Hwasan Sect’s Genius Swordsman Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Was it because of Mu Hwi’s eerie smile just now? There was clear tension in Im Sanha’s eyes.

“You’ve heard about the martial arts competition, right?”

“Yes… But can we really win?”

Seeing Im Sanha’s lack of confidence, Mu Hwi frowned with one eye.

“Why do you think we can’t win?”

“But my opponent is Ga Se-in, the young master of Daejeong Sect. That guy is called the Greatest Talent of Winam.”

Mu Hwi barely held back his laughter at Im Sanha’s serious expression.

‘Greatest Talent of Winam my ass…’

If it was the Greatest Talent of Shaanxi, maybe, but the Greatest Talent of Winam?

It was so ridiculous that he burst out laughing when he first heard it from the disciples.

If one was so confident in their talent, they could just call themselves a genius or prodigy, why specifically attach a region’s name to it?

It’s just embarrassing pretentiousness for anyone who hears it.

Moreover, Winam is a small region.

Therefore, it has few people, few resources, and consequently, few derived interests.

But with two martial arts sects already established in Winam, even small martial arts schools commonly found in rural areas couldn’t be found.

Having to split an already small bowl of rice, that’s why Daejeong Sect is desperately trying to drive out Seonhwa Sect.

“Sanha, at Hwasan Sect, you can’t find anyone worse than the Greatest Talent of Winam.”

“As expected, Hwasan Sect must be an amazing place.”

Mu Hwi firmly shook his head.

“It’s not that Hwasan Sect is amazing, it’s that this Ga Se-in guy is nothing special. From what I see, there’s not much difference between you and Ga Se-in.”

But even with Mu Hwi’s words, Im Sanha didn’t seem convinced.

Watching Im Sanha, Mu Hwi turned his back.

“There’s a way to overcome fear of strong opponents in the martial world.”

“What kind of method is it?”

Mu Hwi put away his real sword and picked up a wooden sword from the training ground rack.

“It’s surviving against an enemy stronger than the one you fear. Simple, right?”

As the wooden sword slowly rose, Mu Hwi’s mouth corners lifted up to his ears.

Swoosh!

With a sharp cutting sound, the wooden sword plunged toward Im Sanha’s crown.

“Ugh!”

Startled Im Sanha barely managed to avoid Mu Hwi’s wooden sword by using his footwork.

The feeling of wind scraping his skin made Im Sanha shudder.

While Mu Hwi was wielding it almost playfully, to Im Sanha who was facing it, it felt faster and fiercer than any sword strike he had seen before.

“Greatest Talent of Winam or whatever… Sanha. I’ll show you how truly vast the martial world is.”

Mu Hwi’s wooden sword swung wildly without warning.

Even without Mu Hwi’s words, the term ‘Greatest Talent of Winam’ had long disappeared from Im Sanha’s mind.

For the first time in his life, Im Sanha felt a threat to his life.

“Ah…”

Im Sanha’s pupils shook pitifully as they reflected the approaching wooden sword.

* * *

Sweat drops fell whenever Im Sanha’s legs, maintaining the horse stance, trembled slightly.

The numbing pain that ravaged his entire legs made it feel like his leg strength would give out at any moment.

The more it hurt, the more Im Sanha endured by tightly clenching his extended fist.

Im Sanha looked at the incense burning before his eyes.

This incense takes about two-gak (30 minutes) to burn completely, and already the third incense was showing its end.

‘Good.’

When this incense burns out, the horse stance training will be over.

Finally, when the third incense burned out and stopped smoking, Im Sanha inwardly rejoiced.

“Huh?”

However, he fell into despair seeing Mu Hwi calmly inserting a new incense.

“Master Mu Hwi…?”

Im Sanha asked carefully, but Mu Hwi was firm.

“External martial arts grow when overcoming muscle limits. Try to endure for one more gak.”

While saying this, Mu Hwi cut the incense in half and lit it.

At this, Im Sanha’s brow furrowed deeply, but he didn’t break his posture and endured desperately.

‘Argh!’

Though it was clearly just one more gak to endure, to Im Sanha it felt like a whole time-division (two hours).

Though his two legs were visibly shaking, Im Sanha managed to endure the one gak.

“Good work, lie down.”

At this, Im Sanha took a straight position lying down as if familiar with it.

Mu Hwi loosened his hands and grabbed Im Sanha’s shoulders.

“Kkeuhup.”

When Mu Hwi’s grip strength poured into his muscles that had been overworked all morning, a hot pain rushed in, but Im Sanha endured while trembling.

Mu Hwi began massaging Im Sanha’s entire body as if pressing acupoints.

He intended to loosen the overworked muscles and appropriately tap the meridians to boost vitality and speed up recovery.

Since it wasn’t a process to make him vomit stagnant blood from internal injuries or for punishment training, it didn’t require much internal energy either.

These hand movements Mu Hwi was performing on Im Sanha were learned from the Iron Mountain Fist King, so they were more effectively loosening Im Sanha’s muscles.

As if proving this, Im Sanha’s expression was gradually becoming more comfortable.

“Master Mu Hwi, but will external martial arts training help with the martial arts competition?”

This was because strength and external martial arts didn’t grow overnight.

Frowning at Im Sanha’s question, Mu Hwi applied force to the hands that were massaging his arm.

“Ack!”

“Foolish talk, external martial arts training isn’t something you do specially for competitions, but something you must do every day without rest. What you’ve been doing until now was just dabbling halfheartedly. That’s why your sword moves so feebly.”

After being lost in thought for a moment at Mu Hwi’s words, Im Sanha asked.

“Master Mu Hwi, do you really live exactly like this normally too?”

Four days into Mu Hwi’s training, Im Sanha was spending most of his day training, starting and ending each day with Mu Hwi.

Plus, with sleep time reduced to two time-divisions (4 hours), he thought he was going crazy at first.

But Mu Hwi said this was his normal lifestyle, which was hard to believe.

Dedicating almost all the time to martial arts training while even reducing sleep – it was unimaginable.

Im Sanha thought he had trained hard in martial arts too, but compared to Mu Hwi, it was a drop in the ocean.

“You find that surprising? Sometimes I sleep just one time division instead of two.”

“Is there a reason you train martial arts so desperately?”

Im Sanha was staring intently at Mu Hwi’s face as if truly curious.

“Nothing special. It’s because wielding a sword is the most fun and because I want to become stronger.”

Im Sanha had also heard rumors about Mu Hwi.

To Im Sanha’s eyes, even the current Mu Hwi seemed incredibly strong.

Yet he wanted to become stronger.

“How strong do you want to become?”

“Until there’s nothing I cannot cut.”

At this, Im Sanha’s slightly widened eyes wouldn’t leave Mu Hwi.

Though still young, Im Sanha is also a martial artist.

He immediately understood that what Mu Hwi was talking about meant becoming the world’s greatest swordsman.

While it’s natural for a martial artist to hold the dream of being the world’s best in their heart, how many among countless martial artists could confidently speak it aloud?

Master Mu Hwi discussing becoming the world’s greatest so calmly now felt even more impressive than when he had heard all sorts of heroic tales about Master Mu Hwi from his father and other Seonhwa Sect disciples.

‘I want to become like this person.’

While one person was discussing becoming the world’s greatest, another was worrying about a competition with the Greatest Talent of Winam.

Im Sanha felt himself becoming so small.

As Im Sanha’s face, which had cooled while lying down, began to heat up again, Mu Hwi dusted off his hands, seemingly having finished loosening the muscles.

Im Sanha jumped up and asked.

“What should I do to become like Master Mu Hwi?”

Mu Hwi noticed that Im Sanha’s eyes had changed.

‘Has he shaken it off?’

Perhaps because he was still young, he had been weighed down by the nonsensical false reputation of ‘Greatest Talent of Winam’. Maybe it was also influenced by silently enduring harassment until now.

But now that burden wasn’t visible at all.

Mu Hwi stood up from his seat.

Mu Hwi’s eyes looking at Im Sanha were emitting a calm light like the moon in the night sky.

“Don’t be confined to just Winam. The breadth of the martial world will differ depending on what you want to do and what you want to see. That’s the kind of place the martial world is.”

“What I want to do…”

Im Sanha watched Mu Hwi’s retreating back.

Looking at that back view, Im Sanha felt an inexplicable sense of elevation.

He didn’t even think about becoming the world’s greatest that many martial artists dream of.

Just like that person.

‘Will I be able to chase that back?’

It was fine even if he couldn’t catch up.

If he could just narrow the distance.

When Im Sanha decided what he wanted to do.

The martial world expanded. And he realized.

That the opportunities spoken of in the martial world weren’t just about obtaining supreme martial arts or ultimate medicine.

That meeting with Master Mu Hwi that day was another of such opportunity.

* * *

Plum Wind Sword Technique (매풍검법)

One of the martial arts was passed down to Hwasan Sect’s affiliate disciples.

When Im Muguk swept his sword downward, a cool sword wind blew across the training ground.

The trailing sword wind swirled here and there, dizzying the eyes.

Before long, five streams of sword wind surrounded Mu Hwi, but Mu Hwi cut through them with a single strike.

“Huh.”

Im Muguk, who drew in a sharp breath at Mu Hwi’s keen single strike that easily broke through his technique, immediately shot forward and thrust his sword out long.

Mu Hwi lightly swept away Im Muguk’s sword that was thrusting toward his solar plexus by touching the sword’s weak point.

Then the sword naturally twisted to the side and Im Muguk’s chest opened up.

Simultaneously, Mu Hwi closed the distance as if sliding and gently pushed Im Muguk’s chest with his palm.

Im Muguk, who stepped back three steps, was touching his chest with surprised eyes.

Since Mu Hwi had barely used any internal energy, there was no shock or internal injury, but he couldn’t help being surprised.

‘To show such an overwhelming display.’

Im Muguk blankly watched Mu Hwi who was withdrawing his sword and making a fist-palm salute.

Though he had tried his hardest with all his might, his sword hadn’t even touched Mu Hwi’s sleeve.

Though he was clearly a late-stage foundation disciple, it felt as overwhelming as facing a master from the upper ranks.

‘Moreover, that sword technique Master Mu Hwi just showed…’

No matter how he thought about it, it was more similar to Daejeong Sect’s sword technique than Hwasan’s. However, it had much more depth than the Sect Leader of Daejeong Sect’s sword technique that he had witnessed before.

“Master Mu Hwi, that sword technique…”

At Im Muguk’s careful question, Mu Hwi smirked.

“Quite similar, wasn’t it? I casually imitated the sword technique of Daejeong Sect that I saw before.”

Im Muguk’s beard trembled.

“Imitate, is that possible?”

Of course, this was only possible because of the Sword Devil’s experience from his previous life of witnessing, learning, and freely modifying countless sword techniques.

Of course, since he didn’t know the internal energy application of the technique, he merely copied the form and movements, but even this would be a great help for the upcoming competition.

“Like I’m doing with Sanha, you will face the Sect Leader with only this sword technique. This should have the effect of making it like fighting against the Daejeong Sect Leader.”

It was a special training that only Mu Hwi could provide.

“Haha… Master Mu Hwi had it all planned out.”

Just saying it would be effective wasn’t enough.

At a glance, Master Mu Hwi’s martial arts were superior to the Daejeong Sect Leader’s, and if even the sword technique was similar, there couldn’t be better training than this.

‘Seeing and imitating, what impossible talent. A genius?’

Mu Hwi’s talent that casually broke the common sense of the martial world.

Im Muguk, who had been letting out a hollow laugh, suddenly stiffened his face, pondered, and made a fist-palm salute toward Mu Hwi.

“Master Mu Hwi… If it’s alright, could you give me some training?”

How embarrassing it must be for a senior of the martial world to ask for teachings from a junior.

But when even his young son was dedicating himself to training while reducing sleep, what did mere pride matter?

Seeing Im Muguk’s determined eyes, Mu Hwi nodded.

“As you must have heard from Sanha, my teaching method is rough. I won’t go easy even on a Sect Leader.”

“That’s what I want.”

Mu Hwi drew his sword again.

“Sect Leader, Seonhwa Sect will win the martial arts competition.”

With those words, Mu Hwi’s sword thrust toward Im Muguk.

Mu Hwi thus began to train the Seonhwa Sect father and son harshly while splitting his time.

As the moon waned and waxed repeatedly, the promised date of the martial arts competition approached.

* * *

Daejeong Sect’s Great Training Ground.

Around the vast training ground, temporary spectator seats were set up for the sect competition. Not only Daejeong Sect members but also commoners from Winam were occupying the seats.

The Daejeong Sect Leader had deliberately made it a big event.

“This way, Seonhwa Sect will have to leave Winam in utter shame, right? They won’t be able to say anything afterward either.”

“Hoho, that’s right. How did I not think of this? Indeed, you are my son.”

The Daejeong Sect Leader stroked the head of his son Ga Se-in, who had suggested making the competition as grand as possible.

“Father, thank you for mobilizing the Yeonho Wanderer.”

Originally, another disciple was supposed to participate in the third match, but Ga Se-in had begged the Sect Leader to have the Yeonho Wanderer, the most skilled among the disciples, participate instead.

‘Mu Hwi… Was it? He’s irritating.’

He wanted to see that Hwasan Sect disciple who had spoken rudely to him get thoroughly crushed up close.

The Daejeong Sect Leader also laughed along with Ga Se-in’s bright smile.

“Hmm, the Qi Refinement Sword would have been enough for Hwasan Sect’s second-generation disciple, but well, being certain is good.”

The father and son who were looking at the training ground turned their heads as the main gate became noisy.

Through the wide-open main gate, the Seonhwa Sect disciples including Mu Hwi were entering.

Ga Se-in smiled as he took in the sight of Mu Hwi, who was entering at the front with the plum blossom flag fluttering.

‘I can’t wait to see that confident face crumble.’

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

< At that moment, your victory was decided. >