The Lightning I Harbor Is Too Strong - Chapter 36

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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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Chapter 36
The Bureau of Martial Entrance, which administered the Entrance Ceremony for Cheonmu Academy.
Though visitors rarely came here throughout the year, during the Entrance Ceremony each year it bustled more than any other department.
Baek Mong-san, the Bureau director, wiped the sweat from his brow and surveyed the surroundings.
‘We’ve had an unusually large turnout this year.’
The professors’ visits were nothing strange.
The instructors assigned to teach the new Entrance Candidates always grew curious about the children who would become their students.
But this year was different—they were not the only ones.
‘I see heads of other departments, the year-level instructor, and even… the third-year instructor?’
Cheonmu Academy’s faculty.
A considerable portion of them were masters who could readily claim a place among the hundred greatest experts if they stepped into the jianghu.
They were those who, setting aside their renown as warriors, had chosen the path of building the future of the Orthodox martial world.
The reason such esteemed figures had gathered was transparent.
‘Of course. This year’s new Entrance Candidates have an exceptionally brilliant roster.’
The Little Golden Bell of Shaolin.
The Young Sword Empress of Geom-rim.
The Clear Kite Sword of Wudang.
The Rippling Blossom Sword of Huashan.
The Clear Talent of the Zhuge Clan.
Beyond these, so many promising prodigies had participated in this year’s Entrance Ceremony that it was difficult to name them all.
Every promising heir of the current generation in the Central Plains Martial World, transcending clan boundaries, had entered at once.
‘Even the children who entered last year were considered to be of historical caliber, yet this year surpasses them.’
He found himself thinking that the future of the Orthodox martial world was truly radiant.
A man wrapped in fierce and powerful aura strode toward him.
“Are you the Bureau director?”
“Ah, is this not the Sword Madness expert? An honor to meet you for the first time. I am Baek Mong-san.”
Baek Mong-san extended his hand with a bright smile.
Seop Yeon, the Sword Madness expert.
This year’s martial master dispatched by the Orthodox Heavenly Alliance as a professor to Cheonmu Academy—a figure no less remarkable than the roster of new Entrance Candidates themselves.
‘The assessment was that he stays within orthodoxy but is beyond control. How on earth was he convinced to accept this position?’
His bright smile and piercing gaze were decidedly not those of an ordinary man.
“Need we trouble ourselves with such formalities? Professor Seop would suffice.”
“What does it matter to us? As long as we teach well, that’s enough.”
Seop Yeon, nodding in agreement, pointed toward the massive table surrounded by numerous members of the Bureau.
“Has anyone passed?”
The question was so innocent that Baek Mong-san burst out laughing.
“Ha! Listen here, Sword Madness expert. The Entrance Ceremony has been underway for merely an hour.”
“So there’s no one?”
“…As I just said, only an hour has passed.”
“So no one has passed? Why?”
Seop Yeon scratched his sparse beard with a genuinely puzzled expression.
‘…Sword Madness.’
Baek Mong-san swallowed the epithet he dared not voice aloud before his new colleague, and decided to fill in the gaps in his knowledge.
“Professor Seop—I mean, Sword Madness expert. New Entrance Candidates must pass through five Gates before they can reach Cheonmu Academy.”
“I’ve heard that much.”
“…And the first Gate requires the most time to pass and produces the greatest number of failures.”
The first Gate, which tests refined essence.
The most straightforward and direct, yet most formidable of Gates.
It is no Gate where fortune or luck will serve.
Refining one’s essence is not achieved in a day. It requires daily dedication and effort, accumulated bit by bit over time.
The physical body, which must be the foundation of all martial learning, must be built in such a manner.
It was at that moment.
“Ha ha ha! It is understandable that the Sword Madness expert, being new to this, would not know.”
“Indeed. Teaching follows different principles than combat.”
Two familiar professors approached them.
But Baek Mong-san, knowing their usual conduct well, did not find their arrival particularly welcome.
Hwangbo Gang and O Seok.
Like Seop Yeon, they were professors assigned to teach this year’s new Entrance Candidates, though their personal reputations were not particularly good.
“I’ve heard tell that light trails in the sword’s path—yet I confess I wondered what advantage such trails could offer a swordsman.”
“Being weaponless, I cannot say. Though if the patterns of fist techniques were carved into empty air, it does not seem like it would be particularly advantageous… yet surely the renowned Sword Madness expert has his reasons, does he not?”
Indeed, it was a crude and vulgar provocation.
Geom-rim’s reputation throughout the Central Plains Martial World was simply too high.
‘On a day like this, to go so far out of their way and expend such effort.’
Not every member of the faculty could be expected to harbor noble intentions.
There were, without fail, those who coveted Cheonmu Academy’s prestige itself.
How could such people not feel threatened by the name Geom-rim?
‘Why would the headmaster……?’
For Baek Mong-san, who remembered the two of them as they had behaved last year, the academy head’s decision was nothing but bewildering.
Whatever Baek Mong-san thought, the two were preoccupied with needling the taciturn Geom-rim.
“Based on what I taught the entrance candidates last year, I’d like to offer some advice. In a sense, I’ve become your senior.”
“Professor Hwangbo, you truly are kind-hearted!”
“Hmm! They’re all talented children, to be sure. But they still fall short in many ways. That’s precisely why our instruction is necessary, wouldn’t you say?”
Hwangbo Gang, who had been soundly defeated by Beom Cheon in last year’s special seminar, spoke thus.
“The body doesn’t lie. The time and effort invested reveals itself wholly in the results. These children simply lack sufficient time.”
“A most pertinent observation. In academy history, no entrance candidate has ever passed the first gate in a single day.”
“Even Beom Cheon only passed once the standard of True Energy the test demanded was lowered!”
Of course, he omitted the detail that even such a record had been a feat achieved only once in decades.
Baek Mong-san was exasperated, but chose not to interject. It was disagreeable, yes, but not untrue.
“Heh heh. To be frank, I too have no confidence in passing the first gate on the very first day. How perfectly must one cultivate True Energy to find the cracks with Five Senses alone?”
“Who knows. They say Little Sogyeong is participating. If such a celebrated Buddhist master from Shaolin is involved, perhaps there’s another method.”
The exchange was almost childish for a conversation between masters of the martial world.
Even Baek Mong-san’s own mind had grown restless, yet Geom-rim remained unmoved.
He had not spoken a single word since their arrival.
Indeed, he had not even granted them his gaze.
Only then did Baek Mong-san realize what Geom-rim was observing.
‘All this time, he’s been watching the Instrument Array Platform. Could there be a student he’s hoping for?’
The vast table positioned at the very center of the入武院.
It was part of the array mechanism that displayed the current state of the Entrance Ceremony.
The 入武院 was quiet now, with the examination only just begun, but in a few days it would be chaos as the records of all participants were being inscribed.
‘But why would he be watching it already……?’
As stated, no entrance candidate in Cheonmu Academy’s history had passed the first gate on the first day.
If Geom-rim failed to grasp this even after such an explanation, Baek Mong-san would have to revise his assessment slightly downward.
It was at that moment.
“Huh?”
“What, what is it? Did I see wrong?”
“……It’s impossible. What is this?”
Suddenly, commotion erupted around the Instrument Array Platform.
Because he had happened to be watching that spot, Baek Mong-san was able to rush to the scene at once.
“What has occurred?”
“W-w-worthy master, I, I, I……!”
“Collect yourself and speak properly. The Entrance Ceremony has only just begun—if you’re trembling like this already, what shall we do?”
He steadied his subordinate by the shoulders and shook them, and at last a coherent statement tumbled out.
“This, this gate has lit up, master.”
“What did you say?”
The statement was so absurd that his response came late.
Baek Mong-san’s head swiveled toward the Instrument Array Platform.
Indeed. The second gate, Mountain Path, was glowing.
Below it, the number 382 and the name Jung Yi-sin shone clearly.
“……Could it be a malfunction?”
“We are currently conducting our thirteenth verification, but…… it is functioning normally.”
Baek Mong-san’s head swiveled around with a dull crack.
The countless brilliant minds and noble warriors of Cheonmu Academy all fixed their eyes upon his mouth alone.
Had he ever felt this much dread? Not even when summoned once to see the Lord of碧天閣 had it been this intense.
At last, Baek Mong-san shut his eyes tight and opened his mouth.
“The three-hundred-eighty-second reserve entrance candidate…… has passed the first gate.”
“Impossible!!”
“Academy Director! Surely something has gone wrong!?”
“Beom Cheon himself was blocked for more than two days!”
As he quieted the rushing voices and proclaimed the integrity of the array and the mechanism, something reached his ears—a voice that should not have been heard, surely misheard:
A sound that was undoubtedly a mistake.
“Three, three, three hundred eighty-two times…… I’ve entered the third Gate.”
Baek Mong-san’s eyes widened without thinking.
At the end of his gaze, he saw Seop Yeon grinning, his mouth stretched so wide it nearly touched his ears.
* * *
“Five more. I didn’t expect there to be five more.”
With a flick of his hand, Thunder Qi scattered and dispersed.
Behind him, the stone chamber crumbled into dust.
Jung Yi-sin laughed as though finding the whole thing absurd.
“And I’d only deployed the Thunder Lightning Technique.”
The Third Form of the Single Thunder Brilliant Flower Water technique—the Thunder Lightning Technique.
He’d broken the rules cleanly in a test where Inner Power was forbidden.
Since he would pass the test regardless, he’d aimed for the shortest possible time and chosen the technique that best suited his purpose from those at his disposal.
The Thunder Lightning Technique was a striking art that condensed and detonated Thunder Qi.
It differed from Wall Breaking, his intermediate-level art. Its destructive force was greater, and it consumed proportionally more Inner Power.
Had he known another stone chamber lay behind the wall he’d demolished, he wouldn’t have used it.
By reducing the technique’s full power, the Inner Power he’d expended came to three tenths of his total reserves.
After that, he’d destroyed the walls roughly in accordance with the rules.
He’d used Inner Power, but by finding the weak points, he’d progressed efficiently.
With Energy Perception added to his Five Senses, the collapse of each wall was instantaneous.
The weak points diminished in number with each wall until, at the final barrier, only a single point existed—and Jung Yi-sin had just emerged from breaking through it.
“Remarkable, though.”
The stone chamber behind him had already crumbled into dust and vanished.
He’d taken but a single step forward, and now he stood in the middle of a lush mountain path.
A cool breeze brushed his cheek, and the fragrant scent of vegetation filled the air.
Every sensation told Jung Yi-sin this was real.
Reality had been layered over illusion.
“……Tch.”
He swallowed the admiration that had risen to his throat and surveyed his surroundings.
Natural Energy filled the space in all directions—genuine Natural Energy, not the Artificial Energy of the stone chamber.
It simply flowed according to some principle, each current distinct from the others.
“It’s simple enough. I just need to reach the summit, then?”
The mountain peak visible in the distance stood out with abnormal clarity. Its purpose was unmistakable.
Meanwhile, his immediate field of vision extended barely a zhang in any direction.
“There are many guides lingering about.”
Energy currents hovered around Jung Yi-sin, each pointing in a different direction.
The second Gate was a place that tested one’s comprehension of Energy.
The method seemed to be following the correct energy current to reach the summit.
But the structure felt decidedly malicious.
How does one distinguish truth from falsehood in the paths the energy indicates?
The answer lay in striking and suppressing that energy.
Crackle—!
One of the energy currents wavering before him was engulfed by Thunder Qi and dissipated.
Whoosh!
Then the mist in that direction cleared, and the landscape ahead became visible.
There was no path there. The ground he stood on was the edge of a sheer cliff.
Had he walked straight ahead, he would have experienced a rather startling descent.
Crackle, crackle—!
As Jung Yi-sin burned through the surrounding energy currents, a thought occurred to him.
The construction of the Gates was truly insidious from the start.
“The first Gate forbade Inner Power; the second Gate requires wielding only Inner Power to advance.”
Through contact with the energy, he’d learned something.
The surrounding energy currents repelled more intensely the harder one pressed down upon them with force. Each one demanded a different method of True Energy manipulation.
Thoughtlessly pouring out Inner Power to suppress them wasn’t the answer.
But his Inner Power had only just been released from restriction. After such restraint, would he not eagerly deploy his True Energy?
“If one didn’t possess an absurdly vast Inner Power reserve, it would be like pouring water into a bottomless pit.”
The structure made reaching the summit no simple matter.
It seemed that Inner Power conservation and True Energy control were the primary criteria for evaluation.
“Still, what’s a cliff?”
Did it really have to come to this?
Cursing Zhuge Qicheon, he pushed Thunder Qi through his feet.
I’ve grasped the test’s parameters. Now I just need to solve it and move on.
Crack! Crackling—!
Brushing aside the subtle hands reaching out from all sides, golden lines of energy streamed forth.
Jung Yi-sin walked without a shred of hesitation, following the Thunder Qi beneath his feet.
He didn’t push back against the mist—he simply hurled himself into it.
The energy shifting erratically to disrupt his senses became all the more vivid to his perception.
It recalled the mist of the Bottomless Abyss. Yet even the real Bottomless Abyss mist had been of little use against the Nine-Pole Heavenly Thunder Gong.
“This is far easier.”
That Jung Yi-sin reached the summit without halting his stride even once was, perhaps, only natural.
Behind him, the path he’d walked scattered and faded like dust—proof that he’d passed the second Gate without incident.
“Ah…….”
A single nameless tree greeted Jung Yi-sin in the wide clearing.
It was a place where the horizon opened before him.
Below stretched layers of peaks in succession, and above burned an intense sun.
From that vantage, Jung Yi-sin prepared for the next test.
“Essence, and Energy. Next is…… Spirit.”
Spirit was another field in which he was confident.
Wasn’t his the steel-like mind that had endured falling into another world at fifteen and emerged unscathed?
A test from this strange realm was nothing.
“Come then! Third Gate!”
The mountain’s summit. Though no echo answered, it was a place worthy of such bold declaration.
Yet, strangely, nothing happened at all.
…….
Not for more than two days.
The Lightning I Carry Is Too Fierce
Author |
Woo San Yu
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
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Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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Submissions |
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No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books.

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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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