Chapter 138
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: Then the Heart Demon?
Dan Mok Un-roe's mind was a whirlwind of confusion.
It was because of Ju Wu-myeong's shout.
Had he really done that?
His hands trembled uncontrollably.
Thinking back calmly, it seemed he had.
Back when he'd first realized his ability during the duel with Baek Ri-pyeong.
The shock of that moment, and the secret thrill he'd hidden away.
In all the duels and sparring matches after that, he'd honed and refined that ability to its utmost.
Or so he'd thought.
But thanks to Ju Wu-myeong's shout, he now realized the truth.
He hadn't honed it at all.
He'd simply relied on it.
Up until the quarterfinals against Beom Il-so, he'd been able to see his opponent's openings, so he hadn't noticed.
But what would happen when he couldn't see those openings anymore?
And today, in the semifinals.
Ju Wu-myeong's Taiji Radiant Sword had no openings.
That was the moment his pathetic true self had been exposed.
'Pathetic, indeed.'
He'd relied solely on that ability, and when it was blocked, he'd given up on the fight.
No wonder Ju Wu-myeong was angry.
Dan Mok Un-roe took a cold, hard look at himself and sorted through the chaos in his mind.
He gripped his sword tightly.
At that instant, Ju Wu-myeong's sword came flying at him.
It carried a terrifying momentum.
Probably the same as what Baek Ri-pyeong had shown just moments ago in his match.
'Sword aura.'
A realm still far beyond Dan Mok Un-roe's reach.
Even so, he threw everything he had into clashing against Ju Wu-myeong's attack.
Chaeng!!
A massive clang echoed through the air.
Though Dan Mok Un-roe's sword lacked sword aura, it didn't yield an inch against Ju Wu-myeong's aura-clad blade.
"That's a fine sword. All you youngsters have famed blades. You're benefiting from your weapons right now."
Gong Son Mu-oe admired Dan Mok Un-roe's sword as it blocked the sword aura, speaking with genuine appreciation.
Baek Ri-pyeong's sword, which had snapped Namgung Ji-hu's blade.
Yeon Ha-min's and Dan Mok Un-roe's swords were no less impressive.
Ha Mu-baek simply smiled quietly.
It was only natural.
After all, who had forged those swords?
"Huh? Didn't the instructor make those for us?"
Dan Mok Un-hye, who had been watching her brother's match with bated breath, suddenly piped up as the conversation turned to swords.
Gong Son Mu-oe turned back to Ha Mu-baek in astonishment at her words.
"You... you can forge swords too? No, wait—swords of that caliber?"
It was utterly unbelievable.
His monstrous martial prowess was one thing, but his medical skills had cured the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
And now he could craft famed swords on top of that?
"I merely helped cleanse their heart demons."
Ha Mu-baek replied calmly, his face still bearing that faint smile.
Gong Son Mu-oe found that explanation even more absurd, but he held his tongue and focused on the match.
The sparring was growing ever more intense.
Chaeng!
Chae-chaeng!
Chaeng! Chaeng-chaeng! Chaeng-chaeng-chaeng!
The ceaseless ringing of clashing steel.
Ju Wu-myeong, his face expressionless, poured all his power into wielding his sword.
The nature of his Taiji Radiant Sword had changed.
If it had previously displayed movements reaching the pinnacle of harmony, now it seemed to embody the ultimate in dominance.
The Taiji Radiant Sword could freely shift its nature to match the wielder's intent.
Dan Mok Un-roe blocked every one of those domineering strikes.
He was pushed back bit by bit, but he didn't retreat.
He wasn't even searching for gaps between techniques.
He simply focused on the sword coming straight at him.
Block one strike, thrust one strike.
That was the only thought in Dan Mok Un-roe's mind right now.
Ju Wu-myeong had been right.
Since when had he been aiming for his opponent's openings?
Just give your absolute best in the present moment.
That was Dan Mok Un-roe's resolve now.
Thanks to that, their swords clashed without respite.
Block Ju Wu-myeong's attack, then attack him.
He would block, then attack back.
That was the endless cycle.
A faint smile began to creep onto Ju Wu-myeong's lips.
With it, the Taiji Radiant Sword displayed a myriad of forms.
Dominating sword, illusory sword, even swift sword.
Dan Mok Un-roe met them all.
His own Three Talents Sword Method showed dominating, illusory, and swift forms in turn.
'Impressive.'
Ju Wu-myeong nodded slightly at the sight.
The world dismissed the Three Talents Sword Method as laughable.
Even street vendors sold pamphlets titled Three Talents Sword Method.
It was hardly worthy of being called a manual.
But his master had seen it differently.
Even in its lost and distorted modern form, its fundamentals remained—and those fundamentals alone made it a sword art of great value.
'The essence of Taiji Radiant Sword is harmony, while the essence of Three Talents Sword Method is nothingness... was it?'
Ju Wu-myeong recalled his master Mu Yeon-jin's words.
The Taiji Radiant Sword could take any form through its harmony, and the Three Talents Sword Method, having no inherent form, could become any form.
And indeed it was so.
No matter what form Ju Wu-myeong's sword took, Dan Mok Un-roe's sword transformed to match and clash against it.
This was it.
This was what Ju Wu-myeong had wanted.
A response to his attack.
His response to the opponent's response.
The repetition of it all.
This fierce intensity born from their mutual exchanges.
Ju Wu-myeong's body began to heat up.
His smile deepened.
Dan Mok Un-roe knew none of this.
He simply smashed against the wall before him.
Pouring out everything he could muster.
Ju Wu-myeong's Taiji Radiant Sword grew ever more dazzling.
It completely enveloped everything around him.
Yet within it, Dan Mok Un-roe's Three Talents Sword Method guarded its own domain.
Dan Mok Un-roe's eyes still gleamed.
Eyes focused solely on his opponent's sword.
And as time passed, he began to see it, little by little.
What he couldn't see when he tried to look now revealed itself faintly because he stopped trying.
The opening hidden within the profound harmony of the Taiji Radiant Sword.
It flickered into view, however faintly, each time Ju Wu-myeong's excitement peaked.
It was paradoxical.
When Ju Wu-myeong faithfully executed his practiced forms, no opening appeared.
But as he lost himself in the thrill, growing immersed in the sword, it began to show itself ever so slightly.
Yet Dan Mok Un-roe didn't fixate on it.
Hadn't he just lost himself moments ago by doing exactly that?
Besides, he didn't even know it was there.
Not until Ju Wu-myeong's disappointed shout had awakened him.
He couldn't repeat the same mistake.
Dan Mok Un-roe turned his eyes away from the opening trying to appear.
Instead, he focused purely on Ju Wu-myeong's sword.
Gradually, the focus faded from Dan Mok Un-roe's eyes.
And from Ju Wu-myeong's eyes as well.
Ju Wu-myeong, lost in his exhilaration, had entered a state of no-mind.
For him, it was a first.
No-mind during a sparring match.
But he couldn't recognize it.
To recognize that one was in no-mind was no longer true no-mind.
No—they hadn't reached the level where they could perceive themselves within no-mind.
That was a realm only possible after transcending the peak and entering the super-peak.
"Heh. Is that so easy? I wonder how many times I'll see it in this Summer Combat Festival."
Gong Son Mu-oe, who had noticed the state of Ju Wu-myeong and Dan Mok Un-roe, spoke in disbelief.
"What's wrong, Grandfather?"
Gong Son Bi-yeon asked, her face puzzled.
"Can't you see their eyes?"
At Gong Son Mu-oe's question, Gong Son Bi-yeon peered closely. But she couldn't tell.
"No idea."
She shook her head in the end.
"Both boys have entered no-mind."
"What?!"
Gong Son Bi-yeon gasped in surprise.
"And for Dan Mok Un-roe, it's already the second time today. The first was only halfway, though."
Gong Son Bi-yeon's expression turned to one of utter incredulity at Gong Son Mu-oe's words.
And understandably so.
It was a realm she'd never experienced herself.
"Un-roe overcame a small wall. That's why he entered no-mind."
Ha Mu-baek explained calmly.
"Then the heart demon?"
Ha Mu-baek nodded at Gong Son Mu-oe's question.
"It seems he's overcome it. Thanks to Wu-myeong. He's found a good comrade."
Ha Mu-baek had overheard Ju Wu-myeong's entire shout from earlier.
By channeling his inner energy into his ears, he'd focused his hearing on them without difficulty.
Ju Wu-myeong had said much of what he'd wanted to tell Dan Mok Un-roe himself.
"Even with a strange and exceptional ability, the moment you rely on it, you're devoured by that very power. And that becomes your heart demon."
Ha Mu-baek spoke at unusual length, true to form.
"But Un-roe has now surpassed that heart demon."
There was pride in his words for Dan Mok Un-roe.
Taiji Radiant Sword and Three Talents Sword Method.
Sword arts not even comparable.
Yet now, the two were locked in an even exchange.
On the platform where the Dragon Training Pavilion Lord and the corps leaders and instructors had gathered.
Everyone there was too stunned by the successive anomalies to think straight.
Only Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul watched with a pleased smile.
His deputy, Yeon Baek-jin, seemed distracted, his mind elsewhere.
His gaze wasn't on the arena.
He kept glancing around nervously at other places.
Pang Do-yul noticed.
'He's worried about his niece, it seems.'
He was the only one here who knew Yeon Ha-min was his niece.
"Deputy Lord, you look exhausted from all the work. Why not take a short break?"
"How could I step away? This is the Summer Combat Festival that wraps up the Dragon Training Pavilion's year."
Yeon Baek-jin turned at Pang Do-yul's suggestion and declined.
A mountain of immense tasks handed over by Gi Yu-chan.
Having processed them all, Yeon Baek-jin now had a grasp on most of the pavilion's affairs.
"You might need me, but now that the Pavilion Lord is here, you should rest. You've been buried in work, and you seem preoccupied besides."
Pang Do-yul pressed again.
Yeon Baek-jin flinched slightly at the mention of being preoccupied.
Declining the Pavilion Lord's offer twice would be rude.
"Thank you, Pavilion Lord. I'll step away briefly then."
Yeon Baek-jin bowed and left the platform.
No one noticed his absence. Everyone was captivated by the unbelievable scene on the arena.
No-mind.
A state of super-concentration where the self is forgotten.
Entering it could lead to realizations that shatter barriers unnoticed in normal states.
But it wasn't all good.
Forgetting the self carried its own poison.
Ju Wu-myeong's Taiji Radiant Sword gradually amplified its power. The process of ascending from one stage to the next.
Since it was happening in no-mind, he couldn't consider the sword's power or his opponent.
He simply unleashed his maximum against the responses.
Dan Mok Un-roe was the same.
As their exchange raced toward its climax.
As Ju Wu-myeong's Taiji Radiant Sword sought to ascend to a higher realm, a clear break in the technique appeared.
Dan Mok Un-roe, deep in no-mind, lunged at that gap.
Ju Wu-myeong's sword, sensing danger on instinct, moved to block.
The two, focused solely on the path of the sword.
They no longer recognized their opponent as a person.
Immersed only in martial arts within no-mind.
The result: strikes aimed most efficiently and lethally at each other.
Swaaaa!
Shaaaak!
Eerie, razor-sharp sounds of slicing air as their swords flew toward one another.
In the match against Beom Il-so, Dan Mok Un-roe had been only half in no-mind, so he'd held back killing intent.
Not now.
Dan Mok Un-roe's sword, exploiting the gap, seemed slightly faster.
But in pure speed, Ju Wu-myeong's Taiji Radiant Sword was superior.
The marvel of striking first after the opponent—the later strike precedes.
It unfolded from Ju Wu-myeong's sword.
Chaeng!
A deafening sword cry rang out.
Though Dan Mok Un-roe had exploited the gap masterfully, Ju Wu-myeong's Taiji Radiant Sword, ascending to a higher realm, blocked it flawlessly.
And Ju Wu-myeong's sword moved again, flying toward Dan Mok Un-roe.
Its tip aimed straight for his throat.
Dan Mok Un-roe swung his sword desperately, but the intricate motion and speed seemed impossible to block.
"Th-that... that!!!"
Gong Son Mu-oe shot to his feet in shock, shouting as he pointed unconsciously at the arena.
Then he realized.
Ha Mu-baek, who had been sitting beside him, was gone.
"Huh?"
At that moment, Dan Mok Un-roe snapped out of no-mind.
The intense clash just now had shattered it.
And before him loomed a sword brimming with lethal intent.
He knew his own sword was moving, but he quickly realized.
He couldn't block it.
The sword flew in.