Chapter 72: First Experience
“Is that Kunlun's Young Hero?”
“I heard he defeated the Thousand Poisons Old Demon. Is that really possible at his age?”
“Just how strong is he supposed to be...?”
Murmurs rose from all around the spectator stands.
Under countless heated gazes...
I stepped onto the platform.
It felt strange.
In my previous life, I had spent decades breathing only within the darkness of the Shadow Corps.
Standing somewhere exposed to this many eyes...
was a first for me.
...My life really has changed.
I closed my eyes for a moment and steadied my breathing.
Calming the excitement in my chest...
I waited for my opponent.
Soon, the referee's voice rang across the platform.
“Baek Cheolsan of the Diamond Fist Sect!”
The audience stirred once again.
“Baek Cheolsan? Iron Arhat Baek Cheolsan?”
“Isn't he that famous secular disciple of Shaolin?”
“I heard he's one of the strongest fighters in Hubei! This match should be interesting!”
I opened my eyes and looked straight ahead.
Baek Cheolsan was enormous.
He had to be close to seven feet tall.
Broad shoulders bulged beneath his white martial robe.
His arms were thick like logs.
The backs of his hands were covered in hard calluses that looked almost like lumps of stone.
Just looking at him, he's clearly the smash-everything type.
Baek Cheolsan looked me over and curled his lips.
“So you're Kunlun's Young Hero.”
He clenched and unclenched both fists.
His knuckles cracked loudly.
“I've been curious what kind of brat you were.”
Then he grinned.
“I hope your skills are worthy of that title.”
“Otherwise...”
His eyes narrowed.
“you'll embarrass yourself badly today.”
I already didn't like the way this bastard talked.
Even if he was only a secular disciple...
Did someone from Shaolin who studies the Buddha really learn to run his mouth like that?
It seemed I would have to properly discipline him on the Buddha's behalf.
That's probably my duty as a Taoist cultivating the Dao.
It definitely wasn't because his words pissed me off.
I spoke to him with the dignity of a proper Taoist.
“Enough running your mouth.”
“Just come at me already.”
“W-What?”
Baek Cheolsan looked briefly taken aback.
Then his expression hardened again.
“You've become quite arrogant after defeating the Thousand Poisons Old Demon.”
He lowered his stance.
“I'll teach you a proper lesson today.”
His upper body suddenly swelled.
His chest and arm muscles thickened as though they might tear through his clothes.
When Baek Cheolsan exhaled deeply...
he looked like a massive block of iron breathing steam.
“Let's see if Kunlun's sword can withstand my Iron Shirt.”
He raised both fists.
Thick calluses covered his knuckles like iron studs.
I looked at him and smirked.
“That's unfortunate.”
Baek Cheolsan frowned.
“What?”
“Looks like you won't find out today.”
Before he could respond...
Tak.
I unfastened the sword at my waist.
Then tossed it onto the ground.
“...What?”
“He threw away his sword?”
“Why would he do that?”
The audience erupted into murmurs.
I heard voices from below the platform.
“What are you doing?!”
Hyeongwon shouted in confusion.
“Why aren't you using your sword?!”
Everyone looked startled.
Tang Soyeon, standing among them, also tilted her head curiously.
Only one person was watching me with the corners of his mouth raised.
Jin Gwangung.
He seemed to have already figured out exactly what I intended to do.
Baek Cheolsan's voice came from ahead.
“...What kind of nonsense is this?”
His eyes had turned sharp.
I smiled.
“Nothing special.”
“I'm pretty good at using my body too.”
Baek Cheolsan frowned.
“You'll regret this.”
“We'll see.”
I raised one hand and beckoned him forward.
“Come on.”
“Y-You bastard....”
Then the referee's voice rang out.
“Begin!”
BOOM!
The instant the signal fell...
Baek Cheolsan stomped forward.
The platform shook faintly beneath his step.
Despite his huge body...
his charge was lightning fast.
He erased the distance between us in an instant.
His momentum was like a roaring tiger rushing prey.
SHWAAAAK!
His right fist tore through the air.
It carried enough force to crush someone in a single hit.
I lightly used Void Night Shadow Step.
Just before the fist reached me...
I was already somewhere else.
“You bastard!”
When his first attack failed...
Baek Cheolsan launched punch after punch.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Every fist reinforced with internal energy made the air explode.
But I avoided all of them without any difficulty.
Almost leisurely.
Gasps came from the audience.
“Whoa...! What kind of movement is that?”
“He's practically playing with Iron Arhat!”
Baek Cheolsan's face gradually twisted.
“Are you just going to keep dodging like a rat?!”
He gritted his teeth.
“Let one of my fists touch you and I'll break every bone in your body!”
I took one step back.
Then said,
“Really?”
I smiled.
“Then should we actually fight properly?”
Baek Cheolsan blinked.
“What?”
“Let's collide head-on.”
“Fist against fist.”
This time...
I stopped retreating.
I charged straight at him.
Baek Cheolsan's expression brightened.
“Arrogant bastard!”
“Don't regret it!”
He drove his right fist forward with everything he had.
I extended my right palm toward it.
BANG!
Fist and palm collided.
“What is he doing?!”
“Kunlun's Young Hero got carried away!”
Naturally...
everyone expected me to lose.
My body was far smaller.
And I had chosen to directly clash strength against an expert in external martial arts.
They probably assumed I'd be sent flying immediately.
But...
“...Huh?”
“L-Look at that!”
Shocked voices erupted from the stands.
Of course they did.
My small palm was holding Baek Cheolsan's enormous fist in place.
His eyes shook violently.
“What...? I-Impossible!”
Baek Cheolsan poured even more strength into his fist.
Every bit of his internal energy seemed to surge forward.
He was trying desperately to push me back.
But I didn't move at all.
My arm.
My shoulder.
My legs.
Not even an inch.
Struggle all you want.
It won't work.
Baek Cheolsan had never been my match in external martial arts to begin with.
No matter how impressive his Iron Shirt was...
the moment it collided with my Great Void Golden Body Tempering, the result had already been decided.
An absolute external art so difficult that only two people in Kunlun had learned it over the course of decades.
Great Void Golden Body Tempering.
Initial Golden Stage.
Firm Golden Stage.
Mystic Golden Stage.
I had mastered all three.
For someone like Baek Cheolsan to challenge me head-on with external martial arts...
was almost funny.
“Ugh...!”
Baek Cheolsan's face turned bright red.
He was squeezing out every last bit of strength, desperate to overpower me.
It was useless.
His fist couldn't push me back.
Instead...
I began pushing him backward little by little.
No need to drag this out.
I circulated the Mystic Golden Stage.
The strength hidden within my muscles and blood vessels suddenly surged like an explosion.
I drove all of it into my right arm.
BOOOOM!
Baek Cheolsan's massive body bent backward.
Then he was launched away.
His body flew through the air as though gravity had disappeared.
THUD!
He crashed outside the platform.
Only the whites of his eyes were visible as he lay unconscious.
At the same time...
the referee shouted,
“Out of bounds!”
“Winner! Taoist Han Mujin of the Kunlun Sect!”
The arena exploded.
“WAAAAAAAAAH! Kunlun's Young Hero!”
“That's insane! He sent him flying out of the ring!”
“So that title really wasn't just for show!”
Under the crowd's excited gazes...
I stepped down from the platform.
Jin Gwangung grinned at me.
“You're getting pretty good at playing around with Great Void Golden Body Tempering.”
I smiled.
“It's all thanks to Master's excellent teaching.”
Jin Gwangung snorted.
“Your mouth's as skilled as ever.”
Then he chuckled.
“Still, that wasn't bad.”
Beside him...
Tang Soyeon stared intently at me.
“Taoist Mujin really is a strange person.”
I looked at her.
“Pardon?”
“You seem unusually knowledgeable about poison...”
Her eyes narrowed with curiosity.
“and now I see you've even trained in external martial arts.”
I smiled lightly.
“Living in Kunlun exposes you to all sorts of things.”
Tang Soyeon tilted her head.
“Really...?”
Then she smiled faintly.
“Kunlun, huh.”
“Now I'm starting to want to visit someday.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
She gave me a mysterious smile.
“Just thinking out loud.”
Hm... what does she mean by that?
I couldn't help tilting my head.
There were more than a thousand participants in the Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament.
Many were genuinely skilled.
But among them...
there were also plenty of people who had entered without much ability at all.
So the early stages needed to separate the wheat from the chaff.
That was why, on the first day of the tournament...
participants didn't fight only once.
They had to pass through several preliminary matches.
Because of that...
luck in the preliminary bracket was also important.
Fortunately, the Kunlun group didn't encounter any major threats afterward.
Hyeongwon continued winning while shouting the ridiculous technique names he'd invented.
Yu Seola ended every match quickly and coldly.
Myeongjeon also steadily collected victories.
Naturally...
I kept winning as well.
The Grand Training Ground had been divided into several sections, with preliminary matches happening simultaneously.
The section Kunlun had been assigned to was among the first to finish its first-day preliminaries.
That gave me time to walk around and watch the matches in other sections.
Mount Hua had three Taoists competing...
including Jinwon of the Five Dragons and Two Phoenixes.
Jinwon was the first among them to finish his preliminary matches.
Our eyes happened to meet.
He lightly gave me a martial salute.
I returned it.
...Jinwon.
One of the strongest contenders to win this Dragon-Phoenix Awakening Tournament.
I wonder when I'll end up facing him.
Hopefully soon.
First Elder Yu Gwangcheol had claimed Kunlun's sword was superior to Mount Hua's...
but that statement had obviously been rather biased.
Maybe he only said that because Taoist Wonho beat the hell out of him back then....
I suddenly remembered Yu Gwangcheol's forty-year-old frustration.
If I beat Jinwon this time...
would that finally ease Elder Yu Gwangcheol's resentment?
The thought made the corners of my mouth rise slightly.
Just as I was taking a moment to relax...
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
A massive roar erupted from the training ground right beside me.
I instinctively turned toward it.
And what I saw was...
...?!
A martial artist wearing a black mask.
