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Chapter 7
Thwack! Thwack!
The handsome long-haired boy who was apparently a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect struck his already fallen opponent on the head and arm one after another.
“Kehk! Aaargh!”
The wooden sword rolled across the floor.
The boy wearing the traditional headband had no chance to recover his stance before another attack came at him.
Thud!
The boy’s wooden sword stabbed directly into his opponent’s chest.
His movements flowed naturally into one another, and his sword drew dazzling plum-blossom patterns through the air.
“Guhhh!”
At the same moment that his opponent’s body was sent flying all the way off the sparring platform, the boy finished his technique, his long hair fluttering dramatically behind him.
“Wow…”
There was no need for anyone to tell me that he was from the Mount Hua Sect.
The opponent hadn’t been able to block even a single one of the handsome boy’s strikes.
The difference in their skills is just too huge.
“Aaaah! I surrender! I surrender!”
Still, it seemed that he had controlled his strength because this was only a sparring match.
The boy wearing the headband cried out while sitting on the ground, his arm bent awkwardly.
Oh dear. He doesn’t even have the basics down.
“Mount Hua Sect, Eunhyun wins.”
Oh, so his name is Eunhyun.
As soon as the martial arts instructor announced the result, Eunhyun immediately stopped.
“May I continue with the next match right away?”
“Yes.”
“It will begin after half a quarter-hour, so prepare yourself. Wugwon, the lay disciple of the Jongnam Sect, you may leave now. If you need treatment, go to Black Rock Hall.”
Eunhyun bowed politely to the instructor before approaching the opponent he had defeated.
“I learned a lot.”
“U-uh… ugh…”
He lowered his head and performed a respectful fist-and-palm salute.
Ah, right. That was the proper etiquette after a sparring match.
I knew that, but people in the Ice Palace rarely bothered to follow such etiquette, so I had forgotten about it.
“Tsk. He’s not even pretending to be sincere.”
Maeng Ryeongji clicked her tongue.
Does she really have to be that harsh?
The boy wearing the headband could only open and close his mouth without being able to answer.
He was completely terrified, and blood was pouring from his arm. He probably wasn’t even in the state of mind to say, I learned a lot.
“Wow!”
“Eunhyun!”
“He’s practically guaranteed to win!”
“As expected, the younger generation of the Nine Great Sects is on another level!”
The people who had come to watch him cheered loudly.
But—
“…His attacks are too cruel. The match was already over the moment his opponent dropped his sword.”
Maeng Ryeongji muttered with obvious displeasure.
“Really?”
I tilted my head.
Even if I attacked seriously, it wouldn’t end with just that much damage.
For a disciple of one of the Nine Great Sects, hasn’t he shown plenty of mercy?
Of course, if he had been even more merciful, he could have struck the sword instead of the arm.
And perhaps striking the opponent in the chest afterward hard enough to break his ribs could be considered excessive.
But if you step onto a sparring platform, you should be prepared for that.
“Maybe he wanted to show the instructor his entire technique?”
I shrugged.
Eunhyun seemed to have been doing his best to pass the entrance examination while still controlling his strength.
But Maeng Ryeongji’s expression remained cold.
“Maybe.”
“Well, that kid was just unlucky enough to be matched against a Mount Hua disciple.”
The applicants were fighting each other, and the winner of each match seemed to continue into another match.
So it looks like a tournament.
Hmm… If that boy had fought someone around his own level instead of a monster like Eunhyun, maybe he would have shown us something.
“Ahem. That’s not necessarily true.”
I had only been muttering to myself, but three boys standing to my right glanced at me and started talking.
“Actually, the academy is even more lenient with applicants from small and medium-sized sects. Every year, they force themselves to accept at least ten of them.”
“It is the great intention of Master Seongak, who wishes to open the gates of Tianmu Academy to everyone.”
Oh, so that’s how it works.
The boys were wearing admission tokens prominently at their waists, so they were probably fellow applicants who would be entering the academy as well.
“Did you come to see the Mount Hua disciple’s martial arts, too?”
I had deliberately spoken loudly enough for them to hear.
But when I actually addressed them, the three boys jumped in surprise.
“Ah, yes! My name is Pung Seung!”
“I’m Simyang-o!”
I hadn’t even asked their names, but their faces turned red as they clasped their hands together and introduced themselves politely.
“Which sect are you from?”
“We received recommendations from the Murong Family!”
“Ahem! This friend’s brother-in-law might even become the next Young Master of the Murong Family!”
As expected, they were fellow applicants.
Their surname wasn’t Murong, yet they had received a recommendation from the Murong Family.
Perhaps they were distant relatives, relatives by marriage, or children of a family under the Murong Family?
“Ahem, ahem… I have never seen a beauty like you in Liaoning…”
“Would it be all right if I asked your name? Or rather, your names…”
I had wondered if they might at least be the strongest among the young people their age connected to the Murong Family.
But Maeng Ryeongji frowned and looked them up and down.
As soon as the three boys shrank back under her gaze, she immediately lost interest in them.
“My name is Seol Suryeo.”
“I-I see, Miss Suryeo. We came to see Eunhyun’s skills, but we were disappointed because his opponent was simply too weak.”
“There isn’t much worth watching during the entrance examination anyway. You need events like the Tianmu Gathering, the Ranked Sparring Tournament, or the Martial Star Festival, where promising young martial artists actually appear.”
That did seem to be true.
It would have been nice if he had encountered an opponent who could actually bring out his full strength.
If I used my ice techniques, could I beat these people…?
I narrowed my eyes and tried to estimate their level.
The greatest young talent of the Murong Family was probably stronger than me.
But they couldn’t send the strongest child of every generation to the academy every year.
Maybe I could beat someone from a branch family.
I did have the fatal disadvantage of having a limited lifespan because of the Nine Yin Absolute Meridian.
But that constitution was also perfectly suited to learning ice-based martial arts.
And ever since I was young, I had been called the greatest prodigy in the Northern Sea Ice Palace.
“Eunhyun of the Mount Hua Sect versus Gongyeong of the Jinyong Sect. Begin!”
While we were talking, the sparring platform had already been cleared.
Right on schedule, the martial arts instructor announced the beginning of the next match.
One of the fighters was Eunhyun.
The other was a boy who had advanced from the previous round on the neighboring platform.
He was at least a head taller than Eunhyun.
A spear user?
I haven’t had much experience fighting spears…
Before I could finish thinking, Eunhyun dodged his opponent’s spear.
Whoosh!
He immediately lowered his body and swung his sword toward the boy’s shin.
“Aaargh!”
“He can’t even last ten exchanges!”
“Finish him!”
Was that another formal technique? Or an application of one?
The spear user screamed, and the match ended even faster than the previous one.
“Oh dear. He doesn’t even have the basics of footwork!”
Pung Seung criticized the spear user’s skills from beside me.
“That ended so quickly. What a letdown.”
I thought the martial arts instructor would immediately declare the winner.
But apparently, simply knocking someone down wasn’t enough to end the match according to the rules.
Ah. So that’s why earlier…
It wasn’t over yet.
Just as he had in the previous match, Eunhyun performed another flashy technique against Gongyeong’s fallen body.
“Good grief…”
Maeng Ryeongji crossed her arms, clearly very displeased that Eunhyun had once again drawn blood.
“I wondered why he bothered participating in the entrance examination. Maybe he just enjoys stomping on weak people.”
Eunhyun calmly chased after the man who was desperately crawling away and continued attacking him.
“Aaargh! H-hah!”
“Hey! At least use Naryeotagon!”
“Waaah! Eunhyun!”
Oh dear. This is a little too much.
Even if each attack only lasts for a moment, if he puts that much internal energy into a wooden sword, he could kill someone.
“…I recommend that you surrender immediately.”
“I-I surrender! I lost!”
The martial arts instructor finally spoke.
Had Gongyeong become so terrified that he’d even forgotten he was in the middle of a sparring match?
The moment he heard the instructor’s words, Gongyeong hurriedly shouted his surrender.
“Hah… Eunhyun of the Mount Hua Sect wins.”
And just like that, two matches ended in an instant.
Next came two boys from sects I had never heard of before.
“Hmm… It’s hard to say.”
“With skills like that, they wouldn’t survive even one hour in the jungle.”
The boys beside me had continued commenting on the level of the entrance examination.
And they weren’t wrong.
There wasn’t much worth watching in the remaining matches.
The applicants were fighting desperately in their own way, but they could barely draw out any internal energy at all.
Several more matches passed.
Some had an enormous difference in skill, while others fought until the time limit was almost completely exhausted.
Eunhyun’s matches were always the former.
How much time had passed?
The martial arts instructor stood up and told everyone to gather around the central sparring platform.
A short while later, all the matches on the other platforms ended, and several successful applicants were announced first.
“Eunhyun of the Mount Hua Sect, Jupyeongsam of the Seoyong Sect, Danrihyang of the Danri Family, and Guwon, who belongs to no sect. The four of you have passed for certain.”
“You will have the final matches to determine the overall winner starting from the hour of the Rooster, so go and rest until then.”
“Waaaaah!”
Cheers erupted from the crowd.
From what I had heard earlier, Tianmu Academy forcibly accepted at least ten new students every year during the entrance examination.
Just like Eunhyun had continued winning while I watched, these four must have repeatedly won their matches on the other platforms.
Now they were going to select the remaining applicants who showed enough potential.
“Sun Kang, a lay disciple of Shaolin; Jeong Harin of the Mount Putuo Sect; Mo Yeongtaek of the Mo Family Manor…”
The instructor called out the names of perhaps twenty or thirty people.
But none of them had fought Eunhyun.
Even though the academy took the applicants’ backgrounds into consideration, there was no denying that luck had played a role.
After all, those who had fought Eunhyun had been knocked down before they even had a chance to show what they could do.
“Hyang-ah! Congratulations!”
“Ahaha, thank you!”
“Senior Brother Ju…! You’re amazing!”
“I only just got into the academy. It’s nothing special.”
As the first four successful applicants came down from the training ground, many people gathered around them.
In Danrihyang’s and Jupyeongsam’s cases, people who had come from their respective families and sects to support them congratulated them enthusiastically.
Come to think of it, what about that guy?
Guwon had no affiliation, so I could understand why he had no one here.
But Eunhyun belonged to a major sect like Mount Hua, yet I couldn’t see even a single acquaintance around him.
Does he have no friends?
With such an exceptionally handsome appearance, it would be difficult for him not to attract people’s attention.
Could there be some story behind him?
Hmm… A handsome man with a tragic backstory.
I like that.
His expressionless face and lowered eyes made him look particularly sorrowful.
I smiled brightly as I carefully took in every detail of his handsome features.
…?
Just then, Eunhyun raised his head.
Our eyes met.
