Chapter 202

Half an hour. A full thirty minutes.

I thought that even if my opponent was the Fire King, if I put everything I had into it, I could make him retreat a little—a very little.

At least, I had thought so until just now.

How does that make any sense?

I backed away with a stunned expression.

He had caught a spearhead spinning with internal energy in his bare hand. That made about as much sense as sticking your hand into a grinder.

But if the owner of that hand was Jeok Cheongang, the Fire King, the story changed.

Drip, hiss.

When the molten metal struck the ground, steam rose into the air. Jeok Cheongang clicked his tongue at the sight.

“Maybe it melted so quickly because it was scrap iron. We’ve probably received plenty of wealth this time, so tell them to use better iron.”

“H-How did you do that?”

“You can do it too.”

“Me?”

“Of course. If you possess at least two jiazi’s worth of internal energy¹ and master our sect’s martial arts to the utmost.”

“……”

“Easy, right?”

As if it were easy.

When I made an incredulous face, Jeok Cheongang opened his mouth and let out a huge yawn.

“You have plenty of time to spare. If I were you, I’d spend it swinging my spear one more time.”

“I was just about to.”

I glanced at the time limit floating in the air and pulled out another spear.

Sixteen minutes remained. Nearly half the time had already passed.

I only need to make him retreat one step. Just one step…

But that was easier said than done.

I glared at Jeok Cheongang, who was standing leisurely in the same spot as before, and drew in a deep breath.

“Huuup—”

Whoosh!

At the same time, I kicked off the ground and charged. With one long stride that erased the distance between us, I thrust out my spear.

Screeeech!

The corners of Jeok Cheongang’s mouth rose as he watched me.

“I believe I said we were just getting started.”

Boom!

He stamped his foot just once.

The effect was terrifying.

The ground shook as though an earthquake had struck, and a flock of birds perched on the bare branches took flight.

In the slowed-down world, Jeok Cheongang’s hand blurred for an instant and struck away dozens of stones floating in the air.

Straight toward me.

Shishishishik!

The dozens of stones had been fired with internal energy. Each one was no different from a deadly hidden weapon.

They must have possessed even greater destructive power than the Head Elder’s finger-flicking technique I had faced in the past.

But…

I’ve grown stronger too.

Humm. Humm. Humm.

My spear let out a deep hum.

I felt a unity with it on an entirely different level from when I had remained at First Rate.

The Jin Family’s Spear Technique, which had already reached grand mastery, and my footwork technique had achieved perfect unity.

The insight I had gained after crossing the wall of the Peak realm had melted into them, revealing spear paths I could never have imagined before.

And then there were my increased stats.

I can do this.

Crack.

The spear shaft buckled under the force of my crushing grip.

And in the next moment—

Whoooosh!

The power compressed like a spring shot forward. Wind burst from the arc of the spearhead as I swung it sideways with all my strength.

It was the release of internal energy—and a storm I had summoned.

Pssshhh.

Fine dust scattered in every direction. They were the last traces of the stones caught in the spear’s path.

“Huh. Look at you.”

The obstacle was gone. Now it was time to strike his body.

I charged at Jeok Cheongang, who looked both dumbfounded and pleased.

Whoosh! Shishishishik!

The spearhead, brimming with internal energy, cut through the air.

Jeok Cheongang bent lightly at the waist and dodged it. At the same time, heat surged from his right hand.

Whoom!

Blazing flames shot out. It was a mass of qi condensed from powerful Scorching Yang Qi.

I gritted my teeth and swung the spear shaft.

Clang! Krrrra-boom!

A deafening roar erupted, and tremendous force and heat washed over my entire body. Jeok Cheongang burst into loud laughter as he looked at me standing there, blackened from head to toe.

“What kind of idiot tries to knock that away?”

“……Hah. I almost had it.”

“Don’t make me laugh. If this old man had used all his strength, you would have died just now.”

I answered bluntly.

“I hit it because I thought I could.”

“And that’s why you look like that?”

“……I didn’t know it would turn out like this.”

“I’ll praise you for not collapsing in such an unsightly fashion. And for managing to block it in the end.”

“But weren’t you only supposed to defend?”

“Who told you that?”

Damn. Come to think of it, he hadn’t.

I tore off my half-charred shirt and threw it aside.

“Well, for someone who calls himself the Fire King, aren’t you using a little too much force against a kid young enough to be your grandson?”

“You’re a kid still wet behind the ears, yet you swing a spear at an old man old enough to be your great-grandfather? And you still call yourself the Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi?”

“You’re a Supreme Peak master, Old Master!”

“You possess the Heavenly Martial Physique.”

“Do you seriously call that mal?”

“If it isn’t mal—words—then is it a foal?”²

“……”

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Grind.

I tightened my grip on the spear and let out a hot breath.

“Hoo. Now I’m doing this properly.”

Jeok Cheongang scratched inside his ear with his pinky.

“Hm? What did you say? I can’t hear a weakling who got turned into charcoal with one hit.”

“……”

God, I hated this.

When he had been shredding the Roaring Fury Swordsman, his banter had been the most satisfying thing in the world. But now that I was on the receiving end, it was enough to make my stomach turn.

“What are you going to do if I actually make you retreat even one step?”

“It would be faster for the Heavenly Demon to become the Abbot of Shaolin.”

“Grrk.”

“There should only be enough time left for you to drink a glass of cold water. Do you think you can make this old man retreat before then? Not a chance.”

Jeok Cheongang was telling the truth. Only about three minutes remained.

Looking back at the way our fight had gone so far, the Quest’s failure was practically a foregone conclusion.

But I still had one trump card I hadn’t shown him.

I continued the conversation naturally.

“You’ll really regret saying that.”

“What do I have to regret? I was only trying to see how skilled you are in the first place. You do show some promise, though, so if you continue to work hard…”

“That’s a shame.”

“Hm?”

I let out a deliberate sigh at Jeok Cheongang, who looked puzzled. I made myself look like someone who was genuinely at a loss over how unfortunate it was.

“If you didn’t attack at all and only defended, I could succeed easily… But I suppose those weren’t the conditions.”

“If this old man only defends, you can make me retreat?”

A spark flashed in Jeok Cheongang’s eyes. Fighting spirit—or curiosity.

I couldn’t tell exactly what emotion lay in his gaze, but he had certainly taken the bait halfway.

I waved a hand as though I hadn’t noticed.

“No. Forget you heard that. If I succeeded, wouldn’t it damage your reputation?”

That was the clincher.

“……Look at this brat.”

Jeok Cheongang’s cheek twitched as he made a strange face. Finally, he nodded.

“I can see straight through your little scheme, but fine. Go ahead and try.”

“You mean it?”

“Haven’t you heard that the Fire King’s word is worth a thousand pieces of gold? Once this old man says something, he always keeps his word.”

“……Ah. Yes.”

He even changed the first word and plagiarized the proverb.

Regardless, I had achieved what I wanted. I discarded the half-charred spear and took out my third one.

It’ll probably become disposable.

But considering it the price of completing a Peak-Grade Quest, it was an absurd bargain.

Jeok Cheongang narrowed his eyes as I adjusted my stance.

“You’re not planning to use poison or some hidden trick, are you?”

“Come on. Of course not.”

I smiled brightly and added:

“A real man settles things with one big shot.”

Gooooong.

The spear shaft, which had swallowed forty-five years of internal energy, trembled.

Kraaaaaash!

A massive boulder went flying, and a tree as thick as a man was uprooted.

At the center of the clearing, which had been swept by a storm, Jeok Cheongang stood tall.

He had been driven back exactly five steps.

“You—you…”

Jeok Cheongang stared back and forth between me and the devastated surroundings, looking half out of his mind.

The beautiful wilderness that had surrounded us only moments ago had become a grotesque landscape of broken and uprooted trees and scattered boulders.

All of this was the result of a single thrust—One Annihilation.

“W-What in the world did you do?”

“Well, I’m not sure. I didn’t expect it to be this powerful either.”

It was my first time using One Annihilation after reaching the Peak realm.

I had expected its destructive power to be greater, since my internal energy had increased by leaps and bounds, but I hadn’t imagined this.

Jeok Cheongang shouted at my uncertain answer.

“You think that makes any sense?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Wow, this is seriously—”

The world spun before my eyes, and my legs buckled.

It was the result of pouring out every bit of my strength and internal energy without leaving behind even a grain.

A wrinkled hand caught my staggering body. The gaze of the man looking down at me was impossibly complex.

“I’ll hear what happened later. Rest for now.”

At his words, powerful energy flowed into me through my back. It had to be internal energy Jeok Cheongang was channeling into me.

I had expected it to be scorching, like swallowing the sun, but his internal energy was warm and vast.

The comforting warmth brought on an irresistible wave of drowsiness.

“Old Master…”

“Don’t resist. Let your body relax.”

“……I won, right?”

“Hm?”

“I really won, right?”

“……!”

Jeok Cheongang’s eyelids trembled. At last, he answered in a hoarse voice.

“Yes. This old man lost.”

“Heh heh heh.”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

Even though the fight had been subject to countless restrictions, I was filled with joy at having made Jeok Cheongang—a master counted among the greatest under heaven—retreat.

Ding.

System

Quest One Step Back was completed successfully!

Quest reward…

The fading sound of the System notification was the last thing I heard before I fell into a deep sleep.

That boy. He sure sleeps well.

Jeok Cheongang stared silently at the dead-asleep Jin Taekyung for a long while.

His cleanly sculpted features made him look like an innocent boy, yet they also gave the impression of a young man who had already experienced the world once.

What a strange boy. What a strange boy.

The longer Jeok Cheongang watched him, the more that thought took root.

He had thought he had already peeled away one layer of the boy’s shell, only to find even harder, more dazzling scales hidden beneath it.

A sleeping dragon.

This young man, who was sleeping peacefully enough to snore, was a dragon that had yet to obtain its dragon pearl.

That only made Jeok Cheongang more curious. How far would Jin Taekyung go? Would he live long enough to see the boy’s true limits?

Especially that final strike…

Jeok Cheongang looked around once more and let out a hollow laugh.

Could this really be a scene created by a young prodigy who had only just passed twenty?

He was certain that even the Sword Saint of years past had not been capable of this much.

The Martial God. Perhaps he could have done it.

A martial artist born human and called a god. The one person who had inspired awe in the Fire King, Jeok Cheongang.

What had his youth been like—the man revered not merely as the greatest under heaven, but as the greatest of all time?

As Jeok Cheongang imagined Jin Taekyung as he was now alongside the Martial God in his youth, he suddenly let out a quiet laugh.

For this old man to think such a thing… That must mean this boy’s talent is comparable to the Martial God’s.

Jeok Cheongang gazed at Jin Taekyung with profound eyes, then rose to his feet.

By now, a desire had begun to sprout within his heart—a desire to place a dragon pearl in the hands of that young sleeping dragon.

Fly freely above those clouds. Become a Heavenly Dragon capable of covering the world with rain and wind.

Grrrrrk.

At the snore that came instead of an answer, Jeok Cheongang burst into hearty laughter.