Chapter 53. Connection (3)

“Let’s see if you can still wag your tongue after your heart is pierced!”

The moment the red-faced Blood Shadow Ghost Spear twisted his body, a straight trajectory was embroidered in the air with the spear he held as the starting point.

As soon as the trajectory appeared, a spearhead flew in, tearing it apart.

As I stepped on the Eight Trigrams Flying Stream Steps and took a step to the right, a chilling sound came from my forearm.

Slice.*

The sound of my clothes being pierced.

I willingly took a step towards him.

No. I tried to take a step.

He had already retrieved the spear he had thrust, and the spearhead flew in again in succession.

Pababak!

Countless shadows of the spear embroidered the air.

It was to the point where it looked like four or five spears were being thrust at the same time.

He was displaying a series of concise and fast stabs.

By the time I dodged one trajectory embroidered in the air, the next trajectory would already be drawn towards my vital point.

I hastily rolled on the ground and dodged the spearhead flying towards my heart.

“Hahahaha. The way you roll on the ground is just like a coward!”

Did the word ‘coward’ bother him that much?

“You talk a lot. Coward hiding behind a spear because you're scared.”

A vein pops on his forehead.

I wondered if he had ever been despised for using a spear.

It was actually a good thing.

“Coward. Try stabbing harder!”

“I’ll kill you!!”

Countless spear shadows fly towards me again as I get up from rolling on the floor.

A few times I narrowly dodged them.

Slice.

A few times I couldn't dodge perfectly, and my skin was slightly cut.

It seemed that just dodging wouldn't be enough to close in.

I stared intently at the trajectory visible in the air.

While recalling the method I used to deal with one of the men in black a moment ago.

Then a new trajectory is drawn in the air.

A trajectory that could deflect his spear to the side.

I willingly swung my sword towards that trajectory.

Clang!

Right after the sound of metal rang out, a sly smile forms on his lips.

Whooosh!

His spear lets out a cry, and a blood-red energy gathers on the spearhead.

Crack.

Instantly, the edge of my sword started to chip, and it screamed as if it would break at any moment.

I withdrew my sword and hastily took a step back.

“You're skilled for a coward.”

He was only forming his spear qi when striking something as sturdy as a lump of iron or even stronger.

I thought it was probably to minimize the loss of internal energy.

But there was something he was most skilled at.

Footwork.

I kept looking for an angle to close in while dodging and parrying his spear, but it wasn't easy.

He chased me exactly as much as I retreated, and retreated as much as I closed in, continuing to stab with his spear.

Since I couldn't shorten the distance, I couldn't shove my sword into his vital points.

Grit.

As I bite my tongue, the fishy taste of blood fills my mouth.

I roused my mind.

Sword Unification is not what's important right now.

I have to close in to the distance where my sword can reach.

At that moment. As he took his stance again, a trajectory was drawn in the air.

Just dodging is not enough.

I will close in no matter what.

As I stared intently at the trajectory with that mindset, a new trajectory was drawn in the air.

A single path to close in to his chest while dodging the spearhead with a graze.

I took a step towards that path.

Slice.

My neck is grazed, and blood flows out.

It was because my reaction was late. Also, I couldn't perfectly follow the trajectory I saw.

“Do you want to die, Jin Yuseong.”

While I was cursing at myself.

The spear that the Blood Shadow Ghost Spear had instantly retrieved flies in again.

Another trajectory was already drawn next to it.

I once again took a step along that trajectory.

I threw my body, focusing only on the single-minded determination to close in.

Slice.

Like a moth flying towards a flame.

Slice.

With every step I take, the wounds on my body increase.

Slice.

It didn't matter.

“Hehehehe.”

On the verge of life and death, the world was already flowing slowly.

A spearhead flying like a snail. This damn body that moves even slower than that spearhead.

There was only one thing in this world that maintained its original speed.

It was the trajectory visible to these eyes.

The trajectory drawn as he took his stance again.

The path to approach him by avoiding that trajectory.

I advance towards that path.

“More! Faster!!”

Whipping my slow self.

Slice!

The spearhead I dodged with a graze cuts my collar.

Thud.

I finally succeeded in shortening the distance with him by one step.

I tried to pull down the corners of my mouth that kept trying to rise.

It's not over yet.

I have to shorten it by two more steps for the sword to reach.

A strange sight came into view.

He changed the position of the hand holding the spear.

By holding the spear shaft short, he was adjusting the length of the spear by the shortened distance.

“Di-! e-! Nooow-!!”

Then, the spearhead flew at a faster speed than before.

Slice!

A much faster speed. Again, my forearm is cut, and blood splatters.

Laughter burst out on its own.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!”

I could be pierced in the blink of an eye.

That pressure was strangely welcome.

I watch his movements with my eyes wide open.

Is it because of the excessive use of my eyes? Is it because I can't even dare to blink?

A throbbing pain rushes through my eyes, and further, it feels as if my brain is burning up.

Paradoxically, in that pain, the world flows even more slowly.

Now there is only one thing to see.

It was only the path I had to take to step forward.

Thud.

The distance shortened again.

The muscles of my lower body and waist, squeezed to the limit for a single step, scream.

I clearly realized how insufficient my movement art and footwork training had been.

“Sh-! ut-! u-! p-!”

Shouting at my pitiful body that was screaming in pain, I take another step.

So as not to forget the sensation of this moment.

After a moment of throwing my body, focusing only on the footwork.

At some point, I realized.

That I had finally reached the distance where the sword could reach.

The moment I recognized that fact, the trajectory I saw changed.

I see a single beautiful line advancing straight towards his heart.

Before my thoughts could intervene, my sword was already advancing along that trajectory.

Wavering here and there.

Like a fool.

I thought that because I had focused on footwork, I might have forgotten how to swing a sword again.

A shabby sword strike that had not reached Sword Unification.

Naturally, that sword strike was blocked by the Blood Shadow Ghost Spear's spear shaft.

Clang!

The blade that clashed with his spear shaft screams.

A sword whose edge was already worn out.

I could tell instinctively.

The sword is breaking.

Whether he felt the same sensation, he smiles slyly.

Crack!!

Soon, along with the sword's last cry, the sword broke in two.

The sight of the broken blade flying into the air is seen slowly.

The sight of the slyly smiling Blood Shadow Ghost Spear swinging his spear, using the momentum from parrying the sword, too.

I bent my upper body back with all my might, as if my waist would break.

Soon, the spearhead passed by, grazing the front of my nose.

I used my left arm to support myself on the ground and raised my upper body again.

“Cough.”

I saw the face of the man who was coughing up blood.

And the sight of the half-broken sword embedded in his solar plexus.

At the very last moment.

It was the result of throwing the half-broken sword in my right hand at the same time I bent my waist.

“Damn…… it…….”

At the sight of the Blood Shadow Ghost Spear spitting out curses, the slowed world returned to its original speed.

Thanks to the dying man's appearance, an important issue came to mind belatedly.

“Where is Hyeok Ilso now?”

“How…… do you…… know that guy?”

“Shut up and just tell me where Hyeok Ilso is.”

The man gritted his teeth, forced the corners of his mouth up, and answered.

“If you keep running wild like this…… you'll meet him eventually……. And that day will be…… your death anniversary.”

He said it as if he was casting a curse, but it couldn't have been more welcome news.

“This method was the right answer.”

Because it sounded like I was heading straight for Hyeok Ilso.

The Blood Shadow Ghost Spear, who had tried to say something upon seeing my smile, seemed to have lost strength in his legs and collapsed.

And he could never move his body again.

Soon, a shout came from behind.

“Senior Brother!!”

“B-big bro! A-are you okay?”

I turned around and looked back.

The men in black were all sprawled out, and Junior Sister and Nam Geon were looking at me with faces full of worry.

“I'm fine.”

After answering appropriately, I clasped my hands in a fist-and-palm salute towards the man standing next to Junior Sister.

Towards the man who had suddenly jumped into the fight a moment ago and helped us.

“I apologize for the late greeting. My surname is Jin, and my name is Yuseong. Thank you for helping us.”

At my greeting, that man also hurriedly returned the fist-and-palm salute.

“I am Yeongcheon, a disciple of the Mount Heng Sect.”

At the man's answer, a thought of ‘as expected’ came to mind.

The voice I heard. And through the face I glimpsed during the battle, I had a thought of ‘what if.’

Yeongcheon. I had met this man before. To be precise, he looked ten years younger than the face I knew.

In my life before regression, when I had returned to Heavenly Sun Village after finishing ten years of training.

The man who saved me when I was about to be killed by the Black Thugs sent from the Steel Sinew Sect.

The man who advised me to leave Jianghu because I had no talent for martial arts.

The man who was torn to death by the Vajra Dog Nam Geon, no, Nam Seup, while confronting the Steel Sinew Sect, was none other than Yeongcheon.

But to think that man would help me again.

The connections between people were truly something you could never figure out.

“More importantly, little brother. How about taking care of your wounds first? No matter how I look at it, you don't seem to be in a fine state.”

The man who had helped me said with a worried expression.

It was a strange feeling.

The face of that man I knew was in his mid-thirties with a square jaw.

His expression was also resolute, but his eyes had a somehow grayish light in them.

A gaze that seemed weary from life. Yet it was a face that seemed to have gritted its teeth to move forward.

But the expression on the face of this young man in his mid-twenties was somewhat different.

He was full of life. It was a face that had not yet been beaten down by the harsh winds and waves of the world.

But there was also something that hadn't changed.

A worried gaze.

A sense of chivalry that would jump in without considering the consequences if someone was being treated unjustly.

It seemed that he wasn't like that because he had gotten older, but that he had been that kind of person since he was young.

Perhaps because of that personality, ten years later, he had such a resolute face.

Having been beaten here and there by the storms of life.

And yet, the future him saved me.

And yet, he fought against the trash like the Steel Sinew Sect.

Even though I had only met him once, I felt a sense of gladness.

“It is truly good to see that you haven't changed.”

As I said that with a smile, Yeongcheon tilted his head.

“Little brother. Have you seen me before?”

Soon, Yeongcheon made an urgent expression.

“We must start treatment at once. You kept talking to yourself while fighting earlier, so it seems you're seeing things due to severe blood loss.”

He had a worried expression, just like when he had saved me that day.

At that moment. Nam Geon chimed in from the side.

“I-it's okay, Taoist big bro. Our b-big bro often says strange things. B-but he's a good big bro.”

Yeongcheon looked back and forth between me and Nam Geon with a confused expression.

It was a truly bizarre sight.

Originally, those two were supposed to meet ten years later.

And on the day they met, Yeongcheon was fated to be torn to death by Nam Geon.

I wonder if Yeongcheon knows.

That I saved him from ten years in the future.

Laughter flowed out.

“Hahahaha.”

It didn't matter.

It wasn't as if I was going around cleaning up trash in the hopes that someone would recognize me.

It was just self-satisfaction.

“Hahahahaha.”

Yes. Self-satisfaction.

I had saved a man who might become a chivalrous hero in the future.

That fact was so delightful that laughter burst out without me realizing it.

“Hahahahahaha.”

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