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◈ Surviving as a Genius on Borrowed Time ◈
Episode 190: Bond (5)
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The final sparring match of the grand founding ceremony.
This was different from Cheon Ju-jin's match. Only after the new Leader of Demon Wings had defeated forty-five challengers did the martial families bring out Eon Hwa-ryeon, the Fist Exemplar.
The Imperial Hero's banner fluttered at the center of the Assembly. Even as the Assembly's leaders, they must have had no choice.
With his body heated, Jeong Yeon-shin faced the Assembly's final trump card.
He had already unleashed Sihwa Boundless Hand in sequence.
He had been circulating the Dharma Light Wheel even before stepping onto the sparring platform. It took less than two breaths to begin with the first form, Helix, and reach the third, Fist Flower.
The inner energy barrier of the First Fist of the Eon Family was truly formidable.
It was an incredible Protective Qi Technique. Eon Hwa-ryeon had cultivated an art that materialized qi throughout her body.
As a fist martial artist, she was worthy of suppressing the prestige of countless swordsmen.
The image of the dissolute drunkard had vanished.
On the sparring platform, she was something almost divine. An invisible current flowed powerfully over her entire body.
It was as though she had elevated her fist arts and Protective Qi Technique to the realm of a Divine Technique.
The moment the match began, she closed in without hesitation and erased the distance needed to draw a sword in a single step.
The youth did not mind. He had intended to fight at close range from the beginning.
He deflected her hand with the first form, Helix, then struck her abdomen with True Barrier. Yet a strange recoil surged back, as though he had struck a moving swamp.
For a moment, his wrist nearly bent backward. The practical qi structure unique to the martial families was producing an immense Protective Qi Technique.
Jeong Yeon-shin immediately wrapped the Dharma Light Wheel around the Neiguan acupoint in his wrist.
He had to protect the bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments around his wrist joints in layer after layer.
It was his first time facing a fist martial artist in the Black Uniform realm. There were too many factors to consider.
Eon Hwa-ryeon's eyes also demanded his attention as her hair streamed before her.
She studied him while retreating in short steps.
For some reason, her eyes reminded him of the secret eye technique of the Jegal Family that Jegal Cheong-a had displayed before.
A faint blue gleam filled her gaze as she watched Jeong Yeon-shin.
It remained so even when he used the inner energy technique of Radiant River in his arm. It even felt as though she were deliberately leaving him an opening.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa!
The force pouring from his palm was violent. The Blood Arts and dharma power that had grown within the Dharma Light Wheel were bound by the principles of a sorcery formation.
Force waves extended from the wheel in his heart and spiraled out in stream after stream, grinding away the sparring platform as they surged forward.
They grew fiercer until the moment he unleashed a palm strike at Eon Hwa-ryeon.
The form that had come to symbolize invincibility was complete. He could not draw out its full power. He had compromised.
Radiant River's distinctive weakness, its extremely long casting time at a higher level, had been reduced through the Dharma Light Wheel's flexibility.
Its power had been reduced as well. Even so, the force waves were strong enough to shake the air.
Then it happened.
Swish.
A soft hand slipped beneath his forearm. Its touch was cool.
In an instant, his vision filled with ebony hair.
Eon Hwa-ryeon suddenly stepped forward, lowered her body, passed through Radiant River, and seized his lower arm as she lifted it.
Even the Protective Qi Technique around her face was so firm that her eyes remained clear despite the gale of force pouring from Radiant River.
Her languid eyes came at him like a treasured sword. The moment her jet-black pupils flashed.
Kwaaang!
Radiant River exploded above them. A brutal shockwave traveled down his arm and drove through to his feet.
It felt as though the floor beneath his heels had crumpled. His vision shook, and even the entire sparring platform trembled for a brief moment.
Radiant River was a form that made up for its flaws with raw power.
For the first time, the palm art he had always somehow managed to land missed completely.
The name First Fist of the Eon Family seemed to press in alongside the lingering force waves.
She had struck directly at the weakness of an explosive martial art. Fearlessly entering with her powerful Protective Qi Technique, she had changed the point of impact of his palm strike.
The hands of an experienced Black Uniform fist martial artist were truly frightening.
Eon Hwa-ryeon's hand, gripping his forearm, slid all the way to his shoulder.
Jeong Yeon-shin's eyes flashed. Countless techniques she could use at this moment came to mind. Acupoint strikes, inch force, internal heavy-hand technique. Anything was possible.
Whoosh!
He invoked Wind Body. Starting with his feet, he twisted himself. The power of the Dharma Light Wheel surged in a whirlpool from the Yongquan acupoints and responded with every fine muscle in his body.
A small movement produced the Body Movement Scripture's fierce rotation. The young Leader of Demon Wings' body became a whirlwind.
The hem of his black robe spiraled with his body. The Force Projection of his entire body was stronger than Eon Hwa-ryeon's grip. He brushed past her hand and widened the distance.
Kwaaak!
Wind unraveled from Jeong Yeon-shin's body as he stopped spinning. The fierce gust that rose around him brought silence.
A clash between exceptional masters could steal the souls of all who watched. At a glance, they even appeared evenly matched.
“……”
The Leader of Demon Wings and the Fist Exemplar stood facing each other without moving.
They were two steps apart. It was a distance at which the First Fist of the Eon Family's ultimate move could erupt the moment Jeong Yeon-shin tried to draw his sword.
To respond in time, he had no choice but to remain unarmed.
Eon Hwa-ryeon was thoroughly keeping the word she had given at Azure Crane Tower. She had said she would not hesitate to make bodily contact.
The youth gazed steadily at his opponent.
He could not tell how deep Eon Hwa-ryeon's defensive cultivation was. Even after being struck by the violent wind of those force waves, her hair had settled neatly back into place.
That meant she had been wrapped in qi from the beginning.
She had covered her whole body with a flexible yet firm inner energy barrier. It was as though an Eon Family master had acquired even the Jegal Family's eye technique.
Her martial arts were built for close-range combat. The pressure she gave off was immense.
‘She seems inferior to Cheon Ju-jin at full strength or the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost, but...’
It was meaningless. All three were experts who had trained far longer than Jeong Yeon-shin. Eon Hwa-ryeon also had clear strengths.
Her defensive cultivation was on another level, and her qi structure was exceptionally suited to covering her whole body.
What was her weakness?
The youth sank into thought.
“Your Protective Qi Technique cannot keep up with your inner energy level, can it?”
Eon Hwa-ryeon spoke with a smile. Unlike when he had seen her at Azure Crane Tower, her speech was not slurred.
Her clear tone revealed sharp intelligence, displaying only the bearing of the supreme master the martial family Assembly boasted.
“It felt thin when I touched you. I could practically feel your skin.”
She gently flexed her scarred fingers. She did not care about the crowd packed around the sparring platform.
She had already displayed the overwhelming presence of a supreme master. Eon Hwa-ryeon's provocation instead drew cheers from some of the heroes.
“Your qi circulation was oddly slow as well. Only your sharp senses, as though you could read a move ahead, were frightening. Now that I see it, you have quite a few flaws for a supreme master. And that palm art of yours...”
The corner of her mouth rose further.
“I find it difficult to agree with what that child of the Namgung Family said. That you will one day contend for the title of the strongest under heaven? Well...?”
“……”
“Your palm art is too far ahead of its time. As long as the martial arts of prestigious sects and great factions continue without interruption, it will be difficult for it to see the light. This is even more true the deeper you enter the realm of masters. It is greatly affected by the flow of battle, unlike the old ultimate arts of famed schools. Your martial arts composition is still shallow.”
The martial arts of the great families were said to lie somewhere between the Nine Sects and the unorthodox sects. No matter when they were used, they could blend into real combat without difficulty.
They pursued certain victory no matter how long a fight continued. That was why Eon Hwa-ryeon had studied Jeong Yeon-shin for so long earlier.
She had confirmed that, apart from sword forms and Radiant River, he had no means of piercing her Protective Qi Technique and striking her directly.
“Unless it is the Young Sect Master of that distant Ming Cult, no one of your generation can stand against you. But I do not know what will happen on the greater stage of all under heaven. Your eyes do not encompass only your peers, but the martial world itself, do they not? As the future Leader of Demon Wings, you will travel the Central Plains. Among those you face, there will be no easy opponents.”
“Scions of prestigious families usually talk too much.”
Jeong Yeon-shin finally spoke.
“The only things worth learning from them are the few methods that broaden one's knowledge.”
“Show me whatever you have. That is my position. You have built your name by planting the flag of Desolate Fortress in an outrageous manner. If I am to shatter both the fame you have spread and that banner, an ordinary display will not suffice.”
Eon Hwa-ryeon spoke with a calm smile.
She had completely countered the Leader of Demon Wings' Sihwa Boundless Hand. It was a well-founded smile.
Her arms, hanging at either side of her sleeveless martial attire, rose before her chest as she took the opening stance of a fist art.
The tendons in her forearms, slim all the way to her wrists, revealed the depth of power that neither heat nor cold could penetrate.
Despite the hot autumn sunlight, her smooth skin stood out. It pulsed faintly, as if proving the depth of her inner energy breathing.
She spoke in a whisper.
“Child, come in again. Five exchanges remain.”
“...I hear your eyes are quite adept at prying.”
Jeong Yeon-shin slowly opened his mouth.
“This Squad Leader will change the way he sees as well.”
Suddenly, white light flickered in the youth's eyes.
* * *
Nanyang Prefecture, Henan.
A quiet pavilion stood open on all four sides. Two people sat facing each other with a table of wine and food between them.
One was a young woman, and the other was a male elf.
The woman's appearance was unusual. Her glossy gray hair barely covered the nape of her neck.
The ends of her hair brushed her white neck in the breeze. It suited her appearance perfectly, making her seem both lofty and unrestrained.
Her beauty, which made her appear only around thirty, carried a strong dignity.
“It seems the Alliance Leader did not make trouble, even though half the martial force you led disappeared.”
The man spoke with his chest slightly exposed beneath his green long robe. His posture was dissolute, unlike that of someone from a noble clan.
His long black hair fell freely, giving him a decadent air.
A flush had risen on the ears that pushed through his hair like sword tips. He appeared to have been drinking in the daytime.
He was the Hao Clan Leader.
“Hmph.”
Baek Seo-gun, the Sword Venerable of Henan and the Spirit Sky Sword Ghost, gave a small snort.
“There is no expert in the Heart Martial Union who can replace this Sword Venerable. Trouble? Not a chance.”
“Do you know that a real army would call that total annihilation?”
“They were opponents worthy of it.”
“Ah, the new Leader of Demon Wings. I hear he is setting Hanzhong ablaze right now. This clan is watching him as well. The emergence of a rising master always draws attention.”
The Hao Clan Leader spoke.
Baek Seo-gun's face, cold as though covered in frost, changed. A slender smile appeared on her red lips.
“I never imagined Ban-ak's son would command the martial world. I thought he would be raised well, but he exceeded all expectations. He has grown well as a martial artist too. Shameless as it may be, my heart swelled. Even after reflecting on it all the way here, I did not tire of it.”
She truly felt that way.
She thought back on the principles of Go that Jeong Ban-ak had taught her when she was still a maid.
Jeong Ban-ak's son embodied sacrifice stones to seize initiative with his whole being. It was an aggressive way of life.
His father's looks and teachings had been passed down to him whole. To Baek Seo-gun, it was a sword form of immense value.
She had left Jeong Family Manor to escape her lowly life, but she had realized that the time she built up despite her insignificant status had not become meaningless.
Because of Seom-ye, the life of Henan's Sword Venerable felt complete. It was precious time.
“He was raised so well, and he has grown so wonderfully.”
She voiced her feelings in a gentle tone. The words slipped out before she knew it.
The Hao Clan Leader's expression turned strange.
“Hmm, raised well? I wonder.”
Baek Seo-gun's white brow narrowed. Coldness flowed through her shadowed eyes beneath her thick lashes.
“That response does not sit right with me. If I say it is so, you need only accept that it is so.”
“No, there are simply so many rumors about the new Leader of Demon Wings...”
The Hao Clan Leader trailed off. The corners of Baek Seo-gun's lips lowered slightly.
“Do not hide what you mean from me. Speak plainly.”
“After Seom-ye made his name known, this clan activated its secret intelligence network as well. Is he not a blood descendant of the Desolate Ma family? Since he had begun to stand out, we expected he would one day become a towering figure in the martial world and dug into many things. We even questioned the commoners of Xinye County, where Jeong Family Manor had been established. Those lofty people of the Tyrant Sword Sect did not bother to do such things.”
“And?”
“It seems he was not raised in a sheltered manner...”
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