Chapter 131. The Black Flame Dragon Who Proves Himself
“Oh…….”
When the man looked at Jegal So-myeong with surprise hidden in his eyes, Jegal So-myeong silently shook his head.
“Am I right? You belong to the Alliance Leader’s Hall?”
“Can you tell me why you think so?”
The Swift Sword seemed like the most efficient movement, but in truth, it possessed the exact opposite quality.
Because it had to reach the shortest distance at the greatest speed, it used a great number of muscles, and to apply power explosively, the motion naturally grew larger. It gave up efficiency for the sake of speed.
But by contrast, the man’s movements were small and without wasted motion.
That was why, even though it was not a Swift Sword, it felt faster than expected.
His sword art was not the only thing with that trait.
Though his steps made almost no sound against the floor, he closed the distance in an instant with every stride.
There were two kinds of people in the martial world who possessed such traits.
‘An assassin, or a Shadow Warrior.’
Jegal So-myeong would not have brought in an assassin, so naturally, he was a Shadow Warrior.
Moreover, although it was not easy to notice, when he unfolded a sword art of unknown origin, his movements resembled White-Bearded Divine Sword Hyeok Mu-gang’s.
The conclusion was that he was a Shadow Warrior belonging to the Alliance Leader’s Hall.
“You have not given me an answer, so I cannot be the only one to answer.”
The man nodded at my reply.
“That is true. Then shall we continue?”
“No, wait…….”
I had tried to buy time before thinking of a way to respond, but the man seemed somehow offended and resumed the martial duel.
As if he thought there was no longer any need to hide his identity, his movements became larger and bolder than before, turning even more threatening.
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.
In the time it took the man to unleash three forms in an instant, I had retreated eight steps, and small cuts had appeared on both of my arms.
Even though I had defended myself desperately with the Twin Heaven Sword Formula.
“You are merciless to your adorable junior.”
“You are too tall to call adorable. Your hands are fierce as well.”
The man said this while jostling the split front of his robe.
“Are you not going to do this properly?”
“Do you not see that I am doing this desperately?”
“I mean, apart from using your head. If one is a martial artist, should one not prove oneself through the strength one possesses?”
At this point, I also began to feel heat rising.
It was not the resentment of having to fight a martial duel without knowing the reason.
It was the competitive spirit toward a strong opponent that every martial artist possessed.
When I thought of how I had subdued my opponents through the Shattering Form until now, I realized I had never truly measured my own ability either.
‘Should I think of this as a good opportunity?’
Moreover, my opponent had reached a far greater realm than I had, and he was a Shadow Warrior whose sword art’s origin was unknown.
He might have been the best possible opponent for measuring my ability.
“Then I will try doing this in earnest.”
“Now that I hear you say that, I feel displeased again. Does that not mean you have been doing it halfheartedly until now?”
“Is it not a basic tactic in a duel to disturb the opponent’s composure?”
I drew up the Taeul True Scripture and scattered the Great Heaven Sword Art in every direction.
The sword shadows of the Black Dragon Sword filled the two-jang distance between the man and me.
“Do you not know that this kind of Illusion Sword does not work on a master of my level?”
“This is the sword art of the legendary Taeul Sword Emperor. I would feel wronged if you compared it to any other sword art.”
Then I overlaid the Minor Heaven Sword Art between the sword shadows of the Great Heaven Sword Art.
It was not the Twin Heaven Sword Formula, which combined them into one, but a method of using each sword art separately to plunge the opponent into even greater confusion.
“!”
For the first time, the man’s expression changed, and he swiftly scattered his sword like an opening fan.
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—!
While the Minor Heaven Sword Art overlaid upon the Great Heaven Sword Art was completely blocked, I thrust out the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist with my left hand.
The fist shadows wearing the Flying Dragon Claw bloomed in numbers no fewer than the sword shadows of the Great Heaven Sword Art and aimed for the man’s death acupoints.
WHIRL.
After neutralizing the Minor Heaven Sword Art, the man spun his body twice and resolved the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist entirely through the Bow-Body Bullet Shadow method.
I had expected this much as well, so I immediately unfolded the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps and caught up to him.
As if he had predicted that I would approach him, he thrust out a fist, and just like his sword art, it was a motion without wasted movement that made extreme use of efficiency.
TAP.
“Hm?”
I seized his outstretched hand and used the principle of Lotus to throw him to the ground.
However, right before his back touched the floor, he slipped free of my hand with the Iron Bridge method and swung his sword once more.
CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—!
I unfolded the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps to avoid the sword thrusting in fiercely at my death acupoints, and the distance widened to two jang once again.
“…….”
The man stared at his fist, as if reflecting on the method he had just suffered, and said,
“You use an amusing martial art. Is this also a secret art of the Taeul Sword Emperor?”
“I learned these things here and there.”
“Is that so? This is getting more and more interesting.”
The man said this while idly waving his sword.
When I saw the man’s sword, I was left speechless.
“…….”
“What is it?”
“Is that not Sword Qi wrapped around your sword?”
“It is. What of it?”
“What do you mean, what of it? This is not even a life-and-death battle. Why are you using Sword Qi?”
“Because I want to see how far you can go.”
Before the man’s words had even finished, he shot out three arcs of Sword Qi.
Compared to ordinary Sword Qi, each was barely the size of a palm, but the energy contained within them was anything but ordinary.
Moreover, since they flew in while aiming for three death acupoints at once, I could not even respond properly.
THUD, THUD, THUD.
The floor of the training ground, made from solid marble, was gouged out, and black clumps of earth scattered wildly in every direction.
“Is it acceptable to damage the Murim Alliance’s property like this?”
“Oh, you still have strength to spare?”
As if stimulated instead, the man poured out Sword Qi in rapid succession.
I tried to unfold the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps to its extreme and confuse him with phantoms, but as if the man had predicted even that, he scattered Sword Qi toward the places I would flee.
THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD, THUD—!
The entire training ground, which was by no means small, was practically filled with Sword Qi, and when I decided there was nowhere left to dodge, I wrapped the Black Dragon Sword in Sword Qi and shot out the Minor Heaven Sword Art.
BOOM, BOOM, KABOOM.
Every time I struck down a palm-sized mass of Sword Qi, the impact traveled through me as if my whole body had been struck.
It meant the amount of power dwelling in each piece of Sword Qi was that great.
If I was not going to borrow the Azure Dragon Bracelet’s power to face him, then dragging this out any longer was meaningless.
TAP.
I unfolded the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps to its utmost limit.
If I placed the afterimages too far apart, they would be seen through as fakes, so I narrowed the distance between them as much as possible and lured out his Sword Qi.
“Oh…….”
Contrary to the exclamation of admiration he let out, the man scattered threatening Sword Qi as he tried to find my afterimages and true body, and I barely dodged the Sword Qi by the width of a finger joint as I rushed forward.
The moment the two-jang distance narrowed to a range where a single swing of a sword could reach him.
I swung the Black Dragon Sword containing Sword Qi and poured out the Twin Heaven Sword Formula.
WHOOOOSH.
The man stared at the illusion swords with a visibly hardened face.
Now that Sword Qi was dwelling in them, it would be difficult to distinguish the illusion swords from the real swords.
The reason I had tried to narrow the distance was to deny him time to think.
BOOM, BOOM, KABOOM, BOOM.
Sure enough, he shot Sword Qi at several illusion swords, and the moment he realized they were illusions, a real sword struck his body.
SLASH.
The man twisted his body desperately and barely avoided a serious injury, but he could not prevent the sword wound that crossed his chest.
Moreover, nearly ten illusion swords and three real swords hidden among them still remained in his field of vision.
I was certain of victory as I poured out the rest of the Twin Heaven Sword Formula.
SHRING.
At that moment, along with the limber sound of a thin iron plate flexing, the Twin Heaven Sword Formula began to be blocked one by one.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM.
I groaned at the recoil transmitted through the Black Dragon Sword and retreated two steps.
Considering the quantity of my inner arts, which amounted to as much as three cycles, and the outstanding characteristics of the Taeul True Scripture, being pushed back meant my opponent was a true monster.
When I steadied my shaken insides and lifted my head, a sword I had not seen before was newly gripped in his left hand.
It was a peculiar sword with no guard or pommel, its hilt and blade connected as one.
I furrowed my brow deeply and said,
“Is it not against the rules to use a Soft Sword?”
Seeing that the belt around his waist had disappeared, it seemed that he usually wore it like a belt and used it as a sword in emergencies.
I had heard that Guard Warriors sometimes used such methods, but this was the first time I had seen a Shadow Warrior of this level use the same method.
“Look here. I am not your master or martial arts teacher. Strictly speaking, I am an enemy right now.”
“Good. Then I will face you as I would an enemy.”
I stretched out my left hand and fired the Flying Dragon Claw.
The man deflected the Flying Dragon Claw with the Soft Sword he held in a reverse grip, and the Flying Dragon Claw flew weakly behind him.
“Is that all……?”
Before his words could even finish, the Flying Dragon Claw, which had seized the largest fragment among the shattered marble of the training ground, was retrieved, and the marble flew toward him.
CRACK.
At the same time, I sent three Flying Swords flying, and simultaneously unfolded the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps to its extreme, occupying every direction around him.
Then I scattered the Great Heaven Sword Art like an opening fan.
SHRING, SHRING, SHRING, SHRING.
“What is this…….”
KABOOM, BOOM! BOOM!
The man swung his sword frantically, and in the midst of that, he looked around in all directions to find my true body before thrusting his sword in without fail.
I used the principle of speed in the Minor Heaven Sword Art to block his sword, then used the repulsive force transmitted through the blade as a foothold to retreat two steps, and poured out the Twin Heaven Sword Formula.
KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM!
Every time Sword Qi clashed against Sword Qi, the air rang DONG— DONG— as if thunderbolts were striking, and the clumps of earth and sand scattered by the impact made the area around the training ground look as though it were covered in fog, leaving me unable to see an inch ahead.
Without stopping, I operated the Taeul True Scripture and brought the Black Dragon Sword down toward him where he hid inside the dust cloud.
THUD, THUD, THUD, THUDTHUDTHUDTHUDTHUD.
Somehow, he found the real swords mixed among the illusion swords inside the dust cloud, but that was the end of it.
Toward him, who was pressed into nothing but defense, I poured out the ultimate art of the Twin Heaven Sword Formula as if to finish him.
[Twin Heaven Sword Formula]
[Ultimate Art: Twin Heavens Suppressing All under Heaven]
Before the dust had even settled, the entire training ground was filled with illusion swords, and among them, as many as twenty real swords bearing Sword Qi went in aiming for his life.
KABOOM! KABOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The thunderous blasts bursting out as Sword Qi clashed rang with such tremendous noise that my ears nearly went deaf, and at that moment, an anomaly occurred.
——-!
————!
With an enormous explosion that could not even be compared to what had come before, the man was walking out while pushing away every last bit of dust.
“Haah, haah, haah, haah.”
As I caught my breath and looked at the man, my brow was deeply furrowed.
At the end of the man’s sword, a blade of Sword Force as long as a forearm stretched out.
“Haha…….”
Sword Force. Sword Force……
Even Namgung San, who had his younger brother’s opportunity taken away, had not been that underhanded.
Did my father or the seniors of my sect perhaps bear some deep grudge against that person?
Otherwise, Sword Force during a friendly martial duel was absurd.
“Fuck…….”
“Did you just curse at a senior of the martial world? What a badly behaved junior.”
“Are you not an enemy right now, not a senior of the martial world?”
To begin with, there was no such thing as Sword Force in the studies of the Taeul True Scripture.
Moreover, among the people of the Taeul Sect, there was no one who knew how to use Sword Force, so in a way, this was the same as witnessing my limit directly.
If I forced Sword Qi to gather, I might be able to form something that looked similar to Sword Force, but there was no possibility that it could face that real Sword Force.
I bit the flesh inside my mouth, pulled myself together, and kicked off the ground.
“It seems you intend to continue.”
“The Murim Academy representative cannot run away with an enemy in front of him!”
“Even so, charging in the same way does not look very advisable.”
I poured my inner arts into the blade and scattered the Twin Heaven Sword Formula, but the dozens of sword shadows embroidering the air vanished like dust with a single swing of his sword.
SHRING, SHRING, SHRING.
I unfolded the Taeul Eighty-Thousand Divine Steps, created eight phantoms, and scattered Flying Swords while moving through all eight directions around him.
The Flying Swords filled with Sword Qi densely embroidered the air above his head, but his sword instantly cut the Flying Swords in half and dropped them to the ground.
“With this sort of thing…….”
As he idly said that, his eyes soon widened like a rabbit’s.
As expected, when one reached that level as a master, did one instinctively know what the opponent was preparing?
He, who had been standing still and swinging his Sword Force as if showing it off, bent his knees and began charging like an arrow.
And I poured the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula toward the man’s face.
“This is…….”
Five Black Dragon Swords appeared in midair.
The Dragon and Phoenix Assembly had not known the difference between the Twin Heaven Sword Formula and the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula, but he seemed to realize it immediately and furrowed his brow deeply.
“…….”
The five Black Dragon Swords unfolded the Twin Heaven Sword Formula in midair, swinging dozens of illusion swords and more than twenty real swords.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM.
Explosions burst out in succession as if an event were being held for the New Year, and the illusion swords embroidering the air and the real swords created by Ten Thousand Swords vanished in an instant.
However, the five blades of Ten Thousand Swords were still aiming at the man.
The length of the man’s Sword Force grew even longer, until it was as long as a person’s height.
If I could not face him with this, then there was nothing more I could do.
With desperate resolve, I fired the rest of the Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula.
“Die!”
KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM!
The floor of the training ground was completely shattered, and clumps of earth rose like waves, scattering dust in all directions.
The birds in the nearby forest, startled by the impact, took flight all at once, and several roof tiles from the lodgings came clattering down.
“Whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo.”
Because I had used all my strength, I had spent most of my inner arts, which amounted to three cycles, and even my Dantian felt empty.
As I caught my breath and watched the dust cloud.
“……Haah, fuck.”
When the dust cleared with a single gust of wind, the man walked out from within while maintaining his Sword Force.
“They said you were the hopeful star of the Black Path Murim, and your mouth is as foul as expected.”
If it had been any other time, it was a joke I would have answered by knocking his jaw around, but I had no strength left to respond.
“I have lost.”
When I said that and flopped down on the ground, the man looked at me for a moment and said,
“……I enjoyed myself quite a bit too.”
With those words, the man disappeared without a trace as if sinking into the ground.
I thought I had put up a fairly good fight, but perhaps none of it had even registered with that man.
‘As expected, the murim is vast, and there are many masters.’
After I began living my second life over again, I thought I had lived with all my strength, but the helplessness I felt once more seemed to drain even more strength from me.
‘Still, I should see this as having improved a lot, right?’
As I soothed myself while looking at the ruined training ground, Jegal So-myeong approached my side.
Ordinarily, I would have sprung up like a dog waiting for food and observed proper courtesy, but I did not particularly feel like doing so.
Moreover, the Grand Strategist did not seem to care much that I was not observing courtesy in this situation.
“Hmm…….”
After looking around the scene for a moment, Jegal So-myeong stared at me blankly.
While I was lamenting the thought that the Demon-Subduing Divine Wood was gone, Jegal So-myeong slowly opened his mouth.
“About you.”
“……Yes.”
“Do you perhaps have any interest in going to the Alliance Leader’s Hall?”
“…….”
Yet another story I could not understand.
Was it a trait of geniuses to leave out all the context before and after when they spoke?
For some reason, I felt the goodwill I had held toward him in my previous life being shaved away in chunks.
