Chapter 52
A dust cloud rose, covering the entire arena. It was the result of two intense sword strikes colliding with each other.
"This, this is unbelievable! Due to the fierce battle, both contestants have become invisible...!"
Cheon Cheonmu, who was in charge of the commentary, shouted loudly as he looked at the arena.
"Surely, just now, plum blossoms, plum blossoms bloomed in the arena! How on earth did this happen!"
Even though Western martial arts used a mysterious substance called mana, what he had just seen was definitely plum blossoms.
The flower that could be said to be the essence of the Flower Mountain Sect.
Even though the Six Harmonies Sword Technique was a third-rate martial art widely spread among the public, what they had just seen was clearly the sword of Flower Mountain.
The surrounding martial artists began to stir, wondering how a disciple of an unrelated evil sect could use such a technique.
"Senior brother, did you perhaps sell our secret manual?"
"Don't say such dangerous things! If the sect leader saw this, our heads would roll!"
Among them, the Flower Mountain Sect of the Nine Schools One Way was the most agitated. They could only be surprised at the sword Verdandi had displayed, all wearing serious expressions.
As the saying goes, "No flower blooms for ten days," the essence of Flower Mountain's sword was the principle of change.
However, even after decades of training, few had reached such a level of swordsmanship. It required strong intent and focus to make flowers bloom on the sword energy.
'...How on earth?'
Hyeonhwa, the leader of the Flower Mountain Sect, thought while resting his chin on his hand. It was a perfect recreation of the essence of plum trees blooming in steep and rugged mountain terrain.
This was talent worth bringing in even at the cost of an enormous fortune. Not someone who should be wasting away under an evil sect.
The martial arts of the Flower Mountain Sect have an extreme yang energy like the Purple Sun Divine Technique. It was so incompatible that one could assert that Bing Yeon, with his Extremely Yin Body, couldn't possibly teach it.
How could a child who seemed to have come from the Western Regions understand and fully apply the essence of the Flower Mountain Sect?
'He was a strange character even during the Great War between righteousness and evil... but I didn't know he would do something like this. Bing Yeon.'
Hyeonhwa briefly raised the corners of his mouth as he recalled old memories.
A martial artist who tried to save even one person by caring for the sick and injured, even in a place where the righteous and evil factions were fighting each other.
If it were anyone else, it might be unthinkable, but Bing Yeon could have come up with the idea of teaching a third-rate martial art from scratch to a child from the Western Regions.
After all, it was Bing Yeon who had treated him when he was critically wounded by the blades of the dark path practitioners. At that time, he thought Bing Yeon was truly mad.
Even though he seemed to know who Hyeonhwa was, he had grabbed the beard of the legendary figure known as the Divine Doctor and ordered him to save lives.
'...I thought you brought a disciple from the Western Regions to show the children of the East a wider world.'
Originally, since Western martial arts were not well known to the public, he had guessed that they would catch people off guard in such a martial arts tournament.
However,
Bing Yeon's disciples had brought only third-rate martial arts.
Yes, 'mere' third-rate martial arts.
Martial arts commonly known even to ordinary people who weren't martial artists. Ones that could be bought for pocket change on the street, disparaged as something even a passing dog could use.
'Rather, it was to find such raw gems that the Six Harmonies Sword Technique was spread to people.'
Originally, the reason why the Six Harmonies Sword Technique, a secret art of the Flower Mountain Sect, had spread even to ordinary people was Hyeonhwa's scheme.
Originally, someone who has mastered a single martial art is more fearsome than a martial artist who has learned many.
The ascension of realms doesn't come from the quantity or purity of internal energy, but from the endless repetition of martial arts.
Therefore, Hyeonhwa thought this was the easiest way to find talent worthy of entering his sect.
He had judged that he only needed to find people whose sword energy scattered plum blossoms when used.
'...You've got some remarkable disciples, Bing Yeon. But it's quite a pity.'
As the dust cloud cleared and the shadows of the two people gradually became visible, Hyeonhwa thought.
Unlike the previous match, they surely wouldn't have been able to win.
Unlike Verdandi, the child called Bi Wol had shown the ability to break through the legendary external technique of the Indestructible Diamond Body with just the Three Disasters Sword Technique.
Even if Verdandi had succeeded in recreating the plum blossom sword, her training period under him would have been significantly shorter than Bi Wol's.
'If you had a few more years to teach your disciples, victory would have been yours.'
Even though she had perfectly understood and wielded the Flower Mountain sword, the time and effort contained within it seemed significantly lacking.
No matter how much talent for the sword one might receive from heaven, if their sword training is insufficient, they can still lose - that was the rule of the Central Plains world.
"The winner is...!!"
As if to prove Hyeonhwa's prediction, Verdandi was the first to be seen collapsing forward. She kept trying to get up, placing her arms on the ground while gasping for breath, but kept falling.
"Eh, eh? Both of them have fallen...!"
Similarly, the blue-haired man was also seen lying on the ground, not moving.
He seemed to lack even the strength to move a finger, breathing painfully with shallow breaths.
Both had such serious wounds from being stabbed and cut by swords that it was amazing they were still alive.
"Ah, the referee's decision has just come out! It's a draw, a draw! What an unexpected turn of events...!!"
Seeing them, the referee immediately declared it a draw. Neither could stand, and both had sustained serious injuries that needed immediate treatment.
From the start, it was strange for them to fight so fiercely to the point of nearly killing each other in the Dragon Phoenix Gathering. Even with the titles of Dragon and Phoenix at stake, it wasn't worth risking their lives.
"In this case, the Ice Dragon Flower Banquet needs to win one more time...!"
The condition for determining the finalist was winning two out of three matches.
If Azazel were to lose in the next match against Kang Si-woo, there was a method where the sect leaders of each faction would come out to compete, but...
If that happened, Bing Yeon would definitely lose. The current Bing Seolhwa was in a state where Shub-Niggurath had taken over her body.
"Indeed, how will the course of the upcoming match unfold, the next match that makes our palms sweat...! We will start immediately after the physicians have treated them!"
The Divine Doctor rushed to Verdandi and Sieghart to check their pulses, and he slowly nodded as he began treatment. He demonstrated acupuncture and medical skills so fast that his hands were barely visible.
"...Fortunately, we're not too late."
He spoke to Bing Yeon, who had rushed to his side, while wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead.
In other words, they had passed the dangerous crisis.
"Thank you so much... Divine Doctor."
Bing Yeon bowed deeply to the Divine Doctor, expressing his gratitude. No matter that Verdandi was a character from a novel, she was now a living, breathing life.
"To think you'd work this old man so hard. Aing... tsk tsk. Since ancient times, it's been said that the young should respect the old."
The Divine Doctor made a small sound as he bent his back backward as if tired. He was one of the people who had been with Bing Yeon during the Great War between righteousness and evil.
After laying Verdandi on the bed to rest,
"By the way, what kind of person is that daughter on the other side, to have some strange evil spirit possessing her?"
The Divine Doctor said, tapping Bing Yeon's shoulder. He seemed to have roughly grasped Bing Seolhwa's constitution and problem just by looking, and even noticed that she and Bing Yeon were half-siblings sharing the same bloodline.
"...You noticed?"
"If I didn't know that much, my eyes would be useless! Are you trying to deceive this old man?"
The Divine Doctor shouted angrily, almost jumping up. It seemed he felt betrayed that Bing Yeon had hidden the fact that he had a half-sister named Bing Seolhwa.
"What a tragic fate, one with the Nine Yin Severed Pulse living on borrowed time, the other gone mad with an evil spirit possessing her.... The Ice Palace truly has no luck!"
"No luck? What do you mean?"
"You've received heaven's punishment! I don't know if you've tried to resurrect someone dead or committed some act against human ethics!"
At the Divine Doctor's words, Bing Yeon felt a part of his chest become as heavy as a lead weight. After all, Seolhwa, who had already died, had been resurrected using the power of an Outer God.
In fact, he even imagined that all this misfortune might have occurred because he kept writing the novel out of a desire to meet Seolhwa again.
"Hm? Why is your face so dark? Cheer up! Your disciple's treatment is completely finished!"
The Divine Doctor said, patting Bing Yeon's back hard. Unable to look at Verdandi's face properly, Bing Yeon ended up shedding tears.
Only upon closer inspection did he realize how much this small child had been hurt and suffered.
After all, she had fought Sieghart to the point of risking her life just to save someone like him.
"Sister...!"
"Sister...!"
Soon after, Bi Wol and Azazel came to visit Verdandi's sickbed. Verdandi was sleeping soundly, unaware of all this.
"Thank goodness... She's completely healed to the point where there's nothing visibly wrong even if I try to heal her with holy power."
"I thought Verdandi would have died after seeing that last strike..."
Seeing Verdandi's peaceful face, they too seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. The final strike had been such an enormous collision of forces.
Looking at these three, Bing Yeon felt they were more important to protect than his own life. Even if it meant not obtaining the Ten Thousand Year Extreme Yang Pill.
He didn't want to see people dying again after Seolhwa.
He didn't want to experience again the disappearance of someone he had been greeting happily just the day before.
Once was enough for such an experience.
"Azazel, how about giving up on the upcoming match?"
As Bing Yeon spoke with his head bowed low, Azazel's body trembled slightly in surprise.
"Brother?"
"As you can see from Verdandi's case, the opponent might not hesitate to kill you in this martial arts tournament. This time might have been lucky..."
"...Brother, please calm down."
Azazel stopped Bing Yeon, who was speaking without even breathing properly. It was too sudden a proposal even for her.
"I understand you're shocked because our other sister was hurt, but I'm going to participate in the next match."
Noticing that he felt guilty about Verdandi getting hurt, she spoke to him in a gentle tone unlike before.
"Why on earth do you want to do that?"
"Because it's a good opportunity to end the connection between me and that trash."
Azazel spoke, mixing in a bit of profanity. As if she wouldn't be satisfied unless she beat Kang Si-woo herself, she expressed her intention to fight the next opponent with burning determination.
"Moreover..."
At that moment, Azazel gently placed her finger on Bing Yeon's lips as she spoke. At the sight that had become a silent gesture to be quiet, Bi Wol flinched in surprise and glared fiercely at her.
"...If I don't step up and win, we won't be able to save you, Brother, right?"
Azazel smiled sweetly as she tapped that index finger on her tongue. She smiled seductively, to the point where one might think they saw a fox's tail.
"I should also take revenge for Sister Verdandi while I'm at it."
"......!!!"
Bing Yeon had to quickly intervene to calm down Bi Wol, who immediately tried to grab Azazel's hair and fight.