A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 39

39. Ockryong Yeokrin Cham [Ockryong’s Reverse Scale Strike – a potentially lethal technique]

Thump.

A pile of snow tumbled down the steep cliff. Under the dazzling blue sky, Son Bin’s breath left a white trail.

“Heh, heh heh.”

Ockryong laughed.

“A substitute for that child, you say….”

Flap.

His blue fan fluttered lightly.

“Does he even know what he’s saying? Besides, you.”

Ockryong’s slender eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“What’s with that stance? Do you think that sword is some kind of wooden stick? Your grip is a mess. Have you ever even held a sword before?”

“I can’t help it.”

Son Bin shrugged. The White Dew in his hand shimmered silver.

“This is only the second time I’ve held a sword properly, you see.”

“What?”

Ockryong wore an absurd expression. Soon, displeasure spread across his face.

“And with that, you’re going to be that child’s substitute?”

“I know my skills don’t measure up to Lady Sa’s….”

Son Bin sighed lightly.

“But you dismissed Lady Sa, so there’s nothing else I can do. I have to do what I can with what’s left.”

“Dismissed, huh…. Heh heh heh.”

Ockryong laughed.

“That’s right. I dismissed her. But you don’t seem all that sad about it.”

“Lady Sa.”

Son Bin replied. His voice was firm.

“She will live.”

Son Bin’s shining eyes looked straight at Ockryong. Ockryong’s red lips smiled thinly.

“It’s no use.”

Ockryong’s cold eyes looked at Son Bin with contempt.

“Even if you say that, he won’t escape my bonds. And saying that won’t save you here either.”

Ockryong said in a clear voice.

“Now then, shall we say it again? So, what can you do? With that….”

Snort, Ockryong chuckled.

“Ridiculous stance? I bet that sword finds it pretty insulting, don’t you think? Can’t you feel it? The cold contempt of the Divine Sword White Dew?”

‘Cold?’

Son Bin was puzzled. The White Dew in Son Bin’s hand was warm. Warm enough to feel a faint warmth.

But that wasn’t the important thing right now. Son Bin steeled himself.

“You already know what I’m going to do, don’t you?”

Son Bin said, looking straight at Ockryong.

“It’s the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham.”

Silence flowed.

Ockryong stared at Son Bin with cold eyes. Ockryong said nothing until the wind lightly shook his clothes.

“This is.”

Ockryong said, whispering in a low voice.

“Truly insulting. To have to hear those words from the mouth of trash like you.”

Gritting.

A chilling sound flowed from his lips, as if he was holding back anger that was about to explode.

“Really, at this point, I feel like I need to crush you to feel better.”

Ockryong said, glaring at Son Bin with piercing eyes. His gaze made his chest feel even colder.

“You will regret this moment.”

“Will I?”

Swoosh.

Son Bin gently gripped the Divine Sword White Dew with both hands. The warmth felt from the handle of White Dew seemed to caress Son Bin’s cool chest warmly.

“I don’t think so.”

Thud.

Son Bin naturally took a stance. The most comfortable stance for Son Bin. It was simply holding the sword with both hands and spreading his feet to a moderate width.

Standing like that, Son Bin straightened his back and looked straight at Ockryong. There was no fear or hesitation.

“I will be proud of this decision for the rest of my life. Whether I succeed or fail.”

Son Bin said. And Ockryong’s gaze, which had been looking at Son Bin, changed.

“You….”

His eyes, which had been frozen with cold anger, took on a different light. As if he was seeing Son Bin for the first time.

“Who are you?”

This time, Son Bin had a puzzled look. He couldn’t understand why he was asking such a thing now.

“I am Son Bin. A companion of that person….”

Son Bin’s gaze naturally turned to Sa Ja-hyuk. Without realizing it, a faint smile was blooming on Son Bin’s lips.

“A person who watches and records.”

That was an answer that Ockryong already knew. But now, his words sounded as if they had a completely different meaning and weight than before.

It was because of the strange feeling that began to flow from Son Bin’s sword.

He already knew that what he was holding was White Dew. He also knew that it originally belonged to Hwang Hak and that it had a unique name, Divine Sword.

But something was constantly stimulating Ockryong.

‘A watcher and recorder.’

Ockryong’s brain was spinning rapidly. Instead of the raging anger of being insulted, cold reason dominated him.

Was Sa Ja-hyuk, whom he knew, a person who easily allowed someone to accompany him? Was he someone who would allow just anyone to watch and record him?

Absolutely not.

‘But….’

Ockryong frowned. The man in front of him was undoubtedly a fake. His stance was full of flaws, and he seemed awkward holding the sword.

In some ways, it could be said to be natural, but in other words, it was a really insignificant stance.

Moreover, above all, he didn’t feel any energy from him. All he could faintly feel was the energy of Ho-ah and Sa Ja-hyuk behind the energy that White Dew was emitting.

But his sharp intuition was constantly warning him. To look at the opponent in front of him, Son Bin, again.

“Hmm.”

Ockryong hesitated for a moment. He couldn’t make a clear judgment about his opponent. But that was only for a moment.

Ockryong had absolute confidence. Without Sa Ja-hyuk, there was no one in the world who could defeat him.

“Good.”

Ockryong said.

“I will allow you two moves.”

Perhaps Ockryong’s answer had already been decided. From the moment Son Bin mentioned the words Ockryong Yeokrin Cham.

“Do whatever you want. But in the third move after that.”

Ockryong’s eyes were coldly sunken.

“You will die. For sure.”

“Well.”

Son Bin said.

“No one knows the future.”

Ockryong snorted.

But he didn’t move. He only covered his mouth with his blue fan and looked at Son Bin. A chilling coldness flowed from his eyes.

‘Hoo-ooh.’

Son Bin calmly took a breath. Ockryong’s gaze, which was in front of him, pierced his chest like a dagger, but Son Bin’s consciousness was recalling the Hyeoncheon Daeganggyeol [Profound Heaven Great Unbinding Art – likely a martial arts technique].

What he had to see was not Ockryong in front of him. It wasn’t the White Dew he was holding, or even the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham he had to unleash.

Slowly, but surely, Son Bin’s breathing began to deepen.

“Humph.”

Ockryong, who had been watching Son Bin with cold eyes, smiled.

“What are you doing now? Didn’t you say you were going to unleash the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham?”

Son Bin had clearly said that he would unleash the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham. But the stance he took was not the stance of the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham.

There was definitely a realm that transcended the form and style of the moves, but that was only possible for martial artists who had reached the level of Cheonoecheon [Beyond the Heavens – a high level of martial arts mastery], like Ockryong or Sa Ja-hyuk.

Woo-oong.

A faint energy began to gather on Ockryong’s blue fan.

“If you disappoint me like that….”

At that moment, White Dew began to move. And Ockryong’s eyebrows, which were as smooth as if they had been drawn, contorted as if in a spasm. It was because Ockryong’s senses began to send out sharp warnings.

Thud.

At the same time as his senses reacted, Ockryong almost instinctively began to rush towards Son Bin.

‘I have to kill him. Right now!’

The promise to allow two moves was no longer on his mind. He had no intention of confirming the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham that he was going to unleash.

He had to kill him before he showed any more movement, his sharp intuition was demanding it.

Perhaps it would have been faster to throw the Binghonji [Ice Soul Dagger – a weapon or technique]. But Ockryong had never considered the Binghonji from the beginning.

Because that slender blade of White Dew didn’t seem to cover Son Bin at all.

Swish.

Son Bin took a step towards Ockryong, who was rushing towards him, and drew White Dew from top to bottom.

From the perspective of a martial artist, it was a movement that didn’t even have the basics, but Ockryong couldn’t see Son Bin’s appearance.

No, he couldn’t even recognize it. All of his nerves were focused on the trajectory of White Dew, which had begun to move.

Swoosh.

White Dew fell from top to bottom. It was a sword path that contained no energy, just falling from top to bottom calmly.

But it was also an absolute sword path that clearly divided everything in front of it into two.

‘Kuh.’

At that moment, Ockryong tried to step back without realizing it. But he couldn’t step back.

He could have moved to the end of the snowfield in a single motion, but the moment he chose to step back, it felt as if White Dew’s blade would cut him in two.

No, it wasn’t a feeling, it was already the truth.

Whoosh.

As if a candle was extinguished, Ockryong’s figure disappeared and moved to the side. It was a speed that even the human eye couldn’t follow.

But before he knew it, White Dew’s blade was rising from below Ockryong.

Woo-woo-oong.

Ockryong’s blue fan emitted an intense energy.

His deeply colored jade fan emitted a sharp energy and rushed in as if to shatter White Dew, but White Dew, which had no energy, was already holding its sharp blade right in front of Ockryong’s eyes.

‘Gasp.’

Clearly, his jade fan was faster.

But what arrived first was White Dew. Ockryong couldn’t stop that simple movement, which seemed like he could block it if he reached out his hand now.

Shale.

White Dew shone with its haughty figure and soared into the sky, drawing its trajectory in the air.

Whoong.

It was an extremely simple sword path, but with that one sword path, it was as if the entire sky and earth had been divided into left and right.

And in front of it, Ockryong had to choose again. An absolute choice that no one could avoid, a single sword was forcing Ockryong to make.

‘Kuh.’

Ockryong bit his lip.

Kiiiiing.

As if screaming, Ockryong’s fan began to vibrate, making a strange sound.

The jade fan, which seemed to be about to explode with tremendous energy, soared towards the falling White Dew. Leaving a clear, deep blue trajectory in the air as if to split the sky.

And the next moment, a faint sound echoed across the snowfield.

Swish.

There was no explosion or impact. There was no movement or even breathing. It was as if everything had stopped at that moment.

But the blood that began to fall in spots on the pure white snowfield was telling the result.

Thud, thud.

A red circle slowly spread, dyeing the pure white snowfield.

“Ha.”

A low sound leaked from Ockryong’s red lips. His trembling eyes stared straight at Son Bin in front of him.

“You really….”

It was a look as if he couldn’t believe it. But the result was clear.

Ockryong’s gaze moved to the side. White Dew was stopped there. With its sharp blade embedded in Ockryong’s right shoulder.

“To think you would unleash the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham.”

At the same time as a thin smile spread across his red lips, his left hand struck Son Bin’s chest.

Thwack.

Son Bin, who was still standing as if he hadn’t woken up from the afterglow, was thrown back with the impact without even screaming, and rolled around on the snowfield like a stone.

Thud.

The piled-up snow received Son Bin like soft cotton. But it didn’t eliminate the impact on his chest.

“Kuh.”

Son Bin, who was trying to get up, staggered for a moment and sat down again. The chest that Ockryong’s hand had touched was cold as if it had frozen.

He raised his hand and pressed his chest, but only the hem of his clothes crumbled like ice shards.

Meanwhile, Ockryong raised his hand and threw White Dew, which had been piercing his shoulder, into the air.

Whir, thud.

White Dew, which had been spinning in the air, fell in front of Son Bin and was half-buried in the snowfield. The sharp blade of White Dew sparkled in front of Son Bin’s eyes.

When Son Bin raised his eyes, Ockryong was pressing down on his shoulder with one hand. His shoulder, which had been stained with red blood, was turning white as if it had been frosted.

“Well done.”

Ockryong’s cold gaze turned to Son Bin.

“I’ll give you a compliment. Honestly, I was impressed.”

But unlike his words, Ockryong’s eyes were gleaming with complete murderous intent.

“To think that trash like you would unleash the Ockryong Yeokrin Cham. No, I shouldn’t call you trash like you anymore. Because there was only one person in the world who unleashed this swordsmanship. I really can’t understand it no matter how much I think about it. How could you unleash this sword?”

Thud.

Ockryong took a step towards Son Bin. He didn’t seem to care about his injured shoulder.

No, he looked like nothing had happened. Except for the white frozen bloodstains.

“I’m dying to know, but I’ll hold back for now. Because there’s something more important than that. I told you, didn’t I?”

Ockryong’s steps didn’t stop. Ockryong came closer and closer, staring straight at Son Bin.

“With the third move, you will surely die.”

Thud, thud.

“Son Bin, was it? Son Bin, your Ockryong Yeokrin Cham was excellent. But that’s it. You don’t have the ability to continue after that. So what you did.”

Ockryong smiled.

“In the end, it was just a small amusement that pleased me.”

“No.”

A heavy voice echoed across the snowfield. And with that short voice, all of Ockryong’s movements stopped.

“That’s not true.”

Ockryong slowly turned his head. Son Bin’s gaze was also looking at where Ockryong was heading.

There, a man with a huge physique was slowly walking. The black greatsword in one hand sparkled as it caught the light.

“He reeled in a dragon. And that too….”

With eyes shining like flames, it was Sa Ja-hyuk.

“With a single sword.”

Sa Ja-hyuk said, looking straight at Ockryong.