Geumwolsang grabbed Geumhwacheong and Geumsurin by the back of their necks with both hands and brought them over to where I was.
“…Oh? So you’ve been learning martial arts. That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
The man’s eyes gleamed faintly with a sharpness that shouldn’t be provoked.
His voice was deliberately twisted, laced with a mocking tone.
“Who are you people?”
Geumhwacheong asked with an angry expression. He was also exuding jin (vital energy), a skill clearly mastered from Elder Lee Cheongmyeong’s Ikong Cheonroe-simbeop.
As soon as Gwak Jindo arrived, Geumhwacheong understood the reason for being brought down. Judging by the scattered flow of jin, it was obvious that they had hardly practiced. It was weak to the point of being laughable. However, the trembling jin—like wind brushing through grass—clearly reflected his anger.
“The second young master is just as we expected.”
Even I, having only recently started learning martial arts, considered it weak, so naturally the masked warriors looked down on it.
Geumhwacheong’s face reddened, but knowing his own level, he couldn’t argue back.
“Still, don’t worry too much. Our main target is the youngest young master, rumored to be reckless lately. But don’t get careless; you might get hit once as you pass by.”
Before I could respond, the masked man’s words caused the group to chuckle. All their voices were twisted, as if we had wandered into a haunted forest.
At that moment, the gaze of the masked men and my brothers all turned to me at once.
I looked into the eyes behind each mask. Every pupil was chillingly cold, showing no signs of ordinary emotion.
But even in those eyes, there were two kinds: the first, those who face their own death without fear; the second, those who have killed so many lives that life itself has become cheap to them.
They were definitely the latter.
The sand altar and the stairway were so high above that they were all beneath my feet. I sat calmly.
“So you want to see me about something.”
“He’s quite good at putting on a serious face. It’s unpleasant to watch a kid try too hard to act like an adult. No wonder the Elders dislike him.”
“Is there really any need to beat around the bush with Elder Lee Cheongmyeong’s name?”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
The mask twisted oddly—probably laughing.
The masked men, clearly men of Sung Gajang, seemed unaware of any tension at all.
On the contrary, the ones growing more tense and shrinking back were Geumwolsang and my brothers.
“Brothers, sister.”
I averted my eyes from the masked man and exchanged glances with my brothers. Their pupils were hardened. It was as if the worst possible outcome they had always feared had just appeared before them—how could they not be frozen?
“I apologize for the disturbance before the Shrine Spirit.”
“…What do you intend to do?”
Geumwolsang asked. Among my brothers, he was the calmest. Geumhwacheong and Geumsurin took a half step back and drew a Nonggo-geom. Although their sword stances wavered, they were brave.
“Rest easy. Since I called them here, I will be the one to greet them.”
“Are you speaking for yourself alone? That makes no sense…”
Geumwolsang grabbed my shoulder in surprise, but I continued.
“Give me your sword, brother. That’s all I need.”
“…What? You mean I have to hide behind the youngest’s martial arts now?”
Though his voice trembled as he spoke, Geumwolsang said no more. Geumhwacheong and Geumsurin didn’t even open their mouths.
If this were my past life, I would have done the same.
I could be taken down at any moment. Once you’re in someone’s bad graces, who knows what could happen. The fear ingrained deeply in their hearts since childhood had yet to be overcome. They hadn’t even had the chance.
“I trust you, brother. As much as you trust me, please trust me in return. To my memory, I haven’t let you down recently.”
As I spoke, I took the sword from Geumwonsang’s hand. The scabbard was so thick with earth that I had to wipe it clean on my clothes.
My business with my brothers was now finished. I turned my body and took a step toward the warriors of Sung Gajang, moving from the floor of the Shrine to the stairs, then from the stairs to the Juchot-dol.
“What do you intend to do?”
The masked man, now cautious at my approach, glanced around warily as if searching for Gwak Jindo nearby.
“Don’t worry. There’s no external observer here.”
I said, then planted my left foot and infused it with my internal energy, performing Jin Gak (※#). White sand and dust swirled up with the movement, rising continuously.
“W-What is this…”
The masked man’s face was almost completely covered, but I saw panic in his eyes. Amid the swirling sand and wind, I stared into the eyes behind the mask.
Cheonsuyugokjin—one of the deadliest jinbeop in the history of the martial world—was unfolding right here on Okhwasan.
***
Mun Ho-hyeon, nominal head of Sung Gajang, was even more bewildered than Gold-necked Hwan had expected.
He was surprised to learn Geumwolsang had mastered martial arts. From his movements, it was clear this wasn’t a day or two of training.
Still, it wasn’t enough to influence the outcome of the situation. Two men could easily handle him. Without combat experience, his terrified expression already sealed the result.
But who was this Gold-necked Hwan? A frail body, scrawny face, and arms and legs so thin they looked like they wouldn’t survive winter.
He seemed unthreatening, yet calm. He even appeared to have prepared a jinbeop. When Gold-necked Hwan performed Jin Gak, the jinbeop activated—an indisputable fact.
“What exactly are you?”
A pale fog descended, yet not enough to blur his vision. Gold-necked Hwan was still firmly within sight.
Mun Ho-hyeon shifted his weight to his rear foot. If he attacked with a surprise kick, Gold-necked Hwan wouldn’t be able to react.
“Then you’ll die.”
Gold-necked Hwan pointed the sword he held at Mun Ho-hyeon’s rear foot.
“You really cross the line of recklessness.”
Just as Mun Ho-hyeon, enraged, tried to leap forward with a kick, a thud sounded beside him as someone collapsed to the ground.
The fallen man was, naturally, one of Sung Gajang’s members, wearing a black mask. Judging by his direction, he had charged at Gold-necked Hwan. Red blood seeped through the gaps of the mask, and his arms and legs trembled.
Kugugugung!
He was not the only one to fall. Like a wave of contagion, one by one the men began collapsing. Each bled and convulsed.
This was a sign any martial artist would recognize: Juhwaipma. Improper use of internal energy causes this condition.
Even worse, these were not just dead blood or black blood, but bright crimson blood imbued with jinwon jigi. For a martial artist, this meant life was effectively over.
“…Did you do this?”
Mun Ho-hyeon looked at Gold-necked Hwan, who nodded silently.
“To be exact, it was the jinbeop that did it.”
Almost arrogantly confident, Mun Ho-hyeon nearly launched into attack, but not knowing what kind of jinbeop this was, he held back.
Thud!
Another person dropped. Different from before, this fall was lower and sudden. He too bled and writhed in agony.
“Internal energy, internal energy!”
Someone shouted urgently. Mun Ho-hyeon saw blue jin around the fallen man’s feet.
“It seems using internal energy causes them to collapse!”
Sung Gajang’s men quickly shared the information.
But Mun Ho-hyeon clenched his mouth tight.
The jinbeop he had known and experienced at best induced hallucinations or illusions. A jinbeop that directly dealt physical damage was a completely different dimension.
“What kind of jinbeop is this?”
“A jinbeop that hates internal energy.”
Gold-necked Hwan didn’t seem inclined to answer properly. Even if he explained, they wouldn’t have understood.
How could anyone grasp that the white clouds surrounding Buyeongge were not simple mist but an aura opposing internal energy?
This aura immediately penetrated open energy channels, filling the temporarily vacant three meridians. The dantian instinctively rejected the foreign energy, pulling out internal energy, and the aura counterattacked. This reaction caused the outbreak of Juhwaipma.
Cheonsuyugokjin was thus a deceptively simple but brutally effective jinbeop that had produced the highest casualties in the martial world.
“That was your move.”
“Yes.”
“Amazing, truly amazing.”
Within moments, the twenty skilled martial artists were reduced to seven. An unbelievable jinbeop.
“So all I have to do is not use internal energy, right?”
“You brat, I’ll kill you for saying that!”
Before Mun Ho-hyeon could step forward, the men surrounding Gold-necked Hwan leapt out, leaving behind their internal energy.
“Wait!”
Mun Ho-hyeon, watching their sword paths, was stunned. Whether from using Juhwaipma to suppress themselves or to instill fear in their own comrades, their blades were targeting vital points.
Elder Lee Cheongmyeong had strictly forbade killing. He hated disobedience. Although it had never happened before, his sternness sometimes chilled Mun Ho-hyeon’s spine.
But their actions were reckless. Their swords had crossed the point of no return and were heading toward vital points. Gold-necked Hwan’s body was certain to be pierced in multiple places.
Perhaps because of the desperate situation, their strikes seemed slow and foolish. Their expressions showed they hadn’t even heard of being cut.
At that moment, Mun Ho-hyeon doubted his own eyes. The strikes, slow as they were, seemed slower than Gold-necked Hwan’s counterattacks.
“What is this…”
It all happened so fast that the words escaped without thought. Where Gold-necked Hwan had been, there was now a pine-needle pattern of interwoven blades, and Gold-necked Hwan stood far behind them.
“Whoa?”
“How did that happen?”
The men who had swung their swords up close did not seem to have seen Gold-necked Hwan’s movement at all.
But from afar, Mun Ho-hyeon saw clearly. In a situation where countless blades flew toward him, Gold-necked Hwan blocked overhead with his sword, then tried to spin and strike at a single point.
He only dodged because the downward pressure was too strong. Though it looked simple, it was a strange move to see from a child so young.
“Looks like Gold-necked Hwan made a mistake.”
He tilted his head.
“I should have used Haeunmubong for a single-point breakthrough instead.”
“What nonsense is this kid spouting alone?”
One of Sung Gajang’s warriors charged at him, a much younger kid provoking him in a way that stirred anger.
The slash was a wide horizontal cut, a blatant attempt to behead Gold-necked Hwan.
Just before the sword could reach his neck, Gold-necked Hwan dropped low close to the ground and swung his sword. The strike sounded like a firecracker going off.
Clearly not using internal energy, the sword made a loud explosive noise as it soared upward.
“Huh?”
The martial artist stared dumbfounded at the sudden reversal in sword path. Gold-necked Hwan pierced the sword face and reversed the strike upward.
He did not miss a beat. His movements flowed smoothly from the initial draw of the sword. His palm was flat, but the scabbard rotated inside. The scabbard caught the opponent’s sword and reversed direction. The sword tip pointed toward the opponent’s thumb.
It was immediately after this that a round hole appeared in the martial artist’s neck. Gold-necked Hwan had precisely stabbed with the sword tip and withdrawn before the body collapsed.
Untouched by a single drop of blood, Gold-necked Hwan looked at the corpse without even glancing and nodded, muttering:
“As expected, the basic moves are useful.”
Only then did Mun Ho-hyeon realize Gold-necked Hwan’s movements were not accompanied by internal energy. With that level of technique and movement, it was enough to consider him a disciple of a famous family trained since childhood.
There was a reason he used such a jinbeop. He had the confidence to overwhelm opponents using just technique and movement without relying on internal energy.
“Now you don’t laugh anymore.”
Gold-necked Hwan spoke as he slowly approached.
He radiated a pale light through the dense fog, his eyes shining brilliantly and fiercely.