The Undefeatable Swordsman

Chapter 107. Five Dragons Fight for a Pearl (3)

“That’s right, Young Master. Besides, Gong Do didn’t have any problem winning that spar, so he should also be able to beat the Mount Hua brat easily.”

“It would be weird if he couldn’t. After all, apart from myself, Gong Do is the strongest among the members we brought here.”

Watching from the Righteous Faction’s side, Yu Cho also had the same opinion.

‘This is probably for the best, anyway. That Gong Do is an expert who easily defeated Sa Yong-Jin. Besides, he didn’t use much energy anyway because of his tactics. It’ll be enough if Song Woo-Gang can stay alive.’

If it were the same Woo-Gang that he knew, that would be all he amounted to. Even if Yu Cho were to be generous with his praise, at best, Woo-Gang was similar in level to Sa Yong-Jin.

‘Junior brother, your talent and ability to grasp techniques are definitely better than mine. But comprehension is not at all the only factor in a fight.’

Yu Cho actually felt relieved even though he was predicting that the Hegemon Clan would defeat another member of the Righteous Warrior Squadron.

“Uncle, can Second Uncle really win?”

“Of course. Woo-Gang isn’t the same as before.”

Answering Baek Yo without the slightest hesitation, Woo-Moon glared at So Myeong-Chan from the other side of the stage.

‘What? Useless idiots? You bastard, let’s see if you can still insult us after this.’

Although So Myeong-Chan was rather far from him, thanks to Woo-Moon’s cultivation, the former might as well have yelled in his ear. Woo-Moon clearly heard all of what the second young master of the Hegemon Clan had to say.

At the same time, the two people on the stage started moving.

They quickly closed the distance between them, rushing at each other. Woo-Gang took the initiative and attacked with the Plum Blossom Five Graces Finger, releasing a burst of energy. He was relying on finger techniques for close-quarters combat so as to not allow his opponent to open up distance and suppress him with the long reach of the spear.

Woosh!

A beautiful pink aura erupted from his fingertips as Woo-Gang’s finger shadows rained over Gong Do’s entire body without leaving a single opening. A curtain of plum blossoms descended!

Yu Cho suddenly stood up without even realizing it, while Hyeon Mu-Cheol’s eyes were so wide they almost seemed to tear at the corners.

‘You’re saying he’s learned the Plum Blossom Five Graces Finger? How is that possible?! It’s a technique for Absolute Masters! And even if he learned it, with his cultivation, how the hell is he able to use it?!’

Of course, in order to be able to use a martial arts technique, one needed to learn it and understand how it worked. But that was just the common requirement for all techniques; some of them also required the user’s cultivation to be above a certain level.

To think Woo-Gang was able to use the Plum Blossom Five Graces Finger, which required the user to be close to the Absolute realm, and a near-perfect one at that!

Both couldn’t help but think Gong Do was going to suffer this time, with Woo-Gang’s prowess.

However, Gong Do hadn’t displayed his martial skills to the fullest in the previous spar.

He spun his spear in front of his chest like a windmill, and the afterimages left by the shaft merged into a circular shield, blocking all of Woo-Gang’s attacks.

Bang!

Stepping forward with his left foot and almost teleporting to the side, Gong Do suddenly launched his spinning spear and qi curtain toward Woo-Gang.

ZZZZT!

The revolving spear flew forward with a roar.

It spun at such great speed that the winds it brought about caused the tents in the distance to shake as they were about to be torn apart and raised so much dust that some of the weaker martial artists couldn’t open their eyes.

It was clear that even among the younger generation talents, there was already a large gap between the strong and the weak.

Bi Yeo-Jeong broke into a cold sweat, and her eyes turned bloodshot.

The image of Sa Yong-Jin, who had been cruelly beaten earlier and now was teetering between life and death, came to mind. That image began to superimpose with Woo-Gang’s as she imagined his entire body torn into shreds by that enormous spinning spear.

‘If.. if that happens, I...!’

Just thinking about it made her dizzy as her surroundings seemed to darken. If that really were to happen, would she be able to live on properly? Although she tried to convince herself otherwise, the answer to her query was obvious.

A flame of jealousy burned in Yu Cho’s eyes as he watched her distress.

—Are you really that worried? Does Song Woo-Gang really make you worried? I hope you don’t forget who you should really worry about: your family. And I hope you don’t forget who holds the key to their fate!

As she listened to Yu Cho’s voice transmission, Bi Yeo-Jeong cursed her own fate. All she could do was pray for Woo-Gang to survive.

However, contrary to her worries, Woo-Gang wasn’t the least bit flustered as he lifted his sword in front of his chest and waited calmly.

When the spear came within reach, Woo-Gang’s sword slashed widely from left to right.

The Mount Hua Sect’s Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Blades Art was famed for its extreme transformations and swift changes. However, the blade Woo-Gang had just used was a particularly swift technique even among swift sword techniques!

Wintry Plum Blossom Flash!

Screeeeech!!!

With a harsh clashing sound, the sword qi coating Woo-Gang’s sword dissipated while the spear flew back into the sky. The Righteous Warrior Squadron erupted in celebration when they saw Woo-Gang, whom they had thought wouldn’t be able to withstand Gong Do’s tremendous attack, emerged unscathed.

Bi Yeo-Jeong teared up, thanking the heavens.

However, the spar wasn’t over yet.

Gong Do leaped into the air and caught his spear, slashing down toward the ground. Spear aura shot forward once again, threatening to shatter the ground below.

In response, Woo-Gang coated his sword in sword aura and slashed at the sky.

BOOM!!!

The spear aura and sword aura collided with each other, an explosive roar blasting through the air. Eventually, the sword aura cleaved through the spear aura and continued forward.

“Hmpf.”

Gong Do let out an irritated snort and dodged to the side, avoiding the flying aura blade. Suddenly, however, Woo-Gang’s sword appeared right behind him and cut toward his neck.

“Huh?!”

Surprised, Gong Do tried to block Woo-Gang’s sword with his spear. However, his hasty reaction ensured that he didn’t have a good grip on the spear. A moment later, it had left his hands and was flying into the distance.

‘Damned bastard!’

Gong Do raised his foot and kicked Woo-Gang.

He was actually more confident in his legs than his spear, and he knew that his kicks were much stronger than his spear strikes. Thus, instead of losing composure, he was actually more relaxed after losing grasp of his spear.

The reason he carried a spear was simply to deceive his opponent and catch them off guard with his kicking technique—like when he fought Sa Yong-Jin.

Bang!

Woo-Gang raised his leg and checked Gong Dao’s kick with his shin.

However, Gong Dao’s offensive didn’t end there. He began to hop back and forth, his feet almost blurring as he continued to let out kicks toward every part of Woo-Gang’s body. He was kicking so quickly it was almost as if he wanted to imitate Woo-Gang’s plum blossom curtain from earlier

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Woo-Gang seamlessly used his sword, fists, and legs to block Gong Do’s flurry of attacks.

As expected from a spar where both opponents were extremely skilled at using their aura, a colorful display of lights livened up the scene. Every move of the two fighters left afterimages and dissipating trails across the sparring stage.

“Wow!”

Baek Ryeong’s jaw dropped.

Gong Do used an impressive variety of kicks—double kicks, roundhouse kicks, tornado kicks, spear kicks, and many more. Woo-Gang seemed to be just as, if not more impressive, as he blocked each of Gong Do’s attacks without exception while also somehow looking rather relaxed.

At the same time, Woo-Gang was eagerly waiting for an opening within Gong Do’s ceaseless offensive. And he didn’t miss the split second when Gong Do paused to catch his breath.

With a cracking sound, finger qi shot out of Woo-Gang’s outstretched fingertip!

‘W-what the hell is this? Why is it so fast? When did Mount Hua get such an incredible finger art?’

While it was neither as flashy nor as wide-area as the Plum Blossom Five Graces that Woo-Gang had used initially, its speed and power were mind-boggling. Gong Do barely dodged the attack, but before he could even breathe, two more flew at him in succession.

‘What??!!’

Woo-Gang had clearly only used a single finger. Gong Do just couldn’t believe that there was a technique that allowed someone to shoot such powerful finger qi bolts in such quick succession!

“Agh!”

Two finger-sized holes appeared on both of Gong Do's shoulders, and blood gushed out.

Woo-Gang stopped his offensive as Gong Do looked back and forth between his wounds and his opponent, his eyes filled with disbelief and astonishment. In the end, he couldn’t deny it.

“I... I lost.”

Gong Do left the sparring stage in defeat.

So Myeong-Chan glared at Gong Do and Woo-Gang, obviously unhappy. Then, he chose the Hegemon Clan’s second representative and sent him up.

“Just what sort of technique is that?” Hyeon Mu-Cheol muttered in disbelief over Woo-Gang’s finger technique, which looked truly deadly.

“That’s definitely not a skill of our sect. But... I’ve never heard of the Iron Sword Baek Family having that sort of skill, either.”

The faces of Woo-Gang’s senior brothers turned grave.

It felt like things had been going wrong lately. The path to becoming the master of the Mount Hua Sect wasn’t as straightforward as before and seemed to be increasingly shrouded in fog.

And it was all because of Woo-Gang.

‘Woo-Gang, you little brat. Is it because you got the blood of the Palm Martial Emperor?’

His talent has always been shockingly outstanding, ever since he was young. At the same time, his performance had been comparatively poor, due to the lack of resources, so they weren’t all that worried. But now, he somehow seemed to have made incredible progress in his cultivation and also learned an unknown but clearly powerful technique.

Yu Cho and Hyeon Mu-Cheol both felt the same sense of crisis. Now, neither was confident that they could win in a battle with Woo-Gang—no, to be frank, they actually felt, deep inside their hearts, that they would lose.

It was a massive shock to the duo, who had always looked down on Woo-Gang.

Crack.

Hyeon Mu-Cheol grit his teeth when he saw the figure of Woo-Moon, who had humiliated him, overlap with Woo-Gang’s.

‘Hold on a second. Now that I think about it...’

At the same time, Woo-Gang’s two senior brothers turned to look at Woo-Moon, thinking the same thing.

All of Woo-Gang’s changes had begun when he had reunited with his brother.

‘No way this is a coincidence. Song Woo-Moon must have helped him somehow. How the hell did he do it, though? Third brother’s change is just too ridiculous.’

The corner of Woo-Moon’s mouth rose into a smirk.

Sensing their murderous gazes, he almost immediately understood what they were thinking and chuckled teasingly.

‘Heh, that’s just the beginning.’

Meanwhile, Woo-Gang had begun his spar with a member of the Hegemon Clan who used throwing knives.

‘As expected of the Hegemon Clan. They’re all impressive.’

Gong Do alone had been incredible, and his new opponent, Mu Eui-Yeong, was in no way inferior.

Although Woo-Gang’s cultivation had increased rapidly thanks to the Pure Stalactite Milk, there hadn’t been enough time for him to fully absorb the medicinal effects of the elixir. Moreover, he had spent a substantial portion of his qi reserves in the spar with Gong Do just moments before. Thus, this spar lasted much longer than expected.

‘My qi reserves are bottoming out. The longer this takes, the more disadvantaged I get!’

Woo-Gang quickly made up his mind to use the Transcendent Flash Sword.

Suddenly, the sword aura on his blade disappeared, and his opponent, Mu Eui-Yeong, smiled savagely.

‘It’s almost over!’

Mu Eui-Yeong’s pride had taken a hit due to how long it was taking him to defeat Woo-Gang. After all, by his estimation, the man should have spent most of his qi reserves fighting Gong Do.

He drew three of the ten remaining throwing knives and threw them at Woo-Gang all at once.

Woosh!

The throwing knives were coated in aura and their trajectory was a broad arc as they flew at Woo-Gang from both sides and from above. They moved faster and with more savage power than the others, as Mu Eui-Yeong intended to finish this in one move if possible.

Suddenly, flames erupted from Woo-Gang’s sword.

'What?'

Mu Eui-Yeong did a double take, wondering if Woo-Gang had just produced a red sword aura. However, his second look confirmed it: Woo-Gang’s sword was covered by real flames.

He immediately sensed that it was no ordinary flames, either. Their heat was so intense that Mu Eui-Yeong had difficulty breathing for a moment, even with his immense cultivation.

The tip of Woo-Gang’s sword drew a large plum blossom in the air. The flame, now an orange hue rather than red, simultaneously deflected all three throwing knives.

The special nature of the flames produced by the Transcendent Flash Sword meant that they could not only be used for the techniques of that particular sword art, but could also be applied to any other sword technique.

A plum blossom made of flames bloomed in front of him.

“Wow!”

"It’s beautiful."

Baek Yo and Hyeon Yu-Yeon were both amazed.

Woo-Gang was using the Plum Blossom Sword, a technique already famous for its beauty. Adding the gorgeous flames to it only served to further enhance its beauty.

Immediately after knocking aside the throwing knives, Woo-Gang took a large step forward before spinning around and swinging his sword. Unleashing Plums Blossom Twice, he sent two flaming plum blossoms at Mu Eui-Yeong, one after another.