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Chapter 9
“I thought we were about to see the first students in the academy’s history fight a battle to the death before the entrance ceremony! What a shame!”
The man who had just spoken was large, much like Maeng Ryeongji.
A huge saber was strapped to his back.
He looked to be around my father’s age.
Judging from the situation, he was probably one of the martial arts instructors.
I immediately clasped my hands politely and bowed.
I should show proper respect to a martial arts instructor!
“Greetings, Master.”
“Hmm?”
He stared at me, examining every part of my face.
Then—
“You’re the North Star Emperor’s daughter!”
He recognized my identity at a glance.
“Yes. My name is Seol Suryeo, and I have come from the Northern Sea Ice Palace.”
“Oh-ho, yes. You really are his spitting image. But unlike that bastard, you’re quite polite! I wonder how much of his martial arts you inherited!”
If he recognizes my face, does that mean he’s one of Father’s acquaintances?
Because of my Absolute Meridian condition, I had been avoiding using ice-based martial arts as much as possible.
So I simply smiled without saying anything.
“It’s a shame you didn’t break the record, but don’t worry! You’ll have plenty of chances to fight until blood is spilled soon enough!”
Of course, the instructor didn’t seem particularly concerned about the almost-fight.
Nobody had been worried about such a thing in the first place, but he spoke loudly anyway and gave Maeng Ryeongji and Eunhyun several hard pats on the back.
“Disciple of Myeonggyeong.”
He called Eunhyun by that title.
“I’ll bring Myeonggyeong here, so go wait at Black Rock Hall.”
He abruptly pointed toward a nearby building.
Then he practically carried Eunhyun away toward it.
What was that about?
If you were going to stop us, couldn’t you have stepped in a little earlier?!
I quietly asked Maeng Ryeongji:
“That was one of the martial arts instructors, right?”
“That should be Lord Peng Jung-geol, the Mad Flame Saber.”
She even knew the instructor’s name.
How can someone who came all the way from Yunnan be this well-informed?
Having older brothers and sisters really must be useful.
I had only intended to watch for a little while, but we had nearly ended up fighting.
Still, we somehow managed to calm everyone down and resolve the situation.
Afterward, Maeng Ryeongji and I were able to watch the martial arts instructor evaluate the other applicants.
“He really seems to care a lot about their potential for growth.”
“Hmm. That guy barely has any internal energy, yet he still passed.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t particularly interesting to watch.
Partway through, we left the academy for a while and went into the center of Luoyang.
We wandered around the streets, ate some snacks, and returned in time for the hour of the Rooster.
Apparently, word about Eunhyun had spread during our brief absence.
There were now several times more people gathered around.
“His swordsmanship doesn’t look like Mount Hua’s at all.”
“That kid has used a killing sword before.”
Killing sword? What does that even mean?
Several middle-aged men with rather convincing scars on their faces had gathered nearby, which made the atmosphere feel somewhat intimidating.
Their opinions, however, were all over the place.
At the moment, Eunhyun was practically going easy on his opponents as if they were children.
Still, the results of the matches were exactly as expected.
A boy named Jupyeongsam lost to Eunhyun after only six exchanges and dropped his sword.
Danrihyang, who had defeated Guwon after a fierce battle, also proved no match for Eunhyun.
“As expected, the Nine Great Sects really are different!”
“What? He isn’t breaking their bones this time?”
“Didn’t the instructor warn him?”
The biggest difference was that Eunhyun showed a little more mercy than he had in his earlier matches.
Even after Jupyeongsam dropped his sword, Eunhyun asked whether he wanted to surrender.
And when fighting Danrihyang, he deliberately avoided her vital points.
He’s just a little inexperienced.
Why is everyone being so hard on such a nice kid? Honestly.
“I’m looking forward to this year’s Tianmu Gathering.”
Everyone was buzzing about Eunhyun.
But since his opponents were too weak to force him to reveal his full strength, I didn’t think it was meaningful to compare him with anyone yet.
Among the other applicants, I personally found Guwon’s swordsmanship interesting.
Danrihyang’s determination was impressive as well.
Even after being knocked down by Eunhyun several times, she kept getting back up.
“You all worked hard! Yes, this is the attitude of a martial artist—keep coming at your opponent until the very end!”
Peng Jung-geol seemed to like Danrihyang’s fighting spirit as well.
After the match, he handed Danrihyang a pill that looked like a spiritual medicine.
“This is a Returning Origin Pill. Take it and rest properly. You should recover by the entrance ceremony.”
…A real spiritual medicine? What is it?
I had never heard of that name before, but it sounded like something that restored one’s vitality.
They actually give something like this as a reward for fighting to the very end?
Apparently the instructors really do like students who refuse to give up.
If I ever fight someone stronger than me in front of the instructor, I’ll have to remember that.
I secretly decided on my strategy for the future.
“Hmm. You probably don’t need one, considering how much you’ve already eaten at Mount Hua.”
But Peng Jung-geol gave Eunhyun a pill as well.
“Huh?”
“All successful applicants of the twenty-second class of Tianmu Academy will receive a Small Heaven Pill.”
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
It wasn’t just the three people who had fought in the final matches.
All the applicants who had passed while we were away had received a pill as well.
“What’s that? They can’t all be spiritual medicines, can they?”
I asked in surprise.
Do they give one to everyone just for getting admitted?
Will I receive one at the entrance ceremony, too?
“That’s a Small Heaven Pill. Ah! It seems they award it to students who pass through the entrance examination to help reduce the gap between them and students from major sects.”
“They have something like that?”
So that’s why Eunhyun was taking the entrance examination!
There was an actual reward for it?
I stared intently at the spiritual medicine in Eunhyun’s hand.
Maeng Ryeongji shook her head as if telling me there was no need to be so jealous.
“I heard you can obtain Small Heaven Pills quite easily at the academy just by achieving good results or completing simple missions. My blood brother received Small Heaven Pills quite often, and he also took several Solar Yang Pills.”
“Ah…”
That makes sense.
If the Small Heaven Pill were truly extremely precious, everyone would have taken the entrance examination instead of proudly showing off their recommendation tokens.
It probably wasn’t particularly meaningful to children from the direct lines of the Five Great Families, who were practically drinking spiritual medicines like water.
Even Maeng Ryeongji didn’t seem particularly disappointed about missing out on one.
Still… I wish I could use ordinary internal energy instead of this yin-cold energy.
“You, Suryeo, will definitely be able to receive the Heavenly Ice Pill and even the Great Heaven Pill, the secret medicine of the Medicine Immortal! I guarantee it!”
What I actually needed was something like the Solar Yang Pill.
But I couldn’t tell her about my Absolute Meridian condition.
So I pushed aside my disappointment and nodded.
Still… they really hand out spiritual medicines like this.
This is incredible.
Seeing an actual spiritual medicine right in front of me made me even more motivated.
I’ll be a perfect model student and participate in every opportunity where I can earn rewards.
“Those who have never taken spiritual medicine before, stay behind! Everyone else, you may leave!”
Before I knew it, another instructor had finished giving a short congratulatory speech, and Peng Jung-geol shouted the announcement.
The event ended almost instantly.
Soon, people began dispersing.
Eunhyun looked around for a moment before following a man dressed similarly to him.
“Thanks for suggesting that we come. I had fun because of you.”
“I should be thanking you! Even though it was only for a moment, I got to witness your skills!”
It was nothing more than using a little strength while breaking up your fight.
Calling that ‘witnessing my skills’ is a bit much.
I postponed Maeng Ryeongji’s request to have a proper match with me until after we entered the academy.
Then I obediently returned to the inn and told Captain Baekung about what I had seen that day.
“Aren’t those children rather immature?”
“Hmm… That… Hmm… No, you’re right. You did well.”
He seemed slightly disappointed that he hadn’t gone to the examination site with us.
Why?
You’re not exactly the kind of adult who stops children from fighting either.
“How did the Mount Hua swordsman use his sword?”
“Oh, should I show you? Some spectators said it didn’t look like Mount Hua’s swordsmanship. And there was also that boy who belonged to no sect. His martial arts were really unusual, too.”
Perhaps the martial arts of the other successful applicants would have been easier to identify.
“You memorized techniques you’d never seen before after watching them just once?”
I briefly recreated one of the techniques Eunhyun had performed.
I couldn’t reproduce the exact amount of internal energy he had used, but I could imitate the movements roughly.
“Hmm… I can see traces of Sword Pavilion in the Mount Hua swordsmanship.”
Sword Pavilion?
Mount Putuo Sect?
Isn’t that a sect made up entirely of women?
That’s completely unexpected.
Eunhyun looked delicate and handsome, but he certainly wasn’t a woman.
How did he learn their techniques?
“Some of the spectators said it looked like he had used a killing sword before.”
“Really? I’m not sure based on the swordsmanship you just demonstrated, Miss. Forget about it. I don’t know Central Plains swordsmanship well enough myself.”
Of course, Captain Baekung was probably the person in the Northern Sea Ice Palace who knew the most about Central Plains martial arts.
But even he couldn’t possibly know everything.
I nodded.
Then I demonstrated the martial arts Guwon had used.
After that, Captain Baekung and I spent the remaining days thinking about the techniques we might encounter and various ways to counter them.
And before I knew it—
The day of the entrance ceremony had finally arrived.
