The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 122

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 122. That Much, Well

 

 

Softly falling.

The first snow is falling at Gyoryong Hall.

As December arrived, the weather suddenly turned cold, and now snow is falling from early morning.

“Whew. It’s cold.”

Dang Jin-san appeared at the training ground, shivering.

He habitually looked toward the rock.

Snow had piled up softly on it.

There was no one there.

“Tsk. Is he not coming today either?”

Dang Jin-san clicked his tongue.

“Right. Who’s not coming today either?”

A familiar but now somewhat unfamiliar voice from behind.

Dang Jin-san jumped in surprise and turned around.

“In, Instructor!”

“Why are you so startled? Like you’re seeing a stranger.”

Ha Mu-baek casually made a remark and approached the rock.

He looked briefly at where the snow had accumulated, and the snow melted.

And the melted snow water dried instantly, revealing a dry rock.

Ha Mu-baek spread a suitable mat there and opened a large umbrella behind the rock.

He had been carrying something heavy, and that was it.

After finishing his preparations, Ha Mu-baek lay down diagonally on the mat.

“Are you alone?”

Ha Mu-baek’s casual question.

“Everyone will come soon.”

Dang Jin-san said this and began warming up in a corner of the training ground.

As he said, the cadets arrived one by one.

They all flinched upon discovering Ha Mu-baek’s presence, but began warming up as if accustomed to it.

In fact, they were more accustomed to Ha Mu-baek not being there.

Recently, he hadn’t even mentioned self-study and just didn’t show up.

“Is the Winter Tournament about ten days away now?”

Ha Mu-baek’s question.

“Two weeks remain.”

Baek Ri-pyeong answered.

Ha Mu-baek scratched his head at that answer.

“Ah, they said it would be held on the winter solstice.”

He had been roughly counting the days, but calculated the exact date after Baek Ri-pyeong’s answer.

“Yes.”

Dan Mok Un-rae’s answer.

“Then shall we do a check-up? Everyone start with energy circulation.”

When the five Group Seven cadets seemed to have warmed up sufficiently, Ha Mu-baek gave instructions.

At those words, everyone sat cross-legged and began energy circulation.

Namgung Ji-hu and Ju U-myeong, who had been coming to the Maengryong Corps Group Seven training ground as part of their daily routine, flinched.

Someone who shouldn’t be there was present, and that person even seemed to be overseeing training.

Ha Mu-baek’s gaze turned toward those two.

“What? That look? Those eyes that seem like you’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be here make me strangely uncomfortable. The ones who shouldn’t be here right now are you two, aren’t they?”

At Ha Mu-baek’s point, the two quietly averted their gazes.

“You two train on your own. You’re not my responsibility.”

Ha Mu-baek’s cutting words.

“Well, still, maybe one training match…”

Namgung Ji-hu subtly brought it up. Wasn’t that the reason when Namgung Ji-hu first sought out Ha Mu-baek? Instructional sparring.

“That much, well.”

“I, I also request it.”

At Ha Mu-baek’s answer, Ju U-myeong hastily spoke.

“Doesn’t Instructor Han look after you?”

Ha Mu-baek asked as if annoyed.

“Well… lately Seol-ran’s training is at an important turning point, so he’s paying a bit more attention to that side.”

Ju U-myeong said carefully.

“Hmm.”

Ha Mu-baek frowned.

So Han Seol-bing was focusing on his younger sibling and somewhat neglecting Ju U-myeong.

He would have to clean up that mess.

“Fine. I’ll look after you too.”

When Ha Mu-baek’s permission was granted, Ju U-myeong smiled slightly.

He finally felt the reward for frequently visiting Group Seven’s training ground even when Ha Mu-baek wasn’t there.

Training with Namgung Ji-hu, Baek Ri-pyeong, and Dan Mok Un-rae had certainly been helpful.

However, he thirsted for training matches with an absolute master who far surpassed him.

On the day he left for Gyoryong Hall, his master Muyeon Jin-in had told him:

-I still think there’s nothing for you to gain at Gyoryong Hall. However, if there’s an instructor named Ha Mu-baek there, you might be able to gain something from him. He’s a remarkable person.

-What kind of person is he?

-An unknown greatest master under heaven, perhaps?

-Isn’t Alliance Leader So Hwi-ung the greatest master under heaven?

At that last question, his master had only smiled mysteriously.

‘An unknown greatest master under heaven.’

Why his master had called him that, he had witnessed firsthand on the day Peng Gun-ho caused trouble.

That tremendous aura whose limits he couldn’t fathom even compared to his master.

And he felt it again when they went to Sanwol Demon Forest together.

Last time, he had also been able to train with Ha Mu-baek by taking advantage of Namgung Ji-hu’s training match opportunity.

‘Two finger flicks.’

That was the result of that day.

‘This time, I must.’

He would achieve better results than last time.

 

***

 

The sword tip wavers.

One sword becomes two, and two swords become four.

The sword tip continued to waver.

Eight to sixteen to thirty-two.

The wavering sword tips continued to multiply.

Finally, when it seemed to reach one hundred twenty-eight.

The wavering of the sword tip disappeared and only one sword remained.

“Phew.”

Mok Cheong-san let out a deep sigh, drenched in sweat.

“Is the eighth form still too much for me…?”

Mok Cheong-san muttered in dejection.

He simply couldn’t overcome this limit. If he couldn’t execute it at all, that would be one thing, but he could begin the eighth form, yet couldn’t maintain it.

Heavenly Phantom Thousand Path Sword Technique .

The supreme sword technique of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the unique secret art that made today’s Heavenly Sword Sect possible.

Among the three generations of disciples in the Heavenly Sword Sect, only ten prodigies discovered through painstaking effort were learning it.

A sword technique composed of eleven forms, and when the final form is reached, a total of one thousand twenty-four swords cover the sky with tremendous power.

For Mok Cheong-san, who was only twenty years old, to effortlessly create up to sixty-four swords was already astounding.

It was truly the skill befitting a genius that the Heavenly Sword Sect was desperately nurturing.

After regulating his breathing, he took a silk towel and roughly wiped his sweat before sitting cross-legged.

Now it was time to refine his mind technique.

Only when mind technique and sword technique harmonized would maximum power emerge.

He couldn’t neglect either one.

At that moment, Beom Il-so passed by the training ground of Waryong Corps’ Twentieth Group.

He was just returning from lunch.

Training alone in the training ground even during the time when everyone else went to eat.

What a relentless training fanatic.

Beom Il-so’s gaze passed over Mok Cheong-san and headed toward one corner of the training ground.

Silk towels were piled up there.

Used once to wipe sweat and then discarded.

“Tsk.”

Beom Il-so frowned at the sight and clicked his tongue once.

He walked leisurely toward the training ground of Waryong Corps’ First Group.

“Using silk towels once and throwing them away…”

Well, that was possible.

Silk towels.

Fine. They had good texture and absorption, perfect for wiping sweat.

However, they were difficult to wash, making them unsuitable as sweat towels.

Silk suffers severe damage when washed using general methods rather than special washing techniques.

Even so, they could be used two or three times, but perhaps disliking the feel after damage, he was using them once and throwing them away like that.

“As expected of a rich young master. Senior Brother is.”

Beom Il-so chuckled.

Himself, who had wandered the world begging and coincidentally met his master to enter the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Senior Brother, who was the son of the greatest merchant leader in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province where the Heavenly Sword Sect was located.

Himself, who had lost to a cadet from Maengryong Corps made up of random people gathered from everywhere, and Senior Brother, called a once-in-a-century genius comparable to Jeongcheon Alliance Leader So Hwi-ung.

Chuckle.

A self-deprecating smile crossed Beom Il-so’s lips as he arrived at the First Group’s training ground.

The comparison itself was impossible, so why was he comparing himself to Senior Brother?

Among the ten prodigies of the Heavenly Sword Sect, he possessed talent in the lower ranks.

That’s why he was sent here.

As window dressing for the Heavenly Sword Sect’s presence at Gyoryong Hall.

And then, to lose to a Maengryong Corps cadet.

What kind of treatment had he received from the main sect?

But even so.

Beom Il-so didn’t care.

That day’s defeat.

At that time, something had flashed in his mind.

He didn’t know what it was then.

He didn’t know until recently.

That night training at the abandoned manor not long ago.

The day when heaven and earth shook and roared.

That day, that flash suddenly organized itself and unfolded.

Due to that chance encounter, Beom Il-so hadn’t returned to Gyoryong Hall that day.

Beom Il-so picked up a practice sword from one side of the training ground.

He moved the sword slowly.

One sword.

The sword tip wavered and the number gradually doubled.

The moment sixty-four swords appeared.

He seemed to regulate his breathing briefly.

In an instant, passing one hundred twenty-eight, two hundred fifty-six sword shadows covered the training ground before disappearing.

“Whew.”

A simple sigh.

When he placed the practice sword back on the rack and turned around.

A snow flurry swirled around the training ground before settling.

Since meal time still remained, Beom Il-so left the training ground to find a suitable resting place.

Shortly after, other cadets from Waryong Corps’ First Group arrived at the training ground.

“What’s this?”

The snow piles that had been pushed to the edges of the training ground for practice were scattered in complete chaos. Ma Rip frowned and muttered at the sight.

“Well, there must have been a gust of wind.”

Sa Pyeong-ju answered nonchalantly.

“You think a gust of wind could do this?”

Ma Rip asked back with a face that said it made no sense.

“By the way, where did Il-so go after leaving first?”

Sa Pyeong-ju said while looking around the training ground.

“He’s probably hiding somewhere suitable. That guy has been particularly neglectful of training since the second half started.”

At Ma Rip’s answer, Sa Pyeong-ju quietly gazed at the training ground.

 

***

 

A languid afternoon.

However, it was still cold from the snow that had fallen in the morning.

The training ground floor that had been snowed on was damp, making one feel unpleasant just from stepping on it.

In the middle of such a training ground.

Namgung Ji-hu stood holding a sword and glaring at Ha Mu-baek.

The Group Seven Cadets and Ju U-myeong watched the scene with interested eyes.

“How many hits this time?”

Dang Jin-san’s question.

“At first it was one hit, right? I didn’t see it though. And the second time was two hits.”

Baek Ri-pyeong’s words.

“So how many hits?”

Dang Jin-san asked again.

“Three hits.”

Yeon Ha-min answered first.

“Tsk. Really? Then I’ll go with four hits.”

Dang Jin-san said regretfully while looking at the other cadets.

“Three hits for me too.”

“Me too.”

Ju U-myeong and Dan Mok Un-rae’s choices.

Nak U-jin and Baek Ri-pyeong remained.

“Two hits for me.”

Baek Ri-pyeong, who had been pondering deeply, finished making his choice.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Nak U-jin.

“But will it be a finger flick again this time?”

Nak U-jin spoke as if curious.

At those words, everyone nodded. Ha Mu-baek had at least finished lightly with finger flicks in his training matches against Namgung Ji-hu and Ju U-myeong.

Nak U-jin shook his head.

“I somehow have a feeling this time will be different. I’ll just go with one strike.”

What method it would be was impossible to predict.

But whatever it was, it seemed like Ha Mu-baek would defeat Namgung Ji-hu with just one strike.

As the cadets’ betting was coming to an end.

Namgung Ji-hu stepped forward. He was frowning slightly.

He couldn’t help it, since he had heard all the contents of the cadets’ betting.

“To have your composure shaken by something like that. Tsk.”

Ha Mu-baek clicked his tongue and threw out a comment.

At that moment.

Namgung Ji-hu read the change in Ha Mu-baek’s body and immediately launched his sword.

Azure Sky Unhindered Sword.

The Life and Death Techniques of the Namgung Family and the sword technique that Namgung Ji-hu had honed flew toward Ha Mu-baek.

The sword’s variations were graceful, magnificent, and domineering.

Currently, his sword technique was at its peak.

‘Not bad?’

A gleam appeared in Ha Mu-baek’s eyes. It was because his skill was beyond expectations.

Thanks to the training matches with cadets including Ju U-myeong, Baek Ri-pyeong, and Dan Mok Un-rae at the 7th Squad Training Ground, his sword had reached the realm of mastery.

Nevertheless, Ha Mu-baek was an absolute master whom Namgung Ji-hu could never dare to face.

That’s why right now, Namgung Ji-hu was unleashing the most powerful sword he could muster against Ha Mu-baek.

Countless sword shadows rushing toward Ha Mu-baek.

He didn’t dodge.

Instead, he stepped forward toward the front and raised his fist.

The moment faint fist energy seemed to dwell in Ha Mu-baek’s fist.

Bang!

He swung it in one strike, and Namgung Ji-hu’s Azure Sky Unhindered Sword was shattered.

And the opening that was revealed.

Ha Mu-baek finished it off lightly with one finger flick.

“Aaah!”

Namgung Ji-hu’s scream burst out.

“I don’t know if it was because you thought of me as an unbeatable master, but you were too domineering. You lost your balance, I mean.”

Ha Mu-baek’s advice followed.

Namgung Ji-hu’s eyes, who had sat down clutching his forehead, flashed for an instant.

“How did this happen?”

Dang Jin-san muttered.

“Right. One strike and one hit?”

Nak U-jin muttered as if disappointed.

It was a result that no one had gotten right.

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