Chapter 90

Chapter 90

Until now, Mujeongwando Heogwan had never once thought his talent was insufficient.

This was actually quite natural. He had studied at Jongnam , one of the pillars of Gupa Ilbang  renowned in the orthodox martial world, achieved outstanding results even among Jongnam’s martial brothers, entered Mujeong Hall, and among those Mujeongwando, achieved excellent results to be among the top sixteen going to the Grand Competition.

Considering that there were at least hundreds of thousands of martial artists in the orthodox martial world of the Central Plains , Heogwan, who was selected as Mujeong Hall’s representative, could be said to belong not just to the talented side but to the very talented side. 

Thanks to that, Heogwan had never once been intimidated by an opponent of his generation when engaging in combat.

Until now.

“Muryeon Hall vanguard Seomun Cheok. I look forward to learning from you.”

“……Mujeong Hall vanguard Heogwan. I look forward to learning from you.”

After exchanging pre-match courtesies and confirming each other’s eyes, Heogwan let out a silent scream inside.

‘What is this……!’

The Mujeongwando are stronger than the Muryeongwando.

That rumor circulating in society wasn’t wrong. In reality, there was quite a difference in martial power between the Mujeongwando and Muryeongwando.

Most Mujeongwando could defeat most Muryeongwando. With sixteen versus sixteen, they could be confident of victory, and if you randomly picked one Muryeongwando and one Mujeongwando each to fight, eight or nine times out of ten the Mujeongwando would win.

Right.

Eight or nine times out of ten the Mujeongwando win. Conversely, that also meant they lose one or two times out of ten.

Unfortunately, Seomun Cheok was a person who could actualize that one or two out of ten.

And naturally so, because Seomun Cheok was the second strongest martial artist among the Muryeongwando after Seonwoo Gang.

“Assume stance !”

At the referee’s preparation signal, Heogwan unconsciously took the starting position and bit his lips tight, not knowing about the silent scream. A chill creeping up his spine.

‘Hold out. Heogwan. Even if you lose, you must hold out…….’

Objectively evaluating, Seomun Cheok was strong. Even before receiving training, he was a bit stronger than himself, though weaker than Paeng Jin or Cheonggyeong, so the gap had probably widened even more by now.

‘Hold out as long as possible to drain his stamina. Then it might not be a loss.’

He couldn’t lose. If by any chance they lost even this third gate, not only the sect’s expectations but Mujeong Hall’s entire honor might be tarnished.

‘I’ll hold out!’

Feeling the burden weighing down on his shoulders, Heogwan gripped his sword hilt tightly. And.

“Begin!”

‘First, probe him!’

At the starting signal, the moment Heogwan swung his sword to check the charging Seomun Cheok.

“I see.”

Seomun Cheok raised his arm.

“So this is what the Sect Master meant.”

Simultaneously.

The iron spear’s spear tip touched beside Heogwan’s neck.

Puuk—!

—Hey, beggar bastard.

Seomun Cheok still remembers when he first went to the battlefield.

—……I’m not a beggar bastard. Mister.

—Keke, what else would you call a bastard who doesn’t know the value of his own life and comes rolling onto the battlefield with just a wooden spear?

At that time, Seomun Cheok was a greenhorn who went to the battlefield with just a wooden spear. Yet with strong pride, he would sharply retort to the soldiers’ teasing.

Thinking about it now, he was an unlikeable guy. He got riled up easily and grumbled even at trivial provocations.

But the soldiers seemed to find such behavior amusing and would tell him various things.

That day was the same. The night before going to battle. As usual, when a veteran soldier struck up conversation.

—Recruit beggar. Who do you think wins in battle?

—……The stronger guy wins.

—Hehe. Naive fool. If the strong guy always won, why would we have battles? We’d just stand on the battlefield, size each other up once, and the side that seems like they’ll lose just bows their head and that’s it.

Unable to refute the valid point, the veteran soldier wore a knowing smile watching Seomun Cheok.

—Listen well, beggar. This big brother will give you advice as precious as gold and jade.

—It’s mister. And it’s gold and jade .

—Hey hey, don’t nitpick small things. Anyway…… the most important thing on the battlefield is these eyes.

—……Eyes?

—Right. Eyes. The most important thing is glaring at your opponent with power in your eyes. If the higher-ups were to put it more elegantly, they’d call it morale .

Looking at the questioning Seomun Cheok, the veteran soldier let out a quiet laugh.

—Look. When you think ‘we’re going to win~’, doesn’t power surge into your shoulders?

—……Does it?

—Yeah. When the enemy has large numbers you get intimidated, and when our side’s master suddenly cuts down the enemy commander’s head, strength surges up.

The veteran soldier shrugged his shoulders playfully and continued.

—A guy with a face like he’s about to die any moment gets scared of the enemy and dies without being able to swing his spear or blade even once, while conversely, guys who think ‘whatever happens happens’ and charge forward disregarding their own lives strangely survive. That’s the battlefield.

—Beggar. Tomorrow’s your first battle, right?

—Yeah.

—This big brother will give you one piece of advice.

At Seomun Cheok’s blunt answer, the veteran soldier laughed as if amused and spoke.

—If you want to live, don’t run away.

—Whether beasts or people, there’s one thing in common, you know? Scared prey is the easiest to catch.

—Even a wildcat can’t easily deal with a mouse that attacks it, and a tiger as big as a house gets caught by hunters who are less than a third its size.

—Know what this means? Even someone worth jack shit has a chance if they get ahead in momentum. That dirty temper in your eyes—that’s the only thing you have going for you.

The side that falls behind in morale loses on the battlefield. So approach every moment with the resolve to definitely kill your opponent.

That’s what the veteran soldier said, and the young beggar accepted it. And.

The next day. After the battle ended.

The surviving Seomun Cheok recovered the veteran soldier’s corpse.

──With an expression filled with terror, his body turned toward his own camp.

The veteran soldier’s corpse, dead with a spear in his back.

“Vi-victor. Muryeon Hall’s Seomun Cheok!”

“……Whew.”

Hearing the referee announce, Seomun Cheok released some strength from his tensed arm, exhaled, and withdrew his spear. The audience had already gone cold.

“What just happened……?”

“It was one strike. Muryeoncchanggwi  defeated Jongnam’s disciple in one strike……!”

The murmuring audience watched, and feeling the throbbing pain, Seomun Cheok, who had been suppressing it, turned his head at the gaze he suddenly felt. Toward Heogwan, who was looking at him with a face as if his soul had left.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you have something to say?”

At Seomun Cheok’s question, Heogwan, who had been chewing his lips as if grinding them, gritted his teeth and forced out his voice.

“……It doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t make sense?”

“You’re not in your right mind. If you were in your right mind, you couldn’t do something like that……!”

“Not in my right mind…… Hmm.”

After briefly looking at his own bleeding forearm, Seomun Cheok let out a quiet laugh. Because he was aware that, as Heogwan said, it wasn’t something a sane person would do.

While the gates of the Grand Competition are differentiated from each other, the third gate is especially different from the other gates.

Right away, the first and second gates had illusionists create illusion formations due to environmental issues, fighting in a kind of illusion. In other words, injuries or death within that had no effect on reality.

But what about the third gate?

No illusion formations are installed. Not simply due to lack of manpower, but because the purpose of consecutive victory battles itself was closer to ‘how precisely can you draw out your strength to your limits.’

If it’s not reality, you can throw away your own life like an old shoe and still drag down your opponent. But what the military force members must see, experience, and overcome is reality, not illusion.

That’s why the third gate doesn’t operate separate illusion formations. Meaning injuries sustained in the third gate remain as is.

“You could have lost your arm if things went wrong. Do you know that……!”

“If it didn’t fly off, it doesn’t matter.”

“What kind of……!”

Because the opportunity for victory was right before his eyes.

Because he could see that compared to the first and second gates, the opponent’s momentum had decreased to an unprecedented degree.

‘Heogwan isn’t an easy opponent.’

Nine to one.

That was about Seomun Cheok’s expected win rate when facing the current Heogwan. Meaning he’d win nine times out of ten.

‘I’d win, but…… the stamina consumption would be heavy.’

Winning nine times out of ten means that depending on variables, he could lose once. He had the advantage, but it was a gap that could be overturned with one variable.

So normally he would have gone cautiously. Because if he lost by any chance, the burden on his other comrades would grow even larger.

‘……He’s afraid?’

The actual state of Heogwan he saw after going up was not good. To the degree where it wouldn’t be strange to say ten to zero instead of nine to one.

So Seomun Cheok thought. What is Heogwan afraid of? What intimidated Heogwan so much? What was the reason Mujeong Hall’s morale fell?

The conclusion was simple enough not to need long thought. Because.

—It’s unlikely, but I hope Muryeon Hall wins this Grand Competition. Aren’t they a pillar of the orthodox path?

—As if they’d lose. It would be a laughingstock if they did. Hahaha!

Everything around them was weighing down on the Mujeongwando’s shoulders.

Because the world had turned its back on the Mujeongwando.

—Dealing with enemies who’ve turned their backs is as easy as flipping your palm. And dealing with enemies looking for a reason to turn their backs is similarly easy.

Recalling what Baek Riyun had said, Seomun Cheok looked at Heogwan with a quiet laugh.

“You’re strong.”

Heogwan was that kind of opponent. An opponent he couldn’t have taken down within a hundred exchanges if he hadn’t taken the risk. Even taking the risk, not an opponent he could easily take down.

“But I’m stronger.”

Normally it would have been difficult. Even having taken down Heogwan, he would have had to give up on easily facing the next opponent.

But he had won. In one exchange.

Then what he had to do was clear, wasn’t it?

“What are you doing? Standing there blankly.”

“……Urk.”

“If you’re not going to ask for a rematch, get down.”

Watching Heogwan finally grasp the situation after hearing his words and trudge down from the training ground, Seomun Cheok gripped his lowered iron spear tightly.

‘This is just the beginning.’

Did Baek Riyun say there was no strategy?

That was wrong. If we had to say, the current situation wasn’t that there was no strategy, but closer to there being no need to devise strategy.

An advantageous board had been laid thanks to what Baek Riyun and they had done. Nothing but respect for Baek Riyun who brought the situation this far. But that didn’t mean they could just open their mouths wide asking to be spoon-fed everything.

‘I caught one. The rest…… is it fifteen?’

Today. Wearing the pressure and burden weighing down Mujeong Hall.

‘I’ll catch three. By myself.’

Seomun Cheok.

Muryeon’s Spear Demon would become Mujeong Hall’s terror.