## Chapter 54 – (5)
“Hoo…”
It wasn’t just the Inmu Swordplay that had grown in those five days.
Every morning and evening, as I practiced breath control and accumulated internal energy, both the Solar Heart Sutra and my internal energy had grown to level 2.
Without anything to compare it to, I couldn’t accurately gauge the speed of my growth, but Poong-woon said it was…
…a rate of growth that would make people suspect me of being a spy from the Demonic Sect.
He said it was high praise, but for some reason, I started to feel Poong-woon’s gaze as a painful sting.
Today, the four of us gathered in the training grounds, waiting for Instructor Cheol-woong.
“Uh, when is he coming?”
Jeong-seon was practically bouncing with anticipation, as if he’d been waiting for this day alone. He craned his neck like a meerkat, looking around wildly.
His tied-back hair swung from side to side.
And as if answering his expectations, Cheol-woong could be seen walking towards us from afar.
As soon as Cheol-woong approached, he studied me and Seol-yeong intently.
Then, he nodded.
“All four of you have done well.”
“Yes! Thank you.”
At Cheol-woong’s words, Jeong-seon rejoiced as if wagging his tail, and the rest of us, including me, smiled at Cheol-woong’s praise.
It was always more pleasing to receive praise from someone who didn’t seem like they would give it.
“Sorry for entrusting this to you. I had to go all the way to Seoseo to assist the Head Instructor.”
“Seoseo… that’s where…”
“That’s where the Hwasan Sect and the Cheonmu Academy are located.”
Nodding at Poong-woon’s words, Cheol-woong said he had visited the Cheonmu Academy in particular.
At Cheol-woong’s words, Poong-woon stared blankly into the air with a hazy look, as if pondering something, before answering.
“Could it be because of the martial arts tournament?”
At the mention of the martial arts tournament, Jeong-seon and Cheol-woong’s eyes widened in surprise.
Seol-yeong, however…
…was as expressionless as ever.
“…To be precise, I went there to set the date for a friendly match prior to the martial arts tournament.”
“Wh-what? A friendly match between us and the Cheonmu Academy?!”
Jeong-seon exclaimed in shock at Cheol-woong’s words.
And I asked Jeong-seon in a small voice,
“What’s the martial arts tournament?”
“What?!”
This time, Jeong-seon was shocked in a different way at my question.
And instead of Jeong-seon, Poong-woon explained it to me.
“It’s where the academies send out their students to fight each other.”
“Are there rewards for achieving good results?”
“There are rewards given to the students who perform well, but more than anything, people start flocking to the academy.”
And Poong-woon said that the influx of people was the biggest reward of all.
Depending on the results of the martial arts tournament, the attention showered on the academy was beyond imagination.
People would send their disciples to the academies with good results, providing money or elixirs to support their disciples so they could train in a better environment.
As disciples from large sects and promising students gathered, many merchant guilds also provided a lot of support in an attempt to forge connections.
With that support, the academies were able to nurture even more outstanding students and achieve good results in the next martial arts tournament.
That was why the Cheonmu Academy was the undisputed number one.
They reinvested all the support they received into their students and training facilities, and now their size was different from other academies from the start.
They even had single dorm rooms there.
Each room even had a bathroom, apparently.
Because of the Cheonmu Academy’s status, the difference in skill between them and other academies was so great that they didn’t even hold friendly matches.
Frankly speaking, it was more beneficial for them to spar amongst themselves, so there was no need to hold friendly matches.
So why were they suddenly trying to have a friendly match, and with the Inmu Academy of all places?
Instructor Cheol-woong looked at Poong-woon.
“I heard you had a deep relationship with a female student named Namgoong Yu at the Cheonmu Academy.”
“Yes? Ah, haha… well, yeah…”
“Namgoong Yu requested the match as the representative of the Cheonmu Academy. While emitting a murderous aura that was hard to believe came from someone from the Righteous Sect.”
“…”
Poong-woon’s face turned pale, and he wore an awkward smile.
He was kicked out of the Cheonmu Academy because of a romantic issue, so what on earth did he do?
It seemed that Poong-woon, the protagonist, was at fault for the Cheonmu Academy’s request for a match.
Having received the request for a match, they couldn’t refuse.
Rather than hearing people say they were afraid and avoided the match, it was better to lose in the match and protect the academy’s pride.
Besides, no one would criticize them for losing to the Cheonmu Academy.
Jeong-seon looked at Poong-woon resentfully after hearing those words.
“What on earth are you doing…”
“For reference, the four of you here are automatically participating.”
Cheol-woong said firmly.
“Yes?! …Even him? He’s only been learning martial arts for about a week…”
A surprised Jeong-seon pointed at me.
Well, I understood.
I also thought I had become stronger, but I felt that I was still lacking to participate in a match.
More than anything, I didn’t particularly want to participate in the martial arts tournament.
Frankly, I didn’t really care whether the Inmu Academy did well and attracted a lot of talented people.
My priority was to raise the level of the Solar Heart Sutra as soon as possible and cure Seol-yeong’s illness.
So I also said,
“I also think it’s too early for me.”
But Cheol-woong’s thoughts were different.
Cheol-woong looked at Jeong-seon and said,
“Seong-han wouldn’t lose even if he fought you right now.”
“Yes?”
My voice overlapped with Jeong-seon’s.
Why would he say something like that?
As expected.
It seemed that those words had stimulated Jeong-seon’s pride.
“I trust the instructor’s judgment, but you’re wrong this time.”
“Then prove it.”
“…If I win, please grant me my wish.”
“I will.”
This was a big problem.
Depending on my victory or defeat, Cheol-woong’s chastity would be threatened.
Jeong-seon looked at me with a bitter smile.
Look at that expression.
Was he from the Righteous Sect, or the Demonic Sect?
I didn’t want to see the expression of a roommate consumed by lust.
Naturally, Cheol-woong, Poong-woon, and Seol-yeong slowly retreated, and only Jeong-seon and I were left facing each other in the center of the training grounds.
Cheol-woong took out two wooden swords from somewhere and threw them to us.
…Could it be that Cheol-woong had predicted all of this?
Deliberately provoking Jeong-seon, throwing the prepared wooden swords, and making us spar?
Anticipating that I would refuse to participate in the martial arts tournament?
Thinking that way, I felt a chill down my spine.
When I glared at Cheol-woong, he smiled faintly at me as if to say he had finally noticed.
“I’ve been had…”
“Now, take your sword!”
Regardless, Jeong-seon, who had a wish at stake, was filled with the will to fight.
One thing I learned as my internal energy increased was that Jeong-seon’s internal energy was vast compared to other students.
That was why he was able to receive a high number like 7, even though he wasn’t affiliated with famous sects like the Hwasan Sect or the Bukhae Ice Palace.
I took the sword, and as soon as Cheol-woong’s one word, ‘Start,’ fell, Jeong-seon quickly closed the distance.
He seemed to have strengthened his lightness skill by using his internal energy without holding back, and footprints were deeply engraved each time his feet touched the ground.
The force of it caused sand on the ground to fly high into the sky.
Jeong-seon, who had already reached in front of me, swung his sword as it was with that speed.
A lot of internal energy was contained in the sword swung towards my head.
Clang.
But Jeong-seon’s sword was blocked too easily by my sword.
“Huh?”
The person who swung the sword himself seemed to be flustered, not expecting it to be blocked so easily, and his body stiffened.
I didn’t miss that gap and swung my sword towards Jeong-seon’s waist.
Jeong-seon belatedly tried to block it with his wooden sword, but—
Crack.
The wooden sword was crushed by the impact, and Jeong-seon’s body was blown away as a whole.
It was a power that even surprised me.
As I slowly approached the fallen Jeong-seon, Jeong-seon, who had gotten up in an instant, threw a fist at me.
And even that didn’t reach me.
One of the things I learned while surviving in a world full of zombies was to never let my guard down until I killed them.
Since they were no different from corpses, it was impossible to tell whether a body lying on the floor was a dead corpse or a zombie.
So I always acted with caution, even when there was a fallen corpse.
And that habit remained until now, allowing me to defend against Jeong-seon’s attack.
With my bare hands, no less.
“…Wow.”
I knocked down Jeong-seon, who was admiring me, by hitting his abdomen with the back of my sword.
It was a light hit, but this time, he didn’t block it with internal energy, and he grabbed his abdomen and collapsed on the floor, saying in a small voice.
“I lost…”
The match was decided, and Cheol-woong nodded at me as if he knew it would happen.
Poong-woon had a slightly complicated expression.
As always, Seol-yeong was expressionless.
“As expected, my eyes were not wrong.”
Cheol-woong approached and put his hand on my shoulder.
It was the moment I realized I had been had once again.
***
When I returned to the dorm, Jeong-seon was staring blankly at the sky.
Did I hit him too hard?
I would apologize if he was sulking or angry, but it was difficult to react to him just staring blankly into the air.
So I quietly prepared my bedding and got ready to sleep.
Getting ready to sleep was just doing breath control before going to bed, though.
‘Huh?’
It was different from usual.
The internal energy inside my body was moving more actively than usual.
Burning the yin energy around my body, my internal energy was increasing.
The puzzling thing was why there was so much yin energy in the room today.
“Seong-han, are you doing breath control?”
I heard a voice with a softer tone than usual for some reason.
It was that artificial voice that Jeong-seon used when talking to Instructor Cheol-woong.
I closed my eyes and focused.
If my concentration was broken, I might suffer internal injuries.
I gritted my teeth and ignored him.
“…Can I watch from nearby?”
“Keuh…”
My lips trembled.
I didn’t know that the voice getting closer would be so scary.
And what was even scarier was that my internal energy started to burn the yin energy more fiercely each time Jeong-seon got closer.
Did he also have the Nine Yin Severed Meridians?
What was with all the yin energy around him…
As I felt Jeong-seon’s gaze, I finished my breath control, and the level of my Solar Heart Sutra had risen to 3.
