## Chapter 62 – (13)
As Seol-yeong came up, Jeon-pung glanced at Pung-un, then glared at Seol-yeong for a moment.
I thought that even Jeon-pung couldn’t help but be affected by Seol-yeong’s appearance, but that wasn’t the case.
Jeon-pung looked at Seol-yeong, clicked his tongue, and said to Pung-un,
“Hmph, predictable.”
“…”
“Even at the Inmu Academy, you must have been distracted by this woman and neglected your training.”
Despite the insulting words, Seol-yeong silently prepared for the sparring with an indifferent expression, but Pung-un’s brow furrowed as if the words bothered him quite a bit.
“…”
Jeon-pung looked at Seol-yeong and placed his hand on the sword at his waist.
“I will defeat you, and then I will meet Pung-un.”
I felt an unusual atmosphere from Jeon-pung.
He slowly drew his sword, held it with both hands, and positioned the tip of the sword in front of his solar plexus.
It was a solid stance with no shaking from his legs to his shoulders.
“It is the Cheonhasamsipnyukgeom, the sword of the Jongnam Sect.”
As I blankly stared at him, Namgung-hyeok answered my curiosity as if explaining it to me.
“It’s a sword technique that defends against and cuts down everything around you.”
At the same time, he added that if you only looked at defense, it would be the best even among other famous sword techniques.
In comparison, Seol-yeong’s stance was…
It was as if all the strength had been drained from her body.
Her shoulders were lowered, and her sword was pointing at the ground.
She looked like someone who had given up on the match in despair.
That wasn’t the stance of the Inmu Sword Technique that I knew.
“…Another martial art?”
When I thought about it, I didn’t know much about Seol-yeong’s martial arts.
I had only assumed that she would use martial arts related to yin energy since she was the young master of Bukhae Ice Palace and suffered from the Gu-eumjeolmaek.
Breath flowed from Seol-yeong’s mouth.
I was worried that the Gu-eumjeolmaek had worsened in the meantime, but that wasn’t the case.
A faint mist spread around Seol-yeong.
White moisture began to form on the sword’s surface.
“Ice skill?”
Pung-un jumped up from his seat and muttered with wide eyes.
Seol-yeong was trying to use the ice skill that she couldn’t use because of the Gu-eumjeolmaek again.
“…Oh ho…”
Jeon-pung’s eyes narrowed.
“Ice skill, interesting.”
Jeon-pung smiled, saying that he was seeing ice skill for the first time.
He looked at the unfamiliar ice skill with a smile as if he had found an interesting toy, then released his stance and charged at Seol-yeong.
There was a reason why Jeon-pung released the stance he had been maintaining and charged.
It was understandable.
Jeon-pung was making a big mistake.
‘I am much stronger.’
Jeon-pung was making such a mistake.
It was one of the common mistakes that any talented latecomer would make.
It was a common sight in martial arts novels.
Was Jeon-pung really stronger than Seol-yeong?
Well.
Frankly, from the perspective of someone who had directly fought against Seol-yeong’s yin energy, I couldn’t think so.
Even having my hand on her back was burdensome to the point that it wouldn’t have been possible without the Tae-yangsimbeop.
If she attacked directly with that cold air—
For Jeon-pung, who didn’t have extremely yang internal energy, it would be a difficult cold to bear.
Clang!
The two swords collided in the air.
Jeon-pung’s face was filled with astonishment.
The sword that he had swung down with all his might was blocked by the sword that Seol-yeong had lightly lifted with one hand.
Swoosh.
As Seol-yeong softly drew her sword again as if she was doing a dance, Jeon-pung had to step back this time.
Jeon-pung’s sleeve was torn by the sword that Seol-yeong swung.
He dodged quickly, but Seol-yeong’s sword was a little faster.
There was no longer any composure on Jeon-pung’s face.
He took a serious stance and faced Seol-yeong.
Even in the midst of that, Seol-yeong was moving softly.
It was like a dance, like a sword dance of a dancer, but the sharp swordsmanship that occasionally came out was a speed that could not be ignored.
Clang!
“Keuk…”
He was blocking Seol-yeong’s attacks well, but that was all.
Jeon-pung couldn’t easily counterattack because of the unpredictable movements of when she would swing.
Moreover.
‘As expected.’
I nodded as I looked at Jeon-pung.
Jeon-pung’s hands were shaking weakly.
At first, I thought it was because he was blocking the attacks, but the tip of his nose turned red, and his movements gradually became clumsy.
Jeon-pung was feeling the cold from the yin energy of the Gu-eumjeolmaek and the ice skill.
Swoosh!
In the end, Jeon-pung gave up his stance and tried to attack recklessly.
He realized that he would only become more and more stiff in the cold if he only defended, so he switched to attacking.
Seol-yeong was dodging all of Jeon-pung’s attacks by moving as if she was dancing, but Jeon-pung didn’t stop.
“Ha!”
Jeon-pung stretched out his arm, aiming for an opening.
Jeon-pung’s sword flew straight towards Seol-yeong’s abdomen, but Seol-yeong turned her body and dodged the sword as if it was passing through her, spinning around the side of the sword.
Jeon-pung was flustered and tried to pull out the hand that had thrust out the sword, but.
Before that, Seol-yeong’s sword cut off Jeon-pung’s shoulder.
The wound wasn’t deep, but this sword allowed the yin energy to spread properly into Jeon-pung’s body.
“…What is your name?”
“Seol-yeong.”
“…I will remember you too.”
Jeon-pung sensed defeat but didn’t give up.
He grabbed the sword with both hands and rushed at Seol-yeong for the last time.
Seol-yeong swung the sword, which was now covered in frost and had turned snow-white.
“No way…”
Along with Pung-un’s voice, Seol-yeong’s sword hit Jeon-pung, and Jeon-pung flew far away—
Thud!
He fell straight down below the sparring stage.
In the place where Seol-yeong swung her sword, the frost that had fallen from the sword became snowflakes and slowly fell.
I got up, worried that Jeon-pung might be seriously injured, and Seol-yeong looked down at me and said,
“I hit him with the flat of the sword.”
“Hoo.”
I should have noticed from the fact that the instructor didn’t stop it.
It wasn’t that I was worried about Jeon-pung, but I didn’t want Seol-yeong to get caught up in trouble.
Pung-un, who was next to me, slowly approached Seol-yeong and asked,
“H, how did you use ice skill?”
Pung-un was even stuttering as he asked Seol-yeong.
How she could use ice skill in that physical condition.
Then Seol-yeong slowly looked at me.
Pung-un also turned his head to me, following Seol-yeong.
“Seong-han helped me.”
“You don’t mean with the Tae-yangsimbeop…?”
I nodded.
There was no reason to hide it.
“No way, you’ve already mastered the Tae-yangsimbeop?”
“I’ve only alleviated it to some extent.”
There was still a long way to go to completely cure Seol-yeong’s illness.
However, I could at least alleviate it to some extent.
Pung-un’s expression became even more distorted when he heard that the Gu-eumjeolmaek had not been completely cured yet.
“Then why bother using ice skill…?”
This time, I also looked at Seol-yeong at Pung-un’s words.
My thoughts were similar.
She wasn’t fully healed yet, but she was using ice skill.
The body that had gotten better might return to its painful state.
There was no need to win this friendly match, so why did she even use ice skill?
Then Seol-yeong looked at me and said,
“I wanted to show you that I’m getting better.”
“…”
I couldn’t help but smile at those words.
I had heard enough of her saying thank you, but it seemed that she wanted to prove to me in her own way that she was getting better.
It was a foolish thing to do.
But I felt a little proud.
On the other hand, Pung-un’s expression changed strangely.
Then he said softly to Seol-yeong,
“…You two seem to have gotten very close.”
Pung-un looked back and forth between me and Seol-yeong with trembling eyes.
Gotten close, huh.
That was certainly true.
Seol-yeong sighed, perhaps because she was a little tired from using ice skill in the sparring just now.
“I can’t do it.”
Seol-yeong raised her hand to the man in the center of the sparring stage and shook it slightly.
It was a so-called forfeit.
She had won the victory with great momentum, but using ice skill itself was difficult for Seol-yeong.
Naturally, Pung-un, who was next in line, stepped forward.
“Th, Seol-yeong—”
“Pung-un, it’s your turn.”
At the moment when Pung-un opened his mouth to say something, Pung-un closed his mouth at the words of Instructor Cheol-ung and stepped onto the sparring stage.
I might be curious about what Pung-un was trying to say, but Seol-yeong just sat next to me calmly and looked up at the sparring stage.
At the same time as Pung-un went up, Namgung-yu went up from the opposite side as if she had been waiting.
“Gaga, you’ve come.”
“…Unexpectedly, you’re the fourth.”
“Yes, right…”
Namgung-yu frowned as if she didn’t want to talk about it, and took out her sword.
I looked at the opposite side, wondering who the last entrant from the Cheonmu Academy was, but one person was not visible.
Where did he go?
“You were talking to that woman for quite a long time?”
“…As a colleague…”
“Could that woman be Gaga’s new lover?”
“No, that’s not…”
Pung-un was unusually flustered.
I didn’t know if he was weak against aggressive women or weak against Namgung-yu, but he seemed troubled.
Namgung-yu’s expression was becoming more and more fierce each time Pung-un’s answer was delayed.
Where did the beautiful face she had when she first came up go?
“In that case, I will die with Gaga.”
“Don’t do that.”
Pung-un was making a troubled expression towards Namgung-yu, who was declaring that she would have a life-or-death sparring match in the friendly match.
“Start!”
With a loud voice announcing the start, the two were looking at each other as if they were having a war of nerves.
“Who do you think will win?”
Then Namgung-hyeok asked me.
“Well, Pung-un.”
I said without hesitation.
Because he was the protagonist, and he had recently obtained a fortuitous encounter.
Then Namgung-hyeok shook his head.
“My sister will win.”
I thought that he was favoring his family because he was a family member, so I looked at Namgung-hyeok, and Namgung-hyeok, who felt my gaze, sighed and answered.
“My sister has never lost a sparring match to a man since she was born.”
“…?”
I couldn’t help but look at the sparring stage with suspicious eyes.
