Chapter 119: Peak Swordsmanship
Before coming to the Bright Fate Escort Agency, Jang Mun-gyeong met Adept Heu-do on Mount Wudang and asked how he had gained enlightenment.
Usually in Martial World, the clues to enlightenment are valued so highly that they are regarded as secrets. They are no different from secrets that never leave the sect.
It was also an action possible because it was Jang Mun-gyeong, who said he knew no shame before martial arts.
Of course, Jang Mun-gyeong did not have high expectations either. In fact, it was more accurate to say that he had visited to see the sword of Adept Heu-do, who had gained enlightenment.
However, Adept Heu-do told Jang Mun-gyeong this and that.
Among them, the most frequently mentioned was the young rising star named Yeon Cheong-un.
“Thanks to Yeon Cheong-un, I obtained a clue to enlightenment.”
Jang Mun-gyeong dismissed those words of Adept Heu-do as a coincidence.
Enlightenment does not just come. For those who are unprepared, it merely ends as an incomprehensible, momentary flash of inspiration.
Conversely, for those who are prepared, everything in the world can become a teacher.
There was even a person who gained enlightenment upon seeing a curly pig’s tail, for that matter.
Probably, from a clumsy move displayed by that rising star named Yeon Cheong-un, Adept Heu-do saw his own shortcomings and gained enlightenment on his own.
Such was Jang Mun-gyeong’s judgment.
However, his interest was piqued by the words that followed.
“Do you mean it has not even been a year since he distinguished himself?”
“That is right. Even in the Wudang Sect, they mistook him for someone with the same name upon hearing it.”
Yeon Cheong-un’s martial power, transmitted through rumors, was that of a martial artist who had easily surpassed the peak realm. If he was an expert comparable to the elders of the Nine Great Sects, that level of evaluation was natural.
It was said that such a fellow was at the level of a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect until not long ago.
It was an absurd thing. Even with demonic arts that were said to raise martial achievement rapidly, there was no method to become strong so quickly.
That was the reason Jang Mun-gyeong had put in the footwork to seek out Yeon Cheong-un.
“Huh? Father?”
Seeing the daughter who had set out into Martial World at his destination was an unexpected pleasure.
Jang Mun-gyeong, who possessed a natural talent, could grasp what kind of martial arts a person used and what achievements they had made just by looking at their body. By merely watching, feeling, and clashing, he could grasp the opponent’s martial arts and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
The Peak Sword Tao was a martial art built upon that talent.
The daughter he saw through that talent had grown a step further.
Since she was wandering Martial World when she should have been devoting herself to training, he had thought she would be in a state of stagnation, but he was quite satisfied that she had exceeded expectations in a good way.
However, that satisfaction also vanished in an instant the moment he confronted Yeon Cheong-un.
‘What a crazy bastard.’
Probably, if it were not for Jang Mun-gyeong himself, no one would have recognized it.
At the same time, he could also understand why he had remained merely a lay disciple in the Wudang Sect.
If one compared the foundation and talent established by an ordinary Martial World person to a building, it could be seen as a tile-roofed house. If they raised pillars, built walls, and put up a roof on a foundation the size of a tile-roofed house, they would praise themselves, saying they had established their own style.
That was why someone who could quickly raise pillars and build walls was evaluated as ‘talented.’
Yeon Cheong-un was different.
That enormous mass of a foundation was a massive castle, or rather, a massive city that embraced that castle.
It was so large and vast that all sorts of things, which even Jang Mun-gyeong could not estimate, were in the process of taking root in that body.
In fact, when Jang Mun-gyeong first saw Yeon Cheong-un, it felt as if ‘something massive’ was approaching.
For the first time in his life, Jang Mun-gyeong felt the limit of his talent.
It was for that reason that he cast aside his shame and requested a spar with his young junior.
But.
‘He is still green.’
Yeon Cheong-un possessed a vast foundation and talent whose end was difficult to estimate, but what was erected on that foundation so far was merely a few pillars.
Producing this level of skill with just that was astonishing, but there was nothing for Jang Mun-gyeong to look forward to.
‘Come to think of it, he said it has not even been a year since he distinguished himself, right?’
Still, it was clear that he was a fine material expected to achieve remarkable achievements after just a few years.
It was to the extent that a reflection arose that he had rushed too much.
“You have learned the martial arts of the Nine Sects well. Rather, it is better. However, if that is all you have to show, let us stop here.”
Since he had no intention of ruining him here, he intended to promise the next time.
At that moment.
‘Huh?’
He changed. No, he was changing.
In real-time.
As if the flow of time was different in that spot alone, pillars were raised on that vast foundation in a flash.
It was an absurd speed of growth.
Others might not know, but it was clearly visible to Jang Mun-gyeong’s eyes.
‘Is this fellow really human?’
It would be a thought anyone would have if they saw a young child grow several chi taller in an instant before their eyes.
At this level, it was not growth, but evolution.
It was a cataclysm on the level of a crawling insect larva shedding its skin and becoming a butterfly.
It was an unknown territory that even Jang Mun-gyeong, who had obtained others’ martial arts through his innate talent, could not follow.
“Indeed.”
The conclusion he reached after recognizing a situation that was absurd to this extent was to think simply.
This guy is not human.
“The Young Heavenly Dragon…”
He was something that did not belong to the mortal world, born in the wrong place.
It was a conclusion mixed with half-jokes unlike him, but in other words, he also intended to believe it half-seriously.
Jang Mun-gyeong lifted the stick once again.
***
Until now, the way I used divine power lay in mutual generation.
Earth generates metal.
The earth divine power and the metal divine power contributed to each other, yielding a mutual synergy, so there was no discord.
The way I was using power now was mutual overcoming.
Growing power while devouring each other.
“Huuuu…”
The aftermath was not small.
Every time the forces moved inside me, it felt as if somewhere on my body would split open.
It felt as if a boiling energy would pour out like lava from the splits and cracks at any moment.
I contain and lock away the force that felt like it would burst out.
I sublimate it within myself.
I purify it by moving endlessly without stopping.
Vortex.
The moment the boiling force was formed into a single flow and fixed.
Crack!
A sound like a rupture, something breaking inside my body, was heard.
‘Am I unable to handle the vortex of explosively boiling power?’
The thought that I wanted to give up arose for a moment, but it was quickly burned away by the boiling heat.
‘I must endure.’
Whoever the opponent is, there is no giving up.
That was the karma I had to shoulder.
If teaching is the masters’ share,
then learning and practicing is mine.
Even if I collide and shatter, I have no intention of admitting defeat first!
Crack!
It was around the time that rupture sound was heard from my body once again.
Ringgggg!
The moment Master Heavenly Demon’s gauntlets made a sound, everything began to change.
‘Growing?’
The body began to change on its own!
Fast enough for me to feel it myself.
The body, which chose evolution on its own to handle the internal force, was rapidly reconstructed.
The door opened, and the next realm rushed right in front of my nose.
Heavy Earth Divine Art Fourth Stage!
Kwang!
I merely kicked off the ground to leap forward, but the sound heard was different from before.
Along with a booming roar like a lightning strike, my body reacted violently like an exploding flame.
The gathered power was different.
The power extended could not be the same either.
Tung!
A heavy sound came from the fist that collided with Jang Mun-gyeong’s slash, which was thrown as if swinging a whip.
A deeper resonance spread.
It was not the same sound as when I was meaninglessly pounding the city wall a moment ago.
My power works!
‘Forge it!’
A sword setting its edge, refined by flames!
The fire divine power burns the earth divine power, forging the metal divine power!
The force, which was wildness itself, extended like lightning!
Kwang!
A roar burst out, and Jang Mun-gyeong’s body backed away.
“Ho?”
The corner of his mouth twitched as he let out a strange sound.
It was proof that the strike just now was that good.
Indeed, the sensation that reached my hand was like that as well.
‘The feeling of hitting a thick cotton quilt has also disappeared.’
At first, a strange repelling force arose, feeling as if it absorbed and redirected my power.
Was it like hitting a thick cotton quilt?
Now, that feeling was less.
It might be that the durability fell because he was holding a crude stick, preventing him from displaying his proper skill, but that was not for me to consider.
‘Connect.’
My body naturally followed the laws of Shaolin.
[Starting from the head to the fist that grips, the palm that uses hands, the fingers that grab, bend, and pierce, to the shoulders and elbows, hips and thighs, knees and feet—all connecting in an organic form and extending is the essence of Shaolin Fist. When hands lead, eyes follow, the body accompanies, and footwork establishes. When shoulder and thigh become one, elbow and knee, hand and foot unite, bringing mind-intent, intent-qi, and qi-force into one, only then can it be said that the form of Shaolin Fist is complete.]
During the days I was taught by Master Bodhidharma, the teachings that sounded like Tianzhu language were now completely familiar to my body.
When a fist moves, a foot moves; when an elbow moves, a knee moves.
The top and bottom interact and connect continuously.
The leg techniques move.
Bang!
The fist extends.
Bang!
The elbow and knee interact.
Boom!
I poured attacks continuously, pressing him.
Violently like flames.
‘He is damn sturdy!’
Yet he is not pierced.
I see why he is called the Seamless Heavenly Robe.
He merely held a single stick, but what was contained in that stick was a thousand swords, or rather, ten thousand swords.
The sturdiness of the majestic city wall remained unchanged.
I must pierce that!
‘If it is a technique to shatter defense…’
The strongest technique I could use was naturally prepared in my hand.
Creak!
At that moment, the muscles of my forearm screamed.
Unable to handle the surging, wild power, they revealed their limits.
‘The properties… are different…’
The Ultimate Extreme Strike is to establish the maximum perfection I can pursue. Becoming complete in itself without a single gap is the first step.
In other words, it is extreme compression.
However, my power now was raging, becoming the flame itself.
Since I could not control it, it was not properly established.
Under the massive resultant force arising from the reaction, the tendons and veins in my forearm swelled enough to tear out of the skin.
It is the limit!
If so?
‘Unleash it!’
Even if I knew it now, it was not a moment where I could back down.
It was a place where I had to pour out everything.
The single fist extended with that heart!
Kwaaaaang!
The incomplete Ultimate Extreme Strike met Jang Mun-gyeong’s stick.
The heaviest sound among those produced so far burst out.
However, Jang Mun-gyeong’s defense was alive and well.
However, if the Ultimate Extreme Strike did not match the raging force, conversely, there was also one martial art that matched it well.
“Burst!”
Ultimate Extreme Thunder.
Kukwaaaa!
“Heo?!”
A sound that had never come from my fist until now burst out in an instant.
Kwakwakwakwakwa!!
***
Jang Mun-gyeong let out a hollow laugh as he looked down at Yeon Cheong-un, who had collapsed after pouring out all his strength.
“What a funny fellow. He attacked with the intention of actually defeating me.”
From his murmuring hand, something like crumbs scattered.
Ash, burned pitch-black, slowly scattered like snow.
What had been like an iron wall of a city wall just a moment ago did not even have its shape left.
It was the trace of the final blow unleashed by Yeon Cheong-un.
Who would believe this result?
Even if it was merely a stick, it was held in none other than Jang Mun-gyeong’s hand.
“You are marvelous.”
Yet Jang Mun-gyeong acknowledged that result.
“Even by my standards.”