Chapter 167 – It Is A Long Dream.

Qi Wave is literally a Wave of Qi.

It wasn’t an easy thing to do.

I applied the principle and theory of using the Golden Strolling Turtle Technique, and used the ice Qi of the Shadow Moon Martial Arts I was ready for.

I let this coldness in the air wrap around my body in an instant and got down to the ground…

I see the sword of the bamboo hat man on the left side. And the quick-witted middle-aged man is stiff with his arms crossed.

The beggar, who seemed a lot cleverer than he looked, is almost standing up. According to their own thoughts they got up from the chairs to deal with me. They were already up for their respective roles of attack and defense, but all of them were frozen in ice QI.

Did I just jump into the air and spread around ice Qi? These people aren’t at the skill level where I had to do this. Anyway, no matter how high or low their skill is, I have a martial art to use, and these are my opponents.

I pull the dagger out while watching them all in their frozen state.

“Everyone, stop moving.”

“…”

“You bastards, did you think I am that stupid?”

I glare at the bamboo hat man, check the woman, and then whisper to the middle-aged man.

“… was my ice Qi that perfect? I know that everyone is saying that it is hard work to actually do that. But I am warning you, I will stab you with the dagger. The one who moves first, will be daggered. Even if you can move, do not.”

Kicking the table the beggar is at, I say,

“Beggar, you understand me? It isn’t good to release such techniques too quickly. If you move, it is obvious that we both attack fast, so let us have a quick fight. The one who moves will be stabbed.”

I move the dagger back and forth with my hand and watch him.

“I am guessing the archer will move first then? Isn’t he supposed to have the best internal Qi?”

I look at the middle-aged man and pierce the Waning Moon Ice Technique three more times.

Puck puck puck!

And with the sound of that, the face of the guy I hit turns pale like a sheet. While looking around, I do the same and shoot the Waning Moon Ice Techniques at the other three too.

“I told you that you came for the wrong person, but you still ignored me.”

I return to where I was seated before, drive the Moonlight Dagger into the table, and set chopsticks down.

After pulling chopsticks into two, I then say,

“Those who wriggle will get chopsticks and those who run away get daggers. And those who fail to regain their senses are beaten to death.”

I look at the smashed-out Guest House and enjoy the quiet atmosphere.

Clearly, using ice Qi has its own advantages. It feels quiet and so calm.

The fire is something to be used when I am in the Crazy Demon state. I normally hear the screams of my enemies who die in horrific ways by my hands.

But look at this one, this ice Qi.

It was quiet and calm and peaceful.

It is like I am cold, not feeling anything, like a man of coldness.

With a calm mind, I toss the chopsticks at the shoulder of the middle-aged man.

Puak!

From the depth of the man’s mouth came a low groan. I look at him and ask,

“You, archer, you look like you are a bit helpless right now. What thoughts do you have?”

“….”

Judging by the lack of an answer, it seems like his mouth is still frozen.

“To take a job which needs me to be killed, to annihilate the Black Rabbit Union, the Low-Down Sect, and the people who I am in contact with. This man, you are my enemies from what you just said. I think your words were heartless, violent, and cruel enough to be punishable by death.”

I get up from the chair, hold a stance with the wooden sword, and then sit down.

The eyes of the frozen people move to the middle-aged guy. Later, his upper body, which was finely split obliquely, falls to the floor.

Thud.

I look at the other three with a calm expression.

“Now don’t you think that you did a wrong thing? Yeop Ya-hyung was giggling and excited to be working together with all of you. I will come down to the next verdict. You bastard… you are one sneaky guy.”

I watch the beggar.

“Always attacking last. Attacking just the right amount and then retreating. I saw it all. Even at the end, you had quick eyes and noticed that I was using up Ice Qi. It is just the look and the outfit, and the act of being a beggar. You will be put to death too.”

As soon as I pull the Moonlight Dagger I imbue fire Qi on it, and I throw it at the beggar. The dagger moves like that of an arrow and sticks between the forehead of the beggar.

Puak!

Suddenly, I hear an odd sound and I look up to see the Demon Fairy producing foam from her mouth.

I frown at this.

“You, get yourself together. Try to use cultivation or something to the body. I am not the kind to kill a woman.”

As soon as I say it, she begins to puke out red blood. I just click my teeth.

“Huh….”

‘It seems like she is past the moment to be able to do anything..’

It isn’t my responsibility to do anything for her, so I rest my chin on my hand and look at the last man. In my opinion, the internal Qi of this bamboo hat man is similar to the archer. However, it is a man with the trace of being on the wrong side of life.

He is someone who followed orders till the end, which for me means, a boring man.

Since I am a man with principles who is wishy washy at times, I get up and approach the guy in the bamboo hat.

The guy is glaring at me. After taking off his hat, I checked his face. I grab him by the chin and check his face before looking into his eyes.

“Look at this, you aren’t the kind to be under others. That is weird.”

After infusing fire Qi into my finger, I tap onto the upper body of the guy for the ice Qi to melt down faster.

After pulling out the Moonlight Dagger stuck between the forehead of the beggar, I return to my place shaking the blood off of it.

The woman has scared eyes as she continues to leak out blood from her mouth.

I sigh and point to the almost destroyed guest house.

“… this is called the Spring Dream Guest House. Do not forget that there are many warriors around in Kangho. If you had listened to me in the first place, or hadn’t done the bad things you did, this death wouldn’t have come to you. Normally, if you had come in normally, I would have thought about considering what happened and moved away, but then, Yeop Ya-hyung is one with proof instinct.”

I looked at the guy whose bamboo hat was taken off and put it in my hand.

He begins to move his body a little, more like twitching. Soon, he speaks with blood-stained lips.

“Please return the hat.”

“Why?”

“Give it back.”

“That is what, why?”

“It is something I cherish.”

“Are you a fool? I treated the lives of the others like fucking bugs to be crushed and you want the hat back? Fucking fool.”

I burn the hat right away and throw the remains into the air. The remnants of it reach towards the guy and he grabs the ashes, as much as he can, and looks horrible.

So, I asked him.

“Was it that precious?”

At this time, he gives me an unexpected answer.

“… avoid the rain, the snow and the eyes of people. I treasured it.”

I look at my arm as I listen to him, and goosebumps begin to form. And that was when I realized who the leader of these people was.

‘Fifth Evil was the leader.’

I couldn’t tell if he was a man who had insane thoughts from the start or if he changed after meeting the Fifth Evil.

Feeling bitter, I made a promise to them.

“I will make sure to kill the Fifth Evil with my own hands.”

The bamboo hat guy smiles at me for the first time.

“It will be tough, Sect Leader.”

“I know.”

“Eventually, you too will be captured and taken in as slaves like us.”

I shake my head.

“No.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Now, even if I am weaker than Demon Cult leader, or your own leaders, you don’t have to worry too much about me cause I will win with time.”

The guy laughs and says,

“I do not believe you.”

“I told you. In the end, swordsmen are the strongest.”

“It wasn’t a joke?”

“You don’t have to believe me. Look at the heavens. If the world was full of bastards like the Demon Cult, the world would have been hell. But it isn’t like that. Because there are more swordsmen who are on the right side, than bad guys in the world. In the end, we will win. Even if it means to die while fighting, even if the Alliance leader dies being surrounded by evil and the troops of justice all collapse. Even if the Murim Alliance and the Low-Down Sect dies… in the end, there will be a swordsman who will arise from somewhere in this world to change the world on the wrong path back to normal. That is how the world works. That is the power of people.”

The guy looks at me.

“Then what about people like us?”

“I understand your words to some extent. There are times in life when things do not go the way we want. Everyone lives a foolish life or makes mistakes and one day, when they choose to change, they turn into people under the Evil ones. A righteous swordsman turns to a villain. One can turn out to be a hypocrite. Be a traitor.”

The man asks me,

“Then you are a righteous swordsman?”

I answered him honestly.

“No. But I am someone who can tell the difference between a righteous person and a bad one. The one who can identify and kill the wicked ones and take care of the righteous ones, that is who I am.”

The guy is suffering from internal energy, it is evident from the blood around his mouth.

“If there are so many righteous people in the world? Then why don’t I see them?”

“You are looking at the world with such hostile eyes, as if you want to take down everything you can see, so you don’t see it.”

The guy chuckles showing his bloodied teeth.

“I must have been unlucky.”

I wasn’t interested in what the dead people had to say, so I put my legs onto the table and looked at the sky.

I let the dying ones know my intentions.

“…. If I take care of 10,000 people and even one or two of them come out right, then I succeeded. The people I took care of will then go to take care of another dozen or hundred. If there is another righteous swordsman, it is luck. No matter how many enemies are here, I cannot do it alone. Even if the Low-Down Sect gets taken down one day, my will is going to be retained. Ruining or going down is all shit.”

And I turn my head.

Yeop Ya-hyung is coming with dozens of people to the guest house. I look at him with arms crossed, curious as to how he will react.

“You here?”

Yeop Ya-hyung stops and checks the dead and the dying ones and the men he brought do the same too. Everyone is speechless.

I ask Yeop Ya-hyung,

“Warrior Yeop, it seems like the time to die? You didn’t even run, but were stupid enough to come back.”

The guy, who was in a bamboo hat till a while back, looks at Yeop Ya-hyung.

“You fool, everyone is dead because of you.”

In an instant, the woman who was coughing for a while, had collapsed down and Yeop Ya-hyung looks as he says,

“Leader Seok?”

I answer for the corpse.

“She was left as such because you were busy with other things.”

The guy in the bamboo hat speaks in a slow manner.

“Not everyone can run, what are you doing more? Run.”

These words were the signal. Yeop Ya-hyung begins to run first and then more than a dozen people follow him and flee. It seems that the one leader down was enough for them to know they would lose.

As I think about chasing and killing these bastards, it feels a bit embarrassing for me to chase them. Killing is good but my mental health especially so since I was being asked to keep my emotions in check.

Yeop Ya-hyung who is running shouts,

“Byuk Geom bro, I will take revenge for you!”

Was it because I learned ice Qi?

My mind feels a lot calmer than usual.

Looking back on my previous life, the harmony of Yin and Yang had never been there because my Yang had always overwhelmed other things.

The bamboo hat guy, Byuk Geom, looks at me and then stands up holding his sword. It seems like he wanted to buy time.

I pull out the chopsticks and aim them at Byuk Geom.

“You want to die?”

Seeing him trying now, I ask,

“Say it now. The power, the force and strength. And the leader.”

“If I give up things like that, then my death wouldn’t be graceful.”

I wave the chopsticks.

“If you don’t do something like that, then you will be next.”

Byuk Geom speaks in a desperate manner.

“If I don’t, I will die from what my body has become. I’d rather just die from a sword.”

“Is that so?”

“…”

I look at him and say,

“I have an amazing great physician on my side. Think again.”