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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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The initiation ceremony, true to its nature, was based on the principle of fair and square one-on-one duels.
Although they had swarmed in, there was no need to fight all of them.
To perform a group attack under the guise of an initiation ceremony?
Alas, woe!
The sacred laws of Jianghu have fallen to the ground!
After lamenting, Murim Alliance martial artists who would, with a mighty shout drawn from their dantian, inversely deliver judgment, were plentiful in Luoyang.
Thus, while Cheok Mu-hong and Geum-shin were dueling, the martial artists who had gathered to conduct the initiation ceremony fiercely competed among themselves to claim the remaining turns.
“This is Luoyang. Martial Hometown Luoyang. We can’t let nobodies who crawled in from who knows where run rampant.”
“Wanderers also have their own code among wanderers. He’s a guy who looks down on his seniors. If we don’t show him his place…”
“So only those who are absolutely confident of winning should step forward!”
The words of a female wanderer, shouted irritably.
Although it was a remark blurted out in a fit of pique mixed with annoyance, everyone gathered here agreed with its content.
Perhaps if they had used voice transmission, it would have been different, but since they weren’t skilled enough to send voice transmissions to multiple people simultaneously, every bit of their spoken discussion was overheard.
They thought they were being careful, even using minor techniques like secretive speech, but that was an act of underestimating Namgung-Woo’s skill.
‘I should have known when they started talking about rising talents. They’re more careless than I thought.’
If this was the average level of Luoyang, which was even called Martial Hometown, it was somewhat disappointing.
Rising talents?
Not all who surpassed the Peak Realm in their twenties were the same kind of rising talent.
Those who surpassed even the Peak Realm before reaching the age of thirty were no longer rising talents but were recognized as super experts of the Murim.
If even Transcendent Realm experts were like that, then for someone of Namgung-Woo’s level, who had reached the Peerless Realm, the title of rising talent was not an honor but an insult.
Knowing this reality of the Murim better than anyone, Peng Ha-ryeong displayed a stronger desire than anyone and pleaded with Namgung-Woo.
“Oppa, please let me go next.”
Originally, Peng Ha-ryeong herself had wanted to go first.
However, she had missed the chance because Namgung-Woo had sent Geum-shin before she could even speak.
People were watching.
She couldn’t ask for a reversal, requesting to be sent, when Namgung-Woo had already given an order.
However, Peng Ha-ryeong had no intention of missing the second chance.
“Do so. I’ll leave the second one to you, Ha-ryeong.”
“Yes! Please believe in me!”
Namgung-Woo thought that Peng Ha-ryeong wasn’t just cute, but also had a subtly cunning side.
Not using voice transmission was probably a sly scheme to ensure she would definitely be sent out.
“Is it the Saber Princess next?”
“I know a bit about the Peng Family’s Saber Princess. We fought together at the Closed Gate Battle last year, she was around the early Peak Realm then. She might have grown through the Yunmeng Showdown, but even so, she’d be around mid-Peak at best.”
“It’d be troublesome to think of her as an ordinary rising talent. She experienced war for nearly a month. Consider her to have abundant practical experience.”
“Don’t worry. I know too.”
In that way, they arranged the lineup among themselves.
Who would face Peng Ha-ryeong, who would face the Yang brothers, who for Myorin.
Their judgment, which had completed the matchups as if strategizing in Go or Janggi, collapsed miserably.
“No! At that age, what kind of internal energy…!”
The one who had confidently stepped forward, saying he could beat Peng Ha-ryeong, admitted defeat, terrified by the Qi Threads Peng Ha-ryeong drew out.
“Keuk… The difference in sword techniques…”
The one who faced Yang Jeong, despite possessing superior internal energy refinement than Yang Jeong, was caught by the counterattack of the Thirteen Lightning Sword Techniques and dropped his sword.
“Ah! This duel is really dirty!”
Yang Kwai’s opponent couldn’t even display his true skills due to Yang Kwai’s insane aggressiveness, who rushed in at the start, determined not to yield the first strike.
“It’s sorcery! Sorcery!”
Myorin’s opponent, perhaps unfamiliar with sorcery, was easily defeated by it and just kept repeating the word “sorcery.”
Five duels.
Victory in all duels went to the Azure Sky Group.
They couldn’t win a single one.
The justification for Luoyang’s initiation ceremony – ‘In your hometown, you might have lived full of yourself, but Martial Hometown Luoyang is on a different level. We will make you realize the reality that the world is wide and you are still just a frog in a well’ – was rendered meaningless.
As it turned out, the confidence of those who had gathered so boldly began to wane.
Let’s say Geum-shin, who was on the verge of the Transcendent Realm, Peng Ha-ryeong, who closely followed Geum-shin, and Myorin, who handled both sorcery and martial arts, were exceptions.
In Geum-shin’s case, he had shown a tight, evenly matched fight with Cheok Mu-hong.
This much was rather decent for an initiation ceremony.
And even for Peng Ha-ryeong and Myorin, excuses could somehow be made.
For Peng Ha-ryeong, they could insist they couldn’t fight properly because they were scared of the Hebei Peng Family’s name (let’s ignore the fact that Peng Ha-ryeong had clearly stated her affiliation as Azure Sky Group’s Peng Ha-ryeong, not Hebei Peng Family, at the start).
For Myorin, they could just slander it as a cowardly victory using sorcery.
However, losing even to the Yang brothers was utterly inexcusable.
Were they careless?
Did the opponent fight cowardly?
Gathering to conduct an initiation ceremony while citing the wanderers’ code, and now blaming them for not being wanderer-like – whose face were they tarnishing with such actions?
‘It’s real… These guys are the real deal…’
‘So the rumors weren’t baseless…’
If even the members of the Azure Sky Group were like this, then Namgung-Woo, the leader and the protagonist of martial exploits that had been dismissed as exaggerated rumors, was what exactly…
As their thoughts reached that point, a belated fear arose.
Those who had gathered to steal the fame of the Azure Sky Group and Namgung-Woo through an initiation ceremony began to cautiously glance around and hesitantly withdraw.
It was an unseemly affair, but it was better to withdraw than to stubbornly hold on.
If they messed around trying to give Namgung-Woo an initiation ceremony and were knocked out without lasting even a single move, there would be no greater shame.
If they fled here, they would suffer ridicule and contempt for a while.
However, if they needlessly stepped forward and ended up being a one-move-wonder, they wouldn’t be able to walk around Luoyang anymore.
“Ahem, someone from our side has already gone out. It would be courteous to yield the turn.”
“Leader Cheok went from our side, why are you looking at us?”
As they made various excuses, pushing the role of Namgung-Woo’s opponent onto each other, the once heated atmosphere quickly cooled.
To charge in so confidently and then tuck their tails between their legs.
Jeers of “Booo—!” poured out even from the commoners who had set up betting pools.
It was then.
Breaking through the gathered crowd, a man stepped onto the training ground.
“Azure Sky Group Leader, how about a match with me?”
A long robe worn over blue martial attire.
Under the fluttering long robe, next to the character ‘맹 [Alliance]’ on his chest, the characters ‘진뢰 [Shaking Thunder]’ were together.
The Murim Alliance’s directly affiliated martial organization, the Eight Positions Division.
The martial attire and embroidery identified him as belonging to the Shaking Thunder Division among them.
In the Murim Alliance, affiliations were distinguished by the color of their clothes, so there was no need to write down the group name.
Yet, to have that name embroidered on the clothes meant that person was the representative of that group.
Meaning.
“Shaking Thunder Division Leader?”
“Thunder Dragon Gallant Hero, Deng Zongyou…!”
“A Division Leader of the Murim Alliance has stepped forward… This won’t end easily, fall back!”
The eight Division Leaders symbolizing the Murim Alliance’s military power.
Although the Alliance Lord and the Council of Elders were above them, they were the final bastions protecting the Murim Alliance.
And perhaps the Alliance Lord was different, but the Elders belonging to the Council of Elders were not much different compared to the Division Leaders.
Rather, if one considered only pure martial prowess, more people ranked the Division Leaders higher.
Namgung-Woo did not avoid Deng Zongyou’s gaze, who was looking directly at him from atop the training ground.
As Namgung-Woo also stepped onto the training ground, the spectators, with gasps, fiercely reignited the atmosphere that had coldly subsided.
“I wanted to meet you once.”
Namgung-Woo instantly understood the meaning of Deng Zongyou’s words.
“Because martial artists who have mastered lightning techniques are rare, you mean?”
“Indeed. You understand. I heard the sword technique that executed the Five Yin Demonic Emperor was different from lightning Qi, but still, it is famous that you are training in profound lightning Qi martial arts. Surely, you taught those brothers as well.”
There were many martial arts that attempted to handle lightning Qi, taking lightning as their imagery.
However, lightning Qi was an extremely difficult power to handle.
Among them, more than 70% were failures that couldn’t even become proper lightning Qi, another 20% were half-baked, only awkwardly handling lightning Qi without displaying proper abilities, and only about 10% could be called martial arts that handled lightning Qi passably.
And even if one learned such martial arts, it was a problem because lightning Qi was a power that could easily leave one crippled if mishandled.
Conversely, there were cases of overcoming a crippled body with lightning Qi martial arts, but they were extremely rare exceptions.
For these reasons, those who had entered the ranks of experts with lightning Qi martial arts were rare.
To the extent that Deng Zongyou had never seen an expert of lightning Qi martial arts superior to himself until now.
“I wish to request a lesson.”
“I will gladly accept.”
Treating a Division Leader of the Murim Alliance, a super expert renowned throughout the world, as a clear subordinate.
Namgung-Woo’s demeanor was gradually resembling that of a peerless expert.
Pachat!
A flash sparked.
Which side was it?
Most couldn’t see because it was too fast, but a few witnesses thought.
Simultaneous.
However, going further than that, an expert equipped with eye techniques would add another testimony.
That Namgung-Woo’s side was faster.
Immediately after the first flash.
Kwaang!
With a powerful foot stomp that shattered the training ground floor, the two figures disappeared, and blue lightning and platinum-colored lightning flickered across the training ground.
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