Falling Star Sword Technique
A hundred hearings could not match a single glance. The moment So So-un's light, swift swordplay began, two streams of dazzling radiance poured forth. Beneath the clear moonlight, it was as though a pair of white dragons were taking to the heavens — a sight of breathtaking beauty.
"Look! The painting scroll is responding!"
Every gaze snapped toward the sky. The painting scroll hanging in the air drank in So So-un's sword Profound Qi and began to take shape — a swift, fierce eagle. The bird in the painting circled with a living majesty, loosing a clear, ringing cry.
"Wonderful!"
The crowd burst into applause.
"Junior Sister So's swordsmanship grows more exquisite with each passing day!"
"Doesn't it? It may not yet match Peak Master Yeom, but look how vividly that eagle moves! Junior Sister has opened all Six Meridians — she'll reach the Spirit Realm any day now!"
As these gifted disciples couldn't help but marvel, So So-un flushed and called out.
"Sword-dancing by myself is boring. Won't someone come have a round with me?"
"Haha! I'll take that challenge!"
Senior Brother Ma Ok roared with hearty laughter and launched himself into the air. He spun through the sky like a nimble monkey, then swiftly drew a jade broadsword from the Universe Ring on his finger.
"Junior Sister So, pardon the intrusion."
The saber-light flashed with a sharp whistle, and it was as if a bolt of blue silk were cascading from the heavens. This seamless, soaring technique was none other than the most famous of the Cheonun Saber Profound Arts.
A cascade of blue silk from the heavens — seamless, soaring, without a single gap.
A massive surge of saber-qi poured into the painting scroll and instantly transformed into a roaring tiger. The majesty of the king of beasts swallowed the entire painting in a heartbeat. The tiger locked eyes with the eagle, sovereign of the skies, and the two stood in taut opposition.
"Hmph! We'll see who's intruding on whom!"
Flushed with drink, So So-un only grew bolder. Her short sword moved — it never touched Ma Ok's body, yet the eagle in the painting felt the will to fight and plunged from the sky toward the tiger in a furious dive. Like a meteor crashing to earth, its talons gleamed with a light that crushed the spirit. The bird looked ready to tear through the scroll itself.
"Good — that's more like it!"
His spirit linked to the painting scroll, Ma Ok felt as though he were the tiger. He raised his broadsword high, and a roar that seemed to shake the mountains and rivers thundered forth. Saber-light plunged toward a distant point, and the striped tiger followed its master's will, leaping through space to tangle with the eagle in a ferocious clash. In an instant a world-shaking boom filled the air, and the eagle's shadow blotted out the sky.
The Yuenu Cheonun Sword Technique and the Budong Saber Art — two of the Cheonun Sect's most renowned Profound Arts — unfolded a spectacular duel inside the painting scroll. There was none of the raw thrill of steel on steel, yet the tiger and eagle of Profound Qi tearing at each other made for a spectacle of their own, and the crowd roared its approval.
Time flew like an arrow. Before anyone knew it, the two had exchanged more than ten bouts. Then the eagle, still battling fiercely in midair, suddenly surged in speed. It slipped the tiger's strike with effortless grace and snatched the beast's head in its talons. In a heartbeat, the tiger's form shattered and vanished.
"A magnificent Yuenu Cheonun Sword Technique. I concede!"
Standing on the far side of the painting scroll, Ma Ok admitted his defeat. He sheathed his saber and offered a courteous bow.
"Heehee."
So So-un smiled, pleased, her long hair stirring as she spoke.
"Admitting defeat already? How dull, Senior Brother Ma. Drink a penalty cup."
"Haha, gladly!"
Ma Ok drained the cup without a fuss, and the cheers around them erupted all over again. The two of them, thoroughly satisfied, returned to their seats.
This time it was Hwa Cheonpung who rose. He smiled across the distance at Yeop Pung.
"Junior Brother Yeop, would you care to exchange a few moves with me?"
Yeop Pung blinked, caught off guard.
Already my turn?
"That's right, Junior Brother Yeop. Show us what kind of skill it took to claim first place in the hunting tournament!"
The crowd grew even more excited. They knew Yeop Pung's realm was far below their own. What they wanted to know was how, exactly, he had defeated the monsters of the Cheonbong Legion and taken the championship.
"Haha."
Afraid Yeop Pung might feel the pressure, Hwa Cheonpung added with a laugh,
"Don't worry too much, Junior Brother Yeop. I'll hold back as I see fit — come on out."
"Understood."
With things already this far along, Yeop Pung could hardly refuse. He rose slowly from his seat, unconsciously turning the new Universe Ring on the index finger of his right hand — a gift from Maeng Chang-haeng only a few days before. After a moment's thought, he shook his head, picked up a single chopstick from the table, and walked toward the painting scroll.
"Senior Brother Hwa, I look forward to your guidance."
Yeop Pung offered a respectful bow from across the way.
"Heh heh. It's been years, Junior Brother Yeop. I still remember the fire you had back when you were 'Brother Yeop' — the one who brought the outer sect to heel."
A warm smile filled Hwa Cheonpung's round face.
"Come. Let's begin."
"Gladly!"
There was no reason left to hesitate. Yeop Pung raised his left hand, and a blinding golden radiance lit up the night sky. From the thin sea of lightning that spread before him, terrifying golden current erupted and poured into the painting scroll.
The ultimate killing strike of the Raging Thunder Palm — a sea of golden lightning poured into the scroll with nothing held back.
Yeop Pung had opened with the strongest killing move of the Raging Thunder Palm, thrown at full power. The moment that transformed golden Profound Qi touched the scroll, the painting convulsed as if in spasm. Then a vast bank of black cloud took shape within the picture, covering the earth like the lid of a colossal cauldron.
A peal of thunder that seemed to shake the heavens themselves rolled out, and from the dark cloud a gigantic pillar of lightning stretched down toward the ground. The force of it looked ready to tear the painting scroll apart. Every prodigy present felt their faces change.
"Is that... the Raging Thunder Palm?"
"That's impossible. How can an ordinary Profound Art unleash this kind of power?"
"This Yeop Pung... he's no ordinary character!"
While the crowd reeled, Hwa Cheonpung's expression shifted as well. He recovered at once, wrapping his whole body in a blue-tinged spiritual energy, and from both hands poured a vast, pure wood-attribute Profound Qi that transformed into a Profound palm art of its own.
"Junior Brother Yeop — receive my Samramansang Palm."
Tens of thousands of blue-green palm prints surged forth like a great river, winding and flowing into the painting scroll.
Hwa Cheonpung called it lightly as both hands spawned tens of thousands of blue-green palm prints. They rolled like a vast river and were drawn into the painting scroll.
"Look! Senior Brother Hwa is painting a tree!"
The crowd craned their necks toward the scroll. At Hwa Cheonpung's palm force, a colossal tree erupted from the earth. Its lush, spreading boughs and leaves formed a vast canopy that filled the sky, while its thick trunk rose with the grandeur of a pillar holding up the heavens.
Every bolt of golden lightning pouring from the sky struck the great tree. Yet only blue ripples shimmered across its crown; the golden lightning vanished without leaving a mark. No matter how the thunder poured down like a raging flood, the great tree's shield — as though it held all of creation within it — held firm.
"Yes! Senior Brother Hwa!"
People rose from their seats and cheered. Hwa Cheonpung possessed not only astonishing Profound Qi but an exquisite palm art to match. The great tree he had painted was startlingly lifelike, and the way he neutralized Yeop Pung's technique was ingenious besides. Each time a bolt of lightning vanished, it was as if fireworks had bloomed across the night sky.
They say true mastery has no form, and that even a heavy burden, in skilled hands, looks light. This was precisely what that meant.
But even as the crowd marveled at Hwa Cheonpung's astonishing skill, Yeop Pung, standing opposite him, wore a faint smile. The chopstick in his right hand traced a beautiful arc through the air. Dazzling light condensed at its tip, radiating a sword intent so startling it took everyone present by surprise.
This—
Every eye went wide. Every breath caught.
"Senior Brother Hwa, I've only just begun to learn this sword art, so it's hardly fit to show you — but I ask for your guidance all the same."
Yeop Pung's calm voice carried across the grounds. In that instant the chopstick became a flash that stabbed at the eyes and flew toward the painting scroll. The golden point of light condensed at its tip cut the air and left a long tail behind it, like a golden meteor crossing the night sky — beautiful, and sharp with a pressure that weighed on the heart.
A golden meteor crossing the night — Sword Emerging Like a Star.
The Falling Star Sword Technique. This was the Falling Star Sword Technique.
Someone was so stunned they dropped their wine cup.
"Good heavens — isn't the Falling Star Sword supposed to be terribly difficult? They say it takes at least three months just to learn the opening forms, and a full half year to reach the realm of Sword Emerging Like a Star. This Yeop Pung... it's only been about a month since he received the sword manual, hasn't it?"
Senior Brother Ma Ok's mouth hung open in shock.
"A month... If I remember right, Yeop Pung spent this past month lying down recovering from his injuries. When did he even have time to practice the sword? Don't tell me he learned it in his dreams?"
So So-un, who prided herself on her own fine swordsmanship, made no effort to hide her envy. The Falling Star Sword Technique — the Cheonun Sect's supreme art she had so longed to learn — and Yeop Pung had picked it up as if it were nothing.
This Yeop Pung was no ordinary man.
The entire gathering of spectators, Yeom Jin-ri who had been watching the exchanges with a smile, even Un Cheoncheon, who had not spared the match a single glance from the start — in this moment, none of them could hide their stir of feeling. Yeop Pung's Falling Star Sword had clearly gone beyond a beginner's level into considerable proficiency. Even if he had swung a blade day and night, progress at this speed was almost impossible to believe.
The most stunned of all was, of course, Hwa Cheonpung. The senior brother who never lost his composure went rigid the instant he saw the Falling Star Sword Technique. In the painting spread before his eyes, from within those endless black clouds, a massive golden meteor had already taken form.
It carried a killing intent that none of the earlier lightning could approach. A single sword, a single form — and yet it felt like a star crashing to earth, like a blade splitting the heavens. The hair on Hwa Cheonpung's body stood on end.
The truth was, he had not been able to say it until now: merely receiving Yeop Pung's Wrathful Thunder Sweeping the Heavens had already cost him more than sixty percent of his power. That bizarre golden lightning had been far sharper than it looked. Blocking it had been nothing like the ease he had shown.
This sword-qi meteor was even more monstrous. Before it had even drawn near, the towering trees in the painting were already trembling weakly, as if crushed by its aura. It carried a pressure Hwa Cheonpung felt he would have to meet with everything he had.
A monster. This Yeop Pung is a monster, no question.
Hwa Cheonpung began to regret it. Why had he gone and provoked the champion of the hunting tournament — a monster like this?
But the sword-qi was already upon him. He had no choice. He summoned the Profound Qi of his entire body and unleashed the Samramansang Palm at more than ninety percent of its power.