Copying the Phantom Steps
Flash.
My eyes turned crimson. Blood streamed freely from my nose. The world slowed to a crawl. Pahwanggun’s footwork was carved into hundredths of a second, each fragment embroidered into my pupils stitch by stitch.
Crack-crack-crack.
The Heavenly Demon’s power activated. Everything before my eyes was forcibly translated into knowledge and slammed straight into my brain.
“Samadhi.”
The target was the footwork of the man right in front of me. There was no time. I had to be fast. Overload be damned. I had to finish it in one breath…
I will live!
Possession Experience Synchronization
Extraction System — Display Complete
Cheonma Dae-seogo: Target form martial art identification complete
Rank 4 — Kongtong Sect: Hwan-yeong-dae-sin-bo
Crack! Sizzle-sizzle!
Lightning began to coil around my body. It was the same type of thunder that wrapped Pahwanggun’s Hwan-yeong-dae-sin-bo, only the color was different. As if answering my desperate will, it burned a vivid blood-red.
Pahwanggun closed in. Damn it—there wasn’t enough time. It had been a long shot after all. He closed the distance without hesitation toward my completely exposed self.
No.
Cold sweat poured down. I was finished.
“What—hold on.”
Pahwanggun’s eyes stopped. He was staring at the lightning wreathing my body.
“This light… it can’t be!”
His steps slowed as he watched the thunder. I seized that single heartbeat.
“Now!”
Full martial art rubbing complete
Absorption process complete
Rank 4 — Kongtong Sect: Hwan-yeong-dae-sin-bo
Instant activation possible!
Rumble!
The last of my inner energy burned away and my body vanished.
“You bastard!”
It was a voice I had never heard from him before—pure, raw shock.
Whoosh!
I spun behind him and brought my fist down on his head. His foot lashed out like lightning and kicked the descending punch aside. Ignoring the rebounding arm, I drove my full weight into an elbow strike against his torso.
“Keheok!”
Pahwanggun’s mouth fell open. That was the first clean hit I had ever landed on him.
“You son of a bitch.”
The playfulness vanished from his eyes. His hands became faster.
Boom!
Exploding red lightning blurred my form at the same instant his fist smashed through the space where my head had been.
Thud-thud-thud!
Our figures accelerated. I fled; he chased, hurling fists and kicks. Even flight had its limits. My inner energy was draining at a mad rate, complete exhaustion only a breath away.
[Host! Consumption of True Origin True Qi is accelerating—you must stop now!]
Rumble-roar!
[Host!]
My entire body was coming apart. Mumyeong, can’t you see? Pahwanggun is so furious his eyes have rolled back. In his excitement he seemed to have forgotten even the thirty-percent limit he himself had sworn to keep. The air-tearing shockwaves had been growing stronger for a while now.
Pfft—pfft-pfft!
Wind pressure shredded my ear. My eyelids tore. My vision began to drown in red. I fled like a man possessed. But Pahwanggun chased like a madman. The distance kept shrinking. If I stopped now, I would die. One way or the other.
“Oh-ho! I thought the power felt unusually fierce—so it was True Origin True Qi! Even a decent unorthodox fighter would flinch in front of you!”
Lightning dragons of storm wrapped his entire body.
“You bastard!”
His momentum multiplied dozens of times. He snatched my neck and slammed me into the floor.
BOOM!
My organs shook.
“Kuaaagh!”
As the Hwan-yeong-dae-sin-bo sputtered out, the red lightning coiling around me died. The massive hand clamped on my throat began to squeeze as if it meant to snap my neck clean through.
“Keok… keoeok… keeeok…”
I would not die like this. I raised my nails and clawed at the hand crushing my throat.
Scrape—scrape-scrape.
I tore at his skin with everything I had, trying to pry free. Air vanished. I was choking to death. I thrashed. My heels left dozens of gouges across the training ground floor. Still the iron grip on my neck refused to loosen. A sickening creak rang through my skull as my neck bones shifted.
This bastard. He was actually trying to kill me—
“G-grrk…!”
Before I could think of another move, consciousness fled.
“That is enough, Lord Pahwanggun.”
The speaker had seized Pahwanggun’s wrist.
“What exactly do you think you are doing to an examinee? The test is over.”
“…Kang Buryong?”
Pahwanggun flinched. Focus returned to eyes that had been lost in combat.
“I will say it one last time. Lord Pahwanggun, release him. Immediately.”
Kang Buryong tightened his grip on the wrist. Pahwanggun stared blankly at his own hand. Beneath it, Moyong Bi was still clawing at the back of that hand, thrashing as he died.
“Wh-what have I—!”
Pahwanggun staggered back and collapsed onto the ground.
“I… I went all-out against this child?”
His eyes were a mess of shock and self-loathing at what he had done.
“I have been watching for some time. It did not look as though you would stop on your own, so I intervened. Forgive my rudeness. You there—Physician Haseo. Give us a hand.”
Kang Buryong approached the unconscious Moyong Bi and gestured to one side.
“Lord Pahwanggun, for heaven’s sake! I kept thinking ‘surely not,’ but turning an examinee into pulp—how could you? This is the orthodox path, not the unorthodox! I can’t live like this!”
Physician Haseo came running with an armful of medical tools. He pulled out a needle case and emergency medicines and began emergency treatment at once.
“Fortunately, it seems no bones are broken.”
Haseo checked Moyong Bi’s body and let out a sigh of relief. Kang Buryong exhaled as well, tension easing.
“Thank goodness. This examinee was one Elder Moyong Taese specifically asked us to look after…”
At those words Pahwanggun’s face went pale with surprise.
“Moyong Taese asked you? That rigid old man never even asks favors of our Alliance Leader!”
“He is a bastard son. An illegitimate child of the Moyong Family—no roots, no place in the genealogy. There must be some story between this boy and the elder that we do not know. Elder Moyong Taese asked me, at the very least, to keep him from being killed by his brothers for the next six years.”
An unreadable expression crossed Pahwanggun’s face.
“…A bastard? No wonder he never acted like some pampered young master.”
“Do you need a change of clothes?”
Kang Buryong eyed the rags that had once been Pahwanggun’s robes. Pahwanggun shook his head.
“This leaves a foul taste.”
He stared at the countless nail marks on his own arm and muttered bitterly.
“Kang Buryong. If you have been watching from the start, you saw that as well.”
There was no subject, yet Kang Buryong knew exactly what he meant. Pahwanggun continued.
“It was clumsy, but that was Hwan-yeong-dae-sin-bo. Yes, among our Kongtong Sect’s footwork arts it is the simplest basic technique. But reproducing it on the spot is an entirely different matter.”
Kang Buryong nodded in agreement.
“I was astonished as well. Elder Moyong Taese wrote in his letter that the boy was a born genius. He was right. I am impressed.”
Pahwanggun’s brow furrowed.
“What nonsense is that? This isn’t mere sharp eyes—this is completely copy—”
His words suddenly slowed.
“Lord Pahwanggun?”
“….”
After a brief silence Pahwanggun sighed and scratched the back of his head.
“Damn it. I kept wondering why that fox-like old man insisted on dumping me here again this time. So this was why.”
“Pardon?”
Kang Buryong looked at him in confusion. Pahwanggun waved it off as if it were nothing.
“Never mind. Just talking to myself. Anyway—yes, right! I think the same. The kid’s got a hell of an eye. A genius! Even if Hwan-yeong-dae-sin-bo is a basic, easy art, to copy it on the spot… Haha, a true genius!”
“Is there anything else you wished to say?”
“No. More importantly—”
Pahwanggun changed the subject.
“Today I committed the most shameful act of my life. I am thinking of leaving the rest of the examinations to my subordinates. Would that be acceptable?”
He crossed his arms and hung his head. Kang Buryong regarded him calmly.
“…Do as you find convenient. Cheonsubaekryeonsa never expected much from you in the first place, and I still owe you a great debt from years ago. I am always on your side.”
Two subordinates appeared like shadows beside Kang Buryong. At his signal they carefully lifted Moyong Bi and vanished again.
“That boy’s going to have a hard time, isn’t he?”
Pahwanggun muttered while staring after them.
“Do not worry overmuch about the injuries. Physician Haseo is highly skilled.”
“Not the injuries. I already know those aren’t serious.”
“Then what?”
“The odds of that child surviving six years in Cheonsubaekryeonsa. He’s a bastard of the Moyong Family, you said. You know full well what the Moyong Family looks like with the family head seat empty.”
Kang Buryong said nothing. Pahwanggun smacked his lips.
“And if what I know is correct, the Moyong Family won’t even be the problem. He’ll be dead within a month at the hands of the Guardians…”
“Guardians? Why would the Guardians kill Moyong Bi? If you have something to say, stop muttering to yourself and spit it out.”
“Well, that is… you know…”
Pahwanggun hesitated. He looked at the ground, then at the sky.
“Ah, forget it. That thing.”
He scratched his head vigorously and spoke.
“Cheonsubaekryeonsa has the tradition of grouping disciples into sets of three under the same master—forming a Dongmunhoe. That still applies to this intake, right?”
Kang Buryong looked puzzled.
“It does. Is there a problem?”
“I have a strong feeling that the instructor post for the group that boy will join is about to become suddenly vacant, which will cause serious trouble for the work of a junior I hold in high regard. What do you think about that?”
“….”
Kang Buryong remained silent. Pahwanggun shrugged.
“I will gladly fill that seat myself. My original promise to the Alliance Leader was only to serve as examiner and leave, but after what I did, my conscience is bothering me.”
He clenched a fist and declared it as though bestowing a great favor. Kang Buryong stood frozen like stone.
“Look, we are not some half-baked outfit. An instructor post does not simply fall vacant mid-training.”
“No, it will be vacant. Check again tomorrow. One seat will suddenly be empty. A broken leg, or three or four cracked ribs—something like that.”
“Lord Pahwanggun, this place may be free of most outside influence, but it is still fundamentally orthodox. Plenty of people already look at you unkindly. Remarks like that…”
I’m worried you’ll actually do it, Kang Buryong swallowed the rest and clutched his throbbing head.
“I can see the vacancy already! I’ll help you through this crisis…! I’ll help!”
Pahwanggun’s glittering eyes locked onto Kang Buryong without the slightest movement.
…Just what is that boy to him?
Kang Buryong found Pahwanggun’s obsession strange, then decided it must simply be guilt over the beating.
“Understood. We will do it that way.”
“Good! Hahaha! Wait for me, Bi!”
Pahwanggun threw his head back and roared with laughter toward the sky.
Well… Elder Moyong Taese did ask me to look after him, after all.
An unnecessary pang of guilt pricked at Kang Buryong.