Chapter 92
Iris’ face turned red. Her surprise made her tone rise and her words come out strangely.
“Ah. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“N... No.”
“I’ve always been a fan of Hunter Li Yuyuan, so suddenly meeting his daughter is making me nervous. Have you ever participated in a raid with your father?”
“Yes... I-I have.”
“I want to hear about it. Can you tell me about it?”
“S-Sure.”
Iris stammered, but she soon started speaking slowly and clearly. It could be different for other topics, but it was quite easy to talk about her father.
The scene amazed the Mount Hua Sect hunters.
“Iris is having a long conversation with someone she’s never met before?”
“Doesn’t she usually only communicate with her fists?”
Iris looked beautiful and youthful, but she didn’t have many close friends due to her personality. She’d prefer to engage bare-fisted in vicious battles with monsters than chat with a stranger for a long time. Hence, seeing her talk to someone she had only met for so long was hard to believe.
***
“Come to think of it, Hunter Li Yuyuan once went to L.A....”
“E-Excuse me... Shouldn’t we train?”
“Ah.”
Choi Yeonseung’s focus returned. It was so fun listening to stories others weren’t aware of that he got distracted
“You’re right. We’re here to train. Now, hunters. Come.”
At Choi Yeonseung’s call, the Mount Hua Sect hunters gathered with expressions full of anticipation.
“I examined the martial arts skills of the Mount Hua Sect.”
Choi Yeonseung listed it off with a flick of his fingers. First of all, the Mount Hua Sect focused on sword skills. It had a long history, however, so the skills they possessed were quite diverse. Falling Flower Swordsmanship, Lethal Chain Sword, Plum Blossom Swordsmanship...
They also had fist techniques and palm techniques, namely the Breaking Jade Fist, Subduing Tiger Palm, and Plum Blossom Palm. Moreover, they also had the Plum Blossom Heart Technique, which was the core technique that developed their dantian and allowed the use of these skills.
“Didn’t the Mount Hua Sect have the S-rank skill Purple Clouds Divine Arts?”
“None of us could learn it. We all failed,” the hunters explained with embarrassed expressions.
No matter how much they were taught about it, they wouldn’t be able to execute difficult martial arts unless they had talent. They’d have to raise their martial arts to first-class stage at the very least if they wanted to learn such techniques. By hunter standards, they had to be as good as a B-grade hunter in martial arts. It was worth trying using magic, but they felt lost whenever they thought about qualifying for that rank using martial arts.
Most martial artists ended up in the lower ratings. Would they be able to overcome it?
“Choi Yeonseung! Tell us. Which martial arts skill should we focus on among these?”
“I’ll be sure to study the martial arts you point out!”
“Huh?” The hunters’ words puzzled Choi Yeonseung. “You can just learn whatever you want, right?”
“......”
“......”
Choi Yeonseung’s response dumbfounded everyone.
N-No...
Shouldn’t there be a specific skill that would raise their martial arts stage?
“Uh... Aren’t there any good ones among them?”
“Well, they have differences right now, but...”
Naturally, the skills’ ranks differed. Choi Yeonseung was at the peak of martial arts, and he could see their differences using his fraudulent constellation powers. However, he didn’t use shortcuts when learning martial arts.
“I assure you. The gaps between them don’t mean much.”
“...... ”
“As the stage of your martial arts increases, the rank of your martial arts skill will also rise.”
Martial arts grew with the person practicing them. Just as Choi Yeonseung’s Origin of the Celestial Divine Arts became an S-rank skill, so could others’ martial arts. Rather than choosing the best one right now, it was better to pick the martial art they wanted and liked.
“Is… Is that really true?”
“Yes.”
The hunters grew noisy. They had faith in Choi Yeonseung and his words, but could they really choose their preferred martial arts?
“Then I’ll use the Falling Flower Swordsmanship...”
“I’m going with the Lethal Chain Sword.”
“I’ll choose the Breaking Jade Fist.”
One by one, the hunters?started to choose a skill. Choi Yeonseung was puzzled when he saw the result.
“Isn’t anyone choosing the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship?”
“The Plum Blossom Swordsmanship is tricky to master...”
“Its destructive power is rather weak…”
“It just lacks damage…”
“I think its growth is a bit slow.”
“On top of that, the clan elders kept adding useless instructions whenever we study the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship...”
The Mount Hua Sect hunters preferred faster and more powerful martial arts than the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship.
‘Hmm. It’s a good skill, though.’
[Plum Blossom Swordsmanship]
Rank: B+.
Its base rank was B+, so it certainly wasn’t a bad skill. If polished up a bit, its rank would rise to A.
Choi Yeonseung was about to tell them about it but swiftly stopped himself. After all, martial arts were a choice. Such skills were learned by repeating them thousands or tens of thousands of times. Hence, if it didn’t suit the practitioner, it would be difficult to learn.
“So no one uses the Plum Blossom Swordsmanship?”
“Ah... Ah! I did. I-I’m the only one who practices it,” Iris said with a nod.
“Aha. It is Li?Yuyuan’s?martial art. Is that why you chose it?”
“R-Right. Uh... How did you know?”
“It’s common knowledge for any hunter from that era.”
Choi Yeonseung nodded proudly, feeling as if Li?Yuyuan’s?daughter had acknowledged him. His fan spirit was unstoppable!
-Doesn’t he sound like one of our clan’s elders?
-They don’t really have that much of an age difference...
-Shh. Shut up, you fools.
“Okay. It seems that everyone’s ready...”
Excited, the hunters stared at Choi Yeonseung. Choi Yeonseung was much more skilled than them, so they couldn’t help but wonder what type of training method he would show them.
“Let’s start with the barbell squat. You are martial artists, so everyone should be able to do 1 ton at the very least, right?”
Choi Yeonseung lifted 1-ton weights and started throwing them out. Everyone was embarrassed as they received it.
“Uh... W-What are those state-of-the-art equipment for, then?”
“Those instruments help with calculations when practicing magic, so you shouldn’t worry about them too much.”
“......”
“... Sob sob!”
Choi Yeonseung’s cold words saddened the Mount Hua Sect hunters. They thought they’d finally be able to use the latest equipment, only to find out that it was for magicians!
“Start squatting. Feel the strength of your internal energy and muscles.”
“Gasp... Gasp...”
“Kuooh... Kuoooh...”
[The power of the ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’ grants your subordinates a buff during training.]
[Your subordinates are growing quickly.]
The Mount Hua Sect hunters weren’t aware of the tremendous opportunity they received just from believing in the ‘Undefeated Incarnation of Training’! There was no constellation like this for martial artists. In addition, Choi Yeonseung was a very kind-hearted constellation. He didn’t ask for anything in return. He just let them train...
‘It still isn’t enough to make martial arts strong.’
Choi Yeonseung thought about how to train martial artists. He trained in the Abyss for over 10,000 years, but he couldn’t make others do the same.
-Why has it become harder to find martial artists?
The trends killed it, but only because martial arts certainly had glaring cons.
Its growth was slow! Despite having to participate in all types of actual combat while risking their lives, their skills only improved a bit. Hence, it was only natural for their martial arts’ growth to be slow.
Choi Yeonseung intended to solve this shortcoming in two ways. One was for him to teach them directly. His martial arts stage was much higher, and he was a constellation. Teaching them would allow them to take a shortcut even if they weren’t talented. Even a 1st dan instructor couldn’t match that level of leadership!
The other method was to give them an insanely harsh and brutal training that was dozens of times more intense than what martial artists were currently used to!
That was the answer Choi Yeonseung gave.
***
“Uwaaaaaah.”
“Kuooooooh.”
The hunters rolled around. They felt as if all their muscles were trembling. They did insanely difficult muscle exercises for hours. They didn’t even have an ounce of energy in them anymore!
“Okay. Warm-up?is over.”
“... Huh?”
“Wait, what? ”
If they had swords in their hands, they might’ve swung them at Choi Yeonseung. The hunters stared at Choi Yeonseung, stunned. Everything they just did was just warm-up?
“Don’t worry. We’re going to the Otherworld next.”
Choi Yeonseung tapped the Otherworld device behind him. Once inside it, they would be able to move no matter their current physical condition. They’d still suffer from mental fatigue, but…
“I’ll head in.”
“So that’s the Otherworld device. It’s amazing.”
“I think its output is several times stronger than the one I previously entered.”
The hunters murmured before going inside. As expected of Hwang Gyeongryong’s facility, its Otherworld’s output limit was extremely high. He was obviously using an expensive monster core.
[’Endless Heavy Swamp’ has been implemented.]
Choi Yeonseung had seen tens of thousands of terrains in the Abyss. He just had to pick a few good terrains to make an excellent training ground. Endless Heavy Swamp was quite literally a swamp, but it had a unique trait. Its water was hundreds of times heavier than normal. The moment they dipped their feet in it, they would feel as if they had weights all over their body!
Fighting here would feel like their internal energy was constantly running out. To escape, they had to learn to control their strength, remove the force tensing them up, and delicately use internal energy to move around!
‘It’s a great place for improving their martial arts.’
If they lived here for a few decades, everyone would be able to rise to the first-class stage. That wasn’t possible, however, so they had to work harder here.
“I... I can’t move!”
“W-Why is this so heavy?”
The panicking hunters looked ahead. Something was walking ahead of them in the swamp. It was a doll that appeared to be carved out of wood!
‘Isn’t there something similar in our dojo?’
‘I think so.’
The elongated doll, roughly carved from wood, looked weak and stupid.
Bam!
“Cough!”
However, that was just on the surface. Choi Yeonseung made it himself. It was a first-class stage master.
“It’s pretty good.”
Choi Yeonseung happily nodded. He should use this wooden doll more often!
“W-What is this?”
“Catch it! Hold it and keep it motionless!”
The wooden doll jumped over the swamp and taunted the hunters. The hunters moved slowly through the swamp like slugs. Meanwhile, the wooden doll moved lightly, preventing them from catching it.
“Ugh, urgh!”
Bam bam bam! Bam bam bam!
The wooden doll hit the hunters’ heads with a stick and ran away.
“That cheeky bastard!”
“Aren’t you coming here?”
“Everyone’s working hard. Good. This is your challenge. Starting today, you’ll do muscle training out in the real world, then deal with this wooden doll inside the Overworld.”
“I-Is that it?”
“I can’t give you the next task until you catch it, can I?”
The hunters lowered their heads in shame. He was right. They couldn’t even catch a doll that looked like this! This wasn’t even that hard of a task.
“Tell me if someone succeeds. I’m looking forward to it.”
“......!”
The hunters desperately attacked the doll as per Choi Yeonseung’s instructions. However, on the first day, they suffered complete defeat. The wooden doll knocked them all out before they could even touch it.
“I’ll kill you, wooden doll!”
“Why did you draw ^_^ on it?”
“That just makes this even more humiliating!”
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