Martial Artist Lee Gwak Episode 159
The Sea Martial Festival (3)
Novel- Martial Artist Lee Gwak
When darkness descended, the Martial Sword Troupe shone at its brightest. Countless lanterns were lit, illuminating the surroundings.
The colorful lanterns, blending with the starlight in the sky, created a mystical atmosphere.People were so intoxicated by the mystical atmosphere that they didn’t even notice that the night was getting deeper.
“Sigh!”
Lee Gwak exhaled deeply as he exited the grand martial training ground.
Enjoying the Sea Martial Festival was pleasant, but he was tired. He wanted to rest now.
Lee Gwak left the grand martial training ground and made his way to the Jangmyeong inn.
The path to Jangmyeong Inn was quiet. Many people were still enjoying the Sea Martial Festival at the grand martial training ground.
It seemed as if the entire Haenam Island was engrossed in the Sea Martial Festival.
It was then that Lee Gwak frowned suddenly.
Swoosh!
At that moment, a sword attack flew towards him from the darkness. It was an unexpected ambush.
The attack was both stealthy and swift. The black sword, emerging as if slicing through the darkness, had reached Lee Gwak’s throat in no time. A bit more, and it would have pierced through Lee Gwak’s neck.
However, the attacker’s sword did not penetrate Lee Gwak’s throat because Lee Gwak stepped back as quickly as the sword was thrust forward.
Lee Gwak, as if being pulled back by someone, retreated smoothly while maintaining his posture.
A look of frustration momentarily crossed the attacker’s face.
He had meticulously prepared for the ambush, but Lee Gwak had neutralized it too easily. Nonetheless, the attacker was not disappointed.
He hadn’t expected the ambush to inflict a fatal wound in the first place.
The real confrontation was about to begin.
Swoosh!
His sword created dazzling variations out of the darkness.
The phantom swordplay in the darkness was enough to dazzle the human sight.
Clang!
Lee Gwak lifted his sheath to block the attacker’s sword. A deep scratch appeared on the wooden sheath.
Swoosh, swoosh!
The attacker’s sword assaulted Lee Gwak like a storm. The darkness was shattered by the silvery light of the sword.
Lee Gwak’s expression hardened.
He recognized the swordplay.
“You’re the leader of the Nine Shadows Fleet.”
“I knew you’d realize.”
The attacker removed the bamboo hat from his head, revealing a face as wild as a black panther.
He was Dam Il-cheon, the leader of the Nine Shadows Fleet.
When Lee Gwak recognized his identity, Dam Il-cheon momentarily ceased his attack.
“How did you enter Haenam Island?”
“Is there a place I can’t go? There’s nowhere in the world I cannot enter.”
Lee Gwak frowned at Dam Il-cheon’s bold response.
This was Haenam Island, the base of the Martial Sword Troupe.
Even if the Nine Shadows Fleet were lawless pirates of the sea, they couldn’t compare to the Martial Sword Troupe. The idea that pirates could run rampant in the Martial Sword Troupe’s front yard was unthinkable.
At least, that was what Lee Gwak’s common sense told him. But Dam Il-cheon was challenging that notion.
Not only had he infiltrated the front yard of the Martial Sword Troupe, but he was also attacking Lee Gwak. It implied confidence, but the risks involved were too great.
“Even so, was your loss to me so great that you couldn’t bear it?
Lee Gwak couldn’t understand Dam Il-cheon.
His thoughts showed on his face, provoking Dam Il-cheon.
“You must think I’m a fool. A martial artist who can’t control his anger and invites danger upon himself.”
“That’s…”
“It might be so. Someone like you, who roams the world alone, will never understand me. Those of us who command great forces cannot afford to lose. We have a responsibility to maintain an undefeated myth for our followers.”
The main reason Dam Il-cheon could grow the Nine Shadows Fleet was his overwhelming martial prowess.
His ability to crush any enemy instilled fear in his followers and made them blindly loyal. It was ruling the Nine Shadows Fleet through fear.
He could not afford even a single defeat.
The loss to Lee Gwak might seem inconsequential for now, but over time, it would breed those who doubted his authority and challenged him.
To prevent such a situation, he had to punish Lee Gwak.
Dam Il-cheon raised his sword towards Lee Gwak, his intent to kill evident in his stance.
Swoosh!
The Nine Life Stealing Sword technique, his renowned martial art, was once again unleashed towards Lee Gwak.
Lee Gwak realized he couldn’t avoid the fight.
He didn’t want to cause trouble in Haenam Island, but given the situation, he couldn’t just back down.
Lee Gwak’s demeanor changed.
It was just a slight raising of his eyebrows, but the atmosphere shifted.
As Dam Il-cheon executed the Nine Life Stealing Sword, he felt a chilling sensation, as if an invisible awl was piercing his heart.
Dam Il-cheon stopped his attack and spread his sword to protect his entire body.
Clang!
“Ugh!”
A powerful clash of metal resonated, and Dam Il-cheon was thrown backward.
His expression was twisted in pain. A sharp pain was felt in the hand holding the sword, almost causing him to drop it.
“What is this?”
What Lee Gwak executed was a simple thrust.
A technique any weapon-bearing person could master. But the story changes when it feels like it carries the weight of thousands.
The numbness spread from his grip up his forearm.
“What the hell…….”
When Dam Il-cheon was about to switch his sword to the other hand,
Whoosh!
A gale surged towards him.
It was the wind brought forth by Lee Gwak.
Swoosh!
Piercing through the wind, a silvery blade emerged, aiming precisely at Dam Il-cheon’s chest.
“Ha!”
Dam Il-cheon inhaled sharply and executed a life-saving sword technique.
Clang!
A metallic sound burst out, and Dam Il-cheon was shaken again.
A look of dismay was evident on his face. Lee Gwak’s ordinary sword technique had shaken his body and disrupted his qi flow.
Initially, when Dam Il-cheon first lost to Lee Gwak, he thought it was due to his own carelessness.
Confident that he would never lose if he just focused, he didn’t hesitate to ambush Lee Gwak upon spotting him here.
However, facing Lee Gwak again, he was reminded of that day’s nightmare.
Something was off about Lee Gwak’s swordsmanship.
Although the techniques appeared simple, they contained an unbearable force and subtly disrupted balance.
Dam Il-cheon clenched his teeth and mustered his energy to its peak, cloaking his sword in a blue aura.
He executed the most powerful technique of the Nine Life Stealing Sword, the Soul Death Strike.
Whoosh!
An immense force warped the space in front of Lee Gwak as the Soul Death Strike was unleashed.
Despite facing an attack of a completely different magnitude, Lee Gwak’s expression remained unchanged.
Facing a storm head-on is foolish.
If the opponent is strong, step back as much as necessary, and as their energy weakens, advance accordingly.
That was one of the keys to victory that Lee Gwak had realised.
Lee Gwak dodged Dam Il-cheon’s attack by retreating.
Boom!
The spot Lee Gwak had vacated was obliterated by Dam Il-cheon’s Soul Death Strike. It created a fissure in the ground as the force exploded outwards like a storm.
Exhausting a vast amount of energy in an instant, Dam Il-cheon felt a profound sense of depletion.
As he instinctively inhaled to stabilize himself,
Swoosh!
Suddenly, Lee Gwak appeared in front of him, as if materializing out of nowhere.
Slash!
A cutting sound chillingly echoed.
“Argh!”
Dam Il-cheon’s pained groan followed. His right shoulder was deeply slashed, blood pouring out.
By twisting his body at the last moment, the injury was limited to his shoulder; a slight delay would have resulted in a fatal wound.
Only then did Dam Il-cheon truly understand the gap between him and Lee Gwak.
It wasn’t because he was careless that he lost to Lee Gwak.
The gap between Lee Gwak and himself was just that wide.
Lee Gwak’s sword technique seemed too ordinary, making him unaware of the disparity. This realization made it all the more terrifying.
The reality that someone with such skills could appear so ordinary was daunting.
“Why did I even…”
Suddenly Dam Il-cheon regretted his rash decision to ambush Lee Gwak.
He cursed his own foolishness for not recognizing Lee Gwak’s dreadfulness beforehand.
Lee Gwak’s sword again sliced through the darkness.
At that moment, Dam Il-cheon saw his own death.
He vividly envisioned himself lying in a sea of blood.
“Stop!”
But it seemed the heavens hadn’t abandoned him yet.
With a loud voice from the sky, a tremendous force plunged down towards Lee Gwak. Without dodging, he swung his blade to meet it.
Boom!
The ground where Lee Gwak stood exploded with the impact, sending a pillar of dirt soaring into the sky, while fierce energy currents swirled around.
Flutter!
As the dirt pillar crumbled like a sandcastle, Lee Gwak reappeared, his eyes gleaming even in the darkness.
Dam Il-cheon was nowhere to be seen. The person who had ambushed Lee Gwak a moment ago had rescued Dam Il-cheon and vanished.
The attack carried a formidable internal energy. Although the technique lacked sophistication, the sheer amount of energy packed into it had dealt a significant blow to Lee Gwak.
Lee Gwak looked in the direction the attacker had disappeared. He had already vanished into the darkness, carrying Dam Il-cheon over his shoulder, evidently as skilled in Qigong as he was in martial arts.
“Sigh!”
Lee Gwak exhaled softly, looking at his hand.
Fssst!
The blade he held crumbled to dust.
He smiled wryly at the end of the sword that had been with him since leaving the forest.
He had been thinking it was time for a change, but he hadn’t expected it to completely disintegrate like this.
Then, voices could be heard from afar.
“There was a loud noise from over there.”
“Who dares to cause trouble on Haenam Island?”
The commotion had drawn the martial artists of the Martial Sword Troupe.
It would have been strange if they hadn’t come after such a disturbance.
Quietly, Lee Gwak left the scene.
Moments after his departure, the martial artists of the Martial Sword Troupe arrived, making a fuss.
***
Snap!
With a crisp sound, Dam Il-cheon’s head snapped to the side, a bright red handprint appearing on his cheek.
Dam Il-cheon gritted his teeth.
The one who had struck him was the hunched-over old man, his master, who had also saved him from the brink of disaster.
In the critical moment, his master used a secret technique to rescue Dam Il-cheon.
Had his master not intervened in time, Dam Il-cheon would surely have lost his life.
“Why didn’t you listen to me? I clearly told you to keep a low profile. How could you make such a conspicuous move?”
“I… am sorry.”
“Why did you do it?”
“I couldn’t control myself when I saw him. I’m sorry, Master.”
Dam Il-cheon bowed his head.
The old man looked at him with pity. Seeing his disciple so disheartened, the anger on his face faded away.
“Was he the one you mentioned from the Azure Maritime Company?”
“Yes.”
“Indeed, his martial prowess is extraordinary.”
The old man glanced at his staff.
Made from the Millenium Cold Steel, known for its unparalleled toughness, the staff’s surface now bore fine cracks.
The opponent had managed to damage a staff made of Millenium Cold Steel with his strike, a testament to his high level of skill.
Though the old man had to act hastily to save his disciple and couldn’t use his full power, it was enough to send chills down his spine.
“How could a young man possess such profound martial prowess?”
It was difficult for the old man to comprehend such skill level, even though he knew that the new waves would eventually surpass the old ones.
“We must eliminate him.”
Just then, someone entered the room where the two were.
A middle-aged man dressed in blue martial attire, exuding an imposing aura that instinctively made one bow their head, had arrived.
Upon seeing him, the old man quickly bowed.
“Elder Brother!”
The middle-aged man, Yu Mun Sang, looked indifferently at the old man.