## Chapter 192 – (4)
“The name of this sword technique is, Spirit Slayer Sword.”
“Spirit Slayer Sword.”
I repeated the name slowly.
“What does it mean?”
“A sword that kills spirit creatures.”
“Spirit creatures…”
As she said that, Moyeon drew her sword.
Swish.
The sword slid out of its scabbard.
The sound of the sword and scabbard brushing against each other felt strangely eerie.
Then, she began to infuse the sword with inner energy.
It was such a dense sword aura that the blade appeared blue.
Seeing my worried expression at the sight of the somewhat excessive inner energy, Moyeon smiled faintly.
“It’s to pierce the tough hide of spirit creatures.”
“I see.”
The spirit creatures in martial arts novels were like monsters in a fantasy world.
Some of them had hides as hard as steel.
She probably needed to infuse that much inner energy to even inflict a wound.
Then, Moyeon swung her arm.
The sword aura flew and left a deep gash in the cave wall.
It was a similar motion to mine, but the result was much more intense.
Rumble.
The wall crumbled and rocks rolled around, showing how deeply the cut had been made.
Moyeon watched the scene and slowly sheathed her sword.
“That was a bit much.”
She acknowledged that she had used too much inner energy and brazenly sheathed her sword.
“…A bit?”
She was excellent as a martial artist, but I wondered if she would be as a teacher.
She couldn’t control her strength any better than I could, and the broken wall looked like it had been clawed by a dragon.
Large pieces of rock and dust fell to the floor with a thud.
Before either of us could be told to, Moyeon and I started clearing away the stones and continued our conversation.
“That’s strange.”
“…What is, Master?”
“That you handle a sword like that but don’t know a single sword technique.”
“Ah.”
That was understandable.
I could handle a sword skillfully thanks to my martial arts skills and experience in various worlds, but the only sword technique I knew was the basic Three Talents Swordplay I learned at the Martial Arts Academy.
Since I couldn’t talk about skills, I made up an excuse.
“I’ve been training with a sword since I was young, but I only started learning proper sword techniques a few months ago when I entered the Martial Arts Academy.”
“Martial Arts Academy… you mean the Human Martial Arts Academy?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
She lifted a heavy rock with ease and seemed to space out as if she was pondering something.
I called it a heavy rock, but it was practically a boulder.
Who else could lift something so heavy and space out?
And who else but me would wait with a similar-sized rock until their teacher finished thinking?
Both Moyeon and I had monstrous strength.
“I feel sorry for the other martial arts academies.”
“Pardon?”
“It means they have to face you in the martial arts tournament.”
With those words, Moyeon moved the rock with a light step.
I followed behind her and told her information she might not know.
That the martial arts tournament had changed slightly, that sects would be participating, and that I had to go to that tournament in a month.
“Is that so?”
Her reaction was more lackluster than I expected.
I don’t know why, but I somehow thought Moyeon would object.
Because the cliché was that a normal teacher would tell me to focus on training at times like this.
“What’s the prize for winning?”
“That… I’m not sure.”
“If possible, I hope it’s something like a spirit herb or elixir… Since the Shaolin Temple is also participating, something like a Greater Revival Pill would be nice…”
Perhaps she still had regrets about the elixir, Moyeon looked at the empty drawer and pursed her lips as if she was disappointed.
Moyeon’s words had a tone as if she was sure I would win.
“Do you think I’ll win, Master?”
Everyone at the academy was in a mood of accepting defeat since the sects were participating.
Even the instructor, Cheolung, didn’t show it, but it felt like he wasn’t expecting much.
But Moyeon was just calmly saying that she hoped the prize for winning was a spirit herb.
If I couldn’t win, the prize for winning wouldn’t matter.
“If you learn for about two weeks, it’ll be enough.”
Moyeon said firmly.
“Oh…”
Her words felt reassuring.
And I decided to train by going back and forth between the Martial Arts Academy and this cave.
At first, I thought we would live and train together in the cave.
“It’s more comfortable to sleep alone.”
Moyeon said that, so I had no choice but to follow.
Since the Martial Arts Academy was close anyway, I didn’t have much of a complaint.
Besides, when I was at the Martial Arts Academy, I naturally heard new information.
The next day, unlike before, I finished my basic physical training in the training hall, where the excited atmosphere had disappeared.
Seolyeong and Jeongseon were not to be seen, but instead, a letter was placed in front of my room in the dormitory.
Seolyeong was going to meet and train with a master from the Northern Ice Palace for a month, and Jeongseon was planning to train with a secret manual from a master he had obtained from the pleasure house.
“Did you hear about the prizes for this martial arts tournament?”
“I did, it’s no joke, right?”
“I know, almost all the participating sects have put up rewards, right? Even our academy has put up prize money.”
“…Our academy has some pride too, huh.”
As soon as the students gathered in the training hall and finished their training, they began to chat.
I was right next to them, secretly eavesdropping while catching my breath.
I didn’t know where they got their information, but they seemed to know everything.
‘Master will like this.’
There were more than 10 prizes for winning this martial arts tournament.
It started with the Lesser Azure Pill from the Wudang Sect.
The Wudang Sect hadn’t been told to, but they had put up the Lesser Azure Pill, a special elixir that they didn’t even give to their own disciples, as the prize for winning.
They said it was an investment for the promising junior who would win the martial arts tournament, but it seemed to be felt differently by the other sects.
“Why did the Wudang Sect suddenly put up the Lesser Azure Pill as the prize for winning?”
“It’s a precious elixir, but isn’t it like saying that we’re going to win anyway?”
I didn’t know if the Wudang Sect really thought that way, but at least the other sects seemed to think so.
The Nine Great Sects, including the Shaolin Temple, Mount Hua Sect, and Sichuan Tang Clan, and some aristocratic families, exuded confidence as if they were competing with each other, and put up precious elixirs, weapons, and poisons as prizes for winning.
There were about three elixirs alone, so it was a prize that the master would be satisfied with.
“But… isn’t it a bit strange?”
“What is?”
“No, no one told them to put up prizes, and it feels like the stakes are getting too high.”
“That’s true, it’s a bit too much to put up for just pride…”
Listening to those words, I once again suspected the sects’ intentions.
I strongly agreed with the statement that the rewards were excessive.
The pride fight may have overheated, but was there a reason to put up elixirs like the Greater Revival Pill or Lesser Azure Pill as prizes for winning?
It would be more helpful to feed them to their own disciples who were participating to increase their chances of winning.
Then, were they really trying to lure the Demonic Sect or the Evil Sect?
“…I don’t know.”
I finished training and decided to return to the cave.
If I told the master, she might give me some advice.
***
“They’re luring them.”
“I thought so too, right?”
Moyeon answered immediately after hearing my words.
Moreover, she said the same thing I had suspected.
“It seems like they’re trying to lure the Demonic Sect.”
“Pardon?”
I had expected it because the content of the quest was to torture a spy from the Demonic Sect, but I didn’t expect those words to come out of Moyeon’s mouth.
“The only guys all the sects would gather their strength to lure are the Evil Sect and the Demonic Sect.”
“…That’s true.”
The Evil Sect and the Demonic Sect were common enemies.
“And, the only guys who would sneak into a place where all the sects are gathered and try to steal the elixirs are the Demonic Sect.”
In other words, the Demonic Sect was a group of crazy people.
Still, it was hard to believe.
To break into the place where all the sects were gathered.
Wouldn’t they aim for a safer timing?
“Will they really come?”
“They will. Those guys.”
Moyeon nodded and answered immediately, as if she knew a little about the Demonic Sect.
“The Spirit Slayer Sword is a sword for hunting spirit creatures.”
“Yes.”
I had heard it before.
The sword technique she was teaching me was originally created to hunt spirit creatures.
“I often ran into the Demonic Sect guys when I went out to hunt spirit creatures.”
Moyeon’s expression frowned a little as she spoke, as if it was a memory she didn’t want to remember.
“Danger doesn’t matter to those guys.”
I don’t know what kind of scene she had seen, but I was convinced by just her expression and voice.
“They’re similar to the monks of the Shaolin Temple.”
“…You shouldn’t say that anywhere else?”
She nonchalantly spat out a statement that the monks of the Shaolin Temple would have fought to the death over if they had heard it.
Moyeon, who had said the words, was calm.
“I’m saying that they’re closer to believers than martial artists. It’s not for nothing that they’re called the Demonic Sect.”
Closer to believers than martial artists.
Saying it that way, I understood the madness.
“…The Demonic Sect will be mixed in. Whether it’s as a spectator, a participant, or a teacher. Disguised as someone.”
My thoughts were no different.
“I don’t care about anything else, but if those guys infiltrate as the junior disciples of the sects—”
Then, Moyeon threw something at me.
It was fast, but I caught it skillfully.
Clink.
I felt a heavy weight and heard a cheerful sound.
What I received was a pouch.
When I carefully opened the pouch, it was full of silver coins.
“From today, you’re sleeping here, buy bedding and what you need with that.”
“Pardon? From today?”
“Yeah.”
At her firm words, I took the pouch and went down to the market.
I was going to live under the same roof, no, the same cave, as my teacher.
