Chapter 199
Chapter 199. Gangdo and the Courtesan (2)
"Wooaaah! Go, Auntie!"
"Go, go!"
"Dinner! Dinner!"
As though it was a familiar sight, the children cheered.
In contrast, Dong Mu-toe's eyes narrowed.
'She's circulating Yin Cold Energy like that?'
It was not simply the level of emanating cold energy.
Ordinarily, martial arts of the Yin Cold Energy variety discharge cold energy and chill energy outward.
Hardened solid like ice and fired, or scattered like a blizzard.
Either way, it is a method that erupts outward.
But that was different.
The cold energy was circling the outermost layer of her body.
As if winding thread onto an invisible spindle, the cold energy was layering itself in fine lines centered on her, and simultaneously seeping faintly outward as well.
'Convergence and diffusion at the same time?'
An impossible structure.
At least, not a method that existed among any of the Yin Cold Energy Mental Cultivation Methods Dong Mu-toe knew.
That was like.
'A Formation.'
Of course it was not an actual formation.
For a formation, a medium is required.
Whether a talisman, terrain, or Formation Core.
That woman was simply using her own body as the medium to circulate the cold energy.
Truly a fresh and original way of circulating energy unlike anything he had seen before.
Whooosh!
Jeon Ra-hwa once more slides like a brush through the snowflakes and launches herself explosively toward Dong Bong-soo.
Her sword flashed like an icicle drinking in sunlight.
Upper strike.
A vertical slash aimed at the crown of the head. Whether she truly intended to kill him or not, Killing Intent was packed densely within the cold energy.
Swoosh.
Dong Bong-soo turned his head to the side.
Just enough for the sword to pass.
Without a single inch of error.
The sword cleaved through the air.
As though an ice line had been drawn, the air froze rapidly along the trajectory.
Jeon Ra-hwa's next attack followed in the same stance.
Horizontal slash.
A vertical stroke immediately followed by a horizontal stroke — a consecutive strike.
Even more cold energy was loaded into the second slash.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Dong Bong-soo tilted his torso back slightly and immediately bent forward.
The sword grazed the top of his head.
A single strand of hair was cut and fell.
"Oh? She cut him, she cut him."
"Cut what. That was just grazing a strand of hair."
"Isn't that still getting hit once?"
"No it isn't. Just one measly strand."
The children's back-and-forth debate continued.
Dong Mu-toe, sitting on the opposite side, let the children's words wash past him while keeping his gaze fixed solely on the sparring unfolding in the Training Grounds.
Whooosh!
Jeon Ra-hwa swung her sword once more.
This time it was not a simple slash.
Cold energy condensed at the tip of the blade, and a crescent-moon-shaped energy wave materialized into tangible form.
Crescent Moon Cold Sword Energy.
Whooom!
The energy wave flew toward Dong Bong-soo.
Fast, cold, and sharp.
Dong Bong-soo did not evade.
Instead.
He flicked his index finger.
Pop.
The energy wave shattered to pieces.
As though glass had broken.
The cold energy turned to fragments and scattered like cherry blossom petals falling in abundance on a spring day.
"……!"
A slight tremor rippled through Jeon Ra-hwa's pupils.
But before long the light in her eyes settled back into cold stillness.
"Again."
Dong Bong-soo's flat voice fell.
Neither praise, nor reproach, nor encouragement.
Dong Bong-soo was instilling mechanical 'repetition.' That was generally the fastest method. It had already been proven as much. Even granted that he had modified the Dragon Phoenix Crown Opening Great Method he had originally received from Tang O into the Acupoint Chasing Method and performed it for her almost every day, growth of this degree was beyond common sense.
The system of What is Hero and Jeon Ra-hwa's innate gifts.
And.
Without this infinite repetition it would have been impossible.
"Aaaah!"
With a cold shout, Jeon Ra-hwa rushed forward again.
Sshhhh—
The sword drew pure white afterimages in the air.
One, two, three, four, five, six……
A countless number of slashes poured toward Dong Bong-soo almost simultaneously.
Cold energy blossoms along each trajectory.
As though ice bars were trying to cage Dong Bong-soo in, they encircled him. It was like a Sword Dance woven by a supreme-level Swordmaster amid that chaos of snow and flower petals falling without mercy together.
But.
Dong Bong-soo moved.
No—even saying 'moved' was something of an approximation.
He simply, from the same spot, twisted his body this way and that ever so slightly.
As though wind blows serenely even through a blizzard, every slash slipped and slid away.
"Wow……. As expected of Gate Leader."
"Auntie's not done yet! Go, go!"
The children's gasps and cheers.
In contrast, Dong Mu-toe had already lowered his propped arm and was continually swallowing.
'Insane…… I can't analyze it.'
Even with the ability to size up the world through the logic of the Eight Trigrams and Nine Palaces, even with the analytical capacity cultivated as a Formation Taoist, that person's movements were beyond interpretation.
Like water flowing, like wind blowing.
Too simple.
Too natural.
'There's no system.'
Martial arts have a system.
There are forms, variations of forms, and combinations.
Even the greatest master moves within that framework.
That person.
'Is just dodging……'
That was all.
There was no system, yet it was perfect.
There was no logic, yet there were no openings.
Whooosh!
Jeon Ra-hwa prepared her final attack.
The atmosphere changed.
Jeon Ra-hwa's gaze turned earnest.
The cold energy reached its peak.
The entire Training Grounds grew chilled.
The children shrank from the cold.
"Ugh, it's cold."
"Auntie looks like she's finally going for real this time."
"This time she might actually kill Gate Leader for real?"
"Hey, Gate Leader can't die……"
"But he always says to kill him? Fight a sparring match like it's a death duel, and fight a death duel like it's a sparring match."
"He only says that as a figure of speech, you idiot."
"Just watch. You bunch of blockheads."
Amid the children's squabbling, Jeon Ra-hwa was regulating her breath, breathing in deeply and letting it out.
Hoo……
White vapor rose from her mouth.
A fog of energy with condensed cold energy.
Even those wisps of fog soon began orbiting around her body as well.
Shk—
She leveled her blade straight, pointing it directly at Dong Bong-soo.
A sword stance that gathered all the cold energy in her body to a single point at the tip.
The blade froze pure white.
Crack, crack—
The sound of the air inside the Training Grounds freezing swallowed up the surroundings.
At some moment, strangely, a warm breeze blew across the entire Training Grounds.
No—more like a scorching hot wind, as though midsummer blazing sun was beating down directly.
Only a single point.
Only the tip of Jeon Ra-hwa's blade shone translucently like a Freezing Point.
An instant.
Jeon Ra-hwa's figure was launched.
The Ice Sword drove in straight.
A pure white streak of light aimed at the heart.
Fast.
Sharp.
And equally concise and beautiful.
A small dot.
A single point of Ice Energy gathered at the tip of the blade.
As it drew closer to Dong Bong-soo, it expanded.
As though it were alive.
One span.
One meter.
Three meters.
At some point it was no longer a sword.
A great Ice Beast had opened its maw and was crashing down upon Dong Bong-soo.
As though to swallow him.
As though to consume him whole.
As though to freeze his very existence.
Once again the season of the Training Grounds reversed.
From winter it had become summer, then plummeted straight back down to winter.
The children shrank from the flowing cold energy.
Even Dong Mu-toe found himself pulling his torso back without realizing it.
In an instant, the world turned white.
All those watching the sparring held their breath.
At that moment.
Dong Bong-soo moved.
For the first time.
He moved properly.
Shk—
He caught the sword between two fingers.
"……!"
The sword stopped.
Completely.
It could not advance even one more inch.
The season was neither winter nor summer but had become spring.
Like a spring day with a sweetly blowing warm breeze.
"Ah-."
Astonishment rose across Jeon Ra-hwa's face.
A strike with her full power, blocked by two fingers.
Still……still, this is all she can manage.
The cold energy gently faded away.
The thin ice film wrapped around the blade quietly melted.
Drip-drip.
Water droplets flowing to the floor.
One drop, two drops.
Dong Bong-soo released the sword he had caught and opened his mouth.
"You believe so strongly that everything shows through clearly."
"Pardon?"
"That was good."
"……"
"You're doing well."
Enough to go out hunting on her own now.
Tap-tap.
Dong Bong-soo lightly tapped the top of Jeon Ra-hwa's head.
Praise is easy. Yet its effect is endless. There is no reason not to do it.
"Hmph. Next time I'm really going to kill you."
"Yeah. I sincerely hope you will."
"Ah, does that mean I have to skip dinner again today."
"No."
Dong Bong-soo lightly scattered Super True Energy Field across the ground.
Then a single short strand of hair, dampened among the melted water, was drawn into his hand.
"Cleanly cut."
"It's just one strand of hair?"
"Either way, it's head hair."
"……?"
"For a man, that's everything."
"I don't know what you mean by that but it means we get to eat dinner, right?"
"Right."
And with that, Dong Bong-soo left the Training Grounds.
Behind him, Jeon Ra-hwa was grinning away about who knows what as she ran toward the children.
As though that single word 'right' was some magnificent reward.
While Jeon Ra-hwa and the children were making a great commotion.
Dong Bong-soo walked up and stood before Dong Mu-toe.
"You're up."
Dong Mu-toe smiled faintly.
"Thanks to you I got to see something interesting."
Standing against the backlight with the sun behind him, no reaction whatsoever could be seen from Dong Bong-soo. Only eyes that held no particular meaning at all were visible.
Dong Mu-toe slowly rose from where he sat, brought his eyes level with the other's, and opened his mouth.
"Why didn't you kill me and bring me here instead?"
"Why would I kill a useful slave?"
"Slave is a bit much, isn't it? Humble as I may look, I am a Trigram Leader of Formation Tower, I am."
"Formation Tower? Trigram Leader? What's that?"
"……"
"……"
"One of the Three Forces Beyond Heaven."
"……"
"Ah, right. You don't need to know. It's nothing at all. Formation Tower is just a group of money-crazed idiots, and Trigram Leader is an extra-grade idiot among those idiots."
"Is that so?"
He had a feeling he was getting tangled up in something, but Dong Mu-toe didn't particularly mind.
"Fine, fine, anyway."
Because questions had been piling up like a mountain.
"If I become your slave, will you answer?"
"Answer what?"
"What I ask."
"Whether I answer or not, you're already my Subordinate."
"Alright, alright. I'll be subordinate. What's the big deal? I'm already yours. Whether you touch my rear or stick your—Ah, that's a bit much. Anyway."
Dong Mu-toe clasped his hands together and his eyes gleamed.
"Last time you said something about faith. What is that? What kind of martial art is it? Is it Formation Path? Or something else……"
"Shut up."
"Mmph-mmph!"
It worked.
He had silenced that fellow's mouth with a single word.
He would have to experiment step by step going forward to know for certain, but the 'Power of Subordination' was undoubtedly broader in scope than he had imagined.
Shing—
Dong Bong-soo drew his razor-sharp sword and lightly pressed it to Dong Mu-toe's neck.
"Well, it's already the case, but going forward you'll need to stay by my side for quite a long time."
At that, Dong Mu-toe grinned.
"Mmph-mmph!"
"……"
He's pleased?
What a peculiar specimen.
He was certainly going to be useful in equal measure.
He might even be thankful that his life was being aimed at.
Dong Bong-soo sheathed his sword and said.
"Speak."
"Ah-ah. Ah-ah. Wow, what is this? How on earth did you do it? Is this Spirit Word type? Or intention-based? How does a technique take form without even a Formation Core? Could it be using the soul itself directly as a medium? Then where is the endpoint? Meridians? Divine Consciousness? Spirit Terrace? No, wait. I never agreed to anything in the first place—how did the vow take effect? What is the starting condition of the binding? Time? Location? Utterance? Or is it inverse-calculating causality itself……"
Dong Bong-soo could now perfectly understand what kind of individual Dong Mu-toe was.
For such a person, nothing in the world matters.
Only truth. Life is like a blade of grass, but truth and knowledge are absolute — that type.
"Shut up."
"Mmph-mmph."
"One per day."
Dong Bong-soo's face drew close until it was right before Dong Mu-toe's nose.
"Questions, that is."
"Mmph-mmph!"
"But there's a condition."
Dong Mu-toe's head moved rapidly up and down.
Dong Bong-soo's indifferent voice followed immediately.
"From this moment on, you will become a Disciple of our Hero Gate."
Dong Mu-toe's head nodded immediately.
Ding.
[You have enlisted a qualified, trustworthy individual into your guild.]
[Though small, your guild has become more just.]
"Hero Gate is a righteous and upright organization. All you have to do going forward is act accordingly."
Again Dong Mu-toe's head bobs.
Along with it, Dong Bong-soo's canines showed white.
"Welcome."
To joining the apex of the food chain.
═══【 Guild Member Details 】═══
[Dong Mu-toe]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━
▸ Position: Guild Member ▸ Combat Level: Immeasurable ▸ Status: Normal ▸ Trust Level: [Subordinate] ▸ Main Specialty: Formation Path ▸ Sub Specialty: Magic-type ▸ Current Mission: None ▸ Main Equipment: (Inventory held) ▸ Growth Speed: Very Slow ▸ Potential: Supreme [Special Notes]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━