The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Chapter 113
—
reasons why the Triad isn’t one of the three great villains.
1. Made in China (China made it so).
└ ……That’s it?
└ Ten reasons? Lol.
└ 2. Frequent internal faction fights (eating their own flesh).
└ Ah? Is this what it is? Hahahaha.
└ Kids these days…
└ Sir, please catch up with the times.
└ 3. Geographical weakness (a divided China. They fight each other to the d*ath!).
└ Lol, true.
└ They fight viciously.
└ Honestly, isn’t China’s situation more serious than the U.S. Civil War? These guys start wars almost every four years.
└ Is this an Olympics?? Hahaha.
└ So, 4. They don’t rise up?
└ You need knowledge first…
└ This is where the expert should step in.
└ 4. Weak command structure (Who are you kidding? These old-school ‘brotherhoods’ are outdated and cause many problems. One of the most representative issues is…)
└ 5. Lack of direction (‘Evolutionary Group’ dreams of humanity’s evolution, ‘Celutis’ seeks salvation from the world, even the psychopathic combat fanatics ‘TA (The Top of Arena)’ have a clear goal: ‘Power, overwhelming power.’ But the Triad? They have no clear direction. They just say, ‘We do anything for money,’ but it’s unclear who spends the money they earn and how. The result…)
└ 6. Wealth monopolization and unequal distribution (This is what I think is the biggest problem with the Triad. Wealth monopolization by a few individuals means transparency is lost. The inequality in distribution weakens the organization’s focus on ‘money,’ causing the foundation to crumble.)
└ That makes sense, I trusted it!
└ ?? Command structure? Direction? Monopoly??
└ I’m a complete noob. Please explain.
└ Those supposed experts are nowhere to be found when you actually need them.
└ Hmm, I graduated from the academy, and this content feels familiar…
└ Me too!
└ NHC Professor…?
└ Why explain so complicatedly? It’s such a simple issue.
└ Hahaha, what is it? Hahaha.
└ The reek of armchair experts wafting from the text.
└ What nonsense are you spewing?
└ Come on, let’s hear it. Don’t be like that.
└ Super simple: 7. They’re weak. (Do you need any other reason? Really?)
└ Oh…
└ That’s true.
└ Really, the Evolutionary Group, Celutis, and TA… compared to them…
└ Definitely looks like the Triad lacks in comparison.
—
*
While dealing with these guys, I realized something anew.
‘The people I faced before were actually pretty strong.’
I raised my hand above my head.
The guy who was sneaking up behind me tensed but was already within my range.
Grasping the spearhead stabbing at me, I pulled it down.
“Uh?!?” – the guy came along with it.
“If you’re going to hide, do it properly.”
I grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall.
Psshht—!!
A human being was embedded into the steel wall.
The guy hung dangling there, along with several others similarly hung behind him.
I pinned all of them there.
They reminded me of the cheap decorations I once won at a claw machine with Spring. I decided to decorate this place similarly, reminiscing about old times.
As you can see, my tension right now is at zero.
Completely none.
They said they were the Triad, right? I’m told they’re a major martial force representing one pillar of China, but honestly… I don’t know.
Drug dealers and people traffickers representing a country? It’s hard to believe, but if Mother said it, it must be true.
She also added, ‘You shouldn’t try to understand China.’
Yeah, I fully agree with that.
“It’s hard to understand.”
From the other end of the ship corridor, throwing daggers cut through the darkness.
The daggers, imbued with sword energy, sparkled beautifully. While distracted by the daggers, one guy suddenly rushed in low.
His speed, sharpness, and the completeness of his technique aimed at delivering a decisive strike with multiple daggers were…
Not bad.
No, it’s good. Quite impressive.
But still…
Crash—!!
“Why are you sticking to the same attack every time?”
I caught the flying daggers with my hand and then grabbed the sword aimed at my heart.
I caught the stunned guy by the face and added him to my collection of decorations.
Clang!
Another swinging decoration now dangles awkwardly.
“Thought the same thing when I saw you earlier.”
They call it ‘martial arts,’ right? These guys are strangely fixated on them.
Fixed forms and techniques.
I understand the advantage.
With defined forms and techniques, training can be standardized, and this way, they can churn out superhuman fighters at a consistent level.
In fact, the Triad members I’ve encountered so far seem pretty average. No particularly outstanding or deficient ones.
But the problem is…
“There’s no one particularly memorable.”
I took a step back, caught the guy breaking through the floor, and slammed him in.
Boom—!
This is it.
Just like this guy now pinned, there are no special ones at all.
Their methods of entering, attacking, and defending are all the same.
Why?
Because they all use the same martial arts.
Or rather, wouldn’t it be weird if someone couldn’t block something so predictable?
I block all the incoming attacks.
Front, rear, above, below the corridor… attacks come from all directions, but with minimal movement, I dodge and block them.
I stared at the front.
Then,
The guy waving his sword in the front, to the right wall.
Crash!
The guy firing darts from behind, to the left wall.
Crash!
The guy throwing a net from above, back to the right wall.
Boom—!
The spear emerging from the floor, straight to the left wall.
I pinned them neatly beside each other.
“Getting annoying. Enough.”
It would have been interesting if there’d been a mage.
In China, magic is looked down upon. Something about a ‘Sungwu Leap Forward Movement’? Whatever, they claim martial arts are far superior and reject magic.
“Stupid nonsense.”
As I’ve said countless times, it’s all just a means to k*ll.
What difference does it make if it’s magic, martial arts, martial training, or sorcery?
The conclusion is the same: follow Mother’s advice.
“Don’t try to understand.”
Why bother understanding something unrelated to me? It’s exhausting.
I completely turned off my attention.
Squeak, the door opened, and I stepped out onto the deck. Many eyes were fixed on me. A crowd held weapons, aiming them directly at me.
“Is this a welcome party? Awkward.”
The guy in front shouted as the group charged.
Their weapons filled my line of sight.
The familiar madness and smell of the battlefield beckoned to me with open arms.
To reciprocate their fiery attention, I…
Leaped into their madness.
—
On the deck.
The battlefield was fierce.
bl**d splattered, and bodies exploded. The deafening booms signaled the inevitable loss of life.
Unending deaths. Piles of corpses.
The vast deck was covered in bl**d and scattered remains.
All of this was created by Park Ki-hyuk alone.
His brutal assault: tearing arms, shattering legs, exposing ribs, and ripping out internal organs.
He tore and killed.
More cruel than villains, more ferocious than demons, he crushed his enemies.
Through this, fear was instilled.
This fear was the method that he, the Demon Lord, used to dominate the battlefield.
Right now, Park Ki-hyuk was alone, ruling the battlefield.
Seeing this, a crack appeared in the Triad’s camp.
The losses were too great. It was futile to rely merely on numerical superiority against Park Ki-hyuk, who seemed like a monster.
Who would dare step forward or stand in his way when they knew they’d be brutally slaughtered upon approach?
Even the leader of the action team, Zhang Qing, didn’t want to get close.
“Sir, the losses are too significant.”
“If we keep going this way, the entire team will be wiped out.”
“I know.”
“Maybe we should retreat.”
“To where?”
“…”
“…”
The ship was already far from the dock.
Park Ki-hyuk didn’t occupy the helm by chance. He wanted to eliminate any annoying situations and decided to set the ship adrift right away.
Upon realizing this, Zhang Qing and the Action Team tried to stop the ship. They quickly entered the engine room and halted operations. For a moment, it seemed the ship would stop.
But then…
Around the ship, a hexagram magic circle was drawn, and waves surged. The ship, already cut loose, floated slowly and eventually stopped at a considerable distance from the harbor.
A trap, forcing everyone into a ‘boat of no return.’
There was effectively no escape.
It became a battlefield where either Park Ki-hyuk died or Zhang Qing and the Action Team disappeared.
“Sir!”
“We don’t have time.”
Even as Zhang Qing was thinking this, his team was continuing to d*e.
It was time to make a decision.
“Use everything we have.”
Shortly after, the Action Team pulled away, withdrawing for a moment to retrieve something from the subspace.
A rectangular dark wooden box emerged.
It was a coffin. The kind used for corpses.
“What are you doing?”
Park Ki-hyuk tilted his head, confused, then let out a surprised exclamation as the coffin opened.
“It’s a chimera!”
Not entirely wrong.
It could be considered a chimera since it was made by combining corpses. However, it had a formal title.
Jiangshi (殭屍).
A combat automaton created in China.
Jiangshis without fear rushed toward Park Ki-hyuk. He attempted to counter them using martial training, as he had before.
Clunk—!!
“Huh?”
Even though he struck the jiangshi, a sound resonated like striking steel. Not only the sound but also the impact—feeling the sensation of hitting metal instead of flesh—confirmed it.
This was the Triad’s famous ‘Iron Jiangshi.’
The Triad is more specialized in dirty combat like jiangshis, poison, and assassination than direct confrontation. They were finally revealing their true nature.
The Action Team, with their specialty, managed to trap Park Ki-hyuk.
Iron Jiangshis blocked the front, while the Action Team all fired arrows. Every arrow was laced with poison. They could now freely sh**t without worrying about harming their own since the attackers were Iron Jiangshis.
The battlefield situation shifted.
What was a one-sided battle turned into a stalemate.
From the Action Team’s perspective, this opened up a bit of breathing room. Finally, they wouldn’t be killed pointlessly.
However, Zhang Qing, their leader, had a different thought.
“I thought this would be enough… Grrr.”
21 Iron Corpses.
Even with these, the situation couldn’t be reversed. Enough power to wipe out a few sects, yet unable to overwhelm Park Ki-hyuk…
Zhang Qing was taken aback by Park Ki-hyuk’s strength, even after deploying Iron Jiangshis.
“d*mn. We need Wang Chai here.”
Ultimately, things were this way because of that idiot. He needs to take some responsibility.
Shortly after, Wang Chai was dragged before Zhang Qing.
“Sir, we need to use ‘that.'”
Within the Triad, they granted a special privilege to the person assigned the mission.
It was a mechanism to give weight to the assigned leader’s words and provide a minimal shield for their safety.
The “Live Jiangshi.”
A representative power of the Triad, capable of using a portion of the martial arts practiced during their lifetime.
A black-cloth-wrapped Live Jiangshi appeared.
It immediately lunged at Park Ki-hyuk, the target designated by its master.
Its palms together in prayer, it swiftly moved while dodging arrows fired by allies, breaking through the space encircled by Iron Jiangshis.
It struck with its palms.
The Eighteen Palm Strikes of the Arhat
羅漢十八掌
A golden sphere of mana wrapped around it. The palm-shaped mana sphere struck Park Ki-hyuk’s entire body.
The signature technique of Shaolin, the Eighteen Palm Strikes of the Arhat, unfolded.
The battlefield situation shifted again.
—
I briefly left the battlefield and hid beside a container.
“d*mn, this is… unexpected.”
I let my guard down and got hit clean.
I knew they’d have a trick or two up their sleeves, but I never imagined they’d pull out a high-tier summoned creature.
“Almost d*ath Knight-level.”
Though they’re inexperienced in commanding, their mastery of martial arts makes them comparable to a d*ath Knight.
Their use of martial arts was impressive, far better than the archers over there.
‘Well, in a rigid training regime, occasionally an ultimate master appears.’
I caught my breath for a moment, then the container behind me quivered. I immediately sensed a familiar mana resonance.
I swiftly rolled to the side. The instant the golden palm strike struck, the container exploded. Splinters peppered my body.
Glancing down,
“Got hit pretty bad.”
Covered in cuts. Not too deep, but it’s been a while since I’ve been injured.
Still, it was interesting.
I learned about martial arts and thoroughly enjoyed this new type of combat.
That’s enough.
Let’s end this.
I reached into my subspace.
The Great Sword ‘Demon’ appeared.
“Long time no see.”
Urrrr—!!!
The sword gave its usual protest for not being wielded in a while.
I caressed the blade gently, soothing it, then gripped the hilt.
At that moment, the instincts of a Sword Master awakened.
Raven-black hair covered my body.
One by one, each hair contained the essence of ‘Apocalypse,’ forming magical seals that covered me. My vision expanded.
Not human vision, but that of a fierce beast.
I cleanly bisected the rushing jiangshi.
I swiftly chopped the one rushing closer.
From head to groin—perfectly vertical.
Gash—!!
The bisected jiangshi spewed its insides. bl**d, chemicals, strange organs inside all spilled out.
The terrifying sight made even the enemies pause.
And I…
“Feels great, doesn’t it?”
The training is over.
Now, it’s time to show.
I broke free of my restraints.
The adrenaline surged, the muscles exploded.
The veins bulging, covered in magical seals of hair, gleamed.
The ferocity of a savage beast radiated.
I unleashed all my strength.
Geomho-ryu Destruction
Reverse the Heavens (逆天)
The first sword glow erased the light. The second one shattered the area. The third one broke the law.
And when the sixth sword glow completed the hexagram, I swung my sword again.
A completed ‘Reverse the Heavens,’ with an added sword strike.
This is a power beyond order.
The highest power from a mythical extinct god.
The embodiment of violence,
awakens in this land.
Giant Transformation
巨人化
The shadow that fell behind me took the shape of a giant.
Piercing the heavens, the great sword of the giant came crashing down.
BOOMMMMMMMMM—!!
Reverse the Heavens.
Today, here,
the heavens were turned upside down.
