Chapter 130. The Black Flame Dragon Who Takes Opportunities Away (5)
‘I should not have acted so damn grand for nothing…….’
In truth, there had been no need to fast that much.
It would have been enough to appear looking a little haggard without overdoing it, but because I had pushed myself for the sake of dramatic effect, things had ended up like this.
“What are you doing? Why are you not getting up?”
Jegal So-myeong was already preparing to leave.
“No, I mean, why do I have to have a martial duel?”
“Did I not just tell you? Inside your qi center…….”
“That is what I mean. Why are you so confident after examining someone else’s qi center?”
At my words, Jegal So-myeong stroked his chin for a moment and sank into thought.
It seemed even he did not know why his own behavior was like that.
After a moment, as if a conclusion had emerged inside that fine head of his, he spoke.
“Because I am allowed to?”
“Haa…….”
Morally, it was something one should not do, but not everything in the world flowed according to common sense. On top of that, it did not make sense for a mere disciple of the Taeul Sect to punish the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance and the Grand Clan Head of the Jegal Clan either.
‘Still, is it not a bit ugly to be that shameless?’
Looking at my face, Jegal So-myeong spoke.
“Judging from your expression, you do not seem very convinced.”
“Did you think that would convince me?”
“It convinces most people.”
“…….”
I had never dreamed I would end up having such an absurd argument with Jegal So-myeong, who held the title Greatest Mind under Heaven.
Could he perhaps be a Demonic Practitioner wearing Jegal So-myeong’s human skin?
“Do you still think there is nothing you can gain from me? I am the Grand Strategist of the Murim Alliance. You are an Academy student of Murim Academy.
Within the Murim Alliance, tens of thousands of people wait just to have one conversation with me, and thousands of people sell mansions the size of palaces and scatter bribes just to display their martial arts once before me.
Now I am saying I will give you two such opportunities, and you are refusing?”
That was something only bastards obsessed with success would do. Since I knew perfectly well that in the future, the Murim Alliance would be devastated and move to Bukhae, why would I need to look good in front of the Grand Strategist?
“Yes.”
“Hoho.”
At my firm refusal, Jegal So-myeong seemed not to have expected it and once again grabbed his chin, falling into thought.
As for me, I was filled with the desperate wish that he would simply leave.
Although my essence, qi, and spirit were fine, it was no different from having eaten nothing for days, so all I wanted was to eat something delicious and then sleep as much as I wanted.
But contrary to my wish, Jegal So-myeong was…… persistent.
“Then how about this…… You applied to the Ghost Bow Sect for a martial arts master, did you not?”
Since Murong Jae-hwa had decided to abandon the sword and take up the bow, I had thought that even if it was a path he would eventually walk alone, someone needed to establish the basics for him. So I had newly created a special lesson course.
“I should cancel that.”
“…….”
“Ah, and the second event you are preparing. The specially invited instructor who will teach the White Tiger Sword Formation…… I should cancel that too.”
“What are you…… The White Tiger Sword Formation is already an official sword formation of the Murim Alliance.”
They would learn it anyway once assigned to the Murim Alliance, but I intended to spread the Murim Alliance’s White Tiger Sword Formation in advance so I could teach the version of the White Tiger Sword Formation I knew.
Jegal So-myeong nodded.
“That is true. But I now think spending the budget to have Academy students learn that useless sword formation is a waste.”
“…….”
“And the third event you planned, the one where you invite spell practitioners from the Maoshan Sect and Mount Heng Sect…….”
“!”
This event was one I had prepared in case we ended up opposing the Corpse Mountain Blood Cult.
If not that, then when we opposed Demonic Practitioners in the future, it would be an important event that could save thousands of warriors.
It was not merely the lives of the Murim Academy students that mattered.
Because most Academy students would become executives in the Alliance, if they could not respond to witchcraft, the ones who would die would be the lower-ranking warriors beneath them. That was why I had prepared this event to prevent greater damage.
“I clearly requested the budget according to proper form and regulations. Abolishing a fixed budget due to such personal feelings is an unjust action.”
“I know.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I know. Even so, I am the one who can do that unjust thing, and you are the one who must obey it.”
Jegal So-myeong pointed at himself with his finger, then pointed at me.
At that moment, I imagined that it would be good if Jegal So-myeong were a Demonic Practitioner.
Then even if I broke that damn finger, the Taeul Sect would not be exterminated and my junior brothers would not be imprisoned in the Prison.
“Haa…… Fine. I will do it.”
“Good. Let us go.”
“But I also have a condition.”
“A condition?”
“Yes.”
“Did I not just say that you are not in a position to impose conditions?”
His tone was firm, as if he were explaining that water flowed from high places to low ones.
Even so, simply letting myself be pushed around did not suit my nature at all.
“Do you not want to see my true skill?”
“…….”
“As you said, I may not be good at acting, but I do commit a bit of fraud. If I merely face my opponent half-heartedly and lose, will you be satisfied?”
“What do you want?”
“Mantongbu has the Demon-Subduing Divine Wood, does it not?”
“……Hm?”
“Please give that to me.”
“Do you even know what kind of item that is?”
“……You do not have any use for it anyway, do you?”
The Demon-Subduing Divine Wood was wood that had once been a pillar of a spiritually potent temple.
When an entire temple was burned down by thunder and lightning, all of the temple’s spiritual energy became concentrated in the wood that remained until the very end.
It was an item that could not be intentionally created in the first place, but since its use was unknown at present, it was not especially precious.
“…….”
“At most, you would use it to make a sect signboard or something, would you not?”
The Demon-Subduing Divine Wood had an outstanding effect as a protective talisman that guarded the spirit.
The wood itself was not very large, and once the burned parts were removed, the usable amount would not be much.
However, if I asked the Daoist Priests of the Mount Heng Sect to perform a Demon-Subduing Ritual and make it into protective talismans, it would certainly have a great effect in the later war against the Demonic Practitioners.
“What do you intend to use it for?”
“……There is something I personally wish to make.”
Jegal So-myeong pretended to think for a moment.
But it felt like obvious acting because I knew very well that, compared to the grand name Demon-Subduing Divine Wood, the item was not particularly precious at present.
As I expected, Jegal So-myeong nodded after a moment.
“Good. However, if you lose to your opponent, I will not give it to you.”
At my current age, I was confident no matter who came as my opponent, so I also answered.
“Understood.”
“Let us go.”
“Wait a moment…….”
“……What is it now?”
“Could I eat before we go? I am a little dizzy right now.”
“…….”
“Why is your expression like that? You look like someone who has suffered yet another injustice.”
I had roughly expected that one of the Academy students would come out.
Even if it was not some random nobody, I had thought perhaps a disciple of the Nine Sects and One Gang, or Il-gak, who seemed to hold a grudge against me over the Soul-Destroying Formation incident, would appear…….
“Is this not an injustice?”
When I arrived at the training ground attached to the dormitory, I could not help frowning at the sight of a man in his mid-thirties.
There was nothing special about the bearing he gave off outwardly.
But conversely, that also meant he was a warrior of such a high level that he could contain his own bearing.
“Do you know who that friend is?”
“I do not.”
That was the real problem.
His face, his movements—everything about him was someone I was seeing for the first time in my life.
If I had to choose someone with similar movements, it would be the Murim Alliance Leader, but for that, this man was too young, and his frame and habits were completely different.
“However, just from the calluses embedded in his palms and his flawless bearing, I can tell he is someone I cannot handle.”
“A smart person like you should have a way to win.”
At Jegal So-myeong’s words, I spoke with a feeling of my insides bursting.
“How exactly am I supposed to use my head so a rabbit can beat a tiger?”
At my words, Jegal So-myeong nodded without any particular reaction.
See? My prediction was frighteningly accurate.
“Good. Even if you only achieve a draw, I will give you the Demon-Subduing Divine Wood.”
“I just said this, but please call someone I can face in the first place.”
“Hurry and begin. If you keep grumbling, I will tell that friend to teach you a lesson.”
After saying that, Jegal So-myeong waved his hand dismissively.
In the end, I had no choice. I drew the Black Dragon Sword, stepped forward, and offered a clasped hands greeting.
“I ask for one lesson.”
“…….”
The man only nodded silently without answering.
He seemed to be quite taciturn.
When I took the starting stance of the Minor Heaven Sword Art, he also drew one foot back and lowered his sword loosely downward.
The man’s starting stance was one I had never seen in my life.
Since he was here by the Grand Strategist’s order, he had to belong to the Murim Alliance. Even so, it was surprising that this was a martial art I had never seen before.
“Come.”
At the man’s words, I erased my stray thoughts and closed the shortest distance between us, pouring out the Minor Heaven Sword Art.
Swoosh.
The Minor Heaven Sword Art, infused with Seventh Star inner arts, shot out like a single streak of light while carrying the principle of extreme speed.
Clang.
As the man lifted the sword he had lowered loosely downward, he brushed aside the Minor Heaven Sword Art.
I withdrew the Black Dragon Sword, then shot out the Minor Heaven Sword Art again.
Swoosh.
Philtrum, solar plexus, groin.
I poured out attacks as if striking three places that a person had no choice but to instinctively react to at the same time, but the man merely took two steps back and neutralized the Minor Heaven Sword Art in one breath.
“Sharp.”
“Is that so? Then I will keep going. There is something I need to receive from the Grand Strategist.”
Using the force of withdrawing the Minor Heaven Sword Art, I spun my body once and scattered the Great Heaven Sword Art.
Around the Black Dragon Sword, more than ten illusion swords appeared and sealed off all eight directions around the man.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
The man once again retreated five steps and swung his sword a total of five times.
It was the same number as the real swords hidden within the illusion swords.
Tremble.
The Black Dragon Sword, made of Diamond Indestructible Iron and incomparably sturdy, was trembling.
That meant the sword the man held was also a treasured sword not inferior to the Black Dragon Sword.
“You have a good sword.”
“Far too good for me, yes. But Great Hero, yours seems no less impressive.”
“Indeed…… Far too good for me as well.”
A smile appeared at the man’s lips.
“I yielded three moves, so may I do this properly now?”
As expected, I had wondered why he showed little reaction, and it seemed he had been conceding three moves by himself during that time.
“Still, if you look kindly on a junior, should you not concede about ten moves?”
The man looked at Jegal So-myeong for a moment, then shook his head.
“To make a wager over a martial duel with me—truly unforgivable.”
“The Grand Strategist is truly loose-lipped. How will he handle great affairs like that—eek!”
Clang, clang.
Before I could even finish speaking, the man’s figure vanished with a thud, and he appeared right in front of my nose, swinging his sword.
I drew up the Minor Heaven Sword Art to Tenth Star and desperately defended, while at the same time trying to identify the origin of the man’s sword art.
If the Grand Strategist had called him, he was surely one of the experts of the Nine Sects and One Gang or the Five Great Clans.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang.
The man’s sword was extremely fast.
It was not quite at the level of when the Minor Heaven Sword Art was swung to its limit, but it was still enough to be called a swift sword.
However, for a swift sword, its sword path was not extremely shortened.
It looked like an ambiguous sword art that was neither this nor that, but every single move came aiming for vital points, and blood was already flowing from various parts of my body.
Swish.
Once again, the sword came in to cut my neck. Even if I blocked it with my sword, the next connected movement would certainly follow, so I stepped with the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps and retreated.
As I left an illusion behind and retreated five steps, the illusion’s neck and right arm were cleanly cut off by his sword.
“What a fascinating footwork art.”
“It is my sect’s secret footwork art, recovered after five hundred years.”
“Is that so?”
The man did not seem very surprised and moved again.
Unlike his leisurely tone, his body had become even faster than before.
When I swung the Black Dragon Sword toward the sword he swung, I felt a tremendous repulsive force.
Bang.
Pushed back by his energy, I retreated three steps, while he remained perfectly in place and only looked at me.
‘I truly cannot tell.’
We had already exchanged more than ten moves, and I had tried to find the source of his sword art, but I could not determine its root at all.
That said, he was still slightly short of having reached the realm of enlightenment where one discarded forms.
I had seen a few among the Demonic Practitioners who had reached that level, but those who had climbed to that degree possessed an overwhelming presence.
Yet the man before me did not have anything overwhelming, let alone a strong presence.
‘His presence is faint?’
The fact that he was fast, yet not using a swift sword, meant that he was moving efficiently.
Even though he moved with lightning-like speed, the sound was small, as if he had light steps. That meant his usual footwork was light.
Swish, swish, swish.
The same sharp sword now split into seven and stabbed toward my death acupoints.
It was still a sword art whose origin I could not determine.
However, I could see clues that allowed me to at least make a guess.
‘I more or less understand.’
The Twin Heaven Sword Formula scattered from my hand.
The dozens of sword shadows that bloomed chaotically before me immediately shot toward the man’s sword.
The man showed no fear despite responding with only seven.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—
Along with seven friction sounds ringing out in an instant, I once again retreated five steps.
“From what I heard, the Black Flame Dragon does not know how to retreat.”
He lowered his sword loosely once more and spoke.
“That is a distorted rumor. I occasionally like retreating. Of course, I always inflict damage on my opponent.”
“Hm?”
Flutter.
Before the man could even realize it, his robe tie was cut, and the man’s martial arts uniform split open with a tearing sound.
“…….”
The man seemed fairly surprised.
He immediately bent his knees and looked as if he were about to spring forward.
Considering that he had not shown that kind of posture even once until now, it was a sign that he intended to fight seriously.
I quickly raised my hand.
“May I ask one question for a moment?”
“Can you not ask after the martial duel ends?”
“It is also related to the martial duel.”
“……What is it?”
When he stopped for a moment, I spoke.
“Are you perhaps affiliated with the Alliance Leader’s Hall?”
“…….”
There was no movement, and his expression did not change.
However, his eyes were shaking fiercely.
