Unrivaled Spear Demon
65 The Name of the Boy Who Finally Succeeded (5)
Plum blossoms that wither and bloom once more.
The Death Plum Blossom, O Ja-un, pulled himself up.
His hand was gripped tightly around a sword hilt.
The blade was gone, and the hilt itself was split deeply down the center.
In that final moment, what Bi Mugeuk’s sword had split was not O Ja-un’s ribs, but the very hilt he had been clutching.
…Thud!
O Ja-un discarded the hilt he had been holding so firmly.
Then, he reached out and picked up the fallen blade with his bare hand.
Squeeze—
The blade dug into his flesh, reaching down to the bone.
Blood was streaming down from his hand.
Yet, O Ja-un paid it no mind as he raised the blade.
“…….”
Bi Mugeuk faced O Ja-un with an expression as if he were looking at a ghost.
At last, his lips parted slowly.
“Indeed. Whether you are a ghost or a man, it is time to bring this to an end.”
An old, bitter fate. A tenacious grudge. The moment to sever all of these had finally arrived.
Bi Mugeuk staggered as he raised his sword.
O Ja-un, too, swayed as he extended his blade.
Two sharply honed sword auras bloomed into beautiful plum blossoms, each aimed at the other’s heart.
Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art.
The days of weeping and mourning over those twenty-four forms flashed by.
Petals danced in the rain that was slowly coming to a halt.
In every red and blue petal drifting through the air, the good days of their youth were etched like dew.
But in the end, it was all a thing of the past.
Just as the wind sweeps away the red dust of the world and the rising sun dissolves the morning mist, it was time to let it all go.
First Form — Plum Blossoms by the Roadside.
Second Form — Plum Blossom Butterfly Dance.
Third Form — Plum Blossoms Exhaling Fragrance.
Fourth Form — Plum Blossoms Opening the Way.
Fifth Form — Plum Blossoms Falling in the Sun.
Sixth Form — Plum Blossoms Falling and Falling.
Seventh Form — Plum Blossoms Scattering Frequently.
Eighth Form — Plum Blossom Blood Rain.
Ninth Form — Plum Blossom Nine Transformations.
Tenth Form — Plum Blossoms in Full Bloom.
Eleventh Form — Plum Blossoms Enduring Winter.
Twelfth Form — Plum Blossoms Gradually Opening.
Thirteenth Form — Plum Blossoms Gradually Spreading.
Fourteenth Form — Plum Blossoms in Full Bloom.
Fifteenth Form — Falling Plum Blossoms Scattering.
Sixteenth Form — Falling Plum Blossoms Becoming Rain.
Seventeenth Form — Plum Blossom Shadows Forming a River.
Eighteenth Form — Plum Blossoms Enduring the Snowy Cold.
They graze.
They do not connect.
Bi Mugeuk’s sword and O Ja-un’s sword do not meet; they merely brush past one another.
Though they were clearly being swung in the same space and along the same trajectories, the two swords—and the two destinies—were flowing past each other without a single point of intersection.
And yet. Yet, between the two, a number of plum blossom petals, unprecedented in history, were drifting endlessly.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Namgung Yul and the others watched the duel with vacant expressions.
Every time the swords grazed each other, they exhaled a deep, rich fragrance.
Nineteenth form, Plum Blossom Fragrance Forming a River.
The scent of plum blossoms surged like a flowing tide.
It was proof that the plum blossoms blooming from the tips of the two swordsmen’s blades were no longer mere illusions, but were reaching into the realm of reality.
Twentieth form, Plum Blossom Fragrance Soaking into the Bone.
The scent of the plum blossoms grew so intense that it seemed to seep into the very bones of those watching.
Had a person ignorant of the martial arts wandered here, they might have mistaken this place for the legendary Peach Blossom Spring.
Twenty-first form, Plum Blossom Fragrance Intoxicating the Butterfly.
Namgung Yul and everyone else were intoxicated by the plum blossom scent.
Like butterflies bewitched by the petals, they found themselves inching closer and closer to the battlefield without even realizing it.
Twenty-second form, Plum Blossoms Playing Among Green Bamboo.
Even amidst this, the two Plum Blossom Swordsmen stood as straight as green bamboo, continuing to unfold their sword art.
Both of them, without yielding a single step.
Twenty-third form, Plum Blossom Fragrance Forming a River.
Between the two, the fragrance of the plum blossoms formed a new current, surging violently.
While it followed the same path as the nineteenth form, its scale was far more vast, looking as if a red dragon and a blue dragon were entangled in battle.
Whoosh—
A sweet wind arose, scattering the petals.
Like immortals frolicking in a flower garden, O Ja-un and Bi Mugeuk displayed elegant movements, enchanting everything in their surroundings.
……However.
That was only the story when viewed from afar.
The reality for the two masters dancing their sword dance at the center of this Peach Blossom Spring was entirely different.
…Splat!
Blood sprayed from O Ja-un’s shoulder as a chunk of flesh was torn away.
Snick—
Two fingers from Bi Mugeuk’s left hand were severed.
Every time a blooming plum petal touched their bodies, fresh blood splattered, and bits of flesh and bone scattered in all directions.
The strong crush the weak.
The fast carve away the slow.
The sharp cut through the soft.
It was reality itself—cold, terrifying, and desperate—hidden beneath the beautiful colors and fragrance of the petals.
Then.
Suddenly, O Ja-un’s lips parted.
“……Right. You were the Sword Path. I was the Golden Path. I had forgotten, as it was so long ago.”
A voice, dry as bone, escaped from deep within his lungs like a sigh.
Through the slowly passing time and the drifting petals, O Ja-un stared into Bi Mugeuk’s eyes.
Bi Mugeuk replied.
His voice, too, was cracked like a parched rice paddy.
“It was never a thing of the past for me. I always, always envied you. You, who were better than me even while you only napped after training.”
He had poured his blood and sweat into every single day, yet the other was always a step ahead.
Even while slacking off.
It was from that very moment that the tip of Bi Mugeuk’s sword had begun to twist.
But O Ja-un denied Bi Mugeuk’s words.
“I did not nap because I was lazy.”
“……?”
Bi Mugeuk furrowed his brow.
O Ja-un continued.
“I treated every training session, every single one, as a real battle. I assumed that everyone in the training hall was holding a sword and aiming for my life.”
“…….”
“I lived every day as if I were walking through a battlefield, risking my life. That is why I was able to grow strong so quickly.”
“…….”
“Once the war ended, I was naturally so exhausted that I had no choice but to collapse and sleep. It was only natural, as I had exhausted every ounce of my energy. I slept in hiding also because I was afraid of being struck by a stray arrow flying across the battlefield. Even after the training ended, I could not immediately wake from that state of mind.”
“…….”
Bi Mugeuk offered no reply.
O Ja-un, too, said nothing more.
Before long, the two Plum Blossom Swordsmen stood face to face, mere inches apart.
A Gamble of the Universe.
The final move to decide the living and the dead was cast.
The blades, imbued with the rich scent of plum blossoms, crossed toward each other, drawing red and blue trajectories.
Twenty-fourth form, Plum Blossom Fragrance Spreading Ten Thousand Li.
The essence and ultimate secret of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art.
The scent of the plum blossoms grew so intense it could be smelled ten thousand li away.
Those watching closed their eyes, bewitched by the scent of the illusion.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
The more they closed their eyes, the more clearly they could see.
In a space dyed in every color, two plum blossom swords were entangled.
O Ja-un. Bi Mugeuk.
Two Plum Blossom Swordsmen of the same generation faced one another.
The fellow disciples who had slept in the same place, eaten the same food, worn the same clothes, and undergone the same training for so long were now aiming for each other’s lives.
Having witnessed each other’s swords countless times in the training hall, they knew all too well how to dodge and how to parry.
……However.
At this moment, as they faced their final hour, there was one thing that had changed.
Bi Mugeuk remained the same, but O Ja-un had changed.
It was the absence of his left arm, which he had cut off himself.
The weight of exactly what the left arm had shed.
O Ja-un’s sword, having become just that much lighter, extended just that much faster.
…Zip!
The sound was small and thin.
A plum petal blooming from the tip of O Ja-un’s sword grazed Bi Mugeuk’s neck.
“…….”
“…….”
The two stood back-to-back for a long while, without a word.
The rain slowly ceased.
The long night passed, and the dawn began to cast its light.
‘…….’
A boy with sharp eyes…
A reliable older brother, one year his senior.
In O Ja-un’s eyes, he saw Bi Mugeuk from the day he first entered Huashan in his childhood.
‘…….’
A shaggy-haired kid with clear eyes.
A younger brother who, despite being from a wealthy family, was cheerful and devoid of any sense of authority.
In Bi Mugeuk’s eyes, he saw O Ja-un from the day he first entered Huashan in his childhood.
The two stood back-to-back, looking at each other.
O Ja-un wept, and Bi Mugeuk smiled.
At last, Bi Mugeuk’s lips stirred.
“……At last. The name of the shaggy-haired kid will now echo throughout the world.”
At the same time, the area below Bi Mugeuk’s neck began to soak red.
His head remained perched upon his neck, but a red horizontal line began to form around his Adam’s apple, and everything below that line began to be dyed in red.
Even though O Ja-un’s sword had passed through, completely severing Bi Mugeuk’s neck, his head had remained in place.
Eventually.
Flump—
Bi Mugeuk knelt and slumped over in that very posture.
Even then, his head remained perched upon his neck.
Leaving behind the scent of plum blossoms spreading in red, O Ja-un staggered as he took a step.
His gait was as if he would collapse at any moment.
Before long, O Ja-un dropped the blade that had been digging into his palm.
Clang—
White bone was visible through the gap in his blood-split palm.
Blood was pouring out like a waterfall, yet O Ja-un seemed to feel no pain, staring only into the empty air.
Namgung Yul, without realizing it, spoke a single word to O Ja-un.
“True Master…….”
Before long, the pursuers from the Murim Alliance stepped aside to clear a path for O Ja-un.
The crowd split into two, opening a way through the center.
No one dared to speak as O Ja-un walked slowly through them.
“…….”
Through the parting storm clouds, the light of dawn descended to illuminate him.
Beyond that faint halo of light, the faces of Gang-a and Meng Ying appeared.
They were smiling faintly at O Ja-un.
O Ja-un wept as he laughed. He laughed as he wept.
His face was a mess of blood and tears.
At the same time, beneath the brightening sunlight, O Ja-un’s appearance was laid bare.
Namgung Yul and all the others stared at him in shock.
“H-his hair color……!”
O Ja-un’s hair had already turned completely white.
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