Tales Of The Nine Dragons [EN]: Chapter 139

Nine Dragons Legend (139)

Hwa-rin wore a displeased expression, while Dong-chun, walking beside him, was cautious of his words and actions.

‘Senior Su-yeon gained fame in the Murim [martial arts world] before the Squad Leader, which is why he’s making that face. What would people say if they knew this?’

Having been with Hwa-rin for a long time, Dong-chun could roughly guess what he was thinking just by looking at his expression.

“Why are you so quiet?”

When Hwa-rin asked, Dong-chun habitually opened his mouth.

“With that expression, what can I say?”

Hwa-rin’s expression changed as if he had been waiting for this, and he glared at Dong-chun as if he would devour him, raising his voice.

“What’s wrong with my expression?”

Dong-chun realized his mistake upon hearing Hwa-rin’s rising voice, but it was already too late.

“It’s all written on your face.”

‘Oh well, whatever,’ he thought and blurted out his true feelings.

“What’s written there?”

“Isn’t it that Senior Su-yeon gained fame before the Squad Leader, so you’re jealous and sulking like that? How can a man be so petty?”

“What? Petty?”

“Now that we’re on the topic, aren’t you? If a cherished junior gains fame, shouldn’t you congratulate them? But instead of congratulating, you’re so jealous that your lips are sticking out a mile.”

“Hey, just because you have a mouth doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want.”

“It’s not that I’m saying whatever I want because I have a mouth, but because my mouth is open, I’m speaking the truth.”

As Hwa-rin raised his hand, Dong-chun quickly created distance.

“By the way, where did you go last night?”

“Last night?”

“I woke up from a nap and you were gone.”

“I went looking for Murim’s Hundred Great Masters to gain fame too. Why!”

“Just say what you need to say. You’re not a child; the Squad Leader has not five viscera and six bowels, but five viscera and eight bowels.”

“Five viscera and eight bowels?”

“A jealous pouch and a greedy pouch are both in your stomach. Instead of congratulating your junior for doing well…”

“Hey, I would congratulate you if you did well, but Su-yeon is trying to devour me. How can I congratulate someone who tries to stab me every time she sees me?”

When Hwa-rin shouted, Dong-chun momentarily wore a blank expression.

“Just thinking about how much she’ll try to stab me in the future now that she’s gained fame in the Murim world is terrifying.”

After hearing Hwa-rin’s words, Dong-chun seemed to understand.

“Now that I think about it, Senior Su-yeon is just as crazy as Senior Hwa-rin…”

“What? Are you calling me crazy?”

“No, when did I call the Squad Leader crazy?”

Just as Dong-chun felt a sense of crisis and was about to run away, Hwa-rin’s atmosphere changed.

Then, the smile spreading across his lips sent shivers down Dong-chun’s spine. Dong-chun desperately made excuses, thinking he would die if he ran away.

“No, I didn’t say that to the Squad Leader, but to Senior Su-yeon…”

As the smile on Hwa-rin’s lips grew thicker, Dong-chun prostrated himself on the spot and begged for forgiveness.

“I was wrong. Do you really think I would say that because I thought so? It’s just that Senior Su-yeon torments the Squad Leader so much, so I was trying to…”

Feeling something was off due to Hwa-rin’s lack of response, Dong-chun raised his head, but Hwa-rin, who should have been in front of him, was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did this guy go again…”

At that moment, he felt a powerful clash of energy erupting a short distance away, with shockwaves scattering in all directions.

“That murderous smile wasn’t directed at me, but at them? Ah, geez, I was scared for nothing.”

Dong-chun wore a relieved expression and quickly got up from his spot, heading towards the location where the fight was taking place. Hwa-rin was fighting a man and a woman, who also seemed to be formidable opponents.

Watching Hwa-rin easily handle opponents so strong that he couldn’t even handle one of them, he couldn’t help but say, “As expected.”

“But I have a memory of seeing that woman somewhere.”

Dong-chun, who was wondering who the middle-aged woman with the sword fighting Hwa-rin was, suddenly widened his eyes.

“Bloodless Death Flower, Cho Seol-yeon!”

Cho Seol-yeon, known as the Bloodless Death Flower because death blooms when she dances, was a high-ranking expert of the Demonic Sect and one of the few female martial artists included in the Murim’s Hundred Great Masters. She was known to be as fierce as a jackal and full of jealousy, always causing incidents and accidents around her.

“Then that man is Sound-Forming Fist, Baek Gu-jeong.”

Baek Gu-jeong, who gained the title of Sound-Forming Fist for being able to unleash fists that could grasp sound waves, was a master known for his incredibly fast straight punch being the best in the Murim world.

He was also one of the Murim’s Hundred Great Masters, known to be able to crush people with just the wind pressure from his straight punch.

Sound-Forming Fist, Baek Gu-jeong, and Bloodless Death Flower, Cho Seol-yeon, were a married couple who always traveled together, causing major and minor accidents in the Murim world. They had been quiet for a while but had now appeared in Gansu Province.

“But how did they know we were in Gansu Province?”

Since there were few opportunities to interact with people, it took some time to receive rumors or news, so Dong-chun was unaware that the Fiery Demon Blood Hand had appeared in Gansu Province.

The moment Hwa-rin’s sword was about to cut Cho Seol-yeon’s waist, a pure white light flashed before his eyes.

Hwa-rin instinctively twisted his body to avoid the pure white light.

When Hwa-rin’s attack was thwarted, Cho Seol-yeon immediately launched a counterattack. Her swordsmanship was more concise than flashy.

Her sword contained a level of restraint and power rarely seen in women.

‘A swordsmanship that increases speed by simply modifying the stances. It uses a fast and heavy sword, loading the power from the speed into the sword.’

Hwa-rin immediately grasped Cho Seol-yeon’s swordsmanship. The problem was not Cho Seol-yeon, but Sound-Forming Fist, Baek Gu-jeong’s fist, which assisted her, hindered his attacks, and posed a great threat to his life.

Hwa-rin sheathed his sword and threw it into the air. As the sword disappeared as if sucked into the void, Baek Gu-jeong and Cho Seol-yeon wondered what his scheme was.

Hwa-rin gestured for them to come at him.

“I’ll catch you first, and then…”

Hwa-rin faced the two with his bare hands.

It was true that wielding a sword or spear would be more advantageous, but in the fights between masters, there were also disadvantages.

The longer the weapon, the more time it took to recover. Even if that time was only a fleeting moment, it was a time of life and death for masters.

Baek Gu-jeong approached Hwa-rin and threw a punch, thinking he was imitating him.

It was his unique fist technique, Storm Fist.

His barrage of punches, driven by powerful force, demonstrated explosive power enough to overwhelm not only Hwa-rin but also the space he was standing in.

Hwa-rin’s hands were not idle either. Every time Baek Gu-jeong’s fist came and went, Hwa-rin’s hands deflected his punches, sending the power contained in Baek Gu-jeong’s fist elsewhere.

The speed at which Hwa-rin threw punches was no less than Baek Gu-jeong’s.

Thud… Thud…

Watching this, Dong-chun concluded that Sound-Forming Fist Baek Gu-jeong and Bloodless Death Flower Cho Seol-yeon were attacking together, but they would not be able to overcome Hwa-rin.

“Baek Gu-jeong probably doesn’t know how well that guy can beat people with his bare hands. He wouldn’t know since he hasn’t lived with him.”

Hwa-rin was basically a martial artist who used a sword, but sometimes he was scarier when he didn’t use a sword.

He was even more terrifying when he fought with his bare hands like now, because his body remembered the experience of being beaten by Hwa-rin back then.

“How long has it been, and I’m still shaking like this.”

Slap!

With a crisp sound, Baek Gu-jeong’s head turned sharply. Also, due to the speed and force at which his head turned, his body turned with it. He spun so fast that his body floated in the air, rotating twice before falling to the ground.

At the same time, Cho Seol-yeon’s sword stretched out, aiming for Hwa-rin’s heart.

“It’s not that easy to reduce stances.”

Hwa-rin knocked Cho Seol-yeon’s sword aside with his palm.

Ding!

The sword vibrated, and the force was transmitted to Cho Seol-yeon.

“Aaaagh!”

Cho Seol-yeon screamed, dropping the sword she was holding, and retreated. Her grip was torn, and blood was seeping out.

Hwa-rin’s foot moved.

Her dropped sword rested on Hwa-rin’s instep, and he stretched his foot towards Cho Seol-yeon.

Cho Seol-yeon closed her eyes tightly, seeing her sword flying towards her.

Thud!

Cho Seol-yeon opened her eyes when nothing happened to her along with the sound. Baek Gu-jeong was standing in front of her.

Seeing that, Hwa-rin looked down at his palm.

“The power seems to have decreased a lot. He should have been lying down for at least half an hour.”

Hwa-rin tilted his head as if he couldn’t believe it, then mimicked slapping the air a few times before quickly moving towards Baek Gu-jeong.

Seeing Hwa-rin, Baek Gu-jeong took a horse stance and unleashed a straight punch.

It was similar to the Shaolin Temple’s Hundred Step Divine Fist, but the power seemed to be vastly different.

The fist force unleashed from Baek Gu-jeong’s fist flew towards the approaching Hwa-rin.

Hwa-rin’s figure blurred and faded, then appeared on the right as if teleporting.

Seeing that, Baek Gu-jeong thought he had avoided the attack with Shape-Shifting Evasion and slammed his fist hard into the ground.

Kwaaaang!

The ground rumbled greatly, causing a powerful vibration. He tried to prevent Hwa-rin from maintaining his balance by affecting the area where he appeared, but he could not achieve his goal.

Hwa-rin’s figure was floating slightly above the ground, using a variation of a lightness skill called Floating Air Walk to avoid Baek Gu-jeong’s attack.

“You bastard!”

Baek Gu-jeong burst into anger, and Hwa-rin also shouted back without backing down.

“Then I’m this bastard, or am I this bitch?”

The moment Hwa-rin’s figure disappeared from that spot, the two tensed up. Baek Gu-jeong and Cho Seol-yeon simultaneously looked to the left and stretched out their hands.

However, unlike their expectations, Hwa-rin appeared on the opposite side and mercilessly slapped Baek Gu-jeong’s cheek with his palm.

Slap!

Once again, Baek Gu-jeong’s head and body turned together, flying away and tumbling to the ground.

“It doesn’t seem rusty, but is that guy’s endurance good?”

He looked at Cho Seol-yeon while speaking, and Cho Seol-yeon reached for her waist and strongly pulled on the belt she was wearing, throwing it towards Hwa-rin.

Swoosh.

Her belt flew towards Hwa-rin in a bizarre curve, as if a snake was moving to hunt its prey, and Hwa-rin reached out and snatched her belt.

When Hwa-rin pulled on the belt he had snatched, Cho Seol-yeon was pulled into Hwa-rin’s arms.

“Sa… Save me.”

Cho Seol-yeon, who was in his arms and asking to be saved, looked pitiful, but Hwa-rin was not someone who would show such clumsy sympathy.

“I want to, but my junior gained fame before me.”

“What does that…”

“You’re weaker than the Twin Dragons Blood Unit.”

At that moment, Cho Seol-yeon could tell that the junior Hwa-rin was talking about was Namgung Su-yeon.

“No, I’m stronger.”

“Really? Then you have to die.”

“No, no. I’m weak. Even if you kill me, you won’t gain more fame than Namgung Su-yeon, who killed the Twin Dragons Blood Unit.”

Cho Seol-yeon looked at Hwa-rin with pitiful eyes, asking to be saved.

“Since you’re weak, I’ll gain more fame if I kill both of you. Because I killed two people.”

“No, that person, Sound-Forming Fist Baek Gu-jeong, is stronger than Twin Dragons Blood Unit Lee Si-eon. If you only kill that person, you can gain more fame than Namgung Su-yeon.”

Cho Seol-yeon sold out Baek Gu-jeong to save herself.

“Really?”

The moment Hwa-rin’s gaze turned to Baek Gu-jeong, who was collapsed, Cho Seol-yeon’s hand pierced into Hwa-rin’s abdomen.

“Hehehe, you fool…”

Cho Seol-yeon stopped laughing.

“That’s why you shouldn’t drag out the time when killing someone.”

Cho Seol-yeon’s hand was blocked by Hwa-rin’s palm.

Cho Seol-yeon felt fear at Hwa-rin’s fading smile, but she could no longer see Hwa-rin’s smile.

Crack…

Cho Seol-yeon was killed in Hwa-rin’s arms, her waist broken.

“Dong-chun.”

“Why are you calling me?”

“If I want to leave a mark that I killed two people, I have to make the same wounds, right?”

“I guess that’s what you have to do.”

“So, listen. You get that guy over there up.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I broke this person’s waist to kill them, so I have to break that guy’s waist too. So, you lift him up and hold him there.”

Dong-chun wore a dumbfounded expression.

“Just go over there, turn him over, and press down with your foot! Then his waist will break!”

Dong-chun shouted at Hwa-rin and ran away.

“That guy is really struggling to die. How dare he ignore the orders of a senior officer? Hey, don’t you stop there!”

Hwa-rin shouted, but Dong-chun had already run far away.

“You’re dead if I catch you. Wait right there. Once I finish this guy, I’m going to crush you to pieces.”

Hwa-rin shouted at Dong-chun and smiled brightly.

“He’s so cute when he does that.”

Hwa-rin turned Baek Gu-jeong over as Dong-chun had said, stepped on his waist, and applied force.

“Crack!”

The sound of bones breaking was heard.

“There’s a Fiery Flame Gate near here.”