Form Refinement (4)
The corridor was still bizarre.
But it was no longer as terrifying as before.
He strode forward with long, confident steps.
Ssssss.
From between the bookshelves, the wraiths rose like heat haze.
"The one who is not forgotten…!"
"Hand it over! Everything you have—hand it over…!"
Clang. Shing!
They each drew their weapons, ready to pounce, and a strange feeling stole over him.
I can see it.
Things that had once been overwhelming merely to face now lay completely readable before his eyes.
The swordsman’s strength is concentrated in his right shoulder. His first attack will be a downward slash.
The one with the spear has an unstable lower body. If I thrust with Moon Point, plenty of openings will show.
And more besides. The flow of energy, the trembling of muscles, the shift of center of gravity—all of it simply appeared to him.
Three years had not been spent in vain.
"Martial artists call that the mind’s eye," Ha-wol said. "They say one has opened the Heart’s Eye. Simply think of it as your way of seeing the world having changed."
I see.
Hyun Si-woon nodded. When you stood high, the view below became clear. That was why, looking at beings of lower realm than himself, he could read the flow one move—no, two moves—ahead.
Whiiish!
Before Ha-wol even finished speaking, the swordsman wraith put strength into its shoulder exactly as predicted and brought its blade down on Hyun Si-woon.
He did not dodge. Instead he stepped half a pace into the trajectory of that sword—a hair-raising movement, as if he were voluntarily walking under the edge.
Amateurish.
The sword was slow. The openings were many. Using Undine, Hyun Si-woon spread a thin film of water beneath the wraith’s feet, then twisted its balance through Sylph.
"Ugh…?"
As the creature slipped, the Formless Sword punched through its neck.
Thuck!
Condensed silver-white sword energy tore a gaping hole. The wraith’s spiritual body convulsed.
"Kyaaak!"
A clean combination. He finished it with a single move. A faint smile touched Hyun Si-woon’s lips.
Taat!
This time he kicked off the ground using Gnome. The second step of Moon Spirit Steps—Crescent Moon Step. Treading the Void.
It was no longer the clumsy footwork of before.
Tadadat!
He kicked off empty air once more and soared in an instant above the wraiths’ heads. The moment they flinched and looked up, the ultimate of Moon Point unfolded.
A single streak of silver-white light cleaved the corridor.
The spear-wielding wraith instinctively tried to guard its head, but the flash had already pierced its crown.
Puhsuk!
The spiritual body exploded from the inside out.
Once you reach the Form Refinement stage, you can use two of the seven forms of Moon Spirit Swordsmanship.
The first form was Flash. The second was Moon Trace.
"You’re quite enjoying yourself!"
That’s right.
The corners of his mouth would not come down. It was exhilarating—a vitality as if every cell in his body were alive and breathing. Was this not the moment when three years of brutal training finally bloomed in full? Right now he simply wanted to enjoy it.
Taat!
Landing on the floor, Hyun Si-woon raised his sword. Swaaa. The vivid sword energy that always felt so good to see. Soon the blade began to draw a strange trajectory. He cut to the right, yet the sword energy appeared from the left. If he extended upward, it shimmered from below. A sword of deception where what was seen differed from what was real.
A blade of pure deception—what the eye saw and what the edge truly did were never the same.
Sgeogeok! Seogeok! Seogeok!
It took less than ten seconds for the remaining wraiths to be shredded to pieces.
"This is the taste."
Hyun Si-woon exhaled a breath thick with exhilaration. And he was only at Form Refinement—yet the sensation was this overwhelming. What would the stages beyond be like? The hellish battle from his previous regression, where he had carved away blood and flesh over a thirty-minute death struggle, was now over in the blink of an eye.
He flicked the sword energy clinging to the tip of his blade with a light shake and wore a satisfied smile.
"Heh heh. The way you’re getting cocky just after taking your first steps is quite a sight," Ha-wol muttered.
Her scolding had not even reached his ears yet.
Click.
That footstep.
Hyun Si-woon’s smile vanished completely.
It’s appeared?
A presence that was quiet yet seemed to press down on the entire space settled over the corridor. A wraith dressed in refined martial attire.
"A Peak martial artist."
"Hoo."
Hyun Si-woon regulated his breathing. There was none of the previous fear. If you thought about it, wasn’t this being weaker than Yoon Seo-a?
Still, it seems doable.
"Of course," Ha-wol said. "Though you are only at Form Refinement, Moon Spirit Divine Art is a supreme martial art. We’ve divided it into stages for easy understanding, but you and an ordinary martial artist differ from the very foundation. However—Peak is still Peak. If you face it carelessly, you could well end up dead."
Shing!
The wraith drew its sword. At the same time it closed the distance in an instant.
"Haat!"
Hyun Si-woon spread a sword barrier with Moon Face and received the strike.
Kagagagagang!
A rupture that tore at the eardrums, and a shock that pierced his entire body. Hyun Si-woon’s frame was driven back several meters, leaving two deep gouges in the floor. His entire arm tingled as if paralyzed.
I can’t meet it head-on with force carelessly.
Whiiish!
The wraith gave no openings. Before he could even correct his stance, the next sword strikes poured without pause. Every movement—slashing, thrusting, smashing—had not an ounce of excess. Hyun Si-woon pushed Moon Spirit Steps to the extreme, barely dodging and deflecting the attacks.
This won’t do.
There was no need to match its rhythm.
My path is not the orthodox way, but the heretical path.
Shake the orthodox. Create perfect cracks.
Kurrurung!
The floor where the wraith stepped turned like soft earth and seized its ankle. No matter how Peak it was, if footwork tangled, openings would form.
Undine.
"Yes, Master…"
Chwaaa!
Dense water mist clouded the wraith’s vision. Hwarrrk! Flame coiled around the sword, and Sylph’s gale added speed. The flame-wreathed blade dug toward the wraith’s side.
But even with its vision obscured, the wraith raised its sword with beast-like senses and blocked.
Kwaang!
Flame exploded; the spiritual body staggered.
"Indeed—a fine attempt."
The flow of battle began to change. Hyun Si-woon was no longer desperate only to defend. He commanded the four spirits to disrupt the wraith and stabbed into those openings to pile up effective hits. When the wraith’s sword grazed his shoulder, his sword energy wounded the spiritual body in turn. Blood and spiritual energy mixed as the corridor transformed into a field of desperate struggle.
Hyun Si-woon was learning as he fought. The Peak master’s sword paths, the operation of qi, even the breathing—he began to take everything into his eyes and carve it into his body.
Good.
Ha-wol watched him with her arms crossed. From her perspective his qi still looked crude, and his coordination with the spirits still seemed rough. If the Peak master had been just a little more seasoned, he would have faced perilous moments any number of times.
But…
The more they fought, the more change began to occur. Hyun Si-woon was absorbing real combat sense as if a sponge soaking up water. Clashing with the wraith, he made incomplete techniques fully his own. The crude sword energy grew sharper with every exchange; the rough spirit arts grew ever more cunning.
Was it thanks to his unique sense?
Sqwaaa!
Hyun Si-woon once again unleashed Flash. It was not the straightforward thrust aiming for the front as before. It was a counter that precisely dug into the fleeting moment after the wraith swung its sword, when its strength was spent. The wraith hurriedly recovered its blade to block, but a shallow wound remained on its spiritual body.
"Yes—that’s it!"
And that was not all. The deception arts of Moon Trace grew even more vicious. Adding spirit arts on top of that, rather than feeling awkward, it felt as if they meshed and turned in perfect gear.
How admirable.
This was a path of the Moon Spirit she was seeing for the first time—another path. It was more worth watching than she had thought.
Before long, Hyun Si-woon had fallen into a state of no-self. He did not even respond to Ha-wol’s advice. All his nerves were focused solely on the enemy before him and the tip of his sword. His whole body was covered in blood from large and small wounds, yet a strange smile bloomed on his lips.
Exhilaration blooming amid fierce pain. The martial artist’s exhilaration of feeling oneself grow through battle against a strong foe.
And at last, Hyun Si-woon’s movements changed once more.
"Hmm?"
Ha-wol raised her head. It was the stance of Flash, yet slightly different from before. Over the silver-white sword energy condensed at the tip of the blade, the red flames spat by Salamander were being layered.
A technique she had never taught. A domain of creation that only Hyun Si-woon could achieve.
The silver-white flash became a crimson comet and pierced through the wraith.
Sqwaaarrrrk!
The wraith’s spiritual body was engulfed in flame as it screamed horribly.
"…!"
Ha-wol was astonished. She had thought it a crude technique of simply mixing qi and fire—but no. The cool energy of the Moon Spirit controlled the explosive force of the flames from within, while the fierce momentum of fire amplified the destructive power of the sword energy from without.
This brat is at this level?
A distant past flashed through her mind. The long-cherished wish that even the founding sect master of the Moon Spirit had never achieved. To overcome the limits of Moon Spirit Divine Art, which had reached the extreme of yin, they had attempted countless times to accept the energy of yang—only to fall into qi deviation from reverse flow. That disastrous history.
Yet…
This brat, who had only just stepped into the Form Refinement stage, was achieving it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Could the heretical path actually become the key to solving the homework that orthodox Moon Spirit had never been able to solve? Then should the heretical path still be called heretical? Might it not be a new orthodox path?
The moment Ha-wol felt goosebumps rise over her entire body—
Thuck!
Hyun Si-woon’s sword finally pierced the wraith’s abdomen.
"Keuhk!"
Hyun Si-woon was not unscathed either. Whether from internal injuries, he sat down hard on the floor, clamping a hand over blood that sprayed like a fountain.
"Heh heh… heh heh heh."
And yet he was laughing, as if something made him so happy. Because he had won, no doubt. And because he had won against a Peak master—barely, and desperately—it would be all the sweeter.
"Crazy bastard."
But well done. She acknowledged it. This one would achieve greatness no matter what he did. A venom and madness that transcended talent. An overwhelming sense that encompassed all of it. Above all, that boldness of shattering existing frames and creating a new path.
"So now we can meet that damn Library Director?"
"Probably."
Hyun Si-woon took out a potion and poured it over his wounds. He even used Healing Light.
"Whew. Thought I was gonna die."
"Still, how did it feel experiencing real combat again after so long? Wasn’t it good?"
"Yeah. The best."
Hyun Si-woon rose to his feet. His body had not fully recovered yet, but there was no issue with moving. Just as he was about to walk toward the end of the library again—
Click.
His steps came to a dead stop. His brow furrowed on its own.
This sound.
Click. Click. Click.
The familiar footsteps rang out once more. But it was different from before. It was not a single sound.
"Huh…"
From Ha-wol watching beside him, a dumbfounded sound leaked out. Even she seemed unable to believe the sight before her eyes.
Srrk. Srrrk!
At last the beings that revealed themselves from the darkness. The Peak master wraith that Hyun Si-woon had just barely brought down. Wraiths of similar presence, similar attire, stood blocking his path.
And there were ten of them.
"This is insane."
He’d barely managed to take down one—and now he had to face ten Peak masters?