Chapter 18 - Act 3. Daemudo Entrance Examination (11)

They had known from the start. From the moment they first met, both had sensed that sooner or later, it would come to this.

Hae Unchan steadied his breathing and looked at Yise. Yise returned his gaze, his eyes somewhat cool but unmistakably eager for a contest.

“Next. Yise, Hae Unchan.”

A hush settled over the drill ground as their names were called.

The Heavenly Root Constitution. A heaven-sent talent that might appear only once in a generation, if that.

The Heavenly-Demonic Dual-Meridian Constitution. The same constitution as the Lord of Daemudo, with immeasurable potential.

Their present realms were lowly, but they offered the Hall Masters something worth taking an interest in for the first time in a while. One by one, the Hall Masters' private conversations ceased, and their gazes fixed on the pair.

Yise gripped his shield firmly and held his hand axe loosely, twirling it to limber up his hand.

Hae Unchan did not draw his sword. Holding it in its scabbard, he lowered himself into a stance ready to charge at any moment.

A swordsman's attack began with the draw.

“Begin.”

Hae Unchan moved first at the signal. Spiritual energy gathered in the soles of his feet, and he kicked off the ground, launching himself forward with explosive force. The watching Hall Masters murmured in admiration at his deft control of spiritual energy.

He closed the distance in an instant and drew.

It was a clean, textbook attack without a single wasted motion.

But Yise had already drifted backward, and Hae Unchan's opening strike cut through empty air.

'What was that leap? I hadn't seen him use that technique even two days ago.'

'I knew there was something strange about those fluttering movements. It's like watching a feather float.'

The thoughts crossed their minds.

After that first charge, Hae Unchan's movements returned to normal. He was certainly agile, but keeping up with Yise's Dokkaebi Steps seemed beyond him.

Now and then, however, he would shoot forward in a burst of speed and unleash a dangerous flurry of attacks.

Focusing his spirit sight, Yise saw him briefly concentrate spiritual energy in the soles of his feet and propel himself like a spring. It required delicate control of spiritual energy.

The fellow seemed to have improved considerably in just two days.

Feigning admiration, Yise knocked aside a sword stroke aimed at his flank with his shield.

CLANG!

The impact traveled up his wrist and shook his shoulder.

Heavy. Almost as heavy as the blows he had taken from the Eyegleam.

Yise immediately retreated, lowering his center of gravity. The two traded attacks and defenses as they shifted positions at a dizzying pace. Ringing clashes filled the air, their exchanges fierce enough to bead their foreheads with sweat.

For all their speed, neither allowed the other to land a lethal blow.

Not because they were showing mercy. They could only envelop their bodies in spiritual energy, which made their weapons less of a threat to each other.

When Hae Unchan's thrust was blocked, he wavered slightly off balance. Growing impatient, he had committed too much force to the strike.

Yise brought his hand axe down toward his thigh.

'They can reattach his leg.'

He swung prepared to sever it if necessary, but the axe rebounded from the spiritual energy Hae Unchan summoned. Instead, Unchan's blade slid up along the shield and grazed Yise's cheek.

A drop of bright red blood welled up.

'... Fast.'

The spiritual energy within Unchan reached whichever part of his body he wanted with remarkable speed and smoothness. They were in the same realm, yet Yise was clearly outclassed in control.

Hae Unchan pressed on with one attack after another. High, low, diagonal. His swordsmanship seemed carefully structured: with every swing, the closing paths of his blade grew more threatening.

Wounds opened across Yise's body.

He immediately scaled back his attacks and switched entirely to defense. With the momentum shifting to his opponent, he needed to steady his breathing and sharpen his focus.

When Yise concentrated on defense, Hae Unchan could not keep up with his movements. And he could not keep channeling spiritual energy into his feet indefinitely. His reserves were finite, and replenishing them took time.

Yise deflected Hae Unchan's attacks with the bare minimum of movement. Sure enough, impatience began to show on the young swordsman's face. He lacked experience.

At that moment, Yise concentrated the spiritual energy he had been slowly bringing under control into his soles and kicked off the ground. At the same time, he used Dokkaebi Steps to accelerate even further.

Apparently not expecting his own technique to be copied so quickly, Hae Unchan swung at the approaching axe with a startled look.

It was a feint.

There was almost no force behind the axe. It was merely there to hook his sword and hold it.

The real attack was the shield coming from the opposite side.

Both weapons flew into the air, and the heavy round shield smashed into Hae Unchan's head.

GONG!

An enormous, bell-like clang rang out. The impact made his eyes roll back for an instant.

With Hae Unchan still airborne, Yise filled his now-empty right hand with spiritual energy—the axe had flown away—and struck downward into his face.

Unchan slammed into the ground and bounced several times.

'I didn't kill him... did I?'

Yise still lacked the skill to regulate the amount of spiritual energy he used. In effect, he had gathered every bit he could muster in that instant and struck with all his might.

Hae Unchan's body trembled on the ground. Suddenly afraid he had gone too far, Yise looked anxiously toward the examiner.

“Chief Examiner, if he's lost consciousness—”

But Kang Itae remained unmoved.

“Not... yet.”

Hae Unchan was getting up. His eyes were almost completely unfocused, but his fists remained tightly clenched.

Yise wondered whether he really needed to push himself this far, but there was no way to end things as they stood.

Yise threw away his shield and drew spiritual energy into both fists.

From here on, this was a fight between Cultivators(?).

Hae Unchan ducked low and drove into Yise's lower body.

THUD!

His shoulder rammed into Yise's thigh. Yise brought an elbow down, filled with spiritual energy, but the energy enveloping Unchan's back canceled it out.

Yise lost his footing and toppled backward, and Hae Unchan climbed straight on top of him.

For all his countless sparring matches, Yise had never been in this position before.

A fist came down.

THUD! THUD!

Blows laden with spiritual energy hammered the arms Yise held over his head. Even the smallest opening would let a devastating attack through.

His arms rang with numbness.

For a moment, Yise considered striking him in the balls, then changed his mind. He did not want to cross that line while sparring with another man.

What followed was a grueling battle of attrition.

One drove spiritual energy into his blows to break through the defenses. The other did everything he could to protect his head.

Hae Unchan tired first. Perhaps he was still feeling the effects of that heavy blow; his barrage of punches gradually lost its strength.

In a flash, Yise filled his index and middle fingers with spiritual energy and jabbed at Hae Unchan's eyes.

Startled, Unchan leaned back, easing the pressure pinning Yise down. Yise immediately threw him off and rose.

They went straight into a barehanded brawl.

As though wringing every last drop of spiritual energy from their bodies, their muscles hardened further, and their movements grew a notch faster.

Their breathing turned ragged, and each blow they took left their ribs ringing.

They exchanged roughly equal numbers of attacks, but Yise was subtly deflecting at least a little of the force of Unchan's blows. He owed that to the keen perception of his Dokkaebi Senses.

Thanks to that, the unfavorable tide gradually turned. His greatest disadvantage had been his reserves of spiritual energy. As someone approaching the third star of Qi Refining, Hae Unchan had far more.

If he had less, he would make his opponent spend two for every one of his own.

Yise's strategy steadily paid off. Blocking, deflecting, and taking blows, he held his balance.

Then, at a certain moment, they both felt it.

Each other's spiritual energy was running dry.

Their stamina was already spent. With no spiritual energy left to trade blows, this would now be a contest of pure flesh and will.

Whoever endured would win.

Yise and Hae Unchan punched at each other.

Hae Unchan's fist was stopped by an unknown force, while Yise's shattered his jaw.

Both of them were out of spiritual energy?

That was true.

Of course Yise had exhausted his spiritual energy.

His spiritual energy.

But his body still held a second power: Demonic Energy.

And spirit sight could not see the Demonic Energy inside his body.

The only ones who noticed Yise's little swindle were Hae Unchan, who took the blow, and the Hall Masters with their lofty cultivation realms.

Hae Unchan flew backward and rolled across the ground. His eyes rolled back, and foam spilled from his mouth.

“Winner, Yise.”

At a jerk of Kang Itae's chin, healers from the Medicine Hall appeared. They fed Hae Unchan a medicinal pill and began emergency treatment.

After a short while, he coughed up blood and regained consciousness. Yise approached and helped him to his feet.

Kang Itae looked from one set of tattered robes to the other, then sighed.

“What a refined way for a pair of aspiring Daoists to fight.”

Neither boy could raise his head.

* * *

That night, with the entire schedule at Daemudo's training compound complete, a final banquet was prepared to conclude the grand event.

Once they truly began life as Cultivators, they would be better off avoiding worldly food as much as possible. This was a considerate chance to eat their fill.

The only problem, if it could be called one, was that some of them were eating rather too much of their fill.

After the banquet, Kang Itae summoned Yise.

“You called for me, sir?”

“You used Demonic Energy in today's test.”

“That's part of my strength too. Didn't you say all means and methods were permitted?”

“In the future, avoid using it unnecessarily whenever possible. Lower-realm Cultivators may not notice, but those in higher realms will sense its sinister presence.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I called you here to give you three pieces of advice, including that one.”

Yise listened quietly and attentively.

“Until you reach Foundation Establishment, do not accept recruitment overtures from the Hall Masters or legacy disciples of the Eleven Inner Halls. That would violate Daemudo's principles.”

“I'll try... but I think it may put me in a difficult position if it actually happens.”

“Deflect them with something that is neither a yes nor a no. At the very least, make no definite commitments or assurances until you can judge for yourself how the Inner Halls stand in relation to one another and which would best serve your purpose. A Cultivator's promise becomes binding in its own right.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

This was new information, and Yise committed it to memory. He had never been one to make empty promises, but it seemed he would have to be constantly careful with his words from now on.

'So there must be friction or rivalries between the Inner Halls within Daemudo.'

It was a truth he had not particularly wanted to learn, but knowing it could do no harm. Reading between the lines, Yise filed away that implication as well.

“Lastly, watch your conduct. Even with Gwisu Temple vouching for your identity, I will be watching you.”

“... So you haven't put your suspicions to rest.”

“I am merely doing my duty according to the rules. I must keep in mind the final possibility that you deceived Mongryeon.”

“I understand. I'll be careful.”

“Good. Congratulations on entering at the top of your class.”

Kang Itae patted Yise's shoulder a few times.

At first glance, he was a rather rigid senior, but Yise found that he quite liked the man's character.