Chapter 572
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 572
Chapter Title: It Was Pretty Good, More Than Expected
Ha Mu-baek glanced toward the annex building.
He had grown curious about what the girl named Wi Su-yeon would gain from that place.
Gyeo Hwi looked at Ha Mu-baek and spoke.
"It seems you've found something yourself."
Ha Mu-baek's gaze shifted back to him.
"Your eyes are sharper than most, old man."
"Not just you alone."
Gyeo Hwi smiled faintly at Ha Mu-baek's frank admission.
When he'd first faced Ha Mu-baek today, he'd been unsure, but after crossing swords, he'd confirmed it.
Ha Mu-baek had changed as well.
He was still a ferocious high master like a wild beast, but Gyeo Hwi sensed a new touch of consideration in his sword.
Even knowing Gyeo Hwi was testing his realm, Ha Mu-baek had obliged with the spar, and the content of it had reflected that.
Having clashed blades directly, Gyeo Hwi could tell.
One strike would have sufficed for Ha Mu-baek to fell him.
'Just how far does this monster's limit reach...'
Thinking of it sent chills down his spine.
It was too distant to even see.
And at such a young age.
Yet Ha Mu-baek had matched him through all twenty-four forms of the Plum Blossom Sword.
Even drawing out Gyeo Hwi's full power in wielding it.
Only with the final form, Plum Blossom a Thousand Miles Fragrance, had Ha Mu-baek finally broken his plum blossoms.
That single strike had now become a wall for Gyeo Hwi to surpass, a lingering question.
To raise plum blossoms unbreakable by that one sword.
"I was just testing you too. Don't look at me like that."
Reading the sentiment in Gyeo Hwi's eyes, Ha Mu-baek grumbled curtly.
"I see. You definitely seemed changed."
Gyeo Hwi replied calmly to Ha Mu-baek's words.
"Then excuse me for a moment."
With that, he moved to a corner at the edge of the training ground and sat cross-legged.
To organize the other insights gained from the spar with Ha Mu-baek.
"Tch."
Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue lightly at the sight.
As the sky began to darken bit by bit.
Wi Su-yeon appeared on the training ground.
After returning the manual to Yu Gwi-gwang, she spotted Gyeo Hwi sitting cross-legged and flinched.
She had opened the Yuun Sword Method manual and found the annotations attached to its contents.
They were likely from Master Yu Ji-woong.
As she read the sword forms' oral formulas and their annotations, Wi Su-yeon understood why the Plum Blossom Sword Sage had made her read the manual herself.
This wasn't something that could be passed on through someone else's interpretation.
It was a matter she had to read and comprehend on her own.
Gyeo Hwi had acknowledged her as a martial artist who had reached that level.
Her chest swelled with emotion as she read the manual.
Not once, but three times over.
Each reading brought different thoughts to mind.
After reading it thrice and finishing a brief meditation.
She came to the training ground.
She wanted to swing her sword right away.
She longed to ask her martial granduncle what he thought of her interpretation, but the Plum Blossom Sword Sage Gyeo Hwi was meditating.
The thrilling joy filled her chest, but the frustration of not being able to express it weighed her down.
Ha Mu-baek, sitting on a rock near the training ground, saw her and walked steadily to the center.
"I'll be your opponent."
He didn't specify who, but it was obvious she was the one.
Wi Su-yeon, startled, soon headed to the center as well.
Right now, she wanted to unleash the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms against anyone.
"Take off that veil."
Ha Mu-baek stared at her face and said.
Wi Su-yeon flinched.
"Something that thick fluttering around your face blocks your vision. Tie it down to stop the fluttering, and it hinders your breathing."
Ha Mu-baek added the perfectly obvious reason.
He guessed why she'd flinched.
"Ah! Understood."
Wi Su-yeon hurriedly removed the veil.
And her revealed face.
A radiant yet pure plum blossom.
Beauty exactly like a single blooming plum flower.
Sword Plum Blossom.
The nickname fit her perfectly—a beauty.
That was Wi Su-yeon.
Pung Geon, Yu Gwi-gwang, and Gwan Ha-kyeong had all flinched upon first seeing her beauty but quickly regained composure.
It was true she was exceedingly beautiful, but they had already witnessed beauty comparable to hers.
Yeon Ha-min and Ha Seol-ran of the Fierce Dragon Corps.
Namgung Ji-yu of the Hidden Dragon Corps.
The three women's beauty was no less than Wi Su-yeon's now fully revealed visage.
'Does that mean Ha-min and Seol-ran's beauty rivals the Five Flowers of the Martial World?'
Gwan Ha-kyeong was startled.
He'd known from seeing Namgung Ji-yu that the two were remarkable, but confirming Wi Su-yeon's beauty made him freshly realize just how extraordinary they were.
Wi Su-yeon was slightly surprised.
Because those watching the training ground didn't react strongly to her appearance.
Even on Mount Hua, those who'd never seen her before would gasp and stare every time.
She'd experienced it countless times.
Especially the man standing before her, Ha Mu-baek.
There wasn't the slightest shake in him.
No change in his eyes at all.
Just eyes confirming if she was ready to cross swords.
"Good."
Ha Mu-baek nodded and drew his sword.
Wi Su-yeon drew hers as well.
"Come."
The curt word fell.
Wi Su-yeon tried to unleash the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms but couldn't.
'Wh-where...'
It was the simplest stance, sword thrust straight at mid-level.
Plain as that.
Yet before Wi Su-yeon's eyes stood a massive wall.
A colossal, absolute wall no attack could pierce, no matter where.
Sweat soaked her back.
Cold beads formed on her face.
Any hesitation about revealing her looks had vanished clean away.
She focused solely on the opponent before her.
Searching only for where to thrust that first strike.
'In real combat... I'd already be dead.'
A thick sense of defeat enveloped her.
They called it beyond the heavens.
An enemy where she couldn't even tell where to extend her first strike.
In actual battle like this, nothing awaited but death—Wi Su-yeon knew it.
A subtle smile curved Ha Mu-baek's lips.
'Not bad.'
He inwardly praised her for not charging in blindly.
She was reading and feeling his presence.
Ha Mu-baek moved his sword tip ever so slightly.
Then.
'Ah!'
Three openings appeared in Wi Su-yeon's eyes.
She knew.
Ha Mu-baek had deliberately shown them.
Even so, she had no choice but to thrust toward them.
Wi Su-yeon's sword moved.
The first form of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms.
Plum Blossom Falling Petals.
The blade shot straight for Ha Mu-baek's chest.
Ha Mu-baek nodded faintly, and his sword moved.
Wi Su-yeon thrust at the most vital of the three deliberate openings.
But the instant Ha Mu-baek's sword stirred.
The opening vanished like mist.
Unable to stop her sword now, Wi Su-yeon poured all her focus into it.
Chaeng!
A light ringing sound.
Wi Su-yeon followed immediately with the second form, Plum Blossom Folding Dance.
Ha Mu-baek's sword moved again.
Wi Su-yeon gritted her teeth and met it.
She unleashed the sword forms in a trance.
To withstand the opponent's terrifyingly oppressive sword momentum.
Third form, fourth, fifth, sixth...
Before she knew it, she reached the fifteenth: Plum Blossoms in Wild Profusion.
A fact she realized then.
Only now did she recognize the opponent's sword style.
'Three Talents Sword Method!!!'
She'd thought it simple, but hadn't imagined it was the Three Talents Sword Method.
By the fifteenth form, growing slightly accustomed to Ha Mu-baek's sword, she saw it clearly.
'Faster than I thought.'
Ha Mu-baek instantly noticed Wi Su-yeon's change. She was quicker on the uptake than he'd expected.
That moment.
He still wielded the Three Talents Sword Method, but its speed shifted.
Kang! Chaeng! Kang!
Their blades clashed more frequently as a result.
Yet Wi Su-yeon gritted her teeth and protected her sword.
It was what she'd desperately wanted to pour out right away.
The Plum Blossom Sword Forms born from watching the plum clouds.
That very thing.
"This is better for us."
Pung Geon said calmly.
Gwan Ha-kyeong and Yu Gwi-gwang nodded.
Ha Mu-baek and Gyeo Hwi.
The spar between those two at such lofty realms had been too profound for the three to fully grasp.
This was preferable.
Thanks to Ha Mu-baek matching Wi Su-yeon's level.
So the three could observe the new Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms all the more clearly.
Of course, it differed from Gyeo Hwi's and fell short.
"Amazing that he's facing the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Forms with the Three Talents Sword Method."
From outside, Yu Gwi-gwang could tell Ha Mu-baek was using the Three Talents Sword Method.
"It's the wielder that matters, not the sword style."
Pung Geon chuckled softly.
Even if it was the Three Talents Sword Method, in Ha Mu-baek's hands now, it terrified more than any supreme technique.
Ha Mu-baek pressed Wi Su-yeon fiercely, but not to the point of preventing her from unleashing her own sword.
Thus, Wi Su-yeon steadfastly displayed the sword she'd seen in the manual, read the annotations for, and interpreted herself.
Parts that always felt awkwardly blocked now cleared smoothly, her blade soaring freely.
Before long, she reached the twenty-second form: Plum Blossom Branch Contact.
Passing through Plum Blossoms on Qing Bamboo, the final form unfolded: Plum Blossom a Thousand Miles Fragrance.
Ha Mu-baek countered Plum Blossom a Thousand Miles Fragrance with the Three Talents Sword Method.
Chaeng!
The swords clashed.
Whirrrrlik.
Puk.
Wi Su-yeon's sword flew through the air and stabbed into the ground.
Ha Mu-baek's sword tip halted two inches from her throat.
As Ha Mu-baek sheathed his blade, Wi Su-yeon clasped her hands in salute and bowed deeply.
"Thank you for the instruction."
"It was pretty good, more than expected. The Plum Blossom Sword Forms were interesting too."
Ha Mu-baek spoke plainly.
A subtle smile graced Wi Su-yeon's face at his praise.
"What parts were interesting?"
She asked right away.
"An interpretation similar to the Sword Sage's old man, but different?"
Wi Su-yeon was startled by Ha Mu-baek's response.
"Different?"
Ha Mu-baek nodded.
"Ask him yourself."
He jerked his chin toward one side.
Turning that way, she saw Gyeo Hwi sitting cross-legged with eyes open.
A faint smile played on his face.
Having finished organizing his insights, he saw Wi Su-yeon crossing swords with Ha Mu-baek.
Adding her own interpretation, just as he'd hoped.
Gyeo Hwi rose and approached the two.
"Thank you truly for guiding our sect's disciple."
He clasped hands and bowed deeply.
"Well, I was curious too, and it was fun."
Ha Mu-baek chuckled.
As if it really had been enjoyable.
"So, old man, did you gain anything?"
Gyeo Hwi nodded at Ha Mu-baek's question.
"I gained much, thanks to you."
Ha Mu-baek stared steadily at Gyeo Hwi's reply.
"Watching your two swords, I can roughly guess what the manual's annotations said..."
Everyone present widened their eyes at Ha Mu-baek's words, spoken after a brief hesitation.
He didn't know the Yuun Sword Method, yet he'd inferred the annotations from watching the two wield it differently.
"Annotations are just annotations. Personal opinions. Get too bound by them, and new prejudices begin."
"Hm..."
"Finding those clouds was probably the path you discovered after endless Worrying, right?"
Gyeo Hwi nodded slightly.
"Plum blossoms, clouds—don't get too fixated. All sword styles ultimately converge on one purpose."
"One?"
Wi Su-yeon tilted her head and murmured.
Ha Mu-baek looked at her and stated plainly.
"Killing people quickly and efficiently."
With that, Ha Mu-baek's figure vanished.
He had no more business here.
After Ha Mu-baek left, those remaining alone on the training ground.
Gyeo Hwi, Wi Su-yeon, Pung Geon, Gwan Ha-kyeong, Yu Gwi-gwang.
Ha Mu-baek's final words echoed in their ears.
That the purpose was killing people quickly and efficiently.