#94: Is Something Wrong? — A Dragon Lives in Kunlun

“Come at me.”

“Yes, Brother.”

At Gyo-ha’s words, Namgung Hyeok thrust his sword wreathed in thunder energy.

Kwajijik!

A yellow flash swept over the surroundings.

But the one pushed back was Namgung Hyeok.

Namgung Hyeok let out a sigh and lowered his sword.

“Now you block it far too easily.”

It had already been three days since he started sparring with Gyo-ha.

Even though he was not using Firmament Calamity Thunder, he was no longer a match for him.

‘Was it like this from the start.’

Gyo-ha likewise was not using Radiant Burst Strike.

Admiration surged up along with a sense of self-reproach.

He had never thought he would feel something like this.

“I told you. You are too light.”

At Gyo-ha’s words, Namgung Hyeok nodded.

He knew it was a problem too.

But.

“…You cannot grow your build through effort.”

Namgung Hyeok spoke in self-mockery.

But Gyo-ha tilted his head.

“Is height that important?”

“Excuse me?”

Namgung Hyeok blinked, then looked at Gyo-ha’s build and nodded as if to say he could understand that.

“You might not really understand this, Brother. For a martial artist, height is…”

“Being tall is good. But it is not absolute.”

Gyo-ha trudged forward.

Then he stopped in front of a large boulder.

Gyo-ha drew back his fist.

In that instant, Gyo-ha’s body swelled.

His muscles moved as if they were alive.

It looked like his clothes might rip at any moment.

That tightly drawn fist shot forward.

Kwaang!

With a crash, the boulder split apart with jagged cracks.

At the sight, Namgung Hyeok caught his breath.

The impact was weaker than Radiant Burst Strike, of course, and even Red Blossom Palm.

But he knew there was not a shred of internal energy infused into it.

It was purely the body.

“Do you think I would lose just because someone is bigger than me?”

Gyo-ha asked.

Height was important for a martial artist, but it was not absolute.

It was not.

“On Mount Putuo, there was a short old man I saw. He was quite solid.”

He didn’t quite remember his name.

By the time Gyo-ha arrived, the tall old man was already dying.

But according to the Sword Queen, the shorter old man had been the more troublesome one.

Koong.

Gyo-ha stepped forward.

His foot planted firmly into the ground.

“Your problem is not your height. It’s your muscles. Your lower body in particular is weak.”

“…!”

Namgung Hyeok’s eyes shook. It was something he had never even considered.

“Physical training. How much have you done?”

He had been drilling his techniques consistently.

He also swung his sword every day.

But it was hard to call that training of the body itself.

And that was not what Gyo-ha was talking about.

“About once or twice a week.”

“Have you ever pushed yourself until you reached your limit?”

He had not. It was because it would interfere with his cultivation the next day.

“See. You only want to do the easy things.”

Namgung Hyeok’s training was by no means easy.

But from Gyo-ha’s point of view, it looked different.

Internal energy.

As befitted a scion of a great clan, he had been taking elixirs since he was young.

On top of that, there were plenty of elders in the clan to refine his internal energy.

Techniques?

Someone as quick-witted as Namgung Hyeok could grasp them in no time.

He had developed other aspects to compensate for his lacking build.

Of course, that approach could also be correct.

However, to Gyo-ha, it looked like running away.

What did height matter?

You only needed muscles that surpassed it.

“Then what, what should I do?”

Namgung Hyeok asked.

Instead of answering, Gyo-ha set two pieces of the broken rock on the ground at a slant.

Gyo-ha went into a handstand.

He was holding onto the stones with all ten fingers.

Then he lifted his fingers one by one.

Six fingers.

Four fingers.

Soon, only his index fingers on each side remained.

Namgung Hyeok stared at that sight with trembling eyes.

Doing a handstand on the ground?

Namgung Hyeok could do that.

Supporting himself on a single finger? It was difficult, but he could still manage it.

But maintaining his balance atop uneven stones like that was close to impossible.

Yet Gyo-ha’s expression remained perfectly calm.

Rising to his feet, Gyo-ha now hoisted a large stone onto his shoulder and slowly squatted down and back up.

Then he stood with one foot atop a small stone and began lifting his toes one by one as he moved.

It was such a bizarre sight he wondered if toes could even move like that.

It meant he could control each toe freely.

“What else would you do? You train. Until your arms and legs are shaking and you feel like throwing up.”

He had to push his body to the limit.

Gyo-ha told him about several of the trainings he had done.

At that, Namgung Hyeok collapsed onto the ground.

“…So I was the frog in the well.”

He had never thought of himself as lazy.

But hearing Gyo-ha’s story made him reflect.

Moreover, he and Gyo-ha were only a year apart.

Of course, he had thought it was an unavoidable choice for Gyo-ha, whose dantian was flawed.

Even so, he could not deny Gyo-ha’s effort.

If someone else had been here, they would have denied it as nonsense.

Gyo-ha’s body was what was strange for enduring such training.

Even his master Yun Heo would shake his head at it.

An ordinary person’s body would never endure copying it.

But unfortunately, there were only the two of them here.

“Thank you, Brother. Thanks to you, this younger brother has opened his eyes. I should have some iron weights made right away.”

Seeing Namgung Hyeok look ready to run off that very moment, Gyo-ha spoke up.

“Ah, well. Still, you shouldn’t overdo it from the start. It’s better to increase it little by little.”

Gyo-ha was aware that his body was different from other people’s.

He simply didn’tt know where the standard lay.

At Gyo-ha’s words, Namgung Hyeok nodded.

“You mean the more you are in a hurry, the more you should take the long way. This younger brother will keep that in mind.”

“…Right.”

He didn’t really know if he got it, but since he seemed to understand, Gyo-ha nodded.

Just then, he saw a martial artist coming from afar.

“Oh dear, it’s already this late.”

He was not here to find Namgung Hyeok.

He was the reason Gyo-ha had stayed behind.

“The Supreme Patriarch is calling for you.”

At the martial artist’s words, Gyo-ha’s face brightened.

In a secret training ground that only direct members of the Namgung Clan could use, Namgung Jin-yeong stood alone.

He clicked his tongue as he saw Gyo-ha come in late.

“Tsk. I told you to rest and recover your body.”

He said that, but there was a hint of approval in his tone.

‘Unlike youngsters these days, he has grit.’

He liked him even more. Especially because of this latest request.

“Now then, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Gyo-ha nodded with a firm face and took his stance.

Two mistakes.

When he asked what he wanted as compensation, Gyo-ha had asked for instruction.

More precisely, he had asked if he would spar with him once, but it was no different from instruction.

For Gyo-ha, this was a chance he could not let slip.

A martial artist who had crossed the human limit.

How often would a chance come to fight freely against a peak-level master.

He hurled himself forward at once.

‘I’m going all out from the start.’

Gyo-ha drove his fist forward.

Pung!

The air burst apart.

However, there was nothing where his fist had extended.

Feeling a sharp intent rising from below, Gyo-ha lifted his chin.

Chwaak!

A sword carved through the air.

The sword that had risen into midair came straight down.

Gyo-ha quickly rolled along the ground.

He didn’t only dodge. He swung his leg in the direction the sword had come from.

Teok.

His leg was stopped far too lightly.

Namgung Jin-yeong’s hand was blocking Gyo-ha’s foot.

But as if he had anticipated it, Gyo-ha’s body spun.

His other leg targeted Namgung Jin-yeong’s head.

Namgung Jin-yeong looked at it calmly.

However, before his foot could connect, Gyo-ha had no choice but to pull back.

The sword blade had somehow come right up to his nose.

If he had swung his leg as it was, his face would have been sliced off.

He retreated back and looked at Namgung Jin-yeong.

A chill ran through his body.

He thought he had moved quite a bit, yet Namgung Jin-yeong’s feet were in the same place as at the start.

He had dealt with him using only his upper body.

Namgung Jin-yeong looked at Gyo-ha.

‘Now then, how will you come to me?’

An ordinary martial artist would despair at such an overwhelming gap.

However, Gyo-ha’s reaction was different.

‘Amazing.’

His eyes sparkled.

This was the first opponent like this since his master and the Sister Spider.

He could not read his movements.

An opponent he could not defeat no matter how he struggled.

That was why he could fight to his heart’s content.

Seeing Gyo-ha burn with fighting spirit instead of despair, Namgung Jin-yeong smiled.

His eye for people had indeed been correct.

“Now that your body is warmed up, I will properly keep you company.”

He adjusted his grip on his sword.

It was now a familiar stance to Gyo-ha as well.

The Boundless Firmament Sword Art.

It was the martial art he had been facing against for the past three days.

By now he could recall the techniques even with his eyes closed.

Yet when Namgung Jin-yeong took the stance before his eyes, it felt like a completely different martial art.

The presence.

The pressure was different.

He had not even raised thunder energy, yet Gyo-ha’s skin tingled.

‘So this is a peak-level master.’

One who had crossed the wall of human limits.

His very existence could overwhelm a battlefield.

Gyo-ha licked his lips.

Gyo-ha hurled himself forward again.

Kwaang! Kwagang!

Each time the sword swung, lightning crashed down.

As time went on, Gyo-ha’s body grew darker and darker.

In contrast, Namgung Jin-yeong looked exactly the same as at the beginning.

Watching Gyo-ha dodge his attacks this way and that, Namgung Jin-yeong thought.

‘His movements are just like a monkey.’

Strange movements.

They had not been like that from the beginning.

It was true that he was closer to a beast than a person.

However, as time passed, his movements had begun to change bit by bit.

It seemed the person himself didn’t notice.

His observations ended there.

Gyo-ha’s breathing was growing rough.

He was gradually reaching his limit.

Continuing the fight like this would still help Gyo-ha.

He was keeping up better than expected.

Originally, he had planned to end it around this point, but greed arose.

‘This isn’t the kind of instruction only Namgung Jin-yeong can give.’

It was something anyone at Namgung Jin-yeong’s level could do.

Soon, Namgung Jin-yeong’s aura changed.

Gyo-ha instinctively retreated.

Watching him, Namgung Jin-yeong raised his sword.

“I shall show you the Namgung sword.”

Namgung Hyeok’s sword was not everything the Namgung Clan had.

The sword rose slowly.

Unlike before, there were openings.

However, Gyo-ha did not even dare to attack.

Something was coming.

Something different from anything so far.

Realizing that, Gyo-ha drew on the strongest weapon he had.

Radiant Burst Strike.

At that moment, Namgung Jin-yeong’s sword covered the sky.

The fist energy that had surged forward without hindrance shattered into pieces.

Emperor Sword Form.

A sword falling from the heavens. That was not a mere sword technique.

There was no way that was just swordsmanship.

It felt like he was being laid bare before a gigantic tidal wave.

That was the last thought Gyo-ha had before he fainted.

“Ugh, it tastes like iron.”

“Is that really the first thing you say when you wake up?”

When a voice sounded beside him, Gyo-ha opened his eyes.

When he turned his head, he saw Ah-ryeong’s angry face.

‘Why does this feel familiar?’

Tilting his head, Gyo-ha tried to sit up.

“Urghyaaack.”

A scream came out on its own.

For even Gyo-ha to scream, his condition spoke for itself.

“Lie down a bit more.”

Ah-ryeong spoke in worry, but Gyo-ha shook his head.

“No. I’m fine.”

Lying down felt even more suffocating.

When Gyo-ha looked back at Ah-ryeong, she spoke first.

“This is the Medicine Hall. It has been two days since you fainted. A martial artist of the Namgung Clan brought you here. The Sword Saint elder disappeared after getting an earful from the Medicine Hall Chief. I don’ot know what happened after that.”

She spoke as if she had guessed what Gyo-ha would ask.

Thanks to that, Gyo-ha could only close his mouth.

Then he noticed that Ah-ryeong’s face looked gloomy.

It was not only because he had fainted.

“Is something wrong?”

At Gyo-ha’s question, Ah-ryeong cautiously looked around.

Then she hesitated, unable to speak easily.

Was it something she should not tell him?

It might be something related to her sect.

But what came out of Ah-ryeong’s mouth was something completely different.

“…I can see them.”

“See what?”