Chapter 19
Chapter 19
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Heavenly Flower Path 19
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments of the wooden sword crunched underfoot. Everything had been beyond expectations. He had clearly made contact and thrust, yet it hadn't pierced through.
The sensation that wrapped around the palm gripping the wooden sword hadn't been one of "piercing." It was the sudden weight of Wi Sung-cheon's body bearing down.
There had been no connection. No penetration. He had merely touched... and that was it.
'A blunder.'
The word burned itself intensely into Seok Ijin's mind. A strike that had clearly landed had led to carelessness.
But who could have anticipated something like this?
It was a bizarre martial art.
Seok Ijin yanked the wooden sword back sharply. Though broken in the middle, it was still usable as a weapon.
Seok Ijin's feet closed the reduced distance. This time, he didn't thrust like before. The half-severed wooden sword slashed through the air.
Wi Sung-cheon didn't miss the trajectory. The distance was too close. There was no dodging it. And for "that kind" of attack, there was no need to dodge.
A technique of the Heavenly Flower Sect. Heavy Reception Hand Position and Numberless Path, executed through the Heavenly Flower Sequential Art. Wi Sung-cheon's hand slid down like oil to catch the wooden sword.
Crack!
Wi Sung-cheon's body spun in the air. He let the force carry him in a rotation before landing on the ground.
The sensation transmitted to his hand was slightly different from before, but nothing had changed. Once again, Seok Ijin's sword had touched Wi Sung-cheon, but it hadn't become an attack.
'Huh.'
An astonishing martial art. He couldn't help but admire it honestly. He still wasn't even sure if it truly qualified as a martial art, but one thing was certain.
In decades of wielding the sword, this was Seok Ijin's first such experience.
He wanted to see more. He wanted to figure out exactly what martial art it was. That desire pushed Seok Ijin past the line.
"Hold on!"
Wi Sung-cheon cried out in alarm. The killing intent clinging to his skin was no joke.
Seok Ijin's narrowed eyes gleamed with a chilling light. His hand still held only the half-broken wooden sword, but its ferocity was incomparable to before.
A visible aura of qi wrapped around the wooden sword from hilt to tip. Wi Sung-cheon felt a chill run down his spine and dragged his foot back.
"Any further, and this becomes a life-or-death duel."
Wi Sung-cheon said, clutching the shoulder well where he had caught the wooden sword. Seok Ijin stared at him without a word.
It was a ridiculous statement. If it had truly been a life-or-death duel, Seok Ijin wouldn't have shown his sword qi forming like that.
"What you just used... that's your martial art, right?"
Seok Ijin's lips finally parted after a silence.
"Yes."
"What's it called?"
Seok Ijin asked again. An awkward smile floated onto Wi Sung-cheon's face.
"Heavy Reception Hand Position."
"A Heavenly Flower Sect technique?"
"Yes."
Hearing that answer, Seok Ijin fell silent once more. He still couldn't comprehend what had just happened. And that wasn't all.
If this had merely been a spar...
Earlier, Wi Sung-cheon could have taken Seok Ijin down. After breaking the wooden sword. But Wi Sung-cheon hadn't pressed the attack.
If Wi Sung-cheon had wanted to bring him down in that moment, Seok Ijin wouldn't have responded smoothly in that situation.
"Cheeky."
A hollow chuckle escaped him.
"Arrogant, too."
Snap, crackle! The wooden sword crumbled into powder and scattered. Seok Ijin shook his hand, letting go of his lingering regret.
If only he weren't a student... If only he weren't a student. Forcing down that lingering thought, Seok Ijin smacked his lips.
"If it's a Heavenly Flower Sect technique, then your father... the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader must have mastered it too, right?"
"Who else would I have learned it from if not my father?"
"True enough."
Seok Ijin shook his head. He recalled what was commonly known about the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader.
Bat, Evil Fiend.
All that came to mind was scornful mockery. It was strange, now that he thought about it. The Heavenly Flower Sect was infamous, yet there were no rumors about what martial arts they used.
The martial arts of the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader, mocked as the Evil Fiend—there was nothing about their level.
[I trust you'll keep your promise.]
[You're so annoying, I don't want to.]
Wi Sung-cheon quickly sent a transmission as Seok Ijin turned away, but the response was just that. Still, Wi Sung-cheon sent no more.
Because he believed Seok Ijin would keep his promise.
* * *
"Lower class?"
Large eyes stared straight at Seok Ijin.
Sang Myeong-jung, the first-year homeroom professor of Righteous Heaven Academy known as Fog White Frog—and whispered about by students as the toad demon—sat across from Seok Ijin, who had finished the entrance evaluation.
"Yes."
Seok Ijin gazed at his reflection in those large eyes. As Seok Ijin lifted his teacup, Sang Myeong-jung picked up the thick pipe beside the table.
"I heard you had quite a time with him?"
"Did you see it?"
"I heard about it."
As expected. Seok Ijin drained his teacup. During the entrance evaluation, he had sensed several covert presences.
The Shadow Division. Even the professors couldn't fully grasp the Shadow Division members, who had scurried off to report what they saw.
"With that level of skill, he should obviously be in the upper class. Lower class?"
"Because he's an odd one."
Seok Ijin recited the answer he had prepared.
"The upper class kids are all from prestigious families, full of pride. Wi Sung-cheon from the Heavenly Flower Sect... his skill is undoubtedly upper class material, but he can't go there right now."
"You mean that seriously?"
"Yes. Didn't you say you heard? Wi Sung-cheon—that guy's arrogant and rude. A guy like..."
"Even so, he's an enrolled student. You going to keep calling him 'that guy'?"
Sang Myeong-jung replied with a gentle, affable smile. Seok Ijin shrugged and set down his teacup.
"That student doesn't fit with the upper class right now."
"Mentally?"
"What's the point of saying it? Send that student to the upper class, and conflicts will erupt in days."
"Dang Heeran can mediate."
"The Heeran you mentioned is already having trouble fitting in with the upper class kids. Her mediating? Ha! Lucky if they don't team up to cause chaos."
"I don't think chaos is bad. They won't kill each other, will they?"
"Competition requires a similar level."
Seok Ijin shook his head.
"Hwangbo Seongu. That rotten..."
"Now, now."
"...brat won't acknowledge student Wi Sung-cheon."
"Then arrange a match for them."
"You're serious?"
"Just kidding."
Hard to read his intentions. Seok Ijin smacked his lips as he watched Sang Myeong-jung chuckle dryly.
"It's not just Hwangbo Seongu."
The argument for placing Wi Sung-cheon in the lower class. Seok Ijin hadn't expected Sang Myeong-jung to bring it up out of nowhere.
That didn't mean he intended to follow Sang Myeong-jung's words. He had promised the lower class. His curiosity about Wi Sung-cheon had been satisfied, though barely... A promise was a promise.
"Muyeon Jun. He's the real problem child."
"That makes sense."
Mentioning Cheonin, Sang Myeong-jung nodded with a look of agreement.
'You know full well.'
Annoying old man.
"Now it's affiliated with the Righteous Martial Alliance, but the Heavenly Flower Sect was once part of the Four Black Coalitions."
"I get what you're saying."
"Then lower class?"
"Even so, lower class is too much. He pushed the Absolute Death Sword, Seok Ijin, into a corner."
"I was never in a corner."
"Middle class."
Seok Ijin retorted sharply, but Sang Myeong-jung ignored it.
"If not upper, then middle class."
"You think middle class is any different? Those students have pride in their prestigious backgrounds too."
"Their skills don't match that pride."
"Sending Wi Sung-cheon to middle class will cause more problems. With that skill, he'd be top of middle class. If that kid becomes class leader, the others will be too humiliated to show their faces."
"Since when do you care so much about the students? And if they're humiliated, they should work to avoid it. Sending him to middle class might even boost the whole class's drive to improve."
"Then why did you put Paeng Yeonhwa in lower class?"
He hadn't expected to say even this.
'Sorry.'
Seok Ijin turned his apology to the absent Paeng Yeonhwa into a sigh.
"...She was dangerous."
Sang Myeong-jung's expression shifted slightly. He half-closed his large eyes and stared at Seok Ijin. It wasn't just looking.
It was glaring.
"Student Wi Sung-cheon is no different. ...Dangerous."
"As dangerous as Paeng Yeonhwa?"
"I don't think to that extent. But dangerous all the same. ...Isn't that true of many lower class kids?"
"...Ugh..."
Sang Myeong-jung's brows furrowed. He puffed deeply on his pipe, lost in thought.
Upper class, middle class, lower class.
The three classes per year weren't divided simply by "skill." Take Paeng Yeonhwa, just mentioned by Seok Ijin and Sang Myeong-jung—her skill alone was far from lower class level.
Yet she was in lower class because she herself was dangerous, other students wouldn't accept her, and... because of the sects and families behind the students. It wasn't just Paeng Yeonhwa. Each year's lower class had several students who, if not quite as extreme, were dangerous and unaccepted.
"...No helping it. Lower class."
Sang Myeong-jung set down his pipe. He picked up the brush beside it and began writing on the paper.
"An excellent decision. With so many similar students, Wi Sung-cheon will fit right in with the lower class."
"It's a gathering of problem children."
"Calling students problem children? Isn't that too harsh?"
"Not wrong, though. Well... that's what lower class is for. Might as well make another class. Don't you think?"
"Propose it at the faculty meeting."
"You think the Headmaster will accept?"
"No."
No room for thought there. Sang Myeong-jung, still writing, shot Seok Ijin a glance.
"Who's best as homeroom professor? Professor Hwangbo Gwang, I suppose?"
Jade Rock Hwangbo Gwang. He handled fist technique instruction at Righteous Heaven Academy. But Seok Ijin shook his head.
"Doesn't match with Professor Hwangbo Gwang."
"Wi Sung-cheon's martial art is bare-handed fighting, isn't it?"
"Not all bare-handed fighting is the same."
"Professor Hwangbo Gwang isn't just good at punching."
"True, but he doesn't suit Wi Sung-cheon."
"You're not thinking of teaching him yourself, are you?"
Tempting, but Seok Ijin shook his head.
"I think Professor Seo Il of Golden Capture Whip Flash is perfect as homeroom professor."
"Huh."
Sang Myeong-jung's brush paused.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Professor Seo Il will be thrilled. First time as homeroom. You two that close?"
"Not why I'm recommending him."
Because he's perfect.
That was all.
"Understood. You handled the evaluation, so your opinion carries weight. Wi Sung-cheon: lower class, homeroom Professor Seo Il. I'll report it to the Headmaster that way."
"Yes."
Seok Ijin nodded and stood. Sang Myeong-jung, finishing his writing, didn't bother looking up at him.
"How was it?"
Seok Ijin's steps halted as he reached the door.
"What do you mean?"
"The Heavenly Flower Sect's martial art."
Asking about the Heavenly Flower Sect's martial art, not Wi Sung-cheon. Seok Ijin paused in silence, then opened the closed door.
"I don't get it."
"What?"
"Why a sect with such martial arts only gets mocked as bats. Why the sect leader, the Evil Fiend, endures the world's insults."
"Because of their many enemies."
Sang Myeong-jung muttered.
"Probably."
Seok Ijin replied without conviction.
Creak!
Seok Ijin opened the door and stepped out.
"...Or they have no choice but to endure."
Sang Myeong-jung muttered,
and Seok Ijin thought the same.