The World of Sound - Chapter 71



Only Krnovel

Cheonhwa’s opponent in the round of 16 was Ji-su Hoo, a member of the Sa-hyeol-dang, one of the major factions.

Because his vicious methods and deep-rooted murderous intent were to the point where it seemed as if he didn’t care about killing his opponents, many who faced him in the past were overwhelmed by his momentum and were unable to use their strength properly, or were pushed back and defeated without being able to use their strength at important moments.

Bam!!

“The winner is Evil… … Dragon, Cheonhwa Sohyeop!”

But, of course, this doesn’t work on Cheonhwa.

The murderous aura that the late index gave off was not even ticklish, and before that evil and dirty aura could spread, I just struck his head and ended it.

Thanks to this, Cheonhwa won in a single match again and earned a lot of dividends, and was able to watch others with peace of mind.

“The winner due to the opponent’s forfeit is Changryong Namgungjin Sohyeop!”

“If the opponent abstains, the winner is the Apostolic League… … .”

However, I was not very satisfied with the process and results of other non-combat missions.

First of all, the two late indices of Jeong Sa-ji, who had made a sensation and advanced to the round of 16, were forced to forfeit without even competing due to injuries.

One person suffered external injuries and the other internal injuries, but it was considered inevitable since the fights were held twice a day.

If you take a lot of damage in the previous match, you are bound to lose even if you are stronger than your next opponent.

So, in some ways, it was a good strategy to just abstain and not let the wounds get worse, but that made the fight boring.

This is because other reviewers who heard the news of their loss also took precautions and participated in the match.

This was especially evident in the fights between factions, with the Ami faction’s Hyunbong and Shaolin’s Shenlong being the worst.

After muttering a few times, Hyunbong admitted his own shortcomings and declared defeat.

The better ones were the Dokbong Dangmimi of Sacheondangga and the Hyeonryong of the Mudang.

Dangmimi poured all the dark techniques she could muster into her power, but when she failed to break through Hyeonryong’s defenses, she also admitted defeat and retreated.

From the beginning, since the weapon was lacking, variables and gaps had to be created, but the reason was that the shaman’s dragon was able to block all attacks without showing any gaps.

Similarly, there were the boring dances of Bingbong Bukgungyeon and Changho Aksomyeong.

Although Akso-myeong pushed with all his might, he was unable to do anything due to Bukgungyeon’s overwhelming incompetence.

Of course, the difference in level was so overwhelming that it was just a feast of wit for the evil spirits.

Of course, each and every one of them was of a high level, and unless they were top-notch experts, they would have been excited about having discovered something, but there was nothing that wasn’t fun.

Not only Cheonhwa, but many audiences’ reviews were like that.

Because in their eyes, they don’t see any high-level techniques or intricacies.

“He’s definitely useful.”

However, there were some who did it properly.

They were all Safaines.

It’s as if someone deliberately arranged the matchups, as none of the Sapa teams will face each other in the round of 16.

For that reason, the Safaines rushed in with all their might, and while some were defeated, some achieved results.

Among them, the one who showed outstanding skills was Chuwolmyeong, the successor to the Sadoryeon.

It was the pride of Sapha, as he fully displayed his skills that were at their peak to the point where it made you wonder if they could have won the championship if it weren’t for him and Bukgungyeon.

Thanks to that, the Blue Dragon and the Volcano Sword Dragon were defeated.

If we only look at the weapons, they were similar, but the difference was in their mindset.

Unlike the later indices of Sapa, who risked everything to kill the enemy in front of them, they used their hands with their own safety and future battles in mind.

Even though there were excuses, what’s lost is lost.

As a result, the only ones who were able to compete in the quarterfinals the next day were Namgung, Bukgung, Mudang, and Shaolin.

Even though the three later indices of Cheonhwa and Sapha were added to it, it was embarrassing for the Jeongpa people.

No matter how much Sapha gained power after the Jeongma War, it was expected that starting from the quarterfinals, it would be their feast.

But the reality was that they barely managed to occupy four seats, which was barely half of the total.

Among the five great families of the Gupailbang, who could be called the pillars of the Jeongpa martial arts world, only three remained.

It was natural that Shaolin and Mudang, who were always considered the best, remained, and Namgung Sega, the leader of the Five Great Families, also remained, but if you only look at the secret martial arts that had come this far, it was not something to be proud of.

Besides, there was no way to know what would happen if we had to fight just one more time.

This is because Namgung Jin and Cheon Hwa, and Bukgung Yeon will fight against Shinryong in the quarterfinals.

If the shaman’s Hyeonryong fought against the Sado-ryeon’s Chuwolmyeong, he would be able to save face if he won, but that didn’t look easy either.

And, no matter who won that duel, the martial arts competition would end in shock.

Anyway, it was Cheonhwa who won.

Also, the runner-up position would be taken by someone from the Bukgung family, who had been given the nickname of Bingbong but had not been included in the Five Great Families, so in the end, neither the Five Great Families of Gupailbang nor any of the great Sapa factions would be able to raise their heads.

“Hmm?”

However, even if it was a set future, a process was needed to get there.

To do that, he needed to first defeat his immediate quarterfinal opponent, Namgung Jin.

“What did you do?”

The next day.

Chunhwa was surprised and reacted strangely to Namgung Jin’s appearance as he appeared to play in the quarterfinals.

The sight of him climbing up onto the stage was not that of the guy I knew.

There is no change in appearance.

But inside there was a difference that was difficult to express even with the word change.

First of all, my internal energy skyrocketed.

The energy was so tightly packed inside that it could no longer be contained, and it was overflowing to the point where it was leaking out.

Does it feel like I’ve forced myself into a huge amount of internal energy that’s beyond my capabilities?

‘A sleeping group? That can’t be.’

It looked like he had taken some kind of sleeping pill, but that couldn’t be the case.

The power of the sleep phase allows you to maintain your sanity and use massive amounts of energy beyond your limits, but you will later become a cripple.

Even if you save your life, it will be difficult to use martial arts again, and even your daily life will be difficult, so Namgung Se-ga’s Sogaju is not something you can take for martial arts or something like that.

Then, did you receive a degree in physical education?

Before you went up on stage, did you secretly pour a handful of elixir into your mouth?

‘What a mess.’

It’s hard to say for sure, but I know one thing.

What I’m saying is that Namgung Jin’s physical condition is currently a mess.

Your internal energy may have increased tremendously, but your mind and body cannot keep up.

If you do it that way, you won’t be demonstrating your martial arts skills, but will just be swayed by your internal energy.

It would be possible to unleash a stronger attack, but it would be hard on the body every time, and even that would be dangerous, like a child swinging a pole.

Even though the harmony of the spirit and energy is the most important virtue for a master, it was incomprehensible why such a choice was made.

‘It seems like you’ve made up your mind.’

Although Cheonhwa is evaluated as being clumsy and a mess, he was already at the peak of his power, so it must be because he was able to imitate the peak state even if it was forced.

With such an overwhelming difference in power, the other later indices would not dare to do anything to him.

Even if there was an opening, he might have thought that he could ignore the harmony of the spirits since his body would be split in two if he tried to stab him with one sword.

It may mean that Cheonhwa wants to win against himself, but that only works when the opponent is of a similar level.

Besides, if I pushed myself too hard like that, it was obvious that even if I somehow made it to the quarterfinals, I wouldn’t be able to display my skills to advance to the semifinals.

Could it be that he is planning to defeat himself and forfeit in the semi-finals?

‘If it goes on like this, I won’t be able to tolerate it any longer?’

But the opponent was Cheonhwa.

Also, although he had no ill will toward Namgung Jin, he was slightly annoyed by the tricks his father, Namgung Se-ga, was using.

Besides, if you look closely, this was also just another trick, so I had no intention of treating it nicely.

“You better be prepared. This time, I’ll make you crawl under my feet!”

“Did you lose your mind after taking the pills? Do you really think you can still win? That’s funny. Try it. If you can.”

“!?”

As soon as he got on stage, Namgung Jin started gritting his teeth and spitting out venomous words, but Cheonhwa just laughed.

If he had reached the peak of his consciousness normally, he would have noticed the prayer he had secretly revealed.

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have dared say something like that.

But the guy who raised his level with the medicine didn’t even notice that.

The dilated pupils only shook greatly at Cheonhwa’s words, which seemed to be aware of his own shortcomings.

But I wasn’t scared.

Ignorance is the key to bravery, and I was already intoxicated by the immense energy I was feeling for the first time, and my spirits were already high as if I were the best in the world.

It was not a drug that affected the mind or was intended to induce pleasure, but it was not much different in that it was intoxicating.

Rather than the fact that Cheonhwa was confident that he had gained great strength through the power of some medicine, the fear and impatience of having to hide that shame gripped him.

It became venom and poison again and poured out towards Cheonhwa.

“Commence the fight!”

The Emperor’s step is to declare the start of the war.

A strong vibration and energy wave surged along the tip of the foot that was filled with the aura of the emperor.

It was a feat that overpowered the opponent with that power and made heaven and earth follow him.

“Emperor’s madness!”

A whirlwind of wind is unleashed from a lightly swung sword strike.

It was a wind of destruction that could not be expressed with words like sword wind, with each and every blade of wind carrying a trace of sword energy.

“You’re trying to hide it by using tricks. What? Are you trying to hide it by using tricks?”

Kuung

However, Cheonhwa countered all of those energies by taking a step forward.

Neither the oppressive pressure of the invisible spirit nor the blast of sword energy pouring down could overcome his light footsteps.

The energy scattered as if it was being hit by a headwind, but Namgung Jin’s charge did not stop.

“The Emperor is invincible!”

“Strong!?”

“Huh, is that the Emperor’s Sword?”

A crude sword energy, resembling a rustic name, rose from the bastard’s sword.

But it is only a foolish thing to think that way.

Emperor’s sword type.

Because it was a secret martial art that only the head of the Namgung Sega family could master, and it was an unrivaled sword art that allowed the Namgung Sega family to rise to the top of the five great families.

Even with just the Changgungmuae Sword Technique, he could easily be named one of the Five Great Sword Masters, but with this Emperor Sword Form, he could secure the position of the leader of the Five Great Sword Masters without fail, which was a martial art of the highest level, and everyone was surprised and impressed.

Even the most advanced martial artists would have felt that Namgung Jin’s martial arts skills had suddenly improved, but once the Emperor’s Sword appeared, they thought it was because of that.

“Then shall we play for a bit?”

The only thing that can deal with Geomgang is Geomgang.

There is a story that you can block the sword strike with a sword energy that has poured in internal energy beyond your limit, but that is only at the level of enduring while enduring great losses.

That’s why Cheonhwa also pulled out the ice spirit medicine and drew out his strength.

“Kang-gi? Are you saying that even the evil dragon has reached its peak?!”

The crowd stirred again at that sight.

Because strong energy was the exclusive property of the highest level experts.

Since it was not something that could be pulled out simply because of high internal energy, no one doubted that Cheonhwa had also reached the highest level.

“I blocked it!”

Gurrrrrr-!!

The sword and the flute clash, creating a noise like a thunderbolt.

Weapons are just a medium, because in the end it is a clash between powers.

Along with that, a huge shockwave swept through the surroundings, and those who did not know martial arts or had low martial arts skills were almost caught up in it, but thanks to the quick movements of the masters who had been occupying each position, no one was harmed.

They each raised their internal energy to dissipate the shockwave, and they were the ones who could easily neutralize and eliminate even the strongest energy that had lost its direction.

“What is this sticky stuff?”

The clash between the two did not end in a decisive victory.

Namgung Jin swung his sword with all his might as if he was trying to split the heavenly flower with one stroke of his sword, but his strength alone was not enough.

However, Namgung Jin had no intention of stopping there.

It seemed as if he had already considered blocking him, so he used a different method with the Emperor’s Invincible Sword.

“The Emperor’s invisible cloud.”

Tsutsutsutsu-

Cheonhwa took the bastard’s blow without even being pushed back a bit and tried to push him away, but as soon as their energy clashed, a strange energy descended on him.

It was a special type of qi that used a sticky cloud-like energy to bind the opponent, slowing them down and disrupting their qi and internal energy.

“The Emperor’s Nine-Tail Wind Sword!”

The moment Cheonhwa felt it and made a displeased expression, the sticky energy turned sharp.

It seemed like it was spraying more typified energy, then it spun around and cut him down.

Each and every one of those energies went beyond black energy and reached the level of strong energy.

It is a super-elevated supernatural power that dominates space and spreads strong energy, just like the destruction of the world by the Heavenly Flower.

“I’m out of breath just remembering the names.”

A deadly attack that binds and cuts down the opponent.

Among the Emperor’s Sword types, it was the latter half of the first-former type, so it was something that should not have been possible for someone like Namgung Jin to imitate, but it turned out to be absurd.

Although he quickly backed down, laughing at its rather long name, it was a powerful and threatening technique that even Cheonhwa could not underestimate.

The storm of strong winds that swept in without giving her any time to protest was so strong that the hem of Cheonhwa’s clothes were torn apart.

“Hey, Lee Hyeong-hwan?!”

“What is that law?!”

“The Emperor’s Sword is amazing, but to dodge that… …!”

Of course, it was only an illusion and not the real thing.

Because he moved at such an incredible speed that he could recall the Lee Hyeong-hwan-wi, the afterimage was cut off, but Cheon-hwa still had some time to spare.

“Where are you running away to!!”

However, since there was no counterattack, Namgung Jin followed Cheonhwa with even more confidence.

From his point of view, it can’t help but seem like he’s not trying to fight back, but rather that he can’t.

I don’t know if I managed to avoid it, but it was definitely amazing, and I never thought I could do more than that.

“The Emperor’s Sahwi!”

He quickly chased after the evil spirit and swung his sword repeatedly.

He transferred the energy he had spread like a cloud to Cheonhwa and at the same time scattered four more swords.

“The Emperor’s Law!”

“!!”

No, there’s one more variable added there.

The moment he was about to scatter the sword energy, the shape of the sword energy changed.

Spear, sword, broadsword, and longsword.

A different form of sword energy, each with its own shape, distance, and trajectory, rushed toward Cheonhwa in an instant.

It flew in, as if it was rising up to his Adam’s apple, belying his sense of distance and anticipation.