Chapter 1546 – 1546. Ascending To The Light
“There’s a condition. You must kill yourself. Then I’ll release this one.”
His eyes wavered. It was the martial artists around him who were making a fuss.
“Elder! No! It’s just his deception!”
“Even so, we cannot abandon the Clan Head! The only ones who can rebuild the Dokgo Clan are the Clan Head and the Young Clan Head! For the sake of the clan, I can throw away this one life like a piece of straw!”
He grabbed his sword and stepped forward.
“Yeom Gu-seok! Swear on the name of a martial artist! You may be a member of the Demonic Cult, but before that, you are a martial artist! I believe in the spirit of a martial artist!”
“I swear. If you kill yourself, I will spare the Dokgo Clan Head!”
His sword moved. The tip of the sword was aimed at his chest. Without hesitation, he plunged the sword into his own chest.
“Cough!”
He coughed up blood and slumped down.
“Keep… your promise…!”
“Hahaha. I never thought you’d actually kill yourself. Well, fine. I won’t kill this one. I’ve had a better idea.”
[Using Full Recovery.]
First, I used Full Recovery to return to my best condition. I moved my fingers and tapped Dokgo Han’s pressure points to subdue him. Subduing a master of this level with pressure points wasn’t easy, but Dokgo Han was unconscious, so there was no resistance at all.
“Yeom Gu-seok! What are you aiming for?!”
A Dokgo Clan martial artist shouted angrily.
I held a sword in one hand and pointed it at them.
“I can slaughter you all right now. If you think my words are a joke, try me. I’ll cut you all down.”
The Dokgo Clan martial artists only flinched. They didn’t dare to attack me.
“…Give us the Clan Head. We will retreat with the Clan Head.”
“You’ve tucked your tails. Heh heh. I’ll tap all of your pressure points. Line up in front of me.”
“What do you want?!”
“Don’t climb up, just do as I say. And you… die as an example.”
Thunder Heaven Style (雷天流) Thunder Flash (雷閃).
A sword aura flew and beheaded him. The Dokgo Clan martial artists tensed up and took a battle stance.
Just as I was about to raise my sword again, a man spoke.
“…Do as he says. Somehow, he has recovered from his injuries. With the Clan Head subdued, even if all of us attack him, we’ll only be slaughtered unilaterally. More importantly, we cannot make the Elder’s sacrifice meaningless!”
“There’s someone with a brain. Who are you?”
“…I am Dokgo Hon, the Deputy Commander of the Dokgo Tajin Unit.”
“So, the one who just died was the Commander.”
I tapped the pressure points of the Dokgo Clan martial artists. They wouldn’t be able to use their inner energy for half a day. Martial artists who can’t use their inner energy are severely limited. They’re still stronger than ordinary people, but to me, they’re no different from ordinary people.
“Heh heh heh.”
I threw away Dokgo Han, whom I was holding. I approached the Dokgo Clan martial artists.
“Get out of the way.”
I pushed past their shoulders and went inside. What they were desperately hiding.
The Dokgo Clan’s Young Clan Head, Dokgo Cheong-ha. She was behind the martial artists, using Qi circulation to heal her wounds. She grabbed her twin swords and jumped up from her seat.
“Still haven’t grasped the situation?”
“The Dokgo Clan… will not fall…!”
She swung her sword. Not at Dokgo Cheong-ha, but at the martial artist right next to her. The martial artist’s head fell to the ground along with blood.
“Try to resist. I’ll kill all the martial artists here. The Dokgo Clan will be destroyed because of the Young Clan Head’s resistance. The Elder who sacrificed himself for the Dokgo Clan will be lamenting in the afterlife.”
“……”
Her twin swords trembled. The twin swords slowly lowered.
“Heh heh heh!”
A sense of pleasure washed over me. My fingers poked her body. I tapped her pressure points to seal her inner energy. I snatched the twin swords from Dokgo Cheong-ha’s hands and threw them away. I put my arm around her shoulder.
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’m going to the Dokgo Clan. I have to make a bet there.”
“…A bet?”
“I’ll keep my promise to the Elder. I won’t kill the Dokgo Clan Head. But I never said I’d spare the other Dokgo Clan members.”
“Hmph, are you planning to dominate the Dokgo Clan?! Do you think someone like you can dominate the Dokgo Clan?!”
“I can’t. Even if I could, I wouldn’t. What value is there in a mere Dokgo Clan?”
“You…!”
I had no intention of settling down in the Dokgo Clan. I had to leave the city within two days at the latest. Otherwise, the Martial Alliance’s pursuit team would catch up. I had a space-movement scroll, so it would be easy to shake off the pursuit, but it was better to refrain from using such items as much as possible. The Heavenly Demon Cult might suspect something.
“…Do you want the Dokgo Clan’s martial arts and elixirs?”
“The Dokgo Clan’s martial arts? From what I’ve seen, they’re nothing special. I’ll take the elixirs. The more elixirs, the better.”
We arrived at the Dokgo Clan. Just looking at the buildings, they were as grand and splendid as the Namgung Clan.
“For a place like this, the buildings are ridiculously big.”
“Hmph…!”
“Gather everyone in the clan in one place. I will spread my senses. Don’t think you can deceive my senses and escape. For every one who tries to escape, I will kill 30.”
An hour passed.
People gathered in the underground training ground. Including the family members who didn’t know martial arts, there were a total of 854 people. It was a bit surprising that there weren’t even a thousand.
I tapped the pressure points of 853 people, excluding Dokgo Cheong-ha, and subdued them. Not stopping there, I bound their bodies with iron chains. They were kneeling on the floor. I sat on the chair where the Dokgo Clan Head would sit and watched them.
‘I’ve secured the martial arts and elixirs for now. It seems they’ve hidden the real ones… It’s annoying to move around to find them. I might not even be able to find them.’
I couldn’t waste my precious time looking for mere elixirs.
I grinned at Dokgo Cheong-ha in front of me. She seemed to feel uneasy and took a step back, her face hardening.
“…What exactly do you want from our clan?”
“I told you earlier. I’m going to make a bet.”
“Why should I bet with you?!”
I chuckled and took out martial arts manuals and elixirs from my spatial pouch. They were the ones I had obtained from the Dokgo Clan. The elixirs were of low quality, but there were many of them. It would take at least thirty years to restore all of them.
“The stakes of the bet are the Dokgo Clan’s martial arts and elixirs. You’d definitely want to prevent the outflow of the Sun and Moon Piercing Sword and the Sun and Moon Divine Art, at least. And.”
I raised a finger. I pointed to Dokgo Han, who was bound and unconscious nearby, and the Dokgo Clan’s family members.
“Their lives are also in my hands. Don’t you want to save them?”
“You said you wouldn’t kill my father! Are you going back on your word?!”
“I won’t kill him. But I can cut off his arms and legs. He’s already lost his left arm, and if he loses his right arm too… Heh heh. That’s no different from being dead.”
Dokgo Cheong-ha closed her eyes tightly and then opened them.
“What… what kind of bet are you proposing?”
I took out four hourglasses from my pocket. They were hourglasses of 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes each.
“Do as I say. If you can’t do it within the time limit, the bet is my victory. Conversely, if you do as I say within the time limit… it’s your victory. The items at stake in the bet will be yours.”
“Is that what you call a bet?”
“What else? Did you think I’d play dice with you? Well, that’s not bad either. If the dice roll is less than 3, I’ll kill one of those guys, and if it’s more than 4, I’ll save one. Do you want a bet like that?”
I could do it as much as she wanted. It wasn’t like my life was at stake. But it was different for Dokgo Cheong-ha. She couldn’t gamble with the lives of her family members.
“…I’ll do the bet where I do as you say.”
Dokgo Cheong-ha’s voice was trembling. She must have sensed what I wanted.
“Good. The first bet. The item at stake in this bet is the Sun and Moon Divine Art. For the record, I have no interest in the Sun and Moon Divine Art. And I have plenty of money. If you lose the bet and don’t get the Sun and Moon Divine Art, I’ll throw it to the lower-ranking warriors of the Heavenly Demon Cult. After that, well, as you can imagine, the Sun and Moon Divine Art will become as cheap as the Three Calamities Heart Method.”
The situation where anyone and everyone would learn the Sun and Moon Divine Art would not happen. A high-level martial art like the Sun and Moon Divine Art cannot be learned just by having the manual. It requires systematic training suitable for a high-level martial art, a master with excellent skills, and high-quality elixirs. Of course, talent is also essential. Because the martial art is difficult, even more talent is needed.
“That… that can’t happen…! The Sun and Moon Divine Art is the heart and symbol of the Dokgo Clan!”
“If you don’t want to see that happen, you just have to win the bet.”
I reached out towards the hourglasses. I hesitated between the smallest hourglass and the next largest one.
‘Hmm. The 1-minute one would be good. It’s not like I’m asking her to do something difficult.’
I grabbed the smallest hourglass.
“The first bet. Before the sand runs out, take off your clothes. Don’t leave a single thread on your body.”
“What….”
Thud.
I flipped the hourglass over. The sand fell rapidly. Dokgo Cheong-ha looked at the hourglass and the Sun and Moon Divine Art with trembling eyes. Soon, she bit her lip as if she had made up her mind.
“Stop! Don’t do it, Cheong-ha! You don’t need to humiliate yourself for the sake of the clan!”
Dokgo Najik. Dokgo Han’s eldest son and Dokgo Cheong-ha’s older brother, said. I didn’t interrupt and watched Dokgo Cheong-ha.
“…First Brother. If the Sun and Moon Divine Art is leaked, the Dokgo Clan is finished. Between me and the Dokgo Clan, there’s no need to even think about which is more important. Like the Elder… I can do anything for the Dokgo Clan!”
Her tone was firm.
More than half of the sand had fallen. She raised her hand and untied her clothes.
“Hmph! All the clan members here, close your eyes and lower your heads!!”
Everyone gathered here closed their eyes and lowered their heads. I didn’t stop them. The bet had only just begun. Could they really maintain their loyalty until the end?
Swish. Swish.
Dokgo Cheong-ha took off her clothes without hesitation and became naked. As I had said, she was completely naked, without a single thread on her body. Dokgo Cheong-ha’s face was flushed, but she didn’t lower her head or try to cover her body. She was trying to face me as confidently as possible.
“Heh heh. What a tempting body. Big breasts and buttocks… just my type.”
Her breasts were slightly droopy in a teardrop shape. Her nipples were a bright pink and clean. Her abs were firm, as befitting a martial artist. The pubic area between her thighs was naturally bushy.
I suppressed the urge to touch her body and said,
“The first bet is your victory.”
I threw the Sun and Moon Divine Art towards the eldest son, who was bound and kneeling. The eldest son hugged the Sun and Moon Divine Art to his chest with a resentful expression. I chuckled. I had confirmed that the eldest son and dozens of other men had glanced at Dokgo Cheong-ha’s body.
And Dokgo Cheong-ha would know that too. The person involved is always the most sensitive to gazes.
“The second bet. The item at stake is the Sun and Moon Piercing Sword. If the swordsmanship is leaked, all sorts of martial artists will rush to break it.”
“I know that much without you having to say it. Just tell me the details of the bet…!”
“Heh heh. Don’t rush me. The second bet is shaving. I’ve seen too many hairy pussies lately, so I’m tired of them. I want to see a bald one.”
I threw a shaving set. A razor, clean water, and a bowl.
“…You vulgar bastard! I don’t feel any of the demeanor of a master from you!”
“How insolent. I was going to give you 5 minutes, but I can’t now. I’ll give you 3 minutes. Don’t think about hiding your body with any strange tricks. That would be your loss by default.”
“Hmph….”
Dokgo Cheong-ha grabbed the razor with trembling hands. Looking at the sharp razor, she seemed to be pondering something, but soon, she sat on the floor and prepared to shave.
“First, it’s easier to wet it with water, then cut the long ones appropriately and trim the remaining hair.”
I couldn’t resist giving her advice.
“I’ll do it myself, so shut up!”
Even as she said that, she followed my advice and used water to wet her pubic hair.
