Chapter 107
Translator: penny
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Sparring with Moyong Hui
The garden of the building provided by the Eun Merchant Group.
There, I raised my sword and pointed it at Moyong Hui.
"Hui-ya, you ready?"
Moyong Hui, who had drawn her sword and assumed her stance.
Her expression was slightly tense.
"Hoo... Yes, I'm ready."
The reason we were suddenly pointing swords at each other wasn't anything major.
I had agreed to help Moyong Hui, who had just reached the Peak Realm, get accustomed to her new level.
'And to check her skills while I'm at it.'
Surprisingly, I'd only exchanged a few casual passes with Moyong Hui before, never a proper duel.
'Whenever we had time for that, we'd been sharing our bodies instead.'
So this was our first real spar.
I knew her talent was exceptional, of course, but I was quite looking forward to it.
And there were two spectators watching our spar: Baek Rihyeon, whose usual training spot had been taken, and his senior brother, Cheon Woojin.
"Hui-ya sis, you got this!"
"No way... Moyong little sister reached the Peak Realm...?"
Cheon Woojin, in particular, kept muttering to himself in disbelief ever since hearing about Moyong Hui's breakthrough.
It seemed like a huge shock that she'd surpassed him when just three months ago, she'd been far weaker.
'Tsk tsk. Should've trained harder then.'
Of course, even if he had, Cheon Woojin still wouldn't have reached the Peak Realm.
I ignored the spectators for now and focused on Moyong Hui standing before me.
Then I grinned and said,
"Alright then, come at me."
She gave a small nod in response instead of words.
Then she closed in instantly.
'Let's see what my Hui can do.'
True to my expectations, her sword traced a dazzling trajectory.
A technique that dazzled the opponent's vision with dozens of blade images, then struck with the hidden tip.
It was a move I'd seen before.
So I blocked her intent all too easily.
Chaeng!
'Not as sharp as Father-in-law's.'
Considering the age gap between Moyong Hui and Moyong Hwan, it was only natural, but they were both in the Peak Realm now.
And Moyong Hui even had more inner energy.
The moment her blade tip was blocked, she spun her body to the side as if she'd been waiting.
A follow-up barrage riding that rotational force.
Our swords clashed over ten times in an instant.
Chaejaejaeng!
But that was it.
Infusing speed into illusion was decent, but the power was lacking—probably because she was holding back out of concern for me.
I furrowed my brow at her as she stepped back after the clash.
"Hui-ya, don't worry about me and go all out. That's the only way it'll be good practice."
"...Got it."
As if she'd finally made up her mind, a faint haze began to rise from her sword.
At the same time, her blade started weaving patterns in the air.
It stole the gaze with flashy arcs, then struck sharply from the blind spot.
But I ignored it and blocked the unseen strike.
Kang!
A clash sound utterly different from before.
Sword auras collided, unleashing a powerful shockwave.
Moyong Hui kept painting in the air.
No fixed shapes, but geometric patterns that inevitably drew the eye.
And every one of those patterns became feints and strikes, pressing me hard.
Kang! Kagagang!
I played along with her drawings for quite a while.
But there were no truly threatening attacks at the level I'd hoped for.
'She gonna keep this up the whole time?'
She must be underestimating Mok Jimyeong.
She was probably just worried about me, but from my side, it felt like being patronized.
So I decided to give her a little scolding.
Heavenly Apex Sword Technique.
One Flash.
A sharp trajectory slicing through the painted patterns in the air.
She barely blocked my sword, but staggered as if losing her balance.
But only for a moment.
Turning her stagger into motion, she thrust at my ankle in a flash.
It was a pattern I'd fallen for a few times during our swordplay.
Recalling that, I stepped back, and as if waiting, she stabbed at my abdomen.
'What, she wanna play technique tag?'
Technique tag meant competing on skill alone.
It was the benchmark for separating experts from novices, but...
'I can feel her lack of experience.'
That only worked up to the Absolute Peak.
Time to show her exactly what the Peak Realm entailed.
I ignored the stab at my gut and swung my held sword at her neck.
Normally, I'd take the injury first.
But the outcome was different.
Kang!
Her sword couldn't even pierce my clothes before bouncing off.
I could feel she'd pulled her power out of worry for me, but even at full strength, it would've been the same.
'Body Protecting Aura.'
Once you reach the Peak Realm, you're no longer bound by the sword as a medium.
Something like sword aura could be blocked by even Heavenly Silks.
Moyong Hui's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected turn.
But my swinging sword kept closing in on her neck regardless.
"Hup!"
She blocked it just barely again.
In truth, I'd swung at a speed she could handle from the start.
"How's that feel, Hui-ya? Getting the idea?"
"..."
As if grasping what the Peak Realm truly meant, she lowered her sword and nodded faintly.
It broke from conventional wisdom.
So the way you used your body had to change too.
'Each form, each one properly executed.'
Swords were weapons that threatened even with light swings under normal rules.
You couldn't block a sharp edge with human flesh.
Especially after mastering sword aura.
Of course, fist fighters might block with their fists, but only if infused with inner energy—and even then, vital points rendered it useless.
Thus, those past first-rate and into Absolute Peak gradually shifted from powering forms to attacks the opponent simply couldn't block.
Since if your strike hit flesh, you won, forms be damned.
Only after reaching the Peak Realm did it hit them late.
'The true meaning of forms.'
All those forms they'd thought mastered before Absolute Peak now grabbed at their ankles upon touching Peak.
Why sword swings demanded attention not just to trajectory, but full-body posture...
And only upon that realization did true escape from forms become possible.
'Though most never escape them...'
That required overwhelming talent or vast experience.
Even I had barely grasped it after mastering countless supreme arts and surviving hundreds of life-or-death battles.
So I wasn't expecting Moyong Hui to break free from forms right away.
I just wanted her to properly infuse power into every sword strike.
'In that sense, this spar was a bit lacking.'
Maybe the next one would be better.
Just then, Moyong Hui seemed to have sorted her insights and resumed her stance.
"Gaga, one more time, please."
"Sure. This time, come at me for real."
What she'd shown before was just a bit faster and stronger than Absolute Peak.
It didn't suit the Peak Realm yet.
Thus began our second spar.
'Now that's more like it.'
She used similar forms as before, but her posture was correct and power properly loaded.
And that simple change made a world of difference.
Kwang! Kwarang!
Unlike before, where I could flick them away lightly, now my hands numbed with each block.
The patterns in the air felt genuinely threatening too.
'Still not quite there.'
A bit faster.
A bit stronger.
She hadn't fully adapted to her transformed body post-shedding, so flaws showed occasionally.
But her clumsiness didn't last.
The talent called Sword Phoenix was real; I could feel her improving moment by moment.
'Impressive.'
Compared to Moyong Hwan, head of the Moyong family, she was far behind, but against someone like Chu Munrak, a Four Black Alliance elder, she could probably hold her own.
Though that was partly due to his arts being disadvantaged against peers, considering she'd only broken through yesterday, it was astonishing.
Wung-
At some point, her sword gleamed as if absorbing starlight.
Sword Aura Manifested—the mark of the Peak Realm.
I met it with my own sword aura.
Kwarang!!
A deafening roar and powerful shockwave erupted.
The aftermath made Cheon Woojin hurriedly shield Baek Rihyeon nearby.
"Actual sword aura..."
Cheon Woojin's distraught expression.
But we had no time to mind him.
I couldn't afford to get distracted now either.
Sword aura wasn't something to block with body protecting aura anymore.
Kwang!!
Sword aura consumed massive inner energy, so fresh Peak Realm warriors couldn't sustain it long.
But Moyong Hui, who'd taken plenty of my Harmony's Essence last night, showed no fatigue even after dozens of exchanges.
'In stamina, she might even surpass Father-in-law.'
Through this spar with me, Moyong Hui gradually grew accustomed to the Peak Realm.