Chapter 44 : The Art of Fighting
"Captain! I found one here!"
Gwangcheon shouted towards Namgung Il.
A blue bead was held in his right hand.
At the same time, Jong Seo-eon's voice was heard in succession from nearby.
"Captain! I found one too!"
"Good, let's gather for a moment."
When Namgung Il said that, the two immediately returned to where Namgung Il was.
"Kuh— When we go where the captain told us, we find them so quickly."
"It's true. At this rate, we'll be able to find them all in less than half an hour!"
The two were speaking as if they were excited.
The number of beads the three had found was now a total of six with that one.
If they just found three more, all three would meet the passing condition of the second exam.
"It's too early to be careless."
Namgung Il said to the two who were chattering excitedly.
A tone that had become quite comfortable.
Since he was in a position to command here, Namgung Il had gotten the two's consent and had started to speak comfortably.
"If my prediction is right, it'll start from now on."
"What will?"
"The battle."
Until now, they had been able to obtain the beads without any particular conflict.
However, as he had expected at the beginning, as soon as the exam passed the early stage and entered the middle stage, the competition would become fierce in earnest.
Namgung Il thought that the exam had now entered the middle stage.
"Be careful from now on. You don't know when and where an attack will come."
"B-but... in this vast forest, will we really run into other people so easily?"
"As long as our purpose is the same, no matter how vast the forest is, we will eventually meet."
Just as Namgung Il was currently using his sense of qi to find the beads, the skilled examinees would also be looking for the beads in the same way.
How many beads would be left in the forest now that an hour had passed?
The fewer beads that were left, the higher the possibility of running into other people would become.
'A thousand... no, are there even fewer than that?'
Namgung Il concentrated and tried to find the beads around him again.
But unlike the beginning, it was now quite difficult for even Namgung Il to find the beads.
Because in this forest now, besides the Qi Storage Jades, other examinees were scattered around.
Distinguishing between them and the beads was a very difficult task unless one's sense of qi was exceptionally superior.
"..."
If it were in the past, he wouldn't have had such a hard time.
Faced with this situation, Namgung Il could feel with his body that he had become much weaker compared to the past.
'I should avoid the moving ones as much as possible. Then...'
Soon, Namgung Il opened his eyes that he had closed.
The two people who had been holding their breath and watching Namgung Il with a tense face.
Namgung Il pointed in one direction with his finger and said.
"We're going in that direction."
"..."
"As I said just now, we're going to move while being as wary of our surroundings as possible."
When Namgung Il said that, the two nodded their heads without a word.
Phat—
Namgung Il began to move first.
And the two who followed behind him.
Although Namgung Il was moving through the mountain at a fairly fast speed, the two were following behind without much difficulty.
"..."
Lightness skill is one of the basic elements that a martial artist must learn.
Of course, just because one's lightness skill was superior, one could not conclude that that person's martial arts skills were superior, but it was a measure that could be guessed to some extent.
In other words, the fact that they were following Namgung Il without much difficulty like this was proof of the two's skills.
Namgung Il continued to move forward and glanced back.
'Seeing that they're following this much without much difficulty... even if a battle situation arises, I won't have to worry too much.'
Namgung Il was planning to move in a way that avoided battle as much as possible.
But there is always a one-in-a-million situation.
Namgung Il was always considering the situation of a battle even at this moment.
Thud—
Just then, Namgung Il suddenly stopped moving.
At the same time, he raised his fist.
Seeing that, the two who were following behind also stopped in their tracks at once.
"..."
A bead was visible in front.
Three beads were neatly placed under a tree.
It was just the amount the three needed now.
"Three beads? Thank you, Buddha!"
Gwangcheon said and was about to approach the beads.
However.
Because of Namgung Il's arm that was blocking his path, Gwangcheon could not move any further.
"What's wrong, Captain?"
"...Isn't it strange?"
"What is?"
"Have there ever been three beads gathered at once like that until now?"
No, there hadn't.
Basically, one was hidden in one place, and at most, two were found within a few feet of each other, like just now.
But for three beads to be gathered at once like that, as if to say, come and get them.
Namgung Il couldn't help but feel a sense of unease at that sight.
"Isn't all of this the help of Buddha?"
"..."
"I will go and quickly pick them up!"
Gwangcheon said and passed through Namgung Il's arm, running towards where the beads were placed.
Thud—
"...?"
While running towards the beads, Gwangcheon suddenly felt a sensation as if his foot were sinking.
Soon, Gwangcheon's figure disappeared from in front of him.
"Kuwek—!"
With a single scream, Gwangcheon fell under his feet in an instant.
A heavy sound was heard afterwards.
Namgung Il and Jong Seo-eon immediately approached the pit where Gwangcheon had fallen.
"Y-Young Hero Gwangcheon! Are you alright?"
Jong Seo-eon shouted towards the pit.
And so, from below, a groaning sound was heard along with Gwangcheon's voice.
"Aigoo... who put a pit in a place like this..."
"Gwangcheon, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, except for my heart pounding because I was so surprised."
So he's fine.
Although it seemed he had fallen quite deep, it seemed he was not seriously injured.
'The martial arts of the Shaolin Temple are specialized in external skills.'
Perhaps thanks to that, he was safe even after falling from such a height.
Swoosh—
As soon as he confirmed that Gwangcheon was safe, Namgung Il immediately raised his head.
There was no way a pit of this depth would be here naturally.
Moreover, the pit was also cleverly hidden so that it could not be easily discovered.
Thud—
Just then, the people who had been hiding around showed themselves.
Perhaps those people were the ones who had dug this trap.
Seeing the people who had appeared around him, Namgung Il could tell that the sense of unease he had felt was not wrong.
"See! Look, what did I say? I told you he would fall into the trap!"
"He's not a wild boar, but to really fall into a trap like this... anyway, it went as planned."
A total of five people appeared. The man who seemed to be the leader among them said to Namgung Il.
"Hand over all the beads you have to us!"
"..."
"Then we won't do anything and will just let you go obediently."
As expected, their purpose was the beads.
'To fall for such an obvious trap.'
No, on the contrary, it was a good thing.
Thanks to Gwangcheon falling into the trap, the hidden enemies had revealed themselves on their own.
Namgung Il quickly grasped the skills of the enemies surrounding him.
'They're nothing special.'
In the first place, they were brats whose skills could not even be properly grasped with his sense of qi.
Of course, if the brats were intentionally hiding their presence, it would be a different story, but from the looks of it, the brats did not seem to be masters who could do that much.
"Jong Seo-eon."
Just then, Namgung Il called for Jong Seo-eon, wary of his surroundings.
But for some reason, no answer returned.
When he turned his head, Jong Seo-eon was frozen there with a tense face.
'This brat... is he nervous?'
To be nervous about such brats... this is a severe case.
Namgung Il slapped Jong Seo-eon's back hard with his palm.
Slap—
"Kuaaah—!"
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Wh-why did you suddenly do that...!"
"This is effective when you're nervous."
As Namgung Il had said, Jong Seo-eon's expression looked much more at ease than before.
But after confirming the surrounding situation, a sense of tension appeared on his face again.
Jong Seo-eon stammered and asked Namgung Il.
"Wh-what do we do now?"
"What do you mean, what do we do? We have to fight."
"F-fight?"
"Then are you going to obediently give them all the beads you have?"
"..."
"Don't worry. They're nothing special, so we can win with just the two of us."
Although Namgung Il said so confidently, Jong Seo-eon was still anxious.
They only had two people, while the other side had five.
It was a situation where they were bound to be outnumbered before the fight even started.
'Can we win?'
Jong Seo-eon had never experienced a situation like this before.
The only sparring he had done so far was one-on-one. And he had never fought in a real battle situation like this.
But for his first real battle to be a situation like this.
Jong Seo-eon swallowed his dry saliva and took a stance.
"Nothing special? I think that brat just said that about us."
"Ah, that's right. I heard it clearly too."
"Then it can't be helped. We can't just let them go obediently after hearing something like that."
The sound of weapons being drawn was heard from here and there.
Of course, they were all holding real swords with blades, and confirming that, Jong Seo-eon's body stiffened again as before.
Slap—
It was then.
A sharp blow was felt on his back once more.
"Kwak!"
Jong Seo-eon looked at the person who had just hit him with a single scream.
"Why do you keep hitting me!"
"So who told you to freeze up like that?"
"I can't help it! This is the first time I'm facing a large number of enemies. And in a real battle like this..."
"What? The first time?"
Namgung Il was only now able to understand the reason why Jong Seo-eon had been nervous from the beginning.
'What on earth did that brat Du-sik do, not even giving him this kind of training?'
Looking at most real battles, it was safe to say that there were almost no cases of one-on-one duels.
That's why, in order to get used to a situation like this from a young age, one had to have a gang fight once and get beaten up once to become a little tougher.
It seemed that Gae Du-sik had raised his disciple a little too gently.
'It can't be helped.'
Since the disciple had taught him wrong, he, the grand-master, had no choice but to educate him.
As if he had decided something, Namgung Il said to Jong Seo-eon.
"From now on, I'll teach you the knack of dealing with a large number of enemies."
A knack?
As Jong Seo-eon looked at him with a puzzled expression, Namgung Il continued to speak as if he didn't care.
"First, don't be nervous and look around you."
"..."
"What do you see?"
"...I see swords aimed at me."
Slap—
"Kuh... why did you hit me again this time!"
"Because it's not the right answer."
"Then what on earth am I supposed to see?"
"Who is the leader among those brats? That's what I meant for you to figure out first."
Namgung Il said and looked at one of the five.
"In my opinion, that brat is the leader."
"...So?"
"The rest is easy."
Namgung Il said and drew his sword.
"You just have to beat up that brat."
Phat—
In an instant, Namgung Il's figure disappeared from the spot.
"...!"
The man saw Namgung Il, who had appeared in front of him, and hurriedly swung his sword.
But at the sword strike that Namgung Il swung, the man's sword was too easily sent flying far away, and Namgung Il grabbed the defenseless man's hair with one hand.
Thwack—
Namgung Il threw the man's head on the floor.
And so, the man fell forward without any resistance.
Namgung Il quickly got on top of him and grabbed his hair again, repeatedly slamming the man's head on the floor.
Thwack— Thwack— Thwack—.
An unpleasant sound was heard, and blood splattered everywhere.
The people who were looking at him with a pale face.
Just then, Namgung Il put down the man's battered head on the floor and got up.
"Are you going to do more?"
"...!"
"I don't mind."
Namgung Il, who wiped the blood on his face and asked.
No one could answer that question.
(End of Chapter)