong just stared silently at Dongyun, who was still pinned by the sword in his thigh.
"Hmm. I really don't know. Did I want to extract information from him?"
Did he leave him alive thinking he could find out who ordered his assassination?
"Or did I just want to give him a taste of despair?"
He had killed all of his subordinates right before his eyes.
Without even moving properly.
Dongyun, who had been sure he would kill Jinmyeong, was speechless at how the situation had been reversed.
"Hmm. Yeah. That must be it."
When the hope vanished from the man's eyes, Jinmyeong had found it quite amusing and couldn't hold back a smile.
"Young Master!"
"What?"
Jinmyeong, who had just reached a conclusion, frowned at Yang Jeon's question.
"You asked, didn't you? So I was seriously thinking about the reason."
With that, Jinmyeong walked toward Dongyun.
Dongyun swung his broken sword at the approaching Jinmyeong once more.
Clang!
But his attack was blocked with absurd ease by Jinmyeong's index finger.
"Nngh!"
Dongyun tried to thrust the sword at Jinmyeong, but the blade was caught and held completely still.
"Are you going to subdue him?"
"Hmm. Should I?"
Jinmyeong moved his hand toward a pressure point he had seen in the Heavenly Demon Finger manual.
"W-What are you doing!"
Seeing Jinmyeong reach out, Dongyun's face filled with panic.
"It's a pain, so I'm going to try subduing you. I've never done it before."
With a good test subject right in front of him, he figured he'd give it a try.
"W-Wait! Aren't you curious? About who ordered you to be killed."
"Fine. Tell me."
Seeing Jinmyeong pause, Dongyun swallowed hard.
"The, the eldest Young Master."
"I see. But that doesn't mean I believe you."
Dongyun's eyes began to tremble as he saw Jinmyeong's hand move again.
"I-I told you!"
"You can just name anyone, can't you? For your information, my second senior brother told me you were coming."
Dongyun's wide eyes instantly returned to normal.
He realized Jinmyeong was just bluffing.
"That's how it is. It's not hard to name someone. So I'll take it into consideration, but I won't fully believe it."
Jinmyeong let out a small laugh.
"Do you have proof?"
"Something like that…"
Of course not.
Especially for a secret mission like this, there was no way they would leave any records.
"So I can't trust you."
Saying that, Jinmyeong placed his hand on Dongyun's pressure point and pushed his internal energy into it.
"Gack!"
At the same time, Dongyun's eyes rolled back into his head.
His body trembled violently before he fell backward with a thud.
"Why is he doing that?"
"Just what point did you press?"
In response to Yang Jeon's question, Jinmyeong pointed to the spot he had pressed.
"Where is that?"
"Hmm. It said this could subdue someone easily."
"Well, you subdued him. Very easily."
Dongyun's trembling on the floor had completely stopped.
Yang Jeon examined him for a moment, then shook his head.
'It seems the First Heavenly Demon's definition of 'subdue' is different from mine.'
The First Heavenly Demon's 'subdue' meant to kill the opponent completely.
The 'subdue' Jinmyeong had in mind was simply immobilizing someone.
'Is this why that guy was in such a hurry?'
Because he knew the spot Jinmyeong's hand was heading for wasn't a normal pressure point, but a fatal one.
'I guess I'll have to study up on these paralysis points and mute points from the martial arts novels.'
Jinmyeong watched Yang Jeon remove Dongyun's mask.
"Do you know who he is?"
"I don't recognize him. Would they really send someone we know?"
"That's true. Anyway, I need this bedroom cleaned."
Jinmyeong pulled out the sword pinning Dongyun's thigh and lay back down on his bed.
"What? You're going to sleep here?"
"Is there any reason I can't? Have this all cleaned up by the time I wake up."
With that, Jinmyeong lay down on the bed.
Yang Jeon's eyes trembled as he watched Jinmyeong fall asleep so quickly.
'What kind of person is he? Is this really the same man I knew?'
Yang Jeon looked suspiciously at Jinmyeong, then at the scattered corpses.
In the end, he couldn't hold back a sigh.