Chapter 195: Brothers-1
Chapter 195: Brothers-1
In the forest at midday.
I focused my entire mind and unleashed the first form of the Mukrang Sword Technique.
Opening Heaven.
Chwaaaaaak!
It was, without exaggeration, a slash that had reached the extreme limit.
Whenever I used this technique, the very fabric of space seemed to tear apart, revealing glimpses of the abyss beyond.
But even though I had now completely mastered Opening Heaven, I could only grit my teeth in frustration.
Because even after unleashing this tremendous opening form, I still couldn't catch the opponent before my eyes.
The opponent before me moved like flowing water, lightly deflecting and redirecting my sword.
I gnashed my teeth and shouted.
"I won't let you get away!"
I pursued him and unleashed the second form of the Mukrang Sword Technique, which I still hadn't perfected.
The second form of the Mukrang Sword Technique.
Flying Ascent.
Shuhaaaaak!
It was still too demanding for me to use with my own true ability, but since I had activated the third form of the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance, Hyeonmangwol, my sword could splendidly execute the second form of the Mukrang Sword Technique.
It was an ultimate illusion sword, bearing a slight resemblance to my own Seonwoo Thirteen Swords, which was what made it possible for me to learn it at all.
Hwaaaaaaak!
As I swung my sword, a gigantic wing of true violet light unfurled around me, as if it were about to blanket the entire world.
The essence of the illusion sword—simultaneously an illusion and yet infinitely close to reality.
As that lethal form descended upon my opponent as if to tear him to shreds, he suddenly smiled faintly and opened his mouth.
"Impressive."
And then he added.
"But you still have far to go."
At the same moment, he pointed his sword toward me and muttered softly.
"Illusion Sword Realm."
Hwaaaaaaak!
The instant he spoke, sword images as brilliant as the sun erupted from his blade and surged toward me.
Then, in a composed voice, he recited the following words.
"Emptiness is Form."
Chwaaaaaaaak!
In an instant, his sun-like illusion swords turned into real blades and collided with my Mukrang Sword Technique.
Jjeojeojeojeojeojeojeojeong!
The second form of the Mukrang Sword Technique, Flying Ascent, which I had unleashed, was obliterated in a single moment.
The Mukrang Sword Technique—born from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the greatest demonic art in existence—had been blocked by the final technique of the Seonwoo Thirteen Swords.
At that absurd result, I muttered in a dejected voice.
'I don't know whether I should be pleased that Emptiness is Form blocked Flying Ascent, or lament my own lack of skill that it was blocked by nothing more than Emptiness is Form.'
At this, he smiled and said.
"Why lament over something like that? At your level, you could have actually blocked it sufficiently using only the Three Calamities Sword Technique."
Ugh, the Three Calamities Sword Technique.
It stung all the more because it didn't sound like a lie in the slightest.
He smiled faintly and said to me.
"Do not try to compare yourself to me. Comparing yourself to others merely confines you within the limits of another. What matters is whether you have improved compared to yesterday, is it not?"
At his consolation, I nodded weakly with a smile.
"You're right. That's how it should be, but even knowing it, the gap is simply too vast, so it's hard to keep that thought in mind."
He laughed heartily and said.
"Of course it won't be easy. But if it were easy for anyone, how could it be considered a worthy achievement? Keep striving."
His voice was cheerful, but at his teaching that stirred my Heart-Soul Bond, I bowed deeply and answered solemnly.
"Yes, Sword God Elder."
"Ahem! I told you not to call me that."
"Ah, yes. My apologies, Elder Mukrang."
I apologized to him and glanced at his clean-featured face.
Here in this place, he appeared as an exceedingly handsome middle-aged man.
I've been told many times that I'm good-looking as well, but if he had been in his youth, I wondered if I wouldn't even come close to comparing.
The dead Blood Demon's successor, White Jade Dragon Gu Yu-sang? Even he would probably have been just barely comparable.
But he paid no mind to my admiring gaze and brought up another topic.
"Now then, let's learn more of the sword arts of the Nine Great Sects. It's time to start learning the Cheongpung Sword Technique of Mount Qingcheng, isn't it?"
"Yes, that's correct. Though personally, I'd rather continue mastering the Red Sunset Sword Technique."
"Hahaha! It seems you're more drawn to it because it's your sworn brother Hwa Young-bin the Red Sunset Divine Sword's technique. But don't discriminate just because it belongs to someone close to you. The Cheongpung Sword Technique and the Red Sunset Sword Technique are arts that cannot be said to be superior or inferior to one another. Moreover, only by mastering the Cheongpung Sword Technique first will you be able to learn the Red Sunset Sword Technique with greater ease."
Lately, I had been learning the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects from Elder Mukrang.
This was because he had told me that his true divine ultimate technique could only be learned after mastering the martial arts of every existing sect.
Of course, that was practically an impossible task.
Even for Elder Mukrang, it was unlikely that he knew every martial art in existence.
However, Elder Mukrang's explanation was that at the very least, one must master all the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects.
- In any case, I set it up so that my true divine ultimate technique, the Forgotten Self Art, can only be learned after visiting the location where it is sealed. Just as the martial arts contained within the five swords can only be learned after obtaining those swords. However, I placed no such restriction on the martial arts of the Nine Great Sects, so from now on, you shall learn them day by day.
Thus, until recently, I had been learning the martial arts of the Jeomchang Sect that I was already familiar with—the Forty-Eight Swords of Swirling Wind, the Eighteen Spectral Light Swords, the Six Meridians Divine Sword, and so on, aside from the Sail Sword Technique which I had already mastered.
And now, I had just begun learning the martial arts of Mount Qingcheng.
How long had I trained in the Cheongpung Sword Technique? Suddenly, as if the entire space I occupied was vibrating, a voice resounded from the sky.
- What kind of brat sleeps this much?! A man who's reached the transcendent peak realm is sleeping like the dead without a care in the world—you're just begging to die a dog's death!
At that voice, I let out a hollow laugh.
Then I said to Elder Mukrang.
"It seems Senior Jeung has woken up, Elder."
He also chuckled and said.
"So it seems. It looks like daybreak has come. You should be going now."
I bowed to him respectfully and said.
"Then I shall see you again in tomorrow's dream, Elder."
He smiled faintly with his clean-featured face and waved his hand at me as his final gesture, and I awoke from the dream.
Then I opened my eyes in the forest, just as the first light of dawn was breaking.
The moment I opened my eyes, right before me on a tree, the Black Panther was sprawled out lazily, looking down at me.
The Black Panther had continued to follow me even after we destroyed the Imperial Tomb.
I had conveyed to it that it was alright now and that it could return to its cubs, but the beast paid no heed whatsoever.
According to Mukrang, it seemed to think that it hadn't yet fully repaid its debt of gratitude.
I silently greeted the beast with my eyes, asking if it had slept well, then rose to my feet and said to Jeung Chil.
"I'm awake now, Senior Jeung. Are you perhaps hungry?"
At this, he burst out in anger.
"Do you think I'm the kind of person who torments others because I'm hungry?! The beast already went to prepare breakfast! You gigolo, I'm only doing this because you're so lazy it's pathetic! How in the world can someone at the transcendent peak realm sleep so much?!"
In truth, the reason I could exhibit transcendent peak-level martial prowess was thanks to the Moonlight Illusion Sword Dance.
But since he had already firmly decided I was at the transcendent peak, I didn't feel any particular need to correct him.
In any case, the fact that Squad Leader Seol Pung had already gone to prepare breakfast made it quite clear that hunger was indeed the reason for his behavior.
After all, back during our previous mission, whenever he woke up hungry in the morning, he would get up first and nudge the others awake.
So I smiled faintly and shot back at him.
"But we do have an esteemed senior, himself at the transcendent peak, who always makes others do the hunting. If you're hungry, you could certainly go catch something yourself. How truly remarkable."
However, even at my smiling, sarcastic remark, he absolutely refused to admit it.
He insisted it absolutely wasn't because he was hungry and continued to criticize only my sleeping habits.
"I-I said it's not because I'm hungry! Why in the world can't you wake up properly? Should we seriously set up a night watch?"
Currently, when we slept, we didn't post a night watch and all simply went to sleep together.
In truth, for martial artists at the peak level and above, whose senses remain perpetually sharp even in sleep, a night watch was something utterly meaningless.
And with the Black Panther present as well, it was even more meaningless.
But the fact that he, knowing this perfectly well, would say such a thing meant he was just trying to pick a fight. I pondered for a moment how I should respond, then suddenly grinned and said.
"Actually, it's a secret... but I see divine beings in my dreams. That's why I tend to place some importance on my sleeping hours. I have many things I wish to ask the divine beings. Still, my senses remain fully alert, so you needn't worry so much."
At that, he widened his eyes as if startled and hastily asked.
"A, a Shinseon? Now that you mention it, I heard you once saw a Shinseon in a dream and averted some danger. Was that lie actually true?"
Though he grumbled endlessly on the outside, it seemed he had come to trust my words greatly since the last expedition after all.
To think he would take such nonsense seriously.
In the past he would have snapped at me not to joke around, but now he believed even talk like this.
I simply smiled faintly and changed the subject.
"I wonder. It's difficult to speak of lightly... Ah, there's Squad Leader Yi coming."
At that, he pestered me like a man possessed.
"Ah, why? Do you really meet a Shinseon? Does he just tell you the future in your dreams and such? Th-the Shinseon, doesn't he ever say anything about me?"
At his words, I briefly wore a hesitant expression.
"Hmm, telling you this could be a leak of heavenly secrets..."
As I appeared to deliberate on whether to tell him or not, he latched right onto me.
"J-just a little bit wouldn't hurt, would it? Just a tiny bit!"
"Well... the Shinseon..."
"The Shinseon?"
"To you, Senior..."
"Yes, to me! What? What did he say?!"
Grinning, I told him teasingly.
"He said to stop ordering other people around and prepare your own breakfast for once."
At that, his face crumpled fiercely.
"Wha-what, you bastard?! That's all nonsense, isn't it?! Seeing a Shinseon in your dreams is all lies, isn't it?!"
I let his raging words go in one ear and out the other as I chuckled softly.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a Shinseon, but wasn't it true that I was meeting someone like a Shinseon?
Every night, I met Elder Mukrang in my dreams and received his teachings, after all.
According to the elder, it was a training method called the Dream Soul Great Method.
It was a method of creating a space within dreams identical to reality and training there, and Elder Mukrang would appear in his true form there and teach me various things.
That was the reason I had already been able to learn the Mukrang Sword Technique up to the second form, Flying Ascent, despite having no proper chance to train it in reality.
And it was also the reason I'd been able to master all the martial arts of the Jeomchang Sect, which I had never learned before in reality.
Ignoring Jeung Chil's words, I asked Squad Leader Seol Pung.
"Squad Leader! What did you get?!"
At that, he answered with a bright smile.
"There were pheasants, so I caught three! I'll roast them for you right away, Senior Jeung!"
At that, Jeung Chil — whether because he was sore about being teased by me, or because he was displeased with the game — immediately scowled and shouted.
"Ah, you fool! Pheasant meat is dry, I tell you! To bring back such dry meat first thing in the morning, have you really no sense for cooking?!"
That shameless sight of him criticizing despite the food having been prepared for him from early morning.
It was the same Jeung Chil as always, indeed.
But the squad leader, as if unfazed by his conduct, simply replied in good cheer.
"Ah, you don't care for pheasant. Next time I'll catch something else."
Then, as if deflated by the squad leader's response of receiving his tantrum with nothing but a smiling face, Jeung Chil grumbled again as though it were no fun at all.
"Tch! What kind of man is so utterly spineless..."
Then he suddenly brought up Bi Sa-yeong.
"That crazy bastard, now he really knew how to pick food. He was fun to talk to, too."
His words were about food preferences, but to me, he seemed to miss Bi Sa-yeong a little.
They had bickered and quarreled like that every single day, and it seemed that had been its own sort of amusement for him.
I gave him back as good as I got in my own way, but perhaps because I didn't fire back at exactly the same level as that bastard Bi Sa-yeong, he seemed less entertained.
I abruptly smiled and said to him.
"Then you should have gone with Sa-yeong back then."
At that, he snorted.
"Hmph! You think I'd go with that arrogant punk just to scrounge some food? If I'd gone that way it'd be nothing but training, what fun is that."
"Hm."
Honestly speaking, I still didn't quite understand why he had insisted on following us.
Judging by how he'd tried to avoid going to the Emperor's Tomb before, he seemed to hate troublesome things, and from what he was saying now, it seemed he liked Bi Sa-yeong better than us.
So as I was debating whether to ask him about it, Mukrang suddenly spoke to me.
- That fellow seems to have found that expedition to the Emperor's Tomb with you all quite enjoyable. It seems he felt his blood boil for the first time in a long while. So he seems to think that if he stays with you all, he'll get to experience more interesting things. He doesn't want to train, but wants to experience new events, so naturally he followed you lot.
'Ah, I see.'
Indeed, having Elder Mukrang around was truly convenient for things like this.
He read the other person's intentions through mere will alone.
That level of skill was something I, too, desperately wished to learn.
Mukrang's words continued on.
- Besides, that fellow, no matter how he talks, holds you all in very high regard. He seems to think you may become legends of the martial world. So it seems he wants to personally witness the birth of that legend from close by.
Legends of the martial world, was it.
I gave a hollow laugh and expressed my thanks to him.
'That's a rather baffling reason. Thank you, anyway. It's amazing that you can read even such thoughts.'
At that, he laughed and replied.
- I find it more amazing that you lot can't even see the true feelings of such a simple person whose thoughts are written plainly on the surface.
A short while later, we were eating the well-roasted pheasant.
At that moment, Jeung Chil — who, while grumbling with his mouth that it was too dry and he didn't want to eat it, was nonetheless tearing into it most vigorously of all of us — suddenly glanced furtively at me and asked.
"Anyway, we'll soon be in Guangxi Province, so where are you thinking of going? If we keep going east like this and head south just a little, the Southern Sea will come into view. How about taking a look at the ocean?"
"Ah, you mean the route."
We were currently in a state of having descended eastward along the outskirts of Yunnan Province from the Flying Dragon Thirteen Squads' side in the north, arriving roughly at the border with Guangxi Province.
Since we had to go east anyway, and judging that going north to Guizhou Province might draw Jegal Ji-gang's attention, this was the choice we'd settled on.
So if we continued east like this, we might indeed be able to see the Southern Sea from the southeastern part of Guangxi Province, just as Jeung Chil said.
The sea I had never once seen in my two lifetimes.
But I answered Jeung Chil, feeling a slight sense of regret.
"I would like to go that way since I've never seen the ocean, but that region is the territory of the Hainan Sect. Rather than risk needless trouble, I think it would be better to head north before the sea comes into view. I intend to go as far north as Hunan Province, then head east again."
At that, Jeung Chil, who had for some reason been looking anxious, flinched in alarm and asked again.
"H-Hunan Province, you say?!"
"Yes, I think we could move without issue through Hunan Province, which is under Hengshan Sect's domain... Why do you ask, Senior? Is there some problem?"
Jeung Chil's face right now looked, to anyone watching, like someone with a great many problems.
But he jumped up at my words and denied it vehemently.
"P-problem! What do you mean problem?! There's nothing of the sort!"
After shouting that, he fell into thought, rolling his eyes this way and that as if deeply anxious.
He even left untouched the pheasant he had been eating so diligently.
Squad Leader Seol Pung and I briefly exchanged glances.
Clearly, there seemed to be some kind of problem.
I silently asked Elder Mukrang in my mind.
'Do you perhaps know what it is, Elder?'
At that, he replied.
- Earlier, when the Hengshan Sect was mentioned, he was greatly agitated. He seems to have some issue with that side. By the way, what did you mean earlier about not being able to go toward the sea because of the Hainan Sect? Weren't the Hainan Sect part of the orthodox faction?
'Ah, they were once, but not anymore these days. The Hainan Sect these days belongs to the evil faction. And they're the largest pirate group under heaven, at that.'
- A pirate group? The Hainan Sect? Weren't they originally formed by people who gathered to fight against pirates?