Baek Yoonjun swung his sword at the opponent.
A blow that habitually aimed for the neck.
Kaang!
'As expected, it's blocked.'
Since he was of a similar realm to himself, he knew it would naturally be blocked.
Screeeech!
Their strength was almost equal.
As the tense situation continued, a starlight began to be imbued in the illusionary martial artist's sword.
'That is?'
It was a phenomenon that Baek Yoonjun had also seen before.
A trick used by martial artists below third-rate who were at least close to third-rate.
But the intensity was on a different level from what the martial artists below third-rate had used.
"Keuk!"
Baek Yoonjun was flustered by the phenomenon of being pushed back while confronting with a sword for the first time.
'I thought it was a miscellaneous skill used by third-rate or lower, but it's different when a third-rate uses it.'
The illusionary martial artist's sword shone so brilliantly that all the starlight-imbued phenomena he had seen until now seemed like a joke.
'It's not even an aura blade!'
Baek Yoonjun, who was pushed back by the sword, stepped on the unique movement technique he had created and narrowly avoided the starlight-imbued sword.
'Am I behind in strength but superior in technique?'
The opponent's sword was destructive, but to Baek Yoonjun's eyes, it looked monotonous.
After dodging the opponent's sword, Baek Yoonjun aimed for the opening that had been created and thrust his sword.
Kaang!
But that starlight was wrapped around the opponent's body, and the thrust sword was bounced off.
'What is this now?!'
Although Baek Yoonjun could also do something similar, it was not imbued with starlight like that.
He continuously dodged the sword and aimed for the openings to thrust, but his sword did not go through.
'This is tough.'
For the first time, Baek Yoonjun felt a wall.
'Phew, let's calm down. I have to do what I can do.'
Baek Yoonjun infused his internal energy into his sword.
Although it was not imbued with starlight, a wind blew and was imbued in the sword.
Baek Yoonjun swung the sword imbued with the blue wind, and again, his sword clashed with the opponent's.
Kaang!
Baek Yoonjun's sword, imbued with the wind, was on equal terms with the illusionary martial artist's sword.
'What? It looks different, but was it actually similar?'
Kang! Kaang!
Baek Yoonjun's and the illusionary martial artist's swords clashed in succession.
Although it seemed they were on equal terms at first, Baek Yoonjun's sword began to accelerate, surpassing the speed at which the illusionary martial artist swung his sword.
Slice.
In the end, he shallowly cut the illusionary martial artist.
'There's no blood. Is it because it's an illusion?'
Perhaps because the illusionary martial artist was a black phenomenon, instead of blood, a black mist flowed out like a liquid.
Baek Yoonjun did not stop there and swung his sword in succession.
As his sword accelerated, Baek Yoonjun's body also accelerated, and numerous afterimages cut the illusionary martial artist's body.
Because of that, a black mist poured out from the illusionary martial artist's body in all directions, but.
'It's shallow.'
There seemed to be no fatal wounds.
Although he was slower than Baek Yoonjun, since the illusionary martial artist was also of an almost equal realm, it seemed he had somehow avoided a fatal wound.
'This time, I'll cut you down.'
Aiming for an opening, Baek Yoonjun dug into the opponent's bosom.
Seeing that, the opponent immediately thrust his starlight-imbued sword, but Baek Yoonjun dodged the sword by a paper-thin margin.
However.
Whoosh!
The starlight-imbued sword lengthened as if to pierce Baek Yoonjun's body.
"Ugh!"
Baek Yoonjun bent his back and dodged the starlight-imbued sword.
'Is it a Ruyi Jingu Bang? It gets longer?!'
The opponent's sword did not end there.
The starlight sword not only lengthened but also shot out, chasing Baek Yoonjun's figure.
'A laser is coming out of a sword?!'
Baek Yoonjun twisted his body, dodged the flying starlight, and then swung his sword to strike it away.
'What?!'
As soon as Baek Yoonjun struck away the starlight, another starlight poured out in succession.
'It's not just once?'
Starlight that poured out at Baek Yoonjun in succession.
'This kind of thing is martial arts?'
In fact, it was a technique that anyone above the transcendent realm could display, although not to this extent, but by Baek Yoonjun's standards, it was not.
'This is annoying.'
In the process of continuously striking away and dodging the starlight, Baek Yoonjun felt his blood pressure rising.
'If it's martial arts, we should be fighting with swords, so where are you using this kind of sorcery?!'
It was all a claim based on Baek Yoonjun's standards.
'Then I'll do something similar to you!'
Baek Yoonjun gritted his teeth and gathered the surrounding energy.
After that, he immediately used the gathered energy to create a phenomenon of a sword.
A sword made of dozens of streams of wind gathered around Baek Yoonjun.
'Go!'
As Baek Yoonjun stretched his sword towards the opponent, invisible blades poured down all at once.
At the sheer volume of the wind's sword, which overwhelmed the opponent's starlight, the starlight was helplessly extinguished and rushed at the opponent.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!
At the same time as the roaring explosion, dust scattered in all directions, and perhaps because the formation had been shattered long ago, the surrounding scenery had returned to the walls of the secret cave.
Although the illusion of the formation had disappeared, the human-shaped illusion in front of Baek Yoonjun was enduring, having plunged its sword into the ground.
"Splen... did... challenger... you somehow... endured... the trial..."
Surprisingly, the illusion spoke to Baek Yoonjun.
But there was something that bothered Baek Yoonjun more than the illusion speaking.
'What? Endured?'
At the rising anger, Baek Yoonjun approached the illusion.
"You... safely endured..."
"What do you mean, endured! I won!"
Slice.
Baek Yoonjun cut down the illusion, and the illusion scattered like mist.
'The technique of handling something like starlight was a little surprising, but is it because it's just third-rate? It's no big deal.'
With a slight sense of disappointment in his heart, Baek Yoonjun moved his feet.
* * *
The entrance of the secret cave.
There, Divine Nun Jihwa and Su Yeohyang were talking.
"The second trial is a place that tests desire."
"Desire?"
"A part of the incantation for a sorcery that can be called peerless is written there."
"Huh? Th-why is something like that in the secret cave?"
"That is for the test."
Divine Nun Jihwa explained about the second trial of the secret cave.
That if you go to the left, you will get the complete incantation of that sorcery and wealth, and if you go to the right, you will face a trial.
Hearing that, Su Yeohyang tilted her head.
"Wouldn't an ordinary person go to the left?"
"That's right. But that side is probably a trap."
"Uhm, certainly, if it's a secret cave made by the founding ancestor, that would be the case. Then, as expected, Master must have gone to the right, right?"
"That's right."
Divine Nun Jihwa shivered as she recalled the scene from that time.
"The right was hell. You have to survive from the illusion of a peerless master that cannot be seen anywhere in the Central Plains."
"A peerless master? Isn't Master one of the few transcendent masters in the Central Plains?"
Divine Nun Jihwa looked at the surprised Su Yeohyang with wide eyes and smiled bitterly.
"The saying that the end of the realm of martial arts is transcendent is nonsense. Even I have glimpsed a realm beyond transcendent."
"Th-then is the illusion inside a realm beyond transcendent?"
"No."
Divine Nun Jihwa looked up at the sky.
Her gaze was looking beyond the sky.
"It is a being in a realm that has surpassed even that."
"Heeik! If such a being is blocking the way, what are we supposed to do?!"
"That's why it's hell. You have to survive somehow. I also managed to endure somehow, but..."
Divine Nun Jihwa recalled the scene from that time.
The scene of the illusion of an overwhelmingly strong master in a black form looking down on her just before she completely lost her breath.
If it weren't for the Nine Revolutions Illusionary Step that she had learned in the previous trial, she would have become a guest who would never return long ago.
A heavy voice echoed from the illusion that was looking down.
-You are not qualified. Go back.
Although it was an illusion, at the voice of the absolute being that seeped into her bones, Divine Nun Jihwa barely managed to survive and came out of the secret cave.
"Th-then isn't Great Hero Baek also in danger?!"
Su Yeohyang was startled by Divine Nun Jihwa's words.
Divine Nun Jihwa patted the worried Su Yeohyang with a gentle hand.
"Fortunately, although you become almost half-dead, it doesn't take your life or damage your bones and muscles."
"Ugh, I wonder if I shouldn't have brought him here..."
Su Yeohyang looked at the entrance of the secret cave with eyes full of worry.
Divine Nun Jihwa gently stroked Su Yeohyang.
"No. I have a feeling that that person might even overcome that trial."
Neither Divine Nun Jihwa nor Su Yeohyang could have imagined in their dreams that the illusion of that absolute master had been completely shattered by Baek Yoonjun's hands.
* * *
Baek Yoonjun, who was walking through the passage, was engulfed in thought.
'Am I actually beyond third-rate?'
There was a reasonable reason for Baek Yoonjun to be pondering this.
'That illusion also seemed to be third-rate, but I won, didn't I?'
Although he had struggled a little, he had overwhelmingly crushed it afterward.
Therefore, Baek Yoonjun was engulfed in the thought that he might have surpassed third-rate.
But that thought did not last long.
'No. That's not it. I've confirmed a realm beyond third-rate in my mind's eye, haven't I?'
Baek Yoonjun recalled the mental image he had seen.
A realm where he knew to some extent about death, but could not set foot in because he did not know about life.
'I must have set foot there to have become second-rate.'
Baek Yoonjun strongly recalled that he was still third-rate, and because of that, his shoulders, which had been about to rise for a moment, slumped.
And so, another worry came to the mind of the dejected Baek Yoonjun.
'The martial arts that I thought were sorcery and didn't use, are they actually not sorcery?'
Recalling the starlight that the illusion had used, Baek Yoonjun then recalled his own standards for sorcery.
No particular standard came to mind.
'That illusion also shot beams from its sword, made it long, and shot it, right? I'm just making a sword with wind and firing it, so compared to that, isn't it far from sorcery?'
Thinking so, Baek Yoonjun was convinced.
'I see. The martial arts that I thought were sorcery were not sorcery!'
Baek Yoonjun released the seal on the martial arts that he had not used because they seemed like sorcery.
For the enemies who would meet Baek Yoonjun in the future, it was a nightmare-like sound.
And so, having loosely released the restriction on sorcery, Baek Yoonjun's steps became lighter.
'What will come out now? Second-rate? First-rate?'
Thanks to the illusion of the standard third-rate martial artist he had met before, since his standards for sorcery had been greatly loosened, Baek Yoonjun was excited and anticipated what would appear next.
'Even if a second-rate appears, it's an illusion, and if necessary, I can just break the formation and run away.'
If he had met that standard second-rate martial artist in reality, he would have run away immediately, but since it was an illusion, it was fine.
'It's not a person, I can't see its face, and it's a being that I can just purely fight with, so it's perfect!'
On top of that, for Baek Yoonjun, it was also to his liking that it was not a complete human phenomenon, which was burdensome.
'I should try making something similar at home when I go back.'
Baek Yoonjun, slowly recalling the structure of the formation where the illusion from before had appeared in his mind, continued to move forward.
'Where is this?'
He arrived at an empty lot.
Baek Yoonjun spread his senses, being wary of his surroundings.
'For now, there are no formations.'
Although he had confirmed that there were no formations, Baek Yoonjun was by no means relieved.
'I don't see any particular traps.'
Since there might be something that his senses couldn't catch, Baek Yoonjun was by no means relieved.
And so, as he was carefully looking around in all directions, Baek Yoonjun noticed that there was a mechanism on the floor.
'I can't tell at a glance, but it doesn't seem to be a trap.'
Baek Yoonjun continued to observe the mechanism on the floor and found out its identity.
'It's a structure where the wall opens if you step on it in a certain order.'
Having found out that it was not a trap, Baek Yoonjun carefully stepped on the floor.
And so, as he was stepping on the floor, Baek Yoonjun felt a strange sense of incongruity.
'This is?'
Although the arrangement on the floor looked messy at a glance, there was definitely a certain something.
And so, as he continued to step on the floor, Baek Yoonjun found out the identity of that incongruity.
'This is a lightness skill?'
After stepping on the floor in order, it resulted in a specific movement.
'It's definitely a lightness skill, but this...'
Having found out that its identity was a lightness skill, Baek Yoonjun felt another sense of incongruity.
'This is completely a thief's step, isn't it?'
Secretive yet fast, jumping over walls or lowering one's body.
No matter how he looked at it, it was a movement specialized for either theft or assassination.
'Why is there a thief's step in the secret cave of a Buddhist founding ancestor?'
Frowning, Baek Yoonjun recalled his journey so far.
An unknown wooden puppet, a strange martial art that could be called a demonic art, and after that, a formation where an illusion of a third-rate martial artist at most on the same level as himself or lower appeared.
'Considering what has happened so far, is it not particularly strange?'
Recalling his journey so far, Baek Yoonjun, who had come to the conclusion that it was not particularly strange, continued to move his feet according to the mechanism.
Rumble.
The moment he took the last step, he could confirm that the wall was rising with a loud noise.
'Considering what has happened so far, it's futilely easy.'
Feeling a sense of futility, Baek Yoonjun set foot inside the opened wall.
(End of Chapter)
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