The Academy’s Unrivaled Professor - Chapter 76

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Academy Absolute Professor Episode 076
I Don’t Use the Spear
Crash!
At last, the cascading wall of ice came pouring down, completely swallowing the entrance to the Gorge.
“Hrraaaagh!”
With a shout, Ma Chul-ung barely escaped the tail end of the collapse and tumbled across the pristine Snowy Field.
Naturally, the two people slung across his shoulders rolled right along with him.
“Huff, huff.”
Sprawled flat on his back, Ma Chul-ung heaved ragged breaths.
Even for an S-rank Hunter, sprinting at full speed while carrying two grown men and weapons was no trivial feat.
“Damn, I thought I was done for.”
Beside the panting Ma Chul-ung, Gye Mu-jin straightened his back.
“Man, Chul-ung. Look over there. That collapse is quite the spectacle, wouldn’t you say?”
“Shut it, you fool.”
Veins stood out on Ma Chul-ung’s forehead.
“I’m about to die from exhaustion here, and you’re spouting nonsense? We should’ve just left them in the Gorge. Why’d I have to haul them out? Gasp, huff!”
Meanwhile, Kang Hyun was already fishing out a Whiskey Bottle.
“Come on, you either…!”
Ma Chul-ung’s brow furrowed as he began to speak.
He had noticed Kang Hyun’s hands trembling as he drew out the bottle.
“In this much pain—can you even swallow alcohol?”
“That’s precisely why I’m drinking.”
He meant it.
If he didn’t suppress the poison Qi here, his life could be in danger.
He wished Yu-yeon would finish the Water Yang Formation soon.
“Ahhh.”
As the alcohol took hold and the poison Qi barely subsided, the collapsed Gorge finally came into view.
‘A shame.’
If there had been a little more time, he might have uncovered clues about the Rakshasa Sect.
No doubt about it—those bastards had activated the formation beneath the ice wall, awakened the Jiangshi, and brought down the Gorge.
The fact that they had forcibly moved even the dormant Heart Lamp Demons and made them self-destruct meant they’d already covered their tracks and withdrawn.
‘For now, I’ve confirmed they are active, so let’s call that a win.’
Besides, there was a decent haul to be had right now.
“Everyone, take out your Crystals.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Yes, sir! Here they are!”
The two Hunters pulled out the blood-red Crystals they’d stuffed into their clothes and laid them out in a row across the snow.
Either way, with the sound of the Gorge collapsing, a rescue team from Mongolia would be on its way soon.
Kang Hyun decided to clean up the spoils in the meantime.
Shink.
He picked up a Crystal and scraped away the bits of heart tissue clinging to its surface with his blade.
Then he plunged it repeatedly into the white snow, washing away the blood.
“I’m taking all these Crystals for myself.”
Kang Hyun announced it plainly.
“Instead, I’ll give each of you compensation—money or medicine—equivalent to one Crystal apiece.”
Neither man had any objection.
After all, it was Kang Hyun who had killed the Heart Lamp Demon.
Kang Hyun, too, saw this as modest compensation for the trouble these two had gone to, serving as windbreaks and handling the tedious press work.
‘Though I’ll dock a 10% commission from Ma Chul-ung’s share.’
He was director of the Tiger Research Institute, after all—Kang Hyun’s team leader.
Scrape, scrape.
Kang Hyun continued cleaning the Crystals.
They were tougher than expected, requiring vigorous scraping.
How much time had passed in the meantime?
After much brooding while stroking his spear, Gye Mu-jin finally looked up.
“Sir.”
“What.”
“I’m going to discard this spear.”
Thunk.
He hurled the spear into the snow.
Ma Chul-ung tilted his head.
“What are you saying all of a sudden? Did you hit your head or something?”
“That’s not it.”
Gye Mu-jin felt it clearly this time.
Ma Chul-ung had grown far stronger than him, and Kang Hyun was the reason why.
‘I can’t settle for this.’
If he persisted with the spear like this, the gap between him and Ma Chul-ung would only widen, and he’d fall behind even among S-Rank Hunters.
“Please teach me the sword. Though I love the spear enough to be called Changgui, if I could learn from you, I’m prepared to cast it aside willingly.”
Kang Hyun scraped at the crystal and spoke without emotion.
“You don’t need to abandon the spear because of me.”
“……!”
Gye Mu-jin’s pupils dilated.
‘Could it be.’
Does he know spear techniques as well?
It was possible.
He’d heard that he practiced Medical Art, Formation Technique, and even helped Do Jeong-hyeok with Palm Technique and Ma Chul-ung with Taoist Method!
“Do you perhaps handle the spear as well?”
“No.”
Kang Hyun shook his head.
“I don’t work with spears.”
“Ah.”
Gye Mu-jin’s face fell.
He doesn’t know spears, but he says not to abandon them?
What could that possibly mean?
‘He’s drawing a line.’
It was a refusal—an expression that he had no intention of teaching him.
‘I see, it really won’t work.’
Just as he was sighing inwardly.
“However.”
Kang Hyun scraped away the last dregs of the crystal and tossed out his words carelessly.
“I do know one spear technique worth using.”

* * *
Memory traces backward into the past.
He hated recalling the faces of old monsters, but what could he do.
His entire life had been defined by them.
The face that surfaced this time was Il Yo-jin’s Sword Light.
A meticulous old man who had devoted his whole life to the sword alone.
– However skilled a Sword Master you claim to be, it’s good to know one spear technique of worth.
– Understood, Master.
– Presumptuous brat. Getting arrogant about your Natural Martial Body?
– ……? I merely said I understood.
Thwack, thwack-thwack!
After being beaten without understanding why, what Il Yo-jin handed to Kang Hyun was none other than the Yang Family Spear.
The supreme martial art revered by the military administration.
– While swordplay has flourished in the Martial World, the spear is the true King of the Battlefield.
The more enemies tangle together, the more its power is revealed!
And so the government strictly forbade Martial World practitioners from using spears.
Because they could become seeds of rebellion.
It was for this reason that no orthodox sect or family wielded the spear as their primary weapon.
– You often hear it said that the spear requires a thousand strokes while the sword requires ten thousand. That’s not because the spear is easier. It means the spear is that overwhelming. In fact, the government recorded that if one masters the Yang Family Spear in just twenty years, there is no match for you on the battlefield.
– But Master, how did you come by such a precious martial art?
– I looted the Imperial Palace.
– …….
Kang Hyun had not trained deeply in that Secret Manual.
He lay in bed, ran through it once with his eyes, and put it away.
A method only Kang Hyun could employ—one blessed with the Talent of Unforgetting when it came to martial arts!
Even now, decades later, every sequence and move of the Yang Family Spear was etched vividly in Kang Hyun’s mind.

* * *
“You know the Yang Family Spear?”
Gye Mu-jin, who had straightened up at some point, had moved close enough to Kang Hyun’s face that he could have breathed on him.
The man who’d been whimpering about pain moments ago now had his eyes blazing, as if he’d forgotten his suffering entirely—it was almost comical.
“Which spear technique are you referring to, sir?”
“Yang Family Spear.”
“Yang Family Spear? Surely you don’t mean the one I’m thinking of?”
“Why not?”
“How could I not know it?”
Gye Mu-jin’s eyes went wide.
A name that would make any martial artist’s blood boil!
A First Rank spear technique officially recognized by Man Bak-ja himself, no less!
“Isn’t that the spear technique the Chinese government and all their major guilds have been pouring money into for decades, trying to restore, and still failed?”
“That so?”
“That’s more than so! There’s nothing left in the world, and it’s never appeared even once in a dungeon—a Secret Manual that’s basically a myth? Honestly, I think you’re lying, sir.”
“If you don’t want to believe it, don’t. I won’t force it on you.”
“No, no! I’m sorry! I’ve lost my mind!”
Gye Mu-jin immediately dropped to his knees and began pressing his palms together in desperate supplication.
“Sir! I swear I’ll serve under you no matter what! I’ll work for free! No, better yet, I’ll pay you every month! Please, I’m begging you—grant me the honor of learning that spear technique.”
An S-rank hunter’s pride had long since been thrown to the dogs.
If he could just learn the Yang Family Spear, he’d dance a spear dance in the middle of Myeongdong in nothing but his underwear.
His desperation ran that deep.
Even watching that pathetic performance, Kang Hyun remained unmoved.
“I don’t need you to work for free. What would I do with your money?”
“Then… what?”
“Well, we might have a few spear users entering next semester anyway… just form a team and bring them together for me.”
An unmistakable permission.
Joy bloomed across Gye Mu-jin’s face.
“Think up a team name.”
“I’ve already got one!”
In truth, Gye Mu-jin had always envied Ma Chul-ung.
When he’d heard the name Tiger Research Institute, he’d even mulled over what he’d call his own team if he ever formed one under Kang Hyun.
He spoke without hesitation.
“I call it the Changgui Battalion.”
“Changgui Battalion?”
“Yes—because I am Changgui, you see. It means an army led by Changgui.”
Kang Hyun let out a quiet laugh and nodded.
Personally, it was better than the Tiger Research Institute.
Even if it lacked originality.
“All right. Once we’re back in Korea, I’ll give you the Secret Manual, but don’t let word of it spread outside your team—just have your members study and practice it among yourselves.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much! I’ll serve you as my lord for the rest of my life!”
Ma Chul-ung, watching the spectacle from the side, let out a complaint.
“Sir, so you’re taking him on as well?”
At those words, Gye Mu-jin shot to his feet.
Was he trying to hog all the honey?
“Cheap bastard! Don’t try to block me!”
“That’s not it—it’s just that you make too much noise. My ears feel like they’re about to bleed.”
“You’re no saint yourself.”
“What are you talking about? I’m plenty composed.”
“Your face is?”
“Oh yes—I should have left you in that gorge. That was my mistake. Let me throw you back in.”
The two hunters were volleying back and forth with juvenile fervor when it happened.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!
Beyond the blizzard, the rotor sound of several rescue helicopters cut through the air.
The sound that marked the end of the Mongolia expedition.

* * *
Back at the camp, Ma Chul-ung, who was in relatively decent shape, took charge of the media interviews.
“Hunter Gye Mu-jin and Professor Kang Hyun sustained injuries, but… the operation was successful. We eliminated all the Jiangshi inside the gorge. The collapse will likely take time for on-site verification. I cannot disclose the detailed combat process for security reasons, but should any issues arise, we’re prepared to provide support at any time.”
The interview spread rapidly across the world.
Unexpectedly, a different article drew even hotter reactions—it was Baek Yu-yeon.
[Professor Chend, luminary of Mongolian martial and medical circles, offers effusive praise: “The global medical community must take notice of Baek Yu-yeon!”]
[A Korean angel descends upon Mongolia! Dying Hunters saved from the brink!]
[Mongolian Hunter Association considers awarding commendation medal to Student Baek Yu-yeon!]
In the article, Professor Chend’s flushed face was animated with fervent eloquence.
“A medical genius without precedent has emerged from Korea! In all my years, I have never witnessed such inspired acupuncture work!”
The local response burned even hotter.
The Mongolian people hailed her as an angel, and the Mongolian government announced it would receive her as an honored guest whenever she chose to visit.

* * *
Inside the private jet returning to Korea.
Kang Hyun, skimming the articles while sipping whiskey, let out a soft laugh and glanced across at her.
“They’re calling you an angel.”
At those words, Baek Yu-yeon’s face flushed crimson.
“Master, please don’t tease me… I’m already embarrassed to death.”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You saved lives—to receive fitting praise for that is only natural.”
“Is it…? To be honest, it does feel wonderful. It’s as if I’m finally beginning to walk the true path I was meant for.”
Kang Hyun swirled his whiskey glass gently.
His inner power had filled, stabilizing his dantian; now he could endure it again.
“Don’t forget that feeling.”
At the same moment, his gaze deepened, settling into something grave and measured.
“And don’t forget that you’re still a beginner. There’s still a mountain of things to learn. Once we’re back, we’ll start with the Pill Refining Method, so steel yourself.”
“Yes, Master!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————