The Battle for the Heavenly Sword - Chapter 31

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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31
The Battle of Blade and Sword
People stared blankly at the undulating waves of golden light.
The ripe rice was dyeing the entire world in a shade of gold.
It was finally time to reap the year’s harvest.
The entire Village was mobilized for the reaping.
“Let us begin.”
“Yes!”
At Baek Do-gyeong’s word, the men stepped into the paddy fields and began swinging their sickles.
Slash! Slash!
Every time the men moved their sickles, the stalks of rice fell.
The women helped the men or carried food back and forth, while the children ran around the cleared fields in delight.
Woo Geom-san also picked up a sickle and reaped the rice.
Because it was unfamiliar labor, his pace was slow at first, but by applying the Chaeuolsu, he was able to reap the rice at a speed far greater than anyone else.
Watching Woo Geom-san, the men marvelled.
“Wow! That’s incredible.”
“He’s doing a full grown man’s share.”
“A full share? He’s doing the work of two or three men.”
“My goodness! We need to give that boy a lot of food today.”
When he had first entered the Village, Woo Geom-san was clumsy at many things. However, after adjusting to farming for several months, he now worked far better than most grown men.
The people recognized Woo Geom-san as one of their own and accepted him as part of the Village.
Sweat poured down Woo Geom-san’s forehead like rain.
He was experiencing a very mystical sensation.
Thinking about harvesting with his own hands the very rice he had tended since summer made each and every grain feel precious.
Therefore, he reaped carefully so that not a single grain would fall to the ground.
Even so, his speed was unbelievably fast.
In the middle of the work, the Village women set out simple food that could be eaten easily, and they dined together.
“Hahaha!”
“Ah! This is wonderful.”
Laughter from the people could be heard echoing from all around.
Though many things had happened throughout the year, the mere fact that they had overcome all those crises to harvest safely like this filled the people with joy.
The harvest continued for several days.
As if the heavens were helping, the weather remained splendid.
Thanks to that, they were able to harvest all the rice without any trouble.
Once the harvest was finished, Baek Do-gyeong gathered all the villagers together to make a major announcement.
He revealed the existence of the Plank Road naturally formed in the Canyon and proposed a construction project to connect it.
When they first heard Baek Do-gyeong’s words, the villagers could not easily accept the existence of the Plank Road.
“A Plank Road was really made naturally?”
“Is that even possible?”
As the people began to buzz with doubt, Baek Do-gyeong spoke in a loud voice.
“Instead of standing around like this, let’s all go together. It will be easier to understand once you see it with your own eyes.”
Baek Do-gyeong led all the villagers toward the Canyon.
At the spot where the Plank Road was to be connected, Baek Ho-yang was already waiting ahead of them.
“Grandfather!”
“Elder!”
Upon seeing Baek Ho-yang, the villagers greeted him one after another.
“Welcome, everyone.”
“They wanted to see the Plank Road with their own eyes, so I brought them here.”
At Baek Do-gyeong’s words, Baek Ho-yang nodded his head.
Almost all the villagers were gathered in one place, looking at him with expectant eyes.
However, the Plank Road inside the Canyon could not be seen from this position.
A massive cliff wall blocked their line of sight.
That being said, it was not practical to take them one by one to verify the Plank Road, as had been done with Baek Do-gyeong. It was far too inefficient.
After contemplating for a moment, Baek Ho-yang called for Woo Geom-san.
“Geom-san!”
“Yes! Grandfather.”
“Go to the house and bring my sword.”
“Understood.”
Without even asking for the reason, Woo Geom-san immediately ran back to the house.
The sword he had bought before entering Cheonbaeksan was placed preciously in a corner of his room.
Because he had been focused solely on practicing the Flowing Void Steps and Chaeuolsu during that time, he had not held it even once. Thus, he had completely forgotten that he had left the sword here.
Woo Geom-san grabbed the sword and ran back to where Baek Ho-yang was waiting.
Receiving the sword, Baek Ho-yang offered an apology.
“I am sorry for using your sword before you could.”
“Not at all.”
“Watch closely. For this is the Huifengjue of the Choyen Sword Technique that you must learn in the future.”
The moment he finished speaking, Baek Ho-yang swung the sword toward the massive cliff wall.
Sliiiiit!
In that instant, a bone-chilling sound of slicing echoed.
However, the only one who heard that sound was Woo Geom-san.
The ears of the ordinary villagers could not catch the sound that Woo Geom-san heard.
Woo Geom-san grit his teeth.
This was because his eyes could see a razor-sharp energy riding the wind and flying toward the boulder like a blade.
It was only visible to Woo Geom-san because his Qi Sense had become highly refined through learning the Choyeon Simgyeol, whereas the ordinary villagers felt absolutely nothing.
“…….”
The people, utterly oblivious to what had occurred, merely blinked their eyes.
In their vision, it only appeared as though Baek Ho-yang had swung his sword into empty air.
Just as a look of doubt began to surface on everyone’s faces.
Slide!
Suddenly, the protruding section of the massive cliff wall began to slide diagonally.
“Wh-What?”
“What is that? Why is the cliff suddenly moving?”
“Watch out!”
The villagers screamed in horror at the unimaginable sight.
The severed piece of the massive cliff wall plunged straight down into the Canyon with a thunderous roar.
The cliff wall smashed violently against the Canyon sides and shattered to pieces.
Rumble!
As the finely crushed rocks poured down, a sound resembling the roar of a monster reverberated through the Canyon.
Faced with the dizzying sight and the thunderous roar, all the villagers covered their ears and collapsed to the ground.
Among them, the only ones standing on their two feet were Baek Ho-yang and Woo Geom-san.
Handing the sword back to Woo Geom-san, Baek Ho-yang spoke.
“This is called Huifengjue, the fifth stance of the Choyen Sword Technique.”
“Huifengjue?”
“It is a technique that rides the Sword Qi upon the air currents to unleash it. The Sword Qi riding the air currents triggers a Micro-resonance, multiplying its destructive power several times over. Upon Grand Completion, you can even trigger Micro-resonance with Sword Gang.”
“Whew!”
“What is the matter?”
“I am afraid. I am terrified of whether I will ever be able to learn such an overwhelming Martial Arts, and I worry that even if I do learn it, I might become drunk on power.”
The goosebumps that had risen on his forearms still had not subsided.
That was how thrilling the single strike demonstrated by Baek Ho-yang had been.
Baek Ho-yang patted the shoulder of the trembling Woo Geom-san and spoke.
“Indeed! You only need to never forget your current mindset. Generally, when one becomes strong too easily, they are bound to be drunk on power. If you are consumed by power, you lose the ability to discern right from wrong, which is something you must absolutely guard against. Even if you achieve great accomplishments in the future, always reflect on whether you are using your power recklessly, and once you deeply consider it and believe it to be right, do not hesitate.”
“Yes! Grandfather.”
Woo Geom-san etched Baek Ho-yang’s teachings into his heart.
Just then, Baek Do-gyeong picking himself up, cautiously approached.
“By any chance, that cliff wall falling just now, was that your doing, Grandfather?”
“What strength does this old man have to cut such a massive cliff wall?”
“But…….”
“I examined it beforehand and saw there was already a large crack in the cliff wall. I merely delivered a slight impact to that crack.”
“If the others question it, I shall tell them exactly that.”
“Do so.”
“Thank you.”
It was right when Baek Do-gyeong bowed his head.
“Look, there’s a path over there.”
“There really is a path formed in the Canyon.”
The villagers shouted loudly while staring down into the Canyon.
With the cliff wall that blocked their sight sliced away, the Plank Road naturally formed along the Canyon was fully revealed.
Seeing the Plank Road, the people raised their voices in excitement.
Seeing it once with one’s own eyes was far more impactful than hearing a hundred words.
That was precisely the state the villagers were in right now.
“If we can connect the road to that Plank Road, we’ll be able to descend the mountain so easily.”
“We need to check the condition of the cliff first. It could collapse again, so let’s be careful.”
The villagers looked ready to grab hammers and chisels to forge the path this very instant.
They stepped closer to where the cliff wall had been severed and meticulously examined the area.
“Thanks to the cliff wall falling away, it will be easy to forge a path.”
“It really is. How did the cliff split so perfectly to make a path? Man, that’s mysterious.”
“Isn’t it because the heavens are helping us?”
Ignorant of Martial Arts, the villagers still failed to realize that Baek Ho-yang had sliced the cliff wall precisely to make it easy for them to build the path.
Of course, not everyone was in the dark.
Several people, including Baek Do-gyeong, guessed that Baek Ho-yang had brought about this miracle, but they did not make it obvious.
This was because they knew Baek Ho-yang found such attention uncomfortable.
For the sake of Baek Ho-yang, who wished to live a normal life in the Village, they had to treat him just as they always did.
They subtly bowed their heads slightly to express their respect to Baek Ho-yang so that others wouldn’t notice.
Baek Ho-yang gave them a calm smile in return.
***
The villagers immediately entered into the work of connecting the Plank Road.
After all, the rice farming had concluded, leaving them with nothing else to do.
Leading the project were the Village elders, including Baek Do-gyeong.
“The workspace is narrow and dangerous, so it is inefficient for all the villagers to cling to it at once. It would be much better to set up a rotation and take turns working.”
Under normal circumstances, many people would have to be mobilized to discard the stones broken by chisels. However, since a cliff was right next to them, they could simply throw the broken stones over the edge.
Widening the path extensively was impossible from the start, so there was no reason for a large number of people to be mobilized for the labor.
Through a meeting, the villagers decided to group ten people at a time into a squad to work for two Shijin. When the first squad finished their work, the next squad would be deployed to work another two Shijin.
They believed that by rotating in this manner, they could work without wasting any time.
Clang! Clang!
From that day onward, the sound of hammers echoed through the Canyon.
Even while doing housework, when one’s turn arrived, the days of running to the Canyon with a hammer and chisel continued.
Woo Geom-san naturally joined the operation to help.
Every time he struck the chisel with the iron hammer, his palms pained as if they were tearing apart.
His bones, which had been shattered into dozens of pieces, were vulnerable to this kind of impact.
Because of that, he could not grip the hammer tightly and strike down like the others.
Ultimately, Woo Geom-san had to seek a method that would not transmit the shock to his hands.
Just then, Baek Ho-yang’s voice echoed in Woo Geom-san’s ears.
“It is said to be deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces. Think about the method of exerting the power of a thousand pounds with just four ounces of force. If you are too rigid, you are bound to break, and if you grip too tightly, you cannot utilize your power properly. You must relax your strength to actually strike powerfully. Feel the weight of the hammer with your fingertips, and search for a way to fully utilize the weight of the hammer with minimal force.”
Woo Geom-san looked around, but Baek Ho-yang was nowhere to be seen.
‘Grandfather is delivering teachings to me through Sound Transmission.’
Woo Geom-san also knew what deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces meant.
Therefore, he could immediately grasp what intention Baek Ho-yang had in saying these words.
Unlike before, Woo Geom-san held the hammer loosely.
He drained the strength from his hands and held it using only his fingertips.
Then, feeling the weight of the hammer, he struck down with all his might.
Bang!
In that instant, a fierce shock vibrated through his hand.
At the sensation of his hand bones shattering, Woo Geom-san grit his teeth.
‘I must strike down lightly, relying solely on the weight of the hammer. Drain more strength and keep it light.’
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a sharp sound of tearing air resonated.
Because he drained his strength and swung lightly, his speed had actually increased.
Bang!
As the hammer struck the chisel, a whole chunk of rock broke away.
Unlike a moment ago, the pain felt in his hand was also much less.
‘I can keep hammering like this.’
Just then, Baek Ho-yang’s Sound Transmission reached him once more.
“Swinging a sword is no different from hammering. Subduing great power with small force, and suppressing weight with lightness is the very essence of sword mastery.”
Woo Geom-san listened intently to Baek Ho-yang’s words as he continued his hammering.
His hammering became progressively lighter and faster.
Woo Geom-san forgot the flow of time and immersed himself completely in hammering.
Autumn leaves fell, and white snow cascaded down.
Before they knew it, winter had arrived.
In that manner, Woo Geom-san was welcoming his very first winter in Cheonbaeksan.

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