Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 82 - Intertwined Branches (2)

Chapter 82 – Intertwined Branches (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“How is he supposed to withstand ten moves from an elder?”

“If he goes all out, of course he can’t. Won’t the elder go easy on him a little?”

“Martial Uncle Cheong-yu hates that lay disciple. Do you think he’d go easy on him?”

Once I opened my internal energy and my sense for qi expanded, I could hear the disciples whispering.

“I didn’t like the sight of him anyway, so this is just as well.”

“He’s a lay disciple, but he really has been strutting around too much.”

There were certainly people worrying for me, but hearing insults first made it seem I too could not help being just that kind of person.

In any case, some were hoping for my ugly fall. Well, not every disciple of Wudang could like me. In any organization, there were always people whose temperaments simply did not match yours at all.

Seen that way, the fact that Cheong-hwa, my senior brothers who were Cheong-hwa’s disciples, and the first-generation and second-generation disciples participating in the formal match together did not dislike me was almost miraculous.

“What are you doing?”

At that moment, a cold voice like water waking me from my thoughts was heard.

It was Cheong-yu’s voice, pecking at me with a sharp aura.

“Are you not coming?”

“You said you’d show me ten moves. Doesn’t that mean the elder should come first?”

“How could I possibly use the first move against you. Have you ever seen White make the first move in weiqi?”

“Ah. That’s true.”

Cheong-yu snorted at my words. I felt I had heard this before too. That when orthodox martial artists of different rank sparred, there was an unspoken rule that the senior yielded three moves. Well, people could forget.

“You don’t even know the basics of the martial world, and yet you speak of Wudang…”

“Then I’m coming.”

I placed my left foot forward and loaded strength into the heel of my right foot. My body shot forward like a cannonball.

I had exploded internal energy from my heel to produce the greatest speed possible.

“…!”

The eyes of Cheong-yu, who had been sneering, widened. Come to think of it, I had achieved quite a lot of growth in Wuhan. I had even swapped out all my talents at great expense, so from Wudang’s perspective it would truly be a case of looking at me in a new light.

Bang!

My incoming sword struck Cheong-yu’s sword and trembled. It was a simple downward blow. Mount Tai Presses the Summit. A contest of strength against strength.

Naturally, the one striking down ought to have been more advantageous, but the name of elder of Wudang was not a light one.

Even though caught off guard, Cheong-yu’s movements were calm and rational. He made it seem as though he were meeting strength with strength, then removed force to throw off my balance and circled into my blind spot.

I immediately touched the ground and used it as a pivot to spin quickly. My sword too cut in at Cheong-yu along the shortest path. It was the second form of the Five Elements Sword, Blazing Fire Overturns the Heavens.

“Ooh!”

It was an exclamation that seemed to burst out from all the disciples and elders at once. Cheong-yu quickly flicked my sword upward.

“Huh?”

My sword flew vertically upward. That meant I had lost my sword.

This was a variation I had prepared in my own way. Naturally, there was no way I could land a hit on a Wudang elder by ordinary means.

While pretending to use Blazing Fire Overturns the Heavens, one of the few domineering moves in Wudang, I had in fact taken all the strength out of my hand. That was why my sword could fly upward while my hand dropped downward.

Because Cheong-yu had cut upward, his torso was open. That was the situation I had drawn out.

I stamped one step forward. The earth rumbled and dust spread left and right. I could see surprise in Cheong-yu’s eyes. He too had realized my intention.

But it was already too late. I had already gathered the strength of my whole body and my internal energy into my palm and thrust it out. It was the fist-and-palm art I had learned while getting scolded so much by Senior Brother Myeong-gyeong, and among them, Taiji Palm.

“Huh!”

A short exclamation came from Cheong-yu’s mouth. It was not mockery or anything of the sort. It was simply admiration.

Bang!

My palm rang sharply. The hit had landed. Cheong-yu’s body flew far away.

“Woooow…”

The eyes of the onlookers rolled along following the arc of Cheong-yu’s body through the air.

Only once Cheong-yu fell to the ground and rolled did my sword, which had been flung into the sky, drop back down to me, and I snatched it.

“Heh heh.”

Watching, Cheong-ui gave a hollow laugh. It was a laugh that meant he could hardly believe it.

To be honest, it was understandable. A lay disciple of the third-generation rank had landed a blow on an elder of Wudang.

Cheong-yu immediately got up and dusted off his clothes, but he could not erase the humiliation that had reddened his face.

“…It makes no sense.”

The sleeves of Cheong-yu’s robe had been torn up to the elbows. I had thought I hit his solar plexus, but it seemed he had brought both elbows together in a split instant to block.

“To be honest, I am taken aback. As far as I know, it has only been a little over a year since you entered Wudang.”

“That is correct.”

Cheong-yu shook his head from side to side.

“If only you were a main-sect disciple, I would not have pressed you this far. I too am someone who wants the greatest talent to come forth in Wudang.”

“So you are saying you did press me.”

“I am not so cowardly as to do something and then say I didn’t.”

The red color also vanished from Cheong-yu’s face. He had set down his embarrassment. Which meant he had immersed himself in this spar.

“By the way, three moves have now ended.”

“Have they?”

“Mount Tai Presses the Summit, Blazing Fire Overturns the Heavens, and Taiji Palm. It is over, isn’t it.”

“I suppose it is.”

“Then now it is your turn to receive ten moves.”

From the ground beneath Cheong-yu’s feet, wave-like ripples flowed out. I widened my eyes. It was far more ominous than the pressure he had launched strongly before.

“I acknowledge that you are a martial talent for the ages. That much I cannot help but admit.”

“Thank you.”

“I could not understand you. This talk of a registered lay disciple. This desire to be a merchant. Even if one devotes a whole lifetime to martial arts with all sincerity, seeing the ultimate heights remains distant. Yet you said you would be a merchant while learning Wudang’s martial arts. To me, that itself looked arrogant and not serious.”

“So that is how it was. I had not thought that far.”

“However, there is one thing I must correct here. No matter how much talent you possess, this is not a level of attainment that could come without seriousness toward martial arts. I hate to praise you, but in that respect, I can do nothing but praise you.”

“Thank you. It is an honor to hear such words from an Immortal.”

It felt as though I was having a sincere conversation with Cheong-yu for the first time. Once I proved myself to him as a martial artist, it seemed Cheong-yu had no choice but to accept it. As expected, the way to persuade a martial artist was the sword rather than the tongue.

“But you have shown me wit and possibility as a martial artist. You have not yet shown me Wudang. Do you admit that? Or are you going to say this too is only me being unreasonable.”

“No. I admit it.”

Cheong-yu’s words were not wrong. What I had just used was a surprise variation, a chained sequence far from the wondrous principles Wudang taught.

Watching our conversation, Cheong-ui smiled. Perhaps the Sect Leader had expected this situation and had not interfered at all.

“Then I shall show you my Wudang, so you too show me yours. My Wudang may not be as splendid as that of your master Cheong-hwa, but it is still worth seeing.”

Cheong-yu pointed his sword at the sky, then drew a half circle and dropped the sword downward. It was so graceful it looked as though he were making a waterway with the sword.

From the ground the sword pointed to, mist began to rise. I tensed my eyes and narrowed my brow.

“…Flowing Cloud Sword Art.”

Cheong-yu’s Flowing Cloud Sword Art was different from mine. If my mist was mist that swallowed everything, Cheong-yu’s mist lay still and quiet across the ground.

“Hup!”

My eyes flew open wide by reflex. This was the territory of instinct. Without realizing it, I raised my sword and blocked above me. Along with a cracking sound, a numbing jolt that began in my grip spread through my whole body. This was what it meant to face an elder of Wudang.

“Ho.”

A sound mixed with laughter burst from Cheong-yu’s mouth. Because the ground was hidden by mist, I had not seen his steps.

Yet the reason I had been able to raise my sword and block was because I had learned the Flowing Cloud Movement Art from the first-generation disciples. Instinctively, I had felt that what Cheong-yu was using was the Flowing Cloud Movement Art.

Cheong-yu’s sword flew at me again before I had any time to catch my breath. The common characteristic of the Flowing Cloud Sword Art lay in a supple sword path that could not be predicted, as if the sword were flying in from within mist.

And the only sword art that could oppose the Flowing Cloud Sword Art was the Flowing Cloud Sword Art. Since Wudang was Daoist, it regarded water as supreme.

There was no substance that could defeat water. That was because water did not try to win. It sought to seep somewhere and flow downward. That was why water had no opponent. If there was a single opponent, it was only another current of water flowing to meet it.

I too hurriedly released mist from my sword. It was the Flowing Cloud Sword Art. Mist of different textures tangled and soon began to mix together.

“…I can’t see anything.”

From here on, only those who could pierce the mist could continue watching the spar. Before I knew it, the great training ground was thick with mist.

But perhaps it was better that it could not be seen. Especially for my senior brothers who were cheering me on. Because the truth was that I was twisting my whole body and even miserably performing the Roll of the Lazy Donkey while being toyed with by Cheong-yu’s sword.

I had managed to land one blow on Cheong-yu with a brief flash of wit and unexpected speed, but in the end that had only been luck. The ten moves of a Wudang elder felt longer than several days and nights.

Only once all ten moves had ended did the mist scatter up into the sky. I felt as though I had been struck with the flat of the blade about thirty times. Screams of pain rang out through my entire body. If this had been a real fight, that would have meant I had been cut more than thirty times.

Even so, this had been a spar, and I was still standing.

The younger disciples could not see through the mist, so they only kept swallowing their spit as though they did not even know the spar had ended.

“Your Wudang is different from mine.”

“It is.”

Cheong-yu’s Wudang was truly soft. Rather, it was purer and softer even than Cheong-hwa’s sword. It was the sword of a Daoist more than that of a martial artist. That was probably why his martial attainment had not reached as high as Cheong-hwa’s.

Only then did I understand why Cheong-yu found me distasteful. It was because among all people in Wudang, I was the one furthest from a Daoist and the most worldly.

“Your Wudang is far too worldly. I still do not like that.”

“That is unfortunate. But this is how I have lived, so there is nothing to be done.”

“Considering your age, you do seem far too stained by the world…”

Cheong-yu sheathed his sword. I sheathed mine as well.

“Your Dao pools in the lowest corner of the mortal realm. Since the Dao I think of is in the heavens, perhaps it was inevitable that I would find you disagreeable.”

“The reverse also holds true, though.”

“I shall pretend I did not hear that. I feel my mind may change otherwise.”

Cheong-yu still looked at me with displeasure. But it was different from the displeasure before. Before, it had been the look of someone who did not even want to understand me. Now, it was the look of someone who understood but still found me distasteful.

“The Old Lord said it himself. The Dao is nowhere and is in everything. So one cannot say whether your Dao or mine is closer to the Dao.”

It was a very strange thing. I too had thought there would never be any need for me to understand Cheong-yu. I had only thought that since he disliked me, I ought to give him reasons to dislike me. I had lived my whole life that way.

And yet, after crossing swords just once, I had become able to understand Cheong-yu even a little. How could that not be astonishing. Cheong-yu was surely feeling the same thing.

“I have seen enough. Just as Wudang embraced you, you too have truly embraced Wudang.”

With Cheong-yu’s declaration, the cheers of the disciples shook the great training ground. It was loud enough to deafen the ears, but the sound of my own heart pounding still came through clearly.