Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 50: VOLCANO

Lee Seojun’s Martial Arts Class, starting now!

“I-I trust you, big brother...?”

“Well of course! I’ve already tested it all.”

He didn’t experiment on white mice or anything, but directly on people.

On his own body.

There was absolutely no risk of bodily harm, even though the effects were still minimal and needed further development.

“Come on, close your eyes. Trust big brother and follow along.”

“Okay...”

Seojun stood behind Chunbong and placed his hand on her back.

Her body naturally accepted his inner qi without any resistance, perhaps because he had been going in and out as if it were his own home.

Latent Qi Arts.

That was the name of this martial art.

He just picked the name on a whim, but it wasn’t that important anyways.

The point of this martial art was to hide Chunbong’s Blue Cloud Divine Art’s signature inner qi.

He had thought of two methods to achieve this.

The first was to completely change the nature of the inner qi during normal times.

He immediately gave up on this idea.

To do this, she would need to learn the Primordial Divine Art, but based on his previous attempts to teach Chunbong, it was far beyond her capabilities.

Why can’t she do it?

It’s not even that difficult.

Anyway, the second method was to generate some kind of interference signal around the body to prevent others from detecting it.

The Latent Qi Arts adopted this method.

He had referenced the protective qi of Armored Demons. However, since there was no need to protect the body, he lowered the output and greatly increased the efficiency.

One would probably be able to freely manipulate protective reinforced qi once the Latent Qi Art was mastered.

“Mmm...”

A moan escaped her lips.

Seojun concentrated, guiding her inner qi and sensing its flow through her body.

Several meridians remained frozen and blocked, and deep within was a mass of cold qi.

It was something he had only discovered now that his ability had improved.

Whoever had done this was irritatingly skilled.

The Plum Blossom Pill alone wouldn’t be enough to dissolve all of it, more spirit pills would be needed.

Or he would need to develop further himself.

Tsk.

For now, he ignored it.

The inner qi that had circulated through Chunbong’s meridians under Seojun’s guidance settled back into her dantian.

He removed his hand from her back and asked.

“How is it? Do you understand?”

“Huh? Um... I memorized the path, but... why does it work like this?”

“Hoho, that’s why Master Seojun is here.”

The passing down of a martial art didn’t end simply by showing the path of the inner qi.

They spent the entire day focused on the Latent Qi Art lecture.

*The next day, Seojun headed to the arena like he was going to work and came down from the stage with a blank expression.

“This is fucking ridiculous...”

He really hadn’t expected his opponent to not even show up.

This is what they call the top 8?

Seojun bitterly laughed, then slumped down next to Chunbong waiting for him.

“Seriously, why? Did I do something wrong?”

“Yeah. Honestly, I thought some kind of Demon King had descended at that time.”

“What?”

Can’t be helped. Should I change my future career to Heavenly Demon at this rate?

— Number 33!

It was Namgung Suah’s number.

Only one of eight arenas were being used in the quarterfinals so it wasn’t difficult to find her.

“Hmm.”

“What now?”

“Nothing, it’s just frustrating. Why does no one forfeit against her, but only against me?”

“She’s a Namgung. There’s probably a lot to gain from fighting her even once.”

“Then about what me?”

“They probably thought they’d die if they fought you.”

Man, this is so fucking unfair.

He slumped in his chair, preparing to watch Namgung Suah’s match.

That is to say, he placed his hand on Chunbong’s cheek.

“Ah stop! They’re gonna wear out!”

“What...!”

Seojun was startled and removed his hand just as the match began.

RUMBLE─────────!!!

Lightning struck the arena.

Her opponent collapsed. Then Namgung Suah smiled faintly and glanced towards Seojun.

Are you still confident? Her eyes seemed to say.

“I don’t like that woman.”

Seojun chuckled, patting her head while she grumbled.

“Even so? I’d win.”

A bold declaration of victory!

Chunbong let out a bitter laugh.

— Woooooow──────!!!

The arena seemed to be exploding with cheers.

“Is that the Namgung Clan’s martial art!?”

“How spectacular! To think a human body could actually control lightning!”

The civilians who tend to like anything flashy were especially going wild.

When Seojun looked at Chunbong with eyes seeking an explanation, she sighed and explained.

“It’s the Sword of the Boundless Azure Sky. It’s an advanced martial art that only direct descendants of the Namgung Clan can learn.”

“Oh wow. Though I don’t really think the lightning’s the important part, is it?”

A faint golden light flickered in Seojun’s eyes before fading.

The sword he saw her wielding wasn’t imbued with lightning.

It was merely a byproduct that followed.

What she had imbued in her sword was the sky itself.

“It’s pretty cool.”

Is that the heavy sword?

It’s certainly different from Chunbong’s light and nimble sword.

“By the way, Miss Geum, do all Namgung Clan members use greatswords like that?”

“I don’t think so? As far as I know, they use normal longswords.”

“Hmm.”

Seojun scratched his head, then Chunbong came close and brought her lips to his ear.

“Be careful when...”

“Eek...!”

“Sigh...”

Chunbong moved away slightly and continued.

“Be careful when you face that woman. The Namgung Clan isn’t famous for nothing. Her sword is slow, but you can’t dodge it. So...”

“Now now, no spoilers.”

“What?”

“Means it’s not fun if I know in advance.”

It had been a while since he’d fought a proper martial artist, and hearing about their weaknesses would only kill his excitement.

“Hmph.”

Chunbong pouted.

Seojun patted her head to appease her while recalling the sword Namgung Suah had shown.

The sky.

Speaking of the sky, there was a perfect movement that came to mind.

The Mountain Press of the Three Principles Sword Technique.

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After pondering for a while, he grinned.

“This is gonna be good.”

It seemed about time to properly incorporate a sky into his mental landscape.

*The moment Namgung Suah’s match ended, Seojun whisked Chunbong away from the inn and searched for a secluded forest.

It wasn’t easy to find one in the well-developed Huayin County, but it didn’t take too long running at full speed with the light body art.

“Miss Geum, watch carefully and let me know if there’s anything lacking.”

“Why are you suddenly so excited again? Did seeing that woman heat you up or something?”

“That... sounds a bit strange...”

“Just shut up.”

Chunbong plopped down on the ground with a pout.

Seojun chuckled and drew his sword.

Schwing—

A sword, broken in half.

Truth be told, he could simply buy a new one, but he’d grown fond of this blade. Besides, using it like this might not be such a bad idea.

“Chunbong, you see, when it comes to volcanoes...”

Golden sword qi gathered along his sword.

The intense heat created rippling waves of heat around the steel.

Drawing from his hazy memories of fighting Jongin, Seojun completely transformed the nature of the qi flowing through his sword.

Crackle!

The sword qi burned crimson.

It had transcended mere yang qi, becoming something that could only be described as pure fire qi.

“For it to be a true volcano, lava must flow and volcanic ash must scatter.”

Plum Fire Sword Technique.

First Form:

Volcano.

CRACKLE────────

Sparks scattered like plum blossoms in the air.

At the center, Seojun focused his mind, condensing the fire qi within his sword.

The ever-condensing fire qi flowed viscously like lava.

Seojun swung his sword towards the tree in front of him.

Slash!

The tree was cut in an instant, burning as it fell and—

Crack!

—torn through mercilessly by a Flame Plum.

Seojun nodded in satisfaction as he watched the tree burn.

“Damn, these Mount Hua bastards, they’re fucking insane aren’t they?”

They use this on people?

The Mount Hua sect people seemed like they would leave nothing but shredded corpses in their wake.

Hell, they weren’t even an Unorthodox Sect but if they were called demonic practitioners there’d be no room for defense.

“From what I see, you’re the insane one here?”

Chunbong shook her head in disbelief. The nerve.

“You little...!”

Seojun lunched forward and pinched Chunbong’s cheeks.

“Ow, it hurts...!”

“Ah, sorry.”

“Nope, I’m lying.”

Chunbong giggled as she covered her cheeks and backed away.

“I’ve been tricked...!”

Seojun was shocked.

Whoosh!

And then a huge flame erupted.

He turned around blankly, saw the spreading fire, and clapped his hands.

“Woops, forgot to put out the fire.”

The fire from the Plum Fire Sword Technique had spread to the forest.

“You crazy bastard!”

“Hey, people can forget sometimes.”

“No! No...! What are you gonna do about that?!”

“Well... put it out, right?”

Seojun gripped his sword with both hands.

Freeze—

The area around him began to crystallize with frost.

Cold qi condensed and condensed again, wreathing his sword in a misty fog.

This should be...

Would it be able to withstand a clash with sword force?

No, nowhere near enough.

Sword force wasn’t merely condensed inner qi sharpened to a fine edge.

It was inner qi engraved with a mental state that unleashed devastating power.

To counter that, Seojun needed to imbue his qi with a similar state of mind.

Or there was one other way.

Just condense it a whole fucking lot.

Essence-Qi-Spirit?

Fuck that, we’re going for Essence-Qi-Qi-Qi-Qi-Spirit meta.

Crackle──────────!!

Suddenly, a pure white light burst from Seojun’s sword, and—

Freeze──────────

Everything in the path of his sword froze solid.

The forest turned pure white, and Seojun nodded contently.

This should be enough.

At least now he could trade blow for blow against sword force a few times.

Seojun grinned.

“Ugh, you pain in the neck! How many times did I tell you to be careful?!”

Slap slap slap!

He was beaten by Chunbong’s palms, and his fatigue melted away.

*Seojun sat with Chunbong, admiring the pure white frozen forest.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Sometimes I seriously worry about your mental state.”

“Come on, I told you it’s fine.”

She sighed at his carefree response and looked at him from the side.

Aside from his aversion to women...

She worried that the wounds in his heart might be eating away at his mind.

His aversion to women? That wasn’t really an issue. It was perfectly natural for him to be a bit cautious.

She was the exception anyways.

The real problem would come if he continued avoiding his past and then broke down when he eventually had to face them.

The death of the mind was no different from actual death.

To prevent that, Chunbong herself needed to always stay by Seojun’s side.

For some reason, he seemed quite stable when she was around.

“Hehe.”

“Why are you laughing so cutely?”

“What are you even talking about?”

Chunbong smiled happily.