The Tiger Tooth Sword technique was one of the forms within the Xing Ming Swordsmanship.
It was a technique used to subdue the opponent by moving with the force of a fierce tiger.
The middle-aged man with a beard, who was thrown into confusion thanks to my plan, responded quickly, as expected of the leader.
Chang!
“Uh?”
As the swords collided, the eyes of the man changed. It was natural to be surprised.
Now I am using that technique, one of the most coveted techniques. This version was not the incomplete one that the world knew the South Heavenly Swordsman used.
Chang!
The middle-aged man was shocked at this. There was no reason for me to hide this technique in the absence of Hae Ack-chun.
‘Faster!’
The power of Tiger Tooth Sword lies in the speed it moves in and it constantly gets stronger. The middle-aged man might have been distracted by this nonstop technique and made a mistake.
‘A gap!’
When he brushed the sword to the upper right corner, I found a gap.
The middle-aged man couldn’t even block it and got stabbed at the right clavicle.
Puak!
In a sword-to-sword battle, even the slightest bit of carelessness could lead to a fatal wound. The balance of the middle-aged man got interrupted, and he got stabbed above the collarbone.
“Kuak.”
The man tried to broaden the gap between us by moving back, and as I was about to catch up to him, I came up with a good idea.
Holding Iron Sword, I reached out to the leg he was moving back with.
Shh!
Then, the silver thread in my hand was wrapped around the leg of the middle-aged man. And then I pulled.
“Kuak!”
One leg was pulled toward me, and the bearded man fell. When the innate qi was infused into the silver thread, his body was pulled into mine.
“Y-You, coward!”
The middle-aged man shouted at me. We weren’t even fighting now. What was so cowardly about this?
Tang!
He swung the sword at the silver thread in the leg, but the sword bounced back easily.
Even if it was rusted, the silver wire managed to bounce off an iron sword, which meant an ordinary sword couldn’t cut it.
“Eh!”
The middle-aged man, with his anxiety rising, swung his sword to prevent me from getting close to him. However, there was no way a sword he was simply swinging could do anything.
Chang!
I slashed the sword and pierced his heart. The middle-aged man, who was groaning in pain, stopped as if he had died right away.
-I think it’s better to handle the silver thread with the left hand.
‘Yes.’
I agreed with Iron Sword. If I had to use it from my right hand constantly, it would create gaps in my form.
In the first place, any form of sword throwing was done with the left hand, and it seemed like the silver thread had to be done with the left hand.
Now that the toughest person was dealt with, the other…
‘Huh!’
I tried to help the young man in yellow, but there were only two left.
Although it was said that they fought amongst themselves in a short span of time, 6 out of 8 people were dealt with.
If it wasn’t for that, he looked like a competent person to handle them alone.
Pat!
Still, it is better to deal with them quickly, so I intervened.
After moving to him, I aimed after one of those who was aiming for the guy.
“Be careful!”
One of the enemy men shouted, but it was too late. Even if they competed head-on, the difference in skills was something that couldn’t be overcome.
I stabbed the swordsman, who had turned around in a hurry.
Puak!
“Kuak!”
When I killed one man, the young man in yellow didn’t miss the chance and killed the other one. But his hands were crueler than I thought.
After poking one of his opponent’s eyes, he cut off the head.
-…this sword is cruel and vicious.
Even Iron sword stuck his tongue.
Even looking at the bodies of the people he killed till now, he was always aiming for the eyes, nose, or any other sensitive areas.
-The person who made such a sword technique had to be killer minded.
I thought so, too; in the first place, a technique is used to kill the opponent efficiently, but this was too far.
“Great Guardian! Thank you for the help.”
The young man bowed to me. How can someone with such cruel hands smile this innocently?
It didn’t fit with his face.
Shhh!
I aimed my sword at him. and now that one problem was solved, it was time to know about him.
“Uh?”
The guy seemed puzzled.
“Who are you?”
This guy wasn’t someone Hae Ack-chun had left behind, nor was he a member of the Blood Sect.
Seeing the brutal skills and killing, he didn’t seem to belong to the Murim Alliance either, so I was curious about his identity.
Then the boy suddenly unexpectedly acted.
Pak!
Suddenly, he got down on his knees and bowed to me as he said,
“Great Guardian. I have always envied your sect. I came here to commit myself to this because I thought there were traces of your sect here.”
‘…!?’
I was speechless for a moment at the sudden words of the man.
His sword asked for a leader in the Blood Sect, but I never expected that his purpose was to join the sect.
But until recently, I wasn’t very conscious of it as I was dealing with the enemies, but I really cared about this guy.
His face looked like he was in his early 20s, but his voice felt too mature. Almost as if he had gone through Body Transformation. It seemed awkward and thick too.
-And the body is weirdly lean.
As Short Sword said, the body was too slim. It looked like one of the two things: a teenage guy who lied about his age or a woman dressed as a man.
-What will you do?
‘Well.’
It was impossible to walk away from such a mysterious person. And he prevented the Murim Alliance people from calling for their allies here, and he was trying to look good in front of me from the start. It was clear that he was trying to create a favor for him to join the sect.
And looking at him, I said.
“Who are you to want to join the Blood Sect?”
I asked him to reveal his identity. I hoped his sword would speak it out, but the sword seemed to be thick-lipped.
The young man hesitated for a moment, then said,
“Is my identity so important? I heard that all the leaders only care about talent.”
“That is a story which applies to the ones who can be trusted. I don’t even know who you are, so how can I be careless…”
-…
-Wonhwi!
I heard it too. The sound that was ringing in my ears.
A large number of people were approaching us. Judging from the sound of the swords alone, it seemed like there were ten of them.
And we had to get out right away.
‘Because this is the southwest direction of the mountain range.’
To get to the meeting point, I was informed I would have to go around the mountain range and head for Guizhou.
“What is it?’
“A large crowd is coming here.”
The young man looked puzzled at my words; I guess he wasn’t able to detect their presence.
“Large? Could it be, but as I looked around, no…”
“Shhh.’
I silenced the guy. If he didn’t feel it before, then there is no way he can feel it now.
[The number of them seems to be more than 20 or 30, we need to get out of here now.]
It is a rough guess, but it has to be around the number. The young man was unable to speak as he heard me.
[I think you are a strong person, and if you are this skilled, you can handle them….]
Handle what?
Pat!
With the man around, who still considered me to be one of the Four Venerable Dignitaries, I set out to the northwest.
In the future, I must not show myself using the thread. It was easy to be misunderstood.
Shhh!
Then I heard a quick chasing sound behind me. I noticed the young man was following me too.
‘He is fast.’
I did expect him to have strong performance and skills, but his ability to perform this was too good.
At this level, the wall of the first-rate warrior was crossed. If he had these skills at this age, he had to be the child of a prestigious family or a skilled teacher, and this only made me more curious.
[You are really amazing. I felt a presence only when they got closer, but you are amazing.]
The young man praised me constantly.
What? Has he already detected the signs?
Of course, the enemies were getting closer, but at this distance, it would be difficult for even the skilled people to notice it.
[It seems like one of the enemies is quite strong. If you deal with him, the other enemies can come, so I think Great Guardian’s judgment is correct.]
Even the level of the enemy’s strength could be guessed. Could it be that he was hiding his martial arts like me?
‘Ah!’
But I didn’t have enough time to think about it. Someone was approaching us fast from behind. And the presence kept getting bigger and bigger.
At this speed, it seemed like that person would catch up to us in no time.
[Great Guardian! He is too fast.]
The young man sent me a message, but then his original voice came out. As expected, this young man must have been a woman!
How surprised must he be to forget his true voice?
-…hurts. It hurts.
I could clearly hear the words, but something felt off.
How was the voice of a sword saying stuff like it was hurting? This was like the time Baek Hye-hyang’s sword groaned in pain.
-Wonhwi, almost caught up!
Short Sword shouted at me. And it felt unreasonable to run away any longer.
I hurriedly sent the message to the young man
[I am afraid running won’t work. Let’s work together now.]
[Yes!]
The young man in yellow also nodded as he thought of the same thing. It felt like there was no use hiding the true voice.
After stopping, both he and I hid behind the large tree and tried to hide our presence.
It was to aim for the moment when the enemy appeared.
And this person got closer. I signaled.
[Three]
[Two]
[One!]
As soon as ‘one’ was uttered, the young man and I moved, and, at the same time, we pulled out our swords and rushed for the ones coming from the bushes.
The ones jumping out of the bushes also pulled out their swords and blocked our attacks.
Chang!
Only three hits were exchanged with this person, but I felt my palms hurting. The power of their sword was too much.
But along the way, I had to stop attacking.
Pak
I didn’t use any technique and spread out my footwork and shouted to the young man.
“Stop!”
“Uh?”
At my cry, the man fell back suddenly. In the meantime, I quickly took off the mask which was covering my face.
When I did that, the man who jumped out of the bushes opened his mouth with a surprised voice.
“Kid?”
“Elder!”
The man pursuing us was none other than Second Elder, Seo Kalma.
I didn’t recognize him right away because he was wearing a gray uniform, and his hair was neatly tied up!
“Why is Elder here?”
Hearing my words, Seo Kalma spoke with a bright face!
“Ha! You are alive!”
I, too, smiled. How nice it was to meet someone I knew.
On the other hand, the young man looked at me with shocked eyes.
[Great guardian… no, you aren’t one of the four?]
At his disappointed voice, I gently raised my hands up and said,
“When did I ever tell you I was one?”
When I said that, the person seemed shocked.
“To say that now…”
Shh!
Then Seo Kalma pointed his sword to the young woman dressed as a man and said,
“Your face looks young, and your voice is that of a woman. It looks like you have a human skin mask on; who are you?”
When a warrior as great as Seo Kalma was here, even he seemed to step back.
The slightest movement from Seo Kalma made the person feel scared, and she looked at me to explain something,
To which I said,
“This person helped me when enemies were around. This person wants to join the sect, but I don’t have any idea where he/she is from.”
I briefly explained. I didn’t know anything more than this.
I informed the person, who looked shocked.
[This person is the real deal.]
The young person who realized what I meant knelt down and then bowed.
“Respected elder. I have always envied the sect. I came here because I thought there might be traces of the sect, so I came hoping the sect would accept me.”
Seo Kalma frowned at the young man’s words. I had the same reaction.
When someone we didn’t know wanted to join the sect out of the blue, anyone is bound to be a bit shocked.
But the response was different.
Sh!
Seo Kalma asked the person to get up.
“How do I believe that this young person isn’t a spy?”
It meant that he would consider the request if the true identity was revealed. He pointed the sword at the person.
The shocked person said,
“… my family name is Sima! And name on Young! I come from Sichuan Province.”
‘…!’
Upon hearing those words, Seo Kalma and I both became stunned.
-What is it?
Short Sword asked me.
-Talk to me! Waiting is frustrating!
There were many people who used the name Sima in the lands, but only one family used that in Sichuan.
‘… Sima Chak.’
Wicked Moon Sword, Sima Chak.
One of the Four Great Evils.
