14th Chapter
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The academy forces the new cadets to ingest Energy-Dispersing Poison the moment they enter.
Since I didn't know when a similar situation might arise again, I wanted to hide at least one as a spare.
Of course, if I were to greedily snatch both of them for myself, it might cause trouble for my future life at the academy.
In times like these, it is best to exercise a little flexibility.
"What?"
Namgung Min was startled at the news that there was only one antidote.
"W-wait a moment, Miss Seol! First, come over here!"
Myeong-seong was also greatly flustered.
He paced back and forth, anxious that I might just swallow the pellet right then and there.
"I understand. I'm coming over, so please step back."
Following my words, the two returned toward the study, and I sprinted toward the study at full speed, just as I had when I first arrived.
*Boom!*
The iron door slammed shut, and spears poured down once again, but they posed no threat to us.
"Phew, that was close."
Since it was the second time, I wasn't all that nervous, but I wiped the sweat from my forehead, pretending to have struggled.
"……."
Myeong-seong and Namgung Min stared at the red pouch in my hand with complicated expressions.
"To think we were meant to compete rather than cooperate from the start—this is going too far!"
While Myeong-seong was relieved that I hadn't just gulped down the antidote, he was also incensed by the malicious plans of the instructors who had set up such traps even after pushing us into the Long Spear Pavilion.
Even as he kept cursing Great Monk Seon-gak and the other instructors, he kept glancing at the antidote I had brought.
*Even if you keep beating around the bush like that, I’m not going to give it to you.*
Was he looking for a chance to snatch it?
No matter how desperate he was for the antidote, I would be a little disappointed in the Mount Hua Sect if he acted that way.
"Seol Sool-ryeo, you take it."
However, before Myeong-seong, who was clearly racking his brain, could reach a conclusion, Namgung Min spoke plainly.
"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to get our hands on it in the first place."
"……That is true. Miss Seol, please take it."
Myeong-seong also nodded heavily.
If Myeong-seong had been twenty years older, he might have been able to hide his expression skillfully or spout plausible sweet talk, but perhaps because he was still young, his disappointment was plain to see.
Now that Namgung Min had shown magnanimity first, he wouldn't want to ruin his reputation this early on.
"Then I won't decline."
Since everything had gone according to plan, I nodded and popped the antidote into my mouth.
Was it a fast-acting medicine? I hoped they hadn't pulled another trick by calling it an antidote when it wasn't.
"We must head out first. We have no choice but to look for other antidotes."
"It might already be too late……."
Since the antidote assigned to our group was gone, there was no more business for us in the Long Spear Pavilion.
Namgung Min and Myeong-seong jumped to their feet.
They were likely thinking of getting out of here as quickly as possible to find the antidotes meant for the other students.
"No, I have another idea."
They had conceded to me willingly, and since I couldn't hide it anyway if I wanted to challenge an instructor to a spar, I revealed my deduction to the two of them.
"If you mean snatching the antidotes from other cadets……."
"That is one way, but I didn't think either of you would be comfortable with that."
I shook my head and said.
"Didn't Instructor Paeng Jung-geol say earlier that he would give us an antidote if we defeated him?"
"Hm?"
"Before the entrance ceremony, weren't there quite a few instructors walking around urging us to eat? The number seemed roughly similar to the number of groups."
Aside from having obtained the antidote, I also had a desire to challenge Paeng Jung-geol.
It wasn't exactly a competitive spirit, though.
Paeng Jung-geol was the one who had readily given out a Small Return Pellet during the entrance exam, having taken a liking to Dan-li-hyang's tenacity.
Passing the Long Spear Pavilion was worthy of praise, but if I could obtain an antidote by challenging and defeating him, who knew what additional rewards might come with it?
In gaming terms, finding the antidote at the location written on the slip was an 'A' rank, while obtaining an additional one from an instructor was like an 'S' rank clear.
"Ah……?"
Namgung Min's eyes widened, and Myeong-seong brightened as well.
At the news that there was a way to obtain an antidote without losing face, a spark of interest lit up their eyes.
"It meant exactly what it said."
"That’s right! The instructor clearly said so while showing us the pouch!"
"Is that true?"
Namgung Min hadn't heard Paeng Jung-geol's words clearly, but seeing the certainty in me and Myeong-seong, she quickly made up her mind.
"Miss Seol, thank you."
"Let's go immediately."
The two looked ready to dash toward Paeng Jung-geol right then and there.
"Let's go together."
I tried raising my internal energy, which was not of a cold Yin nature.
Perhaps because the energy of the antidote was circulating, my Qi moved smoothly, unlike before.
"Together?"
"If he says to challenge him one by one, I can't help it, but…… since you two conceded to me, I should be of help as well."
"……!"
At my words, the two widened their eyes.
Myeong-seong’s jaw dropped in a look of being moved, and although Namgung Min quickly composed her surprised expression, it was clear that she, too, was grateful to me.
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* * *
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"No, young hero! Why are you doing this to us?"
"Shut up! The weak have no right to possess it!"
"Argh!"
As expected, outside the Long Spear Pavilion, the entire academy grounds had turned into a chaotic mess.
The process of finding the antidotes for every group might not have been as difficult as it was for our group, but since there weren't enough to go around, fights were inevitable.
Had Maeng Ryeong-ji been grouped with a Wudang Daoist and a branch member of the Hebei Paeng Clan?
She would have found a way to secure her share, but So-woon was slightly worried.
*Well, we are all cadets of the same academy now, so everyone must fend for themselves!*
Paeng Jung-geol was standing in the same spot where we had parted ways earlier.
He was watching with great interest as the new cadets fought fiercely without even being able to use their internal energy.
"Instructor Paeng!"
"Oh? Cadet Myeong-seong, Cadet Seol Sool-ryeo. Did you have a good trip to the Long Spear Pavilion?"
Paeng Jung-geol asked with a sly grin.
It was unlikely he had memorized where he had placed over fifty cadets, but seeing him mention the Long Spear Pavilion so cheerfully, it seemed he had indeed sent us there on purpose.
"You said earlier that if we fought and defeated you, you would give us an antidote. Does that mean we literally have to defeat you?"
At my question, Paeng Jung-geol smiled very brightly.
"Finally, the first challengers have appeared!"
Had he been waiting?
He, who had been leaning against a table watching the spectacle just a moment ago, strode toward us.
"Tsk, you spineless lot. The instructors are standing right here with the antidotes, yet not one of you tries to snatch them?"
Paeng Jung-geol rebuked the children who were busy bickering and sharpening their knives against each other, then pulled out a pouch and tossed it high into the air and caught it, as if to show it to us.
"Though, snatching them from the cadets is certainly the wiser method. It would be much easier to take them from those guys than from me."
Of course, it would be easier.
But I had already consumed my antidote, and I had also secured a spare.
In a world where I didn't know who might grow up to be the person to cure my Severed Meridians, there was no need to harbor unnecessary grudges from the very first day of the entrance ceremony by hoarding ten or twenty of them.
And there was nothing to lose by challenging Paeng Jung-geol, whether I won or lost.
"I do not wish to take the share of my weaker peers. Please, teach us a move."
Myeong-seong spoke elegantly, as befitted a direct disciple of the Mount Hua Sect leader.
"Hahaha! That’s the spirit of a Heavenly Martial Academy cadet!"
At the upright words that adults would love, Paeng Jung-geol burst into a thunderous laugh, delighted.
"Good. The three of you can attack at once. Since you can't use internal energy, let's say you win if you can even cut a piece of my clothing. I won't draw my saber."
Oh? Not only was he not telling us to just rob him, but he was even offering such a penalty?
He even took three antidotes out of his pouch to show us.
I thought it would be one per instructor, but did he mean to give them all away?
Well, asking us to fight and win three times would be excessive.
"So it really was possible to get the antidotes from the instructors."
Namgung Min, who hadn't been sure until we spoke, gripped her sword tightly, and the other cadets who had been fighting over the antidotes also began to take notice.
"If we cut your clothing, you will give us all three antidotes, is that correct?"
"Yes!"
"Even if you draw your saber, we win if we succeed?"
"Hahaha! Try it if you can!"
I confirmed the exact conditions of the challenge and smirked.
The fact that he allowed the three of us to attack at once and offered three antidotes meant he assumed that I, Namgung Min, and Myeong-seong had all failed to pass the Long Spear Pavilion and were challenging him instead.
Even if we had ingested the Energy-Dispersing Poison, it didn't mean the internal energy in our Dantian had vanished entirely; it just meant we couldn't draw it up.
Paeng Jung-geol couldn't possibly know through his Qi sense that I had already neutralized the poison.
"Attack whenever you're ready."
As soon as Paeng Jung-geol declared the start of the spar, Namgung Min lunged forward.
Unlike when she had moved cautiously, wary of spears that might pop out from anywhere, in the open space, she utilized a sword technique that was both grand and swift.
*Swish! Swish!*
Her elegant sword cut through the air several times as she charged at Paeng Jung-geol.
"Heavenly Unbound Sword Aura……!"
Someone shouted.
If I were just one of the spectators, it would have been a sword dance beautiful enough to make me stare in a trance, but Myeong-seong and I didn't have that luxury.
"Oh, not bad."
Paeng Jung-geol easily kept his distance by hopping backward, avoiding Namgung Min's attacks.
"Hmm, is the footwork best with Cadet Seol Sool-ryeo?"
He also nonchalantly blocked me and Myeong-seong, who were moving here and there from the opposite direction, trying to find an opening.
"Namgung Min, you haven't been practicing the Heavenly Unbound Sword Aura for long, have you? In a spar, it would be better to use the Great Connection Sword Technique. And Myeong-seong…… your talent is outstanding, but your lack of experience is a pity. You must take my class."
He was just being cool.
Paeng Jung-geol nagged that Namgung Min's forms were not precise, or that Myeong-seong didn't understand the essence of the Illusion Sword at all.
"Is it the Mirror of Snow? Your footwork is completely different from your father's?"
"It is the Snow Wind Footwork."
I closed the distance in an instant and struck my sword upward with all my might.
"Oops."
It was a complex sequence of moves, even if it lacked the flashiness of Myeong-seong’s sword.
Paeng Jung-geol countered it simply by raising an arm coated in internal energy.
‘So this is the difference between a true martial arts master and the rest.’
The gap was overwhelming.
I felt a wall similar to the one I encountered when facing my father.
*Whoosh!*
I lowered my stance and swung my sword toward his legs. It was a feint, intended to make him think I was aiming for the hem of his trousers while he was busy guarding his sleeves.
"Haha! Not bad, not bad at all!"
Paeng Jung-geol dodged lightly, looking as if he were having the time of his life, and stepped behind me. He approached, spinning the pouch containing the antidote around his finger. If only one of us had seized the opening to strike, but the three of us knew far too little about each other’s sword styles.
"Ah... I suppose we really are no match for him..."
"But Lady Seol is quite impressive, too..."
The watching students groaned in frustration, and Paeng Jung-geol approached me again, unguarded, telling me to try once more.
"……!"
In an unexpected moment, an opportunity arose.
One step, just one more step.
The moment Paeng Jung-geol, convinced he had us completely suppressed, let his guard down and allowed me to close the distance, I pushed my internal energy to its absolute limit, excluding my Yin-Cold Qi.
*Falling Soul of White Snow.*
The sword aura scattering through the air fell like snow. Caught off guard by the sudden, relentless flurry of thrusts, Paeng Jung-geol’s stance faltered for a split second.
"W-what!"
As expected, he had never anticipated that I would be able to use internal energy. A strange sense of exhilaration washed over me at having landed a hit on a martial arts master.
Naturally, Paeng Jung-geol parried every real strike aimed at him, but his sleeve was cleanly torn by the grazing edge of my blade.
"She tore his sleeve!"
"What? She could use internal energy?"
"Is that the Ice Soul Divine Art...!"
It wasn't the Ice Soul Divine Art, but there was no need to explain that. I grabbed the torn piece of fabric with one hand, stood my ground, and held it out toward Paeng Jung-geol.
"We won, didn't we?"
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