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Chapter 617. Face to Face (2)

The funny thing was that he found controlling the rage welling up in his heart exceedingly difficult until a few moments ago. But then, all that rage just vanished without a trace.

When he thought about it... Wasn\'t life supposed to be like this? A man needed back-breaking effort and lots of time to build their own little empire, but it only took a single moment to bring everything down.

But Lee Jung-Geol used to think that moment would never come for him. This moment of everything coming down...! He believed this kind of story had nothing to do with him.

However, life would inevitably inflict equal pain on everyone. Not realizing this earlier was perhaps one of Lee Jung-Geol\'s worst failures.

\'Actually, it\'s rather refreshing to watch instead, isn\'t it?\'

The crumbling of Lee Jung-Geol\'s empire certainly looked desperate from where he stood.

Thankfully, those who heeded Kang Jin-Ho\'s warning had already fled from this residence. With more than half of the supposed defenders gone, it was no wonder Lee Jung-Geol\'s forces couldn\'t withstand the incoming assault.

However, Lee Jung-Geol didn\'t think this situation would\'ve changed much even if everyone had stayed. That was how powerful those cultivators Kang Jin-Ho had brought along were.

If Lee Jung-Geol knew about those demonic cultivators\' strength ahead of time... Maybe, he would\'ve given up on his ambition and willingly sunk into obscurity.

\'...No. Who am I trying to kid?\'

Lee Jung-Geol smirked helplessly. He knew himself better than anyone. Even if his home was in the middle of the sticks, he never was a man fit for a life in obscurity in some rural backwater village. He was molded into a man who\'d thirst after power even till his final breaths.

If he had known Kang Jin-Ho\'s abilities were way above his expectations, Lee Jung-Geol would\'ve tried even more desperately to find a way to bring that damn returner down. That... was how Lee Jung-Geol lived his life, after all!

“I should\'ve done it in moderation,” Lee Jung-Geol tutted softly before looking behind him. The Martial Assembly elders were standing there, looking back.

“Sir, we need to prepare. They will soon enter the building.”

“What is there to prepare?” Lee Jung-Geol casually shrugged his shoulders. “You need preparations to live, but death doesn\'t. No one knows what will happen when you die, so how can we prepare for anything?”

“Even so... How about calling your granddaughter on the phone, at least?”

“No thanks,” Lee Jung-Geol chuckled lifelessly. “I don\'t want to be in a damn soap opera. Besides, I wish to remain as a strong, forthright grandpa in her memories. I failed to do that to my kids, after all...”

“Are you... still haunted by them, sir?”

“No point wasting my breaths about that now,” Lee Jung-Geol shook his head. That story no longer mattered in this situation, anyway. Who cared about what happened back then? Certainly not Lee Jung-Geol! He smacked his lips while rubbing his chin. “Hmm. I should\'ve made more of that wild ginseng liquor. I didn\'t even get a good taste of it.”

“Sir, I\'m telling you it\'s soju.”

“No, it IS ginseng liquor, okay? And let me tell you this before I forget. Someone among you has stolen my precious liquor, and I\'m going to find out who did it even after we all end up in the netherworld. Got that?”

“Hah, you\'re still as narrow-minded as ever, sir.”

Elders guffawed, their expressions unusually bright.

Lee Jung-Geol chuckled while thinking that... They were acting unruffled only on the surface. Who could remain unaffected as their death speedily approached? No one, that was who. No, they simply tried to stay brave as much as they could. And it wasn\'t just about their approaching death, either.

The defenders falling like leaves outside were children and disciples of these elders. How could they feel okay inside when their acquaintances were helplessly being crushed right before their very eyes?

“Damn. What a cruel man he is...” Lee Jung-Geol sighed softly.

Kang Jin-Ho was powerful. And also cruel. In short, he was the worst type of enemy imaginable.

Obviously, Lee Jung-Geol knew all this. But, being on the receiving end like this freshly reminded him of that fact. He remembered just who he was dealing with.

“Everyone, stand firm! It seems our rude guests have finally arrived.”

BANG!

The moment Lee Jung-Geol finished making that announcement, the door angrily blew apart off its hinges. And then, cultivators leaking out demonic qi rushed inside the living room in droves.

“...! Krrrrr!”

The demonic cultivators, seemingly barely holding on to their sanity, discovered Lee Jung-Geol and explosively dashed toward him.

“Know your place!” Lee Jung-Geol roared loudly. His Lion\'s Roar containing powerful qi forced the demonic cultivators to stop and flinch a little.

\'Even my Lion\'s Roar containing the effects of breaking down the malicious mental states couldn\'t push them back...!\'

Lee Jung-Geol could be referred to as the legitimate successor of South Korea\'s orthodox martial arts, yet even he was unable to bring sanity back to these demonic cultivators. The best he could do was make them hesitate as if something they didn\'t want to touch was before their eyes.

“This is no place for the likes of you! Bring me Kang Jin-Ho!” Lee Jung-Geol roared again.

The eyes of the demonic cultivators quaked when Kang Jin-Ho\'s name was brought up.

“Fuu-woo...” Yi Myeong-Hwan slowly massaged his face without caring about how bloodied his hand was. “Everyone, calm the hell down. The former Assembly Master is right. This is where our role ends.”

The demonic cultivators heard Yi Myeong-Hwan, then began regulating their heavy breaths. The demonic qi gushing out of them gradually lessened before withdrawing into their bodies, and their crazed eyes eventually returned to being \'sane\' again.

“Ouch...”

“Gee whiz, that freaking hurts...”

Almost right away, the demonic cultivators began groaning and wincing in pain. There was no way they wouldn\'t be hurt after fighting against that many people on their way here. Half of all the blood soaking them from top to bottom belonged to them. Withdrawing demonic qi meant their minds had become clearer, and they now could feel all the unbearable pain shooting up from their injuries.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk... How foolish...” Lee Jung-Geol tutted softly. “Any non-orthodox martial arts will put a lot of strain on your body. You might be drunk on the ecstasy of becoming stronger than ever before right now. However! You will soon realize how unwise your decisions have been. There is a good reason why our ancestors have shunned demonic arts.”

The response to that chiding came from somewhere else. “Thank you for your advice.”

That came from Kang Jin-Ho, who was leisurely entering the living room. He stopped, then glanced at the crowd inside. “However, that\'s the problem we the living will have to resolve. So, a dead man doesn\'t need to concern himself with it.”

“Fufufu... Yes, that is true.” Lee Jung-Geol stared at Kang Jin-Ho while smirking away.

\'How strange...\'

Lee Jung-Geol should hate Kang Jin-Ho\'s guts. The normal reaction would\'ve been for him to dream about ripping Kang Jin-Ho apart and chewing on the bastard\'s flesh. However... Lee Jung-Geol didn\'t particularly feel emotions like hatred. If he was being honest...

He actually welcomed this turn of events. Just a little. How should he describe his feelings, then...?

\'...Right. It might be that.\'

A \'successor\'...! Kang Jin-Ho would probably not accept that title, and Lee Jung-Geol would never openly admit to that. However, an objective analysis of this situation would say that Kang Jin-Ho was not just an irreconcilable enemy to Lee Jung-Geol, but also the latter\'s successor.

Kang Jin-Ho stole everything away from Lee Jung-Geol. But he\'d also inherit everything the former Assembly Master had built up. This duality of emotion Lee Jung-Geol felt forced a smirk to form on his face.

Still, he tried to sound gruff. “You must\'ve worked hard to come this far, then.”

“No. It wasn\'t difficult at all,” Kang Jin-Ho emotionlessly replied.

“Indeed, it... seems that way.”

Not a drop of blood was on Kang Jin-Ho\'s body. Which meant he probably didn\'t even need to step up.

\'And that also means everyone lost to just a hundred or so martial artists...!\'

Lee Jung-Geol grimaced a little. What a stark reminder of the concept of the house of cards this was!

\'No, wait. That can\'t be right...!\'

What Lee Jung-Geol had built up could not be sneered at as a mere sand castle. His faction had not been weak. No, the truth was... Kang Jin-Ho\'s forces had been stronger. Far stronger than Lee Jung-Geol\'s expectations!

“And now, the entirety of South Korea will be in your hands,” said Lee Jung-Geol. However, Kang Jin-Ho didn\'t respond to that provocation and stared at Lee Jung-Geol in silence. Their glares locked mid-air. After a bout of this heavy silence, Lee Jung-Geol asked again, “So, how does it feel now that you\'ve accomplished everything you wanted?”

“This isn\'t what I wanted,” Kang Jin-Ho curtly replied.

“Really?” Lee Jung-Geol\'s expression grew unreadable as he narrowed his eyes at Kang Jin-Ho. “I used to think that, for some strange reason, you are way too soft. That you\'re a pushover. If I was in your shoes, I\'d never let someone like me live. But you did. So, I figured that maybe, you didn\'t have the guts despite how scary you looked. But now...”

Suddenly, a dismayed chuckle leaked out of Lee Jung-Geol\'s mouth.

“As it turns out... Fella, you\'re a cruel and uncaring murderer, aren\'t you?”

“...”

“Every enemy daring to go against you met with one of these two ends. Either they died or became your dog. A pretty straightforward set of choices, I have to say. However, only two people have escaped that fate. Do you know who they are?”

Kang Jin-Ho didn\'t respond. Of course, it wasn\'t as if Lee Jung-Geol expected to hear a reply from him, to begin with.

“Those two are Kim Seok-Il and me. Let\'s say Kim Seok-Il\'s case was more like an accident. Well, to be fair, his state is worse than dying, isn\'t it? You\'ve inflicted so much pain on the poor bastard, but he managed to get away in the end, so an accident it is. However, what about me?” Lee Jung-Geol muttered in a self-deprecating tone. “You spoke as if you needed me. However, you never tried to utilize me. Just like how I had never planned to cooperate with you, you... never planned to accept me into your ranks. Am I wrong?”

As he spoke, Lee Jung-Geol\'s tone changed, and his voice got louder and louder.

“To you, I was like a bait! A bait placed in a nest of insects! Just leaving me in there was enough to attract all the insects, wasn\'t it! And your plan was to use an insecticide when enough insects gathered around me... To clean out the trash. To clean house! Isn\'t that right?”

Kang Jin-Ho stopped acting like an attentive listener and finally said something. “So? What do you want me to say?”

“...!”

“If I say yes to all that, will you feel a bit better?”

“I only want to know the truth!”

“Well, there is only one truth here,” said Kang Jin-Ho, his expression remaining composed. “None of this would\'ve happened if only you accepted how your situation had played out. I never demanded anything from you. You are the one who interpreted the situation with your twisted view and schemed all these. You should stop blaming others just because things didn\'t work out as you envisioned.”

“Blaming others, is it...?”

“Yes. Do you want an in-depth explanation, too? Fine. If you were really dissatisfied with how I relegated you to the background, you could have come to me and complained. If you had told me you wanted to do something meaningful, everything would\'ve been resolved without coming this far. However, you didn\'t do that. Because... What you wanted to achieve is only possible without me around.”

Lee Jung-Geol bitterly smirked. “I see. Indeed, it was never possible for us to coexist side by side...”

“No, it was possible. As long as you had discarded your ambition, that was. However, you didn\'t. And that is the root cause of what\'s happening today.”

“My ambition...?” Lee Jung-Geol sighed deeply. “I have a lot of things to get off my chest. So many thoughts piled up in my heart, but... What would be the point now? We\'re already beyond the point of no return, anyway.”

Kang Jin-Ho quietly muttered. “Any last words?”

“Look here, Kang Jin-Ho...!” Lee Jung-Geol narrowed his eyes and glared at Kang Jin-Ho. “Don\'t act as if everything is already over. I\'m still a martial artist, after all! I know I can never win against you... But I\'m not going to obediently offer my neck to you without a fight!”

“I know. Still, I should listen to your final words, at least. That is the last bit of courtesy I\'ll extend to you.”

Kang Jin-Ho had already acknowledged Lee Jung-Geol as a leader a long time ago. Those who hadn\'t led an organization before would never realize how back-breaking the leadership position was. If he wasn\'t willing to acknowledge a man who crawled up from the dirt and built the Martial Assembly, then led it for decades... Then, Kang Jin-Ho would be a conceited fool.

And no, Kang Jin-Ho wasn\'t acknowledging Lee Jung-Geol as a fellow martial artist but as a fellow human being. Even though their choices differed, resulting in this situation, Kang Jin-Ho didn\'t hold any notable negative feelings toward Lee Jung-Geol.

“...My granddaughter is not involved in this. She\'s not guilty of anything,” said Lee Jung-Geol.

“Got it,” Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded.

With that, Lee Jung-Geol was convinced that his granddaughter, Lee Hyeon-Ju, would not be discriminated against in the future.

\'Well, that is good enough, then.\'

What else could he ask for, then? Since he had plenty of fun on this turbulent Earth, that should be enough, no? Regardless of what he did, avoiding death wasn\'t possible, anyway. Kang Jin-Ho wasn\'t the type to spare his enemies just because they begged on their knees with tears and snot covering their faces. No, he\'d execute them even more ruthlessly instead!

Besides, Lee Jung-Geol had no plans to beg, anyway!

“Very well. Come! Discard things like status and whatnot and come earnestly at me! I wish to die as a martial artist. It doesn\'t matter what anyone says, you are undoubtedly South Korea\'s strongest martial artist. So... Dying at your hands will be a great honor for me!”

Kang Jin-Ho tightly clenched his fists. Demonic qi darker than the darkest ink began leaking out from his fists. He quietly muttered to Lee Jung-Geol. “There is no such thing as honor in death. Death is just that... death.”

“...Is that so?”

“No need to worry, though. I\'ll thoroughly send you on your way. So that you won\'t have any lingering regrets left.”

And then... The two men began walking toward each other. At the same time, the atmosphere in the living room grew icy-cold.