Hwasan Sect’s Genius Swordsman Chapter 21

Chapter 21

When Mu Hwi made his suggestion, the Daejeong Sect Leader laughed as if it was absurd.

“Haha, a martial arts competition? Haven’t I been suggesting that to Seonhwa Sect all this time?”

The Daejeong Sect Leader had ambitions to establish the fourth major sect after Hwasan Sect, Jongnam Sect, and Guyu Sect. Others might laugh at this, but it wasn’t just an empty dream.

It wouldn’t be impossible if their support continued steadily.

‘Compared to Hwasan Sect which has been gradually declining and now suddenly collapsed, we’re quite stable.’

If Daejeong Sect were alone, they couldn’t have been this bold in dealing with Hwasan Sect’s intervention.

But thinking about the connections he held, the Daejeong Sect Leader was overflowing with confidence.

Although the Daejeong Sect Leader had great ambitions, since he was pursuing the path of orthodox sects, he couldn’t ignore public opinion and reputation.

If they were an evil sect, they would have forcefully pushed out Seonhwa Sect without hesitation, but being an orthodox sect, the Daejeong Sect Leader had continuously requested martial arts competitions with Seonhwa Sect.

They had come to this point because Seonhwa Sect had been constantly refusing with various excuses.

“The conflicts like yesterday happened because Seonhwa Sect keeps avoiding the martial arts competition.”

Im Muguk nodded with a furrowed brow.

Daejeong Sect always set the condition that the losing sect in the martial arts competition must leave Winam completely.

However, Im Muguk had been avoiding it because he wasn’t confident in winning the competition.

“And now Seonhwa Sect requests a martial arts competition? Isn’t this truly laughable?”

At the Sect Leader’s words, the executives of Daejeong Sect seated on both sides let out low laughs.

The Daejeong Sect Leader looked straight at Mu Hwi.

“Or perhaps the distinguished Masters of Hwasan Sect are personally planning to participate in a small sect’s martial arts competition?”

Mu Hwi’s eyes flashed coldly for a moment as he observed the Sect Leader’s gaze.

While it seemed like he was mocking both Hwasan Sect and Seonhwa Sect, one could see he was internally wary about whether Hwasan Sect’s Masters would really get involved in the competition.

“Don’t worry. The Senior Disciple won’t be involved in this competition. If any Hwasan Sect disciples would participate in the competition, it would only be the disciples currently at Seonhwa Sect.”

The Daejeong Sect Leader’s mind worked quickly.

He had already gathered information about the second-generation disciples who had entered Seonhwa Sect.

‘Even if they’re Hwasan Sect’s main disciples, they’re second-generation disciples who just entered the martial arts world. Just slightly strong late-stage foundation level.’

After calculating about the martial arts competition, the Daejeong Sect Leader nodded.

“Indeed, worthy of the righteous Hwasan Sect. Then, may Daejeong Sect propose the format of the competition?”

When Im Muguk looked at Mu Hwi, Mu Hwi nodded. At this, Im Muguk extended his hand.

“Speak, Daejeong Sect Leader.”

“Each sect will select three representatives and have three matches. However, there are conditions for these representatives.”

“Well, I will naturally participate, so tell us about the other two.”

At Im Muguk’s words, the Daejeong Sect Leader raised the corner of his mouth.

“First will be each sect’s Young Leaders. We teach martial arts to the men of Winam as disciples, and we can see which sect teaches their disciples better by looking at the Young Leaders who are the successors of each sect.”

When the words ‘young Leader’ came out of the Daejeong Sect Leader’s mouth, Im Muguk firmly pressed his lips together.

“Second will be each sect’s strongest fighter. Our sect will send out an invited expert, and since Seonhwa Sect is Hwasan’s branch family, you can even send out a Hwasan Sect main disciple if necessary. However, I hope you’ll keep what Leader Mu Hwi just said.”

The competition format that the Daejeong Sect Leader proposed was minimizing Hwasan Sect’s intervention.

Even if they lost in the strongest fighters’ match, it would be fine if they won in the Young Leaders and Sect Leader matches.

‘He must be quite confident.’

At that moment, Im Muguk’s urgent voice transmission was heard.

[The Daejeong Sect Leader isn’t proposing this format without reason. It’s disadvantageous for Seonhwa Sect.]

If they lost the first and second matches where the Young Leader and Sect Leader would participate consecutively, it would be over before even getting to the third match between the strongest fighters.

[Are you not confident in defeating the Daejeong Sect Leader?]

At this, Im Muguk hesitated for a moment.

[Originally we were evenly matched, but I heard the Daejeong Sect Leader consumed a precious medicine a few months ago. So now I might be at a disadvantage. And Daejeong Sect’s Young Leader is…]

Mu Hwi seemed to already know something as he nodded.

[I know. However, I’m confident I can win. I’ll make it happen that way. Of course, the decision is yours, Sect Leader.]

Although the Daejeong Sect Leader knew they were discussing through voice transmission, he waited patiently.

No matter what they said, there wouldn’t be any way out of this.

‘But a late-stage foundation level who just entered the martial arts world using voice transmission… Their martial arts must be better than expected. Still, it’s impossible.’

Voice transmission requires precise internal energy control.

Therefore, it was a technique that could only be used after reaching the realm of a complete first-stage expert.

The Daejeong Sect Leader looked at Im Muguk and Mu Hwi with a comfortable mind as he had already marked an expert to put forward in the competition.

Meanwhile, all sorts of worries were cascading through Im Muguk’s mind.

‘What should I do?’

At that moment, Mu Hwi’s brief voice transmission pierced through Im Muguk’s mind like lightning as it was engulfed in anguish.

[Behind Seonhwa Sect stands Hwasan.]

“Hmm…”

Im Muguk held the cooled plum blossom tea in his mouth. Though it had cooled, the fragrance still remained.

Feeling that fragrance, Im Muguk looked directly into the Daejeong Sect Leader’s eyes.

“Very well. Seonhwa Sect accepts the martial arts competition.”

“You’ve made a good decision. Now we’ll finally see the end of this tiresome tug of war.”

The Daejeong Sect Leader thought for a moment before continuing.

“Since this is such an important martial arts competition, shouldn’t we each prepare and find fair observers?”

“That’s right.”

“Then how about holding the competition on the fifth day of next month?”

The fifth day of next month would be about twenty days away.

Since they had saved quite a bit of time at the branch family sects they visited earlier, this wouldn’t interfere with their schedule.

When Mu Hwi nodded, Im Muguk also accepted the Daejeong Sect Leader’s proposal.

“Then let’s do that.”

The martial arts competition between the two sects was decided.

A competition where the fate of the losing sect would be to leave Winam.

* * *

“Yawn.”

Yawning, Im Sanha shook his head slightly to clear his mind.

Having woken up about one time period earlier than usual, Im Sanha was walking toward the training ground.

The martial arts competition with Daejeong Sect was finally decided, and he was to be the protagonist of the first match.

‘Ah, can I really do well?’

Although the Hwasan Sect Masters would personally train him until the competition, how much stronger could he get with twenty days of training?

Im Sanha knew well that martial arts wasn’t something that could be improved just by training intensely for a few days.

Clang clang clang clang!

As Im Sanha entered the training ground, the sharp metallic sounds that pierced his ears drove his sleepiness away completely.

“Gasp!”

On the training ground, four Hwasan Sect Masters were entangled with each other.

Their movements were so fast and dazzling that to Im Sanha’s eyes, it looked like dark shadows merging and separating.

More precisely, Mu Hwi was defending against the combined attack of his three disciples.

Mu Hwi carefully observed the organic movements of his disciples.

Performing martial arts alone and performing combined attacks were completely different.

To naturally maintain combined attacks, one had to constantly be aware of not only their own but also others’ breathing, movements, and positions.

Therefore, one naturally had to disperse their senses, but this training wasn’t simply for matching the rhythm of combined attacks.

It was also training to fully demonstrate one’s skills when facing multiple opponents alone.

‘Now their positions and movements don’t overlap. From here on, it’s a matter of how well they coordinate.’

When Mu Hwi thrust his sword toward an opening in Mu-hwa’s sword movements, Mujin quickly intervened and deflected it.

While Mujin was protecting Mu-hwa, Mu-cheol swung his heavy sword widely from the left, attempting to split Mu Hwi’s head.

Bang!

Rotating his ankle, Mu Hwi used the Fallen Flower Palm to deflect the heavy sword and naturally created distance using the rebound force.

“This is it. When performing combined attacks, the basic principle is to achieve both offense and defense simultaneously using numerical advantage.”

With Mu Hwi’s advice, Mu-hwa and Mujin used the Fragrant Step Technique to close the distance.

“Senior Disciple Mujin!”

“I know!”

As Mu-hwa unfolded her Sword, she lightly flicked her wrist, unleashing dozens of sword shadows.

The sword shadows, spreading in various directions like blooming flowers, overlapped to form a wall, restricting Mu Hwi’s range of movement.

Meanwhile, Mujin was performing the Three Leaf Piercing Wind from the front.

A bold, swift sword riding the wind.

Mujin’s Three Leaf Piercing Wind released three sword strikes toward Mu Hwi’s chest and two strikes that curved left and right.

Seeing this, Mu Hwi raised the corner of his mouth.

Although the two mainly used the Falling Plum Sword and Three Leaf Piercing Wind respectively, the principles of the Ten Thousand Fragrance Sword were gradually emerging in their techniques.

At this, Mu Hwi twisted his wrist as if angry.

Swoosh!

When the two disciples lost sight of Mu Hwi’s sword, they saw the exact same techniques they had just performed pouring down before their eyes.

“Gasp!”

“Hup!”

Mu Hwi had demonstratively countered by applying the exact same techniques and principles that his disciples had used.

While Mu Hwi’s terrifying speed in responding to attacks from both sides simultaneously in half a breath was impressive, even more amazing was the precision of his techniques.

Although the same techniques clashed, the techniques performed by Mu-hwa and Mujin were instantly crumbling before Mu Hwi’s techniques.

‘Ah, so that’s how the Falling Cloud True Plum should have been performed.’

‘There was an opening above the shoulder.’

The two disciples were personally experiencing the flaws in their techniques as they directly received Mu Hwi’s techniques.

As Mujin and Mu-hwa were pushed back simultaneously, Mu Hwi soared into the sky using the Riding Energy Rushing Technique.

As Mu Hwi, who had jumped with his body rigid, raised his head, something huge was blocking the sky above.

While Mujin and Mu-hwa were simultaneously pressuring Mu Hwi, Mu-cheol was flying through the sky to target Mu Hwi’s head.

“Hyaaah!”

Mu-cheol’s thick voice released a thunderous battle cry.

The internal energy-infused heavy sword split the wind heavily, and he added more weight to his body using the Thousand-Pound Technique.

This made Mu-cheol’s heavy sword even heavier.

It was an advantageous position for Mu-cheol to strike down from above rather than Mu Hwi to rise up.

“The heavy sword is a surprisingly delicate martial art that requires good use of power and weight.”

Mu Hwi narrowed his eyes and rotated his entire body along with his sword swing.

Acceleration built up in Mu Hwi’s sword as it spun like a top, and then the weight of his entire body was added to the sword from the rotation. The intensified sword strike deflected Mu-cheol’s heavy sword.

Bang!

Knocked away by this, Mu-cheol couldn’t even perform a falling technique and crashed straight into the training ground floor.

Meanwhile, only Mu Hwi landed gracefully with his training clothes fluttering. He was the only one left standing properly in the training ground.

“Wow…”

Im Sanha was completely captivated by Mu Hwi’s overwhelming martial prowess that swept away his disciples in an instant.

Meanwhile, Mu-hwa and Mujin charged in again, and Mu-cheol who quickly got up joined them belatedly.

But their combined attack had already crumbled.

A broken flow in combined attacks was no different from charging in one by one.

“Eek!”

“Ugh.”

Mu Hwi swung his sword relentlessly, practically beating down the charging disciples one by one.

Thud!

At this, Im Sanha covered his slightly open mouth with his hand, unable to hide his amazement.

Mu Hwi’s merciless movements as he struck down his disciples without hesitation were amazing, but the disciples’ tenacity in gritting their teeth and maintaining their combined attack was also impressive.

“That’s enough for today.”

Only when Mu Hwi spoke did his disciples stop charging.

Mu Hwi looked at his rising disciples while lightly dusting off his sleeve to smooth out the wrinkles.

“Your coordination wasn’t bad. Not bad at all. Now go train individually.”

“Thank you, Senior Disciple.”

The disciples made a fist-palm salute to Mu Hwi, gave Im Sanha an eye greeting, and walked to their own corners of the training ground.

“Sanha, come here.”

“Yes, Master Mu Hwi.”

Mu Hwi planned to teach Im Sanha personally until the day before the martial arts competition.

He had to keep his promise to make him win no matter what.

The moment Im Sanha saw Mu Hwi’s smile with his mouth corner rising while looking at him, goosebumps rose on his arms.

‘Uh… What’s this?’

Im Sanha felt an inexplicable anxiety creeping up his back.

“I’ll train you properly.”

Mu Hwi’s words were filled with amusement.

At this, goosebumps rose all over Im Sanha’s arms.

It was the beginning of special training for victory in the martial arts competition with Daejeong Sect.

< I’ll train you properly. > End

< The breadth of the martial arts world will differ. >