Chapter 49
Chapter 49
Chapter 49 Dragon Phoenix Assembly.
When I had become more familiar with the Dragon's Breath and Black Magic, and Eve had successfully learned Destructive Vacuum Palm, there wasn't much time left before the next trial began.
"You can wait well again this time, right?"
Since the trial was entirely my responsibility, I couldn't take Eve with me.
Of course, it would be much easier if I brought her along, but since I was growing like this with each floor I climbed, I didn't want that to be interfered with.
And she had just learned an advanced martial art, so she would need time to train alone.
"Of course! But next time, I'd like you to call me a bit faster!"
That depends on what kind of trial the Tower gives, so I couldn't promise that for certain.
"I'll try my best."
"Got it!"
After Eve nodded and entered the subspace, time was completely up.
[Time remaining until next floor opens: 0 hours 0 minutes]
I threw my body into the red portal that opened before my eyes, and the place I arrived at was a space similar to the Colosseum on the 2nd floor, but with a somewhat different atmosphere.
Should I say it was like a space where martial arts are competed in martial arts novels? It looked perfect for holding a World Martial Arts Tournament.
[Testing Floor Hell Difficulty 5th Floor Trial.]
[Win the Dragon Phoenix Assembly with restricted senses.]
[The use of Limit-Breaking stats, Divine Authority, and Manifestation is restricted while progressing through the Testing Floor.]
[Trial rewards are further enhanced due to penalties.]
[All five senses and regenerative abilities are restricted while progressing through the 5th Floor trial.]
'Was this really a place for holding tournaments?'
The Dragon Phoenix Assembly was a tournament where the rising stars of each sect under thirty competed against each other.
If the 4th floor was set in the Demon Realm, was the 5th floor a place created with the martial world as its background?
While I was pondering this, my vision was suddenly blocked, I couldn't hear anything, there was no smell, taste disappeared, and I lost all sensation in my skin.
The restriction of the five senses didn't mean the senses became dull—it meant they were completely eliminated.
My body swayed. No, I didn't even know if it swayed. I had no bodily sensation at all.
I had imagined what it would be like if senses disappeared, but I never thought I'd experience it like this.
But the five senses weren't the only senses I had. I immediately deployed Energy Sense and began feeling my surroundings with mana.
'This won't work?'
Due to the restriction on regenerative abilities, my mana recovery speed had also dropped significantly, so I felt I wouldn't be able to last long like this. I felt the need to improve Energy Sense.
I divided my mana even more finely and spread it out like very thin threads.
Those threads covered the world like a spider web, allowing me to feel more with less mana than before.
I had successfully improved Energy Sense more efficiently.
Until now, the problem had been that due to the highest-level correction for mana recovery speed included in the Divine Art, the amount of mana I recovered was greater than the mana consumed by Energy Sense.
I had plenty of other methods to reduce mana consumption.
I covered my entire body with threads of mana to feel its form, and like controlling a puppet, I raised my fallen body.
'I roughly understand what the concept is.'
If the 1st floor required agility from me, the 2nd floor force, the 3rd floor stamina, and the 4th floor mental strength, then the 5th floor was requiring expert-level mana control ability from me.
Could I prepare means to replace the five senses with mana? I thought that's what it was asking.
The restriction on regenerative abilities was probably to test how much I could accomplish with limited resources.
Since this was my first time perceiving the world only through Energy Sense, it was a very novel experience, and soon, other people besides me began to appear.
Countless spectators, and the being in the center who seemed to be a judge, and the person across from me who would be my opponent.
I couldn't hear sounds, but I analyzed the lip movements of the person in the center with Energy Sense.
—Everyone has waited long! The first match of the Dragon Phoenix Assembly main tournament with 32 martial artists remaining is between the wandering warrior Han Yeong-min and Cheong Heo of Mount Hua!
It seemed the person across from me was from the Mount Hua Sect. Somehow, a pure and noble aura flowed from his body.
Since I could feel my opponent moving toward the martial arts stage, I also moved toward the center.
Moving not with bodily sensation but only through mana control was very awkward and difficult, but I became slightly more accustomed with each step I took.
I tried to adjust mana more precisely to implement each minor movement of the body.
As a result, by the time I arrived at the martial arts stage, the sense of discomfort caused by the loss of sensation had almost disappeared, and I could move my body freely.
Of course, I didn't know if I could maintain this level of control during intense movements like combat, but that's something I could find out by trying, right?
'This is definitely exciting.'
Since this was my first opponent who had systematically learned martial arts while following an elite course from childhood.
Judging by the aura flowing from him, my opponent's level was Transcendent Peak. Normally, he wouldn't be a difficult opponent at all, but right now I was in a state with restricted five senses.
That made it more fun. If I used Black Magic, I could probably win easily, but using sorcery in a duel with a martial artist was unthinkable.
I had romance that spellcasters didn't have.
Soon, as if about to start the duel, I felt my opponent drawing his sword and moving his mouth.
—I am Cheong Heo of the Mount Hua Sect.
Since I didn't have any particular affiliation, I spoke along with what I was introduced as earlier, adding my personal opinion.
"I am the wandering warrior Han Yeong-min. I've always admired Mount Hua's swordsmanship, so it's good to face you like this."
This wasn't mere lip service but fact. What would be the most famous swordsmanship in martial arts novels?
There were many things like the Zhongnan Sect's Thirty-Six Swords Under Heaven, the Wudang Sect's Taiji Wisdom Sword, the Namgung Family's Emperor Sword Forms, but among them, the most gorgeous and romantic was the Plum Blossom Sword Technique.
Plum blossoms blooming magnificently from a sword—who could have thought to create such swordsmanship?
Even though I was a self-taught Grand Master, I had no idea how to make such martial arts usable in actual combat rather than just for viewing.
So this trial seemed like it would open new horizons in martial arts for me.
—Thank you. A young hero who has climbed this far as a wandering warrior must surely have a hidden trump card. I look forward to it.
Once introductions ended, my opponent's momentum changed. I could see him preparing himself to be able to cut me down at any moment.
First, I observed my opponent, and just from his sword-holding posture and momentum, I could see what he had focused on training.
Speed, Change, and Illusion.
He was indeed a swordsman of Mount Hua who handled ever-changing swords. My opponent swung his sword immediately, as if he wouldn't be careless.
And from that sword, plum blossoms bloomed magnificently.
Twenty-Four Stance Plum Blossom Sword Technique.
Countless petals made of Sword Energy dominated the surroundings and simultaneously flew toward my various vital points.
If I had sight, I would have been captivated by that beauty and bewildered, but right now I couldn't see.
I only needed to concentrate on dealing with these petals that were disrupting my Energy Sense.
Since I had received some preventive inoculation by facing Baek Ryeon's Manifestation of White Lotus Single Heart Flower Diagram, deflecting these plum blossoms wasn't too difficult either.
Since I had to move my body with mana, it was impossible to deflect everything, but I blocked all the plum blossoms flying toward important vital points and coolly gave up on the rest.
After countless plum blossoms passed through my body, only minor scratches on unimportant areas remained.
Since he probably didn't expect me to receive it in such an intact state, confusion was clearly visible in my opponent's expression felt through Energy Sense.
As if he couldn't believe it, my opponent tried attacking again by blooming plum blossoms, but the wounds were actually fewer than before.
I was gradually getting used to the ever-changing movements of the plum blossoms, and as I avoided and deflected those plum blossoms, I also became more accustomed to moving my body with mana.
'So this is how it feels?'
I was roughly getting a sense of what the Plum Blossom Sword Technique was like. And I realized how amazing a martial art it was.
It wasn't just about blooming plum blossoms, but giving substance to each one and turning them into daggers targeting the opponent—an incredible martial art.
Swordsmanship specialized in wounding and killing opponents to an unbelievable degree for a Taoist sect's martial art.
But within it contained not simple killing but the blossoming of life—that is, the mysterious Way of Blooming—making me feel how amazing these founding masters were.
Isn't it truly fascinating that martial arts created to bloom life were most specialized in killing life?
It seemed like it would be helpful enough for me to create martial arts in the future. Besides the Plum Blossom Sword Technique, Cheong Heo showed me many other things.
Movement techniques to prevent my approach, and when he finally allowed my approach, he used fist techniques and Grappling Techniques as if his ultra-close combat wasn't weak either, resisting to the maximum.
Thanks to that, I could realize the essence of Mount Hua Sect martial arts even more. Enough samples had accumulated.
'You've worked hard. Rest now.'
I hadn't attacked until now to draw out everything from my opponent, but now I had extracted everything there was to extract.
The moment Cheong Heo created distance and used the Twenty-Four Stance Plum Blossom Sword Technique once more, I instead dove into it and struck his abdomen with a fist containing the mysteries of Transcendence Limitless Path.
Since my analysis of the plum blossom movements was already complete, even diving toward the blooming plum blossoms didn't injure my vital points at all.
Since regenerative abilities were restricted, I had to avoid getting hurt as much as possible, but wounds of this degree were fine.
When I tried to throw another punch, my opponent reflexively swung his sword, but I turned my body to lightly avoid it and extended my fist toward his face.
Just before my fist touched, I stopped my hand, and my opponent dropped his sword to the ground, raised his hands beside his head, and opened his mouth.
—...I lost. It's Han-hyeong's victory.
Having won the duel, I came to be called hyeong by Cheong Heo. It seems in the martial world too, the stronger person becomes the older brother.
"It was a good match."
Perhaps because I, a wandering warrior, had defeated a Plum Blossom Swordsman of the Mount Hua Sect? The spectators' vigorous cheers erupted with such force that sound waves reached the martial arts stage.
Even knowing that they were fakes created by the trial, and even though my hearing was restricted so I couldn't even hear sounds, this passionate heat alone made my heart race.
It was the first time in my life receiving such fervent cheers from someone.
'Is this why people participate in tournaments?'
I think I could understand why soccer players do ceremonies. It was to respond to those fervent cheers.
Of course, I wasn't that much of an attention-seeker, so I just came down.
The Round of 32 continued after that, and I was accumulating countless data about martial arts by observing various martial artists' techniques through Energy Sense.
So I could create new martial arts without necessarily targeting monsters.
After the Round of 32 ended, everyone was given time to recover their tired bodies, and I was applying the Golden Wound Medicine provided by the tournament to my body while ruminating on the newly obtained martial arts.
And the Round of 16 began.
—By now, everyone should have sufficiently recovered their bodies. The protagonists of the next match are! The wandering warrior Han Yeong-min and Tang So-so of the Sichuan Tang Family!
I couldn't help but be surprised.
If it was the Sichuan Tang Family, it was definitely a family specializing in poison. What that fact meant was just one thing.
'I can train resistance here too..?'
Even an opportunity to observe not ordinary poison but poison infused with Internal Energy. My heart was racing wildly.
I wished the duel would start quickly. Really.