Chapter 139 :

Chapter 139. The Black Flame Dragon Meets the Monster of the Grand Library (3)

"Young Master Jin, what happened to your face?"

"Who was it? Who beat you up like this?"

Seong Moran and Namgung Seonhwa spoke while raising heavy killing intent.

I quickly calmed them down.

"It's nothing like that. These are just injuries I got while training."

Seong Moran shook her head as though she did not believe me.

"Tell us the truth. Was it the Nine Great Sects? Or the Five Great Families? Who beat you up this badly?"

"...Do I really look that terrible?"

Lately, my daily routine had been to seek out the Sword Demon first thing every morning, provoke him, get beaten unconscious, and spend the rest of the day passed out.

I had not even had time to check myself in a mirror.

"They turned you into a complete rag."

Wasn't calling a person a rag a little harsh?

I could not explain the circumstances, so I changed the subject.

"This is your first break since entering the academy. Aren't you returning home?"

"..."

"..."

A strange silence fell as the two awkwardly glanced at each other.

"W-well, I think this is the time when I should focus on my academy studies."

"If I go home now, I feel like I'll get too excited and lose my focus."

I tilted my head.

The Martial Academy's first break was the first vacation students spent back home after surviving the brutal Martial Academy official examination.

It was not merely a period of rest.

It was closer to a triumphant homecoming.

Someone like Eun Seollan, whose sect was in the Northern Sea, had no choice but to give up because the distance was simply too great to travel during the break.

But even people from Hebei or Guangxi Province, despite the considerable travel distance, normally returned to their sects or families during the break.

Not only the sect, but the entire village and even nearby cities would be plastered with notices announcing a banquet held solely in their honor.

Who would want to miss something like that?

"Is it because your examination scores weren't very good?"

I recalled their low written-examination scores as I spoke.

"I told you to memorize only the things I pointed out."

"...Do you know how much material that was? Who could memorize all of it?"

"Young Master Jin, do you think we're monsters like you?"

"Anyway, that's unfortunate. You only get to receive that sort of celebration once in your life."

"Then why aren't you going back, Young Master Jin?"

At Namgung Seonhwa's question, I answered firmly.

"My father is a miser. He wouldn't hold a banquet for me anyway."

"Eh...? Then would you like to come to the Namgung Family with me? They'd probably hold a huge banquet."

"Hm?"

"M-my father keeps asking when Young Master Jin Sowoon is coming to visit. Grandfather too."

Come to think of it, Namgung Jinmyeong had once invited me to visit as his guest.

"I appreciate the thought, but I'll pass. Right now, I need to focus on training."

Seong Moran pouted.

"Are you seriously going to spend the entire break training?"

"Didn't you two say you stayed behind for the same reason?"

"...That's true, but we should still rest a little. Go somewhere nearby and have fun. Dongting Lake isn't far."

"Then why don't the two of you go?"

"What did you say?!"

Seong Moran's eyes shot upward.

Did I really need to join them just because they wanted to relax?

Or were they trying to be considerate of my junior brothers?

"I was planning to visit Yueyang anyway."

"Really? When? How many days are you going for?"

"I have something to take care of there. Since we're going anyway, letting my junior brothers look around a little would be a good experience for them too."

Seong Moran looked disappointed.

Namgung Seonhwa began whispering something into her ear.

Then Seong Moran whispered something back.

Why were people who could use voice transmission bothering to whisper?

"Fine! Then we'll settle for going to Yueyang."

"I just told you I'm going there because I have something to handle."

"Right. Handle it quickly, then we can have fun."

"Then when are we going?"

"Once my training is finished."

"...You're not telling us to just wait indefinitely, are you?"

"Why don't the two of you spend the time training like my junior brothers?"

"You came back again after taking that beating?"

Crack. Crack.

The bones that had been bulging from the Sword Demon's back slipped back into place, and he stood perfectly straight.

No matter how often I saw it, it remained fascinating.

Ordinary Bone-Reversing Arts could only alter the body so much.

His version went far beyond that limit and could transform him completely into a hunchback.

I could never get used to it.

Seong Moran and Namgung Seonhwa were glaring at me with inexplicably angry expressions.

What exactly had I done wrong?

#

Namgung Seonhwa and Seong Moran were one thing, but if I had to choose the person most angry with me at the Martial Academy right now, it would definitely be the Sword Demon.

He was apparently so furious that every time we met, he beat me until I was nearly unconscious.

As expected of a great figure of the heretical faction.

"I'll keep coming until you teach me."

"Then I'll keep beating you until you stop coming."

"I'm curious which of us will win."

"I will."

"I still have reporting you as my final option."

"If you intended to report me, you would've done it the first day I beat you."

"..."

He never lets me win a single argument, damn it.

"Therefore, I, who strike you with hard fists, will defeat you, who must receive those strikes with soft flesh."

"...That makes sense. Then shall we enjoy another beating today?"

The Sword Demon let out an incredulous sigh.

"Why are you asking me to teach you martial arts when I'm not even from the same righteous faction as you?"

"Weren't you originally from the righteous faction, Sword Demon? That makes you worth learning from."

"That is not a reason. More importantly, your martial arts are a form of cultivation that develops itself. Surely you're not attacking me without realizing that?"

We had only exchanged blows a few times, and he had already grasped the fundamental nature of my martial arts?

He truly had all the qualities of the perfect martial arts instructor.

"I know. But developing them that way takes too long."

"Why? Is someone chasing you right now?"

I doubted the Sword Demon would say anything pleasant even if I told him the truth, so I gave him a vague answer.

"Do you know my situation? I'm currently at odds with the Nine Great Sects, Five Great Families, and Twelve Peaks Fortress."

The Sword Demon frowned deeply at me.

"...I heard the Bloodflame Dragon was a rising star of the heretical faction, but you truly are a talented liar. I almost believed you."

"..."

The Sword Demon glared at me, sighed deeply, and shook his head.

"Fine. Whatever is chasing you is none of my business. Considering all the beatings you've taken, I'll teach you one thing. You said you wanted to learn sword aura?"

"Yes."

"But you know sword aura cannot simply be separated out and learned on its own, don't you?"

"I do. That's why I wanted to hear the principles from you, Sword Demon, who wandered alone through the murim world and created your own martial arts."

"Flattery won't help you. Anyway, you want to learn sword aura because you need to fight people who use sword aura?"

The myriad swords allowed me to respond to it to some extent, but there was a limit.

I could not enter a life-or-death battle carrying a sword that might break at any moment.

If I wanted to fight experts who used sword aura, I needed to step into the world of sword aura myself.

"Yes."

"Hahaha."

"Why are you laughing?"

"Because it's amusing to see a fool coveting the silver in someone else's hand without realizing he's already holding gold."

"You don't need to learn sword aura."

"Of course it would be useful if you did, but there's no particular need."

"Why?"

"That martial art you showed me the first time. The one you called myriad swords."

The Ten Thousand Seas Heaven and Earth Sword Art was practically the ultimate technique of the Taeul True Scripture, but it was still insufficient for dealing with sword aura.

I had told him that several times already.

"Those myriad swords are unreal, yet real at the same time, aren't they?"

"That's... true."

"Then why don't you simply cover those swords with sword energy?"

"..."

Cover the myriad swords with sword energy?

What kind of nonsense was that?

"You never thought of it?"

"Isn't that impossible?"

Wasn't the limitation of illusion swords precisely that no matter how advanced one's level became, sword energy could not be applied to them?

"That's only true for idiots."

The Sword Demon picked up a fallen twig.

It was the same sort he had once used to create that wave of sword aura.

"Watch carefully."

In an instant, he swung the twig, and dozens of identical twigs appeared in the air.

Then tangible energy gathered around the real twig in the Sword Demon's hand.

Yet the illusionary twigs still remained suspended throughout the air.

"If you can't put sword energy onto an illusion sword, then simply turn the sword energy itself into an illusion."

One by one, the twigs filling the air began to glow with sword energy.

It was truly a festival of light.

His tangible sword energy filled the surroundings like a magnificent celebration.

"And when necessary, you simply place something real among them, just like the sword art you use."

Shashashashak—

The twigs that had been passing harmlessly through trees and rocks suddenly began leaving wounds throughout the forest.

A tree on the right was abruptly severed and collapsed.

A boulder on the left was sliced apart with unbelievable sharpness.

"And once you've mastered that, you combine the two."

The illusions of energy extending from the Sword Demon's twig became even faster.

Eventually, the sword energy and twigs fused into one.

They became something that was an illusion sword yet not an illusion sword, a true sword yet not a true sword.

'Ha...'

While I stood there in a daze watching a martial art similar to my myriad swords unfold before me—

the dazzling twigs filling the air vanished in an instant.

"This should be enough, shouldn't it?"

I nodded.

"As expected, there's no one but you, Sword Demon."

"What are you talking about?"

"My martial arts instructor."

I drew the Blood Dragon Sword as I spoke.

The Sword Demon's face looked as though he had bitten into something disgusting.

#

"Haah... haah... Thank you for today's lesson as well."

With those words, Jin Sowoon collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Baek Haegwang, the Sword Demon who had been hiding his identity as the hunchbacked old man of the Grand Library, looked at Jin Sowoon before glancing at the twig in his own hand.

'It broke?'

Naturally, if a fragile twig collided with a solid iron sword, the twig should be the one cut apart.

But for Baek Haegwang, that was not something that should have happened.

It meant that Jin Sowoon had advanced another step from that brief lesson.

"His martial talent doesn't seem particularly exceptional."

Baek Haegwang approached Jin Sowoon and carefully examined his body.

"Well, look at this bastard. Just what kind of incredible fortuitous opportunity did he encounter to obtain a martial god physique?"

His naturally born bones and muscles had undergone another transformation and become a martial god physique.

Considering that Jin Sowoon came from an unremarkable sect like the Taeul Sect, he must have encountered an extraordinary fortuitous opportunity.

Then Baek Haegwang examined Jin Sowoon's palms and suddenly froze.

"Good grief."

His palms were packed with calluses, hard as stone.

Moreover, despite possessing one hundred eighty years of internal energy, he apparently had never neglected external training.

Every part of his body had been carefully conditioned.

"This isn't effort anymore. This is sheer spite. He really is one hell of a lunatic."

After seeing this much, Baek Haegwang could roughly understand why his twig had broken.

Then, when he saw his younger self reflected in Jin Sowoon, irritation suddenly surged within him.

"You brat. Obsession with martial arts will never let you accomplish anything. It'll only make you lose everything you already possess."

At the same time, he felt a trace of regret.

If the brat had not already been a disciple of the Taeul Sect...

And if Baek Haegwang himself were not currently someone forced to hide like this...

Perhaps he could have passed on the teachings he had devoted his entire life to creating.

Having this level of stubbornness and spite was proof that Jin Sowoon had probably lived a life similar to his own.

He would likely be capable of properly absorbing even Baek Haegwang's final sword form.

Baek Haegwang shook his head.

"Stop it, Baek. After piling up so much karma, do you really intend to pass that karma down to future generations as well? Remember the price you paid for carrying the name Demon."

With those words, Baek Haegwang turned toward his hut.

Then he looked back at Jin Sowoon.

"Tsk. What a troublesome brat."

Whoosh—

Jin Sowoon's body floated about one cheok above the ground and slowly followed Baek Haegwang.

#

My Lady!

Have you been well? I have been hearing news about you all the way from Hefei.

Thanks to the news that you passed the academy examination, the Iron Sword Sect held a long celebration.

Many disciples were disappointed to hear that you would not be returning to the sect during this break.

Even if you are busy, please visit someday and give the younger disciples some motivation.

Also, I am curious about how things are progressing with your beloved.

You have always shown so little interest in matters like this that I, Cho Mubin, constantly worry.

I assume the reason you are not returning during this break is because you wish to spend time with that person?

Please do not waste the opportunity.

If the two of you happen to have a chance to travel together, be sure to win his heart and make him yours...

"What?"

Seong Moran crumpled the letter from Cho Mubin and tore it to pieces.

"W-what in the world is Captain Cho talking about?!"

Namgung Seonhwa, who had been reading a letter beside her, looked toward Seong Moran with wide eyes.

"Wh-why? Unnie, did something happen?"

"Huh? N-no."

"Your face is completely red."

"I-it must be because it's hot. Is summer already coming?"

"..."

Seong Moran awkwardly fanned herself with one hand before suddenly remembering something and asking Namgung Seonhwa,

"Seonhwa, do you have anything to wear when we go to Yueyang?"

"No. I haven't even had time to contact my family since entering the academy."

"Then should we go buy some clothes? We can't exactly go sightseeing in Yueyang dressed like this."

"Already? We don't even know when his training will finish."

"We should prepare in advance."

"..."

Namgung Seonhwa stared at Seong Moran for a moment.

"Unnie... I'm sorry for suddenly asking something like this..."

"Do you still like Young Master Jin?"

"..."

Seong Moran's already flushed face turned so red it looked ready to burst.

Without even needing an answer, Namgung Seonhwa nodded as though she understood.

"So you still do..."

"W-why are you suddenly asking that?"

"..."

Namgung Seonhwa stared quietly at Seong Moran before lowering her head as though she had committed some terrible crime.

Then, in a barely audible voice, she said,

"Actually..."

Seong Moran froze and focused on the faint voice.

"I like Young Master Jin too..."

"..."