Chapter 58

Chapter 58

One week ago.

“From now on, I will give you the final assignment of this training.”

As I spoke to the Muryeongwando who were preparing to depart after completing their training, all the Muryeongwando turned to look in this direction at once.

“……What? But we need to leave now.”

“That’s why I’m saying this.”

“What do you mean……?”

“You’ve all grown stronger over the past two months. There’s no room to deny that.”

When does a person, a martial artist, grow fastest?

It’s when they first start training. New methods of training, new burdens on muscles, new ways of thinking—all these things show the steepest growth curve when attempted for the ‘first time.’

That’s also why martial artists enter seclusion training for anywhere from a few weeks to several years when they gain enlightenment. To completely make that new enlightenment—which they’ve never experienced before—their own, it’s most effective to immerse themselves in it immediately.

And from that perspective, the growth curve of the Muryeongwando, who came here and experienced completely new training methods, was bound to be steep. However.

Could one say that these rapidly growing Muryeongwando have now caught up to the Mujeongwando?

Well.

One couldn’t be certain, could they?

“I don’t know exactly how strong the Mujeongwando are. But I have a general idea. I do receive news, after all.”

This is a generation everyone unanimously calls the golden generation. That means it’s similar to the generation from over a decade ago, when I was enrolled.

The Mujeongwando of that generation were truly strong. Even I couldn’t have achieved total victory if I hadn’t squeezed out every ounce of my strength. If the current Mujeongwando are at a similar level to that generation’s Mujeongwando, then the winning probability the current Muryeongwando can expect is at best thirty percent.

That’s why additional training is necessary.

“No matter how much time we have, it’s insufficient, and no matter how much we train, it’s not enough. If you truly want to win, you shouldn’t rest on your current improvements but do your best. Am I wrong?”

“You’re right!”

“Good. Then from now on, we enter practical application.”

“……Practical application, you say?”

“Yes. This is training you’ll do on the way to the Murim Alliance. You can consider it training in preparation for the competition.”

I let out a chuckle seeing the puzzled expressions of the Muryeongwando at my cryptic words. Of course they’d find it strange—they’d already experienced training that felt like real combat, so it would seem odd for me to mention practical application now.

But just because what we’ve done so far felt real doesn’t mean it was actual combat. It was only close to it, after all.

“The training content is simple. Reach the Murim Alliance.”

Slowly lowering my voice and sweeping my gaze across the group, I tapped the tip of Uicheongeom’s blade. The trainees’ gazes turned to my hand, as if expecting additional content to emerge from it.

“That’s all.”

“……That’s everything?”

“Yes.”

But there’s no more content to come out. The training really is just that.

“The conditions are simple. If you arrive at the Murim Alliance safely, that’s the end. If you don’t arrive safely, there’ll be special training even after arrival. Understood?”

“Yes!”

“I’ll assign teams now. Seonwoo Gang, Seomun Cheok. You two are a team of two.”

“We’re a team of two, which means…….”

“Yes.”

I nodded to Seonwoo Gang, who asked cautiously.

“The other teams aren’t teams of two. Unjin, Dan Riyeon, Oh Ryeong, you three are a team.”

“……Yes!”

“Lee Hyeong, Ju Seon, Jin Cheon, team of three.”

“Understood!!!”

“Sa Ryeong, Ha Yu, Do Chan, Gyeong Han, team of four.”

“Everyone not included forms teams of four. Understood?”

“……Yes!”

Seeing the Muryeongwando who had been staring at each other now answer loudly, I smiled faintly. Training where you just need to reach the Murim Alliance.

“In these teams, you’ll each meet at the Murim Alliance. The deadline is ten days from now, three days before the Murim Alliance martial arts competition begins.”

Well, it might seem easy, but it won’t be as simple as they think. If everything up to now was about raising their own abilities.

“Make sure you arrive.”

From now on, it will be closer to testing their capabilities.

Several days passed.

“It’s time to switch.”

Seonwoo Gang, who had been watching the crackling campfire, turned his head at the voice and smiled bitterly. Seomun Cheok’s figure trudging over with a thoroughly exhausted expression.

“Is it that time already? I could have slept a bit more.”

“No. If you don’t get enough sleep, it could cause problems. This is just right. Anyway, did anything happen?”

“If something happened, I would have woken you.”

“That’s true. Go sleep.”

“I think I’ll stay a bit longer. I can’t fall asleep.”

“Is that so?”

Seomun Cheok, who had nodded, sat down on a log, moistened his throat with his canteen, and spoke.

“You seem deep in thought.”

“……Hm? Me?”

“Yes. Are you that worried about the competition?”

“Ah…… well.”

Seonwoo Gang smiled bitterly at Seomun Cheok’s question and shook his head. It wasn’t that he wasn’t worried, but he wasn’t absorbed in thoughts about the competition.

“I’m just wondering what will happen after the competition ends.”

“After the competition?”

“Yes.”

Seonwoo Gang and Seomun Cheok are facing their fourth competition this year. Considering that the academy competition is held at the end of the academic year, this essentially means that soon after the competition ends, the current Muryeongwando will be assigned to the Muryeokdae.

It’s a new beginning, an anxious time. Other Muryeongwando are probably trembling with anxiety, wondering if they’ll be able to do well after entering a new Muryeokdae when the competition ends. However.

What about himself?

“……There’s no turning back now.”

I changed my way of living, the martial principles  I pursued. As a result, the blood-red sword energy that revealed I was a disciple of Hyeolgeommun disappeared. Naturally, Seonwoo Gang no longer needs to kill his martial sister. But.

That doesn’t mean all connections between Hyeolgeommun and Seonwoo Gang have been severed. Seonwoo Gang’s sword techniques are still Hyeolgeommun’s, and his mental cultivation method is also Hyeolgeommun’s.

He’s destined to face catastrophe eventually. The only fortunate thing is that it will take considerable time for the Hyeolgeommun Sect Leader, who rarely travels outside, to learn of Seonwoo Gang’s condition.

“There are many problems.”

He doesn’t share his worries. These aren’t things he wants others to know about.

Seomun Cheok, seeing Seonwoo Gang’s bitter smile, poked at the innocent campfire with a stick while deliberately changing the subject.

“……Come to think of it, I don’t understand what he’s thinking.”

“Hm?”

“This training, I mean. I don’t understand what kind of training this is.”

“Ah.”

Seonwoo Gang nodded at Seomun Cheok’s words and turned his gaze to the burning campfire. Just as Seomun Cheok said, despite several days passing since they departed from Hwayonghyeon, nothing special had happened during that time.

“There’s definitely something, though.”

Two months.

It’s a short period if you call it short, but it’s enough time to evaluate someone. What was Baek Riyun like during that time?

“He’s someone who doesn’t waste anything.”

A rational person—that’s the evaluation the Muryeongwando gave to Baek Riyun.

If Baek Riyun orders something, it definitely has meaning. In daily life, he has appropriate gaps and a gentle personality, but when it comes to training, Baek Riyun is like a demon.

This is training ordered by such a Baek Riyun. Then it must have some meaning.

That’s the problem.

“There’s definitely something, but what exactly is it?”

“It could be similar to the entrance exam. Isn’t the content the same? In both cases, you just need to reach your destination.”

“If we think based on experience, that might be true, but the scope is too broad. It’s not one team but five. The range is the entire path from Hwayonghyeon to Sangsan. Unless he’s a divine immortal , he can’t cover that entire range.”

“That’s…… true.”

“The way he divided the teams must have meaning too, and looking at how he arranged this particular composition……?”

Seonwoo Gang, who had been chasing the sparks jumping from the split firewood with his eyes while recalling each team’s composition, suddenly blinked at a thought that occurred to him.

“……Wait. Isn’t the team composition a bit strange?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. Except for our Team 1 and Team 2 with Oh Ryeong, there’s no one in the other teams who could serve as team leader.”

“To form proper teams, we should have dispersed you and me, Unjin and Oh Ryeong into each team. Even if he excluded us to balance the teams’ levels, he should have at least dispersed Unjin and Oh Ryeong.”

That was actually the case. Whenever there were team-based classes at Muryeongwan, weren’t Seonwoo Gang, Seomun Cheok, Unjin, and Oh Ryeong often the team leaders?

Anyone would have judged it that way. The more those who can take initiative in voicing opinions and leading groups become team leaders, the more efficient things become.

“With this team arrangement, even if the total amount of strength matches up, each individual team’s level will vary wildly. The Sect Leader couldn’t not know this. So why did he deliberately put those two in one team?”

“If we’re looking for a reason, there must be a reason why it had to be that way.”

“A reason why it had to be that way. A reason……?”

Seonwoo Gang, who had been deeply pondering while tapping his forehead with his finger, suddenly stopped his motion at a thought that occurred to him.

“……He definitely said it was acceptable to consider this training in preparation for the competition. Then there’s probably a high chance it’s related to the competition.”

“Related to the competition?”

“Yes. The goal is the Murim Alliance, the condition is team action. Similar conditions in the competition are…….”

Seomun Cheok, who had been thinking along with Seonwoo Gang’s words, soon realized something and opened his eyes wide. Memories flashing through his mind in an instant.

“……Group battle. Flag breaking.”

The competition is divided into three parts, and the group battle that decorates the finale has exactly that kind of feeling, doesn’t it?

“He deliberately made the teams unbalanced to solve each one’s weaknesses. What are the problems with Teams 3, 4, and 5?”

At Seonwoo Gang’s quick question, Seomun Cheok thought for a moment and answered.

“For those kids, it would be the absence of a commander. Their martial arts themselves aren’t bad, but they’re weak at improvisation and simple-minded. They struggle to make decisions independently.”

“What about Teams 4 and 5?”

“Their martial arts are somewhat lacking, and because of that, they don’t have much confidence. They rarely voice their opinions.”

“Right. Then Team 2 is…….”

“Conversely, everyone has their own firm opinions, so it’s not easy for them to coordinate with each other.”

“Each has clear weaknesses. Then Team 1, what’s our weakness?”

“Individually perhaps, but as a pair, none. At least if we’re comparing to fellow trainees. That’s what the internal evaluation said too, wasn’t it?”

“That’s true. But there must be some problem, which is why he arranged us this way…….”

Seeing Seomun Cheok answer immediately, Seonwoo Gang nodded and stroked his chin. And.

“Don’t just trust the internal evaluation and think more…….”

The moment Seonwoo Gang, who had been deeply absorbed in thought, was about to speak.

“There’s no need for that. Juniors. You weren’t grouped because you have weaknesses.”

At the low voice that returned, Seonwoo Gang and Seomun Cheok grasped their weapons.

“Who are you?”

“Your opponent.”

Slowly.

With the sound of footsteps cutting through the trees submerged in darkness, a slender silhouette  walked out from beyond. A woman’s figure who, despite clearly having a beautiful appearance, exudes a sharp aura that seems ready to cut.

“I am Changcheondaeju Moyong Hyeyeon.”

“What? Changcheondaeju……did you say?”

“Yes. You two are…….”

The woman, who had briefly examined Seonwoo Gang and Seomun Cheok’s appearance, unfolded a paper from her bosom, looked at it once, and nodded.

“You’re Seonwoo Gang and Seomun Cheok, correct?”

“Wa, wait. Why is the Changcheondaeju here?”

“……It’s absolutely not an abuse of power. It’s a rule of the Corps. Since I owe the lives of two members, shouldn’t I repay that debt?”

Seureurеung!

Moyong Hyeyeon, who spoke coldly, drew her sword and slowly aimed its tip forward. And.

“Changcheondaeju Moyong Hyeyeon plus five members of Changcheondae.”

The moment Moyong Hyeyeon’s sword tip shone brightly, reflecting the campfire’s light.

“We request a mock battle with the Muryeongwando.”

A sword strike flew.

And the light went out.