Chapter 18
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 18
It had been like this from the very beginning.
From the moment they first laid eyes on each other, both had intuitively known this moment would come.
Hae Un-chan caught his breath and stared at Ise. Ise met his gaze, a dry but unmistakable glint of competition in his own eyes.
“Next. Ise, Hae Un-chan.”
As the names were called, a quiet hush fell over the training ground.
Heavenly Root Body. A heaven-blessed talent said to appear barely once in a generation.
Heavenly Demon Dual-Meridian Physique. A constitution identical to the Great Martial Dao Master’s, boasting immeasurable potential.
Though their current cultivation was still humble, they were a spectacle intriguing enough to pique the curiosity of the Hall Masters for the first time in a long while.
The small talk among the Hall Masters died down, their eyes locking onto the two boys.
Ise gripped his shield tightly and held his small axe with a light touch, twirling it to warm up his wrist.
Hae Un-chan did not draw his sword. Keeping it sheathed, he lowered his stance, ready to spring forward at any moment.
After all, a swordsman's true attack begins with the draw.
“Begin.”
The moment the signal sounded, Hae Un-chan moved.
Spiritual energy gathered at the soles of his feet. He pushed off the ground, his body shooting forward like a cannonball.
Watching his adept control of spiritual energy, the Hall Masters murmured in low admiration.
In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance and drew his sword.
It was a clean, textbook attack without a single wasted motion.
Yet Ise’s body had already glided backward like a fish through water, leaving Hae Un-chan’s first blow to slice through empty air.
‘What was that burst of speed? He didn't have a technique like that two days ago,’ Hae Un-chan thought.
‘As I thought, his movements are strange. Like a feather drifting on the wind,’ Ise mused.
After that initial burst, Hae Un-chan's speed returned to normal. Though he was certainly nimble, he clearly struggled to keep up with Ise, who had mastered Dokkaebi Footwork.
Every now and then, however, Hae Un-chan would erupt forward like a fired arrow, unleashing a barrage of threatening attacks.
Focusing his Spirit Eye, Ise saw that Hae Un-chan was momentarily gathering spiritual energy in his soles before launching himself forward as if from a compressed spring. It was a feat that demanded delicate control.
The kid had grown even stronger in just two days.
Ise, inwardly impressed, deflected a sword strike aimed at his flank with his shield.
Clang! The shock jarred his wrist and ran up to his shoulder.
It was heavy, comparable to the impact he had felt when fighting Mokgwang.
Ise immediately backed away, dropping his center of gravity.
The two blurred across the platform, frantically shifting positions as they traded blows. Loud clanging echoed through the grounds in a furious exchange that soon had beads of sweat forming on their foreheads.
Despite their speed, neither allowed a fatal blow to land. It wasn't out of mercy. It was simply because their ability to coat their bodies in spiritual energy was still limited, making their weapons far less lethal than they should have been.
Hae Un-chan's thrust was blocked, and his balance faltered slightly. Growing impatient, he had put too much power into a single strike.
Seeing the opening, Ise brought his small axe chopping down toward Hae Un-chan's thigh.
‘I can always reattach the leg later.’
Swung with the resolve to sever the limb, the axe was nonetheless deflected by the spiritual energy Hae Un-chan mustered to protect himself. In that same instant, Hae Un-chan’s sword slid past Ise’s shield, grazing his cheek.
A single drop of crimson blood welled on his skin.
‘…He’s fast.’
The speed at which spiritual energy moved through his body was both rapid and smooth. Even at the same cultivation realm, Ise was clearly outmatched in terms of control.
Hae Un-chan launched a barrage of attacks. High, low, diagonal—the systematically refined sword forms tightened around Ise, growing more menacing with every swing.
Cuts began to open up across Ise’s body.
He instantly reined in his offense, switching to total defense. With the momentum shifting to his opponent, he needed to catch his breath and sharpen his focus.
When Ise focused solely on defense, Hae Un-chan couldn't catch up to his elusive movements. Furthermore, channeling spiritual energy into his soles couldn't be done indefinitely. Spiritual energy was finite, and recovering it took time.
Ise parried Hae Un-chan’s strikes with minimal movement.
As expected, impatience soon began to show on the young sword cultivator's face. A clear lack of experience.
At that exact moment, Ise channeled the spiritual energy he had been carefully hoarding into his own soles and pushed off the ground. He simultaneously activated Dokkaebi Footwork, bursting forward with even greater speed.
Hae Un-chan, not expecting his opponent to mimic his technique so quickly, swung his sword with a flustered expression toward the incoming axe.
It was a feint.
There was hardly any weight behind the axe; it served only to catch and bind the boy's sword. The real blow came from the heavy shield sweeping in from the opposite side.
With both their weapons locked, the heavy round shield slammed directly into Hae Un-chan’s head.
CLANG!
A massive sound, like the ringing of a giant temple bell, echoed through the area. The impact was so severe that Hae Un-chan’s eyes rolled back for a moment.
While Hae Un-chan was still dazed and his axe was knocked away, Ise channeled spiritual energy into his empty right hand and smashed his fist directly into his opponent's face.
Hae Un-chan’s body slammed into the ground, bouncing several times like a skipped stone.
‘He didn't die… right?’
Ise didn't yet have the finesse to finely control his spiritual energy. In truth, he had gathered every drop he could muster and struck with full force.
Hae Un-chan’s body twitched violently on the ground.
Fearing he might have gone too far, Ise fidgeted nervously and looked toward the examiner. “Chief Examiner, if he's lost consciousness—”
Yet Kang I-tae remained as still as a statue.
“Not… yet.”
Hae Un-chan was picking himself up. His eyes were barely focused, but his fists were clenched tightly.
Ise wondered if there was really a need to go this far, but there was no other way to end the fight. He discarded his shield and channeled spiritual energy into both fists.
From here on out, it was a cultivators' brawl… or something like it.
Hae Un-chan lowered his body and dove for Ise’s legs. Thud! His shoulder smashed into Ise’s thigh.
Ise slammed his elbow down, reinforced with spiritual energy, but the force dissipated against the energy guarding Hae Un-chan's back. Losing his balance, Ise fell backward, and Hae Un-chan immediately mounted him.
In all his sparring matches, this was a situation Ise had never experienced.
A fist came crashing down.
Thump! Thump!
Punches infused with spiritual energy hammered against Ise's arms as he covered his head. If even a tiny gap opened, a fatal blow would get through. His arms throbbed with a spreading numbness.
For a split second, Ise considered striking him in the groin but decided against it. He didn't want to cross that line in a duel between men.
What followed was a tedious war of attrition. One pounded away, trying to break through the barrier with spiritual energy; the other desperately protected his head.
The one who exhausted himself first was Hae Un-chan. Perhaps suffering the lingering effects of that massive hit from earlier, the power behind his punches gradually waned.
Instantly, Ise channeled spiritual energy into his index and middle fingers, thrusting them toward Hae Un-chan’s eyes.
Startled, Hae Un-chan released his pin and arched his back, giving Ise the opening he needed to throw him off and spring to his feet.
A hand-to-hand brawl ensued. As if wringing out every last drop of spiritual energy left in their bodies, their muscles hardened and their movements grew a step faster. Gasping for breath, their ribs throbbed from the blows they exchanged.
Though they traded a roughly even number of attacks, Ise was subtly deflecting Hae Un-chan's strikes bit by bit. It was thanks to the heightened senses granted by Dokkaebi Sense. Because of this, the unfavorable tide of battle gradually turned in his favor. His biggest disadvantage had always been his smaller pool of spiritual energy. As expected of someone on the verge of 3-Star Qi Refining, Hae Un-chan possessed a far superior reserve.
If you’re short on resources, make one unit of yours exhaust two of the enemy's.
Ise’s strategy paid off. Blocking, deflecting, and tanking hits, he maintained his balance throughout.
And then, at a certain moment, they both felt it.
Their spiritual energy had run completely dry. Their stamina was already depleted. With no energy left to exchange, it was now a battle of pure muscle and willpower.
The one who endured would prevail.
Ise and Hae Un-chan hurled their fists at each other simultaneously.
Hae Un-chan’s punch was blocked by an unknown force, while Ise’s fist shattered Hae Un-chan’s jaw.
Their spiritual energy was exhausted?
That was true. Of course, Ise had used up all his spiritual energy.
But within his body remained a second power: demonic energy.
And the Spirit Eye could not detect internal demonic energy.
Only two parties realized the scam Ise had just pulled: Hae Un-chan, who had taken the full force of the blow, and the Hall Masters, whose exalted cultivation realms allowed them to see the truth.
Hae Un-chan’s body flew backward and tumbled across the floor. His eyes were rolled back, and white foam trickled from his lips.
“Winner, Ise.”
With a flick of Kang I-tae’s chin, Medical Apprentices from the Medicine Hall stepped forward. They administered a Healing Pellet to Hae Un-chan and began first aid. After a short while, he coughed up blood and regained consciousness.
Ise approached him, slung an arm around his shoulder, and helped him to his feet.
Kang I-tae looked back and forth at their tattered Daoist robes, sighed deeply, and spoke.
“What an extraordinarily noble fight. Truly befitting of aspiring Daoists.”
Neither of them could lift their heads.
* * *
On the night all schedules at the Great Martial Dao Training Center came to an end, a final banquet was held to wrap up the grand occasion. It was a kind gesture, encouraging the students to fill their bellies to their heart's content, as once they officially began life as cultivators, it was best to distance oneself from secular food.
The only problem was that some kids were filling their bellies a little too much.
After the banquet ended, Kang I-tae called Ise over.
“You called for me?”
“You used demonic energy during the exam.”
“That is also part of my power. Didn't you tell us to use any means necessary?”
“From now on, refrain from using it in unnecessary situations. Cultivators of lower realms might not notice, but those at higher realms will sense its sinister aura.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Including that, I called you here to give you three warnings.”
Ise listened intently.
“First, until you reach the Foundation Establishment Stage, do not give in to the solicitations of the Hall Masters or Core Disciples of the Eleventh Inner Hall. It goes against the principles of the Great Martial Dao.”
“I’ll try, but… if I’m actually put on the spot, it might be difficult to refuse.”
“Brush them off with vague answers that are neither yes nor no. Do not give a firm answer or commitment until you have figured out the relationships between the Inner Halls and know which place best suits your goals. A cultivator’s word carries a binding weight.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
Ise committed the new insight to memory. He wasn't one to make empty promises by nature, but he felt he needed to be especially careful with his words from now on.
‘In any case, it seems there are conflicts or rivalries among the Inner Halls of the Great Martial Dao.’
It was a truth he hadn't particularly cared to know, but knowing it wouldn't hurt. He also noted the implicit warning behind the words.
“Lastly, watch your behavior. Even if your identity is backed by the guarantee of the Ghost-Guarding Temple, I will be watching you.”
“…So you haven't lifted your suspicions yet.”
“I am simply fulfilling my duty. That includes entertaining the final possibility that you might have even deceived Mongryeon.”
“I understand. I'll be careful.”
“Good. Congratulations on entering as top of the class.”
Kang I-tae patted Ise on the shoulder a few times. Though he seemed like a strict, stubborn senior on the surface, Ise found he actually quite liked his personality.