CLS-Chapter 217

Chapter 217

Swish!

That sword was distinctly different from before.

Just moments ago, Eonhyo, who had experienced his sword, couldn’t help but cry out “Unfair!” – it was that fast and sharp. The single strike from Cheong-gongja contained a clear will to eliminate Wei Yan-ho, enough to make Eonhyo, who held no favorable feelings toward Wei Yan-ho, argue about unfairness.

However, Wei Yan-ho just stared blankly with wide eyes at Cheong-gongja’s strike.

Whoosh!

The sword energy released by Cheong-gongja flew toward Wei Yan-ho’s face. The sound of air being cut pierced through ears.

“Oh, oh!”

In that instant, those watching the sparring platform all widened their eyes in shock.

Those with low martial cultivation watched the situation without understanding, while those who knew the meaning of Cheong-gongja’s strike all jumped up from their seats in surprise.

That strike was not one to be unleashed against a late-stage junior.

The body of Cheong-yeongja, the Mount Hua Sect Leader, flinched for a moment.

‘It can’t be.’

No matter how angry he was, Cheong-gongja wasn’t the type to try to take a late-stage junior’s life in such a setting. For a moment, strength filled his legs, but Cheong-gongja desperately suppressed his own legs.

If he were to rush onto the examination platform at this moment, Cheong-gongja’s dignity would completely fall to the ground, and Mount Hua’s authority would also plummet.

During the brief moment when the sword energy reached Wei Yan-ho, countless thoughts tangled complexly in Cheong-yeongja’s mind.

And Wei Yan-ho, the one receiving the sword energy, opened his mouth wide as he watched the terrifying sword energy flying toward his face. He was so surprised that his hand holding the sword couldn’t even move.

Wei Yan-ho’s slowly opened mouth widened even more.

And then…

“Yaaaaaawn!”

Right in front of Wei Yan-ho’s face as he yawned with tears trickling down, the sword energy changed direction and passed by Wei Yan-ho’s face.

“Mmm.”

Wei Yan-ho casually wiped away the tears with his sleeve.

‘He yawned?’

Cheong-gongja couldn’t understand this guy’s mental state at all.

Did he dodge the sword?

That was possible.

It was a strike he had launched just to startle him once. He had no intention whatsoever of harming Wei Yan-ho. It was sword energy set to naturally pass by his side after giving him a moderate scare.

So even if his body froze in surprise at the incoming sword energy, he could naturally avoid it. But…

‘He yawned?’

What is a yawn?

Isn’t a yawn when a person’s body reaches the extreme of drowsiness, sucking in air to wake up? But he yawned when Cheong-gongja’s sword energy was flying right at his face?

‘What kind of guy is this?’

Cheong-gongja couldn’t understand the guy before his eyes at all.

Was he utterly fearless, or was he really so stupid that he couldn’t grasp what situation this was?

If not that, then?

‘An absolute master?’

Cheong-gongja laughed.

Meeting such an absurd guy was making even his thoughts absurd.

But Wei Yan-ho, whether he knew Cheong-gongja’s feelings or not, yawned with a calm face.

Crack.

A vein bulged on Cheong-gongja’s forehead.

“Whether it’s skill or luck, I don’t know, but I’ll praise you for not panicking at my sword.”

At Cheong-gongja’s words, Wei Yan-ho slowly nodded and opened his mouth.

“Then do I pass?”

“Huh?”

Cheong-gongja said as if dumbfounded.

“Only one second has passed, and you’re talking about passing?”

Cheong-gongja couldn’t understand Wei Yan-ho’s words, but Wei Yan-ho asked back as if wondering what he was talking about.

“I don’t pass?”

“Of course not. For you to pass, you need to withstand ten more seconds of mine.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho glared.

“I’ve heard countless times that Mount Hua is fair and just as an Orthodox sect, but now I can clearly see that those words were all lies. They say there’s no one in the world to trust – no, no sect to trust – but I never thought Mount Hua, one of the Nine Sects, would change their words like this.”

“Wh-what are you saying, you bastard!”

Cheong-gongja’s face turned red with anger.

It wasn’t about him personally, but Mount Hua. If it were an insult to him, he could laugh it off, but insulting Mount Hua was something he could never tolerate.

“Shouldn’t examinations be fair?”

“That’s right. Are you saying I wasn’t fair?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Because I launched a strong attack at you? That’s!”

“No.”

Wei Yan-ho cleanly cut off Cheong-gongja’s words and opened his mouth.

“It’s not because you attacked strongly. Of course, there seems to be some emotion mixed in there too, which is somewhat distasteful, but I’m broad-minded so I can fully understand such things. My master said that unleashing swords of the same power multiple times is the most difficult thing.”

Why would unleashing swords of the same power continuously be difficult?

Wouldn’t that be the easiest thing?

For a moment, he felt puzzled, but now wasn’t the time to question such things. Wei Yan-ho began explaining again.

“The problem is that the same situation is receiving different evaluations. Isn’t this discrimination? Or is favoritism being shown because he’s a disciple of a prestigious sect?”

“Favoritism!”

Cheong-gongja’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

Though he wasn’t at the level to compete for supremacy with swords within Mount Hua, he had lived his entire life taking pride in fairness and justice. But now Wei Yan-ho’s words were denying the foundation of his life.

“What is different? If you can’t convince me, I’ll directly question your wrongdoing.”

As the situation grew increasingly serious, Cheong-yeongja, the Mount Hua Sect Leader, let out a groan.

‘What is this in just the preliminaries…’

The atmosphere grew more and more heated. Countless people were gathering their gazes, curious about what conclusion the war of words between Cheong-gongja and Wei Yan-ho would bring.

“…That bastard really.”

Wei Jeong-han covered his face.

He had missed the timing to intervene. Now if he stepped in to stop it, it would become an insult to Cheong-gongja. Whether he liked it or not, he had no choice but to watch how the conclusion would turn out.

“What’s the problem!”

As Cheong-gongja raised his voice, Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you see him?”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho’s fingertip pointed to Eonhyo, who had just passed the examination right in front. Seeing Eonhyo, Cheong-gongja tilted his head, and Eonhyo’s face turned deathly pale as he looked at Wei Yan-ho.

‘No! Why are you dragging me into this again!’

Cheong-gongja asked as if he couldn’t understand.

“Did that child cause some problem?”

“No, he did well. But you see.”

Wei Yan-ho wiggled his finger.

“He didn’t have to receive the next ten seconds because he dodged a strike that exceeded the examination standards, so why do I have to take the next examination when I just dodged that sword? If your eyes aren’t knothole-sized, you should be able to tell that the strike I received was more powerful than the one he dodged, right?”

Eonhyo unconsciously nodded.

‘That’s true.’

If the strike Eonhyo had deflected was a stream, the strike Wei Yan-ho had received was at the level of the Yangtze River. They were different dimensions and levels.

“No, that’s!”

For a moment, Cheong-gongja felt his words getting stuck.

The moment he said here, ‘I deliberately raised the power to scare you, but I never intended for it to touch your body, so you didn’t dodge it,’ he would become someone who oppressed an examinee due to personal feelings at the examination site.

‘Oh no!’

Cheong-gongja’s face turned slightly pale.

Of course, others probably guessed the situation, but there was a dimensional difference between guessing it and saying it with his own mouth. The world is originally like that. Things that are passed over with understanding become cases where situations rapidly reverse the moment they are formally raised as issues.

Cheong-gongja realized he had fallen into a trap.

Here, between saying that strike was an emotional strike so the examination should continue, and saying Wei Yan-ho had dodged it brilliantly so no further examination was needed.

Which side should he choose?

“Of-of course you dodged my strike. You dodged it, but…”

Cold sweat began flowing down Cheong-gongja’s forehead.

All the spectators seemed to be staring only at his mouth. Even though examinations were taking place in other training grounds, no one was paying attention to other places.

Even the elders watching examinations on the adjacent sparring platform were glancing at him, and over there…

‘S-Sect Leader.’

The Mount Hua Sect Leader Cheong-yeong was glaring at him with a ghostly face.

Depending on what he said here, the spectators would form different opinions about the place called Mount Hua.

“…Yes, you dodged it.”

Cheong-gongja swallowed his tears.

For an examiner to be unfair was the most shameful thing. Especially if word spread that he, who had stepped forward bearing Mount Hua’s name, had conducted an unfair examination, the repercussions would exceed what he could handle.

Cheong-gongja’s shoulders drooped as he opened his mouth.

“But… couldn’t you just take one more technique?”

The reason he still couldn’t let him pass.

If he passed Wei Yan-ho here and Wei Yan-ho went up to the main competition only to fall miserably, there would be talk that the preliminary examination standards were wrong.

A dilemma.

It was a situation where he couldn’t do this or that.

“Ten seconds?”

“Th-that’s right. If you can just block one more technique of mine, I’ll pass you immediately.”

Wei Yan-ho turned his head slightly to look at Wei Jeong-han.

“Father.”

Why is this guy calling him again?

Instinctively realizing that Wei Yan-ho was going to drag him in to cause trouble, Wei Jeong-han answered with a trembling voice.

“…Why, why, you bastard?”

“You need to work a bit harder.”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.

“Zhenzhu Yan Family only needs to block ten seconds to pass, but Guangdong Wei Family has to take more examinations even after blocking something stronger. This is because father has been playing around all this time instead of raising his reputation.”

“…”

Wei Jeong-han became like a mute who ate honey.

What should he answer in this situation?

Whatever he said would inevitably hurt feelings with Mount Hua. But…

‘No, now that I think about it, I’m getting angry.’

Wei Yan-ho’s words weren’t wrong either. Why did Eonhyo pass with just deflecting that, while my kid has to take more examinations even after deflecting something like that?

‘He’s a guy who didn’t even need examinations in the first place!’

Wei Jeong-han was always anxious and dissatisfied with Wei Yan-ho, but that was when they were within the family. When he realized that his proud son was being disrespected by others, Wei Jeong-han’s face was colored with blade-like sternness.

“I was lacking, causing you to experience such things.”

“It’s okay.”

“I’ll watch closely here to see how fair Mount Hua’s sword is. Not as the leader of the Righteous Martial Alliance, but as the head of Guangdong Wei Family, I’ll watch Mount Hua’s response, so you respond to the examination.”

Wei Yan-ho drew his sword with a swish.

“Wei Yan-ho of Guangdong Wei Family receives the head’s words.”

The air in the hall began to grow cold.

As the situation began to transform into a pride battle between Mount Hua and Guangdong Wei Family, the spectators watched the situation with excited eyes.

Indeed, what would Cheong-gongja do here?

Cheong-gongja, who had been quietly watching Wei Yan-ho and Wei Jeong-han, slowly opened his mouth.