Chapter 624: The Next Time We Meet

“Peng Sahyuk?”

Hyonwon Kang was taken aback by Peng Sahyuk’s sudden appearance. It was clear that the other boy hadn’t come looking for him, since he was grinning like someone who had stumbled upon something fascinating. What he had taken for a glare was just the bastard’s resting bitch face.

Hyonwon Kang watched Peng Sahyuk amble toward him and muttered offhand, “Wow, you’ve gotten huge.”

He wasn’t talking about Peng Sahyuk’s build. Geo Sangwoong and Ya Suhyeok were both bigger, and he saw them every day.

This was more about sheer intimidation. Like a great tiger circling its prey, he was deciding where to bite.

The fine hairs on Hyonwon Kang’s body rose, and every one of his senses, which he had spent a year sharpening, sounded an alarm at once. This opponent was dangerous. This opponent was strong.

A moment later, the two boys stood facing each other on the duel stage, a dao slung across each of their backs. Something like joy flickered between them for a moment. Soon, however, habit took over, and they both started sneering at each other.

“Out at this hour? Guess you were too scared to sleep.”

Peng Sahyuk glared daggers at his rival.

“You little shit. If you’re out at the crack of dawn, then that means...” Hyonwon Kang cut himself off, his face hardening. Each time a muscle shifted beneath Peng Sahyuk’s heavy robe, a faint smell of blood drifted off him. “Hey, are you hurt somewhere?”

“I scraped myself up a bit while training.”

“...What?”

That body looks like it could roll across a bed of blades and come out fine.

Hyonwon Kang swallowed the words and let out a small sigh instead. He wasn’t in the mood to trade barbs with Peng Sahyuk right now. “Right. Guess you worked hard too,” he mumbled.

“...Hm?” Peng Sahyuk frowned at the unusual reaction. These weren’t the eyes that had burned with competitiveness and glared holes through him just yesterday.

What the hell? His eyes are like a rotten fish.

“I’ll head off first. Don’t waste your energy this early on. Mess around a bit, then go back inside,” Hyonwon Kang said in a noticeably flat voice as he turned away.

Peng Sahyuk narrowed his eyes. Blood dripped from Hyonwon Kang’s fist. The dumb delinquent had tried to hide it the moment he appeared, but he wasn’t quick enough. Besides, figuring out why the idiot had deflated like a beaten dog overnight was child’s play.

“The Crazy Demon Hyonwon Hu.”

“......” Hyonwon Kang took a few steps before stopping dead in his tracks.

Peng Sahyuk’s voice came from behind him, laced with scorn. “So I’m right. Is that what this is about?”

Although he couldn’t see Hyonwon Kang’s face, he knew exactly how badly things must have just gone. Still, he kept talking.

“The Patriarch called me in last night and told me about the Crazy Demon Hyonwon Hu. He’s a monster who murdered his own close friend, the Peng Clan’s Young Lord of that time, and then ran away.”

“...Shut up.”

“Did you know that the Peng and Hyonwon clans almost went to war over the death of that Young Lord? When then or now, our strength dwarfs the Hyonwon Clan’s.”

“...I’m don’t give a shit about that crap.”

“So why do you think the Peng Clan left the Hyonwon Clan standing instead of wiping it off the map?”

“Shut up, you bastard!” Hyonwon Kang spun around and charged at him, his teeth bared and his fists swinging. His eyes glowed with a chilling killing intent.

“Moron.” Peng Sahyuk smirked and easily dodged the punch. There was no technique to it, only raw emotion. He let the punch sail past and buried his own fist in Hyonwon Kang’s side.

“Kuh!” As Hyonwon Kang staggered, a huge fist hurtled toward his face. He raised an arm just in time to block the blow, but the impact drove him backward anyway.

“You idiot! Listen to me until I’m finished!” Peng Sahyuk roared.

The shout jolted Hyonwon Kang back to reality.

“Before he died, the Young Lord that Hyonwon Hu killed left a will. He said the matter was between the two of them and that the Hyonwon Clan was not to be held responsible for his death.”

“...What?” Hyonwon Kang blanked out in shock.

THWACK!

Peng Sahyuk’s fist whipped around like a thunderbolt, catching him square in the face and sending him sprawling. His lip split open and bled.

Peng Sahyuk stood over him, looking thoroughly satisfied with himself. “Instead, he requested that if Hyonwon Hu ever came to his senses and returned, he should kneel at the grave and pour him a drink.”

“......”

Hyonwon Kang had a flashback to his childhood, when his father bowed his head before the Hebei Peng Clan Patriarch like a convicted criminal. He remembered the Patriarch treating his father like a lowly servant.

“...Did you just try to kill my son?”

The memory of that terrifying glare was still vivid. He had accidentally injured Peng Sahyuk during a duel. This touched the Hebei Peng Clan’s raw nerve, resulting in his own father having to kneel before the Peng Clan Patriarch.

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry. Please forgive us, just this once. My son did it ignorantly.”

That day, Hyonwon Kang learned that Peng Sahyuk was not a friend, but a superior to be served. That day, he closed his heart.

“The main family treats the Hyonwon Clan like a branch family. Honestly, that’s the bad blood from back then. Ancestors’ will or not, people are people. Nobody was going to view you favorably.” Peng Sahyuk readily admitted his family’s prejudice, but he wasn’t about to apologize on their behalf. “However, it’s also true that the Peng Clan helped the Hyonwon Clan after the massacre left them weakened. Without us, bandits would have stripped you bare, right down to the last blade of grass.”

“...I know that much, you bastard.”

Peng Sahyuk’s lips curled into a smirk. The look in Hyonwon Kang’s eyes when he wiped his split lip with the back of his hand had reverted to the one he was familiar with.

Hyonwon Kang pushed himself upright and raked a hand roughly through his hair. “Damn it! All this family stuff is way too complicated for my brain.”

Taking a few punches had simplified things considerably.

There were generations of debts and grudges tangled up between the two clans, and the rift had only deepened with time. The weight that came with being the sons of such clans plagued the two since childhood.

“So what are we supposed to do about any of it? None of that matters, does it?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter.”

Both of them looked forward to this day more than anything else. They had pictured the moment they would cross blades on the duel stage at full strength to prove themselves hundreds, thousands of times.

To them, nothing in the world mattered more than winning this duel.

“Forget where our families stand. Let’s fight like we used to, without a care in the world.”

“Now you’re talking.”

The two teenage bladesmen stood face-to-face and lightly bumped their fists together.