Chapter 96
If I Can’t Prove It (1)
Yeom Sawon’s techniques were fast and precise.
His sword thrust repeatedly toward the vital points all over Baek Socheon’s body.
After hearing Yeom Hwasin’s warning not to be deceived, Yeom Sawon began unleashing the strongest techniques he possessed.
Originally, he had intended to wait for an opening and use them at the decisive moment. But if Baek Socheon had deliberately laid a trap to make him lower his guard, he could no longer afford to wait.
He intended to pour out every technique he had been saving and settle the match.
These were attacks that could never be blocked with a broken sword.
Baek Socheon used his footwork to evade the attacks while retreating.
The moment the distance between them widened, Baek Socheon realized that Yeom Sawon was about to release sword energy.
At the same time, Baek Socheon threw himself to the right of where he had been standing.
Immediately afterward, sword energy erupted from Yeom Sawon’s sword.
Swaaaaaash!
A stream of sword energy shot toward Baek Socheon.
Baek Socheon desperately threw himself aside to avoid it.
The missed sword energy flew toward the people behind him.
But Baek Socheon was not worried.
The moment he realized Yeom Sawon was about to release sword energy, he had deliberately moved to the right.
There had been a clear purpose behind that movement.
Directly behind the position he had moved to were Ak Sogun and several renowned senior masters of the martial world.
The most important people were seated there, but at the same time, they were also the strongest martial artists present.
Sure enough, Ak Sogun, who had been watching from his seat, unleashed a palm strike without even standing up.
The palm force released from his hand collided with the incoming sword energy.
Booooom!
With a tremendous explosion, the sword energy dispersed in midair.
Yeom Sawon showed absolutely no concern for the safety of the people behind Baek Socheon and continued firing sword energy.
Swaash! Swaaaaaash!
Filled with killing intent, he could think of nothing except killing Baek Socheon.
Baek Socheon threw himself around almost like an acrobat, evading the attacks.
With Ak Sogun behind him, he did not have to worry about what happened there.
No.
More precisely, he had no room to worry about it.
Simply evading incoming sword energy without internal energy was already an unbelievable display of ability to everyone watching.
Normally, Baek Socheon would have secretly used a little internal energy in a situation like this.
But he could not do so while Yeom Hwasin was watching.
A martial artist like Yeom Hwasin would notice even the slightest circulation of internal energy.
That was why Baek Socheon was genuinely avoiding the sword energy by the narrowest of margins.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Not only Ak Sogun, but the people seated beside him also stepped in, swinging their swords or releasing palm force to disperse the incoming sword energy.
Every one of them was the leader of a major faction.
The spectators all rose from their seats.
The attacks had become so vicious that everyone began letting out short exclamations, wondering whether such a thing should really be allowed in a spar.
Just as they began thinking that Baek Socheon could no longer endure and would surely die—
A powerful stream of sword energy flew toward Baek Socheon as he rolled across the ground to evade the attacks.
Swaaaaaash! Boom!
The floor of the sparring stage shattered, sending fragments and dust into the air.
At that exact moment, Baek Socheon sprang from the ground like a released spring and hurled himself toward Yeom Sawon.
This was the moment he had been waiting for.
The cloud of dust had obscured Yeom Sawon’s vision.
“You bastard!”
Yeom Sawon was so startled and desperate that he cursed aloud.
But that was something one should never do in such a critical moment.
That alone showed how little real combat experience Yeom Sawon possessed.
Baek Socheon closed the distance in an instant and slipped inside Yeom Sawon’s guard.
Yeom Sawon swung his sword toward him.
However, he had been in the middle of releasing sword energy, so the flow of his qi and blood was disrupted, and the dust also impaired his vision.
At that moment, Baek Socheon unleashed the Beoncheon Nine Fists.
The First Fist—Pungnyu Unsan.
A technique that subdued the opponent by using their own power against them.
Yeom Sawon suddenly felt the internal energy infused into his sword being sucked away.
Then, an instant later, he felt that same internal energy come surging back toward him.
Ugh! This bastard! What the hell is he doing?!
Panicking, Yeom Sawon made the wrong decision.
At a moment like this, he should have retreated, released his internal energy, and assessed the situation.
Instead, he circulated even more powerful internal energy and tried to resist the returning force.
That power was sent straight back into his own body.
“Ugh!”
His qi and blood became completely obstructed, and his vision blurred.
At that very moment, his body spun through the air.
Boom!
Baek Socheon slammed him flat onto the ground, limbs spread wide.
Had Baek Socheon properly completed the technique, Yeom Sawon would have died from that single move.
But at the final moment, Baek Socheon controlled his strength and used only enough force to knock him unconscious.
When Yeom Sawon remained motionless on the ground, everyone erupted into cheers.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Hero Baek won!”
“Long live Baek Socheon!”
Everyone was astonished by Baek Socheon’s performance.
The experts gathered here all understood just how difficult it had been to evade Yeom Sawon’s attacks without internal energy.
They had lost count of how many streams of sword energy he had dodged.
Without internal energy, there was no one present who could have displayed such extraordinary skill.
Ak Sogun rose from his seat and applauded.
Zhuge Hyeon beside him also broke into a bright smile, finally allowing himself to relax.
He had been on edge throughout the entire fight.
Well done. Truly well done.
Baek Socheon looked toward Yeom Hwasin.
Yeom Hwasin stared back at him expressionlessly, while the other martial artists from the Cheukcheon Alliance wore grim expressions.
It was then.
The referee, who had been trying to wake Yeom Sawon, suddenly recoiled in shock.
“Ugh!”
He spoke to Baek Socheon in a trembling voice.
“Martial Artist Yeom is dead!”
“What?”
Everyone present was stunned.
Naturally, the most shocked person was Baek Socheon.
He rushed over and examined Yeom Sawon.
Damn it!
Yeom Sawon truly had become a cold corpse.
That wasn’t enough force to kill him.
At that moment, Baek Socheon remembered the strange smile Yeom Hwasin had shown when he warned his son earlier.
That inexplicable sense of incongruity was still vividly engraved in his mind.
Could it be?
Baek Socheon’s startled gaze turned toward Yeom Hwasin.
Yeom Hwasin was slowly rising from his seat, his face stiff.
Everyone held their breath as they looked at him.
There’s no way Captain Baek would make a mistake like that.
Zhuge Hyeon could not understand what had happened.
In addition to his trust in Baek Socheon, Ak Sogun had personally seen Baek Socheon withdraw his strength at the final moment and gently slam Yeom Sawon down.
There’s no way that impact killed him.
But he could not be completely certain.
If Yeom Sawon had been unlucky enough to strike his head in the wrong way, death was still possible.
Meol Jiryun, on the other hand, was secretly delighted.
Good riddance. Hahaha!
Even if it had not happened now, there was always the possibility that someone would eventually try to make her marry him.
That would have been worse than death.
She desperately suppressed the laughter threatening to burst from her lips.
Yeom Hwasin slowly walked onto the sparring stage.
Anger could be felt in every single step.
Baek Socheon stood beside Yeom Sawon’s corpse and silently watched him approach.
He did not retreat.
Baek Socheon was certain Yeom Hwasin would not attack him.
Killing Baek Socheon was not Yeom Hwasin’s victory.
This situation itself was his victory.
Yeom Hwasin reached his son’s corpse.
He slowly examined the body.
His touch was exceedingly careful and grief-stricken.
Standing closest to him, Baek Socheon could see his expression clearly.
This was all part of this man’s plan.
What a revoltingly hypocritical touch.
Then something even more astonishing happened.
Yeom Hwasin began to shed tears.
Baek Socheon had been shocked by him many times before, but once again, the record had been broken.
Without question, this was the most shocking thing he had ever seen from the man.
He’s crying?
At that moment, Yeom Hwasin glanced toward Baek Socheon.
And Baek Socheon saw it.
Tears were running from Yeom Hwasin’s eyes, yet he was not grieving at all.
Only Baek Socheon, standing right in front of him, could perceive the emotion hidden beneath that expression.
But the others could not detect such a minute difference.
They were focused solely on the fact that the leader of the Cheukcheon Alliance was crying.
Everyone became solemn, thinking that even the Cheukcheon Alliance Leader was, in the end, still a father.
Without uttering a single word of hatred toward Baek Socheon, Yeom Hwasin lifted his son into his arms.
His sorrowful appearance left everyone speechless.
He turned to leave, but Zhuge Hyeon stopped him.
“You cannot take the body away like this.”
Yeom Hwasin glanced toward Zhuge Hyeon and asked with icy eyes,
“What do you mean?”
His quiet question was filled with rage.
“It is unfortunate that Young Master Yeom has died, but we must determine exactly why he died.”
“Did everyone here not witness how he died?”
Baek Socheon remained silent.
Even so, Zhuge Hyeon trusted him.
The Baek Socheon he knew would never have killed Yeom Sawon, not even by accident.
If that was the case, then there had to be some scheme behind this involving Yeom Hwasin.
“We must determine the exact cause of death.”
Yeom Hwasin suddenly roared,
“Are you saying you intend to perform an autopsy?”
His booming voice echoed across the venue.
“My son died during a spar. And now you are telling his father, who witnessed the entire scene, that you intend to cut open his corpse?”
His voice trembled with emotion.
Zhuge Hyeon could not refute him.
The assembled heroes sympathized with Yeom Hwasin.
No one stepped forward to say that Zhuge Hyeon was right.
Baek Socheon understood.
He did not yet know exactly how Yeom Sawon had died.
But Yeom Hwasin had known that his son was going to die.
That was why he had come here.
Yeom Hwasin must have known that no matter what happened, Baek Socheon would never kill Yeom Sawon.
He would defeat him without killing him.
That was why Yeom Hwasin had come personally—to kill his own son and place the blame on Baek Socheon.
By preventing anyone from determining the exact cause of death, he intended to ensure that everyone concluded Yeom Sawon had died because of the spar.
Everyone turned toward Ak Sogun.
Ak Sogun believed they could not simply allow Yeom Hwasin to leave.
He would use his son’s death to raise the morale of the Cheukcheon Alliance and unite them as one.
Today’s spar had become the prelude to war.
But even so, stopping him by force under the present circumstances would be difficult.
Yeom Hwasin turned toward the surrounding heroes and shouted,
“Who among you intends to stop a father who has lost his child?”
No one dared utter a word.
Only now did Baek Socheon understand why Yeom Hwasin had insisted on holding such a public event.
He had anticipated that this exact atmosphere would develop.
No one knew that inside that enormous, bear-like body lurked the cunning of a hundred foxes.
Jeon Gwi, Janbaek, and Go Goeng followed behind Yeom Hwasin.
“Stop!”
Yeom Hwasin halted.
The person who had shouted was Baek Socheon.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward him.
“Stop?”
“That’s right. You cannot leave like this.”
“The man who killed my son is now blocking my path?”
“I did not kill your son.”
Yeom Hwasin looked around at everyone and said,
“With so many people having witnessed what happened, you still intend to make such an absurd claim?”
“That’s right. I was not the one who killed him.”
“Then who did? Are you going to claim that heaven itself passed judgment on him?”
At Yeom Hwasin’s mockery, Baek Socheon raised his voice.
“The one who passed judgment on him was you.”
The assembled heroes immediately began murmuring among themselves.
It was something none of them had ever expected him to say.
Soon, however, the entire venue became deathly silent.
Everyone focused solely on the conversation between the two men.
Yeom Hwasin’s expression twisted.
“Are you saying that I killed my own son?”
“That’s right.”
“Can you take responsibility for those words?”
Killing intent erupted from Yeom Hwasin and swept through the surroundings.
A heavy tension descended over the venue.
Everyone understood that if things went wrong now, Baek Socheon could lose his life.
Baek Socheon answered,
“I can.”
The observing heroes began murmuring again.
What could Baek Socheon possibly be relying on to speak with such confidence?
Baek Socheon stared directly at Yeom Hwasin.
“I will prove, right here and now, that I was not the one who killed him.”