Chapter 48: You're Not About to Come Out Now, Are You?
“How can this be!”
I Hyeon-chang stared at the back mountain with an expression of utter disbelief.
“He takes a sword into his body and absorbs it instead? Impossible. Utterly impossible! Could that be the legendary Innate Sword Body!?”
I Hyeon-chang's face grew gravely serious.
The Innate Sword Body. It was a special constitution spoken of only in legends—a body that could absorb swords. Those who possessed it were said to be granted by the heavens themselves.
Once it appeared, they were destined to become heaven-defying existences.
And now, such a body stood right before his eyes. Even as the dean of Changmok Academy, he couldn't help but be stunned.
In the back mountain.
Having broken through to the Control Qi Realm, Yeop Hyeon spun around and unleashed a single fist strike.
That one punch was at least twice as powerful as before—the direct result of his realm advancement!
Boom!
The man before him was sent flying back more than a dozen zhang in an instant.
Only then did Yeop Hyeon get a clear look at the face of his ambusher. He was a man in his early twenties, clad in black combat robes, with cold eyes—a sword cultivator. And not just any sword cultivator, but one wielding a massive greatsword right in front of him!
In that previous sword strike, Yeop Hyeon had sensed faint sword glare.
“How can you absorb a sword!?”
The black-robed man shouted in panic.
Yeop Hyeon's expression twisted with fury.
“You call this a one-on-one duel and pull a despicable sneak attack? You're dead!”
Yeop Hyeon's body shot into the air. At the same time, a sword materialized in his palm.
The Spirit Water Sword!
Now at the Control Qi Realm, he could freely control his qi. The Spirit Water Sword emerged, radiating endless sword glare.
Sword glare!
The hallmark of a greatsword master!
The Changmok Academy students who witnessed it fell into chaos.
The black-robed man trembled in fear, unable to accept the reality before him.
“A greatsword master... a greatsword master...”
He himself was just a few steps from becoming one. But no one could predict if those steps would take ten years, twenty, or if he'd ever reach it at all—perhaps never.
He snapped out of his daze. He had to. Yeop Hyeon's sword was already upon him. As the strike fell, countless strands of sword glare shot out like arrows.
Startled, the man stomped the ground to retreat in haste, but several strands had already pierced his chest.
Sizzle!
The black-robed man staggered and collapsed, blood spraying from his chest in all directions.
Yeop Hyeon withdrew his blade.
At that moment, a white shadow lunged toward him.
It was the white-robed man who had been fighting Mu Yun Qi moments ago, intervening to rescue the black-robed man.
Yeop Hyeon thrust the sword in his hand straight ahead without a change in expression.
Sword glare flickered at the tip of the Spirit Water Sword!
The white-robed man faltered at Yeop Hyeon's swift response.
Then, an inexplicable energy surged from the white-robed man's body. His hands trembled violently. Suddenly, a barrier of blue qi erupted from his fingertips—a defensive shield to block Yeop Hyeon's sword.
The Spirit Water Sword paid it no mind. It pierced through the barrier the man had desperately formed with ease.
The blade headed straight for the space between his eyes.
The Spirit Water Sword, charging toward his brow, halted just a few cun away.
The white-robed man had seized the blade with his bare hands in a desperate grasp!
At the same instant, blue flames erupted from both of the white-robed man's hands gripping the sword.
He was trying to suppress the sword glare of the Spirit Water Sword.
Yeop Hyeon kicked out at the man's abdomen. The white-robed man swiftly blocked with the hand holding the sword.
Thud!
Both figures retreated several zhang simultaneously.
As Yeop Hyeon steadied himself, Mu Yun Qi and Bai Ze flew to his side. Bai Ze's upper body was covered in bloody handprints, especially his chest where the shape of a palm was vividly imprinted. His mighty, half-demon physique had been ravaged by the black-robed man's attacks.
Mu Yun Qi's arm was broken sometime during the fight, leaving him barely mobile. Blood trickled from his mouth—he appeared to have suffered severe internal injuries.
In contrast, the white-robed and black-robed men showed no signs of damage. They retained their initial momentum.
The two turned their sights on Yeop Hyeon simultaneously.
The instant they moved to strike, an old man blocked their path.
It was Ji Yuan Zhang, the dean.
Following him, the dean of Changmok Academy appeared in the arena.
Ji Yuan Zhang took a swig of liquor before addressing I Hyeon-chang.
“How about this? You kill those three yourself. Think you can manage it?”
It was a blatant provocation.
I Hyeon-chang's eyes wavered. He instantly grasped the dean's intent.
If he killed Yeop Hyeon and the others, Ji Yuan Zhang would retaliate in kind. If he acted recklessly, the dean would unleash lethal force on Changmok Academy's warriors.
I Hyeon-chang knew the dean's power better than anyone. Blocking his attacks would inevitably cause heavy losses to Changmok Academy.
Especially among the younger disciples—the damage would be immense.
The reason Changmok Academy couldn't eradicate the thorn in their side, Canglan Academy, was precisely because of Ji Yuan Zhang. Of course, even he alone couldn't stand against their overwhelming forces.
But if Ji Yuan Zhang engaged in all-out war, Changmok Academy would suffer too.
That would weaken their dominance. Though they currently held absolute power in Jiang Kingdom, many factions lurked, waiting for their downfall.
He couldn't give them an opening.
Right. It's impossible to block Ji Yuan Zhang without taking losses!
After a moment's deliberation, I Hyeon-chang shifted his gaze to Yeop Hyeon.
“You’ve got some unexpected skill. But it doesn't matter. Soon enough, your corpse will be strung up on Ok-san Mountain.”
With that, I Hyeon-chang led his warriors away.
Once they were gone, Ji Yuan Zhang looked at Yeop Hyeon and the other two.
“Do you know who those two—the one in white and the one in black—were?”
The three shook their heads.
“They’re two of the Inner Academy’s Three Great Geniuses. You should be grateful the third didn’t show. If he had, I’d be cleaning up your corpses right now!”
Yeop Hyeon and his juniors fell silent.
“You felt it just now. You threw everything you had at them, but they didn’t even go all out. I sent them to show you just how weak you are compared to them. As I’ve said before, if you don’t train relentlessly, your corpses will end up on Ok-san Mountain in a year. And I might not even bother picking them up!”
Ji Yuan Zhang turned and took a few steps before pausing.
“Oh, and those two aren’t even the strongest in Changmok Academy. Their top prodigies are Fen Jue and Bei Chen. With your current skills, you’d die ten times out of ten against them!”
The three said nothing.
Their faces darkened. Even without the dean's threatening tone, they understood. They knew exactly how formidable those foes were.
What crashed over them now was pure terror. If they fought the life-or-death matches like this, the three of them would surely end up as corpses on the mountain.
Even Yeop Hyeon, who had reached the Control Qi Realm, couldn’t guarantee victory. Perhaps One Sword Determines Life and Death offered a slim chance. But those two weren’t even Changmok Academy’s strongest!
A profound sense of crisis gripped them all. Until now, they’d trained under the dean’s relentless push, without much thought.
Things were different now. They had to grow stronger, stakes on their lives. They were already outmatched by those who weren’t even the academy’s elite.
No matter how they’d lived before, they were Canglan Academy students now. As such, the blood feud with Changmok Academy couldn’t be avoided.
And Yeop Hyeon—hadn’t the dean promised, when he saved Yeop Ryeong’s life, to collect Changmok Academy corpses no matter what?
Training!
The three exchanged no words. They turned back to their training grounds.
Yeop Hyeon resumed pummeling the small mountain. From the earlier battle, he’d gained insight. Now, he infused his fists not just with power, but with momentum.
Fist Momentum!
That was it. The dean’s true intent in telling him to shatter the mountain was fist momentum.
Every punch had to carry that surging force. Only then could it hold the power to crumble a mountain!
With this realization, Yeop Hyeon’s strikes grew ever stronger. The price was steep—his fists soon dripped with blood.
By the time night fell in earnest, utterly drained, Yeop Hyeon lay spread-eagled on the ground, gasping for breath. The star-filled sky seemed ready to pour into his eyes.
He was exhausted, yes—but also invigorated.
The sensation of pouring every ounce of strength from his body was exhilarating beyond measure.
Suddenly, as if struck by inspiration, Yeop Hyeon sat up. He opened his palm, and the Spirit Water Sword rose above it.
This Spirit Water Sword felt different now—indescribably so, but markedly changed from before.
Likely because he’d absorbed the enemy’s sword in that fight. It hadn’t been a low-grade blade—at least spirit sword quality. Though inferior to his own, certainly. If it had been superior, he’d have died instead of absorbing it.
The core of the Invincible Sword Body Art was the sword. The stronger the sword serving as his dantian, the more powerful the technique—and the more swords he could absorb.
Swords!
The thought of swords flashing in his mind, Yeop Hyeon entered the Gyeok Ok Tower at once.
Beneath the myriad nebulae, standing before the tower, Yeop Hyeon looked up at its peak. Three swords still pierced the top.
From this angle, he could barely make out their shapes. If he’d reached the Soaring Realm, he could fly up for a closer look. For now, he could only gaze from afar.
His eyes burned as he stared at the three blades.
If only he could make those three his dantian—then no sword in the world would be beyond his absorption!
At that very moment, the Gyeok Ok Tower began to tremble. Panicking, Yeop Hyeon rushed inside.
“Heavenly Maiden?”
No response came.
As Yeop Hyeon opened his mouth to call again, a sound echoed.
Thud...
He thought he’d misheard at first. But then it continued.
“Thud, thud, thud, thud...”
Footsteps grew louder, approaching.
Yeop Hyeon tensed.
“Who’s there...?”
No answer.
But the footsteps boomed ever louder, ever closer. At last, the first floor where Yeop Hyeon stood shook.
Slowly, he turned toward the entrance to the second floor. The door rattled wildly. Dread surged within him.
“You... you’re not about to come out right now, are you?”