Chapter 86 Hwashan War (3)

Sword King, Apprentice, Trinity of the Sky Sword, King of Four Wheels, Sword Dragon, Crescent Sword of the High Wind..

Starting with Firmament Sword Chul Namgoong, he learned of nicknames in the chat room. It wasn’t to the point of a false reputation, but several nicknames felt way too exaggerated and inflated. However, perhaps it was because he wasn’t impressed when he heard the old man’s nickname..

Sword Saint?

In direct translation, it was closer to the god of the sword. He wasn’t sure if it was valid or just a bluff. But the moment the old man lifted the sword, and purple energy was manifested from it. That old man became a being somewhat between human and a monster.

「Countdown is starting.」

With one hand behind his back, he quietly lifted the sword with his remaining hand. His flaws vanished as if they had never been. The absolute perfection he’d been looking for while training with the Heavenly Devil Sword.’ It was as if he had a glimpse of that realm.

‘Was I too rash?’

He wasn’t regretting the choice of challenging. However, there was no denying that he was sloppy in judging his opponents based on their levels. But..

‘I would’ve done it even if I knew this would happen.’

After reaching the tenth floor, the Coins disappeared, so the death faced in the future would be real. But that was the test the Tower assigned. The moment you were scared, you would fall behind. It may not be obvious right now, but one day there would be a moment when a past choice came back to haunt him.

If the Heavenly Devil, the King of Steel, or any other challenger, had defeated Sword Saint in this duel and received additional rewards..

Then it meant he was lacking.

Life? As long as you take the easy path, you will slowly be culled. And one day, there would be a time when you could no longer survive. Furthermore, he’d been waiting for a chance like this. An opponent whom he could fight with all his might.

‘I even had my stats increased. Maybe that might not be the case before that, but for now, he might not be an unbeatable opponent.’

After the countdown, the restraint disappeared. But unlike the duels he experienced so far, it was quiet on the field.

“Hohoho. What are you doing? Without rushing in like before.”

The old man asked while laughing loudly. The comfortable voice made the moment of confrontation feel like a lie, but..

Yoon-seok could feel it. His suppressed anger was burning.

‘Chul Namgoong, what the hell did he do in his past life?’

Perhaps the Chul Namgoong he saw on the seventh floor had become a future figure since this incident going forward. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had a match against him who could use Sword Manipulation freely. Well, he wasn’t so curious about Chul Namgoong’s story, nor was it important right now.

‘What should I do?’

‘What should I do?’

He could think of two things at once using Yin and Yang, but he didn’t have a solution. In the end, he had no choice but to explore the options one by one to find out. If he was sloppy, then the battle might be over in an instant. So he’d have to put all his energy in even if he was testing the water.

“Avatar.”

When Yoon-seok’s appearance changed, the hall roared.

“I’ve heard rumors that you went looking for black magic, but you’ve gone so far to get anything in your hands.”

The old man’s eyes turned icy. It wasn’t personal, but should he say that it was looking like it was his public duty to execute him? A firm determination to kill Yoon-seok crossed his face. He didn’t know if it was a good thing or not, but..

「Twelve swords are being used. Increases magic stats by +1.」

Yoon-seok first made the Bloodseeker Swords and had them hover around him. Once King of All Swords was activated, he planned to actively use Bloodseeker Sword depending on the situation.

“It’s not an Amorphous Sword, but it’s an unusual tactic.”

He said the same thing as Chul Namgoong. What was an Amorphous Sword? He had no clue.

The old man nodded slightly as if he would let him have the first offense, and Yoon-seok quietly adjusted his breath.

‘It’s too bad the Judgement Sword or gloves aren’t activated.’

The gloves would be invoked on monsters or other species except for humans and beast-people. Unfortunately, neither was the case for this elderly man.

‘Let’s use Lady’s Commandment when a chance comes..’

It was time to get started. Yoon-seok used b Trajectory Enhancement} to launch the Bloodseeker Sword from afar. To be honest, it was quite a burden to get into close contact with that scary old man..

Boom, boom, boom!

The moment Bloodseeker Sword was fired, his purple energy reacted. The fixed S+ stats also increased the power of b Bloodseeker’s Ultimatum}, b Azure Dragon Energy}, and b King of All Swords}. Nevertheless, the sword streaming through the air were offset, regardless of their superiority.

Yoon-seok’s brow furrowed.

‘Am I wrong?’

The opponent didn’t have b Trajectory Enhancement}. Nevertheless, the sword energy still flew far.

‘Come to think of it; it’s just like the skill I saw before that...’

The sword that stretched out from the tip of the sword was divided into thousands of pieces. And now, a question came to mind. It was possible to manipulate the energy from the outside to make a sword, but why couldn’t he extend his sword without the help of the skill?

As if to answer his question, the old man rushed in.

“Look carefully.”

It was a normal sword-wielding movement, but when it clashed with Yoon-seok’s sword, the purple energy divided into several strokes.

“This is Falling Flowers.”

The tactic used by the first opponent, an illusion that benefited from hiding a thread of hardness inside the soft. But..

The old man’s tactic was different.

‘No illusion..?’

Everything was real as if the principle of Shifting was assimilated into the sword technique.

‘Ah..’historical

Only then did Yoon-seok realize Shifting itself was a method that combined the essence of both, and Falling Flowers was originally invented with that method. It just seemed to be different because his first opponent’s level was low. It wasn’t that type of tactic in the first place.

Whoooooooooosh!

Yoon-seok wasn’t flustered. It was a tactic based on Shifting? Then the answer was also simple. He could just respond with the same tactic. Following the purple energy, which was divided into several branches, Yoon-seok’s sword was also divided into several branches.

But then.

“This is Plum Blossom Domination.”

Thousands of petals flew. It was the tactic that the second opponent demonstrated. However, he just found out that the name was Plum Blossom Domination, and he realized it wasn’t just about glamour.

“..”

The real thing was different. It wasn’t weak enough to be swept away like before. Does softness overcome Hardness? It was disadvantageous to attack by force.

‘Then there’s another way.’

Yoon-seok looked at the scattered petals again. Plum Domination was a martial art made by manipulating energy from the outside, similar to the principle of Bloodseeker Sword. However, it was hard to imitate it immediately because he had a different Inner Qi.

It was impossible to create Bloodseeker Energy or Azure Dragon Energy in such a small form due to its nature. If Bloodseeker Energy was dominance and strongness, and Azure Dragon Energy was strongness and gentleness. That purple energy was pursuing softness and strongness.

Yoon-seok manifested b Azure Dragon Energy} into the sword, but it wasn’t shaped in the form of a sword. It was just radiating off the air.

Swaaaaaaaaaaaaa-!

Soon a blue thread was spread out from the tip of the sword and exploded into thousands of petals. Nevertheless, the old man calmly spoke.

“This is the Hwashan Sword.”

There was no tactic or technique, just a sword. Yoon-seok took it as a sign of putting his whole heart into it, drawing his attention forward.

Whoooosh!

Swords wielded through the petals falling in full bloom. Mysteriously, the sword moved around places where the petals didn’t touch. The energy from the sword seemed to push the petals away, but..

Upon closer inspection, that wasn’t the case.

‘Is that a tactic that abandons hardness?’

All previous tactics were all about glamour. But, what about this? There was no change, just smoothness, but straight to the goal.

‘No, not to give up change, but rather...’

Does it look rather normal at its extreme? It wasn’t a tactic that gave up on change. On the contrary, it looked crude since too many changes were happening during the attack.

‘How is it done?’

He didn’t just give up because there was no way. Lady’s Commandment, Vajra’s Step, and Enhanced Speed. There were as many as three solutions. However, they’d only exchanged three attacks. Yoon-seok decided to save a little more and wait for a better opportunity.

Swaaaaaaaaaaaa-!

The Heavenly Devil Sword. A tidal wave hit Yoon-seok’s sword. But..

‘It’s broken?’

A sword penetrated the tidal wave. As if Yoon-seok had cut it, aiming for the flaw that the Heavenly Devil had intentionally shown in the past. The old man pinpointed the place where it was mixed incongruously and poked his sword in. But it wasn’t without any effect.

The old man’s sword tip, which came out of the tidal wave, shook and began to show a subtle change. The normal-looking trick reaching an extreme was reduced to one of the normal changing tactics. The old man’s sword was divided into twelve directions and aimed for Yoon-seok’s vital points.

‘How many were there originally?’

He didn’t know. Coincidentally, the numbers matched. Yoon-seok used his dual swords to block the ones aiming for his neck and heart while using the levitating Bloodseeker Swords to stop the following attacks.

Boom, boom, boom!

A total of twenty-four swords collided at the same time.

Tadak.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Yoon-seok widened their distance. Of course, it was possible because the old man allowed it. The old man opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask something.

“I heard that a rookie appeared and called himself Sword Master, and now I see that he deserved it.”

It was Chul Namgoong. He didn’t know what happened to him, but it was true that he was still a rookie and probably hadn’t challenged this old man.

‘He wanted to live, so he escaped, and then later he was called to the Tower.’

However, it would be ridiculous to say that he wasn’t Chul Namgoong in this situation.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think you’re good enough to be called a Sword Saint.”

Surely that old man was a great swordsman. If the stats hadn’t been fixed at S+, he wouldn’t have even reached a tie with the previous tricks. But if you asked him if he was enough to attain the nickname of Sword Saint..

He could say it firmly. He wasn’t at that level. The evidence was that he could withstand three exchanges.

“Hohoho. What a bold guy.”

Despite Yoon-seok’s provocation, the old man remained calm. He just lifted the sword he had lowered for a while. And..

“Early Plum Blossom, Winter Plum Blossom, and Snow Plum Blossom. The names depended on when the plum blossoms bloom. And with ‘White Plum Blossom’ and ‘Red Plum Blossom,’ the name changes depending on the color of the petals.”

He suddenly went on about plum blossoms. What the hell did he want to say? He was even more confused after hearing the following explanation.

“My master was enlightened after looking at the changes of plum blossoms and founded this place.”

Now he was talking about the history of Hwashan. What was wrong with him all of a sudden? Yoon-seok’s eyes were full of questions, but the old man continued regardless.

“The disciples of our clan have wielded their swords thousands of times under the plum tree since they were young. It is to capture the changes of plum blossoms. Splendor, and infinite freedom when petals fly in the wind.”

“..”

“I wanted to show you what a real sword is. But the decision to save face has rather hurt the reputation of the clan.”

Thud.

The old man took a step. For some reason, Yoon-seok felt a great tension.

“I’ll tell you now. What I’m going to show you from now on is not the Hwashan’s swordsmanship.”

He says he was the leader of their clan, but it wasn’t their sword? Did he learn martial arts from other clans?

That thought flashed across his mind, but soon he could tell that wasn’t the case. Purple energy formed on the old man’s sword. However, it wasn’t as soft or glamorous as before. The energy was threatening, and it seemed somewhat light but also mixed with a heaviness.

Whose sword is it? The old man did not give a clear answer, but Yoon-seok didn’t ask. He could tell even if he didn’t.

“Gama.”

It was the Sword Saint Lee Hyun-hak’s sword.