Chapter 9
Impossible.
To freely alter the forms of a sword technique passed down through generations—that is something only the greatest masters of an era can do.
If Bu Eun-seol, who had only just begun learning the sword technique, had deliberately altered it, then he would be a sword genius rivaling Jeok Hwa-un, the founder of the Fire Rain Sword Sect.
'Could it be that he learned the Way of the Beast?'
Jin Gak, who had been entertaining a strange notion, shook his head.
'How could that be?'
Even a prodigy of the world could never master the Way of the Beast within fifteen days.
He did not know that Bu Eun-seol was not only deeply versed in the structure of the human body, but also possessed a terrifying persistence.
Whiik.
In the meantime, Bu Eun-seol's sword strokes grew even sharper.
He turned.
This time, even in the form of withdrawing the sword, the tip of the blade bent once more, and though it was a form, it displayed the might of a killing move.
'Oh my.'
Jin Gak, who had been watching, opened his mouth.
'Would one not use such a brutal technique only against the enemy of one's master or parents?'
Every time Bu Eun-seol's wrist rotated, the forms grew more vicious and more cruel.
'The sword techniques of our sect are called the Righteous Path within the Demonic Path.'
If the forms of the Fire Rain Sword were so vicious, then even if it were called the greatest sword study of the Demonic Path, it would not have been included among the Demonic Path Ten Gates, which are called the sky of the Demonic Path.
But the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms that Bu Eun-seol was unfolding were closer to a killing sword dripping with blood.
'Hmm.'
Bu Eun-seol was equally flustered.
'It feels like my senses are changing the forms on their own.'
He was certainly performing the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms properly, yet the sensation in his hands was naturally altering the sword trajectory.
'It's because of the Way of the Beast.'
The more he repeatedly performed the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms, the sharper the senses of the Way of the Beast became.
It was like a wolf that had fought only with fangs and claws by instinct, now receiving training from a human and executing refined tactics.
'The senses of the Way of the Beast and the sword trajectory of the Fire Rain Sword align?'
Bu Eun-seol felt a strange sensation.
What if he inserted this instinctive sense of the Way of the Beast into the gentle sword trajectory of the Fire Rain Sword?
'I'll be eliminated.'
They would not tolerate altering sword strokes passed down through generations.
Bu Eun-seol had no choice but to suppress the senses of the Way of the Beast as much as possible and unfold the sword strokes.
But around the time the sixth form passed,
—Heh-heh-heh.
A black shadow stood before Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
It was the murderer who had killed his grandfather.
The moment the imaginary enemy appeared before him, blood light burst from Bu Eun-seol's eyes.
At the same time, he unfolded the seventh form of the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms, Turning Child Four Seas.
Chiik.
The form that should have unfolded gently spat out lightning flame and tore through the empty air.
But the shadow easily evaded the form of Turning Child Four Seas.
'He's strong.'
Bu Eun-seol had enshrouded the corpses of countless murim warriors up until now.
But he had never once seen someone who could make a cut cross-section as smooth as glass.
'He uses a fast sword technique based on enormous flexibility.'
Whiik!
At that moment, the black shadow before Bu Eun-seol's eyes unleashed a fast sword.
'Kuh!'
He threw his body back with all his strength, but the fast sword pursued the space between his brows like a living creature.
Bu Eun-seol laid his body sideways and spun like a top.
Whiik.
As the fast sword grazed past his forehead, Bu Eun-seol attempted to unfold the eighth form of the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms, Heaven-Piercing Three Lightning.
'This won't be enough!'
The form of Heaven-Piercing Three Lightning was too indirect and soft, making it an unsuitable form for counterattacking.
At that moment, Bu Eun-seol unconsciously rotated his wrist and unfolded Heaven-Piercing Three Lightning.
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!
Then the tip of the sword rotated intensely and drove into the shadow's flank like lightning.
—Huhu.
The black shadow let out a low laugh and lightly rotated its sword, dissolving the form of Heaven-Piercing Three Lightning.
Then it lowered the tip of the sword and slashed upward from the floor.
It was the very same form that had cruelly severed his grandfather's two arms.
Flash!
Bu Eun-seol instinctively unfolded all five remaining forms of the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms.
Paaaaah!
The sword strokes that poured out in succession became a single mass and collided with the shadow's oncoming form.
Ping!
But the two-pronged sword qi that erupted from the ground moved like a flood dragon, tore through the sword strokes, and coiled around Bu Eun-seol's forearms.
Clatter.
In the end, with both arms severed, Bu Eun-seol dropped the iron sword he had been holding.
At the same moment, the black shadow before his eyes vanished like fog.
"..."
For a time, silence hung inside the martial arts hall.
Jin Gak, who had been watching Bu Eun-seol for a long while, did not hide his expression of admiration.
"Your focus is remarkable."
Jin Gak could guess it.
That Bu Eun-seol had fought fiercely against an enemy in his imagination, and had ultimately been defeated.
"Pass."
"Pass... you say?"
Bu Eun-seol, who had been looking down at the iron sword he had dropped, shook his head.
"I lost."
"You had no choice but to lose. The Fire Rain Thirteen Forms are basic sword studies that are difficult to use in real battle, are they not?"
A dry smile lingered at the corner of Jin Gak's mouth.
"What this Beginner Hall judges is whether you have a basic understanding of sword studies. Whether you can unfold the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms even in real battle."
Clack.
He picked up the iron sword Bu Eun-seol had dropped on the floor.
"And you performed both of those perfectly."
Clack.
Jin Gak, having sheathed the iron sword in its scabbard, patted Bu Eun-seol on the shoulder.
"It was truly a splendid Fire Rain Thirteen Forms. If you wish, you may move on to the Intermediate Hall immediately."
Jin Gak, like Sa-u, had taught him thoroughly.
If he had not explained the law texts by unraveling them because he found it bothersome, or if he had not demonstrated the sword techniques one by one?
Bu Eun-seol would never have been able to master the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms in the span of four days.
"What you can learn on this Hell Island is only the basics among the sword studies of this sect. If you become one of the Ten Demonic Heirs in the end, you will be able to learn all the remaining profound parts."
Jin Gak nodded his head toward Bu Eun-seol.
"I hope you achieve a good outcome."
"Thank you."
Bu Eun-seol brought his hands together and bowed deeply.
Then, without hesitation, he opened the door and crossed over to the Intermediate Hall on the other side.
Watching Bu Eun-seol's departing back, Jin Gak narrowed his eyes.
'From the look of it, he mastered the Way of the Beast in half a month.'
As a peak-level swordsman, the moment he saw Bu Eun-seol's real-battle sword strokes, he immediately discerned that he had awakened Langya Pavilion's Way of the Beast.
'His bone and muscle structure seemed ordinary. To think he had the Unrivaled Bones.'
In truth, the reason Bu Eun-seol had been able to complete the Way of the Beast was his intense obsession with martial arts, and his outstanding understanding of the human body.
But Jin Gak, who could not know such a fact, simply thought that Bu Eun-seol possessed enormous bone and muscle structure and talent.
'This will be interesting.'
Among the boys and girls who had gathered in the Beginner Hall, there were many outstanding gifted trainees no less than Bu Eun-seol.
Jin Gak was greatly looking forward to what would unfold from now on.
After leaving the Beginner Hall, Bu Eun-seol moved to the Intermediate Hall without delay.
The Intermediate Hall was built in a clearing a little distance away from the Beginner Hall. As it was the place leading to the final Upper-Level Hall, the martial hall's exterior had been built the widest and largest.
"Excuse me."
Bu Eun-seol, who had been looking up at the tall great gate of the martial hall, opened the door calmly.
Then dozens of pairs of flashing eyes entered his line of sight.
"..."
Inside the martial hall, all the candidates of the Ten Demonic Heirs seemed to be resting after just finishing their training.
"What is it?"
At that moment, a middle-aged man standing at the very front of the martial hall with his arms crossed asked.
He was wearing blue robes, and on his back he wore a sword as wide as a grown man's forearm.
He was none other than Cheon Un-gwang, the head instructor of the Intermediate Hall.
"My name is Bu Eun-seol. I have just finished the Beginner Hall."
"The Beginner Hall?"
Cheon Un-gwang made a dumbfounded expression.
Most of the trainees here were strange talents who had risen to the Intermediate Hall within a day or two.
Not only that, they had just finished all the training courses and were in a state of having completed preparations for the test to go to the Upper-Level Hall.
And now, there was a trainee who had only now finished the Beginner Hall and come?
"A dullard."
Cheon Un-gwang muttered in a low voice.
He thought that a trainee who had fallen behind in the Beginner Hall had only now come up to the Intermediate Hall.
"If it took you around twenty days to learn the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms, you should reconsider learning this sect's sword studies."
"I came from Langya Pavilion."
"Langya Pavilion?"
At Bu Eun-seol's answer, Cheon Un-gwang's eyes became mismatched.
It was called one of the Demonic Path Ten Gates, but it was a dying sect where disciples died at the drop of a hat due to its reckless training methods.
And he was saying he had gone to learn the martial arts of that very Langya Pavilion, of all places?
"How long were you there?"
"I was there for fifteen days."
"Fifteen days..."
Cheon Un-gwang wore a deflated expression.
Just as Sa-u and Jin Gak had done so far, he too thought that Bu Eun-seol had only wasted his time.
"In a short while, the exam to advance to the Upper-Level Hall is scheduled to take place."
Cheon Un-gwang, wearing a hollow smile, spoke again.
"You've also passed the Beginner Hall, so sit down for now. From tomorrow, you may have to remain alone in the martial arts hall and train."
At that, sneers burst out from all directions.
"Hahahaha."
Several of the seated trainees blatantly mocked him.
"That guy. Isn't he the one who collapsed on the ship wearing a vestment?"
"Right. And it seems he failed to learn Langya Pavilion's martial arts and came here anyway?"
"How pathetic. For a guy like that to be a candidate for the Ten Demonic Heir."
Even as the jeers poured down, Bu Eun-seol's eyes did not waver.
Rather, he looked upon those pouring out sarcasm with pitying eyes.
—Those who cannot prove themselves without tearing others down.
While working as an undertaker, he had encountered countless humans of that sort.
The reason they mocked was only one.
It was simply because he had chosen something slightly different from others. Just as his grandfather had chosen the work of an undertaker, for example.
"The exam will now begin."
Cheon Un-gwang swept his blazing gaze over the trainees.
"Those whose names are called will come forward and designate an opponent."
"Is it a duel?"
At the question from a boy standing in front, Cheon Un-gwang shook his head.
"I will judge how skillfully you use your sword in real battle. That is precisely why you learned the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword."
Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword.
As its name "Thunder-Splitting" suggested, it was a sword technique composed of swift forms.
Because of this, if one could not use the sword skillfully, it was also a sword technique that could instead harm one's own body.
"As you all know, the Fire Rain Thirteen Forms and the Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword are not forms that can be used in real battles where lives are at stake."
Cheon Un-gwang said in a low voice.
"They are nothing more than a process for learning to use the sword skillfully."
Cheon Un-gwang paused for a moment, then narrowed his eyes.
"Up until now, you have all likely had the same question. How could a fair and square, merciful sword technique become the Foremost Demonic Sword? That is what you have wondered."
As silence fell, he continued speaking.
"I will say it once more. What you have learned is only basic sword study, never the Fire Rain Sword."
At that, the trainees gathered in the martial arts hall were aghast.
The Fire Rain Thunder-Splitting Sword, which had been difficult to master even here where prodigies of the world had gathered.
It was merely training to allow one to wield the sword well?
"Instructor. I have a question."
At that moment, a boy standing in the front row asked cautiously.
"I do not quite understand what it means to use the sword skillfully. Most of us have trained in sword techniques since childhood..."
"You must reach a level where your sword and arm cannot be distinguished."
Cheon Un-gwang coldly cut off the boy's words.
"To use the Fire Rain Sword, the arm hanging from your shoulder must become the sword. Do you understand what I mean?"
Silence fell once more inside the martial arts hall.
To have to reach such a high realm just to learn the basics of sword techniques.
"I will say it again. This exam will not judge victory or defeat, but how skillfully and well you use your sword."
Only then could the boys understand the meaning of the exam.
Because if they clashed swords as in real battle, that degree of skill could be measured.
"Byeok Han-seong. Come forward."
At Cheon Un-gwang's words, among those seated, a large boy with an arrogant look stood up from his seat.
"Designate an opponent to duel. Victory or defeat does not matter, so designate freely."
"May I designate anyone?"
"Yes."
Byeok Han-seong's mouth twitched, and he extended the wooden sword he was holding forward.
"Then I will designate that person."
The one the wooden sword pointed at was none other than Bu Eun-seol, who stood alone in the corner.