Chapter 249 – Awkward Guest (4)

After the meal, they went out to find a place to duel as they had promised Namgung Cheon.

As they were located in the middle of a mountain, it was difficult to find a flat and open space nearby, so they had to go a little further.

“Leave it to me, my lady!”

Hong Yeon-hwa, who had accompanied them for judgment and mediation, suddenly spoke up and took a stance.

A strongly raised chin. A big chest pushed forward. Subtle pigeon toes.

Judging from her experience so far, that posture meant that she was about to do something great, so be prepared to be surprised.

“Wow…!”

She let out a voice full of excitement and satisfaction, and finally smiled contentedly.

It seems that she was a little hurt by Namgung Cheon’s reluctance to use his sword.

Hong Yeon-hwa took a stance towards a place that was flat enough but had too many trees to pass by.

Suddenly, a devilish figure appeared behind her and reached out with a fist.

Bang!

A deafening sound that made their ears ring.

Although she had only lightly punched, the result was far from light.

The trees in front disappeared without a trace, and there was a hole in the ground as if a bomb had exploded.

This is always amazing. But this is just a show of strength.

Hong Yeon-hwa knew this well, so she sat down in place without stopping.

“Utcha.”

The strong devil who sat down in the same way began to push and tidy up the debris around them.

Is this… right?

Isn’t that something that can only be used after mastering the Heavenly Demon Technique?

Last time, when they were cleaning the yard, it was the same, and this way, it was just a simple earthwork.

While imagining Hong Yeon-hwa wearing a yellow safety helmet and shouting “Safety first” in her mind, she was dumbfounded.

When the cleanup was almost done, they began to play with the mud, bringing in soil from around them to fill the hole.

The finale was, of course, the Heavenly Demon Army Formation that she had seen before.

Kuwoong!

A tremendous force that pressed down on the surroundings solidified the loose ground.

“Well, how is it? It’s a performance stage made by me!”

Hong Yeon-hwa, with pink eyes, stuck to me and begged for praise. The meaning behind her gesture was so obvious that I could only laugh.

But still… it’s impressive.

I raised both hands to her chubby cheeks and praised her while rubbing them.

“Thank you! Thanks to you, I didn’t have to look around here and there!”

“Hmph. This is a piece of cake for me!”

Hong Yeon-hwa shook her head happily.

It may be a familiar sight to other women, but perhaps not to Namgung Cheon.

With a blank expression, Namgung Cheon alternated his gaze between the quickly made dueling ground and Hong Yeon-hwa, who slapped her cheeks and smiled contentedly.

But perhaps Hong Yeon-hwa interpreted his gaze differently.

With a triumphant expression, she snickered, “Haha! Can you do this with a sword? You can’t, can you? You won’t be able to!”

Only then did Namgung Cheon realize that Hong Yeon-hwa was paying attention to what he had said earlier, and he chuckled and nodded.

“Usually, this kind of thing is done with money, not martial arts.”

“But even if you hire a lot of workers with money, you won’t be able to make it as fast as I did!”

“Then just buy a pre-made dueling ground.”

“…Profit!”

Thinking it was a valid point, Hong Yeon-hwa stomped her feet in anger.

She couldn’t find anything to say, so she started getting angry for no reason.

“Anyway! Since I made the place, now you can duel!”

“I was already planning on it.”

Namgung Cheon lightly brushed it off and walked into the makeshift dueling ground.

Did that bother her? Hong Yeon-hwa, whose cheeks were puffed up, tapped my shoulder.

With a bitter smile, I gently rubbed her cheeks to release the tension.

“Phew…my lord.”

“Yeah. What is it?”

“Destroy him completely.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible, but I’ll do my best.”

After giving Hong Yeon-hwa’s philtrum a final pat, I followed Namgung Cheon into the field.

Namgung Cheon stood at a reasonable distance, already holding his sword. Unable to contain my excitement and anticipation, I drew my sword as well.

“First of all, I must inform you that I am weaker now than when you saw me in the battle of the court.”

“I know. It was not enough time to fully grasp the enlightenment. However, that doesn’t matter.”

Whoosh.

He simply pointed his sword at me, but the momentum was like a typhoon, scratching my skin as if he was ready to charge at any moment.

At the same time, a sky-blue sword aura covered Namgung Cheon’s sword.

For a moment, I was surprised by the completely different atmosphere from before. Namgung Cheon chuckled and spoke.

“Originally, this is a friendly duel. The meaning is in directly exchanging swords, not winning or losing. I can wait as long as you need, so come at me whenever you’re ready.”

“…Ha.”

Although the words were polite, the momentum was scratching at my skin as if he was ready to charge at any moment.

I’m not a child who can’t hide my emotions.

Well, I’m not as obsessed with swords as Namgung Cheon, but I’m not a complete novice either.

Even if it wasn’t for Hong Yeon-hwa’s request, the way Namgung Cheon confidently approached him made him want to strike with all his might.

Above all, he was caught up in the momentum from earlier, perhaps feeling Namgung Cheon’s intentions even slightly.

Lately, he had been repeating fights that he absolutely couldn’t afford to lose, and something hot was starting to rise in his desolate heart.

Loyalty? Ambition? Both were not entirely wrong, but if he had to say…yes.

A desire for martial arts.

Or admiration.

The childish dream that he had thought had disappeared somewhere, of becoming like the protagonists in the martial arts novels he had read when he was young, had started to push him forward again when he met Namgung Cheon, who seemed to have come straight out of a martial arts novel.

The reason was self-evident.

Facing his momentum directly, watching his intentions, Namgung Cheon’s passion had rubbed off on him as well.

“It won’t take long.”

Concentrating his mind on the sword in his hand, he drew out the power of the Mu-ryang Divine Technique to its utmost limit.

Boom!

A solid sound that only he could hear. At the same time, a huge pillar of conviction began to greedily gather the natural energy of the surrounding three heavens.

The bright sword energy that had risen to the point of blinding his eyes merged and gathered into a flame that burned like fire.

With just a swing of this sword, he could split a tree in half or smash a rock with a single blow, but…it wasn’t enough.

He squeezed out his conviction and condensed the energy that had already reached its limit even more.

And at the end of forcing the impossible with the power of his conviction.

The flames began to twinkle on the sword like stars.

It was a little different from when he faced Samaryeonju.

Back then, there was an enemy in front of him. A clear enemy who wanted to take me and my women away.

But Namgung Cheon was not an enemy. Then what was the conviction that was imbued in my sword right now?

The answer was simple.

Even if there was nothing to protect behind me, I was a swordsman holding a sword.

Feeling the sword in his heart become even clearer, he took a step forward.

“Here I come!”

He started with a horizontal Hengsocheongun with a flourish.

The sword wind, imbued with strength, dyed his vision white and shot towards Namgung Cheon.

Then he hid his body and quickly approached, raising his sword.

Just as he was about to press down with Taesanapjeong. Even faster than that, the sword wind disappeared.

Not knowing what he did or how he did it, Namgung Cheon had dispersed the storm of strength with a single swing of his sword.

“Brutal.”

“That’s what I was going to say.”

As he still held his sword up, Namgung Cheon’s sword came at him from an odd angle.

To avoid the sword strike aimed precisely at my wrist, I had to twist my body and dodge it.

Namgung Cheon, who had easily blocked my Hengsocheongun and even the follow-up attack, laughed heartily.

“Well, let’s take it slow from now on.”

And now it was his turn, as he confidently stepped forward.

Namgung Cheon approached me lightly like a gust of wind. But his next strike was as intense as a bolt of lightning.

Kaaang!

I barely managed to block his sword. I furrowed my brow unconsciously as I received the blue and white sparks that scattered in the air.

It’s damn solid.

“You blocked that?”

I can understand his surprise. After all, this was an attack that was not supposed to be blocked.

Avoiding it was the best strategy, dodging it was important, and blocking it was foolishness, or so it was said in the mid-level swordsmanship.

That’s usually the case.

But I have the body strengthened to the limit by the Mu-ryang Divine Technique.

To me, this is the right answer.

After all, there’s nowhere else to go. Namgung Cheon’s swordsmanship is so simple that it ends if you avoid it.

There must be a follow-up strike aimed at the moment of avoidance or deflection.

It’s better to forcibly block it and create an opening.

At least I can get out of the opponent’s flow.

As our swords clashed, I took a step diagonally to the right.

My arm naturally bent to the left, completing the posture that would be used to slash from left to right.

In other words, it could also be called the posture to prepare for a left-to-right slash.

“Huuaaaap!”

The Hengsocheongun, which had been blocked so easily before, was now unleashed again.

This time, right in front of him.