Hebei Exchange Meeting (5)
Ooooooh!
At Seok Geum-ryong's utterly unthinkable proposal, a great roar erupted from everyone present at the Hebei Exchange Meeting, from the participants to the onlookers and even the people inside Seokga Manor.
"Really?"
"We have no intention of showing any leniency, whether you're the host or the organizer."
In particular, Lee Chi-won and No Ju-hyeok, who did not know much about the Golden Young Master Seok Geum-ryong's skill, spoke as though they could only treat this as a joke.
They did not seem to imagine for a moment that Seok Geum-ryong's abilities could rival Seok Ho-in's.
"I never speak twice with one mouth."
Even as the arena trembled with confusion, Seok Geum-ryong remained calm, his resolve as firm as iron.
The reason he had gone this far.
If I don't set the example first, young martial artists who insist on taking different stances as righteous, unorthodox, or neutral won't follow.
They tended not to cooperate under the banner of pride and youthful arrogance. But if he showed them the example himself, and made it abundantly clear that his own skill was in no way beneath theirs, the proceedings would go far more smoothly.
"You...!"
As with the others, the Mad Tiger Young Master Seok Ho-in was also taken aback.
He was just about to raise his voice, asking what on earth Seok Geum-ryong thought he was doing and whether the four eliminated contestants, himself included, looked easy to bully.
Then, just as he opened his mouth to shout—
"There are still two exchange match bouts left."
Swish.
As though he had been waiting for this very moment, Seok Geum-ryong drew the Silver-Shadow Sword from his robes.
His intent was unmistakable.
Speed. Decisive speed.
He meant to end this quickly.
"Interesting. I'll go first!"
Just as everyone was still dazed, Lee Chi-won of the Golden Blade Sect readily raised his hand and stepped forward.
Then he clenched his teeth.
The greatest martial bone in Seokga Manor is the Mad Tiger Young Master Seok Ho-in. Even the little brats in Hebei know that.
Even if he had lost to Seok Ho-in, he had never once imagined he would lose to Seok Geum-ryong, who was four or five years younger.
"Ah, right! The defeated challengers who face me are all welcome to strike first."
What made it even more irritating was that Seok Geum-ryong was provoking him with all the confidence in the world.
"Haaah!"
With the determination never to lose twice after losing once, Lee Chi-won's golden blade surged violently once more.
He unfolded a stance from the Golden Radiance Eighteen Blade Art, a technique that fully expressed the subtlety of the blade as a weapon compared to the sword, adding a majestic weight to the glittering, flexible nature of gold itself.
Flash!
At the same time as the brilliant golden light.
- Golden Light Severing Link!
A razor-sharp blade aura burst forth.
Lee Chi-won's single strike, driven by all his strength, carried no small amount of internal force, but that was as far as it went.
Seok Geum-ryong did not shrink back or evade the golden blade as it came at him.
- Wave-Turning Fierce Wind!
Far from retreating or flinching, he answered it head-on.
Kwaaaang!
As a result, Seok Geum-ryong's short dagger shattered Lee Chi-won's long golden blade completely, and with a single sword strike, he drove him backward and knocked him unconscious.
"Kuh! Kurrrrgh!"
The reason was simple: as Lee Chi-won was flung back like a madman, the back of his head struck the wall at just the wrong angle, hitting a vital point.
Before he even realized he had blacked out, he was already foaming at the mouth where he lay.
Everyone stared in open-mouthed shock.
When people are stunned enough, their mouths simply close and no words come out.
Right now, all the outside spectators, excluding only the exchange meeting participants, the eliminated challengers, and the Bukcheon-won personnel, were screaming silently in disbelief.
"Next."
Compared to the shocked crowd, Seok Geum-ryong looked at the next defeated challengers as though nothing much had happened at all.
"Th-this... what in the world..."
No Ju-hyeok, a talent of the Black Cloud Sword Sect and the Black Cloud Swordsman, felt his chest go tight and found himself unable to speak at the impossible scene Seok Geum-ryong had just displayed.
"If you do not challenge me further, all of you are eliminated. Is that acceptable?"
Only then did his harsh, lion-like roar jolt them back to their senses.
No Ju-hyeok was somehow shoved forward as if someone had pushed him from behind, and he launched a preemptive strike at Seok Geum-ryong.
It might even have been that he had followed, like a puppet, under the pressure of Seok Geum-ryong's lion's roar and imposing presence without realizing it.
"Haaah!"
Black Cloud Swordsman No Ju-hyeok stepped forward as though pushed by another and drew his sword to attack.
Setting aside the chaos of the moment, his attack was excellent.
Shaaaaaah!
Within the dense clouds of black mist that people associated with the Black Cloud Sword Sect, a single, vicious sword strike was hidden like the fangs of a venomous snake.
He meant to confuse his enemy with the thick mist and settle the fight with the sharp blade concealed within it.
For a second-round challenger, even though he had been driven into action, the quality of No Ju-hyeok's strike was quite solid.
Moreover, the Black Cloud Sword Sect's swordsmanship was renowned in Hebei's martial world for power no less formidable than that of the righteous sects.
It looked as though the truth hidden within those many transformations might split Seok Geum-ryong cleanly in two.
Heaven-Returning Golden Needle Technique!
Of course, that was nothing more than an illusion.
Seok Geum-ryong simply stepped back, gave his sleeve a light flick, and sent a golden needle flying.
Fushuk!
The needle pierced straight through the acupuncture point in No Ju-hyeok's wrist.
"Aaagh!"
No Ju-hyeok screamed as a sharp sting shot through him, followed by the eerie sensation that his entire wrist had gone numb.
It could not be helped. The Golden Young Master Seok Geum-ryong was also studying medicine, learning the meridians and acupoints in order to understand how to save a patient.
Which meant, in practical terms, that he was also studying how to subdue and kill an opponent as efficiently and calmly as possible.
Because of the Heaven-Returning Golden Needle Technique he had just displayed, No Ju-hyeok's sword-holding wrist was pierced, and as a result he dropped his blade and collapsed on the spot.
For a swordsman, losing the sword was no different from baring one's throat.
And just like that, Seok Geum-ryong subdued Lee Chi-won and No Ju-hyeok in the blink of an eye.
It was cleaner and faster than what Mad Tiger Young Master Seok Ho-in had shown earlier.
Wow! Wooooow!
With two men overwhelmed so quickly, the frozen crowd finally thawed as though scalding water had been poured over them, bursting into cheers all at once.
As it happened, that roar was not only the loudest of the Hebei Exchange Meeting, but also the most fervent reaction it had seen so far.
"He's insane, he's insane!"
"I-is that really him? That mild-mannered Seok Geum-ryong young master?"
"So Seokga Manor had not only the Mad Tiger Young Master, but the Golden Young Master too?"
Those who had not known much about the martial level of Seokga Manor exclaimed in unison, their voices full of shared shock.
For the younger masters of Hebei's martial world who had journeyed through the region, the upheaval and rise Seok Geum-ryong displayed now amounted to a major incident, something deeply astonishing.
"I'm next!"
As everyone was still reeling from Seok Geum-ryong's skill, Jin Gok, a rising talent of the Orthodox Sword Sect, leaped in.
By now, he assumed Seok Geum-ryong must be tired.
Hadn't Seok Ho-in, his elder brother, been so exhausted by the time he faced his third opponent that he suffered a hopeless defeat at the hands of someone hardly more than an equal?
So Jin Gok expected Seok Geum-ryong to walk the same road as Seok Ho-in.
Subduing two in a row was shocking enough, but the drain on stamina and internal energy must be severe.
Therefore, instead of countering at high speed, Jin Gok displayed the Orthodox Sword Sect's own grand, heavy, and deliberately slow swordsmanship.
- Sword of the Mighty Lineage!
This was the finishing move of the Orthodox Sword Sect's proud and majestic Orthodox Grand Sword Art. Its speed was by no means quick, but it overpowered the opponent as though a vast wave were bearing down on them, capable of crushing the whole body.
Within that strike lay Jin Gok's determination that he would absolutely not fight at a speed favorable to his opponent.
After all, if you fight at the pace your enemy likes, then naturally they hold the advantage and win.
So Jin Gok sought to change the flow by attacking at a speed that favored him.
At this point, Seok Geum-ryong's choices were effectively two.
Either continue matching him with the pace he wanted, or adapt and follow Jin Gok's speed.
Then, at that very moment—
The Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique: First Form, Greedy Wolf!
Seok Geum-ryong did something that ordinary people, mere mortals, could not even begin to imagine.
He created a third option.
The choice Seok Geum-ryong made was this...
Cut him down even faster.
Rather than matching or maintaining the speed, he made the insane decision to increase it even further.
Why was that insane?
Everyone present had been watching, convinced that Seok Geum-ryong's stamina and internal energy must be hanging by a thread.
Most of those gathered here were young experts. That meant that while their physical stamina might be fine, their internal energy would naturally fall short of established masters.
Since he had to face two or three opponents alone, it would have been perfectly natural for him to be exhausted by now, and to have to be exhausted.
And yet, just when everyone expected him to be tired, Seok Geum-ryong not only showed no sign of fatigue, but unveiled a sword art of speed and force that could not even be compared to what he had shown before.
It proclaimed: I am not tired. I am not tired at all, and in fact I am overflowing with strength.
Kwaaaaang!
At last, the Golden Young Master Seok Geum-ryong revealed a Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique stance.
In the end, he sent even his third defeated challenger crashing down with a single breath, revealing the mad image of a transcendent expert.
"Wow! Wooooow!"
By this point, even the exchange meeting participants were jumping up and down like children, thrilled beyond restraint.
In particular, So Cheon-gae Ha Bok-sam of Beggars' Sect was flushed bright red, bouncing on the spot.
Of course! He's the real thing! Seok Geum-ryong is the genuine article!
Jin Jabo, the branch leader of the Hebei branch of Hao Moon, who had come today to gather intelligence on several younger experts and, beyond that, to watch Seok Geum-ryong's progress, let out a deep sigh with his eyes wide open.
That wasn't all.
"My goodness!"
Cho So-yeon's exclamation, as the lone female master who had stood shoulder to shoulder with the others and been called one of the strongest three, seemed about to burst right through her thick veil.
Even as everyone was stunned, only one person remained unexcited: Seok Geum-ryong.
Instead, he looked calmer with every passing moment.
Compared to him, the others are no different from scarecrows.
That was what Seok Geum-ryong thought as he fixed his gaze forward.
Where his eyes rested stood the very person whose face held equal parts surprise and bitter resignation, as though he had half-expected this outcome.
It was the Mad Tiger Young Master Seok Ho-in, the fourth son of Seokga Manor and Seok Geum-ryong's half-brother.
Even in his astonishment, Seok Ho-in had clenched his sword tightly.
For only a moment, surprise flickered away.
Seok Geum-ryong, Seok Geum-ryong!
Seok Ho-in was shouting his name in his heart, burning with rage.
That emotion was jealousy and envy, but mixed into it were even admiration and a sort of longing.
Because the image Seok Geum-ryong now displayed was exactly the perfect picture Seok Ho-in had drawn countless times in his own mind.
You're going to steal my glory? I won't let you.
With that resolve, Seok Ho-in swung his sword with savage force.
- Azure Cloud Sword Sweep!
Truly, Seok Ho-in was trying harder than he ever had before.
To be honest, he was even more desperate than when he had faced Paeng Jin-mo, the eldest son of the Hebei Paeng Clan, who had defeated him earlier.
How much effort must he have put into it to even unleash the finishing move of Azure Radiance Sword Art, a middle-tier sword technique from the Namgung Sect, which he had hidden away as a trump card?
Seok Ho-in swore victory as he unleashed the finishing move of Azure Radiance Sword Art, but unfortunately the world was divided between what could be done and what could not.
The Heaven-Shattering Seven Stars Sword Technique: Second Form, Great Gate!