Chapter 30 : Grappling Art
Jang Baekseo had toyed with Jeongpung even when he was at the second-rate realm and his movements were restricted by the Bone Shrinking Art.
For the current Jang Baekseo, who had risen in level to the first-rate realm, dealing with Jeongpung was simpler than eating cold porridge.
But this time, the situation outside the ring was not good.
There were many eyes watching.
Because of them, Jang Baekseo had to hide his original level as much as possible and disguise himself as being at the second-rate level.
Not only that, but he was also restricted from using the subtleties of advanced martial arts like the twelve sword manuals of the Twelve Paths, Three Forms or the subtlety of the useless and the useful that he had used when fighting with Jeongpung before.
To put it in terms of Janggi, it was a situation where he had to fight without his chariot and cannon!
But…
'There are plenty of other ways~'
Jang Baekseo smiled confidently, held his wooden sword, and took the stance of the Yuyu Sword.
As if in response, Jeongpung also held his sword and took the starting stance of the Seventy-Two Wave Sword.
"Kekeke… what, don't worry. I've learned from the past, so I'll go easy on you~"
'You son of a b*tch… if you had learned anything, you wouldn't be getting involved in this.'
Jang Baekseo regretted that he hadn't beaten up Jeongpung more thoroughly before.
Of course, Jeongpung, who had no way of knowing Jang Baekseo's thoughts, slowly walked towards Jang Baekseo with a triumphant face.
And soon…
Pat!
The Seventy-Two Wave Sword, a secret technique of Qingcheng, was unfolded in Jeongpung's hand!
"Tsk!"
It was not that difficult for Jang Baekseo to either dodge or block.
But…
Thud!
"Keuk!"
If he blocked or dodged too perfectly, he could not avoid suspicion.
That's why Jang Baekseo blocked the attack as clumsily and crudely as possible.
As he blocked in that way, the impact of the attack was transmitted without being properly deflected.
The problem was that the Seventy-Two Wave Sword was a sword of continuous attacks.
"Here I come!"
Papapat!
Jang Baekseo showed a consistently precarious appearance, narrowly dodging some of the continuous attacks of the Seventy-Two Wave Sword and blocking others.
"Hahaha! You're holding up quite well against my Seventy-Two Wave Sword!"
Jeongpung, who said that, sneered at Jang Baekseo, who was consistently being pushed back.
"This is one-sided!!"
"Hey~! You man, that's a natural story! No matter how much he reached the second-rate level at a young age, Jeongpung is a guy with skills that are counted among the best of the third-generation disciples of Qingcheng!"
"Ho ho… it doesn't seem like a very good sight will come out…"
The spectators, who were predicting the aspect of the duel between the two in groups of three and five, soon noticed a strange fact.
"But… why is Jeongpung standing still like that?"
"…I don't know? It's too long for a breather."
Even though a considerable amount of time had passed since Jeongpung, who had been overwhelmingly dominant, had stopped and sneered at Jang Baekseo, he was just standing there without moving.
As the murmuring of the audience, mixed with questions, grew louder, Jeongpung was standing on the training ground with a contorted face.
'Damn it!'
The audience might be flustered, but Jeongpung was also on the verge of dying from embarrassment at the current situation.
Jeongpung frowned at the pain in his right wrist, which had swung the sword.
It was definitely him who had been continuing the attack one-sidedly. Moreover, the opponent had only been dodging and blocking from beginning to end.
But, but for some reason, every time Jang Baekseo blocked the attack so clumsily, his wrist became stiff, and now the pain was so severe that he couldn't even continue the attack.
'What did that brat do!?'
The Seventy-Two Wave Sword was a sword of continuous attacks. The essence of the Seventy-Two Wave Sword was to pressure the opponent with a continuous offensive, and of course, those who faced it would try to dodge or block such sword moves to break the continuous attacks.
And of course, the Seventy-Two Wave Sword had a method to deal with such evasion and defense.
It was a simple story.
If you held a sword and swung it hard, clashing with the opponent's sword, a corresponding repulsive force would come back. The Seventy-Two Wave Sword, which had to continue a rapid series of attacks, naturally had methods to kill the repulsive force that would come back to the arm when the sword swung at high speed collided with the opponent's sword, and techniques to maintain the speed even after that.
Because of these techniques, the Seventy-Two Wave Sword was able to continue its continuous attacks without caring whether the attack was dodged or blocked.
But…
'But why does my wrist hurt so much!?'
No matter how easy an opponent Jang Baekseo was, Jeongpung had properly deployed the Seventy-Two Wave Sword.
Of course, he had also properly used the methods to kill the repulsive force and the techniques to maintain the speed.
Yet, his wrist ached as if he had foolishly struck a huge iron block.
'Did he perhaps see through the method of killing the repulsive force of the Seventy-Two Wave Sword!?'
Jeongpung shook his head at the absurd thought that came to his mind for a moment.
If he had the ability to use such a trick while blocking the endlessly pouring Seventy-Two Wave Sword… he could have just broken the Seventy-Two Wave Sword in one go.
Jeongpung just thought it was a coincidence, or that the movements of Mysterious Profound Sect's martial arts had coincidentally neutralized the method of killing the repulsive force of the Seventy-Two Wave Sword.
While thinking that, Jeongpung, who had treated the injury on his wrist as much as possible using his internal energy, soon took a stance again when his wrist became somewhat movable.
"Fufu! You looked so tired that I gave you some time, but how about it? We can continue the duel now, right?"
"Ah! So Jeongpung was being considerate of that young boy!"
"Haha! That brat has a better personality than I thought!"
'…You're really f*cking around…'
Jang Baekseo barely held back a snort as he looked at Jeongpung, who was making a lame excuse.
Although Jeongpung thought it was just a coincidence, of course, the fact that the method of killing the repulsive force of the Seventy-Two Wave Sword had not worked properly was something that Jang Baekseo had aimed for.
Jang Baekseo had known and learned countless sword techniques.
That's why he also knew well the characteristics and weaknesses of the continuous sword.
Moreover, for Jang Baekseo, who had deeply researched not only the Azure Cloud Red Mist Sword but also the Seventy-Two Wave Sword after the fall of Qingcheng, this was a very simple matter.
And Jeongpung, who had no way of knowing Jang Baekseo's thoughts, took a stance of a sword technique completely different from the Seventy-Two Wave Sword until now, pretending to be calm.
"Huh! Is he perhaps going to use the Songfeng Sword this time!?"
"The Seventy-Two Wave Sword would have been enough, but to use the Songfeng Sword as well, it seems he's planning to broaden the horizons of that Mysterious Profound Sect disciple this time!"
Ignoring the audience, who were interpreting it in a good way, Jeongpung took the stance of the Songfeng Sword.
Although Jeongpung had changed his stance to the Songfeng Sword with a calm face, the reason was obvious.
The pain in his right wrist, which had been injured by Jang Baekseo, had not yet fully recovered.
In that situation, it was difficult to use the Seventy-Two Wave Sword, a continuous sword that put a lot of strain on the wrist, and he was trying to use the Songfeng Sword, a fast sword, while pretending to be as calm as possible.
And all of this was…
'It went as I thought.'
It was as Jang Baekseo had intended.
The two people, who were measuring the distance and slowly getting closer.
For a moment.
Pat!
Jeongpung unfolded the Songfeng Sword.
The forms of the Songfeng Sword, which focused on the subtlety of speed, had many thrusts.
And now too, Jeongpung unfolded a thrusting form, and Jang Baekseo…
"What!?"
Jang Baekseo, who had narrowly dodged the thrust, dug into the outside of Jeongpung's right arm.
Jeongpung's thrust narrowly missed Jang Baekseo's right side, and Jang Baekseo grabbed Jeongpung's arm, which had grazed his side.
And with that momentum, he pressed down on Jeongpung's right shoulder with his left hand and pulled Jeongpung.
"Ugh!?"
Thud!
Jeongpung, whose right arm holding the sword was wrapped and pulled, and his shoulder was pressed down, lost his balance and fell to the floor.
"Aak!?"
Jang Baekseo, who had quickly rolled away and stood up, looked at Jeongpung, who was holding his right shoulder and letting out a painful groan, with indifferent eyes.
Unlike Jang Baekseo, who was looking at Jeongpung indifferently, the audience was in great confusion at what had happened in a moment.
"Huh!? What on earth is this!?"
"Does anyone know what technique that child just used!?"
As the crowd was in confusion, Cheongmu, who was in the place where the people of Mysterious Profound Sect had gathered, opened his eyes wide and muttered.
"…Grappling art! To think he would use grappling art there!?"
"S-Senior Brother? If it's grappling art, isn't it just a trivial grappling technique that the constables of the government often use?"
At his junior brother Cheongdo's refutation, Cheongmu shook his head.
"Although grappling art, a bare-handed subduing technique, tends to be looked down upon in the martial world where fighting with a blade is the basic, think about it. How many people in the martial world have established a family with fist techniques, the same bare-handed technique? Considering that the Huangbo family, one of the Seven Great Families of the martial world, has fist techniques as its main secret technique, in the end, it's not the technique but the person who uses it that is important…"
In other words, to put it differently…
"Then… that means Baekseo is amazing, right?"
At Cheongdo's dazed words, Cheongmu nodded his head.
In fact, the technique that Jang Baekseo had shown was not that special or great.
But Jang Baekseo had used that trivial technique at a very appropriate and perfect moment to subdue Jeongpung!
Cheongmu felt his chest grow hot.
In the meantime, Jeongpung stood up, clutching his shoulder.
'…It didn't come out?'
Jang Baekseo had intended to dislocate Jeongpung's right arm with the technique just now.
The technique had gone in perfectly, and Jeongpung's shoulder had collided with the hard bluestone floor with his shoulder completely open forward. In addition, he had even struck with energy from behind with his left hand, which had opened his shoulder forward, so he had thought it would surely be dislocated.
But there was a factor that Jang Baekseo had not thought of here, and that was his weight.
Although Jang Baekseo's physique was large for his age, his weight was insufficient to dislocate the arm of Jeongpung, who was already an adult.
As a result, although he had dealt a great blow to Jeongpung's shoulder, he had failed to completely dislocate it.
Jeongpung stood up from his seat with bloodshot eyes.
"Heup, heup!"
Jeongpung, whose face was flushed red as if the pain was considerable, gasped for breath and glared at Jang Baekseo.
From Jeongpung's perspective, he would not be able to understand this whole situation.
The fact that he had injured his wrist as a result of unfolding the Seventy-Two Wave Sword, and that he had been hit by a shabby grappling art and had injured his shoulder after unfolding the Songfeng Sword to cover it up.
There was no situation that he could accept.
In particular, Jeongpung had not even thought of the possibility of using grappling art in a situation where they were fighting with swords.
Because in the Central Plains martial world, it was by no means common to use grappling art or binding techniques while fighting with a sword.
But…
'It's not like that outside the Central Plains.'
(End of Chapter)