Hwasan Sect’s Genius Swordsman Chapter 32

Chapter 32 

Following Mu Hwi’s lead, Mujin and Mu-cheol were swept up in the energy that Ma Yeon-ho was emanating.

Not only were his muscles prominent with every movement, but the solemn spirit lingering in his body made Ma Yeon-ho appear even larger.

“I see there are prior guests. May I join you?”

Ma Yeon-ho’s low voice naturally carried an imposing presence like that of a great mountain. The disciples’ bodies twitched just from hearing his voice.

‘This old man, has he gotten even stronger in the meantime?’

The current Mu Hwi had no way to verify, but judging by feeling alone, it seemed so.

“Of course, elder.”

When Mu Hwi stood up and made a cupped-hand salute while speaking, interest flickered in Ma Yeon-ho’s eyes.

Ma Yeon-ho’s eyes glinted like a tiger that had found its prey as he examined Mu Hwi’s entire body, or more precisely, his muscles.

As if he wanted to touch Mu Hwi’s muscles right away, the muscles in both his arms were trembling slightly.

“These are quite excellent muscles. Wouldn’t you agree, disciple?”

“Master, it’s rude to evaluate someone else’s body like that. Especially someone you’re meeting for the first time.”

When his disciple pointed this out sharply, Ma Yeon-ho’s thick eyebrows rippled.

“Ahem. My apologies. Please don’t take it too badly, I meant it as admiration.”

Ma Yeon-ho’s eyes sparkled when he saw Mu-cheol quietly sitting in the corner, but perhaps because he had just been scolded, he didn’t say anything in particular.

“These days many juniors don’t emphasize external martial arts and only talk about internal energy, but seeing your muscles makes me proud.”

At Ma Yeon-ho’s words, Mujin was gradually hiding his body in the hot spring.

Not only Ma Yeon-ho, but the man who appeared to be his disciple was also quite an impressive physical specimen.

Though inferior compared to Ma Yeon-ho, the man’s build and muscles were no less impressive than Mu-cheol’s.

‘Hmm, should I spend more time on external martial arts training?’

This made Mujin feel somewhat inadequate despite not having neglected his external martial arts training.

“Looking at the definition of your muscles and the energy you emit, you seem to be a disciple of Hwasan. Am I right?”

Ma Yeon-ho was still interested in Mu Hwi’s muscles.

‘The shape of muscles?’

While it was completely incomprehensible how one could distinguish someone’s sect by looking at their muscles, Mu Hwi nodded nonetheless.

“That’s correct, I am Mu Hwi of the Hwasan sect.”

After receiving the disciples’ greetings, Ma Yeon-ho nodded. Each one possessed outstanding skills compared to their peers.

‘Especially that fellow…’

Ma Yeon-ho stared at Mu Hwi as if trying to see through him.

The interesting thing was that Mu Hwi wasn’t avoiding Ma Yeon-ho’s gaze either.

Even fairly accomplished masters usually avoided his gaze, but this fellow was boldly meeting his eyes as if to ask what he was looking at.

‘How peculiar.’

He couldn’t understand why he was reminded of the eyes of someone already dead when looking at the eyes of this late-stage foundation level disciple he was meeting for the first time.

Tapping his muscles while lost in thought, Ma Yeon-ho asked Mu Hwi.

“Are you Hyeon Jo’s disciple?”

“Yes, he is my master.”

Only after hearing Mu Hwi’s answer did the tension release from Ma Yeon-ho’s fully inflated muscles.

“I thought so… Then you must have met Dokgo Heon, the Sword Devil, as well?”

“Yes, I have.”

It wasn’t a lie. The young Mu Hwi had met him a few times. Ma Yeon-ho nodded lightly as if he had expected this.

“Seeing you reminds me of Sword Devil – his energy is like a properly sharpened sword, and you have that same keen sense about you.”

Of course, the two men’s energies weren’t exactly the same.

Sword Devil was like a sharp, famous sword openly threatening its surroundings with its blade.

While Mu Hwi’s energy could be felt, it gave an organized impression as if the sword was in its scabbard.

One had to wonder how sharp it would be if that sword were to be drawn from its scabbard.

After carefully examining Mu Hwi’s upper body exposed above the hot spring, Ma Yeon-ho cautiously asked.

“By any chance, did you receive help from Sword Devil when training external martial arts?”

As expected, Ma Yeon-ho immediately recognized that Mu Hwi had trained external martial arts using his method.

“I received advice about training methods. I still continue following that approach.”

“Hahaha! I knew it! That Sword Devil fellow, I figured as much. He acted uninterested when teaching but…”

At Ma Yeon-ho’s pleased expression, Mu Hwi subtly averted his gaze. Ma Yeon-ho, who had been chuckling to himself, suddenly stopped laughing.

“Seeing you reminds me of two juniors.”

Upon hearing the news that Sword Saint and Sword Devil had died together with the Lord of Black Night Palace, Ma Yeon-ho had lamented.

Saying, they were always together, so they even left together in death.

They were two juniors he had liked not only for their exceptional martial arts skills that could match his own, but also for being good people.

Now, coincidentally meeting Sword Saint’s disciple like this, old memories were coming back to Ma Yeon-ho one by one.

‘Well, the energy is one thing, but that impudent look in his eyes is exactly like Dokgo. How interesting that Hyeon Jo’s disciple resembles the Sword Devil.’

Lost in thought while looking at Mu Hwi, Ma Yeon-ho suddenly turned his head at a gaze he felt.

Mujin and Mu-cheol had been staring at Ma Yeon-ho without realizing it themselves.

They couldn’t help it because every name that came out of Ma Yeon-ho’s mouth was extraordinary.

When Ma Yeon-ho noticed the meaning of their gazes, he smiled and crossed his arms. This made the bulging muscles of both arms even more prominent.

‘He’s probably flexing his muscles on purpose to show off.’

Mu Hwi knew well that this pose was intentional.

He had always done this in front of Hyeon Jo and Sword Devil too.

“I haven’t introduced myself to the juniors. My name is Ma Yeon-ho, in the martial arts world I’m known as the Iron Mountain Fist King. This is my disciple beside me.”

Then the man next to Ma Yeon-ho also introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you, I am Woo Tae-gang.”

The disciples were shocked at the title ‘Iron Mountain Fist King’.

He was an absolute master who was said to be unmatched when it came to fist techniques.

Mu Hwi leisurely watched the disciples’ faces as their jaws dropped.

Especially Mu-cheol’s surprised expression was truly worth seeing. Now Mu Hwi knew well.

That such an expression from Mu-cheol was hard to see even once a year.

“This humble martial artist greets the Iron Mountain Fist King.”

Ma Yeon-ho waved his hand as if to say that was enough. At this point, Mu Hwi looked at Woo Tae-gang and asked,

“I see you’re traveling the martial world with your disciple.”

To this, Ma Yeon-ho nodded.

“To be precise, it’s a martial arts journey. This fellow has only trained in the mountains, so he’s gaining experience, hahaha!”

Bang bang!

While Ma Yeon-ho seemed to be lightly patting Woo Tae-gang’s back, the sound coming from Woo Tae-gang’s back as it received the palm strikes was like a drum being beaten vigorously.

The impact traveling down Woo Tae-gang’s back created large ripples in the previously calm hot spring water.

Yet Woo Tae-gang maintained a blank expression throughout, making the watching disciples terrified.

Mu Hwi nodded while examining Woo Tae-gang.

He certainly possessed martial arts skills that could easily overwhelm ordinary martial artists.

While the exact level could only be determined through combat, just judging from his visible energy, even the Three Flowers would have trouble defeating him.

‘I guess he’s not this old man’s disciple for nothing.’

Mu Hwi, who had become interested in Woo Tae-gang, asked,

“Brother Woo, may I ask how your martial arts journey is going?”

When Woo Tae-gang turned to look at his master, Ma Yeon-ho nodded.

“I’ve had forty-three martial arts matches and won them all.”

“That’s impressive.”

While Mujin marveled at the mention of winning all matches, Mu Hwi just nodded with his eyes closed while letting his body soak in the hot spring’s warmth.

As the Iron Mountain Fist King’s disciple, shouldn’t he be capable of at least that much?

But the words that followed made even Mu Hwi snap his eyes open.

“The recent match was actually quite close. For the first time, I thought I was going to lose.”

Ma Yeon-ho picked up on Woo Tae-gang’s words.

“You’re talking about Sword Devil’s disciple. Certainly, if his sword hadn’t broken, you would have lost.”

Seeing the curious faces of the disciples, Woo Tae-gang kindly explained the details of the match.

The two men fought for over a hundred exchanges, and just as the advantage was slowly shifting to Sword Devil’s disciple, his sword broke.

At this, Sword Devil’s disciple acknowledged defeat and promised to challenge again next time.

While the disciples were listening to this with interest, Mu Hwi was containing his rising anger.

It was hard to tell whether the heat rising in his body was from the hot spring or from his chest.

‘So this fellow broke his sword and lost, and to this old man’s disciple at that?’

Though it wasn’t him who had lost, his pride was hurt. While not knowing when they would meet again, Mu Hwi made a resolution to properly deal with him next time.

“I once said this to my two juniors. Let’s raise disciples and have them compete. Sword Devil was confident his disciple would win, I wonder what expression he’d make if he saw this now. Uhahat!”

Ma Yeon-ho’s boisterous laughter was grating on Mu Hwi’s already boiling nerves.

By now, the disciples were looking at Mu Hwi.

Sword Devil’s disciple had already won in combat, and they had coincidentally met Sword Saint’s disciple too.

Perhaps because of Ma Yeon-ho’s words, Woo Tae-gang was also quietly looking at Mu Hwi.

When first seen, he had gentle eyes that didn’t match his body like a docile cow, but now his eyes held quite a fierce look.

After confirming his disciple’s competitive spirit, Ma Yeon-ho nodded to himself and asked Mu Hwi,

“Junior, since this is fate, how about competing with my disciple once?”

“I’d be glad to.”

Mu Hwi answered without a moment’s hesitation.

He had been thinking about having a match ever since hearing that Sword Devil’s disciple had lost.

“Before that, may I test your skills? I’m personally interested in you. If you’re concerned about the upcoming match, you can refuse.”

“I don’t mind.”

“That’s manly. Get ready.”

Ma Yeon-ho grinned, then deeply submerged both hands in the hot spring and lightly clapped his palms together.

“Since we’re at a hot spring…”

Splash!

Then the vibration from his fingertips created countless fine ripples in the hot spring before a single stream of water shot up forcefully.

The water stream that had shot up high into the sky curved in an arc before pouring down right above Mu Hwi’s head.

Seeing the water stream falling while rapidly spiraling, Mu Hwi let out a small laugh.

‘He added the charm of the Whirlpool Valley Palm. This old man!’

It would be a mistake to dismiss this as simply a rotating stream of water. It probably carried enough force to easily shatter rocks.

Above, Mu Hwi raised both arms over his head and slammed both palms into the hot spring.

Bang!

Then the surface of the hot spring churned and water spray rose from both sides.

The water spray that shot up from left and right collided directly with Ma Yeon-ho’s water stream.

Splash!

Seeing this, Ma Yeon-ho’s eyes sparkled.

At first glance, it appeared he had blocked it head-on by raising water spray with palm force, but it wasn’t that simple.

Each water droplet making up the spray was infused with internal energy. However, it wasn’t just internal energy being shot straight upward.

‘Did he see through the vortex within the water stream.’

As the water droplets in the spray mysteriously moved while surrounding from all directions, they dulled the vortex created by the Whirlpool Valley Palm technique.

Naturally, this weakened the force of the water stream.

Internal energy control, the mysteries of martial arts imbued in the hot spring.

Just as Ma Yeon-ho had done, Mu Hwi responded in kind.

‘It’s the Ten Thousand Flowers Palm.’

Recognizing Hwasan’s Ten Thousand Flowers Palm, Ma Yeon-ho flexed the tendons in his forearm.

The Ten Thousand Flowers Palm was a martial art characterized by releasing multiple strands of palm force in fine segments based on delicate internal energy control.

When unleashing the Ten Thousand Flowers Palm, one could see countless plum blossom petals gathering and being held in both hands.

Thus, the water droplets swirling at the end of Mu Hwi’s palm force were dizzying like plum blossom petals scattering in all directions in the wind.

‘His internal energy control has surpassed the late-stage foundation level.’

While it might be different with weapons that have a fixed form, infusing and maintaining internal energy in something formless like water or alcohol was absolutely not an easy task.

Moreover, to simultaneously infuse internal energy into so many water droplets – even accomplished masters would find it difficult to replicate.

‘What’s this, Hyeon Jo. You were hiding such an excellent disciple.’

Ma Yeon-ho looked at Mu Hwi with pride as if looking at his own disciple.

Meanwhile, Mu Hwi was striking out with both palms.

Though he had reduced the power of the water stream with water spray using the Ten Thousand Flowers Palm’s principle, he hadn’t completely blocked it.

‘Having to use two moves, I really need to build up my internal energy quickly.’

If he had accumulated enough internal energy, the first move would have been sufficient to block it.

Bang!

Though he blocked the water stream with the Falling Flower Palm’s double palm strike, Mu Hwi still ended up drenched in hot spring water.

“Whew.”

As Mu Hwi sighed briefly and pushed back his dripping bangs, Ma Yeon-ho applauded.

“Junior, truly excellent!”

To avoid causing injury by direct intervention, he had raised the water stream playfully by adding just a touch of technique.

But even though it was playful, it remained true that an ordinary late-stage foundation level disciple would struggle to handle it.

Yet he had neutralized his water stream with just two moves, so praise was warranted.

“I’m really looking forward to the match.”

Woo Tae-gang, who had carefully watched how Mu Hwi blocked his master’s water stream, showed eyes darkened with even more competitive spirit.

If it had been him, how would he have blocked it?

Imagining this in his head, Woo Tae-gang clenched and unclenched his fist while looking at Mu Hwi.

Mu Hwi and Woo Tae-gang’s gazes met in the middle.

Seeing the intense exchange of looks between the late-stage foundation level disciples, Ma Yeon-ho smiled, remembering the times he trained muscles together with close friends in his youth.

“Hehe… This is the time when passions run hot.”

Along with Ma Yeon-ho’s laughter, the muscles of his entire body were also rippling.

<Seeing you reminds me of two juniors.>End

<This makes me want to stomp you down.>