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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Phantom Great God Step
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-Paat.
My eyes turned red.
Blood trickled from my nose.
The world slowed down.
Pahwanggun's footwork shattered into frames measured in fractions of a second, each one etching itself into my pupils like intricate embroidery.
-Ppak, ppakak.
Cheonma's power activated.
It forcibly translated everything in my sight into knowledge, hammering it unidirectionally into my brain.
"Samadhi."
The target was Pahwanggun's footwork right before my eyes.
There was no time.
I had to do it fast.
Overload be damned.
In one breath...
'I want to live!'
-Possession Experience Synchronization
A gloomy, damp voice echoed in my head.
It was fundamentally different from Moomyeong's usual voice—a cold one that never grew familiar no matter how often I heard it.
-Extraction System Display Complete
-Target Martial Art Identified Based on Cheonma Great Library
Grade 4, Kongpa Phantom Great God Step
-Pajik! Pajijijik!
Lightning began wrapping around my form.
It was the same type of lightning as Pahwanggun's Phantom Great God Step.
Only the color differed.
Reacting to my desperate emotions, it was blood-red lightning.
Pahwanggun closed in.
Damn it, not enough time.
It was impossible after all.
Pahwanggun relentlessly narrowed the gap toward me in my defenseless state.
'No.'
Cold sweat poured down.
I was done for.
"What the hell? Hold on."
Pahwanggun's eyes hesitated.
He was staring at the lightning enveloping my body.
"That light—don't tell me!"
Pahwanggun's steps slowed as he gazed at the lightning.
I didn't miss that split-second opening.
"Now!"
-All Martial Art Replication Complete
-Absorption Process Complete
Grade 4, Kongpa Phantom Great God Step
-Activation... Possible Immediately!
-Kwarung!
All my remaining internal energy drained away, and my body vanished.
"You bastard!"
It was the first time I'd heard Pahwanggun's voice filled with shock.
-Pababat!
I spun around and smashed my fist down on Pahwanggun's head.
Pahwanggun's foot whipped out like lightning, kicking away my descending fist.
Ignoring my rebounding arm, I threw my full body weight into an elbow strike on Pahwanggun's torso.
"Krgh."
Pahwanggun's mouth gaped open.
This was the first effective blow I'd landed on him.
"You little shit."
The playfulness vanished from Pahwanggun's eyes.
His hands sped up.
-Kwarung!
With an exploding burst of red lightning, my form flickered, and a fist shattered the space where my head had been.
-Kwadududu!
Our forms accelerated.
I fled, and Pahwanggun pursued, unleashing fists and kicks.
Even fleeing had its limits.
My internal energy was depleting madly, total exhaustion looming.
[Host! True Origin Energy consumption is accelerating. Stop now!]
-Kwarurung!
[Host!]
My body felt like it was breaking apart.
Moomyeong, can't you see?
Pahwanggun's gone berserk right now.
In his excitement, he seemed to have forgotten his own promise to use only thirty percent of his power.
The tearing sounds ripping through the air had been growing louder.
-Pit, pipit!
The wind pressure tore my ears.
My eyelids ripped.
My vision began staining red with blood.
I fled desperately.
But Pahwanggun chased like a madman.
The distance closed bit by bit.
If I stopped now, I'd die.
One way or another.
"Oh ho, no wonder the power felt exceptionally ferocious—True Origin Energy! Even most unorthodox fighters would cower before you!"
Pahwanggun's entire body became engulfed in a storm of thunder dragons.
"You bastard!"
Pahwanggun's momentum surged dozens of times faster.
He snatched my throat and slammed me into the ground.
-Kwaaaang!
My organs churned.
"Argh!"
As Phantom Great God Step shut down, the red lightning coiling around my body faded.
The massive hand gripping my throat began squeezing as if to snap my neck.
"Gek, kugh, kuugh..."
I couldn't die like this.
I dug my nails into Pahwanggun's hand choking my throat.
-Kkak, kkagak.
I desperately tore and clawed at his skin.
I tried to pry it loose.
I couldn't breathe.
I was suffocating.
I thrashed.
My flailing heels left dozens of marks on the training ground floor.
Yet Pahwanggun's grip on my throat didn't loosen.
A creaking sound rang in my mind as my neck bones shifted.
This bastard.
He was really trying to kill me—.
"Grk...!"
Before I could think of any counter, consciousness slipped away.
***
"That's enough now, Pahwanggun."
The voice's owner gripped Pahwanggun's wrist.
"What do you think you're doing to an examinee? The test is over."
"...Gang Buryong?"
Pahwanggun flinched in surprise.
Focus returned to his battle-immersed eyes.
"I'll say it one last time. Pahwanggun, let go of him. Now."
Gang Buryong tightened his grip on Pahwanggun's wrist.
Pahwanggun blankly stared at his own hand.
Beneath it lay Moyong Bi, who had clawed at his hand in struggle before going still.
"This, this!"
Pahwanggun recoiled.
He collapsed to his knees.
"Did I... go all out against this kid just now?"
His eyes swirled with shock and disgust at his own actions.
"I've been watching since earlier, but you didn't seem like you'd stop on your own, so I had to intervene. Forgive my rudeness. You there, Haseo Physician. Help out here."
Gang Buryong approached the unconscious Moyong Bi and gestured toward one side.
"Seriously, Pahwanggun! I hoped it wouldn't come to this, but turning an examinee into paste? This is the orthodox faction, not the unorthodox! What is the world coming to!"
The Haseo Physician came rushing with various medical tools.
He pulled out an acupuncture case and emergency medicines from his robes, starting urgent treatment.
"Fortunately, no broken bones."
The Haseo Physician checked Moyong Bi's body and sighed in relief.
Gang Buryong also exhaled, relieved.
"Good. He was a special examinee Moyong Taese personally asked us to watch over..."
At those words, Pahwanggun's face lit up in shock.
"Moyong Taese requested it? That upright old man doesn't even bend for our Alliance Leader?"
"He's an illegitimate child. Moyong Family's bastard. No roots, no lineage. Looks like there's some story between him and the Moyong Family elder that we don't know. Moyong Taese asked me to ensure he doesn't die at his brothers' hands for at least six years."
An inscrutable expression crossed Pahwanggun's face.
"...Illegitimate child? No wonder he didn't act like some rich young master."
"Need a change of clothes?"
Gang Buryong eyed Pahwanggun's tattered garments.
Pahwanggun shook his head.
"Feels shitty."
Pahwanggun stared at the countless nail marks on his arm and muttered bitterly.
"Gang Buryong, if you watched from earlier, you saw that too."
No subject was needed; Gang Buryong knew what he meant.
Pahwanggun continued.
"It was clumsy, sure, but that was Phantom Great God Step. Yes, it's the simplest basic footwork in our Kongpa arsenal. But replicating it on the spot like that? That's a whole different matter."
Gang Buryong nodded in agreement.
"I was shocked too. Moyong Taese's letter called him a natural genius, and it checks out. Impressive."
Pahwanggun frowned.
"What nonsense is that? This isn't just good eyesight—it's completely copying the mar—"
Pahwanggun's words slowed abruptly.
"Pahwanggun?"
...
After a brief silence, Pahwanggun sighed and scratched the back of his head.
"Damn it. That fox of an old man—wondered why he insisted on shoving me here again. So that's it."
"Pardon?"
Gang Buryong looked at him puzzled.
Pahwanggun waved it off like it was nothing.
"Nah, just talking to myself. Anyway, yeah! Right. I think so too. That kid's got sharp eyes. A genius! Even if Phantom Great God Step is an easy basic footwork, copying it right away? Ha, true genius."
"Anything else to say?"
"No, nothing. More importantly."
Pahwanggun changed the subject.
"I've done the most shameful thing in my life today. I was thinking of handing the rest of the tests to my subordinate. That alright?"
Pahwanggun crossed his arms and bowed his head deeply.
Gang Buryong gazed at him steadily and replied calmly.
"...Do as you find convenient, either way. Cheonsubakryeonsa didn't have high expectations for you anyway, and I owe you a big debt from before, so I'm always on your side, Pahwanggun."
-Chwajjeok
Two subordinates appeared like shadows beside Gang Buryong.
At his gesture, they carefully lifted Moyong Bi and vanished again.
"That kid's gonna have it rough, huh?"
Pahwanggun muttered, staring in the direction they disappeared.
"Don't worry too much about the injuries. Haseo Physician is competent."
"Not the injuries. I know he's not badly hurt."
"Then?"
"The odds of that kid surviving six years here at Cheonsubakryeonsa. Moyong Family illegitimate, right? You know the state of the Moyong Family with its vacant patriarch seat."
Gang Buryong said nothing.
Pahwanggun smacked his lips.
"And if what I know is true, it won't be the Moyong Family that's the problem—he'll be dead by the Shinsinwi in less than a month..."
"Shinsinwi? Why would the Shinsinwi kill Moyong Bi? If you have something to say, spit it out instead of muttering to yourself."
"Well, about that..."
Pahwanggun hesitated.
He looked at the ground.
Then the sky.
"Screw it, never mind that. You know how it is."
Scratching his head furiously, Pahwanggun spoke.
"Cheonsubakryeonsa has the tradition of grouping disciples into threes under the same master, forming same-sect fellowships. That applies to this intake too, right?"
Gang Buryong looked puzzled.
"Yes, but. Any issue?"
"I have a strong hunch that the instructor spot for the group that kid joins suddenly went vacant, causing major headaches for my dear junior in the martial world. What do you think?"
...
Gang Buryong stayed silent.
Pahwanggun shrugged.
"I'll gladly fill that spot. I was only supposed to proctor the tests per my deal with the Alliance Leader, but my conscience is nagging me now."
Gang Buryong stood like stone, watching Pahwanggun declare it with a fist clenched like he was bestowing a great favor.
"We're not some amateurs—there's no way an instructor spot goes vacant mid-training."
"No, it will be vacant. Check tomorrow. One will be missing suddenly. Broken leg or maybe three, four ribs cracked."
"Pahwanggun, this place is somewhat insulated from influence, but it's still the orthodox faction at heart. Plenty already view you unfavorably—talk like that..."
Worried he might actually do it, Gang Buryong swallowed the rest and clutched his throbbing head.
"I can see the vacancy! Let me help resolve this crisis...! I'm offering to help!"
Pahwanggun's gleaming eyes bored unblinkingly into Gang Buryong.
'...What the hell is with that kid.'
Gang Buryong felt puzzled by Pahwanggun's fixation on Moyong Bi but soon chalked it up to guilt over the beating.
"Understood. We'll do that."
"Good! Uhahaha! Wait for me, kid!"
Pahwanggun laughed uproariously at the sky.
'Well, Moyong Taese did ask me to watch over him.'
Gang Buryong felt a twinge of needless guilt.