Chapter 545

Crackle, crackle.

The fragments that had shot upward fell back to the ground, and the thick burst of dust slowly settled.

The floor of the sparring stage had been smashed apart, cracks spreading across it like a spiderweb.

At the center of it lay the person who had been violently spewing fighting spirit only moments ago. I looked at Gyo Yeon and scratched my cheek.

“What is this guy?”

He had charged in so confidently that I thought he would be a little stronger.

What the hell is this pathetically weak bastard?

He was even weaker than expected. Why had he acted up? His skill was so lacking that I simply could not understand it.

“Kuh... Haaah... Grr... Grruh...”

He was panting painfully, as if his breath would cut off at any moment. I looked at him and tilted my head.

I didn’t hit him that hard, though?

I had not even drawn my sword. It was not the Divine Sword anyway. I had only used my bare hands because I thought I might probe him for a bit.

I was not even particularly skilled in the unarmed fighter type, so it was not as though I had displayed some amazing physical technique.

I just...

Saw it.

His path and trajectory were too clear.

I had only meant to dodge that and hit him once, and that was exactly what I had done. In other words, I had not performed anything impressive. I had simply swung my fist and hit him.

I had wrapped a bit of hard aura around it, but even so, I had not expected him to go down like this.

“Excuse me. Are you all right?”

I stepped closer and asked. No answer came back. It seemed he had already fainted.

“...Gyo Yeon went down in one blow...?”

“H-how could an elder’s disciple...”

“Does this make any sense? He barely even exchanged a single proper move...!”

“That is an orthodox faction younger-generation prodigy...?”

After I crushed Gyo Yeon, the reactions changed dramatically. Everyone was filled with disbelief, and the sneers vanished, replaced by wariness.

“Ha.”

The man called the instructor, Eight Shadow Blade, let out a hollow laugh and approached.

He looked at Gyo Yeon, then looked at me.

“What did you say your name was?”

“Bang Seongyeon.”

“...Bang Seongyeon. Right. You’re that one. The Sword Saint’s inheritor, was it?”

The Sword Saint’s inheritor. At those words, the already noisy atmosphere grew even hotter.

“The Sword Saint’s inheritor?”

“Yoo Cheongil... That kept pretty-boy is the inheritor of that monster?”

“Shut your mouth. Don’t say that so loudly...!”

The eyes of the Demonic Cult’s younger generation changed even more. I looked at them and shrugged.

“Yes, well. That’s right.”

“...I thought it was an absurd title, but it seems it is not. Truly astonishing skill.”

I had not even shown anything, but he was gilding my face until I was sick of it.

“Move him away. We will proceed with the next spar.”

The instructor said that and had the unconscious Gyo Yeon carried off. I watched the bastard disappear pitifully, then moved my feet.

“Ha! You told me to take it easy. Who was telling whom to take it easy?”

“...”

The moment I returned, Peng Dojun started needling me. But I had nothing to say.

“If you do that, what is the next person supposed to do?”

“...What do you mean, what are they supposed to do? They can just take it easy.”

“You made it impossible to take it easy. My body is burning up now.”

“Are you a pervert?”

“A little?”

“...”

Could I curse at him? I could not, because it felt like he would enjoy it even more if I did.

“Do you like attracting attention? Everyone is looking at you. You’re popular.”

“...Please don’t say any more. I already know.”

“Heh heh.”

What could I do about the Cult members staring at me? I let out a deep sigh.

“Next. Come out. Who will do it? If you want, you may go again.”

The instructor pointed at me. I shook my head.

“The next one will be that guy.”

“...Pardon?”

Poison Dragon, who had been standing still, flinched. His eyes seemed to be asking, me again? The funny part was that when I said I was not stepping forward, the others liked it.

Should I call it relief? Some even looked as though they were glad it was only Poison Dragon and tried to step out.

“These bastards...?”

Poison Dragon seemed to feel that too, because he immediately growled. He looked ready to bite them apart at any moment. The gleam in his eyes said he was fully pissed off.

Would he handle it on his own even if I left him alone? I was watching with interest when—

“Good. You’re all dead. I’ll torture those tongues with throwing knives and...”

Just as Poison Dragon was about to step forward in anger—

Rustle.

“Hm?”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

I was startled. Peng Dojun was startled. Poison Dragon was startled.

Poison Dragon, who had been about to go out, froze in place. That was because someone had stepped out in his place.

A straight gait and light movements. A woman passed by, carrying a faint floral fragrance.

“Yu Yeon?”

“Why is that crazy bitch going out?”

Plum Blossom Sword Peak Yu Yeon. The peerless genius once called the greatest younger-generation prodigy headed toward the sparring stage.

“Wait. Crazy bitch?”

I asked after hearing Peng Dojun’s wording.

Crazy bitch? It did not seem to suit her very well. Peng Dojun looked at me strangely.

“What’s with those eyes?”

“...You’re probably the only one here who looks at that bitch and doesn’t call her crazy.”

“Why? She’s just stupid and dull. I don’t think she’s crazy.”

“...You don’t think she’s crazy?”

Poison Dragon also looked at me in confusion.

What was with this reaction?

“What did she do?”

She was the girl who normally just slept all the time or ate noodles every chance she got.

Crazy behavior? She did seem a little crazy about training. Other than that, there was nothing, right?

“That fox bitch. Is she pretending to be normal in front of this guy?”

“She is not even at the level of a fox. She was openly pretending to be human.”

“...What are you talking about right now?”

“This is the Holy Cult, yes?”

“Yes.”

It was the Holy Cult. The center of the Demonic Cult.

The place where the Heavenly Demon had been.

“I heard this is a place where one must be mad for martial arts and mad for power.”

“Yes.”

“In this place, the one who best suits being a Cult member is probably that crazy bitch.”

“...Pardon?”

Yu Yeon?

Could it be—

Does he know something?

For a moment, I wondered if this man also knew that Yu Yeon was actually of the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline and his only direct bloodline, but—

“There’s probably no bitch as crazy about fighting as she is.”

“...”

Fortunately or unfortunately, it seemed he was talking about something else.

Yu Yeon was crazy about fighting?

She does seem to like sparring a little.

On top of that, she was the Heaven-Slaying Star. Though I was suppressing it, her fate had originally been to become a murderer.

I had thought it was fine now that I had pressed that down.

So I wondered what he was talking about.

More importantly, why did she suddenly go out?

I was puzzled as I watched her step forward out of nowhere.

“She must be worked up.”

“...Worked up?”

“She got worked up after watching you fight. It’s obvious at a glance.”

“...”

I looked at Yu Yeon. Her expression still had not changed. She merely walked lightly onto the sparring stage.

“What is this? Are you saying you will do it?”

At Eight Shadow Blade’s words, Yu Yeon nodded.

“...Hm. Fine. Anyone is fine. I only need to see what your hands feel like. Is there anyone next?”

At those words, hands rose here and there. They were men, and the look in their eyes was anything but ordinary.

Look at these bastards.

It was obvious they were stepping forward because they had seen Yu Yeon’s face. She might look blank, but she was damned pretty.

Among them, while the instructor’s eyes moved from side to side, he pointed at one person.

“Come out.”

“Yes!”

I tilted my head as I watched the bastard who came out happily after being chosen.

“Not bad.”

Peng Dojun said what I had been about to say.

The level of the person who came out was decent.

“I am Cheong Uram of the Holy Cult.”

Cheong Uram. He seemed to be a spear user. His developed muscles and the shape of his energy made that clear.

[Oh-ho. You can grasp even that now?]

Of course.

I had gained some experience by now.

At Cheong Uram’s introduction, Yu Yeon stared at him.

“...Are you not going to introduce yourself?”

Ah. Right.

“She can’t speak.”

When I spoke as though explaining, Cheong Uram heard it and narrowed his eyes.

“What? She’s mute?”

Mute. It was not exactly wrong, but the feeling behind the word was the problem.

His attitude and reaction seemed dismissive.

After hearing it, a vein stood out on my temple.

“I thought favorably of you because you were excessively beautiful... What a shame. But how about it? I think I’d be better than that kept pretty-boy. I don’t know about martial arts, but I’m good at other things.”

“That bastard.”

Should I tear him apart? The thought crossed my mind before I knew it. Was he saying that crap even after seeing my fight just now?

The few decent thoughts I had about Demonic Cultists seemed like they were about to be erased.

But I held back.

The reason showed on Yu Yeon. Her expression had changed slightly.

That is...

It seemed fine to leave it alone. I could see displeasure in Yu Yeon.

That expressionless blank fool had been scratched.

“Handle it yourselves.”

Eight Shadow Blade once again did not specifically call for the spar to begin. Hearing that, Cheong Uram moved his spear.

The moment he tried to aim the spearpoint and take his stance—

Yu Yeon’s form disappeared.

The scent of flowers spread. Flower petals fluttered through the air.

Faintly blooming petals. They swayed beautifully in every direction.

For an instant, they stole his vision.

That was when it happened.

Tap.

With a short sound, the spear Cheong Uram was holding split apart. Yu Yeon’s sword had cut through the spear.

One sword stroke. Fast and simple. And graceful.

As expected.

Those who possessed eyes were different. She possessed combat eyes, the same as the Young Cult Leader.

A genius born from the beginning with the traits of the Moon Eye that Yoo Cheongil had artificially created.

They broke down the paths of martial arts, found openings, and cut through them.

Yu Yeon’s talent could not be compared to mine.

I was basically a lump of fortuitous encounters. That side was the real thing.

“What the...!”

Cheong Uram flinched as he looked at his own weapon, but the problem came next.

Thwack—!

“Ghk.”

“Huh...”

“Oh...”

Yu Yeon’s kick struck Cheong Uram in the groin.

“Grr...”

The bastard collapsed to the ground. He could not even scream and sank to his knees anyway.

“Grr... Grrrk... Ugh...”

The sight of him trembling was pitiful. The anger that had been rising in me until just now vanished in an instant.

“...Crazy.”

“...Scary bitch.”

Peng Dojun gritted his teeth and watched her warily. They were clearly companions, but there was a lot of distance between them.

This was a sense of kinship that could not be helped as a man.

Just as I was thinking that Cheong Uram was terribly pitiful—

Thwack!

Yu Yeon struck Cheong Uram’s face with her knee.

“Kek!”

His defenseless head snapped upward, and two or three teeth flew into the sky.

“...Ah. So that wasn’t the end?”

I had thought she would stop now, but apparently there was more.

I nodded as I watched the trail of nosebleed spin through the air.

...She is kind of scary, isn’t she?

Yu Yeon did fight a little frighteningly.

More than a little, in fact.

*****

“Aaagh! Aaagh! S-save me!”

“...Hey. Stop her!”

“This is insane.”

“...”

While a woman was beating a Cult member to her heart’s content—

On the sparring stage where the Holy Cult Battle was taking place, someone stood on the hall floor and quietly looked down at it.

His gaze was fixed on the face of the woman sparring. On Yu Yeon’s face.

Her familiar eyes, nose, and mouth. Her appearance, which seemed as though he had seen it somewhere before.

The Sky that had existed in the Holy Cult.

It naturally came to his mind.

“...No way?”

Others might not know.

But if it was him, there was no way he would not know.

He looked at Yu Yeon and widened his eyes.