It seemed like Gu Pung wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer against Yook Dae Rang.
Originally, he would glance at the members of the Lotus Peak even in the middle of his fight but he hadn’t done so even once after starting his fight. It meant that the situation was that serious.
“I am going to go and help my senior uncle, so leave aside the needless worries and don’t interfere. It’s a warning.”
“Younger brother, are you out of your mind?”
Jang Hong looked at Ju Seo Cheon as if he was saying something absurd. He looked at Ju Seo Cheon as if he was looking at a madman.
“I’m going.”
At times, it would be more clear to show it with your actions rather than with words.
“Ah!”
The warrior of the Murim Association that was at the forefront let out a bewildered voice. It was because Ju Seo Cheon passed the guards even before they could stop him and approached the pirates in an instant.
“No!”
Jang Hong yelled and tried to chase him back.
“You can’t!”
However, the warrior of the Murim Association stopped Jang Hong as if he wouldn’t let it happen twice.
“Let me go! My younger brother…”
Jang Hong couldn’t continue speaking and shut his mouth. Disbelief and shock appeared on his face.
“Just what…?”
Even Zhuge Zak doubted his eyes. No, it wasn’t only him. Everyone was like that except for Gu Pung.
Their eyes were looking at Ju Seo Cheon swinging his sword flashily among the pirates.
“Wh, what is he!”
A comparatively small pirate let out a bewildered voice. Something flashed in front of him and the head of a comrade that was by his side flew off. He felt like a ghost had possessed him.
“I don’t have time so come at me all at once.”
Ju Seo Cheon opened his eyes sharply. Those eyes resembled the eyes of a beast.
‘Wh, what kind of eyes…’
The small pirate trembled. His body didn’t listen to him the moment he looked at those eyes.
“You idiot! Catch the brat quickly!”
Another pirate charged forward. He was a pirate that was made fun of for not being aware of his surroundings.
And that mistake of his called for his own death.
Ju Seo Cheon took half a step sideways to lightly dodge the sword that attacked with the intent to smash his head and stabbed at the side of the pirate.
“Kuhuk!”
The sword stabbed his lungs through the side. The pirate felt his breath clog and his consciousness faded away.
“From now on I won’t be able to take care of you so you should bear this in mind, warriors. You shouldn’t focus on being on the offensive but being on the defensive”
Ju Seo Cheon pulled out his sword from the pirate’s lungs and then kicked the pirate that had difficulty breathing into the Yangtze River.
‘Plum Blossom Haze Sword!’
A pleasant feeling spread through Ju Seo Cheon’s hands. The technique released great power because Ju Seo Cheon had completed all twelve stars of it.
Pabat!
“Kuogh!”
One pirate bent his body backwards and Ju Seo Cheon’s sword grazed his chin with a narrow margin.
“Hm. I will have to get accustomed to it a bit.”
Not even Ju Seo Cheon had much experience fighting on a ship as there the times he had to fight on waters could be counted on one hand. Originally, the sword line that was drawn horizontally should have cut off his head but he wasn’t able to do so. Ju Seo Cheon controlled his senses once again and stabbed down his sword on the chest of the pirate that wanted to stand up.
“Kuk!”
The flow of the internal energy was disrupted as the sword struck precisely on his forehead. His brain stiffened and he lost consciousness as his muscles loosened up.
There was no hesitation in Ju Seo Cheon’s movements. He continued attacking even more fiercely as if trying to kill one more enemy.
“You rat like bastard!”
When he glanced sideways to find the origin of the voice, he saw a pirate at his left charging at him while holding an axe.
Ju Seo Cheon kicked the pirate he was facing and raised his sword to block the axe.
Sparks flew with the sound of metal clashing.
“Grrrrr!”
The pirate used all his strength to push the axe forward and his face turned red. But his axe didn’t move an inch even when he used all his strength.
“Hat!”
Ju Seo Cheon let out a yell almost for the first time since the battle. He started to parry up the axe upwards and the axe stabbed the forehead of the pirate like that.
“Keugh!”
The pirate let out his last cry and fell without strength.
“Hii, hiiik!”
Close to ten pirates lost their lives in an instant and they started to feel fear and uneasiness only then.
‘Five Elements Plum Blossom Sword Art.’
Ju Seo Cheon changed sword techniques.
Swift sword techniques weren’t good to use because of the shaking of the ship. It was much better to use the Five Elements Plum Blossom Sword Art as stability and balance were its focus.
His fierce intent changed but that didn’t mean that he was going easy on his enemies.
He boasted great stability that people watching him felt comfortable and took the lives of the pirates.
‘Ugh. Originally, I should be able to take care of them after exchanging only a few blows with them but I can’t do that well as my boundary is low. Should I have increased my rank if I had known that I would be revealing my martial arts like this?’
Ju Seo Cheon’s boundary was a bit vague, so to say.
He had already completed the Plum Blossom Life Arts long ago and he stopped practicing the Universal Plum Blossom Breathing Method when it reached the ten stars on purpose. It was because he felt like his boundary was going to increase if he completed it.
If his martial arts increased in overall, he would unavoidably stand out even if he didn’t want that. It was because something like aura would come out from his body.
It would be troublesome if he attracted attention so he didn’t complete it on purpose and also didn’t increase his rank.
But it didn’t matter for the sword techniques as he was able to control it as much as he wanted so he had used the intelligence as the Grand Master and completed all of them.
His skills in the sword was at the Grand Master rank, his martial arts were second rate and if he went a bit overboard it was first rate so it was hard to classify him properly.
Whatever the case, if his boundary was low then his body wouldn’t be able to follow it so even if his sword was perfect it would soon strain his body.
Currently Ju Seo Cheon was in that state. He tried to perform high leveled techniques that didn’t match with his body so the balance was about to break.
‘The same goes for Master but I can’t waste anymore time!’
Ju Seo Cheon’s movements became fast and changed.
They couldn’t contain their shock while watching the things unfolding below them.
“What is that!”
At first, they couldn’t understand why they were tasked with the role of reconnaissance.
It was to observe and report if something happened just in case.
But who was it that was below there!
The Slipping Water Spearman and a Hundred Expert that reigned as being almost the absolute strongest in Yangtze River.
On top of that, even if all the other pirates were third rate, they weren’t at a disadvantage at all as they were on the Yangtze River.
They didn’t doubt their victory as the situation was too advantageous for them. They took a leisurely drink and chatted among them.
But something unexpected happened not long after the battle started.
“You said that he was the flashy yet frail one!”
They had somewhat heard information about their opponents before ambushing them and the nicknames they were called with in Mount Hua was also known by the pirates.
A brat of the Lotus Peak that had internal energy but had nothing besides that. They had evaluated that he would fall easily with some light attacks.
“That’s not the case at all!”
Their information was wrong.
They didn’t know if Ju Seo Cheon was hiding it or if their information was wrong.
He was such a monster that they couldn’t believe the nickname he had at all.
Ju Seo Cheon was massacring their allied pirates regardless of being in a disadvantageous environment of being on top of a ship.
There was no retreat for them. They could only charge forward and the numerous pirates spurted out blood and fell in the river.
The kid swinging his sword without minding their situation at all was terror itself.
“Shouldn’t we warn the fleet master?”
The Nine Fleets of the Water Forest was an association of nine separate fleets so there were obviously nine fleet masters and Yook Dae Rang was one of them.
“No, stop it. He is fighting against the Fourteenth Gallant Sword right now. It seems like the fleet master has an overwhelming advantage… he may lose concentration if we tell him that and he might get hurt. You should know well what happens then, right?”
Yook Dae Rang was quite cruel and brutal. There were already several comrades of them that got beheaded for no reason.
“Al, also…will the fleet master really get defeated?”
“Right, he’s none other than the Slipping Water Spearman. There’s no way he will lose on water. Even if all the small fry get defeated, the one that will come out victorious in the end is the fleet master.”
The scouts gulped and looked below them.
Che che cheng!
The sword and the spear clashed several times. The two weapons swirled like a storm and the air exploded.
‘What is it?’
Yook Dae Rang glanced beyond Gu Pung’s shoulders.
He could see that his underlings were screaming and falling down the ship.
The reactions in front of him didn’t seem normal at all, and something strange seemed to be happening.
It was the existence of the flashy yet frail one, Ju Seo Cheon.
“Hat! Where are you looking at!”
There was no way the pinnacle expert Gu Pung wouldn’t notice that. He thought that he had discovered an opening and stabbed him with his sword.
Sweeeak!
The tip of his sword drew a line and extended forward and then a terrible sound exploded.
“Hmph! It’s useless!”
Yook Dae Rang raised his spear diagonally and the part that connected the shaft with the blade stopped Gu Pung’s sword precisely.
“It’s your mistake looking down on the warriors of the Murim Association!”
Gu Pung yelled gallantly.
Compared to Yook Dae Rang, who had some leisure, Gu Pung was concentrating all his senses on this battle.
He didn’t know what was happening behind him. He just saw an opening in Yook Dae Rang and misunderstood that the warriors of the Murim Association were the ones acting actively.
“Tch!”
Yook Dae Rang clicked his tongue.
Even if he held the advantage, he couldn’t drop his guard in front of the Fourteenth Gallant Sword. His name wasn’t spread in the Midlands for nothing.
He would have won already if he was an opponent like that. It was proof that he was still fighting against him.
‘Damn.’
Gu Pung’s face contorted. It was only annoying for Yook Dae Rang but Gu Pung’s situation was serious.
The ship floating on the water shook and he was influenced by that shaking so there were also problems in his sword.
“I heard that the Fourteen Stances of the Plum Blossom Sword were amazing but that is only for when it is used on land.”
“Nonsense!”
“Didn’t your sword shake just now?”
Yook Dae Rang smirked.
Originally, that stab should have been a straight one but it trembled minutely. That wasn’t done on purpose but rather, it turned out like that because they were on a ship.
“Compared to that, my Still Water Spear Arts doesn’t shake and is really overwhelming kuhuhu.”
The source of the Still Water Spear Arts was the organisation. It was a spear technique that was granted to people with skills, not an ordinary soldier. He was that high levelled. The spear that unleashed above the water was fast, strong, precise and perfect.
The shaking of the ship posed no problem at all. It was the opposite. It moved as if it had become one with the water.
“I now know how great the sword of Mount Hua is, so let’s end this now. You were able to serve as an appetizer, Fourteenth Gallant Sword.”
Kwaaagh.
Yook Dae Rang held his spear more tightly. Blue veins pouted out and his muscles twitched.
Gu Pung tensed up as Yook Dae Rang changed gears. He concentrated all his senses and waited for the next attack.
‘It’s big trouble.’
Gu Pung also knew that Yook Dae Rang was acting partly as a scout and that made his insides burn down even more.
If he used all of his strength, then he wouldn’t be able to hold on for long.
In the split second when they were looking at each other–!
“Uaaaagh!”
A pirate screamed and got thrown over Gu Pung’s head. His body increased in speed and almost squashed Yook Dae Rang.
“Hut!”
Yook Dae Rang swung his spear unconsciously and split the body of the flying pirate in half.
“Just what…”
Yook Dae Rang looked behind Gu Pung.
Ju Seo Cheon was standing in that place.
“Hello Yook Dae Rang. Nice to meet you. From now on, I will kill you.”