Chapter 184
Chapter 184
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 184
Chapter Title: Endure with Malice and Grit
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Bae Hye-in had watched the conversation among the Cheoksa Trio and assumed they were engaged in a serious discussion about swordsmanship.
In reality, the Cheoksa Trio was gripped by anxiety, wondering if Unhwi was about to impose another bizarre training regimen.
‘...No matter how much he’s my little brother, he turns into a total demon during training. How else could he be so ruthless!!’
Dang Gyujin recalled the time Unhwi had insisted on learning the sword and subjected her to endless sparring sessions.
No matter how much they fought and fought, he never tired—instead, he’d charge in cackling like a madman.
‘Should I bolt right now? But where to? If I get caught, it’ll just mean more rolling around, right? Nah, no way. Even for Young Master Unhwi... Wait, no, especially because it’s him, it might be worse...?’
Yu Sumin had been rolling her eyes ever since she laid eyes on the pile of iron chains emanating an ominous aura.
She frantically calculated escape routes in her head—which direction was best, what lightness skill to use—but she couldn’t bring herself to act.
The risks if she got caught were too great. She might end up rolling until she dropped dead. And with Unhwi, that was entirely possible.
‘What do I do...?’
Even Sama Seon-ui, who usually responded positively to Unhwi, was trembling like a baby bird in the cold, desperate to flee.
“There will be some here who know me and some who don’t. So allow me to introduce myself. I am Dang Gon. In the past, I earned the minor moniker of Fierce Wind Knight, and I am the chief instructor tasked with training you all for this enlistment exam.”
Dang Gon infused his voice with internal energy as he spoke.
The anxious and tense recruits straightened their backs. It was a lion’s roar that snapped them to attention.
“Those who came with me are your assigned instructors, all veterans of the old Gale Legion. They will teach you the Gale Dance and Gale Formation over the next month. For the sake of command efficiency, from now on we will issue orders in command tone—keep that in mind. Any questions?”
At that moment, Hahu Jeongmun shot his hand up.
“Speak.”
“I am Jeongmun of the Hahu Clan. May I ask what the iron chains you instructors brought are for?”
Even Hahu Jeongmun, who always spoke informally, used respectful language at a time like this. He was submitting to the hierarchy.
But Dang Gon’s response to the question was utterly nonchalant.
“No need to worry about those.”
Hahu Jeongmun looked like he had more questions, but the instructors’ piercing glares were so fierce that he didn’t dare ask anything else.
“Then we begin training.”
The Banak Wardens tensed up.
No one in the Sichuan martial world was ignorant of the Gale Legion’s legends, so they assumed the training would be brutally intense.
But the novices sparkled with excitement at the chance to learn advanced techniques, while the experts buzzed with anticipation at the prospect of reaching new heights.
The wardens lined up in rows and intervals. The instructors patrolled between them.
“First, an explanation of the Gale Dance. As the name suggests—dance rather than martial art—it’s less a single established technique and more a system compiling various martial arts—”
The wardens strained to memorize every detail Dang Gon shared.
Training in the forms began.
They came from different backgrounds and carried different weapons, but the Gale Dance accommodated them all without issue.
In fact, it was structured so one could specialize in one of its many domains—like Slicing Gale, Storm Gale, Roaring Gale, or Swift Gale—and expand from there, making it easy to get started.
‘This... seems more doable than I thought?’
‘Maybe I’ve got some real talent after all!?’
The wardens’ eyes gleamed at how smoothly the training was going.
They had expected the forms to take at least half a month to memorize, but it seemed they could cover them all in a single day.
Of course, fully grasping the intent behind them would take far longer, but this was still much faster than anticipated.
This stemmed from two key factors.
First, most of the wardens had enough talent to pass the preliminary exam.
They might seem overshadowed by the exceptional experts around them, but by absolute standards, they were prodigies with keen aptitudes.
Second, most Banak Wardens had glimpsed the Gale Dance while fighting alongside Unhwi during the Nine Dragons Great Battle.
The Gale Dance’s nature meant that prior exposure made all the difference in comprehension and mastery.
Its unique movements diverged so sharply from conventional martial arts that shattering preconceptions beforehand was essential.
Moreover, Unhwi hadn’t idled during the ten days of Banak Warden recruitment.
He’d repeatedly gathered them for joint training and sparred with the Cheoksa Trio, giving them time to familiarize themselves with the Gale Dance.
As a result, the wardens had naturally grown comfortable with it.
And subconsciously figured out how to integrate it with their own arts, enabling such rapid learning.
“I’ve explained the concepts and forms of the Gale Dance. Now, onto the Gale Formation. The Gale Formation extends from the Gale Dance: if the Dance hones individual power to generate gales, the Formation blends multiple gales—”
Grasping the Gale Dance so easily made learning the Gale Formation straightforward too.
Of course, there was a world of difference between intellectual understanding and bodily mastery.
But at least comprehending it mentally allowed easier access. The wardens felt upbeat.
‘I can do this. With this pace, I’ll handle the assignment mission in a month no problem.’
‘Mother, Father! Your son will enlist proudly in the Gale Legion and make you live like kings! Wait for me!!’
The atmosphere brimmed with hopeful, excited eyes.
They even got time to practice coordinating as a unit.
A few fumbled the concepts at first, but the instructors stepped in kindly with one-on-one guidance, and skills improved rapidly. Breathing as a group synced up in no time.
‘The old Gale Legion’s training was infamous for its brutality!’
‘My master warned me they’d curse you out if you didn’t get it right away. How can they be this nice—’
‘If only my sect was full of people like this!’
The old Gale Legion was as legendary for its vile personalities as for its feats.
During joint missions, they’d berate anyone in the way right to their face: “You deaf-mute idiot who can’t even handle your own shit—crawling out here just grabs ankles.”
They’d greet enemies by asking after their parents to induce rage strokes, or shave prisoners bald from the head down and cackle at them. Such atrocities abounded.
Small wonder so many in the Sichuan martial world trembled at the mere mention of the Gale Legion, friend or foe.
Parents and sect elders had hammered home those tales, begging them to stay cautious.
Yet the former Gale Legionnaires serving as instructors were merely stern-faced—otherwise polite and gentle.
At this rate, the wardens felt they could happily bury their bones in the Tang Clan for life.
Except for the Cheoksa Trio—their vibe was entirely different.
They exchanged quick glances.
‘Something’s off, right?’
‘Yeah. It’s *that* Young Master Unhwi! No way it ends this easy!’
‘Sister Gyujin, I’m scared...’
Dang Gyujin glared suspiciously at the impassive instructors.
Yu Sumin sweated bullets in rigid tension.
Sama Seon-ui gulped dryly, bracing for impending doom.
This involved Unhwi.
They refused to trust this serene peace(?).
But Dang Gon and the instructors remained stone-faced, offering no response to their suspicions.
Time passed like that.
As the sun dipped west, painting the sky with sunset hues.
“You seem to have a rough grasp of the Gale Formation concepts. And you’re starting to sync up a bit.”
Gale Formation training ended.
A wave of relief washed over them.
“Yes!!”
“It’s all thanks to the chief instructor’s brilliant guidance!”
“Thank you! We’ll train even harder and repay you by all passing!”
“Please take care of us tomorrow too!!”
The wardens’ faces glowed with enthusiasm.
They needed to hurry back to the barracks, review today’s lessons alone at leisure—there was so much to gain.
But.
“What are you talking about? The real training starts now.”
“?”
“?”
“??”
Question marks popped up on the wardens’ faces.
It’s evening already?
Dinner time soon?
If we miss the timing here, we starve?
“Instructors, distribute the gear.”
The instructors handed out belts to cinch around each warden’s waist—strapped with bizarre iron rings galore.
Then they had them pick up those long iron chains they’d lugged in with grunts.
Far bigger and heavier than expected—heavy enough to stagger without constant internal energy circulation.
“From now on, wrap the belts and hook the chains to them during the five-man one-shift. Execute.”
“Execute!”
“Execute!”
“Move briskly! You slugs wanna dawdle like lazy beetles and miss dinner!?”
The hitherto impassive instructors scowled and bellowed.
The wardens frantically buckled on the belts and hooked the chains. The sudden wrath from their formerly kind instructors was terrifying.
“Everyone’s chained up. Now the real thing begins.”
Just as the wardens, somewhat regaining their wits, were about to ask what this was—
Two axes plummeted from the sky into the training ground’s center.
Boom! KABOOM!
The axes were enormous.
Far larger than a grown man’s torso, their insane weight cratered the ground on impact, kicking up dust clouds.
The menace radiating from them was brutally murderous—enough to straighten spines just standing before them.
Killing intent beyond mere hostility.
The wardens felt the terror from the Nine Dragons Great Battle rearing its head again.
‘Unhwi!!’
‘Damn it! Knew it! Too quiet till now!’
‘It’s... finally here.’
The Cheoksa Trio instantly recognized the killing intent coiling around the axes as Unhwi’s.
It matched the aura he exuded during endless spars!
Then, pale mist rose from the ground, swiftly blanketing the area in hazy fog.
The instructors swiftly donned iron masks hidden behind their belts.
Realizing they countered poison, the wardens hurriedly circulated energy—but.
“M-My energy won’t move...!”
“No strength in my limbs!”
“Senses are dulling...?”
“Damn it! What the hell—”
No internal energy stirred. Senses sealed. Bodies grew leaden.
Tang Clan poison arts: energy dispersal followed by sensory lockdown.
Thud. Thud.
Then Unhwi appeared before the two axes.
He yanked them out one-handed each—as if they weighed nothing, despite their size dwarfing him—and grinned coldly.
“You all know nothing beats live combat for mastering martial arts and formations.”
“!?”
“W-What are you—”
“From now on, I’ll face you all using only the Gale Dance—no internal energy.”
“!!”
“Y-Young Master Dang?”
The wardens paled instantly.
They knew Unhwi’s prowess all too well.
Hadn’t he displayed phenomenal skill in the Nine Dragons Great Battle and subduing Gong Son-beom?
His versatile eighteen-weapon mastery had become the symbol of the young Banak Ward.
And now, wielding those monstrous weapons? Without energy? Expecting them to handle that?
“So endure with malice and grit. One slip... and you die.”
Unhwi grinned as he stomped the ground.
KABOOM!
“Damn! Should’ve known!”
“The instructors were in on it!!”
“Move, everyone!”
The Cheoksa Trio, who’d braced for crisis(?), gritted their teeth and darted forward as the wardens blanked out.
From experience, tonight’s training would drag on all night without respite.