“What?”
Lee Sungmin approached the Spear King and asked with a flustered voice. The Spear King, who was looking down at the blood on the back of his hand with a terrible look, shouted and clicked his tongue.
He staggered to his feet and lowered the two spears that were limp in his hands as his grip strength was depleted.
“My leg muscles are torn.”
“……what?”
“When I tried to follow your movements using that last technique, my leg muscles were torn. I thought it would work.… As expected, it’s hard to do what I was going to do with my current body.”
“Did you only realize that now?”
Jehu was twitching with irritation as he had been watching the entire fight from beginning to end.
Jehu, who came closer, tried to help up Kang Seok. Seeing this, Kang Seok glared at Jehu and pushed away his hands with an irritated voice.
“It’s not such an injury that I need help to walk properly.”
“You’re the only idiot I know that would refuse goodwill.”
Jehu grumbled at Kang Seok’s snarky words.‘His leg muscles were torn?’Lee Sungmin looked down at the spear in his hands.
The last scene in the fight replayed itself in Lee Sungmin’s mind. Two particular scenes came to mind when Lee Sungmin thought about what might have caused the injuries from two entirely different fights.
Sima Ryunju, who despite losing most of his power due to the Heavenly Spirit’s barrier cast by Wolhu, had ripped off Musin’s arm with an attack that seemed to defy all logic with sheer power, speed and supreme technique.
Lee Sungmin then thought about the scene from the fight he just had. The Spear King had tried to replicate that very same force of tearing through everything and anything in the path of his spear.
It looked like they were the same techniques, but they were fundamentally not the same. The foundational action of ‘tearing’ was similar in both moves, but the Kang Seok replicated the technique with the spear after that, was different from how Sima Ryunju had pulled it off.
In the middle, the Spear King had his body fail his incredible technique. As a result, the Spear King was sitting down, coughing up some blood.
“Internal injuries…ha….”
After an entire decade of training on the Mountain of Mush, Kang Seok had finally developed a pinnacle of spearmanship technique that could reach the heights of Lee Sungmin’s late master.
But unlike Sima Ryunju, Kang Seok’s body was not at the level of being able to replicate this high level technique without being injured. Sima Ryunju had made it look so easy.
Since he had forced himself to use a technique his body couldn’t keep up with, he was in the state that he currently was, with internal injuries.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m not okay.”
Uaaaaack!
The Spear King gathered his spit loudly and cleared the last bit of blood from his throat and spat it on the ground.
“I thought it would work, but it’s seriously annoying to not even be able to have my body allow me to perform the incredible level I’ve reached. I’m pissed that after a whole decade of training, it only amounts to this half-assed shit.”
“……why don’t you stop here then? Your internal injuries don’t look that light.”
“Oh damn it….”
Lee Sungmin expected the Spear King to protest further and demand to continue, but contrary to his expectations, the Spear King only expressed dissatisfaction and did not protest against Jehu’s suggestion to stop.
It seemed that the internal injury was worse than it looked. Checking Kang Seok’s body, Jehu shook his head in disappointment.
“So why did you suddenly start a fight if you can’t even go all out yet?”
“I just wanted to see the martial arts of the four-year-old.” (T/N : Kang Seok is basically referring to Lee Sungmin as his talented junior who is much younger than him.)
“So, were you satisfied?”
When asked by Lee Sungmin, the Spear King snorted.
“You’re good at impersonating your master.”
“I know. I haven’t reached his level yet either.”
“That’s a given.”
The Spear King plopped into his seat and went deep into meditation to reflect on the fight he just had with Lee Sungmin.
After a while, the Spear King, who organized his thoughts, spoke.
“Your body is superior to mine. In fact, it’s almost as if your body can perfectly handle the technique that mine can’t. But your spearmanship technique itself hasn’t improved much at all for these past ten years.”
“I didn’t have the opportunity to train this past decade like you did.”
“But there are interesting things now that I look at you. Sima Ryunju’s martial arts and internal energy…… His internal energy and overall basis of technique are enough to make up for your lack of technique in spearmanship. There’s a ridiculous amount of internal energy and power within your body and it’s in perfect harmony. That’s such a waste. If your spearmanship had been better, I wouldn’t have been your match at all.”
The Spear King was normally very picky and sensitive, but he acknowledged Lee Sungmin’s growth with an objective mindset.
“You can’t overwhelmingly defeat me because of your lack of spearmanship. Had I not been greedy at the end there, and suffered from internal injuries for trying to pull off a technique my body can’t keep up with, you wouldn’t have been able to defeat me.”
“Then, can you defeat me?”
“Well… I’m confident I won’t die in a fight against you. Lol, that’s an unfair question. I can’t believe I’ve been wielding a spear for hundreds of years longer than you and can’t even guarantee a victory against a junior who also practices spearmanship.”
The Spear King laughed aloud, but there was no displeasure or self-pity in his laughter. Rather, he was enjoying himself.
“How would you feel if I asked if you could feel confident in defeating Musin?”
“Are you wondering if you or I could defeat him?”
“Both.”
“I think I am better than Musin if I am looking at how strong he was 10 years ago. Killing him is a different issue on its own, but…… if it’s been a decade and he has trained that entire time, then…. I don’t know. If Musin wasn’t a retard, he’d have definitely trained even more after suffering such a humiliating defeat like that.”
The words of the Spear King were surprising. Ten years ago, Kang Seok and Jehu had suffered a humiliating defeat against Musin despite the two of them fighting him while he had lost an arm and was exhausted after the fight with Sima Ryunju. But Musin had also suffered a humiliating defeat to Sima Ryunju so there was no way that Musin would just sit still and not get stronger.
What also was surprising about it, was that it implied that even if Lee Sungmin did not use his strongest techniques against Kang Seok, his current level was equal or stronger than Musin was 10 years ago.
“Well, what will you do?”
Lee Sungmin asked, looking at the Spear King and continued.
“I haven’t heard an answer yet. I need your help.”
“Let me hear it clearly from you, too. What do you want to do? Would you rather go after Musin or Predator?”
“Both.”
“Even if Musin’s intention to prevent the end is sincere? Isn’t it because of the Divine Spirit that he’s acting the way he is?”
“Leaving him be isn’t an option for me. He killed my master.”
Lee Sungmin’s voice sank coldly. The Spear King laughed at the remark.
“You’re going to avenge your master no matter what. That’s good.”
Kang Seok spoke, nodding his head in understanding.
“I’ll help you.”
said the Spear King, glancing at Jehu.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Am I going along with this too?”
Jehu’s eyebrows wriggled in confusion. At this response, the Kang Seok looked at Jehu in confusion.
“Then what were you going to do?”
“Never mind……let’s go.”
Jehu sighed. Even Jehu did not wish for the Apocalypse.
However, it was impossible to return to Musin, who was nothing but a puppet to the Heavenly Spirit, who’s actions were clearly contradictory to the goal of preventing the Apocalypse.
‘I’d be lucky if he didn’t kill me as soon as he sees me.’
Jehu thought objectively as he knew the reality of his betrayal of Beyond the Heavens. In fact, it was best to act with Lee Sungmin for the purpose of preventing the Apocalypse.
Even if the opponent was the Vampire Queen whose powers were close to being immeasurable.
“Oh….come to think of it.”
Lee Sungmin suddenly remembered something, as he glanced at Jehu.
“Juwon’s wound from 10 years ago. Is it still hurting you?”
“It’s been the same for 10 years.”
Jehu replied with a frown. He didn’t particularly want to recall that memory.
If he hadn’t swallowed his pride and escaped that day in the North, Jehu knew that he would have surely died that day.
“But now I’m not even aware of the pain. I’ve gone through so much more pain on this mountain that it doesn’t really matter to me anymore.”
“But isn’t it uncomfortable compared to when you were healthy and didn’t have any problems?”
“Well……that’s true.”
Lee Sungmin told Jehu immediately that he could help heal the wound and remove the poison from it. As this happened, the expression of Jehu changed. No matter how familiar he was with pain after undergoing the severe Trial on the Mountain of Mush, there was no way he would be able to continue to feel numb to the pain once he grew accustomed to the outside of the mountain again.
‘I’ll have to go back to the Forest of Fairies anyways, just not immediately.’
It had already been two times that Lee Sungmin had used the Pegasus that day. The Pegasus also could not fit 5 people on its back. Thus, Lee Sungmin had to return briefly with Yana and Baek Sogo to drop them off.
In the state of taking three warps with the Pegasus already, a fourth warp would be annoying to deal with once Lee Sungmin thought about it.
It would be a big blunder if he willingly repeated what happened last time when he had vomited like crazy and had a massive headache after escaping from Geniella’s mansion.
When Yana and Baek Sogo were dropped back off at the Forest of Fairies, Lee Sungmin returned to the Mountain of Mush.
The Spear King was under the supervision of Jehu to make sure he was recovering well and was eating breakfast. Jehu didn’t allow Kang Seok to move around too excitedly because of the internal injuries.
After glancing at Kang Seok, Lee Sungmin sat down not far from Jehu.
“There was something I wanted to ask you.”
“What?”
“Why did you act like that 10 years ago?”
It was a question that had been bothering him for a while now.
At that time, Jehu no longer had any more restrictions because his Oath had already been fulfilled. In that situation, there was no reason for the Black Dragon to step up for Lee Sungmin or to block Musin.
Rather, in that situation, the better choice would probably have been for Jehu to join Musin in attacking Lee Sungmin since he was no longer bound by an Oath.
“I was wondering when you would bring that up.”
The Black Dragon chewed and swallowed the beef jerky in his mouth with a smirk.
“I simply wanted to do that. The situation is… it was already beyond absurd. Sima Ryunju was able to ridiculously fend off and even corner both Musin and Wolhu despite being under a severe restriction in power. In the first place, the situation itself was unreasonable to even call a fight.”
“So what? It still doesn’t really make any sense for you to step in with that reasoning alone.”
“I didn’t like Sima Ryunju very much. He was arrogant and arbitrary. But… ..he was undeniably the strongest man to walk the path of martial arts that I have ever seen. In fact, that’s all subjective. Arrogant and unruly, those are only words that can describe someone without the power to back it up. He was confident and had the power to back every single one of his actions.”
It was the same line of thinking as Kang Seok. It didn’t matter what the reason was. Sima Ryunju was a man who was unbelievably strong and should not have died.
“When I came to my senses and understood what I was feeling at that moment, I was also fascinated by the heights that Sima Ryunju had reached in martial arts. I didn’t want… him…to die. But in that situation I could not do anything directly, so I thought to myself I would do what I could and at least get you out of that place. That’s why I acted like that. The reason why I’m so attached to Musin is also something similar to respect, but respect is not something that a puppet deserves.”
The Black Dragon laughed as he said so.
“The Spear King… I was led into this mountain by that lunatic, but it was because of the lack of power I felt in myself when seeing Sima Ryunju fight that impressed me and forced myself to endure 10 years. I’m sure that anybody who could possibly call themselves a martial artist would have felt something when they saw Sima Ryunju’s martial arts. Even if Musin is a puppet, he surely would have felt something close to fear or respect when Sima Ryunju fought him.”* * *
Musin was someone who trained in Orthodox Martial Arts
His real name was abandoned a long time ago.
The nickname Musin was more glorious than the first name he had since birth and he was hailed as the God of Martial Arts.
No one laughed at the moniker of “Musin”. He was well-informed, talented, and he himself knew him well enough to be called a Taoist Practitioner.
He didn’t think it was arrogant. For him, the nickname Musin was his real identity as he had rid himself long ago of anything that could tie him down in weakness.
Ten years ago, there was a certain crisis that made Musin rethink his very title as the God of Martial Arts. He had thought that of all people to call themselves martial artists in the world of Eria, none could stand above him in terms of strength and technique.
Yet he suffered an incredibly humiliating defeat to Sima Ryunju, someone he had only thought might be a “good opponent”.
Wolhu had told Musin that the only reason Sima Ryunju was so strong was because he was one of the Final Catastrophes of the Apocalypse.
That’s what Musin thought had to be the truth as a result of Wolhu’s response. He couldn’t stand accepting his loss without thinking that Sima Ryunju must have used some kind of underhanded method. But deep down, Musin felt doubt.
Musin had replayed that fight in his mind hundreds of times during his closed door training in the past 10 years.
It was a training session for an entire decade that persisted solely on meditation and reflection of that single fight.
He replayed only Sima Ryunju’s moves, the way his body deflected the attacks, his techniques, everything he did made sense to Musin during this period of reflection.
But during the entire decade of reflection and meditation on that fight, there was still one moment that Musin did not comprehend or understand. It was one move that Sima Ryunju had performed.
It was the same action at the very end of the fight.
It was when defeat seemed inevitable for Sima Ryunju, he had reached out slowly with his one arm towards Musin.
That single gesture and move was something incomprehensible. All of Musin and Wolhu’s attacks had seemingly evaporated into thin air with that simple gesture.
And within that single moment and movement… Sima Ryunju had torn through the space and ripped Musin’s arm right off his shoulder.
He just couldn’t understand the properties behind that attack. It was something that was no longer achievable by any human means possible. Even if one was a Transcendent Martial Artist at the very pinnacle of his craft, it was unexplainable.
How could such an attack even be possible? Even if he had known that attack was coming beforehand, even if Musin trained harder and reached a stronger foothold in the Realm of Transcendence… would he have been able to stop that attack?
The answer that Musin came up with was a resounding “No”. There was no way he would ever be able to stop such an attack.
In fact, did Sima Ryunju even die in that fight?
Musin was unsure of whether Sima Ryunju had even died that day in the snowy plains of the North.
Things that happened that day. I don’t understand what happened at the end. Worry gave birth to worry.
In 10 years of meditation, Musin craved the answers to these mysteries.
It was the same that very day as Musin left closed door training.
Musin, who left Andong, the place he was training, did not feel proud of himself when the sun’s bright rays shone on his skin.
Outside the cave in Amdong, there was a carriage waiting at the edge of the road. It seemed that the carriage had been waiting as if knowing Musin would leave closed door training on that very day after ten years.
“Who is this?”
Musin asked, looking at the Divine Maiden who was smiling at him with an unknown figure sitting next to her in the carriage. Next to the Divine Maiden stood a woman whom he had never seen before.
It was an elf with long ears. When Musin stared at her, the Elf lowered her head slightly and the Divine Maiden introduced her on her behalf.
“It’s my sister.” (I think I might have mistaken Wolhu as a brother, but that was because the gender pronouns were ambiguous at the time. It’s pretty clear Wolhu now is more apparent as a woman now especially with the little gender swap here.)
“……Wolhu?”
“Long time no see, Musin.”
The Elf responded to Musin. Wolhu was not dead. When he heard that from the Divine Maiden 10 years ago, he thought it was ridiculous. The internal energy felt from the elf was undoubtedly after Wolhu’s. Musin nodded as he looked at Wolhu’s new body and then turned back to the Divine Maiden.
“I see.”
It was incomprehensible, but Musin more or less understood the situation. It was certainly strange, but if it was because of the intervention of the Heavenly Spirit, it made sense.
“Did you find the answers you were looking for?”
The Divine Maiden smiled at Musin. At her words, Musin looked at the bright clear sky above him.
He answered, staring at the sun.
“In my own way, yes.”
Musin glanced at his sleeveless left arm. Sima Ryunju’s last attack left him confused and in a dilemma. For ten years, Musin had felt a kind of ghost pain as if his arm were still there.
But there was no more pain at that moment.