Chapter 189 - Martial Arts Learning (1)

“The next opponent…”

Before the First Elder could speak, Seol-Hwi stepped onto the stage and the people all focused on him. The elder proceeded without having to introduce him.

“Let’s start it right away.”

He hoped to see Seol-Hwi defeated quickly.

Shhh

The wind blew, and Seol-Hwi and the unknown warrior looked at each other without talking. And they did that for a long while.

Shh.

Seol-Hwi spread his feet to the side and held out his hand.

“What is this?”

Seeing that, the man asked.

“A technique…”

Seol-Hwi just shook his head.

“If you cannot take this as it is, I will be able to guess how good you are.”

“Huh…”

The atmosphere turned cold as Seol-Hwi provoked him. And the face of the man also went stiff.

“Then you must be really skilled… let’s check that out too.”

Pat!

The opponent attempted to attack first, and Seol-Hwi thought as he watched him run in a straight line,

Same one.

Maybe he was trying to adjust the speed with footwork, but it was not so fast now.

Shhh

Seol-Hwi allowed him to get close, and as expected the man extended the fist ahead with a faster movement.

Wheik

“…!”

He was wide eyed. The hand of the opponent drew a circle.

At first, he tried to hit the opponent with the fist, but then his hand was clasped.

Shhh

Seol-Hwi opened the clenched fist and then he put his hand around the wrist of the opponent and pulled the body.

With his center of gravity pushed for the core, he pushed his other fist again.

Shhh

Perhaps because the internal energy of Seol-Hwi was good, the old man who had to move to defend stepped back.

“Hah!”

He had moved a distance of three paces and silence fell again.

No one was hurt, but there was a lot of shock in the eyes of the man.

“Y-you what…”

Seeing the reaction of the opponent, Seol-Hwi nodded like he figured it out.

“As I thought. As I predicted.”

“…”

“You are from Wudang.”

What Seol-Hwi used now was the Taiji Fist.

Among them, it was the technique of pushing and pulling using hands. It was also a technique which was not difficult and found in street fights too.

But the other party was shocked because he realized this.

“Wudang!”

Namgung Hun jumped up. After seeing this, he was convinced of what he saw.

“He is from Wudang? I thought…”

“Which part was similar?”

Unlike Namgung Hun who was shocked, Namgung Hye and Namgung Min did not react to that extent.

Although they had talent in martial arts, they were beginners, and they could only see similarities with Wudang’s martial arts.

And the martial arts of Wudang was quite widespread. Even if it was not some advanced technique, one could find their basic techniques on the streets.

“We need to see a little bit more.”

Despite the reactions of the siblings, Namgung Hun was still excited. The fact that he came to see the martial arts of Wudang thrilled him.

Swss

Silence fell again between the two.

A was just a single clash, but it was still shocking enough.

One used a Taiji move, and the technique used to block the attack was Taiji too. If one looked closely, the technique of Seol-Hwi was now closer to ordinary while the technique of the old man was better.

It was because what Seol-Hwi did was drain out the energy when the attack came.

“By any chance, are you related to Wudang in any way?”

The voice of the man changed. If the opponent had imitated the technique, he would not have reacted like this.

However, unlike what he saw from the waiting room, he had felt their hands touch, and there he could surely feel the technique of Wudang being used.

“A little. Why do you ask?”

“There are many who learned Taiji related things up until this point, but those who understand it and use it are rare.”

“True body…”

Seol-Hwi smiled.

Certainly the opponent was no ordinary Wudang disciple. Just looking at what he had done before, he had the skill to surpass a strong warrior.

So… this is good

The stronger the opponent, the stronger martial arts techniques, and the more he gets to learn. Moreover, Seol-Hwi had one thing he wanted to try.

“Well, I wonder if the true body means anything. Any martial arts can be used to win a fight, right?”

When Seol-Hwi changed his stance, the expression of the old man hardened.

Before he could tell if this was intentional or not, he was enraged.

“Are you insulting Wudang’s Taiji Arts?”

He asked in a voice filled with anger.

“After using it, I don’t know if it is such a great martial art…

“Show me again. Is Taiji worth it?”

“…”

At those words, a smile spread across the face of the old man.

“As expected. You know nothing about the true body of Taiji.”

Shh

The old man changed his stance. Judging by the way he moved, he was ready to attack right away.

“Then let me know.”

Shhh

Seol-Hwi also imitated a similar motion and extended his hand.

A moment of silence—

“Tch.”

The same scene seemed to be happening.

The elderly man was running towards Seol-Hwi with the punching gesture.

But there was a change in the end.

Chak

The moment the left hand of the old man came, he crossed it over the right hand and pushed the right hand ahead.

Progressive move and block technique—

Seol-Hwi responded with the same one as before, spread the palm out against the attack of the enemy which came in half a beat late, and then the enemy did not push the fist ahead.

Again, he raised the right hand to the sky and rotated the touched hands.

Oblique Flying Pose—

One of the steps in the Taiji Fist, and it was an action to trick the opponent.

“Huh!”

And the punching movement came next.

However, unlike before, the strong martial arts aimed right for the body from the fist energy.

Sasasak

Seol-Hwi saw through the attack of the opponent and the same fist got thrust in it. However, he used fist wind which was a little lower than the old man’s in skill and created a momentary opening.

“…!”

Gagagag!

Be it the wind which passed between or now, the old man was ahead of Seol-Hwi.

Numerous punching fists came up after Seol-Hwi easily blocked five to six, he turned and kicked.

It was to get space.

Tatata!

When the body of Seol-Hwi got pushed back, the old man began to move hastily, and he used the right fist to knock Seol-Hwi, who wanted to counter, and used the left fist at the same time.

But the defense of Seol-Hwi was strong this time.

With the other hand, he blocked the fist of the old man. And it seemed like a meaningless act from a distance, but that was the case assuming that it was a normal move.

However, what he did next was use fire arts.

“Kuak!”

Jkk!

The old man gritted his teeth and stepped back, as his last attack was unsuccessful.

His fist which was about to hit the chest of the opponent was pulled back because of the intense energy he felt.

“Phew. So close.”

Seol-Hwi wiped his forehead and said that, but there was no sweat on his face as he said,

“Is this all?”

The expression of the old man softened now.

He was not going to be swayed by the bluff of the opponent and provocations, but when he found out about what the opponent could do, he had to back down.

Clack

He finally pulled out the sword from behind. And he said to Seol-Hwi,

“Myung Jong.”

“…?”

“That is my name.”

When he gave his name, Seol-Hwi nodded. He was not sure if this was his real name, but he decided to give his name too.

“Hwi.”

“…?”

“I am Hwi.”

“Hwi… huh.”

“And now that we said this…”

Seol-Hwi suddenly looked at his sword.

“I too have a sword, but I don’t feel the need to take it out.”

“…?”

“I wonder if it is skills or just ambiguous.”

“…Haha.”

Was this a provocation?

The other person just smiled at this.

“Then I will show it soon. You won’t last long.”

“Depends on if you have the skill.”

Seol-Hwi responded calmly. After a moment of silence,

“Let’s have a look at your skills then.”

As Myung Jong suddenly swung the sword with the words, Seol-Hwi went wide eyed. The sword was moved so casually.

Papat!

“Kuak.”

He was almost right next to Seol-Hwi and appeared close with his sword. The reaction speed was so fast that it could not be thought he was using normal sword energy.

“…!”

At that moment, Myung Jong rushed in.

It was a different pace from before. The sword was being swung.

Sssh! Swish!

Right. Move.

The face of Seol-Hwi was bright even as the wounds increased little by little from the sharp movements.

This was something he had to see.

His expectations of solving this seemed right.

“Uh… Uh?”

The voice of Songhwa watching the fight began to frown.

The first time he was hit, he thought it was a coincidence, but when the old man got close to Seol-Hwi, he thought the sword technique was amazing.

It was because it was a scene where his master was being pressured.

“I don’t understand…”

“…Uh?”

Songhwa turned to the side. After the treatment, Imugi came and stood next to him,

“Your wounds are fine?”

“Well, probably.”

Imugi gave a short answer and looked at the stage.

“But what is happening, hyung?”

He calmly answered Songhwa’s question.

“The movement of Master is a bit strange. It feels like he keeps giving up chances even though he can overpower the opponent.”

“Can it not be that the opponent is that strong? And the restraint… is there?”

“Sure it is, but Master isn’t using all of his abilities. This is well… um… right. A ploy.”

“Ploy? Like Master is doing this on purpose?”

“Otherwise, he wouldn’t let the opponent attack him. And he keeps getting hit by the same one, and—”

Imugi looked at the stage

“Martial arts are something which can be thought of as a circular flow of energy, and that Taiji Sword is quite unique.”

Imugi was also a warrior, and he was genuinely admiring this technique.

He was very unfamiliar with this martial art, and because of that his curiosity grew.

This… is what?

Myung Jong was shocked.

Even though the opponent should have collapsed at his offensive, he was still holding on. At first he thought this would end quickly.

The 45th technique of the Taiji Sword pushed the opponent with sharp movements.

When he saw an opening, he would move in confidently, but the guy was avoiding it. He was barely avoiding it with slight wounds.

Was it from then?

Once he succeeded in getting close, he would change the forms of attack, but the guy was blocking everything.

“Euk! Euk!”

It was then that Myung Jong felt pressure from this opponent, as the opponent named Hwi was adapting to any change.

But interestingly, even after he used a new technique, his opponent still managed to avoid it.

“Kuak!”

He was pushed back with surface injuries.

“Sorry, sorry I didn’t use anything other than my hands.”

Taking a deep breath, Myung Jong said,

“It is certain that you are skilled. Stop being stubborn and pick up your sword.”

At those words, Seol-Hwi nodded and he asked again,

“Rather… are you done?”

“…?”

“I think the best is still left…”

“Huh.”

The expression of Myung Jong fell. He already made up his mind, the opponent knew the Taiji techniques very well, but not the sword techniques.

So this man is no disciple of the Taiji Sword.

Then he did not have to shy away.

Regardless of his being Hui or Hwi, he was disrespecting Wudang constantly.

So, no matter what happened, he had to go head on.

“If you really want to see…”

Myung Jong made up his mind.

He decided not to think about the opponent and end this.

And for this reason, he decided to do his best and make sure to kill the opponent too.

“If something goes wrong…?”

“As if it would.”

Swish

His heart felt relieved at the words of the opponent, the suborn man had to die now.

Shhh

Myung Jong made up his mind and rotated the sword as his body was getting ready.

He was thinking of the most powerful technique to be used, the Heavy Sword Slashing Mountain.

And Seol-Hwi was waiting for this.

It is coming.

Shhh

The position of the sword was not visible in the movement.

The Heavy Sword Slashing Mountain. One would hold the blade facing down and move swiftly with the motion to break a mountain.

Flash!

And at some point he got close.

When he did, Seol-Hwi realized that it was too late. Still, his face brightened.

It felt like a secret had been revealed finally.

In other words, it was a step closer to the system.

<Experienced all the techniques of the Taiji Sword, which holds 54 forms and 13 techniques.>

Words appeared in front of him and time stopped.

And the words followed saying Seol-Hwi had a successful gamble.

<You have learned Wudang’s Taiji Sword>

As soon as the techniques of the opponent were experienced, the system intervened.

And he had created another miracle.