Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Sun-chang Cho Un-yeop
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‘That insolent little punk.’
Un-yeop stared at Ja-seong, who had dared to speak of humiliating him, utterly dumbfounded.
The opponent was clearly a young man who had only just reached around thirty, even younger than Namgung-hyeon.
Yet he was showing such arrogant and disrespectful attitude toward someone his father’s age.
It had been a very long time since Un-yeop last felt this boiling rage as he gripped his spear tightly.
Seeing that, Ja-seong also drew his sword and assumed his stance.
He pulled the sword in his right hand back toward his chest.
Un-yeop inwardly let out a hollow chuckle at the stance he had already seen twice.
So that’s what he was relying on for his cockiness—a mere sword technique like that?
Didn’t he see me block that attack so easily earlier?
Of course, he had to admit it was a startling sword technique.
It was faster than any sword he had ever seen or faced.
But in the end, that was all it was.
‘No matter how fast it is, a predictable attack will never reach me.’
If he planned to charge in with that unidentified sword technique, his defeat was certain.
That’s what Un-yeop genuinely believed.
‘I’ll end this in one go.’
There was no need to teach a lesson to such an arrogant bastard.
Ja-seong and Un-yeop.
Once the referee confirmed both combatants were ready, he nodded and loudly announced the start of the match.
“Begin!”
-Boom!
With the referee’s shout, Ja-seong stomped forward.
Even on a second look, his stance was identical to the one he had used against Namgung-hyeon earlier.
‘Foolish punk.’
Sneering inwardly at Ja-seong, Un-yeop swung his spear just like before to block the attack.
In his mind, he could already picture Ja-seong rolling disgracefully across the arena floor.
But there was one fact he didn’t know.
While Ja-seong and Namgung-hyeon both practiced the same Sky Vault Unhindered Swordsmanship, their proficiency levels were vastly different.
Namgung-hyeon had learned the technique from Ja-seong,
while Ja-seong had created it himself.
There was bound to be a difference in their understanding and mastery of the swordsmanship.
In simple terms, Namgung-hyeon’s Sky Vault Single Flash and Ja-seong’s could not possibly have the same speed.
-Swoosh!
“What...?”
Before Un-yeop could even swing his spear, Ja-seong’s sword touched his abdomen,
and
-Slash!
With a clear cutting sound, blood sprayed from Un-yeop’s upper body.
*
As soon as the referee shouted to begin, I stomped forward, recalling what Cho Un-yeop of Sun-chang had said to me earlier when facing Namgung-hyeon.
More precisely, what he said right after blocking the Sky Vault Single Flash.
-It’s certainly an astonishing speed, but the movement is too linear. An attack where I can clearly see the target won’t reach me.
A linear movement that could be predicted.
In other words, the Sky Vault Single Flash couldn’t touch him.
Honestly... that comment from Cho Un-yeop got under my skin.
Namgung-hyeon’s Sky Vault Single Flash was still immature in many ways.
In a word, incomplete.
It pissed me off a bit that he was talking like that after blocking a single incomplete Sky Vault Single Flash.
So I decided to show him.
The true Sky Vault Single Flash.
-Boom!
I stomped forward and shot ahead.
The sharply honed energy aura around me nullified air resistance.
A straight line allowing me to charge at my opponent without any interference or resistance.
Running atop it, I crossed the arena in an instant, reaching right in front of Cho Un-yeop.
-Swoosh!
Only just before my sword touched his body did Cho Un-yeop realize the attack, his eyes slowly widening.
In that fleeting moment, a cry of alarm escaped his lips.
“What...?”
Didn’t he say a predictable linear attack couldn’t reach him?
That might be true for ordinary attacks.
But the true Sky Vault Single Flash reaches the opponent before it can be predicted.
-Slash!
A clear cutting sound accompanied the sensation of something being sliced.
Blood sprayed from Cho Un-yeop’s upper body.
“Gah!”
With a scream echoing across the arena, Cho Un-yeop staggered backward.
He looked down at his chest with trembling eyes—the sharply torn martial robe and the blood soaking it.
“Urk...!”
Turning his gaze to me with a groan, Cho Un-yeop’s pupils shook with shock.
An expression that couldn’t believe the current situation at all.
But did he have the luxury to be so surprised?
I had no intention of waiting for him to recover.
-Boom!
I stomped forward once more.
As I unleashed the Sky Vault Single Flash again, Cho Un-yeop desperately tried to defend, but a streak of light slicing through the air had already reached him.
“Argh!?”
This time, blood spurted from his shoulder.
Cho Un-yeop’s agonized scream rang out beyond the arena, filling the entire tournament grounds.
I was about to press the attack with follow-ups when, amid his pain, he somehow managed to swing his spear.
I could have simply deflected it and continued, but since I didn’t want to end it so easily, I unhesitatingly retreated.
“Guh... how in the world...?”
Thanks to that, Cho Un-yeop gained a brief moment to steady himself.
From his lips, as he struggled to right his posture, came a question laden with multiple implications.
I could roughly guess what he wanted to ask.
How could it be this fast?
How could my protective aura shatter in one strike?
How am I being overwhelmed by you?
Probably something like that.
First off, he wouldn’t understand the answer to the first question even if I told him.
Even Namgung-hyeon, whom I’d taught nonstop for the past half month, hadn’t fully grasped the principle of the Sky Vault Single Flash.
He’d only taken it as some abstract sensation of wrapping the body in energy aura like wind.
That’s why Namgung-hyeon’s version had its speed greatly halved.
No matter how much of an expert Cho Un-yeop was reputed to be, I doubted he’d be much different.
To make him truly understand, I’d probably need to drill it into him for at least a year.
Next, the second question was the same.
The reason Cho Un-yeop’s protective aura shattered in one blow was, of course, sword energy.
As I’d explained to Hwa-ryeon not long ago, protective auras are extremely vulnerable to sword energy.
But if I went around blasting sword energy every time I faced someone using protective aura, my internal energy would hit rock bottom in no time.
Over the past half month, while teaching Namgung-hyeon the Sky Vault Unhindered Swordsmanship, I’d searched for ways to reduce sword energy consumption.
And as always, the answer lay in the minds of wuxia novel authors.
Sword threads.
A midway realm between sword energy and sword gang, occasionally appearing in older wuxia novels.
It involved condensing tangible energy at the tip of the blade, along a single line, enough to be called sword energy.
In the gaps while teaching Namgung-hyeon, I’d even cut back on sleep to experiment with condensing energy.
Fortunately, my efforts paid off with some meaningful results.
I glanced down at the sword in my hand.
At the tip of my blade, a thick line still faintly glowed.
It wasn’t quite as thin as a thread, but even this greatly reduced my energy consumption, dramatically extending how long I could use sword energy.
Of course, explaining this to Cho Un-yeop wouldn’t make him understand.
So, the only question I could answer was the last one.
The reason Cho Un-yeop was being helplessly overwhelmed by me.
It was simple.
He probably already knew the answer himself.
He just didn’t want to admit it.
“Because I’m stronger than you.”
“.......”
His face twisted in misery.
I looked straight at him and said,
“I’ll say it again: you’ll need to give it everything you’ve got. The enemy before you is one you can’t guarantee victory against even at full power.”
*
“.......”
Having heard Ja-seong’s absurd words, Un-yeop couldn’t utter a single reply.
He wanted to scream that it was nonsense, but he couldn’t.
After all, he had just experienced firsthand that those words weren’t empty talk.
‘...Just what is he?’
Even looking again, the opponent appeared to be nothing more than a thirty-year-old novice.
But contrary to his outward appearance, something incomprehensible and unfathomable lurked within.
And humans typically define such unfathomable existences this way.
‘A monster.’
Recognizing the enemy before him as a monster strangely put Un-yeop’s mind at ease.
Accepting that his common sense didn’t apply to his opponent lifted many of the shackles binding him.
The humiliation of being helplessly beaten by a young warrior.
The shame of failing to recognize his opponent’s capabilities.
All those negative emotions vanished, leaving only the fierce fighting spirit of a true warrior.
“...I admit I misjudged you.”
Ja-seong silently stared at Un-yeop’s words.
Meeting those eyes head-on, he gripped his spear firmly.
The bleeding from his shoulder and chest was no joke.
He had paid dearly for letting his guard down due to the opponent’s youthful looks.
‘Probably only about one incense stick’s worth of time before I can fight properly.’
After that, excessive blood loss would make it impossible to stay conscious.
In the end, whether he liked it or not, he had to go all out for that one incense stick,
or
‘I lose.’
Un-yeop gave a bitter inward smile.
When he had entered the tournament on Ho-jeong’s orders, defeat hadn’t even crossed his mind.
To think he’d now sense defeat at the hands of an unheard-of young warrior.
‘No. Not just any young warrior.’
What stood before him was a monster.
Each step that monster took forward would leave footprints etched forever in martial history.
And he would be the starting point.
‘But I won’t go down that easily.’
Un-yeop drew up all the internal energy he had been saving for his match against Namgung Seon-woo.
Feeling the torrent of energy surging through his body, he sharpened his senses.
Ja-seong must have sensed it too, as he grinned and assumed his stance.
At last, with both warriors fully committed, they charged at each other without hesitation,
and
-Kaboom!
They collided amid a deafening roar that shook the surroundings.