Chapter 168: Finals (1)

Chunbong’s “I’m cute, aren’t I?” declaration.

While she was being somewhat serious, it was hard to take her words seriously from Yang Sohong’s perspective.

“…Fine, I understand. I’ll prove the rest with skill.”

Yang Sohong lowered his spearpoint close to the ground and took his stance.

Chunbong pouted, drawing her sword.

“You’re the one who asked.”

Who was being rude by suddenly saying he was disappointed and all that?

But she forgave him through her generosity. Though “forgave” wasn’t quite right, she just didn’t really care.

Yang Sohong? After today, she’d probably never see him again anyway.

Since he hadn’t insulted her clan, she decided to let it slide.

Then, suddenly, she realized her social mode had turned off, and she immediately corrected herself.

“Right. Let’s begin.”

The referee who had been listening to their conversation raised his hand. His hand pointed to the sky, then dropped.

— Begin!

The moment the referee’s hand fell, Yang Sohong pushed his front foot forward. At the same time, he twisted his waist and drew his spear-holding right arm far back.

With his left hand forward and the spear placed between his other hand’s thumb and index finger, he aimed at Chunbong’s chest.

A thrust.

Her intuition told her so, and instead of dodging to the side, she went forward.

Flutter! Her dragon robe fluttered as she lightly cut through the air.

If I follow big brother’s advice…

Even this match was a stepping stone for her duel with big sis Suah.

Whoosh!

Yang Sohong’s spear shot toward her with terrifying momentum. Chunbong’s eyes saw the spearpoint. A single approaching dot.

“Hup!”

She fully unleashed the Chunbong Divine Art while executing Flowing Clouds over the Clear River.

Clang!

She parried, deflecting the spear and immediately pressing forward. Yang Sohong quickly pulled back his spear and launched several more thrusts.

Swish swish swish!

The dozens of thrusts flying in looked like dots. The red tassel of his spear obscured her vision, concealing the dots’ true form.

Yang Sohong was well aware of the Chunbong Divine Art, deliberately targeting a wide area to counter it.

Chunbong grinned wickedly.

Blue Dragon Splits the Heavens.

An unimaginable amount of qi surged forth from her dantian.

Crackle!

The form of an azure dragon appeared on her sword, yet different from Seojun’s Yellow Dragon Splits the Heavens. The dragon’s form itself was blurry.

Unlike his sword which took after qi arts, her own had infused the sword itself with the Principle of Destruction.

BOOOOOM─────────!!!

Chunbong’s rising sword sent Yang Sohong’s spear flying upward entirely.

“What is this strength…!?”

Despite the situation, he managed to spin his spear, rotating the spearhead behind him, then he thrust the spear butt upward with all his might.

Whoosh!

Chunbong tilted her head slightly to dodge and immediately followed up with her next technique.

Blue Dragon Ascends.

Her sword left afterimages as it split apart. It extended in nine directions, containing the Principles of Illusion and Change as it engulfed Yang Sohong.

“Kugh…!”

Yang Sohong gritted his teeth and executed a counter. Dragon Tiger Combat. A rough, fierce technique seemingly imbued with the bravery of dragons and tigers.

The spear shaft curved sinuously, drawing the form of a dragon, while the spearpoint attached to the curving shaft was wielded like a tiger’s claws.

He gripped his spear firmly, expecting tremendous recoil.

Ting—

“Huh?”

Yang Sohong’s mouth fell open blankly as Chunbong’s sword bounced off pathetically, and the corners of her mouth curled up.

“Gotcha.”

She had used Blue Dragon Splits the Heavens to suggest her sword’s power was extraordinary, then immediately executed Blue Dragon Ascends close to a feint.

It used the Chunbong Divine Art’s power to disguise itself as something powerful to trick his mind, but in actuality had barely any force.

Naturally, after countering with full force, he was now full of openings.

Whoosh!

Chunbong’s sword tip touched beneath his chin.

“Good work.”

— Winner…! Geum Hee of the Divine Sword Geum Clan…!

“Ah…! If I had been in that position…!”

Yang Sohong trembled as he gripped his spear, then walked down from the arena. Though she didn’t know the details, he seemed quite frustrated.

Not my problem.

The world was full of strange people anyway.

Chunbong giggled and walked down from the arena with light steps.

WOOOO─────────!!

The cheers were loud enough to shake all of Henan. All those voices were directed at her.

Chunbong momentarily reminisced about the now distant past of the Divine Sword Geum Clan, then approached Seojun confidently.

“Did you see that!”

“My Chunbubbie is amazing!”

He lifted her into the air. As she enjoyed this familiar floaty feeling, she raised both her hands high.

“I have descended.”

“S-so dazzling…!”

“Praise me!”

“Ooh…!”

As Chunbong received Seojun’s shower of praise, she suddenly looked at Namgung Suah smiling quietly beside them.

Her greatest rival in this tournament. For this occasion only, an opponent equivalent to the Heavenly Demon or Black Serpent Lord…!

Chunbong grinned mischievously and boasted as if to keep Namgung Suah in check.

“The Chunbong Divine Art is seriously ridiculous, right? Everyone loses their minds when I control the intensity a bit.”

“It’s not normally that effective. It’s because you’re using it.”

“Huh?”

Chunbong tilted her head at the unexpected answer, and Seojun explained.

“I only realized it now, but the Blue Cloud Divine Sword is ridiculous.”

Most sword techniques had their fundamental principles.

Take the Namgung Clan’s Sword Form of the Emperor as an example—dominance and weight.

There was supplementary swiftness, and depending on who used the sword art, other principles could be mixed in, but the technique itself was dominated by weight and dominance.

However, the Yellow Cloud Divine Sword and Blue Cloud Divine Sword were different. These techniques just crammed every possible principle together.

Seojun used a half-fake Yellow Cloud Divine Sword, more like qi arts, but if properly executed, it was a technique with ridiculous power and difficulty.

If he had to name that principle, it would be the Myriad Sword.

“It’s that difficult, but as long as you can properly execute it, it’s just a cheat-level sword technique. Especially since the compatibility with the Chunbong Divine Art is too good.”

A sword art that unleashed countless principles, and a martial art that manifested images imprinted in the opponent’s mind like hallucinations.

From the opponent’s perspective, they’d only be able to curse at them. They couldn’t properly identify what kind of sword was being wielded.

Hadn’t Yang Sohong also been defeated after mistaking her feint Blue Dragon Ascends for a Destructive Sword?

“Ooh…”

Chunbong’s eyes sparkled.

Yep, her big brother also knew how amazing the Divine Sword Geum Clan’s sword techniques were.

What about the equally amazing Chunbong Divine Art that wasn’t inferior to it!?

And herself, who had learned all of that…!

“Mm! Good! I grant you the honor of giving me a piggyback ride home!”

In a very good mood, Chunbong bestowed a reward upon Seojun.

“Yahoo!”

Seojun’s mood became very good too.

The next day’s match between Namgung Suah and Hyeun smoothly ended in Namgung Suah’s victory.

Though Hyeun had gained some insight and possessed skills that ranked among the top in Peak Realm, there was quite a gap between him and Namgung Suah, who was close to Transcendant Realm.

With this, the two rising stars who would compete for the Dragon Phoenix Tournament victory were determined.

Namgung Suah of the Namgung Clan, and Geum Hee of the Divine Sword Geum Clan.

Some enthusiasts who remembered Mount Hua’s martial arts tournament said.

“Back then, the Flower of Namgung indeed defeated Faceless Snow Sword.”

“Faceless Snow Sword? Who’s that?”

“Who else? The Divine Sword Geum Clan’s heir. At that time, she didn’t even reveal that she was the Geum Clan’s heir, but she received that nickname due to her outstanding skills and her face covered by a veil.”

“Oho, then will the Flower of Namgung win this time as well?”

“Who knows? The Flower of Namgung won quite narrowly before… But.”

“But?”

“From watching this Dragon Phoenix Tournament, the Flower of Namgung certainly seems to have the advantage.”

Indeed.

The record between Chunbong and Namgung Suah was 1 win to 0 losses in Namgung Suah’s favor.

She maintained an overwhelming record with a 100% win rate.

“Hey…! What do you mean one hundred percent!? F-fu… We only fought once!”

“Now now, Chunbubbie be good. Bad words are forbidden.”

“When did I say bad words!? One hundred percent! One hundred percent!?”

Chunbong jumped up and down in place.

After the semifinals ended and while preparing for the finals, she was constantly wary of Namgung Suah.

She even hid in corners alone during training that she usually did together, not showing Namgung Suah, and was careful with her words during conversations, worried her true thoughts might be read.

Though Namgung Suah just chuckled, finding her cute…

Anyways, it was certain that she was putting tremendous passion into winning the Dragon Phoenix Tournament.

Chunbong even sometimes secretly dragged Seojun by the sleeve in the dead of night to make him participate in training.

That Geum Chunbong who used to nod off whenever it got slightly dark…!

“Yawn… Come back quickly… Before I fall asleep…”

Seojun was moved by her passion and earnestly helped with her training.

Certainly, her swordsmanship using the orthodox Blue Cloud Divine Sword was extraordinary.

Her occasionally flashing genius talent sometimes displayed techniques within the highly difficult Blue Cloud Divine Art that even surprised Seojun.

Time passed like this, and finally came the final day of the Dragon Phoenix Tournament.

The finals, Chunbong’s revenge match, Geum Chunbong’s firm resolve to get a present for her big brother…

— Geum Hee of the Divine Sword Geum Clan…!

Standing on the arena, Chunbong looked around the audience with heavily sunken eyes.

Today’s the day.

Today, in this place. The Divine Sword Geum Clan would truly be reborn.

Pat pat. After tapping her own soft cheeks, Chunbong sharply opened her eyes.

“I’m gonna win.”

Her Geum Clan blood burned hot.