What I Want to Show You. (5)
“What in the world is going on?”
“…How can there be such a difference in level?”
At the top of the pavilion, from where the dueling arena could be seen at a glance.
The place where only the high-ranking officials of the Martial Alliance had gathered was filled with an indescribable atmosphere.
At first, anticipation. In the middle, astonishment. Now, even outright shock.
The duel that had unfolded as the final match was that startling.
It was enough to make even veterans who had weathered every kind of hardship as martial artists of the Central Plains swallow back groans.
Hwoooong—!
The somewhat restless murmurs fell silent in an instant.
A heavy internal energy began to fill the pavilion.
The weighty force pressing down upon the spacious hall belonged to none other than Jang Cheon, the current Alliance Leader.
Squeeze.
Strength entered his clenched fist.
With his intense eyes wide open, Jang Cheon stared only at the dueling arena.
‘…That…’
Not even half a quarter-hour had passed.
Yet in that short span of time, the dueling arena had already been turned into a complete wreck.
Jang Cheon swallowed the saliva that kept rising in his throat and thought,
‘He truly is a monster.’
The dueling arena had been made from the rocks of Bih Gu Mountain, famed for their hardness.
Not only were they difficult to break, they were so hard that even a first-rate swordsman had to wrap a blade aura around their sword to leave so much as a mark.
‘And he crushed it as if it were tofu.’
The destructive force was unbelievable for a boy who seemed hardly a quarter of his own age.
And yet, he handled that power with remarkable skill.
Among those of his age, possessing either one of those qualities would have been enough to earn the title of genius.
That boy had achieved both.
And he had mastered both to a frightening degree.
“…Hah.”
The hollow sound had come from someone other than Jang Cheon.
It was also a sound that represented the feelings of everyone gathered here.
The reason was nothing more than helplessness—and jealousy.
All of them had to feel hollow and lost in thought at the realization that they had felt jealousy toward that child.
Jealousy strong enough to be felt by renowned masters who had spent decades risking their lives in the Central Plains.
That was how absurd his talent was.
‘My son.’
Jang Cheon wanted to close his eyes right then and there.
The downfall of his child, whom he had never doubted possessed talent that reached the heavens—that was a pain that cut to the bone.
Jang Seonyeon had never once caused his father grief since the day he was born.
With his outstanding talent and exceptional character, he had long since been assured of inheriting the position of head of the Jang Family.
He was a child whom Jang Cheon believed would leave a great mark in the history of the Central Plains if he continued to grow as he was.
But now he was facing a wall no one could have imagined.
A colossal wall called Gu Yangcheon.
An absurd wall that he might never be able to overcome, even for the rest of his life.
Jang Cheon could only pray.
That his child would not collapse there.
That was all he wished for.
******************
There was no sense of order.
Those words were the most fitting description.
Dust scattered by the wind and fragments swirling in every direction.
Pain-filled groans erupted without pause, mingling with the sounds of martial artists’ internal energy colliding and exploding.
Amid that chaotic scene, Jang Seonyeon swung his sword.
Whoosh!
The sword thrust forward.
Condensed internal energy wrapped around the blade, leaving a small afterimage in the air.
There was no wavering.
He had swung that sword for so long that it could not possibly waver.
Woooong…!
The quiet, faint ring of the sword announced that the martial art had been properly unleashed.
His first-rate internal energy and the sword aura surrounding his blade were unquestionably threatening.
It was a sword aura of such completeness that one could hardly call it the work of a young martial artist.
But if it could not touch its target, it was meaningless.
Crack!
“Guh…!”
A hand shot through the gaps in the sword path Jang Seonyeon had unleashed and seized him by the collar.
In a situation where even grazing the opponent with a sword would be dangerous, his opponent did not hesitate.
No—perhaps it would be more accurate to say he did not hesitate because he knew he would not be hit.
Boom!
As though he paid no attention to the chaotic movements around him, he slammed Jang Seonyeon to the ground.
Jang Seonyeon’s body rolled violently across the broken floor of the dueling arena.
“Cough… Hah… hah…”
How many times had it been already?
More than five times, at least.
He had stopped counting after that.
“Hah… haaah.”
Harsh breaths kept bursting from his lips.
His body throbbed painfully in various places, but—
He could not simply remain still and rest.
Crack!
“Ghk…!”
Jang Seonyeon’s chin jerked upward.
He had been kicked.
“You spacing out in the middle of a duel?”
At the calm voice that followed, Jang Seonyeon had to force himself to regain his focus.
He had not been spacing out.
He simply had not seen it.
He had not seen Gu Yangcheon approaching.
He had not seen him attack.
He had seen nothing at all.
‘Damn it…!’
Was something like this even possible?
The daughter of the Namgung Family whom he had faced just yesterday had also displayed an absurd level of ability.
But she had not been anywhere near this level.
Was this what talent was supposed to be?
This was—
‘A monster…’
At the thought that suddenly came to him, Jang Seonyeon shuddered and bit down on his lip.
The story Peng Woojin had told him also came back to mind.
—Do you think you can win? Against that monster?
At the time, Jang Seonyeon had thought he could.
He had thought it would not even be difficult.
Was that not obvious?
He was one of the chosen.
That bastard was not.
It should naturally have gone that way.
‘Then why…!’
Why could he not even follow that bastard’s movements?
Jang Seonyeon could do nothing but conceal his trembling lips.
The difference in their level was absolute.
He had never felt the weight of that cliché so keenly.
Only a few exchanges had been enough to realize the truth.
Gu Yangcheon seemed like a being from an entirely higher dimension.
Or perhaps he was not human at all.
There was no way such talent should exist in the world otherwise.
Was it not far too unreasonable for them to exist in the same world?
Ting—
The instant his senses caught a movement, Jang Seonyeon hurriedly raised his sword to defend.
Boom!
The moment he raised his sword, the impact sent Jang Seonyeon’s body flying into the air.
He had certainly wrapped his body carefully in internal energy.
Yet the bastard’s attack tore through it like paper.
Just as his airborne body was about to roll across the dueling arena once more—
“Hey.”
With that short word, Jang Seonyeon’s body was caught in Gu Yangcheon’s hand.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Gu Yangcheon’s voice was savage and rough, like an animal growling.
“What did I tell you earlier? I told you to use everything you’ve got.”
“…Hah… haaah…”
“You used it just fine before, so what the fuck’s wrong with you now? Is it too damn unpleasant to use it on me?”
“…What… are you… saying…”
“Right. I know there’s no point asking when the answer I’ll get is obvious. I was being a little stupid.”
Gu Yangcheon made a displeased face, then released Jang Seonyeon just like that.
Jang Seonyeon immediately rose to his feet now that he was free.
‘How… How am I supposed to do this?’
His mind had been shaken by the utterly absurd situation and refused to settle down.
Jang Seonyeon knew.
The only reason he was able to stand like this was because Gu Yangcheon was going easy on him.
That much was obvious.
Despite rolling across the ground in agony for so long—
Not a single drop of blood flowed from his body.
That meant his flesh had not suffered any serious injuries.
The internal energy within his body was the same.
He had certainly suffered an impact from the backlash of having his sword path severed and his martial art obstructed.
But aside from that, he had sustained no damage.
Which meant—
‘…He controlled it?’
Gu Yangcheon had adjusted every single attack with that level of precision.
In the middle of a duel, no less.
Jang Seonyeon could not fail to understand how terrifying and astonishing that was.
“Now, listen carefully. I’m about to tell you something that’ll nourish your flesh and blood.”
At Gu Yangcheon’s voice, Jang Seonyeon abruptly came to his senses.
The voice sounded farther away than he expected.
Gu Yangcheon, who had been standing in front of him moments ago, was now standing at the edge of the dueling arena.
What was he doing over there…?
“…!”
A sensation running up his back all the way to the crown of his head made Jang Seonyeon open his eyes wide.
The wind was blowing.
There was nothing strange about a cold wind blowing in winter, but—
What he felt was not cold wind.
Heat.
Scorching heat was blowing in from all around him.
Beginning from Gu Yangcheon’s body, it violently whirled through the surrounding area.
‘…What in the world is this?’
The reason he could not believe it was not simply the heat.
The reason Jang Seonyeon had no choice but to be shocked was that every bit of this suffocating, scorching heat was formed from Gu Yangcheon’s internal energy.
‘Just how much internal energy must he have…!’
The dueling arena was by no means small.
In fact, it was so excessively large that Jang Seonyeon could not understand why anyone would build such an inefficient arena.
Did Gu Yangcheon truly possess enough internal energy to fill such a vast space completely with heat?
But that was not the end of it.
Fwoooosh—!
A chilling sound came from somewhere.
Flames mixed into the heat that had been circling the surroundings on the wind.
The blazing flames roared as if they might devour Jang Seonyeon at any moment, beginning to dominate the area around them.
“I thought about why you weren’t using your strength. It’s obvious, isn’t it? You know at a glance that you can’t win, yet you’re struggling in some weird direction. I didn’t think you were that much of a fucking idiot.”
At Gu Yangcheon’s voice, Jang Seonyeon swallowed dryly.
The sticky hostility seeping from his voice felt as though it were pressing down on his shoulders.
“You.”
Unlike the atmosphere, which grew larger as it gradually consumed the surroundings, Gu Yangcheon’s expression was exceedingly light.
“You’re scared, aren’t you?”
His tone was as light as his expression, but the meaning struck directly at Jang Seonyeon’s shame.
“You’re afraid you’ll still lose to me even after using it. You want to leave yourself an excuse when you get beaten and collapse. That’s why you’re not using it.”
At Gu Yangcheon’s words, Jang Seonyeon bit his lip.
‘How does he know…?’
He was not referring to what he had said earlier.
He was talking about how Gu Yangcheon knew about the energy within his body.
‘Did he notice something during yesterday’s duel?’
Those without divine energy could not perceive divine energy.
That would be true even if the person were one of the Three Supremes or the Five Emperors of Evil.
In fact, neither his father nor even the Abbot of Shaolin would be able to notice it.
The ‘Dancer’ herself had brought it up, so he was certain of that.
Yet that bastard was certain.
Certain that Jang Seonyeon possessed something.
‘Could that bastard have received the baptism as well…?’
The thought occurred to him, but he knew it could not be so.
He could not sense divine energy from Gu Yangcheon.
“Looks like you’re thinking about some other bullshit again.”
“…!”
“You’ll piss yourself if you keep that up, you little shit. During a duel, you’re supposed to watch the fist.”
Why was he suddenly talking about pissing himself?
Jang Seonyeon had that thought, but it vanished at once.
More precisely, Gu Yangcheon made it vanish.
“Ghk…”
A groan escaped his mouth.
A vicious killing intent had begun to pour out from Gu Yangcheon.
It was so powerful that the killing intent took on physical form, constricting Jang Seonyeon’s throat.
Such a savage killing intent in a duel tournament held by the Orthodox faction—was he insane?
Jang Seonyeon immediately turned his eyes toward the referee in a panic, but—
“Huh…!?”
The referee was merely observing the situation with the exact same expression as before.
‘He… doesn’t know?’
A chill ran through him.
That vicious, sticky killing intent was being directed solely at him.
It had been released only toward him, without anyone else around them noticing.
“You keep making stupid-ass calculations and refusing to use it, so I thought I’d make things clear.”
The flames spinning in the air rapidly rotated before being sucked back into Gu Yangcheon.
More precisely, they began condensing around his arm.
That was dangerous.
It was not merely a matter of instinct. Anyone could tell just by looking.
“If you don’t use it, you die.”
Though he seemed to utter the words without a care—
Jang Seonyeon knew there was no lie in them.
The killing intent, so intense that it felt capable of knocking him unconscious at any moment, was proof enough.
And as if to prove it once more—
Gu Yangcheon extended his arm, wrapped in dense flames, toward Jang Seonyeon.
A light straight punch, without even properly setting his stance.
The movement itself was unquestionably crude.
But the result brought forth by that lowly fist was not.
Kuaaaargh—!
The flames, shaped like a dragon, roared as they flew toward Jang Seonyeon, as though they would devour the dueling arena.
If he were swept up in them, it seemed not even his bones would remain.
In the end, Jang Seonyeon released his dantian and drew up his energy.
An alien sensation spread through him, as though his body were being strengthened and the muscles throughout it were expanding.
Whoosh!
As he exhaled pressure, the killing intent constricting him loosened.
In the instant before he faced the flames—
Jang Seonyeon thrust out his sword without hesitation.
Fwoooosh!
His strengthened sword aura cut through the flames with a single stroke.
The flames were extinguished and vanished, while the internal energy that had created them sent ripples through the air.
He had blocked it properly.
Jang Seonyeon staggered slightly from the excessive energy he had consumed in that instant, but quickly regained his stance.
And he felt relieved that he had managed to block that monstrous attack.
He was tired from drawing on his energy for two days in a row, but it did not matter.
The divine energy within his body had assured him that, whether it was Gu Yangcheon’s attacks or his killing intent, he could block and overcome them all without issue.
‘I did it…’
Crack.
“…Huh?”
With a dazed reaction, Jang Seonyeon looked at his right arm.
The sound of something breaking had come from there.
Then he saw it.
His right arm had been violently broken.
“Well done.”
Alongside Gu Yangcheon’s voice, heard from nearby, Jang Seonyeon’s field of vision dropped.
Boom!
One knee had been forced to the ground, lowering his line of sight.
Jang Seonyeon could not even scream as excruciating pain descended upon him in an instant.
“I told you. We’d start with the arm.”
There was unmistakable amusement in Gu Yangcheon’s voice.
“Now I can beat you a little harder. That’s a relief, isn’t it?”
At those gentle words, spoken as though he were looking forward to it, the corners of Jang Seonyeon’s eyes trembled.
Only then did Jang Seonyeon clearly understand what the emotion in his chest was.
The thing that was slowly gnawing away at him and building itself higher and higher—
This was undoubtedly fear.
‘…No…’
Gu Yangcheon’s fist flew toward Jang Seonyeon’s eyes.