novelraw Chapter 95 : Chapter 95
Chapter 95 : Chapter 95
Chapter 95 - A superior movement technique
“Aigoo, I’m dying….”
On the mountainside of an unknown hill, a man’s groans echoed.
The owner of the voice was Solbo.
He was sitting slumped on the ground, grimacing and constantly massaging his calves.
“Are you feeling a bit better?”
A smile as gentle as a spring breeze, quite different from Solbo's expression, approached him.
“Senior Sister Jeong. Where are the others?”
“They went hunting, saying they should at least roast a rabbit. I brought some firewood.”
Listening to Jeong-i's gentle voice felt like walking on clouds.
He felt like he could get drunk on her sweet voice at any moment, but Solbo soon had to scratch the back of his head.
“I’m sorry. I want to help with something, but my legs are in this state….”
“Huhu. Junior Brother Solbo, just focus on relaxing your tense legs.”
Jeong-i replied and then gathered the firewood in one place.
‘What a mess I am.’
Solbo looked up at the night sky and let out a deep sigh.
While the others were preparing to camp, he had to just sit and rest like this.
He had always done more work than others, but he had never expected to be in this situation.
‘Why on earth is he doing this to me?’
Solbo sighed as he touched his tightly knotted calf muscles.
The one martial art he could confidently present was one thing.
Movement technique.
Was it because he was always looking for a chance to escape?
Or was it because of his unusually developed lower body?
In any case, Solbo used a more superior movement technique than his other senior brothers, and he himself was confident in it.
But.
What was this state today?
Far from leading the way, his legs gave out midway, and the schedule was delayed.
For Solbo, who was usually confident in his movement technique, it was an even harder result to accept.
‘This won’t do. I have to tell him to stop starting tomorrow.’
Of course, Solbo had his own excuses.
If he had used his movement technique as usual, he wouldn't have been left behind, even if he couldn't lead.
But before descending the mountain gate, someone had given Solbo a special order.
‘From here until we get to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, never let your heels touch the ground.’
At first, he thought it was a joke.
How could a person move around on the balls of their feet all the time?
But looking at that someone's serious face, it didn't seem like a joke at all.
The identity of that 'someone' was none other than Biyoung.
-Ahem!
-Again! It touched again!
-If it touches one more time, I'll throw you to the tigers for food!
No matter how good Solbo was, he couldn't maintain his usual speed with an unfamiliar movement.
But if he made even the slightest mistake, a thunderous roar would come from behind him.
His legs hurt, but if he changed his posture, all sorts of threats came from behind.
Solbo was truly in a state where he wanted to cry.
“Phew….”
As if she heard Solbo's sigh, Jeong-i asked with her eyes fixed on the ground.
“Are you resentful of Junior Brother Biyoung?”
“Resentful… No, I’m not.”
Solbo forced a smile as he answered, but he soon confessed his true feelings.
“I am a bit curious. I don’t know what the point of moving around only on my forefeet is, and I don’t know why he’s only making me do this and not you, Senior Sister.”
“Huhu.”
He had poured his heart out because he was upset, but all he got back from Jeong-i was laughter.
While Solbo was blinking his large eyes, Jeong-i turned her back and met his gaze.
“Because I can’t do it.”
“Pardon?”
“If I had moved like Junior Brother Solbo, I wouldn’t have even reached half the distance we have now. There’s an old saying, ‘Look before you leap,’ right? Junior Brother Biyoung has high hopes for Junior Brother Solbo’s potential, which is why he’s making you do that.”
“Potential?”
Solbo had a look of not knowing what was what.
And for good reason, hadn't he fallen behind the group and ended up camping like this?
And in the midst of that, potential.
“I heard the two of them talking before they went hunting, and they mentioned Junior Brother Solbo in passing.”
“What… did they say?”
“That you lasted longer than they thought.”
“!”
Lasted longer than they thought.
In other words, it meant they knew from the beginning that he would have trouble along the way.
Getting a compliment from Biyoung is like plucking a star from the sky.
Solbo felt a sense of pride, but at the same time, he became even more curious.
“What is the reason for doing something like this, knowing that I would have trouble? I really don’t understand.”
“Hmm….”
Jeong-i hesitated for a moment, and then, as if she had made up her mind, she opened her red lips.
“Junior Brother Solbo is the best among us at using the Flying Eagle Steps. His feet are also the fastest. This is just my thought, but….”
Jeong-i's clear eyes turned to Solbo's hard calves.
“I think Junior Brother Biyoung is preparing for the next step.”
“The next step… you mean…?”
When Solbo asked with a dumbfounded face, Jeong-i gave a slightly embarrassed smile.
Unfortunately, Solbo's brain did not seem to rotate as fast as his two legs.
“I’m talking about a superior movement technique beyond the Flying Eagle Steps.”
“!!!”
“The Diancang Sect has several types of movement techniques, right? But among them, I know of only one type that uses only the forefeet….”
Solbo blinked his large eyes and fell into thought.
Although he couldn't learn them because the senior masters were not there, he had heard stories.
As a sect that valued the quick sword, the Diancang Sect possessed a number of superior movement techniques.
The Wing Waving Soul Stealing, which was said to steal the opponent's soul with its rapid wing-like movements.
The Cloud-Walking Body Method, which was praised as if one were running on clouds.
However.
As Jeong-i had said, there was only one movement technique that used only the front of the feet.
“Vast Sky Eagle Body Method…!!”
As Solbo said the name of the martial art with his mouth wide open, Jeong-i smiled softly.
“Probably.”
“Goodness….”
It felt as if the pain in his calves had disappeared in an instant.
He had felt like he had the world in his hands just by having the Flying Eagle Steps newly corrected.
Did this process mean it was a foundation for learning the Vast Sky Eagle Body Method?
“Junior Brother Biyoung is a martial artist who values the basics so much that he taught us the Flying Eagle Steps and the Eagle Talon Twelve Swords from the beginning again. He thinks that if the foundation is not laid, it is useless to learn a superior martial art.”
Jeong-i's analysis was quite accurate.
Despite having trained in the Diancang Sect’s sword for a long time in Simao and even taking the Six-Flower Pill, the rising generation had not even seen the ‘S’ of the Sun-Shooting Sword Art.
In that sense, Solbo's training was very significant.
Although it was not swordsmanship, it meant that he would be the first among the rising generation of the Diancang Sect to learn a superior martial art.
“I think he probably brought you along for this purpose from the beginning. To watch your posture, he has to hold on to you for a long time, and if you go to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain together, you can get two birds with one stone.”
In conclusion.
The talk about being a baggage carrier and whatnot was all an excuse.
Biyoung had chosen to accompany Solbo to lay the foundation for the Vast Sky Eagle Body Method.
“So….”
Solbo’s large eyes filled with a hot emotion.
He thought he was just being growled at for always running away, but to think he was being taken care of like this to maximize his strengths.
“It’s just a guess, after all.”
Jeong-i smiled brightly and then got up, saying she would go wash her hands.
Solbo's large eyes, left alone, turned to the dark night sky.
“Did Biyoung really…?”
***
The next day.
The road to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was no different from yesterday.
Jeong-i opened the mountain path, Gwangyo and Solbo followed, and at the very back was Biyoung.
Pabababat!
The sight of the four men and women going up and down the mountain path was like watching an acrobatics show.
They occasionally encountered people resting on the mountain path, but they couldn't even properly grasp what had passed.
“Ugh!”
“That scared me!”
“What was that just now? Something just whizzed by.”
“I know. It’s like seeing a ghost in broad daylight….”
The movement technique of the Diancang Sect, which valued the quick sword, was beyond question, and Gwangyo was also a person who was once called the Mad Laughing Shoulder Steps.
Those in Jianghu who prided themselves on their footwork, for a close example, even people like Ji Seok-gi of the Beggars' Union would have to work up a sweat to keep up with these four people.
Swoosh.
In the middle of moving, Gwangyo turned around, flashing the whites of his eyes.
His gaze was directed at Solbo.
Normally, he would have flinched with a ‘Hic!’, but today was different.
Pabababak!
Solbo was in a state of extreme immersion, so much so that he paid no attention to the gazes of those around him.
‘Quickly. But calmly.’
Solbo focused all his attention on each step he took, and his expression looked extremely serious.
‘He’s changed quite a bit overnight.’
Gwangyo carefully observed Solbo’s change, then snorted and turned his head.
“Hmph! Of course, he should.”
The brat who would flinch and act like he was about to wet himself just by making eye contact was not paying any attention to his eye-rolling today.
Although they were not from the same sect, Gwangyo felt quite satisfied with Solbo’s change.
However, that was not the only change in Solbo.
“Junior Brother! It touched again! How long has it been since we started!”
“My bad!”
“……Huh?”
At Solbo’s energetic reply, Biyoung’s eyes widened.
Yesterday, whenever he pointed something out, he would twist his limbs like someone who had been electrocuted, but today, he didn’t even turn his head and silently went on his way.
“I’ll try to focus! I’m counting on you!”
“Uh… y-yeah.”
Biyoung, at Solbo’s uninhibited words and actions, briefly had a thought.
Could it be.
That he had berated him too much.
And he had lost his mind?
“Huhu.”
Jeong-i, who had briefly turned her head to check behind her, smiled softly.
The sight of Solbo’s large eyes burning with fighting spirit and Biyoung’s strange face suspecting he had lost his mind.
For Jeong-i, who had talked with Solbo last night, it was a sight that was hard to hold back laughter.
‘I’m glad I gave him a hint.’
Even with the same difficult training, the attitude one takes towards it changes depending on the purpose.
The role of a baggage carrier on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain versus laying the foundation for the Vast Sky Eagle Body Method.
Solbo’s gaze was telling how starkly that difference was manifested.
‘I will definitely get used to it…!!’
He wanted to learn the Vast Sky Eagle Body Method quickly.
And he did not want to disappoint expectations.
Solbo, who was always branded as a runaway or a coward, did not have much experience receiving someone’s expectations.
Besides.
Weren't these the expectations of none other than Biyoung?
Solbo’s sense of elation had soared to the heavens, so much so that even Biyoung’s sharp reprimands did not bother him.
“Again!”
“Damn it! My bad!”
“Stop saying you’re sorry!”
“I’m sorry for that too!”
After repeating a conversation that would make others think they were idiot brothers several times.
Finally….
“We’re here…!”
The four figures finally reached Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Two days from Diancang Mountain to here.
Although they had run without rest, it was a journey so fast that even fellow martial artists would find it hard to believe.
In particular, Solbo’s contribution, who finally met the schedule despite using an unfamiliar footwork, could be said to be great.
“Good work, Senior Brother Solbo.”
“Hehe. It’s nothing.”
When Biyoung gave a rare compliment, Solbo scratched the back of his head, gasping for breath.
“I’ll take the lead from now on.”
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, covered in snow all year round.
If one could break through the formation located around the middle of the mountain, one could enter Hyeokri Chong’s residence.
Breaking the formation was, of course, Biyoung’s job.
It was not a difficult task, as he had experience with it once before.
Kwareureung!
“?!”
“Hmm?”
“No…!”
However.
The problem appeared in a completely unexpected way.
Before they had even reached the middle of the mountain, a deafening roar struck their eardrums.
“This is….”
Two lines of wrinkles formed on Biyoung’s forehead.
Was it the powerful martial art of a master?
No.
This was different from a martial art.
A unique explosion sound and a peculiar smell that stung the nose.
“Explosives…!!”
At the conclusion he had drawn himself, Biyoung’s face hardened.