Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Chapter 7: Foothold (13)
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Passing through the Crimson Tempering Blade and Soul-Seizing Blade to receive the Iron Blood Blade transmission was said to be the utmost honor for any member of the Peng Clan. It wasn't a benefit one could gain simply by being someone's son, nor a reward bestowed for any merit or achievement.
Only through martial arts.
One needed profound attainment in the Heaven-Earth Heart Method to draw out the Spiritual Threads Blade Qi steadily, reaching the enlightenment to uncover the incantations of the Heaven-Earth Illusory Void Art on one's own.
In other words, mastery of the Soul-Seizing Blade and the ability to wield the Heaven-Earth Illusory Void Art were prerequisites.
Everyone in the Peng Clan who trained in blade arts dreamed of that moment. They said that once you cultivated the Iron Blood Blade, it was like carrying an iron cannon in your hand.
Fearless even of the Nine Great Sects' elders, standing proud before ten thousand warriors.
Who among those living in the martial world wouldn't yearn for that instant?
The pinnacle of blade arts.
The strongest blade in the Central Plains.
That was the promise the Peng Clan made to its sons and daughters.
Yet.
It was all an illusion, they said.
Oho spat curses, while Danmun fell deep into thought.
Cheonwi gave a bitter smile.
"That's why the Clan Head was thinking of abandoning the Peng Clan Blade altogether."
"Abandon what? Fuck, that high-and-mighty bastard! Has he lost his mind?"
Oho's emotions were running high.
That was understandable.
Oho had been summoned by the higher-ups over the unfortunate incident in Shanxi Taiyuan Prefecture and endured every insult under the sun. The word he heard until his ears bled was always "the best."
The best clan, the best qualification, the utmost honor—every superlative that could be attached to the word "clan," he'd heard them all countless times.
In the end, every criticism leveled at Oho boiled down to his incompetence falling short of expectations, tarnishing the clan's supreme reputation. But hearing Cheonwi now, it turned out that very premise was wrong.
The clan wasn't even the best among the Six Great Clans to begin with.
He'd kept that in mind even while taking the scoldings.
But at least their martial arts.
At least the Iron Blood Crimson Tempering Blade was the finest in the Central Plains—that's what he'd been taught, what he believed, what he hoped.
And now the Clan Head himself was trying to discard it.
Of course he'd be furious.
Everything he'd believed in and accepted had been uprooted entirely.
"They shouldn't have taught us that shit from the start. Fuck."
Oho spat another curse, finding it harder to hold back the more he thought about it.
Danmun, who had only been furrowing his brow, finally spoke.
"No need to get angry."
"What?"
"That's just how he is."
"Who?"
"The Clan Head."
"What the hell kind of—"
"If it seems impossible, he gives up. The Clan Head's always been good at discarding things."
"Hey, you've barely even seen the Clan Head's face a few times."
"True. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him much at all."
"This bastard's at it again. You specialize in cryptic bullshit? If you've got something to say, spit it out clearly!"
"Enough."
Danmun cut off Oho's words.
This time, he turned to Cheonwi.
"So, he's scrapping the Peng Clan Blade entirely? That could be interesting in its own way."
This was the difference between Oho and Danmun.
Oho's excessive anger wasn't solely because he'd been dragged around and berated.
Oho loved the Peng Clan martial arts.
He was the quintessential martial arts fanatic, taking pure joy in perfecting forms and diligently practicing footwork.
He'd been taught that his path connected to the pinnacle of the Central Plains, so he gladly devoted his energy and youth to it. That's why the betrayal stung so much.
Danmun, on the other hand, had no attachment to the Peng Clan martial arts.
He didn't even execute the Crimson Tempering Blade in its proper form. Secret agents of the Espionage Squad often cultivated their own derivative styles to conceal the clan's orthodox techniques from the start. Danmun's Crimson Tempering Blade had long since devolved into an assassination blade that barely resembled its original shape.
But there was a fatal problem lurking here. A Crimson Tempering Blade divorced from its roots could never become a Soul-Seizing Blade. Without reaching the Soul-Seizing Blade, entry into the Iron Blood Blade was impossible. One misstep, and you'd stagnate forever in that derivative Crimson Tempering Blade.
Danmun didn't care.
He'd lived as if reaching the Iron Blood Crimson Tempering Blade was never on his mind. So Cheonwi's revelation, like an exposé, actually sounded intriguing to him.
"How could the Clan Head abandon the clan's blade arts? It was just a thought. The Iron Blood Crimson Tempering Blade is incomplete but still powerful, and depending on the results of restoring the Thunderclap Blade, it might actually surpass the finest in the Central Plains. That's Plan One from the top."
"When's that supposed to happen?"
One cheers, one worries.
Oho's anger eased a bit at Cheonwi's words.
Cheonwi continued.
"You're right. We don't know the outcome. There's no guarantee the Iron Blood Blade's weaknesses will be perfectly addressed. Or restoration might fail entirely. The Unnamed Blade is the alternative. Right now, it's just a haphazard collection of fragments tossed aside by the main family's experts, but we'll reverse-engineer it and forge a new blade art."
"Us?"
"Yeah, us. I can't do it alone. Especially the Clan Head's own style and Elder Cheong's Linked Chain Blade—I can't replicate them with my internal energy."
"Elder Ilgeol's Hamado is heavier than Dongpungneung's Soaring Heaven Blade. I couldn't either."
Oho shook his head.
"I think I could."
Danmun nodded.
Cheonwi thought differently.
"That's for later."
Cheonwi placed his hand on the Unnamed Blade manual. His white fingers looked exceptionally pale.
"First, get that 'One' mark on your chests."
"Huh?"
"The black uniform collar. The single-stroke line. Lacking confidence?"
Oho glanced at Danmun.
Danmun's face was already scrunched up.
"Not just anyone wears that."
"Not just anyone can learn the Unnamed Blade."
The Crimson Tempering Blade was a blade of power.
Each form was bold and majestic.
However, once the blade art reached a profound level and control over the heavy blade became fluid, delicacy began to infuse the robustness.
At the pinnacle of the Crimson Tempering Blade, the blade wind that fanned out like a folding fan could condense into a slender thread at will. This was called Spiritual Threads Blade Qi, and at that point, even a light swing required caution. One errant slash could take a life. That was Soul-Seizing.
The single-stroke line was the symbol of that Spiritual Threads Blade Qi.
Only Soul-Seizing Blade cultivators could embroider a single "One" character on the collar of their black uniforms.
In short, Cheonwi was demanding that Oho and Danmun reach the Soul-Seizing Blade realm.
"Even if we've mastered the Crimson Tempering Blade, reaching Soul-Seizing requires deep internal energy. It's impossible at our age."
For once, Oho spoke earnestly and correctly.
Cheonwi dismissed it.
"I'll handle that."
"You? Our internal energy?"
"Yeah."
"You have a way?"
"I do. Probably."
Oho and Danmun exchanged looks.
This time, Oho raised an eyebrow, while Danmun's expression relaxed.
They both turned back to Cheonwi. Their faces differed, but both wanted an explanation.
Cheonwi said something out of left field.
"Songgang Branch Chief Paeng Jun-ui. He's a Soul-Seizing Blade cultivator. Defeat him within a year."
"What?"
Oho's one-word retort was becoming a habit.
"Either of you, first one to do it. Next is Inspection Division Chief Paeng Jae-gwan in Nanjing. He's only recently started the Iron Blood Blade and is still immersed in it. He's a suitable opponent to beat."
"A Iron Blood Blade practitioner?"
Oho's voice rose again.
"Paeng Jun-ui's trickier, in my opinion."
That was Cheonwi's answer.
"No, what the hell are you thinking, picking fights with the higher-ups? Make some sense!"
"It makes sense."
Danmun cut in with four words.
"Teacher-Student Sparring."
"……!"
Teacher-Student Sparring referred to a traditional sparring format tucked away in a corner of the Peng Clan regulations. It meant formally requesting a match in combat form to seek instruction in a specific martial art, with the junior politely asking the senior.
Though rarely abused strategically for power struggles or solidifying position within the clan, it was mostly for sincere martial arts training.
Above all, Teacher-Student Sparring could not be refused.
If requested, one had to exchange at least one exchange. That was the rule.
Danmun seemed to approve of Cheonwi's idea.
A faint smile played on his lips as he continued.
"He knows every clause inside out. For anything else, maybe not, but for the Peng Clan Blade, there's no reason he couldn't approve."
"Danmun's right. Still, be careful with the Branch Chief. He's been in the Espionage Squad the whole time. His derivative style won't be ordinary. To beat him, I need to see him once."
"Huh."
Oho let out a sound that could have been a scoff or a sigh, expressing his feelings.
He asked again.
"Okay. Say we go all out! We invoke Teacher-Student Sparring and take down the Branch Chief. And the Inspection Division Chief? That guy's a monster even without the Iron Blood Blade! Fuck, we can't beat him!"
"I'll request the Pillow Dream Pills."
"Tch, Pillow Dream!"
"Oh."
Oho couldn't even finish his sentence. Danmun uttered a single exclamation.
"The Unnamed Blade is the breakthrough for the Peng Clan Blade. They say that, but the higher-ups aren't expecting much. Still, it's an initiative approved by the Wa Emperor Pavilion. Paeng Jun-ui might be a Branch Chief, but he's not on your level. Excluding the Espionage Leader, he's probably the strongest in the Espionage Squad. Oho, if you surpass him, the Espionage Leader will step in personally. If Danmun does it, the Reclamation Garden will move. Then even the Wa Emperor Pavilion can't ignore it. Demand Pillow Dream Pills as a merit reward, and they'll approve it nine times out of ten."
"Crazy."
"Sounds good?"
There was no room for rebuttal.
Oho kept spewing curses, while a smile settled on Danmun's face.
"We could push to Soul-Seizing with forms somehow, but Iron Blood Blade from there is tough. Internal energy's the key. How much can elixir-boosted cultivation catch up to Division Chief level? But narrow the gap even a little, and the rest can be bridged with breaking forms."
Elixirs, he said.
Indeed, the Pillow Dream Pill was a Peng Clan secret elixir.
It excelled at boosting internal energy, but it was so rare they couldn't produce even one per year. Acquiring the required herbs was of extreme difficulty. Supply issues often led to refinement failures lasting two or three years.
"Fine. Fuck, say we take out the Inspection Division Chief too. Then what? Gonna catch a Four Hero?"
"That'll take some time."
"You're not denying it."
Cheonwi stared straight at Oho and Danmun.
In the dim cave, a red glint lingered in his eyes.
He declared,
"We're going to create the Central Plains' strongest blade art. The Four Heroes are just a milestone. We'll surpass the Clan Head and conquer the Central Plains."
Oho's cursing stopped.
Danmun stopped smiling.
"Us?"
"The three of us?"
"Yeah, the three of us."
No room for hollow laughter.
Mad talk, but not empty words.
They knew Cheonwi.
He meant the Central Plains' strongest invincible blade.
It was the beginning of a long tale traversing death and life.