Chapter 274: The Generation of the Hearing Star (2)
A descendant of the Shanxi Gu Clan and the second daughter of the Patriarch, Gu Yeonseo.
Until this day, she had believed herself to be a genius.
Her martial arts achievements were advancing at a speed that belied her age.
And because her older sister, Gu Huibi, was called the foremost late-stage expert.
She too had thought she would be no less.
Indeed, she achieved results commensurate with the faith she held while training.
The Gu Clan’s bloodline martial art, the Gu Yeomhwa Ryun Gong, had reached the Three Stars.
Her martial arts level had transcended the second-rate.
Compared to late-stage experts of a similar age, it was an incredibly fast pace.
Gu Yeonseo held such confidence in herself.
‘Someday, I will become a martial artist who represents the Gu Clan.’
That was the confidence she had.
Gu Yeonseo’s talent was more than enough for her to hold such confidence on her own.
However. The timing was rather poor.
It did not take long for Gu Yeonseo to realize this, and for her confidence to crumble.
When had Gu Yeonseo’s firm confidence shattered?
Clearly.
On a spring day in the past.
Yes, around the time the Nine Dragons Assembly was held.
When Gu Yeonseo was slapped by Gu Yangcheon and collapsed to the floor.
It was likely then.
Her younger brother, the Patriarch’s only son, who possessed unsatisfactory talent yet had been designated as the heir to the Patriarch’s seat.
She had so hated that he monopolized the attention of the Second Elder and her older sister at the time.
Gu Yeonseo had thought that since her brother had talent befitting his station—incapable—at least she would not lose in that regard.
The night of the Nine Dragons Assembly, the moment she was defeated by Gu Yangcheon and collapsed onto the dueling stage, she had lost everything.
Confidence.
Possibility. Hope.
Everything.
The younger brother she had deemed incapable, as if revealing talents he had hidden away until then.
Soared into the heavens in an instant.
The seat of the Dragon representing the current generation of meteors that Gu Yeonseo had so dreamed of.
He had taken it.
Upon hearing this.
Gu Yeonseo became unable to meet Gu Yangcheon’s eyes.
Back then, no matter how carried away she had been.
For having uttered words she should never have said to Gu Yangcheon, and.
She could not look upon the eyes of Gu Yangcheon, who had soared so high.
Was that all?
Moreover, a descendant of the Seonmun, the Gu Clan’s branch family.
Gu Jeolyeop, the grandson of the former First Elder, Gu Changjun, who had now lost his honor through death for treason against the Gu Clan.
On the road to Hanam heading to the Divine Dragon Hall, Gu Yeonseo had coincidentally crossed swords with him.
She couldn’t help but be astonished at Gu Jeolyeop’s growth.
‘How…?’
Clearly, not long ago.
Gu Jeolyeop had been similar to her, or perhaps slightly ahead.
Before she knew it, he had grown into an expert she couldn’t even graze the collar of.
Clearly a level that had surpassed the first-rate.
How much time had passed for Gu Jeolyeop to reach the first-rate?
While Gu Yeonseo, who had been at a similar realm, remained in the second-rate.
She had barely touched the wall leading to the first-rate.
Yet she had no idea when she would break through even that.
A sense of self-loathing surged thickly to the top of her throat.
In the meantime, she had also watched her younger brother training from afar.
Honestly, it was less like training and more like simply standing still with his eyes closed.
Gu Yangcheon called that training.
She had also seen the Sword Dancer, her younger brother’s fiancée.
An incredibly beautiful woman.
Her looks were so perfect that one could hardly dare consider her the same species, to the point where she was impossible to forget.
Moreover, as if to show that what she possessed was not merely her looks, excluding the time she spent sleeping.
She spent all of it wielding a sword.
And.
The same was true of the bloodline descendant of the Moyong Clan called Seolbong.
Unlike others, she didn’t seem to train particularly hard.
Be that as it may.
Everyone Gu Yeonseo had seen.
Were clearly stronger than herself.
They were clearly of a similar age, and yet…
‘How did this happen…’
How on earth had things turned out this way?
Perhaps she hadn’t tried hard enough?
No.
She had trained, cutting back on sleep.
She had endeavored to fill in her shortcomings.
….
.
.
.
Why was it?
Why had she ended up like this?
Gu Yeonseo still could not know.
The journey continued.
Afterward, they arrived in Hanam without any particular incidents.
Gu Yeonseo participated in the journey to the Divine Dragon Hall according to her father, the Patriarch’s words, but.
She still could not meet Gu Yangcheon’s eyes. She only felt unbearably uncomfortable.
Of course, Gu Yangcheon seemed to not care much about this.
It was simply that only Gu Yeonseo was being cautious.
Ending that long yet short journey.
Around the time they arrived in Hanam.
Gu Yeonseo encountered an incident.
The Five Dragons and Three Peaks, no, what had now become the Six Dragons and Three Peaks.
Two of the generation of meteors that Gu Yeonseo had so wished to enter.
Word had it that they were sparring in the streets of Hanam.
‘…Ah.’
The moment she heard the news, she hurried and arrived at a place
already filled with the noisy clamor of a dense crowd of onlookers,
and in the center, just as rumored, two youths were waging a spar with swords.
The white martial robe would be the Sword Dragon.
The light blue robe belonged to Wudang, so it must certainly be the Hidden Dragon.
To Gu Yeonseo’s eyes, their sword dance could not be seen properly.
Because their movements were so fast, it was difficult even to properly perceive them.
Ching!
The sound of clashing swords was unusually sharp and clear.
Moreover, the sonic booms bursting as internal energy collided were at an absurd level.
Was that truly the generation of meteors?
Gu Yeonseo had to realize bitterly by seeing them directly:
That even if she died and revived, she could not stand with them.
She could know well enough from just a brief glance.
At the time she attended the last Dragon Phoenix Gathering.
They were on a different dimension from the late-stage experts she had seen then.
She had seen the Thunder Dragon and the Lone Peak.
She had also seen the Shinseong, called the rising star of recent days, but.
Those she faced now were on a completely different level even compared to them.
The bearing of a martial artist who could truly be called genuine was there.
The spar that was gradually escalating.
The one presumed to be the Sword Dragon stopped moving and fell momentarily silent, but.
Gu Yeonseo knew at the same time that it was reaching its climax.
So much so that even Gu Yeonseo, watching from afar, could feel it.
Because a firm, overwhelming aura had begun to surge.
She did not know what was about to happen.
But at least, it would not end lightly.
‘Is this going to be okay?’
The moment she realized that, Gu Yeonseo surveyed her surroundings.
The surroundings were filled with people watching the two martial artists’ spar.
It couldn’t be helped.
Speaking of the Six Dragons and Three Peaks, even among the new generation that would lead the current Central Plains.
They were the most outstanding.
How could one not watch a spar between such two?
However, since some civilians were mixed in as well.
If those two were to clash properly now, the possibility of casualties was high.
‘Are there no other experts around?’
Were there no people who could stop those two?
Whether by coincidence or not, there was no one particularly noticeable to Gu Yeonseo’s eyes.
Gu Yeonseo could not penetrate that gap.
The Dao qi exuded by the Taoist martial artist was so heavy, and.
The festival of sword qi clashing ruthlessly made her feel viscerally that the level was different.
She could not intervene.
At her level, absolutely not.
Shhk—
While Gu Yeonseo bit her lip and watched like that.
She felt someone’s movement from beside her.
Upon checking, it was Gu Jeolyeop, who had accompanied them on the trip to Hanam.
He was drawing his sword and loosening his body.
Seeing that, Gu Yeonseo had to hide her surprise.
‘Surely, is he trying to enter that gap?’
Was he trying to stop them?
Gu Yeonseo had to inwardly exclaim in shock.
How could he try to enter between those monsters?
While Gu Jeolyeop was loosening up, someone else stood beside him.
It was Mu Yeon, Gu Yangcheon’s bodyguard.
Mu Yeon looked at Gu Jeolyeop and asked.
“Will you be alright?”
At Mu Yeon’s question, Gu Jeolyeop slightly furrowed his brows.
“…Well, I feel like he’ll chew me out whether I do it or not. Besides, we can’t just leave them like that, can we.”
“I shall assist a little.”
Mu Yeon nodded at Gu Jeolyeop’s words and likewise drew his sword.
It seemed the two of them were about to leap in there.
Gu Yeonseo could not bring herself to utter a word watching this.
She knew that the bodyguard called Mu Yeon was a martial artist who had reached the peak.
Because at the time, the Gu Clan had briefly been in an uproar.
However, even if he was a peak-level martial artist, was he at a level to easily leap in there?
Just as Gu Yeonseo was beginning to be filled with such thoughts.
Mu Yeon and Gu Jeolyeop too were raising their internal energy and were on the verge of leaping into the gap between those monsters when.
Stiffly—
Unbelievably, the movements of Mu Yeon and Gu Jeolyeop stopped simultaneously.
As if they had felt something.
‘What?’
Just as another doubt entered Gu Yeonseo’s head.
“Ah, you crazy bastards. Why are you making such a fuss here of all places. Did you eat something wrong?”
Someone passed by Gu Yeonseo, leaving behind a voice.
It was a tone particularly laden with annoyance.
A voice that was just passing through puberty and growing heavier.
Though only very slightly, it resembled her father.
Thus Gu Yeonseo shifted her gaze toward the owner of the voice, but.
The owner had already disappeared, leaving only that short voice.
At that moment.
Hwoooook!
A great wind surged and brushed past Gu Yeonseo.
The youth, Uhyeok, called the Hidden Dragon.
As always.
A sound was heard in Uhyeok’s ears.
—From the right, upward.
At the voice digging into his ear, Uhyeok immediately turned his head.
It had been so since he was young.
From the point when he grew older and realized he was in Wudang.
Uhyeok could know that he possessed ears different from others.
In the ears of one small human, the sounds of all things were heard.
Uhyeok’s ears were like that.
The sound of leaves moving.
The sound of raindrops falling.
From his quarters at the edge of a cliff, even to the sound of the Sect Leader shouting in anger far away.
Uhyeok’s ears contained everything.
Even sounds others could not catch, everything.
Heard a little louder.
Heard a little more.
This was both a curse and a blessing.
Because sounds were heard too well, even closing his eyes, he could not sleep, and.
Maintaining proper sanity amidst noisy sounds was not easy.
Thus, this was clearly a curse.
A curse bestowed upon him.
Then what was the blessing?
If he could not sleep because he heard sounds, and his mind was not whole either.
Then what was the blessing?
The answer was simple.
—Diagonally, bend down slightly.
Moving his body according to the sound, as if it had been waiting, the tip of a sword brushed past his cheek.
If all sounds contained meaning.
Then to Uhyeok, his opponent’s movements were also heard.
—Gaze horizontal, toes back. A strike.
Fwoosh!
Sharp sword qi dug into his chest.
However, before the energy touched him, Uhyeok had already moved aside.
Could this be the sound of the opponent’s mind?
In truth, it didn’t matter.
Even if it was an ability any martial artist would envy.
To Uhyeok, it was a curse that made his life more tedious and wretched.
This time would be the same.
Uhyeok had already passed judgment inwardly. This sword dance too would be the same.
However.
Fwoosh!
Something felt very slightly different.
“…Oh.”
As Uhyeok moved his head, a sword brushed past the tip of his chin.
Feeling this, he let out a small exclamation.
Stepping on the ground with his foot, internal energy emanated.
Uhyeok’s two eyes examined the opponent’s sword tip.
Amidst the gaps in the endlessly moving sword paths, the energy was even throughout.
Moreover, it was bleak.
Yet fast.
Watching the Sword Dragon’s sword, Uhyeok thought:
‘He has changed.’
Uhyeok wrapped his body in protective energy and sent his gaze forward.
At the end of his gaze was a figure everyone expected to rise to the position of the foremost late-stage expert once the Sword Peak had left his name behind and departed.
The Huashan Foremost Prodigy.
The youngest Plum Blossom Swordmaster.
The sword genius whom many said would take the name of the future Sword King.
Plum Blossom Sword Dragon, Yeongpung.
He was facing Uhyeok.
‘What happened to him?’
Uhyeok, observing Yeongpung, harbored a doubt inwardly.
How many years had it been?
The day Uhyeok had faced Yeongpung.
He had been younger than now, but having already bloomed plum blossoms at his sword tip.
He had proudly placed a plum blossom petal on his chest to show he was a Plum Blossom Swordmaster, but.
His appearance had been somewhat different from now.
The peculiar modesty possessed by the majority of Huashan martial artists.
Politeness, yet within that, confidence and seething arrogance poking their heads out.
The Yeongpung Uhyeok had faced had been such a youth.
Understandable.
Possessing such talent.
And moreover being lauded as the Huashan Foremost Prodigy.
How could he not be arrogant?
Even Uhyeok himself, were it not for these damn earholes, would not have found it strange to become like that.
But because of that, it was not interesting.
Those intoxicated with themselves would soon die.
Because even his own Sect Leader, who had always been as cool and beautiful as a well-honed blade, had been so.
Knowing that, Uhyeok had killed his interest in Yeongpung.
Because he had looked like embers that would fade anyway.
As if to prove that, the swordsmanship of Yeongpung at the time, though clean and fast with talent.
Was merely that.
‘But what about now?’
What of the current Yeongpung?
The Yeongpung Uhyeok beheld had become a completely different person in just a few years.
Shhhick.
The sword tip brushed past his cheek.
Uhyeok adjusted his stance and rolled his eyes.
His gaze did not leave the sword tip.
The sword was fast.
And sharp.
And yet free.
As if plum blossom petals were falling through the air, it was a feeling where the movement could not be easily discerned.
A sensation he had not felt while watching back then.
—The toes moved to the left. He puts in a feint.
At the same time the sound was heard, a flash arrived before his eyes.
Uhyeok, knowing this was a feint, took one more step.
Kkuuk.
Power entered his dantian and internal energy tinged the blade.
Not the opening Yeongpung had created.
He swung his sword at a different opening that arose from reading the feint, but.
Fwoosh!
“…!”
Kwak.
As if he had been waiting for this, Yeongpung twisted his form and thrust his sword.
Uhyeok barely parried, retrieved his internal energy, and retreated a few steps back.
‘That was close.’
What was that just now?
The sound couldn’t keep up.
A wondrous sensation.
A sound he had not heard even from the Wudang Elders and Sect Leader.
Was the Sword Dragon’s sword faster than them?
No. It was not so.
No matter how outstanding the Sword Dragon was, at best he was a late-stage expert.
He was insufficient compared to them.
Then what difference existed for such a difference to be felt?
‘…This.’
Interesting.
The corner of Uhyeok’s mouth rose slightly.
An emotion he had not felt in recent years.
Creating quite some distance, Uhyeok looked at Yeongpung and opened his mouth.
“To think we meet after so long only to cross blades immediately. How did the Sword Dragon of the world become so ferocious?”
It was not a surprise attack.
Because before approaching and drawing his sword, Yeongpung had sufficiently made Uhyeok aware of the situation.
The killing intent felt from afar was so thick; how could he not know?
Yeongpung smiled sheepishly at Uhyeok’s words.
“This was not originally the plan, but… I was too curious about the Dojang-nim’s sword to endure.”
“Is that so? It is pleasant praise, but then what? Your impressions of my sword, having traded courtesy to taste it.”
“It is as expected.”
Yeongpung smiled refreshingly and swung his arm down.
Pang!
With the recoil, he shook off his sword, and the remaining internal energy on the blade burst and resonated through the air.
“As expected. Dojang Uhyeok, you are strong.”
“Thank you for the praise.”
“I am fortunate to once again feel how narrow my world was.”
A subtle remark.
How narrow his world had been.
Yeongpung was saying that he had realized he himself was a frog in a well.
‘Did something happen?’
It was something he could not know. He was somewhat curious.
But he did not wish to know that far.
“However… even coming this far, it is something that makes me truly feel that that person is still much farther away.”
“Hm?
That person?”
Uhyeok felt a little interest at Yeongpung’s words, but.
He had to kill it immediately.
Because the wind had changed.
The wind wrapping around Yeongpung.
Uhyeok, having confirmed this, spoke to Yeongpung with some bewilderment.
“Would it not be a bit dangerous to do that here?”
“Thank you for indulging my stubbornness, Dojang Uhyeok.”
“…Hm. It’s not like I indulged you particularly.”
He had merely accepted because a small interest might arise in his tedious daily life.
In fact, it had been quite decent in its own way.
Of course.
Uhyeok’s expression, thinking thus, remained filled with annoyance and leisure.
Wind passed by, brushing Uhyeok’s cheek.
A flower fragrance settled at the tip of his nose.
—It will bloom.
A sound rang in his ears as if it had been waiting, but.
It was an unknown word.
And yet it was a word so absurdly easy to understand.
If a Huashan swordsman were to bloom something with his sword, what would there be?
This was something even he, a Wudang martial artist, knew.
The flower that Huashan blooms with its sword is solely the plum blossom.
‘…It’s a bother to receive even that, though.’
Kkuug.
Uhyeok raised energy throughout his body.
Despite his foul and less-than-commendable personality, it was pure and serene Dao qi.
Hwoook.
The moment Uhyeok raised his Dao qi.
Plum blossom petals descended.
Slowly, softly.
The moment those fluttering petals landed on the ground.
These surroundings would be filled with plum blossoms.
‘…Hm.’
Seeing that, Uhyeok thought.
Would a single sword be enough?
He hadn’t used it since receiving instructive sparring from the Sect Leader in the past.
He wondered if it would be alright, but.
‘Dragging it out will be annoying anyway.’
Because he wanted to return and sleep quickly, he did not ponder long.
At the moment the petals slowly descended.
Uhyeok filled his entire body with Dao qi and.
His eyes gleamed as he looked at Yeongpung.
“Hm…?”
And then he blurted out an absurd sound.
And for good reason.
The plum blossom petals had already fallen to the ground and turned to powder.
Because there was no reaction whatsoever from Yeongpung’s side.
What entered Uhyeok’s eyes then was.
The figure of Yeongpung gradually collapsing.
“What the…?”
Just when he wondered why that friend was collapsing.
Tung—
At the vibration felt in his abdomen in that instant, Uhyeok twisted his body.
Though he moved quickly the moment he felt the impact.
Uhyeok’s legs were already floating, flying through the air.
And.
“You crazy bastards, do you intend to wreck the surrounding streets completely?”
A fierce and rough voice was heard in Uhyeok’s ears.
Uhyeok rolled on the ground powerlessly.
He should have used a falling technique.
No matter what attack he had suffered, strength would not enter his body.
It clearly hadn’t been a great impact.
“Fuck, why the hell are you causing a scene in front of me the moment you arrive? Annoying people.”
“Kkeoheuk….”
“Ah, anyway, blade-wielding bastards aren’t in their right minds. Crazy bastards, once they hold a blade they don’t look around.”
His head wouldn’t lift.
Whose voice was this?
Ppaak!
“Keok!”
Just as he tried to move, someone struck Uhyeok’s head.
“Why is this bastard raising hell like this the moment we meet after so long?”
“Kkgeuuuh….”
It felt as if his skull was ringing entirely.
How could a strike containing no internal energy do this?
Perhaps due to the shock, Uhyeok gradually let go of his consciousness.
Within his fading vision.
In that instant, Uhyeok realized he was in a silence where not a single noise was felt.
“Ah….”
Thud.
With a single exclamation, Uhyeok lost consciousness.
“…What the, why is this bastard lying down with such a creepy expression?”
Gu Yangcheon, having checked the expression of the fallen man, clicked his tongue and moved away from Uhyeok.
Moreover, the people surrounding them and watching noisily.
Without exception shut their mouths and created silence.
The street that had been so noisy.
Fell silent in an instant.