Chapter 73: Chapter 73
Only after a full two hours had passed did the carriage carrying the party leave the territory of the Flying Heaven Society and enter the territory of the Murim Alliance.
“I feel like I can finally live now.”
“Phew, that was difficult.”
Cheon Yu and Gu Gyeom-wi sagged down.
Perhaps because the tension they had maintained tautly for nearly four days had loosened, their words and actions became sluggish.
Seeing that sight, Hyeon-jin smiled.
It was because he understood their feelings.
During their stay at the Namgung Clan, how much mental suffering had he also endured and how much pressure had he received?
“You all worked hard.”
Afterwards, he stealthily looked at Cheon-hwi.
Leaning his back against the seat, Cheon-hwi was carefully reading a martial arts manual as if he was isolated alone.
‘Haha. Youngest Junior Martial Brother. Are you watching well? Your disciple, who was frail when you brought him in, has become a master who defeated the Azure Sky Sword Dragon.’
It was surprising even thinking about it now.
The Azure Sky Sword Dragon was one of the top rising stars in the Flying Heaven Society, yet he had defeated him.
And overwhelmingly at that.
A sense of pride naturally rose up.
‘The future of our sect is bright!’
Then, a question suddenly arose.
“By the way, Cheon-hwi. Who was that person? Seeing the Azure Sky Sword Dragon being respectful, he didn’t seem to be an ordinary person…”
“They said he is the Grand Supreme Clan Head.”
In an instant, the inside of the carriage froze.
“G-Grand Supreme Clan Head?”
“The Grand Supreme Clan Head?”
“Junior Martial Brother. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
Cheon-hwi answered casually, but.
“So that person was the Thunder Lightning Sword!”
Hyeon-jin belatedly burst out in astonishment.
“It was a name I felt like I had heard somewhere before…”
He then swallowed his dry saliva with a gulp.
The Thunder Lightning Sword was an absolute master and one of the Five Great Swordsmen of the World, a name he had heard until his ears hurt since he was a little kid.
‘To think I forgot that!’
He felt pathetic for having forgotten that.
‘But…’
“Why would the Grand Supreme Clan Head of the Namgung Clan give a gift to Cheon-hwi…”
The thought he was having popped out vocally.
“He said he was repaying the favor because I gave him some advice on creating a martial art.”
The more Cheon-hwi spoke, the more the expressions of the three listening to those words were engulfed in astonishment.
“Y-you gave advice on creating a martial art?”
“To the Grand Supreme Clan Head of the Namgung Clan?”
“………!”
Could there be a story like this in the competition for the Future Beggar?
The opponent was the previous generation master, the Thunder Lightning Sword.
But giving advice on the martial art he was creating?
It was hard to believe.
“Is that really true?”
“What would I gain by lying?”
It was then.
“Junior Martial Brother!”
Gu Gyeom-wi, who called out to Cheon-hwi with a loud voice, opened his eyes wide.
“C-can I also receive advice on martial arts?”
Cheon-hwi frowned.
“Advice? If it’s something like that, shouldn’t you just ask Martial Uncle Hyeon-jin?”
Feeling bothered, Cheon-hwi tried to pass it off to Hyeon-jin, but.
“That’s…”
Gu Gyeom-wi, who was speaking, made an awkward expression, turned his head, and scratched his cheek.
Seeing that sight, Hyeon-jin smiled.
“Hahaha. I am quite clumsy at teaching, after all.”
“Ah, no.”
Gu Gyeom-wi hurriedly waved his hands, but.
‘…Is it to that extent?’
Cheon-hwi could already fully understand just by looking at their actions.
“So you want to receive advice from me?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I also want to become strong and confident like you, Junior Martial Brother.”
Gu Gyeom-wi tightly clenched both his fists.
“I no longer want to remain silent at the treatment that ignores our sect.”
At those words, Hyeon-jin and Cheon Yu flinched.
It was a statement that also applied to the two who had stayed still at that time.
So they weren’t just empty husks.
A faint smile hovered around Cheon-hwi’s mouth.
He thought they had no pride since they stayed still even after hearing such words.
He was wrong.
They were people who knew how to endure.
‘On top of that, if he is willing to request teachings from me, his junior martial brother, it means he has more than enough enthusiasm to become stronger…’
Looking at the three suppressing their anger as if recalling that time, Cheon-hwi parted his lips.
“Then I will make you like that.”
* * *
Around the time when the party, who had decided to sleep outdoors that evening, finished all their preparations.
“Let’s go to a quiet place first.”
Cheon-hwi left his seat.
Hyeon-jin, Cheon Yu, and Gu Gyeom-wi followed behind him, and they soon arrived at a secluded clearing.
“Then let’s do a spar.”
“Phew. A spar, huh.”
Gu Gyeom-wi, heavily tense, drew his sword.
“Then come.”
A moment later, Hyeon-jin and Cheon Yu, who were watching the spar from afar, let their jaws drop.
“He is completely toying with him.”
“At this rate, Junior Martial Brother Cheon-hwi should be the First Senior Martial Brother instead of me, right?”
Cheon Yu spoke with a smile, but his back was damp with cold sweat.
‘Was Cheon-hwi’s martial prowess at that level? I thought he was extraordinary when he sparred with the Azure Sky Sword Dragon, but that was nothing.’
Because he had to inherit his clan, he had not received a Daoist title, but Gu Gyeom-wi was at a similar level of skill to him.
But how was the situation now?
Not much time had passed since they started sparring, yet he was being overwhelmed by Cheon-hwi.
Cheon-hwi hadn’t moved a single step, while on the contrary, Gu Gyeom-wi was moving here and there running away.
It was to the point where one could clearly feel just how big the gap in skill was.
“Cheon-hwi’s skill has already far surpassed the realm of a rising star.”
Hyeon-jin also couldn’t hide his admiration.
However, that was only for a moment.
“But the techniques are too flashy.”
As the spar continued to flow, Hyeon-jin’s frown deepened more and more.
The sword art being performed by Cheon-hwi and Gu Gyeom-wi was the Falling Blossom Sword Art.
It seemed like he was trying to give a teaching by performing the same sword art, but.
“This isn’t it.”
Hyeon-jin denied it.
The sword arts of the Mount Hua Sect were said to be flashy, but the Falling Blossom Sword Art alone was different.
A heavy and practical sword art.
But what was this?
The form Cheon-hwi was executing was light and flashy as if it were a sword dance danced by dancers, wasn’t it?
“…Did his outstanding talent cause him to make a mistake?”
Hyeon-jin pressed his forehead with his hand.
It was a sword art that the predecessors had polished and completed over a long period of time since it was created by the founding patriarch.
And yet he had changed it as he pleased.
Was it not the grave crime of deceiving one’s master and destroying the ancestors?
Meanwhile, Gu Gyeom-wi also realized that the sword art Cheon-hwi performed was strange.
“…Junior Martial Brother. What have you done?”
Stepping back quickly, Gu Gyeom-wi scowled deeply and opened his mouth.
“The Falling Blossom Sword Art is not such a sword art.”
“Why? Because it’s too light and flashy when it should be concise and sharp?”
“U-uh… That’s right.”
Seeing Gu Gyeom-wi stuttering in fluster, Cheon-hwi let out a chuckle.
“It originally wasn’t like that, though.”
With those words, he raised his sword again.
“Then I will demonstrate the Falling Blossom Sword Art that you, Senior Martial Brother Gu, performed earlier.”
Cheon-hwi moved concisely and quickly, unlike earlier.
It was the technique Gu Gyeom-wi had performed.
Clang…
Gu Gyeom-wi, who blocked Cheon-hwi’s technique, spoke as if asking why he did that earlier when he could do this.
“Why did you perform it like that when you can perform it properly like this?”
“Earlier you were too busy dodging because you couldn’t block it, but now you block it easily.”
“What…?”
“Then try blocking again.”
Cheon-hwi moved his sword again, and.
“Heup! Heup!”
In less than six moves, Gu Gyeom-wi hastily scrambled backwards once again.
“Do you understand now?”
Gu Gyeom-wi’s head was ringing.
The Falling Blossom Sword Art that Cheon-hwi performed was clearly so light that it felt like he could dodge it, yet he was too busy just running away.
However, how was the original Falling Blossom Sword Art?
Gu Gyeom-wi gulped down his saliva.
“I’ll just perform the techniques properly, so watch carefully.”
Before Gu Gyeom-wi could answer, Cheon-hwi raised his sword and swung it widely.
It was a different format from the Falling Blossom Sword Art that had been known up until now.
Gu Gyeom-wi’s eyes became hazy.
The swinging sword was so light and flashy that it seemed like it would fly away if blown on.
Wasn’t that sight exactly like its martial art name, ‘Nak-yeong’ (Falling Blossom), a falling petal?
“I definitely learned that it was a fast and practical sword art…”
Gu Gyeom-wi, who was whispering, shut his mouth.
He had learned it like that from the start.
The Sect Leader and the Elders as well.
Everyone in the Mount Hua Sect did.
Except for Cheon-hwi, who was swinging his sword in front of him.
At that moment, Cheon-hwi, who had demonstrated all the techniques, rested his sword on his shoulder and asked.
“How is it?”
“It was an amazing sword art… Heup.”
Gu Gyeom-wi, who was about to answer unconsciously, urgently swallowed the rest of his words.
Things might get difficult if he admitted it.
But before that.
“…W-what was that?”
Hyeon-jin, who had been watching their spar, couldn’t hold back and came running over in a flurry.
His face had turned pale.
It was an unheard-of method.
Could it be this strong and outstanding despite being light?
“It’s gotten a little lighter and flashier than the original, but isn’t it easy to recognize?”
“A little…?”
Hyeon-jin was dumbfounded.
How was this just ‘a little’?
The concise and practical techniques of the Falling Blossom Sword Art no longer existed.
‘Yet it’s even stronger…’
His head hurt.
If it were weak, he could have said something.
But the changed Falling Blossom Sword Art was vastly superior to the existing one.
To the extent that even he, who initially thought it was the grave crime of deceiving one’s master and destroying the ancestors, ended up acknowledging it.
‘What should be done about this matter.’
Hyeon-jin stood at a crossroads.
Whether to admit that it was right.
Or to deny it.
In the end, unable to choose an answer, he asked Cheon-hwi.
“Why did you execute it like that?”
“Because that’s how it’s originally done.”
At the bold answer, Hyeon-jin stiffened.
“It is not such a light and flashy sword art.”
“No. I bet this is right?”
“What?”
Looking at the baffled Hyeon-jin, Cheon-hwi continued his words.
“If it’s Mount Hua’s sword art, that is.”
“What does that have to do with…”
“Most of the martial arts created by the founding patriarch are flashy, aren’t they?”
Hyeon-jin nodded his head.
Naturally, the unique trait of being a flashy sword art that was hard to find elsewhere had played a major role in the Mount Hua Sect becoming famous.
“But what does that have to do with it?”
Cheon-hwi felt frustrated.
‘He doesn’t get it even when I tell him like this.’
“Who created the Falling Blossom Sword Art?”
“That was the founding patriarch…”
While speaking, Hyeon-jin realized what Cheon-hwi was trying to say and narrowed his brow.
“Are you saying that since the Falling Blossom Sword Art is also a martial art created by the founding patriarch, it should be flashy like the other martial arts?”
“That’s right.”
Now he finally understands.
Cheon-hwi made an expression of relief.
“But for a long time, the Falling Blossom Sword Art has had practical techniques…”
“What’s the point of being practical.”
Cheon-hwi cut off Hyeon-jin, who was explaining in exhaustive detail, and grinned.
“When this is superior.”
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