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Chapter 78. The Black Flame Dragon Who Leaps over the Trial (6)
Geum-pyo was the eldest son of the Lee family’s mill.
All his life, he had watched his parents work at the mill, and he had known that someday, he would do that work as well.
It was not because the work of a mill was impressive, nor because it was something that stirred his excitement.
It was because he knew that if he was born the son of a mill family and worked at the mill, he would at least not starve to death.
There had been no special reason he entered the Taeul Sect.
If one entered the Taeul Sect, two meals a day were provided.
His parents, who had to raise three sons who ate well when the mill was not doing well, sent him to the Taeul Sect without thinking much of it.
Later, he would have to serve about two years of mandatory service in the Murim Alliance, but before that, where else could one get two meals a day?
Moreover, if he went to the Taeul Sect, Senior Brother So-un and Senior Sister Sa-ryeon were there too.
Thanks to the two people he had grown up with since childhood, Geum-pyo could be freed from the burden of being the eldest son only while he was in the Taeul Sect, and he could act spoiled to his heart’s content.
Even when he heard that Gye Cheol-yeong had entered the sect, he had not thought much of it.
No, if anything, he was happy that the meals that had only been two a day increased to three.
Sometimes meat side dishes came out, and if he humored that filthy personality, he even received candied fruit, so to Geum-pyo, Gye Cheol-yeong was not that bad a person.
That was why he did not understand why Senior Brother Jin So-un and Senior Sister Sa-ryeon were at odds with Gye Cheol-yeong.
They might have been people born in the Taeul Sect, but even then, was their life not one that would end as martial warriors of the Taeul Sect?
Gye Cheol-yeong’s family was rich, and his father had a lot of money, so he was said to invite experts of the murim and learn martial arts separately.
Could people who had learned only the martial arts of the Taeul Sect really defeat someone like that?
But he had done it.
Senior Brother Jin So-un had.
A kind senior brother who had talent not particularly different from his own, who had endured all of Gye Cheol-yeong’s atrocities alone, and who yielded the snacks and food he should have eaten to his junior brothers.
That senior brother, whom people said was smart and would later work as the Hall Master of the Outer Hall, had begun walking a different path.
‘Senior Brother, just what are you thinking?’
He resisted and fought against the fate decided for him, refusing to retreat even an inch.
The story of how he had risked his life for the unimpressive Taeul Sect, scattered his Innate True Qi, and intimidated the Iron Sword Sect Leader was something Sa-ryeon told him again and again, and every time he heard it, something in his chest stirred.
He thought that perhaps Senior Brother had changed.
He thought perhaps Senior Brother wanted to go to the Murim Academy in Gye Cheol-yeong’s place and change his entire fate from the roots.
‘But that was not it either.’
When he saw him yield to Sa-ryeon at the end of the Appraisal Envoy’s test, he felt that Senior Brother was still the same Senior Brother.
If, in childhood, he had taken Gye Cheol-yeong’s atrocities in their place and shared candied fruit with them,
Then now that he had grown up, he was trying to take the atrocities of the murim in their place and once again yield to them a chance to fly.
And that was for them, who would work at the mill once their mandatory service in the Murim Alliance ended.
That was when Geum-pyo, Eun-ho, and Dong-ryong first realized that they, too, had a new dream.
‘Are we truly allowed to dream, Senior Brother?’
Perhaps they had given up in advance because it was something they could not have.
Perhaps they had not tried to go there because, from the start, it was a place they could not reach.
Yet Senior Brother So-un had always raised his sword and risked his life for them.
And because he never said things like how much he was sacrificing, or that everything was for their sake, they could not even tell him to stop.
That was why they had decided to try repaying the debt they owed Senior Brother now.
Because they were no longer children who knew nothing and ate candied fruit from him.
They thought that if they somehow put Senior Brother into the Murim Academy, perhaps they could lessen some of the debt they had owed until now.
“That is what we should be doing, so what are you doing?! Dong-ryong!!”
Geum-pyo, who should have been facing Twin Curtain Stronghold’s bandits while properly maintaining the Sword Formation, was now blocking Dong-ryong alone.
When the villagers joined the fight with bamboo spears and sickles, the momentum had completely shifted to this side.
The fierce battle gained some breathing room, and there was even a small gap to catch one’s breath, but the problem was that the villagers were people who had not learned martial arts.
No matter how confused the bandits were after inhaling so much smoke, it was an obvious fact that they were martial artists who had learned martial arts.
The moment the villagers sprayed blood from the blind swords the bandits swung wildly, Dong-ryong had leaped out of the Sword Formation.
Heavenly Killing Star.
How shocked had he been when he first heard that story?
If not for Eldest Senior Brother telling him not to worry too much, he would not have slept properly that night.
‘Senior Brother! I think you were wrong!’
The Heavenly Killing Star did not merely refer to terrifying killing intent.
This was a demonic talent the heavens had created to kill humans.
When one thought of the countless Heavenly Killing Stars of the past who had been ordinary people without having learned a single strand of martial arts, yet had gone around killing experts of the murim indiscriminately, one could understand just how terrifying this talent was.
And Geum-pyo was now witnessing that terrifying talent with his own eyes.
Dong-ryong was spraying killing intent everywhere and swinging his sword at the bandits.
Even though he was clearly his cute youngest brother, the sight of red light pouring from his eyes made him feel alien.
Especially whenever he faced martial artists who seemed several times stronger than him, the way he consumed each moment’s experience and grew sharply did not look like something of the human world.
In the blink of an eye, the sword forms of the Minor Heaven Sword Art changed, and in the blink of an eye, his achievement in the Great Heaven Sword Art changed.
There was no defense in the sword arts Dong-ryong used.
When one watched him scatter only offense while avoiding the opponent’s attacks, it made one wonder whether Dong-ryong had some enemy who had killed his parents that they did not know about.
Now, even the bandits were terrified by Dong-ryong’s insane movements and began fleeing one by one.
And as if he would not leave a single one of them alive, Dong-ryong desperately stepped with the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps and persistently harvested their lives.
At that Evil Spirit-like appearance, covered head to toe in blood, even the villagers began to fear him.
There was no longer any battle.
The bandits were already busy fleeing or begging for their lives.
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Even so, Dong-ryong still craved blood to the very end.
In the end, Geum-pyo sent his sword flying toward Dong-ryong.
“Come to your senses! Dong-ryong!”
“……I will kill them! I will protect them… I will kill to protect them!! I will… kill them! …All of them!”
As if he had forgotten that Geum-pyo was his elder brother, Dong-ryong’s sword was frighteningly sharp.
It was too much for Geum-pyo to face Dong-ryong as he copied Jin So-un’s sword forms exactly as he had once seen them.
“Please come to your senses!”
He had sent Eun-ho to inform Jin So-un, but that instant-like span of time felt like an eternity.
There was the thought that he could not let his younger brother become an Evil Spirit like this, and the desperate fear that if things continued this way, he might die by his younger brother’s hand.
“Lee Dong-ryong!! Come to your senses! Do you not want to go to the Murim Alliance with Senior Brother Jin So-un?!”
“……!”
For an instant, Dong-ryong’s movements flinched and stopped.
Geum-pyo raised his voice even louder.
“If you become an Evil Spirit like this, we will not even be able to live together in the Taeul Sect! Is that truly what you want?!”
“……!”
Flinch, flinch.
The body that had stopped began moving again.
The killing intent that had been directed toward the bandits besides Geum-pyo was fired straight at Geum-pyo.
As if facing a mortal enemy trying to remove his killing star nature, an even fiercer attack came in.
Geum-pyo’s hands and feet began to tangle.
“Urgh! Lee Dong-ryong, you……”
In the end, the moment came when he had no choice but to stare blankly as Dong-ryong’s sword thrust toward his vital point.
“You did well.”
CLANG!
A sword that was entirely black from hilt to blade blocked Dong-ryong’s sword.
“Eldest Senior Brother!”
Jin So-un skillfully blocked Dong-ryong’s sword, but he was less sharp than usual.
Judging from his appearance, he was already greatly exhausted.
His True Qi had probably been drained from facing the Stronghold Masters of Twin Curtain Stronghold.
“How long has it been?”
“It has almost been two quarters of an hour.”
“It is not too late.”
“Truly?”
“……Yes.”
Jin So-un thought it was fortunate.
The reason he had taught the Gold, Silver, and Bronze brothers Moving Circulation and made them devote themselves to it further was because he had learned that Dong-ryong possessed the Heavenly Killing Star.
The oral formulas of the Taeul True Scripture made one look at oneself from a third-person perspective and observe one’s inner appearance in greater detail.
If it was the Heavenly Killing Star, Dong-ryong would instinctively operate Moving Circulation so that his body would not tire, and as long as he was reciting the Taeul True Scripture, the possibility that he would come to his senses was much greater.
“What should we do?”
“There is nothing we can do. Dong-ryong has no choice but to wake up on his own.”
“What if he cannot wake up?”
“……He will wake up.”
Geum-pyo’s eyes shook violently at Jin So-un’s words.
Had he ever heard Jin So-un speak with so little confidence?
This was a man who had spoken casually even when they were striking Twin Curtain Stronghold…….
Why had he asked about the time?
If too much time passed, would Dong-ryong be unable to wake up?
Then would Dong-ryong become an Evil Spirit like this?
Geum-pyo felt as if his heart had dropped with a thud.
“Huff, huff, huff. Brother, what happened?”
Eun-ho came running while steam rose from all over his body.
At Eun-ho’s breathless question, Geum-pyo could not answer at all.
‘This is not right. This…… This is not right.’
Only Geum-pyo and Eun-ho had tried to step forward to help Jin So-un.
However, Dong-ryong, who liked Jin So-un so much, clenched his teeth and stubbornly insisted.
So they had deliberately trained at a level that far surpassed their own limits, telling him to try following the training first, but Dong-ryong had endured and followed the training until the moment he fainted.
They could not leave Dong-ryong, who had worked so hard, here.
“Brother! What are you doing!”
“We cannot leave Dong-ryong here!”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Eun-ho! Let us go. We have to take Dong-ryong with us!”
“…….”
Eun-ho had no idea what Geum-pyo was talking about, but he felt that following his words right now, at this moment, was the thing he would not regret later.
“Stay back!”
Jin So-un, who was facing Dong-ryong, stretched out his hand and told them not to come closer, but Geum-pyo charged at Dong-ryong with his sword.
“I will take Dong-ryong with me!”
“Geum-pyo.”
“We will take Dong-ryong with us!”
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.
Because of Geum-pyo, Jin So-un could not swing his sword, and Dong-ryong’s brow suddenly smoothed out.
The Heavenly Killing Star was distinguishing between those stronger and weaker than himself.
“Lee Dong-ryong! Come to your senses! Are you planning to become an Evil Spirit like this?”
“…….”
“You said you wanted to become a chivalrous hero like Eldest Senior Brother! Then do not get drunk on something like a killing star nature!”
“……!”
Dong-ryong’s sword, which had been aiming for Geum-pyo’s vital point, abruptly stopped for an instant, and Geum-pyo dug into that gap.
Dong-ryong strangely bent his arm, then instantly tried to stab his sword into Geum-pyo’s neck.
CLANG!
“Lee Dong-ryong! No matter how much you dislike your eldest brother, this is not right!”
Eun-ho struck away Dong-ryong’s sword.
The two of them began barely blocking Dong-ryong’s sword with a joint attack.
“Lee Dong-ryong! If you keep refusing to listen, we will leave you behind!”
“……!”
Dong-ryong stopped abruptly again.
“Lee Dong-ryong! We brought you because you said you wanted to come too!”
“What are you going to do if we cannot put Eldest Senior Brother into the Murim Academy because of you?!”
“……!!”
Each time Geum-pyo and Eun-ho shouted at the top of their lungs, Dong-ryong’s movements gradually began slowing.
“Come to your senses! Before we really leave you behind!”
Geum-pyo and Eun-ho shouted so loudly that their throats grew hoarse.
Unlike the two boys’ desperate cries, Dong-ryong’s sword charged toward their Vital Acupoints several times, but the two did not stop shouting.
“If you keep refusing to listen, we will send you home!”
Abruptly.
Dong-ryong’s body stopped for the first time.
Then his entire body trembled as if he were convulsing.
Startled, Geum-pyo and Eun-ho looked at Jin So-un, and Jin So-un silently nodded.
“We will send you back home! Go home by yourself!”
“Go and help Father and Mother! Eldest Senior Brother will go with us all the way to the Murim Academy!”
His eyelids rolled back, and he even foamed at the mouth.
Then, suddenly, he vomited blood.
“Blegh. Guhh—.”
Even the sword that had seemed stuck to his hand fell to the ground, and after retching for quite some time, Dong-ryong raised his head.
His red eyes flashed, and he spoke in a tearful voice.
“……No, take me with you too…….”
At Dong-ryong’s appearance, Geum-pyo and Eun-ho let out sigh-laced laughter.
“Haah. You damned brat.”
“Haha, haha. Hahaha.”
Seeing the three brothers, Jin So-un could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
The killing star nature of the Heavenly Killing Star was a desire difficult to put to sleep, but conversely, if one could come to one’s senses even once, one would no longer be devoured by the killing star nature afterward.
Even if he was devoured by the killing star nature, with the experience of awakening, he would be able to regain his reason once more.
By accomplishing something that only three people in the entire history of the murim had achieved, Dong-ryong had come to possess a talent for the ages.