Chapter 55

Chapter 55.

The training ground of the Black Dragon Gang was covered in a chill white blanket from the snow that had fallen since dawn.

The gang members had finished their run and were exhaling clouds of white steam as they cleaned their respective weapons.

BOOM—!

The main gate they had gone to the trouble of repairing screamed and burst apart.

Through the thick snow mist and dust, a figure in black walked in, as if wrapped in darkness.

“It is an attack!”

“Again? Again?! Who is it this time?!”

The gang members who remembered the terror of Uncheon smashing the main gate screamed in alarm.

A dozen or so gang members, whose spirits had risen from their recent training, competed to raise their weapons first.

“Who are you?”

“Do you know where this is?!”

The one who revealed herself through the clearing dust cloud was a woman dressed entirely in a black martial arts uniform.

Her pitch-black hair, tightly tied back, had an elegant air.

At her bearing, the gang members flinched.

In her hand was a Long Spear engraved with a black dragon.

Wooooong—.

The spear shaft trembled by itself and let out a resonant sound like the cry of a beast.

Just as the gang members tried to close the encirclement, the woman’s spear drew a smooth arc and swept sideways.

Paaang—!

It was only a single swing of the spear shaft.

The spear body drew a large arc and poured out a qi wave.

“Guhuk!”

“Aaack!”

They were literally swept away like fallen leaves in autumn wind.

The men who had rushed in were flung into the corner of the training ground with screams.

Red blood dotted the pure white snowfield.

“...Who allowed street rabble like you to bear the name of Black Dragon?”

It was a stern voice, as if rebuking everyone present.

The gang members had gained a fair amount of confidence through training.

Yet before the woman’s martial prowess, they felt as if they had returned to the days when they were marketplace thugs.

‘...A-An expert!’

‘We cannot handle her...!’

Just then, Little Dragon rushed out from the inner hall.

However, what burst from his mouth was shock.

“N-No way! S-Sister? Is that you, Sister Sowol?!”

The woman’s cold gaze fell upon Little Dragon.

“Little Dragon! After daring to sell off the pride of our fathers, you still dare set foot in this place?”

“N-No, that is not it... Ugh!”

Whoosh—! Thwack—!

The mercilessly swung spear shaft struck Little Dragon across the cheek.

With his head knocked sideways, Little Dragon rolled three or four times across the snowy ground before crashing down.

She took out a crumpled Wind and Cloud Ranking notice from her bosom and roared as she crushed the words “Black Dragon Uncheon” with the spear tip.

“Where is the new Gang Leader who dared falsely claim the Black Dragon? I, Jin Sowol, cannot acknowledge him!”

“please! Sister, wait! Please listen to me first......!”

Little Dragon rose while clutching his cheek, his face tearful as he spoke.

Jin Sowol.

She was the only daughter of Jin Muyang, who had once been an honored guest of the Black Dragon Gang and had lived like a brother to Little Dragon’s father.

For Little Dragon, she was an opponent he had no choice but to be helpless before.

However, even he felt wronged.

“Little Dragon! Do not call me Sister anymore, and shut that mouth! Today, I will severely punish you for the crime of selling the Black Dragon Gang’s pride for a cheap price!”

At that moment, a heavy metallic sound that weighed down the air echoed through the training ground.

CLANK. CLANK.

It was Uncheon, slowly walking out with Black-Steel Cold Iron fastened to him.

“Oh... A spearman with rather extraordinary force has come. This... makes the liquor taste good.”

Yi Mok, who had somehow perched on the wall, evaluated her.

True to his title of Drunken Sword, he was already holding a liquor bottle in his hand.

When Yi Mok remained on the sidelines, Yayul Hui sighed, gripped her Saber Case, and stepped forward.

“Phew... Still, I am a guest retainer. I suppose I should step up first?”

“No, stand back.”

Uncheon lightly placed his hand on Yayul Hui’s shoulder and stopped her.

“If this is because of a tie to the former Black Dragon Gang, then it is only proper for me, as the Gang Leader, to answer directly.”

Uncheon’s gaze rested on Jin Sowol.

The tip of her black spear was still aimed at Uncheon’s forehead.

“Are you Uncheon? I will verify whether you are qualified to bear the name of Black Dragon.”

“Qualified....”

A cold, self-mocking smile hung at the corner of Uncheon’s mouth.

“When the Black Dragon Gang fell and became a den of thugs with only its name remaining, you stood by. And now you appear and ask about qualifications?”

“......That... I had unavoidable circumstances!”

“If you used those circumstances to look away as its pride rotted, then you have even less right to speak of the weight of this name.”

Jin Sowol’s eyes trembled with rage and shame.

Uncheon’s words became an undeniable dagger that lodged in her chest.

“......You.”

She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

“This has become needlessly long.”

Uncheon clasped one hand behind his back and beckoned with the other.

“In the end, what you want is to have a match, is it not?”

“...I will make no more excuses! In any case, all I need to do is prove it with skill!”

Jin Sowol’s toes kicked off the snowy ground.

“Let us see whether your ability matches that arrogance!”

Swoosh—!

The Black Dragon Spear shot forward as if sliding over the white snow, drawing a single black line.

It was not a simple thrust.

It seemed to advance in a straight line, but the spearhead carried a fierce rotation.

It was the ultimate skill of Jin Muyang, who had once been an honored guest of the Black Dragon Gang and was called “Black Spear.”

Across the years, it bloomed splendidly in the hands of his daughter.

‘Not bad... She has skill.’

Uncheon did not retreat.

Instead, he took one step forward and raised the heavy weight inside his sleeve.

Thung—!

A dull metallic sound rang through the training ground.

With the Black-Steel Cold Iron on his left arm, Uncheon lightly deflected the spear blade driving in toward him.

“......?!”

Shock settled in Jin Sowol’s eyes.

The rebound transmitted through the spear shaft was beyond imagination.

It was as heavy as striking a gigantic rocky mountain.

But what was even more chilling was the opponent’s insight.

‘He read my spear path?!’

The spinning spear tip was so fast that it was difficult to follow with the naked eye.

She had been confident she could pierce anywhere on his upper body, yet her opponent had not even drawn a weapon and had knocked away the spear blade with only the Iron Weight wrapped around his wrist.

‘I thought he would draw a weapon...!’

However, Uncheon calmly struck away the spear blade with the Iron Weight on his wrist.

‘...Someone like this is merely staying at the one-hundredth rank on the Wind and Cloud Ranking?!’

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of steel colliding rang through the training ground like screams, and sparks flew.

Jin Sowol used the advantage of distance to pour out a storm-like chain of attacks.

However, what her spear tip met remained only the cold, thick Black-Steel Cold Iron.

‘Unbelievable...!’

Jin Sowol clenched her teeth and spun the spear shaft.

Using the recoil from being knocked away by the Iron Weight, she turned the spear once and swept low.

A light snowstorm rose on the pure white training ground, and a sharp trajectory aimed for Uncheon’s ankle.

Slide.

Uncheon lightly lifted his body and avoided the spear blade.

“He jumped into the air? This is my chance!”

In a duel between martial artists, leaping into the air was usually a self-defeating move.

If there was nowhere to step, changing direction was impossible.

Having seized the opportunity, Jin Sowol’s spear tip raised its head like a viper.

Then it shot toward Uncheon’s chest.

The snowstorm was swept up by the wind pressure, and a massive whirlwind surged along the spear’s trajectory.

‘Black Dragon Ascends to Heaven!’

However, a metallic sound unlike what she expected burst out.

Clang—!

In his previous life, Uncheon had been a master of the Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms, which allowed him to change direction in the air as if a dragon were roaming the sea of clouds.

Using that principle, Uncheon twisted his body grotesquely in midair and kicked away the spear shaft with the Iron Weight on his ankle.

“What—? No way... on his feet too?!”

“Your forms are excellent. However, even if this is a sparring match, they are too honest. You have not managed to contain the true meaning of martial arts.”

“What do you know to speak so carelessly?”

Uncheon descended like a feather and stepped with Shadowless Step.

Uncheon instantly took her blind spot, and his palm shot toward her shoulder.

Jin Sowol hurriedly tried to spin the spear shaft to defend, but Uncheon had already read its path.

Uncheon withdrew his Palm Art and, at the same time, kicked vertically upward with the tip of his foot.

Thung—!

The overwhelming mass of the Black-Steel Cold Iron struck the spear shaft directly.

Rip—.

With pain as if her grip had torn, the Black Dragon Spear was torn from Jin Sowol’s hand.

Since a spearman had lost her weapon, the sparring match was over with that.

“Waaaaa...!”

“The Black Dragon Gang Leader has won!”

The gang members saw with their own eyes that the basic movements they had repeated every dawn while screaming had melted into Uncheon’s miraculous movements.

‘What we are learning is real.’

‘The Gang Leader is... a real dragon.’

That was why the gang members who watched the sparring match between Uncheon and Jin Sowol naturally identified with Uncheon and trembled with excitement alongside him.

“......That makes no sense.”

Jin Sowol stared blankly down at her empty palm.

Her father’s legacy had been taken from her in vain by an opponent who had not even properly held a weapon.

Her eyes wavered with emptiness.

The Black Dragon Heaven-Churning Spear that she had trained in all her life was her pride itself.

“Do you know why you were defeated so vainly by an opponent who did not even hold a weapon? It is because your spear art is dead.”

Uncheon lightly spun the spear he had taken and drove it into the snowy ground.

Thud—.

Even before the vibration subsided, Uncheon’s cold voice struck her mind.

“A martial art learned while you secluded yourself alone in closed-door cultivation. Your spear is bound by ghosts of the past. You merely chased past renown. You failed to face your opponent directly and failed to wield your own spear.”

Jin Sowol’s complexion turned pale.

Through a single duel, Uncheon had seen through the chronic flaw in the martial learning she had devoted her life to training.

“......Stop insulting me and kill me already. If the Black Dragon one day makes its name known, I will have no lingering regrets.”

Jin Sowol closed her eyes and waited for her punishment.

“Shame? Begging for death after a single defeat is truly childish and arrogant.”

What returned was a cold sneer.

“Think of how many times a child falls while learning to walk. The martial way is completed only after thousands of falls.”

Uncheon’s gaze swept over the frozen gang members.

“Look at her hands. Though she had limitations because she practiced martial arts alone in closed-door cultivation, if any gang member here can proudly say he has put in more effort than the blood and sweat she has shed, step forward.”

Uncheon rebuked the gang members and gave a teaching at the same time.

‘The calluses and scars on her hands... are tremendous...!’

‘When I think of how harshly she must have trained with a woman’s body... I feel ashamed.’

When Jin Sowol heard Uncheon mention her hands, she hurriedly hid them.

They were rough hands unlike those of a woman, having blistered countless times and having had calluses split open.

“Why are you hiding your pride as a martial artist? Rather than the empty name of Black Dragon, take pride in the years you have built yourself.”

Jin Sowol clenched her empty hand tightly as snow fell over her.

“You said you were Jin Sowol? If you wish to go further, prepare yourself to be shattered and broken without cease.”

At that moment, a warm coat was draped over Jin Sowol’s shoulders as she sat there blankly.

It was Little Dragon.

“...Sister, that is why I told you to listen to me first. The Gang Leader is precisely the one who will make the Black Dragon Gang’s name known again.”

Little Dragon stroked his cheek and continued smoothly.

“If you also have the will, Sister, join us as a spear arts instructor to teach our gang members. If you stay by the Gang Leader’s side, you may truly see the Black Dragon ascend to heaven.”

After Little Dragon offered his greeting and went into the inner hall, the gang members’ powerful shouts began to ring through the snowstorm across the training ground once again.

‘...As a martial artist, I was still a child who had not even taken half a step.’

In the end, Jin Sowol raised her staggering body.

She neatly adjusted her disheveled hair again, walked to the door of the inner hall, and knelt on one knee.

“Jin Sowol, daughter of Jin Muyang... wishes to become a member of the Black Dragon Gang as of today. Will you please accept me?”