Chapter 117
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Nice!
Bum Il-so glanced back at the path he'd taken.
His destination lay beyond this dingy pleasure district.
He could pass through freely now, but it had originally been the haunt of lowlife street thugs.
The first time, he'd been caught off guard, dressed in casual clothes instead of his pavilion uniform, and a pack of flashy punks had jumped him, demanding money.
Pathetic street rats who were nothing special.
So he'd smashed every last one of them in this very street.
That was just two months ago.
Right as the Dragon Training Pavilion's second semester was kicking off.
And here he was, running smack into this guy.
The way the man shrank back in terror at the sight of him suggested he was one of those thugs too.
What to do.
Dusk had already fallen.
'He still around?'
What a hassle.
"S-sorry! P-please spare me, sir!"
The man dropped to his knees, begging for his life with every ounce of desperation.
From the looks of it, he'd gotten a thorough beating from Bum Il-so before.
That meant his earlier frantic flight hadn't been due to the crowd's stares or the pavilion uniform—it had been because of Bum Il-so himself.
'I shouldn't have said anything.'
There was no ironclad rule, but he preferred to keep his word whenever possible. Especially when it came to that bastard Dan Mok Un-roe.
'Ugh. Already short on time... but no helping it.'
Bum Il-so made up his mind.
"I won't kill you."
At his low murmur, a flicker of relief crossed the man's face.
"But you're coming with me."
It vanished just as quickly.
Bum Il-so turned back toward the inn housing the Fire Dragon Soaring Sky Tournament.
The man trudged along behind him, head bowed like an ox led to slaughter.
Even in the growing dark, crowds still thronged the golden cordon.
Bum Il-so headed for the entrance.
A warrior hired by the innkeeper blocked his path.
"You'll need to pay the viewing fee to go any further."
"I just came out a bit ago?"
"Rules are rules."
Bum Il-so's brow furrowed slightly at the warrior's firm tone.
"Huh? Bum Il-so?"
Then a voice called out from across the way—someone who recognized him.
It was Dang Jin-san.
"Looks like I don't need to go in after all."
Just then, Squad Seven of the Fierce Dragon Corps emerged from the Fire Dragon Soaring Sky Tournament.
"Because of what I mentioned earlier."
Bum Il-so jerked his head toward the man behind him.
"Huh?"
"I kept my word. I'm off."
Bum Il-so turned and walked away, leaving the man standing there, unsure what to do.
Dang Jin-san eyed the man for a moment, then snapped his fingers.
"Ah! Wait, is that him? The guy who shoved Un-hye?"
The cadets' gazes turned to Dan Mok Un-hye, who gave a small nod.
"Oh ho."
Squad Seven's eyes gleamed with menace.
Even Yeon Ha-min's.
Master and disciple sped out of Wuchang City.
To unleash their full power, they needed a secluded spot, so they headed for the nearby hills where Ha Mu-baek usually trained.
"Not a bad place."
They found a decent clearing in the mountains—likely an old hillside farmstead.
Now it was just an empty lot; the soil must have gone barren, driving the owners away.
Wi Ji-gun drew his sword first.
Ha Mu-baek drew his as well.
Master and disciple faced each other, swords pointed, eyes locked.
For half a breath, neither moved.
Their gazes probed for openings.
In that moment, the air around them shifted.
Their clothes began to billow slowly.
Soon, the massive energy they'd gathered whipped up fierce winds between them.
Yet the two stood unmoving.
Innumerable sword strikes had already clashed between them in their minds.
Sharing the same arts and knowing each other inside out, they'd exchanged dozens of blows without stirring a muscle.
When their taut energies peaked...
Tat!
Wi Ji-gun kicked off first.
A blue sword aura enveloped his blade in an instant.
His sword came crashing down toward Ha Mu-baek with mountain-splitting force.
Ha Mu-baek met it head-on.
A pure white sword aura fully sheathed his blade.
Boom!!!
The clash rang out like a mountain exploding.
Aura against aura.
Ha Mu-baek's aura blazed even whiter; Wi Ji-gun's gleamed icy blue.
An even deadlock, no quarter given.
As if time itself had frozen, they stood sword-to-sword.
Then a ferocious blast of inner energy surged from behind them.
The trees ringing the clearing shook violently.
The two stared into each other's eyes.
A grin curved Wi Ji-gun's lips.
As if on cue, they leaped back simultaneously.
This time, Ha Mu-baek charged.
He retreated only to surge forward again.
A streak of light speared toward his master's heart.
Wi Ji-gun vanished, leaving an afterimage.
Suddenly.
A sword flew at Ha Mu-baek from the left.
Ha Mu-baek blurred away, trailing his own afterimage.
Now they unleashed their movement techniques to the limit, trading blows.
Boundless Free Step reached its zenith.
A dizzying dance of flashing lights unfolded.
Clang! Clang clang!
Their auras clashed repeatedly, resounding sharply.
Different from the earlier thunderous booms.
"Nice!"
Wi Ji-gun shouted, exhilarated.
He hurled his sword far away. Following his master's lead, Ha Mu-baek tossed his too.
The blades spun through the air and stabbed into the ground side by side.
Auras now cloaked their fists.
In close quarters, they unleashed a frenzy of punches and kicks.
Boundless Brawl Fist.
The unarmed combat art of their Boundless Sword Sect unfolded.
Ping! Whoosh!
Lethal whooshes grazed their faces and bodies.
The aura grazes were razor-sharp, yet they couldn't pierce each other's protective energies.
Ha Mu-baek's toe skimmed Wi Ji-gun's nose; Wi Ji-gun's fist brushed Ha Mu-baek's temple.
Fists, feet, and bodies moved too fast for the eye to follow.
The two traded blows at that extreme speed as if it were nothing.
For a full breath, master and disciple brawled without pause.
Once more, as if by agreement, they leaped back.
This time, they paused briefly to catch their breath.
Any ordinary person would be drenched in sweat, gasping for air after such ferocity, but their expressions remained serene.
"Impressive. Your senses haven't fully adapted to your strengthened body yet."
Wi Ji-gun nodded softly.
There were faint inconsistencies in Ha Mu-baek's movements.
Perhaps because of that.
Wi Ji-gun had held the edge so far.
"Still, pushing to the limit like this adapts you faster than solo training."
As Ha Mu-baek said.
The discrepancies were shrinking with every move.
He'd estimated days to calibrate the sensory offset, but it might end today.
"Nothing beats live combat for training."
Wi Ji-gun extended his hand; his sword whistled back to his grip.
Ha Mu-baek summoned his the same way, grasping it from thin air.
"Now, unleash it all. Show me how much stronger you've become."
A blue sword aura three zhang long—about nine meters—surged from Wi Ji-gun's blade.
From Ha Mu-baek's rose an inky black aura, also three zhang.
The first time he'd used the black aura today.
Boom! Kwaboom! Kaboom!
Thunderous roars echoed anew.
Ha Mu-baek swung with utter abandon.
He poured every shred of his inner energy into his sword.
The black turned to pitch darkness, ravaging Wi Ji-gun's blue aura.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The clashes shook the heavens and trembled the earth.
The shockwaves from each impact nearly snapped the surrounding trees.
Wi Ji-gun was slowly pushed back.
Veins bulged on the backs of his hands; he gritted his teeth.
'Already this strong...'
His disciple's power astonished him anew.
He'd thought the disciple had surpassed him breaking through that wall this time.
'He might have passed me even before.'
The experience of countless real battles through two wars.
Mental training purging the bloodlust from Cheongnando.
That alone might have done it.
And now, the wall too.
To match his disciple's growth, he'd need to steel himself.
Wi Ji-gun's robes flapped wildly.
He drew forth every last drop of inner energy from his body.
Just as Ha Mu-baek had against the Ten Thousand Golden Chain Thunderclap's explosion.
He scraped together even the energy permeating his meridians.
And loaded it into one strike.
Boundless Eightfold Sword Sea.
Eightfold. Boundless.
He unleashed the sword containing his lifetime's ultimate technique.
Ha Mu-baek gritted his teeth, staring at the incoming blade.
The immense power within it pressed palpably against him.
But that wasn't all.
The profoundly deep and profound intent guiding the sword's path.
A technique he knew well.
The sect's swordsmanship his master had taught him.
Boundless Eightfold Sword Sea's final form: Eightfold.
Boundless.
Ha Mu-baek unleashed it too.
Boundless.
An interpretation diverging slightly from his master's now.
Rooooarrrrr.
The ominous hum grew as the swords neared, shaking the world.
And then.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!!
A heaven-shattering roar quaked the universe.
"What? What was that?"
After giving the man who'd shoved his sister her due, he'd escorted her home.
On the way, he'd run into Elder Bang too—out looking for Un-hye at his mother's request.
After seeing Un-hye safely home, he was heading back to the Dragon Training Pavilion when...
A colossal boom hit, the ground quaking and the sky shuddering.
The fierce tremors from below even tricked him into thinking it was an earthquake.
The roar came from the north.
Flocks of birds burst from there, piercing the darkening sky.
Squad Seven's eyes turned northward.
"What the hell happened?!?"
As Dang Jin-san yelled in confusion, Namgung Ji-hu murmured thoughtfully.
"Fire dragon, thunder, and quake."
Nak Woo-jin muttered uneasily too.
"Some ill omen?"
"Lord of Primordial Heaven."
True to his Wudang Sect roots, even as a layman, Ju Woo-myeong closed his eyes and invoked the Lord of Primordial Heaven.
Dan Mok Un-roe turned and dashed home.
Yeon Ha-min tilted her head, peering north.
'Feels... familiar?'
Her comrades were shocked and scared, but amid the terror, she sensed something oddly familiar.
She kept it to herself, though.
Just a gut feeling.
"Kyaaak!"
Han Seol-bing let out a sharp shriek of fright.
"I-instructor?"
Ha Seol-ran called to her, startled by the sudden outburst.
"E-earthquake! It's an earthquake! Come here, quick! It's dangerous!"
Han Seol-bing hurriedly pulled Ha Seol-ran close.
She could be cool-headed one moment, playful the next, affectionate another.
But terrified like this? Never.
This vibration dredged up a fragment of her childhood.
Ha Seol-ran might have panicked at the unexpected side, but she stayed calm and soothed her instead.
Who was the instructor and who the cadet? Hard to tell.
"It's not an earthquake, Instructor. Don't worry."
Only as Ha Seol-ran spoke calmly from her embrace did Han Seol-bing slowly relax.
"R-really...?"
"Yes. See? It's already stopped."
Just as she said. Too brief for a quake.
"Then what was..."
"Who knows."
Ha Seol-ran glanced north.
She claimed ignorance, but she had a hunch.
A familiar energy.
Masked by the roar and tremors, but she'd felt the faint trace within.
Gung Do-hyeok gritted his teeth, glaring straight ahead from the secret vault's deepest chamber.
A massive iron door.
The Ten Thousand Golden Chain Thunderclap lay beyond. He had to open it somehow.
But it wouldn't budge.
He'd bulldozed his way here flashing the vice-alliance leader's authority.
Here, though, he was stuck.
No method worked.
Smashing it? Out of the question.
That would collapse the entire vault.
It was designed that way from the start.
After all, this was the Myriad Things Alliance, proud holders of the central plains' finest mechanisms.
Gung Do-hyeok wasn't quite at his brother Gung Mu-hyeok's level, but he too was versed in the alliance's traps.
Yet this door eluded him.
Not a mechanical lock.
"Damn it. A spell, of all things."
Blood trickled from Gung Do-hyeok's right index finger.
A small stone pagoda before the door, with a tiny groove at its heart.
Blood—presumably his—pooled there, but no reaction, no change.
"Son of a bitch! Fuck! A goddamn spell!!!"
