Chapter 434
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 434
Chapter Title: Your Opponent Is Me
Woong-cheol swallowed hard as he stared at the man before him.
Namgung Hu.
He was undoubtedly the eldest son of the Namgung Clan, Namgung Ji-hu, but at some point, he had changed his name to Namgung Hu.
No one knew the reason why.
What did it matter if his name was Ji-hu or Hu?
A mere change of name hadn't altered the man himself.
Last year.
When he had entered the Dragon Training Pavilion, he had been rightfully hailed as the strongest among the cadets at the time.
Though that assessment had shifted a bit now.
The Youth Tournament a year ago.
That was when.
An incident had turned everyone's evaluations upside down.
And yet.
For Woong-cheol, the opponent before him was still far too strong.
However.
'I've clashed with even greater monsters.'
Ha Mu-baek.
Their chief instructor who had tormented them mercilessly until just three days ago.
Hadn't he gone one-on-one against even him?
There was no way this Namgung Hu could be stronger than an instructor like that monster.
'I'll go all out from the start.'
Woong-cheol drew up his internal energy to its maximum, channeling it into the massive broadsword in his right hand.
During the Youth Tournament, he hadn't used blade aura even once.
There had been no need; no opponent had been able to withstand Woong-cheol's raw divine strength without it.
The same went for the top sixteen matches.
He had swung his blade at full power without manifesting aura and still emerged victorious.
But now was different.
The internal energy swirling through Woong-cheol's body filled the broadsword to the brim, and it began to emanate that power.
Blade aura started to rise, rippling from the blade.
"W-Wow!!!"
Cheers erupted from all around.
It was only natural.
This wasn't some seven or twenty elite; a regular Fierce Dragon Corps cadet was manifesting blade aura.
Even in the Hidden Dragon Corps or Wa Dragon Corps, not many cadets had reached the realm of aura manifestation.
Yet here was a cadet whose name no one had even known a few days ago, doing just that.
How could they not be astonished?
Only Namgung Hu watched with a calm expression.
He had already observed the Fierce Dragon Corps' training.
True, he had only seen their sessions against the stiffened corpses.
The final training.
In that session where the Fierce Dragon Corps cadets had sliced through poison-stiffened and blood-stiffened corpses, Namgung Hu had clearly witnessed their prowess.
And of course, he had seen Woong-cheol's as well.
'A natural-born strength that transcends human limits.'
Sword qi began to flow from Namgung Hu's blade as well.
But its density was on another level.
Namgung Hu's sword qi appeared to be fully saturated, on the verge of advancing to the next stage.
Both their sword qi and blade aura were blue.
The difference lay in the shades: Namgung Hu's was a deep, profound blue like the vast sky,
while Woong-cheol's was a faint, nascent blue like the early tint of dawn.
"Begin!"
With the referee's shout,
the two charged at each other.
They hadn't discussed it beforehand, but from the buildup so far, both knew what the first clash would be.
A full-power slash!
Sword and broadsword swung toward each other.
The faint blue blade aura and the deep, intense blue sword qi collided at the center of the arena.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!!
A massive explosion roared,
sending shockwaves blasting outward in a raging storm.
"Ugh."
"Ack."
"Wh-What the hell?"
Clothes and hair whipped wildly.
The spectators were startled by the sudden upheaval.
Even the arena shook violently.
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul watched the scene and asked Ki Yu-chan, who stood rigidly beside him.
"Is the arena sturdy?"
"It was built to withstand peak masters fighting at full strength."
Pang Do-yul nodded at Ki Yu-chan's reply.
If it could endure a battle between peak experts,
it might shake fiercely but wouldn't collapse.
The vibrations gradually subsided.
Since the clash was on the arena itself, no dust clouds rose.
From the moment of impact, the two had been pushing their weapons against each other.
Woong-cheol gritted his teeth.
His muscles, tensed and bulging across his body, looked ready to burst at any second.
In contrast, Namgung Hu's expression remained unchanged.
Instead,
his clothes fluttered wildly from the internal energy surging around him.
'What kind of monstrous strength is this...?'
Namgung Hu was startled by Woong-cheol's power, which far exceeded his expectations.
Despite his clear disadvantage in internal energy, Woong-cheol was compensating with his innate divine strength.
It was the full-force broadsword strike from Woong-cheol that had once forced even Ha Mu-baek to manifest sword qi.
"Raaaargh!"
Woong-cheol bellowed a savage shout.
Crunch.
Namgung Hu's expression shifted.
He grimaced and clenched his teeth.
Veins bulged fiercely on the hand gripping his sword hilt.
'Ugh. Such power... I didn't expect to need this.'
To overcome Woong-cheol's strength, Namgung Hu decided to reveal the realm beyond sword qi.
"Huh? Wh-What?"
"What's going on?"
Commotion stirred among the spectators.
A change was occurring in Namgung Hu's sword.
The deep blue sword qi grew ever denser,
eventually transforming into a single, clear, tangible thread of energy.
A slender strand of energy coiled around the sword as it descended.
"S-S-Sword Thread?"
Someone muttered in a trembling voice.
It was unavoidable.
Sword gang, the next stage after sword qi.
Just before reaching that supreme realm marking peak mastery.
The transitional stage from sword qi to sword gang was precisely the sword thread realm Namgung Hu was demonstrating.
This meant Namgung Hu had sword gang within reach.
"Wooooaaah!!!"
"Yeeaaah!!!"
Ferocious, excited cheers exploded from all sides.
From the Hidden Dragon Corps cadets.
It was inevitable.
They had been under subtle pressure from the sudden rise of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Though it wasn't them personally.
Now, a fellow Hidden Dragon Corps member, Namgung Hu, had displayed the sword thread realm,
alleviating the pressure they had all felt.
It was a cheer filled with ecstasy and pent-up frustration.
"U-Ugh..."
Woong-cheol staggered back step by step.
He didn't know the sword thread realm.
But.
He could feel it with his entire body.
The moment that crystalline thread wrapped around Namgung Hu's sword,
an immense power emanated from it.
Even at full strength, he couldn't withstand it.
And so,
Woong-cheol, slowly pushed back,
"Tch."
tried a desperate final struggle, mustering every ounce of strength from infancy,
but his heel reached the edge of the arena.
Any further, and he'd fall off.
Defeat.
Yet he couldn't hold out any longer here.
He had to admit it.
"I... I lost."
The moment he squeezed his eyes shut and said it,
the pressure bearing down on Woong-cheol's body vanished as if it had been a lie.
"Hoo."
Namgung Hu exhaled, beads of sweat dotting his forehead.
"Winner! Namgung Hu!"
The referee's declaration rang out,
and
"Amazing!!!"
"Hidden Dragon Corps is the strongest!"
"Wooooaaah!"
cheers erupted once more from all around.
"Heh heh. Sword thread, eh? Impressive indeed, Corps Leader Neung."
Pang Do-yul chuckled heartily, praising Hidden Dragon Corps Leader Neung U-dam.
But Neung U-dam himself wore a confused expression.
For he too had seen Namgung Hu's sword thread for the first time today, here.
Baek Ri-pyeong, ascending the arena for the next match, turned his gaze toward Namgung Hu.
'Sword thread...'
He couldn't help but be shocked.
In truth, Baek Ri-pyeong had recently grasped a small clue toward reaching that realm himself.
Yet Namgung Hu had already attained it.
A year had passed since the last Youth Tournament for everyone,
but that year hadn't been equal for all.
Last year.
Hadn't it been Baek Ri-pyeong himself who defeated Namgung Hu in the top eight?
If he beat the opponent before him now, he'd face him again in the top four this year.
'Can I win?'
As he stood on the arena lost in such thoughts,
"Hey. Your opponent is me. Not that Namgung Hu over there."
an irritated voice came from his opponent across the way.
Only then did Baek Ri-pyeong raise his head.
His opponent glared at him with eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
It was Beom Il-so.
"My apologies. Sorry about that."
Baek Ri-pyeong offered a sincere cupped-fist salute and apology.
Fixating on another while facing this opponent was clear rudeness and a mistake.
The man who had lost to Dan Mok Un-roe in the top eight last year.
Yet he remembered him as incredibly strong.
Moreover,
his sword style was similar to his own.
The Heavenly Sword Sect's Heavenly Cycle Thousand Paths Sword Method.
Just like the Zhongnan Sect's Heavenly Star Milky Way Sword Method, it created countless sword shadows.
"Begin!"
With the referee's call,
Beom Il-so unleashed his sword at full power.
He harbored no underestimation of his foe.
Even if the opponent was ignoring him.
Baek Ri-pyeong.
That guy had already proven himself in the last Youth Tournament.
And he was the one who had given Beom Il-so the clue to reach his current level.
White sword qi rose from Beom Il-so's blade.
Along with it, his sword split into countless shards.
Heavenly Cycle Thousand Paths Sword!
The pinnacle of illusions, where a thousand swords flew down a thousand paths.
In an instant, his sword divided into one hundred fifty-eight.
This was the realm he had shown last year.
Though he hadn't manifested sword qi back then.
Baek Ri-pyeong responded by raising white sword qi and shaking his sword.
In that moment,
the one hundred fifty-eight sword paths multiplied in an instant to one thousand twenty-four.
A thousand swords pierced toward Baek Ri-pyeong's entire body via distinct paths.
'If I can't grasp the extreme of variation... then move faster to create variations forcibly.'
Beom Il-so recalled Baek Ri-pyeong's Heavenly Star Sword from last year's Youth Tournament.
It should have created a thousand stars.
Yet Baek Ri-pyeong had produced two thousand back then.
Only after prolonged observation and contemplation did he realize it was by moving the sword twice as fast, momentarily creating two thousand.
That insight had pierced through him.
And the result was now.
Though it was an illusion sword, Heavenly Cycle Thousand Paths, by infusing the subtleties of speed to force variations,
he had felt those variations in his body and suddenly comprehended them.
Thus, the Heavenly Cycle Thousand Paths Sword at its extreme revealed its true transformations.
From Baek Ri-pyeong's hand unfolded the Heavenly Star Milky Way Sword Method.
A thousand stars flew, scattering down a thousand different paths, shaking off the swords.
And then.
The number of stars increased.
Two thousand.
Due to the sword moving at double speed.
'I knew it!'
Beom Il-so gritted his teeth and swung his sword even faster.
The Heavenly Cycle Thousand Paths Sword
surpassed its limit, creating two thousand forty-eight paths.
Ecstasy gleamed in Beom Il-so's eyes.
It was the first time.
Even in training, he had only approached two thousand.
This perfect success was a first.
Achieved in real combat at last.
The fruit of heightened focus with an enemy before him.
Mok Cheong-san, watching from the spectator stands, clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
The lazy, indolent junior brother he had always dismissed.
That junior had not only surpassed him but was displaying the Heavenly Cycle Thousand Paths Sword at such a realm.
Rage boiled up.
The moment two thousand stars clashed with two thousand swords,
the spectators were entranced by the fantastical sight.
Kwakwakwakuang!!!
The brutal clamor of sword clashing sword echoed,
and the outcome was one-sided.
Not a single one of Beom Il-so's swords withstood Baek Ri-pyeong's.
He gritted his teeth and swung at full power,
but one by one, the swords vanished.
Ultimately,
only the stars Baek Ri-pyeong had created remained.
So many they filled the arena, too numerous to count.
"N-No way..."
Beom Il-so stared at the scene in disbelief.
The moment the stars in the air all faded,
Baek Ri-pyeong's sword tip halted before Beom Il-so's chest.
"I... lost..."
Beom Il-so muttered in a hollow voice.
Baek Ri-pyeong withdrew his sword and offered a cupped-fist salute.
"A fine match. If you don't fixate solely on speed, it could become an even greater sword."
With those words, Baek Ri-pyeong turned away, leaving Beom Il-so behind.
"Winner! Baek Ri-pyeong!!"
The referee's shout burst forth,
and Beom Il-so descended the arena with listless steps.
'Don't fixate on speed?'
The very man who had awakened him to speed was saying that.
Yet Baek Ri-pyeong himself hadn't just reached two thousand stars—he had gone beyond to three or even four thousand.
Not one of which he had overcome.
The moment that realization struck,
Beom Il-so halted abruptly.
'Speed... illusion...'
Heavenly Cycle Thousand Paths Sword, an illusion sword.
The path he had chosen to push its variations to the extreme was speed, but
'It was weak.'
Overemphasizing speed and illusion had left his sword lacking power.
'Strength.'
But Baek Ri-pyeong's sword had been strong as well.
That's why not a single star could be grasped.
'Speed, illusion, strength. In the end, harmony...'
Lost in dazed contemplation, Beom Il-so left the grand training grounds where the arena was set.
And upon reaching his own training grounds, he sat cross-legged and entered meditation.