Chapter 110

• The Eight-Armed Divine Sword, Jeon Ok-gi

In any field of study or martial arts, there exists an invisible line,
and that line represents a certain realm that is difficult to overcome with effort alone.
That line cannot be said to be just one.

It could be one, or it could be many. There were countless people who had held themselves back from going to a higher place by simply thinking that the line was one.

The boundary of learning, which could also be called the gateway to success, existed in its own way in any field of study, but the place where that boundary line was particularly important was the field of martial arts.

To cross that line, effort or will alone was not enough. Because it was only possible when one's innate qualities, talent, and luck all followed.

Therefore, after passing this boundary, the number of people decreased rapidly. Because the people who had crossed this line were of a different class.

The gateway to the beginning of crossing from an ordinary person to a superman! In the Cheonmu Academy, the Five Sword Dragons were the first start. From this point on, it was literally not something that just anyone could become.

Usually, if one looked at the ability distribution of a certain group, any place would show a similar pattern. It was the same whether it was academics, martial arts, or miscellaneous skills. Most of these groups would form a hill shape with a convex middle. In other words, the middle was the most numerous, and the number of the lowest or highest skilled people decreased as one went down.

The skill level of the Cheonmu Academy was also the same. So, even though it had nearly 2,000 academy students, the number of participants in the Three Sages Martial Festival, which was limited to the Five Sword Dragons or higher, did not exceed 300. It also meant that the number of skilled people who surpassed the Five Sword Dragons was that small. Even if the academy students who did not participate were included, the number would probably be less than 500.

Among the total of 10 levels of the Sword Dragon rank, although it was located in the middle in terms of grade, if one were to look at the actual skill distribution, it was skewed towards the front three-quarters point. In other words, it meant that the number of skilled people of the Five Sword Dragons or higher was only one-fourth of the nearly 2,000 academy students.

If one looked at the participation distribution of the Three Sages Martial Festival, which was divided into a total of four categories, first, the Sword Saint Exhibition attracted the most people. Although it was less than half of the total participants, since 128 people, which was close to 40%, flocked to the Sword Saint Exhibition. Because there were that many people who trained in sword techniques in the orthodox path.

The number of participants in the Sword Empress Exhibition was the smallest. Since the ratio of female academy students was overwhelmingly low from the beginning, it was a natural thing. It was also that much of a distant thing for them to become the Five Sword Dragons or higher.

To summarize, the total number of participants in this Three Sages Martial Festival was 284, and among them, the number of participants in the Three Sages Grand Battle was 64. On the other hand, the Sword Saint Exhibition had a total of 128 participants, which was overwhelmingly more than other places. The Sword Empress Exhibition, which had the fewest, had 32 participants, and the next fewest, the Saber Saint Exhibition, had 50 participants each.

If one calculated, the conclusion was that Bi Ryu-yeon had to fight and win a total of seven times to win the Three Sages Grand Battle. Since he had won one of them, he had to win six more times to win the Three Sages Grand Battle. If he won one more time there, then he would be able to win the overall championship of the Three Sages Martial Festival. And Moyong Hwi had to fight and win a total of eight times, one more than Bi Ryu-yeon, to win the Sword Saint Exhibition. Because the path was that much more rugged as there were many participants.

Now, both of them had just taken their first step. The road ahead was still long and rugged.

The road ahead was this long and rugged, a series of mountains... The problem was that the person himself was not aware of it at all. That was what was making the people around him feel sorry.

"Keeeeek!"

Bi Ryu-yeon's second opponent, the Shadowless Kick, Jo Yeon-il, also got hit on the back of the head by Bi Ryu-yeon's ink zither and was sprawled out. It was the same spot where his first opponent, Dan Pyeong, had been hit. It was proof that his attention was that lacking, and that he had been lazy in collecting information about his opponent.

But the victims of the ink zither did not stop at two. As if to prove that the previous unsightly scene (from Hong Ran's perspective) was intentional, and as if to show that the victory was by no means just luck, the victims of the ink zither continued to increase.

The third opponent, the Dragon Fang Claw, Jin Pae, seemed to be quite conscious of the back of his head, perhaps because he had seen both the first and second duels. It would be an expression of his will not to be sprawled out unsightly like the previous opponents. But that had to end as just a dream.

"Keok!"

Jin Pae had to bend his waist from the shock that felt as if his intestines were twisting. Bi Ryu-yeon's ink zither had been accurately stuck in his stomach. He hadn't even seen when it had flown in, but when he had realized it, it was already stuck in his stomach.

His Dragon Fang Claw had to be extracted without even having bitten the prey once.

"Heok!"

The state of the third opponent, Shaolin Temple's Il-yeon, was even worse.

He had to roll his eyes back with the pain of his jaw shattering.

Bi Ryu-yeon's ink zither, which was now highly questionable whether it was an instrument or a weapon, had risen from under his chin like a mirage. He had been preparing, thinking he would swing it, but as if to mock his preparation, it had popped up from below. Like a lever... The 72 ultimate techniques of Shaolin had no time to shine. He also had no choice but to be helplessly defeated by Bi Ryu-yeon's unconventional attack that overturned common sense.

And the fourth!

Ppeok!

"Kuaaak!"

A strange scream erupted from the duel stage.

"Again?"

"It's again!"

"Tsk, tsk! What is he trying to do... To think that even the Jinju Eon family's Wind-Breaking Spear, Eon Ga-yeong, whom I had thought 'no way', would be defeated so helplessly!"

Everyone who was watching clicked their tongues and said a word. The face of the Mount Hua Flying Heavenly Eagle, Mun Il-gi, who was watching, was also slightly distorted and did not straighten out. It was thought to be a great fortune that Hong Ran was not in this place. The Heavenly Sound Fairy, Hong Ran, had not even come to see it, saying that she might fall into a state of qi deviation if she saw such a scene one more time. Her choice was excellent.

"Oops! I did it again! I did it again. Tsk!"

Bi Ryu-yeon said bitterly. Ah! Who would believe him even if he shouted that it was not intentional?

The Jinju Eon family's Wind-Breaking Spear, Eon Ga-yeong, who had gathered the expectations of the people, was sprawled out unsightly in a 'da' shape, with his eyes rolled back. Not even half a zhang away from where he had fallen, the famous Eon family's ink spear was rolling around like a useless stick. Since it had left its owner's hand, it now had only the value of a stick.

Bi Ryu-yeon could not help but have a bitter taste in his mouth. The original plan was not like this.

Still, he had come out with sound arts as his main weapon, so would it hurt if he won the championship by unfolding sound arts properly? Among the people who had fallen in the duels with Bi Ryu-yeon so far, there was no one who had fallen by orthodox sound arts. They had all taken a strong blow to the back of the head, stomach, or chin and had fainted with their faces buried in the ground.

So, the story that he had never used real sound arts was established. And so, it had become a considerable topic of conversation. There was even a story circulating that his martial art might not be sound arts but a zither-striking technique, and he had even earned the not-so-elegant nickname of the 'Great Fortune Striking Zither' from the battles so far. It was a not-so-famous story that was not seeing the light, being overshadowed by Moyong Hwi's martial prowess, but if the Heavenly Sound Fairy, Hong Ran, had heard it, she would have been running wild.

Who in the world would stop that ignorant and fishy winning streak?

The people paid attention to Bi Ryu-yeon's next opponent as a person who would conduct a more dignified duel competition. They believed that he had enough ability to stop Bi Ryu-yeon's absurd, fraudulent winning streak.

The Eight-Armed Divine Sword, Jeon Ok-gi!

That was the name of Bi Ryu-yeon's next opponent.

The Eight-Armed Divine Sword, Jeon Ok-gi, was from the 15th generation of the Diancang Sect and had lived a life with nothing to envy so far. And he believed without a doubt that it would be so in the future as well.

He had entered a prestigious sect among prestigious sects, a direct disciple of the nine great sects, and had learned the secrets of the martial way, and had inherited a part of the secret traditions, and now possessed a martial art with nothing to envy. The nickname of the Eight-Armed Divine Sword that he possessed well represented his fast and splendid sword technique. How splendid and ever-changing a swordsmanship must one unfold for one's arms to look like eight!

Besides, he had entered the Cheonmu Academy, which any person of the Jianghu would envy, and had now passed the difficult promotion exam and had become a Six Sword Dragon. So he was a person with not much to envy. Besides, his pride was that high.

He had one incurable disease, and it was a terrible disease called the 'I alone am honored in heaven and on earth' disease, or the 'prestigious family superiority' disease. The symptom of this disease was that the patient was very arrogant, and they would never associate with people of humble birth (among the disciples of prestigious families, there was sometimes a tendency to see those whose origins could not be confirmed or who did not belong to a great sect as unconditionally humble), and they had a tendency to look down on them.

So, he naturally looked down on Bi Ryu-yeon.

Anyway, for him, who had inherited the pure blood of a prestigious family, Bi Ryu-yeon was just a lucky first-year greenhorn. Naturally, he was more than 120% confident of his victory.

He was telling himself.

'That punk is just a simple first-year greenhorn. A greenhorn who can never win against a prestigious disciple like me...'

How Bi Ryu-yeon had led the previous four fights was not even a subject of his interest. Bi Ryu-yeon's duel content was just one of the stories that often appeared these days to liven up a joke-telling session or a drinking party.

As expected, the interest of the proper and sensible academy students these days was all focused on Cheong-heun and Moyong Hwi. Whenever they met, the stories they told were all about them.

Besides, since many people around him were instigating him to crush Bi Ryu-yeon, who was insulting the Three Sages Festival, and were putting empty wind into him, Jeon Ok-gi was in a state of being quite conceited. Besides, Bi Ryu-yeon had already become the enemy of almost all the men since he had acknowledged Na Ye-rin in the first match.

So Jeon Ok-gi must have been able to muster the courage to show such bravado. Of course, he himself was not aware of it at all.

That incident had happened just one day before Bi Ryu-yeon's fifth match.