Chapter 156: Round of 16 (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 156: Round of 16 (2)
The first match on the second day of the Round of 16 was between Hye-un of Shaolin and Peng Do-jin of the Hebei Peng Clan.
Hye-un emerged victorious.
Though Peng Do-jin was a formidable martial artist in his own right, his skills ultimately fell short. In the end, Hye-un claimed the win without any major upsets.
Then came the second match.
Chun-bong versus Mu-hye.
As Seo-jun adjusted his posture in the stands, True Human Heo-do drifted over from nearby.
Naturally, several figures associated with Heo-do followed suit, striking up conversations with those already acquainted with Seo-jun—namely Hong Angae, Pae Jin-gwang, and Eun Yu-do.
Watching the mingling, Seo-jun thought to himself, Is this how factions are formed?
The Yongbong Gathering wasn't just a tournament for rising stars; it also served as a major social hub for the Super Peak martial artists who had accompanied them as guardians.
Having little interest in socializing, Seo-jun focused all his senses on the arena where Chun-bong was about to appear.
"Geum Hee of the Divine Sword Geum Family...!"
At the referee’s call, Chun-bong stepped onto the stage.
She was still dressed in the formal attire of the Divine Sword Geum Family. Looking like a little girl who had raided her mother’s closet, she was utterly adorable.
"Mu-hye of the Wudang Sect...!"
Mu-hye stepped up opposite Chun-bong.
Staring at her opponent with a serene, blank expression, she offered a traditional fist and palm salute.
"I look forward to our match."
"Yes, I hope to learn from you."
Chun-bong, fully locked into her 'socially graceful' mode, returned the salute.
As Seo-jun watched with a silly grin, True Human Heo-do suddenly asked, "By the way, Jin Gi-jae-cheon, what do you plan to do later?"
"Pardon? About what?"
"You are currently an elder of the Namgung Clan, but given your ties to the successor of the Divine Sword Geum Family, won't your position become rather awkward when the time comes to rebuild the Geum Family?"
"It won’t be awkward at all. Whether it’s the Namgung Clan or the Divine Sword Geum Family, they’re basically family to me. I expect the two clans will maintain a very close relationship right from the start."
"That might be true on a personal level, but when it comes to the affairs of great factions, things rarely run so smoothly."
Seo-jun pondered Heo-do’s words for a moment.
The future. The Namgung Clan. The Divine Sword Geum Family.
His deliberation didn't last long.
"I don’t think it’ll be a problem. My father-in-law is a very cool guy."
"Cool? Ah, right. Indeed, the current Namgung Family Head does have a rather refreshing personality."
Heo-do briefly envisioned the future.
Namgung Jin-cheon, the man closest to being the absolute strongest in the world; Jin Gi-jae-cheon, who had achieved impossible heights at a young age; and the intertwined relationship between the Namgung Clan and the Divine Sword Geum Family...
The Righteous Faction is going to be turned upside down.
If the Namgung Clan and the Divine Sword Geum Family operated as closely as a single entity, their influence would be incomparably greater than it was now.
For now, the Divine Sword Geum Family had fallen and lacked power, but would that remain the case?
With the prestige of a 'Divine House,' a master like Jin Gi-jae-cheon, and a legitimate successor to the Geum lineage, their strength would explosively swell the moment they established a foothold.
This is the ground floor.
Based on his long years of experience, Heo-do reached a firm conclusion.
"Let us be close friends."
"Pardon?"
"Begin...!"
Before Seo-jun could respond, the referee's shout signaled the start of the duel.
What’s with him all of a sudden?
Seo-jun shook his head and turned his focus back to the match.
* * *
Mu-hye gripped her sword and looked at the girl before her.
The descendant of the Divine Sword Geum Family. The younger sister cherished by Jin Gi-jae-cheon.
Setting aside trivial thoughts, she quickly reviewed her opponent's previous matches.
The thing to watch out for most is that Illusion Sword.
She didn't know exactly what kind of martial art it was. However, it was clearly a profound technique, considering it had completely toyed with Ju Yang-il of the Imperial Family.
To seize victory, she had to overcome that technique.
Mu-hye unleashed a finishing move right from the start.
Taiji Wisdom Sword, Swirling Flow.
Rumble—!
Mu-hye’s ink-colored internal energy flowed like water, instantly occupying the space of the arena.
Simultaneously, her sword traced a gentle circle.
Swish—!
Taiji is the beginning and the end. It embraces all things, spreading infinitely to form all things once more.
Some mistakenly believed Wudang’s swordsmanship was only good for counterattacking, but that was a grave error.
If you were swept into the Taiji, you simply became a part of it.
Wudang’s sword was exactly like that.
The billowing sword qi surged toward Chun-bong.
"Hup...!"
Chun-bong was not intimidated. Wudang? Taiji? At best, this was only at the level of a rising star.
Moreover, this was a martial art that manipulated qi.
To Chun-bong, who had trained extensively with Seo-jun, it was almost laughable.
Slice—
Chun-bong’s sword bisected the Taiji.
Yin and Yang. The harmonious Taiji was split apart, transforming back into pure, separated Yin and Yang energies.
Chun-bong lunged forward, her sword wrapped in the power of the Azure Cloud Divine Art. The Yin energy separated from the shattered Taiji flowed seamlessly along her blade.
"How?"
Mu-hye’s eyes sparkled with interest as she rushed to meet the attack.
Chun-bong’s sword descended, taking the form of an azure dragon.
Mu-hye executed her technique while remaining highly wary of the Illusion Sword. If she couldn't grasp its exact trajectory, she would cut through the entire plane rather than a single line.
Clang—!
The swords of Chun-bong and Mu-hye violently collided.
Then, Chun-bong’s sword traced a small circle.
"Huh?"
Spin—
Her sword's momentum was instantly stolen, knocked aside and completely out of her control. It was the Flowing Clouds Blue Heaven of the Azure Cloud Divine Sword.
Mu-hye stared blankly at her deflected blade. Chun-bong gave a cheeky grin.
"Are you perhaps focusing a little too much on the Chun-bong Divine Art?"
Chun-bong’s primary strength was not the Chun-bong Divine Art, but the Azure Cloud Divine Sword.
Mu-hye frantically tried to twist her body away, but Chun-bong’s sword was already resting against her throat.
An abrupt conclusion.
Yet, hidden within the brief exchange was a meticulous battle of wits. Mu-hye’s fatal mistake was being too wary of the Chun-bong Divine Art.
It was unavoidable.
Both the Chun-bong Divine Art and the Azure Cloud Divine Sword were peerless martial arts.
If you guarded against one, you fell to the other.
The fact that Chun-bong held two such ultimate cards was what made her truly absurd.
"The winner...! Geum Hee of the Divine Sword Geum Family...!"
The audience hesitated, stunned that the match had ended before they could even get excited.
Without missing a beat, Chun-bong sheathed her sword and thrust one hand high into the air.
Her golden dragon robes fluttered dramatically in the wind.
Chun-bong shouted, "The prestige of the Divine Sword Geum Family shall last forever!"
Waaaaaaaah────────!!!
Only then did the crowd snap out of their daze, erupting into deafening cheers.
A girl who had defeated the rising star of Wudang in a single exchange!
Given Mu-hye’s stellar previous performances, the spectators were buzzing with absolute excitement.
"I heard the Divine Sword Geum Family was incredible, and it turns out it was true!"
"You can say that again! Isn't the Geum Family going to win this whole thing too easily?"
"No! We have to wait and see. The rising stars of the Namgung Clan were amazing too!"
Watching this, Seo-jun marveled.
"Oh..."
Even so, to win that easily?
Perhaps he was the one who had been underestimating Chun-bong all along.
Regardless...
Our Chun-bong is a total superstar, isn't she?
She clearly had a natural talent for showmanship. The way she instantly electrified the quiet crowd was proof enough.
Had she been born in the modern era, she surely would have become the world’s greatest idol.
As Seo-jun chuckled, the previously silent True Human Heo-do let out a groan.
"Ugh... She still hasn't fixed that habit of her vision narrowing when she gets excited."
"She’s still young," Seo-jun consoled.
Though Mu-hye was likely older than Seo-jun himself, she was certainly young by Murim standards.
"...Yes, I suppose. Perhaps it’s better that she realized it now."
Heo-do nodded, though his expression was still filled with regret.
But he wasn't the only one feeling that way.
The surrounding elders were also buzzing about the highly anticipated match ending in an instant.
"What a shame. If they fought again, it would be a truly great duel..."
"It couldn't be helped; it ended before we could even see Wudang’s specialty. Still, a mistake is also a reflection of one's skill."
Regardless, the fact remained: it was a flawless victory for the Geum Family.
And so, Chun-bong’s grand ambition moved one step closer to reality.
* * *
Seo-jun congratulated Chun-bong profusely.
He bought her delicious food, gave her a celebratory lift, and patted her head until she was fully satisfied. Chun-bong went to sleep that night feeling incredibly content.
Late that night, under a high moon, Seo-jun climbed onto the roof.
Thinking about it now, a rooftop in the middle of the night really was the best spot for inspiration to strike.
"Let’s see..."
Seo-jun looked at the moon hanging high in the sky. The full moon cast a soft, silver glow upon the earth.
Slowly, Seo-jun reached out toward it.
He pointed his index and middle fingers at the glowing orb, recalling the essence of Shooting the Sun.
"Bang."
In Seo-jun’s mental imagery, a perfectly round hole was punched straight through the moon.
If it’s like this, shouldn't it be called Shooting the Moon instead of Shooting the Sun?
Chuckling to himself, he let his mental imagery scatter, following the sudden rush of inspiration.
His inner world—which had solidified over time since he reached the Super Peak Realm—responded. All things within it scattered at Seo-jun’s gesture, only to rapidly gather at his fingertips.
Shooting the Sun. It embodied the human desire to shoot down the sun itself.
Its speed was like light, piercing any target in an instant, no matter how distant.
Eun Wi-ryong seemed to think differently about its application, but this method was far more comfortable for Seo-jun.
Since he could reach the heavens anyway, wouldn't it be easier to trample his enemies if he just dragged the sky down first?
Seo-jun trimmed away the trivialities and kept only the absolute necessary elements in his hand. His reconstructed mental imagery supported his will.
"Heaven Piercing."
The foundation was the Heaven-Defying Sun-Moon Art. Yin and Yang drew a Reverse Taiji at his fingertips before being fired directly toward the sky.
Craaaaaack──────────
Seo-jun watched the spectacle he had created in silent amusement.
The sky within his mental imagery had been pierced.
But it wasn't just in his mind. The actual night sky above him now had a massive hole torn through the clouds, as if his imagery had been violently transposed onto reality.
"...I reached it. The heavens."
A hole blacker than the night sky itself hung above. In that bottomless abyss where even the stars could not shine, fragments of the atmosphere seemed to fall helplessly.
He had broken even that damn sky that had once seemed so unreachable.
I moved forward again today.
Until he held that very sky beneath his feet, his steps would not stop.
* * *
"You... it’s good to be diligent in your martial arts, but you should think of others at least a little bit."
"Yes... I’m sorry..."
He got scolded.
Despite the late hour, numerous martial artists had frantically gathered at the Namgung Clan’s villa.
Not long after the Great General of the Imperial Family had been assassinated, a gaping hole had suddenly appeared in the sky.
It was only natural for the martial artists to come running in a panic, fearing another attack.
The Abbot let out a long sigh.
"At least I’m glad nothing serious happened. I wondered what kind of madmen were attacking this time."
"I mean, you’re a monk... 'Madmen' is a bit much..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing..."
Seo-jun grumbled. The Abbot clicked his tongue, but his eyes turned deep and calculating as he looked at Chun-bong, who had rushed outside, startled by the sudden commotion.
It seems it wasn't an attack targeting the Divine Sword Geum Family.
The mysterious force that had wiped out the Geum Family... Even the Abbot did not have a clear grasp of their true identity.
While it seemed certain the Black Lotus Union was involved, there were too many suspicious details to attribute the massacre solely to them.
Perhaps...
No. The Abbot shook his head inwardly. There was nothing to be gained from hasty judgments.
"Anyway, be careful from now on."
"Yes, sir."
One must never lower their guard.
Deep within the Abbot’s eyes, a golden light flickered intensely.