Chapter 122
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: That's About It, Whatever
Soso.
The first snow was falling softly on the Dragon Training Pavilion.
As December approached, the weather had turned suddenly cold, and now snow was coming down early in the morning.
"Whew. It's cold."
Dang Jin-san appeared in the training ground, shivering.
He habitually glanced at the rock.
Snow had piled up lightly on it.
There was no one around.
"Tch. Not coming today either?"
Dang Jin-san clicked his tongue.
"Yeah, who's not showing up today?"
A familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar voice came from behind him.
Dang Jin-san jumped in surprise and turned around.
"I-Instructor!"
"Why so startled? Like you're seeing a stranger."
Ha Mu-baek tossed out the indifferent remark and walked toward the rock.
He stared at the snow piled on it for a moment, and the snow melted away.
The melted water dried up in an instant, revealing a dry, fluffy rock surface.
Ha Mu-baek spread out a mat of appropriate size there and unfurled a large umbrella behind the rock.
He had come carrying something bulky on his back, and that was it.
Once preparations were complete, Ha Mu-baek lay down at a slant on the mat.
"You here alone?"
Ha Mu-baek's casual question.
"Everyone will be here soon."
Dang Jin-san replied as he began warming up in one corner of the training ground.
Sure enough, the cadets started arriving one by one.
They flinched upon spotting Ha Mu-baek but, seeming accustomed to it, began their warm-ups.
In truth, they were more used to his absence lately.
He hadn't even bothered announcing self-study sessions; he just didn't show.
"The Winter Solstice Tournament is about ten days away, right?"
Ha Mu-baek's question.
"Fifteen days left."
Baek Ri-pyeong answered.
Ha Mu-baek scratched his head at the response.
"Ah, right, it's on the solstice."
He roughly counted the days but confirmed the exact date from Baek Ri-pyeong's answer.
"Yes."
Dan Mok Un-roe's reply.
"Then shall we do a quick check? Everyone, start circulating your qi first."
Once the seven squads' cadets seemed sufficiently warmed up, Ha Mu-baek gave the order.
At his words, they all sat cross-legged and began their qi circulation.
Namgung Ji-hu and Joo Woo-myeong, who had been coming to the Fierce Dragon Corps seven squads' training ground daily as if it were routine, froze.
There was someone who shouldn't be there, and worse, he seemed to be overseeing their training.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned toward the two.
"What's with those looks? Like you've seen people who don't belong here. It rubs me the wrong way. You're the ones who shouldn't be here right now."
At Ha Mu-baek's pointed remark, the two averted their eyes slyly.
"You two train on your own. You're not under my charge."
Ha Mu-baek's words cut like a knife.
"B-But at least one spar..."
Namgung Ji-hu slipped in the request subtly. That had been the reason he first sought out Ha Mu-baek anyway—guided spars.
"That's about it, whatever."
"P-Please, me too."
At Ha Mu-baek's response, Joo Woo-myeong hurriedly chimed in.
"Han won't train with you?"
Ha Mu-baek asked, sounding annoyed.
"Well... Lately, Seol-ran's training has hit a crucial point, so he's focusing more on her."
Joo Woo-myeong said cautiously.
"Ugh."
Ha Mu-baek grimaced.
Han Seol-bing was neglecting Joo Woo-myeong to focus on his own younger sister.
So now he had to clean up the mess.
"Fine. I'll take a look at you too."
At Ha Mu-baek's permission, Joo Woo-myeong smiled faintly.
It had been worth sneaking into the seven squads' training ground so often despite Ha Mu-baek's absence.
Spars with Namgung Ji-hu, Baek Ri-pyeong, and Dan Mok Un-roe had certainly helped.
But he thirsted for a match against an absolute powerhouse who far surpassed him.
On the day he left for the Dragon Training Pavilion, his master, Mu Yeon-jin, had said:
-I still believe there's nothing for you to gain at the Dragon Training Pavilion. However, if there's an instructor named Ha Mu-baek there, you might learn something from him. He's an extraordinary man.
-What kind of person is he?
-The world's greatest unknown, perhaps?
-Isn't the world's greatest the Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong?
To his final question, the master had only smiled faintly.
'The world's greatest unknown.'
He understood why his master called him that after witnessing it firsthand on the day Pavilion Lord Pang caused trouble.
An overwhelming aura whose depths even his master couldn't fathom.
And he felt it again during their trip to the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
Last time, he had eyed the chance when Namgung Ji-hu sparred with Ha Mu-baek and managed a match himself.
'Two snaps.'
That was the result.
'This time, no matter what.'
He was determined to achieve a better outcome.
The tip of the sword trembled.
One sword became two, and two swords became four.
The tip continued to shake.
Eight became sixteen, sixteen thirty-two.
The trembling sword tips kept multiplying.
In an instant, it seemed to reach 128.
Then the trembling ceased, leaving only a single sword.
"Hoo."
Mok Cheong-san let out a deep sigh, drenched in sweat.
"Still can't handle the eighth form yet..."
He muttered in frustration.
He just couldn't break through this limit. If he couldn't even start the eighth form, that would be one thing, but he could initiate it—yet couldn't maintain it.
Heavenly Phantom Thousand Roads Sword Art.
The Heavenly Sword Sect's supreme sword technique, the unique skill that defined the sect today.
Among the three great disciples, only ten prodigies who had striven arduously had mastered it.
A sword art of eleven forms, where the final form unleashed 1,024 swords blanketing the sky in tremendous power.
For Mok Cheong-san, only twenty years old, to flawlessly produce sixty-four swords was astonishing.
A genius befitting the Heavenly Sword Sect's painstaking cultivation.
After catching his breath, he wiped his sweat roughly with a silk cloth and sat cross-legged.
Now it was time to refine his heart method.
The heart method and sword art had to harmonize for peak power.
Neglecting either was unacceptable.
At that moment, Beom Il-so passed by the Wa Dragon Corps twenty squads' training ground.
He had just finished lunch.
Training alone in the grounds even during mealtime.
What a mad training fanatic.
Beom Il-so's gaze passed Mok Cheong-san and went to one corner of the training ground.
A pile of silk cloths.
Discarded after a single wipe.
"Tch."
Beom Il-so frowned and clicked his tongue at the sight.
He sauntered off toward the Wa Dragon Corps one squad's training ground.
"Using a silk cloth once and tossing it..."
Well, it happened.
Silk cloth.
Great texture, excellent absorbency—perfect for sweat.
But hard to wash, so not ideal as a towel.
Silk damages severely if washed normally without special methods.
Even so, it could handle two or three uses, but he hated the feel after damage and discarded after one.
"As expected of a rich young master. Our senior brother."
Beom Il-so chuckled.
He, who had wandered the world begging before luckily meeting his master and joining the Heavenly Sword Sect.
And the senior brother, son of Xi'an's top merchant in Shaanxi where the sect was located.
He, defeated by a random Fierce Dragon Corps cadet gathered from everywhere.
And the senior brother, a once-in-a-century genius compared even to Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong.
Chuckle.
A self-mocking smile played on Beom Il-so's lips as he reached the one squad's training ground.
There was no comparing them, so why compare himself to his senior brother?
His talent ranked low even among the Heavenly Sword Sect's ten prodigies.
That's why he was sent here.
As a token gesture for the Dragon Training Pavilion.
And then he lost to a Fierce Dragon Corps cadet.
How was he treated back at the sect?
But even so.
Beom Il-so didn't care.
That defeat.
Something had flashed in his mind then.
He didn't know what at the time.
Not even recently.
A few days ago, during night training at the closed training hall.
On a day thunder roared between heaven and earth.
Suddenly, that flash coalesced and unfolded.
Because of that chance encounter, Beom Il-so hadn't returned to the Dragon Training Pavilion that day.
He picked up a training sword from the rack in the corner.
Slowly moved it.
One sword.
The tip trembled, doubling gradually.
The moment sixty-four swords appeared.
As if adjusting his breath briefly.
In an instant, 128 passed to 256 sword images blanketed the training ground before vanishing.
"Hoo."
A simple sigh.
He placed the training sword back and turned.
A snow squall swirled around the training ground and subsided.
Still mealtime, so Beom Il-so headed to a suitable shelter to rest.
Moments later, other Wa Dragon Corps one squad cadets arrived at the training ground.
"What the hell?"
The snow piled at the edge for training had been scattered messily. Ma Rip frowned and muttered.
"Must've been a gust of wind."
Sa Pyeong-ju replied nonchalantly.
"A gust does this?"
Ma Rip retorted incredulously.
"Anyway, where'd Il-so go? He left first."
Sa Pyeong-ju scanned the training ground.
"Probably holed up somewhere. He's been slacking on training especially since the second semester."
At Ma Rip's answer, Sa Pyeong-ju quietly gazed at the training ground.
A languid afternoon.
Yet still cold from the morning snow.
The training ground floor, damp with snow, felt unpleasant underfoot.
In the center of such a training ground.
Namgung Ji-hu stood holding his sword, glaring at Ha Mu-baek.
The seven squads' cadets and Joo Woo-myeong watched with keen interest.
"How many this time?"
Dang Jin-san's question.
"First time was one, right? Didn't see it. Second was two."
Baek Ri-pyeong said.
"So, how many?"
Dang Jin-san asked again.
"Three."
Yeon Ha-min answered first.
"Tch. Really? Then I'll go four."
Dang Jin-san said regrettably, looking at the other cadets.
"Three for me."
"Me too."
Joo Woo-myeong and Dan Mok Un-roe's choices.
Nak Woo-jin and Baek Ri-pyeong remained.
"Two."
Baek Ri-pyeong decided after deliberation.
All eyes turned to Nak Woo-jin.
"But will it be snaps again?"
Nak Woo-jin asked curiously.
Everyone nodded. Ha Mu-baek had ended spars with Namgung Ji-hu and Joo Woo-myeong lightly with snaps.
Nak Woo-jin shook his head.
"I have a feeling it'll be different this time. Just one hit."
He couldn't predict the method.
But whatever it was, it felt like Ha Mu-baek would drop Namgung Ji-hu in one blow.
As the cadets' bets concluded.
Namgung Ji-hu stepped forward. He was frowning slightly.
He couldn't help it; he'd overheard the bets.
"Your composure shaken by that? Tch."
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue and remarked.
At that instant.
Namgung Ji-hu read the change in Ha Mu-baek's stance and unleashed his sword.
Vast Sky Boundless Sword.
The Namgung Clan's famed technique, honed by Namgung Ji-hu, flew toward Ha Mu-baek.
The sword's variations were fluid, majestic, and domineering.
His sword art was at its peak now.
'Not bad?'
Interest flickered in Ha Mu-baek's eyes. Better than expected.
Thanks to spars with Joo Woo-myeong, Baek Ri-pyeong, Dan Mok Un-roe, and others in the seven squads' training ground, his sword had reached maturity.
Yet Ha Mu-baek remained an absolute powerhouse Namgung Ji-hu couldn't touch.
Thus, he was unleashing his most powerful strike.
Myriad sword images surged toward Ha Mu-baek.
He didn't dodge.
Instead, he stepped forward directly and raised his fist.
The moment faint fist qi seemed to gather on Ha Mu-baek's fist.
Bam!
He swung decisively, shattering Namgung Ji-hu's Vast Sky Boundless Sword.
The exposed opening.
Ha Mu-baek finished with a light snap.
"Argh!"
Namgung Ji-hu's scream burst out.
"Maybe because you thought him untouchable, but it was too domineering. You lost balance."
Ha Mu-baek's following advice.
Namgung Ji-hu, clutching his forehead and slumping, had a spark in his eyes for a split second.
"What the heck?"
Dang Jin-san muttered.
"Yeah. One hit exactly?"
Nak Woo-jin muttered disappointedly.
No one had guessed it right.