The Art of Memorization
I've always been good at memorizing things.
It was something I had constantly practiced, both in my childhood and in my past life.
Once I saw something, I rarely forgot it. It didn't matter if it was a physical movement or a visual object; my mind recorded it all the same.
It wasn't a bad talent to have.
In fact, it was one of the few abilities I actually rated highly in myself.
I had used it to my advantage countless times.
Having a good memory turned out to be far more useful than most people realized.
Of course, the way I applied it in my past life differed from how I used it in this one.
Still,
the fact remained that it was a massive advantage.
Swoooosh!
Clang!
And this time was no exception.
Seo Pyeong's sword descended, pouring down along a rapid path like a rushing stream.
They said the Wudang Sect's swordplay was built on the principles of Taiji.
It was soft yet heavy.
It felt as though it were gently settling, fluid as water.
I didn't really understand the grand philosophy of Taiji, but watching it in action gave me a rough idea.
Is that why they say Wudang's sword resembles a valley?
A flowing current.
A heavy weight hidden beneath a calm surface.
It wasn't a style focused purely on offense, but rather on redirecting and parrying. It made sense why people called it a defensive masterpiece.
It was easy to see why it was renowned for its defense.
And it lived up to its reputation.
Screeech!
Whenever I launched an attack, Seo Pyeong effortlessly deflected my blade.
The transition was incredibly seamless.
Yet, at the same time...
"Hup!"
With a sharp shout, his gentle valley stream instantly transformed into a raging waterfall.
Just because Wudang's style specialized in defense didn't mean its strikes lacked power.
A heavy sword was proof of its destructive force.
"Haaah!"
Seo Pyeong poured all his strength into his swing, maximizing the weight of his strike.
Wudang.
One of the Nine Great Sects and One Union, standing at the absolute pinnacle alongside Mount Hua.
Boasting countless disciples, its political influence in the Murim was second to none.
As the undisputed top genius of such a prestigious sect, Seo Pyeong's swordplay was truly fierce.
He's definitely on another level.
The sensation was completely different from my previous opponents.
I thought to myself as I dodged and blocked his relentless strikes.
His sword wasn't exceptionally fast.
Nor was it flashy or deceptive.
It was just the basics.
He was a textbook example of what a sword honed to perfection on fundamental training looked like.
"His upper and lower body are exceptionally well-balanced," Yoo Chun-gil remarked, offering rare praise for the boy's dedication. "For someone with such a broken personality, he certainly hasn't slacked on his training."
I couldn't disagree.
It's obvious just by looking at him.
Seo Pyeong's physique was solid.
It was different from the brute, bulky frame of someone like Heuk Tae-do.
A form sculpted by sheer effort.
An optimal physique forged through extreme training.
Seo Pyeong's body exuded that exact aura.
A clean, concise sword technique powered by a strong physical foundation.
Even to someone like me, who didn't know much about martial arts theory, the value of his foundation was clear.
If only his personality weren't so utterly garbage, I might have actually respected him.
His nasty attitude ruined everything else he had going for him.
Creak.
Our blades clashed and ground against each other.
The moment they touched, I knew. I was being pushed back. Seo Pyeong's sword possessed enough force to easily overpower mine.
What about his realm of cultivation?
Needless to say, it's higher than mine.
Among those dubbed the Seven Great Talents, not a single one was at a lower realm than me.
Every single one of them had to be at least in the Peak realm.
In the vast Central Plains, reaching the Peak realm was a lifelong dream for countless martial artists.
So many spent their entire lives failing to cross that threshold.
Yet these youngsters, barely past twenty, had already surpassed it.
It really is monstrous.
It was a fact that made it impossible to deny their genius.
In that sense, as for me...
Since I had been dragged up to this level by Yoo Chun-gil, it felt a bit cheap to compare myself to them.
Not that I had any intention of putting myself on the same pedestal anyway.
Press!
Tsk.
My sword was being pushed back. As expected, I couldn't match him in raw strength.
It was a pointless struggle.
Realizing this, I immediately pivoted my foot.
I tilted my blade to deflect his strike. Seo Pyeong tried to press his advantage as if he had anticipated this, but...
At that exact moment, my Moon Eye intervened.
Diagonal left.
His next move was laid bare in the flow of his energy.
I feinted in one direction, then redirected my blade to the opposite side.
His center of gravity faltered, and Seo Pyeong's sword wavered.
At the same time, his flank was left wide open.
I delivered a sharp kick right to his exposed side.
Thwack!
"Ack!"
He stumbled backward.
The funny thing was, even though I was the one who kicked him, the recoil pushed me back even further.
The distance between us widened.
However...
"You bastard!"
Seo Pyeong quickly regained his balance and lunged at me once more.
What is he, a wild bull?
Did he never tire? He kept charging at me relentlessly.
Just then...
Whoosh!
A strange sensation gathered around Seo Pyeong's sword.
It was sword force.
He was attempting to manifest his sword force.
My Moon Eye picked up on the shift instantly.
Clang!
"...!!"
The moment I saw it, I lunged forward and intercepted his blade before the force could fully form.
I simply struck upward.
That alone was enough to disrupt the manifestation of his sword force.
I had severed the flow of his internal energy.
Sword force couldn't be summoned instantaneously—at least, not Seo Pyeong's.
If I interrupted it before the technique was fully realized, I could shut it down just like this.
"Urgh!"
Seo Pyeong groaned as his attempt was thwarted yet again.
It had been like this the entire fight.
Whenever he tried to unleash his sword force, I shut it down.
Whenever he charged, I pushed him back.
That was how I kept him at bay.
The only problem was that I had to constantly block his sword force and create openings to push him back every time he lunged.
If you were to ask how I managed to pull this off against an opponent stronger than myself...
Well...
I can see it.
First, there was the assistance of my Moon Eye.
And second...
It's easy.
It was because of his predictable habits and patterns.
Thud!
He initiated his footwork. The instant his foot touched the ground, my eyes were already locked onto his right wrist.
My eyes were fixed on his right wrist.
Left side.
The moment I read it, I raised my sword. His blade swept in from the left.
Screeech! Clang!
I blocked it with the flat of my blade, stepped in slightly, and deflected it away.
It all came down to predicting how he would swing.
Everyone has habits.
And Seo Pyeong was no exception.
His posture, the subtle tells when he swung—they were all there.
These were details I had gathered from the information provided by the Beggar Alliance.
Of course, the report from the Beggar Alliance didn't explicitly list his physical habits in detail.
Rather, it was thanks to the detailed records of his past duels.
How many times he struck left.
How many times he struck right.
By analyzing the written accounts of his fights, I had visualized his movements over and over.
I kept reminding myself of those patterns.
What kind of habits does this guy have?
In my past life, it was like analyzing someone's speech patterns or unique gestures. In the Murim, it translated to observing the physical habits an opponent displayed when entering combat.
How much could I really deduce from mere text?
Not everything, certainly.
But...
The difference between memorizing it and not is massive.
Going into a fight knowing what to expect is entirely different from going in blind.
Understanding the nature of Wudang's swordplay,
and understanding the kind of person Seo Pyeong was—knowing these things changed the entire dynamic of the duel.
It was the difference between seeing and truly understanding.
Just look at him now.
Left. Toe placement. Ah, that's a feint.
I watched his wrists and feet. I tracked his gaze to map out his trajectory and anticipate his actions.
I predicted his next move.
Within just a few exchanges, I had memorized his entire pattern.
His habits are glaringly obvious.
Fortunately for me, Seo Pyeong was a creature of habit.
This was especially true when he tried to manifest his sword force.
Whenever he channels his sword force, his right shoulder rises slightly.
Perhaps because he had to channel a massive amount of internal energy, he put an excessive amount of strength into it. His shoulder would lift, making his intentions painfully obvious.
On top of that, the tip of his sword would dip slightly.
That was the perfect window to strike.
All I had to do was target that exact moment.
To be honest, a single miscalculation could have cost me dearly, but...
"Dammit...!!!"
Watching his face contort in sheer frustration every time I shut him down made the risk entirely worth it.
"Why...! Why?!"
Seo Pyeong shouted in sheer exasperation, clearly suffocated by how every single one of his moves was blocked before it could even begin.
It must have been incredibly frustrating to have his techniques shut down before they could even manifest.
"...Well, now," Yoo Chun-gil murmured, sounding utterly dumbfounded.
"I have never seen anyone fight in such a bizarre manner."
His tone of fascination was quite amusing.
"It is one thing to subconsciously read and exploit an opponent's movements, but to actively memorize them from the start... what a strange lad."
Did he not understand my method?
It didn't matter. I had no intention of explaining it to him anyway.
In the end, the result is all that matters.
Regardless of the process, only the outcome truly counted. That was just how life worked.
That was just how life worked.
Thud.
I shoved Seo Pyeong back once more. This time, he lost his footing entirely and tumbled across the ground.
Was he exhausted? No, physically he still had plenty of energy left.
He's growing mentally impatient.
I could feel his composure slipping away.
His mental fortitude is surprisingly weak.
I hadn't even done much.
It was baffling how easily he lost his cool over this, but then again...
Well, he's only in his early twenties.
No matter how much of a genius he was, a kid who had spent his entire life doing nothing but swinging a sword in a secluded mountain sect couldn't possibly have a strong mental game.
"...Damn it...! I... I am..."
I looked away from the disheveled Seo Pyeong and scanned the crowd.
As the duel dragged on, the excitement among the spectators was beginning to wane.
"This is taking forever."
"Yeah, it's getting a bit tedious."
They were getting bored.
Well, to be fair, it had been dragging on.
And honestly, I was starting to get tired too.
Is it about time to wrap this up?
I thought as I watched Seo Pyeong push himself back up.
Continuing like this wouldn't lead to a clean victory. I was only deflecting his attacks, and I was the one burning through stamina faster.
I needed to end it here.
In that case...
Shall we?
It was time to make my move.
With that thought, I glanced at Yoo Chun-gil.
Yoo Chun-gil smirked and gave me a slight nod.
It was his approval.
The moment I saw it, I lowered my stance.
I shifted my posture and regulated my breathing.
Seo Pyeong's eyes narrowed at the change.
"...What are you doing? Are you mocking me?"
He seemed to have misunderstood my actions, his anger flaring once more.
He probably thought I was going easy on him, but in reality, I was just focusing entirely on what was to come.
"How dare you...!"
Seo Pyeong snarled, channeling his energy into his sword.
This time, the sword force he had struggled to manifest flared to life completely.
It was the manifestation of the sword force that contained the principles of Taiji.
Reflecting the nature of Wudang's martial arts, the sword force was solid, upright, and unwavering.
"I'll make you regret this...!"
Seo Pyeong's sword path began to flow.
The Cloudless Wudang Sword.
Wudang's signature sword technique erupted from his body.
With the sword force wrapping around the blade's path, it manifested in an incredibly lethal form.
Swoooosh!
His sword lunged toward me.
A fully realized, successfully executed strike.
The pressure was entirely different from before.
Looking at it, I was certain of one thing.
If I had just let him execute this from the start, I might have lost.
If I hadn't constantly interrupted his flow, I would have been in serious trouble.
Seo Pyeong's swordplay was undeniably powerful.
However...
I wasn't entirely out of options either.
A brilliant light enveloped my blade.
The radiant sword force of Cheongwol Gate manifests, wrapping the blade in a brilliant, flashing light.
The signature sword force of Cheongwol Gate burst forth.
Seo Pyeong's eyes widened in shock at the sight.
Though visibly shaken by the brilliant radiance of the sword force, he did not halt his attack.
His blade continued its relentless descent.
As the sword closed in,
I focused my gaze on Seo Pyeong's incoming blade.
Along with the manifestation of my sword force, a deeper light flooded my Moon Eye.
At that exact moment...
Shhh!
A single, distinct line materialized in my vision.
The line of light was perfectly straight.
It served as a guide, as if telling me exactly where to strike.
However...
this path was not meant for human footsteps.
I slowly aligned my blade along the line.
The energy of the Gwangwolseomgyeong flowed along the path.
My sword surged forward, meeting Seo Pyeong's blade head-on.
And when the two opposing forces clashed—
Shatter!
The sound of something fracturing echoed through the air.
"Huh?"
Seo Pyeong let out a dumbfounded gasp.
His sword had shattered, its fragments scattering into the air like metallic snow.
Clink!
The severed half of his blade clattered onto the stone floor.
"Whew."
With a soft sigh,
my blade came to a halt right against his throat.
"Looks like it's over."
I offered him a bright smile, and Seo Pyeong's expression completely collapsed.
And then...
"Match over! The winner is Bang Seong-yeon of Cheongwol Gate!"
The moment the referee's declaration echoed across the arena,
"Waaaaaaah!!!"
the deafening cheers of the crowd washed over me.