Chapter 47
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: That Sounds Like an Appealing Punishment
Iron Cloud Twin Blades.
That was the nickname of Pang Do-woong, hailed as the Pang family's greatest swordsman.
He had earned it through his mastery of two blade arts: Iron Blood Thunderclap Blade and Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade.
Both techniques had long since reached the tenth realm. All that remained was for him to forge his own path to the twelfth realm's great completion.
He stood at the very pinnacle among peak masters.
No, he might have already stepped into the initial stage of transcendent mastery.
Yet, unless one was from the Pang family, it was nearly impossible to distinguish between his two blade styles.
And that kid had recognized them as if it were nothing.
More than that, he'd even identified his own master from the blade arts.
"How did I know? It was obvious. Who else in the Pang family practices Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade besides Pang Geo-ryang? Ah, and you, of course. Well, that might actually be a blessing for him. He always lamented not having a disciple worthy of passing on his exquisite blade arts..."
"Y-You brat! Don't you dare speak that revered name with your filthy mouth!"
Pang Do-woong bellowed, forgetting all about his disrupted horse stance in his outrage at Ha Mu-baek's casual chatter about his master, as if discussing a neighbor's friend.
Ha Mu-baek smirked at the sight.
"I can't tell if this is a good disciple or a bad one."
"Sh-Shut your mouth!"
Pang Do-woong roared coarsely.
"More importantly, your horse stance broke. Is that how Pang Geo-ryang taught you?"
"Tch."
Pang Do-woong ground his teeth at Ha Mu-baek's blunt callout.
He couldn't deny it was his own fault for losing control of his mind and breaking form during the preparation.
"Then let's see just how much you've learned. Iron Blood Thunderclap Blade doesn't interest me much, but Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade is different. If you've mastered it properly, you might just survive the day."
A subtle killing intent laced Ha Mu-baek's voice as he spoke those final words.
The blade art had momentarily lightened the mood, but Ha Mu-baek hadn't forgotten why this mess had started in the first place.
"You bastard!!!"
The blade moved with his roar, but it didn't match the thunderous bellow at all.
It traced soft, graceful curves, like watching a woman's dance.
From another angle, it resembled a nun's ritual dance.
"Not bad. You've got the form down convincingly."
This time, Ha Mu-baek wielded his sword in earnest.
He felt it was only proper to meet a Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade of that caliber with full respect for the art.
The reason was simple.
In Ha Mu-baek's eyes, it was the Pang family's supreme martial art.
He valued it even higher than the Mixed Essence Shedding Blade, which only the family head could learn.
Ha Mu-baek's sword thrust straight forward.
A swift line slicing through the elegant curves.
The curves scattered and shattered without mercy.
"Urk."
Pang Do-woong let out a low groan.
His blade was being dismantled far too easily.
Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade was the art that had earned him the title of the Pang family's greatest swordsman.
Even foes he couldn't handle with Iron Blood Thunderclap Blade fell to it.
Yet his trump card was being crushed so futilely.
The power behind that seemingly casual sword was immense.
Each clash made Pang Do-woong's palms buzz and tingle.
Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade pursued ultimate softness, but it was still a Pang family blade art.
It had shed the dominance but retained the weight.
A heavy yet soft blade.
That was the essence of Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade.
Yet it was yielding to the enemy's sword power.
It meant his blade's inherent weight couldn't withstand the sword's force.
"Tch."
Unable to accept the fact, Pang Do-woong clenched his teeth harder.
"Sloppy. No wonder, trying to learn two arts when you can't even handle one. Tsk."
Ha Mu-baek swung his sword nonchalantly, clicking his tongue.
"Pang Geo-ryang's got it rough. To think the disciple he finally found ends up like this."
Those words were blatant provocation to Pang Do-woong.
"You bastard!"
"Quit yelling the same thing over and over. I get it, your voice is loud, but what's the point if your blade skills don't keep up?"
As he spoke, Ha Mu-baek's sword grew fiercer.
Pang Do-woong desperately tried to deflect the power using the subtle flowing principles of Plum Blossom Grafting,
but he was being pushed back further and further.
There was a limit to deflection.
Unable to handle the relentless, overpowering strikes, his movements slowed.
In the end, he abandoned any thought of flowing them aside and simply gripped his blade with all his might to block.
With each block, the impacts from Ha Mu-baek's strikes accumulated in Pang Do-woong's body and blade.
Blood trickled from between his gritted teeth.
He struggled to calm his churning internals, but it was no use.
'What kind of sword strikes are these...'
His internal energy couldn't withstand them at all.
One of Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade's eight forms was meant to deflect unblockable attacks.
Yet the assault before him overwhelmed even that.
It had been dismantled.
'Master said he could deflect any attack...'
But he couldn't.
"Tsk. Arrogant enough to claim tenth realm mastery with this level of Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade. That's how you got a hollow title like Pang family's greatest swordsman. This doesn't even come close to Pang Geo-ryang's blade."
Ha Mu-baek's words multiplied.
He was furious—not just at Pang Do-woong, but for other reasons too.
Pang Geo-ryang.
He had been one of Ha Mu-baek's trusted comrades from the last war, someone he'd trusted with his back.
Seeing the disciple Pang Geo-ryang had accepted disgrace his brilliant blade arts like this filled him with more than pity—it was rage.
Ha Mu-baek had experienced the true might of Lingering Cloud Eight Shadows Blade firsthand.
"Enough. Time to end this. With that pathetic blade of yours."
The aura around Ha Mu-baek's sword shifted.
It had been fierce before, but now it was something else entirely.
Even at a glance, it brimmed with an overwhelming force that could shatter the world.
Ha Mu-baek simply swung his sword.
Like one of the Three Talents Sword forms the Fierce Dragon Corps Squad Seven cadets had swung countless times.
But the result was worlds apart.
"Kuhuk..."
Pang Do-woong vomited blood as he flew backward. His blade snapped, clattering uselessly to the ground.
"Do-woong!"
Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul, who had watched the duel anxiously, rushed forward and caught him.
Ha Mu-baek glanced their way once, as if his business there was done, then turned and walked off.
Toward where Han Seol-bing stood.
His target, naturally, was Pang Gun-ho.
"..."
"Gulp."
Squad Seven cadets and Joo Woo-myeong watched Ha Mu-baek in stunned silence.
It was an unimaginable display of prowess.
He had toyed with Pang Do-woong, the Pang family's greatest swordsman, like a child, and shattered his blade.
If they told the other Dragon Training Pavilion cadets what they'd seen, it would spark fights amid cries of "Lies!"
"Instructor Ha!"
Then,
someone stepped in front of Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Seol-ran.
Not as his little sister, but formally as an instructor.
The events had unfolded so rapidly that even Ha Seol-ran had been caught off guard until now.
She snapped to her senses the moment Pang Do-woong flew back spitting blood.
That sight jolted her awake.
All this chaos stemmed from her. More precisely, Pang Gun-ho bore full blame for harassing her.
But her brother Ha Mu-baek's rampage was still driven by concern for her safety.
Looking around, she was the only one who could stop him here. Her master might manage it, but he had been the first to lose control.
"An instructor assaulting a cadet out of personal emotion violates pavilion rules."
Ha Seol-ran spoke clearly and firmly in her crisp voice.
Everyone stared at her in surprise. Everyone present except Pang Do-woong knew she was Ha Mu-baek's sister.
They knew he couldn't bring himself to harm her, but no one expected the victim herself to step up for Pang Gun-ho.
'If this goes further, my brother might end up fighting the entire Pang family.'
In her month or so at the Dragon Training Pavilion, she'd learned the broad state of the martial world.
She knew the Pang family was one of the Five Great Clans forming the Righteous Heaven Alliance's prestigious sects.
Not just from Pang Gun-ho's constant bragging, but from others' evaluations and the pavilion library's records and books.
Objectively, the Pang family was a prestigious sect, while her brother was just one man.
She couldn't let this conflict escalate further.
She stepped forward not to protect Pang Gun-ho, but to protect Ha Mu-baek.
Ha Mu-baek gazed at Ha Seol-ran steadily.
He was slightly taken aback by her bold stance.
"Pavilion Lord. What do you make of this cadet's claim?"
Pang Do-yul, who had been urgently checking Pang Do-woong's internal injuries, stood at Ha Mu-baek's question. The immediate crisis was averted.
"Clearly, that Pang Gun-ho broke pavilion rules, so Instructor Ha's actions could be seen as discipline. But if it goes too far, it becomes assault, not discipline."
Pang Do-yul started by unconditionally assuming Pang Gun-ho was at fault.
He judged it the best way to somewhat soothe Ha Mu-baek's anger.
"Then what would the punishment be?"
"Dismissal at worst. We'd need to hear the cadet's side too, of course."
"Hmm."
Ha Mu-baek crossed his arms, lost in thought.
Dismissal didn't scare him. If dismissed, he could just wander the rivers and lakes with his sister and master, settling wherever they pleased. That was it.
He had already achieved his purpose in joining the martial world and the Righteous Heaven Alliance.
Moreover, dismissal would give him a convenient excuse against the one trying to tie him to the alliance.
"That sounds like an appealing punishment."
Was that why? His true feelings slipped out.
Pang Do-yul's face paled at the response. Thanks to his sister stepping in, he'd spoken as deferentially as possible, hoping against hope.
Of course, why would a man like that cling to an instructor position at the Dragon Training Pavilion anyway?
However.
"Wait just a moment! Pavilion Lord. Dismissal?"
A sharp voice cut in from elsewhere. It was Han Seol-bing.
"It might appeal to Instructor Ha, but not to me at all."
She stepped forward, blocking the sprawled Pang Gun-ho at her feet.
"I'll desperately oppose Squad Leader's dismissal."
As she spoke, she even drew the flexible sword dangling from her waist.
A clear sign of her sincerity.
Pang Do-yul brightened at her actions. He thought she might hold Ha Mu-baek back to some degree.
Ha Seol-ran and Han Seol-bing.
The two women stood blocking Ha Mu-baek.
"No way! Dismissal! What are we supposed to do then?!"
Then someone else shouted as they barged in: Dang Jin-san.
Ha Mu-baek's gaze turned that way.
"No. You taught us martial arts, fed us medicine, and whipped us into shape—you have to take responsibility! You said we'd die out there! Fine for me, but what about them? Un-roe has an old mother and little sister!"
As soon as their eyes met, Dang Jin-san unleashed a torrent of words.
"That's right! No way!"
Dan Mok Un-roe shouted loudly.
"No."
A short but chilling response from Yeon Ha-min.
"No. We still have much to learn."
Baek Ri-pyeong didn't lag behind.
"No dismissal!"
Even Nak Woo-jin yelled unusually loudly.
The decision on Ha Mu-baek's dismissal lay with Pavilion Lord Pang Do-yul. Yet Squad Seven cadets sent him desperate pleas with their eyes.
They knew, having witnessed the duel with Pang Do-woong,
who this sword-wielder truly was.
Pang Do-yul silently cheered them on with all his heart.
Please, stop Ha Mu-baek here.
Ha Mu-baek scowled, a vein bulging on his forehead.