The Interview of the Sword
With a flash of light, the clouds in the sky split open as if by an explosion.
Beneath the punctured sky, where the lightning had struck, a single sword was embedded in the floor of the arena.
Seong-jin stood atop the hilt of that sword, looking down at the rising stars of the martial arts world, and spoke.
"I'm not late, so I suppose that's fine."
Dang Young-young was incensed by his demeanor.
"You... you coward, using a sneak attack like that!"
"Cowardly?"
Seong-jin tilted his head at her words.
"I heard that all the students of the Heavenly Martial Academy gathered to hone themselves under the banner of eradicating demons. Are you going to cry 'coward' even at a surprise attack from a demonic heretic?"
These were the very people who, until just recently, had been hunting down the demons that appeared in Hubei following the incident with the Heavenly Demon's secret map. No one could deny the words of Seong-jin, who had achieved the most overwhelming results among them.
"So, even if all of you attack me at once, I shall not speak of cowardice."
"What?"
Standing on the sword, Seong-jin declared that he would take on every single one of the rising stars of the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering simultaneously. To Dang Young-young, it was a provocation that invited nothing but derisive laughter, but Seong-jin was serious.
'As the head of a group, humility cannot be a virtue.'
If he were to bow his head to these rising stars, his subordinates in the Arangdae would have to stoop, and those performing menial tasks beneath them would have to bow entirely. If his humility were to make his people appear servile, then sparing that humility was also the role of a leader.
'After all, this sparring match is just an interview.'
To Seong-jin, the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering was nothing more than an interviewer's question.
"What, there's no way the rising stars of the Orthodox Faction would fall for such a provocation..."
He didn't know what the opponent was thinking, but there was no need to play along with his intentions. Thus, it was an attempt to regain the initiative in the situation, but things did not flow as Dang Young-young had expected.
"Then, I won't decline."
The Hwasan Sword Dragon stepped forward to answer Seong-jin's provocation to attack all at once.
Whoosh!
Young-myung lunged from the front, his sword wreathed in flames.
Seong-jin rushed to meet him and unleashed a palm technique. Compared to fist techniques, palm techniques had a variety of methods utilizing the sleeves. The long robe, made from the fur of a fire rat, could suppress even the flames of Returning to Truth, so Seong-jin whipped his sleeve to entangle Young-myung's blade.
There was only one sword, but there were two hands. Having suppressed the sword with one sleeve, Seong-jin immediately tried to strike Young-myung's chest with his other hand.
It was the rising star of Kunlun who blocked him.
"I am Yong Gwang-ho."
Yong Gwang-ho was a rising star of the Kunlun Sect, skilled in body techniques like fist and foot combat, based on the peerless movement technique, the Cloud Dragon Eight Forms. He grabbed Seong-jin's remaining arm in a surprise move.
"Will this do?"
He called out to his fellow student, who had secretly sent a sound transmission the moment the battle began.
"Life is a single shot!"
With Seong-jin's two arms held by Young-myung's sword and Yong Gwang-ho's hand respectively, Dan Mok-cheong finally revealed herself, seizing the opportunity to stab at Seong-jin's back. The thrust of the Archer's Sun-Shooting Sword Technique, named after the legend of Hou Yi shooting down the suns, was a high-speed sword art that boasted a guaranteed kill, just as its name suggested. It was a strike that even the Green Forest's Palace Ghost could not react to and would fall to.
However, Seong-jin had already envisioned this situation the moment he told them all to attack together.
"Come."
The sword responded to Seong-jin's voice. The sword that had been stuck in the ground since it fell from the sky shot toward Dan Mok-cheong like an arrow.
"Controlling the sword with qi...?"
As Yong Gwang-ho gasped in surprise, Dan Mok-cheong, effectively caught in a surprise attack by a third party, missed her chance for a killing blow and twisted her body to strike down the incoming sword.
"You shouldn't be looking elsewhere, should you?"
Seeing the Dragon in the Field.
Seong-jin spun in place, throwing the two people holding his arms aside. Immediately after, he leaped into the air, and frost formed on the spot where he had been standing just a moment before. It was Shin Su-ran's method of freezing the ground with Returning to Truth. Having practiced with her repeatedly and encountered the technique many times, reacting to it was not difficult.
"You've leaped into the air where there's nowhere to step, this is our chance!"
However, despite Yong Gwang-ho's shout, Seong-jin stepped on the flying sword that had escaped Dan Mok-cheong and stood in the void.
Flying on the Sword.
"What is that?"
At that legendary technique, mentioned only in the legends of the immortal Lü Dongbin, the crowd gathered to watch the tournament erupted into chaos.
In the midst of the confusion, Dan Mok-cheong regained her composure and joined Young-myung and Yong Gwang-ho.
"See? The Lord is truly unimaginably strong, so you have to treat him as a master you can only face if you all attack together."
"Is that the person you've been praying to, saying 'Lord this, Lord that' lately?"
Yong Gwang-ho was shocked that the object of the prayers he had thought were just his fellow student's usual eccentricities was a real person.
Diancang and Kunlun. These were sects that were far removed from the center of the martial arts world and, depending on the era, were sometimes classified as outside the borders. Thanks to this, when the Heavenly Martial Academy opened, Dan Mok-cheong and Yong Gwang-ho were treated as 1.5th generation students because they arrived in Hubei late, making them the only two in their cohort. This was why Dan Mok-cheong often called Young-myung 'senior'.
As a result, Yong Gwang-ho, who often had to deal with Dan Mok-cheong, knew well how terrifying her faith was.
'The person worshipped by Dan Mok-cheong, who was kicked out of every gambling den in Hubei because she always ends up profiting no matter where she bets?'
No matter how he thought about it, it didn't seem like such a person would lose to rising stars.
"...Can't we just call it a draw?"
"Don't talk nonsense."
At Yong Gwang-ho's deflated words, Namgung Hwi-ji, who had been managing the internal injuries from the initial strike, spoke up.
In the split second the lightning struck. Namgung Hwi-ji had drawn his sword with lightning-fast reflexes and received Seong-jin's strike. Of course, he had only barely avoided instant death, and he was currently suffering from internal injuries caused by the lightning qi that had burrowed into his body. However, Namgung Hwi-ji, possessing the greatest amount of internal energy among the rising stars, burned with fighting spirit as he patched up his injured meridians.
"That behavior of considering me a complete novice. Do you think I'll let someone who insulted the Namgung family go easily?"
"Does someone who thinks so highly of his own family insult others' families?"
It was a twisted pride.
"I've seen through your tricks."
"Tricks?"
"That lightning from earlier. It wasn't lightning, but a sword wreathed in lightning qi. Your sword art just uses the magnetism of the lightning qi to move metal like a compass."
Indeed, his eye for detail was on a different level. He just hadn't cultivated the character to match that discernment.
"You're still all talk even after getting hit."
Seong-jin flicked his hand toward Namgung Hwi-ji from atop the sword.
"Young Master Namgung, I'll join in too!"
"Don't interfere in Namgung's business!"
Namgung Hwi-ji sprayed sword qi in front of Dang Young-young's feet as she tried to join in irritably. Dang Young-young was startled and stepped back, and the other participants, who had been debating whether to step in, also withdrew their hands.
As it suddenly became a one-on-one spar, Seong-jin jumped off the sword and landed on the ground. Then, using one leg as an axis, he spun around and drew a circle with a diameter of about half a step.
"If it's just you, this is enough."
He said, putting one hand behind his back. It meant he wouldn't just stay within the circle, but he would use only one hand. Namgung Hwi-ji's eyes turned red instantly.
"How dare you!"
Even in his fury, his feet followed the steps of his footwork perfectly. It was a martial art that claimed territory and made it one's own, as if an emperor were leading an army to conquer land. The Imperial Sword Form. It was the sword art of the Namgung family, which secured space and exerted invincible power within that space. The sword qi of the Imperial Sword Form engulfed Seong-jin.
Lightning Extreme Realm.
The body's movements reached the speed of thought. Seong-jin reached out toward the sword qi falling to target him. His innate sense read Namgung Hwi-ji's sword qi. He realized the essence of the technique in an instant, like wisdom. Seong-jin's hand, having seen through the Imperial Sword Form, unleashed the same sword art.
Seong-jin and Namgung Hwi-ji clashed in the exact same posture, as if reflected in a mirror.
Kuaaaaaang!
"What?"
Namgung Hwi-ji's eyes widened as their swords met and reached a stalemate. What was more terrifying than Seong-jin following the Imperial Sword Form was the fact that even though he had clearly watched him perform the technique and swung his sword 'after' him, the two swords had collided on the exact same line.
Starting later, arriving first.
If a sword technique that started later than his own was unleashed at the same time, it meant the opponent's sword technique was faster than his own.
"What kind of sorcery is this! How dare you imitate the Imperial Sword Form!"
"Imitate?"
Seong-jin unleashed the subsequent slashes exactly as if he were drawing a picture. As a result, the two swords collided at a single point, burrowing into each other as if they had been joined together.
"Then does this mean you can do this?"
At a glance, it looked as if the two men's skills had reached an equal level. But the reality was different. It was a matter of watching the opponent's sword art and striking the exact same point with the exact same force. It was like watching someone shoot an arrow from the side and shooting one's own arrow so that both hit the exact same spot. It meant that no matter how Namgung Hwi-ji moved, Seong-jin could match all of those movements, signifying that the two men's skills were in a perfect hierarchy.
"Learn humility."
"Gaaah!"
Namgung Hwi-ji did not back down and unleashed sword strikes one after another. Since an emperor never retreats, the Imperial Sword Form was a sword art that constantly secured territory. If he retreated once, especially against an opponent performing the same Imperial Sword Form, he would be pushed back to the end without any way to reverse the situation.
Clang-clang-clang!!!
The two men's territories clashed, and sword qi was shredded. Namgung Hwi-ji was in a position to freely use the entire arena, surrounding his opponent and attacking unilaterally. However, Seong-jin, who stood motionless within the small circle, returned every single sword strike with the exact same force.
"What on earth is this..."
By the time even the commoners who knew nothing of martial arts felt that something was strange.
"Is that all you have?"
From Seong-jin's hand, clearly the same as the Namgung family's Imperial Sword Form.
"The blue sky has no end..."
But the profound meaning of the Imperial Sword Form, which Namgung Hwi-ji hadn't even been able to unleash, was unfolded.
"Creation."
The clouds that had been punctured by the earlier lightning were now split along the trajectory of the sword.