Pay‑to‑Win King of Martial Arts (Novel) - Chapter 84 - Formal Match (1)

Chapter 84 – Formal Match (1)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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It was dawn when I rose. When I went outside, the wind blowing from the mountain brushed against my body. Even though it was summer, dawn on Wudang Mountain was cool.

“Guaaahhh.”

I interlocked my hands in the courtyard and stretched them up toward the sky. As I stretched, it felt as though all the joints and muscles in my body were waking up. I had not slept much, but for some reason my eyes had opened. It was probably because today was the day the Zhuge Clan was arriving.

“Hoo.”

I let out a long breath and drew the sword at my waist. Since no one was in the courtyard yet, it was the perfect time to swing it.

It truly felt like another age. To think that I would wake at dawn and immediately think of swinging a sword. But before facing the Zhuge Clan, there was something I wanted to complete.

The materials were two things: my experience sparring with Cheong-yu, and the Flowing Cloud Movement Art the first-generation and second-generation disciples had taught me. I wanted to combine those two things.

‘I really do feel like I’ve become a martial artist.’

I still didn’t think of myself as a complete martial artist, but it felt as though the life of martial artists was gradually soaking into my own life.

I again revived the memory of when I fought Cheong-yu and swung my sword. When I first entered the sect, I remembered being surprised to see Wudang’s martial artists remember every detail of their fights.

Now I knew. It wasn’t that they had learned it separately. It was simply something a martial artist could not help but do.

Even without trying to memorize it with my head, my muscles and heart remembered.

After finishing my review of the spar with Cheong-yu, I again leveled my sword in a middle stance.

“Flowing Cloud Sword Art.”

The strongest sword art I could currently use. The moment I tried to unfold it, the orthodox internal energy reacted at once and stirred. By contrast, the demonic qi contracted. It felt as though it instinctively knew it was an orthodox martial art and shrank back.

The gleam of the blade’s flat beneath the moonlight. That light would become the trajectory I could use as reference within the darkness.

I slowly unfolded the Flowing Cloud Sword Art. I was doing it slowly because there was a chance I might miss something.

After finishing the first Flowing Cloud Sword Art, I unfolded the Flowing Cloud Sword Art again. It was not the same sword art performed in exactly the same way. The first time, it was the Flowing Cloud Sword Art without the Flowing Cloud Movement Art mixed in. Now, it was the sword art performed with the Flowing Cloud Movement Art accompanying it.

‘Here.’

The difference soon became clear. As even Senior Brother Myeong-yeop had acknowledged, my Flowing Cloud Sword Art and Flowing Cloud Movement Art were now in fairly good harmony. But they still had not completely fused, which was why I had come out here and was training like this. The reason I found it so quickly was surely because I had sixth-grade Sword Talent and Ghostlike Elusiveness.

When I used the sword art without the Flowing Cloud Movement Art, I was unknowingly swinging the Flowing Cloud Sword Art according to the wondrous principle of swiftness. But once I added the Flowing Cloud Movement Art, it naturally shifted to the wondrous principle of softness.

The mist pouring from the sword thickly covered the courtyard. I kept swinging, and swinging. It felt as though I only needed one more thing.

At that moment, I had a mystical experience. My soul left my body and looked down at me from above. The body my soul had left was still swinging the sword. I had become able to observe the martial art I was unfolding objectively.

Surprisingly, the me using the soft sword looked far more natural than the me using the swift sword. It was something I could not have known if I had not seen it from above.

A sword art had a movement art suited to it. I already knew that. But it was not simply because of that that my sword had become softer.

‘What is it?’

The answer to the question was simple. I myself had become that sort of person.

Come to think of it, I had not lived softly only as a merchant. I had lived fast and forcefully.

It was not that one was right and the other wrong. It was simply that Wudang’s sword had affected my life. Cheong-ui’s words truly had pierced straight through me. The Wudang Sect had changed me.

The moment my thoughts reached that point, the soul that had been watching from above was sucked back rapidly into my body. The moment body and soul became one, my eyes flew open.

A wave burst from my body, sweeping away all the mist my sword had scattered through the courtyard. Instinctively I knew that I had achieved great completion in the Flowing Cloud Sword Art.

***

The Wudang Sect had been busy since morning. That was because many guests would be visiting the main sect today. Of course, even if they were people with whom tempers flared red on sight, guests were still guests in name.

It had been a long time since Wudang had received so many guests, so even the disciples were bustling in confusion. The reason there were so many guests was that the Zhuge Clan was not only bringing the martial artists who would participate in the formal match.

The attendants supporting the martial artists, the Clan Head and elders coming along to encourage them, and the people of the Martial Alliance who would act as judges. If you combined them all, there would be at least thirty.

“The people of the Zhuge Clan have arrived!”

At the entrance to Wudang Mountain, a group wearing blue scholar robes could be seen. The Zhuge Clan’s party was much larger than Wudang had expected. The Clan Head, Zhuge Gyeom, had even led them personally. At that scale, it looked as though they had left only the barest minimum of attendants behind at home and dragged everyone else here.

“They must be confident.”

And observing them from Heavenly Pillar Peak was a group of people. They were the elders, including Cheong-ui, the Sect Leader of Wudang.

“Just what kind of confidence do they have to bring so many?”

“Who knows.”

The people of Wudang truly could not understand it.

Public perception was that the Wudang Sect was overwhelmingly stronger than the Zhuge Clan. And the perception of Wudang’s own people was not very different.

“They are clever people, so they surely would not fight a battle they have no chance of winning. Tell the disciples entering the formal match one more time not to let down their guard.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“Their feelings toward one another will be bad, so tell them to take special care regarding clashes outside the formal match as well.”

As Wudang’s leadership made its preparations, the disciples too were preparing sufficiently.

Naturally, among those disciples were the third-generation disciples of the Myeong generation.

“Senior Brother, but was the Zhuge Clan strong enough to pick a fight with us?”

“I remember them being nothing special.”

Myeong-il, who had directly visited the Zhuge Clan, answered Myeong-gyeong’s question in person.

Myeong-il revived his memories of the past, but no matter how he thought about it, he could find nothing outstanding in the Zhuge Clan’s martial arts.

Myeong-seong, Myeong-il, and Muk Hui-yeong had gone there, and all three had overwhelmed their opponents. Of course, those had not been the Zhuge Clan’s main strength, but one could know ten things from seeing one.

“It’s not like the Zhuge Clan even has some famous younger generation expert we would know about.”

“Right.”

Other sects had one or two well-known rising stars among the younger generation.

Representatively, in the Namgung Clan there was Namgung Hwi, called the Azure Dragon Rising Hero. In Mount Hua there was Mae Su-il, the Falling Blossom Sword Dragon. In Shaolin there was Jin-gwon, the Vajra Novice Monk. In the Hebei Peng Clan there was Peng Chae-hyang, the Moon-Shrouding Saber, and so on.

Usually every sect or clan had at least one person who stood out, but strangely enough, the Zhuge Clan did not even have someone like that. Which was why it was hard to understand them charging at Wudang like this.

“I almost wish we could go out and fight too.”

“I know. Honestly, if they’re around our age, I don’t think we’d lose.”

Myeong-il and Myeong-gyeong spoke and both grew sullen. All they wanted was to represent Wudang and bring it glory as soon as possible. But it looked hopelessly far off.

“If I were your junior brother, would I have been able to go out?”

Myeong-il suddenly brought up Muk Hui-yeong. Myeong-gyeong flinched. In truth, he had been thinking the same thing. Myeong-gyeong had more than one junior brother, but the junior brother who would obviously come up here was Muk Hui-yeong.

“You know, honestly, I thought I was the most talented one. So I thought all I had to do was run forward without looking anywhere else.”

“That’s not exactly wrong. You’re the strongest in our generation, after all.”

“Now it is wrong. Your junior brother has only learned martial arts for a single year, and yet he’s already going out to represent the Wudang Sect.”

“That’s true.”

“Really, does that not bother you at all? To have even your direct junior brother become strong that quickly?”

Myeong-il’s fervent gaze stabbed into Myeong-gyeong. After living together for several years, this was the first time Myeong-gyeong had seen Myeong-il speak so emotionally.

At Myeong-il’s aggressive tone, Myeong-gyeong soon sighed.

“Honestly, as his senior brother, it does bother me that there’s nothing I can teach my junior brother. These days, when I train with him, I’m the one watching and learning instead.”

“That must be hard on you too.”

“It is. At least his fist-and-palm work is still rough, so I am still the one teaching him there, but even that he’s following along with quickly these days.”

Myeong-gyeong and Myeong-il both let out deep sighs. Myeong-il had entered the mountain earlier, so they were senior and junior brothers by order even though they were the same age, and they occasionally had talks like this.

“Senior Brother, do you think we too will become adults someday?”

“Why do adults want to go back to when they were children? Isn’t being an adult much easier? They’re stronger too.”

“Adults are simply too well-fed.”

“Is that so.”

The two children, who had instantly slandered the countless adults of the Central Plains, soon got to their feet. People from the Zhuge Clan could be seen climbing up from the Sword Release Grounds.

The eyes of Myeong-gyeong and Myeong-il were not friendly. Naturally, it was because this was the group that had picked a fight with Wudang.

When combined, the Zhuge Clan’s party looked to number about fifty people. Myeong-il narrowed his eyes. Among them were some around the same age as Myeong-il and Myeong-gyeong. But Zhuge Mun and Zhuge Han, whom Myeong-il had fought last time, were not there for some reason.

“Are all of those direct-line descendants?”

“Who knows.”

Then Myeong-gyeong and Myeong-il met the eyes of the Zhuge Clan’s children. Though there was a fair distance between them, both sides were martial artists and stared distinctly at one another.

The Zhuge Clan children’s eyes too were full of hostility. Myeong-gyeong and Myeong-il shot hostility back at them in return. Soon the Zhuge Clan children withdrew their gaze and followed after their group.

“That feels bad.”

Myeong-gyeong spoke first. Even Myeong-il, usually indifferent to most things, nodded.

And before long, they were able to face them directly.

The adults, including Zhuge Gyeom, had gone to the Three Purities Hall, and the children had been temporarily left in the Hall of Exhausting the Way, since there were many people of a similar age there.

Even so, one would have thought they would assign a few adults to lead the children, but the Zhuge Clan people did not do even that. To this extent, it was almost the same as placing them together on purpose and telling them to fight.

The eyes of Wudang’s children in the Hall of Exhausting the Way met those of the Zhuge Clan’s children. Naturally, since this was Wudang, Wudang’s disciples were far more numerous, but the Zhuge Clan’s children did not shrink back and glared right back.

After a long standoff, one of the Zhuge Clan’s children walked toward where Myeong-gyeong and Myeong-il were standing.

“You, what have you been glaring at all this time?”

In the end, it was one of the Zhuge Clan’s children who lit the fuse.

And Myeong-gyeong, Myeong-il, and the other Wudang disciples, who had in effect been waiting for this moment, flew into a rage.

“Those ink-stained wretches dare in a place like this!”

“If not for the Martial Marquis, your clan wouldn’t even count among the Five Great Families!”

Wudang’s children surrounded the Zhuge Clan’s children. There were only about five of the Zhuge children, so they were instantly enclosed.

“Wait.”

At that moment, Myeong-il raised a hand.

“If we do this, it will look as though we are bullying the few with the many. Let us preserve Wudang’s dignity.”

“Trying to act cool, are you.”

One of the Zhuge Clan children sneered. Myeong-il lightly swept his gaze over the third-generation disciples. Every one of the children who met that gaze stepped back. Right now, among the third-generation disciples, there was no one who could catch up to Myeong-il.

Even then, Myeong-il was still thinking. The Sect Leader’s command had been clear that they were not to cause any clash with the Zhuge Clan outside the formal match.

“Stay quiet and go back.”

“What, scared?”

“No. I just thought there was no need for me to step out when the senior brothers will handle you anyway.”

The third-generation disciples looked at Myeong-il as if seeing him anew. Myeong-il was not someone who usually spoke at such length, nor did he normally use such an aggressive tone. It seemed even Myeong-il had turned sharp at the sight of an enemy of the sect.

“Sorry, but our father told us to educate even people like you.”

“Father?”

“I mean the Clan Head.”

Zhuge Mun and Zhuge Han had also said father last time. It seemed the Zhuge Clan Head had an awful lot of children.

“We were ordered not to fight with you.”

“Really? Then I guess nothing can be done.”

The Zhuge Clan child cackled.

“Your Sect Leader looked worthless too, and I see his disciples are the same.”

At those words, flames lit in the eyes of every Wudang disciple.

At that moment, Myeong-il suddenly roared.

“Don’t move!”

The third-generation disciples of the Myeong generation, who had been about to draw their swords, all froze.

After stopping the disciples, Myeong-il stepped toward the Zhuge Clan’s children one step at a time.

“I’ll do it.”

The disciples saw that at some point, Myeong-il’s hand had already come to rest on his sword hilt.

And Myeong-il’s eyes were burning hotter than those of any disciple of Wudang.