Chapter 209
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: Do You Have Anything to Say?
Even without any qi.
He unleashed the technique using only his battle spirit.
It wasn't executed properly.
He had merely imitated it.
Yet that strike from the whip held enough power to punch a hole through Un Mu-woong's layered fist aura.
A single point.
Concentrating solely on that one point amid the pressure of the fist aura crushing down on Dang Jin-san's entire body.
Pfuk.
Dang Jin-san felt as if he could hear the sound.
The whip, infused with deep inner energy, pierced through the layered fist aura.
It was possible only because it focused on a single point.
Pfuk.
This time, it struck true.
Dang Jin-san's whip pierced straight through Un Mu-woong's clenched fist, even penetrating his fist gauntlet at the middle finger.
"Kuhk."
Un Mu-woong let out a groan from the unexpected attack and pain.
In that instant.
The pressure vanished.
Un Mu-woong could no longer maintain the layering of his fist aura.
'Got him.'
The whip, which had been held rigidly, moved fluidly once more.
It lunged like a snake striking at its prey.
Thwack!
The whip lashed across Un Mu-woong's back.
"Kuhk."
Un Mu-woong groaned again and rolled across the ground.
To evade the whip.
The Spirit Snake Nine Whip pursued him relentlessly, as if refusing to let him escape.
The whip, brimming with inner energy, whipped up the air around them.
Un Mu-woong swung his fist once more.
But Dang Jin-san gave him no chance to layer his fist aura again.
He had already experienced it once.
When you seized the momentum, you had to press the attack and finish it.
His past experience screamed as much.
Whips lashing in from all directions.
Somehow, Un Mu-woong was blocking and dodging them.
Dang Jin-san's eyes grew cold and sunken.
He even glanced at the referee, Bi Ga-young, in the midst of it.
'She said she'd intervene if I went too far.'
But Dang Jin-san had no intention of holding back.
A martial artist had to take responsibility for their actions and pay the price.
He intended to exact proper retribution for the insult to the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Only then would they stop looking down on the Fierce Dragon Corps in the future.
This was also a warning to the Hidden Dragon Corps and Wa Dragon Corps first-years watching the spar.
The Fierce Dragon Corps was not something to be mocked or underestimated.
Dang Jin-san's whip danced through the air.
Un Mu-woong desperately dodged with footwork.
He even thrust out punches for counterattacks amid it all.
But his fists and fist winds could no longer reach Dang Jin-san; the distance was too great.
Bi Ga-young watched the two's spar with full concentration, missing nothing.
'I need to overwhelm him in one go, without giving her a chance to intervene.'
And there was a perfect technique for that.
The eighth form of the Spirit Snake Nine Whip.
Hundred Serpents' Chaotic Dance.
The chaotic dance of a hundred snakes.
A technique that stormed the opponent like a tempest, impossible to stop midway, shattering them to pieces.
Because it left massive openings if the foe evaded, it had to be used with caution.
Only when victory was certain. Or in a do-or-die moment, staking everything on one exchange.
A form from the latter half, different from the first seven.
The eighth form that whipped up a storm with the whip, and the ninth for a single killing blow.
Dang Jin-san knew both intimately.
He had learned them with his body.
While suffering under Dang Ji-yeon's techniques.
Thus, he knew the perfect moment to unleash them.
Dang Jin-san waited for that opening.
For the moment Un Mu-woong absolutely could not dodge.
Un Mu-woong gritted his teeth and charged at Dang Jin-san.
He crossed his arms to block the incoming whips.
His intent: charge in and drag Dang Jin-san into his own range.
He could have blocked the approach sufficiently, but he didn't.
Doing so might prompt Bi Ga-young to halt the spar.
Un Mu-woong had already taken quite a few hits.
That couldn't happen.
Un Mu-woong's eyes still burned with fight.
Winning in this state wouldn't convince that guy.
So Dang Jin-san eased the power in his whips.
Un Mu-woong seized the gap, closing the distance in one leap and seizing the range.
Then he swung with full power.
A strike brimming with killing intent.
Thanks to that.
'The opening's too big.'
Dang Jin-san grasped the opportunity he had been waiting for.
Because Un Mu-woong charged in a straight line.
Dang Jin-san easily evaded the charge and the fist with light footwork.
Yet Un Mu-woong couldn't stop or change direction.
Due to the unstoppable momentum he had built himself.
Dang Jin-san spun his body around.
And caught Un Mu-woong from behind as he passed.
"Tahat!"
With a mighty shout, the eighth form of the Spirit Snake Nine Whip, Hundred Serpents' Chaotic Dance, erupted from Dang Jin-san's fingertips.
"Wha......"
The moment Dang Jin-san dodged Un Mu-woong's ultimate strike.
Bi Ga-young judged the match decided and moved to end it.
But Dang Jin-san's technique had just begun.
She had missed the timing to stop it.
She resolved to end the spar as soon as the technique finished.
However.
The Hundred Serpents' Chaotic Dance was merciless.
Papapapapapapak!!!
Whips storming like a gale.
In an instant, they battered Un Mu-woong's entire body.
"Keuaaak."
A scream burst from Un Mu-woong's mouth.
His clothes tore across his body, revealing mottled, swollen wounds.
"S-Stop!"
Bi Ga-young hurriedly shouted to halt the spar.
But since the technique had started, it couldn't be stopped midway.
Doing so would cause inner energy backlash, injuring Dang Jin-san instead.
In the end, the instructor would have to intervene directly to stop it.
But Bi Ga-young lacked the courage to leap into that storm.
In the time she hesitated.
The Hundred Serpents' Chaotic Dance raced toward its conclusion.
The whip coiled around Un Mu-woong's waist.
Whoosh.
It launched his body into the air.
Bam!
And slammed him straight into the ground.
Puuuaaaah.
Dust billowed everywhere.
The watching cadets stared in stunned silence.
That final move.
Just imagining it directed at them sent chills down their spines.
And that finishing slam into the ground.
Bi Ga-young rushed to Un Mu-woong with a troubled expression.
Self-reproach for her hesitation leading to this.
She wanted to blame Dang Jin-san, but couldn't.
She knew he wasn't at a level where he could halt a technique midway.
"Kuhuhuk."
Un Mu-woong groaned.
Intense pain like his whole body was shattering.
Especially the final blow; his head rang fiercely.
At least it had been his shoulder that hit.
It could have been his head, but that might have killed him, so he hadn't.
Bi Ga-young checked Un Mu-woong's condition.
Was it fortunate or unfortunate?
No threat to his life.
No internal injuries either.
But.
That final slam into the ground.
Because of it, his left arm was broken.
Dang Jin-san had already withdrawn his whip and wrapped it around his waist.
Bi Ga-young hurriedly applied first aid to Un Mu-woong's left arm.
A fortunate moment that she hailed from Seonyugok.
"This'll hurt."
A brief warning, then she reset the dislocated bone in one motion.
"Kuhp."
Un Mu-woong groaned, sweat pouring from his body.
Bi Ga-young fitted a splint and secured it firmly.
"Head to the infirmary right away. And this is your defeat."
He surely knew without her saying.
Still, since it stemmed from an insult, she declared the victor and loser clearly.
Bi Ga-young rose and glared at Dang Jin-san.
That unstoppable technique, right at that moment.
She knew he had timed it deliberately.
But it was just suspicion.
She couldn't do anything to Dang Jin-san over it.
"I told you I'd intervene if you went too far."
Her words carried a reprimand for why he did it after the match was decided.
"That guy's eyes were still alive."
A calm reply.
Dang Jin-san looked at Un Mu-woong.
Good.
Now his eyes were dead.
He had acknowledged his own defeat.
"It's a spar. Not a duel to the death."
"That's why I ended it here. You know I held back at the last moment, right?"
"......"
Bi Ga-young had no retort.
It was true.
What if he had slammed headfirst?
That final move of launching him into the air with qi-infused whips and slamming him down.
"Be more careful next time. And this is your victory."
With that, Bi Ga-young left the training ground.
Dang Jin-san approached Un Mu-woong.
He was still on the training ground.
"Do you have anything to say?"
Dang Jin-san asked coldly, staring down at him.
Un Mu-woong clenched his teeth.
His clothes were in tatters across his body.
Through the rips, red, swollen flesh was visible.
Traces where the whip had struck countless times.
Like the welts on a criminal whipped as punishment.
"I... lost."
The admission of defeat slipped from Un Mu-woong's lips.
"The difference between the Fierce Dragon Corps and Hidden Dragon Corps. You get it now, right? I showed you properly."
At Dang Jin-san's words, Un Mu-woong finally bowed his head deeply.
The very words he had thrown at Dang Jin-san when challenging the spar returned to him.
"Woooaaah!"
The spar ended, and cheers erupted.
But only from some.
All from the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Not just the second-years.
The first-years who had gathered on rumors cheered excitedly too.
Cho Mu-ha was among them.
'As expected. Choosing the Fierce Dragon Corps was right. To have seniors like this.'
The senior from the Devouring Dragon Pavilion who had advised him, Dang Jin-san.
Truth be told, he hadn't thought much of his performance at the previous Dongtu Festival.
But that had been his misconception.
Seeing such a cool and reliable figure today.
His chest swelled with pride knowing such a man was his senior in the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Cho Mu-ha clenched his fist.
Vowing to become such a martial artist himself.
Ha Mu-baek, who had watched it all, turned away.
"Assemble at the grand training ground within one gak."
He left those words behind and departed.
Dang Jin-san, returning to his group, glanced at Ha Mu-baek's receding back as he left.
"What'd he say?"
"Uh, you survived."
Baek Ri-pyeong chuckled.
An uncharacteristic joke.
"What're you talking about?"
"He said you'd die if you lost."
Dan Mok Un-roe added.
"Lose? Me?"
Dang Jin-san said incredulously.
"It was pretty tough, wasn't it?"
At Dan Mok Un-roe's words, Dang Jin-san's eyes widened.
"What nonsense is that? I had it completely under control!"
"Good thing, then. Assemble at the grand training ground within one gak. Training starts."
Yeon Ha-min's words.
At that, Dang Jin-san froze.
"One gak? It's lunchtime."
His face screamed impossibility.
"Yeah...... It's over."
At Ha Seol-ran's words, Dang Jin-san quickly checked the time.
It was true.
In fact, a full gak had already passed.
"H-How...... I didn't even eat......"
Grrrooowl.
Right on cue, his stomach rumbled.
"Same for us."
Baek Ri-pyeong said nonchalantly.
"Skipping one meal won't kill us. Let's go."
Dan Mok Un-roe turned.
"You guys maybe, but me......"
It had been a spar with full effort.
Despite claiming ease, his dantian was empty.
The ninth form beyond his level, and the eighth that had drained every last bit of his inner energy.
In truth, Dang Jin-san was utterly spent. He wanted to collapse and rest.
And he hadn't eaten.
His stomach wailed for food.
Yet they had to go train.
Training that Ha Mu-baek had warned them to brace for.
Dang Jin-san's face fell instantly.
"Damn......"
With a small sigh, he trailed at the very end of the group, his steps heavy.
The destination: the grand training ground.
"Not sure if I'll survive today."
His grumbling lingered in the Hidden Dragon Corps training ground.
After they left.
The remaining Fierce Dragon Corps cadets departed too.
They knew time was short.
Thus, the last ones left: Hidden Dragon Corps and Wa Dragon Corps cadets.
"Fuck. What the hell is this? Against the Fierce Dragon Corps......"
Someone muttered, face twisting in anger.
A few nodded in agreement.
"Fuck. So what're you gonna do? Challenge one to a spar?"
"......"
No one answered.
The training ground emptied as everyone left.
Un Mu-woong was the last, dragging himself away powerlessly.
His back, heading to the infirmary, was utterly pathetic.