Chapter 94
Chapter 94
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 26
>Chapter Title: Reducing (2)
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Five boys stood before a door, their faces somewhat tense.
They stared at the door, swallowing dryly with nervous eyes.
[From now on, things are going to get pretty busy. Before the trials start, we have to break the legs of everyone not in our group.]
At first, Mok Kyung-un's words had left them baffled.
The idea of breaking the other cadets' legs before even facing the trials was mind-boggling.
But upon reflection, the strategy made a certain sense.
The longer the trials dragged on, the fiercer the competition would become.
But what if they eliminated most of the rivals in advance?
'The odds would go way up.'
Only a tiny fraction could be chosen by the elders.
Considering that, there was no need to hold back on methods.
One of the boys whispered.
"Think it'll work?"
"It will."
They were five strong, and only two were inside the room.
With the numerical advantage and a surprise attack, they could easily overpower them.
[You five move together.]
[All five?]
[Think you can handle it alone?]
[W-Well, no, but...]
[Do it as five.]
[Wait, then that means you, Yeom-ga, and Mo-ha are moving separately? If that's the case, maybe we should support you three with one or two each...]
[Why bother? We can handle it on our own.]
[......]
They were right—peak realm experts. Even alone, they could take on first-rate fighters.
It was like a pup worrying about a tiger.
The boys exchanged glances.
"Let's do it."
They opened the door.
* * *
As the door swung open, the two boys inside—who had been discussing how to recruit group members—naturally turned their gazes toward the entrance.
"Who are you?"
A handsome boy stepped through the door.
One of the boys recognized the face and scowled.
"You..."
It was Mok Kyung-un.
He had left such a strong impression from the iron orb scramble in the first trial that most cadets would remember him.
One boy, puzzled at first, soon asked suspiciously.
"You wouldn't happen to be going around recruiting group members, would you?"
"Something like that."
With that, Mok Kyung-un quietly closed the door behind him.
Seeing this, one boy didn't relax his scowl.
"Hey. I have no intention of being in a group with you."
"Is that so?"
"So get out."
"Hmm. That's a problem."
"What's the problem? Go find people who actually want to group up with you. I don't want to..."
Whoosh!
Before he could finish, Mok Kyung-un shot forward, grabbed the boy's head, and slammed it into the bed frame.
Thud!
"Urk!"
He seized the boy's struggling right arm and wrenched it back.
Crack!
"Gaaah!"
The boy whose arm had snapped tried to scream, but Mok Kyung-un clamped his mouth shut, muffling it into agonized groans.
The other boy, sitting across from them, couldn't hide his shock at the scene.
Who could have predicted a sudden attack when they were off guard?
"W-What the hell are you doing?"
"What does it look like?"
Mok Kyung-un grinned and pressed his foot down on the suffering boy's left leg.
Crunch!
Crack!
The ankle twisted, bone piercing through flesh.
"Grrrrraaah!"
The boy's eyes bulged, veins popping as he writhed in agony.
He soon passed out from the pain.
The unflinching way Mok Kyung-un carried out the brutality terrified the remaining boy, who blurted out hastily.
"I-I'll join your group! Just please... spare..."
"It's fine."
"What?"
"I've already got my group. I just came to break your arms and legs."
'!?'
What the hell is this guy?
So the goal from the start was to injure them?
Absurdity hit him, but he knew if he didn't run now, he'd end up like the fainted one.
Whoosh!
He launched toward the door.
But—
Whack!
"Hngh!"
His body flying toward the door jerked backward, pulled by something.
Soon, Mok Kyung-un gripped the nape of his neck.
'H-How...'
"I'll make it painless."
"W-What are..."
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!
Before he could speak, his acupoints were sealed, and the boy lost consciousness.
Mok Kyung-un laid him on the floor and stomped on his right ankle.
Crack!
Since his fainting acupoint was sealed, the boy didn't wake even as his leg broke.
Looking down at him, Mok Kyung-un smirked and muttered.
"Four."
The count so far.
-Are you really planning to break every single one?
Cheong-ryeong's voice rang in Mok Kyung-un's ear.
He answered nonchalantly.
"Of course."
Why waste time dragging out the trials? Eliminate most now, and there'd be no need for the later ones.
-You mortals are something else. Tsk tsk.
Cheong-ryeong clicked her tongue.
Most wouldn't even think of this, and if they did, they'd target only a few tricky opponents.
But Mok Kyung-un's approach was entirely different.
He planned to use the time given for rest and group formation to disqualify all the cadets.
In a way, it was misfortune for this cohort of the gorge from the moment they met him.
"Sixty-four left now."
Out of eighty total.
Four caught as spies, four with broken limbs by Mok Kyung-un's hand, and eight in his group including himself.
That left sixty-four.
* * *
Mok Yu-cheon sat deep in meditative trance.
After a long session, he opened his eyes. For a split second, a chilling energy unlike his usual righteous aura flickered within.
But it vanished quickly.
'What was that just now?'
In his trance, Mok Yu-cheon had been suddenly overwhelmed by a strange emotion.
Normally, meditation cleared his mind and body, but this time, he was seized by an unprecedented pleasure.
The moment he surrendered to it, something astonishing happened.
'My energy surged.'
Suspicious, Mok Yu-cheon checked his dantian.
'!?'
His eyes widened.
He knew exactly how large his dantian was and how many years of cultivation he had accumulated through daily practice.
Yet now, it was subtly larger than before.
'No way...'
How was this possible?
Even with a superior heart method, could internal energy grow this fast?
At this rate, consistent practice could halve the time it normally took to build up.
He started feeling good, but then unease crept in.
The bizarre pleasure during meditation made him strangely anxious.
'Is this okay?'
It felt too different from the basic功法.
He shook his head.
This was the Timber Transforming Heart Method, exclusive to the Timber Sword Manor's lord.
Of course it differed vastly from basic techniques.
'Right. No way it could be bad.'
He'd worried about deviating into heart demon territory from improper practice, but his mind remained pure and steadfast.
As long as he didn't waver, it should be fine.
He was about to resume when—
Knock knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
No one was supposed to visit him now.
Puzzled, he watched as someone opened the door and entered.
'Huh?'
It was a boy with a nearly adult-like maturity.
The only flaw on his handsome face was his sharp, slitted eyes, but even without that, he was good-looking.
'I know this guy...'
He'd seen him before.
During the second trial, after losing his comrades and fleeing alone, he'd been cornered.
This friend had led a group to rescue him.
His name was...
"Moo Jang-yak!"
"Hey. You remember me."
"How could I forget my lifesaver?"
Mok Yu-cheon rose and greeted him with clasped hands in salute.
Moo Jang-yak waved it off.
"Cut it out. No need for that stiff courtesy between peers. Just greet me like a friend."
"Even so, if not for you, I..."
He might have died right there.
He was truly grateful.
Moo Jang-yak eyed Mok Yu-cheon with a glint in his eyes.
"You... your complexion looks off."
"My complexion?"
Puzzled, Mok Yu-cheon wanted to check, but the sparse room had only two beds—no mirror.
"Is it bad?"
"Kinda ashen?"
"Ashen?"
Mok Yu-cheon frowned.
This time he'd continued the Timber Transforming Heart Method without pause, and the side effect seemed to have resurfaced.
It nagged at him, but with nothing to do about it now, he shook his head.
"It's nothing. Probably just fatigue."
"Good to hear."
"But what brings you here?"
Moo Jang-yak closed the door, his face turning serious.
"A bit of a problem cropped up."
"Problem?"
"I had a friend I agreed to group with—we planned to meet after meditation for dinner. But he never showed, so I checked his room. His leg was broken, and he was out cold."
"What?"
What kind of nonsense was this?
To the baffled Mok Yu-cheon, Moo Jang-yak spoke meaningfully.
"I checked a few other rooms on a hunch. Same thing—guys with broken legs."
"No way..."
"Someone's stirring things up."
"Why would they do that?"
"It's ridiculous, but probably to thin out competitors ahead of time."
"By breaking everyone's legs?"
"Likely. No-kill rule, sure, but no ban on injuring each other."
"Hah!"
Mok Yu-cheon clicked his tongue.
This place truly knew no honor or fairness.
Always scheming to stab someone in the back.
"Insane..."
"Yeah. Total madman. That's why I'm here with a proposal."
"Proposal?"
"Got a group yet? Or planning to lead one?"
Mok Yu-cheon shook his head.
He had no ambition to lead and had just planned to join whichever group during meditation.
Moo Jang-yak smiled faintly.
"If not, join mine?"
"What?"
"Shame about that friend of yours in your planned group—he got nabbed as a spy, right?"
"......"
Mok Yu-cheon fell silent.
He must have seen it.
Moo Jang-yak waved a hand.
"Whoa, not accusing you. If I thought that, I wouldn't propose this. And I offered back then too."
"True."
After the rescue, Moo Jang-yak had offered a spot since his group had an opening.
But Mok Yu-cheon had refused, saying he needed to regroup with his scattered comrades.
This time was different.
"I..."
"Better to group up anyway. With that lunatic out there, I told my members to huddle in one room."
"Oh..."
"That way we can watch each other's backs. What do you say?"
Moo Jang-yak's reasonable pitch left Mok Yu-cheon no reason to refuse.
Even at peak realm, he'd seen a few cadets at his level among the trainees—no room for complacency.
Sticking with them might be safer.
"Alright. If you'll have me, I'll do my best."
Moo Jang-yak extended a hand.
"I'm the grateful one. Having a talent like you aboard."
Clap!
They clasped hands.
In that instant, Mok Yu-cheon was inwardly shocked.
'This guy...'
He hadn't noticed before, but the energy from his hand was equal to his own—at least, not weaker.
The guy had subtly probed his level in that moment too.
"As expected. You're strong."
"You too."
Mok Yu-cheon nodded in agreement.
Then, curiously:
"But you're left-handed?"
Moo Jang-yak had offered his left hand, not right.
He chuckled softly.
"Who knows."
* * *
The night passed.
Early morning, just past the hour of the dragon.
Time to gather in the plaza behind the dorms after finalizing group leaders and members.
Someone urgently knocked on the gorge lord's office door.
Bang bang!
"Lord! Lord!"
The senior warrior attending beside him said.
"Seems they're ready."
"Apparently. Come in."
A young warrior with a red sash rushed inside.
The senior warrior sensed something off from his rigid expression.
"What's going on?"
"W-Well, there's a problem... a big one."
"A problem?"
"You need to see the plaza yourself."
What could it be?
Puzzled, gorge lord Yi Ji-yeom nodded and rose.
He and the senior warrior followed the young one out.
They needed to check the leaders anyway and proceed with the third trial, the sword inspection test.
As they reached the back plaza of the dorm building—
'!?'
Yi Ji-yeom and the senior warrior halted, dumbfounded.
Only sixteen people were outside.
Exactly two groups.
The senior warrior scowled at the young warrior.
"Why are only these guys out here?"
"W-Well..."
"Speak!"
Under pressure, the warrior glanced awkwardly at the dorm.
"The rest all have broken legs. They can't participate in this trial."
"What?"
The senior warrior doubted his ears.
Every missing person had a broken leg?
"What are you saying?"
"...I checked some rooms. Everyone who couldn't come out had broken legs."
"How is that..."
While the senior reeled in disbelief, Yi Ji-yeom's eyes—visible through his mask slits—fixed on someone standing with hands behind back in the plaza.
Mok Kyung-un.
Yi Ji-yeom recalled his words from yesterday.
[Would it be okay if I reduce the numbers a bit?]
Worried about strong rivals in the trials?
If so,
[As long as you follow the rules, no issue.]
[Oh, good to hear.]
Who knew he'd go this far.
'Is this... "a bit"?'
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