Chapter 11
"Hmm."
What broke the long silence was a groan from Cheon Un-gwang, as though his throat were blocked.
Cheon Un-gwang, whose personality was not only cruel but who had also fought countless battles up to now.
Even he had not predicted that Bu Eun-seol would unleash a lightning-like killing move and murder Byeok Han-seong.
"You've learned the Way of the Beast."
The wooden sword Byeok Han-seong had swung had contained enough force to shatter boulders.
But Bu Eun-seol, despite being struck repeatedly by the Asura Sword Sect's finest techniques, was in a state where not even a light bruise had formed.
"That is correct."
At Bu Eun-seol's answer, Cheon Un-gwang's pine-caterpillar-like eyebrows twitched.
"Were you originally a disciple of Langya Pavilion?"
"No."
"Then you're saying you completely mastered the Way of the Beast in fifteen days?"
"I only learned the basics."
Cheon Un-gwang was under a misconception.
He thought that Bu Eun-seol's Way of the Beast had reached the highest realm, and that he had completely neutralized the force before the attacks could even land.
"The basics?"
At Bu Eun-seol's answer, Cheon Un-gwang let out a scoff.
"It seems Langya Pavilion teaches lying first these days."
"I..."
"No need for excuses. Whatever your hidden tricks are, it doesn't matter to this instructor."
Cheon Un-gwang, who had cut off Bu Eun-seol's words, pointed at Byeok Han-seong's coldly stiffening corpse.
"Get rid of this fellow immediately."
Once, they had shared the bond of master and disciple, learning and teaching martial arts together.
Yet Cheon Un-gwang's attitude was as if he were ordering someone to clear away spoiled fish left on a display stand.
"Instructor."
At that moment, a girl with her long hair pinned up stepped forward from among the trainees.
"I have something to say."
"Speak."
"That person committed murder during an ordinary duel."
"Murder?"
When Cheon Un-gwang raised his eyebrows, the girl pointed at Bu Eun-seol, who was standing with composure.
"That is correct. His crime must be punished severely so that such a thing never happens again."
Cheon Un-gwang, who had been staring blankly at the girl, let out a low nasal sound.
"It was not murder, but an accident that occurred during a duel."
"Pardon?"
"That fellow over there used a killing move first, trying to smash his opponent's skull. And this one countered in response."
"But..."
"Just because it's been given the name martial hall, did you really think this place was an actual martial hall?"
Cheon Un-gwang, who had been looking down at the girl with an expression mixed with contempt, spoke with blazing eyes.
"This place is Hell Island."
These were the words that Beginner Hall instructor Jin Gak had said when they first disembarked from the ship.
But when Cheon Un-gwang said it with an appearance steeped in killing intent, the meaning seemed completely different.
This place is hell.
Cheon Un-gwang's fiercely burning eyes seemed to say exactly that.
As the trainees milled about with bewildered eyes, Cheon Un-gwang spoke in a low voice.
"We will begin the test again."
The duels were fierce.
Despite the stated purpose of observing how one handles a sword regardless of victory or defeat, the trainees all swung their swords as if fighting for their lives.
Naturally, the reason was the outcome of the duel Bu Eun-seol had shown.
—One can die in a duel.
In the duel exam conducted under tension, no one else lost their life.
However, as intense fights reminiscent of real battle occurred one after another, the number of injured gradually increased.
"You to the left, and you to the right."
Each time a duel ended, Cheon Un-gwang divided the trainees to the left and right.
Sometimes he sent both people to the left or to the right.
Although he gave no indication, the trainees could guess that this was the process of dividing pass from fail.
"It is over now."
Cheon Un-gwang lightly nodded his head as he looked at the trainees lined up on the left and right.
Most of the trainees who had finished their duels bore wounds large and small, and some were still gasping for breath.
"Fifteen, is it."
Cheon Un-gwang, who had been looking at the trainees standing on the left, stroked his chin.
"You may go up to the Upper-Level Hall immediately."
The trainees waiting on the left wore expressions of joy as they hurriedly exited the martial hall.
Cheon Un-gwang then looked at the trainees lined up on the right.
They were those who had not yet achieved Unity of Sword and Hand.
"You will leave this place immediately and seek out another martial hall."
When the unexpected words fell, the trainees standing on the right were greatly flustered.
"We only failed the test once, didn't we?"
When one boy made a wronged expression, the boy next to him also spoke in a loud voice.
"We will train harder and definitely pass into the Upper-Level Hall!"
Cheon Un-gwang shook his head with a resolute expression.
"That is impossible."
"What?"
"The fact that your sword has not adhered to your hand even after learning the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword until now means that you did not have the aptitude to learn the Fire Rain Sword in the first place."
"But..."
"You fellows have reasonably good bone and muscle structure, so you could have easily passed the Beginner Hall."
In Cheon Un-gwang's eyes as he continued speaking in a low voice, a brilliant light blazed forth.
"But to learn the Fire Rain Sword, one needs not merely good bone and muscle structure, but outstanding aptitude."
Cheon Un-gwang's low voice carried an irresistible force.
"The aptitude of a peerless martial genius who can surpass their own limits through bone-grinding effort."
The trainees could not say anything.
For among those standing on the right, there was not one who had made bone-grinding effort to become proficient in the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword.
"Those with complacent, indolent personalities can never learn the Fire Rain Sword."
At Cheon Un-gwang's words, the trainees could offer no reply and quietly left the martial hall.
"..."
When all the trainees had left, silence flowed once again.
Inside the empty martial hall, only Bu Eun-seol remained alone.
Cheon Un-gwang looked at Bu Eun-seol and spoke in a cold voice.
"Why are you standing there gawking instead of leaving?"
"Am I supposed to leave as well?"
"If you have the skill to counter the Asura Sword Sect's Chaos Sword at close range, you must have studied a fair amount of sword theory."
Cheon Un-gwang, who had been looking down at Bu Eun-seol's coldly frozen eyes, let out a scoff.
"Did you come up to the Intermediate Hall late, scheming to make a strong impression in the duel?"
With the corner of his mouth raised, he looked down at Bu Eun-seol, who kept his lips firmly shut.
"If you had only been scheming with your head, I would have crushed that skull of yours. But... since you seem to have that much skill, I'll acknowledge it."
Cheon Un-gwang pointed to the door open on the left.
"You go up to the Upper-Level Hall as well."
Skip the Intermediate Hall curriculum and go to the Upper-Level Hall? It was an unprecedented privilege.
But from Bu Eun-seol's mouth came unexpected words.
"I have not yet learned martial arts in the Intermediate Hall."
"What did you say?"
"I will learn sword studies in the Intermediate Hall."
Cheon Un-gwang, his gaze fixed on Bu Eun-seol's face, wore the expression of someone looking at a bizarre object.
"Why in the world would you stay in the Intermediate Hall?"
"The only sword technique I have learned is the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms."
"Are you still spouting nonsense?"
"If it is a lie, you may cut off both my hands."
From Bu Eun-seol's ice-cold eyes, a light as hot as the sun poured out.
"Fine. I'll teach you. However,"
Cheon Un-gwang looked down at Bu Eun-seol with eyes rippling with killing intent.
"If I discover any trace of you having learned a sword technique other than the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms, I will cut your throat immediately."
Four days later.
Swi-i-i-ik!
The Quick Sword Form, unleashed with the explosive energy contained within his body, transformed mid-motion into the Linked Ring Sword Form, splitting into three rotating branches.
'Ugh.'
As the sword stroke, like a ray of light, was abruptly converted mid-motion, a pain as if his wrist and elbow were being twisted shot through him.
But Bu Eun-seol did not let it show, and ceaselessly rotated his shoulders, wrists, and body to unfold the Linked Ring Sword.
Swish-swish-swish. Hwi-ik!
The sword stroke, unfolding ceaselessly along with the sound of splitting air, converted once again into the lightning-like Quick Sword Form.
The Linked Ring, which uses rotational force, and Speed. To simultaneously unfold two sword studies that are polar opposites and can never be mixed.
That was precisely the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword.
"Haap!"
With a battle cry, the iron sword Bu Eun-seol held rotated fiercely, and a brilliance like a firecracker burst forth.
The final form of the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, Illuminating All Under Heaven, which can never be performed unless one can control the sword freely, had been unleashed.
"Ghk."
A low groan escaped from Bu Eun-seol's mouth as he continued the sword stroke.
Because he had been continuously rotating his body at high speed while performing the sword technique, the iron sword had slipped beyond his control and grazed his shoulder, neck, and face.
No matter how outstanding his talent and persistence, the time he had spent learning the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword was only four days.
He still could not control the sword as delicately and perfectly as his own hand.
"It was true."
Cheon Un-gwang, who had been watching Bu Eun-seol's training, wore a dumbfounded expression.
"To think the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms from the Beginner Hall was all you had learned."
Cheon Un-gwang was a sword master who had polished the sword his entire life.
On the first day he taught the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, the moment he saw Bu Eun-seol's movements, he had seen through at a glance that he had never properly learned a sword technique.
"A guy who just started learning the sword performs the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword in four days?"
It was enough to make him burst into hollow laughter.
Although he had not yet reached the Unity of Sword and Hand, Bu Eun-seol's rate of absorption was beyond imagination.
"Then did he truly learn the Way of the Beast in fifteen days?"
A chill wind seemed to brush past his ear, and goosebumps rose on his skin.
In the past, how many martial arts prodigies had died trying to learn the Way of the Beast?
A martial art of extrasensory perception that even the masters of the Demonic Path Ten Gates envied.
How could he have learned the exotic arts of the Outer Powers, which cannot even be dared to be learned without innate talent, in fifteen days?
"Ghk."
At that moment, another dull sound burst from Bu Eun-seol's mouth.
In the end, unable to control the rotating momentum of the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, he had begun cutting his own arms and legs.
"But he's still far off."
Cheon Un-gwang clicked his tongue as he watched.
The Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, which ultimately injures one's own body if the sword cannot be controlled as delicately as the hand.
Even if he were a heaven-sent martial arts genius, it was not a sword technique that could be learned in one breath.
"No matter how I look at it, he doesn't have the skill to beat that guy from the Asura Sword Sect."
Cheon Un-gwang could not understand.
Even if his absorption rate was fast, Bu Eun-seol was a beginner who had just started learning sword techniques.
How had he defeated Byeok Han-seong, who had perfectly mastered the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword and even skillfully performed the Asura Sword Sect's Chaos Sword?
Swish-swish-swish-swik!
Meanwhile, the rotational force of the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword grew even stronger, and the iron sword Bu Eun-seol swung began to cut deeper and deeper into his skin and muscle.
But Bu Eun-seol did not stop his movements.
"Stop. If you keep swinging the sword, your body will eventually be destroyed."
At Cheon Un-gwang's words, Bu Eun-seol clenched his teeth and shouted.
"I'm fine."
"What?"
"Just a little more... I think it's possible."
Even though he had become a bloody mess while performing Illuminating All Under Heaven, Bu Eun-seol began performing the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword again from the beginning.
"Good heavens."
Meanwhile, the rotational force grew even stronger, and now only a 'chik-chik' sound rang out from the tip of the sword.
From Bu Eun-seol's body, spinning round and round as he performed the sword technique, crimson blood spurted out.
Even though his pitch-black martial uniform was soaked in blood, Bu Eun-seol did not stop his movements.
"So that was it."
Only now could Cheon Un-gwang realize.
How Bu Eun-seol had been able to learn the Way of the Beast in fifteen days.
Indomitable tenacity and persistence.
Like a person who would die if he did not learn martial arts, he was learning martial arts with everything he had.
Not only that, but the fear or pain that a boy not yet twenty ought to possess was nowhere to be seen.
Only the indomitable persistence that he must grow stronger covered that gaunt body.