Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Protective Art
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Three days passed, and the day of the promised spar arrived.
“Good morning, Young Master Goon. Are you all prepared?”
It was as if he'd been eagerly awaiting the spar with me—Nangong Hyun showed up in training robes the moment the time came.
I flashed a grin in response to his question.
“Well, I'm always ready at a moment's notice.”
“By the way, how did that new technique you created turn out? Any success?”
“Well... it's decent enough.”
Nangong Hyun tilted his head at my vague reply.
But seeing that my expression wasn't bad, he soon nodded with a smile.
“I see. I'm looking forward to it.”
I followed right behind Nangong Hyun toward the clan's training ground.
My companions trailed after me in a hurry.
They must have been curious about the technique I'd come up with.
The moment we arrived at the Nangong Clan's training ground, an exclamation escaped my lips.
“Wow...”
It was a vast and grand arena, befitting a great clan.
It was worlds apart from my own personal training spot—a mere clearing with a cave at the back.
Truly, the Nangong Clan.
Just looking at the training ground, you could feel the power of one of the Five Great Clans.
There were already spectators waiting in the arena.
“Clan Head, Miss Seol.”
“Come in, Young Master Goon. I heard about it from my Hyun and couldn't contain my curiosity, so I came to watch. Mind if I observe the spar?”
“Of course. No reason not to.”
The Nangong Clan Head nodded with a hearty laugh at my response.
Soon, my companions took seats in the viewing area off to one side, and Nangong Hyun and I faced each other on the arena floor.
“Please go easy on me.”
“Likewise.”
Since this was just a spar, we gripped wooden swords instead of live blades and assumed our ready stances.
Facing a Nangong Clan warrior while taking the ready stance of my Celestial Vault Unchained Swordsmanship felt strangely surreal.
It was almost like my self-created Celestial Vault Unchained Swordsmanship was on trial.
*Thump*
Feeling my heart race with excitement, I sharpened my aura and focused it keenly on him.
“Hmm...!”
Nangong Hyun's face stiffened as the razor-sharp aura locked onto him.
I gazed at his expression and stomped my foot down heavily.
*Boom!*
Inner energy unleashed through my Yongtian acupoint.
Borrowing that explosive power, I charged straight at Nangong Hyun.
Celestial Vault Unchained Swordsmanship, First Form: Celestial Vault Flash.
I wrapped my body in the wind of my aura to nullify air resistance, reaching Nangong Hyun in the blink of an eye.
Only then did he realize my sword swinging right in front of his nose.
His eyes widened in shock.
And then, astonishingly, he rushed toward me as if he didn't care about getting cut, thrusting his sword at me.
What? Since it's not a live blade, he's planning to take the hit and land one on me?
Flesh for bone—what's that about?
Tsk, he's weaker than I thought in some ways. I twisted my upper body aside.
That dodged his thrust, but my Celestial Vault Flash lost its full power as a result.
*Thwack*
With the sound of a feeble strike, I staggered back slightly.
To follow up immediately, I pulled my right shoulder back as far as it would go, sword tip aimed at Nangong Hyun.
Targets: both humerus bones and shoulder blades, the collarbone and solar plexus—six points in total.
Thrusts infused with the essence of swift swordplay targeted all six in a flash.
Celestial Vault Unchained Swordsmanship, Second Form: Sword Shadows Pierce the Heavens.
Just like the name—sword shadows stabbing the sky—six afterimage thrusts battered Nangong Hyun's upper body.
“Urk...!?”
Nangong Hyun flew backward, taking all six strikes without resistance.
I'd figured he'd at least drop to one knee, but no.
He didn't kneel; he regained his stance almost instantly.
I'd held back somewhat since it was a spar, but the impact seemed less than expected.
Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I stared at Nangong Hyun.
Even if the Celestial Vault Flash hadn't landed properly, he'd taken the Sword Shadows Pierce the Heavens full-on.
It was honestly baffling how he seemed totally fine.
Whether he read my mind or not, Nangong Hyun forced a smile despite his tense face.
“Haha, that's incredible. I've never seen a sword that fast before.”
“You seem pretty composed for someone who just said that.”
“No way. If I hadn't activated Protective Art beforehand, I'd be flat on the arena floor already.”
“...Protective Art?”
I'd never heard the term before and tilted my head.
Protective Art? What the hell was that?
Oblivious to my confusion, Nangong Hyun regripped his sword.
“My turn this time!”
He charged at me, sword tip aimed my way.
I readied to counter the thrust, but suddenly his sword motion changed, sweeping upward from below.
A feint?
I stepped sideways to dodge the rising blade, and now a thrust chased after me.
*Clack!*
I swung my sword to deflect the attack, but he used the rebound to spin his body and slash from the opposite side.
The same process repeated endlessly.
Chain attacks flowing ceaselessly by borrowing my own strength.
On top of that, an erratic sword style heavy on aggressive feints pressed me hard.
Blocking wasn't difficult, but finding an opening to counter was no easy task.
Nangong Hyun's sword... if I had to describe it, it was like the wind.
A sword reminiscent of wind gliding freely through the blue sky.
As our wooden swords clashed and locked, I posed a question to Nangong Hyun.
“Tricky to handle. What's this sword style called?”
“It's called Heavenly Wind Swordsmanship. You could say it's the symbol of the Nangong Clan.”
Heavenly Wind.
Sky Wind, huh.
Fitting name, indeed.
Though calling it the Nangong Clan's symbol... left a bit to be desired.
“Hup!”
I channeled a hint of that dissatisfaction into shoving his sword away hard.
Using the rebound for a counterattack as it came back at me.
His slash aimed at my side—I raised my sword overhead.
*Whoosh!*
I brought my sword down on Nangong Hyun's horizontally sweeping wooden blade.
His sword slowed for an instant in response.
I could see his intent: to counter using my own sword's force.
Sorry, but not this time.
*Crack!*
Our wooden swords collided.
Normally, his blade would have bounced back and come flying from the other side.
But not this time.
“Guh!?”
With a groan, Nangong Hyun's sword drooped downward.
Unable to withstand the heavy sword essence infused in my blade, it was crushed down and slammed into the arena floor.
How do you stop an opponent from using your strength against you?
The answer: overwhelm them with such superior power they can't even dream of it.
Celestial Vault Unchained Swordsmanship, Third Form: Heavenly Might Crushing Press.
A defensive technique that halts the foe's assault with a heavy sword bearing the dignity of the heavens.
Nangong Hyun couldn't endure the weight of the Heavenly Might Crushing Press and dropped his wooden sword.
He stared in dismay at the blade that slipped from his hand and rolled across the ground.
A swordsman without his sword.
Victory was all but decided.
“Not yet!”
“...!?”
But Nangong Hyun apparently had no intention of giving up.
Bare-handed now, he lunged at me with empty fists.
A fierce punch flying toward my chest.
It looked like proper fist technique at a glance.
Did the Nangong Clan have fist arts too?
Even amid my surprise, my mind stayed coolly rational.
If I just stood there, I'd get hit.
And no matter that it was a spar, I had zero intention of losing.
I'd win—even if I had to go a little overboard.
His body withstood Sword Shadows Pierce the Heavens just fine, so this should hold too.
Resolved, I swung my wooden sword upward, smashing hard into Nangong Hyun's arm.
“Kh!?”
His straight-line punch toward me was deflected.
Even without an edge, the swift swordplay tore a long gash through the sleeve of his training robes.
His failed ambush.
And my counterattack wasn't over.
I brought the upward slash down, then swept left and right horizontally, diagonally, relentlessly.
Celestial Vault Unchained Swordsmanship, Fourth Form: Dazzling Sky Tempest.
Frenzied strikes at the pinnacle of speed ravaged Nangong Hyun's upper body.
Like a storm raging through a dizzying sky.
“Gah!”
In the end, Nangong Hyun collapsed to the arena floor, his robes shredded every which way.
I brought my wooden sword to his throat as he groaned.
“Want to keep going?”
“Urgh...!”
Nangong Hyun glared resentfully at my wooden sword for a moment before relaxing his face with a sigh.
“No, I concede defeat.”
I chuckled at his bitter smile and offered my hand.
He took it and pulled himself up.
Then, it hit me—something odd about the bare skin visible through the tears in his robes.
“...Huh?”
A blue glow.
Unlike his delicate features, Nangong Hyun's solidly trained body was shining with blue light.
No, not just light—blue lightning.
Blue lightning coursed across Nangong Hyun's skin.
“Th-that... what is it?”
“Oh, this?”
When I stammered and pointed at the blue lightning flowing over his body, he answered nonchalantly, like it was nothing.
“This is the Nangong Clan's Protective Art, the Heavenly Thunder Bodyguard Art. When activated, lightning manifests around the body like this.”
“...Pardon?”
Protective Art this, Protective Art that—what the heck was it?
I'd never even heard of such a thing.
*
“...”
“...Wow.”
While I reeled in confusion over the unfamiliar concept of a Protective Art, the others who'd watched the spar were stunned by the new techniques they'd just witnessed.
Especially Nangong Clan Head Nangong Seon-u, who had never properly seen me demonstrate my arts before—his astonishment was the greatest.
“Hohoho, when you said you'd beaten the Heavenly Light Branch Leader, I honestly thought it was luck...”
The Heavenly Light Branch Leader Sagong Chan, nicknamed Chasing Wind Sword.
Nangong Seon-u had once witnessed his skills firsthand.
*Back then, I was impressed by his wind-like speed fitting the moniker Chasing Wind Sword...*
Today, Nangong Seon-u realized that impression had been a colossal mistake.
After all, he'd just seen a truly wind-like sword with his own two eyes.
Movements and strikes so fast they were invisible.
The kind that made you wonder if it was some ghost at work.