The Genius Youngest Disciple of the Wudang Sect

Chapter 266

Time flowed without stopping, and the martial arts tournament also continued.

The senior brothers fought, and fought, and fought again.

As a result, the number of senior brothers who had finished their three duels began to increase one by one.

The expressions of the senior brothers who had used up all their duel opportunities were all different.

Some had bright expressions, as if they were satisfied with the content of their duels, while others were on the verge of tears, perhaps because they felt they had not been able to properly show their true selves.

The number of senior brothers with duels remaining gradually decreased, and finally, the moment came when only the last duel of this martial arts tournament was left.

"Un Gwang! And Unhwi. Come up to the duel stage."

At the grand-elder's words, I got up.

From a little distance away, Un Gwang also stood up abruptly.

As if by agreement, we did not go up to the duel stage but looked at each other.

Un Gwang, with a strangely excited expression, smiled broadly.

Anyone who saw it would think we were not going to face each other with swords, but to go eat something delicious in the marketplace.

I also looked at him and smiled back.

Right now, we seemed to have had more conversation without a single word than with words.

"The last duel... begin!"

I went up to the duel stage and looked at Un Gwang again.

Although the grand-elder had declared the start of the duel, neither of us moved.

This is my last duel of this tournament, and at the same time, the last duel of the tournament.

Because I felt something strange.

"Unhwi-ya."

"Yes, Grand Senior Brother."

"Don't go easy on me."

"I wasn't planning to in the first place."

"No. I mean you don't have to go easy on me to let me show my skills to the fullest."

"What does that mean..."

"If you go all out, you can finish me in one blow, right?"

For the first time in a long time, I was quite flustered.

Because I couldn't understand what Un Gwang was thinking when he said that.

As I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, he smiled broadly and continued, "When we practiced martial arts together, I could never see your all-out move. The reason I wanted to fight you so badly in this tournament was because I wanted to receive your best move once."

Un Gwang's tone was serious.

To be honest, I wondered if I had ever seen such a serious Un Gwang before.

"Senior Brother. If it's my best move... to be honest, it will be hard to handle."

"We won't know until we try, will we?"

I thought for a moment.

Because if I were to perform my best move as it is, this martial arts tournament would probably end.

Still, it's the last duel of the martial arts tournament, so I wonder if it's okay to end it so anticlimactically.

But on the other hand, I also have this thought.

'That Un Gwang fellow. How confident is he that Un Gwang, who hates to step forward, would say that?'

Un Gwang is really bad at lying.

Because I felt like I knew exactly what Un Gwang wanted to do right now, and why he was doing that.

'Of course, it's the Taeguk Nine Swords.'

It is clear that he wants to counter my best attack with the best method he can.

'Which of the three forms is it?'

Since the forms of the Taeguk Nine Swords that Un Gwang created are a total of three, I thought for a moment.

But that was also something I didn't need to worry about at all.

'He must have completed the third form!'

I finally nodded my head.

"Alright, Grand Senior Brother. I'll face you with all my might."

"Thank you."

We, after smiling at each other once more, stepped back a few steps.

I prepare to attack, and Un Gwang prepares to receive the attack.

The people around began to murmur.

"Is Unhwi making the first move?"

"Un Gwang is going to receive Unhwi's attack?"

"No way! No matter how much Un Gwang is the Grand Senior Brother, the skill gap must be too big."

"Did the two of them agree on something?"

The murmuring did not stop and only grew louder.

I looked at Un Gwang with a worried heart, wondering if my senior brother would become discouraged because of the elders and grand-elders.

"......"

Eyes like a bottomless abyss, completely calm.

This was also a needless worry.

In Un Gwang's eyes, only I was visible, and in his ears, only the sound I made was audible.

It was a sight of Un Gwang displaying his concentration to the fullest.

For a moment, I reflected on myself. Un Gwang has a special meaning to me.

Although I spend more time with the senior brothers in our room, Un Gwang is truly special.

He was one of the few friends I was close to in my past life, and I also think that the reason I was able to enter the body of Wudang's Unhwi might be thanks to Un Gwang.

Because the only connection between Wudang's Unhwi and me was that we had the same name, and because of that, I was able to get close to Un Gwang.

Soon, I also couldn't see or hear anything.

In this deafening and pure white world, the only thing I can see is Un Gwang's sword.

The third form of the Taeguk Nine Swords depletes all of the user's internal energy at once.

Receiving the strongest attack from the first move would be the way for Un Gwang to show his most splendid performance.

The sound of the sword vibrating began to echo, as if to show how much energy was put into it.

This time too, what I am preparing is the Heaven and Earth One Sword.

Since it is a martial art created with Un Gwang, it is also the most meaningful martial art in this situation.

I, moving my steps not too fast, indifferently thrust my sword.

Although the voices of the spectating elders could no longer be heard, it was a concise attack to the extent that some might think I was facing Un Gwang carelessly.

But unlike its conciseness, the energy created by the mystery of the Heaven and Earth One Sword that my sword contained instantly rushed towards Un Gwang.

Un Gwang waited until the end.

He waited until my sword was only a finger's breadth away from his face.

If I hadn't trusted him just a little, I would have raised my sword upwards and made it miss him.

Because if Un Gwang couldn't block my sword, this sword would pierce through Un Gwang's face.

I decided to trust Un Gwang.

Un Gwang's arm was pulled back like a bowstring and then shot towards my sword.

Not just his arm. Un Gwang, who had been pulled back with his waist as the axis, maximized the power of the sword using that rebound.

At that moment, I had the illusion that a large rock was rolling down inside my body.

It was a type of shock I had never felt before in my life.

I had fought many strong enemies and had been injured many times.

Including my past life and this life, I had lived with internal injuries.

Usually, when you get a serious internal injury or a sword wound, you naturally think you're done for.

But the shock I'm feeling now would be better described as 'overwhelming'.

"Keuheup...!"

I, gritting my teeth, barely managed to dissipate the shock and succeeded in standing in my place without collapsing.

My vision, which had turned completely white from the momentary pain, is now slowly starting to return.

The first thing I see is, of course, Un Gwang's appearance.

"......"

Un Gwang was smiling.

He had felt it instinctively. That his martial art was complete.

He staggered for a moment and then fell sideways with a kwadang—.

"Un Gwang is unable to continue the duel, so Unhwi is the winner! Quick, a stretcher, a stretcher!"

At the same time as the grand-elder's urgent shout, a stretcher came up to the duel stage and took Un Gwang away, and I, finding it hard to keep standing, collapsed onto the spot.

"Unhwi, are you alright?!"

The grand-elder asked with a worried voice.

To be honest, I don't even have the strength to get up right now, but I forced my body up with my mental strength, said I was fine, and returned to my seat.

I collapsed onto the chair and said to Senior Brother Un Cheol next to me, "Senior Brother. I'll just lean on you for a moment. I feel like I'm going to die."

"Yes. As much as you want."

I feel like I'm about to vomit, and the sensation in my right hand that held the sword has disappeared and has not yet returned.

And more than anything else, there was something else that was tormenting me.

'This duel... I lost.'

Although it has already ended with my victory, and Un Gwang has even fainted... still, it is true that I lost this duel.

Because I did not do my best as Un Gwang had requested.

I didn't know it when I was on the receiving end, but thinking about it now, the tremendous shock I had received was not Un Gwang's strength, but my own.

He had returned my strength to me with Un Gwang's internal energy added on top.

At the very last moment when I was about to attack Un Gwang, I had unknowingly withdrawn a part of my energy.

Because even at that moment, I had thought of Un Gwang's safety.

If I had poured out the strength I had originally intended to, the force returning to me would have been that much greater, and then I would not have been able to withstand it either.

Of course, if that had happened, Un Gwang would not have just fainted as he did now, but might have been injured more severely somewhere.

But what's important in this situation is that I didn't go all out.

At that moment, I lost to Un Gwang.

Although it's enough to be angry that I think of it as a defeat myself, strangely, I didn't feel angry.

Instead, these words came out on their own.

"Congratulations..."

"Huh? Hwi-ya. What did you just say?"

"......"

Although Senior Brother Un Cheol asked, I didn't even have the strength to answer.

I should close my eyes for a moment and recover some stamina.

No, I thought I should recover, but I have no memory after that.

***

I, who had fallen asleep leaning on Senior Brother Un Cheol's shoulder, slept for a whole shichen (2 hours) after that.

After the Sect Leader declared the end of the tournament, I was only able to come to my senses after Senior Brother Un Cheol carried me back to the room.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Senior Brother Un Jeong.

"Senior Brother..."

"Hwi-ya, are you okay?"

"Oh dear. Everyone must have been surprised. To think I fell asleep like that."

"Everyone was so surprised, thinking you might have suffered an internal injury."

"Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case."

"Yes. That's what they said. Grand-elder Ok-min from the medical hall came by. He said neither you nor Grand Senior Brother Un Gwang have any internal injuries."

I, giving him a broad smile, asked him, "What about the other senior brothers?"

"They were all called out. They have to collect all the chairs that were laid out around the duel stage, and they also have to do the rest of the cleaning. If we gather again at the beginning of the youshi (5-7 PM), the Sect Leader will give a general review of this martial arts tournament. He'll also announce the Five Swords of Wudang then."

"Senior Brother. You must be looking forward to it."

"To be honest, no."

"Why? You have to become one of the Five Swords of Wudang for Miss Mi-hyang's sake."

Senior Brother Un Jeong doesn't even get flustered at the mention of Miss Mi-hyang's name anymore.

He, on the contrary, chuckled and said to me, "It seems it's not the time yet. I've judged myself coldly while watching this martial arts tournament, and I don't think I can make it into the top five."

"From what I see, I think you might just barely make it."

"No. The five are too firm, so there's no room for me to squeeze in. I think I'll probably be in sixth or seventh place."

"That's strangely specific."

Senior Brother Un Jeong chuckled.

This is why I also like Senior Brother Un Jeong.

Senior Brother Un Jeong is gentle. Even though the thing he so desired has a very high possibility of being frustrated, he does not get disappointed or angry and tries to accept it as it is.

Although people who are always fiery and passionate are needed, people like Senior Brother Un Jeong are also needed.

"Then Hwi-ya. Rest for a while. Now that I've seen you're awake, I'm going to help the senior brothers too."

"Then I'll go with you. I'm fine now."

"Just lie down for a bit. You've had eleven duels yesterday and today. Even if you're not hurt, it's okay to rest a little."

Senior Brother Un Jeong, after persistently stopping me from going out with him, left the room.

I was fine until a little while ago, but now that I'm alone, random thoughts started to come to my mind.

I wondered how I should face Un Gwang later, so I pulled the blanket over my head.

Because I had promised to do my best, but in the end, I had held back my strength.

But at that moment.

Our room door opened, and I, wondering who had returned, peeked my head out from under the blanket and looked that way.

"Are you okay?"

"Senior Brother? Is it okay for you to be moving already?"

I was so startled that I quickly got out from under the blanket.

Because the one who had visited our room was Un Gwang.

(End of Chapter)