Chapter 134. The Black Flame Dragon Who Proves Himself (4)
Namgung Seon-hwa had been spending her days so busy lately that she barely had time to breathe.
It was the period when the first evaluations since entering the academy had begun, and because the methods were completely different from the studies she had learned in her clan, she was too occupied adapting to them to think straight.
The academy’s evaluations were largely divided into two types: the written exam and the practical exam.
The written exam mainly evaluated common fundamentals of martial arts theory, Qi Circulation Methods, Acupoint Methods, and the like, while the practical exam was conducted by directly testing what had been learned based on the written material.
The Namgung Clan, which had produced many academy graduates, had an educational method that did not differ greatly from the academy’s, but even so, as someone who had to handle Academy Representative Delegation activities and study for exams at the same time, she often wished she had two bodies.
The one fortunate thing was perhaps that this practical exam had been decided as a martial duel.
If she had had to take Emergency Treatment or Acupoint-Release Methods as a practical exam, Namgung Seon-hwa might have had to send a long, detailed letter to her clan explaining why her grades were so disastrous this time.
“It would be nice if I at least had an excuse. Why does that person have to be so unnecessarily flawless?”
As the exams drew near, Jin So-un had the academy executives reduce the work of the Academy Representative Delegation and began taking on most of the work himself.
Even though the workload that had been added had doubled, even tripled, he did not show much of a change.
When she asked whether he should not prepare for the written exam as well, he had said……
“I have a good memory, you know. I have already memorized everything.”
It was clearly a wonderful sight of him being considerate toward her, and he had even said it cheerfully, but for some reason, she thought he was annoying.
“It feels a little disappointing.”
After passing the Regular Exam and entering the academy, she had thought they would study together through the night during exam periods, enjoy the academy’s atmosphere, and sometimes drink until dawn while talking……
“Ugh! Get ahold of yourself! Namgung Seon-hwa!”
Namgung Seon-hwa, who had been sinking into a rosy dream, shook her head.
Her situation had certainly improved in many ways.
Her grandfather had ultimately completed the Firmament Cloudless Sword Art, and after moving the Azure Sky Merchant Guild inside the clan, the power of the Collateral Line was gradually weakening.
The support sent from the clan was increasing little by little, and her parents had even sent a letter saying that the clan had now stabilized, so there was no need for her to worry about anything.
By contrast, however, Jin So-un’s situation had worsened in certain ways.
He had begun clashing with the Righteous Path Association, and the Elders did not look favorably upon him.
Within the Murim Alliance, many bad rumors about him were circulating.
In the worst case, the situation might not end with him losing his position as representative; he might make many enemies within the Murim Alliance.
Even though he was carrying many things in a perilous situation, including his junior brothers and even them, he always maintained his relaxed attitude and confident smile.
He truly was an extraordinary man.
“Ugh…… I cannot make excuses that my grades fell because of the Academy Representative Delegation’s activities.”
Thinking that she had to become someone who would not shame him, Namgung Seon-hwa quickly shook off her distracting thoughts and headed to the Ten-Thousand-Book Repository.
The Ten-Thousand-Book Repository, which was usually completely empty, was teeming with academy students who had come to study for the exam period.
Namgung Seon-hwa was walking between the shelves to find the book Jin So-un had told her would likely contain expected questions, when her eyes met someone’s, and she quickly turned her head.
She tried to pretend not to notice and continue looking for the book, but his voice came from behind her.
“Sister Seon-hwa.”
A Character Cheon was drawn between Namgung Seon-hwa’s brows as she was about to turn around.
“Did you come to study?”
A person who had looked at her group as if they were dogs and cows when they had first entered the academy was now approaching while pretending to be friendly, and goosebumps rose all over Namgung Seon-hwa’s skin.
Perhaps he also knew it was awkward, for he scratched the back of his head, yet he could not properly hide the frustration on his face.
‘They say the clan was turned upside down after the Firmament Cloudless Sword Art appeared.’
The members of the Collateral Line had not been particularly tense even when they heard that the Clan Head had created a sword art passed down only to the Direct Line. However, after seeing Namgung San use the seventh-star Firmament Cloudless Sword Art to suppress the Boundless Firmament Sword Art as if it were an art he could defeat within ten moves, they realized the situation had gone wrong. But by then, it was already too late.
The Boundless Firmament Sword Art would still remain the Namgung Clan’s main sword art, but the Collateral Line members who had learned the Boundless Firmament Sword Art had now been fitted with the leash known as the Firmament Cloudless Sword Art.
She knew why Namgung Gi-pyo was acting this way, but knowing it and having her discomfort disappear were two different matters.
“What is this about?”
“……Haha, are we the sort of people who can only speak when there is some matter?”
“I heard you went around saying, ‘It will not be long before the Collateral Line rules the Direct Line. Everything has already been prepared.’”
“…….”
Namgung Gi-pyo let out a sigh, then his eyes shone sharply.
“The sword art the Clan Head created is something that denies the clan’s foundation.”
“Stagnant water is bound to rot. No one calls repeated advancement a denial of the foundation.”
The Firmament Cloudless Sword Art inherited the Boundless Firmament Sword Art while possessing an even sharper principle.
No one in the martial world would be able to look at it and think it was a sword art made to shatter the Boundless Firmament Sword Art.
“If you are going to continue this nerve war, may I leave now? Every moment is precious because I have to prepare for the exam.”
Just as Namgung Seon-hwa was about to leave him behind and turn away,
“……Sigh, if not for Father. Are you planning to keep leaving that…… arrogant bastard alone?”
At Namgung Gi-pyo’s following words, she had no choice but to stop.
Namgung Seon-hwa immediately knew who the “arrogant bastard” Namgung Gi-pyo was talking about was.
“What are you talking about?”
“You seem to like that bastard. If you plan to bring him into the clan……”
“What are you saying?!”
Thanks to Namgung Seon-hwa screeching—, the gazes of the people gathered in the Ten-Thousand-Book Repository were not kind.
“Do you not know you must be quiet in the Ten-Thousand-Book Repository?”
“Who exactly do you think should be saying that……?”
Whether Namgung Seon-hwa looked dumbfounded or not, Namgung Gi-pyo continued speaking.
“I also know that his conflict with the Righteous Path Association is deepening. But he cannot face the Righteous Path Association alone. Would it not be best for you to have that arrogant bastard…… ahem, in any case, have Young Master Jin backed by the Orthodox Path Association?”
“…….”
It was not as if Namgung Seon-hwa had not thought of that already.
However, Jin So-un held opposition not only toward the Nine Sects and One Gang, but also toward the Five Great Clans and the Twelve Peak Citadels.
“This has not been going on for just a day or two, so why are you suddenly bringing this up now?”
“Because that would be better for him.”
“I understand that the Orthodox Path Association dislikes Young Master Jin no less than the Righteous Path Association does.”
“To be precise, they think it would be better for us to take him in than to let him be ruined.”
“Ruined?”
Namgung Seon-hwa’s delicate brows furrowed.
“The Righteous Path Association has begun moving in earnest.”
“…….”
“This is not merely a matter of ostracism within the academy. For some reason, it seems the Alliance itself does not look favorably upon Jin So-un. Pressure will probably begin from every direction.”
Namgung Seon-hwa thought she roughly knew what the “reason” Namgung Gi-pyo mentioned was.
“If the atmosphere itself becomes hostile toward Jin So-un and tries to bring him down, even he will not be able to endure it. Right now, among the instructors within the academy, how many are not within the reach of the Alliance’s influence?”
“…….”
“Rather than letting him become a wreck and be thrown away, the Orthodox Path Association is thinking of taking him in. You do not want Young Master Jin to be ruined either, do you?”
Namgung Seon-hwa said nothing, and Namgung Gi-pyo left first, saying,
“Think about it carefully. Once his utility value disappears, even the people who still seek him out will all disappear.”
After the written exam ended, the results were posted on the academy’s bulletin board.
The exam results, announced by ranking everyone from first place to last place, made many academy students laugh and cry, but no one complained because of it.
After all, the exam scores assigned to them were the very standard by which their value was evaluated.
Perhaps accepting the value judgment based on exam results was a product of the education they had received since childhood, competing and obediently accepting the results.
However.
“This is fraud!”
“Does this make any sense? Full marks?!”
“Even Yong So-ah, the most outstanding student in history, never received full marks!!”
“There is some kind of conspiracy!”
The fact that Jin So-un was in first place in the written exam results was something they could accept.
Since he had entered as the top student, they thought he must possess that level of excellence.
However, there was no academy student who could easily accept the result that his score was full marks.
To begin with, the instructors had even included exam questions deliberately made for students to get wrong in order to conduct a thorough value assessment, yet he had even answered those correctly. That was impossible.
“Moreover, that bastard is also serving as the academy representative. Is that work something that can even be handled by five people in the first place?”
Jin So-un had not even formed a proper representative delegation, and he was not receiving anyone else’s help.
No matter how outstanding a talent he was, receiving full marks while dividing and using his time that way was a distant prospect.
Because of the results of this written exam, not only the academy students, but even the instructors and the academy itself were placed on emergency alert.
Jin So-un, who had already fallen out of favor with the Elders, had received full marks, and an order came down to strictly investigate whether there had been any cheating during the exam.
“Academy Student Jin So-un, if you speak honestly, we will take that into account and end this with you stepping down from the representative position.”
“I do not understand what you mean. Are you saying an academy student who received excellent grades must step down from the representative position?”
Before the instructors and the Murim Academy Head, Jin So-un was confident.
“Then are you saying this score was achieved through your own ability, without cheating?”
“No one received a higher score than I did, so how could I have cheated?”
“…….”
“Or are you saying I secretly sneaked into the place where the exam papers were kept and stole them?”
Since this was a space where talented people with excellent martial arts had gathered, it was not as if there had been no students who thought about stealing the exam papers.
However, there was no possibility that a mere academy student could break into the academy’s internal vault, which boasted security comparable to Sim Hyeon-gak, the Murim Alliance’s first-class confidential archive.
Considering that, there was only one way to measure his actual ability again.
“Then you could take a retest, could you not?”
The logic was perfectly obvious.
All the assembled instructors nodded, but Jin So-un tilted his head.
“I do not find that convincing. Are you saying I have to take a retest simply because I received a good score?”
“…….”
The instructor who had said it hesitated when Jin So-un questioned such an extremely common-sense statement.
“……It is clearly a suspicious situation.”
And as if he had caught on to that, a sneer leaked from Jin So-un’s mouth.
“No, is it not because I am from the Taeul Sect?”
“What?”
“If I were from the Wudang Sect or from Shaolin Temple, this absurd suspicion would never have arisen, would it? As expected, the Murim Academy is nothing special, merely an institution fawning over vested interests.”
BANG!
“Watch your mouth!”
One instructor shouted furiously while emitting Fighting Spirit.
The instructor’s face turned red with shame as if he had been insulted, but faced with So-un’s utterly calm behavior, he instead began to wonder whether he was the one who had done something wrong, and he could no longer move.
“…….”
The Academy Head, who had only been silently observing until now, rested his chin on his clasped hands, his gaze settled coldly.
“……I do not think you are a brat who acts rashly out of childish bravado. Most of your actions so far have been prepared under meticulous planning.”
After the Soul-Destroying Formation incident, the Academy Head had completely changed the way he looked at Jin So-un as a lucky brat.
There were too many things that could not be explained otherwise.
“You provoked my temper and the instructors’ tempers because there is something you want from me, correct?”
The instructors looked dumbfounded by the current situation.
From the academy’s perspective, if there was a suspicious academy student, was it not only natural that they could make him take the exam again?
At a loss for words, the instructors tightly shut their mouths and looked at Jin So-un.
And sure enough, without showing any sign of embarrassment, Jin So-un began speaking with a smile on his lips.
“I have heard your martial art is quite unique, Academy Head. I would like to learn it.”
“…….”
“…….”
The air inside the room turned cold as though ice water had been poured over it.
It was not as if the Academy Head was some lowly wanderer selling martial arts, yet he was saying he wanted to learn his martial art.
Moreover, the Academy Head’s martial art was so special that its uniqueness could not be compared to that of other Daoist martial arts, and even within the Alliance, it was treated as one of the most precious.
“Are you saying you want to inherit the True Inheritance of the Three Pure Ones Peerless Sword?”
“What do you mean? I am already a disciple of the Taeul Sect.”
“…….”
Just as Buddhism had the Dharma Tendon-Changing Classic, it was said that Daoism had the Three Pure Ones Peerless Sword.
It was a supreme martial art that pursued the essence of the Three Pure Ones.
At Jin So-un’s words that he wanted to put it on the line of a mere wager and learn it, the instructors swallowed hard, thinking that if an incident occurred, it would be a very serious one.
“How about it? Will you make a wager with me? If you do not want to, I will not take any retest.”
