The World’s Greatest Martial Arts Instructor - Chapter 440

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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 440. Faster Than Expected

 

 

“Hmm. It’s too quiet, isn’t it?”

Walking along the forest path, So Hwi-ung tilted his head.

Dam Mu-heun, following right behind, nodded and said.

“All the jiangshi have disappeared.”

That point in time was after eliminating the Dark Blood Jiangshi Geum Do-wi.

Since then, they hadn’t encountered any jiangshi except for a few Death Jiangshi.

“The Military Advisor seems to be right, doesn’t he?”

So Hwi-ung asked with a slight laugh.

“Which words do you mean?”

Dam Mu-heun asked back, not precisely understanding the intention.

“That Blood Cult remnants would be hiding in this place, and that the Blood Cult Members can control jiangshi to some extent.”

When they decided to surround Sanwol Great Wall and preserve Marim.

Gongsun Dan-gyeong had opposed it, citing those reasons.

Saying that Blood Cult remnants they hadn’t yet eliminated would hide there.

Of course, when the Alliance Leader’s intention turned toward preservation, he had no choice but to follow the Alliance Leader’s will.

The fact that the Blood Cult could control jiangshi was something Gongsun Dan-gyeong had considered throughout the war.

When dealing with the Blood Cult, he always devised strategies considering that aspect.

Dam Mu-heun had no choice but to agree with So Hwi-ung’s words.

Without that, the current situation couldn’t be explained.

“The jiangshi really disappeared as if washed clean. Considering the first day, it’s an impossible situation.”

So Hwi-ung’s smile deepened.

“And I don’t know by what method they’re watching us either. The only ones caught by Ki Sense were Herb Gatherers and jiangshi. Tsk.”

So Hwi-ung clicked his tongue.

Dam Mu-heun’s eyes flashed.

“Those Herb Gatherers are…”

So Hwi-ung, who had been walking ahead, raised his hand to stop Dam Mu-heun’s words.

He knew what he was trying to say.

However.

“Not all of them are Blood Cult remnants. There must be Herb Gatherers who really came here risking their lives to make a living.”

So he left them alone.

Unless they had learned blood arts, finding those connected to the Blood Cult among those who hadn’t even learned martial arts wasn’t easy.

They might needlessly trouble innocent people.

“What do you think they’re thinking?”

Dam Mu-heun asked while looking around.

“Well. I don’t know. But it feels like the calm before the storm. This quietness.”

So Hwi-ung frowned as if feeling unpleasant.

“Even if we keep looking around, there probably won’t be any jiangshi. Let’s go to the Bongma Corps.”

“The Bongma Corps?”

At Dam Mu-heun’s question, So Hwi-ung nodded.

“I came to deal with that monster called Myeolcheon Gangsi, so I can’t return like this. I need to handle it before leaving. Obviously, if I leave, it’ll crawl out again.”

“If you leave the Alliance empty for too long…”

Dam Mu-heun said worriedly.

“Military Advisor Gongsun will do well. I was foolish.”

“Pardon?”

Dam Mu-heun was startled by So Hwi-ung’s words as he turned around to answer.

“I should have come here once long ago. It’s too late.”

So Hwi-ung said while looking around various places.

Complex emotions were rising in his eyes.

 

***

 

Il-no found Chu Geum-ryeong.

“What is it?”

Chu Geum-ryeong’s empty eyes, who had been blankly sitting in his space, turned toward Il-no.

“Which Guardian God is the strongest among them?”

Il-no asked straightforwardly after offering simple courtesy.

“I don’t know.”

The answer that came back was simple.

Il-no, who was about to slightly frown, realized something and asked again.

“Before you became a Guardian God, which Guardian God was the strongest?”

“…”

At the changed question, Chu Geum-ryeong was silent for a moment.

“The First Guardian God.”

And then came a short answer.

“Thank you.”

Il-no bowed his head and left Chu Geum-ryeong’s room.

It was as expected.

Chu Geum-ryeong said he didn’t know because he didn’t know the strength of the Guardian Gods after that.

However, Il-no had records from that time.

What Il-no didn’t know precisely were the Guardian Gods from the first to the fourth.

Chu Geum-ryeong was the Sixth Guardian God, and records remained from the fifth onward.

Il-no moved his steps toward the place where Myeolcheon Gangsi was stored.

Work to awaken one body was already in progress.

In this space that only Il-no could enter.

The First Guardian God that Chu Geum-ryeong had mentioned.

It was the Myeolcheon Gangsi that Il-no was now awakening.

Il-no’s gaze toward the remaining Myeolcheon Gangsi.

Seven bodies remained.

His face was full of worry.

As a second strategy, he was awakening the strongest individual among the Guardian Gods, but.

‘Ha Mu-baek, if that monster bastard comes…’

He might not know about So Hwi-ung, but he couldn’t be certain about Ha Mu-baek.

There was the newly created unparalleled jiangshi, but.

Even so, Ha Mu-baek was a monster that made people uneasy.

Because there was something he had suffered from him in the last war.

Il-no’s gaze turned toward the remaining seven Myeolcheon Gangsi.

His eyes were complex.

 

***

 

How many times had he swung his sword?

He couldn’t tell.

‘How ridiculous.’

Ha Mu-baek suddenly had such a thought.

He was the one who taught the cadets the Three Talents Sword Technique, saying that fundamentals were most important.

Of course, he himself had never forgotten to cultivate the Three Talents Sword Technique.

The beginning of sword technique training was always the Three Talents Sword Technique.

However.

He had never concentrated and trained solely on the Three Talents Sword Technique like this.

After reaching a new realm.

Training the Three Talents Sword Technique again.

There were things that newly came into view.

What he had previously overlooked.

Was now catching his eye again.

Though it was a clear achievement from retraining the Three Talents Sword Technique.

The road ahead was long.

He still couldn’t grasp any sense of Wuji’s One Sword.

Nevertheless, Ha Mu-baek continued to swing his sword.

After swinging thousands, tens of thousands of times.

The movement of his sword changed.

Just as he had newly seen what he had overlooked in the Three Talents Sword Technique.

He thought other sword techniques would be the same.

The sword technique Ha Mu-baek began to unfold in this way.

Was the Five Forms of Extremes.

The basic introductory art of Mugeuk Sword Gate.

A martial art that compiled the fundamentals of Mugeuk Sword Gate’s techniques, which could become either combat technique or sword technique.

Ha Mu-baek moved his sword according to the five forms of the Five Forms of Extremes.

The corners of his eyes trembled slightly.

As expected.

He could see new things he hadn’t seen before.

‘There is no end to the path of martial arts.’

It was a fact he already knew well.

But Ha Mu-baek felt it keenly once again.

As Ha Mu-baek trained the Five Forms of Extremes.

The qi energy gathering at his sword tip underwent very subtle changes.

So subtle that even Ha Mu-baek himself, who was swinging the sword, couldn’t perceive it.

Those who noticed it were rather Radiance and Wuji.

“Hm?”

Radiance, who had been leisurely basking in light in the space created by Infinite Ruyi, turned her gaze toward Ha Mu-baek.

It was because of the qi energy that had just barely touched her senses.

“How?”

The corners of her eyes trembled as she looked at Ha Mu-baek’s sword tip.

“Faster than expected. Indeed.”

Wuji nodded and muttered.

“How much time has passed?”

Radiance asked.

This place was the boundary of reality and mind created by Infinite Ruyi.

Only Wuji could know the complete flow of time.

“Ten years by this place’s standards.”

Wuji answered calmly.

Radiance looked at Ha Mu-baek with a slightly amazed expression.

“For ten years, without eating or drinking, he just swings his sword like that?”

“Isn’t that less than an instant?”

Wuji replied calmly to Radiance’s amazement.

“That’s by our standards. That child is human. Ten years would be an incredibly long time for a human, wouldn’t it?”

It was true.

Ten years.

A time that some say even mountains and rivers change.

Ha Mu-baek had only swung his sword during that entire time.

He had completely forgotten the flow of time.

It was possible because this was the boundary of reality and mind.

If it were reality, he would have had to eat, drink, sleep, and relieve himself.

Without such times, only swinging his sword for ten years.

Calculated in real time, it would be over twenty years.

For this long time, Ha Mu-baek had been cultivating only the Three Talents Sword Technique and Five Forms of Extremes.

“But it’s an extremely short time to already achieve such accomplishment.”

Radiance could only nod at Wuji’s answer.

That was because.

An extremely minute amount of the qi energy in Ha Mu-baek’s sword was now trying to transform into supreme power.

Abyss.

With the power of that very thing.

Ha Mu-baek seemed not to realize it yet.

“In that fellow’s reality, only a moment has passed. It’s still far off.”

Wuji spoke calmly and disappeared from that spot.

Radiance continued to watch Ha Mu-baek.

“Was it called the Heavenly Strange Infinite Harmonious Body?”

The constitution of the body Ha Mu-baek was born with, as Wuji had told her.

He said it was a body possessing all innate talents.

More precisely.

“A body that can become a vessel for Taecho and Manhwang…”

Radiance didn’t even know humans could have such a body.

Because she had existed solely by the will of the Abyss.

‘To think it was because of that.’

Though Radiance spoke as if she had no interest in manifesting will.

That wasn’t actually the case.

After dwelling in Ha Mu-baek’s body.

She had once tried to manifest the will of the Abyss.

It wasn’t for any other reason.

She hoped to become stronger and block other fragments of Taecho or Manhwang.

She hoped this world full of light would continue.

So she tried to manifest her will.

But she couldn’t manifest her will.

As if blocked by some barrier.

She had been holding her breath for a while, unable to understand the reason.

Then she entered this space of Infinite Ruyi and revealed her will.

Only after hearing the reason from Wuji did she understand.

The special body Ha Mu-baek was born with.

One that might be born once in eons of time, if at all.

The Heavenly Strange Infinite Harmonious Body.

A body that could contain both Taecho and Manhwang.

While also being a body that could resist the will of Taecho and Manhwang.

Therefore, Wuji had expectations for Ha Mu-baek.

Wondering if Ha Mu-baek might also be able to obtain the supreme power that only the Abyss could possess.

Radiance had confidently declared that pure humans could never reach it.

Yet merely ten years after that declaration, Ha Mu-baek was attempting to grasp even a tiny fragment of that supreme power.

 

***

 

The morning of the final day of the Dongtu Festival dawned.

The four people who had advanced to the semifinals gathered around the martial arts arena.

Namgung Hu, Baek Ri-pyeong, Ju U-myeong, Yeon Ha-min.

One person from the Jamryong Corps and three from the Maengryong Corps.

This was a change that had appeared since last year.

Ever since Ha Mu-baek came to Gyoryong Hall.

The very Ha Mu-baek who had created this change was not present at this gathering.

The first duel was between Namgung Hu and Baek Ri-pyeong.

Following the judge’s call, the two stepped onto the martial arts platform.

The two faced each other.

“Begin!”

The judge announced the start of the duel, and the two launched toward each other.

Clang!

A tremendous sound rang out as their swords moved wildly toward one another.

At such truly phantasmic movements.

The spectators were mesmerized.

The previous day.

This was a different kind of spectacle from the duel between Yeon Ha-min and Ha Seol-ran.

The two moved their swords while smiling at each other.

The clash between the Emperor Sword Form and the Heavenly Star Galaxy Sword Technique showed no clear advantage.

The two’s levels appeared evenly matched.

However.

A change began to occur midway through.

After sword threads appeared on Namgung Hu’s blade.

Baek Ri-pyeong gritted his teeth.

Sword threads.

Though he had discovered the clue, it was a realm Baek Ri-pyeong had not yet reached.

It was the final stage that seemed achievable yet remained blocked by something.

Boom! Boom!

Tremendous explosions erupted as Baek Ri-pyeong continuously retreated.

After Namgung Hu began using sword threads.

The level of his Emperor Sword Form seemed to have deepened by another stage.

Baek Ri-pyeong did not give up.

What he had shown to Beom Il-so.

He unleashed the ultimate limits of the Heavenly Star Galaxy Sword Technique he could deploy, resisting Namgung Hu’s sword.

Illusion, swiftness, strength.

A form where the three elements reached their peak and achieved harmony.

Faced with the constellation of stars covering his surroundings, Namgung Hu changed his sword’s movement.

Not the Emperor Sword Form, but the Azure Sky Unhindered Sword Technique.

Watching Namgung Hu’s sword path move as if to become the sky that embraces the stars.

Baek Ri-pyeong trembled all over as if struck by shock.

‘Perhaps it was I who was obsessing…’

He had advised Beom Il-so not to obsess over swiftness.

But in reality, perhaps it was Baek Ri-pyeong who had been obsessing instead.

Only after seeing Namgung Hu’s form—not bound to any specific sword technique, whether Emperor Sword Form or Azure Sky Unhindered Sword, but deploying the optimal sword technique for each situation—did he realize this.

Obsession with illusion.

Attachment.

Even pursuing the harmony of swiftness and strength might ultimately have been the result of obsessing over the variations of the thousand stars in the Heavenly Star Galaxy Sword Technique.

A thousand stars, two thousand stars, and then four thousand stars.

The moment he realized he had been obsessing only with variations that covered space.

Baek Ri-pyeong overcame the wall that had been blocking his path.

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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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