Chapter 82 :

Chapter 82. Those Who Chase the Dragon (3)

The Martial Academy entrance exam held in my previous life had been fiercer than ever.

It was a stage where the sects throughout the entire murim world, led by the Martial Alliance, had reached their peak after a long peace and unleashed all the strength they had been conserving.

Some even evaluated that the competition had only been that intense because the prominent righteous faction sects caught up in the Maling Plateau incident had declined to attend, unable even to recover the corpses of their disciples.

However, the current Martial Academy entrance exam, with no Maling Plateau incident, was seeing an even fiercer contest than the one I had seen in reports from my previous life.

[Martial Academy Entrance Exam Situation Report]

-Total eliminated groups so far: eighty-nine.

-Total injured so far: five hundred.

-Total deaths so far: fifty-seven.

※ Special Note: Attacks against the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families have begun faster than before.

-The Rising Star of Qingcheng from the Qingcheng Sect was eliminated with serious injuries.

-Ak Museong of the Shandong Ak Family has also fallen into critical condition and been eliminated.

Things that had not happened in my previous life.

Even those taking the Hell Official Exam tended to view the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Families as the final option, yet attacks had already begun. That meant the Martial Academy entrance exam of this life was already unfolding more fiercely than in my previous life.

※ Special Note Two: Reporting this in case you might be curious.

That was the introduction to the story.

-The group moving together with the Namgung Family and the Iron Sword Sect passed the first gate, but suffered severe damage and is currently hiding somewhere.

The fact that even the Namgung Family and Iron Sword Sect had suffered damage was quite shocking.

‘She should have completed the Blue Sky Cloud Prestige Sword Art.’

The Azure Emperor Divine Sword had entered closed-door training with half of the ascending form of Jegal Cheongi’s Boundless Blue Sky Sword Art.

If he had completed it, Namgung Seonhwa must have participated while leading Namgung Family warriors at the level she was originally supposed to command.

‘Did he fail to complete it?’

Moreover, if they were moving together with the Iron Sword Sect, there should have been no one in Anhui Province capable of opposing them.

If even those two groups had to hide from attacks, this did not mean they were powerless, but that something had gone wrong.

‘There was also the Azure Emperor Divine Sword’s request, but......’

Right now, I was already busy just managing the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers.

“Hyeop!”

Dongryong woke up in alarm.

With dried blood that was not his own caked all over his face, Dongryong looked around with tense eyes.

“Are you all right?”

“...... Senior Brother.”

“You must have had a nightmare.”

It was the third day since we left Mount Tianmu.

Because of the repeated attacks, the children had been unable to sleep even a wink and had to resist the assaults.

Until just now, they had fought an intense battle, and as soon as I told them to rest a short distance away, the three brothers had tried to begin breathing cultivation, only to collapse into sleep.

They were desperately operating energy circulation, but with only ten years’ worth of internal energy, there was a limit.

The bigger problem was rest.

For four days, they had gritted their teeth through continuous battles, and those battles had already begun gnawing away not only at the children’s bodies, but also their minds.

“..... I’m sorry. Senior Brother.”

Even when I told him to close his eyes again, Dongryong looked at me blankly, then lowered his head deeply.

“It is not your fault.”

“.......”

“Right now, rather than thinking about what is your fault, recovering even a little internal energy is the most urgent priority.”

At my firm words, Dongryong nodded and quickly began breathing cultivation.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

If I had to name the reason the children were this exhausted despite using energy circulation and the White Tiger Sword Formation, it would be Dongryong.

The three of them, who had moved like one body until they left the Taeul Sect, had fallen more out of sync than complete beginners after Dongryong’s Heavenly Slaughter Star awakened.

To be precise, Dongryong’s elevated skill was breaking the sword formation.

The instinct of the Heavenly Slaughter Star, said to grow stronger each time it killed a person, made Dongryong advance by one stage with every battle, and Geumpyo and Eunho could no longer keep up with Dongryong’s speed of growth.

That did not mean they could fight without Dongryong either, because the White Tiger Sword Formation required at least three people to occupy the three directions of heaven, earth, and man. With only Geumpyo and Eunho, they could not form the sword formation.

“……I think it may be better for us to go back.”

Eunho, who had woken up at some point, quietly opened his mouth.

“You’re awake?”

Eunho hesitated, then spoke again.

“...... Wouldn’t that be better?”

I knew what Eunho was worried about, so I ignored it and asked,

“Has your fatigue eased a little?”

“...... I have recovered my internal energy to some extent, but my senses are gradually dulling.”

It was about time the side effects of replacing sleep with breathing cultivation began to appear.

“Eat something for now.”

I threw the pouch of dried meat I had been eating to Eunho.

Eunho was about to put his hand into the pouch, but then pulled it back slightly at the thick scent of blood wafting from beyond one side of the forest.

“If you don’t eat now, you may not know when you’ll be able to eat again.”

“.......”

Eunho forced dried meat that would not go down into his mouth and retched several times.

“Senior Brother, you are learning a different movement technique from us.”

He was probably referring to the World-Solitary Divine Movement I had shown several times in battle.

“I was lucky enough to learn it. When the time comes, I will pass it on to you as well.”

It was a peerless martial art created by the Hell Demon Emperor and the Taeul Sword Emperor throughout history. I had not yet properly achieved enough mastery to pass it on to anyone.

“That is not what I mean. If you have that, could you not leave us behind?”

The conversation had eventually returned to the starting point again.

“.......”

Eunho was looking pitifully at Dongryong, who had fallen into a short sleep.

Although the sword formation had broken because of Dongryong, there was no gaze of resentment toward Dongryong in his eyes.

“I already gave you a chance to withdraw. So just remember that you cannot go back now.”

“Wouldn’t you be freer without us, Senior Brother?”

Was such freedom truly freedom?

Remembering the past when I had never been free for my entire life, I shook my head.

As if frustrated, Eunho raised his voice.

“Senior Brother...... the sword formation has already collapsed.”

“I will enter it.”

“Yes?”

“I will enter and rebuild the sword formation.”

“What kind of nonsense is that.......”

As Eunho was speaking, he suddenly turned around in shock as if he had heard the laughter of a ghost.

“Senior Brother...... just now.......”

It meant the attackers aiming for us had come that close.

“I know.”

“Then quickly.......”

Eunho hurriedly tried to wake Geumpyo and Dongryong.

“Leave them be. They are cautious people, so it will take them a while to come.”

“Yes?”

“Is it not still daytime? Moreover, if they have been watching us, they should know what kind of battles we have fought over the past three days.”

This was closer to psychological warfare than a battle of attrition.

They had intentionally made me aware of their presence.

And even after sensing their energy, I had recommended that the children rest instead of moving immediately.

Unlike what they expected, that we would naturally flee without resting, when we sat down and began resting one by one, they were instead unable to approach.

They had likely begun to suspect that there might be a trap.

“So we’re going to rest until we’re attacked?”

“They are not the only ones aiming for us right now.”

From every direction, warriors in groups of several and groups of twenty were watching us.

“They are watching one another, waiting to see who attacks first. They will not move until an opportunity appears.”

Even if victory was certain, avoiding damage to oneself was human instinct.

Moreover, the Martial Academy entrance exam had not even passed its middle stage yet.

“The exam has only passed the first gate. Until they are certain they can deal with us for sure, they will not move easily.”

“.......”

Eunho stared blankly with the expression of someone who had heard madness, then flopped down on the spot.

Then, as if thinking any further was too difficult, he shook his head wildly.

“I don’t know anymore. Senior Brother will handle it.”

At his words, a faint laugh slipped out of me.

In my previous life, he had not followed me this much.

“Should I press your sleeping point?”

“Sleeping point?”

“Would you be able to fall asleep in this situation?”

Eunho stared blankly at me, then nodded.

“Please press it.”

“Sleep.”

I fired finger wind and put Eunho to sleep.

The forest fell quiet once again.

Intermittently, those announcing their presence fired killing intent.

“Like a pack of jackals.”

In the Martial Academy entrance exam, there was no longer any of the fairness and honor that the righteous faction cried out about.

Eunho was astonished in many ways.

A sword formation was not something that worked just because one moved according to a fixed pattern.

Only when the bodies of those forming the sword formation felt as if they were one’s own body, and one’s own body moved as though guided by another’s mind, becoming one mind, was it finally complete.

That was why a sword formation could not be operated carelessly just because one’s martial arts realm was high.

Even Shaolin Temple, the Mount Tai and Big Dipper of the murim world, did not operate its genius Ilmyeong together with the One Hundred Eight Arhat Formation.

And yet.

‘This actually works.’

It worked.

It was working. It truly worked.

Moreover, it was not merely at the level of having their hands and feet match.

It felt as though they had obtained a new power they had never experienced before.

After the awakening of the Heavenly Slaughter Star, Dongryong’s martial arts realm had risen by one stage and created an imbalance in the sword formation. Now he understood why Dongryong had operated the sword formation so wildly.

The sword formation had become so much stronger that the sword formation they had unfolded before now felt stifling.

‘All that happened was that Senior Brother joined in.’

For that reason, Senior Brother had deliberately acted crazy and put them to sleep while enemies surrounded them in every direction, in order to draw the opponents in.

No matter how many enemies rushed in, Senior Brother had been confident he could face them with the sword formation he had joined.

‘He really is an amazing person.’

Every moment, he made choices that transcended common sense to the point of seeming insane, but those choices ultimately brought about the best result.

Even now, thanks to resting for a short while, Brother Geumpyo and Dongryong’s complexions had improved noticeably.

“Hold out just a little longer!”

“Yes!”

At Eunho’s desperate answer, he felt strength momentarily enter the hands of Geumpyo and Dongryong.

The roughly seventy people who had swarmed in from all directions like bees had, by the time the moon tilted, almost all fallen to the ground.

In the places where weeds should have been, ownerless swords now stood.

“Haa, haa, haa.”

When the last remaining enemy finally fled and he leaned his body against his sword, dawn light began shining from the east.

“Haa, haa.”

Geumpyo gulped down the water left in his canteen, then, forgetting that he had just fought a fierce decisive battle, forced dried meat into his mouth.

Chew, chew.

Eunho, who had felt uneasy about eating dried meat with bloodstained hands, also forced dried meat into his mouth so as not to lose out.

Because if he could not eat now, he did not know when he would be able to eat again.

In just four days, the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers had lost their leisure when it came to eating.

“Senior Brother, you should eat too.”

Dongryong held out the dried meat pouch, but Jin Sowoon looked into the forest instead of answering.

Another attacker?

The thought that he would have no other wish if they could rest for just half a day today passed only briefly.

From the forest where Jin Sowoon’s gaze was directed, three or four men dressed in yellow walked out.

Only four?

Thinking they could handle it, Eunho quickly tried to rise, but Jin Sowoon stretched out his hand and stopped him.

“.......?”

The yellow-clad men simply stood in place and watched this side.

They looked different from those who had hidden themselves before and attacked in an instant.

“What are they?”

“Their bearing is quite different.”

They did not give off killing intent, but they were heavy.

That rock-like firmness felt even more ominous.

As Jin Sowoon silently glared at them, a voice transmission reached Eunho’s ear.

-May we approach for a moment? We would like to speak.

Startled, Eunho turned his head, and Geumpyo and Dongryong also looked shocked, as if they had heard the same voice transmission.

“.......”

They were startled for a moment by the mysterious and unfathomable method.

When Jin Sowoon nodded, the men in yellow slowly approached.

The three men seemed to be in their early thirties and around the same age, while the freckled person standing in the center seemed to be about Eunho’s age.

The one who spoke was the freckled youth.

“I watched impressively.”

Even though the youth was looking around at the traces of the desperate battle scattered everywhere, he was utterly calm.

“I do not know whether you know, but I am Jong Seogang of the Yellow Sword Sect.”

Jin Sowoon answered Jong Seogang’s greeting.

“How could I not know a fellow member of the One Hundred Eight Peaks? I am Jin Sowoon of the Taeul Sect.”

“Calling us fellow members of the One Hundred Eight Peaks is a little......”

“.......”

Unlike his calm tone, a sharp sentence flew over.

Within that sharp sentence, hostility was clearly visible.

“I heard the rumors. They say you were lucky enough to obtain first-gate tokens this time?”

At Jong Seogang’s rude words, Eunho wanted to refute him immediately.

“……How could worldly affairs ever be accomplished through luck alone? One gains only as much as one has worked for.”

At Jin Sowoon’s words, the corners of Jong Seogang’s mouth rose.

“I do not know whether Young Master Jin knows this, but our Yellow Sword Sect has never once failed to enter the Martial Academy.”

“Is that so?”

“But this time, unfortunately, we missed the first gate’s test.”

“So, I was thinking. How about Young Master kindly yields to us the first-gate tokens you fortunately obtained?”

Eunho’s teeth ground together as he listened to Jong Seogang’s words.

Lucky?

They had waged war against two Green Forest mountain strongholds to obtain the first-gate tokens. They had nearly died several times, and in the middle of that, Dongryong’s Heavenly Slaughter Star had awakened, meaning he might have met death at his brothers’ hands.

He did not like the way he spoke either.

Calling it yielding sounded nice, but how was it any different from outright robbery?

Without realizing it, Eunho drew up his internal energy tightly.

And at that moment.

‘What is this.......’

Interfering with another’s energy circulation was an absurdly advanced technique.

No matter how low his achievement was, interfering with his energy circulation through pressure alone?

Eunho’s gaze turned toward the person standing to Jong Seogang’s right.

As if he had no intention of denying that he had done it, the man stared directly into his eyes.

As though telling him not to act rashly.

‘An expert...... and one at a distant level whose achievement I cannot even discern.......’

Were first-rate or higher experts not originally prohibited from participating?

‘Heup!’

Startled by the energy tightening around him from all sides, his internal energy scattered apart.

Seeing that, Jin Sowoon let out a small sigh and spoke.

“I am willing to yield about two.”

“Two, you say?”

“With that much, I could yield gladly. After all, are we not two sects each holding a peak of the same One Hundred Eight Peaks?”

“Ho.”

Jong Seogang suddenly chuckled.

“You knew?”

“It would be strange not to know when you are making it this obvious.”

“Unfortunately, we cannot be satisfied with two. All of the forces of our Yellow Sword Sect and Qingdao Gang, as well as the sects that decided to work with us, have all gathered here.”

“You will have to hand over everything you possess.”

The Yellow Sword Sect and Qingdao Gang, and even other sects?

Just how many were there?

Jong Seogang lightly raised his right hand.

“....!”

With that, powerful killing intent erupted wildly from the forest in every direction.

The birds hiding in the trees were startled and flew up all at once, and the wild animals that had been crouching at the sound of human footsteps began screaming and fleeing in every direction as if they had encountered a natural predator.

“As I said just now, all of our forces are here. We are different from the people you have faced until now.”

At the intangible killing intent that constricted their entire bodies, the teeth of the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers clattered uncontrollably.