Chapter 132
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Still Not Enough
Ju Woo-myeong didn't just stand there and let the plum blossoms envelop him.
His sword moved as well, shattering each and every one of the plum blossoms.
Even so, all twenty-four plum blossoms swirled around him.
Ju Woo-myeong's Clear Sky Sword Method was holding off Yeong Ho-jun's Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword quite well. Yeong Ho-jun gritted his teeth and poured even more internal energy into his blade.
The sword danced even more chaotically.
Layering change upon change upon change, it pressed down on Ju Woo-myeong.
Ju Woo-myeong was gradually being pushed back.
The Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword, which had reached the pinnacle of its variations, simply didn't match up well against Ju Woo-myeong's Clear Sky Sword Method.
'Hurry up and unleash the Taiji Radiant Sword!'
Yeong Ho-jun screamed inwardly.
He had already seen him use a different sword technique against Gwan Ha-kyeong in the round of sixteen.
It was only after overhearing some passing Wudang instructors that he realized it was the Taiji Radiant Sword.
Wudang's supreme sword art.
Since Ju Woo-myeong had mastered it and even used it against Gwan Ha-kyeong—a mere fourth-year cadet in the Wa Dragon Corps—he figured he'd surely use it against him too.
Even if he was only a first-year cadet while she was in her fourth year, he took pride in being far stronger than her.
No matter that she came from Dorim Sect; the sword art she wielded was just the ordinary Heaven-Severing Demon-Slaying Blade.
If he'd pulled out the Taiji Radiant Sword even against an opponent like that, then to handle his own Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword at the Full Bloom realm, he'd naturally have to unleash it here.
That was when the real match would begin.
And so, Yeong Ho-jun pressed Ju Woo-myeong even harder.
Waiting only for the moment he drew the Taiji Radiant Sword.
Ju Woo-myeong silently continued with his Clear Sky Sword Method, responding to his opponent's attacks.
'It's definitely a bad matchup.'
As time passed, he could feel how poorly the Clear Sky Sword Method fared against the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword.
In that case.
He just needed to switch sword styles.
The sword arts Ju Woo-myeong had learned weren't limited to Clear Sky and Taiji Radiant.
"A talent bestowed by the heavens."
That was how the former Wudang Sword Sage Mu Yeon-jin had evaluated him.
The reason he'd taken Ju Woo-myeong as his sole disciple.
To a disciple with such talent, Mu Yeon-jin had taught as many Wudang sword styles as possible.
And each one soaked them up like cotton absorbing water.
Roughly half a gak's time (about three minutes and forty-five seconds).
That was how long Ju Woo-myeong needed to analyze Yeong Ho-jun's sword style.
'Full Bloom, my foot. It's still full of openings.'
Ju Woo-myeong recalled his master's assessment of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword.
'Full Bloom is merely the true beginning of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword.'
So there was no reason to fear it just because the opponent had bloomed all twenty-four plum blossoms.
Ju Woo-myeong's eyes could already spot the flaws.
It was simply that Clear Sky wasn't a good matchup.
Ju Woo-myeong recalled the Wudang sword styles he knew.
And selected one that suited the opponent.
With Gwan Ha-kyeong, nothing short of Taiji Radiant would do, so that's what he'd used.
Her Heaven-Severing Demon-Slaying Blade had reached such a level of completion.
In some ways, it even surpassed Namgung Ji-hu's. At least, he'd never needed Taiji Radiant against Namgung Ji-hu in their spars.
Though they'd both held back appropriately, of course.
'Flowing Cloud Sword Method.'
Ju Woo-myeong settled on it.
And at the same moment, his sword's movements shifted.
A change unlike the Clear Sky Sword Method that had been smashing the plum blossoms of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword.
It flowed as softly as clouds drifting across the sky, borrowing the opponent's force.
Rather than resisting the changes of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword, Ju Woo-myeong's blade rode along their flow.
Like clouds drifting on the wind.
At the sudden shift in his sword's motion, Yeong Ho-jun flashed a triumphant smile.
'Finally.'
He mistook it for the Taiji Radiant Sword.
But he soon realized the truth.
It was nothing like what he'd used against Gwan Ha-kyeong, at least.
'Not Taiji Radiant? This bastard thinks so little of me?'
Yeong Ho-jun's face twisted.
He gritted his teeth.
Circled up even more internal energy.
His grip on the sword tightened fiercely.
Yeong Ho-jun's blade stormed toward Ju Woo-myeong like a tempest.
Yet Ju Woo-myeong's sword remained serene.
No matter the raging storm, the clouds merely played across the skies in its wake.
Besides, the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword wasn't meant to be wielded so wildly.
It only meant his openings had grown larger.
Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaeng!
The clash of swords echoed sporadically.
Since Ju Woo-myeong deflected most of the attacks, there were no thunderous booms.
Just faint, glancing sounds, like blows that had lost their power or struck awry.
"Tch."
Yeong Ho-jun grew furious.
His full-power strikes slipping away like that.
Producing results utterly at odds with his intent.
The more excited Yeong Ho-jun got, the bigger his openings became, and the more targets Ju Woo-myeong had to exploit.
The Flowing Cloud Sword Method dismantled the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword with unrelenting softness.
The sword's movements grew ever larger.
The twenty-four plum blossoms remained, but they were less a riot of full bloom and more a scatter of individual petals drifting apart.
Flowers on the verge of wilting and falling.
At that moment, Ju Woo-myeong switched sword styles again.
Clear Sky Sword Method.
His blade pierced the widened openings with ferocious force in an instant.
Chaeng! Chae-chaeng! Chaeng!
Caught off guard by the sudden shift in his opponent's momentum, Yeong Ho-jun faltered but soon met the assault head-on.
Force against force.
Exactly as Ju Woo-myeong intended, stripping Yeong Ho-jun of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword's advantages entirely.
Ju Woo-myeong thoroughly dictated the flow of the duel to his will.
The outcome was plain as day.
Yeong Ho-jun's movements grew disordered.
Chae-aeng! Puk.
A piercing ring echoed, and Yeong Ho-jun's sword flew from his hand, spinning before embedding itself in the arena floor.
Ju Woo-myeong's sword halted right before Yeong Ho-jun's eyes.
"Tch. I... I lost."
He couldn't accept it, but he had to.
Yeong Ho-jun gritted his teeth and admitted defeat.
Then, with a curt bow, he spun on his heel and descended from the arena.
"Hoo."
Ju Woo-myeong let out a long breath as he sheathed his sword.
He clenched and unclenched his right hand several times.
'Still not enough.'
A fine opponent, but not enough to cool his heated blood.
"Hm. A shame."
Gong Son Mu-wai remarked.
"He fell short in experience and composure. Got devoured by his own competitive fire," Ha Mu-baek assessed.
Gong Son Mu-wai nodded in agreement.
"His temperament is too hasty for his talent. To master the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword to Full Bloom only to squander its strengths like that... Truly regrettable."
"That same fiery competitiveness let him reach Full Bloom in such a short time. Pros and cons to it. If he learns from this loss, he'll ascend to the next realm. If not, that's his limit."
Ha Mu-baek replied calmly.
"Cold when you need to be, eh?"
Ha Mu-baek made no retort to Gong Son Mu-wai's words.
"More importantly, that kid Ju Woo-myeong... The more I see him, the more impressive he is. Well deserves Sword Sage Mu Yeon-jin's praise of 'a talent from the heavens.'"
"You heard it straight from Sword Sage Mu Yeon-jin himself?"
"We exchange letters now and then, thanks to our ties from the last war. I heard he'd taken a heaven-sent talent as his disciple. Seeing him now, it fits perfectly."
"A remarkable fellow, in every way."
Ha Mu-baek nodded slightly as he spoke.
"Hoo. Hoo. Hoo."
Dan Mok Un-roe drew deep breaths in and out repeatedly.
The round of eight.
He himself in the quarterfinals of the Summer Combat Festival.
Even as his turn approached, he still couldn't believe it.
Now, stepping toward the arena, his heart pounded fiercely again, tension flooding back.
Thud.
Beom Il-so bumped his shoulder lightly with his own as he ascended to the arena first.
"Huh?"
Dan Mok Un-roe watched Beom Il-so's retreating back.
Intentional? Or not?
He couldn't tell.
But one thing was clear: after that brief contact, his racing heart had calmed somewhat.
That small bump had pulled Dan Mok Un-roe back to reality.
Pfft.
Dan Mok Un-roe let out a small laugh.
What was he laughing at? Even he didn't know.
The laugh just slipped out.
Dan Mok Un-roe slowly climbed onto the arena.
He faced Beom Il-so.
"Never thought I'd meet you in the quarterfinals."
Beom Il-so said curtly.
"Me neither."
Dan Mok Un-roe replied, drawing his sword.
Beom Il-so drew his as well.
"I'm not like my senior brother."
Still curt as ever.
Dan Mok Un-roe nodded lightly.
He'd caught a glimpse in the round of sixteen of how Beom Il-so had defeated Cheong Wu-ja.
Even amid the frenzy of Mok Cheong-san's onslaught, he'd noticed the adjacent arena.
A strange thing.
Though Beom Il-so's sword shadows numbered only sixty-four—fewer than Mok Cheong-san's—they were clearly superior.
It wasn't about the quantity of sword shadows.
Dan Mok Un-roe could sense it from the sword's movements in his eyes.
Facing two Heavenly Sword Sect cadets in a row.
In a way, it was fortunate.
He was up against a sword style he'd seen once before.
Though the level would differ, of course.
Dan Mok Un-roe simply planned to give his all.
His sword positioned at mid-guard.
The most comfortable stance for unleashing the Three Talents Sword Method.
Beom Il-so stared at Dan Mok Un-roe from his Heavenly Illusion Thousand Paths Sword starting stance.
The opponent who had dismantled his senior brother's Heavenly Illusion Thousand Paths Sword—even with its 128 sword shadows.
Of course, Beom Il-so had spotted the flaws too.
But true to his reputation as Heavenly Sword Sect's top talent, those openings still made for an impressively fluid technique to anyone unfamiliar with it.
Only because he knew Heavenly Illusion Thousand Paths himself could he call it sloppy.
Because he already knew it.
Yet this guy had pierced it as if it were the most obvious thing.
He absolutely couldn't let his guard down.
He erased Fierce Dragon Corps from his mind.
The opponent had already proven his strength in the round of sixteen.
And so, Beom Il-so moved first.
With full power.
He shook his sword.
The number of sword shadows that had brought Cheong Wu-ja to his knees.
Sixty-four.
From the start, sixty-four sword shadows bore down on Dan Mok Un-roe.
Dan Mok Un-roe calmly slashed downward, sideways, and dodged nimbly with his feet, handling Beom Il-so's assault.
With utterly efficient movements, he managed all sixty-four sword shadows.
He was definitely stronger than Cheong Wu-ja.
Was this even possible?
Beom Il-so had heard most of the rumors about Dragon Training Pavilion cadets.
Among them, how Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven had been utterly crushed by Dang Chu in the first term.
A guy who couldn't even handle Dang Chu alone was this strong now.
'Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven.'
What the hell was in that squad?
Beom Il-so shook his sword again.
He'd already tested with sixty-four sword shadows.
No need to drag it out.
He decided to go straight for his strongest technique.
The semifinals and finals still lay ahead.
He needed to conserve stamina and internal energy with a swift victory.
To do that, overwhelm with full power quickly.
Beom Il-so set his strategy and executed it.
In an instant, 256 sword shadows flew at Dan Mok Un-roe.
"Wh-what?! What's that?!"
Mok Cheong-san cried out in shock at the unimaginable sword motion.
The bitterness of defeat hadn't faded, but he'd come as a spectator to see Ju Woo-myeong and Namgung Ji-hu.
Namgung Ji-hu's loss had been unexpected.
Even more so against Baek Ri-pyeong of Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven.
No matter that he was from Zhongnan Sect.
For Namgung Ji-hu to fall.
But he'd soon accepted it. Since he'd lost too, Namgung Ji-hu could as well.
Ju Woo-myeong was Ju Woo-myeong, as expected.
But.
He could scarcely believe what his junior brother Beom Il-so was showing on the arena now.
Even he, hailed as Heavenly Sword Sect's greatest prodigy, could barely manage 128 sword shadows.
Yet this unreliable junior was unleashing 256 in one go?
Unbelievable.
That level meant he'd already perfected the first nine forms of Heavenly Illusion Thousand Paths Sword, right?
No way.
He was Heavenly Sword Sect's best...
Mok Cheong-san's clenched fists trembled violently.