Chapter 94. The Entire World Is My Home (15)
“Okay,” Ma-Ra replied.
She was still wearing the gown that Jin-Jin had given her earlier. Even though she had been wearing the same clothes for such a long time, she still looked just as pristine and beautiful as before. She was not the least bit dirty, worn, or unkempt.
Moreover, Woo-Moon now noticed that she was giving off a very slight scent—unique and pleasant.
“Let’s go, Ma-Ra.”
“Mmm.”
Woo-Moon headed to the flower garden behind the inn where the Baekri Family wanted to meet along with Ma-Ra and Eun-Ah. The Distinguished Swords swiftly followed behind as well.
‘Ah!’
Although they couldn’t say anything out loud, the Baekri Family's talents were greatly impressed by Ma-Ra’s beauty. Baekri Yeong-Woon wasn’t an exception, either.
‘She’s incredible. This is the first time I’ve seen someone so beautiful.’
To their immediate dismay, they saw that Ma-Ra was standing close to Woo-Moon.
The look in Baekri Yeong-Woon’s eyes became a little harsher than before. At that moment, something suddenly jumped out from Baekri Hye-Min’s arms and began barking wildly at Woo-Moon.
Bark, bark, bark, bark!
It was a small fox.
“What is it, Jeok-Ho? Come back here quickly.”
However, no matter how much she called, the small fox refused to return to Baekri Hye-Min’s arms. Moreover, as the fox continued to bark at Woo-Moon, Eun-Ah eventually leaped out of Woo-Moon’s arms and bared her own small fangs at the fox.
“Growl!!”
It seemed as though Jeok-Ho was aware that Eun-Ah was there and acted with such hostility due to her presence. Seeing the two beasts confront one another, Baekri Hye-Min stopped herself from interfering.
‘Is that tiny white tiger his pet? Hmpf! How can an unkempt peasant like him have something like that?’
Seeing that Eun-Ah was much cuter than Jeok-Ho was even more irritating.
‘Jeok-Ho, take a bite out of that obnoxious brat!’
The moment the thought reached Baekri Hye-Min’s mind, Jeok-Ho rushed toward Eun-Ah, fangs glinting.
Bang!
Yiiiip!
Eun-Ah had been watching Jeok-Ho prance about. Seeing the fox rushing at her, she swung her front paw, striking it right in the snout and causing it to fly backward with a scream.
Eun-Ah raised her head high and cried long and proudly, “Kyaaaa!!!!”
Jeok-Ho was a rare beast, and it would have prevailed over any other normal animal its size. Unfortunately, Eun-Ah just barely crossed the border into spiritual beast territory, so it was simply on a higher level of existence. As they were both cubs, this was an easy win.
“Jeok-Ho!”
Baekri Hye-Min quickly ran over and hugged her pet while glaring at Eun-Ah and Woo-Moon. Woo-Moon just calmly shrugged his shoulders, as if there was nothing he could possibly do. He then picked up Eun-Ah, who was still posing proudly, rejoicing in her victory, and placed her on his shoulder.
“Well, then. So, what did you call us over for?” Namgoong Sung asked Baekri Yeong-Woon, trying to move on from the ridiculous scene they had just witnessed.
“Ah! Well, I had something I wanted to suggest.”
“And what could that be?”
Baekri Yeong-Woon began his explanation slowly.
“There will be many younger-generation talents from the Nine Sects and One Gang[1], as well as the other five Great Ancient Families gathered at the Justice Coalition. Among those talents, there will most likely be some who have a similar bond to that of our Three Great Sword Families. Thus, I want to propose that we further strengthen our bond here and now. I am hoping that we can formally ally with each other and elect a single representative.”
In all fairness, the Three Great Sword Families had such great solidarity and camaraderie that even if they hadn’t formed their own separate alliance force, like the Nine Sects and One Gang and the other Great Ancient Families, many of those in the gangho already considered them one cohesive force.
Thus, Baekri Yeong-Woon wanted to capitalize on that and elect a representative for their forces as a whole.
The Distinguished Swords started whispering among themselves and to Woo-Moon.
“This is good. Tell them we agree, Uncle.”
“He’s going to push for the representative to be selected through a spar. If that’s the case...hehe...”
Woo-Moon nodded slightly, knowing they still harbored a grudge against the Baekri Family. Moreover, he wasn’t opposed to the idea in the first place.
‘It would be nice to be able to bash that brat’s nose in and see the famous Dual-Wielding Swift Sword of the Baekri Family while I’m at it.’
Namgoong Sung rubbed his chin and mused before answering.
“That’s not a bad idea. It would unify our position in the Coalition and strengthen our right to speak. But how do you plan on electing the representative? Don’t tell me, it must be a spar, right?”
Baekri Yeong-Woon nodded.
“Yes. I believe that would be best. How does the Iron Sword Baek Family feel about this, Young Hero Song?”
“We’re fine with it too.”
“Oh, how excellent. I had an idea about how we would organize the spars, too. Would it be alright if I explained it?”
Namgoong Sung and Woo-Moon nodded at the same time.
“Please, continue.”
“Do whatever you want.”
“How excellent, gentlemen. Well, I was thinking that we would first draw lots, and the winning family would gain a bye. The two remaining families would then send out their second-best talent and spar, after which the winning family and the family with the bye would send their strongest representatives to spar. Then, the final winner would become the Alliance Representative.”
Taken at face value, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable way for the three families to compete. However, the problem was that the Baek Family was missing its three strongest talents: Heon-Won, Do-Gun, and Ye-Ye.
It would be fine if Woo-Moon were lucky enough to get the bye straight away. However, if he didn’t, and the Baek Family was forced to compete in the first spar...
It would be difficult for Jeong-Woo, who was the second strongest in this group, to beat the second strongest from either of the other families.
As Woo-Moon started to become concerned, Namgoong Sung immediately relieved his worries.
“Oh, we don’t have to do that. The Namgoong Family plans to abstain. The representatives of the Baek and Baekri Families can spar and select the Alliance Representative amongst yourselves,” he said. Moreover, as if they had already communicated their decisions through voice transmissions, there wasn’t a single protest from the other Namgoong Family members, either.
Rather, it was the Baek and Baekri Families that were surprised.
The seat of Alliance Representative wasn’t an issue that could be given up on so easily. It wasn’t just an individual’s honor that was at stake, but the entire family’s.
Of course, Jeong-Woo soon realized why the Namgoong Family had nevertheless abstained.
‘It makes sense. Rather than fighting with Uncle Woo-Moon and getting beaten, it might actually be less harmful to their family’s honor to just abstain from the get-go. Namgoong Sung knows how strong Uncle is and he’s not an idiot.’
“Are you certain you want to abstain?” Baekri Yeong-Woon asked, rather confused.
However, Namgoong Sung just nodded with a calm expression.
“How excellent. Then, since we have to leave tomorrow, I feel as though it would be a good idea to hold the spar here and now. What do you think, Young Hero Song of the Iron Sword Baek Family?”
Baekri Yeong-Woon deliberately placed emphasis on the Baek in the Iron Sword Baek Family and the Song in Song Woo-Moon. There was no mistake about what he was doing—he was ridiculing Woo-Moon on the fact that his last name was different.
‘Y-you bastard!’
The talents of the Baek Family immediately became angry, with even Baek Ryeong being no exception.
“That’s fine. Let’s start immediately.”
There was a fairly large open space next to the flower garden of the inn, more than sufficient to serve as a sparring ground.
The Baekri Family members stepped back with confident grins, making room. On the other hand, the Namgoong Family had blank expressions. The Baek Family’s faces were filled with both rage and confidence no less than that of the Baekri Family.
Baekri Yeong-Woon walked toward the center of the simple sparring ground with swords hung on either side of his waist.
“Although I’m too lacking to be called the Baekri Family Representative, I’ll humbly take the lead today. Who will be stepping forward from the Iron Sword Baek Family?”
Everyone’s eyes focused on Woo-Moon.
“I’ll be back.”
“Okay.”
After casually remarking to Ma-Ra, Woo-Moon stepped forward.
“I’ll be representing the Iron Sword Baek Family.”
Shing!
The two men simultaneously drew their swords. Woo-Moon held the sword he had forged himself, while Baekri Yeong-Woon wielded twin swords.
‘Let’s try to use the Transcendent Flash Sword to defeat him.’
As Woo-Moon was making up his mind, Baekri Yeong-Woon rushed forward using the Baekri Family’s foundational movement technique, the Snow Lotus Hidden Lake Steps. One of Baekri Yeong-Woon’s swords slowly drew a gentle curve through the air before suddenly cleaving down savagely, a faint illusion of the moon appearing behind it.
Woo-Moon didn’t have many expectations, as it was his first time fighting someone who used a swift sword technique. However, he was still quite surprised by the actual speed of the Baekri Family’s swift sword technique, which was said to be the strongest swift sword in gangho.
‘That’s really fast!’
Red flames erupted from Woo-Moon’s sword as he used the Divine Phantasm Steps, taking a half-step back to avoid Baekri Yeong-Woon’s attack. However, although its name suggested that, Baekri Yeong-Woon’s sword wasn’t just fast.
As soon as his left-hand sword cleaved the air, Baekri Yeong-Woon’s right-hand sword swiftly followed. And when it slashed downward, the illusion of a bright sun appeared!
It was the Sun-Moon Rending Divine Sword, the representative sword technique of the Baekri Family, said to be able to split the heavens!
Swish!
Woo-Moon’s clothes were ever-so-slightly cut. To his surprise, he was unable to properly respond to this kind of dual-wielding attack that he was experiencing for the first time in his life.
He continued to retreat as Baekri Yeong-Woon used both swords to unleash a series of rapid sword strikes without stopping. Actually, Baekri Yeong-Woon was attacking so quickly that none of the observers could properly see his sword move, except for the few among the Baekri Family who had mastered the swift sword techniques to a decent level themselves.
‘There’s no way!’ Jeong-Woo thought as his palms sweated profusely.
At first, he had watched the spar without much concern, thinking that no one among the younger generation talents could match Woo-Moon. However, he began to grow quite worried as Woo-Moon seemed to be getting cornered by the Baekri Family’s swift sword.
Woo-Moon continued to step backward until his back hit a tree planted at the end of the inn’s yard.
Baekri Yeong-Woon’s eyes lit up when he saw this.
It seemed that the testing strikes he had been using until now had fulfilled their role. With that, he suddenly used an even faster and more powerful sword strike than before.
‘This is the end!’
However, his attack ended up only cutting through the air.
“Heup!”
Woo-Moon’s Divine Phantasm Steps suddenly became even faster and even more like a mirage. Baekri Yeong-Woon was left momentarily stunned, unable to properly detect Woo-Moon’s figure.
‘W-What the hell is this footwork technique? Wait, that’s not possible—the Kunlun Sect’s Divine Phantasm...?!’
Woo-Moon appeared to the right of Baekri Yeong-Woon, and North Wind quickly appeared!
Woosh!!!
North Wind was as fast as ever. No, it actually was even faster than before!
Woo-Moon actually had an epiphany while watching the Baekri Family’s swift sword unfold in the midst of the spar, and in that brief moment before attacking, he had merged those new thoughts into his North Wind.
‘W-what the hell is this sudden swift sword technique?’
Baekri Yeong-Woon couldn’t help but gape as he watched North Wind descend over him. He just couldn’t believe that someone outside the Baekri Family could use a swift sword technique this incredible.
The highlight of the Baekri Family’s swift sword technique was its speed and ease of chaining attacks using dual swords. However, Woo-Moon’s North Wind was not only just as fast, but above all, obscure and silent.
Still confused, Baekri Yeong-Woong quickly dodged backward to avoid Woo-Moon’s attack. However, Woo-Moon immediately caught up using the Divine Phantasm Steps. This time, he followed up with Raging Wind.
‘What? Another swift sword technique?!’
While North Wind was fast yet mysterious and silent, Raging Wind contained infinite transformations, impossible for anyone to predict.
Woo-Moon had a habit of deliberately pretending to be suppressed whenever he met a strong martial artist or a technique that he had never seen before, using his opponent’s overconfidence to examine as much of their technique as possible. That was the only reason why the spar had progressed to this point.
‘Oh crap, I forgot I wanted to use the Transcendent Flash Sword!’
He had been so excited by the excellence of the Sun-Moon Rending Divine Sword technique that he had ended up using the Gentle Celestial Sword in response without even realizing it.
Woo-Moon paused his barrage for a split second before switching to the Transcendent Flash Sword.
The Transcendent Flash Sword was an exceedingly well-balanced sword art. It equally focused on speed, power, and hidden changes.
As Woo-Moon’s sword drew an arc, the flames attached to his sword continued in a long trail, creating a fantastic sight. The color of the flame was red at first before shifting to orange, then yellow, and then gradually into a peerless white. As the color of the flames shifted, the heat radiating from Woo-Moon’s blade intensified more and more.
Although it was slightly lacking when compared to the Gentle Celestial Sword, the Transcendent Flash Sword was still an incredible sword art.
Thus, Baekri Yeong-Woon found himself gradually getting pushed further and further back. Although he used all of his qi to push his Dual-Wielding Swift Sword to a level even faster than before and unceasingly chain his attacks, Woo-Moon blocked each and every one of his blows with incredible concentration.
It was as if the underdog was somehow making an incredible comeback.
1. A reminder that the Nine Sects and One Gang are one “organization,” so to say. Among the Nine Sects are the Mount Hua Sect where Woo-Gang is, as well as the Kunlun Sect, while the One Gang is the Beggars’ Gang. ☜