CHAPTER: Chapter 6
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Chapter 6.
A simultaneous attack came crashing in from both sides.
Both of his hands were occupied clinging to the cliff face.
It was, quite literally, no different from having his hands bound.
‘...There is nowhere to evade!’
He was, in the truest sense, utterly without recourse.
Any ordinary child would have been helplessly cast down.
Yet Uncheon’s eyes shone coldly even in the midst of danger.
His senses, honed by crossing the threshold between life and death dozens of times, had already perfectly read even their killing intent and their shallow breathing.
‘If I block one side, my balance will collapse, and this body lacks the strength to hold out. In that case...!’
In that fleeting instant, a stratagem bordering on madness flashed through Uncheon’s mind.
SLIP—.
Just before the hands reaching from both sides could touch his body, Uncheon instead let go of the cliff of his own accord.
“What...!”
“Y-You lunatic!”
The eyes of the two children filled with shock.
They had expected Uncheon to resist or evade; they had never imagined he would throw himself off.
But that was not the end of it.
At the very instant Uncheon’s body slipped beneath the cliff—
WHIP—!
Like a hawk snatching prey, Uncheon’s two hands shot out.
Then they seized the wrists of the two children on either side with perfect accuracy.
“Ghk!”
“What?!”
In an instant, Uncheon’s full weight bore down on the children’s arms.
Combined with the force of his fall, it yanked them violently downward.
Their balance, already precarious as they had been hanging by one hand in order to attack, collapsed helplessly.
“Uh... h-huh?”
“Aaaaargh—!”
The children’s desperate screams echoed through the valley as they rapidly disappeared below.
But only the two of them fell.
Uncheon did not fall with them.
Using the momentary recoil from dragging them down, he launched his own body upward.
The finest Lightness Art in Gonryun.
No—not merely that, but an art fit to contend for the finest under heaven.
A wondrous, uncanny movement that made use of the body’s rebounding force, like a dragon gliding through the clouds.
‘Since I have no internal energy at the moment, there should be no one who can see through it....’
The profound principles of the Cloud Dragon Great Eight Forms unfolded through his body in that instant.
In that brief moment, Uncheon rammed both hands into the cracks in the rock as though clawing them in.
CRUNCH!
Pain surged through him as his nails broke and his skin split open.
Yet Uncheon did not let out so much as a groan as he fixed his body firmly to the cliff face.
“Huh? Those two are the ones falling!”
“Are they idiots? They lost their own balance trying to attack him.”
Even after seeing the scene, the cadets did not imagine that Uncheon had done anything.
Only a few of the Head Instructors realized that Uncheon had employed some sort of stratagem.
‘Surely not... did he drag the two down and use the recoil at the same time?’
The eyes of the Head Instructors who grasped it shone with surprise and curiosity.
‘To steady his body in midair and seize a rocky outcrop with such precision....’
Jeok Mugwang’s eyes, too, gleamed with interest.
‘...So he is not merely all talk!’
The madness to let go of the cliff with his own hand,
the wit to use two falling bodies as footholds and spring upward, and even the uncanny skill to steady himself in midair and seize a rocky ledge with precision.
A satisfied smile touched the lips of the Head Instructor who had encouraged the sudden assault.
‘It was not because Blood Wind Leg, Ma Chung, grew careless... this brat has something!’
‘We nearly let a rough gem slip away. We must bring him over to our side before the others set their sights on him!’
The gazes of several Head Instructors fixed on Uncheon with naked greed.
“...Hoh. That leaves only nine. The examination is over! You may all let go now.”
At those words, the remaining children hanging from the cliff finally released their grips all at once.
Then the waiting Head Instructors appeared like the wind and caught their falling bodies.
Yayul Hui, who had watched the whole scene with bated breath, stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
‘To let go of the cliff himself and bring down two at once...! He is rather impressive, is he not?’
Her view of Uncheon, which had once looked down on his frail frame and petty cunning, was utterly transformed after witnessing the trial.
Yayul Hui’s once sharp lips parted slightly before she even realized it.
‘Besides... just how did he pull off that strange movement? I would not even dare try to imitate it...!’
How many people could display such quick wits with such a gaunt body, one that looked as though it had never learned a single martial art?
In the eyes she turned toward Uncheon, strong curiosity had begun to surge like a wave in place of contempt.
‘That fellow...! I will have to watch him more closely!’
When the trial ended, Uncheon tried to descend to the ground without overexerting himself.
At that moment, one of the Head Instructors approached and supported his arm.
‘This boy’s judgment and reflexes are far from ordinary. His frame may be slender, but that makes him all the more suited to our Shadowless Killing Sect!’
Unlike the way he treated the other children, his touch was unexpectedly gentle.
The Head Instructor whispered so softly that only Uncheon could hear.
“That was remarkable nerve, brat. You have rather decent aptitude. You would make a fine dagger.”
The Head Instructor’s eyes gleamed greedily.
Yet even during that brief support and exchange, Uncheon could feel his body screaming.
‘To be drained by so little movement... this body is truly garbage.’
Having hung there for so long, an extreme exhaustion crushed his entire body.
Then Jeok Mugwang, who had overseen the trial, stepped forward and declared, “Heh heh... as promised, the nine who passed the trial will be granted the highest qualification.”
At last, Uncheon was officially judged to be of the highest rank.
“Count it an honor. You will now enter the Hidden Demon Cave, where this cult raises its demonic practitioners. We have delayed long enough, so we move at once!”
It was a breathtaking reversal, beginning from the very bottom.
Yet only now had Uncheon truly reached the starting line of the real competition.
‘They raise demonic practitioners? So a demonic practitioner stands above an ordinary martial artist here. The Hidden Demon Cave...’
The nine children who had risen to the highest rank moved deeper into the Demonic Martial Hall under the Head Instructors’ guidance, without so much as a moment of rest.
︙
How long had they walked?
At some point, the damp, clammy corridor that had seemed as though it would go on forever came to an end, and an entirely different scene spread out before them.
A vast underground cavern.
It was an overwhelming space, as though an entire mountain had been hollowed out.
Even though it lay underground, it was not dark, for luminous pearls were set into the walls.
Inside, countless stone chambers stood in orderly rows.
‘This is a rather serious facility.’
At the center of the space lay a massive training ground, and a cool yet limpid aura, as if the mountain’s vital essence had gathered there, drifted throughout the cavern.
“This is the Hidden Demon Cave where you will be staying from now on.”
As the children looked around in awe at the escorting Head Instructor’s words, Uncheon’s gaze had already fixed on one place.
A group stood at one side of the training ground, staring at the newly admitted cadets with sour expressions.
They were the children who had settled into the Hidden Demon Cave before them.
Gorgeous silk martial robes, finely honed weapons, and above all, the arrogance and fierce aura that flowed naturally from their bodies.
“The last stragglers have arrived.”
“Does this mean the Hidden Demon Cave is finally full now?”
As the Hidden Demon Cave grew noisy, children began poking their heads out from stone chambers one by one.
They openly swept their eyes over the newly arrived cadets as though they were gawking at a spectacle in the marketplace.
Their gazes were a mixture of contempt, mockery, and a trace of curiosity.
‘So they are trying to throw their weight around already.’
Then a boy standing at the center of the group stepped forward.
It was Muk Hajin of the Sagal Muk Family, the one who had earlier glared at Uncheon and drawn a finger across his throat.
Clear confidence rested on the face of the boy clad in a black battle robe.
He opened his mouth in a mocking tone.
“To think a schemer like you made it this far. Instructor Jeok Mugwang must be rather lenient.”
Finishing his words, Muk Hajin snapped his fingers.
PING—!
A small hidden needle flew soundlessly and lodged itself right before Uncheon’s feet.
It was an open threat, and a warning.
‘A hidden weapon—moreover, a needle fit to be coated with poison.’
It posed no threat to Uncheon at all.
“You there! Vermin!”
Uncheon looked at Muk Hajin with an indifferent expression.
‘For one who uses hidden weapons to reveal his own weapon this easily... regardless of his martial attainment, he is third-rate.’
Muk Hajin arbitrarily mistook that calm composure for an inability to react at all.
A sneer spilled from his lips.
“Did you see that? Heh heh. He cannot even react—he can only flinch.”
“And that kind of fellow is ranked among the highest with us...? How laughable.”
The surrounding children joined in at his words.
Raised in the great houses of the Demonic Cult, they knew it instinctively.
Because of the doctrine of The Strong Are Exalted, they could maintain their positions only by crushing those witless upstarts who kept trying to crawl higher than their station.
“I shall see for myself how long your lucky streak continues!”
In Yayul Hui’s eyes, as she watched the scene, there now lingered a more complicated emotion than before.
‘Flinched...? No... rather than that, it would be more accurate to say he did not move at all....’
Nearby, a boy leaned against a pillar and watched the entire scene as though it were an entertaining play.
A faint smile touched Yuha’s lips.
‘It is not that he could not react. He chose not to. He is someone who never turned up in my information network beforehand... and yet, why do I find him more interesting than Muk Hajin?’
Even in the face of the insulting words, Uncheon’s expression did not change in the least as he replied flatly.
“You have an awful amount of pointless interest in me. Is this a hidden weapon? How amateurish. To reveal a hidden weapon so carelessly.”
Uncheon calmly picked up the hidden needle Muk Hajin had thrown and sneered.
“You...!”
At the moment Muk Hajin ground his teeth and tried to step forward—
“......Silence.”
A low voice rang out, swallowing every sound in the hall in an instant.
It was not even loudly spoken, yet it carried a force that dominated everyone present.
“......”
The noisy group fell silent as though by magic.
The children’s eyes turned toward the platform at the center of the training ground.
Since when had he been standing there?
A man stood there, utterly motionless like a rock.
His face was cold and devoid of emotion.
His muscles looked as hard as if encased in steel, and his rough, massive fists were murderous weapons in and of themselves.
‘A fist master of the Peak Realm... he exudes a different kind of pressure from Mad Blood Saber Jeok Mugwang. Not a rampaging tiger, but something like cold steel.’
While Uncheon was analyzing him, the man spoke.
“I am the instructor who will guide your training and judge your martial talent from this point onward, Iron Fist Ga Cheonak.”
He swept his gaze over the children for a moment, then continued in a frigid voice.
“You seem to be content merely because you were chosen for the highest rank. Do not delude yourselves. You have merely been classified as somewhat better pebbles among thousands of stones.”
At a gesture from Ga Cheonak, the massive stone wall at one side of the training ground split apart with a heavy rumble.
Inside appeared a practical, functional space where more than a dozen huge bookshelves had been arranged at even intervals.
The shelves were neatly arranged with plaques such as [Basic Sword Art], [Basic Saber Art], and [Basic Internal Energy Manual].
Low exclamations escaped from the children.
“That is the Soul-Seizing Sword Art...!”
“Is that not the Seven-Kill Saber Art?!”
“The Army-Breaking Spear Art! All spear techniques of the Demonic Cult begin from that as a matter of course.”
“The Primordial Demon Art is here as well. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that all manuals of the Demonic Cult trace back to the Primordial Demon Art.”
The children who had risen to the highest rank were already making their choices, mentioning famous foundational martial arts from their respective families and sects.
“Heh heh, you all know them well. From now on, each of you will select two martial arts from that library pavilion.”
Ga Cheonak’s voice rang throughout the Hidden Demon Cave.
“Ordinarily, one would choose a weapon art to serve as one’s primary discipline, and another internal energy manual to support it. Of course, the choice is yours. But you will have only one chance, so choose carefully.”
He swept his gaze over the children one last time and declared, “One year from now, your progress will be judged through trial sparring. Those who display outstanding achievement will receive rewards to match.”
At that declaration, the children’s eyes lit up at once.
“Conversely, those who fail to prove themselves will be sent to the lowest place in this cult. Remember this well. There are thousands of children in the Demonic Martial Hall who never made it into the Hidden Demon Cave....”
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