20. Thus, my name is Zaha.
Even while feeling the fear of the twin sabers, Cha Seong-tae muttered as he wandered near the front line.
"Hey, bald bastard. Watch your back. I'm joining in. Do you know what my nickname is? You'll find out after getting stabbed. You don't need to know now. Come on, go wild some more."
In reality, Cha Seong-tae took a few steps forward as if he were about to charge with a dagger, then suddenly stopped.
To anyone watching, it was an act of bravado, but not to the twin sabers.
I couldn't help but chuckle at Cha Seong-tae's antics while swinging my whip.
"Crazy bastard."
Cha Seong-tae, still holding his dagger high, continued to threaten the twin sabers with a laugh.
"Alright, I'm joining in. Let's have a fair fight. I'm going. Baldy, I'm coming for you first. Surprise attack!" As Wi Seon-woo swung his two sabers, he made a quick slash behind him while retracting the whip.
Boom! The wind from the blade cut through the rain and struck Cha Seong-tae like a bolt from the blue.
Startled, Cha Seong-tae screamed and swung his dagger.
With a thud! sound, he managed to deflect the blade's wind but rolled on the ground several times and lay still as if he had fainted.
Cha Seong-tae was pretending to be unconscious, having thought it through.
I spoke to him while fending off the twin sabers' attacks.
"It's not working, get up."
Cha Seong-tae quickly raised his head.
"Oh, really?" Wi Seon-woo, not exerting much energy against me, was merely warning that he would kill us if we continued to act recklessly, which, in any case, could be credited to Cha Seong-tae's efforts.
The rain that Jin Cheol-yong and Jang Deok-soo were watching had a certain charm.
Jin Cheol-yong was likely thinking of a weapon to gift me while watching the rain.
Jang Deok-soo was probably appreciating the rain while listening to our conversation.
I gazed at the rain, reflecting on a life that was unfolding quite differently from my previous one.
Perhaps the three of us were lost in our thoughts while looking at the rain together.
However, the rain falling now was different.
The peaceful rain I had been watching from the pavilion had become part of a fight that I must use to kill my enemies.
I knew that someone would surely die in this rain.
Of course, it wouldn’t be me.
The twin sabers were already dead to me, even when they were not the rookies they are now.
Anyway... why is fighting so enjoyable? Once again, the thunder and lightning that split the sky briefly confirmed the expressions of the three of us.
Wi Seon-woo and Gu Yang-soo realized that I was still smiling.
Gu Yang-soo said, "Start with the whip."
A brief suggestion to either cut or disarm me was met with Wi Seon-woo's reply.
"A sword at the waist."
As the fight continued, Gu Yang-soo grabbed my whip with both sabers, and Wi Seon-woo charged in, cutting the whip in half with a strike infused with internal energy.
If it had turned into a battle of internal energy, the whip wouldn’t have been cut, but since I was facing two opponents, I had no choice but to retreat.
Before I knew it, the whip had become quite short.
As a brief lull in the battle ensued...
I showed the broken whip to Jin Cheol-yong and said, "A belief that doesn’t break... this isn’t it."
Jin Cheol-yong, watching from inside Chunyang Pavilion, must have clearly heard my words.
If a weapon made in Yongdu Cheolbang was cut so easily, it would be normal for Jin Cheol-yong to be boiling with anger.
As soon as I threw the shortened whip, I drew the Black Dragon Sword from my waist.
As I drew the sword, the situation seemed to change, and the two paused for a moment.
"You guys are in big trouble now. I’m better with a sword than with a whip."
Cha Seong-tae interjected.
"Then use the sword first. Why...?" "Just a last shred of conscience, I suppose."
Cha Seong-tae swallowed his words. 'What nonsense is that?' In reality, I briefly thought about the harsh fate of having to kill those I had already killed.
Now that it had come to this, I had no choice.
I had to kill again.
After some contemplation, I stood the sword upright, and the flames of the sword enveloped the blade.
The sword turned a reddish hue.
Each time raindrops fell on it, they sizzled and evaporated.
Cha Seong-tae, of course, and even the twin sabers, showed clear signs of surprise.
Honestly, the martial arts I was about to display were too advanced for someone like me, who had just been ordinary until recently, and I felt a bit awkward.
I needed to provide a reason.
"Do you see it? My sword..."
Cha Seong-tae responded in a dazed tone.
"I see it. The red light..."
I nodded and explained as if to justify myself.
"That's why my name is Zaha."
The sword indeed glowed like the red evening sun, and the raindrops that hit the blade spread out like strange-colored smoke, resembling a sunset.
Even I, who was lying, couldn't help but think that perhaps that was why my name was Zaha.
Anyway, Zaha Guesthouse, that is me.
"It's time to die, you pathetic bastards."
The curse served as the signal for the twin sabers and me to charge at each other.
The sabers they wielded were classified as large swords, and the range of their swings was wide.
This one-on-one fight wasn’t entirely unfavorable for me.
Because of the wide range of their swings, depending on my movements, they could injure each other.
This was possible mainly because I understood their sword techniques.
Swinging the reddening sword, I unleashed the energy of the flame from the blade in a scattered manner before the enemies.
The sword wind was essentially wind, but it carried the heat transmitted from my internal energy.
When the concentration of energy contained within it became more compressed, the sword wind transformed into sword energy.
Although sword energy is a higher-level technique, sometimes the sword wind can be more effective.
There are times when a single sword energy, which consumes more internal energy, is effective, and there are also times when it is best to swing the sword without using either when conserving internal energy.
Of course, there are many higher-level techniques of sword energy, and their characteristics vary by sect.
Because of this, during a fight, there are many decisions to be made, and these can determine victory or defeat, making it an endless pursuit to build practical skills as much as training martial arts.
While deflecting the four sabers swung by the twin sabers, I kept these thoughts in mind and devised a plan.
At that moment, Cha Seong-tae took a stance as if he were about to jump out again, holding his dagger.
This time, he kept his mouth tightly shut, filled with killing intent. "..."
He truly intended to join in with a surprise attack.
The twin sabers did not know Cha Seong-tae's abilities.
Wi Seon-woo, with a twisted expression, took a step back and swung his saber toward Cha Seong-tae with his right hand.
I immediately realized why Wi Seon-woo was retreating while blocking Gu Yang-soo's sword, and I swung my sword in response.
The moment Wi Seon-woo unleashed the sword wind toward Cha Seong-tae, my sword, extending simultaneously, cut through Wi Seon-woo's forearm.
Thud! Following that, Cha Seong-tae charged fiercely, splashing rainwater as he brought his dagger down to finish off the now one-armed Wi Seon-woo, while I faced Gu Yang-soo one-on-one.
Wi Seon-woo, with one arm cut off, faced Cha Seong-tae.
I deflected Gu Yang-soo's twin sabers while gathering the energy of the flame in my left hand, then flicked it away with the Flicking Finger technique.
The moment Gu Yang-soo deflected the flame flick with his saber, not only did the sword shake, but so did the arm holding it.
I focused solely on thrusting, letting my arm go limp.
I deflected Gu Yang-soo's twin sabers and aimed for his neck and arm.
The technique of the Phantom Sword, which exists in most sects, intentionally leaves a faint trace of energy on the blade, creating an afterimage.
When this increases to about three or four, martial artists usually give it a nickname like the Phantom Three Swords, and naturally, the more refined the sword, the more afterimages there are.
In other words, the Phantom Sword is a technique that can be seen in one or two forms in any sect.
In the rain, I created nine afterimages of the Phantom Sword, three at a time, and accurately thrust at Gu Yang-soo's neck with the Black Dragon Sword.
Thud! The twin sabers, arriving half a beat slower than my sword, fell to the ground near my chest.
As I pulled out the bloodied sword, the sky flashed loudly.
Turning my head, I saw Cha Seong-tae stabbing his sword into the fallen Wi Seon-woo's body.
Seeing Wi Seon-woo die not by my hand but by Cha Seong-tae's was certainly a strange feeling.
It made me realize even more that both Cha Seong-tae's fate and mine would change significantly.
Just a moment ago, I had thought that all the twin sabers would die by my hand.
Cha Seong-tae pointed at the corpse with his sword and asked, "So who is this guy?" "Those from the Black Line Sect."
"The Black Line Sect..."
Cha Seong-tae sighed and commanded the onlookers.
"Why did you bring such people here? Do you want to die?" As Cha Seong-tae approached, holding the bloodied sword, the onlookers stepped back.
One of them, looking aggrieved, explained, "We brought them because we were threatened. Otherwise, we would have been killed first."
Cha Seong-tae turned to me.
"Are you really going to run the Hawoong Sect with such people? Is that okay?" I scoffed at Cha Seong-tae's words.
"Why are you asking me?" "Huh? You're the sect leader."
"Those who need rehabilitation should be managed by you. You're the leader of the new sect, right? Seong-tae, you bastard. Don't you train the underlings properly? Do you want to die?" Cha Seong-tae opened his mouth.
"Ah..."
After shaking his head a few times, Cha Seong-tae slightly bowed and said, "I'll take care of this. You can talk. It seems Mr. Geum is in the pavilion."
"Good luck."
"Yes."
While Cha Seong-tae gathered the onlookers and ordered them to clean up the corpses, I entered Chunyang Pavilion.
Inside the shop, Jang Deok-soo and Jin Cheol-yong, who had been watching comfortably, welcomed me.
"Welcome. You’ve worked hard."
Jin Cheol-yong gave me a thumbs up.
"Sect leader, your skills are impressive. Not only your fighting skills but also your ability to hide your strength and draw out the enemy's helpers was exceptional. How did you know there were helpers nearby?" I tilted my head. 'Why is he so analytical?' I answered vaguely.
"I just had a feeling."
"That's amazing."
My clothes were soaked through.
As water dripped down, I said to Jin Cheol-yong, "Mr. Geum."
"Speak."
"I will wait for the madman. If anything happens in the meantime, please contact either Cha Seong-tae or me."
Jin Cheol-yong nodded in response.
"Understood."
I looked down at my wet body and bid farewell to the two.
"I’m going to wash off some blood."
Jang Deok-soo tilted his head at my words, as there was no blood on me.
I had spoken without much thought.
As I returned to the Plum Blossom Pavilion, I suddenly recalled the Zhang Bo-dao that the twin sabers had coveted.
I no longer had Zhang Bo-dao in my possession, but I had not forgotten the location marked on it.
However, since it was quite far from here, I needed to think a bit more about when to set out to retrieve it.
After all, it was something I had taken a long time ago, so it didn’t matter when I visited.
The forces I needed to deal with had increased to the Black Cat Gang and the Black Line Sect, but I wasn’t too worried.
Remembering the hardships I had faced in the Heavenly Net of the Demon Sect, this was merely a warm-up period.
I opened the front door of the Plum Blossom Pavilion and turned back to take a look at the pouring rain, soaking the scenery of Il Yang-hyeon.
It felt like not just me, but the entire Il Yang-hyeon was drenched in rain.
The streets were quiet since it was late at night, with fewer lights.
It was as if the scene had no interest in the two martial artists who had just died swinging their sabers in this street.
It was a common occurrence for martial artists to kill and be killed among themselves.
It just happened to occur on a rainy day.
I stood for a moment in front of the Plum Blossom Pavilion's main door, gazing freely at the heavy rain.
Having returned stronger, everything appeared beautiful.
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.
Am I a man who is half-crazy, just like in my previous life? Or am I in the process of returning to normal after being mad? For now, I could not tell.