Nano Machine c 71 to 90

 Chapter 71 Chapter 71: I will do the same to you (3) Two hours ago… There was a big open space at the back of the larger training room building on the northeastern side of the academy. And in that space, about twenty cadets had gathered to practice Seven Demon Sword. They were not powerful like the other cadets, but they helped each other complete their sword skills. They were cadets from the former 12th group. They used to practice formations under Bakgi’s guidance before the second test, but after the test, Bakgi left them. That’s why they were now here without Bakgi and Chun Jongsum. “Penghak, is it really okay for you to go alone?” the 670th cadet, Gallen asked as he was worried. Penghak was the one who attacked Bakgi from behind while fighting against Ha Ilming last night. Wu Penghak was the leader of the group now. “I was told to go alone. We have no choice.” Wu Penghak was also worried, but he couldn’t ignore Chun Yuchan’s warning. He had made a deal, so he had to go to receive the payment for keeping the promise. “If we get the tag, we can create a team.” “…Yes, but one tag will only make us fight against each other…” They had twenty members, so having one yellow tag meant that eight of them had to be cast out. This would surely create turmoil. Gallen was right to be worried, but Penghak shook his head. “But we can’t just stand around and do nothing.” “Yeah.” “We have to do whatever it takes to survive. If we give up because we’re weak, then it’s over.” Gallen couldn’t object to those words. They had contacted other group leaders with yellow tags, but it wasn’t possible to join their groups. Most of them just accepted their former group members, so it was hard to find any empty spots in the first place. “So, you think about looking after yourself too.” “Yes… but to sell out our former leader… I don’t think it’s right.” “The water has been spilled. There’s no going back. And don’t worry about the group. If I become a leader, I will ensure your spot,” Penghak whispered and Gallen frowned. It seemed that Penghak had misunderstood. ‘Ah…’ Penghak then tried to walk out to meet with Yuchan. While he was trying to leave, someone came up to block him. “Wait.” “Y-you!?” It was Chun Yeowun. He was now the most famous cadet within the academy. Yeowun was also responsible for destroying Chun Jongsum’s internal energy. Penghak was shocked to see Yeowun. “W-why are you…!” “What’s the surprise?” They didn’t know Yeowun was out of prison yet. But there was more. Seven more cadets appeared from the corner of the building. “Hiiiek!” Wu Penghak was startled and he stumbled back a few steps. Ko Wanghur, Bakgi, Hou Sangwha, Ja Wumin, Hu Bong, Machil, and Jin Guuk were standing behind Yeowun. Except for Hou Sangwha and Jin Guuk who had joined the team today, the other five were furious. “B-Bakgi!” Penghak was mostly afraid of Bakgi. With a horrific look from his scar that ran across his eye, Bakgi’s glare made it even more terrifying. “Did you sell me out?” Bakgi looked at Penghak with disappointment. They had overheard the conversation between Penghak and Gallen from behind the building. It was understandable that they had launched an ambush to get the yellow tag since they were desperate to survive. But selling Bakgi out when he was their former teammate was something he couldn’t accept. And Ohjong had been severely injured in the process. “Stop!” Former 12th group members quickly ran up after realizing that Yeowun and his members had appeared. “B-Bakgi!” Gallen and the other cadets were also shocked to see Bakgi. They were worried as Bakgi was not badly injured, and there he was with his teammates. “Are you here for revenge?!” Gallen shouted while biting his lips. However, Ko Wanghur answered instead. “You ambushed us and thought you would not pay the price?!” Ko Wanghur, who was almost twice as large as most of the cadets, roared at them. The 12th group cadets outnumbered Yeowun’s team, but they were afraid. “W-we have more! We can win this!” Penghak shouted at his members. Even yesterday, they were able to hurt Bakgi after outnumbering them. There was no way Bakgi would have recovered, so there was no reason for them to lose. ‘But Chun Yeowun is here too!’ The cadets couldn’t attack however. This was different from yesterday. It was hard enough to deal with Bakgi alone, but they were now facing Chun Yeowun who had crushed an instructor’s rib cage. And Yeowun was also infamous within the academy. ‘I heard he destroys the internal energy if he gets pissed off!’ ‘We can’t fight him!’ ‘He’s sent so many people to the medical room! He’s evil!’ It wasn’t on purpose, but there were a lot of cadets who were afraid of Chun Yeowun. And the cadets of the 12th group knew that one of their members, Chun Jongsum, had his internal energy destroyed. That was what made them even more afraid. “Fools! We have much more people than them!” Penghak became frustrated at his members. Yeowun then spoke to him coldly. “You are the foolish one. How dare you say such a thing in front of me?” “What?!” At that instance, Yeowun quickly closed in on Penghak. It was so quick that Penghak couldn’t do anything as Yeowun grabbed his wrist. Yeowun then grabbed the right wrist with his left and punched Penghak’s stomach. ‘Control! Control!’ He tried to go easy as best as he could, but… “ARGH!” As his fist struck the stomach, Penghak’s eyes grew wide and he spat blood out from his mouth. His body was also thrown up about three meters into the air, and flew all the way back. ‘Ugh… I tried.’ Chapter 72 Chapter 72: I will do the same to you (4) He tried to use only half of his power, but it was still monster-like. At least it was weaker than when he destroyed Jongsum’s chin and teeth. The 12th group cadets became pale after seeing Penghak getting thrown away with one punch. Penghak had gained top-class internal energy after consuming the Black Dragon Ball, but he couldn’t even endure one fist. “Penghak!” Gallen shouted at Penghak who was thrown back. He sat there unconsciously with bubbles foaming at his mouth. ‘W-we cannot fight him!’ Most of the cadets were either similar or weaker than Penghak. They had Ha Ilming, who was almost equal to Bakgi when they fought yesterday, but no one else could deal with Yeowun. “You want to keep going?” Yeowun threatened the 12th cadets. All of them then shook their heads in fear. They couldn’t even bear to think about fighting Yeowun, Bakgi, and Ko Wanghur altogether. “…We surrender.” Gallen, who was next in line in terms of rank, made a declaration. Hu Bong then ran up with reddened eyes and grabbed Gallen’s collar. “Where is it!” “What are you talking about?” “Where is the tag that you took from us yesterday?!” Ohjong had tried to protect it with his life even when his fingers were snapped back. If they didn’t get that back, Ohjong’s sacrifice would have been for nothing. Gallen spoke bitterly. “108th cadet… Ha Ilming has it.” “It’s as we expected.” Ko Wanghur sighed to Yeowun. They had expected this already as Ha Ilming probably wouldn’t have given the yellow tag to these people. “Dammit!” “Ugh!” Hu Bong then threw a punch at Gallen’s face. It wasn’t all that powerful like Yeowun’s, but it was enough to bruise Gallen’s right cheek in blue. Hu Bong then pushed Gallen down and tried to pummel him, but Bakgi stopped him. “Stop.” “Don’t stop me! Are you protecting him because he was your teammate?!” “No. I have something I want to ask first. Back off.” Bakgi had no intention to stop him. He was a former team leader of these people, but he knew what was at stake here. Their actions were unacceptable. “Gallen.” “…Bakgi.” Gallen wiped the blood dripping from his mouth and looked up at Bakgi before he averted his gaze. He had tried to dissuade Penghak and the other cadets, but he failed and eventually ambushed Bakgi together with them, so he couldn’t look into his eyes. “You said you all sold me out. What does that mean?” “…I’m sorry.” “You’ve already done it, so don’t give me that bullshit. Who did you make a deal with?” Gallen hesitated for a bit and answered, “…Chun Yuchan from the Blade Clan made the offer.” “Chun Yuchan?” Yeowun was surprised to hear Chun Yuchan’s name. He thought it was strange when he heard that Yuchan had helped Bakgi, but he didn’t think Yuchan would be involved in such a way. “Prince Chun Yuchan told us to attack you, take your tag, and put you in danger.” “What? He told you to attack me?” Bakgi was dumbfounded. He thought he owed Yuchan for helping him out the other night, so he didn’t think it was all planned from the beginning. “So… you were promised to be given a yellow tag for it?” “…Yes.” They sold Bakgi for their own good. Since Bakgi had now found out about this, the nine cadets who ambushed together couldn’t hide their embarrassment. “Bakgi… I’m sorry.” “Bastards.” Bakgi couldn’t forgive them, so he walked away. He didn’t even feel the need to beat them up on his own. “Hmph!” Hu Bong then began pounding Gallen’s face. He was going to make Gallen become like Ohjong. Nobody thought to stop Hu Bong and Gallen too didn’t even moan. “Wait a second.” “Not again?!” This time, it was Ko Wanghur who stopped him. Hu Bong, who was drenched in sweat, responded with an annoyed voice. Ko Wanghur placed his hand on Hu Bong’s shoulder and sent a telepathic message. [Will you be satisfied at beating up just one man?] Hu Bong then became surprised and looked back at Wanghur. [Trust me. I will bring out everything.] Ko Wanghur sent his messages confidently and Hu Bong nodded before he stepped aside. Wanghur then spoke to Gallen who was on the ground. “670th cadet. Do you trust what Yuchan had promised you?” “…What do you mean?” “Do you really think Chun Yuchan will give you a yellow tag?” Gallen’s eyes shook. He too had been suspicious of this ever since. They had fulfilled their part of the deal, but he didn’t believe in it from the beginning. “He promised us.” “Since there are twenty of you, he must have promised to give you two tags.” “T-that’s…” He didn’t say he would give two. But he couldn’t tell the truth in front of everyone since it would surely cause problems. “Did he say he would give only one?” Ko Wanghur accurately guessed the situation and Gallen was baffled. The cadets who didn’t join the ambush yesterday frowned at once. “What? What is he talking about?” “You told us that we would be on the team!” Wu Penghak had assured the members that even if they didn’t join the ambush, they would all be together. However, if they only got one tag, the outcome was obvious. There were only two spots left for the cadets who didn’t join the ambush, so it was bound to end up in a fight. Cadets from the 12th group then turned to Wu Penghak and Gallen angrily. Ko Wanghur bitterly said, “You all were used and are trying to turn back on yourselves now.” “Used? What are you talking about!” “Do you think Chun Yuchan did not know this would happen if he only gave one tag? If you fight against one another, you are playing right into his hands.” Wanghur explained it calmly and the cadets gritted their teeth. If Chun Yuchan had really used them, then they were just pawns who played under his feet. Ko Wanghur then smiled to finish what he started. “Are you all angry? If you are, then you must get revenge.” Chapter 73 Chapter 73: I will do the same to you (5) Two hours later, Gallen and the 12th group cadets were serious as they aimed their wooden swords. Their furious glares were directed at Yumpa while they were actually angry toward Chun Yuchan, the Prince of the Blade Clan who was behind all this. ‘We almost were used and thrown away.’ It was shocking as it was as Wanghur had said. They didn’t think they were being used, but after meeting with Chun Yuchan, everything became clear. For Chun Yuchan, the other cadets were only pawns in his game. Unless they were talented like Bakgi, he didn’t think much about the others. “What are you doing?” Yumpa asked Gallen. He was facing cadets from the 12th group who had made a deal with Chun Yuchan to get a yellow tag. But what was this hostility? “Hmph! You think you can keep using us for the yellow tag?” “I don’t follow.” “You still think us as fools?!” Gallen shouted angrily and Yumpa narrowed his eyes before he turned to Chun Yeowun. “So, someone’s pulling tricks on you.” “Hah! Look who’s talking!” Hu Bong scoffed at Yumpa’s words. “You can’t even get a tag from an instructor, so you ambushed us during the night. Who’s pulling the tricks?” Hu Bong shouted and Yeowun’s members also smirked as they nodded. Hou Sangwha and Jin Guuk also heard about what had happened, so they had disgust in their looks also. Ha Ilming was furious after hearing such words however. His face was red with anger and he glared at Hu Bong. “You ran from us like rats, and you dare speak to us as weaklings?!” Ha Ilming shouted and Ko Wanghur burst into laughter. “Hahaha! This is a great one. Ha Ilming, then I’m sure you will never run away from us then?” “?!” “Oh, but we have no intention to let you run anyway.” Ko Wanghur threatened him and Ha Ilming’s face turned grim. ‘Dammit!’ With the 12th group cadets turning their backs on them, the situation had turned upside down. Ha Ilming’s group was now trapped. He needed at least twice the number of Yeowun’s team to defeat them, but they were outnumbered. ‘What happened?’ If he knew this would happen, he would not have sided with Yumpa. Fighting against them when being outnumbered meant they had no chances of winning. ‘Ugh… should I run? But…’ He had a chance to run away if he ran alone, but this meant that he had to abandon all of his teammates. They’d probably never join Ha Ilming’s team again. There were no options left for him. ‘Dammit. Yumpa was also in the same situation. He knew there was no chance of winning here, but if he failed again, then he was going to lose the final chance to stay by Chun Yuchan. ‘I have to persuade them no matter what!’ Yumpa then hid his frustration and turned to Gallen to softly speak to him. “Gallen. I think there’s been a mistake. Don’t you trust Prince Chun Yuchan as his servants? If you get fooled by such tricks…” “Will you give us two tags then?” “What?” “If he wants all of us, he’ll need at least two tags so that all of us can pass the test.” The leaders who had yellow tags could only recruit eleven members on their team. The 12th group cadets had nineteen members, so they needed two tags in order to include everyone. Yumpa bit his lips. He couldn’t make false promises that Chun Yuchan did not allow. However, if he failed to persuade them, then his mission was over. “L-let’s do this. I’ll ask Prince Chun to let you guys get two tags.” Doing this meant that he wouldn’t be lying. He was going to ask, but he wouldn’t be able to do anything if Yuchan refused to do so. ‘Please, please!’ It was a hard offer for the 12th group members to refuse. If they defeated Yumpa and Ha Ilming right here, they were only going to get one tag. Gallen also seemed to be interested. ‘It almost worked! Come on!’ Yumpa smiled. Gallen hesitated a bit and asked, “It sure seems like a good deal… but can you take it?” Yumpa didn’t understand his question. “Take what?” “Take this.” “Huh?!” The sound came from his behind and Yumpa turned. It was Chun Yeowun, who appeared behind him and threw his fist. ‘I- I have to dodge it!’ Yumpa had already felt Yeowun’s terrifying physical power. It was apparent as to what might happen if he were to get struck down. Yumpa then threw his body backward to dodge it. “Bastard! You’re mine!” Ha Ilming, who considered Yeowun’s action of attacking Yumpa first as an act of ignoring him, quickly swung his wooden sword in anger. It contained 70% of his internal energy which would crush a human’s head if it landed, but… “What?!” Ha Ilming was shocked. His wooden sword was simply caught by Yeowun’s left hand. Ha Ilming unleashed his energy to pull it away from Yeowun. ‘W-what! It won’t even move!’ He couldn’t get it out of Yeowun’s grasp. There was no way for Ha Ilming, who didn’t even have sixty years worth of internal energy, to fight against Yeowun who had ninety years worth of energy. “Is that it?” “Arrghhh… YOU!” He couldn’t understand. There wasn’t that much difference in internal energy before, but it was different now. Their energy battle didn’t last too long. “NO!” As Yeowun clenched it, the wooden sword shattered into pieces. Ha Ilming suddenly let go of the sword and attacked Yeowun with his finger instead to complete the sword skill. That’s when someone kicked him from the side. Chapter 74 Chapter 74: I will do the same to you (6) “ARGH!’ Ha Ilming was pushed away, and it was Bakgi who kicked him. Ha Ilming got up and winced at the pain. ‘Dammit… it’s broken again!’ It hadn’t been long since he had recovered from the broken right rib he got from Yeowun, and now it was left rib. Bakgi provoked him. “You fight with me.” “How dare you ambush me!” “Ambush? I’m just doing the same thing you did.” Ha Ilming was furious but he couldn’t find words to object, as he too had gotten the upper hand last night due to Wu Penghak’s attack to get Bakgi. Everything he did was coming back to him. ‘It’s too late to run anyway.’ He had no choice but to fight. Ha Ilming then shouted at his group members. “Fight!” “Aaahhhhh!” His members then charged with their wooden swords. ‘Huh?’ However, Ha Ilming became dumbfounded because they only attacked the 12th group cadets who were behind them. “What are you doing!” Ha Ilming shouted angrily, but his members were only focused on attacking the 12th group members. It was because the 12th group was blocking their way out of this place. Ha Ilming’s members were only focused on escaping from this place. They didn’t want to take on a monster Chun Yeowun and his friends. From what they could see, it was likely that they would get beaten up badly if they didn’t run. “Take this!” Bakgi then kicked multiple times, leaving a bunch of hits. Ha Ilming was angry at his members who were trying hard to run away, but he couldn’t ignore Bakgi’s attacks either. “Dammit!” Ha Ilming proceeded to assume defensive movements to defend against Bakgi’s kicks. “Shall we make a move then?” Ko Wanghur flexed his muscles and jumped out. Hu Bong, who had been waiting to get his revenge, also charged angrily. “It’s my first fight. Heh.” Hou Sangwha smiled satisfyingly. Unlike her round and cute face, her aura made her seem rough and aggressive. “Y-you are more aggressive than you look.” Jin Guuk was stunned by the large group fight. “We should go too! It’s time to get payback!” Ja Wumin shouted and Hou Sangwha, Machil, and Jin Guuk charged at Ha Ilming’s group members. A total of forty cadets were now fighting each other. The fight was very one-sided since Ha Ilming’s members were trying to run away while Yeowun and the 12th group members were chasing them furiously. “Ughh!” Yumpa was appalled since he had wanted to avoid this situation at all costs. If he had gotten more cadets to fight back, this would not have happened. Yumpa stepped back but Chun Yeowun walked toward him like death itself. “You think you can run?” “I didn’t think I would see this happen.” “That’s what you get for playing tricks.” It was foolish to think that Yeowun would get caught up in Chun Yuchan’s tricks. From the aggressive aura coming out from Yeowun, it seemed it wasn’t possible for Yumpa to run. “Argh!” Ha Ilming’s team members were falling down one by one. They were outnumbered and overpowered so it was inevitable. “Hah!” Bakgi’s continued kicking pounded Ha Ilming’s chest. Ha Ilming tried his best to fight back, but with his broken left rib, he slowed down and he now had no way to defend himself against Bakgi’s kicks. ‘…I failed. There’s no way.’ Ha Ilming, Yumpa’s only hope, was even losing. The fight had already been decided. Further resistance only meant more injuries. Yumpa then thought of the only possible choice. ‘If I can’t defeat him…’ Yumpa then threw his sword onto the ground and kneeled in front of Yeowun, surprising the other party. Yumpa then placed his head down on the ground and spoke politely. “You win, Prince Chun.” “??” It was a declaration of surrender. He had lost once, so Yumpa knew he had no chance against Chun Yeowun anyway. Therefore, he chose to surrender to keep himself safe. “It’s not over yet.” It was almost over, but the fight was still ongoing. But with their brains and culprit Yumpa giving up without even trying, Yeowun felt disgusted. “No, it is over. We have already lost. Please show us mercy that befits an heir to the throne.” Those were polite words, but they were disgusting in context to even mention the candidacy to the throne. “Whew.” Chun Yeowun sighed. ‘He’s angry but he will not attack someone who is on the ground, asking for mercy… hehehe.’ Yumpa was facing the ground so no one could see his expression, but he was smiling. If Yeowun, the leader, made a decision here, then the fight would be over. Yeowun was also one of the heirs, so Yumpa thought Yeowun would not attack a man who had given up. “Mercy?” Yeowun shook his head and crouched down. He then yanked Yumpa’s hair, hard. “ARGH!” Yeowun pulled it up, and Yumpa’s head followed with it. His face showed that he was in pain. “Aaaargh! W-what are you doing? I just surrendered…” “Surrender? If you didn’t want to fight, you shouldn’t have started this from the beginning.” Yeowun then clenched on his hand. ‘N-no! This can’t be!’ Yumpa became terrified and tried to squirm out of Yeowun’s grasp, but he couldn’t. It was as if he was stuck under a giant rock. “W-wait…” “Shut up.” “ARGH!” He then was thrown onto the ground face down. His face was stuck into the ground halfway with blood pouring out from it. Yeowun then whispered to the flinching Yumpa, “You will pay the price for hurting my friends.” Chapter 75 Chapter 75: Pay it forward for more (1) A normal person would never experience getting their face stuck in the ground. Yumpa got his thoughts straight when a powerful force pushed him into the ground. He almost passed out from the severe pain radiating throughout his entire face as the rocks and dirt were stuck in his face. He felt the blood pouring out from all over his face. “Aarrrgh…” Yeowun then pulled up Yumpa’s head again. His face was all crushed up. His front teeth were dangling and his broken nose was pointed at a weird angle. Yumpa was in too much pain to realize that every part of his face was all messed up now. “Argh… Ah…” When he could breathe again, Yumpa formed up his thoughts and was able to barely speak. “T…this is…too much.” “I didn’t even start.” “Heeeek!” Yumpa paled. He felt like he would die after getting pinned into the ground once, but it seemed like that was only the beginning. Yeowun grabbed his hair again and Yumpa quickly shouted, “D-do you think Chun Yuchan will let you go free after doing this?!” He had to hide the person behind all this, but he just spilled it. Of course, Yeowun already knew that Yumpa was working for Chun Yuchan. “Chun Yuchan… will do what?” Yumpa thought he had made a mistake in saying that, but it was too late. He now had to hope for Yeowun to be afraid of Yuchan. Chun Yuchan was one of the strongest cadets in the academy, so most of the cadets did fear him anyway. But… “I don’t care.” ‘W…what?’ Yumpa’s plans were going south from the very beginning. It seemed he like he had made Yeowun angrier by saying this. “Did you think I would get scared if you spoke of Chun Yuchan’s name?” Suddenly, something popped up in Yumpa’s thoughts. ‘Wait… I heard Chun Yeowun destroyed all of Chun Jongsum’s bones.’ Chun Yeowun’s infamous action reached the climax when he took Chun Jongsum out. Yumpa then regretted saying Yuchan’s name. If Yeowun feared the other princes, he would not have done such a thing to Chun Jongsum. “You should watch out for yourself first. And it doesn’t matter. He’s my next target anyway.” “Huh? Next? Ah…. AAAAARGH!” Yumpa’s head was thrown down again. It was the second time so maybe he would’ve gotten used to it, but that wasn’t the case. Yumpa moaned with bubbles coming out of his mouth and soon passed out. At least Yeowun did it very carefully so he wouldn’t crush Yumpa’s head completely. Yeowun then looked down at Yumpa with a disgusted expression and shook his head. Ko Wanghur then walked up to him. “Master, we’ve defeated everyone.” “Good.” The eleven cadets who were with Ha Ilming were all kneeling down behind Ko Wanghur. All of them were injured and shaking in fear. They didn’t think things would come down to this just because of what happened last night. “And Ha Ilming?” “He’s here.” Ko Wanghur pointed to a direction and Ha Ilming was kneeling down in front of Bakgi. He was glaring at Bakgi angrily. ‘If my ribs were fine…!’ Ha Ilming thought he would not have lost that easily if his ribs were okay. But the fight was already over. Yeowun went over to Ha Ilming, looking down at him coldly. “NNNGHH!” Ha Ilming tried to say something, but his blood points had been sealed so he couldn’t talk. Thus, he just moaned instead. Although he lost, he still resisted as best he could so he also had blood points sealed to make him immobile. “What do you want? Should I let him talk?” Bakgi asked. Yeowun shook his head. He didn’t want to hear anything from him anyway. “Then?” “We pay him back the same way.” ‘Pay?’ Ha Ilming looked up at Yeowun with a puzzled expression. Yeowun then crouched to be on the same eye level with Ha Ilming and he grabbed his right hand. ‘W-what is he doing?!’ Ha Ilming’s eyes shook at the terrifying thought. Soon, it became a reality. Yeowun snapped his finger backwards. “NNNNNNNNNGH!” Ilming moaned and writhed in pain as his finger snapped backwards. Gallen and the other 12th group cadets also frowned at the sight. But this was only the start. Yeowun proceeded to break and snap all the fingers backward. ‘T-this crazy bastard!!’ It was so painful that Ha Ilming’s face turned beet red and veins popped out of his neck. His eyes were also red, but it was astounding that he didn’t cry from pain at least. “Why? Is it painful?” Yeowun asked. Ha Ilming stared daggers Yeowun even though he was in such pain. ‘How dare he say that when he just broke my fingers?!’ Yeowun did not care about how Ilming was glaring at him and continued. “Ohjong probably experienced the same amount of pain. No… it must have been more painful for him.” Ohjong’s fingers had been snapped while he got beat up. When Ohjong’s name came up, Ha Ilming’s members began to shake in fear. ‘D-dammit…’ Ha Ilming was busy fighting Bakgi at the time, but it was his members that beat up Ohjong and broke his fingers. It was now all coming back to them. “I’m just paying you guys back the same way. You brought this upon yourself.” “NNNNGH!” ‘BASTARD!!! I WILL KILL YOU!!!’ Ha Ilming was so much in pain, but he still didn’t cower. Yeowun then smiled and slapped Ilming. “NGH!” The slap had such power that it almost broke his neck. He couldn’t move his body so his head was thrown back along with his body, and that saved him. If he tried to resist against it, his neck bone would’ve broken as well. The slap was so powerful that it made Ha Ilming pass out and Yeowun got up and ordered his members. “Cut their legs and snap all their fingers.” Yeowun’s words split the expressions between the two groups. Yeowun’s members gleefully smiled for finally getting payback for what happened to Ohjong, and in contrast, Ha Ilming’s members became pale. ‘W-we are lucky…’ Gallen was relieved that he had made the right choice. If he had agreed to Yumpa’s offer, he would have been in the same shoes. That seemed like a terrible end for greedily wanting a yellow tag. That’s when Ha Ilming’s body began to move. It was strange. Veins began to pop up from underneath the skin, and Ha Ilming’s rolled eyes began to turn red. After everything turned red, Ha Ilming roared like a beast and charged at Yeowun. “Kaaaaargh!” “M-master!” Hu Bong’s scary warning spread across the mountain. -------- Chapter 76 Chapter 76: Pay it forward for more (2) An hour had passed since then. In the space between the 3rd and 4th dormitory buildings, Chun Yuchan and his teammates were practicing the Sword Demon formation with the Seven Demon Sword. The twelve members performed the fourth sword formation in unison. It was the same movement that looked like it was something, but it didn’t seem to show any special powers or change. ‘This is strange.’ Yuchan was confused. He did this with the latter part of the Seven Demon Sword book, but it was a bit weird. He couldn’t conclude that it was due to his members not learning Seven Demon Sword skill since his teammates were all top-level warriors from the beginning, and they all learned the sword skill pretty quickly. “What’s the problem? Hmmm…” “Should we move on?” “Let’s take a break. I think I should read the book in more detail.” He wanted to train the Sword Demon formation earlier than the other teams, but he was put to a stop from the beginning. As Yuchan’s words, his teammates sat down and began wiping their sweat. Yuchan then called to a cadet who was watching instead of training with them. It was 100th cadet, Wu Gunpil. What was interesting here was that Gunpil had a yellow tag on his right chest. “Yes, Prince.” “What do you think? How did the sword formation look from the outside?” “It’s…” “Don’t worry. You can tell me the truth.” Yuchan assured him and Gunpil spoke carefully. “…Honestly, it just looks like everyone doing the same formation at once. I have never seen the Sword Demon formation, but this probably isn’t it.” “Right? This is weird… the book says…” But before Yuchan could finish his words, a cadet shouted at him. “Prince! Look!” Twenty cadets were approaching them. Yuchan’s cadets got up. All the cadets who appeared at the empty lot were badly injured. What was interesting was that they all had another cadet on their backs. The one in the front seemed to have taken heavy injuries such that his face was covered in clothes, but it was all bloody and that made it look disgusting. Chun Yuchan’s teammates formed a blockade so that they wouldn’t come any closer. After hearing the injured cadet’s voice, they let down their guard. “It’s me, Yumpa.” It was the 200th cadet, Yumpa. And behind him were Gallen and the former 12th group cadets. It seemed they had been in a serious fight. “Yumpa?” Yuchan then approached Yumpa with an interested look. Yumpa bowed. “Prince, I have fulfilled my duty.” Yumpa showed the yellow tag on his right chest. Curious about what happened, Yuchan asked, “What happened? Who do you have on your back?” Yumpa then placed the cadet on his back on the ground. When he saw the person’s face after they fell onto the ground, Yuchan became surprised. “Ha Ilming?” It was the 108th cadet, Ha Ilming. His face and skin had veins popping out, which looked really ugly. “Ugh.” Yuchan shook his head as he frowned. Starting with Yumpa, the 12th group members began putting down the cadets they had on their backs. Those who were put down were Yeowun’s seven members and Ha Ilming’s eleven members. The one Gallen put down had a heavily damaged face and his face so bloody that it was hard to tell who the person was. “And who is this?” “It’s the 7th cadet, Chun Yeowun.” Yuchan’s mouth turned into a smile after hearing that. “Chun Yeowun? What did you do to make him become like that?” There was a hint of excitement in his voice as he asked that. “…We might have lost if it wasn’t for Ha Ilming.” Yumpa said in embarrassment. Yuchan didn’t understand. “What are you talking about?” “If Ha Ilming did not learn the Demon Art of Blood Reversion, we would have lost.” “What?” Yuchan was shocked. The Demon Art of Blood Reversion was an internal energy flowing skill that multiplied one’s internal energy by reversing the blood flow. It looked good on paper, but it had a serious adverse effect: using it would destroy the user’s blood points and take away their sanity. It was a forbidden martial art within the Demonic Cult because of its dangerousness. “Hmph. He’s crazy too then.” Yuchan looked down at Ha Ilming. If Ha Ilming had used the forbidden martial art, then it was easy to guess what had happened. He probably went berserk and attacked anyone in his way. “Well, you did good work. Honestly speaking, I didn’t expect much from you, but this is pretty good.” Yuchan complimented Yumpa for the first time. It was great that he had gotten a great victory. He was worried about Chun Yeowun after hearing that he had defeated the senior instructor. “How about we cut his tendons before sending him to the medical room?” Yuchan smiled brightly and walked over to Chun Yeowun. Cutting the tendons on his right wrist would be enough to prevent him from using sword skills for a while. Gallen then thought, ‘Is he trying to do that even in that state? He is terrifying.’ The blade qi shined in Yuchan’s right hand, and he smiled as he cut Yeowun’s right wrist. “Haha, at least I don’t destroy internal energy like you did. You should thank me.” He then looked at Yeowun’s face. Yuchan, who was excited just up until now, frowned immediately. “…??” He blinked his eyes, wondering if he had seen it wrong. He didn’t realize it when he first saw it, but looking at the face up close, it wasn’t Chun Yeowun. Yuchan then felt goosebumps on his skin and mumbled, “Yum… pa?” And Yumpa’s voice came from behind. “You’re too late.” “What is…! ARGH!” Yuchan tried to turn back, but his face was struck and his body was thrown far off to the side. Chapter 77 Chapter 77: Pay it forward for more (3) “Prince!” It was too sudden. Chun Yuchan was thrown way off to the side and his members shouted in shock. They couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. Yumpa quietly walked up to Yuchan’s back and struck him, kicking Yuchan way back. Yuchan placed his hand on the ground and couldn’t move. It seemed like he was in pain. “Yumpa! What is the meaning of this!” One of Yuchan’s members, and another one with a yellow tag, Ou Jiran, shouted angrily. She had a long chin with lowered eyebrows gave one a gloomy impression of her. However, she was one of the top three female cadets along with Hou Sangwha. “You’ve gone mad!” Wu Gunpil also shouted and charged at Yumpa. Then, someone blocked him. A powerful energy-wielding fist crossed against Gunpil’s arm pushed him back three steps. Gunpil was shocked to see the person standing in front of him. The cadet had thick muscles and body that was twice as big as the other cadets. It was Ko Wanghur. He got up quickly from the ground to block him. “What?! How did you…” “It’s time, friends.” Ko Wanghur spoke to his members, not turning away from Gunpil. The cadets that were on the ground then got up as if they were fine. “That was quick.” “I thought we had to stay down for longer.” “Well, the plan worked though.” Chun Yuchan’s members were bewildered to see Yeowun’s members getting up and they became furious. “Bastards!!!” They now realized that they had been fooled. Yeowun’s members had blood and dirt all over them, but none of them were injured. ‘Wait, then what about the 12th group?’ Gunpil then turned to Gallen and the other 12th group cadets. They too had pulled out their wooden swords to fight against Yuchan’s group. “Yumpa!! How dare you betray the Prince!” someone shouted angrily. It was another cadet who also had a yellow tag on his chest. He was Jin Yu from Power Fist Clan. He was also muscular, but he was a bit smaller than Ko Wanghur. “Yumpa betrayed us!” “Yumpa, you bastard…!” Yuchan’s members all shouted furiously at Yumpa whose face was wrapped up with clothes. It seemed like they didn’t trust Yumpa that much from the beginning. Yumpa then shook his head. “Hmph.” Then “Yumpa” took the clothes off his face. Chun Yuchan’s members all frowned at the face that was revealed under it. The voice was the same as Yumpa’s, but the face inside was an entirely different person. “Chun Yeowun!” It was the 7th cadet, Chun Yeowun. Yeowun glanced around. What had happened here? It was what happened after Yeowun defeated Ha Ilming who went berserk. Ha Ilming charged at Yeowun like a beast. “Monster!” Ha Ilming unleashed a powerful attack with his fingers. His head was turning white, but he wanted to defeat Chun Yeowun before he lost his mind. Yet someone had kicked him away before he could even get to Yeowun. It was Bakgi. Ha Ilming was so angry at Yeowun that he didn’t notice Bakgi on the side. Bakgi kicked him away since it was an emergency. “Aaaaargh!” “Huh?” But this time, it was Bakgi who was thrown away. Ha Ilming’s increased internal energy had pushed Bakgi back. ‘You dare interfere with me again!’ Ha Ilming then became angry at Bakgi and turned to charge at Bakgi who had fallen down, but Yeowun did not let him do this. “You stay here.” He grabbed Ha Ilming’s right wrist and Ha Ilming was overconfident about his internal energy. ‘That won’t work this time!’ He attacked by multiplying his internal energy to 100% to fight back. But even then, Chun Yeowun’s ninety years worth of energy and physical strength that were strong enough to damage a blue pearl stone was not something that could be pushed back. “Aaaargh!?” Ha Ilming was thrown up in the air and was smashed to the ground by his wrist. “Kaaaargh!” Yeowun then quickly jumped on top of Ha Ilming and pounded his head. He was in too much of a hurry to overpower Ilming that he couldn’t control his power this time. Ha Ilming’s head was pushed down further than when he had pinned Yumpa. ‘Hope he didn’t die.’ At least he didn’t break the head. With the active Demon Art, it seemed like Ha Ilming’s body had become more powerful than normal. “Grrrr…” Ha Ilming’s head wasn’t destroyed, but with Yeowun’s fist pounding from above and his back slamming against the ground, it gave him a concussion and Ha Ilming passed out. His plan to strike from behind with the forbidden art had failed. “Whew.” Yeowun’s then told him that it was the Demon Art of Blood Reversion. Most of the clan members who were trained in their clans knew what had happened to Ha Ilming. “It’s my first time seeing it.” “But he learned forbidden art of the cult… he will be expelled,” Ko Wanghur said as he looked at Ha Ilming. It was a foolish choice as Ha Ilming should have just waited for a future chance to get his revenge. “We’re done here.” “We can now send them to the medical room.” Ha Ilming and his members had their fingers snapped and right legs broken, so if they were not going to heal before the third test, they were going to be expelled. “…It’s good that we avenged Ohjong, but it still doesn’t feel that great.” Everyone knew what Hu Bong meant. The person who was behind all of this was still fine. It was terrifying for one man to place all of these people to play under his feet to seek the yellow tag. Chapter 78 Chapter 78: Pay it forward for more (4) “It’s irksome that we can’t do anything when we know the person behind all this.” “Ugh…” The cadets sighed with Hu Bong. Chun Yuchan was different from Ha Ilming or Yumpa. It was a known fact that Yuchan himself was at the top of the master level, and he also had three members who had entered the master level as well. Yuchan only recruited the finest warriors within the academy, so his forces were the best. “It’s infuriating, but we are not ready to fight him.” If Chun Yeowun and Yuchan were to fight, it wouldn’t end with a one-onone fight. It was going to be a bloodbath between the two candidates with their forces. “We need at least similar numbers and other powerful warriors like Bakgi if we decide to fight.” Ja Wumin agreed with Ko Wanghur. Hou Sangwha then raised her eyebrows and mentioned, “If it is against early master levels, Ko Wanghur and I can defeat him together.” Ko Wanghur and Hou Sangwha were on the verge of entering the master level. Given the right lessons, they were almost ready to shape the qi outside their bodies. “If you lack in number, we’ll help.” Gallen then offered to work together with them. Yeowun’s members turned to the 12th group cadets who had proposed to aid them. If they joined forces, then they would outnumber Yuchan’s team. “Then can we actually deal with Chun Yuchan and the others who masters?” Yeowun asked. Wanghur frowned, “Yes, but even if Master handles Chun Yuchan, one master warrior remains…” “I will take them both.” “What?” Everyone became shocked. Chun Yeowun had become very powerful, but fighting against two master level warriors, especially when one was in a fully established state, was too much. The instructors didn’t use their own skills, but these enemies were going to use the best skills they had. “I didn’t say I will get them all at once.” “Then…?” Yeowun then began explaining his plan. His members had weird expressions on their faces when they heard the plan. Even Ko Wanghur, who was the best tactician in the group, didn’t seem to think it was possible. ‘They will notice it when they hear the voice.’ How could they possibly fool them? Covering the face was the easy part, but the problem was the voice. Of course, if it was going to work, then it would make them vulnerable. An hour later, Yeowun really did fool them. “It’s me. Yumpa.” Yeowun’s members almost flinched when they heard Yeowun impersonating Yumpa’s voice. ‘What?!’ ‘How did he do that?!’ Everyone was shocked to hear Yeowun’s amazing ability. They didn’t know how he did it, but his voice was exactly like Yumpa’s voice. This fooled everyone, including Chun Yuchan. Thankfully, it allowed Chun Yuchan to stay away from his group. ‘Nano, deactivate the voice mimicking.’ [Yes, Master.] It was Nano’s ability. Nano worked on Yeowun’s vocal chords to make him sound exactly like Yumpa. Yeowun had learned this ability after checking what Nano could do when he was in the prison cave. “Ah, ah. This isn’t my voice yet. Ah… ah… okay. Here we go.” “W-what?!” “His voice is changing!” All the cadets, regardless of which side they were on, became shocked when they heard Yeowun’s voice changing from Yumpa’s to his own. “That bastard learned some evil magic!” Jin Yu became furious when he realized that they had been fooled by a voice and charged at Yeowun. The fist had a faint qi light, showing that his power had reached master level. Yeowun glared at him. “Ji-Jin Yu! NO!” Gunpil tried to stop him, but he was already in front of Yeowun. Chun Yeowun’s power was already within the top five out of all the cadets. ‘If he really is Chun Yeowun, then you are no match…’ He couldn’t say this out loud. Yeowun made a sword movement with his finger and easily blocked Jin Yu’s powerful fist attack. ‘How did he counter it so easily?!’ Yeowun reached out toward Jin Yu’s chest and snatched the yellow tag off his chest. “I’m taking this.” “B-bastard!” Jin Yu gritted his teeth and put up his two fists, trying to pin Chun Yeowun down. “DIE!” Before his attack reached Yeowun, his chest was struck by Yeowun’s fist. It was just a simple jab, but his chest bones were fractured and he was pushed back about ten steps. If it wasn’t for his sturdy muscles that covered him like armor, he would have died. “Argh…” However, it seemed like he had taken some internal energy damage and coughed up blood. Since he was a master-level warrior, he didn’t fall to one punch. ‘He’s stronger than Ha Ilming.’ After all, he was one of the talented cadets that Yuchan had chosen. He was too powerful for his members other than Bakgi to handle. ‘I have to finish him before Yuchan recovers.’ Yeowun then tried to charge at Jin Yu to finish him, but that was when Nano’s voice resounded in his head. [Detected strong incoming energy source sixty meters behind the user.] Yeowun then turned as he knew what the energy was and he shouted to all of his members and the 12th group cadets. “GET DOWN!” All cadets then got down on the ground without realizing why, and the white blade qi flashed passed them at once. “W-what!” “Qi?!” They might have been all killed if it was too late. The blade qi flew straight at Chun Yeowun. White light followed Yeowun’s finger in the shape of a sword. Using all his sword qi, Yeowun slashed down on the blade qi that was thrown at him. Chapter 79 Chapter 79: Pay it forward for more (5) The blade qi disappeared from the center where it was cut. The cadets who saw this were dumbfounded. “H-he threw the blade qi!” “He cut the qi!” Throwing qi from a certain range required one to be at least a top master. To cut such qi, that also required an equal amount of strength. This exchange was way beyond the level of the ordinary cadets. “Chun Yuchan.” Yeowun glared at Chun Yuchan who was standing with the white light blade qi in his hand. Yuchan responded, “Oh, well. I wanted to pay you back with an ambush too. That didn’t work out so well.” Chun Yuchan flexed his neck. He spoke as if it was nothing, but the powerful shock stunned him for quite a while up until now. The area still felt numb. “You finally got back? That was slow.” Yeowun provoked him and Yuchan frowned. “So… you waited for me?” “The first attack was just payback for playing tricks. I don’t want to hear people saying I won because I ambushed you.” This was a fight between the heirs. Claiming victory after a surprise attack would surely not be favorable at all. Yuchan was confused by Yeowun’s words. “Hah! You are as arrogant as ever! You think you won by defending against my qi?” Yuchan, however, was actually shocked that Yeowun had done it. ‘…He grows way too fast.’ Yeowun was still very weak when Yuchan first met him in front of the private training room a few days ago, but this was more than what he had imagined. At this rate, he was going to surpass Yuchan himself. ‘Should I have cut his arm then?’ Yuchan regretted that he didn’t cut Yeowun’s arm back then. That mistake had brought this onto him. Therefore, all he needed to do was one thing. ‘I will take his arm before he grows stronger.’ Chun Yuchan then became serious and readied himself. ‘His aura’s changed.’ Yeowun also activated his internal energy to be ready. This was a fight between master-level warriors. ‘The air changed.’ Ko Wanghur looked at both leaders. Their plan was to have Chun Yeowun fight Yuchan while Yeowun’s members defeated Yuchan’s members. However, this just became a duel between the leaders. If this was the case, all they had to do now was wait for Chun Yeowun to win. ‘Master, you have to win this or else you will lose the competition itself.’ All the cadets focused on the two leaders. They became anxious, hoping their leader would win. Chun Yuchan moved first. He bolted out like lightning to close in on Chun Yeowun. It was faster than anything that the cadets had ever seen. Yuchan jumped up and unleashed the second formation of his blade skill, Blade of Illusion, the Giant Slash of the Illusive Blade. “Hah!” It was a simple strike down formation, but the power within it was massive. The power came down upon Yeowun would cleave him into two. ‘So, this is the blade skill of the Blade Clan!’ Right Guardian Submeng’s Butterfly Blade Dance was probably equal in strength. Yeowun hesitated, wondering if he should fight with a blade skill or a sword skill. He chose the latter. ‘I have to fight with all I have against an equally-matched opponent!’ Yeowun then gathered his fingers to unleash the sword qi. He had tried to brandish the qi over his wooden sword before, but the wood couldn’t endure the qi. ‘Sword?’ Yuchan was surprised to see Yeowun using a sword instead of a blade. He thought he had made a mistake when he saw Yeowun cutting his qi a while ago, but it was surely a sword. Chun Yeowun’s sword qi clashed with Yuchan’s attack. Both qi struck against one another and let out a spark. ‘What is he thinking?’ Yuchan narrowed his eyes. He expected something great when Yeowun did not use the Butterfly Blade Dance, but the sword movement was too simple. However, it was weird that these movements were very familiar. ‘But my Blade of Illusion does not stop here!’ Yeowun thought he had countered Yuchan’s attack when Yuchan’s blade qi twisted in a weird way. Yeowun quickly used his qi to defend, but the energy pushed him back. He was pushed back about six steps. As Yeowun was pushed back, Yuchan’s members shouted in excitement. “Whoaaaaa!” Yeowun’s members turned grim. They didn’t think Yuchan was this strong. They then thought that Yuchan was perhaps powerful enough to be accepted by Hou Jinchang also. ‘He has a bit more internal energy than me,’ Yeowun thought. With the Black Dragon Ball, Yuchan now had about a hundred years worth of internal energy. ‘His formation is weird too.’ Yuchan’s blade skill had odd attack angles. It was understandable as to why it was called Illusion. It was so weird that one would get fooled into looking elsewhere when fighting against it. ‘That right arm…’ Yuchan’s right arm muscles were also developed. It was developed to use a blade in such a weird way. “You are lucky. I was going to cut your arm with that.” Yuchan smiled. He really would’ve achieved that with the previous attack if Yeowun had reacted a little slower. Yuchan then pointed at Yeowun with the hand that had the blade qi. “Stop with that stupid sword skill and come at me with the Butterfly Blade Dance.” “Stupid… sword skill?” Chapter 80 Chapter 80: Pay it forward for more (6) Yeowun raised his eyebrows as he was offended. “You think I would not notice what sword skill you are using? Hahahaha!” Yeowun frowned. He was using the sword movements of the counter sword skill that was left on the blue pearl stone pedestal. Did he recognize this? Yuchan shook his head and continued, “I guess you also mixed up the Seven Demon Sword like the instructors did, but that won’t work against me.” Yeowun felt relieved after hearing that, but he was also dumbfounded. If Yuchan had mistaken the counter sword skill as the Seven Demon Sword, maybe that sword skill was left there by the Sword Demon. “I’m warning you. Five formations.” “What?” “If you keep using the Seven Demon Sword, I will cut out your right arm within five formations. I’m fine with that, but I don’t like to hear that I won against a fool.” Yuchan was repeating what Yeowun said at first. The counter sword movement that was left on the pedestal was very plain compared to the sword movement of the Sword Force of the Sky Demon. Unless it was combined as one formation, its power didn’t come out easily either. It seemed like his sword movement was underestimated due to that reason. Yeowun became silent for a second and spoke with a serious voice. “You are confident. Then how about we place a bet?” “A bet?” “Yeah. Didn’t you say you could cut my arm in five formations?” Yuchan became confused at the sudden offer of placing a bet. ‘What is he playing at?’ He was fooled once by the Yumpa trick, so he thought Yeowun had another one up his sleeve. But if he wanted to play tricks in front of all these cadets while dueling, that was going to discredit him as a candidate. Yuchan smiled. “Let’s see what you have to say.” “If I win, I will take all of your yellow tags.” People began to mumble. ‘He’s gone mad!’ ‘Give all his tags?! Dumb tricks!’ Yuchan’s team members were outraged. Wanting all those tags meant that Yeowun was basically telling them to give up on the third test. It was bound to make them mad. “Hmph. So, that’s what you wanted?” Yuchan shook his head. He had expected as such, and it seemed like Yeowun was telling him to finish this once and for all. Yuchan pondered on it for a while and then came up with an idea. “Then I too will take your tag if I win. Since I have four tags and you have only one, I will take your servant, Bakgi, too.” Yuchan seemed to be satisfied by his condition, and Bakgi was shocked. He didn’t know Yuchan still hadn’t given up on taking him in. Yuchan was very adamant on recruiting the right people. “How’s that?” Bakgi frowned. If Yeowun lost here, then Bakgi would have no choice but to serve Yuchan. ‘Dammit! Are you really okay with this?!’ Bakgi looked at Yeowun’s eyes. He looked to see if Yeowun was confident enough for this, but there was no fear or concern in his eyes. Bakgi then felt like he could trust him and nodded. “Good. Then it sounds good enough.” Yuchan was satisfied by the fact that he wouldn’t lose anything. If Yeowun were to fight with the Seven Demon Sword again, then Yuchan was confident in slicing his arm in three formations, not five. “Come. I will let you attack first this time.” Yuchan spoke arrogantly. Yeowun, however, didn’t seem to be provoked. He instead took a step forward coldly. Then he charged at Yuchan. The finger on his hand let out a white light, which was the sword qi. The plain sword movement was similar to the sixth sword of the Seven Demon Sword. ‘Fool. Your recklessness will lose you an arm, your servant, and your tag!’ Yuchan scoffed at Yeowun in his thoughts. He had read the Seven Demon Sword book tens of times to fight against the instructors. He knew the weak points like the backyard of his home. “Hah!” Yuchan then swirled the blade qi on his right hand and unleashed fourth blade formation of his Blade of Illusion. His blade stormed against Yeowun’s sword movement. Both movements collided against one another, and Yuchan’s eyes began to shake. ‘W-what?! Is this really a Seven Demon Sword skill?’ Something unexpected began to happen. Chun Yeowun’s sword movement that started out plainly began to change. The simple sword movement began shifting in weird ways, changing into a powerful sword formation. The change was as if a stone had been thrown into a calm lake. ‘No… at this rate…! Argh!’ And starting from the fifth movement, it wasn’t something Yuchan could defend against anymore. His arms began to move frantically as he tried to defend himself against the onslaught of attacks. He tried to move onto the fifth formation to turn the situation around, but he couldn’t find any opening to do so. “What!” His hand was thrown back before he could even complete the blade movement. He then was sucked into the sword formation storm. “Ugggggh!” Various sword formations shot past Yuchan. The sword qi struck his blood points, making blood pour out and Yuchan’s body was thrown from side to side. And as the finisher, when the twenty-fourth movement of the formation was about to cut Yuchan’s neck, Yeowun changed its direction. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Yuchan screamed in agony. Every cadet who was looking at it couldn’t help but stare dumbfoundedly. Something dropped from the air, still squirming as if it was alive. It was Chun Yuchan’s right arm. Chapter 81 Chapter 81: Pay it forward for more (7) Cadets from Chun Yuchan’s team were positive of their leader’s victory. Unlike his usual lazy and casual attitude, Yuchan was the hard-working type. With his exceptional talent and hard work, his growth in strength far exceeded that of his peers. Every one of his teammates knew this and thus trusted him. ‘He dares to fight against our Prince with the Seven Demon Sword?’ ‘No way, Prince Chun will lose.’ ‘Fool. You can’t win.’ And the result of the fight was unexpected to say the least. As Chun Yeowun’s sword qi shot past Yuchan, something dropped onto the ground. It was Yuchan’s right arm. “Aaaaaaaargh!” Yuchan screamed and fell down to his knees. He endured the severe pain that made him feel like he would pass out to keep the last of his last pride, but he was in a very bad state. “I won,” Yeowun stated as he looked down at Yuchan. ‘N-no way!’ ‘How did he lose?’ ‘Impossible!’ Yuchan lost his arm after just one formation exchange. And Yeowun twisted the direction of the sword that was originally going toward Yuchan’s neck, so Yeowun actually even spared his life. “Aargh…!” Blood gushed out from the wound where the arm had been cut off. Yuchan’s face began to go pale. He quickly pressed his blood points to keep the blood loss to a minimum, but he was in serious condition and he needed immediate medical attention. “Prince!” Wu Gunpil and the other members on Yuchan’s team tried to run up to him, but they had to stop as Yeowun’s sword qi aimed at Yuchan’s another arm. “Y-you!” “Stop. You take one more step, and I’ll cut his other arm off too.” “N-no!” It looked like Yeowun would really do it. He had done a lot of wicked things in the past, so it didn’t seem like Yeowun was bluffing. ‘H-he might really do it!’ Yuchan’s members then backed away. “Now. Keep the promise.” Yeowun looked down at Yuchan’s pale face. Yuchan then looked up with a painful expression, unable to comprehend what had just happened. “…What did you just do?” “Do what?” “How can you make such a powerful formation with the mere Seven Demon Sword?” Although the Seven Demon Sword was from the legendary Sword Demon, it was still only a top-class martial art. Yeowun’s sword formation was beyond what that sword skill could do. The Blade of Illusion skill, one of the top three blade skills in the cult was no match against it. “Mere… Seven Demon Sword?” “…Yeah!” “If that’s how you saw it, then you have a long way to go before talking about the formation.” Yuchan was baffled. Yeowun just spoke to him the same way that Yuchan once spoke to Yeowun back in the day. Of course, Yuchan really didn’t comprehend the counter sword skill left by the Sword Demon. Yuchan became bitter. ‘…I tried hard to become the heir.’ It was now all gone. He lost to Yeowun when he had both arms and now only his left arm was left. Moreover, he had trained the blade skill with his right arm mainly, so this meant he was now considerably weaker. There was no way he could compete against Chun Kungwun from the Sword Clan either. Yuchan then became angry. Yuchan gritted his teeth and ordered, “… Give him all the yellow tags.” Yuchan’s members turned grim. If they gave these up, then they would also lose the right to take the third test. Yet, Chun Yuchan had made a promise so they had to keep it. “Chun Yeowun… ugh… don’t think… this is the end…” Yuchan then fell due to loss of blood. He did lose and he lost a lot of things he had, but he still hadn’t given up yet. This gave hope to his members too. “Hmph!” Wu Gunpil took his yellow tag and handed it over to Yeowun while glaring at him. Gunpil then warned, “Don’t think this is…” Before he could finish, Yeowun’s fist struck his stomach. “AAARGH!” Gunpil spat out blood and fell to the ground in pain. He panted as if he couldn’t breathe and looked up weakly. “Argh… WW-what is this… we kept the promise!” “I didn’t promise to stop after getting the tags.” “what?” Gunpil was shocked. Yeowun then looked at Yuchan and said, “I learned a good lesson from him. Uh… what was it? Never leave any loose ends?” Gunpil felt a chill run down his spine. Yeowun was talking about Chun Yuchan cutting the muscles of the fake Chun Yeowun. He was basically saying that he was going to get rid of Yuchan’s members too. “You are an evil man… we lost but you still… UGH!” Yeowun punched his face before he could finish, making him pass out. Yeowun then glared disgustingly at Gunpil. “You can do it, but I can’t? And that makes ME evil? Don’t give me that bullshit.” Yuchan’s members then realized things weren’t going well and prepared to defend themselves. Yeowun shouted to his members, “Defeat them and break their arms and legs!” “Yes!” Yeowun’s members and the cadets from the 12th group immediately charged in. “D-dammit!” This was the worst-case scenario for Yuchan’s team. Their best warriors, Yuchan and Gunpil, were gone and Jin Yu also was in bad shape since he had taken internal damage from his exchange with Yeowun a while ago. ‘Dammit! I can’t do this alone! We’re done for!’ The only remaining master-level warrior Ou Jiran gritted her teeth. They were badly outnumbered too. And after a few minutes, it was almost over. All the members on Yuchan’s team were subdued except three or four who ran away when the fight began. Yeowun did not go after them since they weren’t that loyal. “AAAARGH!” “MY LEG!” The screams continued as Yeowun and his members broke the arms and legs of Yuchan’s members. They didn’t leave Ou Jiran, a girl cadet, out either. ‘Aaaaaaargh!’ ‘We never should try to fight him anymore!’ Yuchan’s members lost all will to resist their fear, after their arms and legs were broken. When everything was over, Yeowun called Gallen who was trying to send all the defeated enemies to the medical room. Yeowun then gave him two yellow tags. “Take them.” “T-this is…” Gallen was shocked. He didn’t think Yeowun would give him the yellow tags. “Why?” He and his group had taken part in attacking Bakgi last night, so he didn’t wish to receive any tags. He just wanted to take part in getting revenge against Chun Yuchan. “These tags don’t mean anything to me.” Yeowun now had a total of six yellow tags. One from Hou Jinchang, one from Ha Ilming, and four from Chun Yuchan. Gallen was astonished. ‘He can still keep it to lessen the competition and he still decides to give them away… this guy is different.’ Gallen and the 12th group cadets were impressed. Gallen then hesitated. ‘We are now officially enemies of the Blade Clan. Maybe it would be better for us to help Prince Chun Yeowun become the heir.” Ko Wanghur noticed Gallen’s hesitation and became intrigued. It was Wanghur who told Yeowun to give the yellow tags up. It was to make more allies in the upcoming competition. ‘Let’s hope it works.’ Gallen and the cadets looked at Yeowun with respect and admiration. But this wasn’t enough. And did it work? All nineteen cadets including Gallen knelt down. “What is this?” Yeowun asked calmly. Gallen and his cadets then put their head to the ground and shouted, “We want to pledge our allegiance to Prince Chun! Please accept us!” A faint smile appeared on Yeowun’s face. Chapter 82 Chapter 82: Get in line (1) “My arm!” “M-my bone is poking out from my leg!” The medical room was busier than normal. It was still a few days away from the third test, but there were many patients, and one man was very happy about this. ‘Thanks, Yeowun!’ It was quite boring after Yeowun was sent to the prison cave, but he was now sending more patients right after his release. There were so many patients that the doctor had to choose which one to look after first. Doctor Baek Jongmeng felt like he was in paradise. “I’ll go with you first.” It was Chun Yuchan. He needed immediate attention as his wound had only been tied up to stop the blood. As Jongmeng tended to the wound while grinning, and Instructor Simong frowned. ‘…I thought he was weird, but how can he grin at the wounded students?’ Simong then looked away with disgust. There were instructors here in the medical room as there were too many patients that Jongmeng alone could not handle them all. There was one more happy in the room. It was Ohjong who was from Yeowun’s team. ‘Master!’ Ohjong, who woke up around noon, was angry that he had lost the yellow tag. He was also concerned about what Yeowun would think of him. However, all of his concerns disappeared immediately. ‘Hah!’ He had to hold back from bursting out in laughter. His anger was quenched when he saw Ha Ilming and his members along with Yuchan and his members being carried in with heavy injuries. ‘Master, I will serve you forever!’ Ohjong thought. He then heard the instructors amongst themselves. “He really is different. It was just yesterday when I took him into this room with internal damage.” An instructor who looked like he was in his early thirties spoke. It was Hien Yun, the youngest instructor. He was the instructor who took Yeowun into the medical room after the first test. He never guessed that Yeowun would become so strong after such a short amount of time. “Who would’ve known?” Simong shook his head. He was beyond shocked when he heard that Yeowun had made Hou Jinchang fall to his knees after just one formation. He didn’t even care to watch the fight since he thought that Yeowun would lose, but the outcome was unexpected. “Nobody can guess the outcome of this competition.” Chun Yuchan, one of two most likely candidates, was now out of the competition. He didn’t have his internal power damaged like Chun Jongsum, but Chun Yuchan would’ve definitely passed the third test. “Well, we might see some very unexpected events this time around.” Heirship Competition. This was the sole interest that everyone had as this was directly connected to the future of the cult. There was one person who wasn’t in the medical room however. It was the 108th cadet, Ha Ilming, who was taken into another room on the way. He was in the Chief of the Demonic Academy’s office. “Hmm.” Left Guardian Lee Hameng moaned as he looked down at the naked Ha Ilming laid down in front of him. All of Ha Ilming’s skin had veins popping out eerily. This only happened when blood flowed backward. “This is Blood Flow Reversion for sure.” The veins usually went down if flow returned to normal, but Ha Ilming had passed out before he could even do that. Hameng looked down at Ha Ilming with a serious look on his face and placed his hand on two blood points. Hameng’s hand glowed and the light was absorbed into Ha Ilming’s body. Soon, Ha Ilming’s body began to flinch and the veins began to squirm. Soon, it went down as the blood flow returned to normal. The skin also turned normal and Ha Ilming suddenly woke up and coughed. “Aaaarg…. Ugh… Nngh…” Ha Ilming coughed for quite a long time and looked down at himself. “…Why am I naked?” “That’s not the important issue here.” “Huh?” Ha Ilming looked up and saw a fiery red-haired man sitting next to him. “C-chief!” Ha Ilming got up immediately. Ilming wasn’t sure why he was here since he had been fighting with Yeowun as far as he remembered. He then felt a serious headache and remembered Yeowun’s fist crushing his head before he passed out. “Why am I here?” “I’m the one who’s asking the questions.” “H-huh?” “How did you learn the Blood Flow Reversion?” Ha Ilming was then shocked. He looked down at himself, but he didn’t see the veins. Then how did Lee Hameng find out about this? “I-i… don’t know what you are talking about.” “Hmph.” Lee Hameng sighed. He then gestured his hand to hold up something, and a powerful invisible force threw Ha Ilming up into the air. “HuuuuH?!” Ha Ilming tried to fight it with his power, but the difference in power was too great for Ha Ilming to resist. “C-chief! What is the meaning of this!” “Hmph.” Hameng then flicked his finger, twisting Ha Ilming’s left arm like a rag doll in a weird way. “AAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Ha Ilming screamed, but the screaming didn’t leave the office since the entire office was covered with Lee Hameng’s energy. “108th cadet, Ha Ilming of the Red Martial Sword Clan. Not affiliated with any other clan officially. This is what you wrote down when you registered.” Ha Ilming closed his mouth. With his Blood Reversion Art revealed, he couldn’t spill any more. “You think you can keep it from me? You think you will walk out safely with this forbidden art? Who did you learn it from?” “…” The art of Blood Flow Reversion was forbidden and had most of the books had been destroyed. If Ha Ilming, a seventeen-year-old boy, learned that art that had been removed tens of years ago, then it meant that someone had taught him. “If you don’t speak, then your entire clan will suffer the consequences.” It was likely that the Red Martial Sword Clan will be searched for any evidence regarding the forbidden art anyway. Ha Ilming did not speak even after such a threat. “So you want your clan to come to its demise? Foolish.” Hameng snapped, and this time, Ilming’s right leg was twisted weirdly. “Aaaargh!” Ha Ilming screamed in pain and Lee Hameng walked up to him. He then grabbed Ilming’s chin and glared at him. “I am the Left Guardian of the cult. Do you think I wouldn’t know about the Red Martial Sword Clan, one of two Shadow Sword groups of the Sword Clan?” ‘…Dammit.’ Ha Ilming frowned. Lee Hameng almost smiled, but Ha Ilming suddenly chewed on something and blood seeped out from his mouth. “No!” He bit his tongue to kill himself. Hameng tried to open his mouth forcefully, but Ha Ilming also reversed his internal energy which was also an act of suicide. ‘To die as a dog of that cursed clan…!’ Ha Ilming’s eyes were full of anger as died. Hameng tried to calm his energy down in order to keep him alive, but there was no use. Ha Ilming shivered and soon died. ‘Hmph… so there will be no loose ends.’ Hameng sighed and began writing something down on the paper. At dinner time, there were fifty or so cadets waiting outside the cafeteria. Then they shouted at a cadet walking up to the dormitory. “There he is!” The cadets then began to mumble. “He’s here!” “Prince Chun Yeowun!” The cadets all moaned in astonishment as Yeowun began walking down with over twenty-five cadets behind him. “I-I’m first!” “NO! Stay in line!” “Who cares! Prince!” The cadets then began to rush over to Yeowun. “Huh?” Yeowun and his members became surprised. All these cadets then came up to them so Hu Bong and the other members blocked them from coming near Yeowun. “Move! I want to talk to the Prince!” “Prince Chun!” “Please give me time to talk!” “I’m first!” They began to argue with themselves over who could talk to Yeowun first. As the cadets tried to rush in, Hu Bong flushed red with frustration and shouted. “Aargh! GET IN LINE!!!!” Chapter 83 Chapter 83: Get in line (2) ‘Huh?’ ‘Who is that?’ The cadets all became silent when Hu Bong started shouting. He turned red when everyone placed their attention on him but Hu Bong still continued speaking. “If you want to speak to my master, get in line in the order you arrived!” The cadets then began to form a line in embarrassment. Hu Bong was quite talented in taking control over awkward situations. Ko Wanghur and Ja Wumin smiled. Hu Bong did this before too without him realizing that he could handle this sort of stuff well. “All these people… you think it’s to join the team?” Wumin asked. Ko Wanghur nodded. These fifty cadets were unlike the number they had ever seen until now. It seemed most of the leaderless cadets had come. ‘Rumors spread fast.’ Wanghur’s guess was accurate. With the lessened cadet members, everyone knew what the others were doing and so these kinds of rumors spread fast. Everyone knew that Chun Yuchan had lost. ‘He even broke the arms and legs of the 5th cadet’s members!’ ‘That means he won the competition against Chun Yuchan!’ ‘Wait, doesn’t it mean Chun Yeowun has won everything this time?’ The rumor was now very different. Chun Yeowun had proved himself many times and was now being considered as a possible candidate to the heir. The cadet at the very front knelt down on both knees and shouted toward Yeowun. “Prince Chun! I am the 71st cadet Uhm Subjung! I want to help!” ‘He went down on his knees?’ Cadets in the back were shocked. With the first one kneeling down, the other cadets began to kneel and voiced their will to join. But not all of them here were here to join Yeowun’s group. Some cadets had just come to see if there were any spots left for them as they heard that Yeowun now had a total of six yellow tags. Chun Yeowun frowned. ‘Is it them?’ This rumor was spread by Chun Yuchan’s members who had fled the fight. Today was the last day for the team leaders to be assigned so they spread the rumor to target Chun Yeowun. Contrary to their expectations, people were begging to be taken into Yeowun’s group. It took a while for all fifty cadets to say their names and their intentions. The sun went down and it was already night. There weren’t enough spots for everyone and Yeowun’s only intention was to bring in members that would stay with him forever. Yeowun spoke to them politely. “I want to thank you all for wanting to join my team, but I have something I want to tell you all first.” Yeowun then began explaining, just like when Ko Wanghur and the others first came to him. He only wanted people that would join him for future battles, not just the test. “…So, I want people who will lead the new Demonic Cult with me. We will walk together on this treacherous path. If you are not willing, I am sorry but I will have to reject your offer.” Yeowun bowed in the end. The cadets then began to mumble to themselves and they began to leave one by one. Those cadets who just wanted to join for the test left without hesitation. Unlike what was expected in the beginning, not that many decided to leave. A total of twenty-six cadets still stayed behind. 508th cadet Yu Paran who knelt on one knee bowed to speak. “I wanted to join at first just for the test, but I changed my mind after listening to you. Please take me in.” And it wasn’t only Yu Paran. A total of eight cadets changed their minds after listening to Yeowun. ‘God… is that Mun Ku?’ Ja Wumin was shocked to see one of the remaining cadets. It was 408th cadet Mun Ku who was from the Dragon Fist Clan. Mun Ku was the leader of the group that Ja Wumin was in during the 2nd test, so he knew him. He didn’t know that Mun Ku was here as he silently stayed in the middle of the other cadets. ‘Why is he here?’ Mun Ku was one of the top ten powerful cadets in the academy. ‘Why doesn’t he have a yellow tag?’ This didn’t make sense. Mun Ku was already an experienced master level warrior who should have gotten a yellow tag. Mun Ku then came up to Yeowun and asked, “Prince Chun, can I speak to you?” ‘Mun Ku?’ Yeowun had also noticed him during one of the tests, so knew who he was. However, Mun Ku was limping when he got up. “You have six tags, right?” Yeowun nodded. Mun Ku then raised his eyebrows and spoke with anger and bitterness. “One of them is mine.” Yeowun frowned at such a weird claim. Mun Ku continued, “My tag was taken by Chun Yuchan of the Blade Clan.” Mun Ku then began to explain what had happened to him. He had taken the yellow tag on the third day, but Yuchan came to him and told him to join his group. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t side with anyone.’ Mun Ku refused but Yuchan approached him two more times to ask him to join. Mun Ku still declined the offer. “He then asked me to duel.” Yuchan insisted and didn’t back down, and at last Mun Ku lost the duel. Yuchan broke his left leg and right arm and threatened him to join Yuchan’s team if he didn’t want to fail the test. “Mad bastard.” Bakgi spat as he listened to Mun Ku’s story. “I was going to get revenge on him after I joined some other group and… and…” Mun Ku teared up. “No one wants me with my broken arm and leg!” He thought he would be able to join the others since he was still a masterlevel warrior, but the other group leaders refused him coldly, saying that Mun Ku would need to heal first. “One group accepted me, but I was cast out after an hour. I later found out that Chun Yuchan sent one of his men to tell other groups to not take me in.” Mun Ku then became angry at someone for the first time in his life. “So, I wanted to get revenge as soon as I healed up… I didn’t care about the third test anymore… and that’s when I heard what you did.” Mun Ku was able to hear Chun Yuchan’s downfall just one minute after his decision. “I’m not sure if I have the right to be happy though.” He felt good that Chun Yuchan was in pain, but it didn’t feel like he had fulfilled his wish since he couldn’t do it on his own. Mun Ku sighed and looked up at Yeowun. “So, with that said, I want you to take me in.” “Huh?” Yeowun frowned. He understood Mun Ku was in a bad spot, but what was this about? Mun Ku then knelt down with his limp legs. “…I’m sorry. My depression made me say weird things. I am just asking you to take me in… not judging me by my broken arm and leg.” Mun Ku was here to meet Yeowun as his last resort. If Yeowun did not take him in, then Mun Ku had no way but to fail the third test. Ja Wumin then sent a telepathic message to Yeowun. [M-master! You must take in Mun Ku!] Yeowun became curious and Wumin sent him another message. [Mun Ku is the grandson of the 9th Elder, Mun Yun! One of twelve elders of our cult!] Chapter 84 Chapter 84: Learn the Seven Demon Sword (1) Excluding the Lord, elders in the Cult were second to none in terms of rank within the Demonic Cult. There was a total of twelve elders, and powerful warriors or leaders of powerful clans were chosen to be elders. There were some exceptions, especially from first to sixth elder spot. These spots were passed down within the six clans. However, that didn’t mean that those elders were weak. The six clans always competed to give birth to a new Lord, so they were always more powerful than most. Other than those six elders, the other six leaders were those who were chosen to be leaders because of their own power. 9th Elder Mun Yun was a member of the high-ranked clan called the Dragon Fist Clan. He had served in the past Demon-Justice War and achieved many feats which allowed him to become an elder. Mun Yun then supported his clan to become a powerful clan which was almost as powerful as the six clans themselves. Thus, all six heirs asked the Dragon Fist Clan first. Chun Kungwun of the Sword Clan, Chun Wonryou of the Lust Clan, Mukeum of the Loyal Clan, and Yuchan all contacted Mun Ku multiple times right after the first test, but Mun Ku declined every offer. This was to not side with any of the clans for the upcoming competition since the Dragon Fist Clan did not want to fight against any of the clans by siding with another. Mun Ku had joined the academy to increase his power and prove himself. This was why Ja Wumin insisted on telling Yeowun to take Mun Ku in. ‘Hmm…’ Mun Ku had potential, but Yeowun wanted members, not just power. From the way he talked, it seemed like Mun Ku was offering to join for the test only. “Are you saying you will side with me? Or do you just want in as a group member?’ Mun Ku hesitated. He tried explaining his story to get in without mentioning his intention, but he didn’t expect Yeowun to ask him directly again. ‘Ku. You must stay neutral even in the academy. However, we as humans might change our minds. If you find someone you really want to serve, then take a good look at him and judge carefully.” That’s what his grandfather told him before. If Mun Ku were to serve Yeowun, then he wanted to know more. However, he still needed a group leader to not fail the test. Mun Ku thought for a second and said, “Hmm… Prince, can I think about joining you after I join the team first? It won’t take long.” It sounded like Mun Ku wanted to solve the problem first and think later. Yeowun shook his head. If he allowed this to happen, then he would have accepted every other cadet. “Really? Then I refuse.” “Huh?” Mun Ku became shocked. He didn’t think Yeowun would refuse right at that moment. Ja Wumin was also shocked and quickly ran up to Yeowun. “M-master. He has gone through some tough times. Why don’t you think about it?” He then sent a telepathic message to persuade Yeowun. [Master! We will regret it if we don’t take someone like Mun Ku! Every prince wants him!] It would be easier to persuade Mun Ku after letting him join. Ko Wanghur also seemed to agree with the idea and sent a message. [Master, if a group leader level cadet knelt down, then it is likely he will join us for the greater cause. Maybe we should make an exception and…] Yeowun shook his head. “I cannot make an exception for any circumstances.” Yeowun’s choice was correct. He had to stand by his words that he had said in front of everyone. ‘No…!’ Mun Ku started to panic. He limped over to Yeowun and begged him. “P-prince. Can you give me at least three days then?” “No.” “No? T-then how about two days? I need some time to think…” Yeowun frowned. He had refused, but why did he want to join him so much? It seemed weird that a grandson of an elder was begging to join him. “Why do you want to join my team?” “That’s…” Yeowun ordered Nano. ‘Nano, analyze the facial muscles.’ [Analyzing…] Yeowun then saw Augmented Reality activating through his eyes. The white lines locked onto Mun Ku’s face as Mun Ku began to speak. “That’s… because I want to see what kind of man you are for a bit longer.” His eyes did not lie. However, the result that came was unexpected. [Error.] The white light turned red across Mun Ku’s face. ‘What’s going on?’ [Cannot analyze the entity.] ‘Why?’ [Entity’s facial surface has been covered by artificial leather, thus concealing the muscles.] The white line then drew a circle at the back of Mun Ku’s face and zoomed in so Yeowun could see it closely. The skin was a bit different at the back of the ears with faint lines. ‘Is that an Artificial Facial Mask?’ Artificial Facial Masks were created by the leather of animal or by using real human skin to create another face to wear over one’s face. It was created with such expertise that not even experienced warriors could notice it. However, it was easy for Nano to see through it. Creating such a mask required a high experience skill and there only three were people known to be able to create it in all of Wulin. One of them was the 12th Elder, Huan Yi, or the Thousand Faces. ‘Why did he hide his face?’ Yeowun then became more suspicious of Mun Ku. That’s when Nano’s voice rang inside Yeowun’s head. [Analyzing the body. The entity has been identified to be a female aged fifteen to seventeen years old.] ‘What? A girl?’ Yeowun’s eyes widened. So, it was actually a girl who was hiding under a boy’s mask. Mun Ku did talk a bit like a girl, but it didn’t seem to be out of place. ‘What is he doing?’ Mun Ku was confused as Yeowun kept on looking at her. Not to mention, Yeowun was looking at her neck and ears. ‘Is he? …no. That’s not possible.’ Even Left Guardian Lee Hameng did not know that she was wearing a mask, so there was no way Yeowun would be able to recognize her. Yeowun then mumbled with a confused expression, You… a girl…” ‘Hiiiek!’ Mun Ku then flushed red and frantically bowed and shouted, “I- I WANT TO JOIN, YOU PRINCE! I DIDN’T NEED TO THINK! PLEASE TAKE ME IN!!!” ‘Huh?’ The cadets were bewildered by the sudden change of thought. Mun Ku’s eyes teared up as she looked at Yeowun. He was curious as to why she wanted to hide her gender so badly, even to the point where she needed to change her stance of needing more time. [I-I will explain later in private.] Yeowun sighed at Mun Ku’s message and nodded. Ja Wumin smiled with excitement. He didn’t want to lose a talented individual like Mun Ku. “Mun Ku! Long time no see!” “Y-yeah, long time no see, Wumin.” Mun Ku replied to Ja Wumin, but she didn’t feel so good for Yeowun realizing something that she had kept a secret for a long time. “Welcome. I am Ko Wanghur.” “I’m Bakgi.” “I’m Hu Bong.” Yeowun’s members welcomed Mun Ku wholeheartedly. There were other members who joined also. With twenty-six new cadets, Chun Yeowun’s group was the largest force in the academy, with a total number of fiftythree members. ‘I have a lot now.’ He needed to form a new group now. “We will need to form a new group with this many people. The ones I list off will be a group leader.” “Yes, sir!” The cadets were intrigued. Yeowun’s decision here meant that those people were Yeowun’s trusted servants. “First, Ko Wanghur.” “Yes, Master.” “Second, Bakgi.” Bakgi was a powerful warrior. Yeowun thought about giving Bakgi rough cadets who could be unruly at times, but Bakgi was definitely qualified to handle them. “Third, Hou Sangwha.” “Yes, Master!” “Take care of the girl cadets.” From thinking about the group training or dormitories, Yeowun thought that girls needed to be with girls and Hou Sangwha was the best within the girl group. Now, two tags were left. “Next, Gallen.” “Huh?” “You lead one of the groups too.” Yeowun gave Gallen a tag because the former 12th group cadets followed Gallen’s words more than anyone else. “Thank you. I will do my best.” Gallen, who didn’t think he would have such a chance, bowed to Yeowun. “Lastly… Yeowun turned to Hu Bong. New members became confused as none of them thought Hu Bong would be a leader. But the original seven members knew Hu Bong for his loyalty so they didn’t think it was strange. But Hu Bong shouted before Yeowun could speak. “Master! I need to stay by your side at all times!” “I see.” The last tag then went to Ja Wumin. There were more powerful warriors here like Yu Paran, but they hadn’t won Yeowun’s trust yet. After forming a new team and eating dinner, Yeowun met with Mun Ku alone at the back of the training room building. Mun Ku was red from embarrassment. “Why did you hide the fact that you are a woman?” Chapter 85 Chapter 85: Learn the Seven Demon Sword (2) ‘I put a decent amount of effort into this one. It’s one of my masterpieces. You can use it for at least five years if you take care of it.’ It was what 12th Elder Huan Yi said to her when he gave it to her. It was created from pigskin and other various materials made to withstand against most shocks. It even changed the color of the skin when Huan Yi worked on his magic on it. She needed to take it off every day to let the air flow through and it required new glue, but Mun Ku gladly took it. ‘How did he find out?! You told me nobody would ever find out about it!’ Huan Yi claimed that no one would be able to realize that it was a mask. Yet Yeowun saw right through it and even found out that she was a girl. ‘Should I say that I am too ugly so I had to hide my face…? No, that’s too dumb.’ That excuse didn’t explain why she had to hide her gender. From what she experienced, Chun Yeowun didn’t seem like the type to trust others easily. Her face turned from one to another with various expressions and she soon became depressed and Yeowun frowned. Mun Ku emotions were obvious on her face, much like Hu Bong. Mun Ku then looked up to Yeowun with begging eyes. “Prince! Please don’t tell anyone about this!” “…It’s not like you will be kicked out if the others know. Why are you hiding it?” The Demonic Cult valued strength. It did not matter if the one who held the strength was a boy or a girl. “Do you have a scar on your face? Or are you too ugly or something?” “…” Mun Ku became dumbfounded. She thought Yeowun would not believe such excuses, but since he asked so seriously, it seemed like Yeowun thought it was a plausible reason. Mun Ku sighed, “Whew… Prince, promise me.” “Promise?” “That you will never tell this to anyone! Ever!” “…Okay.” Yeowun answered hesitantly. Mun Ku then leaned back against the building wall with her limp leg and started talking. “This face is the face of my twin brother.” “What?” Mun Ku was a twin. She had a brother named Mun Yu who was the future leader of her clan. Their father, Mun Sung, was killed right before the twins were born by the Evil Forces. After experiencing such shock, their mother had trouble giving birth. “Mother died while my giving birth to my brother.” ‘Ah…’ Yeowun realized she had been raised without her parents. Yeowun felt more sympathetic as he too had no parents. “My brother was always weak since he wasn’t given a proper birth.” Unlike Mun Ku, who came out first normally, Mun Yu was born with a defect of being mentally ill. It was very shocking for Mun Yun who just lost his son. He now had a mentally ill grandson who was the only one who could succeed the family. It was unfortunate for the Dragon Fist Clan who always had a male to lead the family. Mun Yun then hid the fact that his grandson was mentally ill. He tried very hard to heal his grandson, but nothing worked. “Grandfather was very sad.” He barely made his clan powerful like that of the six clans, but no one could succeed him. Unlike Mun Yu, Mun Ku’s talent at martial arts was astounding. She had reached the master level just when she was just sixteen, and Mun Yun was glad and sad at the same time. “And that’s when the time to join the academy came closer.” Mun Yun hesitated. All clans were required to send students to join the academy, but he couldn’t send Mun Yu, who could barely speak. If he sent his granddaughter instead, that was same as saying that his grandson had a problem. “Is there a reason for not revealing your brother’s sickness?” Yeowun asked since he was confused. In his opinion, the problem was going to be revealed sooner or later anyway. “…All six clans want to take our clan under their wing.” The six clans were always competing with equal power between them. The Wise Clan was the strongest at the moment, but having the Dragon Fist Clan would be enough to turn the tide. “They always ask us, and if they realize what happened to us… Ugh.” Mun Ku scowled. If the Dragon Fist Clan’s only successor was mentally ill, it would easy to take the entire clan under them by marrying Mun Ku off instead. ‘I see.’ Yeowun nodded understandingly. “So, grandfather declared to be neutral to protect our clan.” The 9th Elder wanted to keep his clan from being absorbed into one of the six clans. Mun Ku then gave him a surprising idea. “I told him I would join the academy as a male student.” She also knew about the situation of her clan, so she decided to join the academy in place of her brother. “If I pretend like I’m my brother and do well at the academy, the six clans won’t try to play tricks on us at least.” Mun Yun did not want it at first. But he soon asked his friend, and the only one who knows about the details of his clan, 12th Elder Huan Yi to make her a mask, and that’s how she was here now. However, the thing was that she did not use her brother’s name. This was as a precaution just in case her gender was revealed so that her clan or her brother would not take the blame. ‘So, this was what happened.’ Yeowun then lost all suspicion he had of her. For the first time, he fully understood another person’s problem. ‘He’s very serious.’ Mun Ku grinned at Yeowun, who was seriously listening to her story. “I guess that explains my mask?” Yeowun nodded. Mun Ku too, felt a bit relieved after telling her secret to someone. She then emphasized it again. “Prince, you really have to keep this a secret.” “…Yeah.” “You have to keep it! Please!” Mun Ku had a very girlish accent, but she had a boy’s face and voice. “Did you change your voice too?” Mun Ku intentionally spoke with a hoarser voice to mimic a boy’s voice. She smiled and changed her voice to a higher and smoother voice. “Of course. I can’t let anyone know, you know?” Yeowun was surprised. That was definitely a girl’s voice. “But making this boy voice makes my throat dry.” That’s why Mun Ku did not speak much if she could. “It’s much better to speak in my own voice. Heh.” She smiled and Yeowun also smiled back. “Huh? OH no!” Mun Ku then looked up at the dark night and began taking something out from her pocket. It was a small bottle. “I almost forgot.” “Huh?” “It’s my time to put on glue on the mask. I forgot while talking to you.” “Is that the glue?” “Yeah. This is really taxing, you know. I have to glue it every night or else it might come off.” “Oh.” The mask made from Huan Yi was very well-made so that it didn’t feel awkward while wearing it, but it always needed constant gluing. “It was so hard to glue this on myself with my broken arm. At least there’s an upside to something.” She then took the end part of the mask and pulled it off her face. The mask then stretched like rubber and was peeled off, revealing what was underneath. “Ah…” Yeowun let out a gasp of astonishment without realizing. She had a pure white face with large, glittery eyes, and she had small pink lips. Her beauty shined under the moonlight and it made even Chun Yeowun, who was indifferent toward others, mesmerized. “Here! Hold it up with both your hands.” “Huh? Like this?” “Yeah!” Yeowun held up his hands and Mun Ku placed her mask in them. She then opened the bottle and began spreading the glue on the inner surface of the mask. “See how annoying it is? Hehe.” She smiled and Yeowun blushed. It was the first time Yeowun thought that someone of the opposite gender was pretty. Yeowun, however, did not know what this emotion was, so he soon returned to his normal expression. “There we go. Thank you.” Ku finished re-gluing it and placed the mask over her face again. It looked like it was a bit difficult to place it over her face with one hand, so Yeowun had to help her out. Soon, Ku was back to wearing her brother’s face. “I did it quickly, thanks to you. It’s good that someone knows my secret. Heh.” Ku spoke with a smile. She then asked Yeowun, “As you can see, I cannot train right now because I’m injured. Are you going to train in the training room?” “Yeah.” “Then I’ll go back to the dorm and rest for today. Oh, what is your room number?” “I stay in the 7th room in the 4th building.” “I’ll move my stuff over to your room then now that I’m in your group. I’ll see you later.” Ku then limped over in the direction of the dormitory. Yeowun then moved to walk toward the training room when a thought struck at him that made him stop in his tracks. “Wait… she’s a girl.” Ku was a girl, and she was now going to come to stay at boy’s dormitory. Yeowun wondered how he should deal with this. Chapter 86 Chapter 86: Learn the Seven Demon Sword (3) Late at night, Chun Yeowun finally got the time to train in a private training room for a long time before he came out satisfied. He learned that having a good place to train instead of a dark and humid cave was quite important. When he came out, Hu Bong and the other cadets were waiting for him. “Master.” Not all of them were waiting since it was too hard to walk around with a group of fifty-three people. Yeowun had ordered them to group up with their group leaders, so there was a total of nine members with two missing. One was Ohjong who was still receiving medical treatment, and the other was Mun Ku who was at the dorm. “Let’s go.” “Yeah.” It was the last night for getting a yellow tag, but they weren’t attacked on their way back. This was due to the fact that the cadets had realized that they couldn’t mess with Chun Yeowun who had defeated Chun Yuchan. While Yeowun was not targeted, a total of two leaders were stripped of their yellow tags that night. One of the cadets who stole a tag from another leader was Chun Mukeum from the Loyal Clan. He had just gotten out of the medical room yesterday after staying there for almost ten days. Nonetheless, he had his loyal servant, Jahyun. Jahyun had gathered members to form groups for Mukeum who would be coming out of the medical room soon. “Ugh… dammit.” Mukeum became exhausted after taking the tag. He tried to take on the leader alone, but most of the groups were moving together so they had to have a group fight instead. ‘I was left behind.’ It was only ten days, but the cadets had gotten much stronger now. Most of the cadets were now at the level of top-class warriors. Mukeum also consumed the Black Dragon Ball and that pushed him to the entrance of the master level. “Dammit.” So, even when he fought 321st cadet Han Pengwon who lacked ten years of internal energy compared to Mukeum, it took a total of thirty formation battles. Mukeum also had pain in his left shoulder where Pengwon had injured him. “Bastard!” Mukeum became annoyed that he was injured by a mere warrior from a high-ranked clan, and kicked Pengwon’s stomach although the boy had already passed out. ‘I need to become much stronger if I want to defeat that monster.’ He didn’t call Yeowun a peasant anymore. After Yeowun defeating Chun Wonryou, Chun Jongsum, and Chun Yuchan, Yeowun was a terrifying monster in Mukeum’s mind. ‘I’ll catch up to him!’ He didn’t look down on Chun Yeowun anymore. To him, Yeowun was not a target of his anger, but an obstacle he had to face in order to become the Lord. At the same time, Yeowun had returned to the dorm. The room was lit, and Mun Ku was reading the Seven Demon Sword skill book on her bed. “Oh, you are here.” Mun Ku greeted him and Yeowun nodded awkwardly. Yeowun still felt awkward about letting a girl stay in the same room with these boys. ‘What have I done?’ His promise to keep Ku’s secret had come back to hit him. He regretted making the promise, but there was no going back. ‘She does look like a boy though… ugh.’ She had the mask on, which made her fit right in, but the problem was that Yeowun knew she was a girl. Yeowun then thought he had to pay attention when they changed clothes. Then that happened. “Ughhhh, this is so hot!” Hu Bong, who was drenched in sweat, took all his clothes off. He quickly grabbed some spare clothes and ran out of the room to go wash up. ‘Uh… Hu Bong…’ Yeowun covered his face with his hand. This was a boy’s dormitory and a lot of boys went straight to the bath butt naked after training. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t protect you.’ Hu Bong had shown off everything just now. Yeowun glanced over at Mun Ku, but she was concentrated on reading the book. ‘Hmph.’ He sighed in relief. Yeowun then tried to tell the other members to not strip themselves naked within the dorm room, but… “Let’s go wash!” “Ugh, I’m so sweaty!” Before he could even speak, half of his members stipped themselves and ran out to wash. It was too late. “Don’t leave me behind!” Jin Guuk, who was usually shy, even threw off his clothes and ran after them. Even the remaining three members who still had some clothes on went out in their underwear. ‘…This is crazy.’ All his teammates just showed off their body parts to a girl. Yeowun turned to Ku, but she was still focusing on the book. Was she doing that on purpose? “Hey… are you okay?” Yeowun asked as everyone had left the room. Ku replied without letting her eyes leave the book. She sounded very calm and casual. “It’s okay. I’ve been through this so much now… I’m used to it. Y-you can go ahead too. Don’t mind me.” Ku had been with the other boys before she came to this room. It was apparent she had seen this happen multiple times already. But Yeowun only saw Ku diving into the book with a blush on her face. ‘…How can I not mind?’ Yeowun sighed and took clothes to change into and went out. After that day, Yeowun told his teammates to not take off their clothes inside the dorm room. His members were confused, but they followed his orders. Chapter 87 Chapter 87: Learn the Seven Demon Sword (4) The next morning, Yeowun reported about the yellow tag to the main building of the Demonic Academy and was declared as the leader for the third test. There were only eleven leaders up until yesterday morning, but with Yeowun’s five groups under him, the total number of groups increased. Chun Kungwun of the Sword Clan also made another group under him, so there was now a total of sixteen groups. 700th cadet Sama Chak had two tags, but he didn’t make another group. So, a total of fifteen cadets were not in a group, and they were destined to fail when the test came around. They had to find groups within the remaining twenty-one days. After registering to become the leader, Yeowun and his members got breakfast and went up to the small hill behind the dorms. It was time to train the Seven Demon Sword. “Since I have my own group, I want to teach my members by myself.” “Huh?” They originally planned to train the Seven Demon Sword altogether, but Yeowun was surprised to hear the unexpected request. Ko Wanghur agreed with Bakgi’s request. “Bakgi is right. It will be too much to teach all these members at the same time. It’s better for us to teach our own groups instead.” It did make sense. Chun Yeowun was the strongest warrior in his group, but it was too much for him to teach every member. “I second that idea myself.” Gallen also wanted to teach his own group since he had his own way of training the 12th group. “Hmm…” Yeowun hesitated for a bit. He knew that they were asking for this for an entirely different reason than what they were proposing. There was a faint hint of competition going on between Bakgi, Ko Wanghur, and Gallen. This all started during breakfast. ‘It will take at least seven days to train the Seven Demon Sword.” ‘That’s too long. I only need three days and then start formations after seven.’ Bakgi made this claim thoughtlessly when Ko Wanghur was just sharing the idea. This brought fired up the competition between them. And when breakfast was almost over, they were now making bets on who would finish learning the Demon Sword formation faster. ‘I heard you guys talk already…’ Yeowun shook his head. He was with them all along when they were talking about the competition, and it was funny that they were sharing ideas for different reasons. However, it wasn’t too bad to use the competition to make them learn faster. “Okay. Do what you will.” “Thank you.” The three members then took their groups to train in different spots. “Master, I need more members.” “You too, Wumin? Me too. Master, can you train our members while we gather more members?” Ja Wumin and Hou Sangwha needed more members, so they couldn’t start training today. There were still many cadets who didn’t have a group, so both of them walked down the mountain to recruit other cadets. ‘Hm… actually, Bakgi needs more members too.’ Bakgi, who hated accepting help, probably went down to recruit more members without asking Yeowun. It would have been too much if Yeowun had to take Bakgi’s members also. Bakgi, Wumin, and Sangwha all needed to recruit members who are willing to become Yeowun’s forces, so it would probably take them some time. “Eight…” Seventeen cadets all lined up with wooden swords in their hands. Most of them had just become top-class warriors, so the Seven Demon Sword was their first top-class martial art. They were used to the skill after reading the book already. ‘Finally we’re learning from our master!’ Hu Bong looked at Yeowun with anticipation. The other cadets also looked forward to being taught by Yeowun as they knew how powerful he was. However, since there were too many people here, they probably wouldn’t get the chance to watch Yeowun one on one. ‘Should I start now?’ It was Yeowun’s first time teaching someone else, so he became nervous. But he was going to do his best to teach his members just like how Right Guardian Submeng had taught him. “Let me show you how it’s done first.” Yeowun got up slowly and readied to use the Seven Demon Sword. When everyone began to concentrate, Yeowun unleashed the sword movements of the Seven Demon Sword. He did it very slowly so that every cadet could carefully observe every movement. “Whoaaaa.” They were astounded as Yeowun’s movement was just like how the skill book described it. Most martial artists had imperfections in their movements if it was a martial art that they had just learned, but Yeowun did it like he had trained in the art for tens of years. ‘Was he really locked up in a prison cave just until yesterday?’ Mun Ku was beyond shocked to see his movements. She knew that Yeowun had been locked up for five days, but his movements were just too perfect. ‘This is incredible… is he a genius?’ Mun Ku was also a very talented warrior who was well into the master level, but she would also say that it was almost impossible to perfect the skill in such a short amount of time. Of course, this was the only result of Chun Yeowun having the entire skill book transferred into his brain. “Good. Did you see it all carefully?” “Yes!” It was done very slowly, so the cadets were able to identify the right movements easily. Yeowun then glanced over at them and said, “So, I will guide each one of you. Go ahead and try your best in showing me the sword movement.” “Yay!” “Is it for real?!” His members rejoiced. This meant that Yeowun was going to teach them one by one. ‘We’re so lucky!’ It wasn’t very common for highly experienced warriors to teach others one on one. Hu Bong became excited also and asked, “Master, who should start first then?” Everyone tensed up after hearing such an important question. There were so many people here, so it was better to be the first one to get taught. However, what came out of Yeowun’s mouth was unexpected to say the least. “What do you mean? You all will be showing me the sword art at once. It will take forever for me to go through each of you one by one.” “Huh?” Everyone was dumbfounded. They all knew that Yeowun was powerful, but how could he watch all these people’s movements in detail at the same time? Chapter 88 Chapter 88: The Six Sword (1) Mun Ku, who was sitting down on a small rock, also became confused. It was understandable if it was just to look at the overall balance, but fixing every small detail was unlikely to happen from looking at everyone at once. ‘Should I watch too?’ She too had learned the Seven Demon Sword and read through the books tens of times that she now remembered it. Maybe she could also give a few pieces of advice. “W-Why don’t we give it a try anyway?” Hu Bong offered to try it with the other hesitant cadets. In Hu Bong’s experience, whatever Yeowun said never ended weirdly. “Ready your sword!” Yeowun shouted and all seventeen cadets prepared to perform the Seven Demon Sword. ‘Oh well. I guess he’ll change it to private lessons if it doesn’t work out.’ Most of the cadets thought of the same thing. Yeowun ordered to Nano. ‘Nano, activate Augmented Reality.’ Yeowun’s eyes then shook and he saw lines drawing various pieces of information about the seventeen cadets. ‘Nano, analyze all these seventeen people and see if there is any movement they’re getting wrong with the Seven Demon Sword.’ [Understood. Activating multi-tutorial mode on seventeen entities. Target martial art: Seven Demon Sword.] With Nano’s voice, Yeowun then saw seventeen circles locking onto each of the students. Yeowun shouted, “Going from the first formation! First Sword!” “First Sword!” The cadets repeated the name of the formation and began to move. Wooden swords shot through the air as the seventeen cadets all swung their swords in unison. ‘Ah…’ Ku moaned silently. There were many cadets who were not doing it correctly. Actually, most of them were a mess besides the three cadets who were top-class warriors already. The cadets stopped in place after finishing the first formation. There was just too many things that needed fixing. Mun Ku tried to send a telepathic message to Yeowun on what she had seen for the few cadets that she had seen at least, but Yeowun spoke first. “We’re training, so I’ll call out numbers. First, 31st cadet.” “Yes, sir!” “Your arm is weak when you start the First Sword, and that causes all connected movements to become weak as well. Be careful of that.” “Yes, sir!” The 31st cadet, Yuk Kinming, shouted back. This was only the start. Yeowun then went over to the other cadets. After going through few, Yeowun called out Hu Bong’s number. “23rd cadet.” “Yes, sir!” “Your sword drops when you move. On the third movement, you only use wrist when you step with your right. You need to use your waist, not only the wrist.” “Yes, sir! Thank you!” Hu Bong answered excitedly at such detailed advice. Mun Ku was shocked. Hu Bong was one of the few cadets that she observed, and Yeowun had gotten everything correct. ‘Did he really see what every cadet did?’ Yeowun then went over to the other cadets. After the number of cadets receiving advice went over the count of ten, all the cadets were astonished. ‘Did he really see everyone? He wasn’t just saying it?’ The 22nd cadet, Kong Jino, just joined yesterday. He was dumbfounded and suspicious at the same time. However, the cadets who listened to their faults seemed to agree. “22nd cadet.” “Y-yes!” Jino frowned as he answered. He was a top-class warrior and he had the ability to do the Seven Demon Sword more perfectly than the other cadets, but he didn’t put in much effort in doing so. He was at the very back, so he thought Yeowun would not see him anyway. ‘Huh?’ Yeowun was glaring at him however. Surely Yeowun was angry at his laziness. “You think I would not notice if you didn’t put in any effort?” ‘Ugh!’ “What was that slow, clumsy sword movement? Do you not want to do this?” Yeowun snapped and Jino flushed red from embarrassment. He couldn’t even find the right words to respond. He claimed that Yeowun would never know when the cadet next to him, Im Yuhan, told him to stop fooling around. “I-I’m sorry.” “If you do that again, then you will be practicing the sword formations alone.” Jino then went down on his both knees. “This will never happen again, Master.” This gave every cadet the chills. They thought to never do things without letting Yeowun know. “Hmph.” Yeowun accepted Jino’s apology. “You must act accordingly if you have the power. But you are second to being correct among everyone else here. Make sure you do it right next time.” ‘Second? I’m only second?’ Who was first then? Yeowun then turned to the 11th cadet, Im Yuhan, with a satisfied voice. “I have nothing much to say to you, 11th cadet. You were better than everyone here.” “Thank you, Master.” Jino frowned. Jino and Yuhan were always competing with each other, so Jino didn’t feel so good about losing. He then regretted for not doing it right. After Yeowun met all seventeen cadets, they began to trust Yeowun on what he was doing. “Okay, we’ll go with the first formation again. Remember what I told you and repeat slowly.” “Yes, sir!” And the swords began to move again. Not everything was fixed at once, but all the movements had gotten much better now. “Wow,” Ku gasped in astonishment. This proved that Yeowun was not only a good fighter, but he was also a good teacher. ‘He’s really amazing.’ Of course, all this was due to Nano’s ability. Yeowun’s eyes saw the analysis notes that Nano placed over all the cadets. Without this knowledge however, it only made Mun Ku more surprised. After going through the first movement again, Yeowun pointed out their mistakes and had them go over remaining seven formations to fix it. It seemed like it wouldn’t take too long to learn the Seven Demon Sword at this rate. There were some who were falling behind like Hu Bong, Jin Guuk, and Machil, but they put more effort which was fortunate. “We’ll train until dinner!” “Yes, sir!” And ten days had passed after the training started. It took a bit more time for everyone to perfect all the Seven Demon Sword formations. Even if Yeowun put in all the effort he could, it still took time for most of the cadets to learn, especially those who weren’t from high-ranked clans. The last, or the Seventh Sword, was especially hard for most cadets. Part of it was due to Ohjong joining the team late, after he spent five days in the medical room. At least it was fortunate that Ojong was talented enough to catch up quickly. And the groups who scattered to train on their own, gathered in one place. “…I lost. Hmph.” Bakgi spoke and turned away. Ko Wanghur burst out into laughter for winning his bet. “Hahaha! So, you accept your loss! Good!” The winner who taught his teammates to learn the sword skill faster was Wanghur. He took a total of seven days to train his teammates. Gallen also only needed nine days whereas Bakgi took ten days. “How did you manage to teach them in seven days?” Bakgi too realized that it took more time to teach cadets who weren’t that experienced in martial arts. However, Wanghur had managed to do it, making Bakgi curious. “Hahaha! There’s not much. You just have to ram it in until you learn it.” “…Ram it in?” Wanghur then looked back at his teammates and grinned while all of his cadets flinched and shuddered in fear. Chapter 89 Chapter 89: The Six Sword (2) Within that ten-day training period for the Seven Demon Sword, Bakgi, Hou Sangwha, and Ja Wumin’s groups also filled up. Bakgi only needed a few more members, so he was able to fill it up quickly, but Sangwha and Wumin took three days to recruit more cadets. ‘Total of nineteen.’ The new cadets fell into two main categories. There were those who came to admire Yeowun for his feat of defeating Hou Jinchang and Chun Yuchan, and the other group consisted of those who were not happy with the current six clan system in the cult, thus wanting a new wave of change from Yeowun. Although these new groups had two different ideas, they were recruited carefully. These groups became more connected with each other because of Yeowun. ‘Wow! That group only has girls!’ ‘When did that kind of group form?’ ‘I want to join that group.’ The boy cadets couldn’t peel their eyes off of Hou Sangwha’s team. Her group was the first only girl group in the academy at the moment. It was bound to gain attention from boys in their puberty. ‘Hah. Boys…’ ‘Hehe.’ The girl cadets also welcomed that kind of reaction. Some of them even explicitly flirted with the other cadets. However, Chun Yeowun was more interested in the cadets who could become group leaders. ‘708th cadet Che Takim and 52nd cadet Wu Sojung.’ Both of them were entering the master level warrior level. Che Takim was from a high-ranked clan of the West Gate Clan who didn’t show himself even during the second test. Takim had visited Yeowun’s dormitory to speak to him. ‘Water rots if it sits. I don’t want to see the cult wasting power from the six clans competing against each other. You are a Chun, but you are not from six clans. I think you might have what it takes to change things.’ Yeowun liked Takim who was passionate about changing the cult, so he accepted him. And Wu Sojung, whom Hou Sangwha brought over as a friend, was rather aggressive. ‘Only the strong survive here. You show me your strength, and I will serve you for my life.’ ‘Oh?’ Sojung challenged Yeowun and lost after just three formations. Yeowun only used the Butterfly Blade Dance and it was enough. And with two more master-level warriors, Yeowun’s forces became more powerful. There was also more good news. “Congratulation on becoming masters.” Ko Wanghur and Hou Sangwha had become master-level warriors since they didn’t slack off on their own training when the team training was over. “Thank you, Master.” Hou Sangwha was glad that she had become a master-level warrior. She was now the second master-level girl cadet. “This isn’t enough. I will do my best to be the First Sword of the master.” Ko Wanghur was not satisfied however. The words from Wanghur ignited a weird competition between cadets. ‘First Sword?’ ‘Hm…’ With an increasing number of cadets, they began ranking themselves unofficially. One of the members of Bakgi’s group, Yi Chan, spoke out. “I’m not trying to offend anyone, but I think the First Sword title fits my leader Bakgi, or Mun Ku better.” “Yes. They are stronger in terms of power.” Cadets from Bakgi’s group agreed and Wanghur’s members began to respond. “Wanghur is strong enough to claim that! I’m offended, thank you.” “He can be the Second, or Third Sword.” “What?!” Members began to speak up with their thoughts, arguing with each other. This made all the group leaders surprised. Yeowun then heard Che Takim’s telepathic message through his ears. [I expected this would happen as you have many who follow you, but it was faster than I expected. Master, its time for you to decide on the ranking of these members.] ‘Hm…’ [Loyalty is good, but the cult relies on power. You have to keep that in mind.] Yeowun nodded at Takim’s message. It seemed like it was time for Yeowun to clear out the ranks, as that was needed for an organization to function properly. ‘What should I do?’ The best thing to do was to have everyone duel against each other since that was the Demonic Cult’s tradition, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to duel against one another since the third test was just around the corner. He couldn’t let anyone get hurt in the process. Yeowun thought for a while and finally made a decision. “Everyone, be quiet.” He didn’t speak loudly, but every cadet became silent at once. Yeowun’s influence over the seventy-one cadets was commendable. When everyone became silent, Yeowun began to speak. “I have heard your opinions. I think it is time for me to appoint our ranks. Do you all agree?” “Yes, sir!” The cadets answered in unison. They also became curious as to how Yeowun would decide on these ranks. Obviously, some members were more powerful than others, and they would most likely stand in front of the other members. “Six people.” Chapter 90 Chapter 90: The Six Sword (3) ‘Six?’ The cadets wondered if this maybe meant that Yeowun was going to appoint only six high-rank members. “I will appoint the top six warriors. They will not have ranks over each other and they will be titled the Six Swords.” “Master, what is the reason for having the Six Swords?” Wu Sojung raised his hand and asked. The other cadets also had the same question. “If we graduate from the academy, we will be fighting against six clans. I need the Six Swords who will complete that job on the frontlines of battle.” Everyone nodded. All of the people here knew that Yeowun was trying to fight the six clans and create a new Demonic Cult. ‘But wouldn’t we just be repeating the same thing then?’ Ko Wanghur and a few others frowned. It was still far into the future, but if they managed to defeat the six clans and the Six Swords replaced them, then they could end up in a power struggle again. However, Yeowun continued speaking and soon removed that fear. “But the Six Swords today will not remain Six Swords forever. I will open a competition each year to give the title to more powerful warriors.” “Ohhh!” The cadets gasped in excitement. This meant that the title was not going to remain permanent. Everyone would be granted an equal opportunity to prove themselves and rise above the others, just like how the Demonic Cult normally functioned. “This will continue even if I reach the top of the cult.” ‘Ahh!’ Wanghur, Bakgi, and the other cadets then nodded in satisfaction. There were only seventy-two cadets here in total, but if Yeowun really took over the entire cult, then it was bound to be open to all the members of the cult. This would certainly put an end to the current six-clan system. “Since we are facing the important third test soon, I will simplify our process to choose the Six Swords this time around.” “Yes, sir.” It would be too time-consuming to have everyone duel each other, and the power balance between the cadets were too great anyway. “Those who are masters, please step forward. Everyone else, step back.” Many of the cadets took a few steps back, leaving Ko Wanghur, Bakgi, Mun Ku, Hou Sangwha, Che Takim, and Wu Sojung behind. It was exactly these six cadets that required no competition. “I’m sure no one will complain about having these members as the Six Swords?” “Yes, sir!” No one had any complaints since these members were significantly more powerful than the rest of them. Some cadets like Kong Jino, Im Yuhan, Ja Wumin, and Ohjong had the urge to become stronger to take the spot later on. “Then the First Sword…” Bakgi then raised his hand to intervene. “Wait. I have an idea.” “What is it?” “Since we now have the Six Swords, it’ll be better for us to figure out the ranks between each other.” The other cadets all nodded. They liked the fact that they had been chosen as the Six Swords, but it seemed it was better to have the right title according to the level of power. It was a matter of pride. ‘Hmmm, should I be happy about this?’ It didn’t feel bad for his members to compete against each other for the best servant title. Yeowun smiled and agreed with the idea. With the master’s approval, all they had to do now was compete. “Oh, I’m still injured so I forfeit.” Mun Ku gave up on fighting first, so she automatically became the Sixth Sword. It seemed like Bakgi wanted to fight Mun Ku since she seemed to be the most powerful warrior here, but it couldn’t be helped. “Don’t hurt each other.” The fight was to be held at once, battle royale style. Yeowun told them to not use more than 30% of their internal energy to not hurt one another. “Then, shall we start?” Wanghur took off his top and flexed his large muscles. It was to bring up his morale, but it wasn’t a good choice. It made Hou Sangwha and Wu Sojung feel disgusted at the toplessness and they both decided to attack Wanghur first. “Hahahaha! This is good!” “Ugh, this muscle gorilla!” Ko Wanghur was still laughing while he fought. The five warriors fought for quite a while. The first one to fail was Wu Sojung. “Ugh… I’m ashamed.” He didn’t think he would lose to Hou Sangwha who was a girl. Wu Sojung thought he would defeat her easily, but his shoulder almost got pulled out from its joint. “Ugh!” The second to lose was Che Takim. He had intervened in the fight between Bakgi and Ko Wanghur and he fell after getting hit by their attacks. “Hah…” Hou Sangwha gave up and sank to sit on the ground about thirty minutes later. She thought she had a good amount of stamina, but she couldn’t last as long as Bakgi or Ko Wanghur. Both of the boys fought fiercely. They were also always competing with each other and thus they did not want to give up. Each of their groups cheered for their leaders, but the experience paid off. Bakgi increased his kick power with his energy and put down Wanghur’s large body. Wanghur tried to fight back by putting all his strength in his muscles, but he couldn’t overpower Bakgi’s energy. Wanghur laid flat on the ground and panted. “Hah… hah… I lost.” “Whaaaaaaa! Bakgi won!!!” Bakgi’s group all got up and began to cheer. Meanwhile, Wanghur’s members became depressed. “Leader!” They ran up to Wanghur and helped him stand up. After the long fight, the rank of the Six Swords was decided. Bakgi, the First Sword. Ko Wanghur, the Second Sword. Hou Sangwha, the Third Sword. Che Takim, the Fourth Sword. Wu Sojung, the Fifth Sword. Mun Ku, the Sixth Sword. And thus was the birth of Chun Yeowun’s Six Swords. ‘…It’s getting there.’ Yeowun clenched his fist as he looked over at his members. He had come into the academy with nothing in his hands, and now he had forces that cannot be ignored, especially considering the clans of these members outside of the academy. However, Yeowun was not satisfied yet. ‘I need to become more powerful than anyone else so that no one in the Demonic Cult will ever try to defy me