Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I looked at the look that Namgunggye was sending me.
That’s right.
That glare was controlling.
And it had a fierce, cunning look in it.
As soon as I saw it, I sprinted forward and cut between the two of them.
At the same time.
“……Namgungban?”
I slammed my fist down on the one who said my real name. With a resounding thud, the Namgung dog fell to the ground, screaming in pain and holding his nose.
Regardless, I snatched the beast’s saber from its grasp and tore it to shreds.
“You scumbag.”
The Southern Palace Dog scrambled to his feet through the shredded papers and glared at me.
“Zee, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Nothing. I’m being a big brother and reprimanding my little brother for trying to pull some crap.”
“……You crazy bastard!”
Namgung Dog lunged at him with his fists balled up.
“You’re going to continue your bullshit, big brother, or have you lost your mind?”
He was obviously upset to be punched by someone who had established himself as an asshole. The punch had a lot of power in it, but I could see through its lack of finesse.
I ducked out of the way with a few quick shakes of my head and slammed my shoulder into his jaw.
A bloody nose, followed by a blow to the jaw, sent him staggering to the ground.
“You son of a bitch, ahhhhhhhhhh!”
I swatted him a few more times in frustration, but not a hair on my body was touched. I could tell it was a purely emotional reaction. I could tell by the fine muscles carved into his body and the sunburned temples that he was a scion of the Southern Palace that he had learned his lesson.
“Don’t be silly and get the hell out of here.”
“Fuck you!”
“Pathetic.”
This is the kind of guy who jumped into the jiaozu competition and asked me to lend him a hand in his previous life. The Namgung family must have been really sick.
Regardless, the Namgung Dog was so angry that he couldn’t hold back his curses. Tears welled up in his eyes as he slapped the ground.
“Shut up! Don’t tell me what to do, Black Tiger!”
The dog grunted and began to search for someone.
A black tiger?
What the hell.
“Black Tiger! Where are you, Black Tiger!”
A chill ran down my spine as I narrowed my eyes.
Before I knew it, a black-cloaked man appeared, pulling the hound to his feet.
“Are you all right?”
“Never mind, deal with him first!”
“Master. It’s the Grand Duke.”
The black-robed man speaking in a brash voice must be Black Ho. Judging by the aura he exuded, he was a man who had eaten and trained with a lot of swords.
“Who the fuck cares if you’re a bastard, and if you touch my fur, Grand Duke or otherwise, my mother told me to take care of you in a heartbeat, didn’t she?”
Mother’s words.
A child was a child.
A child was a child.
I felt the touch of a child’s fidgeting as I looked at her pathetically. It was the South Palace Wall.
It stood with a pale expression as if it was unfamiliar with the scene unfolding before it, and ducked behind me.
I ruffled his hair and gave him a wry smile.
“Don’t worry, little one. Nothing will happen.”
With that, I turned around and faced him.
“Please, please, please understand my hand. Grand Duke.”
Black Ho seemed to have made up his mind. He threw a punch at me in front of the Southern Archer.
I shrugged my shoulders. Seeing the reluctant look in his eyes, I replied lightly.
“I’ll take it, but it won’t be easy, even if I do.”
I know the spirit of taking the high road better than anyone. But I wasn’t about to give in.
“Wall, no matter what happens, we have to watch.”
“It’s …….”
I wiped the corners of South Palace Wall’s eyes with my sleeve and smirked. As if to say, don’t worry at all.
“Don’t worry. Uh-tea.”
She scooped him up and set him down on a seat in the far corner, then turned away.
Wooden swords were lined up everywhere in the Namgungsega. Like a sword family, they were all wooden swords made for training.
I picked up one of the wooden swords and pressed it against the South Palace wall.
“Fuhut, you’re going to try your hand at a black tiger, you bastard!”
I raised the tip of my wooden sword, unmoved by the snorting of the South Palace Dog. I only held the sword once after I opened my eyes again, but it was enough to bring me back to my senses.
I hadn’t melded all of my previous life’s profundity, and I had less than a fraction of its power, but that didn’t matter.
It wasn’t a life-or-death situation, and this Black Tiger was at least willing to play along with the foolishness of the Southern Archer Dog.
“Ao, watch this.”
“Ao is bullshit, I never had a brother like you!”
At his shout, I stomped the ground. The tip of my wooden sword slammed into the black tiger’s jaw, and he jerked back in surprise and raised his hand.
As he stretched out his hand to strike, I took another step forward, pulling my wooden sword and extending it again with momentum.
Apparently realizing he couldn’t keep backing down, Black Ho centered himself and slapped the side of the wooden sword with his blade. I used the semi-elasticity of the bouncing wooden sword as centrifugal force and slashed sideways at his waist.
He kicked off the ground and kicked at my wooden sword with his dodging toe.
I took a few steps back and looked at the black tiger. He was definitely not dazed. I steadied my breathing, and Black Ho was looking at me with a complicated expression.
Being attacked by only fourteen people must have put him in an awkward position, unable to do anything about it.
Even more so if it was someone higher than him.
Nevertheless, he had to do something.
“What are you doing, Black Ho, you’re not doing it right, you fucking idiot, how can you not do it, I’ll tell my mother!”
With all these mixed emotions, and all that screaming behind me.
I smirked when I realized that his eyes had narrowed for a moment.
At the same time, I rushed forward and extended my sword at Black Ho. Quietly, so that the South Palace Dog and South Palace Wall wouldn’t hear.
“I said black tiger.”
“……Yes.”
“Isn’t that embarrassing?”
“…….”
“I have a proposition for you. I think you’ll like it.”
“……what.”
“If I can’t hit you in ten moves, I lose.”
“…….”
“If I lose, I’ll bow down to him and apologize. No, I’ll punch him in the face.”
“Really?”
The black tiger figured he could kill two birds with one stone if he could calm down the raging hound, and he would have done his part.
“In exchange, you’ll give me what I want if I can land at least one hit.”
“Tell me …….”
“I’ll wait and see, but I’m not going to say it out loud.”
It had been a short time since we had seen each other, but the man known as Black Ho was not one to bluff, nor was he one to make promises lightly. The eyes of the men I had entrusted with my back on the battlefields of my previous life were just like his.
Deep in thought, Black Lake nodded briefly.
“Understood. Be sure to keep your word.”
“Of course.”
I let out a short cheer, pivoted on my left foot, and drew the blade of my wooden sword sideways.
Iron sword cross, eclipse.
Heavy sword speed.
The swordsman centers himself and makes the basic movements to extend a solid sword stroke as if he were wearing heavy armor.
This was the beginning and unveiling of the Iron Sword Cross.
Iron Sword Crossing, Double Form.
Sword speed.
Not just heavy.
A sense of speed that blossoms out of solidity and heaviness.
Iron Sword Sixty-Six, the ten herbs that the Namgung Byeok had created began to bloom at his fingertips.
* * *
Black Lake was happy to look at the imposing Grand Duke.
A bastard.
A rare piece of trash.
An enemy general who molested women and sullied the name of the Southern Palace.
The various rumors that had been circulating about him were all nothing more than bullshit.
If those rumors were true, he would never be able to perform swordplay like this in front of his own eyes.
A solid and heavy sword.
A balanced attack, skillful reflexes to dodge the Black Tiger’s outstretched fists and kicks.
These were things that could not have come from a day’s practice.
‘This is not something that can be achieved overnight. A pity, a pity. If only he had been a fourth duke instead of a grand duke.
Everyone who knew him said that his passion for martial arts and his willingness to learn were unparalleled. He had a reputation for being an outcast.
He couldn’t help but compare the Grand Duke he was competing against to the Fourth Duke, who was always neglecting his martial arts and still hoping for good results.
“Black Ho! What are you doing!”
Black Ho sighed as he saw the fourth duke looking at him in frustration. He couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, even though he had voluntarily declared that he would serve the Fourth Duke with the grace of the Fourth Duke’s mother.
He was surprised to realize that he had never expressed his regret before.
‘I was unknowingly distracted by the Grand Duke’s swordsmanship.
He found himself comparing the Grand Duke to the Fourth Duke.
Tada, tada, tada!
Unwilling to allow such a swordsman to be distracted, the Grand Duke increased his offense.
‘The classic Iron Sword Sixty-Five, the basic sword form of the Southern Palace, is the basic sword form of the Southern Palace, and it’s only because Black Ho has been a sword master since his roots that he is able to execute it so fluidly.
However.
“Suck!”
He inhaled involuntarily.
The Grand Duke’s sword power had changed in an instant. The change was natural. In the first place, a martial artist would display the same martial art differently even if he had mastered it.
It was because it was the will and intent of the martial artist. That alone was something to be admired.
“……!”
It contained the same formula as the Iron Sword Sifu, but in a different form.
If it had been the kind of herbivore that Black Ho knew, it would have cut him from the waist down, but it slashed diagonally, aiming for a quick kill.
The one that was going to stab him twice stabbed him in the toe, using its stepping foot as its main axis.
The herbivores had turned into a terrifyingly practical bunch. The black tiger, which had dodged the first one or two, now had to reach out and swat them away.
“It’s not easy. I’ve already hit it six times.”
Seeing the Grand Duke whimpering in frustration, Black Ho broke out in a cold sweat. He had never felt so embarrassed by a boy of only fourteen before.
However, the boy called the Grand Duke didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping, and Black Ho rolled his eyes to figure out the next move.
Then.
“I guess there’s no such thing as cowardice in fighting.”
What was he going to say?
Just as he did, a blast of dirt blocked his view. I instinctively ducked my head, and in that instant, I narrowly missed a wooden sword that was too close to my body.
The Archduke, who had barely dodged the blow and was even more lighthearted, clung to him as if he had no intention of falling and swept at his leg with his wooden sword.
“My, my sword?!”
“We never agreed not to use my sword, I believe.”
The sudden lightness of his movements also meant that his inner gong was free to circulate. In a different sense than simply accumulating qigong.
The lightness of his gesture also meant that the sword was probably running on energy.
A wooden sword with increased strength could no longer be considered a simple wooden sword. Alerted, Black Ho raised his shin and struck at the wooden sword with his inner strength.
The moment he heard the sound of the blow, the Grand Duke’s mouth curled up in a smile.
“……The last one.”
At that moment, Black Tiger, who had been alerted, moved reflexively.
Pfft!