As Prophet - Chapter 25



Only Krnovel

Episode 25. Sanin vs. Sanin

There was no need to look into it in detail. Just hearing the rumors made Baek Sa-ban feel more worried. He felt like he had fallen into that guy’s trap as soon as he arrived in Hanyang after achieving great things.

“What should I do about this?”

Baek Sa-ban asked Baek Ui-hyeong.

“What should I do? Since you said you would send someone when the day comes, I should follow you and meet you.”

“Why did you come here?”

“It seems that His Majesty is watching the nearby places, so he comes all the way to Yanggeun to hunt and play.”

“Why did Dalcheon go there again?”

“It would have happened no matter where you were. The deceased, who was under your command, recognized Dalcheon’s martial arts.”

“Ugh. It sounds like the sound of someone forgetting to wash their teeth.”

“I am not very good at martial arts, so I cannot detect it to that extent, but the deceased is said to be able to hear the footsteps of people coming from ten li away. Not only that, but he is also said to be able to detect the enemy’s history by hearing the sound.”

“Are you saying that Dalcheon is at that level?”

“He says he isn’t, but we have to assume he is. He might even be listening to our conversation.”

“Oh my god! If you’re so smart, what are you going to do with the person you live with?”

“That’s why we pretend not to know, pretend to be stupid, and pretend to be slow. It’s a way to live together.”

“Whew.”

Baek Ui-hyeong was at a loss at Baek Sa-ban’s sigh.

“Once you try, a solution will come to you.”

“When I first came up here, I didn’t intend to belong to any political party and just work!”

“Please do so.”

“Would that be possible? If you ask me to become a member of the Grand Prince’s faction, how could I refuse in front of him?”

“I am just doing my best for the sake of my country and people. Please answer like this.”

“I will ask that gentleman, given his nature, whether he will help me.”

“But would a decent person do that?”

“… … .”

“You won’t get an answer even if you think about it here. You have to go and see.”

“I guess so. Phew.”

Baek Sa-ban was sighing all the time.

Dalcheon, who was walking in the backyard not too far away, let out the same sigh. He could hear everything. If he paid a little attention, he could feel the waves rising in his heart. If it was such a difficult matter, he should have firmly refused it then. He regretted saying no and moving on. He felt even more sorry because he was the one who started it.

Dalcheon, who had been walking around the backyard, quietly left the house late at night. He ran along the road to Yanggeun, leaving behind the sad forest and the cuckoo’s cries. He couldn’t bring out his horse because he was going out secretly. But he ran faster than a horse. It was dark and the contrasting scenery was blurry, but he really ran faster than a horse.

Before half an hour had passed, I reached Yanggeun. I saw the sky at the entrance of Geumwon. The half moon was peeking out its pale face between the clouds. I crossed the place where I had previously wandered in a straight line. I soon felt him, and I caught a glimpse of him coming out into the wide space.

Even though I had run for dozens of miles, my breathing had not become even ragged. When I stopped walking, the person who was coming out of the wide yard also stopped.

Know each other. Know the nature of the vibrations that existence creates, feel their power, and know if I can win. You must have felt the vibrations that Dalcheon created as he ran.

He came out of the darkness of the bushes and stood in the moonlit white space. He wore black clothes and a black-dyed hat. He held a sword in his left hand and did not use a belt. It was not an everyday appearance.

Unmanned against unmanned, good against good. There is not much that can be done with words. I suppressed the urge to rush in and knock him down, and slowly approached him. Even though I was about twenty steps ahead, Dalcheon did not stop. It was a kind of confidence. I was also certain that I could take him down.

He put his hand out and blocked Dalcheon’s approach. It was clear that he had already entered his psychological distance.

“why?”

It did not answer the primary reason for his question.

“Why did you incite the army?”

Dalcheon’s usual attitude was different. He was not the young boy who was well-mannered and neat and was liked by people. They saw him as one of the same sages living in the mountains.

“What did you say?”

“Come down.”

“So?”

“Even though I said no, they forced me to do it, which caused trouble for the family I was relying on.”

“Ahem. Have we met again?”

Dalcheon shook his head. It was too much of a bother to answer. It was also uncomfortable to keep the conversation going.

“So you came here to ask me?”

“Can a teacher make a suggestion that limits the freedom of others?”

“If necessary… … .”

“If necessary, I can take your head.”

Dalcheon, who could not find any reason to say anything more due to the insincere answer, took out his sword. He gave a different answer even though he clearly knew why he had been chased. He broke the most basic rule of not telling the affairs of mountain people to the general public.

At first glance, he was shocked by the seemingly thoughtless decision. For a mountain man to draw his sword meant that, even if it wasn’t a life-or-death decision, he was at least going to try and see. He wasn’t just a kid. He seemed unsure whether he could win against Dalcheon.

“Let’s talk about it. Why would you draw your sword without even telling who you are and which mountain you’re from?”

“Before you set an example like that, think back to the mistakes you made first.”

Dalcheon swung his sword sharply as if in preparation, then faced forward. The surrounding air seemed to be sucked in, then rose into the sky, and then rushed toward him. The momentum moved freely, as if a strong wind was blowing.

“It was a mistake… …. Can I apologize now?”

“What kind of etiquette is it to apologize if you can, but not if you can’t?”

“Since we will all know each other once we cross the bridge, please understand and think of us as fellow countrymen.”

“Let’s just take a few hits and see.”

Dalcheon swung his sword at shoulder height. A huge tidal wave of energy poured down toward him. It was not something that could be avoided, nor was it something that could be persuaded with words. He drew his sword. A straight sword with a thin but very wide blade was drawn out and pointed forward at shoulder height.

Boom!

Even though we hadn’t even collided, our energy met and exploded. He took two steps back. Even though I had attacked first, I wondered if the difference was that big.

His expression changed carefully, and he stepped left and right on the dagger, blurring his form. It meant that he would not collide with him head-on.

Dalcheon stepped on the sword and stretched forward. A huge sword surged forward. Even a brush would be a serious injury. The guy pushed him aside while raising his sword face. As if he had thought about it, he turned his body to the side. As expected, he was not pushed to the side even though he blocked Dalcheon’s extended sword. If he had not turned his body to dodge, he would have suffered a disaster.

Dalcheon pushed the sword sideways while raising the sword that had been deflected. He blocked it with more force at the angle he had blocked, but as if he was tired of the force, he lowered his body and leaned back, sending it over his forehead. While the sword drawn horizontally went all the way to the end of the distant sky, the guy leaned back and dodged to the left side.

“Really? Are you saying that you can’t even provide that much information to your disciple?”

I knew that I couldn’t defeat him with force after just one clash. I changed my tactics. I started muttering as I barely avoided Dalcheon’s attacks.

Instead of retrieving the sword that had been extended horizontally, he quickly rotated his body and swung the sword horizontally again.

“When I asked who it was because someone seemed to have intruded into the forbidden area, all I could say was that it was an unmanned entity with an unusual history.”

A sword that had spun as if it were cutting the air in half suddenly approached him and cut his waist as he barely managed to keep his body upright. It was no use blocking it. The force was tremendous. He dodged back and raised his sword to block his waist.

Kkwang!

He narrowed the distance across the air, maintaining the angle at which Dalcheon swung his sword. He dodged as much as possible, but Dalcheon’s sword struck his side. It flew ten chapters along with the sword he had blocked by raising it to the side. It was an incredible force. He couldn’t win. He had to dodge. His thoughts were earnest, but it didn’t seem possible.

“I am in charge of teaching and managing the forbidden area at the request of the Grand Prince. Shouldn’t I report any intruders?”

That is true. If you only skim the surface of the words, it is obviously true. The issue that the words caused is completely different, but it can be excused in words. Telling a powerful person in the political world that there is a warrior with the power of the world, and that he should definitely make him his man, can be distorted like that. That is why people’s words cannot be trusted. You have to understand the meaning. Expressions that skim the surface are just expressions.

“If he was just an intruder, that would make sense, but how did he manage to convince people to become his people?”

Dalcheon flew towards the place where he had landed. As he flew, two, no, three, pure white sword energy rose above the sword strike that was held vertically. It could not be stopped. If you blocked it, you would be killed.

He jumped to the side in a hurry. He barely managed to roll to the side just before the sword fell. He rolled around once, and as if that wasn’t enough, he rolled again. Right next to where he had gotten up to avoid the blow, a deep hole was dug in. A large crack appeared in the broken ground with a loud noise. If he had rolled just once, he would have died.

“I felt like I made a mistake because I saw someone I don’t normally see.”

“Is it the same?”

The sword of the honest Dalcheon was strangely bent. The sword energy was reduced to a single blade. He drew a diagonal line upward and broke the sword in midair to stab at an angle to avoid it. The movement of cutting and stabbing was as fluid as flowing water.

He dodged as the guy swung his sword underwater. There was no sound as the swords met. Half of his blade was cut off. He couldn’t block it, so the blade cut off the sword and the spinning blade cut into his shoulder, and he fell like a bird that had been hit.

“Ugh.”

Blood gushed out from the spot where the bullet had passed through my left shoulder. If I hadn’t changed direction and reduced my force at the last moment, my neck would have been blown off.

He dropped the severed sword and grabbed his left shoulder with his right hand. No, he blocked it. His shoulder blade felt broken. One arm would no longer be usable.

“Ugh.”

When he could no longer resist and collapsed, Dalcheon placed his sword on his neck. He quickly stopped the blood that was pouring out of his shoulder and made a vicious expression.

“What crime did I commit that you are attacking me like this?”

“I did not keep the law of the mountains, ‘Do not tell the world.’”

The mountain man wearing black clothes was a man in his mid-thirties. If he had entered the mountain at the age of twenty, he would have studied for more than ten years. If you subtract the time he wasted on doing stupid things after coming down, he would have studied for about ten years. With that amount of effort, he couldn’t do anything. Should I say that it was only enough force to crush the world’s troublemakers?

I quickly poked a few points on his shoulder and the bleeding stopped. He was already confused from the blood he had shed. No, it might have been the price of giving up resistance. The person was as if he had no bones.

Only then did he admit his mistake.

“I was wrong! I made a mistake by spreading the news of my mountain man to the world. Kill him or leave him alone, that’s up to you.”

Dalcheon blinked. That doesn’t mean you can kill someone.

“Who are you from which mountain?”

“I studied at Gyeryongsan Mountain, but because the mountain man collapsed, I could not continue my studies and had to come down the mountain.”

“Why did you recommend me to him?”

His gaze, as he sat down, looked up at Dalcheon and he was startled.

“I knew you were young, but I didn’t know you were this young!”

“I am a person who came down for a while to study the world. I have no intention of becoming a political swordsman, but things have gone awry because of you.”

“I would like to ask your Majesty. Please make it seem like this never happened.”

“I don’t know if I have that much say.”

“He will come tomorrow. I will tell you clearly, so I will not look for you anymore.”

“What if I can’t convince you?”

“One of you will die.”

“Oh my.”

Dalcheon admitted that although he had given up on his studies, he was still a Sanin at heart. He was unwavering in his decisions and tried to keep his word. He could not be killed for saying something wrong.

“Do your best, but don’t think it’s something you’ll risk your life for. I put away my sword when I see that you admit what you did and are trying to turn back.”

Dalcheon took three steps back, showed respect, and turned away without saying a word. He did not attack any more. It may seem cruel at first glance to inflict a wound and then turn away, but there is no more polite way to treat a living person.

Moonlight shone brightly in the night sky where the clouds had disappeared. Dalcheon walked slowly back to Baekgajang without using his lightness.