Chapter 44. Black Market (4)

The owner, who had gotten up, let out a sigh full of annoyance and then tore off his own face.

“Haa. How uncomfortable.”

Then, the man’s face, which had been hidden by the human skin mask, was revealed.

I could see why he was wearing a human skin mask.

“It is truly a face befitting of trash.”

An intimidating impression with scars all over his face.

A face like that was bound to stand out in many ways.

At that moment.

From behind, a ghastly sound of something shattering and a scream erupted.

Crack!!

“Kuaaaack!!”

It seemed Nam Geon had finally crushed the peddler.

“Hoo. B-brother. I’ll help you!”

“Stay out of it!”

My eyes still fixed on the owner, I shouted.

Nam Geon had not yet completed the Iron Blood Golden Skin Art.

The owner's blade qi could easily cut Nam Geon's skin.

At my shout, the owner smirked.

“Do you guys who are going to die anyway have the luxury to decide the order?”

Simultaneously with his ridicule, I felt a presence from outside the tea shop.

“W-what is this!?”

It seemed people had gathered due to the commotion in the tea shop.

The disgustingly ugly owner glanced behind me and lightly clicked his tongue.

“Tsk.”

Then, he spoke to me with a contemptuous expression.

“Congratulations. Your road to the underworld won't be lonely. I'll have to clean up all the vermin that were here.”

The sight of him vowing to kill all the residents just because his identity was revealed.

“You act just as you look.”

It was truly a mindset that was the epitome of trash.

Amid the chaotic and somewhat disorganized atmosphere.

A strange shout was heard from behind.

“B-branch Leader!”

At that shout, the owner’s face completely crumpled.

“Haa. What a moron.”

Branch Leader.

No wonder a Peak Realm master popped out from the beginning.

It seemed that while I was trying to grab a tail by putting my hand in a cave, I had unknowingly grabbed the head.

And if that guy was the head here, there was something I needed to confirm before killing him.

“Where is Hyeok Ilso now?”

Hyeok Ilso.

The real name of the Golden Demon, one of the Four Demons who would in the future control all the Black Markets and be called the King of the Underworld.

The epitome of trash frowned.

“How do you know that name?”

I had just thrown it out there, but I never thought he would actually know Hyeok Ilso.

“One must know the name of the trash one has to kill. Isn’t that right?”

At my answer, the Branch Leader tilted his head.

And as if he realized something belatedly, he looked at me with murderous eyes.

“You. Now I see you didn't come here by chance. You were looking for us from the beginning?”

“You have no sense. To only realize that now.”

“Digging into our background. Where did you come from?”

“I came from the underworld.”

When I answered truthfully, annoyance mixed in his eyes.

“I don’t like that Hyeok Ilso fellow either, but I didn’t know there was someone worse.”

“It seems even trash don't get along with each other.”

“Haa. I don’t want to help him, but I can’t just let you go.”

Soon after, he suddenly stepped on his footwork and rushed at me.

“Let’s see if you can keep running that mouth of yours after your arms and legs are cut off!”

I also used the Eight Trigrams Flying Stream Steps and advanced towards him.

A cramped tea shop.

The distance closed in an instant, and a trajectory was embroidered by the blade in his hand.

Swiiiiiish.

As soon as the trajectory was drawn, the blade flew at a tremendous speed, tearing it apart.

Thanks to twisting my upper body as soon as I saw the trajectory, I was able to dodge it by a hair's breadth.

Certainly, I had felt it on the way to Zunyi, but my body had become much lighter.

It was thanks to expelling the turbid energy with the Azure Spirit Pill.

The unpleasant sensation I had felt when facing the slave trader, where the flow of qi was blocked at various acupoints, was not felt at all.

That didn't mean it became easier to deal with the Branch Leader.

It was the opposite.

If I hadn't taken the Azure Spirit Pill, I probably wouldn't have lasted a few exchanges and would have had a limb cut off.

Whoosh!

The man easily dodged my counterattack and simultaneously swung for a second strike.

Trying to dodge from the posture of having swung my sword, my reaction was a step too late.

Slice.

His blade qi grazed my chest.

A cool sensation was felt on my skin.

Fortunately, it was only a slight graze on the surface of the skin.

I quickly straightened my upper body, which had been bent back, and thrust my sword towards his solar plexus.

“Hmph.”

The man snorted and swung his blade.

Exactly towards the direction my sword was heading.

If I were to clash my sword with his blade, which was covered in blade qi, my sword would inevitably break first.

Just as I quickly retrieved my sword and took a step back, a new trajectory was carved in the air.

The man’s blade, which had been moving for defense, snaked like a serpent and flew towards my neck.

I once again stepped on the Eight Trigrams Flying Stream Steps and dodged his blade that was chasing me like a coiling snake.

At the same time, I launched a series of short and concise thrusts as a check.

But the man easily dodged my sword strikes or even swung his blade aiming for my sword.

Clang!

A scream erupted from the sword that finally clashed once more.

It was obvious that the sword’s edge had been chipped.

As expected.

In terms of both physical completion and the amount of internal energy, he was superior.

It had only been about two months since I returned to the past.

I hadn't wasted a single moment, but it wasn't enough against this guy.

Both strength and speed were no match.

Even directly clashing weapons was burdensome because of the blade qi shimmering on his blade.

But it didn't matter.

In a duel, perhaps, but a life-or-death battle was not decided by martial arts realm.

Clang!

Using the repulsive force from the sword, I threw my body to the side.

I rolled on the floor just as he had done a moment ago.

Soon after, the Branch Leader stepped on his footwork again and approached.

I swung my left hand towards the trajectory drawn by his blade as he approached.

A small cloth pouch flew towards his blade.

Slice.

Green powder scattered from the neatly cut pouch.

It was a poison powder I had made in Dongin in preparation for a fight with the Black Market.

The reason I used the Lazy Donkey Rolls on the Ground was also to hide the motion of putting my left hand inside my martial arts uniform with my back.

However, his reaction was exceedingly swift.

As soon as he confirmed that what his blade had cut was a pouch, he retreated without a moment's hesitation, using his footwork.

In the process, he naturally covered his mouth and nose with the sleeve of his left hand, and boldly threw the blade in his right hand up, then thrust his empty right palm forward.

Then, wind arose from his right palm, and the poison powder flew back towards me.

“Tsk.”

I quickly popped a single pill from a small box I had taken out beforehand into my mouth.

It was the antidote to the poison I had made.

As I chewed and swallowed the antidote as if drinking it, and the poison powder stained my clothes.

The man caught the blade he had thrown with his right hand again, then cut his sleeve to make a mask and covered his mouth and nose.

Next, he struck a still-intact table with his left palm.

While I moved to the side to dodge the flying table.

He used his footwork and closed in on me.

I quickly used the Eight Trigrams Flying Stream Steps and retreated.

Towards a corner of the narrow tea shop.

To pretend I was cornered on purpose.

A narrow place might not be ideal for escaping, but it was the perfect place for a counterattack.

Since the blade is a weapon specialized for cutting, the wall would be a very big obstacle.

Of course, the blade of a Peak Realm master enveloped in blade qi would easily cut through a wall made of stone or wood.

But it could buy a moment of time.

I just had to aim for that short moment and strike his vital points.

At that moment.

The Branch Leader, who had chased me to the corner, smirked.

“Unlike a brat, you seem to have fought with blade-wielders often.”

Soon after, he thrust his blade.

Absurdly, a man who was a bladesman was executing a thrust like a swordsman.

And it was a considerable quick blade art.

No, a quick blade art.

Strangely, his thin blade, which was disguised as a staff, felt very well-suited for that quick blade art.

Fast thrusts that flew in succession at a distance that wouldn't touch the wall.

At this rate, I had really driven myself into a corner.

After barely dodging his thrusts a few times by moving my body left and right and twisting my upper body with the Eight Trigrams Flying Stream Steps.

I suddenly gave up on evading and thrust my sword towards his heart.

A technique of mutual destruction.

While the tip of my sword advanced towards his heart.

The man, who had waited until the last moment, twisted his upper body minimally and dodged my sword by a hair's breadth.

Perhaps because he was a man with a lot of real battle experience, the technique of mutual destruction that had cornered the slave trader didn't work.

Even with a blade flashing before his eyes, his eyes showed no emotion of surprise or fear.

All that could be seen was a cold killing intent.

The man seemed to know very well.

The moment you hesitate at the crossroads of life and death.

The only path left is the one to death.

Slice.

Soon, blood flowed down my forearm.

After seeing with my own eyes that my decisive blow had been nullified, I quickly twisted my body, but it was a little too late.

Poison and hidden weapons didn't work.

My improvisations born from countless real battle experiences didn't work.

The same went for techniques that relied on luck.

With my internal and external energy also blocked, I felt as if I had been stripped bare.

And that feeling.

“You. What’s so funny that you’ve been grinning since a while ago?”

Was so very welcome.

Everything I could try had been nullified.

Then what could I do?

What was the way to kill him?

Only one thing remained.

To wield the sword more perfectly.

To follow this beautiful trajectory visible to my eyes.

That was the only thing.

Having all my options taken away, I felt rather refreshed.

“Hehehehe. You don't need to know. Swing your blade more! Stronger! Faster!”

“Haa. You haven't lost your fear, you were just a madman.”

The movements of the man who let out a sigh and thrust his blade looked slow.

My own body, thrusting my sword towards him, was just as slow.

Yes.

On the way from Dongin to Zunyi.

I had been wanting this slow world.

I had pushed myself to the point of abuse and immersed myself in training.

I had searched for this slow world with a burning thirst, but I couldn't reach it.

When I immersed myself in training and raised my concentration, the trajectory became visible and the world slowed down a bit, but not to this extent.

Now I could understand.

The screams of my muscles and bones pushed to their limits.

Slice.

The stinging pain from the cut skin.

And above all, this pressure of knowing that even a tiny mistake could lead to death.

Slice.

Was the key to entering this world.

The reason I had stopped Nam Geon earlier might have been because of this.

Deep in my heart, there was such a desire.

A desire to fight a more dangerous opponent.

A desire to enter that slow world again.

And only in this world where time flowed like a snail could I fully feel it.

“What a pathetic sword!”

How pathetic my sword was.

I was struggling to follow the trajectory embroidered in the air, but that pathetic movement was being subtly distorted at every moment.

So many mistakes that were too fast to properly discern in the normal world.

It was truly a welcome thing.

“Hehehehe. Mistakes can just be corrected.”

The answer is in sight.

And very slowly at that.

That fact was so welcome that I couldn't hold back my laughter.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.