Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Dragon-Phoenix Tournament (2)
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I'm going insane.
Honestly, it's flashy and cool.
Super cool, but can you really call that Mount Hua?
Can you call that sword wildly spewing flames a Mount Hua martial art?
Fighting by blooming flowers that aren't plum blossoms.
My guts are burning away.
I want to slap her cheeks ten times, a hundred times if I could.
'Yeah... gotta hold it in. That's why I came out here—to scout them.'
If we're launching an attack, shouldn't I at least watch every match, every sect's participants first?
Even if I'm causing chaos, do it with some class.
Hell, the Sword Sovereign's here, along with countless righteous faction masters.
If they gang up on me, clueless as I am, I'd just get pummeled.
My internal arts are lacking, and my realm's only Nature—nowhere near enough to call myself a fairy.
I gritted my teeth to endure it.
"Fire Whispering Mist Dew Rain."
That one phrase made me scowl fiercely as curses spilled from my mind.
[Fuck, damn it.]
[N-no, endure it, young lady.]
Snow Python was grunting away, telling me to hold it together.
Sorry, but this is seriously crossing the line.
Mount Hua should mean Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms or something like the Six Harmonies Divine Sword Technique, right?
But what?
Fuck, Fire Whispering Mist Dew Rain?
It was the kind of phrase that made me want to slap her until her cheeks were raw pulp.
[Fi-Fire Whispering Mist Dew Rain speaks to the principles of fire, raining down hazy dewdrops that bloom like mirages—Mount Hua's signature sword...]
[Snow Python, be honest—you hate this shit too, don't you?]
[......]
Snow Python holding her tongue.
I scowled and gripped my wooden sword tight.
This... I really can't take it anymore.
"...Benefactor?"
"Young Lady Zhuge."
Hyun-deok looked up at me.
But with my face veiled by the silk cloth, he couldn't see it—just cocked his head.
"I'm sorry. Even after you tried so hard to persuade me."
"Huh? No, what are you—"
Hyun-deok's voice didn't fully register in my ears.
Because.
[Young lady!!! Ah, no matter what, this is too much waaah! It's falling! Falling!!!]
[Quiet. Let me focus.]
I'd leaped straight into the arena from mid-air.
Snow Python got a bit rowdy on the way down, but it didn't matter.
-Fwoooosh!!!
Where my foot landed, plum blossom petals unfurled, magenta waves blanketing the arena.
The acrid stench of those fake, flaming plum blossoms raining down was swept away.
And right then, the true, fragrant plum scent spread everywhere.
"Benefactor?!"
Ji-yeon stared in shock at me radiating pink energy, unable to hide her alarm.
Maybe she thinks I'm here to help her.
"Young Lady Zhuge."
I walked slowly toward Ji-yeon, pressing my bamboo hat down firmly.
In the heat of battle, if it slipped off even a little, they might peg me as evil faction and kill me on the spot.
Well, it'd be a pain either way.
Once I confirmed the hat was securely in place, I twirled my wooden sword in a flashy arc, stealing everyone's gaze, then opened my mouth.
"If that life of yours means anything, step back."
I'm pissed right now.
[Haaa... young lady, take it easy.]
Of course, I won't actually kill her.
Suddenly, a petite young lady dropped from the sky into the arena.
Hwa-ryeon was flustered for a moment at the sight, like a fairy or immortal descending.
'...That unaffiliated expert from before.'
She quickly realized the one who'd landed before her was that same master she'd glimpsed earlier.
Wondering if something had gone wrong, she started to lower her sword—
-Fwoooosh!!!
A red petal grazed Hwa-ryeon's cheek.
Fragrant plum blossom scent followed.
Of course, it wasn't manifesting for real in front of her.
It was all conjured purely through internal energy.
'Different from before...?'
Outside the Arena of Decisive Heroes earlier, she'd felt absolutely nothing.
Like an empty shell of a person.
What on earth had the Sword Empress sensed in this figure? Hwa-ryeon could never comprehend it.
But now, facing her head-on, goosebumps prickled across her entire body.
'A... human?'
Really human?
Not some hidden Long-Eared Clan operative from the Beggars' Sect?
Hwa-ryeon was well aware of the rumors surrounding Majestic Wind Horn, leader of the Beggars' Sect.
He never set foot in the secular world.
A hermit master forever surrounded by peach blossoms, living like an immortal.
Born at the fall of the Blood Ghost and the Evil Alliance's destruction, surviving to this day.
Truly no different from a celestial being, or so the tales went.
Few had crossed paths with him, but those who had all agreed on one thing:
He had to rank among the world's top four warriors.
And now, she could feel it in her bones.
The figure before her was on par with—no, surpassed—Majestic Wind Horn and the Sword Sovereign.
She was certain.
At last, she understood why the Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix had fled her seat in such haste.
The master approached slowly, sword at the ready.
The match had ground to a halt; anyone jumping in wouldn't have been out of place.
Yet everyone stood frozen.
No—looking closer...
'...Knocked them out with killing intent.'
The master aimed her sword at Hwa-ryeon, as if that earlier swing hadn't been casual at all.
Glancing around, even the Sword Sovereign was clutching his forehead.
'It'll take time to shake off and regain wits.'
She needed to say something.
"...Hwa-ryeon."
Hwa-ryeon had lost the initiative.
"......"
"Didn't like it from the start."
"...When have you even seen us to say that?"
Hwa-ryeon's social graces were utterly abysmal.
She just stared blankly, mechanically responding.
It was her clumsy way of signaling no ill intent.
"Raise your sword."
"......"
The master on the other side lifted her sword and assumed a stance.
They'd been blooming since earlier.
With every step she took—one, then another—crimson flowers burst forth at the tips of her feet.
Plum blossoms.
Flowers that should have belonged to Mount Hua.
But to Hwa-ryeon, they were nothing but eerie demonic sorcery.
'An illusion?'
She'd just settled on that thought when—
"This seat will teach you foolish Mount Hua rabble what true Mount Hua really is."
The master before her said it, then snapped her fingers.
In that instant, the arena was sealed within a circular formation.
Cold sweat beaded on Hwa-ryeon's skin.
Killing intent blanketed the area in an instant.
Everyone below a certain realm flat-out fainted.
Except for the ones I deliberately spared.
The remaining later-generation disciples, Hyun-deok, and Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix.
I'd excluded the Sword Sovereign, figuring he'd recover fast anyway.
And one more, including him.
'...Could argue she's the most crucial one.'
From earlier, atop the Arena of Decisive Heroes, one gaze had been fixed not on the later gens, but intently on me.
A Long-Eared Clan member who'd collapsed clutching her forehead up there.
Beggar rags, liquor bottle in hand.
If that's not Beggars' Sect, what the hell is?
And.
[...That's the sect leader, right?]
[Indeed. She's trying to mask her aura, but it seems difficult.]
So that's where the peach blossom scent was coming from.
[Peach blossoms bloom wherever she goes, they say.]
I'd heard the gist, but...
Didn't expect it to be literal.
Whatever. Not the point right now.
Even a Long-Eared Clan member or not, the Beggars' Sect will play their part to the hilt.
The ones I didn't knock out are, to my knowledge, the ones still capable of change.
I only glimpsed the Plum Blossom Sword Empress briefly, but I could tell.
She has what it takes to master Mount Hua swordsmanship.
The plum blossoms she's blooming here are identical in form anyway—should be feasible.
That's why I have to conduct this spar properly.
Well, flawlessly demonstrating the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms ought to wrap it up.
No matter her Little Sword Phoenix moniker or status as chief disciple, the gap between us is massive.
And.
"Do you think that evil-faction trash martial art of yours can fully withstand this lady's tutelage?"
That sword style doesn't even make sense to begin with.
[Snow Python.]
[Young lady, finish it quick......]
Snow Python replied in a dying rasp.
So I posed one simple question.
[Can this body handle extreme yang energy with ease?]
[What's to stop it?]
[......]
[Just trust this seat!]
Snow Python adorably insisting I trust only her.
I schooled my expression and drew a deep breath.
Because I was about to deploy Purple Divine Art.
The internal art that pairs best with the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms.
I planned to unveil it right before Hwa-ryeon's eyes.
'...She must handle yang energy well.'
Setting fire with a sword—if that's not Samadhi True Fire, what is?
I nodded, inhaled deeply.
Haze stirred around my body as violet waves began rippling outward like the tide.
"I'll show you true Mount Hua."
"...!!!"
Hwa-ryeon's eyes flew wide.
I wiped the smirk from my face and readjusted my grip on the sword.
[In the end, you're stirring up chaos anyway.]
It's all for the future.
Snow Python fussed noisily.