Chapter 433
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 433
Chapter Title: Already Here
Morning broke.
The moment marking the end of a year at the Dragon Training Pavilion.
The time when cadets showed off their skills to cap things off beautifully.
The Winter Combat Festival.
The peculiar thing about this year's Winter Combat Festival was the flood of cadets from the Fierce Dragon Corps who wanted to compete.
Thanks to that, Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul changed the two-day event into a three-day affair.
That was how many participants there were.
About twice as many as in previous years.
The Fierce Dragon Corps' rise was unmistakable.
It was a given that five out of the seven from Squad Seven and the twenty from Squad Twenty—everyone except Dang Jin-san and Nak Woo-jin who sat it out—advanced to the top sixteen.
But even beyond them, Jeok Ga-ye, Ung Cheol, and Bi Jin-hyeop made it to the top sixteen.
Bi Jin-hyeop's matches were truly bizarre.
He spent them desperately dodging like his life depended on it, only to snag victory with a counterattack at the decisive moment.
The Fierce Dragon Corps claimed eight spots in the top sixteen.
The Hidden Dragon Corps and Wa Dragon Corps split the remaining eight between them.
Even combined, they barely matched the Fierce Dragon Corps.
And that was without Dang Jin-san and Nak Woo-jin competing—who knew if those eight spots would have shrunk even further?
A devastating outcome.
Cadets from the Hidden Dragon and Wa Dragon Corps headed to the Demon-Sealing Corps would end up bossing around these Fierce Dragon cadets as their juniors.
Yet they might actually be weaker.
Once the top sixteen were set, Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul smiled, while Fierce Dragon Corps Leader Moyong Jin-ho looked dazed.
Hidden Dragon Corps Leader Neung U-dam's and Wa Dragon Corps Leader Sang Gyeong-mun's faces soured.
This was the fourth time.
Last year's Summer Combat Festival and Winter Combat Festival, this year's Summer Combat Festival, and now this Winter Combat Festival.
'What the hell is going on with the Fierce Dragon Corps...'
Neung U-dam ground his teeth.
They'd pressured the Pavilion Lord on orders from their sects over the field training issue for the Hidden Dragon and Wa Dragon Corps cadets.
Now doubt crept in: what was the point of sending them on field training when they were outclassed by the Fierce Dragon Corps?
Sang Gyeong-mun felt much the same.
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul simply savored their reactions.
'Instructor Ha's the exceptional oddball here. You two are the normal ones.'
He kept the thought to himself.
After all, these two corps leaders had pressured him over the field training mess.
Deep down, their misery was a guilty pleasure.
And so the second day's morning brought the top sixteen matches, leaving eight victors.
An upset? Or not?
From the top sixteen, only two cadets from the Hidden Dragon and Wa Dragon Corps advanced to the quarterfinals.
Namgung Hu.
The Namgung Clan's firstborn son, formerly known as Namgung Ji-hu before his name change.
And...
The one who faced off against Dan Mok Un-roe in last year's Winter Combat Festival quarterfinals.
Heavenly Sword Sect disciple Beom Il-so.
Those two were it.
The other six spots went to Squad Seven and Squad Twenty of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Ung Cheol squeezing in was a surprise, to say the least.
Jeok Ga-ye and Bi Jin-hyeop fought hard but hit their limit at the top sixteen.
Or compared to Ung Cheol, maybe they just drew bad matchups?
Jeok Ga-ye went all out against Yeon Ha-min, but her sword always blocked his strikes.
No matter how many feints and shifts he threw, Yeon Ha-min's blade cut them off as if she'd seen them coming.
He lost in the end.
Bi Jin-hyeop drew Joo Woo-myeong, last year's champion.
True to form, he focused solely on frantic evasion.
He never even got a counter in.
Not that he could.
The match was decided in one strike.
He darted wildly across the arena, but Joo Woo-myeong didn't chase.
He just stood there.
And thrust once.
Bi Jin-hyeop took that single hit, screamed, and surrendered.
Ung Cheol faced a Hidden Dragon Corps cadet and swung his saber with everything he had to claim victory and advance to the quarterfinals.
The sole regular Fierce Dragon Corps cadet to make it—a real feat.
Thus the quarterfinals were set.
First up: Ung Cheol versus Namgung Hu.
Next: Baek Ri-pyeong versus Beom Il-so.
Third: Joo Woo-myeong versus Dan Mok Un-roe.
Finally: Yeon Ha-min versus Ha Seol-ran.
The first quarterfinal match was about to begin.
Cho Mu bit her lip as she watched Ung Cheol climb onto the arena, his back turned to her.
'Next year for sure.'
She'd failed to reach the top sixteen this time, losing to Beom Il-so, but next year would be different.
She vowed it to herself.
A massive wall stretched endlessly.
The Mountain-Crossing Great Wall.
What an alien sight.
The Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest—no, Mountain-Crossing—in his memories hadn't been like this.
"Your first time here since the wall went up, I take it."
Dam Mu-hyeon spoke softly to So Hwi-woong, who gazed wistfully.
So Hwi-woong nodded.
"Yeah. Couldn't leave the alliance after it was built. You all had it rough coming and going."
So Hwi-woong had never visited the Mountain-Crossing Great Wall, but the Hocheon Corps had.
They knew the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest better than any other force under the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Especially Hocheon Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek.
'Well, the one who suffered most was the corps leader...'
Dam Mu-hyeon kept that thought to himself.
To him, the Hocheon Corps' leader was Ha Mu-baek and no one else.
The others held the rank, sure, but they hadn't earned his true respect.
That was why Namgung Hwa-woo had never sat right with him.
"Let's head in."
So Hwi-woong leaped over the wall in one bound.
They weren't going to the Demon-Sealing Corps.
They hadn't even notified them of the alliance leader's excursion.
Yeon Ja-gyeong might have sent word, but who knew.
So Hwi-woong planned to move alone with his ten Hocheon Corps men.
Their goal was solely to eliminate the Heaven-Destroying Steel Corpses.
Dam Mu-hyeon and the other nine Hocheon members followed with the Vermilion Bird Northern Sky Step, easily clearing the wall.
Inside, the landscape was pure Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
"It's been a while. Even here."
His voice carried all sorts of emotions.
"Let's go, then."
Dam Mu-hyeon took point.
He was the Hocheon Corps' best tracker and stealth expert.
Well, excluding Ha Mu-baek.
He led them toward the heart of the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest.
"He's here."
Chu Geum-neung of the Blood Cult's Divine Corps appeared suddenly in Il No's office.
"What is it?"
"A strong one's come. The pinnacle expert you've been dying for."
If even Chu Geum-neung called him strong, he wasn't ordinary.
"How strong?"
"Hard to gauge precisely. Ballpark? About my level?"
Il No's face twisted instantly.
Chu Geum-neung, the Heaven-Destroying Steel Corpse.
The strongest steel corpse ever made.
Sure, there was a true ultimate one in secret development, but among completed ones, he reigned supreme.
And now someone on par with him?
Few in the world wielded that kind of power.
"No way?"
The first name to pop into Il No's head: Ha Mu-baek.
Who else?
The bastard was the Blood Cult's mortal enemy.
"Give me a bit. I'll check it out."
Once Chu Geum-neung left.
Il No sprang into action.
From deep in the Blood Cult's hidden lair underground, a coded beast cry mimicking small animals spread toward the surface.
That cry morphed into demonic beast roars echoing through the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, carrying to its depths.
Since they were routine demonic beast calls, no herb gatherers thought twice.
Though a few shifted their movements subtly.
A day later.
A report reached Il No.
An unidentified expert and ten subordinates were butchering steel corpses and demonic beasts.
Along with a description and sketch.
The moment he saw the portrait.
Il No recalled Yeon Ja-gyeong's letter.
'He said he'd come himself, and he's already here.'
Yes, this man warranted Chu Geum-neung's assessment.
Like the saying: a heatstruck ox pants at the mere sight of the moon.
Spotting something similar sends it into a panic.
Il No had jumped to Ha Mu-baek just from sensing a powerhouse.
Even with Yeon Ja-gyeong's prior warning about So Hwi-woong's trip.
Even with preparations in place.
'Damn Ha Mu-baek bastard.'
He laughed at his own blunder.
But honestly.
Il No feared Ha Mu-baek more than Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader So Hwi-woong.
'Anyway, with the alliance leader in the Mountain-Crossing Demonic Forest, I can at least exact a little revenge for the cult leader.'
A sinister grin crept across Il No's lips once more.
Anyone but Ha Mu-baek, and So Hwi-woong wasn't leaving alive—he was sure of it.
Il No headed somewhere.
"Aren't you going overboard? The Demon-Sealing Corps worked hard mapping those steel corpse territories, and you're scrambling them again."
Dam Mu-hyeon eyed So Hwi-woong, who had just simultaneously beheaded four Blood Steel Corpses and sheathed his blade.
"You know some Dragon Training Pavilion cadets are coming here soon for field training, right?"
"Yes."
The Hocheon Corps couldn't be unaware.
They were always at So Hwi-woong's side.
One hearing something meant they all knew soon enough.
All for sharing intel to protect the alliance leader.
"Yeon Ja-gyeong, that old coot—who knows what he's scheming. But thinning out the steel corpses even by one ups the field trainees' survival odds."
That was why he slew them so flashily on purpose.
'You could've looked after the Fierce Dragon Corps like that ages ago.'
The thought crossed Dam Mu-hyeon's mind.
Truth be told, he hadn't paid them much mind either.
Only after Corps Leader Ha Mu-baek took over as their instructor did he grasp their plight.
Even an alliance leader wasn't perfect, it seemed. A lingering regret.
Ha Mu-baek walked through the open wall.
A vast chamber unfolded before him.
No more tests, it seemed.
This was the Infinite Sword Sect's ancestral hall.
The spirit tablets of past ancestors dotted the walls, proclaiming it so.
Ha Mu-baek climbed past them.
Seeking the Infinite Sword Sect's founding ancestor.
The first ancestor's tablet.
Midway through his rush here.
His master had finally spoken.
Just enter the ancestral hall and claim what the founding ancestor left behind.
Nowhere on the walls was the founding ancestor's tablet.
His master hadn't specified the spot.
He'd searched everywhere to no avail.
Ha Mu-baek spread his senses wide.
In case he'd missed some hidden mechanism.
Nothing.
"Hoo."
Ha Mu-baek let out a deep sigh.
"Exhausting."
A grumble slipped from his lips.
His honest feelings.
Thanks to the last trial.
The one stoking killing intent and amplifying impulses.
That aura of the Ten Thousand Desolation.
Overcoming it hadn't been easy.
The trial hadn't lasted long.
Just a few hours.
But.
Running the Infinite Void Heart Method at full throttle to battle that aura and the impulses of killing intent...
Even for Ha Mu-baek, it was tiring, no doubt.
Failing to find the tablet brought the forgotten fatigue crashing down.
"Let's rest a bit."
Haste makes waste, as they say.
His sense of time was still sharp.
He'd been in the hall maybe half a day.
The Winter Combat Festival's first day hadn't even ended yet.
It took less than half a day to reach here.
Plenty of time left.
Or so he thought.
No telling how long claiming the ancestor's legacy would take.
But rushing would only backfire.
Convinced he had time, Ha Mu-baek took it easy.
To rest.
He shut his eyes and lay flat on the floor.
Just like back in the Fierce Dragon Squad Seven training grounds.
"Grrr."
And he actually fell asleep.
Snoring softly.
He really was worn out and tired, after all.
He could've circulated qi to fix it.
But he didn't.
To stay relaxed.
He deliberately sought sleep.
Qi circulation eased physical fatigue and restored inner power, sure.
But it didn't fully mend mental exhaustion.
Sleep was the best way to rest his mind.
An hour passed like that.
Ha Mu-baek's eyelids fluttered.
His mind stirred from deep slumber.
Still sprawled on the floor.
He opened his eyes and came to.
"Found it."
A quiet murmur.
Ha Mu-baek stared at the founding ancestor's tablet with his eyes.
The ceiling.
It was deeply carved there.
The trace of a single sword stroke.
Its realm so profound.
Even Ha Mu-baek couldn't fathom it.
He'd surpassed his master's realm and kept ascending to new heights.
Unconsciously, he'd assumed no one in the world could match him.
That illusion shattered now.
"I'm still far off..."
He whispered, voice thick with sincerity.