Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 45: Plum Blossoms (3)

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Elder Jongin of Mount Hua Sect sprang to his feet as if he had seen something shocking, and before anyone could stop him, he leaped into the arena.

“Elder!”

Woonjak was too stunned to do anything but stare.

A martial artist was standing in the arena, their face completely hidden by a bamboo hat and veil. They seemed to be the one who had caught Jongin’s attention.

Just who could that person be...

...for the usually calm Elder Jongin to react so dramatically?

Woonjak held his breath as he watched the scene unfold.

Jongin reached out towards the martial artist’s face veil, when suddenly BOOM!

Another martial artist had appeared along with the explosion, moving too fast for the eye to follow, and grabbed Jongin’s wrist.

“Wait, that man is...”

He was someone Woonjak knew.

Once when he warned them about using light body arts on rooftops, and once when he stopped a fight at the inn.

Woonjak could naturally picture the face of the one hidden behind that bamboo hat and veil.

It’s most certainly the one who was with him...

But he had no time to dwell on that thought.

In an instant, the surroundings grew heavy.

With all of his experience in the martial world, Woonjak immediately recognized this sensation.

Killing intent.

An overwhelming killing intent bearing down upon the entire venue was emanating from over there.

While the martial artists were somewhat okay, civilians were showing abnormal symptoms like rapid breathing.

“Hey! We need to immediately evacuate the civilians...!”

“You son of a bitch.”

Woonjak couldn’t believe his ears.

“Still not moving that hand?”

Then he couldn’t believe his eyes.

At that place, plum blossoms had bloomed.

Plum blossoms that had withered into a bleak color, drifting about.

*The plum blossoms scattered.

Seojun covered the plum blossoms with his left hand.

The blossoms fluttered upward, lifted by the wind from his hand’s movement.

Crunch!

His fist clenched hard enough to break. All the inner qi in his body gathered in his right fist.

Flower petals scattered endlessly from his right hand as his violently surging inner qi erupted.

Twisting his waist, pivoting on his front foot, following the path of the fist he swung with all his might, plum blossoms scattered profusely.

BOOM────────!!!

Jongin, who had blocked the punch, waved his hand in bewilderment.

At first, he had instinctively reacted to the sudden approach, but he had no intention of harming him.

When his wrist was grabbed, he had reflexively released his qi.

“Wait...! There must be some understanding...!”

But there was no response.

Those brightly shining eyes glared at Jongin as if they would kill him.

“Hey...! Snap out of it!”

The veiled woman shouted. Jongin first moved to block her, just in case.

That was a mistake.

Seojun with his eyes rolled back, drew his sword.

Screech!

The sound of the sword being drawn sent chills down their spines.

Jongin felt goosebumps rise from the formless killing intent.

I must subdue him first.

This happened because of his mistake.

Thus, Jongin also drew his sword.

Shwing—

At that sound, as if it were a signal, Seojun charged.

The qi gathered on his sword raged wildly. In an instant, the sword qi turned blue and the surroundings froze.

Using that momentum, Seojun swung his sword.

Clang!

Jongin blocked it.

Their eyes met. Golden irises. Jongin tensed slightly as he shook off the sword.

Whoosh!

At the same time, plum blossoms bloomed from Seojun’s sword.

This time, they were blue-tinged plum blossoms.

Snow Plum.

The plum blossoms scattered like a snowstorm, approaching Jongin.

“How...!”

He had no time to recover from his bewilderment. Jongin unleashed some of his power in response to these strange events happening one after another.

Unleash!

Inner qi burst from his body. The approaching plum blossoms retreated under that pressure.

But even so, the edges of the protective qi Jongin had manifested froze.

Crack—

Simultaneously, Seojun twisted his body. He spun around as he was being pushed back, advancing forward once again.

The color of his sword qi had changed. Golden, no, it was burning with a red tinge.

The inner qi he had briefly recovered was fully concentrated into a single sword.

Flame Plum.

Plum blossoms rose like scattered embers and engulfed Jongin.

Jongin didn’t just stand there taking it. Having regained his composure, he raised his sword.

Release──────

The scent of plum blossoms spread.

It was one of Mount Hua’s techniques to confuse opponents.

But if there was one thing he overlooked, it was Seojun’s talent.

In the end, it was a scent made from qi. Seojun took a deep breath, and the scent of plum blossoms began to emanate from his entire body instead.

“What a marvel...!”

Jongin exclaimed before finally swinging his sword.

The approaching embers were all swept away by Jongin’s sword, one by one.

He’s not an opponent to be taken lightly.

To subdue him, I will have to wound him.

A star descended and dwelled in Jongin’s sword as he made up his mind.

Unleash──────!!

The sword imbued with starlight shone brightly. It was reinforced qi.

Jongin took a step forward and swung his sword resolutely.

CRACK────────!!

Everything shattered.

Seojun’s plum blossoms, his sword, his protective qi, all broke and blood spurted out.

“Keugh...!”

Seojun staggered. His knees buckled, and his head drooped.

Nevertheless, he propped himself up with his broken sword and glared at Jongin.

“How on earth...”

As their eyes met, Jongin couldn’t help but let out a cold sweat.

Though he had only cut shallowly, he had used a penetrating strike to severely damage the insides at the moment of cutting.

It made no sense for him to still be conscious like this.

“Please wait! Your body cannot take any more...!”

Seojun didn’t hear him.

In his clouded state of mind was a single desire.

I need power... The power to protect my sister.

BURST────────!!

Jongin stepped back from the qi wave that erupted.

“This time what will I...”

His eyes widened as he looked at Seojun.

A faint form manifested behind Seojun, who was floating in the air.

Three hideously distorted flower buds.

“The Three Flowers Zenith...!?”

However, he hadn’t achieved this realm normally. If this continued, he would destroy himself. But all of this was happening too fast to stop.

Crack—

The three flower buds slowly gradually parted, revealing three eyeballs hidden within twitching frantically.

The murky qi flowing from Seojun’s half-open eyes made even Jongin hesitate to approach.

Then, Seojun’s mouth opened.

Incomprehensible words poured out of his open mouth.

“─────────...”

Just hearing those sounds made one’s insides churn.

Soon, a bizarre series of events began to unfold.

The wound carved on Seojun’s chest wriggled and rapidly healed.

A sinister aura spread like smoke from the hideous flowers that had bloomed behind his back.

The nearby plants twisted into grotesque shapes. They withered and turned purple, growing eyeballs and teeth.

The stone tiles of the arena crumbled to dust. Civilians who couldn’t escape in time clutched their heads and screamed eerily.

Jongin gritted his teeth at the sight, as if the demonic realm was manifesting before his very eyes.

What could be done in this crisis? Even as a Transcendent Realm master, he dared not venture within.

At that moment, someone plunged themselves into the heart of danger.

“Big brother...!”

“You must not!”

A startled Jongin reached out his hand. But he was too late, having been lost in thought. His outstretched hand grasped the empty air.

“You must come back! It’s dangerous! He would not recognize even his own parents in that state!”

To Jongin, Seojun’s condition was like a bomb.

Originally, to reach the Transcendent Realm, one had to balance essence, qi, and spirit, but this was like roughly dividing essence, qi, and spirit into three lumps and mashing them together.

Even demonic practitioners would not dare do something so crazy. Even if they reached a higher realm like this, the balance of essence, qi, and spirit would collapse within days, leading to death.

It was astonishing that such a feat was possible, yet it didn’t change the fact that it was a path without a future.

“Big brother...! Snap out of it! Stop doing something so crazy and quickly...!”

Chunbong shouted with her hoarse voice.

This fucking bastard. I called out to him several times during the fight, but he didn’t even pretend to hear.

Though her entire body began to creak from the bizarre energy, she didn’t stop.

“You fucking bastard...!”

Chunbong threw herself forward. She instinctively felt it.

If Seojun transcended his realm here, he would definitely die.

She didn’t want to lose another precious person ever again.

As if acknowledging her feelings, the sinister aura no longer blocked her way.

Rather, it seemed to give her a push from behind, guiding her towards Seojun.

“Big brother... please...”

Finally, her hand reached him. But there was still no reaction.

She moved her heavy fingertips to grab his hand.

Thump—

And placed his rough hand on her cheek.

“I said snap out of it... you idiot...”

Tears formed around her eyes and fell. They flowed down her cheeks and touched Seojun’s hand.

Twitch. His hand that was moving suddenly stiffened.

“...evening.”

“Huh...? W-What did you say!?”

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

It was Seojun’s voice. Chunbong looked up, her heart clenching with hope.

“...If one hears the Dao in the morning, they may die content in the evening.”

“D-Do you need something?”

“If I can touch your cheeks in the morning... I can die without any regrets in the evening...”

“You can’t die, you bastard...!”

Chunbong screamed. Then she heard a chuckle, and—

Thud—

Seojun’s body collapsed backward.

The bizarre energy and hideous flowers had vanished without a trace.

Jongin couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration at the sight.

To think he recognized his sister even in that state. It was unbelievable.

“B-Big brother!? Big brother...!”

Chunbong was too panicked to care. She shook him, worried sick, but Jongin stopped her.

“He’s asleep. Shaking him could worsen his internal injuries, so calm down first.”

“Ugh...!”

Startled, Chunbong let go of Seojun and stood protectively in front of him, baring her teeth.

“Just in case you’re wondering, he only did that to protect me. The plum blossoms...”

“I know. I’m truly sorry. I couldn’t believe it and ended up being incredibly rude. I promise there will be no further talk about this incident.”

Jongin bowed.

For an elder of the Nine Sects to bow his head—the weight of that gesture was not light.

Chunbong’s eyes widened, and after stammering for a bit, she shook her head.

“Well, if that’s the case...”

“It would be rude of me to ask about your identity after all of this. There must be a reason you’re hiding it, but please know one thing. If you ever feel so inclined, you’re welcome to visit our sect anytime. We will be waiting.”

“...”

While she kept her mouth shut, Jongin smiled weakly and shouted to his disciples nearby.

“First, clean up the surroundings! You, move the patient, and you, check if anyone else is injured!”

“Yes!”

A few disciples approached to move Seojun, but Chunbong narrowed her eyes and didn’t budge an inch.

“I’ll move him.”

“But...”

When the disciples looked at Jongin, he nodded.

“Let her do it.”

“Elder Jongin.”

“What is it?”

“I want to make sure there’s no misunderstanding.”

Chunbong bit her lip before continuing.

“The plum blossoms he created have absolutely nothing to do with Mount Hua.”

“Ah, that is what you mean.”

Jongin chuckled.

“I know. From the start, its very foundation was different from Mount Hua’s plum blossoms. There are some similarities, of course, but not all plum blossoms belong to Mount Hua to begin with.”

Mount Hua’s plum blossoms are certainly free and ever-changing, but their firmly grown stems and roots never waver.

But this young man’s plum blossoms were different.

It was like seeing a plum tree whose roots moved and walked on their own.

It was unusual, but that was why he could state as such with certainty that if someone were to call this the same martial art, the entire martial world would point fingers at Mount Hua instead.

“Hmm, surely not...”

Suddenly, Jongin made a strange expression.

“Come to think of it, didn’t he learn the plum blossom scent as soon as he saw it?”

“That’s...!”

“Haha, I am joking. No matter what, one cannot copy the Plum Blossom Sword Technique after seeing it just once. Anyway, you should hurry. That friend’s condition doesn’t look too good.”

“Ah...!”

Chunbong, who had been glaring at Jongin for joking in this situation, hurriedly picked up Seojun.

As he watched her, Jongin spoke.

“I will visit once the treatment is finished. It was my fault, so I need to make amends, and that friend seems to need to know a bit more about himself.”

“Yes, then...”

Chunbong quickly disappeared and Mount Hua’s disciples followed behind her.

Jongin watched their retreating figures intently, stroking his beard with a strange expression.

“The Divine Sword Geum Clan...”

He was certain as soon as he saw the young girl’s qi, and he was certain again when he saw the young man’s sword.

It was amazing how he tried his best not to use the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword even in that state of lost reason, but since his very foundation of swordsmanship was based on the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword, there was no reason not to recognize it.

Is this Senior Sword God’s work?

Such diverse plum blossoms. If the sect leader had seen it, he would have been shocked speechless.

But were there any survivors left in the Geum Clan?

As Jongin pondered, someone approached him.

“Elder.”

“Ah, you are....”

“Namgung Suah of the Namgung Clan greets you.”

“It’s fine. No need for formalities. Anyway, what’s the matter? The situation is complicated, so I’d like to postpone anything that isn’t urgent.”

Namgung Suah nodded at those words.

“I have some connection with those people. I came to lend a hand, however small.”