NOVEL NEXT chapter 283
At first, they truly resented Yeon Woo Jin.
How could he inflict this much pain on them?
If they could have, they would have rushed him and smashed a fist into his face right then and there.
And when they saw the other sect leaders just watching with pained expressions—without lifting a finger to save them—their fury spiked with a sense of betrayal.
But that feeling didn’t last.
Not after they watched Yeon Woo Jin trade blows with those same sect leaders.
It was brutal.
It looked like a real fight to the death.
They held nothing back and attacked Yeon Woo Jin with everything they had. Yeon Woo Jin slipped through it all with ease and handled them at his leisure.
By the end, as they watched the sect leaders of each school writhing in rags on the ground, they could forget their own pain—if only for a moment.
The sparring didn’t end in a day.
It went on the next day.
And the day after that.
It kept going.
By contrast, the pain faded bit by bit, and they could feel their bodies growing light and clear.
They were starting to pity the ones who had to spar Yeon Woo Jin.
“I thought they were facing a mortal enemy, not a training match.”
“Same here.”
“When this great method ends… we don’t have to do that too, do we?”
No one answered the question.
If they said it out loud, they might actually have to do it.
While the silence held, Yeon Woo Jin approached.
He started looking people over.
Everyone stared at his mouth, tense and waiting.
“Now we can start in earnest.”
In earnest?
What was that supposed to mean?
Start what in earnest?
“May I ask… start what, exactly?”
“The great method.”
“Haven’t we been doing it already?”
“What we’ve done so far was a warm-up. A period to adapt to the pain.”
“A period… to adapt to pain?”
“The pain that comes from strengthening the body is enormous. That’s why we set aside time to adapt to it. Now that your bodies are somewhat used to it, you should be able to endure.”
Pupils shook hard at his words.
What was he saying?
The pain wasn’t over?
There was worse to come?
Worse than this?
Everyone shivered.
They wanted to quit.
But they couldn’t.
They’d come too far to throw it away now.
Damn it! Fine. To hell with it—endure a little more.
With that in mind, they clamped their lips and clenched their fists.
Once he saw they were resolved, Yeon Woo Jin spoke.
“All right, then. We begin now.”
When Yeon Woo Jin breathed qi into the formation, everyone tensed.
Vrrrmm—.
Blue light bled from the sigils and wrapped around their bodies.
Crack—.
Pop—pop—
Muscles swelled and their bodies warped this way and that. Screams that hadn’t been heard in a while sprang up on all sides.
“Aaaargh!”
Now they understood why he’d given them time to adapt to pain.
The first pain had been maddening, but this was worse.
They had thought they’d grown used to it, but this was beyond endurance.
In the middle of that agony, a thought took shape.
Yeon Woo Jin had truly given them time to adapt for their sake.
Now they believed it.
He was doing this to make them stronger. Truly stronger.
****
A few more days passed.
The Yoga Tendon-Reversing Heaven-Dance Formation ended, and at long last they had their bodies back.
Their bodies felt lighter than before, younger even, and smiles broke out on every face.
“It feels like I’m back in my youth.”
“Astonishing. As the body grows stronger, the spirit feels tougher too.”
They marveled as they tested their changed bodies.
In their hearts, Yeon Woo Jin now sat as perfect trust.
Whatever he did from here on, they felt they could believe him.
“Since the formation has released us, it’s time to get our manuals back.”
At the word “manuals,” faces brightened.
It had been a long, long wait.
At last, they could receive the manuals they’d hungered for.
They were excited.
With stronger bodies, they felt they could master the manuals faster once they had them.
“He said he would, so he will. Let’s not get impatient. Yeon Woo Jin isn’t a man who lies.”
“I’m only saying I want them quickly.”
At “quickly,” everyone nodded.
Had he sensed their mood?
Yeon Woo Jin approached.
“I’ll return the manuals. Please come in one at a time.”
“Oh!”
Cheers erupted.
They’d finally heard the words they’d waited for from Yeon Woo Jin’s own mouth.
People immediately lined up outside the tent he entered.
At the very front stood the Huashan Sect Leader.
He stepped in carefully, and Yeon Woo Jin greeted him with a bright smile.
“Please, sit.”
Once he sat where Yeon Woo Jin indicated, Yeon Woo Jin took out a pair of booklets and held them out.
Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art.
Purple Mist Divine Art.
Two books.
He’d expected the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art—but the Purple Mist Divine Art?
The Purple Mist Divine Art wasn’t something Martial Deity Heaven had been given; it was a Mount Hua manual that had been lost long ago.
A manual thought gone forever lay before his eyes.
“Th-this… how…?”
“Purple Mist Divine Art is Mount Hua’s, isn’t it?”
“Y-yes.”
“Good.”
“A-are you… returning this to us?”
“Yes.”
The Huashan Sect Leader’s hands trembled as he held the Purple Mist Divine Art.
He’d come thinking only of the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art, and now the Purple Mist Divine Art?
That wasn’t all.
Yeon Woo Jin held something else out.
“What is this?”
“A method to make the Perilla Pill.”
“H-how did you even recover the method for the Perilla Pill?”
“Martial Deity Heaven had a single pill. I researched it and restored the recipe.”
The Huashan Sect Leader’s eyes trembled.
Then a tear finally fell.
It was moving.
That he would go this far.
With this, Mount Hua could be made complete.
The empty places were filled.
All by Yeon Woo Jin’s hand.
He slowly raised his head and looked at Yeon Woo Jin.
In his clear eyes there was not a speck of greed.
He didn’t even name a price.
“Is there anything you want?”
In the end, the Huashan Sect Leader asked first.
Yeon Woo Jin shook his head.
“No.”
Not a moment’s hesitation.
He truly wanted nothing.
Even that was astonishing, and what followed made the Huashan Sect Leader recoil.
“There is one thing I should apologize for.”
“Apologize?”
“In the process of reading to verify the originals, to check they were genuine… I ended up learning the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art and Purple Mist Divine Art without meaning to.”
“…What?”
What was he saying?
Had he heard that right?
He’d learned them without even noticing, just by reading?
The Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art?
Even a common Three-Talent Sword that anyone could pick up took time to grasp its essence, and the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art was Mount Hua’s distilled core.
He learned it at a glance?
Who would believe that?
Not that he could complain.
Just returning them was enough to be grateful for.
“It’s fine. Returning the manuals like this is more than enough.”
“In exchange, I’ll teach you.”
“Teach me what, exactly?”
“Purple Mist Divine Art and the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art.”
“That won’t be necessary. I can learn them on my own.”
“No. That would take too long. I’ll show you.”
The Huashan Sect Leader said,
“I’ve already mastered most of the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art. There’s nothing left for me to learn.”
“Really? Then would you like to spar with me—using only the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art?”
At Yeon Woo Jin’s words, the Huashan Sect Leader nodded with confidence.
“If you must see it with your own eyes, so be it.”
“All right, let’s go outside.”
The Huashan Sect Leader nodded and followed Yeon Woo Jin out.
****
When the Huashan Sect Leader came out with Yeon Woo Jin, those waiting outside looked puzzled.
“What’s this? Why are they coming out?”
“Huh? Isn’t that the sparring ground?”
They were heading for the place that had turned countless people into rags.
It wasn’t arranged like a formal arena, but everyone called it the sparring ground.
When Yeon Woo Jin and the Huashan Sect Leader faced each other, the crowd focused.
Ears pricked to catch every word.
“I’ll show you our Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art.”
“Yes. Come.”
People listening to them—
Had he not returned the manual?
Why announce the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art out of nowhere?
If anything, they were more curious.
Just then the Huashan Sect Leader drew and leapt for Yeon Woo Jin.
Mount Hua’s brilliant Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art unfurled in succession.
Swish— swish—
Trailing afterimages stitched the air, and the qi left hanging in their wake gathered and fell, like plum blossoms drifting down.
A dance like a painted scroll.
That was when—
Yeon Woo Jin drew his sword and began to move.
“Gasp!”
“W-what is that!”
Yeon Woo Jin’s movement resembled the Huashan Sect Leader’s.
Similar—but different.
They had thought the Huashan Sect Leader’s execution flawless, yet set beside Yeon Woo Jin’s, it looked clumsy somewhere.
No one was more shocked than the Huashan Sect Leader himself.
Yeon Woo Jin was truly performing the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art—and it was perfect.
The exact same forms the Huashan Sect Leader had used were unfolding before his eyes.
“Plum-Blossom Descent isn’t supposed to fall that softly.”
Whoom—
A biting force blanketed the Huashan Sect Leader.
“The shifts of Nine Plum-Blossom Changes aren’t that simple.”
Yeon Woo Jin’s sword split into nine, and each—like an independent blade—came at the Huashan Sect Leader with a different motion.
Clang-clang-clang-clang—
He spun fast and blocked the incoming blades.
His face was filling with shock.
What Yeon Woo Jin displayed was the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art made perfect.
The ideal.
This looked like the true Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art.
What he’d learned felt like a shell.
Clink—
The Huashan Sect Leader dropped his sword to the ground.
There was no point in continuing.
The more he went on, the more wretched he felt.
He’d prided himself on perfectly restoring the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art. He had not.
He’d only made a close imitation.
Yeon Woo Jin sheathed his sword and stepped up to him.
He offered comfort.
“Don’t be too disheartened. The real thing is here now. You can learn it properly.”
The Huashan Sect Leader looked at him long and quietly.
A question rose.
“Truly… you learned this after reading it once?”
“Yes.”
He wasn’t a man who lied.
“Heh-heh-heh…”
Until now, he had thought Mount Hua’s grand disciple An Ho was a heaven-sent genius.
He was wrong.
The true genius stood right before him—Yeon Woo Jin.
And the place that had received such a prodigy from heaven was Martial Deity Heaven.
He felt certain that in the next generation as well, heaven’s chosen place would be Martial Deity Heaven.
The Huashan Sect Leader slowly bowed his head and spoke with solemn respect.
“Please. Teach me the Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art and the Purple Mist Divine Art.”
Yeon Woo Jin nodded vigorously.
“Of course! Shall we start right away?”
“Now? R-right now?”
“Yes.”
“Those people over there…”
He pointed to the line of people waiting.
Yeon Woo Jin turned to them with an apologetic look.
“Please come find me one per day, in the order you’re standing now.”
“What? Weren’t you returning manuals today?”
“Yes. °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I’ll give them out one person per day.”
Disappointment spread.
But no one dared show it openly.
If they soured Yeon Woo Jin’s mood, they might never get their manuals back.
People began to drift back to their quarters.
Talking as they went.
“Did you hear the exchange between those two just now?”
“I did.”
“From the sound of it, Yeon Woo Jin has already learned Mount Hua’s Twenty-Four Forms Plum-Blossom Sword Art.”
“Didn’t you see him perform it? To my eyes, he executed it more perfectly than the Huashan Sect Leader.”
“To mine as well.”