Chapter 100: Chapter 100
Swish!
As the sound of tearing through the air erupted.
“Grind! Damn it!”
Jeok-geom spat out a curse boiling from inside and twisted his waist.
Thud! Thud!
A stream of sweat flowed from Jeok-geom’s forehead as he looked at the arrows stuck in the ground.
“I-Is this ever going to end?!”
When he, quite flustered, shouted.
Pshooshook!
Just from a glance, dozens of arrows poured down like a rainstorm.
“I’ll take the front!”
In an instant, Seol Ran stood side by side with him.
Pababak!
Gripping her sword, Seol Ran struck away the arrows shooting from all directions and hardened her eyes.
In fact, dodging this level of arrows was not unreasonable for the two of them at all.
Since they had gotten used to surprise attacks while hunting wolves in the meantime.
However.
‘It feels like it’s not my body right now!’
Seol Ran bit her upper lip gently.
Unlike usual, the hand holding the sword was dull and her feet were heavy as if soaked in water.
‘I felt it was unusual since Martial Uncle said he was making a gateway!’
Jeok-geom, who was already feeling the same sensation, glared at the surroundings with narrowed eyes.
At that moment.
“……!”
“What is this now!”
The two of them flinched in bewilderment.
Suddenly, the luminous pearl that was shining brightly on the gateway ceiling began to blink.
Ping! Ping!
And at the same time, arrows were shot.
“Damn it!”
Jeok-geom, glaring at the arrows flying across space as if the middle process had been cut out, hurriedly swung his sword.
Slash! Slash!
The arrows cut by the sword fluttered in the air, making the field of vision even dizzier.
“Ugh!”
Even a groan was heard from the side.
“Junior Martial Sister!”
The moment he turned his head in panic.
Thud!
A shock was felt on his shoulder.
“Ugh!”
The arrow that pierced through his shoulder had its arrowhead sticking out and was bleeding.
“Senior Martial Brother! Are you okay?”
“No. Not at all. And you, Junior Martial Sister?”
“It’s the same for me.”
The two looked at each other.
And then they let out bitter smiles without anyone prompting first.
Laughing at the same time, the two gripped their swords.
“It’s a gateway risking our lives.”
“Still, compared to the training Martial Uncle gave us all this time, isn’t it easy?”
“That’s true.”
Seol Ran nodded her head.
Pain continued to be felt in her abdomen and shoulder, but her eyes were not dead.
Rather, they were burning fiercely.
“Let’s pass it together.”
“We must. If we fail to pass this, we’ll receive Martial Uncle’s punishment.”
Perhaps because they had already received terrible training from Cheon-hwi, the two were calm and composed even when seeing a gateway threatening their lives.
“Then we definitely have to pass.”
The two, who were making silly jokes, raised their swords high and drew up their internal energy.
“Then!”
“I’ll leave the back to you!”
Just in time, arrows poured down again.
Pabababat!
Seeing the arrows densely covering the cave, the swords of the two emitted sharp sword light.
Clang-clang-clang!
Cheon-hwi, who was walking following the presence of Jeok-geom and Seol Ran, snatched a pouring arrow.
“This is better than before, isn’t it?”
He liked it more than he had thought.
Arrows pouring from all directions.
Along with that, the activated Altering Illusion Formation created an illusion as if the arrows without arrowheads had them, amplifying the tension.
“That’s especially good.”
Cheon-hwi’s gaze, having thrown away the arrow held in his hand, headed toward the luminous pearl attached to the wall.
The luminous pearl, which should have quietly gone dark here originally, was continuously blinking for some reason.
“It made sight untrustworthy.”
At that moment, a rain of arrows poured down again.
Although it was a rain of arrows pouring like a downpour, Cheon-hwi didn’t even give it a glance.
Instead, he just walked forward.
A defenseless step as if to get hit by the arrows.
However, the result was surprising.
Pababak!
The arrows passed through his body.
As if piercing through water.
“Is it there?”
Cheon-hwi continued to take steps while dodging the arrows with minute movements.
“Keuheok. A-Are you okay?”
“N…… o.”
Finally, he arrived where the two were.
How far did they come in to be in that state?
Jeok-geom and Seol Ran were standing with difficulty using their swords as canes in a miserable state.
‘What did they do to be like that?’
Pabababat!
Just then, arrows were shot densely.
“Heok, heok. Can you block more?”
“N…… o. Now I can’t even move a single finger.”
When the two, whose all was merely standing, were waiting for the miserable future that would soon approach.
Crackle!
A dull sound struck their ears.
After that, seeing the huge back that appeared in front of them, the two opened their eyes wide.
“Uh, uh? Martial Uncle……?”
“Martial Uncle?”
Jeok-geom and Seol Ran struggled.
However, due to the accumulated pain, they couldn’t twitch a single finger.
“What are you doing?”
Cheon-hwi, looking at the two, lightly threw the arrows in his grasp and moved his lips.
“It’s because strength won’t enter…….”
“Haha.”
Looking at the two with embarrassed expressions, Cheon-hwi clicked his tongue with a ‘Tsk’ and said.
“To not even be able to pass this level. I guess I trained you too comfortably.”
The complexions of the two turned pale.
“N, no, it’s not.”
“It’s because we are lacking…….”
“Enough.”
Along with his words, he grabbed the scruffs of their necks.
“Kek!”
“Keok!”
And then he kicked off the ground in a single breath.
Coming out of the First Plum Blossom Gateway quickly, Cheon-hwi threw the two in front of the Divine Physician.
Thump! Thump!
“What is this?”
“They are patients.”
“Groan.”
“Ugh.”
“Hoo…… I get it for now.”
The Divine Physician looked down at the two groaning in pain, then took out acupuncture needles from his embrace.
“E-Excuse me. Young Hero.”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon approached cautiously and bowed his head with restless gestures.
“I’m sorr…….”
“I like the current method.”
Cutting off his apology, Zhuge Seong-hyeon was startled by Cheon-hwi’s spoken words.
“Y, yes?”
“Let’s change it to a method where they are added one by one instead of the mechanism formations changing.”
“Added……?”
Cheon-hwi immediately took out the blueprints.
And then, pointing to several places, he modified the direction of the formation from this time.
“When reaching the end of the gateway here, additionally activate the original mechanism formation…….”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon, who was flustered at first, also fell into the ensuing explanation and listened attentively.
Then he also presented his opinions in the middle.
“Then it would be more natural to install a different mechanism formation and array in place of the Altering Illusion Formation instead.”
“Do you have a formation to replace it with?”
“Among our clan’s formations, there is a formation called Returning Benevolence Ten Thousand Formation. It can’t summon detailed illusions like the Altering Illusion Formation, but it will be enough to deceive the senses.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Cheon-hwi stroked his chin.
Deceiving only the senses without illusions, huh.
‘That would be fine too, wouldn’t it?’
It didn’t necessarily have to be illusions anyway.
Because if it deceived the senses, it could sufficiently play the role of the First Plum Blossom Gateway.
“If that’s comfortable, let’s do that.”
At Cheon-hwi’s words, as if excited, Zhuge Seong-hyeon began to express the opinions he had been secretly thinking of all this time.
“And what about doing it like this here? Rather than using this mechanism formation like this, in this direction…….”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon poured out his opinions like a waterfall, as if he had been holding them in all this time.
‘A pretty good guy came.’
The opinions Zhuge Seong-hyeon proposed were surprisingly efficient and unconventional.
‘If it’s this much, I can take my hands off it.’
Looking at Zhuge Seong-hyeon explaining with shining eyes, Cheon-hwi nodded his head.
“Then try doing it like that.”
At those words, Zhuge Seong-hyeon flinched.
He got excited and presented his opinions, but thinking about it carefully, the difficulty of the gateway might become even more terrible than now.
“Ah, no. I think it would be better to just do it as it originally was.”
“Why?”
Speaking, Zhuge Seong-hyeon swallowed his saliva.
“Because if we modify it like this, it could become even more dangerous than now…….”
“What? Will they die or something?”
“Ah, no!”
Zhuge Seong-hyeon was horrified and waved his hands.
“That’s not it, but…… they could sustain worse injuries than that.”
Seeing Zhuge Seong-hyeon sweating profusely while pointing at Jeok-geom and Seol Ran groaning from severe injuries, Cheon-hwi chuckled.
“It doesn’t matter as long as they don’t die, so let’s try doing it like that for now.”
* * *
Spring in full swing had arrived at Mount Hua.
At Mount Hua where sprouts had sprung up, small plum blossoms were now blooming, and the disciples of the Mount Hua Sect were also growing.
Before they knew it, the second-generation disciples had absorbed at least half of the Dark Fragrance Pills and rapidly built up internal energy, and the first-generation disciples of the Martial Training Pavilion possessed martial prowess that could not be compared to before.
Sip, sip.
And Cheon-hwi, who had made this current Mount Hua Sect, received the Sect Leader’s call and was at the Purple Mist Pavilion.
Seeing Cheon-hwi sipping tea, the Sect Leader asked in a low voice.
“I heard you’ve been resting lately.”
“That’s right.”
Cheon-hwi was currently in a relaxed state.
In the case of the second-generation disciples, Hyeon-cheong was in charge of them, and he had almost completely taken his hands off regarding the Seven Plum Blossom Gateways.
“It seems you have free time.”
“To some extent.”
Hearing Cheon-hwi’s answer, the Sect Leader’s eyes half-opened for a fleeting moment.
“Actually, the reason I called you today is because I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor?”
What’s going on?
The Sect Leader was someone who usually didn’t say the word favor.
For him to ask a favor.
“What is it?”
“As you know, the gates of the Mount Hua Sect will be opened soon.”
Cheon-hwi nodded his head.
Opening the gates of the Mount Hua Sect was a plan that had been steadily progressing for a very long time.
However, it had been delayed for a long time due to overlapping matters, not to mention financial difficulties.
Then, Hyeon-ryeo had informed him a few days ago that they recently repaired the pavilions of the Mount Hua Sect and secured finances, finally creating an opportunity to open the gates of the Mount Hua Sect.
‘Because of that, she complained several times that we couldn’t meet recently.’
As he was recalling her, who clung to him to the point of annoyance whenever they met by chance once in a while, the Sect Leader opened his mouth.
“At that time, could you distinguish the aptitude and suitability of the children entering the mountain?”
Cheon-hwi’s brows furrowed sharply.
What any sect considered important when taking in disciples was aptitude.
And he was trying to entrust that crucial matter to Cheon-hwi.
‘That’s annoying.’
Seeing the indifferent Cheon-hwi, the Sect Leader opened his mouth with an ‘I thought as much’ expression.
“Of course, I’m not just asking for a favor.”
“What are you going to give me?”
Cheon-hwi was indifferent.
He didn’t even have anything he wanted.
It was hard to draw his interest with anything ordinary.
However, Cheon-hwi had no choice but to react immediately to the Sect Leader’s ensuing words.
“Have you ever seen the Violet Cloud Sword Arts?”
“The Violet Cloud Sword Arts?”
As the fish bit the bait eagerly, the Sect Leader laughed inwardly.
‘Haha. Senior Martial Brother Hyeon-cheong’s words were spot on.’
The Sect Leader had been contemplating how to coax Cheon-hwi and got the answer from Hyeon-cheong.
Cheon-hwi’s obsession with new martial arts.
He aimed precisely for that.
“If you accept the proposal, I will let you see the Violet Cloud Sword Arts.”
“Sounds good.”
To the question, Cheon-hwi answered immediately without a hint of hesitation.
‘I wanted to see the real Violet Cloud Sword Arts, not the one executed by Hyeon Yu, anyway.’
The absolute sword art of the Mount Hua Sect, the Violet Cloud Sword Arts.
As it was a sword form he had only seen twice in the past, he was just curious how those moves had changed.
The Sect Leader got up from his seat.
“Then follow me.”
In his hand was gripped the treasured sword, Violet Cloud Sword, which had been with him his entire life.
Soon, the two headed towards the Upper Palace.
The events that occurred at the Upper Palace that day were talked about for a long, long time in the future.
As an extraordinary day when violet and transparent plum blossoms covered the world.
And twenty days later.
The rumor spread that the gates of the Mount Hua Sect, which had been firmly closed for a long time, would be opened.
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