Chapter 52: Escape is in the Order of Intelligence (3)
Chapter 51 – Escape is in the Order of Intelligence (3)
Namgung Cheon clicked his tongue as he watched Song Won-gyo and Baekli Hyang groaning with their broken arms.
When looking closely at those human beings called martial artists, they were truly peculiar.
Sometimes, he doubted whether their minds had gone mad from staring only at walls all day long to train, or if they had become blockheads from doing nothing but swinging swords.
He had the same thought while looking at Song Won-gyo and Baekli Hyang now.
After suffering to that extent, it should have been time for them to take the hint and tuck their tails.
Why did they consistently choose to do only stupid things like this?
Namgung Cheon looked back at Dokgo Jin.
“What are you going to do? Shall we play a bit?”
Dokgo Jin quietly ground his back teeth.
A tense atmosphere flowed inside the inn.
The cadets of the Valiant Martial Academy were also watching this situation without even breathing.
To exaggerate a bit, even the sound of a needle falling could be heard.
Gulp.
Dokgo Jin, who swallowed dry saliva, narrowed his eyes.
‘Namgung Cheon…!’
The one with whom he would take the exam tomorrow.
He already knew the contents of tomorrow’s exam, which was information obtained through dark channels.
Although he had already heard the advice from Murong Gang not to take Namgung Cheon lightly…
‘He feels different than I expected.’
It was unbelievable that this guy was truly the pushover of the Dragon Heaven Academy.
The Namgung Cheon standing before him now exuded the mien of a general in every way.
Even a dignity that made it difficult to approach hastily seemed to be felt, and at the same time, a domineering yet rough energy was felt.
‘However, it is not to the point where I have to back down here.’
When he heard that Tang Wu-gi had been miserably broken, he could not help but be inwardly nervous.
Yet, looking at him now, he was not to that extent.
Although it certainly felt like looking at a solid rock, it did not feel like an insurmountable wall.
Rather, did it stimulate his competitive spirit? If he had to be precise, he cared more about Paeng Su-hyeok standing behind him than Namgung Cheon.
Namgung Cheon chuckled and spoke again.
“Why is there no answer? Are your ears clogged?”
Namgung Cheon wore an explicit sneer.
This was practically no different from picking a fight.
In fact, it was exactly what Namgung Cheon wanted.
‘Now, come in. Attack with that sword. My hands are itching to check the golden energy right now.’
While training over the past ten days, he had completed adapting to the energy obtained from the inner dan of the Golden Blood Rat to some extent.
In order to use his internal energy, which had become faster than usual, well in real combat, he needed to check it at least once.
‘Well, I think it will be smooth.’
Other than that, there was one more area of progress.
It was that the First Sight Skill-Breaking Eyes had entered the stage of Color Eyes. If everyone’s internal energy had looked like a red light until now, the color of the energy now appeared differently depending on the nature of the opponent’s internal energy.
In the case of the Golden Blood Rat, its nature was so clear that it looked golden, but now he had ascended to a stage where he could distinguish the color of energy even against a decent martial artist.
‘This must also be thanks to the Golden Blood Rat’s inner dan.’
Judging by his experience in his past life, as his internal energy deepened and his experience accumulated, the supernatural power, the First Sight Skill-Breaking Eyes, also grew step by step.
Of course, there was a limit to seeing with Color Eyes the stronger the expert was, because as one trained for a long time, the energy of the Five Elements tended to be hidden or their boundaries became blurred.
To make a comparison, was it like how the forms were clearer for beginners?
At any rate, if it was the level of cadets who had not even reached twenty yet, he could sufficiently judge the quality of internal energy even with Color Eyes.
In Dokgo Jin’s case, it was a black light, which meant that the nature of the internal energy he learned belonged to the Metal attribute among the Five Elements.
Namgung Cheon operated the energy of the Fire attribute, which was the counter to the Metal attribute.
Woooong.
He felt the Fire attribute energy rising from his dantian racing along his blood vessels.
Although the family-transmitted martial arts of the Namgung Clan were not completely of the Fire attribute, thanks to mastering all sorts of miscellaneous internal energy cultivation methods in his past life, slightly twisting the nature of the energy was nothing.
In an instant, a stream of energy was seen surging from Dokgo Jin’s dantian as well.
At the same time, Dokgo Jin shouted sharply.
“Hmph! If you have no intention of apologizing, you must take responsibility like a martial artist as you said!”
Dokgo Jin quickly stepped forward with his footwork, arrived in front of Namgung Cheon in an instant, and struck down with his sword.
“Those are true words.”
Namgung Cheon replied as he drew the Emerald Silk Sword.
Clang!
“Ugh!”
The moment sword clashed with sword, Dokgo Jin let out a low scream in spite of himself.
It felt as if a bolt of lightning was flowing through his palm, up his forearm, and throughout his entire body.
The Fire attribute energy, which was incompatible with the Metal attribute, rankled all his bones, so even though it was just a brief moment, it was a terrible pain that made him shudder.
In the end, Dokgo Jin let go of his hand without realizing it. No, before he could let go, his palm had already torn.
Whoosh, crash!
Dokgo Jin’s sword, which bounced off just like that, embedded itself deeply in the wall.
Blood oozed from his torn palm.
Because it had happened in the blink of an eye, the surrounding cadets had dumbfounded expressions.
‘How did he do that just now?’
‘Was it a sword-drawing technique?’
‘I heard that the Namgung Clan also values the fast sword, but was it that fast?’
Yet, Namgung Cheon did not stop there.
Swift!
Swish!
The Emerald Silk Sword sliced straight through the air, heading toward Dokgo Jin, did it not?
“Ah!”
In that sudden moment, Dokgo Jin felt the fear of death. He was captivated by the eyes of Namgung Cheon, who extended the Emerald Silk Sword, and could not think of anything.
It was literally a terror that made his entire body freeze stiff.
At the moment he was about to be hit blankly with both eyes wide open,
Clang!
Dokgo Jin suddenly snapped out of it at the metallic sound that erupted unexpectedly.
Someone had thrust out a sword to block the Emerald Silk Sword.
‘Murong Gang…?’
Looking back with a start, he was surprised to find that the opponent was not Murong Gang but a completely unexpected figure.
Namgung Cheon, who had extended the Emerald Silk Sword, also narrowed his eyes and looked at the suddenly appearing interloper.
“What is it?”
“Ah, if you do more here, all of us could become endangered. It would be unfair if we were disqualified simply for being together even before taking the third trial.”
A man neatly dressed in a martial arts robe replied with a faint smile. However, the sword he held in his hand was trembling slightly.
It was because the force exerted by Namgung Cheon was so strong.
‘How can there be such strength…!’
Although he had intervened instinctively, Namgung Cheon’s strength was even greater than the man had thought.
The man spoke while making a groaning sound on purpose.
“Ugh…! How about wrapping things up here? It is not good to see other cadets being inconvenienced for no reason.”
After staring at the man for a moment, Namgung Cheon sighed and withdrew his sword.
“I apologize for that.”
“Whew, it is fine. Still, thank you for accepting my request.”
The man cupped his fists and glanced at Namgung Cheon.
Namgung Cheon also returned the salute by cupping his fists.
“I have unintentionally caused trouble.”
“Well, in an inn where cadets gather, this level of trouble can happen. Still, thank you for showing restraint before it got more serious. Brother Dokgo, thank you for accepting my request as well.”
The man also spoke to Dokgo Jin.
By naturally including him, he protected Dokgo Jin’s honor in his own way.
As Namgung Cheon watched blankly, the man spoke as if remembering late.
“Ah, I am called Yun Gyeong of the Valiant Martial Academy. I came from the Jongnam Sect.”
As several cadets of the Righteous Chivalry Academy let out low exclamations,
Yun Gyeong of the Jongnam Sect, along with Yu Hyeon of the Mount Hua Sect, was one of the cadets making a name for themselves in the Valiant Martial Academy.
However, Namgung Cheon turned around swiftly as if it did not matter.
“Then enjoy your stay.”
“Eh? Is that the end?”
“Otherwise? You should know who I am. Is there anything else to say?”
Yun Gyeong looked at Namgung Cheon with a blank expression for a moment.
Anything else to say…
‘There is none.’
I do know who he is.
Even so, I thought we would at least exchange names out of politeness.
Yun Gyeong replied with a chuckle.
“No. Let’s have a drink together sometime if you have time.”
“If you wish.”
When Namgung Cheon replied casually and walked away, Yun Gyeong wore a faint smile.
‘Namgung Cheon, the official pushover of the Dragon Heaven Academy. An interesting fellow.’
He repeatedly clenched and opened his hand.
‘A fast sword and a heavy sword.’
‘Not bad.’
At that moment, Dokgo Jin approached hesitantly and cupped his fists.
“Thank you for stopping it at the right time. Thanks to you, I could avoid showing an ugly sight.”
“Brother Dokgo should first cultivate the eyes to distinguish opponents.”
“What does that…?”
“You know full well what it means, so why do you ask?”
When Yun Gyeong walked away with a chuckle, Dokgo Jin ground his teeth.
‘This guy and that guy, what on earth do they take me for…!’
* * *
The next day, eighty cadets participating in the third trial gathered at the Grand Martial Arena early in the morning.
Ascending the platform, Tang Ye-seol scanned the faces of the cadets once.
The injured cadets had recovered quite a bit while receiving treatment from the top physicians of the Martial Alliance.
However, among them, there were cadets whose conditions were particularly serious.
‘How did those children get hurt?’
Song Won-gyo’s mouth was completely ruined and swollen, and a bandage was wrapped around his arm, which had a splint, as if it were broken.
Seeing that Baekli Hyang also had a splint on her arm, it seemed that her bone was broken.
‘Surely those two didn’t fight each other.’
For some reason, her gaze naturally turned toward Namgung Cheon this time as well.
It could be a woman’s intuition, or it could simply be because he had emerged as the greatest variable of the year.
In any case, lately, whenever something incomprehensible occurred, she kept looking at Namgung Cheon.
‘Well, I will find out if I keep watching.’
Tang Ye-seol withdrew her gaze and shouted.
“From now on, we will conduct the third trial. The third trial is also a group competition. Five groups will compete against each other, and the group that carries out the mission first wins. The mission is to rescue a hostage trapped in a specific mechanism! If even one member of a group returns within the time limit, they pass! From now on, you must identify the location of the hostage by looking at the maps distributed and have each group rescue them, that is all!”
When she finished speaking, subordinates of the Red Wave Corps stepped forward and divided them into four divisions of five teams each.
Coincidentally, the division to which Namgung Cheon belonged was filled only with cadets from the Righteous Chivalry Academy.
Although it was said to prevent too many passers from being produced from the same academy, it was true that it felt somewhat uncomfortable.
Sure enough, Dokgo Jin, with whom he had briefly clashed swords yesterday, also belonged to the same division, and the guy secretly exchanged glances with cadets of other teams.
Yun Jong-seung, sensing an unusual sign, spoke with a worried expression.
“Those guys seem to be planning something, will it be okay?”
“What does it matter if a guy who passed even the first trial by luck falls?”
“St-Still, since we’ve come this far…”
He felt greedy.
A desire to go higher arose.
As if reading his inner thoughts, Namgung Cheon chuckled and spoke indifferently.
“Get used to it. The Jianghu is a place where if you become even slightly successful, all sides turn into enemies. That is the Martial World, and that is the world.”
“That is the Martial World…”
“What is scary is not those guys plotting conspiracies. It is yourself, who is shaken by it.”
“…!”
“Do not be shaken and walk your path. The more successful you are, the more things like that there will be. You will have to get used to it now.”
Yun Jong-seung tightly shut his mouth and clenched his fists.
‘Right, that might be the secret to truly becoming strong.’
“Thank you, Namgung Cheon.”
When Yun Jong-seung murmured as if to himself, Namgung Cheon frowned.
“Say things like that out loud so I can hear them clearly.”
“Thank you, Namgung Cheon!”
“As long as you know.”
In the meantime, Tang Ye-seol approached the division to which Namgung Cheon belonged.
Five teams of four people each. A total of twenty people.
“Is everyone ready?”
“Yes!”
“Then run.”
Having finished speaking, Tang Ye-seol scattered five maps into the air.
Flutter!
The cadets leapt up in unison to snatch the maps.