The Lightning I Harbor Is Too Strong - Chapter 65

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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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Episode 65
“I won’t be attending the Byeokcheon School classes anymore, I suppose.”
We were heading toward the Individual Training Grounds. At Eon So-ran’s words, laced with amusement, I shrugged.
“You said sparring with me would be better.”
“That’s true enough, but there might be friends in that class I’ve been training with, don’t you think?”
Friends?
It wasn’t as though she lacked peers who suited her.
Even excluding Gong-son Young, given the Academy’s shortage of female martial artists, they seemed to exchange training among themselves fairly often.
But Jung I-sin answered with unwavering confidence.
“I’m certain I’m closer to you than any of them.”
……
“Surely I rank second only to Gong-son.”
Jung I-sin stepped into the Open Training Ground as if there were no need to wait for a reply.
“Given that the Byeokcheon School class has come to this…… I was thinking of helping you with your training. Would you spend seven days and nights with me?”
“Pardon? What on earth have you been saying all this time……?”
“Seven days and nights. I’m not exactly your instructor…… and calling myself your master would be presumptuous…….”
Jung I-sin brushed aside Eon So-ran’s question and muttered to himself, then nodded.
“How about just ‘teacher’?”
Naturally, Eon So-ran’s response was slow in coming.
“I…… I don’t understand why you’d go so far for me.”
Not knowing of the Dang family’s connection, she would find it difficult to comprehend.
Jung I-sin merely laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
“Didn’t you say you’d humor me until graduation?”
……
“Besides, for these seven days and nights, I intend to treat you purely as a teacher would. I’ll work you to exhaustion—or rather, I’ll give you my absolute best.”
Eon So-ran stiffened and bowed.
“Thank you for your kindness.”
“…… So please don’t take what I say and do too much to heart.”
“Come now, what sort of person do you think I am?”
Why speak such things?
I could never harbor such petty resentment toward someone spending their time helping me with my martial learning.
But understanding why Jung I-sin had said it took only a moment.
We were about to begin with some light sparring after warming up……
When Jung I-sin suddenly pulled something from his garments and fastened it across his face.
It was a Demon Mask, grinning hideously.
“Wait, Jung—is that mask……?”
“Cute, isn’t it? I asked Muk-rin—well, a friend—to get me a Dog Mask instead. Training must be rigorous, but my heart is soft, you see.”
“Ah…… no, that’s……”
Before Eon So-ran could finish, Jung I-sin launched forward. His voice carried a note of profound indifference.
“I’m disappointed in you.”
“What!? Ugh!”
Eon So-ran couldn’t hide her shock. She deflected the arm aimed at her shoulder and retreated without attempting a counterattack.
But Jung I-sin pressed forward immediately, sustaining his assault while his mouth never stopped moving.
“The reason I’m disappointed……”
“The reason is?”
Thack! Clap!
After five exchanges of offense and defense, not a sound came from behind the mask.
“What IS the reason!”
Eon So-ran cried out sharply and swung her fist.
Whoosh!
Jung I-sin sidestepped her punch with an unusual movement, then finally clicked his tongue.
“There it is again—that linear Fist Technique of yours.”
“…… What?”
“It’s remarkable that you have the leisure to answer. Ah, perhaps you only have leisure because you’re throwing straight lines?”
“……?”
“Even Nam Tae-gang understands the power of a spiral strike.”
He spoke matter-of-factly, which somehow made it worse.
His words and manner subtly pricked at her pride.
It was like watching Jung I-sin deal with Wi-seok and Hwang Bo Yeon-geol.
‘This is for her sake.’
Eon So-ran steadied her nerves as best she could.
All of this was for her sake, after all.
She herself had said they shared a deep bond, hadn’t she?
“Even your footwork is so rigid and linear. You could probably just dash straight out of Cheonmu Academy that way.”
“That’s enough!”
* * *
He deliberately ignored Eon So-ran, flushed and huffing with indignation.
In truth, Jung I-sin was simply following what he’d been taught.
Though he’d admit there was a touch of deliberate exaggeration in it too.
Everyone who’d instructed him in martial learning had done the same.
Gong Heon had. Namgung Baek had. Dang Mu-jeong went without saying.
They had all trained him with a single conviction: that Jung I-sin must never become complacent, and so they’d constantly kept his pride in check.
Though at the time, Jung I-sin himself had known nothing of his own martial talent.
“Your heart seems more delicate than I expected. And we haven’t even begun yet.”
“……I was taught that martial artists speak through martial prowess.”
“Then I suppose I’m listening to baby babble right now!”
“Stop it!”
Thud!
A fist heavy with emotion struck the empty air. The rippling True Qi was felt distinctly. At the same moment, it was visible how the Qi around them seemed to be torn away.
‘That’s it. That’s right.’
It was the moment Jung I-sin finalized his approach to her training.
The Byeokcheon School was no martial art. It was merely a method of moving the body.
For reasons he couldn’t explain, the more her mastery of the Byeokcheon School deepened, the more frequently her True Qi displayed its function.
If that was the case, then he need only guide her that way.
Jung I-sin threaded through the Qi Aura she’d created like a beam of light, grazing her chin lightly.
Of course, with a touch of Heavenly Thunder Qi flavoring it.
Thump.
* * *
“Your body’s all warmed up now, yes?”
It was the first thing she heard upon waking from unconsciousness.
“What? But just now, I clearly…….”
“That’s how it always is. A moment’s rest with your eyes closed, and you’re fine. Come, let’s continue your training.”
With that, Jung I-sin positioned the still-dazed Eon So-ran at one end of the Open Training Ground, then strode to the far side.
He then stomped his foot while gazing at her, still bewildered.
Crack!
Dozens, hundreds of golden lines were carved into the dirt of the training ground.
They were strands of lightning Qi spreading outward like a spiderweb from Jung I-sin at the center.
“Wh-what is this?”
Jung I-sin, having made the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads visible, spread both arms wide.
He shouted in his raw voice, without infusing it with True Qi.
“Come to me!”
Huh!?
Eon So-ran at the far end of the training ground was visible, startling greatly.
Jung I-sin tilted his chin toward her at a sharp angle.
His sharp jawline glinted in the light for only a moment before Jung I-sin laughed and spoke.
“My chin, which you so wanted to strike. I’m offering it to you now. Come and strike it as you please. You owe me from just now, after all? That is your training this time.”
“…….”
“Ah, perhaps it’s too difficult for you, So-ran, who only knows how to move in straight lines?”
Yah!
With the shout, Eon So-ran pushed off the ground. Charging in a straight line was the natural response, but there was something grimly amusing about it.
The moment Eon So-ran landed powerfully from her leap, one strand of the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads caught her foot.
Snap!
The Heavenly Thunder Qi that penetrated her without mercy followed the secret pathways of the Thunder Fire Meridian, stimulating her Meridian.
Bang!
Naturally, Eon So-ran rolled across the ground cleanly. She hadn’t even covered half the training ground.
Jung I-sin added his comment with a smile.
“Oh! Donkey Rolling! That’s a footwork technique, to be sure. But didn’t I mention the condition that you should come to me on both feet? Return to your starting position.”
“Thi-thi-this……!”
Eon So-ran ground her teeth as she returned. Her face was full of frustration, yet she seemed not yet to have grasped why she’d rolled across the ground.
She charged again without resting. Her intent was transparent.
He had deliberately kept the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads loose and spread thin, so there appeared to be far more empty space than before.
The moment Eon So-ran’s foot touched the ground to evade the golden line.
Whoosh—
A strand of lightning moved with perfect naturalness and struck her.
Thud-thud! Crash-bang!
She rolled two full rotations more than the previous time.
“I trust you didn’t assume it would remain fixed in place.”
“Hah……!”
Eon So-ran sprang to her feet, shot Jung I-sin a glare, and turned her body.
This time, she moved with a meaningful smile—as if she had grasped something new.
Indeed.
Thud—!
The earth around the point where her foot landed visibly sank, her True Qi charged into it.
In that instant, a Qi Aura bloomed, and dirt dust swirled up in clouds.
“Huh!”
Eon So-ran leapt high with a sharp cry.
It was a movement she would never have dared in a real bout—in mid-air, one’s mobility is severely hampered.
Jung I-sin approved of her attempt.
Wasn’t that how martial arts worked? You had to throw yourself against the problem until enlightenment came.
That was how he’d been taught from the start.
Memories flooded back—taking punishment in Gong Heon’s Combat Arena, being struck repeatedly by Namgung Baek’s sword—and his heart warmed unbidden.
With a smile born of genuine warmth, he raised his hand.
“And yet it’s not the right answer, so I’m afraid you must bear the consequence.”
Wrong answers carry punishment.
The Heavenly Thunder Qi that coiled around his index finger compressed at his fingertip and fired.
Crack—!
Of course, it was not a true Flash Lightning.
Flash Lightning takes penetration as its secret technique.
Compressed Heavenly Thunder Qi is fired as a single point to maximize piercing force.
Since his lessons with Yeon Baek-ha, Jung I-sin had been reflecting on his own martial learning.
With the core principle of penetration stripped from Flash Lightning, it became a simple Flicking Finger strike—yet even that was remarkably effective.
“Aaah!”
Eon So-ran clutched her forehead and plummeted.
* * *
Thud-thud! Boom! Thud-thud! Boom!
Falling and rolling, falling and rolling.
Eon So-ran’s entire body was caked in dirt.
Her sweat-soaked hair clung to her forehead and cheeks, and dust caked over it.
Still, Eon So-ran rose again.
Without a word, she turned. Her eyes grew fiercer with each passing moment.
“Phew…….”
Eon So-ran exhaled slowly, steadied her breathing, and stepped forward once more.
This time, she did not rush recklessly. It was a conclusion drawn from countless attempts.
The Heavenly Thunder Qi seeps through even Protective Qi. As she was now, she could not escape the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads.
For Eon So-ran to reach Jung I-sin, she had to awaken the function of her own True Qi.
‘And the lady’s True Qi will only awaken when it rides the current of the Byeokcheon School.’
The environment was already prepared.
As Jung I-sin studied the art of countering techniques, his own understanding of flow had expanded.
Flow did not arise only through human movement.
The flow of Qi was flow too—an obvious truth.
This was why Jung I-sin had blanketed the entire open ground with the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads.
Each strand pulsed with a different current from its surroundings. It was all his doing.
Crack—!
Eon So-ran, drawing up her True Qi, set her foot on a strand of the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads and pushed back against it.
Not with Protective Qi, but with the raw power her True Qi possessed.
Whether Eon So-ran had truly awakened her True Qi’s function was unclear, but it was undeniable—her falls were growing fewer.
One step at a time.
Treading on the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads, resisting with True Qi.
Success in grinding through a strand meant one step forward; failure meant collapse and try again.
When the setting sun’s light, filtered through the trees, had dyed the bare ground crimson.
“Haah… haah…!”
Eon So-ran stood before Jung I-sin, her appearance thoroughly ravaged.
Both hands hung at her sides, fists clenched tight.
Of all the versions of Eon So-ran that Jung I-sin had witnessed, this was the most haggard—yet paradoxically, the most radiant.
Even covered in livid bruises from head to toe, she glowed.
Click—
At the same moment, he gently caught her fist as it drove toward his chin.
“Why…!”
Eon So-ran recoiled at the departure from their agreement, but Jung I-sin calmed her with a gentle smile.
“I believe you’re ready to advance to the next phase.”
“N-next phase?”
“There’s no need to worry. The method remains identical. I won’t be adding any interference this time.”
Unlike before, Eon So-ran did not nod immediately.
Now wary of trust, she studied him with suspicious eyes for a long moment before speaking.
“Then… what changes?”
“The next phase will proceed in this state.”
The moment Eon So-ran turned her body, he withdrew the True Qi that had been materializing the Ten Thousand Lightning Threads.
The golden web of energy that had filled the Open Training Ground vanished without a trace.
Or rather, it vanished from sight—but that subtle current which had struck her so relentlessly that it made her shudder still saturated every corner of the space.
“……”
Eon So-ran said nothing, only blinking repeatedly.
Jung I-sin gave her back a gentle push.
“I trust you didn’t rely solely on your eyes to evade. Now, go.”
“……”
Thus the first day of the seven days and nights that Jung I-sin had promised was passing.
Eon So-ran squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them, turning her head toward him.
“You said you wore that mask because treating someone harshly is painful for you?”
“That’s correct. Even now, my chest aches.”
“Take it off.”
“……”
“Remove that mask. Now.”
“…And why should I?”
“Your mouth seems to be turning up at the corners, doesn’t it?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“Eee-hehehehe…!”
Of course, Eon So-ran never did remove Jung I-sin’s mask.
The Lightning I Carry Within Is Far Too Fierce
Author |
Woo San-yu
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(주) Samyang C&C
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Without written permission from (주) Samyang C&C – Dream Books, the contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means.

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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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