Chapter 136 - The Black Flame Dragon Who Proves Himself (6)

While the initial evaluations of the academy students' skills were conducted by the drill instructors, the small number of instructors could not possibly measure the skills of hundreds of academy students.

In the end, the evaluation of the academy students was first divided by whether they belonged to the Nine Sects and One Gang, the Five Great Noble Clans, or the 108 Peaks.

Going further, what rank did they hold within the 108 Peaks?

If they belonged to the Five Great Noble Clans, were they from a branch line or the direct line? They predicted skills by considering even these aspects.

Looking at it from that perspective, the fact that I was currently facing Ilgak of the Shaolin Sect was no different from an act that completely ignored all past customs.

A disciple of the Shaolin Sect, the supreme Mount Tai and the Big Dipper, and a disciple of the Taiyi Sect, which was barely hanging onto the very tail end of the 108 Peaks.

No matter what standard you applied, we were opponents who should never have been matched up.

"This is taking quite a while."

It seemed we weren't the only ones thinking this.

Some drill instructors and instructors raised objections to the current situation, and even the Academy Director and Vice Director had come down from the podium to hold an emergency meeting.

"It looks like they're done."

"Naturally, there will be an adjustment regarding this ridiculous situation. Ah, I don't mean this out of disrespect to Young Master Jin."

"It's fine."

Contrary to Seong Moran's hopes, Buk Wonpyeong's deeply furrowed brow hinted that the discussion had not gone well.

Buk Wonpyeong briefly scanned the grounds, and when our eyes met, he sent me a sound transmission.

-Their stated reason is that they highly evaluate your skills for getting a perfect score on the written exam... but it seems the Elder's Hall's influence was actually at play.

-Is it the Orthodox Council again?

-I don't think so. It seems the White Path Council also wants to see your skills.

-I see.

-If you want, I will stop this, even if I have to use my authority.

-It's fine. You might become my Martial Uncle, so wouldn't you be disappointed if I showed myself leaning on you this early?

Buk Wonpyeong looked quite surprised before soon nodding his head.

-Perhaps this opportunity is for the better. Even if you lose to the Shaolin Sect, no one will point fingers at you.

As soon as Buk Wonpyeong finished speaking, a drill instructor shouted resonantly.

"We will now proceed with the sparring match. The academy students who were called out, come up to the training ground!"

Ilgak stepped up onto the training ground.

He maintained his composure, seeming completely unbothered by the cold stares and mockery around him.

"It's a conspiracy to drag down Eldest Senior Brother no matter what."

Eunho ground his teeth.

"I'd rather Eldest Senior Brother just forfeit."

"Me too..."

"..."

"I heard Ilgak is the strongest person in the Shaolin Sect right after Little Buddha."

Geumpyo didn't say anything, but Dongryong couldn't hide his worried expression.

"Is that so?"

Even at my indifferent response, Eunho's tightly clenched fists flushed red, as if anger was surging within him.

"Why do you have to be treated like this every time? Aren't you feeling wronged, Eldest Senior Brother?"

"People want us to stay in our place. Every attempt we make to step forward is bound to be an eyesore to them."

"..."

"Just because it's dirty and unfair, should we just stay where we are?"

"Even if you don't step forward... you are still our Eldest Senior Brother."

I nodded my head.

In my past life, I couldn't protect them.

I had a hard enough time just protecting myself while reading the room around Gye Cheolyeong.

Even so, these guys never once showed or vented any feelings of resentment toward me.

Even when I wasn't their Eldest Senior Brother, they were always like that.

"I know. But if I don't step forward, won't you guys end up bearing the brunt of the storm in the end?"

Geumpyo, who had been silently twitching his lips next to me, suddenly shouted.

"Why are you trying to carry all the burden by yourself, Senior Brother! We're not kids!"

"I know."

This was my burden alone.

An atonement for a past life that only I knew about.

"But if I protect you guys first, then next time, you guys will be able to protect even more junior brothers and disciples, won't you?"

"...!"

Because we had always been together since childhood, I could quickly pick up on their emotional changes.

Geumpyo flared his nostrils when he didn't want to cry, and Eunho furrowed his brow intensely.

And Dongryong silently squeezed out tears.

"Don't worry. I won't fall in a place like this. Dongryong, stop crying. If you cry like that, doesn't it make your Eldest Senior Brother look like a really weak person?"

"... Hic."

I unfastened the Black Dragon Sword and the Flying Dragon Claw and handed them to Eunho.

The Geum-eun-dong Brothers looked back and forth between the Black Dragon Sword and my face with bewildered expressions.

"Besides, when it comes to cheap tricks, is there anyone who can match your Eldest Senior Brother?"

"...?"

"... Ah!"

Only Eunho seemed to realize as he raised his eyebrows. I gave a small smile to the quick-witted guy, then immediately turned and stepped up onto the training ground.

With every step I took, a commotion began to arise in the grounds.

The sound of people whispering grew louder, creating an atmosphere like a marketplace.

"... W-What? Isn't that guy's main weapon the sword?"

"The true inheritance of the Taiyi Sword Emperor is ultimately the sword too."

"Then... is he thinking he doesn't even need to use a sword against the Shaolin Sect?"

"He's crazy."

A faint crack began to form on the face of Ilgak, who had been maintaining his composure like a sculpted Buddha statue.

"Why didn't you bring your sword?"

"Wasn't Monk Ilgak's main combat style fist arts as well?"

"... Did you leave your sword behind on purpose?"

Ilgak's face had changed to look like the Four Heavenly Kings inside the Heavenly King Gate.

"It doesn't look good for the top seat to go all out against a regular academy student, either."

"... Such arrogance..."

-Did you think I would obediently let myself get beaten?

"...!"

-I'm not an idiot. Did you think I wouldn't know your people's shallow tricks?

"Academy student Jin Sowoon. The use of sound transmission before a sparring match is prohibited."

At the referee's restraint, I nodded and said.

"I hope we have a good sparring match."

Ilgak's face distorted at the fist-and-palm salute I offered with a smile.

* * *

'What level are my skills at right now?'

Compared to my past life, my skills in my current life had definitively improved to an incomparable degree.

Compared to when I struggled desperately to conserve not even half a cycle's worth of internal energy, now I could use the Radiant Heaven Divine Palm about twice and still not be exhausted.

Comparing the level of a Third-Rate lower-class warrior to the top-admitted student of the Murim Academy was inherently absurd.

However, aside from that, when discussing my level within Murim, the story got complicated.

Fundamentally, when facing figures from the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Clans in this life, my responses had been based on the Destruction Form created by Zhuge Cheongi in the past, and my victories relied on various cheap tricks and memories of the past, so I couldn't gauge exactly what my actual skill level was.

I had recently encountered a shadow warrior from the Alliance Leader's Pavilion who didn't know the Destruction Form, but he wasn't someone on a level I could even discuss to begin with.

Anyway, looking at it from that perspective, Ilgak was a true opponent who could properly gauge my level.

The only sect among the Nine Sects and One Gang and the Five Great Noble Clans for which no Destruction Form was made.

No, the sect for which there was originally no need to make one.

The martial arts of the Shaolin Sect, based on the discipline of mind and body, did not care about things like the efficiency of a Martial Move, and because there were countless variations depending on individual enlightenment, a Destruction Form seeking the efficiency of a Martial Move was unnecessary.

"Begin!"

Along with the referee's voice, Ilgak took his starting stance.

Dragon King Fist, considered one of the Shaolin Sect's Seventy-Two Supreme Arts.

His two fists looked as if they would shoot out at any moment, like an imugi waiting for its time to ascend to heaven.

'To use the Dragon King Fist already, he must be really angry.'

When I also took the starting stance for the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist, the commotion in the grounds grew even louder.

"Is he really planning to fight with fist arts?"

"His arrogance is too much."

"Since he's going to be humiliated anyway, I think he's trying to save face by holding back?"

Piercing through the commotion in the grounds, the first to move was Ilgak.

A continuous strike of the Dragon King Fist following an Immovable Movement Technique that seemed to glide over ice.

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

The fierce strikes pouring out like flowing water possessed the sharpness of a dragon's teeth, making it feel as if I were being slashed by swords.

Even after unleashing ten attacks in a single Martial Move, Ilgak seemed to have no intention of retreating, continuing to pour out the Dragon King Fist, disrupting my vision with strikes crashing in from the front and soaring up from below.

"Was this all you had to act so arrogant?"

His tone was polite, but the voice reaching out clearly contained anger.

Having blocked a total of twenty-five attacks over three Martial Moves, I unleashed the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps to create an illusion of moving to Ilgak's side, then tried to step back.

"... Hmph!"

Ilgak, who had been moving to the side, must have heard the footsteps of my true body, as he quickly twisted his ankle to execute the Eight Trigrams Serpent Footwork, and his figure suddenly appeared right in front of me.

The Dragon King Fist, pouring out ten strikes in a single second, split the space where I had been, and I narrowly dodged the Dragon King Fist and grabbed his back.

However.

THUD!

Stomping a shock step hard enough to shatter the floor of the training ground, Ilgak had somehow moved behind me.

"Even riding on a cloud, Sun Wukong cannot escape the Buddha's palm."

BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

Ilgak pouring out the Dragon King Fist.

I countered with the secret of variation (變) in the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist.

Dozens of fist illusions filling the empty air clashed with the sharp strikes like dragon's teeth.

CRAAAAASH!

Perhaps having underestimated the power of the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist, Ilgak, who had ignored the illusions, ended up yielding his whole body to the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist and stepped back three paces.

Ilgak looked down at the forearms he had used to block the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist head-on.

Seeing his reddened skin, he furrowed his brow as if he couldn't believe it.

"It's quite a bit heavier than you expected, isn't it?"

"..."

The position of Ilgak's two fists changed from side-by-side to high-and-low. Tiger Combat Fist, another martial art of the Seventy-Two Supreme Arts.

SWISH!

Ilgak's figure, having stepped with the Eight Trigrams Serpent Footwork, shot forward like an arrow, and before I knew it, he was swinging his two fists like a tiger right before my eyes.

POW-POW-POW!

I unfolded the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist to try and block the Tiger Combat Fist, but every time I hit it, my bones rang with a numb ache.

'My bones won't be able to hold out at this rate.'

Ilgak had mastered the Thousand-Catty Armor, an external martial art, so he had no hesitation in clashing with his body, but it wasn't the same for me.

Furthermore, there was originally no need to engage in a battle of strength (强) versus strength (强).

Letting one of his fists slip past, I simultaneously twisted my body to the side and executed Lotus (蓮花).

CRACK!

"...!"

No matter how much he had mastered the Thousand-Catty Armor, the joints connecting his bones were ultimately still human.

If I didn't want my bones to break, I had no choice but to put my body weight into the arm I had grabbed.

Ilgak's body lifted into the air and flipped half a turn.

At the same time, I slammed him down onto the training ground with all my might.

THWACK!

Having taken the floor with his entire body, Ilgak bounced up abruptly like a pig's bladder filled with air.

He was wide-eyed with shock, unaware that his face was covered in dirt.

"... Grafting the Flower?"

Ilgak wore an expression of disbelief.

Well, martial arts like Grafting the Flower or Four Taels Deflecting a Thousand Catties were originally looked down upon in both Wudang and Shaolin.

So how surprising must the Flowing Cloud Divine Art be, which returned power properly to a degree incomparable to Shaolin's?

"Did the Taiyi Sect have such a martial art as well?"

"This originally wasn't a place to only show restricted martial arts, was it?"

"That's... true."

Ilgak composed his expression, and differing energies began to linger on both his hands.

Dragon King Fist in his right hand, Bamboo Leaf Hand in his left.

It was likely because he was wary of the Flowing Cloud Divine Art's Lotus (蓮花).

Likewise, I channeled Lotus into my left hand and the energy of the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist into my right.

GULP.

Along with the sound of someone swallowing their saliva, Ilgak approached with a gliding motion.

I also didn't dodge this time and unleashed the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps.

First, the Dragon King Fist poured out.

BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM-BAM-BAM!

The moment I deflected his strikes one by one with Lotus and then tried to suppress him using his own power.

The Bamboo Leaf Hand, which had been prepared in his left hand, stabbed in sharply.

SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!

As I moved my feet frantically to dodge the Bamboo Leaf Hand flying in with dizzying sharpness, the floor where his hand passed by was deeply gouged out.

CRASH, CRASH, CRAASH!

Even though a human hand had clashed with marble, dirt and dust flew up, and pieces of marble shattered.

Then, the moment he recovered the Bamboo Leaf Hand and tried to pull his body back.

Having seized his flank with the Taiyi Eighty Thousand Divine Steps, I poured out the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist in its entirety.

Countless fist illusions and strikes embroidering the empty air swallowed his figure.

Since I had already suppressed all four directions (四坊), there was nowhere for him to escape.

Because he could endure it with the Thousand-Catty Armor, I slammed all the internal energy I had into him.

No matter how hard a rock is, it's bound to break under an even stronger hammer strike.

CRAAAAAAASH!

Ilgak, who had been confronting the Ten Thousand Transformations Invincible Fist with the Dragon King Fist and Tiger Combat Fist, must have soon felt his limits as he withdrew both his fists.

Perhaps his intention was to take it with his body and then aim for an opening, but if he could take three cycles' worth of internal energy and still hold out, it would be better for me to forfeit first.

The moment Ilgak was about to be swallowed by dozens of fist illusions and strikes.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Golden light flashed, causing a massive explosion.

Lifted into the air by the unexpected shockwave, I had to spin my body several times before I could disperse the impact and land on the floor.

I raised my head with a thought of disbelief.

"Isn't that the Vajra Demon-Subduing Fist?"

"No way... he should barely be twenty years old, right? Already?"

"Why! They say Ilgak has talent matching Ilmyeong's!"

I knew he had even learned the Bodhidharma Muscle-Changing Classic.

"..."

However, it was publicly known that the age to begin learning the Muscle-Changing Classic was past thirty...

Would monks really lie?