Chapter 50

Chapter 50.

‘Tonight, I will smash the Black Dragon Gang.’

It was a method Uncheon would not have chosen in the past, when he wore Gonryun’s Daoist robes.

A self-mocking smile settled on Uncheon’s lips.

‘A night raid, of all things.’

It was the sort of act Demonic Cultists or the scum of the Unorthodox Faction would commit.

A fair and open challenge, a proper procedure observed with courtesy.

The Uncheon of the past would have believed without doubt that this was the Righteous Path.

‘But… I am sick of hypocrisy that is nothing but an empty shell.’

He recalled the Martial Alliance, which had delayed making decisions under the pretext of procedure and grand causes.

Uncheon had seen firsthand the bare face hidden beneath that facade.

‘I will no longer be bound by such things.’

As Uncheon looked up at the high wall of the Black Dragon Gang, his eyes had sunk colder than the chilly night air.

The Black Dragon Gang was not a devil’s den that worshiped some grand evil, nor was it a murderous group that called for blood.

It merely collected challenge fees, forced people to buy lodging, and used its subordinates as shields to maintain its rank.

The Black Dragon Gang’s behavior was fairly crafty, but it was far from the conduct of the strong.

‘It would be embarrassing even to call them villains. They are merely street thugs with sharp eyes for profit.’

Paying money at the ticket booth those bastards had set up, obediently standing in line, and waiting for morning to come?

That would be the truly foolish act.

‘There is no reason to cling to the Orthodox Faction’s methods when dealing with street thugs.’

Because there was a fastest, most efficient, and most certain method.

The logic of The Strong Are Exalted pursued by the Demonic Cult.

Uncheon decided to return that logic to the Black Dragon Gang, with a weight they could not bear.

Before the massive front gate of the Black Dragon Gang, which was firmly shut.

WOOOONG―.

The chill that surged in Uncheon’s qi center condensed at the end of his fist as a cold jade-green light.

‘There is no need to wait for the door to open. I need only break it.’

His right arm was drawn back, then shot forward like a flash of lightning.

BOOOOM―!

As though a battering ram had struck a castle gate, a thunderous roar tore apart the silence of the night.

The massive front gate, which was easily more than one foot thick, crumpled and burst apart like a sheet of paper.

Wooden fragments flew in all directions, and thick dust rose like a storm.

Through the flying wooden splinters and dust, Uncheon walked in leisurely.

“What, what is this?!”

“W-What in the world happened?”

The warriors of the Black Dragon Gang, who had been holding a grand drinking party in the middle of the courtyard, were thrown into utter confusion.

Drinking tables overturned, bottles shattered, and the pungent fragrance of alcohol mixed with the smell of dust.

“An… an attack?”

“What the hell is going on?!”

They scurried about, unable even to grasp the situation.

Through the thick cloud of dust, a figure walked in leisurely.

A black martial arts uniform draped in pitch-black darkness.

And on his arms and legs were rough, massive iron rings that looked as though they belonged on a criminal—Black-Steel Cold Iron.

It was Uncheon.

Clank, clank.

The heavy metallic sound that rang out every time he took a step echoed chillingly.

“Wh-Who the hell are you?!”

“You dare break the front gate of the Black Dragon Gang? Have you gone mad enough to want to die?!”

The members of the Black Dragon Gang, their faces flushed red with drink, shouted.

However, among them, a few of the sharper-eyed ones revealed wariness as they looked back and forth between the shattered remains of the front gate and Uncheon, who had appeared alone.

“That thick gate was destroyed in one strike…?”

“Did he set off a fire bomb or something?”

“Do not lower your guard! He might have more fire bombs!”

Seeing them murmur among themselves, Uncheon let out a hollow laugh.

“A fire bomb….”

As if it was not even worth answering, Uncheon lightly shook the Black-Steel Cold Iron on his wrist.

“I have no such crude thing.”

At those words, the Young Gang Leader gripped his axe upright with a triumphant smile.

“It seems he has no more fire bombs!”

When the Young Gang Leader raised his momentum and shouted, the other gang members took that as the signal and began releasing killing intent all at once.

The killing intent of dozens of warriors.

However, Uncheon’s eyes only sank colder.

“Is the Young Gang Leader here? His name was… Little Dragon, was it?”

“How dare you… You do not know your place, yet you put the Young Gang Leader’s name in your mouth!”

Unable to endure it, the Young Gang Leader raised his axe and charged.

“You must have lost your mind!”

Whoosh―!

The heavy axe blade fell toward the crown of Uncheon’s head.

It had enough force to split a boulder.

But Uncheon did not dodge.

No, he did not even feel it was worth dodging.

He merely raised his left arm wrapped in Black-Steel Cold Iron with a casual motion, as though brushing away an annoying fly.

BANG―!

The axe blade and the Black-Steel Cold Iron collided, and a thunderous explosion burst out.

Clatter―.

The heavy axe blade shattered to pieces and scattered in all directions.

The broken shards scratched the Young Gang Leader’s face.

“H-Huh?”

In the Young Gang Leader’s vision, which had stiffened in shock, Uncheon’s elbow drove in like a cannonball.

“Move.”

The next moment, Uncheon’s arm swung like an enormous weapon.

Thud!

“Kuaaaak!”

With a dull impact, the Young Gang Leader’s chest caved in.

His body was flung backward like a cannonball.

After flying away with his chest bones collapsed, he crashed down only after knocking over three or four gang members who had been following behind him.

“Y-Young Gang Leader!”

It happened in an instant.

Without even glancing at the fallen Young Gang Leader, Uncheon lightly loosened his wrist.

Crack—.

“I did not kill him. I have no time to waste on small fry. Bring the Young Gang Leader.”

It was merely a simple blow from a swung arm.

But its power far surpassed the common sense of the Black Dragon Gang warriors.

“……!”

For a moment, the surroundings fell silent.

Perhaps it was because they were drunk.

“He is alone!”

One of them shouted.

Taking that voice as a signal, the gang members of the Black Dragon Gang, gripped by both fear and stubbornness, shouted in desperation.

“Y-You bastard!”

“Attack him together!”

From all sides, the members of the Black Dragon Gang rushed in with weapons gripped upright.

‘How troublesome.’

Uncheon’s gaze was indifferent, as if he were looking at a swarm of annoying flies.

He lowered his body and loaded rotational force into his lower body.

Whirlwind Kick.

A martial art he had created during his spar with Jeok Mugwang, then further polished while bearing the Black-Steel Cold Iron.

WHOOOOSH―!

A heavy sound of tearing air struck the eardrums first.

With the weight of the Black-Steel Cold Iron added to centrifugal force, Uncheon’s leg swung like a whip.

SWISH—.

Thud, thud, thud! Crunch!

“Kuaaaak!”

“My leg!”

“Uaaagh, my arm!”

When a sword touched it, the sword shattered; when an arm blocked it, the arm bone broke.

Every time Uncheon completed one rotation, three or four sturdy warriors turned into rags and were scattered in all directions.

A disaster created by overwhelming mass and rotational force.

It was not a spar, but one-sided cleaning.

The charging gang members were sent flying, and the area around Uncheon was swept clean.

“A m-master…!”

Only then did primal fear begin to settle in the eyes of the Black Dragon Gang warriors.

They realized it.

The young man before them was different from all the challengers until now.

He was, in every sense, a beast of prey tearing through a flock of sheep alone.

Even if they charged as a group, there was no way they could handle him.

Stepping over the groaning and crawling warriors, Uncheon muttered quietly toward the inner hall inside the training ground.

“Do you intend not to come out? Then I will go in.”

It was then.

The door of the inner hall flew open, and a shout burst out.

“What bastard is causing trouble in someone else’s faction in the middle of the night?!”

A large man walked out.

A face reddened by drink, yet muscles swollen as solid as rock and darkly tanned skin.

The leader of the Black Dragon Gang and the one ranked one hundredth on the Wind and Cloud Ranking.

He was Little Dragon.

“Y-Young Gang Leader! Some bastard suddenly came and started causing trouble!”

“How dare he, in a place like this… Huh?”

Little Dragon, who had been about to roar with half-sober eyes, had his mouth fall open.

The shattered front gate.

Dozens of gang members lying everywhere and groaning.

And in the middle of that hellish scene, Uncheon stood with not a speck of dust on his clothes.

‘……!’

At that sight, Little Dragon instantly sobered up.

‘That bastard’s clothes are clean…!’

Goosebumps rose along Little Dragon’s spine.

Even after creating this carnage, the man’s breathing had not grown the slightest bit rough.

The meaning of that was clear.

Their levels were different.

‘…I stepped in shit this time.’

His “instinct,” which had filtered out countless challengers while protecting his rank of one hundredth, was screaming.

If he fought, he would die.

This was not a losing business; this was a situation where he would have to put his life on the line.

Above all, those eyes.

They did not look at him as an opponent, but merely as a troublesome obstacle that had to be cleared away.

That indifference was even more terrifying.

‘…This… I think I really picked the wrong opponent.’

Little Dragon rolled his eyes around to survive.

“……Great Hero, may I ask who you are, to cause such troubl— No. That is… What business brings you here?”

Little Dragon asked, pretending to be dignified, though his voice trembled.

“I am Uncheon. Wind and Cloud Ranking, rank one hundred. Are you Little Dragon?”

“……Th-That is correct. Great Hero Uncheon, there seems to be a misunderstanding, so first, let us calmly discuss….”

Little Dragon broke into a cold sweat, curled up his lips obsequiously, and instead shouted at his gang members.

With the elites of the Black Dragon Gang swept away like fallen leaves in autumn wind, this was no time to protect his pride.

“You bastards! Can you not tell by looking?! Put away your weapons at once and receive our guest!”

“Yes? Y-Yes…!”

“Great Hero, if my gang members have shown any rudeness, I will apologize in their stead! I will also offer compensation!”

But Uncheon shook his head with cold eyes.

“What I need is not money.”

“Then… for what reason?”

Uncheon’s finger pointed at Little Dragon’s forehead.

“I need your place.”

“……!”

Little Dragon’s pupils trembled.

Rank one hundred.

That was not merely an empty honor.

It was a goose that laid golden eggs.

It was the Black Dragon Gang’s money line and the source of the wealth and glory Little Dragon had enjoyed for a short time.

‘I… I did think something like this might happen one day….’

Little Dragon was not stupid.

As much as he had thought of using his rank to earn money from the start, it was not as though he had never considered the danger.

But the man before him seemed like someone who would cut off the owner’s head and take the goose whole.

‘If I fight, I die….’

His instincts screamed.

Little Dragon flattened himself on the ground without hesitation.

“I-I lost! I admit defeat and submit! Please, spare my life…!”

Even Uncheon was nearly impressed by his swift change of stance.

However, Uncheon did not withdraw his force.

“For the Wind and Cloud Ranking to update its ranks, should someone not witness the duel? If we whisper among ourselves in the middle of the night, you may say something different tomorrow.”

“N-No! How would I dare…!”

Little Dragon desperately racked his brain.

If he lost like this and was driven away, he would merely become “the man who had his place stolen after being attacked at night.”

His honor, money, and life would all be in danger.

But did they not say a crisis was also an opportunity?

Little Dragon’s eyes glittered like those of a merchant.

‘If I am going to lose the place anyway… then I should use what I prepared for such a possibility!’

Little Dragon carefully raised his head.

“I-I have an idea! How about doing it this way?”

“What is it?”

“If I am going to lose my place anyway, I will publicly prepare the stage tomorrow.”

Little Dragon gulped down his saliva.

“Tomorrow morning, in front of numerous spectators, Great Hero will defeat me. Then Great Hero will gain fame in one stroke, and I….”

He continued, hiding cunning behind an obsequious smile.

“I will remain as the loser who regretfully yielded his place to a new star of the martial world. I will lay the stage perfectly.”

Uncheon’s goal was to gain fame quickly through the Wind and Cloud Ranking.

If rumors were to spread, a public spar would be far more effective than a covert struggle in the middle of the night.

‘A trick to buy time.’

It was an offer whose inner motive was obvious.

But it was not bad.

“Please give me exactly one night…! I will prepare everything in that time.”

“Fine. However, if you harbor other intentions….”

Uncheon laughed softly and tapped Little Dragon’s chest.

Slide.

At that instant, a single strand of cold energy flowed from Uncheon’s fingertip like a snake, followed Little Dragon’s qi meridians, and burrowed into his heart.

“Huegh?! Cold energy…!”

Little Dragon turned blue and clutched his chest.

In the center of his chest, he felt a sharp, foreign sensation as though an ice spike had been driven into him.

“It is a safety measure. Tomorrow morning, if the stage is prepared as promised, I will withdraw it. However, if you run away during the night or harbor other intentions….”

Uncheon clenched the fist he was holding.

“That cold energy will freeze and burst your heart.”

“……!”

It was not a mere threat.

His life was truly held in that man’s grasp.

“I am the only one who can undo the restriction, so abandon any useless hope.”

“I-I will keep that in mind! Harbor other intentions? Absolutely not!”

Little Dragon struck his head against the floor and trembled.

“I am staying at the Black Dragon Inn, so when the preparations are finished, come there.”

After Uncheon disappeared into the darkness, Little Dragon finally slumped down and gasped for breath.

His back was soaked with cold sweat.

“Haa… Haa… That shaved ten years off my life.”

The cold and stiff energy embedded in his chest made him aware of reality.

There was no hole through which to escape.

He could not win by fighting either.

Then there was only one path left.

Little Dragon staggered to his feet and ran into the inner hall.

He opened a secret safe and took out all the funds he had saved up.

“I cannot simply let myself be beaten like this….”

Once Little Dragon made his decision, his actions were swift.

“You there! Send carrier pigeons at once!”

“Pardon…? Carrier pigeons at this hour of night?”

“Yes! There is no time! Gather all the gang members and set up a sparring platform in front of the Black Dragon Gang! We will hold a public spar!”

“P-Pardon? So suddenly?”

“Move quickly! Spread word everywhere that the Young Gang Leader himself will step forward and fight with his rank on the Wind and Cloud Ranking at stake!”

“U-Understood!”

That night, dozens of carrier pigeons rose into the night sky from the Black Dragon Gang.

After returning to the inn, Uncheon looked down from the window at the bustling Black Dragon Gang and laughed softly.

‘That fellow is fairly useful.’