Chapter 552

Around the time sunset began to fall, training ended as promised.

Many people gathered around the instructor. Most were injured, and nine out of ten were so exhausted that they were busy panting for breath.

They had fought each other for quite a long time, so their inner qi had hit bottom and their stamina had run dry.

“I will check the beads.”

The instructors, apparently unconcerned with that condition, began checking the beads each person had.

“......Eight, then.”

When he came to me and saw the number, the instructor gave me a strange look.

Eight. After getting caught by Yu Yeon and conned by that Heavenly Sword bastard, I had added a few more.

I had run myself ragged moving around.

“Are you more aggressive than expected?”

“No. I’m the peace-loving type.”

“Peace? With this many?”

The instructor snorted. Even I thought it sounded absurd after saying it.

“Next is...... twelve.”

Twelve.

At those words, everyone’s eyes moved. A tall, lean figure. On top of that, a person whose presence had something unmistakably unsettling about it.

Heavenly Sword.

That was the number held by the Heavenly Sword bastard who had conned me and left.

He had more than me. As I stared at that, Heavenly Sword looked at me.

When our eyes met, he smiled.

That bastard.

I clicked my tongue inwardly when I saw him even wave his hand. I had been careless when he got me, so there was nothing I could do about it, but it still felt rotten.

Aside from him, Yu Yeon had five. And then.

“......Six.”

Peng Dojun had six. Tang Cheonil had one. And.

“None.”

Cloud Dragon held nothing. On top of that—

He’s hurt.

Cloud Dragon was not in very good condition. The wounds did not seem deep, but he was bleeding and looked exhausted.

It seemed he had gone through something.

As I was watching that—

“Hey.”

Peng Dojun moved. The instructor was still checking beads, but Peng Dojun pushed through the people there and headed toward someone.

Heavenly Sword.

“You.”

“What is it?”

Heavenly Sword tilted his head as he looked at him, and Peng Dojun reached for his collar.

Just then—

“That is far enough.”

The instructor cut in between them. He slipped in instantly and blocked the two.

“Unauthorized spars are against the rules. Do you orthodox bastards not even know rules like that?”

The atmosphere was obviously anything but ordinary, and the instructor stopped it before anything could develop.

However—

“You son of a bitch.”

Peng Dojun did not seem to care. He simply walked toward Heavenly Sword. Sensing that, Heavenly Sword smiled.

“Interesting. Why? Do you want a match?”

“Of course I do. We obviously have to. If you hadn’t done nothing but run away, it would have happened already.”

“Run away? What are you talking about?”

He smoothly straightened °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° his head and faced Peng Dojun. The two of them were roughly the same height, though their builds were different.

“I simply avoided unnecessary actions.”

“......Bullshit.......”

Something had happened between the two of them. This was the first time I had seen Peng Dojun that angry. He was usually the kind of lunatic who got angry while laughing. Seeing him make that serious face was startling.

Crrrk.

The veins in his neck all stood out. Right as I wondered whether they might really fight like that—

“You do not listen.”

BOOM—!!

“Gah!”

Along with the instructor’s words, Peng Dojun was shoved away.

CRAAASH—!!!

The pillar the huge man slammed into shattered on the spot. Fragments fell to the floor as Peng Dojun dropped to the ground.

He did not collapse and barely managed to plant his feet on the floor, but—

“Kuhooo.......”

The sigh he let out made the pain obvious.

......He’s strong.

He was a master. For one thing, he had sent that Peng Dojun flying with a single blow.

He was fast.

The moment he moved had been too quick. The force behind it was absolutely not low, either. It was enough to surprise me after I saw it.

That meant his realm was not low.

Of course. He was an instructor of the Holy Cult, so I had not thought he would be weak. But I had not known he would be that strong.

Maybe—

Is he an absolute master?

He might be someone on that level. The fact that I could not gauge him made that even more likely.

“Ptoo.”

Peng Dojun spat blood once.

He was still glaring at Heavenly Sword with murderous eyes, but fortunately, the same thing as before did not happen again.

Should I call that fortunate?

I watched the reason for that incident with a strange look, but I did not interfere.

Because that side probably wouldn’t want it either.

Peng Dojun did not want that. Considering that man’s personality, I was sure of it.

“Those who failed to obtain beads, move to the left. Those who collected them, move to the right.”

As if the punishment had ended with that one blow, the instructor ordered the trainees with an indifferent face.

We moved according to his words.

One hundred eighty-seven people. Among that many, only a few held beads. It absolutely could not have reached even half.

Since several people already held two or more beads, it was an obvious result.

“There are fewer people than expected.”

The instructor smacked his lips slightly after seeing the number. It seemed something was different from what he had thought.

“Those who failed to pass the training will be forbidden from eating for three days. Those who succeeded, receive your rewards.”

The punishment was simply fasting. Since they were martial artists, three days would likely barely show.

Separate from that—

Rewards.

My head moved at the mention that there were rewards. Naturally, I looked at Woo Young Jin.

“......What?”

“What do they give as rewards?”

“Spirit pills.”

As expected, Woo Young Jin was the one to explain. He immediately answered my question.

“Spirit pills?”

“Spirit pills produced by the Holy Cult. Their effects are excellent, which is why everyone is so desperate to finish the training, but—I do not know whether they will mean anything to you people.”

“What does that mean?”

“You will not use demonic qi, after all.”

“Mm.”

What I could tell from those words was this.

They recognize that demonic qi is a separate energy from inner qi.

And the spirit pills could only increase demonic qi. It certainly did not seem like an especially necessary item for the others.

“But we can take them for now, yes?”

“......I suppose so.”

It was possible to take the spirit pills. Honestly, that alone was enough.

I moved toward the place where the rewards were being given out. I felt someone’s gaze.

When I turned my head, it was Hyo Yeonri.

She was looking at me with an ambiguous gaze. I had no idea what she was thinking, but—

I should avoid getting involved with that one.

Because of Hyo Yeonri’s romantic calamity, I decided in my head to choose the option where I did not get involved with her.

If possible. No, absolutely.

I had seen countless bastards ruined after getting involved with a person like that.

Especially men. The end of bastards whose brains were attached between their legs was painfully obvious.

It would be troublesome if I ended up like that.

A bad memory from my past life suddenly came to mind. There had been a woman wrapped in exactly that kind of romantic calamity.

Then she had sold her soul to an evil god, fallen into corruption, and charged at me.

She was a pain to clean up.

Just imagining it made me sick. It was something I absolutely must not get tangled up in.

And—

That side—

I saw Heavenly Sword looking at me despite the friction with Peng Dojun on the other side.

That side.

He seemed to want to get tangled up with me.

And I’ll have to get tangled up with him.

It seemed I would need to ask him a few things as well. In several senses.

“Hurry up, take it, and get lost. It is late.”

At the instructor’s urging, I resumed the steps I had stopped. The spirit pills were being handed out by a veiled person in ink-black clothing.

“One each for passing. Two additional pills for eight beads.”

“......Oh?”

So collecting more beads meant they gave more spirit pills. I had not known that.

When I looked at Woo Young Jin again, his eyes were wide too.

“......They hid something like this. Tch.”

Apparently, he had not known either.

“Here.”

I tossed one to Woo Young Jin.

He had already received one. With one more, Woo Young Jin now had two in total, and he looked at me as he spoke.

“You are going out of your way to give me another one. You must have done all the work, though?”

“You also said I don’t really need them. And I thought it would be right to make a connection with each other.”

“So you are saying you plan to use me more in the future?”

“I like people who catch on quickly.”

“......Ha.”

Woo Young Jin let out a hollow breath at my shameless answer.

“You bastard. Are you truly an orthodox martial artist?”

“As you can see? No matter who looks at me, I’m an orthodox martial artist. Righteous and honorable, I mean.”

“There is a limit to bullshit.”

“Let’s not get close enough to curse at each other, all right?”

“......I’m leaving.”

Apparently not wanting to continue the conversation, he walked off after receiving his reward.

I smirked at the sight and turned around.

A spirit pill, huh.

He said its name was the Demonic Spirit Pill.

Holding it, I moved. My destination was the residence they had given us.

*****

I arrived at the residence. After all the others arrived as well—

Peng Dojun entered his room before there was any opening to talk.

I had meant to ask him something, but judging from the atmosphere, I did not think I should stop him.

And he was not the priority.

“Are you all right?”

“......I am all right.”

Cloud Dragon.

Wudang’s peerless genius. He was sitting there with a pained face.

“What happened?”

“.......”

At my question, Cloud Dragon’s face twisted. It was the face of someone whose pride had been deeply wounded.

“I lost.......”

“What do you mean, lost?”

“......Heavenly Sword. I mean I was defeated by the one called Heavenly Sword.”

“Mm.”

Heavenly Sword. So it was that bastard after all.

As I was thinking over that, I heard someone clicking his tongue from somewhere.

“After all that bragging. You still got beaten in the end.”

It was Tang Cheonil. He spoke while looking at Cloud Dragon as if he were pathetic.

“......What did you say?”

“Did you not say the Holy Cult’s younger-generation prodigies would be nothing? That you would show them Wudang’s true strength?”

“.......”

“What a pity, seeing you groan after getting thoroughly beaten.”

“......You bastard.......”

Peng Dojun and Tang Cheonil were one thing, but those two were just as incompatible.

At this point, I was starting to wonder whether Tang Cheonil’s personality was simply the problem.

“......Let’s not fight, now.”

I roughly stopped the two and asked Cloud Dragon.

“I know it hurts. How was he?”

“What do you mean......?”

“I mean Heavenly Sword. Was he strong?”

“.......”

He looked uncomfortable because I had brought up something he did not want to remember, but I had to hear it.

“......He was strong. I could not even graze his sleeve.”

“Mm.”

Cloud Dragon could not even graze his sleeve. He really did seem strong.

Gyo Yeon, Woo Young Jin, and among the Holy Cult’s geniuses, that bastard called a Heavenly Demon candidate.

He seemed to be in a different category.

What kind of bastard was he? Right as I was feeling regretful that I had not been able to speak with him more—

“And.”

Cloud Dragon began speaking as if he had something else to say.

“There was something strange.”

“Something strange?”

Cloud Dragon looked around, hesitating as if he were uncertain.

He was watching my reaction, of all people.

What was this? As I looked at him strangely—

“......The martial art Heavenly Sword used.”

Cloud Dragon said something rather bizarre and shocking.

“For some reason, it resembled the Azure Moon Sect’s.”