Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Embracing the Flow
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Only a month remained until the semester ended, and the year-end evaluation duels were scheduled in a fortnight.
For Wi Seong-cheon, who neither wanted nor could spend the end of the semester in the training cave, that fortnight became his "final" push.
Over those fifteen days, Wi Seong-cheon refined his movements using the lightness and heaviness of the Mysterious Steps Formation.
He devoted himself to training that allowed him to manipulate his body—now too light or too heavy—as he desired, leveraging his razor-sharp senses.
He had undertaken similar resolute training in his childhood.
To achieve the ultimate release pursued by the Heavy-Light Effortless Technique, he had dived into the deep lakes of the Divine Spirit Mountain since he was young.
"But it's not comparable."
Moving underwater was difficult, but the biggest issue with that training was breathing. You simply couldn't breathe submerged.
The training cave had no breathing problems, but this training was far more grueling.
Moving the body was much harder than breathing. It was exhausting whether light or heavy.
"Crazy bastard."
Heo Cheol-u stuck out his tongue as he watched the crystal wall.
Wi Seong-cheon himself was dissatisfied with his movements, but to Heo Cheol-u, his adaptability was absurd.
Heo Cheol-u had been the training cave's caretaker for over a decade now. In that time, he had seen how even the flying geniuses trained here.
The reason those brilliant geniuses visited the training cave was much the same.
To grasp fleeting insights they couldn't hold onto.
For brief closed-door training to focus solely on themselves.
And to seize serendipitous opportunities from the phenomena unique to the training cave.
But martial arts weren't a fair study where hard work guaranteed equal results.
Even geniuses with exceptional talent despaired faster the higher they aimed.
In the end, they compromised, lowering their initial ideals. Once they realized effort wasn't fairly rewarded... they compromised even on that.
He had seen plenty of hardworking students pushed aside.
But among all the students he'd observed, had there ever been one who drove himself this hard?
Heo Cheol-u pondered briefly, then shook his head.
No.
In solo training, what you gained depended entirely on yourself.
With the training cave's door closed, no one else hurried or advised you.
"It's too hard, so I should rest a bit. Do I really need to go this far?"
As humans, it was natural to think that way when exhausted.
Yet Wi Seong-cheon...
Pushed himself as if death right now wouldn't matter.
Even now was the same. For two full days already, Wi Seong-cheon had been levitating without sleep.
At first, he flailed helplessly, unable to handle his overly light body. Now, he wielded it skillfully.
"Miraculous."
It was the first time he'd seen a student adapt to the Mysterious Steps Formation this quickly. Seeing Wi Seong-cheon like this, heaven didn't seem so unfair.
At the very least, Wi Seong-cheon was achieving results proportional to his self-torment.
"This batch of students is truly exceptional."
Heo Cheol-u muttered as he turned around. Beyond the opposite crystal wall, the Dark Fate Division Chief's figure was visible.
Though her residence was deep in Uicheon Mountain, far from here, she had been watching through the crystal wall.
[Indeed.]
Dark Fate Division Chief Baek Cheong-ha nodded slowly.
The sharp gaze from her thinly opened eyes chilled Heo Cheol-u even through the wall.
[Not all of them, though.]
"Yes."
Heo Cheol-u nodded in agreement.
Ten students had entered the training cave this time. Naturally, not all ten were standing out.
"The Dragon-Phoenixes live up to their name."
Baek Cheong-ha chuckled softly at Heo Cheol-u's mutter.
Kwon-gol Hwangbo Seong-u and Bi-yeon Sang I-rin.
Honestly, Baek Cheong-ha had thought those two barely scraped by as Dragon-Phoenixes.
But she'd revise that opinion from now on. Whether they gained something definite from their defeat at the Uicheon Emperor's Martial Tournament...
Or were stimulated by something else...
"Or both."
Either way, wasn't it delightful?
Baek Cheong-ha smiled faintly.
The more the current era's Dragon-Phoenixes proved their excellence, the more she recalled the Eternal Divine Fairy's words.
"Heaven's will has reached out."
[This is the last...]
"Yes?"
Heo Cheol-u sought clarification at Baek Cheong-ha's murmur.
Lost in thought momentarily, Baek Cheong-ha shook her head.
[It's nothing.]
Baek Cheong-ha snapped back to reality.
Those standing out weren't just Hwangbo Seong-u and Sang I-rin. Her gaze lingered on Apex Sword Yeong-jin.
He wasn't listed among the Dragon-Phoenixes. Yet his martial prowess was no less worthy of the title.
Still, Yeong-jin felt no resentment toward his unfair evaluation.
Yeong-jin wasn't the taciturn type. But his sword-pursuing demeanor was solemn and earnest.
He entered the training cave every year, repeating the same training each time.
Thrust, thrust, thrust. Amid the phenomena of the Mysterious Steps Formation, Yeong-jin only repeated his Jeomchang swift sword.
That sight further solidified Baek Cheong-ha's faith in the Eternal Divine Fairy's "words."
No doubt about it. Heaven's will clearly illuminated this era.
The young warriors of today possessed the finest talents in martial history.
Thus, this was the last chance.
If they failed to eradicate the demons now, there would be no next time.
"It's not enough... Yes, just as she said."
Baek Cheong-ha smiled bitterly.
Heaven's will was clear, but the demons... had grown too strong.
That was why it fell short.
If it was lacking, they had no choice but to fill the gap.
Baek Cheong-ha watched Wi Seong-cheon with such thoughts.
In pitch-black darkness, bearing an immobilizing weight on his body. Controlling his frenzied senses while battling an illusory faceless doll—Wi Seong-cheon's figure was utterly wretched.
He lost countless times.
He thought he'd adapted, but under this weight, his body refused to move satisfactorily when needed.
He failed to respond in time and tumbled to the ground.
Phantom pain.
The Mysterious Steps Formation even replicated pain.
No actual wounds, yet his head throbbed. Ribs cracked—though they hadn't, the formation made him feel it.
The pain was unreal, yet vividly real.
He knew it wasn't genuine. But knowing that didn't dull the agony.
Rather, Wi Seong-cheon preferred it that way. It allowed deeper immersion.
What pleased him more was the faceless doll's movements.
At first, dazed from blows, he soon realized the doll perfectly mimicked him.
"It's like fighting myself."
Of course, not completely identical.
The doll only imitated physical movements, lacking martial depth.
But wasn't that enough?
Heavy, then light. Under such constraints, Wi Seong-cheon was thoroughly thrashed by the doll.
And while enduring it...
He found his mimicked movements frustrating.
Due to lack of martial depth?
No, a different issue.
A flaw in the Cheonhwa School martial arts he'd learned?
"No."
It was his own flaw.
The frustration came from the doll's mimicked movements mirroring his own like a reflection.
"Now I see."
Maximizing the control rod for the formation's illusions, the doll's movements became flawlessly fluid.
It replicated his bodywork as if peering into his mind.
That was natural. The faceless doll was his shadow, existing only within the formation.
Disliking one's shadow meant dissatisfaction with one's reflection.
Did I really move like that?
So rigidly, so predictably?
Really?
At first, dissatisfaction. Gradually, acceptance.
Despite the weight constraints, he couldn't overpower the doll.
The more he was beaten, the more he realized: though unsatisfying to his eye, he still moved that way.
So, what to do?
The answer was simple.
Surpass the "me" up until now.
Fix what displeased him. Discard the unnecessary. Fill with something new, better.
The process felt familiar.
Hadn't he felt it mid-duel with Uha Yeon? The Heavy-Light Effortless Technique flowed without resistance.
He hadn't truly grasped it then, but amid relentless sword strikes leaving no respite, Wi Seong-cheon finally understood "flowing."
This time was no different.
Flailing shattered limbs, he danced. Amid horrific phantom pain, his mind stayed clear.
The crushing weight—or uplifting lightness. Eyes blind, senses hypersensitive. Wi Seong-cheon accepted it without resistance.
Acceptance differed from surrender.
The pinnacle of the Heavy-Light Effortless Technique was endless flow. Accept, flow, and ultimately...
"It connects."
Wi Seong-cheon muttered in a cracked voice.
His solidly extended fist pierced the faceless doll's chest.
Crackle!
The doll's form scattered.
Wi Seong-cheon held his extended fist, lost in thought.
He mustn't forget this sensation. Complete unity, different from Spirit Ignition. Wi Seong-cheon had firmly grasped the "flow."
Razor senses detected an attack's "endpoint" without sight or contact.
His utterly released body flowed along without resistance, eventually connecting.
"Time to sleep."
Wi Seong-cheon muttered and collapsed into slumber.
It was two days before the duel evaluation.
He slept soundly for over a day before opening his eyes.
Wi Seong-cheon stretched languidly, loosening his joints. Dreamless, deep sleep.
Springing up, he surveyed the training cave where he'd been holed up for nearly two months.
"Guess I'll come back again."
Grumbling, Wi Seong-cheon turned to leave.
Boom!
Fresh aroma tickled his nose as he opened the iron door. Porridge bubbled in a massive pot.
"Where's everyone else?"
Wi Seong-cheon sat before the pot, scooping porridge, and asked Hwangbo Seong-u, who was doing the same.
"Senior Yeong-jin hasn't come out yet, and the others left ages ago, it seems."
"Sang I-rin too?"
"Overheard the caretaker say she left yesterday. Said she needed rest."
Hwangbo Seong-u tossed Wi Seong-cheon a large spoon as he spoke.
Wi Seong-cheon grinned and sat across from him, digging in.
"Today, right?"
"Yeah."
"Your opponent's Yeonhwa-go?"
"We mutually selected each other, so the duel is set. You and I are last. Everyone else's done."
Hwangbo Seong-u had immersed himself in training for nearly two months too.
His massive frame had slimmed slightly, eyes deeper-set.
The biggest change was in Hwangbo Seong-u's fists.
They hadn't changed strikingly—more calluses, slightly larger.
But a "change" beyond the visible emanated.
"Yeonhwa-go's gonna lose."
Wi Seong-cheon set down his spoon, thinking so.
"Go easy if you don't wanna be hated."
"I've been hated since forever."
"That's not ideal, is it?"
"Not your business."
"It is. I know you're looking out for Yeonhwa-go."
Hwangbo Seong-u let out a hollow laugh, rubbing his mouth vigorously.
"Her cowering pissed me off, so I messed with her."
"You ended up apologizing in the end."
"Felt like I went too far. That's it. Still... we've known each other since kids."
Hwangbo Seong-u stood.
"But that's that, and this is this. I like the scar on my face, but I gotta repay the debt. It'll clear the air for both of us."
"You're not planning to scar her face too, right?"
"I suck at clawing or slashing."
Hwangbo Seong-u chuckled as he turned.
Meaning no scarring in the end.
Wi Seong-cheon smirked and rose, hand on knee.
"Then I'll head out too."
Wi Seong-cheon had long disliked Sang I-rin's glares.