Chapter 139. The Black Flame Dragon Meets the Monster of the Ten-Thousand-Book Repository (3)
“Young Master Jin, what happened to your face?”
“Who was it? Who made your face look like this?”
Seong Mo-ran and Namgung Seon-hwa spoke while drawing up heavy killing intent.
I restrained them.
“It is not like that. These are wounds from training.”
As if she could not believe my words, Seong Mo-ran shook her head.
“Be honest. Was it the Nine Sects and One Gang? Or the Five Great Clans? Who on earth beat you like this?”
“……Do I look that awful?”
Lately, my daily routine had been to visit the Sword Demon as soon as I woke up in the morning, pick a fight, get beaten, and then spend the day unconscious, so I had not had time to check a bronze mirror.
“They practically turned you into a rag.”
Still, was it not a bit harsh to call a person a rag?
Because I could not tell them the inside story, I changed the subject.
“This is your first rest period at the academy. Are you not going back to your family homes?”
“…….”
“…….”
A strange silence drifted between them as the two awkwardly met each other’s eyes.
“Well, I-I think this is the time to focus on academy classes.”
“If I go back now for no reason, I feel like my excitement will make me lose my tension.”
I tilted my head.
The Murim Academy’s first rest period was the first vacation spent at one’s family home after passing the harsh Murim Regular Exam.
This first vacation was not simply a rest period; it had a strong tendency to be a triumphant return home in glory.
For someone like Eun Seol-ran, whose sect was in Bukhae, the distance was not one that could be traveled during the rest period to begin with, so she would give up.
But for places like Hebei or Guangxi Province, even though the distance there and back was considerable, people still insisted on returning to their sects or families during the rest period.
Not only their sect, but even their village, and further, the nearby cities, would have notices posted widely, and people would gather for a banquet held solely for them. Who would want to miss that?
“Is it perhaps because your exam scores were not sufficient?”
“…….”
“…….”
I recalled the two of them’s low written exam scores and said,
“That is why I told you to memorize only the things I picked out for you.”
“……Do you know how much material that was? How are we supposed to memorize all of it?”
“Young Master Jin, do you think we are monsters like you?”
“In any case, that is a shame. That kind of celebration is something you can only receive once in your life.”
“Then why are you not going back, Young Master Jin?”
At Namgung Seon-hwa’s question, I answered firmly.
“My father is stingy anyway, so he will not hold something like a banquet for me.”
“Eh……. Then would you like to come to the Namgung Clan with me? They will probably hold a large banquet.”
“Hm?”
“Ah, Father kept asking when Young Master Jin So-un would come. Grandfather did too.”
Now that I thought about it, Namgung Jin-myeong had once told me to come visit as his guest.
“I will accept only the sentiment. Right now, it is time for me to train.”
Seong Mo-ran pouted and said,
“Are you really going to spend the entire rest period only training?”
“Did the two of you not say you stayed behind for that reason as well?”
“……That is true, but you should still rest a little. You could go out nearby. Dongting Lake is not that far.”
“Could the two of you not go together?”
“What did you say?!”
Seong Mo-ran’s eyes shot up sharply.
Did I really need to join in when the two of them were resting?
Or were they being considerate of my junior brothers?
“I was actually planning to go to Yueyang once.”
“Really? When? How many days will you go for?”
“There is something I need to take care of. While we are there, looking around a little would be a good experience for my junior brothers as well.”
“…….”
Seong Mo-ran looked disappointed.
Namgung Seon-hwa began whispering something into Seong Mo-ran’s ear.
Then Seong Mo-ran also whispered back to Namgung Seon-hwa.
Why were people who could use Sound Transmission doing that?
“Good! Then, even if it is not ideal, let us go to Yueyang to have fun.”
“I said I am going because I have something to take care of.”
“Yes. You can take care of it quickly and then have fun.”
“…….”
“Then when are we going?”
“I intend to go once my training is finished to some degree.”
“……You are not saying we should wait indefinitely, are you?”
“How about the two of you spend time training like my junior brothers?”
“…….”
“…….”
For some reason, Seong Mo-ran and Namgung Seon-hwa were glaring at me with angry faces.
What in the world had I done wrong to make them angry?
Namgung Seon-hwa and Seong Mo-ran were one thing, but if I had to name the person currently angriest at me in the Murim Academy, it was the Sword Demon.
He was so angry that every time we met, he resorted to violence until I was on the verge of fainting.
As expected of a great figure of the Black Path.
“You came again after being beaten like that?”
CRACK, CRACK.
The bone that had been protruding from his back slipped in, and the Sword Demon stood up straight.
No matter how many times I saw it, it was amazing.
The Bone-Reversal Art that went far beyond the ordinary transformation limits of such arts and turned him outright into a hunchback was something I could not get used to no matter how many times I saw it.
“I intend to keep coming until you teach me.”
“Then I intend to keep beating you until you stop coming.”
“I wonder who will win.”
“I will win.”
“I still have reporting you as my final resort.”
“If you intended to report me, you would have done so on the first day you were beaten.”
“…….”
He never lost a single exchange, damn it.
“Therefore, I, who strike with hard fists, will defeat you, who must take it with soft flesh.”
“Hmm…… That is convincing. Then, shall I enjoy being beaten again today?”
The Sword Demon let out a sigh as if he found it absurd.
“Why are you asking me, who am not even of the same Orthodox Path, to teach you martial arts?”
“Were you not originally from the Orthodox Path, Sword Demon? That makes you worth learning from.”
“That is not a reason. Moreover, your martial art is a study that develops itself. Do not tell me you are charging in without knowing that.”
We had only exchanged hands a few times, yet he had already finished grasping the essence of my martial art?
As expected, he had the qualities to become the finest martial arts teacher.
“I know. However, it will take too long to develop that way.”
“Why? Is someone chasing you right now?”
I did not think I would hear anything good if I told the Sword Demon, so I tossed out the story vaguely.
“Do you know my situation? I am standing against the Nine Sects and One Gang, the Five Great Clans, and the Twelve Peak Citadels all at once.”
The Sword Demon furrowed his brow deeply and looked at me.
“……They said the Black Flame Dragon was a rising star of the Black Path, and you truly lie well. I almost fell for it.”
“…….”
After glaring at me, the Sword Demon let out a long sigh, shook his head, and said,
“Fine. Whatever is chasing you is none of my concern. In consideration of the price of the beatings you have taken so far, I will teach you one thing. You said you wanted to learn Sword Force?”
“Yes.”
“But you know that Sword Force cannot be separated and learned on its own, do you not?”
“I know. That is why I want to hear the knack from you, Sword Demon, who walked alone through the martial world and created your own martial art.”
“Flattery will not work. In any case, is the reason you want to learn Sword Force because you want to face Sword Force?”
I could respond to some degree with Ten Thousand Swords, but there was a limit to that.
I could not fight a life-and-death battle while holding a sword that might break at any moment.
To face a master of Sword Force, I had to enter the world of Sword Force.
“Yes.”
“Hahahat.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because the sight of you coveting the silver lump in someone else’s hand without even knowing you hold a lump of gold in your own hand is amusing.”
“Pardon?”
“You do not need to learn Sword Force. Of course, it would be good if you did, but there is no particular need.”
“Why is that?”
“That martial art called Ten Thousand Swords that you first showed me.”
The Ten Thousand Seas Heaven-Earth Sword Formula was practically the ultimate art of the Taeul True Scripture, but it was insufficient against Sword Force.
I had already said that several times.
“That Ten Thousand Swords is not real, yet it is real, is it not?”
“That is…… true.”
“Then would it not be enough to overlay Sword Qi onto that sword?”
“…….”
Overlay Sword Qi onto Ten Thousand Swords? What kind of nonsense was that?
“Did you not think of it?”
“Is that not impossible?”
Was the limit placed on Illusion Swords not precisely because one could not overlay Sword Qi onto them even when one’s level rose?
“That is only for idiots.”
The Sword Demon picked up a fallen branch from the ground.
It was the one that had created the wave of Sword Force before.
“Watch closely.”
In an instant, the branch was swung, and dozens of branches appeared in the air.
Then tangible qi dwelled in the Sword Demon’s branch.
However, the illusions of the branches still remained in the air as they were.
“If you cannot cover an Illusion Sword with Sword Qi, would it not be enough to make the Sword Qi itself into an illusion?”
Then Sword Qi began dwelling one by one in the branches that filled the air.
It was truly a festival of light.
As if a splendid banquet had opened, his Sword Qi took form in every direction.
“And when it is needed, you simply place reality there, as with the sword art you use.”
SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH—
The branches that had been passing through trees and rocks began leaving scars throughout the forest.
A tree on the right was suddenly cut down and fell, and a rock on the left was sliced apart with unbelievable sharpness.
“And once you are proficient in this, you combine the two into one.”
The illusions of qi extending from the Sword Demon’s branch grew even faster.
Soon, the Sword Qi and branch became one, becoming something that was an Illusion Sword yet not an Illusion Sword, a Real Sword yet not a Real Sword.
“Huh…….”
While I lost myself watching a martial art similar to Ten Thousand Swords unfold before my eyes,
The splendid branches that filled the air disappeared in an instant.
“This much should be enough, should it not?”
I nodded and said,
“As expected, I think there is no one but you, Sword Demon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“My martial arts teacher.”
I said that while drawing the Black Dragon Sword, and the Sword Demon’s face turned as if he had bitten into shit.
“Huff, huff…… Thank you for today’s lesson as well.”
With those words, Jin So-un collapsed flat onto the ground.
Sword Demon Baek Hae-gwang, who had been hiding his identity as the hunchbacked old man of the Ten-Thousand-Book Repository, looked at Jin So-un, then looked at the branch in his own hand.
‘It broke?’
When a fragile branch and a hard iron sword collided, it was only natural for the branch to be cut away, but to Baek Hae-gwang, it was not natural.
This meant that through that brief lesson, Jin So-un had advanced one step.
“His martial talent certainly does not look that outstanding.”
Baek Hae-gwang approached Jin So-un and examined every part of his body.
“Huh, look at this bastard. What kind of excellent Fortuitous Encounter did he gain to become a Martial God Body?”
His originally innate bones and muscles had changed once again, making him a Martial God Body.
Considering that his background, the Taeul Sect, was not that great, it meant he had gained an enormous Fortuitous Encounter.
Then, while examining his palm, Baek Hae-gwang’s movement stopped abruptly.
“Good grief.”
The palm was packed with calluses, as hard as touching solid stone.
Moreover, despite possessing inner arts amounting to three cycles, he must not have neglected external training, for his entire body had been trained densely and precisely.
“This should not be called effort. It should be called venomous grit. He was no ordinary madman.”
After examining this much, he could understand to some degree why his branch had broken.
And when he saw his younger self inside that, irritation suddenly surged up.
“Boy, you cannot achieve anything through obsession with martial arts. Instead, you will only lose even what you possess.”
On the other hand, there was also regret.
If this boy had not been a disciple of the Taeul Sect, and if Baek Hae-gwang himself were not a hidden existence like this right now…….
If that had been the case, perhaps he could have passed on his lifelong True Inheritance to him.
That kind of regret lingered.
The fact that he possessed this level of obsession and venomous grit was proof that he had lived a life similar to Baek Hae-gwang’s.
He would probably be able to digest the final sword form Baek Hae-gwang had created as well.
Baek Hae-gwang shook his head.
“Stop it, Baek. Are you trying to build up karma like that and pass that karma on to future generations? Think of the price you paid because of the name Demon.”
After saying that, Baek Hae-gwang turned his steps toward the hut, then looked at Jin So-un again.
“Tsk-, what a troublesome fellow.”
WOOONG—.
Jin So-un’s form floated about one foot above the ground and slowly began following Baek Hae-gwang.
To the young lady.
Have you been well? I have been hearing news of you from far away in Hefei.
Thanks to the news of your acceptance into the academy, the Iron Sword Sect also held a long banquet for some time.
Many disciples were disappointed to hear that you would not be returning to the sect this time. Even if you are busy, please visit someday and motivate the young disciples.
In addition, I am curious whether your relationship with your beloved is progressing well.
Because you have always been someone with so little interest in such things, I, Cho Mu-bin, am always worried.
Perhaps the reason you are not coming during this rest period is also to spend time with him, is it not?
Please do not waste your time. If you happen to have an opportunity to wander together, you must win his heart and make it yours, young lady……
Seong Mo-ran, who had been reading Cho Mu-bin’s carrier letter, crumpled it in one motion and tore it to shreds.
“Wh-What on earth is Captain Cho saying?!”
Namgung Seon-hwa, who had been reading a carrier letter beside her, looked at Seong Mo-ran with round eyes.
“Why? Why, Sister? Did something happen?”
“Hm? Ah, n-no.”
“Your face is flushed red.”
“I-It must be because it is hot. Is summer already approaching?”
“…….”
Seong Mo-ran awkwardly fanned herself with her hand, then asked Namgung Seon-hwa as if something had suddenly come to mind.
“Seon-hwa, do you have clothes to wear when we go to Yueyang?”
“No. Since entering the academy, I have not even had time to contact my family.”
“Then shall we go buy clothes? We cannot go to Yueyang looking like this.”
“Already? How do you know when his training will end?”
“We should buy them in advance.”
“…….”
Namgung Seon-hwa looked at Seong Mo-ran for a moment.
“Sister…… I am sorry to ask this all of a sudden……”
“Yes?”
“Sister, you still like Young Master Jin, do you not?”
“…….”
Seong Mo-ran’s face, which had already been flushed, now turned so red it looked as though it might burst at any moment.
Namgung Seon-hwa nodded as if she understood even without hearing an answer.
“So it was true……”
“Wh-Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“…….”
Namgung Seon-hwa, who had been staring intently at Seong Mo-ran, lowered her head as though she had committed a great sin.
Then she spoke in a voice so small it seemed to be crawling into itself.
“Actually……”
Seong Mo-ran turned into ice and focused on the small voice she heard.
“I like Young Master Jin too…….”
“…….”
